Our esteemed governor, Sam Brownback, has egg on his face because his bet on the repeal of the Affordable Health Care Act failed. Makes him look really bad because the $30 million he was to receive to work on the Kansas version of the insurance exchange now is gone forever, and Kansas will have to accept the federal choices. Instead the money went to some other state. Insurance Commissioner Praeger was ready and willing to work on the exchange, but King Sam and his cohorts made that impossible.
Hopefully Kansans will finally realize that Brownback’s ideological governing will be ruinous unless he is defeated in the next election. I hope it’s not too late already.
Comments
grammaddy 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Hear!! Hear!!
wounded_soldier 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Right on! I am tired of being duped by this guy. But then we see it. It is those in Western Kansas who are part of a strong republican stronghold that elected this Brownback in the first place. How do they see this?
ljwhirled 11 months, 3 weeks ago
As an "opportunity" to end up impoverished with no water left in their wells due to overpumping, oil and natural gas depleted by scoundrels, and children who have long since fled to the cities in search of work.
But if one of those "urban", do nothing, welfare moms gets an abortion, God help us all. They'll keep voting for him until their crazed preachers tell them to stop.
What is funniest about this is that they look at fundamentalist Islam as a huge problem.
In our country, it is fundamentalist Christians with their strange marriage to Libertarian economics that is going to put us all in the poor house.
foodboy 11 months, 3 weeks ago
I consider Brownback's actions (or lack thereof) in turning down the money to implement the Affordable Care Act malfeasance and dereliction of duty that will end up costing the state millions. He is like someone refusing to believe a tornado is coming and not taking proper precautions. One should be ready, even if the storm passes.
verity 11 months, 3 weeks ago
I think that a lot of people voted for Brownback because of name recognition, the fact that they didn't do their homework and the Democrats didn't run a strong candidate. Remember, we did have a Democratic governor who was re-elected by 60% while barely campaigning.
We are all in this together and insulting and generalizing about the people in western and/or rural Kansas, making them our enemies, is not helpful. It kind of irritates people when you call them nasty names and insult their intelligence. Could you run a farm and survive? Most of you wouldn't make it through one day, let alone have any idea what to do. Of course they resent it when the city folks from eastern Kansas treat them like they're stupid and think they know better than them how to run their lives.
Once again, we're in this together. I have a suggestion---take a day trip and stop and talk to some farmers or ranchers. Might surprise you. The Nature Conservancy is a great example of people who seemed to be on different sides of issues working together for their common good.
And campaign for those candidates you support!
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
There are some terrible billboards on I-70 west of Topeka. One of them say's something like "Obama, facist dictator wanna-be" with an unflattering and disrespectful cartoon of our president. I think it is in Junction City. I think many who live there are offended by the billboard. But still, I was repulsed when I drove by it.
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
You can view the sign by googling ..... Dreamland hotel, anti-Obama billboards, Junction City Kansas, 2010
verity 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Not arguing with you that there aren't people who are racists, etc., and one should be repulsed by that sort of thing. Just saying that we shouldn't generalize that to everybody and that we should try to work together when we can for our common good.
My father, a lifetime farmer and cattleman who never lived more than a few miles from where he was born, was very conservative on some issues, very liberal on others (believed in equality for everybody), but sometimes he held opinions just because nobody had ever challenged them, and when I presented a good case, he was known to change his mind.
When he got pulled into calling candidates by someone in his church and asking them a list of questions, his friend, a Democrat running for Country Treasurer, told him that abortion had nothing to do with her job and she wasn't going to tell him what her stance was as it was none of his (I think a four-letter word was used here) business. He allowed as to how she was right and that he was never going to get pulled into that kind of thing again.
verity 11 months, 3 weeks ago
By the way, it's not only western Kansas where there are rural/farm/ranch people. Just take a jaunt down the turnpike from Topeka to Cassidy and then drive towards the west. Yes, many of the people are conservative religiously, but that doesn't necessarily put them in the fanatic groups. Some, yes, all, no.
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Seeing a sign like that makes me have to work harder on not generalizing. Good post(s).
Cappy 11 months, 3 weeks ago
"and we all know how the the military feels about Obama." Do we now? http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/05/military-campaign-donations-obama/1#.T-9Rm_V1eZQ I suppose the republicans post those kinds of billboards to erode support.
vertigo 11 months, 3 weeks ago
By "the military" he means him- not the "real" military.
Alyosha 11 months, 3 weeks ago
A) the military is an institution, and so cannot feel anything. B) If they're Constitutional Americans, what they believe should be that he is the duly elected chief executive of the United States, the President, their Commander in Chief.
Feelings don't enter into the military chain of command whatsoever.
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Brownback learned nothing by his error. He is now refusing to comply with the insurance exchange provision until after the 2012 election. He is rolling the dice that Romney will get elected and the Health Bill will be reversed. If this does not happen, Kansas will lose more valuable time and Kansans may not have cost saving insurance options that the exchange would provide.
All of this without a word from him on why he is against an insurance exchange. These are private insurance companies and the exchange has been compared to as the "Travelocity" of health insurance. There is more competition. Kansans could shop for better rates from out-of-state insurance companies. The insurance exchange is basically the compromise used when the public option was taken off the table. I'd like to hear from the govenor just what he does not like about the exchange. Instead of this "wait and see" approach.
deec 11 months, 3 weeks ago
I'm sure it has nothing to do with the $126,550 in lifetime contributions he received from the Kochs; or the $420,540 from health professionals; or the $242,912 from the insurance industry.
Frankie8 11 months, 3 weeks ago
verity, you speak the truth. As a comparison there are just as many racists in the northern United States as there are in the south. But, it seems like only the actions in the south make the news. I remember when I was growing up in a very small town, I lived on a small farm, and there was definitely a divide between the town kids and the farm kids. I was made to feel ashamed for being a farm kid.
My family totally supported equality for everyone regardless of race or gender which is more than a lot of town folks did. Like Nina Simone sings, "You don't have to live next to me, all I want is equality."
Yeoman2 11 months, 3 weeks ago
We had plenty of warning about the type of politician that Brownback was while he was senator. He was hands down one of the worst senators that Kansas has ever had, but the doctrinaire residents of Kansas who are completely blinded byt the facist republican cult in the state voted for this non-starter anyway.
Now we are saddled with an imcompetant idiot who even after the Supreme Court dcision, choses to wait to see who is elected president, and to believe the lies of the repubublican candidate, Romney, who vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act (popularly known by the racist epithet "Obamacare") and has absolutely no power do do this.
We in Kansas are truly in the grip of our own dysfunction, to have the slightest notion that the facist republican tea baggers have our best interestes at heart. The only agende that these people have are to "defeat Obama" and no other cause.
Bushloather1 11 months, 3 weeks ago
•President Obama has cut taxes by $3,600 for the typical middle class family. Republican plans will raise taxes on middle class families to give millionaires and billionaires a $250,000 tax cut.
•The facts are clear: the health care law provides a significant tax cut averaging about $4,000 for more than 18 million middle class people and families -- a tax cut Republicans in Washington are vowing to repeal, socking it to the middle class once again.
•For those that can afford health insurance but stay uninsured -- forcing the rest of us to subsidize their care for free -- a penalty is administered. This is estimated by the CBO to affect 1 percent of the population. It is modeled on the health reform Governor Romney signed into law, where less than 1 percent have been affected by the Massachusetts penalty.
Romney "Very Pleased With" Individual Mandate by americanbridge21st
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
I am confused. Romney likes the individual mandate here. Has he changed his mind?
Cappy 11 months, 3 weeks ago
His mind is an ever changing amorphous blob that conforms to the shape of whatever electorate it slithers over.
JackMcKee 11 months, 3 weeks ago
There is some truth to what verity posts, but there is also a large percentage of Kansaa voters that vote for whoever their preacher tells them to, and that is almost always decided on a single issue. Abortion.
I really don't think it's hyperbolic to say that Briwnback is the worst Govenor in the history of Kansaa or that his actions threaten the very foundations of Kansas' future.
verity 11 months, 3 weeks ago
We're already gearing up the campaign for a Democrat running against one of the extreme Brownback supporters. His website is mostly nonfunctional---I think he has no idea what is going to hit him, but our candidate has already hit the ground running. She was very surprised at the reactions she has gotten---the incumbent is disliked so much that people who had never met her before are offering money and help.
So we shall see.
toe 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Brownback did the right thing. This law will be resisted for decades, making the entire abortion debate look tame.
beatrice 11 months, 3 weeks ago
"Keep your government hands off my Medicaid!"
Like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, this law will soon be accepted and appreciated for the good it provides.
jafs 11 months, 3 weeks ago
All of those programs have positive features, but also a host of problems that we seem unable to deal with, unfortunately.
The average Medicare recipient gets about 3x as much in benefits as they pay into the system.
For SS, it's a bit less of a multiplier, but people are still taking more out in benefits than they pay.
Liberty275 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Free stuffs? Why do you think the likes of bea think those programs are so great?
In reality, medicare is such poor insurance that you have to buy a second policy from a private company to have descent insurance. Medicaid is the dregs and mpst providers won't give people with medicaid the time of day. My doctor has a sign hanging in his office that states plainly "we do not accept medicaid:.
Social security... That's some great stuff there. What is it? $1200/month? Minus part b and d medicare of course.
I'm just going to work until I die.
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Me too. "I'm just going to work until I die"
Topple 11 months, 3 weeks ago
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess out of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority will always vote for the candidate promising the most benefits from the treasury with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy..."
hear_me 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Interesting. It isn't quite that simple, though. Employees and recipients pay into Medicare. Social Security is a pay forward system, and fits your description better. It sure is complicated! On a positive note, after the Boomer generation, the populations coming up are smaller. Consequently, the system should catch up.
There are a couple of easy fixes for spcial security. One is to lift the Income ceiling for contribution. The other is to put a ceiling on who may draw SS based on income. It is insurance after all.
jafs 11 months, 2 weeks ago
We'll see if the system "catches up" or not - predictions are for relatively problematic deficits pretty soon.
There are a number of ways to fix the systems, but we don't seem to do that - instead politicians kick the can down the road.
And, of course, "invest" SS trust funds in government bonds, which is insane.
My solution would be to stop collecting separately for the programs, and to administer them as services to those that need them, based on income and perhaps assets.
misplacedcheesehead 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Get me a proverbial carton of eggs, and let's help the good le Gov. our. Hee hee.
verity 11 months, 3 weeks ago
I think tange hard-boiled all the eggs.
verity 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Oh, tange, you know you boiled'em so nobody could fling'em---you were hoping someone would make deviled eggs.
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Go figure, just two days ago, the Brownback administration accepted 3 bids from private insurance companies to administer the Kansas Medicaid program. Why does he approve of this while rejecting the insurance exchange? Two words.....President Obama.
hear_me 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Yes.
Cappy 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Eggs Benedict Arnold?
vertigo 11 months, 3 weeks ago
kinky
merrill 11 months, 3 weeks ago
grammaddy Hear!! Hear!!
merrill 11 months, 3 weeks ago
One more thought: Brownback may well be a shareholder in the medical insurance industries and many of Koch industry investments. If my memory serves me well Koch money is invested in the medical insurance industry.
In the world of elected officials this is not considered a conflict of interest. Just another way of improving one's bottom line. Lately I've been hearing radio discussions concerning elected officials coming into office not necessarily wealthy but somehow leaving office necessarily wealthy.
Which likely had some connection to the privilege of insider trading granted to elected officials which then explains why Wall Street has been able to acquire massive protections from US government as well as massive bailouts.
tbaker 11 months, 3 weeks ago
The Supreme Court decision makes ObamaCare the central issue in the 2012 election, just like it was in the 2010 election, and we know how that turned out. Had they struck down the law he wouldn't now have to spend his campaign defending the most unpopular thing he has done during his term.
Remember what this law does. It requires everyone to spend upwards of 7 percent of their income on health insurance or pay a fine of several thousand dollars. Neither one of these ideas is an attractive alternative for the young and or the poor (who are the president’s political base) And, since the court struck down the the expansion of Medicaid, the government will not be there to help them. States can opt-out of paying their portion.
Remember how in 2010 Democrats running for Congress (most of whom lost) did not even attempt to defend Obamacare? How they put as much distance between themselves and the law as they could? That can't do that now. Obama and his Senate and House candidates will have to spend their re-election campaings defending it.
Should be fun to watch...
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 11 months, 3 weeks ago
But given that the mandate (or tax, as CJ Roberts calls it) is a Republican idea, previously put into state law by Romney, the Republican nominee, that should make this campaign even more fun to watch, no?
camper 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Fun ?
Alyosha 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Kindly cite where in the law passed by the United States Congress you get the claim that the act "requires everyone to spend upwards of 7 percent of their income on health insurance."
Seems to me this comment is purposefully spreading dis-information for political ends — hardly something an ethical and moral citizen would do.
jafs 11 months, 2 weeks ago
I think he's basing that on current insurance costs.
Our premiums are about 7% of income, with a group program.
jafs 11 months, 2 weeks ago
The fines are based on income, and waived for those that couldn't afford to buy health insurance.
So, somebody making $60K a year will pay about $100/month in fines if they don't buy insurance.
hear_me 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Gambles: 1. Romney will be elected and will successfully repeal the Affordable Care Act. 2. Having eliminated the income tax, new business will come to Kansas.
Others!
JackMcKee 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Try: Rick Perry's running mate failure to keep Boeing not reading resumes hiring people from Florida spending too much time on Twitter interjecting on redistricting hoping for 2016 POTUS run (which is bizarre for many reasons, especially because you #1 would make render that irrelevant) I know I'm missing some, it's getting hard to keep track of them all
OonlyBonly 11 months, 3 weeks ago
Oh, people bash Brownback all you want there are still many of us who believe as he does.
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