H.R. 4821: Your Taxpayer Money Hard At Work (Updated)

As I am wont to do, I check the newly introduced legislation and usually wait until the text of that legislation hits Thomas so as to sound somewhat coherent on the subject when I post. This particular piece of legislation will not wait because the title is so incredibly ludicrous as is.  Are you or are you not just a bit curious about how your taxpayer money is being spent?  You can thank Dan Burton (R-IL) for whatever this turns out to be.

H.R. 4821:

To amend title 5, United States Code, to make stillborn children eligible for optional life insurance coverage.

Yes, I will post the text when it becomes available.

UPDATE:

Burton authors bill to include stillborn babies in the supplemental federal life insurance policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN-05) issued the following statement after introducing the Kaytlynn Noggle Federal Life Insurance Equity Act [H.R. 4821]:

“Some months ago, a constituent from Greenfield, Indiana, wrote me a heartbreaking e-mail about his daughter, Kaytlynn, who was stillborn on December 19, 2009. He explained that the family arranged a burial for their daughter, as Indiana law requires, unaware that their Federal employee life insurance policy did not cover their stillborn daughter. So in the midst of dealing with this terrible tragedy, the family suddenly discovered they also had to figure out how to pay the $2,000 in burial expenses.

“What makes this story even more tragic is that in 2008, Congress amended the Family Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance program, the life insurance program for our veterans and military families, to include stillborn children. However, inexplicably, we omitted a similar amendment for the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program. My bill simply seeks to end that disparity and bring the two programs in line with each other.

“To paraphrase the father from Greenfield, no one will make a profit out of this change, it’s simply to give Federal employees and their families, who pay for their own supplemental life insurance, peace of mind that they won’t be put into financial straits if they ever experience the tragedy of a stillborn baby.”

First, the cost of Basic insurance under the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance program is shared between the employee and the Government; with the employee paying 2/3rds of the total cost while the Government pays 1/3rd. The cost of the Optional Coverage under the program – in other words, coverage for spouses and children (including coverage for stillborn children) – is paid 100% by the employee.

Second, stillbirths are fortunately rare. According to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control, each year in the United States approximately 25,000 babies are stillborn – roughly 1% of all births. Consequently, the probability is that the Federal Employees Group Life Insurance program would pay out relatively few claims under the stillborn provision.

A Jobless Recovery

A Jobless Recovery

Just wanted to drop a note and let LM readers know that although trillions of dollars have been pumped into “stimulus” and the banks, the war on small business marches on.

This morning, Red Lemur, previously known as the ‘spousal unit’ was laid off from his job.  The economists may continue to blather on about a ‘jobless recovery’, while I am here to let you know that this has become a jobless household.  Please keep us both in your thoughts.

Hele Mai!

Tax Refunds; Remember, It’s Not Your Money!

Tax Refunds; Remember, It’s Not Your Money!

Is there a bigger indicator that the ship is sinking?  Maybe the unemployment rate over 20% in 8 counties in California is bigger? (Colusa: 27.4%, Imperial: 27.3%, Merced: 21.7%, Plumas: 22.3%, San Benito: 21.1%, Sutter: 21%, Trinity: 25.8%, Yuba: 20.4%)

States may hold onto tax refunds for months

Residents eager to get their state tax refunds may have a long wait this year: The recession has tied up cash and caused officials in half a dozen states to consider freezing refunds, in one case for as long as five months.

States from New York to Hawaii that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn say they have either delayed refunds or are considering doing so because of budget shortfalls.

“It’s an indicator of how bad it is,” says Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers. “You know things are bad when you have to do that.”

New York, hit with a $9 billion deficit, may delay $500 million in refunds to keep the state from running out of cash, says Gov. David Paterson.

WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO? Enter your salary and see how tax rates have changed over time

Hawaii’s Department of Taxation says some residents may not see state income tax refunds until the end of August, The Honolulu Advertiser reported. It was part of a plan by Gov. Linda Lingle to deal with a revenue drop-off by pushing costs into the next fiscal period, which begins in July.

I did not have to worry about my tax refund this year.  The state of Hawaii raised our taxes significantly last APRIL 15TH, (how’s that for a bitchslap), and I got to pay into the slush fund again this year.

Wyoming Joins 3 Other States In Firearms Freedom Act

This IS the time to be protecting the 2nd amendment with a government gone wild and a congress on the verge of unconstitutional acts.  Reconciliation? Skipping Reconciliation? 36 Czars? Executive Orders Gone Wild?

If this government wants people to relax on protecting the 2nd amendment, maybe they should stop acting like dictators.

Wyoming Passes Firearms Freedom Act

The Wyoming State Senate, on a 30-0 vote, this week passed HB95, the Firearms Freedom Act.

Wyoming  joins Tennessee, Utah and Montana in exercising their Tenth Amendmment, or “state sovereignty” rights.

The bill states in part:

A personal firearm, a firearm action or receiver, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in the state to be used or sold within the state is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

And these aren’t just pretty words, the Act has some teeth in it:

Any official, agent or employee of the United States government who enforces or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the United States government upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming and that remains exclusively within the borders of Wyoming shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be subject to imprisonment for not more than two (2) years, a fine of not more than ten thousand dollars ($2,000.00), or both.

In other words Congress, mind your own damn business!

Tea Parties Lack Of Faith Bugging The Christian Right

Tea Parties Lack Of Faith Bugging The Christian Right

Yesterday, I verbally slapped a radical, british, muslim for his comments about returning Islam as the beacon of light in the world.  It is now the evangelical christian right’s turn for a bit of a reality check.  LM readers know that I am a libertarian according to the Nolan Chart.  (Some, but not all, readers were surprised to find out what their political leanings were after taking that test.)

This morning, Politico came out with a story about evangelicals being fearful of the tea parties. I know that most of my readership are christians of different hues, but over time I have found that they respect others belief systems and are tolerant as their religion professes.  LM’s readership realize that America was founded as a republic, not a theocracy. Religion is important, but not the all controlling dictate of the country.

That being said, the leaders of the christian right appear to not have realized the dire straits the country is in, and want the tea parties to make social issues an important part of the protests.

NEWSFLASH: Social Issues are not sinking the ship!  This is one American that is sick and tired of listening to the christian right dictate the moral code just as much as I hate listening to Obama tell me what’s best for me.  Millions of Americans of all colors and religions are tea party patriots.  They understand what is at stake, and if you are talking about social issues right now, you are part of the problem; not part of the solution.

Tea parties stir evangelicals’ fears

The rise of a new conservative grass roots fueled by a secular revulsion at government spending is stirring fears among leaders of the old conservative grass roots, the evangelical Christian right.

A reeling economy and the massive bank bailout and stimulus plan were the triggers for a resurgence in support for the Republican Party and the rise of the tea party movement. But they’ve also banished the social issues that are the focus of many evangelical Christians to the background.

There will be no social issues if the economy collapses and everyone is plunged into abject poverty.

And while health care legislation has brought social and economic conservatives together to fight government funding of abortion, some social conservative leaders have begun to express concern that tea party leaders don’t care about their issues, while others object to the personal vitriol against President Barack Obama, whose personal conduct many conservative Christians applaud.

I would like to know exactly what personal conduct can be applauded?  Attacking Americans, name calling, lying about almost everything, etc.?

“There’s a libertarian streak in the tea party movement that concerns me as a cultural conservative,” said Bryan Fischer, director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy at the American Family Association. “The tea party movement needs to insist that candidates believe in the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage.” (emphasis mine)

EXCUSE ME?  This is exactly what pisses me off about the radical christian right; just like the radical muslims.  America was founded by people that no longer wanted to be owned and told what to do, where to live, and how to think.

“As far as I can tell [the tea party movement] has a politics that’s irreligious. I can’t see how some of my fellow conservatives identify with it,” said Richard Cizik, who broke with a major evangelical group over his support for government action on climate change, but who remains largely in line with the Christian right on social issues. “The younger Evangelicals who I interact with are largely turned off by the tea party movement — by the incivility, the name-calling, the pathos of politics.”

If you can’t take the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen.  The Tea Party Movement is trying to stop a train wreck of biblical proportions.  Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

There’s no centralized tea party organization, and anecdotes suggest that many tea party participants hold socially conservative views. But those views have been little in evidence at movement gatherings or in public statements, and are sometimes deliberately excluded from the political agenda. The groups coordinating them eschew social issues, and a new Contract From America, has become an article of concern on the social right.

Is gay marriage or abortion going to sink this country right now? Nope?  …moving on…

The contract, sponsored by the grass-roots Tea Party Patriots as well as Washington groups such as FreedomWorks and Americans for Tax Reform, asks supporters to choose the 10 most important issues from a menu of 21 choices that makes no mention of socially conservative priorities such as gay marriage and abortion.

“They’re free to do it, but they can’t say [the contract] represents America,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, a veteran of the Christian right. “If they do it they’re lying.”

Okay, now we are liars again.  Really?    At this point, banning gay marriage and relegating a woman to property status once she conceives aren’t really a priority as the Titanic is about to slip under the surface.

Groups such as FreedomWorks, said Perkins, bring a libertarian bias that doesn’t represent the “true tea parties.” Brendan Steinhauser, the director of federal and state campaigns at FreedomWorks, responded that the contract represents activists’ priorities.

“People didn’t come out into the streets to protest gay marriage or abortion,” said Steinhauser, who said that he hoped the Republican Party would follow the contract’s cue and “stop bringing up flag-burning amendments and the gay marriage thing when they’re not what people are focused on.”

There’s little data on the disparate tea party movement. One small CNN survey of self-identified tea party activists found that 68 percent identify themselves as Protestants or other non-Catholic Christians, as opposed to just 50 percent in the general population. Only 9 percent of the activists say they’re irreligious, as opposed to 14 percent in the broader sample.

Once again, someone who is not a tea party patriot trying to pigeon hole a movement they refuse to accept as is, and act like they don’t understand.

There is more to the story at the link above.

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