Evil Out

"...send posters, teaching guides, maps and lesson plans to every school in the nation, Puerto Rico and U.S. island territories to encourage everyone to participate in the national count."

"It's extremely important for us," says Michael McGrady, associate director for partnership development at the National Head Start Association, which promotes school readiness for low-income children and their families. "Historically, Head Start families have been undercounted and that has a negative effect on their communities."

Between January and March, the Census Bureau will help plan a week of Census education in schools. During Census Week, teachers will devote 15 minutes every day for five days to the topic by discussing such things as civic participation, confidentiality or geography

"It revived an industry that was pretty much dying," said Dominick Montello, a manager at Long Island City Hyundai/Mitsubishi. "I wish it would run forever. People aren't even negotiating prices. They just say give me my $4,500 and where do I sign?"

Like many other buyers, Washington was not really thinking of buying a new car. The prospect of a $4,500 refund and a car that uses less gas persuaded him to let go of his clunker.

 

"I love my new car. It looks great," Mario Ciminera said. "I was thinking of getting a new car eventually and this just gave me the push I needed."

• A large number of purchases are from consumers who already were planning to buy a car and this simply changed when, not if, they were going to buy.
• The program has increased to debt load of almost 3/4 of a million people at a time when most financial advisers recommend saving over spending.
• Almost 750,000 used cars have been removed from the market, reducing vehicle options for the low-income and poor.
• The program has spent almost 3 times the amount of money it was budgeted to spend.
• Less than 10% of the money has actually been given to the dealers, many of whom had to stop participating in the program because they spent their own cash reserves to float the $3500-$4500 per car rebate.
• The Government did not anticipate the demand and not only underestimated the cost, but also the amount of labor involved and had to extend the filing deadline not because of the "popularity" of the program, but because they could not keep their website up and running.

There will be some interesting long-term and unexpected consequences with this program.  I predict three of them will be; a depressed used car market and corresponding business failures, a depressed new car market for the remainder of the year, and an increase in repossessions and loan defaults by the end of the year.  I may just be pessimistic, but we will see.  After all this was success, Government style.

Evil Out

Is the Government going to use the health care reform bill to collect credit info from all Americans?

Is the VA "Death Book" a glimpse into Government "Death Panels"?

How to hold an "open" town hall meeting 

Greenpeace lies? Say it ain't so.
Twitter being used for evil
However, Twitter can also be used for good
3 men, 140 million credit card numbers...what could go wrong?
"Free to Choose"...watch the whole series here
Fake DNA...the future of falsely implicating others
Regulating "astroturf" would harm real protest groups
When should free speech not be free?
Didja know that Libertarians are the source of the racist violence of the past 150 years...
Alas, poor Cash for Clunkers...I knew the well
The most effective treatment for heroin addicts is giving them minor doses of heroin...imagine that
Technology has produced the perfect coffee mug
The private sector will lead future space programs...about damn time
And commissions like this are why NASA is failing
Panels like this, where the FCC wonders just what is broadband, are one of the many reasons people are scared of government health care
Can open source textbooks finally break the ridiculous costs of college textbooks?
Cool, Video Ads in a print magazine
For all of us who ever thought the computer was cheating...you may be right

Evil Out

No institution has been the butt of more government- inefficiency jokes than the U.S. Postal Service. Maybe the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The only way the post office can stay in business is its government subsidy. The USPS lost $2.4 billion in the quarter ended in June and projects a net loss of $7 billion in fiscal 2009, outstanding debt of more than $10 billion and a cash shortfall of $1 billion. It was moved to intensive care -- the Government Accountability Office’s list of “high risk” cases - - last month and told to shape up. (It must be the only entity that hasn’t cashed in on TARP!)

That didn’t stop President Barack Obama from holding up the post office as an example at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, last week.

When Obama compared the post office to UPS and FedEx, he was clearly hoping to assuage voter concerns about a public health-care option undercutting and eliminating private insurance.

What he did instead was conjure up visions of long lines and interminable waits. Why do we need or want a health-care system that works like the post office?

Left out of this fairly naked effort to demonize a great many with the actions of a tiny few is the simple fact that Obama-care -- however defined -- has been tanking in the polls for weeks. President Obama's handling of health care is unpopular with a majority of Americans and a majority of self-proclaimed independents.

Focusing on the town halls certainly has its merits, but if you actually wanted Obama-care to pass, casting a majority of Americans as being stooges of racist goons may not be the best way to go.

[The President's]...campaign skills have not easily transferred to the humdrum business of governance. So much so, that his best chance for reelection requires the remainder of his legislative program to fail. 

Why? For decidedly academic reasons: His campaign rhetoric rests on implicit ceteris paribus assumptions that can't hold good. Ceteris paribus is a bit of fancy Latin that means, "all other things being equal." It is an intuitive way to hedge one's bets about the future, by saying that some specified change in a complex system will have its desired effect, assuming that everything else remains unchanged.

Amid all the controversies over medical care, no one seems to be asking a very basic question: Why does it take more than 1,000 pages of legislation to insure people who lack medical insurance?

Despite incessant repetition of the fact that millions of Americans do not have medical insurance, hardy souls who have actually read the mammoth medical care legislation being rushed through Congress have discovered all sorts of things there that have nothing whatever to do with insuring the uninsured-- and everything to do with taking medical decisions out of the hands of doctors and their patients, and transferring those decisions to Washington bureaucrats.

That's called "bait and switch" when an unscrupulous business advertises one thing and tries to sell you something else. When politicians do it, it is far more dangerous to far more people. 

Recently I was listening to a radio program in which the host explained that in a few states health insurance policies issued by Blue Cross/Blue Shield were available at extremely reasonable prices, about $100 a month. The very first caller into the program demanded to know exactly what the annual deductible was in plans like this. When the host said $3,000 to $5,000 the caller responded, that isn't health insurance but catastrophic insurance. It's too expensive and that's why we need health care reform from Washington, he continued.

And there lies one of the problems with the health insurance reform debate. State government mandates and favorable tax treatment in Washington have so distorted the market for health insurance that a generation of Americans now look on medical coverage as something very different from other kinds of insurance that we buy. While we will pay several hundred bucks out of our own pockets to have a plumber come repair a leaky pipe, we'll balk at deductibles and a $50 co-pay for a doctor's visit. We've been schooled in this attitude by politicians who have mandated that health insurance do things that we'd never expect from other kinds of insurance, and by consumer advocates who will demand our legislators do something about a health insurance company that doesn't cover some optional procedure that has nothing to do with life and death.

What we haven’t heard are the voices of the millions upon millions of Americans who quietly struggle every day with a system that often works better for the health-insurance companies than it does for them.

 

These are people like Lori Hitchcock, whom I met in New Hampshire last week. Lori is currently self-employed and trying to start a business, but because she has hepatitis C, she cannot find an insurance company that will cover her. Another woman testified that an insurance company would not cover illnesses related to her internal organs because of an accident she had when she was 5 years old. A man lost his health coverage in the middle of chemotherapy because the insurance company discovered that he had gallstones, which he hadn’t known about when he applied for his policy. Because his treatment was delayed, he died.

 

...by making Medicare more efficient, we’ll be able to ensure that more tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors instead of enriching insurance companies.

 

...reform will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable. A 2007 national survey actually shows that insurance companies discriminated against more than 12 million Americans in the previous three years because they had a pre-existing illness or condition.

 

Our reform will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of your medical history.

 

Almost everyone knows that we must start holding insurance companies accountable and give Americans a greater sense of stability and security when it comes to their health care.

 

We are already closer to achieving health-insurance reform than we have ever been.

First, if you don’t have health insurance, you will have a choice of high-quality, affordable coverage for yourself and your family — coverage that will stay with you whether you move, change your job or lose your job.

This sounds great, but how exactly are you going to guarantee high-quality, affordable, and mobile coverage?  More importantly how are you going to provide this for people who already have difficulty affording health coverage?  I thought reducing costs was important...

Second, reform will finally bring skyrocketing health care costs under control, which will mean real savings for families, businesses and our government. We’ll cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid and in unwarranted subsidies to insurance companies that do nothing to improve care and everything to improve their profits.

Ah, here is some lip-service to controlling costs in Medicare and Medicaid...he talks about controlling "skyrocketing" costs...note that he doesn't really say how.  Cutting waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid will control the costs for those programs, but what about real cost saving measures such as tort reform or ending the practice of underpaying for services by Medicare and Medicaid that causes those costs to be shifted to customers with insurance?

Third, by making Medicare more efficient, we’ll be able to ensure that more tax dollars go directly to caring for seniors instead of enriching insurance companies. This will not only help provide today’s seniors with the benefits they’ve been promised; it will also ensure the long-term health of Medicare for tomorrow’s seniors. And our reforms will also reduce the amount our seniors pay for their prescription drugs.

Unless I missed all the talk and exposes about Medicare paying insurance companies, Medicare actually pays doctors and service providers.  Not sure how that "enriches" insurance companies.  Once again lofty goals given with no specifics.  I can do the same thing.  My health care reforms will prevent global warming and enrich the world's poor and cure balding.  See how easy that is.

Lastly, reform will provide every American with some basic consumer protections that will finally hold insurance companies accountable. A 2007 national survey actually shows that insurance companies discriminated against more than 12 million Americans in the previous three years because they had a pre-existing illness or condition. The companies either refused to cover the person, refused to cover a specific illness or condition or charged a higher premium.

Let me see, a private company is providing me a service for a fee.  That company needs to ensure that at minimum it doesn't lose an unreasonable amount of money giving me that service (that I went to them to ask for, BTW) and preferably makes a little profit.  So that company is unwilling to take risks on someone who will be too expensive or wants to charge that person more to provide the service in order to recoup their costs...and this is a problem?  When are we going to talk about car insurance reform.  I am pretty sure that there are millions of people denied coverage or asked to pay higher premiums because of their pre-existing condition of being a lousy driver.  How about those evil banks who deny millions of people coverage (loans) because they have the pre-existing condition of not paying their bills on time?

The President has decided to move this debate away from one about reforming the problems with our health care system and moving it to one of demonizing health insurance companies to pass his agenda.  I know many people have had difficulties dealing with insurance over the years, but that is not a reason to create a massive Government grab for control over the health care industry.  Not to mention the proposals to force Americans to purchase health insurance.  Having the Government demand that you spend your own resources at the point of a gun is never beneficial.

Let's end with this nice little point of hypocrisy by the President.  It is a rhetorical technique that he uses often, but this example takes the space of two sentences.

In the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to exploit fear and concerns for political gain. But for all the scare tactics out there, what’s truly scary — truly risky — is the prospect of doing nothing.

So let me get this straight, cynics and naysayers will exploit fear for political gain, but you can exploit fear for your own purposes?  The rest of the paragraph even ramps up the fear and worry that the President is using to convince you to accept his agenda...who exactly is using fear or is just that your fear mongering is good and theirs is bad?

Add this article to the speculation that the President is backing away from the "Public Option" and it is starting to look like the administration and Congressional leaders are getting desperate to pass something, anything, that they can point to as "reform".

Personally I want this whole effort to go down in flames until Congress cleans up the current Government controlled health care programs, Medicare and Medicaid.  Maybe then we can talk about them meddling with the rest of us.

Evil Out

    Here is the Green Industry at its finest :P

     On a more serious note, in an article titled The Green And Blue Convergence, Ronald Brownstein over at the National Journal talks about a merging connection between the growing "Green Energy" sector and Democrats political interests.  Quoting:

Rarely has the Democratic Party identified as unconditionally with an industry as it is doing today with the emerging clean-energy sector, the companies and investors leading America's transition toward a lower-carbon economy that relies less on fossil fuels and more on efficiency and such renewable power sources as solar, wind, and biomass. If the industry grows as its supporters hope, this emerging alliance could profoundly shape not only the nation's energy strategy in the 21st century, but also its politics.

     Now it is never a surprise when political and business interests collide.  In fact a good portion of the article is spent talking about how "Big Oil" has joined with conservative politicians to support their business interests.  While you can't argue that the energy industry in this country receives huge tax credits and incentives from the Government, I find it interesting that within his article he identifies the underlying reason why Green industries have flocked to Democrats as opposed to Republicans.  First about the oil and gas industry:

Because they generate so much wealth, energy interests always influence politics. For decades, oil and gas companies have treated Washington like an especially lucrative well: They have pursued tax breaks (such as the oil depletion allowance) and diplomatic help in securing supplies abroad while resisting any other federal economic or environmental regulation, such as limits on the carbon emissions linked to climate change.

     Notice that the benefits that these industries have primarily pursued are mostly focused on getting Government out of their business.  From reducing the amount of money confiscated from them to reducing foreign red-tape to preventing onerous regulations.  Looking at the principles that underlay their political dealings it becomes obvious why they would pursue those goals mostly with the party who traditionally stands for reducing Government.  Contrast that with the benefits that the Green Energy sector are pursuing:

As this alternative energy industry expands, it is evolving along a very different path than the fossil fuel giants followed. Most of the clean-energy industry's leading voices think that their prosperity depends upon government involvement on four fronts: regulating carbon emissions so that coal, oil, and other fossil fuels bear the cost of their contribution to climate change; mandating that utilities use more renewable power; setting stiff energy-efficiency standards; and increasing federal research into new technologies.

     All of the goals that Big Green is pursuing have to do with increasing Government involvement and regulation in the energy market.  Rather than attempt to reduce the hand of Government to level the playing field by trying to attract tax breaks and incentives or to remove barriers to competition, these companies are attempting to use the Guns of the Government to forcibly change the playing field.  By advocating for more regulation and mandates is it any wonder that these businesses are turning to the Democrat party who traditionally supports the expanding hand of Government?

     Just something to think about when you start looking at which businesses support which candidates and which parties.  The more a party reaches out to Democrat interests the more that party wants expanding Government and conversely the more a party reaches out to the Republicans minimizing Government expansion is often their goal.

Evil Out

Watch this video:

     Let’s do a bit of compare and contrast here.  The following are two emails that were sent by the Democrats and the Republicans to supporters about organizing efforts to support or oppose the healthcare reform bills coming out of congress.  Both groups are soliciting for their activists to attend town hall meetings and congressional sit-downs, but as the video above shows one side is being labeled a MOB!!! while the other are being called organizered volunteers.  I’ve added emphasis to the emails.

First up from the President and the DNC:

This is the moment our movement was built for.

For one month, the fight for health insurance reform leaves the backrooms of Washington, D.C., and returns to communities across America. Throughout August, members of Congress are back home, where the hands they shake and the voices they hear will not belong to lobbyists, but to people like you.

Home is where we're strongest. We didn't win last year's election together at a committee hearing in D.C. We won it on the doorsteps and the phone lines, at the softball games and the town meetings, and in every part of this great country where people gather to talk about what matters most. And if you're willing to step up once again, that's exactly where we're going to win this historic campaign for the guaranteed, affordable health insurance that every American deserves.

There are those who profit from the status quo, or see this debate as a political game, and they will stop at nothing to block reform. They are filling the airwaves and the internet with outrageous falsehoods to scare people into opposing change. And some people, not surprisingly, are getting pretty nervous. So we've got to get out there, fight lies with truth, and set the record straight.

That's why Organizing for America is putting together thousands of events this month where you can reach out to neighbors, show your support, and make certain your members of Congress know that you're counting on them to act.

But these canvasses, town halls, and gatherings only make a difference if you turn up to knock on doors, share your views, and show your support. So here's what I need from you:

Can you commit to join at least one event in your community this month?

In politics, there's a rule that says when you ask people to get involved, always tell them it'll be easy. Well, let's be honest here: Passing comprehensive health insurance reform will not be easy. Every President since Harry Truman has talked about it, and the most powerful and experienced lobbyists in Washington stand in the way.

But every day we don't act, Americans watch their premiums rise three times faster than wages, small businesses and families are pushed towards bankruptcy, and 14,000 people lose their coverage entirely. The cost of inaction is simply too much for the people of this nation to bear.

So yes, fixing this crisis will not be easy. Our opponents will attack us every day for daring to try. It will require time, and hard work, and there will be days when we don't know if we have anything more to give. But there comes a moment when we all have to choose between doing what's easy, and doing what's right.
This is one of those times. And moments like this are what this movement was built for. So, are you ready?

Please commit now to taking at least one action in your community this month to build support for health insurance reform:

http://my.barackobama.com/CommitAugust

Let's seize this moment and win this historic victory for our economy, our health and our families.

Thank you,
President Barack Obama

Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

Now for an email from Michael Steele and the RNC

The Democrat National Committee (DNC) released a memo late yesterday attacking you as a right-wing extremist.

 

We saw this sort of vitriolic rhetoric this past April when Democrats smugly dismissed grassroots protests against their out-of-control spending. These Tea Parties were ruthlessly mocked by the liberal elites and the mainstream media.

 

Now as public support for the Obama Democrats' government-run health care plan unravels, they're using this fear-and-smear tactic to silence ANY American who disagrees with their risky scheme to nationalize one-fifth of our economy and limit your health care choices. It's a page out of their standard playbook of name calling and outright lies to stifle all debate.

 

Republicans want responsible health care reform that makes health care more affordable and accessible, and keeps you and your doctor in charge of your medical choices -- but we want to get it right and we want to do it without ramming it through Congress on a trumped-up deadline.

 

Help Republicans fight back against Obama and his political attack dogs' dishonest vitriol and tell them your voice will not be silenced. Please read the memo below from the DNC and make a secure online contribution of $25, $50, $100, $500 or $1,000 to counter the Democrats' outrageous and false charges today.

Sincerely,

Michael Steele
Chairman, Republican National Committee
________________________________________
From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Tuesday, August 04, 2009 4:03:58 PM
To: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Subject: DNC Statement on Republican Mob Rule
For Immediate Release
Date: August 4, 2009 Contact: DNC Press Office
Phone: 202-863-8148

Statement from DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse on the Republican Party and Allied Groups' Mob Rule

The Republicans and their allied groups - desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill - are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.

However, much like we saw at the McCain-Palin rallies last year where crowds were baited with cries of 'socialist,' 'communist,' and where the birthers movement was born - these mobs of extremists are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues - but like some Republican leaders have said - they are interested in 'breaking' the President and destroying his Presidency.

These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington. Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues - or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes.

The right wing extremists' use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the President's citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are.

 

This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 - and it is bound to backfire again.

________________________________________
Republican National Committee | 310 First Street, SE | Washington, D.C. 20003
p: 202.863.8500 | f: 202.863.8820 | e: info@gop.com
Paid for by the Republican National Committee.
310 First Street, SE - Washington, D.C. 20003 - (202) 863-8500
Copyright 2009 Republican National Committee

Looks to me like someone is working hard to demonize their opponents in order to dismiss the complaints they are hearing.  In fact, I heard this exact line of argument from several members of congress in order to ignore the opposition.  You can’t have it both ways.  An organized group of protesters is an organized group of protesters whichever party they belong to.  So let’s see some of those Democrat MOBS!!! get out there and have a showdown with the Republican MOBS!!!.  After all that is what political discourse and true grassroots activists do. They show up in groups and try to change things.  So listen to the groups and don't just dismiss them out of hand as the other side's MOB.  So polticians just shut up, let the people talk, and perhaps even actually listen to them..

Evil Out

• No consistent message
• Divided messengers
• Bad timing
• No clear legislative strategy

and then the one that I think is the largest problem:

• Too much at once:

"The scope of this bill might simply be too great. Congress is not well-suited for tackling omnibus issues such as "health care reform." The larger the issue a bill deals with, the more likely a member will find some provision in it that he or she just cannot stomach, and the less likely the bill will pass. Congress is much better at passing bills whose scope is more narrow."

     This seems to be the largest problem right now for the President.  If you look at the healtcare system there are basically two major problems, rising costs and lack of coverage.  Sure there are other issues out there, portability, pre-screening, etc, but cost and coverage are the largest issues facing our system.  Tackling one of those issues at a time would be a better strategy for attacking the issues in our health system than this shotgun approach that has more to do with Government power than fixing the issues with the system.  I'll try and cover some ways to deal with specific issues in the near future, for now enjoy the article.

Evil Out

"There is a lot that can happen over time," Summers said, adding that the administration believes "it is never a good idea to absolutely rule things out, no matter what."

During his presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly vowed "you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime." But the simple reality remains that his ambitious overhaul of how Americans receive health care -- promised without increasing the federal deficit -- must be paid for.

"If we want an economy that's going to grow in the future, people have to understand we have to bring those deficits down. And it's going to be difficult, hard for us to do. And the path to that is through health care reform," Geithner said. "We're not at the point yet where we're going to make a judgment about what it's going to take."

     Talk about a non-news event.  I know the President ran on a promise of "read my lips" and he would do well to remember what happened to the last President who broke that promise.  However, anyone who seriously read the campaign promises of Candidate Obama knew he was lying.  There was no way for him to do everything he promised on the money coming in and he never made any serious promises to cut spending, at least not the areas where spending cuts would be meaningful.  If the Congress passes a healthcare bill, taxes will have to go up.  Of course this is still up in the air, but who knows what kind of compromise bill Congress will pass in order to keep from embarrassing the Commander-in-Chief.

Just remember when they increase middle-income taxes, it really shouldn't be a "Suhprise".

Evil Out