Feinstein has to leave the plantation—briefly

If she believed that “the majority of Americans with coverage continually say they are happy with the coverage they have” then why did she vote to change it? For the small percentage that didn’t have insurance, wouldn’t buy it, or didn’t need it?  So everyone would have equally poor insurance?

http://www.humanevents.com/2013/11/13/obamacare-kills-a-million-insurance-plans-in-california-feinstein-bails/

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-obamacare-2014-elections-democrats-senate-2013-11

Stage four cancer

And she’s lost her insurance that was working very well for her.  Thank you, President Obama.

Next on the chopping block—employee health insurance

“Right now, most people getting cancellations bought plans in the individual market. Wait until the other shoe drops in 2014 and millions more people who had coverage through their job lose it. The truth about Obamacare will become so painfully obvious that even the White House lie machine won’t be able to cover it up.” Betsy McCaughey is a former Lt. governor of New York

The Jimmy Kimmel dust-up

Just a follow up on Jimmy Kimmel's China comment. Last night Glenn Beck interviewed Pastor Bob Fu, a former Communist and atheist from China, and now a Christian. He and his wife left China to save the life of their unborn child. We've all heard of the one child policy, but he said Chinese women have to carry a "birth permit" which records their periods, insertion of birth control device, etc., because they need government permission to conceive, even for the first child. The document he showed to the camera sort of looked like a passport with the woman’s photo, and stamps, and notes. Pastor Fu and his wife hadn't obtained the proper permit and could not get medical assistance. So even 8 and 9 month old babies can be aborted against their parents' wishes. So if ABC or Jimmy Kimmel want a come back to the racism charges, let them do some investigative reporting and tell the truth about the Chinese government continuing to kill its own citizens.

The Omnibus Final Rule

It’s just not good to read “conundrum,” “new regulations,” “administrative and technical challenges,” “impede innovation,” and “contentious issue” all in the same article about HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.  Not after the sloppy, struggling, and insecure roll out of Obamacare.  The Omnibus Final Rule.

There are a few hot button words for me in the JAMA September 18, 2013 article, “The HIPAA Conundrum in the Era of Mobile Health and Communications.”

• mandates
• redefined
• expanded
• now considered
• now required
• can be held criminally liable
• pose technical challenges
• estimated cost $114-225 million for start up
• underestimates compliance costs
• may impose unfunded mandates
• may impede innovation
• in theory. . .
• in practice. . .
• actual security will rely on user’s behavior
• important hurdles
• employing consultants has become the norm
• can be costly
• down stream contractors
• poor guidance
• impose
• shift
• refuse
• trapped
• impassable requirements
• penalized
• landscape is rapidly evolving

Evolution explained cold

1984 all over again

"Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer, and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds. To keep them in control was not difficult…. All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And when they become discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontentment led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances.”

“Substandard” insurance

Obama loves to call your current health insurance "substandard." But insurance, like banks, is very highly regulated--by the government, and especially the state governments. And those regulations benefit the big guys who spend millions on lobbying the most. That's the same for all industries whether insurance, banking, agriculture, entertainment, toys, snack food or academia. The regulations are specifically written (many drafted by the industry itself) to keep the little guy from being competition. So the next time he tells you that, throw something at the TV and don't forget to vote in the next election.

Insurance agents are required to have extensive training, and continuing education. They have to have back ground checks and finger printing. Obama's navigators? Nothing.

Undercover video of navigator guiding a citizen to sign up with Obamacare. Not only have so-called “Obamacare navigators” not been properly vetted by Enroll America, but they are actively encouraging consumers to lie to the IRS in order to get more money in Obamacare subsidies and in fact themselves are admitting to defrauding the government. And what makes this even worse is that Enroll America, ostensibly a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, seems to be sharing information with Battleground Texas, which is described by its regional field director as “a grassroots organization dedicated to turning Texas blue.”

Jimmy Kimmel and the kids

I was sitting in the doctor's office and CNN was on, so I watched the story of comedian Jimmy Kimmel allowing a kid to say that the solution to the debt problem with China was to kill the Chinese. So then came the "I'm sorry if anyone was offended" apology from Kimmel and ABC, but that's not enough. There are calls for his firing. Really? "Comedians" call for the death of Tea Party members and Republicans, and no one is fired and they label anyone who doesn't like Obama's policies a racist, a homophobe and a misogynist.

Then the news show brought on a Chinese American who felt compelled to review America's record with minorities, like how Asians were treated in the 19th and 20th century. From her accent, I guessed she was born in China, but was probably forced to give up her native language of Cantonese or one of the Wu language groups and flee for her life when Mao was killing 70 million or so of his own citizens. If China is upset, tough.

With Obama’s help, abortion will be legal in Kenya

We know our President routinely ignores our laws, or works around them, parses his words carefully, or just blatantly lies, like he did about "you can keep your doctor, period."  However, it was also illegal for the U.S. to interfere in Kenya's constitution to promote abortion.  An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), into the Obama Administration’s use of $18 million in taxpayer funds to provide funding for a group pushing legalized abortion in Kenya finds the administration broke the law. Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood) did a happy dance and reports the same kind of “unsafe, illegal” abortion statistics that they did in the United States to get our 1973 law passed.  (That was later proved to be a complete fabrication.)  The administration stonewalled the investigation. This was in 2010, but worthy of remembering when making your list. Democrats like to say about Obamacare, "It's the law," well, so was DOMA, and he ignored it. So is sending guns to Mexico. So is spying on American citizens without a warrant.  So is interfering with our “free” press.  So is killing American citizens suspected of terrorism without a trial. So is lobbying for abortion in other countries.

http://www.lifenews.com/2011/12/16/obamas-push-to-legalize-abortion-in-kenya-broke-u-s-law/

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB_Abortion-in-Kenya.pdf

http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2013/09/11/kenyan_catholic_bishops:_legalizing_abortion_is_legalizing_murder!_/en3-727577

On being green

I’ve seen this a few times on the internet and thought it was worth another look. I have no attribution.

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the 'green thing' in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.

So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags, that we reused for numerous things, most memorable besides household garbage bags, was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks. This was to ensure that public property, (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings.

Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.

But too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throwaway kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana . In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person...

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off...especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.

Aren’t you glad Obamacare is saving health care dollars

According to data released by Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the three major carriers in the D.C. exchange only signed up a few each; a fourth signed up no one.

Care First, Blue Cross Blue Shield: two enrollees from Oct. 1, 2013, through Oct. 30, 2013.

Kaiser Permanente: three enrollees from Oct. 1, 2013, through Oct. 31, 2013.

United Healthcare: no enrollment data from the exchange as of Nov. 4, 2013.

Aetna: No enrollment data as of Oct. 24, 2013.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have posted the amount of grant money given to the D.C. exchange. The total from these publicly-released figures are $133,573,928: $72,985,333 for an "Establishment Grant Level Two Application Summary," with an "Administrative Supplement Award Amount" of $16,969,089; $8,200,716 and $34,418,790 awarded separately for an "Establishment Grant Level One Application Summary;" and $1 million for s "State Planning Grant."

This means that the cost to the American taxpayers per enrollee in D.C. has been $26,714,785.60 each.

Information link here.

There is nothing government can do cheaper than private industry, but there are a few things it must do according to the Constitution.  Health care isn’t one of them.

Monday Memories—the Founding and Growth of Upper Arlington Lutheran Church

http://www.advent2.com/Projects/Touchstones

Entire video takes 21.5 minutes

The November jobs report

Sept. 15, 2009: "But I want you all to know, I will not rest until anybody who's looking for a job can find one -- and I'm not talking about just any job, but good jobs that give every American decent wages and decent benefits and a fair shot at the American Dream. (Applause.) That's what I'm fighting for every single day. (Applause.)" President Obama, talking to auto workers in Lordstown, OH, campaigning on all his "successes" in just a few months (ARRA, cash for clunkers, green energy, health insurance pending legislation), none of which have panned out.

November 9,  2013: The President plays his 150th round of golf and the U.S. labor force participation rate fell from 63.2 percent to 62.8 percent, the lowest that it has been since 1978, 11 million more than when he took office. Almost 5 years after the recession officially ended, nearly 50 million Americans are living in poverty, based on a line set by the government. Huge numbers have been added to the SNAP program which is riddled with fraud. The WH is swirling in scandal as more rights are stolen from the American people, and the President has been proven to be a pathological liar in his promotion of his signature legislation for which not one Republican voted and only squeaked through the Senate by one vote.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/october-jobs-report-shows-unemployment-rate-increased-73/story?id=20822924

http://money.cnn.com/2013/09/06/news/economy/labor-force-participation/index.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-gm-lordstown-assembly-plant-employees-ohio-9152009

Dear liberal, mainline, Democrat Christian,

Your heart may be in the right place, but your hand is in my purse.  Studies show that marriage of the parents is the #1 way to reduce childhood poverty in the U.S.A. With married parents, a child has only about 8% chance of being raised in poverty. A better house, or a better education doesn't do it. Lunch programs from USDA distributed by church volunteers doesn't make a dent. Social justice workshops and summits don't either, except maybe to tamp down a little liberal guilt if the Bible falls open to Matthew 25.  You address guns, cuts in food stamps for illegals, hunger, obesity, education.  Where is your concern about marriage, the number one solution?

Nobody tells a dying guy to shut up by Dave Chilcoat

"Nobody tells a dying guy to shut up" is the personal testimony of Dave Chilcoat, who battled ALS the last 3 years of his life but continued to witness the love of Jesus to the end. When he learned he had this terrible disease, he started an on line journal recording both his physical struggles and his spiritual victories, writing the final entry in Aug. 2006. His wife, Beth, edited the journal and published it in 2009.  It is in the church library at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church (Columbus, OH), and I read it in one sitting Friday--his description of the disease, his pain, and his tears is crushing, but his joy in the Lord is inspiring and faith building. His selection of appropriate scripture is outstanding. Dave and Beth came to Columbus, OH, to establish Young Life when they were a young married couple with a baby in 1970. After 10 years he went to law school and was a lawyer for 23 years. See  her web site for ordering information. http://bethchilcoat.com/

Until I read this book about Dave's three years battling ALS, I had forgotten I had three "A taste of Columbus" recipe books by Dave and Beth. I have III (1987),IV, (1991) and V (2000), received after Marylyn Doncevic, the original owner and wife of Paul Doncevic, died. These are wonderful recipes from Columbus area restaurants, and the books are illustrated by David's mother, whom you also get to know in his book.

Not many realize it yet . . . someone pays for free health care

Principles of Health Care Reform—Heritage Foundation

Principles for Reform

To allow Americans to reclaim control of their own health care and benefit from competition in a free market for insurance and health care, Congress should repeal the Obamacare statute and enact patient-centered, market-based reforms based on five principles:

Choose, control, and carry your own health insurance;

Let free markets provide the insurance and health care services that people want;

Encourage employers to provide a portable health insurance benefit to employees;

Assist those who need help through civil society, the free market, and the states; and

Protect the right of conscience and unborn children.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) moves health care in the wrong direction. It puts government, not patients, in charge of individual health care decisions. Moreover, it fails to meet the promises laid out by President Barack Obama. With each passing day, it becomes clearer that Obamacare will not reduce premiums for average American families, bend the cost curve in health care spending, or bring down the deficit. For these reasons, among others, Obamacare must be repealed.

However, a return to the status quo before Obamacare is not the final step. Policymakers should pursue reforms based on five basic principles. Adopting such reforms would move American health care in the right direction: toward a patient-centered, market-based health care system.

Full article

Democrats when it’s their wealth being transferred

I don't think Democrats should reject Obama just because their insurance costs have sky rocketed. If they'd been listening to Republicans they would have known that, because they tried to fix it in 2010, and were run out of town. Mike Enzi (R-Wy)  predicted in September 2010 that between 39 and 69% of Americans would lose their health care in this fiasco. This is one of the so-called roadblocks Republicans are accused of.  Well, he was right. He read the bill! And apparently the 36,000 pages of regulations where this was embedded.

Public humiliation for Obama supporters, maybe. Examine their core beliefs of transferring wealth, yes. Look closely at his overall view of life, including abortion, absolutely.

“No deal is better than a bad deal”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TMN4bXFoMY

I met Secretary Kerry right before he leaves to Geneva. I reminded him that he said that no deal is better than a bad deal. And the deal that is being discussed in Geneva right now is a bad deal. It’s a very bad deal. Iran is not required to take apart even one centrifuge.

But the international community is relieving sanctions on Iran for the first time after many years. Iran gets everything that it wanted at this stage and pays nothing. And this is when Iran is under severe pressure. I urge Secretary Kerry not to rush to sign, to wait, to reconsider, to get a good deal. But this is a bad deal, a very, very, bad deal.

It’s the deal of a century for Iran; it’s a very dangerous and bad deal for peace and the international community." Benjamin Netanyahu

Which country, Iran or Israel, has been a friend to the United States?

Guest Blogger, Janice Shaw Crouse, won’t stand by silently

I know some of my friends are uncomfortable with my "piling on" criticism of our president. But we have to speak out. We cannot stand by silently while our freedoms are trampled, our faith is attacked (even though the president claims to be Christian), and life, marriage and family are being destroyed, and the fiscal well-being of our nation as well as the constitutional foundations of our nation are being decimated.

It is disappointing that the first Black president is not someone we can admire, but the cold, hard facts were evident to me when he was campaigning. President Obama was troubling from the outset: his lack of record, his troubling associations and friends, his lack of experience, his empty rhetoric that could mean whatever anyone wanted it to mean, his deliberate class warfare and racially-charged rhetoric, his barely concealed "spread the wealth around" ideology, his "community organizer" approach to leadership (us against them and pushing victimhood mentality), his sealed records, lack of experience with living in America, his lack of discipline and work ethic in college, his questionable means of getting in the ivy league and travels while supposedly a grad student, and on and on -- so many red flags!!!

Since being in office, the problems have mounted precipitously and the evidence is piling up disastrously that we cannot survive under the policies that President Obama is forcing on the nation -- all the while speaking vague rhetoric and seeming to be above responsibility or accountability for outcomes that our children's children will have to suffer.

Dr. Crouse is the daughter of two Methodist ministers; she’s an author and speaker, and lives in Washington, DC. She is Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the think tank for Concerned Women for America, is a recognized authority on national and international cultural, children’s and women’s concerns, including sex trafficking, the United Nations, and U.S. domestic issues. Her opinion editorials and columns appear in major newspapers across the nation as well as in journals and magazines – including the Washington Post and the Washington Times. She appears on all the major television networks –– ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX News, C-SPAN, MSNBC, and CNN.  If you follow this blog, you know this is extremely close to my own concerns about our President. This opinion appeared on her FaceBook page, and she gave me permission to share.

http://www.janiceshawcrouse.com/

The Affordable Boat Act

The U.S. government has just passed a new law called: "The affordable boat act" declaring that every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These "affordable" boats will cost an average of $54,000-$155,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, towing fees, licensing and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs.

This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new law ensures that every American can now have a "affordable" boat of their own, because everyone is "entitled" to a new boat. If you purchase your boat before the end of the year, you will receive 4 "free" life jackets; not including monthly usage fees.

In order to make sure everyone purchases an affordable boat, the costs of owning a boat will increase an average of 250-400% per year. This way, wealthy people will pay more for something that other people don't want or can't afford to maintain. But to be fair, people who can’t afford to maintain their boat will be regularly fined. Children (under the age of 26) can use their parents’ boats to party on until they turn 27; then must purchase their own boat.

If you already have a boat, you can keep your boat (just kidding; no you cannot). If you don't want or don't need a boat, you are required to buy one anyhow. If you refuse to buy one or can’t afford one, you will be regularly fined $800 until you purchase one or face imprisonment.

Failure to use the boat will also result in fines. People living in the desert,ghetto, inner cities or areas with no access to lakes are not exempt. Age, motion sickness, inexperience, and lack of knowledge or desire are acceptable excuses for not using your boat.

A government review board (that doesn't know the difference between the port, starboard or stern of a boat) will decide everything, including; when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your boat along with how many people can ride your boat and determine if one is too old or healthy enough to be able to use their boat. They will also decide if your boat has out lived its usefulness or if you must purchase specific accessories,(like a $500 compass) or a newer and more expensive boat.

Those who can afford yachts will be required to do so...its only fair. The government will also decide the name for each boat. Failure to comply with these rules will result in fines and possible imprisonment.

Government officials are exempt from this new law. If they want a boat, they and their families can obtain boats free, at the expense of tax payers. Unions, bankers and mega companies with large political affiliations ($$$) are also exempt.

[I don’t have an author, but it’s not me.  This is going around.  I got it from I guy I knew in high school, and also saw it on Facebook.]

Look who’s getting the blame for the President’s signature accomplishment

If you talk to a Democrat about Obama’s lies, you’ll hear the latest lie

But be careful.  Make sure you’re not talking to a friend, neighbor, or co-worker.  You’ll be called a racist homophobe who wants children to starve.

Balance and intelligent political discussion on the Daily Beast

The Beast likes to throw red meat to its regulars to gin up comments. The context is something about the NRA and Cuccinelli losing the governor’s race in Virginia, which is why Noe suggested that after defeating him, the Republicans and Tea Party people should be shot in the head.  Of course, the GOP doesn’t like the Tea Party either, and literally abandoned the Republican candidate.

If you like your plan, your insurance, your doctor, happy with what you’ve got, no matter what you’ve heard, period

until November 4, 2013, and then he changed his story, and rewrote history.

Obama’s approval rating 39%; Cruz 92%

Cradle Democrats, strong Obama supporters lose their good, affordable insurance

Recently Lee and JoEllen were notified by Kaiser they would be losing their current plan ($550 a month) as of Jan. 1.  They were shocked; and healthy, and Democrats. The author of this article decided to investigate—to see if this was “substandard” as Obama claimed.

“I asked Hammack to send me details of his current plan . It carried a $4,000 deductible per person, a $40 copay for doctor visits, a $150 emergency room visit fee and 30 percent coinsurance for hospital stays after the deductible. The out-of-pocket maximum was $5,600.

This plan was ending, Kaiser’s letters told them, because it did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act. “Everything is taken care of,” the letters said. “There’s nothing you need to do.”

The letters said the couple would be enrolled in new Kaiser plans that would cost nearly $1,300 for the two of them (more than $15,000 a year).

And for that higher amount, what would they get? A higher deductible ($4,500), a higher out-of-pocket maximum ($6,350), higher hospital costs (40 percent of the cost) and possibly higher costs for doctor visits and drugs.

When they shopped around and looked for a different plan on California's new health insurance marketplace, Covered California , the cheapest one was $975, with hefty deductibles and copays.” http://www.propublica.org/article/loyal-obama-supporters-canceled-by-obamacare

The chickens come home to roost.  Mike Enzi tried to get this “grandfather” clause straightened out in 2010—but the Democrats demonized him—called him a fear monger.  Good grief—he was reading right out of the Federal Register, which had posted the regulations! It was all there 3 years ago.  He might have been able to save Obama’s reputation—because even by then he had said 47 times “If you like your insurance you can keep it.”

Are the media and politicians calling these critics terrorists, anarchists and unpatriotic?

“Leaders of labor unions provided the political muscle that got Obamacare through Congress. They furnished the troops at the grassroots level and in the nation’s capital to block efforts to repeal or reform the program. They declared that Obamacare is the law of the land and must not be altered or abridged.

Today some of those same union officials say that Obamacare is a disaster that will harm working people in general and union members in particular. Now—surprise!—they want Obamacare changed in ways to benefit their unions.”

https://www.capitalresearch.org/2013/11/labor-watch-the-obamacare-oops-unions-got-the-healthcare-program-passed-now-want-to-exempt-themselves

Why I switched to butter

In my living room I have a ceramic butter churn, patented in 1910 that was my grandparents. It looks like a small cement mixer and was run by a generator, or by a crank handle. My grandmother would make 5 lbs of butter in it, and they used it in a week (family of 6), but ate very little meat.

Due to advertising my mother switched to "oleo" around 1948 because she was convinced it was healthier. It was the children's job to squeese the package of white glop with the yellow dye button, because the dairy lobby prevented selling margarine that looked or was packaged like butter. But my parents lived to be 88 and 89, so I guess it didn't gum up the works too much. Just high blood pressure, colon cancer, prostate cancer and heart disease. Whether that was the margarine or the genes, we will never know.

Tastes good and contributes to ego

This morning I had a Bolthouse Farms Mango Protein Plus protein shake. I must say, it was quite delicious, and probably woke up my taste buds, which I don’t like to do. It has a lot of sugar. It claims to have 3 3/4 servings of fruit and vegetables, 30 g. of protein, 120-200% of vitamins A, B & C, 40% of dv of calcium, it's gluten free, has no preservatives, no artificial flavors, and no GM products. If I return the bottle in California, I'll get a 5 cent refund to save the environment. I am feeling strong and very self-righteous.

47 times the president promised and lied before October 1, 2010

Democrats and media complain that Republicans kept throwing up road blocks the last three years. One Republican, Mike Enzi, tried to amend that part of the law that covers Obama's lie "if you like your health plan you can keep it period," (so he wouldn't be lying). Unlike Pelosi and Reid, he had actually read the law and the regulations (about 34,000 pages) and realized how many people would lose their coverage in the federal take over. Even in 2010, the administration expected 51% of all employer plans to be terminated as a result of Obamacare. That is the mid-range estimate; the high-end estimate was 69%. So as of 2010, the Obama administration planned that most Americans with employer-sponsored health care plans would lose them, whether they liked those plans or not. Mike Enzi tried--he was called names and demonized. Even by Sept. 2010, President Obama had promised 47 times that Americans would be able to keep their health plans; perhaps the biggest lie ever perpetrated on gullible citizens.http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/11/lies-of-obamacare

More scary stuff

Brick by brick by David Robertson

Maybe a Christmas idea?

Can he stop? Can he be stopped?

What's scarier than President Obama lying about "You Can Keep Your Plan" and then yesterday saying he didn't say it? He is either a sociopath who enjoys deceiving people, even his staunchest supporters, or he is a compulsive liar who can't stop. There are at least 24 occasions capture on video (now in a montage circulating the net) of the lie he told for 3 years, and absolutely zero record of the claim he told yesterday (except when he tells the lie).

These are not the run of the mill lies or "he misspoke" we've come to expect from politicians. He makes Nixon look like a beginner. LBJ who was far more clever would be proud. Is it his abandonment as a child? His community organizer experience where he learned to lie to the poor? His abortion beliefs (what's one more life in the big picture)?  Does he have a moral core? Is there no there there?

I heard a Democrat call in to a conservative show yesterday morning to blame the Republicans for the mess Obamacare has made. His reasoning was that single payer is what everyone really needed, but they were afraid it wouldn't pass so they pushed for ACA (which only passed with one vote and no votes from Republicans). The individual mandate was Hillary's talking point in 2008, and was rejected by Obama during the campaign, edging her out. He claimed he wanted to just insure those who didn't have insurance, about 10% of the population. Another lie.

Eventually, everyone loses with Obamacare

No background check for “Navigators”

A navigator is a federal employee who helps those wanting to get insured navigate the paperwork of the new healthcare system.  It is disturbing to go to the CMS page and read about the 100 community groups with volunteer navigators, none with any background checks or the organizations with no way to do it. $67 million in grants announced 6 weeks before roll out. How were they supposed to get this set up in that time frame? In July 2013 the navigator requirements and training were still being reviewed—try searching the Federal Register and word search for "background checks."  Although it was discussed, it was not required.  http://www.gpo.gov/.../pkg/FR-2013-07-17/pdf/2013-17125.pdf

http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Republican-Staff-Report-on-Navigators.pdf

And although I haven’t made it through to the sign up screen on Healthcare.gov, for the lowest level of insurance, I have heard/seen the Navigator will also help the applicant register to vote, but not at the higher levels. I’ve looked for comment on this by Democrat state or federal elected politicians, but couldn’t find any.  Only Republicans seem to know about identity theft and the security of personal information. http://imwithmary.com/navigators.html

Our guest room TV antenna reception

I have antenna (indoor) TV in the guest room, and moved the antenna last night and rescanned. Here's what I get, but don’t know how this lines up with what others have--because each time I rescan, it is different. Also depends on the weather.

NBC 4
MeTV 4.2
ABC 6
MyTV 6.2 (THIS)
CBS 10
Antenna TV 10.2 (retro)
WCLL ? 19 (Christian?)
WTTE Fox 28
Fox Spanish 33
EBR? 33.2
SNTV Somali ? 33.3 Dalmar
Afro TV Muslim? 33.4
Guide Us Muslim? 33.5
?? 33.6  (only infomercials when I’ve seen it)
WOSU-HD 34
Ohio Channel 34.2
WOSU Create 34.3
TBN Trinity Broadcasting Network  51 Christian
TCC The Church Channel 51.2
JCTV (Christian) 51.3
? Spanish Christian 51.4
SOAC ? 51.5

I've checked some articles on the internet, but the numbers and station letters don't always match what I have.

In the original conversion, we had 2 boxes, one here and one at the lake house. (You don’t need these with new TVs).  But the one here died.  I bought one at a rummage sale for $5.  I think a lot of people just gave up and switched to cable.

All Saints Sunday

Today is All Saints Sunday at our church (Upper Arlington Lutheran Church) and at each of our 9 services names of our family and friends we want to memorialize and church members who have died during the past year will be read. It's a beautiful service. "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus . . ." Hebrews 12:1

“We give thanks to you, O Lord our God, for all your servants and witnesses of time past: for Abraham, the father of believers, and for Sarah, his wife; for Moses the lawgiver, and Aaron, the priest; for Miriam and Joshua, Deborah and Gideon, Samuel and Hannah, his mother; for Isaiah and all the Prophets; for Mary, the mother of our Lord; for Peter and Paul and all the apostles; for Mary, Martha, and Mary Magdalene; for Stephen the first martyr, and all the saints and martyrs in every time and in every land. In your mercy, give us, as you gave them. the hope of salvation and the promise of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Lutheran Book of Worship, p. 46

Details on how Obamacare became the law of the land

Another thing to remember about the passage of the PPACA, aka Obamacare, is that Obama had a Democrat Congress his first term, and it passed by ONE vote. Not only did it not get a single Republican, but many Democrats saw it for what it was. One more grab of federal power. Also it was reported even before it passed that as many as 10 million might lose their insurance in the grandfather clause, which in fact was then made even stricter through the regulations added after passage of the bill. He still went on the road with the story that no one would lose their insurance or doctor, even though he knew it wasn’t true. That was not publicized before hand or he might have lost that ONE critical vote. And now it has been revealed that the contract for the failed computer system went to a classmate of Michelle Obama, plus is was a Canadian firm. Michelle’s friend,Toni Townes-Whitley, Princeton class of ’85, is senior vice president at CGI Federal, which earned the no bid contract to build the $678 million Obamacare enrollment website. How many times has Obama demonized American corporations for moving business out of the country? http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cfw/commissioners/tonitowneswhitley.htm

Transfer of wealth

Just heard a Social Security defender on Fox News say that for every $1 in benefits, Social Security payments generate $2 in the economy. What about the two workers paying in for every retiree drawing Social Security? Some working for minimum wage at Wal-Mart or McDonald’s.  How would they be spending that money taken from them? This is generational transfer from the young to the old, not drawing on an investment or "trust fund.”

Both the working poor and the upper income rich have their wealth transferred to the middle class, the group that is the beneficiary directly and indirectly of most government policies and taxes, many for the misnamed War on Poverty, (but Social Security is probably the oldest and best example). According to the catalog of federal domestic assistance, there are 2,199 Federal assistance programs and most benefit the middle class either directly, or by employment. HHS has 19 offices and 461 programs; each with its own bureaucracy. Please don't blame Obama for this, or any political party.

Does the federal government really need "To maintain and expand existing markets for dairy which are vital to the welfare of milk producers in the United States." We still have "separate but equal" when it comes to Indians and anyone who is 1/4 Indian, with federal grants galore, including Tribal Colleges and Universities. For 50 years the federal government has been funding "conciliation and mediation services" to local groups to reduce "tensions, conflicts, and civil disorders arising from actions, policies, and practices that are perceived to be based on race, ethnicity, or national origin." Imagine the community organizers who live well on that one! And yet 93% of murdered blacks are killed by other blacks, mostly young with no racial or ethnicity motives.

A tiny percentage of federal grant money goes to the poor; most goes to the middle class in the form of jobs, contracts, conferences, travel, research grants, academic salaries, indirect costs to the institution for utilities, staff, overhead (can be as high as 60% of the grant) and that doesn't even include the buildings that are required and the trades and unions who benefit. One Appalachian grant I read through (about $76,000,000 a year) supposedly was training 20,000 students a year; it’s been going on since 1965—why aren’t they all successful and free of poverty at that rate?  Because the money goes to the teachers, social workers, facilities, grant writers, conferences, etc.

I should know--I've made a very nice middle class living on special government contracts funneled through Ohio State or the state of Ohio. I have been employed on USAID funds, FIPSE money, JTPA,  Department of Aging of Ohio; I have published research funded by the state and federal government, which was then purchased by the institutions for which I worked, which were funded in part by the government; I have done some very nice travelling on your dime—Washington, DC, San Antonio, Kansas City, Seattle, Detroit and Chicago.  I also have a teacher's pension which pays far better than Social Security which non-government workers get. Don’t get me wrong--I worked hard, and you got your tax dollar’s worth, however, few poor people were lifted out of poverty.  Primarily the middle class benefited, including me.  Go to this website and type "library" or even something more exotic, like fashion or travel,  into the search window. https://www.cfda.gov/

That attack at LAX

We flew out of LAX on October 13, so the scenes look very familiar.  But apparently, we are much safer in airports than on the freeways taking us there.  "Only 72 terrorist attacks in the United States (2.7%) targeted airports and airlines. The vast majority of the attacks targeting airports and airlines were bombings or attempted bombings (72.2%), 19.4 percent were hijackings or attempted hijackings, and only three of these attacks were classified as armed assaults like the one at LAX on Nov. 1." START Fact Sheet, Nov. 2

Kids today

Party lines were fun, too.  Our number was 59-L.

Meet Sue Klinkhamer

She admitted: “I have now learned that I was wrong. Very wrong.” When voters fired her boss [Bill Foster, D-IL] in the 2010 elections, she had to get another job and that meant she had to shop for health care, too. Three years ago, she got a plan that cost $225 a month with a $2,500 deductible. But then her health care company sent a letter a few weeks ago. “Blue Cross,” she said, “stated my current coverage would expire on Dec. 31, and here are my options: I can have a plan with similar benefits for $647.12 [or] I can have a plan with similar [but higher] pricing for $322.32, but with a $6,500 deductible.” She went on, “Blue Cross also tells me that if I don’t pick one of the options, they will just assume I want the one for $647.  Someone please tell me why my premium in January will be $356 more than in December?”   “And I was excited that previously uninsured people could now get insurance on the open market. But this is not affordable to me.”

”http://www.catholicvote.org/i-spent-two-years-defending-obamacare-i-have-now-learned-that-i-was-wrong/

23 times President Obama promised “you can keep your plan”

And that’s just what’s on tape.  In Boston this week, he explained what he really mean—you can’t.

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-on-obamacare-if-you-like-your-plan-you-can-keep-it-2013-10

I am the First Amendment

I am a blogger—I support the first amendment.  The democratization of the media is threatened.  http://iam1a.com/   I am protected, and so are you.  I am the First Amendment. To exercise your first amendment rights set up a blog account, but don’t expect me to let you be nasty, insulting and mean here.

Social Security compared to Affordable Care Act

Substitute a few words, and it's a good description of ACA in our era. "We find it hard to conceive of a greater triumph of imaginative packaging than the combination of an unacceptable tax and an unacceptable benefit program into a [health insurance] Social Security program that is widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements of [Obama's first term] the New Deal." Milton Friedman, Free to Choose, 1980.

Just in case you think Social Securty actually is a good deal, remember no one can subsist on the benefit it provides, which I think is maxed at about $28,500.  It takes 2 workers paying in today to support one retiree (there were 17 in the 1950s, 42 in 1945), it's regressive--the low income workers are less likely to live long enough to collect what they paid in, spouses who never worked get the same amount as those who did, millions who paid in (like me) will get nothing because of another government pension, or die before collecting like my sister who began working at 14 and died at 57, and won't be able to pass it along to their children.

Yes, it is a wealth transfer program--from the young to the old. From the poor and the rich to the middle class. Another similarity to the Affordable Care Act.

Five days away. . . five years later

I think Obama was in Colorado when he announced America was close  to being fundamentally transformed, with a back drop of beautiful scenery and weather, speaking to a well heeled population, median household income $57,000. They cheered and swooned. Finally, FDR's dream would come true!  Married families with children in that state had an income over $83,000 in 2008.  But of course, the figure was low for single moms with children many of whom were minorities.  Well, duh. Even in paradise, it seems there are rules for living.

But he was going to change all that--or so he promised--by transferring even more wealth than had been moved since the 60s in LBJ’s  War on Poverty.  But this crowd wasn't poor.  They just wanted more. Here we are 5 years later, minorities and women have made the least progress, labor force participation is at a record low, yet they still love him and know in their hearts that it just isn't his fault.  It was Bush, or the GOP, or the Tea Party, or staff who kept him in the dark so he couldn't achieve all those wonderful things he really wanted with other people's money, so of course he needed to play golf more.

And now many in the same crowd, at least if they are self-employed  or are a spouse of a retiree purchasing her own health insurance, are seeing more of their income being taken so others can have more. That’s the focus this week, but whether you’re talking political polarization, energy, race relations, unemployment, education, etc., he’s pushing the whole nation downward in spirit, in morality, in wealth, and in world opinion in leadership.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/10/01/obama_transforming_america_120170.html

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/popp/100206

What did the President know and when?

It’s getting ugly

For Halloween this year. . .

ACA and the abortion trap upon enrollment

It’s no secret Barack Obama is the most ardent supporter of abortion at any time for any reason, including gender, than any president or politician in the history of the United States. The problems with ACA show this.

“To date, 23 states have passed laws that prohibit most abortion coverage through the Exchanges: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

In the other 27 states and the District of Columbia, at least one of the multi-state plans participating in the Exchanges must be abortion free. However, the secrecy clause in the ACA makes it nearly impossible to identify which plans include abortion and which don’t.

According to the secrecy clause, plans which include abortion may only reveal that they cover abortion in the “Summary of Benefits,” and only at the time of enrollment. Furthermore, materials published by the insurer or the Exchanges are not permitted to provide the monthly cost of the abortion premium—leaving insurance-Exchange participants in the dark about possible subsidization of abortion. Even worse, participants will not be allowed to opt-out of the abortion premium once they are enrolled.”  LifeNews.com

The plan is working just fine

A pain in the neck by Massiv

Hum along if you’ve ever had neck pain.  That’s when you realize everything in your body is connected to your neck!

Feeling exhausted from all the aches
Pins n needles, even wooden stakes
The pain is oh so real
But I try to man-up and deal

Chorus:
My body is in need of some relief
Sumbitch this hurts, good grief
Damn sure pain free, I expect
It's time for needles in mah neck

It ain't easy all of the time
Smoking cigars hurts my spine
No matter the suffering, I must fight
Ima ride my bike n raise my kids up right

Chorus:
My body is in need of some relief
Sumbitch this hurts, good grief
Damn sure pain free, I expect
It's time for needles in mah neck.

Written by Massiv Lorion for my nephew Greg who is receiving neck therapy today. 
Copyright 2013

Falling on the insurance sword is an act of patriotism, Democrats believe

“The millions of Americans who are receiving [health insurance] termination notices because their current coverage does not conform to Health and Human Services Department rules may not realize this is by design. Maybe they trusted President Obama's repeated falsehood that people who liked their health plans could keep them. But Americans should understand that this month's mass cancellation wave has been the President's political goal since 2008. Liberals believe they must destroy the market in order to save it.”

The plans Americans wanted and were willing to pay for have been outlawed and called “substandard,” as though our kindly, benevolent, wonderful leader was saving us from something awful. The purpose of having these expensive policies many don’t want and can’t afford, is to kill the insurance market and drive people to the exchanges. The government needs those bodies!

Fall on the insurance sword in a patriotic act for the most high leader who only wants what’s best for you.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230420080457916354118031265

Pet health care costs will go up

Many veterinarians are self-employed or in small group practices, and have in the past bought health insurance through their professional organization, the American Veterinary Medical Association. No more. That's just one association that has covered the self-insured that Obamacare has put out of business. The American Veterinary Medical Association’s Group Health and Life Insurance Trust will no longer provide medical insurance to its members after 2013. The approximately 17,500 AVMA-member veterinarians who carry the medical coverage through GHLIT will have to seek medical individual plans effective Jan. 1, 2014. Despite lobbying efforts on behalf of GHLIT, the trust will no longer be treated as a “group” arrangement, which means that advantages of the current nationwide coverage and premium ratings will not be available, the trust said in a statement.

Most veterinary practices are small--the law is extremely complex and loaded with bureaucratic fat, making the tax laws almost impossible for the little guy. She’ll have to hire more staff for accounting, inventory, IT, etc.  If you've lost your doctor, your vet may be next.

Veterinarians are in many communities first line of defense in HUMAN health--they are public health officers. The medical device tax also affects the health of your pets. A "device" is just about anything that isn't a medication, needles, catheters, and consumables--they will affect veterinarians, too. The price will be passed on to the animal owner. Most pet owners pay real prices, and don't have the cushion of pet insurance.

If pet care gets more expensive, expect to see more abandoned animals, or pets going without health care. Just another Obamacare fall out.

http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/vet-breaking-news/2012/12/19/avma-forced-to-discontinue-medical-insurance-for-members

Our tax dollars at work

Lisa Tatonetti, associate professor of English and American ethnic studies, Kansas State University teaches and publishes on queer and erotic native American literature (her terms not mine). Must really be a niche market, but she got promotion and tenure. She will be giving a lecture at Ohio State in November for the Sexuality Studies (program?  department? division?).  http://sexualitystudies.osu.edu/events/public-lecture-lisa-tatonetti-kansas-state-cruising-greta-garbo-maurice-kenny-fag-rag-and-nat

Selective information

President Obama knew about Louis Gates, Trayvon Martin, all hip hop performers/celebs and Redskins; he didn't know about Fast and Furious, requests for help from Benghazi, IRS, NSA, the snafus with the roll out, or spying on our allies. He needs to fire his staff. They are obviously shielding him from the truth.  He’s been known to go after “leakers” with McCarthy type zeal; maybe he needs to find those with their fingers in the dike?

 

Gird up your loins

Abby Johnson on Pro-life news in Texas

Good news from Texas! Tomorrow, our new RU486 law will go into effect...drastically reducing the amount of medication abortions performed in our state. Also, the law banning abortions past 20 weeks will go into effect tomorrow.
The law requiring abortionists to have admitting privileges will go to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. And the Ambulatory Surgical Center requirements will go into effect September 2014.

Monday Memories—watercolor

When my husband began painting in the 1970s he had a limited palette, burnt umber, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue , yellow ochre, cadmium red, Hooker's green with a few dabs of other blues and reds. He did barns and trees with no leaves, because green is very difficult to master in watercolor. Over the years he got more frisky and added a bird, then a chicken, a cow, and the barns got more red, a...nd the skies more pink. Then he took up sailing and started painting boats that weren't washed up on a beach or rocks. About 5 years ago he painted some flowers. A few years ago he started painting people, like 150 people on the dock at Lakeside and even did one of 5 girls in colorful saris last year. But as far as I can recall, Max is his first dog.

Max is a one woman dog—my sister-in-law Debbie who we were visiting in California two weeks ago.  He would look like he would let you pet him, or throw him a ball, but then would back off.  This will be sent to his “people.”

Free to Choose

I'm reading Milton Friedman's "Free to choose, a personal statement."  It was published in 1980, but reads like today's paper.  I'm in chapter 3, about the Depression, and the origin and problems of the federal reserve system.

"In the realm of ideas, the depression persuaded the public that capitalism was an unstable system destined to suffer ever more serious crises.  The public was converted to views that had already gained increasing acceptance among the intellectuals; government had to play a more active role; it had to intervene to offset the instability generated by unregulated private enterprise; it had to serve as a balance wheel to promote stability and assure security." And that rapid growth and power extended to Friedman’s day (1980) and ours in 2013. And it extended the Great Depression for a decade because the government had failed in its assigned responsibility in the Constitution--section 8, article 1. The Great Depression was not a failure of private enterprise he says, but of government. Unfortunately, both Presidents Hoover and Roosevelt tried to solve it with more of what brought it about, just as Bush and Obama did in 2008-2009. FDR's New Deal was Obama's Hope and Change.

Mike Rowe’s answer to a “fan” who hates Glenn Beck

We enjoyed Mike Rowe’s (Dirty Jobs) appearance on Glenn Beck last week.  He seems a really nice guy with a terrific voice and big heart (kind of like Glenn).  But some of his fans on Facebook weren’t pleased.

“As for your personal characterization of Glenn Beck, I can only assume you have information not available to me. In my time with him, I saw nothing “horrible, psychotic, hateful, or nasty.” I smelled no burning sulphur, no smoldering brimstone, and saw no sign of cloven hooves.To the contrary, I found a very passionate guy who employs about 300 people, works his butt off, and puts his money where his mouth is. Do we agree on everything? Of course not. Am I “disappointed” by that fact? Not at all. The real question, Shannon, is … why are you?

To be clear, I’m not here to tell you what to think or whom to hate. Like everyone else, you’re free to pick your devils, choose your angels, and attach the horns and halos accordingly.

But the guts of your question – even without all the name-calling and acrimony – reveal the essence of what’s broken in our country. You want to know “how I can associate” with someone you don’t like? The short answer is, how can I not? How are we ever going to accomplish anything in this incredibly divisive time if we associate only with people that we don’t disagree with?”

Forever Stamps weren’t

Obamacare isn't the only rocky roll out. Look what happened to the Let's Move series Forever Stamps AFTER they were printed and ready for first day issue ceremony. Depicted children in 15 activities: skipping rope, juggling, bouncing a ball, performing a cartwheel, kicking a soccer ball, playing basketball, skateboarding, twisting in the air, playing baseball, stretching, running, performing a head stand, jumping into water, climbing a rope, and swinging. 3 of them did not show proper safety. http://extramustard.si.com/2013/10/11/just-move-stamps-michelle-obama-safety-canelled/

HT Gayle

Where was the Captain?

“And there is the enduring mystery of why the president, who in his career has attempted to persuade the American people to have greater faith in and reliance on the federal government's ability to help, continues to go forward with an astounding lack of interest in the reputation of government.

He talks but he doesn't implement, never makes it work. He allows the IRS under his watch to be humiliated by scandal, waste, ill judgments prompted by ideological assumptions. He allows his signature program, the one that will make his name in the history books, to debut in failure. In response he says bland, rounded words that leave you wondering what just got said.”

There will be no consequences for Obama—other heads will roll, but not his.

Why would I say Obama will not suffer the consequences of the rollout failure, indeed is the true Teflon president? In 2001, 2002, and 2003 he voted against the Born Alive Infant Protection Act as an Illinois senator, and was rewarded with the honor of speaking at the 2004 Democratic convention which brought him national attention. This was at a time when probably 90% of Americans would have polled the other way, even hard core feminists. The 2002 federal law had already passed unanimously, making him the only U.S. politician to deny a born alive infant is a human being deserving protection and medical care.

During the campaign of 2008 he lied about his Illinois vote (which was on record), and said others were lying about him (this is a favorite campaign tactic of his) and was rewarded with the presidency. He is "not merely pro-choice, but radically pro-abortion. His voting record indicates that he does not believe infants deserve protection even once they have emerged from the womb if they are deemed to be below the age of viability, and he did in fact, three times, vote to keep a form of infanticide legal." (National Review Online quote)

Really folks, if you have a record like that--denying infants medical care and letting them die--what's the big deal about programs that won't talk to each other?

EMR being updated during a doctor’s visit remind me of texting while driving

Yesterday I had my first appointment with my new internist as a follow up to my hospitalization in Sept. (my doctor is no longer seeing patients). If there's something more off-putting than having a doctor you trust and have known for years staring at a computer screen, it's got to be having no eye-contact and puzzled looks with one you don't know at all while she's reading and trying to figure out what's in your electronic record. It's like trying to have an intimate conversation with someone browsing their smart phone and never looking up. Upon leaving my appointment, I stepped on the elevator with someone reading her phone; she looked up when I spoke to her, smiled, and looked back at the phone and we continued in silence. I think I know her about as well as my new doctor.

Over 80% of EHR systems force the doctor to enter and manage the data in cumbersome, inflexible and artificial fashions that rarely reflect the true nature of the doctor-patient experience. Physicians have often adapted and learned how to be “texting” while driving through patient encounters, but many patients are increasingly uneasy with the situation where they don’t have the full attention of their doctors.

http://focusonthepatient.com/2013/03/10/emrehr-monsters/

Texting While Driving is now the leading cause of death for teens:
1. Makes you 23X more likely to crash – National Hwy Transportation Safety Admin.
2. Is the same as driving blind for 5 seconds at a time – VA. Tech Transportation Institute
3. Takes place by 800,000 drivers at any given time across the country
4. Slows your brake reaction speed by 18% – HumanFactors & Ergonomics Society
5. Leads to a 400% increase with eyes off the road

http://www.textinganddrivingsafety.com/texting-and-driving-stats/

A for real Obamacare ad for Colorado

Keep in mind, Obamacare will only work if young people (who currently don’t have insurance) sign up for it, so all the ads I saw for Colorado were clever and feature that demographic.  In the past, young adults didn’t buy health insurance even when offered by their employer.   Wait till they find out it may cost a pizza and beer.

Your medical records—no expectation of privacy

Government profits $51 billion from student loans

Story at Huffington Post, May 14, 2013

“The Obama administration is forecast to turn a record $51 billion profit this year from student loan borrowers, a sum greater than the earnings of the nation's most profitable companies and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets.

Figures made public Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office show that the nonpartisan agency increased its 2013 fiscal year profit forecast for the Department of Education by 43 percent to $50.6 billion from its February estimate of $35.5 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the nation's most profitable company, reported $44.9 billion in net income last year. Apple Inc. recorded a $41.7 billion profit in its 2012 fiscal year, which ended in September, while Chevron Corp. reported $26.2 billion in earnings last year. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo reported a combined $51.9 billion in profit last year.”

Maybe this will fix it

To solve a glitch or long term program failure

If you've spent a lot of money to solve a problem, and you're not successful, spend a lot more. It won't work, but will make you feel good. That's the model for Obamacare rollout of 3 weeks (est. at 1 billion already paid to contractors) and Head Start after 48 years (estimated $180 billion) based on 3rd grade tests.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/03/05/parents-deserve-to-know-the-facts-about-head-start/

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/21/obamacare-website-glitches-cgi-private-contractors

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/25/gop-lawmakers-threaten-subpoena-over-obamacare-launch-documents/

Lerner and Sebelius get to keep their high profile jobs that caused great loss of faith in government, but a lowly Obamacare enrollment guide? She gets fired.

http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/24/obamacare-operator-fired-after-hannity-radio-call/

“After 16 long days of vowing to Republicans that they would not cave in any way, shape or form on ObamaCare, Democrats spent their first post-shutdown week caving in every way, shape and form. With the GOP's antics now over, the only story now is the unrivaled disaster that is the president's health-care law.

Hundreds of thousands of health-insurance policies canceled. Companies dumping coverage and cutting employees' hours. Premiums skyrocketing. And a website that reprises the experience of a Commodore 64. As recently as May, Democratic consultants were advising members of Congress that their best ObamaCare strategy for 2014 was to "own" the law. Ms. Shaheen has now publicly advised the consultants where they can file that memo.”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303615304579155962427302786