Dcoffee's Journal

06/15/2009 11:52 #48981

US Chamber opposes Healthcare
Category: healthcare

Call Congress 1-800-828-0498

Most of you know that I run my own Web-Design and Photography business, I'm a sole proprietor. This means that I get screwed on Healthcare. I have to pay something like a minimum $500 per month for some crappy high deductible insurance for my wife and myself. that's even the subsidized NYS version.

I'm part of my local Greater South Buffalo Chamber of Commerce, and somehow I ended up receiving 'urgent action' alerts from the US Chamber of Commerce. They sent me one on Saturday... to Debra, I just noticed, boy that was a happy accident for me. Anyway, here's their message

"This week, the Senate HELP Committee released a plan that will radically restructure health care for all Americans. The proposal goes above and beyond covering the uninsured. It threatens the private market and ailing economy.

Unable to compete with a public plan, many private companies would be locked into an unsustainable system and forced out of business. In fact, a report cites 130 million people potentially moving from private insurance to this new public plan.

Now is the time to stand up to Senator Kennedy's plan, which could devastate private health care, and ultimately force you into an entirely government-run plan. Click here to send a letter to Congress now.

Further, this proposal would restrict the way employers provide coverage, hurting flexibility and innovation: the cornerstones of American health care. For more of my thoughts on the danger of this proposal, click here.

The bottom line: Sen. Kennedy's bill is dangerous to your health.

This plan is being forced through at a lightning pace, preventing those who will be impacted from carefully considering the 615-page proposal."

That email takes you to this page

So instead of signing their petition I decided to use their contact form to express my opposition. Here's my message to them.

"I support a public Healthcare option. Why should business have to pay the cost of health insurance for our employees? Why should employees have to demand extra benefits from their employers just to ensure that their families are protected from tragedy? The current Healthcare system is broken. It forces businesses like mine to cut employees, and increase our prices to cover the extra costs. This should not be the burden of private business. The economy would be better off with a simplified system where government takes responsibility for the well being of all citizens.

I oppose your position on this issue. I do not support protecting the Health Insurance companies at the expense of all other businesses and the economy as a whole. This is not a responsible position for the US Chamber of Commerce to take."

If you want to call congress on this issue here's the
Toll Free Number
1 800-828-0498

Senators are:
Kristen Gillibrand
Chuck Schumer

House Representatives are:
Brian Higgins
Louise Slaughter
Chris Lee

heidi - 06/15/09 22:23
(e:ajay), you're right that many people who would be entrepreneurs are too scared to drop their only affordable, reasonable health insurance option. My clients, small business owners, can't afford health insurance for themselves or their employees at $500/mo/person and $1200/mo/family. Why should bad health insurance (what you get at $500/mo is really crappy) cost more than your mortgage?

It pisses me off to no end that the US Chamber of Commerce opposes any universal option. National Federation of Independent Businesses also opposes a true public option. :::link:::(FINAL).pdf (PDF of their "principles". :::link::: PDF of small biz & healthcare stats) It makes no sense to me why they can say it's a major challenge - and in my experience it is a HUGE challenge - but be unwilling to address it with cost-effective public solutions. Thanks for posting, (e:dcoffee).

ajay - 06/15/09 20:37
Big business doesn't want a public healthcare system. Health insurance is one of the major reasons that many employees stick to dead-end jobs, instead of branching out on their own.

06/01/2009 21:50 #48818

Photos from Saturday's party
Category: life

Party Photos!

It was a good time. Hope everyone had fun. I didn't take enough pictures. Enjoy these :)

Morning after

Fun times. we had a good crowd. Thanks everyone for coming.

jason - 06/02/09 13:04
I think I can speak for both Josh and I when I say that it was a really cool party, and that we enjoyed finally being able to BS and hang out. Nice house, nice people, and a great time. Next time we'll hang out and talk more.

Also it was good to see the other e-peeps at the party. I always very much enjoy chilling with you all.

matthew - 06/02/09 09:59
Thank you for the party. We had a great time. You have a wonderful house. Enjoy!

james - 06/01/09 23:05
Thanks for having us. I had a great time.

05/25/2009 20:42 #48754

Come see the new house!
Category: house

Sorry for the short notice everybody, but we'd like to invite you all to our house this Saturday May 30!!! We're having a big summer party at our new digs.

Come see what we got for $46,000!!

Starts around 2-3, and goes till late. Come for a few hours or hang out all night. 178 Altruria St. South Buffalo, off South Park near Tifft.

We're inviting family and friends. Hang out for a backyard picnic, and stay till whenever. We'll have some food and drinks for everyone, but you can always bring something to contribute. Tour the house, check out the vegetable garden, we'll have a fire outside later on... come hang out.

tinypliny - 05/26/09 18:36
:( Can't make it.

Enjoy the party! :)

libertad - 05/26/09 09:04
Mike has my weekend wrapped up into his two day garage sale but we would like to come by.

janelle - 05/25/09 22:03
We will be there! Can't wait to see it.

james - 05/25/09 21:53
I have a brunch meeting on Culver. Maybe I will stop by after.

04/28/2009 21:19 #48531

First Weekend of Summer
Category: life

I love living in South Buffalo. We had a great weekend, actually a great week.

Wednesday and Thursday we hung out at our neighbor's house next door, had some food and drinks. We've met a lot of our neighbors already, it seems like summer is going to be full of activity. It was nice to spend some time, and get to know the 2 families in the house next door.

Friday 2 friends came over after work. We hung out in the yard, enjoying the excellent weather. We assembled our fire ring, but we got hungry and didn't end up lighting our first fire. But it was the first time we've actually hung out in the backyard with friends. We had a little dinner party, with some pasta and homemade sauce. I do make good pasta sauce, instant gourmet :)

Saturday, Mr Softie in the hood. Parked right outside my house. There are a ton of kids in this neighborhood.

Saturday

We went for bikeride. We had no perticular direction. First we dropped by a friends house to see their newborn baby, passed a hotdog stand on South Park Ave so we stopped for a bite to eat. Passed a street musician after we left, playing guitar at the bus stop by the library. Then mom's house, we found her outside gardening, of course :) Finally we rode around Cazenovia Park, and then around South Park Lake too. We saw a saxophone player outside the Botanical Gardens too. Such a nice day for a ride, it's like the whole neighborhood was in bloom.

I love Hot Dog stands, woodside and South Park :)

Outside Mom's

Dudes Fishin' at Caz Park

Baseball Game

Cazenovia Creek

South Park Lake

Outside the Botanical Gardens

Later we showed off our new house to one of mom's out of town friends. Then we all went out to dinner at the Blackthorn. Mom's friend in a Buffalo native who is actually moving back to B-lo from North Carolina because she misses the people, cheap living, and the friendliness.

At around 8 we went to a friend's birthday party in East Aurora. we stayed outside on the back deck and the porch, except to refill our wine glasses, and use the piano, she has a player piano, one that plays those song scrolls. Fun stuff.

Rockin' the Player Piano, that cabinet in the back is full of scrolls.

Sunday

I worked outside, starting my vegetable garden in the back yard. We had dinner at mom's house, backyard barbeque! Enjoyed my first corn on the cob of 2009, along with sausage, veggie-burgers and pasta salad. Cooking on the grill, lovin' the outdoors.

Molly says hi :) Actually she wrote some of this post!

jenks - 04/30/09 09:12
ooh, lib that's a ride i've been wanting to make for a while, but the time I tried I got totally lost down behind the buffalo news... can you tell me (exactly) how you got there from downtown? that would be awesome.

libertad - 04/29/09 14:02
I rode my bike to the botanical gardens on Monday and rode through Cazenovia park. When I get a chance I want to make a post of my trip because it was so much fun and I saw so much stuff I had never seen before. I didn't even know the park existed prior to monday.

lauren - 04/29/09 10:12
Sounds like an awesome way to start out the summer! I took one of "my" kids who lives in Lackawanna for a walk around the Botanical Gardens Park (South Park?) on Monday and it was soooo nice. My dog enjoyed it too :)

hodown - 04/28/09 21:49
That makes me miss Buffalo :(

04/16/2009 22:00 #48410

Taxed to Death??
Category: politics

Yesterday was tax day. There were a bunch of symbolic protests across the country. "Tea Party" protests. here's the article about the one in Buffalo

Anyway, I'm not going into detail here. but one slogan I saw a few places.

"Born Free, Taxed to Death"

There are a lot of ways to die... That's one of the reasons we have firefighters, and police, and traffic signals, and Medicare, Social Security, and the Food and Drug Administration.... you get the idea.

In many ways, we actually pay taxes to protect ourselves from death. Because paying $25 per year to help fund a Police force is a lot simpler, cheaper, and easier than hiring a private security force, or detective, or getting a gun or a baseball bat and going all vigilante style.

Maybe that's going a little too far, according to the Buffalo News Tea party Protesters "said they favor spending on the military, police, roads and other critical infrastructure,"

But... "social welfare programs such as Social Security and Medicaid had few fans."

"...yea... fend for yourselves.. you over 65 socialists, we don't owe you shit!!! One for.. me, and ... all for .. none... or... All for me, and none for you!!! whatever, Hows'it go?...."

I guess it sounds good. "I work hard for my money, I deserve to keep it all. And if somebody's got more money, i guess they just work super hard, and they deserve it too."

my point is this; if we worked together, we wouldn't have to bust our ass all the time just to get by.

"Yea! screw Social Security... I should be able to put my kids through college, pay medical expenses, insurance costs for my car and house, oh.. pay off that student loan. and have plenty left over to retire!... Yea!! freedom!!!!!"..../ what the fuck is that shit.

If we didn't spend so much time worrying about the future, worrying about illness, college loans, retirement... I know I'd have a lot more freedom.

We have to work together. It's patriotic, and human to care about your neighbors, your family, the citizens your country. It's supposed to be "all for one, and one for all" We should look out for each other.

You know teachers work hard, so do farmers, so do computer programmers, and so do your parents... and we all couldn't get by without them. But they each make different amounts of money. And it's not because they don't work hard enough, most of the time it's just cruel luck.

You also don't need to be greedy to work hard. or to contribute to your society. I think that selfcentered individualistic bullshit is un-American. How about soldiers? They're some of the most selfless, hard working people you'll meet. totally not motivated by greed. they want to help people.... imagine that, motivated by an urge to help. Not so hard right? I think it's just human nature to want to help.

"E pluribus unum" it's on our money, a motto adopted at the founding of this country, it's Latin for "Out of Many, One," it means we're all in this together.

The essential point of government is to help us work together in an orderly way. Government is not the problem, selfcentered politicians have betrayed us.

PS. my Father in-law is in the paper, the last 4 paragraphs, about the counter protester with the Veterans for Peace Tee Shirt

uncutsaniflush - 04/17/09 21:51
(e:dcoffee) - just for the record, most of the soldiers that I've known have seen combat but I didn't mention them because they were drafted. My stepfather was a veteran of World War 2. Many of my neighbors when I was growing were veterans of the Korean War. And many of my friends older brothers were drafted to fight in Vietman. Some of them even returned alive but a litte worse for the wear and tear on their souls. The only people I know who served in the first Gulf War were Reservists who unfortunately died in Kuwait.

Over the years, I've known a lot of soldiers.
By the time they have seen combat, I agree, most soldiers are selfless.

dcoffee - 04/17/09 21:29
Whatever occupation you choose, money really shouldn't be your first concern. We have different talents, and we should do what we're good at, that's what makes us happy. And that's how we live up to our full potential.

But I'm kind of focusing on the idea that, taxes are always bad, and that keeping 'my money' will magically make life better. I can definitely understand the idea of cutting wasteful spending, and reducing the deficit and our national debt.. I really think Obama understands that too. But to cut Social Security and Medicare? Sure they need to be more efficient, but life without them would be terrible.

I could have talked about all the offensive signs about socialism, and fascism (these people obviously have no clue what fascism means) but I wanted to talk about the central argument, Taxes, and weather or not life would be better without them.

I think this anti-tax stuff is a symptom of our rabid individualism, and I think Americans need a little more "We're in this thing together, and we're going to have to cooperate to to make life better for all of us" And it matters how people are doing, not just myself.

Tax money should absolutely be spent wisely, but we NEED to pool our resources, we need to work collectively. I think this anti-tax thing is also an impulse because people don't trust government. Fix the government, don't starve it to death.

Alright, here's the solution, I should write a post on this. Ready..

Democratic Taxation, Instead of handing over a lump sum to the government, you prioritize your values. Say there's 20 different funds, education, war, environment, healthcare, retirement, assistance to the poor, etc. You chose your own priorities, 20% here, 30% there, 50% for that. I spend my money like I'm voting. I do this every day when I go to the local restaurant, not applebees or burger king. Why not do taxes the same way?

about Soldiers. Most of the ones I've met are at weddings, and they've been in combat. They get married and ship off again in a few weeks. Why they joined may have been motivated by many things (cash, education, direction), but what they do, is selfless, and you see care and dignity on their faces. Don't get me wrong, I think those in power like to keep us poor and desperate so we might end up in their war machine. But my point is that we all value selflessness, the hardest right winger will say "thanks for your service" and they honor the idea that this person has sacrificed something for all of us. Being selfless is human. This individualistic stuff sounds good, but it's not as valuable as selflessness.

dcoffee - 04/17/09 12:45
I'm focusing on the idea that taxes are always bad, and that keeping 'my money' will magically make life better. I can definitely understand the idea of cutting wasteful spending, and reducing the deficit and our national debt.. I really think Obama understands that too. But to cut Social Security and Medicare? Sure they need to be more efficient, but life without them would be terrible.

I could have talked about all the offensive signs about socialism, and fascism (these people obviously have no clue what fascism means) but I wanted to talk about the central argument, Taxes, and weather or not life would be better without them.

I think this anti-tax stuff is a symptom of our rabid individualism, and I think Americans need a little more "We're in this thing together, and we're going to have to cooperate to to make life better for all of us" And it matters how people are doing, not just myself.

Tax money should absolutely be spent wisely, but we NEED to pool our resources, we need to work collectively. I think this anti-tax thing is also an impulse because people don't trust government. Fix the government, don't starve it to death.

Alright, here's the solution, I should write a post on this. Ready..

Democratic Taxation, Instead of handing over a lump sum to the government, you prioritize your values. Say there's 20 different funds, education, war, environment, healthcare, retirement, assistance to the poor, etc. You chose your own priorities, 20% here, 30% there, 50% for that. I spend my money like I'm voting. I do this every day when I go to the local restaurant, not applebees or burger king. Why not do taxes the same way?

about Soldiers. Most of the ones I've met are at weddings, and they've been in combat. They get married and ship off again in a few weeks. Why they joined may have been motivated by many things (cash, education, direction), but what they do, is selfless, and you see care and dignity on their faces. Don't get me wrong, I think those in power like to keep us poor and desperate so we might end up in their war machine. But my point is that we all value selflessness, the hardest right winger will say "thanks for your service" and they honor the idea that this person has sacrificed something for all of us. Being selfless is human. This individualistic stuff sounds good, but it's not as valuable as selflessness.

jason - 04/17/09 11:45
When people start bringing straw man arguments to the table, and ridiculously lazy thinking such as calling it sour grapes, or using bumper sticker slogans, it isn't about desiring an intellectual discussion. People who shit on these protesters don't want to understand the other side or their concerns - they just want to ridicule and play make believe about the nature of their own counter argument.

Now, I'm not going to criticize it any further than that, because I used to shit on the burnouts at Bidwell all the time, and the same thing applies to how I treated them. If you want to simply make fun of them, have at it. Nothing wrong with it. I didn't attend a tea party because, like the war protesters, if you're not in power you don't get to make the rules. Tough luck. Obama won't listen to the Tea Party protesters any more than Bush listened to the war protesters. I just think in most cases it's pointless other than to blow off some steam.

I think there is a difference between what America IS, and what America COULD or SHOULD be. I think there is some confusion about America being a fan of collectivism to the extent that the European Socialists are. We're not, and that's not who we are today. E Pluribus Unum has nothing to do with this.

If you decide to be an elementary teacher, instead of a developer, you know in general the amount of money you make will likely be less. I don't understand how that's cruel, or unlucky for the teacher who weighs this when choosing what to do with his life.

If you're the taker instead of the giver overall, it's easy to think of yourself as having more freedom. Of course you do, in the example of a society where education costs nil to students, you are free to not have to pay for your own education. That's someone else's burden. I'm sure it would be liberating. I'd love if I could saddle some other asshole with my student loans.

It sounds like all I'm doing is criticizing, but the bottom line is this - I agree with you to an extent that it is our obligation to look after each other. We are in this together. I do agree that the current model of health care needs to be modified. I do believe in taking care of your brother man. What we have in America is a love of mocking and shitting on your brother man instead of listening to them. Who is immune? Nobody! =(

What I don't agree with is the idea of government taking the money you would normally donate, and deciding for themselves what's appropriate. That's not freedom. I do not agree with creating an even bigger bureaucracy than already exists, and giving the government more control of my life cheaply or freely. I do not agree with the baby boomers saddling us with ongoing expenses that we can't afford, and not talking about how we're supposed to sustain this level of government long-term without saddling the common man with a bigger tax burden. Howard Zinn has an idea - get rid of the DoD, and get rid of capitalism. It always comes down to getting rid of capitalism for that guy.

Now, I already know one of the questions I'm going to get because it's always the first one when I debate this stuff - "So Jason, what about Boooosh?" Yeah, I hated the bank giveaways too. I know the *real* Libs are upset by Obama's continuation of this stuff. Which by the way, we are going to have to all pay for eventually. We're all going to be eating freaking health pellets by the end of all of this.

uncutsaniflush - 04/17/09 11:37
I'm with (e:jenks) on soldiers. I, personally, known people who joined the military so that they could get:
1. technical training while in the service
2. college educations with the G.I. bill afer they leave the service
3. avoid jail (joining the military was part of a plea bargain)
4. be a musician in an Army band
5. get away from an abusive home situation
6. a job after being laid off
7. a job after high school with no prospects of a job in their hometown.

Of course, this was inbetween wars, so they probably didn't expect to see combat.

Perhaps it is different now, but I don't think so. Alternet.org has good (imho) discussion of why young people join the military: :::link:::

jenks - 04/17/09 10:55
just to play devil's advocate- I'm not sure that everyone that joins the military does so out of a simple pure desire to help people. I know plenty who have joined b/c either they 1- couldn't do anything else, or 2- just wanted the perks, and were betting that they'd never actually have to serve. Felt like it was an 'easy' way to a 'free ride'.

libertad - 04/17/09 09:17
OH those teabaggers! I like what your father and law said.