Good Grief Charlie Brown! I had oral surgery today – but that isn’t the news. The procedure is fairly common and with anesthesia – painless. I couldn’t face sitting with my mouth open for an hour while a surgeon performed micro-surgery on my uncooperative, failed-root-canal-tooth. Anesthesia didn’t change the mouth open part (and people who know me will probably say I never shut it anyhow). But I didn’t have to know what was going on or hear it. If dental surgery can ever be considered “comfortable” – this was it.
Until I had to pay for it.
I have some dental insurance in my plan. It pays only, however, for preventive measures – like teeth cleaning and necessary xrays before getting a tooth filled. It doesn’t pay for the filling. Or the crown. Or the oral surgery.
So as I was sitting in the recovery room holding ice to my gauze-stuffed cheek – the moment of truth arrived. My credit card (or more accurately my husband’s because I couldn’t get mine out with just one available hand; the other, you’ll remember, was holding the ice pak) was taken and the receipt returned.
$2100. And that didn’t included the $350 or so for the initial consultation and the panoramic xray needed to be sure my remaining 2 wisdom teeth - never to be touched without major jaw surgery – weren’t affected. The nice lady at Guardian said oh yes –that panoramic xray would have been eligible for the 75% reimbursement. Except that the plan only allows for one set of full-mouth xrays every 5 years. And I had a set back in ’09. Every 5 years???? Whose mouth stays the same for 5 years?????
Back to the $2100. It could have been $400 less if I had opted to stay awake and totally panicked for the surgery. I figured I could live without a few things for myself at Macy’s when I start my Christmas shopping. I needed that IV drip!!!
What do people do who need emergency dental procedures – and who aren’t as lucky as I am? Who simply don’t have that money? Maybe pay it off over 2 years? I didn’t see anything in the surgeon’s office about installment plans.
Why isn’t dentistry in general simply included with our regular health insurance plans? After all – you can get pretty sick and cost the health care system a pretty big chuck of change from a tooth or gum infection. In fact a bad tooth left untreated can do more than make you sick. It can kill you. Not having your teeth – or for that matter your eyes – tied into your regular health insurance makes absolutely no sense at all.
Until you talk to your dentist.
I asked mine and his answer was that the various dental associations –which ostensibly represent their members – don’t want the hassle of dealing with a broken insurance system. One that will cost each dentist additional time and money. Dentists would have to hire full time insurance clerks – the way physicians do. One of the reason group practices are so common. So the dentists deal with maybe one half-baked dental insurer --- which most of their patients don’t use even if they are lucky enough to have separate dental insurance. And they charge the rates they wish to charge without all the red tape medical doctors must deal with --- not the least of which involves Medicare and Medicaid.
So -- no pressure from dentists and oral surgeons to be included in the health insurance system. Or maybe pressure applied by their lobbyists in the other direction. As in “don’t you dare, Congressman so and so, to include us in that new health insurance law”.
As a result, I paid $2100 out of my own pocket today. And considered myself among the lucky ones.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Thursday, October 07, 2010
I Have Seen the Future at the NY Times
I have seen the future at the New York Times. And it’s not pretty for those of us who love real newspapers.
Now I’m no Luddite; I Tweet and Facebook like all you other addicts. I truly love my iPhone 4 and I read the Times as well as many other digital news sites via their very convenient apps. But there are times when nothing but the real thing will do.
Although it’s somewhat thinner these days – the Sunday Times is still the benchmark all other news outlets must match. I remember lining up at the nearest Manhattan newsstand waiting for 9PM on Saturday nights. That’s when the Sunday paper hit the stands – and you could take it home and sit on the floor with a glass of wine (and perhaps a boyfriend) and discover the weekend world. It was pure indulgence. That mess around you of sections read – or skimmed and kept for later – was a ritual I shared with all my friends and most of my fellow workers. It defined Saturday night in the city – when as often as not you read the Times first, and then headed to a midnight showing of a film – or down to some tiny cellar restaurant in Chinatown for the real deal.
And the future? It’s called Times Reader 2.0. Not, apparently, a totally new offering but now powered by Adobe Air. Bottom line, with 2.0 you can download the entire day’s edition of the NY Times to your laptop in – well – in a Flash. And take it with you to read whenever. Essentially what you can do on the regular website –but without the need for an internet connection –unless you want to keep your “paper” updated.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger said flat out there will be no more printed version of the paper at some time in the future? He didn’t say when, but with advertising and readership continuing to fall, that time is probably sooner rather than later. Times Reader 2.0 is free for two weeks – and then you’ll need a subscription – priced cheaply for now at $4.62 a week.
I’m gonna miss those Saturday nights in the city even more when newsprint becomes extinct. Something to look at in a museum. Under glass. Remember how it feels, folks. Especially when you’re eating that greasy New York hot dog with one hand and holding that nicely absorbent newspaper with the other. Try doing that with your laptop’s touchpad. Or – Heaven forefend – your iPhone.
Now I’m no Luddite; I Tweet and Facebook like all you other addicts. I truly love my iPhone 4 and I read the Times as well as many other digital news sites via their very convenient apps. But there are times when nothing but the real thing will do.
Although it’s somewhat thinner these days – the Sunday Times is still the benchmark all other news outlets must match. I remember lining up at the nearest Manhattan newsstand waiting for 9PM on Saturday nights. That’s when the Sunday paper hit the stands – and you could take it home and sit on the floor with a glass of wine (and perhaps a boyfriend) and discover the weekend world. It was pure indulgence. That mess around you of sections read – or skimmed and kept for later – was a ritual I shared with all my friends and most of my fellow workers. It defined Saturday night in the city – when as often as not you read the Times first, and then headed to a midnight showing of a film – or down to some tiny cellar restaurant in Chinatown for the real deal.
And the future? It’s called Times Reader 2.0. Not, apparently, a totally new offering but now powered by Adobe Air. Bottom line, with 2.0 you can download the entire day’s edition of the NY Times to your laptop in – well – in a Flash. And take it with you to read whenever. Essentially what you can do on the regular website –but without the need for an internet connection –unless you want to keep your “paper” updated.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger said flat out there will be no more printed version of the paper at some time in the future? He didn’t say when, but with advertising and readership continuing to fall, that time is probably sooner rather than later. Times Reader 2.0 is free for two weeks – and then you’ll need a subscription – priced cheaply for now at $4.62 a week.
I’m gonna miss those Saturday nights in the city even more when newsprint becomes extinct. Something to look at in a museum. Under glass. Remember how it feels, folks. Especially when you’re eating that greasy New York hot dog with one hand and holding that nicely absorbent newspaper with the other. Try doing that with your laptop’s touchpad. Or – Heaven forefend – your iPhone.
Friday, October 01, 2010
The Record Industry Deserves to Die
The recording industry deserves to die a long and miserable death. Not because of its long-standing talent policies. I don’t have a garage band. Not because of copyright issues. I don’t share my music indiscriminately over the internet. Not even because recordings cost too much. I am probably one of iTunes’ best customers and also have an active Amazon.com account.
No – the recording industry deserves to die because it is so paranoid about someone “stealing” a track or an album that when someone does buy a CD ---it simply can’t be opened! Or to put it another way --- “It’s the packaging, stupid!”
Now as I already said – I can download with the best of them; my iPhone’s iPod is expanding exponentially. But when I’m driving long distances – I still like to slip a CD into the player. My Mini Cooper has a fantastic sound system.
Except – I can’t.
A new CD arrived in the mail a few days ago – and without thinking I wrestled it out of its seemingly steel-clad Amazon cardboard mailer (another column perhaps?) and put it in the car. Without removing the cellophane from the CD album cover itself.
What was I thinking? Or NOT thinking?
Of course I couldn’t open the CD. Couldn't play it when I wanted to. Had to bring it back to the house and spend 10 minutes with a knife trying to get the cellophane off first – and then the really impossible seal that covers one side of the plastic cover-- keeping the CD intact from the prying fingers of the person who legitimately bought the damn thing and legitimately expects to play it.
Why, I asked myself for the 100th time, would anyone want to buy a packaged CD when you can download one in a couple of minutes for less money – and enjoy it immediately???
As far as I’m concerned the record companies killed themselves with impenetrable packaging. They took all the joy out of buying a recording you can actually hold in your hands. Their way of doing business is as dead as the Dodo. And despite my collection of 78’s, 45’s, LP’s, tapes and CD’s (don’t bother Merv Block; I know but they just don’t look right without the apostrophe) I’m ready to give up on the hard stuff.
As I said earlier – the record industry deserves to die and I hope the merchandising wizards are interred wrapped in their own preposterous packaging.
No – the recording industry deserves to die because it is so paranoid about someone “stealing” a track or an album that when someone does buy a CD ---it simply can’t be opened! Or to put it another way --- “It’s the packaging, stupid!”
Now as I already said – I can download with the best of them; my iPhone’s iPod is expanding exponentially. But when I’m driving long distances – I still like to slip a CD into the player. My Mini Cooper has a fantastic sound system.
Except – I can’t.
A new CD arrived in the mail a few days ago – and without thinking I wrestled it out of its seemingly steel-clad Amazon cardboard mailer (another column perhaps?) and put it in the car. Without removing the cellophane from the CD album cover itself.
What was I thinking? Or NOT thinking?
Of course I couldn’t open the CD. Couldn't play it when I wanted to. Had to bring it back to the house and spend 10 minutes with a knife trying to get the cellophane off first – and then the really impossible seal that covers one side of the plastic cover-- keeping the CD intact from the prying fingers of the person who legitimately bought the damn thing and legitimately expects to play it.
Why, I asked myself for the 100th time, would anyone want to buy a packaged CD when you can download one in a couple of minutes for less money – and enjoy it immediately???
As far as I’m concerned the record companies killed themselves with impenetrable packaging. They took all the joy out of buying a recording you can actually hold in your hands. Their way of doing business is as dead as the Dodo. And despite my collection of 78’s, 45’s, LP’s, tapes and CD’s (don’t bother Merv Block; I know but they just don’t look right without the apostrophe) I’m ready to give up on the hard stuff.
As I said earlier – the record industry deserves to die and I hope the merchandising wizards are interred wrapped in their own preposterous packaging.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Boomers Looking for Work
Would someone like to explain to me how people in their 50’s -- who used to be considered at the peak of their earning curve – are going to make it through their (excuse me for throwing up) “golden years”?
All I ever read and hear about is how the imminent retirement of the baby boom generation is going to bankrupt social security and the nation. Hey guys – where have you been? Most boomers didn’t have the savings to retire before the recession. Remember all that talk about needing to work into your 70’s? Now – even with the improvement in the stock market since the recession ended –it may take 10 years or more for a 401K to get back just to where it was in 2007, when the financial crisis began. And even if you actually have some cash stashed away in income-producing savings – that income has been reduced to virtually nothing as interest rates have fallen.
So today I glance at the front page of the New York Times and there it is. What so many people know already. People over 50 have been losing their jobs in droves – and aren’t likely to find new ones anytime soon.
A few of the facts quoted in the article – which you can link to from my title: an April Gallup poll found more than a third of people who haven’t yet retired plan to keep working beyond age 65. It was just 12 percent in 1995. Now look at this figure from the Labor Department: if you’re 55 or older and unemployed – it takes an average of more than 39 weeks to find a job. That’s the most of any age group – including the 20’s somethings who would presumably cost employers a lot less in wages and benefits and be more technologically skilled. And we’re just talking averages. Many older people have been collecting long term unemployment benefits for as long as 99 weeks.
So here’s my question to all you political types who seem interested in nothing but getting elected or re-elected in November. Are you ready to deal with an army of homeless 50 and 60 somethings?
Many boomers have tried hard to update their skills – often taking out loans to do so. So what will you tell them to do with those new skills – if no one will hire them? There isn’t much of a demand for writing software in homeless shelters.
It’s not such a tragedy in your 20’s and 30’s when you have to scrounge for work. I certainly had to. But I and my friends were always sure we’d make it up later – when we were older and experienced and thus more valuable to an employer. Hah! Now an entire generation is teetering on the scrap heap of life.
As I said earlier – excuse me while I throw up.
All I ever read and hear about is how the imminent retirement of the baby boom generation is going to bankrupt social security and the nation. Hey guys – where have you been? Most boomers didn’t have the savings to retire before the recession. Remember all that talk about needing to work into your 70’s? Now – even with the improvement in the stock market since the recession ended –it may take 10 years or more for a 401K to get back just to where it was in 2007, when the financial crisis began. And even if you actually have some cash stashed away in income-producing savings – that income has been reduced to virtually nothing as interest rates have fallen.
So today I glance at the front page of the New York Times and there it is. What so many people know already. People over 50 have been losing their jobs in droves – and aren’t likely to find new ones anytime soon.
A few of the facts quoted in the article – which you can link to from my title: an April Gallup poll found more than a third of people who haven’t yet retired plan to keep working beyond age 65. It was just 12 percent in 1995. Now look at this figure from the Labor Department: if you’re 55 or older and unemployed – it takes an average of more than 39 weeks to find a job. That’s the most of any age group – including the 20’s somethings who would presumably cost employers a lot less in wages and benefits and be more technologically skilled. And we’re just talking averages. Many older people have been collecting long term unemployment benefits for as long as 99 weeks.
So here’s my question to all you political types who seem interested in nothing but getting elected or re-elected in November. Are you ready to deal with an army of homeless 50 and 60 somethings?
Many boomers have tried hard to update their skills – often taking out loans to do so. So what will you tell them to do with those new skills – if no one will hire them? There isn’t much of a demand for writing software in homeless shelters.
It’s not such a tragedy in your 20’s and 30’s when you have to scrounge for work. I certainly had to. But I and my friends were always sure we’d make it up later – when we were older and experienced and thus more valuable to an employer. Hah! Now an entire generation is teetering on the scrap heap of life.
As I said earlier – excuse me while I throw up.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Remembering John Henning
John Henning died in July. I saw the notice on line then -- but I was in Prague, loaded with work. No time for anything except a shocked "oh no!".
But tonight I was leafing through the latest AFTRA Magazine - which mercifully still comes in print form so you can actually "leaf" through it as you eat dinner. (iPhone screens don't take kindly to greasy fingerprints). I saw the tribute to John -- and I wanted to add my own. It is never too late for memories.
John Henning was a towering presence on the TV news scene in Boston - where for many years he was both an anchor and a top political reporter. For decades everyone in Boston knew his name. He was everything someone famous should be. Personable, smart, knowledgeable and - oh yes - an old fashioned gentleman and all around good guy.
For years I just watched him on my mother's old TV. But then one day - I became a network correspondent. Covering presidential political campaigns. Since TV stations were flush with cash in those days, local news departments usually sent their crack political reporter and a crew to travel with each of the candidates during the last crazy week before the November election.
So one day there he was with his crew -- spending a day with us -- the "veterans" who had been on the campaign trail for months. His station was affiliated with my network. He asked me to fill him in. I - who had worshipfully watched this man for years in my hometown - was now helping him! OMG!
We met one more time. I was "parachuted" into Boston for a story and had to get up to speed fast. There was John Henning -- with all the information I could possibly want.
When a network news star dies -- it makes headlines everywhere. But when John Henning died this summer at age 73 - from leukemia - it was only a big story in Boston - where he was still working as an analyst for WBZ.
Too bad the whole country didn't know about it. Because in a media world where true newspeople are becoming an endangered species -- John Henning leaves a big hole. As much for his decency as for his news acumen.
The Boston Local of AFTRA has established a broadcast scholarship in his name.
But tonight I was leafing through the latest AFTRA Magazine - which mercifully still comes in print form so you can actually "leaf" through it as you eat dinner. (iPhone screens don't take kindly to greasy fingerprints). I saw the tribute to John -- and I wanted to add my own. It is never too late for memories.
John Henning was a towering presence on the TV news scene in Boston - where for many years he was both an anchor and a top political reporter. For decades everyone in Boston knew his name. He was everything someone famous should be. Personable, smart, knowledgeable and - oh yes - an old fashioned gentleman and all around good guy.
For years I just watched him on my mother's old TV. But then one day - I became a network correspondent. Covering presidential political campaigns. Since TV stations were flush with cash in those days, local news departments usually sent their crack political reporter and a crew to travel with each of the candidates during the last crazy week before the November election.
So one day there he was with his crew -- spending a day with us -- the "veterans" who had been on the campaign trail for months. His station was affiliated with my network. He asked me to fill him in. I - who had worshipfully watched this man for years in my hometown - was now helping him! OMG!
We met one more time. I was "parachuted" into Boston for a story and had to get up to speed fast. There was John Henning -- with all the information I could possibly want.
When a network news star dies -- it makes headlines everywhere. But when John Henning died this summer at age 73 - from leukemia - it was only a big story in Boston - where he was still working as an analyst for WBZ.
Too bad the whole country didn't know about it. Because in a media world where true newspeople are becoming an endangered species -- John Henning leaves a big hole. As much for his decency as for his news acumen.
The Boston Local of AFTRA has established a broadcast scholarship in his name.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
September 11 2010
Nine years ago I walked up the two steps to the "bridge" at Channel 9 (WWOR) and looked somberly at the assignment editor. "Everything's changed," I said. "Life will never be the same."
We both knew I was right.
Nearly 3000 people died in the coordinated attacks on that bright September day. More than 1100 of them are still not identified. Imagine. Your husband, son, wife, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother --- to stay only in the nuclear family - went off to work as usual that day and simply never came home. Obliterated. Pulverized. Disappearing into thin air. Not even enough remaining for his or her DNA to be tested.
It's almost impossible to think about it. And as a reporter I tried hard --then and now - to maintain the emotional detachment that allows me to do my job. But when you are NOT being a reporter but simply being a human being --- the awful truth rushes in and overwhelms you. I had never seen war, never been a war correspondent, never experienced any major attack on my home or anyone else's. Until that day in 2001.
So here we are nine years later. Two misbegotten wars later. Many, many more people dead on all sides from terrorist attacks, battles, corruption, outsourcing and stupid mistakes in countries we are not - so far at least - leaving in better shape than we found them.
What would we be saying today if we had gone only after Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen? If we had not left the hunt to untrustworthy "others" but had used our own forces to blast through the caves where we tracked him? If we had followed every convoluted path until we found him? If every effort had been concentrated on wiping out Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan and wherever we could find its cells. No more. And no less.
But trying to rewrite history is a useless endeavor. What's done is done; you cannot take it back. Nine years later we are still the victims of our own ignorance and panic. With so-called Christians threatening to burn the Qur'an. And make us all victims yet again.
But even within that reality -- we must move on.
And so finally buildings are rising at the World Trade Center site. 16 of 400 or so trees are already planted on the ground which by next year should be a full-fledged memorial. The much-delayed and much-discussed "Freedom Tower" is now quite visible above ground -- now sensibly named simply One World Trade Center. The two square holes marking the outlines of the original towers are lined with black granite tiles. By next year they will be reflecting pools.
Yes everything is different. It will never be the same again. But of course that would be true even if the terror attacks had never occurred. Maybe there would have been something else. Or not. You can't blame the housing bubble and the resulting financial crisis and Great Recession on September 11th. And for those caught in the rubble of those implosions - the world is certainly a different place.
So let's move on. For change, as we now know, is the only constant.
We both knew I was right.
Nearly 3000 people died in the coordinated attacks on that bright September day. More than 1100 of them are still not identified. Imagine. Your husband, son, wife, daughter, mother, father, sister, brother --- to stay only in the nuclear family - went off to work as usual that day and simply never came home. Obliterated. Pulverized. Disappearing into thin air. Not even enough remaining for his or her DNA to be tested.
It's almost impossible to think about it. And as a reporter I tried hard --then and now - to maintain the emotional detachment that allows me to do my job. But when you are NOT being a reporter but simply being a human being --- the awful truth rushes in and overwhelms you. I had never seen war, never been a war correspondent, never experienced any major attack on my home or anyone else's. Until that day in 2001.
So here we are nine years later. Two misbegotten wars later. Many, many more people dead on all sides from terrorist attacks, battles, corruption, outsourcing and stupid mistakes in countries we are not - so far at least - leaving in better shape than we found them.
What would we be saying today if we had gone only after Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen? If we had not left the hunt to untrustworthy "others" but had used our own forces to blast through the caves where we tracked him? If we had followed every convoluted path until we found him? If every effort had been concentrated on wiping out Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, Pakistan and wherever we could find its cells. No more. And no less.
But trying to rewrite history is a useless endeavor. What's done is done; you cannot take it back. Nine years later we are still the victims of our own ignorance and panic. With so-called Christians threatening to burn the Qur'an. And make us all victims yet again.
But even within that reality -- we must move on.
And so finally buildings are rising at the World Trade Center site. 16 of 400 or so trees are already planted on the ground which by next year should be a full-fledged memorial. The much-delayed and much-discussed "Freedom Tower" is now quite visible above ground -- now sensibly named simply One World Trade Center. The two square holes marking the outlines of the original towers are lined with black granite tiles. By next year they will be reflecting pools.
Yes everything is different. It will never be the same again. But of course that would be true even if the terror attacks had never occurred. Maybe there would have been something else. Or not. You can't blame the housing bubble and the resulting financial crisis and Great Recession on September 11th. And for those caught in the rubble of those implosions - the world is certainly a different place.
So let's move on. For change, as we now know, is the only constant.
Thursday, September 09, 2010
R.I.P. ABC News?
The story broke Monday night --the one about David Westin resigning as head of ABC News. On Wednesday -- in the New York Times article linked to this post's title -- former CBS News President Andrew Heyward suggested one approach post Westin: re-invent ABC News as nothing but a video file sharing social network. As Heyward put it: "(it's) a real opportunity to not be beholden to the traditions of television news...."
Excuse me Mr. Heyward???? I've spent a day thinking about what you said. And since when do the "traditions" of TV news -- many virtually invented by your former network's own Edward R. Murrow--belong in the dumpster of history? Innovate, yes. We've always been about innovation. Grow and even mutate some. Fine. No one wants to watch or, for that matter, work in a profession that's encased in an iceberg. But dump all the great traditions of broadcast news? Isn't that exactly the problem right now?
Sure, it's wonderful to have a story so powerful that it's shared among all sorts of viewers. But what everyone who sees the network and local station news divisions simply as a profit center seems to forget is this little thing called democracy. You know -- the form of government we're supposed to have here and have so zealously exported to much of the rest of the world? Like Iran, Afghanistan, the formerly Communist countries?
How's this for an innovative idea: news divisions which are not run as profit centers. News divisions which are simply the best sources of necessary information they can be, using the best production values they can find. Call it a full circle; Bill Paley, Mr. Heyward, was proud to let the entertainment arm of CBS make the money. He could boast about his great news division. And not force it to earn a penny. Don't you think perhaps our rudderless nation could use another Walter Cronkite? And remember -- he was Managing Editor of The CBS Evening News first, anchor second.
Without a free and intelligent press there can't be much democracy. People need to know things they may not voluntarily click on and share. That used to be the role of the newspapers' front page and the networks' evening newscasts. Was it and is it elitist to "edit" news so that even in headline form -- people are force-fed at least some of the important information they need to make reasonable decisions about their own lives and the future of their state and country?
If Disney decides ABC News is nothing but a profit center with no higher calling, then it could, indeed, become nothing but a video news service. Just a feed like that all networks send out to their affiliate stations. A bunch of stories in no particular order -- ready for local producers to use if needed.
Enter Paris Hilton. Exit truth, freedom, democracy, intelligence. Not laughing.
Excuse me Mr. Heyward???? I've spent a day thinking about what you said. And since when do the "traditions" of TV news -- many virtually invented by your former network's own Edward R. Murrow--belong in the dumpster of history? Innovate, yes. We've always been about innovation. Grow and even mutate some. Fine. No one wants to watch or, for that matter, work in a profession that's encased in an iceberg. But dump all the great traditions of broadcast news? Isn't that exactly the problem right now?
Sure, it's wonderful to have a story so powerful that it's shared among all sorts of viewers. But what everyone who sees the network and local station news divisions simply as a profit center seems to forget is this little thing called democracy. You know -- the form of government we're supposed to have here and have so zealously exported to much of the rest of the world? Like Iran, Afghanistan, the formerly Communist countries?
How's this for an innovative idea: news divisions which are not run as profit centers. News divisions which are simply the best sources of necessary information they can be, using the best production values they can find. Call it a full circle; Bill Paley, Mr. Heyward, was proud to let the entertainment arm of CBS make the money. He could boast about his great news division. And not force it to earn a penny. Don't you think perhaps our rudderless nation could use another Walter Cronkite? And remember -- he was Managing Editor of The CBS Evening News first, anchor second.
Without a free and intelligent press there can't be much democracy. People need to know things they may not voluntarily click on and share. That used to be the role of the newspapers' front page and the networks' evening newscasts. Was it and is it elitist to "edit" news so that even in headline form -- people are force-fed at least some of the important information they need to make reasonable decisions about their own lives and the future of their state and country?
If Disney decides ABC News is nothing but a profit center with no higher calling, then it could, indeed, become nothing but a video news service. Just a feed like that all networks send out to their affiliate stations. A bunch of stories in no particular order -- ready for local producers to use if needed.
Enter Paris Hilton. Exit truth, freedom, democracy, intelligence. Not laughing.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
The Silly Season
I am listening as I write this to President Obama giving a campaign speech in Parma, Ohio. Talking about the America he believes in. The America which allowed both him and Michelle to rise from their humble beginnings to become rich lawyers and ultimately, the First Family.
But this isn’t 2008. And he isn’t a candidate. Trouble is his Democratic party – and all the Congressmen and one third of the Senators and a bunch of Governors – ARE candidates. And the Republicans are tasting blood. And a huge victory.
The latest polls show a huge dissatisfaction with the current administration. President Obama’s approval ratings are in the 45-46% range. Two thirds of those asked think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Going political at this point may be too little too late for the President and his party. Mr. Obama has been so busy since he took office trying to bring Republicans and Democrats together (an admirable concept) that perhaps he hasn’t really looked at America recently. We’re a country so dangerously polarized in all ways – politics, religion, social issues and yes – wealth – that it would take news that a huge meteorite was about to hit Toledo to pull Americans out of their funk. It would HAVE to be Toledo. If it were heading toward Washington – or even New York City --- I think it would still be business as usual around the Fox News Network’s TV hearth.
Now -- we have these Bush tax cuts --- which will expire at the end of this year. AFTER the midterm election. President Obama and the most liberal Democrats are determined to let them expire on the richest Americans making over $250,000 a year. Problem is --- if those tax cuts just expire --- they will expire for the middle class as well. And everyone but the very poor will be hit with higher Federal taxes.
Standard economic theory says you don’t raise taxes during a recession. So there have been ideas floated by some economists to extend the tax cut for – say – a year. Or keep it alive –but just for the middle class.
Ah – but that could help the Democrats in November. So even if the Republicans think it’s a good idea ---- don’t look for any cooperation of any kind from them.
Tyler Mathisen said it best on CNBC’s Power Lunch today. I’m paraphrasing but as he put it – the Senate Republicans will block anything the Democrats propose before the election – or in the lame duck session after it. Which means – pure and simple - a tax increase for the middle class. Tyler is an honest, intelligent reporter. He’s also human. His frustration spoke for all thinking Americans.
This political gridlock in Washington benefits no one – except maybe a few politicians. And it hits exactly the folks who are most fearful about their jobs if they have them or least able to get new jobs if they don’t. Exactly the folks who have pulled back on spending recently. Exactly the folks who desperately want to see solutions from their government – whether Republican or Democratic – which can give us all back the America we believe in.
But this isn’t 2008. And he isn’t a candidate. Trouble is his Democratic party – and all the Congressmen and one third of the Senators and a bunch of Governors – ARE candidates. And the Republicans are tasting blood. And a huge victory.
The latest polls show a huge dissatisfaction with the current administration. President Obama’s approval ratings are in the 45-46% range. Two thirds of those asked think the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Going political at this point may be too little too late for the President and his party. Mr. Obama has been so busy since he took office trying to bring Republicans and Democrats together (an admirable concept) that perhaps he hasn’t really looked at America recently. We’re a country so dangerously polarized in all ways – politics, religion, social issues and yes – wealth – that it would take news that a huge meteorite was about to hit Toledo to pull Americans out of their funk. It would HAVE to be Toledo. If it were heading toward Washington – or even New York City --- I think it would still be business as usual around the Fox News Network’s TV hearth.
Now -- we have these Bush tax cuts --- which will expire at the end of this year. AFTER the midterm election. President Obama and the most liberal Democrats are determined to let them expire on the richest Americans making over $250,000 a year. Problem is --- if those tax cuts just expire --- they will expire for the middle class as well. And everyone but the very poor will be hit with higher Federal taxes.
Standard economic theory says you don’t raise taxes during a recession. So there have been ideas floated by some economists to extend the tax cut for – say – a year. Or keep it alive –but just for the middle class.
Ah – but that could help the Democrats in November. So even if the Republicans think it’s a good idea ---- don’t look for any cooperation of any kind from them.
Tyler Mathisen said it best on CNBC’s Power Lunch today. I’m paraphrasing but as he put it – the Senate Republicans will block anything the Democrats propose before the election – or in the lame duck session after it. Which means – pure and simple - a tax increase for the middle class. Tyler is an honest, intelligent reporter. He’s also human. His frustration spoke for all thinking Americans.
This political gridlock in Washington benefits no one – except maybe a few politicians. And it hits exactly the folks who are most fearful about their jobs if they have them or least able to get new jobs if they don’t. Exactly the folks who have pulled back on spending recently. Exactly the folks who desperately want to see solutions from their government – whether Republican or Democratic – which can give us all back the America we believe in.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Summer in the City
Summer in the city this year happens to be in Prague – in the Czech Republic. Where I’ve spent most of the last 2 summers as well.
And in Prague there is this quaint custom left over from communism. It’s called cleaning the hot water pipes. Bottom line – we don’t have hot water –NONE – in our apartment for this entire week.
A little background. My husband and I bought a brand new apartment 5 years ago in a family-oriented neighborhood about 25 minutes by tram from downtown. It’s a place we cheerfully call the Queens of Prague. But like most of the city – the bigger apartment buildings like ours get their hot water and heat through pipes from a central plant. Similar to the Con Edison steam heat and hot water that is so much a part of Manhattan life. Unlike Con Ed, however, Prague water officials insist that every summer, they have to shut down the entire hot water system, section by section, so the pipes can be cleaned. Now it’s only for a week. 20 years ago when we first came to this country – it was more like 2 to 3 weeks. While the company’s engineers, we figured, headed en masse for their chalupy (farm houses) in the country.
Funny this holdover from Communism. In those days ordinary people did not question anything the authorities decreed. Well, they would say in public, of course they have to clean the pipes. Privately – when friends were sure no one they couldn’t trust was watching – there would be knowing winks and shrugs. “But what can we do,” they would say. And heat water for their sponge baths. Except they probably HAD no sponges in consumer product-challenged communist Prague.
Today Praguers aren’t much different. They still say “But what can we do” every time something occurs that Americans would insist on changing or fixing. It never seems to occur to them that other cities (like New York) have the same kind of centralized hot water – and still get to use it in its well-heated form all summer long.
Ah yes. But this is Prague. Just 20 years removed from the soul-shriveling fears of totalitarianism. Much has changed; capitalism booms and Czechs own their own apartments and houses. Women are as Euro-stylish as their counterparts in Rome and Paris. Most Czechs have traveled well outside the old Communist bloc and have seen – and to a great extent copied – how the other half lives.
But they still throw up their hands and intone “what can we do???” when the annual summer pipe cleaning arrives.
I hope my deodorant holds out.
And in Prague there is this quaint custom left over from communism. It’s called cleaning the hot water pipes. Bottom line – we don’t have hot water –NONE – in our apartment for this entire week.
A little background. My husband and I bought a brand new apartment 5 years ago in a family-oriented neighborhood about 25 minutes by tram from downtown. It’s a place we cheerfully call the Queens of Prague. But like most of the city – the bigger apartment buildings like ours get their hot water and heat through pipes from a central plant. Similar to the Con Edison steam heat and hot water that is so much a part of Manhattan life. Unlike Con Ed, however, Prague water officials insist that every summer, they have to shut down the entire hot water system, section by section, so the pipes can be cleaned. Now it’s only for a week. 20 years ago when we first came to this country – it was more like 2 to 3 weeks. While the company’s engineers, we figured, headed en masse for their chalupy (farm houses) in the country.
Funny this holdover from Communism. In those days ordinary people did not question anything the authorities decreed. Well, they would say in public, of course they have to clean the pipes. Privately – when friends were sure no one they couldn’t trust was watching – there would be knowing winks and shrugs. “But what can we do,” they would say. And heat water for their sponge baths. Except they probably HAD no sponges in consumer product-challenged communist Prague.
Today Praguers aren’t much different. They still say “But what can we do” every time something occurs that Americans would insist on changing or fixing. It never seems to occur to them that other cities (like New York) have the same kind of centralized hot water – and still get to use it in its well-heated form all summer long.
Ah yes. But this is Prague. Just 20 years removed from the soul-shriveling fears of totalitarianism. Much has changed; capitalism booms and Czechs own their own apartments and houses. Women are as Euro-stylish as their counterparts in Rome and Paris. Most Czechs have traveled well outside the old Communist bloc and have seen – and to a great extent copied – how the other half lives.
But they still throw up their hands and intone “what can we do???” when the annual summer pipe cleaning arrives.
I hope my deodorant holds out.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Flooding in New Jersey
I’ve been walking this week as I usually do in the early mornings. Walking the streets of the neat little Levittown-type “starter” homes built behind my gym in the 1950’s and 60’s -- as farm-land was gobbled up by developers. Walking – and trying not to cry.
In case you haven’t been paying attention – we had a huge rain and wind storm last weekend in the NYC metro area. Trees came down on power lines, cars and homes. And rivers came up. And up and up and up until the flooding in northern and central New Jersey equaled or even surpassed the modern benchmark – the April 1984 floods.
I covered that 1984 flood – as a local TV reporter for WWOR. And I’ve covered the subsequent major floods as I moved around the TV dial. The same streets and homes are always flooded. Some owners always need evacuation by boat and talking to them is always sad. You wonder why they go back flood after flood. Until you realize many of them have nowhere else to go. Buyout money has been available for years now in some flood plain areas – but even at market value it’s seldom enough to buy another house or even condo in the same general area. And towns don't push; they'd rather have wet ratables than untaxable parks.
By the time I started walking around the Village (as it’s called) this week, the water had mostly receded. And people had already piled their lives at the curbstone to be taken away by the town’s efficient bulk pickup trucks. Lovely velvet couches. Wooden cabinets. Multiple sections of rolled up, soggy rugs. Child-sized tables and chairs. And their toys. So many toys. Would there be money to replace them?
Do these often young families have flood insurance I wondered? It’s expensive and although the rivers overflow every few years or so – who expected another 100 year flood? Did those who recently bought one of these houses know they were moving into a flood plain? The homes are built on cement slabs. No basement where you may be able to discern water marks on the walls. A little new plasterboard and some paint and redecoration and voila! Who would know?
I talked to the young immigrant couple who runs the nearby deli where I buy my morning bagel and coffee. They were not familiar with our area when they took over the store – ravaged just a few years before by a previous flood and repaired. And although the river runs under the highway and comes out half a block behind the building --- no one told them before they rented the store about its history. At least 4 major floods that I can recall which typically fill the store’s basement with its electrical box and part of their kitchen with its bagel-making machinery with water. With some warning they had gotten most of their food out but they were trying to dry things out and then wash everything down with bleach. There was nothing I could do except say how sorry I was. Being people who spit in the face of adversity – the obviously devastated wife said simply, “we will come back. We have to.”
I realized today why all this is upsetting me so much –when I have seen it all so many times before. Then, I had a mic in my hand, a cameraperson next to me. I could take all those terribly sad stories and that compelling video, go to a town or county or FEMA official and say – what can you do for these people? What are YOU doing to help? It took the burden off my shoulders. We were helping too. Getting the story out. Pushing the ones with the power. Making connections. It’s what journalists do.
This week it’s just me, Ms Ordinary Person. Powerless without my crew and my platform.
Like all about me, I can only cry.
In case you haven’t been paying attention – we had a huge rain and wind storm last weekend in the NYC metro area. Trees came down on power lines, cars and homes. And rivers came up. And up and up and up until the flooding in northern and central New Jersey equaled or even surpassed the modern benchmark – the April 1984 floods.
I covered that 1984 flood – as a local TV reporter for WWOR. And I’ve covered the subsequent major floods as I moved around the TV dial. The same streets and homes are always flooded. Some owners always need evacuation by boat and talking to them is always sad. You wonder why they go back flood after flood. Until you realize many of them have nowhere else to go. Buyout money has been available for years now in some flood plain areas – but even at market value it’s seldom enough to buy another house or even condo in the same general area. And towns don't push; they'd rather have wet ratables than untaxable parks.
By the time I started walking around the Village (as it’s called) this week, the water had mostly receded. And people had already piled their lives at the curbstone to be taken away by the town’s efficient bulk pickup trucks. Lovely velvet couches. Wooden cabinets. Multiple sections of rolled up, soggy rugs. Child-sized tables and chairs. And their toys. So many toys. Would there be money to replace them?
Do these often young families have flood insurance I wondered? It’s expensive and although the rivers overflow every few years or so – who expected another 100 year flood? Did those who recently bought one of these houses know they were moving into a flood plain? The homes are built on cement slabs. No basement where you may be able to discern water marks on the walls. A little new plasterboard and some paint and redecoration and voila! Who would know?
I talked to the young immigrant couple who runs the nearby deli where I buy my morning bagel and coffee. They were not familiar with our area when they took over the store – ravaged just a few years before by a previous flood and repaired. And although the river runs under the highway and comes out half a block behind the building --- no one told them before they rented the store about its history. At least 4 major floods that I can recall which typically fill the store’s basement with its electrical box and part of their kitchen with its bagel-making machinery with water. With some warning they had gotten most of their food out but they were trying to dry things out and then wash everything down with bleach. There was nothing I could do except say how sorry I was. Being people who spit in the face of adversity – the obviously devastated wife said simply, “we will come back. We have to.”
I realized today why all this is upsetting me so much –when I have seen it all so many times before. Then, I had a mic in my hand, a cameraperson next to me. I could take all those terribly sad stories and that compelling video, go to a town or county or FEMA official and say – what can you do for these people? What are YOU doing to help? It took the burden off my shoulders. We were helping too. Getting the story out. Pushing the ones with the power. Making connections. It’s what journalists do.
This week it’s just me, Ms Ordinary Person. Powerless without my crew and my platform.
Like all about me, I can only cry.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Security, NBC and Me
Sometimes I really wonder what planet I'm living on.
Today I cut through the main lobby of 30 Rock. I hadn't done that -- walking from the ice rink to the side entrance on 49th Street -- in a long time. The 49th Street entrance is opposite the bank of elevators which leads to NBC's and Channel 4's (WNBC)studios. Otherwise known -- for decades I think -- as the studio entrance. There's one on the 50th Street side as well.
So why am I telling you this? Why should you care? Because what happened next is a primer on how much our world has changed.
There was a group of maybe 20 people lined up on the short flight of stairs leading to the elevators. And a person I couldn't see addressing the group in a very loud voice. "Be sure to remove your belts before going through the metal detectors. And take out all loose change......" And on and on and on. All of it the now familiar instructions we hear and see as we go through airport security. And I mean ALL of it.
An errant thought crossed my mind. Women now know enough not to wear underwire bras when they fly because they set off the alarms. But to see a TV show? So when the alarm on the NBC metal detector goes off because you're wearing your usual underwire bra -- does someone with a TSA uniform -- errr NBC uniform -- come out of woodwork and wand you and pat you down to be sure that's all you in the underwire? Do you have to explain about breast enhancement??? And while I'm at it -- what about knee and hip replacements? The TSA folks wand, poke and pat little old ladies with metal hips unmercifully at airport security.
It would be laughable if it weren't so earnest. The very Soviet-style world we thought we overcame when we won the Cold War. We DID win it didn't we?
Come on guys. IT'S A TV SHOW. Not a jetliner loaded with fuel flying over the Atlantic. Or DisneyWorld.
I'll go along with searching purses and backpacks. Almost every building does that now. Not like a few years ago when only the state and federal courthouses did -- looking, I presume, for something logical-- like guns and knives. Hell -- DisneyWorld does it. I mean, gee. You can't be too careful around Mickey and Minnie.
But back to NBC and taking off your belt to see a TV show.
Y'know -- maybe it was all part of a reality TV show. Because it doesn't take much imagination to visualize what might happen to some members of the hip hop generation when they take off their belts. And then NBC might have another issue -- with the NYPD for indecent exposure. When those 4 sizes too big pants siting uneasily below the hip line --- now bereft of the one thing keeping them there -- fall off completely.
Maybe I should have stayed around for the "floor" show.
Today I cut through the main lobby of 30 Rock. I hadn't done that -- walking from the ice rink to the side entrance on 49th Street -- in a long time. The 49th Street entrance is opposite the bank of elevators which leads to NBC's and Channel 4's (WNBC)studios. Otherwise known -- for decades I think -- as the studio entrance. There's one on the 50th Street side as well.
So why am I telling you this? Why should you care? Because what happened next is a primer on how much our world has changed.
There was a group of maybe 20 people lined up on the short flight of stairs leading to the elevators. And a person I couldn't see addressing the group in a very loud voice. "Be sure to remove your belts before going through the metal detectors. And take out all loose change......" And on and on and on. All of it the now familiar instructions we hear and see as we go through airport security. And I mean ALL of it.
An errant thought crossed my mind. Women now know enough not to wear underwire bras when they fly because they set off the alarms. But to see a TV show? So when the alarm on the NBC metal detector goes off because you're wearing your usual underwire bra -- does someone with a TSA uniform -- errr NBC uniform -- come out of woodwork and wand you and pat you down to be sure that's all you in the underwire? Do you have to explain about breast enhancement??? And while I'm at it -- what about knee and hip replacements? The TSA folks wand, poke and pat little old ladies with metal hips unmercifully at airport security.
It would be laughable if it weren't so earnest. The very Soviet-style world we thought we overcame when we won the Cold War. We DID win it didn't we?
Come on guys. IT'S A TV SHOW. Not a jetliner loaded with fuel flying over the Atlantic. Or DisneyWorld.
I'll go along with searching purses and backpacks. Almost every building does that now. Not like a few years ago when only the state and federal courthouses did -- looking, I presume, for something logical-- like guns and knives. Hell -- DisneyWorld does it. I mean, gee. You can't be too careful around Mickey and Minnie.
But back to NBC and taking off your belt to see a TV show.
Y'know -- maybe it was all part of a reality TV show. Because it doesn't take much imagination to visualize what might happen to some members of the hip hop generation when they take off their belts. And then NBC might have another issue -- with the NYPD for indecent exposure. When those 4 sizes too big pants siting uneasily below the hip line --- now bereft of the one thing keeping them there -- fall off completely.
Maybe I should have stayed around for the "floor" show.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
On (Czech) Language
It’s another day in black and white up here. Snow again turning everything –even the evergreens – to grey.
I could be studying my Czech language lessons. Or getting my income taxes in order. Or looking for work. Or even giving in to snow-bound cravings and eating Hershey dark chocolate kisses unfortunately left over from Christmas. I could be – but I’m not.
Instead I’ve been reading back articles in the Prague Monitor,
an online newspaper I get in my email box every weekday. No, not what I could be reading or maybe should be reading – important news stories like why the hapless Greek economy ruined a recent Czech government bond sale.
No – I’ve been reading about the use of language in Prague. Czech language. Standard American vs Southern American vs British English. And the merits of editing what you say for the sake of understanding.
Now I don’t even live in Prague except for a few months in the summer – and a few, scattered weeks in fall or spring. But even for those short stays, I find myself editing my English for my Czech friends – as Prague Monitor writer Emily Prucha found herself doing in her combined Czech-American family.
Prucha wrote that Americans find their brand of English – especially when spoken with regional accents and idioms (she’s from Virginia) – sometimes incomprehensible to Czechs who – if they’ve studied English formally have usually been force-fed the grammar and vocabulary of British English. So almost without conscious thought now, I will use “flat” for apartment and “lift” for elevator and try to keep my Lower East Side-influenced northeastern slang to myself.
But Prague isn’t the only place where British English is catching on. It’s happening here too. There are now many British and British-trained news reporters and analysts working in the US. Or as foreign reporters where cost-cutting media companies have closed overseas news bureaus. And many Britishisms that would actually be incorrect in American English are creeping into the everyday language. One of the most obvious: "gone missing" for when someone disappears without a trace or explanation. Young American reporters think the phrase sounds cool and sophisticated -- along with some others like "on holiday" and even occasionally "flat".
Words, after all, define us. My friends and I went through college saying “caio” to each other and thinking that simple Italian word (learned from Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren – not generations of Italian immigrants) somehow gave us a kind of world-weary European sophistication.
Not surprisingly in our much more interlaced world today – ciao is again a college favorite – along with any other country’s words which can make a Brooklyn or Mississippi or even Boston (mine) accent sound like it’s circled the globe.
So – ciao bambino! I’m about to go missing and maybe on holiday as well. You’ll find me at some pub with a pint, some bangers and mash and my mates – some of whom may be a bit dodgy. Like me.
I could be studying my Czech language lessons. Or getting my income taxes in order. Or looking for work. Or even giving in to snow-bound cravings and eating Hershey dark chocolate kisses unfortunately left over from Christmas. I could be – but I’m not.
Instead I’ve been reading back articles in the Prague Monitor,
an online newspaper I get in my email box every weekday. No, not what I could be reading or maybe should be reading – important news stories like why the hapless Greek economy ruined a recent Czech government bond sale.
No – I’ve been reading about the use of language in Prague. Czech language. Standard American vs Southern American vs British English. And the merits of editing what you say for the sake of understanding.
Now I don’t even live in Prague except for a few months in the summer – and a few, scattered weeks in fall or spring. But even for those short stays, I find myself editing my English for my Czech friends – as Prague Monitor writer Emily Prucha found herself doing in her combined Czech-American family.
Prucha wrote that Americans find their brand of English – especially when spoken with regional accents and idioms (she’s from Virginia) – sometimes incomprehensible to Czechs who – if they’ve studied English formally have usually been force-fed the grammar and vocabulary of British English. So almost without conscious thought now, I will use “flat” for apartment and “lift” for elevator and try to keep my Lower East Side-influenced northeastern slang to myself.
But Prague isn’t the only place where British English is catching on. It’s happening here too. There are now many British and British-trained news reporters and analysts working in the US. Or as foreign reporters where cost-cutting media companies have closed overseas news bureaus. And many Britishisms that would actually be incorrect in American English are creeping into the everyday language. One of the most obvious: "gone missing" for when someone disappears without a trace or explanation. Young American reporters think the phrase sounds cool and sophisticated -- along with some others like "on holiday" and even occasionally "flat".
Words, after all, define us. My friends and I went through college saying “caio” to each other and thinking that simple Italian word (learned from Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren – not generations of Italian immigrants) somehow gave us a kind of world-weary European sophistication.
Not surprisingly in our much more interlaced world today – ciao is again a college favorite – along with any other country’s words which can make a Brooklyn or Mississippi or even Boston (mine) accent sound like it’s circled the globe.
So – ciao bambino! I’m about to go missing and maybe on holiday as well. You’ll find me at some pub with a pint, some bangers and mash and my mates – some of whom may be a bit dodgy. Like me.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Childhood Obesity and Death
What does it take to wake up America to the dangers of obesity? Otherwise loving and often overly protective parents seen oblivious to the problem. Maybe because at least some of these parents fall into the obese – or at least overweight – category themselves?
Well there’s now a major study, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, that tracked a large group of American Indian children for an average of 24 years. The findings? That obesity, pre-diabetes (glucose intolerance) and hypertension in childhood were strongly associated with increased rates of premature death. Specifically – the heaviest kids were more than twice as likely as the thinnest ones to die before they reached 55. That’s 15 to 20 years below average American life expectancy. And typically, say the experts, American Indians are about a decade ahead of other Americans in terms of obesity numbers. Right now nearly a third of all American children are either overweight or obese. You can see where this is going….
There’s never been a good excuse for ignoring obesity. But at least if you’re an adult – you’re making your own, presumably desired, decisions. That’s certainly not true for children. And millions of kids are being doomed to an early death simply because their parents, extended families and school teachers – those most responsible for protecting and directing them – are not doing their jobs.
Never mind the impact on our already fractured health care system. Think of the impact on a kid’s life. Years of taking pills or struggling with insulin shots. Heart attacks that can ruin lives even if they don’t kill. Cancer with all its implications. Strokes.
Do you really want the worst for your child instead of the best?
Habits instilled in childhood last a lifetime. It’s a lot harder to think thin for the first time when you’re 40 than when you’re 10. Healthy food in reasonable portions combined with daily exercise is not exactly a recipe for purgatory. In fact the exercise is called play when you’re a kid. Remember?
So parents and teachers – belly away from the food bar and invest a little healthy living in your kids’ future. And maybe in the process those of you who are making bad decisions about your own lives – will add a few good years onto them.
Well there’s now a major study, published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, that tracked a large group of American Indian children for an average of 24 years. The findings? That obesity, pre-diabetes (glucose intolerance) and hypertension in childhood were strongly associated with increased rates of premature death. Specifically – the heaviest kids were more than twice as likely as the thinnest ones to die before they reached 55. That’s 15 to 20 years below average American life expectancy. And typically, say the experts, American Indians are about a decade ahead of other Americans in terms of obesity numbers. Right now nearly a third of all American children are either overweight or obese. You can see where this is going….
There’s never been a good excuse for ignoring obesity. But at least if you’re an adult – you’re making your own, presumably desired, decisions. That’s certainly not true for children. And millions of kids are being doomed to an early death simply because their parents, extended families and school teachers – those most responsible for protecting and directing them – are not doing their jobs.
Never mind the impact on our already fractured health care system. Think of the impact on a kid’s life. Years of taking pills or struggling with insulin shots. Heart attacks that can ruin lives even if they don’t kill. Cancer with all its implications. Strokes.
Do you really want the worst for your child instead of the best?
Habits instilled in childhood last a lifetime. It’s a lot harder to think thin for the first time when you’re 40 than when you’re 10. Healthy food in reasonable portions combined with daily exercise is not exactly a recipe for purgatory. In fact the exercise is called play when you’re a kid. Remember?
So parents and teachers – belly away from the food bar and invest a little healthy living in your kids’ future. And maybe in the process those of you who are making bad decisions about your own lives – will add a few good years onto them.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Health Care Reform 2.0.3
Look. This is getting ridiculous. I’ve just been reading some of the details of President Obama’s new 10 year budget proposal. Which projects a deficit equal to 11% of our Gross Domestic Product for next year (2011) and even 10 years down the road envisions a deficit worth 5% of GDP. This bleak estimate doesn’t allow any room for new domestic programs of any kind.
Hello? Is anybody with a half a brain out there paying ANY attention?
Yes, yes I’m getting to health care reform. Right now. It seems obvious – what with the loss of the Democrats’ super majority in the Senate and the seemingly total inability of the White House or the Democrats in Congress to explain what is really in the 2 multi-thousand page reform bills – that we aren’t going to get much reform in this administration.
So here’s my what you might call "meat cleaver" approach. Starting with a lot less use of the real meat cleaver and a lot more black beans and rice.
Yes, America, we need a National Food Police and Exercise Agency. NFPEA. With absolute, dictatorial powers.
I don’t care how old you are --- you will start eating properly. Limited consumption of red meat. Or really, any meat. No sugar in children’s cold cereal. Much less salt in all restaurant, prepared and even home-cooked meals. (Watch out Grandma! That big flat screen TV on the kitchen wall is now watching how you make your chicken soup!) Portions a third to a half smaller. That includes those huge cups and cones of ice cream at the DQ. Reasonable amounts of vegetarian style entrees making sure there is adequate protein (like the beans and rice combination) and only enough olive oil and garlic sauce on the pasta and veggies to coat the penne – not drown it.
No McDonald’s burgers. Or any other fast food burgers or fried chicken or fried fish. Absolutely no French fries. No fried food of ANY kind – except as a very occasional treat. And whole wheat or multi-grain bread. The first edict from the NFPEA will make eating Wonder Bread and all it’s gluey offshoots an imprisonable crime.
Along with the food reform will go exercise. Every American of any age will be required to do at least enough exercise to work off more than the calories he or she eats. For those currently healthy enough to do it, that exercise will be aerobic, heart-healthy fast walking, running, biking, swimming or sweat-worthy classes. Or heavy labor. Or both. And flicking the remote at the TV does NOT count as heavy labor. (Nor does walking 3 steps to the kitchen to refill the bowl of potato chips.)
I think you get the picture. With no possible lobbying from insurance companies or doctors or hospitals ---how can you lobby against better health – Americans will slowly get thinner and healthier. The incidence of diabetes will start falling instead of increasing. Heart disease will begin to disappear. Cancer rates will drop. And kids who used to be thin and active and healthy will no longer leave the pediatrician’s office with a diagnosis of high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
In just a few years we will have accomplished health care reform without any political wrangling in Congress. And Americans – now actually able to see the rest of the world over their bellies – will start noticing what really goes on in Washington. And what doesn’t.
Health care costs will drop drastically and some expensive specialists may have to drop down to the primary care level – where they are actually needed.
It’s a simple little system. Eat less, eat better and exercise. Really now – why would we need the White House or Congress to mandate that?
Hello? Is anybody with a half a brain out there paying ANY attention?
Yes, yes I’m getting to health care reform. Right now. It seems obvious – what with the loss of the Democrats’ super majority in the Senate and the seemingly total inability of the White House or the Democrats in Congress to explain what is really in the 2 multi-thousand page reform bills – that we aren’t going to get much reform in this administration.
So here’s my what you might call "meat cleaver" approach. Starting with a lot less use of the real meat cleaver and a lot more black beans and rice.
Yes, America, we need a National Food Police and Exercise Agency. NFPEA. With absolute, dictatorial powers.
I don’t care how old you are --- you will start eating properly. Limited consumption of red meat. Or really, any meat. No sugar in children’s cold cereal. Much less salt in all restaurant, prepared and even home-cooked meals. (Watch out Grandma! That big flat screen TV on the kitchen wall is now watching how you make your chicken soup!) Portions a third to a half smaller. That includes those huge cups and cones of ice cream at the DQ. Reasonable amounts of vegetarian style entrees making sure there is adequate protein (like the beans and rice combination) and only enough olive oil and garlic sauce on the pasta and veggies to coat the penne – not drown it.
No McDonald’s burgers. Or any other fast food burgers or fried chicken or fried fish. Absolutely no French fries. No fried food of ANY kind – except as a very occasional treat. And whole wheat or multi-grain bread. The first edict from the NFPEA will make eating Wonder Bread and all it’s gluey offshoots an imprisonable crime.
Along with the food reform will go exercise. Every American of any age will be required to do at least enough exercise to work off more than the calories he or she eats. For those currently healthy enough to do it, that exercise will be aerobic, heart-healthy fast walking, running, biking, swimming or sweat-worthy classes. Or heavy labor. Or both. And flicking the remote at the TV does NOT count as heavy labor. (Nor does walking 3 steps to the kitchen to refill the bowl of potato chips.)
I think you get the picture. With no possible lobbying from insurance companies or doctors or hospitals ---how can you lobby against better health – Americans will slowly get thinner and healthier. The incidence of diabetes will start falling instead of increasing. Heart disease will begin to disappear. Cancer rates will drop. And kids who used to be thin and active and healthy will no longer leave the pediatrician’s office with a diagnosis of high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
In just a few years we will have accomplished health care reform without any political wrangling in Congress. And Americans – now actually able to see the rest of the world over their bellies – will start noticing what really goes on in Washington. And what doesn’t.
Health care costs will drop drastically and some expensive specialists may have to drop down to the primary care level – where they are actually needed.
It’s a simple little system. Eat less, eat better and exercise. Really now – why would we need the White House or Congress to mandate that?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Red and Me
Once upon a time in what seems like long, long ago – I was an ambitious teenager growing up in a Boston where there were only 3 things anyone ever talked about. In descending order – sports, politics and –depending on the year or person – ethnic and race relations.
And so when former Celtics center Bill Russell’s love-letter to his friend and coach Red Auerbach – “Red and Me” – was published last June –I eagerly bought it. And then – like so many of the books I buy – it sat there on the kitchen table for 6 months.
But this week I finally picked up the book – and it was like I was home again. Living in my mother’s Back Bay apartment, walking past Fenway Park on my way to school, listening to the games on the radio as I did my homework.
Our sports teams were part of Boston’s DNA – the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots (until they moved out of Boston to the middle of nowhere-- Foxborough). The Boston Braves were, by then, history. Like everyone in that long ago – I knew the names of each team’s stars and coaches and owners. Names that stayed constant for years at a time. But of course I didn’t know much about them as people. You only learn about people when you know them personally over time – and if you’re lucky you get to know a few people you resonate with.
I never met Bill Russell. Nor Red Auerbach. Nor Walter Brown – the Celtics’ owner. But now – after reading “Red and Me” – I feel like I know them. The values Russell writes about (with Alan Steinberg’s help) are the core values of my childhood. Attitudes and beliefs – and yes - obligations that don’t seem to be talked about much anymore. And yet my life was (and is) as different from Russell’s and Auerbach’s as – well - as oil is from water.
Russell and Auerbach were the odd couple. Unlikely friends. But they understood each other in a special way. A way perhaps particularly male – but still -- a deep and caring and lasting way.
Maybe if you didn’t grow up in Boston – in a particular time and mindset – this book may not seem so special. Russell writes in absolutes. His and Auerbach’s. Boston was like that when I lived there. Some absolutes were overt and sometimes pretty ugly. But others were internal -- hammered into our psyches over the generations. Call it the New England work ethic if you like – stiffening our spines and programming our brains to move forward no matter what life threw at us.
Neither Russell nor Auerbach were from Boston or even New England. But somehow – they were us.
In college I learned to be more flexible, to question absolutes and demand proof for everything. OK I became a journalist. But what I consider my core values – survived. Or to put it another way – once a Bostonian, always a Bostonian.
Bill Russell and Red Auerbach were among the few people who apparently never questioned their absolutes. Russell writes about the ones they shared in his exquisitely honest memoir of a legendary coach who became a firm friend.
If you love sports and are of a certain age – read “Red and Me”. If you love sports and know anything about basketball history – read “Red and Me”. And if you just love finding out what makes people tick – read “Red and Me”. Maybe you’ll “absorb” a few (New England) core values.
And so when former Celtics center Bill Russell’s love-letter to his friend and coach Red Auerbach – “Red and Me” – was published last June –I eagerly bought it. And then – like so many of the books I buy – it sat there on the kitchen table for 6 months.
But this week I finally picked up the book – and it was like I was home again. Living in my mother’s Back Bay apartment, walking past Fenway Park on my way to school, listening to the games on the radio as I did my homework.
Our sports teams were part of Boston’s DNA – the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins and Patriots (until they moved out of Boston to the middle of nowhere-- Foxborough). The Boston Braves were, by then, history. Like everyone in that long ago – I knew the names of each team’s stars and coaches and owners. Names that stayed constant for years at a time. But of course I didn’t know much about them as people. You only learn about people when you know them personally over time – and if you’re lucky you get to know a few people you resonate with.
I never met Bill Russell. Nor Red Auerbach. Nor Walter Brown – the Celtics’ owner. But now – after reading “Red and Me” – I feel like I know them. The values Russell writes about (with Alan Steinberg’s help) are the core values of my childhood. Attitudes and beliefs – and yes - obligations that don’t seem to be talked about much anymore. And yet my life was (and is) as different from Russell’s and Auerbach’s as – well - as oil is from water.
Russell and Auerbach were the odd couple. Unlikely friends. But they understood each other in a special way. A way perhaps particularly male – but still -- a deep and caring and lasting way.
Maybe if you didn’t grow up in Boston – in a particular time and mindset – this book may not seem so special. Russell writes in absolutes. His and Auerbach’s. Boston was like that when I lived there. Some absolutes were overt and sometimes pretty ugly. But others were internal -- hammered into our psyches over the generations. Call it the New England work ethic if you like – stiffening our spines and programming our brains to move forward no matter what life threw at us.
Neither Russell nor Auerbach were from Boston or even New England. But somehow – they were us.
In college I learned to be more flexible, to question absolutes and demand proof for everything. OK I became a journalist. But what I consider my core values – survived. Or to put it another way – once a Bostonian, always a Bostonian.
Bill Russell and Red Auerbach were among the few people who apparently never questioned their absolutes. Russell writes about the ones they shared in his exquisitely honest memoir of a legendary coach who became a firm friend.
If you love sports and are of a certain age – read “Red and Me”. If you love sports and know anything about basketball history – read “Red and Me”. And if you just love finding out what makes people tick – read “Red and Me”. Maybe you’ll “absorb” a few (New England) core values.
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