A Resident Breaks Up With the State of Tennessee

[tampa24]

I am not singling out the state of Tennessee. But this writer is. In fairness, many of these same issues are experienced in other parts of the U.S. When it comes to the issue of Medicaid expansion, my own state of Florida is definitely on the list of states that are polarized and paralyzed by it.

As a time capsule of sorts, this letter does encapsulate much of the political and social climate of the U.S. (particularly in the South) at the beginning of the 21st century.

**********************************************​

Mike Neergaard
Mathematician, Data Scientist, and Ethics Philosopher.
Finds everyone interesting, which wastes a lot of time each day.


A Heartfelt Breakup Letter to Tennessee: This Is Why I'm Leaving


Posted: 05/01/2015 2:54 pm EDT Updated: 05/01/2015 3:59 pm EDT

Dear Tennessee,

I'm sorry; I'm leaving you.

It's not a decision I make lightly -- My great-great-great-grandfather Neergaard immigrated from Germany more than a decade before the Civil War and settled twenty-five miles from my current home. My brother, five aunts and uncles and more extended family than I can count live in Tennessee, and I have resided here for ten splendid years. Nonetheless, it's over. I considered moving out with no explanation. But I still love you, and I think you need to know why I am leaving.

It's not because I lost my job last year. It's true, I searched everywhere for a job, and I knew I would have to relocate, but I could have tried harder to stay. Yes, I know terrible things will happen wherever I live, but my decision to move away is about you.

I admit, we've had great times together. I am nurtured by memories of riding with my grandfather on his tractor and cooling off in the river, building my dream house and performing some of the best math of my career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Sadly, trips to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, warm people and beautiful fall colors are not enough to conceal the fact that we are growing apart, and we have been for some time.

I thought I was brave enough to stick it out. Someone, I reasoned, must fight at the front lines of the cultural wars against intolerance and bigotry. I'm honored to serve, and along with others in our community, our family has made a difference. We have educated educators, helped found our local PFLAG chapter, helped local Gay Straight Transgender Alliances (GSTAs) put on the East Tennessee Youth Pride Fest and housed homeless LGBT teens. By his very existence, my gay son shows that homosexuality is not a sexual perversion, but rather a sexual orientation. I'm stung by the shame of giving up and of deserting my comrades.

I wanted to accomplish more. I never did get the local evangelical church youth program to join me on a crusade against LGBT bullying. Despite the dojo's enthusiasm, I did not manage to start a self-defense course for transgender women. I wanted to schedule LGBT sensitivity training for local police forces, but it didn't happen. I looked forward to extending the Safe Place program for youth in crisis to our town. I know I didn't do everything I could; you deserved more from our relationship.

The eighth grader who asked her English teacher, "Aren't you leaving transgender people out of your pronoun lesson?" deserves better from me. The fearless teacher who mentors a local GSTA is left short an ally. The staff who stand up for GLBT students in our middle schools need my support. Our transgender middle school and high school students don't have the option of flight, as I do. I am ashamed to leave them all behind, but you can't guilt me into staying.

I know you think I'm leaving because I'm upset, and yes, I am angry. When I see a Tennessee police officer justify confiscating a tourist's money with, "he couldn't prove it was legitimate," when I learn that a Tennessee fire department let a home burn to the ground over a $75 subscription fee the homeowner wasn't eligible to pay, when the Lt. Governor of this state questions whether Muslims have a right to practice their religion, and when I must enter my local courthouse beneath a black seven-foot granite sign emblazoned with "In God We Trust," (dedicated for a "secular purpose" at a ceremony featuring four pastors sandwiched between opening and closing prayers), I am furious. But this is not an emotional decision. We just don't want the same things anymore.

I want a superior education for my children. You, on the other hand, recently passed a law purporting to help students "develop critical thinking skills" by allowing teachers to criticize evolution, global warming and any other "controversial" subject. In an unintentional tribute to former Tennessee Governor Austin Peay, Governor Haslam allowed it to become law, expressing his skepticism that "it accomplishes anything..." (When he signed the 1925 anti-evolution Butler Act into law, Tennessee Governor Peay stressed his doubt that it would be an active statute. The Scopes Monkey Trial began 111 days later.) Not content to demolish scientific literacy in Tennessee, you are also abandoning Common Core standards in favor of "standards embodying Tennessee values." Your touted Tennessee values have led to an educational system ranked 37th of all 50 states. But our differences go beyond education.

I can't stand your misogyny. You recently started charging new mothers with assault if their babies are born with drug dependencies. The increase in the drug-dependent birth rate is unabated, despite 57 women in six months who left the state to give birth, and an unknown number who avoided medical attention altogether. This signified nothing to a Tennessee district attorney, who said, "I think the women we have charged would say the law was helpful to them." I don't know which is more appalling -- the manifest patriarchy of the statement, or the unmistakable conviction of the speaker. I want a society that treats the ill, while you blame them.

In the past few days, you pressed your attack on women with legislation creating absurd regulations for abortion clinics, along with a bill creating a mandatory 48-hour waiting period following in-person counseling by a physician, with no consideration for the effect of these rules on the poor. One of your House Representatives tabled a proposed exception for rape and incest with the remark, "in most instances this is not verifiable." There is a horrifying self-consistency to this remark. After all, a rapist is only required to marry his victim and pay 50 pieces of silver to her father if he is caught in the act (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). The same representative argued against an exception for mental health, observing, "It allows someone who is going to profit from abortion to get the waiting period waived," as if paying medical professionals to practice medicine is immoral. If it bothers you that much, would you care to target insurance company doctors dictating less effective medical treatments for profit?

Trick question, I know. If medical injustice troubled you, you would have embraced medicare expansion and insured 280,000 Tennesseans. Instead, less than a month ago, your legislators ensured once again that no action will be taken this year. I hate this about you. A medical professional who lives about 15 miles from me fought through the pain from her bladder cancer to come beg for her life in person, and you sent her home to die. Your remorseless inhumanity illustrates the growing distance between us.

If you've heard nothing I've said, then at least try to grasp this: Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1802 invalidates every anti-discrimination ordinance by any local government in the history of Tennessee, and absolutely forbids them to enact any more. You have had four years to undo this, and you have done nothing. Every year, you have opportunity to extend protection from school bullying to LGBT students and their allies, and you do nothing.

As the Tennessee House majority floor leader explains to us that biracial dating may not be "expedient," that God still loves people who choose to be gay, although they won't go to heaven and that we need an NAAWP to stand up for all the poor oppressed Christians, your politicians tell us they are enacting the will of the Tennessee people. I have begun to believe they speak the truth.

That's why I can't stay.

Love,
Mike Neergaard


Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-...ette_b_7167348.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

 

[another1]

Sad to think that the answer to a last ditch efforts of the non-progressive forces, in our states, is to withdraw from the battlefield.
If those who are unaffected by an injustice share the passion of those who suffer injustice, then the injustice will end.
After 25 years, we are still not where ADA expected us to be. redouble our efforts or give up?
The struggle to win hearts and minds is never over. lives, fortunes, and sacred honor are worth the risk.
I am somebody! You are somebody! Changes come about when somebody charges in a different direction. Then somebody follows!

 

[tampa24]

Sad to think that the answer to a last ditch efforts of the non-progressive forces, in our states, is to withdraw from the battlefield.
If those who are unaffected by an injustice share the passion of those who suffer injustice, then the injustice will end.
After 25 years, we are still not where ADA expected us to be. redouble our efforts or give up?
The struggle to win hearts and minds is never over. lives, fortunes, and sacred honor are worth the risk.
I am somebody! You are somebody! Changes come about when somebody charges in a different direction. Then somebody follows!

Well said!

 

[Ambivalent]

I am not singling out the state of Tennessee. But this writer is. In fairness, many of these same issues are experienced in other parts of the U.S. When it comes to the issue of Medicaid expansion, my own state of Florida is definitely on the list of states that are polarized and paralyzed by it.

As a time capsule of sorts, this letter does encapsulate much of the political and social climate of the U.S. (particularly in the South) at the beginning of the 21st century.

**********************************************​

Mike Neergaard
Mathematician, Data Scientist, and Ethics Philosopher.
Finds everyone interesting, which wastes a lot of time each day.


A Heartfelt Breakup Letter to Tennessee: This Is Why I'm Leaving


Posted: 05/01/2015 2:54 pm EDT Updated: 05/01/2015 3:59 pm EDT

Dear Tennessee,

I'm sorry; I'm leaving you.

It's not a decision I make lightly -- My great-great-great-grandfather Neergaard immigrated from Germany more than a decade before the Civil War and settled twenty-five miles from my current home. My brother, five aunts and uncles and more extended family than I can count live in Tennessee, and I have resided here for ten splendid years. Nonetheless, it's over. I considered moving out with no explanation. But I still love you, and I think you need to know why I am leaving.

It's not because I lost my job last year. It's true, I searched everywhere for a job, and I knew I would have to relocate, but I could have tried harder to stay. Yes, I know terrible things will happen wherever I live, but my decision to move away is about you.

I admit, we've had great times together. I am nurtured by memories of riding with my grandfather on his tractor and cooling off in the river, building my dream house and performing some of the best math of my career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Sadly, trips to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, warm people and beautiful fall colors are not enough to conceal the fact that we are growing apart, and we have been for some time.

I thought I was brave enough to stick it out. Someone, I reasoned, must fight at the front lines of the cultural wars against intolerance and bigotry. I'm honored to serve, and along with others in our community, our family has made a difference. We have educated educators, helped found our local PFLAG chapter, helped local Gay Straight Transgender Alliances (GSTAs) put on the East Tennessee Youth Pride Fest and housed homeless LGBT teens. By his very existence, my gay son shows that homosexuality is not a sexual perversion, but rather a sexual orientation. I'm stung by the shame of giving up and of deserting my comrades.

I wanted to accomplish more. I never did get the local evangelical church youth program to join me on a crusade against LGBT bullying. Despite the dojo's enthusiasm, I did not manage to start a self-defense course for transgender women. I wanted to schedule LGBT sensitivity training for local police forces, but it didn't happen. I looked forward to extending the Safe Place program for youth in crisis to our town. I know I didn't do everything I could; you deserved more from our relationship.

The eighth grader who asked her English teacher, "Aren't you leaving transgender people out of your pronoun lesson?" deserves better from me. The fearless teacher who mentors a local GSTA is left short an ally. The staff who stand up for GLBT students in our middle schools need my support. Our transgender middle school and high school students don't have the option of flight, as I do. I am ashamed to leave them all behind, but you can't guilt me into staying.

I know you think I'm leaving because I'm upset, and yes, I am angry. When I see a Tennessee police officer justify confiscating a tourist's money with, "he couldn't prove it was legitimate," when I learn that a Tennessee fire department let a home burn to the ground over a $75 subscription fee the homeowner wasn't eligible to pay, when the Lt. Governor of this state questions whether Muslims have a right to practice their religion, and when I must enter my local courthouse beneath a black seven-foot granite sign emblazoned with "In God We Trust," (dedicated for a "secular purpose" at a ceremony featuring four pastors sandwiched between opening and closing prayers), I am furious. But this is not an emotional decision. We just don't want the same things anymore.

I want a superior education for my children. You, on the other hand, recently passed a law purporting to help students "develop critical thinking skills" by allowing teachers to criticize evolution, global warming and any other "controversial" subject. In an unintentional tribute to former Tennessee Governor Austin Peay, Governor Haslam allowed it to become law, expressing his skepticism that "it accomplishes anything..." (When he signed the 1925 anti-evolution Butler Act into law, Tennessee Governor Peay stressed his doubt that it would be an active statute. The Scopes Monkey Trial began 111 days later.) Not content to demolish scientific literacy in Tennessee, you are also abandoning Common Core standards in favor of "standards embodying Tennessee values." Your touted Tennessee values have led to an educational system ranked 37th of all 50 states. But our differences go beyond education.

I can't stand your misogyny. You recently started charging new mothers with assault if their babies are born with drug dependencies. The increase in the drug-dependent birth rate is unabated, despite 57 women in six months who left the state to give birth, and an unknown number who avoided medical attention altogether. This signified nothing to a Tennessee district attorney, who said, "I think the women we have charged would say the law was helpful to them." I don't know which is more appalling -- the manifest patriarchy of the statement, or the unmistakable conviction of the speaker. I want a society that treats the ill, while you blame them.

In the past few days, you pressed your attack on women with legislation creating absurd regulations for abortion clinics, along with a bill creating a mandatory 48-hour waiting period following in-person counseling by a physician, with no consideration for the effect of these rules on the poor. One of your House Representatives tabled a proposed exception for rape and incest with the remark, "in most instances this is not verifiable." There is a horrifying self-consistency to this remark. After all, a rapist is only required to marry his victim and pay 50 pieces of silver to her father if he is caught in the act (Deuteronomy 22:28-29). The same representative argued against an exception for mental health, observing, "It allows someone who is going to profit from abortion to get the waiting period waived," as if paying medical professionals to practice medicine is immoral. If it bothers you that much, would you care to target insurance company doctors dictating less effective medical treatments for profit?

Trick question, I know. If medical injustice troubled you, you would have embraced medicare expansion and insured 280,000 Tennesseans. Instead, less than a month ago, your legislators ensured once again that no action will be taken this year. I hate this about you. A medical professional who lives about 15 miles from me fought through the pain from her bladder cancer to come beg for her life in person, and you sent her home to die. Your remorseless inhumanity illustrates the growing distance between us.

If you've heard nothing I've said, then at least try to grasp this: Tenn. Code Ann. § 7-51-1802 invalidates every anti-discrimination ordinance by any local government in the history of Tennessee, and absolutely forbids them to enact any more. You have had four years to undo this, and you have done nothing. Every year, you have opportunity to extend protection from school bullying to LGBT students and their allies, and you do nothing.

As the Tennessee House majority floor leader explains to us that biracial dating may not be "expedient," that God still loves people who choose to be gay, although they won't go to heaven and that we need an NAAWP to stand up for all the poor oppressed Christians, your politicians tell us they are enacting the will of the Tennessee people. I have begun to believe they speak the truth.

That's why I can't stay.

Love,
Mike Neergaard


Source: Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-...ette_b_7167348.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

*********************************

Thanks for this, Tamps. I specially appreciated this because my beloved Mr. K. is having the same problems getting medical coverage. Though he is in the relative North, lorded over by that jackass, Governor Scott Walker, who also refuses to expand the program.

"A" XOXOXOXOXO

 

[Ambivalent]

Sad to think that the answer to a last ditch efforts of the non-progressive forces, in our states, is to withdraw from the battlefield.
If those who are unaffected by an injustice share the passion of those who suffer injustice, then the injustice will end.
After 25 years, we are still not where ADA expected us to be. redouble our efforts or give up?
The struggle to win hearts and minds is never over. lives, fortunes, and sacred honor are worth the risk.
I am somebody! You are somebody! Changes come about when somebody charges in a different direction. Then somebody follows!

**************************

Another1, I totally appreciate the power, passion, and rightness of what you've said. For those who have the strength to stay and fight, that's admirable - and essential in the long-term.

However, do take some thought for those who are not so well-equipped. If a person is poor or sick or unemployed - and simply has to survive - sometimes moving is the only rational choice.

"A" XOXOXOXOXO

 

[tampa24]

*********************************

Thanks for this, Tamps. I specially appreciated this because my beloved Mr. K. is having the same problems getting medical coverage. Though he is in the relative North, lorded over by that jackass, Governor Scott Walker, who also refuses to expand the program.

"A" XOXOXOXOXO

Scott Walker is a jackass alright. He's one of the most conservative of the northern governors.

 

[another1]

my posture does not come from a position of privilege. personal strengths, experiences, supportive family and friends, solid education bring me to the conclusion that there is no place like home.
from time to time, I visit the state of my birth. I walk the city street where my grandfather was boy to men half his age. now men his age and color are called, mister. until I was 8, I played with the neighbor kid, but went to a different church and a different school. my school was closer and I had to pass his church to worship. even now I would be welcome in his church as a stranger who was lost.
with no input from me I left east Tennessee and moved to a place between the big apple and potato farms, I saw farm workers, figuratively get fucked and big apple workers, literally get fucked. that form my view that getting screwed should be a choice. The navy made the decision that brought me to beautiful so. California. luckily, I was in the navy when they thought I might die. they were wrong.
well, I will die, but their schedule was off. I am still here. I am too poor to move! my voice, charm, wit, friends, and luck are all I have.
the water is running out here! fighting for rights and water!

 

[Ambivalent]

my posture does not come from a position of privilege. personal strengths, experiences, supportive family and friends, solid education bring me to the conclusion that there is no place like home.
from time to time, I visit the state of my birth. I walk the city street where my grandfather was boy to men half his age. now men his age and color are called, mister. until I was 8, I played with the neighbor kid, but went to a different church and a different school. my school was closer and I had to pass his church to worship. even now I would be welcome in his church as a stranger who was lost.
with no input from me I left east Tennessee and moved to a place between the big apple and potato farms, I saw farm workers, figuratively get fucked and big apple workers, literally get fucked. that form my view that getting screwed should be a choice. The navy made the decision that brought me to beautiful so. California. luckily, I was in the navy when they thought I might die. they were wrong.
well, I will die, but their schedule was off. I am still here. I am too poor to move! my voice, charm, wit, friends, and luck are all I have.
the water is running out here! fighting for rights and water!

*********************************************

Another1 - your voice, charm, and wit are absolutely superlative. I am sure you are my favourite Tennessean, since Jeremiah Johnson!

Kisses,
"A" XOXOXOXOXOXO

* And here is Jeremiah. . . .

 

[Ambivalent]

Scott Walker is a jackass alright. He's one of the most conservative of the northern governors.

********************************

Tampa, Scott Walker is perhaps the KING of all jackasses - as indicated by the fact that he is the Koch brothers' personal choice, for President. He steadfastly stands against any program which could possibly assist the poor, or sick.

And look - I don't think you have to be a jackass, to be a conservative. In my British/Canadian "Red Tory" tradition, conservatism means respect for one's country's historical traditions; support for sensible fiscal policies and debt reduction; vigorous law enforcement, and strong national defence.

However, it does not, and should not exclude strong support for education, science, and culture; a responsible concern for the environment; decent support for the economically disadvantaged; and most of all - decent, affordable, and accessible health-care, for everyone.

When I was growing up, there were quite a number of moderate Republicans who were able to keep this balance.Your favourite President, Tampa - Richard Milhous Nixon (LOL!!!) inaugurated the Environmental Protection Agency - and also was on record as supporting a guaranteed annual income for citizens at or below the poverty-line.

This sort of thinking seems to be long-gone, in the Republican Party of today. Shocking as it is to me, as a Canadian - and especially surprising, as even far-right loonies like Ted Cruz hail him as their patron saint - there is little doubt that Ronald Reagan could not possibly be nominated to run for Governor of California, let alone PRESIDENT - in today's Republican Party. The same goes for George H.W. Bush - who was, I think, as good a President, as his eldest son was a BAD ONE.

I know you get this, Tampa, but if anyone doubts me on this point - just listen to what JEB BUSH had to say about it, in 2012: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2012/06/15/Why-Ronald-Reagan-Would-Not-Lead-Todays-GOP

I don't know, Tampa. I think America would be a lot better off, if the Republican Party could recover a little sanity, for itself. In the meantime, I suppose Hillary is the only choice - and perhaps not a bad one, at that ;-)

"A" XOXOXOXOXOXO

P.S. I sure would like for my b/f someday to be able to go to the doctor when he has an asthma attack, and not be hundreds of dollars out of pocket

 

[tampa24]

...conservatism means respect for one's country's historical traditions; support for sensible fiscal policies and debt reduction; vigorous law enforcement, and strong national defence.

However, it does not, and should not exclude strong support for education, science, and culture; a responsible concern for the environment; decent support for the economically disadvantaged; and most of all - decent, affordable, and accessible health-care, for everyone.

I don't know, Tampa. I think America would be a lot better off, if the Republican Party could recover a little sanity, for itself. In the meantime, I suppose Hillary is the only choice - and perhaps not a bad one, at that ;-)

"A" XOXOXOXOXOXO

You've said a mouthful Ambi. It's not that I hate conservatives. As you point out above, there is nothing wrong with some of the bedrock conservative principles. Only the extremes to which they are taken. I'm not to the extreme left myself. But what the Tea Party movement has done to the Republican party with their take no prisoners, scorched earth ideologies, is a disaster for the country.

 

[tampa24]

my posture does not come from a position of privilege. personal strengths, experiences, supportive family and friends, solid education bring me to the conclusion that there is no place like home.
from time to time, I visit the state of my birth. I walk the city street where my grandfather was boy to men half his age. now men his age and color are called, mister. until I was 8, I played with the neighbor kid, but went to a different church and a different school. my school was closer and I had to pass his church to worship. even now I would be welcome in his church as a stranger who was lost.
with no input from me I left east Tennessee and moved to a place between the big apple and potato farms, I saw farm workers, figuratively get fucked and big apple workers, literally get fucked. that form my view that getting screwed should be a choice. The navy made the decision that brought me to beautiful so. California. luckily, I was in the navy when they thought I might die. they were wrong.
well, I will die, but their schedule was off. I am still here. I am too poor to move! my voice, charm, wit, friends, and luck are all I have.
the water is running out here! fighting for rights and water!

That's a great story Another1. It shows part of the American Experience.

 

[tampa24]

I have tried writing rough drafts to try to explain the mess we have going on in my own state. Here is a recent Op-Ed piece that explains things far better then I could in one sitting.

As I write this the state government of Florida is in the midst of a Republican civil war. Both the House and Senate of the Florida government are controlled by Republicans. If Florida doesn't expand Medicaid coverage this year then the federal government has said that it may not renew the Low Income Pool money that it gives to Florida. Those in the House refuse to expand Medicaid coverage under the terms of Obamacare while the state Senate is in favor of expansion. The House says it's skeptical that the Feds will keep their promise to cover the costs of the expansion. The Feds are also saying that if Florida doesn't agree to the Medicaid expansion, that they may not renew federal help through another program (the Low Income Pool or LIP) that gives over a billion dollars to the state for reimbursement to hospitals and other providers for the unpaid care of the poor and indigent. Of course if the state had to cover that subsidy to Florida hospitals it would leave the state budget over a billion dollars shorter.

Republican governor Rick Scott despises Obama and wants nothing to do with Obama or Obamacare. In his first term a few years ago he was dead set against Medicaid expansion. Then his mother died in the hospital and he said he had changed his mind and was then in favor of it. But he couldn't get the Republicans in the House and Senate to agree to it. So the issue died for that session. Now in 2015 he has changed his mind again and is against it. So he was against it before he was for it. Before he was against it again.

The Florida House and Senate is charged with the responsibility of drafting a state budget. It's the number 1 responsibility under the state constitution. This year's session should have ended this week. Instead The Florida House illegally ended the session 3 days early with no state budget passed and went home. The Senate was informed that their colleagues had voted to leave town after the fact.

Florida Senate Democrat Arthenia Joyner of Tampa brought a lawsuit to the Florida Supreme Court asking them to find the Florida House in violation of the law and state constitution. In a unanimous decision the F.S.C. agreed that recessing early without a budget was illegal. They noted however that with only one day of the scheduled session left on the calendar, that they could not force the House members to return to Tallassee. The Republican majority leader of the Florida Senate publicly thanked Democrat Joyner for bringing the lawsuit to the Supreme Court. He expressed some hope that the Supreme Court decision would be guide and precedent for future sessions of the Florida Legislature.

A special session of the Florida Legislature is the only option since by law a state budget has to be approved no later than July 1st.

****************************************************************************​

Give Gov. Rick Scott credit; he has some nerve

Tim Nickens, Editor of Editorials
Friday, May 1, 2015 3:09pm


The governor's audacity is impressive, his shamelessness is without limits and his disregard for public perception remains strong.

This is the guy who helped build the nation's largest hospital chain, Columbia/HCA. He was the CEO whose empire made $1.5 billion in profit in 1996, awarded big bonuses to top executives and ruthlessly pressured low-performing hospitals to generate more revenue.

And now in the midst of a political stalemate over health care for low-income Floridians, the governor wants to create a commission to investigate hospital profits and health care costs.

This is the former hospital executive who resigned as the Justice Department investigated his company. That company later pleaded guilty to felony charges and paid a record fine for Medicare fraud.

And now the governor says Medicaid is a flawed program and the federal government cannot be trusted.

This is the wealthy lawyer who moved to Florida just seven years before he ran for the state's highest office. He financed his hostile takeover of the state in 2010 with more than $70 million from his tainted health care fortune, and he threw in millions more at the last minute in 2014 when it appeared he might not win re-election.

And now the governor does not want to provide 800,000 low-income Floridians health coverage and is going after hospitals that support accepting federal Medicaid expansion dollars.

So give Scott credit.

As my mother used to say in a certain tone of voice, that takes some nerve.

The Legislature ended its regular session last week in a bitter mess over health care. House Republicans abruptly adjourned three days early rather than consider the Senate's bipartisan plan to accept the Medicaid expansion money and overhaul the Low Income Pool that helps cover hospital costs for the uninsured. Legislators will return for a special session at some point to resume the fight over health care and a state budget, which has to be approved by July 1.

Normally, the governor would be helpful in setting the direction and forging a compromise. Not Scott, who spent some of the legislative session's final days trying to poach jobs in California, visiting a giant Ferris wheel in Orlando and opening another Wawa in Fort Myers. He has few relationships with legislators, his top staff is ineffective and unqualified and his credibility in the capital is negligible.

Let's review.

Scott disdains the Affordable Care Act and took extraordinary steps to try to derail it. He opposed Medicaid expansion when he took office in 2011. Then he supported it after the Obama administration granted the state federal Medicaid waivers in 2013, saying he could not "in good conscience deny the uninsured access to care.'' Now he opposes it again.

This is a secretive, tone-deaf governor who still lacks a firm grasp of the tools of the office. He governs by written statements and lawsuits that are often poorly executed and without merit.

As the Legislature's divisions deepened, Scott threatened to call a special session. He demanded a continuation budget, a term that applies to Washington but not to Tallahassee. He threatened individual senators with vetoes of their priorities, which did not help. He filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over the Low Income Pool, which should not succeed. He announced his commission to investigate health care costs, which is a stalling tactic. And he said the Legislature should pass a state budget that includes neither Medicaid expansion money nor $1.3 billion in federal money for the Low Income Pool.

Think about this. Scott would rather give up his proposed tax cuts than side with the Senate, accept the federal Medicaid money and subsidize private health insurance for low-income Floridians. He would rather use state tax money to make up for lost federal tax money to the Low Income Pool. And he would rather pay state tax revenue for uninsured Floridians to use expensive hospital emergency rooms than to use federal money to subsidize private health coverage that would pay for less expensive preventive care.

The self-proclaimed jobs governor preaches fiscal responsibility and government efficiency. Yet he will not back a Senate plan that would reduce health care costs, create jobs and save state taxpayers more than $1 billion over five years.

This is not about what is best for Floridians or this state. This is about the political future of the state's worst governor in modern times. This is about avoiding anything tied to the Obama administration, pleasing the Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity and courting the tea party Republicans that got him elected in the first place.

This is about Rick Scott looking out for Rick Scott.

You have to admire his focus.


Source: Tampa Bay Times http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/nickens-give-gov-rick-scott-credit-he-has-some-nerve/2227923

 

[another1]

The truth is the federal government has a history of forgetting promises. not to give comfort to the other side, but in time the bill will be passed on to the states and their citizens. I know health care is important, but does anyone recall federal dollars built the interstate and now there is no money to maintain them. this is not a stand up for assholes month statement. assholes can keep shit from flowing through the system, but they fill a purpose.

 

[tampa24]

The truth is the federal government has a history of forgetting promises. not to give comfort to the other side, but in time the bill will be passed on to the states and their citizens. I know health care is important, but does anyone recall federal dollars built the interstate and now there is no money to maintain them.

In all honesty Another1 you are right that the commitment by the federal government to pay for the expansion of Medicaid in individual states is not an open ended promise in perpetuity. I believe they pay about 100% of it for a certain number of years. Then it drops by a certain percentage each year after that. So then we are back to the same liberal/conservative argument as before. Is it a sound investment for society to pay for the healthcare of the poor? Or is it a waste of good money better spent elsewhere? Or not spent by the government at all and left uncollected with the taxpayers themselves to do with as they please? Should the poor who are sick just be left to fend for themselves and thereby decrease the surplus population?

 

[Kylebrand]

You guys are a bunch of thinkers! The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself...Almost inevitably, he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable.
If you have to make a law that hurts a number of people, just to prove your morals and faith, then you have no true morals or faith to speak of.
Great post Tampa! Thanks another, your truth is always refreshing. Ambi, you got skills, man! xxooxxoo to all, Kyle

 

[tampa24]

I'm glad you enjoy the conversation Kyle! Where do you (or any others in here) stand on some of these issues?

Should the so-called safety net for the poor be expanded or cut back? Should that money be kept in the taxpayers' wallets or used to help out those living on the margins of society? Should the government or even the judiciary be trying to enforce its vision of social mores or customs on society at large?

 

[Kylebrand]

If I were charged to come up with solutions our problems, it would be necessary for me to think long and hard, including research going back to the beginning of these programs, then make graphs displaying the results; demographics, education, any disabilities, equal opportunities, etc. etc. to perpetuity. All that is to say, do what we have to do to feed the hungry, heal the sick, house the homeless.
Some of my students said the only food they get (other than stealing it, or a kind neighbor) is at school. So, guess what Congress did on our behalf? Cut the budget on that! As a kid, when I brought a friend to gramma's house, after introductions, she would always say something like: "Have you eaten today? I just made a cherry pie, or some cookies and milk if you want, or both" Having come through the depression, she knew things that I did not know. We were poor (and I didn't know that either) but always had room for one more. I was lucky to have had such great teachers in my life as she and my grandpa. I suppose if one is gifted with empathy, we have no choice but to help (with follow-up of course, and good record keeping, etc.)

This man says he can do it. He believes in more taxes on the billionaires, less on middle class. Feed them, give them health care, and other such social programs. The extra taxes will pay for it. Yes, he is Bernie Sanders (.com). He is a socialist. He is an Independent from Vermont (in Congress for many years as such) running against Hillary on the democratic ticket. Has a lot to say along these lines I think he is for marijuana and for equality for women, gays, etc. I'm not sure of his immigration policy. Speaking of which, have we closed our borders? Or just the one to the south? I'm sure that over the years, many people (white) were allowed in, no questions asked, just sign this paper and you may leave Ellis Island and make a home for yourself. What's up? Could Ambi, from Canada, move here with no hassle still? [we won't force you "A", lol]

 

[tampa24]

Hey Kyle!

It's interesting that you should bring up Bernie Sanders who espouses a non-apologetic socialist agenda. People such as him certainly get folks on the right all riled up. haha

 

[tampa24]

I realize I'm sharing relatively local news. So it may not be of interest to lots of people in here. Nonetheless I think it's insightful as to how some Republicans are behaving in the 21st century. Here is another take on Florida Governor Rick Scott. He's either a hero who tricked the Feds...or he's a snake in the grass.


****************************************************************************


Florida budget snarled as governor challenges 'Obamacare'

By GARY FINEOUT and KELLI KENNEDY
May 8, 2015 7:49 PM

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a longtime opponent of "Obamacare," made a startling announcement shortly after his mother's death, going on TV two years ago to explain that he had dropped his objections to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The Republican governor, a former hospital executive who entered politics running TV ads against the Affordable Care Act, said then in 2013 that his mother's death had changed his perspective, and that he could no longer "in good conscience" oppose expanding health care coverage to nearly 1 million Floridians.

Scott's allies, opponents and the press corps in Tallahassee were incredulous over his change of heart, asking if his support for Medicaid expansion could be a calculated move designed to win Obama administration approval for his long-sought proposal to hand control of the existing Medicaid population's health care over to private insurance companies.

Scott insisted then that his sudden reversal was motivated by the death of his mother, and that he wasn't expecting anything from Obama in exchange. But he soon got the federal waiver he had been pressing for, and private companies now manage Medicaid benefits for more than three million Floridians.

Scott's gratitude didn't last — he is again one of the nation's harshest critics of "Obamacare" and the Medicaid expansion the president has been lobbying for. Scott even sued the federal government two weeks ago, alleging that Obama is illegally coercing the state to expand Medicaid to more of the working poor, in ways that could cost taxpayers dearly.

Now the governor says he shouldn't be forced to expand the same program he supported two years ago, even if the financial terms are now much better for Florida: With its current Medicaid population, Florida pays 40 percent of the bill and the federal government pays 60 percent. Under Medicaid expansion, the feds will pay the entire bill at first, and 90 percent thereafter.

"He engaged in a deceitful plan to privatize Medicaid, all while pretending to embrace an expansion of the program that would help his constituents. I'm at a loss to think of a time when truer colors were more exposed," U.S. congresswoman Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said in a statement Friday.

This dispute over Medicaid is the chief reason the Florida Legislature, with large GOP majorities in both houses, adjourned its annual session last week without passing a budget, as it must by July 1. The Senate, backed by hospitals and business groups, supported a plan to expand Medicaid, while the more conservative House, with Scott's blessing, rejected that.

The pressure remains high. Florida's budget has a gaping hole, and a $1 billion federal grant that defrays hospital care for indigent patients in the state expires June 30 unless state Republicans can reach a deal with the Obama administration.

An AP reporter asked the governor a tough question Thursday after Scott returned empty-handed from Washington, where he had tried to persuade Obama's Health and Human Services secretary to extend the grant even without a Medicaid deal.

"Two years ago you did come out in favor of expansion," the reporter asked. "Could you explain to me — were you lying back then — or has something changed, other than an election, between now and then to get you to change your position?"

"Let's remember what I said back then. It was the day that we were able to get our waivers done," Scott responded.

Republican State Sen. Joe Negron, the architect of Florida's plan to get federal Medicaid money two years ago, told the AP Friday that it was always clear to him that Scott's fleeting endorsement of Obamacare back then was intended to win the waiver. "In his mind those two policy items were linked," Negron said.

After the AP reported Friday that Scott "conceded" that his earlier support of Medicaid expansion was a "ruse," the governor's office issued a statement calling that characterization incorrect.

"Governor Scott answered the question by discussing that he came out in support of Medicaid expansion, only if it was fully federally funded, at the same time the federal government granted Florida a waiver to let the state reform its Medicaid system. Unfortunately, the AP editorialized the Governor's statement."

Source: AP and Yahoo.com
http://news.yahoo.com/florida-budget-snarled-governor-challenges-obamacare-223221941.html