CNN reports that Health-care bill could mandate insurance for illegal immigrants, report says

(CNN) — Immigrants living illegally in the United States could be mandated to have health insurance under the proposed health-care reform bill, but would be ineligible to receive subsidies to afford such coverage, a report released Tuesday by the Congressional Research Service says.

And how are they supposed to buy this insurance? They already pay FICA withholding taxes that they can’t benefit from because they aren’t legal residents, so now they are going to be required to pay for insurance they can’t use, or afford, because of this current illogical mishmash of a bill.

I haven’t seen a mess this bad since MS-DOS 6.0. Someone should have told Congress that if you’re going to make sausage, you shouldn’t throw the casing in the grinder.

the Water Department is one of those wasteful, inefficient government agencies. 😈

Four hours, folks, four hours from when I called to when they left, after verifying there was a leak; calling the other utilities to locate their lines in the area because digging was going to be necessary; digging down to the water main through the tree roots; fixing the pipe; filling the hole; and heading back to the barn.

Earlier this week a circuit breaker popped on a transformer on the next block. People were without power from 8AM, until 3PM. Resetting the circuit breaker requires one guy with a long, non-conductive pole that has a hook on top, to use the hook and grab a ring and pull down, but it took the private utility company 7 hours to make that happen.

The public utilities still have people to do this kind of work. The private utilities have cut their work force to increase profits, and people have to wait… in the heat… and humidity… while the ice cream melts.

Sorry, I forgot, the government is wasteful and inefficient, right?

Liz at Blonde Sense finds a great candidate for a perfect Emily Litella moment.

I have trucks and public servants digging up the front yard. It was a damp spot yesterday, but this morning it was a mini-geyser. My guess is the sugarberry out front got its roots around the water main and snapped it.

Cast iron has little chance when it tries to hold off the attack of a tree root. It is a very slow process, but season after season the pressure increases until the pipe surrenders.

With any luck they will cut down the sugarberry and haul it away. They are an invasive species that crowd out native trees and break in tropical storm force winds.

Position: 28.4 N 73.5 W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [330°] near 8 mph [13 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 45 mph [75 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 205 miles [335 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1008 mb.

It is 485 miles [780 km] South-Southeast of Cape Hatteras North Carolina.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the North Carolina coast from Cape Lookout northward to Duck ncluding the Ablemarle and Pamlico sounds.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]