Judicial Activism - Very Interesting!

Obviously, judicial activism is much like beauty or happiness. Either it's in the "eye of the beholder" or "it's a state of mind." The other possibility is that all political reference to the judiciary is hypocritical at best. Conservatives view any judicial decision allowing gay marriage as "judicial activism." Liberals view judicial decisions overturning Obamacare as "judicial activism." The one judicial hypocracy that stands out from the rest is Bush v. Gore (2000). Recall that five, states'-rights, conservative justices shot down the State of Florida to put Bush in the White House.

Obamacare PLEASE!

Opponents of the current health care reform call it socialized medicine and say they don't want the government coming between them and their doctor. They want to keep the current "free enterprise" system we have and be able to see whatever doctor they want and have access to all the care modern science can provide.

They are living in a mythical world. The only institution that ever comes between me and my doctors is my insurance company. I have heard my doctors complain on several occasions about having to get permission from the insurance company for a particular test or treatment they wanted to prescribe. After the third broken ankle, the doctor wanted me to have a bone scan to check for possible osteoporosis - only to be told by the insurance company that they wouldn't pay for the test unless I had a diagnosis of osteoporosis. Isn't that Catch-22?

As it is today, my insurance company stands squarely between me and my doctor. They decide what drugs I take, what doctors I see and what treatments I can have. They do it for profit! Before I retired, I couldn't even chose my insurance company because it was provided by my employer. Where's the private enterprise in all this? We have no choices anyway. Need a hew hip? Try shopping around for the best quality or the best deal! You can't get a single doctor or clinic or hospital to quote you prices - where's the private enterprise - competition - in all of this?

Opponents of Obamacare warn of government rationing of health care. Just another part of their mythical world. Rationing already exists, only it's done by income status and the insurance companies. Let's have some fairness - Obamacare is a good start.

Stewart Restores Sanity - AGAIN!

Following the tragic events in Tucson, Arizona this past weekend, the airwaves were filled with all kinds of agonized hand-ringing and polarized finger-pointing - culminating in the all encompassing idiocy, "we're all to blame." The most sincere, sane expression of the horror and confusion we all felt, without any of the nonsense, came from Jon Stewart in his opening monologue on the Daily Show, Monday, January 10, 2011. "We can't outsmart crazy." How ironic, that it takes a comedian on a fake news show to get it right!

Who Needs A Glock?

The tragic events in Tucson got me to think about my guns and gun ownership. I own several guns and would fight to protect my ownership thereof. But I don't love or worship my guns as it seems so many NRA folks do. I simply enjoy the activities that the guns are a part of. I also own three freezers that contain the fish and game we harvest. And I love figuring out how to prepare and cook this bounty. Check out the Living Well link under the list of Revenge Links on the lower left-hand side to see pictures of some of our "harvesting" adventures.

However, I do not own a semi-automatic 9 mm Glock. I can't imagine a reason to use one. Seriously, who needs one? What possible legitimate reason can there be for anyone to own or carry or conceal a semi-automatic hand gun or an AK47 or any other automatic weapon? Why do our laws allow such easy access for people to buy these kinds of guns that have absolutely no legitimate use? Near as I can tell, the only thing these automatic weapons are good for is killing a lot of people quickly. We need to get rid of the easy access to these killing machines

The Real Problem in Washington

Why can't Congress get together and pass legitimate health care reform? Why can't Congress pass a energy policy that makes sense for the 21st century? Why can't Congress enact the necessary regulatory reforms to prevent another Wall Street meltdown? Pick any number of similar questions related to needed solutions for the common good - the answer's always the same. It's the money! Until we get the corrupting money out of campaign finance - so our representatives speak for us and not the interests that bought and paid for them, the answer's always going to be the same - it's the money!

Fire All The Teachers - How Unprofessional!

The current action of the Central Falls, Rhode Island, Superintendent and School Board to fire all 100 teachers in the "chronically underperforming" public high school is the most outrageous and unprofessional I've read about in a long time. It violates a central principle of good classroom discipline taught in all teacher preparation programs - don't punish the entire group for the actions of a few. It's not fair and the everyone knows it! When the socio-economic status of the Central Falls student body (the most significant factor in student achievement) is compared with other public high schools in the state, one has to wonder if this school board action wasn't more about contract negotiations than it was about student performance?

Living Well is the Best Revenge

My book, Plaintiff Blues, explains my desire for revenge and the fishing and hunting pictures on revenge page of the website illustrate my belief that living well is the best revenge. Shortly after my last post on April 5, 2009, I found additional motivation for working hard at living well. Life is too short to waste not living well! In the book, I briefly described a heart attack I experienced in 1999, followed by two stents. It was a bit of a wake-up call and a significant part of my reason for taking an early retirement from secondary school administration in 2001. This was at age 58. I've done some university adjunct instructing since then, but as the revenge pictures show, there's been a lot of living well since 2001. Ducks, geese, pheasant, deer, moose, tuna, salmon, halibut, walleye, bass, lake trout, muskie, catfish, mahi mahi - they're all there.

However, on April 7, 2009, I woke up with some minor chest pain and went to the ER, expecting another couple of stents. Not so easy this time. The angiogram diagnosis was severe CAD (coronary artery disease). The open heart surgery performed on Aril 9, 2009, included seven CABG's (coronary artery bypass grafts). Living well now took on a whole new dimension. Some minor setbacks kept me in cardiac rehab until September. However, by October we were back living well again. I caught the 51" muskie in early October, shot a limit of Canada Geese later in October and was there when the family caught the mahi mahi in December. Check the last three pictures on the revenge page of www.plaintiffblues.com.
Living well sure works for me.