SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2011 Haslam names health chief (Tennessean)

Gov. Bill Haslam named Dr. John Dreyzehner on Friday to lead the state Department of Health. Dreyznehner, a former U.S. Air Force flight surgeon, is director of the Cumberland Plateau Health District in southwest Virginia. He will replace Susan Cooper. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/NEWS01/309040045/Week-review-Flood-buyouts-hold

Collaboration essential to unification of school systems (C. Appeal/McMillin)

With all the moving parts involved in merging Shelby County's two school systems -- two superintendents and their staffs, 21 members of a transition commission, 23 members of a unified countywide school board -- there is one certainty: the operations of Memphis City Schools must be combined with Shelby County Schools in time for the the 2013-14 school year. When the final appointments to the school board and transition team are made in coming days, those already involved have a message -- welcome aboard, grab an oar and start rowing. The effort also needs to be synchronized, because as SCS Supt. John Aitken points out, most of the key decisions must be made many months before the first school bells ring, likely in August 2013.. MCS made its five picks the day after the settlement, and Gov. Bill Haslam and House speaker Beth Harwell, both selected a member on Friday. Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey will also make one appointment to the panel. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/sep/04/smooth-merger-requires-unity/

In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores (New York Times)

Amy Furman, a seventh-grade English teacher here, roams among 31 students sitting at their desks or in clumps on the floor. Theyre studying Shakespeares As You Like It but not in any traditional way. In this technologycentric classroom, students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeares characters. One student compiles a song list from the Internet, picking a tune by the rapper Kanye West to express the emotions of Shakespeares lovelorn Silvius. The class, and the Kyrene School District as a whole, offer what some see as a utopian vision of educations future. Classrooms are decked out with laptops, big interactive screens and software that drills students on every basic subject. Under a ballot initiative approved in 2005, the district has invested roughly $33 million in such technologies. The digital push here aims to go far beyond gadgets to transform the very nature of the classroom, turning the teacher into a guide instead of a lecturer, wandering among students who learn at their own pace on Internet-connected devices. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/technology-in-schools-faces-questions-on-value.html? _r=1&ref=todayspaper

Health care could take big hit (Tennessean)

Health care, childrens services and unemployment offices could bear the brunt of expected cuts in federal spending in Tennessee, according to planning documents released Tuesday. Gov. Bill Haslam expects that many of the reductions will not be needed. But the documents show that the state is preparing to slash spending by more than $4.5 billion and 5,100 jobs if such cuts are demanded by the federal government. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/NEWS01/309040045/Week-review-Flood-buyouts-hold

Clarksville's Spring Meadows nursing home fined $740K (Leaf Chronicle)

Center has plan in place to fix problems, The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has fined a local nursing home nearly $740,000 over findings detailed in a state inspection. The inspection report by the Tennessee Department of Health lists a number of minor infractions and five serious ones at Spring Meadows

Health Care Center in Clarksville. The most significant infraction was lack of supervision and other precautions that led to a resident repeatedly suffering serious injuries from falls. The report said that one of the 20 residents surveyed fell eight times between February and July, suffering injuries that include a chipped tooth, a broken nose and lacerations that required sutures. The facilitys failure to develop interventions to protect the resident after each of these falls placed (the resident) in immediate jeopardy, the report said. Keith Smith, the administrator at Spring Meadows, said the center is now in substantial compliance with all requirements. And the most severe fines $4,800 a day, dating back to Feb. 13 ceased a day after the report was filed, because the center agreed to implement an approved corrective action plan. Because of the immediate risk to residents, the state could have suspended new admissions to the nursing home absent the plan, said Andrea Turner, the spokeswoman for the Health Department. http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20110904/NEWS01/109040318/Clarksville-s-Spring-Meadows-nursinghome-fined-740K

Tenn. high court hears home repair case (Tennessean/Sisk)

The Tennessee Supreme Court is considering a case that could change a homeowners ability to recover damages when a subcontractor botches a home repair or remodeling job. The case involves a Hamilton County couple whose house was destroyed by a fire while someone was fixing their roof. The Tennessee Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Thursday. Robert and Joanie Emerson hired a company to repair their roof but, unbeknownst to them, the firm subcontracted the job out to someone else. The Emersons accuse the subcontractor of setting the house on fire while using a propane torch during the repairs. The damage amounted to more than $800,000. Because repair and construction work is often subcontracted out to cheap laborers who lack insurance, some legal experts say a decision in favor of the general contractor could leave many homeowners saddled with the costs for botched repair jobs. Ultimately the buck stops with the general contractor, and that has always been the rule, said Nashville attorney Jean Harrison, who is an expert in construction law. Harrison, who is not involved in the case, said almost all construction and home repair work is subcontracted. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/NEWS/309040079/Tenn-high-court-hears-home-repair-case? odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Tennessee attorney general joins effort to target website's adult ads (CA/W arren)
Tennessee Atty. Gen. Bob Cooper has joined the national fight to pressure a popular website to remove ads for adult services. Cooper and others with the National Association of Attorneys General teamed to turn up the heat on Backpage.com -- a website similar to Craigslist -- to remove its adult services advertisement section, which NAAG estimates generates more than $22 million annually. The site is a "hub" for the trafficking of minors, the organization says. The attorneys detailed the problem in a letter to Chicago attorney Samuel Fifer, who represents the website, which is owned by Village Voice Media. "We have tracked more than 50 instances, in 22 states over three years, of charges filed against those trafficking or attempting to traffic minors on Backpage.com," states the letter signed by Cooper and attorneys general from 45 other states. "These are only the stories that made it into the news; many more instances likely exist." The company -- based in Phoenix and Dallas -- features free classified ads in more than 400 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, Australia, Ireland, Mexico, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the Caribbean, according to its website. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/sep/04/attys-gen-target-websites-adult-ads/

Splitting Davidson County could hurt GOP (Tennessean/Sisk)

Democrats best hope to avoid a split of Nashvilles main congressional district may be Republicans self-interest, experts on redistricting say. Federal law appears to let Republican leaders divide up Davidson County and lump its voters into primarily suburban districts, as some Democrats fear. But doing so might weaken the GOP more than Democrats by leaving them with slender majorities that would be difficult for them to defend in elections in which Democrats hold the upper hand. That dynamic raises the likelihood that Republicans will choose to quarantine Democratic voters in a redrawn 5th Congressional District that includes most of Nashville, rather than risk the GOPs dominance over the suburbs. If youre Diane Black or (Scott) DesJarlais or Marsha Blackburn, do you want to start picking up Democratic voters? asked Bruce Oppenheimer, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. Probably not. My sense is the Republican members will lobby against doing that. They may say, We want you to make Jim Coopers seat even safer. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Cooper, both Democrats, sparked discussions over the future of the 5th Congressional District last week, telling reporters that Republicans may be planning to further divide Davidson County voters to strengthen the GOPs hold in Middle 2

Tennessee. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/NEWS/309040058/Splitting-Davidson-County-could-hurt-GOP? odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Economic quick fixes not likely for Memphis area, nation (C. Appeal/Evanoff)
No magic bullets to improve jobs numbers, experts contend After the Memphis economy sank in 2008, Mary Page lost her job and did what lots of the newly idle did. She opened a business. Now she faithfully walks clients' dogs, drives elderly patients to the doctor, confers with a client's builder. And if someone can't wait on the plumber, Page sits by the door and lets the plumber in. In an era when America is thought to be dividing into the prosperous and the less so, Page opened Beck and Call Memphis concierge service, like a personal butler for the too busy. "Even the wealthy want to feel they are wealthy,'' said Page, 54, former corporate recruiter in Memphis for Pinnacle Airlines. President Barack Obama aims to brace the country after Labor Day with a jobs initiative. But business analysts of various political stripes agree -- catering to upscale households will remain a sure bet. "We've got a BMW economy humming along nicely and then we have a Dollar Tree economy getting along," said conservative Bruce Yandle, an economist at Virginia's George Mason University. "The middle is kind of disappearing." http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/sep/04/economic-quick-fixes-not-likely/

Tornadoes donation spending so far at $2.6 million (Times Free-Press/Martin)

An outpouring of donations and pledges after the April tornadoes raised about $3.5 million for disaster relief that was designated to be spent in the tri-state area. Four months later, about $2.6 million has been spent, primarily on short-term needs such as food, shelter and supplies immediately after the storms, with some money spent more recently for home repairs and rebuilding. But some donations designated for Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama communities devastated by the tornadoes may not have been spent in the area -- and may not have been used for tornado relief at all -- a Chattanooga Times Free Press analysis of donations and subsequent spending found. And $50,000 in gift cards donated immediately after the storms remains largely unspent and did not go to the county for which the gift cards were designated, local volunteers say. Of the about $1 million still unspent, most of the money is in the hands of long-term recovery committees who say it will be used in the next few months to help families rebuild and refurnish their homes, unmet needs that may top $4 million or $5 million. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/sep/04/tornadoes-donation-spending-so-far-at-26/?local

VW in Chattanooga shipping 2012 Passats to be sold (Associated Press)

Volkswagen has started shipping 2012 Passats that will be sold beginning in late September. The German automaker's new plant in Chattanooga is shipping about 350 Passats daily to dealers. The exact starting date for sales of the new midsize sedan remains a mystery. The manager of VW's outbound logistics in Chattanooga, Kevin Charlet, told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that trainloads are going to W est Coast dealers first (http://bit.ly/qaQCQ9 ). Volkswagen of America spokesman Carsten Krebs said the launch is "one of the most important events for Volkswagen in decades." He said the Passat is "one of the keys to VW's growth strategy" in America. VW has priced the base 2012 Passat with a 2.5-liter engine at $19,995. On Sept. 15, television commercials are scheduled to start. Last week in Chattanooga about 5,000 Passats of all models and colors were parked on the plant's huge loading yard as workers loaded train cars headed to the more than 600 VW dealers across the country. http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=tennessean&sParam=37369761.story

'Tango' tax break a dance for jobs (Daily News Journal)

The benefits of creating up to 1,150 jobs in Rutherford County amid recession outweigh concerns about a 20year tax-free deal for a secret company dubbed Project Tango, local business leaders believe. Others say a nondisclosure deal signed by Chamber of Commerce officials as the company pits sites in La Vergne and Murfreesboro against others across the region is simply part of doing business for economic recruiters. "I don't see that it's essentially different than what we've seen the last several years," said Jim Burton, dean of MTSU's Jennings A. Jones College of Business. But just because the county takes an aggressive approach doesn't mean the company is coming. Far-reaching tax abatements are simply part of the package a company considers, including items such as wage rates, land costs, infrastructure and power supply, Burton said. An incentive package approved by the Rutherford County Industrial Development Board likely won't be the deciding factor, he noted. "It's the gravy, it's not the mashed potatoes," Burton said. 3

http://www.dnj.com/article/20110904/NEW S05/109040313/-Tango-tax-break-dance-jobs-?odyssey=tab|topnews| text|FRONTPAGE

'Tennessean' editor to take new job at Gannett (Tennessean)

The Tennessean announced that editor Mark Silverman will leave the newspaper and join the Gannett Co. Inc. U.S. Community Publishing Divisions corporate news staff in mid-September. Silverman was editor of The Tennessean for nearly five years. In his new position, Silverman will be part of a team helping the companys news organizations transform their coverage and increase their local impact at a time when the media landscape is changing rapidly. This will be Silvermans third tour of duty on the corporate staff. He also has served as top editor in Detroit, Louisville, Rockford, Ill., and at Gannett News Service. Mark fostered a tradition of strong watchdog journalism at The Tennessean. He helped drive rapid growth of our digital audiences. Under his leadership, The Tennessean gained national recognition for our news coverage and grew our Sunday newspaper circulation, said Carol Hudler, Tennessean president and publisher. In his new role, Mark will provide quality guidance and support to a number of Gannett news operations. Meanwhile, well be looking for the right editor to lead The Tennessean as we shape our content and engage our audiences in new ways, Hudler said. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/BUSINESS/309040035/-Tennessean-editor-take-new-jobGannett?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s

Arizona: Redistricting Panel Is Under Attack, Even Before Its Work Is Done (NYT)
Even before the drawing of new political boundaries, Arizonas redistricting commission has faced a barrage of criticism and a chorus of boos, not to mention a state investigation. Next up, a lawsuit. Arizona voters sought to take the raw politics out of redistricting with the passage of a ballot measure in 2000 that created an independent citizens group to handle the process. No longer would politicians retire to back rooms, the thinking went, to draw their own maps after every census. But the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, with two Republican members, two Democratic members and an independent chairwoman, has found itself subject to such fierce attacks that its work is being questioned even before that work has been done. The stakes are high explosive population growth over the last decade, especially among Latinos, entitles the state to one more Congressional seat, its ninth. Conservative critics, including members of various Tea Party groups, have taken to the microphone at meetings to denounce the commission as biased. What infuriates them most is that the commission voted 3 to 2 (with the Republicans voting no) to hire a mapping consultant based in Washington that has ties to President Obamas first presidential campaign. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/us/04redistrict.html?ref=todayspaper (SUBSCRIPTION)

Illinois: Fight for Longer School Day Shifts to Principals Level (New York Times)
Just days after ruling out a strike, the Chicago Teachers Union finds itself grappling with dissent among members and fighting for public support as district leaders have begun circumventing the union in their push for a longer school day this year. After unsuccessfully pressing the union throughout the summer to agree to a longer day, Chicago Public Schools officials are now trying to enlist the support of individual principals. If the principals are supportive of the longer day, they have their staffs vote on contract waivers, which the union has discouraged members from signing. On Friday, three elementary schools Genevieve Melody, Skinner North and STEM Magnet Academy broke from the union and voted to lengthen their day by 90 minutes. Teachers in those schools will receive a lump sum payment equal to 2 percent of the average teachers salary in the district, according to Becky Carroll, a district spokeswoman. Last week the union had rejected the districts offer to give elementary school teachers a 2 percent raise for a 90-minute longer day. Teachers stood up today to say they want to help lead this change, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Jean-Claude Brizard, the districts chief executive, said in a joint statement. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/us/04cncschool.html?ref=todayspaper (SUB)

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OPINION Guest columnist: Feds must act on out-of-state tax deals (Tennessean)
Who has more power: Amazon.com or state government officials? One could argue somewhat convincingly that the Internet giant has very effectively bullied Tennessee politicians, given how quickly policymakers damaged existing local businesses in order to give a special sales tax deal to the out-of-state company. Amazon has received a government-sanctioned advantage to the detriment of local employers, yet no one in Tennessee government is able to demonstrate proof that the deal reached by the previous administration in Nashville was actually put in writing. This sort of gamesmanship and internal politics hurts jobs and local businesses, and demonstrates why we need a national solution to the online sales tax issue. Tennessee retailers face a difficult situation: They must collect a 7 to 9.25 percent sales tax on the merchandise they sell. An online retailer can sell the same product to the same customer and not collect any sales tax, even though the Volunteer State is completely dependent on it. State law penalizes you if you are located in Tennessee, creating jobs and contributing to the local economy, but it lets you manipulate the system if you are an online company from Seattle. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110903/OPINION03/309030010/Feds-must-act-out-state-tax-deals? odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s

Editorial: Don't take hatchet to Fifth District (Tennessean)

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean had a very important message for Tennessees Republican legislators last week: When drawing up congressional districts, keep Nashville intact. In the next few months, Republicans will redraw Tennessee congressional districts, as required after the 2010 Census, which recorded significant population growth in Middle Tennessee surburbs. In a meeting with The Tennessean editorial board on Monday, Dean and U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, told of a plan they had been given that would split Nashvilles across three congressional districts. Currently, nearly all of Davidson County, plus portions of Cheatham and Wilson, are in Coopers Fifth Congressional District. A sliver of Davidson is in the Seventh Congressional District. But Nashville has been predominantly in one district since the time of Andrew Jackson, with the idea of preserving the state capitals representation in Washington. Based on the map obtained by Cooper and Dean, Davidson County voters would be split roughly into thirds, with two-thirds of the voters in each of those districts residing in mostly Republican suburbs outside Davidson. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/OPINION01/309040030/Don-t-take-hatchet-Fifth-District? odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|p

Guest columnist: Republicans will do what is best for community (Tennessean)

The sound and fury you hear coming from the halls of power in Nashville is that of the latest battle over redistricting, that once-in-a-decade process in which the majority party redraws boundaries for legislative and congressional districts to reflect changes in population. The rhetoric that accompanies redistricting is always the same the party that doesnt control the process always levels high-sounding charges about excessive partisanship and gerrymandering and warns the party holding the pen that it must not marginalize this group or that group in its obvious blind pursuit of protecting incumbents and expanding its majorities. This time, it is the Tennessee Republican Party that controls redistricting, and it is Tennessees Democrats who are firing the rhetorical volleys. But with a Republican in the governors office, theres very little Democrats can do to seriously effect the end result. That may tempt the Republicans to seek payback to Democrats who used the process for years to keep them in the minority. I believe there are good reasons for Republicans to resist this temptation. Earlier this year, House Speaker Beth Harwell said she wants to draw lines that are fair and legally sound and 5

hold cities and communities together as much as possible. She has said she wants to avoid any sort of political gerrymandering, but added the voters have spoken and Tennessee is a majority Republican state. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/OPINION03/309040034/Republicans-will-do-what-bestcommunity?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|p

Guest columnist: 'Ketronmander' lays bare political ambitions (Tennessean)

Nashville, meet Bill Ketron: Ketron is the attention-loving, tea party state senator from Rutherford County who sponsored the unpopular new voter ID law. He has fought to take away rights from teachers, workers groups and minorities. And on the more ridiculous side, Ketron even thinks Tennessee should start minting its own currency. Now he wants to be your congressman. And he may have the influence to do it. Thanks to his highranking position in the Tennessee Senate, Ketron has been put in charge of redrawing political districts in Middle Tennessee for the 2012 elections. He has nearly unchecked power and will freely alter district lines to his political whims. Hes made no secret of his plan to use this power to establish his candidacy for U.S. Congress. Sen. Ketron has always worn his self-promoting political ambitions on his sleeve. Running for Congress, he says, is something I have always wanted to do. This past week, The Tennessean published images of a political hack job masquerading as a redistricting map. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/OPINION03/309040031/-Ketronmander-lays-bare-politicalambitions?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|s

Editorial: Issues cloud suburban split (Commercial Appeal)

Shelby County suburbs that want no part of a new unified school district are preparing to invest in consulting contracts to get some guidance on the issue. Starting up new municipal school districts raises a number of complicated questions, however. A preliminary look at the economics of starting a new municipal school district or obtaining special school district status in Bartlett was revealed in March by Mayor Keith McDonald. McDonald said the day-to-day costs of maintaining a municipal district would add an estimated 75 cents to $1 on the suburb's current $1.49 property tax rate, plus perhaps as much as 60 cents more if Bartlett had to pay for 11 county school buildings located within the city limits. Still, it's not clear whether high five-figure consulting contracts that Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville and Germantown are considering would provide enough answers on which to base an intelligent decision. Southern Educational Strategies LLC has offered to do the work, but its assessment will be missing an important caveat -- what happens if new suburban districts are unable to inherit school buildings that lie within their boundaries. Suburban leaders believe their claim on the buildings is strong because suburban taxpayers helped pay for them. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/sep/04/editorial-issues-cloud-suburban-split/

Editorial: School board must initiate new search for schools leader (Jackson Sun)
When the Jackson-Madison County Board of Education meets on Thursday, it should take action to begin another search for a new school system superintendent. The school board hired the search firm BWP & Associates to do a nationwide superintendent search earlier this year. But the timing of the search was out of sync with the best time to find superintendent candidates. The board's search ended in July when it could not agree on any of the six candidates offered by BWP. According to BWP, the best time to begin a superintendent search is in the October/November time frame. This is when top school officials begin considering job changes for the following school year. A thorough search takes several months. Successful candidates are able to complete their contract commitments to current employers and prepare for the transition over the summer vacation months. In Tennessee, school superintendents usually have contracts dated July 1 to coincide with the state and local government fiscal year. If the board does not act at its September meeting, it would mean the search firm might not be authorized to begin the search process until after the October school board meeting, or even later. It is incumbent on the board to position its search for maximum effectiveness. http://www.jacksonsun.com/article/20110904/OPINION01/109040311/School-board-must-initiate-new-searchschools-leader

Gail Kerr: Indigent deserve better than bargain-bin justice (Tennessean)

Everybody knows a good lawyer joke. How many lawyers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Three. One to climb the ladder, one to shake it, and one to sue the ladder company. The truth is, members of the bar are a mostly impressive, ethical bunch. But, as in journalism or any field, theres always a basement layer. There are lawyers who run icky ads to draw clients with few resources and high hopes. Unfortunately, these are the type of attorneys who would jump on a proposal to sell some criminal defendants to the lowest bidder. Its a terrible idea. 6

Every person who is arrested has the right to an attorney. If they cannot afford to pay a lawyer, the case goes to the county public defenders office. Sometimes, because of a case overload or conflict of interest, public defenders cant take the case. Then the court appoints a private attorney, paid by the state, to represent the defendant. It gets expensive. The states indigent defense funds cost has grown from $19.9 million to $37.5 million since 2004. There were 126,000 legal bills submitted by attorneys to represent poor clients last year. Lawmakers cried whoa! and asked the courts administrative office to figure out how to save money. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110904/NEWS/309040044/Gail-Kerr-Indigent-deserve-better-than-bargainbin-justice?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

Clay Bennett Political Cartoon: The Cookout (Chattanooga Times Free-Press)

http://media.timesfreepress.com/img/news/tease/2011/09/02/110904_The_Cookout_t618.jpg? ba5b5b122dd3d37cc13d83e92a6a0ec0d5bfa32a

Times Editorial: Literacy and the future (Chattanooga Times Free-Press)

As was often the case, Dr. Seuss got it just right. "The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go," he memorably wrote in 1978 in "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!" The author understood and wanted others to understand the integral and complex link between literacy -- the ability to read and to write -- and an individual's capacity to lead a meaningful and productive life. That's a connection that still has special resonance today. Dr. Seuss, or Theodor Seuss Geisel, grasped the essential truth that there can be little freedom -- personal, economic, religious -- without literacy. That's never been more true than the present. At a time when America and many Americans continue to struggle in an economy and society radically different than that of just a few years ago, the inability to read and to write hampers the ability to pursue the life, liberty and happiness central to the American experience. Many things have changed in recent years, but the fact that reading and writing are central to individual progress and freedom is constant. No man, woman or child can be free if they are shackled by illiteracy. There is no guarantee that reading and writing will bring a lifetime of benefits, but there is growing certainty that the inability to do so is an almost insurmountable handicap in seeking those benefits. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/sep/04/literacy-and-the-future/?opiniontimes

Free-Press Editorial: ObamaCare will force many to change plans (TFP)

Despite assurances to the contrary, many Americans will not be able to keep their current health coverage once ObamaCare kicks in fully in 2014. A new survey of midsize and large businesses found that about one in 10 plans to drop its employee health coverage once ObamaCare is in effect. That would leave the employees with little choice but to go on ObamaCare, even if they prefer their former insurance plan. An additional 20 percent of the companies polled said they aren't sure what they might do once ObamaCare is fully implemented, the Towers W atson survey found. That is in stark contrast to President Barack Obama's repeated promises prior to the passage of his socialized medicine law that the law would not force Americans to give up their existing coverage. He said in 2009, for instance, "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." But that is simply not true. Starting in 2014, ObamaCare has provisions requiring that companies with 50 or more full-time employees either provide health coverage approved by the federal government or pay a $2,000 fine per full-time worker, excluding their first 30 workers. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/sep/04/obamacares-consequences/?opinionfreepress

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