Refuse the Juice

Incredible Day in Washington

I lived here through a lot of protest and have never seen one bigger than this. 

 

That's 1.1 miles of concerned Americans.  They had so many people show up they had to start the march one hour early. In this picture we are just starting to walk and there were people solid all the way in front of us to the Capitol.  There were already people waiting at the Capitol.

 

From the steps of the Department of Labor - this was the first quarter of the people settling in.  On your right is Pennsylvania Ave. and they walked shoulder to shoulder, butt to crotch for another hour solid.  The crowd was unbelievable.

In DC for 9.12 Project

I'll have some pictures for you. 

Since I lived and worked here for a while I escorted my parents here for the big protest.  We're a few days out from the big event and there are a couple thousand people here from around the country already.  The policy meeting was well attended even though it was by the old RFK stadium (worth seeing where the Cowboys and Redskins did battle for years!).

By the way, I don't usually say anything on my blog about being out of town, but in this case I have friends staying in my house for the weekend who are in town for a conference and golf.  And yes, they know how to set the alarm.

The press conference was great and featured the minority leader and a bunch of other members.  My parents had a blast.

It's a good group of people, but I'm surely on the younger side for the crowd.  The movement needs some better grassroots organization, but they are doing a great job.  The bulk of the staff is policy based and not PR based, so they are strong where they need to be strong.

Liar

Obama talked about "his plan" tonight.  He doesn't have a plan.  The house has a plan and the senate has a plan, but the President has never published his plan.  His plan may make you taller and smarter, but we wouldn't know that because we haven't seen his plan!

When they pass the house bill and it sucks and it doesn't do what Obama claims it does, he can say, "well they didn't pass my plan."

And the guy is now worried about the deficit?  Are you fucking kidding me?  This guy is going to use the deficit now?  Now he's concerned? 

Wow...

You Can't Declare Bankruptcy When You Owe the Government

It was brought to my attention by an astute reader of my blog and watcher of Rep. Reyes' constant bullshit, that all is not as it seems.

Reyes keeps on touting some statistic that a huge percentage of bankruptcies are due to large medical bills.  My first inclination is to say that a large percentage of bankruptcies are due to large medical bills coupled with a shitload of bad decisions previous to the illness. 

Not having some kind of catastrophic insurance is stupid.  It's cheap.  If you want catastrophic insurance all you have to do is call up and say, "cover me for anything over $10,000 and I'll pay everything else including doctor visits etc."  They'll charge less than they charge for car insurance.  Anyone who does not have a regular plan should have one of these plans so that if you fall off a bridge and need a year's worth of care, it will only cost you $10,000.

So, back to Reyes' idea that the new plan will somehow reduce the amount of bankruptcies due to medical costs. 

I have to say - he's right.  There will be less bankruptcies under the new plan. 

Since the IRS will be the administrators of the billing of this program, they will collect what you owe for you care via your taxes.  When you file for bankruptcy, you can not be absolved of your debt to the government.  Anyone who knows anything about bankruptcy, knows that there is certain debt that can not be erased no matter what.

Under a plan where those who are middle income and above are forced to take the government option because their employer let them go, they will still be responsible for expenses and high deductibles.  Remember, the coverage the government will offer you Will be based on your income and income alone.  Those who make more, pay more.  You get the same doctors and the same care, you just pay more... because you can.

So, you'll have deductibles and other fees associated with your care.  You may be hit with the thousands of dollars in costs that the government claims (like an insurance company) they won't cover.  REMEMBER - NOWHERE HAVE THE GUARANTEED THE GOVERNMENT WILL COVER 100 PERCENT OF YOUR CARE.  Purists like Michael Moore have been quite vocal  about how the current plan does not cover all care. 

The bad part here is that the money you pay in taxes for you health care will go straight to the IRS.  So instead of being able to exercise you constitutional right to bankruptcy in order to get your life back on track, you'll be saddled with thousands upon thousands of dollars in back taxes with penalties and you can never escape them.

Many of you don't understand that while bankruptcy is a terrible position to be in initially, it's an amazing relief that lets literally millions of Americans start over and achieve financial freedom.

Those most upset about bankruptcies are the lending institutions who want access to people they can rope into credit for 30 percent interest rate payoffs over the span of decades.  The average consumer is better off without access to large amounts of credit they can never hope to pay off.  Believe me, I know.  When my wife lost her jobs months ago we had to start looking at our options.  Everyone should know their rights when it comes to bankruptcy and they should also know how it works.

By putting a dark cloud over bankruptcies, Reyes is in fact saying he dislikes your constitutional rights.  He goes so far as to support a bill that would lead to you having no option other than to pay your government or LOSE YOUR PROPERTY.

By the way - just in case you didn't know this...  When you declare bankruptcy there's a good chance that the private creditors you owe aren't going to be able to come in and seize everything you own.  However, with he IRS - they don't operate by those rules.  They will take every last bit of your shit and leave you out on the street and they'll do it before noon every single day of the week.  You have no recourse and you can never get your stuff back.

So if you're a middle class or above American, you're now going to be paying for your insurance via your withholding on your paycheck and you'll have zero control over it.  The only ones getting free insurance will be the ones who can't afford it now.

Can you imagine being in a risk pool where half of the people do not pay a dime for their care no matter how unhealthy they are?  The other half has to pay twice their share in order to keep the pool funded.  Welcome to Obama care.

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And here's another thing that I didn't know about you.  You don't realize how the Obama plan is administered.  Unlike the UK and Canada you'll be expected to pay what you can afford for care.  They weren't just going to add all 300,000,000 plus to the rolls and charge the same price!  You're goofy in the head if you thought that.

You're reported income will be the basis for how much you pay for health insurance under the government plan.  The best part is that you can't lie because your employer must report what they pay you to the government.  They'll make their judgement of what you should pay based on your reported income.  Fail to report income?  You'll get hit with a fine for unpaid income taxes and then another fine for unpaid health insurance.

Here's the problem for the roughly 15 to 25 million Americans who simply opt out of health care because they don't want to spend the money on it - you're going to be forced into the program.  If you're a young twenty-something enjoying a larger paycheck because you don't buy the company's insurance, you're going to be put on the government program and the cost they assess you is based on your income.  A HA!  You have no choice in the matter.  If whatever money they take out of your check just happens to screw your budget?!?!?  Suck it up my friend.  You'll have to cut your monthly expenses in order to pay for a plan you don't want and probably don't need.

That's why people are pissed about the forced government option.  Because those that are not in a program now will be forced into a program under the plan and expected to pay for it.  It's only free for those that are way below the poverty line.  We're talking families of 3 or more who make less than $35,000.  Is that you?  I doubt it!

I personally don't like the government forcing me to do anything other than respect my fellow American's rights.  Making me have insurance goes way beyond the scope of what government should be doing.  For many of you, you'll only realize this too late.  When your taxes and your health care costs increase at the same time and the majority of the doctors in your town quit and you're forced to wait months for care, then you'll know I and many others were right.

Don't Be Fooled

I'm not one of those people who really cared that much that President Obama was going to address students. In my opinion, they'd forget what they heard only seconds after they received their first text message after the speech.

However, people did have a problem with it and I understand exactly why - the message.

Last week when people were upset about the fact that the president was going to address students around the country, they were asking one question - "What are you going to be talking about Mr. President?"

There was no answer from the administration and the whole situation devolved from there.

As the rage grew I think the administration realized they couldn't do what they really wanted to do - urge children to ask their parents to support health care reform.  So magically today, on the best day to break any news for the week's cycle they put out an early copy of the speech.  How convenient. 

Why didn't they say that all they wanted to do was encourage kids to stay in school last week?  Seems like they could have made that quite clear then.  Instead they watched the polls over the weekend and decided to change the subject of the speech and try a different strategy.

It's the same thing Clinton did during his tenure as President.  He focused group and polled things that went negative the previous week and then changed them for the next week.  It's called "never stop running" and it has nothing to do with marathons.  It means "never stop campaigning."  In a campaign you change your message as your audience changes i.e. you love the Longhorns when you're in Austin and when you're in Lubbock you love the Red Raiders. 

anywho - have a meeting... will write more later.

Calling People "Racist" is Stupid

Don L. Williams, Chairman of the Black Democrats - an organization that purposely identifies itself by race and excludes, whites, hispanics, Asians and American Indians - called me an everyone else who disagrees with the president racists.

He then goes on to make a call for us not to be "demeaning or demonizing..." when speaking to each other about these issues.  Well... didn't he just demean and demonize every single person in the country who disagrees with health care that is not black?  Hell, he even called other black people who disagree with the president racists.

He has to look at me face to face in a meeting today.  I hope he can conjure up enough guts to call my views on health care "racist" directly to my face today.  It's one thing to throw around those words in a room full of friends in front of a reporter. It's another thing to look me (or the other 150,000,000 Americans who do not support this plan) in the eye and call me a racist.  It's especially hard when you are a smart guy like Mr. Williams and you know that the people aren't in fact racist, but smart enough to know when they are about to lose their liberty and are willing to disagree with that move.

Also in the article Reyes once again tells his constituents to shut up and get in line.  Does this guy not know what's happening?  He also tells them to yell down the detractors of the program.  Shouldn't he be  listening to what his constituents are saying instead of tell the minority to shut them up?

These people are sad.

Told You so On Health Care and Employers

Please go read the El Paso Times' lapse in journalistic ethics and effort again HERE.

I totally missed the most important part of the article.

They quote business owner Laura Sanchez-Miramontez, owner of Access Remodeling and Construction Co.  She doesn't provide health insurance for herself or her employees.  That's odd.  Her and her company have been given numerous awards by the Hispanic Chamber championing her excellence as a small business.

In fact, Sanchez-Miramontez's company hauls in $3 to $4 million in revenue each year and sometimes more.  As you read this they are building a $1 million dollar project for a local utility provider.   

She's got a huge house, takes extravagant vacations and drives $50,000 cars and trucks. 

Believe me - she's got a lot of money and her company status as Hispanic woman owned has afforded her millions in Ft. Bliss contracts that no one else can touch.

So what does she want - YOU TO PAY FOR HEALTH CARE FOR HER AND HER EMPLOYEES!

How will you feel when this probable multi-millionaire hands you the bill for her health care?

The El Paso Times should have looked into this lady.  She's quite the apple of the Hispanic Chambers eye and lots of people in business in this town are aware of the game she's playing.

Most of us are good employers who offer their employees insurance and other benefits.  This woman does not because she's greedy.  Because she does not give a damn about her employees.  Now she wants you to pay for her greed.

If you think she's the only one, wake up.  Any business owner who can increase their bottom line by shifting their financial responsibilities to the taxpayer will do it.  Those of you with nice insurance programs like mine will lose them.  Your employer will dump you and you'll be stuck in a program that mirrors Medicare - few options and long lines.

Wake up people - you're being lied to and the El Paso Times is on the bandwagon now. Wait... maybe their management is hoping this passes so they can dump their entire workforce on the public door-step.

Problems, Not Solutions

The El Paso Times tossed aside their journalistic integrity and crapped out an article whining about people in El Paso who do not have health insurance.

Instead of examining how these people could help themselves, or how the proposed bill would help them, they just profiled them.  They had a perfect opportunity to examine how the bill would, or would not have helped these people.

So we learned that a couple of their subjects can't do math.  Another couple the people profiled are already on the public's charity and are planning on not working at all once Obama pays for all their health insurance.  In fact, most people will see free health insurance as a reason to stop working all together and stay home with the kids.  This leave fewer and fewer Americans to provide the tax money to let them sit around doing nothing for the rest of their lives.

It's sad that the paper chose to play into Reyes' hands, but I guess he threatened them like he does everyone else.

233,000 people in El Paso do not have health insurance.  500,000 plus do.