Patrick’s Rants

Sara Palin

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Joe The Plumber
2012

She’s clueless and he’s a liar… I guess 2012 really will be the end of days.

Scott Brown defeated Democratic candidate Martha Coakley in Massachusetts last night. Now we will get meaningful health care legislation. Fundamentalist Christian politicians are exactly what this country needs. Why could we have not had Sarah Palin and John McCain? Christians know that they must provide health care for the poorest of the poor, Jesus says so right in Matthew 25. In fact he goes so far as to say if you don’t, you are going to hell. Matt 25:41

Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did not to me.

So I am happy that conservative Christians will be able to wield their power. By letting one child go hungry or without health care, you are damning yourself to eternal fire and brimstone. It’s right there in Matthew, “that which you do unto the least of these you do unto me”. No less that God himself is watching what you plan to do to the most underprivileged, the least of these. Can you really look that poor, underprivileged and sick child in the eye and tell him he can’t go to the doctor, especially since you know that the eyes of God stare back at you when you do?

I’m not sure why we are arguing about the cost of health care reform. There are only a few major points, really.

1. If you are covered under a plan you like, keep it.
2. Eliminate exclusions for preexisting conditions
3. Eliminate the lifetime payment cap (insurance companies stop paying your bills when you hit $1-$3 million leaving people bankrupt and uninsurable leaving you on medicaid)
4. The public option

Are points one and two controversial? Maybe. But I want to discuss three and four. Number three, the lifetime cap. Lifetime caps push people into the Medicaid system when the insurance company stops paying and you are not longer able to get insurance at any price. This is one of the current “public options”.

The final, named public option really boils down to this: we are already paying for uninsured people to go to the doctor. Only they don’t go to the $100.00 per visit doctor, they go to the $3000.00 Emergency Room. And yes, we are already paying for this. We pay for it in higher fees for insurance, for higher fees for each test, in the $37.00 bag of ice, the $10.00 tube of travel tooth paste, the $5.00 aspirin pill. Anyone who has ever spent the night in the hospital or visited the ER knows these prices, and they go to pay for those who can’t.

The argument that I have personally heard, especially from conservative leaning individuals, is that they don’t want to pay for someone else’s health care (not very Jesus-like, eh?). Again my point is that we are already paying for it. This is really a matter of accounting and putting the expense back “on the books” where everyone can see it. Off the books accounting and related shenanigans brought down Enron. It drags on the US to not bring these expenses in line, slow down the rapid pace of increasing costs. Let’s be realistic. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars were and are costing billions. Does it serve any real purpose to pretend we aren’t spending the money? Put the expenses on the books.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 is threatening to strike over a purported dispute with Fry’s Food and Drug. Fry’s is taking a defensive move by advertising for temporary Clerks at $9.50/hr in case the Union actually calls the strike. According to whnt.com, the main sticking points are raises and health care.

The workers typically make between $7.20 and $12.05 per hour and can expect to receive $100 per week in strike pay if they walk out.

$100.00 per week to walk the line. As Dr Phil might say, “how’s that working for ya?”

Again from whnt.com

“Some of our members haven’t had a raise in six years,” said Jim McLaughlin, United Food & Commercial Local 99 President.

In what world does every single person deserve a raise every year? Not this one. Just because you belong to a union shouldn’t guarantee a yearly raise. When I was in high school a couple of my classmates worked for a grocery store, Publix if I remember right, and they talked about scanned items per minute and things like that. They were proud of their scanning rates and competed with each other over it. The company wants your line to move quickly and smoothly and so do I when I’m standing there. There is a checker whose line I won’t go through at Safeway because he is tediously slow with no apparent mental or physical impediments. He proudly wears his union pin, but if I were the manager I would not be giving him the same raise as the checker who can process twice as many items without breaking the eggs or smashing the bread. I would be checking the “conscientious” box for our Fry’s checker on Saturday who opened the 18 pack of eggs to check for cracked eggs (something my wife does anyway). That checker cares and deserves a regular raise.

Now, if you can bring yourself to read this obnoxious black on lavender blog¹

(And if you block Myspace.com such as yours truly here is the Google cache from which I pulled my comments)

When I started Fry’s Food and Drug a while back, we were 6 months til our new contract was to be negotiated and to begin. Well, it’s a year almost to date and Fry’s hasn’t brought a dime to the table for they’re employees.

*FRY’S WILL ONLY GIVE A 25 CENT WAGE INCREASE TO EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE ALREADY TOPPED OUT ON THE PAY SCALE*

Really? Is that so bad? If these were bus drivers who were topped out they would have gotten somewhere around 1%-2%. Except not this year because they froze pay steps. Boohoo, only $0.25/hr when other employers are cutting employees and freezing pay. Period. End of story.

As of now, Fry’s is responsible for paying our Health Care Premiums which cost between $740 and $780.

*FRY’S WANTS ME TO PAY MY FAMILY’S PREMIUMS OUT OF MY POCKET WITH NO PAY RAISE*

Number one, that’s dirt cheap. Number two, most employers will not pay for your family. Not my (government) employer. If I wanted my family on my insurance plan I would end up with about half of my (not huge, but not minimum wage either) paycheck going to my family’s health insurance. So I’m not shedding any tears over you having to pay some of your insurance premiums. In fact, I’m on my employer’s policy, my wife is on her employer’s policy and our children are on a standalone policy that we bought that only covers catastrophic events. So full coverage for $780.00? That’s pretty damned good. Mouth, Gift Horse. You get the drift.

Ah, let’s see this little gem

Fry’s wants to give me and every other worker who has not topped out on our pay . . .

*20 HOURS A WEEK OF PAY WITH UP TO $780 TAKEN OUT OF MY PAYCHECK AND NO WAGE INCREASE UNTIL 2019.*

As George Costanza might say, “beep, beep, beep. Back up the truck.” Are you telling me that you are working part time and Fry’s pays for your insurance? And you are going to walk out on that benefit? Yes, I see that Fry’s wants to make you pay for your family’s health insurance. You are part time and good luck finding another employer with benefits that generous. Fry’s is coming back down to earth a little here.
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This has been bugging me for a little while now and I just have to speak out. I’m sick and tired of the tea-baggers protesting the government spending. I’m tired of the conservatives bemoaning the fact that taxes have to go up – we have to pay for the last eight years of no new taxes but plenty of new spending.
“Keep the government out of my Medicare!” – what the heck do you think Medicare is?! It is government (citizen) funded and government run. If you want the government’s hands off your Medicare back the hell off the government program, pay for your own mufuggin health care. I mean it. Otherwise step back and let go of that government tit.

I know a guy who attended a tea party protest recently. He is working a government job, pulling in his government pension from a previous government job and he takes all kinds of time off to maximize his government check (Social Security). Buddy, put down the Palin 2012 button, get a job in the private sector and give up your government pensions. I hear Walmart needs greeters. Don’t want to do that? Then suck that government tit a little further into your mouth so I can’t hear you whine about the government and taxes. Now, nothing that he is doing is illegal, it just doesn’t make sense. I know the argument, the government took Social Security from me so I want it back. Except, by taking “early retirement” you will collect more than you contributed. By taking government pensions the return is more or less guaranteed – not like a 401(k) or IRA where you would have been on your own – a government guaranteed payment.

Back in the late 90s, early 2000s an Arizona state Republican drafted a law that was passed without debate. This law was supposed to allow someone who wanted to purchase a new vehicle could purchase an alternative fuel vehicle and have the state pick up a huge part of the tab. There was no requirement that the vehicle actually run on alternative fuel just that it could if you happened to find a station that could fuel it. I know many conservatives – who don’t want their taxes raised who ran out and bought trucks that they never intended to run on anything other than unleaded gasoline so they could get this huge state tax refund. Moreover, they don’t pay most of the value tax on that big ass truck and get to drive an empty vehicle in the HOV(car pool) lane. In Arizona, you pay tax on the value of your vehicle as part of the annual license plate fee. These guys pay around $10.00 to register their vehicles. It just cost me $100.00 to drive my old Hyundai. Again, nothing done here is illegal, only hypocritical. If you don’t want taxes and government spending to go up, put your hand back into your own pocket. Remember Actions speak louder than bumper stickers

Those were legal. This next one… well read on. In order to stimulate the economy, help people out purchasing their first home and maybe rebuild some of the demand for the slumping housing market, the federal government – through the IRS – created a first time home buyer tax credit. The credit is $8000.00 and can be used to help fund your purchase, if done right. And now, the government is investigating fraud. Fraud that I know how occurred. This is real. I know a conservative, keep the government out of my life, couple. She, of course, works for a government agency, his job keeps him working with (not necessarily for) the government. They purchased a home and titled it in their son’s name. The problem is that their son still lives with them and they collect a rent check. If they get caught, and it’s entirely plausible, there will be much moaning and gnashing of teeth about how the government is interfering in their lives. Well, if you would have kept your greed in check the future would have looked better for you. Fraud against the government? Good luck with that. If caught, she will likely lose her job and he will lose his ability to do his job, possibly lose the house they bought to rent out and have to pay back the $8000.00. And they were just so clever in buying this house.

And oh yeah, keep the government out of my life. Unless I can work for, get cash from or outright steal from the government. And even then, don’t raise taxes to make up the amount of money raped from the Federal Government by Cheny, Bush, Haliburton or little ole me.

It’s a radical idea, but a commentary titled Let the Red States Secede on Market Watch (via Yahoo!) says that the so-called Blue States would be better off without all those Red States dragging them down. I bet you couldn’t convince the conservatives to stop sucking at the liberal tit.

Ok, so I use the term debate loosely. What’s up with the people yelling and shouting down their congress critters over the cost of health care? They don’t want to “pay” for other peoples’ medical coverage? That already happens. It happens in the form of higher insurance premiums, in higher doctor’s visit expenses – what do you think the $20.00 aspirin is all about anyway? It covers the uninsured family that brought their sick child to the emergency room for an ear infection because they can’t pay for a Dr office visit and the hospital is required by law to treat the patient. A $120.00 office visit (man that price has soared!) and an antibiotic prescription could have sufficed, but a family without health care, without preventative care, without a $20.00 copay will rack up over $500.00 by visiting the ER. And if they can’t afford to pay the $120.00, they aren’t paying the $500.00 and your next MRI costs an additional $10.00. So give me a break. You’re already paying for it – the Government is already paying for it. The hospital, your insurance company and you are already paying for it. Wouldn’t it be better if $2.40 were added to your next MRI so that family can go to a private doctor? Wouldn’t it be better if the emergency rooms weren’t clogged with non-life threatening injuries?

I have heard the rhetoric about bureaucrats running the health care system. Usually it’s, “do you want a bureaucrat standing between you and your doctor? The answer is no.” Really? Ever hear of insurance, HMOs and the medical review board at the hospital? Whether you call them corporate executives, hospital executives, and even – gasp! – doctors they are still bureaucrats. So do you really want someone doing what they are already doing? No! We can’t have that! Oh wait, we already do.

Now that Sarah Palin quit – yes quit – her job leading Alaska in the middle of the biggest financial crises since the Depression she has time to post on facebook. Her latest ramblings are about the “death panel”

“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.”

Really!? First, let me wipe the coffee from my computer screen. Next, let me remind you of all of the programs that support and pay for special needs. Point in fact – as a school district our first priority on transporting students is those with special needs. By law; end of discussion. Does anyone really think this calls for her one year old child to stand in front of a “death panel”? No. The rewrite calls for Medicare – only available to those retired under Social Security – to pay for the time a patient and doctor sit down to talk about end of life issues. Living wills, medical directives, etc. (Something Terri Schiavo’s family might wish they would have had.) It pays for the doctor’s time if they cover certain topics. NPR had a recent discussion on this very topic. Unfortunately, the attorney they had on skewed the issue saying that family members couldn’t be in the room when the doctor discusses all of these things with the patient due to HIPAA (of course, he did use the ambiguity of legalese, ie “doublespeak” to make his point). Since HIPAA protects the patient and the patient’s Personal Health Information (PHI) the patient can choose to include whomever they want. The doctor can only include medical personnel – and then only for medical purposes.

So to recap:

• You and I and the Federal Government are already paying for everyone else’s health care (you know, kind of like how we were paying for the Iraq war – it doesn’t matter if it’s “off the books” we’re still paying for it)
• there are already bureaucrats between you and your doctor – it takes nearly three office employees per doctor to process insurance claims – which bureaucrat are you most afraid of?
• death panel – um no. “When you can’t argue the law, argue the facts. When you can’t argue the facts, argue the law.” And when you have neither, you pound your fist on the desk or make something up. Oh, my poor widdle downs syndrome baby who can’t even talk has to justify his life to the scary black man in the White House.

I would love to hear your opinions –

The economy is in a very precarious position. Many states are having trouble passing their budgets, putting many state employees and state funded private businesses one IOU paycheck from the edge. The mom who works in New York who has to keep going to work while the paychecks are no good or non-existent can’t pay for gas, food or rent. The gas station won’t take an IOU. The grocery store won’t take a “Wimpy payment” and hopefully the landlord is understanding – but they have bills to pay too. If enough tenants don’t pay on time the building could plummet into foreclosure forcing entire buildings of families out onto the street.

I believe the next big wave of foreclosures, adverse credit actions, and unemployment will come out of these state budget problems. I could be wrong, but I believe this newest ripple will have an effect for the next 16 months as people try to claw back to almost making it.

Todd S. Purdum has a long article recently published in Vanity Fair covering Sarah Palin. Coincidently or not Sarah stepped down as Governor of Alaska so she wouldn’t become a “lame duck” within a week of the article being published. Todd titled his article, “It Came From Wasilla” and attempts to get inside Palin’s personality.

I originally heard Todd giving an interview on NPR and then Steve pointed me to the story. It’s a bit bizarre, but that’s kind of what I’ve come to expect from Palin.

And just for grins, here’s Maureen Dowd with Sarah’s diary.

Rod Blagojevich has to be looking over his shoulder as one of his top aides pleads guilty to trying to sell the Obama Senate seat.
If Rod did anything wrong, and it’s certainly looking like he probably did, then he needs to face the music. I don’t care which side of the aisle you’re on we place a tremendous amount of trust and faith in those elected (and appointed) to serve the people. If you misstep you will pay the price.