Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Give me the numbers! Or does the administration really know what is going on?

OK, OK, I know. I've been hammering on the first big lie we were told about the health care program: "You can keep your plan." Now that the plan has been "implemented" and we know the POTUS lied to us, let's move on to Lie #2, shall we?? What fun!

Lie #2: "We won't know until mid-November how many people have signed up."

Uh...people? THIS IS A BIGGER LIE THAN THE FIRST LIE.

Here's why, and I will try to 'splain in simple terms, without getting too technical:

When you are at a web site where you "sign up" for anything (healthcare, free membership, a contest, a survey...virtually anything you have to "sign up" for), then you, a real person, become a "record" in a database.

In ALL database programs (with zero exception), a fundamental concept in database management and the FIRST THING any database reveals is....get this....how many records (i.e. how many people) there are in the database!! There is NO WAY TO NOT KNOW THIS. I could stop right here, but I will explain.

Let's give the feds the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume that the 36 states who started exchanges also need to feed that information to the feds, which could slow things down a little, but we would be talking about a lag time of hours to possibly one day.

Each state will have its own person on staff called a "database administrator" (db admin). Even if these individual db admins all have to report separately, still no big deal. The federal db admin sends one group email to the state db admins and says, "I need your figures tomorrow." Each state db admin, in approximately one minute of logging on to his or her computer, can have that information and email it to the fed db admin.

On the fed's end, once every state has reported, a lowly clerk with an adding machine adds those reported numbers together, and presto! They have a total.

Actually, they probably are using a "dashboard" to keep this information in real-time. A dashboard in a business or in a government program is similar to the gauges on your car's dashboard. The same as your car tracks mph and/or rpm and other "performance" factors, a dashboard in a business or government program might follow a dozen or more metrics. For example, it might track how many people visited the site, how long they were at the site, how many people created an account, how many signed up for insurance, etc. etc.

Now, I would be disappointed if I learned that the feds spent $93 million with CGI (the company that built the site) on a website that did not include a dashboard. However, I don't think I would be totally surprised, either.

Soooo, with a dashboard, they know all this information instantly in real- time. Without a dashboard, and even with all states reporting separately, the compiled information is always going to be less than 24 hours away from being available.

I'm sorry to break the news to you, cupcake, but they are lying to you. Again.

BOHICA.

This was originally written by Pierre Briere to find out more on him - see what he has to say on Facebook.






Tuesday, October 29, 2013

November 5, 2013 Governor Paul LePage has a major announcement

Keep Tuesday November 5, 2013 open for an important announcement from Paul LePage. Like the governor on Facebook for up to date information and announcements.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Governor Paul LePage says no to Federal Money Maine cannot afford

Governor Paul LePage was pressured into accepting federal money for Maine's poor. In the past Augusta would accept the "free" money from the federal government to fund programs that this state would be responsible for and have to raise taxes for. Paul LePage refuses to fall into this trap and leave a legacy of underfunded programs for the people of Maine. Living within the means of the state is an honorable goal to achieve.

From Governor LePage's weekly radio address: "I will say it again: With a national debt of 17 trillion dollars and permanent gridlock in Washington, D.C., we cannot depend on federal money to pay for Maine government. We must learn to live within our means."

Support Governor Paul LePage - like him on Facebook and show support for the Governor - the People's Politician.



Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Lunch with the Governor - Paul LePage - the people's politician

This past Sunday (2013-10-20) afternoon well over 100 people gathered at the Tradewinds ChowderHouse and Speakeasy to mingle with Governor Paul LePage and enjoy each other’s company, and a delicious dinner. In addition to many of the “usual” attendees there were nearly a dozen new faces in the crowd. The early reception was held downstairs in the “Speakeasy” which will be open to the public next month and will feature MoTown music and live entertainment. The Governor leisurely chatted with us and blended in as just another person. Of Course that’s part of the reason why we love him; he is just a regular man. LePage is a people’s politician not a polished politician.

Then we all went to the main dining area where we listened to the Governor speak for 30 minutes on a variety of topics including the recent incident where the federal government closed the Cobscook Bay State Park. Governor LePage took action for the people of Maine and had it reopened due to a long standing agreement that has been in place since 1965. He also spoke to the fact that he wanted more Mainers off foreign oil and used the Province of Quebec as an example of affordable electric energy. In Quebec 92% of the population uses electricity to power their homes. The average heating cost in the winter is $100.00 per month. LePage expressed his frustration that the legislature has not been willing to work at reducing the cost of energy for the citizens of Maine. One bright point is that the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut recognize what Governor LePage has been saying for years. That Maine, New England should look north to Quebec for inexpensive energy. Jobs were another subject that the governor spoke to the crowd about. During his tenure there has been over 12,000 jobs created. These jobs are in areas that are economically depressed for the state. These jobs created are in contrast to the 56 created under the previous administration.

Governor Paul LePage took several questions from the audience and was thorough in his answers . The questions were hard hitting but dear to the hearts of many Mainers. The Governor answered each with grace and integrity that one would expect and did so in a way that all could relate to. When the meal was served he did not even eat, rather choosing to visit each table in the room shaking hands and posing for photographs.

Nearly $2000.00 was raised at the dinner and when added to the $5400.00 from the yard sale last week we are most certain to reach our fundraising goal for next year’s election cycle. A donation is going to be sent to Governor LePages reelection campaign form the Knox county Republicans as a measure of our gratitude and support . Thank you to all who attended, sponsored tickets, and to Bob Liberty at the Tradewinds, and Kevin and Cathy Labree as well as the staff at the ChowderHouse.