Domestic Policy

Photo by Mark Beazley

Were I stone, I could remain impassive as I watch the forces of oppression gather on the hilltops. Instead, I am flesh, and goosebumps rise against the chill. They are coming for me and mine, and I will not let them take us. But where, oh where, do we go?.

Last evening, I drove about 50 miles to attend my eldest daughter’s soccer game. The air was butterscotch, thick with slanted sunlight and seed spores released from trees preparing for their winter hibernation. The hillsides were tinted red; most of the trees are still green, but the undertone of the green is scarlet, or yellow, or orange, and when the light hits them, the hillside transorms. In two to three weeks, this area will look as if it is on fire, and the colours of fall will ignite me. And yet, I will be sad, for the bitter winter bides its time.

When it is cold, I can bundle my daughters up against it, layering them with love and extra clothes as they slog through the snow and ice. But how can I protect them against what lies before us?

In West Virginia thre is a cohabitation law, which makes it a misdemeanor for unmarried people to "lewdly and lasciviously associate" and live together. This law is being challenged by a lawsuit, filed by the ACLU on behalf of an inmate whose parole was delayed because of his plan to cohabit with his fiance.

Well, I have lewdly and lasciviously associated and lived together with women before I was married. And enjoyed it very much, thank you. And I considered it none of the government's business that I did so. However, I always had the option of marrying who ever I wanted to lewdly and lasciviously associate with.

Since gays are not allowed the same right to marry eachother that I have, this cohabitation law seems to clearly discriminate against gays, preventing them from lewdly and lasciviously associating with eachother legally.

But really, the fundamental question here is what business is it of the government to care who lewdly and lasciviously associates with who? When will we get the governmemt out of our bedrooms? Oh, yeah. When we get rid of Republican control over our government.

NYT's Sandy Huffaker and Amy Gunderson in "What's the Thread Count on My Dog's Bed?" forecast the next school-and-socialization frontier after universal preschool:

The W San Diego started pet-friendly cocktail hours in the fall and the Hotel Helix in Washington is starting one this summer. The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples starts obedience classes this summer including a socialization class for puppies 10 weeks to 5 months old.

And the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego offers dog surfing classes. Yes, surfing. The hotel rolled out a $300 package this spring that includes one night's accommodation, a surfing lesson for the dog (but not the owner), a meal for the pet, and board shorts (seriously) for smaller dogs.

"We have sold close to 40 of those packages," said Anne Stephany, the public relations manager for the Loews Coronado Bay. . .

Crack open your umbrellas ... there may be pigs flying.

Doug McIntyre, star of McIntyre in the Morning is a republican apologist who has woken up to reality and apologizes for, not just voting for Bush but using his radio show to ennable his administrations lies and abuses of power.

I'm speechless:

[via McIntyre in the Morning 790 KABC-FM]:

It was the wrong course. All of it was wrong. We are not on the road to victory. We’re about to slink home with our tail between our legs, leaving civil war in Iraq and a nuclear armed Iran in our wake. Bali was bombed. Madrid was bombed. London was bombed. And Bin Laden is still making tapes. It’s unspeakable. The liberal media didn’t create this reality, bad policy did.

Most historians believe it takes 30-50 years before we get a reasonably accurate take on a President’s place in history. So, maybe 50 years from now Iraq will be a peaceful member of the brotherhood of nations and George W. Bush will be celebrated as a visionary genius.

But we don’t live fifty years in the future. We live now. We have to make public policy decisions now. We have to live with the consequences of the votes we cast and the leaders we chose now.

After five years of carefully watching George W. Bush I’ve reached the conclusion he’s either grossly incompetent, or a hand puppet for a gaggle of detached theorists with their own private view of how the world works. Or both.

I know everyone these days loves to hate Senator Clinton. Personally I like a woman who does well in politics and though I think she is triangulating the wrong way, I would rather have her in there than most others. If nothing else, the way she gets Freepers all in a spitting tizzy is worth the price of admission.

Mostly I feel she is an adequate Senator. Not a leader, but an adequate legislator who votes the right way in the vast majority of cases. But sometimes I actually think she actually has some real ideas. Or at least knows a good idea when it is tossed to her. This one comes from Andy Stern, President of SEIU, and from SlicedBread.com:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton just introduced a bill that would link Congressional pay increases to increases in the federal minimum wage. It would require that the federal minimum wage be increased by the same percentage amount as Congressional salaries every year.

What gave the Senator this idea? You guessed it: SinceSlicedBread.com. We told Senator Clinton how important the minimum wage is to SinceSlicedBread community members, and she decided to take action, modeling her bill on an idea from three of you.

Michael Bouldin's piece about healthcare reminded me of a piece I wrote in December for my newsletter. I think it makes a good followup to Michael's piece, so I reprint it here.

Health insurance. Joy and I were discussing health insurance after hearing a NewYork 1 report that uninsured people were more likely to be turned away from an emergency room and sent to a clinic than insured people. Now, hospitals who DO turn away patients based on insurance rather than severity of the injury are liable to law suits, but we all know that the chances of a law suit changing things are small since those who don’t have insurance are unlikely to have much legal counsel.

What is wrong with our insurance system? Too many people are uninsured and because of that do not have adequate health care available to them. But, that is only one part of the problem. What about those who ARE insured? There are long waiting times to get an appointment. Often you don’t get to choose your physician. You often don’t have a primary care physician who follows you through the years and knows you. Care is determined based on a business model where profit (or at least minimal cost) takes precedence over what the physician and patient want or the injury requires.