What's the rush?
This week Gov. Bev Perdue will likely make a decision on whether or not to veto Senate Bill 820, which repeals decades-old bans on hydraulic fracturing and underground chemical injection, and paves the way for fracking as soon as 2014. The bill took a fast track through both the Senate and the House of Representatives (at times without any public comment), but what's the rush?
More than 60 percent of North Carolinians polled think we should study fracking's impacts further before legalizing it. State environmental officials also want further study of the practice, and how the problems experienced in other states — from air pollution to water pollution to earthquakes — can be prevented. Of particular concern are our groundwater supplies — which are closer to our supposed shale-gas supplies than in any other state where fracking occurs.
There's plenty of time to find evidence that fracking won't harm our environment, public health and quality of life. Until then, I hope Perdue will veto SB 820, and stop the General Assembly's rush to frack.
MARY KERLEY
Pine Hall
More to learn
I read the article concerning the increase in the death rate of patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease once they are hospitalized ("Hospital stay linked to shorter lifespan for Alzheimer's patients," June 19). It seemed that the message was: "What is going on in the hospital that causes these patients to die more quickly?"
Somehow, I doubt that the hospitalizations are responsible. If this were a cause, I suspect that the majority of deaths could be linked to something that occurred during the hospitalization. Rather, what I suspect is the cause is a change in the Alzheimer's disease itself, which in turn led to the disease, injury or event that resulted in the hospitalization. Modern medicine has only scratched the surface of what Alzheimer's disease is, its nature and what causes the disease. It may be that Alzheimer's disease affects far more than just the brain or nervous system, things which have yet to be discovered. Once those discoveries are made, this enigma may be solved.
RICHARD FINN
Winston-Salem
Immediate benefits
It broke my heart to read of the young 31-year-old man, Sean Neal, who has Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and can no longer work his job because of his physical limitations ("Best friends and so much more," June 17). Since March he's been out of work and now must sell his home because of bills piling up, while he's "trying to get on disability" from the government.
It makes me furious that this young man cannot get immediate disability benefits, considering the gravity of the situation and illness. Someone in authority should "fast-forward" this young man's application. There's no logical reason for it taking so long after a terminal diagnosis like ALS.
This proves that the wheels of the government turn slowly when you want something from it — but if you owed the government anything, you'd have to pay right now.
BARBARA S. BARRON
Winston-Salem
Back-burner
Seven million dollars being spent on a football stadium at Reynolds High School while cutting back on supplies and eliminating teacher positions seems like a very low and silly priority at this time ("Group fights Reynolds stadium plan," June 17). Let's put the idea on the back-burner and discuss its merits when the economy has sufficiently recovered.
MICHAEL NEWMAN
Winston-Salem
Labeling
As a homeowner in Stokes County, I am frightened about the prospect of Big Gas coming to our state to begin hydraulic fracturing, aka "fracking."
After doing the research, I see that it's apparently not fit for anywhere. All over the country, people are experiencing horrendous consequences, i.e. water and air they cannot drink or breathe. Those of us who are raising this concern are labeled "fringe liberals" or environmentalists, in a tone of dismissal by the legislators we've elected.
We're simply folks who live here and are speaking out.
The ex-mayor of Dish, Texas, Calvin Tillman, who came here to warn our legislators that his "fracking" town made the air unfit to breathe (his kids were getting nosebleeds), said the Big Gas folk declined his invitation to live in his home, which he had to move from. I bet the legislators and the corporate CEOs of Big Gas are protecting where they live, at least in their vacation coastal and mountain homes.
The short-sightedness of their vision doesn't allow them to see that air and water don't have boundaries. How about the future for their children and grandchildren?
Gov. Bev Perdue can veto this bill if she will.
Please ask her to veto SB820.
LINDA MASON
Walnut Cove
CNN's ratings have plummeted. And for good reason too. The network has gotten off its long standing beaten path and entered into the rhelm of being just a liberal mouthpiece for the Democrat Party.
ReplyDeleteFoxNews leads all cable news networks in the evening hours in viewer in the 18-54 year old category. So much for FoxNews being the network for old foggies. I guess people have found out that CNN is NOT the most trusted name in news, and moved over to Fox.
The below article provides a good example of how CNN managers have allowed minority writers to hijack the network, and use it for their own group's political gain.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/26/us/arizona-immigration/index.html?hpt=hp_c1
"Health care reform reduces the cost of prescription drugs, brings down costs for patients using private Medicare supplements and increases access to free preventative services. The Affordable Care Act makes health care more affordable for senior citizens and ensures that doctors are compensated fairly for their services.
DeleteHealth care reform reduces the cost of prescription drugs, brings down costs for patients using private Medicare supplements and increases access to free preventative services."
Reporter Ai-jen Poo, CNN
____________
A generalized statement, not backed by facts, made by another liberal CNN reporter. Most health care costs for senoirs have gone up since the Affordable Care Act was passed based on reports from senoirs that I know.
Let's all hope the Supreme Court throws the whole thing out tomorrow!
Anything the Democrats pass (on their own) is not going to be 'affordable', let's just accept that. They're financial morons.
"While the law’s popularity is weak, barely more than half, 52 percent, see it unfavorably, including 38 percent who have a “strongly” unfavorable opinion."
DeleteABC News
I doubt the USSC will throw out ACA. A lot of people have speculated that it might be, but their cases don't really seem solid. I can't say I'm a fan of ACA but I don't see where all the certainty re its demise is coming from.
DeleteYou may be right. Unlike some people, I don't know everything. I don't see the individual mandate surviving though, which will gut the bill.
DeleteSome people say it will be better if it's upheld, for Romney, because it'll give him something run on.
At any rate, we'll know if a few hours.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday morning.
Deletehttp://thehill.com/homenews/house/235065-healthcare-ruling-is-litmus-test-supreme-court-neutrality-democrats-say
Stab, my friends and I, like Michael Jordan, used to bet on ball games, dog races, which bird on the power line will fly away first, anything...but we finally outgrew that disease.
DeleteHowever, after much mulling over of some of the key questions, answers and comments during the public phase of the Supreme Court hearing and the precedents that the justices seemed interested in, I'm saying 6-3...Kennedy writes it.
OT, 6-3 which way? I'd say Kennedy is a good guess.
DeleteWe "travelled" on Coke bottle bottoms. Remember those? Betting on birds leaving power lines: cool.
Sorry Stab, one of those moments when I know what I'm saying but forget that no one else does.
DeleteFor the petitioners:
Scalia (he'll have to reverse himself on Gonzales v. Raich, but will probably find a way to justify it)
Thomas
Alito
For the USA:
Kagan
Sotomayor
Roberts
Breyer
Ginsburg
Kennedy
Coke bottle bottoms are a mystery to me.
Not so sure about how cool betting on birds was. That was started by a delinquent who grew up to be an excellent police captain. The real problem is that certain types of birds all take off at once, which leads to vigorous arguments about whose bird left first...sometimes brief fisticuffs as well.
And please be aware that we were not betting actual money. We had no money.
DeleteBut somehow we always had baseball cards. So we were betting a Harvey Haddix against a Hank Bauer.
You really haven't lived until you've lost a rare Stan Musial because some fool bird got itchy feet...or, I guess, itchy wings.
Returnable Coke bottle bottle bottoms had the cities of their manufacture embossed upon them. We would buy Cokes from the vending machine or pull the bottles from a crate of empties. The bottle with the farthest origin would win the pool of 1-dollar antes. We had a map and ruler to adjudicate close calls. I once won won with Hilo HI.
DeleteOIC, a rich kids game. You had actual money, and dollars at that, huh?
DeleteMickey Truck Bodies in High Point manufactures beverage delivery trucks. One of my friends made a marketing film for them back in the 1980s. To emphasize that a tiny company from a tiny city was a world leader, they included pictures of trucks showing the Coca Cola logo from all over the world in Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, French, Norwegian, Afrikaans, you name it. It worked pretty well.
In our early days of beer drinking, we were conned into thinking that Budweiser was the best of all beers.
DeleteWhile we were still in high school, Bud issued its first new label since before WW II. Near the bottom of the label, it said:
Brewed at St. Louis, Missouri, USA
By Anheuser-Busch, Inc.
But below that were listed the five Bud breweries:
St. Louis, Newark, Los Angeles, Tampa, Miami.
One of my uncles, who probably holds the all-time record for Bud consumption by a left-handed hitting first baseman, pointed out to us that the order of the listing told which brewery that particular item had been made at.
Since we were all "budding" scientists and intellectuals, we quickly "discovered" that the best beer came from Miami, so we would sort through the offerings at the local curb market until we found the Miami six packs. We were not popular with the proprietors.
Fortunately, it was not long before we found far better, or at least, cheaper, offerings from many other breweries.
My guess would be that it has been at least 30 years since I drank an actual Budweiser.
The liberal media is determined to convict George Zimmerman of something. Just like some people in here.
ReplyDeleteHere's an article about Zimmerman 'bullying' an Arab American. Nobody is just an American anymore in the liberal media in case you didn't know.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/george-zimmerman-bullied-colleague-complaint/story?id=16658024
"Investigator: Zimmerman missed opportunities to defuse situation."
DeleteWhat about Martin? Had he gone to the apartment where he was staying instead of picking a fight with Zimmerman, Zimmerman would have had no need to shoot him.
Of course, you can't rely on CNN to report anything without putting a liberal slant to it.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/27/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/27/justice/florida-teen-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Stand you Ground man gets 40 years.
DeleteI'm sure Zimmerman will get at least 100. At least if the liberal media has anything to do with it.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-06-27/texas-stand-your-ground-sentence/55868954/1
"At trial, prosecutors tried to show Rodriguez had a history of not getting along with Danaher and other neighbors.
DeleteOne neighbor testified that Rodriguez, who had a concealed handgun license, bragged about his guns and told her a person could avoid prosecution in a shooting by telling authorities you were in fear of your life and were standing your ground and defending yourself. During the trial's punishment phase, neighbors, former co-workers and Rodriguez's ex-wife testified that Rodriguez was abusive, a bad neighbor and that he once shot a dog."
Yet another despicable cowardly sissy who can't leave home without his gun. He should have sent mommy over to complain.
He should be on death row.
SYG works a lot better if one is being carjacked or shotgunning an intruder at 230am. Pistol packers who look for trouble and pick fights are not standing their ground.
DeleteI guess word is getting out that Obama isn't enforcing immigration laws anymore.
ReplyDeleteReported Stowaways aboard a ship in N.J.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57461638/stowaways-suspected-on-container-ship-in-n.j/?tag=stack
"There is no way to know exactly what is inside because we have not opened it yet, but we can knock on the container and hear someone knock back," she said. "Thus it is our understanding that there is at least one person in the container."
Delete__________
Knock Knock!
Who's there?
It's me Obama, I want in?
Oh Jeeez! Is this presidency ever going to end?
Except for his wife and daughter, Sandusky hardly mentions women and girls in the book. Instead, he refers time and again to "special" boys he has grown close to over the years. They meant as much as, if not more than, football
ReplyDelete__________
No surprise there!
The sick passenger was sweating and suffering from convulsions while the plane was at the gate in Amsterdam, but the flight still took off. He apparently died shortly thereafter. "I asked to move, but they said there were no other places," Lena Pettersson told a Swedish radio program.
ReplyDeleteShe complained to the airline and got back half of her $1400 ticket, a sum she thought was "reasonable." But that just doesn't seem like adequate compensation to me. A partial refund!! Please! In the past I have received two free flights just for being bumped from my seat.
I expect a heck of a a lot more if I have to fly with a corpse. It's hard enough breathing comfortably after someone starts coughing in that confined space. Can you imagine relaxing with a dead guy next to you ... for 10 hours?! My heart goes out to his family, of course. But what Pettersson went through was beyond inappropriate. The airline needs to pony up a bigger payout.
________
I don't blame this lady for being angry. The only thing worse would be if she had to fly sitting next to our own 'Troll', Rush.
Retirees may pay about $20,000 more for medical care if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns the 2010 health care overhaul, Fidelity Investments said.
ReplyDeleteA 65-year-old couple retiring this year will spend $240,000 out-of-pocket for care before their deaths, after accounting for Medicare coverage, Fidelity said in an annual estimate released today.
Passage of the health law saved money for seniors who among other benefits gained additional coverage for prescription drugs, said Sunit Patel, senior vice president for Fidelity Benefits Consulting, who led the project. The cost of losing those benefits, should the court overturn the law, would be about $20,000, Patel said in an interview.
Business Week, May, 2012
During tax season, the ACA helped small businesses save money through the small business healthcare tax credits as they filed their 2011 tax returns. More than 300,000 small businesses saved money through the credits last year and that number is expected to be higher this year.
DeleteWe know the credits are important to the nation’s smallest employers because they told us so: national opinion polling we released in 2011 found one-third of owners who currently don’t offer insurance are more likely to do so because of them. Moreover, one-third of those who already provide insurance for their employees say the credits make them more likely to continue doing so.
MedCityNews, March, 2012
I might add that last week I said that our business health care cost went down slightly this year. My accounting whiz tells me that I overlooked the ACA tax credit savings of nearly $17,000 last year...so restated, our health care costs went way down last year.
People from California have been called many names over the years, and none of them very flattering. It seems the officials from the City of Stockton have wised up, and are now hiding under the banner of a nonpartisanship system to avoid some of it. But everybody knows, they're just Democrats in sheeps' clothing.
ReplyDeleteAlong that line, the City of Stockton declared bankruptcy this week. Some petty thing....something like not having enough money to pay its bills or something. I'm sure they called Obama and told him the city was too big to fail, but apparentl,y he didn't call city officials back. I guess he was too busy letting in more illegal immigrants into the country. But he'll get around to it. He likes to give away other people's money.
No, Stockton is probably just the tip of the iceberg. Riiiiiiiiiiiiing........!
Judge tells Obama Administration that illegals will not be allowed to vote.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/27/judge-refuses-to-block-florida-voter-purge/?test=latestnews
Insurance companies got most everything they wanted in the ACA. Why are they fighting it now? Medical payout ratios. If an insurance company does not payout 80% (I believe that is the figure for this year, Bucky can research it further) of the premiums collected for actual healthcare, then you or your employer are due a rebate. So Rush you might get even more money back, if the ACA survives.
ReplyDelete10 things you will miss about the law if the justices invalidate it:
Delete1) Access to health insurance for 30 million Americans and lower premiums. More than 30 million uninsured Americans will find coverage under the law. Middle-class families who buy health care coverage through the exchanges will be eligible for refundable and advanceable premium credits and cost-sharing subsidies to ensure that the coverage they have is affordable.
2) The ability of businesses and individuals to purchase comprehensive coverage from a regulated marketplace. The law creates new marketplaces for individuals and small businesses to compare and purchase comprehensive coverage. Insurers will have to meet quality measures to ensure that Americans can access comprehensive coverage when they need it.
3) Insurers’ inability to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions. Beginning in 2014, insurers can no longer deny insurance to families or individuals with pre-existing conditions. Insurers are also prohibited from placing lifetime limits on the dollar value of coverage and rescinding insurers except in cases of fraud. Insurers are already prohibited from discriminating against children with pre-existing conditions.
4) Tax credits for small businesses that offer insurance. Small employers that purchase health insurance for employees are already receiving tax credits to encourage them to continue providing coverage.
Delete5) Assistance for businesses that provide health benefits to early retirees.The law created a temporary reinsurance program for employers providing health insurance coverage to retirees over age 55 who are not eligible for Medicare, reimbursing employers or insurers for 80% of retiree claims. The program has offered at least $4.73 billion in reinsurance payments to more than 2,800 employers and other sponsors of retiree plans, with an average cumulative reimbursement per plan sponsor of approximately $189,700.
6) Affordable health care for lower-income Americans. Obamacare extends Medicaid to individuals with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty line, guaranteeing that the nation’ most vulnerable population has access to affordable, comprehensive coverage.
7) Investments in women’s health. Obamacare prohibits insurers from charging women substantially more than men and requires insurers to offer preventive services — including contraception — at no additional cost.
8) Young adults’ ability to stay on their parents’ health care plans. More than 3.1 million young people have already benefited from dependent coverage, which allows children up to age 26 to remain insured on their parents’ plans.
Delete9) Discounts for seniors on brand-name drugs. Pharmaceutical manufacturers are required to provide a 50% discount on prescriptions filled in the Medicare Part D coverage gap. Seniors have already saved $3.5 billion on prescription drug costs thanks to the Affordable Care Act provision.
10) Temporary coverage for the sickest Americans. The law established temporary national high-risk pools that are providing health coverage to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions who cannot find insurance on the individual market. In 2014, they will be able to enroll in insurance through the exchanges. 67,482 individuals have already benefited from the program. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/06/24/505179/10-things-you-would-miss-about-obamacare/
Great posts Wordly. Facts are stubborn things, as a great man said.
DeleteYes, Wordly, excellent find...and thanks for posting it here.
DeleteThe great irony in all this is that original idea for ACA came from the GOP, which hotly debated the "must buy" clause, found that it was a necessary component and signed off on it. Of course, they didn't actually do it.
So when the Dems did, it suddenly became a demon plan. How short the memory of fools.
When the Tea Party loonies first suggested that any part of the plan was "unconstitutional", every legitimate constitutional scholar in the world laughed and said "There's less than a 1% chance that that crazy idea will succeed."
So guess who one of the biggest culprits is...the New York Times, which at each challenge in federal court, trumpeted the rulings against ACA in huge front page articles, while burying the rulings for ACA in the inner pages.
The lesser media, as always, followed suit, to the point that the average consumer of media came to believe the two anti-ACA decisions were the norm.
I imagine that the Times thought that the anti-ACA rulings were so ridiculous that people would see that and be enlightened.
What they forgot was the George Carlin Rule:
"Consider how stupid the average American is...then consider that half of them are even stupider."
Politics as usual.
And Arthur...
DeleteFor the illiterati, of which we have at least one, although he seems like many more, on this forum, that quote in full would be:
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
John Adams, 'Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials,' December 1770
At the Republican convention in 1988, the "great" Ronald Reagan, attempting to quote Adams, miscued and said "Facts are stupid things...", which ever since has been the rallying cry of the Republican Party.
Didn't know that story about Reagan...it figures.
Delete