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It's Cold Today

Earlier this week it was fog and this morning it's snow. Every once in a while I seriously give consideration to the thought that we're all masochists.
Sent from the BlackBerry® of Michael Prelee.

No You Can't (Featuring John Boehner)

Obama Gets a Big Win and the Country Gets Great Policy

The health care reform bill was signed into law yesterday and the country is better for it. This bill closes the Medicare donut hole, ensures people with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied coverage and provides basic security for illness. Passage of this landmark bill looked certain last fall, was in doubt just a few weeks ago and then finally passed when it seemed all hope was lost. The Democrats showed what can happen when they find their spine, push back at the bully and really fight for something they want. As Maureen Dowd said in her column today:

The Democrats held hands, held their breath and jumped over the cliff — not
that it was a radical bill. And, mirabile dictu, nothing awful happened. The
markets went up. The polls went up. Their confidence went up.

This is a bill to be proud of even if it isn't what everyone wanted. There's no public option and it will probably cost more than the Congressional Budget Office projects. But it's not a nation killer. It's not the apocalyptic nightmare the Republicans claim it will be. We will endure. We will find a way to cut the deficit, reduce the debt and take care of our ill. It's ridiculous to think America will ever find itself stuck in a problem it can't innovate its way out of.

People wanted change in government. They made that clear in November 2008 when they elected President Obama. This is the change they hoped for when they cast their votes.

Republicans and their supporters would do well to evaluate why they want to govern. The party of no has stood firm against every decision this president and congress have made. No compromise, no surrender seems to be their motto. John McCain has said that “there will be no cooperation for the rest of the year” from Republicans. The party of do nothing and do a lot of it wants people to vote for them in Novemeber...why? Blowhards like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck are predicting a push back in the November mid-term elections. Tea Party activists are hopping mad and are shouting loudly about voting out the incumbents. My prediction is that the Republicans will have spent two years doing nothing and people will remember that. If Democrats continue to make good decisions and stand firm in their beliefs they could retain and win a lot of seats on November 2nd.

Pancakes And A Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex

Author and performer Rebecca Maher will be performing her show Pancakes And A Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex live at Trumbull Theatre (@ Kent State University - Trumbull Campus), Warren Ohio. From the Facebook page and her website:

Rebecca Maher’s “Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex”, a timely and humorous multi-act one woman show, will Premiere at the Kent State University – Trumbull Campus Theatre on April 16 and April 23, 2010

Warren, Ohio – “Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex” is the brainchild of Rebecca Maher. Rebecca is an author, performer, and the mother of a child with autism. Dr. Daniel Raymond Nadon directs this one-woman show.

In “Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex”, the audience is provided with a humorous and heart wrenching account of a mother’s experiences raising a child with autism. Current statistics from the Centers for Disease Control conclude that 1 in 110 children in the United States have Autism. During the course of this work, the viewer will get to see the world from a unique perspective that is sometimes tragic, always emotionally stirring, and ultimately a triumph of the human spirit and condition. The journey begins with recounting a “typical” public dining experience and continues to reveal such experiences as receiving the diagnosis, fighting the system, and ends with…a trip to Wal-Mart! The range of emotions provoked by this work must be experienced to be believed. Rebecca sums it up best when she says that life with a child with autism “…can be a lot like a roller coaster ride complete with screaming, panic induced laughter, and someone may ultimately vomit.”

This play has been in pre-production since June 2009. Rebecca is in the process of completing a full-length memoir, which served as the inspiration for “Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex”. In addition to writing, Rebecca is also an experienced performer specializing in readings and stand-up comedy. Dr. Daniel Nadon, Producer / Director, is an experienced successful contributor to the theatrical world. In addition to being a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Nadon’s credits include directing efforts in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Toronto. As diverse as the markets he has lead efforts in, is the range of productions that he has overseen (from “As You Like It” to “Winnie The Pooh”). Andrew Budney provides the technical wizardry that drives the multimedia presentation that is seamlessly integrated into this work. “Pancakes and a Lobster Tank: Living With Autism, Loving Alex” will premiere at the Kent State University on April 16, 2010. A second performance is currently scheduled on April 23, 2010. Both performances will begin at 8pm. The theatre is located at:

Kent State University – Trumbull Campus Theatre
4314 Mahoning Avenue Northwest
Warren, Ohio 44483

Reservations are strongly recommended and a $2 donation will be greatly appreciated. For additional information, please visit us at www.rebeccamaher.com. For reservations, please call 330-675-8887 or email trumbullboxoffice@kent.edu.

Pentagon Shooter's Gun was Obtained from a Gun Show in Nevada

According to this AP exclusive, John Patrick Bedell, the man who shot and wounded two police officers at the Pentagon earlier this month, obtained the handgun he used from a gun show in Las Vegas, Nevada. The thrust of the AP's article is that the gun used was confiscated by a police department in Tennessee and then traded to a licensed dealer. The gun was traded legally among dealers until it was sold to Bedell by a dealer in Las Vegas. However, it's the gun show actions that concern me, not the police. From the AP article:

Law enforcement officials say Bedell, a man with a history of severe psychiatric
problems, had been sent a letter by California authorities Jan. 10 telling him
he was prohibited from buying a gun because of his mental history.
Nineteen
days later, the officials say, Bedell bought the Ruger at a gun show in Las
Vegas. Such a sale by a private individual does not require the kind of
background check that would have stopped Bedell's purchase.

This incident proves two things. 1) Current gun laws are not effective at keeping guns away from people who should not have access to them. It's ridiculous to require a background check if a gun is purchased in a shop but not if it's sold at a gun show. this is the "gun show" loophole. 2) Better laws are required. The group Mayor's Against Illegal Guns have a list of suggestions that would stop just this kind of sale. These suggestions should be enacted as law.

ETA: Please see the comments section, specifically the post from Sailorcurt. I erroneously identified the seller of the firearm at the Nevada gun show as a firearms dealer, which he is not. The AP article clearly states the individual is a private seller and therefore not subject to conducting Federally mandated background checks. It's been more than 15 years since I sold my last gun in a shop so the wiring in that part of my brain may need updating.

I continue to think however that gun owners, sportsman and those who don't own firearms would benefit from more effective laws than those currently on the books. There is no reason why all parties cannot compromise on a solution that allows responsible gun owners to buy and sell firearms while keeping them out of the hands of those who have mental health issues or felony convictions.

Where Our Federal Tax Dollars Go and Why Change is So Hard

Given the state of the political landscape in the country, I thought it would be useful to throw some facts into the argument about whether 'socialists' are going to ruin the country or the 'party of no' will succeed in doing...well...nothing. I cribbed this rather fantastic graph from the website of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. I, like Rachel Maddow, love how a good graph can cut through the hooplah and present facts in an easy to understand visual format.

What we see here is that the federal government is spending an awful lot of money on things we've demanded. Items like defense, social security, medicare and social safety net programs tie up 73% of the budget. That spending won't change. The baby boomers are at an age where you would have to tie them to their beds on election day to change Social Security and Medicare. The recession has so eviscerated the economy that without CHIP and Medicaid little kids and poor folks would have no other way to see a doctor. Bin Laden and his flunkies are still roaming the Earth so cutting defense spending will have to wait.

We pay another 8% on interest to service the debt and if we default on that no one will loan us anymore money. So that's 81% of the budget that is as untouchable as Eliot Ness.

The government spends the other 19% on things like education, building interstates, making sure bridges don't fall down, regulating clean air & water, pensions, medical & scientific research and NASA.

No matter what party you're with or if belonging to the Tea Party movement is your thing, what this graph demonstrates is that unless you are ready to take the pain of a cut to programs directly benefiting you, you're full of hot air when it comes to reforming anything. You could always cough up more taxes but somewhere along the line we started talking the talk without walking the walk.

We've all been conditioned to believe the country can fight wars and have tax cuts at the same time. No one wants to face the fact that Social Security spending is ballooning because so many baby boomers are now retiring and every one of them will take more out of the system than they paid in. Something for nothing has become our mantra.

So those are the facts. If you want smaller budget deficits and a shrinking debt we have to raise taxes (either by increasing the tax rate or creating jobs that pay better) or we all have to suck it up and accept a cut in our pet programs. That will take some real adult thinking so the odds are 50-50 that we'll stop shouting at each other and really have a meaningful discussion.