Jeers and cheers
JEERS: Problems with the rollout of the Obama administration’s health insurance website are simply inexcusable. The Affordable Care Act was supposed to be the biggest success of the Obama administration, and there’s simply no way it should have been allowed to get bogged down with annoying computer glitches.
While everyone involved is busy playing the blame game, the buck stops with Obama, and he must accept responsibility for the fiasco. But more importantly, Obama and the people who work for him must figure out a way to get the system up and running before Jan. 1, when the law’s benefits take effect. There’s time to fix the problems, but it’s going to take a lot of manpower and money to get things straightened out. All of the problems raise questions about the viability of Obamacare and give fresh ammunition to its critics.
CHEERS: No one could have blamed 84-year-old Norma Sherlock if she’d put her North Union Township home up for sale after an armed gunman used it as his bunker for nearly 10 hours in a standoff with a host of police and law enforcement officials last month.
Luckily for Sherlock she was volunteering her services at the Fayette County Senior Center and wasn’t at home during the standoff. Unfortunately, though, her home sustained considerable damage during the standoff, with windows and doors broken, and chemicals and debris, including a considerable amount of blood, strewn throughout the interior. But instead of giving up, Sherlock decided to go ahead and make all the necessary repairs before moving back in. “I thought, you know, I am going to show my kids that I am a strong person,” Sherlock said. “I’m coming back in.” She’s to be commended for having such a spunky attitude, one that should be an inspiration for people of all ages.
Cheers: There was some good news this week from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which reported that natural gas production from the Marcellus shale region, which includes Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, is growing faster than expected. The agency said Marcellus production has now reached 12 billion cubic feet a day, the energy equivalent of about 2 million barrels of oil a day and more than six times the 2009 production rate. Earlier estimates had forecast the 12 billion cubic feet amount wouldn’t be reached until 2015 or later.
That’s all good news for residents of Fayette, Greene and Washington counties, who received $1.3, $3.1 and $4.6 million respectively last year from Marcellus shale gas exploration impact fees. If the agency’s numbers are right than those counties should get even more Marcellus shale money next year.
JEERS: Why don’t those wooly worm caterpillars and squirrels go back to minding their own business instead of pestering us with predictions that we’re in for a wicked winter. According to folklore, the brown bands on the midsection of a wooly worm caterpillar are much narrower prior to harsh winters, while squirrels gather more nuts than usual when a wild winter is coming on.
So far, those predictions are all too accurate as temperatures dipped into the 20s last night with a bit of the white stuff flying around for good measure. And unfortunately even the folks at the Farmers’ Almanac are forecasting a winter with a double whammy of bitter cold temperatures and above average snow. Just what we wanted to hear, right? Oh well, one thing is for sure. Winter is coming, and there’s not much we can do about it, especially with those pesky wooly worm caterpillars and squirrels doing their thing.