We remember the late Jim Fregosi, one of my favorite plaeyrs

We remember Jim Fregosi who passed away yesterday:

"Jim Fregosi, the first star player in Angels franchise history and the manager who guided them to their first American League West championship in 1979, died early Friday in a Miami hospital after suffering a stroke in the Cayman Islands. 

He was 71.  His death was announced by the Angels, who retired his No. 11 jersey and inducted him into their Hall of Fame in 1998." 

Fregois was a great player, an AL All star, manager of the 1979 AL West champion Angels and 1993 NL champion Phillies.  

He is also remembered for a 1971 trade that sent Fregosi to the Mets and a very young Nolan Ryan to the Angels.  Ryan turned into a Hall of Fame pitcher and Fregosi was over his prime.

Click here for chat with Dave Michaels:

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'Episodio: No se puede': The Latino problem and Obama Care is still running

(My new American Thinker post)

The Latino problem is still "un problema" for ObamaCare, as reported by The New York Times: 

"With an estimated 15 percent of the country's uninsured population, California is crucial to the success of President Obama's health care overhaul. Here, that success cannot come without enrolling Latinos, who make up more than half of the state's uninsured."     

Yes, Latinos are not signing up.  Why are they avoiding The Affordable Care Act?

Is it because they dont know about the ACA?  Not at all.  The Obama administration is promoting the program.

Is it because the Spanish site was written in "Spanglish", as reported by The Washington Post?

This is possible but I wouldn't think that it would stop people who actually wanted to sign up. My experience is that English is the primary language of Latinos, especially on official matters.  A PEW study confirmed that in 2013.

So what could it be?

My guess is that it is the "un affordability" of The Affordable Care Act. 

People are not going to sign up for something more expensive just because it allegedly provides more benefits.

In other words, single 20-something Hispanic men are not going to pay for maternity just like the other 20-something guys in the country.

So the Latino problem continues! 

How do you say that this dog does not hunt in Spanish?  I don't know that one but it applies to this effort to sign up Latinos. 

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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What is happening in Venezuela?

(My new American Thinker post)

We don't know how long these demonstrations will go on in Caracas but they are turning ugly, as our friend Fausta Wertz has been reporting.

Daniel Duquenal, an extraordinary blogger reporting from Venezuela, has been fighting censorship and blackouts to tell the world about his native land:

"Well, it seems the regime is not satisfied with at least three deaths, dozens of injured, X arrests and a few "disappeared". It has decided to take the opportunity to start removing opposition leaders that are bothersome. Leopoldo Lopez is the first one, accused even of throwing the baby's water today."

The incredible thing about this Venezuela story is the absence of US media coverage. I understand that we have a lot on our plate but a little coverage would be the responsible thing to do.

The AP did post a summary of the situation:

"Armed vigilantes on motorcycles attacked anti-government demonstrators in Venezuela on Wednesday, setting off a stampede by firing into crowds as the biggest protest against President Nicolas Maduro's year-old administration turned violent. Three people were killed."

The New York Times is reporting that the Maduro regime is looking for Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader.  They want to blame Mr Lopez for the unrest.

We don't know if this is the beginning of the end for President Maduro's very corrupt government or whether the people have had enough of inflation, shortages and censorship.

Furthermore, we have not seen reports of anti-government protests outside of Caracas.  My guess is that they have happened but cannot report on anything yet.

Our sympathies are with the good people of Venezuela and their awful situation. Let's hope that the violence does not get our of control but I fear that it will.

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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The lady from Texas has lost her tennis shoes

(My new American Thinker post)

Like many of you, I heard this headline on the radio and found it rather confusing.  In fact, I went to the Internet to make sure that I was properly informed. 

According to The Dallas Morning News, Wendy Davis said this:

"Wendy Davis said Tuesday that she would have supported a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, if the law adequately deferred to a woman and her doctor.   

Davis, a Fort Worth senator and the likely Democratic nominee for governor, told The Dallas Morning News' editorial board that less than one-half of 1 percent of Texas abortions occur after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Most of those were in cases where fetal abnormalities were evident or there were grave risks to the health of the woman.  

"I would line up with most people in Texas who would prefer that that's not something that happens outside of those two arenas," Davis said."

Here is the problem:  She did not say last July.  Furthermore, I guarantee you that none of her supporters at the Austin capitol were saying that.

First, am I the only one who thinks that this sounds a lot like then Senator Kerry saying that he voted for the $87 billion before he voted against it. or something like that?

Second, how much longer will the Democrats hitch their wagon to a woman who now supports the ban that she opposed and talks more about rifles than abortion?

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Will liberals remember Obama as the man who killed liberalism?

(My new American Thinker post)

At this point, Obama voters can be broken down into groups:

1) The "cultists" or the people who blame everything on the GOP Congress and forget that we have a Democrat US Senate or that President Obama had huge majorities for a portion of his term;  and,

2) The "realists," or those who think that President Obama, and ObamaCare, have pushed liberalism back a generation.

My friend said this yesterday over coffee:  'What future Democrat is going to call for a major government solution after ObamaCare"?

My friend laments that President Obama did not go for a "single payer."  He also honestly recognizes that the Democrats had the majority but not the votes to pass it.

President Obama's biggest challenge is now convincing anybody that he can make ObamaCare work.  It is so messed up that implementation now seem likes a fantasy.

He lost Ron Fournier: 

"Put me in the frustrated category. I want the ACA to work because I want health insurance provided to the millions without it, for both the moral and economic benefits. I want the ACA to work because, as Charles Lane wrote for The Washington Post, the link between work and insurance needs to be broken. I want the ACA to work because the GOP has not offered a serious alternative that can pass Congress.    

Unfortunately, the president and his team are making their good intentions almost indefensible."  

He lost Kristen Powers:  

"The headline is why I'm getting tired of defending Obamacare. And I'm going to say amen, brother, because it's exactly how I feel. People who have supported the law, who support universal health care, are constantly put in the position of having to defend this president, who has really incompetently put this together, rolled it out, and that's why he has to do this. It's why he has to keep doing this, because it's not working."

He is losing liberals because ObamaCare can not be made to work, as John Podhoretz wrote yesterday.  It will die on its own or maybe some Democrats will come to their senses and "mercy kill it" to stop it from suffocating to death.

It is "unimplementable" if there is such a word.  It just won't work no matter what company is hired to fix the computer glitches or how many times they delay it. 

Furthermore, all of these delays make things even more confusing for businesses and the professionals in the health care industry.

As my friend in Texas said yesterday:  "Maybe we bit off more than we could chew"

I don't know how representative of the liberal community my friend is.  Maybe he is an "outlier."  My guess is that there are a lot like him, or will soon be a lot like him, who will come to recognize that liberalism is the real casualty of this mess called ObamaCare.

Again, what future Democrat is going to propose a huge government solution to any of our problems?  That is the legacy of Obama Care.

Who would have believed that when we all went into massive depression the night that he was reelected?

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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2014 will be the last time that we will watch Derek Jeter

We heard today that Derek Jeter will retire after the 2014 season.  

First, where did the last 18 seasons go?  Jeter broke with New York in 1996.  He's played in 7 World Series and won 5 of them.   You have to go back to Yogi Berra and those great Yankees of yesteryear for that many rings.

Second, Jeter was a great role model, or the kind of a player that a dad like me loved to tell my sons about.

Thanks for a great career!  You will be missed.

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Obama Care: 3 million but how many have paid?

The Obama administration has released some new Obama Care numbers but we still don't know about paid enrollments:

"At least five states provide such statistics on their own enrollees, showing that the numbers are, or ought to be, generally obtainable.

A quarterly report published Wednesday by HHS announced that 'to date, 3.3 million persons have selected a Marketplace plan during the first four months of the initial open enrollment period, including 1.4 million in SBMs [state-based marketplaces] and 1.9 million in the FFM [federally facilitated marketplace].'

But HHS conceded that its numbers 'include those who have paid a premium and those who have not yet paid a premium, regardless of when their coverage begins.'

'Enrollment is measured as those who selected a plan,' an HHS press release confirms.

Similar disclaimers are offered some 20 times in the HHS report, both in its text and in accompanying graphs.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment."

We discussed the Obama Care mess with Barry Casselman, The Prairie Editor:

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A very interesting novel about Fidel Castro by Joao Cerqueira

We spoke with João Cerqueira originally from Portugal and lives in Viana do Castelo in the north of the country.  He has a PhD in art history from the University of Oporto and is the author of seven books, including one about the Spanish Civil War.   By the way, Joao's interest in the Spanish Civil War is due to his grandfather who took in refugees during the conflict.

This is a fiction story that involves Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy and the Miracle of Fatima.    I won't say anymore.  Read the book.

Click here to order the book:  THE TRAGEDY OF FIDEL CASTRO

Click here to hear our chat with Joao:

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The GOP is looking good but the election is still 9 months away

(My new American Thinker post)

The latest Obamacare mandate delay is further evidence that the law is an "unsustainable political burden" on Democrats in 2014.  

This is good news for the GOP.  At the same time, we are not there yet. There are still 9 months of tough campaigning ahead.  Be careful about underestimating the Democrats' machine to get voters out the vote.  Or, their ability to place the race over and often.

We begin with 4 obvious pick ups:  Arkansas, Montana, West Virginia and South Dakota.   

The next group is very likely but it will require a strong GOP candidate:  Louisiana, North Carolina and Alaska.  The 3 Democrat incumbents will play "the race card," especially in Louisiana and North Carolina.  Get ready for a vicious campaign.

That's 7. It takes a net pick up of 6! 

The next group is Michigan and Iowa, a couple that could go GOP because there are Democrats retiring.   There is a strong female candidate in Michigan but Iowa is still up in the air.

That would make it 9, a very possible outcome if we have a "wave election" as we saw in 2006 & 2008. 

The GOP has two potential problems that could blow any change of a Senate takeover, i.e. Kentucky and Georgia.  Let's hope that the primary does not produce a GOP candidate that can not win a general election, as we saw in 2012 in Missouri and Indiana.

2014 will be different than 2012, as my friend Barry Cassekman wrote:

"What is different from 2012, however, is that there is no presidential contest, and that intraparty challenges to incumbent GOP senators seem to lacking voter traction so far. Since the number of Republican incumbents up for re-election in 2016 will greatly outnumber Democrats ( a reversal of the past three cycles), any hope of GOP control of the senate would be lost for many years if the Republicans do not succeed this year.
The "Tea Party" wing of the conservative party, however, remains potent in several states, and until the GOP nominees are finally chosen later in the year, the outcomes of several races are in some doubt.

A GOP majority in the US Senate is critical in the last 2 years of the Obama administration.  It is the only way that we will get to the bottom of Benghazi and the IRS scandals.  Also, it is the only way to put a check on ObamaCare.

Wanted:  Candidates who can win general elections NOT just primaries!

P. S. You can hear my chat about 2014 US Senate contests with Barry Casselman, The Prairie Editor & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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Really? A poll about US-Cuba policy based on “1,024 randomly selected adults”?

(My new Babalu post)

There are polls, such as those based on likely or registered voters, and then there are those based on "1,024 randomly selected adults".    The former is a serious effort to understand public opinion.  The latter is just a "cheap" effort to influence our foreign policy.

The New York Times is reporting on a new poll that goes like this: 

"“This survey shows that the majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle are ready for a policy shift,” Peter Schechter and Jason Marczak, the top two executives at the Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center of the Atlantic Council, wrote in an introduction to the survey. “Most surprisingly, Floridians are even more supportive than an already supportive nation to incrementally or fully change course.”     

While the survey showed that Americans have concerns about the Cuban government’s political repression, Mr. Schechter and Mr. Marczak said, they “recognize the need for alternatives in light of the failure of the current policy to achieve its objective.”   The survey found that 56 percent of respondents nationwide favor changing Cuba policy, a majority that jumps to 63 percent among Florida adults and 62 percent among Latinos nationwide. 

While support is strongest among Democrats and independents, the survey showed 52 percent of Republicans also favor normalization."

The problem with this poll is that the media will broadcast the headline but fail to mention this:

"Conducted by telephone and cellphone in English and Spanish from Jan. 7 to Jan. 22, the survey was based on responses from 1,024 randomly selected adults, with oversamples of 617 Florida residents and 525 Latinos. The nationwide margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points; for Florida residents and for Latinos it was plus or minus 4 percentage points."

This is not a serious poll.  This is an effort to influence policy with a poll based on a lousy sample!

By the way, wonder how many of these "randomly selected adults" know that the Cuban dictatorship  is holding a US citizen named Allan Wall on bogus charges?

or engaged in a massive repression campaign against dissidents?  

or that the Cuban people have never been "polled" by an independent organization on their  feelings about the dictatorship running the island for 55 years?

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.

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