Obama's Health Care Bill Passes...

... so let the lawsuits begin! This is what several states are planning to do in order to stop parts of the health care plan from becoming a reality. The main opposition is the part of the plan which makes health insurance mandatory for all Americans to have. You will be fined if you do not carry some type of insurance under Obama's plan, which many states is not legal. Abortions will not be federally funded in this plan, which is one part of the plan that I do approve of. However, I would make exceptions in cases of rape or incest.
So, what are the Republicans going to do now that the bill has passed? Same as they always do, cry wolf.
Let us take a short trip over to DailyKos.com for a view of what the GOPers will be bringing to the table in the near future.

This isn't over. The wingnuts are just getting started.
by Hesiod Mon Mar 22, 2010
You have already seen a diary about how Veterans groups are claiming this bill screws over our veterans. The next step in the attack from wingnuts on health care reform is to push state constitutional changes to opt out of the new system that has been put into place.
This, of course, is unconstitutional and runs afoul of the commerce clause. But who knows how the corporate crony Supreme Court will rule? The concern I have is that nervous nellie state Democrats who think the federal constitution will invalidate these stupid opt-out laws will think they have a free vote against it.
This means these stupid laws may get passed by state legislatures with a lot of Democratic assistance. It is much better not to risk letting the rightwing Supreme Court have a crack at overturning health care reform. So, we need to keep up all of the pressure we can on state level Democrats to prevent these laws from passing.
Here in Michigan, a petition drive has started to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for November. This, of course, will get all of the crazy teabagging wackos to turn out in droves for the vote, come hell of highwater.
Its clearly a device to drive up turnout among Republicans and conservatives. Turnout that wasn't guaranteed once health care reform became law. Expect this to be repeated in states across the country. This is a surefire way to create vote and donor lists and also fire up activists.
We have to keep fighting. We have to keep making sure the truth about this bill gets out there to the media. We have to make sure that Democrats in Washington and the Whgite House DON'T STOP FIGHTING FOR THIS BILL AND COUNTERING ALL THE LIES ABOUT IT. Its not enough just to pass it. You have to also defend it.
The other side is not giving up. They are going to keep fighting for as long as they can. We should not either. Fight until they are completely defeated and demoralized.

ADDENDUM. Oh. And here is the irony in all of this. The Health Insurance industry should be flooding the zone with money in all of these states to BLOCK this crazy crap from passing. Why? Because states that opt out of the system -- even if its just during a pending court challenge -- are going to cost insurance companies tons of money.
But, because this bill's major provisions don't kick in for several years, it will be hard to point to other states that do not opt out and show how well they are doing under the system to counteract the bullshit.
© Kos Media, LLC
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/3/22/849088/-This-isnt-over.-The-wingnuts-are-just-getting-started.

Tampa Bay Still Low on Jobs...

... which is no surprise to those of us living in this town.
If you are an hourly worker here in Tampa, then you know how rough it is trying to find even a temp job, much less a permanent one.
So how bad is it here?
Florida's unemployment rate was 11.9 percent for January, tying a high which was set almost 35 years ago, while Tampa was even higher at 13.1 percent.

A group of state economists recently predicted unemployment in Florida would top out at 12.3 percent by this fall before a slow crawl back toward the single digits.
"Unfortunately, we caught the brunt of this recession," said University of Central Florida economist Sean Snaith. "I think we're in the last phases of the labor market's worsening."

I've been fortunate enough to find a somewhat steady job through a day labor temp service, but that job is subject to end at any time without notice. Many down here in Tampa are not that lucky and are etching out an existence on only a few hours of work per week. Some good news may be forthcoming though.

The St. Petersburg Times reported last week that Florida had lined up 900 projects that could result in nearly 10,600 short-term jobs but was held up waiting for federal approval. Under the Back to Work program, stimulus funds would pay for up to 95 percent of salary and training costs for new hires if employers agree to keep those jobs until at least September.
Some of the most stunning statistics out Wednesday were on the local level, with the Tampa Bay area posting the highest rate among major metropolitan areas.

The last time state unemployment was at 11.9 percent was May 1975, the highest point since the state started tracking such data in 1970. Comparable figures for national jobless rates during the Depression era are not available but were believed to be about 25 percent.
Florida's unemployment rate remains substantially higher than the national average, which was 9.7 percent in February and appears to be near a peak.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/business/workinglife/article1078706.ece

Government Waste: Many S.S.I. Checks...

... and before the reader starts out with "S.S.I. checks aren't waste," let me state that I do not think that all of these checks are the result of government waste. Many people receive these checks, and rightfully so, as they have true needs for the little money that they get from the government.
I am referring to those individuals who get these checks who have no real disability. Their problem is that they have gotten to damned lazy to get off of their asses and work. Those are the alcoholics and crack-heads of the world in most cases.
Some of you probably know a few of these kinds of people who have applied for S.S.I. (Supplemental Security Income) while claiming some kind of disability, either physical or mental.
What I have discovered,based on personal observation, is that many people are just looking for an easy way out of working and of being responsible for their own self/lively-hood. Many of these people lay around the home ( if they have one ) drinking "Natural Ice" beer all day or either popping pills or smoking crack, or all of the above. At the same time, they blame everyone but themselves for their self-created problems.
So how do certain people manage to get S.S.I. checks? Lets take a look at one individual who shall remain nameless.
The woman is 55 years of age and an alcoholic. She has been a drinker for at least 30years. She is on medication to sleep at night and she also takes meds for high blood pressure and some Prozac because she's been diagnosed as being bipolar. The woman is totally functional in her day to day activities until she starts on the drinking. After that, she ain't worth to much when it comes to doing anything of consequence.
When sober, she can do anything that she sets her mind to doing. She could hold down a job if she so desires, but she doesn't wish to do that. I guess that that would interfere with all of that drinking time, so how does she support the beer habit? From bumming of off her fellow beer drinkers, none of who work either, or by selling off some of her food stamps.
At this point in time, I will stop this article because the woman in question has had an accident on Tuesday. She was hit by an automobile while crossing the street, and, she was in a crosswalk. I'll follow up on this in my next post, but it seems that even though she was in the crosswalk, she still was not in the right.

UPDATE:
The victom in this case is doing just fine in light of what happened to her. She has gone through two surgeries after having had one of her feet broken in 9 places and a sprained ankle. She is now recovering an one of Tampa's rehab centers.
I'll continue with the posting that I had started on dealing with S.S.I. recipients who really have no disabilities other than laziness, in a few days.

Conservative Health Care Woes

Jonathan Chait on the coming conservative freak-out
by blue aardvark Sat Feb 20, 2010
From The New Republic:

The Coming Conservative Health Care Freakout
You can imagine how this feels to conservatives. They've already run off the field, sprayed themselves with champagne and taunted the losing team's fans. And now the other team is saying the game is still on and they have a good chance to win. There may be nothing wrong at all with the process, but it's certainly going to feel like some kind of crime to the right-wing. The Democrats may not win, but I'm pretty sure they're going to try. The conservative freakout is going to be something to behold.
And Paul Krugman adds this:
If this works out — I’d think the odds now are that it will, though it’s by no means a done deal — there will be endless debate about whether Anthem Blue Cross was wot did it. My sense is that a final push was always available, as long as the White House was willing to take a stand; Anthem may just have helped provide an occasion.
I think Krugman's correct. And Chait, too.
The Democrats are going to pass something. It's going to be less than it should have been, but better than nothing. And then what's going to happen?
The answer is the Republicans, especially the Tea Party types, are going to lose their collective minds. They will scream about the use of reconciliation. When they do, we must be ready to point out how often Bush used it. And that only a few 'amendments' were passed that way.
They will scream that the public doesn't want Obamacare. And that's where the hard work will be. Educating the public that the vast majority of the provisions in the bill are ones they like - tax breaks for small business, the exchange, and so on.
We need to force the screaming crybabies to explain why the public doesn't want those enormously popular items at the top of the chart. The time to start thinking about framing it that way is now. They are going to frame this as the Democrats using a trick to pass a bill the public doesn't want. The Democratic Party needs to get the truth out about this bill.
Lean on your Senators. Lean on your Representative. Tell them to support reconciliation to pass health care. Tell them to include the public option and the millionaires tax (the only two popular items not in the Senate Bill per Nate).
Let's get this done. Because if we play it correctly, the GOP is going to look like sore losers. And if there's one thing Americans dislike, it's whiny crybaby sore losers.

And just for grins, here's a quote from Newt Gingrich:

February 20, 2010
I'm not frightened by bipartisanship... We should be brave enough to stand up and say let's work together until we finish defeating the left and then we won't have to work with them as much.
Supplied via Political Wire
Update:
I think this is my first trip to the top of the Recommended List. I think it's because it's a slow Saturday evening, but I thank all those who clicked the little button.
From dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/2/20/839072/-Jonathan-Chait-on-the-coming-conservative-freak-out"