Media Savvy

You have to hand it to FOX News for knowing their market. I've been trying to come up with an acronym for them, something like OWG&AYWWSS (Old White Guys & Attractive Young Women With Short Skirts), but I haven't quite worked it out. I don't think they actually have the young-women demographic, just the ones they can pay enough to wear the short skirts and sit with the old men. They do have the old white men watching. Kinda creepy when you really think about it.

On the other hand, we have the most media savvy President ever. He can't win with the above-referenced demographic even if he has enhanced a few careers on their network. So he takes on new venues:

The Blessings of Government Healthcare - and Workers' Comp

My wife called after school to arrange our schedules. Just a few minutes later, she called again apparently with some tears, very unusual for her. I knew that her foot damaged by a table moved by the custodian needed some medical attention.

I went to take her to an Urgent Care facility. The school counselor informed us of the facility that covered the school for worker's comp, so after getting her classroom ready for the next day (she insisted), we went there. It's not our favorite place; we've been before. But it was adequate and they took good care of her. Nothing is broken, but she needs her foot up and as much rest as possible for the next little while. I'm afraid the foot-protector shoe will do some good because she won't keep off it to teach. But thank heavens for worker's comp! (a government program).

The mechanical can-opener saw for stuck rings.

The second place with the finger wounded and ring half-sawed.

The enhanced wound and half-sawed ring.

My story comes illustrated. About a year ago, I fell down some stairs and ran into a door smashing the styrofoam cooler I was carrying into a bazillion pieces. And my finger hurt too. I put bandages on it and drove home from California. My finger began to swell and I took some ibuprofen. It hurt for quite a while and then I finally went to an orthopedic specialist. The verdict: I broke my finger. But it was too late do set it or do anything. She said the swelling should go down.

Well, the flesh swelling went down but not the knuckle deformation - too late for that! A brother-in-law had told me that any jeweler had the tools to remove a stuck ring. So I stopped by one the other night. He said they couldn't do that any more because of liability issues but any emergency room had the tools to just snap it off.

I dropped by Lakeview Hospital. They wanted to admit me. Not wanting to pay that co-pay, I declined and went home to try that elastic compression method I saw on a YouTube video. It didn't work.

As I was taking my wife to Urgent Care anyway, I thought I would try to get the ring removed. I had already called the insurance to make sure it would be covered. While not at my preferred InstaCare, I thought what further harm could they do? Well, they managed.

Live-Blogging SOTU 2014

President Barack Obama delivers the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Feb. 12, 2013.
 (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

It's close to time! Keep checking back as I try to update this as we go along. Although I am using my new notebook with a different keyboard that sometimes trips me up and Windows 8.1 which I haven't gotten used to yet and sometimes the strangest things happen if I accidentally touch the screen.

But I wanted to give you a little preview before the Prez starts. The country is down. Congress is a disaster. The Prez is polling terribly (although much better than Congress!) The Prez is not going controversial tonight. No socialism (as if) and not much liberalism even except for what the Beckheads and Teapots will find regardless of what he says. It will be all the things that he knows John ("Are-You-Kiddin'-Me?") Boehner will at least want to talk about:

Guest Post: Utah Medicaid & the ACA

A dear friend provided me with some comments on how the ACA (AKA Obamacare) is being implemented in the State of Utah, one of the less cooperative states of the Union. I asked to share the perspective here. Yes, there are flaws in the ACA. There are also flaws in Utah state government. My friend comes with a thorough background from work and experience. Take it away! (with only minor edits from me):

Two Munchkins Grow Up

Two Graduates of the Lollipop Guild

My sincere congratulations to Paul Ryan and John Boehner! Ryan has compromised on an agreement with Senator Patty Murray (D. Wash.) for the budget to go forward for the next little while. It's not a great deal, but it's a deal. And that's enough to send the tea-partiers into a frenzy. They don't like it, so it must be OK.

Ryan must have got a message through his head to abandon the tea-party extremism and become a leader of his party. That is a typical opportunity for a failed VP candidate (Palin the exception that proves the rule.) He is also claiming his love for Ayn Rand is all an urban legend and I couldn't be happier!

The Glitch at the End of the World

When I got back in my office after the shutdown, there was a urgent message (one of many) from the Homeland Security folks that my government ID would expire on November 2, 2013. It gave me a link to the site I use every few years for my ID renewals. I went there and of course had no idea what my password was so after clicking the "forgot" button and creating a new one, I went in to make an appointment on their user-friendly calendar. It's at this place down on 21st South and Redwood Road so I have to arrange to go with someone with a car or skip the bus that day and drive in. Guess what? The first available appointment was December 2, 2013. Instant Catch-22 gonna get ya!

Gratefully, there was an email later that day from one of my work associates who had learned that the Bureau of Reclamation in our building had been given authority to designate an employee relations specialist to renew the ID cards. As we do work for that agency (who d'ya think did the title work for the land we flooded to fill Jordanelle?), they graciously let us go up there to renew. I went up with our Paralegal who had an appointment and they allowed me to squeeze in after her. I did run downstairs to see if I had written my password in my secret place (oops. You're not supposed to do that! But I have a couple of dozen or so just for work!) And it was not there. So thinking through it carefully and meeting the requirements they gave me to log in to activate the chip on my card, I came up with it! Yeah! And that only took about 15 minutes.

So I got to thinking about the rest of our government IT system.

Bumper Sticker Time!

Sitting at home with my thoughts percolating into little blips for tweeting, I am able to express what I've long been believin':

You Can't Govern with those Who Think Government Is the Problem.

You Can't Compromise with those Who Believe Compromise Is the Problem. 

Compromise Is Not a Dirty Word 

Federal Employees are People Too!

Federal Employees Have Families

Shutdown 2013 Update No. 4

About two hours to go! I was feeling up all weekend with the prospect of a few days away from work, but this has to have been the most depressing day of work in my 30 years. I don't know which was worse, the concern on the face of those with families worried about possible loss or delay of pay, or those who were going on like nothing was happening - planning, scheduling, setting things up for the week and the new month. Yikes!

For my part, I arrived to find a rather urgent matter that I prepared for briefing DC and passed it on, only to have it apparently lost in the shutdown preparations - how much time and money has already been wasted and will continue to be wasted! Something is certainly wrong here. Well, enough of my woes. Here's the latest (redacted) shutdown info:

Shutdown 2013 Update No. 3

It is now a 99.99% chance that we will shutdown Tuesday morning. There are only two ways for it to be avoided, as I see it.

1. The House could reject its own bill just passed today that includes a one-year delay of the ACA and the removal of the medical devices tax, and pass a clean CR that the Senate would approve by unanimous consent (I think the Senate can do that).

2. The Senate by unanimous consent could pass the House Bill passed today. Any amendments or even debate would take us well beyond Tuesday.

Shutdown 2013 Update No. 1

My boss called me in today. He's a really good guy. He tried so hard to soften the message. "Well, I, uh, -sit down. I regret this, but I need to let you know that, well, you have been officially designated as 'non-essential.'"

My response: "Ha! No problem! I've been 'non-essential' for 30 years! I was shutdown by Reagan and Tip O'Neill!" He is too, of course.

We also found out, and I'm not supposed to say much about this, but certain persons, while still "non-essential," are paid out of different sources of funds. And as their salaries are already paid, they have to work. Of course that also means they will have no worries about being paid. When we get furloughed, we are legally prohibited from performing any work. And we have no expectation of being paid.

The Supremes Perform "Obamacare"

Chief Justice John Roberts

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

And what a performance it was! Roberts versus Ginsburg plus Kagan, Sotomayor, & Breyer versus the Three Amigos plus Kennedy! 

Not being much of a Supreme Court expert, as an attorney I still feel the urge to jump in with my views on the Health Care (Obamacare) decision, National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, 567 U.S. ___ (2012). You can find it here. At least I have read it, which is more than can be said for many pontificators especially those who get their talking points from Fox News or silly little bites of cuteness on Facebook. I’ve even skimmed through the Act myself. But as a federal attorney, I’m used to that sort of thing.

Winners Win and Losers Lose

Stating the obvious, no matter how furiously the right-wingers spin their failure to destroy Obamacare in the Supreme Court, this is politically good for the President and the Dems and bad for the tea party and the Republicans. Had Obamacare gone down, at least this supporter of the President would have been severely demoralized. And I was not looking forward to an election based on a war against the Supreme Court. I guess the Right is free to go ahead if they want.

This election is still mostly about the economy and jobs. The recovery is slowly chugging along. Republican Governors hoping to be reelected are touting the recovery in their own states (two-edged sword, guys.) We just had another big jump on Wall Street because Germany got European finances sort of straightened out, again.

Roberts for the Win

"TEA PARTY DEFEATS OBAMA!" (not)

I did see the erroneous CNN banner this morning, but only after I had seen more accurate tweets so I wasn't too disturbed.

It's been a big day. I'll be brief and as Speaker Boehner cautioned us not to spike the ball (wait - that was for his tea party caucus!), I only note for the record that I did predict Chief Justice Roberts joining the majority for this way back in March (see here). Of course, no one ever predicts the Court dead on as they are always full of surprises. So I missed my 6-3. And I haven't read the whole case yet (it's been a busy day.) But I offer these preliminary comments.

Justice Scalia Frustrated and Annoyed

I met Justice Scalia once. It was at the dedication of the new federal court house in Albuquerque a few years ago. He was milling with the crowd as we had refreshments. Having never met a Supreme Court Justice, I went up and shook his hand. It was kinda creepy. I'll just leave it at that.

Scalia's impassioned dissent in the Arizona Immigration case indicates that the politically conservative jurist may be a little frustrated. Also, the separate dissents/partial concurrences of the other two conservative Justices, Thomas and Alito, indicate the conservative wing of the court is not well united. Having been quietly abandoned by their conservative Chief Justice Roberts joining the majority in this politically-charged issue, this all indicates to me that they may have lost to Obamacare. I still think it could be 6-3. I'll eat my words tomorrow as necessary.*

A Save This Time Takes Six of Nine

The non-radical John Roberts

Chief Justice Roberts is my friend. It's not just because he doesn't creep me out nearly as much as Scalia, Thomas, and Alito do. It's probably because he is a more traditional, solid conservative in the institutional and political sense, not just judicial, and will likely not overturn the ACA (AKA - "Obamacare") in any radical way.

I still wonder if the Chief Justice might have had a little talk with Justice Alito about his injudicious jumping at the President's bait on Citizens United in the 2010 State of the Union Address. True Conservatives preserve the status quo and try to avoid causing scenes. Right now, the status quo is President Obama and the American People with health care in their pocket.

Health Care Reform Is Up to the Supremes

Sitting here in the bowels of Libby Gardner Hall at the University of Utah waiting for my son at Utah Youth Symphony practice, I had a chance for this posting on Health Care Reform before the Supreme Court. (I may be sitting on the very couch in the student lounge that was honorarily named for another son after he spent much of his freshman year here!)

On behalf of all the people of the United States, the Department of Justice filed its brief yesterday in the Supreme Court on the ACA. (Health Care Reform or "Obamacare" as some of you call it, eventually to be a compliment rather than the derogatory term you may be intending). Here is a good article from Andrew Cohen of the Atlantic on it with a link to the brief itself which looks really, really, good. For a summary of the opposition briefs that are piling on, you can check it out here or here.

Are the President's Successes His Failures?

There was hope among so many that the election of our current president would help move us to a more post-racial, post-partisan nation. That was the promise and even the Hope of that campaign, wasn't it? Something went terribly wrong. Don't get me wrong, I still really like the guy and his political philosophies are so close to the ones that I have independently developed over the years I can't help but like him. The lack of anything but craziness and opposition in the opposition leads nowhere but to Romney, the obvious result as we ask what it is that they really stand for? Because, of course with Romney, it could be anything. But we'll deal more with Romney later.

And we'll put the "easy" issue to the side, at least for a moment. It's basic human nature in American politics that the current president is held responsible for the current situation of the economy. It’s a simple formula. If there is a big boom (unlikely) or even a stronger wind at the back towards a boom (possible), President Obama wins in a landslide. If the slowest recovery in history continues to eke (most likely), he has a chance. If there is a double-dip, even if on European debt or something else outside our borders (hard to tell), he loses and we can only hope and pray that Romney can run the country as well as he did the Olympics.

Darling, I Don't Know Why We Go to Supremes

So, the 11th Circuit strikes down the mandate to buy health insurance as "unconstitutional." Since the 6th Circuit already says it is constitutional, now we have a split in the Circuits that likely means the Supreme Court will actually hear it. (There is only a slight hope that the 11th Circuit en banc, that is, all the judges on the Circuit, rehear the case and overturn its panel  - then the Supremes could still dodge). I will keep following these developments and refer you to a great blog I read on this and other matters. And the anti-Obama-health-care-reform crowd sure wants to get it to the high court. Which, when you think about it, is kind of funny. (Hint: they usually don't like the Supreme Court telling us what to do).

And the Supremes

Billy Joel

Romney In - Sarah Becomes Huckabee

I wish I could get a message to Mitt. I would tell him that he's a great guy. I really liked him as a moderate governor of a liberal state. It was good to save the 2002 Olympics.  He made a lot of money and maybe could help our economy grow. His dad was a great guy. His family's great. He was probably a great bishop and stake president. He went to my alma mater. But Mitt, please stop embarrassing yourself!

It's official. He's running for President. And this time, instead of trying to out-macho the neo-cons on torture and war, he's trying to recast himself, and even his Massachusetts mandated health insurance in a Tenth Amendment, states' rights way to appeal to the Tea Party. While I admit that is a really good, clever argument in attempt to justify Romneycare (which was a good thing), will anybody really buy it? I think it only appeals to the theoretical states-rightists, maybe the idealistic Libertarian wing. Does anyone think he can out-tea-party the likes of Bachman and Palin?

Republicans Need Better Issues

Sure, the economy and deficit need to be addressed. I'm just not sure how to trust the party of "deficits don't matter.*" But moving on from those challenging and controversial issues which are certainly enough for a healthy political debate in the upcoming campaign - as in "Where are the jobs, Congress?" I would like to propose that the Republicans come up with some better issues, or at least better arguments.

No. 1. End the silliness about Obama being a socialist. He's proved in the past couple of years that he is rather moderate in the main-stream of American politics. The more they make noise with the socialist/fascist/communist/Kenyan/Muslim business - none of which is true, they make others wonder if there's not something else about this historically unique president that troubles them. Or they just may fall into the "stupid" trap like the donald just did.