"The Ten Cannots"

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.

William J. H. Boetcker "The Ten Cannots" -1916

Poverty Pimps - Alexander's Essays - PatriotPost.US

The Oilpocalypse....

Spent 4 days in PCB, FL, down on the Laguna end of the strip. No oil. The only feds we saw (besides the usual helicopter traffic) were a couple of guys in a Gator. And we only saw them the last morning we were there (June 26, 2k10).

Some of the locals think that the Feds and the MSM are blowing more smoke than facts at the people. I have problems that the current Administration's first response was to send lawyers down to New Orleans instead of engineers. I have problems that the Administration won't tell the Coast Guard and the EPA to stand down. I have problems that the Administration refused the help of countries that have dealt with these issues before.

I guess this current Administration isn't letting a good crisis go to waste.

The Folks I'm Voting For This Primary Season

Guv:
Lt. Guv: Kay Ivey
Att. Gen: Luther Strange
Treasurer: Young Boozer
Dept. Of Ag: Dale Peterson
State Sen: Scott Beason
State Rep:
Fed Sen:
Fed Rep:

Folks I've contributed to:
Dale Peterson
Randall Hosey (BlountCo Sheriff)
Harri Anne Smith (Republicans said she couldn't run in her district... but no-one making that decision lives in her district)

(To be added to as I make my final choices for this Primary season)

Dale Peterson's YouTube Campaign Commercial

http://www.dalepeterson2010.com/home.html

Taxes are like a stomach virus....

They get passed around and everybody gets it in the end.

Folks, don't you understand that raising taxes on one segment of the population raises the costs on everybody in the long run? If they raised property taxes tomorrow, you'd better be ready to have the rent raised, because the owner of the property isn't going to absorb the cost. The small business owner that you support by shopping at his establishment is going to pass any tax increase along to you. So, tell me again how wonderful raising taxes is....

What Obamacare Will Do for You!

•2‐year tax credit (total cap of $1B) for new chronic disease therapy investments
•Medicare cuts to hospitals begin (long‐term care (7/1/09) and inpatient and
rehabilitation facilities (FY10))
•Impose 10% tax on indoor UV tanning (7/1/10)
•Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/10)
•Medicare Advantage cuts begin
•No longer allowed to use FSA, HSA, HRA, Archer MSA distributions for over‐thecounter
medicines
•Medicare cuts to home health begin
•Wealthier seniors ($85k/$170k) begin paying higher Part D premiums (not indexed
for inflation in Parts B/D)
•Medicare reimbursement cuts when seniors use diagnostic imaging like MRIs, CT
scans, etc.
•Medicare cuts begin to ambulance services, ASCs, diagnostic labs, and durable
medical equipment
•Impose new annual tax on brand name pharmaceutical companies
•Americans begin paying premiums for federal long‐term care insurance (CLASS Act)
•Prohibition on Medicare payments to new physician‐owned hospitals
•Penalties for non‐qualified HSA and Archer MSA distributions double (to 20%)
•Seniors prohibited from purchasing power wheelchairs unless they first rent for 13
months
•Employers required to report value of health benefits on W‐2
•New Medicare cuts to long‐term care hospitals begin (7/1/11)
•Additional Medicare cuts to hospitals and cuts to nursing homes and inpatient
rehab facilities begin (FY12)
•New tax on all private health insurance policies to pay for comp. eff. research (plan
years beginning FY12)
2011
•Medicare cuts to dialysis treatment begins
•Require information reporting on payments to corporations
•New Medicare cuts to inpatient psych hospitals (7/1/12)
•Hospital pay‐for‐quality program begins (FY13)
•Medicare cuts to hospitals with high readmission rates begin (FY13)
•Medicare cuts to hospice begin (FY13)
•Impose $2,500 annual cap on FSA contributions (indexed to CPI)
•Increase Medicare wage tax by 0.9% and impose a new 3.8% tax on unearned , nonactive
business income for those earning over $200k/$250k (not indexed to inflation)
•Generally increases (7.5% to 10%) threshold at which medical expenses, as a % of
income, can be deductible
•Eliminate deduction for Part D retiree drug subsidy employers receive
•Impose 2.3% excise tax on medical devices
•Medicare cuts to hospitals who treat low‐income seniors begin
•Individuals without gov't‐approved coverage are subject to a tax of the greater of
$695 or 2.5% of income
•Employers who fail to offer "affordable" coverage would pay a $3,000 penalty for
every employee that receives a subsidy through the Exchange
•Employers who do not offer insurance must pay a tax penalty of $2,000 for every fulltime
employee
•More Medicare cuts to home health begin
•States must have established Exchanges
•Employers with more than 200 employees can auto‐enroll employees in health
coverage, with opt‐out
•All non‐grandfathered and Exchange health plans required to meet federally mandated
levels of coverage
•States must cover parents /childless adults up to 138% of poverty on Medicaid,
receive increased FMAP

http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/UploadedFiles/WM_hcr_timelinel.pdf

A Clue for Congress & The White House

For Congress and the Chicago Gang who currently inhabit the White House: A little US history and some lessons on how the government in the US works (because from your recent actions, you people don't have a clue).

US Revolution

The Preamble

How the Government works

How A Bill Becomes A Law

You Can Lead a Liberal to Water, But Can You Make Him Think?

Liberal Friend: Just caught the CNN piece on Linda McMahon, wealthy wife of wrestling mogul Vince McMahon, throwing some of her money into getting the GOP nomination for the US Senate seat in Connecticut being vacated by Chris Dodd! That is Exhibit A for mandatory public campaign financing and a definite sign that the tea baggers are... backing the wrong horse if they think Republicans give two shiites about the little man.

GN : But it's ok if some asshole like George Soros throws $$$ towards the democrats?

Robbery is robbery, no matter who does it.

Liberal Friend: I haven't heard about George Soros, nor do I know who he is, but I will googa-bing it..hey, I think there's corruption on both sides and don't make excuses for either party..thanks for the tip G, and Happy belated Anniversary!

Liberal Friend: Just browsed Soros' Wikipedia entry..over 23 million bucks donated to the section 527 groups in 2004 IS an established fact, as he thought defeating Bush's re-election was important..talk about throwing your money into a hole!! He should have helped save the Democrats from themselves by buying a better candidacy than Kerry/Edwards!!! The money he ... has donated to really worthy causes is impressive however, and he did survive the Nazi occupation of Hungary, as his father bought his life basically in WWII. He is much more interesting than Linda McMahon..that's for sure! All that rasslin' money might buy the Republicans a Senate seat..guess there are pro wrestling dads in there with the NASCAR dads as part of the GOP core voter base..

Kat the Geekess: The Republicans care more for "the little man" than the Dems ever will. All the Dems want to do is put everyone back on the plantation, beholden to the guvment for everything.

Liberal Friend: A Republican such as Theodore Roosevelt did care for the little man and was a progressive firebrand as chief executive Cyn! But the modern incarnation that labels itself as the Republican Party is a cynical political miscalculation tying itself, along with moderate Democrats, to corporate boardrooms, rogue banks, and the pulpit, and I ain't ... talking the "bully pulpit" that Teddy referenced. I will have to find the exact lines in Glenn Beck's Common Sense book, but he excoriates Roosevelt's early 20th Century progressivism that brought about the FDA, fair labor practices and really hammered the early industrialists. TR would balk today at the influence of these bonehead pundits on both sides..Limbaugh, Colter, and Beck on the right and.um, well, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews on MSNBC for the yammering do-nothing wing of liberals. I can't watch Hardball anymore after Matthews blubbering he forgot Obama was black watching his first State of the Union address..white liberal guilt dies hard I reckon!

Kat the Geekess: Today's Republicans are yesterday's Dems. Today's Dems are yesterday's Socialists.

That's why the Tea Party (not bagger ) Movement is working hard to restore to the people the power that the fed guvment has decided to usurp for itself.

GN: I love you, Cyn!

We "tea baggers" are the people working our asses off, only to and more of our tax money wasted on "progressive" (read: socialist) programs that reward do nothings who sit around collecting free money from da gubmint. I'm tired of working my ass off with little to show for it, then see people cashing in food stamps and ... other forms of welfare paid for with my sweat. Screw this. Working taxpayers have had enough of this out of control spending and government encroachment into our everyday lives. Not everyone desires a socialist utopia where the powerless citizen suckles from the teat of nanny government. I don't want the government providing shit for me, other than the basic guarantees afforded me, the US citizen, through the bill of rights.

Liberal Friend: Explain Senator Bunning or the Senate vote to deny 55 million current social security recipients $250 checks to make up for the fact that, fot the first time since 1975, there is no COLA adjustment to their benefit amount!! Or that my Medicare receiving grandmother with Viva Plus added on had a $500 co-pay for admittance to the hospital. Or that ... BCBS insurance through ALFA for my uninsured mother who cannot qualify for Medicare or Medicaid unless she divorces my father would cost her over $900 a month! Face it guys, the system is stacked against the lower, middle and even upper middle classes now, and the private sector, be it your local financial institution or health care behemoth insurer looks at nothing but the bottom line! You are nothing but a scribble on a spread sheet to these folks, so who does an honest hard working human being have to turn to so as not to become the latest uninsured fatality...that's right.. a government at some level that can help fill in the gaps and keep people healthy! What in the hell is wrong with one big pool of folks getting basic health care benefits that we the taxpayer already provide to US senators and congressmen..BIG BUSINESS HAS FAILED THIS SOCIETY MISERABLY AND IS UNAPOLEGETIC FOR IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

GN: If Medicare, a gubmint program, stuck to providing for those it was intended for (elderly & indingent), it wouldn't be in the mess it's in now. Instead, it has ballooned into a typical gubmint ran, mismanaged mess.

How much of an effect do you think our out of control tort system has on the medical issue? That's the thing people overlook. Skyrocketing costs associated with malpractice insurance plays a bigger role in the overall cost of health insurance coverage than most people think.

There has to be a better way to solving the mess than government takeover of the industry. We know just how well that always turns out....

God bless Jim Bunting for having the guts to take a stand against this absurdity. How much of a defecit can this country absorb? Obamacare will triple it, and it'll create a financial hole this country will never be able to overcome.

Instead of trying to ram this stupid idea through, this administration should be focusing on creating jobs that will take some of the leeches off government assistance.

Liberal Friend: Like my grandmother with her 500 dollar copay?! And tell the family of the dead Representative Jack Murtha that you can put a value on human life lost through something as tragic as nicking an intestine during a routine procedure! You are buying the private health insurance industry's crap hook, line and sinker! Republicans and some misguided ... Democrats are stonewalling this because it would cut profits for private insurers PERIOD!! Don't think they give two hoots in hell about how high the deficit is going to get!! Just look at 8 years of Dubya and GOP control..you try fighting a war on terror on two fronts AND cutting taxes and the deficit skyrockets, but you never heard a peep out of the GOP jackasses or blue dog Democrats when that was driving up the deficit! Bunning's own party has dissed him now..you NEVER go after the most vulnerable ie the elderly and unemployed when you have given the top 1% of US taxpayers a huge tax cut while running a deficit!! And that 1 trillion bucks is spread out over 10 years whereas the Pentagon cut of the budget is 700 billion dollars for ONE FISCAL YEAR!

Kat the Geekess: Ronald Reagan showed us the only way the guvment can create jobs... Cut taxes. And by cutting said taxes, Reagan increased the tax revenues coming in because more people went to work and paid taxes.

Liberal Friend: The trillion I referred to is the reform price tag, and, if it is bold enough to drive down costs and finally REGULATE private insurers and maybe even have a test public option, I say it is worth it if we are spending 700 billion for a year of national defense to stretch out a trillion over 10 years..

Kat the Geekess: B, the profit margins are less than 5% in the insurance business. That's way less than most other industries/businesses. And your grandmother's $500 copay is because unions have managed to negotiate their copays down to practically zero. How much do you think AEA members pay for their copays? (It's not much!)

I have a sis-in-law that worked... for Public Library at the same time that I was working at Hospital. We both had P***** HMO (owned by the BHS at the time). My hospitalization copay: $600. Her copay? Nada.

Kat the Geekess: Last I heard, only 25% (registered voters?) approve of the Obamacare plan that is currently in Congress. So, I guess the other 75% of us have to suck it up and deal? (Edited to add: Please see link at bottom for Rasmussen numbers)

Liberal Friend: It depends on what taxes you cut Cyn! Lowering the rate to 30-something percent on the top 1% of taxpayers' personal income tax is crazy! The wealthy paid over 60% during the Eisenhower administration, and what party did he belong to..Republican! He was part of a dying art..moderate Teddy Roosevelt classic Republicanism..Eisenhower warned of the... ominously growing influence of the military-industrial complex in his farewell address and he was right..we are now in the full sway of the corporate boardroom and the battlefield and that, my old friends, is what is eating up the revenues and the borrowed Chinese money..not the little man who might have gotten a 250 dollar check to make up for no COLA adjustment on his social security!!

Liberal Friend: First Cyn, who did the poll? The numbers can get skewed by a left or right lean, and second, I will freely admit I haven't read the proposed legislation on CSPAN's site or the House site..have you or any one of the folks who are so dead set against it read it or looked for the Cliff's notes on the 2700 page bill? I think it's as simple as getting... the big pool together like the federal legislative insurance group that the taxpayer pays for and realize lower premium and improved benefits from improved purchasing power..it could be a co-op or administrated by the company that underwrites the congressional health coverage..whatever works!! I am a pragmatist here..one should not rigidly hide behind a party platform or philosophy any more, but the beast must be tamed and soon..these bailed out banks and private insurers have denied loans and health coverage to sick folks for way too long! We at the very least need some progressive regulatory legislation to prohibit discrimination on the basis of preexisting conditions..

Liberal Friend: So, Cyn, are you taking a pro-union stance or at least handing them a left-handed compliment for doing right by their members and earning their dues by getting a better health plan out of management? Ronald Wilson Reagan was not a friend of unions if that is what you are doing, nor are any other pro-management Republicans, which would be most of ... them! Maybe they can get his face on the $50 bill..how appropriate, because how many of those does the little non-union worker ever see? And it's only getting worse!

GN: Aha! - there it goes, the battle cry of the democrat party: "IT'S BUSH'S FAULT!"

as it stands now, the richest 1% of American pay more than 50% of the total collected tax. Why penalize success by taxing them more and turing the tap off on reinvestment? It makes no economic sense whatsoever.

Nothing is free, B. All this blanket coverage Chairman maObama and his magical teleprompter are promising will have to be paid for somehow. How will that turn out? We'll see our (the average Joe Punch Clock) tax rate increase to 40% or so and we'll be in a worse economic mess than we're in right now. I've seen the "wonders" of gubmint run healthcare, and it's not the gum drops, candy canes, and lollipops the communists in your party make it out to be….
Don't get me started on that horses ass John Murtha. How ironic is it that he died as a result of surgery at a socialized medical facility? Maybe his demise was a karmatic payback for his lies about our brave soldiers. I live by the rule that one should never speak ill of the dead, but in his case I make an exception. If I ever make it back to Arlington, I'll find his grave and spit on it for what he did.

Kat the Geekess: Dude, I don't support unions. Unions are crooked political machines at this point in history. Unions were a good thing once upon a time, then greed set in. They don't care about the workers anymore than you think management does. How many industries has the US lost because of union demands? Unions have all but killed the steel (among others) ... industry in this country and why do you think GM and Chrysler were bailed out? Because they're unionized; Toyota , Honda, Hyundai or Mercedes wouldn't have gotten that kind of deal from the guvment. Obama is owned by the Unions driving the Chicago Machine.

Liberal Friend: What is the alternative when the private sector has turned its back on so many folks who thought they were insured properly and paid premiums in full? Deregulation is the enemy of the little man. If the federal government is truly evil, heartless, clueless and incompetent and if labor unions have irrevocably turned into a greed machine with ... continuing mob connections and if corporate boardrooms are jealously guarding profits and lining their pockets with outrageous and obscene bonuses, be it the oil/gas companies such as Chevron and Exxon or Blue Cross, then WHAT IN THE HELL are we to do to stop folks from dying or to heal those who are seriously ill but make too much money for Medicaid or are too young for Medicare or just can't afford the premiums if they are housewives like my mom?!! Speaking of the oil companies, isn't it telling that gas prices haven't passed 3 bucks a gallon around here since Bush left office? Poor Exxon/Mobil can't post obscene quarterly profits anymore now that oilman Dubya is, thankfully, back in Crawford as a private citizen!!

Liberal Friend: This just in..Dennis Kucinich AND Ron Paul are standing in opposition to the proposed health care legislation! That should show what a centrist boondoggle this is, so why are we worried about the effects of this legislation one way or the other? The public option fell out of the bill a long time ago and even Howard Dean, a medical doctor, has ... said that it shouldn't pass because what's the point in spending so much money if you aren't addressing and solving the problems of poor coverage and rising costs? It's laughable that you conservative-minded folks are so worked up over all this! If anyone should be offended and worked up, it is Democrats such as myself that dream of bold reform and finally standing up to the goliaths of the industry and calling their bluff! If these private insurers are experiencing little profit, how have they been able to afford so many lobbyists for each member of Congress for over a year now! They are spending a lot of money and got their dollar's worth months ago when the chicken shit Democratic congressional leadership dropped the public option from the proposed legislation!!

Kat the Geekess: Dude, did you not see the Obamacare Debacle on TV last Thursday? The Republicans have 3 or 4 physicians* who are Senators representing their side. And caught the Dems in every story they told.

*And not certifiable as Howard Dean certainly is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SL2rK0DInQ

GN: We conservative minded people are up in arms about it because we know it will cost an arm and a leg for those of us that work to fill the coffers.

Once again I must ask how is big government the magic cure all answer? How can we trust people that can't deliver a fricking letter across town with a much more complex entity that national healthcare would turn out to be? No thanks. I don't want it.

As for the evil Bush oil empire, the price of oil is closely tied to the value of the U.S. dollar because oil is traded in dollars. A weak dollar translates to higher prices. Shock demand had more to do with skyrocketing gas prices we saw in 2008. Moreso than a boardroom of cigar smoking, 10 gallon hat wearing oil tycoons....

Communism doesn't work. Look at the former USSR. Eventually, people tire from busting their ass to support the non-contributing collective and either (a) quit or (b) move away. Either way, the system fails and collapses.

Liberal Friend: I am becoming at least a Libertarian in my old age, but I still pose the question if not the same government that serves and protects this great nation from those who would harm its proud citizens then WHO? If the unions have been disowned by the blue collar workers and if private insurers are going to continue behaving callously toward the policy... holders when they need financial coverage the most, then WHO? Please give me a proposal! I say a co-op hybrid that could pool the folks into a competitive cheaper program with better benefits and no preexisting condition concerns, much like the federal program that WE pay for combined with common sense regulations that would prevent predatory behavior on the part of the offending private insurers might be a good way to go! But again..there IS a problem and people ARE dying in this country, falling through the cracks of the current system! Kucinich, Dean, Paul AND the GOP opposition support a clean slate and Republicans want to address one item at a time, and I DO find that appealing IF they are sincere about wanting to solve the problems NOW, because it has gone untreated for way too long and is getting out of control..BOTH sides acknowledge it is an unfair and offensive state of affairs! SO LET US PUT NOVEMBER AND REELECTION OUT OF OUR MINDS AND SOLVE THIS BEFORE ANYONE ELSE DIES OR SUFFERS NEEDLESSLY!! I concede that starting over is wise IF the other side is serious!!

Kat the Geekess: Dude, if you're going to be a Libertarian, you need to read/listen to Neal Boortz.

Click here for Rasmussen Poll on Health Care

Online Tax Protest - Join NOW!

I joined the Online Tax Protest as a member of the Boortz Fair Tax Brigade at 9PM last night (18 Feb 2k10). When I noticed the count of members (after joining), it was showing 26. About 16 hours later, it's over 12,000.

About The Online Tax Revolt

There is a massive rejection of the established powers taking place in our country. Americans are mad as hell and we are not going to take anymore. The Online Tax Revolt is about sending a clear message to Washington that we are a growing and vocal movement that is calling for real change.

The first-ever Online Tax Revolt, a free, interactive march on Washington was launched using state of the art technology. Concerned Americans can have a voice on tax policy, culminating on April 15 with events in Washington, D.C.

“The Online Tax Revolt is open to every American who believes taxes and spending are out of control, harmful to our country and a threat to our nation’s future,” said Campaign Chairman Ken Hoagland. “Our economic future and that of future generations is at stake. We need taxes that are lower and a tax structure that’s fair.
“We’re in serious trouble and it falls to us to get the nation back on track. This march is a wake-up call to everyone in Washington that the American people won’t be ignored any longer,” said Mr. Hoagland.

Now, it's time for you to join and encourage your friends and family to join. http://www.onlinetaxrevolt.com/