I've been very hard on Dr. Cosgrove when I discuss the current regime at the Cleveland Clinic. While I support the organization to impliment whatever the hell they want, I do not agree with their overly parental stance on their employees personal lives. I just feel that people don't need to be told how to live their lives...
But I have to say that his little bit in the PD shows a thoughtful and insightful view of what I would expect to be indicitive of what most doctors think of the topics covered. While I fully expect the actual health care community to be all for covering every American, and actually be willing to listen to single payer ideas; I am happy that Dr. Cosgrove was willing to also point out that the politicians in DC are not only generally ignorant of the ins and outs of the industry but also moving rather fast in making whole system changes in a short period of time.
If there's one thing our federal government has shown us time and again throughout our countries history is that they are very good at making big changes or moves without understanding what they are doing or causing throughout the economy. Look at what is and will happen with cash for clunkers.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Road Rage
Well Cleveland, the rest of the state thinks we're not worth treating with respect.
(I also think that they think we're nuts. A bunch of Dems that don't quite fit with the red part of the state, but I think that's got some merit. We are a little different up here).
As you will soon learn if you don't know already I'm a huge Cleveland supporter. Call me a fanboy, homer, biased or whatever other derogatory slang you want; I'll gladly embrace it. I come from the mind set that only those of us who live and work in the city have any right to point out its shortcomings, and if some dirty rotten from some place like... well anywhere not here, points out our warts, I get my hackles up. That's not to say I won't point out the problems, because I will.
But onto the point.
This on-going planning mini-battle about the inner belt and the I-90 bridge really burns me up. And I don't know why our local leaders are lying down to take it from Columbus and more directly ODOT. Maybe our mayors, council people and state reps and senators are beholden to ODOT and are afraid to ruffle their feathers. After all ODOT can make life difficult for districts that make their job uncomfortable. Maybe our leaders think it's a good idea. Maybe they don't care because only odd-ball planner types and mid-town business people are the ones squaking for now.
Either way it's not right if you ask me.
You see ODOT, in their infinate engineering wisdom, has decided that since the guidelines for interstate interchanges indicate that our downtown ramps are too close together they must go. Never mind that we can find exceptions to this rule all over the country including Columbus. They want to take away the Carneige and Prospect ramps as well as the ramps for I-77 at East Ninth.
That leaves entrances to downtown at East 14th, East 30th (!?), Chester and St Clair (really far out there). We also have the ramps at East 9th and West 3rd along the shoreway, but the traffic counts along State 2 is less than half that across the 90 bridge! The issue is what do we do if we want to get downtown when there's a big play at the square, a show at CSU and a game at Gateway? Get off a mile away at East 30th and Woodland or cram through the traffic at E. 14th? If you miss Chester from the east you're in for a trip either to E 3oth and Woodland on I-77 or across the river before you can turn around. Who is the brain trust that thinks closing and redirecting the majority of traffic to and from downtown and the Cleveland Clinic is a good idea?
You see all they care about at ODOT is that the throughput is increased and "safety" is improved. The problem is that the innerbelt should be the DESTINATION. We shouldn't care about throughput. We should plan the road to help people get into and out of the downtown. It's also the entrance (for now) to get to University Circle for many traveling from the west or south.
The proposals will leave us with few options that all stink and pose serious issues for days where we have multiple events in the Central Business District (CBD). From the east we'll only have St Clair and Chester. The continued efforts of ODOT and the highway system seems to revel in the further isolation of downtown Cleveland and making our collective lives a little more of a hassle.
This to me is just another example of how our government at many different levels is failing us.
(I also think that they think we're nuts. A bunch of Dems that don't quite fit with the red part of the state, but I think that's got some merit. We are a little different up here).
As you will soon learn if you don't know already I'm a huge Cleveland supporter. Call me a fanboy, homer, biased or whatever other derogatory slang you want; I'll gladly embrace it. I come from the mind set that only those of us who live and work in the city have any right to point out its shortcomings, and if some dirty rotten from some place like... well anywhere not here, points out our warts, I get my hackles up. That's not to say I won't point out the problems, because I will.
But onto the point.
This on-going planning mini-battle about the inner belt and the I-90 bridge really burns me up. And I don't know why our local leaders are lying down to take it from Columbus and more directly ODOT. Maybe our mayors, council people and state reps and senators are beholden to ODOT and are afraid to ruffle their feathers. After all ODOT can make life difficult for districts that make their job uncomfortable. Maybe our leaders think it's a good idea. Maybe they don't care because only odd-ball planner types and mid-town business people are the ones squaking for now.
Either way it's not right if you ask me.
You see ODOT, in their infinate engineering wisdom, has decided that since the guidelines for interstate interchanges indicate that our downtown ramps are too close together they must go. Never mind that we can find exceptions to this rule all over the country including Columbus. They want to take away the Carneige and Prospect ramps as well as the ramps for I-77 at East Ninth.
That leaves entrances to downtown at East 14th, East 30th (!?), Chester and St Clair (really far out there). We also have the ramps at East 9th and West 3rd along the shoreway, but the traffic counts along State 2 is less than half that across the 90 bridge! The issue is what do we do if we want to get downtown when there's a big play at the square, a show at CSU and a game at Gateway? Get off a mile away at East 30th and Woodland or cram through the traffic at E. 14th? If you miss Chester from the east you're in for a trip either to E 3oth and Woodland on I-77 or across the river before you can turn around. Who is the brain trust that thinks closing and redirecting the majority of traffic to and from downtown and the Cleveland Clinic is a good idea?
You see all they care about at ODOT is that the throughput is increased and "safety" is improved. The problem is that the innerbelt should be the DESTINATION. We shouldn't care about throughput. We should plan the road to help people get into and out of the downtown. It's also the entrance (for now) to get to University Circle for many traveling from the west or south.
The proposals will leave us with few options that all stink and pose serious issues for days where we have multiple events in the Central Business District (CBD). From the east we'll only have St Clair and Chester. The continued efforts of ODOT and the highway system seems to revel in the further isolation of downtown Cleveland and making our collective lives a little more of a hassle.
This to me is just another example of how our government at many different levels is failing us.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Town Hall Meetings
This article compelled me to actually start a blog. It was more for my friends on facebook, who I imagine might be getting tired of my rantings on a social network site. So this way I can be a little less obtrusive and still vent some of this.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6787454.ece
All across America average Joes are coming out to talk to, ask questions of, and call out politicians that are peddling this health care bill; HR 3200. Town Hall Meetings (surprising I can't find any in Ohio)
But now that those supporting the president and the bill know that there is a large and growing fervor against this bill, they too are turning out for these town hall meetings. I'm not even going to address the reported intimidation tactics by those supporting the health care bill, or even the claims that those supporting the bill have been brought into meeting rooms before the others who want to speak against it in an effort to control the amount of people against the bill in the room.
I would love to see evidence of two things.
1) Where are all these people running around at town hall meetings wearing or flashing swastikas.
2) Where are all the big corporate America giants or insurance companies have come out against the health care bill or is drumming up fears. Where is the proof that these big companies and the GOP are bringing in people to attend these town hall meetings?
I'm certain that there are some companies in and health care that stand to loose the most through this bills passing, but the largest of companies would love to pass us all off onto the public option and the largest of insurance companies would love to see the small competition go under (as they will with the passage of this bill).
But here's a theme anyone who knows me might have heard before.
Just repeating something over and over again does not make it true.
I AM one of the "mob", although my representative is not holding a town hall meeting.
I am NOT being stoked by the insurance companies.
I have NOT received any calls from the GOP. (And if they did call I would tell them where to go)
I'm reading the bill and listening to the politicians, and the two don't match. The speed in which our congress is attempting to move is to me a show of fear that the public won't support this if they really look into it. The fact that they won't debate or even answer simple questions tells me that those bringing up fears of the results of this legislation have some merit.
But I must digress.
I saw this headline and I got a little scared.
Scared because it's been a long time since we've had real civil unrest. And we're overdue. Every thirty or so years we have real shifts in our political alignments. And unfortunately this also happens with violence and conflict. It is often escorted in with large military conflicts or recessions. We saw it in 1968 when large groups of minorities switched from Republican to Democrat, and southern whites went the other way. We saw it in 1932 when the country dropped the Republicans like a hot potato. That was accompanied by the Great Depression and massive labor unrest. 1896 saw the emergence of the Populist/Progressive movement.
Anyway, here we are looking on as people who generally don't have the time or energy to get off of their couch head out to confront their elected representatives and I fear that some fed up soul does something stupid and commits some form of violence.
I must say that listening to Pelosi, Reid, Romney, and all the other Statist government-centric crooks who steal and spend our money makes my blood boil from time to time.
But we also must be peaceful and grounded in logic and an expression of liberty and personal rights and choices. Should any of us, "the mob", be seen as the aggressors or starting physical altercations the hand of the federal government will come down so fast and so hard we won't wake up until all of our rights have been stripped.
I feel that we are headed toward a new political spectrum. And I fear that the current improvements in the economy is a smoke screen. And I hope that we can do it in a peaceful and enlightened way.
But that's another conversation for another day.
Remember, if you think any of this was "fishy" you can report me or any other person to the White House so that they can just... you know... keep track of all these tricky facts.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6787454.ece
All across America average Joes are coming out to talk to, ask questions of, and call out politicians that are peddling this health care bill; HR 3200. Town Hall Meetings (surprising I can't find any in Ohio)
But now that those supporting the president and the bill know that there is a large and growing fervor against this bill, they too are turning out for these town hall meetings. I'm not even going to address the reported intimidation tactics by those supporting the health care bill, or even the claims that those supporting the bill have been brought into meeting rooms before the others who want to speak against it in an effort to control the amount of people against the bill in the room.
I would love to see evidence of two things.
1) Where are all these people running around at town hall meetings wearing or flashing swastikas.
2) Where are all the big corporate America giants or insurance companies have come out against the health care bill or is drumming up fears. Where is the proof that these big companies and the GOP are bringing in people to attend these town hall meetings?
I'm certain that there are some companies in and health care that stand to loose the most through this bills passing, but the largest of companies would love to pass us all off onto the public option and the largest of insurance companies would love to see the small competition go under (as they will with the passage of this bill).
But here's a theme anyone who knows me might have heard before.
Just repeating something over and over again does not make it true.
I AM one of the "mob", although my representative is not holding a town hall meeting.
I am NOT being stoked by the insurance companies.
I have NOT received any calls from the GOP. (And if they did call I would tell them where to go)
I'm reading the bill and listening to the politicians, and the two don't match. The speed in which our congress is attempting to move is to me a show of fear that the public won't support this if they really look into it. The fact that they won't debate or even answer simple questions tells me that those bringing up fears of the results of this legislation have some merit.
But I must digress.
I saw this headline and I got a little scared.
Scared because it's been a long time since we've had real civil unrest. And we're overdue. Every thirty or so years we have real shifts in our political alignments. And unfortunately this also happens with violence and conflict. It is often escorted in with large military conflicts or recessions. We saw it in 1968 when large groups of minorities switched from Republican to Democrat, and southern whites went the other way. We saw it in 1932 when the country dropped the Republicans like a hot potato. That was accompanied by the Great Depression and massive labor unrest. 1896 saw the emergence of the Populist/Progressive movement.
Anyway, here we are looking on as people who generally don't have the time or energy to get off of their couch head out to confront their elected representatives and I fear that some fed up soul does something stupid and commits some form of violence.
I must say that listening to Pelosi, Reid, Romney, and all the other Statist government-centric crooks who steal and spend our money makes my blood boil from time to time.
But we also must be peaceful and grounded in logic and an expression of liberty and personal rights and choices. Should any of us, "the mob", be seen as the aggressors or starting physical altercations the hand of the federal government will come down so fast and so hard we won't wake up until all of our rights have been stripped.
I feel that we are headed toward a new political spectrum. And I fear that the current improvements in the economy is a smoke screen. And I hope that we can do it in a peaceful and enlightened way.
But that's another conversation for another day.
Remember, if you think any of this was "fishy" you can report me or any other person to the White House so that they can just... you know... keep track of all these tricky facts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)