March « 2010 « POWIP

18Mar/107

Joey Boy

But when ye come, and all the flowers are dying
If I am dead, as soon you may infer
You'll come and find the place where I am lying
And strangely kneel and say an "Ave" there---for her?
And I shall hear, tho' soft you tread above me
And tho' my gravestone bears the name of me
That you there bend to bless your mum who lives still
And I shall turn in consternation, Joey B.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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18Mar/101

New from the, “YOU LIE!”, department

YOU LIE!

Obama's been telling some real whoppers lately when it comes to characterizing the effects of his healthcare plan on insurance premiums, as outlined in this "AP fact check" piece. Now, I've been real critical of AP for spinning most reportage about the President and his agenda in the most favorable light possible, like the way the metrics on unemployment, retail sales, mortgages, and housing data always seem to be "unexpectedly" moving in the opposite of the desired direction. And that's exactly what makes this AP/Obama fact check piece so much more interesting; because they actually point out the liberties that Obama has taken with the truth about premiums under his proposed plan. Didn't he hear Rachel Maddow recently demanding that when debating Obamacare, we stick to the facts!

Buyers, beware: President Barack Obama says his health care overhaul will lower premiums by double digits, but check the fine print.

Premiums are likely to keep going up even if the health care bill passes, experts say. If cost controls work as advertised, annual increases would level off with time. But don't look for a rollback. Instead, the main reason premiums would be more affordable is that new government tax credits would help cover the cost for millions of people.

Listening to Obama pitch his plan, you might not realize that's how it works.

The plain "facts" are that Obamcare's mandates would essentially do away with the more modest benefit, high deductible, plans that are available today as well as preclude consideration of pre-existing conditions; 2 factors that are guaranteed to increase the individual, pre-tax-credit, costs. Last year, the CBO said as much, that premiums would increase, something that seemed to be missed amongst the flurry of legislative cost estimates for, what was at that time, several parallell, rapidly evolving, Senate Obamacare plans being considered. Heck, even Dick Durbin, a man known less for reality based pronouncements than party-line talking points, recently conceded that, "of course healthcare premiums will still go up, anyone who would stand before you and say 'well, if you pass healthcare reform that your next years premiums will go down ' I don't think is telling the truth..."

But, you know, I guess he didn't get the memo that day.

Still, it gets even better.

Obama asked his audience for a show of hands from people with employer-provided coverage, what most Americans have.

"Your employer, it's estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent," said the president, "which means they could give you a raise."

A White House press spokesman later said the president misspoke; he had meant to say annual premiums would drop by $3,000.

It could be a long wait.

...

An analysis by the Congressional Budget Office of earlier Senate legislation suggested savings could be fairly modest.

It found that large employers would see premium savings of at most 3 percent compared with what their costs would have been without the legislation. That would be more like a few hundred dollars instead of several thousand.

Wow. I don't know what to think. Is this a typical Obama play-it-fast-and-loose-with-the-facts kind of gaffe? Does it show the desperation to avoid a political "Waterloo"; to convince people that Obamacare is in their "economic interest" (his fave euphamism for an entitlement bribe) regardless of just how far he needs to stretch the truth? Could it be that he's decided to pull out all of the bamboozling stops, in conjunction with all of the legislative chicanery going on in congress, in order to pass his plan? Or, could he and Robert Gibbs be playing a good-ol'-boys game of, "can you believe those hicktard rubes bought that whopper?". I mean, they could have a dinner at Ruth's Chris or Bobby Van's bet on it. Or maybe they're just doing it for the lulz...

Considering episodes like this, along with his disastrous interview appearance on Fox last night, one where he looked shifty, evasive, small, petty, and disingenuous, it's no surprise that even Gallup has him upside down in the polls. Effin' Gallup !

Gallup? AP? Who's next?

Rocketman

Tagged as: Factually Challenged, lies, Obama, Obamacare 1 Comment

18Mar/101

Health insurance and costs: an actuary breaks it down

And no, it's not me. Want to know about annuities? I can help you there.

For health insurance, look to The Anonymous Actuary.

Now, we all know that the Health Care "Reform" bill is not really about costs, not really about health care, but about pure power grabs. But let's pretend someone out there really cares about understanding the issue, and what is driving such huge increases in health insurance premiums.

Here's one of a dozen videos TAA has posted, about how deductibles and employer support, in what is called leveraging, can cause a 9% increase in base costs can translate into a 50% increase in premiums directly paid...without any shenanigans. It's just math.

Meep

Meep is a member of the Irish Catholic mafia, having a suspiciously high number of green-eyed, red-haired friends. While she doesn’t have red hair herself [except when she goes into the sun (rare for any vampire)], she does have green eyes. She’s a raving Papist and is a life actuary on the side [i.e., she counts dead people]. An amateur pain-in-the-ass [willing to go pro!], she likes covering retirement, mortality, math, and education issues.

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17Mar/1015

On Racks and Sweater Puppies: Rose McGowan?

Thanks for asking. There's really very little overlap between racks and sweater puppies, but if you were to Venn diagram them there would be a small sort of intermediary no-man's land or cleavage, as it were.

One exemplar would most certainly be Rose McGowan:

Let us say, for the sake of argument, that this represents a brace of Irish Wolfhound puppies.

I realize that this is a promo pic for Charmed, but still . . . give a dog a bone.

Quintessential sweater girl beneath the fold.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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17Mar/105

In Celebration of St. Patrick’s Day

Iowahawk has comments open, and is pretty much on the same page as Enoch, below.

If you're interested in the primacy of the Irish, I recommend you turn your attentions here, halfway down the page and ff.

Thanks, Harper's!

Major Moran vs. Major Moron

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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17Mar/100

Hello. What Do You Really Know About the Swedish Economy?

(via Power Line)

And while we're inviting screen spittle, we might as well mention:

Just last month, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the agency that runs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, responded to our FOIA lawsuit by telling us that none of the documents we seek are subject to public disclosure under the FOIA.

Here's the exact language the Obama agency used in its recent court filing: "Any records created by or held in the custody of the Enterprises (Fannie and Freddie) reflecting their political campaign contributions or policies, stipulations and requirements concerning campaign contributions necessarily are private corporate documents. They are not 'agency records' subject to disclosure under FOIA."

So there you have it. American taxpayers are paying the tab for the collapse of Fannie and Freddie but are not allowed to obtain any information about why it happened. The Obama administration is saying, in effect, "None of your business."

Transparency.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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17Mar/105

St. Patrick’s Day – Why You Can Go F*ck Yerselves

Drinking is all well and good, I guess. And by drinking I mean to say getting sideways drunk, of course. It has its place and all. We are to celebrate on occasion... And St. Patrick is a very good person to celebrate. Not sure he'd approve being remembered in this way by people who don't know shit about him or his pious life. Whatever.

But to me, someone of Irish extraction, what started out as fun has grown tiresome.

Nonetheless, I get it.

What is obnoxious is the impression that we Americans of Irish Descent like to argue, drink, and fight. Nothing could be further from the truth, as I tried to explain to this most impolite butt-head at the pub the other night. I finally had enough of his fecking shite and after several more rounds of his jabbering smacked him upside the head with me bar stool... the fecking c*nt. Or so me buddies told me the next day when they found me in the fecking ditch... resting a wee bit.

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

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17Mar/100

Would That He Die Already

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

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16Mar/100

Methanatos

This is the way the world ends:
This is the way the world ends:
This is the way the world ends:
Not with a bang but a flarp!

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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16Mar/101

Teabaggers Strike Again?

I realize that this is tragic, but as always it's the details that make the story fascinating.

A trio of golfers at a Birmingham, Alabama course notified police of a bag floating in one of the ponds. Whether they fished the bag out and opened it, the article doesn't say, but authorities believe that its contents are likely the body of a local "potato chip scion" who's been missing since early this month.

The Bashinsky family is the majority shareholder in the investment company that owns Golden Enterprises, a regional chip manufacturer that had $122 million in sales in the last fiscal year.

Bashinsky was last seen at a Birmingham office building on March 3. His car was found several days later, just two miles from the Highland Park Golf Course, where the body was discovered.

On March 4, Golden Enterprises received an anonymous letter critical of the Bashinsky family for making millions of dollars at the expense of the company's workers, according to the Birmingham News.

The letter compared the family's business practices to "vampires."

When reached by ABCNews.com, no one at Golden Enterprises, maker of Pork Cracklin Strips and Golden Flake potato chips, said they were authorized to speak about the letter.

This vampirephobe appears to be alienated from the means of production. I would suggest Stacy go down there to investigate it, but I know he doesn't care for Southern Gothic.

Also hard to visualize due to defects in information is the following story: "Man used penis to assault female officer". Settle down, people; the penis he used was his own. Sheesh. But what? Is he so tall that she came up to his waist, or is she so short, or was he standing on a table, or was it merely so long? This is the sort of mystification that keeps one awake at night, and unworthy of the trade. (h/t Duchess Rebecca)