Updated Weekend Tids and Bits

RIGHT TO LIFE, RIGHT TO DIE, NOW RIGHT TO DRY? The New York Times, which keeps track of issues many of us ignore, reports that the right-to-dry movement is building. You know – as in clotheslines, clothes pins and getting three (or more) sheets to the wind, not to mention the unmentionables jiggling in the breeze. Seems many communities outlaw letting it all hang out, even though there’s an energy saving. Now legislators are passing laws that trump the local rules, making it safe to let the wind handle those boxer shorts with the day-glow yellow smiley faces. Read it at: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/clotheslines-stage-a-comeback/

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SCIENCE BACKS @!$##@&^ WHEN “SHUCKS!” WON’T DO. A study reported on msnbc.com says shouting cuss words when you’ve been hurt decreases pain. At long last, something besides a sheepish look to offer your spouse when you’re questioned about all the new vocabulary the toddlers learned. Read it at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31852963/ns/health-behavior/

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SMOKE AND IRE were the result of a report presented to the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration suggesting troops be forbidden tobacco products. The DOD may have been looking to save some bucks on treating tobacco-related illnesses, but even considering the idea prompted a howl from the one-out-of-three in uniform who use tobacco. Not to worry, the DOD was quick to say, smoking in war zones would still be okay.

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EAT ME! TAKES ON NEW MEANING with news from Robotic Technology, Inc. that discusses EATR (Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot). When the widget notices that its energy supply is dropping, it would help itself to “biomass” that might be handy – animal, vegetable, or maybe dead in combat, if we’re talking a military application. All the impossible-to-resist Robots Eating Dead stuff besides, any robot that can self-renew its energy source is very, very interesting. If you want to keep track of the company, look at http://www.robotictechnologyinc.com/index.php/home.

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THE CONSTITUTION SAYS WE CAN CONFRONT OUR ACCUSERS in court, and now the Supreme Court says that includes lab analysts who perform tests that may be used to convict. So if the DNA test says you raped the 89-year-old grandmother of 12, you have a right to bring the lab tech who performed the test to the witness stand. On a more prosaic level, if your driver’s license hangs upon the results of a Blood Alcohol Level test, you have a right to demand that the technician who performed the test haul his butt to court and testify. Pro: ends folks being convicted on the basis of an essentially anonymous sheet of paper test results. Con: reluctance of those who perform the tests to testify may result in real perps going free.

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GET GOIN’ SACHA BARON COHEN! Is the word from Ukraine, which this week banned the interesting person’s latest film, “Bruno,” as immoral. The movie is about a gay Austrian fashion designer who’s so far out of the closet that the clothes pole longs for his touch. Ukraine says scenes of gays Doing It, genital views and obscene language cross the line and so there’ll be no lines in Ukraine, at least for this movie.

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ALASKA FLOATING UNIDENTIFIED GOO appear in the seas off our most northern state, and no one seems to know what it’s about, except that it seems to be natural in origin, has an odor and is drifting northeast. That direction of drift eliminated any possible connection with soon-to-be-ex-Governor Sarah Palin, who’s be energetically drifting her political fortunes south to the Lower 48. Alaska officials are investigating.

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NO SEX, PLEASE – WE’RE BRITISH (but we do admit it can be fun) comes to us from the British National Health Service, which admits in a booklet for teens that sex can be pleasurable. No word on how the British discovered this, although many in the United Kingdom suspect French infiltration. The idea in the teen-aimed flyer seems to be waiting for sex until you’re sure you can enjoy it. How a teen will know whether or not they enjoy it without trying it isn’t explained.

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Covered Last Week:

n We need some age limits before our government becomes of the geezers, by the geezers and for the geezers. Check it out at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/never-mind-term-limits-how-about-age.html

n It’s a wonderful time to be young and Republican – if you can walk, talk and chew gum, you’re already ahead of the GOP presidential pack at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/oh-to-be-young-and-republican-young.html

n Keeping senators or parakeets, you still have to clean the cage bottom and you can see why at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/advice-and-consent-parakeets-and.html

n Finally, a Republican alternative to the Democratic pus for a national plan! The GOP has a plan to D.I.E for. . . http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/republican-health-care-plan-to-d.html

n Baby Boomers move from the Age of Aquarius to the Age of Oblivious at http://larryblaskosaid.blogspot.com/2009/07/baby-boomers-age-of-aquarius-to-age-of.html

n Have a great weekend!

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Baby Boomers:

Age of Aquarius

To Age of Oblivious

Millions of healthy young men reunited with millions of healthy young women after World War II, and the resulting Big Bang was called the Baby Boom.

When the demographic-busting Baby Boom generation got to its teen years, it grew long hair, donned funny clothes and dubbed itself the Age of Aquarius. The Age of Aquarius was a real pain in the you-know-what-ius to the grownups of the time, but the Baby Boomers blithely quipped “Never Trust Anyone Over 30” and partied on.

That lasted until Baby Boomers one day looked around and discovered that they themselves were over 30 – twice.

The Age of Aquarius has become the Age of Oblivious, since it’s finally obvious where we’re heading. Feet finally on the ground, the rest is in haste to follow, soon to become oblivious.

Like the Age of Aquarius, the Age of Oblivious has concerns about drugs, but the focus is a bit different. The generation that partied with The Pill and Uppers now buys Viagra and hopes for uppers.

And the only party with multiple partners turns out to be a bridge club.

Mind-altering drugs are no longer necessary as aging minds start to alter all by themselves. Worse, members of the Age of Oblivious discover that their corner drug connection doesn’t really stock stuff for hypertension, stroke prevention or diabetes, and won’t accept Medicare.

And the only time the Age of Oblivious hears the call of “Smoke…Smoke…” lately is when another member of the community center’s Seniors Cooking Class forgets to turn off the burner.

Once the object of marketing’s best efforts, Age of Oblivious folks still find themselves subject to sales pitches, but the topics have changed. Now, instead of being implored to buy acres of lakefront vacation property, they hear pitches for lots sold in three-by-six-foot parcels offering “excellent views.”

Seminars on “Investing In Real Estate” have morphed into seminars on “Estate Planning,” and instead of worrying about getting rich quick, the focus is on finding the bathroom quick. That’s the “If It Feels Good, Do It!” generation discovering that it no longer feels good, but you gotta do it anyway.

(It gives a whole new meaning to the Rolling Stones’ hit “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” although the generation that once smoked fiber has since discovered that eating it is more productive.)

There are positive points. The Age of Oblivious that once searched for its inner child has discovered that grandchildren are much more fun than inner children, since you both face a common enemy, the adults, who are constantly telling both of you to “Act your age!”

And you do get discounts of as much as 20 percent on movie tickets and such, which turns out to be only fair since that’s the part of the movie or show you generally sleep through.

Finally, you benefit from the wealth of a lifetime of experience, or, failing that, the wealth that can be obtained with a library of embarrassing pictures that you offer to give to your grandchildren or sell to their parents – their call.

You even have a solid answer if exasperated adult kids ask you why you’re acting this way. Just smile and say “It’s obvious – I’m oblivious.”

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Republican Health Care

A Plan To D.I.E. For

Republicans have criticized the Obama administration’s effort to reform health care as expensive increases to spending already out of control.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said on the GOP web site that “The Democrats’ government-run plan won’t reduce health care costs, it won’t allow Americans to keep their insurance or doctors, and it won’t promote competition.”

Democrats reply that the Republicans offer no plan, quoting the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley’s one-size fits all policy critique “What trees do they plant?”

From a registered Republican, here is a proposal that would reduce health care costs, offer a stimulus to the economy and give room for private initiative to bloom. In legislative form it would be called the Death Incentive Enablement Act of 2009.

Recognizing that end-of-life and serious illness care is a very significant part of overall health spending by both government and private insurers, the D.I.E. act offers the tried-and-true American idea of incentive payments.

Incentives clearly worked for Goldman-Sachs and AIG. Why not healthcare? Here’s how:

Suppose you are diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Today, you can light one up and contemplate a future that will see you and Medicare spend around $160,000 for the last six months of your life. You’ll check out in pain and leave your family in debt.

Under the D.I.E. plan, it could be different. It could be ennobling, quick, and besides, everyone involved would make a buck.

If you got a terminal lung cancer diagnosis, the D.I.E. plan would present you with options since you have six months to live at a cost of more than $26,000 a month. This plan in the Republican free-enterprise tradition would split the savings with your heirs if you check out early – half-and-half, fair and square.

So if you got your diagnosis on Monday and died on Tuesday, the government would pay your estate $80,000 and the taxpayers and private insurance companies would mournfully pocket the other $80,000 they might otherwise have spent. Republican thinking at its finest – everyone who continues to count wins.

Now the D.I.E. act would recognize that not everyone is decisive enough to die the day after a terminal diagnosis, so there would be a sliding scale of payment. The longer your goodbye, the smaller the take for your heirs and the smaller the savings for the government.

Under the D.I.E. act, Republican-run health care would appeal to your sense of family and patriotism, but since Republicans champion the individual, if you choose to be a sniveling burden to family and society, Republicans will support that sorry right of selfishness. Just look to their record on abortion rights to see their support of individual choice.

Even with the best of initial wording, the administrative details of the D.I.E. act would require additional legislation. There is, for example, the actual check-out mechanism once an individual has made the appropriate choice.

Details need to be addressed, but a plan based on Republican abhorrence to government doing what private citizens should do could be worked out with the National Rifle Association, a firm supporter of individualism and Second Amendment rights. In exchange for a federal, national law permitting concealed weapons, for example, NRA members could serve as Private D.I.E. specialists, providing end-of-life services on a individual basis. That would expand the economy by creating new private-sector jobs and prove once again the tremendous power of free enterprise and an armed society.

Besides making a solid contribution in controlling health care costs, the D.I.E act would have a positive impact on the coming Social Security shortfall and employment, reducing a potential retirement burden and creating job openings at the same time.

While Democrats blather about universal health care supported by taxing the rich, remember this solid Republican alternative and make your voice heard. Shout above the roar of the crowd “Republicans have a health-care plan to die for!”

Then please remember that a good Republican leads by example.

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Advice and Consent,

Parakeets and Mirrors

Sonia Sotomayor has become the Center Perch act in the bird circus of the United States Senate as she seeks confirmation to become an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She deserves better.

So do we -- even if we elected the circus and always wind up cleaning the cage.

The Constitution gives presidents the right to nominate Supreme Court justices with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. That means a nominee must secure a majority of the 100 Senate votes.

Senate rules start a nominee’s journey in the Judiciary committee, which can eventually move the nomination to a full Senate vote with a recommendation of yes, no or don’t care – positive, negative or neutral as they say in the world’s most empowered geriatric center.

Since Democrats control both the Judiciary Committee and the Senate itself, confirmation ought to be quick and assured. But that’s in a rational world. Now let’s deal with the birdcage world of the United States Senate.

That’s a world where Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee can chitter about whether Judge Sotomayor could be objective about matters of race and ethnicity.

Given Sessions’ background, being “objective” means voting as Sessions might. And how might Sessions vote? Well, he’s been quoted as calling the Voting Rights Act of 1965 “intrusive legislation.” You know – it “intruded” on the white monopoly in Alabama and elsewhere and allowed people of color to vote.

Which may have entered into Sessions’ own failed nomination in 1986 to the U.S. District Court when a Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee couldn’t hold its nose long enough and voted against his nomination.

Then we have Sen. Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, sharpening his beak by asking Sotomayor whether or not she had a “temperament problem.” Last thing a candidate who tries to please Sen. Graham would need is a temperament problem that might make them seem uppity and disrespectful. Nawsuh.

Not to be outdone by the Dixie Dimwit branch of the Republicans, Democrats on the committee vied with each other to see who could offer Judge Sotomayor the sweetest birdseed questions. Or flutter the sweetest compliments. As the New York Times quotes California Democrat Dianne Feinstein, “I must say that if there’s a test of judicial temperament, you pass it here with an A plus-plus.”

We trust that is the Senator’s considered, measured opinion as she weighs elevating someone to the nation’s highest court. Otherwise, it could be mistaken for partisan wing-flapping.

Rounding out questions designed mostly to score points with the questioner’s base were queries on abortion and guns. The Republicans came squawking from the hate abortion/love guns perch to peck Democrats who flew claws-out from the hate guns/love abortion swing. Judge Sotomayor was almost beside the point in the now-ritualized exchange.

This act will continue a while and then Sonia Sotomayor will be confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. The Democrats had the votes going in, and barring some unforeseen disclosure, they’ll have them coming out.

So why do Senators waste all this time and energy fluttering, squawking, posturing and primping on “hearings” about a done deal?

For the same reason parakeets pitch love to their cage mirrors – they know perfection when they see and hear it and so can’t resist themselves.

And because we continue to elect these birds, it’s apparent we can’t resist them either.

But we ought to try.

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Oh, to be Young

(And Republican)

Young Republicans watching their party lurch from ineptitude to irrelevance with occasional side trips to WhoopeeLand might be tempted by Depression.

Not the kind their party caused (again), but the psychological kind that comes when you can’t win for losing.

After all, there’s a charismatic and intelligent Democrat in the White House, the Congress is controlled by the Democrats, and “accuse,” “indict” and “prosecute” seem to be the words that pop up most in discussions of the last Republican administration.

All of which is solid proof that it is a very wonderful time indeed to be Young and Republican.

Consider:

Most political parties, especially the Republicans, operate on principles that would be instantly recognized by any 15^th-century courtier. All power in the party (or society) flows from the top down. There are three ways to acquire power – favor, inheritance or force.

Favor works best when a retiring leader bestows a warm smile on a selected successor and the opposition nominates a garden gnome. That worked just fine for George H.W. Bush when President Ronald Reagan (on whose name be praise) smiled upon George and the Democrats nominated Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts.

Inheritance works when you’ve put in your time for a very long time and it’s just your turn, which is how Robert Dole got to be the Republican nominee against Bill Clinton and won the opportunity to star in Viagra promotions. It also worked for John McCain, the poster boy for continued mainstreaming of Americans with cognitive issues. Hey, he even ran for president!

Force works when members of society can think as they wish but understand clearly that they’d damned well better vote your way or else. Richard Nixon was a master. So, on the other side, was Richard J. Daley of Chicago, the first one, not his kid. Dick Cheney spoke for himself and for George W, Bush, his lips as immobile as their minds.

If you are a young and ambitious Republican and see leaders with any of those three characteristics at the top of your party, then you might as well marry a Democrat and have some fun because there’s an airtight lid on your advancement.

But no – Oh, Good Golly! or whatever young Republicans in ecstasy exclaim – the top is empty today and the open road for advancing Republican principles and at last getting a share of the loot beckons ahead.

Just look at the current contenders.

Mitt Romney was shrink-wrapped at birth, just as soon as his mother checked that there were no wrinkles in his dark suit and that nary a hair was out of place. He is the current favorite of the AE (Almost Embalmed) wing of the Republican party and fills in his time giving shock speeches to the likes of the Heritage Foundation and National Rifle Association in which he slyly mentions that it is the 21^st Century so his audience may gasp in shocked dismay.

Mike Huckabee is a preacher who lost a lot of weight, plays a mean bass guitar and served as governor of Arkansas with no other serious offenses – or accomplishments. He speaks on the Fox News Channel, but Jesus forgave even Mary Magdalene for having to earn a living.

Sarah Palin, former vice presidential nominee and soon-to-be former governor of Alaska by resigning mid-term, followed her resignation announcement by going fishing. Informed sources said she yearned for the intellectual company of equals and spawning salmon filled the need. She appeals to the base of the Republican party that focuses on one issue at a time on account of they don’t hold with all that high-falutin’ countin’ stuff nohow, you betcha.

There you have it, Young Republicans -- the road to opportunity is wide open. Can you walk? Talk? Chew Gum? And all at the same time? You could become a Rising Republican Star. Your destiny awaits – heed its call!

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Never Mind Term Limits,

How About Age Limits?

XXVIII – Section 1. No citizen of 70 years of age or older shall be eligible for election to the Congress of The United States.

Section 2. No citizen of 70 years of age or older shall be eligible to serve as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Section 3. No citizen otherwise eligible to serve as President or Vice President of the United States shall stand for election or re-election to those offices after having attained the age of 70 years.

There are 27 existing amendments to the Constitution of the United States, but the time for the 28th has come, since a look at Congress, especially the Senate, shows a long roll call of those whose time has come and gone.

The Supreme Court’s in the same fix, And while President Obama is 47, a President McCain would be 72 with a nervous nation watching him for another sign of the same lapse that gave it Vice President You Betcha.

Political correctness aside, the framers of the constitution were concerned with the effects of age and experience on intellect, which is why they set minimum ages of 25 to become a member of the House, 30 to be a member of the Senate and 35 to be President of the United States. Clearly, they recognized that experience brings wisdom.

But there’s another side to those age selections. The men who established those rules lived in a world where the average life expectancy was 40 years. Those age targets may have been selected both to insure wisdom and guard against staying long past peak. When the constitution was written, death was a great protection against entrenched and clueless power.

True, those of greater wealth tended to live longer even then. Although George Washington died at 67, the next two presidents, Adams and Jefferson, lived to be 90 and 83, but the government they and others designed was to be representative of the people. Washington lived 50 percent longer than the average for his time and both Adams and Jefferson lived almost twice the average – wonderful, but hardly representative.

No more.

Of the 100 members of the Senate, 23 are 70 or older as of June 30, making for 23 percent. By this time next year, if no Senator dies or otherwise leaves, the number becomes 27 percent, and in two more, it jumps to 39 percent.

So in just three years, the United States Senate would have 39 percent of members in an age group that represents just 4.5 percent of the population.

The Supreme Court is worse. Five of the eight current justices are 70 or over, and if Sonia Sotomayor, 55, wins confirmation as expected, the 70-plus crowd will still hold a 5-4 majority.

The average age in the House is 56, which coupled with the two-year term makes it less of a problem than the average ages of the Senate, 62.

As for the presidency, those who wonder about the effects of age on performance in the office should consider Ronald Reagan’s second term, not in light of the affection that won him re-election, but in the sadder light of his performance and subsequent history.

The framers of the constitution were wise enough to set limits on being too young to serve in government and counted on mortality to watch the other end. It’s not watching like it used to and we need to set limits or risk having the future of the young and vital many held hostage to the fading memories of the few.

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