L’Cha’im y Salud by sam enderby

The Moocher has way too much time on his unemployed hands as many of you know by now and when I say "many" of you I think you know what I mean ( and I am delighted that someone may). While constantly amazed and annoyed and just downright angry at how this ACA has played out through its nascent history; especially filtered through the raciallybrushed Hate of the Obama Presidency. In reaching for a new level of political snarkiness I was thinking of re-defining the word HOPHEAD to mean Hater of Obama Presidency but perhaps we shall leave it where it lay. In any event I for one (of millions?) still cannot access that damn "exchange site" either the federal one or in my home state of New York. There is something so screwy about all of this - from the "plan" itself to its implementation. Its a bequeathal to the insurance bosses via the notoriously reactionary Heritage Foundation:

Assuring Affordable Health Care For All Americans by Stuart M. Butler, Heritage Foundation October 1, 1989

2) Mandate all households to obtain adequate insurance. Many states now require passengers in automobiles to wear seatbelts for their own protection. Many others require anybody driving a car to have li a bility insurance. But neither the federal government nor any state requires all households to protect themselves from the potentially catastrophic costs of a serious accident or illness. Under the Heritage plan, there would be such a requirement. This man d ate is based on two important principles. First, that health care protection is a responsibility of individuals, not businesses. Thus to the extent that anybody should be required to provide coverage to a family, the household mandate assumes that it is t h e family that carries the first responsibility. Second, it assumes that there is an implicit contract between households and society, based on the notion that health insurance is not like other forms of insurance protection. If a young man wrecks his Pors c he and has not had the foresight to obtain insurance, we may commiserate but society feels no obligation to repair his car. But health care is different. If a man is struck down by a heart attack in the street, Americans will care for him whether or not h e has insurance. If we find that he has spent his money on other things rather than insurance, we may be angry but we will not deny him services - even if that means more prudent citizens end up paying the tab. A mandate on individuals recognizes this impl i cit contract. Society does feel a moral obligation to insure that its citizens do not suffer from the unavailability of health care. But on the other hand, each household has the obligation, to the extent it is able, to avoid placing demands on society by protecting itself. 3) Provide help to those who cannot afford protection.

that somehow President Obama found useful enough to be the crux of his big health hooha - and judging (thats all we really do here) from how he continuously thought the Republicans would respond to whatever he was doing it probably looked pretty good if you discarded how a majority of Americans who bothered to think about this at all really felt about how healthcare in the richest nation on earth should be because afterall it was the conservatives' plan and it was working as "Romneycare" in Massachusetts and yet..and still with no so-called bipartisan support and with a blanket malice on the part of the Republicans and their corporate sponsors it becomes law with an added nod from the Supreme Court- which upon further consideration is no nod at all coming from such an unabled body of third rate -with limited exception- political stooges and a proud and fitting(?) cornerstone to President Obama's legacy and now they had almost 3! years to set this up properly, 3 years to figure and write code and make it all so accessible, the crowning achievement of his presidency and its like being back in 6th grade and your term paper on the history of England is due tomorrow and you haven't even started. Okay, there was always going to be problems with something so complex (not really) and massive but if I didn't know any better I would say the incompetence and just the poor execution of this "rolling out" was planned- It would make a whole lot of sense if it were shown that this debacle was indeed deliberate because the alternative is too painful to consider.

With the entire Republican Party amassed against it -led by among many its nominal leader Rush, I mean Reince yourPriebus why couldn't the Obama Administration seek the advise and know

Jeff

Mutt

how of such as say a Jeff Bezos and others who have lots of experience with "millions clicking every minute." The entire U.S. economy seems dependent now on the CLICK and SCAN -those who do and those who actually makes things CLICK and SCAN not to be confused with a well-known household cleaner that was originally invented by two Michigan housewives working away in THEIR garage with different glues and sodium bi-products back in the early years of the Great Depression; sold their product to a big company for a million or so -usual American success tale; the name, of course, came under some social/political protest  in latter years and really hasn't been seen on TV for a while - unlike that Washington NFL football team- but nevertheless still abides and is now part of an even bigger multi-national, now where was I? Too many distractions- which may or may not have played a role in the rollout. I've been stuck at the tax and income status part of the sign-up application. The pinwheel just won't stop. I had ventured a phone call earlier- left my info with the mechanical voice on the other end and have as yet not received a call back within a day as stated. Still is that a reason to repeal? Perhaps I should just have left it with the NSA - just picked up the phone and whispered to the void. What were those Big Brother TV screens called again? Remember, the "2-way" -you had to watch. I keep picturing the entire Republican delegation screaming at "Obamacare" during the two-minute Hate. Distractions. I wanted to follow through for this "distraction" you are currently reading with how the Republicans try their best to misinform and out right lie about the ACA and of course the laugh is on them as the Democrats and Obama's "Team" are doing pretty well in lousing things up anyway without the Republicans harping on any and every-thing for the sake of political points and their salvation. Its been done afore- Fox news "does" a story and one of the stations will refute it line by lying line but still when the U.S. Congress in the form of a Republican representative sets out to misinform and lie to the American public without any internal protest or outrage by any other Congressperson you have to wonder about the conversations that do transpire in those hallowed and harrowing halls of the people. How this mendacity is soon awash from coast to coast is no small wonder as the Republican propaganda and Hate machine is relentless - you know the drill, keep repeating the same lie over and over until it becomes part of everyone's thinking and if everyone knows then it must be true because I forgot what was proposed in the first place and can't remember any alternative reality. Fox said so, John Boehner says so, Eric Cantor says so, Mitch McConnell says so so and Rush said so so. And out in the middle of this land Reps are hearing from their constituents and in their enthusiastic glee to show their "distinguished" colleagues what a certain disaster the ACA is they air out their constituents concerns even when they are asked not to make it public which is how I came across the following in the Congressional Record - In thinking I would make like a real reporter I contacted the person whom the Rep had mentioned to find out more about her and her families attempt at obtaining healthcare. Our brief epistolary follows:

Dear Mrs K.

I hope you won't mind this intrusion into your privacy but as I came across your name referenced by Rep. W in the Congressional Record and your letter to her I am wondering if you could help out this free-lance writer chronicling the advent of "Obamacare" on individuals like yourself. If I may ask, why did your company stop paying its share of your health coverage when they have been given at least a year's grace to comply with the law's mandates; what exactly were you and your husband covered for under your old plan and why wasn't it explained that if you are to seek out the market place plans there are various options of cost savings and a formula based on how much you earn and considering that you and your husband have been cut $30,000 in income these past few years surely you must be able to qualify for some big savings-according to the law, or else you two must earn a small fortune between you checking people's credit lines-; finally who do you really blame for this instance- your employer? Obama? the insurance company? Were you and your husband satisfied with your employer's explanation? I do hope you both find a way out of this terrible quandary and I pray that things will work out for you both. In the meantime anything you can add will be much appreciated and please, if you agree and only that, you will allow me to attribute any quotes and data you would be so kind to send .

Sincerely,

Sam Enderby
http://www.joyfulmoocher.com

To Me

Nov 19 at 2:10 PM

Good afternoon,

Please take this as OFFICIAL notice that you do NOT have authorization to use ANY information you have obtained about me, my family or my situation in any way or format. This information was NOT public and I am not sure how you obtained any of this information but it was in a private e-mail between myself and Rep W’s office. This was NOT in the congressional records or speech which would have made it public. Please do not contact me further on this or any other issue. I do not appreciate your intrusion into an e-mail conversation I had with Rep W’s office and I had other conversations after that information that you obviously did not have that information with clarifications and other updates on our situation.

I do not appreciate your intrusion into my personal and private information and please do not contact me again.

Thank you for your cooperation in advance.

K

Me
To K
Today at 12:51 PM

Congressional Record

113th Congress (2013-2014)
THIS SEARCH THIS DOCUMENT THIS CR ISSUE GO TO

OBAMACARE--HURTING THE HARDWORKING MIDDLE CLASS -- (Extensions of Remarks - November 13, 2013)
[Page: E1644]
GPO's PDF
---
SPEECH OF
HON. W
OF MISSOURI
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2013
Mrs. W. Mr. Speaker, in recent weeks, I have received far too many heartbreaking stories from the people of the 2nd District about how government-run healthcare is impacting their lives.
Today, I rise to put a face on the horrors of ObamaCare and tell K's story who hail from Missouri.
This is their story in their own words.
We, the working middle class, are the ones who are being hurt by this law.
We struggle every day to make ends meet.
But now, because of Obamacare, we received a notice from the insurance company that the plan we currently pay for does not meet the guidelines and we will no longer be covered on January 1st, 2014.
``Now we have to find an extra $500 to $600 minimum per month to cover the insurance that is comparable to what we had before. I have no idea how we will afford that kind of money and pay our bills and mortgage each month ``
This is just one of the millions of examples of real people being hurt by ObamaCare.
This story is from K, a Senior Underwriter at an insurance company in Saint Louis, MO:
We, the working middle class, are the ones who are being hurt by this law.
We struggle every day to make ends meet. The one bright spot is that the middle sized family owned company that my husband works for paid 100% of both of our health care and dental premiums on a very good PPO plan. That was a huge benefit and a saving grace.
But now, because of Obamacare, we have received notice from the insurance company that the plan that they currently pay for does not meet the marketplace guidelines and we will no longer be covered effective on January 1st, 2014. They are not paying anything towards our insurance at all.
So now we will be trying to scramble to come up with an extra $500-$600 min per month to cover the insurance that is comparable to the plan that we had. I have medical issues so I have quite a few doctor visits and bills each year so I am not cheap to cover so it may even be more than that.
Thanks for your time and again thanks for standing up for us. Someone needs to help us before we all go bankrupt and lose everything we have worked so hard to build up during our lifetimes.
--
From: K
Received: 10/27/13
Dear A, I comes as quite a shock to me on how much of an impact Obamacare is having on myself and the country as a whole. Let alone the fact that I feel it was NEVER really explained very well to the American people let alone very well thought out by law makers when this plan was put together. This will further hurt our economy and drive it back possibly to the brink of another recession.
My husband had already taken over $10,000/ year cut in pay a couple years ago and I at the same time took over a $20 000 cut in pay, but we looked at it that at least we still had jobs. We struggle every day to make ends meet. The one bight spot is that the middle size family owned company that my husband works for paid 100% of both of our health care and dental premiums on a very good PPO plan. That was a huge benefit and a saving grace.
But now due to Obamacare we have received notice from the insurance company that the plan that they currently pay for does not meet the ``market place'' guidelines and we will no longer be covered effective on January 1st, 2014. My husband approached his employer and the comment that he received is that we will probably have to go out to the market place and get insurance from there because they don't feel that they will be able to afford the insurance that is now being required by the new ``LAW''. So along with that they are NOT paying anything towards our insurance AT ALL. So this will now along with cuts in pay, we will be trying to scramble to come up with probably around $500-$600 min per month to cover the insurance that is comparable to the plan that we had. I have medical issues so I do have quite a few Doctor visits and bills each year so I am not cheap to cover so it may even be more than that.
I have no idea how we will be able to afford that kind of money each month and pay the mortgage and other bills that we have let alone be punished with a penalty if we do not have insurance. That is ridiculous. You should have been able to put together a plan that would BENEFIT the people not PENALIZE the majority of them.
If the ``PLAN'' is that good why did they have to make it a law for everyone to participate. If it was done correctly people would WANT to participate. THAT is the ``PLAN'' that they should have put into place.
Thanks for your time and again thanks for standing up for us. Someone needs to help us before we all go bankrupt and lose everything we have worked so hard to build up during our lifetimes.
K
Senior Underwriter,

Dear K,

Now what was that about NOT being in the Congressional Record?

I have deleted names and places because I told my correspondent I would. Her Republican rep, who she refers to by first name, never gave her the courtesy and never offered a courtesy to the rest of the country's citizens by promulgating the BIG Lie about "Obamacare". Whatever its limitation and shortcomings and whatever its lamentable origins it is a fullout attempt to meet the healthcare needs of our entire nation by at least a universal inclusionary platform - and a bow to proponents of so-called free market systems and corporatism- and it is more than telling that instead of making this a truely BI-partisan effort the Republicans- enmasse-chose to deny the American people at least a chance, a beginning of something that by all lights should not be a privilege but a right - and for those of us who supported the so named public option- a free right, free in the sense of the pursuit of happiness, liberty, and by life we mean health- but they elected to fight against it every lick of the way because - well, in my narrowheaded thinking- they don't like Obama; they don't like the idea of a Black man as President and have acted that way ever since he took office. You would be hard pressed to show me otherwise. Besides they are on record publicly. K sent me back a note - apologetic in its way- saying to effect that she had no idea that her Rep had put her entire correspondence and private stuff in the very public Congressional Record after she was assured that it would be just between them. I would have written back but felt inhibited and I thought that what I wanted to ask would have sounded-well snarky in a word. I would have asked her if she planned on voting for her Rep in the next election. I then would have asked her if she would have asked-for me- why instead of spreading lies and misinformation like the rest of her (whole) party not at the very least get together with whomever-Obama say and his "health-team" and see how you can make this better- not destroy it. What was the Republican healthplan anyway? Answer: its "Obamacare".

sam enderby | December 31, 2013 

TAVOLO PER UNO?

Posted on December 5, 2013

by Sam Enderby, The Joyful Moocher

Three billion blogs out here and you stumble into mine. Well I thought I had a good one a couple of days ago but as is the case I had it all written out in my head at around 4 in the morning and when I arose I couldn’t remember quite what my great idea was let alone where the hell I put my socks or perhaps I should give Rand Paul a call ( a fellow moocher) and anyway what does it matter we ain’t saving the world here and we certainly ain’t paying the rent. I get waylaid; distracted, mired in the swampy suck of self-indulgence to borrow a phrase not from Rand the Scamp but this from Professor Simon Schama who has a fine way with words all his own. In any case what had me kicking off the blanket and pulling out the sheets and just giving my poor wife fits -was the thought that this is the best we can do. In a related matter I never thought this “Auto-Blog” would amount too much and even confessing to ulterior efforts to gain a nickel from this fell to ruin as I have once again proved to no one in particular that I am no capitalist but just a poor whore as witness the following: 

Dear sam enderby, You are receiving this email because your Commission Junction publisher account has not generated any valid commissions during the last five months. Commission Junction is committed to maintaining a dynamic and productive network. Consequently, per the Publisher Service Agreement, we regularly deactivate accounts that are not actively earning commissions and do not have a sufficient balance amount. Your account has been deemed inactive and is scheduled to begin the dormancy process in the next 30 days. What that means is that beginning 30 days from now, your account will begin accruing a monthly dormant account fee against any balance that currently exists in the account. Once the account has reached a zero balance, the account will be deactivated. This fee only applies to dormant accounts that currently show a balance; if your account currently has a zero balance, no fees will be assessed and your account will be deactivated immediately following the next 30 days of inactivity. 

There was this idea to sell stuff along with my nutty musings – you know everytime someone clicks and buys or inquires or just browses you get a wee percentage of something just for advertising that something on your site – I tried it with some general plumbing number tying it in to recent NSA concern about “leaks”- get it?- but no

one clicked so they cancelled. It was my only effort to make something of myself AND you have to be accepted, OKed as I say, depending on the product and the appropriateness of your site; I mean who doesn’t need a reasonably priced plumber? Well so much for the business of publishing. No one will ever accuse me of selling out  (Actually, I think I did long ago). Speaking of which, I have recently been accumulating dozens of new subscribers – remember its free, kids- everybody and anybody is welcomed here. Unfortunately I think most if not ALL of you are SPAM. That was another thing I sort of let lapse. You see, there was this anti-spam program I could no longer afford to use so I let it go and now I’m attracting these innocent enough sounding subscribers with the weird hotmail addresses. I’ve even sent out some personal e-mails to these “people” usually starting “If you’re a real person please write back and say you are.” So far I’m about as successful as I was with my advertising program. Either that or most don’t understand English. For a long spell I swear I was getting most of my subscribers from Poland and points east. Serves me right I guess. This whole blog-schmog thing is a most solitary exercise for me. I think I am just pecking away here trying to remember what a subject and predicate is (are?). Actually I should refrain from those Polish references as I recently read that Poland is considered one of the top countries in its public education- we on the other hand, in a word-suck. I was hoping my “Twitter” account would attract some interesting people to connect with and I of course would introduce them to the “Joyful Moocher” and I could then look forward to some smart criticism and partake in some repartee and maybe start an actual dialogue with readers who are bloggers/writers and so forth but so far its just those subscribers from somewhere off the beaten googlemap. Talk about an indulgence: I have perused the streets of Paris and Rome and, yes, even Oswiecim, without having left the comfort of my bedroom-thanks to google Maps. The Brontes would be envious. While “in Rome” I visited the old Jewish quarter : 

The street Via Portico d’Ottavia (Octavia’s Porch street) is still the centre of Jewish life in Rome. Initially built in 146 BCE, it was entirely renovated by Augustus, and dedicated to his sister Octavia. It was a small forum in its own right, with Greek and Latin libraries, halls for music and public meetings, and with precious works of art. Because of its proximity to the river, the area also hosted the fish market. Fish was a most desired food, and fishermen had to pay high rents to the noble families owning the stalls. Nowadays the street is a lively hotchpotch of ancient, medieval and Renaissance architecture.Add caption

- I was planning a “post” on the Vatican’s stated intention of sainting or canonizing or whatever the late Pope Pius XII and suddenly there I was searching for the old Jewish ghetto in Rome and scanning its cobblestoned streets when I “passed” the front of a building at 53 Via del Portico D’Ottavia and noticed a plaque on the facade and so immediately zoomed in to see what there was to see. (Via del Portico D’Ottavia, 53, Roma, Italy – Google Maps - I’m afraid this is not exactly the link I wanted to include in this spot but if you manually type this into Google Maps you can “go” there.) You keep zooming in until the little yellow figure brings you to street level and you can then utilize those clever directional arrows to “steer” your way around. The Plaque is to the left of the entrance door-your right as you’re gazing dreamily at your monitor- between what appears to be an open window and a closed window with a metal gate, about 15 feet up from the sidewalk. Its on a street that evokes 

No stick ball allowed?

historical passings and to my mind’s eye what an old European street is- narrow with old buildings closing in on you and people moving and doing, walking, eating,-you can tell I don’t get out much and on this street just a few steps down from this plaque are a couple of Jewish eateries that I – if ever given the gift of overseas travel – long to sample.

On the same side of the street as my plaque is something called BA GHETTO KOSHER (I think its BA) The awning says “SPECIALITA GIUDAICO ROMANESCHE MEDIORIENTOI” and directly across the street there’s  LA TAVERNA DEL GHETTO KOSHER-CUCINA EBRAICA ROMANA. Ok so what’s the big deal with another Jewish Deli and I tell you that if you lived in my neck of upstate NY where the closest chopped liver and kosher pastrami is 100 miles away somewhere in New Jersey well

then you would know why I’d travel to the ends of the earth for a proper kneidelekh and kugel, and tzimmes. But back to the plaque; you may now zoom in again on the inscription and although it is probably familiar to speakers of Italian some of the letters are a bit fuzzy to this average dumb American who is not conversive in more than one language and even that is questionable, so it is hard to properly transcribe what is inscribed on the plaque on the building. There is enough to draw from, however, but I would prefer a complete rendering.  There is a date on the plaque : 16 Ottobre 1943 and there is this : “Deportati Ad Auschwitz”. The Jews of Rome were rounded up on this day – even within sight of the Vatican and without an utterance from Pius XII- and sent to Auschwitz. I believe the plaque is commemorating this and mentions a family that may have been living in this house then. I’m still trying to get an accurate translation. Interesting that in my random browsing through google and then on twitter I found a photographer who had just returned from Rome and had posted photos of the old Jewish quarter on line and I was able to ask her if she by chance- by a great chance had passed by this house and had taken a photo of the front-with the plaque in plain view so that someone could enlarge it and be able to read the inscription and so perhaps be able to obtain a true translation and she said “I have it” ! But that was over a month ago and I have not heard back nor will I ask again. Previously I had sent an e-mail to what I think is the current address of the Jewish Community Center in Rome asking for help but so far not a word. I also sent or rather stumbled upon the Facebook page of “the Tavern” or was it the place across the street and asked there if someone could be of assistance. I have also sent word to someone in New Zealand who writes about these very same places on her(?) blog. I did this through twitter, which is always a dicey thing to do-what given my own dismal history with connecting on it-I seem to only “attract” meshuganas from the right who seem to think my sarcasm is a sign of sincere political policy.

Sam Enderby ‏@joyfulmoocher 20h

@kimmar When you visited the Jewish Ghetto in Rome did you notice a plaque on the front of Via Portico d’Ottavia, 53?

In any case I await on shpilkes for any attention in this matter and in the meanwhile I will probably spend -now- the rest of my afternoon figuring out how to get back to my previous font.

(Later that week)

Dig deeper online or is that click even more and the great Internet Machine  will reveal more of itself and the world. I stumbled across “my plaque” on a site titled “trip advisor” or something. Here it is: 

And “my” taverna answered my plea for a translation. And with my translation there are now more questions.  

Taverna del Ghetto Kosher This is the translation:

Settimio Calò came out of the house where he lived with his wife, Clelia Frascati, and nine children. When he returned there found it empty forever. His loved ones had been raked October 16, 1943 and then deported to Auschwitz along with more than a thousand jews in the name of the racist policy of fascism. None of his family returned. They represent all the families destroyed antisemitic hatred.  

December 8- Sam Enderby- Thank you!!Grazie!! SO Mr. Calo survived? And his wife and children all died?

I don’t know why I was so incredulously stupid. The plaque says they NEVER returned! I’ll just chalk it up to the shock of somebody actually taking the time and bother to respond to me and of course the unspeakable sadness of Mr. Calo’s lost – I mean the guy had just gone for cigarettes:

“Settimio Calo, 44, a Jew who had left home early that fateful morning to join a queue at a tobacconists’ shop for scarce cigarettes, returned to find his wife and nine children gone. A married daughter living around the corner had also disappeared. He ran down the street in a mad panic and eventually made his way to the Collegio Militare, a building along the Tiber not far from the Vatican, where the Jews had been taken. Calo threw himself against the doors but an Italian guard took him by the arm and said, “Are you crazy? Get out of here. Don’t you know they’ll grab you too if they see you?” Calo kept pushing but the guard threw him out. “I walked a little, sat on the ground and began to cry, ” he said.

     The Jews taken to the Collegio Militare passed St. Peter’s Square, shouting to Pope Pius XII to save them..”  - from Mussolini-The Last 600 Days of Il Duce by Ray Moseley (Taylor Trade, 2004)

Posted in american culture | Tagged 1943, BAGHETTO KOSHER, Commission Junction, Facebook, Google Maps, JOYFUL MOOCHER, LA TAVERNA DEL GHETTO KOSHER, NSA, OCT. 16, Oswiecim, Paris, Pope Pius XII, Rome, Twitter, Via Portico d'Ottavia | Leave a reply