If All You See…

By William Teach November 1, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…is snow that has been created because of too much heat, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Fire Andrea Mitchell, with a post on one of Obama’s DHS advisors claiming America is an Islamic country.

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100K Lose Insurance In New York State

By William Teach November 1, 2013 – 10:51 am

Another day, more people lose their plans

(NY Post) Insurers are canceling the medical policies of about 100,000 New Yorkers enrolled in individual health plans because of ObamaCare, state health officials said.

But the figure is actually much higher because it doesn’t take into account hundreds of thousands covered under small business group policies that are being scrapped or rewritten to conform to the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Let’s go to the NY Times, which drops a front page story about three people who have been dropped

Still, many people were surprised by how the law could affect them. Some said they felt betrayed, given that the president pledged that people could keep their insurance plans.

And now people have to go through the complicated, confusing, and frightening (the words of NY Times writers Katie Thomas and Reed Abelson) process of dealing with the new health insurance paradigm.

Read: 100K Lose Insurance In New York State »

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Would You Be Surprised That Warmists Are Making Themselves Mentally Sick?

By William Teach November 1, 2013 – 8:10 am

I’d suggest that the best way for Warmists to lift their depression would be to go “carbon neutral”. Give up their fossil fueled vehicles and travel, do away with their refrigerators, their hairspray, their modern lifestyles, and live like it’s 1499

(No Tricks Zone) The strategy of scaring people into action on climate change has backfired totally, so writes Kathrin Burger of the German leftist TAZ daily in a piece titled: Horror Scenarios Promote Depression.

It turns out the alarmists, with all their climate doom and gloom, have only succeeded in spreading depression among themsleves and those around them.

It’s only normal that people who surround themselves with incurable pessimists also eventually become pessimistic themselves, and eventually get depressed or mentally ill. This is what’s happening within the climate movement in Germany, enviro-psychologists say.

It can be convincingly argued that mental illness is indeed a chronic problem among many climate alarmists and their followers. Many are paranoid that a trace gas is causing a climate catastrophe. They even blame bad weather on the Co2 trace gas, with some even going so far as to blame earthquakes and war on the man-made CO2 molecules in the air. Seemingly educated scientists are obsessed with a coming climate catastrophe to the point where they even refuse to believe any data showing to the contrary.

In other words, Warmists are bat-guano insane, and make those around them bat-guano insane, all over a trace low level greenhouse gas. They refuse to acknowledge that their cult is falling apart. From the paper, using Google translation, which is so-so

However, those who still close look at the possible consequences of climate change and peak oil, which runs the risk of becoming depressed, some are already calling it the “Doomer-depression”. This mental disorder results according to the Green Paper of individually perceived feelings of powerlessness.

The article also notes that kids are being put in this condition, thanks to loony parents, schools, and government, all of whom spread the apocalyptic version of “climate change”. 100 years in the future, of course.

Read: Would You Be Surprised That Warmists Are Making Themselves Mentally Sick? »

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Team Obama Mid-range Estimate Says 51% Of Employer Health Plans Will Be Cancelled

By William Teach November 1, 2013 – 7:46 am

You know how I’ve been mentioning that the individual market health insurance cancellations are just the beginning? That we’ll start seeing plans offered through companies being cancelled? Well, I’m not the only one who’s saying this (via Ace)

(Forbes) Section 1251 of the Affordable Care Act contains what’s called a “grandfather” provision that, in theory, allows people to keep their existing plans if they like them. But subsequent regulations from the Obama administration interpreted that provision so narrowly as to prevent most plans from gaining this protection.

“The Departments’ mid-range estimate is that 66 percent of small employer plans and 45 percent of large employer plans will relinquish their grandfather status by the end of 2013,” wrote the administration on page 34,552 of the Register. All in all, more than half of employer-sponsored plans will lose their “grandfather status” and get canceled. According to the Congressional Budget Office, 156 million Americans—more than half the population—was covered by employer-sponsored insurance in 2013.

Old and busted: “If you like you’re plan, you can keep your plan. Period.” New hotness: “It may be good enough for you, but it’s not good enough for Obama”. The article is mostly in context of Typical Baghdad Bob spin from Jay Carney, who lies as well as his boss. But, wait, it gets better!

Another 25 million people, according to the CBO, have “nongroup and other” forms of insurance; that is to say, they participate in the market for individually-purchased insurance. In this market, the administration projected that “40 to 67 percent” of individually-purchased plans would lose their Obamacare-sanctioned “grandfather status” and become illegal, solely due to the fact that there is a high turnover of participants and insurance arrangements in this market.

How many people are exposed to these problems? 60 percent of Americans have private-sector health insurance—precisely the number that Jay Carney dismissed. As to the number of people facing cancellations, 51 percent of the employer-based market plus 53.5 percent of the non-group market (the middle of the administration’s range) amounts to 93 million Americans.

So, there you go: the mid-range estimate from team Obama is that 93 million Americans will lose their plans. Will the new plans be better? That depends upon your definition of “better”. If you think paying higher premiums and deductibles for a small network while getting free condoms and free checkups is “better”, you must be a low information voter with an Obama sticker on car.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Team Obama Mid-range Estimate Says 51% Of Employer Health Plans Will Be Cancelled »

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The Scariest Thing You’ll See All Day

By William Teach October 31, 2013 – 7:21 pm

They used to know what scary costumes were. Now it seems like the idea is to be as sleazy as possible

More scary below the fold

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Defunct Obama “Green” Company Leaves Toxic Mess

By William Teach October 31, 2013 – 3:24 pm

What happens when all these supposedly “green” companies that received taxpayer “loans” from Obama’s Stimulus collapse?

(Fox News) A Colorado-based solar company that got hundreds of millions of dollars in federal loan guarantees before going belly-up didn’t just empty taxpayers’ wallets – it left behind a toxic mess of carcinogens, broken glass and contaminated water, according to a new report.

The Abound Solar plant, which got $400 million in federal loan guarantees in 2010, when the Obama administration sought to use stimulus funds to promote green energy, filed for bankruptcy two years later. Now its Longmont, Colo., facility sits unoccupied, its 37,000 square feet littered with hazardous waste, broken glass and contaminated water. The Northern Colorado Business Report estimates it will cost up to $3.7 million to clean and repair the building so it can again be leased.

In fact, the site is so contaminated that the owner tried to get the bankruptcy trustee to clean the site, but it would “place humans at imminent and significant health risk”, according to the report, particularly from the cancer causing element cadmium, used in solar panels.

When Solyndra went bust, they also left a huge toxic mess. Because creating solar panels can leave serious amounts of toxic sludge and other environmental un-friendly messes. My definition of “green” seems vastly different from Obama and all the Warmists who push these projects.

Read: Defunct Obama “Green” Company Leaves Toxic Mess »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Energy, Enviroweenies | 3 Comments | Trackback URL

If All You See…

By William Teach October 31, 2013 – 1:00 pm

…are evil plastic cups* killing Gaia with Bad Weather, you might just be a Warmist

The blog of the day is Villainous Company, with an Obamacare teachable moment.

*Plastic cups aren’t the best for real environmental issues. Please recycle. Yes, I’m serious.

A few Halloween pinups below the fold

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Tales From Oregon: 150K To Lose Their Plans, No Obamacare Signups As Of Yet

By William Teach October 31, 2013 – 11:02 am

If you like your plan, well, tough guano

(KGW Portland) Officials said about 150,000 Oregonians enrolled in individual health care plans will see their plans canceled by the end of the year because they don’t provide the minimum level of coverage required under the new health care law.

State Insurance Division spokeswoman Cheryl Martinis said Wednesday that those facing cancellations could see a break in coverage if they don’t enroll in a new plan on the state’s problem-plagued online exchange by Dec. 15.

A month in, the state has not enrolled a single person. It has received 4,260 paper applications and its website still can’t tell people what subsidies they are eligible for.

The website is, shockingly, a mess. But, wait, it gets even better!

While Oregon has an estimated 600,000 uninsured, the situation is most dire for about 11,000 Oregonians who are part of the state’s high-risk insurance pool – a program for those rejected by private insurance carriers because of pre-existing conditions such as cancer, diabetes, or severe heart conditions.

Those in the high risk pool will see it dissolved. Super, isn’t it? Oregon tries to find a way to deal with high risk people, and now Obamacare tells them “nope, buh bye!” Now they have to attempt to join Cover Oregon, which, um, doesn’t work.

Ed Morrissey notes that 140,000 in Minnesota are also being dumped.

So, let’s see, so far we have

  • 300,000 from Florida Blue
  • 160,00 from California’s Kaiser Permanente
  • 119,00 from California’s Blue Shield
  • Some reports say over 700,000 in California will lose their plans
  • From Pennsylvania, Insurance Highmark in Pittsburgh and Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia plan to cancel 20 percent and 45 percent of their total plans
  • 800,000 New Jersey residents will see their plans go away
  • We know Colorado residents are losing their plans, since Michelle Malkin was a recipient of a cancellation notice.
  • We know folks in States like North Carolina are losing their plans, we just don’t know how many. Yet.

And let’s not forget that at some point companies will have to comply in the same way. How many of them will have to change their plans?

Read: Tales From Oregon: 150K To Lose Their Plans, No Obamacare Signups As Of Yet »

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Bummer: Fenway Park Could Be Victim Of “Climate Change”

By William Teach October 31, 2013 – 9:57 am

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for winning the World Series. Your park is dooooooooomed!

(Environmental News Service) Boston’s 101-year-old Fenway Park – where the World Series was won by the Boston Red Sox tonight for the first time since 1918 – is at increased risk of flooding due to climate change, warns the National Wildlife Federation.

Calling the baseball diamond “a diamond in the marsh,” the environmental group points out that low-lying Fenway Park took its name from The Fens, the saltwater marshland around the Muddy River on which it was built.

Parts of the neighborhood, like much of downtown Boston, were built on filled-in marshy areas, blogs the NWF’s Miles Grant. (snip)

The environmental group wants to remind Bostonians before the upcoming mayoral election on November 5, that climate change is making flooding more likely due to “heavier rainfalls and climate change-fueled sea level rise.”

The fable includes this picture, done by the Environmental League Of Massachusetts

More unhinged and unscientific photos from the ELM are available here.

Fenway is 20 feet about sea level. The left field wall, The Green Monster, is 304-308 feet tall (depending on the measurement). That picture would seem to depict a sea rise of at least 170 feet. In reality

So, it would take over 17,000 years to see up to half of the Green Monster covered by rising seas. And Warmists call this “science”.

Read: Bummer: Fenway Park Could Be Victim Of “Climate Change” »

Posted in AGW Idiocy, Collapsing Science, Global Warming | 5 Comments | Trackback URL

Possible New Liberal Talking Point: Those Insurance Cancellations Aren’t Real Cancellations

By William Teach October 31, 2013 – 9:17 am

Democrats are desperately looking for a way to minimize the impact of the millions of health insurance cancellations in the face of (NMP) Obama’s constant “promises” regarding the ability to keep your insurance. The LA Times’ Jon Healy notes

One of the arguments made for the 2010 healthcare law was that it attacked the problem of underinsurance — the threadbare policies that offered such poor coverage, they allowed millions of Americans to be bankrupted by medical bills. Now, however, Democrats are confronting the fact that the law they wrote is forcing thousands of people to lose their current insurance plans because the coverage doesn’t meet the new standards. It’s a perfect example of the road to political hell being paved by good intentions.

When this whole thing started, one could infer good intentions. Democrats wanted to make sure that the 30-45 million Americans without health insurance, as their talking points went, were able to obtain affordable, quality health insurance. From there we ended up with the monstrosity of the “Affordable” Care Act. And people losing their plans. Along comes The NY Times’s David Firestone

A true cancellation is when someone gets a letter saying that she’s losing her insurance and cannot renew. That was common practice in the individual market for people with expensive conditions. Under the new law, no one will ever get a letter like that again. They cannot be turned down for insurance.

The so-called cancellation letters waved around at yesterday’s hearing were simply notices that policies would have to be upgraded or changed. Some of those old policies were so full of holes that they didn’t include hospitalization, or maternity care, or coverage of other serious conditions.

Is your head spinning? How does that stack up to “if you like you’re plan, you can keep it. Period”? For the millions who are receiving cancellation notices, they’re pretty sure that the policy is cancelled, and now they have to get a new one. Period. We can add this to the one about “you can keep your plan if it’s good”. Also, Democrats are Blaming the insurance carriers.For following the law Democrats passed.

Obama is blaming “bad apples” for the cancellations. Like most issues, he doesn’t seem to have much in the way of information. Or, he’s just plain lying. Probably a bit of both. Well, a lot of both. Expect lots of campaign style speeches in the coming months like last nights.

BTW, we haven’t even gotten to the point where people can’t keep their doctor.

Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU.

Read: Possible New Liberal Talking Point: Those Insurance Cancellations Aren’t Real Cancellations »

Posted in Barking Moonbats, Barry Obama, Healthcare | 2 Comments | Trackback URL
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