DHHS and responsibility
Recently, the state learned some residents were approved for Medicaid yet were not actually eligible to receive this insurance. The Department of Health and Human Services supposedly did not know its computer system was making an error.
My question to the people of Maine is, if you knew you were committing fraud by cheating the system, why do people who were not involved, such as taxpayers, have to pay the missing money back? Sure, there are people who are completely innocent, but there are people who knew they were lying about their insurance. Is there not a way to track these certain people? Or is Maine’s system not up to date, like the computer system issuing Medicaid?
DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew states that the system has been having problems since its launch in 2010. Didn’t she say she knew about this problem in January? Why is she only now doing something about this? The responsibility should lie with the people who knew about the problem.
The LePage administration in many cases is to blame here. Coming into office, they were aware of this huge factor affecting our state and pushed it aside. Who’s to know that the Baldacci administration overlooked this, but with a new administration in, things should have been double-checked instead of pointing fingers from a year ago.
Maggie Wallace
Rockport
Bully pundits
I’ve searched and searched. I can find no definitive numbers on Limbaugh’s audience. What I found were numbers between 8 and 25 million listeners. More likely between 8-15 million. We have over 300 million people in the United States. How exactly is Rush Limbaugh the head of anything? When I do run into a “dittohead” they standout because their views are more severe then everyone else in the room.
My second point is this: Speak to a few smart people under the age of 30, and Bill Maher is a political figure to them. Jon Stewart is a political figure to them. Although I agree with both men on most issues, I worry that they aren’t giving kids the whole story. I stopped watching Maher a few years ago because he was becoming just too offensive. Stewart and Stephen Colbert make politics amusing but many kids may as well be watching Adult Swim.
You cannot selectively pick and chose who to bully if they say something offensive. Maher, Limbaugh and the others have every right to be as rude and insensitive as they choose but please don’t pretend one is any different than the other.
Gregory Bouchard
LaGrange
MPBN bias
I am a small-business owner, registered Republican and fiscal conservative. I appreciate our governor’s efforts to reduce waste in Maine government. I am not, however, appreciative of what appears to be his personal agenda of attacking the Maine Public Broadcasting system.
I have listened to and read all forms of media and newscast over the years. I have chosen public radio as my primary news source for the following reasons: it is convenient, dependable, has emergency broadcasts, doesn’t waste my time with advertisements and does make a real effort to interview parties from all sides of the issue.
In fact, after reviewing the many studies of perceived liberal bias of MPBN, I’ve concluded that the biggest bias is the one created by individuals such as Gov. LePage who are so ideologically entrenched and controlling that they simply won’t give interviews to the press unless their coverage will be favorable.
I make an average contribution of $120 a year to MPBN but it is public funding that serves the vital purpose of keeping the service accountable to the public. I remember plenty of MPBN interviews with Sen. Olympia Snowe over the years, as well as Sen. Doug Thomas and Reps. Paul Davis and Kevin Raye, all strong Republican voices.
Gov. LePage should drop this personal attack on MPBN and get back to the substance of governing.
Eric Stirling
Shawtown Township
Cost of living
Back in the 1960s when the rate of pay was $1.25 per hour, a family of four could live on one breadwinner and no frills but a TV. Wages as compared to prices were good. You only needed one car. You had to have a down payment for even the cheapest house.
For years now it takes the income of two to carve out a living, the price of commodities being so high as well as the cost of a roof over our heads.
As I see the ridiculous price of houses in the newspapers, it seems only a couple of teachers living together or other upper-middle-income workers can afford one. This leaves mobile homes, not that they are bad: they tend to heat easy and don’t have much upkeep.
The great American dream is gone for so many people.
The price people paid for their homes and no down payment had some effect on the housing meltdown, plus other factors.
I saw an ad from a contractor who said he could build a 24-by-32-foot house for $149,000. It didn’t say what was included. Even at this price it is not for lower income people. I completely remodeled my house in the late 1980s for around $25,000 including furniture.
It appears as if we can’t renovate a building anymore. For some reason it seems demolishing one and disposing of it is less expensive.
Yes, life and times were better just 20 years ago. Remember a cost of living raise is just that, an increase in the cost of living.
Erwin McAllister
Fryeburg
Erwin McAllister, back in the 60’s the minimum wage had a higher purchase power than todays minimum wage. You would need to make $10.50 per hour to match the purchase power of minimum wage in 1965.
Erwin, now why did you mention two teachers living together? Do I detect sour grapes somehow? Teachers work hard, try to educate our children to be the best than can be, and like many professionals…have student loans to repay for many years….why didn’t you mention doctors, nurses, state workers, self-employed, etc in your comment? Do you actually consider a teacher upper middle class? Most teachers nowadays start out in mid 20K per year…I don’t consider that middle class or even upper middle class.
Maybe he’s from Washington County. Teachers are among the highest paid people here.
haha…good one!
Not paid higher than our hospital administrators, …. in Washington County.
The state mandated minimum is 30K. Then their are automatic raises above the cost of living just for fogging a mirror. Please try to keep up.
even if what you say is true, that is not alot of money to live on, and raise a family….bitterness is not a good quality
What I say IS true. And remember that is the state mandated MINIMUM. The AVERAGE teacher salary in Bangor is over $50,000 for 36 1/2 weeks of work a year. Ignorance is not a good quality.
ouch _ I read it again, and if you read only what was written, “As I see the ridiculous price of houses in the newspapers, it seems only a couple of teachers living together or other upper-middle-income workers can afford one.” Erwin seems to be stating it would take two teachers to afford an expensive house – probably saying a teacher doesn’t make much in this state. how was this a bash on teachers??
Eric Stirling, any news source that doesn’t follow the hard right is a target for the hard right.
The Republican elite is getting worried that their support of the likes of Limbaugh and Beck have driven the party so far to the right that it will not win a presidential election this year or any time soon. They have taken Beck off Faux News for that reason and aren’t too upset with the advertisers’ boycott of Limbaugh.
However, it will take more than one election cycle to get the party back to where the inmates are not running the asylum. Romney has had to veer so far to the right that he is now unelectable. The hard right will blame Romney’s loss on his being “too liberal” and will nominate a pure wingnut like Santorum in 2016. A Goldwater-type debacle will ensue.
Selling their base the nonsense of Limbaugh and Beck will lead to the party spending twelve years or more in the wilderness. By then we will have a Supreme Court that no longer holds that corporations are people.
Limbaugh and Beck are the Democrats’ secret allies.
” WARNING” The content of this response is rated “C” for conservative minds only.
MAGGIE,
It was overlooked in the past, and it is Governor LePage who brought it to light. As far as the cheaters, they should be jailed and a national list made up as to no matter what happens to them in the future they could never collect any benefits from any state. Make examples of these people and you’ll fix the problem. A life sentence of no government help of any kind.
GREGORY,
There is a big difference, one speaks the truth, and the others are full of it, and I don’t mean the truth.
ERIC,
I salute you for your support of MPBN. Make the entire Public Radio system run completely by donors and no will complain.
ERWIN,
Some on here get mad when one reminisces over the good old days.
Don’t you work?
amcon works for the RNC. he gets his beer and cigs money for posting their tripe 24/7.
“A life sentence of no government help of any kind.”
That could be the one thing that would teach them the responsibility they need to drag themselves out of the gutter.
Instead of instigating, you could try and get people to see it from your point of view with kinder words. It’s all you can really do. Being abrasive only makes the surface rough, too.
I believe it was reported to the LePage administration before he took office. He was just to busy getting rid of anyone in DHHS who knew anything so it got “overlooked”. I personally believe he knew but it was all part of his game to hide numbers so he could slash benefits.
Why the warning? More like rated C as a school grade. Makes one wonder about “conservative minds”.
Gregory-
I am under 30, I have no admiration or even respect for people like Bill Maher. Jon Stewart annoys me, but he does not go out of his way to be patently insulting.
Liberals are too quick to forget Bill Maher calling Sarah Palin a vulgar name for female anatomy, yet they tear right into Rush Limbaugh at the drop of a hat. Im sensing a little hypocracy here.
Who’s been on the air longest?
…..but you love when Hannity throws a Nerf football prior to his commercial breaks…..
Classy
Two chances to blast the Governor, and one chance to blast Limbaugh. It’s gonna be a great day for the libs.
Someone has too. I mean, you are sooo impartial and all.
I admit that I am partial. Regardless, I’m able to see both sides of the issues, and I’m willing to research things before I post comments. I’m a right-wing conservative, and proud of it. I’m retired military, and proud of it. I’m a Christian, and proud of it. And I support the Tea Party, and am proud of it.
I’m also proud of the fact that I’m opinionated and willing to stand on what I believe. I try my best not to attack anyone that I disagree with, but find myself shooting back when they shoot at me. Sometimes it’s difficult to take the complete ignorance, slander, and hatred of a few on the left that make it their mission to stir the pot without adding anything to the debate but insults and lies.
I’m completely upset with the double standard of the BDN where they allow others to call me and other conservatives names and present outright lies about us without ever engaging in any form of dialogue, while removing comments from conservatives that aren’t offensive in the least. I’m beginning to believe that those in the BDN that monitor the comments are nothing more than left-wing hacks that sit back and laugh about the constant beatings the conservatives take on here. But, while they’re laughing, more and more conservative voices are leaving, and more and more readers are cancelling their subscriptions. Of course, just like the present administration, if the BDN shuts down, in their last issue they’ll blame everyone else.
“Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
And that’s another reason Obama will fail in November.
Sayeth EJ pridefully.
You never miss a beat, do you?
Obama 2012!!!!
You have a right to vote for whomever you want. I prefer to vote for America. Therefore, Obama won’t get my vote, because he’s not for America.
He was born in Kenya, I presume?
This faux patriotism is beneath you, EJ. It is the type of chauvinism that led Dr. Samuel Johnson to say that “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Scoundrels question the patriotism of their opponents. I recognize your patriotism, but disagree with your politics.
If you want to dialogue, then dialogue. If, on the other hand, your only purpose is to demean and insult, then go away.
Challenging another’s patriotism, as you did the President’s, is not dialogue and I will call you out for that insult. It is incipient McCarthyism and should have no place in a civilized discussion.
Your opinion, hardly factual.
Who of this lot (Dems and ‘pubs) really deserves our vote? What’s the plan? Are there any true facts in this campaign?
We could drill every mile on a grid from Caribou to San Diego From Seattle to Key West…and across the States of Hawaii, and Alaska and in every body of water we control, and according to Lamp we might get enough oil to last 15 years. Remember this prediction is with drilling in Yellowstone, across the Rockies, and Cape Cod Bay. That scale of drilling won’t be attempted, and even if it was the crude achieved would be available as gas in 7 to 15 years. Oh, yeah, one more thing. Oil (no matter where it is produced) goes directly to the world market, so unless the next president plans on nationalizing the oil companies, even a large scale drilling effort will not benefit the US consumer.
This is what our forty year fight against communism gave us, When China, Russia, and others were communist, they didn’t compete with us for resources. Now they do… Tell me again who won the cold war?
Actually, it takes less than 4 years, sometimes much less, from the time the drill hits the ground until the gas arrives at the pumps. The hold-ups are jumping through all the government and environmental hoops, both of which are supported by the other.
And, truth be known, as soon as the first drill bit hits the ground and the rest of the world figures out we’re serious, the price of oil will fall like a rock. Just like it did during the Bush administration.
You need to read some industry literature. Even people in the boardrooms at ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron and BP see crude as the fuel of the 20th century. A real leader won’t try to sell us a seaweed sandwich like Obama, but they won’t try the Gingrich con of $2.50 a gallon gas either. Even if we could get the price of gas lowered, we would still be competing for that resource with China, India, and many South American countries.
The fuel of the 21st century is natural gas. It won’t make environmentalists happy, and it won’t make automakers happy, but it is a fact that natural gas will be the bridge fuel until we figure how to get hydrogen from outer space in a cheap manner.
I’m not opposed to drilling for oil, I’m just pointing out the fact that even if oil is produced in much larger quantities we are squandering time and resources better used elsewhere.
For the most part, I agree with you. But, you should also realize this:
Our military and our country runs primarily on oil. Our military cannot be retrofit to use natural gas without a massive amount of money being spent. And we, as a country, cannot be changed over to natural gas, electric, solar, or wind without massive amounts of money coming out of our pockets.
We can, however, continue with oil while developing alternative energy. We have the manpower, the resources, and the time. The trouble is, we have a President and a bunch of environmental idiots that want it all done now. It just can’t be all done now. It will take several decades. That’s why we need to increase oil production, natural gas production, nuclear, and hydro while allowing the private sector to develop alternatives.
American is setting on trillions of barrels of oil that is just waiting to get extracted and used. Obama is lying his butt off about us only having 2 percent of the world’s oil, and he knows it. You can see it in his eyes whenever he knows he’s lying. And that flash in his eyes is in full glow now that he’s running for a second term.
Saint chenard at work?
Diogenes, holding up a lamp and looking for an honest man.
Why do you presume to lecture others on their own religion? Or is that the chosen role of Saint chenard?
Anyone who injects religion into a discussion should be expected to be challenged every bit as much as when he injects science or politics. EJ began this exchange by describing himself as a proud Christian.
OK, so you’ve backed off the name calling, but your consertvative fellow travelers continue to keep up the insults (and worse).
Since you’re keeping score, take a look at your side. Not you, in particular, because you actually have the ability and desire to dialogue; but some of your buddies are off-the-chart insulting and rude. Is there a Dr. in the house?
Ms Mayhew doesn’t appear to be very knowledgeable or very competent. What skills did she have that caused LePage to appoint her to such an important position?
A willingness to say “Yes sir, Governor.”
DHHS and responsibility
Early on in their administrations, both King and Baldacci had massive problems with the D.H.H.S. computer system. Baldacci’s administration “lost’ over 39 million dollars…twice. Since now this problem has been experienced by an Independent, a Democrat, and a Republican, I would suggest it is firmly in the “non-partisan problems” category.
If you want to make a case that Maine government is grossly incompetent at all levels under any party, I’m on board.
Bully pundits
Your comment: “You cannot selectively pick and chose who to bully if they say something offensive.” loses credibility with me because you failed to include liberal trash-talkers Ed Shultz or Bill Maher in your rant. Shultz called Laura Ingerham the exact same word used against Sandra Fluke Bill Maher called Sarah Palin a “(unt”
I agree that men using this type of terminology as a cudgel to beat outspoken women is reprehensible. It is also beyond disgusting to make this tpye of “bullying” a partisan issue. Men who talk this way should lose the support of a civil society. Are we a civil society?
MPBN bias
No comment
Cost of living
Oh dear, you’ve touched one of my all-time bugaboos.
The largest tax on middle and lower class workers comes from the government’s ability to fix the cost of a dollar anywhere they wish. If you have a contract to complete a project at a cost of x number of dollars, you lose your shirt if inflation hits after you have signed the contract, but before the supplies are purchased. Indeed, the cost of gasoline is increased by the cheap dollar policies of the last three administrations. foreign oil producers (including Canada) are not going to accept the same number of our “cheap dollars” for their oil as there accepted when our dollar was strong. Workers are informed that they are getting more money this year than they earned last year, but are they? Economists tell us that a dollar today, buys only 25 cents worth of 1968 goods. Is this the whole story? I bought a milky-way candy bar for the first time in awhile, and found the price had increased to over $1 The Mars candy that I had purchased for a nickle in 1968 had also shrunk in size. In 1968, you could buy a REAL pound of coffee for 35 cents a can, now 9 ounces of coffee (still housed in the pound size can) costs over $4. We had local milk delivered to our front door in glass bottles for 15 cents a quart. now a big plastic bottle of milk with the cream all cut away costs over $4 a gallon. The list is endless. The tax on this house in 1968 was $185 today it’s over $1.200. The 1963 Buick in my garage cost $2,700 brand new and it included a heavy duty tow package so we could pull our $2,300 cabin cruiser around. If youy can find a new full size Buick for under $22,000 let me know. We sold the cabin cruiser, well used, in 1976 for $30,000.
How is the regular person supposed to plan for the future, if he/she has no idea what the money will be worth. The answer is they can’t.
Thank you for your sensible position on the language used to demean and dismiss women. Indeed it is a mark of just how civil our society is, and it seems to be going in reverse at an increasing speed. That it is okay to pollute our airways with this kind of language dismays me. And, I am as appalled by sexist language when it targets men. It seems chauvinists are alive and well. I for one have made a pledge to call it what it is.
Thank you Mr. McAllister. The cost of living in Maine is nicely detailed in the Living Wage report just released by our Dept of Labor. That data is for 2010. So adjusted for increases in cost of living you get an accurate picture of what it takes to make ends meet in Maine.
Erwin – 20 years ago I had a 3 bed room apartment for $300/month – heat and hot water included. Sorry to say I was making only $8/hour and had a car payment, and I was living higher on the proverbial hog than I am today with a “professional” job (oh yeah, and a spouse). I don’t have to wonder where it’s going – I just don’t have as much expendable income as I did 20 years ago – bummer.
Eric Stirling: good letter.