Quote of the Day
We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The Schwarzenegger Scandal: An Alternate Opinion
First of all, this blog has been critical of former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, particularly with respect to the outgoing Nunez pardon and his refusal to defend the voter-approved California proposition 8, which restored the original definition of marriage to the California constitution, in court challenges. Second, as a social conservative, I hardly condone the marital infidelity with his former housekeeper Mildred Baena. I also have to be consistent and condemn him, just like I have repeatedly criticized Bill Clinton, for having an affair with someone whom is subordinate to him; it violates sexual harassment policies and/or principles. It makes no difference that the women in question engaged in said behavior voluntarily; these men had the power, and the responsibility, to say 'no'.
However, there are two things particularly bothering me about the ubiquitous, one-sided coverage (e.g., Fox News, which seemed to be conducting a contest on which host or guest could could be most judgmental and derisive towards the former governor). First of all, the governor is no longer in office, and there are children involved, including the governor's family and Ms. Baena's son in question. The children didn't do anything wrong, and I think we should be respectful of these families' privacy. Second, I haven't seen or heard where this scandal has anything to do with Schwarzenegger's tenure as governor. The affair, to the best of my knowledge, ended years before Schwarzenegger became governor, and Schwarzenegger has been financially responsible for his son and the boy's mother. There's no doubt that an affair involving a Kennedy and a famous actor/bodybuilder makes for very good gossip; it makes for lousy, irresponsible news. I hope for the sake of the family that the former governor and his estranged wife can reconcile their differences; I hate to see a 25-year marriage come to an end.
The Mediscare Commercial Attacking Paul Ryan (R-WI)
The way I prefer to contrast the differences between GOP and Democrats on Medicare is by contrasting the private sector and public sector approaches to pensions/retirement. The private sector by the 1980's for the most part understood that longer life spans, which have expanded from the late 60's to the late 70's on average, while holding retirement age constant, and increasing numbers of retired people, due to aging Baby Boomers, meant that pension costs were on the verge of exploding and hence sought to control their exposure by capping their contributions to employees as they moved towards retirement.
Now in terms of social security FDR had designed a system he was certain would live forever by making the system self-financing; since it was self-financing (i.e., no outlays in federal spending in the sense relevant disbursements are paid by payroll taxes or accumulated social security reserve funds (consisting of Treasury bonds)). This is NOT the case with Medicare, where funding sources are mixed, partially by a smaller payroll tax and by ordinary federal revenues (income taxes, excise taxes, tariffs, etc.) Since economic growth has been fairly tepid over the past decade, federal revenues have not climbed, certainly enough to keep up with the growth in federal expenditures--including Medicare subsidies.
The way I conceptualize Paul Ryan's (R-WI) plan, converting Medicare into a private plan subsidy for younger workers, is in a manner similar to how companies and schools attempt to control costs by capping their contributions to 401K/403B plans. (The key issue under this approach is ensuring availability of coverage, unless the government agrees to assume catastrophic costs, particularly given higher costs during final periods of coverage.)
The Democrats, in one particularly nasty ad from one of their advocacy allies (the Agenda Project), want to remind senior citizens and voters that former Congressman Grayson's description of GOP health policy is "hurry up and die"--with an actor clearly resembling Paul Ryan from the back. Now never mind that the Democrats through ObamaCare are promising to fund a new entitlement using dubious "savings" in Medicare--politically difficult, unidentified savings that are simultaneously needed to shore up trillions in unfunded liabilities.
Voters know that there's no such thing as a free lunch. There is no Entitlement Helper to stretch a few years of retirement to 15 or more with health inflation occurring higher than other economic sectors. This idea that the government can solve health care costs is sheer hubris, given a government that seems addicted to spending at least 150% of the revenues it earns.
The real danger is not Paul Ryan's attempt to start a conversation with an innovative plan on how to limit our exposure under an exploding national debt. The real problem is not doing anything and letting the entitlement Titanic run into an iceberg, most of which is beneath the surface.
Unlike other conservatives, I don't let pathetic attack ads get under my skin. To me, and to all thinking Americans, it's what you can expect from a political party without any constructive ideas (the only thing Democrats can offer is spending money they doesn't have and class warfare).
A Harmon Killebrew Moment
As great a ballplayer as he was on the field, Killebrew was an even better person off the field...I got a first-hand opportunity to witness Killebrew's kind, gentle way of making people feel special a few years ago when he visited a friend of mine, Roy resident Jim Bertagnolli, a terrific guy who'd been stricken with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS),a dread disease better known by its more common name, that of another Hall of Fame first baseman who was by all accounts a great guy that was pretty darned good with a baseball bat back in his day, too — Lou Gehrig. Bertagnolli, who played high school baseball and instilled the love of the game in his athletic son and softball-playing daughters, had been robbed of his ability to walk, talk and eat by that time. He was being fed through a feeding tube in his stomach, and his life on this earth would soon be over. But when Killebrew came walking into the Bertagnollis' home that day, the Roy man's eyes lit up and he smiled a big, grateful smile as [Hall of Famer and VistaCare Hospice spokesman] Killebrew shared a few joyous, emotion-filled minutes with Jim and his family.
Political Potpourri
The Gallup and Rasmussen polls show President Obama's ratings falling below 50% (49 +6 net, 48 -2 respectively).
Herman Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO and conservative talk show host, announced for President today. A recent IBOPE/Zogby poll of Republican voters showed Governor Christie (R-NJ) running first at 17%, Cain next at 14%, Paul at 10%, and Romney at 9%. For some reason, some conservatives are picking up on the poll recently, although it was taken a couple of weeks back, after the South Carolina debate where none of the major candidates were present and Cain struck a cord by striking a populist position about not being a Washington insider. (That may have gotten some cheap applause and votes from Frank Luntz' focus group on Hannity and red meat conservatives, but it got him nowhere with me.) The fact is Herman Cain attracted only a quarter of the votes in a 2004 US Senate GOP nomination race in Georgia; he has no government executive experience, and he has no military or foreign policy expertise. A TPM poll tracker has him trailing Obama in head-to-head battles by an average of 18 points (versus a comparable 6 point difference between Obama and Romney).
Fukushima Nuclear Incident Update
Atomic Power Review notes:
- Friday evening: The suppression chamber for reactor 2 will be sealed with concrete as a prerequisite to cooling the core. Coolant injections through the two lines have been increased for reactor 3. There is 12 feet of water in the basement to the reactor 1 building basement.
Political Humor
Some originals:
- Eighty-nine year old Harold Camping predicted the end of the world today. Of course, President Obama decided there was no reason to take action on closing a $1.65T deficit, or resolve a $14.3T national debt because he was going to be raptured today. Of course, in his heart, Obama knows the real end of the world: November 6, 2012.
- President Obama this week said that he wanted Israel to go back to the pre-1967 borders. Not to be outdone, Mexican President Calderón demanded that the US go back to the pre-1836 borders.
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
Chicago, "Lowdown"
