Ideas, Opinions, Genealogy, and Book Reviews
Defunding Planned Parenthood is much in the news lately. Congressman want to do it. Candidates in the Republican primary for President want to do it. But is it constitutional?
David S. Cohen, professor of law at Drexel University, says it is unconstitutional. And this article makes sense to me. You might want to read it and think about it.
I’ve been following this issue and this is the clearest explanation I’ve seen so far: Surprise! Your Medicare Part B premiums may increase by 50 percent in 2016. This article explains the financial medicare heartburn induced in a portion of the population: Continue reading “Medicare heartburn- the uneven increase”
A bit over 14 years ago on September 11, 2001 several coordinated terrorist attacks were launched on America. Americans vowed to never forget the sacrifices of those who died or were injured as a result of those attacks. Every year on 9/11 politicians make a big show that they will “Never Forget”.
Thousands of volunteers helped in the rescue and recovery. Thousands helped clean up the devastation. We will “Never Forget”.
But our Representatives and Senators in Congress seem to have forgotten. They are glad to say “never forget” in their speeches. But they seemed to forget to “Never Forget” in their actions. Continue reading “Congress forgot to “Never Forget””
Yesterday I wrote about the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act and how there are many co-sponsors but the House and Senate Bills have been stuck in committee for several months with no apparent action.
This week’s newsletter from Senator Toomey starts with a short summary of his visit to the Delaware County 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony in which they “honored the brave men and women who responded to the scene in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania”. However, he did not tell us how he stands on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act . I would think this is more important that mere words. Continue reading “Senator Toomey, take a stand”
About 5 years ago, the Senate almost derailed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act which provides health care and compensation those for responders on and in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
One would think it would be a national priority to at least provide this minimal amount of aid to those who sacrificed their lives and/or health to rescue people from the collapsing and burning buildings recover bodies from the rubble, and helped clean-up so Wall Street and other American businesses could re-open.
But it doesn’t seem to be. We’ve heard plenty of political speech in this summer but not much about doing the right thing for 9/11 responders.
The website http://www.renew911health.org/news-articles-on-effort-to-renew-the-911-health-and-compensation-act/ provides an easy way to find what has been in the news on this issue.
Bills (James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act : HR 1726 and S928) were introduced in the House and Senate in April. In May the bills were referred to the appropriate committees and subcommittees. Bill have gathered co-sponsors but no floor action (debates or votes) in either branch.
If someone on these committees or in the party leadership has a problem with the legislation, why not tell us the problem or introduce a bill that would solve the problem. Why not a vote so we know who has a problem with the legislation or with the idea of giving medical care or compensation to those who sacrificed for America.
I think it a good idea to make this permanent but maybe there is some political benefit to being able to co-sponsor legislation every few years. But sometimes politicians just do the right thing.
Let’s hope they do the right thing for 9/11 responders.
Not quite a joke -just a misunderstanding with myself.
A few days ago I wrote that I was re-reading “TransAtlantic” by Colum McCann. I had read the book before my vacation in Ireland this summer. We spent our first vacation night in Cobh. I remembered a beautifully written line from TransAtlantic about Cobh. I thought now that I had been to Cobh, I would enjoy re-reading the book. It seemed to me there were quite a few great descriptions in the book in addition to the one I remembered so well.
So here is the misunderstanding. Continue reading “TransAtlantic by Colum McCann”
I had read “TransAtlantic” by Colum McCann last spring before going to Ireland on vacation. I was busy with preparations for my trip and didn’t really have the time to write a review.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book but did not realize what an impression it made on me until I was in Ireland and parts of “TransAtlantic” came to mind. So in an unusual turn of events I am reading a book for the second time in a few months.
Continue reading “TransAtlantic again”
I was driving and the show on the radio interested me. An author was being interviewed about his book. I missed part of it. The interview had started before I got in my car. I picked up on a show in-progress but I heard enough that I was definitely interested.
Has the United States always been a Christian nation? I believe the answer is “No”. Why do many others think the answer is “Yes”?
In “One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America”, Kevin M. Kruse delves into the question of why so many believe that the United States always been a Christian nation.
I think the evidence is quite clear Continue reading “One Nation Under God”
Before reading “The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett” by Nathan Ward, I knew very little about Dashiell Hammett. I had seen “The Maltese Falcon” and maybe another movie or two based on his books and knew he was an important figure in crime fiction but I did not know much more.
This book briefly describes a childhood in rural southern Maryland, Philadelphia and Baltimore. After leaving school and failing at several jobs, he found his niche with Pinkerton National Detective Agency.
Continue reading “The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett”
The Rowan County Kentucky clerk still refuses to obey the law and issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite a Supreme Court Ruling making same-sex marriage a right nationwide and losing her court case and subsequent appeals claiming that to do so would violate her religious freedom.
She loses and refuses to do her job. She was elected to do the job of county clerk. She should do it. Not just the parts she likes, but all of it. Continue reading “She loses and refuses”
The Rowan County Kentucky Clerk’s Office has decided not to obey the law and issue marriage licenses to gay couples despite a Supreme Court Ruling making same-sex marriage a right nationwide. The Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis claimed doing so would be a violation of her religious rights.
However, U.S. District Court Judge David Bunning felt differently and ordered the office to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples. Continue reading “Rowan County Kentucky Clerk should resign or follow the law”
A couple years back I wrote here about Truth in food labeling and said:
Ideally labels should have the whole truth and nothing but the truth. That is, they should at a minimum tell you everything added to the food and in addition have other information (organic,, genetically modified, etc) to the extent practical. Obviously, there will not be room enough to tell you everything but let’s aim to have everything a reasonable consumer might look for.
I was more concerned Continue reading “DARK and truth in food labeling”
One branch of my family is descended from Ruth Allingham of Glencar, Leitrim, Ireland who married Matthew Greer.
William Greer (1849-1943) was Ruth’s stepchild. Born of Matthew Greer and Jane Burkhard in Scotland on Feb 14 1849 (according to his death cert). He was raised in Sligo, Ireland by Ruth and Matthew. It seems he was the first in the Allingham-Greer family to emigrate to New York (about 1872) and played an important part in gradually bringing over the rest of the family. He married Elizabeth Farrington around 1875.
Children of William and Elizabeth Continue reading “William Greer Scotland to Brooklyn 1849-1943”
I recently reviewed a short book on fixing our dysfunctional congress. I thought it a book well worth your time and a few dollars.
But today I ran across a website by the author that explains the main thrust of the argument and it is free. The Public Check on Congress website is http://publiccheckoncongress.com/.
You might also want to see the facebook page.
I think we need to fix our dysfunctional Congress. There seem to be several groups with various ideas about how to do this. Look over this one. The Public Check on Congress project seems to get right to the heart of the matter by changing the incentives of the members of Congress.
A little over a week ago I posed several question in the bog in my entry Is Marie Greer really Maria Dresher ?. I have found some answers but not the one asked in the title.
I found an index entry of Marie Jennie Drescher ‘s birth certificate at family search (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WZ9-FVJ). She was born 05 Sep 1909. Her father is William Drescher and the mother is Lottie Grae Drescher. I assume “Grae” is really Greer.
I found a marriage cert that seemed to confirm the names of the parents.
So now I am pretty sure who Mr. Dresher is. But this still leaves several of my questions unanswered.