Comments by stavros74
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Posted on June 22 at 1:18 a.m.
Also, if there are 5 inductees, it is 151 years among them. Not between them Joey.
Posted on November 8 at 10:49 a.m.
Bobbi,
I sent you an e-mail from my yahoo address. One last thought for today.
Education: What diligence was done in regards to confirming the education level, literacy rates, language ability and what cultural barriers to learning exist to someone REGARDLESS of where they are from? How reliable is the screening if it was done? Does Emporia have the educational resources to accommodate Somalian refugees now? How much will it cost? Who will pay?
Posted on November 8 at 9:37 a.m.
Usually when a sane government body endeavors to do something of measurable consequence they plan it out to excruciating detail. Feasibility studies, impact studies, etc. are typical types of diligence when planning a new building, service line or capital works project. I wonder if anyone on this ERRA, or any powers that be, did any diligence along the following lines.
Healthcare/Health Status: Are the refugees screened in any meaningful way? Who does the screening? I believe Lougene Marsh (who I trust implicitly) said they were in a gazette piece a few months ago. Is Emporia equipped to handle an outbreak of diseases commonly associated to third world countries? Is the city commission, ERRA or Tyson in an actionable position if someone dies from TB infection? Epidemiology is a branch of medical science that deals with the incidence, distribution, and control of disease in a population. These factors can be determined and models can be constructed based on known population and disease patterns.
Economic: Does Emporia have jobs for them to do without significantly affecting the indigenous population? Will their presence affect the living wage for citizens in the city? Do we not know our unemployment rate, type of labor needed and an overall picture of the local economy? From which, can’t we determine the net effect of a relatively large group of uneducated, unskilled labor will have on our local economy? What is the plan if we are wrong in any case?
Legal: Are refugees screened for their criminal background and how reliable are other countries’ methods of keeping records on criminal backgrounds?
Defense: A threat assessment should have been done on how prone ANY country’s citizens are to terrorist activity. No racial profiling, but we know which countries are friendly to the US and which are not. The International Crisis Group identifies two terrorist groups operating in Somalia. One is al-Qaeda and the other is a group of local jihadis, mainly former members of the now-defunct al-Itihaad al-Islaami, a Somali terrorist group. Are refugees screened for alliances with these groups and how reliable is the third world output?
Mr. Agler, ERRA members, Catholic charities, can any of you answer any of these fundamental questions with an honest answer supported by data? I'd be interested and pleasantly surprised if you can.
Posted on November 5 at 2:47 p.m.
I am encouraged by the many and thoughtful responses on this blog. I split time between Wichita and Emporia now but I grew up here. Some people forget that citizens didn't walk away from their jobs even when this mess started in 1983. They were supplanted by illegal immigrants from a third world country. Now Tyson appears to have a contingency plan now that ICE is cracking down on Illegals, to supplant them under the guise of political sanctuary.
I am active with the organization Numbers USA and they have really written the book for Emporia and how to deal with situations like this in an informed, data driven matter. Anecdotal evidence is fine if your pulpit is a bar stool (where some of the best original thought has come from), however it means very little to a politician under the watchful eye of hostile, PC insane media. Numbers USA uses facts and figures to support their activism in addition to flooding their representation with the will of the people. The message needs to be sent that the surest way to make yourself temporary in Lyon county politics is to even entertain notions of making the county into a third world county.
Renegade,
I am happy to assist you in any kind of organization effort mounted in the name of Emporia citizens. I'll e-mail you my information.
Thank you everyone for your passion and thoughts.
Check out www.numbersusa.com for some solid ideas on how to organize.
Posted on June 29 at 12:25 a.m.
Vankamp,
Good thing this is our country and not theirs. I read a lot of estimates and in every study I read illegal immigrants cost well in excess of what they contribute. Regardless of country of origin, the figure is around 7 billion to the US economy (give or take a billion) which costs anywhere from 20 to 35 billion PER YEAR in services (healthcare, legal, etc.). Regardless of where you are politically, any enterprise that operates at a loss of that magnitude needs to go ASAP.
$118 per month is very achieveable. I am starting to feel cheated that I was paying $100 a month for just myself. Oh well, anything that can add value and revenue to AMERICAN efforts has to be well worth it.
God bless America!
Wasp,
Who won't give you a quote?
Posted on June 28 at 6:06 p.m.
Oh I never said that. We don't live in a socialist society. I don't trust the government with my drivers license let alone my healthcare. I'm sure socialism sounds great to certain people, but before those folks go running for their hammers and sickles they must consider how powerful the state became in soviet russia when the people became completely dependent on their government. Relying on the government for an able person's well being is not a strong position.
I got to go. I start vacation tonight.
Posted on June 28 at 4 p.m.
The movie opens tomorrow and I intend to see it soon. I am basing my conclusions about Sicko's propaganda value on his past offerings and articles like in the Gazette.
Democrats and Republicans are agreeing with what elements of the movie? That politicians are bought and paid for with regard to this issue? Wouldn't that be awesome if we could get them to admit that?
You bring up a solid point regarding the impact to a family's insurance coverage. I left children and folks 65+ out of my comments because there is Medicaid and Medicare coverage available to them. Taking your example of $400 a month for folks that take home $800 or $900, I wonder if the qualifiers for Medicad for the children are in line with that income level. If insurance costs are that high for them, should Medicaid be available to them? Just asking.
Great thinking Melissa.
S
Posted on June 28 at 3:19 p.m.
Moore is a committed leftist and he is not a true documentarian. Documentaries are meant to explore a subject and let the viewer decide what their opinion is, not to indoctrinate the viewer according to the director's particular politics. If Michael Moore's movies are documentaries, then Pravda was just a newspaper.
Do your own thinking on what follows.
We all know that the healthcare system has problems. In my work, the estimate of 45-47 million uninsured is thrown around a lot. Can anyone quantify WHY those folks don't have health insurance? Children aside, could it have something to do with personal spending priorities? Do we just want to spend the money on wants rather than needs? Do we have any information on this? Its all pretty hard to quantify and I imagine the reasons have infinite variations. 47 million isn't a staggering number at all unless you have some context.
If you forgo health insurance for the sake of paying for something you want versus something you need, then you really take a gamble. Without insurance, access becomes limited, the financial burden you take on is much more substantial and your health can suffer without treatment or preventive measures. We all insure our cars, why not insure ourselves?
I hate paying for insurance, until I need it. I am pretty happy with my current insurance coverage. Its not that expensive, I see the doctor I want and my copays are low. Even when I was a student and didn't have much money, I had health insurance. The quality of care I experience is very high because I make insurance a priority in my life and I research my physicians.
Now, if an insurance company takes your money to cover you and then refuses to pay for your claim then they should be sued for damages and prosecuted for fraud. Insurance companies shouldn't be able to change the rules when it is profitable for them to do so. Nor should they be able to make their policies so hellishly complex so that nobody can understand it.
What is the alternative? With regard to national healthcare I have some food for thought. Do you want to pay for someone's care who smokes 2 packs a day? Do you want to pay for a drug addict's rehab or therapy? Do you want the government to start telling you what you can eat, prohibit you from potentially harmful behaviors like drinking cold beer or eating what you want because they don't want to pay for it anymore? Again, do your own thinking.
Agree with me or not, the point is I'll bet Moore doesn't present anything like this post that goes against his previously established thesis in his propaganda film...I mean "documentary".
Kansans are smart folks. See Moore's movie if you want but please do your own thinking.
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Posted on June 22 at 3:08 p.m.
I'll remember that the next time I am writing news stories for the Emporia Gazette Kstrebuchet.
On Lane praises new superstars of education