KS GOP: Sebelius "another unqualified cabinet appointment"

If the republicans say it, then the opposite must be true. Good luck, Mrs. Sebelius! I'm certain you'll bring honor to your name!

Nell post, nice denial with personal atacks what the KS GOP stated with facts and statistics. If you have any thing resembling facts or stats to rebut the KS GOP we would love to hear them. You are entitled to your opinion, always, but debates are more meaningful with facts.

coal-fired power plants and intermodals into Kansas for their cronies which will cause more illness than they have been with helping the uninsured in Kansas. The Kansas GOP are always busy for the special interests but have very little compassion for the ever increasing number of people who do not have health care - could it be your GOP companies are cutting health care for their employees so they may continue their profits???? Mr. Morgan, tell me how it is and tell me how you and your party are NOT RESPONSIBLE for any of the suffering going on.

get Sebelius out of the Governor's office. Except instead of a pink slip, she gets a promotion.

And the Republicans get nothing. Yet somehow this is a "win." Go figure.

I was born in Kansas 63 years ago. What an embarrassment. Is there anyway to move my birth to another state? You have become a state of lunatics, and I do not understand why. Conservative does not have to mean "stupid." You are making Arkansas and Mississippi look downright urbane.

where Brownback and Roberts both congratulated Sebelius earlier today.

Typical ignorant and hateful republican.

I am amazed at the pointed animosity of the Republican party. I am not an Obamanaut, or a Rushbaby, only a moderately minded individual who would like to see America prosper, by whatever means work best in their protection of our freedoms, social mobilities, and basic rights. I see "socialist" thrown around all over the conservative blogs, news radio, etc., and I can't help but wonder, if it provides America with a better position in the world, and it provides the American people with better protection against the inequalities that now exist between the classes, then why is it so offensive? Is it just the name? The mechanics of some of the policies have been proven to work in other countries (and even our own past: Truman/FDR), so long as they are not allowed to stagnate. It's not like we can't vote to overturn them if they prove to be too chafing to us as Americans. That's the point of the democracy. It's not like Obama is going to declare martial law. If his policies don't work (God forbid) then we will vote him out and we will put in somebody else. If they do, then I'm willing to be a "socialist" for a while, at least until that becomes problematic and we have to find a different set of answers to keep America prosperous, free, and dynamic in it's protection of all it's citizen's rights. Pardon my cynicism, but I have more faith in this administration to get it right than I have in any since Reagan's. Bush was a nightmare, and Clinton was too self-interested. I hope and pray that God sees fit to get us through this, and that is all I'm asking for right now. Otherwise things are going to get a lot uglier before they get better, and I don't to be any part of what makes America fail.

Would somebody please round up all Repubs and give them some toys to go play with Bobby Jindal at DisneyWorld? Let the grown ups have a healthy conversation on ways to solve the economic calamity they left behind.

In response to the oringal post,and to DonT's request for facts.

Per the BLS, from YE 2002 through YE 2007, the percentage of the KS population
* insured by their employer:
dropped from 66.7% to 59.4%
* insured by their self-owned business:
dropped from 32.4% to 30.2%
* Buying their own insurance:
dropped from 13.6% to 13.15%

The 1st two dropped because unemployment increased. The 3rd may have dropped because self-insurance is 'too expensive', either because of price increases, reduced personal income or the like.

BLS indicates that the percentage of the population insured by Medicaid actually increased 44% --from 8% to 11.6% of total population. (Not 30%) And the percentage of the population covered by the government (non Medicaid) increased from 26.7% to 28.4%

Unemployment increases contribute heavily to the drop in employer-and self-provided insurance.

It is good that Governor Sibelius was able to expand Medicaid coverage, since it undoubtedly now covers many who would otherwise be uninsured. And I doubt that Governor Sibelius is responsible for the unemployment spike of the last 8 years.

I would like to hear from the GOP: which US governors have been able to drop the cost of health insurance? Typically state governments have NO influence on such things; federal policy dominates in this arena. The previous U.S. administration pushed private plans, arguing that market forces would reduce costs. That was hysterically unsuccessful.

The administration has changed. Hopefully now there will be some change.

I wish Governor Sibelius great success.

More smoke screening by the republican party to draw attention away from how over the last 8 years through lies and deceit they have robbed the honest American tax payers and robbed US of our true Christian values- what America stood for. We need to stand together and not generate any more hate and intolerance towards our fellow Americans and the other people of the world.The Republican party has become the party of hate. Don't be caught up in their or any politician deceit. JC

Don CT, I have to ask you a question. What percentage of Republicans, when they read a statistic from a Republican politician, just swallow it without thinking. Include yourself.

First of all, Nell's post didn't personally attack anyone. It just suggested the the statistics supplied by the Republican party were false. After doing a little research, it looks like she's correct.

According to the Kansas Health Institute, the number of Kansans who are uninsured was 10.6% in 2000-2001, hit a low of 10.1% in 2002-2003 and was 11.3% for 2005-2006. Medicaid and SCHIP covered 11% of Kansans and Medicare covered 13%. Other public insurance covered 1%. Based on these numbers, the Republican party's claims look at best misleading, and the possibilites go downhill from there to character assassination and slander.

So, Don CT, stop your knee-jerk posting and do some research. The numbers I quoted came from:
http://www.khi.org/resources/Other/1183-ChartpackKHI08-02.ppt. Google for facts before you say something uninformed.

article. It gives me hope that there are some intelligent, knowledgeable people out there and not more of the wingnuts like Rush Limbaugh and Mr. Morgan. Let's have some faith and support for what is trying to be done to get our country back on track - it is going to be bumpy ride but I will NOT be a part of the GOP hate machine.

Reading this article and the comments make me thankful I'm an independent. What makes people lose their mind, common sense and sometimes their integrity just to follow blindly the leaders in their chosen party continues to frighten and mystify me. The term "sheeple", (sheep+people) really does apply to a lot of people. Distortions, outright lies and deceit are commonplace in both parties. The sheeple, the dishonest leaders in both parties and the fact that lazy, uninformed, stupid people vote are some of the main reasons our country is in the dire shape it's in. And for post by Oblong, the fact that that individual thinks a little socialism might be good for our country shows a total lack of knowledge of how governments and societies interact. When socialism rears its ugly head peoples rights, including the right to dissent, and nearly always the right to vote, quickly disappear. Just a thought but I wonder that if the media would sincerely try to be objective and truly nonpartisan, coupled with the opportunity for a strong third or even fourth political party to emerge would help our republic return or head back to the path our founding fathers so wisely started our nation on in 1776?

Is how the rabid republican followers don't see that they are not better off after 8 years of their leaders policies.

Rush may own a couple of houses that have high values and he may be making 10s of millions of dollars a month/year ( pick your time frame ).
But his foot soldiers are not enjoying those gains.

If somehow your leaders had taken you down a dead end alley how can you be so blind as to keep listening to "full speed ahead" when you can see the wall and the end of the alley.

It might be worth the time guys - and by and large we are talking about men here - to stop and ask someone else for directions. The folks whose voices you have been hearing really don't have your best interests at their heart ... what were they doing with the SEC 5 years ago ?
Hmmmh ???

Dave, Glad that being an independent makes you feel morally superior and more intelligent that people who belong to parties. Pardon me if I'm not impressed. To me, it seems that you claim moral high ground for being simply a passive political consumer. You aren't involved in setting or providing input on policy, you might not be involved in the selection of candidates, and you have nothing to do with who gets elected except for, maybe, voting on election day. Sometimes, by election day, it's too late.

Part of what you say about the major parties is true, if very simplistic. I would argue that the uninformed portion of the electorate is much higher among independents than other groups. All of the people who claim that "all politicians are alike" or "there's no difference between the Republicans and Democrats" tend not to belong to a party.

Regarding socialism...Personally, I'm not to fond of socialism as a principle, but you seem to think that Communism or South American strong-man "socialism" is all there is. Do you have a problem with the right to dissent in socialist Canada? People have been voting in socialist Britain since before this country existed, although the qualification to vote have been loosened up a bit in the last 300 years. What about socialist Switizerland? They doubled the voting roles in 1973 by allowing women to vote in federal elections. And almost every man between the ages of 18 and 45 has the equivalent of an M16 for military duty in the closet (although the ammunition is sealed). The individual right and the vote are unlikely to be going away in any of these countries. It might not be like here, but the USA really is one of a kind.

To see the problem with third and fourth parties, please examine the governments of Italy and Israel. The problem we have isn't about how many parties we have, it's about the fact that one person, one vote has been perverted into one dollar, one vote (or some multiple thereof). There are too many entities that give to both parties to get influence, giving more to the one that's ahead. Those are the people or entities that have their viewpoints advocated to our elected representatives. They can also be the ones that skew the press through ownership, provision of information, lawsuits or advertising dollars and arm-twisting.

Belonging to a party doesn't mean that you always vote for all of the party's candidates. It does mean addition opportunities to provide input and material support for someone who mostly agrees with you. It also provides an opportunity for you to talk to others doing those things to, perhaps, persuade them to see things your way.

Paul Harvey would love this story and Herbert Spencer may just get the last laugh.

Ex-inspector general criticizes Kansas health authority

March 1, 2009

TOPEKA (AP) The former inspector general of the Kansas Health Policy Authority says she resigned because agency managers interfered with her ability to do the job.

Attorney Robin Kempf, who resigned as inspector general in November, says health authority officials pressured her change an audit report, restricted access to legal advice and threatened to fire her for meeting with legislators.

Kempf's testimony before a Senate committee last week came as Senate Republicans work to pass a bill moving the inspector general's job to another area of state government.

The inspector general oversees Medicaid, MediKan and Children's Health Insurance programs.

KHPA board chairman Joe Tilghman said the authority complied with the "letter and spirit of the law" and acted "in the public's best interests."

Mrs. Kempfs position was created by a republican run state, in a republican legislature overseeing republican managed departments -
http://www.khi.org/s/index.cfm?aid=1422

Surely you aren't going to try to say the Governor had something to do with this ?

I suspect her Senate confirmation hearings will take care of your answer. (smile)

Roberts and Brownback say they support her.
Slam dunk.

Here is the worst thing KS Rs will say

"With the announcement today, the Governor leaves behind her a long string of broken promises. Chief among these is her promise to provide health care reform to Kansans—but none ever occurred," Morgan said in a statement.

Who again holds the majority or the KS Legislature ?
And they are complaining that THEY can't pass something.
Boneheads.

be held accountable or responsible for anything that hasn't got done. Sebelius has been like a pinata for the Republicans to swipe at for their own shortcomings. Year after year the Kansas legislature has done very, very little about health care in Kansas and that lies squarely at the feet of the Republicans who hold the majority in both houses. What the Republicans do best and they have done it year after year is to give tax cuts to their cronies who are big biz, developers and special interests or to back projects for their cronies such as the coal-fired power plants or the proposed Gardner, Ks. intermodal which will make their people ill and cause premature deaths and all the while asking the people to pay for that privilege of compromising their health. With friends like that, you don't need enemies.

Make up your mind.

What if you found out that Kansas health statistics were doctored to make Sebelius look better? When in fact maybe a legitimate, independent, unobstructed audit would show otherwise.

You're giving the governor a free pass, which is nothing more than allowing power to go unchecked. I thought you didn't like unchecked power. You rail against it, daily.

Think it is over in the Senate.
It might be an indication of why the brouhaha.

her price just got higher. The KCMO establishment won't have had a representative like this in DC since Harry Truman.

went on and on about the Berg case. You know I am for regulation and oversight and it wouldn't make any difference to me who is caught with their hand in the cookie jar - if they do the crime, they will pay for their mistakes. I really liked Paul Morrison and Bill Clinton and probably would vote for both of them again but they screwed up and they are paying for their mistakes just like I have paid for the mistakes I have made in my life. I just don't happen to feel that Sebelius overall is not there for the people. Of course, she is not perfect but I still am far from thinking she is some low-life but who knows with politicans, that is always a possibility but at this point in time I feel she is worthy of my support and I will give it to her. Her and Claire give me some hopes for decency and better government. As I have said before, we are all hypocrites in one way or the other but to me there are some bigger than others.

I did not know that me citing an AP article on possible irregularities in reporting Kansas health statistics would cause you to discredit the article and look the other way out of nothing less that pure stubborn personal spite on your part.

I think we call that kind of person a party hack.

As for Philip Berg, I admire more the person than the point in question. He didn't let image dictate right or wrong for him. Instead he adhered to one of my favorite quotes:

What is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular.

Or the Jeetz version...

You may order a Bud Light to please the crowd, whereas I will order a lesser brewed, dandy IPA to please myself.

...actually I may have plagiarized the spirit of an Aristotle quote. Ah screw it, he didn't Plato either. Grumpy old man.

Do you believe everything you read???? I think you believe everything the ultra-conservative, right wingers put out there and your rantings indicate that to me.

I didn't ask you to expand the definition of a party hack...but I guess I'm ok that you took the time to further support my post.

Again, thanks. (smile)

jeetz, it's always possible that it's all the governor's fault, since she's the chief executive.

On the other hand, the kind of messing with statistics that a state agency is likely to do goes in the wrong direction for the Republicans' current set of accusations. They are bemoaning a very large number of people being added to the count of those with public health benefits. The most likely cheating on the statistics is to find ways to ADD PEOPLE, so the amount per person or amount spent on overhead doesn't look so bad.

State agencies can't easily hide the amount they spent because someone else gave it to them, and it came out of bank accounts somewhere. They can mess with their services delivered statistics. If anything, that's likely what happened here.

It's obvious you've never worked for an insurance company.

Hells bells! (AC/DC)

What does an insurance company have to do with me posting an (AP) article -- KCPhone implying I'm blaming the governor -- me saying it may come out in the wash (Senate hearing) -- and you saying whatever it is you're trying to say?

Does anybody freakin' read on the left? Connect the dots for cryin' out loud. In English that means read the whole thread.

In Spanish it means -- chinga te la punta madre.

To think we are rid of Komrade Kate and we didn't even have to throw any water on her. Guess it is time to pray even harder for America. Let us hope Benedict Parkinson gets appointed as her under-secretary and Kansas can get back on tract. webhawk the counter-revolutionary