Adele Ferguson

AARP policy, Gregoire departure,War Powers Act

ITEM - News that AARP, the most influential lobby for senior citizens, has decided that America’s fiscal straits are so serious that it is willing to consider supporting cuts in Social Security, was deemed a political earthquake nationwide. AARP has for years regarded any reformers of Social Security as evildoers who want to bankrupt Granny. The change in heart, it’s said, is because AARP finally accepts that Social Security cuts are inevitable and wants to be at the bargaining table when they are made.

COMMENT - AARP officials, whose 37 million members are the most consistent voters of any age group, killed some years ago a reform plan for Medicare that I thought was the most sensible I’d heard and would not head us into the hole the way we are going now. Its thrust was to make Medicare funds available for catastrophic illnesses and conditions but leave paying for the ordinary stuff, annual physicals, flu shots and the like up to the individual. It’s about time it realized we’re all going to have to give a little and stop trying to make the wealthy foot the whole bill.

ITEM - Gov. Christine Gregoire announced she would not seek reelection at the end of her second term. She needs to spend more time with her family, she said.

COMMENT - Of all the reasons offered by politicians for resigning or retiring without being forced to do so by law or polls, spending time with the family is the most used by those who have something else in the offing but can’t announce it just yet. I don’t think we’ll be seeing the last of Christine Gregoire

ITEM - House Speaker John Boehner wants President Obama to explain why we are still in Libya where we have joined an effort to dethrone that country’s ruler. The president was accused of violation of the 1973 War Powers Act that calls for congressional consent to our Libyan participation within 60 days of the first air strikes in that action which at this writing has not been done.

COMMENT -Oddly enough, I heard over the radio an explanation about this from a pol, I think Boehner, that the War Powers Act says the president “shall” seek congressional consent, the key word, it was explained, being shall, because it is much stronger than “may.” I recalled telling you in May about the Plain Writing Act signed by the president, that calls for purging a long list of words frequently used in documents for the public. “Shall” was in their sights as “stuffy and obsolete.” Do I smell a rat in here some place?

ITEM - A ruling by a Spokane Superior Court judge has put an end to that city’s use of red light cameras at intersections to catch drivers who run a red light or don’t come to a full stop first before making a turn on a red light. The system calls for a police officer to review films of traffic, decide if someone has broken the law, then send that information to the camera company in Arizona which puts the officer’s name on the ticket it sends to the driver. The judge said state law requires any such signature has to be done within the state.

COMMENT - I’m not all that convinced red light cameras are a good idea. I go through several intersections where the left turners are so intent on beating it through on the green that if it suddenly changed during the mad rush and you stopped, you’d be rear ended by the driver behind you and he’d get it from the driver behind him.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.)