http://news.yahoo.com/paul-krugman-paul-ryan-budget-romney-supports-fraud-181245136–abc-news-politics.html Maybe it is not Mr. Krugman’s analysis that is fraud. Maybe it is the reporting. What this article says is that Mr. Krugman’s opinion is that Representative Ryan’s plan is not a plan and that President Obama’s plan is a plan. Now to say that Rep. Ryan’s plan is a fraud is to say that the Ryan plan is based on lies. Mr. Krugman tried to disarm his own biting criticism by saying that he is not personally attacking Mr. Ryan, but that he is just saying that the plan Mr. Ryan put forward is a fraud. I think a fraud is a lie and therefore a person who puts forth a fraud is a liar. Is that reasoning flawed? I am just trying to get to the facts and not the spin. Then we read that Mr. Krugman is in favor of the Obama plan. He says that is a plan he understands. He does not comment on the validity of the Obama plans numbers, approach or process. So, I take it he likes the plan. So, what we have here is a report about Mr. Krugman saying he doesn’t like the Ryan plan and therefore Mr. Ryan’s plan is a fraud and by inference, Mr. Representative Ryan is a liar. And that Krugman likes the President’s plan and therefore Mr. Obama is not a liar. Seems to me that the liar and fraud here is Mr. Krugman, who makes broad accusations against a U.S. Congressman and excuses the President. How to solve this? Take Mr. Obama’s own words to heart and instead of name calling and innuendo just say plainly, I, (Mr. Klugman) do not agreed with the Ryan plan for this and that (specific) reason and I agree with the Obama plan for this and that reason.
Tag: Democrats
Paying Medical Bills In Cash
4. Paying Medical Bills in Cash Slashes Costs
Most Americans are unaware that many hospitals and doctors offer deep discounts for patients who pay in cash — as long as they don’t use their health insurance.
One hospital in California lists the price of a CT scan of the abdomen on its website at $4,423. Blue Shield of California says it negotiated a rate at the hospital of about $2,400 for patients with coverage.
But when the Los Angeles Times asked for the cash price, the hospital said it was $250.
The newspaper cited the case of a woman who was charged $6,707 for a CT scan of her abdomen. Blue Shield said she needed to pay just $2,336. She later discovered that if she had not gone through her insurance plan and paid cash, the cost would have been $1,054.
David Belk, an internist in Alameda, Calif., who launched a website about medical costs, pointed to the vast differences in costs for routine blood work. He said a local hospital charged a patient $782, and her insurer said she owed $414.
“She could have gotten it for $95 in cash,” Belk said. “How does that make sense? The last thing the insurance companies want you to know is how inexpensive this stuff really is.”
Hospitals have been trying to increase revenue by encouraging patients to pay upfront so the hospital can avoid an uncertain collections process, the Times reported.
“Cash prices — typically available for hundreds of common outpatient services and tests — have a real appeal to millions of consumers who are on the hook for a growing share of their medical costs as employers and insurers cut back on coverage and push more high-deductible plans,” the paper observed.
The California Hospital Association asserted that discounted cash prices are intended for patients without insurance, not those with coverage, but added that most hospitals offer a different discount to insured patients who are willing to pay their bill upfront.
I copied this from Newsmax, Is it True?
BlogTalkRadio Program
This writer also broadcasts a half hour radio broadcast on Blogtalkradio. Granted it is not regularly but I, like you, have to make a living. I like the comment on my blog today that said, “writing is the only work that is not criticized for not making money” Anyway, if you care to tune into the program, it is on Blogtalkradio.com and the title is Considerations. I also broadcast a rock and roll radio program using radionomy. It is a non DJ program so all you hear is music, not even adverts yet because the listenership is low but it is a great station and works real good as background music while you are on the computer. It’s at Radionomy.com and the title is “Uplifting” If you like either program please let me know via the “like” botton. Thanks
Wrong math?
Thank you to the commenter who corrected my math by pointing out that we pay taxes on income so that if Senator Lautenberg increased his taxes to 55 % of income then he would still be richer year after year. The writer also commented that I probably pay too much taxes. I might, but I am comfortable with taxes as they are now because I actually do feel that taxes are a requirement for living in this great and wonderful USA. However, I don’t like giving the government additional powers over my life, and taxes are one way for governments to exert power. It may not be one persons fault, Obama, because under our present understanding of government, taxes are used to employ people. These many millions in positions of government authority want job security and for them taxes on everybody so that they can be government employees may seem the right thing. This includes pensioners and Social Security and Disability recipients. But I do not think of employment as a primary objective of taxes. I think that we need to limit government’s control over the individual and that includes the wealthiest among us. Specifics? Actually, I could list mine and say that I am right. But then, you would list the opposite position and say it is right. So, there is an impasse. However, at least for now, we still have a Congress and an independent judiciary and both are benevolent. So my fears are allayed and I am secure. But I will remain vigilant to safeguard the freedoms enjoyed in the USA. And granted, nothing, even freedom, can be absolute. But any curtailment should be through vibrant and even very robust public debate with the decisions made in open meetings, (no back room politics please) and with a rule that the separation of powers be not only respected but demanded by the electorate. A long way from wrong math? Yes, but my stream of consciousness writing style took me there. And such fault, if it be a fault, is not Obama’s and not George Bush’s. It’s mine!
Sarkozy Under Investigation?
http://news.yahoo.com/sarkozy-faces-slew-probes-immunity-ends-092003356.html As I read this news story, and it is news not commentary, I wonder about all the moral high ground and moral posturing by Sarkozy when he spearheaded the criminal aggression against Libya. Only a few months ago it was Sarkozy the Just against Gaddafi the Vile. Back then, it was the France of Joan of Arc, the Britain of Churchill, and the USA of George Washington against the dirty desert dictator from Tripoli. Back then the contrasts were so stark. It was the tent of Libya against the Versailles of Sarkozy’s France. But reading this article one’s eyesight focuses and the distinctions turn into desert sands which constantly morph into different shapes. This writer has been consistent and is still committed to a “Realpolitic” that holds the self-righteous to the same standards they set for others.
In the USA, which is my county, our leader and his party have denounced terror and terrorism. President Obama was quick to criticize the CIA for “waterboarding” which he called torture. There was constant posturing as the Democratic Congress people like Pelosi and Senator Reid smirked about the terrible George Bush. But today we witness President Obama willingly ordering political murder. I have lost count of the number of assassinations by aerial drone the USA has committed. We are told that the targets of these killings deserve what we deal to them. They are terrorists we are told. They are suspected of terrorism we are told. They must be executed where they are before they have a chance to send terrorists to us. Regularly, we are reading of another pinpoint assassination of some supposed terrorist or other as though the drone kills only the single human and leaves all others unharmed. But we know that a drone is an aerial bomb and the alleged terrorist is joined in his death by all those around him. Are none of the associates innocent or is anyone even standing in the vicinity of the drone’s target to be considered worthy of death?
Sarkozy, Cameron and Obama need to be investigated and also the United Nations and NATO should be called to the Bar, not only for political impropriety but also international criminal aggression.
Obama’s Misuse of Air Force One is an Issue
http://news.yahoo.com/air-force-one-military-not-belong-obama-222400426.html A very fair and justly passionate comment about the President and the Press. It highlights one of the crucial differences between Obama and Romney.
Syria, a blockage in Obama’s Plan for a New World Order
http://news.yahoo.com/syria-holds-parliament-vote-opposition-boycotts-073812291.html The rebellion in Syria will continue because the rebels state clearly that they will accept nothing other than the fall of Assad. The article further states that the rebels regard the elections to Syria’s parliament as a sham and theat they will ignore anything that happens through the election process. It is obvious that the rebels are not cooperating in the cease-fire and they are not cooperating to bring peace and stability to Syria.
This writer agrees that the Western powers, especially NATO should not in any way get involved in Syria’s problems. I fear that the Obama administration will get very involved if Obama gets elected again. Why di I think that> It is because of Obama’s ideas concerning One World Government. It is because the President has been restrained only due to his re-election efforts. It is because of his remark to Mevedev that …tell Vladimir (Putin) that I will be unfettered after I am re-elected. This reference to being unfettered concerns Obama’s disdain and disrespect for the US Congress which he regards as an odious roadblock on his path to one world government. According to his ideas of a new world order, Obama sees the USA Congress as parochial and even meaningless. He wants the USA to be under to world order that allows the United Nations and the European Parliament to have direct influence and even legal standing in the conduct of government in the USA. Under such a one world government, the World Court in the Hague Netherlands would have subpoena power in USA, the United Nations would have legal standing so that the small arms treaty would be law here and Interpol could arrest and remove US citizens wanted by the Courts of Europe. So, I believe that in a second term President Obama work tirelessly to bring about USA subservience to International Courts, European Tribunals and United Nations mandates. In fact, he may even oversee the change of the world monetary system away from the dollar and toward a world currency denominated by the Chinese Yuan. This letter move would make the USA a Second world country fast on its way, due to Obama’s redistribution of wealth schemes, …well on its way to third world status.
But some ask, surely such a thing cannot happen in the USA. We have laws and a Constitution and an elected Congress. Yes, but our system is based on the good will and the integrity of our leaders to act according to the law and to accept with integrity the authority of legally elected officials over the central government. It is based on the concept that our Federal government officials love America, think of their job as, first and foremost, the protection of the freedoms, rights and privileges of the USA citizen and their intention, in every way to abide by the rule of law.
However, the Obama administration is evidence of a group of elected leaders who mesmerize the population with their political craft all the while undermining and fundamentally changing the way in which the government rules. The undermining was most obvious during the Obama Care process when Senators were bought and sold according to the dictates of the President. Congressmen were told that their districts would get special money if the Representative would sell their vote to the Obama people. Senators were promised as much as three hundred million dollars in federal grants to their States if the Senators would sell their votes to Obama. And all were told that what they were doing in the Senate was merely to allow the Obamacare bill to be put onto the floor of the Senate so that discussion could begin. What could be wrong with that? But as soon as the bill was on the docket all floor debate was immediately limited to a few hours and Harry Reid used his power to control procedures and the Bill was quickly rammed through. It was hard enough to shove the ObamaCare bill through using deceit, bribery and brazen power. Now try to get two thousand pages repealed! Noteworthy, is the swiftness of the federal bureaucracy to disburse the pertinent parts of the two thousand page Bill to the various federal agencies and then to implement as much as possible with lightning speed.
I deeply regret to state the obvious, but those are the methods of dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Chavez. Heretofore, the USA has not experienced such disregard for the will of the nation and its institutions. But if the Obama people are going to insure yjr implementation of their view of the world and the way they think that the USA should be in the future, he needs and will continue to need to work very fast to fundamentally change the USA. Hey, why do you think the Congress is balking? It is not about Obama the man. It is about Obama, his helpers and their plans to fundamentally transform the USA into a place where the Congress is disregarded, the Courts are circumvented, the Constitution is ignored and the New World Order instituted. But you say, not in America and not Obama! He has such a nice voice and such a pleasing smile!
I have written elsewhere on this blog concerning the deceit of the Obama administration regarding Libya. The lies were so plain that they were incredible. That is what Josef Goebbels called audacity. That Nazi leader’s creed was to tell the people a lie often enough and they will believe it. As NATO bombed (over two thousand bombs dropped on Libya) and used missiles, (over 220 cruise missiles shot into Libya) the USA administration told us that all the destruction was needed to protect Libya civilians. And then as we assisted the rebel militias with advisors and used our European surrogate to arm the rebels, we hunted Gaddafi until we murdered him. Now we are using the International Courts to ferret out all remains of the former legal Libyan government so we can try them in Netherlands for so-called “Crimes against Humanity.” But, you say, those are the bad guys and they deserved to die! Is the USA the Chicago Mafia and is Obama the Don? And are our USA Armed Forces the hit men? And our arsenal of drones the murder weapons? Are we using our SEALS as a hit squad? Is the US Air Force the weapon of political assassination? It is a frightful thing when the President of the USA can order the murder of a suspected terrorist or someone implicated in attacks against America by sending a drone to kill them. Effecient? Yes. Effective? Yes. And you say that our leaders will never use such weapons against ordinary people and surely not against the citizens of the Nation. I hated Alawaki and he hated the USA and we “took him out” with a drone. That’s called political murder.
As an American I find myself shivering to write that in the current events of today I look to Russia and to China as bulwarks against an unfettered Obama regime. Although communists, these nations were awakened from their slumber by the audacious lie which was NATO’s Agression against Libya. I believe that Putin saw the danger of unbridaled American Imperialism and along with his Communist Chinese friends decided never again to fall for the NATO and UN lie as evidenced in resolution 1973.
To be continued….
Dick Morris . Com
“The info about the number of fundraisers is interesting. It is also interesting in terms of misuse of power since he rode in Air Force one for all of them. He should not be allowed to pass that off because the SS (Secret Service) insisted. The SEALS took out Osama not Obama. So why is Obama taking credit for Osama? As a former CIA person said on the news yesterday, it is startling to note that the Obama administration thinks that waterboarding live prisonerss is inferior to killing them outright. I guess the reasoning is that intentional murder is preferred to intentional torture! I write a lot about this on my WordPress blog, Progressivepolitics.com”
I wrote the foregoing in answer to Dick Morris’ video concerning the deal between President Obama and former President Clinton. I wholeheartedly agree that the deal is dirty, but for a difference reason. I believe that former President Clinton has never been able to adjust to life away from the center of power. That is why he stays around Washington and is actively engaged in politics. He liked the position of power and the perks that went with the Presidency. He thought he owned the White House when he lived there and has never gotten over the fact that President Bush had it for eight and now President Obama four years. I believe he yearns for those days when he was the main man at the big house. I also think he realizes how foolish he was to squander those days by an affair with Monica L. As for Hilary, she settled for Secretary of State for the same reasons. She missed the White House, and the tremendous array of personal services offered to the First lady by obsequious political functionaries. A Senator? In that position she never approached the luxury and power afforded her as wife of the President. Sad to see her guzzling down a beer at the bar in South America! So, we have the persons who formerly were fielders of power cutting a deal with the currently powerful in order thereby to win an election that presents them with continued power and access to personal services that would make a king blush. Maybe it is better to have a five-year Presidency with no opportunity for re-election. Ford went home, as did Carter. Bush 41 and Bush 43 also relinquished the reins of government with ‘Elan. But it looks from here like the Clinton’s and the Obama’s want to hold on so bad that they will put up with each other to achieve it. Elect Romney and let the new broom sweep the house clean.
Gingrich Expected Fox to favor Him.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/newt-gingrich-cnn-less-biased-fox-news-141511492.html In this article Speaker Gingrich plays loose with facts in favor of “…Callista and I…” Spouses are always very protective and defensive of their partner. I can imagine how difficult it is for the spouses, who are not running for office, to see their partner trashed in the news. However, this writer has exactly the opposite evaluation of Fox. I have wondered why Fox is against Romney and consistently, in my view, worked to give everyone other than Romney an opportunity to destroy Romney. Strange and filled with wonder, how two or more people can look at facts and come to completely different conclusions.
Ann Romney Does Support Her Family
http://news.yahoo.com/ann-romney-fights-back-debuts-twitter-counter-dnc-024814954–abc-news-politics.html The last comment from this Democrat spokesman is that Following the interview, “Rosen herself tweeted, “I’ve nothing against @AnnRomney. I just don’t want Mitt using her as an expert on women struggling $ to support their family. She isn’t.” A true stay at home mother most certainly does support her family in terms of money. The value of her work makes it possible for the spouse to work. This comment is typical of the Democrats who have no experience with reality. Many families cannot afford nannies, or private daycare for their infants and children. The spouse who stays at home, who is often female, contributes the equivalent in dollars and much more in value. Her contribution is dismissed by the likes of Rosen who is snotty about stay at home moms and their monetary value to the family.