The Old Populism- See No Evil

As the media and the populist majority joyfully drive the last stake into health reform I can’t help but feel like we’re re-living a 50’s era myopia. Replace race relations with health care and we’re back in time 50-60 years. 

The majority of the electorate favored segregation back then. Dixiecrats took their bigotry to the Democratic convention. Governors called out the National Guard to defend the schools from integration. Outsiders from the north were murdered by the KKK, beaten, kicked and jailed by the police for radical behavior such as sitting in a diner, or riding on a bus, walking down the street, or even more radical, for helping people register to vote.

It took a Supreme Court ruling to break the deadlock. It took assassinations of a president, his brother, and a black minister to wake up America to the injustices we accepted- as if they were manifest destiny.

Today 45 million people live without health care. Some admittedly don’t want it. Some don’t need it. But millions of people want it and need it. Yet we turn away from their need just like we walked by “White Only” water fountains and restrooms. Our myopia blurs our conscience and we accept the injustice benignly. We can’t feel ashamed if we don’t see it.

So we keep our eyes on the insured, the healthy, the employed, the educated, and try not to  feel ashamed for our collective neglect of millions of Americans who need health care and can’t get it. I suppose deep inside we hope they’ll get by somehow.

Someday the sorry state of health care may lead to a more activist approach to health care reform like the civil rights movement in the 50's and 60's. In the mean time we  might as well have a sign on the hospital entrance that says. “Insured Only”.

A Popular Populism and Health Reform

Before yesterday’s landmark thumping of Martha Coakley Republicans have enjoyed a populist following of hard working, largely self employed middle class Americans, convinced to the core that big government is their enemy and nemesis hell bent on blocking their quest for the American dream- living free and unencumbered by government regulation and able to keep the money they earn and spend it however they choose.

The basic idea is sound, even romantic that we all enjoy the opportunity to seek a life of our own making. The Republicans have strong alignment at the top and the bottom- billionaires and the Joe Plumbers all support the Republican Party for the same reasons.

Somewhere along the political road Republicans have managed to convince a large middle class America that Democrats only offer socialism, roadblocks, regulation, restrictions and taxes- the antithesis of the American dream. Somewhere along that political road they also developed selective amnesia about being laid off from work because their employer outsourced the work to China, or fight vehemently to keep government out of health care even if it means being uninsured and under cared for, and forget that their home value and 401k deflation was a direct result of their unbridled American dream.

People are saying the health reform bill is now in trouble. The reality is health reform was in trouble long ago. Reform died months ago when the public option was killed in the Senate.  The President failed to sell reform to America.  Conservatives and Progressives hate it for different reasons. The great middle class is employed; they already have health care, and they largely don’t think health care needs reforming. The 30 million or so people who would benefit from health reform don’t have a voice- as large as the number is it’s only 10 percent of the population.

The November elections will likely turn out to be similar to Massachusetts and Congress will be deadlocked for the remainder President Obama’s first, and likely his only term of office. Health reform may come up again in another 12-15 years. In the mean time we’ll be living with the status quo- if we’re lucky.

Opponents of Same Sex Marriage Law in NH Firing up at Town Meetings

On January 1st, 2010, New Hampshire became the 5th state in the Union to legally recognize and permit same sex marriage. This action re-energizes the state’s motto, “Live Free or Die” by standing up for the civil rights of a minority of people who continue to be attacked both virtually and literally throughout the world. Same sex equality has more emotional opponents than any issue aside from abortion, and generally the same like-minded group finds coherent agreement on both subjects.

Opponents are now gearing up to petition opposition to same sex marriage at upcoming town meetings to change the state constitution, so gay and lesbian citizens can forever have their civil rights denied and banned. Live free or die seems to be going the way of the Old Man, but not without a fight.

At least the NH state legislature is firmly in favor of same sex civil rights. This body has been criticized for being too much democracy- a very inefficient group and the country’s largest state legislature- originally set at one representative for every 100 families, today is capped at 400 members. My hat goes off to them for taking the high ground on civil rights and for being prepared to defend their position against the inevitable opposition that will follow.

Our attempts to provide equal rights to all citizens are more challenged than ever by an ever-growing conservative religious right wing fired up and prodded on by their media demagogs. If traditional family values are the opponents main thrust for opposition to same sex marriage, maybe we should start petitions for town warrants to ban divorce. If children are to be raised in a home defined by one man and one woman, then why not mandate the process? If a traditional marriage petition gets on my town warrant, maybe I’ll push for a “no divorce” petition to help their cause. It seems equally reasonable to me, and of course equally absurd.

2009: Unemployment, Bailouts, Climate Change, Health Reform, Counter-terrorism, and Skiing

Whew- what a year, one most people would like to do-over or forget. When the skiing is really bad at Cannon the locals have two sayings to strangers to the mountain, “It doesn’t get any better than this”, and “yeah- cold, icy, windy and steep, we ski it so you don’t have to”. There’s something about Cannon that draws some people to love it when it’s at it’s worst, while reaffirming a “never go there again” feeling from others. Gluttons for punishment, the diehards relish the extreme conditions- it builds character and makes you a better skier…I have a lot of unemployed ski buddies hoping their character doesn’t need any more building.

We had no shortage of character building opportunities this past year. I was skiing with a day trader friend of mine on March 11th of this year when the market was bottoming out around 6500 (although we didn’t know that at the time). I asked him if the time was right to jump into some of the depressed stocks. He said, no, no, the market is heading for 4500. We jumped on the lift and I pondered that sage advice from a former Manhattan Wall Street trader turned semi-retired day trader/ski bum as my 401K was sinking like a rock. What could I do after deciding to sit tight except sit tight and ride out the storm?

Things were bad, yet we managed to live through the crisis and except for the 10 million or so people who are still out of work things are turning around. At least that’s what the newscasters are telling us. I dropped off a pair of old tele skis for my dentist to try out. He’s an alpine skier and wants to take up telemark. You know times are bad when a dentist lights up with excitement at the thought of a free pair of used skis! He thanked me. We chatted. He mentioned business was down over 25% this year. I didn't realize so many people consider dental care descretionary spending- below food and housing anyway I suppose.

It seems that big companies that had a lot of money and lost it through greed and stupidity all got obscene loans from us, the taxpayers, to get well, and get well they did. The big Wall Street firms are paying out record bonuses this year on the profits they made with the free money we spotted them. We’re so generous to the people who don’t need money. Our upside down generosity makes my head hurt. Soup kitchens are doing a land office business. Homeless shelters are so over crowded, people stand in line all day so they can get a bed at night. That doesn’t leave much time to look for work.

An unemployed ski buddy of mine used to sell high end wines around New England.  She lost her job. Pricy wine sales tanked fast this year. Even Wine Spectator ran a few issues on "Great Wines under $20". They still don't get it. People won't spend five bucks on wine if they're out of work. I gave up buying expensive wines when I retired. Pabst Blue Ribbon works for me. My ski bud says shes retooling herself- going back to school and getting a green job. I hope for her sake some of the green gets in her wallet.

The climate change crisis is still with us and the experts say things are getting worse even though the global temperature continues to slip downward. The term Global Warming is slipping out of vogue because the data indicates a downward trend may be real. Sometimes I wonder if the inertia of our convictions makes us disbelieve the data. If the earth continues to cool down are we going to take responsibility for that too? I’ve always thought a colder earth would be a lot more trouble than a warmer earth. A good example is the limits of our recorded history, which seem to begin at the end of the last ice age. Everything that preceded the meltdown (that would be 3-4 million years of human development) is either lost in the glacier rubble or people were too cold to record anything. As a skier I cherish a good nor’easter, but as a New Englander, free heat seems like a better deal than free cold.

On health reform, what can I possibly say that hasn’t already been spun by both sides of the issue? I’m glad it’s over, or almost over, or maybe getting ready to be almost over. We may get some reforms, yet the beneficiaries of these reforms appear to be the insurance companies, not the people. A good indicator of this is the record high stock prices of the health insurance companies the day the Senate voted to pass their version of the bill. Clearly, the stock would’ve dropped if the people were expected to be the beneficiary.

Oh, and finally war, war and more war. I didn’t vote for that. I wish this were all a bad dream. Did John McCain really win the election? What a nightmare. This really makes my head hurt. And as if Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan aren’t enough places to go kill people- brace yourself for Yemen and who knows where in 2010. Onward Christian soldiers, keep the homeland secure. Boy, it didn’t prevent Ft Hood nor the Detroit bound Northwest Airliner.

I'm no expert on human behavior, but we seem to be nurturing more enemies than friends. And by making everyone be strip searched before they can go visit Gramma they've won anyway. We seem to forget that Nazi Germany was a very secure country. Another upside down logic at work- destroy all our personal freedoms so we can be secure and reminisce about the good old days when the Constitution meant something.

Skiing is the one thing that seems to be going well, so I’ll focus on that and enjoy myself for a few months. Maybe by spring the world will look a little brighter and people will be finding jobs.

Happy New Year!

Yumpen Yemeni- Here We Go Again

In rapid fire succession the government has aided and assisted the bombing of suspected al Qaeda terrorist strongholds in Yemen, and of course made a big deal of linkage both to the Ft Hood shootings by a mentally ill Army major and the airline fiasco in Detroit- I suppose to bring a measure of credibility to the actions. It doesn’t bother me that we are diligent about seeking out people who might do harm to us, we should do that, but to confront our adversaries via a process of assassination does bother me.

What ever happened to the top secret rendition we’ve been doing for the last eight years? Why can’t we round these people up and put them on trial? I have a guess as to why. They haven’t really done anything yet. It would be like arresting someone for speeding because they hung around with people who have speeded. So instead we kill them. That bothers me.

Also, there have been reports out of Yemen of many civilian casualties associated with these attacks, but not one word about civilian losses has come from our press or our government. If they’ve been able to conduct surgical raids against suspected terrorists and not injure any innocent people in the process, I would think that would be newsworthy. Americans would feel relieved if they knew we are capable of killing people we think are bad and not kill a single innocent person in the process. However, I don’t think that happens. We kill innocent people every time we bomb suspected terrorist facilities. We justify their sacrifice as collateral damage in the cause of a greater good.

We should at least have the decency to report on the innocent people we kill and show some formal contrition toward their loss, but we don’t seem to do that either. We don’t even mention the fact that they were killed by us. They aren’t even called collateral damage anymore. They’re just ignored as if they never existed.

Maybe we should start measuring the effectiveness of our fighting forces with an effectiveness ratio of bad guys killed divided by innocent people killed. Maybe if we kept an eye on the innocent lives being lost we’d be a little more careful about what we do. Maybe the public that funds these surgical assassinations would want a say in what we do as a government. You know, the democracy thing.

If we’re going to kill people for speeding before they speed we should at least keep score of who and how many people are killed- the women, the children, the elders and the suspected terrorists.

The Pursuit of True Justice Above All Else

The notion of different moral values competing with each other is as old as Plato, maybe older. Our pursuit of the greater good between conflicting values and differentiating how they rank from one to the other is at the heart of our social existence. I’ve been thinking about this as we move to escalate the war in Afghanistan. The moral value of homeland security seems to be the President’s rationale. He believes this value is worth killing and dieing for. Yet I have a hard time placing security in my moral spectrum. Just where does it lie? Security seems to be trumping freedom, liberty, peace and justice, yet it’s pretty far down my moral ladder. Is security all that important?

If a person attempts to invade my home and I have a gun and I kill them, am I on morally high ground for my actions? Maybe. But what if he turned out to be a Jehovah’s Witness or the UPS guy? Then I’d be prosecuted. In Afghanistan how do we know all these people we kill are intent on doing us harm? Did we ask them? Did they say they are? If they turn out to be largely farmers, ignorant of the US and illiterate as well, and they’re killed indiscriminately, is this still the moral high ground? I don’t think so.

After 9/11 we imposed unprecedented security and sought revenge in the name of justice. We pursued justice in Afghanistan. But justice has two faces, one that seeks fair treatment and another that merely seeks revenge for a morally wrong act. We seem to be overly inclined to revenge- making sure people get the punishment they deserve for their crimes and transgressions, including death if we’re so motivated.

If we intend to fight the good fight for a better world and a better society, seeking true justice has to be at the top of the moral ladder. Not vengeful justice, but securing the just treatment of people by governments and authorities. That’s the good fight. That’s more important than what type of economic system we live within- Communist, Socialist, or Capitalist. That’s more important than what kind of governance we live within- Democracy, Republic, Dictator, King or anarchy. For they all can be morally bad or morally good in how they treat the people.

So as the year comes to an end and we enter the ninth year of a war half way around the world, let’s keep our eye on the ball of justice first and foremost. Let’s not get so hung up about government structures and economic systems. Let’s make the pursuit of true justice the highest moral ground; the ideal worth fighting for, and maybe everything else will follow.

If we’re ever going to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanis we need to help them build roads and homes, get more tractors, build schools, factories and hospitals… things they need and would appreciate. That’s how we can make America more secure- not by killing them and making them hate us so much they are willing to die for their cause.

The Weight Challenged Person is About to Sing

Please forgive me while I vent my frustration with the apparent end state of the senate version of the health care bill. There isn’t much, if anything, about the bill that makes me want to jump up and do a happy dance. If I were a senator I would probably have to hold my nose and vote for the bill even though it looks like a meatless chicken- all bones. Or maybe I would become an Independent and threaten to filibuster unless I got the public option and a few other meaningful reforms.

Disappointed progressives like Bernie Sanders and Jay Rockefeller have agreed to hold their noses and vote for it so how can I possibly be more pious than them? Liberals are searching their weegie boards looking for a rationale to defend the sorry state of the bill after being the target of multiple hijackings, or maybe I should I say extortions.

The Republicans all hate it and many liberal Democrats do to. So we really have a minority of senators who are feeling good about what came out of so many months of negotiations and debate. One view says we now have a toehold on medical reform, traction so to speak, to amend and improve the bill in the future. When I get gum stuck on the bottom of my shoe I have traction too, but picking at it doesn’t make it better, it makes it worse.

We talk a lot about infrastructure improvements and modernization, and building on a framework of basic agreements, much like the wishy-washy language countries agreed to in Copenhagen this weekend to fight climate change.

The climate accord and the health care bill suffer from the same problem- they’re politically expedient agreements to allow the Administration to claim some measure of progress and success to an agenda that screams out for real changes, while in reality they don’t change anything. The health insurance industry is the big winner with 30 million new customers to sell profitable insurance to. The climate accord saves face for the President, but China and India flexed their muscles and kept quantitative verifiable agreements off the table.

Good foundations are critical to everything and anything that expects to carry a heavy load, last a long time and support additions and changes in the future. One might say the US Constitution has faired well in that regard. However, neither the accord that came out of Copenhagen nor the health reform bill have any hope of providing any such foundation from which great outcomes can be expected in the future. If anything, they will both be high value fodder for the Republicans in the 2010 elections and beyond.

I close with a quote from Will Rogers, “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I’m a Democrat”. How right he was!

Joe Lieberman Jabs Again

I’m sitting in my Audi dealer lobby waiting for my car to be inspected. You do these things when you’re retired- wait for your car- because there’s no demand on your time. It’s a benefit and a curse. Waiting isn’t fun, but to make up for it I can make an appointment at 2 pm and turn the whole experience into a lazy hour or so on the computer.

I haven’t been motivated to post a blog for several days, partly because I’ve been skiing my brains out up at Cannon Mt, and partly because the health care reform discussion du jour changes about as fast as a tryst affair on “As the World Turns”.

The only news today is the continuing saga of the failing mental faculties of poor Senator Joe Lieberman. Joe suggested extending Medicare illegibility to 55 with a self-funded buy-in back in September. Now that the Democrats have taken him up on the idea, he’s indicated that although he hasn’t read this version and doesn’t know the details (I’m not making this up!) he said the proposed Medicare extension is not what he proposed, and he said he would vote against the health care bill if this Medicare extension is included. So there you have it… He doesn’t know what the details are, but he’s inclined to vote against it even though he proposed the same deal a mere three months ago.

There’s just no end to the obstructionist activities Senator Lieberman will stoop to. The Republicans couldn’t be happier. The bill will now get another lobotomy before 60 votes can be assured. I was really hoping Senator Snowe would jump onboard, but that appears unlikely.

So I’ll keep skiing, finish Christmas shopping, and post new blogs if something interesting happens… maybe

The Sausage is Almost Done

Senator Nelson seems to have lost sight of the fact that the Supreme Court ruled restrictions on abortions are unconstitutional. They have never ruled on bans of abortions by the Federal Government and the amendment to the health bill that he supported was thankfully voted down. The scary thing though, with the 5-4 conservative majority in the Supreme Court, they would in all likelihood find no conflict between government restrictions on abortion and the status quo upholding the Roe v Wade decision. The Supreme Court has a knack for looking at spaghetti, and when someone drills a hole lengthwise in the middle of it, they’re very comfortable calling it macaroni.

Senator Reid’s health care bill has been massaged and tweaked to a point where a 60-vote majority may now potentially exist. The details are hard to come by. He cited broad agreement, yet except for a few tidbits we, nor the other Senators have much insight to the latest negotiations amoung the ten Democrats, five liberals and five centrists who've been working the details. Here's what I've read or heard. I'm sure it will change again before the bill is actually voted on.

On the plus side, people age 55-64 may now be able to buy into Medicare. This will help a lot people who are having trouble getting insurance at that age with pre-existing conditions- many of whom are early retirees, or laid off workers. I would love to see Congress keep lowering the age every year until it gets to zero. Then we’d have what America needs- universal health care for all, and not profit motivated.

People will have choices of private plans from an exchange pool, if they can’t get insurance through their employer. private non-profit plans, administered by the government will be available.

People will no longer be denied coverage with pre-existing conditions, although the cost may still be prohibitive. There is a cap on the cost, but it may still be out of reach for many people.

People will no longer be dropped from their insurance when they become sick

Lifetime and annual caps on benefit payouts will be lifted.

On the negative side, the public option is dead.
The government will mandate that everyone carry insurance, even without the public option, thus guaranteeing new business for private insurers with no incentive or competition to lower prices.

A trigger will be included that may invoke a public option if the private insurers fail to meet cost and availability targets. You can be sure these targets will be a slam dunk- the insurance industry would never leave itself vulnerable to a defacto public option triggered by their failure to meet targets. And states can elect to opt out.

That’s about it. The House and Senate still have to merge a single bill, assuming this Senate version actually gets approved.

Here’s an article on the subject: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/health/policy/10health.html?hp

EPA Endangerment Finding Caught Republicans Off Guard

The EPA acted with the full authority previously granted by Congress and defined a set of green house gases to be endangering the public health of Americans. By classifying CO2 as endangering the public health the EPA can assert it’s authority to regulate and control carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, factories, and automobiles.

This government action is a huge proactive step to curb green houses and completely bypasses the foot dragging delays and stalling tactics going on in the Senate against the cap and trade bill. By acting to declare carbon emissions as endangering public health, the government now has the ability to invoke strict regulations and controls independent of any cap and trade legislation. In fact, cap and trade will now instantly become a bill that industries will likely support because that gives polluters an opportunity to buy pollution rights if they want to avoid the more expensive implementation of emissions controls.

President Obama has performed the perfect end-run against the Republicans who were hunkering down for a long cold winter of opposition to the cap and trade bill. This is a landmark move, on a par with the government’s declaration that smoking will kill you back in 1964. Conservatives will be calling for the President to be impeached over this move. I love it!

The coal powered electric industry says the cost of electricity will double. The manufacturing lobby says America will lose jobs to overseas production- duh, like that hasn’t happened yet? Manufacturing has always gone where the cheapest labor is. Allowing pollution to continue in the states will not keep jobs here- they’re already gone.

In another interesting news piece, the World Meteorological Organization announced the last ten years to be the warmest decade recorded in the last 150 years. While there has been a slight downward trend in the past few years the overall temperature of the earth remains at a record high level. The best chart of land and ocean temperature is computed and published by our National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I’ve included the most recent publication below. The blue line is a five year average. There have been a lot of arguments against global warming because this chart shows a downturn in the last few years. It will take several decades of continuous decreasing temperature to cool the earth sufficiently to stem the effects of glacier melting.

Whether we’re still getting warmer can be debated, but what can’t be debated is the temperature we’re at today compared to the past. If the earth's temperature stayed about where it is today, the effects would be negligible. The concern for global warming is based on projected warming in the future. The recent trends support the argument against continued global warming and the Climategate controversy (hacked emails from noted authorities posted on the web) also points to that data.

The President has stuck his chin out pretty far on this decision. The fallout over next several months, even years, will be very interesting to watch.

Here are a couple articles on the subject:


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/science/earth/09climate.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-obama-environment8-2009dec08,0,3159719.story