First Among Equals

March 8. 2010 by Dick.

A bill in the Vermont House shows that “Vermont First” is not always a distinction.

Vermont is the pilot project for the nation. The U.S. Post Office printed its first stamp in Brattleboro in 1846. The Social Security Administration issued the first check, $22.54, to a Vermont widow in 1940. The first program to force universal health care came with a Vermont law that banned cherry picking in 1992. Now the Vermont Assembly would legislate our non-profit hospitals out of business.

An Act Relating to Health Care Cost Containment is now in the hands of the House Committee on Health Care.

Buried among the Medicaid information technology funds, task forces, hospital budget review programs, and certificate of need rules, this bill will require that insurers participate in the Blueprint for Health and will prohibit hospitals from paying for “marketing and advertising.” It also sets up the State to take over any hospital in financial jeopardy. Shades of General Motors. The experience we have had with the State Hospital at Waterbury shows how well Vermont runs health care in the real world.

That experience matters not. The Vermont House has 94 Democrats, 5 Progressives, 3 Independents, and 48 Republicans. The Vermont Senate has 22 Democrats, 1 Progressive, and 7 Republicans. Senate President Pro Tempore Peter Shumlin (D-Windham) is running for governor. House Speaker Shap Smith (D-Lamoille-Washington) has not announced.

The “Blueprint for Health” in the bill will become a new statewide infrastructure/prevention/care management bureaucracy. It includes “an integrated approach to patient self-management, community development, health care system and professional practice change, and information technology initiatives.” The Blueprint Bureaucracy has the carrot of withholding Medicare payments from “under performers” and the stick of taking over the hospitals. Vermont docs and other providers receive about 40 percent of their revenue from Medicare and Medicaid.

• “Marketing and advertising” means promotion, or any activity that is intended to be used or is used to influence individuals seeking health care services to use a specific hospital to attain those services.
• Individual hospital budgets established under this section shall: … include a finding that the analysis provided in subdivision (b)(9) of this section is a reasonable methodology for reflecting a reduction in net revenues for non-Medicaid payers; and not include spending on marketing and advertising.
• The term hospital shall also include all corporate or other entities affiliated with the licensed hospital…

I’m glad the Legislature has finally noticed that the skyrocketing cost of health care is a wee bit of a problem. That’s why House Health Care Committee Chair Steve Maier (D-Middlebury) says he included a provision to prohibit hospital from spending money for advertising and marketing. “It’s not producing health care,” he told the Burlington Free Press.

When I read about the bill, I thought this was a First Amendment issue. After all, even Vermont Law School constitutional law scholar Cheryl Hanna told the Burlington Free Press the legislation raised significant constitutional questions.

That’s a red herring.

The bill is another land grab, perpetrated by a legislature determined to gobble up all segments of health care from patient’s the first tiny down payment to the last visit to the morgue.

Here’s how that works. Hospitals get squeezed by shrinking Medicare payments, swelling Medicare patient loads, new budget caps mandated by the Blueprint for Health bureaucracy, and fleeing traditional payments. Hospital owners leave the state when confronted by a power grab at their books. Hospitals fail. Hospitals get taken over by the Blueprint for Health bureaucracy.

I would be werry werry afwaid if I were a hospital owner or administrator in any state in the union. After all, as Vermont goes, so goes the nation.

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Did We the OverTaxed People sit out the last couple of election cycles? If we can’t learn from the Vermont experience, we could learn from the Sunni Arabs who sat out Iraqi elections in 2005. The need to protect their own interests brought Sunni Arabs out in droves on Sunday.

Posted in ObamaCare, Throw Da Bums Out, Society, Politics & News, Random Access | 1 Comment »

Theatrical

March 1. 2010 by Dick.

I believe in tax support of the arts.

Art is an economic engine but it is far more than a retail sale or a paycheck. The Arts boost school test scores. The Arts improve our sense of community. And it doesn’t hurt that a painting or photograph, an original song, a well-staged play, or a warm book on a cold winter day all bring light to our lives. This state and this nation cannot afford to lose the Arts. I’ll let you decide if there is a small, dramatic branch that might be cut from the Arts tree.

Here we go. National theater in three acts. Or, as the great philosopher Frank Zappa wrote, “We are a nation of laws, poorly written and randomly enforced.”

ACT I — THE FLORIDA STAGE
The Miami Herald called Gov. Charlie Crist (R-FL) “the ingenue” last year when he planned to empanel a statewide grand jury to root out corruption in Florida politics. Corruption in Florida politics ain’t news; Monroe County’s public servants can be as south of the border-ish as any Central or South American junta. The governor’s theatrical remark followed FBI arrests of about half the public officials and influence peddlers in nearby Broward County.

Of course, the governor is unable to empanel even a tiny jury, let alone a Grand one. That power lies with the courts. The Legislature will promise to investigate and clean up the mess. Just as they did 17 years ago in the Public Service Commission scandals of 1993. And 1994. And 1995… And 2009.

It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. –Wm. Shakespear

ACT II — THE VERMONT STAGE
On Wednesday, Vermont State Senator (and gubernatorial candidate) Peter Shumlin pushed the state’s Senate into. The vote means the nuclear generator will stop operating in 2012. The vote came after weeks of political leaks in Montpelier and tritium leaks in Vernon, Vermont. The Senate, with no experts elected or on staff and no substantive reports to back their beliefs, and against the advice of the Public Service Board and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted against Vermont Yankee’s license renewal.

Governor Jim Douglas (R-VT) says the debate over the state’s only nuclear power plant is far from over. Bloggers have expressed their “disgust at the governor’s dismissive comments” because “the senate vote reflects the will of his constituents” thus showing how well a good stage play can sway the populace.

Of course, the law that allows the Legislature to decide the issue requires them to vote “Yes” to allow the Public Service Board to grant the relicensing the nuclear plant. Any other vote is simply free advertising for the man who would act as governor next year.

We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions that correspond with them. –Abigail Adams

ACT III — THE NATIONAL STAGE
Meanwhile, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN.), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), and Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) faced each other on Face the Nation yesterday. After steadfastly ignoring costs for more than a year, they all agreed that the cost of health care is suddenly the most important problem to tackle.

Sen. Coburn thinks that “we can save $250 a year [by eliminating] defensive medicine costs.”

Sen. Conrad thinks that “reconciliation cannot be used to pass comprehensive health care reform” because reconciliation works only on budget items.

Rep. Blackburn thinks we need to buy our health insurance in other states. “[My constituents] could generally save about $1,000 from being able to get past that stop sign at the state line.” Until next year when the out-of-state insurance companies raise their premiums. Again.

Rep. Hoyer thinks a specific proposal will be surface within “the next couple of weeks.”

The rest of us think the whole ObamaCare exercise proves the Far Green is right about anthropogenic global warming but wrong about the source. The source is not man-made carbon-dioxide or even methane. The source is man-made hot air. Methane smells sweeter.

Political theater /n/ Much ado about nothing or the art of playing fast and loose with the facts with no climax in the script.

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We live in a society that loves a soap opera. Six months ago it was David Letterman. Six weeks ago it was Tiger Woods. Every day it’s politics. Who among you believes we’ll get anything for the money we send to the Capitol besides a few more episodes on “reality” TV?

Taxpayer support of the arts. We can afford just one branch. Do you want to keep the art that lights the way or the hot air that brings the darkness?

Posted in ObamaCare, Throw Da Bums Out, Politics & News, PC, Random Access | 4 Comments »

Guilty!

February 22. 2010 by Dick.

“I don’t know what to do,” Kay Ace said. “I just heard our basketball coach is under investigation for sex crimes.” Ms. Ace is a county coordinator for the Vermont Teen Indoor Sports Association. “I think we have to replace him.”

We the People have gone from a presumption of innocence to the presumption of guilt.

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Let’s look at three recent cases:

(1) Dean Kingston, 23, met Lorraine Seymour, also 23, at a play and later talked over the Internet and phone. The budding relationship quickly soured. Ms. Seymour complained to police that Mr. Kingston had harassed her. Police confronted Mr. Kingston, who agreed to stop contacting her. The police found evidence that Mr. Kingston continued to email and contact Ms. Seymour. At least one email threatened “im coming to get you and theres nothing you can do.”

What do you think? Is Mr. Kingston a stalker or did Ms. Seymour make up her tale?

(2) Vermont Yankee is a nuclear reactor power plant constructed in Vernon, Vermont, in 1972. The plant has applied for relicensure to continue operations past its planned 40-year shut-down date in 2012.

One cell of its three story cooling tower collapsed and led to a reactor scram in 2007. A recent report of an truck allowed inside the fence without any inspection has the state questioning security. Tritium is currently leaking into the ground from an unknown source at the plant. Vermont Yankee owner Entergy has been called irresponsible. Executives lied in recent testimony about the Tritium leaks. It is not the first time Entergy has been caught in devious doings. The Safe and Green Campaign wants Vermont Yankee shut down.

What do you think? Is Vermont Yankee the next Three Mile Island or should its license be renewed?

(3) Vermont corrections officer Ralph Witter, 40, has been accused of having inappropriate sexual activities with three female inmates. The investigation began a year ago when the first unnamed inmate alleged Mr. Witter had inappropriate contact with her. There was insufficient evidence to prosecute at that time. Two more female unnamed inmates have now reported similar incidents had occurred in the past month.

What do you think? Is Mr. Witter a predator or did the inmates make up their tales?

On the face of it, these all look like slam dunks, don’t they?

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(1) Although worried about the evidence, prosecutors charged Mr. Kingston with stalking and disturbing the peace over the phone. Ms. Seymour testified that she had received the emails from Kingston and he was bound over for trial. He spent 92 days in jail awaiting trial.

(2) Although John White, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials who briefed legislators last week, said the Vernon reactor problems haven’t approached any regulatory threshold that would require the plant to be shut down, famed nuclear engineer (and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont) joined Vermont legislators in a call for the plant to shut down.

(3) Although inmates have charged more than half of all corrections officers with a laundry list of offenses, the Corrections Department suspended Mr. Witter a year ago while the state reviewed the case for criminal prosecution; he was eventually reinstated last month when the State had insufficient evidence to prosecute at that time. When the additional two unnamed inmates came forward within a month, Mr. Witter was immediately suspended again. He has also lost his volunteer position with the Vermont Teen Indoor Sports Association.

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Despite the results, there are only three facts we do know about these three cases:

You have no idea whether Dean Kingston stalked anyone.
You have no idea whether Vermont Yankee is dangerous.
You have no idea whether Ralph Witter diddled anyone.

And neither do I.

Short of a confession by Mr. Kingston or a retraction by Ms. Seymour, the evidence presented here is insufficient to judge. The technical data about Vermont Yankee is not yet available so unless you, dear reader, are a nuclear engineer, neither you nor any serving legislator has the expertise to interpret it. And, short of a confession by Mr. Witter or a retraction by the unnamed inmates, the evidence presented here is insufficient to judge him.

Despite what we do not know, We the People have presumed guilt.

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(1) Lorraine Seymour, convicted of fabricating evidence that put an innocent man in jail for three months, has served a prison sentence of her own. When police forensics determined that Mr. Kingston did not send the frightening emails, Ms. Seymour admitted to writing them herself. She was convicted, taken to the Northwest State Correctional Facility, and has paid Mr. Kingston $10,000 to settle his civil lawsuit.

(2) Vermont Yankee is a boiling water nuclear reactor that generates 620 megawatts of electricity, about three-quarters of the total generating capacity of the state. Senate president Peter Shumlin will hold a vote this week against any license renewal for Vermont Yankee. “I am very skeptical that you’ll ever see new nuclear power plants built in America let alone Vermont,” Mr. Shumlin told Vermont Public Radio. It is unknown if the legislature will order the power plant closed immediately. The final report on safety at Vermont Yankee is not due until next month, weeks after the scheduled vote.

[Editorial note: Vermont Greens are a little behind the times. No nukes unless Obama wants nukes! The Administration has proposed government loan guarantees for two new nuclear reactors to be built in Georgia by the Southern Company.]

(3) Vermont corrections officer Ralph Witter is now under arrest. He is now lodged at the Chittenden Correction Facility in lieu of $100,000 bail.

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The words and people quoted in this piece are real. Only the names of everyone but the public figures have been changed to protect the dumbfounded.

Posted in Sociology, Society, Politics & News, PC, Random Access | 4 Comments »