Pioneer's Josh Archambault has been closely watching the health care payment reform legislation on Beacon Hill. He's been all over it, from analysis of the new mega-agency the proposal creates, to the media coverage's failure to see the big picture, and the likelihood that neither bill will succeed at controlling costs:
http://www.pioneerinstitute.or... http://www.pioneerinstitute.or... http://www.pioneerinstitute.or...
Check out Jeff Jacoby's Boston Globe column, "On health care, state doesn't know best," which cites Josh's analysis: http://bostonglobe.com/opinion...
Read Josh's op-eds on the topic in the MetroWest Daily News: the MA legislature is about to create a massive new agency, the Division of Health Care Cost and Quality, with broad regulatory powers & oversight of billions of dollars. Do we trust their judgment? http://www.wickedlocal.com/wes... On Pioneer's blog, Josh also asks: Will Your Next Cancer Treatment Be In New Hampshire? http://www.pioneerinstitute.or...
Read Steve Poftak on "The Struggles of 38 Studios" (or, How the Government Shouldn't Use Public Money): http://blogs.bostonmagazine.co...
Read Jim Stergios' take, in yesterday's Boston Herald, on public colleges' use of student fees for lobbying: http://www.bostonherald.com/ne...
Jamie Gass in last week's Lowell Sun: "Gov. Patrick, Secretary Reville and other state officials must realize the damage the national standards are doing to the high school English curriculum and require yearlong courses in American and British literature, as well as a classical literature course in grade nine or 10."
http://www.lowellsun.com/edito...
As lawmakers on Beacon Hill are wringing their hands over how to contain burgeoning health care costs, they're getting a helping hand from an unexpected source: immigration enforcement, in the form of Secure Communities. This program was activated yesterday over the objections and obstruction of Gov. Patrick. (For those who doesn't watch Fox 25 News, Secure Communities enables ICE, the federal immigration enforcement agency, to screen the fingerprints of everyone arrested in order to locate deportable non-citizens and send them home.)
It's already working on behalf of taxpayers. Consider one of the first cases processed yesterday through Secure Communities. The patrol officer pulls over a van, for a lane change violation and improper markings on the vehicle. The driver is unlicensed and has only a Bank of America credit card and a Mass Health card for identification. The vehicle is registered to someone else. Upon booking, the driver's fingerprints are sent to ICE via the existing criminal history screening process. The fingerprint and immigration check together establish that this offender is using an alias and is here illegally. His prints were on file because he had been arrested before, by the Border Patrol, for attempted illegal entry in Texas. If at first you don't succeed . . . . ICE promptly put a hold on this offender, which is the first step toward removal.
Thanks to Rep. Jim Lyons of Andover, we know that our state spent $93 million last year on health care for illegal aliens. This does not include costs for the health care of the U.S. citizen children of illegal aliens, who qualify for full coverage in this and many other social welfare programs.
As a result of the hard work of citizen activists, three sheriffs, a pair of intrepid investigative reporters, some state legislators, and others who prefer not to be named, we don't have to wait for the governor, the health care industry, or the House and Senate leadership to impose cost controls - the savings started yesterday!
In a telephone interview earlier today Special Agent Terry Thomas, Statewide Coordinator of the Crimes Against Children Unit of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, reiterated that he still recommends prosecution of Carl Stanley McGee under Florida's rape laws. Thomas stated that he, "recommended prosecution before, would do so today and would do so ten years from now." He also repeated, as reported elsewhere, that "he has tried and won convictions with less evidence than is available in this case."
Special Agent Terry Thomas has served in law enforcement for the past 37 years and is assigned to the Division of Criminal Investigation with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. More than 26 years of Special Agent Thomas's career has been exclusively dedicated to crimes against children. Agent Thomas was invited and participated (1984) as a panelist for the U.S. Department of Justice Hearings on Child Molestation held in Washington, D.C. With his skills, knowledge, and experience, and as FDLE's Statewide Coordinator of Crimes Against Children Program, Agent Thomas facilitated the development of the nation's forefront Rapid Response Team. Florida's statewide RRT investigates child abuse cases having multiple victims and Agent Thomas's innovative mobile interview room has been the prototype for program design in other States. Terry Thomas serves on the Florida Child Death Review Team and has been called upon as the consultant to law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. Terry Thomas is a consultant for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Florida Network of Victim Services, NOVA, and the National Victim's Center. In addition, as an expert in crimes against children and the investigation of those crimes, he lectures extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.
Thomas also explained that he filed a report outlining the reasons for the prosecution recommendation. A public records request has been filed in Florida for a copy of that report.
Thomas' assertion that he still recommends prosecution flies directly in the face of statements from Deval Patrick and his administration. The former Secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development told the Boston Globe that he was, "completely comfortable that Stan had been falsely accused, and we welcomed him back." Last week Deval Patrick told the press that because there were no charges, McGee should be allowed to return to work.
(Yeah, right. The Liberty Slate just wants to affect the Platform. Believe that, and I have a Bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you. - promoted by Paul R. Ferro)
A speech Mitt Romney's son gave at the state Arizona Republican Party convention was cut short by booing supporters of GOP presidential hopeful and rival Ron Paul.
The Arizona Republic reports jeers from the crowded forced Josh Romney to stop repeatedly as he spoke Saturday at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix to build support within the party for his father, the presumed Republican presidential nominee.
The paper says the crowd erupted in boos and cheers at the end of Josh Romney's speech, cutting him short. He was telling the crowd to select delegates for his father just before leaving the stage
Again, I have never seen this in an election. Far from uniting the party, the Paul supporters seem like a bunch of kids that only will show up if their guy gets the nomination.
With 11 states now in the books for Paul, to Romney's 18 and only 11 states left to start their primary or caucus process, Ron Paul has seemingly "stolen" enough delegates in the undecided states and will likely gain enough in states to come, virtually assuring a brokered convention at the RNC in August.
Earlier this week C. Stanley McGee removed himself from consideration as the interim Executive Director of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. This decision came after a firestorm of public scrutiny regarding the pick. Culminating with Dan Winslow hiring a former State Police investigator to fully investigate the allegations that McGee raped a 15 year old boy in Florida in 2007.
McGee originally was suspended from the Patrick Administration when the charges came to light. The State of Florida determined that in this he said, he said case they did not have enough evidence to prosecute McGee. Deval Patrick's administration took McGee off of leave after this decision by Florida.
Subsequently to the State of Florida dropping charges, the family of the alleged rape victim sued McGee in Suffolk Superior Court. McGee settled with the alleged victim. Below is the lawsuit that was settled by McGee (warning it is very graphic in nature).
Governor Patrick has said that he welcomes C. Stanley McGee back into his administration, saying that "here were no charges, and he and anyone else under those circumstances should be entitled to resume their life. He is a very, very strong, very able contributing member of our team and I hope he'll come back". What Patrick, and Greg Bialecki, McGee's immediate supervisor, have not addressed is the settling of the above lawsuit.
Before McGee restarts his job in the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development the public should be allowed to know the details of his settlement. Barring that, he should find a job in the private sector.
(Oh and don't forget in his memoir Barack Obama recalls an incident when he bullied a little girl. - promoted by Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno)
Breitbart has the details. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-J... Critical details regarding the Washington Post's reporting of the alleged hazing incidents involving Mitt Romney are shown to be factually incorrect. Not surprisingly, the reporter and Post editors have skewed the story to portray Mitt in the worst possible light.
For instance, an individual that the Post claimed to have been a witness to the incident, which bothered him for years, states that he was not there and unaware of it until just last year.
The original Washington Post piece stated the following:
"I always enjoyed his pranks," said Stu White, a popular friend of Romney's who went on to a career as a public school teacher and has long been bothered by the Lauber incident. [emphasis added]
Yet in an interview with ABC News today, White disowned that characterization:
While the Post reports White as having "long been bothered" by the haircutting incident," he told ABC News he was not present for the prank, in which Romney is said to have forcefully cut a student's long hair and was not aware of it until this year when he was contacted by the Washington Post.
White didn't know about the incident until this year, but the Post reported that he had "long been bothered" by it. We demanded a correction.
The family of one of the students that was allegedly at the brunt of one of Mitt's pranks is outraged with The Washington Post:
Tonight, Christine Lauber, John Lauber's sister, said that she didn't know anything about the bullying incident. More importantly, she said that the story had factual inaccuracies. Betsy Lauber, another of John's sisters, told ABC News, "The family of John Lauber is releasing a statement saying the portrayal of John is factually incorrect and we are aggrieved that he would be used to further a political agenda. There will be no more comments from the family." Said Christine, "If he were alive today, he would be furious [about the story]." Jason Horowitz, the reporter on the Post story, did speak to both sisters and quoted them in the story - but apparently still botched the facts.
Watch for more as the MSM tries to do in Mitt Romney. But this time, the MSM will have Redacto, the Correction Alpaca to reckon with. http://www.breitbart.com/Colum...
President Barack Obama's decision to endorse marriage equality is not only a significant shift in his re-election campaign strategy but more broadly I think both he & his New Left advisors feel that the gambit is a necessary one.
I suspect Obama and his allies want to make sure that the "brand" of the Democrat Party reflects the core ideological values of the New Left - even if the expression of said values leads the party to purge itself of any "Blue Dog" Jacksonian/Reagan Democrats in their midst. This should be no surprise to anyone paying attention to this administration. The move not only lays down the foundation for what Obama & his fellow travelers seek to impose upon America but also reflects the supreme confidence these ideologues have that their vision of our country's future will soon become a reality - one that moves our nation away from American dynamism towards European statism.
The mainstream media is currently citing the primary defeat of Republican US Senator Richard Lugar (among other similar stories) as an example of "extremist" elements within the GOP taking over the party. Yet few - if any - media professionals are expressing the same level of concern about the ongoing transformation of the Democrat Party by its own "extremist" factions. Moderates in both parties are being pushed aside - if not pushed out. Is that a good thing?
BOSTON (May 9, 2012)-- Claiming that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission's failure to investigate allegations of child molestation before hiring a top staffer "is unacceptable and inexcusable," State Representative Dan Winslow (R-Norfolk) today announced that he has hired one of the state's most respected and experienced investigators to review the circumstances of the alleged incident and to prepare a report for the Gaming Commission and Governor to review and act accordingly.
C. Stanley McGee was tapped for the most senior executive role as Interim Executive Director on the newly-formed Gaming Commission this week after the Commission refused Winslow's request to delay the hiring for a week pending due diligence investigation. McGee had been sued in Suffolk Superior Court by the child's family for civil damages arising from the alleged incident and the parties entered into a confidential settlement agreement. In remarks prepared for delivery outside the House Chamber in the Massachusetts State House, Winslow described the allegations of the civil complaint as "detailed, graphic and heartbreaking."
The Commission cited McGee's "presumption of innocence" in declining to investigate the allegations because the Florida prosecutor decided not to pursue the criminal case for lack of sufficient evidence such as DNA and a corroborating witness. The Florida prosecutor determined he could not prove the criminal charge of Sexual Battery on a Minor by proof beyond a reasonable doubt without such evidence. In a letter sent earlier this week to the Commission, Winslow urged the agency to reconsider its decision because "lack of prosecution is not tantamount to exoneration" from the alleged conduct. According to Winslow, "the Commission owes no one any presumption of innocence. Instead, the Commission should follow the example of Reagan with the Russians and trust but verify."
