Thanks to the Washington Post for putting this up… It shows in three columns how each House member voted, how much the Health Industry has put into each campaign chest, and the number of non insured in his district…
Out of 435 Representatives, Mike Castle was, from the top, 119th with $441,423 of his campaign finances coming directly from the Health Insurance industry….
Which goes a long way to explain why he voted against the 11.9 percent of our population that currently has no possibility of achieving health insurance…
“We only send one….. let’s send our best….”
Obviously the best person we have to represent us in the current House of Representatives, is there now.
Recent events have called me to question whether it is the best we can do.
The President’s version of the Health Care Reform Act passed the House last night. As expected, Delaware’s one, and therefore it’s best, voted against it…
His excuse if you read his website, (between the lines of course) is that he was ordered to do so by John Boehner (R -OH) who is the man who tells Republicans what they can or cannot do….
That was of course, because Mr. Boehner, needed Mike Castle’s support for his own Republican version of healthcare reform, which was lampooned across the global media after it was leaked to the press. The price for Mike Castle’s vote, was Boehner would allow Mike Castle’s amendment to ride underneath.
Mike Castle’s amendment…. allows Health insurers to raise your rates if you don’t participate in some form of wellness program…
Which means….
That if you are undergoing chemotherapy, having dialysis, or gastrointestinal surgery and can’t take part in a wellness program to talk about diet benefits and walking around Glasgow park, your rates will go up 50%…
So make sure we get this…. Under Mike Castle’s amendment, when you’re deathly sick, the insurance companies can shoot your rates sky high so you can’t afford to keep coverage….. and then drop you for non payment……….
That IS the best we can do.
“I felt last night’s decision was the right decision for my district, even though it was not the popular decision for my party,” Cao told CNN on Sunday.
Cao is the lone Republican to vote for the Healthcare Act yesterday… Mike Castle is Delaware’s lone Republican….
who, unlike Cao, obviously puts his party’s interest over those of his constituents…….
These guys are a hoot… Man, if anyone was ever a joke in politics it would have to be Boehmer and his Republican cadre in the House… What a laughing stock. Man, they have to be doing it for laughs. Can any human being possibly be this dumb… Is it possible they actually put this up without even reading what they are proposing?
Obviously some low level staffer put it together while on crack… There can be no other possible explanation…. This bill fucks Americans like no other bill ever offered in our lifetimes. These buffoons have no inkling of what they are doing. Dudes! If you’re gonna throw shit into a fan…. YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO STAND IN FRONT OF IT…..
Eww…. what’s that smell. Just another one of those House Republicans…. Let’s see how fast Castle jumps out of … or into…. this outhouse without a floor. Sploop.
No self respecting Republican can hold his head high after this… No one… Dudes… you need to start a new party and lose those jokers who have your future by the balls… and their pulling them off as you read this… How can anyone who supported Ronald Reagan, call themselves a Republican today?
Here’s why Republicans are totally hilarious….
The Republican “alternate bill” has ignored nearly every issue with which reform is intended to deal.
An end to denial of coverage or exorbitant premiums for people with preexisting conditions?
People with health issues who are covered may actually see their premiums go up if this legislative farce were somehow passed. Considering that overwhelming premiums are already a tool used by insurance companies to passively deny coverage to Americans with preexisting conditions, this may actually exacerbate the problem.
So, what exactly does the bill seek to accomplish? One thing is tort reform,
CBO concludes that limiting malpractice liability would reduce total national health care spending by about one-half of 1 percent, or about $11 billion this year. That would save taxpayers about $41 billion over the next decade in lower Medicare, Medicaid and other federal spending for health care.
And here is what funny man said last month….
Rep. Boehner, Oct. 2: We could save over $100 billion a year in less medicine being practiced if in fact we were to have real reform of medical malpractice laws.
Read how they came up with that bogus figure? It’s crazy! They’re crazy! They’re fuckin’ on crack! There is no other explanation!
Here the Republicans have identified the true problem with our system. Our insurance plans are just too damn good. By allowing insurance companies to make some of them less comprehensive, we can pay less for them These overall savings are the primary driver behind the $68 billion by which the CBO estimates this plan would reduce federal deficits over the next decade.
Under their plan, instead of paying $300 a month in insurance, you can pay $250 a month for a different plan…. that covers nothing…. Who in the fuck would want to do that? Are these guys for real? I mean. Can anyone on this planet be any stupider? This is hilarious… It is the absolute final end of the Republican Party if word of this ever gets out… And oh yeah…. It’s getting out baby…. Too late… It’s already out there…
And these overall savings of dropping prices and covering nothing, are the prime drivers of how the republican’s think they can save money…
And this is what Castle is proposing? And he is actually running? We had better get answers tomorrow…. Because if he is, he is totally dead, politically. Holy Cow…. I just can’t get over how idiotic this group is… Unbelievable… 
They are reforming health insurance by allowing it not to cover anything so they never have to pay out a claim…
Someone should inform them that we are reforming health insurance so that it covers more things, at a cheaper rate for all of us…
So exactly how stupid is a Boehmer Republican? By releasing a health care reform bill that does in no way reform health care, they have conceded that they have no way to better the current House Bill… which saves 129 billion over the next decade compared to the republicans paltry 68 billion, while extending coverage to 96% of nonelderly residents, compared to Mike Castle for Senate bill that leaves 52 million nonelderly residents without any Health Insurance….
Are these guys really that stupid? or what? … and why again is one of them running for Senate?
I’m saying nothing here. Just let their own health plan speak for itself….
* No national exchange
* No mandates for employers or for individuals
* Insurance companies still get to exclude people with pre-existing conditions
* No tax credits to help middle class and lower income people to buy insurance
* High-risk pools for states to cover people excluded from insurance coverage are included and some funds are provided. Except lots of states have these and they are expensive.
* Small businesses band together to get lower rates (don’t get me started)
* Limit medical malpractice (but nothing about limiting the damage that medical mistakes can cause to people!)
* Let people buy insurance across state lines — specifically knocking down state laws for consumer protection.
Thanks Cassandra/Delaware Liberal.
There is no way these guys are fit to lead.
The preview elections have passed. Debate is swirling among those paid for spin, otherwise the rest of the country heaves a deep sigh of “who cares”… Far more important is this evening’s World Series Game.. Far more important is next Sunday’s Eagles Game… One could even venture that here in Delaware, this Saturday’s Hofstra game is fundamentally perhaps 800 times more important than yesterday’s elections… And most Delawareans could care less about this Saturday’s Blue Hen game…
So in that frame of reference, that is how unimportant yesterday’s election results were.
You will hear some comments on how Republicans will sweep 2010 based on yesterday’s results… Unfortunately those pundits have heads up their own asses….
What IS important, is whether every American has more money in his pocket this time next year. If not, at the very least, he is sold that his wallet will begin to swell shortly later….
In politics that is the only thing that matters… Anti abortion? You can make a claim, but it will stick only if everyone is certain they will be making more money next year…. Otherwise.. who really cares?
Affordable housing? You can make a claim, but again, it will only stick if everyone is certain that they will be making more money next year… Otherwise… who really cares?
Property rights? Again, it’s an issue only if everyone is certain that they will be making more money next year… Again, otherwise…. who really cares?
Democrats or Republicans? Who really cares? ….
Well, I do for one. Because one party increases the wealth for 90% of the population, by recycling some percentage back from the top 10%, and the other party increases wealth for the remaining 10% by not allowing that recycling to occur…
Essentially that is it in a nutshell…
Crying about taxes? Here is a mathematical task for you? If all roads were toll roads, and charged you 1 dollar each way, how much would you pay if they were privatized? $5 dollars a day? So if you take 5$ times 365 days of a year and pay less than $1825 in Delaware State taxes, your taxes are already too low… and that is just for one service! Anyone who says otherwise, is trying to get out of paying his fair share… You make more, you should pay more… So quit whining.
In fact, evidence proves contrary. That to build a thriving economy you need to raise taxes on the wealthy. The best times in America were during the Eisenhower and Clinton years… THE BEST TIMES IN AMERICA…. Everyone, including the wealthy, all saw themselves making more money the following year than the currently were… Life was good.
Anyone who argues the opposite, is a selfish bastard… an inglorious one at that. How dare they not come to their country’s aid when it needs it most?
The Republican’s tried the same trick in 1934… They dug in and it backfired on them miserably. Republican was a dirty word in local politics until George McGovern finally gave it some respectability…. (you have to be a smart cookie to figure that one out).
So those who say the Republican Party is on the upswing are ejaculating prematurely.
It all hinges on the economy.
We need a higher marginal tax passed on the top wealthiest contingent. We need to screw them like they screwed us.
We need a national health care plan that includes the public option. We need a cost efficient, not profit enhancement healthcare.
We need to re institute financial regulations to the level they were in 2000, before Phil Gramm dismantled them with a secret inclusion in the four month overdue spending bill for Health and Human Services, that he alone, personally held up in conference committee…
That is all we need.
America can then get back to work… Maybe then, those other ideals espoused by the Republican party can have some bearing on peoples day to day conversations… Maybe.
Delaware last week was on the cutting edge of energy technology… Fisker announced the building of electric cars in our state. NRG is rumored to buy a controlling stake in Bluewater Wind, and Claymont Steel may become the manufacturer of towers off the coast of Rehoboth.
An interesting fact was brought out in the Fisker deal that ties all of these together…
A seed of $12.5 million yields $175 million within five years. Not to mention that 2500 workers at $50,000 each pumps $125 million into our economy each year. If taxed at 2% (6 million per year) the $12.5 million investment gets paid off in 2 years.
The next line is the tell tale factor…
The last line is a no brainer. Were the plant empty over the next five years, no property taxes would be collected anyway….
But more telling is the comment that a $9 million grant was given by our state taxpayers to offset Delmarva Power’s higher than average cost of providing electricity.
The East Coast will always pay more for electricity than its sister states in the Midwest, unless they are able to generate power on their own more cheaply….
Always.
Unless they build offshore windfarms… An offshore windfarm provides electricity between 3 and 4 cents per kilowatt. Currently coal cost 3.5 -4 cents per kilowatt without considering the other costs associated with it… Having offshore wind farms costs less than transporting electricity from Ohio over an antiquated power grid.
Bottom line, if we want industry to bring jobs to Delaware, we need offshore wind to keep our prices down.
Now, NRG combining their wind and coal under one system could keep prices down to a reasonable level… When the wind fails, the turbines turn on. When the wind picks up the turbines shut down. Having both under one roof, can temper the impact to the grid that wind fluxes can cause.
Unfortunately coal will always be around. But, having wind as a primary source and coal as the back up, can make Delaware competitive when it comes to luring new jobs to this state, without having to offer a $9 million grant to offset Delmarva Power’s monopolistic high energy prices….
And if we move forward on wind, as NRG is prone to do, we will need steel towers on which to place the turbines… Having Claymont Steel provide those locally, would trim transportation costs and bring more jobs into Northern Delaware.
In the middle of a recession, jobs are nice to have…..
Next door in Cecil County, at an Elementary School near the large Wal*mart, a controversy is brewing this weekend…
A music teacher called out a first grader as a “stupid” faggot. Investigation shows this is not a one time occurrence. A fifth grader verified he always says that in class… Always.
A second grader offered that he hears it at least several times a day from this music teacher…
Obviously the first grader is not a faggot. He doesn’t even know what a “faggot” is…
Equally obvious, is that the teacher in question, has a vendetta against people he considers to be such. And this music teacher is using his captive audience to attempt to instill in them a hatred that should not be force-fed so young of an audience…
I’m interested in the details underlying this..
We have freedom of speech. We also have precedents where the law has prevented us from saying certain things… I’m wondering if this term fits that definition of a word that should not be said… at least to anyone under 12… at least not by a publicly funded official who receives his income from our taxes…
In my lifetime, society has decided and quite effectively banned the “n” word. It used to be far more prevalent, but as more and more humans became educated as to it’s intention, which is not to describe but to incite, society has dropped that word and refuses to even listen when it gets mentioned.
The same will probably occur of the the word in question thrown demonstratively at a first grader. It does not describe. (what? a bundle of sticks?) It is used to incite. It says more about the speaker than it does the object of that speaker’s sentence.
In a room of all heterosexual people, (7 and under) should that name be use in derogatory fashion? The speaker thinks so. He feels he can get away with saying it with impunity. His perception is about to change…
Unless he reads this blog, he has no idea what is about to hit him next Monday…
Firing him could be one answer, but Cecil County needs teachers… Therefore I would propose giving him only these two options. Either he must quit, … or be only allowed to continue in that position, if he agrees to dress up in woman’s clothing and teach for one week dressed to the hilt as a cross dresser.
It would effective nip all talk of very young children being faggots for a very long time.
Humans are flawed, but our love, forgiveness, and humor, always gets ourselves back on the right track with a little push…
This action needs a consequence. Firing would be too easy. Better to set an example that really opens people’s eyes as to the silliness of judging someone else by standards less than you judge yourself…..
This is a good thing. Apparently extensive lobbying has not destroyed the voice of the people.. Unless you receive daily threats by email from the Republican Party leadership, if you live in this country, between 70% and 80% of you are for the public option to be included.
The plan is a compromise along the lines of that Connecticut Compromise which established two houses of legislature: one dedicated to population…, the other giving every state an equal voice.
This option will give a public option, but allow some states to opt out.
That may seem counterproductive to some… For limiting the size of the pool of payees drives up the costs… Expanding the pool drives costs down…
But, if a state such as Senator Selby’s Alabama opts out, they will suddenly see their economy fail as firms leave to other states that do offer the public option.. Who would want to transfer to Alabama? No one… You couldn’t pay an employee enough to move there.
So over time, all states will chose to opt in.. It’s common sense, sort of like choosing to eat a peanut butter sandwich instead of pointing a loaded 357 magnum at your head and pulling the trigger.
So this option, even with the opt-out clause, will eventually give us all 50 states with the ability to serve their citizens the public option if those citizens wish to subscribe…
Common sense says they will. After all, if 55 Republicans vehemently bawling against the public option for regular citizens, use public health care for themselves… (Medicare and Medicaid, both which work well, are forms of the public option), then it must be good for the rest of America.
The private option will still be available… There will be no change in anyone’s insurance which they currently have, except perhaps that their rates might go down.
