Nice weekend for something, part 2
Nov. 8th, 2009 11:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lblanchardIt's not blue clear down to the horizon, but it *is* cloudless, and it's supposed to be warm. Yesterday I did many indoor chores -- laundry, dusting, mucking out bathrooms, etc. -- so this afternoon will be leaf-raking and tomato pulling.
I took one last crop of coleus cuttings yesterday, from two plants whose earlier cuttings aren't looking their sparking best. I think I'm still more or less assured a lot more lebensraum under the grow lights -- maybe even space to start some seeds in January or so.
I see the House passed the health care bill by a gnat's eyelash. With a 75 seat majority, Pelosi & Co. had hard work to pull together their five-vote squeaker. Some of the right-leaning punditocracy suggests this bodes ill for the fate of the bill in the Senate. I certainly hope so. My two senators are somewhat to the left of Michael Moore but I'll write them anyhow. (They might be feeling a little more centrist now that Pennsylvania elected a Republican rather than turn control of our Supreme Court over to the Democrats.)
Meanwhile, the Repubs have produced a much shorter bill that won't extend coverage to everyone but will have the virtues of a) actually making healthcare more portable and affordable for the 83% of us who have coverage; and b) according to the CBO, reducing the deficit. I don't understand why we can't do something like that first, and then work on whittling down the percentage of uninsured.
Speaking of health care: one of the sticking points in the current Philly transit strike? Under their current health care plan, they are limited to a mere 10 Viagra pills a month. Oh, the humanity! I'm sorry, but I don't read anywhere in the Constitution that there's an inalienable right to a chemically-enhanced stiffy at taxpayer expense. (More than 50% of SEPTA's support comes from the government.)
The governor has washed his hands of the negotiations and says that if they don't shape up he's going to pull the $7MM sweetener he offered for a quick settlement. The mayor is exploring the possibility of an injunction. I'm checking the air pressure on my tires and making sure I have a poncho.
I took one last crop of coleus cuttings yesterday, from two plants whose earlier cuttings aren't looking their sparking best. I think I'm still more or less assured a lot more lebensraum under the grow lights -- maybe even space to start some seeds in January or so.
I see the House passed the health care bill by a gnat's eyelash. With a 75 seat majority, Pelosi & Co. had hard work to pull together their five-vote squeaker. Some of the right-leaning punditocracy suggests this bodes ill for the fate of the bill in the Senate. I certainly hope so. My two senators are somewhat to the left of Michael Moore but I'll write them anyhow. (They might be feeling a little more centrist now that Pennsylvania elected a Republican rather than turn control of our Supreme Court over to the Democrats.)
Meanwhile, the Repubs have produced a much shorter bill that won't extend coverage to everyone but will have the virtues of a) actually making healthcare more portable and affordable for the 83% of us who have coverage; and b) according to the CBO, reducing the deficit. I don't understand why we can't do something like that first, and then work on whittling down the percentage of uninsured.
Speaking of health care: one of the sticking points in the current Philly transit strike? Under their current health care plan, they are limited to a mere 10 Viagra pills a month. Oh, the humanity! I'm sorry, but I don't read anywhere in the Constitution that there's an inalienable right to a chemically-enhanced stiffy at taxpayer expense. (More than 50% of SEPTA's support comes from the government.)
The governor has washed his hands of the negotiations and says that if they don't shape up he's going to pull the $7MM sweetener he offered for a quick settlement. The mayor is exploring the possibility of an injunction. I'm checking the air pressure on my tires and making sure I have a poncho.
