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The Florida Gov. JarJar Binks Thread...

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Howey
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« on: February 05, 2011, 12:06:24 pm »

Since the guy's as bizarre as they get, we'll just dedicate an entire thread to his stupidity!

And start it off with a lilMike post!

Looks like Rick "lets get to work" Scott has a plan to reform the Florida State Retirement System.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/fl-scott-announces-pension-reforms-20110201,0,5648809.story?page=1

Scott wants public employees to contribute to pensions


Gov. Rick Scott released his plan Tuesday to cut costs in the state's pension fund by requiring all public employees — including teachers, police officers, current state workers and other government employees — to contribute 5 percent of their salary.

"We must bring Florida in line with the private sector and nearly every other state in the country by requiring government workers to contribute towards their own retirement," Scott said in an announcement.

The employee contribution would apply to the more than 650,000 government workers, ranging from firefighters and judges to clerks and cafeteria workers, who are covered by the Florida Retirement System.



Like Darth said, I'm cool with that.

Here's a better idea. Let's get rid of the double dipper loophole created by none other than JEB BUSH and his cronies in the state legislature a few years back...

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/23/State/State_retiree_loophol.shtml

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A growing number of elected officials are quietly taking advantage of a loophole carved into the state retirement law a few years ago that allows double dipping -- collecting a state pension while still getting a regular paycheck from taxpayers.

The cost of pensions for "retirees" who have returned to the payroll was around $300-million last year, according to the Florida Retirement System.

Records indicate that 211 elected officials in Florida -- including legislators, judges, sheriffs, circuit clerks, school board members and county commissioners -- have taken advantage of the benefit. Thirty-one signed up in the past six months.

Another 203 senior management employees and more than 7,763 regular state employees are collecting retirement benefits and full-time paychecks.



wow. 300 million is a big dent out of the budget.
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« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2011, 03:39:28 pm »

Awe damn...how many floors does this building have...

mental note...look into getting a segway....

what...

i'm sorry...new here...just try'n to find my way around this island....

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Howey
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« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2011, 04:31:32 pm »

i'm sorry...new here...just try'n to find my way around this island....



I'd suggest watching out for the polar bears. Word is they're fierce!
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« Reply #3 on: February 06, 2011, 07:59:05 pm »

Since the guy's as bizarre as they get, we'll just dedicate an entire thread to his stupidity!

And start it off with a lilMike post!

Like Darth said, I'm cool with that.

Here's a better idea. Let's get rid of the double dipper loophole created by none other than JEB BUSH and his cronies in the state legislature a few years back...

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/23/State/State_retiree_loophol.shtml
 


wow. 300 million is a big dent out of the budget.

Just curious, but since Bush didn't become governor until 1999, how did he create the DROP policy, which was enacted in 1998?

Which governor really is responsible?
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« Reply #4 on: February 07, 2011, 09:25:29 am »

Just curious, but since Bush didn't become governor until 1999, how did he create the DROP policy, which was enacted in 1998?

Which governor really is responsible?

Son of a Bitch! I just typed a nice long reply to you and lost it!

Let's try again...

It's not about DROP...its about an amendment to the retirement system in 2001 (gosh o golly gee...who was governor then?) that allowed this.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2001/House/bills/amendments/pdf/hb1821am562937.pdf

Good ol Jeb!

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/23/State/State_retiree_loophol.shtml

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In 2001, legislators amended the rules, exempting elected officials - such as themselves - from the retire-after-five-years rule.

Your precious pubs are really good at that "Oops! We made a boo boo in our favor! Sorry, didn't mean it, tee hee! stuff, aren't they?

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lil mike
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« Reply #5 on: February 07, 2011, 09:23:14 pm »

Son of a Bitch! I just typed a nice long reply to you and lost it!

Let's try again...

It's not about DROP...its about an amendment to the retirement system in 2001 (gosh o golly gee...who was governor then?) that allowed this.

http://www.leg.state.fl.us/data/session/2001/House/bills/amendments/pdf/hb1821am562937.pdf

Good ol Jeb!

http://www.sptimes.com/2008/02/23/State/State_retiree_loophol.shtml

Your precious pubs are really good at that "Oops! We made a boo boo in our favor! Sorry, didn't mean it, tee hee! stuff, aren't they?



The 2001 loophole allowed to participants to skip the 5 year limit that was on the original DROP legislation.  That's bad, but the original DROP was really bad.  I'm sure you will support the repeal of DROP, correct?

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« Reply #6 on: February 08, 2011, 09:42:04 am »

The 2001 loophole allowed to participants to skip the 5 year limit that was on the original DROP legislation.  That's bad, but the original DROP was really bad.  I'm sure you will support the repeal of DROP, correct?



What's really bad is the fact that he's raped the state's education system, Medicaid system, and doubled his office budget.
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« Reply #7 on: February 08, 2011, 10:26:02 am »

What's really bad is the fact that he's raped the state's education system, Medicaid system, and doubled his office budget.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/07/AR2011020706687.html

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"This budget from the governor is a frontal assault on the quality of life of every Floridian and will not create a single job nor spur our economy forward; instead it takes us further into the economic ditch,"


The Budget: http://letsgettowork.state.fl.us/mviewbudget.aspx

Our children will suffer, our elderly will suffer, our disabled will suffer, our veterans will suffer...But the governor will reap in the benefits (literally) of kickbacks from managed care companies (his own?) while they suffer...

Leader of Senate: "All fellow members of the Roman senate hear me. Shall we continue to build palace after palace for the rich? Or shall we aspire to a more noble purpose and build decent housing for the poor? How does the senate vote? "

Entire Senate: "FUCK THE POOR!"*




*Thanks, BBT!
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« Reply #8 on: February 08, 2011, 10:27:24 am »

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« Reply #9 on: February 08, 2011, 10:38:58 am »

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/gubernatorial/gov-rick-scott-unveils-budget-of-deep-cuts-to-spending-taxes/1150127
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Gov. Rick Scott's proposed budget: By the numbers

$65.9B: Total spending proposed, $4.6 billion less than current year's budget

$1.6B: Combined proposal to cut property and corporate income taxes in one year

8,700: Number of state jobs proposed for elimination, through layoffs and attrition

$703: Reduction to per-pupil spending in K-12 education

Highlights

On Monday, Gov. Scott released a proposed state budget that cuts almost

$5 billion in spending.

EDUCATION: Cuts the education budget by $3.3 billion by slashing $703 per pupil in state spending — a roughly 10 percent cut from this year's $6,899 in per-pupil spending. Current K-12 budget is $13.8 billion and includes nearly 3,000 public schools. Increases the amount spent on private-school vouchers by $250 million in 2012.

MEDICAID: Proposes $3 billion in reductions over two years, including $1 billion in cuts to provider reimbursement rates. Savings are expected by receiving federal approval to transfer all 3 million Medicaid patients into a managed-care program that would control costs and crack down on fraud.

PRISONS: Proposes eliminating 1,690 employees — more than 5 percent of its work force — from the Department of Corrections by closing two prisons, a move Scott said was made easier by the state having 8,000 excess prison beds. Corrections houses more than 100,000 inmates in 146 facilities, employing 18,200 people.

PROPERTY TAXES: Proposes trimming state-set school property taxes by $1 billion over two years. Scott had pledged a $1.4 billion cut in the first year, but is phasing in a lesser tax cut over two years.

CORPORATE INCOME TAXES: Corporate income tax would drop from 5.5 percent to 3 percent in 2011-12 and be phased out by 2018. The tax cut would save businesses nearly $1.5 billion over two years. The first-year savings would be $458 million statewide.

ENVIRONMENT: Proposes merging the Department of Community Affairs with the Department of Environmental Protection, eliminating 530 jobs over two years. DCA staff will decrease to 40 employees within two years; budget drops to $70 million.

PENSIONS: Proposes state workers pay 5 percent of their pension costs. There are 655,000 active members of the Florida Retirement System; another 304,000 retired workers receiving benefits. Projected $2.8 billion savings over two years.

What's next

The Senate Budget Committee will take up Gov. Rick Scott's budget recommendation at a hearing Wednesday, to be followed by the House Appropriations Committee on Thursday. At the same time, budget subcommittees on education, health care and other policy areas will begin to scrutinize various elements of the spending plan.
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« Reply #10 on: February 09, 2011, 09:16:34 pm »

What's really bad is the fact that he's raped the state's education system, Medicaid system, and doubled his office budget.

Raped?  They were asking for it.  Did you see the way that Medicaid system was dressed?

Anyway, he's hardly had time to do any rapin'.  His proposals still have to go through Legislature, so they won't come out the other end exactly as he envisioned.  On the plus side, he's proposing to get rid of the DROP program.  I'm sure we can all agree that has to go.
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« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2011, 09:23:40 am »

Raped?  They were asking for it.  Did you see the way that Medicaid system was dressed?

Anyway, he's hardly had time to do any rapin'.  His proposals still have to go through Legislature, so they won't come out the other end exactly as he envisioned.  On the plus side, he's proposing to get rid of the DROP program.  I'm sure we can all agree that has to go.

Hah! Mike made a funny! (And I lost another post.  Angry What Scott realizes in his creation of a teabagger oligarchy is that this state has it's own checks and balances. You don't just announce your budget to a bunch of crazy folks in the boonies wearing their three-cornered hats and then turn around and tell the leaders of the state legislature: "Just pass it!"

Not smart...not smart at all. But I guess 70 billion can't buy smarts, huh?

There's a lot of folks out there (you know...the one's who won't admit they voted for him) second-guessing their decision in November right now...

lol...What better way to pad your pockets than to put the most fraud-prone state agency under your command?

Then moving Medicaid to managed care state-wide? Hell...the four-county experiment has proven to be a disaster! But I'm sure he'lll be able to pad those pockets a little more will all the increased traffic to Solantic!!
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« Reply #12 on: February 14, 2011, 12:26:43 am »

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a better solution to handling the State Medicaid program other than turning to managed care.  If you've got a better idea (other than spending tons of money we don't have) I"d love to hear it.
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« Reply #13 on: February 14, 2011, 05:36:27 pm »

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a better solution to handling the State Medicaid program other than turning to managed care.  If you've got a better idea (other than spending tons of money we don't have) I"d love to hear it.

Haven't we already been through this? Here?


Without a Doctor

Quote
There’s been a lot of talk in our state about health care reform, Medicare, Medicaid and so on. There’s one side who believes health care is a right, and another believes government intervention in health care is wrong.

We are seeing the penultimate example of why health care reform is so urgently needed in our country. For six years, I witnessed first-hand the rape of Medicaid and Ryan White funding at the hands of Florida’s Republican governors Jeb Bush and Charlie Crist. What were once viable programs providing health care to people in need became bureaucratic jungles of unpaid claims and unmanageable care based upon rigid guidelines designed not to provide the best health care possible, but to deny payment for health care.

Faced with decreasing payments caused by further cuts to these programs, physicians have been forced to quit seeing patients they care for, thanks to political appointees bogging down the system to “save taxpayers money.”

Ten years ago, this area had five physicians handling HIV patients. Today there are none. Now that Dr. Daniel J. Warner has been booted as “the area’s only certified HIV doctor,” can someone out there explain where the hundreds of patients he’s seen over the years are supposed to go? Many of these patients lack the funds and transportation to go out of our area to see a capable physician. Will they have to see a physician who (most likely) is overwhelmed already? A physician untrained in the complex and ever-changing scope of care these patients need? How does the Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida plan on ensuring proper care for these patients?

Here’s a message to Jim L. Mayo, chairman of the Health Planning Council: Instead of donating money to Republican political candidates and health insurance PACs, how about spearheading real reform to health care by supporting our president? Or will Mayo be content with the knowledge that his actions might very well lead to the death of so many patients?


The Rape of Florida Medicaid

Quote
In 1965, President Johnson signed the law establishing Medicare and Medicaid. The original purpose of the Medicaid program was:

The Medicaid program, authorized under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, was enacted to provide health care services to low-income children deprived of parental support, their caretaker relatives, the elderly, the blind, and individuals with disabilities.

Going way back to the days of Gov. Claude Kirk (whom I had the pleasure to know personally, regardless of his political leanings), Medicaid has been a prime target of Republican Death Squads.

Gov. Bob Martinez (whom I worked under while with the Florida Board of Nursing) cut, sliced, and pared Medicaid at an alarming rate, especially with regards to our elderly.

But it wasn’t until the reign of Jeb Bush (for whom I billed Medicaid and Medicare at a home health agency) that Medicaid in this state went under the greatest change.

One of Jeb’s first actions upon taking office was to kill his predecessor’s, Lawton Chiles (the only Florida governor in recent history to actually care about health care for children, the disabled and the poor) health care initiative for individuals and small businesses, the Florida Health Care Purchasing Alliance.

But that wasn’t Jeb’s first foray into the rape of Medicaid. In 2003:

Governor Bush is proposing to drop health care and long-term care coverage for about 26,000 seniors and people with disabilities, although they would retain prescription drug coverage.  The governor also is proposing steep increases in co-payments for prescription drugs, which likely would make it harder for some poor patients to afford their medications.  The state already implemented modest cuts in the Medicaid eligibility of elderly and disabled people last year.

In 2005, Jeb had the bright idea (not!) to be among the first to follow his brother George’s edict to make state Medicaid coverage over modeling it like (get this!) a health insurance company, complete with limits on coverage:

Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, both Republicans, have proposed radical changes intended to inject market forces and competition into Medicaid. Under their proposals, the state would give Medicaid recipients a fixed amount of money to buy health care or private insurance.

Under Governor Bush’s proposal, Florida would contribute a fixed amount toward coverage for each Medicaid beneficiary. Patients could use the money to “opt out of Medicaid altogether and purchase health care insurance in the private market,” Mr. Bush said.

(Ironically, today Jeb is on the board of Tenet Healthcare, the same company required to repay the government over 900 million dollars in Medicare and Medicaid overpayments and is plagued by scandal after scandal.)

Even today, Jeb Bush’s failed Medicaid managed care decisions are affecting the State negatively:

”We’ve done the experiment. It has failed,” said Durell Peaden, the Senate’s health care budget chief. “The reports are unsettling. People couldn’t get to specialists, couldn’t get adequate care. And they couldn’t do it cheaply.”

I’m sure Lawton Chiles, the only Florida governor in 40 years to care about it’s citizens, is rolling in his grave right now…
 
The son of Gov. Lawton Chiles said today Gov. Charlie Crist has “betrayed” needy children and old people by raiding a tobacco-funded trust fund for $700 million needed to balance Florida’s budget.

The "fix" to Medicaid obviously does not involve turning it over to managed care.
 
As much as you hate Alan Grayson, he had the answer:

Quote
Let’s face it. Health insurance companies charge as much money as possible, and they provide as little care as possible. The difference is called profit. You can’t blame them for it; that’s what a corporation does. Birds got to fly, fish got to swim, health insurers got to rip you off. And if you get really expensive, they’ve got to pull the plug on you. So for those of us who would like to stay alive, we need a public option.

In many areas of the country, one or two insurers have over 80% of the market. They can charge anything they want. And when you get sick, they can flip the bird at you. So we need a public option.

And they face no real competition because it costs billions of dollars just to set up a national health care network. In fact, the only one that’s nationwide is . . . Medicare. And we limit that to one-eight of the population. It’s like saying that only seniors can drive on federal highways. We really need a public option.

And to the right-wing loons who call it socialism, we say, “if you want to be a slave to the insurance companies, that’s fine. If you want 30% of your premiums to go to ‘administrative costs’ and billion-dollar bonuses for insurance CEOs who figure out new and creative ways to deny you the care you need to stay healthy and alive, that’s fine. But don’t you try to dictate to me that I can’t have a public option!”
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« Reply #14 on: February 14, 2011, 05:41:16 pm »

I didn't want this to get lost in the above.

Why don't we place income limits on persons receiving social security and medicare? It pisses me off that John McCain, with his billions of dollars, draws a social security check every month.

Do you really think that money means a hill of beans to him or any other rich person? Do you really think he or any other rich person is going to go to their nearest Doctor that handles Medicare patients and sit in the lobby with fifty other old people waiting to be seen?

Hell no!

By setting an income limit, our government should have lots left over to take care of everyone who needs health care! As far as Medicaid's concerned, we won't need it anymore!
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