Surprise announcement on the healthcare reform front this week—Governor Brewer of Arizona has announced she wants her state to participate in the Medicaid Expansion. I’m posting a link to the Huffpo article, even though I realize it is not the most unbiased source, because of the comment section. Scan through it if you have a few minutes because of late work openings from icy roads today! (Hey, give us a break, Yankees—we want to sleep in now and then, and if we have to declare black ice that is almost as imaginary as a Te’o girlfriend, cut us some slack).
Notice a common theme? Apparently she is doing the “right thing for the wrong reasons.”
I understand what they are saying. They think she should have a change of heart and do it because she cares about the uninsured poor, not because she wants Arizona’s cut of the money. But that kind of thinking isn’t helpful. We have to stop insisting everyone gives us good reasons for actions, as long as there ARE actually good reasons and evidence. Let her use whatever reasons she needs to use, as long as she does the right thing.
I’m not a believer in using any means to a good end—the path to a goal needs to be as ethical as the goal itself, or something screwy will happen. The end result will be tainted by what it took to get there. I’ve seen it happen in person too many times to believe otherwise. But reasons are not the same as means, even if they make us roll our eyes.
Neurology research points more and more to reason being evolved as an overlay—something may we generate AFTER we decide what we are really going to do. We crave reasons and can’t avoid making them, but we have to take them with a grain of salt, because we don’t always know where they really came from. As Pascal said, “the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” It might have been a word we didn’t even know we noticed. We use reasons to persuade each other, so being a skillful reason maker does matter. What we DO with our reasons matters more.
Add this nugget to Alabama's long, sordid history of our elected officials pledging to ignore federal laws. But at least Madison County Sheriff Blake Dorning tries to dress his pig in a Supreme Court robe: he won't enforce any gun laws that are "unconstitutional," he promises.
Madison County Sheriff Blake Dorning told WHNT News 19 that his office will not enforce new gun control legislation if he feels those laws violate the Second Amendment. Dorning said he has serious doubts about President Obama’s latest proposals, stating that any gun laws which do pass would have to be in line with the U.S. Constitution and Alabama state law in order to be enforceable. [...] “As long as you are a law-abiding citizen, then I don’t see a problem with law-abiding citizens being able to arm themselves however they so choose,” said Dorning, who pledged to ignore any law that would call for the confiscation of assault weapons or any other firearm. “Our people in our communities and homes need not fear that the Sheriff of Madison County or his deputies would come to their homes and make an attempt to disarm them. It will not happen under my watch.”
Holy Marbury vs Madison, Batman! Do not pass Go, do not ask SCOTUS for review, just call up the Madison County, AL Sheriff for Constitutional law advice!
Notice how deftly Dorning tosses in a strawman about "disarming" people at the end of that statement. It plays totally into the paranoid conspiracy theory that the feds - backed by UN black helicopters & copies of the fanciful Agenda 21 - are just waiting for marching orders from the half-Kenyan, half-Muslim, half-Socialist, half-Fascist non-American spawn of Hitler occupying the White House. Don't bother to point out that no person can be "four halves" because these are not people who can be swayed by either logic o.r math
It's really amazing: thesheriff of one of Alabama's most populous counties has the time to do his job, the aptitude to study constitutional law, and the legal expertise to interpret laws. Oh, and he also possesses the total chutzpah to think that he has the authority to choose which laws he'll follow and which laws he won't.
That hasn't worked out so well for us in the past.
Let's visit those not-so-thrilling days of yesteryear, why don't we....
Lynching. Now, murder has always been against the law, but Southern law enforcement officials ignored that fact when it came to lynching. Southern politicians prevented the passage of a federal anti-lynching law and the US Office of Civil Rights (part of the DOJ) obtained its first lynching conviction in 1964 after a lynching in Florida.
Hate Crimes: We have federal hate crimes laws because - once again - local officials have had a tendency to ignore crimes committed against marginalized groups: GLBT, Native Americans, minority religions, etc.
The President cannot get the two major revisions unless Congress signs off, but Sheriff Dorning said even if they do, Washington is not his final authority.
Um... yes it is.
George Wallace. Schoolhouse Door. Enough Said.
The amazing thing here is that it's Sheriff Dorning who thinks President Obama is out of line and overstepping his authority.
Please Sheriff, remove the log in your own eye before worrying about the speck in anyone else's.
(If a group of high school students can come together and talk rationally about Alabama's budget & tax system, why can't our actual legislators? - promoted by countrycat)
This summer, I had the honor and privilage of attending the American Legion's Boys State. I successfully ran for Governor there, running on moderate Democratic prinicples. After I won, director Judge Pete Johnson gave me a "Governor's Challenge". I had to pass a budget through the Boys State House and Senate in 48 hours, while fixing the structual deficit. I am proud to say that we did just that. The very plan we passed through a Republican-predominant Boys State is below.
At the end of the day, when we worked on the budget, party affiliations dropped. The next generation of Alabamian leaders wants one thing and one thing only:: good change and progress for the people of the state.
Now, with the legislative session coming right around the corner, I need your help. LIA, I need you to promote this budget, or parts of it to Montgomery.
While the budget is certianly not likely to fully pass in this session, some parts could. Even if some parts do not, at least the conversation for them passing in the future has started. Please let me know what you think. Thank you!
Alabama Democrats have reason to celebrate! The ADP is planning a grand opening at its new Birmingham Field Office tomorrow, Jan. 17th at 4:30 pm. Join the party for a ribbon cutting at the headquarters (2024 4th Ave. North). A reception follows at the Harbert Center (2019 4th Ave. North).
You know how we've been dunning you and even begging people to donate to the ADP for over a year now? Well.... here it is again!
Some people have been reluctant to donate because of dissatisfaction with how the party operated in the past. They doubted whether Judge Mark Kennedy could actually change anything - if indeed he really wanted to.
It's always a bit of a circular argument: people want to see results before they donate to an organization, but it's hard to get results without money. So hats off to those donors who did have faith in Kennedy and his staff.
Those of you still hanging back and wanting to see some real change can see - and visit it - in Birmingham.
FYI, Madison County Democrats recently decided to keep their headquarters building open year-round. It's a busy place, with party meetings, committee meetings, and lots of organizing.
Things are changing for the better in the ADP. Our new state leadership was the catalyst and it's great to see people and county parties stepping up as well.
Because what happens if you do? Why, you might have to actually ask questions about utility rates and profit margins. Oops, no! Wrong answer. If you do, you'll get shunned by your fellow GOP members & scolded by the party establishment.
Well, just so we can discuss this issue rationally...
John Archibald at Al.com has the latest turn in this twisty story of industry influence and political posturing. There's a penalty to be paid in the Alabama GOP when you question the motives of Alabama Power:
Are rates too high? I don't know. Maybe it's time to take a formal look at it.
Which is pretty much what Dunn said.
And you'd have thought he had outed himself as Barack Obama's secret lover.
The rebuke -- the revulsion -- was swift.
Dunn was refused admittance to a statehouse function, he said. He was called before House Speaker Mike Hubbard and told he was "taking his job too seriously."
He was labeled a tree-hugger and a radical environmentalist - a bait-and-switch that would be amusing if it wasn't so effective - and blasted as a conspirator in a plot to kill coal mining.
Dunn was marginalized in his own party because he did what he was elected to do: regulate the utilities, and not simply lie down and sleep with them.
Surely Archibald isn't surprised by this fact and it's hard to believe that Dunn thought his fellow GOP commissioners would be at all willing to shine a light on utility shenanigans.
After all, Twinkle ran on a platform to keep Barack Obama and abortion out of Alabama. As the Al.com commenters point out - she's been successful:
Twinkle's leadership works for Alabama. When she ran for office she promised (1) to fight abortion and (2) to fight Obama. And not ONE abortion has been performed at the PSC on her watch and Obama has YET to set foot in a PSC meeting. They ought to put her picture on money.
Keep on fighting for us, Mr. Dunn! Even if it's probably a losing cause, it's certainly reassuring to see at least one public official in Alabama who's actually working in the public interest.
(There has to be a better solution than "pistol packing principals..." - promoted by countrycat)
Many school boards are quietly discussing various ways and means to prevent more mass murderers from taking the lives of more American children.
Texas has already begun serious discussion of having armed, trained teachers as the first line of defense against a lone shooter. I say we need to temper safety with maintaining a normal environment and reasonable precautions. The chance of any school having a gunman go on a spree is undoubtedly smaller than its chance of getting hit by lightning.
I think I have a better idea than armed teachers: let's wire the schools like banks with concealed panic buttons going directly to local police. Have a loud alarm go off, which would let everyone in every part of the building know what's happening. Have more than one button, and keep their locations unknown to the general public.
ABC produced a video together with VPC, where they give inexperienced to fairly experienced regular people a gun and a bit of training. Let's see how they do against a "lone gunman". The training is more than required by most states for a concealed carry permit.
There are also gunshot sensors available which have been in use by city PD's for some years now:
Eugene C. Patterson’s editorials in the Atlanta Constitution inspired students at the Atlanta University consortium, Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark College, Morris Brown College, and Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC).
His editorials inspired some students, who could have chosen to ignore Civil Rights, from the University of Georgia, Georgia Institute of Technology, Agnes Scott College, and Emory University. Southern students who could have chosen to ignore the civil rights struggle, instead live less dangerously as white folk.
His editorials eventually changed Atlanta, Georgia some too.
The headline I had planned to use for this post today was "When Will The GOP Shut Up About Rape?" but Politico's is so much more fun. Just when we thought we'd seen the last of the "GOP rape guys" when both Akin and Mourdock lost their Senate races, Rep. Phil Gingrey of GA helpfully stepped up to fill the void and - of course - blame the media for reporting that Akin said:
“And in Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that.”
Gingrey pointed out that he had been an OB-GYN since 1975.
“And I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.’ So he was partially right wasn’t he? But the fact that a woman may have already ovulated 12 hours before she is raped, you’re not going to prevent a pregnancy there by a woman’s body shutting anything down because the horse has already left the barn, so to speak. And yet the media took that and tore it apart.”
But then there are those pesky "facts:"
The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said adrenaline wouldn’t have any impact on ovulation and said rape is “never legitimate.”
So, is the GOP going to "shut down" this type of talk by running candidates with at least some basic understanding of biology? We wish. They still think the problem is how the message is presented, not the warped worldview that uses terms like "legitimate rape."
And it may have added new urgency to a training program that’s already being launched by an anti-abortion group — the Susan B. Anthony list — to keep candidates and lawmakers from continually making the same kind of comments that may have helped ruin Republicans’ chances of winning the Senate.
[...]
Marina Ein, whose public relations firm does crisis communications, said the party needs some kind of “sensitivity training” for its candidates if it wants to do better in the next elections.
“It all boils down to whether or not the Republican Party thinks this is a problem,” she said. “If they want to make inroads with women, then they need to subject every one of their candidates to sensitivity training — not to mention reality training.”
Here's a helpful suggestion.... Maybe the GOP could stop looking for reasons to excuse the behavior of rapists and start protecting the victims. Maybe by re-authorizing the "Violence Against Women Act" that they've blocked for months now.
It's time to take the "Public" out of the Alabama Public Service Commission's name. After all, they stopped serving the public interest a long time ago and Terry Dunn, the only PSC Commissioner with any interest in protecting the public, is fighting a losing battle with his fellow GOP commissioners:
Dunn's motion asked for a formal review of ranges of return on equity allowed for utilities, specifically the allowed range for Alabama Power Company, Alabama Gas Corporation and Mobile Gas Service Corporation.
His motion also asked for the reviews to be conducted every six years.
"How could this not be the right thing to do when we haven't ever done it? said Dunn spokesman David Rountree.
PSC Commissioner Twinkle (I love coal!) Cavanaugh responded in typical GOP/TEA Party fashion: Jobs! Evil Environmentalists! More Coal! Protect the Family! All she left out was a mention of Jesus, but maybe that comes next meeting....
Not to be outdone on the conspiracy front, newly-appointed Commissioner Jeremy Oden tossed in a warning about the right-wing's favorite monsters - LAWYERS - invading formal hearings and, shudder, asking questions!
Oden said formal hearings would result in lawyers answering questions asked by other lawyers. He said the informal reviews would allow more conversation.
No doubt it's also easier in an "informal" review, to pocket campaign contribution checks with nobody noticing.
What might formal hearings uncover? The Alabama Political Reporter served up this tidbit:
Under the current approved rates Alabama Power is allowed to clear 13% to 14.5% return on their investment. If their costs go up to where they make less than a 13% profit, the PSC can raise rates to return the state regulated monopoly back to their accustomed profit margin. If costs go down to where Alabama Power is making more than 14.5% the PSC can reduce power rates. Critics of the system point out that recent Alagasco bills have been twice what Mississippi gas customers pay. A series of bad hedging bets meant that the Alabama Gas Company was paying twice what gas was selling for on the cash market. However since 1983 the PSC guarantees Alagasco no less than a 13.15% profit so consumers in Alabama paid for Alagasco’s bad hedging bets with higher heating bills. The current rates of return were set by the PSC decades ago.
A report by Regulatory Research Associates found that Alabama Power, Alagasco, and Mobile Gas guaranteed rate of returns was well above average for the industry.
Dunn wasn't dissuaded:
Dunn in a statement said his colleagues were "trying to change the subject rather than give the public a straight answer about why they are fighting a proposal that is so obviously in the public interest and so obviously overdue."
Dunn questioned how a rate review translated into an environmental or economic development issue.
"And why is she scrambling so hard to change the subject?" he said of Cavanaugh.
Holy cow! An Alabama PSC Commissioner who's calling for greater transparency, accountability, and public scrutiny of private utilities? Doesn't this poor guy realize that those aren't Alabama Republican values?
Could be, Dunn is just bored. After all, the PSC really doesn't have much to do since the Alabama Legislature has stripped it of the power to monitor and regulate, well, just about anything:
NO ability to even map broadband service availability in Alabama communities. Instead, we had to pay an out-of-state company $1.7 million because the PSC has no legal authority to do so.
Surely these formal hearings with utility companies are more useful to the public than the PSC's industry giveaways:
Turns out the Alabama Public Service Commission has also negotiated special rates with Alabama Power to encourage job creation. Part of the PSC's scheme to create jobs increases the upper demand limit for businesses to qualify for special small business rates. The savings amounts to about $25 a month, which doesn't seem like enough to encourage a business to create even one more job.
Another part of the PSC scheme is to give a rate discount to businesses that open or expand in a building that's been vacant for 6 months or more. This amounts to 10.5% to 12.5% off the total bill, which could be quite a substantial amount.
Unfortunately, the example given in this report is of a chiropractor who moved to Alabama, but admits he didn't even know about the discount program when he decided to locate his practice in a vacant strip mall.
The sad thing is that even if Commissioner Dunn succeeds in doing his job and brings more scrutiny to utility companies, it will only take a few howls from Alabama Power for that to change. As in the past, the Alabama Legislature will probably be more than happy to step in and make the Alabama PSC even more toothless.
Pity poor Dale Petersen. He didn't even have time to settle his horse in the barn at the Agriculture Department before Commissioner McMillan rescinded his cushy job offer. Or maybe Petersen quit (before he ever started). The charges are flying as the two former political rivals offer competing versions of the story:
McMillan had planned to hire Shelby County businessman Dale Peterson, who ran against McMillan in the Republican primary in 2010, but Peterson announced Thursday he's not going to work at the state agriculture department. Peterson says he realized McMillan was trying to neutralize him and keep him from being a potential candidate in 2014.
McMillan said he notified Peterson on Wednesday that the nearly $73,000-a-year job was off. McMillan said he received negative reaction to the hiring and it would be a distraction for the department.
That makes sense: a lot of people find Dale Petersen to be totally distracting.
But now the fun begins! Petersen wasn't content with that tiny hint of conspiracy quoted by the AP, so he took to his Facebook page to deliver a broadside against McMillan, the Agriculture Department, the Deputy Commissioners, even the office space to be provided for him.
Here's a sample. The entire rant is on the flip. If even a tiny sliver of it is actually true, then this could be the race to watch in 2014:
At that time I agreed, after John told me the Department is crumbling, in shambles and he needed someone there who has extensive business experience to put it back together. I knew it would make the other Deputy Commissioners uncomfortable due to their lack of farm and business experience.
As the nation prepares for the 57th inauguration of a new President, we have a lot to celebrate! Although emotions ran high and the rhetoric was pretty hot, our citizens accepted the results without violence. In America, we're used to that, but it's certainly not the case in other parts of the world. This election showed the resilience of our political process and our commitment to our political institutions.
Madison County Democrats are planning to do more than feel proud though: they're getting ready to party and everyone is invited!
Here's the flyer with ticket information:
We'll be celebrating many things:
Our chance to move this country forward with a fairer tax code and increased opportunity for all.
The wisdom of the American voters, who saw through the smokescreen of misinformation and elected the candidate who will work for us - not just the 1% at the top & the big money donors.
All the new friends we made during the campaign.
Even though we didn't turn Alabama blue this time, there were victories had, friendships formed, and a foundation for the future was laid.
Is your county party celebrating the Inauguration? Please let us know about it in the comments - or in your own diary.
How low can they go? Over the weekend, Public Policy Polling measured the popularity of Congress against 26 different things. The good news? Congress is more popular than Ebola, Fidel Castro, meth labs, & North Korea.
But less popular than traffic jams, used car salesmen, colonoscopies, and even Donald Trump (although that result was pretty close).
"In every swing state, its final presidential polls were validated Tuesday night as PPP reported the correct winner in all 9 battlegrounds and in the 3 other states (Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania) that the Romney campaign feinted toward.
Previous polls have measured Congress' approval rating with a simple approve/disapprove question. A survey last fall found it to be 3.5% - well within the poll's 5% margin of error. PPP decided to approach the subject from a different angle:
We've seen poll after poll after poll over the last year talking about how unpopular Congress is but really, what's the difference between an 11% or a 9% or a 7% favorability rating? So we decided to take a different approach and test Congress' popularity against 26 different things. And what we found is that Congress is less popular than cockroaches, traffic jams, and even Nickelback.
On Saturday, AL-05 Congressman Mo Brooks told AL.com's George Talbot that taxpayers "should not have to fork out a nickel" to pay for property damage in areas historically vulnerable to storms." So that raises the question of Brooks' own AL-05 district that is so "historically vulnerable" to tornado damage that a 2007 study of tornado damage found that "the most tornado-prone spot in Alabama is in Madison County."
"During the 56-year period of the study, 68 tornadoes have touched down within the 20-mile circle. Five of the tornadoes were rated F5, the most violent of all twisters.
Tatum said that North Alabama tends to receive more strong tornadoes, those rated F3, F4, or F5, than other parts of the state."
So let's think about Mo's statement that taxpayers shouldn't "fork out a nickel" for people dumb enough to live where storms hit. Aside from the fact that his statement covers the whole %$$% country (because every place is vulnerable to some sort of natural disaster), does that mean that the next time our district is devastated by tornadoes, floods, drought, or any similar curse from Mother Nature, that our own Congressman from AL-05 will put ideology ahead of recovery?
He didn't in 2011, when he held town meetings to assure tornado victims that they were "entitled" to help:
"I urge tornado victims to attend these meetings to better understand their federal assistance rights," said Brooks. "Some of it is in the form of loans, SBA long term low interest loans but there are also direct grants that you do not have to repay if you qualify, unemployment compensation, rents as you try to find a new place to live."
Well... that was then. On Saturday, Talbot reported that Brooks is standing by his "screw you, Sandy victims" vote and promising to do the same in the future:
Brooks said he would raise similar objections if the damage had been in Alabama.
"We're at a point in this nation where hard choices have to be made, or the federal government is going to bankrupt the American people," he said. "We just can't keep spending money this way."
Give him a D for "delusional" if he thinks there are no consequences to this behavior. Just yesterday, he was bragging on his FB page that he'd been appointed as Vice-chair of the House Committee on Science, Space, & Technology:
As the home of Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama’s Fifth District has played a central role in leading the United States, and the world, into space. I’m looking forward to working with national and Alabama leaders to continue America’s exceptional space exploration and research legacy.
Now, let's think about this.... even if his fellow Senators & Representatives are caring and partriotic enough to help us out in Alabama the next time we have an "attack of the killer tornadoes,"does Brooks seriously think that goodwill might extend to jobs programs in his district?
Instead of working to heal the partisan divide - and protect his district that it quite dependent on federal spending - Brooks prefers to toss rhetorical bombs like this one:
Brooks also poked fun at the members of the Senate in their 70s and 80s for approving the fiscal cliff bill with a vote shortly before 2 a.m. on New Year's Day.
"At 1:30 in the morning, most folks of that generation really need to be asleep," Brooks said. "But unfortunately, (Senate Majority Leader) Harry Reid, about 1:30, gave our senators a bill. At 1:45, they were expected to vote on it. It was a $4 trillion increase-in-our-debt decision. It was a bill, related to the fiscal cliff, that was going to increase spending rather than decrease spending."
That's right: it was so late at night that the Senators - who voted 89-8 to approve the deal - were, what exactly.... old codgers who didn't know what they were doing?
It surely won't be long before we can look up "schmuck" in the online Thesaurus and click on a link to Mo Brooks' Web site.
Nice work if you can get it.... Our Ag Commissioner, John McMillan has hired his GOP primary opponent, Dale (don't shoot the horse) Petersen as his "confidential assistant."
Hall said McMillan felt there was a need for someone at the department with a business background. Hall said there has not been a confidential assistant before, and the hiring must be approved by the state Personnel Board at a meeting Jan. 16.
Now, my first thought here was.... "what the heck is a confidential assistant and how do I score a state job making over $70k/year?" So I checked out the online job site Monster.com and found only 3 listings for "confidential assistants" in the entire US. And none of the qualifications include "able to embarrass your entire state with stupid political ads."
So what's Peterson going to do - and will the horse be involved somehow? The AL.com article just gets weirder at the end:
"I told John, 'I'll stoke the furnace and you steer the ship,'" Peterson said.
Ok then...
It's important to know that this hire comes almost a year after McMillan said his department no longer has the staff necessary to inspect and verify the accuracy of the state's gas pumps and grocery scales:
Stacy Boshell, director of the weights and measures division, said the lack of inspectors now limits it to performing random inspections on only 5 percent to 10 percent of the more than 90,000 fuel pumps in the state each year.
So while merchants may be taking money out of your pocket with inaccurate measures, McMillan is happy to put money in the pockets of his buddy Petersen.
It’s been a busy winter already—flu season is in full force, and that means I have a little less time to get to blogging. I do want you to know about an important upcoming event.
Our state NAACP chapter is having a rally next week, Saturday January 12, from 12 to 2 pm on the steps of our Capitol building in Montgomery, to support healthcare reform. I understand there are plans for an ongoing effort to move our state forward, especially around the Medicaid Expansion—let’s ALL show up next Saturday. The bigger the crowd, the more press and legislative impact we can make! I’m supposed to be in a marathon all-day board meeting in Prattville, but I’m going to slip out for a bit to participate as one of the speakers. Maybe someone will write me a doctor’s excuse?
I’ve written previously about the Expansion—in a nutshell, it would extend Medicaid benefits to adults below 133% of the federal poverty level. There is nothing in the ACA to help them otherwise—over 100% of poverty, they are eligible for subsidies on the Exchange, but they may not be able to afford the premiums and cost-sharing required. I tried looking up the exact amounts on the Kaiser calculator but it automatically puts anyone under 133% of poverty on Medicaid. I guess the people at Kaiser are so reasonable that they couldn’t imagine a state refusing the funds. When I enter a 27 year old single person making 16K pre-tax a year, 139% of poverty, it tells me he would pay $537 over a year for premiums—not too bad. But cost-sharing (co-pays and deductibles) is capped at $2083, in addition to the premiums. I doubt that 27 year old has 2K in a savings account. He might have an insurance card he can’t afford to use.
If you are at 100% of poverty or below, you will have NO access to subsidies on the Exchange. So it is the Medicaid Expansion or nothing. Let’s say you are a 27 year old single mother of 3. Or, for those who will get caught up worrying about whether a 27 year old single woman with low income “should” have 3 children, let’s make it easier and say you are a 27 year old widowed mother of 3. You could work more than 60 hrs a week at minimum wage and still be below the 100% poverty level! You could get Medicaid for your children, but for you—nothing. I see this in my office every day. Hardworking parents or even grandparents raising children, who can’t get health insurance. Many of them know they have untreated high blood pressure, untreated asthma, untreated diabetes—all their resources go into doing everything they can for the children. Wouldn’t you do the same? Sadly, many will die early from the long-term effects of these illnesses.
Governor Bentley says we can’t afford to do right by them, but he is wrong. Ask him why we can afford to hand out subsidy after subsidy to big businesses as “incentives” to employ people at wages or hours too low to get insurance. They are increasing our healthcare costs, but somehow we can still afford to give them welfare.
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And in Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that.” 
