Archive for the 'Taxachusetts' Category

These started to get old, but this one seems to be pretty well done…

Sorry it has been the “Bigfoot Show” the last month or so, but thanks for picking up my slack there guy!

Taxachusetts is getting prepared for the swine flu – by crafting a bill that if passed, would give state and local agencies a broad set of powers, in the event of an emergency. Some of these would would be:

to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises;

to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any building or facility, and to allow the reopening of the building or facility when the danger has ended;

to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated, or to destroy any material;

to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons

The state would also be able to require citizens to be vaccinated or undergo “preventative procedure”, and able to isolate or quarantine those who are unwilling or unable to submit to the vaccination or procedure, if they are determined to be infected or exposed. Anyone knowing violating a quarantine or isolation order may be fined $1,000 per day while the violation continues.

On the other hand, if law enforcement or medical personel cause any harm (from Section 12 of the bill),

No law enforcement authority or medical personnel shall be held criminally or civilly liable as a result of an act or omission carried out in good faith in reliance on said order

Read the bill here. It’s 28 pages, pretty modest as far as legislation goes these days.

who moves into a “red” state.

Seriously.

I know Raven would agree as we watch New Hampshire be invaded by those fleeing the People’s Democratic Republic of Taxachusetts and New York…

Cranky @ Six Meat Buffet is DA MAN for thinking of this…. we should have it incorporated into federal law…

Only in America do we have tax payer funded JOBS. Yep. And in Massachusetts, they’re using federal stimulus money to pay kids $8.00/hr for jobs that will be given to them, so long as they behave badly.

Criminal offenders, teen moms, dropouts, runaways and other wayward youths will score summer jobs with federal stimulus cash as most Bay State kids desperately scramble to land coveted seasonal gigs in a tight economy.

This is a WTF moment if I ever saw one.

The state Department of Transitional Assistance will be using some of Massachusetts’ $1.3 million in Obama administration cash for jobs for clients’ children ages 14 to 24 who meet specific criteria, including:

• Lacking basic skills.

• Pregnant or parenting.

• School dropout.

• Homeless or runaway.

• Court-involved or an “offender.”

• An English as a Second Language learner or an immigrant.

So to all parents of kids in MA: Teach your kids to be naughty, self righteous little brats and make sure they grow up to be miserable teenage shits who misbehave, disrespect the law and otherwise prove to be potential five star liberal class citizens. Your kids will be rewarded for such wonderful traits.

The DTA-coordinated jobs pay a minimum of $8 per hour and earnings won’t count toward a family’s eligibility for other taxpayer-funded subsidies, including food stamps, heating assistance or health insurance, according to an agency memo.

No need to worry about the kids’ income being held “against” a families’ eligibility for welfare either!

Does it piss anyone off that federal TAX dollars are going into this “program”????? Does it piss anyone off that kids who want to work, who do the right things like attend school, get decent grades, stay away from crime and who don’t mess around without protection (sex) are being left out of the jobs now???

Shit. Let’s just stop trying to be decent people. Let’s all go liberal and live a life with no boundaries or rules and expectations. Let’s all become “AT RISK” citizens just so we can cash in on the these goldmines.

Last week I wrote about the state of MA’s program that gives free cars to people who are on the various welfare programs. It appears that the state polcats have heard a lot of heat, and the program is being axed.

Driven by angry constituents, state senators are moving to flatten the tires of welfare recipients by cutting a program spotlighted in the Herald that hands them donated cars and state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership.

Good.

The plan takes donated cars and uses taxpayer dollars for repairs, registration, insurance, excise tax, the title and AAA membership for one year. The cars go to families on welfare who don’t have access to public transportation.

At a cost of over 400,000 yr- a sum of money that could go to a far better cause.

Ohfercryinoutloud.

Gov. Deval Patrick’s free wheels for welfare recipients program is revving up despite the stalled economy, as the keys to donated cars loaded with state-funded insurance, repairs and even AAA membership are handed out to get them to work.
[...]
The Patrick administration decided last month to funnel an additional $30,000 to the nearly $400,000 annual car ownership program.
[...]
The program, which started in 2006, distributes cars donated by non-profit charities such as Good News Garage, a Lutheran charity, which also does the repair work on the car and bills the state.
[...]
“Given the state’s fiscal condition, paying for AAA and auto inspection costs is outrageous,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei (R-Wakefield). “There are so many families out there trying to deal with layoffs and pay cuts. You have to wonder what the state’s priorities are at this point.”

As we just pointed out here, MA leaders are debating whether to place it’s doctors and hospitals on a budget, which would be detrimental to the people. Yet here we have an example of a total waste of money. It’s a small sum, but that 400,000 would go to one of those sick people who could use a “test” to determine whether they live, or die.

Priorities? MA? I think they’ve got a problem.

A new idea from the brains bowels of a Massachusetts state commission.

Commission members said they will urge Governor Deval Patrick and the Legislature to replace the current system, in which insurers typically pay doctors and hospitals a negotiated fee for each individual procedure or visit, with a set payment for each patient that covers all that person’s care for an entire year.
[...]
Massachusetts would be the first state to broadly adopt such a system, which would essentially put doctors and hospitals on a budget in an effort to restrain health spending.
[...]
Legislators created the commission last year, directing it to identify ways to slow soaring healthcare costs in Massachusetts, where spending is growing by more than 8 percent annually, driven largely by the high price and heavy use of hospitals.
[...]
The system pushes up costs because it encourages doctors and hospitals to do lots of procedures, and do those that are most profitable, even if they’re not always necessary, according to health policy analysts.
[...]
“Massachusetts has recognized that its cost trends are unsustainable so something has to be done,” said Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Washington, D.C.-based policy group. But he said the proposed changes are “very ambitious.”
[...]
The new payment system the commission expects to recommend has been tried before; it was known as “capitation” when it initially became popular under managed care in the 1980s and early 1990s. The system broke down when many small physician practices lost millions of dollars on very sick patients with high healthcare costs, and amid widespread concern that the system encouraged doctors to deny patients necessary care so they could stay within their budgets.

Oh yay!! About time they clamped down on them there hospitals and doctors! MA recognizes that IT cannot mandate everyone be insured AND offer patient choice. All the tools doctors have at their disposal to help them help US are up for the chopping block here.

Hospitals are needed, but heck, lets’ curtail their use as much as possible. Sick patients be damned. We mustn’t trust the masses of people and their doctors to decide what is the best course of action. Nope…

We can’t let them decide if they want tests and procedures that aren’t necessary, but aid doctors in diagnosing diseases and helping them locate exactly where problems are….so, when you have a pain in your back say goodbye to the MRI that might show WHAT causes that pain. Say goodbye to the CAT Scan that might show a tumor developing (even when it’s so small it could not be seen any other way…)The heck with pesky tests that might offer you a chance to live if a disease is found early. Kiss goodbye the frivolous test that discovered clogged arteries going into your heart, that will require an angioplasty procedure that will prevent a heart attack…

Let’s just deny SICK people choices. Let’s screw them over- after all a health care system isn’t MEANT for sick people right?

The hell with the 65 yr old lady who develops Altimeters Disease- which is very expensive to “treat” and is always terminal.

The hell with the 39 yr old man who was driving home from work when his car was hit head on by another car, that resulted in his being brain injured for the remainder of his life- requiring him to be on life support- and other expensive care.

The hell with the 50 yr old man who ate all the right foods, maintained a perfect weight, who ran everyday- yet had a massive heart attack one Monday during his morning jog.

These are just a few examples of how people get “sick”- and who will require many years of “tests” and “care” in order to live (or, to wait to die in some cases). Do we want to place their health care on a budget??? Do we really want to go there?

It cost more money to take care of people who are ill, have diseases, health problems and the like! That’s elementary folks. No amount of healthy living lifestyles will prevent every expensive medical condition. And we cannot force people to stop their unhealthy habits (YET).

But we can offer them an incentive: Make then pay for their own health care.
We the people should be able to decide whether we will purchase health insurance.
We the people should be able to decide what kind of coverages we need and want.
We should be able to comparison shop for the best plans that suit our needs.

Governments should not step in to control the tools and resources medical science has developed. It is these very tools that help our doctors help US.

The economy stinks. People are jobless, without health insurance, living frugally and spending their spare pennies wisely. We expect our leaders to do the same.

But down in Massachusetts that’s not the case.

House lawmakers begin debating dozens of tax hikes today. Some have argued that increasing taxes is the only way to restore some of the draconian cuts in services detailed in House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s budget.

Power to the people. Or not- especially if you live in MA.

But the other 900 pork-barrel amendments legislators filed don’t reflect the belt-tightening a serious economic downturn requires. Lawmakers have included $217,000 to improve the tennis courts at Wakefield High and an extra $750,000 for visitor information centers across the state.

Judging by these projects one would never know we’re in a recession. Heck, it looks like times are good. Heck, raising taxes on people who are already strapped to the max is becoming so MASSACHUSETTS. I’m sure we can find a lot of people who would love to build tennis courts in their backyards; I’m sure there’s more than a couple handfuls of MA citizens who really require the services of an Information Center…oh wait I guess those facilities would be geared towards the wealthy, untouched-by-this-recession out of staters who are just speeding across state borders to get to the fabulous MASSACHUSETTS.

They call the Bay State Taxachusetts for a reason.

Quote:

…earmarks are not pork, but are nourishment…

Source

Will someone explain to me how this will help the economy? I know it’s not supposed to do that, but paying people to stay unemployed is not good for the economy is it?

Unemployed workers in Massachusetts will get more help from the state and federal governments.

Those exhausting their jobless benefits in Massachusetts can collect unemployment benefits for up to seven additional weeks, following an extension recently approved by Congress.

This extension follows an earlier, 13-week extension approved in July, meaning unemployed workers in Massachusetts can stretch their initial 26 weeks of benefits by as many 20 additional weeks.

People can stay on the unemployment rolls for 46 weeks now? How sweet it is. That’s a lot of motivation to get back to work now isn’t it?