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