SPACE FILLER

For the past few days the broadcast news media has had little to focus on excluding Mandela's death. The only positive happening was the house passing a budget compromise for the next two years. It is not ideal but better than the  nonsense  that has been the norm there for the past few years. The Senate still has to act on it but when is the question. Perhaps not until they return from the holiday break

10.am: The latest news is that it may or may not come out of committee for a floor vote today. However there seems to be a large Republican opposition that may keep it in committee. 

Instead we have been drowned in  stories of murder, gunmen in schools and malls, stabbings, hit and run accidents, violent carjackings and locally for a change a new story about the dysfunctional Edison Police.

The point of this brief ramble  is that I truly have nothing to write about. Yes the Obamacare fiasco is still ongoing and we will not know the true extent of this misadventure perhaps for another month. One anecdote; I know of a person who has an open wound infection in the leg and can not work. He is receiving treatment but can not- and he lives in a metropolitan area- get an appointment   with a specialist in wound care for several months! This is going to be an increasingly common problem as a result of  the ACA and the pool exchange coverages.

I read in the paper either the Times or the WSJ that eight or  less percent of those under 30 have signed up for insurance. This is the group that the  insurers are counting on to make a profit; and  they fell to obtain policies the companies will have to vastly increase the premiums for those covered.

Tuesday in the snow I shall have a report on the Council meeting. .