T. Lee Mac: Immigration Reform – The Ants Come Marching
Yesterday, Barack Obama quietly met with 34 lawmakers and others within his administration at the White House. Topic of discussion? Immigration reform. He is feeling the squeeze from several different directions, not just from the usual liberal/conservative angles, reports the Houston Chronicle. Business, agriculture, organized labor, Latino groups, the ACLU, and the southwestern states of California, Arizona and Texas all seem to view this common nightmare from different perspectives. This is not your typical liberal versus conservative issue…or is it? (more…)
A Victory for Common Sense: Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?
Common sense scored a victory today when the SCOTUS ruled that Connecticut firefighter Frank Ricci and his mostly white colleagues were unfairly denied promotions because of their skin color. Ricci was among the 20 firefighters — 19 white and one Hispanic — who sued the city of New Haven, Conn., arguing that they were discriminated against when the city threw out the results of a promotion test after too few minority firefighters scored high. The 5-4 decision provides some measure of hope that we as a country have not entirely lost our ability to think rationally.
The decision also has significant political ramifications as it is the sixth decision that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor has had overturned by the SCOTUS, out of seven cases reviewed. Now I am certainly not an expert on judicial qualifications and fully recognize that there are other factors which need to be considered in the nomination and confirmation process. However, in the real world were I to receive a resume indicating the candidate made incorrect decisions, as determined by those at the top of her chosen profession, 86% of the time, that candidate’s resume would likely be one of the first to find its way to the circular file. One would hope that somewhere during the confirmation process this particular statistic is given due consideration by the 19-member Senate Judiciary Committee. Common sense was victorious today. Let’s hope another victory can be achieved before we find ourselves with a Supreme Court justice with a track record worse that your local meteorologist (with apologies to meteorologists).
What health care crisis?
Doctors and other medical professionals in the United States are the best in the world. Every County and State have multiple Health care facilities in addition to Emergency First responders. Hospitals by law, Cannot refuse treatment for any reason. Yet, I watch the politicians and many would have you feel that this system is a disaster. How can this be? It Can’t because there is no crisis at all. We keep on hearing how 47 million people have no health insurance. Putting aside the fact that there are those that suggest many of these either are illegal Immigrants or Simply do not have any because they pay cash. This entire debate on it’s face is a false issue. There is no health care crisis. It can be debated that there IS a health insurance crisis however. Simply put, Health care and insurance is expensive. I can give you one big reason that is a large part of the problem. The first is that every doctor has to pay huge amounts of money for Medical malpractice insurance. My own doctor who is also a friend has to pay $250,000 every year here in New York. The primary reason is the malpractice lawsuits are usually huge payouts. John Edwards himself became a multi millionaire this way. There are no caps on the amount of money rewarded. This is the real heart of this “Crisis” How many times have you read about a minor injury resulting in a huge reward? Now there are things that happen that are tragic and life time medical care is needed. Of course if there is fault or negligence, There should be a large payout. But this should not be the case if you burn yourself with Macdonald’s coffee while your driving for example! The expense of heath insurance is the issue. and a large part of the problem is the political lack of honesty on the part of some Republicans and far more Democratic politicians to address the need for Tort reform because the trial lawyers contribute a ton of money to see that it is not addressed. That in my view is a big part of the problem.
What’s the rush?
What’s the rush with “Cap and trade”?
This is what I was asking myself while en route to the mountains last weekend. The news was on the radio and the normal discussions were going on in regard to all things political. Currently, Legislation is being developed regarding “Cap and trade”Let’s take a look at it.
“Cap and trade” refers the Waxman-Markey legislation that, If passed into law, Each large-scale emitter, or company, will have a limit on the amount of greenhouse gas that it can emit. The firm must have an “emissions permit” for every ton of carbon dioxide it releases into the atmosphere. These permits set an enforceable limit, or cap, on the amount of greenhouse gas pollution that the company is allowed to emit. Now as far as the “Trade” It will be relatively cheaper or easier for some companies to reduce their emissions below their required limit than others. These more efficient companies, who emit less than their allowance, can sell their extra permits to companies that are not able to make reductions as easily.
OK. Very noble as I am up here with my laptop gazing at a Bass filled Lake. However, Is this an emergency? In my view, No it is not. There can be no doubt that this is going to raise energy prices and damage the already battered economy. Current estimates by the Non Partisan Congressional budget office suggest a price in the range of $872.8 Billion to $885 Billion for the years between 2010 and 2019. Others say it is going to be far higher. This bill will be charged to the energy user, Do not be fooled by anyone suggesting otherwise. In addition, This money will come directly out of the economy reducing peoples ability to spend more. There are those that suggest that our dependency of foreign oil will even increase! Adding to this, Nobody that signed on this in the House of Representatives even read it before the vote! The purpose of this legislation is to basically address the emergency of “Global Warming” now called “Climate change”. But does Global warming even exist? There are many skeptics who say that it does not. There are many that suggest that it does. Perhaps we as a nation should first do studies with ALL the experts except for only the ones that support this legislation. Add to that that I want to know how many backers of this stand to make money off this Bill passing and I don’t mean just Nancy Pelosi and Al Gore. I want names because I personally don’t buy it. But let’s assume I am wrong. What is the rush in passing something so large and profound? Should we not take our time and get it right the first time? And what if some of the critics are right in that we are heading for a cooling trend? I am all for cleaning up the evironemnt as much as possible. But I don’t think we should wreck our economy in the process.
