Cancer and ObamaCare

March 20th, 2014

Evidently ObamaCare is just a bottomless well of suck. The news is bad and getting worse, especially for cancer patients and Democrats.

First up: 15 of 19 nationally recognized cancer centers are not in ObamaCare. Let me tell you that this is a big, big deal for cancer patients.

My father is currently battling stage 3 esophageal cancer, and is having surgery next week. (Prognosis at this stage looks very good.) After his initial diagnosis, it took him something like a month to take all the tests and see all the specialists to go over the results of the tests, followed by radiation and chemo (which was every bit as fun as you imagine).

After finding the tumor was still there (but thankfully not metastasized), my father wondered if it might be possible to undertake experimental drug treatments rather than surgery, and I found them the number of MD Anderson‘s cancer study hotline ((800) 392-1611, just in case you need it).

MD Anderson got all their medical stuff, had them come early the next week, and completed all the consultations and tests (including EKG, X-Ray, CAT scan, PET scan) in a single day. Boom, boom, boom, boom.

“it was like night and day.”

Mortality for this type of surgery can be as high as 19%. At MD Anderson? 2%.

Cancer is a scary thing under the best of circumstances; ObamaCare makes it a whole lot scarier, especially when “bending the cost curve” involves eliminating the most effective treatment.

More ObamaCare news:

  • Getting ObamaCare in parts of Oklahoma means having to drive more than an hour for treatment
  • “If Obamacare isn’t a disaster, what does a disaster look like?”
  • And here are four more reasons premiums will be going up.
  • Enjoy your 47% insurance rate hike thanks to ObamaCare, 27-year olds!
  • Think it’s hard to enroll in ObamaCare? It’s even harder to un-enroll.
  • Democrats choices on handling ObamaCare? Not good.

    • Tags: , ,
    Posted in Democrats, ObamaCare | No Comments »

    Gun and Crime Roundup for March 19, 2014

    March 19th, 2014

    A quick tab-clearing roundup of some gun and crime news:

  • Another dead goblin finds out why it’s a bad idea to rob people in Texas. Bonus: Dead perp was carrying duct tape and zip ties.
  • Likewise, a home intruder with a long criminal history earns a dirt nap in Corvallis, Montana.
  • Likewise in Arizona, a would-be home invader gets shot in the groin. Ouch!
  • When you look at all the data, the USA is hardly a “crime-ridden slaughterhouse”. (Hat tip: Say Uncle.)
  • South Carolina pub decides to insult gun owners. Hilarity ensues.
  • Houston Muslim accused of murdering his lesbian daughter and her girlfriend.

  • “Smart gun” security is likely to be “a sewer of vulnerability”.

    • Tags: , , , , , ,
    Posted in Crime, Guns, Jihad, Texas, video | No Comments »

    Democrats: Start Your Freak Out!

    March 18th, 2014

    There’s a lot of time before November, but Democrats are freaking out early and often:

    National Democrats are in a near panic — if the media’s highly-attuned panic detectors are any indicator — with a “poisonous” president unable to use his popularity to sway voters, a “screaming siren” warning about mid-term turnout, and Republicans on the offensive on Obamacare. There are a long eight months until November, but Democrats seem unlikely to get much sleep over the interim.

    Maureen Dowd expands on the theme:

    So now Democratic panic has set in.

    With the health care sign-up period coming to an end this month, Democrats in Congress are looking over at the White House and realizing that the president is not only incapable of saving them, but he looks like a big anchor tied around their necks.

    That may be why incumbent Senator Kay Hagan is running from answering questions.

    You tears, E. J. Dionne! Let me taste them! “Obama and his party are in danger of allowing the Republicans to set the terms of the 2014 elections.” Along with the usual Dionnean mush about Republicans are uniquely negative, evil, etc. He and Dowd both push the “It’s the evil Koch brothers! Evil I tells ya!” Meme of the Week. He also says to embrace ObamaCare.

    That same “embrace Obamacare” advice is also offered up by Bob Shrum, and who are we to gainsay the keen tactical insight garnered from working on eight losing Presidential campaigns?

    Columnist Eugene Robinson also says to defend ObamaCare. Hmmmmmm.

    No wonder Democrats are freaking out. The tanks are converging on their position, crushing all before them, and their commander is telling them to be calm and fire back with their rifle. Those with even half a brain (asking a lot, I know) should remember back to 2010, where supporting Obamacare cost incumbent Democrats an average of 5.2% of the vote. The result was Democrats lost 63 seats in the House. This time it looks like Democrats’ embrace of ObamaCare will cost them the Senate.

    Who can blame them for freaking out?

    And what better music for a freakout than Austin’s own psychedelic pioneers, the 13th Floor Elevators?

    Tags: , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Democrats, Elections, ObamaCare, video | No Comments »

    Even More on Wendy Davis Failure

    March 17th, 2014

    Will Franklin has dug even deeper in to the primary voting statistics and they are, if anything, actually worse than previously reported (which were already plenty bad).

    A few examples:

  • Her vote totals were down in the Rio Grande Valley when compared with Bill White.
  • Bill White’s two Hispanic opponents in 2010 received 2.83% and 4.95% of the statewide primary vote, compared to Davis Opponent Ray Madrigal pulling in just under 21% despite no fundraising and minimal campaigning.
  • “Despite Wendy Davis’ massive, hyped, well-funded, all-star staffed voter registration effort with Battleground Texas and millions of dollars from out-of-state, today there are 45,000 fewer Texans registered to vote than in November 2012.”
  • “In Texas’ 5 most populous counties, there were 12,897 fewer total Democratic votes than in 2010 and 62,469 fewer than in 2002.”
  • “In a practically uncontested primary, Wendy Davis spent more than Bill White in a contested primary, to achieve poorer primary results.”
  • The total vote margin Greg Abbott received in Harris County alone is almost double the vote margin Davis earned in the five largest counties she won more votes than Abbott in.

    • Read the whole thing.

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Democrats, Elections, Texas | No Comments »

    New Funeral Home Phising Scam

    March 14th, 2014

    Well here’s a new scam:

    We would like to express our deepest sorrow for the untimely death of your beloved
    friend and inform you about the life service celebration that will take place at
    Hubbell Funeral Home on March 13, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.

    Please follow this link to get funeral invitation.
    Please be there to honor the memory of your friend with her closest people.

    Our best wishes and prayers,
    Alexander Howard,
    Funeral home assistant

    Yeah, it’s a phising scam.

    Needless to say, don’t click on that link…

    Tags: ,
    Posted in Crime | 1 Comment »

    Texas vs. California Update for March 13, 2014

    March 13th, 2014

    Time for another roundup of Texas vs. California:

  • Texas surpasses California as the top tech exporter.
  • Victor Davis Hanson wants to “save” California by making liberals eat their own dogfood.
  • Texas is creating jobs at all income levels.
  • Vallejo still can’t afford its pensions:

    The California city of Vallejo emerged from bankruptcy just over two years ago, but it is still struggling to pay its bills.

    The main culprit: Ballooning pension costs, which will hit more than $14 million this year, a nearly 40% increase from two years ago.
    Amid threats of legal action from the state’s pension giant, CalPERS, Vallejo did little during its nearly three-year stint in bankruptcy to stem the growth in its pension bills.

  • Rising CalPERS pension costs are also threatening Long Beach’s financial stability.
  • Berkeley is looking a little better for the short term, but after that they too will be feeling the CalPERS squeeze.
  • Pacific Grove is having a referendum to roll back pension increases.
  • California is getting ready to hike gas taxes again, adding another 12¢ a gallon to gas prices.
  • Is there a Democrat-on-Democrat battle over unions brewing in California?
  • California nursing home chain files for bankruptcy. “The dagger in the heart is that we have been overwhelmed by a wave of class-action lawsuits.”
  • A list of former Los Angeles city employees earning six figure pensions. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
  • California rancher’s are selling their cattle to Texas ranchers due to drought.
  • Cagney Global Logistics relocates from Denver to Irving, Texas.
  • San Jose-based sheet metal manufacturer Cortec is expanding in Pflugerville.
  • Even punk rock queen Exene Cervenka is getting out of California while the getting is good:

    Now when I think about California, I think of a liberal oppressive police state and regulations and taxes and fees. I’d rather go someplace and have my own little place out on the edge of town. I’m a country girl at heart. It makes me happy when I see people in Texas open-carrying. It makes me feel safe. I’m not even a gun owner, but I’d like to see a gun rack in every pickup truck, like my boyfriend had when I was fifteen years old in Florida. An armed society is a polite society.

  • No End In Sight for Texas Oil Boom.

    • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Budget, Democrats, Texas, unions | No Comments »

    Tea Leaves Not Looking So Hot For Democrats in November

    March 12th, 2014

    Republican David Jolly beat Democrat Alex Sink in a special election for Florida’s 13th congressional district. CD13 is a swing district that voted narrowly for Obama in the last two Presidential elections.

    One district does not an election make, but a close look at the tea leaves suggests that the outlook for Democrats in 2014 is looking very dim, thanks to the albatross that is ObamaCare:

  • DNC was hoping Sink’s campaign would be “a blueprint to display public support for Obamacare”. Oh, I think it did a mighty fine job of showing how much the public supports ObamaCare…
  • The Tampa Tribune says that “David Jolly’s victory Tuesday in the U.S. House District 13 special election represents a clear repudiation of Obamacare.”
  • Even the Washington Post says Jolly’s win “illustrated the political toxicity of the law known as Obamacare.”
  • Well, guess what? seven competitive Senate seats are in states more heavily Republican than the district Jolly just won.

    you know what’s less Democrat-friendly territory than this R+1 swing district? The states of West Virginia (R+13), North Carolina (R+3), Louisiana (R+12), South Dakota (R+10), Alaska (R+12). Arkansas (R+14) and Montana (R+7). Those are all currently Democrat-held seats. And there are seven of them.

    If last night’s result means that a halfway decent Republican candidate can win on Republican-leaning territory by hammering away at Obamacare… then the odds of the GOP winning the Senate look very, very good.

  • The message of Sink’s defeat for Democrats? “‘Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
  • All this may be one reason Sean Trende now gives Republicans an 80% chance to win the Senate.
  • Of course, Trende also wrote not to read too much into the Florida CD13 special election. But he also thought Sink would probably win…
  • Meanwhile, a service workers union is talking about going on strike due to health care contract changes resulting from ObamaCare:

    Culinary members have long enjoyed health care that is fully funded by employers, but the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has increased medical costs to the point that many companies can no longer afford to pay full freight. The hotels want workers to pick up some of Obamacare’s new costs, a demand the Culinary won’t agree to.

    Of course, Obamacare is the law because of the Culinary’s political activism. The Culinary and the rest of organized labor poured untold millions of dollars and thousands of volunteer hours into the election campaigns of President Barack Obama and the Democrats who wrote and passed Obamacare, and the unions championed the reboot of American health insurance.

    Then they realized Obamacare’s critics were right. The law is wrecking platinum-plated union health plans, not to mention health insurance for tens of millions of people.

    Unions opposing Obamacare, Hispanics opposing unlimited abortion; that Democrat coalition is started to look more than a little frayed…

    • Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Democrats, Elections, ObamaCare, unions | 1 Comment »

    Hampton, Florida: New Rome Reborn?

    March 11th, 2014

    You may remember the case of New Rome, Ohio, an infamous speedtrap that existed only to line the pockets of a corrupt family and their friends. The corruption was so bad, Ohio disolved the town on September 9, 2004.

    Now comes word that Hampton, Florida seems to be trying many of the same tricks.

    “A state audit of Hampton’s books, released last month, reads like a primer on municipal malfeasance. It found 31 instances in which local rules or state or federal laws were violated in ways large and small.”

    The big question seems to be where the ticket money went…

    (See also: Maywood, California.)

    Tags: , , , ,
    Posted in Crime, Waste and Fraud | No Comments »

    Reports of the Tea Party’s Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

    March 11th, 2014

    There have been a lot of wishful thinking thumbsucker pieces from liberal media outlets proclaiming that the Tea Party is done, finished, a spent force. (Here’s an example.)

    And indeed, those looking only at some top-line races in Texas (like Katrina Pierson’s failed attempt to take down Pete Sessions) might find tend to agree.

    However, a look at all the races (including many down-ballot) shows that the Tea Party is alive and well.

    Start at Lt. Governor. Dan Patrick says he followed the Ted Cruz blueprint and leaned heavily on the Tea Party. “If you have a candidate who will work and at least enough resources to fund a statewide race then and you have the credentials, the tea party will bring you to victory.”

    Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s Michael Quinn Sullivan sees conservative victories up and down the ballot:

  • The most liberal Republican in the Texas Senate lost.
  • Conservative ranks in the Senate are swelling.
  • Every House conservative won re-election (with re-enforcements coming from the open-seat races).
  • House incumbents affiliated with Speaker Joe Straus lost big.
  • Statewide races saw the TFR-backed candidates earning commanding leads going into run-offs.

    • Sullivan goes on to cite Don Huffines defeating John Carona, Brooks Landgraf defeating Austin Keith, and the defeats of Straus allies Bennett Ratliff, Ralph Sheffield, Linda Harper-Brown, Diane Patrick and Lance Gooden.

    This AP piece touts Tea Party success in Texas, but is lamentably short on details.

    Even liberal fossil Paul Burka says that “If there was a clear winner in last night’s election, it was the tea party,” noting the defeats of Joe Straus allies Harper-Brown and Ratliff.

    So too at the national level. The enthusiastic response to Sarah Palin’s speech and other Tea Party favorites shows that the movement is far from dead.

    Which is not to say huge obstacles don’t remain. The Tea Party still hasn’t built up their financial networks enough to reliably take on big-money incumbents, and even in Texas, previous Tea Party gains were insufficient to wrest the Speakership from Straus (who just spent $2,578,942.72 to retain a job that pays $7,200 a year). But the Tea Party movement is still very much alive and kicking, much to the chagrin of RINOS, democrats and the media…

    Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

    LinkSwarm for March 10, 2014

    March 10th, 2014

    Time for another LinkSwarm, sweeping up all the news that was happening while I was churning out Texas primary news:

  • “The uninsured just aren’t buying ObamaCare.”
  • A not-so-short compendium of all the people Harry Reid is calling a liar.
  • ObamaCare will slash wages by as much as $5 an hour for hospitality workers.
  • ObamaCare helps states transfer medical costs for imprisoned felons to Medicaid.
  • In Sean Trende’s latest senate simulation, Democrats are more likely to lose 14 seats than 0 seats.
  • Among those in trouble: Mo Udall. (Hat tip: Shall Not Be Questioned.)
  • Even Obama is worried that Democrats will get “walloped.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • This week’s Democrat caught beating his wife: Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida
  • Senate to Obama’s cop killer fan nominee: REJECTED!
  • But evidently Mary Landrieu and Kay Hagan are just fine with cop-killer supporters.
  • New York City’s new mayor is perfectly willing to screw poor black kids attending a charter school because it’s a non-union school run by his “political nemesis.”
  • Speaking of cities run by Democrats: woman’s mummified remains found in foreclosed Detroit house.
  • A great list of things Obama won’t even consider to stop Putin.
  • Time magazine continues its record of unrivaled prognostication: “No, Russia Will Not Intervene in Ukraine.”
  • “If economic success is all but criminal in France these days, why not depart for places that reward it instead?”
  • Israel intercepts more Iranian freedom missiles and happiness rockets in route to Hamas.
  • Nigerian Muslim defends daughter’s conversion to Christianity, pleads for multiculturalism and tolerance. Ha, just kidding! He hacked her to death with a machete.
  • “What Nigerian scams are to your grandfather, Bitcoin exchanges are to the 20-30 semi-tech-savvy libertarian demographic.”

    “The exchanges are based on layers upon layers of bad software, run by shady characters,” he writes. “The Bitcoin masses, judging by their behavior on forums, have no actual interest in science, technology or even objective reality when it interferes with their market position. They believe that holding a Bitcoin somehow makes them an active participant in a bold new future, even as they passively get fleeced in the bolder current present.”

  • The bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin’…
  • Can anyone derail the juggernaut that is Biden 2016?
  • Vaunted liberal tolerance rears its head in Ireland:

  • We have an early winner for “stupidest Critical Race Theory race-baiting essay” from Salon (natch): “Why I can’t stand white belly dancers.”
  • Meanwhile, National Review is celebrating Chinese classical musicians. Now remind me again: Which side is racist?
  • More on Critical Race Theorist/Social Justice Warrior types: “These people don’t listen to things like “logic” and “reason” when they are in one of their social justice tizzies. It’s not even worth trying to be kind or polite to them.”
  • Winners and Losers from the Texas primaries.

    • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
    Posted in Crime, Democrats, Foreign Policy, Jihad, ObamaCare, Texas, video, Welfare State | No Comments »

    « Older Entries
    Newer Entries »