News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Guzzardi had his first TV interview this afternoon with KDKA political editor Jon Delano.
The topic concerned the claim that Corbett broke the promise he made in 2010 not to raise taxes.
Delano rather brutally illustrated Guzzardi’s claim that he did.
The interview can be seen here with a transcript.
This Off the Internet is courtesy of Patricia Keevill.
It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.
He did this because he said in words to this effect:
‘Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened’
Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it ‘offends’ the Muslim population which claims it never occurred It is not removed as yet.. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.
It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were ‘murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated’ while many in the world looked the other way!
Now, more than ever, with Iran , among others, claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.
2:59 p.m., April 24, 2014
Today’s link concerns yesterday’s The Daily Salvo report about GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Guzzardi’s court victory allowing him to stay on the May 20 ballot despite the intense efforts of unpopular incumbent Tom Corbett and Pennsylvania GOP boss Rob Gleason.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 4-23-14
I deeply respect the rule of law. As an attorney who practices in federal courts across the nation, I respect the rulings of those courts (indeed, much of my career is spent securing rulings from federal courts to protect individual liberties) and — having reviewed the pleadings in Bundy’s case — I do not fault the courts’ orders. John Hinderaker is right , “Legally, Bundy doesn’t have a leg to stand on.”
But, as Hinderaker notes, that’s not the end of the story. I’d urge you to read Hinderaker’s entire analysis and don’t want to repeat it here. Instead, let me back up a bit and place the Bundy controversy in the larger context of America’s urban/rural divide and the resulting polarization of the increasing powerlessness of rural America.
On March 21, the Wall Street Journal published a prescient piece highlighting geography rather than ideology as a key driver in America’s growing partisan divisions.
Yes, there are key differences in ideology, but those ideological divisions are nurtured and cultivated according to where we live. When I lived in Midtown, Manhattan, or Center City, Philadelphia, the culture was dramatically different from our current home base in Maury County, Tennessee. And the differences were not just confined to culture, but also included perceived political and economic interests.
While rural America literally sustains life for urban America, many urbanites dislike large-scale farming (this parody is worth seeing), would like to see the rest of the country essentially transformed into a nature preserve, and argue that to the extent land is “used,” it should be used for selectively-defined “renewable” purposes, like solar energy or wind farms. The result — when urban regions become dominant — has been amply chronicled by Victor Davis Hanson and many others: rural regions increasingly serve urban ones and do so under comprehensive urban regulatory schemes that disrupt lives, destroy livelihoods, and lead to widespread frustration and despair.
And all of it is legal.
As government grows ever-larger, majority rule becomes more consequential for minority populations. The regulatory state grows, and rural Americans are left with little recourse. The courts won’t overturn regulatory actions absent a clearly-identified liberty interest (with the law granting wide discretion to federal agencies), in many states legislatures are dominated by urban voting blocs, and — particularly in the West — massive federal ownership of land means the voice of the local farmer or landowner is diluted into meaninglessness within the larger national debate.
With few options left within conventional politics, rural Americans are beginning to contemplate more dramatic measures, such as the state secession movements building in Colorado, Maryland, California, and elsewhere. The more viable state secession movements aim to limit urban control by literally removing rural counties from their states and forming new states around geographic regions of common interests.
But until there’s a long-term solution, we may very well see more Bundy Ranch moments, where individual Americans (and their allies) simply refuse to consent to laws that destroy their way of life for the sake of regulations that provide no perceivable benefit to others. (I can only imagine my frustration if I had to end a more-than-century-old family lifestyle, arguably for the sake of a turtle that no one will see).
The long-term solution is simple to conceptualize but difficult to accomplish: de-escalate the stakes of our political disputes by limiting the power of government over American lives. Americans have always had profound differences, and we live together with those differences when victory for one side doesn’t mean inflicting real harm on the losers. But when victory for one side means the end of a way of life for the losers, instability can and will result.
I hope and pray that the dangerous standoff at Bundy Ranch was an aberration and not a harbinger, but until we can limit government’s power, I fear that respect for law will increasingly give way to contempt for the lawmakers.
David French originally published this at National Review.
William Lawrence Sr Omnibit 4-22-14
Pennsylvania added 1,300 manufacturing jobs in March reversing a four-month slide, the state Department of Labor and Industry reported April 18.
“We wish we were seeing
more robust growth but we’ll take that for now,” said David N. Taylor,
executive director of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association in
Harrisburg.
The state had 560,700 persons employed in the sector as of last month. Despite uptick, that is still 4,100 jobs less than in March 2013.
Taylor said more jobs would have been added had it not been for concern over the cost of the Affordable Care Act and new federal environmental regulations.
Michael Smeltzer, executive director of the York-based Manufacturers’ Association said companies are turning to staffing agencies for temporary workers rather than hiring full-time.
While the trade, transportation and utilities sector and other services sector also grew, 1,700 and 1,200 jobs respectively, jobs were down by 5,000 in professional services, 2,200 in financial activities and 2,000 in education and health services.
The last day to sign up for health insurance on the Obamacare exchange loomed. Luckily I’ve already purchased an exchange plan. But barely one month into my new health care coverage, I’ve started running into serious roadblocks.
I battle fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that forces me to work from home many days. My need to see specialists and try expensive prescriptions makes affordable health insurance crucial to soften the financial sting. This longtime uninsured, sickly gal ought to be happy.
Plaster my picture on Healthcare.gov now, right?
But this victim—who knows intimately the pressures of no health coverage—can’t get over how damaging the Affordable Care Act is across the nation. Must we really destroy jobs, inflate others’ health costs, and enact countless new taxes and fees just to help people like me?
Worse yet, Obamacare isn’t even keeping its promise to provide quality health insurance to people with pre-existing conditions. On top of higher premiums or deductibles, critical drugs may not be covered at all, and the costs patients incur by buying them with cash won’t count against out-of-pocket caps or deductibles.
As Pennsylvania moves to shift 6,960 people from its high-risk pool to Obamacare, more people will discover how limited their new coverage really is.
Information about covered drugs on Obamacare exchange plans is hard to find and in some cases doesn’t appear to be available at all. Restrictions on covered drugs are nothing new, but the limits are more widespread in exchange plans to keep premiums low.
Only one brand-name drug that works on the nervous system has helped me keep the pain at bay over the years. Getting it on my Obamacare plan has proven a challenge.
Without insurance or discounts, the drug costs $400 per month. But I couldn’t simply refill my regular prescription—my new insurance company required pre-authorization for the drug. Earlier this month, my exchange plan insurer told me they will not cover the drug. For now, I’m surviving by driving 50 miles to pick up free samples from my doctor’s office. This isn’t the affordable, quality care I was promised.
Many Americans sicker than me are doing much worse. Take Lupus patient Emilie Lamb. Her state-subsidized plan was cancelled because it didn’t provide enough coverage—a “junk” plan according to President Obama. Lamb’s premium jumped from $52 to $373 a month, forcing her to get a second job so she can still see her doctors and buy medicine.
Fifteen-year-old Michigan twins Austin and Micheala Davert, suffer from a bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta. They lost their primary insurance due to Obamacare’s mandates. Their parents, after failing to resolve technical issues on healthcare.gov, purchased an exchange plan directly from an insurer with a similar premium plus a nearly $8,000 deductible increase.
Their mother noted, “The only other plan that had a lower out of pocket maximum was a plan that’s not accepted by their doctors.”
With my health conditions, the$176 per month premium for a silver exchange plan is almost inconceivable. Before, all I could get in Pennsylvania after multiple denials was a $476 per month premium with a high deductible.
Don’t get me wrong, I know the country desperately needed health care reform—and still does. But millions of canceled plans, special exemptions, and countless extensions show that Obamacare is incapable of ensuring all Americans can access quality and affordable care.
However, real health care reform could reduce skyrocketing costs on everything from doctor visits to MRIs. It could promote visible pricing, which would allow people to plan and pay for much more of their own routine health care.
For people with pre-existing conditions, like me, who couldn’t get individual health insurance, expanding state high-risk pools would have been a better option. They give the “uninsurable” an affordable option by offering subsidized coverage comparable to private plans, rather than restructuring the entire insurance marketplace.
It’s the states, not Washington, that have the real solutions to our health care crisis. There was—there is—a better way than Obamacare. Even on my most pain-filled days, I know that.
April 21 2014 Omnibit by William Lawrence Sr