SWCAMBORNE

Matt G my brilliant blog dude has added a counter to this blog that reminds me, and you, how many days it is until I’m eligible for the Medicare Buffet.   I’m already putting off some medical treatment.  I have written before about the unsustainable cost of the baby-boomers on the Medicare system.  To continue the buffet metaphor; fortunately for me I’m at the front of the line and so I’ll be able to get a full plate.  For those arriving a decade or so down the line the pickings might be pretty slim.

President Obama, to his credit, is trying to do something about Medicare costs.  His plan is a combination of new health benefits to younger, healthier and poorer people as a way to placate the left while cutting benefits or at least the cost of benefits to medicare recipients.  It may or may not work because old people pay attention and vote.  In my opinion Medicare like prescription drug benefits needs to be means tested and the co-pays need to be high enough to effect behavior.

In 1993 P. J. O’Rourke said “If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it’s free.”  He was right.   For old people Medicare makes health care free and now we know that the cost will bankrupt the country.

Since last week I’ve been angry about Jimmy Carter calling anyone who disagrees with President Obama a racist.  He may have called you a racist also.  Now you can check the Obama Criticism Flow Chart and see if you are, by Jimmy Carters standards, a racist.  It is a very clever and funny graphic that perfectly highlights how ridiculous Carters remark was.

Jimmy Carter is becoming to the Democrats what Zell Miller became to the Republicans.  As some people age they stop heeding the social constraints that used to keep them from making incendiary remarks.  President Obama may have to throw him under the bus.

This weekend is Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year.

I’d like to wish a happy and sweet new year to all.

“L’shana tova, tikatevu”

Nurit organized Rosh Hashana dinner at her parents house with the girls.  With all of the issues we have had in the last year this was no small feat.  The food was excellent and the event was filled with sweet nostalgia.  After dinner and again on Saturday morning we went to services at PJTC where Rabbi Grater gave two excellent sermons.  One on the idea of seeing the butterflies not the diving bells in life and the other about the changes in our small Jewish community.  The weekend has inspired me to attend services more often and become a better member of the local community.  Stay tuned.

If you want economic growth and greater affluence for all, there is simply no alternative to “trickle-down economics.”
Irving Kristol (1920 – 2009)
The Father of Neoconservatism.

My friend Paul D. offers this example of the type of creative thinking necessary to survive the recession:

Paul’s very successful small company makes displays and cabinetry for jewelry stores.

EF Hilton

We make a living by what we get,

but we make a life by what we give.

Winston Churchill

News that President Obama has said that he might meet with the Dalai Lama reminded me of an analogy I made years ago.

Tibet is to China today what the “Indian Nations” were to the USA in the nineteenth century.  Tibet’s old agrarian and nomadic culture cannot survive against China’s modern bureaucratic capitalism.  It is very similiar to the way the Navaho culture could not survive against the expansion of the United States “Empire of Wealth.”  It is sad that old cultures have to die for newer ones to thrive but it is the case.  In the long run the cultures that have survived have been those that offered their citizens the most security, opportunity  and freedom.

The Dalai Lama traveling in the USA to plead his lost cause is similar to Indian Chiefs touring the European capitals in the 1880′s.  It is sad and nostalgic.  We all wish that things didn’t have to change, but nomadic, agrarian societies cannot deliver medicines that save children’s lives and modern western capitalistic democracies can. 

In 2004 eight  Codger Divers went to Grand Cayman.  After a hard day of diving we would go to the Big Bamboo Brew Pub, watch the cruise ships sail out of the harbor and drink a few beers.  Then we would make Andy drive us home in the Maruti.  Weston Robba, the son of Codger Harte Robba, was recently in the Caymans and has reported that the Big Bamboo is no more.  Fortunately I saved one of the collectible plastic beer mugs:

It is now a very valuable artifact of the time before the hurricane.  I will donate the cup to the Codger Divers Museum for a valuable tax deduction the next time I have any taxable earnings.   I went back and found some of my old photos and built a memorial album on Flickr.  It was easier than I thought.  See Big Bamboo Pictures Here

2004 teaser photo

We got home from Arizona yesterday and while cleaning out the pond filter basket I saw something wriggling.  It turned out to be a tadpole.  There are tadpoles in the pond! In fact there were three tadpoles in the basket.  Tadpoles means Frogs.  With Rebecca’s help I took a picture:

This is great news there hasn’t been a frog sighting since last September.  A Frog in the Pond. This proves it I am an environmentalist.   Do I have to buy a Prius?

Is there a difference between a Tadpole and a Polliwog?

When President Obama wants to smoke does he have to stand outside the White House?

Thanks to the Smoke Blog for this picture

Hey don’t get mad at me according to this CBS News story the President admitted at a June 2009 news conference that he still smokes.