20091122
20091106
Passing It On: "The Way We Get By"
Every day and night since May of 2003, a group of people in Bangor, Maine, have been on call for an uncommon, self-appointed duty at the city's international airport: to greet every flight carrying troops returning from, or departing for, Iraq and Afghanistan. All of the greeters featured in "The Way We Get By" (PBS Wednesday, 9-10:30 p.m. ET, but check local listings) are elderly and battling illness. The soldiers we see them cheering look uniformly fit and bursting with youthful health. As the film progresses, the interaction between the young (who face a possible death) and the old (who are staring at a more-certain one) sheds new light on the meaning of service. Along the way it also stuns us with unforgettable portraits of Americans of all ages in the fullness of life.
Bangor International Airport has been the first (or last) landfall in the U.S. for more than 900,000 troops (and dozens of dogs) from Iraq and Afghanistan. Sometimes there are six or more flights a day, each duly recorded on an airport wall chart by the greeters. As the war-zone returnees file off the planes here—everyone we see is clad in light-colored camouflage fatigues—the first person they hear inside the terminal often is 87-year old veteran Bill Knight, standing ready to shake every passing hand. Sometimes he cries out "Welcome home, heroes." Alert viewers will see even battle-hardened soldiers choking up.
On some faces there is joy. But for many, it takes more than landfall to break a grim spell; it takes the sight of these American civilians waiting in the terminal to say thanks. "You feel dull until you walk down the ramp and see these people," one apparently battle-hardened soldier explains in a wobbly voice. Then "you get tears in your eyes."
Some of the most affecting moments here involve contemporary soldiers stopping to hug and honor the greeters, whom they see as the generation of GIs who went before. "We're standing on their shoulders," one returnee says, and "what they've done in years gone by. We're just now starting to appreciate [that service] because we had to go through it ourselves."
Read more at Uncommon Calls to Duty.
20091105
Election 2009 Thoughts
1. A huge congratulation to the Republicans of Virginia for their huge wins.
2. Congratulations as well to Governor Elect Christie of New Jersey.
3. State elections are about state issues. The current issue in Virginia is the economy. McDonnell had a more positive message than Deeds. I think this was a significant factor in his win. Had Obama's administration economic policies been better, Obama and Deeds would have done better. Personality only go so far in politics, especially once you have to govern.
4. The NY-23 election was also about local issues. The take home lesson for conservatives and the GOP is that both have to work together to win. A third party candidate is not viable from the outside. But threats of a third party run may be preempted by cooperation between the GOP and conservatives. Had Hoffman won in NY-23, there would have been a greater impetus to field third party candidates elsewhere in NY in 2010 (given the established nature of the Conservative Party in NY) and maybe elsewhere nationally as well.
5. I think #4 is also significant regarding the Arctic Fox Palin. She would be more effective to shape the direction of the GOP better than building a third party movement.
2. Congratulations as well to Governor Elect Christie of New Jersey.
3. State elections are about state issues. The current issue in Virginia is the economy. McDonnell had a more positive message than Deeds. I think this was a significant factor in his win. Had Obama's administration economic policies been better, Obama and Deeds would have done better. Personality only go so far in politics, especially once you have to govern.
4. The NY-23 election was also about local issues. The take home lesson for conservatives and the GOP is that both have to work together to win. A third party candidate is not viable from the outside. But threats of a third party run may be preempted by cooperation between the GOP and conservatives. Had Hoffman won in NY-23, there would have been a greater impetus to field third party candidates elsewhere in NY in 2010 (given the established nature of the Conservative Party in NY) and maybe elsewhere nationally as well.
5. I think #4 is also significant regarding the Arctic Fox Palin. She would be more effective to shape the direction of the GOP better than building a third party movement.
20091025
Republicans, Conservatives and Independents
Since the November loss, not just for the presidency but also regarding seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives, there has been an ongoing debate on how to rebuild the party. The two predominant ideas are either to make the party more appealing to Independents or to return to core principles of conservatives. This competing idea is playing out in the NY23 race where the GOP nominated a moderate candidate Dede Scozzafava (as they called her) with the belief she will be more appealing to independents. In response, conservatives and conservative commentators have come out roaring against a candidate they consider either a RINO at best, or a far left at worse, in favor of a non GOP candidate from the Conservative party of NY, Doug Hoffman.
Conservatives Call On Scozzafava To Withdraw
Conservatives roar; Republicans tremble
I believe the GOP bosses are making several huge mistakes. Firstly, all successful organizations need people to do the work and believe in the work. Without the base, the party is certain to fail.
Rasmussen: 73 percent say GOP leaders have lost touch with Republican base
Secondly, there is also a divergence of the party's goal and the base's goal politically. The party wants to win election. Thus it makes perfect sense for the party to focus on candidates they believe are electable with appeals to the middle. But the base is more concerned with how the party will govern once elected. By having candidates that are far removed from the base's ideology, once elected they don't necessarily vote with the party. See Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe as examples.
Thirdly, the choice between electability and adherence to party ideology is a false choice because you could have both. Independent voters are frequently not wedded to a particular ideology. They do not have their own party or party platform. They thus choose from what is offered by the current parties come election time. Thus when the choice is between idea X and idea similar to X, the tendency will be to go with idea X itself rather than X-lite. But when the choice is between X and Y, where both are clearly different, Y becomes distinguished and appealing in its own right.
Obviously if an idea is clearly bad, it will not be chosen. I do not believe this is the case with the ideas of Conservatism. I believe the ideas of Conservatism continue to be sound and appealing to most of Americans, not just conservatives. As is, conservative outnumber liberals and twice as many Americans are becoming more conservative than more liberal.
While some politicians focus on winning elections,
On the NY23 Race, We Have A Practical Choice To Make
other remembers why why politicians are elected for office to begin with.
Conservatives Call On Scozzafava To Withdraw
Conservatives roar; Republicans tremble
I believe the GOP bosses are making several huge mistakes. Firstly, all successful organizations need people to do the work and believe in the work. Without the base, the party is certain to fail.
Rasmussen: 73 percent say GOP leaders have lost touch with Republican base
Secondly, there is also a divergence of the party's goal and the base's goal politically. The party wants to win election. Thus it makes perfect sense for the party to focus on candidates they believe are electable with appeals to the middle. But the base is more concerned with how the party will govern once elected. By having candidates that are far removed from the base's ideology, once elected they don't necessarily vote with the party. See Arlen Specter and Olympia Snowe as examples.
Thirdly, the choice between electability and adherence to party ideology is a false choice because you could have both. Independent voters are frequently not wedded to a particular ideology. They do not have their own party or party platform. They thus choose from what is offered by the current parties come election time. Thus when the choice is between idea X and idea similar to X, the tendency will be to go with idea X itself rather than X-lite. But when the choice is between X and Y, where both are clearly different, Y becomes distinguished and appealing in its own right.
Obviously if an idea is clearly bad, it will not be chosen. I do not believe this is the case with the ideas of Conservatism. I believe the ideas of Conservatism continue to be sound and appealing to most of Americans, not just conservatives. As is, conservative outnumber liberals and twice as many Americans are becoming more conservative than more liberal.
While some politicians focus on winning elections,
On the NY23 Race, We Have A Practical Choice To Make
other remembers why why politicians are elected for office to begin with.
The votes of every member of Congress affect every American, so it's important for all of us to pay attention to this important Congressional campaign in upstate New York. I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York's 23rd Congressional district. It's my honor to endorse Doug and to do what I can to help him win, including having my political action committee, SarahPAC, donate to his campaign the maximum contribution allowed by law.
* * *
Political parties must stand for something. When Republicans were in the wilderness in the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan knew that the doctrine of "blurring the lines" between parties was not an appropriate way to win elections. Unfortunately, the Republican Party today has decided to choose a candidate who more than blurs the lines, and there is no real difference between the Democrat and the Republican in this race. This is why Doug Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party's ticket.
20091016
2010 Election: the States
Recently at the Horse Race Blog Jay Cost posted this
I emboldened the money quote. As I thought about it, I was at first skeptical to attribute Obama’s victory to money spent. After all, wasn’t it a nation tired after 8 years of W and ready and take a chance with a promise “Hope and Change?” And now that “Hope and Change” is revealing itself as empty rhetoric and dangerous far left ideology, I do not believe any sum of campaign money be spent to reverse the distrust the nation has acquired by then. So how can a money advantage possibly make a difference? Through vote fraud.
No, money may not buy enough vote to win election, but money can be spent through organizations such as ACORN. ACORN through shady voter registration efforts and with sufficient funding may have won Al Franken his Minnesota Senate seat. Steps must be taken to prevent voter fraud and I don’t think community vigilance will suffice. The law must be clarified to prevent illegal voter registration and a legal strategy must be planned for as contingency for illegal vote counts. I believe controlling the state legislature will be essential for the fair legislative over sight of the electoral process. In most states judges are appointed, usually by the Governor. Thus efforts to elect favorable governors are necessary. In a few states judges are elected and attention must be made to there judicial races as well.
Previously I discussed to importance of the 2010 state election in order to be in position to redraw the Congressional district maps as the result of the 2010 Census. It now appears to me that state elections are even more crucial than I previously thought. We all must pay close attention to and expand our efforts to win out states.
Above all, the RNC needs to focus on its fundraising infrastructure. It must be ready for the Obama money tsunami that will be crashing ashore in the fall of 2012. If you thought the President raised a lot of money last cycle, you haven't seen anything yet! Also, the party needs to figure out why the Democrats have managed not only to catch up to, but actually exceed, the Republicans in fundraising - this after the banning of soft money, which had historically helped the Democrats. That's a puzzler that should have Republicans - above all Michael Steele - thinking about innovation. This should be happening to the exclusion of guest hosting radio shows, Mr. Chairman!
I emboldened the money quote. As I thought about it, I was at first skeptical to attribute Obama’s victory to money spent. After all, wasn’t it a nation tired after 8 years of W and ready and take a chance with a promise “Hope and Change?” And now that “Hope and Change” is revealing itself as empty rhetoric and dangerous far left ideology, I do not believe any sum of campaign money be spent to reverse the distrust the nation has acquired by then. So how can a money advantage possibly make a difference? Through vote fraud.
No, money may not buy enough vote to win election, but money can be spent through organizations such as ACORN. ACORN through shady voter registration efforts and with sufficient funding may have won Al Franken his Minnesota Senate seat. Steps must be taken to prevent voter fraud and I don’t think community vigilance will suffice. The law must be clarified to prevent illegal voter registration and a legal strategy must be planned for as contingency for illegal vote counts. I believe controlling the state legislature will be essential for the fair legislative over sight of the electoral process. In most states judges are appointed, usually by the Governor. Thus efforts to elect favorable governors are necessary. In a few states judges are elected and attention must be made to there judicial races as well.
Previously I discussed to importance of the 2010 state election in order to be in position to redraw the Congressional district maps as the result of the 2010 Census. It now appears to me that state elections are even more crucial than I previously thought. We all must pay close attention to and expand our efforts to win out states.
20091015
20090928
Insurance Deductable
I took my car into the shop yesterday for some body work after a minor collision. Because all i had to do was to pay the co-pay, i didn't really shop around for the best deal. I suspect the same mentality applies to most people when it comes health insurance and co-pays. Thus as long as everyone charges a similar amount, they can all over charge without concerns, and the consumer doesn't really care.
A better system might have been instead of a flat co-pay, use a percentage based co-pay, with plans for 5%, 10%, 20% etc co-pays. Thus there would be an incentive for the consumer to price shop. For health care, cost must be itemized and be more transparent. And to assist consumers in choosing the right provider, a rating system for the provider must be available. Any such ratings must consider how sick his/her patient is before care, and how sick they are after care.
A better system might have been instead of a flat co-pay, use a percentage based co-pay, with plans for 5%, 10%, 20% etc co-pays. Thus there would be an incentive for the consumer to price shop. For health care, cost must be itemized and be more transparent. And to assist consumers in choosing the right provider, a rating system for the provider must be available. Any such ratings must consider how sick his/her patient is before care, and how sick they are after care.
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