Life keeps on ebbing and flowing, even if you are on vacation. Over the past week, most of my blog posts have been pictures or brief comments from my family’s vacation on Cape Cod. The town of Truro celebrated its 300th birthday. Fiona played with new friends at the campground and at the beach and found time to visit with her cousins also staying on Cape Cod. We had ice cream with an old friend from online social media that we had yet to meet face to face.

Yet while I was there, the ebb and flow of life continued. Walter Cronkite died. Frank McCourt died. Friends attended wakes and funerals for their loved ones. Jen Just reflected on the passing of her ex-husband five years ago, and people thinking about the moonwalk considered Neil Armstrong instead of Michael Jackson. “The Eagle has landed… one giant leap for mankind”.

Healthcare in Connecticut

Yesterday, the Connecticut General Assembly convened to override Gov. Rell’s vetoes of many bills. Leading the list was SustiNet. I don’t know the exact details of the bill. How does it relate to the ‘public option’ that is being considered in Washington? Is it a prototype or framework for this public option? When can people start participating in SustiNet? What will be the mechanism for municipalities to participate and how will that relate to existing contracts that municipalities currently have with workers? What will it cost for a small business to participate?

Some criticize SustiNet and the national public option as not going far enough. They want to see a real public option based on single-payer plans. Public healthcare should be like public schools or public libraries, some argue. You shouldn’t need to do anything other than perhaps prove you are a resident to get to use the schools, the libraries, the roads, or the health care system.

Others have said that it will cost too much, but they seem to overlook many costs that are currently passed on to citizens, like to cost of health care provided to municipal employees and paid for by property taxes.

Meanwhile, healthcare lobbyists fight against a public option the way auto industry lobbyists fought against higher CAFE standards. Yet while some automobile manufacturers were fighting these standards, Toyota spent time working on a hybrid car that would exceed these standards and through this became the world’s leading automobile manufacturer. Yes, the electric vehicle purists complained that hybrids weren’t the electric vehicles they believe we really need, but now as we move towards new generations of plug-in hybrids, they are becoming closer and closer to what the electric vehicle enthusiasts dream of. Let us hope that some in the insurance industry will show similar foresight as Toyota did.

Other Vetoes Overridden

Half a dozen other Vetoes were overridden yesterday by the Connecticut General Assembly, tying the number of vetoes overridden in 1992 and falling two short of the 9 vetoes overridden in 1974. The CT News Wire was busy with Stamford Mayor Dan Malloy sending out press releases congratulating the General Assembly on their work and taking yet another opportunity to point out Gov. Rell’s inadequacies. These were joined by press releases from the Senate Democrats and the General Assembly.

Milford Politics

Meanwhile, in Milford, Tim Chaucer announced his intentions to seek the Democratic Nomination for Mayor. He joins Genevieve Salvatore who announced her candidacy sometime ago and already has a strong campaign up and running. (Full disclosure: I am helping with Ms. Salvatore’s campaign). The nominating convention is Wednesday evening. Mr. Chaucer recognizes that he has an uphill battle and won’t rule out a primary. Ms. Salvatore and Mr. Chaucer are joined by Peter Spalthoff who is running as an Independent party candidate and there had been rumors of a possible Republican primary as well.

The Death Penalty

Also, while I was on vacation, Connecticut added an eleventh person to death row. After four days of deliberation, the jury in the Richard Roszkowski found that he should face the death penalty. Meanwhile the The Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty (CNADP) has set September 24 as their Abolition Day with a rally scheduled for the Capitol’s North Lawn.

Jury Duty

For me, I will do my civic duty today and report for Jury Duty. I have mixed feelings about this. I feel that Jury Duty is an important civic responsibility, much like voting. On the other hand as a freelancer who has no earnings while sitting on a jury, this presents a financial hardship. I hope to get at least a few messages out from Jury Duty while I wait to be called, and perhaps even to get some important phone calls and writing done.

Then, when this civic duty is completed, I will be heading off to five days of camping and folk music at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival