Time to set aside politics
Kelly Everitt

More political theater...

Posted Thursday, January 3, 2013, at 9:17 AM
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  • LOL!! Great humorous blog. This was pretty funny.

    So I guess Pelosi, Reid, Feinstein, Boxer and the likes are genuises?

    Way way too late to say "As voters, we've got to be more involved in watching what they're doing--and remember come elections" Again LOL!!! This is what the "majority" voted for 2 months ago. Remember? And now we are stuck with it!!

    -- Posted by clam chowder on Thu, Jan 3, 2013, at 11:21 AM
  • *

    Another case of "we have to pass it in order to know what it says"?

    Or just a fine acting job just before intermission (recess)?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-mIYFT2U51s

    -- Posted by wh67 on Thu, Jan 3, 2013, at 9:31 PM
  • The political drama is the result of Americans love of instant rewards. Everything that they do and the reactions of most can be traced back to this craving of instant rewards. Politicians and their ways are merely reflections of the greater dynamic. Some will get on their sanctimonious, self-righteous bandwagon but they need to just come clean and admit that expect clear, unambiguous, quick answers to their questions when in fact they are some of the most elusive things in our world.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 12:00 AM
  • *

    I read this blog until I got to this part.. "mainly Tea Party clowns".

    So you are a managing editor of a newspaper? I thought you people were supposed to unbiased?

    No wonder the news is reported the way it is today. It isn't about the news, it's about your own beliefs and agendas.

    This is the last day that I read a blog from a managing editor princess.

    -- Posted by KentuckyTransplant on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 12:59 AM
  • *

    BTW, welcome back, Roy! Woops, I mean Patrick_A.

    -- Posted by KentuckyTransplant on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 1:13 AM
  • -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 9:32 AM
  • Agreed Trevor

    The Republicans once again got their way......... They were pretty slick if you ask me ! And then there are those who try to blame Obama for it.

    No Patrick is not Roy......... Roy has a different way and he can be more argumentative.

    I guess that now makes 3 elephants in the room LOL!

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 10:34 AM
  • I don't think that the most important people got their way. The American people were poorly represented by both sides. And to add to the misery, they have piled on millions of dollars of pork to the Hurricane Sandy Relief Fund.

    How outrageous is that?

    What is wrong is that we did not hold anyone accountable for the grievous errors that have been made for the past 20 years or so. This would include Both Parties.

    Once Again, someone is lining their pockets at our expense while wringing their hands about the debt. And that is all that is getting done.

    I still say, don't pay anyone until they finish the job that they pledged to do. Maybe if we held back all the benefits & salaries, someone would get motivated.

    What we should do is send thousands of adding machines to Washington. Flood the entire area with a tool that they haven't used for a very long time. After a mile or so of paper tape, maybe someone would get the picture.

    -- Posted by KH Gal on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 11:59 AM
  • KH Gal

    I agree with you ...........

    Adding pork to deals is certainly not right. It's a bribe to influence voting on deals.

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 12:10 PM
  • Expecting a politician to fulfill their promises is like expecting to make the trip from Twin Falls to Boise in 20 minutes. Both are wildly unrealistic. The real quandary is why Americans buy into the garbage.

    The problem is that politicians do not treat this as you would fixing an engine. They do not come at this objectively. If they did, this would have done a long time ago and we would not be talking about it.

    Instead, they make into a glorified, high school popularity contest where it's the perception that matters more than the results. Again, Americans buy into this charade. That is the root of this issue.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 1:27 PM
  • Trevor,

    Americans are busy. However, I can list off plenty of examples where I have witnessed this love of perception over results. I worked for a nonprofit (one which will not be named) and when I dealt with the public, their attitude was astonishing.

    While the nonprofit represented the Left, I expressed no agenda and made it known to all with whom I spoke to that I was simply conveying facts. I came at this issue (again, which will be left anonymous) objectively. Folks on both sides of the issue could not fathom that I was not being evangelical about it. What they wanted to hear was an opinionated, overly general, overly sensational view of the topic. The fact that I gave a brutally honest, objective, and not all that riveting account of the issue bored most. Politicians know that Americans do not want brutal honesty nor rational, objective problem solving and so they play along with it.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 1:47 PM
  • H4A: It's never ending. Imagine when the Obamacare surcharge kicks in. I heard 3.6 percent or more. I was sure I heard Obama say my premiums would go down by 2500 dollars a year.

    -- Posted by skeeter on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 5:21 PM
  • Yes, lowering spending is a difficult task. However, they are elected to make the hard choices and they have failed. The federal budget and all of the problems within and around at are essentially rooted in excess spending not insufficient revenue. Governments are by nature inefficient uses of money and the bigger they get, the more wasteful they become.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, Jan 4, 2013, at 5:35 PM
  • -- Posted by skeeter on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 6:39 AM
  • I don't think many will ever change their minds about Obama but that's just me.

    I'm most concerned about the future for my grand kids as they will not have the freedoms I have had and it really upsets me.

    -- Posted by skeeter on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 5:52 PM
  • And just maybe your Grand kids will grow up being Liberals and don't want a gun in their house. Maybe your Grand Kid will be born a homosexual. For their sake I hope not, they will be ridiculed if their gay and called Idiots if they support liberal ideas.

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 7:44 PM
  • Hey Hope whoever you are where do I fit into your criteria? Camp 1 2 or 3?

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 8:09 PM
  • MsM What does how my grand kids grow up have to do with all the bad things this government has done to ruin their freedoms?

    -- Posted by skeeter on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 6:14 AM
  • -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 9:12 AM
  • Skeeter first off this Administration is not ruining our freedoms.

    I was saying what will you do if your Grand Kids grow up to be a liberal? Will you call them idiots?

    The very word Liberal means freedom

    Check this link out. You can take a survey.

    http://jimbryan.hubpages.com/hub/Top-10-myths-regarding-American-Liberals-and-Li...

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 10:26 AM
  • This is about the stupidest thing that I've every seen your write Buckshot61 or Hope4America or whatver you are calling yourself these days. Maybe you should change your name to Buckshot_has_no_hope!

    "The left are made up of three different camps, I believe. One camp consists of socialists bent on taking America into full blown socialism.

    The second camp are just habitual democrat voters who don't pay much attention to what's truly going on, they just vote Democrat because they've always voted Democrat, or their family has always voted Democrat.

    The third camp are those that are just plain stupid. Stupidity that would cause some to, when convicted of felony burglary, appeal on the grounds that the court shouldn't be able to take an FBI report concerning fingerprints found at the scene. Yeah....THAT kind of stupid."

    -- Posted by Hope4America on Sat, Jan 5, 2013, at 8:01 PM

    -- Posted by Podkaine on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 11:43 AM
  • MsM: I'm not sure I've used the term "idiot" but you have in the past along with coward and a few other offensive words towards people. Nazi was used against Mike recently.

    If you think I relate the word "liberal", as used towards the left, as being free you are completely wrong. Liberals do not want freedom for me when they want to control so much of not only my life, but the lives of so many Americans.

    I can make a list of where they have taken away freedoms and a list of where they want to take away more freedoms and most other Americans can too.

    Of course this administraion wants to take away our freedoms.

    I know you like a little levity in your life so here is one for you.

    I saw this bumper sticker in Twin Falls the other day on a car driven by a younger lady. She had all kinds of decals and stickers on it but this one stuck out the most. " Some village in Kenya wants their idiot back".

    Have a nice day.

    -- Posted by skeeter on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 12:57 PM
  • Skeeter can you back that all up? Please make that list And share who voted on each one in congress......

    And then your other list of who wants to take more freedom away besides Feinstein and what are the freedoms..

    Oh and by the way Reagan was one that pushed to have a freedom taken away.....

    Who was it I called an Idiot was it Romney? which by the way was never a US President

    I've seen some unique Bumper stickers also on cars of young people. Their only trying to fit in with what the Republicans have been doing since Obama was elected..... And of coarse the Republicans can't get over the fact he was re-elected and if the GOP don't change there won't be a Republican President in 2016

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 1:28 PM
  • MsM: You could back it all up if you tried. It's all out there. We should go one freedom at a time and start at Obamacare. He took away the freedom from me and millions of Americans to buy health care where and when we want. Did any Republicans vote for that?

    We as Americans started with a document of 17 pages and now have federal tax laws that number around 71,000 pages. How many were added because of Obamacare?

    And you want to omit Not-so-fine-stein? How about the left who has been trying to take guns for the last 40 years? Leave them out of the equation too?

    Do you know how many new rules and regulations this administration has passed in four years? If not you should do some research.

    -- Posted by skeeter on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 5:09 PM
  • Some of the "Freedoms" we don't need.

    saw it at business daily.

    1. You are young and don't want health insurance? You are starting up a small business and need to minimize expenses, and one way to do that is to forego health insurance? Tough. You have to pay $750 annually for the "privilege." (Section 1501)

    2. You are young and healthy and want to pay for insurance that reflects that status? Tough. You'll have to pay for premiums that cover not only you, but also the guy who smokes three packs a day, drink a gallon of whiskey and eats chicken fat off the floor. That's because insurance companies will no longer be able to underwrite on the basis of a person's health status. (Section 2701).

    3. You would like to pay less in premiums by buying insurance with lifetime or annual limits on coverage? Tough. Health insurers will no longer be able to offer such policies, even if that is what customers prefer. (Section 2711).

    4. Think you'd like a policy that is cheaper because it doesn't cover preventive care or requires cost-sharing for such care? Tough. Health insurers will no longer be able to offer policies that do not cover preventive services or offer them with cost-sharing, even if that's what the customer wants. (Section 2712).

    5. You are an employer and you would like to offer coverage that doesn't allow your employees' slacker children to stay on the policy until age 26? Tough. (Section 2714).

    6. You must buy a policy that covers ambulatory patient services, emergency services, hospitalization, maternity and newborn care, mental health and substance use disorder services, including behavioral health treatment; prescription drugs; rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices; laboratory services; preventive and wellness services; chronic disease management; and pediatric services, including oral and vision care.

    You're a single guy without children? Tough, your policy must cover pediatric services. You're a woman who can't have children? Tough, your policy must cover maternity services. You're a teetotaler? Tough, your policy must cover substance abuse treatment. (Add your own violation of personal freedom here.) (Section 1302).

    7. Do you want a plan with lots of cost-sharing and low premiums? Well, the best you can do is a "Bronze plan," which has benefits that provide benefits that are actuarially equivalent to 60% of the full actuarial value of the benefits provided under the plan. Anything lower than that, tough. (Section 1302 (d) (1) (A))

    8. You are an employer in the small-group insurance market and you'd like to offer policies with deductibles higher than $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families? Tough. (Section 1302 (c) (2) (A).

    9. If you are a large employer (defined as at least 50 employees) and you do not want to provide health insurance to your employee, then you will pay a $750 fine per employee (It could be $2,000 to $3,000 under the reconciliation changes). Think you know how to better spend that money? Tough. (Section 1513).

    10. You are an employer who offers health flexible spending arrangements and your employees want to deduct more than $2,500 from their salaries for it? Sorry, can't do that. (Section 9005 (i)).

    11. If you are a physician and you don't want the government looking over your shoulder? Tough. The Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to use your claims data to issue you reports that measure the resources you use, provide information on the quality of care you provide, and compare the resources you use to those used by other physicians. Of course, this will all be just for informational purposes. It's not like the government will ever use it to intervene in your practice and patients' care. Of course not. (Section 3003 (i))

    12. If you are a physician and you want to own your own hospital, you must be an owner and have a "Medicare provider agreement" by Feb. 1, 2010. (Dec. 31, 2010 in the reconciliation changes.) If you didn't have those by then, you are out of luck. (Section 6001 (i) (1) (A))

    13. If you are a physician owner and you want to expand your hospital? Well, you can't (Section 6001 (i) (1) (B). Unless, it is located in a county where, over the last five years, population growth has been 150% of what it has been in the state (Section 6601 (i) (3) ( E)). And then you cannot increase your capacity by more than 200% (Section 6001 (i) (3) (C)).

    14. You are a health insurer and you want to raise premiums to meet costs? Well, if that increase is deemed "unreasonable" by the Secretary of Health and Human Services it will be subject to review and can be denied. (Section 1003)

    15. The government will extract a fee of $2.3 billion annually from the pharmaceutical industry. If you are a pharmaceutical company what you will pay depends on the ratio of the number of brand-name drugs you sell to the total number of brand-name drugs sold in the U.S. So, if you sell 10% of the brand-name drugs in the U.S., what you pay will be 10% multiplied by $2.3 billion, or $230,000,000. (Under reconciliation, it starts at $2.55 billion, jumps to $3 billion in 2012, then to $3.5 billion in 2017 and $4.2 billion in 2018, before settling at $2.8 billion in 2019 (Section 1404)). Think you, as a pharmaceutical executive, know how to better use that money, say for research and development? Tough. (Section 9008 (b)).

    16. The government will extract a fee of $2 billion annually from medical device makers. If you are a medical device maker what you will pay depends on your share of medical device sales in the U.S. So, if you sell 10% of the medical devices in the U.S., what you pay will be 10% multiplied by $2 billion, or $200,000,000. Think you, as a medical device maker, know how to better use that money, say for R&D? Tough. (Section 9009 (b)).

    The reconciliation package turns that into a 2.9% excise tax for medical device makers. Think you, as a medical device maker, know how to better use that money, say for research and development? Tough. (Section 1405).

    17. The government will extract a fee of $6.7 billion annually from insurance companies. If you are an insurer, what you will pay depends on your share of net premiums plus 200% of your administrative costs. So, if your net premiums and administrative costs are equal to 10% of the total, you will pay 10% of $6.7 billion, or $670,000,000. In the reconciliation bill, the fee will start at $8 billion in 2014, $11.3 billion in 2015, $1.9 billion in 2017, and $14.3 billion in 2018 (Section 1406).Think you, as an insurance executive, know how to better spend that money? Tough.(Section 9010 (b) (1) (A and B).)

    18. If an insurance company board or its stockholders think the CEO is worth more than $500,000 in deferred compensation? Tough.(Section 9014).

    19. You will have to pay an additional 0.5% payroll tax on any dollar you make over $250,000 if you file a joint return and $200,000 if you file an individual return. What? You think you know how to spend the money you earned better than the government? Tough. (Section 9015).

    That amount will rise to a 3.8% tax if reconciliation passes. It will also apply to investment income, estates, and trusts. You think you know how to spend the money you earned better than the government? Like you need to ask. (Section 1402).

    20. UPDATE: Taxing cosmetic surgery was part of the final bill (section 10907). However, it was replaced by a later section of the bill that taxes tanning salons (section 10907). So, If you get a tan at a tanning salon, you will pay an additional 10% tax. Think you know how to spend that money you earned better than the government? Tough.

    -- Posted by skeeter on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 5:28 PM
  • Skeeter there are more then one Business Daily and what I did find was your facts are outdated. This was put out on the internet in 2010 before Obamacare was passed.

    Shouldn't it be the employees choice if he wants to keep his adult slacker children on his policy? I seen it was offered on our policy but we didn't need it. I think it might work out ok for those who have college age children. They will have that CHOICE

    5. You are an employer and you would like to offer coverage that doesn't allow your employees' slacker children to stay on the policy until age 26? Tough. (Section 2714).

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 6:13 PM
  • MsM Of course it was dated. It was posted to see if you read it. If you can't admit obamacare took away freedoms you won't admit anything and makes no sense to discuss things with you.

    -- Posted by skeeter on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 7:11 PM
  • Skeeter Here's my answer

    Freedom is always balanced by security. One givith and one taketh away. Where do you draw the line? The "war on drugs" and the "war on terrorism" have taken away more freedoms than any health care mandate ever could. Obamacare isn't perfect and needs to focus more on containing costs but it seems helping 30 million people to have health care gives them more freedom -- especially freedom from fear. Losing health care feels like the opposite of freedom.

    http://www.calaverasenterprise.com/opinion/article_fce7c906-88a8-11e1-bda0-001a4...

    Now can you admit The GOP is for their party and not for the people?

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 9:29 PM
  • Hope,

    If you are going to stop posting directly to certain individuals then why not actually follow through with it or admit that you care what others think.

    Back to the topic,

    In economics, we always want to whether the information is perfect and/or complete. Simply stated, is all information available and is it credible. In politics, we can not say that the information is perfect nor complete. Virtually everything we read and there pontificate on is someone else giving us a subjective opinion. Getting on your high horse about what you read/hear from Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity, Savage, Maddow, etc. is comical. They are just mouthpieces and nothing that they say should be taken as fact or of any concrete nature. The same can be said about the news and other print media.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 10:07 AM
  • Hope,

    Actually, I am the one who sticks to the issues more than anyone. A certain phrase was coined by myself, "Back to the topic..".

    Back to the topic,

    Politics and government should not be this interesting. There really should not be endless amounts of media dedicated to it. If done right, it should be a relatively boring and simple topic. However, most Americans can't fathom the idea of government not being involved in virtually every aspect of their lives.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 5:44 PM
  • *

    Twil -

    The day to day, down in the trenches operation of government is pretty mundane most of the time for most of the people.

    It's the politicians and the pundits that think there should be drama. And few are quality actors.

    -- Posted by wh67 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 6:22 PM
  • Hope,

    I regularly tear politicians down. Nobody is off limits. I am indiscriminate in my disdain for them all. Those quotes that you reposted are interesting.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Mon, Jan 7, 2013, at 8:42 PM
  • "The Ten Commandments - Republican-Style"

    I. Thou shalt talk about Christian principles, but not live by them.

    II. Thou shalt attack opponents personally when you can't win on policies.

    III. Thou shalt call yourself pro-life, but be in favor of the death penalty.

    IV. Thou shalt call yourself pro-life, and put guns in the hands of school

    children.

    V. Thou shalt give lip service to democracy while taking away civil

    liberties.

    VI. Profit is the Lord Thy God, thou shalt not put the people's interest

    above those of your corporate contributors.

    VII. Thou shalt make sure fetuses have health coverage, but leave children

    and babies behind.

    VIII. Thou shalt bear false witness against your opponents and liberals, and

    demonize them.

    IX. Thou shalt run on a moderate platform, then enact right-wing policies as

    soon as possible.

    X. Thou shalt call the media liberal, so that people forget that the media

    is owned by corporations with a conservative fiscal agenda.

    - Rebecca Lauer

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Tue, Jan 8, 2013, at 9:05 PM
  • Copy & Paste There was no name on this and I took out a few other Rules as they were not appropriate for the site

    Rules For Being A Good Republican"

    1) You have to believe that the nation's 8-year unprecedented prosperity was due to the work of Ronald Reagan and George Bush, but that today's gas prices are all Clinton's fault.

    2) You have to believe that those privileged from birth achieve success all on their own.

    3) You have to be against government programs, but expect your Social Security checks on time.

    4) You have to believe that government should stay out of people's lives, yet

    you want government to regulate only opposite-gender marriages, what a woman does with her uterus, and what your official language should be.

    5) You have to believe that pollution is OK so long as it makes a profit.

    6) You have to believe in prayer in schools, as long as you don't pray to Allah or Buddha or the Goddess.

    7) You have to believe that a woman cannot be trusted with decisions about her own body, but that large multi-national corporations should have no regulation or interference whatsoever.

    8) You love Jesus and Jesus loves you even when you have hatred of homosexuals in your heart

    9) You have to believe that it was great to allow Ken Starr to spend $90 million dollars to attack Clinton because no other U.S. presidents have been unfaithful to their wives.

    10) You have to believe that a waiting period for purchasing a handgun is bad because quick access to a new firearm is an important concern for all Americans.

    11) You have to believe that the ACLU is bad because they defend the Constitution, while the NRA is good because they defend the Constitution.

    12) You have to believe that even though governments have supported the arts for 5000 years and that most of the great works of Renaissance art were paid for by governments, our government should shun any such support. After all,the rich can afford to buy their own and the poor don't need any.

    13) You have to believe that the lumber from the last one percent of old growth U.S. forests is well worth the destruction of those forests and the extinction of the several species of plants and animals in them because it allows logging companies to add to their profit margin.

    14) You have to believe that we should forgive and pray for Newt Gingrich, Henry Hyde, and Bob Livingston for their marital infidelities, but that Clinton should have been impeached.

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 11:28 AM
  • Twil

    I'm with you there for every put down or joke coming from a conservative there is one coming from a liberal. Now before the internet got so huge, and political web sites popping up every day, mud slinging used to be harder to do. Information to sling back and forth was harder to find.

    -- Posted by MsMarylin on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 2:00 PM
  • Kelly, you're wrong. I don't think anyone noticed, but you're flat wrong. The 2% discount on the social security tax was enacted by good ol' President Obama 2 years ago and was not part of the Bush tax cuts. It's true. You can't blame Bush for that one.

    -- Posted by GetRealNow on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 8:22 PM
  • Hope4America whats unfolding?

    -- Posted by WinterStorm on Wed, Jan 9, 2013, at 8:49 PM
  • Actually Obama has vetoed 2 pieces of legislation since holding office. The first was in 2009, HJ Res. 64; Making further continuing resolutions for 2010, and in 2010 it was HR 3808; Interstate Recognition of the Notarizations Act of 2010. Guess we can't recognize a notarized document from another state. Dang! Saved the world with that one.

    -- Posted by GetRealNow on Thu, Jan 10, 2013, at 9:44 PM
  • Common sense dictates that the Feds (as well as other levels of government) cut their spending. Pure economic analysis backs that up as well. So, why do they continue to spend with reckless abandon? There are many reasons but I will focus on one of them.

    There are looking at this from the standpoint of what they think it should be. If you are fixing a car, you can think all you want that your way should fix it. That does not mean it will work. Instead of understanding how an issue works and acting with that in mind, they try to impose their values onto it. In other words, you can hate the wind all that you want but that does not change it. Better to understand it and how to work with it.

    This applies to their understanding of economics. Certain realities apply no matter the intentions of those in state or federal government. Some things just are and it is a waste of time and money to fight it. I could furnish examples but will leave it for now.

    -- Posted by twilcox1978 on Fri, Jan 11, 2013, at 4:24 PM
  • *

    Does a gun transaction between private citizens (collectors) require a record of the transaction to be filed w/ the Feds?

    -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Fri, Jan 11, 2013, at 4:31 PM
  • *

    Just so's no one embarrasses themselves at the show.

    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clip_(ammunition)

    -- Posted by Dave Thompson on Fri, Jan 11, 2013, at 4:38 PM
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