Monday Musings: October 19, 2009

Well, you might have noticed, if you’re a regular reader, that I was missing in action for a few days. A ‘stomach bug’ started it out with 24 hours of ‘ick’, then there was all the painting and dozen details for finishing up the one bathroom remodel that is now complete. So sue me. I’m a perfectionista. Yea! It’s done. Now for the other one. (Look at the pictures under Lifestyle and Food).

The bottom line: I can’t always get ‘stuff’ done and blog. Oh, well. When I hit the big time, I’ll hire minions to watch my six.

Re: Sue Lowdan, the Republican wannabe contender for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s job. Oh, please, can we get real?  Miss N.J.? Of course the Republican ladies in Las Vegas give her awards. What would you expect? I’m still looking at her lame website and wondering just what she’s done of note.

Danny Tarkanian: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Oh, BTW, his webpage seems to hijack your mouse, it did mine and I couldn’t shut off his ad. Hmmmm.

Anthony Weiner sez that no public option in the house will cost 100 votes. There’s, uh, a message here. Weiner is on my short list of cool guys that I love ( just short of George Clooney and Kevin Spacey ), read on and you’ll understand why:

“Now that the Senate Finance Committee has finished its work, there are now five versions of health care reform that have to be merged into a final version. Four other committees – three in the House of Representatives and one other in the Senate – have passed bills that include a public option to give consumers choice and give insurance companies competition.

So if you were in charge of merging five bills and 80% of them had one element in common, doesn’t it stand to reason that the final product would have it?  Common sense may take a back seat to raw politics here.

I’ll keep you posted on the negotiations, but one thing is certain – if Americans stand up and speak up for a public option, my colleagues and the President will hear the call.  More than 30,000 have signed their names to the public option petition drive.  Add your name.  Tell your friends.  Heck, you can even tell your enemies.  I’m sure they want choice and competition too.”

Anthony

And, check out his interview( on countdowntohealthcare.com ) with Keith Olberman on the health insurance industry:

And as a final “har-har-de-har-har” on health insurance reform from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:

“It is absolutely clear that it is an unsustainable situation as we go forward, and it is well known to the public that the health-insurance companies are the problem,” Pelosi told reporters Thursday.

“There are some things that we want to see happen to the insurance companies that they may not like.” The House, Pelosi said, might adopt a $40 billion fee on insurance companies to help them pay for the health-care-reform bill, as well as a windfall profits tax. Both chambers of Congress, she added, are seriously thinking of including a provision to strip health insurers of their longstanding federal antitrust exemption.”

I haven’t always been a Pelosi admirer, but I’ve gotta hand it to her for saying the obvious, which is more than I can say for President Obama. I wish he’d quit being coy or playing it close to the vest or whatever he’s doing. The time has long passed for gamesmanship on health insurance reform.

Furthermore, house dems seems to been galvanized by the way the insurance industry shot itself in the foot during their rush to spill the supposed CBO beans. Let’s hope it’s true and they stay the course.

In the House, Pelosi is using the insurance industry’s ill-considered assault to coax recalcitrant moderates to sign on to a strong public option. “Anyone who had any doubts about the need for such an option need only look at the behavior of the health-insurance industry this week,” she said. “The idea that we would have health-insurance reform without a public option becomes less likely.”

Back on the local front, disturbing developments have been popping up.

More and more of my neighbors are admitting to job losses and doing the hardest thing of all: asking for help. I’m not talking about layabouts or wannabe’s. I’m referring to hard working, fiscally conservative, upper-middle-class types with good educations, who’ve worked for good companies.  They’re out of work and in danger of losing homes that they’ve had for 10 or 20 years. 

If this doesn’t give you pause, I don’t know what will. 

I know we feel damned lucky around this house, even on the bad days.

On the local hospital front, my little African ‘daughter’ CNA is coming - so tired she can barely walk-  home off of 12 hour shifts at the big fancy-schmancy hospital with real horror stories. Today she and her CNA trainee had the entire floor. That was 15 patients for her and 12 for the trainee. Do you think any training got done?

Worse yet, the new nurses from the local community college are asking our little African princess how to hook up the monitors and other tasks that they should full well know. They don’t even know how to insert an IV.  Apparently, their ‘clinical’ began and ended at passing out meds. 

All this in the name of ‘for profit’. If you have a chance to ask before you check into your local hospital, I’d ask what the average CNA to patient ratio is. Seven or eight patients is do-able. Anything else is bullshit, and you should go elsewhere.

Times are tough all over. Take a look and see how you can help those closest to you.

maven

Comments

[bluelyon]

Thanks for the link to Weiner's web site. I signed up. If we can't get single payer, then we absolutely must get a strong public option that everyone has the opportunity to choose, if they desire. No triggers, no "well if you can't get it any other way," etc.

Thanks for all you do.