I am writing this for members of my family, and for others who may be interested. My twin sister Donna died a few hours ago of stage three lung cancer. The end came quickly and somewhat unexpectedly. She was preceded in death by Lisa Pesci, my brother’s daughter, a woman of great courage who died still full of years, and my sister’s husband Craig Tobey Senior, who left her at a young age with a great gift: her accomplished son, Craig Tobey Jr. My sister was a woman of great strength, persistence and humor. To the end, she loved life and those who loved her. Her son Craig, a mere sapling when his father died, has grown up strong and straight. There is no crookedness in him. Thanks to Donna’s persistence and his own native talents, he graduated from Yale, taught school in Japan, there married Miyuki, a blessing from God. They moved to California – when that state, I may add, was yet full of opportunity – and both began to carve a living for them...
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It appears that the Dems, at least in the executive branch, are finally acknowledging that spending must be reduced. However, this general recognition is generally qualified by the claims that the Governor's agreement with the unions last year means there are no savings to be found there and, secondly, that medicaid cuts are difficult because of their being tied to federal dollars. I question the extent that the State can in fact be legally bound by any agreement with its employees if it were in its wisdom to either exempt itself from litigation and/or change the statutory framework that gives public employee unions their right to exist. The promises it has made simply cannot be kept. I also question whether the State can't find savings in Medicaid by rejecting the Obamacare expansion of eligibility, reversing, as I understand it, the decision made by Gov. Rell in 2010 "to provide increased medical benefits for (the near poor) through Medicaid while relieving the burden on state taxpayers.” The dramatic increase in the number of folks on medicaid is allegedly a prime reason for the current "unexpected" budget "shortfalls," and would appear to this inexpert financial analyst to be unsustainable going, as they say,forward.