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News/Politics 12-18-13

What’s interesting in the news today?

1. As they say, the devil is in the details.

And as they also say, there is no free lunch.

From TheSeattleTimes  “It was the fine print.

As fine print is wont to do, it had buried itself in a long form — Balhorn’s application for free health insurance through the expanded state Medicaid program. As the paperwork lay on the dining-room table in Port Townsend, Prins began reading.

She was shocked: If you’re 55 or over, Medicaid can come back after you’re dead and bill your estate for ordinary health-care expenses.

The way Prins saw it, that meant health insurance via Medicaid is hardly “free” for Washington residents 55 or older. It’s a loan, one whose payback requirements aren’t well advertised. And it penalizes people who, despite having a low income, have managed to keep a home or some savings they hope to pass to heirs, Prins said.

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2. The GOP effort to restore military pension cuts has failed. It’s a sad day when a country doesn’t keep it’s promises to veterans. They swore an oath and honored it. This breaks the promises this country made in return for that.

From FoxNews  “A final effort by Senate Republicans to halt cuts to pensions of military retirees failed late Tuesday, after Democrats blocked an amendment to the controversial budget bill.

The two-year budget agreement, which cleared a key test vote earlier in the day, was expected to get a final vote no later than Wednesday.

Ahead of the final vote, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., tried unsuccessfully to use a parliamentary tactic to force a vote on the amendment, which he wrote to undo the cuts for military retirees.

A provision in the already House-passed bill would cut retirement benefits for military retirees by $6 billion over 10 years.”

There are plenty of areas in the military budget worth cutting. The billions they’re wasting on “green fuels” at an outrageous cost would be a good place to start. And notice they left the unionized civilians workers alone, just like with Tri-Care. This is aimed at the troops. This is just wrong.

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3. And in case you are wondering, no, disabled vets are not exempt like union workers.

From TheFreeBeacon  “A provision cutting the pensions of military retirees in the bipartisan budget deal that the Senate will vote on this week does not exempt disabled veterans, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.

Disabled retirees were previously thought to be exempt from the changes to military retiree pay, which could cost servicemembers up to $124,000 over a 20-year period.

The Free Beacon previously reported that military retirees under the age of 62 would receive 1 percentage point less in their annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in the plan crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D., Wash.).

The section of the U.S. code that has been altered also applies to disabled servicemembers, many of whom have been wounded in combat.”

Those who vote for this should be ashamed of themselves.

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4. Dissent is not tolerated. And remember, $1.5 million a day in federal funds go to support PP. So we’re probably paying for their “lobbying” against this man. Witch hunt is more like it.

From LifeNews.com  “Planned Parenthood is after the career and livelihood of a distinguished, highly-qualified, good high school teacher, Bill Diss, who had the audacity to tell Planned Parenthood that they were not allowed in his classroom.After a second hearing last night, that pro-life teacher, Bill Diss, has been fired.

The school board for the Portland Public School District voted to terminate Diss’ contract after Planned Parenthood’s lobbying effort.

Diss experienced censure in his teaching career beginning in 2007 when he publicly opposed the building of a new Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in downtown Portland. The current action follows Mr. Diss’ opposition to being forced to facilitate presenters from the Teen Outreach Program (TOP), a program administered by Planned Parenthood, coming into his tutorial session to recruit students.”

“Diss also spoke in defense of himself and asked the school board to consider the ways in which he was targeted by Planned Parenthood. He reminded them that his teacher reviews had been exemplary until he took a stand against Planned Parenthood. He also mentioned the hundreds of thousands of dollars he brought in grants to the school. After listening to the public comments, the school board recessed for private consultation.”

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5. Are televangelists about to go the way of the dodo thanks to Congress?

From NationalJournal  “Congress is trying to take televangelists from your televisions.

That’s the argument from faith-based broadcasters who are pushing to preserve the nation’s “must-carry” rules. The rules, which date back to 1992, require cable and satellite companies to pick up local broadcast affiliates—even the small, less popular stations.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., is pushing legislation to scrap those rules as part of a broader effort to deregulate the airways. Online video and expansive satellite lineups have given consumers so many options that the government no longer needs to decide who carries what, Scalise said.

But local broadcasters say they provide a public good, and therefore providers should be barred from dropping them in favor of potentially more lucrative outside programming.”

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9 thoughts on “News/Politics 12-18-13”

  2. #1 has always been the case. This is nothing new. I know of people who have put their home in their children’s names so that it will be protected. It has to have been done at least three years prior to (something) death or admittance to a nursing home.
    We haven’t done anything like that.

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  3. #1 You all are going to hate me for my opinion on this. As Chas said, this has always been the case and I agree with it. Medicaid is basically welfare. It is intended to pay medical expenses for the elderly who can’t afford it and you can only have limited assets to qualify. Therefore, if you die, why shouldn’t your estate be used to pay outstanding bills? They were your bills, just like your Visa or Mastercard (which also must be paid out of your estate) so you should pay them. If you CAN’T, then Medicaid will. But you can because you left money behind that you no longer need.

    The deal about putting assets in the name of family ahead of time is a loophole that lawyers got a hold of and turned around to be a proactive method of cheating the system. I know whereof I speak – we went through this with my folks.

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  4. Linda,

    I don’t hate it. 🙂

    My issue is with the fact that they hide this info in the fine print. At least be honest and mention this fact prominently in the literature, don’t bury it in the fine print. Just be honest about what they’re doing. Don’t advertise it as free for low income folks when it’s not. But alas, it’s just yet another lie.

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  5. Personally I think number 1 is repugnant. You pay taxes all your life the least the state can do is take care of you in your old age. Medicaid is not welfare .. the people have an obligation to take care of the sick and aged. Of course, I think its repugnant to lose your home at any age due to medical cost.
    AJ — since it appears this policy is nothing new, the legislation shouldn’t have to mention it prominently … its just the norm for Medicaid. This is just an opportunity for false outrage.

    #2, 3– its a bipartisan bill which lowers or takes away veteran’s benefits. In the Senate a Republican tried to mitigate the effect but the bill’s origins lie in the Republican dominated House. One should be upset with the Senate Democrats along with the House Republicans. My guess is the Senate Democrats wanted a spending bill passed to avoid any more shutdowns and weren’t willing to deviate from what had already been agreed to with Paul Ryan.

    5 — Cable rules are archaic .. when technology changes, regulators need to adapt. Teleevangelist aren’t the only ones at risk if cable is opened up; local independents, niche cable networks currently packaged with more popular stations, etc are all at risk. Cable itself will probably change to an internet provider and the consumer will pick from the web.

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  6. As a teacher I found number four interesting. Reading an other source; he was officially fired for; “unprofessional, intimidating and/or harassing behavior,” and “multiple administrators testified that Diss was often rude to students and had a pattern of behavior that was damaging to his relationships with students and co-workers.” Essentially, he didn’t play well with others to use the kindergarten phrase or in dilbert speak he wasn’t a team player. In all, a crock of …… if that’s enough to get you fired, I should’ve been fired years ago. I’m sure he will pursue legal action and if the administrators didn’t dot their “i” or cross their “t”s, he should win. If the school board has a progressive discipline policy, they must have hurried it up or followed him everyday, since it usually takes longer than a year to fire someone if progressive discipline is used (progressive as in its incremental). And looking at the board’s rationale, they will need to demonstrate a “pattern” ie more than one incident. As I’m sure the lawyers checked it out, the administrators probably have more on him.

    As for the actual incident that he said started the downward spiral, he made an error. A principal’s authority is almost absolute, if he says supervise students during a presentation than you do and “grieve” it later. Unless a principal is in flagrant violation of the contract you must follow his/her direction.

    I must say its rather bizarre to have the TOPS presentation during a computer science class instead of health. On the other hand, most students don’t take health after grade nine so I guess the presenters must have just interrupted various classes as they went along. Apparently, its a widely approved program that happened to use PP staff in this particular case. And here he might have made an other mistake if Diss said he couldn’t stay because the content conflicted with his religious values (I imagine they were there to speak about pregnancy prevention) he might have cause to complain but if he had said the organization (and its other activities) conflicted with his values then its more difficult for him. In addition, he was asked only to supervise the students he was legally responsible for at that time. At no time was he asked to show support.

    Thus, he probably was more difficult than he should have been yet the board also overreacted. Since he was legally responsible for those students at that time he should stayed and then discuss with administration how this conflict could be avoided in the future.

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  8. Someone needs to start a TV Network called the Free Speech Network. It will air Duck Dynasty, The Paula Deen Show, Glen Beck and for the “progressives” Martin Bashir and Alec Baldwin. They can also air Mel GIbson movies and “Seinfeld” featuring Michel Richards.

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