What's Going On

The President was so consumed with a healthcare act that he has failed as a leader. He proposed a health care system because he'd promised that he would, but then he didn't write it and present it to Congress, they had a health care bill written that turned out to be ponderous and inoperable. Now, different sides of the Congress are blaming the other side for the failure of a bill they wrote. I seriously doubt that the President, or his speech writers, ever read the health care bill. He didn't lie to the American people, he talked out of his ass. That's not the same thing. However, a lie is crafted to misinform, and the President has done just that, by shooting off his mouth about the citizen's ability to keep their existing insurance policies. Now, in a bald-faced attempt to save face, he's added fuel to the fire by saying that you can keep the policy that your insurance company has told you they will be canceling, but apparently didn't talk with the insurance companies first.

The Democrats were so consumed with passing the bill that they failed to write a bill that would work. I don't really know who wrote it, but I am certain the Speaker of the House didn't, we all know she never even read it because she as much as told us so. The front page says it was “Prepared by the Office of the Legislative Counsel for the use of the U.S. House of Representatives” so as best I can determine the bill was written by a bunch of lawyers working for the Speaker of the House, but it was sponsored by Rep Charles Rangel, not the most honest and ethical member of Congress.   The design of the bill is such that healthy young people must buy more insurance than they themselves feel they need, so that those who cannot really afford it can receive subsidies for what they buy.  On top of that, the bill mandates that certain coverage be provided in all insurance policies, so that folks who have been buying less expensive policies for years are finding those policies are no longer permitted.

The Republicans were so consumed with making the bill fail that they themselves failed in their responsibility to write a bill that would work. The Tea Party, a small part of the Republican Party, is so caught up in its own agenda that they are poisoning the whole party. They've even created a poisonous name for Republicans who don't follow the Tea Party line. They call us RINO's, or Republicans In Name Only. They use the terms “Conservative” and “Republican” as if they are one in the same. It apparently works – nearly every Republican who has run for office in the past few years has labeled him or herself as The Conservative Candidate, hoping, I'm sure, to glean votes because of the term rather than any real actions they've taken.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services failed to implement a system that would make that bill work. I believe Ms Sibelius did not fully understand what it would take to implement Obamacare. HHS apparently failed to recognize that Congress had produced a flawed bill and to make matters worse, contracted the work, not to just one company, but to several companies. On top of that, the company that received the bulk of the taxpayer money is a U.S. subsidiary of Canadian firm CGI Group. According to at least one source, more than $600,000,000.00 has been spent so far on a software program that has failed miserably, and let me repeat just to make sure I've said it - the bulk of that money is going to a non-US company.  There is something inherently sinister in spending that much money on a computer program written by a foreign-owned company.  The fact that's it's a Canadian company shouldn't matter any more than if it were a Mexican company, a British company, or an Iranian company.

The American people should deserve better, but then they are the ones who keep on sending these bozos to Washington. Voting for an incumbent because she or he has brought money to your state is not unlike putting a fox in the hen house. Once a senator or congressman has been in Washington for ten years or more, much of his or her effort is spent in doing things to assure re-election. Voting for or against a man because of his skin color makes even less less sense than always voting for one party or another because that's how your father did, or worse, that's how your preacher or college professor preaches or teaches.   Voting for or against a candidate because of a stand he or she has on just one particular subject is nearly as bad as sending the same person to Congress election after election after election.
     

Air Traffic Control Tolls

For years, I've disliked toll roads. In 1970, I drove a Plymouth Roadrunner from Arizona to upstate New Hampshire with very little cash and a gasoline credit card that was good only for gasoline. I was doing well sleeping in my car and eating at McDonald's and Gino's, but toll roads in Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York made me take a lot of two lane highways and more time to reach home. More recently, driving to New Hampshire meant the JFK Memorial Highway, bridges and tunnels in Maryland, toll booths on I-95 in Delaware, the New Jersey Turnpike (ugliest road in America), the New York State Thruway and the Tappan Zee Bridge (where I once ran the toll booth and got a ticket in the mail). So much for the freedom of the highway.

I've begun thinking along a new line lately. When I pay those hated tolls, I'm helping to pay for a highway that I use. When I don't use them, I don't pay. Gee, perhaps that makes sense. When I avoid them, my trip takes a bit longer, but then I see new places at a slower pace. My 1970 trip turned out to be a delight because I couldn't afford the toll roads. I met more people, saw more towns, and, all in all, had a much more comfortable trip.

So what brought this up? The “Sequester.”

When Congress' lack of action mandated cutbacks in area after area, the Federal Aviation Agency found itself with insufficient funds to maintain a full contingent of Air Traffic Controllers. With fewer controllers on the job, air space management slowed and flights began to be delayed. The national press is having conniption fits over it, but a simple solution is available and almost immediately. Turn the cost of air traffic control over to the people who are using it. Charge a toll to every passenger on every airplane flown by every airline. Prorate the toll based on miles traveled, so that the passenger flying from Ben Epps to William P. Hobby doesn't pay the same as the passenger flying from JFK to LAX. Prorate the charge so that International passengers are charged for only that time they are in US airspace so those flying from CDG to JFK don't pay the same as those going from HKG to ORD.

Let's not forget those people who fly so much that the airlines reward them with free flights.  The cost of air traffic control should not be borne by the airline, but charged to the passenger.  

The equipment used in air traffic control should still be the responsibility of FAA, but air traffic controllers' salaries should be completely paid for by the tolls paid by passengers. Should the ATC system cause delays, then those passenger inconvenienced would receive appropriate compensation and those controllers involved would be docked that amount.

The ATC system should be paid for by those using it, not those who aren't flying.  

Oh, a couple of thoughts popped up.

A fellow named William Least Heat-Moon wrote a fascinating book, Blue Highways, about his journeys on highways colored blue on the map. Great reading.

Is the waiting area at Houston's Hobby Airport called the Hobby Lobby?

Do frequent fliers and travel industry employees pay income taxes on the free flights they take?

What's Happening?

In Dekalb County, GA, eight elected school board members cannot get along with one another, so the governor suspended six and replaced them with people he hopes can get along.  Six weeks after the six members were suspended, they were still being paid.   What's happening?

In Phoenix, AZ, swimming pools frequented by blacks, Latino or Asian kids have predominantly white lifeguards, so the city aquatics department went looking for minority lifeguards. When they couldn't find many that could pass the minimum standards, rather than leave white kids in place, they lowered the standards, which required only that applicants be able to swim 300 yards non-stop, to tread water ten minutes, and to bring a 20 lb weight up from the bottom of a pool.  What's happening?

In major league baseball, they throw the ball away if it touches the ground.  As many as 200 baseballs at $17.00 each are thrown away every game.  Even the nose-bleed seats in right field cost $20.00 or more.  What's happening?

In Massachusetts, the principal canceled an honors night celebration because “The Honors Night, which can be a great sense of pride for the recipients’ families, can also be devastating to a child who has worked extremely hard in a difficult class but who, despite growth, has not been able to maintain a high grade point average.”  What's happening? 

In Atlanta, 35 educators have been arrested and charged with various crimes associated with a cheating scandal in which test papers were changed, ostensibly so that the schools would look good under No Child Left Behind criteria.  The Superintendent of Schools took home $580,000 in bonuses because the kids' test scores improved so much during her tenure.  What's happening?

A sad fact of life in Chicago is the horrendous murder rate, yet the city has one of the strictest gun control laws in the country.  What's happening?

In professional basketball, they seem to have changed the rules since I played in high school.  We were only allowed one step without dribbling or passing the ball.  If we took a second step, we'd be called for traveling.  What's happening?

Since 1963, television programming has gone from three networks to hundreds of networks, yet Newton Minow's description of TV as a vast wasteland has never been truer.  Situation comedies abound, yet the viewers must be told when something is funny by an inserted a laugh track.  Dramatic TV relies on terrible dialog, impossible situations, and pretty people who can't act.  Competition in sports and quiz shows is a good thing, but now we have competition in cooking, dancing, showing off, jumping through huge inflated plastic shapes and a whole bunch of pawn shops, junk yards and foreclosed storage units.  The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently quoted a Nielson Company report saying that there were now 5 million households with no cable, satellite, or antenna for television.  What's happening?

One of the teachers in the aforementioned cheating scandal said she felt as if she was being treated like a common criminal.  What's happening?

News from our prisons seems to show that even from behind bars, criminals are able to issue orders and instructions.  From the killings in Colorado and Texas and perhaps others, to Warren Jeffs' ability to direct his followers, prison seems to have no effect on the ability to run things on the outside.  What's happening?

I do hope you understand that my question, "What's happening?" is a rhetorical one.  I also hope my brief essay has pointed out some problems we face in ordinary life, from the more mundane, like the effect of the cost of baseballs on the price of game tickets, to those that are really serious, as in teachers who cheat, prisoners who find ways around rules, and the killing of our citizens.

There is one thing more.  I'll bet that less than a handful of MLB players have ever seen a baseball without its alum-tanned cowhide covering.  We used to play with the same baseball all summer, and by August, the covering had disappeared and someone had wound friction tape around the ball.  Our bats had black marks where we hit that tape-wrapped ball.  Something else, if I really think about it, I can remember the smell of a baseball that had lost its cowhide and was waiting to be wrapped with tape before the next pickup game.

Thanks for reading.