The Budget Battle Clarified, the Invincibles, a Old Story by Sid and a Timeless One from Harvey

In Case Your TV is Broken - The Budget Battle

There have always been tradeoffs in Congress.  In both the House and the Senate, deals have been made whereby a vote in favor of a job-creating military contract in one Congressman’s district is cast because the Representative of that district will vote for a highway project in the other’s district.  You scratch my back and I will scratch yours, and party differences are often immaterial.

Magnify this and you will get some idea of the back room deal which supposedly was made between Harry Reid, leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate and John Boehner, Speaker of the Republican-controlled House.  For agreeing to a large reduction in the budget reflecting significant spending cuts (desirable to Republicans), the budget bill would not include provisions defunding the Affordable Care Act (desirable to Democrats).  The Democrats are sticking to their half of the tradeoff, but sadly, Speaker Boehner is unable to deliver on his part of the deal, because of the refusal of his party's Tea Party wing to go along with it.   

 

Will the ACA produce more Democratic seats in the House of Representatives?

Why can't Speaker Boehner deliver?  In addition to Tea Party intransigence involving much more than just the Affordable Care Act, there is a underlying Republican fear that an even modestly successful ACA would hurt them at the polls.  Some Republicans who might benefit from it may vote Democratic in future elections, partially in appreciation for what the ACA provides, but also in recognition of the fact that it is something the G.O.P. tried mightily to destroy.  This may even affect the results of elections in heretofore safe Republican districts.  Therefore, they are leaving no stone unturned in trying to cripple a law passed by both Houses of Congress and affirmed by the Supreme Court.  Boehner is being swept along with the tide.  The Republican Party is fighting for its very survival, and is now willing to acquiesce to its Tea Party wing's pressures, which go beyond defunding the ACA, in order to fight that battle with some sense of unity.

So, our government is now without a budget and money is running out.  True, the House is willing to pass single bills funding some government operations (one providing that the Armed Forces would continue to be paid was passed by both Houses and signed by the President) the cessation of which will cause significant inconvenience to Americans.  The Democrats are not going along with these measures, however, since they open the door to the G.O.P.’s passing their entire budget on an piecemeal basis, with the conspicuous exception of the Affordable Care Act.

 

These Republican tactics have reached the point where they are beyond the usual horsetrading in which Congress engages.  They are saying to the Democrats that they will trade approval of a bill to fund the government’s operations, with spending cuts to which the Democrats have agreed, only if the Democrats agree to the defunding or weakening of the Affordable Care Act.  This isn't a tradeoff. It's extortion!  The Democratic mechanism for refusing to submit to it is the Democratic-controlled Senate, whose approval is necessary for such a tradeoff to happen.  That's why Harry Reid is the Democrat's point man in this action, and painted as the villain in the eyes of Republicans.

 
Did the Founding Fathers Envision a Government Shutdown?              Harry Reid

Some Republicans say the “power of the purse” which Congress possesses was intended by the writers of the Constitution to be used to defend the country against excesses by the Executive Branch, and they consider the ACA such an excess, despite its passage by Congress three years ago.  This is malarkey.  They are still fighting spending government money on health care, something they couldn't defeat using regular legislative procedures, so they have resorted to extortion, holding the country as a hostage.  They are so intent on crippling the Act that in addition to tying defunding the ACA to passage of the government’s budget, they will try to do the same thing when the Debt limit comes up for increase in a few weeks.  Although the Speaker's position on that much more meaningful legislation is ambivalent, many Republicans will refuse to act on that as well, unless the ACA is defunded or weakened. 

 
What will it take for House Speaker John Boehner to Stand Up to the Tea Party?
 

This is a shameless attempt by the Republican Party to subvert the legislative process.  Most Republicans, including Speaker Boehner, know it, but they fear that the Tea Party minority of their party will challenge them in primary elections where many gullible, Fox-watching, Limbaugh-listening Republicans vote. 

           

This is not an idle threat.  Former Senator Jim DeMint, now head of the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, and its political subsidiaries, have mobilized that gullible voting bloc to assure that it stands fast in pressuring its Republican Representatives to continue to insist on crippling Obamacare as the the price of passing a budget, and in a few weeks, of raising the debt limit. (Read all about this in last week's BloombergBusinessWeek, available at http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-26/jim-demint-congressional-republicans-shadow-speaker.)

 
In my opinion, all of this will only serve to quicken the impending demise of the Republican Party, unless its majority tells its Tea Party minority, including folks like Ted Cruz, to get lost and establish a party of their own.  If that does not happen, Senator Cruz and Speaker Boehner will indeed be pallbearers at the G.O.P.'s funeral and the mortician, incidentally, will be Jim DeMint, who runs the Heritage Foundation Funeral Parlor.

Jack Lippman

                                                         

Sid's Corner

Relationships

Sid Bolotin                                      

Anita sped her vintage, restored VW up the winding driveway to her parent’s house. She was just bursting to tell her parents about her new relationship, her new love. As she passed under the towering maples that lined both sides of the roadway, she remembered her days as a tomboy climbing them to lodge herself securely in their embracing branches, while she read romance novels and daydreamed of becoming the heroine in each story. She smiled thoughtfully as she realized that she was now the heroine of her own romance.

As the car exited the canopy of trees to enter the circular drive, Anita‘s breath caught in her throat as it always did when she sighted the grandeur of her family’s mansion perched on the bluff overlooking Boston harbor. She skidded the VW to a stop in front of the stairs, leaped out, and raced up the twenty marble steps to the front door.

Throwing open the door she bounded into the foyer calling out, “Mummy? Daddy? Where are you? I’m here! I have wonderful news!”

“We’re in the library, dear. Her mother called out. “Dad and I are just having our usual afternoon drink in front of the fire. Come on in.”

“Oh, Mummy, Daddy, I’m so happy,” Anita bubbled as she bounced into the mahogany-paneled room. After quickly pecking each of them on the cheek, she flopped onto an overstuffed loveseat, tucked her legs under her, and beamed at her parents.

“Well, Anita, don’t just sit there like a Cheshire cat,” her father commanded with a puff of his ever-present cigar. “Come out with it. What is it this time? Are you pregnant again?"

“Yes, yes,” interjected Mummy, “ please tell us. What is your wonderful news?”

Ignoring Daddy’s last quip, Anita answered, “Well, guys, I’m in a new relationship and head-over-heels in love. I’ve never been so happy. This is it for me. No more singles bars, no more personal ads, and no more blind dates. This one is the one.”

“Humph,” grumbled her father, “I’ve heard this before. I’ll believe it when I see it. All those other guys were also ‘the one’. I’ve lost track of how many times you’ve repeated this scene. Ten? Or is it closer to twenty? And each one of those was better than the last.”

“Yes, dear, Dad’s right. This seems like a perpetual replay. You’re almost thirty now, and we’ve given up that you’d ever commit to a long-term relationship. You’ve been such a butterfly, flitting from lover to lover, that dad and I have resigned our selves to never becoming grandparents.”

“Oh don’t worry, Mummy,” Anita chuckled, “you will be grandparents and sooner than you think”

“Oh, no,” Mummy gasped, “you are pregnant.”

“No, no, I’m not pregnant. And, anyhow, we plan to adopt. We both want to help a child from China, Korea, or the Balkans. Chris feels very strongly about this; and I do too. It’s like we’re of one mind, like soul mates.”

“Oh, Anita, don’t do this to us,” Mummy cried out as she began to sob. “Think of our standing in the community. Don’t impose a foreign or racially different grandchild on us. What will our friends say? Where does Chris come from? Liberals? Do-gooders? Why not have your own? You’re still able. Your biological clock is still ticking. Please, Anita. This could even give your father a stroke. You know how your father feels about maintaining his lineage with his cronies at the country club.”

Anita’s father sat in stunned silence, his face was florid, and his eyes were almost popping out of their sockets as he sputtered, “That’s right, Anita. Your escapades have brought enormous embarrassment and sometimes shame on our heads. The drugs and the repeated running away broke our hearts. I’m not going to let you initiate more whispers in the club behind my back. I’ll pound sense into you and Chris. What is he, some kind of bleeding liberal? Why can’t he be a man and father his own children? Give me his full name and phone number. I’ll straighten this out.”

 “No you won’t, Daddy. Not this time. I know what I want.  What Chris and I want. Even you can’t control this relationship. But go ahead; call if you want to. Chris’ phone number is 617-631-7897.  Her full name is Christine Goldberg, and she’s the cantor at Temple Torah in Boston.” 


                                                             *   *   *   *   *

(Ho, Hum.  So what is so startling about the ending to Sid’s story, written eleven years ago in 2002?  Big deal!  What was almost shocking then is commonplace and acceptable today.

Times and values have changed.  The Armed Forces have done away with their “Don’t Ask – Don’t Tell” approach to gay and lesbian relationships.  Movies and TV deal with them in a routine manner.  Same sex marriages are legal in many states and the Internal Revenue Service is recognizing joint filings from such unions.  Few people care about the sexual orientation of celebrities or even everyday people anymore. Sexual preference, whether biological or acquired, is precisely that: a “preference,” no more, no less.

The fact that in eleven short years, such changes have occurred should cause one to look at the standards of behavior present during other periods in history when things which we take for granted were valued differently.  In many places, it was acceptable to own another human being and treat them as a piece of property.  Forms of marriage other than monogamy were commonplace and totally acceptable in many cultures. The brutality of the Inquisition was accepted as normal.  

Who is to say that our present day values will not seem preposterous in retrospect to future generations? Just look how things have changed since 2002. Hope you enjoyed Sid’s story.)

(commentary added with approval of author)   JL

                                                                                                              

The Invincibles (Not a TV Series)

  A young “invincible,” someone who is young and healthy, might not feel that they need health insurance and therefore, objects to spending money for something they feel they don’t want to buy.  Of course, the reason the Affordable Care Act wants such “invincibles” to purchase health insurance, or pay a penalty for not doing so, is to help fund the cost of older, less healthy people who will gladly purchase the coverage.  Sooner or later, even the “invincibles” will be in that category.   (It is not unlike the actuarial principal behind level premium "whole life" insurance where you overpay in the early years to enable the premium payment to remain level in the later years, when more death claims are paid.)
 

Just as we have laws saying you cannot drive an automobile without having automobile liability insurance, we now have a law saying that everyone should be required to have health insurance.  Careful drivers with unblemished records are not excused from having automobile insurance.  Even such "invincible” drivers can be involved in accidents costing a lot of money.  Similarly, health care which sooner or later everyone needs, even those who presently feel they are “invincible,” also costs a lot of money and that is why the Affordable Care Act was passed, to make sure money was available through private health insurance companies to pay for that health care for everyone.  (There are no free rides available. Even Emergency Room care has to be paid for by someone.)
 JL

                                                                                                      

OLD DOG SHEP

Harvey Sage  

(For my granddaughters Brooke n Madison)

  

The Sunday morning church bell rang, sending its peals down the Italian hill and across the lake to Switzerland. The parishioners filed in, many of them old and infirm. Father Marcelius noted this and shook his youthful head, wondering why the bishop had sent him here instead of a youthful congregation. After all, what value did the infirm have.

The Sunday mass was to begin and Marcelius signaled for the sexton to shut the back door. As he complied there was a scratching. The sexton held the door ajar and in trotted an old sheep dog mix. Everyone waited till Shep ambled up to the front and lay down. The congregation knew that Shep always came to Sunday mass. He used to come with Romeus, his owner, back when Romeus was a vibrant and contributing member of this group. And though Romeus had been dead for two years Shep still attended every Sunday, religiously.

Father Marcelius was the parish priest for just a few months and was initially shocked to see a dog come to church. When he questioned parishioners they explained that Shep loved church and was definitely filled with the Holy Spirit. At Marcelius’s first service he came up with the others for Holy Communion, eating a proffered wafer and licking up some wine. If he’d started speaking in tongues Marcelius would not have been surprised. As the people left at the end of the service Shep came up to the priest to get his head patted. He licked the priest’s hand and that did it. Marcelius loved him. His only regret was that the dog was old. Too bad. What value was there in old age?

This Sunday’s sermon centered around Balaam and his faithful donkey, found in Numbers 22.

The priest said “While on his way to cast an evil spell upon the wandering children of Israel, the pagan prophet Balaam was suddenly thwarted three times by his donkey. When the frustrated Balaam beat his donkey for his interference the donkey speaks, telling him that he is a loyal beast trying to warn him. Then Balaam sees an angel of the Lord who credits the behavior of the donkey in saving Balaam’s life by keeping him from doing the wrong thing. Henceforth Balaam will comply with the angel’s bidding, saying only what God wants him to say.

“The angel emphasized that by blocking his way the donkey saved Balaam’s life. Sometimes God gives us signs to guide us. We have to be alert to them.”

The people came forward for communion with old Shep at the rear as he was wont to do. They were waiting patiently in line when suddenly Shep stiffened. Then he began to howl. The priest and the others looked at him and wondered what was the matter. With his head back he howled more. Then he went to Father Marcelius and began pushing him with his nose toward the front door of the old church.

The priest chuckled. “What’s the matter boy? Are you trying to tell us something?”

Followed by more than half the people, the priest went out, looking around. Shep turned around trying to get the rest of the congregation outside. A few sat in their seats complaining about the old dog’s behavior. Shep went to them, barking repeatedly, but to no avail. That’s when they all heard a loud rumbling.

The ground shook, then began rising and falling. The old church behaved like a ship on a storm tossed sea. It’s roof timbers couldn’t stand the motion and began to snap. Shep gave his last howl amidst the pleaful screaming people and then the roof collapsed on those inside, none of whom survived.

                                                            

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