Battle of the Bilge

Warning to Everyone, Really

From California’s San Bernardino County’s Department of Aging and Adult Services comes the following advisory:

Scammers, under the guise of being government officials, are contacting seniors either by phone, e-mail or in some cases in person and questioning if they have health insurance, according to a release. If the victim answers they do not, the con-artist threatens to put the senior in jail for not complying with alleged health care policies, officials said.

The scammers then offer the victim to sell them “ObamaCare” insurance to keep the elderly person out of jail.

According to government officials, there is no such policy, nor is there “ObamaCare” coverage.

Under the current national health care bill, the requirement to have health insurance doesn’t go into effect until 2014. And even then, those who do not have coverage cannot be jailed, county officials said. Instead, a gradual fine system will kick in.It’s unclear how many victims there may be in San Bernardino County or locally. Anyone who feels they may have been victimized is asked to call their local law enforcement station or call Adult Protective Services at (877) 565-2020.

Full story via VVDailyPress.com – http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/health-21359-scammers-officials.html



Weak. Preying on the elderly is disgusting. I’ve been seeing an uptick in the myth of people being jailed without any insurance, but not much in the way of coherent arguments against it. Let’s hope nobody falls for this crap again and they introduce a few people to the health care system they have in jail…

PS – I realize I used ObamaCare in the title after railing against it, but try to share this news without using the title of the scam. Still, verify.

Discussion

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Must Be Election Time

No need to go into deep detail in the introduction for this viral email targeting President Obama for the veterans audience. Battle of the Bilge will be back soon as MOAA once again proves it is a great place to work for and this author will be returning from Paternity leave.

The Email

Wounded Warriors Face New Tax This Independence Day
From John Kartch and Ryan Ellis on Friday, July 2, 2010 12:51 PM

As the nation prepares to celebrate Independence Day with parades and barbecues, America’s veterans face a new tax on prosthetic limbs and other vital medical devices.

The health care overhaul passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama earlier this year contains a new tax on medical devices such as prosthetic limbs, pacemakers, and wheelchairs. This tax, which its proponents claim will raise $20 billion over the next ten years, contains no exemption for the nation’s 22 million veterans. In fact, Senate Democrats specifically refused to exempt veterans from the tax.

On March 24 2010, Senate Democrats rejected an amendment offered by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) to the healthcare bill. This amendment (SA 3644) would have prevented the medical device tax from hitting veterans covered by the Veterans Healthcare Program or TRICARE for Life. This amendment was rejected by a vote of 44-54. All but five Democrat senators voted in favor of retaining the tax for veterans.

The medical device tax was one of over twenty new or higher taxes in President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul. This permanent new tax is being collected now.

“On March 24, Senate Democrats had the opportunity to exempt our veterans from Obamacare’s new tax on medical devices such as prosthetic limbs. But 54 Democrats voted against the measure. They chose to side with the tax-and-spend crowd in Washington over our wounded warriors,”said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “This is one of the many reasons Harry Reid and the Democrats did not want Americans to read the 2,500 page health care bill before it was passed.”

In addition to those who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Department of Veterans Affairs reports the following number of veterans from America’s wars:

World War II: 2,079,000

Korean War: 2,507,000

Vietnam War: 7,569,000

Desert Shield/Storm: 2,254,000

No, Just No

First of all, the tax that was approved will be levied against the companies that provide the equipment and prosthetics, not against veterans.

For the beneficiaries, the devices are provided without charge through the VA and are not taxed under TRICARE.

Discussion

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“Fairness, diligence, sound preparation, professional skill and loyalty are the marks of American military leadership.”
- General Omar Bradley

Addressing the Army’s Future Leaders

President Obama gave the commencement address at the ceremony for graduating officers of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, held at Michie Stadium, West Point, N.Y on Saturday, May 22. Below you will find the video of the speech and a link to the transcript, followed by a few key quotes.

The Speech

Via Youtube:


For a full transcript, visit CBS News.

Key Points

On the trials of the West Point and the uniqueness of their training:

You have pushed yourself through the agony of Beast Barracks, the weeks of training in rain and mud, and, I’m told, more inspections and drills than perhaps any class before you. Along the way, I’m sure you faced a few moments when you asked yourself: “What am I doing here?” I have those moments sometimes.

You’ve trained for the complexities of today’s missions, knowing that success will be measured not merely by performance on the battlefield, but also by your understanding of the cultures and traditions and languages in the place where you serve.

On the role of women in the military in a year in which they took center stage of the graduation class:

This includes your number one overall cadet and your valedictorian – Liz Betterbed and Alex Rosenberg. And by the way, this is the first time in Academy history where your two top awards have been earned by female candidates.

This underscores a fact that I’ve seen in the faces of our troops from Baghdad to Bagram – in the 21st century, our women in uniform play an indispensable role in our national defense. And time and again, they have proven themselves to be role models for our daughters and our sons – as students and as soldiers and as leaders in the United States armed forces.

On Afghanistan:

And as we end the war in Iraq, though, we are pressing forward in Afghanistan. Six months ago, I came to West Point to announce a new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. And I stand here humbled by the knowledge that many of you will soon be serving in harm’s way. I assure you, you will go with the full support of a proud and grateful nation.

We face a tough fight in Afghanistan. Any insurgency that is confronted with a direct challenge will turn to new tactics. And from Marja to Kandahar, that is what the Taliban has done through assassination and indiscriminate killing and intimidation. Moreover, any country that has known decades of war will be tested in finding political solutions to its problems, and providing governance that can sustain progress and serve the needs of its people.

On hope beyond the wars:

Now even as we fight the wars in front of us, we also have to see the horizon beyond these wars – because unlike a terrorist whose goal is to destroy, our future will be defined by what we build. We have to see that horizon, and to get there we must pursue a strategy of national renewal and global leadership. We have to build the sources of America’s strength and influence, and shape a world that’s more peaceful and more prosperous.

And on the ‘long war’ we are facing with militant Islam, which the president seemed to be channeling President Bush:

More than anything else, though, our success will be claimed by who we are as a country. This is more important than ever, given the nature of the challenges that we face. Our campaign to disrupt, dismantle, and to defeat al Qaeda is part of an international effort that is necessary and just.

But this is a different kind of war. There will be no simple moment of surrender to mark the journey’s end – no armistice, no banner headline. Though we have had more success in eliminating al Qaeda leaders in recent months than in recent years, they will continue to recruit, and plot, and exploit our open society. We see that in bombs that go off in Kabul and Karachi. We see it in attempts to blow up an airliner over Detroit or an SUV in Times Square, even as these failed attacks show that pressure on networks like al Qaeda is forcing them to rely on terrorists with less time and space to train. We see the potential duration of this struggle in al Qaeda’s gross distortions of Islam, their disrespect for human life, and their attempt to prey upon fear and hatred and prejudice.

So the threat will not go away soon, but let’s be clear: Al Qaeda and its affiliates are small men on the wrong side of history. They lead no nation. They lead no religion. We need not give in to fear every time a terrorist tries to scare us. We should not discard our freedoms because extremists try to exploit them. We cannot succumb to division because others try to drive us apart. We are the United States of America. We are the United States of America, and we have repaired our union, and faced down fascism, and outlasted communism. We’ve gone through turmoil, we’ve gone through Civil War, and we have come out stronger – and we will do so once more.

Summary

While there can be no doubt that the president is an excellent orator and this was a great speech, we didn’t see much in the way of new information or news. It was a pep talk, and a rather good one, which is what these fine graduates need and deserve.

Discussion

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“Television to brainwash us all and Internet to eliminate any last resistance.”
- Paul Carvel

The ‘Obama is anti-military’ talking point

You see it in your emails, hear it on the radio and watch it on TV. A concentrated effort to portray President Obama as anti-military. Using terms regarding the president’s actions that range from indifference to the traitorous, opponents of the administration pull out all the stops to make the powerful voting community of military veterans and service personnel and their families and friends firmly believe this.

We’ve seen little reduction in the number of emails circulating and pundits spewing misinformation. Yet each new allegation or poorly supported op-ed piece gets people riled up and helps to confirm the narrative the opposition has been attempting to write. But what has been the reality of how the president has conducted affairs of state since he took office as compared to his campaign promises?

Luckily, the folks over at PolitiFact have had a running ‘Obameter’ to track campaign promises and what has happened since the election. They have a specific subsection of the Obameter dealing directly with military issues.

The Obameter

The system used by PolitiFact is best described from their site:

PolitiFact has compiled more than 500 promises that Barack Obama made during the campaign and is tracking their progress on our Obameter.

We rate their status as Not Yet Rated, In the Works or Stalled. Once we find action is completed, we rate them Promise Kept, Compromise or Promise Broken.

The Obameter collected 33 campaign promises made by then-Senator Obama in his run for the office of the president that were specifically about the military. All 33 promises have been acted on to varying degrees and so far there hasn’t been a single one broken. Many have stalled, some have been kept, there has been one compromise and most are ‘in the works’. Here’s how those promises and ratings break down:

Promises Kept

• Send two additional brigades to Afghanistan
• Strengthen and expand military exchange programs with other countries
• Make greater investment in advanced military air technology
• Make U.S. military aid to Pakistan conditional on anti-terror efforts
• Appoint a White House Coordinator for Nuclear Security
• Bolster the military’s ability to speak different languages

Compromise

• Ensure the Guard and Reserves can meet their homeland security missions

In the Works

• Begin removing combat brigades from Iraq
• Increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps
• Increase special operations forces and civil affairs
• Make military deployments predictable for troops and families
• Limit Guard and Reserve deployments to one year for every six years
• End the “Stop-Loss” program of forcing troops to stay in service beyond their expected commitments
• Fully and properly equip troops
• Work with Russia to move nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert
• Review weapons programs
• Modernize ships and invest more in small vessels
• Set standards for when the government should hire defense contractors
• End the abuse of supplemental budgets for war
• Create a system of incentives and penalties for defense contracts
• Work to end NATO restrictions on forces in Afghanistan
• Train and equip the Afghan army
• Better integrate efforts of federal agencies with the military through new Mobile Development Teams
• Spend $5 billion over three years on cooperative programs with foreign intelligence agencies
• Expand federal bioforensics program for tracking biological weapons
• Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy

Stalled

• Create a specialized military advisers corps
• Create a military families advisory board
• Restore 24-month limit on cumulative Guard and Reserve deployment time
• Make National Guard leader a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Establish transparency standards for military contractors
• Clarify legal status for defense contractor personnel
• Call for a consultative group of congressional leaders on national security

I strongly recommend that you visit the site here for more details on each individual issue above.

PolitiFact – Checking the source

While PolitiFact has proven extremely reliable over the years, there are always forces at work behind the scenes that are almost always partisan. So the source of ratings and information must be examined. From their site:

PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times to help you find the truth in politics.

Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in Washington. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get our lowest rating, Pants on Fire.

We also rate the consistency of public officials on our Flip-O-Meter using three ratings: No Flip, Half Flip and Full Flop.

So who is behind the St. Petersburg Times? We follow the rabbit hole down by taking the red pill, mixing analogies, and bring up Google, which leads us to wikipedia (sadly quickly becoming the most fact based source on the internet):

The Times traces its origins to the West Hillsborough Times, a weekly newspaper started in Dunedin, Florida in 1884. By 1912, the paper had been sold six times, had been relocated to St. Petersburg, and was published six days a week. Publisher Paul Poynter bought the paper in September 1912 and published it seven days a week. Paul’s son Nelson Poynter took majority control of the paper in 1947. Nelson Poynter died in 1974, having willed the paper to the Poynter Institute. In 2003, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described the St. Petersburg Times as a “usually liberal” newspaper

Another brief stopover in Googleland takes us to a website curiously focused on Russian politics for a Florida newspaper. We kick ourselves for not noticing the .ru extension and click on ‘back’ (ok we checked out that one story first).

With an adjusted search term we find a reliable dictionary that confirms the belief that they are left leaning. Via NationMaster.com:

Encyclopedia > St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a daily newspaper based in St. Petersburg, Florida, that serves the larger Tampa Bay area. The Times sells 334,742 papers per day Monday through Saturday, making it the largest paper in Florida and the 23rd largest in the United States. On Sunday it sells 420,251 papers, and the Times estimates about 755,000 people read the daily edition, while on Sundays it is approximately one million.

It traces its origins a newspaper that started in Dunedin, Florida, in 1884. Its editorial leanings are generally considered to be liberal, in contrast to its more conservative-leaning competitor, the Tampa Tribune.

The Times is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism school in St. Petersburg directly adjecent to the University of South Florida campus in St. Petersburg. The Poynter Institute is a school and resource for journalism, located in St. Petersuburg. The University of South Florida (USF) is a public university located in Tampa, Florida, USA, with branch campuses in Saint Petersburg.

In comparison to the rest of the pundit and pundit watch universe, PolitiFact is center of the road, especially in this partisan atmosphere. What’s more important however is their track record. And the information they have put out over the past two years especially has been solid, fair and analytical. Watching several sites constantly gives you a good feel for who to trust and who to visit to look for material. PolitiFact is certainly in the former category.

Conclusion/Editorial

So what does this mean to us? That depends on who you are and how you feel about President Obama. There are facts and there are lies, on both sides of the spectrum. But if people believe that President Obama is actively working to harm the military family they probably have not consulted the proper evidence available to them. That information likely came from sources of opposition to the president, and there has been no shortage of misinformation from those sources. By all evidence available and cross checked with other sources, President Obama has been pro-military and pro-military families in his first year and 4 months. The trust level seems to be rising slowly and subtly, but it is on an upward track. Facts have a way of making it out, and are pretty resistant to attempts to destroy them. Even if it takes a long time and usually, unfortunately, it is too long to make a difference and we all give ourselves a collective facepalm. History is full of examples.

(My pre-emptive apologies for offending anyone as well as the usual disclaimer that this is not necessarily an opinion of MOAA in this editorial is by now a tacit understanding, right? If not or you are new to the site, there you go.)

Our political and social leanings determine our level of enjoyment of sources, and we naturally trust those sources to provide correct information. We associate debunking and counter-propaganda with the ‘other side’. It is the nature of Americans to be as competitive as possible at all times. We don’t have a realistically existential threat to the nation right now, so as usual we become more competitive with each other and protective of the borders, and as we have seen recently we sometimes combine them for an extra level of strife. Let’s just keep the fringes on the fringe and make sure rhetoric doesn’t lead to violence and going places we won’t be able to come back from as a nation. So question everything, all the time. Post your counter evidence and speak your mind, or do like most people have and leave it all behind and speak from your gut with the assumption that the other person is lying. But at the end of the night, everyone turn off their computer and get some rest. We all need it.

Discussion

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“FEAR is an acronym in the English language for “False Evidence Appearing Real” – Neal Donald Walsch

Background

Google Health care bill and private army and you will find close to a million hits, almost all of which are the same one or two fear mongering stories about how the health care bill establishes President Obama’s ‘private’ army that has been so feared. Of course it is true if it is on so many websites and email chains going around. Except for the fact that it isn’t an army, isn’t private and wasn’t ‘hidden’ in the health care bill. More after the reprint of the main article…

Most Common Iteration

Obama Just Got His Private Army

Were you aware of the fact that the health care bill created a civilian army?

A Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency.
All commissioned officers shall be citizens of the United States and shall be appointed without regard to the civil-service laws (which means they will not be sworn to uphold the Constitution) and compensated without regard to the Classification Act 2 of 1923, as amended.

Remember when Obama said he wanted a “national security force”? Not the national guard, but a civilian one that has not sworn to uphold the Constitution?

Obama just got his private army… and no one seems to have noticed. It is buried in the Senate revisions to the health care bill.
Subtitle C–Increasing the Supply of the Health Care Workforce
Sec. 5201. Federally supported student loan funds.
Sec. 5202. Nursing student loan program.
Sec. 5203. Health care workforce loan repayment programs.
Sec. 5204. Public health workforce recruitment and retention programs.
Sec. 5205. Allied health workforce recruitment and retention programs.
Sec. 5206. Grants for State and local programs.
Sec. 5207. Funding for National Health Service Corps.
Sec. 5208. Nurse-managed health clinics.
Sec. 5209. Elimination of cap on commissioned corps.
Sec. 5210. Establishing a Ready Reserve Corps.
Subtitle D–Enhancing Health Care Workforce Education and Training
See the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act, page 1312:

SEC. 5210. ESTABLISHING A READY RESERVE CORPS.

Section 203 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 204) is amended to read as follows:
SEC. 203. COMMISSIONED CORPS AND READY RESERVE CORPS.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT:
(1) IN GENERAL.–here shall be in the Service a commissioned Regular Corps and a Ready Reserve Corps for service in time of national emergency.

(2) REQUIREMENT.–All commissioned officers shall be citizens of the United States and shall be appointed without regard to the civil-service laws and compensated without regard to the Classification Act 2 of 1923, as amended.

(3) APPOINTMENT.–Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall be appointed by the President and commissioned officers of the Regular Corps shall be appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.

(4) ACTIVE DUTY.–Commissioned officers of the Ready Reserve Corps shall at all times be subject to call to active duty by the Surgeon General, including active duty for the purpose of training.

(5) WARRANT OFFICERS.–Warrant officers may be appointed to the Service for the purpose of providing support to the health and delivery systems maintained by the Service and any warrant officer appointed to the Service shall be considered for purposes of this Act and title 37, United States Code, to be a commissioned officer within the Commissioned Corps of the Service.

(b) ASSIMILATING RESERVE CORP OFFICERS INTO THE REGULAR CORPS: Effective on the date of enactment of the Affordable Health Choices Act, all individuals classified as officers in the Reserve Corps under this section (as such section existed on the day before the date of enactment of such Act) and serving on active duty shall be deemed to be commissioned officers of the Regular Corps. [Note here that those personally appointed by BO -- without the advice and consent of the Senate -- automatically become a part of the Regular Corps. Ed.]

(c) PURPOSE AND USE OF READY RESERVE:
(1) PURPOSE. The purpose of the Ready Reserve Corps is to fulfill the need to have additional Commissioned Corps personnel available on short notice (similar to the uniformed service’s reserve program) to assist regular Commissioned Corps personnel to meet both routine public health and emergency response missions.

(2) USES: The Ready Reserve Corps shall–

(A) participate in routine training to meet the general and specific needs of the Commissioned Corps;
(B) be available and ready for involuntary calls to active duty during national emergencies and public health crises, similar to the uniformed service reserve personnel;
(C) be available for backfilling critical positions left vacant during deployment of active duty Commissioned Corps members, as well as for deployment to respond to public health emergencies, both foreign and domestic; and
(D) be available for service assignment in isolated, hardship, and medically underserved communities (as defined in section 399SS) to improve access to health services.

(d) FUNDING.—For the purpose of carrying out the duties and responsibilities of the Commissioned Corps under this section, there are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to the Office of the Surgeon General for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2014. Funds appropriated under this subsection shall be used for recruitment and training of Commissioned Corps Officers.

Again, I ask the question: Were you aware of the fact that the health care bill created another army? We can easily imagine what they will be ordered to do, including lethal injections (a.k.a. vaccinations) to “unworthy” people?

Whew, Nazi Germany all over again and it is happening right before our eyes, and right under our noses.

Reality

What this portion of the bill does is create a Reserve component to the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) that will serve in much the same capacity as the Reserve components of the other uniformed services. This is actually something MOAA has been a proponent of for years, as has The Military Coalition. What is the USPHS?

From their website:

What is the Commissioned Corps?

The U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is an elite team of more than 6,000 full-time, well-trained, highly qualified public health professionals dedicated to delivering the Nation’s public health promotion and disease prevention programs and advancing public health science. Driven by a passion for public service, these men and women serve on the frontlines in the Nation’s fight against disease and poor health conditions.

As one of America’s seven uniformed services, the Commissioned Corps fills essential public health leadership and service roles within the Nation’s Federal Government agencies and programs.

The establishment of a Ready Reserve component is something that has been needed for a long time, especially during times of war. With a large number of doctors, nurses and field medics of all kind deployed overseas for combat support, there is a definite need in the homeland for more medical personnel. The new law raises the cap of officers for the Ready Reserve Corps to 6,600. Their ability to help National Guard forces respond to mass casualty events and natural disasters at home is an essential part of emergency management. Their role is very explicitly laid out in the law, and although the unknown author of this piece can ‘imagine’ what they’ll be ordered to do, it just isn’t true.

What about the language of the bill stating that each member of the officer corps needs to be appointed by the president? Promotions in the uniformed services are almost always due to a recommendation from the DoD, approval by the president and congress. There’s no real difference between the USPHS officer advancement and the US Army. President Obama will not be looking to fill the ranks of the new program with his ‘operatives’, this is just how things work. The exemption clause is due to the very nature of the USPHS. Doctors, nurses and the rest of the medical community have a level of training that is expensive, so higher compensation is in many cases necessary to draw the best and brightest to military service.

The USPHS has been envisioning a broader role for some time, and that vision is captured in the 2008 report Blueprint for a Healthier America.

Conclusions

With such distrust in the American political landscape right now, people are more than willing to jump on board anything that will confirm their beliefs that President Obama is moving us toward a ‘different’ nation, away from democratic ideals. There will always be people that jump to conclusions rather than take the time to understand the true implications of the administration’s actions. In this case, there is nothing that is insidious or troubling to be found in this extension of USPHS. The hyper-partisanship that has been a cornerstone of internet, radio and cable news will not slow down. That’s why the posts on this blog have been few and far between lately.

But this one is just too far off the mark not to comment on. Eternal fear mongering is no replacement for eternal vigilance.

As always, FactCheck.org has an excellent article on this issue.

Discussion

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