Not so fast! Healthcare is NOT safe yet!

Not so fast. Reasonable healthcare is not safe yet; TrumpCare is not dead.

One would be remiss in failing to look closely at the “no” votes.

Most of those GOP members who failed to support the repeal of the ACA did so because it was not as conservative, not as thorough, as they would have liked. They come mainly from ultra-conservative districts, who will probably ultimately support nothing but a simple free-market system, without government regulation or incentive — and certainly no government “penalties,” as we find currently in the ACA.

There was very little found in the GOP rebellion that emanated from constituents’ desire to keep the healthcare coverage that they received under the ACA.

One thing we have in our favor is the Senate, where the concerns over coverage can be found, and are quite significant in some cases. The dependent coverage until 26 years old, the inability to disqualify people on pre-existing conditions,

Another thing we have in our favor is that Trump’s attention span is no longer than his, uh, little toe! Naturally, he will now be moving on to other things.

The GOP has claimed state border-crossings as a big part of their healthcare changes. There are no federal border restrictions on states in place, as far as offering healthcare. Any restrictions have been imposed by the states.

We keep hearing that many counties have only one healthcare option. Of course, nobody ever tells you the population of those counties. Perhaps based upon their population — and of course, they are almost certainly rural, agricultural, national forests, and/or rangeland — they are probably fortunate to have any coverage at all, n’est pas?

Do I understand the GOP correctly that they will be forcing healthcare companies to offer coverage in certain counties?

Methinks not.

At a time of trying to throw millions of people off their healthcare coverage, the proposed GOP budget increases the military budget by $54 billion dollars. Outrageous. We need a rule, perhaps a Constitutional amendment — it is outrageous that any country spends more than 50 percent of its budget on its military. Mr. Isolationist, Mr. Take Care of Ourselves, Mr. Let The World Cover Their Own Asses, has shown his true colors — lining the pockets of his military contractor buddies.

There is a lot of celebrating going on, a lot of chest-thumping.

No, no, no. Resting on our laurels? What laurels?

We just got by, albeit by a comfortable margin, because, as I said, the House bill had absolutely no chance in the Senate. Now is not the time to be complacent.

The Democrats need to take a partial page from the GOP — develop a bill to fix the Affordable Care Act, and keep bringing it back to the House and Senate, ad nauseum, if you will. Wave the flag to the American People! We have a message to send, one that will be resoundingly heard: “We passed the ACA; we tried it for several years!”

It is working, but experience has shown us it needs some adjustments — adjustments that will lower costs, increase coverage, and fix loopholes.

APPEAL! — not repeal.

Repeat after me: “Appeal, not repeal!”

I am crying for my country.

Thomas Jefferson discussed “every form of tyranny over the mind of man”-  describing oppressive power as an example of tyranny.

•  ·     Attacks on a Blue Star family.

• ·     An attack on a disabled reporter.

• ·     A well-defined misogynist, and his attacks on women.

• ·     An attack on 44, an outright lie, accusing him of a felony.

• ·       “Mexico is going to pay for the wall.  Trust me.”

• ·       Divest from his businesses? 

• ·       Going to release his tax returns? Changed his mind.

• ·       No vacation or playing golf?

• ·     American steel to build the DAP and other pipelines?

• ·       The leader-in-chief of the attack on 44’s birthplace.

• ·     Attacking some of the greatest, albeit imperfect, news organizations in the world.

• ·     Insulting Germany; attacking British intelligence, trying to trap them in the web he weaved when he (always) practiced to deceive.

• ·     Attacking Congress folks who do not support his health non-plan, threatening them like a bully.

• ·       No cuts to social security or Medicare?

• ·       No communications with Russian govt.?

• ·       Obamacare replacement would cover more people at lower cost? 

•       And the virulent attacks on Judges

• 
  

That’s where my beloved country finds itself, after such a very short time.  Not only are there often tears in my eyes, but most of the world is incredulous, is bleeding for our often-proud heritage.

One of Webster’s definitions is “the office, authority, and administration of a tyrant” .

In all fairness to Trump, it has been going on longer than the last 7 weeks.

For instance, McConnell and Ryan were tyrants when the refused to act upon Merritt Garland.

That despicable act, or lack thereof, followed McConnell and Boehner stating publicly that there number one goal was to make President Obama fail.  That makes them tyrants, if not treasonous dogs.

But, that aside, let’s focus on current events:

·     

The list goes on and on.  LOTUS is my favorite acronym, me thinks- Liar Of The United States.  There are other nicknames, of course.  Humpty Trumpty.  Drumpf.  Faux Prez. 

It’s a nightmare of epic proportions, and it’s one of the saddest thing I have witnessed in my 62 years.  George W. Bush and Dan Quayle look like Einsteins in comparison.

Talk has turned to charges of treason over the Russian ties.  No.

Treason is outlined specifically in the Constitution.  People can only be charged with treason during a war officially declared by Congress, and it requires two eye-witnesses.  Period.

So, that’s not an avenue for us to correct this ship that has become the post-iceberg Titanic.

Espionage?  Maybe.

The manipulation of an election, and the attacks on one of our two major parties is an assault on our very foundation, the very core of our existence.

Those defending the Orangeutan, point out that 44 went to the UK to lobby in favor of the European Union, and what happened during our election/campaign is the same thing.

Bullshit.  The European Union has very significant impact/affect on the United States, and we have a vested interest in it functioning, no matter the format, or what it’s called.

Openly travelling and making speeches is not espionage, not at all- it’s called Open Government.

Are there other avenues besides espionage?  Probably.

CyberCrime.  Perhaps it’s identity theft.  In the spirit of Watergate, is this virtual burglary?  Sounds like it, but I don’t know the legal definition of burglary.  Are fiber optics “pipes”, plumbing.  And, do we, perhaps, once again have Plumbers at work?

I dunno.

Or is it fraud, when you set up a lying Auto-Response-Bot, representing itself as something it’s not?

This is not a Republican/Democrat divide.  I never wanted this guy to fail, and we are certainly justified in treating him like crap because of the way Obama was treated, including the Merritt Garland debacle.  It’s not about that at all.

No.  This is about simply noticing what the man has said, versus what he has done, or is doing.  He pulled the wool over so many people’s eyes- seniors, coal miners, pipeline workers, healthcare recipients, Social Security and Medicare recipients; the list goes on ad nauseum.

I certainly thought that Jeb Bush was going to be the GOP nominee, and I was not at all dismayed like I am now.  I think he would have been pretty good, a smarter, more moderate version of his brother- and more like his father.

So, how does this all end, anyway?  Of course, I have my preference.

If the campaign is guilty as charged, the buck stops at the top.  Trump.  Pence.

We have to get them both, and put Paul Ryan in charge. 

I never thought I would say that, but there it is.  He’s a conservative, and a little wacko, but he would be a huge improvement over what we have now.  He can compromise, he can lobby, he can be satisfied with getting some of his agenda passed, and saving some things for another day.  He’s not foolishly stupid in thinking he’s going to get 100% of anything.

So, elevate the Speaker of the House?  It’s one option.

I suppose a case can be made for a special election, although there is no constitutional provision for that, and I am not sure if it would be deemed legal.  The great thing about impeaching the anemic duo, and finding them guilty, would be that there is no SCOTUS review- it would be the final word.

Amen.

Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

I am sorry I haven’t written sooner, or more often.

I hope you are well.

I don’t think you know that Peggy finally told me about the conversation you and she had about my uncertain paternity.  It was quite a while ago.

I wish you had talked to me about it, though.  Apparently, you did inconclusive blood tests back in 1955, and I have met the (nameless) guy a few times. 

Whenever you two argued, and he apparently blurted out things about me maybe being a bastard, I either didn’t hear it, or it didn’t make sense to me.  Until Peggy talked to me, I had no idea, no inkling.

I cried briefly, because it all made sense, albeit tragically so.  Your husband, and my legal father, blamed me for something that was not my fault.  Mixed in with the grief, though, was relief- It had never been about me being worthless, never being good enough.

It must have been miserable for you both; me being there was a constant reminder of the problems early in your marriage- broken promises, broken dreams, broken hearts.

And I am not judging you, Mom- not at all.

First of all, I don’t even know if you broke your vows first.  Secondly, living in heavily-Roman Catholic upstate NY, after several years of marriage with no kids, accompanied by the almost-certain family pressures, and your own self-doubts- I understand completely.

You once said you turned me into a wreck.  I don’t think so.  It was my father, and, frankly, I inherited some of your brother’s craziness.  I don’t know with what he was diagnosed, but I know that I am fully diagnosed now, and am doing well.

I hope I have made you proud, at least in the time after I was a sophomore, when I was started coming into my own.  I have accomplished a lot in my life, and I am working diligently on the self-appreciation thereof.

The last 5 years have been brutal, and all the things I thought I knew about life, I have to learn again, as Henley sings so profoundly.  I thought I was becoming a classic retired “now useless” alcoholic- but that’s not the case.  I have several other things wrong.

After 30 years in the fire department, I rarely have nightmares or flashbacks.  Yet, after my PTSD assessment, the counselor looked at my results, and said “Oh, my goodness”.

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as childhood PTSD, let alone ever suspected that I have a severe case of it.

When the counselor decided that there was even something else wrong with me, and sent me off to the psychiatrist; again I didn’t even know there was such a thing as Bi-Polar 2, or even suspect that I had anything wrong with me like it.

Now, I am, I think, properly medicated, and there seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

PTSD.  Alcoholism.  BP 2.  Three bonafide disabilities.  I sure wish I was not such an over-achiever in this “Jeopardy” category, Alex, but I am.

I will be leaving Washington soon, and heading back to California, although the specifics are still up in the air.

Heather is doing great, the two girls are fine, but Zack is still struggling.  You have another great-granddaughter, Maggie, who just turned one, and I have not gotten to meet her yet.  Matt is her father, he’s doing well, as are my other three kids.

I don’t really know how Ellen, Bill, and Marty are doing, I don’t get to talk to them very much- but I haven’t heard any bad news, either!

Oh.  I almost forgot- literally.

I sent my DNA results off to Ancestry.com, and they came back.  The “good” news is that my father had a reason to be a bastard, and to treat me like one, too.  The bad news is that he did so, quite adequately.

I immediately recognized the name “McCrobie”, and knew that I had met Mike several times, although he has now passed.  The Community Center in Oswego is named after him for all his years of City service, and Uncle Bob says he was a stand-up guy.  Based on his own marriage date, I also know he was single when you hooked up.

So, I knew my Father too well, but my Dad hardly at all.

I first thought the “MMcCrobie” Ancestry nickname was him, but it turns out it was his grandson, Matt- and my half-nephew.

I have at least two half-siblings, both males- Jeff and Mike.  But I am sure you already knew about them.

In the “you can’t make this stuff up” coincidence category, Mike is an avid writer, has been a sports coach for his entire life, is now retired, and regularly writes to and for the Palladium Times in Oswego.

Jeff, on the other hand, just retired after a long career with the Oswego FD, retiring as Chief of Department- and prematurely forced out by the mayor.

I also got an e-mail recently from Carol, and I am going to be single again.  Yes, e-mail.  I don’t think you use e-mail, but if you have an e-mail address, could you let me know, please?

I am a little concerned about being single for the rest of my life, even though my friends tell me otherwise.  Either way, this kind of blip on the screen of life is what I have been training for the last 5 years.  I wish my version of Prince Charming came in better wrapping paper, but I can’t change that- or, in the case of some minor plastic surgery tweaks, I am unwilling to do so, lest I end up looking like Burt Reynolds or Kenny Rogers!

Stay well, Mom.  I don’t know when I’ll get to see you.  As I said, I’m heading back to California soon, and I will let you know how that goes.

Love always*,

Tom

*Mom died January 29^th, 1996.

Day 31- and nada!

As I write, today is Day 31 of the current, and much lamentable, administration.

You remember, right?

“I have a secret plan to defeat ISIS in 30 days”, and “I know more about ISIS than the generals do.”

Like so many other things that come out of his mouth — bold-faced lies.

We now know he doesn’t have a plan, and that he doesn’t even know more about ISIS than the Postmaster-General. Perhaps he could have come up with a plan, if he had not spent three long weekends in his first month in Florida, at Mir A Lago, thereby padding his pockets with all the money spent housing staff and the security detail. Conflict of interest? Of course it is. Adding to his yet-undisclosed finances.

In the last month, Trump proved his lies by telling us he had ordered the generals to come up with a plan to defeat ISIS.

That’s right.

By all accounts, the Obama administration had ISIS on the ropes, and coming up with a “plan” — how about keeping on keeping on? Should not be too difficult.

I hope we did not get a preview of the new Commander-in-Chief’s wartime capabilities when he approved a Yemen raid that Obama had vetoed — with the loss of one American, and numerous civilians. POTUS is 0-1.

Certainly, presidents should not be blamed for raids gone wrong — not if one considers it at the intellectual level. On the other hand, we have eight years of GOP precedence, where POTUS was blamed for everything that went wrong, and given no credit for the plenitude of things that went right. Fair is fair. You gave us the rules for treating POTUS, and we are following them admirably.

Oh. Unless you were showing us the rules for treating with only a black president, and not an orange one? Perhaps I am being myopic, or, perhaps, obtuse?

When do the “Yemen!” investigation chants begin, as in “Benghazi!”?

Also by all accounts, numerous civilian children were killed.

An investigation is not only necessary, but mandatory.

As is an investigation of the Russian ties, if any, to the Trump campaign — and Jeff Sessions must recuse himself, as the first senator to endorse Trump, and participate in his campaign.

It’s time to find out what really happened — let’s get on with it, and quit dallying.

And, yes, that’s a drawing of the original Isis. I couldn’t resist!!!

When Legends Die

It started with my oldest son.

We had been texting about my drinking earlier in the day and then, that evening, I got a text from him: “Dude!  You are a legend!”

I thought he was still talking about my drinking, even though I had mostly been a solo home drinker.  Still, a blood alcohol level of .45 or higher three times would qualify me as a legend, me thinks, n’est pas?

Any, he wasn’t talking about my drinking, he was talking about my career.  Huh?

Turns out that he was out bar-hopping, and ran across one or more of my boys.  They figured out who they all were, that it was a small world, after all.  Based upon the conversation- whatever it looked like- and, I didn’t inquire, he came away with the idea I was a legend.

I was stunned.  On one hand, there is no bad news there, right?  On the other hand, and not with any sense of ego or false-humility, I had no idea what he was talking about.

I don’t think I was anything special.

I knew that I had promoted early, of course, but not the earliest.  I knew we did our jobs thoroughly, with excellent customer service, and we had fun doing it.

I tried to do the right thing every single time, and I expected the same from my troops. I gave my people feedback within 10 seconds or 10 feet, whichever came first- and focused on what they did right, especially when the tasks they were presented with were complex.

I fought the fights that needed fighting, much to the chagrin of my bosses sometimes.

There is only one thing I know that made me different.  Five minutes after somebody had a “knock down, drag out” with me, I could and would defend them on another issue if it was warranted- without prejudice or favor.  I know that most people cannot do that.

I was simply a product of my peers- Danny, Scott, Bill, Gary, JoAnn, Marlys, Chuck, Dennis, Randy, Earl, Lewis, Jeff, Houston, Bobby, Matt, Hank- and so very many more.  Yes, there are a couple of rabbis in there, but only a couple.

I had only raised my voice in anger on the fireground twice.

The first was a structure fire, with a 50-MPH north wind blowing, and all but one of my crew disappeared around the north side of the building, instead of protecting the exposure to the south.

I went up to the trailing firefighter, said “Give me that goddamn hose!”, and quickly knocked the fire down through the picture window on the porch.  Shortly, the newly-arrived Randy was at my elbow, asking gently if he could take the hose from me.  He’s one of the best ever, and I graciously accepted, and reverted back to command mode.

The other time was with a good crew, but with a new unit that had not had the valves confured properly.  Bill and I were running a textbook fire, and Randy, again, was sitting in the attic scuttle awaiting water- after several radio calls to charge the line, I hit the front door- to find the crew in question donning their breathing apparatus:

“Goddammit, if you don’t charge that *&^%$&^%$! Hose line, you’re both fired!”  The looks were precious, as they didn’t yet have their masks on.

The only other time I can even remember getting annoyed with my crews was on a fire where they were conducting overhaul on a residence, but were not being discreet in handling a voluminous amount of personal sexual appliances.  Something large and pink came flying out the front door for all the neighbors to see, and I was having none of that- especially after I had assured the homeowner that this was nothing new, that we would use discretion, of course.  Marvin, WTF?

Then the time came to retire.  I was acting Chief for a few days, as the rest of the officer corps were off on a retreat.

So, I typed up the memo, addressed from myself TO myself, announcing my retirement- not many people get to do that!

The day came, and I hopped into a white (the safest color) engine- one of our customs- with a full crew, and drove myself home 29 minutes away.

After I retired, I went through gastric bypass, and my fate as a future alcoholic was sealed.  I thought I started drinking because of the love story stumbling, or being retired and now “useless”- but now I know better.

There were things at work within me that I knew nothing about, multiple demons that often amp-up around age 50, and the alcohol was simply my medication, albeit not a prescribed one.

Before the gastric bypass, I was simply a drinker- afterward I was doomed, and there is a high percentage of GP patients in the rooms of AA.

Why?  Small stomach, little food to dilute the alcohol, slop-over right into the blood-rich, highly-absorbent intestines.  Once that alcoholic trigger is pulled, there is no going back.

All those fine, fine people with whom I did it all, and saw it all- except actually deliver a baby.  Sadly, to all of them but a few- I am dead and gone.

I understand, I really do, and I am not angry- but I miss them.

At the very least, it’s awkward, and, at the worst, painful and tragic.  It’s horrible to watch a man lose his way, his pride, his very soul- and very nearly die more than once.

Thankfully, they don’t understand the despair, the desolation & isolation, the fear, or even the self-immolation, that takes place.  The depths of hell that I never imagined existed, let alone be doomed to frolic amongst them.

Hopefully, none of them will ever understand, as they cannot possibly understand unless they go through it- and I pray they never do.

The good news, of course, is that I am not dead- even if it was touch-and-go for a while.  My health is good, I am approaching 90 days of sobriety (this week) and I feel good, optimistic.  Most of the time I am dealing ok with being single, and I try to stay in regular contact with my four kids.

When it’s time to raise a glass to the tradition, to the history, to one of the most special brotherhoods in existence, I always say: “To those who came before us, to those here now, and to those that will follow in our footsteps…”