Friday, March 29, 2013

Actual cost of health care bill ( Affordable Care Act )

Two things caught my attention recently.

First, this CBO report.  Look at the two lines; how much the NET cost of the bill is, over ten years:

$1,680,000,000,000

Just over $1.5 Trillion.

Now look at the "gross" cost... or minus the tax revenue that's been promised?

$1,165,000,000,000





This means that the actual cost is just over $1 Trillion.
Now I know what you're going to say.  Hey... look at the small print?

Those amounts do not reflect the total budgetary impact of the ACA. That legislation included many other provisions that, on net, will reduce budget deficits. 

As usual, the government is telling us that it really won't cost anything.  Because the bill contains cost cutting measures that in the long run, will offset that $1 trillion.  Right?  For instance, as you know, the government is planning on cutting $711 billion in "waste, fraud, and abuse" from medicare.

So... if that's true, we should see at least a stabilization of Medicare costs.  Yes?
Let's check in and see what the government is planning from 2011-2021:
Medicare spending is estimated to have grown 6.3% in 2011 and projected to grow an average of 6.1% per year over the projection period.

Huh.  That is not a cut.  Which means that Medicare is still going to rise, and there will be no cost savings.  Yes?

So... that was all just bullshit.  Right?

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

The best two parts of CPAC

In a close second, Ann Coulter, describing the "War On Women":


And absolutely, at #1, Sarah Palin talking about Gun Control, and mocking Bloomberg, at the same time.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Guess who "re-defined rape"? The DOJ

Here's the way the a democrat would describe it:


Paul Ryan introduced a bill that would redefine rape

I just had someone tell me that. Again.  In fact, this time, they told me that Ryan was trying to restrict women from getting abortions even for rape, incest, and when the mother was in danger.
So I thought I'd attempt to quash this myth for once and for all.

HR 3 was a bill that would allow federal funding for abortions when the mother was in danger, and in cases of rape and incest, but disallow it in all other cases.
I know that sounds exactly the opposite of what was described, above.  But that's what it was.

It wasn't introduced by Paul Ryan, although he was a co-sponsor.  Along with 227 other people.

Latest Title: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act
Sponsor: Rep Smith, Christopher H. [NJ-4] (introduced 1/20/2011)      Cosponsors (227)

Wait... 227 other people?
Phew!
Here are the original co-sponsors of the bill.  I've highlighted the names of the women who co-sponsored it:
"Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. AKIN, Mr. ALEXANDER, Mr. AUSTRIA, Mrs. BACHMANN, Mr. BACHUS, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. BENISHEK, Mr. BILIRAKIS, Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. BONNER, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. BROOKS, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CANSECO, Mr. CARTER, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. COFFMAN of Colorado, Mr. COLE, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. COSTELLO, Mr. CRAVAACK, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. CRENSHAW, Mr. CRITZ, Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky, Mr. DESJARLAIS, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana, Mr. DUFFY, Mr. DUNCAN of South Carolina, Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. FLEMING, Mr. FORBES, Mr. FORTENBERRY, Ms. FOXX, Mr. FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. GARDNER, Mr. GARRETT, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. GOWDY, Ms. GRANGER, Mr. GRAVES of Missouri, Mr. GRIMM, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HALL, Mr. HARPER, Mr. HARRIS, Mrs. HARTZLER, Mr. HENSARLING, Mr. HERGER, Mr. HUELSKAMP, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. HURT, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. JONES, Mr. JORDAN, Mr. KELLY, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. KINGSTON, Mr. KINZINGER of Illinois, Mr. KLINE, Mr. LAMBORN, Mr. LANDRY, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. LATOURETTE, Mr. LATTA, Mr. LEE of New York, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. LONG, Mr. LUETKEMEYER, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California, Mr. MANZULLO, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. MARINO, Mr. MCCARTHY of California, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. MCHENRY, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mrs. MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mrs. MILLER of Michigan, Mr. GARY G. MILLER of California, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. MULVANEY, Mr. MURPHY of Pennsylvania, Mr. NEUGEBAUER, Mrs. NOEM, Mr. NUNNELEE, Mr. OLSON, Mr. PAUL, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. PITTS, Mr. POMPEO, Mr. POSEY, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. RAHALL, Mr. RIBBLE, Mr. RIGELL, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. ROKITA, Mr. ROSKAM, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. ROSS of Arkansas, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. RYAN of Wisconsin, Mr. SCALISE, Mr. SCHILLING, Mrs. SCHMIDT, Mr. AUSTIN SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. SHIMKUS, Mr. SHULER, Mr. SHUSTER, Mr. SIMPSON, Mr. SMITH of Texas, Mr. STUTZMAN, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. TERRY, Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania, Mr. TURNER, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. WHITFIELD, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. WOLF, Mr. WOODALL, Mr. YOUNG of Florida, Mr. GOHMERT, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. BOREN, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. ROGERS of Michigan, Mr. CALVERT, Mrs. ELLMERS, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. TIBERI, and Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas)"

So... all of those women wanted to redefine rape?
Well... not quite.
This is the passage that so many democrats point to, as being offensive:

SEC. 309. TREATMENT OF ABORTIONS RELATED TO RAPE, INCEST, OR PRESERVING THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER.

    `The limitations established in sections 301, 302, 303, and 304 shall not apply to an abortion--
    `(1) if the pregnancy occurred because the pregnant female was the subject of an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest; or
    `(2) in the case where the pregnant female suffers from a physical disorder, physical injury, or physical illness that would, as certified by a physician, place the pregnant female in danger of death unless an abortion is performed, including a life-endangering physical condition caused by or arising from the pregnancy itself.
       
WOW. I think its pretty clear now.
Republicans were allowing federal funding in cases of rape, incest, or preserving the life of the mother.
Wait.  What?
That's exactly the opposite as its been described, by many people.

Let's skip past that for a moment... because what really bothers Democrats is that Republicans are trying to "redefine rape."  Right?
Its not like its a legal term that the FBI used all of the time?
Forcible rape, as defined in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, is the carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.  Attempts or assaults to commit rape by force or threat of force are also included; however, statutory rape (without force) and other sex offenses are excluded.

The FBI defined "forcible rape."  Yes?  We agree on that?
But wait.  There's more.  A year after the bill, above, was introduced... the DOJ quietly backed away from this definition.  Presumably because they didn't want to get the blame that the Republicans were getting for using the correct terminology.
 “Forcible rape” had been defined by the UCR SRS as “the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will.”  That definition, unchanged since 1927, was outdated and narrow. It only included forcible male penile penetration of a female vagina.
Now you know the full story, and how it wasn't the Republicans who re-defined rape, but the DOJ.
Not that a democrat will ever tell you that.

Monday, March 11, 2013

Like shit, Voter Fraud Happens

Thank you, Daytona Beach News Journal, for pointing this out.
The best part of this story?
Yet it was the Republican Party of Florida — a proponent of strong anti-fraud laws — that recently reported one of their own voter-registration contractors may have run afoul of state law. According to The Associated Press, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement charged two ex-employees of a GOP-hired firm with third-degree felonies. 
The employees were just a few out of hundreds at Strategic Allied Consulting, a group hired by Republicans to do voter registration drives in Florida and other states. The Florida investigation began when the state GOP fired the company and filed an election fraud complaint with state officials, according to AP. More than 25 voter-registration forms appear to be fraudulent, police said.
Kudos to the GOP for turning them in.
You made me proud.