They cite unexpected costs too high to surmount and still make money
Parts of the new Health Care Reform Act of 2010 take effect Thursday.
One predictable development raised its head immediately.
As usual, even if you've got the money, you still can't buy it because it's not for sale.
An estimated 500,000 kids without health insurance will be affected by a decision by major medical carriers to stop selling new policies for children only.
Aetna and Blue Cross said they will stop selling children-only policies as soon as the new law goes into effect tomorrow because they just can't make any money under the new terms of doing business. The companies said they will begin their new policy in California, Illinois, Florida and elsewhere immediately. In ten states including Texas, Cigna announced it will also stop selling the policies. "We made a decision to stop offering child-only policies to ensure that we can remain competitive in the 10 markets where we sell individual and family plans," said Cigna spokeswoman Gwyn Dilday. "We'll continue to evaluate this policy and could reconsider changing this position as market dynamics change."
Kids who are already covered by the parents' employers would not be affected, but those who are not already covered, especially those with pre-existing conditions, will be passed by because of the huge increase in the cost of doing business.
“Unfortunately, this has created an un-level competitive environment,” according to a statement issued by California's largest for-profit insurer, Anthem Blue Cross.
Health care advocates, lawmakers who voted for Obamacare and regulators are angered by the move because it will obviously place a huge new strain on such public insurance programs as MediCal, which is intended to serve the poor.
Senate Democrats fell substantially short of the 60 votes needed for cloture to send the FY 2011 Defense Authorization Act to the floor for debate and an up or down vote.
The measure included in seperate rider bills an automatic extension of citizenship to resident alien enlistees in the Armed Forces and end to the “don't ask; don't tell” policy against gays and lesbians serving in the military.
In reaction, Senator Bob Menendez, (D-NJ), called the fact that not one Republican Senator voted to send the bill to the full Senate for debate “shameful.”
Obama signs Executive Order banning re-importation of 1 million M1 Garand rifles
“THE NEWS,” Mexico City PHOENIX – Deputy Director Kenneth E. Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced the formation of seven new Project Gunrunner anti-firearms trafficking groups during a news conference on Friday in which he and Dennis K. Burke, United States District Attorney of Arizona, announced the results of the ATF’s Gun Runner Impact Team (GRIT) initiative, a nearly 100-day deployment of bureau resources in the Phoenix area to disrupt illegal firearms trafficking by Mexican drug dealing organizations.
The GRIT initiative sent more than 80 ATF employees to Arizona and New Mexico to launch 174 arms-trafficking investigations, according to an ATF statement.
As a result of the 2010 emergency supplemental appropriation for border security, the ATF received $37.5 million for Project Gunrunner. With this funding, the ATF will establish and place firearms tracking groups along traditional and newly-discovered firearms trafficking routes and hubs in Atlanta, Dallas, Brownsville, Texas, Las Vegas, Miami, Oklahoma City, and Sierra Vista, Ariz.
“Lives are being lost to violent crime every day on both sides of the U.S. and Mexico border,” said Melson. “Through Project Gunrunner and its GRIT initiative, the ATF is shutting down the supply routes of firearms traffickers.”
“We are fighting on a crucial front here today to reduce violence in our own communities, and to disrupt and dismantle the southbound supply of weapons to the cartels,” said Burke.
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has signed an executive order banning the re-importation of nearly one million M1 Garand and M1 Carbine rifles back into the U.S. The rifles have been on loan to the government of S. Korea since the end of the Korean War.
State Department officials cited an acute need to limit the amount of firearms falling into the hands of private citizens due to gunrunning by smugglers trafficking in arms to Mexican drug cartels.
The M1 rifles have been slated for destruction by melting them down. Traditionally, the weapons have been redistributed by the Director of Civilian Marksmanship as part of an NRA program designed to sharpen the firearms skills of American citizens.
This was the scene outside Austin Police Department headquarters earlier this year when the BATF and the police shut down a gun show because individuals were selling firearms to other individuals. The controversy arose when the law enforcement types said they should be Federal Firearms Licensees, though there is no law against one individual selling a firearm to another unless it can be proven the gun is stolen or one or both of the individuals involved in the transaction is not allowed to sell, buy or possess a firearm.
He terms the "War on Drugs" a cruel and useless exercise, exceeding the Constitution
A prominent and well-respected philosopher with impeccable conservative credentials blasted the federal government's role in packing prisons with non-violent offenders at a time when money is too tight to mention.
The conservative daily blog "Daily Bell" interviewed Tibor Machan about Tea Party politics. His answers were far ranging and provocative, to say the least.
Dr. Machan was smuggled out of communist Hungary at the age of 14 in 1956. An early influence on his thinking came from the writings of Ayn Rand.
Daily Bell: Tea Party candidates seem to be squeezing out middle-of-the-road Republican opponents in favor of those who say they want serious tax cuts and a much smaller US federal government. Of course, the final results won't be known until November, but the trends seem obvious now, don't they?
Tibor Machan: I am no spin-doctor, but it occurs to me that if the Tea Party is to have a solid chance at influencing American politics and public policy it will have to pare down its message to certain fundamentals and express this publicly in palatable ways. The one principle that is truly representative of America as the Founders conceived of it is limited government, limited by the principle of individual liberty. Perhaps turning to this message with a clear emphasis on not trying to impose anything else on the country could be successful.
If a Tea Party candidate or leader is pressed for views on matters other than the proper scope of government, the answer should be: "No comment on that since it isn't a part of politics proper, not in a free country!" Yes, it is judicious, prudent to simply refuse to get caught up in all the issues that people may bring to the political table by teaching the lesson that they really aren't political, even if they are on the minds of millions of people.
It is also feasible to look at the Tea Party as a moving target. That is, the Tea Party is not what it was two years ago or even last year. If the movement continues to grow, and there is some evidence that it is, then some of the issues that have been identified with it may subside. Candidates may become more sophisticated and the general literacy level regarding freedom may rise.
Tibor Machan is currently Professor Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, Auburn University, Alabama, and holds the R. C. Hoiles Endowed Chair in Business Ethics and Free Enterprise at the Argyros School of Business & Economics, Chapman University. He is also a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Machan, who earned BA (Claremont McKenna College), MA (New York University), and Ph.D. (University of California at Santa Barbara) degrees in philosophy, has written numerous books and papers in the field of philosophy, including on issues surrounding the free-market. Machan was selected as the 2003 President of the American Society for Value Inquiry, and delivered the presidential address on December 29, 2002, in Philadelphia, at the Eastern Division meetings of the American Philosophical Association, titled "Aristotle & Business." He is on the board of the Association for Private Enterprise Education.
The American Philosophical Society was founded by Benjamin Franklin and other members of his “junta” at Philadelphia long before the Declaraation of Independence was signed in 1776.
Daily Bell: Should the drug war be on the agenda as something that should be ended as well?
Tibor Machan: Here is a good one – if the Tea Party could come out four-square against the vicious War on Drugs it might gain some respect from most serious Americans. I am old enough to remember Baby Boomer attitudes to the War on Drugs from the 1960s and 1970s and I have a hard time believing that those who participated in the youth culture of that generation have changed so much that they now believe people who smoke marijuana should be incarcerated. The Drug War consensus is manufactured in this regard. If the drug laws were repealed tomorrow I do believe that the only constituency that would be upset would be law enforcement. Just like Prohibition and alcohol, the War on Drugs is a manufactured consensus, not one that has a great deal of grass-roots support. It is also a terrible tragedy for those who have been caught up in its destructiveness.
Compared with other countries, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. As of 2006, a record 7 million people were behind bars, on probation or on parole, of which 2.2 million were incarcerated. The People's Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million. The United States has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's incarcerated population.
In terms of federal prison, 57% of those incarcerated were sentenced for drug offenses. However, the federal prison population is a very small percentage of the massive state prison population, which also holds numerous people convicted of drug offenses. Currently, considering local jails as well, almost a million of those incarcerated are in prison for non-violent crime. In 2002, roughly 93.2 % of prisoners were male. About 10.4 % of all black males in the United States between the ages of 25 and 29 were sentenced and in prison by year end, compared to 2.4 % of Hispanic males and 1.2 % of white males.
Many sociologists and Criminal Justice Academics argue that this disparity in prison population is reflective of discriminatory sentencing. In a study conducted by the Rand Corporation, it has been estimated that Blacks and Latinos received longer sentences and spent more time in jail than their white counterparts who were convicted of similar crimes and with similar criminal records. One particular example revealed the state of California statistically imposed sentences that averaged 6.5 months longer for Hispanics, and 1.5 months longer for Blacks when compared to white inmates.
Aizenman, N.C.. "New High in Prison Numbers". The Washington Post February 29, 2008: 1-1.According to the Washington Post, More than one in 100 adults in the United States is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year and the federal government $5 billion more. With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving China a remote second, according to a study by the Pew Center on the States. For example, Florida, which has almost doubled its prison population over the past 15 years, has experienced a smaller drop in crime than New York, which, after a brief increase, has reduced its number of inmates to below the 1993 level.
Driving the wrong car, a 21-year-old journalist is slain by mistake
Juarez - Luis Carlos Santiago, 21, was headed out to lunch one day last week when drug cartel gunmen ambushed him in a shopping center parking lot.
Cut down by gunfire, the young photojournalist for “El Diario de Juarez” died at the scene. An intern riding with him on the way to lunch, Carlos Manuel Sanchez, was recovering from serious wounds.
From all appearances, the young news photographer was driving the wrong car.
Chihuahua state prosecutors think that the fact he had borrowed a car usually driven by Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, another journalist who works for “El Diario,” led to the killing. His son is a member of the Human Rights Commission.
Sr. Hickerson told investigators he feels that his investigations of torture cases involving Mexican soldiers and drug cartel members may have led to the confusion that cost the young shutterbug his life.
Sr. Santiago is only one of about 30 Mexican journalists who have been killed this year by drug cartels in a sub rosa war on the public's right to know.
Apparently, the editorial leadership of the large daily has capitulated to the threat. A headline on a Sunday edition's front-page editorial read “Tell Us What To Write.” The editorial requested an immediate truce with drug gangs and their allies in the Federal Judicial Police, the military and “los policias locales.”
The posture drew immediate criticism from the administration of Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Said his security spokesman, Alejandro Poire, “In no way should anyone promote a truce or negotiate with criminals who are precisely the ones causing anxiety for the public, kidnapping, extorting and killing...All sectors of society should fight them and bring them down in a definitive way.”
Violence has claimed the lives of more than 28,000 persons since the President declared a war on drug cartels in 2006. Smuggling cartels are fighting for the right to use certain routes into the lucrative U.S. Drug market.
More than 6,000 business have closed on the Juarez side of the border across the river from El Paso del Norte, Texas, last year. An estimated 60,000 people are out of a job as a result with a cost to local economy of $2 billion. Business owners are unable to afford the “tax” charged by drug gangs in return for their “protection.”
A few have relocated to the American side of the border, but such landmarks as Jenny's in Juarez and The Cadillac Bar in Nuevo Laredo are now closed.
Waco - Two local courthouse races are beginning to generate heat and light in near-chemical chain reactions.
In the contest for the County Judge slot on the Commissioners' Court, a liberal Democratic Party challenger is beginning to raise fundamental questions about public policy regarding economic development and the expansion of the capacity of the McLennan County Jail.
A Republican in the race for Criminal District Attorney is putting pressure on a veteran Democratic prosecutor about the release of serious offenders for lack of timely indictments because of a delay in the production of physical evidence.
Both show a definite schism in the approach to performing criminal justice functions during times of expansion in which hard times are severely limiting resources to get the job done.
An attorney and social psychologist with a background in environmental issues and the study of questions to come before Congressional committees, Dr. Ralph Cooper is in fundamental dispute with the voting record and leadership style of veteran public servant Jim Lewis, a multi-term County Judge and Deputy Sheriff, TDC employee and County Commissioner with 40 years of experience working for McLennan County government. For much of that 40 year career, Judge Lewis was the McLennan County Jail Administrator.
Dr. Cooper points to what he calls a $30,000 per month deficit in the operation of the county's Jack Harwell Detention Center, which he calls "a jail it never needed," and a $49 million project built with revenue bonds issued by the Commissioners' Court and operated by a private New Jersey corporation, Community Education Centers.
Judge Lewis, on the other hand, says the jail's operation costs taxpayers nothing because it is financed with fees paid for the incarceration of prisoners from other jurisdictions that can't handle the overflow of the jails' capacity as set by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards due to overcrowding.
The problem, simple enough to understand, yet oh, so costly, is that the predicted overflow did not materialize. Obviously, other counties facing the overhead cost of paying to house prisoners elsewhere are finding alternatives to jailing every potential prisoner who comes down the pike.
McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch receives a $1,000 per month stipend that is ostensibly funded by CEC, the private corporation that operates the detention center.
In the Criminal District Attorney race, two offenders charged with multiple offenses of aggravated sexual assault were released on their personal recognizance due to a delay in prosecution. Republican challenger Abel Reyna is beginning to question the release of serious offenders due to a lack or declination to prosecute.
In both cases, hard economic times are dictating a long, close look by voters at just how they want to handle some very serious issues in a time of very limited resources.
She is asking Maine's two female U.S. Senators this week to cast votes against the policy by approving cloture for the Defense Appropriations Bill and sending the measure to the floor for a final vote.
Contained in the bill is a rider amendment that would eliminate a 1993 policy of excluding from military service male homosexuals and lesbians who openly acknowledge their unusual sexual orientation.
It's against the law for recruiters to quiz enlistees about the matter and it's similarly illegal for commanding officers to carry out investigations regarding with whom officers and enlisted personnel like to sleep.
On the other hand, if anyone chooses to tell all regarding their proclivities, they are summarily discharged as unfit for further military service, thereby losing all retirement benefits. According to the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, on whose behalf Lady Gaga is appearing, more than 14,000 individuals have been so discharged under the policy, many of them during the fledgling Obama Administration.
The organization claims the “Don't ask; don't tell” policy is unconstitutional and a violation of human rights.
Neither Senator Olympia Snowe, nor Senator Susan Collins have made any commitment so far, prompting the lobbying effort to make an appearance today at the University of Southern Maine in Portland.
Though Senator Collins voted against the anti-gay measure in the Senate Armed Services Committee, she has called for a full and open debate of the Defense Appropriation bill and the right for Repubican Senators to offer amendments to it.
If the Democrats muster the needed 60 votes, the two provisions regarding amnesty and don't ask, don't tell could become law as soon as the defense authorization bill is passed.
