A Missing Plane - A Rejection of Obamacare - A Russian Crimea

Dear readers, let's look at three key stories today. (1). THE MISSING PLANE. Eleven days after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared, the whereabouts of the plane is still unknown and all possibilities - from pilot suicide to mechanical failures to sabotage to terrorist hijacking - are still being considered. But there is one question that has had very little discussion - why didn’t any of the passengers or flight attendants attempt to call loved ones with their cell phones? So far, investigators have not been able to find any phone calls, e-mails or social media postings that originated from the missing plane. The New York Times quotes Malaysia airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya as saying there hasn’t been any evidence of communications  from the plane : "but anyway they are still checking and there are millions of records for them to process." Passengers on the hijacked flights during the 9/11 terrorist attacks called loved ones using cell phones. In the more than 12 years since that day, technology has moved forward at a tremendous rate. A 2012 report said that 3/4 of the world’s population has access to a cell phone. So if, as the data suggests, the plane continued to fly for several hours after it lost contact with ground radar, why didn’t anyone try to make a call? Or post a message on Twitter or on China’s blog site Weibo? The NYT says there are a number of plausible reasons. For one, whoever was in control of the airplane could have depressurized the cabin, rendering the passengers unconscious within seconds. Death would have followed. If it is true that the plane climbed to 45,000 feet shortly after losing contact with ground radar, passengers in an already depressurized cabin would have slipped into unconsciousness within seconds at that altitude. Or perhaps the plane was flying at too high altitude for cell phones to find a signal. But there are other reports that say the plane was flying very low, at around 5,000 feet where signals abound. Another question concerns the 10 satellite phones in the business class section. Why didn’t anyone use them? One theory, again according to the Times report, is that someone could have disabled the in-flight entertainment system and that would also inactivate the satellite phones. So we are left with the last Words of MH370's co-pilot : "All right. Good night." Dear readers, was this sign-off, not made according to normal regulations, a coded message to someone? Did the co-pilot, on effect, signal a co-conspirator that he had eliminated the pilot and had the airplane under his personal control and was proceeding with a prior-agreed plan? (2). THE UNINSURED REJECT OBAMACARE. One-third of Americans currently uninsured still have no intention of buying health coverage even though they are required to do so by the Affordable Care Act according to Bankrate's latest Health Insurance Pulse survey. Thirty-four percent contacted by telephone said they have no intention of buying insurance. Of these - 41% cited cost, 17% said they oppose Obamacare and 13% said they are healthy and don't need insurance. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed said they do plan to purchase health coverage. Michael Morrisey, professor of health economics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health told Bankrate, "I think it's just rolling past them, and they're not giving it a whole lot of attention." In the Bankrate survey, only 30% were aware of tax credits designed to offset costs, but those making less than $30,000 a year - who are more likely to benefit from them - were in the group least likely to know about the credits. It is mostly men who won't buy insurance over opposition to Obamacare. Twenty- two percent of men cited that as the reason compared to 8% of women. Most opponents of Obamacare are Republican, and half of uninsured Republicans cited opposition to Obamacare as their reason to remain uninsured. Only 5% of those who identify as Democrats cited opposition to Obamacare as their reason. And it is mostly the young who say they won't buy insurance because they are healthy. Thirty-one percent of respondents age 18-29 cited that reason. Only 6% of those 30-49 said they were healthy enough to remain uninsured. Also, only 48% of the uninsured were aware they have only until March 31 to sign up. Dr. Jane Hughes, an ophthalmologist, told Fox News that the Department of Health and Human Services and Medicare and Medicaid Services say they aren't keeping track of who had insurance and who didn't when they are signing up. Dr. Hughes said : "It's absolutely not been worth the hassle, and I know why we did all of this: This was a socio-political agenda to take over one-sixth of the private sector economy using my profession  - medicine  - to do it." Six million have been bumped off insurance plans because of Obamacare. 4.2 million have signed up. "If we had a big neon sign over Healthcare.gov it would be minus : -1.8 million now enrolled. That's hardly a success story." ~~~~~ Dear readers, Barack Obama's intransigence in the face of Americans' angry rejection of Obamacare reminds me of old images of Soviet tanks and troops patrolling Eastern European streets to remind them that being Soviet satellite states was "good for them." (3). CRIMEA. It is now Russian and President Putin told the Russian parliament today that he wants to have friendly relations with "an independent Ukraine." ~~~~~ Dear readers, why doesn't the US and the EU take Vladimir Putin at his word -- treat Crimea as Russian, open its borders for any Crimeans who want to move to Ukraine, free all Ukrainian military stationed in Crimea to return to Ukraine, agree on a fixed maximum Russian military presence in Crimea, demand a large indemnity payment from Russia to Ukraine for its annexation of Crimea, agree with Russia and Ukraine for a UN peacekeeping force at the Ukraine-Crimea border with a sufficiently wide non-militarized zone on both sides of the border. It's time for Russia to "put its money where its mouth is."