McMillen is milking it for all it's worth

NMissCommentor: Constance McMillen to be a Grand Marshal for 41st Annual LGBT Pride March, NYC

Scholarship offers, calls from Hollywood celebrities, my how skewed this whole affair has become. The poor girl probably thinks this will be what the rest of her life will be like.

$3M federal grant to help center for river power

A $3 million federal economic stimulus grant will be used to establish a center for commercial development for turbines that can be placed in the Mississippi River and other powerful rivers to generate electricity.

Officials with Tulane University, which is guiding the River Sphere project, said the center could mark a big step forward in the science of hydrokinetics - using flowing water without a dam for generating electricity.

Calling the river one of Louisiana's best potential assets in alternative forms of power, Douglas Meffert, executive director of the project, said hydrokinetic power "is the sleeping giant of energy."

Using the river to generate power is well beyond the thinking stage.

Several companies have received preliminary permits from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to place turbines in the Mississippi and other rivers that would be turned by flowing water. Several different technologies are emerging to do that, such as totally underwater generation and turbines connected to barges on the surface that would do the generation.

Plans call for the turbines to be mounted on pylons below shipping lanes and attached to bridge abutments.

Forbes

Barbour to reveal his new Miss. budget blueprint

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour holds a news conference Wednesday to reveal his new recommendations for the state budget.

His announcement comes six days before legislators return to Jackson to finish writing a $5.5 billion state spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Barbour released his initial budget in November, but lawmakers have rejected some of his ideas, including his proposal to merge the eight public universities into five.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner says the Republican governor still wants lawmakers to be careful with the state's financial reserves and to give agency directors more flexibility in their individual budgets.

It's not clear how long it will take lawmakers to finish their budget talks.

Next on Obama's hit list: small contractors

On April 22 (Earth Day!) new EPA regulations go into effect that could take down many a small contractor.

It’s all about the rules on lead paint removal, which heretofore had been enforced only for work on homes that were old enough to have lead paint and in which small children or pregnant women (the populations at risk) resided. But that’s not good enough for our nanny state; oh no. Now the rules will apply to work done on any home built before 1978, eliminating the previous sensible escape hatch whereby a homeowner could opt out of the regulations if there were no at-risk individuals living in the house.

You might ask why it is that a homeowner contemplating a remodeling job should be deprived of the ability to refuse to pay for costly lead protection procedures that are not needed. Well, here’s your answer: “this option (the opt-out) was ripe for abuse.” In other words, the government can’t trust people to do what’s in the best interest of their own children or pregnancies, and so we all must suffer.

And suffer we will, especially the contractors. To be in compliance by April 22 would mean that every contractor contemplating a job that would disturb more than six square feet of a home’s area (and this includes not just carpentry but plumbing, window installation, and heating and AC installation) would need to have completed a one-day course in the matter, necessitating taking a day off and spending about two hundred dollars. But since there are nowhere near enough certified teachers, therefore the vast majority of America’s contractors could not possibly comply by April 22 even if they wanted to.

But that’s relatively minor compared to larger problems connected with the new rules, such as the fact that they will increase the costs of renovation for both contractor and homeowner just at a time when the industry and the consumer can least handle it.

Obamacare backlash sends Democrats to the foxholes

There was no health care bounce. In fact, there has been something of a health care swoon.

Democrats have seen the favorable rating of their party drop to the lowest level ever recorded by Gallup — 41 percent — and the president’s job approval rating remains below 50 percent.

Now, as Congress returns to work after a two-week Easter break, the choice before the majority party is this: keep plunging ahead or start running for cover?

President Obama is brimming with transformational ideas. Aside from ratifying a controversial nuclear treaty and confirming a new liberal Supreme Court justice, Obama wants new rules on bank bailouts, immigration reform and global warming legislation.

But Democrats are feeling skittish after being back among their constituents.

Rep. Bart Stupak gave up his bid for a 10th term as tea partiers swarmed his Michigan district. Stupak’s retreat on his abortion concerns in the president’s health plan allowed the bill to become law. His flip-flop also seems to have undone his career.

His fellow Democrats were mostly mum about health care during the spring break.

When they did speak publicly, it was about bringing home the appropriations bacon or their efforts to create jobs.

The Washington Examiner

Jindal Staffer and boyfriend severely beaten following dinner attended by Governor Barbour and Texas Governor Rick Perry

Couple reportedly targeted for wearing Sarah Palin pins. Media silent for three days over Friday night incident.

Republican Party of Louisiana Chairman Roger F. Villere, Jr. hosted an event Friday night which brought together Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Texas Governor Rick Perry and Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour at Brennans Restaurant in New Orleans. The event, in New Orleans, was seen as a highlight of a successful weekend in which Villere and Louisiana Republicans brought in national and regional Republican colleagues to discuss a wide range of Party and political issues at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

The weekends festivities were targeted by protesters all over the city, and at least one left-leaning blog publicized the fundraising dinner writing:

These **sholes are the ones who will drop $10K for a dinner with Piyush Jindal, the worm of a Guv’nor for the Gret Stet of Looziana, but never think of what $10K might mean to to a food bank here.

The Times Picayune reported the incident:

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s chief campaign fund-raiser is recovering from injuries she suffered in a Friday night altercation with a group of people in the French Quarter, the governor’s office said Monday.


Allee Bautsch suffered a broken leg and her boyfriend suffered a concussion and a fractured nose and jaw in the incident, which happened after a fundraising event at Brennan’s Restaurant on behalf of the Louisiana Republican Party on Friday evening.

According to Right Pundits:

There were protesters in the area at the time of the altercation, however, Jindal’s office refuses to speculate as to whether or not the attack was perpetrated by the democratic protesters. There is also no information being put out there as to what the protesters were protesting. Some are speculating that the assault happened after a heated argument about Sarah Palin.

Sadly, the extent of injuries suffered by both Allee Bautsch and her boyfriend, Joe Brown, make it obvious that it was more than an exchange of cross words that lead to some shoving. Bobby Jindal’s campaign finance director attacked in the French Quarter following a campaign fund-raising event and being left with such severe injuries has the appearance of an assault by people who might have some familiarity with inflicting bodily harm on others.

According to Louisiana political blog The Hayride:

Two people at the Brennan’s event have now confirmed that the protest had largely broken up by the time it ended, but we also understand from someone who visited Allee Bautsch in the hospital Saturday morning that she and Brown were followed and attacked expressly because they had Palin pins on (she heard one of the attackers say “Let’s get them, they have Palin pins on”) – so the attack WAS politically motivated as its victims understood it. It was not a mugging, it was not an argument gone wrong and it was not a bar fight.

Rationing of Care by the Government happens every day

Part of the argument against the government takeover of health care for Americans has been that it would result in rationing of care. Proponents dismissed these claims as scare tactics. But, the simple truth is the Federal Government already runs a portion of health care through Medicare and Medicaid. Those programs provide an example of what we can expect from the system.
Health Care supporters are quick to use the same argument when they are demonizing the "evil" insurance companies that "profit from the misery of the American people." But, the AMA, that group of doctors who supported the President's efforts and showed up with their white coats to the White House, has a report that shows the demonization is a smoke screen.

Will the new Health Care Entitlement result in more denied care? The record indicates that the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

In 2008, Medicare led the pack of AMA's own National Health Insurer Report Card as the most frequent denier of coverage. Of the eight insurers listed on that report, Medicare was the most likely to reject a claim, sending away 6.85% of requests. This was more than any private insurer and double that of the private insurers’ average.

The results for 2009 were only slightly better for Medicare beneficiaries. Last year Medicare was no longer the most frequent denier. However the agency was still double the denials of the head of the pack, Aetna. Aetna decreased the number of denials by 5 percent in a year, a full percentage point more than Medicare's current rate of 4 percent.

Could it be that commercial health insurers have more efficient claims processing centers? Could it be that the private sector is just more all around efficient?

In the case of health insurance claims, firms make more money when they deny more claims, right? Those evil money hungry creeps! So how is the profit motive leading to more private-sector claims approvals?

The truth is competition between insurers INCREASE claims approvals. Most physicians and hospitals must take Medicare because it represents so large a share of the healthcare spending. On the other hand, physicians may decide to only accept patients whose insurance companies have prompt payment with fewer denials. This leads to some incentive for insurance companies to DECREASE claims denials. The way to INCREASE access and DECREASE health care problems is to INCREASE competition.

Get it? Yeah? Well, your leaders in Washington, don't.

It is important to point out that the differential claims denial rates also has a lot to do with the demographics of Medicare and commercial insurance enrollees. Almost all Medicare enrollees are over 65, while commercial insurers have enrollees who are of varying ages. Since older individuals are more likely to demand high cost medical procedures, if high cost medical procedures are the ones that are more likely to be denied then Medicare’s higher denial rate may simply be due, in part, to the composition of its enrollees.

Whatever the reason, the fact that Medicare denies more claims than commercial insurers should dispel the myth that the government is simply a benevolent entity, while commercial insurers are ruthless, profit-hungry wolves.

And then there's the absolute ineptitude that comes from federal rules and government agencies as witnessed just recently by a California Medicaid benificiary; a woman with cancer.

Mom With Cancer Gets Insurance Help For Transplant


A Hollywood woman who was dropped from Medicaid coverage while needing a bone marrow transplant is finally getting the coverage and treatment she needs to stay alive.

Diana Smith is battling a rare form of Leukemia and needs the transplant to survive. She managed to raise money to pay for it thanks to her friends and the community, but then last week she found out her Medicaid coverage was dropped – putting her operation on hold.

Smith had gone through six months of radiation and chemotherapy -- one week out of every month. She is in remission and had a donor for a transplant; being in remission is a prerequisite for the transplant.

But her hopes of receiving the transplant were dashed in March, when she says, the Social Security Administration contacted her –without her soliciting it -- and told her that her three year-old son was entitled to receive Social Security disability payments. Even though she didn't ask for it, she signed the form and received her son's first check.

In April, Medicaid canceled her universal health care policy because her income level had risen with her son's payments – making her ineligible for the insurance program.

The problem is Jackson Memorial Hospital could not provide the procedure because the risk is too high. The universal policy from Medicaid helps shield the hospital from liability in this kind of case. Without it, they are subject to liability issues.

Even though Smith offered to cancel her son's disability benefits, she was told it's too late.

CBS 4

Of course, following the report local state officials, and the hospital jumped in to help see that the woman received the surgery. But, should you have to call the television reporter, or a Congressman everytime one of the newly hired Health Care bureacrats decides you and your doctor have it all wrong?