So many problems, So little time, All from one incident

I was particularly impressed (not in a good way) with the series of stories that broke following the recent snow storm in New York City.  The first reports were that the snow was so bad that ambulance service was interrupted and helpless sick people died at home and babies were delivered at home and perished as a result.  Certainly those are awful stories and I sympathize with the plight of those who suffered as a result.  But it wasn't long before the cacophony of malcontents from New York echoed throughout the news network coverage with their complaints of somehow being deprived of what they perceived to be some sort of entitlement to immediate ambulance transport and medical care at their nearest health care facility.  This sense of entitlement on their part somehow abrogates the right to safety of those who would otherwise be charged with transporting these people to said health care facilities.  It is a strange world we have created wherein average citizens can convince themselves that their need for the health care commodity is of such import that it trumps the right to safety of the EMT.  I'm no EMT but I do know that one of the first things the EMT is charged with when arriving on scene is to assess the scene for safety - THEIR OWN SAFETY!  If those who are supposed to be saving you aren't safe in their rescue operations then they can't possibly perform that SERVICE.  How exactly does one come to the point that they believe they are so important that their own personal needs outweigh the safety of others?  I just can't seem to reconcile that in my mind.  I am well aware that this situation represented life and death to a few of New York's citizens but even that cannot be permitted to goad us as a society into placing our EMT's and Medical Transport personnel into harm's way.  This situation in an oblique way outlines one of the undiscussed problems with health care (and indeed other social programs) in this country.  That problem is that there is a contingent of people in this country that view the health care commodity as a right or an entitlement.  It is not and can never be for the very reason that it requires someone else to provide that service.  Rights are things inherent and do not require someone to be put out to provide that.  A right can only exist in the negative sense (i.e. no one has to directly provide it) and not in the positive sense (i.e. someone has to directly provide it).  For example, one's right to liberty requires no one to actively provide it (though certainly it does require some level of protection via police or military force I suppose).  The right to life is another example.  However, health care has to be directly provided by someone and also has to be paid for by someone and therefore can not be a right.  This situation outlines the toxic entitlement mentality that unfortunately has come to be quite common in this country.

The second and perhaps more sinister issue that cropped up in news stories after New York's Big Snow Storm was that the unionized workers of New York City's sanitation department (not really clear why sanitation would be charged with snow removal but whatever) staged a slowdown of services and complete disregard for their duties in protest of demotions, cuts in the department and declining numbers of positions.  Anyone that has ever worked in business shouldn't have too much difficulty seeing the problems here.  Heck, anyone that has ever had a job shouldn't have any trouble seeing this isn't acceptable employee behavior.  If I ever did that at my job I would be vilified before being fired.  But since there is union "protection" in place these buffoons will keep their jobs and most probably the city will cave and re-create positions that aren't really needed and therefore continue to run over budget.  That is the problem with unions in both the private and public sector.  They put too much power and influence in the hands of people who aren't really qualified to have that kind of power.  There may have been a time when unions were necessary due to gross disregard of worker's rights and unsafe working conditions or unfair pay but does anyone think any of those conditions exist in New York City's sanitation department?  So why then do they need to have a union?  If these union workers are proven to have shirked their responsibilities to make a point (and based on news reports it is pretty much a proven case already) then they should be held criminally liable for those that were left to die in their apartments because ambulance crews could not perform their duties safely.  Anything less than prosecuting these idiots with a litany of crimes will be completely unacceptable.  This would also be a prime opportunity for New York to abolish the unions that are apparently holding the city captive as well.  It would be a great first step in ridding our fine country of union influence from top to bottom.

Fun in the snow

To the best of my knowledge, I spent my first 24 full consecutive hours "unplugged" in years yesterday.  This is because we are on a family getaway to Snowshoe Mountain ski resort having some fun snowboarding and skiing and riding the tubes.  The cell phone service stinks around here and it took us a while to get the laptop out and log onto the network.  We have had a great time so far and the slopes have been perfect.  My nephew Brett is quite the snowboarder.  I've been quite impressed with his skills so far.  My sister Kristen and her SO Jeff have been down on the skis a few times.  They are still trying to get their legs under them.  Deanna is really picking back up quickly with her ski skills as well.  I was a little concerned that my 6 year old son would be either too scared to try snowboarding or get discouraged and frustrated by his attempts.  We tried to encourage him to do lessons to help him learn more quickly but he flatly refused (he's stubborn like his mother).  So we went to the top of the mountain and started to drop in on one of the green slopes (beginner slopes).  He set at the top and strapped on his snowboard and then refused to go down because he was "scared".  So at that point I told him lessons were no longer a suggestion but mandatory.  I took him in and signed him up for snowboard lessons which didn't start for another 4 hours or so.  At that point, he decided he wanted to try once again to go down one of the green slopes so we went back and strapped in.  To my surprise he popped right up and started going down.  He made it roughly 20 or 25 feet and fell.  He managed to get back up and repeat the 25 foot runs and then fall several times.  He eventually got better and by the time we made it to the bottom he had made several runs of 50 or 60 yards without falling.  He really picked up the balance part quickly but had difficulty with slowing down and steering the board.  It would be fair to point out that this was probably a more successful start to snowboarding than I had.  He attended the lessons yesterday afternoon and seems to have gained a fair amount of confidence from that.  We went out for pizza after the slopes closed for the evening and he fell asleep at the dinner table.  Apparently he had played pretty hard and worn himself out.  He had wanted to go out for night snowboarding at some of the slopes with lights but was obviously too tired.  So we are going back out today for more boarding fun.  We also are going to hit the tube hill later with Anna.  We are thinking about letting her try to ski Friday as there have been many children her age or possibly younger out there trying and I think she just might enjoy it.  We shall see.

And then there was one. More. One more.

Over the past couple of years, I have started following various blog feeds.  A few of these typically discuss political leanings, some focus on sports, a smattering on parenting and lifestyle even some medical in nature.  Most of the time these readings are quite entertaining and offer good insight into lives very different from my own.  I have been asked on occasion if I blog and that answer heretofore has been "no".  I have had a few of my friends suggest that I should start periodically blogging to help keep in touch with friends more distant.  One person even suggested that my rants were so entertaining that I might one day be able to quit my day job.  But the most intriguing is one of my friends who recently told me that my perspective on health care and more specifically the delivery of health care and the politics that drive that delivery would make for a quite interesting and possibly influential read.  I guess all that stuff is nice but I don't particularly see myself in that light.  I already feel like I keep in touch with those friends that care about me and/or that I care about.  I know that there is no hope of ever turning my random thoughts into any type of financial empire.  There is quite simply no one dumb enough to pay for that type of inanity (and no that word is not missing an "s") and after a while I tend to be more abrasive than entertaining.  Heck, I've had relatives "unfriend" me on Facebook because they felt that my debate style was too aggressive.  And I harbor no delusion that the random thoughts I have on my job or the health care profession in general are anything more than just random thoughts.  They don't offer any profound insight or shiny new perspective.  In fact, a substantial proportion of the people I work with have similar thoughts and ideas on health care even if they aren't as forthright with their feelings.  And the truth is that I don't even have all that unique of a political stance.  I'm pretty much a social liberal and a fiscal conservative.  If you looked up Libertarian (or more specifically Libertarian Minarchist) then you would more or less have my political views figured out.  So, why start a blog?  I guess it will mostly be sort of like my therapy for when I hit my manic phase and need to transcribe my flight of ideas into relatively incoherent and loosely associated words and thoughts.  So, brace yourselves.  Here goes.