Congress Making Sausage : Buring Trash

Many years ago I served my little community here as a Township Supervisor. Supervisors are elected officials and tasked with “running” the day to day activity of each of the many political subdivisions known here as Townships. Most of the people in the state of PA live in one of three classes of Townships. There are also Cities (there are only 3 in the whole state by the way) and Boro’s or Broughs as well.

My county alone (Montgomery) has 62 such subdivisions of various sizes and shapes. Within each the Supervisors are charged with hiring and firing of the Municipal staff, organizing and monitoring the various departments such as the Road Crew, Police, Administrative staff and the Sewer Plant if you are lucky enough to have one of those.

It is a daunting task and very underappreciated by the residents who go about their lives not realizing that 5 members of their community decide on virtually everything that makes their little community different from the next one down the road. Issues like Zoning, Subdivision and Land Development, construction standards for their roads, sidewalks and street light placement to tasking of the Police to patrol one area over another. There are standing committees that help with some of this; we had a Sewer Board, a Planning Commission for land development issues, Parks and Open Space committee, a Recreation committee and an Environmental Advisory Board.

One of the interesting aspects is that the make-up of the Board is by lay citizens from within the community. Our Board was made up of 5 unique individuals. One was a truck driver/mechanic, another was a retired State Trooper, another was a Butcher and yet another owned and operated a junkyard. Consensus building was sometimes a struggle, getting an idea sold across the diverse backgrounds of all the Supervisors were a challenge. An example was one effort I championed was to buy and install for our office staff (there were 9 Administrative staffers) a modern office computer system complete with laser printers and an actual office network. We had the money and the need. The staff was using clunker IBM workstations on an arcnet. It took some work, comparing different computers to models of trucks to convince the truck driver or likening an Ethernet to the turnpike and other roads for the Trooper to understand. It was but only item in what were a universe of needs that we addressed.

Another interesting aspect was everything a person in that position gets exposed to. I never knew anything about how a Municipal Sewer system worked but today, I can tell you the difference between an Circular Anaerobic digestion system and an Oxidation ditch system. The same with how roads are built and maintained or how a tract of farm land is turned into a single family housing development. It was always a learning experience and then of course applying some decision making skills.

To gain some structured knowledge and to help spread the experience around the Association that represented Township Supervisors all across the state of PA held training courses and seminars that we could attend. Many of the seminars related the changing of environmental laws or federal laws that are passed and then flowed down onto the Townships for us to figure out how to implement (like curb cuts into sidewalks after the ADA was passed). Some of the seminars were designed to teach the newbie how a road is built and how to go out and buy those large trucks that push the snow around in the winter or how to conduct a negotiate a contract with your Police union or even how to hold an effective meeting.

They were all helpful and I attended as many as I could. One I remember well and recent news items have pushed that one lesson to the fore.

It was a seminar on making Law. Yes folks, we as Township Supervisors are tasked with making laws. It was a necessary evil I assure you and none were done lightly. From the training seminal was one important lesson, which was has stuck with me. It was a discussion on consistent application of the law. The concept that all valid laws have to apply to all persons falling under its jurisdiction in exactly the same way. There can be no equivocation, no shade of grey, no waiver or exemptions. Laws that sustain challenge contain no ambiguity and are applied the same way in each happenstance. Laws are struck down if they are judged “capricious or arbitrary”.
Let us examine this a bit more:

Legal Dictionary:
Ar-bi-trary
1: depending on individual discretion and not fixed by standards, rules or law; founded on or subject to personal whims, prejudices, etc; having only relative application or relevance; not absolute

Ca-pri-cious
1; governed or characterized by impulse or whim; lacking a rational basis; not supported by the weight of evidence or established rules of law

Why has this struck me at this time? Well it was this: Waivers for Favors: Big Labor’s Obamacare escape hatch

This is an article by Michelle Malkin on waivers granted by the department of HHS to companies and Unions requesting exemption from the Patient Protection and the Affordable Health Care Act (PPAHCA) commonly known as Obamacare. It’s a huge number; almost 1 million Union members are exempt from Obamacare (list here) despite their hard work lobbying to get it passed.

There are almost 800 companies (story here) with active waivers granting exemption to more than 2 million people.

HHS reports that 50 applicants have been denied and no one knows how one group or plan is approved for exemption and another is denied. Do they grant them based on who has contributed money to their favorite Democrat cause? Is approval contingent on how “friendly” you are to the Administration?

You see, this is the problem when you invite exemption from a law you worked so very hard to get passed. Once you start exempting people, especially without that exemption process being spelled out in the same law, you get questions about the Law itself. How much of a “whim” is the law? How capricious is the law? It is applied in an arbitrary fashion? How consistent is it against the population it is to govern?

By virtue of the fact that the exemption process is a secret and not public, that so many are being exempted out and especially their own supporters want out this bill should be junked. It is capricious or arbitrary and not enforceable on the rest of us. It should be repealed or struck down altogether.

Once during my 7-years as a Township Supervisor I had to vote on a law banning the open burning of trash in the backyards of homes here in the Swamp area. Sounds like an easy piece of legislation to draft and vote on, makes sense in this modern age all that health and clean air stuff. But you would not believe the blow back. So many people came in asking what the hell were we thinking, banning the burning of trash! The meeting room was filled the next regularly scheduled meeting night, standing room only in fact (more 70 people came out). This was a big deal, we normally only get 4 or 5 folks out when we raised taxes or jacked up the sewer fee. Hell, when we laid off a Police Officer we only got three people in there to complain. What the hell were we thinking, banning the burning of trash!

They all wanted exemptions. They all wanted to keep their burn barrels. They wanted no part in the mandatory curb side service mandated by state law (the State recycling law forced municipalities that reached a certain population density to go to the curb with their trash).

We said no. I said no. If the law applied to one of us, it was going to apply to us all. And so it was, and is today here in the Swamp.

That one law may have been why I was a one term Supervisor. You take a stand and you take your lumps. We can only hope this will be true of PresBO as well.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Land of the Sheep, Home of the Compliant

Letter to America's Health Insurance Plans Trade Group:

"there will be zero tolerance for this type of misinformation and unjustified rate increases." Kathleen Sebelius, Commissar for Health and Human Services

Here is yet another example of the thugs at work in our current form of government. Instead of a Republic we have this mutated form of a socialist-democratic-communist conclave. A group of America hating central planners who's only experience seems to be in academia, who are trying to think for all of us out here in the "workers' paradise".

How many more examples are needed for the general public to wake up to what these people are doing to our country, and the MSM does nothing but sit on the sidelines or worse in the case of at least MSMBC, they are helping them. MSMBC = Pravda!!

The real shame is that they are doing this right in front of our eyes. PresBO has appointed his shadow government in the form of Czars to help pull the strings without the consent of the Governed and completely usurping the Congress. That whole gaggle in the capitol building is now irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. PresBO only needs them in name only.

Where will it end? I hope we can end the coop this November. It's too bad it has gone this far because some of this stuff is just too hard to back out. We will be stuck with it for better or worse.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Sausage Making with Nancy – The Devils Kitchen

For gods sake, save your eye sight and don't look directly at her, just a glance is all it will take. Go ahead and puke then scroll down to the below the picture and read my latest rant.
More and more is being made public on the Health Care reform that passed Sunday night, the devil is in the details and those are now leaking out into the sunshine. Not that we can do anything about it now.

But as I posted previously regarding all the wheeling-n-dealing that was going on with getting Democrats to vote on this monstrosity some of those details are coming out as well. Here is a story from the Wall Street Journal written by Kimberley A. Strassel that details some of the "Sausage Making" that was going on between Nancy "Sagging Boobs" Pelosi and the Democrats that wanted to vote NO.

It is an interesting look into what passes for Democracy in Action. And when you factor in the lie that Nancy made by saying "no money changed hands" in buying these votes, you know she was not expecting anyone to explain the process to the masses.

And that is yet another rub in all this, the duplicity of the media in all this. The major media in particular has again failed the public in bringing out the details of the Bill but also the drug deals as well. It was the only part of this that was open and transparent.

The wholesale Sell-Out of the American Dream, brought to you by Nancy and the Democrats.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Horse Trading for Health Care

That is what is going on right now with PresBO and the Nancy gang trying to convert "NO"'s and "Undecided" Dem Representatives to vote for the massive take-over of the best health care system in the world.

Yesterday Dennis Kucinich (D- OH, No) and Marcia Fudge (D-OH) were invited to fly to the PresBO's campaign event in Cleveland aboard Air Force One. The better to turn your "No" to a "Yes" and I am sure the PresBO applied all the pressure he could manage to get both members of the Ohio delegation to vote for his health care reform package. Story here.

There is no end to the wheeling and dealing that the Democrat leadership is doing in trying to get the minimum number of "Yes" votes they can. Wiith more than 2/3's of the Stimulus Bill money still uncommitted my bet it that this money will be earmarked secretly to currently "NO" votes and "Undecided" in to "Yes". Bribery pure and simple.

And here is something akin to the Kitchen Sink: the feared Student Loan takeover by the Government is being added to the Health Care bill.

"Many House Democrats reacted enthusiastically on Friday to the word that a proposed overhaul of student loan programs would be included with major health care legislation in an expedited budget package to be offered in Congress."

"…As a result, some supporters of the health care bill said they were confident the financial aid measure would help generate votes for the overall package."

Further down in the article we get to this, "Of the 39 Democrats who opposed the health care bill, 35 voted in favor of the student loan bill."

They you go, making a mockery of Democracy, Nancy Pelosi at her finest. "We have to pass the Bill so we can see what is inside." Oh yeah that works in real life.

And they are going to use the "Slaughter" rule to pass it. This is the measure where they vote on a measure that is basically a bill for nothing but would "deem" the Senate Health Care bill as passed. This measure is surrogate for actually voting on the Bill itself. This is supposed to give Democrats that are afraid to vote "Yes", cover. That's right, they think they can get away with passing this and then heading home to say they did not vote on the health care take over.

What piss-ants. I have NO respect for people that will not do what is right and vote on this horrible bill, one way or the other. They have to hide behind another measure like no one is going to notice.

They should all be impeached for even contemplating this path. What legitimacy will this law have if it was passed in an Un-constitutional manner? It will have none.

We are led by Cowards.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Summit Summary

I heard parts of the Great Obamacare Rescue Debate on my XM radio. My take is that PresBO and his Democrat Cronies in both the House and Senate are really grasping at straws with this charade of a debate. Some of my thoughts on what was said and by who:

PresBO, he literally became the Blackmailer in Chief (and not because he is HALF Black) but because in his closing he basically told the Republicans that if they did not get on board well then, the Democrat Leadership will go and Pass the Bill any way they could. Using the Reconciliation Club on the Republicans like they were baby seals, it's a good thing most Republicans have hard heads. He really is a bully and his time in Chicago politics really shows.

Harry Reid's comment about "No one was talking about Reconciliation", WOW. And he said that with a straight face too, bald face lying on National TV (ok, it was on CSPAN which is at least on cable).

Joe Biden (sorry I can't bring myself to call him Vice President) and him saying that he hasn't a clue what the American Public is thinking. This is so funny because he must not have bothered to look out his window on September 12^th when around 1 million Americans were hanging out around his house bitching about what He and PresBO and all the democrat cronies are doing. I won't give him the benefit of watching TV because it's probably tuned to NBC anyway and they missed completely so far the entire Tea Party movement and the September the 12^th protest.

The best performance by a Republican was Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) who decomposed the Obamacare using the CBO to do it, really great work.

I do think the biggest hit here does go to PresBO because he gave up the high ground here. He should have acted as a moderator or arbiter between the two parties, but instead he joined the Democrat side thereby diminishing his standing as President. David Bellavia has a great analysis of the summit but mostly about this idea of PresBO selling out the Office of President to pull this off. Go HERE for that story.

The message here is simply, By Any Means Necessary. The PresBO has basically sold his soul and his Presidency for this monstrosity that we can truly call Obamacare. He has bought it hook line and sinker and he wants us, You and Me to swallow.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Who are You Sleeping With?

I got the below chart from Carpe Diem (I love that place) who got it from Art Little. I modified it a tad adding the little circles. As you can see the Democrats are squarely in the pocket of the Union's. No wonder they got that sweetheart deal in the Health Care "Reform" package, they bought and paid for it.

Does anyone wonder who the Party of Special Interests are? My god, this is so obvious its not even funny. And these are donors from before the big Supreme Court decision last week putting the McCain-Feingold act into the ditch.

You can see more over at OpenSecrets.org where they have these great pull down's for you to look over, well worth the visit.

I don't contribute to any party, person or organization. I really think money has spoiled politics as shown by this graph. I heard some years ago that a Senator has to take in $20,000.00 per day, every day from the day of his swearing in until his next election in order to compete for that seat. That kind of money does not come from plain Jane and Jim doe's out here in the public. It comes from:

It should surprise no one Harry Reid's herculean efforts to pass Health Care "Reform" when you see who paid him off. National shame is what this is and there are no easy fixes. Term Limits come to mind but there is no way this current crop of AssHats will buy off on terminating their own importance, and don't even bring up Federal Funding of elections. NO Way.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Rationing Health Care – On the US Horizon

Found at: Carpe Diem

It seems to me that we are going to get this set of "Reforms" of our Health Care shoved down our throats by Nancy, Harry and PresBO over the public's substantial objections. The new program will in a few short years start (it is back end loaded, taking in revenue for three or four years before any benefits are paid out) and then the real ugly gooey stuff will hit the fan. With doctor shortages and the closing of private hospitals looming, we will all be in the queue together for Health Care services.

Rationing is not that far behind and then our life in hell will start. Below is a picture of a Ration Card being used today in that wonderful communist paradise of Cuba. It is the ration card for the family of Yoani Sanchez, a blogger living in Cuba. Her short description of how this card works and her emotions upon receiving it is heart breaking. But it speaks directly to what the Democrats are steering the United States into with their point of view and absolute hatred of the free trade system and capitalism. Their blind belief in the Government despite all the evidence to the contrary that it can deliver on the promises being made is simply amazing. You and I will pay for it in more ways than just a hit to our pocketbook, we will pay for it by standing before a bureaucrat to justify your desire for Milk even though you do not have a child under 7 years old in your household. Because you like to drink milk and the Government Planning Commission/Board did not factor that in before they slaughtered most of the Dairy cows in your community.

Hope and Change you can believe in.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Million Dollar Test

I have this theory about government and how politicians work regarding money. They go through the process of "authoring" a Bill, say it's the Stimulus Bill; they have a cover on top with a fancy name (eg. "Save the US Economy from Going down the Crapper Act of 2010") and then the back page where the signatures go. These are the parts that the actual authoring Senator or Congress-critter actually write. Everything in between the front cover and back cover come from one or many (hundreds sometimes) of Special Interest groups. They take turns writing in there what they want in the way of a Tax Credit, or Tax forgiveness, or outright campaign contribution/bribe offset (known as Subsidies in Washington speak). This "Bill" is then taken to the floor and amendments are then attached. These are those pesky parasitic riders on each Bill that have nothing to do with the Bill itself, added by the Senator or Congress-critter that found a new campaign contributor but could not give them their offset in the last Bill, so they gloam on to this Bill with a rider. After a bunch of these votes to look you know democratic and all that, they vote and pass the Bill. It becomes law but no one but the ones that put text into the Bill know what it really means and of course it does not work as the fancy high minded Title might lead you to believe it was supposed to do. All of us out here, the taxpayers get to surrender more of our hard earned money to all of those Special Interest groups that helped write the Bill and the Senators and Congress-critters go saying they voted for this fancy titled, high minded Bill. They look good and we remain in that bent over position, gripping our ankles.

I have this test that I use to tell me if a Bill being contemplated will work or not. I call it the Million Dollar Test. It's pretty simple too. Here is how it works: You have a problem that needs Congressional Action. Will you getting $1 million Dollars make the problem go away? If yes; Can the Bill. If not, call in the Military. There, problem fixed.

Let's try this out on say that famous Stimulus Bill of 2009, you know the one that was passed in record time last year, 9 days after PresBO was sworn in.

Problem: Economy about to tank, we need jobs in all sectors to prop up business and return financial stability to the economy.

The Congressional Bill Title: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Cost: $787 Billion Dollars

Effect: Nil, naught, squat, zilch, zip, or insignificant. Some jobs to non-existent Congressional Districts and even Zip Codes that don't exist. Cost per job created or saved estimated at between $160,000 per job to as high as $246,000 per job (using numbers from Recovery.gov, the Administration's own web site).

Yeah, it's a mess and it is just like throwing away $787 Billion dollars. Might have well simply burned it in a huge bon fire on the 4^th of July. Ok, let's try my little test.

New Bill Title: Plain and Simple Stimulus Act of 2009

Fix: Give every living Man and Woman above the age of 18 years who is NOT in Jail and who is a Legal Resident of the United States a $1million dollar grant. No strings attached except that those monies have to be spent here in the US, no moving it off shore.

Impact: Just think of how many of those pesky failed Home Loans would go away? Guess how many people could pay for College? How many would go out and buy new cars, new homes or spend money on their existing home? Dare I say a lot.

Cost: Somewhere around $200 million dollars give or take. Maybe $250 million or $300 million still it would be way less than $1Billion dollars much less $787 Billion.

Effect: Well, let's just say it would have gone a long way to stimulating the economy and would have prevented a lot of other mayhem as wall. GM and Chrysler would not have had to be taken over by the government, Mortgage backed securities would not have gone in the tank and a lot of people would have been employed in all segments of our society. Tax revenues to the States and Local Governments would have not dropped and they would not need to be bailed out as they do now.

All around not too bad except for the deficit payments on something like this. But, $300 million in the hole is a lot better than $787 Billion in the hole and that is the difference especially when you see who is benefitting from what got passed.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a monumental failure. The Health Care Bill will be another monumental failure as well as you can buy some really good Health Care and/or Insurance for $1 million bucks.

Plain and Simple. It's just too much for those jackass's in Washington won't go for it because they get nothing out of it.

BT: Jimmy T sends

Time is Money: Money in Time

What is a Billion dollars? Serious money to the average American, but not to our Congress. Both the Senators and all the Congress-critters don't flinch at that kind of money. The recent Senate 'Bazaar' over their version of the Health Care reform Bill is very illustrative of how these politicians view YOUR money.

Trading votes for the end to cloture and thus approving the Bill they High Prince of the Senate Harry Reid bartered away $300 million dollars to get Mary Landrieu from Louisiana to get her to go along, and she was proud of that number. Not to be outdone Ben Nelson from Nebraska wheeled and dealed his way into a deal that exempts Nebraska from having to shoulder any of its share of Medicaid cost increases forever. Although this cost starts out at a mere $45 million dollars, the CBO cost estimate of that little gem over the next 10 years is valued at $1.2 Billion dollars. That is $1.2 Billion dollars that have to be made up by the other 47 states (Massachusetts and Michigan have the same kind of deal all though the terms for those two states is not Forever like Nebraska's). To win the Florida delegation over Harry Reid put in a provision that grandfathers all of Florida's Senior citizens who are on Medicare Advantage. While the rest of the country's Senior citizens will lose this program or benefit, Florida Seniors will continue to enjoy it, cost to YOU and Me, a mere $5 Billion dollars.

Now they throw this money around like they don't own it or care where it comes from, they certainly don't understand that when you are out of money even $1 dollar is too much yet they are willing to buy votes with Billions and Billions of dollars.

What they are out of touch with is not just the value of the Dollar, much less a Billion of them, but also what the magnitude of the actual numbers they are throwing around.

Like I said in the opening, A Billion dollars is a big deal to You and Me the average American. Why is it then that the politicians go to Washington DC and forget all about what this means. Let's refresh a little.

If a Dollar was equal to 1 second let's see where we go in time. 1 Million seconds is the equivalent of 16,667 minutes which amounts to 11 ½ days.

1 Billion seconds is the equivalent of almost 17 million minutes or 278,000 hours or 31 .71 years in time.

Think about that for a moment. If you could spend $1 dollar every second of every minute of every hour in every day, to burn through $1Billion dollars you would have to have started in 1978. That's right, you would have to spend $86,400 dollars every day for almost 32 straight years to eat through $1Billion dollars.

And our government goes through that much money in a little over an hour. All of it borrowed, from our Children.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Dem’s Eat their Own

They will stop at nothing to get Government Control of the Health Care system and proof is this story here from the Weekly Standard Blog: "Dem's Threaten Nelson in Pursuit of 60". That is 60 votes and the Nelson here is Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson who is opposed to the current form of Obamacare as writ by Harry "Legs" Reid. Ben Nelson is against Taxpayer monies going to pay for Abortions which the Harry "Legs" bill provides.

So, how do you get Nelson to go along, well you send Rahm 'Dead Fish' Emanuel out with his kneecapping bat to deliver the message: Vote with the rest of the Democrats or loose Offutt Air Force Base. That's right, the Administration and their brain-dead supporters in the Democrat caucus will put Offutt on the BRAC list killing some 10,000 jobs in Nebraska. Of course, most of those jobs are military and those jobs would simply move, but the economic impact to the greater Omaha area.

That's how it goes, either you go along with the Democrat agenda or well, they will find a way to get your vote. Look what they did for Mary Landrieu of Louisiana; they bought her for $300 million dollars. Look how they brow beat Joe Lieberman, they even went after his wife to get him to come around, and he has.

On this issue the Democrats are really more than happy to eat their own. After some nibbling on Lieberman he is now in favor of and will most likely vote for the Obamacare bill, no word yet on Ben Nelson. My suspicion is that later today we will see a press release from the White House stating that there had been no threats or harassment of Ben Nelson and then later Ben himself will step before a microphone and announce he has seen the light and will now be voting for the Obamacare Bill, thereby saving his home state the thousands of jobs so dependent on Offutt.

That's how they do it, go along or we break out the bats. And for what? Control of the entire health care industry of this country, control of You and Me.

Hat Tip to Weasel Zippers.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Lay Down with Nancy Pelosi, get up without your Spine

Hey NY-23 voters, how do you like them apples? You voted into congress another bald face liar.

During the campaign Bill Owens claimed to be firmly opposed to cutting Medicare Benefits, taxing health care benefits and increasing taxes on the middle class AND that he was against the famous "public option" as an item in the Health Care reform. These positions made him appear more like a 'moderate' liberal (one of them 'Blue Dogs') and close in position to that of his two rivals from the right side of the political spectrum. Details here including some of his campaign material.

He prevailed against the conservative candidate on the strength of these positions. He was quickly sworn in to office by the Princess Nancy herself and promptly changed his position on all the above.

In the span of just 24 hours Congressman Bill Owens solidified his position as a solid Liberal by voting in favor of a bill that contains all the provisions he claimed he was against.

Oh, lying comes so easy to a Liberal.

I hope all of you 'moderates' that live in NY-23 that voted for this scumbag are happy. The good news is that he has to run for re-election next year. Maybe someone will remind you before the next vote what kind of spineless slug this man is before you cast your next vote.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Tale of two Bills

These are competing Health Care Reform Bills, the one on the Left is from the Republicans and the one on the Right is the Nancy Pelosi monstrosity.

The one on the left actually lowers costs to holders of Insurance Plans, will actually reduce the deficit over 10 years and is paid for in a straight forward method, no funding gimmicks or accounting doublespeak.

The one on the right is what you get when you want to buy votes and don't care what it costs to buy those votes.

Only the monstrosity on the right will actually get a vote, the one on the right will be put into the nearest recycling bin. A shame, waste of good trees.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Transparency in Action

Barrack Obama came into office and promised he would change Washington. Barrack Obama came into office and said he would lead the most transparent administration in our history. Barrack Obama came into office and brought with him Chicago style politics.

Below, behold the Door. Behind this door are Harry Reid, Max Baucus, Christopher Dodd and Rahm "Mr. Dead Fish" Emanuel from the White House. You know that place of great transparency and openness in governmental process.

It's closed because all the above people are Democrats and they are now 'crafting' the Legislative Language that will go into the recently passed Senate Finance committee bill. Yeah it was written with "place holder plain text" in place of actual legal language. This means that the CBO cost estimate is all vapor-ware too. How do you estimate a Bill with no language in it? I don't know either but the CBO does it regularly.

Oh, are you wondering about that Bi-partisan work ethic that Barrack Obama said he was going to bring to this new government, you know, par of all the 'hopey', 'changey' he promised.

Well, since one Republican voted for this monstrosity (well actually that was a RINO that voted for it, but that 'R' counts in Washington) they let them get a whiff of the 'negotiations' (that's what they call this, negotiating, boy they sure know how to use those big words there in Washington), from the hall way, then they closed and locked the door.

You know that feeling you are getting in your wallet or pocketbook, yeah that's those guys taking what ever you have left to pay for the 2-Trillion dollar health care program they want to bring all of us. And those are not CBO numbers, these are from Harry Reid, and I am sure he knows exactly what he is stuffing into this 'reconciled' bill.

I can hardly wait. Bring me more Transparency!!!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Democrat with a Spine, a Lazy Spine

A couple of weeks ago Her Royal and Most Holy Nancy Pelosi in her weekly speech to her subject's press conference complained about the rhetoric that was flying around The Realm the House. Seems she has detected such vile speech that she was almost in tears before all the people who voted for her er, ah, before the press. You see, she was witness to the same kind of hate speech which led to violence in her regional kingdom er ah, home town of San Francisco back in the 1970's. The things she was witness to back in the '70's were a democrat-on-democrat murder of a gay mayor, the defense of that murder and the resultant impact on the community by that successful defense (know today as the Twinkie Defense). And yes there were gay's rioting in the streets of San Fran, it was such a sight to see. All the gay bath houses and gay adult movie studios were emptied out onto the streets, there were torn tee shirts and the faux fur was flying. Oh the Humanity!!!

She should have been addressing her own minion's caucus. Representative Alan Grayson of Florida's 8^th District (which includes Orlando and most of the Magic Kingdom) stood in the well of the House and proclaimed that the republicans wanted people who got sick to simply die, and quickly at that. He even had charts. It was a good show, lots of vile intent there, the kind of rhetoric that Princess Pelosi was complaining about.

He was bitching like a queen about the lack of a plan for health care by House Republicans. Now I have issues with this, the first is that he is in the majority party, it is that parties job to have the agenda, isn't that 'winning' was all about? Don't they ram that down the throats of Republicans whenever they do show up with ideas of their own? Secondly, let's have a look at this guy's record. He has sponsored exactly 4 bills this year. Not that congressman actually writes the bills themselves, they either get the bill from their special interest or they get staff to write it. Also, only 4 bills is a poor record, some of them guys have sponsored 40 and 50 of them, a couple even in the 60's. So this guy is a slacker in the bill writing department.

Also, he is cosponsor of 211 out of the more than 1000 bills so far introduced this year. Oh and guess what, HR3200, the big health bill that this asshat was hammering Republicans about, No. That's right; this guy is so busy taking money from Union's that he did not even bother to put his name on that monstrosity of a Health Care Reform measure, sponsored by his very dear leader, Princess Pelosi.

When Mr. Grayson was asked to apologize he dug his heels, he calls himself a "Democrat with a spine", saying he would apologize for all the dead and for the "holocaust" that was occurring here in the U.S. because of the health care crisis. Holocaust! I guess he says that because of all the dead lying around everywhere you go these days. The "Crisis" in our health care system that has so completely broken down leaving millions and millions dying, so many we can't get the Soylent Green factories to keep up. Such a shame.

And those Republicans, well they were the ones who smelled 'death panel' in this Reform and I guess Alan Grayson is upset because they were jumping the gun! I mean why do you need a plan to replace something that works for 80% of the population? Why do you need to wreck something that is mostly working and doing a pretty good job? If you want to get Health Care to those few millions that Alan Grayson see's at risk, well come up with a plan for them!

Leave the rest of us alone!

BT: Jimmy T sends.

National Debt – Deep Crap

With the PresBO and the Congressional Dem's focused on passing a huge new entitlement program, I thought it would be a good time to and look at the countries financial stability. You know how it works, you run a household so you have half a clue. You have money in the bank in a checking account on which you draw when you make purchases, like buying your own insurance policy. You have a job that puts raw bucks into that account, money that is left after your Government takes its share. You also have a credit card on which you make non-cash purchases. Usually these credit cards have a limit, an end point that when you reach triggers all sorts of ugly things. A kind of an alarm or warning flags that go up. Agencies that extend credit gauge your credit worthiness on many factors, chief among them is you ability to make payments. Money In = Money Out. Simple. Works in most households across this once great country.

Not so with our government. Go here, check this it is the National Debt Clock: http://www.usdebtclock.org/

You can see just how much money if flying out of the Treasury. Look at it closely, each citizen is on the hook for more than $38,000 bucks in debt from the current budget. $38,000 Dollars.

Look also at the second line, it shows US Spending Calendar Year To Date (CYTD) and then just across form it on the other side in green is the total Tax Revenue that is used to pay for this spending. It is less than half of its companion on the other side of the ledger. Yep, we are spending at twice the pace the government is able to generate revenue. Look also at the total US Gross Domestic Product number. This is significant because if you collected EVERY Penney of money generated by the US Economy (not just Tax money, I am talking EVERY singe Penny) it is still see than the total US National Debt.

And that is nothing.

Page down and look at the US Unfunded Liabilities and you will see that we have planned to spend almost $60 trillion dollars into Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security and Prescription Drugs (Medicare Plan 'D'). A whooping $192,000 dollars per citizen. $192,027 dollars!!

And the smacked AssHats in Congress and the PresBO want to go deeper into this with this huge government health care program. What are they smoking there in DC? Do they know how deep this crap is?

And compute this, how many of you out there actually pay taxes? What is it, only 52% of the population actually makes enough money to be considered Tax Generators. That is where they get the money for all this; it comes from the few of us citizens and business that actually pay taxes. So those numbers, that $38,000 and $192,000 dollar figure, well they go way up when you adjust in the population actually paying taxes. It goes way up. Like up to your Ass deep!!

Deep crap indeed.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

Joint Session – Hippoboscidae’s Swarms

The bloviateor in chief just finished his long winded address to congress regarding Nancy Pelosi's his Health Care Reform package. His message was clear, crisis situation, economic failure eminent, the poor, poor people without any health care at all. All that was missing was the dead body of Ted Kennedy up there in the box next to his wife. You know, hammer home universal health care for all people including those trapped in the back of cars sunk in a pond.

No mention of Tort Reform, no mention of real Insurance competition by allowing interstate competition, no mention of transportability and no mention of policy ownership. He spoke of paying for all of it with "savings" in fixing problems in Medicaid and Medicare and with the fees paid by all those new users that his great plan will draw.

His crisis is not so bad that people are dying in the streets; no one gets turned away from the Emergency Room when they go and no one questions their citizenship status while there. Yes a good insurance plan is expensive and yes insurance companies do ration however there is recourse. Not so with Uncle Sam, ever deal with the IRS?
 

If the savings he claims are there, why are they not now going after them saving those dollars for something else worthwhile, like bonus's for congressional staffers. How is it they see this wasteful spending while they are trying to sell a new expensive program?
 

And the best, how is it that Congress itself is exempt from this program? Why do we have to get this shoved down our collective throats yet the Senators and Congress-critters themselves keep the plans they are on now. Fair. I think not.
 

They are in this for themselves and the public be dammed. They swarm around this like hippoboscidae's on the dead.

Shameful.

 

(Note:  the hippoboscidae are the family of parasitic bloodsucking wingless flies that absorb the remains of the dead.)

BT: Jimmy T sends.
 

Politics as Usual – VA Death Panel

I had in my previous work experience spent a lot of time working for the Government, the US Navy in particular. I know how things work in the 'group' think that is fostered in any government enterprise. While I used to develop software that would shoot missiles and navigate an airplane around in the sky the process was the same, meeting, meetings, meetings. That whole idea of making sausage is right on, you sure don't want to see them making it, but you like the end product.

This was applied to the documentation that was developed as well, be it Training Manuals used to indoctrinate the Pilot and Aircrew or the wiring diagrams for the maintenance crew. Every document was thrashed with pet peeve's from every angle, every stake holder Competency (yeah that's what they called them) had an interest to make sure their agenda was conveyed. It was sometimes hard to keep track of why one word was acceptable in a document but not in another. To me it was just a word, but to others it was well, sausage.

When the whole "Death Panel" kerfuffle started there was a lot of talk about it being hyperbolae however, I felt it was the ole camel under the tent or foot in the door and knowing how Government works the last thing you want is a "place holder". That is exactly how you get a Death Panel, you just don't call it that.

So, when the Veterans Administration pamphlet "Your Life, Your Choices" was discovered I was not surprised. This is a good start; all the Health Czar has to do is copy it and distribute at large. Maybe with our Tax Package?

Keeping in mind about my long background of working with the Government I came upon the link below. It is done satirically, tongue firmly planted in cheek, but I am sure there were many hours spent by well meaning Government types coming up with an appropriate name for the pamphlet. Go there and enjoy.

http://www.thenoseonyourface.com/conservative-satire/veterans-affairs-death-planning-book-the-discarded-headlines/

BT: Jimmy T sends

IHS and the MSM – The search for honest reporting

There is a lot of debate about Health Care Reform but there is only one reason that I oppose the kind of reform that is being pushed by BHO, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid (has a more evil trio ever combined arms, I don't know) is that it will transform our Health Care system over to a massive Government Run health care system.

Government run health care. Just mull that over a minute. Say it again and think about what it means. Government run health care. We have a history of that, right here in the USA. Let me explain, it's ugly and it's a very personal thing for me.

My Mother was born into the Jicarilla Apache Indian Tribe. Part of the formerly great Apache Indian nation, they were kept in captivity for some 39 years outside of their original tribal areas (Florida, Alabama and Oklahoma). When finally "released" they were relegated to living on Reservations established by well meaning white people (well maybe, they were still carrying a grudge for my Mothers people). These reservations are nowhere near the size necessary for the Indians to return to their original lives (without the fighting and killing) and become self sufficient. They would require Government help to get by.

The Government, understanding this established many policies and agencies to 'help' the Indian with living in this strange new world. One of these over arching policies and agency is their Health Care policy and the Indian Health Service. Known as the IHS, this agency was established in 1887 to provide Native Americans (Indian Americans) with health service.

This agency operates clinics in 35 states around the country including Alaska. For well over 100 years the US Government has provided cradle to grave health coverage for the Native Americans in this country.

Why is this not touted in the press, why indeed is the Administration not advertising the fact that we have Government health care in full operation in the country today? Why not simply expand it to cover all 300 million Americans using the IHS as a template? Hmmmm, what could it be that the Administration, the Democrats and the MSM are all hiding from?

Let's take a look. Here is a startling series of facts. In the 1900 census there were 237,000 Native Americans remaining and there were 114,000 people counted of Asian descent. This is out a total of more than 62million Americans (see reference 1), so their portion of the population for both peoples was very small in 1900 (less than .1% for each).

What are they today?

Well the Asians account for 4.4% of the overall US Population (as of February 2006) or over 13 million (see reference 2). This is despite not having a US Agency dedicated to providing them health care. This is from them having to milk out health care the good old fashion way, from the free market system.

Over this same time the Indian Americans increased their population to a whopping 2 million or to 0.68% of the US Population (see reference 2). Stunning. It seems as if the US Government was trying to rid the country of its Natives! I mean you cannot survive as a distinct culture if you cannot grow your population. And this great health care service is slowing but surly eliminating the Indian Americans they are supposed to take care of.

This is why I don't support Government run health service. And it is more personal than you realize with me.

The Indian Americans in this country have infant mortality that is way higher than the average of the rest of Americans (2005 numbers, 6.9 All Races, 8.1 Native Americans, see reference 3). Death in the IHS Clinics is so common place that many pregnant Indian American mothers resort to extreme measure to stay out of them.

I am an example of that distrust and fear. When my Mother went into labor she demanded my Father drive her to the nearest Anglo (their word for anything white) or Public hospital. It was 80 miles away. On the way out of the little reservation town they drove past the Clinic she was supposed to go to, it was less than 2 miles from home. I was born in the back of a Rambler Classic sedan some 60 miles into that 80 mile drive. My chances of survival were better in that car alone with my little family than they were in the IHS Clinic.

This speaks volumes.

Why does anybody trust the Government to something as intimate, and important as you health care? They cannot do it better, that is a foregone conclusion.

Can they do it cheaper? Well, let's see. In 2007 the average resident of the US spent $7,421 dollars on health care (see reference 4). Seems like a lot but we have the best free market system in the world. That is a lot of money.

This is what you hear the Dem's saying all the time; they have to make health care more affordable!!! How many times do you hear them rant about the high cost of health insurance?

How much does the US Government spend on the Native Americans? Yeah, with the entire Treasury of the US behind it the Health and Human Services (which is the Department that the IHS is in) spends a mere $2400 dollars per Indian American. Cheap enough for you? If you are a senior, try buying all your Med's on that amount every year. You want a new hip, better bring one with you. Everything is rationed. Everything is planned by the bureaucracy. If it was not thought of last year, you don't get it this year.

Whatever you do, don't get sick after June. They just don't have the budget to take care of you for the full year.

You see none of this in the MSM. I have seen only passing comments on this, no big story or investigation. The Administration gets a complete pass and you know as well as I that they would simply blame everything on the Bush Administration. And that is partially true, as many, many Administrations are to blame. The one thing the BHO Administration does not want is people drawing comparisons between the IHS and that BHO desires for Universal Health Care for the entire country. Not a good track record.

Native Americans don't complain. They suck it up and take it. They are a broken people. They 'lost' the war for the great country they once lived in. To this day the best outcome for a Native American is to leave their culture behind. It is what my Mother did and why I was raised for the most part in the big City. Away from the reservation, away from the squalor and decay that is so prevalent on the reservations.

That is why so many Indian Americans run from their heritage; to get away is to survive.

No Government health care for me, if I had wanted it I would have stayed where it was free. Of course I would most likely be dead right now, but it would have been free.

BT: Jimmy T sends.

References:
(1) US Census Bureau, Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990
(2) US Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey
(3) CDC 2008, National Vital Statistics Reports, Table 6
(4) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group, 2007 National Health Care Expenditures Data

Festering and Gangrenous

Here are some of my thoughts on the Health Care debate. This may be covered again in additional posts later, this one deals with this idea of 'Reform'.

Reform, what is it with the Dem's and reforming things that are pretty much working? Even the most pessimistic poll's out there show that a large majority of Americans arenot only insured but are happy with their Health Care. and I am talking about numbers above the 80% mark too which is a huge number. Yet, the Dem's want to toss out the whole kit; the bath water, the bath tub and the children in the tub too for that matter.

All to get at what? To do what precisely?

Oh they claim they want to get costs under control, to get more competition (how many times have you heard that spoken about the Public Option as a wedge aginst the private companies, in the name of competiton) into the current system. They want to reduce individual costs and make all Health Care better. But can this be true if the plan to get all of this is to throw it all out and start over from scratch?

Hardly, me thinks they progest too much!

If they wanted to address costs why are they not doing something to the cost generator? Costs here are that the Government is paying (meaning you and me Tax Payer). We are talking about the out of control Medicare and Medicaid costs. Nothing in the various Bill's proffered (including HR3200) even attempt to make a change within the Medicare/Medicaid system that would reduce the costs of these massive programs that are not outright cuts in service. That is except for electronic medical records provisions but they could do that now without this massive (1018 page) Bill. So, what's up really?

If they wanted to address costs to individuals why did they not then include even modest Tort Reform measures in this Bill (and they are not even talking about this in the three Senate Bills)? No, no I am not for granting Doctors blanket immunity, but they need some kind of protection from tthe many Land Sharks out there that eat Doctors for lunch, Dinner and Midrats too (can you say John Edwards?). Yes they need to be punished for mistakes that they make but limiting punitive damages and instituting Looser Pay would go a long way to filtering out the nuisance lawsuits which tend to make Doctors practice defensive medicine (perscribing Lab's and Tests just to cover their Butkus). I guess the Trial Lawyers Association checks have cleared?

They could address the competition issue by simply allowing Health Insurance business to operate accross state lines. Increasing the insurance pool allows an Insurance company to sell into a better mix of policy holders thereyby driving down their costs. Let's take the sad state of affairs in Pennsylvania, where the State and more importantly the Federal SEC has failed to stop the merger and acquisition activity within the Health Care business segment. Now we have just a few Health Care Insurance underwritters operating within the state. Unfortunately for us living here, that pool of policy holders is on average very old. PA has the 2nd oldest population in the country (only Florida has an older population) and that means for anyone underwriting health insurance, large costs. Now, if these few companies could sell policies into a larger pool OUTSIDE the state where they could dilute this pool with young folk, they will be able to run down their costs to everyone. This is not rocket science.

What about this 'Public Option', yeah I think we need something that is there as the 'safety net' to cover the very poor and those that fall through all the cracks. There should be something that on could subscribe to that would cover very BASIC health care ONLY. This should be something that is the bottom floor and it should not be an alternative to or compete with the Private sector. This should be something that is used only as a last resort instead of going to the Emergency Room.

I don't know what to do with Medicare or Medicaid, I have to study them some before I can say anything cogent, I do know that they are out of control and like any Government program they will consume everything it its path unless it is reined in. HR3200 and everything being contemplated by the Senatedoes nothing to help in this area.

Sorry, this is not the change we were looking for.

BT: Jimmy T sends.