Health Law Critic is upset he has to wait for coverage

Andy Harris, Republican, new House Member from Maryland and Health Law Critic, is upset that he has to wait a month for his new health insurance coverage to take effect. He was informed in a briefing last Monday about employee benefits for new members of Congress, staff aides and family members. The Federal Employees Health Benefits plan starts covering new members of Congress and their families about a month after they enroll. Harris is strongly opposed to the new health care law, which he would like to see repealed. So let me understand his position. Representative Andy Harris is complaining that he has to wait a month for health insurance for him and his family that he wants to deny to millions of Americans. The American people deserve the same government provided Health Care benefits as Congress receives.

Letter to Republicans

Now that the election is over, I have a challenge for the new Republican majority. If you are retired or nearing retirement, I challenge you, as fervent believers in smaller government, to "just say no" to your Social Security and Medicare.

If you truly are in the majority and if you truly have the courage to stand up for your beliefs, by turning down these two socialist programs you will reduce the size of two mammoth entitlements by over 50 percent. We can shrink the size of government without relying on Congress to do anything.

You will instantly reduce the deficit by a huge amount, be an example of real patriotism and no longer feel guilty about being a closet socialist. So, stand up and do the right thing for yourselves and your country. You can do it!

(This blog has been paraphrased from a Letter to the Editor by Carl Darnell, Central Point in the Mail Tribune, November 10, 2010)

Trip to Turlock - Wednesday, November 17, 2010

This is the last day of my eight day trip to Turlock/Yosemite. I had to scrape the ice off my car windows. I ate a bacon-egg-and cheese biscuit and small orange juice at 7:30AM at Yreka. I stayed the night in Yreka as I did want to go over the Siskiyou in the dark. It turned out that I might as well have gone anyway. The fog was so thick I could only see a couple hundred feet. I found a red car to follow until the fog cleared. I stopped at Harry & David in Medford to purchase some gifts. I found two caches near the Valley of the Rogue State Park: Watch Your Step and [Our] Lady of the River. I ate tendercrisp chicken sandwich, diet coke and apple pie for lunch at Burger King in Grants Pass about 12:15PM.

I stopped for an hour at the Seven Feathers Casino. I did not play any of my money. Walking around watching the players and looking at the machines reaffirmed my belief that Indian Casinos are only profitable for the casino not the patrons. It was windy and dark by the time that I reached Eugene. Soon there was torrential rains and flooding. I got home about 7:30PM and unloaded the car in the pouring rain. There were television broadcasts of Urban Flood Warnings until 9:00/9:30PM.

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Tuesday, November 16, 2010

I ate a bacon-egg-and cheese biscuit and small orange juice at 8:30AM at Willows. I ate tendercrisp chicken sandwich, diet coke and apple pie for lunch at Burger King in Shasta Lake about 2:15PM. I stayed the night at Motel 6–Yreka. I took the bedspread and the paper thin blanket off the bed and covered the bed with my unfolded sleeping bag to keep warm.

I found two caches: Willows Break and Woodson Bridge Caches. I did not find four caches including the I-5 Interstate Highway Challenge Cache. The tree had all of the lower branches cleanly cut off. I found a large white plastic spider in the grass and leaves under the tree. I took a flashlight and looked in the large circular drain but could not see anything. I came across an interesting sight in an olive grove this morning – a large green olive with a red straw diagonally through its center.

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Monday, November 15

After a breakfast of blueberries and yogurt topped with Quaker Oats, my daughter, Catherine, left for work. I packed the car and headed north for Vancouver, WA. I purchased an Italian sub sandwich, chip and soft drink at Subway in Galt. I ate my lunch near Hwy 99 overlooking flooded fields west of Coursman. I watched a couple white herons. I got a hot fudge sundae at McDonalds in Gridley. I ate tendercrisp chicken sandwich, diet coke and apple pie for dinner at Burger King in Willows. I stayed the night at Motel 6 in Willows.

The most memorable cache was “In Memoriam” in Yuba City. The caretaker told me about the plaza which was an Eagle Scout project and the story of the tragic event. Twenty eight Yuba City High School Choir students died after a bus loaded with 57 students plunged off a Hwy 680 off-ramp near Martinez and landed upside down about 11:00AM on May 21, 1976. Two teachers were also on board with the husband of one of the teachers following in a car. One of the teachers, Cristina Estabrook, died in the crash.

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Sunday, November 14, 2010

After a breakfast of blueberries and yogurt topped with Quaker Oats, my daughter, Catherine, did a few hours of work while I read Carl Hiaasen’s “Sick Puppy.” We stopped at Safeway for snacks and bottled water about 1:30PM. We found four geocaches and a benchmark in Modesto and Merced areas. The sunsets this weekend have been really spectacular! We got Subway sandwiches, chips and soft drinks for dinner at 6:00PM which we ate in the apartment. We watched a funny DVD movie "Analyze This" starring Robert De Niro, Billy Crystal, and Lisa Kudrow. Somehow I lost the spare key to my car. Probably threw it in the trash when I cleaned out my car.

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Saturday, November 13, 2010

After a breakfast of blueberries and yogurt topped with Quaker Oats, my daughter, Catherine, did a few hours of work while I read Carl Hiaasen’s “Sick Puppy.” Catherine is the Civil Engineer for the Castle Airport Taxiway Project. I visited her over the weekend to break up her month and half long stay in Turlock. We had sandwiches for lunch.

After lunch we drove to Yosemite via Merced. We saw a 68-foot obelisk at the corner of Hwy 140 and Arboleda Drive. It is the final resting place of George Hicks Fancher, 1828 – 1900, a prominent Merced County farmer and businessman. His tombstone was the subject of a lawsuit that went to the state court of appeals. Fancher's will set aside $25,000 for burial and a "monument" on one of his ranches. One of his sons wanted to spend $2,000 on the gravestone in the local cemetery and build a library in Merced with the rest. Another son wanted the will followed to the letter, and so the legal battle began. The court ruled, in effect, that monument means monument, and that his wish to be buried on his ranch was to be followed. So the current monument was erected presumably with him under it (no evidence of his original burial in the local cemetery remains). Yosemite travelers gained an unexpected sight on the way to the park.

At Yosemite we saw Bridalveil Fall, El Capitan, Upper and Lower Yosemite Fall, Half Dome and the outside of The Ahwahnee. It was getting dark by the time we returned to Turlock. I photographed two water tanks as the sun was setting but do not have a clue where they were located!

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Friday, November 12, 2010

I left Red Bluff quite early. I ate a bacon-egg-and cheese biscuit and small orange juice at 8:30AM at Willows. I got a muffin at the Dunnigan General Store at noon. I ate a Chicken Classic at McDonalds in Galt about 4:00PM. I arrived at my daughter Catherine's apartment in Turlock about 6:00PM. We visited and then went to Cool Hand Luke’s for dinner. Since I ate late at McDonalds I just had Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream.

My most memorable cache of the day was located at the historic City Cemetery in Sacramento. Captain John A. Sutter established the cemetery in late 1849 with a ten-acre-gift to the city. In 1880 Margaret Crocker donated the final acreage on the hill. The highest point in this cemetery may also be the highest elevation in Sacramento, as well. During the flood of 1861, the cemetery served as a safe haven from high waters.

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Thursday, November 11, 2010

I backtracked from north Medford on I-5 to find a cache and then headed south. I ate bacon-egg-and cheese biscuit and small orange juice at McDonalds in Phoenix for breakfast. I ate lunch at Burger King in Yreka and stopped mid-afternoon for hot fudge sundae at McDonalds in Red Bluff. I had big bowl of chili with corn bread for dinner at Perko’s Café in Red Bluff. I stayed the night at Motel 6 – Red Bluff.

The most interesting cache of the day was “Stone’s Turnpike.” Until 1860, only a dangerous pack trail through the upper Sacramento River Canyon linked Oregon with California. Yreka’s merchants and settlers wanted a safer wagon road. The rugged terrain defied road building efforts until the Upper Soda Springs-Pitt River Turnpike Company built 44 miles of road from Upper Soda Springs (north Dunsmuir) to Stone’s Pitt River Ferry (now under Lake Shasta). Stone’s Turnpike Road is now Interstate 5. The most interesting sight was the snow capped Mt. Shasta.

Trip to Turlock/Yosemite - Wednesday, November 10, 2010

I decided that I was going to drive the entire trip off the top half of the gas tank which was a very successful decision. I left Vancouver about 6:00AM. I spent most of the morning learning how to use the Garmin GPSmap 60csx and the Garmin nuvi. I got a Bacon-Egg-Cheese Biscuit at McDonalds in Woodburn. Ate lunch at Taco Bell in Sutherland about 12:45PM and stopped at Myrtle Creek Dairy Queen in mid afternoon for a Dilly Bar. I ate dinner in Medford at the Wathams Truck Stop Restaurant about 8:30PM. I stayed the night at Motel 6 - Medford North. The most interesting cache of the day was the “Bite of Heaven.” I went inside where I mentioned that I was a geocacher to the employees and received a special treat.

American people deserve the same government provided Health Care benefits as Congress receives

While over 46 million Americans remain uninsured and millions more underinsured, members of the U.S. Congress -- Representatives and Senators alike -- receive some of the best health care benefits in the country, much of it paid for with taxpayer dollars.

Yet these same members - especially Republicans - vow to delay the implementation of Health Care that would extend similar protections to the rest of America and want to eventually abolish Health Care altogether.

The American people deserve the same government provided Health Care benefits as Congress receives.