What was a simple task and a satisfied customer just 6 short months ago has become an excercise in futility and unsatisfied customers...I wish I could say it was just a transition period, but another fine small manufacturing company this monolith bought out 3 years ago is still all fubar...and the sales graphs look like the Hindenburg.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is arguing that Democrats should accept IRS penalties on working- and middle-class health insurance consumers as the price of making one key tweak to the health care law.

"The 1099 is something we're going to look at," Reid said at his weekly Capitol briefing with reporters. "Me personally I like the House payfor better than ours, so we'll have to see." link

As explained here, the penalties are designed to offset the cost of repealing a tax requirement on businesses. They work in several ways, but one would have particularly adverse consequences for middle-income consumers, and for the popularity of the health care law itself.

Under the House plan, if families get even modest compensation bumps after qualifying for health insurance subsidies, they can be required to reimburse the IRS with thousands of dollars. In particular, "if a family's actual annual income [grows] even one dollar above 400 percent of poverty, the family would have to repay the entire credit," according to a Families USA memo. "Those who live in areas where premium costs are higher and who end up with incomes slightly above 400 percent of poverty will not only have to pay back the full credit, but they will have to repay more than those with the same income and amount of credit received who live in areas where premium costs are lower. Because the premium credits protect individuals and families from having to pay more than a set percentage of income on premiums, those who live in areas where premium costs are higher will receive a larger credit and thus be required to owe more than others who live in regions with lower premium costs."
...
Here's how CBPP describes the secondary impact.

[T]he offset would discourage many people with modest incomes from applying for subsidies in the first place and lead more of them to remain uninsured instead (and pay a modest penalty for failing to have insurance). Those who elected not to purchase coverage would predominantly be people who thought they could risk going without coverage because they are in good health. As a consequence, the pool of people who enroll in the exchanges would consist, on average, of less-healthy individuals than would otherwise be the case -- which would push up premiums for policies available through the exchanges and thereby depress exchange enrollment further. The Ways and Means provision also likely would fuel backlash against the health reform law on the part of lower-middle-income families and individuals who purchased coverage and then found themselves owing large sums to the Internal Revenue Service. link

"This is a fakery," Simpson said on Fox News. "If they care at all about their children or grandchildren, and sometimes I doubt that - I think, you know, grandchildren now don't write a thank-you for the Christmas presents, they're walking on their pants with the cap on backwards listening to the enema man and Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dogg, and they don't like them!"

Finally, a place to call home after being shunned by the Democrats.

you really just have to listen.  its one of the most amazing things I have ever heard.

Gingrich: Past Adultery 'Partially Driven By How Passionately I Felt About This Country'

Roughly 3 out of 4 Americans, 78 percent, said that palliative care and end-of-life treatment should be part of the public discourse, and 93 percent said they believe such decisions should be a top priority for the U.S. health care system, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Regence Foundation and National Journal at a policy summit.

Redondo Beach officials said initial assessments suggest oxygen depletion in the King Harbor basins caused the massive fish die-off.

City Manager Bill Workman said city officials with the help of marine experts would help determine if there was any environmental issue involved. Tests are now being performed on the water as officials begin removing the dead fish, which city officials estimated to be in the millions.

"There are no visible signs of any toxins that might have caused [the die-off] and our early assessment is that this was oxygen depletion," Workman said. "This is similar to what we experienced five years ago but that was distinctly a red tide event but there's no discoloration of the water, no associated foaming in the waves, Workman said. "There are no oil slicks or leaking of substances into the water."

Workman noted that the harbor had been teeming in recent weeks with bait fish that even after their deaths "had no signs of degradation."

"It looks like what happens to goldfish when you don't change the water in the tank, mouth open and belly up," Workman said.

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), the most senior member of the Senate Republican Conference, said Tuesday he will oppose the House-passed proposal to make drastic cuts to the federal budget.

Costs for a medium sized float runs around $40,000. Huge signature floats can cost over $1 million. Kern Studios is one of the largest float manufacturers in New Orleans and has expanded their business to include parades all over the world.  (My sister worked at Kern Studios for years designing floats.)

To be on a float you have to be a member of a krewe. Membership is up to each group. Riding on a Zulu float, one of the biggest Krewes in New Orleans, costs ordinary people $1,500. Krewe of Ponchartrain floats cost $660 per person. Other Krewes have special requirements: Krewe of Iris is all female, and the Krewe of Rex consists of 600 all-male members and is the most exclusive group in Mardi Gras.  (My mother is a member of the Krewe of Iris and rides every year on the Saturday before Mardi Gras day.)

See more floats like this one in Kern Studios Portfolio

....[Obama] forcefully asserted his commitment to seeking compromise and used the adjectives "sanctimonious" and "purist" to describe inflexible positions on issues like the public option and the deal on the tax cut extension.

.....the campaign also created a totally new expectation--that Obama would be able to continue to play the role of inspirational moral leader once he entered office.  In retrospect, it was comparable to imagining Martin Luther King running for president, being elected and then trying to continue to lead the civil rights movement from the oval office.

James Vega, The Democratic Strategist

As most people here know, in MA we have essentially had the federal plan in place for a few years now.  As it stands, we have the lowest rate of uninsured individuals in the country, and it's not even close.

Now for part 2 - cost controls.  Last year, the gov rejected rate increases for a whole host of premiums.  And contrary to what fear-mongerers were saying at the time, this did not cause the insurers to go bankrupt.

Now, in an effort to further reduce costs, Patrick is introducing a bill that will drasticly change the way health care is paid for.  Link

"If enacted, Patrick's current plan would give the state more authority to reject insurance increases based on existing medical contracts and would provide incentives for doctors and hospitals to base their fees on quality of care. The state could reject rates if they exceed the increase in the state's gross domestic product or total medical expenses in the region. Medical providers that move from a fee-for-service system to an alternative payment structure aimed at improved efficiency and patient care would be given favorable consideration."

When the Census Bureau announces a new mean center of population next month, geographers believe it will be placed in or around Texas County, Mo., southwest of the present location in Phelps County, Mo. That would put the center at the outer edge of the Midwest, on a path to leave the region by midcentury.

SNIP

Among census findings:

In Arizona, which gains a House seat, Hispanics accounted for roughly half of the state's population increase since 2000, according to census estimates. Arizona has picked up at least one House seat every decade since 1950; its total seats could outnumber Ohio's as early as 2040 -- so long as anti-immigration sentiment and recent mortgage foreclosures don't curtail its long-term growth.

In seven of the eight Mountain states, Hispanics accounted for nearly 50 percent or more of the population gains among children under 18. Montana, which had a population loss of children, was the exception.

The western U.S. grew 13.8 percent from 2000 to 71.9 million people, surpassing the Midwest as the second most populous region. The Midwest rose 3.9 percent and the Northeast gained 3.2 percent. The West's growth rate is nearly equal to the South's, which rose 14.3 percent to 114.6 million on the Sun Belt strength of Texas and Florida.

California, which failed to add a House seat for the first time in its history, would have lost population if it weren't for growth among Hispanics and other minorities, according to 2010 figures released Tuesday. Los Angeles posted a gain over the past decade of just under 100,000 people, its smallest numerical growth since 1890-1900, as many of its Hispanic residents moved elsewhere. The state, the nation's largest with 37.3 million, continues to grow primarily from immigration and births.

he agent for Kareem Jackson said the Texans' cornerback knows he used bad judgment when he tweeted cockfighting pictures from his vacation in the Dominican Republic.

Jackson, 22, was on a tour when the guide stopped at a cock fight, according to Tony Fleming, who represents Jackson, the team's 2010 first-round pick who started 16 games as a rookie.

When Jackson posted the photos on Twitter, it created a controversy on Tuesday.

"That was one of the places where they stopped," Fleming said about the tour. "He realizes it was bad judgment to put (photos) on Twitter and that it was insensitive on his part."

remember what you are seeing is real time.  painting on trees making a mountain with a crater and filling it with water which flows downhill.

After starting what will go down in Hollywood history as the most highly publicized meltdown of all time, Charlie Sheen is finally admitting to his problems and reaching out for help.

In the latest issue of Life & Style, the actor admits that his life has taken a sharp decline in recent months and that, despite adamant declarations that he's "winning," his life has fallen off course.

"I'm really starting to lose my mind," says Sheen. "I'm ready to call anyone to help."

MARCH 9--In an aggressive bid to entice prospective "sex tourists," the Department of Homeland Security last year launched an undercover web site that purported to arrange trips from the U.S. to Canada, where clients could engage in sexual activity with minors, The Smoking Gun has learned.

The "Precious Treasure Holiday Company" web site was active until a few weeks ago when its Massachusetts-based web hosting firm removed the site from its servers, apparently in response to a complaint about its content. Now, visitors to precioustreasureholidaycompany.com are greeted with the message, "This site has been suspended."