Tuesday's Number: $733,737

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 41 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $711,464.

·         There were no satisfied judgments.

·         And, there was one health care related bankruptcy, totaling $22,273.

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

·         Crouse had twelve, totaling $116,727

·         St Joe’s had one, totaling $22,273

·         SUNY Upstate had 28, totaling $485,500

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

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

Religion and Government, Iowa Style

As I noted the other day, Alabama and Iowa are having fun with religion and government in their own way, completely apart from the Supreme Court decision in the Town of Greece v. Galloway case, in which the right to 'legislative prayer' was upheld by a 5-4 vote.

Alabama's apparently been taken over by Someone Else, aka the Christian God.  Iowa has its own traditions to uphold, and they have a bunch of Senate candidates doing their darnedest to out-Christian each other in efforts to appease those traditional voters.

For example, there's this guy, Representative Tom Shaw. He was unhappy with the unanimous 2009 decision of Iowa judges that gay marriage was constitutional.  Five of the judges were no longer around by the time Shaw put forth his proposal to cut the pay of the four who were left in 2013 from around $160K to $25K.  That'll teach em to mess with marriage, darn it!

Shaw announced in January that he would not be running for re-election this fall. In a letter to supporters, he noted

Honor to God, fidelity to the Constitution, as seen thru the prism of the stated purposes contained in the Declaration of Independence, is my foundation.  These guiding principles helped me in determining my votes...votes place on behalf of 30,000 Iowans. No man is perfect, but I tried to serve ethically, honorably and truthfully during my tenure. 

My "no compromise" approach did not always set well with others.  However, in his book Confrontational Politics, author H. L. Richardson, retired California State Senator, states "When we give in to liberals, even an inch, we're not compromising, we're abdicating our rights and our honor. When our legislators likewise, they are abdicating our right and their honor.  

His 'no compromise' approach  -- voting againstt a bill banning late term abortions, because he would only support a ban on all abortions -- that kind of thing,did not set well with his own party, so I'm thinking they might be OK with his decision not to run again.

But lame duck Mr. Shaw is not the only Republican in Iowa with a religious streak a mile wide. Three candidates who are running to fill the US Senate seat of another lame duck, Tom Harkin, who is not running for re-election when his term expires -- and they're trying to out-religious each other in the worst way.

When the topic of federal judges came up, three of the candidates indicated they'd look for judges who adhered to 'natural law' or who professed faith in God. (The video is here if you care to watch.)

• First, there's Sam Clovis, a college professor, who  has "a very firm litmus test" on judges: "Can that judge explain to me natural law and natural rights?" 
• Next, there's Iowa State Senator Joni Ernst who agreed with Clovis and added that judges should understand that the Constitution and all our laws came from God and that senators (considering candidates for the federal bench) should "make sure that any decisions that they have made in the past are decisions that fit within that criteria."
• And then there's Matt Whitaker, a former federal prosecutor who (like Tom Shaw) felt his fellow Republicans didn't go far enough - he would demand that nominees for the federal bench are "people of faith" and "have a biblical view of justice." He noted that "As long as they have that worldview, they'll be a good judge. And if they have a secular worldview, where this is all we have here on earth, than I'm going to be very concerned about how they judge." 

This type of thinking, and the type of thinking that's prevalent in Alabama (where Someone Else controls the state), and the type of thinking that allows 'strongly held religious belief' laws which institutionalize discrimination, is not consistent with what I thought we stood for.

Religion and Government, Alabama Style

With much less fanfare than that generated by the Town of Greece v. Galloway case, Iowa and Alabama are having their own fun with religion and government. And by fun, I mean fun house crazy mirror fun.

First, Alabama.  Remember 'The Ten Commandments Judge', Roy Moore?  He was the judge who was ordered to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments and took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. SCOTUS refused to hear his case, and ultimately, he was fired.  The group that removed him from office, other judges, lawyers, and non-lawyers, decided unanimously that

Moore put himself above the law by 'willfully and publicly' flouting the order to remove the 2.6 ton monument from the state judicial building's rotunda... 

Moore, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2006 and again in 2010, and is well-known on the religious circuit, won re-election to the Alabama court in November 2012, and at his swearing-in ceremony a couple of month later, noted that

We've got to remember that most of what we do in court comes from some Scripture or is backed by Scripture.

And he went on to note, according to the article, that the court system was created by God and that the basis for law is outlined in the Book of Deuteronomy. (Seems I have some reading to do.)

Even more interesting than Moore's own comments, though, were those of Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who said this (referring to Moore and an associate justice also sworn in at that time)

We have common beliefs and we believe in the same God. And we worship that same God. And I am honored to serve with two men like this and men and women on this court. It is a true honor. And I truly believe that the people of Alabama are better off when we believe we have men and women who believe there is Someone else who controls their lives and controls this state. 

"Someone else who controls this state."  Uh-huh.

Fast forward a year, to January 2014. Justice Moore was speaking at a luncheon in Mississippi, where he reminded us that

Buddha didn't create us, Mohammed didn't create us, it was the God of the Holy Scriptures...They didn't bring the Koran over on the pilgrim ship, the Mayflower..Let's get real, let's go back and learn our history. Let's stop playing games.... 

And that the 'pursuit of happiness' meant following God's law, because regardless of pop songs suggesting otherwise,

...you can't be happy unless you follow God's law, and if you follow God's law you can't be unhappy.... It's all about God...

Here's more Moore if you're interested in watching his speech.

It should be noted that Moore has clarified his position on the First Amendment and Christianity. Speaking earlier this week, after his January lunch and learn comments came to light, he stated that

It applies to the rights God gave us to be free in our modes of thinking, and as far as religious liberty to all people regardless of what they believe.

To recap:  the once fired  but now resurrected judge believes (but only when questioned about it) that the First Amendment does in fact apply to folks other than Christians, all his other statements to the contrary, and the governor believes Someone Else controls the state of Alabama, that Someone Else being the same God worshiped by Judge Moore who was fired for parking the Ten Commandments in the middle of a government building, only to be re-elected and set free to tell us about God and God's law.  

To answer the age-old question, I guess that means that yes, the circle will be unbroken.   But does this feel like the right relationship between religion and government?   

Tuesday's Number: $365,217

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 eleven new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $190,728.

·         There were four satisfied judgments, for $140,471.

·         And, there were two health care related bankruptcies, totaling $34,018.

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

·         Crouse had two, totaling $18,042

·         St Joe’s had five, totaling $99,007

·         SUNY Upstate had eight, totaling $124,345

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

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

When in Greece...

...do as the 'Greecians' do. And say a little prayer before your meetings.

According to the Supreme Court's decision in the Town of Greece v Galloway case, 'legislative prayer' is the kind that happens before a government meeting, such as the ones they hold in the Town of Greece, down the road from here outside Rochester NY.  As such, it's got a long history in our country, and as long as it's no coercive or proselytistic not denigrating or demeaning to any other religion, and does not place one religion above others, it's OK. 

I confess (in a completely non-religious way) that it does make me a little uncomfortable -- not a lot, but a little -- that something as personal as asking for guidance or intervention has, over time, become such a public thing.

Does it bother me enough to file a lawsuit? Nope -- frankly, I don't have that much courage. Usually, I just cave and either put my head down and keep my thoughts to myself, or I furtively look around to see if anyone else is doing the same thing I'm doing, and hoping I don't get caught in the act. 

A town board meeting is not a religious service --it's a town board meeting. It's a place where the public goes to do business with their elected and appointed officials (and vice versa), and there shouldn't be a religious connotation or expectation associated with it. A person shouldn't have to worry whether the board might treat them differently for failing to actively participate in the meeting's opening prayer, and a person shouldn't have to profess a religious belief in order to talk town business. (It's also worth noting that the meetings also include the Pledge of Allegiance, so they kind of have the 'under God' thing covered).

Should a legislative meeting need an opening, there's always "Let's get ready to rumble!" or "Let the games begin!" or "Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!" or "Play ball!"  or something along those lines. 

Moral Outrage IS Exhausting

Moral outrage is exhausting. And dangerous. The whole country  has gotten a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome from the newest popular sport of Extreme Finger Wagging. Not to mention the neck strain from Olympic tryouts for Morally Superior Head Shaking.  All over the latest in a long line of rich white celebrities to come out of the racist closet. 

Those are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's words, from an op-ed published on Time magazine's website last week, in response to the Donald Sterling Incident.  Sterling, as we now know, is the likely soon-to-be former owner of the NBA's LA Clippers.  He's also someone the majority of Americans had never heard of before last week when a private conversation he had last fall with his 'archivist' was made public. The archivist's attorney maintains the recording was made with Sterling's knowledge, but that his client was not the one who released it to the media.

As is now the norm when rich white people are accused of being bigots of one ilk or another, the media goes nuts, sponsors go nuts, hands are wrung, and as Abdul-Jabbar notes, fingers wag and heads shake.  We have a long line of examples, right?

I mean, who can forget Mel Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic rants from a few years back? He's effectively been banned from the business since then, although one of the reporters who aggressively covered the story now thinks he's not the person in real life that he is when he's drunk and out of control, and that he deserves another chance, some eight years after his outburst.

Or Paula Deen, she of the N-word and the dream plantation wedding scheme? The hostile workplace case? No big deal.  She's now rehabilitated, just a year after her amazing fall from grace, and will be opening a new restaurant in Dollywood, and cooking at a handful of live shows this spring.

And of course, let's not forget the Duck Dude.  Phil Robertson's comments about gays were the ones that really got him into trouble, but he also made reference to the happy black people of his childhood, singing while working in the fields.? Robertson was, er, 'suspended' (while the show was on hiatus) but then allowed back to work a few weeks later.

Gibson. Deen. Robertson. Helen Thomas. Howard Cosell. There are loads of examples, Donald Sterling being only the latest, and undoubtedly not the last.  Someone else will say something stupid while someone's recording a private conversation (and for the life of me I will never understand why Sterling allowed this), or they'll find an old interview, or an old lawsuit or two, and we'll be back here again.

It'll be the N-word, another anti-Semitic outburst, a blatantly sexist or anti-gay comment, or an ageist marketing position, and we'll start the wringing and flailing and flopping around - SHOCKED, I tell you! -- at the behavior. We'll get all up in arms, and act swiftly and harshly and appropriately.

And then we'll go back to normal, freely discriminating against each other by writing and passing laws that make it harder for people to vote, limit health care options, and formalize discrimination against gays. We'll go back to enjoying our violent and misogynistic music videos and games. We'll go back to paying for entertainment - particularly college and pro sports - where we (sometimes quietly, sometimes not) mock the athletes for their lack of education.  We'll go back to our tomahawk chop.

And feel oh so much better about ourselves. 

The Irony Board 4/30/14

I'm not going to spend a lot of time today discussing whether we should have a federal minimum wage, or whether it should be $10.10 per hour, or whether if we raise it we'll ruin the economy or help the economy.

I've admitted being conflicted about the minimum wage issue, in part because when the minimum wage goes up, all other wages don't go up, and I have a hard time understanding how a job that a 'qualified' person has today that pays twice the minimum wage wouldn't be worth twice the minimum wage tomorrow if politicians vote to raise it. On the other hand, I believe that in order for our economy to improve, people need to have money to spend, and to save, and you can't do either of those if you're slaving away for $15,000 per year. So, yes, I'm conflicted on this one, and would appreciate assistance if you can offer some.

But where I'm not conflicted is on the ridiculous nonsense that played out in Washington today when, failing to muster the magic 60 votes to break a filibuster, the Senate was unable to even discuss the minimum wage hike the Dems have made a priority this year.

Since this is a key election-year battle the Dems want to fight (whether that's a good idea or a bad one remains to be seen), they'll be bringing the bill back again, and if it fails again they'll try to get it back again before the mid-term elections.

The filibuster was not unexpected -- that's the way business doesn't get done in DC, as we know.  But the irony of Republicans complaining about a vote designed to go nowhere was not lost on me. Here's Senator John Cornyn of Texas, one of the Republican leaders, commenting on the vote:

Let's talk about the 800-pound gorilla here in the Senate chamber.  This is all about politics. This is all about trying to make this side of the aisle look bad and hardhearted.

Remember, these are the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell who once made it his top priority to keep Barack Obama from becoming a two-term president. The same Republicans who have filibustered too many federal appointees since the beginning of Obama's first term to count.

These are the same Republicans, and this is the same Mitch McConnell, who fought so hard to win the McCutcheon case, that further relaxes limits on money er, I mean speech, in politics.

And this is the same Republican Party -- different chamber, different leaders, but it's the same party -- that took us to the fiscal cliff, and that voted dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of times to repeal the Affordable Care Act -- the epitome of a vote that's going nowhere.

Yes, these are the Republicans who today refused to even discuss raising the federal minimum wage, which hasn't been increased since 2009, and the tipped wage, which hasn't been increased since 1991, and who complained that the Dems were playing politics.

Nah -- I'm not conflicted on that part at all.

Tuesday's Number: $1,111,086

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 $1,073,210.

·         There was one satisfied judgment, for $18,695.

·         And, there were two health care related bankruptcies, totaling $18,911.

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

·         Crouse had twelve, totaling $98,824

·         St Joe’s had none

·         SUNY Upstate had 38, totaling $962,509

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

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

The Update Desk: 30-year Bookstore PILOT

Back in July 2012 I did a post, To Pilot or Not to Pilot: the $64,000 Question, about a local developer asking the Syracuse Industrial Development Agency (SIDA) for a 30-year payment-in-lieu-of-taxes deal for a property that would house the SU Bookstore, other facilities for the university, and commercial retail space not affiliated with SU. Under the proposed pilot, the developer would pay the city $64,000 annually, or $1.9 million over the life of the deal.

I'm not a fan or this type of deal, as I've noted before.  I think the better way is for people to build things, hire people, sell things, and so on -- and once they start doing that regularly and successfully, we can give them a break.

In this case though, SIDA approved the deal, making it only the second time they've approved a 30-year deal - the first being the Carousel Mall/Destiny project.  I had half forgotten about this one, until I saw the paper the other day doing some catch-up reading. Seems the developer has not yet gotten this project off the ground.

In an article (written by Rick Moriarty) posted on Syracuse.com, we learn that Cameron Development is, for the second time, on the verge of losing the PILOT because of a lack of activity on the project.  Here's the scoop, according to the article:

The Syracuse Industrial Development Agency's directors asked their lawyer last month to look into the status of the $20 million project after noticing no construction occurring at the project site at the northeast corner of University Avenue and East Adams Street.  The same agency declared the developer, Cameron Group LLC, in default of its tax deal in November because construction had not started by the August 21 deadline included in the deal.   

The August deadline stemmed from the PILOT requirement that construction begin within a year of the deal being signed. The article continues

Cameron Group 'cured' the default in December when it staked out the site, removed trees and pavers, and paid National Grid to remove power lines. The developer also parked a backhoe at the side, but it has sat idle since December. 

The developer responded to the industrial development agency with a letter earlier this month saying bad weather and structural changes requested by the university delayed  construction during the winter. With ground now thawing, work will start on the building's foundation shortly, the company said. 

The company is committed to getting the building completed by May 2014, they said in their response to SIDA's attorney, so that the facility can open as scheduled in June 2015, and that

In light of our investment and in light of our compliance with the construction schedule set forth in the Agency Lease and the PILOT Agreement, we believe there should be no issue with respect to the SIDA approvals for this project.  We will continue to develop this project in accordance with all of the approvals that SIDA, the City Administration, the Common Council, the University and we worked so hard and so long to bring about.

I understand that SIDA board members may be frustrated with the length of time that this project has taken, but we will complete the project as promised.

Want to know what else the developer said, as quoted in the article?

No one wants to get it going more then me, but this isn't costing anyone anything.

I have to respectfully disagree with that last comment.  Listen, I'm sure the project will be completed, and likely on time.  As noted, Cameron Group has spent $2.5M of their own money on this project since 2006, so they're invested in its success.  But to say that this isn't costing anyone anything isn't true.

The 'cost' is in public faith in the economic development process.  Remember, this is only the second time SIDA has done a 30-year deal, and the first one did not turn out exactly as planned.  Mall developer Bob Congel declared his project done, he didn't build everything he said he would (including a hotel), and now he's back with hand outstretched looking for -- wait for it -- a deal to build a hotel.

That type of behavior, and the seemingly cavalier attitude of this developer, are among the reasons why people who don't know a lot about economic development (and, frankly, people who DO know a lot about economic development) don't like this type of deal.

We see developers asking for help to build things we don't know or don't agree we need, projects that are so critical that they simply cannot be built if an IDA or other governmental agency doesn't cough up cash or tax breaks. We get commitments and promises and disingenuous "golly, why don't you trust me to build what I said I was going to build?" attitude from developers. We're told that if they don't get the deals they ask for, they won't build anything and then the City won't get any money at all, so we're basically supposed to be thanking our lucky stars that the developers are willing to undertake these projects.

We lose faith in the system when we see the projects not get off the ground, when we see delays, when we see construction equipment parked on the building site but nothing happening. It leaves a bad taste in our mouth, because we've been down this road before.

That, Mr. Developer, is the cost that we are incurring now, and will continue to incur, until your backhoe starts up.

Big Water Vacations

After our trip to Virginia's Hampton Roads area, the long ride home and unpacking, spending time with our six four-legged friends who missed us terribly, and downloading the last bunch of pictures, I had some time to reflect on why I so enjoy 'big water' vacations.

Before anyone gets angry at me,  I love mountain lakes and rivers and waterfalls; we've spent countless weekends and week-long vacations taking in all that those kinds of places have to offer. 'Little water' has a certain sensibility about it, a finite sensibility if you will, that can't compare the the vastness of pounding surf crashing on the seawall a few yards outside your door. 

Little water changes things slowly, and the changes are noticeable over time. When we were kids, our family used to rent a cottage on Tuscarora Lake, in Madison County.  I remember there was a tree that leaned out over the water at an angle, and there were little pools that would collect in the exposed roots.

Each August when we got there, my oldest brother and I would run over to check out the pools to see if they had gotten any bigger; they were great places to 'store' the turtles we caught, even if only for a short time. By our last year going to the cottage, it had gotten almost dangerously eroded under the tree, to the point where Dad was a little nervous about me getting too close if no one was with me. While we were at our cottage for a couple of weeks, nothing changed in any noticeable way; some 40-odd years later, though, that cottage might not even still be there. 

Now, big water, that's a different story -- the changes Mother Nature brings happen right in front of your eyes. A walk on the beach in one direction shows one thing; the walk back shows something completely different. The wind is different, the sand is different, the sky is different, the sound is different. 

We spent exactly zero minutes engaged in the age-old vacation activity of laying on the beach, but we spent hours on various beaches, bird-watching, shell-collecting, dune-gazing, picture-taking, contemplating. We were in state parks, wildlife refuges, and nature preserves that had seemingly endless (and practically empty) beaches, walking for miles in breezes ranging from sort-of-warm to pretty-darn-cold.

We were up for the sunrise over the Chesapeake Bay every morning, watching for the very second that the sun fully left the water and officially started the day. We managed to be in the right place at the right time to catch a sunset on a very quiet town beach on the Eastern Shore, after a fantastic dinner at an unassuming seafood restaurant. 

We saw  kayaks and canoes, sailboats and crab boats, 'guys hanging out fishing' and big commercial fishing boats, giant shipping boats and US Navy hovercraft.  We didn't see or hear a single jet-ski, and I couldn't have been happier about that. And even better, every beach we were on was 'tampon-free', another thing that made me very happy. (I simply can't get my head around people leaving feminine hygiene products on the beach, sorry).

This summer, we'll make good use of our Empire Passport and visit as many NYS parks as we can fit in. This fall, we'll head to the Adirondacks, and spend time seeking out those little lakes, rivers, streams and waterfalls that we enjoy so much. In the meantime, I'll bask in the new memories we created this past week on big water, hoping they'll stretch as far in my mind as the reaches of the sun over the big water.

(Larger versions of these and other photos from the trip can be found here, in my Chesapeake Bay Vacation album.) 

Be Right Back

We are getting ready to head out on our last real day of vacation; tomorrow's the drive home, and then I'll dive back into the blog.

In the meantime, please feel free to check out older posts from the 'Talking About' sidebar.

Thanks for your patience -- and let me know if there was anything exciting happening out there in the real world while I've been hiding out!

Tuesday's Number: $965,104

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 40 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $957,055.

·         There were no satisfied judgments.

·         And, there was one health care related bankruptcy, totaling $8,049.

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 $93,190

·         St Joe’s had two, totaling $18,265

·         SUNY Upstate had 26, totaling $811,031

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

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

Sidebar: We're Out of Touch

There has been some additional polling since I did my We're Out of Touch post last week, and the numbers aren't looking any better.

The same generally conservative-based polling company I subscribe to has come out with more numbers illustrating our discontent:

• 49% think we could get better representation if we randomly pulled numbers from the phone book
• 66% think the rules are rigged to favor incumbents, and that's why they keep getting re-elected
• 72% think we'd be in a better place if the majority of the folks in Congress didn't get re-elected

Maybe yesterday, when around 70% of Americans were sitting down to a family dinner for Easter, folks talked about things like this and maybe it means that more people will vote the next time they have the chance. 

Tuesday's Number: $649,657

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 35 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $518,036.

·         There were two satisfied judgments, totaling $33,191.

·         And, there were five health care related bankruptcies, totaling $98,430.

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

·         Crouse had 17, totaling $218,682

·         St Joe’s had nine, totaling $134,448

·         SUNY Upstate had 11, totaling $252,905

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had three, totaling $28,296. 

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

Poll Watch: We're Out of Touch

There's been a lot of polling over the past year checking our overall sense of how much or little we approve of Congress or President Obama, and we know that for the most part those results have been abysmal. Congressional approval has been in the single digits, and POTUS has also been tagged with horrible numbers.

There are lots of other poll questions out there, though, that don't seem to get as much play.  Here are some recent results from one generally conservative polling organization I subscribe to that I thought were interesting:

• 66% of likely voters favor getting sexual assault cases out of the hands of commanders and into the hands of the military judge advocates. Recently, legislation related to this was voted down.
• Only 47% think that reducing taxes helps the economy (a six-year low for this polling agency), but  Republicans continue to champion that message and push legislation in that direction.
• By a 2-to-1 margin, voters disagree with the SCOTUS decision on McCutcheon, the case that was championed by the Republican National Committee and Mitch McConnell, minority leader of the Senate. Further, more than half of us think that Congress should regulate campaign contributions, and that our free speech rights are not violated if that regulation occurs. The most important thing, we think? Full disclosure of all contributions. 
• And then there's this: 59% of Republicans think Republicans in Congress are out of touch with the party's base, and 23% think the Rs in Congress are more conservative than the people.  
• On the other side, 27% of Dems think their folks in Congress are more liberal than the base, and 30% think the Dems are out of touch. 

Kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Here in New York, one of the hot topics is whether we'll allow medical marijuana. Our Sonova Governor Andrew Cuomo included a proposal for testing this at a limited number of hospitals across the state in his State of the State address.  Polls have reflected different levels of approval, with a recent one showing New Yorkers approve by about 10-to-1, while others have reflected weaker support.  Will we get there this legislative term? Probably not.

And then there's the NY SAFE Act, the quite a bit reasonable/somewhat stupid gun legislation Cuomo was able to rush through last year. As we come up on one of the major deadlines -- April 15th for registering so-called assault weapons -- we have a significant majority of counties across the state officially disapproving of the law, and some counties and police jurisdictions indicating they won't enforce the law.

That contrasts with recent polling indicating that 63% of voters support the SAFE Act. a slight uptick from last year.  Geographically (and not surprisingly) support is strongest in NYC and downstate; upstate there is a slight majority opposed to the law. I did find it surprising that  a majority of whites and men support it, although in smaller numbers than do women and minorities.

So - at the federal level, the state level, and the local level, we can easily find a disconnect between what voters say they want and what their elected officials seem to be doing. So I've gotta ask, are you happy with your elected officials?  Do they have any sense at all what you're interested in, and what you think is important? Have you told them lately what's on your mind?

Maybe, they do what they want because they're smarter than we are, and realize better than we do what we want or need.  Maybe, they do what they do because of the 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' process in which they work. Or maybe they do what they do because so few of us actually care enough to vote.

I wonder, are we more out of touch than they are?  

My Salary is My Business

Happy Equal Pay Day.

What's that mean, you're wondering? Well, according to the numbers, if My Sweet Baboo were the average male and earned a full dollar in 2013, and I were the average female I would have only earned 77 cents last year, and it would have taken me until today to earn the last 23 cents needed for me to have a 2013 dollar too.

Rather than arguing whether or not a there is a pay gap, and whether or not it's 77 cents to a dollar, and whether or not it's self-inflicted because women take low paying jobs, or have babies, or aren't driven or don't have the right personalities, or are held back by a glass ceiling, let's talk about today, about President Obama signing an executive order and issuing a presidential memorandum to help address that wage gap.  They both have limited impact, but there's at least some chance -- however slim -- that they could become law for all employers.

The first one, the executive order, will prohibit contractors working for the federal government from taking action against employees who talk salary with coworkers. According to the White House,

It is important that women and all employees feel they can seek information about pay from colleagues without the threat of being fired.

The memorandum directs the Department of Labor to get data from those federal contractors, compensation data broken down by gender and race. The thinking here, again according to the administration?

It aims to allow for more efficient enforcement and even voluntary compliance.  Employers often don't realize there is a pay gap until they're confronted with it. 

I can't speak to the second point above, but I can to the first. I've worked at companies where discussing salary was strongly discouraged, even if there wasn't an official policy on the subject. I have friends who have worked (or still do) at companies where asking someone else their salary was grounds for dismissal, as was answering the question if asked.  Admittedly this was back in the day but I'm reasonably comfortable there are still companies with policies like that. And, frankly I am reasonably comfortable with a policy like that.

Maybe my sensitivity to discussing my salary comes from my childhood, seeing my Dad's name and salary published in the newspaper back in the 70s when he was a teacher with a master's degree who made a ton of money -- barely more than one of his former students made working as a union janitor at a local factory, and almost as much as a friend's dad who was a truck driver.  Yeah, that could be why.

Or maybe it's because I don't feel a sense of sisterhood (or any other kind of hood) to such an extent that I'd share my personal information with someone out of solidarity.  Yeah, that could be why, too.

Regardless of what the company policy is, or what the executive order says, my policy has always been and will always be don't ask, don't tell.  Because there are only a handful of people who need to know what I make:  me, my boss, the taxman, and My Sweet Baboo.

And I'm not sure how much he cares, as long as I can afford to buy the groceries and the cat food.

Tuesday's Number: $700,684

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 35 new judgments to hospitals, doctors, or other medical providers totaling $665,729.

·         There were no satisfied judgments.

·         And, there were three health care related bankruptcies, totaling $34.965.

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

·         Crouse had 21, totaling $258,073

·         St Joe’s had four, totaling $38,150

·         SUNY Upstate had 14, totaling $404,471

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had none  

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

What IS Religious Freedom?

I've noted before on this blog that I'm not a 'religious' person, meaning that I don't belong to a church or attend services regularly or anything like that. I do try to live life according to the golden rule, to be ethical and fair and non-judgmental (even while admitting that the last part can be really hard).

And I think even if I were a religious person, I would struggle with what passes for 'religious freedom' these days.

The Mississippi State Flag

It now seems we can pretty much say anything is a deeply held religious belief, and using that we can discriminate and get away with it, at least in Mississippi. But not in Arizona?  I get so confused.

Arizona, as you may know, had a very public battle regarding a bill that would allow a company that had 'deeply held religious beliefs' to not participate in certain business transactions if they did not like who the customer slept with. That's obviously minimizing it, but that's the gist of the move behind their law, which came about as a result of actions in other states -- not Arizona -- regarding a business owner not wanting to engage in commerce with gays.

The Arizona bill was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer, in part because she believes there are more important things for the government to be focused on -- and I wholeheartedly agree on that -- and because the law could do more harm than good to her state. I agree with her on that account as well.  (You can read more here.)

Mississippi's bill moved through the legislature without a whole lot of notice -- certainly nothing like what played out in Arizona.  I'll be honest, until I saw that it passed, I wasn't aware it was even being considered.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant, who signed that state's religious freedom bill (SB2681) last week,  noted he was

proud to sign the Mississippi Religious Freedom Restoration Act today which will protect the individual religious freedom of Mississippians of all faiths from government interference.  Mississippi has now joined 18 other states to defend religious freedoms on a state level. 

Under the bill, 'exercise of religion' is defined as "the exercise of religion under the First Amendment", which as we know simply states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.  Also buried in the bill is a statement indicating that

Nothing in this act shall create any rights by an employee against an employer if the employer is not the government.

So an employer does not need to allow an employee to face east and pray, or to chant in the break room, or to wear a tallit or yarmulke, or to use Rosary beads, for example?  And that company can close their doors to any customer they like, as long as that closure is based on a First Amendment application of religious freedom?  Which seems to mean that people don't have religious freedom, but employers do?  Is this another one of those 'corporations are people too' things?   As I said, I get so confused.

What's not confusing is the statement below, which is prominently displayed on the main page of Governor Bryant's official web page, under the headline Rising Together

I call on every Mississippian, no matter what our race or region or party, to rise above our petty differences and build together the Mississippi our citizens deserve. Let us go forward from this time and place, unafraid to make the bold changes that will help us rise together. 

I guess now Mississippi is the Mississippi the citizens deserve.

That rising together thing, well, I think that'll have to wait until people are done using their religion as an excuse.

Can I Afford Not to?

I'm thinking I'm going to have to get a second, maybe a third job, which would mean I would have very little time for this blog, for my garden, for My Sweet Baboo, or for anything else. I'll need the extra money, you see, if I expect to get any attention from a politician, now that the Supremes have given us their decision in the McCutcheon case.

The Roberts Court, which brought us Citizens United, has now added that aggregate limits on contributions for elections violate a person's most fundamental First Amendment activities "without justification." I obviously disagree with this, as I disagreed with the 'corporations are people too' ruling that came with Citizens United.

My belief?  People - the living, breathing kind - have 'speech' rights, but non-living, non-breathing entities do not.

My belief?  Being able to spend unlimited amounts of money to 'speak to' politicians, is not what 'free speech' means.

My belief?  I'd have a better chance of seeing Elvis perform live at the Weedsport Hotel than I have of getting a politician to take seriously what I say  (on the phone, via email, via social media, in a survey, or in a face to face conversation)  unless what I say comes with tens of thousands of dollars in strings attached.

My belief?  Money is something that is used to pay for things. And I'm not alone:

• money: something (such as coins or bills) used as a way to pay for goods and services and to pay people for their work
• money: any article or substance used as a medium of exchange, measure of wealth, or means of payment...
• money: any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts...

What does money buy, in politics? Money buys attention from politicians, or buys votes for politicians. Money 'speaks' to politicians in a way that mere words cannot. (Most politicians that is. Not Republicans or Andrew Cuomo or Bill Fitzpatrick, but 'regular' politicians.)

And what is the 'exchange' that politicians give in return for all this money, even the ones who are playing by the rules? What goods and services do these massive donations purchase?

• maybe it s a tasty little sentence or two that might go unnoticed in the middle of a huge bill, something that would provide a nice benefit to a donor
• maybe it's a helpful vote on legislation, such as stopping regulations that might make it harder for the donor to do business.
• maybe it's a package of tax breaks for companies within a specific business sector, or maybe it's tax breaks for the rich (who are the only ones who can make this level of contribution)
• maybe it's a job for a relative, or friend, or something fairly benign like that
• maybe it's ten, twenty, thirty, forty or more votes to repeal a law that donors don't like

Is there really no difference between money and words?  Is that really how we want to run our political system? 

Because if it is, I've got to get another job or two.

Tuesday's Number Quarterly Totals

It's hard to imagine we have thirteen Tuesday’s Numbers under our belt already in 2014. 

There’s quite a bit of damage from the health care related filings so far. These include only the ones that are clearly debts for a hospital, nursing home physician or physician group, medical supplier, and so on.  What’s not included are any filings by insurance companies themselves, as diversification makes it difficult to determine whether we’re really looking at a patient debt.

This quarter, there were 253 individual listings totaling $5,499,218.

·         Judgments totaled $4,907,492

·         Satisfied judgments totaled $167,921

·         Bankruptcies totaled $424,204    

And here are the quarterly totals for each of the four Syracuse hospitals:

·         Crouse had 70, totaling $981,809

·         St Joe’s had eleven, totaling $325,304

·         SUNY Upstate had 148, totaling $3,955,895

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had four, for a total of $34,062 

Will we see a change now that we’ve reached the enrollment deadline for coverage under the Affordable Care Act?  Will some folks now have insurance that haven’t in the past, or better coverage now than they had before?  Time will tell. 

Tuesday's Number: $417,698

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 $320,523.

·         There were three satisfied judgments, totaling $25,166.

·         And, there were three health care related bankruptcies, totaling $71,998.

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

·         Crouse had nine, totaling $119,345

·         St Joe’s had one, totaling $30,120

·         SUNY Upstate had nine, totaling $261,487

·         Community General, a part of Upstate, had none  

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

Breaking News Trifecta

A trifecta is generally described as a type of bet where, in order to win, the bettor must pick the top three finishers in the correct order.  Here are the top three from the past couple of days.

Moreland Commission to be Shut Down

Apparently the State Legislature has succeeded in ringing down the curtain on Governor Cuomo's Moreland Commission investigation into bad behavior of politicians.  The Commission, with great fanfare, announced there was lots of bad stuff going on, some of it perfectly legal, some of it not,  in how we handle campaign money here in New York.

I've posted several times on the Commission, ethics, and the like, and on our local DA-for-Life Bill Fitzpatrick --  he of the tens of thousands of dollars of campaign funds spent on steak and golf -- who was one of the chairs of the panel. I was not impressed with the preliminary report they issued which was practically word for word what the Governor wanted them to find, which detracted from the Comission's independence. And of course, note that the Commission was only investigating the Legislature, not the Executive -- something that did not impress the gang under the microscope, not surprisingly.

And so, again not surprisingly, during the budget negotiations, the Leg told Cuomo to ditch it, and he asked them to try public financing, at least on one state-wide race (Comptroller), and maybe they'll talk about some clients of their day jobs, and maybe the Board of Elections will be a bit more aggressive, but that's about it.

One's left wondering whether the Sonova Governor, who had (several weeks ago) some $33,000,000 for his re-election campaign, was really all that interested in solving ethics problems; after all, he told us he's above the fray on that personally, and other than needling the Legislature, what was really accomplished? 

Prisoner Education to be Privately Funded

Apparently a Cuomo administration official (anonymous, of course) has advised that the Governor's plan to provide college education to prisoners didn't fly, and so these efforts will continue to be privately funded, as they have been for the many years. Cuomo had planned on spending $10,000 - $15,000 per prisoner to hep them get associates and bachelor's degrees; this would be on top of the $60K we pay each year to keep them behind bars.

I'm happy that we will not be paying for this, not because it's a horrible concept, but because it's another frustrating expenditure when taxpayers are struggling themselves, and who are not finding themselves in jail.   I'm hopeful that someone in the administration or in the Legislature will take a really hard look at what we're getting for the 60 grand we spend on our inmates. Maybe there's a way to do it for $50K this year, and then maybe $45K next year, and so on, til we're paying something similar to what other states pay for the privilege of housing inmates. And maybe by then, we'll be in a better position to pay for college for these folks.

SUNY Upstate Spends $660K on Out of Town Ad Agency
Why is it not surprising that a SUNY facility, our own Upstate Medical University, spent $660,000 on an ad agency from Alabama to help improve their image?  The ads, which you may have seen in the local paper or on TV, talk about the 9,000 people who make Upstate what it is, and note that many of the docs there are born and raised New Yorkers, and how all of the employees contribute to our overall welfare.  All of those things may very well be true, and we are fortunate to have a facility of this caliber, a regional powerhouse if you will, in our own back yard.

Know what else we have here in New York? Advertising agencies. Lots of them. A very good one,  headquartered maybe a mile from Upstate, for example. Now, I don't know if the local agency would have bid on the image campaign for Upstate, which has taken a hit lately.  They might not have been interested. But I have to think that one thing our SUNY schools should be doing, what all of our governmental agencies should be doing, is buying goods and services from New York.

Just as several years ago when it was discovered that the I Love New York tourism hot line was answered by a call center in Georgia or somewhere, we should be outraged that any state agency is not using New York companies for their services. Even in this case, where Upstate took the money from what seems like a really big petty cash fund, it just feels wrong that we're sending the money out of state.

Can't we do better?