Wednesday Night, December 3, 2014

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Another ObamaCare "Gotcha"

This is actually pretty clever; I did not see this one coming.

There must be at least a dozen telephone carriers with whom I can contract for cellular service, including Verizon, ATT, Sprint, several regional carriers, and probably even over the internet (TimeWarner or Dish) if I was that clever. But I contracted with Sprint twenty (20) years ago and never switched. I still use Sprint.

We have two options for internet and television here in the DFW area: TimeWarner and Dish (there may be others; I'm not aware). I signed up with TimeWarner when I got here, the same carrier I had had for 13 years in San Antonio. I will probably stay with TimeWarner forever; I don't even look at Dish offers.

In Texas, electric utilities are de-regulated; consumers can switch utilities willy-nilly every month if they want. I have been with one utility since I arrived and have no plans to switch.

It turns out that consumers of health care insurance share the same behavior. Even though there is an annual "open season," very few consumers switch health care once they have a policy. Sure, they have to re-enroll, but usually they just get a note (electronic or snail mail) that says they are automatically re-enrolled if they do nothing. 

Now the TimeWarner/Dish -- Verizon/ATT/Sprint -- Texas utility -- creepiness. Yes, you guessed it. The health care insurers can (and will) raise premiums knowing quite well (or is it, "full well"?) that 97% of consumers won't shop around during "open season."

Not shopping around will cost them big bucks. Where's this story? In the week's issue of The New Yorker, editorially very, very much in favor of Obama's programs. I did not see this article in any of the conservative media yet. 

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Global Warming

Extreme Weather

Media Spin

Ice Age Now

These are always fun. Forbes headline: Media Go Into Panic On How To Spin Record Cold

The liberal media are going into panic mode attempting to salvage their precious global warming crisis as yet another record cold winter takes shape across the country. 

Desperately hoping to purge the public’s memory of failed predictions of warm, snowless winters, the media are now going into overdrive trying to claim global warming theory predicted colder and snowier winters all along. 

The shameless effort to spin this year’s cold, early winter as the predicted result of global warming is typified by a media request sent out by International Business Times journalist Connor Sheets. On November 19 Sheets sent out the following solicitation:

 “I’m working on a story that would help explain why climate change not only contributes to global warming but also the extreme weather events we are seeing already this November. I’d like to look at how the greenhouse effect plays into this, why global warming doesn’t preclude super-cold and snowy winters, and more. Beyond that, I would like to look at the polar vortex and its impacts. El Nino if it applies, lake effect snow and other weather and climate trends and dynamics that play into this discussion.”

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Michael Savage Is Right On This One

The video says it all. New York's finest. Father of six selling illegal tobacco cigarettes on the street. Dead.

Story at NY Daily News. Let's see how NYC handles this, after all the liberal East Coast/NYC opining/reporting on the Ferguson case. What goes around, comes around.

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At Least It's Hard To Catch

A U.S. healthcare worker who had been in West Africa and may have been exposed to the Ebola virus is being transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, a hospital spokeswoman said on Wednesday. -- Reuters