Thanks, Senator Hagan!

Senator Hagan:

Thank you so much for the "Carolina Connection Special Edition: Health Care Facts" newsletter that you sent out earlier this evening.  Since I wrote you several times during the debate over the Health Insurance Reform bill, I appreciate seeing an update from you.  I know that you worked hard to put this together.  Alas, I see that you have called your newsletter "...Health Care Facts" when in fact, it appears to be largely about Health Insurance.  Well, except for the flu shots.

I thought that I would provide you with some additional information that Mssrs. Emanuel and Axelrod may not have provided to you.  In fact, I have reproduced your newsletter below and you will see my responses in blue.

Carolina Connection Special Edition: Health Care Facts newsletter begins:

In March 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act

became law. So much information is circulating about health care reform, and sorting through it can be overwhelming and frustrating. This newsletter will help explain what the law does and what it means for you and your family. Other useful information about health care reform can be found atwww.healthreform.gov

.

Starting in the First Six Months...

• Insurers are prohibited from dropping coverage when you get sick.  Sounds great!  How will that affect premium costs? 
• Children with preexisting conditions will not be barred from coverage.  Excellent, I'm OK with this in principle, but again, how will this affect costs?  My expectation is that the insurers will estimate the added cost of a known condition and have no choice but to price it into their policies.
• Young adults up to age 26 can stay on their parents' plans.  As a father, I appreciate the sentiment, but I would prefer that my daughter learn to provide for herself.
• No more lifetime caps on coverage.  Well, this can only drive costs up.  You just invited the whole country to an all-you-can-eat buffet.  I will make a further projection; costs will rise rapidly to extract as much revenue as possible in as short a time as possible.
• Seniors hitting the "donut hole" will receive a $250 check.  Well, OK, the whole donut hole thing was dumb, anyway.  But why a check?  Why not just close the hole?  Why add the administrative cost of cutting a check for several million people?
• Eligible small business owners can receive a tax credit to help pay for health insurance premiums. I have a better idea:  cut taxes permanently in stead of "allowing" business owners to get a credit.  To a small business, cash flow is king and you are forcing small businesses to flow the cash out up to 16 months before they get the credit back.  That's called negative cash flow.  Why not a tax cut, which would create positive cash flow?

Middle Class Families

For middle class families, reform means:

• Tax credits will be available for almost one million North Carolinians to make health insurance more affordable. Again, I would rather have a permanent tax cut, not a deferred tax credit.  Cash flow is important to families, too.
• As many as 2.3 million children in NC will no longer be denied coverage because of a preexisting condition.  Who pays for that?
• Preventive care services, including well-child visits and annual flu shots, will be available at no extra cost.  OK, I'm calling an intentional foul here.  "At no extra cost"?  How do you provide all that for 2.3 million without incurring extra cost?  Will the doctors and vaccine makers simply donate their goods and services?  Somebody, somewhere will have to pay for that.  Who do you think that will be?  I deem this an intentional foul because I think you know that but you are waiving that phrase in front of less-careful readers.  After all, 24% of Americans think that "the government has money on its own without using taxpayer money".  See column here

  for source.  You are playing those people for suckers by saying "no extra cost".

Click here

to read more about the benefits for North Carolina's hardworking families.

Seniors

For NC seniors, the new law means:

• 247,000 NC seniors in the prescription drug "donut hole" will receive a $250 check this year.  See previous.
• The donut hole will be incrementally closed over the next several years until it is completely closed by 2020.  See previous, though this will also increase cost.  Still, the donut hole was silly to begin with.
• 1.4 million NC Medicare beneficiaries will have annual wellness visits and preventive services at no extra cost.  AAARRRGGGHHHH!  There you go again!

Click here

to learn more about the benefits for North Carolina's seniors.

Small Businesses

• Over 120,235 NC small businesses are eligible for tax credits to make premiums more affordable. Businesses won't have to choose between providing insurance and cutting jobs.  Wrong.  We need permanent tax CUTS, not credits, for cash flow reasons.  Worse, these credits phase out with the 26th employee.  The marginal cost for that 26th employee will be so great, that companies will be very hesitant to get much bigger than 20-24 employees.  Here, look at this short paper

  (PDF) for an excellent summary of this effect.

Click here

to read about how the new law will support small business owners.

Health Care Reform and NC Job Growth

• By slowing the health care cost growth rate and allowing businesses to expand employment, researchers anticipate that NC will benefit from as many as 7,100 - 11,400 new jobs per year over the next ten years.  Well, that isn't very many in a state of nearly 10 million.  No less an expert than Fed chairman Ben Bernanke testifying before Congress on April 14 said that job growth will be "slack"

  for years.  And then there is this, from CNN, headlined "Say Goodbye to Full Time Jobs with Benefits"

  .

For more information about how the law improves care and reduces costs, click here

.

Hagan Accomplishments

Senator Hagan included the following provisions in the new law:

• Rural Physicians Pipeline Act to address the shortage of primary care doctors in rural communities.  Good luck, hope it works.  But since I read that many doctors are choosing to get out of the business, I wonder where we will find the doctors we will need to treat the extra 30 million people that will be put on the plan.
• Catalyst to Better Diabetes Care Act to move toward reducing the diabetes epidemic. Exercise and diet.
• Medication Therapy Management Program (MTM) to save money and help seniors better follow their medication regimens.  Sorry, don't know what this one is.  Are we going to have someone visiting people and checking on their medication regimens?  Really?
• An amendment with Republican Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to create a regulatory pathway for generic biologics.  Token Republican mention here all the way at the very end of the newsletter.

Senator Hagan, going through this little exercise has really clarified for me something that I knew all along and it is this:  Neither you nor the rest of the Democrats in Washington gave any thought at all on how to pay for this thing.  You have unleashed the law of unintended consequences in a very big way on our country and the effects of this will be with us for decades.  Right now, Canada is looking into ways to move to a more market/consumer driven model.  Britain's health care service is spewing red ink faster than the Deepwater oil well.  The Congressional Budget Office now points out that the bill will NOT hold costs down.  I refer you to the blog of the Director of the CBO, found here.

  It would have been nice to know this before you voted for the bill, don't you think?

See you at the ballot box!

DaveyNC

Rape Trees

This comes from a friend of mine, reporting to me on his conversation with another friend of mine.  The “reporter” lives in Southern NM and is involved in ranching.  Here it is, word for word (names changed):

 

FYI global warming strikes again. 10 days ago, on the weekend of May 1-2 Ft. Davis, TX received 1-2" of fresh snow.

On a serious and more concerning note, Brad, a good friend called me at 6:05 yesterday to report on a meeting he'd just walked out of. It was at the NM Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum where he works. It was a public forum held to discuss the "bad idea" of creating a 200,000 acre roadless wilderness area in the Portrillo Mts which are South and West of Las Cruces NM on what is public access BLM land, and also ranch land leased from BLM. Wilderness areas are closed to all motorized machinery and travel is only by foot or horseback. A couple of retired Border Patrol agents, from pretty high up, were brought in to tell what is and has been going on and why creating a roadless area where you wouldn't  even be able land a helicopter is a very very bad idea. This area runs exactly from the Mexican border to the south up to I-10 on the north - a perfect North-South "corridor they said. These guys were able to speak freely because they are retired. A lot of what they said evidently is not common knowledge. If you've not been keeping up - the body count in Juarez is up to 8,000 now. But apparently it is worse than even that.  The agents had pictures and a lot of stories. They said they had more pictures but probably shouldn't show them in public.

I knew it happens but I had no idea how badly these drug guys prey on illegal immigrants. The source of much of the heaps and heaps of trash seen is from robbery of illegal immigrant parties. They showed actual pictures of 2 different trees, down in deep arroyos, where womens (and girls) undergarments are displayed. After the women are robbed, the drug guys exact a second "toll" for the right to pass through "their areas". These are called 'rape trees'. The agents warned that if you happened to be out hiking or rabbit hunting or something and stumbled on this going on, you would not leave alive.

Columbus, NM / Purerto Palomas, Chihuahua are south of Deming it is a small border entry point. Polomas on the Mexican side had (until very recently) 4 law enforcement officers. Brad said he'd heard something vaguely in the news last week about some law enforcment guys moving to Columbus. The agents expanded on this for the group: The Mexican officers received an ice chest with 4 heads in it and a note that said to get out or this will be each of your heads.

There was also an incident in Nogales, AZ where body parts were left in the street. This happens all the time in Juarez, but I didn't know it had moved here too.

It has been a very good spring with the promise of a really good quail crop in one of the areas Brad and I grew up hunting together in, about 25 miles west of Columbus   We'd been talking about taking our boys and getting together for a hunt next fall. Brad told me yesterday, there is no way in hell he's setting foot down there now. I think I agree.

If AZ is successful with their new enforcement effort, NM and maybe even West TX have no idea what we are in for.

Anyway, just a little border news most of us never get to hear about.

But, we better not let our cops verify whether or not someone is a US citizen.  Might be a violation of their rights on a scale far worse than the rape trees.

Vote ‘em Out

 

Here is your list of Socialists.

Bastards.

Well, I Feel Better Now….

 

….because Timmy said it would be OK.  Sometimes, I think these clowns that we have in office don’t know basic math.  Apparently, we can grow the national debt to insane levels while revenue drops and, if you believe our Treasury Secretary, it won’t change our credit rating.  Even though the people who create credit ratings said it would.

Look at this, and weep:

 

That was as of 10:20 AM EST, Feb. 7, 2010.  Go here to get an update; it’s changing really fast.  You may need a welder’s mask to protect you from all the red ink you will see on that page.

I understand the allure and the principle for a government to borrow money.  Like any other organization, it is a way to leverage your way into spending money on things that you would not otherwise be able to afford.  Sort of like sub-prime mortgages.  And governments, particularly the US government, can borrow money so cheaply that it is like crack cocaine for a self-aggrandizing egomaniac.  Why pay for something today when you can borrow the money and pay it out over time with inflated dollars?  Because it results in the image you see above. 

There are things that a person should borrow money for and it’s a short list; to buy a home and to get an education.  It’s not a good idea, but most of us borrow money to get a car.  That’s it; those are the only loans a person should have.   A government doesn’t need a house and you clearly cannot educate a government; Lord knows we have all tried.  Instead, the federal government has a clearly laid out set of items it should provide and they can be found in the Constitution; the defense of the country, facilitating interstate commerce, the judicial system and so on.  Most of what we pay for is not mentioned in the Constitution.  The Left likes to use the “promote the general welfare” phrase from the Constitution to justify whatever it is that they are freaking out about at any given moment, ignoring the fact that having, say, Social Security doesn’t really improve the general welfare.  It improves the welfare of those who are eligible for it, at the expense of those who must pay for it.  See here for more ideas on what parts of government need to be reduced or eliminated.

My 1 year old nephew owes over $40,000 right now and he still craps his diapers.  By the time he turns 18, at the rate this mess is going, that number will be far into the 6-digit range, maybe even 7 digits.  He will never catch up.  WE will never catch up.

In Which I Venture Into the Land of the Dingbats

 

Below is an exchange I prompted at Huffington Post today, link here.  (Link should take you right to the comments, may have to scroll down just an inch or so.)  Yeah, I’ve only got 2 fans there.  Imagine that.

 

DaveyNC 2 fans permalink

OK, I'm a conservative, particularly in comparison to the HuffPo crowd.
I don't get it. I don't get the Palin allure for those on the right and I don't get the profound hatred of her from the left. This article helps me to understand a little more why lefties don't like her, but it doesn't help me to understand the unbridled hatred she receives. I mean, come on folks, the way to handle such a lightweight is to ignore her, yet you all seem to fairly obsess over her. I come from the right side of the spectrum and I don't pay very much attention to her, other than that poster of her I have on my ceiling.
I can only compare her baffling popularity on the right to the baffling popularity that Obama enjoys (once enjoyed?) from those on the left. There is/was absolutely nothing in their CV's to suggest that they were competent to hold high office, from these babblings by Palin to Obama's unteleprompted ramblings and continued losing streak in initiatives.
When we fall into a cult of personality, like we have now, we are in dangerous waters.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:13 PM on 12/07/2009

-heidiMT I'm a Fan of heidiMT 34 fans permalink

Under normal circumstances I would ignore someone of Palins intellectual caliber. That being said, I cannot stand by and remain silent at the divisiveness that she promotes. She is encouraging policy that is based on her religious beliefs. She is encouraging the resurgance of racially motivated attacks. I could go on and on about how I believe she is taking us backwards as a nation. Silence can be interpreted as approval.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:54 PM on 12/07/2009

-KayJay90 I'm a Fan of KayJay90 33 fans permalink

She's the face of a group of theocrats who are intent on "stealth" candidating their way into a majority of our national legislative branch, and if they can do it again, into our national executive branch of government. Witness: the C Street not-so-secret-any more secret society, of which several hypocritical 10-Command ment-break ing so-called christians belong, and are counselled (to hide their behavior) and "forgiven" by their peers.
The theocrats I'm talking about, also known as political evangelica l/dominion ists, have also done a dam'nd good job of infiltrating the U.S. Military with their brand of christianism, tinged with more than a little bit of race- and other-orga nized-reli gion hatred.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:56 PM on 12/07/2009

-sippewissett I'm a Fan of sippewissett 54 fans permalink

Your last sentence is in fact why the Left and Moderates dislike Palin. (Don't use "hate"; she slings that word around against anyone who criticizes her legitimate ly.)
We are united in our belief that we need smart, ethical leaders, NOT a former beauty contestant who looks at public service as a series of pageants to "win". It is precisely "the cult of personality" that we disdain. Palin doesn't know what she doesn't know -- nor do her "base". Can you imagine someone with her shallow grasp of economics, finance, foreign policy, geography and history in the White House?
* If Faux News wants to give her a show, have at it. We don't watch Fox anyway.
* If Wasilla wants to make her their sled-dog catcher, have at it. We won't have her in our neighborhoods any more.
* If she wants to write another book with more "haters" in it, more victimhood, more adventures from a private jet so she can connect with "real Americkuns", have at it. We won't buy it.
We just don't want her on the national political "stage" thinking that it's time to play her flute as a way to obtain a serious public service position. Bring on smart, serious, public-ser vice-minde d people for national positions and leave Palin to rail against the unfairness of it all...back in Alaska, please.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:57 PM on 12/07/2009

-wanda665 I'm a Fan of wanda665 32 fans permalink

Well said, Sipp, and I am in total agreement. The reason she flits around military bases is she is well aware many of the soldiers are from the towns she plays to. You know, the real Amerikuns. Well I am from a family of military men who do not care for her. Some men in the military know we need real leadership, not quitters. Trust is very important, and that whining bird cannot be trusted. Check her record in Alaska. Check about the school buses, if information is still available.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:06 PM on 12/07/2009

-MJHammonds I'm a Fan of MJHammonds 136 fanspermalink

As a woman who is also from a family of military men (father, brother, husband & son), I agree wholeheartedly, as does my family.
Fanned.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:47 PM on 12/07/2009

-MJHammonds I'm a Fan of MJHammonds 136 fans permalink

Sippe, I just wrote a rather long post in response to the same one you responded to, but I think you said it best. Fanned.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:07 PM on 12/07/2009

-c2morow I'm a Fan of c2morow 10 fans permalink

I dont hate her, but at the same time I dont respect anything about her. However, I think the biggest fear is that there are people out there who actually believe in her and find her acceptable to hold higher office, thus presenting the statistical probability, that she could actually have a position of influence at some point. It baffles any rational person, to the point of frustration, that others buy into her logic, her views and it just seems perposterous that someone like Sarah could even get this far. At least, that's my take.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:59 PM on 12/07/2009

-Kitzy I'm a Fan of Kitzy 3 fans permalink

Well said.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:19 PM on 12/07/2009

-Jeff1958 I'm a Fan of Jeff1958 42 fans permalink

FaiI. Dragging Obama through the same mud as Palin suggests that you are, in fact, cIueIess.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:27 PM on 12/07/2009

-michelesda I'm a Fan of michelesda 3 fans permalink

I always wonder when people talk about lefties hating or fearing Palin; where does this impression come from? Is it because they don't take her seriously, make fun of her; does that equate to hate for some people? In fact, you have to take somebody seriously to hate or fear them. To fear SP, you'd have to believe that she actually has a snowball's chance in hell; who really believes that? Certainly not lefties, who are actually hoping she will run. That, and being a perpetual walking punch line; what's to hate or fear about that?

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:11 PM on 12/07/2009

-jdunaway65 I'm a Fan of jdunaway65 7 fans permalink

You know, I have been wondering that myself, and as I read your comment, a theory dawned on me...
As you say, not too many on the left have stated that they "hate" Palin. Many (myself included) are amused by her, and those with any intelligence keep an eye on her movements and followers, hoping there are not enough of them out there to actually get her elected.
But back to the "hate"... if you remember during the Bush years, they made all those statements that anyone who criticizes or does not blindly follow the President or support his war are unpatriotic, I think some even suggested treasonous (if that's the case, what are Cheney, Rush, Beck, O'Reilley, etc?). That same mindset comes into play when they say that anyone who criticizes or does not support her, HAS to hate her.
Again, I ask -- if non-supporters or critics of Palin hate her, wouldn't that mean that these same people who say that and at the same time do not support, or criticize Obama have to hate our President as well? Hmmm -- that's not very Christian (or patriotic), is it?

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:42 PM on 12/07/2009

-drlouise I'm a Fan of drlouise 17 fans permalink

I don't hate her...I'm just worried about the permission she gives folks to be intolerant, angry and bitter. Scares me, saddens me and amazes me that there are people who believe she is qualified to lead the country.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:56 PM on 12/07/2009

-Sundiszno I'm a Fan of Sundiszno 3 fans permalink

It's not that I hater HER. I hate the politics that she represents. I hate the resurgence of the Know Nothings.

Reply Favorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:42 PM on 12/07/2009

We Are Sucking Hind Teat to the Boomers Once Again

Health care reform, in keeping with politicians propensity to pick favored constituencies at the expense of others, is purely a pander to the Baby Boomers.  We have a giant glob, 77 million of them, of Boomers that are currently retiring and just in time comes His Wonderfulness to offer to them health care for the rest of their days.

Technically, I am a boomer.  The Baby Boom ran from about 1949 to 1964 and I was born towards the end of that time frame, but the biggest chunk of them were born and came of age in the early to mid-60’s when I was just a kid.  Realistically, I have spent my whole life picking up the leavings of the goddamn Boomers.  They hold the best jobs, they will get the full measure of their Social Security benefits, they sucked up all the market capital then destroyed several trillion dollars’ worth of it and now they are poised to help themselves to 20 years’ more time of perpetuating their scorched earth lifestyles.  They will roar through the system, taking everything with them and leaving a mess in their wake.  And if you don’t believe that, take a look at the current value of your home.  If you are under the age of 50, think about whether or not you will see your Social Security benefits sliced before you retire, in favor of maintaining benefits for those who are about to retire or have already retired.  Think about the current value of your 401(k)’s and how long it will take to recover, if ever.  Think about working until the day you die.

So, we must fight the health care proposal and cap and trade and bailouts and demand the shrinking of the federal government.  If I’m tilting at windmills here, so be it.  But if you are under the age of 50, you better think about storming the gates of Congress.

A Modest Proposal

Here is a proposal, to send a message to the bastards.  Here is a link to IRS form W4.  For January of 2010, under-withhold your taxes.  In fact, fill out the form so that you have exactly zero taxes withheld for the month of January.  You can do this by claiming 10 or 12 dependents and little, if anything will be withheld.  Then, in February, change your withholding again to your normal rate, plus the amount you would have normally withheld in January, spread over the remaining 11 months of the year.  Let’s send a message to the dirtbags up there that we have had enough.  The only thing they want out of the producers of this world is money; take it away.  It’s the only way we will ever get their attention.  Don’t get your asses arrested; pay your taxes, but let’s put a little hitch in the cash flow up there.  Atlas needs to shrug a little.

Spread the word; if you don’t, who will?

Nobel Specious Prize

Stephanopoulos posits that this will strengthen Obama's hand both at home and abroad.  No.  It further lessens the value of the Nobel Peace Prize.  Just as inexplicable as the fact that he won is that it was a unanimous decision.  Go to the link and listen to the interview with Geir Lundestadt, the Norwegian Nobel Institute Director blather about Obama and how Obama's ideals are so close to the Nobel's ideals.  I guess that among the ideals the Nobel organization wants to promote, actual results do not matter.  Apparently, one simply has to have good intentions.  In that case, you could just as well award the prize to any average 5 year old little girl.

The new theme song for the Nobel Peace Prize is now the Barney song.