by David Safier Really? Romney, with his Cayman-Island and Swiss-Bank money, is cheap enough and stupid enough to have his campaign buttons made in China? REALLY? Where are you planning to create all those jobs you're always talking about, Mitt? Not here, apparently. (Obama buttons are made in the U.S.A., with a union bug on … Read more
by Pamela Powers Hannley
The War on Women has been raging nationwide with Tea Party-controlled
state legislatures and governors signing into law multiple bills that
attack women’s rights, families, and social safety net programs.
At the recent Democratic National Convention (DNC), First Lady Michelle
Obama and other speakers at the DNC’s Women’s Caucus meeting repeatedly
stressed the themes of equal pay for equal work, access to care,
discrimination, choice, and the power of the women's vote. With several
standing ovations and chants of "fired up, ready to go" and
"four more years," the Women's Caucus had the feeling of an old time
tent revival.
Although the First Lady was the featured speaker, several guest
speakers warmed up the audience of approximately 400 women (and a handful of
men).
Video and more details after the jump.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: If you missed the Sunday morning bobblehead shows — and why wouldn't you have, it was the start of the NFL season for godssake! — you missed some Orwellian double-speak from the "Galt – Gekko 2012" campaign that demonstrated utter contempt for the voters. Team Orwell said voters shouldn't worry their pretty … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Maybe our sad small town newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, which does not believe in fact-checking the GOP's $700 billion Medicare cut lie that will not die, should follow the example of our neighbor to the north in Flagstaff, the Arizona Daily Sun. Fact Check: Paton needs checkup on Medicare ad:
The claim: "Ann Kirkpatrick raided Medicare to pay for Obamacare."
— Republican congressional candidate Jonathan Paton, in press releases and ads.
The facts: Ann Kirkpatrick did vote for the Affordable Care Act (sometimes called "Obamacare") in March 2010.
The questions: Does Obamacare cut funding to Medicare, and, if so, in what ways? And how, if at all, does Paton propose to rein in Medicare spending?
The context: About 60 percent of the $585 billion spent on Medicare last year came from general taxes — i.e., not from payroll taxes paid by employees and businesses. That percentage is not expected to go up in the next decade, but overall spending is projected to rise by several hundred billion dollars a year as Baby Boomers age, according to the most recent long-term budget projection by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Here's what nonpartisan, nonprofit Factcheck.org, of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, states on the matter:
— Republicans claim the president's $716 billion in total "cuts" to Medicare over the next decade hurt the program's finances. But the opposite is true. These cuts in the future growth of spending prolong the life of the Medicare trust fund, stretching the program's finances out longer than they would last otherwise. The reductions come primarily in reimbursement rates to hospitals and physicians for certain kinds of cases.
— It's true that experts, including Medicare's chief actuary, doubt that some of those spending cuts will actually be implemented. But if they are, Medicare would spend less each year than it had been expected to otherwise, allowing Medicare to stretch further the income it receives from payroll taxes and premiums.
— The biggest savings from the Affordable Care Act come from reductions in the future growth of payments to hospitals — about $415 billion over 10 years.
To reach the $716 billion goal, Medicare proposes:
— Cutting payments to hospitals when patients are re-admitted (including for things like hospital-acquired infections)
— improving reporting
— seeking advice from a board on how much to pay for what services
— cutting payments to Medicare Advantage plans
— paying physicians more when patients with serious problems remain healthy
— targeting fraud
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign has released a new web ad highlighting Dr. Richard Carmona's commitment to protecting Medicare and Social Security. Carmona believes that Medicare and Social Security are investments made throughout our careers and are a contract between the federal government and its citizens. Camona says that is a contract that cannot be broken.
Congressman Jeff Flake would privatize Social Security and turn Medicare into a voucher system.
Video below the fold.