Fight the fight or quit.

Soon, as in a couple of hours, Florida Governor Charlie Crist will announce a decision regarding his candidacy for the United States Senate. I’ve said it before, and let me state it again: I am a proud NPA (No Party Affiliation) Florida Voter. I have declared myself NPA my entire adult life, and I vote.

Although I voted for Crist for Governor, if he changes parties he will not receive my vote. He’s said before that he would run as a Republican. Then he said that he would “consider” running as an Independent.

Well, and forgive me for speaking to you personally Mr. Governor, here’s the thing Charlie. This is not a decision that you have to think over. This is simple. Either you have the cojones (balls) to run under your party or you don’t. If you are going to change your party, it’s being done for one reason — because you think you’ll lose.

Don’t spin this any other way. I imagine that if you change from the Republican party that you will attempt to spin it as the party no longer represents what you believe, or they’ve lost track, yatta yatta yatta.

To me, this is nothing short of bullshit. And this comes from someone with no love for the Republican party.

Either you have the cojones or you don’t. You started it as a Republican, and either fight the fight or quit. Changing your party affiliation will only prove to show that (1) you don’t believe you can win as a Republican and (2) that you’re already playing politics.

I want neither from my Senator.

So, Mr. Governor… you may very well have a better chance of winning the Senate seat as an independent— but you will do so without my vote.

And of course, I have no desire to vote for Rubio.

So, stand up. Fight the fight. Bring it. Do an 80’s style training montage and get ready… because if you say “I will not change. This is who I am and I will beat Rubio in the Primary and win the Senate.” you may just start gaining back the poll numbers that are clearly affecting you.

Sick, Poor? No thanks.

You already know where I’m going— it’s in the title after all. At this time, I do not support the health care bill. Now before I get into the many reasons why I do not support this legislation, let me spell out the following disclaimers.

I am a small business owner. I am not a Republican. I am not a Democrat. I proudly check the NPA (no party affiliation), when I register to vote for one simple reason— I vote along my ideals and conscious; not along some party mantra. As a general rule, I feel that the government continually mismanages money and our current news media fails to account the statements of government officials to any fact check or truth test.

With that introduction out of the way, I can now describe why I believe our government failed us— as we should expect it to. After all, the Founding Fathers did not want us to depend on our government; and for good reason.

Money, Money, Money

First thing, let’s talk money. The government told us that the new bill will significantly bring down insurance premiums. Sadly, this is wrong. At BEST, the new model brings down premiums $100.00/year. And that’s ONLY if you’re in the “small group family market” or “large group single market.” Individual families will see an increase of $2,100.00/year on their plan. The majority of us will pay either the same, or slightly more for coverage (unless you’re a business).

Let’s remember this: The bill that passed was basically written by America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP). You know AHIP, right? They’re the national organization representing roughly 1,300 health insurance companies.

You can’t turn on the news or walk down the street today without hearing about recessions and lost income. Unless of course, you’re in the business of health care. Since October 2009, health care stocks have risen almost 30%. Our new health care laws, written by the health care industry, requires us to purchase health care insurance from the companies that pooled together and wrote the law. The health care companies also significantly contribute to most of the people who voted for the law as well.

How does this boil down for the middle class? Under the new bill, a family of four living on $66,000 will be paying more than $5,000.00 for insurance premiums and be responsible for another $5,800.00 in out of pocket expenses. Of course, they’re also paying another $16,000.00 in federal taxes. So before any out of pocket expenses, this family has $4,125.00 per month to cover all of their living expenses. Bottom line: Middle class will be paying approximately 9.5% of their income on mandated insurance that will cover approximately 70% of their medical expenses.

The bill was touted to stop medical bankruptcy. But, with this bill there’s an $11,900.00 max on out of pocket fees (on top of premiums). Let’s remember, even in 2009, 62% of the bankruptcies filed were medical related (and 75% of those people had insurance). There’s nothing this bill provides that will financially help an average family that must endure a serious medical problem.

You know, the Revolution started in Massachusetts

Massachusetts implemented their health care reform in 2007 and it’s very similar to our new Federal plan. A “3 years later” review from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 3/4 of Massachusetts’ uninsured had obtained insurance— which is great. Of course, 21% of the population went without needed care because they could not afford it. Also, wait times for seeing doctors increased and health care costs rose.

Massachusetts needed to find many ways to handle the increased health care costs. This included terminating coverage for 30,000 immigrants (legal immigrants with green cards who pay taxes), no longer automatically enrolling low-income residents, and adding $100 million in new fees to private companies.

Of course, with recent Federal overhauls, these same legal immigrants are not entitled to Medicaid or other Federal aid. Nothing says “Welcome to America” better than forcing people to pay taxes and fees for services you then prohibit them from using. Of course, I guess it’s easier to pick on a group of taxpayers that aren’t allowed to vote.

With Massachusetts as the model, we’re in for a great ride.

Let’s wrap it up.

I think the item that bothers me most has to be our Federal Government forcing us to buy health insurance from private companies. I understand the states do this for things like auto insurance — but there’s also a big catch. If I don’t own a car, I don’t need car insurance… How do you do the same for health insurance?

As an American in favor of limited government, any law requiring loss of freedom angers me. Our government passed laws, written by the health insurance companies, requiring us to pay those same companies for health insurance. The much promised transparency for this process never saw sunshine, and sadly there is too much rhetoric going by without adequate investigation by our “free” press.

AT&T, Verizon, 3M and many other large companies have already warned shareholders of profit reduction (in billions) from new health care costs. Our new bill is estimated to cost $1 trillion dollars and from what I can see, not only hits us in taxes— but also in out of pocket expenses.

I’ve had health insurance since I started working full time in 1994. I’ve switched jobs (many times) and have started several businesses along the way. I’ve maintained health insurance the entire time.

This law costs me more while providing me with less. Should I choose to buy better insurance to cover the weak areas, I will be taxed an additional 40% for having a “Cadillac” plan.

So let me ask this: How are you benefiting from this new law?

References/Resources

• Massachusetts Takes a Step Back From Health Care for All (NYT)
• Massachusetts Health Care Reform: Three Years Later (KFF)
• The hype behind the healthcare reform bill (AnnArbor.com)
• Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill (Huffington Post)
• IRS.gov
• AT&T to Book $1 Billion Cost on Health-Care Reform (Business Week)
• An Analysis of Health Insurance Premiums Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (CBO)

Here’s the funny thing — I can’t. I’m not a registered Republican. You see, I’m NPA; because I vote for who I like, not a party. Anyway, I guess they feel that I would want to donate to Rubio. They’re wrong. And, an endorsement from Huckabee really is the icing on the cake. Sure, I don’t like Crist’s support of the stimulus, but I do like Crist.

Anyway, if you want, you can read the 5 page donation request here (huckacrap.pdf).

This morning, in a Detroit Federal Court, Monica Conyers plead guilty to charges of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery. The presiding judge, Avern Cohn, advised the court that “the defendant now stands convicted.”

At this point, Conyers is still a councilwoman for the Detroit City Council. The Detroit city charter requires Conyers to resign “immediately” the minute she is convicted of a felony, but apparently, in Federal Court this is viewed as when the Defendant is sentenced.

Detroit Rock City shines again. The bottom line though…

Monica Conyers Pleads Guilty

She took bribes. She is married to US Congressman John Conyers (who had not commented as of yet).

Great article here for more information.

The short story concerns Rayford W. Jackson’s recent guilty plea in Federal Court on Monday. Jackson pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy in which “Council Member A” was given more than six grand in bribes in connection with a 1.2 billion dollar contract. This same “Council Member A” had also been bribed by another person, James R. Rosendall, Jr.

And speculation points to Monica Conyers as Council Member A. It’s a interesting read… please read the Detroit News article.

My favorite quote in the article comes from Council President Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.:

I know in my experience with federal investigations, they tend to be slow and meticulous, but when they come, they come like a ton of bricks.

Update – It looks like Monica Conyers doesn’t want to go to jail.

I don’t know why, but watching Monica Conyers is like watching a train wreck… you just can’t stop watching… you know it’s coming… you know it… but you just can’t stop.

Both the Associated Press and Detroit News report that Monica Conyers appears reluctant to take a plea deal. And today, coinciding with the taping of her television show (Ask the Councilwoman with Monica Conyers), the councilwoman stated:

All these things that are going on right now … I believe in my heart that God will deliver me from them. And so I say to all of the people out there: If you’re not praying for me, then you’re just adding to the problem.

Well, I guess that means I’m adding to the “problem,” because there’s no chance that I’m praying for her.

Incidentally, Monica Conyers is 44 and her husband, who is 80 years old, happens to be none other than US Representative John Conyers… aka the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (that oversees the FBI and US Attorney’s Office).

Monica Conyers did give the AP a statement, however:

I’m not going to talk to you today, tomorrow, next week. What difference does it make?

PS -> I have some great video of Monica Conyers in an earlier post.

Yet Another Update — Monica Conyers has been convicted in the bribery scandal