T-word

I love this title from NPR on the cost of Obama-care:

T-Word Looms Large In Health Care Cost Debate The T-word they are talking about is trillion.

Despite reassurances by President Obama and Democratic leaders that all new spending would be fully offset by other spending cuts or tax increases, Republicans immediately jumped on the T-word.

Now saying trillion is akin to swearing. Like N-word or B-word.

And it’s soap in the mouth for the head of the (nonpartisan) CBO :

According to our preliminary assessment, enacting the proposal would result in a net increase in federal budget deficits of about $1.0 trillion over the 2010-2019 period. When fully implemented, about 39 million individuals would obtain coverage through the new insurance exchanges. At the same time, the number of people who had coverage through an employer would decline by about 15 million (or roughly 10 percent), and coverage from other sources would fall by about 8 million, so the net decrease in the number of people uninsured would be about 16 million or 17 million

The full report here.

WTF? One t-word dollars (over ten years) and we will reduce the number of uninsured by only 17 m-word people? It works both ways right? F-word that.

Why not give one trillion dollars to the uninsured so they can buy their own insurance. The number of uninsured people in the US is roughly 48 million. If you split up the cost of this part of the Obama plan, an uninsured family of four would get over $8,000 a year to pay for insurance. If you take out the uninsured that already would be covered by Medicaid but haven’t applied, that number falls to 31 million. That means a family of four would get almost $13,000 a year. If you want to be harsh and subtract out illegal immigrants without health insurance, the amount rises to $17,000 a year. That should be enough to buy you some decent insurance.

Answer man

Some recent commenters have suggested that I put up or shut up on this global warming shit. “Give a solution instead of being part of the problem” they say (damn that was hard not to put “problem” in quotes). Maybe you bitches have a point so here we go. Problem: Global Warming. Solution: Warming tax. If temperatures rise as predicted by what the UN climate models and their “consensus” of scientists say are correct then the tax on carbon emissions goes up dramatically. If the temperatures fall, the tax goes down. Surprisingly, this is not my idea but that of economist Ross McKitrick. He points out:

The IPCC predicts a warming rate in the tropical troposphere of about double that at the surface, implying about 0.2C to 1.2C per decade in the tropical troposphere under greenhouse-forcing scenarios. That implies the tax will climb by $4 to $24 per tonne per decade, a much more aggressive schedule of emission fee increases than most current proposals. At the upper end of warming forecasts, the tax could reach $200 per tonne of CO2 by 2100, forcing major carbon-emission reductions and a global shift to non-carbon energy sources.

Global-warming activists would like this. But so would skeptics, because they believe the models are exaggerating the warming forecasts.
…
Under the T3 tax, the regulator gets to call everyone’s bluff at once, without gambling in advance on who is right. If the tax goes up, it ought to have. If it doesn’t go up, it shouldn’t have. Either way we get a sensible outcome.

That makes sense. Wow. Look at me. Promoting a solution.

The knife (Is it worth it)

As I get older and start to notice the lines on my face getting more pronounced, I have thoughts of plastic surgery. Fantasy/nightmare really. I don’t have the money to do it and I’m afraid of hospitals (germs…ew). When I think about people who have had plastic surgery who do have lots of money I get more nervous. This is the best money can buy?

Letter of the law

I was going to try to write this last night but 3 o’clock in the morning is not a good time to do anything (I barely got that last post off).

Smoking in bars is illegal in Illinois. The great place I went to last night (which shall go nameless) has an “outside” smoking room. Funny thing is that all of the people at the bar were out in the smoking room watching the band play. How is this possible?

First, let me detail for you the Illinois smoking ban law that defines which areas are mandated to be smoke free.

“Enclosed area” means all space between a floor and a
ceiling that is enclosed or partially enclosed with (i) solid
walls or windows, exclusive of doorways, or (ii) solid walls
with partitions and no windows, exclusive of doorways, that
extend from the floor to the ceiling, including, without
limitation, lobbies and corridors.

The way this place figured it out is genius. The smoking room consists of a roof, structural framing and heavy duty plastic for walls (an industrial strength version of what you insulate your windows with in the winter). For heat, there are multiple space heaters and an overhead radiant system (their carbon footprint has to be off the charts). The only ventilation is when someone opens the door.

The band plays, the people smoke, the place is packed, the owner makes money. Fun is had by all and no one seems to mind.

Warm bodies and cold nights

I’m all about recycling but this totally creeps me out.

A Swedish crematorium criticised for environmental pollution has come up with a novel way to save energy: it will heat buildings in the surrounding town from the crematorium furnaces.
…
If the new heating system proves to be successful in the crematorium’s own facilities, town officials have said they hope to tap into the new energy source by 2010.

(h/t James Taranto)

And since I’m already there:

(and you know, I don’t think that I’ve ever seen this movie. Let me guess; it ends badly.)

More people = more problem solvers

And more problem solvers equals more (and better) solutions. This is for all the Malthusian alarmists out there:

This is part one of a series of six videos.

(h/t Cafe Hayek)

Fingers crossed

It seems my celebration at the successful removal of the unwanted visitor in my attic was a bit premature. A few days after my supposed success, I heard the noises again. More banging on the ceiling. More screaming “DO NOT WANT!”. More trapping. I caught and released a second raccoon last week. Still the noises. Here is what I found in the trap this morning:

And I thought raccoons were ugly.

Tonight, no noises (so far).

Instant satisfaction (or Where’s my spoon?)

When you’re on a mountain and  you really need a drink:

Mountaineering gourmands no longer have to forgo a glass of red wine after conquering a peak. Trekking Mahlzeiten has now launched a new red wine in the form of a powder. The beverage powder that comes in convenient portions packed in pouches has an alcoholic content of 9,27%, which is similar to a light bottled wine. A matching mulled wine has also been developed for expeditions in snow and the cold – for celebrating the special moment at night camp.

A good idea, yes,  but isn’t it easier to just mix some vodka with this?:

Recurring wildlife

As I sit here and write this, I can hear the sounds of scratching and walking over my head and no, I don’t live in a duplex.  I have a raccoon living in my attic.  And it doesn’t pay me any rent.

I had to evict a family of raccoons two years ago. Very traumatic (for all of us). Now, I’m trying to avoid the guilt I felt last time by getting it out before there are kits (baby raccoons; I didn’t know that until tonight).

I’ve got my live trap set. Watching and waiting…

I love the Midwest (we’re so resourceful)

Local news alert:

A Davenport woman faces criminal charges for allegedly attacking her husband with a weapon she made from a can of corn and a sock.