I received some good news about my daughter’s future orthodontist bill recently. Good news for me that is, at least in the short run. My wife’s dental insurance will cover part of the cost. While that insurance is part of her salary, it does not count as taxable income, and is thus exempt from federal, state, local and social security taxes. And, we’ll be able to put aside money on a pre-tax basis to cover the balance, under a plan she has at work, with a similar exemption from taxes. My wife works for a quasi-public agency. The government, therefore, will end up paying indirectly (through the tax break, and through private dental insurance purchased on her behalf) for about $3,000 of my daughter’s improved smile. The same government, that is, which (unlike the government of virtually every other developed country) doesn’t provide universal insurance for at least basic health care. If you aren’t a senior citizen, don’t have health insurance provided by your employer, cannot afford an individual policy, and are thus uninsured, her smile – which you are helping to pay for – may thus be more important to our elected officials than your life.
Category: News and Opinion
Her Smile May Be More Important Than Your Life
|I received some good news about my daughter’s future orthodontist bill recently. Good news for me that is, at least in the short run. My wife’s dental insurance will cover part of the cost. While that insurance is part of her salary, it does not count as taxable income, and is thus exempt from federal, state, local and social security taxes. And, we’ll be able to put aside money on a pre-tax basis to cover the balance, under a plan she has at work, with a similar exemption from taxes. My wife works for a quasi-public agency. The government, therefore, will end up paying indirectly (through the tax break, and through private dental insurance purchased on her behalf) for about $3,000 of my daughter’s improved smile. The same government, that is, which (unlike the government of virtually every other developed country) doesn’t provide universal insurance for at least basic health care. If you aren’t a senior citizen, don’t have health insurance provided by your employer, cannot afford an individual policy, and are thus uninsured, her smile – which you are helping to pay for – may thus be more important to our elected officials than your life.
Her Smile May Be More Important Than Your Life
|I received some good news about my daughter’s future orthodontist bill recently. Good news for me that is, at least in the short run. My wife’s dental insurance will cover part of the cost. While that insurance is part of her salary, it does not count as taxable income, and is thus exempt from federal, state, local and social security taxes. And, we’ll be able to put aside money on a pre-tax basis to cover the balance, under a plan she has at work, with a similar exemption from taxes. My wife works for a quasi-public agency. The government, therefore, will end up paying indirectly (through the tax break, and through private dental insurance purchased on her behalf) for about $3,000 of my daughter’s improved smile. The same government, that is, which (unlike the government of virtually every other developed country) doesn’t provide universal insurance for at least basic health care. If you aren’t a senior citizen, don’t have health insurance provided by your employer, cannot afford an individual policy, and are thus uninsured, her smile – which you are helping to pay for – may thus be more important to our elected officials than your life.
A Problem of Perception
|Call us Neo-liberals, New Democrats, Clinton Democrats. Call us Peter Beinart Democrats. We’re in a battle for the soul of our party, with what might be called the “Michael Moore Democrats” or the “Chris Owens Democrats”, and the perception is that we’re losing.
To cop from the dust jacket of Beinart’s recently published “The Good Fight: Why Liberals – and Only Liberals – Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again”, we believe the that “America must lead the world by persuasion, not command”, George Bush believes the opposite, and American and the world are suffering as a result. By contrast, Michael Moore Democrats believe we should not lead, and when we do, we are invariably a force of evil. Moore not only believed this in Iraq; he believed this in Bosnia and Kosovo as well (apparently, stopping genocide is morally heinous). In contrast, Clinton Democrats, exemplified by Beinart, believe “that liberalism cannot merely define itself against the right, but must fervently oppose the totalitarianism that blighted Europe a half century ago, and which stalks the Islamic world today” and “an unyielding hostility to totalitarianism – and a recognition that defeating it requires bringing hope to the bleakest corners of the globe. And it means understanding that democracy begins at home, in a nation that does more than merely preach about justice, but become more just itself.” To Moore Democrats, the one word definition for a Clinton Democrat is: “Republican”.
Progressive Yellow Dog Democrats
|The results in Connecticut seem to have created a new species in politics – Progressive Yellow Dog Democrats.
The term Yellow Dog Democrats has it’s origin in the states of the old Confederacy where most Whites pledged to never vote for a Republican because of Lincoln winning the Civil War and freeing the slaves. These voters said they’d vote for a “yellow dog” if he were the Democratic candidate.
But now people who would never be considered in any way similar to these Southern racists also seem to be saying similar things regarding Joe Lieberman.
Chasing the Metal Rabbit
|How much more would the federal government have to spend on health care to provide universal health insurance? How much more would New York State have to provide in state education funding to provide every New York City child with a qualified teacher and an a national average class size? How much more would the MTA have to borrow to build long promised improvements such as the Second Avenue Subway? Now imagine you were asking these questions in the early 1990s, when former President Clinton held up a card and promised universal heath care and the Pataki, Silver and Bruno era began in Albany. What numbers have you arrived at? Chances are, that much and more has been borrowed and spent since. But like a football held by Lucy Van Pelt, these benefits have been pulled away at the last moment, and the money has gone elsewhere.
Chasing the Metal Rabbit
|How much more would the federal government have to spend on health care to provide universal health insurance? How much more would New York State have to provide in state education funding to provide every New York City child with a qualified teacher and an a national average class size? How much more would the MTA have to borrow to build long promised improvements such as the Second Avenue Subway? Now imagine you were asking these questions in the early 1990s, when former President Clinton held up a card and promised universal heath care and the Pataki, Silver and Bruno era began in Albany. What numbers have you arrived at? Chances are, that much and more has been borrowed and spent since. But like a football held by Lucy Van Pelt, these benefits have been pulled away at the last moment, and the money has gone elsewhere.
Chasing the Metal Rabbit
|How much more would the federal government have to spend on health care to provide universal health insurance? How much more would New York State have to provide in state education funding to provide every New York City child with a qualified teacher and an a national average class size? How much more would the MTA have to borrow to build long promised improvements such as the Second Avenue Subway? Now imagine you were asking these questions in the early 1990s, when former President Clinton held up a card and promised universal heath care and the Pataki, Silver and Bruno era began in Albany. What numbers have you arrived at? Chances are, that much and more has been borrowed and spent since. But like a football held by Lucy Van Pelt, these benefits have been pulled away at the last moment, and the money has gone elsewhere.
Chasing the Metal Rabbit
|How much more would the federal government have to spend on health care to provide universal health insurance? How much more would New York State have to provide in state education funding to provide every New York City child with a qualified teacher and an a national average class size? How much more would the MTA have to borrow to build long promised improvements such as the Second Avenue Subway? Now imagine you were asking these questions in the early 1990s, when former President Clinton held up a card and promised universal heath care and the Pataki, Silver and Bruno era began in Albany. What numbers have you arrived at? Chances are, that much and more has been borrowed and spent since. But like a football held by Lucy Van Pelt, these benefits have been pulled away at the last moment, and the money has gone elsewhere.
Give Peace A Chance
|"We’re a left wing Zionist Movement, and we believe Israel has the right to defend itself, We’re not pacifists. Unlike in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel isn’t occupying Lebanese territory or trying to control the lives of Lebanese. The only occupier is Hezbollah, and Israel is trying to defend itself.”
Yariv Oppenheimer, General Secretary-Peace Now