What a Mess--My Healthcare Rant

According to recent polling data, 66.4% of Americans disapprove of the job the US Congress is doing, while 24.8% approve. I wonder who those 'approvers' are. I am certainly not among them.

When a proposed health care bill weighs in at nearly 2,000 pages, I just have to scratch my head and say “what a mess”. Couldn't the folks in Washington come up with something that is a little more 'focused' and 'to the point'. This rambling piece of proposed legislation would take a reasonable person nearly 200 hours to READ, and considerably more time to comprehend and contemplate the implications of the proposed legislation.

The bill contains, among other things:

Scholarships for Veterinary Medicine and loan repayment assistance for people practicing Veterinary Medicine. Give me a break. Isn’t this supposed to be about health care reform for humans?

The bill proposes a tax on wheelchairs and other medical equipment. Hello? How does that help bring costs down?

The bill contains no Medical Liability reform. NONE. In my amateur opinion, this is the largest contributing factor to the high cost of health care and health insurance. In fact, this bill contains an incentive for states to repeal any Medical Liability Reform that they’ve already passed. This bill proposes to give money to states that don’t have liability reform bills that would limit attorney fees or impose caps on damages. Wonder who was instrumental in getting that little “add-on”.

This health care bill is a prime example of what I object to in terms of the way special interests influence legislation. The resulting legislation, if passed, will affect us all and be a financial burden on this country for generations to come .

This proposed legislation is a mess, and should be thrown out with the trash. And the self-serving politicians responsible for it should be thrown (voted) out as well. ASAP!

Sometimes its knowing what you don't know....

One thing that proved to be something of an “aha!” moment for me happened back when we were putting Channel 39 on the air in Rockford. It was an enormous challenge for me. I had no experienced ‘mentor’ or anybody I could lean on for wise counsel and my experience level in television was not that deep. I had a little experience—but, in hindsight, precious little. Yet I had been tasked with getting a new, small market, independent television station up and running. I needed advice on everything from technical stuff, to personnel, to programming to a ‘strategy’ to allow the thing to survive, and ultimately thrive.

To complicate the task, I was surrounded people who were not the best equipped to get the station up and running--some better than others--but a quirky lot at best. My only advice from the owner of the station--my nepotistic Uncle Marvin-- was to keep expenses low…and I wasn’t even sure what “low” was (such a relative term). And also “keep the ball rolling…” (his other consistent piece of advice).

So, since I realized that I had no idea how to approach what I was supposed to be doing, I resorted to the following: I would call people up—TV station people—in other markets, all over the country. I would just be honest, open and painfully vulnerable. I had to be willing to flaunt my inexperience, and say. “ I’m trying to do ‘thus and so’ and I have no idea how to even think about it…what would you do?” I asked open-ended questions. I asked multiple-choice questions. I found people were genuinely very helpful and supportive and willing to give as much time and advice and help as I was willing to accept. Sometimes, I’d have to call them back and say “you know that part where you said…. I don’t remember why you said that.” Or “what if this is our situation…would you still advise the same way”.

Channel 39 survived and prospered, not because of what I knew and was able to implement, but because I was willing to admit what I didn’t know—had no clue about.
I was painfully aware of what I didn’t know, it forced me to humble myself and just tell people who were my would-be peers, in essence, ‘I’ve got no clue what I’m supposed to be doing here…or how to approach this’…and sit back, listen, take advice, learn things, ask more questions, acquire facts and contacts and ideas, and then proceed to put those things into practice in the new venture.

It is not always what you know that counts, but being willing to accept and admit what you don’t know, and then proceed ahead.

Ain't that ironic?

As I lay tossing and turning in the middle of the night last night, I was pondering my knee-jerk resistance to the myriad of new government programs promoted by Obama and his administration. From government mandated healthcare to cap & trade and the huge economic stimulus package and other various government ‘bailouts’, I have a deeply rooted autonomic response (negative) to whatever smacks of expanded government influence and/or smells like a more invasive bureaucracy infiltrating our private lives. I will admit that I wonder if I should feel guilty that I resist these programs that are, on their face, purported to do public “good”. I will allow that the intent of some of the proposed programs may be to accomplish positive public goals. However, based upon my own life experience and personal observation of government agencies and government employees, I just don’t trust the government to create or manage anything very well. They never do.

As I tossed and turned in the middle of the night, pondering the big government that is appreciated by so many of my more liberal friends, but not by me, I started to consider an apparent irony (anecdotal though it may be).

Over the past three decades, the government has meddled, imposed arbitrary mandates and influence on the American auto industry. Government has been a consistent participant, along with its sidekick big labor, in wielding its unwelcome influence over what had once been a hugely successful and powerful economic engine for this country. The result is—as everyone knows--a damaged, bankrupted, out of phase American auto industry producing anemic product and attempting to sell that product at an economic disadvantage.

So—and here’s the irony—to a person, my liberal friends, while enthusiastically supporting the general notion of government’s intrusion into the private sector and into our personal lives—these friends, when it comes to spending their own money, they make an ironic choice. Rather than purchase products from Detroit that have resulted from the government’s programs, heavy handed influence and big labors’ overburden, these friends have consistently chosen to drive Toyotas (and a few Hondas). These cars (Toyotas, etc) have been largely designed and produced without the same burden and intrusive influence imposed on Detroit by government and organized labor.

When my liberal friends spend their own money, they opt for the vehicles with the least amount of government intervention. Now ain’t that ironic?

Family, family...

What is better than family and the experiencing of just general 'unconditional love'. This is my son and grandson....James is uncle to my grandson...and Henry is the great grandson to my parents, He is the nephew to my sons...the grandson to Roger and Jackie and Marcia and Me...several other genetic and love-bound relationships to eachother...which I could expound upon, were I of sufficient capacity to make the relationships coherent and cogent...but...this is the stuff of life...connected by marriage and birth and DNA and histories....love conquers all.. that's my best guess...

Old friends rediscovered and re-appreciated.

This picture is from a gig an old friend of mine--Phil--did with Emmylou Harris this summer at Telluride. Seeing him on Sunday morning hanging with Emmy and her new grandbaby kind of blew me away. They looked so—stinkin'—comfortable. She the ‘superstar’ and he, the casual friend from Wheaton (Taylor, actually) that I had totally lost track of.

Back in college days, we used to hack around a bit and make some music. I think I’ve still got an audio tape (somewhere) of him and me jammin’ on a campus radio station (another friend had a radio program and we went down and did some live music). My friend, Phil, was on piano and I was on guitar. When I had listened to a replay of that tape (like 35 years ago), I recognized that Phil's (superior) playing had elevated my (pedestrian) playing. I was impressed with how good…I sounded. I already knew he was good. But his talent encouraged my playing.

And that’s the way it should be in life.

We should elevate each other’s playing…and each other’s lives.

At any rate, I’m glad to have re-connected with Phil.

Low Tide in Bass Harbor

Well, all those pretty Maine scenes you picture--those scenes with the colorful harbors populated with sailboats and workboats tugging at their moorings and anxious to shed their docklines, ready to head off to play hard or work even harder, with sun sparkling off the water and fluffy white clouds dancing overhead--those scenes change dramatically at low tide--at least they do here in Bass Harbor.

At low tide, I would guess something like three quarters of the area of this harbor turns into mud flats. And that ain't so scenic. Not the kind of scene that you would capture for a postcard and write home to brag about where you'd been.

If your boat is a serious boat, whether serious about work or play, you've secured a properly located mooring or dock space where there's still plenty of water under your keel, and you can ride out low tide with little worry or inconvenience. The mud won't bother you. However lots of casual boats sit the low tide out, literally stuck in the mud.

This tide thing is also true of our lives. We live our lives in the midst of high tides and low tides, with some sense of symmetry and an acquired recognition that some days are better than others. But in our reporting (about our vacations, and our lives) there is the temptation to report only about our high tides, sunny days, and brightly colored harbors. We tend to share less about the gray days spent at low tide, stuck in the mud.

When you're stuck in the mud, at least you don't need to worry about dragging anchor and going aground. You're there and most likely will stay there until the tide starts to come in.

So, you know what's coming. Enjoy the anticipation of your ride back to the next high tide. Its making its way.

One Cool Little Guy

Saw Henry this week and is he ever becoming one cool little guy. His parents aren't bad, either. But I was definitely impressed with how much he's putting pieces together and figuring things out.

When I first arrived and got out of the car, Henry was outside playing. As I got out of the car to greet him, I was wearing my sunglasses and a Boston Red Sox hat (in addition to other appropriate attire). His first words to me were, "Take off your glasses so you can see me."

I was blown away. That was the most coherent linkage of words I'd ever heard out of that precious little mouth.

Then he followed that with a very observant, "You've got a "B" on your hat." (which I did and do..in support of the aforementioned local Baseball Club and their fanatical fans, some of which I am related to either by blood or marriage).

Henry, his mom and I went out for a quick picnic lunch at Lynch Park in Beverly. We brought with us this little wooden bike that Henry's folks bought for him.

I am pleased to report that Henry has completely mastered the delicate art of small wooden bike riding. He scoots around on it as though he were flying. At full speed, one leg is semi retracted, and the other is used for propulsion, in a scooter-like kick fashion. Over grass, over pavement, through throngs of gawking admirers, Henry whizzes by in a blur of blue 'safety helmet'. At the age of two and a half, he cuts quite a striking little figure.

At any rate, I'm a fan.