Despite What He Says, Home Visits Are Coming

I guess Barack Obama hasn't even bothered to read the Senate's HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee health plan.

Yesterday, Obama went on the offensive to deny that government stormtroopers, er, employees, would start visiting old people in their homes to ask them how they want to die. While that is not (to my knowledge, anyway) in the HELP bill, there definitely is a provision to allow home visits to make sure children get all their vaccinations.

I can see that now: "Mrs. Smith, is little Johnny home? We see on his electronic health record that he's behind on his vaccinations. We're here with all the necessary syringes and vaccinations to get him up to date. It shouldn't take more than five minutes."

That scenario is very definitely authorized by the Ted Kennedy underlings who wrote the HELP bill.

Here's what the Prez said to a town hall gathering of AARP members (i.e., old people):

"You know, I guarantee you, first of all, we just don't have enough government workers to send to talk to everybody, to find out how they want to die. I just want to be clear: Nobody is going to be knocking on your door; nobody is going to be telling you you've got to fill one out. And certainly nobody is going to be forcing you to make a set of decisions on end-of-life care based on some bureaucratic law in Washington."

Actually, they won't be forcing anyone to make end-of-life decisions. They'll just do it for you, so technically, he's right, and we all lose if we fall for his version of health care reform.

Recovery in Slow Motion at Republic Windows

I somehow bought into what turns out to be a bunch of hype about the reacquisition and reopening of Republic Windows and Doors in an earlier post.

Veep Joe Biden, not one to shy away from spinning tales if not outright lying, even ventured to Chicago to grandstand in front of the Goose Island factory and caw on and on about the great victory of the stimulus plan in resurrecting Republic Windows and Doors. Of course, his grinning mug was then splashed all over the media, promoting and prolonging the hype that the factory would soon be back in operation with all 250 workers back on board.

Turns out that it's true that a California firm, Serious Materials, did indeed buy Republic Windows and Doors (read the story of its closing), and did promise to hire back the laid-off workers to get everything in full swing by May or June.

Those months have passed, and now it's almost August. At last count, about 15 former employees had been rehired while the factory sits mostly idle.

Serious Materials was--and is--gambling on a part of the Obamian stimulus plan that targeted money toward weatherization, which in turn would (Serious hoped/hopes) materialize in orders for green windows and doors from Republic.

Was Serious just being too optimistic? Time will tell, but you can read the full story here.

Meanwhile, I'm kicking myself in the butt for not doing my due diligence when the hype-filled story first appeared. I should've known that, if Joe Biden took credit for something, it was a pile of made-up manure to begin with.