Crist and Specter--hard lessons

So Florida, here is what we in Pennsylvania know about politicians who change parties:

- They tend to walk squarely down the middle of the road
- This allows them to have very flexible morals
- You should not count on their conviction to anything other than their own success

We, in Pennsylvania, had these lessons driven home to us while listening to ads for Arlen Specter's, mercifully unsuccessful, run to retain his Senate seat. Don't get me wrong, Sestak is no prize either, but he does get consistency points. Hey, that is the Dems problem not mine. We also have to remember that Arlen Specter was a Democrat, before he was a Republican, before he was a Democrat again. Each time, the change was only related to what he wanted to do to insure a win. (Sorry Arlen, you played that card one time too many.)

Here a man who ran ads with President Bush to defeat Toomey in 2004, happily ran ads about how he has stood solidly with President Obama to try to defeat Sestak.

Just like Crist, Specter was often mentioned as "having the ability to cross the aisle" and being "middle of the road." My husband is fond of saying when you walk down the middle of the road, you get hit by traffic on both sides. Remember my dear Florida voters, these phrase translate as "believing in anything that will get you elected."

These men, by changing parties have proven one thing and one thing only--the job is more important to them than their commitments to the voters. Gov. Crist, I think that soon to be former Senator Specter now knows that winning isn't everything.

To the voters in Florida, congratulations on having a clear and principled choice--Marco Rubio, just as we in Pennsylvania get to do a do-over and vote for Pat Toomey.

Social Service Safety Nets

We often talk about safety net programs.

What happens when a person falls into a net? They are caught, trapped and unable to get free. We should be building safety ladders not safety nets. Our government programs should provide a cushion at the foot of the ladder to allow for a soft landing while the individual recovers and gets up and continues climbing.

We have built a culture of dependency.

Programs today such as endless extensions of unemployment, public health care expansions and all manner of government assistance, rob people of their ability and desire to get back up on the ladder and continue climbing.

Incentives are everything!

The other day I heard a man on the radio lamenting his moral dilemma. What was it? Should he go to work or continue to receive public insurance for his child, unemployment for him, and other assistance to his family including tax refunds of taxes he had not paid, while he continued to live in his large, paid for home in Pennsylvania.

By his calculations, the salary he would need to offset his benefits was substantial. Therefore, it was more beneficial to him to remain unemployed. Remember the rest of us work and pay him to stay home...in relative luxury!

Shame on him...and shame on us for being a society that has taught people to do the math prior to looking for work or insurance or income or...

Shame on us for not creating a society where pride and self reliance have a value in that equation. A society where work has value!

Why? We have become so good at keeping people trapped in the net.

2009 The Year Prostitution Become Legal and Taxpayer Funded

As I reviewed the proposed Health Care Reform bill, senate version, it became apparent that the true affect of this bill is the legalization of prostitution in the Senate. Votes were bought and paid for.

Harry Reid served the role of Pimp in Chief. Can't you just picture him in a full length white fur, with a tricked out Escalade? Just a few examples of how our Senators proved they were easy, but not cheap:

Mary Landrieu $300 million, weren't you moved when she proudly proclaimed it wasn't $100 million, but $300?
Chris Dodd $100 million for a hospital to be named later
Ben Nelson $100 million in Medicaid expansion costs matched at 100% Federal share
Other notable sales:
Florida's exemption from losing Medicare Advantage $4 billion
Michigan's exemption for Blue Cross Blue Shield of MI from insurance taxes
Connecticut's exemption for Mutual of Omaha from insurance taxes

The only money the government has comes from our pockets (federal taxes--right front pocket, state taxes--left front pocket, county and local--back right and left pockets). I don't know about you, but I don't even remember being kissed.

Because I Say So!

What former child doesn’t remember being frustrated and angry when our parents responded to “why?” with, “Because I said so.

Because I said so seems to be the up and coming response for governments, academics and the media throughout the world. As I read the December 3, 2009, Wall Street Journal I was struck with how many times the articles listing abuses of individual rights or lazy scientific outcomes ended with a quote from a government or academic official plainly stating that none of the preceding incidents, nothing in the interviews with numerous sources, none of the facts listed were true.

Why? Were they countered with facts, examples of in accuracies, evidence from well managed scientific inquiry? No. None of the accounts of opponents of governments or scientific findings were true, because the official government or scientific arbiter said so.

Consider if you will, the article by Farnaz Fasshari, “Iranian Crackdown Goes Global”. Accounts of Iranians living abroad being detained and questions as they enter Iran, or who have had their members arrested or threatened in retaliation for speaking out against the regime on Face book, Twitter, You Tube, etc are detailed in the article. The Iranian official contacted simply responded”…false…we have no reports of…” Take my word, because I say so.

The second example is Daniel Henninger’s editorial entitled, “Climategate: Science is Dying”. In this piece he rightly points out the scientific community, once viewed as the last bastion of fact based, evidence based decision making, should be concerned about the East Anglia Research Units liberal use of bias in interrupting and, shall I say, fudging the finding related to climate. He points out that this scandal has little to with climate, but much to do with how science must move to restore its creditability.

He states, “because ‘science’ said so, all the world was about to undergo a vast reordering of human behavior at almost unimaginable financial cost.”

Even as children we knew that the response, “because I said so” was either an indication of the lack of a logical explanation for why; or, a certainty that the real answer was beyond our capacity to understand and our parent’s patience to explain it.

Just as we outgrew accepting this answer from our parents and teachers, we, as adults must outgrow the willingness to accept this answer from those in positions of authority such as academics, the media and politicians. We must shirk our intellectual laziness and find the answer to why ourselves. Try reading a source document related to an area of interest in your world, like say a few hundred pages of any health care reform legislation, or cap and trade. Not because I say so, but because you want to know why?

When Democrats give advice to Republicans

During a conference I attended this week, a democrat operative give a speech about the political climate in America today. Interestingly enough, he was there to tell us about the success of the democrats during the last election and his party's goals and objectives for the coming years. Instead, he told us about what the republicans must do to succeed in the future.

Excuse me, but is he in the internal meetings of the republican party? Is he one of the republican strategists? Wouldn't he know more about the democrats than the republicans?

He outlined in great detail what republicans must do. For me, this is a little like having the person who wants to buy your house or business telling you how to get the highest price. Do not believe them.

Democrats, get your own house in order. Republicans, if you are dumb enough to take advice from your opposition, you deserve to lose. Independents, closely review each group's stands and policies, and don't let either side define you!

Wasn't it the serpent who told Eve how great the apple was? Do you think he wanted her to succeed with God?

I thought Murder was a Hate Crime?

Why does the life of an elected official have more value than the life of a person on the streets of the District of Columbia or any other city in the United States? Why do the child, other adults or the Judge killed not merit special treatment.

First, all those hurt and killed and their family members from the Tucson shooting are in my heart and prayers.

My question, as the Black stepmother of two heterosexual, white males is why is it that my sons are the least valued lives in our society? Why will the hate crime question be asked if something happens to my daughter, a white female and me, a black female, but not my sons?

Why can't we just treat murder as murder? Keep the distinctions of 1st degree, 2nd degree and manslaughter--measures of intent.

As I listen to the aftermath of the Tucson shootings, I hear those who say that shooting a member of Congress should merit a special level of punishment. It would be added to the list that includes sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity and several other categories of special circumstances due to characteristics of the victim's life or profession, and the level of bias one can conjure after the fact.

Stop! Murder is murder. If the laws we have do not deter those who have hatred and murder in their hearts, what hope do you have for more laws? Each and every life should be valued. If anything, those of us who choose public speaking or service are making a choice. We value our beliefs enough to risk our safety.

Our families will not grieve more or less than any other victim's. The loss will not be greater or less to one's circle of influence and friends.

I cry out for equal protection, not special treatment after the fact. Let's not use a horrible event to create new separations between citizens.

As Benjamin Franklin once said, "we must all hang together or we shall most assuredly all hang separately." As a society it is as true today as in 1776. Don't let us be divided and defeated by the forces of anarchy--America hangs in the balance.

Competitive Option, a Health Care Reform?

More years ago than I would like to remember, I was the Deputy Director of Medical Assistance and Health Services (Medicaid) in New Jersey. At the time the State owned a managed care plan--Garden State Health Plan. New Jersey built the Garden State Health Plan, because no commercial/private plans were willing to enroll Medicaid members at that time.

As private plans moved into the Medicaid market, New Jersey chose to move all of the AFDC/TANF members(at the time this was the Aid to Families with Dependent Children populations, now known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families)into managed care. At that time, the State faced a bit of a dilemma. The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), now Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, yes I know it is missing an M) questioned how private plans could compete with a state-owned plan. Further, they questioned the incentive to assign members who failed to choose a plan fairly amongst plans when the State had an ownership stake in one of the competitors.

Even in 1997, it was common knowledge that you can't make the rules, regulate an industry, and not at least have the appearance of bias. What industry would we trust to police itself...other than the legislative branch of government. Ok, it not that we trust them to do it, but they make the rules, so we can't stop them.

By definition, a public option, that is owned and operated by those who make the rules for all of the competitors can not even give appearance of fair competition. Let alone actually compete fairly. No health plan or insurance company can levy taxes or print money when it fails to meet its capital requirements.

Competitive Option--not so much. Oh, and New Jersey sold the members of the Garden State Health Plan to a private plan for $15 million. The reason for the sale noted in the New York Times and attributed to Governor Whitman was "privately run health maintenance organizations could operate it more efficiently."

Hold that thought!