The Art of No Deal

Let's face it, trump is a fraud. The spectacular failure of "repeal and replace" brings that home today. It's not a good day for Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, either. You should at least be able to get the support of your own majority party. The bill was withdrawn because neither the ultra-conservative "freedom" caucus would support it nor the more "moderate" Republicans in the House who might like to get re-elected in districts that went for Secretary Clinton.

Two of my predictions about trump as president have already come to pass. (And I'm hoping some of the others don't!)

It has been seven long years since Obamacare passed and the best the Republican Party could come up with was a last-minute, slap-dash fraud of a bill that would reduce coverage for millions and be a nightmare to administer.

Remember, trump said he would repeal and replace with something much better with less expensive coverage for all! And if you believed that, I've got some steaks, vodka, and a college degree to sell you.

President Obama's Farewell Address

Yes, I liked the speech. It reaffirmed that the President's views of politics and the Constitution are very much like mine. I don't agree with him 100%, but it's in the nineties.

This is a great speech. This is the best President of my lifetime.

I provide here the full text of the speech as found on CNN. I provide no further commentary at this time, but I have highlighted the parts I like the best.

Post Election Post

Today has been a passage through the stages of grief, although the anger stage seems to keep circling back.

I went to work and did what I had too. Well, after my boss brought me out of my closed door and tried to cheer me up, finally getting there when he asked, "What do I have to do? Wrestle you to the floor and tickle you?"

He gave some optimistic perspective that this was a populist election, not a new, conservative President. He is right that this is a problem of the elites and populism can help us reform that. Of course, no one, probably not even the donald knows what he is going to do. Talk of Sarah Palin as Secretary of the Interior is enough to gag me without a spoon.

The Washington cesspool does need some cleaning up. But I see it more as the fancy-pants lawyers and lobbyists of K Street than the wonderful family  in the White House, completely free of scandal. And yes, the Democratic Party blew it big time. At least we won't have Bill Clinton to kick around anymore. Yes, the Democrats need some serious reforming. The Republicans, a lost cause. Let them attempt to govern in their bubble of ignorance, prejudice, and fear for a couple years and see how it goes.

Poli-Sci 101 - How the Republicans Won

Not being one of the 5% that can hire their own lawn service, I was out mowing (hopefully for the last time this year). My boy was kind enough to rake up most of the leaves.

And it came to me. This last midterm election was a classic. Here's a simple explanation for what seemed like a very complex situation.

First, each party's themes are laid out with their explanations.

REPUBLICANS

Obamacare:

The closest I could find to Groucho's "Boogity, boogity!" scene
Here's a link provided by elg below: Boogity link.

"Boogity, boogity!"

Obama:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Benghazi:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Ebola:
"Boogity, boogity!"

ISIL:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Government in general:
"Boogity, boogity!"

Still with the Prez

Yes, I still like President Obama. With his unfavorables down into "heckuva-job-Brownie" territory, someone needs to stick up for him.

Let's see... Obamacare is working and exceeding expectations in some areas. Even the Governor of Utah has a plan to take the Medicaid expansion if the Munchkin legislature doesn't sink it. It works best in states that have cooperated (funny how that is) with maybe the exception of Oregon where their tech expertise somehow got lost in the woods between the Redmond Valley and Silicon Valley.

Iraq's a disaster. We elected Obama to get us out of there where we never should have been. And he simply followed the W agreement to get us out because Maliki refused to sign one allowing for any US troops to stay. So, that's fine by me. If you want to keep following the Cheney Doctrine, go right ahead. I simply note that their answer is to go into full warrior mode again with no expectation that it won't get worse than they have already made it.

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.

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):

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.

The Lincoln Analogy

Obamacare pales in comparison to the importance of freeing the Slaves. And shutting down the government is nothing at all like Civil War. But the principles are exactly the same.

President Obama came in inexperienced and made mistakes - so did Lincoln. But there was an overriding principle of promoting Constitutional government of, by, and for the People - all of us People - not any particular faction, party, or philosophy, except for this: The Constitution is not some stale, old parchment perpetually framed in the National Archives and in the context of the 1700s. No, the principles that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" and that all our individual ideals and aspirations have value as we learn to work together within the framework for government that our Founders were inspired to construct should last the eternities.

Check those words again, all men are created equal. Well, for one thing, it now includes women, too - and children. The 'all' also has a bit more meaning than it did originally. It's not just white male property owners anymore. Go find those words in the Constitution! (spoiler - they're not there!) No, those words come from the brain and pen of Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence (in committee with Ben Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston). The concept has always been important to the American Spirit, but those words were not in the Constitution. There needed to be a phase-out of the concept of State Power as opposed to the rights, protections, and even responsibilities of individuals.

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.

We're Still Arguing Obamacare?

Sigh.

Let me start with this confession and observation that we humans tend to decide things in our hearts and then justify them in our heads. So, it is often difficult to meet the standard of objective, reasonable and rational discussion. Usually we just fall back on who is more like hitler. Of course it's always the other side. (Check out Jon Stewart's critique of Cruz's competing show the other night).

A really good friend on FB, somebody I truly admire, put out a basic argument about why Obamacare was so bad. I've heard this from other Republicans just this week. (I don't think that particular friend reads the blog, but I still won't further identify the person. I don't want this in any way to be a personal attack).

The argument goes something like - "Obamacare wasn't really a compromise because a dictatorial majority rammed it through like bullies in the middle of the night with it too long to even read."

Shutdown 2013 Update No. 2

It was gratifying to see a couple of pundits (Ezra Klein of WaPo & Politico's Ben White) agreeing with my analysis on the likelihood of a shutdown with very similar reasoning. I have co-workers who will vouch that I figured this out a few days back before I ever typed it in here.

While I have to be real careful here because I don't want to reveal any internal processes or names unnecessarily, we got additional instructions from our office on shutting down (I wasn't there late Thurs. evening when this email came). Redacted version:

Here are the highlights of today's (September 26) senior staff call, with some slight tweaking to account for more recent information:

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.

Open Letter to Senator Mike Lee

Dear Senator Lee:

Let my start by stating that I am an American Citizen of legal residence in the State of Utah. That makes you one of my two U.S. Senators even though I did not vote for you. But I am your constituent and I write this to offer a little advice.

I understand that you had a little talking-to from your Minority Leader today. It's really too bad you didn't pay more attention to my blog, or your old Home Teacher - Brother Reid, or even your Dad. I knew your Dad. I realize that you must have known him much better. And I can't understand how you came away from such a good man and a conservative of solid credentials to promote the ideas about government and the U.S. Constitution that you do.

There is help that I offer in the form of a publication that one of Senator Hatch's Aides gave me up there on the 8th Floor of the Federal Building in SLC. I went to get some of those copies of the U.S. Constitution that Senators give away so I could pass them out to Boy Scouts working on their First Class Badge. I used to go down to Senator Bennett's office because I liked him best of all, but he seems to be gone. You can also get the book on-line at this place you can click at. Anyway, the booklet is called "Our American Government." Here's a picture in case you haven't seen it:

It's a really cool guide to the U.S. Constitution and our wonderful system of Government. It was printed by the Government Printing Office and produced by a Concurrent Resolution of the One Hundred Eighth Congress of the United States of America. H. Con. Res. 108-139 (so you can have a staffer look it up to check!) That was the Congress elected in 2002 right when President Bush was rallying us all for our patriotic fight in Iraq! Those guys (and a few gals) must have been real patriots! I mean, even the President said that those who weren't with us were against us so I know the Congress went along with him!

Anyway, there's some really good stuff in there about how our Government works with three branches, checks & balances, and all the stuff about how to make laws! That part might really be good since you're now one of those guys with that job!

The Big Lie of "Socialism!"

I got a little snarky on a FB post of a friend with whom I share some political views. In his attempts to promote a little Social Justice from solid, Mormon History, he was met with all the usual screed about the evils of "Socialism." My best comment was:

"Socialism. You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it does."

My point here is to try and explain that when tea-partiers on the Right talk about "Socialism" they are not using the classic, dictionary definition of an economic system in which the state owns and controls the means of production.

(By the way, I am not a Socialist. I believe in property rights and open markets regulated by representative democracy. Sigh!)

Ross Perot? Who? What?

And you thought President Obama had funny ears.

"United We Stand America" was Perot's big movement. We need an episode of "Where are they now?" or something. I still say the tea-party/Randian element of the Republican Party will soon be as forgotten as Ross Perot and his crowd - which did have its effect helping to tip two elections to Bill Clinton. Of course I have the sneaking suspicion that a lot of Ross's folks ended up in the tea party. They just forgot their graphs and charts.

Forbes Magazine on-line, of all places, just published an article on the theme that President Obama may be one of the best, perhaps the best, president for the economy in history! (h/t Phil). Imagine that! Of course, he inherited a mess that gave opportunity to improve and any improvement would look good compared with the economic disaster W Bush left us from the surplus budget he inherited. And remember this - it's called the Great Recession not the Great Depression II. Somebody did something right.

The Shrinking Munchkins

As Mayor of the Munchkin Caucus, in the County of the Land of Flaws, our very own junior senator, mike lee, is finding that no matter how many times he climbs on the table and throws a hissy-fit, he doesn't stand quite tall enough. It takes 40 Senators to stop something and a whole 60 to actually get something done with the abuse of rules, tradition, and Article I of the U.S. Constitution now currently in vogue in that august body.

The funniest part is, when lee began his latest hissy, he claimed to have 13 Senators in support - a far cry from the 40 necessary. However, there were only twelve signing the Munchkin Mayor's letter. Today, three Senators dropped out. Our good Mayor is down to nine.

Oh, wait, that's not the funniest part. Let me share you some quotes about our little BIG senator from his fellow Senate Republicans:

Munchkins on the March

Munchkin Soldiers a little "fuzzy" on how they will help
Dorothy. In the movie - not so much.

So I get on Facebook and there's a fan request asking why I haven't blogged on Senator Mike Lee threatening to shut down the government so he can kill the wicked ol' Obamacare. Great. All we need are fans.

And I was meaning to get to it. The question sort of answers itself that our very own junior senator and Mayor of Munchkin City in the County of the Land of Oz is rallying his troops to filibuster any federal spending that is to start with the new fiscal year on October 1 unless they delete all funds for
that evil program to promote private health insurance.

Of course that gives them just the excuse they need to kill all the evil of any form of government. Because heaven knows we can't pay for the benefits we receive, free people that we are! And government must tighten its belt to preserve tax breaks for the corporate wealthy and prevent any help to anyone who might need opportunities for education, low-interest student loans, subsidies for water, power, highways, airlines, clean air, wholesome recreational activities, farm produce, milk price supports, trade protections, fraud protections, etc., etc. The list goes on and on.

Book of Mormon Conspiracy Stories

Furthering my experiment upon the word to liken the scriptures unto us, I came across an interesting conspiracy theory last night. Right at the end of the Book of Helaman there is a bit explaining the convoluted theory the unrighteous Nephites came up with to reject the prophecies of the coming of a Savior, Jesus Christ. A part of that seemed awfully familiar to the current political scene. Try thinking of this passage in terms of the "lame-stream media" and "welfare state" and "dependency" on government. I guess you also have to be really creative to think about things like the safety-net (Medicare, Social Security, "general welfare*," and even Obamacare) to be things that are "good" rather than stealing free agency. I know it may be a stretch, but give it a try: