An excerpt from "The Bully Pulpit" by Doris Kearns Goodwin
"...Unlike other political bosses, Senator Platt "did not use his political position to advance his private fortunes." He lived simply and had few interests beyond the powerful network he had meticulously constructed and nurtured over the decades. To keep control of the political organization he required regular revenue from the corporate world "in the guise of contributions for campaign purposes" and donations for "the good of the party." These sums were distributed to his select candidates for the state legislature with the "gentlemen's understanding" that they could be counted upon for important votes, particularly when an issue touched upon the corporations that fueled the machine. The public had small awareness and less understanding of this threat that Roosevelt labeled the "invisible empire".
"The Bully Pulpit", Doris Kearns Goodwin, Blithedale Producitons, Inc. 2013
I wonder what the invisible empire looks like today?
"I wonder what the invisible empire looks like today?"
ReplyDeleteLooks just like the Obama Administration.
You don't think the 'monied interests' work the puppet strings of the modern politician do you?
DeleteIt's in the nature of things. Let's have a revolution and make things worse......
DeleteThing to do is carve out a little place of refuge for oneself, somewhere, somehow........
Because it isn't going to change, not in my lifetime.....
And there isn't anything wrong with some kinds of co-operation between the monied interests, republican, democratic, independent, and the government in some situations.
DeleteIn a highly industrialized and complex society that's inevitable too.
It looks like Ike's Military-Industrial Complex, but it doesn't have so much power anymore, look what happened when they tried to start some shit in Syria.
ReplyDelete...wherein the author speculates that wealth might affect politics...
ReplyDeleteThe 85 Richest People In The World Have As Much Wealth As The 3.5 Billion Poorest
Since the 3.5 billion poorest have zero wealth, that means all the folks at this blog have something in common with the world's richest. We're all together worth more than 3.5 billion folks. Which doesn't mean we have much in comparison with the 85 richest.
DeleteMiss T said she'd be considered wealthy back in the Philippines.
DeleteI'll leave it to allen and rufus to go on about income inequality. There's more to life than having the biggest television or the smallest cell phone.
DeleteIf I could be "86", you would not hear a peep from me.
DeleteI'm not cheap, but I can be had.
DeleteI have a Doctorate of Theology from Billy Bob's House of Bait, Tackle, and Ordinations, which is located in the same strip mall between Louisiana Baptist University and Tattoo Alley. You might have seen my television ministry on TBN between 2002 and 2006, my level of pancake makeup was greater than that of Jan Crouch, but not quite Tammy Faye Bakker level. Unfortunately, Brother Kenneth Copeland leaned on the board at TBN with the scripture that says "I do not permit a woman to teach or usurp authority over men" so my television ministry was terminated before the 2007-2008 season. At that time I called the Holy Angels of Gawd to bear witness that TBN had become The Blasphemy Network, and shook the dust from my Birkenstocks.
DeleteWhat? That anointed prayer clothe isn't working today? Take The Book, grasp it with both hands with arms straight, and with righteous indignation slam it into your forehead three times while screaming, "Sayyytin, be gahwin!!!" Then have a beer and relax. And chicken soup couldn’t hurt.
DeletePut a good snort of Vodka in the chicken soup.
Deleteq always does, a pint or two at least, and goes out there and does miracles.
NSA also serves economic interests: Snowden interview
ReplyDelete...talking about value-added cost overruns...
ReplyDeletePentagon F-35 program says 'laser-focused' on software issues
Younger Than Springtime - Mandy Patinkin
ReplyDeleteMandy Patinkin - Loving You - If I Loved You
DeleteCan't seem to find the lyrics to that Loving You - any chance you could provide a link, Allen?
DeleteNothing Else Matters - Metallica & San Francisco Symphonic Orchestra
DeleteBob,
DeleteTry this.
http://lyricsfly.com/search/view.php?bfbae42781&view=392789
That was simply amazing. I am a big fan of Mandy Pantinkin and never knew he was so talented.
DeleteBob,
Delete...a beautiful, young blonde singing just to you...nothing else matters...
Nothing Else Matters
Metallica?
DeleteI love it. I think that warrants a posting to my FB wall.
DeleteMy sister is dragging me to a Luke Bryan concert in AC. I have 3 weeks to learn and love his music.
Delete(I Just) Died in Your Arms
DeleteAlone
DeleteMeLoDy,
DeleteMy son likes Luke Bryan...Meh?
MeLoDy,
DeleteI thought they were so much better musically the second time around. Love "Alone".
I'm not a big fan of country music. But I can tolerate it.
DeleteAmanda
DeleteEmmylou Harris and Don Williams "If I Needed You"
Patsy Cline - She's Got You
Lorrie Morgan & Beach Boys - Don't Worry Baby
It grows on you.
Thank you, Allen.
Delete"By the way, Doug, where did you get your number on the number of Baby Boomers retiring? I couldn't find any. What I did find is that there are probably a lot of them over 50 in that long-term unemployment category and that a lot of them are being forced to delay retirement because of factors stemming from the great recession."
ReplyDelete---
Dunno, I do know that one of the figures I posted I arrived at via interpolation.
It was an exercise that you might have had 50 of in a math quiz. I sweated over it for about 15 minutes.
Maybe that's when I went to sleep.
At least I don't intentionally pick and choose like our local leftist disorganizer.
An answer for the ages.
Delete.
DeleteInterpolation?
Well, anyway the way the guy estimated it in the article I linked seem to make sense to me. Take the estimated 15 million high school graduates over the past five years subtract the six million people that went on the social security rolls and you get 9 million additional potential job seekers.
.
I'm starting to think that cold snap back east actually amounts to a little something.
ReplyDelete.
DeleteYa think.
When the cheap seats at the Super Bowl drop from $3,000 to $1,200, you know something is happening.
.
The Love Language - Golden Age
ReplyDeleteThis song is on a CD I got from Amazon today.
...two thumbs up, T...
DeleteSting and his favorite composer, guitarist, Dominic Miller. They have been together for more than twenty years.
ReplyDeleteSting and Dominic Miller - Shape Of My Heart
Dominic Miller Project - Rush Hour
ReplyDelete...deep jazz for those so inclined...I am...
Jesse Cook - Tempest
ReplyDeleteFragile- Jesse Cook (feat Holly Cole)
DeleteTeacher arrested for allegedly standing in driveway wearing only ski cap and goggles
ReplyDeleteIn a sane world, this guy would know better. What was he thinking? "I'm too sexy for my..."?
Probably on Ambien and Vodka and wearing google glasses and watching porn......
DeleteThought the mail box was the other sex......
DeleteElvis - Hunk Of Burnin Love
DeleteBack to running Ubuntu 10.04 again, the last decent Linux 'stro.
ReplyDeleteyo me too
DeleteLast time around for Ubuntu for me tho
DeleteFine Young Cannibals - She Drives Me Crazy, live 1989
ReplyDeleteFine Young Cannibals-Good
Dire Straits - Sultans Of Swing
Santana & Clapton - Jingo
Sam Bailey Song 1 sings Edge Of Glory
ReplyDeleteSam Bailey sings My Heart Will Go On
ReplyDeleteEvita- I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You (Original London Cast)
ReplyDeleteNicole Scherzinger - Don't Cry For Me Argentina
I Don't Know How To Love Him
Amy Winehouse - To Know Him Is To Love Him
I am a part of all that I have met;
ReplyDeleteYet all experience is an arch wherethro'
Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades
For ever and forever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!
As tho' to breathe were life! ...
___Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Yet, is not this samsara, the continual wandering, the rose always blooming, fading, which, we are often told, never fully satisfies?
DeleteSomething remains missing......
Re: Something remains missing.....
DeleteImmortality (not eternity)...the complaint of senescence...an ending to horizons to reach...all that remains is the breathing husk and a rusty blade...
I could be wrong.
No Shit.
DeleteThe Dove flies through the Darkness, and the Darkness always recedes, and that Darkness is the Mystery and Being of Gog.
ReplyDeleteGreg of Nyssa
The Tongue tastes the Vodka
ReplyDeleteThe Bottle always fills
An Everbrewing Source
Fills the LiquorBarn
"q" of Detroit
Why people pay anything to go to the Super Bowl is beyond me. You'd need the Space Telescope to see anything from some of those seats.
ReplyDeleteThe Big Screen TV, the instant replay, 72 degrees and a fire in the fireplace, all so much better.......
There's no calling this coming game......just hoping it is a really good one, which it has the potential to be.
DeleteHaven't been an ardent fan for years.
DeleteIn my new situation, maybe it will become another useful distraction for me to employ.
Don't know much about Denver, except that they have one of the all time best qb's.
Don't know much about Seattle except that they're a damn fine team.
This list puts Montana #1, and Peyton #5. I'd put Peyton higher, but I haven't followed the game closely since Montana left the Niners.
"Top Ten Quarterbacks of All Time"
The best college game I ever saw was USC vs Notre Dame.
Montana led Notre Dame to a 24 - 6 lead at the half.
Pat Hayden led USC to a 55 - 24 win!
Didn't quite work out that way for those two in the NFL!
The Strange and Mysterious Death of Mrs. Jerry Lee Lewis
ReplyDeleteYeah, money talks.
Money Talks
Man, that's creepy.
Delete"And he ate through the lives of his women. His third wife, his cousin Myra Gale Brown, won divorce with horrific tales of how Jerry Lee beat her up in view of their little daughter.
DeleteHis fourth wife, Jaren Gunn, also won divorce, but she ended up dead, mysteriously drowned in a Memphis swimming pool, just before her settlement came through. Shawn Michelle Stephens was the fifth.
A sharp and spunky twenty-five-year-old from Garden City, Michigan, she thought Jerry Lee was her ticket to the good life. They married on June 7th, 1983, and seventy-seven days later, she was dead."
"In phone calls back to Michigan, Shawn seldom spoke of troubles. Still, at one point, she told a friend that her life with the Killer was just like jail—she couldn’t stand his jealousy, she felt like she was watched all the time.
DeleteOnce, she called home all excited about her new Lhasa apso—a $500 dog!
In her next call, she sadly reported that she had to give up the pet because Jerry Lee got jealous"
"When she got up at two the next afternoon, Jerry Lee was still up, drinking in his den. His sister, Linda Gail, and her children were over at the house for a visit. Shawn and Shelley sat in the sun at the pool until Jerry Lee came out, looking mean and slurring his words. “He said something like, ‘I think you girls better get your shit together,’ and then he hit me on the thigh and slapped me across the face.
DeleteShawn sat up to say something, and he hauled off and backhanded her across the face. He hit her hard, too. Then he just looked at us really crazy and walked off into the house again.
“I just looked at Shawn, and she asked me, ‘Did he hit you hard? Did it hurt?’
I said, ‘You’re damn right it hurt!’ I said, ‘I’m leaving. I don’t care who he is. Nobody can….’ And then I started to cry. ‘He can’t hit me like that….’ I said I was going to the police.
“Shawn said It wouldn’t be a good idea to go to the police down there, because they were with Jerry, and they’d be trying to find a way to get me for trying to cause trouble for him. So I just said I was going. I was really upset.
And she said, ‘Just wait a little, Shel, ’cause I’m leaving, too. I’m not staying if you don’t. I know what he’ll do to me if I go back in that house.’ I said, ‘Get your stuff, ’cause I’m leaving, with you or without you.’”"
DougSun Jan 26, 08:36:00 AM EST
DeleteMan, that's creepy.
I think it fits Ash's theme, including the politics.
???
DeleteYou mean Ash's wives are in danger?
Do you ever sleep, Allen? I'm not prying. I'm just concerned. It seems like you don't get enough sleep.
DeleteYou do know how important it is for your overall well being to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night.
Maybe our choice of music should be reconsidered for the evening hours at the EB. Metellica just might be a bit stimulating for our internal clocks to recognize its bedtime.
You're worrying about the wrong guy, MeLoDy.
DeleteIt's 4:20 am here, and I have yet to catch a wink.
Damned Allen's provided the second murder mystery in two nights.
I don't even remember the first one I read about last nite.
Have Mercy, Baby!
(I found the first on my own)
DeleteGet some sleep! I worry about anyone who is sleep deprived. it's not good
Delete""They decided that should wrap it up.
DeleteBy that time, they knew about the blood on Jerry Lee’s robe and on his slippers. They knew, or had reason to assume, that the body was moved to the guest bed and reclothed in the nightgown. They knew someone had tried to clean up the house after a disturbance. They saw bloody clothes in the bathroom, blood in a rivulet on a door, blood in a spot on the carpet; they could see a bloody piece of gauze on a cabinet in the billiard room where they were writing the report.
Why did they omit these facts?
“It wasn’t my report,” says Ballard. “I was just watching.” None of the others will talk, including Lottie.
Ballard and Sowell left for the Brantley-Phillips funeral home to attach the report to Shawn’s body for the trip to the morgue in Memphis. On the way out, Sowell paused to tell the reporters that Jerry Lee had been wakened just after noon, by the drapers from Goldsmith’s. Jerry Lee talked with them and then told Lottie Jackson to go wake up Shawn. Sowell declined to offer a theory on the cause of Shawn Lewis’ death. The sheriff said a search had turned up no nonprescription drugs, and no unusual amounts of prescription medicines.
In the big brick house fifty feet away, state investigators and crime lab technicians would work for another full day, collecting enough drugs to fill three single-spaced pages on a crime-lab list, and at least one hypodermic syringe. There was no way to tell if they were illegal drugs or prescription medicines:
The job of analysis wasn’t finished for months, and the job wasn’t even started when Bill Ballard and a county grand jury wrapped up the case with a pronouncement that no crime had occurred.
Man, this sounds like Rufus defending Obama:
Delete"Just before midnight, Denise spoke to Jerry Lee for the last time. His speech was slurred. She could barely understand him:
“Jesus Christ, Jerry, what happened?”
‘”Denise sisser’s daid an’ she ‘uz a bad girl.’
“‘What? What do you mean? Jerry! What do you mean?’
“‘Sheuzza baggirl... anshe daid….’
Jerry mumbled on until Denise thought she would cry, then she hung up."
You don't know about me without you have read a blog by the name of The Libertarian by Deuce; but that ain't no matter.
ReplyDeleteWhat about Belmont?
DeleteThat was a Huck Finn reference to make Bob smile.
DeleteIt did, too.
Delete:)
Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai as protest toll rises to 49
ReplyDeleteSaudi money is keeping Egypt afloat. That cannot last forever.
...worrisome...
Militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis (Supporters of Jerusalem) claimed responsibility for a rocket attack on an army helicopter in a statement posted on the internet. The group also said it was behind a wave of bomb attacks in Cairo on Friday which killed at least six people.
Always felt secure under MAD. (and us having the upper hand in spades)
DeleteThe ME reminds one of the song: "The Eve of Destruction"
Interesting times.
For those who claim MAD was infallible because there was never a nuclear exchange, declassified files show that on 2-3 occasions, the last during Reagan's presidency, Russia was within a whisper of launching. The Russians were rational, thank G-d. Who would bet the farm on the rationality of minds still trapped in the 7th - 12th C. CE? Look at what they are doing to one another (brothers) and consider what our worth would be in their minds.
DeleteMAD doesn't work on a group of people needing to usher in the apocalyptic times.
DeleteLegislation that would let students use computer programming courses to satisfy foreign-language requirements in public schools moved forward in the Kentucky Senate on Thursday.
ReplyDeleteYee haw!
Have you lived in the South? For many students American English IS a foreign language.
DeleteCrypto "A" and "C" school was at Corry Field, Pepsicola, Florida. Spent almost two years down there.
DeleteAdmittedly, Florida is not a good example, given the percentage of "furinurs" in the state; but out in the backwoods native Floridian can still be heard.
DeleteThe panhandle of Florida, which we called Baja Alabama, is the buckle of the Bible Belt.
DeleteRufus and Rat used to claim I was not an american do to their perfect usage of English.
DeleteLOL
Algae Converted To Crude Oil In One Hour
ReplyDeleteAwesome, that turns 71% of the area of the Earth into a big solar cell.
Delete
ReplyDeleteEzra 10:
[2] And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
[3] Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
My husband says I am a strange wife too, but he hasn't divorced me.
You have hit upon one of the "strange" periods in Jewish history. The prescription was/is wholly against the tenets of Judaism.
DeleteWere I ever to remarry (I hear the sound of Hell flash freezing) I would be required to marry a Jew by accident or by choice. My rabbi thinks it not good for man to be alone. Right... A man could be alone in a harem.
DeleteTeresita RedingerSun Jan 26, 10:27:00 AM EST
DeleteEzra 10:
[2] And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.
[3] Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.
To paraphrase Ms T: " I am not interested in Judaism at all, all I care about is Israel sticking her hand in my pocketbook.
In another forum on the innernets, I am debating a Catholic Christian who says God forbids divorce. In that case in Ezra 10, apparently He did not. The gentleman will probably come back and say, "That's for the Jews, darling," like he usually does, but when he does that I bring up the fact that the Hebrew scriptures are, in fact, important to him after all, since he beats Protestants over the head for using a shorter version of the same. And so it goes.
DeleteRevert back to Taoism would you please, you are driving me nuts with all your Biblical shit......
DeleteEzra is a special case......he was trying to reconstitute the community......(I think).......I had a dog named Ezra, best hunting dog in my life, a Brittany Spaniel. Named Ezra after Ezra Pound, the Idehooo poet....
And your debate partner sounds like a nitwit......
DeleteMs T can't turn her gaze from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Jews.
DeleteAnd like the sun, it will/has blinded her...
as for what catholics and protestants say to one another?
Deletelol
it's all greek to me...
A lot of it used to be whether the communion wine and the bread was "really" blood and flesh, or just symbolically so, as we held.
DeleteNot stuff really worth wasting a whole lot of time on.
.
ReplyDeleteLarry Craig's dream come true.
http://xfinity.comcast.net/video/Cocktail-Moment-Cannibal-rat-ship-edition/126220355841/Comcast/StrangeVideos/?cid=hero_sf_weird
Makes you wonder even more about Putin or possibly whether the Russians misunderstood the meaning of biathlon.
.
.
ReplyDeleteI don't watch golf that much but it seems that Tigers descent on the links after his divorce was rapid and continuing.
http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/sports-general/20140125/Torrey.Pines-Woods/
.
On site report from Sundance/Sunfuck Film Festival out in proper Utah -
ReplyDelete"This was a real whirlwind marathon seeing three films per day. Questions and answers after. Having to arrive 45 to 30 minutes prior to each film. We also went to 11:30 or 11:45 PM showings so most nights got 4 hours sleep. A few films were outstanding. Most not! Lots of nudity! One film in our estimation was simply porn."
They all being from LV, if they think that "in our estimation" one film was simply porn, it was really really porn.
I speculate that this was the 'movie' with the endless montage of endless penises......I mean lots of penises......not really endless ones.......
heh :)
You must be talking about "Blue is the Warmest Colour". No penises in that one.
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Is_the_Warmest_Colour
"Any sufficiently advanced troll is indistinguishable from a genuine kook." -- Alan Morgan
Josephus says Pompey and his staff entered the Holy of Holies in 63 BCE on the very Day of Atonement. The God that Jews worshiped daily as the Master of the World was unable to protect his sanctuary on the most holy day of the year, and for the next two hundred years, Rome was faced with an endless series of revolts. But WiO says if we just nuke the black rock, it will show Muslims that Allah is unable to protect his sanctuary, and they will be subdued and peaceful.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Deleteplease don't mischaracterize my words.
ReplyDeleteIf you wish to discuss the issue post a thread.
"'Homeland' Head: Illegals Have Earned Right to be Citizens...
ReplyDeleteRepublicans ready to roll dice on amnesty..."
---
It was a nice country while it lasted...
EPA Decree Shrinks Size of Wyoming by a Million Acres
ReplyDeleteCuz they vote funny.
What's not to like?
Delete...for Rufus the Totalitarian Troll.
Libertarian, my ass.
UPDATE: Woman jumps to her death from roof of Beverly Hills plastic surgery clinic...
Delete---
All part of The Gestalt
...we're on The Eve.
Don't guess I'll be listenin to no more Jerry Lee Lewis.
Delete...like listening to the sound track of a Snuff Film.
Allahu not so akbar.
DeleteBeer Ad
ReplyDeleteMeLoDySun Jan 26, 09:15:00 AM EST
ReplyDeleteDo you ever sleep, Allen?
You know, I hadn't thought about it.
Thanks.
You don't stay up nights worrying about it?
DeleteCould be worse:
Delete"Grammer attended Pine Crest School, a private preparatory school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and later spent two years at the Juilliard School.[7] Grammer's personal life has been affected by several tragedies:
in 1968, his father, whom he had seen only twice since his parents' divorce, was shot dead;[4]
in 1975, his younger sister, Karen was abducted, raped, and murdered by spree killer Freddie Glenn;[8][9][10][11]
in 1980, his twin half-brothers died in a scuba diving accident;
and David Angell, close friend and producer of Frasier, died in the 9/11 attacks.[12][13]"
DougSun Jan 26, 06:25:00 PM EST
DeleteYou don't stay up nights worrying about it?
No. I worry only about what will happen to the world I have created when I am gone.
Undoubtedly, the world will get along as if I had never been here. Perhaps one in one-hundred million men (neuter gender) will be recalled with clarity a century after his passing. That's a bummer; but as you point out above, it could be so much worse.
Baby, The Rain Must Fall
DeleteBaby, I Must Go
DeleteWow, TWA flew Fokker F.10 Trimotor's.
ReplyDeleteFabric and Plywood.
Killed Knute Rockne in 1931
http://deadspin.com/5917423/was-knute-rockne-killed-by-the-mob-tracing-the-origins-of-one-of-the-stranger-urban-legends-in-sports
No match for the corregated Ford Tri-Motor:
Making headlines became a Trimotor trademark. On November 27 and 28, 1929, Commander Richard E. Byrd (navigator), chief pilot Bernt Balchen, and two other crewmen, the co-pilot and the photographer, made the first flight above the Geographic South Pole in a Ford Trimotor that Byrd named the Floyd Bennett. This was one of three aircraft taken on this polar expedition, with the other two being named The Stars and Stripes and The Virginian, replacing the Fokker Trimotors that Byrd previously used.[4]
Franklin Roosevelt also flew aboard a Ford Trimotor in 1932 during his presidential campaign in one of the first uses of an aircraft in an election, replacing the traditional "whistle stop" train trips.[11]
The long-range capabilities of the Ford Trimotor were exploited in a search for the lost flyers of the Sigizmund Levanevsky Trans-Polar Flight in 1937. Movie stunt flyer Jimmie Mattern flew a specially modified Lockheed Electra along with fellow movie flyer, Garland Lincoln flying a stripped-down Trimotor donated by the president of Superior Oil Company. With 1,800 gallons of avgas and 450 gallons of oil in the modified cabin, the Trimotor was intended to act as a "tanker" for the expedition.
The Electra was able to transfer fuel in the air from the Trimotor, through a hose cast out the 4-AT's door. With the first aerial refueling test successful, the pair of pilots set out for Fairbanks, landing first at Burwash Landing, Yukon Territory, Canada, on August 15, 1937, but the Trimotor ran out of fuel and crashed in inclement weather the following day.
The Trimotor was abandoned on the tundra.[12]
One of the major uses of Trimotor after it was superseded as a passenger aircraft by more modern aircraft like the DC-3, was the carrying of heavy freight to mining operations in jungles and mountains. The Trimotor was employed for decades in this role.[13]
In 1942, during the Battle of Bataan, a Trimotor was used in evacuations of the island. The aircraft would haul 24 people nearly 500 miles a trip, twice daily. The aircraft was eventually strafed and destroyed by Japanese aircraft.[14]
In postwar years, the Ford Trimotors continued in limited service with small, regional air carriers. One of the most famous was the Scenic Airways Ford Trimotor N414H which was used for 65 years as a sightseeing aircraft flying over the Grand Canyon.[3]
The aircraft is still in use as of late 2011, mainly for promotional and film work, though one Trimotor operator offers rides. As of
August 2013, a Ford Trimotor was still being used by the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) to fly passengers on sightseeing tours.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Trimotor
Any of your relatives at Bataan, T?
DeleteThink they blew it reporting about the avgas:
DeleteI'm bettin the Electra was a turboprop.
...yep
Early Crowdfunder:
Delete"In the early 1920s Henry Ford, along with a group of 19 other investors including his son Edsel, invested in the Stout Metal Airplane Company.
Stout, a bold and imaginative salesman, sent a mimeographed form letter to leading manufacturers, blithely asking for $1,000 and adding: "For your one thousand dollars you will get one definite promise:
You will never get your money back." Stout raised $20,000, including $1,000 each from Edsel and Henry Ford.[2]"
I'll wrap up Doug's Trivia Time w/a Quiz:
DeleteWhat ethnicity was Knute Kenneth Rockne?
Swedish.
DeleteJohnson worked on the Model_10_Electra, (Amelia Earhardt) and the SR-71 !
ReplyDeleteSome of Lockheed's wooden designs, such as the Orion, had been built by Detroit Aircraft Corporation with metal fuselages. However, the Electra was Lockheed's first all-metal and twin-engine design by Lloyd Stearman[1][2] and Hall Hibbard. The name Electra came from a star in the Pleiades.
-
The prototype made its first flight on February 23, 1934 with Marshall Headle at the controls.[3]
Wind tunnel work on the Electra was undertaken at the University of Michigan. Much of the work was performed by a student assistant, Clarence Johnson.
-
He suggested two changes be made to the design:
changing the single tail to double tails (later a Lockheed trademark), and deleting oversized wing fillets.
-
Both of these suggestions were incorporated into production aircraft. Upon receiving his master's degree, Johnson joined Lockheed as a regular employee, ultimately leading the Skunk Works in developing advanced aircraft such as the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
Seventy-five 247s were built; by contrast, Douglas collected 800 civil orders for DC-3s before the Pearl Harbor attack, and produced over 10,000 DC-3s, including wartime production of C-47; while the rival Lockheed Electra "family" was eventually to reach over 3,000 in its various civilian and military variants.
ReplyDeleteBoeing Air Transport bought 60 examples, United Aircraft Corp. (10), four went to Deutsche Luft Hansa, and one a private owner in China. While the industry primarily standardized on Boeing's competitors, many of United's aircraft were later purchased by Western Air Express at "bargain basement prices"
...just to show it works both ways...
ReplyDeleteCrony Capitalism in America: Public Sector Union Scandals Begin to Leak
Biggest cronies in USA are in the public sector unions.
DeleteYou can't get fired from your teaching position these days even if you are watching porn all day long on the School District's computers.
Just saw the movie 'Nebraska'.
DeleteWhile it got the country life all wrong, at least it didn't have any sex or violence in it, much less porn, except for a little straight talk, and it had a happy ending, a must for me these days.
Had a very humorous scene where the old hard bitten bitch raises her skirt over the grave of an old boyfriend, and says, "See what you coulda had, Lester, if you hadn't run off with Sue."
Meanwhile the films at the Sundance Film Festival sound as if they came straight from the sleeziest part of Bangcock.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and I went shooting today. Her assignment was to adjust herself to putting not less than 16/20 rounds within an area with a diameter of 6" anywhere in a 9" target at 45', using a Jericho 9mm pistol. For each round of fire, she had 20 rounds, which she could fire in groups of 5 on four targets or groups of 10 on two targets. If she succeeds in this endeavor, she will become a NRA pistol instructor in February. Having had little opportunity to shoot at that range, she was apprehensive. She needn't have been: using 160 rounds, on only three occasions did she fail to get the 6" grouping and in every case she stayed within the 9" target.
ReplyDeleteI am going to seriously encourage her to start shooting competitively. She might as well because she has an audience whenever we go to the range. Among the audience will be big, burly cops who are astounded that this little woman can outshoot all comers. Today, for example, she took the center out of a B-29 target with 20 rounds at 10 yards.
Advantageously, she is as proficient with 45 caliber on any of the standard 1911 frames configurations.
We once jokingly talked about the fun it would be to shoot into a Halloween pumpkin patch from a distance of 1 mile with a Barrett 50 cal. It is terrible I readily admit to joke about exploding pumpkins and terrified bystanders. I shall prayer for forgiveness. On the other hand, if you hear of exploding pumpkins in Atlanta, mum’s the word.
Gallon plastic milk jugs filled with water make a nice splash when hit with a .223, I know that.
ReplyDeleteAnd you don't have to ask forgiveness of the pumpkin patch owner......
The corn ships from Egypt had better not be late or lost at sea.
ReplyDeleteTHE NEW FACE OF FOOD STAMPS: WORKING-AGE AMERICANS
Obama is having the Coast Guard intercept them, the corn is then confiscated and stored in Minuteman Silos for distribution to worthy Food Stamp Recipients.
Delete...Executive Order.
"worthy Food Stamp Recipients"
Delete...Registered Democrats.
""A low-wage job supplemented with food stamps is becoming more common for the working poor," said Timothy Smeeding, an economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in income inequality. "Many of the U.S. jobs now being created are low- or minimum-wage — part-time or in areas such as retail or fast food — which means food stamp use will stay high for some time, even after unemployment improves.""
DeleteThat is a curious field to specialize in.
I'm a specialist in the outcome of income inequality....heh
Nontenured I hope.
Troublesome about this article is the stark reality that even conscientious, well intentioned labor cannot earn enough to avoid the dole. And make no mistake, I would bet a significant percentage of these folks are college graduates. It seems very unlikely that the growth in this disbursement can be attributed to minorities exclusively or to added illegal immigrants for that matter. People coming from a formerly, comfortably, middle class socio-economic stratum are being ground down by income failing to meet basic expenses. Unlike the government, they do not have printing presses; and unlike the banks, they do not have $2-3 trillion sitting on hold thanks to the Fed. Add to this the stagnant to falling real income levels over the past 30+ years and a strong case for systemic, dare I say revolutionary, change is long overdue. While war will be a temptation as always, this must be avoided whenever possible or we will all find ourselves on the dole. Bismarck thought he had the luxury of guns and butter and Bush/Obama thought they had the luxury of guns and latte; but the deli is closed.
Delete...stagnant to falling real income levels over the past 30+ years...
DeleteI only noticed the income gap about fifteen years ago.
Rather, that is when I first noticed that Capitalists without virtue can build a new caste system all in the name of "Profit"
Mar 8:36
DeleteFor what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
But if the business people don't believe in the soul, regular folks like me will be,...Left Behind
She Gaineth by Losing:
Delete"Then I remember that I have never made it with anyone who weighed more than me at any given time.
I remember I outweigh all of my crushes, celebrity and otherwise, by at least 15 pounds.
Sometimes I outweigh them by close to 50 pounds.
But there's a silver lining to this - I am closing the gap.
This time last year those numbers would have been 35 and 70.
That's progress. "
And Dougman's worried about his behind.
Delete...I just don't know.
"You can't take it with you."
DeleteKnute Kenneth Rockne - Norwegian American
ReplyDeleteFarmer Bob's Delusions of Grandeur have been Trashed, Again.
...I though he was Hawaiian, and it was spelled "Newt Kenneth..."
"thoughT"
DeleteI'm suffocating from BBQ fumes while I eat out of cans.
ReplyDeleteHell on Earth.
Widower Emeritus
Continuing my focus on Nigeria -
ReplyDeleteMilitary
Further Reading
Insurgent Organizations
◾Boko Haram
◾Al Sunna Wal Jamma
◾Arewa People's Congress
Secure A Great New Job! Click Here!
Nigeria Christian / Muslim Conflict
Nigeria's two major religions, Islam and Christianity, are sometimes depicted as monolithic entities that confront each other in pitched battles, with formal implementation of the criminal aspects of the Muslim shari'a legal code (or the likelihood of implementation) providing the spark that touches off violence. Riots based (at least ostensibly) on religious affiliation and religious policies have indeed occurred, some of the worst such being the two confrontations that took place in Kaduna between February and May 2000.
Such descriptions, however, can be misleading. Within the Christian community one finds a broad range of churches spanning the gamut from the mainstream Roman Catholic and Anglican to many smaller Protestant organizations. These latter include many Pentecostal denominations that tend to be quite aggressive in their proselytizing.
Usman Dan Fodio's jihad, or religious war, 1804-1810, ended with the establishment of the Sokoto sultanate. This Islamic theocratic empire extended from what is now extreme northwest Nigeria in a broad swath southeast into contemporary northwest Cameroon. Armed forces of the emirate of Zazzau, based in present-day Zaria in north-central Kaduna State, continued intermittent warfare and slave raiding in the southern half of contemporary Kaduna State, an area populated by some 15 Middle Belt minority ethnic groups. The emir claimed suzerainty over this area.
After colonization, a number of the minorities, including the Gbagyi, who are the indigenes (first occupants) of the area where Kaduna city developed, converted to Catholicism and various Protestant sects. The emir of Zazzau, however, continued to assert his jurisdiction over Middle Belt minorities.
In the Northwest, core of the old North, some emirates-for example, Sokoto, Katsina, and Kano-retain much of their old authority. Others, such as Zazzau, have recently lost control over areas they formerly claimed, and their authority may be waning. By contrast, minority groups in southern Kaduna State such as the Byagyi, have, as part of the same recent events, gained recognition as new "indigenous" governments. Still others-for example, the newly minted Emirate of Dutse (1990)-may lack, at least at the emirate level, the authority associated with governance structures in the original seven Hausa states (Daura, Kano, Rano, Gobir, Biram [Sokoto], Zamfara, and Zazzau [Zaria]).
The situation in Kano is both simpler and more complex than that in other locations in northern Nigeria. Although the vast majority of the population is Muslim (perhaps as much as 90-95 %), many different Islamic sects coexist in the city. The traditional sects, all of which are followers of Sunni Islam, include the Qadriyya, the Tijaniyya, the Tariqa, the Malikiya, the Ahmadiya, and the Islamiya. Another group is the Da'awa (some use the term to designate a separate sect, some use it as a synonym for hisba-the group that enforces shari'a provisions-while still others use it to denote the preaching arm of the hisba).
DeleteThe newer and more fundamentalist sects include the Izala and the Shiites. The Izala in particular tend to attract educated young people, both men and women. The Shiites and sometimes the Izala are said to oppose applying shari'a in Nigeria until such time as religious leaders have taken over political leadership of the country. Whereas the hisba includes representatives of all sects, in Kano it tends to be dominated by Izalas and Da'awa. Just as NGOs have sprung up to take advantage of opportunities created by Western donors' calls for civil society partners, so Muslim sects have arisen in response to the calls for faith-based partners issued by Islamic governments and religious groups from Libya, Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries.
Some liberal Muslims are generally opposed to a nonsecular form of government and the implementation of shari'a. The parallel governance structures-traditional and elected-are less cohesive than they appear initially.
In Kano new ethnic categories ("southerner," "northerner") arose when southerners, particularly Igbo, began to threaten economic interests of the far-flung Hausa commercial empire based in Kano. The policy of northernization, adopted by northern elites during the late 1950s, sought to open jobs for Hausa in commercial firms in Kano; gain greater access to government contracts, civil service posts, and financial services; and reassert control over produce export. The fear of losing out economically heightened the sense among northern indigenes of marginalization. Northernization established the predominance of politics over economics, which made political competition at the national level a matter of primary concern. Nothing in the four decades since independence has lessened these concerns.
Some 11 northern states, beginning with Zamfara on October 27, 1999, and including Sokoto, Kano, and Niger, have passed into law the criminal law sections of the Islamic shari'a code of conduct. The states concerned have advanced with varying speed toward application. Zamfara and Katsina, for example, are now applying the code, while other states have not. Included as part of the shari'a criminal code are the penalties for specific violations-for example, flogging for imbibing alcohol, removal of hands and then feet for recidivist thieves, and stoning in cases of proven adultery (the standard of proof for the last type of behavior is very high). Many northern politicians have supported the so-called shari'a movement through personal conviction, political opportunism, political realism, or a sense that they should represent the wishes of those who elected them.
This poses a constitutional problem because the Nigerian constitution guarantees a secular state, guarantees freedom of religion, and vests in states concurrent power to establish their own court systems. At both constitutional and practical levels, these guarantees are incompatible in light of the fact that Islam rejects separation of political from religious authority and proposes a unified theocratic system of governance.
DeleteGovernor Ahmed Sani of Zamfara State, which first introduced and applied the criminal provisions of the shari'a code, has realized considerable political advantage from his support for shari'a. The local population strongly supports application of shari'a and the governor who made it possible. By contrast, Kaduna State Governor E.H. Ahmed Mohammed Makarfi has deliberately and successfully sought to restrict application of shari'a civil and criminal provisions to Muslim populations of the state. In Kano, the elected state leadership appears split over the advisability of applying shari'a provisions.
Underlying these different public political agendas are significant variations in the character of local Muslim populations. Although most Muslims in Nigeria's North follow orthodox Sunni Islam and the Maliki school of shari'a jurisprudence, Shiite Islam, in its Iranian variant, has attracted some adepts. These include the Shiite leader, Sheikh El Zakzaky, who initially opposed applying shari'a in Kano because he argued that the underlying socioeconomic conditions necessary for its proper application were not present. Both Zakzaky and another Shiite leader, Abubakar Mujahid, promote a thorough Islamic revolution to reclaim society for the Muslim faithful.
The Sunni group comprises several sects. In Katsina city, for instance, five are represented: Qadriyya, Tijani, Tarika, Shia, and Izala. Some of these have political programs that focus heavily on shari'a at the moment. The Izala attract bright, young, educated individuals who are strongly committed to Islam and to the application of the shari'a criminal code. As Shia sect members follow Shiite teachings, local indigenous political leaders view them as radical and believe they are committed to the overthrow of existing government. Other sects-the Qadriyya, Tijani, and Ahamadiyya, for instance-seem less committed on the political front and more centered on the practice of Islam as a nonmilitant doctrine.
Despite these differences, Muslims in Nigeria's North can act together in a disciplined manner when they consider it politically necessary. But groups and leaders in each state also pursue their own agendas, including relationships with Christians. In some traditional chieftaincies (e.g., Katsina and Gumel), relationships between Muslim political and religious leaders and Christians appear better than in others. Some Muslim and Christian leaders have sought to engage in peaceful dialogue, and there would appear to be real opportunities in this area that should be exploited.
Part of the resentment felt for "settlers" (members of southern tribes, as opposed to "indigenes") residing (and often born in) Kano stems from indigenes' feeling that settlers are simply in Kano to make money. Settlers are perceived to be unwilling to adapt to the culture of Kano and to reject the values of Kano's indigenous population. Indigenes see settlers as failing to commit or contribute to the community in either material or nonmaterial senses. On top of this, indigenes believe settlers look down on the indigenous Kano population. To some extent, Muslims feel marginalized on their own turf, which fuels their sense of grievance against the southern Christian settlers in their midst.
DeleteKano counts a large number of Christian denominations. Christians span the full spectrum, from militant born-again proselytizers to merely born-into-Christianity liquor sellers. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) members whom team members interviewed may not have represented either extreme, but they expressed clear determination to continue their religious missions, even if martyrdom might be the price of doing so.
Following the adoption of the shari'a criminal code by Zamfara State in October 1999, northern Muslim political and religious leaders established the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN), an organization designed to promote adoption of shari'a in other Nigerian states. Christian groups in the southern half of the country and in the Middle Belt reacted sharply to what they perceived as a Muslim, northern effort to lay the foundations for an Islamic, theocratic state.
In May 1999 violence erupted in Kaduna State over the succession of an Emir resulting in more than 100 deaths. In Kaduna in February-May 2000 over 1,000 people died in rioting over the introduction of criminal Shar'ia in the State. Hundreds of ethnic Hausa were killed in reprisal attacks in southeastern Nigeria. In September 2001, over 2,000 were people were killed in inter-religious rioting in Jos. In October 2001, hundred were killed and thousands displaced in communal violence that spread across the Middle-Belt states of Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa.
In the wake of these riots, President Olusegun Obasanjo visited the state and urged Governor Makarfi to establish a peace and reconciliation committee. On October 1, 2001, President Obasanjo announced the formation of a National Security Commission to address the issue of communal violence. But Christian fears remained. To address them, the Executive Governor of the State, El Haji Ahmed Makarfi, followed a strategy of according a number of ethnic groups in the heavily Christian southern half of the state recognition as chieftaincies independent of the Muslim Emirate of Zazzau. He reinforced this political innovation-for which Middle Belt groups had long lobbied-by in effect recognizing the "customary" laws of each one of these groups and empowering the new chieftaincies to organize their own "customary" judicial systems in addition to the Islamic shari'a and state magistrate court systems. This system may lead to a certain confusion and conflict of laws cases among the three systems, but it offers the great advantage of providing Christians and animists in the new chieftaincies with an effective shield against the application of the shari'a legal code, much less its criminal elements, within their jurisdictions.
Plateau State has the highest number of displaced people as a result of clashes between Christians and Muslim communities there. The predominantly Christian Tarok farmers consider the mostly Muslim Hausa cattle herders as outsiders, and accuse them of stealing land and trying to usurp political power. These had led to the burning down of 72 villages over between 2002 and the end of 2003. More than 1,000 people were killed in sectarian clashes between Christians and Muslims in Jos, the Plateau State capital, in September 2001. Subsequently a low intensity conflict spread to the surrounding countryside, where the mainly Christian farmers clashed repeatedly with the predominantly Muslim livestock herders. Several hundred more people died in these skirmishes, which forced several thousand people to abandon their homes. Most of the clashes in Plateau have been portrayed as being between Christian and Muslim communities, but have often assumed an ethnic dimension.
DeleteBy 27 April 2004 at least 20 people had died in three days of clashes between rival ethnic militias in central Plateau State. The clashes were between ethnic Tarok fighters and their Fulani rivals at Bakin Chiyawa in the Shendam district of the state. The fighting was intense, with both sides using guns, bows And arrows and machetes. The fighting was caused by a dispute over use of an area of land designated for cultivation by the agrarian Tarok and for grazing by the nomadic Fulani. Hausa fighters burned churches and killed nearly 100 people in a Tarok village. Extra armed policemen were deployed to the affected area to restore order.
In early May 2004 Nigerian security forces restored order in remote areas of central Plateau State, where sectarian violence had left scores of people dead. Calm returned to the highlands town of Telwa, as hundreds of police reinforcements arrived to quash revenge attacks by Christian ethnic-Tarok fighters against the mainly Muslim-ethnic Hausa community. Local authorities also announced drastic measures to put a stop to the recurring violence. The deputy governor of Plateau state imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew on Yelwa town, and the government has, in addition, ordered the security personnel to shoot on sight anybody or group found fomenting trouble, as well as the immediate dismantling of all illegal roadblocks mounted by the militia. Police said the death toll of 80 announced on 04 May 2004 underestimates the number of casualties. Muslim Nigerian leaders said they believe more than 200 people were killed in the violence on 01-02 May 2004, and more than 100 others were missing. They called it mass murder, and accused local authorities of organizing militia fighters, while withdrawing police from the area before they stormed the town. The Red Cross estimated as many as 600 people may have been killed in attacks on the town of Yelwa by Christian tribe militias in the first week of May 2004.
About 30 people were killed in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria with a population of eight million people. Religious violence erupted with Muslim protest demonstration on 10 May 2004 against the killing of several hundred Muslims in the small town of Yelwa in Plateau State in central Nigeria on 02 May 2004. A further 45 had been arrested and 40 had been injured after mobs of youths armed with clubs, machetes and jerry cans of petrol roamed the streets on predominantly Muslim Kano, attacking suspected Christians. An estimated 10,000 Kano residents, mostly Christians fleeing from their homes in troubled parts of the city, took refuge at the main military and police barracks on 11 May 2004.
DeleteAt least 57,000 people fled their homes following sectarian violence involving Christians and Muslims in northern and central Nigeria. More than 30,000 Christians have been displaced from their homes in Kano, the largest city in northern Nigeria, which was racked by religious violence on Tuesday and Wednesday. A further 27,000 displaced people had sought refuge in Bauchi state in east central Nigeria following a massacre of Muslims by Christian gangs in neighbouring Plateau state earlier in May.
President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau State in central Nigeria on 18 May 2004, following the Christian massacre of Muslims that in turn led to reprisal killings of Christians in the northern city of Kano. The bloodletting had claimed more than 2,000 lives since September 2001. Obasanjo sacked governor Joshua Dariye, accusing him of failing to act to end a cycle of violence between the Plateau State's Muslim and Christian communities. The president also disolved the Plateau State legislature and appointed a retired army general, Chris Ali, as interim administrator for the next six months. Ali is a native of Plateau State.
Here is the link:
Deletehttp://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/nigeria-1.htm
From the article:
Delete"where the mainly Christian farmers clashed repeatedly with the predominantly Muslim livestock herders"
Eliminating the religious affiliation we get:
"where the mainly farmers clashed repeatedly with the predominantly livestock herders"
My reading tells me the farmers usually win most of these fights........
Though the farmers and herders together can often whip the city slickers....
Delete"Kano counts a large number of Christian denominations. Christians span the full spectrum, from militant born-again proselytizers to merely born-into-Christianity liquor sellers."
Delete:)
I'll take a born into Christianity liquor salesman over a born again Christian militant proselytizer any day, and both over any Moslem.
:)
I seem to remember reading another article which I can't seemed to find right now which mentioned a Lapsed Catholic - a lapso - arms dealer from I think it was Michigan making "a killing" in Nigeria these days. He was running Smith and Wesson untraceables.
DeleteHe was living in a state of anxiety as the French had told him to knock it off as he was cutting into their trade and profits.
DeleteGet it together, Bob:
DeleteWas he living in Michigan or a State of Anxiety?
Anxiously shuttling between Michigan and Nigeria....the M & N Run he calls it.
DeleteThe single sentence letter from the French with the Diplomatic stamp said they were going to see to it that he ended up to his neck in sand, with ants eating his eyeballs out.
This fellow emailed me, yes I know him well, saying, "They seem serious, Bobbo."
Religion and profits, the two main causes of killing in the world.
DeleteNot much changes.
He has no need to chase profits, and he's lapsed, this just don't add up.
DeleteHis string of girl friends are always demanding presents, especially that Maria, his favorite - he says she can really suck a man dry - and with the price of Vodka these days.......these are the exigencies that perpetually drive his behavior.
Delete74 inches of stunning Russian beauty - pretty easy to see why one might risk life, limb, and fortune for Maria Sharapova.
DeleteOne thing I forgot to mention......my friend, Hamdoon informed me, is running guns just to the Christians, typical lapser behavior, while the French are running guns to both sides indiscriminately.
DeleteThe Blog
ReplyDeleteObamacare's Dismal California Numbers
900,000 Californians lost their health plans by January 1, 500,000 signed up on the Obamacare exchange.
4:26 PM, Jan 24, 2014 • By JOHN MCCORMACK
This week, the state of California finally got around to announcing how many people had signed up for health insurance through the state's Obamacare exchange by the end of December. Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas of the Washington Post's WonkBlog immediately declared victory in a post titled, "In California, Obamacare is succeeding."
California
"Wonkbook's Number of the Day: 424,936. That's how many people California enrolled in Obamacare policies between October 1 and December 31," wrote Klein and Soltas. "The goal for the reach [sic] by the end of March is between 487,000 and 696,000 -- and it now looks very much attainable."
The WonkBlog report was a bit off: 424,936 is only the number of people who signed up by December 31 and qualified for subsidies. The total number of sign-ups, for both subsidized and unsubsidized plans, was about 500,000. Furthermore, it's inaccurate to call these people "enrollees" because Covered California has refused to say how many paid their first month's premium, which is required to actually be enrolled in a plan. (We'll forgive the inaccuracies, since it's been such a busy week at WonkBlog.)
More by John McCormack
Journalists Distort Mike Huckabee Quote
Coburn to Retire at the End of 2014
NY21: Doug Hoffman Endorses Elise Stefanik
Democratic Senator: We've Never Discussed Plans to Fix ...
New York Democrat Bill Owens Retiring
But even if all or most of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare by December 31 end up paying their bills, is that really a success? Leaving aside important questions about the quality and cost of Obamacare plans, the enrollment numbers are not impressive. The California exchange is doing very little to achieve the goal of insuring the uninsured.
DeleteRecall that California did not allow insurers the opportunity to re-offer plans canceled by Obamacare. Anne Gonzales of Covered California confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD in a phone call that all 900,000 non-grandfathered plans in California "had to be discontinued by January 1." So how many of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare before January 1 previously had insurance? "I don't think we have those [numbers]," Gonzales said.
But it's easy to infer that the majority of people who signed up for Obamacare already had insurance. "Of those 900,000 [who lost plans], 310,000 of those would have been subsidy eligible if they came to the exchange," Gonzales said. Another 20,000 subsidy-eligible Californians lost plans because their insurance carriers were dropping out of the market.
Health care industry expert Bob Laszewski points out that that means at least 330,000 of the 500,000 people who signed up for Obamacare already had health insurance. "If you want to know how many uninsured bought it, subtract by at least" 330,000, Laszewski told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. "The only place they can get the subsidy is in the exchange. So if they're going to replace their policy, unless they're really stupid, they're going to replace it in the exchange."
What happened to the 600,000 Californians who lost plans because of Obamacare but didn't qualify for subsidies? Some probably signed up on the exchange anyway, further reducing the number of uninsured who gained coverage because of Obamacare. Others could have purchased Obamacare-compliant plans outside of the exchange.
Still other previously-insured Californians now lack health insurance because of Obamacare. Just how many people fall into each camp? We don't know. "I don't think we would have any of those demographics that you're describing," Anne Gonzales of Covered California told me.
But we do know that it's very likely that that fewer than 200,000 of California's 5.5 million uninsured residents (3.3. million of whom are eligible to enter the exchange) signed up for Obamacare by January 1. After spending $1 billion on developing and advertising the exchange in a blue state where views about the law are more favorable than the nation as a whole, is that really a success? Does that justify a multi-trillion dollar program and the cancellation of the insurance policies of millions of Americans across the country? The good folks at Covered California and WonkBlog seem to think so. A strong majority of American voters continue to disagree.
Here's the link:
Deletehttp://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacares-dismal-california-numbers-900000-people-lost-plans-january-1-500000-signed-exchange_775360.html
The worst is yet to come.
Delete
ReplyDeleteCovered California: If this is a success story ...
By U-T San Diego Editorial Board 5 p.m.Jan. 25, 2014 ⎙ Print
The Golden State’s version of Obamacare has gotten more positive coverage than the federal version, but it’s hardly thriving.
Covered California’s problems start with its failure to meet the Affordable Care Act’s central goal: increasing the number of people with health insurance. Last week, Covered California reported it had signed up 625,000 residents, with about 500,000 having paid their first premium. But according to state regulators, about 1.1 million Californians had their 2013 policies canceled because they didn’t meet Obamacare standards.
Meanwhile, a national survey of insurance officials found at least two-thirds of Obamacare enrollees were people who previously had coverage. If that holds roughly true for the nation’s largest state, the Affordable Care Act’s main effect in California hasn’t been to bring coverage to the previously uninsured. It’s been to create churn in the marketplace.
There are other major problems as well. Just 15 percent of those enrolled aren’t eligible for subsidies. If that ratio continues — nearly six subsidized enrollees for every unsubsidized enrollee — then Covered California’s cost to taxpayers will explode.
And there’s reason to think the ratio will continue: More than half of the Californians without health insurance are Latinos, mostly low-income or unemployed. But they make up only one in five of those who have enrolled with the agency.
These numbers spurred sharp criticism of Covered California officials last week. The state Legislature’s Latino Caucus disputed agency claims that better marketing would sharply increase Latino participation. Critics said that wouldn’t make up for a poor Spanish-language website, weak outreach and the agency’s failure to understand the Latino community.
DeleteIf Covered California corrects these problems, and Latino enrollment surges, that’s good news in terms of the agency’s goals. But then it would be more likely that the highly costly ratio of subsidized to unsubsidized enrollees continues.
So the state’s version of Obamacare has reduced the number of Californians with health insurance while doing a terrible job with the single community that was most in need of health coverage and assistance in navigating the bureaucracy to obtain it. The program also appears likely to be far more costly to taxpayers than previously estimated.
If this is an Affordable Care Act success story, that’s a profound comment on how badly the rollout is going elsewhere around the nation.
Which brings us to Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California. For nearly a year, Lee has issued statement after statement depicting his agency as a shining example of brilliant governance. Last week, he finally shifted out of happy talk mode. “We have not provided good customer service,” he acknowledged.
We hope this candor continues, and on many other fronts. Covered California will never live up to its hype. But triage may help the agency realize its goals and limit the damage it does to taxpayers.
Here's the link:
Deletehttp://www.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jan/25/covered-california-less-insured-latinos-neglected/
The worst is yet to come.
DeleteHewitt knew a lot of that long ago, but we had to endure the perpetual drivel machine in Mississippi drone on about how great Covered Californicate was.
DeleteIt's Obscene!
The government is trickle-up. That would be taxes. It's not just the Mafia. You have other similar type organizations that are able to demand and coerce and commandeer things from people.
DeleteGovernment does it.
Unions do it.
It's not a surprise Obama would use unions and government as his business model. Remember in socialism, the powerful get rich. It's called trickle-up
"Trickle-up is where people kick up to captains, and the captains kick up to the boss, and the boss kicks up to the capo di tutti di frutti, and it finally gets to the head honcho, and the Mafia doesn't have to split anything. We're talking illegal businesses here. Great examples are cash businesses. In other words, these businesses that are extorting, which is the trickle-up are not paying -- he-he-he -- any business taxes, folks. They're not paying any business taxes, they're not paying any income taxes 'cause their businesses are illegal. And so they got a bigger pot to distribute upwards. Everybody involved is keeping a hundred percent of what they earn until they kick it up. That's why trickle-up works.
DeleteTrickle-up doesn't work in a legal business where you're already losing half of everything to federal taxes. The government is the Capo di tutti or whatever. No, not to be confused with the consiglieri. That's just the legal advisor. Don't get the terms wrong." - Limbaugh
As far as "unverified (to present) numbers," it's widely assumed that the "policies cancelled" numbers are more than made up for by the "Bought Direct from Ins. Company (Off Exchange) Numbers."
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the Verified Numbers, California has Now enrolled 1, 062,155 Citizens in the State Exchange,
Private Enrollments
AND, 2,223,091 in the Expanded Medicaid Program.
DeleteSignups dot com
For, a Grand Total of 3,285,246 Californians Covered by Obamacare!
DeletePlumbdumb Polling is just as Dumb as it ever was, children; Obamacare is kicking ass in California.
BTW, after inheriting a $27 Billion Deficit from his Republican predecessor, Gov. Moonbeam is now running an approximate $5 BILLION SURPLUS in the Sunshine State.
DeleteAnd people are leaving in droves because of the increased taxes.
DeleteWhat's this Plumbdumb Polling R2 is blabbing about?
I provided my links......believe my links, or believe R2, don't matter to me.
"it's widely assumed" - R2's cure all.
The D’Souza Arrest: Obama Adopts the Stalinist Style
ReplyDeleteJanuary 27, 2014 by Robert Spencer
I’m no fan of Dinesh D’Souza, but this is ridiculous.
Dinesh and I locked horns a few years back when he attacked me in his book The Enemy At Home, saying that books like mine should not be written. His line was that Islam was a religion of peace, that pious, morally upright Muslims had been driven to lash out against the U.S. because of the immorality of our pop culture, and that American conservatives should ally with what he termed “conservative Muslims” against their common, amoral Leftist foe.
He and I debated this at CPAC in 2007 and on several radio shows, which grew increasingly heated as he charged me with “Islamophobia” (a term used by Muslim Brotherhood entities to stigmatize opposition to jihad terror) and invoked Saudi-funded Islamic apologist John Esposito as an authority.
The ensuing years have only shown more vividly what nonsense Dinesh’s position was, as “conservative Muslims” the world over wage jihad against America, and non-Muslims everywhere, more furiously than ever.
I rehash all this to show the falsehood of the line that has been circulating around in the Leftist media ever since Dinesh D’Souza was indicted: that the only people who share D’Souza’s views are concerned about his indictment. As Tal Kopan put it in Politico, “In the wake of the indictment of conservative author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza for alleged fraud, conservatives are crying foul that it is evidence of the Obama administration punishing its critics.”
Liberals should be as concerned about this as conservatives. Foes of jihad should be just as concerned about it as those who share D’Souza’s worries about “Islamophobia.” For the evidence is mounting that D’Souza has indeed been targeted for being a public and high-profile foe of Barack Obama – a development that should disquiet anyone who believes in the value of a stable, functioning republic with a loyal opposition. Pamela Geller notes here that D’Souza is not remotely the only conservative or Obama critic who has been targeted for prosecution, while Obama’s Justice Department has turned a blind eye to illegal campaign contributions from Gaza during Obama’s 2008 campaign. And then there was the Obama Justice Department’s dismissal of the New Black Panthers voter intimidation case.
DeleteWhat’s more, bail for D’Souza was set higher than that given to several people accused of attempted murder, rape, assault, and the like. To whom is Dinesh D’Souza more dangerous than a man who sexually assaulted a teenager, or a man who kept old men captive in a filthy “dungeon”?
This is something new in American politics. When I was six years old, I took notice of the presidential campaign, and asked my father who was the “good guy”: Richard Nixon or Hubert Humphrey. My father answered, “They’re both good men. They both want to do what is right for the country. They just disagree on what some of the right things to do may be.”
That kind of respect for the opposition was commonplace in America back in 1968, but it has all but vanished now. I remember being taken aback in college by the obscene, relentless, vicious hatred that the Left directed toward Ronald Reagan – I was at that time entirely sympathetic with their disdain for him, but the frenzy with which they expressed it, their wild furious contempt, shocked me. And that was nothing compared to what they had in store for George W. Bush. The Democratic Party as a whole, along with the entire Leftist establishment, adopted the Alinskyite tactic of ridiculing, mocking and smearing their foes instead of engaging them on the level of ideas. Leftists now routinely portray their opponents as simultaneously stupid and evil, idiotic but crafty; it’s practically a reflex.
Decades of this have poisoned the well of American politics, and paved the way for Obama to take the demonization to the next level by unleashing the law on them. Arresting prominent members of the opposition is the kind of behavior we have seen from the likes of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler; it is a hallmark of authoritarianism, not (until now) of politics in the United States. Of course, Stalin and Hitler didn’t stop with arresting their foes; they had them murdered as well, usually after a show trial. Obama is not doing that, but is even one step down this road one that Americans want to take?
DeleteLeftist pundits who are waving away concern over the arrest of D’Souza should bear in mind that the worm could turn. They could, for some reason or another, find themselves somewhere down the line opposing the Obama regime or some other presidency that apes Obama’s strategy. Then those who are claiming that only believers in crazy “conspiracy theories” are concerned about the Obama Justice Department’s (to say nothing of the Obama IRS) clear pattern of singling out opponents of the President for prosecution while ignoring more serious crimes among his friends may find themselves on the receiving end of this tactic.
Civility and mutual respect are in dire need of restoration in the American public square, but two have to play at that game, and only one side is even interested in the game at all. With the arrest of Dinesh D’Souza, Barack Obama has adopted a key feature of the Stalinist style of politics. Before he or anyone else gets the idea of adopting anything else from the authoritarians’ playbook, Americans – Left and Right – would be well-advised to stand together to repudiate him and these tactics once and for all, and resoundingly.
But by relentlessly demonizing their opponents, Barack Obama and his cohorts have almost certainly already made that impossible
Here's the link:
Deletehttp://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/robert-spencer/the-dsouza-arrest-obama-adopts-the-stalinist-style/?
Could Putin do as well?
Yes, even better perhaps, but this is supposed to be America.
Although the media is notorious for spinning, rarely have I seen a headline so diametrically opposed to fact.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, both sides shamelessly exploit the unfortunate civilians trapped between the lines of fire. Syria, using the time tested method of using besieged civilians to consume scarce food stocks etc. within rebel controlled areas, will force the defenders to withhold the necessities of daily living from non-combatants in order to keep fighters in fighting trim, guarantees death by starvation and disease will run rampant throughout the rebel held enclaves and cities. And the beat goes on.
Syria talks yield narrow deal, Assad 'red line'
And The Beat Goes On
Or what?
DeleteSyria must allow aid convoy into Homs to feed starving: U.S.
January, 2014 - Washington Post/ABC Poll
ReplyDeleteSupport for Obamacare
Registered Voters
47 Support
48 Oppose
Quite a bump.
Support for Obamacare
Whatta ya wanna bet it doesn't "go positive" in the next poll?
DeleteIn the next "Wash Post/ABC Poll," that is. All polls have different methodologies, and, thus, nominal numbers.
DeleteBut, the "Trend" is, definitely, Obamacare's "Friend."
The Washington Compost works for the Obama Administration.
DeleteGet real.
If a poll shows a majority in favor of executing Dinesh D’Souza, Rufus will regard that as proof that that's the right thing to do.
DeleteValue free, poll driven "mind."
Medicaid is Obamacare, according to Rufus.
DeleteAs if expanding medicaid is a cure all, when more and more doctors don't add medicaid patients because they lose money on them.