Open enrollment is here under the Affordable Care Act. That means we’re in “get ready for crap” mode, where anything and everything that is wrong with healthcare gets blamed on the ACA aka Obamacare. Think Benghazi, only local!

I take the health care thing personally. Pre-ACA, I was uninsurable in the private market, dependent for coverage on AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System), which had a plan for self-employed individuals. (AHCCCS is Medicaid in Arizona because, well, we’re Arizona. My state was the last state to adopt Medicaid, and we go our own way!) Our insurance program depended on the good graces of the Arizona legislature, a dependency no one should have, ever. (We covered our daughter separately, just

I ran across Why Bill Gates and Warren Buffett Are So Successful, in One Word earlier today. It’s a short piece by Greg McKeown, and it’s worth a look-see.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are close. Very close, in fact! The Buffett money ends up, mostly, in the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the two men are bridge and burger buddies. (Bill Gates’ late mother introduced her son to Warren Buffett.)

So what’s the word? Focus, both as a noun—having one—and as a verb, i.e., to focus. Mr. McKeown provides examples of focus in both ways, and even offers a four-square grid. Fine and dandy, and a couple of Gates/Buffett stories are fine, too, but for me the

“Lame duck” in politics refers to an office-holder after his or her last election, and to a legislative session after an election and before the winners have been sworn in. (The link, to a delightful 2009 article from the Denver Post by Ed Quillen about the origins of the term, uses a narrower definition, referring only to “an office-holder whose replacement has been elected but not sworn in.”)

Favorite gasbag Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has been erupting, of late, about lame ducks. Here he is, on Breitbart News Sunday:

I don’t think Congress should come back for a lame duck. I think the idea of having a bunch of Senators who have just been thrown out of

Rotten! Just rotten!!! That’s my short take on Tuesday. More thoughts:

1. Talk About the Good Stuff. You’re a Democrat in 2014. You’re tied to President Obama, whether you like it or not, so tell people we’re better off than we were six years ago. Two years ago, too! Lots of stats show this, from unemployment to the stock market to the deficit, yada, yada, yada! And when people say “my life isn’t better,” ask them why they think that’s the case. Are Republicans concerned about the wealth gap? Do they support higher wages? Are they concerned about you, Mr. and Ms. Regular Person? No, no, and no! And what have Republicans in Congress done for you lately?

2. Be Courageous