Southern Inyo Hospital Administrator Lee Barron said her trip to Sacramento to save the hospital from devastating Medi-Cal cuts “did not go well.” She said she and officials from seven other facilities hoped the Department of Health Care Services would want to work with them. Barron said, “It was not like that at all.”
Assembly Bill 97 includes a 46% reduction in Medi-Cal reimbursements for Southern Inyo’s Skilled Nursing Facility. This would displace the elderly and frail residents and, as Administrator Barron said, “This could close our entire hospital. We are working on a contingency plan,” she said.
In addition to the reimbursement cuts, the State wants to retroactively collect $1.5 million from the small and struggling Southern Inyo Hospital. Barron said when she and other health care officials went to Sacramento recently for a meeting with the Secretary of the Department of Health Care Services, they were told the Secretary had another meeting to go to.
Two other Department representatives did meet with the group. Barron said officials in her group talked about the nearly complete lack of Medi-Cal beds anywhere close to their towns. The Department of Health bureaucrats did not show a desire to ease the pain of the threatened nursing facilities.
Barron said the whole situation is a matter of timing now. She said a lawsuit against the Medi-Cal cuts could go before the entire bench of the Ninth District Court of Appeals. That will not be known until the end of March. Also, another bill has been introduced to restore the Medi-Cal reimbursement rates. Word of that will also come out at the end of the month.
Barron said she and others are asking the Department of Health Care Services to wait until the legal process is done before they try to collect payments. Many are involved in this desperate problem – the California Medical Association, pharmacy groups, district hospitals, rural and urban facilities. Said Barron, “This could shut down facilities across the State.” She plans to go back to Sacramento next week to spread the word on what this would do to our area.
Barron said, “This will hurt our local economy, our health care and the personal side.” She pointed out that State government finances are much better than they were when AB97 was passed. Said the Administrator, “Just because a bill can be enacted does not mean it’s the right thing to do.” Barron urged local residents to continue to send letters to legislators whose aides told her that they were well aware of letters that have already arrived.
Emails:
Senator Jean Fuller email – <mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected]
Congresswoman Connie Conway – <mailto:[email protected]>
[email protected]
Letters can go to:
Diana Dooley
Secretary, DHCS (Department of Health Care Services)
PO Box 997413
Sacramento, CA 95889-7413
Toby Douglas
Director, DHCS
PO Box 997413 , MS:0000
Sacramento, CA 95889-7413
Senator Jean Fuller
18th Senate District
State Capitol, Room 3063
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax: 916-322-3304
Fax: 661-323-0446
Assemblywoman Connie Conway
34th Assembly District
State Capitol Office Rm 2174
Sacramento, CA 94249-0034
Fax: 559-636-4484
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I say we all call in sick and go fishing.
It’s OK Benett as I said before .. I consider the source. My reply to your post last night was not a slam, I did not mean to slam you or anyone, I was just making light of something I see that people seem feeel a need to do now days .. And letting it be known I don’t appreciate being called a racist. It is just not true.
After thinking of your comment, I don’t see it so much of throwing out the race card as it appeared at first but yet it made me feel like I was being racist for my comments on the president.
But for another person here, it is blatantly accusational on their part with all sorts of character assassinations, which he or she thinks is very cute. And most of it I just laugh at, but I don’t take being called a racist very lightly.
Dammit, I even get a lot of what he tries to say, but then it turns to horse s*t when he starts in on the tea bagger limbaugh foaming at the mouth liberals crap.
While I may not agree with some things you say, I respect you for staying in balance and recognizing attacks.
BK
“Just be sure there’s not a bit of racism in your “Obummer” moniker. I don’t respect that.”
Benett … where did I indicate any referral to his race in my comments on how I see him? I can and do take offense at that comment, it suggests that I am being racist for stating my views about the president.
If I had said something to indicate that then yes you could think I am racist. But I did not reference anything in my comments about anything to do with race.
I merely expressed my feelings about his performance. I could give a rats ass about what his skin color is, that does not matter to me.
Why is it so fashionable now days to throw the race thing in any thing that apposes how one might feel about any given subject.
I don’t respect racism either, I have had to deal with it as well. Just because I might be white, or Native American, Or African American, it doesn’t make it right that I have to have someone disrespect me with racism.
“The Patriot Act followed as did massive spending on the war that put us into huge debt
with China. Warrantless searches of our communications started. Freedom?”
Warrentless searches are not OK .. but Drone attacks on US citizens is? The Patriot Act was signed into place with the last president, and somehow the current president has bolstered it, wasn’t he supposed to put that to an end with his “new change”?
Massive spending that started years ago .. has not been throttled down .. with the current administration, in fact, it has gained speed. Huge debt with China .. four years later …. huge debt with China … four more years … they own us!
Unless a person is a card-carrying member of the Ku Klux Klan, it is doubtful anybody would openly admit they have a problem with a black president.
You have to admit when an angry person like Big Al spouts off disrespectful slurs towards the President of the U.S. this may indicate some deeper problems.
Ever since the Tea Party phenomenon gathered steam last spring, it has been plagued by charges of racism. Placards at rallies have depicted President Barack Obama as a witch doctor, denounced his supposed plans for “white slavery,” and likened Congress to a slave owner and the taxpayer to a “n—-r.” Opponents have seized on these examples as proof that Tea Partiers are angry white folks who can’t abide having a black president. Supporters, on the other hand, claim that the hateful signs are the work of a small fringe and that they unfairly malign a movement that simply seeks to rein in big government. In the absence of empirical evidence to support either characterization, the debate has essentially deadlocked.
Until now, that is. A new survey by the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race & Sexuality offers fresh insight into the racial attitudes of Tea Party sympathizers. “The data suggests that people who are Tea Party supporters have a higher probability”—25 percent, to be exact—”of being racially resentful than those who are not Tea Party supporters,” says Christopher Parker, who directed the study. “The Tea Party is not just about politics and size of government. The data suggests it may also be about race.”
I think Benett was entirely correct in drawing attention to Big A’s derogatory description of the president
Tea Party revealed for the racists they are:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S38VioxnBaI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6aBGTqrfKg\
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHmxY7zE5uc&playnext=1&list=PLC3DE115E0D9C99EB&feature=results_main
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m6XiOtla2o
No need to pick on Big Al. We’re just adults having conversations about our thoughts, right?
Benett
Sometimes it just hard to let Big Al go off without presenting a different point of view.
A lot of us don’t view our president as a “bummer.”
Childishly referring to the President of the United States as “Obummer” might be stretching it a bit as “adults having conversations.”
Unless you’re have a conversation with Rush Limbaugh.
Big Al did not make a derogatory description of the president. Wow… 25% are racially resentful… what % of the green or democratic party are reverse racially resentful? Your arguments hold no credibility. 75% of Americans like pizza. What does that mean? Pizza is good? I guess it depends what % you fall under. Your rambling psycho babble is old.
A derogatory name applied to a person is a lot different than liking pizza.
Benett
Ace –
Please view “Where Big Al gets his “facts”
Also note where he gets his cute little “Obummer” racial slams.
But I suppose the Constitution permits racial intolerance.
I’m sure glad you know the place where you think I get my facts. Is that fantasy in your mind, or do you know for sure I get my facts from that link, good luck with that.
“Also note where he gets his cute little “Obummer” racial slams.
But I suppose the Constitution permits racial intolerance.”
Please point out the racial slam in that? Please tell me where you see a racial remark? I think you need to do better than that.
And so far I have not referred to anyone as tea baggers, that is a word you seem to enjoy using. I am not a tea bagger or a liberal or a conservative. Try again.
“You have to admit when an angry person like Big Al spouts off disrespectful slurs towards the President of the U.S. this may indicate some deeper problems.”
Angry eh? Deeper problems eh? Oh Dr. Facts, you know me so well. hehe
Actually .. it is pretty entertaining.
tourbillion- if you had ever seen the inside of our bigger city health dept’s, you would not be cheering them on so much. We have it good up here , compared to most. Just don’t have a heart attack up here.
The Urgency is now! Wolf-PAC.com!
When It comes to really getting something done, we all see the negative effects the corruptive influence of money has on almost every Service/Policy/Entitlement/etc..
And to get results in your favor it will always take more money to make it happen, Unfortunately Money has become the driving force in every aspect in our way of life. So why would we stand for it being the driving force in policy and political situations?
Wolf-PAC.com has the most aggressive and logical approach when it comes abiding by the constitution and bringing change for the people. But of course the solution is (check out the resolution on Wolf-PAC.com) we need a Majority and a 3/4’s of the states to support a Article V Convention or just hope the best that our standing congress will pass the constitutional amendment, but how do we expect them to do that when they can’t even pass the Disclose Act. All the disclose act did was show where the money was coming from.
I mean come on, This may seem impossible to some, but when you realize the mess we are in, you know the answer isn’t a easy one.
So please take the time to look into Wolf-PAC.com, Give ten dollars a month if you can, Criticize if you wish, but understand this isn’t right wing or a left wing fight. And if you look into it you will see all states and all walks of life are getting involved, and it is Uniting Us again!
In the long-run, expenditures related to healthcare programs such as Medicare and Medicaid plus social security recipients are projected to grow faster than the economy overall as the population matures.
That’s why I am baffled at our so-called “TeaPartiers,” whom the majority are older Americans, who foam-at-the-mouth as the label these “entitlements” (the latest buzz word) and entitlments are of the Devil or something.
They also hate those unfortunates that must depend on food stamps but LOVE anything that has to do with military spending.
What the …?
Yeah I don’t understand it either, medias and other organizations have been playing us for fools when it comes to having all the info to make a well informed decision.
I have really stepped up to take on the Wolf-PAC.com goals and objectives, if you check out the website and click on flyer, it will give you a good idea of the fight. What is awesome is a lot of conservative voters that can’t stand Karl Rove, Koch Brothers, or any other big donor or connection that highlights the party’s shortcomings, are clinging to this, (I don’t blame them). But check it out, the Right wingers are trying to cling to something that has nothing to do with the current platform. So in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas have strong Wolf-PAC groups going!
Seriously Y’all its a on-going Bi-partisan fight that has nothing to do with Washington DC. IT’S A REAL GRASS ROOTS MOVEMENT BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE! Almost every state has volunteers!
If you don’t know what Wolf-PAC.com is, check it out or get out of the way!
‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
Applause! Applause Jeremiah!
For the last decade or so, the far-right has been very good at whipping their followers into a lunatic frenzy. They’ve even demonized the word liberal to mean: evil, communistic, socialistic. As if everyone does not know the word liberal is far-right code for Democrat (See how it’s done?). The GOP powers that be are desperately distancing themselves from the extremists – Beck and Palin have lost their jobs at Fox News, Limbaugh, Coulter, et. al have been losing ground with their loyal followers, etc.
As a concerned citizen I have seen the importance to never roll over and play dead to this angst-ridden and hate-filled group of people. They will never admit they are incensed that a black man is president, that gays are lobbying to marry, and that as the economy worsens, compassionate Americans are growing more and more concerned for the underserved in our midst.
Never let the extreme Right get away with … anything. It’s a land of the free thing.
If the shoe fits .. then wear it.
It’s not that they hate those who depend on food stamps and other help they need, it is that they hate the entitled ones, who feel they are entitled to everything free, the ones who can work but choose not too, why the hell should they, there are those in government who want to give it to them free.
On the other hand .. these free loaders make it difficult for people who truly need the help.
Is that what you meant by the hate?
And yes the for a couple various reasons .. the expenditures outweigh amongst other reason, but the current baby boomer crowd is really helping to swell the expenditures. But still .. the amounts of free loaders (not legitimate recipients) are taking away from the ones who truly need it, and making it go bust.
How about the multi-millionaires who feel “entitled” to millions more, at the expense of the hard-working public.
While millions remain out of work, struggling to keep a home, these wealthy entitled cook up gambling schemes to
bet on the hard working man’s mortgage failure. They go so far with risky business to concoct huge paychecks
for themselves while hard-working men and women lose their homes, pay more for everything, lose their retirement
funds invested in stocks. Entitlement of all kinds.
BK
A flood of recent complaints have surrounded the German banking giant Deutsche Bank. It has taken over properties across America, and in many cases has left anxious renters living in filth and insecurity, not knowing if they’ll soon be kicked to the curb.
Roach infestations, cracks in the walls, mold growth and mounds of trash are just some of the deplorable conditions, low income families in Los Angeles are dealing with.
“At night, I have bugs crawling on my arms and on my face,” said Rosa Garcia, a downtown Los Angeles resident. “The mice make noise at night and make me lose a lot of sleep.”
Garcia is angry over the slum conditions that she and other renters have to endure as careless property owners allow the city’s poorest neighborhoods to deteriorate.
As a result of the ongoing foreclosure crises, empty houses have become a sanctuary for squatters and drug dealers. Foreclosed apartment buildings have fallen into disrepair as the owners ignore their tenant’s needs.
Many of those owners are the world’s biggest banks.
“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
-Matthew 6:24
Big Al –
Like the word liberal, the far-right, led by clever pundits, Limbaugh, Coulter, Fox, Rove … have taken hostage of the word “entitlement” and have demonized it to their angst-ridden and poor self-esteemed legions who insist they are the “true patriots” of America. Repeat the message enough times (the far-right have their ears glued to Limbaugh’s radio show 3 straight hours a day, 5 days a week, and reruns on weekends) and voila! You’ve got ’em where you want ’em. (especially in unsettled economic times)
Repetition is a powerful tool and works wonders on the angriest of our society who cannot find the middle ground of any subject and can only think in black-or-white terms:
I.e,:
Gays should not be able to marry
Black people only care about their welfare checks
The Federal government wants to take away our AK-47s
Stem-Cell research is wrong
A wall should be constructed around our borders …
you know the rest, Al.
ps – as a side note, I find it interesting that the majority of our so-called TeaPartiers are older (and clearly unhappier) Americans
Entitlement does = bad!
And how do you view the entitlement, social security, Big Al?
How about Medicare. Medicaid?
Good/Bad?
Which of these are you giving a thumbs-down to, Big Al?
All of them?
These could be considered socialistic, you know?
529 or Coverdell
Home Mortgage Interest Deduction
Hope or Lifetime Learning Tax Credit
Student Loans
Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit
Earned Income Tax Credit
Social Security–Retirement & Survivors
Pell Grants
Unemployment Insurance
Veterans Benefits
G.I. Bill
Medicare
Head Start
Social Security Disability
SSI–Supplemental Security Income
Medicaid
Welfare/Public Assistance
Government Subsidized Housing
Food Stamps
government programs that are full of fraud, misuse,overpayment, And are generally not considered the ideal examples of how efficiently OUR tax money is spent…keep trying though
You still don’t get what I am saying .. entitlement is not a helping hand, which is what it has become, a way for a slackers to just lay back and collect money .. for doing nothing. All you hear is me saying everyone on the programs is abusing it.
I don’t get it, what is your point?
Social Security is paid into by those who work right? So when you need that money after retirement, you have some to draw on.
Those who do not work, do not contribute to the program, they collect money from it, and not at retirement age only, a lot of time, they are drawing out of the same system that others have payed into throughout the years. And they get it free, how is that right?
You know, I have not been one to bash liberals so much, yet you always spout off how I am. Is it because I am against freeloaders who take all of the money that people who have worked all of their lives to pay into, so that they have some sort of an income when they need it in their later years?
How is that wrong?
How is it right for the freeloaders? Are you for giving these people free money for doing nothing their whole lives?
BTW Benett, you are right about the multi millionaires who feel entitled as well!
It always has been, that everything rides on the back of the working man, and freeloaders and entitled millionaires and the government all bend us over, and it seems .. some people feel it is ok for them to do so.
So Dr. Facts lil facts factoid … Try listening long enough to hear what people are saying before you spout off about how you think people are either intolerant, racist or what ever it is you feel you like to label people.
Just curious Big Al, have you given up any of yours? If so could you share which ones?
Hmmm. Very interesting. Big Al appears to demonize the presentation of facts then turns around and becomes didactic and preaches:
“Try listening long enough to hear what people are saying”
Whoa there, Big! Try following you own advice and these exchanges will become a bit more civil.
Sounds to me like Big Al likes to control the meaning of words.
It sounds as if to him, there are “good” entitlements and “bad” entitlements. And of course, typical of teabaggers, Big Al will dictate the “true” meaning of that word.
I wonder how he defines the word Liberal?
What our current president (“Obummer” as Big Al likes to put it) has accomplished … so far:
•Obama has overhauled the food safety system
•Advanced women’s rights in the work place
•Ended Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) in our military
•Stopped defending DOMA in court.
•Passed the Hate Crimes bill.
•Appointed two pro-choice women to the Supreme Court.
•Expanded access to medical care and provided subsidies for people who can’t afford it.
•Expanded the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
•Fixed the preexisting conditions travesty [and rescissions] in health insurance.
•Invested in clean energy.
•Overhauled the credit card industry, making it much more consumer-friendly.
•While Dodd-Frank bill was weak in many respects, it was still an extremely worthwhile start at re-regulating the financial sector.
•He created a Elizabeth Warren’s dream agency: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
•He’s done a lot for veterans
•He got help for people whose health was injured during the clean-up after the 9/11 attacks.
None of these things were priorities for Republicans. They actively opposed, directly or indirectly through obstruction, every single item on this list. In fact, they succeeded in killing a Cap & Trade bill in the Senate after it had passed through the House.
He has also:
•Killed Osama Bin Laden
•Eliminated several other Al-Qaeda leaders
•Ended the War in Iraq
•Begun the drawdown of forces from Afghanistan
•End-run Republican obstructionism by recess-appointing Richard Cordray to run the Consumer Financial Protection Board.
As much as I can see President Obama being a part of the establishment that needs to be put in check, It’s nice to see he has worked hard, on key issues.
Another fun fact for y’all;
If we were to get all the taxes the country deserves from corporations that have offshore tax havens, (only in the year 2012), it adds up to be more then the 85 billion dollar sequester deal.
It’s not the lazy people that get handouts that hurts the country it’s the corporations that get the handouts when they don’t need it, is what is hurting the country!
Help get the corruptive influence of money out of political system and elections.
Wolf-PAC.com
I wonder if Big Al is a member of that angst-ridden Tea Party movement? I hope not. That group is a walking time bomb.
You know a Teapartier as:
Unproductive old people who obsess about “liberals” (code for Democrat), worship Sarah Palin, are drawing social security and medicare, and with nothing better to do than whine about the government and clamoring for a civil war, while they stockpile their ammo, collect their AK-47s, while the rest of us are at work making a living for ourselves.
One more thing though in case anyone is thinking this, I’m not for cutting medical for seniors or alike and I’m not a fan of the pharmaceutical industry by any means just for business in general. This is a huge subject that has many twists and turns which can’t be solved here so let’s focus our thoughts (me included on the patients and staff at this hospital.
Perhaps it’s time to take a much closer look at the comparison of the health care systems in Canada and the United States.
In spite of what some sources tell you (mostly from the AMA) I understand the majority of Canadians are pleased with their system.
But or course, we have a large group that will automatically whine: “socialized medicine is of the devil!”
A Canadian medical student visiting Bishop in recent times spoke at a dinner at Whiskey Creek which local doctors and
other health care people attended. I was also there. He said that the Canadian people had either voted in large percentages
or had responded to a survey (I can’t remember which) that they wanted tax dollars to pay for universal health care to help all, even those who
could not pay. It’s a moral and ethical decision that a population makes. Many have.
Benett Kessler
There is just something about those Canadians that I like.
Like, before some events, when a few lines of “O Canada” are played, quite often the announcer will interrupt and say,
“well, you know the rest of it … PLAY BALL!”
If you tried that here, you might get arrested for being “unpatriotic.”
From the United Nations International Health Organization, 2011:
Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years after diagnosis:
U.S. 65%
England 46%
Canada 42%
Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received treatment
within six months:
U.S. 93%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it within six months:
U.S. 90%
England 15%
Canada 43%
Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within one month:
U.S. 77%
England 40%
Canada 43%
Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:
U.S. 71
England 14
Canada 18
Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in
“excellent health”:
U.S. 12%
England 2%
Canada 6%
I’ll leave it up to the morality police to declare the “morals and ethics” of the above facts.
As you may know, there are a lot of entries on the internet about this. People, including me,
unable to find a United Nations International Health Organization or the Business News Daily
article that supposedly quoted the statistics (??)
With no verification of this, why not move on to the fact that we need reform in our country.
As stated before, the insurance industry and the pharmaceutical industry run a great deal
of how people are or are not cared for.
To say that other people have it worse than we do, even though I can’t find proof of your stats,
is not a moral position and justification to turn our backs on health care.
Benett Kessler
You are right. The U.S. has excellent health care — if you can afford it. But it’s not universal health care like the rest of the developed World has. And the U.S. is the ONLY country among the 38 so called “Developed” nations that does not have Universal health care.
What those statistics also don’t seem to show are the people who never even got to see a doctor. Or the people who died without even being diagnosed. I’m not saying there’s a lot of them but there were nearly 40 million without health care before “Obamacare”
Also, you only compared two countries that are not really representative of the 38 countries of the whole developed World. And the U.S. is the only country in the developed World that does not have universal health care.
http://truecostblog.com/2009/08/09/countries-with-universal-healthcare-by-date/
And the U.S. is the richest country in the whole World by far with an over 14 trillion dollar a year GDP. And to put our entire National Debt into perspective —
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Remember where that debt came from. Not all Obama. Regan and both Bush presidents contributed most of it. Clinton paid it down. Obama only paid G.W. Bush’s debt. And even with that debt. We still have the capability of providing universal health care if we just stop trying to be the World’s police man.
If you google around you will find that Japan is considered to have the best universal health care and it costs their citizens less than what we pay for privatized insurance. Once you start looking close at our choices — it looks worse and worse.
Tourbillion- your watching to much Fox News again.
Like Benett, I looked for “The International Health Organization” and couldn’t find it. There is the World Health Organization (WHO) but that’s not the organization you cited.
You can’t believe everything you read on the internet….
These statistics are readily available and have been widely quoted on the internet. The earliest reference is for 2009, and curiously enough, the numbers themselves are exactly the same. That, and the fact that there seems to be no “United Nations International Health Organization”, would seem to suggest that this is somebody’s effort at creative fiction.
I’m trying to understand why a person would view the goal of affordable healthcare for all its citizens as The Demon Socialized Medicine and therefore … “that’s that.”
Even more of a puzzlement is why those same types worship the rich.
Goodness, denial is not just a river in Africa, is it? OK, at the risk of utterly wasting my time doing a little research to educate ideologues desperately clinging to belief over fact, one more time (please unstop your ears one moment, education is not torture):
As reported by the Health Council of Canada, a 2010 Commonwealth survey found that 42% of Canadians waited 2 hours or more in the emergency room, vs. 29% in the U.S.; 43% waited 4 weeks or more to see a specialist, vs. 10% in the U.S., “How Do Canadians Rate the Health Care System?”. Health Council of Canada.
A 2003 survey of hospital administrators conducted in Canada, the U.S., and three other countries found that 21% of Canadian hospital administrators, but less than 1% of American administrators, said that it would take over three weeks to do a biopsy for possible breast cancer on a 50-year-old woman; 50% of Canadian administrators versus none of their American counterparts said that it would take over six months for a 65-year-old to undergo a routine hip replacement surgery, Blendon RJ, Schoen C, DesRoches CM, Osborn R, Zapert K, Raleigh E (2004). “Confronting competing demands to improve quality: a five-country hospital survey”. Health affairs (Project Hope).
You’ll forgive me if I don’t accept your data, mostly unattributed. It is also difficult to compare procedures when not considering how many, how many
individuals had the opportunity to have procedures, etc. No one is closing ears to fact. Here’s a fact – millions of Americans do not have health care,
can not afford health insurance, and die from diseases that could have been prevented or cured if the individuals had the money and the opportunity to
receive care. Instead of searching for statistics that stand in the way of caring for people, why not look for solutions to our way too expensive and
not enough caring system.
Benett Kessler
Benett, the Blendon et. al. reference which Tourbillon does reference, is a legitimate source, whether you accept their data or not. The previously asserted data from the ‘United Nations International Health Organization’ is bogus, as is the reference.
I don’t know where Tourbillon gets his information from (I strongly expect it comes from The Rush Limbaugh Show, Fox News, Sean Hannity, or some other wacky far-right source) but this is from wikipedia (a non-political) source:
Canadians strongly support the health system’s public rather than for-profit private basis, and a 2009 poll by Nanos Research found 86.2% of Canadians surveyed supported or strongly supported “public solutions to make our public health care stronger.”
A Strategic Counsel survey found 91% of Canadians prefer their healthcare system instead of a U.S. style system. Plus 70% of Canadians rated their system as working either “well” or “very well”.
A 2009 Harris/Decima poll found 82% of Canadians preferred their healthcare system to the one in the United States, more than ten times as many as the 8% stating a preference for a US-style health care system for Canada while a Strategic Counsel survey in 2008 found 91% of Canadians preferring their healthcare system to that of the U.S.The same article mentioned that when asked about their own health care instead of the “health care system,” more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent). Respondents then rated quality of service as excellent (36% Canada, 40% US), and being very satisfied with health care services (42% Canada, 53% US). When asked “overall the Canadian health care system was performing very well, fairly well, not very well or not at all?” 70% of Canadians rated their system as working either “well” or “very well”.[citation needed] A 2003 Gallup poll found only 25% of Americans are either “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with “the availability of affordable healthcare in the nation”, versus 50% of those in the UK and 57% of Canadians. Those “very dissatisfied” made up 44% of Americans, 25% of respondents of Britons, and 17% of Canadians. The same report portrays a different story in terms of quality. When asked about the quality of medical care in their respective nations, 17% were strongly satisfied in the U.S. compared to 13% in Canada and 11% in Britain.
We may have gotten a bit off track here but it’s a passionate subject for many here. I feel for the hospital workers big time and hope they get what’s deserved! Their service is vital to this part of the state and real lives are affected.
The trouble with this blog is that most of the bloggers are very one sided! They’re agains someone that’s risked their future for something better or against a man profiting from hard work while trying to keep what’s rightfully his. It’s crazy to see this many bothered by this. Is this a left leaning blog?? Yes?? We should step back and ask this question… If I was the one who had the where with all to create something special financially, would I be smart with the company or wealth or just give it away because others think that’s what I should do? Not a chance!!
By creating jobs, you’re giving folks hope, income and the opportunity to do something with their own life. It’s almost like some of you expect something for nothing! Go out and do it on your own and stop complaining about the folks who took the chance.
“Is this a left leaning blog?? Yes??”
– SierraFan
Now isn’t that funny? I would say this is a right-leaning blog.”
Now what?
Find out what we have in common? Realize we’re all in this thing together?
Or cling to our postures and political positions and try our best to divide and conquer?
Meeting of the minds,
Probably true but it sure seems that people are hoping that the top give freely to the lower income earners. And for what? More of a free ride. My point is, let’s work for what we want rather than looking for the op percent to hand it over. This is America where we’re free to earn our desired wage and lifestyle.
SierraFan –
Please read “Disparity widens” post above.
Thanks.
The free ride is going to corporations, not workers. Food stamps and other forms of income support allow some very large corporations and a great many small businesses to pay below survival wages, knowing their workers can rely on public benefits to make up for their meager wages. Force firms to pay a wage that will permit a full time worker to live above the poverty line at the going cost level and you will take a lot of people off public support. It is not working people who are lazy, most struggle mightily. It is firms big and small, and their support groups in the Chambers of Commerce, Business Round Table, and all the othe business lobbies who are gaming the system.
SierraFan- So your saying I’m against a man keeping what is rightfully his, when your the one who spoke against people getting a pension.
I’m not against anybody who takes a risk and prospers legally. I’m against people who have a different set of standards for themselves then a second home owner who illegally rents.
Honesty isn’t a left or right issue and neither is greed!
Albert,
I think you’re looking for and commenting on a different subject!
Greed is pandemic in America today.
john – It went the people that need it the least. It’s called the trickle down theory.
Trickle-down economics – a rhetorical term for tax cuts on high incomes and business activity.
As labor continues to become seen as a globalized commodity, the power and earning ability of the average American worker will continue to decline. The gap between the rich and the poor will continue to expand. The giant international corporations and the elite power brokers of the world will continue to win and the rest of us will continue to lose.
Meanwhile, the vast middle class that once made the United States the envy of the world will continue to rapidly disappear. But instead of doing something to fix the problems, one big group of Americans want to cheer on the wealthy as they plunder the rest of us and another big group of Americans just wants to give everyone a handout.
Wouldn’t it be great if someone actually decided to fix the great economic machine that produced the biggest middle class in the history of the world? Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen. The truth is that the U.S. economy is basically impossible to fix at this point – but that is the subject for another posting.
This isn’t about solving the problems of the world. It’s about whether or not limited California funds can be redirected to save a critical access hospital. Since there aren’t enough funds to satisfy everyone some groups and individuals are going to be seriously hurt.
Before this last recession, wasn’t California the seventh or eighth largest economy in the world, just behind Russia? Where did all the money go?
In the preverbal pension river, subsidies, welfare, and on and on and on………
It used to be that we all worked for what we have but now it’s given away for free.
SierraFan –
Have you saved or are saving money each paycheck, etc. for your retirement?
I did, but I lost all of my employer contribution and earned interest in 2001, and again in 2008. Last quarter I finally grew back to the amount of money I had in 2001 before the stock market crash. That is twelve years of lost income and it is not from poor habits or laziness. Brokers cannot outguess the market, why would we expect the average working person to be smarter? It is an insult to expect people to have to rely on something as inherently risky as stocks and bonds to save for retirement. No one should be expected to rely on such a crap shoot.
I’m not hurting in that department because of wise business and investments, thank you.
Then what are you whining about?
SierraFan- Please tell what is wrong with working class people getting a pension? All the lost money has gone strait into the CEO’s , Board of Directors and stock holders personal bank accounts. The middle class working people in this country have been striped of almost all of their benefits and made to pay for them out of their own pay check. I could go on all night on my deep beliefs on how the trickle down theory has destroyed the way of life this country used to embrace.
It’s not given away for free. It’s taken from you by being forced to work for wages so low you can’t affort those things. And the workforce needs to be kept healthy so they can continue to work and create the wealth the top 20% think they are “entitled” to.
We have not yet reached the point where all workers are disposable like used toilet paper. Hope that never happens because if that becomes the standard model — and it might if American corporations continue to lust after the average working conditions of the Asian worker — it will happen to you.
“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. … These are people who pay no income tax. … [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”
– Presidential hopeful, Mitt Romney
Methinks a different philosophy should be put into place – if that group ever wants to win another election.
Ken,
Fair pay is needed, no doubt! That I don’t disagree with that. My argument is the inflated pensions these folks are afforded. I was a working class guy and burned by the CEO’s that you’re talking about but I decided to make a change and dos something about it! It seems that so many on here are bothered by the top 1% or 20% that have decided they didn’t want to settle and went out and risked what they had to make more. Where would this country be if everyone decided to just settle and work for “The man”? Up Sh..’s creek!
SierraFan –
I don’t know where you are getting your information from, but locally for example, Mono County employees contribute to their own pension from each paycheck.
Nothing is taken from your pocket or being given away.
I’m speaking of the bigger picture of California and area’s like Los Angeles, OC, SF, etc. not locally here. I should have clarified that point better.
I can use my dad’s experience as an example. If you work for the City of LA you do not pay into the Social Security payroll tax. That money is deducted from your pay, but it pays into the city pension plan. Same thing with CALPERS. In exchange, you do not earn credit towards Social Security. If you qualify to receive any Social Security payments, it will be based on work you did before or after civil service and the resulting monthly payment will be very small. Few outside the civil service seem to be aware of this. You give up Social Security to get that public pension.
Funny you should mention California. It turns out that California has become the state that produces more jobs than almost any other state. And it’s tax rates are among the highest of any state. Coincidence or plan??
And all since Gov. Moonbeam took office.
That’s got to hurt some of the liberal hating “austerity is the answer” true believers.
No. Californias overall tax burden as a percentage of it’s income is less than one percent from the national average. While the sales tax rate looks high, we do not tax foods, most pharmeceuticals, or any form of labor or services. Other states might claim a lower sales tax rate, but they tax your rent, your hair cut, your tax advisor, the labor of your mechanic, everything. Likewise our property taxes are well below the national average. So overall the taxes we pay from all sources are only slightly higher than the national average, about 10% of total income.
We’re all thankful that that’s the case, now we need to get spending under control buy reducing or eliminating waste so we can do something with it.
California is a machine! We have the best overall climate, the ports, the most talent per capita and some of the cheapest labor (where most of the jobs are). We can go into all the reasons California might have the most job growth but “The Thesis” would be way too long for this post. We all have our opinions based on what we’ve lived, done for work, where we grew up, our education, our current circumstances, and on but will never agree on what we believe. I’m not a leftist and not a right winger so the political thing doesn’t affect me, it’s the idea’s of those that in charge that make what I see as bad policy.
Nicely said SierraFan!
This may come as an utter surprise to you Ken Warner, but I have no problem whatsoever paying taxes. I like the services I get.
In fact, I wouldn’t mind a uniform rate of tax on the income of individuals payable at the rate of say 12 -13% for an individual on most income. (non-residents 30%) And residents paying 9% on dividend income. (Deduction at source).
Non-residents would pay 15% on dividend income.
Exemptions granted to certain income earners.
The standard rate of corporate profit would be 20%.
I wouldn’t want to even imagine what life would be if there was no tax system.
We still are the eight largest economy in the world.
On a National to a Local level we feel the corruptive influence of money hurting the small communities and business’s that have no lobbyists like those with deep pockets.
Wolf-PAC.com !!!!
How many of you actually contacted a rep?? To content to feel the need huh? LOL Just kidding. . .
Paul Cook #202 225 5861
Justin Landon (Legislative aid)
[email protected]
Jean Fuller and Connie Conway are among the Republicans who oppose Medicare and want benefits cut. Good luck appealing for mercy from the likes of them. They are the ones stiffing small counties like ours, but you keep voting them in. Cognitive dissonance.
people in government care about 1 thing and 1 thing only.
PENSIONS
government gone wild…
Uh – oh! Sounds like upthecreek did not plan adequately for life after retirement and is now … um … up the creek.
But why the sour grapes towards those working in the public sector who have a pension plan?
That’s because the citizens are paying for their inflated retirement with our hard earned money. Just look at what is troubling the Los Angeles, FD, PD, Teachers, etc. I appreciate what they do but at the same time the system needs to be adjusted so it can’t be abused.
Some will say or argue that the FD and PD put their lives on the line (who can or would refute that?) not me but it’s the career choice they made. And many of my friends down south chose that career for those same “benefits” and not for the job itself.
SierraFan –
In the United States, public sector pensions are offered by federal, state and local levels of government. They are available to most, but not all, public sector employees. These employer contributions to these plans typically vest after some period of time. These plans may be defined-benefit or defined-contribution pension plans, but the former have been most widely used by public agencies in the U.S. throughout the late twentieth century. Some local governments do not offer defined-benefit pensions but may offer a defined contribution plan. In many states, public employee pension plans are known as Public Employee Retirement Systems (PERS).
Retired pay for U.S. Armed Forces retirees is, strictly speaking, not a pension but instead is a form of retainer pay. U.S. military retirees do not vest into a retirement system while they are on active duty; eligibility for non-disability retired pay is solely based upon time in service. Unlike other retirees, U.S. military retirees are subject to involuntary recall to active duty at any time, though the likelihood of such a recall is remote, especially after age 60. In 2008, there were 1,983,467 retired military in the US. There were 856,677 receiving military pensions, the remainder carrying their longevity into federal civil service positions.
Contribution pension plans,
I’m speaking of specific fields and NOT the military! Our vet’s deserve much more than what they’re currently receiving.
You sound a little bitter, poor career choice? You could always take a shot at being elected to the town council and collect their retirement package.
And some people whine about one thing and one thing only.
PENSIONS
whiners gone wild … wgw
Big Al,
It’s not just the pensions but the abuse they use to improve what they’re going to be paid! These folks I mentioned deserve a pension but not at the rate and how many of them achieve it! On the backs of you and I. I guess if you work in these fields then it’s a huge benefit but I like most Californians are tired of paying for this abuse!
If you know of abuse report it, but that a bit like the pot calling the kettle black!
If the present administration really cares about health care, then they can avert this, is it just me .. or does it seem like they want it to fail? That’s a terrible thought, but would we be surprised? OMG I hope not. Keep your eyes open. We need to work on this, to fix this broken adulterated system, It even seems sodomized.
I wonder where Big Al was when the Bush Administration in 2004, signed a new Medicare prescription drug bill into law, President Bush presided over the largest entitlement expansion since the Great Society?
But politics is (as they say) politics – and sometimes facts are completely forgotten trying to ace the other side out.
OK so I will expand on that post Dr. Facts .. lol .. So yeah “We didn’t start the fire .. the fire was always burning since the world was turning”.
Obummer didn’t start this .. but his whole campaign was run on “Change” He was supposed to change things, I find it funny, when people want to challenge any thought against obummer … they run right to the Bush bashing, and or just direct attention to Bush,so as to divert blame away from where it presently belongs, just as Bush had blame, just as Kennedy had blame so does Obummer, only he has a lot to atone for.
Where was the change in his first four years, and where is it now? He was supposed to make things better with his change.
The only change, the only new world, is a totalitarian world that is in his vision, but there are those who say, he is only the puppet, and i think I have to put stock in that .. Bigger powers than a piss ant are at work to bring one world order.
It will make all of the different marxist beliefs and communist beliefs look like a country club.
I give Bush more credit though … at least under him and others we were not fighting a dire battle for our right to be free. If you don’t think there are powers at work to end our freedom and rights, then you better think twice.
I had a copy of a cartoon depiction of Bush giving a peace sine .. the caption read .. I bet you’ll vote for me next time hippy! LOL I’ll bet that is what obummer would say if he had lost, only it would be red neck. Some day, some people will wake up and find he isn’t all they aspired him to be.
Besides Dr. Facts ….. do you really believe obummer care is about us .. about helping Americans? Doesn’t anyone see how much more it is going to cost us all .. especially the middle class? People think that the pharmaceutical companies are raking it in now! … Wait till you see how much they will rake in with obummer care, who do you think pushed and backed this plan?
Big Al, Where’s the proof for your statements? Attempts at reform of our health care system are not the bad guys. The pharmaceutical companies and
health insurance companies are a big part of the problem. But, it’s far worse than this. It’s deep-seated and in serious need of examination. There
are reasons why America is the only developed nation with no universal health care for its people.
Benett
I find it amazing that people believe the lies and distortions of reality that are propagated thorough various media. What you hear about the Affordable Health Care for America Act is largely sourced from large corporations trying to preserve or even increase their profits — that they hide in offshore bank accounts to avoid paying taxes that could be used to sustain the very people — their employees — that do the work that earns them huge profits.
The productivity of American workers has more than tripled since 1970 resulting in American corporate profits 3000% higher than they were in 1970 while those same worker’s salary has barely increased at all relative to the actual cost of living.
Why do you and others think that the people who do the work should not benefit from the wealth they produce? Those people are your neighbors and friends and yourself. Yet you somehow think people should be content to work for less and less for reasons that escape me.
“…one country indivisible …” except wher it comes to making sure that that all Americans share in the wealth they create. Stupidity and ignorance have allowed the creation of a Royal Class that you seem to want to bow down to and shower then with the weath you produce — for some reason.
Big corporations love to hear the lies they create regurgitated by the uninformed. Keep up the good work — for them.
First, it’s disrespectful to refer to our president as Obummer. Second, under Bush, Cheney mostly ran things including getting
us into a war based on an untruth – WMD. The Patriot Act followed as did massive spending on the war that put us into huge debt
with China. Warrantless searches of our communications started. Freedom?
Benett
Benett – Applause! Applause!
It’s become obvious that a certain political element has infiltrated this otherwise useful and factual blog. The exchange of ideas and facts is good and even sometimes educational. You know them by their sophomoric-sounding bashing and childish name-calling. Their political agenda is obvious as some of them are quite good at their Rush Limbaugh impressions.
Many thanks for drawing attention to this sort of childish and divisive nonsense. Especially at a time when the country needs to be pulling together.
Hi Bennett-
I challenge you to find a country with universal healthcare where the majority of its subjects (citizens) still support it. If one is in favor of their tax rates jumping to 40% + then such a country is for them. I have talked to a number of Canadian citizens and they are very unhappy with the system. Here at home why not start with tort reform and more aggressive fraud enforcement and then talk about meaningful changes?
I like your approach. But we must do something. In a country as wealthy as ours, there is no excuse for people suffering without care.
Our government might think about ending the $2 billion a month or so expenditures on Afghanistan and Iraq (We still have thousands over
there doing something.) BK
The financial cost of the War on Iraq (which no WMDs were ever found)has been more than $845 billion to the U.S. government. Critics have argued the total cost to the U.S. economy estimated to be as high as $3 trillion. Defense contractors Halliburton and Lockheed Martin made the most money from the war. Dick and Lynne Cheney were former CEOs of those defense-based corporations. Today, those on the far-right become incensed whenever defense-cutting expenditures are introduced. Likewise, this group also bitterly complains when the poorest of U.S. citizens receive any financial assistance.
A CNN report noted that the United States-led interim government, the Coalition Provisional Authority lasting until 2004 in Iraq had lost $8.8 billion in the Development Fund for Iraq. In June 2011, it was reported by CBS News that six billion in neatly packaged blocks of $100 bills was literally air-lifted into Iraq by the George W. Bush administration, which flew it into Baghdad aboard C‑130 military cargo planes. In total, the Times says $12 billion in cash was flown into Iraq in 21 separate flights by May 2004, all of which has disappeared. An inspector general’s report mentioned that “‘Severe inefficiencies and poor management’ by the Coalition Provisional Authority would leave no guarantee that the money was properly used”, said Stuart W. Bowen, Jr., director of the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. “The CPA did not establish or implement sufficient managerial, financial and contractual controls to ensure that funds were used in a transparent manner.” Bowen told the Times the missing money may represent “the largest theft of funds in national history.
Source: Wikipedia
One more note on all of this. Curious about who actually owns Lockheed Martin, I googled it and found that
basically the mega-banking, financial industry owns it – State Street Corporation, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs,
JPMorgan Chase, T. Rowe Price Associates, Charles Schwab Investment Management, etc. – The ones who pushed us to
the brink and near financial collapse in 2008 have been raking in big bucks – something like $30 billion in contracts
– selling war machines, etc. They also spend something like $15 million a year on lobbying.
Benett Kessler
It’s a American problem! The sooner we get away form making the Left wing Vs Right wing arguments, and acknowledge the real problems (money in politics) and pick up the real solution to our problems (Wolf-PAC.com).
If you haven’t clicked on the Wolf-PAC.com link I will explain the objective,
It calls for a constitutional amendment to over turn Citizens United and make corporations give up their 1st Amendment rights.
Ken you cease to acknowledge Mr. Obama was up against Mr. “corporations are people my friend”. which is a big step backwards to have somebody who supports that in office.
I am guilty of bashing my fellow brothers and sisters over mainstream media arguments but the time is now to come together for a common cause of fighting for Our Democracy/Republic!!
Joe’s challenge is absurd. Essentially all legitimate independent study of other countries reveals the superiority of centralized medicine, both in terms of care delivery AND citizen satisfaction. And I personally have innumerable international friends, and not ONE of them would trade their “socialized” care/benefits for a place in our so-called care system.
Just another Fox News brainwashing victim I reckon…
I don’t know where Joe gets his data from. But according to Wikipedia, this is how Canadians view their healthcare program:
Canadians strongly support the health system’s public rather than for-profit private basis, and a 2009 poll by Nanos Research found 86.2% of Canadians surveyed supported or strongly supported “public solutions to make our public health care stronger.”
A Strategic Counsel survey found 91% of Canadians prefer their healthcare system instead of a U.S. style system.Plus 70% of Canadians rated their system as working either “well” or “very well”.
A 2009 Harris/Decima poll found 82% of Canadians preferred their healthcare system to the one in the United States, more than ten times as many as the 8% stating a preference for a US-style health care system for Canada while a Strategic Counsel survey in 2008 found 91% of Canadians preferring their healthcare system to that of the U.S.
The American Medical Association Health is the second largest sector in lobbyist spending, with $4,369,979,173 recorded in 2010. An increase in spending was seen in 2009 with the legislature formation of Health bills, and health insurance laws. Over 1 million per day is spent on influencing health legislature starting in 2009.
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest defense contractors; In 2009, 74% of Lockheed Martin’s revenues came from military sales. It received 7.1% of the funds paid out by the Pentagon.
The company’s 2010 lobbying expenditure by the third quarter was $9.9 million (2009 total: $13.7 million). Lockheed Martin Employees Political Action Committee is one of the 50 most generous PACs in the country, according to FEC data. With contributions from 3,000 employees, it donates $500,000 a year to about 260 House and Senate candidates. For the 2004 election cycle, Lockheed’s PAC has already contributed $350,279 to federal candidates, with about 62 percent going to Republicans.
Lynne Cheney served on Lockheed Corporation’s board of directors from 1994 to 2001. It is unknown how much stock she owns in the company.
Critics of capitalism associate it with social inequality and unfair distribution of wealth and power; a tendency toward market monopoly or oligopoly (and government by oligarchy); imperialism, counter-revolutionary wars and various forms of economic and cultural exploitation; materialism; repression of workers and trade unionists; social alienation; economic inequality; unemployment; and economic instability. Individual property rights have also been associated with the tragedy of the anticommons.
A little-known fact is that during the Great Depression (where half the country was unemployed ) millionaires were being made by the sackful.
Today we are seeing the same thing happening only this time around the clever media pundits have successfully demonized anybody would dare suggest increased taxes on the ultra-wealthy. That’s how the rich get even filthier rich.
Totally agree. There is just so much money, and if 1% or so have figured out how to corner it, others will suffer. Plain
and simple. Will likely continue until crises occur and then people come to realize we’re all in this together – a fact
that will assert itself until we accept it.
Benett
Two important and easy things to do:
1) Take the influence of the money of big corporations out of politics by no longer holding that corporations have the same rights as people WRT campaign donations. We see what we get for all that money — a disfunctional government.
2) Don’t raise tax rates. Raise wages. The productivity of workers can be easily gauged and measured. Wages should be based on a workers productivity in a particular industry.
If we can pass laws requiring a percentage of a wage as tax, we can pass laws requiring the wage itself is a fair percentage of the wealth the worker produces. And that conforms to the American ideal of individual effort being fairly compensated for the effort put forth. That’s the argument used to oppose taxing the high salaries of the top 20%. Apply the same argument to every body’s compensation. That’s just as fair as not taxing the high paid executives.
Hi again Bennett-
I don’t see some of the names you mention “owning” Lockheed such as JP Morgan or Schwab but please understand that they do not own Lockheed as you suggest. They have purchased shares of LMT for their mutual funds which the public buys and owns, not the brokers or banks. Vanguard is listed as a big shareholder… It is in their mutual funds, not as a Vanguard corporate asset.
Here is my source. Check it out – http://stockzoa.com/ticker/lmt/
BK
Benett, if I felt he deserved my respect then I would give it to him. As far as I am concerned he has done nothing to credit the office he holds!
If you feel that is respectful or disrespectful, that is your opinion and I respect that, even if I disagree with it.
Just be sure there’s not a bit of racism in your “Obummer” moniker. I don’t respect that.
Benett
What the hell are our tax dollars going to? My Grandpa always said that men are supposed to take care of the women and children in this world. Not leave them dying in the street!