- President Obama in India announced the US will maintain strong ties with India and Pakistan and will not "abandon" Afghanistan's democracy.
- Yemen's foreign minister says US Predator drones are now active over that country after being suspected as the source of last month's package bombs.
- Republicans continue to insist there will be no compromise on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
- Several US House races remain undecided as recounts are expected is as many as nine races from last week.
- Scientists are using game theory to try to determine why some things "go viral on the internet" and others remain unknown.
If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed. -- Benjamin Franklin
Because I haven't watched TV in so long that I'm not even sure mine still works, I initially bought into conventional wisdom like the linked article's "Democratic incumbents suffered from voter concerns about the growth of the federal government and an economy that has yet to recover fully from the recession that began under President George W. Bush, a Republican."
ReplyDeleteBut I just learned that generic campaign ads focused on "Obama and the Democrats are trying to take away your Medicare Advantage!" As a newly minted senior citizen, I understand what younger newswriters and bloggers don't: Medicare Advantage is an immense bargain that includes dental, vision, and drugs as well as coverage of the largish Medicare copays and deductibles for practically no fee, because the federal government and taxpayers are picking up private health insurers' expenses and profits.
I picked a Medicare Advantage plan guiltily. I know these plans are ripping off the taxpayer, but they're such a bargain! And I have such a backlog of medical stuff to catch up on, after decades of buying an individual health insurance policy with huge restrictions, copays, and deductibles.
But I'm pretty sure tens of millions of seniors feel 100% entitled and heard the ads threaten them with the loss of benefits they're certain they paid for through FICA, which is why such an abundance of them came out to vote.
I wonder if Medicare Advantage pays for those scooters I see by the hundreds at every tea party but never anywhere else?