Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Showing posts with label Dayhoff writing essays presidents. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dayhoff writing essays presidents. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

WaPo: the ObamaCare component of President Obama’s legislative legacy


WaPo: the ObamaCare component of President Obama’s legislative legacy

August 16, 2016 / Kevin Dayhoff

When I was younger I loved writing about such things as the practice of medicine in Carroll County history and presidential history. Nowadays, not so much. But this is a rather fascinating academic assessment of one aspect of President Obama’s legislative legacy: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/obamacare.html?wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1 “Obama’s legislative legacy comes down to this question: What if?” by Mike DeBonis:

“President Obama’s landmark health-care law came with a steep political cost, leaving a host of questions about his legislative legacy: Could health-care reform have been done in a different way? Could Democrats have kept control of Congress for another two years or more? Was Obamacare worth it?”

Anyway, I would rather have a root canal than talk with even good friends about the presidential election.

I recently read a piece on Facebook by a pastor that I have always looked-up to, who chastised another pastor for wading into the political waters because he advocated voting for a particular candidate.

Then this pastor proceeded to say disparaging things about one party and write glowingly about the other party. He essentially committed the same offense, only it was okay that he did it because he advocated voting for the opposite party than the pastor he had just chastised for advocating a political position... 

When I ask many folks that have left mainstream denominational churches, why they left; I hear several themes consistently. One they got tired of hearing that they ought to contribute more money to the church. And two, they did not want to hear from pastors about politics when they went to church.

As for President Obama’s legislative legacy - I know that if I ever went back into political office, I would sidestep some of the issues I took-on head-on years ago when I was an elected official. The price was simply far too high. I will forever shake my head over some of the legislative initiatives of past presidents. You would think that at that level of accomplishment, one would learn to avoid the perils and pitfalls of political third-rails.

For some additional context on the legacy of ObamaCare, read a recent article in The Hill on "Aetna pulling back from ObamaCare in blow to health law - In a blow to the health care law, Aetna -- one of the largest health insurers in the country -- announced Monday that it will significantly scale back its presence on the ObamaCare marketplaces next year..." Find it here: http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/291531-aetna-pulling-back-from-obamacare-in-blow-to-health-law

Well, I am not a fan of Aetna – so I am not sure if this is a good thing or not…

Moreover, it is still far too early to determine the historic legacy of President Obama. Just like, for example, President John F. Kennedy and Harry Truman; from an historian’s point of view, some aspects of these administrations have stood the test of time well. Some not so much. I mean what in the world was President Truman thinking when he tried to nationalize the steel making industry? My partisan friends will not be amused to learn that presidential historians have come to consider President Bill Clinton as a conservative president and President Nixon a liberal president. Go figure.

Nevertheless, in addition to the recent article on the ObamaCare marketplaces, a number of business periodicals have carried recent articles that explain that once again, this year, the rise in the cost of healthcare is greater that wage increases.

For those of us who felt strongly that health insurance companies had abrogated its social contract with the greater community and that healthcare reform was an absolute necessity; many feel that we have taken two steps forward and three steps back. Take for example, pre-existing conditions. The position of the insurance industry to deny coverage to individuals because of pre-existing conditions, was nuts.

In the last several years I have worked closely with the healthcare delivery system on behalf of several family members and loved ones and my reaction is a mixed-bag.

Several steps into the local hospital and one enters a wormhole in which you quickly find that you are no longer in Carroll County. An esteemed local community leader who commented with the implicit understanding that he would remain anonymous, has recently reassessed his past glowing perception of the hospital and explained that today, “it is a very angry place. Avoid it.”

I have witnessed a number of folks retain attorneys before beginning negotiations with issues with respect to old-age care. In an era when many doubt that government can anything well, Medicare continues to be efficient and effective – but extraordinarily nuanced and complex. Regular folks going to the hospital do not stand a chance and they learn quickly that the social worker health care advocates are not on your side.


Anyway, give “Obama’s legislative legacy comes down to this question: What if?” by Mike DeBonis a read. At a time when so much partisan drivel is passed-off as journalism, Mr. DeBonis has presented non-partisan history junkies with a good read. Just saying. 
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Thursday, May 02, 2013

The Tentacle: The Presidents Club by Kevin Dayhoff Wednesday, April 24, 2013



McDaniel College history professor Bryn Upton, left, discusses the world's most exclusive fraternity, the "Presidents Club," with authors Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy at McDaniel College on April 18. (Photo by Kevin Dayhoff / April 24, 2013)



Last Thursday, Time magazine editors Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy provided a sneak peek behind the curtains into the most exclusive club in the world, “The Presidents Club,” to a crowd that filled McDaniel College’s Decker Lecture Hall in Westminster.

For presidential scholars and arcane American history junkies alike, the timing of the presentation could not have been more perfect. … http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5741

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Related: Eagle Archive: McDaniel talk offers glimpse into history of 'Presidents Club' by Kevin Dayhoff http://www.baltimoresun.com/explore/carroll/neighborhoods/westminster/ph-ce-eagle-archive-0428-20130424,0,7709543.story

Related







It has been almost two-months since the legendary rock-blues master British guitarist Alvin Lee; the lead singer of the band “Ten Years After,” passed away on March 6.

His sudden death at age 68 was attributed to “unforeseen complications following a routine surgical procedure… http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=5755
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Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
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E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Wednesday, July 07, 2010

The Wisdom of “Silent Cal”


July 7, 2010 The Wisdom of “Silent Cal”

Kevin E. Dayhoff http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3849

(1923 photo of "Silent Cal" Calvin Coolidge by John Garo)


The Fourth of July has come and gone. The fireworks exclaimed its last hurrah along with the Ooos and Ahhhs. The remains of the day include a few partially eaten hot dogs, a half-bag of potato chips, and the sticky, syrupy goo that we can call Maryland’s heat and humidity that clung to your skin and followed you home.

The flag that flew proudly on the rickety pole attached to the front of the house like a patriotic necktie has been retired for the day.

For those who enjoy historical trivia, there may have been a mention that two of the framers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, and his colleague in history, John Adams, both died on July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing the famous document we celebrate every year.

In my household, there are two celebrations that take place every 4th of July. There is a celebration of the excitement that we live in, what remains a somewhat, a free country. We have a moment of reflection for those who have gone before us so that we may continue to fight for our freedoms and, of course, a celebration of “Silent Cal Day.”

[...]


Now I can only be sure that you share my excitement at this point in time, and you feel a profound increase in your dopamine levels. Please understand that this is a normal reaction known as the “Coolidge Effect.”

However, before you feel a subsequent effect on your limbic system, get a grip on yourself and read on about this great man.Here: http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=3849

Labels: , ,

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/07/wisdom-of-silent-cal.html

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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Our nation's first president may not have told a lie, but he was not without his faults


Our nation’s first president may never have told a lie, but he was not without his faults. http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-nations-first-president-may-not_15.html

First president racks-up $300,000 in overdue library fines. http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-nations-first-president-may-not_15.html

May 10, 2010 by Kevin Dayhoff

The BBC is reporting that archivists in New York’s oldest library have uncovered a surprising borrower with overdue books.

It has been recently revealed that on October 5, 1789, our nation’s first president, George Washington, borrowed two books from what was then the only library in Manhattan, the New York Society Library.

According to the BBC, on October 5, 1789, a time when New York City was serving as our nation’s capital, President Washington borrowed the “Law of Nations,” a dissertation on international relations, and volume 12 of a collection of transcripts of debate transcripts from Britain's House of Commons. 

Now this in itself may not be earth-shattering news.  However there is a catch.  It appears that the books were due a month later but they were never returned.

At the moment, the overdue fines for this lapse, by the president who never told a lie, have grown to $300,000.00 in the ensuing 220 years.

The BBC reports that although the library is willing to excuse the fine from the first president, it does, however, want the books back. “Sadly for fans of 18th-Century political literature, they appear to have vanished,” laments the BBC.

Locally, in Carroll County, the first library did not open until 1863, so that rules-out the opportunity for President Washington to have any overdue library fines in Carroll County.

Furthermore, the Carroll County Public Library is not aware of any president who has any overdue library books, according to Gregor Becker, an information specialist with the local library.



http://bit.ly/cBgZnY - sadly, this is now a dead links – updated Dec. 14, 2016

20100510 d1 SCE Washington failed to return library books. http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-nations-first-president-may-not_15.html

Our nation's first president may not have told a lie, but he was not without his faults Posted 5/10/10 by Carroll Eagle – Updated Dec. 14, 2016 - the link to the Carroll Eagle is now dead. For a while, the Baltimore Sun picked-up the stories, but alas, all the links are now dead – the link simply takes you to the Baltimore Sun…. It was updated in response to a colleague’s (CAMK) confession on Facebook that she owes the library late-fees. Too funny.


Related: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2010/05/our-nations-first-president-may-not.html - Our nation's first president may not have told a lie, but he was not without his faults Tuesday, May 11, 2010


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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Our nation's first president may not have told a lie, but he was not without his faults

Our nation's first president may not have told a lie, but he was not without his faults

George Washington racks-up $300k in overdue library fines

Posted 5/10/10 by Carroll Eagle By Kevin Dayhoff

British Broadcasting Corp. is reporting that archivists in New York’s oldest library have uncovered a surprising borrower with overdue books.

It has been recently revealed that on Oct. 5, 1789, our nation’s first president, George Washington, borrowed two books from what was then the only library in Manhattan, the New York Society Library.

According to BBC, on Oct. 5, 1789, a time when New York City was serving as our nation’s capital, Washington borrowed the “Law of Nations,” a dissertation on international relations, and Vol. 12 of a collection of transcripts of debate transcripts from Britain's House of Commons.

Now this in itself may not be earth-shattering news. However there is a catch. ...

Read the rest here: http://www.explorecarroll.com/community/4313/our-nations-first-president-may-never-have-told-lie-but-he-was-not-without-his-faults/

*****

Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://kevindayhoffart.blogspot.com/ or http://kevindayhoffart.com/ = http://www.kevindayhoff.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/ or http://www.westgov.net/ = www.kevindayhoff.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net Explore Carroll: www.explorecarroll.com The Tentacle: www.thetentacle.com

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Revealing President Dwight “Ike” David Eisenhower


Revealing Ike by Kevin E. Dayhoff September 30, 2009
Click here for a larger image: http://twitpic.com/k2cji

Of all the presidents of the United States, the one which Frederick and Carroll Counties may have literally the closest connection is President Dwight David Eisenhower, known affectionately as “Ike.”

Just recently my family and I went on a history exploration trip to nearby Gettysburg to visit the new Gettysburg Battlefield visitors’ center and the Eisenhower National Historic Site, which is adjacent to the battlefield.

In years past, it would have been called a “day trip,” however, the term “staycation” has in recent years crept into our lexicon. Even the Merriam-Webster dictionary now recognizes the word to mean “a vacation spent at home or nearby.”

President Eisenhower lived on a farm and raised Black Angus cattle about 10 miles above the Maryland-Pennsylvania border.

Read the rest of the column here: Revealing Ike


Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff

http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/2009/10/revealing-president-dwight-ike-david.html http://tinyurl.com/yb6eb8d

http://tinyurl.com/8vjaaq Revealing President Dwight “Ike” David Eisenhower http://tinyurl.com/yb6eb8d
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Kevin Dayhoff Soundtrack: http://www.kevindayhoff.net/ Kevin Dayhoff Art: http://www.kevindayhoffart.com/ Kevin Dayhoff Westminster: http://www.westgov.net/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Cindy’s Restaurant…

Cindy’s Restaurant… www.thetentacle.com Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, August 26, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/lm9l2x

Cindy’s Restaurant… www.thetentacle.com

Kevin E. Dayhoff Wednesday, August 26, 2009

On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.

20090826 TT Cindys restaurant ttked
Pres 2009 44 Obama-Barack, US st Massachusetts, US st Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard, Dayhoff writing essays, Dayhoff writing essays presidents, People Sheehan-Cindy Sheehan, Media Bias, Dayhoff Media The Tentacle,
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The Obamas in paradise

The Obamas in paradise

August 26, 2009 by Kevin Dayhoff

Last Sunday President Barack Obama, and his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard.

According to the Associated Press, “Some Obama friends, including White House adviser Valerie Jarrett and Chicago physician Eric Whitaker, joined the family, as did Obama’s sister, Maya, and her husband. The president has no official events scheduled in the week ahead.”

The same article noted, “CHILMARK — The first family settled in today for their vacation on Martha’s Vineyard not long after Hurricane Bill scampered away, leaving behind big waves and heavy rip currents for the Obamas.”

You, dear reader, are left to decide if that introduction was allegorical – or not.

Being a poor southern boy, I have never been to Martha’s Vineyard – or as the locals up there call it, the “Vineyard.”

And not because it is as the New York Times explained; “the exclusive haven of the Eastern liberal elite that conservatives tar as an exclusive haven of the Eastern liberal elite.”

Of course, in the same article, it was noted, “At a fundraiser on the island two years ago Mr. Obama called it “one of those magical places where people of all different walks of life come together — where they take each other at face value.”

Julia Wells, the editor of the Vineyard Gazette, recently wrote that President Obama called it a place where “I can wander around in shorts and not shave in the morning and no one talks about it.”

No, it is a simple matter that it is too far away. Not to mention, that according to an April 6, 2007 article in the Vineyard Gazette: “The cost of living on Martha's Vineyard is about 60 per cent above the national average…

“Grocery prices, for example, which affect all income groups more or less equally, were 37 per cent above the national average and 13 per cent above Boston… Transportation costs were 39 per cent above the national average and 22 per cent above Boston. The cost of miscellaneous goods and services was 44 per cent above the nation as a whole and 10 per cent more than Boston…”

You see, the 10-mile-wide by 23-mile-long island (as in surrounded by a moat) off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts; in an area know as the “Outer Lands regions,” is priced at the outer limits for someone such as myself.

Ms. Wells also wrote: “The Vineyard was a community long before the word became a cliché. And it’s not all rose-covered fences either; isolated from the mainland, with high rates of alcoholism, depression and domestic violence, the island can be a hard place to live in the winter. In summer it draws plenty of wealthy elite, lately specializing in Democrats.”

It has not always been a bastion of liberals. Ms. Wells notes “Thirty-five years ago when I started working as a reporter here, the island was still a Republican stronghold… (The) camps and farmhouses (owned by Republicans) have been torn down and replaced with mansions. Political leanings have shifted, and Republicans are now an endangered species.”

President Obama is not the first sitting president to vacation on the island. President Ulysses S. Grant vacationed there for three days in August 1874. Various published accounts note that “President Bill Clinton vacationed on Martha’s Vineyard four times over his eight years in office.”

The New York Times calls to our attention “The August issue of the local glossy monthly Martha’s Vineyard Magazine has a feature indicating that nine U.S. presidents have frequented our usually tranquil island… Four (Chester Arthur, Ulysses Grant, Calvin Coolidge and Richard Nixon) were Republicans, John Adams was a Federalist and the other four (Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama) Democrats: presidential visits are surprisingly nonpartisan.”

The not-so-nonpartisan traditional media has been, well, giddy about the president taking a vacation. To be certain, of course it is a good idea for the president – and anyone else with enormous responsibilities – to take a vacation.

Vacations are important whether you are a local police officer, a factory worker or the head of a major global corporation. I said that when President George W. Bush was president and nothing has changed for anyone to arrive at a different conclusion.

Jill Nelson, the author of the satirical novel set on the Vineyard, “Let’s Get It On,” remarked that “Martha’s Vineyard is Alice’s Restaurant for the mind, body and soul: once you find it, you can get anything you want.”

Hopefully the president and his family will be able to get some peace and quiet, not to mention, some space from the media – unlike the vacations of President Bush.

White House spokesman Bill Burton said that President Obama wants the media “you to relax and have a good time. Take some walks on the beaches. Nobody's looking to make any news.”

Can you imagine the reaction of the media if President Bush had decided to spend his summer vacation at the $35,000 per week rented farmhouse on 28 acres bordering Tisbury Great Pond.

USA Today reports, “Obama's getaway is Blue Heron Farm, near the island's center and owned by Republicans William and Mollie Van Devender of Jackson, Miss.”

I really do not care where President Obama spends his vacation.

Of course, it was expected that he would vacation in Hawaii, where he was born and lived for part of his childhood. Hence the greeting signs by the islanders, “Aloha Obama Family.”

If you will recall, the media championed signs of a different sort when Cindy Sheehan greeted President Bush, in 2005 when the president vacations at his own ranch in Texas.

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For additional thoughts on the Obama Vineyard 2009 vacation go to my Tentacle column for: Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Cindy’s Restaurant…

Kevin E. Dayhoff
On Sunday President Barack Obama, his extended family and an entourage of friends and colleagues, arrived in a "New England paradise," Martha's Vineyard, for a much-deserved vacation.

Find it here: Cindy’s Restaurant…

20090826 sdosmKED Obama Marthas Vineyard
Pres 2009 44 Obama-Barack, US st Massachusetts, US st Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard, Dayhoff writing essays, Dayhoff writing essays presidents, People Sheehan-Cindy Sheehan, Media Bias,
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Jackson's death created a wave of empathy in Westminster

Jackson's death created a wave of empathy in Westminster

EAGLE ARCHIVE By Kevin Dayhoff Posted on http://www.explorecarroll.com/ 7/19/09

Photo credit: Daguerreotype of Andrew Jackson, possibly taken by Edward Anthony, April, 1845

It's been hard to make sense of the media frenzy over the death of the enormously talented Michael Jackson. Although I greatly admired his talent; I mourned more for his tragic life, which appears to have precipitated his death.

Of course, for someone like myself, the timing of his death prompted recollections that on July 19, 1845, Westminster paused to mourn the death of another famous Jackson: President Andrew Jackson.

Many folks may know him better as the guy on the $20 bill, but he was the seventh president of the United States, and served from 1829 to 1837.

Jackson died June 8, 1845 at age 78. According to "The Complete Book of U.S. Presidents," by William A. DeGregorio, his last days "were spent in great discomfort, eased only slightly by opiates. Chronic tuberculosis left him with one functioning lung, and that one was impaired. His right eye went blind from a cataract. Dropsy puffed his features. Diarrhea sapped his strength." At one point on the morning of June 8, he had lapsed into unconsciousness, "although a touch of brandy revived him."

Read the entire column here: Jackson's death created a wave of empathy in Westminster

20090719 SCE Jacksons death created empathy Wster sceked

http://explorecarroll.com/opinion/3144/jacksons-death-created-wave-empathy-westminster/ http://tinyurl.com/nbe6gj

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoff

Jackson's death created a wave of empathy in Westminster – on July 19, 1845 http://tinyurl.com/nbe6gj

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