Our safety net has holes in it

This is written by a woman on disability receiving Medicaid. Really, it brings tears to my eyes. It's demeaning to treat people this way and say that we are taking care of people who need help with a safety net. I've heard similar stories about women who've had to choose between taking a raise and keeping medical benefits for a child.

"Disability is not a lot of money, there is no need for a savings account to hold excess income. Disability teaches humility and frugality. The Social Security Administration attorney put me on permanent disability and approved my Medicaid in the autumn of 2012. I received medical benefits for about 90 days. And then in January 2013 my world radically changed…the government changed the Medicaid rules.

I ran the numbers that the DHS indicated as my deductible amount: my Spend Down deductible for medical expenses must be 75% of my disability check (that’s right 75%) before I will be reimbursed. If it’s, say, 72%…oops, so sorry, you’re not getting any medical reimbursement and you’re out that amount to pay for your living expenses.

So, let’s imagine my SSA monthly income is on the higher end at $1000 a month. This must pay for mortgage, utilities, food, clothing, laundry soap, and, well, all other personal hygiene stuff. And now imagine my medical and prescription expenses are at the low end at $720 for the month. That is only 72%, three points below my required 75% Spend Down deductible. Do the numbers ($1000 SSA income – $720 un-reimbursable medical). That leaves me with $280 per month to pay my mortgage, utilities, and groceries. Oh, and DHS added to my income my qualifying amount of $20 a month in food assistance. $20 a month for food?!

How do I manage financially? Where is the excess income on which my Medicaid Spend Down is based? How do I choose between paying the mortgage or buying prescriptions, seeing a doctor or keeping the lights on?

What am I to do? What are any of us on disability to do?

I had relied on the charity of others and their loans while I waited for the SSA determination of my disability. I’m a single person without a husband or family. I had to spend my back up plan in the economic crash of 2009. I’ve worked hard since I was 14, paid my taxes, paid into Social Security.

Now I am set adrift with medical expenses eating into my excess (below poverty level) income, seeking a way to not become an indigent…it’s too cold in Michigan to live under a bridge.”

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/prayergardens/2013/03/medicaid-burn-spend-down-what/

Big Obama supporters find ways to avoid taxes

U.S.-based nonfinancial companies are parking record amounts of cash abroad, thanks largely to a tax code that encourages them to indefinitely keep profits from their foreign subsidiaries outside of the country.

The cost of doing this is prohibitive for smaller companies—the ones who don’t support Obama.

GE, Apple, Microsoft, etc. often support tax increases and more regulations.  It helps them by keeping others down.

http://www.ibtimes.com/ge-pfizer-microsoft-apple-other-major-us-corporations-are-parking-more-cash-abroad-avoid-paying

The jobs outlook is worse than you think

"The number of Americans designated as "not in the labor force" in February was 89,304,000, a record high, up from 89,008,000 in January, according to the Department of Labor. This means that the number of Americans not in the labor force increased 296,000 between January and February.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) labels people who are unemployed and no longer looking for work as “not in the labor force,” including people who have retired on schedule, taken early retirement, or simply given up looking for work.

The increase marks the second month in a row, after rising in January from 88.8 million in December. Those not in the labor force had declined in December from 88.9 million in November."

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/record-89304000-americans-not-labor-force-296000-fewer-employed-january

Our petty, petulant President is pouting

What a terrible example to set “for the children,” the ones he usually uses as back drops (even dead children) to pass his expensive legislation.

Charles Krauthammer says: "The President’s travel expenses alone for the golfing outing with Tiger Woods would pay for a year of White House visits. So I suggest that perhaps he curtailed the travel, or perhaps auction off the set of clubs and he might be able to allow those Iowa tots to come through the White House," Krauthammer added. "I'm not cynical enough – I’m trying."

It’s an ugly view

Elisabeth Hasselbeck is being forced off the liberal VIEW according to US Magazine, because her Conservative values no longer mesh with the show's audience. I’m not surprised.  I’ve only seen it occasionally, usually in the summer (we don’t have cable at our lake home), and find the hostile, ugly liberals very frustrating to watch.  Elisabeth is always outgunned, and the whole show brings shame on women.

The Fox channel on cable manages to have strong, capable liberals on its panels that often are talked off their stools with their comments, but they don’t get fired.  They even a PBS liberal, Juan Williams,  as a regular when he was fired for his comments about being afraid of a group of Muslims on a plane.  But the MSM can’t let their liberal audience ever hear a view point that differs from the template.

Pro-Life covers many areas

The Bible on the History Channel

Watching.  But my it’s violent.  Certainly not the sweet colorful pictures we got in our Sunday School bulletins as children.

Idiots happen

I don't see too many at my age. The most exciting thing that happened today is 4 strangers came to Panera's and sat where some of the regulars usually sit. I left before the fireworks.

Gun crimes in Franklin County, Ohio

I sure was happy to read in the Columbus Dispatch that a gun crack down DEVELOPED FOUR YEARS AGO using current laws is working. Prosecutor Ron O'Brien created a special gun crimes unit and has had a 98% conviction rate over the past 3 years. "Most violent crime in our county occurs at the intersection of guns, gangs and drugs," he said. It should be on the front page, but can be found in Sec. B of the Mar. 8 Columbus Dispatch. It should also be on the national news as a model for cities who want to clean up crime so the citizens are safe. Chicago comes to mind, but it's possible the crime, corruption and "community organizers" are just in too deep there.

“The idea to start the units came after a Near East Side shooting in 2008 that wounded two police officers. Police and prosecutors realized that a gun case against one of the suspects had languished. A further review uncovered a bottleneck between police and prosecutors that had stalled dozens of cases.

Although detectives in such units as the assault and robbery squads were well-versed in what was needed to make a good felony case for a gun offense, not all patrol officers were. Detectives of the Columbus gun unit review every carrying-a-concealed-weapon case that is prepared by patrol officers to make sure it is ready for a quick indictment.

The four prosecutors assigned to O’Brien’s unit take the cases from there.

The 60 indictments secured by the unit this year range from carrying a concealed weapon, possessing a weapon under disability, and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.”

What do you think about Obama pardoning the sequester and sending it to Portugal?

The last gal interviewed is the most honest. “I have no idea what that is; I just voted for him because he’s black.”

Remember to reset your clocks tonight

Why is unemployment in Yuma so high?

Yuma, Arizona, has the highest unemployment rate in the nation—27.3% in December 2012.

Here was a response at The Straight Dope website where readers write and respond that made the most sense, from a resident of Yuma :

Aside from agribiz, the two main employers are the Army (Yuma Proving Grounds) and the Marine Corps (MCAS Yuma). A lot of the testing and such is done by contractors in the defense industry. 

From my observation, part of the reason for the shortage of jobs is that the companies who subcontract at these bases tend to transfer in specialists from other locales, because few locals are likely to have the required skills or training needed. What's left over for the natives are jobs in the service sector--and employers hire as few people as they can operate with and then overwork them.

Another important employer (though this is changing, I hear) is the criminal justice system--the county sheriff, US Border Patrol, Customs, a big state prison, etc. A lot of those people are trained at the local community college, AWC. Criminal Justice is also a big major at the Yuma branch of Northern Arizona University.

There isn't a lot of industry because there isn't much room for it. Once you subtract all of the federal land (YPG, MCAS, the Barry Goldwater Air Force Range, and a couple of large wildlife refuges) and what's left of the irrigated farmland (what hasn't been developed yet), there isn't really much private land left over. There is a carpet fiber plant in the city (which seems to change name and ownership every couple of years), but it's mostly automated.

The Bismarck, North Dakota metropolitan area had the nation’s lowest unemployment rate of 2.2 percent.

The cost of date night

We usually go out on Friday nights (our date night), but will pass because we've both been ill. However, keep in mind that Obamacare is adding $44.2 Million Per Year to our (collective) eating at restaurant costs after the initial $315.1 million to comply with the regulations. It's because we don't know that chocolate cake with fudge topping has more calories than steamed cabbage. Retailers can add up the costs, but no one has yet figured out the benefits.

Pizza will be hardest hit.

http://news.heartland.org/newspaper-article/2013/02/21/restaurants-prepare-cost-new-menus-mandated-obamacare

Hope and Change

I have no idea if this is real or photo shopped.  With drones and ambivalence on the part of the WH, I don’t think any business owner would make himself a moving target like this.

Obama signs another feel good act

The Violence Against Women Act bill that Obama signed today extends federal aid to gay, immigrant and tribal victims, while adding services for its original beneficiaries and a large voting bloc: women. But VAWA never denied services to Indian women or to lesbians or transgendered women, so what's the hoopla? Look at California's web site, and you'll see plenty of money going to Indians last year from VAWA. Mainly, it's grant money for "public servants" to earn a very healthy income and although a woman might find support and assistance AFTER the abuse, if she refuses to get out of an abusive situation with her Lesbian lover or a boyfriend, there's not much the agency that gets the money can do.

What happens to Head Start money after it leaves Washington’s bureaucracy?

Here in Franklin County, some if goes for “Sisterhood”  CDCFC is a nonprofit organization funded by the U.S. Office of Head Start. Since 1985, CDCFC has provided comprehensive early education and development services to income-eligible Head Start preschool children, ages 3-5, and their families. An Early Head Start program was added in spring 2007, to serve pregnant women and children ages 0-3.  Its budget went from $200,000 25 years ago to $20 million in 2011 for 3800 children.

“CDCFC (Child Development Council of Franklin County, Inc)  has created the Sisterhood Program, a new initiative for women involved in the lives of Head Start and Early Head Start children. Designed to empower and motivate women to be self-sufficient, and to take control of their lives, the Sisterhood Program utilizes individualized and/or group education, support and advocacy services to aid members in becoming productive, involved members of their communities. One of the program’s primary goals is to provide support for members as they deal with life’s challenges, while also improving their positive self image and their feelings of self worth. The group will do several community outreach projects throughout the year as well, including neighborhood “clean-ups,” aiding the homeless, and motivational speaking, to encourage other women.”

Head Start’s funding in Franklin County, Ohio  per child is $7,816; funding for Early Head Start is $10,984; funding for Early Head Start ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) slots is $15,562. Head Start employs 400 and brings $20 million in federal dollars to Columbus' economy. And that's why it will always get funding; not because it helps children prepare to read and do math in school, but because it "helps" our economy. (figures from 2011 annual report)

Premium rate shock for 2014

Thank you, all Obama supporters for making our health care even more costly than before he took office.

"As conservatives predicted, Obama, Pelosi and Reid all lied about Obamacare as they rammed it through Congress, sight unseen. Rates are going to skyrocket. Employers will drop coverage. Physicians will stop accepting Medicare patients. Insurance carriers will go bankrupt. Care, when you can find it, will be rationed. And the system is going to melt down, with the poor and seniors suffering most.
Obama lied — and people will die. Obamacare is an Angel of Death hovering over the very fabric of this society."

http://www.mrconservative.com/2013/03/5861-ceo-prepare-for-obama-rate-hike/

Jerome McCorry

Interesting.  The same man who led an anti-gun protest at a  gun show and sale in Dayton recently, is a convicted rapist (who has served his time, I hope) on a watch list; he also led a "hoodie" demonstration in Dayton about 6 months ago to protest the killing of Trayvon Martin.

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/gun-control-opponents-supporters-express-their-vie/nT7qs/

Our peace prize prez

The Drone Debate