You made me ... promises, promises

Knowing I'd believe...
Promises, promises...

Almost one year later, all those who fell under the magical spell (remember ... Obama!!! ;-) are beginning to see how promises play out when they meet the cold price-tag of reality.

But if we with the "Cadillac" health plans have to start paying taxes on our benefits, that's a huge middle class tax increase, and we were promised that wouldn't happen. Rebalancing the pay package doesn't save us from that tax hit — even assuming our employers would reshuffle things. Plus we love our great health benefits, and we were told if we liked them, we'd get to keep them. How is it fair to change the rules on us after we worked so hard to get what we have?

Welcome to the real world, she sang to me, condescendingly ...
But take heart, latter day liberals! Another election will be held, and this time, maybe you can do your educated, intellectual, promise-evaluating before you vote.

Maybe next time around, you'll ask for some actual evidence of problem solving, and actions that achieve results, instead of voting with the "Yes We Can" hopeful -- but ultimately empty -- energy of untested young Americans, who have no idea yet of the years of hard work, sacrifice and flexibility necessary to achieve lasting success in the real world, where everyday you face actual ... obstacles. (and no, I don't mean the "but they didn't peel my shrimp for me!!" princess-type obstacles.)

Voting the non-controversial "present" just to keep your record clean, and putting the country in the hands of a junior senator, rather than a more experienced woman who had been playing in contemporary political circles for the past decades, with a fresh memory of having her faced rubbed in the mud during the previous health care defeat... tell me now she wasn't more ready than he?

Last year he (Gore Vidal) famously switched allegiance from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama during the Democratic nomination process for president. Now, he reveals, he regrets his change of heart.

Very rarely is the protected American liberal class asked to pay at all for their theoretical contributions to social and economic change. But perhaps, change is indeed in the air,

You want (hope)?
Well (hope) costs and right here's where you start paying... in sweat!!!

and some will know sacrifice when the day comes that the last shall be first, and the formerly first ... have to admit that they're fickle consumers, not wanting to wait another 3 years to return yet another product that didn't live up to the packaging and promises.

You'd think some of them might learn a trick or two about evaluating promises, after all these years...

Weekend wrap up.

How do you appreciate the choices that lead to a strong quality of life?

*crickets chirping*


Just be in the moment. Listening, observing, thinking, and putting that together with all you've seen, read and otherwise experienced.

Sorry. I can't post an "answer" here, for you to follow. But really, I am flattered by those following, who choose to adopt similar attitudes and values.

Plenty of room for everyone, now!

For starters, remember: Your health is your wealth. Value it accordingly.

(and don't be afraid to show signs of age. There's nothing sadder than a woman still competing with the natural looks of one 20 years younger. Just be yourself -- with the understanding that it takes some years and years to define exactly who they are, and too often, it's temporary.)

Btw, what do you make of that study that in times of recession/economic troubles, too many folks mate indiscriminately -- looking for their "missing other" to define where they're at in life, what they think on issues, how to play, etc.?

"Know thyself" is one place, maybe, to start:

Whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy --
think on these things...

Have a great week, whatever it is you end up pursuing!

Leaf it to Rusk.

What's going on at Christie Mountain...

We're not Norway.

No homogenous population, no similar Scandinavian attitudes.

Nice try though...

ADDED: If I felt sad for the writer when I read this,

"The government pays for our schools and dictates what they teach our children."

I felt even sadder thinking that people believe this:

As scams go, the Delray Beach driver license fraud was about as sloppy and unsophisticated as the ACORN employees caught on tape behaving badly. But, unlike the ACORN mess, the actions of motor vehicle employees - supplying Florida licenses to illegal immigrants - put the community at risk.

(see related "poll" here)

Because if you honestly believe it's not parents, and parents in the guise of local community school boards, determining what your children learn ... and local property owners paying in the form of taxes for the educations of those in the community ... how sad.

We are the government, remember? Or did that die with these sudden, newfound "rights" to seemingly everything under the sun our hearts desire, but our own pocketbooks have trouble paying for without reaching into somebody else's?

If you honestly seek to defend the ACORN voter registration fraud, and recently exposed corruption, then you really aren't the best people to sit on a newspaper editorial board determining community standards. Put down that white flag, and instead surrender the job to citizens who still believe individuals have a stake in the matter ...

Corruption puts a community at risk. Period. Republican corruption. Democratic corruption. Corruption intended to benefit the poor and uninsured...

One of the most interesting comments I've heard of late (it kept me thinking, days later) came from James O'Keefe, the thin young man playing "da pimp" on those ACORN videos. He essentially pulled a Borat, but not just to market himself, but presumably to expose corruption.

He's being labeled as a conservative activist, but when asked (SCHIAVOCAMPO: Do you consider yourself a conservative?) , he responded:

No, I consider myself a progressive radical. I don't really want to conserve anything.

Hmmm. That day will come, I suspect, when the young people energized by a technological revolution will think it better to start anew -- easier to just cast off the whole corrupt mess than to try to rebuild, and salvage what's left when this current cast of characters is done remaking the system.

You can cite history and quote odds -- always cover your bets if your money's on revolutionaries -- but to me it's mostly sad that's really where we're at today ... I don't really want to conserve anything.

ADDED, LYRICS:

Did you cling to the things they (told) you?
Did you cover your eyes when they (sold) you?
That he can't come back,
Because he has no children to come back for...

Maybe we should all be prayin' for time, indeed.

Stay gold.

I've knocked the NYT, and various writers -- there and at other publications. But I hope to always be the first to pay an honest compliment as well.

Here's a story by Timothy Egan, well worth reading:

...
John Kitzhaber, M.D., politician, and son who watched both parents die in a dignified way, cannot stop talking about it.

His parents’ generation won the war, built the interstate highway system, cured polio, eradicated smallpox and created the two greatest social programs of the 20th century — Social Security and Medicare.

Now the baton has been passed to the Baby Boomers. But the hour is late, Kitzhaber says, with no answer to a pressing generational question: “What is our legacy?”
...
With his mother’s death in 2005, Kitzhaber lived the absurdities of the present system. Medicare would pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for endless hospital procedures and tests but would not pay $18 an hour for a non-hospice care giver to come into Annabel’s home and help her through her final days.

“The fundamental problem is that one percent of the population accounts for 35 percent of health care spending,” he said.

“So the big question is not how we pay for health care, but what are we buying.”

He is not, he says, in favor of pulling the plug on granny. The culture of life should be paramount, he says, following the oath he took as a doctor.

But Oregon, years ahead of the rest of the country, has talked and talked and talked about this taboo topic, and they’ve voted on it as well, in several forms.

They found — in line with national studies — that most people want to die at home.

Here are two local links, best skip if you don't like hunting stories/can't see past the death to respect the animal.

Still, it's impressive to know these creatures (plural) still exist in our backyards, and sometimes you only stop and appreciate it when a hunter brings one in.

30-pt. Buck-- a 20+1/2 inch spread, and dressed weight of 225lb.

Trophy Bear -- 658 pounds live weight; 564.5 pounds dressed out.

p.s. Do you still remember your 4th grade teacher??
----- (read the bear story.)

Gone gardening...

picking the ripe stuff after a few days away. Plus, I've got some reading to catch up on. But first,

Didn't I hear on the radio today, that he meant the Republicans would be backing McCain if he pursued a liberal agenda, whereas they have no qualms in coming together for Tea Parties now against President Obama. I hope that's not being spun as Glenn Beck endorsing the job President Obama is doing over the potential lost in candidate McCain. Just some political chatter during the drive.

Speaking of, fwiw, here is one honest enough citizen's ranking of where our priorities probably should be:

1) Afghanistan -- In or Out? Shit or get off the pot, as they say. Much as I understand how this will be spun as a victory in enemy circles to see our withdrawal, unless we have confidence in our drone abilities in Pakistan, the time for a victory there probably has already passed. A vote of confidence in the 1976 West Point grad now in charge calling for more troops, that he must know he's unlikely to see? Beck is right on that: either support the troops, or get them out. But don't just vote "present, for now".

2) Economy, jobs, future. Unless Chicago gets the Olympics, that's just one area likely to see continued tradesmen on extended unemployment. I'm sure things are similarly tough in your areas. When the guys started coming home from Iraq, Mal was able to pick them out at church, shopping and outdoors. Lots of baby-stroller- pushing dads. Lifestyles can change temporarily sure, but longterm, I don't think you'll see a lot of men able to permanently adapt to a jobless lifestyle. Fwiw.

3) Infrastructure over environment. Why worry about the way-off potential problems (like sunspots, say) and putting money there, when you can shore up the foundations already built and being used, and in need of continuous maintenance -- like bridges (ie/ the promised one between Stillwater MN and Wisconsin, and I'm sure lots of other similar stalled projects); tunnel and water drainage problems; etc. etc. Every week it seems, we hear of another little airport (like the one in New Richmond) applying and receiving federal stimulus funds for some rainy-day wish. Like a fence for security that only goes 3/4 around the property, and probably deters more deer than terrorists.

And tell me: how is the money for fan buses, say, rewarded under the stimulus funds creating jobs? Even the Census positions won't be all that many countrywide... Two and three tie together.

Way down on the list is creating the enforcement and tax code mechanisms to mandate healthcare for all.





----------------

On a personal note, I'm back in the town and picked out the bounty of ripeness from the community garden (not to be confused with the community church garden, earlier pictured here.) I had two this year, and the organic one just harvested seems to be the best. More shade, less sun ...

Tis the season...

Here are some fall turkey photos for your enjoyment, dear readers.

If you're anticipating a cold winter where you're at (and my walk in the woods today with my dad had us crunching some mighty big acorns), just remember: these are the days to start fattening yourself up!

See you back here tomorrow...

Go get 'em, Randy...

Because all Conspirator law profs are not created equal... (except perhaps in the eyes of the Lord. ;-)

Read the whole thread -- 6 more links after the post -- for an interesting take on Constitutional presumptions and an insider look at the way various legal scholars analyze this stuff:

Really? Really?? OK, I totally get the whole IS-OUGHT distinction thing. The Constitution IS what the Supreme Court says it is. The Constitution OUGHT TO BE what the text says. Although a little jurisprudentially sophisticated for my taste, I think I grasp this.

But let me ask what has to be a simple question for my more "realist" compadres. Do they see no difference between using the power over interstate commerce to prohibit the growing of an intoxicating plant and mandating that every man, woman and child buy a service from a private company or face a hefty fine? Not make the purchase of this service a condition of engaging in some activity--like driving--but a condition of breathing itself. Not make you "contribute" to a universal government social welfare program--like Social Security or Medicare--but buy a service from a private company. What if these companies all happen to be restricted to operating intrastate? Still all the same?

Is there a clear precedent for exercising this kind of power over all individual citizens--hey and noncitizens too!--by virtue of them being alive? No? Well then maybe this case would not be dictated by the "law" of Gonzales v. Raich governing the production of fungible goods that Congress is seeing to ban from interstate commerce. But supposing there is a precedent--which for all I know there is--do my realist friends think the justices always follow their own "law" when they really don't want to? Really?

So what "constitutionality" really comes down to is whether five Justice have the, er, nerve to strike down a popular act of popular Congress a la the Evil Old Lochner Court. Fair enough. But how about a not-so-popular act of a not-so-popular Congress by the time the case reaches the High Court? What if the Repubs take back the Congress by then? Or just the House and knock off the Senate Majority Leader? Do all realist predictions about "constitutionality" remain the same? And if, to assess its constitutionality, we have to calibrate the popularity of the law and/or law maker--count the election returns, as it were, in advance of an election--before making our prediction on what the Constitution "says," does this tell us anything about the constitutional law game in our fair republic?

Of course, the safe money is always on the Supreme Court upholding an act of Congress. ALWAYS. And the even safer money is on the four "liberal" justices upholding ANY exercise of federal power that liberals happen at the moment to favor. OK, "conservatives" too with respect to executive power when their guy is in the White House--or laws that liberals happen to favor at the moment. All our justices are New Dealers; they all repudiate Lochner (or Schechter Poultry).

I realize this is all very legalful and constitutionally and all, with its irrebuttable "presumptions" and hypothetical "rational bases" and myriad whatnot. Let's all crack open our virtual copies of the United States Reports and figure this sucker out. However, in the absence of any clear super precedent, are my more realist colleagues absolutely confident that the four more "conservative" justices--and maybe even Justice Kennedy who cares something about liberty when it does not involve drugs--won't see some "principled" difference between a federal prohibition against growing something both fungible and intoxicating and a universal federal mandate to buy a service from a private company? Really? Really??

ALSO: The comments to this post are interesting, particularly because the Volokh community seems to encourage "thinking up" and not just cheapening discourse for its own sake.

Who's zooming carrying who?

I missed the president's parade of tv shows this morning, but I do have to comment on this:

“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” Mr. Obama said. “What it’s saying is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for anymore.”

It's a convenient scapegoat, and an easy target, to blame the healthcare cost mess on the uninsured, but it's simply not true that's what driving costs. It's the insured who get MRI's for every headache (don't laugh; I had a coworker once who disappeared from the office several times to do just that. Non-profit -- cheap insurance, so why not?)

That myth about: but if you're uninsured, we'll pay if you get hit by a bus. Nope. Again, I'm guessing you'd have a pretty good lawsuit against that bus that hit ya.

Ditto car accidents. Either your ER visit is covered under your own car insurance PIP (personal injury protection) policy if it's your fault (up those coverages if you don't carry health insurance and accidents, not illness, are your greatest health risk); or else your bills will be covered by the other driver's liability insurance if it's their fault. (And carry uninsured/underinsured coverage too, in case you get hit by someone driving without, either a license, insurance or other papers.)

Otherwise, stay healthy (wash your hands, drink plenty of water, get enough sleep) and pay out-of-pocket if you need an office visit (very inexpensive at those Wal-Mart clinics, I hear, and most generic drugs are only $4.)

Some argue women need health insurance, for fertility reasons. Nonsense. If you can't be celibate, condoms can be purchased without a prescription, and used correctly, are the most common contraceptive for preventing both pregnancy, and VD's. What are they? Less than $5 a pack?

The hundreds spent monthly by those insureds who never use their insurance plans, and who have money set aside to cover any bills that might occur, go toward paying for those above-mentioned MRIs, those at the height of the childrearing who incur related hospital costs, and those whose bills will run sky-high if there is to be no screening for pre-existing conditions, and no monetary limitations on how much the contractual policy will pay out.

You want a recipe for uncontrolled health costs, with no incentive to tamp down growing consumer demands (MRI today for my headache please; some antibiotics again this month for the sniffles) -- well, there it is right there.

I'm skeptical that once passed, only THEN will we begin to confront fraud and waste in the system. How about: shelve this unpopular mandate today; begin showing us the savings on fraud and waste, and THEN and only then, come to the American people insisting that everybody get in on this game.

I've been insured plenty of times. As a single woman who practices preventative maintenance, I never ever took out close to what I paid in premiums. As a careful person, I just don't go around taking risks that might end up in broken bones or other accidents. And I have enough to pay my medical bills, should I need out of pocket treatment.

For those few who gamble and lose, well -- they should take their losses then. They SHOULD have medical bills hanging over their heads (and their family's heads if they have family) if they run up costs with no way of paying for them. Pay on the payment plan; hold a benefit if necessary; borrow from other family members if needed to pay for medical treatment; if necessary, yes, declare bankruptcy.

Hold people accountable for their bills, and THEN you'll have a convincing argument about the need for health insurance.

Don't assume that all the uninsureds are running up bills and skipping out on them though. Few are, few do. If they choose to treat minimally, and find the money saved on premiums that subsidize co-workers' (and their families') care, can be better spent on their own lifestyle -- good food, healthy environments, exercise programs/equipment/fees, therapeutic massage, travel, education, savings for the minimal medical bills incurred, that's their choice.

Remember the days when we presumed that individuals could best provide for their own needs and plan for their own futures? When we held those responsible for incurring the costs to have some plan to pay for them?

What we have here today is the exact opposite: Government as the Know-It-All with a one-plan-fits-all solution that will be imposed on all of us, whether we need their solution or not.

That's why you see such passion now in those opposing such a plan (remember, it happened to the white Hillary Clinton, just as you're hearing opposition now to the black President Obama. It's really not about race, people.* It's about CHOICE and an effective plan to curb those skyrocketing costs, without shifting the burden to innocent others who are not even receiving medical care for their premiums.)

Hold people accountable for their own choices and bills. Period. If insurance helps, then persuade them to carry it. Or let them decide to invest in their own health needs as they see fit. And again, then hold them to the consequences of their choices, even if they are the 1 in 100 that gambles wrongly. (see above).

That's how you'll rein in the currently unpaid costs, and have people self-ration their care: ie/ "do I really need another MRI, if it will affect my premiums and I'm paying for it myself?" or "Maybe hon, if we can't afford insurance premiums or to pay off our childbirth expenses on the payment plan -- remember Bobby Jindal's father? -- then we'd better hold off on having another child. They only get more expensive after the childbirth costs, afterall, and we can't expect others to continue carrying us and paying for our family needs via taxes in this economy, afterall...")

Something tells me if you force the young and healthy who currently don't treat into even a $100/mo premium plan, they're going to start seeing a doctor for the sniffles too. Insurance, and not paying premiums based on medical history or individual assessment as we do automobile drivers, is what helped cause this mess. No responsibility if you can push your bills off on others in the pool who don't have as great medical needs. Why worry about costs if somebody else is footing the bill?

And yet some think we continue to treat all persons as if their medical needs are the same ... really, they honestly think that will work? Honestly?

Finally, if anybody tells you a poorly planned bill is better than no bill at all, that we have to get something passed, no matter how compromised, because the sky is falling and non-insureds are dropping dead by the dozens ... chances are, they feel guilty about what they have, but instead of contributing their excess money to charities designed to help the non-insured poor who lose their gamble and are facing overwhelming needed medical care, they'd prefer to curtail the choices of healthy others, who are not part of the problem and who want no part of the collective solution.

Btw, I hear there is a religious opt-out** on the mandatory nature of being forced into a pool with others whose medical values you don't share, and whose procedures and treatments you never would incur yourself. Believe it or not, because of bodily integrity issues, not everyone incurs thousands of dollars in bills in their final days, not everyone would authorize amputating the leg of aged diabetics (themselves) because despite the medical advice, not everybody chooses the same.

If you treat minimally, and prefer to put your faith somewhere other than the latest cutting edge medical treatment that so often proves ... more troublesome than beneficial (hormonal treatments for menopause contributing to breast cancer, ladies?), then why the heck should you be on the line for those treatments chosen by others?

There's that old saying: Don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. It's true here too: Don't expect me to pay the costs of other people's medical bills, while carrying my own weight with my own healthcare needs, and then tell me what "a burden to the system" I am.

You'd think with all I've paid in premiums over the years without taking out myself, a little thanks might be in order. And an understanding of why I've structured my healthcare investments the way I have.

In fact, you just might learn a little something from the conservative, risk averse, minimal treaters like myself. Because how the heck can you ever craft a comprehensive solution to what we all agree is a big financial mess, if you've misidentified the cause of the problem in the first place, and are just slapping short-term bandaids -- and blank checks -- on a failing system ?

Riddle me that.




----------------------
* You know you're in a pretty bad spot when you have to count on former President Jimmy Carter to defend you.

** I wonder how many unpaid medical bills the Amish community racks up, for example?

Here's a recipe...

if you're looking for a reason to turn on the oven tonight:

JACK-0-LANTERN COMPOTE

This favorite way to use apples and gourds (pumpkin) goes back more than 20 years to one of my first cookbooks (Sheilah's Fearless Fussless Cookbook).

1 small pumpkin, washed and dried
2 or 3 tart apples, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup yellow raisins
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
Zest of a lemon
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste
Dried cranberries or cherries (optional)



Pumpkin is auspicious and delicious.
Preheat oven 350°F. Cut the top off the pumpkin, leaving a nice slice for the lid.

Place the pumpkin in a large shallow baking dish and scoop out all the seeds (these may be baked separately and used for a nutritious snack).

Combine the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil.

Pour the apple mixture into the pumpkin and cover with the pumpkin lid.

Bake for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the apples are tender.

When serving, be sure to scoop out some of the pumpkin meat. This dish can be served hot or at room temperature.

HINT: Heat and air can cause raisins to dry out, and humidity will cause the sugar in the fruit to crystallize, so store your raisins in an airtight bag or container and keep in the refrigerator.

Spot ... ON !

Paula Abdul nails Ellen's schtick.

Friday funny, indeed.

Over ... Rated.

David Brooks runs out of gas, a bit shy of crossing the finish line. Where does he go wrong, in this well-meaning column that challenges the common columnist crutch, "It's all about race" ?

Well Dave, (may I call ya Dave?) it's not that the "uneducated" look down (up?) their noses at the more credentialed...

It's that ... your credentials are meaning less and less these days. Losing value in the real world. See, it's not a snobbery, or a jealousy. It's that, as we cross more and more class (and other) boundaries once considered traditional, we come to see others (or "the other") through clearer eyes. Thus, we see things like:

1) not all immigrants, and people who work with their hands and bodies, have nothing going on upstairs. Some perhaps, just haven't the necessary credentials from formal educations, and have needs today that direct them into the labor force. Don't think they turn their brains off just because they are paid for work done by the sweat of their brow...

2) not all gays are like those clowns parading half-ass naked in the June pride parades. Plenty are just as conservative as you and yours, and are wondering how long you can justify the special privileges afforded to heterosexual couplings based on the very thinnest of rational basis to society reasons ...

3) it's getting harder and harder to justify stereotypes based on skin tone, gender and ethnicity, as we intermingle, come from a variety of places, and are exposed to more and more in society as a whole. Black kid can't swim? Farm boy can't dance? Asian girl excels in math and rejects "dippy" girlie trends to focus on studies? Jewish boy has an internal moral compass that will guide him where formal religious laws can't? Jewish girl cares only about shopping and landing herself a husband to breed the babies she will devote her life to? Irish kid is a partying drunk?

Sorry, but what perhaps once passed as shorthand identifiers when we all kept mostly to our own ethnic enclaves and were perhaps more possessive about our own traditions and cultural milestones is losing currency.

As is this notion that the credentialed classes are wiser and will somehow lead us out of the mess caused by the well-meaning, in more flush times when it seemed we had more to go around than we, as Americans, really did.

Brooks clings to this idea. You see it when he touts the suburban education of the diverse high schools out East. Their test scores. Their parents' push. Their foreign travels, summer internships at the big corporate firms. Their language camps and orchestra instructions. And don't get me started on the specialized athletic training that has Johnny declaring his sport by age 7 for the travelling teams, lest it be too late.

In short, these kids have been given it all: every opportunity, bred to succeed.

Yet here we are today in America. With all these credentials at the top, all these beliefs that the "merit" system as a whole is doing a good job of determining "winners" and "losers."

It reminds me really, of another generation that was truly blessed with "it all". The Boomers, to which David Brooks -- and so many of his NYT columnist colleagues -- belong.

Yet come on. Any reader with half a brain in her head can see how miserably that paper is failing to sniff out where America is at today: without blogs and criticisms, I suspect they would just pick a monthly topic (say, Sarah Palin's family; or Joe Wilson's verbal outburst) and have each one write their own personal thoughts on that -- some with a Dave Barry-wannabe humor touch; some with that "insider" Washington bit that calls on their own family and networked connections.

Yet still, day after day, they miss the big picture.

Ditto so many of our corporate business leaders, who may have scored well on their standardized tests once upon a time, or pledged the right frat or sorority and charmed older business partners who could "help" their careers.

Again, match that up with where America is at competitively right now. Devalued currency. Devalued credentials. Who You Are is eventually giving way to What You Do.

As we keep on watching, we see a lot of overpaid, overvalued people collecting, but not producing very much. Doing the bare minimum, and even scoffing at those who put passion into their work.

The true road ahead for our country lies not in protecting these people, systematically making it continue to work via the "go along to get along" principles, but calling them on the large gap behind what their words promise and what their actions actually produce.

Anybody can parrot good thoughts, afterall. A theory is never so promising as when it's written on paper, untested by the realities of life that are necessary to operate under.

And plenty of today's leaders have all the solutions when standing on the sidelines, not getting their hands dirty. It's amazing how when you're actually thrown into the game -- eating what you kill, some call it -- that some realize just how overrated their talents and skills really are, absent the subsidies that help cushion the fall, that let's some pretend that they really were contributors all along.

But "We the People" are not paying for your excesses, and your "mistakes", ad infinitum.

Less regulations. Less protections. Less government-guaranteed charity to those who fail.

If you want true competition, the rise of the fittest, the most meritorious to rise despite those who believe they are protected by their pedigrees and credentials, then you first need to cut through a lot of this nonsense that has folks in trailer parks buying lunches for professionals' children, and then you need to slay the system that ever allows such things to happen. Not build it up further, convinced of the righteousness of your good intentions ...

I wonder if Dave Brooks keeps his glasses on when he runs. He's been around for awhile, and seems to play it safe in his national columns.

Nothing like the comfort of the status quo, I guess, and falling back on the crutch of poor eyesight to keep you in the game, running for another day as the operable parts slowly grind down...

-----------------


Have a great weekend, readers. Harvest time lets us reap what we've sowed, so after taking a few days, we'll see you back here next week.

Another in a string of beautiful days!

Blest be the Lord!

Come. Follow Me ...

and I will give you rest.

The natural beauty here, of the seasons on the cusp, has me singing lately. Following up on last night's tunes, here are the lyrics of three more personal favorites, the first two childhood church songs.

Take from 'em what you will...

1.) (Bob Dufford, S.J., a Catholic Hymn)

You shall cross the barren desert
But you shall not die of thirst.
You shall wander far in safety
Though you do not know the way.

You shall speak your words in foreign lands
And all will understand.
You shall see the face of God, and Live!

Be not afraid.
I go before you always.
Come. Follow Me...
And I will give you rest.

If you pass through raging waters
in the sea, you shall not drown.
If you walk amidst the burning flames
You shall not be harmed.

If you stand before the pow'r of hell
And death is at your side
Know that I am with you, through it all.

Be not afraid
I go before you always
Come follow Me...
And I will give you rest.

Blessed are your poor
For the Kingdom shall be theirs
Blest are you that weep and mourn
for one day you shall laugh.

And if wicked men insult and hate you
All because of Me
Blessed, blessed are you!

Be not afraid
I go before you always
Come follow Me...
and I will give you rest...

2.) Though the mountains may fall
and the hills turn to dust,
yet the love of the Lord will stand...
as a shelter for all who would call on his name.
Sing the praise and glory of God!~

Could the Lord ever leave you?
Could the Lord forget His love?
Though a mother forsake her child,
He will not abandon you.

Should you turn and forsake Him,
He will gently call your name.
Should you wander away from Him,
He will always take you back.

Though the mountains may fall,
and the hills turn to dust,
yet the love of the Lord will stand...
as a shelter for all who would call on his name.
Sing the praise and glory of God!~

Go to Him when you're weary.
He will give you eagle's wings.
You will run, never tire,
for your God will be your strength.

As He swore to your fathers,
when the floods destroyed the land,
He will never forsake you.
He will swear to you again...

Though the mountains may fall,
and the hills turn to dust,
yet the love of the Lord will stand...
as a shelter for all who would call on his name.
Sing the praise and glory of God!~

3.) (No link necessary.)

But if you try sometime...
Well you just might find...
You get what you need.

Tuesday night retro rockout.

Southern Cross


Right Here Right Now.

Drop.

Head On. (and the JMC version.)


Nothing special about today, sometimes I just like to crank the old stuff... ("makes you wanna feel, makes you wanna try, makes you wanna pluck the stars from the sky...)

5-day forecast...

Blogging here will be light. (You take what you get, afterall.)

Enjoy the warmth and sunny skies, wherever you may be ...

Chetek Fall Festival ...

was yesterday. It was in the 80s, sunny and nice. The man selling pumpkins and gourds, and the lady with the crocheted hats didn't have so good a day. But everyone else seemed to enjoy the swap of August and September weather patterns.

Nothing beats spring-fed lake swimming in mid-September, in my book.

And tonight, I'm torn, but ... Go Bears!

--------------

Added: RIP public option. Actually, looking down the road a bit, this thing really could turn out to be the death knell for the Democratic party. (Remember when it was ringing before, before the charismatic Senator Obama brought it back from the brink?) And wouldn't that be just like the Dems have been playing the game lately -- looking not at the team score, but trying to pump up their individual stats?

Because imagine how the young people of tomorrow -- plenty already tempted by the promises of a libertarian, independent coalition that owes no allegiance for previous favors -- are going to look upon the burdens foisted upon them when they realize the party of Pro-Choice is really just a collection of those from the upper economic strata (credential professionals who know best of all (despite the team results)) -- taking care to keep in place those governed (the lower ends of the strata who can't even adequately feed themselves, raise their children, or be trusted to make their own choices based on their own traditional values) -- paid for by the shrinking "holding up their own end" middle, who are also growing increasingly resentful of having the country's decisions made for them for generations to come.

That day will come, you can bet on it. And those who are younger today will have stronger voices that will be heard. No matter how much you try to dumb them down, most adults eventually can add and subtract. And no matter how slick the marketing, even the biggest victory tours eventually come to and end and fade off into the yesterday, while today marches on...

Some players put the team before themselves, before individual glory: Walter Payton, say. Plenty don't. If free choice is a touted team value though, you wonder how much some players are willing to compromise away, before they realize they're scoring little points at the expense of giving away the game.

On that Running Controversy.

If her external organs are female, and she was raised this way all her life, then despite the testosterone advantage, they should still let her run with the women and compete, in my view. I agree with the family, and the scientific findings, because of course it's possible to simultaneously hold and respect both viewpoints.

Semenya was ordered to take tests straight after her 800 metres gold at the World Championships in Berlin.

The athlete received a heroine's welcome when she arrived back home in South Africa following the backlash.

And Semenya's family have slammed the claims, saying: "It is God who made her look that way but she IS a girl."

The runner was last week given a make-over by YOU magazine — and called the row over her gender "a joke" as she posed in make-up and a dress.

South Africa's athletics chiefs this evening said they stood by her amid the claims.

Athletics South Africa president Leonard Chuene said the organisation would advise the teenager to ignore all media speculation until she had been officially informed of the results of the tests.

He said: "We are ignoring these claims. We cannot comment on them as we know nothing about them.

"We will wait for the due process to be followed. The authorities have made a statement to say we will be informed about the results and we await that development.

"We cannot get involved in gossip of this sort. Our people will speak to Caster this evening and ensure that she puts these rumours from her mind.

"She is at university at the moment. She must concentrate on her studies.

"We stand fully behind her as our athlete."

Semenya's family also angrily disputed the claims.

The athlete's uncle Lesiba Rammabi, 51, said her relatives were 'very humiliated' by the reports.

He said: "I believe Caster is normal, inside and out.

"What does it matter whether she can have babies or not? Many people cannot have children, why else do parents adopt? Are those women not women also?

"We are a normal family who looked at a child when she was born, saw that she was a girl and raised her as any other family would do. Are we now being told that we are wrong?

"We are very humiliated by what has been said and do not understand how it can be true.

"This is a woman who was raised a female. She will always be female, no matter what people say."

ADDED: Sadly, she appears to have withdrawn from this weekend's scheduled races:

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Caster Semenya has withdrawn from a weekend race amid speculation about the South African runner's gender.

The South African Press Association quotes her coach, Michael Seme, as saying she will not take part in the 4,000 meters at the national cross country championships in Pretoria on Saturday.

He had said earlier this week that Semenya would run.

Asked Friday why she withdrew, Seme said she was "not feeling well."

Think it through now people.

Not to overdose on the healthcare theme, but...

What I suspect is at the root of many differences comes down to common sense.

You can promise all you like that under a nationally financed plan: "abortions will not be paid for", and "illegal immigrants will not be covered", and our estimates trump the CBO's and we're certain that the ultimate budgeting for this federal program is spot on. Heh.

Maybe it's not lying, per se, maybe you just haven't fully exposed the facts you've come up with, to the sunlight of the real world. Like so many corporate leaders living beyond their means are able to do, knowing that ultimately they're not held responsible for paying for such mistakes. Maybe you haven't operated enough in the fields you're expressing expertise at to understand how the world really works, in practice not just on paper or oral promises. Mea culpas down the road won't go over so well on this one, I predict, when there's no accompanying treats afforded in the form of bailouts because the money had been long spent, years ago.

So many seemingly intelligent people, on paper at least, who voted for a junior senator based on charisma, and his ability to persuade, now seem to be rethinking their collective purchase. So before we jump into this massive federal program -- that no matter how much a foreign war costs, by contrast has no end date:
Think it through.

If an illegal immigrant shows up at the hospital emergency room bleeding, their bill won't be absorbed into the same system as today? They'll be turned away from care, or the hospital will have to continue to absorb the costs? Hm... doesn't seem to treat the root financial cause that the healthcare overhaul promises to fix.

An illegal immigrant tests positive for t.b., hepatitis, or another contagious disease: he is sent packing with no follow up care, drug treatment, or admission? Or again, the hospital absorbs the costs, as today, by billing other patients: those insured, and those uninsured -- often on payment plans -- who pay their bills outright.

A woman on the government insurance plan is recommended by her doctor for an abortion, for medical reasons, to save her own life, say. This will not be covered, and she will be turned away or have to pay out of pocket in advance for the procedure? And if she's unable to pay but the medical establishment does perform the procedure, the taxpaying public won't somehow be absorbing those costs? Hm...

Likewise this whole, "it won't raise the deficit" talk. Well if services are finite, none of the Medicare/Medicaid insured will see any cuts to their plans, and doctors/drug companies will be fully compensated with no change in private coverage, where will the money come from?

The young people currently "gaming the system" by not costing the system in bills and not carrying insurance that helps cover others ... their mandatory premiums (which assume no uptick in accompanying service demands, apparently), plus all of the promised fraud savings in current government healthcare, and the promised market drivedown of current costs and profits, is going to balance 1) unlimited insurance coverage for all illness; 2) no right of refusal for pre-existing conditions; 3) expanding costs under the mental health parity act, signed just last October that forces insurance to pay for physical and mentally documented illnesses equally; 4) the demographic increase in older Americans with accompanying health needs; 5) undocumented immigrants and their families (who surely will have healthcare needs, and any human worker knows you cannot merely "turn them away" when they are here and in need); and 6)no need to ration, or "triage" priorities for those currently covered? Hmm...

I don't believe it.

Too good to be true.

The costs just don't balance. We all know that, as much as we'd like to wish it away, or put the mea culpas and reckoning off for another day. When somebody else is working and paying for our choices today through their taxes, their own freedoms of "We the People" sharply curtailed by the earlier poor economic planning of earlier others.

No thanks. I want no part of that myself. We do need to go back to the drawing board, and rehaul the entire system. Because with no incentives to improve health or reduce systematic bloat, no way of paying for these airy promises, no tort reform or family ability-to-pay* evaluation, and again, merely pushing the costs off on another generation -- that's not really insurance, only worth the paper it's written on, and it surely won't bring security.

Change, it turns out kids, must wait another day.




------------------

*I think if we had a leader that somehow was able to reshape our familial attitudes and morals: Take Care of Your Own -- we'd be halfway there.

Does a family owe health care to their own parents before luxury lifestyles based on inheritance expectations?

Should a father whose income is capable of paying for offspring produced out of marraige be allowed to transfer his partner and child's healthcosts to taxpayers, by avoiding legal ties?

I don't think it's the poor people and uninsured sometimes who systematically cost us the most: it's often those wealthy who know how to game the system legally, and have much more expensive tastes in terms of healthcare needs than those perhaps with the incentive to treat minimally, particularly at healthy and youthful times of their lives.

Best to just say no now, than to rush this thing through and have to revamp the whole bloody mess later, which of course future Americans will need to do, after so many promises have been broken, and so much internal damage done to the country -- financially, and irreversibly healthwise.

Picture books.

Here are two I like to pull off my lower shelves and revisit this time of year:

Hurry, Hurry, Mary Dear
and
Together in Pinecone Patch

(The first, because it's seasonal and funny; the second is charming and funny too, and I bought it online with the other.)

Have a great Wednesday, already...

The schoolchildren respond.

Employing their critical-thinking skills, some students evaluate the much-anticipated Obama school speech:

"It was more geared toward kids who are likely to drop out," said 15-year-old Michael Trimble, a sophomore at Dwyer High School in Jupiter. "Most of us are already doing what he said."

Other students in Michael's Advanced Placement world history class offered similar comments, saying the speech was monotonous and uninspiring.

"He just said what everyone expected him to say," added Zacharay Jacobson, 15.

Some also felt that Obama was putting too much pressure on them to fix the world's problems — problems that they didn't create. *

"We're supposed to fix what you guys broke," Michael said. "Like he was saying, 'You guys have to fix our problems and become the greatest generation.'"

Soft bigotry of low expectations, or merely defining down student accomplishment?

(ie/ for some, just graduating is not success, nor is merely obtaining a college degree. It's what you learn, and sadly, what used to be taught at the high school level is now what's necessarily taking place in too many colleges. Watch President Reagan's 1988 speech to high school students -- he talks "up", not down, to them -- and tell me that educational expectations haven't declined in our technological age. Substance, baby.)

--------------

* I hope young Michael and his cohorts tune in for Wednesday night's speech to hear the President explain how we can afford a bloated healthcare mandate in these times. So much, of course, will fall to Michael's generation to pay the bills that these politicians -- D and R -- continue to rack up. These young voices are the ones not currently being heard, and yet they are the ones whom we intend to pass the big bill to ...

Related: Maybe she could do as so many other creative, determined, and organized friends and family do in these circumstances: hold a private fundraiser, and invite all the public you can! Donated prizes, silent auctions, hamburger and hotdog sales, soliciting help and donations. True friends take action: they don't stand by and let their friends suffer from poor healthcare because of lack of funds, if they themselves can contribute to the cause.

You might not like the idea of "charity" help for the uninsured. But welcome to reality. There's a flyer posted almost every weekend up here for folks in the same situation as Ms. Estrich's friend: "Yes You Can" take a turn at the grill, flipping burgers and dogs. "Yes You Can" take stock of your own finances, and be as generous to that final tally as you can.

A friend's husband was just diagnosed with prostate cancer. They are American citizens. They both work. But neither of their jobs provides health insurance. They make too much money for Medicaid and way too little to afford the $12,000 it would have cost them to insure the family with a private insurer. Now, of course, no one would take them.

He went to Harbor, the public hospital, the public option. He sat there for about 14 hours, which wasn't so bad, and finally saw a doctor, who is ordering more tests, hopefully soon, and then they will see. At my hot dog stand, he would have had the tests already, and would have been examined by a surgeon skilled in the latest robotic techniques. He's not asking for that. He just doesn't want to die of something they routinely cure a few miles away.

So the conservatives win a round. Until they can answer the question of who is going to take care of my friend's husband, who cares?

Uninsured shouldn't mean hopeless, and friends are there in hard times, when bureacracies are able to turn away. It's easy to imagine you're powerless in the face of illness and lack of cash: put on "It's a Wonderful Life" and learn to count your blessings and have faith in people, not policies? Seems to me that's always a better payout, when you're thinking long-term and not quick cash gains ...

New day.

Offline for two days, and then into the post-Labor Day newness... Tell me again why it is we're supposed to pack up the white?

It's harvest season here, and keeping up out in the sunshine is enjoyable. As are the colors on the river and lake shorelines...

Plus, I've been keeping up with the writing, and reading: now who knew Goethe studied law?

Make it great week: these golden days pass so quickly.

Friday night moon light.

Rice Lake raised monies though their booster organizations to put in a new artificial turf field and bleachers this summer, outside their high school. The boys' soccer team broke it in last week with two home games, but last night the community turned out to see the Warriors football team win under the lights, and the Pisces or Full Corn Moon.

I biked up in time for the second half -- the field looks great! -- and watched them mostly grind it out with running and short pass plays. Everybody looked like they were enjoying themselves -- I would love to get a count sometime of how many people, the young ones especially, are watching the game, and how many are pursuing their own interests in the autumn air, chasing each other and hollering out, glad to be part of the festivities.

My high school played Saturday afternoon games, and those can be enjoyable in the autumn sunshine too. But there's something about the crisp night air, watching the boys stepping up into their roles on the field, cheering on the home team, and just hoping for somebody to put together some exciting plays ...

A new field invokes pride; a new season inspires goals and dreams. These are the things communities can feed on, no matter where they are: Go Team!

How easily we forget what this all feels like. How it smells, too, the aroma of popcorn mixing with bug spray and, when the students begin their promenade up and down the field-level sidewalks and through the shadows out behind the bleachers, great, competing clouds of dime-store cologne and perfume as well.

Who cares that the games aren't always crisply played, or that the concept of instant replay is in the mind of the beholder alone? This is high school football, back at full buzz for another unfathomable season. From now until December, at fields lit on every corner of our county, it makes teenage stars feel like grownups and graying alumni feel like kids.

Fwiw.

I don't have children in government schools, so I can't say next Tuesday's "presidential message" shakes me much. But I will add this, fwiw.

If he's just there to encourage kids to "not drop out", "apply yourself", "learn how to get along with others and be a good citizen", then I don't think it should be mandatory listening.*

Most kids, a good majority, get that at home. That's the parents' job -- maybe a little bit on the teacher to impress. But the president -- shouldn't he have bigger things on his mind than inspiring the nation's children?

Maybe looking ahead at foreign policy, our role in Afghanistan, which is easy enough to ignore sure. But a big issue in, how long we can afford to community build, and have opportunity for exploitation of poor p.r. ? What have we learned from the countries who tried to reshape this region in the past?

Why not see how Israel deals with Iran, and maybe take the "defense from above" approach ourselves, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, where-ever needed. Sending more and more bodies in, not to fight for the most part as I understand it, but to community build, infrastructure and the likes, while winning hearts and minds... is that the current strategy? hmm...

I'd hope the president would be working more on reshaping that, when he gets through with the domestic agenda battles, not looking out trying to affect the long-term dropout rate. Delegate the soft stuff. Maybe let the First Lady take on such a social-building campaign? Otherwise the president risks getting typecast -- hard for the people to see him switch from character to character.

(There were plenty of other reasons sure, but looking back, surely it was hard to take President Carter seriously in other roles, after he solicited Amy's advice on foreign affairs, did that disastrous Playboy interview, and courted public and media ridicule by appearing on tv to remind us all to turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater, and turn off the lights in empty rooms to help save energy. He got typecast as Mr. Rogers. PR matters, even if you think you're the master of the game.

Remember, again for example, after President Lincoln's election, how even though half the country's politicians knew the "other half" was disaffected, they really underestimated the discontent and lack of satisfaction at being heard that the soon-to-be-seceding states represented? I don't think we're anywhere near seccession level, don't get me wrong, but I do believe the national administration -- perhaps Congresspeople of all parties -- still haven't come to grips with the level of discontent and lack of faith the American people currently have in their leadership.

It can be dangerous this "split", not so much internally, but should the need to rally together as a nation by some yet unforseen threat that might arise -- economically, militarily, or otherwise. We can't just paper over these differences though, trying to temporarily placate this "side" or that; such coalitions often crack under pressure, and the lack of outside pressure currently upon us is one blessing we probably should be counting while we can... Likewise, we can't just hole up and hope that such storms pass over to assess the damage: eventually, we will have to come together to decide priorities as a country, to prepare for other future shocks ... )

Besides, if it's the first day, or the first week of school, sitting the kids in front of a television set is inefficient. That message could much more easily be delivered in the classroom en masse, by a local community leader: the teacher who is just taking the reins and could better use that time, I am sure.

Target the schools who might need that message coming from the president, perhaps, and don't take it personally (another racial drama) if local schools choose to opt out of the hourlong is it? t.v. message.

Fwiw.

So nice, we linked it twice...

Missing link added below.

Gail Collins apparently bites... buying Vanity Fair and reading the cover story on 19-year-old Levi Johnston*. But will she pony up the newsstand price for the nekkid pictures he's said to be negotiating with Playgirl?? Inquiring minds want to know...

Congratulations to Diane Sawyer who will be anchoring the ABC national news come January. I've caught her recently on GMA, and she did seem a cut above her three other hosts -- ripe for promoting to the heavier evening news.

Speaking of...
days before the announcement of his resignation, and catching a bit of the ABC coverage of the Kennedy funeral, I wondered if something was physically wrong with Mr. Gibson. He seems to have a bit of a shake, perhaps Parkinson's related? Unlike Peter Jennings' lung cancer, perhaps Mr. Gibson is preferring to stay private and not disclose anything at this time?

Finally, here's a column on perspective, worth reading on another glorious September day mellowing into the evening hours... Try to remember indeed.

------------

* Now let's give the lady a break for playing "catch up" on old news. Afterall, when we heard the baby's birth announcement and his given name months ago, how could you expect New York media to put two-and-two together: Hockey Dad ... middle name of Easton... Pop had some input on naming the boy! So it is news today, once they've got this family all figured out.

Just still trying to figure out ... why, with all the other issues to cover, is this news fit to print? (Got a feeling young Mr. Johnston just might bring out the cougar in otherwise respectable women media, who might not even recognize their baser instincts. Let's see how well that Playgirl issue sells... )

Sounds like life to me.

It ain't no fantasy.
Man, I know it's tough but you gotta suck it up.
To hear you talk, you're caught up in some tragedy.
It sounds like life to me.

Written By: Wynn Varble, Phil O'Donnell, Darryl Worley

It was a very beautiful September first, here in the heartland. And I heard this song on the radio for the first time...

Sounds like life to me.