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Today I caught a sound bite from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (Twit-RI), comparing reading the 2000+ page health care bill to a 13 year old girl blowing through a Harry Potter novel. That's an interesting take on it. For the sake of argument, let's have a look at the difference. A Harry Potter book runs in sequence, is cohesive and makes sense. Everything you need is right there in the same book and given to you in a logical sequence. That means that by the time you get to page 341, you have everything you need to make sense of what you are reading on that page. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (Twit-NV) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is not quite so simple. For example, have a look at the first page of proposed legislation after the index. 1 TITLE I—QUALITY, AFFORDABLE
2 HEALTH CARE FOR ALL
3 AMERICANS
4 Subtitle A—Immediate Improve
5 ments in Health Care Coverage
6 for All Americans
7 SEC. 1001. AMENDMENTS TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
8 ACT.
9 Part A of title XXVII of the Public Health Service
10 Act (42 U.S.C. 300gg et seq.) is amended—
11 (1) by striking the part heading and inserting
12 the following:
13 ‘‘PART A—INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP MARKET
14 REFORMS’’;
15 (2) by redesignating sections 2704 through
16 2707 as sections 2725 through 2728, respectively;
17 (3) by redesignating sections 2711 through
18 2713 as sections 2731 through 2733, respectively;
19 (4) by redesignating sections 2721 through
20 2723 as sections 2735 through 2737, respectively;
21 and
22 (5) by inserting after section 2702, the fol
23 lowing: You got all that, right? And that is just the fist page. The entire bill reads just like that. Don't believe me? Click the link and look for yourself. There is a reason that legislators need time to not just read, but interpret anything they are going to vote on. In this case the proposed health care legislation will make changes made in almost every section of federal law from the Tax Code to Education to Social Security. Properly interpreting the bill requires constant reference to vastly divergent parts of the United States Code to see what effect each and every one of those changes has on the existing law Never forget that the only thing worse then a bad law is a badly written law. The senator's suggestion that reading the healthcare bill compares favorably to a Harry Potter reading binge is complete bullshit. That leads us to one of two possibilities: - Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (Twit-RI) really believes what he said. If that is the case he demonstrated in a highly public manner that he never personally read a bill in which case he has no place in U.S. Senate passing laws over the rest of us.
- Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (Twit-RI) intentionally set out to deceive the public. If this is the case, he has no place in U.S. Senate passing laws over the rest of us.
It is sometimes insulting to see just how stupid some of our congress critters think we are. But then again, we do keep electing them.
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
- Otto von Bismarck Tags: health care, legislation, politics, stupid
Current Location: At the kitchen table
Current Music: TV - Fox News
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Pittsburgh, PA - The G-20 Summit has not started yet. In fact we are not even finished watching the union trolls cable in our stuff. But the protestors are already out in force. This fun loving bunch strolled by the truck making enough noise to drown out communications with the people upstairs. The people in charge are anticipating trouble, but hoping for a peaceful turnout. However protesters are already making noises on the local news about not being "shut out" of the economic discussions due to take place. "Shut out…" Give me a break. I remember when I was young and thought I was important just like these people. One protestor trying to muster righteous anger and rage for the camera said that he and his people are "at war against the capitalistic forces perverting economic and social justice around the world." War my ass. Aside from being profoundly uninformed and remarkably lacking in common sense, that snot nosed little brat adorned in his Harvard T-shirt doesn't have a clue what war is all about. When the snot nose little brat takes heavy incoming fire trying to defend a wounded soldier, then he can talk about being "at war." Social and economic justice. Who thinks these phrases up? Probably the same people in journalism schools that came up with "interpretive journalism" and "opinion shaping." There is something else here too. If this clueless little brat is publicly declaring himself to be at war with the United States, doesn't that make him eligible for capture as an enemy combatant? I wonder if Gitmo has any rooms open.
"I love the smell of pepper spray in the morning. It smells like… news."
- Me Tags: news, on the job, protests
Current Location: Yet another hotel
Current Mood:  grumpy
Current Music: TV - NCIS: LA
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Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) has an interesting idea to get universal health insurance coverage in the United States. He proposes fines on people that do not have health insurance. Read it for yourself. The fines would be the stick to enforce a proposed requirement that all Americans get health insurance, much as auto coverage is now mandatory. The penalties would start at $750 a year for individuals, and $1,500 for families. Households making more than three times the federal poverty level - about $66,000 for a family of four - would face the maximum fines. For families, it would be $3,800, and for individuals, $950. Baucus would offer carrots as well: tax credits to help pay premiums for households making up to three times the poverty level, and for small employers paying about average middle-class wages. People working for companies that offer coverage could avoid the fines by signing up.
The Associated Press: Fines proposed for going without health insurance So lets see now… We all know how well mandatory liability insurance on cars worked. 100% compliance and low prices across the board, right? And if you lose your job and your insurance, big fine! Oh yeah, that's going to help. Just what every man and woman out of works needs is one more worry. Do you think this policy will apply to illegal aliens too? It will be fun to watch Uncle Sam try to collect those fines. The feds will probably be at least as successful as the traffic courts and insurance companies that are chasing illegal aliens that have car accidents without the benefit of auto insurance. Actually, to me it seems Sen. Baucus stumbled across a sure fire way to turn the tide of public opinion in favor of a government option. Think about it, if you are flat broke, unemployed and facing a yearly $1500 fine, a free ride from Uncle Sam suddenly looks really good. Come on 2010, it is well past time to clean house.
Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices.
- Voltaire Tags: bad policy, health care, health insurance, politics, stupid
Current Location: Home surrounded by cats and dogs
Current Mood:  cranky
Current Music: Silence
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This was in my spam filter today. The only reason I even looked it was the return e-mail address indicated it was from Clear Channel communications. I have several friends who take great enjoyment from yanking the chains of scammers. One of them even got a Nigerian scammer to deposit $500 in an account he set up just for this purpose. (He took us all to dinner on it.) This post is for them.
From: ClaireVaillancourt [ClaireVaillancourt@clear-------.com]
Sent:
To:
Subject: Dear Winner, We are delighted to inform you that your E-mail address has won a consultation prize from the UK International promotion programme EMAIL DRAW,Your Email appears to be one of the 7 Lucky Winners of £1,856,652. Please Contact your Claims Personnel with the informations below for the processing of your Claims; Contact Person: Mr. Dauler .K.
Email Address: claimsdaulerk023@live.com (WARNING: Don't click or write to this address unless you know what you are doing.) 1. Full Names.
2. Residential Address.
3. Occupation.
4. Tel/Fax.
5. Date of Birth.
6. Nationality. Please note that if you are below 18 years of age and you receive this, you will be automatically disqualified from your winning claim. Vaillancourt Claire.
Let the games begin.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
- David Hannum describing P.T. Barnum's part in the Cardiff Giant hoax Tags: con games, e-mail, humor
Current Location: Home surrounded by cats and dogs
Current Mood:  amused
Current Music: TV - Big Bang Theory
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Tampa, FL - It was interesting listening to all the talking heads eulogize and canonize Senator Kennedy after his death. The praise came from all corners of the media. This included praise from people that just the week before were extremely critical of his health care stance. What makes this interesting is that I was alive during the events the talking heads hashed over. I remember the things he wanted to to do and the things he did. That makes it hard to believe that last week's talking heads went through the same time line as myself. For balance let me tell you what I remember of him. I remember a short drive off an even shorter bridge resulting in the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. It is hard to forget the profound lack of prosecution for a DUI accident, leaving the scene of an accident and vehicular manslaughter. Just to make sure there is no mistaking the circumstances involved, let us not forget the Senator waited until the following morning to call his lawyer. Then he called the police. For some reason the thought of calling rescue personnel didn't cross his mind the night of the crash. I remember the women. His antics with the fairer sex were legendary inside the Beltway, Cape Cod and around the Florida residence. A writer covering the Kennedy's Florida compound summed it all up several years ago when he said in a CNN interview, "What can I say? The Kennedy's like to get laid." There were several "tell all" books on the subject. A couple of payoffs made it into the public spotlight as well. "Integrity is the lifeblood of democracy. Deceit is a poison in its veins" is a quote attributed to Senator Kennedy. Sadly, those powerful words lose a great deal when considering the man that coined them is the same one that did the things listed above. I remember the booze. Right after Bobby's death the spotlight focused on Ted. Commentators to comedians all focused on the Senator's legendary appetite for liquor. Liquor and parties with lots of women, awe struck by power. There's not really anything wrong with this. But the fact does lend itself to the next paragraph. Most of all I remember the pass he got from the media back then and even through today on all these personal failings and more. There are two sets of rules for politicians. One for media pets like the Obama and Kennedy clans. And another set for those that really did some good in for our nation like Presidents Bush, Bush and Reagan. Anyone under the second set of rules would have been out of public life for good on any one of the above items. But not Sen. Kennedy. He was too important to the movement to tarnish with these trivialities. Lastly I remember the Senator's obsession with my guns. He wanted nothing more in his life then to take my guns from me and every other private citizen. It is understandable. Having two brothers killed by assassins with firearms might twist him a little. So he gets a partial pass on this one. But the end result was that Sen. Kennedy had absolutely no use for the second amendment and no respect for law abiding firearms owners. So consider this little rant equal time and balance to all the praise we heard last week. He wasn't a saint. No where near it. He was just a man pursuing his ideals and living life for all he could get out of it. That's really not a bad eulogy when you think about it.
"I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interred with their bones. So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus hath told you Caesar was ambitious. If it were so, it was a grievous fault. And grievously hath Caesar answered it."
- William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 2 Tags: obituary, politics
Current Location: Tampa, FL
Current Mood:  contemplative
Current Music: Refrigeration Units
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