The Parties

As I watch the news updates since the healthcare bill was signed by President Obama and see the Republicans refusing to work beyond 2 PM it does make me wonder if we are headed toward real political strife in America. The things that we take for granted; free elections, peaceful transfer of power, civil discourse, should we really expect these to happen consistently in the future.

I read alot of American history and there have been many times in this country where the discourse between the opposing parties has been as bad or worse than it is today. Taking solace in this however is dificult in a modern country where there is so much that needs to be helped in our country.

What is most disconcerting to me however is that it seems like the Republican leadership is taking its followers down the road to extremism. This is not to say the Democrats have not done this as well. When George Bush was in power few Democrats had any good thing to say about him and most felt that he was someone to rally against. Jokes about his intelligence, vocabulary and speech patterns were commonplace.

The comments about the President however might be considered more dangerous. Looking at signs at Tea Party Demonstrations recently I have seen comparisons to Hitler, pictures of guns and rifles, vote No OR ELSE. A survey of Republicans and their attitudes after the Health Care bill show that 57 percent believe he is a Muslim, 45 percent believe that he was not born in the United States, 35 percent believe he is comparable to Hitler, and 24 percent believe he is the Antichrist.

What do these numbers mean. I am not sure it means we are in a tougher time. I do believe in today's modern media age folks that have a way to move public opinion need to do so in a responsible way. Rush Limbaugh calling the President a thug is not acceptable. Is there a difference between calling the President stupid and calling the President a thug.

Keith Olberman on the left and Glenn Beck on the right in many ways cancel each other out. Interestingly I consider myself an intelligent person and not one who can be moved by arguments without merit. Yet while I am a left leaning moderate I still when watching Glenn Beck can find merit to some of his discussion points. Beck talks often with a hint of nostalgia and for those looking for a simpler world they remember and faced with the insecurities of todays world this can have an appeal. Olberman from the left is as bombastic as Beck, his sense of moral outrage is no more appealing than is Beck's.

Coincidentally in all of this Bill O' Reilly who often is the paragon of evil in the left's opinion I have long held is somewhere in the middle. He is a conservative, I think that much is true, but I find his opinions to be respectful. When he has interviewed the President I think he gave him a fair shake. I watched him interview Glenn Beck recently and I came away feeling that even Bill thought Beck was too extreme. In fact O'Reilly has been commenting that the Republicans need to make thier comments more productive by not appearing too extreme and personal. It is not a measure that they are listening to.

When the opposition is demonized to the point where one cannot consider negotiatiing with them how does a group of opposition Senators do anything to better thier country. Living on the east or west coast it is easy to forget that much of this country in the south and in the middle is virently different than us. It may be nothing more than an accident of history that we are a united people and as the demographics of the country shift over the next fifty years the future is uncertain. Acting as they do now neither party is making the future safer. A sense of responsiblity in government is not present.

How we deal

I have a friend who has just been told that he has been put on the active transplant list to have a kidney transplant. This has been a long battle for him, he has been going through dialysis for at least two years and I think longer. I met this gentleman at work, he worked in our department and was frankly struggling with his performance.

I did not know him well, until he was transferred to my team. This was not unusual, my team usually being the place of last resort for those individuals who are struggling and have not met the success we would like. I made a mistake and assumed that I knew all I needed to know about him judging by his performance. I did not. I was wrong.

I hold no misconceptions about the goodness of American commerce. I knew that I was just a faceless cog in a machine that cared nothing about me. However I did my job well; I always said I did it well out of a desire to be good at something, set an example for my children of hard work and perhaps as much as anything out of loyalty to my immediate managers who treated me well. Any idea of loyalty or desire to please the faceless giant that employed me had long seeped out of my soul.

When this man came to work for me as I got to know him I became frankly quite impressed with him. He was a man of character, doing the best he could in a job he had been sort of duped into. He had followed a friend to our company, the friend had allowed that this job would be a stepping stone to another job for which he was better suited. Unbeknownst to him the friend had not been doing so well at his job, was now gone and here was stuck on the island. I never heard him complain and resolved to do my best to help him bring his performance up to speed.

He was undergoing dialysis at this time. Days you could tell it was just killing him. Still he came to work each day, he went through some issues with his fiance and they broke up. Still he came to work each day. In the end what can any of us do but deflect and deal with all of the issues that life throws at us. To be stoic and silent and to just keep moving forward each day, it does not seem like much, sometimes it is the bravest thing we can do.

Did he get better at his job. Yes he did. Did I do much to help him get better. Perhaps a little, not much really, I think that if anything treating him with respect and letting him know that I valued him as a person and respected his effort in the face of adversity may have given him a sense of calm. He however made me better. I like to think I was a fair manager, one who did not play favorites, gave opportunities to all. This gentleman helped me to know however that success can be measured many ways.

Sometimes getting up and fighting each day is braver and more of an accomplishment than anything you see on the news. My friend would not agree that he was anything special and perhaps he is right. He was just doing what he had to do with the cards that had been given him.

Then why does it feel like that is a rarity today. Is he special or have we become so far from special that what used to be ordinary is now special. I do not know the answer.

What I do know is my friend is about to get a new kidney and I very happy for him. That is my good news of the day.

Tim Whitehead & Maine hockey

The Maine Black Bears lost in sudden death overtime to Boston College in the Hockey East playoffs. This was a young team that played very well at times this year and struggled at others. Young teams do that. I, like most Maine residents, came to watch Maine hockey in the late 80's in the beginnings of the Shawn Walsh era. I have many great memories of going to games. Maine defeating Minnesota in a 1 vs 2 matchup with the line of Golden, McHugh and Perron. The white hankies everywhere and with the win Maine being ranked # 1 for the very first time. Martin Robataille winning a game in double overtime against Providence to send Maine to the Final Four. Shawn Walsh himself with his Easter controversy at Wisconsin, his standing on the wall with his arms up, ripping his jacket off, confronting the Lake Superior coach at center ice during an intermission and his many battles and duels with Jack Parker and Len Ceglarski of BU and BC. It was a great time and Shawn was a great coach.

Tim Whitehead is not Shawn Walsh. They do not give college hockey coaches their jobs based on what kind of men they are. If they did their would be no discussion here or in the Maine Hockey blogosphere about Tim Whitehead's future tenure as the Maine hockey coach. However just because Tim is not Shawn does not mean that he is not a good coach. He is.

Tim Whitehead's winning percentage is very strong. We should remember that there was a period in the nineties that Maine had some issues with it's hockey program too. That is not a criticism of Shawn Walsh. I loved Shawn and the fire with which he coached. I have a very clear memory of taking my then 5 year old son up to buy tickets to a playoff game, walking in to the Alfond after to watch Shawn coach the team for a bit during a practice. Shawn seeing my son as the practice wound down, instructed Steve Kariya to bring a puck over to my son. My son still remembers this and clearly so do I. The early days of Maine hockey were something we will never forget and like a first love for those who lived through it all coaches will pale in comparison to Shawn.

Worse yet for those people who grew up with Maine always competing as Maine has for the last 25 years their is an expectation of winning that does not allow for the changes that come upon college hockey.

The game has changed. Players leave earlier and more frequently, for Maine in particular losing Coach Grant Standbrook was a loss of huge proportions in terms of recruiting.I read an article this year in a Boston paper that talked about how the Boston colleges used to be filled with Massachussets kids. No more. The fact is many of those kids now play other sports, or if they feel they have a chance at a pro career they play junior hockey. This is not an excuse but it is a reality.

Tim Whitehead is a good coach. Do I wish that he would take his jacket off sometimes. Sure I do. However he cannot be Shawn Walsh. Following a legend is a career choice that rarely ends well. Tim is the rebound coach even if the rebound was after a tragic death. Does anyone remember the coaches at North Carolina between Dean Smith and Roy Williams. Woe to the man who replaces Coach K at Duke.

Maine fans want to win. The question they should ask themselves is this. Are you sure you can get a better coach than Tim Whitehead. Tim is a great ambassador for hockey in the area. No hint of scandal comes to this program. This team is on the upswing right now, though the chance of some of the young players leaving early makes that a likely upswing not a sure thing. I remember speaking with Tim about the a freshman from Eastern Canada who left to go pro. He talked of how he did not blame the young man, the money was a huge factor. He stated he told him about his options but in the end the young man did what he needed to do.

The issues with the Maine starting goalie this weekend illustrate a few things about Tim Whitehead. Clearly Scott Darling was the better goalie. He could have been reinstated and played this weekend. Not knowing the circumstances of the event I do know that in many programs and many sports Scott Darling would have been playing. Not at Maine. Not for Tim Whitehead, not this weekend.

As what I now call a grownup I guess I look at things differently. I want Maine to win. I want them to win mostly now so that those who harp on Whitehead will be quiet for awhile. I think that at some point we have to accept that in a college environment we have to accept that not all lessons are on the ice or court. Tim Whiteheads players played with heart and grit this weekend. They learned alot about themselves. They will be better players and better men for it. They learned something about their coach over the last few weeks as well. In all cases what we learned were positive things.

What we see from the Maine administration in their backing of Coach Whitehead in the coming months will tell us much about them. I hope that as in the case of the players and the coach we are not disappointed. Coach Whitehead deserves our support, an extension and our thanks.

Health Care's Final Lap

So as the Democrats make one final push for health care reform we wait and see what comes of it. At times it appears that the total obstruction of the Republicans might soon end, not on healthcare, but on other issues. I have been in favor of national health care for as long as I can remember. I am in favor of health care reform.

I am not sure that this plan that the Democrats have put forth is a good one. Of course we do not know if a bad plan or less than perfect ( far less than perfect ) plan will serve as the impetus for improvements or sour all of us on the idea in total. What I do know from everything I have read is that the financial assumptions made by the Democrats are worthless and any cost savings anticipated will never come to pass.

There is nothing in this plan to reduce health care costs. The now usual promise to cut waste and fraud notwithstanding all of the other assumptions are based on half truths and accounting tricks. Now if the decision is that to provide health care to everyone is worth a deficit program that cab be debated and perhaps agreed to, but selling this plan as a cost saver is not true in any sense of the word.

The insurance companies fight this bill, I think more as a reflex action and a fear of what it might lead to more than as a result of what the bill includes. My reflex action is the opposite of course, anything the insurance company is against I am for.

The biggest issue I have that the Obama administration believes in health care for all but that he is trying per usual to make everyone happy. The idea of having a plan that keeps private health insurers as the primary force in health care with no cost restriction is not one that will work. If you want insurance for all, if you want cost savings or at least cost neutral health care then you need to have a single payer system. Really that is where the debate should be.

And shame on the President for not fighting the good fight. We assume Americans do not like the idea of national health care. This is mostly because the right makes better commercials. Really! How many senior citizens do you know who would prefer to have private insurance instead of Medicare. Few to None. Medicare is not for profit and has a three percent administrative overhead cost. How many Republicans voted for Medicare when it was enacted. Few to none. Some things enver change. Some things never will.

Those things that need change sometimes need not incremental change but huge change. This requires leadership, this requires bravery. These two characteristics that the President is sorely lacking.

However you feel about the issue lets debate the real issue. Single payer or not. We are dancing around the truth. What we need from President Obama is a backbone. However without national health care he may not qualify for the transplant he is so apparently in need of

Salt of the Earth

Last weekend my wife was going to the mall to spend a gift certificate. I have no interest in shopping but realizing that I need to push up against this MD as much as possible I joined her. After walking into the mall I was exhausted, pushing up against is not really the term, it might be more leaning against it at this point...

Anyway, so she went shopping and I sat on the bench. Behind me on the bench sat a couple of men. I could not see them but could hear them. Listening to them I was reassured. Whatever the times men are men. These were two gentleman, easily recognizable by their accents as from Aroostook County or even New Brunswick, Canada. They spoke of their wives, the shopping they were doing. They spoke about a neighbor that had moved into a retirement home, a neighbor that one gentleman had given an old shed too ( as he was getting a new one) and how the man was so thrilled to get it and had repaid him by giving him a snowblower when he got a new one. Neither had asked or expected these gifts. It was just a good thing to do. One gentleman had spoken about a condition he had that precluded him from lifting above 25 pounds for fear of an anuerism breaking off. The other gentleman said well you need to listen to that so we can enjoy more trips like this. It was a telling sentence. A sentence a man speaks to a friend, not harping, not speaking the obvious affection they felt. But still underneath the admonition that there was much life left to live.

It was the kind of sentence I would expect to hear from my friend Brad should the situation need. Facing the illness I face now I live with just a few thoughts.

To be a good person. to as the great singer Warren Zevon said when facing his own imminent death to " enjoy every sandwich" Most importantly to be a good husband and father, to provide a good example. To treasure my friends and to not complain. To be a positive role model is as many things as I can.


These gentleman had worked thier whole lives, were with their wives on a weekend trip, they were just everyday men. They were good men, they were caring men. They had I am sure made mistakes. They were, however, on the other side of life with an appreciation for what is right and good, and still looking forward to the future.

I hope to be that man for the rest of my life as well.