2012 Olympic Chicken Dance Preliminaries

The London Olympics are four years away, but you can begin your Chicken Dance Training at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati Noon on Fountain Square along with thousands of your fellow Olympic hopefuls. To help with the training will be local Beijing Olympic vets Mary Wineberg and David Payne who shall lead the mid-day workout.

Please remember that the wearing of spandex during competition is strictly prohibited by the International Chicken Dance Olympic Committee. It is a safety concern, so please help prevent injury and wear something a little more festive.

Food For Thought

For most of us (well, most of you, as I'm enjoying my power-outage-free downtown apartment), losing a lot of perishable food because of the blackout is a minor inconvenience. A few minutes spent throwing out the contents of the fridge and freezer, some grumbling, and an extra trip to the grocery store.

But for many, it means the loss of food that was barely affordable in the first place. The storm probably came at the worst possible time--on a Sunday, after people had stocked up on groceries following the traditional Saturday of shopping.

I've not seen a public plea for help, but it seems to me that organizations like the Freestore Foodbank and other, smaller pantries in the Cincinnati area may well see an increased demand this week and through the end of the month.

So if you're so inclined, this would be an excellent time to donate food or cash to the food pantry of your choice.

UPDATE: This morning, we got a comment from someone who's obviously more in the know than I am, and I wanted to bump her comment to the body of the post:

I work with the FreestoreFoodbank and have to second what you said in this post. We opened yesterday on Liberty Street (despite a lack of power there...) and saw more than 550 households come through. That's more than twice the number of households served on an average day. We're estimating we served between 1,200 and 1,400 people through yesterday's distribution. So as you suggested, we're hurting - especially given the fact that our perishable foods were without power and therefore can't be distributed. Cash and non-perishable food donations are welcomed.And, if there are people who need emergency food assistance, they are urged to visit the FreestoreFoodbank from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. all week.

McCain Health Plan Again

Just an added note: the online chatter about health care has been fueled by Health Affairs (a nonpartisan journal) analysis of the candidates' plans. While the full text of the article is here, this is the conclusion the authors reach about the McCain plan (emphases mine):

Achieving Senator McCain's vision would radically transform the U.S. health insurance system. His plan would alter the nature, source, and financing of coverage for the nearly 160 million Americans who now receive health insurance through their employers. We estimate that twenty million Americans--about one in every eight people with job-based coverage--would lose their current coverage as a result of the change in the tax treatment of coverage. Initially, this loss of job-based coverage would be offset by an increase in coverage in the nongroup market (although not necessarily for the same individuals). Within five years, however, the net effect of the plan is expected to be a net reduction in coverage relative to what would have been observed if the tax treatment of employer-sponsored coverage remains as it is now. The decline of job-based coverage would force millions of Americans into the weakest segment of the private insurance system--the nongroup market--where cost sharing is high and covered services are limited. Senator McCain's proposal to deregulate this market would mean that people in it would lose protections they now have. These changes would diminish the security of coverage for most Americans, especially those who are not--or someday will not be--in perfect health.

The McCain Health Plan: Hold Onto Your Wallet!

Every cloud has a silver lining. Perhaps the silver lining of this week's economic crisis is that the candidates are once again talking about issues, rather than each other. So let's talk about an issue that McCain hasn't spent much time on: health care. And I don't understand why he isn't talking about it, as his plan will radically alter the healthcare landscape in this country.

John McCain's plan to provide health care to Americans is essentially reform of the tax code. If you receive health insurance through your employer, you don't pay taxes on the portion of your premiums that your employer pays. McCain would change that: this "income" would now be taxable.

Instead, McCain would offer a $2,500 tax rebate to all Americans for the purposes of paying for health insurance. But Americans won't get that money themselves--the health insurance company you select would automatically get that money to cover your premiums. And to incentivize cheaper insurance plans, if $2,500 exceeds the amount of your annual premium, you'll get the excess back. Of course, you can't spend it: it will be put in a Health Savings Account that you could use to pay deductibles or co-pays. (This is all detailed on the McCain website, here.)

McCain's theory is that if people are forced out of employer-provided insurance and into the insurance market, competition will magically drive prices down and make health care affordable for all. The New York Times' Bob Herbert has this to say:

This entire McCain health insurance transformation is right out of the right-wing Republicans’ ideological playbook: fewer regulations; let the market decide; and send unsophisticated consumers into the crucible alone.
You would think that with some of the most venerable houses on Wall Street crumbling like sand castles right before our eyes, we’d be a little wary about spreading this toxic formula even further into the health care system.

To me, the McCain plan is a bad idea on its face. But regardless of its merits, shouldn't Americans know that if they elect John McCain president, every person who has employer-provided health insurance will have higher taxes taken from their paycheck each week?

Don't Come To Work Smelly Tomorrow

Two fitness chains, Fitworks, and Urban Active, are offering free showers to the public, according to the Enquirer.

So if you're without power, stop at the gym before you go to work tomorrow.

Ike Damage

Question: What's missing from the following picture?

Answer: Check out the second pole in the picture. It's a street light, just like the others. Except it's missing its light; yesterday's winds blew it off. It was tossed, unfortunately, onto a parked car below. (The car was whisked away by the time I thought to take a picture.) No injuries, but the car was totalled.

(This is Fourth Street, standing at the intersection of Plum and facing west.)

Feel free to post descriptions of damage you saw.

Snarky aside: I still don't understand why WCPO needs two tickers to list school closings. I am amused, though, that on the larger (uppermost) of the two, they didn't find a way to get rid of the snow flurry graphics.

Oh Yes, It's a Chicken Dance Off

It's Oktoberfest Zinzinnati week so let's start things off with a Chicken Dance With The Stars.