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Politicians never cease to amaze me. Yesterday, I was at an event celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Downtown Houston Pachyderm Club. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was the featured speaker. During his speech, he said that we do not face enemies only from the outside but that our enemies from the inside are just as bad. He specifically mentioned the IRS and Lois Lerner targeting people because of their positions on issues. His remarks were similar to those reported by the Texas Tribune from a speech he gave at a recent RedState gathering.
After his remarks, Abbott answered questions from the audience, one of which centered on the controversy over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups. Abbott used the topic to bring up a recent report that former IRS official Lois Lerner disparaged the South in emails related to the scandal.
“I got news for Lois Lerner: Lois Lerner needs to be wearing pinstripes,” Abbott said. “You know what they say — orange is the new black.”
(Read Abbott at RedState: Texas “Ground Zero” for Tea Party on TexasTribune.org)
This morning, the Houston Chronicle wrote an editorial about Gov. Abbott’s own version of the thought police, appropriately titled Dirty tricks?
In emails obtained by the Texas Tribune, the governor told aides he wanted to “see the financials” of Janda’s nonprofit Community Health Choice, an insurer affiliated with the Harris Health System. “I’m told by informed sources that most of these entities are rolling in dough,” Abbott wrote.
His policy director, Drew DeBerry, forwarded the petulant note to other aides, requesting that they compile information about the hospital system’s profits. “By engaging in this ridiculous editorial, this specific hospital has now put themselves on the list” of facilities whose finances the aides should review, DeBerry wrote.
(Read Dirty tricks? on HoustonChronicle.com)
Write an editorial with views different from our governor, get yourself and your firm on his hit list. That is utterly amazing.
And so very, very wrong.
What’s even worse is that when you read the source article for the Chron editorial, the hypocrisy of the governor seeps through your screen.
The governor’s skepticism about how big a financial hit Texas’ public hospitals are taking by caring for the state’s sizable uninsured population is a crucial consideration to a $17.6 billion problem Abbott inherited when he was elected last year.
That’s the size of a pot of mostly federal money — known as the uncompensated care pool — that for four years has reimbursed Texas’ safety-net hospitals for care they provide to people who cannot afford to pay. The Obama administration has made clear the future of that funding, which expires in September 2016, could be in jeopardy because of the state’s refusal to expand government health coverage to the poor through Medicaid.
Abbott has accused the Obama administration of “coercive tactics” in its method of doling out hospital funding. But emails obtained by The Texas Tribune show the governor and his advisers are actively pursuing negotiations with the feds about how to hold on to as much of that federal money as possible.
…
On July 15, Crawford, Abbott’s policy adviser, asked to have “an off-line conversation” with Traylor, the health commissioner, about the federal funding. She attached some talking points about the importance of the Medicaid waiver.
“Without supplemental payments, some private hospitals may eventually be forced to make the business decision to stop serving poor people,” she wrote. “This means the ‘safety net’ falls apart because there are not enough public hospitals in Texas to serve everyone.”
(Read Abbott Courting Feds for Health Care Money, Emails Show on TexasTribune.org)
It is becoming clearer and clearer that Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and other stalwart Republicans are correct when they insist that Texas should be expanding Medicaid if we want to meet the state’s healthcare needs.
Sad that it takes such hypocrisy from Gov. Abbott for me to see it.
And about that need to see Lois Lerner in pinstripes and orange is the new black comment? What’s good for the goose…
Government is always and everywhere a predator. It is a necessary predator, because we do not want to live in the state of nature, but it is a predator nevertheless. We must keep that in mind if we are to preserve our liberty and opportunities to achieve prosperity.
Governor Greg Abbot’s opposition to Medicaid Expansion through the “Affordable Car Act”, a.k.a Obamacare, is not a principled constitutional and moral opposition. Obamacare is opposed on moral principle and constitutional grounds as a depopulation control totalitarian hitlerian take over of the American health care system with a Fabian Socialist face.. Unopposed by such principled moral and constituional opposition, Obamacare was rammed through into law, like Nafta and TPP, by both traitorous, corporate facist owned parties in tandem…
Greg Abbott (who probably owns United Surgical Partners’ shares), as Rich Perry’s protege, now as Governor continues his opposition to “Obamacare,” in an unprincipled manner, not on moral or constituional grounds. Obamacare did not permit United Surgical Partners (USP) in Texas to particpate in the ACA coverage network.. Obama’s reason for excluding “USP” clinics from ACA coverage, besides hating Texas and Rick Perry, stated “unnecessary” tests routinely ordered by free standing doctor owned “outpatient” clinics (of which United Surgical Partners has a 100{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} monopoly in Texas) are 20 to 30{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} more costly than public hospitals and clinics. .
As such, if Rick Perry as Governor would have supported Obamacare, this would have destroyed United Surgical Partners “outpatient” free standing doctor owned surgical clinic medical business monopoly in Texas. Why is USP important to Governors Perry and Abbott? Perry’s sister, Milla Perry Jones, is the chief USP government lobbyist to the Governor. Mila Perry Jones subsequently ghost wrote HB2 for personal and corporate gain under the guise of Perry’s public “pro-life” opposition to Obamacare.
The self professed “pro life” Perry in cahoots with Planned Parenthood and United Surgical Partners attempted, but failed dismally to monopolize the abortion industry in Texas for personal gain through HB2. HB2 was written by Perry’s lobbyist sister to prosper USP and herself. USP would profit immensely through the HB2’s “outpatient” mandate granting USP an “outpatient” abortion clinic.monopoly in Texas. Perry acted solely for his family’s financial gain by signing HB2 into law as Texas’ Governor.. HB2’s aim was to put all abortion clinics in Texas that were not “outpatient”, that is, not USP franchised, out of business in the name of protecting women’s health. As such, HB2 promoted the exact opposite financial outcome for USP and the Perrys, than that of Obamacare in Texas.
Planned Parenthood I-45 and Dr. Douglas Karpen’s Aaron Clinic are both USP franchised and are both therefore HB2 compliant.. The only abortion clinics in the state to be HB2 compliant before HB2 was signed into law by Perry as Governor.
The December 12th, 2013 exoneration of Dr. Douglas Karpen orchestarted by then AG Abbott and HCDA Devon Anderson covered up Perry’s USP business interest in Karpen’s United Surgical Partners affilated late term outpatient abortion clinic., or atleast granted Perry plausible deniabilty.
In 2015, a second attempted cover up exoneration of Karpen’s USP clinic practices has been orchestrarted by Abbott via Anderson: See: “Devon Anderson, Who Exonerated Abortionist Douglas Karpen Suppressing Video Testimony (Life Dynamics Mark Crutchner) Likewise Will Exonerate Planned Parenthood I-45 Suppressing Center For Medical Progress Video Expose “..
USP affiliated Planned Parenthood I-45 Gulf Coast baby part marketing business purchases baby bodies from five to nine months old aborted alive from Karpen’s USP clinic. Karpen murders these children by ringing their necks after they are born into his waiting arms, The 2013 Abbott/Anderson exoneration allows Karpen and PP I-45 to continue to do this. Planned Parenthood in 2013 through Mayor Parker and Homicide HPD suppressed Karpen’s infanticide investigation entrusted to Homicide HPD by the interim HCAD.. Mayor Parker’s wife/husband is treasurer at the PP I-45. Parker did this to cover up the above baby part marketing relationship between Karpen and PP I-45, Abbott and Anderson completed the cover up through the Chip Davis’ Key Man Grand Jury dismissing Life Dynamic’s video expose of Karpen’s aborted alive practice as testimony, exonerating Karpen. This along with no evidence presented from the non-investigation of Karpen by HPD Homicide engineered by Mayor Parker.
But now, deja vu, Center for Medical Progress is pointing to the Karpen/PP I-45 baby part harvesting business that Parker’s homicide investigation suppression and Abbott and Anderson’s exoneration of Karpen in 2013 covered up and allowed to continue until now.
Abbott’s response with Dan Patrick who supported Anderson election as HCDA is another “uncover up cover up” like 2013, where the perpetrators of murder investigate themselves and exonerate themselves by their own authority.
The HB2 cabal is ending in disaster for Perry and for Abbot, as well as Planned Parenthood I-45..
“This is the greatest treason to do the right thing for the wrong reason”.
Insightful, in an unhinged and deranged kind of way. I believe “Hitlerian” should be capitalized, which now makes me a grammar Nazi. Heil Webster!
Most entertaining blog as well, though I might suggest a low-dose benzodiazepine once in a while. Like daily, maybe.
Sure, grow MEDICAID, grow CHIPS, grow Sec.8, grow WIC, SSI too, grow it all, and while we’re at it, bring in a few hundred thousand economic migrants from various third or fourth world paradises so they may also feast at our trough. Let all bow to Leviathan for food, clothing, shelter and care. Let TX take the bait and find itself in deeper financial peril as fedzilla, once all states have grown the dole at its behest, begins to ramp down the payouts.
When do we come to understand that the first step toward getting out of the hole is to stop digging?