Forum Activity for @harold-powell

Rand McNally Designates Jefferson City, MO the most beautiful small town in America for 2013

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It gets pretty raucous alright!

Especially during the last day of session. It's not as bad, however, as in days gone by . During the "Reconstruction" period after the Civil War there were two major hotels in Jefferson City. One hotel, located where the Supreme Court Building now sits, posted a sign out front which read "No Republicans Allowed." This was especially egregious to members of the GOP because the matron and owner of the hotel was said to have cooked and served the best meals in town! Her allegiance, however, rested with the Democrat Party and the old Confederacy. Republicans were forced to stay across the street from the Governor's Mansion in a hotel called " The House of the Rising Sun. " I'm not kidding! It was apparently a common name for hotels during that period. The accommodations were said to be nicer but the food was lousy. GOP members would occasionally try to sneak into the restaurant at the Democrat hotel (to demonstrate their bipartisan nature) but would be quickly recognized and thrown out by the matron. Abolitionists were not welcome! Period.

Rand McNally Designates Jefferson City, MO the most beautiful small town in America for 2013

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Our city has been named the most beautiful small town in America for 2013 by Rand McNally's Best of the Road. Our town is named for President Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States and of Welsh descent. Our first territorial governor was Meriwether Lewis who camped here on his famous expedition. The video shows a brief glimpse of the Opera House on High Street where Henry Morton Stanley (of Stanley and Livingston fame and also of Welsh descent) gave several lectures to earn enough money to resume his vagabond trip down the Missouri River by raft on his return from a trip to the Wyoming Territory. It also shows the street where Henry Morton Stanley lived while stationed here as a correspondent for the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper reporting on state government. The video also contains a brief clip of the Governor's Mansion where the famous Welsh outlaw, Frank James, surrendered in person handing his six shooter grip first to Governor Thomas T. Crittenden. A few months later a St. Louis jury refused to convict James in one of the first high profile acts of "jury nullification."

Runner-ups in the Rand McNally contest were Punta Gorda, Florida and Quincy, Illinois. See: http://www.bestoftheroad.com/contest#most-beautiful

updated by @harold-powell: 11/11/15 10:39:00PM

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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This has nothing to do with the President's website problems...but...under the category ofcollateral damage...my son-in-law's healthcare policy was just canceled due to Obamacare mandates.

Fortunately, he was able to get new insurance through this place of employment. Unfortunately, the next wave of cancellations (sometime next year) will be targeted at employees who have group coverage through their workplace.

Hidden inside the law is a little clause which says that if co-pays are increased by as much as $5.00 the policy can no longer be "grandfathered" in. In other words...you cannot keep it.

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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Jack, this year and last it was United Healthcare Missouri.

Since State Government is located here and has so many employees local governments are allowed to join that larger purchasing pool. The plan is designed by the governing entities (with only minor differences) and private insurers bid on the block as a whole. Some years we've had MercyCare Health Plans then United HealthCare Missouri for others as underwriters.

For years the Chamber of Commerce has sought legislation which would allow small businesses to join that same insurance pool so they, too, could purchase health insurance for their employees more in line with the rates that big corporations and big labor pay. But guess who is against that?

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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President Obama calls in Jeff Zients, the "Cash for Clunkers" guy, to fix his ailing website.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/meet-jeff-zients-man-charged-fixing-obamacares-broken/story?id=20659016

Meanwhile, 2 million Americans have received notifications that their health care insurance is being canceled. Experts claim that number will climb to 16 million by January 1.

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2013/10/29/cbs-news-more-than-2-million-americans-cannot-renew-current-health-insurance/

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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No. Our total "out of pocket" expense is $360.00 per year per spouse beginning the first of November excluding co-pays on prescriptions which are $10.00 on generic $20.00 on brand-name drugs. But when Walmart lowered their prescription rates to $4.00 for generic [our pharmacy followed suit] we always pay just $4.00 per month anyway.

We can choose any doctor or specialist we want and are not locked into a primary physician gateway. We've been very pleased with our health coverage up until now but are bracing for dramatic increases next year and especially the year following when the majority of Obamacare regulations take effect.

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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I don't know the answer to that. I have group insurance too. Our costs are going up about 20% as a direct result of the Obamacare law. At least that's what we were told last week by our company's underwriter (I'm covered under my wife's policy). In addition to the monthly premium increasing 20% our "out of pocket" expense will be increasing from $300.00 per spouse per year to $360.00 per year as a direct result of the law. HOWEVER, the representative from the insurance company said NEXT year our "out of pocket" expense will increase to $3.000.00 per spouse per year. The rates next year will be increasing so dramatically, we were told, because that's when many of the new provisions of Obamcare will fully take effect including mandatory psychiatric care. Our present coverage limits psychiatric care to family counseling.

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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After three tortuous weeks Obama finally admits his HealthCare.gov website is a disaster. Says he will bring in the nation'sbest and brightest to fix the website. He also says that he will furnish each with a note explaining to their teachers why they will be absent from school this week.

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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I've heard Kentucky has had very few problems with their website. Good for them!

https://kyenroll.ky.gov/

In fact, they led the nation with 167 sign-ups on the first day.

Several other states beside Kentucky have developed independent websites but have been plagued with errors like the Federal site has. I don't know it they borrowed their internal website architecture from Washington or not but it seems likely because they're experiencing similar problems.

Obamacare Website: A $643 million dollar boondogle

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Obamacare woes widen as insurers get wrong data

CBS Marketwatch: Private insurers say the few completed applications they're getting from HealthCare.gov are filled with incorrect data and the culprit is the software--not the users.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obamacare-woes-widen-as-insurers-get-wrong-data-2013-10-18

Obamacare steals "free" software

How is it possible to steal something that is free? By removing the copyright notice and passing off the code as one's own. SpryMedia, a British company which developed this free, Open Source software called DataTables, plans to seek legal remediation. SpryMedia's software is not the reason, by the way, that HealthCare.gov is having such enormous problems [I've used it DataTables and it's great software]. The company licenses the software at no cost to anyone as long as a user leaves the copyright notice in place. By "in place" the company means it should be left intact inside the code itself: Not out in the open in a conspicuous place, but inside the actual code where only computer geeks and programmers will see it.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-website-violates-licensing-agreement-copyrighted-software_763666.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter