How Obamacare Would Have Helped Workers Laid Off
By Bain

post from ThinkProgress on 06 July 2012 06:00:04 PM. © ThinkProgress

After Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital bought the office supply maker SCM, laid off workers, gutted pay and benefits, and ultimately shut down the entire plant, former SCM employee Valerie Bruton was left with no choice but to turn to the safety net. In the Obama campaign ad, “Romney Economy,” she recalls:

When SCM shut down the doors, that was the first time I’d ever been in the system with food stamps. Then I had to get on Medicaid. It was just, it was rough, but I did it…I had no choice because I had my babies, my babies depended on me.

She was hardly alone. All 258 employees were fired immediately, then invited to reapply for their jobs at a lower wage and a 50 percent cut in health insurance. When the workers went on strike, the plant was shuttered.

Under Romney, Bain Capital replicated this “vulture capitalism,” laying off workers and slashing health care benefits. In 1993, Bain bought Kansas City’s Worldwide Grinding Systems steel mill. Less than a decade later, the mill was shuttered and 750 people were out of work. But even more importantly, “workers were denied the severance pay and health insurance they’d been promised, and their pension benefits were cut by as much as $400 a month,” reported Reuters. The federal Pension Benefits Guarantee Corp had to make up the difference, which were slashed again in bankruptcy court.

Now that he’s running for president, Romney has promised to repeal Obamacare and replace it with his faith in the free market. Here are two scenarios of how these workers would fare under Obamacare and under Romney’s plan.

Under Obama:

– Workers facing cuts in employer coverage or a firing would no longer need to brave the individual market alone. Instead they would go to the state-run Exchanges, which help navigate different plans and payments and limit out-of-pocket spending in plans, keeping individual costs in control.
– Individuals and families who earn between 133 and 400 percent of the federal poverty line would receive tax credits to help them purchase insurance. Families can qualify for an average annual credit of $5,210.
– A study from Health Affairs found that if Obamacare had been implemented between 2001 and 2008, “having out-of-pocket expenditures on care exceeding $6,000 would have been reduced for all adults with individual insurance, and the likelihood of having expenditures exceeding $4,000 would have been reduced for many.”
– Large employers that cut benefits like Bain did at SCM would have to pay a penalty for each employee who receives a tax credit to help them purchase insurance.

Under Romney:

– Without employer coverage, laid off workers would have to turn to the individual market to purchase insurance, where they would risk being denied coverage or struggle with high premiums.
– Romney’s plan offers a tax deduction for workers to buy individual insurance, but it also allows insurers to dodge certain state consumer protections and sell cheap, bare-bone policies to young healthy worker across state lines.
– Insurance companies would still be allowed to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, impose permanent exclusions for preexisting medical conditions and set rates skewed by age, health status, and gender.
– Individuals who can’t find affordable coverage — or are pushed out by increasing costs — could “form purchasing pools” and try to purchase insurance this way. Large groups of sick people are expensive to insure, however, and will be unlikely to afford their premiums without additional subsidies.
– For older workers, Medicare would no longer be a safe bet. Romney plans to turn it into a voucher program, where a beneficiary is given a pre-determined amount of money with which to either buy private insurance or traditional Medicare. The government’s contribution will not keep up with rising health care costs, meaning seniors will have to spend more on care each year.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/07/06/511581/how-obamacare-would-have-helped
-workers-laid-off-by-bain/

Digg this

GOP Colorado State Senator On Banning Mosques:
They’re Not ‘Places Of Worship’

post from ThinkProgress on 06 July 2012 06:00:04 PM. © ThinkProgress

CO State Sens. Grantham (L) and Lundberg

Last weekend, the Dutch Islamphobic politician Geert Wilders spoke to a conservative conference hosted by a Christian university in Colorado. The anti-Muslim firebrand served up his usual fare: Islam is not a religion but a “totalitarian ideology,” multiculturalism must be stopped, U.S. courts must end immigration from Muslim countries and mosque construction must be banned.

According to a report on the event in the Colorado Statesman, conservatives at the conference took Wilders’s words to heart, as well as those of fellow anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney.

Former Republican State Senate president John Andrews, who heads up an institute at the university that held the event, told the crowd, “After you hear from Frank Gaffney and our friend from across the Atlantic, Geert Wilders, you?ll know why I just say ?the threat of Islam?? — as opposed to “radical Islam” or “extremism.”

Current Republican State Senator Kevin Grantham took on Wilders’s message that the West “should forbid the construction of new mosques.” Asked about the proposed ban, Grantham told the Statesman he was for considering it:

You know, we?d have to hear more on that, because, as he said, mosques are not churches like we would think of churches. They think of mosques more as a foothold into a society, as a foothold into a community, more in the cultural and in the nationalistic sense. Our churches ? we don?t feel that way, they?re places of worship, and mosques are simply not that, and we need to take that into account when approving construction of those.

The notion that Mosques are not “places of worship” is an absurd extension of Wilders’s bigotry. Even Grantham’s fellow Republican State Senate colleague Kevin Lundberg ignored this contention and saw the fatal flaw in this logic: banning mosque construction violates the basic rights of free exercise of religion codified in the Bill of Rights. Lundberg told the Statesman:

I think immediately of ?Congress shall make no law ?? and that sounds pretty close to that, doesn?t it?
We?re a free society, and there are risks with freedom. In my mind, we need to give every citizen the opportunity to succeed or fail on their merits, and there are limits we have to put in place for certain public safety issues, but I am much more a stronger defender of the First Amendment than I am of immediately restricting people because of a perceived concern.

Lundberg is right. The First Amendment plainly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The rest is just bigotry and antithetical to those values.

Read The Full Article:
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/06/512320/gop-colorado-state-senator-mo
sques-islamophobia/

Digg this

UPDATE: McCotter Resigns...Failed Republican Pol
McCotter Pens Trashy TV Pilot

post from Crooks and Liars on 06 July 2012 06:00:03 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Update: U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) has resigned. Politico reports:

From his statement:

Today I have resigned from the office of United States Representative for Michigan's 11th Congressional District.
After nearly 26 years in elected office, this past nightmarish month and a half have, for the first time, severed the necessary harmony between the needs of my constituency and of my family. As this harmony is required to serve, its absence requires I leave.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does the Republican party just let anyone run for president? After U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter's brief foray as a Republican candidate for president ended last year, but before he ended his efforts last month to win back his Michigan seat as a write-in candidate after fraud allegations, it seems he decided to try his hand at "writing" for television.

[Via]

"Bumper Sticker: Made On Motown" starred McCotter hosting a crude variety show cast with characters bearing the nicknames of his congressional staffers, his brother and a drunk, perverted "Black Santa." They take pot shots about McCotter's ill-fated bid for the White House while spewing banter about drinking, sex, race, flatulence, puking and women's anatomy. It features a cartoon intro and closing snippet with an Oldsmobile careening through Detroit and knocking over the city's landmarks. The double-finned car has a Michigan license plate reading: "Made on MoTown."
The News obtained a copy of the script from a former staffer who offered it as evidence of what the five-term congressman was pitching while in elected office and the tawdry humor unbecoming of a public official who had become disinterested in serving the 11th Congressional District.

But wait, there's so much more:

Some congressional staffers included in his 42-minute pilot episode dated Oct. 17, 2011, were the same longtime employees who handled the collection of petition signatures that botched his chances of getting on the Aug. 7 primary ballot. The character named "Wardo," the nickname others acknowledge is used for District Director Paul Seewald, dresses in a matador costume, gets drunk on a whisky-laced Slurpee and runs off stage after puking.
"Chowsers," the nickname for Deputy District Director Don Yowchuang, leers at women's body parts and snaps cell phone pictures of them, goes "cougar hunting" and repeats the line "I'm Thai."
Seewald and Yowchuang received substantial pay increases in the first quarter of this year?19 percent and 32 percent, respectively, compared with previous quarters, according to records from Legistorm.

And yikes!

In "Bumper Sticker," conservative commentator S.E. Cupp is cast as guest on the pilot. Cupp, a regular guest on cable political shows, also has appeared on "Red Eye" and co-hosts MSNBC's "The Cycle."
McCotter tries to ask serious questions of the columnist, while his sidekicks chime in by asking how she "keeps that great stripper bod?" and whether "D-Cupp" is dating anyone. In the script, Cupp is disgusted by the "train wreck" of the show.
It's unclear whether Cupp knew of her role in the pilot. Reached by e-mail, she didn't want to talk about McCotter.

McCotter said that the variety show is his outlet to deal with the "destructive" environment in Washington. What, by contributing to it?

An aside to my fellow Michiganders, if you see any of your Republican congress critters drinking Slurpees this Summer, you might want to remind them not to drink and drive. Please!

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/dont-republicans-vet-their-presidentia

Digg this

Failed Republican Pol McCotter Pens Trashy TV
Pilot

post from Crooks and Liars on 06 July 2012 06:00:03 PM. © Crooks and Liars

[Via]

"Bumper Sticker: Made On Motown" starred McCotter hosting a crude variety show cast with characters bearing the nicknames of his congressional staffers, his brother and a drunk, perverted "Black Santa." They take pot shots about McCotter's ill-fated bid for the White House while spewing banter about drinking, sex, race, flatulence, puking and women's anatomy. It features a cartoon intro and closing snippet with an Oldsmobile careening through Detroit and knocking over the city's landmarks. The double-finned car has a Michigan license plate reading: "Made on MoTown."
The News obtained a copy of the script from a former staffer who offered it as evidence of what the five-term congressman was pitching while in elected office and the tawdry humor unbecoming of a public official who had become disinterested in serving the 11th Congressional District.

But wait, there's so much more:

Some congressional staffers included in his 42-minute pilot episode dated Oct. 17, 2011, were the same longtime employees who handled the collection of petition signatures that botched his chances of getting on the Aug. 7 primary ballot. The character named "Wardo," the nickname others acknowledge is used for District Director Paul Seewald, dresses in a matador costume, gets drunk on a whisky-laced Slurpee and runs off stage after puking.
"Chowsers," the nickname for Deputy District Director Don Yowchuang, leers at women's body parts and snaps cell phone pictures of them, goes "cougar hunting" and repeats the line "I'm Thai."
Seewald and Yowchuang received substantial pay increases in the first quarter of this year?19 percent and 32 percent, respectively, compared with previous quarters, according to records from Legistorm.

And yikes!

In "Bumper Sticker," conservative commentator S.E. Cupp is cast as guest on the pilot. Cupp, a regular guest on cable political shows, also has appeared on "Red Eye" and co-hosts MSNBC's "The Cycle."
McCotter tries to ask serious questions of the columnist, while his sidekicks chime in by asking how she "keeps that great stripper bod?" and whether "D-Cupp" is dating anyone. In the script, Cupp is disgusted by the "train wreck" of the show.
It's unclear whether Cupp knew of her role in the pilot. Reached by e-mail, she didn't want to talk about McCotter.

McCotter said that the variety show is his outlet to deal with the "destructive" environment in Washington. What, by contributing to it?

An aside to my fellow Michiganders, if you see any of your Republican congress critters drinking Slurpees this Summer, you might want to remind them not to drink and drive. Please!

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/dont-republicans-vet-their-presidentia

Digg this

New Normal in Kentucky: Water Restrictions

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 06 July 2012 06:00:00 PM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By @KYYellowDog

It's so bad, Lexington banned fireworks over the Fourth of July holiday. And we're still two months away from peak dry season.

From the press release:

As a result of continuing high temperatures and limited rainfall, the Energy and Environment Cabinet today announced a water shortage watch for 27 counties in Kentucky. Citizens living in these areas should closely monitor local news sources for notification from water suppliers on reducing demands for water.
A Water Shortage Watch is issued when drought conditions have the potential to threaten the normal availability of drinking water supply sources. Officials at the Kentucky Division of Water (DOW) study rainfall amounts, reservoir levels, streamflows, the Palmer Drought Index and the Drought Monitor when determining drought status.
All Kentuckians should increase their awareness of the current drought situation and prepare to make adjustments to their water use.

The following counties, listed by Drought Management Area (DMA), meet the criteria to be included in the water watch:
Barren River DMA - Monroe, Simpson, Warren
Buffalo Trace DMA - Fleming, Robertson
Bluegrass DMA - Anderson, Bourbon, Clark, Estill, Fayette, Franklin, Garrard, Harrison, Jessamine, Lincoln, Madison, Mercer, Nicholas, Scott, Woodford
Cumberland Valley DMA - Whitley
Green River DMA - Webster
Kentucky River DMA - Lee, Owsley
Northern Kentucky DMA - Owen, Pendleton
Pennyrile DMA - Crittenden
High temperatures combined with precipitation deficits frequently create surges in the demand for water, often exceeding a water supplier's ability to meet that demand. Many communities in the Water Shortage Watch areas have issued local water advisories in response to unusually high demands and reduced raw water supplies. Citizens in the Water Shortage Watch areas should be prepared to reduce water use upon request by their local water supplier.
In areas not included in this Water Shortage Watch, water supply sources remain at acceptable levels, but capacity issues associated with high temperatures and dry conditions have prompted local water advisories in several counties. Citizens across the Commonwealth should heed local water suppliers' requests for water conservation when local advisories are issued.
In all areas of Kentucky, self-supplied individuals on wells or other small sources should avoid excessive water use and report losses of water supply to their county health department.
State climatologist Stuart Foster said "the combined impact of dry conditions and extremely hot temperatures at this time is causing a one-two punch."
"An exceptionally dry June throughout the state coupled with some record-high temperatures over the past week have caused drought conditions to intensify and spread eastward to cover most of Kentucky," said Foster. "The current situation is reminiscent of 1988, while there are some indications that persistence of the current hot and dry pattern that would trigger comparisons to droughts from the 1930s."
Agriculture has been particularly hard hit in western Kentucky counties.
"The timing of the drought on corn has already and will continue to reduce yields significantly," said University of Kentucky Agricultural Meteorologist Tom Priddy. "Doubled-cropped soybeans are having a difficult time with germination. Ponds are running low for irrigation purposes and watering of livestock. Western and central locations may be near the point where rain would provide little benefit for corn and soybean growth, development and yield."
DOW Drought Coordinator Bill Caldwell said public water suppliers play a vital role in helping drought specialists monitor the drought's progression.
"Water suppliers in the 27-county watch area and throughout the state should closely monitor their supply sources and notify the Division of Water if water shortages occur," said Caldwell.
Visit the Division of Water website at http://water.ky.gov/wa/Pages/Drought.aspx for information about current drought conditions in Kentucky and water conservation measures. Visit this page to obtain information about how to contact your local health department: http://chfs.ky.gov/dph/LinkstoLocalHealthDepartments.htm.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheyGaveUsARepublic-FrontPage/~3/a8puYXYTTL0/new-n
ormal-in-kentucky-water-restrictions

Digg this

China and Transgender People

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 06 July 2012 06:00:00 PM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Qian Jinfan felt she should be a girl at the age of 3. But she never had a chance to be one until she reached the age of 80.In June Qian became the oldest Chinese citizen to come out to the media about being transgender...at the age of 84.[...]

Read The Full Article:
http://www.docudharma.com/diary/30290/china-and-transgender-people

Digg this

Church or Beer

post from The Zaftig Redhead on 06 July 2012 05:57:00 PM. © The Zaftig Redhead

The folks over at The Guardian put together this neat map of which U.S. counties tweet more about church, and which tweet more about beer. Which comes out on top in your county?The Zaftig Redhead. All Rights Reserved.

Read The Full Article:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheZaftigRedhead/~3/wglHHDqRwn8/folks-over-at-guar
dian-put-together.html

Digg this

Michigan Republican Rep. Thad McCotter abruptly
resigns from the House amid new revelations

post from Daily Kos on 06 July 2012 05:54:48 PM. © Daily Kos

Republican Rep. Thad McCotter Former Rep. Thad McCotter (R-MI)For those awaiting the final act in what has been a strikingly swift political fall from grace, here ya go:

Capping a very rough month of bad publicity stemming from his failure to make the ballot after nominating petition snafu, Michigan GOP Rep. Thad McCotter announced his resignation Friday afternoon.
From his statement:
Today I have resigned from the office of United States Representative for Michigan's 11th Congressional District.
After nearly 26 years in elected office, this past nightmarish month and a half have, for the first time, severed the necessary harmony between the needs of my constituency and of my family. As this harmony is required to serve, its absence requires I leave.

He also assails recent "calumnies, indignities, and deceits" in his statement, hinting that he is planning to exit as Thad the Victim.

For those unaware of those recent events, it began with his bizarre and quixotic bid for the White House, which was essentially over before it began.

Then, in a shocking and humiliating turn of events, his attempt to land softly back in his gerrymandered House seat failed when he failed to secure enough valid signatures to qualify for the August primary ballot. What was an embarrassment became a matter for the courts when allegations of fraud popped up in his ballot petitions.

McCotter briefly pondered a write-in bid for his seat, before deciding last month to abandon that effort.

Then came the almost comical revelation just yesterday that McCotter had, his presidential campaign in tatters, turned his attention not to his work as a U.S. Representative, but rather to penning a TV sitcom/variety show starring himself. This last revelation, apparently, was the final straw.

McCotter's 11th district, made more Republican by the GOP-led gerrymandering of the state last year, was already an open seat due to McCotter's failure to qualify for the ballot. It is unclear yet if a special election will be necessitated by McCotter's resignation, given that we are now just four months away from the general election. The primary for this seat is next month, with Republicans seeking to boost the write-in candidacy of former state senator Nancy Cassis, since tea party devotee Kerry Bentvolio is the only Republican actually on the ballot. Syed Taj is considered the frontrunner on the Democratic side.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/XmBSlPK8ChQ/-Republican-Thad-McCot
ter-abruptly-resigns-from-the-House-amid-new-revelations

Digg this

Mitt Romney attacks Obama administration for
being too consistent

Man with shocked expression on his face Don't look so surprised!
Mitt does this all the time!No, this is not a comedy-horror movie. This is the Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012 edition. And yes, they just attacked the Obama administration for being too consistent. Greg Sargent writes:

The Romney campaign is getting lots of applause from the right for this research hit it released today, in the wake of the bad jobs report, showing that the White House has said dozens of times during Obama?s first term that it?s important not to read too much into a single monthly jobs report.
Obama repeated that claim this morning, and the fact that the President or the White House has said this multiple times is supposed to prove that they are trying to dodge responsibility for the economy.
There?s a small problem with this attack, however: The document itself shows that Obama and the White House have made this same assertion even when the jobs numbers were relatively good.

So, according to the Romney campaign, Obama sucks because every single time a jobs report comes out?good or bad?his administration says that one shouldn't read too much into any one report. On its face, that's a lame attack if no other reason that the administration is right: nobody should read too much into any one report. First, they are preliminary and subject to revision. Second, they are snapshots in time?you have to look at the bigger picture.

The fact that Romney thinks looking at the bigger picture is revealing. Today, for the first time in ages, he strode to the microphone within minutes of the news that job growth wasn't strong. He even took questions from reporters, hoping to amplify today's news. He was literally trying to exploit grim news for his political gain.

Compare Romney's reaction today to his reaction six months ago after the strong December jobs report:

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney did not mention the new numbers directly during a campaign event in South Carolina

Later in the day, his campaign put out a paper statement focused on?you guessed it?the big picture instead of that month's numbers. In other words, he attacked Obama by doing exactly what he's now attacking Obama for doing. In Romney's "defense," however, he only looks at the big picture when it's advantageous to him politically. He's not like Obama who does it because he thinks it is the right thing to do.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/wBRqdNt0mMY/-Mitt-Romney-attacks-O
bama-administration-for-being-too-consistent

Digg this

George Zimmerman A Free Man After Posting Bail
Again

George Zimmerman walked out of a Florida jail a free man on Friday afternoon after coming up with $100,000 for his bail.

A Seminole County sheriff's spokeswoman said the man charged with second degree murder in the killing of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin left the jail at 2:49 p.m. ET wearing an electronic monitor that will track his every move.

A judge on Thursday ordered Zimmerman released on a $1 million bond. That meant Zimmerman would need to pay a professional bail bond company $100,000 (10 percent) to secure his freedom. Documents released by the sheriff's office showed that he made the payment to a Sanford, Fla., company called Magic Bail Bonds.

Zimmerman, 28, has pleaded not guilty and claimed he acted in self defense on Feb. 26 when he shot the teen inside a gated community.

This was the second time this year Zimmerman was released on bail. His previous bond was revoked last month after the judge determined Zimmerman and his wife conspired to hide about $200,000 from authorities to get a reduced bail amount the last time.

Read Zimmerman's bond document, showing he paid $100,000