Mandated pre-pay for gas in Green Bay?

This is ridiculous.

Green Bay motorists would have to pre-pay for all gasoline purchases under a proposal to be considered Tuesday by the City Council that is aimed at curbing the number of gas drive-offs.

The proposal would require all gas stations in the city to impose the pre-pay requirement on customers.

Police officials say the proposed ordinance is supported by gas station owners as a way of stopping customers from driving off without paying.

It also would reduce the amount of time and money the police department invests in pursuing perpetrators.

The measure, however, is being considered by the full council after a committee voted against it because of concerns that it represents needless government regulation.

Alderman Chris Wery said gas station owners do not need city government to tell them how to protect themselves from thievery.

So the GBPD is pushing for this NEEDLESS regulation based on a survey.

Police officials say a citywide ordinance is needed because gas stations will be inconsistent in their usage of the policy without it.

Lt. Bill Bongle said business owners have voiced a desire to see the city mandate the practice. In a survey done by the Green Bay police department, 87 percent of gas station owners said they favored the city ordinance.

“It was overwhelming,” Bongle said. “They all feel the same way.”

This is simple – it’s not government’s place to do this.  Even if the majority of the stations surveyed feel that it is.  If a gas station owner doesn’t want to require all customers to pre-pay it has a right to make that decision.

What’s interesting is that NO statistics are provided showing how many drive-offs have taken place this year vs. last year or 2009 or earlier.

Here’s an idea.  Instead of trying to impose nanny-state regulations on consumers and businesses in Green Bay, why not put pressure on the federal government to start doing things that will actually bring down the price of gas?

Wisconsin taxpayers pay for 45% of births in state

Kudos to Rep. Michelle Litjens for pointing this out this truth.

The figures show that 71,977 babies were born in Wisconsin in 2008 — and that Medicaid, the state-federal program that pays medical bills for low-income individuals and families, paid for the care provided in 32,792 of the births. That’s 45.6 percent, which confirms Litjens’ first claim.

The 45.6 percent figure — it was 44 percent in ‘07, 43 percent in ‘06 and 42 percent in ‘05 — put Wisconsin on the higher end of Medicaid-financed births nationally in 2008. That’s according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan group that studies health care policy.

The rate ranged from 8 percent in New Jersey to 70 percent in Louisiana, although figures were not available for 15 states.

As for Litjens’ second claim, that taxpayers paid for 60 percent of the births in Milwaukee, she didn’t specify whether she meant Milwaukee County or the City of Milwaukee. But either way, her claim is accurate.

State figures show there were 15,353 births in the county in 2008, and that Medicaid paid for the care of 9,170 of them, or 59.7 percent. In the city, Medicaid paid for 72.5 percent of the 11,311 births.

But Milwaukee didn’t have the highest percentage of births paid by Medicaid.

Over 85 percent of the 130 births in Menominee County were paid for by Medicaid, the highest percentage in Wisconsin.

In Ozaukee County, Medicaid paid for 19 percent of the 822 births, the lowest rate.

In Litjens’ home county, Winnebago, Medicaid paid for nearly 39 percent of the 1,955 births.

Medicaid, by the way, pays for more than just labor and delivery. It also finances prenatal visits and postpartum care.

Could it be that the size of the government safety net known as Medicaid is too big?

An October 2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story, which reported that Medicaid paid for 45 percent of all baby deliveries in Wisconsin in 2008, also reported that at that time:

More than 1.1 million people in Wisconsin depended on Medicaid health programs.

Medicaid provided health care for one in five Wisconsin residents.

Medicaid health programs had expanded faster in Wisconsin over the previous nine years than in any state except Arizona.

Related articles

• States Battle Over Medicaid Eligibility and Access to Care (foxnews.com)
• GOP Governors Lay Out Common-Sense Medicaid Reform (usnews.com)

Wednesday Hero

Tech. Sergeants Abner Berrios & Alan Hunter

Tech. Sergeants Abner Berrios (left) and Alan Hunter display their letter perfect “black-letter initial” aircraft checklists at Pope Field, N.C. In an effort to set a positive example for the unit’s newer crew chiefs and members, the two used their professional rivalry to try to out-work and out-inspect each other. The end result was the rarity of both crew chiefs obtaining discrepancy free checklists. Both sergeants are crew chiefs with the 440th Airlift Wing.

Photo Courtesy AF.mil Taken By Staff Sgt. Peter Miller

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.

Those Who Say That We’re In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don’t Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

A look inside the Wisconsin budget debate

Great insight into the real issue.

A great primer considering the debate on the 2 year budget starts today.

Related articles

• What do “Progressives” want for Wisconsin? (realdebatewisconsin.blogspot.com)
• Deja vu all over again in Wisconsin (politico.com)