Monday, October 1, 2012
Sunday, September 30, 2012
The Daily Drift
Remember the nazis were the repugicans of early 20th century Germany
Some of our readers today have been in:
Istanbul, Turkey
Cape Town, South Africa
Islamabad, Pakistan
Brussels, Blegium
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Sofia, Bulgaria
Warsaw, Poland
Belgrade, Serbia
Ankara, Turkey
George Town, Malaysia
Vilnius, Lithuania
Nakhon, Thailand
Moscow, Russia
Tunis, Tunisia
Puchong, Malaysia
Mirzapur, Bangladesh
Makati, Philippines
Kiev, Ukraine
Cairo, Egypt
Kuching, Malaysia
Hanoi, Vietnam
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Bangkok, Thailand
Johannesburg, South Africa
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Lahore, Pakistan
Addis Ababa, Ethipoia
Poznan, Poland
Manchester, England
Ampang, Malaysia
Gdansk, Poland
London, England
Fermont, Canada
Paris, France
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Surabaya, Indonesia
Sao Palo, Brazil
Sydney, Australia
Today in History
| 1399 | Richard II is deposed. | |
| 1568 | Eric XIV, king of Sweden, is deposed after showing signs of madness. | |
| 1630 | John Billington, one of the original pilgrims who sailed to the New World on the Mayflower, becomes the first man executed in the English colonies. He is hanged for having shot another man during a quarrel | |
| 1703 | The French, at Hochstadt in the War of the Spanish Succession, suffer only 1,000 casualties to the 11,000 of their opponents, the Austrians of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. | |
| 1791 | Mozart's opera The Magic Flute is performed for the first time in Vienna | |
| 1846 | The first anesthetized tooth extraction is performed by Dr. William Morton in Charleston, Massachusetts. | |
| 1864 | Confederate troops fail to retake Fort Harrison from the Union forces during the siege of Petersburg. | |
| 1911 | Italy declares war on Turkey over control of Tripoli. | |
| 1918 | Bulgaria pulls out of World War I. | |
| 1927 | Babe Ruth hits his 60th homerun of the season off Tom Zachary in Yankee Stadium, New York City. | |
| 1935 | George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess opens at the Colonial Theatre in Boston. | |
| 1938 | Under German threats of war, Britain, France, Germany and Italy sign an accord permitting Germany to take control of Sudetenland–a region of Czechoslovakia inhabited by a German-speaking minority. | |
| 1939 | The French Army is called back into France from its invasion of Germany. The attack, code named Operation Saar, only penetrated five miles. | |
| 1943 | The Women's Army Auxiliary Corps becomes the Women's Army Corps, a regular contingent of the U.S. Army with the same status as other army service corps. | |
| 1949 | The Berlin Airlift is officially halted after 277,264 flights. | |
| 1950 | U.N. forces cross the 38th parallel separating North and South Korea as they pursue the retreating North Korean Army. | |
| 1954 | The first atomic-powered submarine, the Nautilus, is commissioned in Groton, Connecticut. | |
| 1954 | NATO nations agree to arm and admit West Germany. | |
| 1955 | Actor and teen idol James Dean is killed in a car crash while driving his Porsche on his way to enter it into a race in Salinas, California. | |
| 1960 | Fifteen African nations are admitted to the United Nations. | |
| 1962 | U.S. Marshals escort James H. Meredith into the University of Mississippi; two die in the mob violence that follows. | |
| 1965 | President Lyndon Johnson signs legislation that establishes the National Foundation for the Arts and the Humanities. |
Crime at the US-Mexico border goes corporate
Small Watauga Co. wields huge political influence
Watauga may be a small county, but it wields huge influence in North Carolina
Watauga is ground zero in war for North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes
By Tim Funk
- Five weeks before Election Day, the best place to get a snapshot of the presidential race in North Carolina might well be up here in the mountain towns of Watauga County.
Unlike the repugican-red counties surrounding it, Watauga has
turned purple in its politics – just like North Carolina, still one of
nine battleground states in the 2012 contest between President Barack
Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Home to 17,000 students at Appalachian State University, rich retirees in Blowing Rock and church-going conservatives in hamlets such as Deep Gap and Meat Camp, “we are a battleground county,” said Republican Nathan Miller, chairman of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners.
Miller is also part of a local bipartisan chorus pressing the case of Watauga – population: 51,333 – as a bellwether for a changing North Carolina and maybe for the whole country.
“The way Watauga goes,” Miller predicted, “is probably the way the United States will go. And that’s a big deal.”
In 2008, Watauga mirrored the state by going for Democrat Obama, with a big student turnout key in ending a string of victories in the county for repugican presidential candidates.
In 2010, Watauga went repugican, again reflecting the trend in North Carolina and nationally. With the help of the tea party, the local repugican cabal took control of the board of commissioners by winning three previously Democratic seats.
And this year?
Miller is as confident Romney will prevail in Watauga as Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson, a Democrat, is sure Obama will win the county again.
But the two offer the same caveat: The vote in this county, about 110 miles northwest of Charlotte, will be close.
That’s also what most current polls say about the race in North Carolina, which Obama won in 2008 by only 14,077 votes – his smallest state victory margin.
While Watauga’s highest-profile Democrat and repugican pointed to signs of stepped-up campaign activity for Obama and Romney, they also acknowledged challenges.
Clawson, a retired state worker in her third term as mayor, said the Obama-mania of 2008 has faded some after nearly four years of recession and high unemployment.
“(Obama) came into a very bad situation, and he’s had to work very hard. I do feel like we have had (economic) growth all the time he’s been in (office),” she said.
“But the problem is that we’re climbing out of a hole that’s deeper than any of us imagined.”
And Miller, a lawyer who won his first political office two years ago, said the repugican base in Watauga seems less excited about electing Romney – some are put off by his mormonism, others by his wealth – than in defeating Obama.
“I hate to say it, but it’s more ‘we don’t like Obama’ than ‘we love Mitt Romney,’ ” he said. “I’ve heard some about his mormon background . . . And that he’s a rich guy. It’s not like Barack Obama is poor, but he doesn’t have Romney money.”
‘We’re grass-roots’
Still, the battle goes on up here in the “High Country.”
Every day, College Democrats and college repugicans are registering new voters on the App State campus. The county board of elections has processed more than 4,000 registrations since Aug. 1, including 1,005 Democrats, 1,001 Republicans and 2,519 unaffiliated.
Every night, party volunteers are manning phone banks. And every week, the presidential campaigns are working to identify and energize voters – the Obama campaign by opening a field office in downtown Boone last month, the Romney campaign by bringing Tagg Romney, the candidate’s oldest son, to town last week.
And with early in-person voting set to begin Oct. 18 – absentee votes are already being cast in North Carolina – the focus soon will shift to getting people to the polls.
“The dynamic will definitely be turnout,” Miller said.
Clawson agreed: “It all boils down in this county to who gets out their vote. …We’re worker bees. We’re grass-roots.”
Newcomers diversify politics
In a few ways, Watauga is different from North Carolina as a whole.
In the state, African-Americans make up 22 percent of the population. In Watauga, they represent just 2 percent.
Hispanics? 3.5 percent.
Still, the county is changing – socially and ideologically if not demographically.
That points to another Watauga difference: In May, it was one of eight counties in 100-county North Carolina to vote down Amendment One. The amendment, which passed statewide with 60-plus percent of the vote, reinforced the state’s ban on gay marriage.
Watauga’s repugican-controlled board of commissioners passed a resolution endorsing the amendment, then spent two meetings listening to those who disagreed. The vote in the county was close: With more than 15,000 votes cast, the amendment lost by 244.
North Carolina’s change from a red state to a purple one can be explained partly by all the newcomers. Similarly, App State and the lure of the Blue Ridge Mountains have meant an influx into Watauga of North Carolina students as well as those looking for a place to enjoy nature or the ambience of a college town.
They’re turning Boone, the county seat, into a Democratic base. With 37 percent of the county’s voters living within town limits, what some are calling a “miniAsheville” is making Watauga more competitive.
“The Meat Camps and these other little towns surrounding Boone are not moving toward the Democratic Party,” said Phil Ardoin, a professor of political science. “Boone is increasing in size and is having a bigger influence on the county (vote).”
All this change doesn’t sit well with some old-timers.
“Used to be you could drive through Boone without seeing two girls holding hands,” cracked a truck driver from tiny Zionville who asked not to be identified.
‘This is my front yard’
Backpack-wearing students walking down Boone’s main street – West King – will see a collection of Obama signs in the windows at Appalachian Antiques.
“We Love Michelle,” reads one.
Inside, where customers can buy an old 45 record of The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” owner Jill Reeves wears an “Obama-Biden” button.
Four years ago, when she put up Obama signs, some people got huffy.
“It was: how come I didn’t also have a McCain sign?” recalled Reeves, who’s owned the store for eight years. “And I said: ‘Could I put an Obama sign in your front yard?’ They said, ‘No!’ And I said, ‘This is my front yard.’ ”
This year, the 66-year-old Reeves, a Missouri native who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968, said she’s received lots of compliments about her signs and her button.
Yes, she knows some voters are still down on Obama’s health care plan and blame him for the joblessness. But Reeves said the president has earned a second term, and she hopes repugicans in Congress will stop blocking his programs.
“I trust him, and he has the same philosophy I do about helping people,” she said of Obama. “Sometimes it’s tough to get things done, especially when the other party is voting down everything you do.”
Battleground campus
Battleground state, battleground county and, judging from a recent weekday at App State, battleground campus.
Obama and Romney messages were written in chalk on sidewalks. Volunteers and campaign staffers had set up dueling tables on the Sanford Mall. And students walking to class slowed down long enough to answer the question: “Are you registered to vote at your current address?”
David Milam, 23, a post-graduate student working in a campus ministry, approached the college repugicans’ table.
He registered unaffiliated – “I don’t want to pick a side” – but said repugican Romney will probably get his vote.
“I don’t think the guy in office is getting it done,” said Milam, from Forest City. “Jobs are scarce, and there’s a lot of national debt.”
Over by the library, Ian O’Keefe, a student and local Democratic Party staffer in charge of the youth campaign, didn’t wait for students to come to him.
“Awesome, awesome,” he said every time students told him they were already registered.
Whenever any said they weren’t, O’Keefe was ready with a clipboard, a form and a pen.
Kory Madden, 21, of Charlotte, stopped, re-juggled his books on Yeats and Cicero, then signed up as unaffiliated.
He had hoped to cast a ballot in November for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the Libertarian who lost the repugican nomination to Romney.
His second choice?
“I know it’s probably not Romney,” said Madden. “I can’t see him running the country.”
So Obama? “Yeah. He’s better than Romney.”
Young voters helped Obama carry North Carolina in 2008 – he was the choice of 72 percent of those 18-29 years old.
In the three voting sites on the App State campus, Obama beat Sen. John McCain 4,614 votes to 2,484.
The president may need to rack up those kinds of numbers again to re-win the county and the state.
Will it happen?
“I’m seeing a lot of interest and a lot of passion on campus – more by Democrats than by repugicans,” said App State’s Ardoin, who teaches classes in government and the presidency. “Is it at the level I saw it in 2008? No, it’s not. In 2008, it was amazing . . . The College Democrats had an Obama bus take students (to vote early). It was going back and forth – from 9 o’clock in the morning until 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Ardoin and others said it isn’t quite like 2008 in another way: college repugicans learned their lesson and are more active this year.
They had 150 people ar their first meeting in 2012. And during the repugican national cabal, they organized a party to watch U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney’s running mate and a popular figure with young conservatives, give his acceptance speech.
Kelsey Lauren Crum, president of the repugican campus group, predicted that the vote totals will be closer this time.
“People are realizing that, when they graduate, their chances of getting a job are significantly less,” said Crum, 24, who grew up in Boone. “Romney offers new hope for a strong economy.”
College Democrats president Lia Poteet of Charlotte said her group is working with the county’s Obama campaign to promote early voting.
Her club also will reach out to key Obama voting groups with a month of on-campus forums on everything from Pell grants to LGBT issues to “Women’s Week.”
While 2008 was about something new that gave young people hope, said Poteet, 21, this year is about explaining things.
“These are the (Obama) policies that are in your best interest,” she said she tells students. “There have been lots of months of job growth. And things are getting better.”
Red Blowing Rock, ‘county’
The big Obama campaign event in Watauga next month will be a $1,000-per-person Obama fundraiser featuring James Taylor. He’ll sing at the Westglow Resort and Spa in Blowing Rock.
That cost-of-admission is a hint of how expensive things are in Blowing Rock, a resort town of high altitudes (5,386 feet) and even higher price tags for summer homes (“Just $750,000!!!” read an ad for one at Blowing Rock Realty).
But repugicans, not Democrats, appear to be the dominant group among the 1,100 or so voters in this town, which Blowing Rock Mayor J.B. Lawrence, a repugican, calls “center-right.”
The recession hit hardest here, in the second-home market that has long been Blowing Rock’s calling card – especially to Floridians looking to leave for some cooler climes in the summertime.
Many of these part-time residents are like William Pearson, who retreats to Blowing Rock in May from Fort Myers, Fla. Pausing during a stroll down Main Street, with its ice cream parlors and tiny boutiques, the retired Pearson said he’ll probably vote a straight repugican ticket.
He’s not wild about Romney – “if he would keep his mouth shut” – but said Obama has been a do-nothing president.
Two affluent women in their 60s also stopped to talk after some Main Street shopping.
“I’m most definitely for Romney,” said one of the women, who splits her time between Charlotte and Blowing Rock and declined to be named. “I like keeping my own money in my pocket.”
Also part of the repugican base in Watauga: voters who live in “the county,” as Miller called the rural areas and tiny towns east and west of Boone.
That includes Foscoe, where Chris Calloway, 49, grew up. He took a break from mowing the lawn at his church – Foscoe christian.
“I probably disagree with (Obama) on more things than Mr. Romney,” said Calloway.
The repugican candidate’s mormonism doesn’t bother him, and if creating jobs is the main issue this year, he figures Romney’s years as a CEO would be a plus.
“That’s his background,” said Calloway.
Asked how he thinks Watauga County will vote – Obama or Romney – Calloway echoed most everybody else in this bellwether county:
“I think it’s going to be close.”
Home to 17,000 students at Appalachian State University, rich retirees in Blowing Rock and church-going conservatives in hamlets such as Deep Gap and Meat Camp, “we are a battleground county,” said Republican Nathan Miller, chairman of the Watauga County Board of Commissioners.
Miller is also part of a local bipartisan chorus pressing the case of Watauga – population: 51,333 – as a bellwether for a changing North Carolina and maybe for the whole country.
“The way Watauga goes,” Miller predicted, “is probably the way the United States will go. And that’s a big deal.”
In 2008, Watauga mirrored the state by going for Democrat Obama, with a big student turnout key in ending a string of victories in the county for repugican presidential candidates.
In 2010, Watauga went repugican, again reflecting the trend in North Carolina and nationally. With the help of the tea party, the local repugican cabal took control of the board of commissioners by winning three previously Democratic seats.
And this year?
Miller is as confident Romney will prevail in Watauga as Boone Mayor Loretta Clawson, a Democrat, is sure Obama will win the county again.
But the two offer the same caveat: The vote in this county, about 110 miles northwest of Charlotte, will be close.
That’s also what most current polls say about the race in North Carolina, which Obama won in 2008 by only 14,077 votes – his smallest state victory margin.
While Watauga’s highest-profile Democrat and repugican pointed to signs of stepped-up campaign activity for Obama and Romney, they also acknowledged challenges.
Clawson, a retired state worker in her third term as mayor, said the Obama-mania of 2008 has faded some after nearly four years of recession and high unemployment.
“(Obama) came into a very bad situation, and he’s had to work very hard. I do feel like we have had (economic) growth all the time he’s been in (office),” she said.
“But the problem is that we’re climbing out of a hole that’s deeper than any of us imagined.”
And Miller, a lawyer who won his first political office two years ago, said the repugican base in Watauga seems less excited about electing Romney – some are put off by his mormonism, others by his wealth – than in defeating Obama.
“I hate to say it, but it’s more ‘we don’t like Obama’ than ‘we love Mitt Romney,’ ” he said. “I’ve heard some about his mormon background . . . And that he’s a rich guy. It’s not like Barack Obama is poor, but he doesn’t have Romney money.”
‘We’re grass-roots’
Still, the battle goes on up here in the “High Country.”
Every day, College Democrats and college repugicans are registering new voters on the App State campus. The county board of elections has processed more than 4,000 registrations since Aug. 1, including 1,005 Democrats, 1,001 Republicans and 2,519 unaffiliated.
Every night, party volunteers are manning phone banks. And every week, the presidential campaigns are working to identify and energize voters – the Obama campaign by opening a field office in downtown Boone last month, the Romney campaign by bringing Tagg Romney, the candidate’s oldest son, to town last week.
And with early in-person voting set to begin Oct. 18 – absentee votes are already being cast in North Carolina – the focus soon will shift to getting people to the polls.
“The dynamic will definitely be turnout,” Miller said.
Clawson agreed: “It all boils down in this county to who gets out their vote. …We’re worker bees. We’re grass-roots.”
Newcomers diversify politics
In a few ways, Watauga is different from North Carolina as a whole.
In the state, African-Americans make up 22 percent of the population. In Watauga, they represent just 2 percent.
Hispanics? 3.5 percent.
Still, the county is changing – socially and ideologically if not demographically.
That points to another Watauga difference: In May, it was one of eight counties in 100-county North Carolina to vote down Amendment One. The amendment, which passed statewide with 60-plus percent of the vote, reinforced the state’s ban on gay marriage.
Watauga’s repugican-controlled board of commissioners passed a resolution endorsing the amendment, then spent two meetings listening to those who disagreed. The vote in the county was close: With more than 15,000 votes cast, the amendment lost by 244.
North Carolina’s change from a red state to a purple one can be explained partly by all the newcomers. Similarly, App State and the lure of the Blue Ridge Mountains have meant an influx into Watauga of North Carolina students as well as those looking for a place to enjoy nature or the ambience of a college town.
They’re turning Boone, the county seat, into a Democratic base. With 37 percent of the county’s voters living within town limits, what some are calling a “miniAsheville” is making Watauga more competitive.
“The Meat Camps and these other little towns surrounding Boone are not moving toward the Democratic Party,” said Phil Ardoin, a professor of political science. “Boone is increasing in size and is having a bigger influence on the county (vote).”
All this change doesn’t sit well with some old-timers.
“Used to be you could drive through Boone without seeing two girls holding hands,” cracked a truck driver from tiny Zionville who asked not to be identified.
‘This is my front yard’
Backpack-wearing students walking down Boone’s main street – West King – will see a collection of Obama signs in the windows at Appalachian Antiques.
“We Love Michelle,” reads one.
Inside, where customers can buy an old 45 record of The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine,” owner Jill Reeves wears an “Obama-Biden” button.
Four years ago, when she put up Obama signs, some people got huffy.
“It was: how come I didn’t also have a McCain sign?” recalled Reeves, who’s owned the store for eight years. “And I said: ‘Could I put an Obama sign in your front yard?’ They said, ‘No!’ And I said, ‘This is my front yard.’ ”
This year, the 66-year-old Reeves, a Missouri native who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1968, said she’s received lots of compliments about her signs and her button.
Yes, she knows some voters are still down on Obama’s health care plan and blame him for the joblessness. But Reeves said the president has earned a second term, and she hopes repugicans in Congress will stop blocking his programs.
“I trust him, and he has the same philosophy I do about helping people,” she said of Obama. “Sometimes it’s tough to get things done, especially when the other party is voting down everything you do.”
Battleground campus
Battleground state, battleground county and, judging from a recent weekday at App State, battleground campus.
Obama and Romney messages were written in chalk on sidewalks. Volunteers and campaign staffers had set up dueling tables on the Sanford Mall. And students walking to class slowed down long enough to answer the question: “Are you registered to vote at your current address?”
David Milam, 23, a post-graduate student working in a campus ministry, approached the college repugicans’ table.
He registered unaffiliated – “I don’t want to pick a side” – but said repugican Romney will probably get his vote.
“I don’t think the guy in office is getting it done,” said Milam, from Forest City. “Jobs are scarce, and there’s a lot of national debt.”
Over by the library, Ian O’Keefe, a student and local Democratic Party staffer in charge of the youth campaign, didn’t wait for students to come to him.
“Awesome, awesome,” he said every time students told him they were already registered.
Whenever any said they weren’t, O’Keefe was ready with a clipboard, a form and a pen.
Kory Madden, 21, of Charlotte, stopped, re-juggled his books on Yeats and Cicero, then signed up as unaffiliated.
He had hoped to cast a ballot in November for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, the Libertarian who lost the repugican nomination to Romney.
His second choice?
“I know it’s probably not Romney,” said Madden. “I can’t see him running the country.”
So Obama? “Yeah. He’s better than Romney.”
Young voters helped Obama carry North Carolina in 2008 – he was the choice of 72 percent of those 18-29 years old.
In the three voting sites on the App State campus, Obama beat Sen. John McCain 4,614 votes to 2,484.
The president may need to rack up those kinds of numbers again to re-win the county and the state.
Will it happen?
“I’m seeing a lot of interest and a lot of passion on campus – more by Democrats than by repugicans,” said App State’s Ardoin, who teaches classes in government and the presidency. “Is it at the level I saw it in 2008? No, it’s not. In 2008, it was amazing . . . The College Democrats had an Obama bus take students (to vote early). It was going back and forth – from 9 o’clock in the morning until 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”
Ardoin and others said it isn’t quite like 2008 in another way: college repugicans learned their lesson and are more active this year.
They had 150 people ar their first meeting in 2012. And during the repugican national cabal, they organized a party to watch U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Romney’s running mate and a popular figure with young conservatives, give his acceptance speech.
Kelsey Lauren Crum, president of the repugican campus group, predicted that the vote totals will be closer this time.
“People are realizing that, when they graduate, their chances of getting a job are significantly less,” said Crum, 24, who grew up in Boone. “Romney offers new hope for a strong economy.”
College Democrats president Lia Poteet of Charlotte said her group is working with the county’s Obama campaign to promote early voting.
Her club also will reach out to key Obama voting groups with a month of on-campus forums on everything from Pell grants to LGBT issues to “Women’s Week.”
While 2008 was about something new that gave young people hope, said Poteet, 21, this year is about explaining things.
“These are the (Obama) policies that are in your best interest,” she said she tells students. “There have been lots of months of job growth. And things are getting better.”
Red Blowing Rock, ‘county’
The big Obama campaign event in Watauga next month will be a $1,000-per-person Obama fundraiser featuring James Taylor. He’ll sing at the Westglow Resort and Spa in Blowing Rock.
That cost-of-admission is a hint of how expensive things are in Blowing Rock, a resort town of high altitudes (5,386 feet) and even higher price tags for summer homes (“Just $750,000!!!” read an ad for one at Blowing Rock Realty).
But repugicans, not Democrats, appear to be the dominant group among the 1,100 or so voters in this town, which Blowing Rock Mayor J.B. Lawrence, a repugican, calls “center-right.”
The recession hit hardest here, in the second-home market that has long been Blowing Rock’s calling card – especially to Floridians looking to leave for some cooler climes in the summertime.
Many of these part-time residents are like William Pearson, who retreats to Blowing Rock in May from Fort Myers, Fla. Pausing during a stroll down Main Street, with its ice cream parlors and tiny boutiques, the retired Pearson said he’ll probably vote a straight repugican ticket.
He’s not wild about Romney – “if he would keep his mouth shut” – but said Obama has been a do-nothing president.
Two affluent women in their 60s also stopped to talk after some Main Street shopping.
“I’m most definitely for Romney,” said one of the women, who splits her time between Charlotte and Blowing Rock and declined to be named. “I like keeping my own money in my pocket.”
Also part of the repugican base in Watauga: voters who live in “the county,” as Miller called the rural areas and tiny towns east and west of Boone.
That includes Foscoe, where Chris Calloway, 49, grew up. He took a break from mowing the lawn at his church – Foscoe christian.
“I probably disagree with (Obama) on more things than Mr. Romney,” said Calloway.
The repugican candidate’s mormonism doesn’t bother him, and if creating jobs is the main issue this year, he figures Romney’s years as a CEO would be a plus.
“That’s his background,” said Calloway.
Asked how he thinks Watauga County will vote – Obama or Romney – Calloway echoed most everybody else in this bellwether county:
“I think it’s going to be close.”
-
THE RACE IN WATAUGA
• TV: County voters get the Charlotte TV stations, so they see all the campaign and super PAC ads.
• Visits: President Barack Obama made a brief stop in downtown Boone last October on his way to a White House event in neighboring Wilkes County. He bought candy at Mast General Store and posed for pictures. Last Thursday, Mitt Romney’s oldest son, Tagg, addressed college repugicans and others at Dan’l Boone Inn in Boone. Also this month, the Romney campaign sent its tour bus to Watauga – with neither of the candidates on board. Locals got to tour it.
• Ground Game: In August, the Obama campaign opened one of its 54 North Carolina field offices in downtown Boone. The Romney campaign does not have a field office in Watauga.
-
WATAUGA COUNTY
Population: 51,333 (up 20 percent since 2000).
Demographics: 95.3 percent white; 3.5 percent Hispanic; 2 percent African American; 1 percent Asian; 0.3 percent Native American.
Voter registration: Unaffiliated 16,476; Republican 14,918; Democrat 13,082; Libertarian 296.
Median household income: $31,967.
Unemployment rate: 8.3 percent (August 2012).
Land area: 312.56 square miles.
Major employers: Appalachian State University, Appalachian Regional Healthcare Systems, Samaritan’s Purse, farms.
Origin of name: “Watauga” is the Cherokee Indian word for “whispering water.”
Rural whites prefer Ahmadinejad to Obama?
Iranian news site gets fooled
In the original article by The Onion , which dubs itself "America's
Finest News Source," it was "reported" a Gallup Poll showed 77 percent
of rural white Americans would prefer Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
over President Barack Obama.
Future Quotes
Here are some 'quotes' from the wingnuts about who won next Wednesday's debate
"I thought Romney clearly won that debate. He looked confident,
- his answers were sharp and he appeared more presidential than Obama."
-- Bill Kristol, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
"It wasn't even close - not even close. Romney clearly won that debate.
Obama was flailing for answers - the president didn't have a good night."
-- O'Reilly, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
"Romney clearly won that first debate. Obama embarrassed himself.
Obama seemed tentative and meek, while Romney was calm and presidential."
-- Hannity, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
"Romney by a mile - and our post-debate polls show exactly that."
-- Lou Dobbs, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
" I half-expected Monica to come out and blow Obama."
-- the vulgar Pigboy, Lush Dimbulb, being the giant dick that he always is
"I thought Romney clearly won that debate. He looked confident,
- his answers were sharp and he appeared more presidential than Obama."
-- Bill Kristol, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
"It wasn't even close - not even close. Romney clearly won that debate.
Obama was flailing for answers - the president didn't have a good night."
-- O'Reilly, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
"Romney clearly won that first debate. Obama embarrassed himself.
Obama seemed tentative and meek, while Romney was calm and presidential."
-- Hannity, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
"Romney by a mile - and our post-debate polls show exactly that."
-- Lou Dobbs, reviewing next Wednesday's debate
" I half-expected Monica to come out and blow Obama."
-- the vulgar Pigboy, Lush Dimbulb, being the giant dick that he always is
***
Please note that the debate takes place on October 3rd and today is only September 30th. But due to the predictable script that the wingnut talking heads follow the above 'quotes' are spot on.
Ann Coulter explains to Whoopi Goldberg what black people think
Ann Coulter appeared on ABC’s The View and decided to tell Whoopi Goldberg what black people think. It didn’t go over well.Whoopi:
Here’s the entire video:
“Hold on Miss Coulter, please stop, please stop. If you’re gonna talk about race, at least know what you’re talking about. Tell me how much you know about being black.”I do enjoy Coulter’s endless use of the phrase “it’s a fact” to prove every absurd point she makes.
Here’s the entire video:
Romney’s secret weapon: Lyme disease!
How many times have you said, “if only we had a president who made Lyme Disease his number one priority?”Yeah, me neither.
But that’s not stopping Mitt Romney from doing a mailing in northern Virginia claiming that it’s time America got a president who will ensure “real action,” and “do more,” on Lyme Disease. (The real action mostly involves tort reform, because doctors, Romney says, are afraid to treat Lyme Disease because of lawsuits. Huh.)
Lyme Disease?
Yup. And a friend just sent me the mailer. After you review the mailer, read on, because this issue gets interesting – Romney is yet again inserting himself into a controversy he knows nothing about, in order to find “an opportunity” in the suffering of others.
I googled the issue and it seems Tim Murphy at Mother Jones also stumbled upon the mailing. He offered two interesting points. The first, that Lyme Disease is actually getting worse because of climate change, something Romney is now denying. Oops. So President Ryan, and his climate change denialists, would actually be worse for Lyme Disease. Romney was right, there is something the President can do to fight the spread of Lyme Disease!
But there’s more. As Murphy reports, Romney is actually inserting himself into a dispute in the medical community, something about which he knows absolutely nothing.
Mitt Romney thinks the suffering of others, such as the assassination of an American ambassador, as a political “opportunity,” and he’s been looking for such an “opportunity” for months now.
Romney doesn’t care whether he knows anything about the conflict. He doesn’t even really care whether the conflict is resolved, as he admitted in the now-infamous 47% video about the Middle East. But not caring about resolving the conflict in the Middle East didn’t stop Romney from phoning Netanyahu to inject himself into the conflict.
The contradiction makes sense once you realize that Romney’s goal isn’t to help the country solve problems. His goal is to become president, and to use the nation’s suffering to propel him there, the same way Reagan used the Iran hostage crisis in 1980 (and Romney admits it in the 47% video).
So who cares if the repugican presidential candidate undercuts the President in the middle of a national security crisis, or whether he undercuts the medical community in the middle of a health crisis. Mitt Romney isn’t about solving the national security problems, or the health problems, of the American people. Mitt Romney is about solving the campaign problems of Mitt Romney.
But that’s not stopping Mitt Romney from doing a mailing in northern Virginia claiming that it’s time America got a president who will ensure “real action,” and “do more,” on Lyme Disease. (The real action mostly involves tort reform, because doctors, Romney says, are afraid to treat Lyme Disease because of lawsuits. Huh.)
Lyme Disease?
Yup. And a friend just sent me the mailer. After you review the mailer, read on, because this issue gets interesting – Romney is yet again inserting himself into a controversy he knows nothing about, in order to find “an opportunity” in the suffering of others.
I googled the issue and it seems Tim Murphy at Mother Jones also stumbled upon the mailing. He offered two interesting points. The first, that Lyme Disease is actually getting worse because of climate change, something Romney is now denying. Oops. So President Ryan, and his climate change denialists, would actually be worse for Lyme Disease. Romney was right, there is something the President can do to fight the spread of Lyme Disease!
But there’s more. As Murphy reports, Romney is actually inserting himself into a dispute in the medical community, something about which he knows absolutely nothing.
As it turns out, Romney is actually injecting himself into an intense dispute within the medical community, pitting the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) against the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). IDSA believes there is “no convincing biological evidence” that Lyme is a chronic infection, while ILADS thinks there are flaws with the current testing system. Wolf and Smith have aligned themselves with ILADS, which is reflected in their bill and other public statements.Why would Romney do this? The same reason he called Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu to talk Iran only hours after President Obama and Netanyahu spoke to talk Iran. And the same that Romney injected himself into the Libya/Egypt crisis before we even knew that our ambassador was the one who was murdered, along with three hours.
Mitt Romney thinks the suffering of others, such as the assassination of an American ambassador, as a political “opportunity,” and he’s been looking for such an “opportunity” for months now.
Romney doesn’t care whether he knows anything about the conflict. He doesn’t even really care whether the conflict is resolved, as he admitted in the now-infamous 47% video about the Middle East. But not caring about resolving the conflict in the Middle East didn’t stop Romney from phoning Netanyahu to inject himself into the conflict.
The contradiction makes sense once you realize that Romney’s goal isn’t to help the country solve problems. His goal is to become president, and to use the nation’s suffering to propel him there, the same way Reagan used the Iran hostage crisis in 1980 (and Romney admits it in the 47% video).
So who cares if the repugican presidential candidate undercuts the President in the middle of a national security crisis, or whether he undercuts the medical community in the middle of a health crisis. Mitt Romney isn’t about solving the national security problems, or the health problems, of the American people. Mitt Romney is about solving the campaign problems of Mitt Romney.
Montana governor sees big savings with new state health clinic
Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer says the primary care clinic
in the state capital Helena will keep the area's 11,000 state workers
and their dependents healthier while saving the state $20 million over
five years.
The move coincides with a national debate over the role of government in healthcare
and over President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act,
under which more than 30 million people would become eligible to buy
subsidized private insurance or get coverage through Medicaid, the
government program for the poor, in 2014.
The repugican
opponents of that law better known to the public as "Obamacare," which
also requires most Americans to have some form of health insurance, say
it amounts to government intrusion in the private lives of individuals.
Under Montana's
separate program, state employees were quickly booking slots for the
privately operated clinic, which the state expects to generate savings
by reducing duplicate testing for patients and by paying doctors by the
hour rather than by the procedure.
"We're completely full," Schweitzer said on a recent
tour of the facility ahead of its opening, the first of three scheduled
to open this year.
Since starting up
late last month, the clinic has seen more than 1,000 patients and was
operating at 98-percent capacity, his office said.
Employees who use its services will see no change in
coverage for visiting doctors outside of the clinic, although it is only
at the new health clinic where they will be charged neither a co-pay
nor a deductible.
"I can afford this," patient Sarah Yancy said with a laugh.
"There are a lot of times I didn't go to the doctor
when I wanted to go to the doctor because I knew I'd have to pay for
it," said Yancy, who works in administrative support with the Montana
Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.
Schweitzer has been
critical of Obama's healthcare overhaul, saying it did not do enough to
control costs, while stopping short of outright opposition. He unveiled
his own plan for opening state health clinics in February and then set
an aggressive schedule to have the first one open by late summer.
The state hopes to start two other clinics in cities such as Billings, Missoula or Bozeman later this year.
The program is not
designed to serve the state population as a whole. But if successful,
the clinics could be opened to recipients of Medicare, the government
health program for the elderly, as well as Medicaid, Schweitzer said.
"This is a game
changer," said healthcare consultant Mike La Penna, who has been
studying the on-site clinic industry for the last decade and recently
published a book on the subject. "Other states will be watching this
closely."
Counties and cities in other parts of the country have
opened similar clinics serving municipal or county workers, but never
before on the state level, La Penna said.PRIVATE CONTRACTOR
The state is contracting with the private Tennessee-based Care Here to operate the clinic. Physician assistant Cassie Springer says she wanted to work at the center because she liked the preventive care model.
"We're looking at bringing in patients regularly, staying on top of their healthcare," she said about the clinic, which focuses on primary care services and nutrition counseling.
The state, which already pays workers' healthcare costs directly to providers through state coffers, saves money if this prevents more expensive treatments or emergency room visits down the line. Staff are also paid salaries or by the hour, not by the procedure, which officials say should cut down on redundant or unnecessary procedures.
An analysis of the
health clinic plan shows Montana saving $100 million over the next five
years "based on full implementation for all clinics across the state,"
according to state Health Care and Benefits Division Administrator Russ
Hill.
The funds for the
clinic come from the same pot that Montana already uses to cover
healthcare costs, and Schweitzer's administration says the Helena clinic
should pay for itself in the first year.
Schweitzer has
asked U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for
permission to import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada for the
clinic. Similar requests he has made on a statewide basis have not been
approved.
Schweitzer, who
will be leaving office at the end of this year due to term limits, has
been getting criticism from opponents of Obama's Affordable Care Act,
the president's signature healthcare reform that has been assailed
during the campaign by repugican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
"The only thing this has to do with the Affordable Care Act
is we are challenging expenses here in Montana because they didn't
challenge expenses in Washington, D.C.," Schweitzer said of his program,
which is patterned after on-site clinics used by some private sector
companies for their employees.
State repugican
leaders, however, have expressed mixed feelings about the effort. The repugican gubernatorial candidate Rick Hill said he does not believe it
will save the state money, and he is opposed to asking state employees
to leave their doctor for a government-run clinic.
The repugican state senator Dave Lewis said his problem was not with the clinic itself.
"The issue is
whether or not a governor unilaterally has the authority to make that
kind of policy change," Lewis said.
He is working on a
bill for the next legislative session that would prevent the governor's
office from having that ability in the future.
Romney brags about individual health care mandate in Massachusetts
He’s flip-flopping again.
First Mitt Romney was proud of what he did with health care reform in Massachusetts. Then he was embarrassed by it (because core repugicans consider what Romney did “socialism”), so he stopped talking about it.
Then Romney started flip-flopping back and forth on the issue of “Obamacare,” which was inspired in part by what Romney did in Massachusetts.
First Romney ran from the Obama administration’s claim that he was the “grandfather” of Obamacare.
Then Romney flip-flopped on his position on Obamacare, four times in 24 hours.
Then he embraced it, and the appellation of being it’s “grandfather.”
Then he ran away from it again.
And today, Mitt Romney is back on the socialism-lovin’ bandwagon.
LA Times:
In an interview, Romney touted the healthcare plan he crafted as governor of Massachusetts, his biggest liability during the repugican primary and something he rarely talks about on the campaign trail.The only problem? Mitt Romney got everyone insured by passing an individual mandate requiring everyone in the state to buy health insurance. The exact same thing he’s criticism President Obama for doing in health care reform. And that’s why Romney has been running from his signature achievement, his own health care reform legislation, because he doesn’t think he can win the election unless he out-neanderthals the far right that controls the repugican cabal.
“Don’t forget — I got everybody in my state insured,” Romney told NBC News. “One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don’t think there’s anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.”
Never mind that Romney actively lobbied for the individual mandate in his state. Yahoo News points out both flip flops for us:
Mitt Romney has distanced himself from the health care reform bill he signed as governor of Massachusetts amid criticism that the law bears more than a passing resemblance to Obamacare, which he’s repeatedly pledged to repeal if elected in November.
But a series of emails obtained by the Wall Street Journal reveals Romney was actively engaged in negotiating the specifics of the 2006 Massachusetts bill and that he and his top aides championed a provision identical to one in President Barack Obama’s law requiring individuals to have or buy health insurance.
Romney’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the emails.Yeah, I’ll bet.
And let’s revisit that recent quote from Romney once again.
“Don’t forget — I got everybody in my state insured,” Romney told NBC News. “One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don’t think there’s anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.”Message: Romney cares. But there’s a problem in care-land. If Mitt Romney is going to say that the gold standard of “empathy” and “caring” is insuring kids, then he fails his own standard. Mitt Romney wants to repeal the President’s health care reform law. By doing that, Mitt Romney will take health insurance away from a minimum of six million kids who are currently on their parents’ plans as a result of Obamacare. (Romney would also jeopardize health care for 89m Americans.)
Not very caring or empathetic.
Speaking of empathy, wasn’t it only a few years ago that Republicans were criticizing President Obama for praising empathy? As Ann Coulter said when lecturing Whoopi Goldberg about what black people really think, “its a fact.”
Five Tips to Save Money on Health Insurance
By Raechel Conover
For most people fall is open enrollment season for health insurance offered through their employer. This is the time to review coverage and options and to make changes that suit your needs. Your decisions can affect how much or how little you pay in health insurance and related costs for the entire year, so don't blow it off. The following tips can help you choose the plan that's right for you at a price that won't wear you down.
Take advantage of open enrollment and choose the best health insurance plan for you and your family.
1. Review your health insurance plan. Many people just let their health insurance renew from one year to the next without looking it over. Big mistake. Health insurance plans change and even a slight tweak may mean higher costs in the form of premiums and out-of-pocket expenses. Also, your health situation may be changing. One year you may need more coverage and the next year you may need less. There's no reason to pay for coverage you won't use.
2. Review other health insurance plans. Make sure you're choosing the right health insurance plan by checking out all the plans your employer offers. Tally up your family's healthcare needs in a typical year, including prescriptions, estimated doctor visits, vision needs, dental needs, and other usual procedures. Compare how the available health insurance plans stack up for these services. If you're married or have a domestic partner, check out the health insurance plans offered at their workplace. These options may be better than yours and you may save on premiums and co-pays by switching.
Some employers offer the choice between a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and a Preferred Provider Organization (PPO).
- HMO: A type of health insurance plan with generally lower out-of-pocket costs but limits on the healthcare providers you're allowed to visit. A good choice if your doctors are on the approved list.
- PPO: A type of health insurance plan with typically higher deductibles and premiums but more choice about which healthcare professional you see and where you are seen.
High deductible insurance plans have lower premiums.
4. Take advantage of wellness programs and additional perks. Many companies are offering wellness programs to employees. Why? The healthier you are the lower the cost of health insurance (both the company's share and yours). Take advantage of these free and beneficial offerings because they help you in several ways. Aside from keeping you healthy and health insurance costs in check, wellness programs sometimes translate into money for your HSA. For example, some companies offer free physicals for employees and some provide online health screenings with personalized recommendations on how to improve your health; participants in these and similar programs are often rewarded with deposits into their HSA accounts. Additionally, some companies offer discounted gym memberships, pay in full for all well and preventative doctor appointments, and even stock the break room with healthy snacks. If you're a smoker, however, be prepared to pay up in the form of health insurance premium surcharges.
5. Strive to be healthy. It's a fact, healthy people pay less for healthcare. While you may have the same health insurance plan as someone with a condition like type 2 diabetes, you'll pay less overall because you'll visit the doctor less often and need less medication. So keep yourself healthy. Stop smoking now - as mentioned above, many companies charge smokers more for health insurance than non-smokers because smoking is associated with health complications. You can manage your weight by exercising regularly and following a healthy diet, which has the added benefit of staving off some chronic diseases. And finally, protect yourself from germs and a visit to the doctor for a sick appointment by washing your hands frequently.
Medicare fines over hospitals' readmitted patients
by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
If you or an elderly relative have been hospitalized recently and noticed extra attention when the time came to be discharged, there's more to it than good customer service.
As of Monday, Medicare will start fining hospitals that have too many patients readmitted within 30 days of discharge due to complications. The penalties are part of a broader push under President Barack Obama's health care law to improve quality while also trying to save taxpayers money.
About two-thirds of the hospitals serving Medicare patients, or some 2,200 facilities, will be hit with penalties averaging around $125,000 per facility this coming year, according to government estimates.
Data to assess the penalties have been collected and crunched, and Medicare has shared the results with individual hospitals. Medicare plans to post details online later in October, and people can look up how their community hospitals performed by using the agency's "Hospital Compare" website.
It adds up to a new way of doing business for hospitals, and they have scrambled to prepare for well over a year. They are working on ways to improve communication with rehabilitation centers and doctors who follow patients after they're released, as well as connecting individually with patients.
"There is a lot of activity at the hospital level to straighten out our internal processes," said Nancy Foster, vice president for quality and safety at the American Hospital Association. "We are also spreading our wings a little and reaching outside the hospital, to the extent that we can, to make sure patients are getting the ongoing treatment they need."
Still, industry officials say they have misgivings about being held liable for circumstances beyond their control. They also complain that facilities serving low-income people, including many major teaching hospitals, are much more likely to be fined, raising questions of fairness.
"Readmissions are partially within the control of the hospital and partially within the control of others," Foster said.
Consumer advocates say Medicare's nudge to hospitals is long overdue and not nearly stiff enough.
"It's modest, but it's a start," said Dr. John Santa, director of the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. "Should we be surprised that industry is objecting? You would expect them to object to anything that changes the status quo."
For the first year, the penalty is capped at 1 percent of a hospital's Medicare payments. The overwhelming majority of penalized facilities will pay less. Also, for now, hospitals are only being measured on three medical conditions: heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia.
Under the health care law, the penalties gradually will rise until 3 percent of Medicare payments to hospitals are at risk. Medicare is considering holding hospitals accountable on four more measures: joint replacements, stenting, heart bypass and treatment of stroke.
If General Motors and Toyota issue warranties for their vehicles, hospitals should have some similar obligation when a patient gets a new knee or a stent to relieve a blocked artery, Santa contends. "People go to the hospital to get their problem solved, not to have to come back," he said.
Excessive rates of readmission are only part of the problem of high costs and uneven quality in the U.S. health care system. While some estimates put readmission rates as high as 20 percent, a congressional agency says the level of preventable readmissions is much lower. About 12 percent of Medicare beneficiaries who are hospitalized are later readmitted for a potentially preventable problem, said the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, known as MedPAC.
Foster, the hospital association official, said medication mix-ups account for a big share of problems. Many Medicare beneficiaries are coping with multiple chronic conditions, and it's not unusual for their medication lists to be changed in the hospital. But their doctors outside sometimes don't get the word; other times, the patients themselves don't understand there's been a change.
Another issue is making sure patients go to their required follow-up appointments.
Medicare deputy administrator Jonathan Blum said he thinks hospitals have gotten the message.
"Clearly it's captured their attention," said Blum. "It's galvanized the hospital industry on ways to reduce unnecessary readmissions. It's forced more parts of the health care system to work together to ensure that patients have much smoother transitions."
MedPAC, the congressional advisory group, has produced research findings that back up the industry's assertion that hospitals serving the poor, including major teaching facilities, are more likely to face penalties. But for now, Blum said Medicare is not inclined to grade on the curve.
"We have really tried to address and study this issue," said Blum. "If you look at the data, there are hospitals that serve a low-income patient mix and do very well on these measures. It seems to us that hospitals that serve low-income people can control readmissions very well."
Under Obama's health care overhaul, Medicare is pursuing efforts to try to improve quality and lower costs. They include rewarding hospitals for quality results, and encouraging hospitals, nursing homes and medical practice groups to join in "accountable care organizations." Dozens of pilot programs are under way. The jury is still out on the results.
How Working Longer Than 8 Hours May Be a Health Risk
by Sarah Jio
Maybe
forward this one to your boss: According to a new study, working longer
than eight hours could be bad for your health. Read on, for your excuse
to leave right now.
Have you been at work longer than eight hours today? If so, it might be time to pry yourself away from your desk, if you can. Finnish researchers say that those who work longer than eight hours a day, consistently, have as much as an 80 percent increased risk for heart disease.
How does this happen? The experts say that long days create the unhealthy trifecta that can mess with your health: spikes in stress, increase in blood pressure, and unhealthy diets. And, this major study isn't one to ignore as it compiled data from workers all the way back to 1958!
Four Reasons Why Having a Dog is Good for Your Health
by April Daniels Hussar
Happy National Dog Week! Whether you've already got a furry BFF or are thinking about making the leap to pet owner, we've got some great reasons why bringing a pup into your life is a healthy move to make.
"There are so many reasons to bring a dog into your life, and the joy that comes along with that decision is a big part of it," Wayne Pacelle, President and Chief Executive Officer, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and author of The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them, tells HealthySELF. "Our connection with dogs and other animals is part of our emotional make-up as a species."
Here are four of those reasons...
1) They make you feel good. "There's actually a biochemical basis for our connection with animals," explains Pacelle. "We have social bonding hormones, such as oxytocin, that are activated when we interact with dogs."
2) They make you healthier. "Pet caretakers have lower rates of hypertension and high blood pressure," says Pacelle. "They sleep better, exercise more and interact socially more often."
3) Pets help your stress levels. According to the HSUS, investigators at the State University of New York at Buffalo found that patients with hypertension who owned pets had lower blood pressure levels when put in stressful situations.
4) Plain-old L-O-V-E. The CDC lists "loneliness" as one of the things having a pet can help cure, and it's no wonder. "Dogs become our companions and our protectors, and they are loyal and provide us with unconditional love," says Pacelle. "It doesn't hurt that they entertain us and make us laugh out loud, while occasionally exasperating us, too!"
Retiring in Booms Could Cause Financial Hardship
The
recent economic downturn and volatile financial markets have
drastically reduced the retirement accounts of many current and future
retirees.
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