Summer recap

I am trying to get my ducks back in a row for the start of the school year. It's a little harder with one less duck. This felt like a long summer, but certainly not in an unpleasant way.

Yakov spent 5 weeks as a counselor at YJ and had to take Tamiflu for 10 days as prophylaxis against the swine flu.

Shoshie spent 4 weeks in Israel. She had a great time despite injury and sickness.

Noach worked on his Bar Mitzvah prep with determination that paid off in an outstanding performance. He will reprise his Haftorah skills by chanting part of Jonah at the Yom Kippur service in September.

Shoshie had a panicked spell, because in the last week before registration, the state legislature pulled much of the support from the dual enrollment program at the community college. This program was well-used by her brother who will go to UNC-CH with over 30 hours of college credit, thus saving us at least one year's tuition. But the short term benefit of dual enrollment is how it demonstrates to prospective colleges that the student can handle college work. Each cc in the state was able to decide how to deal with this and, the evening before registration, our cc decided to allow no courses for dual enrollment except science, math and some tech classes. She was eventually able to get a math course and a geology course and that is not a bad outcome. She could not continue Spanish which was disappointing but we have gone back to OSU for Spanish online.

I have been unable to post much because, well, I'm just depressed about things going on. The absolute inanity of the healthcare debate takes my breath away. Death panels, my god. And if Texas wants to secede, then to quote Peewee Herman, "I say, let 'em go".

And Sunday before daylight, Yakov left for 9 months in Israel. He called Monday morning to tell me he is in a "crackhouse"* with 7 other guys in some impoverished town in the Negev desert. "It's great!"

So I will try to start posting more. PRM

* My rodent-phobic mind sees this as a rat infested cinderblock building with stained mattresses on rickety bunk beds, but I could be wrong.

Not quite wordless Wednesday

JP and Yakov whistling Bohemian Rhapsody. I wish you could hear it.

One of them is leaving home Sunday morning. For 9 months. And, in truth, never to return as the same child.

I've been through this before. Big E grew up and left home. I survived. He survived and flourished. That's the goal of parenthood, to launch a responsible, loved person into the world. But it doesn't make reaching that goal less painful. PRM

Noach's Bar Mitzvah Tour

Last week we left home, traveling from our home in NC to Hot Springs, Arkansas to have Noach's Bar Mitzvah. We had it there for a couple of reasons. Noach, and the rest of us, have a real affection for our former rabbi, who moved there two years ago. Yakov and Shoshie studied with him and Noach wanted to do the same. Also, Hot Springs is much closer to JP's family in the Memphis area.

Here are our bags. Yes, they are laundry bags. The dryer broke right before we left home so the first night's stop was my mom's condo where I did laundry.

Here JP has found his inner craft skills, curling ribbon for bows. Fortunately he could do this and rest at the same time. Multitasking!

In the evening after the event, we had dinner on the Belle of Hot Springs Riverboat. Our lovely daughter-in-law is standing. The rabbi is at her elbow.

I hear Gilbert and Sullivan when I see this picture,

"He's hardly ever sick at sea!
Then give three cheers, and one cheer more,
For the hardy Captain of the Pinafore!"

Three funny bunnies and an apprentice.

It was wonderful to celebrate with our friends and family. I think everyone had a good time. Pictures of the Bar Mitzvah boy later. I couldn't find my camera most days and had family members take photos for me. PRM

Wordless Wednesday

She's back. Obviously I am not the only one glad to see her. And she is already attached to the cellphone.

Ducks are almost in a row, at least for a few days. Then it's off to the Bar Mitzvah. PRM

Wordless Wednesday

The sister in Israeland her friends. PRM

Wordless Wednesday

Brothers

Meet Wendell Potter

Potter is a former executive at Cigna, one of our largest medical insurance providers. In December 2007, Nataline Sarkisyan was a 17 yo girl, a cancer survivor who needed a liver transplant who died because Cigna initially refused to approve coverage for the surgery. The surgery was eventually approved but only hours before she died. Mr. Potter was the public face for Cigna at this time. And it clearly had an impact on him.

He has retired now and is ready and willing to tell the rest of us the truth about the health insurance industry. What he says should be obvious if you think about the business of insurance. The insured person gives his money to a company that must take that money, pay its executives, provide profit for its shareholders and finally pay for the medical care that person needs.

"Looking back over his long career, Potter sees an industry corrupted by Wall Street expectations and greed. According to Potter, insurers have every incentive to deny coverage -- every dollar they don't pay out to a claim is a dollar they can add to their profits, and Wall Street investors demand they pay out less every year."

Watch Mr. Potter on Bill Moyers show from last Friday night.

What value does the insurance company or its stockholders add to medical care? NONE! I think there was hope at one time that competing insurance and managed care companies would rein in costs but that has not happened. Premiums go up, executive salaries go up, stock prices go up. Coverage goes down. And the CEO's compensation is not based on what great coverage his company provides but what profits he can wring from the premiums he collects and how little he spends for health care.

Scare tactics like "Do you want a bureaucrat between you and your doctor?" can be answered with "Right now, I have a CEO between me and my doctor."

Personally I'm for a single payer system. But a public option may be all we get at this time. But if we don't get a public option then we will not get the change we need and the change I voted for. And I will be angry. PRM

She made it

Shoshie is in Israel.

For your listening pleasure

let me suggest these NPR segments

Science Friday last Friday had 2 segments of particular interest, "Celebrate July4th with Backyard Science" and "Fireworks are Packed with Chemistry". We love to blow stuff up here. I have been thinking of getting Yakov a copy of Absinthe and Flamethrowers: Projects and Ruminations on the Art of Living Dangerously by one of Ira Flatow's guests, William Gurstelle. Another guest, Anne Helmenstine who writes at About.com chemistry, is the source of the smoke bomb recipe we used during the last chemistry lab.

Today Diane Rehm had Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on her show. Adichie was there to promote her new collection of short stories, The Thing Around Your Neck. Last November I wrote of how much I enjoyed her novel, Purple Hibiscus. Only last week I read Half of a Yellow Sun and it was even more moving. Go and listen to her if for no other reason than to hear her mellifluous voice and laugh. PRM

It's like a bus station here

This week there were/will be lots of comings and goings.

Shoshie is right now in the air on her way to Tel Aviv. Pray for safe travel and peace in the Mideast.

Noach returned from Scout camp Saturday. Back to studying for his Bar Mitzvah. In some ways this is an improvement over camp.

Yakov will return from his camp counselor's job at Camp Judaea on Thursday.

Also this week we celebrate Noach's 13th birthday and our 20th anniversary.

Busy, busy, busy. PRM