Whose Healthcare is it anyway?

From the Nevada University Medical Center:

“Our people are really torn,” said Brian Brannman, UMC’s chief operating officer. “We want to take care of people who are ill. We’re proud that we can save lives. But our employees are also worried about the survival of UMC. They know that the appetite of taxpayers for helping undocumented immigrants is limited.”

Since April, UMC has been spending about $2 million per month providing emergency dialysis services to 80 illegal immigrants, Brannman said.

He projects that these services at UMC could run more than $24 million in the current fiscal year.

In each of the five prior years, the hospital provided the same emergency services to half as many illegal immigrants for a little more than $1 million per month.

Brannman said the hospital receives no reimbursement from federal, state or local sources to provide this life-saving treatment for people who have entered the country illegally.

But under federal law, any patient who shows up at an emergency department requesting an examination or treatment for a medical condition must be given an appropriate medical screening to determine whether there is an emergency. If there is, treatment must be provided.

“When we’re projecting a budget deficit of $70 million for fiscal year 2010, you can see that $24 million in dialysis treatment that’s not reimbursed is an awfully big chunk,” Brannman said.

UMC health care professionals say discussion of how to reform the nation’s health care system must include how to shore up taxpayer-supported hospitals, strained to the breaking point by following the law to care for those who are breaking it…

…”The federal government kicked the can down the road on the immigration issue and gave the bill to us,” Brannman said. “This is a federal policy failure that is driving huge health care costs to our citizens.”

Balancing Act

This is the time of year when the best commercial on TV comes on. It is a bunch of ecstatic parents singing "It's the most wonderful time, of the year!" This is a "back to school" commercial for Staples. Most parents are still trying to piece together childcare and all in the weeks post camp but pre school year. Most moms are beginning to run out of "rainy day activities" and some even will guiltily admit that they can not wait until their children leave them to return to the routine of school.

One of my friends blogged about Lisa Belkin who has written some articles and books on the topic of "balance". I agree with her that most of us just try to do our best and meet the challenges before us. The rest of it is the polarizing stuff that women tend to beat themselves up with, and why? I don't hear men talking about "balance" very much, do you?

I have met Lisa and she had attended a networking group I helped to found. She lifted some of the stories she wrote about from things she heard, no crime there of course! I don't think I have really learned anything "new" from this type of writing and instead I think a lot of women find reason to judge one another.

There are a lot of "full circle moments" as we age. You think back to the choices you made, or were forced to make and look at what happened--good bad or unexpected. Mostly it is all good. If you have the right attitude.

Of course this is the first year that we are sending our 18 year old to college and it is a bit more bittersweet than earlier years where the quiet that descended on the house was so welcome after the first bus came and went.

I guess what we all have to remember is NEVER WISH TIME AWAY.

Pretentious

Last night we saw a movie prior to its release entitled Cold Souls which has a very interesting premise. It stars Paul Giamatti and it is about the idea that one could extract one's soul and put it in storage. The joke is that all NYers put everything in storage and that god forbid it should ever be shipped to NJ, they would be horrified. The other funny bit is that his soul looks like a--chick pea. And that is just about the gist of what is worth watching. The director, Sophie Barthe spoke and was a very pretty, very intelligent, very French, very pregnant young woman. She was very definite in her "art" and her opinions. I really enjoyed the first third of the movie. And then it took such a dive that I actually could hardly stand to watch Janet Maslin ask her questions.

The definition of pretentious is "he act of pretending; a false appearance or action intended to deceive. A false or studied show; an affectation". And that is very much what this film was because she was trying to meld together Woody Allen's Sleeper with all the French surrealist films but ultimately ripped off some of the ideas from Being John Malkovitch and other movies of that genre. It is completely derivative.

Part of the film centers upon the play by Chekov Uncle Vanya. All of a sudden the movie turns into a Russian moody and dark "play" about mules carrying souls back and forth to Russia. It completely loses us there. It is at least 30 minutes too long and is filled with scenes of Paul staring off from the icy shores of St Petersburg (?) and then from Brighton Beach. It hits you over the head with metaphors and devices but to me they were all a cheap trick. It could have been so much better. So much more interesting because of the idea of what a soul is and what it could mean and it almost goes there. But it failed, in part because she actually sacrificed the ideas and the humor to make it an "important film", a film that touches on what a young Frenchwoman thinks is "art" or references other "important works". In a way, by doing this she is no more than a copy of a label. Not Gucci but Gocci.

The thing is, maybe I am just really disliking the film because I really wanted to like it and her and couldn't. Just like the movie, her interview with Janet Maslin turned for me when she describe the sci fi aspect of the film and how it is kind of like "the crazy little old Jewish ladies who would buy cyrogenics". How dare she! and I am really pissed off at myself for not asking about it. My friend said, oh but maybe she is Jewish. And that makes it better? Then I looked her up. She is french but was raised in the Middle East and Latin America in Iran, Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, and Paris . She has been living and working in the US though, and making money here. I started looking through her interviews, all close to exact replicas of the questions and answers her publicist must have given Janet Maslin. Honestly, I felt duped. It was a "false and studied show" and certainly complete affectation. And then what capped it is her interview with the Village Voice.

Barthes admits the protagonist is ultimately an extension of herself: "When I wrote the screenplay, I felt very trapped mentally in this country," she says, mentioning George W. Bush, the war in Iraq, and Americans' complacency and—shall we say—soullessness. "I couldn't bear it any more," she continues. "I literally felt my soul was shrinking."

Yuck. She is so entitled in her attitudes and so pretentious NYer who moved here to go to school at Columbia. She pays homage to the "NY intellectuals" and the LA movie elites. She also sounded completely entitled--well I thought I might get "Woody" but I settled for Paul Giamatti attitude.

When you get down to it is utter pretension. As she is selling her movie now to Americans and reaching into their wallets she isn't calling us "souless". Luckily, I doubt anyone will want to watch it.

Feelin' Groovy

One of my favorite songs in the 70s was a song by Simon and Garfunkel about the 59th Street Bridge. I am not sure why that song was actually about the bridge. It is one of the last bridges left that you can take into Manhattan without paying any money. It is also the plan of the powers that be to begin to charge the public for every bridge and tunnel into/and maybe out of NYC. Is this fair? I mean how are the people who live in the city supposed to be able to live with all the taxes etc.
The same politicians who are supposedly so liberal and for the "little guy" are not aware of what it takes to get by. It now costs around $11 to take some of the bridges into NYC and the money doesn't necessarily go to those bridges.
This is now becoming a class system for commuters. The traffic has become so bad on the cheaper options, that if you have money you avoid them at all costs. (pardon the pun!)
Interestingly though, on most of the bridges and tunnels, it costs nothing to leave NYC. Maybe we should all take the hint.

A Foodie's dilema

My pal S was on the train this morning, reading the sequel (?!) to The Omnivore's Dilema, another book by Michael Pollan. We were discussing how confusing it is to eat.
Well, it is, stop laughing. Pollan posits that it is so difficult to know what is healthy or not because we are so confused by modern nutritionists. The fads of no fat, low fat, no sugar, etc have left us with no idea.
There was a study about word association with a terrific rich cake. The Americans answered something about guilt or health or something while the French (I think) answered celebration.

I think some of this is really caused by the rise of marketing and advertising in the 60s and 70s. Food became more packaged, more marketed, more focus grouped.

Aside from making me hungry, I am thinking....when does Madmen come back on TV?

Shared Fortune

The other day I was on the train with my "kitchen cabinet" . My cabinet is the group of amazing women I ride the train with who give me practical business and personal advice. They are usually right on target.
Sometimes I get to give some advice too.
Last week one of my friends told me about the job opportunity she got. It is really exciting to get the chance to enter a new career and new challenge, particularly in this economy and as you are getting closer to 60. I have a very keen intuition, which probably helps in what I do for a living.
In any case she started telling me about telling her business partner she will leave the firm. I asked if she cried. She said how did you know? I don't know, I just did. Then she told me that they shared their fortune cookies and the fortune was "it takes a thousand shots to make the first basket". I said, but that wasn't yours, it was hers. Again she said how did you know that? Then I asked what was hers, she said it was about flexibility and her friend/partner is very inflexible. She was saying that for story telling purposes, she attributed the fortunes to the opposite person.
I told her that she shouldn't do that because it is most interesting to me that they shared their fortunes.
What is a fortune anyway? It refers to money, wealth, to the future. And after all, these are all things that they shared for years. In the future, she may be able to give her ex partner business. And in this economy, that may be the best "shared fortune" of all!

High School Prom

Ahhhhh Prom. I remember going to mine with all of my friends. How wild it is to send off one's son to prom. That is A above with his date. I don't remember wearing sexy dresses like that, but maybe that is just my memory.
I was thinking back to how my friends and I all went together. We went to something called the "Gambol" which was held in our gym. This was no small affair and the gym was decorated like the set of a movie. In fact, you didn't know it was a gym, except maybe from the lines on the floor. My boyfriend had the post prom party and then we all went to Jones Beach. We "spiked" a watermelon and drank plenty, but then the drinking age was 18. We got to experiment when we were still at home.
Hey magpie, do you remember? Who did you go with?
Now the kids go to a fancy venue and then they head off to the shore or the Hamptons for the weekend. I bet they still experiment plenty but they don't talk about it as much.

Well, the folks who say we are nuts to worry, that anyone who worries about our defense is a fear monger, they maybe ought to be rethinking. At least they ought to apologize to John Bolton who seems to be one of their favorite whipping boys. The Huffington Post even had a piece by Allison Kilkenny about how he is a knuckle dragger who is nuts. She goes on to try and discredit the Wall Street Journal for publishing Op Ed pieces by what she seems to believe are discredited former politicians associated with George Bush.

I am thinking of the piece I watched on Meet the Press or something where Newt Gingrich was being attacked by the moderator who asked him something like "really, you think we should all be afraid? How can you try to rule by fear?" and he replied that he was indeed very fearful.

The person basically was pushing the idea that there were eight years of unnecessary fear. Here is Newt's response:

"I think people should be afraid. I think the lesson of 1993, the first time they bombed the World Trade Center was fear is probably appropriate. I think the lesson of Khobar Towers where American servicemen were killed in Saudi Arabia was fear is probably appropriate. And the lesson of the two embassy bombings in East Africa was fear is probably appropriate. I think the lesson of The Cole being bombed in Yemen was fear is probably appropriate, and I'll tell you, if you aren't a little bit afraid after 9/11 and 3,100 Americans killed inside the United States by an effort, if you aren't worried about the second wave attack that was designed to take out the biggest building in Los Angeles, I think that you're out of touch with reality."

One day later the North Koreans set off a nuclear bomb worthy of notice. Maybe Newt and Bolton are right. Maybe we should be prepared for the worst. Maybe we should be a little afraid after all.

NYC Fly Over

My train buddies say not to sweat the small stuff like the NYC fly over by the Obama camp. This was not just an unfortunate choice--it was one of the most boneheaded moves of an administration that should be #1 SAVING MONEY and #2 CARING FOR OUR ENVIRONMENT. But worst is #3. The fact that Louis Caldera was the one who allegedly planned this. Interesting that the press release by the Obama administration leaves off his work at IndyMac Bank.

Any why is that exactly?

I mean, here is a guy whose administration is supposed to be so tech savvy. Hasn't anyone heard of Photoshop?

17 Again

Well, I haven't seen the latest Zach Effron movie but I do feel a bit like I lived it this weekend. I went to the memorial of Moky--the mother of my bff from high school.

I walked up the sidewalk to the imposing facade of a house circa 1902 or so. So many memories swept over me, like long lost friends I hadn't seen in forever. I couldn't believe the echos of kids laughter, until I saw two young tow headed girls sitting out on the sunny veranda at a table laden with new azalea blooms, eating pistachio nuts and sharing secrets. A little shy boy was walking swiftly toward me away from a large bumble bee.

I stared. The two girls strongly resembled the two mothers, sisters who had grown up in that house. One was almost the age at which I met her mother. The boy was not unlike his uncle who greeted me warmly at the front door with the most beautiful little baby in his arms. The baby has the face of an old soul, perfectly formed--not a mushy pudgy baby face. I thought that was fitting somehow. Maybe since his grandmother waited until his birth before letting go of her long journey away from her life. I was shocked he remembered me, to be honest. Mostly because I knew his older sister and in the self involved way of older sister's friends who were teenagers, I hadn't paid much attention to him all those years ago.

He called out to his sister S and I guess I expected the long blond streaming hair down to her waist and a petite little girl to emerge from the shadows at the top of the beautiful mahogany staircase. By the time she reached the newel post, she had morphed into a beautiful adult woman before my eyes.

Magpie was next and she and I had a laugh about how surprised I was to walk back into the house, which had not changed. It was like walking backwards through time because all the decorations were the same and I swear even the carpeting was the same camel color--and immaculate. Everything was so well cared for and I think the classical music playing may have been from a ....record. I admit I peeked around the house for glimpses of my memories.

The one room completely changed was her bedroom. That left me wistful for the pale green walls and pegboard covered with interesting things. How we laid across her bed and embroidered or patched our jeans and talked about boys, chess club (!) and college applications. How we smelled of Love's Baby Soft Lemon (?) and Lipsmacker lip gloss. And how we wore those ridiculous quiana shirts. (For those of you too young to know better--it was a fancy word for polyester). I am quite sure that Magpie wore an oxford button down and boat shoes or "Topsiders". She wasn't quite preppy--she actually sailed. She loved classical music and was one of my few friends not listening to awful 70s music.

Though it was a memorial, laughter and the hum of a larger crowd rose through the old lady (I guess I think of their home as maternal--owing to Moky) and reminded me of all the Christmases I remembered there. I will never eat a Diamond Smokehouse Almond without thinking of her. Or pass a gingerbread house without thinking of those days.

Also in attendance were the most incredible women, many of whom happen to be graduates of Smith College. All of whom were at the top of their game--then and now. They went to one of the most elite schools of the time--the "Daisy Chain" to the Ivy League. Many of whom were mothers of high school acquaintances. My mother went to Smith too, as did my Aunt. One of them, now in her 80s had just played golf the day before. These are women who didn't/couldn't let time stand in their way. It is so sad that Moky didn't have the choice. It was interesting to step back in time and also fast forward to what is today.

It was a beautiful afternoon, full of friendship and memories. The neighbors walked in to honor her and friends came from far away. I really believe it was such a wonderful thing to give people the chance to congregate and remember her. Many of them thanked the children for the opportunity--and I know why.

Moky gave a lot of people a "home" to come to at the holidays. She raised a family that will hang together for future generations and neighbors and a community who admired her qualities. I like to think she would have gotten a kick out of the memorial.

Touching, heartfelt words were said from neighbors and friends, unprompted and unplanned. It was genuine. I watched from the periphery, as it was years ago. I was her daughter's friend, and honestly, I am not sure she approved of me and certainly not of my politics! Though I suspect that like me, she had a healthy respect for people who spent the time to know things, who bothered to know about current events, to have principles--even if you must agree to disagree. We probably agreed on more than she would ever know...

Time marches by but we all need a chance to remember the past, to celebrate it, to wonder at it....and to be 17 again.

20 years ago there were 1000 points of light

In 1989 I started our business. Now I wonder if it will survive these turbulent times. I worry for my employees, for my family and for my country. It seems sometimes like nothing will ever be the same. I think about the 80s. Were we aware that it wasn't all about money? when and how did things change? Did loving capitalism and loving free markets and freedom mean we forgot the basics? I don't think so.
And then I remember, this is still my country. There are still people who believe that we should say God Bless America. After Ronald Reagan, after the crazy Carter years, after all of this was a speech I will remember. It made me feel better today to read it again.

Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. President, Vice President Quayle, Senator Mitchell, Speaker Wright, Senator Dole, Congressman Michel, and fellow citizens, neighbors, and friends:

There is a man here who has earned a lasting place in our hearts and in our history. President Reagan, on behalf of our Nation, I thank you for the wonderful things that you have done for America. 1
I have just repeated word for word the oath taken by George Washington 200 years ago, and the Bible on which I placed my hand is the Bible on which he placed his. It is right that the memory of Washington be with us today, not only because this is our Bicentennial Inauguration, but because Washington remains the Father of our Country. And he would, I think, be gladdened by this day; for today is the concrete expression of a stunning fact: our continuity these 200 years since our government began. 2
We meet on democracy's front porch, a good place to talk as neighbors and as friends. For this is a day when our nation is made whole, when our differences, for a moment, are suspended. 3
And my first act as President is a prayer. I ask you to bow your heads: 4
Heavenly Father, we bow our heads and thank You for Your love. Accept our thanks for the peace that yields this day and the shared faith that makes its continuance likely. Make us strong to do Your work, willing to heed and hear Your will, and write on our hearts these words: "Use power to help people." For we are given power not to advance our own purposes, nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one just use of power, and it is to serve people. Help us to remember it, Lord. Amen. 5
I come before you and assume the Presidency at a moment rich with promise. We live in a peaceful, prosperous time, but we can make it better. For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree. A new breeze is blowing, and a nation refreshed by freedom stands ready to push on. There is new ground to be broken, and new action to be taken. There are times when the future seems thick as a fog; you sit and wait, hoping the mists will lift and reveal the right path. But this is a time when the future seems a door you can walk right through into a room called tomorrow. 6
Great nations of the world are moving toward democracy through the door to freedom. Men and women of the world move toward free markets through the door to prosperity. The people of the world agitate for free expression and free thought through the door to the moral and intellectual satisfactions that only liberty allows. 7
We know what works: Freedom works. We know what's right: Freedom is right. We know how to secure a more just and prosperous life for man on Earth: through free markets, free speech, free elections, and the exercise of free will unhampered by the state. 8
For the first time in this century, for the first time in perhaps all history, man does not have to invent a system by which to live. We don't have to talk late into the night about which form of government is better. We don't have to wrest justice from the kings. We only have to summon it from within ourselves. We must act on what we know. I take as my guide the hope of a saint: In crucial things, unity; in important things, diversity; in all things, generosity. 9
America today is a proud, free nation, decent and civil, a place we cannot help but love. We know in our hearts, not loudly and proudly, but as a simple fact, that this country has meaning beyond what we see, and that our strength is a force for good. But have we changed as a nation even in our time? Are we enthralled with material things, less appreciative of the nobility of work and sacrifice? 10
My friends, we are not the sum of our possessions. They are not the measure of our lives. In our hearts we know what matters. We cannot hope only to leave our children a bigger car, a bigger bank account. We must hope to give them a sense of what it means to be a loyal friend, a loving parent, a citizen who leaves his home, his neighborhood and town better than he found it. What do we want the men and women who work with us to say when we are no longer there? That we were more driven to succeed than anyone around us? Or that we stopped to ask if a sick child had gotten better, and stayed a moment there to trade a word of friendship? 11
No President, no government, can teach us to remember what is best in what we are. But if the man you have chosen to lead this government can help make a difference; if he can celebrate the quieter, deeper successes that are made not of gold and silk, but of better hearts and finer souls; if he can do these things, then he must. 12
America is never wholly herself unless she is engaged in high moral principle. We as a people have such a purpose today. It is to make kinder the face of the Nation and gentler the face of the world. My friends, we have work to do. There are the homeless, lost and roaming. There are the children who have nothing, no love, no normalcy. There are those who cannot free themselves of enslavement to whatever addiction—drugs, welfare, the demoralization that rules the slums. There is crime to be conquered, the rough crime of the streets. There are young women to be helped who are about to become mothers of children they can't care for and might not love. They need our care, our guidance, and our education, though we bless them for choosing life. 13
The old solution, the old way, was to think that public money alone could end these problems. But we have learned that is not so. And in any case, our funds are low. We have a deficit to bring down. We have more will than wallet; but will is what we need. We will make the hard choices, looking at what we have and perhaps allocating it differently, making our decisions based on honest need and prudent safety. And then we will do the wisest thing of all: We will turn to the only resource we have that in times of need always grows—the goodness and the courage of the American people. 14
I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others, a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done. We must bring in the generations, harnessing the unused talent of the elderly and the unfocused energy of the young. For not only leadership is passed from generation to generation, but so is stewardship. And the generation born after the Second World War has come of age. 15
I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good. We will work hand in hand, encouraging, sometimes leading, sometimes being led, rewarding. We will work on this in the White House, in the Cabinet agencies. I will go to the people and the programs that are the brighter points of light, and I will ask every member of my government to become involved. The old ideas are new again because they are not old, they are timeless: duty, sacrifice, commitment, and a patriotism that finds its expression in taking part and pitching in. 16
We need a new engagement, too, between the Executive and the Congress. The challenges before us will be thrashed out with the House and the Senate. We must bring the Federal budget into balance. And we must ensure that America stands before the world united, strong, at peace, and fiscally sound. But, of course, things may be difficult. We need compromise; we have had dissension. We need harmony; we have had a chorus of discordant voices. 17
For Congress, too, has changed in our time. There has grown a certain divisiveness. We have seen the hard looks and heard the statements in which not each other's ideas are challenged, but each other's motives. And our great parties have too often been far apart and untrusting of each other. It has been this way since Vietnam. That war cleaves us still. But, friends, that war began in earnest a quarter of a century ago; and surely the statute of limitations has been reached. This is a fact: The final lesson of Vietnam is that no great nation can long afford to be sundered by a memory. A new breeze is blowing, and the old bipartisanship must be made new again. 18
To my friends—and yes, I do mean friends—in the loyal opposition—and yes, I mean loyal: I put out my hand. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Speaker. I am putting out my hand to you, Mr. Majority Leader. For this is the thing: This is the age of the offered hand. We can't turn back clocks, and I don't want to. But when our fathers were young, Mr. Speaker, our differences ended at the water's edge. And we don't wish to turn back time, but when our mothers were young, Mr. Majority Leader, the Congress and the Executive were capable of working together to produce a budget on which this nation could live. Let us negotiate soon and hard. But in the end, let us produce. The American people await action. They didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan. "In crucial things, unity"—and this, my friends, is crucial. 19
To the world, too, we offer new engagement and a renewed vow: We will stay strong to protect the peace. The "offered hand" is a reluctant fist; but once made, strong, and can be used with great effect. There are today Americans who are held against their will in foreign lands, and Americans who are unaccounted for. Assistance can be shown here, and will be long remembered. Good will begets good will. Good faith can be a spiral that endlessly moves on. 20
Great nations like great men must keep their word. When America says something, America means it, whether a treaty or an agreement or a vow made on marble steps. We will always try to speak clearly, for candor is a compliment, but subtlety, too, is good and has its place. While keeping our alliances and friendships around the world strong, ever strong, we will continue the new closeness with the Soviet Union, consistent both with our security and with progress. One might say that our new relationship in part reflects the triumph of hope and strength over experience. But hope is good, and so are strength and vigilance. 21
Here today are tens of thousands of our citizens who feel the understandable satisfaction of those who have taken part in democracy and seen their hopes fulfilled. But my thoughts have been turning the past few days to those who would be watching at home, to an older fellow who will throw a salute by himself when the flag goes by, and the women who will tell her sons the words of the battle hymns. I don't mean this to be sentimental. I mean that on days like this, we remember that we are all part of a continuum, inescapably connected by the ties that bind. 22
Our children are watching in schools throughout our great land. And to them I say, thank you for watching democracy's big day. For democracy belongs to us all, and freedom is like a beautiful kite that can go higher and higher with the breeze. And to all I say: No matter what your circumstances or where you are, you are part of this day, you are part of the life of our great nation. 23
A President is neither prince nor pope, and I don't seek a window on men's souls. In fact, I yearn for a greater tolerance, an easy-goingness about each other's attitudes and way of life. 24
There are few clear areas in which we as a society must rise up united and express our intolerance. The most obvious now is drugs. And when that first cocaine was smuggled in on a ship, it may as well have been a deadly bacteria, so much has it hurt the body, the soul of our country. And there is much to be done and to be said, but take my word for it: This scourge will stop. 25
And so, there is much to do; and tomorrow the work begins. I do not mistrust the future; I do not fear what is ahead. For our problems are large, but our heart is larger. Our challenges are great, but our will is greater. And if our flaws are endless, God's love is truly boundless. 26
Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets calling, and sometimes it is that. But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds. And so today a chapter begins, a small and stately story of unity, diversity, and generosity—shared, and written, together. 27
Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of America. 28

If you can make it there...

You can make it anywhere....It's up to you NY, NY. Tada dumdeedum, tada dumdeedum...

Well, this song is taking on new meaning. I mean, how much more stress and penalties can be placed on people living and working in NY. After all, we are taxed at one of the highest rates in the country. It is incredibly expensive to live here.

Why on earth do we stay? Used to be there were incredible jobs. Now, not so much.
Used to be there were amazing services and cultural events/places. Now that will change. One of my friends told me their child is "wait listed" at their local public school because they have no room from all the banker's babes who can no longer pay the astronomical amounts to send their kids to private school.

If you can't even send your kid to public school, and housing is not super affordable and they will charge crazy penalties over certain salaries, and they will charge small and big business for the MTA shortfalls--

Hey wait a minute, why are we here?

Great Aunt

Even though I like to think of myself as fairly young, I am a Great Aunt. and I am a great aunt many times over. My in laws are (ahem) a little bit older than us so we have nieces and nephews in their thirties. All of them are now married and all are having kids. They are all adorable.

I think one of the few things that truly ages you is children. Of course there is the usual stress of raising them, paying for them and trying to steer them in the direction of becoming valuable citizens. I keep telling my that my goal is to get them off my payroll and have me jump to theirs.

Having two sons means that I will have no one to "shop with" etc. I keep telling them that they have to buy me jewelry and push my wheelchair. One of them is more likely to do this than the other. I suppose that is part of why the British say you always want an heir and a "spare".

Anyhow they definitely age you because it is difficult to pretend you might pass for your early 30s if you have a 17 year old man hanging around who happens to be your very grown up son. But I guess with all the wrinkles of worry etc it would be pretty delusional to think one might not pass for older than I actually am.

I keep telling people I am 47--though I am almost 49. Maybe it is my memory going...

My very good friend "F" will never tell anyone her age. She will never show anyone her driver's license. My other friend D has a different age on every official piece of paper. Her passport, her license, her insurance. Her husband told her that if she didn't make sure the life insurance is accurate, he may kill her.

In any case, one of my "grands" threw their sweet arms around me to say good bye on Saturday and I said, you know I am a certain kind of Aunt. She said "what?" and I said "the Great kind". It seemed to satisfy her.

Things my sister-in-law can't stand about me

1. I am not a believer in Keynesian economics
2. I think most unions are not a great idea anymore
3. I loved Ronald Reagan
4. I vote Republican a lot
5. I even watch Fox news sometimes


I love you C. You are (one) of the best sisters in-law on the planet. And who doesn't drive their sister in-law crazy sometimes? I think it is hilarious that any of your friends read this. Come on ladies--hit the comment button!

Rose is gone

Rose is gone from here. Her funeral was yesterday. But Rose has been gone from this world for a while. Rose was an incredibly strong woman who lost her mind to Alzheimer's a while back. She was a force. She was tough. She would ask if you had gotten plump. She made a mean plum tart....and never gave away her recipes.
I didn't really know Rose well. She was my brother-in-law's mother. I guess in the end a life can be summed up by the people willing to bury you, to remember you. Rose had two children and four grandchildren and even some great grandchildren. If she had given up and stayed in Czechoslavakia, none of their lives would have turned out the way they did. After fleeing her country she ran again to the USA from France all the while being chased by a horrible Nazi regime. She left for the US without her husband and with two little children. She made her way in our country with little money and few friends. When her husband returned to her years later and wanted to go back to Europe, she put her foot down. She made her life here. She raised her family.
Years later Rose decided she would fight to get her family's money back from the real estate they left behind. We all thought she was crazy. We thought she was tilting at windmills. We were wrong. Years later when the "iron curtain" fell, she petitioned and got some money back.
But all the stories about Rose don't really tell me who she was. When I look at my brother in law and the strong wife he chose, well, that tells me more. I see two people who worked hard together to build a business, to love each other and to support their family. She must have been quite a mother. I see her daughter R, who divorced young at a time when it was very tough to be a single woman with young children. She had a great career and two brilliant thoughtful kids. And she never gave up. She did it with grace and style, like her mom.
So, I suppose isn't really gone at all. And that is what it is really all about....

I RANT Therefore I Am

Well I do not always agree with Peggy Noonan, but I think she got it right. Check out her piece today in the WSJ. She talks about how Obama is merely making news, not history. How instead of allowing Pelosi run wild, he should have insisted on a bill that was palatable to all Americans. There should have been some compromises, but there were NONE.

And how is it that everyone is getting "payback". The unions with a VERY bad bill that will take away secret ballots and make it impossible to avoid or decertify them. That will really "help" the little industry that has flourished in the right to work states. Back to back room politics and opacity.

The movie industry will get a hand out in terms of something like a 50% tax benefit on their equipment purchases. Why only the movie industry? Pay back for votes.

This president is allowing the worst crooks in Congress and the Senate to continue to amplify their dirty tricks. He is also upping the class warfare bit. All the evil is from "Wall Street".
This 837 Billion dollar budget is made up of pork. Only 12 cents on every dollar MIGHT be deemed a stimulus at all. There is nothing in it for small business which provides close to 80% of new jobs.

This is crazy. Make it stop. Too many people are losing their jobs, their homes, everything. And for a panic that has been promoted by Washington. When is the wonderboy Geitner going to DO SOMETHING!

NY Times

Here is part, and a small part of why I am no longer subscribing to the NY Times.

To the Editor:

In "Standing Accused: A Pillar of Finance and Charity," your Dec. 13 Business Day article about Bernard L. Madoff, arrested in a major fraud scheme, there was a striking emphasis on his being Jewish. It was not just once, or twice, but at least three times before the article continued inside. Why?

Yes, he is Jewish. We get it. But was this relevant to his being arrested for cheating investors, or so key to his evolution as a businessman that it needed to be hammered home again and again?

I have read several accounts in The Time s of the shenanigans of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich of Illinois, yet have no clue what his religion is, nor, frankly, do I care. Why should I? Unless he was acting in the name of his faith, which I assume he was not, what difference does it make? And if a profile is warranted and the governor's faith matters to him, mention it and move on.

But to refer to the "Jewish T-bill," "the clubby Jewish world" and the "world of Jewish New York" within four paragraphs near the top of the article on Mr. Madoff was over the top.

David A. Harris
Executive Director, American Jewish Committee

Morality War

Can you win a war if you don't aggressively pursue the targets right away? Can you compromise "winning" because of politics? What if war costs even more lives because it is prolonged unduly?

Please read this op ed from today's JPost.com.

It made me think about how the US dropped the bomb on Japan and finally ended the war. My father always says he would not likely have been alive had he been sent overseas due to the war continuing over time. He says the Bomb saved his life. There are a lot of moral questions, and maybe there are no real answers in war. One side wins and one side loses. It seems to me that in some cases, today's diplomacy and politics don't really work. Instead the conflict continues to escalate over the years.

Clearly, killing "civilians" is a really horrible thing. When a country or a region elects to continue to support attacks against another country, are they civilians? Maybe Gaza is not the best example of this, but did the US worry about the Germans? The Japanese "civilians"?

WATCH THIS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo

Please watch this video on youtube by Tom Trento on Ft Lauderdale on December 30th from when we were in Israel. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe it can happen here. Tom is right. This is not London, Paris or Detroit. This is Ft. Lauderdale.

A New Year's Resolution

Well, we are now a week into 2009. I haven't written much lately. Not because I didn't have anything to write about, but more because there is so much to write and think about.
We just got back from Israel and it was the trip of a lifetime. My husband didn't really want to go. One of my son's also didn't want to go. They were both nervous because they were certain things would go wrong and a war would start. I told them not to worry, that they would feel safe and if we were going to get bombed or in a war, we would all be together.
Of course what happened next was the biggest military action in Israel since 1967.
Before I get into the facts of why I am so distressed, let me tell you that we learned so much about history, about religion, agriculture, economics, mysticism, stoicism etc that I would go back in a minute. It is a magical place. All of my family loved it. We even felt pretty safe, despite the risks.
I will try and write a bit each day about what we learned but what is even more important now is to focus on the famous quote on the wall at Yad Vashem--the memorial to the over 6 million who died. I am paraphrasing this but what I remember is...."a society is only as good as what it tolerates". This is the time to step up and not slip silently by and let others do the talking and the fighting. This is the time to understand that it is an imperative to fight back when you are under constant attack for over 8 years. This is a time to understand that while Israel, at great cost to the country and to individuals who left homes, schools and lives behind, withdrew unilaterally from Gaza and areas in the West Bank and what did they get in return? Bombs. Fear. Lives under constant attack. Children who sleep in bomb shelters. Who can not attend school Would we do the same?
This is also a time to be aware of what is going on in our own country. We are not at a point in history where we should "blend in" or assume that we are so integrated into our American society that we are "safe". We can not assume that our future leaders believe in the same things that we do. This is what the Jews of Germany thought. They may not have identified with the Jews of Poland, or of Lithuania. They thought they were German. While I don't believe that a holocaust could ever happen in the US, in a free society, a lot of bizarre things are happening. I do believe that the constant news of Madoff, Drier, the way the media portrays Wall Street are all reflecting on the Jews---rightly or wrongly. You may have read about the violence and hate spewed at Jews in Europe and Yemen but what about here in our free country?
Did you know that:
A Molotov cocktail was thrown at one of the oldest Chicago synagogues last week?
That one of the pro Hamas protesters in Fort Lauderdale yelled that Jews should go back in the ovens?
A preschool in Camarillo CA has been vandalized by swastikas for the fourth time in recent weeks? Twice in the last week.
In Bethesda Maryland residents have been receiving anti Jewish hate mail in their mailboxes?
Jewish day schools in Chicago received bomb threats?
San Francisco's holocaust memorial was defaced with anti semitic graffiti?
Synagogues in Dalton TN and in Irvine CA have had signs or graffiti placed on them with anti semitic slurs or anti Israel remarks. See this site.

These things are not huge, but taken together they are an indicator of how things can unravel if we do not stand up to be counted. Read the Jerusalem Post on-line. Our sources of news are generally not very accurate in what is actually going on. Write to your representatives. Speak up in conversations. Don't be lulled into a false sense that you can remain silent. Act.