Yes, that’s two days in a row at the gym, though I kept it to a mile on the treadmill again. I did hit the weights pretty hard — leg work — and finished with the stair climber. Now, I just have to stay consistent.
Author: hankkalet
Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.
Runner’s diary, Monday
I made it back to the gym after what seems like months — I guess it’s literally been months. I taught this morning, then hit the office, managed to get quite a lot done and split early to get in a work out. I’ve been in excuse mode for too long and could see the results around my waist and in the quantity of clothing that no longer fits. I needed to just suck it up and hit the gym.
So I did today, running a mile on the treadmill and then hitting the weights and the elliptical machine. It was a good hour-plus and I feel good. I’ve got the bag packed for the morning already.
Is the hope running out?
A story in today’s issue of The New York Times offers a glimpse into the dangers the Obama administration faces as he attempts to move forward, as many in the nation begin to lose faith in the promise he offered.
While I believe he remains popular, his standing with the public has been in flux, dependent not only on what has been awful coverage of the political moment and the bad faith of the opposition party, but also some of his own flaws — his cautiousness, his commitment to bipartisanship at the expense of action.
His willingness to leave the healthcare debate in the hands of Congress — more specifically, in the hands of so-called Blue Dog Democrats and conservative Democrats like Max Baucus — left liberals negotiating from a position of weakness, with the more progressive reforms being taken off the table before negotiations started.
We are still at war and it appears that we may soon see an escalation in Afghanistan, a move that would shatter his connection to the progressive wing of his party and those elements of the left that had signed on. Escalation also would drive away many independents, leaving his coalition in tatters and his presidency looking far too much like the last months of the Johnson administration.
There is time to turn this around, to act boldly and move the nation in a more humane direction, but he’s got to act quickly. There already is a palpable sense out there that the promises he made cannot be kept.
The
Eric Idle for governor?
I love this story, especially because it’s not clear if it is anything more than a prank.
Chris Christie, the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in Tuesday’s knife-edge gubernatorial election, has been called out as a copyright thief. The 47-year-old lawyer, who was controversially appointed by George W. Bush as a U.S. Attorney in 2001 on Karl Rove’s recommendation after being a top Bush fund-raiser in the 2000 election, has created an election commercial that steals copyright-protected material from British comedy troupe Monty Python — without permission or credit.
The official campaign advert — titled “Deja Vu” — attacks incumbent New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine by using scenes from a famous skit on the “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” TV show that features Michael Palin. The ad is on Christie’s official YouTube campaign site, and has already aired on national TV.
But neither Christie — a lawyer for 22 years — nor anyone in his campaign bothered to seek any permission for using the copyrighted material in his election spot.
Alerted to the theft of their copyright, members of Monty Python are most unhappy. Michael Palin, who appears in the clip pirated for the advert, is especially displeased that his likeness is being used by the Republican candidate without permission.
“I’m surprised that a former U.S. Attorney isn’t aware of his copyright infringement when he uses our material without permission. He’s clearly made a terrible mistake. It was the endorsement of Sarah Palin he was after — not that of Michael Palin.”
Monty Python’s Terry Jones says that the troupe is strongly considering suing the Republican for his copyright infringement:
“It is totally outrageous that a former US Attorney knows so little about the law that he thinks he can rip off people. On the other hand — another of Bush’s legal appointees was Alberto Gonzales and he didn’t seem to know much about the law either…,” Jones said.
The New Jersey race already was surreal, but introducing Monty Python takes it to a whole new level.
Negotiating from weakness
Matt Rothschild offers the most accurate assessment of the healthcare plan unveiled by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats yesterday. There are good elements likely to improve the system, but it “isn’t near perfect.”
Rothschild offers several points: “it doesn’t allow the government to set the reimbursement rates,” giving insurance companies the power “to negotiate those rates with the government.” That’s a prescription for higher insurance company profits, but not a lot of consumer savings.
And while it creates a public plan, it “would not be open to everybody,” meaning that it cannot act as real competition, making it unlikely that it would keep costs down.
And it doesn’t cover everyone — not the undocumented, who seem to be on the outside no matter who’s writing the legislation, but about 10 million Americans. That’s not just morally indefensible, but foolish. Real reform, as Rothschild points out “must include health care coverage for everybody in America, not just citizens.”
He writes about the undocumented, but his argument is valid for everyone left without insurance, that the uninsured “will end up going to the emergency room for costly care when they could have been treated initially, at much less cost, if they had health care coverage.”
I suspect that the Pelosi will get through the House and then get watered down in the Senate. If that happens, it will once again show that the Democrats do not know the first thing about negotiating — which would leave us with weaker reforms than we need, without much of a chance for a second bite at this apple.
