By Cam Savage

Two weeks into a partial government shutdown, Congress negotiated down to the last minute – the night before the treasury department’s Oct. 17 deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit.

These negotiations, though the word “negotiation” seems a charitable characterization of what was happening, always – or at least routinely – go down to the last minute.

So with that behind us, for now, I offer a few suggested pieces of legislation which I believe could unite Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate and bring some measure of peace and harmony to the American people.

Packaged together, call this legislative package the “Things that Grind our Gears Agenda for America.”

First, we must address an issue critical to all Americans (at least occasionally). I suggest a nationwide ban on restaurant bathroom doors being labeled with anything other than “Women” or “Men” or “Women/Men,” given the recent trend of unisex bathrooms. Also acceptable will be very standard images depicting obvious symbols for “women” or “men.”

What we have to put an end to is the trendy and covert speakeasy-type labels popping up on bathroom doors in restaurants around the country.

Enough already with the men’s rooms marked as “Room 201: Office of Albert B. Huffandpuff, Esquire” or “Dressing Room of Mrs. Dolores K. Snickerdoodle.” We get it, inside jokes are great for management and staff, but when en route to the bathroom, what patron is interested in cleverness? Give us cleverness in the name of your establishment, the décor, even the menu, but don’t leave us scrambling in our moment of need.

Now, if you’re out at an Italian or German or Mexican restaurant in the good ole United States, this is your problem. It won’t kill you to know two words in a couple different languages and restaurants are well within their rights to mark their bathroom doors in the language of the restaurant’s offered fare. But don’t be silly about it. Yes, I’m talking to you Outback Steakhouse.

Now, because only Congress can address issues of national security, let’s end this ridiculous practice of state troopers accompanying college football coaches onto the playing field for post-game handshakes. These coaches are surrounded by 75 fully padded college athletes, are we really worried about their safety?

Some people think this tradition began with legendary Alabama football coach Paul Bryant, but no one seems to be really sure. Why a guy whose nickname was “Bear” needed a security detail is a mystery, but now every big-time college coach has at least one state trooper at his side.

This does not seem to be the case with women’s college volleyball coaches.

And I don’t care if big college teams reimburse taxpayers for the overtime that state troopers rack up while escorting teams to and from crowded stadiums or even traveling with the teams on the road. I’m okay with that as long as the athletic departments are picking up the tab, but the shadowing of coaches onto the field just looks silly. Ban it!

And here’s an urgent issue Congress must address – those people who stand up on airplanes as soon as the plane arrives at the gate. Where do these people think they are going? There are 300 people in front of you to exit the plane, cool your jets: You aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Standing up and putting your backside into my face isn’t going to get you off this plane any faster.

For this offense to common courtesy, I propose a $50,000 fine and 75 hours of community service as a TSA pat-down agent. Problem solved – immediately.

If Congress cannot unite Americans around a simple package of reforms targeting annoying airline passengers, obnoxious college football coaches, and misleading bathroom doors, what can unite us?

Cam Savage is a principal at Limestone Strategies and a veteran of numerous Republican campaigns and the National Republican Senatorial Committee. He is a graduate of Franklin College. He can be reached at Cam@limestone-strategies.com.

 The Town Hall scheduled for Saturday, October 18, 2013 AT 10 TO 11:30 has been postponed to a later date in respect for the funeral of Bob Davies.

“The location of the Town Hall is in the same location, First Presbyterian Church and I don’t want to be disrespectful of the family and friends of Mr. Davies who will be celebrating his life in our church,” said Mrs. Riecken.

Because of the late notice, Rep Riecken will be at the church for any participants who might not receive the cancellation notice.

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
IndyPoltics.Org

Every time I see something in the media regarding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) all it does is make me sick to my stomach. I have maintained that this legislation was going to be a disaster and everything I see proves I am correct. Now I know my friends on the “progressive” side of the aisle think the ACA is the best thing since frozen yogurt and sliced bread, but they seem to forget the first rule of medicine is to do no harm, and that is all we will get from the ACA, harm.

First, let’s do a quick recap of what we know. Employers (despite the one-year delay) have to provide health insurance to what used to be considered part-time employees because the law now says a full-time employee is someone who works 30 hours a week instead of something a lot closer to 40. You have the federal government, for the first time in history, using its taxing authority to compel state and local governments to comply with the ACA, putting an even bigger strain on their budgets.

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org.

Premiums are going to rise as the healthy now have to pay for the sick and infirm, who get a better rate. And even those folks who have tried to comply with this and register through the exchange, can’t even log on most of the time since the administration never fully had the data infrastructure ready to go, even though more than $400 million was spent to get it up and running.

Now here’s a preview for what’s on the horizon. If what you’ve seen so far has made you feel ill, this will pretty much put you in the grave. In my hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, there was a very thorough front-page story this past week on how the deductibles under Obamacare are tantamount to sticker shock once you get into the weeds and crabgrass of this thing.

Someone who buys insurance through their employer, the story found, was likely to pay about $1,100 in deductibles, under the “Affordable” Care Act, and I use the term affordable very loosely, and they are staring down the barrel of about $4,000.  Now granted, that is the Cook County area, but there is no reason why Indiana will be that much different.

If you go down the road to Kentucky, which my progressive friends have touted as a model, well one of those plans is only good if you get sick or injured in Kentucky. So if you live in Louisville and are driving across the bridge or are on the Ohio River, make sure you get sick on the Kentucky side because if it happens in Indiana you are out of luck.

And this all comes in the first couple of weeks of the ACA going on line. Just imagine what life will be like in 2014. And don’t even get me started on the medical device tax that is already hitting Indiana’s medical device injury like a cement truck.

We could have easily tackled our health care problem by creating a national version of the Healthy Indiana Plan which would have offered the working poor a chance to not only purchase health insurance, but also have skin in the game to encourage them to take responsibility for the own health and well-being. Instead we are going to have to deal with a monster that is going to spiral out of control and take this nation somewhere that no one will want to go when it is all said and done.

I am no fan of Sarah Palin, but the more I look at the ACA, I really do wish it had death panels.

Abdul is an attorney and the editor and publisher of IndyPoltics.Org. He is also a frequent contributor to numerous Indiana media outlets. He can be reached at abdul@indypolitics.org.