I Knew it was Going to Happen; But I'm Pissed-Off Anyway

A beautiful day...and more to come...through Thursday...  Wow!

Today was quite busy.  The usual elder check-in.  Mom doing what she does.  And took some pastries up to Auntie who I had not seen in ten days or so...

Auntie's daughter was in town for a week...my cousin got the house squared-away pretty well.  Sadly, my cousin was not successful in convincing auntie to get a housekeeper and, when I asked auntie today if I could help, the answer was not positive.  I just don't get it.

After visiting auntie, I had a workout.  And after the workout a message from daughter Amanda suggesting a walk.  Bravo!  We did the dike trail under glorious sunshine and yakked it up the whole time.  Doesn't get much better than that as far as I'm concerned...

Amanda on the dike trail

I took Amanda home and then went to a fundraiser for our Democratic U.S. Senator who will be up for re-election next year.  I'm sure it will be a tough race although his opponent it not yet obvious.  Could be our current featherweight Governor (see below).

After the fundraiser it was on to the annual Democratic dinner at Centennial Hall where I was the guest of Ralph and Julia Kibby.  I found it very inspiring...because I got to give my annual hug to Katie Hurley...the Secretary of the Alaska Constitutional Convention and piano player at my parents' wedding.  Katie was one of the speakers at tonight's supper - and sadly it was clear she's fading a bit; but her smile and warmth are undiminished.  In her brief speech she mentioned Alma Olson as one of her mentors - a teacher she had in school here in Juneau in the 1920's.  Miss Olson was a dear friend of my Grandma Newman, a regular at the holiday dinner table, and I remember her quite well.  Brought a tear to my eye.

Sadly, current political affairs in Alaska are not so swell.

Our featherweight Governor made it official.  No Medicaid expansion for Alaska.  He was at the National Governor's Association last week and he concluded the federal government was so dysfunctional that he could not count on them to deliver the promised federal swag.

Huh?  That's your entire rationale for giving up hundreds of millions of federal dollars.  That's it?  The very best you can do? 

To my knowledge there has not been one credible shred of analysis provided by Governor Parnell suggesting either that Medicaid expansion is a good idea or a bad idea for Alaska.  Does any such analysis exist?  One would think so...  I know there are competent analysts in the Department of Health and Social Services.  One would presume the Governor bothered to ask for such analysis and one would presume his Commissioner of the Department of Health and Social Services was competent enough to have one produced.

But...with one party government we may never know.  The legislative leadership does not care.  No Medicaid expansion bill would likely even get an honest hearing with this crowd.  So perhaps there will be no requirement on the Administration to provide any meaningful analysis.

In the meantime, of course, our Governor is hell bent to give away many times more the TOTAL cost of Medicaid expansion to the oil industry.  It's the ol' lower taxes and they'll invest mantra.  Trickle down.

And with the demise of the Republican/Democratic coalition in the Senate, the misogynist caucus is alive and well. Senator John Coghill - Deacon Coghill according to past biographies - is leading the charge to define what "medical necessity" means relative to a woman exercising her constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

Sigh...