Obamacare, a HUGE disaster

Maybe not so much as some would clearly love.

Maryland insurance officials approved final rates Friday for health plans to be sold in the online marketplace for individuals beginning Oct. 1. The rates offered by nine carriers are among the lowest of the 12 states that have proposed or approved rates for comparison and among the lowest in the D.C. area, according to an analysis by Maryland officials who will be operating the state’s marketplace.

The Maryland Insurance Administration approved premiums at levels as much as 33 percent below what had been requested. For a 21-year-old non-smoker, for example, options start as low as $93 a month. Link

All the states, mostly blue states, that are ahead in implementing the exchanges are finding rates far lower than expected, meaning that some people will be able to afford health insurance for the first time in their lives. And the House voted yet again last week to repeal the entire program.

Which party is looking out for the best interests of all Americans?

Lazy President, or our Laziest President?

At some point during President Obama’s first term, one of my family used the right wing talking point that “President Obama has taken more vacation days than any President in history.” This became a conservative talking point because (1) it takes a legitimate criticism of President Bush and deflects it onto Obama, and (2) it plays up the whole “Obama is lazy,” meme which is code for Obama is black and therefore lazy. Of course, it wasn’t true then and still isn’t true.

But Obama has taken far less time away from the White House than his predecessor, George W. Bush, who spent weeks at a time at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Obama has taken 87 days off, compared with 399 days for Bush at a similar period in his presidency, according to CBS News’s Mark Knoller, who keeps detailed records of presidential travel. Link

President George W. Bush, at this point during his second term, had taken off more than a YEAR, four times as many days as President Obama. Of course, the President is never really on vacation and is always on call, but still. 399 days?

The lucrative business of shooting teenagers

George Zimmerman, hunter and killer of 17 year-old Trayvon Martin, has shown that it really does pay to be a conservative hero stalking black children in America!

On Tuesday, an Ohio-based gun advocacy group sent George Zimmerman, who fatally shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a $12,150.37 check with which to purchase more guns. Link

Because there is nothing that conservatives can’t make into a capitalist enterprise! They’re like the Ferengi that way. Vicious, sociopathic, nihilistic Ferengi, but still.

Of course, making murder a profit-center will really discourage would-be vigilantes. I can just feel the peace washing over the land.

And in other news . . .

NYC Mayoral candidate, Anthony Weiner, may be the dumbest person alive.

That is all.

Please make a better choice, Mr. President.

President Obama is considering appointing former White House Economic Adviser Larry Summers as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Summers is a jerk who was behind a lot of the Wall Street deregulation that screwed over our economy and he's a misogynist. He's one of those people who keeps rising to the top echelons of power despite never deserving it. He shouldn't be let anywhere near the reins of government ever again.

Sheesh.

Titan Arum redux

After eight days of waiting since my first, failed, visit, the Titan Arum ("Corpse Flower") at the United States Botanic Garden finally bloomed on Sunday afternoon, July 20th. This was great timing since the window for a good visit is limited and if it had bloomed on Saturday, the whole thing would have been over by the time I returned to work. I visited on Monday morning to see what all the stink was about. (See what I did there?)

Not too surprisingly, a coworker and I had to wait in line to see the plant, but the line moved quickly and after about a fifteen minute wait we were inside. As you can see, the plant has grown significantly taller over the past week. The bloom itself wasn't as open as I expected, but I didn't know exactly what to expect.

The biggest shock was the smell. Or, more specifically, the lack of smell. Nothing. Nada. The corpse flower didn't smell at all. It was a total bust. I had high hopes of gagging at the rotting meat stench, but there was nothing. Apparently, the plant smells most during the nighttime. Rats.

Still, I'm glad I saw it. It's not something that happens every day and it was quite fascinating. Maybe I'll catch it next time, in several years, when it flowers again.

Smell you later. 

Post-racial my ass, Mr. Chief Justice

In case anyone missed it this week, the idea that America is past the bulk of its racism, recently proposed by Chief Justice John Roberts when he gutted the Voting Rights Act, was blown all to hell this week after the George Zimmerman acquittal. If you went on ANY conservative blogs or forums, the racism was prevalent, blatant, and vicious. It even bled over onto liberal blogs and forums as the racists couldn't help but spread their hatred throughout the internet.

Some FOX News commentators also decided that it's fashionable to be racist and let fly with abandon. There were a few conservative voices of reason. John McCain seems to be on his meds this week and Erick Erickson of all people made a reasonable comment. But they were voices in the conservative wilderness.

The President, who, apparently shocking many conservatives, can empathize with Trayvon Martin and has had the same type of experiences as a black man in America, gave a great speech, which made even more conservative heads explode. The racism (and utter stupidity) flew even faster.

I'm not linking to any of the crap, but go to any political forum discussing the verdict or the President's speech and you'll see it. I, of course, knew that America most definitely is NOT past its racism, mostly because I'm not f'ing blind.

But to see it demonstrated so clearly and loudly is depressing and disheartening.

I am one of the lucky ones

Last month, I did something quite phenomenal. Something incredible. Something outside the reach of billions of human beings.

I took a paid day off work and went to the dentist and the doctor.

The dentist visit was for my routine, six month cleaning. My teeth were cleaned and inspected for any decay or other problems. The doctor visit was for my quarterly blood test to check my A1C, glucose, cholesterol, and the like. I have diabetes, so the quarterly checks are important.

Together, these preventative visits make sure that I'm healthy and not developing any serious problems. While I had some out of pocket expenses, both were supplemented by my health insurance. Maintaining a monitor on my health is far cheaper than waiting until I fall ill. It's cheaper for me, cheaper for the insurance company, and cheaper for society as a whole.

What made these things extraordinary of course is that billions of human beings don't have regular access (or even any) access to dentists and doctors, much less for routine visits like the ones I made. Billions of humans also don't have the ability to take off paid days of work. If they take time off work, they don't make any money. This is, of course, a tragedy.

Incredibly, this isn't just a third world problem. Tens of millions of Americans, citizens of the richest country in the world, are in the same, bad situation. For those who can find the time or money to take off, with no health insurance, preventative visits are a pipe dream.

America is the only advanced, industrialized country in the world to have no legally mandated annual leave. That means millions of Americans can't go see their doctor or dentist without missing work, which means losing income. These also tend to be the lowest paid Americans, which makes it doubly problematic. American worker productivity has risen 400% since 1950, and millions of Americans have not benefited from that at all. In fact, the situation for American workers has gotten significantly worse over the past 40 years.

This is the preferred outcome for conservatives. They've been doing everything they can to shift income upwards, to crush worker's rights, kill unions who would represent them, destroy workers' legal remedies, and prevent new remedies from being made into law. A conservative judiciary has been making it harder for workers to sue when treated badly and gutted laws against malfeasance.

As for healthcare, the war against Obamacare (they just voted to repeal it for the 38th time) isn't a war to restore sanity to government policy or protect Americans. It's a war to deprive tens of millions of Americans from affordable health care. If successful, a repeal would increase the deficit, cost the country billions of dollars in lost productivity, and kill some people who won't be able to go to the doctor early enough to be treated effectively. But again, that's a feature for them, not a bug.

We live in a society of plenty. We could easily provide free healthcare for all Americans and mandate paid leave. It wouldn't kill jobs or the economy. In fact, it would be economically beneficial because poor healthcare and no paid leave means tens of billions of dollars of lost productivity every year. Yes, Republicans would rather lose those billions, than move forward on these two humanitarian policies. If you're a conservative, you should ask yourself why.

As for me, I'm okay. I just wish everyone else was too.

Ah, sweet Schadenfreude, Filibuster Edition

A meeting of Senate Republicans on Wednesday grew tense as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told his members he could have gotten a better deal on nominations than the one negotiated by rank-and-file Republicans [...]

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., got so frustrated with McConnell’s presentation of events, that he called “bullshit” loud enough for the room to hear, nearly a half-dozen sources said. Link

I love it when these obstructionist, cynical, screwing-over-America, assmunches turn on each other.

Smelly plant, smelly plant, when will you gross me out?

The United States Botanic Garden in DC, a wonderful, under-appreciated, gem on the National Mall, is currently displaying their Titan Arum, the infamous "corpse flower" which blooms infrequently every several years and only for two days. When blooming, the plant emits a horrific odor that smells like rotting meat in order to attract insects to pollinate it. (You may be familiar with it through a Simpson's episode that had such a flower blooming in Springfield.)

As it could bloom at any time, I went last Friday to visit it. Alas, it hadn't bloomed and looked pretty much like a giant ear of corn. I took the picture below. As of this morning, it has remained only a potential smelly experience, but it's lost the green leaves.

The Garden has a live webcam which I've been following and as soon as it does bloom, I'm heading over to see/smell it. There aren't a lot of these plants on display and they bloom so infrequently, I don't want to miss the opportunity.

 

    

No Justice

Apparently, in Florida it's now legal to stalk an unarmed teenager, legally in his father's neighborhood, ignore police instructions to back off, confront the teenager and then shoot him to death.

George Zimmerman was found not guilty of killing Trayvon Martin. And conservatives are thrilled because a black kid they fear is dead.

Another achievement in the Florida hall of shame.

A Night Out - Rasika

Yesterday, since Ben is out of town with his youth group and Rachel is in rehearsal for The Wiz all evening, Carol took the Metro downtown to join me for dinner. She asked for suggestions from our foodie friends on Facebook and got a couple of recommendations for Rasika, a great Indian restaurant two blocks from my office. I had been there before but was happy to go again.

We couldn't get a reservation so we arrived at 5:30, right when it opened, and sat in the "casual" section near the bar. The menu is the same as the formal dining area so we were fine.

First up was Rasika's signature dish, the appetizer Palak Chaat, which is made of crispy baby spinach, sweet yogurt tamarind, and date chutney. The spinach is fried which makes it crispy and delicate. The texture is unlike anything I've ever had and the taste is really, really good. I'm thinking of going back for lunch and just getting a bowl for myself.

Palak Chaat

For dinner, Carol ordered the lamb dish, Aloo Tamatar Ka Gosht, (lamb / green cardamom / star anise / and potato). It was very good, but I won with my order of Honey Ginger Duck (cashew nut / candied ginger / and pulao rice). The duck medallions were very tender and the honey ginger sauce was great.

Honey Ginger Duck

For dessert, Carol ordered the excellent Apple Jalebi (Beignet) with Cardamom Ice Cream while I ordered the Date and Toffee Pudding. Both were delicious and gone before I remembered to take a picture.

Afterwards, we toured Chinatown a bit and headed home. Carol used to work downtown before the kids were born and we went out to eat every now and then. This was a nice reminder of those times.

Autumn Games - Elk Fest

Game 24 is a flicking game. Yes, you read that right, a flicking game, Elk Fest by Hermann Huber. As such, it is the simplest game in the entire Kosmos two player series and takes very little time to play.

In Elk Fest, each player is trying to get his or her Elk, Jule or Ole, (admittedly, the game pieces are actually  moose) from one riverbank to the other. You do this by flicking with your finger any of the six stepping stones and moving your Elk from stone to stone to cross the table. The rules are pretty simple. You get two flicks per turn and can move your Elk any number of times before or after a flick. To move, the Elk moves his front hooves onto a new stone, with his rear hooves moving to the stone the front hooves started on. If you drop the Elk into the water (he touches the table) then your turn is over and the other player gets three flicks on his turn. The player whose Elk touches the opposing riverbank first, wins.

Jule starts out.

One thing to remember is that after the initial turns, the players can flick any stone, so moving the stones near your opponent's Elk is an important defensive move. Most of the time, though, you're moving your Elk and your own stones, until the Elks meet in the middle of the table and things get momentarily congested.

Ole gets close to the riverbank.

My Elk, Jule, was the first to get in range of the opposing riverbank, but I muffed several flicks. Carol gave me more chances by missing several shots herself, but in the end was able to get in range and move Ole onto my bank.

Ole makes it for the win.

Game 24 goes to Carol.

New Sushi in Rockville!

With both kids busy on Friday night, Carol picked me up at the Metro after work and we headed out for dinner. Rather than perform the usual "where do you want to eat?" shtick we usually perform, she knew of a new sushi place she wanted to try, Oishii Bluefin Japanese Restaurant. It's near the hospital in a new strip of retail businesses near the Johns Hopkins campus.

We order shumai and shared a sushi boat with 27 pieces for $25, a really good deal. The fish was fresh, large and well prepared. I had fun tormenting Ben and Rachel by texting them pictures of the sushi. We'll be going there again soon (next time with the kids).

Happy Fourth of July!

We're waiting for the fireworks to start in Gaithersburg. Weirdly, they haven't closed the street on which tons of people usually sit so it's a lot more crowded than usual.

Hope you had a good day.

Corporate versus personal taxes

The next time someone tries to whine about how the United States is taxing corporations to death and that the 35% tax rate is hurting the economy, point them to this.

Large, profitable U.S. corporations actually paid just a 12.6 percent effective tax rate in 2010. That’s barely a third of the 35 percent corporate rate on the books, and it’s actually lower than the median effective tax rate for middle-class Americans. The number comes from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study intended to clarify the terms of debate as lawmakers weigh changes to the business tax code.

Most analyses of the gap between the tax rate on the books and the “effective rate” companies actually pay rely upon company financial statements, but the GAO’s work is based on actual corporate tax returns for 2010. The researchers found that large companies – those “with assets of $10 million or more” – that are profitable paid about 12.6 percent of their global income in U.S. taxes. The figure rises to 16.9 percent of global income if all foreign, state, and local taxes are factored in. Companies that took a loss for the year actually paid a higher rate than the profitable ones.

The Republican party line is, obscenely and perversely, that corporate taxes should be lowered, while taxes on the poorest Americans should go up. But with regards to taxes, large corporations in America have it great. Middle and lower income American citizens, not so much.

The Dark Knight Rises Again

DirecTV gave us a free HBO weekend a couple of weeks ago, so I DVR’d The Dark Knight Rises. I saw it last summer, of course, but wanted to see it again. Ben and I watched it on Saturday.

Here are just a few random thoughts. SPOILERS AHEAD.

- It really is a huge bummer that at the start of the film, Batman has been completely inactive for eight years. You can’t even pretend that he faced other villains between movies.

- Since he has been retired for eight years, why the heck is he limping and using a cane? Did he never see a Doctor in all that time?

- Anne Hathaway (as Selina Kyle) is really good in this movie.

- How did Bane know about the secret stash of Wayne Enterprise super-weapons (aka Batman’s stash)?

- The three month occupation of Gotham City is just ridiculous, especially the logistics of keeping everyone contained and fed.

- While I get that Batman wanted to give the city hope by igniting a huge, flaming Bat sign on the bridge, the mechanics of him creating it on the bridge belie belief. Not to mention how long it would have taken.

- When all the police go into the tunnels, they are outfitted with their full complement of weapons. When they are brought out of the tunnels three months later, they march in a tight, seemingly unarmed, group straight down a narrow street directly at Bane’s forces who have various super-weapons trained on the street. Apparently when the police were underground they lost all of their guns, and forgot all of their training.

- The police closing with Bane’s army for a huge, climactic, fistfight is ridiculous and silly. A fistfight. Really.

- Batman Begins is a very good movie. The Dark Knight is a great movie, one of the best superhero movies of all time. The Dark Knight Rises is decent, but with some major issues.