Christmas has gone!

And now we have a new year. Let us hope this year will be a better one.

The Repubs have gained control of the House. The new Speaker has said that the mission is to repeal the job killing health care law. Does he not understand that the broken system of health care delivery is killing people, not jobs?

We have established friendships with many of the other survivors that are fighting the same cancer as my wife is fighting. Most are not as fortunate as we are to have health insurance with all of the features mandated by the upcoming changes. As a result, the list of survivors shrinks regularly. So many of these folks reach the point, sooner or later, at which they are unable to afford the medication which keeps them alive and allows them to function. Then, they are gone.

The new Speaker is a heavy smoker, I understand. When his turn comes, will he abstain from the health insurance offered to members of Congress? Will he go quietly into the night? I doubt it. Unlike so many afflicted by disease of unknown etiology, he could lessen the risk of his disease by changing his behavior. He refuses, offering a damnable example to young people in the process. Some leader!