This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Author: Hondo

  • About That “ObamaCare Success” the Media’s Touting . . . .

    The current Administration has announced that over 7.1 million individuals have “signed up” for ObamaCare under those famous (or, if you prefer, infamous) “healthcare exchanges” it claimed would provide insurance to the uninsured.

    Sounds like they were a rousing success, right?  Well, not really.  That number appears to be yet another example of the Administration’s “selective interpretation of reality”.  (Yeah I know – you’re shocked, shocked that this Administration would ever do that.)

    First off:  published accounts indicated that most persons signing up for ObamaCare already had health insurance. Best estimates put this fraction at between 2/3 and 3/4  of ObamaCare signups.

    Second:  it looks like about 3/4 of signups will have higher premiums under ObamaCare than they did before.  So much for “affordable”.

    Third:  there’s a big difference between “signed up” and “insured”.  Until the person signing up pays their first premium, they do not have insurance.  Period.

    Best available data indicates that that only 80-85% of signups have actually made that first ObamaCare premium payment.  That’s what Blue Cross/Blue Shield is reporting.  And it tracks with anecdotal reports from other insurers.

    Apply that fraction, and it means that instead of 7.1 million insured, you actually have between 5.7 and 6.0 million insured.  And since 3/4  of those were previously insured, well, that translates into roughly 1.4 and 1.5 million people newly insured.

    Yeah, really what I’d call a “success”.  To paraphrase Pyrrhus:  “Another such ‘success’ and we shall be ruined.”

    We need to cut our losses and walk away from this abysmal failure.  It’s nothing but a bottomless money pit that can’t deliver.

  • Another Tune for All Our Poser “Friends”

    No apologies for this one whatsoever.  It’s IMO apropos for the subject.

    However, do use care when viewing/listening – a term some might find offensive (well, prudes might) and which is probably unsuitable for small children IS present.

    This one’s for you, Posers. “Enjoy.”


    Yeah, IMO that kinda sums things up quite well.

    PS: don’t like the above, Posers?  Tough.  Look here for my reply; please take it exactly as intended.  (Note: short, but very NSFW/around prudes, small children, or clergy.  Discretion advised.)

    And for your benefit, WitLessOne: my name isn’t “Michael Bucknole“, either. (smile)

  • And in the “More News from ND:tBF” Department . . .

    Apparently he plans on shooting more than artillery in the near-term future.

    North Korea to reportedly execute 200 officials believed loyal to Kim Jong-un uncle

    Looks like Lil’ Kim Jr-Jr is channeling his inner . . . hell, pick pretty much any Asian despot throughout history.  Killing off the friends and family of all possible rivals – even sometimes those in one’s own family – seems to me to be a fairly common historical practice.

    Note:  those wondering about the acronym referring to Lil’ Kim Jr-Jr can find the acronym defined here.

  • Eight More Are Home

    DPMO has announced the identification of one US MIA from World War II,  six US MIAs from from Korea, and one US MIA from Southeast Asia (SEA).

    • PFC. William T. Carneal, Company D, 1st Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, US Army, was lost on 7 July 1944, in Saipan.  He was accounted for on 21 January 2014. He will be buried with full military honors on 25 April 2014 in Paducah, KY.
    • CPL William F. Day, Company C, 32nd Infantry Regiment, 31st Regimental Combat Team, US Army, was lost on 2 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 6 March 2014.  He will be buried with full military honors 5 April 2014 in La Center, KY.
    • PFC Donald C. Durfee, Company M, 31st Infantry Regiment, 31st Regimental Combat Team (RCT), US Army, was lost on 2 December 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 30 January 2014.  He will be buried on 7 March 2014 in Rittman, OH.
    • SFC John C. Keller, Company K, 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, US Army, was lost on 2 November 1950 in North Korea. He was accounted for on 29 January 2014.  He will be buried with full military honors during May 2014 in Florida National Cemetery.
    • PFC Arthur Richardson, Company A, 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 1 January 1951 in South Korea. He was accounted for on 21 March 2014.  He will be buried with full military honors; date and place were not announced.
    • SGT Paul M. Gordon, Company H, 2nd Battalion. 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, US Army, was lost on 7 January 1951 in South Korea.  He was accounted for on 12 February 2014. He will be buried with full military honors on 20 June 2014 in Williamstown, KY.
    • Cpl William S. Blasdel, Company H, 3rd Battalion, 11th Regiment, 1st Marine Division, USMC, was lost 28 October 1953 in North Korea. He was accounted for 10 March 2014. He will be buried with full military honors this spring in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific; date was not announced.  (Note:  DPMO gives Cpl Blasdel’s date of loss as 28 October 1953.  Since that date is well after the armistice ending hostilities in Korea, I believe the DPMO-provided date of loss to be in error.  Other sources give Cpl Blasdel’s date of loss as 28 November 1950.)
    • Capt. Douglas D. Ferguson, 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron, USAF, was lost on 30 December 1969 in Laos. He was accounted for on 5 March 2014. He will be buried with full military honors on 2 May 2014 in Lakewood, WA.

    Welcome home, my elder brothers-in-arms.  Rest now in peace.

    . . .

    Over 73,600 US personnel remain unaccounted for from World War II; over 7,800 US personnel remain unaccounted for from the Korean War; and over 1,640 remain unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.  If you are a relative of one of the individuals listed here (World War II – critical need), listed here (Korea), or listed here (Southeast Asia) – please consider reading this link to see if you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample.

    If you qualify to submit a mtDNA sample, please submit one.   By submitting a mtDNA sample, you may be able to help identify US remains that have been recovered and repatriated but not yet positively identified.

    Everybody deserves a proper burial.  That’s especially true for those who gave their all in the service of this nation.

  • The Next Time You Go Someplace With Valet Parking . . .

    . . .  maybe you should still park your own car.

  • Pollard to Be Freed?

    CNN is reporting that’s a possibility.

    I’d best shut the hell up now before I say something I’ll later regret.

  • A Tune in Honor of All Our Whiny Posers

    With apologies to the late Johnny Otis (he died in Jan 2012), who wrote and performed  the original.

    Mangina

    I know a foole called Whacked-out Whittie
    Ain’t had a chick since Bad Blood Betty
    Now he whine and cry like Susie Q
    He a walkin’ an’ taklin’ mangina, too

    Mama, Mama, look at that man-ho
    Whinin’ so much that his mangina get so’
    Cryin’ to get a nickel an’ a dime
    He actin’ like mangina all the time

    Mangina, mangina, mangina
    They all got sore mangina

    “Doctor” an’ lawer an’ “Indian chief”
    They ain’t nothin’ but some whiny queefs
    Whacked-out Whittie give ’em all a treat
    When he claim he gonna’ file a lawsuit neat

    Mangina, mangina, mangina
    They got sandy mangina

    Whittie and lawer they hook up this spring
    Put they heads together, get nothing
    Dudes act crazy and it’s plain to see
    Displayin’ mangina now for all to see

    Mangina, mangina, mangina
    They nuthin’ but mangina
    Hey hey

     

    For those who can’t place the tune, here’s the Johnny Otis original.  You’ll probably recognize the tune once you hear the first few bars from later covers by Eric Clapton or George Thorogood.

  • Truth in Advertising, Maybe?

    “Six out of ten people without insurance can get insurance for $100 a day or less.”

    No, that’s not an April Fool’s Day joke.  That is an actual statement by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney about ObamaCare.

    Um, Mr. Carney . . . I don’t exactly think paying $36,500 a year (365 x $100) for health insurance is going to fly.  And what do those 4 of 10 who can’t get their ObamaCare “for $100 a day or less” end up paying?

    In truth, Carney misspoke – he was, um,   lying    dissembling   BS-ing us   “presenting the theory” that 60% of applicants for ObamaCare can get adequate coverage for $100 a month, but flubbed his  lie  line.  However, the truth isn’t particularly good news.  Per the Cleveland Clinic’s CEO, 75% of those who’ve signed up for ObamaCare have higher premiums after signing up than they did before.

    Oh, and did I mention that it looks like about 80% of ObamaCare signups qualify for a subsidy?  So that means that, even with a Federal subsidy, most people are still paying more for their health insurance under ObamaCare than they did previously.

    Further:  it turns out that only about 10% of those who’ve signed up for ObamaCare were previously without insurance.  Hey, I thought the whole idea was to cover those millions people who previously didn’t have health insurance – not make it more expensive for everyone else.  I guess I was wrong.

    And for good measure, the troubled Federal ObamaCare sign-up site crashed twice yesterday – which was also this year’s sign-up deadline.  But that’s really no surprise.  Hell, even deep-Blue Maryland has thrown in the towel on their $125M ObamaCare sign-up site fiasco.

    I’m also shocked, shocked to see that there’s seemingly a bit of, um, “political chicanery” going on regarding ObamaCare signups.  A couple in California recently got a voter registration card from Covered California when they signed up.  That voter registration card was pre-marked to register them as members of the Democratic Party.

    The best comment on ObamaCare I’ve seen to date is the title of this CNBC editorial article, which says it all:  Obamacare’s problem: You can’t fix stupid

    Actually, that title is wrong.  We can fix this particular bit of idiocy.

    Congress can repeal it.