Henny Penny! Stop listening to Foxy Loxy!

I promised that I would look into the claim that if one loses one's job hence one's insurance (if provided by one's employer,whether or not COBRA comes into play), and if one finds another job with health insurance, one would be prohibited from signing up for the new plan or any other plan. One would be obligated to take the government option and nothing else.

I have not been able to find any proof of that in all the websites I searched. I think it is purely a scare tactic.

Aunt Clela forwarded two e-mails to me and I suppose to all of you. The first made the above claim. It quoted an opinion piece (not a journalistic report) from the Investors' Business Daily that takes one sentence out of context and extrapolates onward to make the above claim. I read it on their website. The editorial itself only mentioned this at the beginning and used it as a springboard to other health care concerns. Odd.

I did find something else on the website of RMS Consultants, a right wing blog/mag type of publication that claims that one would be obliged to take a government plan if one left a company and decided to go into business for oneself. This makes perfect sense to me. I figure, but don't know, that once one can prove to the government that one has purchased private insurance elsewhere, one can drop the public option. But one must be insured if working on one's own.

In a video posted on U-Tube of Paul Ryan, a Congressman from Wisconsin (or was it Minnesota), the notion was supposed be that the above claim was proven. But it wasn't, the context of the video was too narrow to get the full meaning, it seemed to me that the Congressman was told by a witness in a congressional hearing that one would not be allowed to step out of a cooperative one had joined in order to buy private insurance. I am not sure of the entire context, but this doesn't seem to support the claim.

Conservative Blogger Cory Cramer said he had heard the claim, and promised to look into it, but I didn't find a follow-up.

I stick with my original belief: this claim is so egregious that surely, surely, those against the health care plan (R and D) would seize upon this and scream it to the heavens given all the screaming they do. But no. Nothing. Surely the insurance companies who are going through this plan with a fine tooth comb would go ballistic, TV ads, letters to those they have accepted to insure, surely they who would be utterly destroyed by it, would make it public with the greatest spin possible. But no. Nothing.

There is a great deal of fear mongering out there. The most recent has to do with scaring the aged. Medicare and Medicaid will be cut and whittled away, you will be mandatorily advised on the benefits of euthanasia, the government will step in and do your estate planning and so on.

And the e-mail-o-sphere is churning!

Cash For Clunkers Cashes Out

The government just blew through $1 billion in tax dollars in just one week in another alarming display of ignorance of the real world in which we live. The cash-for-clunker program is designed to get clunkers off the road and encourage people to drive cleaner, more fuel-efficient cars. That's all fine and dandy, but how much are they offering for your car? $4500! Who would not trade in their $100 clunker for $4500 or even $4500 credit on a new car!? Gosh, I could drive down any ol' street anywhere in the USA and pick up a clunker for $100. As long as I can get it to the dealer, I can make a quick profit of $4400!

Barney Frank Spills the Beans

I have been trying really hard to understand why the Democrats are in such a hurry to pass a health care bill. What is wrong with taking a little more time to get it right? And what is the final goal of the Democrats? Barney Franks spills the beans: It is government-run, single-payer health care.

Wackos wacked!

President Obama met with President Monson and Elder Oaks in the White House recently. The two LDS leaders presented him with a beautiful volume detailing President Obama's genealogy. Now this ought to put to bed any notion that President Obama - born in Hawaii- is not an American citizen born in the United States of America! The extreme right wing wackos have been persistently spreading the nonsense that Obama was not born on American soil and therefore is president illegally.

Help! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Henny Penny was able to lead an bunch of gullible animals with similarly odd riming names off to an undesirable end by repeating what we would today call a political slogan meant to frighten. The sky is falling, the sky is falling, let's go tell the king!

Lions and tigers and bears oh my! Nationalized medicine, socialized medicine, no choices for us, oh my!

The drum beat from the right pounding out these wild and false accusations are deceitful.

Contrary to what the right wing radio attack dogs are claiming, contrary to what Mitch McConnell, Michael Steele, Orin Hatch and most any Republican is saying, the health care reform bill will only add a vitally needed choice (public option) all the while preserving health care options via private insurance companies, work plans, and other government health care programs. Contrary to a pass-on e-mail that I received from a loved family member, you will not be forced to give up private insurance once you leave the job that currently provides it to you. That is a lie. Socialized medicine? No worries! Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security Disability are all social programs that I doubt any sane Republican or Democrat would advocate abolishing. Public Option would only add a program, and yes, we will have to pay a premium to the government and yes taxes will go up: I am totally willing to pay my premiums should I ever need it. I am also willing to pay higher taxes so that the unfortunate (unemployed, disabled, veterans, orphans etc) can have dignity and health care insurance. (If you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.) Nationalized medicine? Nope. The meaning of that is that the government runs all issues of the delivery of health care or owns all providers and that will not be the case, the government will only administer premiums/funding of the public options, not the affairs of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Kaiser Permenante, or IHC.

Let's not panic. We all pay into the social programs that already exist and I hope we are all happy to do so. After all, these programs were vital to the support of our grandparents as they grew old and I, for one, was very grateful for the support they received. They will be vital to every one of us as we grow old.

One may think that Obama is rushing this too fast. That is a very valid argument.

One may think that it is a pie-in-the-sky financial boondoggle. That is a very valid worry.

But it is not a leap into socialized health care or nationalized medicine. The private sector, if it is worth anything at all and I believe that it is worth a great deal, will not only survive but prosper in an only slightly altered market place for the very good reason that the public option is not intended (despite the lies) to replace the private sector, but only to give an option to those the private sector refuses to serve or to those who cannot afford the outrageous (there is not other word) premium rate schedudles!

Would any of you choose the public option over an option with the private sector even if you had to pay a little to moderately more? I wouldn't. But I would be (will be) delighted to know that I will never be turned away from being insured, and that is what the public option guarantees!

Wringer Washing Machine

Wringer Washing Machine?

FromWashing Clothes Recipe

Never thought of a 'washer' in this light before.. what a blessing!

' Washing Clothes Recipe' -- imagine having a recipe for this!

Years ago an Alabama grandmother gave the new bride the following recipe:

This is an exact copy as written and found in an old scrapbook - with spelling errors and all.

WASHING CLOTHES

Build fire in backyard to heat kettle of rain water. Set tubs so smoke wont blow in eyes

if wind is pert. Shave one hole cake of lie soap in boilin' water.

Sort things, make 3 piles

1 pile white,

1 pile colored,

1 pile work britches and rags.

To make starch, stir flour in cool water to smooth, then thin down with boiling water.

Take white things, rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, and boil, then rub colored

don't boil just wrench and starch.

(For you non-southerners -'wrench' means 'rinse')

Take things out of kettle with broom stick handle, then wrench, and starch.

Hang old rags on fence.

Spread tea towels on grass.

Pore wrench water in flower bed. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.

Turn tubs upside down.

Go put on clean dress, smooth hair with hair combs. Brew cup of tea, sit

and rock a spell and count your blessings.

================================================

Paste this over your washer and dryer.

Next time when you think things are bleak, read it again, kiss that

washing machine and dryer, and give thanks.

First thing each morning you should run and hug your washer and dryer,

also your toilet---those two-holers used to get mighty cold!???

?? And we think we have it rough!????

How much is too much?

How much muscle is too much muscle?


Today, the funds for additional F-22s and parts failed to get into the defense bill. Even though I am a supporter of a strong military, I am not a supporter of the military on steroids. The F-22 is far superior than any fighter anywhere in the world, but we already have other fighters that are far better than any fighter anywhere in the world. The F-22 makes our military far stronger than what we need right now, and I agree with Congress and the administration that we should not buy more F-22s at this point. However, the savings should be used cut the deficit (not spend it on something else).

Fiscal Malpractice

I know that the Democrats are trying hard to do what they think is best. Nevertheless, the cold hard facts show that what is going on in Washington is nothing short of fiscal malpractice. The chart below is produced by the CBO (Congressional Budget Office). The Democrats are under heavy pressure from Obama to pass health care reform before the August recess, but just look at these numbers! I am growing weary of being flabbergasted, but should 'cap and trade' and health care reform go through as designed by the current congressional leadership, our country will be crushed by the mountain of debt. I must repeat, it is selfishness in the extreme for us to continue to spend the money of future citizens of our nation for our own selfishness.

(The extended baseline scenario was calculated based on massive tax hikes. Even still, the inevitable is only delayed by a few years.)

Update: The following graph is more, err, 'graphic.' These are White House and CBO numbers.

Just the facts....

We have already established that polls can be skewed to say many things. This was just the headliner poll on yahoo.com when I signed in today. Not going to make any judgment, just copied and pasted.....

The survey found the ranks of people who think the country is on the right track dropping to 40 percent, down 12 points since early June and the lowest since Obama took office in January.

As unemployment continues to rise, Americans who say the country' s on the wrong track jumped to 54 percent, a 12-point rise and the highest since Obama took office.

The number of Americans who approve of the way Obama is doing his job also dropped, to 57 percent, a 7-point decline from early June and the lowest of his presidency that McClatchy-Ipsos has recorded.

His biggest loss of support was among independents, whose approval decreased from 58 percent to 50 percent. However, he also lost ground among Democrats, down 5 points, and Republicans, down 3 points.

Notably, the total of Americans who "strongly" approve of Obama's job performance dropped 11 points in a month, to 29 percent, his lowest ever. Conversely, 22 percent said they strongly disapprove, up 6 points and the highest of his six months in office.

Let's start the discussion: health care reform.

Although Alan opened with a posting on his blog some time ago, I think that it would be interesting to see what our family thinks of health care reform in general and the specific debates that are now occurring. Much of the public has unjustified beliefs about what might occur with any form of reform.

The first question is of course whether or not one thinks that our system needs reform.

The second question might concern various plans proposed, or perhaps an outright prioritizing of what one thinks needs to be fixed.

It ought to be an enlightening discussion.

I believe that reform is urgent but as I have said before, contrary to many liberals, I do no longer endorse a single-payer option. I believe that open but controlled competition can be very beneficial and even superior .

It seems to me that the government needs to get involved in two areas in which it is not currently involved. The first is some form of price controlling (I have my reason for this and will be happy to discuss them if anyone disagrees.) The second is the establishment of a public option administered by the government (failing that, I would be adamant about a federal law obliging an open, completely non-exclusionary enrollment plan on all insurance companies.)

There are a lot of details, but this is enough of a start in a highly complex arena.

Collecting your social security benefits

Interesting article. I didn't know this about collecting our SS. I thought I would share it with ya'll.

Top 25 Travel Destinations

The top 25 travel destinations in the United States., according to Forbes Traveler, are as follows: (sites and annual visitor counts).
1. Times Square, 37.6 million
2. Las Vegas Strip, Nevada, 30 million
3. National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, 25 million
4. Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, 20 million
5. Disney World's Magic Kingdom, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., 17.1 million
6. Disneyland Park, Anaheim, Calif., 14.9 million
7. Fisherman's wharf, Golden Gate National Park, San Francisco, 14.1 million
8. Niagara Falls, N.Y. 12 million
9. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Tenn., N.C., 9.04 million
10. Navy Pier, Chicago, 8.6 million
11. Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Ariz.-Nev., 7.6 million
12. Universal Studios -- Islands of Adventure, Orlando, 6.2 million
13. Sea World Florida, Orlando, 5.8 million
14. Delaware Water Gap National, Penn. N.J., 5.13
15. San Antonio Riverwalk, Texas, 5.1 million
16.Temple Square, Salt Lake City, 5 million
17. Universal Studios Hollywood, Calif., 4.7 million
18. Metropolitan Museum, New York, N.Y., 4.7 million
19. Cape Cod National Seashore, Mass., 4.64 million
20. Grand Canyon, Ariz., 4.43 million
21. Busch Gardens Africa, Tampa Bay, Fla., 4.4 million
22. SeaWorld San Diego, San Diego, Calif., 4.26 million
23. Independence National Historic Park, Philadelphia, Penn., 4.08 million
24. American Museum of Natural History, New York, 4 million
25. Waikiki Beach, Oahu, Hawaii, 3.67 million

I know it's pathetic, but I have visited only seven on the list (#1, #2, #6, #7, #8, #16, and #22).

$18 million Website

ABC news reports that the Obama administration will spend $18 million dollars on a website that is to show us how the stimulus money is being spent. I am happy about the website, but $18 million dollars? You could probably buy 1,800 top-of-the-line websites for that amount. Why is it that government has no clue how much things actually cost in the real world? It is bureaucracy at its worst and incompetence at its best.

Astonishing words from Judge Ginsberg

I just ran across some surprising words stated by Ruth Ginsberg of the US Supreme Court.

"Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don’t want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion. Which some people felt would risk coercing women into having abortions when they didn’t really want them. But when the court decided McRae, the case came out the other way. And then I realized that my perception of it had been altogether wrong."

I looked for the broader context to see if she was taken out of context. The broader context of this statement was made in relation to the Court’s 1980 decision in Harris v. McRae, which ruled that the Hyde Amendment’s exclusion of nontherapeutic abortions from Medicaid reimbursement was constitutionally permissible. In other words, I-don't-want-the-child type of abortions could not be reimbursed by Medicaid.

Did Ginsberg misspeak? Am I somehow misunderstanding her words? What populations is she talking about limiting? Is the limiting certain populations what the abortion crowd is really all about?

Honduras: Was it really a coup?

If you are interested in this topic, there is an interesting article here.
However, a more academic analysis was done by Max Bader, senior counsel at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. He writes:

Obama is quite wrong to claim that the removal of Zelaya was "illegal." The Honduran president forfeited his right to rule under Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution, which bans presidents from holding office if they even propose to alter the constitutional term limits for presidents. And the Honduran military, which acted on orders of the Honduran supreme court, expressly had the right to remove the president for seeking to alter the constitutional term limit, under Article 272 of the Honduran Constitution. . . .The Honduran military's role in enforcing the court order does not make it a "coup" anymore than federal troops' role in enforcing the court-ordered integration of the Little Rock public schools in 1957 constituted a military occupation or takeover.

So it appears that Obama is again on the wrong side of an international incident and his recent positions seem to always fall on the side of those against freedom and democracy. Only in the case of Iran did he finally make a statement in favor of the protesters, but only by being goaded into it by Hillary Clinton (who I still think would have been a better president).

The Question for Obama in 2012

The question for Obama in 2012 is: Will he keep Biden on the ticket? In terms of campaigning, he is quite a liability. He loves to blabber on and say things contrary to the talking points. I think Obama will likely be on defense in 2010 and thereafter, so he will need a better attack dog than Biden.

Mitt Romney: flying low and laughing all the way!

The antics or even outright political demise of Ensign, the SC gov, soon ex-gov Palin are opening wide the door for Mitt Romney to be the next Republican presidential nominee. The guy from Louisiana (B. Jindle ?) had a bad debut, Republicans can't seem to find a leader, Huckabee is not strong enough to win nationally, I know, I'm rambling which is exactly what the Republican Party is doing these days. Rambling without a firm message. Romney is being wise and I bet following the advice of his handlers: let the rivals hang themselves, you'll be the last man standing!

Google Reader

In relation to the separated pages, it is hard to please everyone, but some were not visiting or participating in the blog because of the opinion posts. I think that is a serious enough drawback to justify the split. Nevertheless, for those of you unhappy with the separate pages, please add Google Reader to your iGoogle page (I am assuming everyone has one.). Google reader will let you know when there is a new post on any page that you regularly visit. In other words, you don't have to actually go to each website to see if something has been posted. Google Reader will tell and show you the post, all on your iGoogle page.

American's becoming more conservative?

The Gallup poll finds that Americans describe themselves as having gotten more conservative in recent years:

Americans, by a 2-to-1 margin, say their political views in recent years have become more conservative rather than more liberal, 39% to 18%, with 42% saying they have not changed. While independents and Democrats most often say their views haven't changed, more members of all three major partisan groups indicate that their views have shifted to the right rather than to the left.

Hmm, that does not jive with the recent elections. I have always wondered about the accuracy of Gallup polls. It could be that the electorate was simply fed up with those in power and decided to throw the bums out. The GOP often behaved in non-conservative ways and followed the northeastern liberal Republican thought, which has always gotten them into deep trouble. Nevertheless, the electorate will eventually get tired of those currently in power and throw the bums out. I think the 'eventually' timeframe is going to be rather short in this case. I also think that the Dems know it and that is why they are in such a hurry to pass all these big spending bills and continue with the gravy train to Democrat constituents (a.k.a. ACORN).

Bankruptcy rates

Utah and Tennessee have the worst bankruptcy rates among the 50 states.
The knee jerk reaction of the media is to claim that the situation is a reflection on the people, i.e., Mormons and redneck evangelicals. However, a new study shows that the bankruptcy rates are a reflection of local government policies rather than people.

New Wortham Family News Blog

This blog was created in the midst of last year's election and its original purpose was to provide a venue for family members to post opinions and respond to opinions about current events. However, the blog has become a mixture of opinions and family news. This is unpleasant for some and it has been suggested by several people that the two should be divided to create two blogs: one for family news and one for opinion and discussion. Since the blog you are currently reading is titled "Wortham Family and Relatives Discussion" and since the web address is very similar, it seems logical to keep this blog as the opinion and discussion blog. I have set up a new blog titled "Wortham Family News." Invitations to access the page have been sent out to Mom and Dad and their immediate family. Please give me addresses of grandkids who need to be invited. Such will constitute a downward expansion, which all will welcome I am sure. However, should we expand it horizontally to aunts, uncles, cousins, etc? Perhaps they already have such a webpage for their own immediate families, and such a horizontal expansion could get unwieldy over time (which doesn't mean I am against it by any means).

As a reminder, the reason for the invitations is to prevent "trolls" from accessing our page. "Trolls" are creatures who 'troll' around the web to find open web pages where they can post inflammatory and crude messages.

Le Tour de France

The Tour de France begins tomorrow. I get up early every morning in July to watch. It is my second favorite sporting event after football. I don't even care for basketball or baseball anymore. Lance Armstrong is back this year and riding for Team Astana. The first day is individual time trials.
Click on the image to enlarge.