Politics
Entries related to things political.
Random Thoughts
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 21:33There are a couple stories I've been following in the news recently that I have been thinking outside the box on. First, there is health care reform.
One of the biggest concerns people have expressed about the Affordable Care Act is the 'individual mandate', that is, the penalty that is imposed on people not getting health insurance. The response is that everyone will eventually need health care, so the mandate is an effort to compel people not to be freeloaders until they need it.
There are various reasons why this is a concern. Currently, health costs are a leading contributor to personal bankruptcies. The costs of uninsured people receiving medical treatment at emergencies gets passed on to all of us. With the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies cannot deny people insurance who have pre-existing conditions. For that matter, people that don't get health care when they need it, end up costing more when they get it, so people without health insurance are likely to drive up the costs of Medicare.
With all of this, are there other ways to compel people to get health insurance? For example, what if once the Affordable Care Act is in effect, medical debts are could not be discharged for people in bankruptcy who have not gotten insurance? What if the changes for pre-existing coverage don't apply to people who fail to get coverage? What if people who fail to get coverage become ineligible for Medicare? Might this be a better way to get people into health insurance than the current penalties?
Moving on to the Trayvon WIlliams case. George Zimmerman was part of a Neighborhood Watch organization, essentially providing private policing of a community. What if he had been a real police officer? Many law enforcement agencies have firearm discharge review boards. Whenever an officer discharges his firearm, there policies and procedures to be followed. In most cases, George Zimmerman's situation would have been reviewed much more thoroughly if he had been a police officer. Maybe we need to apply these standards to any 'Stand Your Ground' case, any case of a Neighborhood Watch volunteer, or similar cases.
Finally, here is Woodbridge, there is talk of a gun shop opening soon. Various members of the community are concerned about this, especially since it is planned to go in very close to a teen center. However, Woodbridge doesn't appear to have any zoning regulations that would prevent this, and you can't put in a zoning change after the fact.
However, could the citizen's of Woodbridge learn from those fighting against abortions? What if, just as there are laws being suggested that women who want an abortion need to have an ultrasound first, how about if anyone wanting to buy a gun in Woodbridge had to get a colonoscopy first? That would probably put a damper on gun sales. It might also improve the health outlooks for people who do buy guns.
Of course, some might ask what buying a gun has to do with a colonoscopy. I'll leave that connection for opponents of gun sales, who wonder where a gun buyer's head must be at, to come up with the connection.
For something less invasive, perhaps a simple blood test for lead levels as well as for hearing would be appropriate. A 2005 report in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found elevated levels of lead in various members of shooting teams in Alaska. The CDC has a blog post about Solutions for Preventing Lead Poisoning and Hearing Loss at Indoor Firing Ranges
The Hunger Games
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/25/2012 - 13:19I clicked on Google News and found the top Entertainment story today to be "The Hunger Games", raking in over $155 million on its opening weekend. I glanced at other news. The shooting of tribute Trayvon Williams by tribute George Zimmerman was up at the top of the list, followed by the shooting of at least 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. Also, fourteen members of the rebellion, err, Occupy Wall Street, were arrested in New York. (Would that be in the 13th district?)
No, I have not read the books or seen the movie. I've just read enough of the reviews and heard enough discussions to mix things up a little bit. Yet this gets to the bigger question, why is The Hunger Games resonating in our society the way that it is? Likewise, as I mentioned in a previous blog post, why is the book being banned by some teachers?
Is it gratuitous violence that is desensitizing tweens to violence, or is there something more pernicious, a strong woman (what Limbaugh would call a slut), coming to recognize oppression and seeking to find ways of beating the oppressors at their own game?
Is it really like the reality television shows that some have compared it to, a twenty first century version of the panopticon? Or, is there something bigger going on, akin to social media where we all become both the watchers and the watched, where our status updates, tweets and blog posts become a performance in which we seek to outwit the oppressors the way Katniss seeks to outmaneuver her oppressors?
"We Don't Ban Books at Beecher Road"
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 03/23/2012 - 20:01It has been a very long day, and I've gotten plenty of topics to explore writing about. When I finally got out of the office, I headed off to a dinner at Fiona's school. I sat down, and Kim asked Fiona to tell me about what had happened at school. Fiona told me that her teacher had told her "The Hunger Games" was not allowed at Beecher Road School. She was curious about why this was getting such a strong reaction from both Kim and I. At some point soon, we will sit down and talk about that.
There is a lot to talk about in terms of "The Hunger Games". Some may end up in the blog. Other parts might become part of Fiona's Radio Show.
When I got a chance, I walked over to the school superintendent. As a side comment, there is a lot of talk about teacher tenure in Connecticut and the role teachers play in student achievement. There is too little discussion about the role superintendents and principals play. Beecher Road School is a very high achieving school. There are many reasons for this, from the role parents play in the children's lives, to the teachers, and particularly to our superintendent.
He had been looking for me. He wanted to congratulate me on the good coverage that Fiona's Radio Show has received in the local press. He was particularly interested in my comments about encouraging parents to spend more time talking with the children. We talked about this a little bit, and then I passed on the report from Fiona about "The Hunger Games" being banned.
He quickly responded, saying something like, "Oh no, we don't ban books at Beecher Road". I said I didn't think so, and he assured me that he would look into it.
We returned to the underlying discussion. "The Hunger Games" is a book, and now a movie. It has violence. There are a lot of societal issues that can be addressed in discussions about this book. Kim and I will talk with Fiona and determine when we think it will be appropriate for her to read the book or see the movie. It is the sort of discussion that parents should be having with their children. It is not a fait accompli that should be handed down by a school.
So, following the format of Fiona's Radio Show, "I encourage all parents to spend more time talking with their children…" Whether they do it on an Internet Radio Show, or in the car driving somewhere, there are so many different ways a discussion about "The Hunger Games" can be important.
Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee Endorses Chris Murphy for U.S. Senate
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Thu, 03/22/2012 - 21:37
This evening, Congressman Chris Murphy visited the Woodbridge Democratic Town Committee. It seemed as if everyone there knew him. After a little chit chat, the meeting began and Chris delivered what sounded a bit like his stump speech. I had heard him say similar things at a previous campaign event.
He spoke the need for both individual initiative and community support. He spoke about the need to raise the level of public debate. Before we moved to questions, there was a motion to endorse Congressman Murphy which was quickly seconded and unanimously passed.
After the endorsement, the town committee went on with its normal business. Laurence Grotheer was elected to be the new chair of the Democratic Town Committee. This was followed by reports from various committees. First Selectman Ed Sheehy started off talking about the extension of gas lines, adding sidewalks on Amity Road and a public hearing about the traffic problems down in the flats. There was a brief discussion about what was going on with the Country Club, with Amity High School, with pesticides on town property, with a possible gun shop next to the Amity Teen Center.
If you want to be involved in the life of a town, as well as be involved major political races, it is worth it to get involved with your party's town committee.
My State Legislative Agenda
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 03/18/2012 - 20:50Many of my politically inclined friends get all concerned about some bill that grabs national attention out of Washington, or out of some State when the bill is particularly noteworthy. Yet every year numerous bills get considered in state legislatures that most people never hear about. Between my work for a health center, and my wife's work for a good government organization, I end up following a lot of different bills. We've ended up getting to know many of the State Representatives and State Senators in Hartford and with that, I'm sharing some of my thoughts on various bills that are being considered.
I'll start off with one of the bigger issue bills that has already gotten a lot of coverage, SB 280 - AN ACT REVISING THE PENALTY FOR CAPITAL FELONIES. This bill would replace the death penalty with "a penalty of life imprisonment without the possibility of release for certain murders committed on or after the effective date of this act". I have been a long time opponent of the death penalty. The issue has been argued over and over, and I don't think I can add much to the debate at this point.
Then, there are various health related bills. Starting the list is 5285: AN ACT ADJUSTING COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTER RATES FOR CAPITAL INVESTMENTS. I work for a community health center. I see on a daily basis the important role that community health centers play in providing health care, especially for underserved populations, as well as the financial benefit they bring to the state by helping people avoid more costly emergency room visits. The problem is that there aren't good ongoing mechanisms for funding capital improvements for community health centers. This bill would establish a mechanism, similar to one for funding capital improvements for nursing homes. It appears to be a really good bill.
Perhaps related to this is SB 405, AN ACT CONCERNING TARGETED HEALTH AREAS. This bill would "establish a Targeted Health Area program and provide economic incentives to licensed physicians and physician offices providing primary care services or needed medical specialties in such targeted health areas". I have not read this bill as closely as some of the other bills, but on first reading, this bill also seems really important. One of the issues of health care reform is that, hopefully, more people will get primary care, thus reducing the need for more costly emergency room care. Unfortunately, it is hard to get good primary care providers and this will would address that.
On the dental side of things, HB 5242, AN ACT CONCERNING DONATED DENTAL SERVICES looks like a cost effective way to help provide dental services to people that currently go without. There are some great programs for donated dental services like Give Kids a Smile Day and the Connecticut Missions of Mercy. Efforts by the state to help with these important programs can go a long way.
There is also bill AN ACT CONCERNING SERVICES PROVIDED BY DENTAL PROFESSIONALS AND CERTIFICATION FOR ADVANCED DENTAL HYGIENE PRACTITIONERS. This looks like another way to help get more dental service available in our state. I'm just starting to read up on this bill, so I don't know the details yet, but it makes a lot of sense to me. I hope to write more about this soon.
A different bill, HB 5243 AN ACT CONCERNING THE USE OF MERCURY IN DENTISTRY on first glance seems like a good idea. Nobody wants to get mercury poisoning. However, looking at it a bit more closely, this bill probably isn't as good an idea as it seems. First, the evidence that fillings made with mercury are problematic is at best, weak. I know that I have more than my share of mercury based fillings, as does the head of dentistry at our health center. Yet the bigger problem is that currently, Medicaid only pays for mercury based fillings for molars of adults. Unless Medicaid funding gets changed, this law would result in more poor adults losing teeth that otherwise could be saved. With budgets tight, I doubt we would see the funding for more expensive fillings for adults on Medicaid, and without that being addressed, this will would probably do more damage than good.
Finally, on the dental side, there is AN ACT CONCERNING SERVICES PROVIDED BY DENTAL PROFESSIONALS AND CERTIFICATION FOR ADVANCED DENTAL HYGIENE PRACTITIONERS. A similar bill was heard last year, passed committee, but was never heard on the full floor. On first reading, this also seems like a good idea. The bill last year faced opposition from dental organizations, but it appears as if there is less opposition this year. In my mind, this fits very nicely with some of the other bills described above about finding creative new ways to make sure that people can receive quality medical and dental services that they are currently not receiving. So, this looks like a good bill.
On the good government side, there are a few bills that I'm interested in. On Monday, there will be a public hearing on AN ACT CONCERNING CHANGES TO THE PUBLIC FINANCING ACT AND OTHER ELECTION LAWS. Here, I'm going off of the talking points I've seen on the bill and have not yet read the bill in its entirety. The bill has strong disclosure requirements and strong shareholder protections. These appear to be a strong, well thought out, response to Citizens United. Likewise it would strengthen coordination and disclaimer rules.
Yet on the down side, it would significantly increase various contribution limits which is not a good thing, and some of the penalties for violating the law appear to be strengthened to the point of being draconian.
A few other good government laws worth looking at include HB 5024, AN ACT CONCERNING VOTING RIGHTS. This would enact election day registration. While I've heard the concerns about laws that make it easier to vote, I believe we are better off if we find ways, including election day registration, to get more people involved in the political process.
To address possible abuses, there is bill HB 5022, AN ACT INCREASING PENALTIES FOR VOTER INTIMIDATION AND INTERFERENCE. This bill, together with HB 5024, seems like the best way to encourage voter participation and discourage voting abuses.
If I had more time, there are many many more bills I could, and probably should comment on, but this is a start, and I hope it encourages some of my readers to think more about bills that their State Legislature is considering.
What bills are you watching?
