The Dog bites Grandma

His Obamaness is so desperate to salvage anything from his foray into the world of socialized medicine that he's now touting bounty hunters to hound your grandma.

Dog and his tattooed offspring will make damned sure Granny didn't claim to be sick when she really was just pissed off because the cable teevee went on the futz and she had to go the hospital so as not to miss any episodes of "All My Rotten Kids" or whateverthehell soap she likes.

Look, folks, keeping people from stealing money, even government money, is something a proper society does. So is getting stolen money back to its rightful owners.

But at what cost? Medicare and Medicaid years ago hung signs along the Yellow Brick Road to the public trough: : "Come and Get It. Quacks and Thieves Welcome." Professional hypochondriacs got engraved personal invitations.

And now electronic posses are to be deputized to wade through your most intimate records. Yeah, Washington says it will be limited to health records for people using Medicaid and Medicare. This is the same Washington that told us to go a-nationbuilding in the Middle East 'cuz there were all those nukes in Iraq.

I bet uttering the word "privacy" in Washington these days draws smirks from across the spectrum of conventional political thought -- and probably gets you a looksee for the no-fly list as a dangerous radical.

Jealousy

The Broad Ripple lady and her roomie are a couple of teases, what with their tropical bicycle riding pictures and all.

We have a certain amount of snow remaining, even in the sun-drenched areas -- about two feet as of Saturday when the old bridge was snapped on canal hike a few hundred yards from my quarters. There's a little less today, but getting across the field from the house to the water is still snow shoe work.

(No, you can't shoot there. It's inside the village limits and a game preserve to boot. I still carry a belt gun in deference to the cougar rumors.)

Write your critter

Okay, so maybe it is futile, but I still believe telling the truth to legislators is worth doing. This morning's contribution goes to a state rep here in the corn fields.

---

Dear _____,

I was taken by a subhead in the Register this morning on the programs labeled "child development."

"Fifty-nine different boards provide oversight of state empowerment efforts. Since 1998, $336 million has been spent, but the number of children helped isn't known."

What on earth does this say about (a) the laws passed by the legislature and (b) the willingness or ability of legislators to pay attention to the results of what they do?

Hiring some people and printing up a new letterhead is not necessarily a good thing, even if everyone screams, "It 's for the children!" A legislator who make this point forcefully is a legislator history will remember kindly.

He could also note that the best child development program is a caring parent with a library card.

----

I forgot to remind him that any law or program using "empowerment" in the title is 100 per cent certain to be a scam .

As to the Olympics recently ended:

"While enjoying all this Olympic hoopla, we might note that the original Olympic games were pointedly and specifically non-national. Winners were highly honored as individuals, but no notice was taken of their place of origin. Those old Greeks were touchy and irascible people, but they held that regionalism was inappropriate to athletic competition."

Jeff Cooper seemed to get many things right.