In Wichita, Kansas, school begins today.
Thanks in advance to all teachers. It’s sometimes a thankless job, but so worthwhile. You’re helping our tomorrows prepare.
How’s everything, everybody?
fnord
Monday, 08/17/09, Public Square
Filed under The Public Square
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
I am up way too early today! I have been up and around for nearly two hours now. I miss sleep.
Monster Boy doesn’t start school until next week – preschool starts later, I assume so that the full-time kids can get settled before adding the little ones into the mix. He is very excited for school to get started, and so am I! A 3 hour break everyday sounds pretty darn good to me about this point – he is more work than the baby :). And his schooltime is during her afternoon naptime, so it will be a REAL break for me and maybe I can get some house cleaning done :).
In case you missed it this morning, there was a blip from the Ottawa Herald on our newspaper’s editorial page:
Keep the government out of health care? OK, here’s where we have to start:
58.7 million people –Shut down Medicaid and SCHIP that cover the indigent and children. (360,000 in Kansas)
44.8 million people –Shut down Medicare. (416,000 in Kansas)
9.2 million people — Veterans Affairs health programs
Next we move to government-subsidized insurance —
All members of Congress
Government employees — 2.7 million federal employees; 3.8 million state (Kansas) employees, 10.9 million employed by local governments
Well, that’s 130 million people who need to find health care the same way the Republican Party wants us to find it — for ourselves! And then they think this makes a healthy health-care industry!
I have to wonder when they list these numbers — does that include family members of the government employees?
fnord, as you commented on Facebook, we’ve already been screwed, thanks to the single payer system being dumped.
I’ve had enough of compromise on the health care issue. They’re compromising people right out of getting affordable health care, and all because of a bunch of selfish whiners. All because the money WE’VE paid on insurance premiums and for prescriptions is what’s used by lobbyists to keep us in the dark ages.
The Republicans will water this down until it doesn’t work, then blame the Democrats for it not working. Once again, the Dems knuckle under to pressure and fat cats (Rush) who can’t keep their mouths shut and are pocketing money by the millions.
Call me disappointed. No, call me p!ssed off!
Flashback 20 years.
This reminds me of my #3 daughter’s first day of kindergarten back in 1989. It rained so much, we couldn’t get to the school. She was one disappointed little girl.
Couldn’t get there!? Oh my.
All those children who decided the perfect outfit for the first day… Hope that perfect outfit they chose looks great wet! This rain looks like it isn’t stopping any time soon either! Heavy rain in the middle of August in Kansas — amazing.
Yeah, we couldn’t get there. Roads were flooded in all directions of Clearwater. When I called the schools, the secretary told me to STAY HOME. I was preggers with #4, so that was fine with me.
Of course there’s no such thing as climate change…
School starts next week here, but the two trombones and the tuba my son has in the back room have been joined by a sousaphone now that marching band has started.
If you hear a rumble from the east, its my house vibrating.
Does he play them ALL? What a talent! Or maybe your house is the designated jam session house?
My daughter’s house gets to be where the musicians gather and jam. Her son plays drums and the set up isn’t as easily moved as most other instruments, so the kids come to her house where the drums are. Even in marching band he plays quads which are those four drums that you hang off your shoulders — they’re a task to transport.
Makes me glad I played flute. 😉
Here‘s the editorial from The Ottawa Herald in its entirety. I was hoping for more info so I went looking. Are the numbers of state and local government employees only for Kansas? If so, imagine the numbers when we add 49 other states! And what about family members? So is government at some level already insuring or at least subsidizing the insurance cost for a majority of Americans?
Makes the whole argument just plain petty, doesn’t it?
Government-run health care already is American reality
Protesters around the country are making their voices heard — keep the government out of health care.
OK. Let’s do it.
We’ll shut down the Medicaid and CHIP programs that cover the indigent and children. That’s 58.7 million people who will lose insurance coverage — 360,000 in Kansas.
Let’s get rid of Medicare. That’s 44.8 million people who lose affordable health insurance — 416,000 in Kansas.
Oh, to be fair, let’s shut down the Veterans Affairs health programs. We all know that private providers can do a better job than the government, especially a bureaucratic military that pays $600 for toilet seats. That’s another 9.2 million who will lose health care.
Of course, misery loves company.
So, let’s go after government subsidized insurance as well. We can start with members of Congress. Let them get the same health care they want us to find for ourselves.
Then let’s cut loose all those government employees whose health insurance also is subsidized by government.
That’s 2.7 million federal employees, 3.8 million state employees and 10.9 million people employed by local government.
That’s 16.4 million more we can drop from government programs. We’re now up to about 129 million people who will have to find some new way to get health care.
That should create a healthy private care industry, shouldn’t it?
Except most of these are people the private health industry hasn’t and doesn’t want to insure or spend resources on.
Oh, well, that shouldn’t be a surprise. The private health care industry has been caring for fewer and fewer people, insuring fewer and fewer, at higher and higher cost, for decades now.
Besides, they always can go to emergency rooms and free health clinics.
No wait, we’re getting rid of those programs, so here in Franklin County we won’t have a county health program to help with flu vaccinations, shots for school or public health programs. We’ll have to get rid of our tax-supported hospital.
But that’s OK.
We’re only talking about one-third of the U.S. population. And that doesn’t include us or anyone we know, does it?
— Gordon Billingsley, Herald content director
http://www.flixxy.com/water-slide-jump.htm
funny
Men really are just larger versions of boys, aren’t they?
some of us are, you have to appreciate the beauty of this video. A group of people getting together to see if they can pull off a silly stunt like this……. priceless
Republicans are crowing about their success of shutting down the health care reform bill but I have to wonder if their scare and bullying tactics are really looked upon favorably? Are they really liked that much or do people just tolerate them because it is easier to do?
I agree as long as Rush is making his millions by being a fat cat with a big mouth, nothing in this country will change. Rush has too many dittoheads willing to be thugs for the cause.
To change the subject, has anyone else been sensing Obama is on the verge to capture Bin Laden?
I’ve had this feeling for the past few weeks and with his concentration on Pakistan and Afghanistan, I am thinking it is just possible.
What would that do to the dynamics of the political scene? How could the Republicans overcome that feat?
Guess I haven’t paid attention. Hope your intuitions are correct! It would be quite interesting to listen to their splutterings — I’m sure they would have some and they would probably be as stupid as their ‘birthers’ and ‘deathers.’ Kinda desperate.
Michael WAre appeared on Real Time July 31 and said he is convinced the talks going on between Pakistan and others will be very favorable. Just the talking itself is a sign that things are getting better.
I don’t think we’ll capture bin Laden alive. Does anyone think we might?
Oh crap the big mans back, does that mean we all have to behave? Hi Iggy sir 🙂 .Love what you have done with your hair!
“Bin Laden alive” I am assuming he is either dead or has very loyal friends. What is the amount for his capture now $10 million? I would have thought, had he still been alive , he would’ve made a “welcome to the Whitehouse Obama” video and denounced his foe Bush.
To be honest, I don’t give Bin Laden much thought. tee hee
iggy – I think it is just possible.
If Bin Laden was already dead, wouldn’t his followers want the world to know that their great leader died for their cause? Also, they could use that as a great recruiting tool.
I think that Pakistan is the key to this whole thing. If Bush would have had better relations with just about everybody on the planet, I think we would have had Bin Laden years ago.
But, remember, Bush stated he did not even think about Bin Laden anymore and the Republicans all cheered as if the little Emperor did something great.
Tea party at the airport 9/28/09.
Do they really want someone like me to attend? I speak my mind and they may not like the message.
I read in this morning’s paper where it will be more party and less tea — a family event complete with blow up toys and such. 🙂
Can you even imagine those grumps knowing what a party is!?
Hmmm . . . blow up dolls? Ann . . . looner, better tell her.
I’ll bring my martini. 😉
Lilac,
See my new post on what Carvile thinks should be done on the GOP crowing. A brilliant plan, I have to say…
Did you guys see this?
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay—whose methods of persuasion in Congress earned him the nickname “The Hammer”—is headlining the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars.
I might have to tune in just to see how the portly fellow does! He has ‘the smile’ down even if the tobacco stained teeth detract a bit. Tiptoeing through the tulips keeps running through my head…
LOL ….Tiny Tim…..I remember him.
I wonder if the dancers all had to draw straws to see which one got stuck with Mr. Portly?
Wasn’t he the one that was disgraced and left office or did not run for re-election?
I can never keep my portly, white male Republicans apart.
They all tend to blend together after awhile – don’t they? Gingrich, Rush, Rove, Beck, Hannity, O’Reilly to name a few.
I don’t remember Tom DeLay being portly. Maybe I wasn’t paying attention. LOL
Tiny Tim did a concert at Lawrence-Dumont stadium once. My friend and I were out in the parking lot, listening. I can’t say I saw him in person, but I CAN say I heard him in person. OUCH! LOL
I buttonholed Todd Tiahrt today at a convention.
I politely told him that I did not want him leaving a predominantly Republican leaning event without him meeting someone who believes we need comprehensive healthcare reform now.
Good for you! I have emailed much the same, and called his Wichita office to leave a message saying how important same is.
How quickly do you think he dismissed the person with such strange ideas?
🙂
By the way, Lynn Jenkins seemed a reasonable person and conceded to the many things (energy, environment, healthcare) that need work.