RIP Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 87, Nobel laureate, whose 1967 novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude took the world by storm. Translated into 25 languages, it sold more than 50 million copies. Colombian by birth, his work is described as magic realism, defined by Wiki as "where magic elements are a natural part in an otherwise mundane, realistic environment." Like so many writers before him, he began his career as a journalist, also dabbled in film criticism, and wrote several screenplays. As far as I could find at IMDb, only two of his novels have been adapted to the screen, 100 Years (1981) in Japan, and Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), starring Benjamin Bratt and Javier Bardem. R.E.M. based Losing My Religion on one of his short stories, A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings. He considered Fidel Castro a good friend and discussed literature with him.
Due to disappointments concerning Obamacare, several states are considering creation of a Single-Payer system based on the Canadian model. In an op-ed piece in today’s NY Post Sally C. Pipes warns against it, citing the long waiting times our friends to the north endure for critical services, the lack of state of the art equipment, and increasing costs. In 2012 42,000 Canadians came to the U.S. for medical treatment. She cited no figure, if there is one, of Americans going there for service. Obamacare has gotten tons of bad press, but the breadth of the catastrophe, if it truly is one, won’t begin to be known until the November elections. The key, as always, will be pluses and minuses. Will it have helped more citizens than it has harmed? The Democrats are claiming success, citing the eight million who have signed up, 35% of those under 35, which is critical to the program, as the young and healthy must subsidize the elderly and infirm. Critics say the number who are actually paying premiums is far less. In the letters to the editor column, frequent contributor Elio Valenti calls the program simply "a massive redistribution of wealth." He states: “If Obama’s true intent had been to insure the uninsured, then he would have placed them on Medicaid.” It makes sense. Kudos, goombah. Perhaps in their own take on magic realism, upper echelon Democrats are going into attack mode defending the law, despite polls that show the majority of Americans don't like it. Eventually, there may be fewer people without health care, but one thing I'm sure of -- it won't be cheaper. Government intervention always inflates costs. And the coverage of many citizens will probably be less than what they had previously.
Simon's donation of Russian classics immediately paid dividends. Of the eight I brought out today, six sold. Spasibo, folks, and thanks also to Alan, who purchased Dean Koontz's The Good Guy.
Vic's 4th Novel: http://tinyurl.com/bszwlxh
Vic's 3rd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/7e9jty3
Vic's Website: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
Vic's Short Story Collection (Print or Kindle): http://www.tiny.cc/Oycgb
Vic's 2nd Novel: http://tinyurl.com/6b86st6
Vic's 1st Novel: http://tiny.cc/94t5h
Vic's Horror Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/cyckn3
Vic's Rom-Com Screenplay on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/kny5llp
Vic’s Short Story on Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/k95k3nx
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