From the category archives:

National

Best Health Care In The World

by turfgrrl on February 15, 2010 12:51 pm · 5 comments

So Anthem, which is owned by Wellpoint, set a firestorm of controversy in California when they announced individual policy rate hikes of 39%. Now other states are being targeted by Anthem. Like Maine. No reports yet on Anthem raising rates in Connecticut From the AP:

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The Danger Of Old Tires

by turfgrrl on February 14, 2010 8:37 am · 3 comments

Ever wonder about the countless treads you see along side the highways? Lately I’ve noticed that they weren’t all treads from big tires, but looked like passenger car tire size. Apparently tires have a shelf life, and some tires are sold as new when they were manufactured many years before.

ABC News has the report:

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Get Your Tax Cuts Here

February 5, 2010

Upset about that federal deficit? Want to see some tax cuts? Apparently the federal stimulus bill has some neatly organized for your review here:

Individual Tax Cuts:

1. “Making Work Pay” Tax Credit (Sec. 1001, Page 195). In tax years 2009 and 2010, the Making Work Pay provision will provide a refundable tax credit of 6.2 percent of earned income up to $400 for individuals and up to $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns.

2. Increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit (Sec. 1002, Page 198). Go to the stimulus bill for all the details, but it essentially expands this benefit for the working poor.

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Murray Hill Inc. Running For Congress in Maryland

February 3, 2010

If corporations are entitled to the same rights as indivduals, then it is easy to extrapolate that corporations can run for public office. This youtube video starts the ball rolling:

What is interesting about the firm, Murray Hill Inc. is a PR agency who has plenty of  union and environmental groups as clients. Precisely the sort of groups also given free reign to spend money on political advertising. Perhaps next up we’ll start seeing the ubiquitos navy blue suits adorned with corporate sponsorship logos a la sports.

Max Baucus-D Nebraska

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Most Union Workers Work Government Jobs

January 29, 2010

When you think unions, being of a certain generation, you may hold some yesteryear vision that the typical union worker manufacturers something, somewhere deep in the bowels of a factory rife with health threatening tasks. It’s the classic vision that union advocates want you to think of, and one that I default to.

But the numbers don’t lie. More union workers work for government jobs than in your private sector employment. Which means that they work for us, as in we the people, rather than some mindless corporate profiteering entity unconcerned with worker safety.

The New York Times reports:

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Jobs and Jobs, Two speeches Which Was More Important?

January 28, 2010

What a day. First Steve Jobs announced the iPad, the next thing in a long line of gadget things that Apple has figured out that we need.

We need the iPad, because it takes what was the Kindle, and makes it cooler. In color too. It says — hey world, we figured out you figured out that you don’t really need computers any more, you like the iPhone, but the keys are too close together so here’s the fat fingered version.But wait, you can pair a bluetooth keyboard to it. And it will have more battery life than my Air?

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Who’s Afraid of a Fillibuster?

January 20, 2010

When was the lats time there was a fillibuster executed in the Senate? In 2005 Foxnews reported that it was 1992, with then Senator Alfonse D’Amato talking for 15 hours and 14 minutes.

Since then nada, that is in the form of a true filibuster.

For the President to announce that nothing will happen in the Senate until Scott Brown is seated, is a sign that Democrats just don’t know how to lead. Bill Clinton had it right, it’s better to be strong and wrong, then right and weak.

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Martin Luther King Day

January 18, 2010

The Seattle Times has a nice web site celebrating the life and times of Martin Luther King. Check it out:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/special/mlk/

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A Message From The Former Presidents

January 16, 2010

By BILL CLINTON and GEORGE W. BUSH

This weekend, President Obama asked us to spearhead private-sector fund-raising efforts in the aftermath of the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that ravaged Haiti. We are pleased to answer his call.

Throughout both our careers in public service, we have witnessed firsthand the amazing generosity of the American people in the face of calamity. From the Oklahoma City bombings to 9/11, from the tsunami in South Asia to Hurricane Katrina, Americans have rallied to confront disaster — natural or man-made, domestic or abroad — with the determination, compassion and unity that have defined our nation since its founding.

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Tanning Salons, Not Botox Supports Healthcare Bill

January 4, 2010

A 10% tax on indoor tanning? This is buried in the  pages of the Senate  health care bill.

What gives? Well originally the Senate bill propsoed a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgery. Think botox, hair plugs and face lifts. And somehow lobbyists got involved. Specifically the America Medical Association.  The elective cosmetic surgery tax was replaced by a 10% tax on indoor tanning. According to reports, the tanning tax is expected to net $2.7 billion over the next decade — less than half of the  5.8 billion “Botax” was expected to net.

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