board77

SF wrote:

CG wrote:

SF is noted for his vehement opposition to use of analogies, metaphors, hypotheticals - in other words, abstractions.

I have stated that I see nothing wrong in using a good story, or a metaphor, or an analogy, or an comparison in the furtherance of discussion about a real world situation or problem or event. If you go back three years or more to TORC, you will find that I used them. Need I remind you of the trouble surrounding the home-spun story of the North Carolina pig farmer that I employed several months back.

SF wrote:

Need I remind you of my apples and cinder-blocks phrase?

SF wrote:

Now it is you who is guilty of misquoting.

Quote:

The Fair Share Health Care Fund Act, pushed through this week in a veto override, involves a smaller share; the not quite 17,000 who work for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. constitute a half-percent of state workers.

If the warring sides agree about anything, it's that the fight is about principles.

"There may well be hundreds; there may be even a couple thousand people affected" by the Wal-Mart bill, said Jonathan P. Weiner, a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who has done technical work for one of the groups advocating the Fair Share bill. "Yes, it's a drop in the bucket. ... It's definitely about philosophy."

The largely Democratic General Assembly voted Thursday to override Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s veto of the Fair Share bill, requiring companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health care or pay the difference to the state - effectively applying only to Wal-Mart. (Wal-Mart, which said it insures more than 1 million Americans and improved its benefits last year, testified in March that it spends 7 percent to 8 percent on medical health care.

Quote:

January 12, 2006
Victory in Maryland!
This just in. Fair Share Health Care is now law in the state of Maryland.

The Maryland House voted 88-50 in favor of overriding the Governor's veto just minutes ago. Below is a statement from Paul Blank on the historic vote for working families across this country:

Statement by WakeUpWalMart.com Campaign Director Paul Blank on Maryland State Legislature’s Override of Gov. Ehrlich’s Veto on Fair Share Health Care Legislation

“This is a great day for workers, families and children in the state of Maryland and sends an inspiring message across America that billion dollar corporations, like Wal-Mart, will have to pay their fair share for health care.

This vote makes sure Maryland will stay immune from the Wal-Mart health care crisis. The vote expands health care for workers, stops large, profitable companies from shifting their health care costs onto taxpayers, and makes sure all large, profitable employers pay their fair share for health care.

Maryland state legislators have set a trailblazing example that other states will follow. Already, WakeUpWalMart.com is building on the momentum in Maryland and will introduce Fair Share Health Care legislation in at least 30 states this year.

Unfortunately, even on the eve of the vote, Wal-Mart still doesn’t get it. They lost this vote because the American people are tired of big corporations taking advantage of them. Fair Share Health Care helps expand health care for Wal-Mart’s workers and all working families. How Wal-Mart can hire high-priced lobbyists to defeat this bill, and still look their workers in the face and tell America they support working families, is beyond comprehension.

Hopefully, one day soon, Wal-Mart will hear the message loud and clear - you should not profit by exploiting your workers. This vote proves, if Wal-Mart won’t choose to do the right thing on its own, the American people and their lawmakers will hold them accountable."

Quote:

Chamber says Maryland's Wal-Mart bill violates federal law


ANNAPOLIS, Md. The Maryland Chamber of Commerce said today that a proposed law that attempts to pressure Wal-Mart to provide better health care benefits for its employees would violate federal law.

The business group issued their report just eight days before the start of the 2006 General Assembly session, when the legislature will take up a bill that many say was aimed specifically at Wal-Mart.

But supporters of the law maintain it is valid and say the Chamber of Commerce is just trying to thwart their efforts to override the veto.

Quote:

by Douglas Tallman

Staff Writer
1/5/6

In an unusual twist after months of lobbying, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce declared Tuesday that a health insurance bill runs afoul of a 30-year-old federal statute limiting the states’ roles in employee benefits.

But supporters of the bill claim the chamber failed to consider the past 10 years of U.S. Supreme Court decisions in reaching that declaration.

The bill is the Fair Share Health Care Act, which would set a minimum for health insurance coverage at the state largest companies, based on a percentage of total payroll.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) vetoed the bill in May, and the General Assembly’s Democratic leaders have promised to override that veto when the legislature reconvenes Wednesday.

For months, the debate has centered on policy. Opponents say the state was taking the first step on a march toward government-mandated health coverage. Supporters say large companies, specifically Wal-Mart, have shirked their responsibilities by leaving employees’ health insurance to government programs.

Opponents holstered legal questions until the chamber announced the Fair Share bill is pre-empted by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA.

‘‘This is exactly the kind of proposal the ERISA pre-emption was designed to prevent,â€

Quote:

The Fair Share act — sometimes called the Wal-Mart bill because the retail giant is the only Maryland employer that doesn’t meet the act’s thresholds —