It is a good thing that President Obama is going to try to tackle the increasing costs of health care in the United States, but it seems almost insane for him to want to create a $634 billion fund to add to the nation’s already soaring health care costs.
We already pay more for health care, in total dollars and as a percentage of our Gross Domestic Product, than any other nation.
Why do we need to spend more? Wouldn’t it be better to figure out where present spending is being misused, and then reallocate that money?
We have a wonderful model for providing medical care to large numbers of people. It’s called Medicare. It is restricted mostly to those over the age of 65, but why not expand it to cover everybody?
Right away, you’d have a lot of people yelling “socialized medicine!” But that’s rhetoric.
Medicare isn’t socialism. It is funded by a payroll tax, paid equally by workers and their employers.
The money raised goes directly to pay for services or for administration of the program. Beneficiaries also pay premiums, both to the Medicare program and to private firms which sell supplemental policies.
Only about 7 percent of the cost of Medicare goes for administration (except for the supplemental policies). Private insurers, on the other hand, spend three to four times that for administrative and sales costs.
If the government were to expand Medicare, it would give everyone a basic level of care.
The government could also expand private insurance pools. As it is now, insurance pools are relatively small. If we were to make them nationwide, costs of coverage would be less.
Expanding Medicare would require a tax increase on workers and their employers, but most of those folks would wind up spending less than they already spend on private insurance.
It would be easy to react cynically after reading the story in The Madera Tribune about 24 karat gold facials being offered at Dr. Pannu’s Madera office: What will they think of next, and what a way to make a buck?
But I want to mention that Dr. Pannu also offers a free yoga class at his office on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, from 7 to 8 a.m. Afterwards sliced fruit and coffee are available.
For someone like myself, who has done yoga for years in Fresno, Dr. Pannu’s class in my hometown is a godsend.
President Obama will cut funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., and that may not be a bad thing in the long run, even if it will anger the nuclear industry.
Nuclear power is getting more backing as an alternative to power generators that burn coal or natural gas — both of which pollute. Nuclear power doesn’t pollute, but it does generate nuclear waste, which concerns many, especially those who don’t like nukes in the first place.
Yet, many in the nuclear industry know you don’t need a Yucca Mountain depository to have nuclear power. Nuclear waste created in light-water
reactors, for example, can be reprocessed and used again.
France and Japan do this. France generates the majority of its electricity with nuclear power.
The old saying that dilution is the solution to pollution also works with nuclear waste that for some reason can’t be processed. About 40 years ago, a system of glassification for safely diluting and storing low-level nuclear waste was developed, and has been used successfully if not widely.
An updated version of it is being developed for disposal of waste at the Hanford, Wash., nuclear facilities.
The Defense Waste Processing Facility at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina near Augusta, Ga., turns liquid nuclear waste into glass, which is highly stable, and then is stored in canisters.
Another waste treatment plant, the Saltstone Facility, extracts salts from the liquid wastes, mixes them with cement and boiler ash then mixes them into grout. The grout is pumped into big concrete silos, where it cures into
concrete. The silos are then sealed with concrete.
In both these methods, the waste is basically harmless, and above ground where it can be seen — and avoided.
There’s a chance Nadya Suleman’s octuplets could be put up for adoption by the state. The eight babies, born Jan. 26, are still in Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Bellflower, receiving care because they were nine weeks premature. If the state’s Child Protective Services should decide going home with their mom would constitute a danger to the children, an option might be for CPS to put the children in foster care.
As it is, Suleman has no job and apparently few immediate prospects for one. She and her six other children live with her retiree mom in a house that may be repossessed as soon as May 5, according to The Associated Press.
If Suleman were to lose her eight new children, that might satisfy a lot of folks who are letting the world know they hate her because she brought so many kids into the world at once.
“Serves her right,” they might say.
It makes you wonder where all their anger and hatred comes from.
One might have many reasons for disagreeing with Suleman’s decision to have more children — or to have multiple births.
But those babies are here now — they are with us. The reasons for their being here are history. One might think that because of that history their mom is an idiot and should be punished, but the little ones had nothing to do with the circumstances of their conception or birth. Anger at Suleman shouldn’t preclude the tykes getting help they need.
If the state and Kaiser Permanente eventually let the children go home with Suleman, she is going to need a lot of help. Some of it will come from state and local welfare, obviously, but this also will be a good time for the churches of Whittier, where Suleman lives, and other community groups to pitch in if they are needed.
I want to commend and congratulate the Republicans in the California Legislature for holding the Democrats’ feet to the fire and finally getting rid of that 12-cent hike in gasoline taxes that they were proposing.
Even a lot of Democrats will be thankful when they fill up but not to worry, gas always goes up anyway as we approach summer. Truckers are probably most thankful because filling a 500-gallon tank will at least be $60 less.
We will be paying enough as it is with this large spendulous bill that the president just signed, and he even spent a lot of unnecessary taxpayer money to do that. He flew in Air Force 1 from Washington, D.C., to Denver just to sign the bill. Do you know how much it costs just to get one of those giant Boeing 747s off the ground? I don’t either but I know it is a lot. In fact, you can double it because Vice President Joe Biden flew Air Force 2 to Denver and he didn’t do anything but watch. They could have saved thousands and thousands of dollars to have signed that bill in Washington but they had to make a big political show.
I think Obama’s honeymoon is about over. The markets are still tanking, they don’t think much of his stimulus bill and his approval rating fell another five points in a week.
But I do hope that bill does help some, because our children and grandchildren will still be paying for it long after we are gone.
All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content or space limitations some comments may not be published Please limit your calls to two minutes or less.
“Here we go again,” began a man with a hard-to-understand message. “These people can’t stay within the budget. They’re cutting the budget alright, by adding a gas tax, and doubling our license fee. When are these people going to learn? They are putting more and more people in the hole and that’s going to mean less taxes because people are going to quit working.”
A gentleman had a message for the “man who wanted to legalize cockfighting and bullfighting in Madera. I agree with him 100 percent if he will be the first one to get in the ring with the fighting roosters or the bull.”
Another woman suggested “we have a running of the bulls right down Yosemite” and have the only runner “be the man who said we should have cockfighting and bullfighting in Madera.”
A woman called “in regards to the graffiti. I think, if they are 18 and over, they should be sent to war to make men and women out of them. If they are under 18 their parents should be shackled to them. Let them clean it together and have the money come out of their pockets. Maybe they’ll take better care of their kids.”
A man called “about the graffiti and all the money they’re (the city) is losing. But they’re willing to pay over $100,000 to have a wall painted on the police station. Why don’t they have some of the kids who are being caught for graffiti paint it?”
A man asked, “Why a press release regarding the federal lawsuit that former MID (Madera Irrigation District) director Ron Pistoresi filed against the directors, the board and employees was never printed. Apparently it wasn’t newsworthy enough.” (Note: A detailed front-page article was published Thursday)
A man called about “an overflow of water on Doubletree Way and Westberry for the last 10 years. It’s every day in the gutter. The gardener basically opens them full blast so he doesn’t have to adjust them or worry about the lawn. I called once before, but it is just ridiculous.”
Another man, who said he “lived on Howard Road,” couldn’t understand “why, on Wednesday night the ball field lights were turned on for just one person. I saw a man turn off the lights on the fields on Industrial, but he saw one or two people on the field near Schnoor and just left. Unless those one or two people paid for those lights, in these tight-money times, and more taxes coming, it seemed like a waste of our money.”
A woman said, “It’s always easier to call and complain than it is to give a compliment. But I always look forward to the picture on the weather page. I just love those, and today’s (Thursday’s) with that mule, I just loved it. Thank you very much.”
Another lady had a similar comment. “Today’s weather page picture was a real winner. I’ve always enjoyed Mr. Emo’s Meandering’s pictures, but his picture of that mule somewhere near Madera was a great way to start the morning. It had me smiling and chuckling.”
A man “standing at Cleveland and Gateway” said “the crows are so thick around here it’s amazing to think what a 12-gauge shotgun would do. Something needs to be done, folks. These things are filthy and a detriment to people’s health.”
A woman had a complaint about a store in the 2100 block of Cleveland Avenue. She thought “it is really sad they cannot accommodate the handicapped with their walkers and provide them service.” She thought it “was discrimination.”
An Internet guest, “Concerned Madera Unified Parent,” writes about the lawsuit against the Madera Unified School District, “If these individuals are so concerned about our school district and the education that our kids are receiving, why in the world would they think that this is a benefit to our kids? How selfish and sad that, with the way our economy is today, … these individuals … have the nerve to bill MUSD $1.2 million.”
Tribune reader “Jack Porter” writes, “This is because Junior Jesse Lopez doesn’t care about Madera, Madera Unified or your kids. I hope everyone remembers this when he pushes his candidates for election.”
An online reader, “Jennifer (Otto) Scoyni,” responded to a letter, published months ago, that criticized teacher Warren Star of Madera South High School. She writes, “I am a former student of Mr. Warren Starr’s and he was and is a role model to many — including me.”
A regular caller said, in part, “The war continues in Mexico. The Mexican government admitted they had over 6,000 murders last year. The figures are more like double that figure. The consensus is that it’s a drug war.” The caller disagreed. “But that’s not the truth.” Unfortunately, the Red Line reset and did not record the rest of the message.
A weekly caller complimented a column “on (Feb.) 18 by Mr. Doud.” But said, “he left out a few significant factors. It is not a drug cartel war. It is an urban training-for-terrorists war. He forgot the Chinese. They are all over Mexico like white on rice. Look it up.”
A visitor to the Red Line, “Kimberly Carrick,” identified herself as “the mother of three beautiful daughters” and the “widow of Lewis Carrick.” She writes, “I just thought you should know (that) I sit on the other side of this godforsaken country still missing him. I just wonder, do I have The Madera Tribune (Web site) to thank for that?”
Thank you for your comments. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24 hours a day by calling 674-4478, or by logging on to maderatribuneredline.com.
As if banks and their customers didn’t have enough to worry about, hackers have been figuring out new ways to raid the bank accounts of those who bank online.
USA Today tells of “trojans” which, like viruses, sneak onto one’s computer hard drive and wait until one opens one’s bank account online. Once the bank account is open on the customer’s computer, the trojan leaps aboard and either steals information to allow the theft of money later, or begins transferring money to other accounts on the spot.
“Banking trojans can be gotten by clicking on a viral link to a greeting card or a video that arrives in e-mail spam,” USA Today says. “Or, they can be picked up by clicking to a Web page that’s been corrupted by hackers.”
F-Secure counted 59,111 unique banking trojans on the Internet in 2008, the newspaper reports.
No bank is safe, not even PayPal, the online cash-exchange service which supposedly enables online shopping with relative security. At least one Madera family was robbed online recently during an Internet transaction on PayPal, and the culprit would appear to have been a trojan or a derivative.
The lesson in all this is to avoid Internet grunge. Never open an online greeting card, even if you know the sender. The sender could inadvertently be sending you a trojan or virus that resides on his or her computer without his or her knowledge. Don’t open free videos. Many are launched for the purpose of carrying trojans. Don’t open e-mails from people you don’t know. Never open an attachment on any e-mail sent by someone you don’t know.
Restrict Internet commerce only to companies you know, where you can use your credit card, along with its built-in refund protection in case you are scammed. PayPal apparently provides no such protection, nor do other payment-intermediary services. And they are as scammable as any bank.
There’s a movement afoot to call a state constitutional convention for California, and apparently quite a few are signing on. Most of those seem to be Democrats unhappy with the fact they couldn’t just raise taxes by a simple majority vote in the Legislature in order to solve the state’s budgetary crisis. Darn it, they had to cut expenses as well, due to those pesky Republicans who hung on to one vote until the last minute in order to accomplish at least a semblance of governing within the state’s means.
People who back rewriting the constitution also remind us that California’s constitution has 519 amendments, compared to just 27 for the United States Constitution. They fail to mention that those to blame for most of those amendments are those annoying citizens, to whom the state constitution gives the right to legislate through popular vote.
Presumably, a new state constitution would put brakes on citizens’ rights to legislate and amend the constitution, leaving the important business of government to the pros instead of the idiot voters, who just get in the way.
However, some Republicans also are looking into changing the constitution, mainly to see if the state’s lopsided tax system can’t be made a bit fairer. In California, fewer than 20 percent of the people pay more than 80 percent of the taxes. That 20 percent tends to be made up of Republicans, by the way. But if you look around at other states, those percentages are about the same.
When times are good, and the state is giving tax refunds to people and raises to its employees, you don’t hear much talk about changing the constitution. But when times get tough, the refrain you hear is, “the system is broken — we gotta change it.”
Mrs. Doud has a saying, which is: “Don’t go to the grocery store when you’re hungry. You’ll spend too much.” The same might be true of constitutional conventions.
I operate the Pizza Farm, Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch at Historic Cobb Ranch. Since the Pizza Farm opened in 1993, more than 500,000 visitors have been introduced to and learned about the important role that San Joaquin Valley agriculture, its farmers and farm workers play in feeding the world’s people.
Now, I am afraid we may be put out of business by the actions of overzealous bureaucrats.
Every year we hire temporary employees for our operations. Since these are seasonal and minimum wage jobs, we hire a lot of high school and college students, stay-at-home moms and seniors. We also get a lot of people that struggle to keep full-time employment for one reason or another. This year we posted an ad on CraigsList and had close to 300 applicants. Eventually we hired about 80-100 part-time, seasonal workers. As is often the case, some of our workers were less than productive. One disgruntled employee went to the Labor Commission with complaints. This started a snowball of problems that keeps getting bigger by the day.
The employee complained that we did not carry Worker’s Compensation Insurance. That triggered an unannounced inspection by the Labor Commission. Our temporary phone person for that day could not produce the records they wanted. We were given a $5,000 fine. When our hearing date came, I produced the documentation showing that our Worker’s Comp Insurance was in place; however, our appeal was denied.
During the investigation, the Labor Commission asked for payroll records. At this point they noticed my daily work schedule for our haunted attraction, Raisin Hell Ranch, and asked for payroll reports. I explained that the actors were paid a flat fee per performance, as with most “theater type” productions and that they were paid on closing night in cash. I then was asked to produce the payroll stubs. Since they were paid in cash, there were no stubs. The fine for this is $250 per employee. I had 59 employees. I was fined 59 times for the same mistake — a total of $14,750.
I have expressed my concern at the local and state level of the Labor Commission. Both say the “law is the law” and I broke it. Fair enough — I agree. In both cases, I technically broke the law. However, isn’t the purpose of an organization like the Labor Commission to help employers understand and follow the law, not fine them out of business? I was hit with nearly $20,000 in fines (and it’s not over) because I did not know all the laws. No one was injured — no one was cheated out of money — no one was harmed in any way. Yet I am being fined to the letter of the law with no review of circumstances.
When I complained, I was told “they” are sorry, that the fine seems extreme, but “their” hands are tied. I was told there is no discretion to the fines and that if I want them changed, I would need to change state labor law. When I contacted Mike Villines’ office, I was told they could not help me either.
My business has become a community icon for family entertainment and agricultural education. By no means are we perfect in all areas of government regulation, but we do our best. We provide the first job for many teenagers, Christmas money for stay-at-home moms and seniors, and temporary work for many who are un-hirable by most employers. We give families the opportunity to reconnect with their agrarian heritage, spend family time in a wholesome environment and enjoy the tranquility and beauty of the countryside.
Our business was 30 percent down this year and we did not even break even on our cost of operation. Now, on top of a bad year, the Labor Commission is fining me nearly $20,000. This fine may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, as we may not re-open.
I am not asking you for financial help, but rather for you to share yet another story of how California is killing small business. No one is listening to me, but Sacramento might if the readers of your newspaper raised some hell.
Scientists are getting ready to send the $520 million Kepler telescope into outer space to look for planets nobody can see — planets which might support life. These extrasolar planets, as they are called (they have signs on them that say that — “extrasolar planet for sale; inquire within”) so far seem to be gas giants. I had a burrito the other day like that, but enough about food.
Gas giants are like Jupiter. If they support life, it isn’t anything like we have on Earth. You might wonder why we keep looking. I think it is because astronomers need something to do.
Johannes Kepler, after whom the telescope was named, was a German mathematician and astronomer who also was deeply religious. He was sure God had created the world as part of a plan for people, a plan which could be figured out if you applied enough reason. We keep trying.
One of the people in charge of the Kepler telescope program said the Kepler would find things never before seen, and would have a good chance of finding a planet similar to Earth. He was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, however, as saying if such a planet isn’t found, “There won’t be any ‘Star Trek’.”
Which is probably why we are throwing money into outer space in the first place. We like “Star Trek” and other science fiction so much that we want it to be true. The reality of space exploration, though, has shown it to be dangerous, expensive and disappointing — not unlike your typical federal bailout so far — although certainly very interesting.
One point of view, however, is that Earth, itself, is an extrasolar planet that has been discovered by folks from another solar system and is being used as a sort of prison colony to keep earthlings from wrecking the rest of the universe. What if the telescope tells us that? I’m not sure I’d be all that surprised.
