Tis A Season

Here it is, Christmas again.
So Season's Greetings.
Here is, would you believe it, a SEPTA subway, decked out- you can ride on it up and down Broad Street but everyone uses the other cars.....

 

 

 

And here are a bunch of guys in South Philadelphia, who, all on their own, head out to the Italian Market on the last Sunday before Christmas singing carols until inebriation begins to mangle too many verses- they are about mid way through the journey at this point -

 

 

 



Just a few vignettes for the season.
What's this yellow stuff anyway?

BIG CITY TRANSIT

Recently I had the pleasure of  a "behind the scenes" tour by SEPTA (that's South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, they run busses, subways, els, trolleys and trains in these parts). Hauling hundreds of thousands of people all over the place is an enormously complex task. SEPTA is the sixth largest transit organization in the country and one of the best. Last year they won a bus rodeo for crying out loud.
So here is where they keep an eye on stuff going on....this is just one subway line-

 

 

 

They also have folks watching cameras all over the place to help catch ne'er do wells throughout the five county area. Not to mention glimpsing at the weird folk that on occasion traverse some of our public transit.

Like to tinker with stuff in the garage? Check out where they take care of subway cars-

 

 

 

 



And you can walk underneath these cars in a long trench. Very cool.

 

Here is what connects the subway to the third rail. Get between this and the third rail and there is nothing left but....

 

 

 shoelace nibs and a belt buckle, along with passengers angry at "jumpers".

Safe travels!!

 



REAL HOLIDAY SPIRIT

So we all know folks go to sometimes absurd lengths to grow giant pumpkins. In fact there is quite a lot of science, dedication and work involved. Many of us would be tempted to think that this is a silly waste of time. Those have not been to Damariscotta up in Maine in October.
Up in Damariscotta they know that this is what to do with giant pumpkins-

 



Or this -

 

 

These and many others like it bedeck the main street of this bucolic Maine coast town, where they used to build ships and nowadays do tourists and wonderful pumpkins. When in Maine, don't miss it!



Outstanding Signage

We often pass by glorious and informative gems as we go about our business. But it sometimes pays to keep one's eyes peeled. For example, here in the Quaker City, we have the unique institutions shown here-



 





On the left is a place that may be most helpful to many of our residents who are jerks. Their question "Where should I go?' has an easy answer in our town - just go to the JERK CENTER. What could be easier?
Kenny's is an outstanding establishment, offering "cigarette" and its the only place on the planet where one can obtain a "PACKED ICE CUBE". No lie, you can't get this item anywhere else!

At our beautiful 30th Street Station, there is a special place where one can make free calls!

 

Since I lack the photographic acumen of my grand nephew in Maine, I must explain that the free calls are available from a not pay phone, removed from this booth in order to make way for a new free call system.

 

So people keep your eyes peeled!

Crap Free (not free crap)

To the tune of "Born Free", the one about the lion-

Crap free, as all of the junk goes
More free as the pile grows
Crap free as I empty our house

This is about the wondrous joy brought about by getting rid of a lifetime (or even more than one life time) of accumulated stuff. Actually, its mostly crap, since only my things are "stuff" and others' is "crap".

 

Since I have been in the old manse for 35 or so years, an extraordinary amount of crap has accumulated, mostly not of my doing. Now its just Connie and me here so of late an unending stream of crap and some stuff is flowing out. Pictures of long dead family nobody remembers, old 45 rpm records, unopened boxes of games, bags of bags, my old man's hospital bed (had to be dismantled), the stupid black recliner and the ugly chaise lounge are but highlights of the exodus underway. Only the departing books give me some sadness, but nobody wants most of them so out they flow.

 

 

Where does the crap go? Metallic crap goes to the curb where its promptly picked up by our loyal bands of scrappers. Some goes out with regular trash on Thursdays. And some I haul to a place sacred to me, one our fair city's four municipal dumps open to the public. Few things in life give me as much joy as tossing crap into the maw of the trash truck and watching it get crushed to oblivion.

Whatever enters there will never haunt me again, its gone forever.

The dump also has special places for scrap - it contains a chair and stupid stool nobody ever sat on, gone now from my life -

There is also a place for electronic crap, all those pieces of "must have" glowing screen junk that get wrapped up and shipped to some godforsaken place where they get recycled into new electronic crap-

The guys operating the dump are a pretty jovial lot, if a tad over weight, and if they have to change trucks there are always plenty of dumpsters at hand. They are not quite as satisfying since they don't crush the crap, but departure from my life is complete nonetheless. And, just to make the dump run a total joy, there is a fine Italian bakery just up the road. Makes for a fine morning.

A Real Crappy Doglet

There are all too many little dogs, or doglets, around theses days. They are not really dogs, more like defective cats. And it seems they are all spoiled rotten and generally nasty.
Here we see a guy who was trying to walk a doglet, which sat down every two yards and would not budge until given a treat.

This guy could easily hurled this useless creature down the sewer inlet, or simply hurled it across the street. Or he could have taken off the leash and left the mutt there to be rescued by some youthful pretty young thing. But no, he just fed the mobile garbage and very slowly progressed to his abode.
The other day I happened to look in the paper ads about pets. Hard to believe that people pay hundreds of dollars to own living excrement. They probably also have black appliances and granite counter tops....

Service with a Smile

After a great deal of work, the old dishwasher on the third floor of the great manse in Germantown was dismantled and taken out. It had served well for some time, but awhile back it just plain gave out. A dishwasher is hard for one person to lug down three flights of stairs until the door and motor are removed; then its a piece of cake.
Here in our part of the Quaker city we enjoy the free service of guys who take any sort of metal from the curb to recycling places, known formally as scrap yards. Those individuals are scrappers, and the do much more valuable work than rappers.
So here is the demised dishwasher-

 

 

And here is the scrapper, who took it away within sixty seconds of its arrival on the curb - you could not get better service anywhere on the planet, and its FREE!!

 

 





End of the World

I'll wager you did not know that the world's end was a place, not an event. We here in the Keystone State actually possess this place, within the bounds of World's End State Park in our very own Sullivan county (home also of the Lopez Winery, and of the Civil War era Fishing Creek Confederacy).
Its a fine and beautiful place, with a worthy camp ground which we inhabited over the July 4th weekend along the mighty Loyalsock creek.
Here is what the end of the world actually looks like-

 

 

That's the mighty Loyalsock down in the gorge.

 

This state park provides the visitor with considerable amenities, even in some pretty remote locations.

 

One, a fancy latrine, is near the vista from which the picture above was taken. One is cautioned to be careful not to abuse their comfort stations-

 



Coolth Pays

The other day while downtown (which we here in the City of Brotherly Love call "Center City", as if it were someplace else) this young man was busy trying to adjust his engine. Using an array of tools from a very fancy wooden chest just visible on the trunk in back, he tinkered away, blocking the bus lane.
Moments after this picture was taken, an world worn geezer in a wheelchair came out to provide guidance to the young mechanic (who seemed to be completely capable on his own) and blocked the second lane of 8th Street at Market. This is not a quiet intersection, especially during the work day.

 



What is notable about all this is that nobody honked their horns, nobody screamed at these guys in English, Spanish or Ebonics, nobody even made obscene gestures. They just waited and gazed at the cool car, and traffic just stopped, including SEPTA's Mighty 47.
Being cool pays.
(some time ago in a similar circumstance, a bus driver, noting a distraught tourist in a failed rental blocking the street, called for volunteers from the passengers, and led a crew to shove the car out of harm's and the bus's way; that car was uncool)

But is it really Art??

So while heading off to New York to visit offspring, gazing out the train window, we caught the work shown below, just past the yards of AMTRAK's 30th Street Station in the Quaker City. Look closely, and especially the person in the center. And the adjacent title to his right - "SZONE". Clearly this mural was thoroughly planned and laid out.

 

Now lots of folks feel that anything called "graffiti" is a disgrace to our society, damage to property and generally an outrage. Unlike murals which appear here and there sponsored and executed by respectable citizens and organizations, much street art is really stupid and ugly.

 

Some street art, however is worthy of admiration. Enlarge this picture and check out the expression on the guy's face - a perfect rendition of the expulsion of viscous matter by rapid pressurization. And note the man's eye, following the trajectory of his discharge, making sure it is accurately delivered to some unshown target.

 

Think also about the logistics of creating this painting. Along railroad tracks carrying AMTRAK and SEPTA trains night and day, some within inches of the painter's canvas. And how much stuff the artist had to lug to the site, probably a couple of gallons of paint at least. One must admire the courage and stamina of the artist, regardless of one's opinion of his (or hers) artistic accomplishment.

 

This piece is so much more than a simple scribbled tag. It is a true work of art. If it was just some crappy graffiti it would look like this-

 

 

 

Wilderness Creeps In

Just a day or so ago, we were visited by a pair of Turkey Vultures, never before seen by anyone we know in our fair city. Usually they populate rural places, where they clean up carrion.

One morning a couple of weeks ago a deer appeared right downtown, perhaps having got off the wrong subway station. Caught by the cops, the deer escaped and headed to New Jersey (so often a bad idea) where it was killed on the bridge by a texting driver.
And we have had three, count 'em three black bears captured or killed in our nearby burbs.
Not to mention giant worms.
What next? Spotted Anchelins??

Poor Little Lost Souls

For the last few years we have been coaching first graders from Philadelphia's Sheppard School, located in our poorest ZIP code. These are kids that hardly have homes, let alone parents that read to them, or support the idea that learning matters. Aside from their teachers, we are, in many cases, the only people that tell them that reading is important.
So much for blaming the teachers and the schools.
Sometimes we make a lot of progress, sometimes we don't, but it is always good to try.
Here is Luis, my kid, diagnosed last month as autistic, who speaks a language all his own. He can read some, does numbers well, and loves his watch and can tell time with it-

Connie has three girls, who are doing pretty well, at least some of the time-

These are the kids our state's politicians have left behind, hoping they will just go away. They won't, I hope.

Winery Exploration - From Eagles Mere PA, the "Avalon of the Poconos"

Our third winery exploration took us far up into the endless mountains of the Keystone State. For those that do not know much about our state's wine history, William Penn planted the first vineyards in North America in the 1600s. By 1900 every one of our sixty seven counties produced wines of various types. Just so you know.
So off we went heading for Eagles Mere, in remote Sullivan County. This is a real summer place, completely deserted between winter hunting seasons and Memorial Day. Lots of real classy big houses, deserted until the summer, just like Avalon. Stayed at the Crestmont Inn, a small remainder of a once grand fancy joint that was demolished to make way for crappy condos in the 80s. A fine restaurant and no Spotted Ancelins.
Started our winery checks with a place called Eagle Rock Winery in PaPorte, county seat of Sullivan County. These folks grow no grapes since "you can't grow grapes around here". Some of their wines are sold in cheap plastic bottles; nice store with wine chochkies. Proprietor may be a relocated New Yorker. She was quite wrong about not being able to grow grapes however. Decent reds, sweets.
Next was Winterland Winery, in Lopez, once known as "Sawdust City" from all the now defunct lumber mills. An eclectic place that buys local grapes from the area and from Erie PA. Some nice whites, cute store.

Winterland Winery in the "Sawdust City"

Next my favorite of all, perhaps the quirkiest of any we've seen. In Lopez PA, the Lopez Winery. Strewn and cluttered with all manner of memorabilia that some would call junk. Looks like the owner, an extremely happy man, serves as much in full glasses as sampling sips, and some locals may mistake it for a bar. Also features, from time to time, free deer stew. Eight types of grapes on 1100 vines planted in 2000. Decent reds and whites.

Real cozy Lopez Winery Tasting (?) Room that seems like a bar

Best ever winery freebie

At Laddsburg Mountain Winery (three vineyards) in Dushore PA one is welcome to write a note on the floor. And lots of taxidermy samples on the wall. Decent whites, reds I think need some work.
Last wine stop was Grovedale Winery and Brewery, in new facility on the east bank of the mighty Susquehanna. Family has been there for 8 generations, and does a nice job making reds (best on this tour), whites, and next door some pretty nice beers.
And then home, after a short hike to some of the 20 odd waterfalls at Rickett's Glen State Park, a fine place for outdoorsy types.

"Its Like You Are My Uncle"

For the past few years we have had lots of fun hosting Fulbright Scholars who gather in the City of Brotherly Love in the Spring. Usually we get four, from all over the world, and they are always bright, modern and engaging. We pick them up downtown, haul them to Germantown on the train and give them dinner, which they always enjoy. And leave little in the way of leftovers.
So this year we had Fernand Franco from Columbia, who fell in love with electrical engineering; Merve Durak from Turkey, an Operations Research lady, Qushay Malinto, from Indonesia, learning more about reproductive technology and who has yet to see his new daughter since he had to leave his wife at the hospital to make his flight to the US; and Iva Kosmos from Slovenia, studying literature and cultural studies.
After dinner we took them to the Art Museum so Fernand could get a good picture of our fair city, and they all jogged up the steps just like Rocky did in the movie.
We are always amazed how similar educated smart young people are, and how much they connect with their families. We have much to learn from them.

Fulbrighters at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Beware the Spotted Anchelin!!

The Spotted Anchelin - "so dumb, so bitch" and is to be found all over the place. Don't know about the Spotted Anchelin? Someday you might.
At any rate some inhabit the great city of New York, which we recently visited to see an Off to the Power of Ten Broadway comedy production of "Laundry Day" put on just for fun by Sara and some of her Girdle (former Penn girls who were Bloomers until they graduated and became Girdles) associates now residing in Gotham, at a hole in the wall in Greenwich Village. Don't know about "Laundry Day"? Well, they had only one show and made a few bucks so that's it.
The Village is a zoo. A livelier  zoo than, say, Fort Lauderdale at Spring Break, but a zoo nonetheless. College kids and the usual big school (in this case NYU) hangers on that just can't leave and who probably should not have arrived in the first place. But fun to see.
Visited Brad and Sasha in Astoria which we found to be very lively and much cooler than its general reputation. Cooler than Brooklyn, if not as hip. They are very big on brunch in Astoria, and they do it well.
No visit to NYC is ever complete without those oh so special subway ads. This one was the best of the crop we saw-well worth the subway fare and much more fun than a cab-

 

Now THIS is ADVERTISING!!!

Literacy and Numeracy

I've written before about the first grader I coach in reading. He is Luis, and now it turns out that he is autistic based on a real diagnosis. Just another hurdle for this kid from our poorest ZIP code. Thinking back, it should have been clear something was amiss. The real clue was how his classmates would watch out for him, lend him a hand and worry over him. Aside from the kids, only his teacher paid attention until parent (or possibly, but unlikely, parents) bothered to check him out. So very sad.
Some think autistic equates to stupid or ignorant, but with Luis this is not so. When he comes downtown for the Reads program, he often gazes at the other office buildings in an obvious state of worry and talks in a language all his own - neither English nor Spanish, its just his, and he made it up.

Recently I have begun tutoring an adult - an entirely different matter, the organization trains one to tutor and tutors have to make lesson plans, etc. My "learner" has waited for two years to get a tutor. He is 37 years old. He writes pretty well since he had to write letters from prison, and can easily handle articles from the newspaper. He is finally getting the idea that he need not fear or hate reading. Math however is a subject that he completely slept through. Lost his house, his wife and his kid when he "went away" for a few years, and now is trying hard to get a real life again. Long road for him, I'm real glad to try and help.

Its amazing to me how critical it is to learn stuff, and how costly it is not to.

Overwhelming

Our mayor, governor and archbishop have just returned from Rome, where they and other area luminaries spent the better part of a week trying to convince the Pope and his gang to come to Philadelphia. This is in connection with a real big family celebration hoo-hah slated for the not too distant future.
It seems that the hoo-hah all by itself will supposedly attract a few hundred thousand Catholics to our fair city.  But add the Pope and voila! we get a million. And as our emissaries hung about around the Holy See, the number of potential visitors climbed - first to one million and a day or so later to two million.

"Glad to be here, hope you are too!

A few hundred thousand steaming asses yearning to be free is one thing, but two million? In the span of less than a week? We have had a good number of several hundred thousand crowds before but two million guests is more than we have hosts.
Where will they stay? Hotels around here are already booked for this deal, and the ones in the burbs can fit only a small fraction of such a horde. So even if they just sleep in parks, or stay awake all day and just wander around, where will they excrete? How many Port A Potties are there? Can we get them by rail, like the Bakken crude coming our way from one of the Dakotas, in mile long trains? Has anyone thought what could happen if our sewer and sewage treatment facilities overflowed? Is there enough food? Those guys in clashing plaid suits at city hall should be working on this stuff now.

Could happen on a street near you

Like many big cities, ours is short on cash, so perhaps we could utilize this opportunity to haul in some much needed revenue by charging folks to leave town when they are all done their huzzahs?
Just a thought...

Dumb and dumber

I quote below from an unrecalled source-

"A quarter of Americans surveyed could not correctly answer that the Earth revolves around the sun and not the other way around, according to a report out Friday from the National Science Foundation.
The survey of 2,200 people in the United States was conducted by the NSF in 2012 and released on Friday at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Chicago.
To the question "Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth," 26 percent of those surveyed answered incorrectly.
In the same survey, just 39 percent answered correctly (true) that "The universe began with a huge explosion" and only 48 percent said "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."

Add to this the number of our fellow citizens that believe that the Loch Ness monster (which does not actually exist) proves that cowboys could have ridden dinosaurs. This makes me sure that my feeling that we are getting stupid as a nation is correct.
I blame this on glowing screens. First came television, which early in its history was touted as a wonderful educational tool. It turned out to be a real stack of crap, a thoughtless void that deadens the mind. Then we got the internet, touted in much the same way. It too turned out to be a mostly useless pile of garbage, the most popular selections being god and pornography, neither of which do much to improve one's thinking.
Thinking is not really hard, but since, for the most part, we don't have to, we don't. Thus we become stupider day by day.

Hate Filled Bits of Evolutionary Garbage

Sometimes bits of information coalesce into brilliant ideas.
Here is one of the info bits, from niece Betsy. Betsy does social work in Denver, and has discovered over time that whenever she has to extract kids from abusive homes in which a dog is present, the dog is always a Chihuahua. Not sometimes; not often, but always.
Another bit of info: from elsewhere I learn of neighborhoods in Arizona and perhaps other places, being over run by packs of these mongrel creatures.
A third bit: my Abby is going on a cruise after she graduates college. I know this because I am paying for it, otherwise I would just wonder where she is.
From these bits, a brilliant idea:

CHIHUAHUA HURLING CRUISES



Communities with too many of these hate filled bits of evolution's garbage could capture them and supply them to cruise operators, claiming they are sending them to beautiful places. Once on board, passengers would be able to sign up to hurl these doglets into the ocean. Toss out some chum, and when the sharks begin circling near the ship, and heave ho the rat dogs. Points could be awarded for hurling style and distance. Catapults or bats could also be used. It could, possibly, become a recognized sport.
Remind me to write about Rat Eatin' Frogs someday...

: .

Bath Salts??

In case you have not noticed, there has been a rash of strange happenings around the country wherein men become crazed when confronted by law enforcement, yell gibberish, attack people for no apparent reason, and race about, stripping off their clothes. I have noticed these especially in Florida, which is an extremely odd place, full of nut jobs (just check out http://www.reddit.com/r/FloridaMan). Here is a San Francisco man in a subway station - http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/06/naked-man-san-francisco-bart-subway-video.html.  The phenomenon is not limited to Florida, but has also occurred here in my hometown and California and Maine that I know of.
It reminds me of a long lost but unforgotten misbehavior called streaking. Drunken college kids would dart about naked, usually un-confronted by law enforcement. Perhaps they spewed gibberish, perhaps not. They did not attack people, just gave some a bit of a shock.
The current phenomenon seems to be fueled by bath salts, according to some reputable New England sources and others. It turns out that this is all quite legal and pretty common, especially among hicks and stupid people; according to daughter Abby some of her college mates from Pennsyltucky are familiar with such things.
Some fun, eh?

Personal Ponderings

Inspired by a recently received grand bathroom reader (True Remarkable Occurrences; John Train, Clarkson N. Potter) I began wondering about some common figures of speech than do nor make any sense. To read this fine book, I go and take a dump. I can also take a whiz in the snow out back. Take it where? Is it just lying around somewhere it should not be? One would think we would wish to leave such things, not take them with us.
Recently I have noticed the phrase "on the ground" cropping up all over the place - my morning paper, the radio, TV; everybody is citing "sources on the ground " or "activists on the ground", or "facts on the ground". Even NPR and the BBC do this. So are there airborne activists, sources and facts? That fly around and look at stuff? Why don't we ever hear from them? Perhaps some are in the rivers and oceans? Why not just say where these sources etc. actually are? Of course they are on the ground, unless they are birds or drones. Or fish.

Activist on the ground?

Here is something else I ponder- do deaf people worry about the sounds of flatulence? Does being deaf enhance the sense of smell enough to give them the same joy of flatulence that hearing people have from the sound of a robust release of pent up wind?

Just a few items to occupy the mind on a cold winter day.

There Really is no Bottom in the Land of Giants

We teach children that things have a bottom so they will not fear being flushed down the drain or the toilet. But in reality and in politics, there is no bottom. Just pay attention to what goes on in your state legislature, where far more harm can come from than any other level of government.
Here in Pennsylvania, the "Land of Giants," just in time for Martin Luther King's day, one of our public servants wants to free us from all anti discrimination laws. This by amending the state constitution so that any discrimination is OK provided it is based on a "sincerely held belief" of the discriminator. That's any type of discrimination at all.
So any Pennsyltuckian mild minded nut ball who falls for some sort of tin foil hat crap on the internet can forget that his co-citizens have the same rights he does and act accordingly. Since I myself sincerely believe that rap music indicates a failure of the mind, I could deny a fan or practitioner of that genre housing, money, food, employment, or anything else. And I would be right to do so, since I sincerely believe that rap music sucks.

 

Please meet Pennsylvania State Rep Gordon Denlinger, from New Holland PA. He is a republican and an elder in his church, a graduate of Bob Jones U (is this outfit accredited yet??). He has been serving in the state House for ten years. A true denizen of the "Land of Giants."

 



["Land of Giants" is term coined, and a book published, by the great former Philadelphia Inquirer political columnist Steve Lopez. He has since moved on the LA Times and film fame in "the Soloist." His fine work is now carried on by John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News.]

Made in the USA

 

We should all be grateful that our country does in fact produce a lot of real good stuff even though we suffer greatly from excessive noxious winds. For some time I have been trying to buy US made stuff and have found it well worth my while. Why this last bit is centered, I do not know..

Take clothing.
Most recently I have been able to replace crappy undos that fall down over my butt with fine products called "Wickers", made in New Hampshire. Much, much better! http://www.wickers.com/. Socks? Get "Wigwams", they are even better than John Deere (bet you didn't know about John Deere socks, that's what you get for shopping at el cheapo stores..).
Best work clothes in the world? Get them from "Prison Blues", made by inmates in Oregon prisons. Forget your Carhart double knees, made who knows where.

Speaking of work stuff, LL Bean's boots, made in Maine - the only footwear I would compare to my old USMC boots. Also from Maine, real boat shoes by Rancourt in Lewiston. Costs more, worth more - my kids will throw these out when I am gone!

 

I just got a union made jacket, made in the USA, seventy five bucks. Warmest I've ever had, go and try to get something this good at your local big box. Good luck. And if you patronize Bill's Khakis of Reading PA, not only will you get trou built like a brick shit house, they will send you catalogs with Bill being ever so rugged, suave and debonair all at the same time.

 

Remember, you get what you pay for!!!



Noxious Winds

After seeing a couple of hilarious communications about flatulence, I wondered if, by extending the interpretation of the word, we have become engulfed in a gale of noxious winds.
By this I refer to the verbal equivalent of farting wherein some statements are so foul in their vitriol, hatred and stupidity that they may as well be considered as mere emissions of noxious gas.
It seems that we are subjected to this from every quarter. From reality shows on TV to sputterings from governors' mansions (Pennsylvania and Maine in the lead here), to flapping congressional lips we get a constant flow nonsense and ignorance.
Consider just one topic, and less than one day's gas emission from just two people.
We live in times when a fool like Donald Trump can make pronouncements about climate change, and, much worse, there are those that go along with him. And to quote Newt Gingrich, thought by too many to be able to offer wisdom of some sort-“the age of the dinosaurs was dramatically warmer than this is right now and it didn’t cook the planet, in fact, life was fine.” He should know.
Its nothing other than noxious wind, flatulence in all but odor.

The Presidential Switcheroo

With all the yammering and whining one hears about the Affordable Care Act (known as "Obamacare" by the mild minded), one would think its a new idea, and that its a liberal conspiracy at that.
It is especially strange that so called conservative representatives of districts most in need of the benefits of the act seem to be most venomous in their objections to it.
In fact the bulk of the AFA (that's Affordable Care Act) is modeled after ideas initially put forth by the Heritage Foundation years ago. Not known for its liberalism, the Foundation's idea sparked then governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts to initiate what was then known as "Romneycare.". Most all of the objections we hear today about Obama's efforts were proven wrong back then. Despite his Power Point presentations of his presidential campaign to the contrary, much of "Obamacare" is copied from "Romneycare."
So what's really going on here? How is it that the republican party forgot itself and decided to go against one of it's very rare rational ideas? And this one actually worked!
What we now call conservatives are in too many cases merely sets of lips that flap whichever way gets them away from the lousy places they lived in before the got to Washington. They know and care very little about their party's history or their country. In their frenzy to cater to folks too stupid to vote their own interests, they squandered the best political opportunity in a generation.
Or perhaps they feel like grad students that do all sorts of research work so that a professor they don't like gets a Nobel prize.