Well here I am. A true rarity I guess. I am a Republican that believes in man-made global warming. First let me say I am well educated and very solidly a comfortable middle class citizen. I have a finance degree from Texas Christian University still living in the state of Texas.
I believe in all the tried and true Republican ideals. I believe in working and earning one's way in this country rather than relying on government. I believe we are responsible for own life and would never dream of taking a government handout for something I did not earn. However, I also believe in the scientific facts of global warming and that we are contributing to its acceleration.
I recently watched an episode of VICE on HBO in which a segment focused on the drought here in Texas. I enjoyed the facts VICE presented as they interviewed Texas farmers affected by the lack of rainfall and I enjoyed the trip down to Lake Travis in Austin showing the falling lake level there. VICE interviewed many people on the show that did not believe in climate change for one reason or another.
All fine and good. We are all entitled to our opinions for sure. The problem I had with the segment was when VICE presented the other side. Instead of finding articulate, intelligent people to present why they feel human activities such as burning fossil fuels is helping to contribute to the change, VICE instead went to some whacko Christian preachers throwing rice off a cliff asking for rain.
Seriously?
There are Texans like myself that do believe in global warming. Nope VICE could not find anyone of such an opinion. Instead they focused on some knuckleheads that are on the fringes of society. Fair and balanced? Not so much, but as I have written before if Bill Maher is involved it will rarely be fair at all. Maher is about as crazy left as you can get.
Oh well. I shall just sit here in Texas as a true rarity I guess. A solid Republican who also believes we are making major contributions to climate change and global warming!
Monday, May 12, 2014
Obamacare flops in Oregon, Massachusetts, Nevada and Oregon
Federal taxpayers spent $474 million Exchanges in that appear destined for the junk heap: Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Maryland. Each of the states embraced Obamacare, and each underperformed massively. All have come under scathing criticism and now face months of uncertainty as they rush to rebuild their systems or transition to the federal exchange.
Now for people that actually understand the math of Obamacare this is no surprise at all. It is really sad that so many people can see this train-wreck coming yet can do nothing about it. We have all seen the stubborness of President Obama and Democrats to ran this unpopular law down Americans throats when a majority of the population want nothing to do with it.
Now all four of these states are giving up and telling their citizens to use the federal system. In the meantime all the taxpayer money spent will be eaten by the taxpayer. Money completely wasted. Millions! In Oregon not a single person was able to sign up due to a website that never functioned properly! Millions of $$ spent for nothing.
Federal taxpayers spent $474 million Exchanges in that appear destined for the junk heap: Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Maryland. Can we add in Hawaii? We should. Another totally inept rollout of Obamacare and another exchange that will be scrapped soon. Listen to this. In Hawaii they have spent over $6 in taxpayer money for every $1 collected in premiums. How inefficient is that? Again, we have seen this coming for months and we will see more and more of this in the future. The Obamacare system simply does not work without the taxpayer wasting millions of dollars to keep it afloat.
Massachusetts actually wants to build a portal from scratch while planning a move to the federal exchange as a backup. The dual-track approach could require more than $120 million on top of the $170 million it already wasted. That cost is nearly twice as much as if the state were to simply bail on its Connector, but officials seem to be banking in part on the Obama administration’s greater interest in helping the Massachusetts exchange survive.
The Obamacare system simply does not work without the taxpayer wasting millions of dollars to keep it afloat. In the end it will either need to be scrapped or send this country into a tailspin of further debt.
Now for people that actually understand the math of Obamacare this is no surprise at all. It is really sad that so many people can see this train-wreck coming yet can do nothing about it. We have all seen the stubborness of President Obama and Democrats to ran this unpopular law down Americans throats when a majority of the population want nothing to do with it.
Now all four of these states are giving up and telling their citizens to use the federal system. In the meantime all the taxpayer money spent will be eaten by the taxpayer. Money completely wasted. Millions! In Oregon not a single person was able to sign up due to a website that never functioned properly! Millions of $$ spent for nothing.
Federal taxpayers spent $474 million Exchanges in that appear destined for the junk heap: Massachusetts, Oregon, Nevada and Maryland. Can we add in Hawaii? We should. Another totally inept rollout of Obamacare and another exchange that will be scrapped soon. Listen to this. In Hawaii they have spent over $6 in taxpayer money for every $1 collected in premiums. How inefficient is that? Again, we have seen this coming for months and we will see more and more of this in the future. The Obamacare system simply does not work without the taxpayer wasting millions of dollars to keep it afloat.
Massachusetts actually wants to build a portal from scratch while planning a move to the federal exchange as a backup. The dual-track approach could require more than $120 million on top of the $170 million it already wasted. That cost is nearly twice as much as if the state were to simply bail on its Connector, but officials seem to be banking in part on the Obama administration’s greater interest in helping the Massachusetts exchange survive.
The Obamacare system simply does not work without the taxpayer wasting millions of dollars to keep it afloat. In the end it will either need to be scrapped or send this country into a tailspin of further debt.
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
VICE and Seattle have it all wrong on Minimum Wage increase
Oh poor VICE. I must admit the VICE show on HBO is must watch TV for me. Every episode has at least one wonderful story and most of the time both segments are intensely interesting. VICE provides the kind of reporting that we just get very little of here in America. They tell the stories that the mainstream media is unwilling to discuss or too scared to put boots on the ground.
If you have never seen the North Korea episode with Dennis Rodman you simply must. Riveting would be an understatement.
I also follow VICE on Facebook and get daily news articles from them in my newsfeed. Unfortunately, these stories blasting my newsfeed are becoming more and more socialist in nature. Anything about the United States economy or politics seems to have moved way, way to the left. I guess I should not be surprised since Bill Maher is so heavily involved.
If you have never seen the North Korea episode with Dennis Rodman you simply must. Riveting would be an understatement.
I also follow VICE on Facebook and get daily news articles from them in my newsfeed. Unfortunately, these stories blasting my newsfeed are becoming more and more socialist in nature. Anything about the United States economy or politics seems to have moved way, way to the left. I guess I should not be surprised since Bill Maher is so heavily involved.
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