Obamacare

Says  it all!

Highly Anticipated

There are  a couple Highly Anticipated items that I am not Anticipating.

A clothing manufacturer has been advertising that only thinking of us, they have removed the clothing labels from their underwear!

I may be unusual but I like the labels to help me figure out which is their front or outside.

I then saw a headline of an article "Wendy's® (Finally!) Brings Highly Anticipated Pretzel Bacon Cheeseburger to Restaurants."  I don't know about others but this has not been on the list of items that I Highly Anticipated!

This reminds me of a song from the Man of LaMancha :

ANTONIA
(Don Quixote's niece)
(piously)
I'm only thinking of him,
I'm only thinking of him,
Whatever I may do or say;
I'm only thinking of him!
In my body; it's well known,
There is not one selfish bone...
I'm only thinking end worrying about him!

I've been, told he's chasing dragons
And I fear it may be true
If my groom should hear about it.
Heaven knows what he will do!
Oh, I deadly love my uncle,
But for what he's done to me,
I would like to take and lock him up
And throw away the key!
But if I do... but if I do...
There is one thing
That I swear will still be true... PADRE
I'm only thinking of him; I know I know my dear;
I'm only thinking of him; Of course you are, my dear;


I'm only thinking and worrying about him. I understand.

HOUSEKEEPER
I'm only thinking of him,
I'm only thinking of him,
Whatever I may do or say,
I'm only thinking of him!
In the very heart of me
There is Christian charity
I'm only thinking and worrying about him!

Oh, I think he's been too lonely,
Living years without a spouse,
So when he returns
I fear I may have trouble in the house;
For they say he seeks a lady
Who his own true love shall be;
God forbid that in his madness
He should ever think it's me!
If he should try I'll surely die,
And I will grimly
Guard my honor as I cry...
I'm only thinking of him;
I'm only thinking of him;
I'm only thinking and worrying about him.

ANTONIA
Woe, woe, woe, woe, woe, woe,
Woe, woe, woe, woe, woe.

PADRE
I know, I know, my dear;
Of course you are, my dear;
I understand.

HOUSEKEEPER
Woe!

ANTONIA
Woe!

PADRE
They re only thinking of him,
They re only thinking of him,
How saintly is their plaintive plea...
They're only thinking of him!
What a comfort, to be sure,
That their motives are so pure...
As they go thinking and worrying about him!

ANTONIA, HOUSEKEEPER
Woe, woe, woe, woe, woe, etc.

Are we Rome?

Are We Rome? FreedomFest 2013 from Smooky on Vimeo.

Interesting question!

Catholics don't shovel!

http://youtu.be/7uKnd6IEiO0.
 

I returned a book for my LW at the Library and walked from our Church to the Library.  Since we have had about 10 inches of snow, many sidewalks were not shoveled.

However, the Catholic Church went even further.  They put a 12 foot high pile of snow on the sidewalk. I know that walking is almost a lost art, but it would be difficult to place it better for hindering a walker.

On the way back, I went by the Episcopal church, they had shoveled all the way around the Church and made my life much easier.  So Episcopal church shovels but not the Catholics!  Thank you, Episcopalians!

No Refund!

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2013/03/01/107532

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2013/03/01/107547

One of my pet peeves is when people have the IRS take out more from there paychecks and get a "refund",  Even with a good president (unlike now) I don't believe in giving the government a free loan.  Take the extra out of your check and put it in a savings account if you can't save!

An intersting article on "refunds: http://dealnews.com/tax-day/

Also people are increasing their personal debt more now: http://creditfederal.com/article/articles/135/1/Personal-Debt-Increasing  another bad sign!

Coincidence?

http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2013/02/19/107274

Around the presidential election, the price of gas was decreasing and the unemployment rate "miraculously" "surprisingly" went below 8% (7.8%) .

Now gas is increasing and is about $4/gallon here and the unemployment rate is increasing.

Now we know our "virtuous" president wouldn't manipulate the "stimulus"  money to spend a bunch of it in the months leading to the election would he?

Great Man speaks

There are some great people that get it!

Finally Snow!

We finally had a real snow.  We got about 10" on Thursday.  Our choir practice was cancelled.  It seems like all the "bad" weather occurs on Thursday, the day we had sleet was on a Thursday and choir practice was also cancelled (I think).

Before this snow, we had only a very small amount of snow adding up to a grand total of maybe 2" of snow.  Even though areas around us got much more!

Snow makes for some very beautiful scenes!

What Dems have Done

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, already the most unpopular governor in the nation, has his work cut out for him at his annual "state of the state" speech on Wednesday
The fiscal crisis caused by pension underfunding in Illinois is so bad that some hospitals wait a year to be paid by the state for insurance claims.
Illinois' pension systems are in the worst financial shape of any state at 39 percent funded when no less than 80 percent is considered healthy. State pensions are in the hole by the staggering amount of nearly $97 billion, or $20,000 per Illinois household and nearly four times the annual state revenue.
There might be some movement afoot. Majority Democrats, who have relied for decades on labor unions for political and financial support, are showing signs of a willingness to confront organized labor.
"To date, we have received no cooperation from the labor unions representing state employees on addressing these challenges," powerful state House Speaker Michael Madigan wrote in a January 30 letter to the head of a labor coalition.
The legislature will discuss this week proposed laws to boost worker contributions to pensions, raise retirement ages, eliminate the cost-of-living adjustment for retirees for several years, and end some abuses. http://news.yahoo.com/illinois-governor-bear-grim-news-over-pension-crisis-204320138.html

The state that I am living in has been controlled by the democrats as long as I have lived here.  They have made IL the most bankrupt state in the nation.


The Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce, and Energy and Commerce Committees today unveiled the ObamaCare Burden Tracker (#ObamaCareBurden).  The Burden Tracker is a real-time online resource to help the public keep track of all of the new government mandates, rules, and red tape as a result of ObamaCare.
The burden of ObamaCare is already being felt, even though many provisions of the law, including the requirement for most Americans to buy government-approved health insurance or pay a tax, are not set to take effect until 2014.  According to the Obama Administration’s own estimates, ObamaCare will require American job creators, families, and health care providers to spend over 127 million hours per year on compliance.*  That burden is growing with every new regulation published, and the Burden Tracker will be updated as those new regulations are issued throughout the year.   
Every hour and dollar spent complying with the Democrats’ health care law are time and resources being taken from spending time with family, growing a business and creating jobs, or caring for patients.  Since many small businesses do not employ in-house lawyers and accountants, compliance costs are especially expensive and burdensome.  Given the new demands of complying with the law, it is not surprising that over 70 percent of small businesses cite the health care law as a major obstacle to job creation.
What could be done in 127,602,371 hours? 
    Mount Rushmore, which took 14 years to build, could be constructed 1,040 times.
    Halley’s comet, seen from Earth once every 76 years, could be spotted 191 times.
    The Empire State building, which took 7 million hours to build, could be constructed 18 times.

http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=319029

The Obama administration has been publicly upbeat about the coming rollout of its health care law. But a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office suggests that at least one set of influential observers anticipates some turbulence in the law’s first years.

On several important measures of the law’s success, CBO’s numbers are pessimistic compared with earlier estimates: Fewer uninsured people will get coverage, insurance options will be more limited, and more employers will stop covering their workers. Perhaps most noteworthy, the report suggests that the new health insurance marketplaces set to launch later this year are unlikely to be completely ready in time.

That negativity came cloaked in the careful language of the budget office—what former Bush health official Tevi Troy called “heavy bureaucratese”—but the report signaled CBO officials are worried that key provisions of the law are not going to work as intended.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/domesticpolicy/budget-office-predicts-rocky-start-for-health-care-law-20130206

The costs are higher than "promised" by P.O., it is unlikely that you can keep your old coverage (as promised by P.O.).

In a final regulation issued Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assumed that under Obamacare the cheapest health insurance plan available in 2016 for a family will cost $20,000 for the year.

Under Obamacare, Americans will be required to buy health insurance or pay a penalty to the IRS.

The IRS’s assumption that the cheapest plan for a family will cost $20,000 per year is found in examples the IRS gives to help people understand how to calculate the penalty they will need to pay the government if they do not buy a mandated health plan.

The examples point to families of four and families of five, both of which the IRS expects in its assumptions to pay a minimum of $20,000 per year for a bronze plan.

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/02/01/irs-cheapest-qualifying-family-health-insurance-plan-will-be-20k/

"In a democracy, we get the government we deserve."  We (not me) reelected P.O. and this is a result.  Many want others to pay not to work hard and earn.

Poor CA

It used to be that people came to the US for medical treatment, now Obamacare is leading to this!

Back to CA:

Poor California not only are they one of the most bankrupt states (http://www.usdebtclock.org/state-debt-clocks/state-of-california-debt-clock.html) with some cities declaring bankruptcy (San Bernardino, Calif., is the latest municipality to seek bankruptcy protection for its $45 million budget shortfall, following Mammoth Lakes and Stockton, which was the largest U.S city to ever go bust. Bankruptcy filings by these three California cities have raised questions about the scope of budget issues on the local level and whether there will be more. http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/three-california-cities-bankrupt-tip-iceberg-says-fmr-155121281.html )

But I was listening to the radio a few weeks ago and heard that "bitter cold" with highs only in the 50'sF and lows in the 30'sF was striking CA.  It was intersting to me since at the time we were having a hot streak with the High almost 50F and lows in the low 30'sF.

Since that time, we have have -5F temperatures with high almost reaching 10F, my daughter's temperatures have been as low as  -12F (that I have seen maybe it was lower at times).

So poor, poor CA, we must have pity on them!