Jane Chastain : Politically Direct

Everyone needs a broom.  It’s a basic cleaning instrument.  Cleanliness is important to one’s overall health and well-being.  Therefore, everyone should have a “right” to an effective broom.

All brooms are not equal.  Some brooms are too heavy.  Other brooms are too light.  Still, others are too thin to do an adequate job.  The good citizens of the United States of America demand broom standards.

Congress begins crafting a bill.  Brooms must be made to accommodate Americans of various weights and heights.  Also, brooms must be light enough to be operated by the weak and infirm.   The lobbying continues.  One group demands that the straw be “odder free.”  Another group wants the broom manufacturers to certify that the brooms are made of “all natural” materials.  Still, another wants to set the wages and benefits for the workers in the broom manufacturing industry.    Read the rest of this entry »

Over the past few months, I have been bombarded with hundreds of e-mails in opposition to the kind of health care reform favored by Obama and the liberal Democrats.  However, I noticed that no one is more fervently opposed to the radical transformation that is being thrust upon us than my own trusted, usually mild-mannered insurance agent, Charles Jarai.
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I’m back.

Did you miss me?

My column has not appeared for the last eight weeks.

Life goes at a rapid pace but, for someone facing a major health crisis, the days are in slow motion.  Under such circumstances one realizes how fragile life is.

My husband and I have sacrificed in order to buy the kind of medical insurance that allows us the flexibility to see the best doctor available.   The Obama Administration would call that a Cadillac plan.  For us it has been a necessity.   For run of the mill medical problems any doctor will do, but there are times when you need an expert, the expert.
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Last week, the AARP  gave Barack Obama his comeuppance by challenging a statement made by the president at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, N.H.

It was a major embarrassment to the White House, and disingenuous. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a marriage made in Heaven, or so it seemed, senior citizens and the AARP.

When you reach age 50, you get a letter from the AARP inviting you to join and offering discounts at thousands of businesses across America, and an opportunity to purchase insurance on almost everything at the AARP’s group rate, all for $16 per year.

With 84 million Americans now over the age of 50, and some 40 million of them carrying AARP cards, that’s real clout.  Something for practically nothing, what a deal!

Every year, thousands of Americans join AARP before they realize those discounts come with a lot of heavy baggage. Read the rest of this entry »