2014 International Biscuit Festival

Knoxville, Tennessee

FYI-I forgot to take pictures of the doggone biscuits.

Renamed for the Day

Today was the International Biscuit Festival on Market Square in Knoxville.  Since its inception in 2010, the International Biscuit Festival has become a full weekend of events.  The festival will end tomorrow with Food Network's Tyler Florence at the Tennessee Theater  

I went because I have wanted to go since the first year, but getting to Downtown Knoxville from West Knoxville is a pain because you have to through the University of Tennessee/Cumberland Avenue. I was told there would be free parking.  Well, yes, sort of.  If you can get a space on the street, which you cannot.  Parking in a lot or garage was either $10.00 or $15.00.

This is not like living in Connecticut and getting on the Metro North to go into New York City.  Doing that is easy.  It is well planned out because people do it every day.  

Dead down at this end!

From Sequoyah Hills to Market Square, Knoxville is just not user friendly.

In addition to the International Biscuit Festival, the Saturday Market Square Farmer's Market took up a great deal of room.  I believe the organizers need to work out a new layout.  It would be great if there were more vendors for both the farmer's market and the biscuits, but as it is now, movement is nearly impossible.  If you are handicapped in any way, have small children, a dog (or two) or are claustrophobic, DO NOT GO.

A small portion of the Tupelo Honey line

Hopefully, the International Biscuit Festival Organizers will work all this out by next year,  Like their Facebook page so that you can be in the know about the decisions and dates for next year.  I love the concept and I really enjoyed the food.  Free and easy movement would be a real bonus.

At the International Biscuit Festival, you pay $10.00 for a ticket, which allows you up to five biscuits.  My husband and I got two tickets.  The vendor marks your ticket for each biscuit.  Sometimes, we got two biscuits and sometimes, we just got one from a vendor.  This allowed us to sample more biscuits between us.

Some of the efforts were more successful than others.  The Sundress Academy (a non-profit arts group) had a Peach Bourbon infused ham biscuit.  The ham was fabulous.  The biscuit was too crumbly.

Bojangles had an iced blueberry biscuit called the BoBerry.  You would expect a chicken and biscuit place to get it right and they did.  My Husband ate two.

Also, very good were the Applewood Farmhouse Restaurant's Cranapple Biscuit and The Plaid Apron's Pawpaw Pecan Biscuit.  Gourmet's  Market called their offering "On Top of Old Smokey".  It was mildly spicey and they served it with your choice of jelly.  I chose the Frog Jelly.  Frog stands for Figs, Raspberries, Oranges and Ginger.  The Jelly was fabulous.  I am going to run down to Gourmet's and get some Frog Jelly.

Dill Pickle Biscuits

Southern Living's biscuits had bits of dill pickle chopped up in them and the very popular Latitude 35 had a very rich chocolate sauce.

Of course, people were lined up at 8:30 in the morning for the Tupelo Honey biscuit.  The festival opened at 9:00 and Tupelo honey had sold out 1300 biscuits by noon.  The winning offering was by Tomato Head/Flour Head and was called Ms. Pearl.  It consisted of buttermilk biscuit, corn, tomato and Benton's bacon, which I cannot eat.  It gives me heartburn. Congratulations to Tomato Head/Flour Head.

Maybe next year, the organizers could find a way to funnel the crowd.  Because then, people would stay longer and spend more money!

Travel wardrobe Spring, 2014

Cincinnati and New York

Going to Cincinnati for my nephew's high school graduation and then New York City for our dear family friend's law school graduation.  We will be gone for close to six days.  

We are leaving on the afternoon of May 23 for Cincinnati from Knoxville. My nephew's graduation is at 11:00 a.m., on Saturday, May 24 at Centas Center at Xavier University.  Lunch with the fam afterwards.  Hang out with family on Sunday, so totally casual.  We will then leave at zero dark thirty on Monday morning for NYC.

We will arrive at 4 or 5:00 p.m. on Monday, May 26 in New York City.  We are staying at the quite posh Peninsula Hotel. The hotel is centrally located in midtown at 700 Fifth Avenue between 54th and 55th.  We will probably play it by ear on Monday night.

Tuesday, our dear girl's graduation, is at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center at 3:00 p.m. on May 27.  Her graduation dinner will be at the Clement at the Peninsula Hotel at 7:30 p.m. that evening.

We will drive back very first thing on Wednesday morning.

With those facts in mind, I have put  together a wardrobe that should cover any eventuality. 

See my style board right here:  My style board

 With the possible exception of shoes for the dinner at the Clement.  Since I won't have to do any walking, I am trying to decide between three pairs of shoes.  If I wear the Adrienne Papell Lace Bodice Dress, which of these shoes should I wear?

Ivanka Trump

BCBG Generations

Sole Society

Ok, kiddies.  Thoughts?  Be Brutal.

Vice Vinnie kept busy with Sex

Graduate Courses in Student Development Theory 

In an article in the May 13, 2014 Knoxville News Sentinel,  new University of  Tennessee Vice Chancellor for student life, Vincent Carilli describes for the reporter how half of his time has been spent dealing with Sex Week at the University of Tennessee.  Fortunately, Chancellor Carilli has graduate courses in Student Development Theory in his past.

Ok, so, here is my thing.  I don't give a fig how much time students at the University of Tennessee spend having sex, thinking about sex or talking about sex.  They can talk about gender and transgender roles 24/7/365.  I don't care. I wish I had known about the Drag Lip Sync show.  UT had the Blurred Bynes video on the Sex Week website, but I don't think DWV was at the show.  Darn!

I just wish that while they were talking about SEX, they would include a little GRAMMAR in the conversation.  The students could learn about the difference between "Let's eat, Grandma." and "Let's eat Grandma."  Grammar and sexual innuendo all in one.

Or, how about learning the difference between your and you're or to, two and too or there, their and they're. Again, it could be slipped right into the sex discussions.  For instance, used in a sentence.  "They're not having sex there."  Or, "Would you two like to have sex, too?"  Or, one more "You're not going to have your boyfriend and girlfriend over at the same time?"

Don't blame it on the internet.  If kids only learned what was on social media (bad grammar), you wouldn't need sex week.  

I had to google Student Development Theory.  I had never heard of it before.  I read the whole freaking wikipedia article.  I read about all the different theories.  I think that I have come up with a relatively good description of Student Development Theory.  This theory attempts to explain that sentient beings learn everywhere and from everything. Sentient beings learn not just from the classroom but also experientially.

See, I learned something from Sex Week at the University of Tennessee!

Go Vols!

Ready for the World Cafe - Japanese French Fusion

Just $12.00

The Ready for the World Cafe is a weekly dining experience provided by the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State Community College Culinary Arts programs.  On Thursdays in both the Fall and Spring semesters, students develop and present an international menu.  Today's Japanese French Fusion lunch was the last of the Spring semester.

The Menu

The four course meal is served by a student, and Max was our waiter today.  Max was very observant and unobtrusive in his service.  Perfect qualities in a member of any waitstaff.

The first course was a Japanese take on a classic Salad Nicoise.  The hard boiled egg was replaced with tofu and the tuna was wasabi seared.  The whole salad including the miso vinaigrette was delicious.

A Japanese take on a Salad Nicoise

I am not always a fan of terrines so I wasn't sure about the French ratatouille terrine of vegetables topped with seaweed salad and served on a ponzu sauce.  That is, until I tried it.  This was an absolute hit.  The terrine was fresh and the colors were vibrant and and the sauce was slightly citrusy and perfect.  There were some beautifully fried white noodles on the side.

Ratatouille Terrine with Ponzu

The Salmon en papillote was freaking amazing.  I don't think that I have ever had a better tasting or better cooked piece of salmon.  One of my table companion's salmon had a portion that was under cooked.  Mine was so beautiful and delicious.

Salmon en papillote

Beautifully cooked

The honey sesame dessert eclair was very light.  I now think that I actually prefer red bean paste as a sweetener.  The red bean paste is less sweet and does not coat your tongue.

Honey Sesame Eclair

Filling sweetened with red bean paste.

I have to say that not every Ready for the World Cafe meal has rocked my world.  The Japanese meal last year with the Octopus and fish sauce salad dressing was a real yucky course.  Even the rest of that meal was great.

What a great deal.  The culinary students get real world experience.  The guests pay $12.00 and get to try new foods or old foods prepared in new ways.  #Winning!

Watch the Knoxville News Sentinel for the offerings for next fall and make your reservations early.

Local pastor says "No place for hostility in abortion debate"

So, like if I am really a Christian I should just shut up

Today, the Knoxville News Sentinel  published an op-ed by The Reverend Jill Sizemore.  The Reverend Sizemore is Senior Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of Knoxville.  The article, which I have linked to here, is entitled "No place for hostility in abortion debate".

Although in her article, The Reverend says there is " tension, unrest and utter hatred" on both sides, she only discusses the "confrontations and gun violence" at reproductive/family planning facilities where doctors, workers and the workers' families are harassed.  So, I guess the true title is "No place for hostility by those who oppose abortion".

Sizemore writes that abortion does not need to be discussed, but the hostility of the actions and dialogue needs to be discussed.  She says that "supposedly God-fearing, God-following" people are "utterly dismissive" about the way we talk to each other.  She posits that "until this divide between us is closed.......".

Nevermind, I won't bore you with what she blathers on about with the feel good philosophy of a kind of religion of here and now.

My son at 20 weeks gestation in 1987

She says this is about an individual woman and that by not affirming her decision, we are turning our backs on her.  Sizemore says that we have complicated the whole issue.  Then, she goes on with that old saw (and I know this one is old because I had sex ed in school in the 70's) about how we don't talk to kids about sex in the right way or teach them about contraception.

Then, there is the blah, blah, blather about a woman deserves the right to choose. And, she says that "Pro-choice advocates do care about both mother and child."  Yes, that would be the dead child.

Reverend Sizemore, I write this directly to you.  I recognize that your brain pan is probably bigger than mine.  I recognize that you are far better educated than I and I am totally sure that you converse with God far more often than I do. 

Do you really think that we do not talk to kids openly about sex?  Do you really think that there are people in this country who believe that sex outside of a loving, committed relationship won't ever happen?  Do you really believe that fetus lovers believe that abortion will never happen?

Do you really believe that there can be rapprochement between two diametrically opposed ideas....life and death?  What can we agree on?  The baby is dead.  Well, that is one thing.

Do I believe that God would be really, really stoked if I said, "Y'all go and do what you want and I will be totally supportive."  We all need to be healed and when I am God says to me "Go and sin no more." (John 8:11)

Color me trying to figure all this heavy stuff out here in this scruffy little city.

In praise of Parkwest Medical Center

A group of true professionals

My ability to take in a breath declined all day.  Other than the fact that I do not like hospitals, I have no reason whatsoever that I did not at least alert my husband to the possibility that I was ill.  I told him I thought I got some pollen in my lungs and we bought more Vics-Vap-O-Rub.  Just don't ask why.

About 3:00 a.m., I woke my husband up and told him that we needed to get to the Emergency Room.  Parkwest Medical Center is about 15 minutes from our home, so there was never a question of where we were going.

And, to be honest, I didn't think it really mattered which hospital that you went to when you were ill.  All hospitals are the same.  Drab, dreary, germy and filled with people who hate their lives.

 

We were seen by a triage team within about 10 minutes (even though it seems way longer when you can't breath).  The staff was professional, courteous and focused.   They moved quickly through steps to eliminate problems.  They discussed everything with me, but also told me their preferred choices.

Once I was admitted, the experience just got better.  Everyone was kind and caring.  I was on oxygen and receiving breathing treatments for a really bad allergy attack.  Apparently, Saturday was a really bad day.  And,  allergies in Knoxville, that is pretty darn common.

The food was delicious I must say.  Really good quality.  Nice choices. Salads and soups, a nice balsamic chicken and, maybe it was the steroids, but the Sara Lee desserts were great.

Look, when you are ill, the small, tender mercies mean so much.  A kindness and a smile, a small and appropriate joke.  Everyone that I met on the Fourth Floor staff was wonderful, warm and professional.  It was 3:00 a.m. Easter Sunday when I arrived and 7:00 p.m. on Monday when I left and I did not have a bad experience with the staff or their treatment of me.

Thank you Fourth Floor Staff from Room 472 with the breathing treatments.

Color me grateful for every breath!

Dogwoods and the Beauty of Sequoyah Hills

Perfect Sunday Drive

We have been very blessed here in Knoxville.  Although it doesn't happen very often, the Redbuds and the Dogwoods are out together.  So, I said to my handsome husband on Sunday, April 13, 2014 that we should drive the Dogwood Trail in Sequoyah Hills.

The Sequoyah Hills trail was the first Dogwood Trail in Knoxville and, in my humble opinion, still the best.  Bordered on one side by Ft. Loundon Lake and with rolling hills, the Sequoyah Trail is by far the most picturesque. 

Talahi Park

Although I went to the ribbon cutting for the re-dedication of Talahi Park last week, there were too many people to take good photos.  I couldn't resist going back and taking photos.

One of the summer houses in Talahi Park

The monument honoring Robert Foust's vision

Before the recent work Talahi had fallen into disrepair

A great deal of damage from storms and foreign plantings had left Talahi in quite a state of disrepair.  Not now.

The fountain.  Simple and beautiful

The fountain shoots up so high and sprays bystanders.  It is wonderful and refreshing.  The fountain is simple and beautiful.

Ft.  Loundon Lake

I love the unspoiled look of Ft. Loundon Lake.  

The Dogwoods are breathtaking this year.  We haven't had any rough weather to bruise them up until now!

There was high volume traffic and everyone was taking pictures on a perfect Blue Sky East Tennessee Day in Sequoyah Hills.

I thank God every day that I live in East Tennessee.

Knoxville Dogwood Arts Festival kicks off with ribbon cutting and luncheon

How I got there

This past fall, my neighborhood was blessed with two new additions, Rose and Harry Moseley.  They bought in the neighborhood because one of their children lives here.  Last week, Rose, who has been deeply involved in the Dogwood Arts Festival many years, invited me and another neighbor, Diane Neely to the luncheon.

Diane had to work so she drove separately.  I road with Rose in her bestie Joanne's car.  Our first stop was the ribbon cutting for Talahi Park in Sequoyah Hills.

Talahi Park

Talahi Park was nearly destroyed by weather and inappropriate plantings.  The Sequoyah Hills Association has worked with arborists and restoration experts to make Talahi Park beautiful for now and the future. Today was the ribbon cutting which officially opened the park for the public.

Talahi Park

Dogwood Arts Festival Luncheon

The luncheon took place on the grounds of the 2014 Knoxville Symphony League Show Home.  The home does not open for viewing until April 11, but the grounds are beautiful.

 Before lunch, there was easy jazz music and performers from the Cirque du Soleil Varekai show, currently performing in Ktown at the Thompson Boling Arena.  Enjoy the pictures!

Diane

Me

Of course, there were dignitaries and sponsors who spoke, as they should, but I was hungry.

The Tablescape

The Luncheon was so beautiful and catered by Crown Plaza.  The first offering was grilled chicken breast on red and green romaine lettuce, with heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, a parmesan tuile and a delicious balsamic cream sauce. Sorry, I forgot to photograph the first course, but I was hungry!

Dessert was beautiful and yummy.  There were strawberries and graham crackers involved, but I can't remember all the deets.

Dessert

Most of all, I want to thank my new neighbor Rose and her bestie Joanne for inviting Diane and I to share the luncheon with them and for all the years Rose and Joanne spent making the Dogwood Arts Festival what it is today.

Joanne and Rose

Color me basking in the glow of a beautiful East Tennessee Day and trying to figure out that Balsmaic Cream sauce.

Knoxville Citizens do Not pay Federal Taxes

Well, according the the Knoxville News Sentinel

On Sunday, March 30, 2014, the Knoxville News Sentinel contained an article entitled "Mayoral travel provides influential opportunities".  This line was in that article "A trip to Turkey cost nothing for local taxpayers, nor a recent trip to California because it was paid for by the federal government, but Rogero has traveled elsewhere at local public cost."  

Clearly, there was never an editor any where near this article. It is kind of run-on and could use at least one other comma.  

Do the very fine citizens of Knoxville have a waiver from paying Federal Taxes?  Is this an error by the writer of the article?  Did this come from Madam Mayor's office?

I am pretty darn sure that Knoxvillians pay Federal Taxes.  In that case, local money was used.  

FYI, to the Sentinel, the writer and Madam Mayor's office.  The Federal Government has no money.  All the money in Washington, D.C. comes from the denizens of every city, town, hamlet and burg in the United States of America.  Or, is borrowed in the name of the people by the federal government.

When the Mayor travels, she travels on Knoxville's nickel whether she knows it or not.  Since, I am in a snarky mood, I am going to say Miss Rogero doesn't know, not part of the education of an organizer for Cesar Chavez.

Why is Ina Hughs so hateful

Ina Hughs is another of my fav reads from the Sentinel because she is so consistent.  She is consistently hateful and mean.  Her "Oped" "April day celebrates our sense of humor" displays her love of cruel jokes.  May be it is because I prefer humor that is self-deprecating or everyman type.  I just don't think that calling a beloved grandchild on the phone, pretending to be from the DMV and telling him that he really failed his Drivers License Test is kind or funny.

Color me hiding in fear of Ina Hughs humor.

T

Operational Security in a Social Media Age

The Jihadi's are on Facebook, too.

It has been almost three and a half years and I still remember when it happened.  My son was a brand new 2nd Lieutenant and was attending Army Logistics University at Ft. Lee, Virginia.  I was chatting on Facebook with someone and scrolling through my news feed.  I tagged my son in a picture, made a few keystrokes in my chat and then went to my son's page and it didn't exist.  

Gone, completely gone.  Every picture from the past five years and every part or mention of my son was gone.  Panicked, I called his cell phone and he answered.  He informed my that he was erasing his social media foot print for Operational Security (OpSec).  The Army had highly suggested he take this step.

I know mothers of the deployed look for the green dot on Facebook.  The green dot tells the moms that wherever their child is in the world, their child is using social media at that moment.  Of course, I am jealous.  My son suspended is cell phone account and left his phone, actually, I don't know where.  

My son calls every two to three weeks using the steady supply of phone cards that we send him.  My husband and I each talk to him for about an hour.

Back in World War II, OpSec was an important security feature and motivation for the deployed military personnel and the average citizen.  The average U.S. citizen could feel part of the war by participating in Operational Security, tin collection and rationing.  

Today, the average U.S. citizen goes about life blythely unaware that there are even troops deployed in Afghanistan, let alone the many other sensitive duty stations around the globe.

It is up to us then, those of us who are aware, to be even more security conscious about where our loved ones are and what they are doing.  The entire Islamofacist world is on Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and what ever app was designed today.  

Let us practice OpSec everyday!

Government Functionaries Train Next Generation of Smarmy Scolds

They know better because they think they are better

In the Sunday, March 23, 2014 edition of the "Knoxville News Sentinel", there is an article titled "Students use body bags to show tobacco's effects".  According to this article, high schoolers volunteered to lay on top of body bags, with a statistic filled tombstone by their heads, on Market Square, as a physical show of the dangers of tobacco. 

  This is a project of the Knox County Youth Health Board.  According to the article, Kathryn Burklund set this up.  She is the public health education coordinator for Tobacco Use Prevention.  

Breaking new:  Use of tobacco products could endanger your health.

These kids are learning a lesson here.  Stupid and pointless gestures get approval from adults and media coverage.  How else would the next generation of smarmy scolds get trained.  These kids are the ones' who will be hectoring us in the future about how to live our lives to suit them.  Don't think, just do as your told.

If you cannot picture what a smarmy scold is, think of the movie "Animal House".  You know the guys in the fraternity Omega Theta Pi.  The fraternity that was not "Animal House"  Yeah, Neidermeyer and Marmalard.

That is who these kids are going to grow up to be.

Remind me to stay away from Market Square.

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March Madness

Shock and Horror in Knoxville

Lady Vols NOT in Obama's Final Four

All of Knoxville is reeling today from an Associated Press Story in the esteemed "Knoxville News Sentinel" that President Obama did not pick the Lady Vols for the Final Four, in his vaunted and highly anticipated March Madness Brackets.

Shock in Knoxville

This will teach you Knoxville.  Our President is notoriously thin-skinned.  He never, ever, ever forgets a slight.  If Knoxville will remember, Obama did not carry Tennessee in either the 2008 or 2012 Presidential elections.  He DID win Connecticut in both the 2008 and 2012 Presidential elections.  

With his pick of Connecticut, the President is telling Knoxville and all of Tennessee to go jump in the Tennessee River.  

And, according to the article, when he hosted Connecticut's Lady Huskies (such an unfortunate name) last year, he promised team center Stefanie Dolson a dance-off if Connecticut repeated this year.  Actually, although I am not a basketball fan, I say "Go Lady Vols", if only to prevent another humiliation for our uber-cool (cough, giggle, snort) President.

In other, far less important news, that plane is still missing, Vladimir Putin is still trying to make up for his shortcomings and there will be llama races in Knoxville's World's Fair Park.

From the shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains, that is all for now.

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Not having health insurance is not freeloading. Not paying your bills is freeloading

Not having insurance is not freeloading

Ina Hughes always manages to annoy me.  Ina Hughes writes for the "Knoxville News Sentinel".  She has a rather myopic world view and does not seem to understand the phrase "correlation is not causation".  Miss Hughes also does not seem to understand free will.

Apparently, Miss Hughes spent days in the hospital for tests and a medication update and wrote about it in her column today.  Miss Hughes saw a woman in an SUV (clearly living too large) park and enter the emergency room.  The woman wanted to see a doctor for a cold (clearly an idiot). 

When Ms. Hughes questioned the nurse, the nurse told her these people don't have a doctor, don't have insurance and don't pay.  Ms. Hughes posits that these people are freeloaders because they don't have insurance.  She also posits that they have car payments, eat out and have gym memberships.

The Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare is going to fix this because these "freeloaders"  will be forced to have insurance, in Miss Hughes world.

Big problem.  These people have free will and may choose to pay the fine and still not have insurance.  They may choose to wait until they are ill and then get Affordable Care Act Insurance.  Since we don't (yet) have debtors' prisons or jail sentences for those who do not take Obamacare, what is to stop them.

More importantly, I disagree with Miss Hughes that people who don't have insurance are freeloaders.  People who don't pay their debts are freeloaders.  In my world, people who don't have health insurance are taking a big risk.  In my youth, I turned down company offered health insurance for more vacation time.  When I did see a doctor, and you can see a doctor without insurance, I PAID the bill.

People who don't have insurance are gamblers.  People who don't pay their bills are immoral jerks.

Obamacare, The Edsel and New Coke!

Fourth Edition

It is not about the marketing!

The front page of the Bearden edition of the "Shopper News" has another article about the "Looming" Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare signup deadline.  Writer Betty Bean features a new quote from Mayor Rogero, 

"Faith leaders like you share a vision of a responsibility to care for our nation's sick, our nation's children and the overall health of our community."

Silly Southern Baptist that I am, I thought our "faith leaders" had a vision to get our Souls to God. But then, I am a backsliding Baptist so maybe I missed the Sermons about serving the State by having Health Care.

Ford Edsel

New Coke

More importantly, our Mayor Rogero, President Obama and all of the other Affordable Care Act pitch persons have failed to learn the lesson that companies like Ford and Coca Cola learned.  While the failure of Ford's Edsel and Coca Cola's New Coke are taught in Marketing classes where one would never find organizers/agitators, they are also of recent enough vintage that surely the Mayor and the President had to have heard a little about them

The lesson that Ford and Coca Cola both learned with their failed products is that - no amount of money or slick advertising campaigns will induce the public to buy a product that the public does not want!

You cannot jawbone us into it either.  Force is the only way!

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Knoxville citizens exist to provide money to Church and State

Third Edition

Op-ed vision makes me think of "1984" (the book not the year)

In today's "Knoxville News Sentinel", there is an op-ed by four mayors regarding the Affordable Care Act or ACA or Obamacare.  The mayors of Chattanooga, Memphis, Nashville and our own Mayor Madeline Rogero.  This is a column clearly built by committee.  It is way too long.  I didn't even want to read it.  My husband said I had to because of the funny laugh lines in it.

First of all, the mayors claim 800,000 uninsured Tennesseans exist while the State website claims 683,000 uninsured Tennesseans exist.  Could the cities and the state check with each other?  Is that hard?

Next the mayors claim that "the peace of mind and financial security that come with health insurance was out of reach to many Tennesseans", according to the article.  Now, I am sorry that any one person suffers for any reason, but even the mayors' number 800,000 is only 1.2% of our state's population of 6,500,000.

The part that reminds me of the book "1984" by George Orwell is when the mayors (and I suspect Mayor Rogero wrote this part because it echoes earlier statements, write

"Certainly, getting covered impacts the individuals and families in our communities, but more residents with health insurance also helps our cities at large. It helps our local economy, because preventive care yields fewer people missing work because of illness. And it helps our budgets, because it places less of a burden on our local health systems. Ultimately, more of our residents getting coverage means better quality of life for all of our residents."

How dare you miss work, you drone.  Don't you know that you exist to serve the State during the week and plink coins in the offertory on the weekend.

This drone is signing out.

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