Hysteria about the Supreme Court by Democrats

When I listen to the hysteria expressed at the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing, I can't help but remind myself that we've  had a Republican in office for less than two years.  If the Democrats were so concerned about he Supreme Court, why didn't more of the august seniors retire in the later years of the two term Democrat president we just had?

from The Economist

Could it be that these pillars of liberal thought preferred to allow the Clinton to make the replacement than Obama?  Why is that? Could it be that chink in their liberal armor is showing?

You had 8 years to ensure liberal replacements on the court.  You chose to stick around and not allow Obama to make any additional appointments.  If you are honest with yourself, justices, why is that?

Oh, and the correct answer is not, "We were sure Hillary would win?"  Nothing is certain,but death and taxes.

Just a thought.

Repealing the ACA

As a former Medicaid Director for a large eastern state, I would like to make the following recommendations on how to repeal and replace the ACA, ObamaCare, (Yes, Virginia, in a press conference our current President actually said he likes that the ACA is called Obamacare, "I do care." August 2011).

Here are my suggestions for how to succeed.  These and $5 may get up a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

On Medicaid Expansion:

• Discontinue marginal adjusted gross income (MAGI) for eligibility,  This income test requires a look back to confirm the income, and does not consider assets in the calculation,  One could literally have $1M in an trust account that pays all ones bills, but only yields $1000 per month spending change and qualify for Medicaid,
• Do not return to the days of requiring that a person live in a family with children to recieve Medicaid,  Income and assets should be the only determinate of eligibility (Prior to the ACA, single adults and couples without children could not qualify for Medicaid unless aged, blind or disabled).
• Allow tailoring of benefit packages to meet the needs of eligibility groups.

On Insurance purchases:

• Allow purchases across state lines
• Create pools or other mechanisms that guarantee issue for those in good health with preexisting conditions
• Do not reinstate lifetime/annual maximum benefits
• Allow individuals and groups to have more tailored benefit packages (i.e.--really I don't need or want to pay for transgender surgery or abortions) If contraceptives are important to you then buy a rider
• Discontinue high deductible plans unless the individual has the ability to participate in a Flexible Spending Account or Health Saving Account 
• Allow copay health plans again
• Define preexisting conditions by health status not by diagnosis

Just some thoughts.  Know that if the pricing is fair and weird requirements such as no plan can cost more than 4 times the lowest cost plan, more young people would buy in at a reasonable rate. As person with a preexisting condition, married to a person with a preexisting condition...I am anxious to see what comes out, but I understand the need for some ability for costs to reflect the health status of the individual.

The Future Meets Regulation and Fails

In the 1980s, as a newly minted Medicaid executive, I went to the Arizona town of Arcosanti.  Arcosanti was Architect Paolo Soleri's dream city meant to be eco-friendly, innovative and composed of a single structure.  The structure would be a laboratory for self-sustaining and self-contained  cities of the future. Arcosanti was meant to house 5,000 people, but to date, 47 years since its inception, it houses only 100.

What happened?  The dream met the  reality of government regulation and failed to thrive.  How often does this happen? Nothing has been built in Arcosanti for over 15 years.  Why? According to David Kidd in Governing Magazine, January 2017, "That's partly the fault of new building codes--the local fire company has put a halt to any additions until the dirt road that leads from the nearby interstate is paved."

Total government control is never a good thing. In picking the alternative energy winners and losers, being self-contained and self-sustaining is not a good thing.  One wonders what alternative the local fire company discussed with Arcosanti in terms of delegated responsibility, versus literal adherence to the letter of the law. Prehaps its funding from donations and the sale of Arcosanti Bells makes it just a little too independent for governement to work with.

I wonder how different the end of this story would be if Arcosanti were dependent on gvernment grants and alternative energy development?

What Color is Courage?

When I was 22, I shared an office with a very accomplished man at an association in DC.  He taught me that orange was the color of success.  Someone told me green was the color of prosperity.  What is the color of courage?

Yesterday I awoke to the story of the Black Lives Matter protestor speaking of being shot in the leg,  How she threw herself on her sons to keep them safe.  How she realized that there were other people lying on top of her and her sons to protect them from the flying bullets...the hate of the sniper.  The protectors were wearing blue.

I hope the fact that the police officers put her family's safety over

and above their own tells her something about duty and honor.  I hope that the police officers' actions reminds her daily that the few bad actors are the exception not the rule, and yes, they should be addressed as the individuals they are. I hope she always remembers that going home to her family after a night of protest, was always a given for her.  Going home after a shift of work is never a given to police officers.  They put protecting her family above the desire to go home to loving husbands, wives, parents and children..

When the time comes to stereotype a class group of humans again, I hope that all Americans, regardless of their skin color, remember the courage of these officers.  I hope that they acknowledge that this courage is the rule not the exception, and thank God for those who leave home every day knowing that being home at the end of shift is not promised.

May the love of Christ cover all the families who are mourning losses due to hate.

The Color of Courage? In this case--Blue.

A supporter hugs a Dallas police officer at a makeshift memorial at police headquarters. Photo: carlo allegri/Reuters

Planned Parenthood and Survivors' Guilt

Today I was working out in the fitness center of yet another hotel in my University of Pennsylvania Penn for Life t-shirt.  It made me think about the last couple of generations of college students.  Roe v. Wade passed in  1973. The students in college now have never lived in a time without legal, government sanctioned infanticide, in the name of freedom, in the name of fulfillment, in the name of women's rights?

These students are  a generation whose parents have not been shy or reserved about mentioning the children that they choose not to have for whatever reason.  Because my generation and their parent's generations have been so open, these children have survivors' guilt.  They wake each day with a thought deeply buried in their consciousness, wondering why they were the siblings that their parents chose to let live.  They wonder what was wrong with the missing siblings, or what was right about them.

Since this is also a generation that was raised in a time where we are not to speak of Judeo-Christian values in school or society, they are left to attribute there survival to chance or happenstance. 

So is it any mystery that this is the generation that operates 714 college chapters of Students for Life? Consider having a pro-life organization on a college campus in the 1970s or 1980s? Not really.  That this is the generation that has, in its search for meaning, rediscovered the phrase "there, but for the grace of God go I." That this is the generation that is investigating organizations that prosper from procedures such as abortion, and asking moral questions, not cultural questions.

Their survivors' guilt may just be the attitude that will generate the actions that save their children from feeling the same shame and uncertainty.  I am grateful for their action and voice.

Sticks and Stones....

When I was growing up I was taught the phrase, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."  We lost that bit of common sense somewhere along the way. We knew the difference between words and actions.  When we taught our children to take every word as a threat, we lost our minds as a culture.

My mother was not the most orthodox mother on the planet, but she raised resilient children. One day walking back from school, a group of black kids called me a half breed (one of the kids involved actually had a white mother and a black father, unlike me with two black parents).  A little further along a group of white kids called me the n-word.  When I walked into the house, Mom took one look at my face and knew that I was fit to be tied.

After telling my mother the story of my afternoon, Mom just laughed.  Mom explained that people only bother to do this to those they are intimidated or jealous.  Her approach was take the complement and move on.

My mother did not tell me that I was a victim of bullying. Or that I should know that I would be scarred for life.  Her ability to laugh at my bad day did something miraculous.  She made those who tried to injure me with their words small and harmless.  By contrast she made me strong and powerful.

Let's make our children strong again--Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me...unless I let them.

There are Things One Cannot Unsee

Today I watched the torture and desecration of the living body of a Jordanian pilot murdered by ISIS.  I can not unsee this barbarism.  I watched it on the website of Walid Shoebat, a former radical Muslim who found Christ.

To the mother of the pilot, my heart breaks for you.  My prayers cover you.

To those who say this is an unprecedented level of vileness--read your history.  On Shoebat's website he notes that the ISIS capturers asked followers to submit their suggestions on to kill the pilot.  The way chosen was not the most barbaric suggestion. Think about this...burning a man alive was not the most barbaric suggestion.  Women, mothers, made even viler suggestions.

To the rest of us I say--know you enemy.  This is a primitive, barbaric enemy who is not dazzled by our let's fight a kind war, can't we all just get along idiocy.  Our enemy is fueled by religious zeal and a need for us to submit or die.  Submit to Islam, or die.  Are you willing to denounce your religion for peace? 

Islam means submission from the word al-slim.

ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Yes, Mr. President, these are devout Muslims. They are practicing their religion as fundamentalist.

What part of religious war are you having problems understanding?

Qur'an 2:191-192 




Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors.
And kill them wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you, and fitnah is worse than killing. And do not fight them at al-Masjid al- Haram until they fight you there. But if they fight you, then kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers.

Please tell me Coexist bumper sticker people, where is your coexistence in these statements.

I urge all to see the  video, in order to understand that this is an enemy with whom the is no diplomacy, no-coexistence.   Prepare...for this is the war of a lifetime, and our leaders are either blind or complicit. 

Let us not have another mother watch her child die like this.