It will not be surprise to anyone with any experience with the city of Chicago that the red-light-camera operation begun there in 2003 was a corrupt enterprise from the outset.
It is surprising to learn that it was actually uncovered, and indictments have been issued--with the obligatory civil suits between the various parties filling dockets as well. Someone, obviously, was late on a payment to someone somewhere at city hall, would be OS's surmise.
What of the thousands of erroneously issued moving violations during that period? Undoubtedly drivers lost licenses, or insurance, or saw premiums skyrocket. They saw their lives disrupted due to this criminal enterprise.
To where do they go for redress? To get their reputations and fortunes restored?
The courts? Really?
OS and Mrs. OS drove the streets of Chicago from the south to the lakefront this summer, not wishing to risk the logjams of traffic on the freeways. Chicago used to be a wondrous place, and parts of it still are. So much of it now bears the marks of an unraveling society--the despair permeates block after block.
Back to local gossip, back down in the hometown...
1. A local restaurant is opening in OS's county, opening shop under the ownership of a Chicago citizen who woke up one morning deciding he had had Enough of Chicago.
The crime, the taxes, the corruption. He researched places to move, and wound up here.
Welcome, friend, glad to have you.
2. A husband and wife OS has known for three decades or so, long-time Chicago citizens, successful in their professions, respected...visiting next month, having arrived at the same conclusion. Those who can leave, one by one, are departing. No headlines, no muss, no fuss. They're just quietly slipping out the back door, these people with educations, skills, stable lives and marriages. It will be great to have them here, not worrying about their safety.
Now, to make certain our little county never installs the red-light-cameras, and gets rid of the snooping ticket issuing cameras in their squad cars.
They are the stuff of moral hazard, and set the citizenry and the peace officers at odds with one another.
Enough already...we're running out of places to move.
Monday, August 18, 2014
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Just To Keep Things Simple: The Israelis v Hamas
The link takes you to a simple chart comparing Israel with Hamas and its ilk....
Doug Ross @ Journal: HELPFUL COMPARISON CHART FOR JOURNALISTS: The Pale...:
A few additions to the list could be:
Number of world-class musicians born and trained in Israel--hundreds!
Number of world-class musicians born and trained in HamasLand--maybe a handful.
Which country developed the technology for the mobile phones we use?
(Hint, it wasn't HamasLand!)
The list goes on--universities, agricultural development, free press, philanthropy, arts, sciences, literature, free elections, etc. etc.
Hmm...so OS surmises that's why the various Leftists of the west are so eager to help Hamas destroy all this. So much easier to do that than actually buckle down and produce something...much easier to pontificate and spend Other People's Money.
Doug Ross @ Journal: HELPFUL COMPARISON CHART FOR JOURNALISTS: The Pale...:
A few additions to the list could be:
Number of world-class musicians born and trained in Israel--hundreds!
Number of world-class musicians born and trained in HamasLand--maybe a handful.
Which country developed the technology for the mobile phones we use?
(Hint, it wasn't HamasLand!)
The list goes on--universities, agricultural development, free press, philanthropy, arts, sciences, literature, free elections, etc. etc.
Hmm...so OS surmises that's why the various Leftists of the west are so eager to help Hamas destroy all this. So much easier to do that than actually buckle down and produce something...much easier to pontificate and spend Other People's Money.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Welcome To Mr. Obama's Brave New World--MicroHomes in Louisville
OS has taken some time off from his blogging. It was time for a break, time needed for other things, and to watch and reflect. Life has been eventful, productive, happier than he had any right to expect.
All this to say--for Mr. and Mrs. OS, much of the American Dream has come true. We have been able to pursue our lives and careers and creative passions, and succeed. We were able to launch our children to better lives than our own, which was the number one goal. We live in an environment of freedom where Christian faith is not yet under direct attack, where anything is possible. In fact, one of the conversations now ongoing is What Next? Twenty-something years ago, we dreamed up what seemed an impossible list of goals, and we have seen everything and more come to fruition. We have not built wealth yet, that task lies ahead for us.
What next, then? Where next? How next?
So, OS finds this seemingly innocuous story in the Louisville Courier-Journal about 'tiny houses' chilling.
So many, so beaten down by an economy that just will not grow, and a government more interested in surveillance and control of our lives than in legitimate governance (such as operating on balanced budgets, controlling the borders, restraining criminal activity by bankers and mobsters, etc), have resorted to building tiny little houses on used flatbed trailers. They can park them where they can find a spot, no mortgages, no codes, no fixed address, none of the normalcy that should accompany normal lives in America.
These are not street people, scrounging out lives to support drug habits, or untreated manic depressives released to the streets. These are formerly middle class people who have thrown in the towel, who have decided that the American Dream is beyond reach, and they are happy to settle for a Tiny House, away from the banks and the feds and even the local government.
They are, in effect, opting for a version of Amish life, or old-school Mennonite life. Here in the rural South, there are many more of those folks than one might suspect, living anonymously in plain sight. No social security numbers, many of them not vaccinating children (since that leaves a paper trail of the child's existence), home-schooling, never voting, quietly living out of sight of a society they have decided is more of a threat than a blessing. The more fervent await The Second Coming, most simply have decided to opt out, come what may.
OS does not think this is a good path to follow, and is troubled to see this practice spread. It creates a dead-end for the children of these families, for starters. We may yet see the return of the Hoovertowns of the early 1930's, places where the dispossessed of the Great Depression gathered to live, because there was no place to go.
In the end, Liberalism crushes Hope. Duh' Prez can preach all he wishes about Hope and Change. The real change OS sees in many places is the evisceration of Hope--of the expectation that today's labor will result in tomorrow's rewards, that life will improve, that the children of a family will surpass the parents. Hope, the thing that keeps people going in the face of adversity. Hope.
OS lays this at the feet of Massah Obama and his ilk, who have gleefully expanded welfare rolls, encouraged indebtedness, used every tiny corner of government as a means to reward cronies and punish enemies--the Chicago model of governance now employed on a national scale--and now are encouraging a mass migration of the indigent and criminal from Central America over our southern border.
To what end? Qui bono? Who benefits? Where are these people to live, and under what conditions?
What about the people who were born here, who have worked here, embraced American life, and have decided that the only way forward is life on a flatbed trailer?
What about them, Mr. Obama? What about them, Mr. Boehner? Mr. Paul? Mr. Cruz? Miss Hillary?
All this to say--for Mr. and Mrs. OS, much of the American Dream has come true. We have been able to pursue our lives and careers and creative passions, and succeed. We were able to launch our children to better lives than our own, which was the number one goal. We live in an environment of freedom where Christian faith is not yet under direct attack, where anything is possible. In fact, one of the conversations now ongoing is What Next? Twenty-something years ago, we dreamed up what seemed an impossible list of goals, and we have seen everything and more come to fruition. We have not built wealth yet, that task lies ahead for us.
What next, then? Where next? How next?
So, OS finds this seemingly innocuous story in the Louisville Courier-Journal about 'tiny houses' chilling.
So many, so beaten down by an economy that just will not grow, and a government more interested in surveillance and control of our lives than in legitimate governance (such as operating on balanced budgets, controlling the borders, restraining criminal activity by bankers and mobsters, etc), have resorted to building tiny little houses on used flatbed trailers. They can park them where they can find a spot, no mortgages, no codes, no fixed address, none of the normalcy that should accompany normal lives in America.
These are not street people, scrounging out lives to support drug habits, or untreated manic depressives released to the streets. These are formerly middle class people who have thrown in the towel, who have decided that the American Dream is beyond reach, and they are happy to settle for a Tiny House, away from the banks and the feds and even the local government.
They are, in effect, opting for a version of Amish life, or old-school Mennonite life. Here in the rural South, there are many more of those folks than one might suspect, living anonymously in plain sight. No social security numbers, many of them not vaccinating children (since that leaves a paper trail of the child's existence), home-schooling, never voting, quietly living out of sight of a society they have decided is more of a threat than a blessing. The more fervent await The Second Coming, most simply have decided to opt out, come what may.
OS does not think this is a good path to follow, and is troubled to see this practice spread. It creates a dead-end for the children of these families, for starters. We may yet see the return of the Hoovertowns of the early 1930's, places where the dispossessed of the Great Depression gathered to live, because there was no place to go.
In the end, Liberalism crushes Hope. Duh' Prez can preach all he wishes about Hope and Change. The real change OS sees in many places is the evisceration of Hope--of the expectation that today's labor will result in tomorrow's rewards, that life will improve, that the children of a family will surpass the parents. Hope, the thing that keeps people going in the face of adversity. Hope.
OS lays this at the feet of Massah Obama and his ilk, who have gleefully expanded welfare rolls, encouraged indebtedness, used every tiny corner of government as a means to reward cronies and punish enemies--the Chicago model of governance now employed on a national scale--and now are encouraging a mass migration of the indigent and criminal from Central America over our southern border.
To what end? Qui bono? Who benefits? Where are these people to live, and under what conditions?
What about the people who were born here, who have worked here, embraced American life, and have decided that the only way forward is life on a flatbed trailer?
What about them, Mr. Obama? What about them, Mr. Boehner? Mr. Paul? Mr. Cruz? Miss Hillary?
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Why Yes, In Fact We ARE The Stupidest And Most Dishonest Lot To Ever Hold Office: The ObamaCare Thanksgiving News Dump
While you are traveling and cooking, HHS quietly announces that the small business portion of ObamaCare that would allow small businesses to shop for coverage online will be delayed for a year.
Thus, if you own a small business, you are still required to comply with all our incomprehensible and expensive regulations.
Only, you'll have to do it all on paper.
Happy Turkey Day from Barack Obama and his Democrat toadies, many of whom will have to stand for re-election in November of 2014.
Here's hoping that we'll be able to send the toadies on their way, and have even more to be thankful for this time next year.
Thus, if you own a small business, you are still required to comply with all our incomprehensible and expensive regulations.
Only, you'll have to do it all on paper.
Happy Turkey Day from Barack Obama and his Democrat toadies, many of whom will have to stand for re-election in November of 2014.
Here's hoping that we'll be able to send the toadies on their way, and have even more to be thankful for this time next year.
Friday, November 22, 2013
OS Muses On The Senate Rule Changes: Failure, Hubris and The Removal Of Restraint
While yesterday's events seem arcane to most, the Senate rules changes will change everyone's lives. Any sense of restraint, from either extreme of the political spectrum, if not already erased, will soon vaporize. Welcome to the 1850's, deja-vue-all-over-again.
Already, Tom Harkin, smelling fresh blood in the water, is calling for the removal of all restraints on legislation as well.
OS watched the replay of Senator Levin's eulogy for the Senate last night, as he warned his enthusiastic leftist colleagues that they had just won a Pyrrhic Victory. Ni modo, hombre--a mi me no importa--seems to be the response from the left. We won, we won, we won, we won...we slam-dunked Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and any and all who would stand in our way as we get what we want. We drew blood, we can beat our chests.
Levin was telegraphing to his colleagues one simple truth: What Goes Around, Comes Around. The opposition we will face in the future will not be on the model of a Lamar Alexander, Howard Baker, or Susan Collins. An entirely new breed of cat has now entered the cat-fight, with long memories about our behavior, and a completely 'don't-give-a-flying-f*** about what Missah Harry thinks, or what the Yew Nork Times writes'. Harry's old, and the Yew Nork Times is going bankrupt, circling the drain along with the Blue States upon whom the Red States are now staging cavalry raids to cherry-pick what remains of their industrial base. One day, probably soon, the tables will be turned.
Missah Harry and Massah Obama may sense that as well. While it can still be done, let's promote our friends into the lifetime sinecure of the federal bench, the ultimate patronage job. We can pull the puppets' strings long after we've been tossed from office.
After all, all of life is about Power. Pure and simple, straight-no-chaser, 100 proof, gloves-off, raw Power. It's exhilarating, it's the ultimate drug. Hubris just isn't for Greeks, you know. Besides, we know better than those guys. We won't fall into those traps. We've got this whole thing sussed out.
OS writes these things because he can find no other explanation for what he observes.
Normal people undertake ambitious projects throughout life: Education, Marriage, Parenthood. They create businesses, works of art, institutions such as schools and churches. They undertake science to understand how the universe operates, and out of that they create useful inventions. They enter government and public life.
Failure stalks every attempt to achieve. It is an inherent part of the process. Many ventures fail. Normal people, when aventure fails, invariably reflect upon the failure. What went wrong? At what point did things go pear-shaped? Were my assumptions wrong? Did I trust the wrong people? How much of this mess was my responsibility?
And most importantly:
How can one describe this past year's work of the Obama administration (apart from remaining in power) as anything but massive failure? Need the litany repeat?
Benghazi.
The IRS suborned as a political enforcement arm of the Democrat Party.
The chaos and bloodletting of North Africa and Egypt.
The Syrian tragedy.
The revelation of our tapping the personal cell phones of world leaders.
Snowden.
The attempt to draw us into a civil war in Syria, and the promotion of Putin thereby.
The rise of a nuclear Iran as we stand helplessly by.
The ObamaCare 'rollout', which has burned through at least 600 million dollars, and disrupted millions of lives--and we're just on the front end of that particular adventure.
The chronic unemployment that will not respond to zero interest rate policies.
The stock market bubble roars on, while more and more citizens (and non-citizens) live on Food Stamps.
All of the above fueled and explained by a constant stream of lies from the lips of the President, which corrodes what little confidence yet remains in the office.
Normal people, when confronted with this massive sort of failure, pause and reflect. It is a function of the conscience. Obama and Company drop not a beat, and press forward to gather more power unto themselves, to enable them to undertake more of their ventures. Not a moment's reflection, not a moment's hesitation, simply a push forward to the next item on what seems to be a script, a play-book. No matter what happens, move on to the next item. If we seize enough power while we can, the failures won't matter--we'll have the power, and can stuff the record of those failures down the Memory Hole.
These are not normal people. And OS fears that another group of not normal' people may arise from the Right, or from even Farther Left. He fears we are staggering toward our next Civil War, or a dictatorship, or both. Heaven only knows what tragedies await us.
Yesterday's events will serve as an accelerator of that process, but will not be a principal cause. They were symptomatic, the inevitable result of the hubris that fuels the present regime.
Already, Tom Harkin, smelling fresh blood in the water, is calling for the removal of all restraints on legislation as well.
OS watched the replay of Senator Levin's eulogy for the Senate last night, as he warned his enthusiastic leftist colleagues that they had just won a Pyrrhic Victory. Ni modo, hombre--a mi me no importa--seems to be the response from the left. We won, we won, we won, we won...we slam-dunked Rand Paul and Ted Cruz and any and all who would stand in our way as we get what we want. We drew blood, we can beat our chests.
Levin was telegraphing to his colleagues one simple truth: What Goes Around, Comes Around. The opposition we will face in the future will not be on the model of a Lamar Alexander, Howard Baker, or Susan Collins. An entirely new breed of cat has now entered the cat-fight, with long memories about our behavior, and a completely 'don't-give-a-flying-f*** about what Missah Harry thinks, or what the Yew Nork Times writes'. Harry's old, and the Yew Nork Times is going bankrupt, circling the drain along with the Blue States upon whom the Red States are now staging cavalry raids to cherry-pick what remains of their industrial base. One day, probably soon, the tables will be turned.
Missah Harry and Massah Obama may sense that as well. While it can still be done, let's promote our friends into the lifetime sinecure of the federal bench, the ultimate patronage job. We can pull the puppets' strings long after we've been tossed from office.
After all, all of life is about Power. Pure and simple, straight-no-chaser, 100 proof, gloves-off, raw Power. It's exhilarating, it's the ultimate drug. Hubris just isn't for Greeks, you know. Besides, we know better than those guys. We won't fall into those traps. We've got this whole thing sussed out.
OS writes these things because he can find no other explanation for what he observes.
Normal people undertake ambitious projects throughout life: Education, Marriage, Parenthood. They create businesses, works of art, institutions such as schools and churches. They undertake science to understand how the universe operates, and out of that they create useful inventions. They enter government and public life.
Failure stalks every attempt to achieve. It is an inherent part of the process. Many ventures fail. Normal people, when aventure fails, invariably reflect upon the failure. What went wrong? At what point did things go pear-shaped? Were my assumptions wrong? Did I trust the wrong people? How much of this mess was my responsibility?
And most importantly:
What can I learn from this failure that may fuel the success of the next undertaking?
Benghazi.
The IRS suborned as a political enforcement arm of the Democrat Party.
The chaos and bloodletting of North Africa and Egypt.
The Syrian tragedy.
The revelation of our tapping the personal cell phones of world leaders.
Snowden.
The attempt to draw us into a civil war in Syria, and the promotion of Putin thereby.
The rise of a nuclear Iran as we stand helplessly by.
The ObamaCare 'rollout', which has burned through at least 600 million dollars, and disrupted millions of lives--and we're just on the front end of that particular adventure.
The chronic unemployment that will not respond to zero interest rate policies.
The stock market bubble roars on, while more and more citizens (and non-citizens) live on Food Stamps.
All of the above fueled and explained by a constant stream of lies from the lips of the President, which corrodes what little confidence yet remains in the office.
Normal people, when confronted with this massive sort of failure, pause and reflect. It is a function of the conscience. Obama and Company drop not a beat, and press forward to gather more power unto themselves, to enable them to undertake more of their ventures. Not a moment's reflection, not a moment's hesitation, simply a push forward to the next item on what seems to be a script, a play-book. No matter what happens, move on to the next item. If we seize enough power while we can, the failures won't matter--we'll have the power, and can stuff the record of those failures down the Memory Hole.
These are not normal people. And OS fears that another group of not normal' people may arise from the Right, or from even Farther Left. He fears we are staggering toward our next Civil War, or a dictatorship, or both. Heaven only knows what tragedies await us.
Yesterday's events will serve as an accelerator of that process, but will not be a principal cause. They were symptomatic, the inevitable result of the hubris that fuels the present regime.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
An Obama Speechwriter Explains What Himself Really Meant...
Really, you just can't make this up!
Jon Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter, explains what Himself REALLY meant when he claimed repeatedly 'If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance!'
It was an ObamaMantra, endlessly hammered home.
Any and all who pointed out that this would not be the case were derided, considered to be racist, or at least someone who enjoys watching sick people suffer.
Really, the problem has been that we were not sufficiently clairvoyant to understand what Himself really really really meant.
Silly us. Click on the image in order to find out what we should have known all along.
Jon Lovett, a former Obama speechwriter, explains what Himself REALLY meant when he claimed repeatedly 'If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance!'
It was an ObamaMantra, endlessly hammered home.
Any and all who pointed out that this would not be the case were derided, considered to be racist, or at least someone who enjoys watching sick people suffer.
Really, the problem has been that we were not sufficiently clairvoyant to understand what Himself really really really meant.
Silly us. Click on the image in order to find out what we should have known all along.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
The Bad News, The Really Bad News, And The Really Really Bad News About The ObamaCare Failure To Launch...
The folks at CNBC aren't known for being wild-eyed crazy Teeeeee-Party, 'baccy-chewin', cousin-marryin', mouth-breathin', Newt-lovin', Neanderthals: i.e., in the eyes of Obama, anyone who thinks this whole ObamaCare thing is not a great idea.
So, when they have this to report, it may be worth reading:
First, the bad news:
As few as 1 in 100 applications on the federal exchange contains enough information to enroll the applicant in a plan, several insurance industry sources told CNBC on Friday. Some of the problems involve how the exchange's software collects and verifies an applicant's data.
"It is extraordinary that these systems weren't ready," said Sumit Nijhawan, CEO of Infogix, which handles data integrity issues for major insurers including WellPoint and Cigna, as well as multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates.
Experts said that if Healthcare.gov's success rate doesn't improve within the next month or so, federal officials could face a situation in January in which relatively large numbers of people believe they have coverage starting that month, but whose enrollment applications are have not been processed.
This, folks, is a formula for chaos, with thousands of patients hitting the door of the doctor's office needing care, claiming to be covered, because after all, they signed up, or were signed up they think, for ObamaCare. Think about it. How many people do you encounter at the local fast-food joint, the convenience store, pass by on the road as they man the traffic flag at a construction zone, etc. A lot of these folks struggled to get through high school, or didn't manage to. Now, they are adults, struggling to survive, and they need medical care! They are just as human, just as deserving to not live in chronic pain, or with untreated diabetes or cancer, as any university president. They go through the struggles to attempt to sign up, think they've done it, but information is missing, or the miserably designed system malfunctions, or their application is lost by an insurer, or, or, or....
The Really Bad News:
One insurer reported a better, but still stunningly low, rate of enrollment applications containing enough data to process for coverage.
"It's about half of what we've received," a source at that insurer said.
"We're getting incomplete data—about half of the applications we haven't been able to process," said the source, who used the term "corrupted" to describe the batch of applications received.
Which means, in real terms, that applicants will have to be contacted individually to complete applications (how many employees, how many hours, who pays for them?), sending them back to the starting gate in many cases. And, remember, the system has already proven it cannot handle traffic...
The Really Really Bad News:
Experts said that if the lag in processing enrollments continues on a large scale, insurers expect the federal government to tell them that they must provide benefits to people even as applications are still being processed.
"In talking to some of the insurers, they pretty much assume that even if there are issues, the feds will say, 'You know what, it's your problem, they've signed up,' " said Koritala.
In other words--insurers will be compelled to pay claims on patients that may or may not actually be included in their coverage! Hmmm....at what point will they be able to say 'No' to patients who never complete their applications, or imaginary patients created by dishonest providers, or patients created by identity theft, or patients who never pay premiums because they don't know their coverage status, or....
And, who pays for this? Where does the cash flow come from to actually issue paychecks to all those employees hired to complete those enrollments, and claim checks to all those providers?
Now, let's contrast these facts with Massah Obama's comments last week that Republicans don't want Americans to have health care, heartless souls that they are.
If someone were to devise a system designed to bring health care to a halt for everyone in the country, it would look like the Byzantine disaster that Duh Prez insisted be launched last week.
Yes, the US could really use an efficient, sane, cost-effective way of making sure as many people as possible have health care that doesn't bankrupt their families.
And no, ObamaCare is not the means to accomplish this. That's what we wild-eyed crazy Teeeeee-Party, 'baccy-chewin', cousin-marryin', mouth-breathin', Newt-lovin' Neanderthals have been saying all along.
So, when they have this to report, it may be worth reading:
First, the bad news:
As few as 1 in 100 applications on the federal exchange contains enough information to enroll the applicant in a plan, several insurance industry sources told CNBC on Friday. Some of the problems involve how the exchange's software collects and verifies an applicant's data.
"It is extraordinary that these systems weren't ready," said Sumit Nijhawan, CEO of Infogix, which handles data integrity issues for major insurers including WellPoint and Cigna, as well as multiple Blue Cross Blue Shield affiliates.
Experts said that if Healthcare.gov's success rate doesn't improve within the next month or so, federal officials could face a situation in January in which relatively large numbers of people believe they have coverage starting that month, but whose enrollment applications are have not been processed.
This, folks, is a formula for chaos, with thousands of patients hitting the door of the doctor's office needing care, claiming to be covered, because after all, they signed up, or were signed up they think, for ObamaCare. Think about it. How many people do you encounter at the local fast-food joint, the convenience store, pass by on the road as they man the traffic flag at a construction zone, etc. A lot of these folks struggled to get through high school, or didn't manage to. Now, they are adults, struggling to survive, and they need medical care! They are just as human, just as deserving to not live in chronic pain, or with untreated diabetes or cancer, as any university president. They go through the struggles to attempt to sign up, think they've done it, but information is missing, or the miserably designed system malfunctions, or their application is lost by an insurer, or, or, or....
The Really Bad News:
One insurer reported a better, but still stunningly low, rate of enrollment applications containing enough data to process for coverage.
"It's about half of what we've received," a source at that insurer said.
"We're getting incomplete data—about half of the applications we haven't been able to process," said the source, who used the term "corrupted" to describe the batch of applications received.
Which means, in real terms, that applicants will have to be contacted individually to complete applications (how many employees, how many hours, who pays for them?), sending them back to the starting gate in many cases. And, remember, the system has already proven it cannot handle traffic...
The Really Really Bad News:
Experts said that if the lag in processing enrollments continues on a large scale, insurers expect the federal government to tell them that they must provide benefits to people even as applications are still being processed.
"In talking to some of the insurers, they pretty much assume that even if there are issues, the feds will say, 'You know what, it's your problem, they've signed up,' " said Koritala.
In other words--insurers will be compelled to pay claims on patients that may or may not actually be included in their coverage! Hmmm....at what point will they be able to say 'No' to patients who never complete their applications, or imaginary patients created by dishonest providers, or patients created by identity theft, or patients who never pay premiums because they don't know their coverage status, or....
And, who pays for this? Where does the cash flow come from to actually issue paychecks to all those employees hired to complete those enrollments, and claim checks to all those providers?
Now, let's contrast these facts with Massah Obama's comments last week that Republicans don't want Americans to have health care, heartless souls that they are.
If someone were to devise a system designed to bring health care to a halt for everyone in the country, it would look like the Byzantine disaster that Duh Prez insisted be launched last week.
Yes, the US could really use an efficient, sane, cost-effective way of making sure as many people as possible have health care that doesn't bankrupt their families.
And no, ObamaCare is not the means to accomplish this. That's what we wild-eyed crazy Teeeeee-Party, 'baccy-chewin', cousin-marryin', mouth-breathin', Newt-lovin' Neanderthals have been saying all along.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
OS Calls 1-800-318-2596, Just Like Mr. Obama Urged The Country To Do
It was, well, an interesting half-hour, calling ObamaCare Central.
OS decided to celebrate this great day in American history by calling that number that Massah Obama told us all to call.
He was, naturally, routed into a phone answering tree service. Not surprising. After asking for a representative and telling the computer which state he was calling from, he was put on hold.
Again, no surprise, no offense taken.
In a few minutes, the line opened up to a representative's desk, only OS found himself not speaking to a representative. He kept repeating, 'Hello, anyone there?' Never an answer....
Only the line was open, and OS realized he was overhearing conversations between the customer service reps. No one was doing any customer servicing. OS overheard laughter, references to schedules (work schedules? fee schedules? No way to tell...) and he heard references to training manuals. The voices sounded young. They sounded like young employees who had reached some sort of impasse, didn't have any guidance on what to do next, and were standing around chatting with one another.
It was eerie. OS stayed on the line for 33 minutes, and then moved on.
Again, nothing incriminating or offensive was overheard--just the sound of a bunch of kids waiting for the boss to tell them what to do next.
Welcome to our new health care system.
One would think, with so much money on the table, so much blood spilled to arrive to this day, the reputation and legacy of a presidency on the line, and a White House and Senate demanding no delay in launching this initiative...that they would make certain they had checked the system out before a general launch. Or that they would roll it out in phases, region by region perhaps. Beta test it, test-drive the model with some initial units like a car company does, before putting them in the showrooms.
But not this President. Not this administration. They're waaaaay toooooo clever for that.
This battle is not over, folks. It may just now be getting underway, given that the administration has demonstrated its arrogance, incompetence, and willfulness to the world.
OS decided to celebrate this great day in American history by calling that number that Massah Obama told us all to call.
He was, naturally, routed into a phone answering tree service. Not surprising. After asking for a representative and telling the computer which state he was calling from, he was put on hold.
Again, no surprise, no offense taken.
In a few minutes, the line opened up to a representative's desk, only OS found himself not speaking to a representative. He kept repeating, 'Hello, anyone there?' Never an answer....
Only the line was open, and OS realized he was overhearing conversations between the customer service reps. No one was doing any customer servicing. OS overheard laughter, references to schedules (work schedules? fee schedules? No way to tell...) and he heard references to training manuals. The voices sounded young. They sounded like young employees who had reached some sort of impasse, didn't have any guidance on what to do next, and were standing around chatting with one another.
It was eerie. OS stayed on the line for 33 minutes, and then moved on.
Again, nothing incriminating or offensive was overheard--just the sound of a bunch of kids waiting for the boss to tell them what to do next.
Welcome to our new health care system.
One would think, with so much money on the table, so much blood spilled to arrive to this day, the reputation and legacy of a presidency on the line, and a White House and Senate demanding no delay in launching this initiative...that they would make certain they had checked the system out before a general launch. Or that they would roll it out in phases, region by region perhaps. Beta test it, test-drive the model with some initial units like a car company does, before putting them in the showrooms.
But not this President. Not this administration. They're waaaaay toooooo clever for that.
This battle is not over, folks. It may just now be getting underway, given that the administration has demonstrated its arrogance, incompetence, and willfulness to the world.
Friday, September 27, 2013
Abdul Haji, The Hero Of The Kenyan Mall Massacre: The Case For An Armed And Responsible Citizenry
Contrasts are stark, tragic. On the one hand, we have a paranoid schizophrenic with a shotgun and a security pass into one of America's most vital defense bases, where he goes on a rampage, murdering people who WERE NOT ALLOWED the means to defend themselves. Thank you Bill Clinton, for ordering that employees in these sensitive posts be sitting ducks.
On the other hand, we have some El Shabab homeboyz who decide to kill as many as they can inside a shopping mall. Horrific, inexcusable, words fail. (By the way, what did our Homeboy-In-Chief have to say about these young Kenyans, who could have been one of his sons? Anything?)
There was someone on the ground, Mr Haji, who knew what to do. He was armed. He was trained, He was responsible. He entered the mall to help defend his brother, and ended up fighting alongside the police to rescue the victims. That fabulous picture showing the tiny girl running toward the outstretched arms of that African gent? That African gent is Mr. Haji, a Muslim, a decent compassionate man who was equipped for the task.
The Telegraph features a wonderful story about him. Comes the time, comes the man....
Mr Haji said his father taught him to use a gun to protect their cattle from bandits when he was growing up.
Last Saturday, he used his skills to provide fire cover for the Kenyan Red Cross workers and, over a period of three hours, help to evacuate some of the 1,000 people who escaped the mall in the initial stages of a siege that would last three days and leave at least 72 people dead. As he stood with a fellow rescuer crouched outside the Nakumatt supermarket, Mr Haji said he noticed the women hiding under the table.
"Just a few minutes ago we were exchanging fire with the terrorists and these people were right in the middle of it, in the crossfire. We regrouped and we started to strategise on how to get them out of there," he said.
Let's think about this. President Trayvon, if he had his way, would make certain that the Mr. Haji's of America would be disarmed. All of the little Trayvons, of course, would be armed to the hilt, ready to fire into playgrounds (as occurred in Chicago last week) or shopping malls (which may occur next week, who knows?).
What if the decent and compassionate, the sober and responsible, were equipped for the task of responding immediately to the little Trayvons?
On the other hand, we have some El Shabab homeboyz who decide to kill as many as they can inside a shopping mall. Horrific, inexcusable, words fail. (By the way, what did our Homeboy-In-Chief have to say about these young Kenyans, who could have been one of his sons? Anything?)
There was someone on the ground, Mr Haji, who knew what to do. He was armed. He was trained, He was responsible. He entered the mall to help defend his brother, and ended up fighting alongside the police to rescue the victims. That fabulous picture showing the tiny girl running toward the outstretched arms of that African gent? That African gent is Mr. Haji, a Muslim, a decent compassionate man who was equipped for the task.
The Telegraph features a wonderful story about him. Comes the time, comes the man....
Mr Haji said his father taught him to use a gun to protect their cattle from bandits when he was growing up.
Last Saturday, he used his skills to provide fire cover for the Kenyan Red Cross workers and, over a period of three hours, help to evacuate some of the 1,000 people who escaped the mall in the initial stages of a siege that would last three days and leave at least 72 people dead. As he stood with a fellow rescuer crouched outside the Nakumatt supermarket, Mr Haji said he noticed the women hiding under the table.
"Just a few minutes ago we were exchanging fire with the terrorists and these people were right in the middle of it, in the crossfire. We regrouped and we started to strategise on how to get them out of there," he said.
Let's think about this. President Trayvon, if he had his way, would make certain that the Mr. Haji's of America would be disarmed. All of the little Trayvons, of course, would be armed to the hilt, ready to fire into playgrounds (as occurred in Chicago last week) or shopping malls (which may occur next week, who knows?).
What if the decent and compassionate, the sober and responsible, were equipped for the task of responding immediately to the little Trayvons?
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