Yesterday I quoted Thomas Friedman, a New York Times writer. Today I repeat a comment by E. J. Dionne, Washington Post. "The individual mandate was a conservative idea that President Barack Obama adopted to preserve the private market in health insurance rather than move toward a government- financed single payer system. What he got back from conservatives was not gratitude but charges of socialism for adopting their own proposal. The irony is that if the court's conservatives overthrow the mandate, they will hasten the arrival of a more government-heavy system." Justice Kennedy even hinted that it might be more "honest" if government simply used "the tax power to raise revenue and to just have a national health service, single-payer." Dionne added: "Remember those words."
My view - chances are that something will be done about healthcare that's better than what we have now. I'm pretty sure there will never be a mandate to buy broccoli, cell phones, burial services or cars.

Thomas Friedman is one of my favorite columnists. He is on a trip to New Zealand and Australia, and had some intersting comments. Both countries, by the way, have single payer national health-care systems and New Zealand has compulsory voting. You get fined if you don't vote. Friedman writes, "Looking at America from here makes me feel as though we have the worst of all worlds now. The days when liberal Republicans and conservative Democrats nudged the two parties together, appear over . Special interest money is out of control. We've lost our ability to do big, hard things together. Yet everything we have to do - tax reform, fiscal reform, health care reform, energy policy - is big and can only be done together."
Nearing ninety-two, I won't live long enough to see it, but I wonder what will have to happen to make that change?

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY, MELANIE AND DANIEL!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, STEVE!

Thanks for the postings, Megan. Good pictures.

Mike, Tara, and the kids were in Omaha this weekend to see Erica's show choir perform in a competition. We were so thrilled that they contacted us about meeting them for dinner tonight! We met them in Omaha and it was great catching up with them.

Dinner last Saturday at Bob Boyer's and Marge's. I made Mom's lasagne recipe!