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Friday, April 17, 2015

You do the math, $50k a person is a bunk figure

MotherJones Tries The Economic Angle To Advance Gun Control
The best-case scenario described by the CBO would result in 'between 24 million and 27 million' fewer Americans being uninsured in 2025, compared to the year before the Affordable Care Act took effect.
Pulling that off will cost Uncle Sam about $1.35 trillion – or $50,000 per head.
Where's the hand-wringing over that cost?
The hand-wringing for that cost is non-existent, because the cost itself is also non-existent. The problem with your analysis is that the report, "address[es] only the insurance coverage provisions of the ACA and do not reflect all of the act’s budgetary effects." In other words, there are other sources of revenue, like the medical device tax, and cost cutting measures that aren't included that bring the cost way down.

There is one other gotcha here. The Mother Jones article bases it's $700 per person, PER YEAR. The $50,000 you claim here is over ten years. And since the benefits are being seen by more than just those that were uninsured, you can't just use them in your calculations.
Our problem isn't guns. Our problem is gangs. Our problem is a breakdown in the home. Our problem is that many are not raised with a respect for life.
My big question is, how do we know this? There are no studies out there proving this. That's because there is no funding for such research. And due to nothing but pure politics, the CDC can't even study the medical effects of gun violence.


I explore all of this -- with a thorough denunking -- in my book, Hands Off My Gun.
Glad you mentioned your book, because I have some questions. Can you tell me again how Southern (conservative) Democrats disarmed a man who already had an arsenal of guns? And tell me also how the concealed carry permit he was denied in one state would have saved him from a sniper that killed him in another? That man was Martin Luther King. And it was the denial of that permit that made him realize his peace movement didn't need guns.

If that is the kind of denunking [sic] you do in your book, I'm not highly impressed.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Update! Sorry, now you are 15th.

#6 on Politico's list of righties. Thanks for the tip, listener Alina! http://politi.co/1FGKMSg

Sorry Dana. Now that they include TV Journalists, you are 15th.

Not to mention that you don't even make the top 35 in total, while none other than Mellissa Harris-Perry is #27.  Wahhh, wahhhhhh...

What this does say is that when it comes to Twitter reach, Liberals pretty much dominate.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Dana loses it over Obama comment, then proves his point for him.


Obama, during an Easter prayer breakfast, veered off subject, and said something that got all the right in a tizzy.  And as usual, Dana doesn't disappoint. This is chopped up audio from Wednesday, April 8th, hour two.  Enjoy!

Monday, April 6, 2015

ABC57 reporter did not ask pizza parlor about catering a wedding

Audio starts at about 21 minutes

I had a good weekend.  I had a lot to do, and while I did it, I burned through all my podcasts.  Since I still had too many chores around the house, I needed something more to listen too.  Enter Dana.  Yeah, I've fallen off the wagon.  I used to love Dana, but I took a break over Football season (Fantasy Focus takes precedence) and never got back into listening to her. 

Good thing I took the time.  The whole narrative was that the reporter went down there and baited Memories Pizza with the question on whether they would cater a wedding.  Problem is, in an interview with Dana the owners blow the whole thing up.  It would have been great to see the look on Dana's face.  Not that it stops Dana from continuing the lie the rest of Thursday and Friday's show.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Bumper Music: Lisa Bevill -- No Condemnation

Not because it's good bumper music, but because it fits Dana's narrative this week.  No condemnation for those who are in Christ.  Now, if those who are are in Christ could stop condemning others, then maybe we can take them seriously.

Saturday, April 4, 2015

Reporters, pizza places, and lots and lots of hypocrites.

Dana, On Pizza Truthers

A local reporter was sent to small towns around her smallish city of South Bend, Indiana (part if a larger region of Michiana that still isn't big enough to have a VHF station) to gauge reaction of local businesses to a new law.  Well, let me preface that, with I believe.  I believe the local reporter was just looking for opinions, not sent out to incriminate someone.

What happened when she got to Walkerton, Indiana was happenstance.  It was probably quite clear walking into Memories Pizza that she may get some interesting quotes, as the law was about religious freedom, and the proprietors were unabashedly Christian.  She asked the questions, and the owners gave the answers.  In her story she correctly reported what was said.  That Memories Pizza wouldn't discriminate if someone came in for a slice, or some ice cream, but they would not cater a gay wedding.

The backlash against this local reporter is just as shocking.  The story instead goes that she was sent out and went out looking for just this certain quote.  She goaded these poor people in a small town pizza joint to say what they said (although almost in the same breath they say these people were standing up for their rights!)  She was liberal scum, a journalistic hack.

The people at the pizza parlor received death threats, bad Yelp reviews, and someone bought a web address and made website making it look like Memories Pizza was the gayest place in the world.  What of the reporter?  You do not hear of her fate in conservative media, do you?  She, too has received death threats.  At this time, I have not seen a GoFundMe page for her pain.  I have not seen any liberal talk shows saying people who have threatened that local reporter with violence are the same as ISIS. And I also have not seen any sort of apology from right wing talk shows for inciting such violence.  Dana knows first hand how such things happen, she should be the first to defend this local reporter.

The way I understand it, a Dana Show contributor started a GoFundMe page in the middle of a controversy for people they had never met in the middle of an interview with them. One of the important tenants of journalism is know the answer to your question before you ask it.  Oh, wait.. maybe that's law.  Still, there are a lot of what ifs to worry about.

What if the owners of Memories Pizza declined the money?

What if nobody gave?

What if people gave too much?

Oh, wait.  They did give too much.  The goal started at $25 thousand, but when that goal came and went quickly, they upped it to $200 thousand.  What was a fund to help out a pizza joint that may have to close for a week or two until this storm blows over, help fix up the place, and maybe buy that web address, wound up being a pile of money you'd get if you were a lottery winner.  What was once helpful, now may become a burden.  Why not stop when the first goal was reached?  The second?

If I were the owners of Memories pizza, I'd be thinking twice about taking that money.  If I am going to take such a stand for God, I'd have to side with the Bible on the fact that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10).  Not to mention all the people whose lives were ruined by excessive money. It was good of Dana to get a financial planner.  They give good advice:
Past winners of mega-lottery drawings and financial planners have some more sound advice: Stick to a budget, invest wisely, learn to say no and be prepared to lose friends while riding an emotional roller-coaster of joy, anxiety, guilt and distrust.
Maybe the Bible knows what it is talking about here. This is money that is going to change the lives of this family forever.  Quite possibly, in a way this family did not want, and did not ask for.  Did Dana think about that before starting this GoFundMe campaign?  It would be hard for me to turn down money like that, but I would probably pass.  GoFundYourself, Dana.

I have seen conservative Christians doing something else the Bible tells them to guard against.  They point to the fact that giving so much shows how good Christians are compared to the heathen Liberals.  Except the bible says this is not right in the eyes of God.  You are getting your reward right here, instead of in heaven.  Dana will not point out this to anyone, however.  Nothing hypocritical here... move along.


There is no story in a poor local reporter just doing her job.  Dana will pass.  There is no possibility for fundraising, because there is no outrage for threatening a reporter no matter how cute she may be.  She is not standing up for her Christian rights, so she doesn't matter to anyone on the right.  Really, there is nothing to see here. It would be funny if it were not so sad. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Indiana's religious freedom law

While it is April Fools Day, Dana's show today was not some sick joke.

First and foremost, meet Jess Dooley.  This is the woman that Dana called the American ISIS.  This is a woman who I think most people, for and against the law, could agree did wrong when she said she wanted to get a mob together to burn down Memories Pizza in Walkerton.  There's only one problem with Dana's reporting on this, however.  For the entire first hour, she called Jess a man.  I get it, she has a man's name.  But seriously Dana, how could you get something so obvious when you actually look into the facts so wrong?

And the whole thing about being surprised that the ABC affiliate in South Bend is on channel 57... the history behind that is pretty simple.  Anyone in broadcasting should know it.  When ABC lost Monday Night Football to ESPN, CBS also lost the NFC to Fox (they would later steal the AFC from NBC, and NBC would get a newly created Sunday Night game... but I digress).  Many stations who were on the lower part of the dial fled ABC for Fox, who had games on Sunday afternoon.  Chanel 28 moved to Fox two years before ABC 57 came along.  They also have NBC 16, and CBS 22. Nobody there is that low on the dial, because they are in a UHF island between Chicago (2, 5, 7, 9, 11) Grand Rapids (3, 8, 13) Lansing (6, 10) and Indy (4, 6, 8, 13).  Not that it matters now, since the digital age makes the numbers meaningless.

The point of all this is Indiana's Religious Freedom bill.  A bill that will allow discrimination in Indiana. It is true that there is no specific language in the bill that says Christians can discriminate against homosexuals.  No bill on its surface does spell out it's faults. It doesn't have to spell it out to be true, however.  It has two things other similar bills in other states don't.  It gives these religious rights to organizations, and there is no provision in Indiana law that protects homosexuals from discrimination.  To say this bill is exactly like the federal bill, or bills in most of the 19 other states who have a bill like this, is to say a Yugo and a Mercedes are exactly alike.  They both have four wheels, don't they?

ABC 57 ran a report last night, where a pizza place in Walkerton, Indiana stated they would not cater a gay wedding.  Now, I get religious freedom and all, but to me, that is blatantly discrimination. What they are basically saying is, because I don't like the idea of gay marriage, I shouldn't have to do business with gay people.  Because the bible I read when I was growing up (and as far as I know, it hasn't changed) doesn't say turn away the sinner.  On the contrary, there are several times Jesus himself says to be all inclusive.  He who is without sin throw the first stone? He that did these things to the least of these did them to me? Love God and love thy neighbor?  Forget the darn bill, when did Jesus give these people the power to turn away someone who clearly could use a little religion in their lives?

I don't think this is what is getting most people up in arms.  It is what the father said, about being gay being a choice.  Jess Dooley even included that in her tweet about burning the place down.  Medical science believes being gay is not a choice.  Gay people believe the same.  If it were a choice, in this day and age, it would be a pretty terrible choice, don't you think?  Not just because of the discrimination they deal with everyday from groups that don't agree with their lifestyle. They can't have children, and while there are ways to make it semi=possible today, only one of the couple can contribute DNA to the child.  Up until recently, they couldn't marry, and many of the rights straight couples had were out of their reach.  I could go on and on.

For the Jess Dooleys of the world, for the people who have gone out and given bad Yelp reviews, or bought the domain of Memories Pizza because they didn't and turned it into a gay pizzeria... please stop.  You aren't helping, either.  Fighting intolerance with intolerance is not going to work. You just give more fuel for people like Dana to stoke the fire with.  Because Dana knows how to stoke that fire.  She doesn't really need your help, she can and has manufactured what she needs out of thin air.  Could we please, on both sides, try to keep it civil for once?  Indiana thanks you.