Your account does not include highlighter on images.
Searches Highlighted on Image
| August 25, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
|
©
Publisher. All rights reserved. Upgrade to access Premium Tools
PAGE 8 (8 of 32 available) PREVIOUS NEXT Jumbo Image Save To Scrapbook Set Notifiers PDF JPG
August 25, 2006 |
|
|
Website © 2025. All content copyrighted. Copyright Information Terms Of Use | Privacy Policy | Request Content Removal | About / FAQ | Get Acrobat Reader 
|
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:7
may finally be prepared
to elect candidates who
offer thoughtful critiques
of this awful war Bush has
dragged us into.
With the a recent CNN
poll showing 61 percent
now opposing the war -the
highest opposition since
the war began - Democrats
hoping to regain one or
both branches of Congress
may have good reason to
be optimistic. The same
poll also showed that when
asked which party's candi-
date they would vote for if
the elections were held to-
day, 52 percent of respon-
dents said the Democratic
party's, and 43 percent the
Republican's. It's clear.
People want change; that
want a new direction.
While polls three months
out from an election
usually mean very little,
Lamont's primary victory
and these recent poll num-
bers do suggest that the
tide may be turning.
It may be that voters
have finally had enough of
this administration and the
direction George Bush has
been "leading"the country.
Joe Lieberman and the
many other entrenched
incumbents, from both the
Republican and Democrat-
ic parties, who have been
supporting this disastrous
war of occupation in Iraq,
had better beware.
There may be an upheav-
al this November, the likes
of which has not been seen
since 1994's GOP-driven
Contract with America,
and it could not come any-
time too soon.
Lieberman defeat...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:7
there ever was one -is not
a state or publicly oper-
ated relief valve but a thinly
veiled cooperative of insur-
ers through which members
digest another serving of
high premiums. For their
part , more and more Cape
homeowners are locked
into FAIR as the insurer of
last resort.
Raised on the notion of
being free to shop around
for price and choose who
you do business with,
you are now relegated to
a Third World "take it or
leave it" situation.
The insurance executive -
whose name shall remain in
journali stic protective cus-
tody - coolly opined that
the home insurance market
is tied to auto insurance.
It's because ofthe state's
auto insurance policies, he
believes, that the major
players such as Allstate,
with its "good hands" logo,
and Geico, with its endear-
ing gecko (lizard) spokesth-
ing, refuse to do business in
the state.
"New Hampshire,"he
said, "has more than 100
companies writing policies
there. Massachusetts has
only 19." This comparison
has already been through
the wringer of political dis-
cussion and is usually hung
out to dry seconds after it
emerges from the suds of
debate.
The public is being told ,
he said, that another rea-
son the smaller companies
are putting Cape Cod in
a basket and leaving it at
FAIR'S doorstep, is the cost
of reinsurance -a practice
by which insurance compa-
nies cover themselves with
assurances they won't go
belly up in the event of a
catastrophe.
The executive said most
ofthe smaller companies
operating in Massachu-
setts may have a premium
income of say $1.5 billion
compared to incomes of
$60 or more billion for the
larger ones -the ones who
don't service Massachu-
setts.
Small companies seeking
reinsurance must pay much
more for that coverage
since they lack the reserves
to indemnify disaster. The
logic appears to be, in the
executive's opinion, the
smaller the company, the
larger the cost for re-in-
surance, since it is the
re-insurers who will bear
the brunt of catastrophic
payout.
"Go ahead and call Geico
and see if they will cover
you,"the executive chal-
lenged.
Geico's communications
division in Washington D.C.
responded thus:
"In 1976, GEICO with-
drew from the Massachu-
setts private passenger
automobile insurance
marketplace. The state
had, and continues to have,
unique rate setting and
underwriting rules for au-
tomobile insurance. These
unique rules continue to be
the company's primary con-
sideration in deciding not
to market our insurance
products in this state.
"GEICO believes that
implementing substan-
tive changes to foster open
competition would mean
increased participation by
insurers in the Massachu-
setts market."
The company said it
would consider returning
to the state if the climate of
competition improved.
Owners of modest Cape
homes facing $2,000 premi-
ums that they'll probably
never have to utilize must
be praying for a Barbara
Anderson revolt to launch a
"Citizens for Limited Premi-
ums"campaign insofar as the
dawdling Legislature does
little but punch empty air.
The good news? FAIR
may not be the last resort
after all. More next week.
Town needs revolt...
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:7
foreign, anti-American des-
pots are a matter of record.
• • •
In the 1980s, a phrase
was invented to describe
liberals who considered
the use od America's
military -not Commu-
nism, not Third World
neo-fascism, but the
American military -the
world's greatest menace.
The phrase was "San
Francisco Democrat." The
San Francisco Democrat
believed that the use
of American force was
almost never justified , and
that American foreign pol-
icy was properly viewed
with deep suspicion. In
1984, as our country was
finally beginning to exert
a winning hand in the
Cold War, the Democrats
-fittingly -held their
national convention in
San Francisco. Their can-
didate, Walter Mondale,
went down to historical
defeat, beaten by a man
who knew America was
almost always a force for
good.
Today, a new politi-
cal beast that carries on
the tradition ofthe San
Francisco Democrat
may be emerging, and its
name needs only a slight
variation: the Connecti-
cut Democrat. Those who
voted in the recent Con-
necticut senatorial pri-
mary chose Ned Lamont,
a political cipher who
embodies the see-no-evil-
but-America mindset of
the San Francisco Demo-
crats, Lamont defeated
three-term incumbent Joe
Lieberman (though not by
the landslide proportions
Lamont's shrieking back-
ers expected).
Lamont's view of ter-
rorist surveillance? Bad.
America's effort in Iraq?
Worse. The feckless
United Nations? Good.
Lamont's rhetoric is
sprinkled with empty
phrases about "using car-
rots as well as sticks" and
"assembling an interna-
tional coalition."
He is a caricature of a
1960s/'70s internationalist;
a cotton-headed dreamer
who believes in the power
of cease-fires and UN
resolutions.
Several national Demo-"
crats have opted to
follow Lamont over the
cliff. Among them is our
own junior senator John '
Kerry. Not only did Kerry
endorse Lamont, which
could be explained as'
favoring party unity, but
he equated Joe Lieber-
man with Vice President
Cheney. In Democratic/
Angry Left circles, that's
worse than calling him a
Nazi.
Lamont, Taylor, Kerry
and their ilk should realize
and accept that we are in
a war; a long, difficult , un-
predictable war that must
be won. If they don't, and
their view of American
security prevails, we will
have set ourselves up for
a new terrorist strike that
will make 9/11 look like a
fender-bender. And the
Lamonts of the world will
be the first to whine that
someone didn't "connect
the dots."
We must do every-
thing possible to protect
ourselves. It is suicidal
to believe we can play by
Marquis of Queensbury
rules while our enemies
target civilians, kidnap in-
nocents and lop off heads.
Deep, endless hatred for
American ideals empow-
ers our enemies, and they
will not be defeated by
legalisms alone.
Is this an example of the
end justifying the means?
If the "end" represents
survival -versus incinera-
tion at 30,000 feet -then
yes; I can't think of any
means more justified.
The battle abroad...
i
Fall Back into Style!
n4 Mren BooraemInteriors
* ^
^:
~^%An award winning full service interior design and
f c^ J consulting firm,we specialize in creative solutions
Wm mm f°r residential homes and small businesses.
I W A full ronga of furnishings and ottossoriis on
\ •=3f J % owiloWi-Collustodayand Falllock intoStyle!
mm\
"
*mmmJL — —
0n*inB: www^ec^Bns-tom/^ooraam
^^^
mt€/tCfs HOLBY MARINE
^-—^ BOATS
17' - 24'NEW ENGLAND
ALL MODELS IN STO CK BUILT
_ CLASSIC D£S/G/V
QUALITY NEW & PRE-OWNED BOATS
"'
ra cnOSBYYACHTYABD,INC.
¦
JT 72 Crosby Circle, Osterville, MA 02655
ofe Tel. 508-428-6900 www.crosbyyacht.com
WM—JLMW KM. j
Hf^lifc B -&J:B^^^^^^^33iL, {4£M
HCgJp^ Klr^flStVeeeHHi
^Ps^ffi£fJ ^—^ Take advantage of this
"¦ "
l**"WLM special mail-in rebate
><+.
residential lender on Cape Cod for the last 15 years. As others f CskwaW
*
~r ^V
have pleasantl y experienced, we offer a high level of service. | /^ *
\
!| ^
^
f m
1
competitive rates and an insider's local perspective thai can onlj V vOU ^r ^ £
come with our 150 years of 100% dedication to Cape Cod. ^V^_^
^^^ ^
CAPE COD'S COMMUNITY BANK & MORTGAGE LENDER SINCE 1855"
1-888-225-4636 • www.capecodfive.cooi
fsf MemberH>l>
HI MemboDIP
¦
Find it fast.
Just a click of the mouse.
The Cape's largest
classified section
@ barnstablepatriot.com
ffje Jtatatile patriot
508-771-1427
www.barnstablepatriot.com