I suspect our healthcare reform correspondent, Richard Mayhew, will cover this in more detail at some point, so I’ll keep it short:
Florida’s sleazy, serpent-like governor, Rick Scott, slithered up to DC this week to try to locate a fat wad of cash he could ingest to reimburse Florida hospitals for providing indigent care.
He had to do it while still eschewing Medicaid expansion (Obamacare!), thus enabling Scott to get money from the Feds while saving face with the teaturds back home.
Mind you, Scott’s strategy is not the fiscally responsible move — the Obama admin peeps rightly pointed out that it’s more cost efficient (not to mention more HUMANE) to give people coverage and nip developing health problems in the bud rather than pay for a medical crisis in the ER.
But bootstraps, welfare queens in Cadillacs and strapping young bucks buying t-bones, etc. So no.
Anyway, HHS Secretary Sylvia Burwell told Scott to fuck off. Basically, she said, “Swallow Obamacare, or depart, foul serpent! “
Well done, Madam Secretary!
Did I say I’d “keep it short?” Ha! Another lie! But that’s a perfect illustration of why morons and liars win healthcare reform debates. It takes too many words to explain. I’m out of them. Words, that is. The end.
Baud
No way that guy gets reelected.
JPL
So Scott pretended to want to expand medicaid but that was a ruse . Now he wants the money cuz he is a slimy snake who make his money by being a slimy snake. Is that right?
JPL
@Baud: The repubs won’t be happy until we are all Kansans.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
Speaking of Florida, what is it about Disney World that inspires adults to act like children, and not in a good way? We had to leave early because my brother and his girlfriend got into a fight, she stormed off into the parking lot with her daughter but without the car keys, and then demanded that the rest of us leave, too. I had to explain to my 9-year-old niece that she could not go on the ONE ride she said she wanted to go on, and that sometimes we have to suck it up and be more mature than the adults.
I am now sitting at the restaurant at the Polynesian Resort that gives me an employee discount enjoying an adult beverage and putting a pox on all family. Bah.
Germy Shoemangler
I was astounded that after that bizarre debate performance he was able to win the election. Is anyone paying attention down there?
Baud
@JPL:
He wants inefficient non-Obamacare money because he is politically opposed to accepting efficient Obamacare money. He wants taxpayers to subsidize his politics.
yodecat
@JPL: Sir or Madame or Other,
I agree with your sentiment. Snakes, however, aren’t slimy. Snakes do have their agenda and mammals disagree with it.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): You had mentioned she was doing quite a bit of bickering. Is this her response to stress? Some people become argumentative when things get rough.
I hope this isn’t adversely affecting your brother. He deserves peace and quiet at this time.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: You jest (I think), but Scott’s reelection destroyed my faith in the American electorate, which was iffy to begin with, utterly. Worse even than Dubya’s 2004 election, which could be written off by the optimistic as a “don’t change horsemen in mid-apocalypse” phenomenon…
JPL
@yodecat: I really didn’t mean to insult snakes.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
The entire 2014 midterms were depressing.
Hal
Scott looks like that bug alien from Men in Black after it started wearing that human skin suit.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: And the 2010s before them!
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): You’re only 75 miles or so from my tiki bar! Get in that rental and drive west! I’ll make you a mojito that’ll make you forget whose kid you are!
Okay, well, I do have a 5K at 8 am. But I’m with you in spirit!
beltane
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): I went to Disneyworld once, when I was seven. The whole experience was stressful. At least it was stressful for my mother, aunt and uncle which in turn made it stressful for the kids. As an adult I have never had the least desire to bring my children there, nor have any of them expressed a desire to go.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Germy Shoemangler:
Oh, I think it’s 1000 percent due to stress. I can still be annoyed on behalf of the kids.
I suspect that, from her POV, my mom and I intruded on a “family” vacation, but since I’m the one who provided the tickets, it was kind of hard to exclude is.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I can at least understand 2010. Bad economic situation and people not yet familiar with how crazy the GOP had gotten. No excuses for 2014.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
If I’m going to overtip my server, is 30 percent a good amount? The food is good, the drink is strong, and they’re not treating me like a freak for being a single diner at a family resort hotel.
SiubhanDuinne
Fixt.
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Oh, I’m so sorry the day turned out that way. I’m sorry your niece missed that one ride she really wanted.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Disney, adult beverage? I’ve never been to Disneyworld. I’ve been to the parks in Paris and Tokyo, and of course the original(though not in almost 20 years).
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: Best fixt ever. Thank you!
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Yes, that’s fine.
skerry
I took my youngest daughter to Disney World when she was in kindergarten. It was just the two of us. We went on the “princess package”. It was one of the best vacations ever. We did everything she wanted. We both wore crowns (mine was much more subdued than hers). She wore a gown every day. Ate when she was hungry, went to the pool when she wanted, rode the rides she wanted. She was the perfect age – still young enough to believe the magic, old enough to not be carried. No stress.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@PurpleGirl:
That’s really what I’m most mad about, because it was absolutely nothing to do with her at all. It was solely about the adults fighting and cutting her day short. There were other options (like letting her stay with me), but they insisted that everyone had to leave together. She’s nine, so she’s old enough to understand how unfair it is. Gah.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Disneyland is still dry, but the other parks (including California Adventure) have booze. I had a very nice Pimms Punch just now.
raven
The work on that addition has taken off! They did a ton of grading, dug the trenches for the footings, put in the rebar and will pour Monday!
I get to take my ride in a Cobra gunship helicopter in the morning too!
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Betty Cracker:
I appreciate the offer, but my mom and I are roomies tonight, and she might worry if I drove that far just for a drink. It is tempting, though.
I leave for home tomorrow and am really looking forward to it now.
rikyrah
that all he has to do to get the money is expand Medicaid, and he won’t, is ridiculous.
Scott Alloway
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): We went to my niece’s wedding in Torrington, Ct, last summer. Arrived late and needed a place to eat. Someone suggested a little out of the way place in the “lesser” part of town and we decided to go. Loud Kareoke bar on the right side, nice little Italian dining room on the left. Two tables seated and us. Waiter was a great guy, polite as all getout, attended to everything and talked with us at great length. College student (PT) working his way through, day job PT doing auto repair, nights at the restaurant. Real hard worker. Left $30 0n a $60 tab and took his name for referrals to his auto business. Well worth the encouragement.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): If you have a membership(or know the right people), Disneyland isn’t dry. Club 33.
raven
@efgoldman: Yea, great stuff. I wonder if it was hard to get clearance? It turns out that tomorrow is a “50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War” fly-in. Somehow they have decided that, since the first Marine units landed in 65, that this is the 50th even though we were there long before that.
raven
I’ll post pics!
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Depressing because the turnout was abysmal. It’s like people can’t be bothered to do anything at all to improve their lives.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Betty Cracker: Okay, a 5k at that time in the morning calls for a mimosa or a tequila sunrise.
Scamp Dog
@raven: Cool! How did you score that?
Chris
@Baud:
The taxpayers don’t seem to mind.
Baud
@efgoldman: As much as it would make me happy to see that, it would be nice to have evidence of that strategy working to win an election in a swing state or district.
Baud
@Chris: Well, I’m a taxpayer and I mind. But thankfully Burwell is holding her ground.
jl
Betty C, you need to have a word with your state. Being the craziest state has responsibilities as well as privileges. The august political leadership of Florida can’t just act like repellent rabid monkeys flinging poo at each other and howling gibberish that no one can understand. There needs to be some entertainment value to it, or excitement, or sex appeal, or adventure. Something.
This just won’t do.
Florida is going to ruin the franchise.
Baud
Cool.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Maybe if they’d ran someone besides Roger Sterling against him the outcome would have been different. Tis a shame though, like Christie holding serve.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
True, Texas would probably sue.
Steeplejack
@raven:
Hell, my uncle was killed before that. Green Beret captain, helo shot down in the autumn of ’64. Left behind a wife and two little kids.
Steeplejack
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
That sounds like a good number to me.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
I live to serve.
Ruckus
That’s a pretty large climb for FL to make, that the rest of the country should give them money so they can fuck of a whole bunch of their citizens. I like the R house member who said that working people get health insurance so everyone who doesn’t have it is not working. And don’t deserve health care. That’s a hoot. How many people are working and not being provided healthcare insurance? Lots, me for one. No one at my work gets healthcare(I have alternative, VA).
They are asking for billions for exactly that, hospital reimbursement to provide (crappy, last resort, very expensive) healthcare.
Betty, this may come as no surprise but the rethugs in FL are metric tons short of a full load. That’s a full load of everything but crap. That they have in abundant supply.
Mike in NC
We’re off on our annual trip to Florida next week and expect to encounter Florida Man in the process. How could you not?
Howard Beale IV
It’s actually pretty stunning that Florida’s so insane to elect the ex-CEO of a corporation who had to fork over a cool billion to the Feds on his watch over some rather egregious billing practices that makes me wonder whether we should really keep Florida a as state or we should just laicizie the whole state like the Catholic Church does to priests who fuck up bigtime.
At any rate, Voldermont of Florida is another render no aid entry.
raven
@Scamp Dog: I bid for it in an auction for scholarships!
Cervantes
@raven:
LBJ will be pleased!
Emily68
@beltane: I went to Disneyland just once, in 1961 when I was 11. We were there for three days and the visit exceeded my expectations. And my expectations were pretty high. We never went back and that’s good because it couldn’t have been as fun the second time.
Jinchi
@Baud:
He just did.
jon
Don’t be so hard on him. He’s after the Big Government Single-Payer Program rather than the evil subsidized health insurance racket.
If only Obama had done that, we’d all be so much better off in our Magic Utopia of Socialism.
/the stupid
J R in WV
We went to Disneywhirld for free, the day before it opened to the public,
cause wife was working for the local paper where my ship was based. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great either. I really enjoyed Haunted House, but O MY GAWD It’s a Small World was just so terrible, along with the animatronic presidents.
At the time Space Mountain wasn’t built yet, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was drained for repairs, or one of them might have been favorite.
It isn’t really my cupa tea, I didn’t much like Disney on TV, I had turned into a cynic by the time I was in like the 3rd grade at the latest.
JustRuss
Wish I’d been there for that, I’ve never seen a government official conjure a patronus before.
Gvg
the Disney hate is overdone. I grew up in Orlando. we moved here the year after it opened and every relative and acquaintance we had visited us the next few years. I went many many times and it did eventually get ordinary. I was fairly put off by Dw’s corporate greed and environmental irresponsibility too and didn’t go for years. my aunt and cousin have been annual pass holders for years and years and I know many other mostly older ladies who just love Disney. I don’t get it but whatever. then we adopted a toddler and they wanted to take him. I thought he was too young to appreciate it but they took him just before he turned 3 which is when you start paying. He loved it. he loved meeting Buzz Lightyear and hugged his leg. We have been back many times since and with a child having fun you can watch it is loads of fun. His friends at school all go often too so he’d feel left out if he didn’t go some. Maybe it’s easier if it’s not once in a lifetime supplying years and huge amounts of money.
We are pretty calculating about when the crowds are good or bad and the fast pass system is worth using.
Matt McIrvin
@BillinGlendaleCA: At Walt Disney World, it’s only the original Magic Kingdom theme park that’s mostly dry, but even there, there’s now alcohol served at at least one place.
Matt McIrvin
I actually greatly enjoyed Disney World when I went there for the first time a couple of years ago.
But it’s an inherently stressful place, especially if you have overambitious visions of a perfect vacation in which you get to do X, Y and Z and it is wonderful. Crowds and distance and schedule constraints are probably going to nix at least one of X, Y and Z, and your kids are going to get grumpy and maybe not in the mood to actually do anything when you get there, it’ll probably be monstrously hot, etc. You probably won’t see or do more than a fraction of what you thought you wanted to. And Disney World has four major theme parks now, which people sometimes try to visit in a back-to-back marathon, but it’ll knock you out to go to more than about two of the big parks on two days without some sort of down day to hang out at the pool or something.
I think that fact causes the same kinds of family stress as Thanksgiving or Christmas: people feel under pressure to make it count, and when they think the opportunity’s going to waste they boil over.
We had some moments of the same kind of stress going to Universal over spring break. One of the things that happened was that we screwed up and got my daughter on a ride that turned out to be way more intense than we expected, and she got freaked out and refused to do much of anything else for about a day and a half of a three-day visit. There’s a smaller chance of that at Disney World, but stuff like that can still happen there, and the willingness to roll with it is key.
If you’ve got kids young enough to need constant adult supervision, I think it helps to go with a surfeit of adults to hand them off to. But that’s not always possible.
Matt McIrvin
@Matt McIrvin:
…By the way, just as a public service, the Universal ride in question was The Simpsons Ride (which is actually the old Back to the Future ride with a complete theme makeover). It’s really funny, but it is also a surprisingly hardcore ride, just because the visuals are pretty much designed to cause as much fear-of-heights, motion sickness and sensory disorientation as possible. It works partly as an over-the-top parody of amusement-park rides. Do not take little kids or sensitive people on it assuming that it’ll be a mild adventure focused more on laughs than fear.
In general, one complaint I have about Universal is that it’s really hard to figure out which of their many “motion simulator/ride-film” attractions are scarier and which are milder. You can’t see the ride from the outside, and they all have almost the same set of CYA safety notices at the beginning of the queue, so they’re easy to discount.
Matt McIrvin
…But one advantage Universal has is that it’s physically smaller. It’s about the size of the California Disneyland resort, and there are water taxis running every few minutes between most of the hotels and a dock that’s in easy walking distance of everything.
Disney world has their own internal transit system, and you don’t have to rent a car if you stay on-site. But it’s really spread-out, the famous monorails only cover a portion of the territory (basically Magic Kingdom, the most expensive hotels up in that area, and Epcot), and the bus system serving the rest of it is very hub-and-spoke, designed to get hotel visitors to and from the big parks and the “Downtown Disney” shopping area. If you have a dinner reservation in a completely different part of the resort you could blow an hour getting there.