Curmudgeon's Corner
cur-mud-geon: anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
Will She or Won't She?
It has been likened to herding cats into a burlap sack; that is what confronts Nancy Pelosi as she works to get enough votes to pass the Obama-enhanced Senate bill that prescribes the overhaul of our health care in
Winners & Losers - March 2nd
Losers are the students and parents who believed in what Governor Doyle told them about the funding for their educations.
Village Buzz - March 4th
The final report regarding “leaks” of information has been issued after some fifteen or more separate interviews by the lead investigator and a review of the results by Washington County District Attorney, Todd Martens.
Village Buzz - March 5th
The discussion about our village’s governance continues. The final report is available to anyone desiring it. A copy can be read at the Germantown Police Department’s office or copies can be had for the nominal cost of $0.25 per page copied. It is quite straight-forward and permits one to draw his or her own conclusion. It is contained in Call Detail Report #10.001090. The copy I have is not of sufficient quality to permit it to be scanned and presented in an Internet file.
What Would We Do?
Reading my morning passages and watching the news this morning served to again remind me of the frailty of our lives. We live from moment to moment, not year to year. We take one breath at a time, and are not assured of the next. And yet, too often, we think little, or not at all, about human frailty, about our individual frailty.
Snake Oil
To watch President Barack Obama talk about health care reform is to watch the old ‘snake oil’ pitchman who came to town to sell his remedy to the unwary citizens. He is slick and compelling, but he is selling a bogus product.
Health Care Prices
Health care cost disclosure is a lynch-pin in the overall effort to bring consumers back into the equation, and to gain some semblance of control over the ever-increasing costs involved.
Intended Consequences...
There are “unintended” consequences in legislation that rise up to bite us quite often. It seems that there are also “intended” consequences and those can be even more costly to us citizens than the others.
Mission Impossible?
The old television show titled “Mission Impossible” featured a weekly set-up of a situation that simply couldn’t be expected to be resolved. Yet, the “A-Team” got the job done week-in and week-out.
Healthcare Juggernaut
The health care juggernaut is alive and well, or so it would seem. The Administration’s spokespersons were in full voice over the week-end. They told us that a week from that day, we’d be talking about the new health care plan that was voted upon favorably. We would be talking about the “new law of the land”.
Health Care Reform Antics Are Sickening
The charade that is passing for the final push on health care reform is sickening.
Physicians Say Will Leave Profession
An article in the New England Journal of Medicine advises that nearly one-third of all practicing physicians may leave the medical profession if President Obama signs the current version of health care reform legislation.
Is It Time?
Is it time to push for Amendment #28 to the Constitution of the
Majority Parties
Majority political parties are expected to do the will of the people and to do so consistently on a very broad range of issues. The members of the majority, whether Republican or Democrat, are tasked with enormous responsibility and need to exercise the proper due diligence in all they do.
Washington County Fair Issues
The health care reform debate has moved some items off the front burner, but it is time to get back to local issues, at least for today.
The 'F--- Bomb'...
The Vice President uses the 'F--- Bomb' and the Administration’s Press Secretary treats it humorously. Newscasters make it a joke. This isn’t the first time, and with this Vice President it will certainly not be the last time.
The Post Office & Health Care
The
Political Opportunism
Voters have notoriously short attention spans, and that is known and used by the political parties in our state and in our country.
An Inconvenient Truth
We have begun to hear and read about some major costs for larger companies that are resulting already from the new health care legislation. Caterpillar reported that it will take a charge of $150 million as the result. AT&T reported that it will take a $1 billion charge. In total, there are some 3,500 companies that will suffer similar profit reductions or eliminations.
Dysfunctional Supreme Court?
Our state’s Supreme Court has been in the throes of internal turmoil for quite a long time. This has stemmed, from my perspective, in the battle between liberal members and conservative members of that body.
Federal Usurpation
The federal government is taking on more and more of the functions that have heretofore involved solely, or mostly, the private sector. Those changes are coming at a rapid pace as if to avoid giving us time to react and respond.
