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Ok I have taken a couple of nights off, but after all this is supposed to be vacation. It's nice to be missed. Of the comments I received today, it seems there are some strong opinions about the Supreme Court decision to uphold the constitutionality of the Affordable Health Care Program, aka ObamaCare, aka Adordable Des Soins de Sante (Affordable Helath Care Program in French, since we seem to want to emulate the liberal socialist regime.)
But first, a note from our sponsor, no just an update about our trip so far. Yesterday (Wednesday) we went high into the Uintah Mountains to a special little piece of earth called Mirror Lake. It is about a hundred miles (Thanks for driving Dennis) north of us and it's surface elevation is 10,050'. Dennis, Jerene, Jack, Elizabeth, Mathew, and Grace as well as three dogs went up to the cool mountain air and enjoyed a picnic.
Now I have been working on my approachability as my wife told Dennis and Jerene I was not approachable and engaging. Dennis went to fish the crystal blue lake and the gang went for a walk and I watched the stuff at our picnic area.
I tried to look charming to everyone crossing our picnic area, but most of my "approachable" glances were met with suspicion and in the case of one 8 year old boy, outright fear. I even asked a man who was unloading an aluminum boat if I could help and he looked at me strange and said, "No, I got it."
Eventually this older couple came into our picnic area and I smiled and they smiled back. I said, "Hello." Perfectly executing approachability and engaging at the same time. The older couple smiled and did not reply. He looked out at the lake and pointed and his wife smiled. I said, "Isn't it beautiful?" They turned back to me and smiled. He spotted my fishing pole and pointed to it and looked at his wife. He looked back at me and said, "Fish".
It was then I realized they were not from Utah. The rough Asian accent was, I assumed Korean. After some pointing to mountains and several sand paintings in the gorund, I was sure he enjoyed fishing in the mountains of Korea on small flies made of gold that were made in Japan.
So after about 2 hours of being approachable and engaging, the longest intercourse I enjoyed was with a couple from Korea who do not speak English.
I eventually joined Dennis on the other side of the lake and he pointed to various people around the lake and told me where they were born, what school they went to, who their pastor was, what age their father stopped beating them, what their favorites ice cream was, why they converted from Mormonism to Judaism, where their recent goiter was, and when their children stopped nursing. I got a lousy sand drawing of a fish and hook?
Dennis and I finished the day catching the 5:00 rise in the Middle Provo. This was Dennis's trip for sure. He took a couple of real nice Browns and I caught some smaller ones, but what a great day.
Jack had shown some interest in joining us fishing. Today Dennis and I took him to Cabella's (Terry I am working on your range finder.) and got him fitted in Waders and Boots.
Then we had our obligatory breakfast at Joanna's, then it was back to the Middle Provo. Jack did well with Dennis providing plenty of support and tutelage.
Dennis had another great day catching some real nice fish. Jack caught two, not bad for his first day (since a wee lad). He enjoyed and was surprised how humbling the sport can be. As nice fish rose just feet in front of him he would yell, "They mock me!" He later explained to his mother, "If they had hands with five fingers, I know what finger they were waving at me as they jumped in front of me!"
We made it home in time for cold pizza and salad. I celebrated the great day with a 15 year old single malt. Life is good.
Now I have received about 7 e-mails and text messages about Devin and I winning a car in a contest. Yes it is true. A while back, The Mission Hospital Foundation was having a golf tournament and I could not attend. Devin and I bought some tickets to the event since we could not attend. Monday night I got a phone call from some car dealership in Mission Viejo, Ca. Apparently our name was drawn and we did win an Audi A 5 or Audi Q 5. There were two other options we are not interested in. So yes that is us and we are truly blessed. We write it off to good karma, we hope.
I just realized it is midnight and we have to talk about the wisdom of our Supreme Court.
That of course is the famous picture of Andy Card telling President Bush about the attacks of 9/11. It could have just as well been the look on his face today when his appointee, John Roberts Chief Supreme sided with 4 democratic appointed justices to affirm the constitutionality of the Affordable Health care Act.
Now I followed closely appointment of Roberts including the stepping down of potential appointee Harriet Miers. (This is a clear example why everyone should voted for president. The President appoints Justices to the Surpeme Court and once a decade or so, a life changing decision come before this bench. Today was one of those moments.)
In my vetting of Roberts I was very impressed with his interpretation and adherence to the constitution. If you have not followed the entire health care issue, the bill as passed had established the requirement for all peoples to have health care. As defined that would have made about 11 parts of the legislation unconstitutional. Slam dunk. Most people were expecting a ruling declaring at least 4 critical part of the law as unconstitutional. The government (Congress) cannot pass a law requiring the purchase of a product. Clean and simple. Roberts in a very broad definition sided with the liberal leaning justices that the implementation of the act is a tax, not a purchase of a product or a service. By definition, Congress can impose and collect taxes, making all 2240 pages of the bill constitutional.
Interestingly enough, my wife went ballistic when she heard the news. She has experience in front of the counter and behind the counter in the medical industry. She knows how this decision will impact the cost of health care and the quality of service. She also knows and reminded me that most American did not want this bill. (I did research that and discovered CBS, NYT, and Washington Post pools that do support her comments.) The majority of people 52% did not want the bill that was passed. NOTE, we said passed because even Congress and Senate did not get to see the document more than 36 hours before the vote and it was 2200 pages long. 8 out of ten republicans did not want and 6 out of ten democrats did not want it. How we have gotten to where we are is amazing travesty of poor governance.
So Roberts is correct in his decision. I do want to read his decision when published as I do not see how you can call an insurance premium a tax. That explains the look on Bush's face.
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