T. Boone Better Than T-Bone On Capitol Hill
Published by Al Adomite on July 22nd, 2008
I’m an avid KMOX listener. Some political ads just focused on TV might miss me completely, but when a new radio spot shows up on KMOX, chances are it catches my attention. Recently, the Farm Bureau and Med Society have had interesting advertising campaigns. But, one ad campaign in particular has caught my ear:
No doubt there are a lot of folks out there with grand schemes and blue-sky brainstorms about how to tackle America’s energy problems.
But T. Boone Pickens is more than just an opinionated fellow who talks a big game. He’s an opinionated fellow who talks a big game and is backed up by an even bigger bank roll, estimated at $4 billion.
Have you heard T. Boone’s ads? He’s got to be spending a fortune (just a little of his, in fact) on the ads. But this guy means business. He’s almost self-funded the Oklahome State sports program ($165 million), and now he has what he calls the Picken’s Plan.
Some are skeptical of the Pickens Plan, which calls for the government to help fund construction of new wind generation facilities to produce 20 percent of the nation’s electricity and slash one-third of foreign oil imports over the next 10 years.
Some are skeptical, too, of his motives, saying Pickens is looking to benefit his BP Capital Management company, which invests heavily in renewable energy.
Watch the video on his website. It’s like Ross Perot dictating Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth.
He has a map of world wind patterns. His money quote about America: “We have more wind than anybody else does.” He won’t be telling Congress anything they don’t know.
ACS CAN Bus Tour Rolls To Alton, Mt. Vernon
Published by Al Adomite on July 16th, 2008
From an e-mail from the American Cancer Society:
In less than one week, the Fight Back Express Bus Tour will roll into Illinois starting in Chicago and making its way throughout the state. Sponsored by The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the Fight Back Express bus tour is building a grassroots movement united in its mission to make cancer a top national priority through research funding, more support for cancer screening and treatment, and expanded access to healthcare.
The tour will host 18 events throughout Illinois during the week of July 20-25th–we hope to see you when we are in or near your community!
Here’s the local stops:
Mt. Vernon - July 21: 5:30 PM
The Center for Comprehensive Cancer Care, 4117 Veterans Memorial Drive, Mt. Vernon 62864
Alton - July 22: 9:00 AM
Alton Square, 200 Alton Square, Alton 62002
Filed under County Issues | Comment now »Slobo Passes
Published by Al Adomite on July 16th, 2008
Any kid growing up in St. Louis in the early-80s had to have known about Slobo. I can remember playing soccer in our front yard and blocking shots to cries of SLOBO SAVE!
Slobodan “Slobo” Ilijevski, 58, a fan favorite on the St. Louis Steamers, died Monday in a Seattle hospital after suffering a rupture of his aorta while participating Saturday in a national soccer tournament in Seattle for the Kutis Over 55 men’s team representing St. Louis.
During his last game, a semifinal match Saturday, he suffered pain after a high ball save and complained of stomach pain and dizziness. After a CT scan, doctors discovered that blood was leaking from a rupture in the wall of his aorta.
Soccer has been talked about in a big way in the metro-east this past year or two. But, the Steamers always seemed to be bigger than all the other attempts to at pro soccer in St. Louis. You just have to admire these athletes, most of whom didn’t make enough in their sport to fully support their families. So different than other sports.
In the Major Indoor Soccer League’s heyday, crowds of 18,000-plus would pack the former Arena and chant “Slobo, Slobo, Slobo!” The Macedonian goalie for the Steamers, the Storm and the Ambush, helped the teams reinvent themselves repeatedly to keep pro soccer in St. Louis. [...]
In 1980, prospects of a better life in the United States looked bleak for the goalkeeper from Yugoslavia; his visa was about to expire and he had two failed tryout attempts with MISL teams in Philadelphia and Chicago. A friend from Detroit had arranged for Mr. Ilijevski to meet Steamers coach Pat McBride. With six goalies already at camp, he knew the odds of getting on the team were slim, but he had only $20, so he took a chance. His visa expiration date was Oct. 30. He signed with the Steamers on Oct. 28.
What an incredible story.
Filed under Breaking News | 1 Comment »Presidential Summer Duldrums
Published by Al Adomite on July 15th, 2008
Is it any wonder why voters become apathetic? I ran across these two articles nearly consecutively today…
In a lively appearance before the National Council of La Raza, one of the most important advocacy groups in the United States for Hispanic Americans, McCain rejected the organizers’ attempts to cut off audience questioning of him, at one point tossing his microphone to a man so he could pose his query. [...]
Obama took aim at McCain when he addressed the same group in San Diego on Sunday, saying he had admired McCain for bucking his party and pushing for the legislation, but that eventually McCain “abandoned his courageous stance, and said that he wouldn’t even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote.”
Emphasis added. Contrast Obama’s statement with this report (hat tip: IlliniPundit):
Barack Obama’s campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S. troop “surge” in Iraq, the Daily News has learned. The presumed Democratic nominee replaced his Iraq issue Web page, which had described the surge as a “problem” that had barely reduced violence.
Flip. Flop. I just ask myself, “Why did Reagan’s first term fall in the middle of my elementary school years?” It seems like so, long, ago…
Filed under National Issues | 1 Comment »Airlines Take On Oil Speculators
Published by Al Adomite on July 11th, 2008
An interesting letter popped into my inbox yesterday. An “open letter” from xx different airline companies, the letter suggests that reform of oil commodity markets would be a meaningful way of lowering gas prices. Their new announced website, StopOilSpeculationNow.com has more, but here’s a sampling of their argument:
Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery. Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.
Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.
I’ve recently been thinking about the concept of free markets and its relationship with government regulation. How much better to put it in a contemporary context within the gas price debate. I’m still not convinced that there’s not a supply problem when it comes to oil, but it’s interesting that oil consumers like the airlines would take up this argument. Although, how could it hurt the airlines by pushing for regulation, how could the airline industry be any more regulated?
SOS Now suggests repealing the “Enron Loophole,” and I think I’ll work on getting up to speed on that first. Meanwhile, oil set a record this morning.
Filed under National Issues | 1 Comment »McCain-Obama in Illinois
Published by Al Adomite on July 10th, 2008
Newsflash: Obama is not going to lose Illinois.
However, despite that fact, the numbers in Illinois are not stacking for Obama to thump McCain at the same level as Obama’s 70-27 drubbing of Alan Keyes in 2004. According to the latest Rasmussen poll, Obama leads 50-37 in a generic ballot test and 52-41 with leaners.
The more interesting aspect of the poll is this: “The two candidates are essentially tied among voters not affiliated with either major political party.”
Perhaps the Democrat avalanche thought to be headed towards Illinois in November is not as fueled by the “Obama Factor” as much as everyone thinks.
Other interesting factoids:
- Both candidates are viewed favorably by 60% of Illinois voters.
- [A] plurality of voters in Illinois (49%) sees the economy as the most important issue of Election 2008.
- Fifty-seven percent (57%) favor drilling in offshore oil wells to ease gas prices, while 32% are opposed.
- By a 36-30 margin, Illinoisans still say “free trade” is good for the US economy.
I remember Edgar’s 70 percent in 1994 being the high-water mark for the GOP. But, you have to think the national mood fueled both Edgar’s popularity and the GOP sweep in 1994, as well. At least, it wasn’t ALL just an Illinois trend that year.
Obama set a “70″ in 2004, but there wasn’t as much of a coattail that year and perhaps with the lack of straight-party balloting in Illinois, a year like 1994 will never happen again for either party. But, it would seem unlikely that Obama will get anywhere near 70 in Illinois this year.
With all the hype that down-ballot Republicans should fear a tsunami this year, do these polling numbers indicate that the Illinois political waters don’t look quite as bad?
Filed under State Issues | 3 Comments »The Life Of A State Legislator
Published by Al Adomite on July 9th, 2008
I can’t think of any job I’d want less in the world than that of a state legislator. Constant trips to Springfield (even for special sessions like today’s), being away from home for 5 months in the spring, and more than 60,000 constituents to keep happy. Heck, doing a little lobbying in Springfield is enough of the town for my tastes.
As a little more evidence of the hectic pace, this story from State Senator Dan Rutherford - one of the better “constituent service” legislators in Springfield - shows how the job takes a toll on everything and everyone, including his car:
As you may know, my 2002 Pontiac Bonneville will be hitting the 300,000 mile mark some time soon. We have come up with a contest to see who can guess where she will be when she hits that 300.
Here’s a photo of the workhorse:
50,000 miles a year! Lot’s of windshield time for state legislators.
As an aside, I should mention no one does a better job than Dan at e-mail outreach. My wife and I both get Happy Birthday e-mails from him.
Filed under State Issues | 1 Comment »Durbin Supports Offshore Drilling, Ventura To Run For Senate
Published by Al Adomite on July 9th, 2008
I’ve been critical of Durbin’s lack of attention to the supply side of the oil problem, so this should get some notice as a step in the right direction:
A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.
“I’m open to drilling and responsible production,” Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.
Too bad there wasn’t bipartisan movement on this five years ago.
It what could turn into an entertaining race in Minnesota that could have effects upon the Presidential race, former Governor and professional wrestler Jesse “The Body” Ventura will join the race for US Senate. Ventura defeated incumbent Republican Senator Norm Coleman for Governor in 1998. Al Franken, the goofy former Saturday Night Live star and comedian is the Democrat in the race. Ventura takes the opening swing:
Ventura called Franken an opportunist and a carpetbagger. “He hasn’t lived here in 30 years, and he’s only coming back to Minnesota for the convenience of his own political agenda. Why didn’t he run in the states he was living in? Clearly, for being a Harvard graduate, he’s not too smart on taxes, is he? Everybody laughs, saying I came from wrestling. But at least I knew when I wrestled in 40 states, I had to pay taxes in those 40 states.
Initial polling shows Ventura takes support equally from both candidates:
A recent state poll has Coleman leading with 52 percent of the vote and Franken with 40 percent.
A hypothetical race with Ventura shows Coleman with 41 percent, Franken with 31 percent and Ventura with 23 percent.
Should be a fun race to watch.
Filed under National Issues | 2 Comments »Medicaid Policy
Published by Al Adomite on July 8th, 2008
I try to keep posting on this blog separate from my work. There’s an opportunity to post things about my work over at my work website. But, I thought this issue begged for a post here, as it’s a public policy issue that has been percolating for some time.
I can remember talking with local doctors nearly five years ago about the squeeze on the economics of medicine: litigation/insurance eating at any profits on one side and medicaid cuts shrinking revenues on the other side. Medical “profit” (if you want to call it that) was being squeezed, especially when you consider the high cost of student loans for many doctors.
Fast forward to 2008. In Illinois, the Governor - cheered on by groups like the Kaiser Family Foundation - has led the charge to extend public-funded healthcare to a larger number of recipients in Illinois. Other states have followed this course, as well. At least for this argument, let’s leave out the pros and cons of the Gross Receipts Tax out of this argument’s equation, but just state that many states are looking to expand medicaid but are finding it difficult to find new revenue sources for the expansion.
But, it’s not just Democrats who have expanded these programs, as President Bush and the GOP got into the act by making expensive changes to Medicare, as well. And now the federal programs are in a financial crunch and federal funds affect state funds in many states, as well.
I worry the result of these policies mirrors this exchange, from ABC News:
For the past four years, Dr. Heather Tipsword has owned a family practice clinic that primarily treats Medicaid and Medicare patients in Oklahoma City. As many of her friends and family were looking forward to Fourth of July celebrations this past weekend, Tipsword was anxiously looking forward to another event altogether: Congress’ meeting on the Monday after the holiday weekend to discuss some kind of fix to the scheduled 10.6 percent Medicare reimbursement cut.
To Tipsword, this round of Medicare reimbursement cuts, to become effective July 15, could make or break her family practice. (In many states, these cuts affect Medicaid too.) [...]
Tipsword is not alone. The Houston Chronicle reported last week that more and more Texas doctors are opting out of Medicare due to growing cuts in reimbursement. And the trend is not limited to Texas doctors. Primary care doctors from around the country have told ABC News that they too are either opting out of treating Medicare patients, or are preparing to do so if Congress once again OKs slashing reimbursement rates.
In a nutshell: If the government continues to open taxpayer-funded medicine to more people (thus increasing the demand), yet reimbursement rates continue to fall (or the time delay for reimbursement gets longer) due to lack of funds, the result is fewer doctors willing to take part in these programs (thus less supply of available medicine to the participants). Isn’t this a problem that elicits bipartisan concern?
The worst part is that the lower-income participants who need to the care most and have been participants for much longer are faced with the same lack of access to medical care than the recently enrolled participants who now qualify because of the increased financial thresholds.
According to the American Medical Association (AMA), reimbursements that have been reduced every year for nearly a decade have slashed physician payment rates by about 40 percent. Meanwhile, the cost of practice rises annually. The AMA estimates that this year practice costs will increase by 20 percent.
And according to a 2007 AMA survey of 8,955 physicians in the United States, 60 percent of doctors said they plan to limit the number of new Medicare patients and 40 percent of doctors said they plan to limit the number of established Medicare patients that they treat if Medicare payment rates are cut by 10 percent in 2008.
I’ve heard anecdotal stories from some local doctors of parents who moved coverage of their kids from their work insurance to save money and then found that their doctor didn’t accept AllKids when they took their kids to get school physicals last fall. Then, parents faced the (hardly fun) task of finding a doctor who would take medicaid and then trying to get an appointment on short notice.
So, the economic “squeeze” for doctors becomes a medical access “squeeze” for low-income patients. Now it looks like it could spread from Medicaid to Medicare, meaning older Americans will feel the “squeeze” too.
Here’s a primer on some of the Illinois medicaid expansion, though remember that “AllKids” is law, however “Illinois Covered” is the proposal that was never legislated, although the Governor has continued to try to implement parts of plan without legislative action. And remember that the some of economic consequences of these expansions has been hidden by carrying over bills from one fiscal year to the next, as discovered by the Auditor General.
It’s a lofty goal to increase taxpayer-funded medicine to citizens at 400% of the poverty level ($82,600 for family of four in 2007). But, in Madison County, the median household income in 2004 was $45,326. Are we really being fair to bring medicaid eligibility to (much) more than half of all citizens if it’s severely limiting access to medical care to those who need it the most?
Filed under State Issues | 1 Comment »Local GOP Pass Resolution To Repeal Shelter Care Tax
Published by Al Adomite on July 2nd, 2008
I’m not just going to say this because he wrote such a nice article about Mark & I and this blog. But, Chris Coates of the Suburban Journals simply hasn’t missed one angle on the Sheltered Care debate.
I have to admit that I wouldn’t earn the Top Attendance award for County GOP meetings, but I had heard that the Central Committee had moved forward with a resolution to repeal the sheltered care tax. Coates has more details:
The Madison County Republic Central Committee, an advisory panel of all eight Republicans on the 29-member County Board and other conservatives, late last month passed asking that the county strike the Shelter Care Tax from the 2009 levy and budget, said Chair Don Metzler.
The text of the resolution reads as follows:
“The current Shelter Care Tax should be removed from the fiscal year 2009 levy, and a corresponding line item amount should be eliminated from the 2009 budget. Any funds needed to establish a reserve fund during the transition period in 2009 and beyond to provide care for current residents should come from the $5 million in funds set aside for the construction of the facility. There should not be an increase in the mental health budget for 2009 to offset the reduction in the shelter care tax.”
It’s not often that anyone in government eliminates a tax - much less an entire line on the property tax bill - but it looks probable, based upon the comment from Joe Parente.
A three-member committee is still coordinating the closure and ruling on specifics, but county Director of Administration Joseph D. Parente said current plans call for the county to stop levying taxes once the facility ceases housing residents.
“Assuming the facility will be closed this year, no taxes will be collected on next year’s tax bill for the Shelter Care Home,” he said.
The opportunity to cut a property tax levy might outweigh any local hostility over the Sheltered Care closing for any of the 22 members who voted in the favor.
That leads to a question: Which ellicits more anger right now in the county, high property taxes or the closing of the sheltered care facility?
Filed under County Issues | 5 Comments »
