March 27, 2017

When Jimmy Carter became president, he placed his family business into a blind trust

He followed the rules. And during his years as president, he saw his only job as working for the American people. I recently revisited his 2014 autobiography "A Full Life: Reflections at 90," which I enthusiastically recommend. He shares details and opinions and it's a fascinating read - or listen, since I have it on audio, read by the author himself.

When his father died, Jimmy Carter gave up a brilliant career in the Navy to return to Plains to take over the family farm. Rosalynn was not happy about it and it was a struggle. In the beginning, they lived in subsidized housing and Jimmy made much of their furniture himself - they still use a lot of it today.

When he became president, his business was placed in a blind trust. During his presidency, he didn't even receive reports. There could be no conflict of interest. And when he returned to private life in 1981, he learned that things had not gone well. He says there had been "mismanagement," and coupled with three years of drought, he not only came close to losing the business, but also their home, which he had also helped to build. He was able to sell the Carter warehouse to pay off much of the debt, but he was forced to start over again.

I can't help comparing this to Trump who apparently sees the presidency as a money making opportunity - not only for himself, but also for his adult children - who are also costing the taxpayers millions. Rachel Maddow had a recent report on a business Trump acquired in SC - that requires toxic waste cleanup. He expected the taxpayers of SC to pay for that since the waste was there when he acquired it. But who was the previous owner who left it that way? His eldest son...

Jimmy Carter viewed the presidency as an opportunity to do some good in the world and he has continued to give back, through the Carter Center, the diplomatic missions he has undertaken for subsequent presidents and his ongoing work for Habitat for Humanity. In 1984, former VP Mondale summed up their years in Washington, "'We told the truth, obeyed the law and kept the peace." I can't help comparing that to Trump - who appears to be in this only for what he can take.

March 24, 2017

Health-care amendment would reduce funding to nursing homes

An amendment to the Republican health-care plan, the latest stab at making the alternative to Obamacare more palatable to lawmakers, will decimate health-care coverage for the state’s oldest and most frail residents, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a press briefing on Thursday afternoon.

Introduced late Wednesday by U.S. Reps. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, and John Faso, R-Kinderhook, the amendment to the American Health Care Act prohibits federal reimbursement of the local share of Medicaid funds paid by counties.

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Stefanik also listed on her website 11 local officials who support the amendment because the say it offers property tax relief to residents.

Nonetheless, the governor said on Thursday that this belief is false, pointing to an analysis by the state Department of Health that shows 26 nursing homes in the 21st Congressional District would lose $29.8 million in funding if the Ryan/Collins/Faso health-care repeal is passed.

"It would cripple their ability to provide critical services for seniors, hurting New York’s most vulnerable citizens and jeopardizing hundreds of jobs across the district," he said. "The massive cuts in funding to nursing homes in Congresswoman Stefanik's district underscore the devastating impact the combination of the Collins/Faso amendment and Paul Ryan health care replacement plan will have on New Yorkers across the state."

Cuomo continued: "The Faso/Collins amendment is really a despicable attempt to buy votes at the cost of their constituents," Cuomo said. "These devastating cuts will cripple health-care services in communities across New York, with $29.8 million in cuts to nursing homes in the 21st District alone.”


More: http://poststar.com/news/local/health-care-amendment-would-reduce-funding-to-nursing-homes/article_7296a214-ae61-5cf2-981e-9b4055907134.html

March 24, 2017

OK pro-lifers, since ACA repeal will kill tens of thousands can we count on you?

They call people like many of us pro-choice. But we are also pro-life. But I mean real pro-life. We want policies that maximize life. Those who wrap themselves in the pro-life mantra but sneer at our pro-choice stance should be joining those of us who want to preserve the ACA.

I find it very inconsistent that the mal-defined pro-lifers want to give an unlimited choice for individuals and families to choose any health insurance or none at all. Implicitly that means the choice to purchase junk insurance. It is clear that not buying insurance or those with lousy cheap insurance are signing a death sentence.

While mal-defined pro-lifers want to control individual women's birth control options under the pretext that a zygote, embryo, morula, or blastocyst is preeminent to the born itself, they give little consideration to their otherwise less than life supporting policy support. If the following is not the case for the mal-defined pro-lifer to remove their hypocritical aura, then that time will never come.

The numbers are out. Trumpcare will cause the deaths of tens of thousands of our fellow citizens:
"Repealing the Affordable Care Act without replacing it, as some conservative hardliners are demanding, would cost a minimum of 37,127 lives over the next two years (14,528 in 2018 and 22,599 in 2019), and perhaps as many as four times that number, according to scientific studies summarized in an editorial in this week’s American Journal of Public Health."

More: https://egbertowillies.com/2017/03/23/pro-lifers-since-aca-repeal-will-kills/

March 24, 2017

Upstate New York gets $2.3 billion gift in Republican health care bill

The House Republicans' health care bill now provides an unusual sweetheart deal for upstate New York and Long Island.

In an effort to woo Republican lawmakers in the state, House leaders have agreed to an amendment that would block the federal government from reimbursing state Medicaid funds raised by local governments. The provision is worded so that it only applies to New York State.

In New York, counties outside of New York City send $2.3 billion to the state to help pay for Medicaid. Upstate officials cheered the GOP's measure, saying it would allow them to lower county property taxes for their residents. Medicaid spending accounts for an average of 44.3% of the county property tax levied in New York, state lawmakers argue.

"This is a huge win for our constituents," said New York Representative Chris Collins, who pushed for the provision, which would take effect in 2020. "Year after year, Albany's leadership relies on counties to foot the bill for New York State's out-of-control Medicaid costs. Enough is enough. This amendment will stop Albany from forcing its unfunded mandate down the throats of taxpayers, and help counties lower the property tax burden on hardworking families."

But state officials and hospital executives say it would blow a huge hole in the state's Medicaid budget and leave many New Yorkers without coverage.

"There is no fairy that is going to float down and hand over $2.3 billion to make up the shortfall that the counties lack," said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a press conference Tuesday. "...that means less people are going to get health care assistance. That means more hospitals, more nursing homes are going to close. That's what that means."


More: http://money.cnn.com/2017/03/21/news/economy/medicaid-new-york-republican-health-care-bill/

In other words, they're not above bribery in their quest for "yes" votes...

March 23, 2017

'Extreme and unusual' climate trends continue after record 2016

In the atmosphere, the seas and around the poles, climate change is reaching disturbing new levels across the Earth.

That's according to a detailed global analysis from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

It says that 2016 was not only the warmest year on record, but it saw atmospheric CO2 rise to a new high, while Arctic sea ice recorded a new winter low.

The "extreme and unusual" conditions have continued in 2017, it says.

Complete picture
Reports earlier this year from major scientific bodies - including the UK's Met Office, Nasa and NOAA - indicated that 2016 was the warmest year on record.





Much more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39329304

March 22, 2017

Trump signs NASA funding bill, sets goal of human on Mars

President Trump on Tuesday signed a bill authorizing funding for NASA while setting a new goal to send humans to Mars.

The president signed the bill in the Oval Office flanked by authors and sponsors of the bill, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

The law, known as the NASA Transition Authorization Act, gives the space agency $19.5 billion in funding for fiscal year 2018. It also asks the agency to create a plan to send a “crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s.”

Lawmakers also require NASA to create ways to "extend human presence, including potential human habitation on another celestial body and a thriving space economy in the 21st Century.”
NASA is receiving slightly more money than Trump requested in his 2018 budget blueprint. It included $19.1 billion for the agency, which would have been a modest funding cut.


(Short article, no more at link) http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/324988-trump-signs-nasa-funding-bill-sets-goal-of-human-on-mars

March 22, 2017

'Gong Show' creator Chuck Barris dies at 87

Source: ABC News

Chuck Barris, whose game show empire included "The Dating Game," ''The Newlywed Game" and that infamous factory of cheese, "The Gong Show," died at 87.

Barris died of natural causes Tuesday afternoon at his home in Palisades, New York, according to publicist Paul Shefrin, who announced the death on behalf of Barris' family.

Barris made game show history right off the bat, in 1966, with "The Dating Game," hosted by Jim Lange. The gimmick: a young female questions three males, hidden from her view, to determine which would be the best date. Sometimes the process was switched, with a male questioning three females. But in all cases the questions were designed by the show's writers to elicit sexy answers.

Celebrities and future celebrities who appeared as contestants included Michael Jackson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Martin and a pre-"Charlie's Angels" Farrah Fawcett, introduced as "an accomplished artist and sculptress" with a dream to open her own gallery.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/gong-show-creator-chuck-barris-dies-87-46292682

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FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2002 file photo, Chuck Barris, the man behind TV's "The Dating Game," poses in the lobby of his apartment in New York. Game show impresario Barris has died at 87. Barris, the madcap producer of "The Gong Show" and "The Dating Game," died of natural causes Tuesday afternoon, March 21, 2017, at his home in Palisades, New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

March 20, 2017

Calling Jimmy Carter!

After North Korea announced its withdrawal from the IAEA in June of 1994, Jimmy Carter went in as our negotiator. He met with President Kim Il Sung (Kim Jong Il's father) and was the first person to cross the DMZ in 43 years. Their talks went well, since President Carter treated him with respect - and he was treated with respect because of his knowledge and experience with nuclear engineering. Not only did Kim Il Sung agree to freeze their nuclear program and resume talks with the US - a dialog that continued with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright - but that agreement established a three-stage process for the elimination of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. In return, the United States promised to move toward normalized economic and diplomatic relations and agreed to provide assistance with the construction of proliferation-resistant LWRs to replace North Korea’s graphite-moderated reactors.

Kim Il Sung died soon after that meeting, but his son agreed to abide by that agreement which held through Clinton's term as long as the US continued the "respect" that Jimmy Carter had promised. But there was a new tone after George W Bush* took office and relations began falling apart - culminating in Bush*'s "axis of evil" comments in 2002.

Negotiations with volatile regimes like this are incredibly sensitive - something President Carter knew and understood. And an experienced SOS like Madeleine Albright was certainly aware of. But now we have an administration that has managed to insult and alienate even our oldest and closest allies. I fear for our future - and the future of the world - as long as we're being represented by those without diplomacy, knowledge and a sense of history.

March 16, 2017

Climate change is making us sick, top U.S. doctors say

From increases in deadly diseases to choking air pollution and onslaughts of violent weather, man-made climate change is making Americans sicker, according to a report released Wednesday by 11 of the nation's top medical societies.

The report was prepared by the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, a new group that represents more than 400,000 doctors, who make up more than half of all U.S. physicians.

“Doctors in every part of our country see that climate change is making Americans sicker,” said Mona Sarfaty, the director of the new consortium and a professor at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va.

“Physicians are on the frontlines and see the impacts in exam rooms," she said. "What’s worse is that the harms are felt most by children, the elderly, Americans with low income or chronic illnesses, and people in communities of color.”

More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2017/03/15/climate-change-making-us-sick-top-us-doctors-say/99218946/

March 14, 2017

Congressman handcuffed by police after refusing to leave ICE office

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) was handcuffed by federal police Monday after refusing to leave an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Chicago.

Gutierrez, a staunch advocate of immigration reform, was at a meeting between ICE officials and immigration lawyers, activists, community leaders and other elected officials, NBC Chicago reported.

“They were asking about specific cases and about the general conduct of ICE and deportations,” said Gutierrez's director of communications, Doug Rivlin.

Gutierrez refused to leave the office after the meeting and was briefly handcuffed.

“The congressman has decided that he did not get the answers he was looking for from the ICE regional director and he’s going to be staying inside until he gets answers, even if that means risking arrest,” said Rivlin, according to NBC.


More: http://thehill.com/latino/323748-congressman-handcuffed-by-police-after-refusing-to-leave-ice-office


https://twitter.com/RepGutierrez/status/841337720710537216


https://twitter.com/RepGutierrez/status/841355062836396033


https://twitter.com/RepGutierrez/status/841388110357381121