A tweet about a WSJ article authored by Penn Jillette that I read Saturday. The article led to an out-loud laugh when I read what it would take for Hummer to meet the fuel economy standard President Obama proposes. Mr. Jillette – this one’s for you.
While there were no U.S. mine fatalities in 2009, this year’s toll is already too large. The various states agencies and the federal government provide inspections and enforcement of regulations. But death and injury still continue to occur in mines. May I suggest a regulation that requires the CEO of the mining company to personally inspect each mine at least once per quarter and the next tier of management at least once per month. By inspection, I am not talking about a photo-op, above-ground visit. What I had in mind was a trip to the mine face, up-close and personal. It is possible that this would bring additional focus on the safety and conditions in the mine.
I link without additional comment.
I have just returned from Asheville, NC where I saw a most amazing play. PLUTO V. ERIS. A play to celebrate the 400th Anniversary of the publication of Galileo’s The Starry Messenger.
Full disclosure, I probably would not have heard about this play if my daughter did not play a part.
A classic play in the sense that it’s form and presentation model a Greek classic play. Or perhaps a modern civil trial.
A number of gods and goddesses from myth and legend are gathered for a Council of Celestial Beings. Eris, goddess of Discord, is accused by Pluto, god of the Underworld, of treason and general mayhem. Testimony proceeds through dialog and deposition. The costumes of the gods and goddess are outstanding from the Polynesian and Hawaiian god and goddess that open the show to the giant planet giants that join in the testimony. The cut paper figures in the shadow puppet deposition video are worth the visit in themselves. Classic shapes. Classic themes. Great action.
As the play unfolds, the interaction of myth and earth reality are explored. In the end, there are choices to be made.
The Vance Elementary School in Asheville Planetorium is the near-perfect performance space for this play. The semi-circular stadium is reminiscent of the Greek and Roman theaters of ancient times. More so because the ceiling of the Planetorium is hung with models of the planets with Earth the size of a basketball and the others to match.
Just one more performance in this round on the March 27, 2010 at 8:00 PM. A great show and worth the trip. A website for more info. Contributions benefit the Vance Elementary NASA program. A website for more info. Contributions benefit the Vance Elementary NASA program.
It is the floody time of year. A headline in my wife’s hometown newspaper reads “County Ditch 56 Now In Flood Zone”. The Weather Underground site where I post weather pictures has flooded roads, streets, and parks. Usually these are posted in a section called VIP for Very Important Picture, indicating that they are weather related pictures happening now. Today when I went to look for one, the section was empty. I suppose that this means that the snow is melting slowly, the Spring rain has slacked off, the rivers are moving, the sandbags are holding. The rivers are subsiding.
And so it is too with things like ObamaCare. From mid-November to today, everyday was some crisis for those who were for and for those who were against. They are still flapping but it will subside.
With rivers, there are many ways to look at them. The towboat captain looks at them as a highway with traffic, dangerous curves, rough spots, narrow lanes. The fisherman looks at them as a place to find a quiet out of the way spot to anchor, sit or stand and try to fool the fish. The Corp of Engineers looks at a river as something to be controlled. And the river looks back and thinks to itself “What a foolish idea”.
The farmer looks at the river and hopes that it comes up and refreshes that bottom land and then goes back in the banks and quietly flows away soon enough that he has time to plant, wait, and harvest before frost comes again. The River Street resident hopes that it does not come up at all.
Heraclitus said “You can never step in the same river twice”. So it is with the passage of the Health Care Bill the country is immutably changed.
Change for the better and change for the worse. The net result remains to be seen. For some it will be a blessing. For some it causes difficulty. For others just the change will be painful as the comfort of the old-same-thing is replaced by the new-same-thing.
Changed it is. Get used to it.
I am blessed that last month my son son became a member Upsilon Pi Epsilon (ΥΠΕ), the International honor society for people with interest and ability in Computer Science (CS).
I am impressed that in a small school, the UPE inductees include a young woman and young man with a visual handicap.
Tomorrow night you will be [nodding | shaking | scratching] your head at President Obama’s State of the Union Address. As a politician, Obama (or his speech writers) will make sure that all of the right buttons are pushed. As a citizen, you will be shaking your head at all of the unfulfilled promises of the campaign trail. And as a real live person, you will be scratching your head as to [where are we now? | what should we do? | long range plans?]. Yes, Barack Obama is the ultimate enigma. Perhaps, recent election results will energize him to new ideas and directions. Hopefully the face-to-face with the massed Congress will be a wake up call to both the Congress and the President. I suspect that despite the applause, most of the 435+100+9+1 will sleep through class. Do not blame the professor (at least I expect him to show on time, the Secret Service will see to that), I suspect insufficient pre-class preparation by the occupants of the lecture hall is the main problem.
A note on the front of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday made me sad. I will miss Kate McGarrigle but I will always hear her song.
America will likely wake up Christmas morning with a terrible hangover.
The Senate seems hell-bent-for-leather to get some sort of health reform bill passed. Or maybe that is slip one past. The vote set for Christmas eve will give Americans no health, no reform, no care, and a huge bill.
Nominally the bill is to reduce cost by reforming the health care industry and the way that insurance against illness is paid. But because of concessions to special interest groups, the tax payers will end up footing the bill for universal insurance for the indigent while the “Cadillac” health plan covered folk escape paying the proposed fees due to carve-outs and special exceptions.
Medicare pays so little for many procedures that many caregivers will not accept new patients if their only insurance is Medicare. If all patients fees are regulated at the same rate, the level of care will decline, if only because doctors and other personnel leave the system to find something they can afford to do. No there will not be death committees, but you may have to wait so long for care that you do die or wish you could.
This is not reform. This is more of the same nonsense that caused the problem in first place.
My recommendation:
End the deductibility of payroll health insurance. This should be taxable income to the recipient. This gets non-health care business out of the health care business.
End the limits that states can put on health plans sold in state. This would open the markets to all comers and give consumers price and coverage choices that are not available today. Existing consumer protection laws could be used to prevent fraud and abuse.
Have individuals pay for all medicine and procedures. Have insurance companies reimburse the individuals if they are insured. This will ensure that, where possible, families will shop for value, achieving a balance between level of care and affordability.
Publish the secret codes that describe medical procedures. This would allow consumers to ensure that they are billed for the care actually administered. Today the codes can only be used by those who have purchased the copyright license to the code book. As a result, it is impossible to determine what was billed for, insure accuracy in billing, or negotiate for a better price. Insurance companies pay more, consumers cannot assist in reducing cost. The code monopoly needs to end.
Allow purchasing insurance for all coverage with an exclusion for an existing condition. A phase in of coverage for a controlled existing condition could be an option.
The best outcome for the existing bill is that it will self-destruct in conference committee. The likely outcome is that it will get even more expensive.
Comments received on my earlier blog relative to global warming indicate that some politcos took offense. While I think they should be wearing stripes ala prison garb, the stripes I had in mind at the time were those worn by family Mephitis mephitis.
