![Twitter](<a href="http://www.twitter.com/maggiesnotebook"><img src="http://twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com/follow_me-b.png" alt="Follow maggiesnotebook on Twitter"/></a>){kind=small}
Tennessee State Congresswoman Janis Baird Sontany (D) says you can't tell if Republican women are really women without "lifting their skirts." She doesn't like how we vote.
When liberals can’t handle GOP women, they infantilize, sexualize, demonize, and dehumanize them. I diagnosed the Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse a few years ago.
By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle
That is what is happening in many of the smaller Hospitals in the United States these days. So it is being reported by Dr. Thomas M. Hamilton MD, better known as The Grouch.
We had staff meeting yesterday at the hospital. A topic of discussion was RAC audits and a specific case affecting our hospital.I find it troubling that the "auditor" receives a "reward" of 1/3 of all monies collected, thus discouraging a true audit of books since it is in the auditor's best interest to "find" fault in every search.
If you don't know what RAC audits are, do a Google Search on it and read about it for yourself. I betcha most of you have never heard of such a thing.
Anyway, I felt compelled to write my Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn, and my two Senators, Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander over this issue. I know I'll probably get the standard form reply, but it made me feel better anyway. Here it is:
Dear Senator/Congresswoman:Finish reading here.
I feel the need to make you aware of the serious situation created for small hospitals under the RAC (Recovery Audit Contractor) program created by Medicare.
I am a physician at our local hospital. During staff meeting yesterday, we discussed a situation concerning a recent surgical case. A patient had a lesion surgically removed. The doctor’s note read as follows, “an eleven blade scalpel was used to remove the lesion”.
The RAC auditor reviewed this chart and stated that the note should have read, “an eleven blade scalpel was used to EXCISE the lesion”.
Because the word REMOVE was used instead of the word EXCISE, the RAC auditor declared that the hospital should refund Medicare an amount of $11,000. The hospital appealed and pointed out to the auditor that there was essentially no difference in the words EXCISE and REMOVE. To no avail, the auditor stated the hospital owed Medicare $11,000.
Senator/Congresswoman, these RAC audits are an exercise in pure lunacy. I hope you can see the obvious stupidity imposed on hospitals by the intrusion of the United States Government by this example above. I would also hope that you would take steps to relieve us of the burden of these nonsensical RAC audits. If you don’t, many hospitals like ours simply will not survive and will end up closing the doors.
It is my understanding that the bureaucrats involved in the RAC audits are entitled to a third of the funds they recover from hospitals. So out of that $11,000 dollars they are squeezing from our hospital over the definition of a single word, the auditors themselves stand to collect $3666.66 for themselves. Senator/Congresswoman, can you truly believe that hospitals will be treated fairly under such a system? If a private entity conducted itself in a manner similar to the RAC auditors, the people in that entity would be jailed.
Of course if Barack Obama has his way we will end up with single payer health care for all which will no doubt be broke like Social Security and Medicare. More and more hospitals will close. So much for universal health care.
Right now our hospital makes about 46 cents for every dollar billed to Medicare. We make 24 cents for every dollar billed to Tenncare (Tennessee Medicaid). I am told under the proposed Medicare cuts and RAC audits we can see our reimbursement fall to 32 cents for every dollar billed to Medicare. You can see we are slowly but surely being strangled by Uncle Sam. Our doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff work hard to provide health care to some very old and very sick people. We deserve honest payment for our efforts rather than a bunch of shenanigans invented by Medicare designed to avoid payment.
Senator/Congresswoman, I implore you to look into this thing called RAC audits. Talk to your constituents in the health care field. They will tell you the same thing I am telling you. We are being strangled by this government nonsense.
I am looking for a personal and thoughtful reply from you on this matter, not the usual form reply provided by a staffer.
Sincerely,
Thomas M. Hamilton MD.
Have you been inside the Opryland Hotel, or do you have future reservations? The levee on the Cumberland River was topped. The video below estimates there is about 10' of water in the beautiful hoteI. I heard on my local Tulsa radio station that a station employee and her husband were at Opryland and were evacuated without collecting their belongings. They are flying back to Tulsa because their car is under water.
From The Examiner:
...it is too early in the recovery stage to determine how long the hotel may be flocsed for, but it looks as if it will take several months before it may reopen. Gaylord Entertainment Company [the owner of Opryland] also stated that areas of the hotel are submerged under 10 feet of flood waters.
Many rumors that former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford might join the race for the U.S. Senate from New York. Ford fears in the end, the seat will go to a Republican. He sums up his angst: Dems are "scared."
WHEN it was reported two months ago that I was thinking seriously about running for the United States Senate from New York, Democratic Party insiders started their own campaign to bully me out of the race — just as they had done with Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Steve Israel and others.
They’re nervous. New Yorkers are clamoring for change. Our political system — so bogged down in partisan fighting — is sapping the morale of New Yorkers and preventing government at every level from fulfilling its duty.
Voting for health care legislation that imposes billions in new taxes on New Yorkers and restricts federal financing for abortions is not good for the people of this state. Voting against critical funds necessary to ensure the survival of the financial services industry — the economic backbone of this state — is not good for the people of New York.
I’ve examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary — a primary where the winner emerges weakened and the Republican strengthened.
This is a great video with Joseph Farah, the Editor-in-Chief of WorldNetDaily addressing the the goals of the Obama administration at the National Tea Party Convention. Listen closely to what he says. Our future depends on "the people" understanding the strategy to kill capitalism. Listen, absorb and discuss it with your friends and fellow patriots.
Thanks again, David!
In this video, Andrew Brietbart introduces Sarah Palin at the National Tea Party Convention, to huge applause.
To the chagrin of the mainstream media, Joseph Farah, the editor-in-chief of the popular WorldNetDaily website, questioned President Obama's citizenship at the Nashville Tea Party Convention. Farah said if he is "obsessed" with Obama's birth certificate, the truth is, he is obsessed with the US Constitution, and he urged Americans to take back our cultural institutions. Sarah Palin prepares to deliver the keynote address at the Convention, and explains why she agreed to speak in an Op-Ed.
To a cheering crowd of about 600, Farah said this:
We're in trouble in America. We're losing our moral bearings. We're losing our respect for the rule of law...We're broke. We're dispirited. We're scared."
It's our duty that those of us who believe in God, liberty, security and responsibility that He represents -- and only He represents -- to...begin another long march through the cultural institutions...it's not enough to criticize these institutions. They need to be taken over, redeemed, reborn."
Farah said he believed establishing lineage was important for leaders, using Jesus’ genealogical ties to King David as an example....This report from the LATimes insists that the President has already produced his "birth certificate."
Farah went on to urge tea party activists to think beyond winning congressional elections in November and “take over not only the political institutions, but the cultural institutions, like the press, the entertainment industry, the universities, and yes the churches.”Sarah Palin has been criticized by other Tea Partiers for joining the Nashville National Tea Party Convention because she is receiving a speaker's fee and the Convention's organizers hope to make a profit to be used for their local Tea Party organization. Earlier this week, Palin addressed why she is speaking:
“Are you ready to engage in a cultural war after we take back Congress?”
“Yes!” the crowd yelled back.
Recently, some have tried to portray this movement as a commercial endeavor rather than the grassroots uprising that it is. Those who do so don't understand the frustration everyday Americans feel when they see their government mortgaging their children's future with reckless spending. The spark of patriotic indignation that inspired those who fought for our independence and those who marched peacefully for civil rights has ignited once again. You can't buy such a sentiment. You can't AstroTurf it. It springs from love of country and the knowledge that we can make a difference if we just stand up and stand together.Take a look at the video below, featuring an American Patriot who participates in his local Tea Party group and is working to bring American goods to Tea Party events.
I thought long and hard about my participation in this weekend's event. At the end of the day, my decision came down to this: It's important to keep faith with people who put a little bit of their faith in you. Everyone attending this event is a soldier in the cause. Some of them will be driving hundreds of miles to Nashville. I made a commitment to them to be there, and I am going to honor it.
Conservative hero, Tom Tancredo opened the National Tea Party Convention to a rousing call to action and first principles. The outspoken Tancredo said Obama is in office because "we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in this country." Rand Paul ripped Tancredo and Tancredo Ripped McCain.
While we are battling the most profound loss of our liberties this country could have imagined with Barack Obama in the White House, Tancredo says "Thank God John McCain" lost the election:"
Thank God John McCain lost the election," he said, voicing his belief that McCain would have presided over big budgets and lacked a tough stand against immigration.
People who could not even spell the word 'vote,' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama," Tancredo said to cheers Thursday night.I agree about McCain. The time had come for Americans to realize what the call of Progressivism is, and what it means to our way of life and lives of our children and grandchildren. We needed the gauntlet thrown down.
It doesn't further the dialogue," said Mark Skoda, a businessman and founder of the Memphis Tea Party, who is also serving as spokesman for the convention.
Contrary to Tancredo's remarks, the Tea Party is not about "name-calling," said Rand Paul, whose campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky is supported by the Tea Party.
There are politicians who have gone into the movement and tried to become part of the movement," he said on CNN's American Morning."But really the movement is about individual people."Dr. Paul forgets that Tom Credo is and "individual" person. He is no longer a politician. Tancredo is a former US Representative from Colorado who was fearless in condemning McCain and Ted Kennedy's illegal amnesty program.
Sherry Phillips, who along with her husband, Nashville attorney Judson Phillips, founded Tea Party Nation, said earlier this week in a message to supporters that "we fully expect to break even at this event. We may even make a few thousand dollars to cover local operating costs of TPN."Update 2-6-10: BigGovernment today reports that erickson has stepped back from his "scammy" comment. He attended the Tea Party and "thinks it may bode well for the future...."
The National Tea Party is underway at Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee. Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) has already spoken. Six-hundred grassroots activists are expected to attend. Watch for updates here as they happen.
FOXNews today says that the Tea Party Convention held this weekend at Opryland is organizing a "national strategy" for the 2010 midterm elections. The strategy is known as "First Principles."
What I do not understand is the leadership of Tea Parties. I know there was a dust-up over this particular Tea Party Convention. Some Tea Party leaders objected to the Nashville get-together as the planner hoped to make a profit from the event. They convinced Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN) to drop out of the event. Governor Sarah Palin will be a speaker at the Opryland Convention. She has been widely criticized for receiving a $100,000 Keynote speaker's fee, which she says she will donate the money "right back to the cause."
About the "First Principles," the Nashville Convention group says the following are "simply proposals," and they understand that Tea Parties, nationwide have their varied interests and ideas:
Volunteers here intend to propose a series of broad "First Principles" which have already been generally embraced by most Tea Party chapters around the country. They include: fiscal responsibility, upholding the constitution, and national security.A Tea Party caucus is planned after elections. That is a great idea. Democrats have powerful caucaus' - generally supporting dreadful policy. This is an idea whose time has come.
Prospective political candidates will be expected to support the Republican National Committee platform, though without any specific litmus or purity test.
If a particular candidate meets the proposed Tea Party criteria he or she would be eligible for fundraising and grassroots Tea Party support.FOXNews just had a segment on the Nashville event. The group made it clear that this not about a third party.
Once elected to office, members would be required to join a Congressional Tea Party Caucus, attend regular meetings and be held accountable for the votes they cast. Those who stray from the Tea Party path would risk losing it's support and a likely re-election challenge.
In Texas, activists with Tea Party links are split in the Republican primary for governor. Armey is backing Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison's shallenge to Gov. Rick Perry in the March 2 primary. Palin campaigns Sunday for Perry. Debra Medina, a former GOP county chairwoman with a libertarian platform, has been working the Tea Party circuit as she seeks the GOP nomination.I wish these dedicated American's every success in Nashville. I wish I was there to help craft the "First Principles."
Congresswomen Michelle Bachmann (R-Minn-6th) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7th) have dropped out of participating in the February Tea Party Nation Convention in February. Governor Sarah Palin is slated to be the keynote speaker. With Blackburn dropping out, conservative blogger-extraordinaire will introduce Palin.
The convention is a for-profit venture by Judson Phillips, a Tennessee lawyer, who says he hopes to make a profit. Rep. Bachmann was also scheduled to speak at the event to be held at Opryland Resort in Nashville.
A spokesman emphasizes that Bachmann has a problem with this particular event, not the tea party movement in general. In fact, another group—the Tea Party Patriots—is claiming credit. "We put pressure on Bachmann, and we're glad that she didn't go," a coordinator tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "I'm glad that she did the right thing."Bachmann was to speak at a Saturday breakfast event. She would have not have received a speaking fee.
From pricey tickets to Palin's reported $100,000 speaking fee, tea partiers recently have objected to the convention as out of line with the group's values. Backdahl and other Minnesota tea partiers do not plan to attend.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) was scheduled to introduce Sarah Palin, but said she is bowing out because the "non-profit status" put her in "an awkward position." Look at this twist:
The decision follows protests over the Feb. 4-6 event's $549 cost and Palin's reported $100,000 speaking fee, which some members of the Taxed Enough Already movement thought was too pricey for grassroots activists. The Mid-South TEA party's spokesman, Jim Tomasik of Cordova, has called the Nashville event an effort by the Republican Party to co-opt the movement.The latest report is that Andrew Breitbart will now introduce Palin.
A founder of Tea Party Nation recently told the New York Times that it is "not a nonprofit."
While most of the talk about this video around the web is about Rep. Rob Andrews (D-NJ) challenging host FOXNews' Gregg Jarrett on being Fair and Balanced, the issue is really Andrew's astounding lack of knowledge about the U.S. Constitution. Both Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Jarrett correct him. Andrews evokes "Federal police power."
