Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

5 Billion will get you 8000

Posted: November 13, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Well 8,011 to be precise:

255 million: The number of Americans with existing health insurance coverage.

20 million: The number of Americans without any health coverage at all due to economic circumstances.

375,000: The number of Americans with pre-existing conditions HHS said would apply for coverage in the first year of ObamaCare, one of the main political arguments for its implementation.

8,011: The number that actually did.

So a 5 Billion dollar program that was a fierce moral imperative so urgent that it required congress to pass a program that the American People didn’t want covers 8,011 people?

Classical values opines:

To put this failure in perspective, consider the resources necessary for the federal government and the 27 states who offered their own policies to implement this measure. It’s very likely taxpayers have actually paid more for administration than enrollees have received in benefits.

Likely, LIKELY? Of course it is likely.

Lets put it another way. There are according to Wikipedia 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts., if you divide 8011 by 50 you get 160 people per state. So we have passed this to cover just over one person in every other town in Massachusetts.

Or even better there according to National Atlas.gov there are 35,000 cities and towns including the virgin islands and Puerto Rico or on Google answers they use census data to count 18,443. So that is less that one person in every other town or every 4th town depending on how they are counted.

Right now my family is on COBRA. The full price of the family plan costs $1500 with dental per month. Rather than a government program costing $624,141.80 PER PERSON COVERED. If say every other person in Fitchburg kicked in a dime in a bucket once a month it would pay for a family plan for that one guy with enough left over to get a head start on the next month.

Instead we get a government boondoggle that our children’s children will be paying for.

You wanted change with Obama? You got it!

NY-25 and the Mystery of the Lost Election

Posted: November 13, 2010 by datechguy in congress, elections, opinion/news, politics
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You might remember Ny-25 as one of the stops on my pre-election road trip. Well strange things seem to be going on over there.

The first strange thing is the absence of media attention, apparently this is a request from the Maffei campaign that has apparently not fallen on deaf ears:

any vote totals reported before every absentee ballot is counted are grossly incomplete and premature, particularly before ballots in Onondaga County are counted…While the media has responsibility to report the daily developments during the recanvass and tallying of absentee ballots, they also have a responsibility to characterize the early steps in this process accordingly.

Please please please reporters don’t report on the count at this time.

And what is going on that they don’t want reported on? Stuff like this:.

While the reasons for this effort are unclear, many agree it could be an attempt by some to identify who each person voted for in an effort to disqualify certain eligible ballots from being counted,” Buerkle said. “I would like the public to know that my campaign is not connected to this current effort. Further, no American — in upstate New York or anywhere — is in anyway under obligation to provide information to anyone on how he or she voted in any election, including my own.”

Buerkle’s statement did not name Maffei’s campaign as the party responsible for the calls, but a spokeswoman for the Maffei campaign confirmed they are calling voters in the district.

Maffei campaign communications director Abigail Gardner said Monday that while she believes they are asking how people voted, the reason for the calls is to ensure all votes are counted.

“It’s totally legal and there’s nothing really shady about it,” Gardner said. “I think we are asking how people voted, but the most important thing is to make sure that, if somebody cast a vote, that it’s going to be counted. There have been some problems.”emphasis mine

I think we are asking how people voted? I think! You don’t know?

Sure a campaign trying to play with the secret ballot? Nothing shady about that at all. Ann Marie Burkle’s campaign put out this statement:

Buerkle calls on voters who are contacted to ask who is calling and not feel that they must reveal how they voted.

“If anyone is contacted in this effort please know that your vote is privileged and under no circumstances should an individual be pressured into revealing how their vote was cast,” she said. “If you are contacted, ask them to provide their full name, for whom they work, why they are seeking this information and if you are required to provide this information.”

I’ve been wondering why this recount hasn’t gotten the attention others like NY-1 have. As the Maffei campaign lawyers up and activists start heading up to the area to try to salvage a seat from the big red wave, I guess we know why.

More to come.

Update: Looks like that count is heading in the right direction

The difference means that Buerkle has now widened her overall lead in the four-county district to 729 votes, according to unofficial election returns.

Buerkle picked up a net gain of 24 votes in Cayuga County (59 to 35 over Maffei) from absentee ballots, according to Cayuga County Election Commissioner Kate Lacey. Buerkle also had a net gain of 18 votes in Monroe County (630 to 612 over Maffei) after absentee ballots were opened from its three towns in the district, according to figures supplied by both campaigns.

By my calculations Maffei needs to win the Absentees in Onondaga county by twice the spread that he won the vote of to come out ahead, that’s not even counting any spread in Wayne county. I think it’s looking good.

Update 2: Added missing link

Nancy Pelosi creates/saves a job!

Posted: November 13, 2010 by datechguy in congress, opinion/news, politics
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Nancy Pelosi seeing the fight between Jim Clyburn and Steny Hoyer for Minority Whip has demonstrated the ability she showed all during her time as speaker to make the tough decisions to solve problems.

In a statement released late Friday night, Pelosi signaled an end to the ongoing battle between Clyburn and Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) to be the next House Minority Whip — the second-ranking leadership position in the minority.

“Should I receive the honor of serving as House Democratic Leader, I will nominate Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina to the number three leadership position,” Pelosi said in a statement sent to reporters at 11:01pm.

Number 3 position? She is not bumping John Larson as caucus chairman so what exactly is this #3 position that I’ve never heard of. What does it do? I’m sure Politico can tell us

Clyburn’s title and responsibilities were not specified in the announcement from Pelosi’s office, and Democratic leadership aides scrambled to explain the deal to reporters.

So let me get this straight. The Democratic Party faced with making an actual decision between two presumably qualified candidates for

South Park has the Democratic leadership pegged

the job that Jim Clyburn (who happens to be black) currently holds have agreed to put Steny Hoyer (who happens to be white) in Mr. Clyburn’s job and to invent a job, presumably with staff and offices paid via government funds, with no title and no specific duties for Jim Clyburn.

Who said that democrats didn’t know how to create or save jobs?

Hmmm let’s think about this, a totally unneeded job suddenly created for a member of a racial minority to avoid a conflict in an organization. What is the word that people have for a person who gets such a job for the sake of appearances. Oh I know, TOKEN.

I guess self-respect doesn’t come into play when power is involved.

Update: Separate but Equal? OUCH!

The Globe discovers that Massachusetts has shot itself in the foot…AGAIN

Posted: November 12, 2010 by datechguy in congress, economy, elections, opinion/news, politics
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The Boston Globe reports that things are looking grim for Massachusetts:

Massachusetts could lose more than $200 million in funding this year — and quite possibly similar amounts each year for the foreseeable future — as the incoming Republican congressional leadership and President Obama take aim at earmarked spending projects.

At risk are a host of projects across Massachusetts. The Paul Revere House in Boston’s North End could lose $400,000 in funds for a crucial renovation project. The University of Massachusetts Amherst could see $2 million intended for a science building slip away. And a new Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate could lose $10 million — providing an unintended case study in the politics of federal spending.

Hang on a second didn’t we just hear all during the last election how much our delegation was able to “bring home the bacon” so to speak?

Massachusetts Democrats have long boasted of their ability to win hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked funds for such projects. But speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, the Ohio Republican, has said earmarks must end,

Oh republicans are in charge in the House now where all spending much come from. Well I’m sure the Massachusetts members of the new House Majority will use what pull they have to help protect the state.

What that you say? While practically the entire country joined the big red wave Massachusetts once again elected only democrats? We don’t have any committee chairmen anymore or even a single member in the majority to try to help protect the state? Funny how the globe finds bad news now that the election is over.

Let’s be blunt. For months we have known the democratic majority in the house was doomed and as the president’s popularity continues to drop, 2012 is looking just as dark for Democrats.

Yet Massachusetts voters (perhaps with some help) choose to return Barney (Fannie/Freddie are fine) Frank and John (it was only 7 million my wife helped hide from Taxes) Tierney and the entire Massachusetts delegation. We knew about these things and voted them back in.

In a republic we always get the government we deserve. You wanted a delegation from the left. You’ve got it. As I said the day after the election:

…it will be the shock when you discover that all these democrats that you returned to congress are now in the minority and all of those tax dollars taken from you that they returned in lump sums at .82 cents on the dollar will not be coming back since they don’t have the clout to gain them and the republican house where all spending must originate is unlikely to approve them. If you had sent even a single republican to the house at least in one district there would be clout, but nope, no can do. You will miss that .82 cents on the dollar, but don’t worry the feds will meet you halfway. They will still take that dollar it was part of.

I don’t want to hear a single complaint from anyone on the left in the state over this.

And as for everyone else, you get another chance in two years. Don’t blow it.

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