It's a beautiful time of year! Sorry you're not here, but enjoy the view!
Cheers,
Paula
Dear Reader, It's a beautiful time of year! Sorry you're not here, but enjoy the view! Cheers, Paula
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Liberal columnist Nicholas Kristof suggests those serving in Congress or working for the government buy their own health insurance like everyone else. This column ran two days ago and, in that short time, has kicked up quite a storm. You can follow the link at the bottom of the column to access Kristof's blog and comment roll. See what you think: The New York Times October 8, 2009 Op-Ed Columnist Let Congress Go Without Insurance By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Let me offer a modest proposal: If Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured. It may be that the lulling effect of having very fine health insurance leaves members of Congress insensitive to the dysfunction of our existing insurance system. So what better way to attune our leaders to the needs of their constituents than to put them in the same position? About 15 percent of Americans have no health insurance, according to the Census Bureau. Another 8 percent are underinsured, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a health policy research group. So I propose that if health reform fails this year, 15 percent of members of Congress, along with their families, randomly lose all health insurance and another 8 percent receive inadequate coverage. Congressional critics of President Obama’s efforts to achieve health reform worry that universal coverage will be expensive, while their priority is to curb social spending. So here’s their chance to save government dollars in keeping with their own priorities. Those same critics sometimes argue that universal coverage needn’t be a top priority because anybody can get coverage at the emergency room. Let them try that with their kids. Some members also worry that a public option (an effective way to bring competition to the insurance market) would compete unfairly with private companies and amount to a step toward socialism. If they object so passionately to “socialized health,” why don’t they block their 911 service to socialized police and fire services, disconnect themselves from socialized sewers and avoid socialized interstate highways? Click on Read More (below right) for the rest of the piece. Most people my age grew up with the tragic story of Anne Frank who, with her family, hid from the Nazis in Amsterdam until 1944, when they were found and sent to a concentration camp. The diary she left behind was a must-read for my generation. Sadly, many of our own children probably don't know her story, and it's even more likely our grandchilden never will. Somehow, a video that appears to show her has surfaced and is available on You Tube. I'm sharing it with you, assuming it's real. But, I will take it down if I learn it's not authentic. I've been to Amsterdam, but didn't have time to visit the house where the Franks lived. I definitely will go there on my next trip. Here's an educational video about Anne and her family: Sign at a local tire store: God spills his paintbox, and we call it autumn. The leaves have started turning, but we have a long way to go before peak. Leaf peepers will arrive by the busload this weekend, so we’re hoping for a few good frosts to make the colors pop. I’ve always been fascinated with the Human Genome Project (HGP), perhaps because that single effort by thousands of scientists from around the world offered such extraordinary promise to this generation, and to those that will follow. With a map of the genes that form human chromosomes and with an outline of the sequence of all three billion units of DNA that constitute one set of those chromosomes, scientists could begin to actually quantify and describe what makes a human, human. (Not much, it turns out!) They also could point to the miniscule differences that (might) make each of us unique. Those differences might help us succeed as athletes or mathematicians, or could predict how well or poorly our body will respond to the myriad environmental assaults it will endure through a normal life. Every week, we read about research that picks up new connections between genetic combinations or anomalies, and disease. Thanks to the science that went into the HGP, we know there are markers for certain cancers, Huntington’s disease (remember Dr. 13 on House?) and some aspects of cardiovascular disease, among many other conditions. According to a 1997 story in The Judges’ Journal of the American Bar Association, the Human Genome Project has given science a great set of tools to understand and, perhaps, fend off some human suffering caused by disease. Using information gathered from genetic testing, physicians counsel patients on their risk for a number of medical conditions. Sometimes, they can help a person build a lifestyle or find other ways to reduce that inherited risk. Sometimes, they can’t. After all, risk is -- by definition – a numbers game. Within our family, I can think of at least four people – three of them, young – who have considered genetic testing to determine whether or not they carry a marker for a particular cancer. In all cases, a parent’s cancer was considered familial long before there was science to prove it. All four have declined testing. I don’t know why, but this op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times may provide a clue: The New York Times October 4, 2009 Dad’s Life or Yours? You Choose By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF So what would you do if your mom or dad, or perhaps your sister or brother, needed a kidney donation and you were the one best positioned to donate? Most of us would worry a little and then step forward. But not so fast. Because of our dysfunctional health insurance system, a disgrace that nearly half of all members of Congress seem determined to cling to, stepping up to save a loved one can ruin your own chance of ever getting health insurance. That wrenching trade-off is another reminder of the moral bankruptcy of our existing insurance system. It’s one more reason to pass robust reform this year. To read the whole piece, click here |
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Retired reporter, writer, wife, mother, stepmother, grandmother, photographer, singer, knitter, kayaker, cook, swimmer -- not all at the same time
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