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X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Limba
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20060106T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20060106T000000
DTSTAMP:20060106T050000Z
CREATED:20060106T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20060106T050000Z
UID:4168-1136505600-1136505600@limba.net
SUMMARY:Congressman Tim Bishop
DESCRIPTION:This morning we had Congressman Tim Bishop from the 1st Congressional District speak at LIMBA\n \nHe was asked to give a congressional update.\n \nMr. Bishop began with talking about unfinished business. He spoke about education cuts when asked about “no child left behind.” These cuts are having a detrimental impact on Long Island. He went on to say that these are real cuts\, not due to inflation. The absolute number of $’s are down. \n \nThe Alternative Minimum Tax\, which vexes many two earner families on Long Island\, was not dealt with in the last session\, while taxes cuts on high income people were enacted. \n \nHe discussed Pay-Go which was the system of budgeting that was agreed upon by president Clinton and his Republicn dominated congress. Basically no budget item could be introduced without a cut somewhere else. A discipline that has gone by the boards. \n \n\nI began the questioning by taking Tim to task on how the congress gave away its constitutional right to declare war. Since the people’s House is the only body that can legitimately declare a war\, why give that responsibility away\, precluding in depth debate? He explained that the mood of the country was altered by memories of 9/11 and also by the {hyped} information that was given to the congress. \n \nWhen asked about immigration policy\, he was supportive of some kind of guest worker program.  The bill that passed the House would make 11 million people criminals. This bill has just about no chance of getting through the Senate.\n \nInfrastructure bills include funds for the Brooklyn to New Jersey Tunnel. While this tunnel may be useful in the future it does nothing for us in the next 10 years.  East Side Access\, the Second Avenue Subway funds were allocated too. This is good news for construction jobs and the future efficiency of transportation. \n \nBishop was somewhat critical of the energy bill which focuses on domestic drilling for oil. His criticism was centered on the simple fact that the US has only 2% of the know oil reserves and uses 25% of the oil in the world. In other words no matter how much you drill\,  it-aint-gonna-happen. Mr. Bishop suggested that a “Manhattan” like project to solve energy needs is what we should be doing. \n \nHe spoke about Iraq and the prospects for success. His thoughts were less sanguine than the happy talk you get from the White House. He stated that he hoped that the Iraqi’s would be able to shoulder their own responsibilities by midyear\, otherwise an uncontained civil war could be the results. A civil war that could spill over to Syria\, Turkey and Iran. \n \nThere was very little said about the scandal that is presently unfolding in Washington. That’s probably just as well since there is so much more to know about that pot of swill. \n \nWhen the meeting was adjourned Mr. Bishop gave a lot of time to those people who wanted to ask questions on a one to one basis.
URL:https://limba.net/calendar/congressman-tim-bishop-2/
LOCATION:NY
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20060113T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20060113T000000
DTSTAMP:20060113T050000Z
CREATED:20060113T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20060113T050000Z
UID:4169-1137110400-1137110400@limba.net
SUMMARY:Dan McGowan Pres HIP "Universal Health Care"
DESCRIPTION:This morning’s program was introduced by Jeff Levy\, from Leadership Solutions.\nOur speaker was Dan McGowan\, President of HIP NY. Mr. McGowan was asked to speak at LIMBA because I heard him say\, at another venue\, that universal health care is where we should be going. “The number of uninsured are rising\, and the insured are fewer. We now have 46 million uninsured people in this country”\nMr. McGowan noted that he had misgivings about other universal healthcare plans in other countries. On the other hand while having shortcomings\, all of these plans had better outcomes than our system. “The United States has better health facilities than any country in the world\, bar none. The expense far exceeds the per capita costs of any country\, but in terms of successful outcomes we are 37th.” In those 36 countries that precede us there are some pretty poor countries. We ought not to be proud of that.\nIt is McGowan’s contention that preventive\, and early care would contribute to better outcomes. Of course that means putting money and resources in play before the patient needs expensive care. He gave an example of statistics he had on the Hispanic segment of the population that was experiencing a high rate if hip and knee replacements. The rate was many times higher than the insured people of similar demographics. These were workers did hard physical work\, and had no easy access to care. The lack of early care resulted in these expensive procedures.\nThese “penny wise and pound foolish” approaches to healthcare absorb more resources than a carefully coordinated approach to health care would.\nMr. McGowan was critical of the costly prescription drug plan that was recently enacted. He said the plan does not allow for competitive bidding\, as a result the plan is costing three times what it should.\nDuring the Q&A Dan was asked. What do we do? “Stop letting others make decisions for you. The insurance companies are protecting their interests\, the hospitals theirs\, the drug companies theirs\, and the doctors theirs. Who is speaking for the American people? The answer is no one.”\nDan stated early in his address that universal healthcare would not end the insurance industry. {Which may be true. Back in the 30’s when social security was being shaped\, they argued that SS would kill the life insurance business. It didn’t! In fact the greater awareness of the need\, enhanced the life insurance business.}\nJudging from the passionate involvement of the audience\, this is an important issue. Small business people are throwing up their hands\, and big business is suffering through. Toyota had been looking to construct a new production facility in the United States. They were actively considering three sites in three states in the US. The cost of health care was the determining factor and Toyota is now building the plant in Canada.\nThank you Mr. Mcgowan for an interesting and informative meeting.
URL:https://limba.net/calendar/dan-mcgowan-pres-hip-universal-health-care/
LOCATION:NY
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20060120T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20060120T000000
DTSTAMP:20060120T050000Z
CREATED:20060120T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20060120T050000Z
UID:4170-1137715200-1137715200@limba.net
SUMMARY:Round Table Discussion
DESCRIPTION:This morning we had one of our “round table” discussions. The item of repowering is now in the works\, and when we find ourselves in a mode where we are seeing changes\, it makes sense to look at where else we can make our influence felt. \n \nLast week we had a powerful\, thought provoking presentation from HIP’s president Dan McGowan. We floated the idea that we may have an effect on the thinking of our legislators regarding healthcare. After an interesting discussion we decieded that we should make an effort to create change of thinking on this topic. \n \nWe discussed the idea of creating a panel on healthcare. The proffessionals on the panel will give us their take and then open up the discussion to the comments and questions of the audience. Roger Ulanoff said that we could make a proffessional quality tape of the session\, edit it and put it on our website as a streaming video. We could do one of these programs every three months reaching into other pressing topics.\n \nIn addition to Healthcare we may handle Education School Consolidation\, Land Use\, Waste Handling\, and Transportation. We may not address all of these topics but we will refine our goals as we move forward. \n \nThe committee that will organize the education segment has been tentatively formed. The participants are Cliff Sondack\, Tony Casserta\, Irv Hansen\, Walter Bernstein\, Jim Trudden and Charlie Richardson. \n \nAfter we have established the success of the first program we will tackle the others. We are excited that LIMBA is making a dramatic foray that will bring attention to these important issues. Our unflagging efforts have paid off in the past. They will in the future as well.\n 
URL:https://limba.net/calendar/round-table-discussion/
LOCATION:NY
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20060126T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20060126T000000
DTSTAMP:20060126T050000Z
CREATED:20060126T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20060126T050000Z
UID:4206-1138233600-1138233600@limba.net
SUMMARY:Randy Croxton
DESCRIPTION:Mr. Croxton is an architecht of notable fame and a recipient numerous awards for designing low energy use buildings. These buildings excell in comfort and livability. He will be discussing the possibilities that are available to us. The reduction in building operating costs\, the comfort and health of the people that use these buildings\, and the lower pollution these buildings create will be the focus.
URL:https://limba.net/calendar/randy-croxton/
LOCATION:NY
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20060127T000000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20060127T000000
DTSTAMP:20060127T050000Z
CREATED:20060127T050000Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20060127T050000Z
UID:4172-1138320000-1138320000@limba.net
SUMMARY:MTA Inspector General\, Matthew Sansverie
DESCRIPTION:This morning we had a very interesting presentation from Matthew Sansverie. Matthew is the Inspector General of the MTA. \nThe term “Inspector General” explained Sansverie came from Napoleon Bonepart. When Napoleon asked his generals to give a report on conditions and progress they tended to give rosy reports. However Napoleon needed the truth\, so he assigned a general without a command of his own\, to report on the other generals and their commands. The term Inspector General was coined.\nMr. Sansverie explained his function as an overseer and then gave a number of specific examples. Once while having investigators on the yard premises of Metro North his investigators noticed that the employees were apparently leaving the premises approximately one hour after they arrived. The employees were punching in and then leaving for home. \n \nContractors were reporting that they were paying the prevailing wages and computing the wage bills they submitted an a larger workforce than they actually used\, pocketing the difference. Other contractors were getting jobs while having hundreds of thousands of state tax bills outstanding. Sansverie stopped that practice by coordinating with the tax department and paying tax money owed to the state from the contractors earnings. \n \nOf course\, some of these offenses were criminal\, and they were referred to prosecutors. I told Matthew he reminded of prosecutor Fitzgerald who is prosecuting Libby\, and I asked what motivated him. He said “doing the right thing.” I believe him\, it motivates me. \n \nAs usual the Q&A was lively and we did not get to all of the questions\, but Matthew was gracious and answered questions from many people after we officially ended the meeting.
URL:https://limba.net/calendar/mta-inspector-general-matthew-sansverie/
LOCATION:NY
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