chess men in boxes . . .
the cafe’s ceiling fan
turns by itself
Michael Dylan Welch full size, color photo & haiku “welch25chessN”
from Open Window, haiku & photographs
more Michael Dylan Welch from the premiere issue of
Jason Sanford Brown’s new haiku e-journal roadrunner.
second trimester
a package arrives
with baby clothes
blue water
blue sky
the breakup
“tinyredcheck” Since I moved to Schenectady in 1988, I’ve been surprised that so many lawyers,
who did not seem to be “public-service types,” sought County employment as they
reached middle age — especially in part-time positions (ostensibly 17.5-hour weeks),
which allowed them to keep their private practices. Today’s Sunday Gazette offered
one explanation (“County alters fee-insurance benefit, B1, Jan. 9, 2005, $$):
“For decades, Schenectady County offered its employees and their
spouses a sweet deal: Free health insurance for life after just five years’
credit in the state retirement system.”
The insurance costs the County $6 million annually, which represents one-third of its
total health insurance costs, and comes to over $5400 per retiree. And, because working
for any branch of local government (including public defender offices, or town justices)
counts as state retirement time, the retiree might have “served” Schenectady County for a
very brief stint before “earning” this (and other) benefits. Under the new policy, you’ll have
to work 15 years to get free health insurance for yourself and your spouse. It’s clear that
a lot of elected officials are receiving this particular benefit, but the Gazettee was not
able to obtain the numbers.
A New York Times editorial today starts with “Tort reform,” the Bush
administration’s answer to the problem of high medical malpractice costs, makes sense from
only one aspect: the political. ” It’s a good read. Confused about the cost of tort reform?
Declarations and Exclusions offers help.