Anti-Krugman

I just read Paul Krugman's latest broadside at conservatives, etc. Don't know why I read him as I never agree with him and he is an obnoxious dweeb.

Anyway, here is what I think America should do about health insurance. Universal availability, universal pay too. What do I mean by that? The employer is charged a payroll tax of let's say 5% of his total payroll and pays that to the govenment. Then the government issues a voucher to every credentialed American which can be used to buy their own health insurance. Notice I did not say "every working American". So, everyone has a voucher to buy their own insurance. Insurance policies must provide a minimum of "X" levels of coverage and an individual could purchase a very expensive policy (let's call it a cadillac type policy). In that case, the voucher may not cover the total cost of the "cadillac" policy so the individual has to reach in theri own pocket to cover the premium.

My plan gets the employer out of the hassle of choosing the coverage, covers everyone with some type of coverage and does not lead to COBRA type situations when you are between jobs. Plus my plan gives everyone a choice, does not require a fat and wasteful bureacracy (the libs's single payor) and is SIMPLE. Also, would require insurers to agree to do away with the old pre-existing condition factor and would not eliminate an entire industry. Plus my plan is fair- I estimate employers pay at least 5% today to cover their employees.

Lotta Talk & Little Action

Arianna Huffington is organizing a group blog, the Huffington Post, as a counter-balance to the rightward slant of the blogosphere. She has rounded all the usual suspects and assorted dim bulbs that make up the Hollywood celebrity and literati crowd.

But it has been like 3-4 weeks since she announced this great idea and to date there have been no sightings nor postings to her blog.

Sure I understand her blog will be so cool and complicated but why the big frigging delay? It took me about 30 minutes to set up my blog and it was free too! That's one of the beauties of the blog- it's instantaneous plus it's fast too!

Filtered News

It's been three days or so since Senator Kennedy's brother-in-law, Raymond Reggie, pled guilty to several bank fraud charges in a federal court in New Orleans.

During his plea, Reggie also admitted he was serving as a government informant in a case against the former finance chief of Hillary Clinton's senate campaign in 2000.

Since I am a news wonk and also like to question the motives behind the media's positioning or hiding a story, I noticed (as of today) of the big media sources, only the NY Times had reported on the Reggie case (in addition to AP). So my hometown paper, the Philly Inquirer and the Wash Post and The LA Times have essentially ignored this story for 3 days.

Do you think they would do that if the story involved Senator Santorum's brother in law? Its unbelievable because it is a BIG news story no matter how you cut it. So, why the seemingly uniform filter from three leading newspapers?

Why is he still alive?

What's it been ..about 16-18 months since Saddam Hussein was captured? How long does it take to try and execute an evil mass murderer like him? I say get that sword sharpened or start building the gallows and send that bastard off to hell now.

Fire the city drones but give them a defibrilator as a parting gift

Yesterday, an elderly man collapsed at the Philadelphia airport. In spite of the efforts of a cardiologist who happened to be at the airport, the man died. Reports say the airport had defibrilators on hand and the doctor tried to use 2 or 3 of them but none worked properly. The doctor and several bystanders were quoted in the newspaper as stating the equipment didn't work.

The head of the airport ( a city employee) immediately disputed that claim. I say fire them all if they can't admit a mistake by not maintaining this lifesaving equipment. On the other hand, I don't agree an airport should be required to have that type of equipment available BUT if they do have it at least keep it in working condition.

This is just more evidence the city has no business being in the airport business; the city should sell the airport to the highest bidder or perhaps the mayor's brother, Milton who would agree to hire many Democratic ward leaders.

Dems Losing It

I just heard the city of San Francisco is planning to enact a law that requires blogs to register with city hall if the blog dares to mention the name of a candidate for public office.

Isn't that so ironic?? The great city that helped spawn the inovators of Silicon Valley which in turn enabled the internet and email and web-browsing by and for the masses has now determined it is oh so very important to regulate blogs. I have to say it this way... democrats are truly losing their minds; they have become humorless pessimists that think new laws can solve every one of their problems. Dems rre convinced they are losing the battle of campaign money but they virtually spent as much money as the Republicans in the 2004 election even if you counted all the soft money from groups like Moveon(dems) and Swift Vets (reps), etc.

And if money is their big concern, don't forget the Dems have the by far richest cast of Senators in the land. What did Corzine spend to get six year in the Senate ....almost $75MM??

Come on Democrats. Get a grip- most blogs are just used as a form of personal OPED pages by the author. It's the newest form of diary. Would the dems do the same to some politically oriented graffiti artist? I can just hear the mayor of San Francisco confronted by a once-famous and prolific graffiti artist in Philly.... "this is the mayor- I want you to track down Cornbread and take away his spray can and brushes".

Even Willie Brown would have known better.

The Pope

Admittedly a great great man. He visited Philly in 1979 and I was there on Logan Square with a million or so other people. But I was there trying to pick up girls- the other people were a little more idealistic than me. Almost 26 years later, my father's medicine cabinet still holds a vial of holy water that was blessed that day by Pope John Paul II. I wonder how many more of those vials still exist in Philly?

What I remember most about him is that he struck you as one smart, educated and tough son of a gun. He was only in his late 50's and didn't have any sign yet of being weak or old or just another bookish religious academician (you know the type - wheenie professor or scholar). No, this Pope came from the real world. He clawed and fought his way to the top of one of the toughest Catholic leagues in the world (communist Poland). But I don't remember what event or achievement of his was the first evidence he was destined for greatness. Though I thought his great character was revealed when he took the name John Paul II to honor his immediate predessor who died only 33 days after being selected.

Felt like you knew her

No matter which way you leaned on the court and legal battle- you had to feel some sadness when Terri Schiavo died on Thursday. The 24 hour news cycle had to have an effect on you- it made her very familiar and almost close to everyone. So let's agree to wish she can now rest in peace and her survivors find a way to heal the scars each side believed the other inflicted.

35 States Down and 15 To Go

Just straightened up my office and tabulated some post cards I collect when I travel. My count determined I have been to 35 of the 50 states. Many of those visits were for business - I have closed merger and acquisition deals in 20 states. Not bad I thought- I'd like to get to get to six of the missing states this summer.....my penciled in targets are North and South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana in the west and Maine and New Hampshire in the east. That would leave 9 states to go including Alaska.

Karen Ann Quindlan

Back in the 70's 0r 80's there was a case similar to the Terri Schiavo legal battle. That case involved a girl in New Jersey named Karen Ann Quindlan who had been in a fetal-like coma for 5-10 years (due to some drug interaction that occurred when she was about 24 years old).

As I recall it, her family wanted to pull the plug but the state or the church fought to keep her plugged in. Those in favor of pulling the plug won but amazingly enough, Quindlan didn't die after the plug was pulled and she actually lasted a few more years before finally dying. I always thought that outcome was a little eery and hinted at the influence of a higher power who may have been reminding us HE was the ultimate Supreme Court.

Do I need pajamas to do this?

This just occurred to me. I have been blogging for a month now and not once have I done so in my pajamas. Have I been violating the unofficial rules of blogging? Let's hope not... maybe someone has already wriiten "Blogging for Dummies" and I can pick up a copy.

Right Horse but Wrong Race

In a previous post, I reported my father selected Syracuse to win in his NCAA pool. Bam- Syracuse was beaten in the first round by the University of Vermont!! That's the bad news. The good news is his granddaughter heard the same day that SYRACUSE was giving her a Chancellor's (was he one of the dweebs on Friends?) scholarship worth a lot of money over four years. You have to agree life can sure take some quirky turns and that is why this post is called "right horse but wrong race".

One of my favorite quotes

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." ~ Calvin Coolidge

Daily Newspapers & My New Year's Resolution

One of my New Year's resolutions was to go without buying or reading a newspaper for 30 staraight days. I have not been able to do that yet. It's a pretty tough task for someone like me- at one time I read all three of Philly's daily papers. I felt it kept me informed and was just another of my addictions. Nowadays, they tend to annoy me more than they inform me. I get my news from the internet and blogs and I find the blogs are much better written and thought provoking. The blogs do lack local news so I go back to the real newspapers for that.

I predict that is where the MSM newspapers will need to go to maintain and get new readers .. by providing more and more local news and leaving the big national and world issues to the blogs and cable channels. Of course, if I am right, that direction will infuriate the self-styled big thinkers who work at the large newspapers.

p.s. I have achieved at least one of my other resolutions and it's not even April yet.

March Madness

March madness is one of the big things that make this country great. I am not such an avid fan anymore (too busy) but my retired father still is a huge fan.. He is 88 years old and he never leaves the house anymore (just getting old and has only one good leg) but he kept bugging me to get him in an office pool for the NCAA playoffs. So I got him into an office pool. He picked Syracuse to upset Illinois and total points of 161. Ten bucks to get in the pool and he will have a lotta fun and get way more than his money's worth. Three hundred years from now, March Madness will probably still be a big thing and that is a good example of what makes this country great! In my humble opinion.

Let's Reward Good Behavior

Montgomery County in Pennsylvania (just outside of Philly) is planning to ban the hiring of smokers for county jobs. The county commissioner, claims the county needs to do it to reduce the county expenditures on employee health insurance.

BUT the change will not affect current employees who smoke. In other words, the commish won't go so far as to risk losing any county worker votes and doesn't have the gonads to stand up to the worker unions. So he will penalize some nameless and faceless future job applicant who smoke. And those are just my small beefs against the proposal.

My principal objection is the proposal is a prototypical pol's gutless, less than innovative, half-step to just do something. And by doing so, he discriminates aainst one class of workers. The good news is I expect the ACLU to ride to their rescue any moment.

I say let's try something new for a change. Let's reward good behavior. When I am Emperor of the World, a fat, slovenly, out of shape employee would pay more for health insurance than one health-conscious, fit employee. An employer could simply provide a voucher (let's use) of $500 per month which each employee could use to buy his own heath insurance.

The fit employee could elect higher deductibles and co-pays and probably get a lower premium and pocket the difference. The out of shape employee would probably need lower deducibles and have higher premiums so he would have less money in his pocket than his fit co-worker.

Therefore, the healthy employee get rewarded for his good behavior and the employer pays the the fit and the unhealthy employee the exact same amount so the employer avoids charges of discrimination. And last time checked, it is a constitutional right to choose to be unhealthy (typed while I am munching on a bag of potato chips).

Doesn't my idea sound a lot better than Montgomery County's? In my world, the good behavior gets rewarded. And I don't discriminate!

In my world, the county commissioner could concentrate on his primary role: providing ONLY essential government services using the FEWEST number of employees at the most efective cost. And he does not waste time concocting half-baked ideas in policy areas in which he lacks expertise and is ill-informed. Hell, if he realy wanted to save $1 Million per year, he could just find a way to eliminate 20 or so jobs.

P.S. I seem to recall reading several studies that found smokers are, on average, better, harder and more productive employees. The researchers guessed it had something to do with the smoker's propensity for addictions and compulsions.

What is the frequency Kenneth?

More about my first visitor... I want to get people to be regular surfers of my blog. How often then should I dole out some oh so wise posting to my fans? Maybe I should ask Dan Rather. I'll wait until after Wednesday when he will have more time on his hands.

Do I now need a fan club?

I am happy to say my blog had its first "comment-leaving" visitor on March 6th, 2005. And she left some extraordinarily kind and generous comments about my posts. Thank you PG for the nice compliments!! Feel free to visit my blog anytime. P.S. the grad letter was to my two nieces and one nephew who just graduated from college in the last 12 months ..Fordham (boozing preppy New Yorker wannabes), Oberlin (mostly geeks school-made my nephew look like Arnold Schwarzenegger) and West Chester State (normal kids).

Super Fx#@**ng Day

I like to predict how the day will go so I usually make a note in the morning in my copybook in the office . I usually write ... good day or great day but yesterday I wrote F&&##x#$$ng Super Day for some strange reason and damned if it didn't turn out that way. Gotta remember to try that more often.

Advice for the New (sorta) Grads

Very Belated Commencement Advice

Dear Michele, Christine & Gabe:

Before I wrote this, I looked in a dictionary for the definition of the word “commencement”. The dictionary states commencement refers to “the act or process of bringing or being brought into existence; inauguration, inception, incipience, initiation, leadoff, birth, dawn, genesis, start”.

Therefore, commencement suggests your lives are just beginning (and that is true in some respects). And by calling graduation ceremonies a “commencement”, our institutions of higher learning have sorta decreed you can’t really take that first step until they have conferred a degree on you. That’s somewhat presumptuous but I guess by promoting the necessity and value of a degree, the schools can make a buck too. And there is no law against that.

Essentially, I wish you two things: interesting people and interesting places. By that, I hope you find, see and keep both of those close to you for all your years. If you do that, you will lead rich, rewarding and fulfilling lives. And try very hard to understand the primary goal in life is to get very old. I know you won’t agree with that statement right now but believe me you will one day. Put more simply, it is exhilarating to be both available and sufficiently lucid to give the eulogy at a friend’s funeral.

I know it is hard to resist the urge to follow the crowd. But do try to be your own person- so don’t routinely and rigidly adopt all of the latest fads and trends. Find music, books and other hobbies you enjoy and make time for them. Endeavor to be a leader to others. Christine, you are a born leader. And there is much evidence you were born with the ringleader gene. That’s the mischievous cousin of the leader gene. And that is a good thing- you love life and you show it.

Each of you should try to stand up for what you believe is right even:
· When your opinion is unpopular
· When it’s not the easiest path to take and
· When you have not been right about anything in a very long time (cause the law of averages says everyone is right sooner or later).

You will be a part of many groups and organizations in the next 60-70 years. Don’t just go along for the ride. Give your best effort. Develop a reputation as an impact player. You can do that by making a strong personal impression and offering your support to the group’s goals (i.e unforgettable PARTAYS, improve annual sales, beat the Villa Gorillas every other year).

Never stop learning and never stop asking questions (there are almost no dumb questions). Set out to identify mentors and role models from whom you can learn valuable life and career lessons. A good mentor will be happy to freely give you career and life advice for years to come. Strive to be a role model yourself. Be generous to others with your time and knowledge. No one can leave much of true value in this world except those gifts you plant in the hearts and minds of those you leave behind.

Be open-minded and learn to think for yourself. Don’t be afraid to question the prevailing wisdom or latest news story. For example, a national news program recently ran a story that “the exercise done on Infomercials accounted for more than 50% of the total exercise done in America”. That “news” story first originated as a spoof in a satirical magazine. The news network picked it up as “real news”. I cringed and laughed when I heard it and wondered if any of you (had you worked on that program) would have thought to question the ridiculous premise. I believe each of you would have (Especially Gabe since he reads the magazine though until now he probably thought its “news” stories were legit).

Take very good care of yourself both physically and mentally. There is a time to party and a time to “not party”. Try to learn the difference way before you turn forty (so you can still run for President).

You only get one chance in this world and life is much better when you are fit and ready to take advantage of all it offers. Make strenuous exercise a regular part of your routine and add a large helping of mental exercise and challenges to keep the mind in top shape. If you smoke, quit.

With regards to your career, as you know there is a secret to success. Unfortunately, it is a secret so I can’t share it with you. So, you will have to settle for my own priceless advice:

NO MARKETABLE SKILL= ZERO JOB OPPORTUNITIES= NO MONEY
MARKETABLE SKILL = JOB OPPORTUNITIES= PAYCHECK= REGULAR PARTAY
LOTTA MARKETABLE SKILLS= MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES= MORE MONEY= REALLY BIG PARTAY

So what does that mean you ask? Just this. Be smart and work hard. Pick some marketable skills and develop those skills. Regularly polish, hone and improve those skills with practice and repetition. Enhance your skills with regular study and learning and MAYBE you will always have a job and make money. Ideally you will choose skills (as I said that are marketable) in jobs and professions where:
· You enjoy the work (i.e. barfly, world philosopher, expert recounter of Seinfeld episodes, social director for former dorm mates)
· It is in demand by employers and customers and
· You are good at it and like it.


It would be great if you could find a career that has all three of the above criteria, But you will survive and likely thrive even if you choose skills that only have two of the above criteria. And remember, there are no guarantees in life and life can be unfair. That’s just the way it is. Bitching about bad breaks won’t help. It will just make you very unpleasant to be around.

Be confident in your abilities and self-worth. Be persistent in pursuing what you want.

Michele- with your focus and drive you could achieve anything you set your sights on. So set your sights high!

Gabe, you could do anything. You just have to convince yourself you CAN do anything instead of finding reasons for why you can’t do something.

Remember you are most fortunate to have been born in this country. Though not without its faults, it is the greatest country on Earth. Always honor and respect the elderly though I know it is especially hard when they don’t wear their hearing aids. Always value and cherish your family even when they ask a bazillion questions about your latest escapade.

Remember where you came from, respect traditions, and perhaps start your own traditions. Stay informed about current events - it makes you a more interesting person and give you a big edge on your peers. Be faithful to your core values and beliefs, your religion, your lover and one day your spouse.

You will make mistakes. Most mistakes are minor and can be fixed. However, try to avoid the really big mistakes (i.e always wear your seat belt). Observe other people and try to learn (and maybe get a good laugh) from their big mistakes.

But you also have to take risks in life. Without risk, there is little reward. Just do your homework before you take those risks.

Set priorities and establish goals and objectives- it makes life a bit more interesting to look back and see how you did. And try to recognize the difference between what is important and what is not.

You each have what it takes to be very happy and very successful. Keep that in mind and let the fun begin. Just know I’ll be watching you. Love and all the best to each of you,

U.T.