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Archive for October, 2009

Insurance Claim Denials

October 11th, 2009

Today I am flying the South Carolina Flag. I fly this flag when politics are “relatively quiet.”   As we discuss health care … we need to look at FACTS not as they “will be” but as they “are.”

Relatively Quiet

Relatively Quiet

Claim Denial is not Unusual. I’m sure that many denials are legitimate from the 47% of non-contributors, (CNN Money -47% will pay no income tax),  in this country that want something for free. But those people would be scattered across the range of insurers.  Taking that out of the formula, here is the latest “claim rejection” data for insurers:

Table from Newsbusters

Table from Newsbusters

Notice the “Medicare” line. In 2008, the highest denial rate of all the insurers.  Is this a factual (data-proven) glimpse at the future?  How else could one explain figures like this?

Bottom Line:


Its Getting too close, folks!

Its Getting too close, folks!

Why Debate? The Data Proves the Point! Why is there any doubt that a “government takeover of the health care system” would be good for the people who need the system?  If you have doubts, look at the data that ALREADY proves how well the government compares to private insurers.  One would expect the government to be in the “middle” of the pack, but as feared, they are the highest in insurance claim denials. And with the public option, and there are less private insurers (or none), what then … do you really expect this number to go down?  Keep dreaming!

Setting the upper limit for denials: If the data showed the government to be somewhere in the center of the bell curve, then an argument could be made. But this data shows already defines the upper limit for insurance denials. This more or less, proves the government ALREADY is prone toward rationing and inefficiency.  Why would anyone want MORE denials by allowing the government to run Health Care?

S.C. Flag - Relatively Calm

FReepers make Lemonade!

October 10th, 2009

Today I’m flying the South Carolina Flag … everything is relatively quiet after the Nobel Prize “selection” event of yesterday. Something very special happened at The Free Republic  yesterday, the “angry conservative mob” … made some lemonade!

Relatively Quiet

Relatively Quiet

The Free Republic is just about the very best conservative site to watch the news as it happens and be able to comment on it … all from a conservative perspective.  Something every unusual happened the day Obama was selected as the Prize recipient. At first people, like me yesterday (“see An Embarrassing Joke!), were outraged … then the “best” of the FReepers humor started kicking in and there were literally hundreds of “vanity” posts having fun with the ridiculous event.  I’ve never seen this happen before on the FR, but I’m not sure there has ever been an event quite as ludicrous as Obama being selected to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

  • Note: “Vanity” posts are usually “discouraged” on the F.R. and the regulars know this … but yesterday the “moderators” had the GOOD SENSE, to let the good times roll.  And because of this, the FReeper community transformed their sour anger into sweet  humor. (Thank you to the moderators for your patience with us!)

The Free Republic

The Free Republic

Humor FR Style: For “fun”  below I’m posting just a few of the many comments that could be found throughout the day. People kept going back to their computer and refreshing the FR to see the latest “vanity” headline concerning Obama’s latest “Win”.  What  spontaneously happened was a great example of humor, satire, and patriotism all mixed together in a salve that healed many frowns and spawned many smiles.  The result was, many, many people came away from yesterday with a much lighter heart. The day started out with a “gasp” and it ended with a “chuckle”. And this, because of the all-in-fun “vanity” posts on the FR.   Read some of  these “headlines” and you’ll see why, by the end of the day, we were all smiling.

  • BREAKING: Obama Reverses Kudzu Growth
  • BREAKING! IOC reconvenes and hands 2016 games to Chicago — new name is “BOlympics”
  • Obama Solves 48yr Mystery: Who Put The Bomp In The Bomp Bah Bomp Bah Bomp? Will Tell All In Book.
  • Barack Obama Wins $10 Million Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes!
  • Obama Replaces Lennon and Harrison, Reunites the Beatles!
  • Breaking: Obama convinces Chuck Norris to abandon his tough guy ways.
  • Stanton Friedman: “Alien abductions can be halted by invoking Obama’s name”
  • OBAMA  FINDS [IS] THE HOLY GRAIL!!!
  • BREAKING: Obama Turns The Water Into Wine
  • Obama Finds Nobel Prize in Cracker Jack Box
  • Breaking News: Obama finds Waldo
  • BREAKING: Pillsbury Bake-Off prize goes to Obama!
  • Obama Breaks the Speed of Light (Einstein Rolls over in Grave)
  • Breaking! Bill Ayers wins Nobel Literature prize for “Dreams From my Father”!
  • BREAKING: Limbaugh Awarded Nobel Prize In Economics
  • Obama re-invents the wheel.Lemons? Make Lemonade!
  • World Series Cancelled – Baseball Commissioner awards Series to Obama due to his “intention to win”
  • USGS to create new center of the Universe medallion
  • Breaking- Obama wears white after Labor Day
  • BREAKING! OBAMA WINS WORLD SERIES FOR CUBS!
  • Obama Gains Entire World, Loses Soul, Profit Unknown
  • BREAKING: Obama inventor of the Internet….Nobel committee takes back prize given to Al Gore.
  • Obama Declared Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World!
  • Obama and Kramer Win Tony For Scarsdale Surprise
  • BREAKING — Washington, DC Renamed Obama, District of Barack
  • Breaking News – Barry, the Beanstalk and the Magic Peas the Saved the World from Starvation
  • BREAKING: AT OBAMA’S COMMAND, JFK, RFK AND JIMI HEDRIX RESUURECTED
  • BREAKING: Michelle Obama Wins Miss Universe Pageant
  • Breaking! Obama’s Face Found on Mars!
  • BREAKING: Obama Wins ‘Biggest Loser’
  • Breaking! Obama Named Time Magazine Man of the Year 1961-2012!
  • Obama to Star in ‘Casablanca’ Remake
  • BREAKING NEWS – NASA To Launch Deep Space Probe To Promote Interstellar Peace
  • BREAKING: NASA reveals Obama was first man on the Moon – Photo Release
  • Obama Discovers the Higgs Boson, Life on Mars, and the Lost Continent of Atlantis!
  • Obama Awarded with Grand Marshall of the Black Angus Cattle Day Parade
  • Obama Loses Argument With Self; Yet somehow wins.
  • Obama Wins PGA and PBA Championships…With The Same Ball!
  • Obama Puts New Ring Around Saturn!!!
  • BREAKING NEWS: Family of Archimedes gives up credit for invention. Now called the Obama Screw
  • Man Healed By Touching Hem Of Obama’s Robe — Obama Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine.
  • Obama Wins Medium Coke at McDonald’s Scratchers Game, Is “Deeply Humbled”
  • Breaking! Present Obama declares Peace in Afghanistan; Awards Taliban contract for Mount Rushmore
  • Breaking News! Obama cures child obesity!
  • Obama Destroys Deathstar. Saves Endor
  • BREAKING! Obama catches Roadrunner!!!
  • Breaking: Obama parts Red Sea(Moses dismissed as a poser)
  • BREAKING: Obama take home the gold for the 400-meter low hurdles at the 2016 Summer Olympics (Rio).

What you can’t see here, but we could as it was happening, were the “explanations” that accompanied these  “headlines” … and many of them were even more humorous than the headlines, causing laughter in more than a few “offices” and “homes” around the country.  Isn’t it amazing how the “angry” crowd finds a way to smile?


The Bottom Line


Got Lemons? Make Lemonade! That’s what the FReepers did yesterday. If there is a way to turn a nonsensical event into pure humorous nonsense, the “FReepers” found a way.   My personal thanks to all of them for putting a smile back on my face … and again, a very special thanks to the moderators for wisely allowing the “fun” to continue.  We needed the “vent” and humor was the best medicine. Today we’ll go back to the serious news and analysis once again, but yesterday was a good “break” from the tedium of political reality.

Keep Smilin'

Keep Smilin'

Yesterday’s Lesson: When you look at just the short list above (and there were many more), you come away with the feeling of just how funny the “Embarrassing Joke” of yesterday really was, we just aren’t sure “who” the joke was on!  What is interesting to me as I look at yesterday’s post here on my own blog, before events unfolded on the FR, and  realize now that I ended it up with a joke too.   I think yesterday was a historic day for The Free Republic specifically, and the angry mob generally. We learned a great deal about ourselves, and we learned “how” we react to political insanity. Maybe there’s just more “humor” in those angry conservative mob genes than we thought!   …. they thought we’d reach for the pitchforks and swastikas … SURPRISE … we reached for humor to understand the insanity!


The Free Republic

Note: (For folks new to FR) The Free Republic is “free.”  All you have to do is sign up and you are ready to go.  This is a great ONE STOP news-finding site. If news is out there on the web, the FReepers will find it and post it.  You can quickly go down through the headlines, and when you find something of interest, almost all posts are linked to the original article … so you can go read the original and make your own decisions. You also won’t find yourself on some spam list and you can be as open or private as you wish. Emails are not shared unless you authorize it.  Its a SAFE site , unless you’re a lib, then it can get a little dicey!

Best of all, YOU get to comment on the news. The site is pretty strict on abuse and bad language, so don’t try those or you’ll “hear” from the moderators. (I think this is a feature that sets this site apart from other sites and gives this site some “class” … a commodity missing at many other sites.   But you can generally say what you want to say … if you are wrong … don’t worry, other FReepers will correct you in a heartbeat.  But even if you never post, it is a great place to go see the news, and see (from comments of other FReepers) how others feel about each particular news segment. One thing is “for sure” in this unsure world … you and I aren’t alone in our thinking … try out the Free Republic and I’ll prove it to you!  Here’s a link to see that this was posted on the Free Republic … and the comments.

To JOIN The Free Republic … just go to this LINK

S.C. Flag - Relatively Calm

An Embarassing Joke

October 9th, 2009

Today I am flying the Sons Of Liberty flag.  I fly this flag when sometimes when I am just totally disgusted with this country and this world we live in … today is one of those days!  Obama has been given the Nobel Peace Prize. What an “embarrassing joke!”

Sons of Liberty

Sons of Liberty

The Nobel Committee once again has proven itself to be a joke being played on the world by giving Barack Hussein Obama the Nobel Peace Prize.  The Prize was given to him because of the “Hope for a better future”. This prize which was to be given to people who earned it is now given to people who “might earn it.”

Nobel Prize for Good Intentions

Nobel Prize for Good Intentions

The “Reasoning from Nobel”

Reuters: The decision to bestow one of the world’s top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, provoked gasps of surprise from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.

Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future,the committee said in a citation.

Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland rejected suggestions from journalists that Obama was getting the prize too early, saying it recognized what he had already done over the past year.  “We hope this can contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do,” he told a news conference.

Townhall.com  Cartoon by Glenn Foden

Townhall.com Cartoon by Glenn Foden

Reactions:

  • Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri: “Obama has a long way to go still and lots of work to do before he can deserve a reward,”Obama only made promises and did not contribute any substance to world peace. And he has not done anything to ensure justice for the sake of Arab and Muslim causes.”
  • Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, This is an embarrassing “joke.”
  • Lech Walesa Former Polish President: “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act,” This is probably an encouragement for him to act. Let’s see if he perseveres. Let’s give him time to act.” (Yahoo News)
  • Anna Ek, The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society:“The choice of Barack Obama as the recipient of the world’s foremost peace prize is shocking,” said the group’s chairwoman Anna Ek in a statement. But at the same time Obama is the president of the biggest military power in the world and is waging two wars in the world. That should certainly disqualify him from a peace prize.

The Bottom Line


The Nobel Peace Price – Specifications

Alfred Nobel stipulated in 1895, that the peace prize should go “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”

  1. None of this accomplished! President Barak Hussein Obama has done NONE of the above!
  2. The Nobel Committee fell for “Hope and Change” … now he’s fooled the world too!
  3. UN Nuclear disarmament Speech … Now we understand the speech at the United Nations better (and why he didn’t want to bring up the Qom secret nuclear site at that forum and discussed nuclear disarmament).
  4. Kenya Wins Again! This is the second recipient from Kenya to receive the prize.  Wangari Maathai received it in  2oo4. (Wikipedia)
  5. This is no longer a prize you “win” or “earn”… you simply make promises (doesn’t matter if you keep them) and you can win just by “participating” in good intentions!
  6. Obama was nominated 12 days into his Presidency… what could he have possibly done in 12 days?
  7. Bottom line … Why does this anger me?  How many people have worked on peace for years in their own country only to have the prize go to someone who has not earned it?  This is a perfect example of socialism at work.  Don’t give the reward to the achievers and those who have struggled, give the rewards to those who have achieved nothing, but promise they will.
  8. Look at the People who got passed over: The Weekly Standard … these people DID something, accomplished great things … and they go away empty handed.  Socialism is hard on people, achievers lose, underachievers are rewarded!

Liaqat Baluch stated it best …

This is an “Embarrassing Joke”


Obama Attacks Moon and Given Peace Prize!

Obama Attacks Moon and Given Peace Prize!

FLASH: OBAMA  ATTACKS,  BOMBS MOON ON SAME DAY HE RECEIVES PEACE PRIZE!

Examiner.com: The planned October 9, 2009 [attack and] bombing of the moon by a [Obama- sanctioned ] NASA orbiter that will bomb [did bomb] the moon with a 2-ton kinetic weapon to create a 5 mile wide deep crater as an alleged water-seeking and lunar colonization experiment, is contrary to space law prohibiting environmental modification of celestial bodies.  The NASA [attack on the moon and] moon bombing, a component of the LCROSS mission, may also trigger conflict with known extraterrestrial civilizations on the moon as reported on the moon in witnessed statements by U.S. astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, and in witnessed statements to NSA (National Security Agency) photos and documents regarding an extraterrestrial base on the dark side of the moon.

Makes the difference between Truth and Fiction a little blurred today, right folks?

Sons of Liberty Flag - Liberty LOST!

Congress Approval Drops to 21%

October 7th, 2009

Today I am flying the South Carolina State Flag.  All is relatively quiet.

Relatively Quiet

Relatively Quiet

The latest “Congress Approval” poll just came out from Gallup. The approval rating dropped 10 points in this last month (Obamacare/Town Hall meetings/9-12) to 21% which is a marked decline as you’ll see from Gallup’s graphs below:

Gallup Poll:“The current drop in overall job approval to 21% particularly reflects a substantial drop in approval among Democrats, whose 36% rating this month is 18 points lower than last month’s 54%, and the lowest since January of this year.” (Read full article here)

Congress - 2009 Approval/Disapproval

Congress - 2009 Approval/Disapproval

The Data is rather breathtaking this month, and this year, as the two graphs to the right are depicting.

One Month 10 Point Drop! On the 2009 Trend graph, notice a 10 point drop in ONE month from 31 to 21 percent approval, and of course a 9 point upswing at the same time for disapproval.  The drop in approval is more in one month than it was for the previous 6 months totaled.  The sharpness of this curve tells us something significant is happening.

If the direction and steepness of the trend continues, some believe (The Patriot’s Room) there is a complete collapse in confidence for Congress.

Historical Congress Approval

Historical Congress Approval

Almost an all-time Low! On the graph to the right is the historical approval trend graph for congress. As you can see it was at an all time low back in 2008 at about 14%, but with Obama’s election, the approval rating came back up. However look at ’09 … it has dropped from 39 to 21, almost an all time low in confidence by the American public in the congress it has elected.

* * *

So where are the numbers coming from?

Dems/Repubs/Independents

Dems/Repubs/Independents

Note: for a full summary from Gallup on their “take” on this date go to their website: Gallup.com


The Bottom Line


My Take:

  • Democrats: The approval rating, no doubt, is coming down within the Democrat ranks. This could be for one of two reasons, (1) they are not getting the radical legislation passed that they voted for or (2) they are becoming disillusioned with this administration and congress. I believe it is a combination and  therefore a sum of both. I know there are radical Democrats, so #1 is valid, but I also believe there are “real” Democrats that do not approve of the radicalism we are seeing happening in Congress today so #2 is valid … add them up and you have a steeper than normal drift downward. Notice the approval for Democrats is below 50 for the first time since February.  In one month, the approval dropped 18 percentage points, that is significant something is changing.
  • Republicans & Independents: There seems to be general trend toward an already low approval rating from both of these groups. Republicans dropped 4 points while Independents dropped 7 points.  (For the Independents, perhaps a slightly steeper trend downward than Republicans because of the two factors (summing) discussed above for Democrats).
  • My summary: If we say Democrats are Left, Republicans are Right and Independents are Middle … then we have to say the farther left we go on the spectrum, the greater the degree of disapproval of Congress.  (Democrats down 18 points, Independents down 7 points, Republicans down 4 points).
    • Notice the overall swing downward is driven mostly by the Democrats with the Independents contributing … it has little to do, statistically, with the Republicans so the “change” is within mostly the Democratic ranks with some contribution from the Independents.

    The big Question is “what” is driving these numbers?  Is it lack of passage of what the radical left wants or is it a lack of confidence in the actual “functioning” of congress, i.e. not getting ANYthing done? Personally I hope it is the Dems and Independents that are “waking up” and realizing … THIS is not what they voted for … the people running Congress and the Administration are DINOs  (Democrats in Name Only) … they are actually DINOsaurs from the failed Marxist ideologies of the past. These are not the Democrats of your father’s party … these people are radicals!  Maybe they are seeing it for the first time.


S.C. Flag - Relatively Calm

Packaging the Docs (Health Care)

October 6th, 2009

Today I’m flying the Fort Moultrie Flag. I fly this flag when discussion is taking place that risks liberty.  If you don’t have a good product, then fabricate one!

Talk Risking Liberty

Talk Risking Liberty

Pushing his “signature” Health Care bill (again). President Obama invited 150 doctors to the White House for a “photo op” to demonstrate that doctors support his Health Care Plan.  But as seems typical with this administration, the “props” don’t always work as expected, the “truth” gets out and the fakers get caught red-handed. The people running these things, as they proved with the handling of the 2016 Olympics fiasco,  are  amateurs to say the least.  The latest example is this:

The Fake Photo Op


AP Photo 1

AP Photo 1*

Nothing like a well-organized meeting. In “AP Photo 1″ you see all the doctors lined up, all wearing their white coats, all attentively looking toward President Obama, at the center of the picture (as usual) behind the podium with the Presidential Seal.

AP Photo Spread
AP Photo Spread

Final “Sanitized” Spread: To the right (AP Photo Spread) you see the final result of the pictures that were posted at the Associated Press site.  AP, since the candidacy of this President,  has been a big supporter of Obama, his policies and his administration.  You can see from the pictures at the right and from the content of the Associated Press web page (quoted below) that a very favorable “image” is being presented of President Obama, the doctors, and content of the story, favoring the Health Care plan.

AP WASHINGTON — On the cusp of a key legislative push, President Barack Obama on Monday filled the Rose Garden with doctors supportive of his health care overhaul, saying “nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do.”

NY Post Photo
NY Post Photo

The Real Picture: But then there is THIS picture (left) that you can find at the N.Y. Post. This picture was taken before the “organized” and “sanitized” Photo Op.  Here is the picture of the White House staff passing out white jackets to those doctors who didn’t wear one to the Photo Op.

The these docs were Obama donors:

New York Times: As noted below, the group that supplied many of the doctors for the Rose Garden event, Doctors for America, is a nonprofit organization that grew out of Doctors for Obama, which worked to help elect the president. But it also appears to be working closely with Organizing for America, Mr. Obama’s political organization. Its members include physicians like Dr. Alice Chen, an internist at UCLA Medical Center, who said during an interview in the Rose Garden that she often feels as if ‘’my hands are tied’’ in trying to provide quality care to patients who lack insurance.

Dr. Chen said she intended to speak to fellow doctors and encourage them to write letters to the editor in support of Mr. Obama’s plan. She is currently doing just that on the Organizing for America Web site, which has posted a letter in which Dr. Chen asks fellow doctors to “help influence the debate at this crucial moment’’ by making their voices heard.

Again, Packaging! These were doctors that were basically Obama supporters and donors.  So we see 150 doctors who are supporting Obama intending for us all to believe the entire medical community is behind his Health Care plan. Clever “packaging” … but it won’t work with me, and now it won’t work with you either! Once more Obama comes at us with “marketing trickery” (packaging) rather than facts and truth.


The Bottom Line


“Packaging a Poor Product” Packaging is how you make a poor product “look better.” This packaging was to make it look as though the entire medical community was strongly aligned with President Obama’s Health care proposals.  But to make everything seem aligned, everyone had to wear the white coats, then actually line up symmetrically … it gives a much better “image” of doctors “physically and mentally” aligned with Obama’s health care policies.

And then there’s this …

1,756,000 Patriots (not 150 donors)

1,756,000 Patriots (not 150 donors)

. . . when we went to the Capital on 9/12/2009 to make our feelings known, the President, “who wasn’t aware of the March on DC” was in Minnesota.  He didn’t show up to face 1,756,000 Patriots, but he’ll be there to push his Socialist Health Care Plan with 150 political hacks dressed up in doctor’s jackets that were HANDED OUT by the White House so it would “look good.” And AP will take the bait and publish the “sanitized” version, just as it was “pictured and scripted.” There was nothing “pictured and scripted” in the above photograph … that was real,  the “doctor op” was a fake!

Still a Democrat? Still Supporting this Hypocrisy?  Time for Hope and Change!

S.C. Flag - Relatively Calm