CHIP Renewal Eased Via HB 2299

A bill to make it easier to renew coverage in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) was unanimously passed by the Pennsylvania House Insurance Committee June 9 and is now before the Rules Committee, reports State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129).
House Bill 2299 would create a simple form sent directly to the parent or guardian to confirm the information remains accurate or to allow for changes, if necessary. This would allow for easier renewal of the child’s annual enrollment in the program.

The bill would also allow for “express lane eligibility” which would provide parents with information on CHIP, using information obtained through other state agencies including the departments of Public Welfare and Health.

“Many of the provisions in the legislation are already being done but need to be written into law to ensure they continue in the future,” Cox said.

CHIP Renewal Eased Via HB 2299

CHIP Renewal Eased Via HB 2299

Rats Boom During Dem Reign

Rats Boom During Dem Reign

With the Democrats running things for the first time in a generation, the pre-Giuliani  problems of New York City have returned.

The New York Post is reporting that the Big Apple’s rat population is now twice that of the 8.4 million humans.

Mostly on the West Side it seems.

So are there bedbugs Uptown? Um, yes.

For those feeling nostalgic and for the young unaware of what life was like when progressives ran everything, we bring you this snippet of New York City life circa 1978 courtesy of The Rolling Stones

 

If the Rolling Stones are not your taste, here is Michael Jackson’s first solo hit which was a #1 in 1972.

Welcome again to the 1970s.

Rats Boom During Dem Reign

 

Psychologists Can Treat Vets Outside Clinics

 HB 43, an amendment to the Pennsylvania Volunteer Health Services Act, was “signed in House” June 18 after unanimously passing the state House and Senate.

The amendment allows Pennsylvania psychologists, psychiatrists and counselors to volunteer to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families outside a clinic through approved programs such as “Give an Hour”,  says State Rep. Jim Cox (R-129)

Programs like Give an Hour provide free services, such as family counseling and substance abuse counseling, at a site that is likely outside a clinical setting such as a library, community center or church.

Psychologists Can Treat Vets Outside Clinics

Psychologists Can Treat Vets Outside Clinics

Disenfranchisement Push Continues

The push by the wannabee lords and ladies to disenfranchise the citizens of Pennsylvania continues.

Jack Nagel, a professor emeritus of political science at Penn, has a guest view in today’s (June 25) Philadelphia Inquirer about how the unicorns will play and the rainbows will shine if the size of our legislature is shrunk as per the proposed constitutional amendment passed by the State House that is pending before the State Senate, or –better yet in his view — have the entire legislature turned into a unicameral body with proportional representation like a European parliament

The Amendment on the table while not turning our legislature into a total highway to central government control as per Nagel’s wish will cut the size of Pennsylvania’s House from 203 to 153 and the size of the Senate from 50 to 45 (the Senate’s preference) or 38 (the House’s preference).

The argument being made is that it will save money as our legislators draw a base salary of $84,012, which is second highest in the nation behind corrupt California.

OK, help me out here. If we were trying to save money wouldn’t it be better to cut the salary by 25 percent rather than the number of representatives by 25 percent?

Even better yet, how about we cut the salaries to $7,500 — which is what Texas legislators get — and leave the size as is? That would be a 91 percent savings.  Texas by all accounts is doing pretty well.

Or how about this: we cut the salaries of the legislators to $7,500 — and end all benefits — and expand the number of senators to 67 with each county getting its own senator.

That way Anthony Williams won’t have to represent Philadelphia and Delaware counties.

 

Disenfranchisement Push Continues

Disenfranchisement Push Continues

 

 

 

Supreme Court Ends Aereo Broadcasts

The Supreme Court ruled, today, June 25, that Aereo Inc. was violating the copyrights of broadcasters in providing its service.

Aereo had developed a technology to allow persons to watch over-the-air television broadcasts on their computers.

The broadcasters led by ABC said no fair.

The ruling, written by Stephen Breyer, was 6-3 with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joining him.

The dissent, written by Justice Antonin Scalia and joined by Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, was not so much in sympathy with Aereo but noted that the technical claim made by the networks in the lower courts —  namely that Aereo was the primary abuser of copyright which means actually using copyrighted work — was incorrect.

They recommended that the case be returned to the lower courts and appeared to have an expectation that Aereo would be found in violation of  “secondary liability” which means that they would be responsible for infringement by third parties.

The danger of ignoring the reasoning in the dissent means that it creates the possibility of new claims against internet service providers and such that previously had an expectation of immunity.

 

Supreme Court Ends Aereo Broadcasts

Supreme Court Ends Aereo Broadcasts

 

American Stupidity Top 10

This rather accurate off-the-internet Canadian itemization of American stupidity is attributed to Arnold H. Pelofsky, PhD.

Number 10 — Only in America …could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000.00 per plate campaign fund-raising event.

Number 9 — Only in America ..could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, a black Attorney General and roughly 20% of the federal workforce is black while only 14% of the population is black. And 40+% of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans – 3X the rate that go to whites, 5X the rate that go to Hispanics!

Number 8 — Only in America…could they have had the two people most responsible for our tax code, Timothy Geithner (the head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means Committee), BOTH turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes.

Number 7 — Only in America..can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash.

Number 6 — Only in America..would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just ‘magically’ become American citizens (probably should be number one).

Number 5 — Only in America ….could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as “extremist”.

Number 4 — Only in America ..could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol, but not to vote. THIS one is a real joke!

Number 3 — Only in America ..could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies are gouging the public because the price of gas went up when the return on equity invested in a major U.S. Oil company (Marathon Oil) is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike).

Number 2 — Only in America could a country collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history, still spend a Trillion dollars more than it has per year (for total spending of $7-Million PER MINUTE), and complain that it doesn’t have nearly enough money.

And Number 1 — Only in America could the rich people (who pay 86% of all income taxes) be accused of not paying their “fair share” by people who don’t pay any income taxes at all.

Hat tip Rights-right.com

American Stupidity Top 10

American Stupidity Top 10

 

 

 

Hillbilly Bruschetta Grits

Hillybilly Bruschetta Grits Chef Bill Sr

Chef Bill Sr. recently put to use some leftover grits to create hillbilly bruschetta, which as far as we know is an original dish.

Chef Bill would be the first to tell you it is not as good as the traditional way. On the other hand, why let good grits go to waste?

And it is a fun and tasty meal.

Here’s the recipe, which — if you cook the grits just for this — makes about two dozen. Really though, it’s best to be used for leftovers:

Hillbilly Bruschetta Grits

3 cups water
1 cup uncooked stone-ground white  grits
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
3/4 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped red or green sweet pepper
1/2 cup  sliced green olives
1/2 cup sliced black olives

Combine water, grits, and salt in a medium, heavy saucepan. Bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes or until grits are very thick, stirring often.

Remove the grits from the heat, and stir in Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, and pepper. Pour out onto a flat baking sheet and spread to about 3/8-inch thickness (10-inch square). Allow to cool completely (about 1 hour in a refrigerator) so that the mixture is firm to the touch.

Cut the grits into 2-inch squares. Place them on a skillet coated with cooking spray; brush with a tablespoon olive oil and grill at medium heat  until golden brown, which should be about 15 minutes. Flip the squares over, and brush other sides with remaining olive oil and put on the tomatoes, olives and bell pepper slices. Fry for about 10 more minutes. Remove, cool and eat.

Sarah Murnaghan Rule Permanent

Sarah Murnaghan Rule Permanent

Sarah Murnaghan is breathing on her own.

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, yesterday, June 23, made permanent a rule that let  children under 12 apply for adult lungs, and the Murnaghans of  Newtown Square are celebrating.

An change to the policy made June 11, 2013 in response to then 10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan’s fight for a new lung had been set to expired July 1.

Then Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius refused to waive the rule instead offering a review that would have taken two years. This would have resulted in certain death for the little girl.

Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey took the fight to the bureaucracy while the Murnaghans sought relief in the federal courts, which they got and which resulted in the temporary change in policy.

In the last year,  seven children  received adult lungs they would have previously been prevented from receiving.

Some will say that is a modest result. Others will point out that seven families have been spared the heartache of losing a child and wonder why the fight had to be made in the first place.

Sarah, by the way, is doing great and had her tracheostomy removed June 15. She is breathing on her own for the first time in years.

Sarah Murnaghan Rule Permanent

Obama IRS Joke And The Banality Of Evil

Obama IRS Joke And The Banality Of Evil

Obama IRS Joke And The Banality Of Evil

Way back in May 2009, Barack Obama gave the commencement speech at Arizona State University in which he said “I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson. I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. . . . President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.”

Ho ho ho.

In light of how the administration used the IRS, it showed a pretty sick sense of humor. Further it revealed a rather banal man indifferent to the responsibility of wielding power, and, even more troubling, indifferent to the rights of others.

He’s joked about drone strikes too.

Thank God for our Constitution. All Obama voters should hang their heads in shame.

 

 

IRS Chief Partisan Democrat

IRS Chief Partisan Democrat

John Koskinen, IRS Chief Partisan Democrat

John Koskinen, the man who heads the IRS which is now looking more and more like an apparatus of a police state whose administrators feel beholden to no law, is a partisan Democrat.

That’s right, he has given over $100,000 to Democrats over 40 years including $7,300 to the Obama campaign.

Koskinen was named IRS commissioner in August of 2013 in the wake of scandals showing the agency unfairly targeted groups opposed to the Obama administration.

Was he going to institute needed reforms and see that justice was done to allow the American people to once again trust their government?

Or was he just a hired fixer picked to sweep things under rugs?

Well, he is now telling Congress that documents subpoenaed twice have been lost in ways not possible, and that no effort was made to find them anyway.

The documents — the email archives of former IRS tax-exempt division chief Lois Lerner — would have revealed whether the discriminatory treatment of opponents of the president was done as a result of policy.

Ms. Lerner has invoked the 5th Amendment regarding testifying before Congress.

Hat tip Bryan Preston at PJMedia.com

IRS Chief Partisan Democrat