Everybody Has A Plan.

       According to Drew Altman, president of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the Republican healthcare plan includes converting Medicaid to a block grant program for the states and eliminating the expansion to cover childless citizens. And Converting Medicare to a plan that reduces the amount of payments and provides a set amount for citizens to buy coverage. And it's not being debated in public at all.
       Of course nothing is cast in paper Mache as yet, except for the theme that they want to cut back on helping people. Now let me be the first to point out that the Republican leadership in Congress likes people. They think we're really nice. Nice enough to accept whatever they decide to throw at us as a replacement for the hated Obamacare.
       So, while 12 million have signed up this year for the Affordable Care Act coverage, nobody knows what they'll have before this year is over. One of the complaints the Republicans have with Obamacare is the individual mandate which requires that everyone buys the insurance or pays a penalty. But the thing they don't admit is that its what makes any national plan work. At least any plan that actually covers everyone with at least a basic minimum of coverage.
       The plan they're suggesting will cost the government less and the people a lot more, unless you want an el-cheapo policy that basically gives you no coverage at all. Ya see, having to buy into a plan when you're young may seem unfair, but when you get older and can't get insurance because of your illnesses, and believe me, you will have illnesses when you get older, you'll be happy you have a plan like Obamacare. Except the Republicans want to get rid of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).
      
   

Surprise, Surprise.

       This is 2017 and in a recent survey, 45% of those surveyed did not know that the Affordable Care Act would be repealed if Obamacare was repealed. But separately only 35% either didn't know that the two were the same or weren't sure. The poll, by Morning Star said that the majority of those who were confused were "those 18 - 29 and those who earned under $50,000."
       These are the folks who are likely to be most effected by a repeal. My guess is that they'll be happy, right up until they're informed they don't have health insurance anymore, or at a much higher cost, or much lower coverage. At this point nobody knows for sure because the Republicans have no plan. They've been trying for seven years to repeal, and then repeal and replace but haven't come up with a replace plan yet.
       And still 45% of Americans don't realize that if you repeal Obamacare, you are automatically repealing the ACA. They're one in the same, folks. This should be required reading. If you repeal one you are also repealing the other. Ya can't separate one from the other. Does anyone still not understand? If you have a seedling tree with two branches and you pull one out by the roots, the other branch comes with it.
       I suspect its just that they're not into reading about such things. Hey, I've got coverage now that I couldn't get before. But I hear Obamacare is bad so if they want to do away with Obamacare, so what. Hey wait a minute. What happened to my coverage? I had Affordable Care Act coverage. So why are you taking it away from me? I want it back. Whatta ya mean its too late?

We'd Better Take Notice.

       Wow! I just finished reading a scary article in Foreign Policy entitled Backing Into World War III. Foreign Policy is publication that is neutral in so far as politics are concerned. The thrust of the article is to explain how revisionist powers forced the great wars of the past and how the great, stabilizing powers of those times allowed the revisionists to force those wars.
       From the Napoleonic wars to WWI and WWII, the stabilizing great powers backed down by refusing to maintain their own power and influence. Look at the U.S. after WWI. We refused to take on the responsibility of stabilizing the world order and wound up fighting WWII.
       The article then tries to show how over the last two and a half decades and including the current administration, we again began to back away from the responsibility of maintaining the world order. After the end of the cold war, America seemed to feel no responsibility or at least a lessening of that responsibility to maintain the status quo. As a result Russia and China are flexing their muscles more and more.
       We can't back away from our world responsibility or world dominance. It's for the good of all mankind. As we back away, our smaller allies begin to fear for their safety. They will flow to the other side or form smaller, weaker alliances to protect themselves without us. This will only encourage Russia and China to be more aggressive.
       At any rate the article makes a strong case for a militarily strong America, anxious to fulfill its role as the only superpower in the world and it's strong desire to maintain the world order with a vibrant, democratic, free world society. America first is a dangerous idea. It suggests America only, to our allies and friends. We do need to be more powerful but to do that we must have an up to the minute infrastructure that can feed and fuel a stronger military and society.

Pray Your Way.

       There's a law in our Constitution which requires separation of Church and State. The government can't establish a "state Church." But Church, churches, can't create a state government either. To enforce these ideals there's a "Johnson Rule." What the Johnson rule says is that no religious entity such as a church can have its priest or pastor or Rabbi or leader stand up in support of or argue against any politician and remain tax exempt.
       Since churches are considered charitable organizations, they are tax exempt. The thinking is that if a church breaks the Johnson rule, then it can no longer be considered a charitable institution since no charity can become involved in politics. They'd lose their tax exempt status.
       Now a separation between church and state is a good thing. Our country was founded on the idea that all religions are free and open and the government can neither create a single church of the land, nor outlaw any church without proof that it is a terrorist institution sponsoring un-American activities. It protects both the Government from churches and churches from the government.
       So why would Pres. Trump want to take down this law? Because some churches do want to take over the government. But history shows that countries that held one single church to be the only and required church failed. Imagine if we all had to be Baptist or all Presbyterian or all Catholic.
        That church would be in constant turmoil within itself. Nobody would agree with anyone else. Sort of like what our government is like now. Its bad enough that all the politicians are fighting each other, do we really need all the ministers and priests and all getting into the battles? I hope not. I want my preacher to think about God not who's in charge here on earth.

Conditioning.

       There's an article in the new York Times today titled "Nobody cares The President Is lying" by Charles Sykes. What it comes down to is that so many alt-right news outlets have made the claim that mainline news outlets are lying, that people are beginning to believe it. No, that's not quite true. About a third of Americans don't believe the actual truth any more.
       Then along comes President Trump who takes advantage of this and claims the lying media isn't telling the truth about the size of his hands, his inaugural crowd or his speech at the CIA and almost everything else he says or does. Now another third of America doesn't know what to think. Then Congress, led by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell seem almost to agree with Trump and now another tenth of the population think the nonsense is true. I say a tenth for Congress because nobody trusts the Congress to get anything right.
       What's left is less that a quarter of Americans who still believe the actual truth while the rest don't know, or trust only alternative facts, fake news or outright lies. So news outlets like Breitbart are more trusted by most Americans, while actual true news outlets are distrusted.
       Now, I'm not suggesting we're headed  for a Russian like society, but that's the way Russia does lead its people into believing that which is not true. The people are so conditioned to the government telling them that everyone else is lying, but Putin and the Kremlin are telling the truth and they are alone in doing so. Ever hear of Orwell? Think about that.
       No, he did not win the popular vote but for three million illegal aliens voting against him. No he cannot build the wall and get Mexico to pay for it, he'll stick us with the tab. No, his was not the largest inaugural crowds in history. No, he's not going to show us his tax returns and No he's not gonna give over control of his businesses to independent control. Even Wall Street is beginning to fear him, and with good reason.

No More Bogyman.

       Have you ever bought a new pair of shoes and felt as though the shoes didn't fit right? How about six months later? Now they fit very comfortably, right? Well it looks like the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, is feeling a lot like those new shoes. Now that folks have been using it for a while, insurance companies, hospitals, patients, pretty much everybody is happy with it. At least happy enough that they don't want to take a chance on what the Republicans might rush through Congress.
       That's because its so hard to please everybody, even all Republicans. it's the kind of problem Obama had in passing the thing in the first place. And that's why Republicans are starting to talk about REPAIRING Obamacare. Because repairing is a lot easier and a lot less scarier than replacing. According to an article in the New York times, the Republicans won't have anybody on their side to replace bur almost everybody on their side to repair.
       It's kinda odd to hear Republicans say the word repair instead of replace. Even though it rolls off the tongue as easily as replace, repair still is a little like changing from we're gonna win to we hope to tie. The really funny thing is, though, repairing Obamacare is what nearly everybody wanted in the first place, even Obama.
       But Republicans kept demanding that it be repealed. Then it quickly became repeal and replace. More than sixty times. Then when they finally got control of everything, they began to see how difficult it would be to replace with something that worked as well, or even half as well as Obamacare, for all its problems. There's no quick fix for anything, so lets hope they can take their time and make good corrections to the plan and get more states and hardcore Republicans to sign on.

Here's How To Spend Your Time

       I've tried to be quiet about President Trump's picks for his cabinet. I haven't been successful at it, but I've tried. But now we're at a point where I'm concerned for my grandchildren.  Ms. Betsey DeVos has been selected by Pres. Trump for Secretary of education. I've got a real problem with that. I still have children in public school. It was not a well thought out selection.
       Ms. DeVos never attended public school. She was fortunate enough to go to private school and my guess is it was a very good school. She understands that many public schools are doing a poor job educating our children. Those schools are not preparing our children to become productive members of our society. We all understand that.
       That's where she goes wrong. Her answer is to give students vouchers to attend good private schools. Pay To Learn. That's the message she has for everyone, Pay To Learn. Now that's a decent plan for those who can afford to Pay To Learn, but it leaves many middle class students and nearly all poor student out. Rich students and upper middle class students really don't need her help but the students who do need help, well Betsey doesn't seem to care too much about.
       Now I suppose those students in those under achieving schools that would become under funded by Betsey's plan can, well, I guess they should just eat cake. Except you need to be able to afford to buy cake and to afford cake, you need a good job and to get a good job, you need a good education. Ya see, we're right back to those public schools that Betsey DeVos doesn't seem to care about. And that's why you need to contact your two Senators and ask them to please reject Betsey DeVos for Education secretary.