Wondering, on Wednesday (v16)

So, it's New Year's Eve, and you all know what that means: champagne, confetti, noisemakers, and stuff like that. And resolutions.

Ah, resolutions.  Those 'commitments' we make to ourselves,and  post on social media, asking family and friends to PROMISE to help us stick with them.

Or, if you're the introverted type, maybe you scribble yours down on small pieces of paper, commit them to memory, and eat the evidence.

Or, boldly put them in a jar, in plain sight, your words encouraging (taunting?) you each time you walk by.


We're all familiar with the old standbys: quitting smoking; saving money; losing weight; being kind to old people and strangers; cutting out the swearing; going to church.

Joining a gym is another big one, although many fewer people actually go to a gym than join one. According to a report on NPR the average Planet Fitness has about 6,500 members, but can hold only abut 300 at a time, fortunately. The report also noted that these places count on the inactive members to subsidize the active ones. (Hey -wait a minute - that sounds just like the health insurance scam that Gruber guy got in trouble for!)

Another modern thing to do is to sign up for one of those websites where you publish your commitment and then have to pay others if you don't uphold your end of the bargain, or otherwise be publicly shamed. And while I'm wondering, on this last Wednesday of 2014, why anyone would do that and whether people who do actually stick with it any longer than people stick with the gyms they resolve to join, I know that it's not for me.

I don't consistently make New Year's resolutions; I don't always tell  people when I do, and I don't always keep them.  How's that for honesty?

Instead, I try to focus on things, or maybe try something, rather than resolving to do something. To me, the latter seems too much like performance management, and less like personal development.

Here's my working list for 2015, which is apt to fluctuate over time, or on a whim:

• I'll likely attempt some kind of 30-day fitness challenge to work on my abs, butt, and arms, but I'm going in with the full realization that I'll still have abs, a butt, and arms when I'm done. 
• I'll try and lift my face with more smiles than frowns.
• I'll try to eat less, but not less well.
• I'll try to be more engaged in my physical community, not just my online community. There are times when the sword (or rake, or shovel, or going to a meeting or a protest) is actually mightier than the pen - I'm sure of it.
• I will try and read more books, if for no other reason than our house is full of them. And I will try and listen to more music (see reason above). 
• I will try and breathe more deeply, and take in more of that which surrounds me. 

The point of being resolute at the beginning of a year is to try and make things better somehow, as if we cannot possibly be accepting of ourselves as we are. As I look at my list, I think the things that I've written down are reasonably accepting, reasonably moderate, with no concrete deadlines or anything. And I'm OK with that. 

The only one I'm going to be really firm on is this: 

• I'm going to figure out exactly how to put my coffee mug in the microwave so that the handle is accessible when the turntable stops.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy, accepting, moderate, and happy New Year!

Two Scoops, Please!

It's a wrong thing to do with a cracker or veggie and some dip.

And it's the wrong thing for John DeFrancisco, Tom Libous and the rest of  the dozen or so of our illustrious State Legislators who filed papers to do.

And they all know it. How do we know that?

Because they ran for re-election and never mentioned it to us during the campaign. See, that's how this works.  Run for reelection (in many cases unopposed or under-opposed) and never mention your intent to collect both your pension and your salary, which (without lulus), is $20,000 or so above the median income in New York.  Throw in the lulus, and the per diem, and all of the campaign cash that these folks spend so freely, and the self-promoting mail we pay for, and all the rest, and it's a nice little deal these folks have, isn't it?

It was the wrong thing for outgoing Onondaga County Sheriff/St Patrick impersonator Kevin Walsh to do, too -- but, as Walsh explained it was our fault that we didn't know his intentions, because we never asked him. Duh.

As with much of what our politicians do, it's perfectly legal and perfectly abusive and tone-deaf.

And perfectly justified, even for folks like DeFrancisco who has, as recently as 2013, said he wouldn't do this, but now maintains that he's not simply retiring and collecting just his pension because we need him:

Granted, I could simply retire and not serve any longer, However, now that Republicans have regained control of the State Senate, Central New York would be better served by my returning to my Senate seat, as a majority member and Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee (emphasis added).

Libous is also not simply retiring, even while facing cancer and a federal indictment, but is going to stick around, take a couple of token pension payments and then freeze them, so that his wife will be eligible for any 'popup' benefits. Others are not simply retiring because they've been married for decades to wonderful women who would be forced to accept a 'modest' lump sum payment should their husbands die while in office. Apparently for them, having a wonderful wife is fine for the money, but not more important than serving us.

Selfless bastards, all of them. What would we do without them?

The Sonofa Gov Strikes Again

Andrew Cuomo has been a very busy man these past few weeks. He was pretty quiet after winning reelection in November, but he's been making some noise of late.

Photo credit: Cuomo's bio

First, he got himself engaged in the 'negotiations' over a possible pay raise for the state Legislature, trying to obtain additional concessions on ethics.  That effort failed, probably for the best; I don't know about you, but I don't believe that the Gov should be the decider on whether our elected officials in Albany deserve a raise.

He had his year-end press conference, where it was announced that fracking was a no-go for New York. That decision crushed the hopes of many in the Southern Tier, they of course being the folks under which the majority of the frackable gas resides, and the ones who can see Pennsylvania's fracking growth from their porches.

And there was the announcement by the Gaming Facilities Location Board (GFLB) letting us know who the winners were in the contest to build new casinos.  Three were authorized: one in the Catskills, one in Schenectady, and the third in the town of Tyre, near Waterloo, in Seneca County. The casino decision was another blow to our neighbors down south; the winner for "Southern Tier - Finger Lakes" region ended up not being in the Southern Tier.

Cuomo, who deflected credit (and blame) for the fracking and casino decisions, tried to say that neither had anything to do with politics and that he wasn't involved. The fracking decision was made based on science, and the casino location decision was entirely up to the GFLB; his hands were clean on both. Not surprisingly, a lot of people didn't believe him, given his record of similar statements on the 'independent'  Moreland Commission.

Now, Cuomo has stepped up with a letter to his, I mean 'the' Gaming Commission, looking to have a reopened bidding process for a casino in the 'true Southern Tier.'  At this point, the only bidder from the 'true' region is Tioga Downs, as a rival in Broome County will support the Tioga package if bidding is reopened. Cuomo suggests there might be national interest as well, although with a saturated market and casinos closing in Atlantic City, that may be as likely as the odds of winning the jackpot on a single pull on a slot machine.

However, since the Sonofa Governor has decided that we need a casino in the Southern Tier, it merely remains to be seen how he will make that happen. Maybe as part of the budget negotiations next spring? Say, a pay raise for the legislators if they pass some special bill for Tioga? Maybe he'll promise to stay away from any more ethics legislation if they go along with a win for the Downs?  It would probably serve us well to remember that the house always wins - and in this case, the 'house' is the Governor's Mansion.

And yesterday, Cuomo vetoed his own legislation delaying the implementation of teacher evaluations which included Common Core scores.  Cuomo says it was because there's no need for this particular legislation, given that just about every teacher in New York was rated as effective or higher.  He's now promising 'comprehensive reforms' in teacher evaluations next year. And we can trust that these reforms are because we need them, and not at all tied to the failure of NYSUT, the teacher's union, to support Cuomo's re-election bid.

We can trust him on all of these decisions, right?  Right?

Another Year of Tuesday's Numbers

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. Regular readers know that, in addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings. Those include filings related to health care.

The total damage for 2014: $27,988,462.  That's a 'savings' of $1,477,797 compared to 2013’s total of $29,466,259. 

Below are this year’s totals for debts owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, etc. The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000:

• Judgments totaled $25,660,775, which is $18,963 less than last year
• Satisfied judgments totaled $841,480, significantly down ($1,605,683) from last year
• Bankruptcies totaled $1,486,207, which is up $110,849 over last year’s total.

And here are the totals for each of the four Syracuse hospitals in 2014 (I did not track the data this way in 2013):

• Crouse had 440 filings, totaling $5,583,435
• St Joe’s had 136 filings, totaling $2,821,469
• SUNY Upstate had 760 filings, totaling $17,936,563
• Community General (part of Upstate) had twelve, for $117,873.

Even though the total is a bit better than last year, it seems like we have a lot of work to do. Since I started keeping track of this, the total is a staggering $69,114,070, in just shy of two and a half years.  And who knows how much more is out there that doesn’t hit the $5,000 publication threshold? 

Last year, in my recap, I put these thoughts on the table:
   

And I continue to wonder what it will take for us to get out of the kind of mess that causes or allows this to happen. What’s broken here, the actual cost of health care? How people make health care choices? Our overall economy?  Will the Affordable Care Act, with millions more having some kind of insurance (through private carriers or government programs) make a difference?

I don’t know any more this year what’s broken than I did last year, and I can’t say with any confidence that anything has been fixed, either.  I am going to try and see if I can get an expert interested in this, though, in the hopes that at the very least we can better understand what’s behind the numbers, if not actually see some significant improvement.

Tuesday's Number: $218,138

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Each week, I track health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

·         This week, there were 14 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $177,722.

·         There were two satisfied judgments, for $40,416.

·         And there were no health care related bankruptcies.

New this year, I’m tracking filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week:

·         Crouse had four, totaling $35,652

·         St Joe’s had four, for $90,701

·         SUNY Upstate had seven, totaling $64,262

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had none.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

College Football: Bowls to Spare

In the year that the NCAA proved once and for all that they're not in this for the money but are in fact are only concerned for the welfare and education of their student athletes, we're finally going to have a college football playoff. 

When I was a kid, the college football season ended on New Year's Day, when the big bowl games were played - Orange, Cotton, Sugar, and the 'granddaddy of them all,' the Rose Bowl. For the most part, if you were still playing football on mid-December or on New Year's Day, you were generally accepted as a good team and you had a pretty good record.  

These days, the good record is not quite so necessary. As a sort-of-at-least-a-little-bit-interested SU fan, I grow tired of hearing (starting with the first game) how important it is to win six games to secure 'bowl-eligibility' each year.  And every time they say it, I think to myself, "Six games is all it takes to be bowl-eligible?" "Six wins gets you into the money round?"  

Well, yes it does. SU didn't make it this year, having battled though a gazillion key injuries, some coaching changes, and what some will argue was a bad offensive plan from the start, but there actually are several teams with only six wins that made it into the post-season, including five with losing records:

• South Alabama (6-7), lost the Raycom Media Camellia Bowl
• Fresno State (6-8), lost the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
• Illinois (6-7), lost the Zaxby's Heart of Texas Bowl
• North Carolina (6-7) lost the Quick Lane Bowl
• Miami (6-7), lost the Duck Commander Independence Bowl
• Arkansas and Texas (both 6-6) will play tomorrow in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl
• Pitt (6-6) will play on January 2nd in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl
• Tennessee (6-6) will play January 2nd in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl
• Oklahoma State (6-6) will play January 2nd in the TicketCity Cactus Bowl
• Florida (6-5) will play January 3rd in the Birmingham Bowl

There are also fifteen teams with only seven wins playing in bowl games.

Now, I know that 'true fans', the ones that bleed their school colors, will be confident in making the case that their team should be in a bowl game, even with a less than stellar record of six-and-something or seven-and-something. There's that whole strength of schedule/quality win thing, and perhaps more than that, there are those teams that travel well and will send people and money to the different bowl venues, which is an important consideration when it comes to picking teams.  A 6-6 team that'll send 10,000 people is better than an 8-4 team that will send 2,000 fans.  

And when you have 39 bowl games to fill (including the two semi-final games), I guess you  need a whole lot of teams and you can go deep to find them.  For context, here's how the bowl picture has expanded over the years:

• 2014: 39 games, plus the national championship
• 2004: 28 games
• 1994: 19 games
• 1984: 18 games
• 1974: 11 games
• 1964: 9 games

This year the season started on August 27, 2014 with a game between Georgia State (who finished 1-11) and Abilene Christian (6-6), and will likely end with the crowning of the national champion sometime on Tuesday January 13, 2015 (given the late start of final game on the 12th).

At least, in the end, we'll have a winner with no more than one loss on the year, which is as it should be. But sending Fresno State to Hawaii for Christmas?  Not so much. 

Hope Springs Anew

12/31/14 Update: This morning, at least four vans full of guys and their tools arrived at the house next door. The sweet sounds of progress will soon be filling my years!
===============================================================
Back in May, I posted about a sturdy yellow tulip growing in the yard of the empty house next door to me, which is currently owned by the Greater Syracuse Land Bank.

At that time, I had been mowing the front lawn next door, but the back was too much for my mower. I got connected with the property manager, Ray, who immediately responded to my concerns about the lawn. Since then I've had a handful of conversations with him, all of which have been equally positive.

Several weeks back, folks were at the house doing some work, which included removing some of the windows upstairs and covering the openings with a heavy plastic covering.  While I wasn't completely sure what the intent was, I was happy that some work had started, as my last conversation with the Land Bank was that grant money had been secured and that work would be starting in the spring.

I did talk to Ray around Thanksgiving to let him know that some of the sheeting on the windows had come loose, and at that time he let me know that work would "be starting soon." We wished each other happy holidays, and I figured (especially with the update about the grant in the back of my mind) we'd see some action on the house sometime after the first of the year.

But what to my wondering eyes did appear this morning?  A dumpster!

Yet again, hope springs - and if the work that was done on another Land Bank house up the block is any indication, we're in for a nice transition in my neck of the woods.

I can't wait for them to get started!

Tuesday's Number: $377,350

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Each week, I track health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

·         This week, there were 33 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $371,021.

·         There was one satisfied judgment, for $6,329.

·         And there were no health care related bankruptcies.

New this year, I’m tracking filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week:

·         Crouse had eleven, totaling $128,545

·         St Joe’s had one, for $5,691

·         SUNY Upstate had 21, totaling $234,289

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had one, for $8,825.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

O Little Town in Tioga

Santa Cuomo's Coming to Town. Andy We Have Heard on High. Obamacare, Obamacare.  And now, this morning's offering:  O Little Town in Tioga.  

O little town in Tioga,

How still we see thee lie

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by.

Yet in your dark hearts shineth

The everlasting light

The hopes and fears of Cuomo's years

Are met in thee tonight. 

O Wednesday's stars together,

did cut you to the core

No praises sing to Andrew, king

No gas will come. There's more:

The fracking ban was issued, 

While gathered all around,

Mere mortals weep: the angels keep

Casinos out of town. 

How silently, how silently

the wondrous gift is giv'n

As Nature imparts to PA hearts

The blessings of her heaven.

Vast fields of shale below us

Mohegan 'cross the line --

No hope for us to rise from dust

King Cuomo thinks we're fine.

O, little town in Tioga

Arise ye must, and vote

Cast out the king and enter in

One, your burdens'll tote

You'll hear Albany's angels

With great glad tidings say

Frack your land and deal your cards --

You'll rise again, some day. 

Obamacare, Obamacare

We've got your Cuomo Carols, one released on Wednesday and one earlier today; now we've got your first Obama Carol (or should I say, Obamacare-ol?)

Obamacare, Obamacare,

It’s time for re-enrollment

Obamacare, Obamacare

It’s time for re-enrollment

To the Exchange, oh you should go

Healthcare.gov’s the one, you know

Obamacare, Obamacare,

It’s time for re-enrollment.

You pick a plan: bronze, silver, gold

To see a doc when you've a cold

Obamacare, Obamacare,

It’s time for re-enrollment.

Deductibles, they might be high

But some care’s free, I cannot lie

Obamacare, Obamacare,

It’s time for re-enrollment.

You must hurry, you can't delay

You'll throw another month away

Obamacare, Obamacare,

It’s time for re-enrollment.

Obamacare, Obamacare,

It’s time for re-enrollment

Obamacare, Obamacare

It’s time for re-enrollment

Andy We Have Heard on High

In my Wondering, on Wednesday (v15) post the other day, I did my first 'Cuomo Carol', Here Comes Andy Claus.

Here's another one, Andy We Have Heard On High:

Andy we have heard on high, 

Sweetly pumping up our State

We, the people, in reply

Echoing our hoped update:

Ethics, in Albany next year;

Ethics in Albany next year!

Shelly, won't you go along?

Give me what I want - reform!

Public financing's sweet song

I'll make $120K the norm.

Ethics, in Albany next year;

Ethics, in Albany next year!

Go to Andy, make your plea

He's the one who rules these days;

Come, adore on bended knee,

Maybe then you'll get your raise.

Ethics, in Albany next year;

Ethics, in Albany next year!

See him on the Second Floor

Andrew, Lord of the Empire

SAFE Act, gambling, so much more

Higher office? He does aspire!

Ethics, in Albany next year; 

Ethics, in Albany next year!

Ethics, in Albany next year;

Ethics, in Albany next year!

Nontraditional Holiday Decorating

This year, we have nine Christmas trees, ranging from about 18 inches tall (in the kitchen) to 7 feet tall (in the living room). I know that seems like a lot, and like a lot of work, but I'll be honest: most of them get put away decorated, and I just have to unwrap them the following year, straighten things out, and I'm all set.

I keep saying one of these days I'm going to decorate a tree with stuff I get from the Christmas Tree Shops, and this might be the year to do it.  I know of someone goes there every week, so it's gotta be a great place to get holiday decorations, right? And while we already have a lot of them, I'm not sure you can ever really have too many.

I checked out the chain's website, and look at all the cool stuff I found!

• Sheets, pillows, pajamas and curtains
• portable air compressors, electric heater/fans, and a humidifier
• electric fireplaces, fire starters, and hearth brooms
• lampshades, picture frames, and decorative alarm clocks
• shelf liners, dust mops, and vacuum cleaners
• chocolate fountains, popcorn makers, and a wine-cork lazy Susan
• bake ware, glassware, and silverware
• oven mitts, towels, and pot holders
• dog bones, puppy training pads, and poop bags

If I get the right size tree, I'll be able to put it on my new air hockey table (special event on 12/21), and take it all in sitting on my new bar stool (special event on 12/20).  

For the finishing touches, I'll make garland out of extension cords, and use a shower curtain for a tree skirt. And finally, for the tree topper, I'll use one of their cute metal bird houses. 

I better hurry before all of the good stuff is gone...

Wondering, on Wednesday (v15)

All these Christmas carols on the radio, and well, it gets a girl to thinking, and wondering on Wednesday, what would happen if the lyrics were changed up just a bit, to be more reflective of our situation here in New York.

For example:

You better watch out, you better not cry, 

I hope that you vote, I'm telling you why, 

Santa Cuomo's coming to town. 

He's making a list, and checking it twice, 

Gonna tell us who's naughty or nice, 

Santa Cuomo's coming to town.

He knows if you've been gambling, 

And he sure hopes that you will --

He's building three more places

For you to lose your fill... 

O You better watch out, you better not cry, 

I hope that you vote, I'm telling you why, 

Santa Cuomo's coming to town. 

He won't let you go fracking,

He knows that it's no good.

But he says that you'll get backing

if you bring jobs to the hood...

O you better watch out, you better not cry, 

I hope that you vote, I'm telling you why, 

Santa Cuomo's coming to town....

Santa Cuomo's coming to town!

That's right. We finally have our decision on fracking (that's a big negative) and on the new gambling meccas, which will be built in Schenectady, Sullivan County, and in the Seneca County town of Tyre, more commonly known as the place where you get off the Thruway to go to the Magee Diner, the outlet mall, or to Waterloo. 

Wilmorite, the developer chosen for the Eastern Southern Tier/Fingerlakes area, now has to get a license (a cool $35 million for that process), has promised to start work within the week, and hopes to open by the end of next year. 

That, my friends, has me wondering on a whole nother set of questions, but that's a post for a different Wednesday. 

Tuesday's Number: $257,866

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Each week, I track health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

·         This week, there were eight new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $205,684.

·         There was one satisfied judgment, for $45,629.

·         And there was one health care related bankruptcy, for $6,553.

New this year, I’m tracking filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week:

·         Crouse had three, totaling $104,295

·         St Joe’s had one, for $6,553

·         SUNY Upstate had six, totaling $147,018

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had none.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Cromnibus Authorization: The Spies Have It

About a year ago, Congress was outraged when it found out that the NSA was likely spying on them, or at best, was treating our elected officials the same as all other Americans. One can infer from that statement that they are 'monitored' just as you and I are.

Yesterday, the House approved (and the Senate is ready to approve) the 'Cromnibus' funding package of appropriations bills, including the bill authorizing intelligence spending.

That bill includes rules under which 'incidentally acquired communications' are to be handled; here's some of the language that has raised the attention and ire of several House members under Section 309. Procedures for the retention of incidentally acquired communications (all underlining added):

Under the 'Definitions' section:

Covered communication. The term covered communication means any nonpublic telephone or electronic communication acquired without the consent of a person who is a party to the communication, including communications in electronic storage.

Under the 'Requirement to Adopt' section:

Not later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act each head of an element of the intelligence community shall adopt procedures approved by the Attorney General for such element that ensure compliance with the requirements of paragraph (3).

And, here's the gist of Paragraph 3:

(A) The procedures...shall apply to any intelligence collection activity not otherwise authorized by court order (including an order or certification issued by a court established issued by a court established under..the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (this is the FISA Court we hear about), subpoena, or similar legal process that is reasonably anticipated to result in the acquisition of a covered communication to or from a Unites States person and shall permit the acquisition, retention, and dissemination of covered communications subject to the limitations in subparagraph (B).

Subparagraph (B) says that:

...A covered communication shall not be retained in excess of 5 years unless

(i) the communication has been affirmatively determined, in whole or in part, to constitute foreign intelligence or counterintelligence or is necessary to understand or assess foreign intelligence or counterintelligence;

(ii) the communication is reasonably believed to constitute evidence of a crime and is retained by a law enforcement agency;

(iii) the communication is enciphered or reasonably believed to have a secret meaning;

(iv) all parties to the communication are reasonably believed to be non-United States persons;

(v) retention is necessary to protect against an imminent threat to human life, in which case both the nature of the threat and the information to be retained shall be reported to the congressional intelligence committees not later than 30 days after the date such retention is extended under this clause;

(vi) retention is necessary for technical assurance or compliance purposes, including a court order or discovery obligation, in which case access to information retained for technical assurance or compliance purposes shall be reported to the congressional intelligence committees on an annual basis; or

(vii) retention for a period in excess of 5 years is approved by the head of the element of the intelligence community responsible for such retention, based on a determination that retention is necessary to protect the national security of the United States...(in which case several reporting requirements apply)

So: right now, stuff they accidentally trip over when spying on us can already be held and disseminated for five years, and starting in 2016, stuff they trip over accidentally when spying on us can be kept longer than five years, and shared for reasons other than national security?

And when there's a need to protect against, or prevent from happening, an imminent threat to human life - that's one that is likely to occur at any moment mind you, the info can be retained and handed off to law enforcement for more than five years, but Congress doesn't need to know about it for 30 days or so after the fact. Hopefully the information would be passed off before the imminent threat became a reality, but if it takes two years to implement changes in document retention procedures, I'm not confident on that one.

If you accept that spying on Americans is necessary, must you also accept that 'incidentally acquired' information, gathered without warrant or approval, from a person who is not a subject of an authorized search is necessary?  And must you also accept that this information can just sit around in some basement somewhere?

About a year ago, Congress was outraged when it found out that the NSA was likely spying on them...

Wondering, on Wednesday (v14)

Yeah, so we got a little weather today in the Syracuse area.  We cannot complain, of course - that right is reserved for those who survived the 7-foot snowpocalypse that hit many of the towns near Buffalo last month.  It does, however, leave me wondering, on Wednesday about a few things. For example:

Yesterday in my news feed on Facebook there was a map of the CNY area, and you could drill down into it and find the quadrant that included your neighborhood and see your personalized projected snowfall.  Ours was 11.7 inches. Not 11.5 inches; 11.7.  A little square or two away in any direction and it was as much as a couple of inches different.  I'm wondering how the heck they do that? Or, maybe the question should be why the heck they do that?

My Sweet Baboo and I have a stone driveway, which means that we shovel, we don't snow blow or have it plowed -- we shovel. This morning we didn't have a chance to do that before work, so I knew coming home that the driveway would be a challenge if they were close on that 11.7 inch expectation. I anticipated we'd park in the street until we could get inside, change our clothes and then get the shoveling underway. My Sweet Baboo, however, had a different idea. One that got us good and stuck about 80% in the driveway, at what I'll call a jaunty angle.  I'm wondering when he's going to admit that a car that has as low clearance as our HHR really stands very little chance of plowing through snow that's three inches deeper than that low clearance?

As I was changing into shoveling clothes, I heard a snow blower outside, and lo and behold, someone was out there, clearing out the area around the car. I had no idea who it was, but was thanking my lucky stars for the help. Turns out it was our neighbor across the street, who had just spent $200 on the snow blower; he bought it from someone who was moving south.  He also noted that his wife is still yelling at him for spending the money. I would have paid ten times that much for the help he gave us tonight, but I'm wondering how long it'll take me to get the stones cleaned up next spring...

While we were out in the driveway getting things cleaned up, there were a couple of nice gusts of wind, which made the visibility about as poor as that in the transparent city of Washington DC. Seems that there was some wheeling and dealing in a booth in the corner in the dark in the back of some closet or something, and there's a budget deal that will get us off the precipice of another fiscal cliff and fund the government for the next year or something.  Except that it includes things like giving a piddly 1% raise to most of those serving in the military, and cuts the Environmental Protection Agency and the IRS. And, oh yeah -- it increased the amount an individual can contribute during an election cycle to as much as $1.5 million or so, depending on who's reading the bill.

John McCain had suggested that the bill would be jammed full of shit, and he was right.

Not for nothing, but I'm wondering if this Congress in particular is so hellbent on showing how much they support our military, why don't they give our soldiers all $1.5 million, instead of effectively giving themselves that extra money?

Or, maybe, like Jonathan Gruber said, they're relying on their own lack of transparency and the stupidity of the American voter to get their budget bill passed.

Gruber Should Have Channeled Dan Rather

I confess,  I've always been a bit of a news junkie, which I blame on my late father. We not only had a thing about our newspaper, but also about the network news.

We used to watch it together when I lived at home, and later when I was out on my own, I'd get phone calls during the broadcast or messages on my machine when a reporter said something particularly, well, what we called noteworthy.We did a whole lot of Monday morning quarterbacking too.

And that's why, while I don't remember exactly what they were talking about, I've never forgotten the exchange between President Nixon and CBS News reporter Dan Rather all those years ago. You know the one, right? Here's how it went, after Rather introduced himself  to a round of cheering and catcalling from the audience.

Nixon: Are you running for something?  Rather: No sir, Mr. President.  Are you?

Fast forward from March of 1974, when Nixon was running from something, obviously, to today.  We had the 'glib' MIT economist Jonathan Gruber testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Under Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), the Committee has been a source of wonderful witch hunts and wasted time, and today was no exception.

Gruber was involved in the economic analysis behind the Affordable Care Act. Meaning, with his experience (including working on Romneycare in Massachusetts, on which the ACA was based)  and his software program, he was tapped to help everyone understand the economics of the law. And he did that.

He also (dumbly) said some things while talking about the ACA, including that it included a tax on people who did not purchase insurance; that health care for the old and the sick would be paid primarily by the young and the healthy, and that people would lose their health care plans. He was transparent, in a time and a town that practically defines opaque.

Let's talk first about the tax.  That there would be a tax, or a fee, or a charge, or a blood-sucking penalty on people who did not get insurance was not a surprise. We know that, of course, because we are adults and, for those who were unsure, because the US Supreme Court told us it was a tax, even though the bill called it a mandate.

Why was it called a mandate? Because politicians are loathe to admit that they vote for new taxes, or increases to existing taxes.  Hell, Republicans actually are not allowed to vote for a tax. You can thank Grover Norquist for that; he has them all by the you-know-whats because of the pledge of allegiance they sign to him, instead of to us.

Now, let's talk about young/healthy vs old/sick part. Is there anyone who has any kind of insurance (other than life insurance) who does not understand that premiums are paid with the hope that the coverage will never be used?  Is there anyone who has insurance who does not understand that the premiums they pay are used to pay claims filed by other people?  

That's right. The premiums you pay are being used by other people who are filing claims, and they're being held in reserve to pay claims that haven't yet been filed. Yours, and everyone else's. Young people and old, sick people and healthy, men and women, doctors and cleaning ladies, female rocket scientists and male paper pushers. For all different kinds of insurance, not just health insurance. That's the business model, and it shouldn't be a surprise. 

  

Now, to point number three: that people would lose their coverage. Gruber is an economist not a politician, and he's a good 'get' at a conference, apparently, based on his self-described mean, insulting, disparaging comments. Gruber was at least honest in that he recognized, based on the economics of the ACA, that it would be almost too enticing for corporations to want to keep the insurance they had before the ACA, if there was any chance at all that they could achieve shareholder value, bottom line improvements, or just money-grubbing glee by cutting benefits. 

And corporations did make changes, and they did cut people's hours, and they did drop coverage for spouses, and all of those other things which we're painfully aware of today. 

Did I miss it? I have yet to read anything in the more than four years since the passage of the ACA that states that business must cut hours, that they must drop spousal coverage, that they must change carriers or plans, and that they simply must not continue on the path they were on before March 2010 when the ACA provisions began. And I can assure you, if those requirements are in the law, the Republicans would have been shouting them from the rooftops; alas, all they've done is vote some 50-odd times (unsuccessfully) to repeal it.

One of the lasting legacies of the ACA will certainly be that the Obama Administration did a horrible job educating people on the ACA, managing the message, and so on; they let government contractors do such an awful job on the Healthcare.gov website for the first open enrollment that, on a cynical day, I'm almost convinced there was some kind of quid pro quo with the Republicans to screw it up for Obama in return for getting the contract for fixing it later after Obama is out of office.

Gruber didn't help with his comments about the bill, how it was passed, what it contains, and what he surmised to be true about the implications based on his expertise as an economist. He was arrogant, and tried to make himself seem really important, and now he actually is really important. But you know what Gruber said that was really the reason he was before Issa's Committee?

He said it was the 'stupidity of American voter' that allowed the ACA to be passed. And we know nothing gets Congress riled up like an attack on the stupidity of the American people. We are, after all, the ones who elected these people, so insulting us like that, well, you might as well be pointing fingers at them. 

And so it was the 'stupidity' comment that led to this question from Issa, with all of his ire screwed up in his furrowed brow:

Issa: Mr. Gruber, are you stupid?  Gruber: I don't think so, no.  

And....opportunity lost. How I would have loved it if he had Rather'd at that exact moment:

Mr. Gruber, are you stupid?  No, sir, Mr. Issa.  Are you?  

Tuesday's Number: $177,204

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Each week, I track health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

·         This week, there were thirteen new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $137,211.

·         There were four satisfied judgments, for $39,993.

·         And there were no health care related bankruptcies.

New this year, I’m tracking filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week:

·         Crouse had eight, totaling $71,040

·         St Joe’s had seven, for $94,906

·         SUNY Upstate had one, totaling $5,292

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had none.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Hashtag Nation

#HandsUpDontShoot. #ICantBreathe.
If you spend any time on social media, or even if you pay attention to traditional media, you've seen the hashtags that stem from the shooting of Michael Brown and the choke-hold death of Eric Garner, both black males dead with the officer involved in each case un-indicted. The cases themselves are not necessarily indicative of #racism, even if that's the lens through which they are supposed to be viewed.

#BlackLivesMatter. #ShutItDown.
The two above are echoing in the multiple protests that have occurred in Ferguson and NYC and across the country since the grand jury decisions came out within days of each other. Without a charge in either case -- not murder, not manslaughter, not even criminally negligent homicide -- it's understandable that there were protests, even if some of them were self-serving, not on message, and generally destructive, when that's exactly the opposite of what was needed. Everyone saw the pictures of looting and burning in Ferguson. Here's some perspective on that, and on the whole of #Ferguson.

#CrimingWhileWhite.  #LivingWhileBlack.
The first one's all about how white people don't get arrested for things, as opposed to black people who do get arrested for things. Stop and frisk. Open container violations. White collar crime. Shooting your hunting buddies. That kind of thing. Here's a comedic take on it, peppered with some facts which should at least make you stop and think about things for a second.  The second of the pair is all about the flipside of the white privilege coin; about having to work harder, live more carefully, be more aware of your surroundings, simply because of your skin color.

Hashtags are used to bring people and ideas together; that's like-minded people and frequently opposite-minded people as well.  When those connections lead to open dialogue and an honest (if sometimes uncomfortable) exchange of opinions and perspective, we have a real opportunity. If they turn out to be only fleeting hashtags, if we all go back to what we did and thought before, that opportunity will be lost.

#AllLivesMatter.

How to Obtain an Indictment

How to indict a ham sandwich:

(1) Make a ham sandwich:

• Take two slices of any kind of bread.
• Spread one side of one of the pieces of bread with butter.
• Spread one side of the other piece of bread with your favorite mustard.
• Place a mess of ham on the buttered side of the one piece of bread
• Place some cheese on top of the ham.
• Place the other piece of bread, mustard side down, on the cheese.
• Slice the sandwich in half; stick a toothpick in each half of the sandwich. 
• Put the sandwich on a plate.

(2) Hand the plate with the ham sandwich to a New York District Attorney.

(3) Have the DA present the ham sandwich to a grand jury.

(4) Receive indictment.

How to indict a New York City police officer for jumping a suspect from behind, putting him in an illegal choke hold, literally riding the suspect to the ground without relaxing the choke hold, continuing (along with several other officers) to hold the suspect, at times by pressing the side of his face into a Staten Island sidewalk, and ignoring the suspect's repeated pleas that he was unable to breathe:









Anyone have the recipe for this?

Wondering on Wednesday (v13)

In no particular order, I'm wondering, on Wednesday:

Could there have been any attorney to take on Bill Cosby, other than Gloria Allred? We know of Allred locally; she's representing Bobby Davis and Michael Lang in their defamation case against SU's Jim Boeheim. The case, you remember, stems from comments Boeheim made in a post-game press conference about the allegations made by the two men against Boeheim's former assistant, Bernie Fine. Not sure what she'll offer as 'options' in that case, but the options she presented to Bill Cosby are gutsy if nothing else: set aside $100 million and let a panel of retired judges entertain accusations from all comers and decide which have merit, or waive the statute of limitations and face all of his accusers in court.  Hell of a choice.

And speaking of choices, the Round Mound of Rebound, Charles Barkley, chose to speak out about blacks and whites and the Ferguson grand jury decision (he agreed with it), and has taken a beating worse than any he took during his playing days in the NBA as a result. Barkley is not shy, and got started most recently on this topic of conversation back in October in reference to Russell Wilson, the Seattle Seahawks quarterback who may not be 'black enough' for his teammates.  Enter Barkley, noting that "when you're black you  have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people" and he hasn't stopped since. I don't understand why blacks can't say this about other blacks without getting into trouble?

Something else I don't understand is why every celebration in New York City has to include Mariah Carey? I get that we have to have the Rockettes, but we could do without Carey, who if tonight's live performance was any indication, is barely able to sing any more.

One more note on singers. It was announced earlier this week that Billy Joel will be making his seventh appearance at the Carrier Dome in March.  I'm wondering, does this makes him our artist in residence? And, more importantly, does it mean that we'll start having concerts again in The Loud House?

Tuesday's Number: $921,488

Tuesday is the day my local paper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, publishes the weekly business section. In addition to special features, tips from stock experts, budgeting advice and the like, we get the judgment and bankruptcy listings.

Each week, I track health care related filings. I include anything that is clearly a debt owed to a hospital, nursing home, physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on; I do not include filings by insurance companies, many of which are so diversified it would not be a fair assumption that the filing is related to medical care or health insurance.

·         This week, there were 51 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $858,054.

·         There was one satisfied judgment, for $41,395.

·         And there was one health care related bankruptcy, for $22,039.

New this year, I’m tracking filings for each of the four Syracuse hospitals. Here’s the breakdown for this week:

·         Crouse had 20, totaling $281,268

·         St Joe’s had one, for $38,621

·         SUNY Upstate had 29, totaling $558,829

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had none.

The paper publishes only those accounts of at least $5,000.

Poetry: Black Hands

I have no idea exactly when my father wrote the poem below; we think it was in the mid 1960s when he was teaching high school history and the focus was on the civil rights movement.

My mom remembered that he asked his class to come up with something creative, instead of doing the normal hum-drum essay. Apparently some of the kids in his class weren't sure what to do, so he tried to help them along by giving them an illustration.

She said it didn't take him long at all to write it, and I always figured I'd end up doing something with it, I just wasn't sure what.

This seems like a good time, and a good thing.

Black Hands
(Gregory A. Drummond, 1929 - 2007)

How can we know - 

Those of us who are white

How can we know 

What it must be like 

to have Black Hands?

How can we feel

The hate, the sneers, the spite 

That come each day 

To man and child alike 

Who have Black Hands

We sit snugly, smugly

Sure of our fate;

Sure that at the last in death

There will be no hate.

What can we know 

Of darkness ending light?

Will we then learn

In that eternal strike

God has Black Hands?

Juxtapositions

I don't know about you, but I'm still reading and listening to commentary and news about Ferguson and all that we must now associate with that word, which used to be meaningful (from my point of reference) as the last name of long-time family friends. I'm sure some have given up already, out of frustration or agreement or because it's NIMBY (not in my backyard) or because they simply can't stand it anymore.

'It' is a combination of love and loss, hope and hatred, desire and despair, wistfulness and willfulness, optimism and pessimism, and countless other juxtapositions.

Much of what I'm seeing in traditional media are the 'haves' (privileged white folks) talking about the 'have nots' (folks who live in Fergusons large and small, where police over-reaction, racism, brutality, and lack of respect for blacks is at least perceived, if not actually happening.)

The haves are giving us the message we are supposed to hear, that we deserve to hear - that racism is alive and well in America in 2014, and that the deck is stacked against blacks, because of our education system, our economic system, our culture, and our collective upbringing that over-privileges whites at every turn and disadvantages blacks at each of those same turns.

The irony should not be lost on us, that people making millions of dollars a year reading the news are lecturing us on the great divide between white and black at the hands of, well, at the hands of rich white people. They might be right, but as prime examples of the very privilege they lament, they could sure be less smug about things and give us a little less hand-wringing, a little less head-shaking, a little less guilt-ridden narrative, a little less editorializing.

I'm suspect I'm not alone in thinking that it won't be long before the millionaires who swept in to Ferguson will be packing up and leaving town and we won't hear so much anymore about it, because the next Hannah Graham is out there, we all just know she is.

Wondering, on Wednesday (v12)

Random thoughts this Thanksgiving Eve, which have got me wondering on Wednesday.

If no one showed up for Black Friday sales, whether they happen the Friday after Thanksgiving or on Thanksgiving itself, would stores stop having them?  And if it really mattered to us that everyone had Thanksgiving Day off, wouldn't we all get our grocery shopping done by Wednesday?

If you were to go out shopping for that one great deal, what would you be shopping for?

I wonder if the Macy's ad this year will include the "there's no greater way to show your love" $99 engagement ring they had last year?

Speaking of ads, there was a little box in the paper the other day, telling me that my Thanksgiving paper would cost more than a usual Thursday paper, because it had all the ads.  It won't come postage due or anything, but my subscription will end sooner because of it.  I'm wondering, since the difference in price is not a full day's worth, if they're going to put a self-destruct timer on my paper sometime next spring?

Is it really possible that a pardoned turkey could have been eaten by the Pardoner-in-Chief? Egads!

And who knew that those articles on the cost of Thanksgiving Dinner were so out of whack? I mean, it doesn't even include mashed potatoes! Or that the survey is done before Halloween, when everything is full price?  The 16-pound turkey the article says cost $23.36 would cost $7.68 at most grocery stores in my neck of the woods.

If the male turkey is named Tom, what's the female's name?

Happy Thanksgiving; may you, your families and friends all travel safely, arrive on time, and don't forget to tell whoever did the cooking that everything was delicious. Celebrate what you're thankful for, and try and add to that list each year; it's one that can never be too long.