I finally have to respond to the WSJ’s running (seems like daily) diatribe on what they term Obamacare. Obamacare is the federal health care legislation written largely by Senator Max Baucus and Speaker Nancy Pelosi with the President rarely taking a stand on anything within the legislation itself. In a Thursday op-ed piece the Journal stated: “…Mrs. Pelosi, who would lose her speakership and perhaps resign if Democrats lose their majority. But we suspect she has long believed that losing was possible but worth the risk to pass Obamacare. You have to break a few careers to make a European entitlement state.”
As I read the constant vitriol spewing from the right regarding this seriously flawed health care legislation there is virtually never a mention of the many Americans who go bankrupt, die and suffer under our current health insurance system. When the Journal tosses off a phrase like: “You have to break a few careers to make a European entitlement state’ they forget that behind that offhand and divisive phrase stand tens of thousands of suffering American citizens. I would ask them to contemplate and respond to their fellow citizens who have the health care that is worse than that found in some 3rd world countries (the World Health Organization rates us 37 below Costa Rica, Dominica & Chile).
I completely understand and sympathize with folks concern over the economic cost of this new entitlement, especially in light of the overwhelming anxiety over our growing deficit, but health care for US citizens is a moral issue much the way civil rights was and a solution must be found.
Two incidents have always stood out to me as road markers for the almost complete screw job Americans got in the federal health care legislation. The first was Rahm Emanuel’s deal with the pharmaceutical companies BEFORE the crafting of the legislation even began. The second was the forced removal by congressional security police of supporters of “single payer” health coverage from the “public” hearings of Senator Max Baucus. All the while he had a phalanx of health insurance lobbyists sitting behind him at these hearings. This shameful incident was covered by (the much missed) Bill Moyers on one of his Friday news shows on PBS. In retrospect I think this was in fact a metaphor for the American people, who were summarily ejected from the health care debate in its entirety (no wonder people were pissed off!).
As we watch the fascinating experiment by the British in their newly embraced austerity it is interesting to note that the only aspect of public service to NOT be subjected to the austerity knife is public health care. Every other civilized country (and some un-civilized ones too) have come up with solutions to public health care. Many in congress had other schemes, ones that included much needed cost containment, tort reform, greater efficiencies and an emphasis on personal responsibility but they were pushed aside for this mammoth, complex and costly plan does virtually nothing to address the core problems in the American system.
Clearly operating within the confines or out debased, corrupt and morally bankrupt government is not the answer. I think a solution will only be found when the American people conjure up the moral fortitude to demand of itself a solution that gives all citizens proper healthcare. We simply cannot call ourselves civilized and ethical, much less Christian when our citizens die for lack of proper healthcare.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Getting Lowe with Joe Lovano
Had another one of those great music weekends seeing songwriter extraordinaire Nick Lowe on Friday and saxophone master Joe Lovano on Saturday.
Nick Lowe is making a short, rare U.S. tour with his full English band so this show became a must attend date for me. Lowe’s band is a real English all-star group featuring Geraint Watkins (keyboards), Robert Trehern (drums), Johnny Scott (guitar) and Matt Radford (bass). Having seen Nick more times than I can remember his voice seems so much better now than I remember it from the old days of the Rockpile band. Rockpile was the simply put one of the greatest traditional rock band ever, with Nick on bass, Billy Bremner and Dave Edmunds on guitar and Terry Williams on drums. As a live act they rank as probably one of the best 10 bands ever, spewing out a crushing blend of rock, blues, rockabilly, and country. I always thought Nick was a bit of a shaky singer back in those days but not so at the Somerville Theatre Friday night. His singing was spot on as was his relaxed and funny stage patter (his routine on the cost of bringing the band to America was classic underplayed British humor). His band had a very heavy British rockabilly flavor and recast some of the older classics “I Knew the Bride,” “Cruel to be Kind” in that mold to great success. The show drew mostly from Lowe’s later material, which was fine as the quality of his output has remained consistently superb throughout his long career.
The opening act was another “new wave” fav – Graham Parker who (like Lowe) continues to produce one great record after another while laboring in relative market obscurity. Parker played a solo set and was, as you would expect, funny, acerbic and smart. Such great fun to see him again, I reminded him after the show of his date at the Paradise where he and his band the Rumor blew out the entire electrical system in the club because they were playing so loud, he laughed heartily.
On Saturday we ventured to the new “Backstage Bistro” at the North Shore Music Theatre to have an excellent dinner and to see Joe Lovano and his band Us Five. Sponsored by the new North Shore Jazz Project, Us Five is an amazing jazz quintet made up of Lovano on saxophones, James Weidman on piano, Petar Slavov on bass and Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III on drums. The 2 drummers set up on either side of the bass player and Lovano, providing a stunning, complex dialog of rhythm behind Lovano. The duel drummers were instantly the most unique element of the group, at times playing together at other times trading off between each other. Lovano was amazing, possessing the lighter tone of John Coltrane, who he defiantly channeled in some of the more blistering parts of the show. Lovano’s seeming unending flow of inventive improvisation was a wonder to behold. In that respect he reminded me of Sonny Rollins, at time I would think he just can’t keep this up but he did – over and over again. The set was mostly made up of material from the bands wonderful Blue Note CD “FolkArt” as well as from their upcoming release.
It is become increasingly rare for jazz artists to have the economic stability to maintain a steady group, Lovano is able to do this and his listeners benefit from the cohesion and musical telepathy that such a band can generate.
Nick Lowe is making a short, rare U.S. tour with his full English band so this show became a must attend date for me. Lowe’s band is a real English all-star group featuring Geraint Watkins (keyboards), Robert Trehern (drums), Johnny Scott (guitar) and Matt Radford (bass). Having seen Nick more times than I can remember his voice seems so much better now than I remember it from the old days of the Rockpile band. Rockpile was the simply put one of the greatest traditional rock band ever, with Nick on bass, Billy Bremner and Dave Edmunds on guitar and Terry Williams on drums. As a live act they rank as probably one of the best 10 bands ever, spewing out a crushing blend of rock, blues, rockabilly, and country. I always thought Nick was a bit of a shaky singer back in those days but not so at the Somerville Theatre Friday night. His singing was spot on as was his relaxed and funny stage patter (his routine on the cost of bringing the band to America was classic underplayed British humor). His band had a very heavy British rockabilly flavor and recast some of the older classics “I Knew the Bride,” “Cruel to be Kind” in that mold to great success. The show drew mostly from Lowe’s later material, which was fine as the quality of his output has remained consistently superb throughout his long career.
The opening act was another “new wave” fav – Graham Parker who (like Lowe) continues to produce one great record after another while laboring in relative market obscurity. Parker played a solo set and was, as you would expect, funny, acerbic and smart. Such great fun to see him again, I reminded him after the show of his date at the Paradise where he and his band the Rumor blew out the entire electrical system in the club because they were playing so loud, he laughed heartily.
On Saturday we ventured to the new “Backstage Bistro” at the North Shore Music Theatre to have an excellent dinner and to see Joe Lovano and his band Us Five. Sponsored by the new North Shore Jazz Project, Us Five is an amazing jazz quintet made up of Lovano on saxophones, James Weidman on piano, Petar Slavov on bass and Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III on drums. The 2 drummers set up on either side of the bass player and Lovano, providing a stunning, complex dialog of rhythm behind Lovano. The duel drummers were instantly the most unique element of the group, at times playing together at other times trading off between each other. Lovano was amazing, possessing the lighter tone of John Coltrane, who he defiantly channeled in some of the more blistering parts of the show. Lovano’s seeming unending flow of inventive improvisation was a wonder to behold. In that respect he reminded me of Sonny Rollins, at time I would think he just can’t keep this up but he did – over and over again. The set was mostly made up of material from the bands wonderful Blue Note CD “FolkArt” as well as from their upcoming release.
It is become increasingly rare for jazz artists to have the economic stability to maintain a steady group, Lovano is able to do this and his listeners benefit from the cohesion and musical telepathy that such a band can generate.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
November – vote (or don't vote) @ your peril!
I am a fan of Peggy Noonan’s Saturday opinion pieces in the WSJ. She leans right but always brings intellect to bear and generally takes a larger more global & historical perspective that I find refreshing. This past Saturday she quoted Republican Mitch Daniels as follows:
Good practical advice on all this comes from Indiana's Gov. Mitch Daniels, who met this week in New York with conservative activists, journalists and historians. Our country is in real peril, he said, we have a short time to do big things to get it right. Republicans "need to campaign to govern, not merely to win." If Democrats are "the worst, the most malevolent" in their campaigning, "don't match 'em, let 'em." Be better. Be serious about the issues at a serious time.
This excellent quote gets at the heart of 2 matters, the general feeling that we are at the precipice on a number of issues and that the next 5 to 10 years might be critical to our very survival. The second is that politics have come to mimic their multi-national corporate handlers in that the primary concern is the next election cycle (the political equivalent to the next corporate quarterly profit report) and that there is precious little long term, strategic thinking, i.e. we run to win not to govern.
So the key question to Tea Party morons and the republicans is this, are you campaigning to win (throw the bums out!) or to actually govern. Would Mr. Daniels regard Massachusetts Attorney (and birther) Bill Hudak with his yard festooned with Obama as Osama Bin Laden pictures a "serious" candidate for a "serious time?" The huge amount of corporate money flowing into republican campaigns gives one precious little hope for the future as the moneyed interests are seeing this groundswell of public anger as a great tool in which to bring a friendlier corporate environment into Washington. Less annoying regulations, environmental concerns, global warming, functioning educational system and most of all LOWER TAXES!
As far as I can tell, for many on the right, EVERYTHING revolves around a mania about taxes (this, of course might just reflect my own proclivity!). It seems, at times, that conversation on all issues pivots primarily on the subject of taxes. This obsession, and the incredible energy being devoted to it, is small minded, anti-intellectual, shortsighted and ultimately destructive to our country.
Friday, October 1, 2010
More Stupid E-Mail Tricks
The following is an e-mail I received from a client who asked; “is this true?”
MY ANSWER – This e-mail is mostly deceptive and false - it refers to the "Medicare" tax and it applies to all capital gains transactions (not just homes) starting in 2013, but it would only apply (1) IF the transaction was taxable (above the $250K/$500K sale of home exclusion) and then (2) only if the individual was in the income range to have this Medicaid tax applied. So it will probably affect very few people, in my practice I have never seen a sale of home taxed since the $250/$500K exclusion law was passed by President Bill Clinton.
It makes you wonder what ignorant shithead wrote this piece, or decided to pass it along. It is clearly deceptive using the $400K and $100K examples - there are WAY too many variables in this calculation to use a simple generalization like that. If a couple sold a home for less then $500K the transaction would not even be reported on thier tax return, let alone taxed!
This is a prime example of the crap hurling around the Internet these days, I am reminded again and again of something my brother Mark Riley said many years ago; “the Internet is the greatest source of mis-information in the history of mankind.” I would only add that, that goes double for e-mails, so be careful what you pass along. I have yet to get 1 of these kinds of e-mails that is true.
Did you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it? That's $3,800 on a $100,000 home etc.
When did this happen? It's in the healthcare bill. Just thought you should know.
SALES TAX TO GO INTO EFFECT 2013 (Part of HC Bill) - REAL ESTATE SALES TAX
So, this is "change you can believe in"?
Under the new health care bill - did you know that all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% Sales Tax? The bulk of these new taxes don't kick in until 2013 (presumably after Obama's re-election). You can thank Nancy, Harry and Barack and your local Democrat Congressman for this one. If you sell your $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax. This bill is set to screw the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Is this Hope & Change great or what? Does this stuff makes your November and 2012 votes more important?
Oh, you weren't aware this was in the Obamacare bill? Guess what, you aren't alone. There are more than a few members of Congress that aren't aware of it either (result of clandestine midnight voting for huge bills they've never read).
MY ANSWER – This e-mail is mostly deceptive and false - it refers to the "Medicare" tax and it applies to all capital gains transactions (not just homes) starting in 2013, but it would only apply (1) IF the transaction was taxable (above the $250K/$500K sale of home exclusion) and then (2) only if the individual was in the income range to have this Medicaid tax applied. So it will probably affect very few people, in my practice I have never seen a sale of home taxed since the $250/$500K exclusion law was passed by President Bill Clinton.
It makes you wonder what ignorant shithead wrote this piece, or decided to pass it along. It is clearly deceptive using the $400K and $100K examples - there are WAY too many variables in this calculation to use a simple generalization like that. If a couple sold a home for less then $500K the transaction would not even be reported on thier tax return, let alone taxed!
This is a prime example of the crap hurling around the Internet these days, I am reminded again and again of something my brother Mark Riley said many years ago; “the Internet is the greatest source of mis-information in the history of mankind.” I would only add that, that goes double for e-mails, so be careful what you pass along. I have yet to get 1 of these kinds of e-mails that is true.
New Orleans – CODA
It is Sunday 9/26/10, the glorious 9th annual Ponderosa Stomp has ended and we are spending our last day in NOLA. We begin the day with a 2 hour “Cradle of Jazz” tour by John McCusker. This is my second tour with John who possesses that wonderful combination of knowledge and passion when it comes to traditional jazz and New Orleans. Amazing as it seems, John is the only person (to my knowledge) who does a jazz tour in NOLA and it is a must do event for anyone interested in the “Cradle of Jazz” in New Orleans. McCusker also has a great DVD of his tour called “The Story of Jazz – New Orleans Stomp” that you can buy on Amazon.com.
After a lunch of po-boys we went to see Fats Domino with his biographer and music historian Rick Coleman, who is hard at work on his forthcoming history of New Orleans R&B. Unfortunately Fats was taking a nap so we visited with his son Antoine Domino III for a while. Antoine was in the garage running Fat’s 2 Rolls-Royce Cornish automobiles (1 gold and 1 baby blue) to keep them in “ready to go” shape in case his dad wanted to use them, parked in the driveway was Fat’s Mercedes 600S, his daily driver, as well as a Cadillac.
Next up was a wonderful visit with New Orleans music legend Frankie Ford (“Sea Cruise”). Frankie has a wonderful home full of fascinating memorabilia from his 50+ years in music. He regaled us with stories of his career and antidotes of many of the legends he worked with and knew. During our discussion he spoke of Ernie “The Emperor of the World” K-Doe and he said something fascinating; that Ernie (who was an unrepentant alcoholic) suffered from “that New Orleans disease.” When I asked him what he meant he said simply: “here is my foot, someone get me a gun to shoot it.”
This comment hit me like a ton of bricks, as it struck me as a real truism of our beloved city. New Orleans does seem to have an odd propensity to shoot off its own foot in so many ways. You see this in its lack of support of the music it professes to love so much, you see it in the post-Katrina rebuilding of the city and the incompetence of city government (not that government incompetence is any more endemic in NOLA then it is elsewhere, it just feels more accepted). New Orleans seems at times to work hard against its own self-interest, but maybe that is just part of its quirky character that we all love so much. It is a hard city not to love, with all its faults, so I will end this by saying God Bless New Orleans and its great people, music and food!
After a lunch of po-boys we went to see Fats Domino with his biographer and music historian Rick Coleman, who is hard at work on his forthcoming history of New Orleans R&B. Unfortunately Fats was taking a nap so we visited with his son Antoine Domino III for a while. Antoine was in the garage running Fat’s 2 Rolls-Royce Cornish automobiles (1 gold and 1 baby blue) to keep them in “ready to go” shape in case his dad wanted to use them, parked in the driveway was Fat’s Mercedes 600S, his daily driver, as well as a Cadillac.
Next up was a wonderful visit with New Orleans music legend Frankie Ford (“Sea Cruise”). Frankie has a wonderful home full of fascinating memorabilia from his 50+ years in music. He regaled us with stories of his career and antidotes of many of the legends he worked with and knew. During our discussion he spoke of Ernie “The Emperor of the World” K-Doe and he said something fascinating; that Ernie (who was an unrepentant alcoholic) suffered from “that New Orleans disease.” When I asked him what he meant he said simply: “here is my foot, someone get me a gun to shoot it.”
This comment hit me like a ton of bricks, as it struck me as a real truism of our beloved city. New Orleans does seem to have an odd propensity to shoot off its own foot in so many ways. You see this in its lack of support of the music it professes to love so much, you see it in the post-Katrina rebuilding of the city and the incompetence of city government (not that government incompetence is any more endemic in NOLA then it is elsewhere, it just feels more accepted). New Orleans seems at times to work hard against its own self-interest, but maybe that is just part of its quirky character that we all love so much. It is a hard city not to love, with all its faults, so I will end this by saying God Bless New Orleans and its great people, music and food!
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