An open letter to my Senators

Here's what I just sent Senators Lugar and Bayh:

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Dear Senator Lugar/Bayh:

I know that you and your colleagues respected Senator Kennedy’s passion and dedication. I can understand that many of you may identify with a senator who desperately wanted to remain on the battlefield during a crucial fight and was unable to do so. I know you will be urged to honor his memory by ensuring that his removal from the scene does not defeat the cause about which he cared so deeply.

Senator, the issue of American health care’s future is too important to be decided on such grounds. Senator Kennedy’s vision of government-dominated, government-administered health care is wrong for this country. Polls show that most Americans agree with that assessment. Legislators across the country have been confronted with the fear and anger their constituents feel at the possibility of their choices being curtailed and their health care overtaken by a wave of bureaucratic interference.

The challenge of the day is to address the flaws of our generally enviable system without undermining what we are doing so right. There are ideas floating around that meet that test. They include:

--Disconnecting normal health care from insurance. Insurance is for the big bad things that we hope won’t happen – fire, flood, catastrophic illness. It isn’t an appropriate vehicle for dealing with ordinary and predictable expenses. Using insurance for normal health care also prevents people from being intelligent consumers of health care, because they are insulated from its actual costs. We can let people put some of their income, untaxed, into health savings accounts, and spend that money on health care, so health insurance can play the more limited role that’s appropriate to it.

--Disconnecting health insurance from employment. If health insurance has a smaller job to do – covering catastrophic health events – it becomes more affordable. When it’s more affordable, more people can afford it, themselves, rather than getting it as an employment benefit. If we open up insurance to nationwide competition, the costs should go down further.

--Tort reform. We shouldn’t eliminate malpractice litigation, but some limits are necessary. Huge judgments and correspondingly high malpractice insurance premiums translate into higher costs for medical care.

While you honor the colleague you have lost, please maintain your focus on those Americans who remain with us, and who will be deeply affected in the future by the decisions you make today.

Sincerely,

Karen A. Wyle

Anniversary cards

I went looking for a couple of anniversary cards earlier this week (to give my folks for their 60-something'th, and my husband for our 20th). I found abundant birthday cards in every possible variation and specification. I found Congratulations, Thank You, Thinking of You, Friendship, and Carpool Lines. I finally found a very few anniversary cards, providing very little choice in style or sentiment.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. Fewer people married for fewer years, with years passing before any remarriage, means fewer anniversaries. I also suspect that people are less likely to send anniversary cards for friends and family who are on their second or subsequent marriage. I would guess also that divorced people, so numerous in this era, don't get much pleasure out of sending anniversary cards: "Congratulations on staying married when I couldn't!"

In the end, I bought a blank card for my husband, with a photo of a boy and girl dressed in wedding garments (she was kissing him). And I used one of my own photos, a couple in silhouette walking on a beach, for a card to my folks. I wonder how many people make do in a similar manner, and how many drop the idea of sending a card -- shrinking the market further.

...and more about toilets

Re my earlier post about automatic toilets: I could be wrong, but it seems to me that in bathrooms with manual flush toilets, there are more unflushed toilets than there used to be. (I'm not talking about deliberately clogged ones.)

My guess: people have gotten used to automatic toilets doing their flushing for them, even though it doesn't always work. They've started to assume that all toilets are automatic, without checking. They no longer view flushing as their responsibility.

Again, an example and a symbol of larger trends.

Has anyone written this book?...

If someone provided me with a good researcher, I might undertake to write a book called something like "A Nation of Cowards: Raising Our Children in Fear". It would compare how Americans addressed risk fifty years ago with how we do it today. Of course, research might find some exceptions to the rule -- were we more germ-phobic in the late 1950's than we are today? On the whole, though, I expect one could document that my now-middle-aged generation was expected to accept many more everyday risks without a second thought, and society as a whole was more prepared to undertake risky endeavors (e.g. going to the moon).

But maybe there are several books like this out there already. Names, anyone?

The automatic toilet as symbol

The other day, I was in a mall bathroom with automatic toilets. Several had been left unflushed; the one I used was, as is common, both under- and over-sensitive, flushing before it should and not flushing when it needed to. It occurred to me that automatic toilets are both a symptom and a symbol of what ails this country (well, one important ailment).

Instead of assuming that people can take responsibility to the minimal extent of flushing away their own waste, we replace individual responsibility with a System. The System doesn't really do the job, failing at least as often (I'd guess more often) than the individuals did -- but its very existence leads people to assume that they no longer have to take any action. Thus the System's failures go uncorrected.

Grudging Benefit of the Doubt -- Obama and Iran - UPDATED

Much as I'd like to join the chorus of those excoriating Obama for not unequivocally backing the Iranian protesters, I can't quite. Why give the mullahs a more credible opportunity to blame the unrest on outside agitators? If Obama actually had guts and a devotion to American-style democracy, wouldn't it be wise for him to walk pretty much the line he's walking?

UPDATE: OK, they're blaming us anyway, and Mousavi's spokesman didn't ask us to keep out of it. Time to man up, Pres-boy!

Where the Money Is

I don't remember which bank robber said he robbed banks because "that's where the money is". A similar principle appears to guide Democratic tax policy: tax the heck out of rich people because that's where the money is.

Trouble is, the economy needs rich people and their money. We need rich people's money for investment, for new businesses, for expansion of existing businesses.

Obama says he won't wallop the rich folks with taxes until the economy recovers. But what makes him think that recovery can be sustained without them?

Or maybe he figures there'll be plenty of money left over, and that it'll still get spent where we need it. Better hope so.

It is utterly obvious that I'm no economist -- but I don't think I'm completely missing the boat here.

Chilly

Thursday morning, it was minus 9 degrees Farenheit at 8 a.m., and the radio cheerfully commented that it was "really chilly".

This is one way I know I no longer live in Southern California.

We are now in that interlude when there is melted snow on top of unmelted ice. This is awkward.

Good Cop, Bad Cop

I am relieved to see Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, for the same reasons I would have been happier to see her as Commander in Chief. The lady is tough, and is probably perceived as such by those who have little reason to assume the same of our President-Elect.

As my husband, the Hoosier Gadfly, said in an email to a friend: "[H]aving a gimlet-eyed sociopath to intimidate one's adversaries is a big asset. She really is something out of a Nietzchean nightmare - the abyss that gazes back at you." He is looking forward to seeing her effect on Putin.

I also suspect that Obama wants her handy for good cop/bad cop routines. "Respond favorably to my warm smile, or the next meeting will be with Medusa here...."

Unintended Consequences Dept. -- Rebuttal of Victim Impact Videos

I've been reading about the U.S. Supreme Court's recent refusal to hear two challenges to victim impact videos, played for juries in the penalty phase of (usually) murder trials. It strikes me that this will, sooner or later, spawn an unforeseen and very messy response.

The relevance of such videos, presumably, is to show the jury what the family and the community have lost due to the defendant's actions. If I were a defense attorney in (especially) death penalty cases, I would consider it my duty to attempt some rebuttal of this evidence. Enter the private investigator, tasked with finding out whether (fictional example!) the young woman feeding the stray puppy in the video had had a neglected attack dog chained up behind her house, or had been spreading STD's, or was fired from a day care for molesting toddlers, or . . . .

I don't see how one can legally justify admitting the favorable video and excluding the nastier evidence. Of course, with some jurors, this approach could backfire big-time. It'd take a masterful defense attorney to pull it off.

McCain is a mensch; Obama, maybe not

I wish it weren't so late, and I weren't so tired, and could find and link to all the right examples.

John McCain is one of the few people, of all those who've known and worked with former Senator Udall, who visits him regularly in the veteran's hospital.

Obama's impoverished relatives don't appear to have benefited much from his fame and fortune.

Flaws notwithstanding, my bet is that John McCain is a mensch. My jury's still out on Obama.

Has Palin caught Thompson-itis?

I've been somewhat disturbed by the percentage of empty platitudes and generalities in Palin's recent interviews. I just realized what it reminds me of. Fred Thompson had his own, vigorous voice -- before he became a candidate. Then, suddenly, it was all mail-in politician-speak. Is the same thing happening to Palin? Say it ain't so....

Housing vs. Travel Per Diem

The Washington Post finally scored a point or two against Gov. Palin with its per diem story. It appears plenty of people now believe that Palin charged the state for hotel-type expenses while staying in her home in Wasila (and commuting to Anchorage or Juneau).

WaPo sure didn't try to make clear that Palin didn't take a housing per diem for this time -- just the travel-expenses portion of the per diem. The expense reports show this -- the portion for hotel/housing expense is left blank.

One could get into an interesting discussion about whether it cost the state more for her to commute from Wasila or to stay at the mansion in Juneau, plus what she gained in effectiveness by staying in Wasila -- plus how much latitude a mother in a high-profile position should have to make things easier for herself and her family, while overall spending a lot less than her predecessor. That discussion won't happen while most of those not obsessed with politics have the impression that she sought hotel-type expenses for living at home. The latter would seriously undercut her “reformer” credentials -- the truth, perhaps not so much.

Gov. Palin's experience

I thought of it first, I bleat.... One of Instapundit's readers notes Alaska's proximity to the former USSR and calls it "two years of foreign policy experience". I've been talking about this since my husband and I started tossing Gov. Palin's name around. Any governor of Alaska who's good at her job would keep a close eye on what's happening in Russia and surrounding countries -- and Palin is reportedly good at her job. A related point (not yet scooped...) -- a competent governor of a state to whom oil is so important would keep up with what's happening in oil-producing states -- which would entail a fair amount of awareness of developments re Islamic extremism.

So Palin may add some real foreign policy expertise (if not exactly "experience") to her executive experience, toughness, reformer credentials, etc.

It Just Don't Look Right

I watched the Democratic Convention roll call, on and off. Since Hillary had released her delegates, the numbers were far more lopsided in Obama's favor than they would have been had they reflected the actual primary/caucus votes. Then, of course, Hillary moved for Obama's selection by acclamation.

I assume this was all negotiated and considered. I assume Obama and staff thought this would be a helpful way for things to go. But I have my doubts. Though I didn't support either candidate, I watched those accumulating numbers and felt that this drastic understatement of Hillary's real support was somehow disrespectful -- of her and of those who voted for her. It looked like a distortion and even, in some sense, a humiliation. Numbers like that belonged to a race between an overwhelming favorite and a pathetic also-ran with delusions of seriousness. If I were a Hillary supporter having trouble swallowing the current situation, those numbers would REALLY tick me off. And Hillary's being a team player, good sport, etc. would make me angrier, not more reconciled.

Mazel tov!

A red-letter day, a personal and family triumph -- daughter Alissa tried and enjoyed a bagel with lox and cream cheese.

Alissa is quite fond of salmon, but had the notion that she didn't like lox, aka smoked salmon. (Feel free to enlighten me on when smoked salmon is and isn't technically lox.) I am not very picky about my lox, and she may have previously tried a worse-than-average sample of the cheap stuff with which I usually content myself. Paul, with craft and persuasion, managed to get her to try the expensive variety he likes. One small taste, and she admitted with only slight sheepishness that she liked it too. The two of them dined on toasted bagel, cream cheese and lox.

Paul was triumphant that one of his daughters, at least (the other is a vegetarian), would eat this Jewish staple henceforth. I find this somewhat endearing and amusing, given that he's a blond (now gray-blond) Texan ex-Methodist, Jewish by conversion only (via a particularly tolerant rabbi who somehow overlooked agnosticism verging on atheism).

I am also pleased. Tradi-tion!

McCain campaign needs to tell stories like this

When voters get bored with hearing in general terms about McCain's captivity and fortitude in North Vietnam, they need to hear stories like this (from the Wall Street Journal via Powerline):

"[Colonel Bud Day, a Medal of Honor recipient and America's most highly decorated veteran, shared a cell for some time with McCain.] Day escaped his original detention in North Vietnam, but was recaptured. Upon recapture, the North Vietnamese conveyed a harsh message:
'When he was recaptured, a Vietnamese captor broke his arm and said, "I told you I would make you a cripple."
'The break was designed to shatter Mr. Day's will. He had survived in prison on the hope that one day he would return to the United States and be able to fly again. To kill that hope, the Vietnamese left part of a bone sticking out of his arm, and put him in a misshapen cast. This was done so that the arm would heal at "a goofy angle," as Mr. Day explained. Had it done so, he never would have flown again.
'But it didn't heal that way because of John McCain. Risking severe punishment, Messrs. McCain and Day collected pieces of bamboo in the prison courtyard to use as a splint. Mr. McCain put Mr. Day on the floor of their cell and, using his foot, jerked the broken bone into place. Then, using strips from the bandage on his own wounded leg and the bamboo, he put Mr. Day's splint in place.Years later, Air Force surgeons examined Mr. Day and complimented the treatment he'd gotten from his captors. Mr. Day corrected them. It was Dr. McCain who deserved the credit. Mr. Day went on to fly again.' "

The Wall Street Journal article has other stories as well, including how Cindy McCain brought a dying orphan from Bangladesh to the U.S. for medical treatment and the McCains adopted her.

If the McCain campaign can't find a way to tell stories like these effectively, 527's had better get on the stick!

Su-per Senator passes laws solo!

Not once, but twice! Both of Obama's general election ads have trumpted that he "passed laws" doing thus-and-so. As has been noted elsewhere, no one legislator can pass a law. But since Obama is supposed to be the harbinger of a new kind of politics, maybe Yes He Can....

(I also read an article somewhere claiming that he didn't end up supporting one or more of the laws on which his claims (in the first ad) were based -- but other articles, such as the post I just linked to, seem to disagree.)

Let Uncommitted be Uncommitted

One thing should be easy about the overall-difficult issue of the Florida and Michigan delegates. At whatever strength the Michigan delegates are seated, the proportion derived from the vote for "uncommitted" should get to be -- gee -- uncommitted! That's what people voted for. Like superdelegates, the delegates in the uncommitted group could wait until the convention to announce their preferences, or could let people know (in a nonbinding way) ahead of time.

armchair sociology

I had occasion to see some interesting social patterns in action a couple of weeks ago. (And if I were close to diligent about blogging, I'd have mentioned it then.)

Joshua Bell, world-famous classical violinist, hails from Bloomington, IN, and was gracious enough to give a free concert here last weekend, with a pianist friend of his, Jeremy Denk. Tickets were available as of 11 a.m. on a weekday morning. The line started forming around 8:40 a.m. (I know because an acquaintance of mine was first in line). I arrived around 10:40 a.m. and found a line of people waiting in the cold -- a line that looked surprisingly short, until I saw that most of it was inside the building. The line snaked back and forth through the lobby. The loops were crowded so close together that it was sometimes difficult to keep track of which was which, especially since people kept stepping across to chat with each other. And yet no one, so far as I could see, made any attempt to jump the queue. Nor was there any impatience evident, although those of us in my part of the line ended up waiting for two hours. The line etiquette/ethos may have been bolstered by the presence of auditorium staff, giving occasional updates and reassurances, discreetly keeping an eye on things. And of course, it was reasonably clear what we were supposed to do and where we were supposed to go.

On to the nearby parking garage -- and a very different scene. Cars converged from several directions on the narrow exit. The line of cars with the clearest shot did not, most of the time, take turns with those coming from the side. It took ingenuity and/or recklessness to get one's car out of a spot in the first place, and then to get the heck out. (I had to create a new lane of traffic -- yes, there was room -- in order to get out of my spot, and then play chicken with a driver in the favorably positioned lane.)

And of course, these were pretty much all the same people who'd been following the rules so nicely in the line at the auditorium.

One main difference was that there were rules apparent in the auditorium. Another was the presence of those who might enforce those rules. And finally, as my husband pointed out: people are different in cars.