Future government health care at work

So how well does government work.

Let's take that Energy Star program which certifies energy efficiency appliances...........
Federal investigators who submitted phony products, such as a gasoline-powered alarm clock, to the government's energy-efficiency certification program found it easy to obtain approval and say the program is "vulnerable to fraud and abuse."

Investigators with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said they obtained Energy Star approval for 15 of 20 fictitious products they submitted for certification with fake energy-savings claims. Two were rejected and three did not receive a response.

Two of the certified products received purchase requests by real companies because four bogus firms, developed for the purpose of the investigation, were listed as Energy List partners.

Among the phony products that obtained Energy Star certification was a "room air cleaner" that, in a picture prominently displayed on the Web site of a bogus company, showed an electric space heater with a feather duster and strips of fly paper attached to it.

About as effective and efficient as cash for clunkers.

Seriously, you really trust these guys with health care. All I know is this. If I have to go in for a knee replacement some day, I'm wearing a cup.

More.....

More business round up

Farm-equipment manufacturer John Deere "said it expects its expenses to rise by around $150 million on an after-tax basis, mainly in the second quarter, as a result of the legislation."

Verizon "told employees in an email Tuesday that Verizon's costs will go up in the near term, pinpointing a tax-subsidy reduction for retiree health benefits."

Heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar "said that its first-quarter earnings will be hit with a $100 million after-tax charge under tax law changes attached to the new health care reform legislation."

AK Steele Holding Corp., "the third largest U.S. steelmaker by sales, said it will record a non-cash charge of about $31 million resulting from the health-care overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama. The charge will be recorded in the first quarter of 2010."

Valero Energy "will take a $15 million to $20 million charge to second-quarter earnings for the same reason."

Medical-device maker Medtronic "warned that new taxes on its products could force it to lay off a thousand workers."

This deal sounds awesomer and awesomer as time goes on.....

More......

At least some business gains from Obamacare

With 22 pen strokes, President Obama signed into existence not just a historic healthcare reform law but also monumental piles of paperwork: New member registration forms. More claims. Ever-expanding databases. And on top of that, pressure to cut costs.

The bulge in administrative work may look like a nightmare to American insurance firms and government employees. But to outsourcing executives here in India, it’s heaven-sent. A number of Indian companies are already anticipating an increase in workload thanks to Obama's healthcare law.

Nice job Bam!

More.....

Verizon, John Deere, Caterpillar.....

Now AT&T with their cost estimates of Obamacare.........

AT&T Inc. said it plans to take a non-cash charge of about $1 billion in the first quarter following the passage of the health-care reform bill earlier this week, according to a filing submitted by the company Friday. The telecommunication giant will also evaluate changes to its health care benefits for employees and retirees.

Naaaahhh. this will have a positive effect on the recovery.

More...

Give me back my Toyota

Last night, I was kidding my neighbor about his Toyota's and telling him not to aim his car at my house when he enters the driveway. You know, wouldn't want that baby to come careening into our kitchen from that unintended acceleration.

Bad call on my part.

First, you would need the National Guard to take this dude's Toyota's from him. As a result, I got a nice lecture about how he'd never had a problem.

Second, he challenged me to look up what the final verdict was on Audi's which meant I had to google when my full focus should have been on the Xavier KSU game.

But I did find some interesting information on the 1980's/1990's Audi problem.

Ultimately what we know now is that most of the people who had problems with the car were older drivers. (translation - how is it that the car doesn't leap on younger drivers?)

60 Minutes rigged a car to get it to leap causing all kinds of mass hysteria. (and these guys believe that the Pimp & Ho's Briebart stories aren't credible)

I think we'll ultimately find that this is a whole lot to do about nothing. At least, until Chris comes careening through my house.

Deep Thoughts

Given the freedom of religion is a right actually in the constitution I was wondering if the boys and girls at Think Progress would mind making my tithe at church this weekend. Money's a little tight right now and I need a new TV for the man cave........

More media perpetuated lies

Apparently some Tea Partier threw a rock through Steve Driehaus's Cincinnati office window.....

The Seattle Times reported today on another horrible political attack. The Times claimed that liberal democrat Rep. Steve Driehaus had a rock thrown though his office window:

Protesters have been demonstrating at Driehaus’ Ohio home, said Tim Mulvey, a spokesman for the anti-abortion Democrat who joined Stupak in voting for the health bill. A rock was thrown through the window of Driehaus’ Cincinnati office Sunday, and a death threat was phoned in to his Washington office a day later, Mulvey said.

“It’s getting out of hand,” Mulvey said.

If I were Steve Driehaus and a Tea Partier could throw a rock through a 30th story window. I'd probably listen to him or her.....

I'm guessing it's probably why we didn't hear about it in the 'nati. We've got bigger fish to fry like a runaway Tiger in the hood.

There goes John Galt

First, Caterpillar came out with their estimates on health care costs, then Verizon now it's John Deere.........

What do Caterpillar and John Deere have in common? Besides being America's two biggest makers of heavy equipment, they have both announced huge increases in expenses due to ObamaCare. Wednesday, Caterpillar made official its estimate of $100 million in increased costs for 2011, though they will take the charge this year. Yesterday, John Deere said it will face an additional $150 million in increased costs for 2010 in order to comply with the Democrats' assault on America's health care and health insurance systems, eliminating about 11% of the company's profits for the year.

In particular, the charges come from changes in tax regulations for contributions to employees and retirees' health care benefits.

So Mr./Ms "Progressive", where do you think that money is going to come from? Hint, those same people your allegedly helping with this bill.

More....

That didn't take long

The health care bill passes and it has already added to the deficit.........

The Congressional Budget Office hiked its forecast Tuesday for how much the stimulus bill will add to the nation's deficit, raising its estimate by $75 billion to $862 billion.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in February 2009, was initially believed to have a price tag of $787 billion. With the glaring exception of skyrocketing unemployment compensation costs, the CBO said the Recovery Act's effects on government spending and revenues have closely followed its initial estimate for 2009 and 2010.

Thanks reader Jeremy for the link

But did he get his DVD collection?

How is it that if you are an ally of the US, the Obamunists treat you like last night's dinner but if you're an enemy, you get bowed to...........

Benjamin Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper with his family, it emerged on Thursday.

The snub marked a fresh low in US-Israeli relations and appeared designed to show Mr Netanyahu how low his stock had fallen in Washington after he refused to back down in a row over Jewish construction in east Jerusalem.

The Israeli prime minister arrived at the White House on Tuesday evening brimming with confidence that the worst of the crisis in his country's relationship with the United States was over.

Bibi here's what you do to get a friendly hand from the Obamunists. Threaten us with a couple of nuke.

More...

The World's largest Ponzi Scheme aka Social Security

Megan McCardle on the latest federal government Ponzi scheme crash...........

Every since the early eighties, when the Greenspan commission kicked the can down the road with a combination of tax increases and later retirement ages, analysts have been awaiting the day when the system would finally go into deficit. That date has been sliding around between 2016 and 2020 for some years now, but the suspense is finally over: the system is going into deficit this year.

" . . . payments have risen more than expected during the downturn, because jobs disappeared and people applied for benefits sooner than they had planned. At the same time, the program's revenue has fallen sharply, because there are fewer paychecks to tax."

According to the CBO report from which that article is drawn, the deficit will persist until around 2014, at which point it will go temporarily back into surplus before returning permanently to the red in 2018. This is a small but permanent deterioration of the program's finances--the people who have retired early will pay no more FICA taxes, and they'll have less in the way of taxable Social Security benefits.

Meanwhile, at a time when tax revenues are already hurting bad, this will force the general fund to subsidize Social Security, rather than the other way around.

This is the canary in the coal mine; if Social Security's finances are in trouble, Medicare's will also be looking worse. While I was at the Kauffman Foundation's economics blogger forum last Friday, a show of hands indicated that about 80% of the people there thought America would have a serious fiscal crisis in the next two decades. This is how it starts--not with a bang, but with a moderate decline in revenues.

More.....

Health Insurance - Why bother?

Schoolhouse Rock Parody: How a Bill REALLY Becomes a Law

Life in "Progress" City - Seattle Edition

From the city of Seattle, where there hasn't been a conservative in city government since Ug's first wheel rolled over him as he was pushing it up a hill.......

The mother of a Ballard High School student is fuming after the health center on campus helped facilitate her daughter's abortion during school hours.

The mother, whom KOMO News has chosen to identify only as "Jill," says the clinic kept the information "confidential."

When she signed a consent form, Jill figured it meant her 15-year-old could go to the Ballard Teen Health Center located inside the high school for an earache, a sports physical, even birth control, but not for help terminating a pregnancy.

"She took a pregnancy test at school at the teen health center," she said. "Nowhere in this paperwork does it mention abortion or facilitating abortion."

Jill says her daughter, a pro-life advocate, was given a pass, put in a taxi and sent off to have an abortion during school hours, all without her family knowing.

"We had no idea this was being facilitated on campus," said Jill. "They just told her that if she concealed it from her family, that it would be free of charge and no financial responsibility."

More.....

Charles Krauthammer (VAT coming soon)

3 Reasons Health Care Reform Won't Cut The Deficit By One Thin Dime.

Conyers Good and Welfare full qt.mov

And these guys are supposed to be the smarter ones?

She's the enemy

Yesterday, I continued to stew over the health care bill and it got no better when I met with two different clients back to back.

The first meeting was with Stella. Stella is worth in excess of six million dollars.

She's a retired school teacher who's simply scrimped and saved and paid attention to her investments.

Let's examine Stella's life

1) She was not born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Her family lived in Newport Kentucky during the depression where they got to participate in the annual floods along the river.

2) She's a retired school teacher.

3) She's partially disabled (one leg is significantly shorter than the other).

4) My guess is that she's probably never spent a nickel on alcohol or tobacco. Her last drink was in the communion line at church.

5) I know that she and some of my other elderly clients go to Bob Evans after Sunday mass. Probably her only dining out experience during the week.

6) She's lived in the same 1100 square foot home for the past 46 years.

7) I'm guessing that she probably spends less than $500 a year in clothing.

Contrast that to The Moron's.

The Moron's are a couple comprised of a staff MD at a local hospital and a VP for a local consumer products company. Here's a list of their qualities.

1) They left Las Vegas because of his job. Their combined income is in excess of $300,000 plus. They just abandoned their home because they were upside down on the mortgage.

2) Half of our meeting was spent addressing their relationships He can claim his kids this year, she cannot. One kid they're still fighting over custody with an ex. During our meeting, I thought they were auditioning for a reality show.

3) She's defaulted on $300,000 in student loans and they intentionally forced their withholding so they wouldn't have a refund which would be confiscated by the feds for the delinquent student loan(s). The good news is that she'll soon be in a "program" set up by the feds to get some relief on her payments.

4) Looking at the Moron's appearance it's clear that they don't hurt in the fashion world and their Lexus in the parking lot was nice and clean.

5) So you would think that a couple having such financial problems would hole up in a modest four family in some decent school district for the kids. Not the Moron's, they jumped right into a land contract for a $525,000 home right here in Loveland. Keep in mind that $525K buys one hell of a lot a house in Redville.

What really bothers me is how "progressives" have constructed this health care bill so that people like Stella can pay for others health care. Why? Because she can afford it.

A long time ago, I did some math on how much I would be worth if I didn't drink or dine out. Let me tell you. The numbers were staggering. But I decided that having those extra liquid breads at Willie's was worth more to me than being a millionaire; hence I'm not one. But it would never dawn on me to ask Stella to pay for my health care because she made different choices in her life

I just wonder how many people who are without health insurance live lives like the Moron's (and the Gekko's) and would have the balls to walk up to Stella's door and and demand that she pay for their insurance because she could afford it?

How about all these liberal congress people, bloggers and union members. How many of them would go to Stella's door and demand she pay for the Moron's insurance?

We've anesthetized the process but the effect is still the same.

I'm thinking Stella should just go on a Las Vegas bender and put her six million on black. If she loses, she can expect someone else to pay for her donut hole. It sure beats being villified for the scourge of society that she is.

Deep Thoughts

Given that I have a right to bear arms, I'm wondering when the guys from "Progress" Ohio are going to buy me that new 9mm I've had my eyes on?

"A Time for Choosing" by Ronald Reagan

The terrorist disconnect

The Obama administration is upping the use of terrorist drone strikes in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Think about the tremendous hypocrisy of the use of these drones as it pertains to the Obamunists.

If you are a terrorist captured in the battle field, the Obamunists want you arrested, read your Miranda rights and detained until you receive your trial in New York where a jury of your peers will determine if you are truly a terrorist.

But if you are spotted by drone in Waziristan, an unnamed and unaccountable CIA agent in Florida will determine without use of a trial or even a good questioning whether you will be summarily executed.

Don't get me wrong, I think a hell fire missile to the terrorist's temple is a good thing provided that an option to capture them is unlikely or impractical. But ideally the best option is to get these guys on the battlefield, introduce them to some good enhanced interrogation techniques, get intelligence to capture more and then send them to a military tribunal for their trial.

But where is the consistency that some terrorists will receive top of the line American civilian justice and some will be blown to bits for just being a suspect?

Of course you won't here a peep from the libs because now it's a good war.

I'm sure many terrorist would prefer the Bush treatment as opposed to being turned to chum.

Graph of the day

Cost to taxpayers for each extra car sold because of Cash for Clunkers: $20,000

Number of clunkers turned in (and taken out of the market): 677,081

Price increase for used cars since CfC: 13.7%

Change in car sales from July 2009 to February 2010: -0.6%

Source: News N Economics.

Thanks to reader Jeremy for the link.....

Why buy health insurance now?

Since insurance companies have to insure pre existing conditions, why bother buying health insurance at all? Until you need it............

"Since preexisting conditions will be covered under the law, then there is no reason to continue padding the coffers of the evil health insurance companies, who are only using your premiums to withhold coverage from all those poor, uncovered props, er, victims used by the President over the last month to illustrate just how evil they truly are."

Mutt claims that it will be more advantageous for policyholders to stop paying hundreds and even thousands of dollars annually in premiums to the insurance providers and remit the $2,000 fine directly to the IRS, whose 16,000 new health commission agents will be prowling the countryside, knocking on doors and verifying coverage. "If you sincerely believe the government knows more about health care than the insurance companies, then why pay those thousands of dollars when you can stroke a penalty check directly to the government who knows better too what is best for you?" he asked. "God knows the IRS can make better use of your money than Anthem, or Optima or one of those other awful organizations."

..."When those IRS agents come a’knockin’, just look them in the eye, tell them no, you have no health insurance, but you will happily pay the no-insurance fine," Mutt stated, "And you may also want to whisper to them that neighbors Marv and Dot, two doors down, carry one of those reviled ‘discount’ health plans – you know, the ones deemed ‘unacceptable’ by the Health Commission, bought off a business card tacked up in a Sheetz Station. It may be worth a discount in your own IRS penalty payment to see Marv and Dot hauled away to insurance prison!"

"Then, if you have a diagnosis of colon cancer – boo-yah! Get on the phone to Anthem, tell ‘em you have cancer, and that you want to buy health insurance to cover your treatments... And tell 'em they better not gouge you because of the cancer, because that is illegal now. Better for them to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for your cancer treatments than for you to pay premiums when you aren’t even sick."

"That’s not crazy, that's just good economic sense."

Read the rest....

HT Doug Ross

But I thought abortions weren't in this bill

That's what we were told by Bart Stupak and Steve Driehaus. But if that's the case why was Planned Parenthood, not exactly your big pro life group, so giddy?

Planned Parenthood called the pro-abortion health care bill the House approved late Sunday night a victory and applauded the financial windfall is expected to reap as a result. The abortion business also dismissed the executive order President Barack Obama promised Congressman Bart Stupak as harmless.

“For more than a year, Planned Parenthood has worked tirelessly for a health care” bill, its president Cecile Richards said in a statement today. “It’s a huge victory for women’s health, but our work isn’t over yet.”

With passage of the legislation, “monumental progress was made toward achieving these goals.”

Richard dismissed the executive order, which has been slammed by pro-life groups, as a “a symbolic gesture … to anti-choice Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI), which has diverted attention from the central goal.”

“Planned Parenthood is also extremely pleased that members of the House listened to the millions of women and men who expressed their strong opposition to the Stupak abortion ban. Stopping the Stupak ban was a high priority,” she said. “It was a tough fight, but we salute Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D- CA), Congressman Rosa DeLauro (D–CT) , members of the House Pro-Choice Caucus.”

Despite Stupak’s contention that the executive order would implement his abortion funding ban, Richards says that’s not the case.

‘What the president’s executive order did not do is include the complete and total ban … that Congressman Bart Stupak (D–MI) had insisted upon,” Richards said. “So while we regret that this proposed Executive Order has given the imprimatur of the president to Senator Nelson’s language, it is critically important to note that it does not include the Stupak abortion ban.”

“Thanks to supporters like you, we were able to keep the Stupak abortion ban out of the final legislation and President Obama did not include the Stupak language in his Executive Order,” Richards admitted.

More.....

It's already started

That didn't take long........

The bond market is saying that it’s safer to lend to Warren Buffett than Barack Obama.

Two-year notes sold by the billionaire’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. in February yield 3.5 basis points less than Treasuries of similar maturity, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Procter & Gamble Co., Johnson & Johnson and Lowe’s Cos. debt also traded at lower yields in recent weeks, a situation former Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. chief fixed-income strategist Jack Malvey calls an “exceedingly rare” event in the history of the bond market.

The $2.59 trillion of Treasury Department sales since the start of 2009 have created a glut as the budget deficit swelled to a post-World War II-record 10 percent of the economy and raised concerns whether the U.S. deserves its AAA credit rating. The increased borrowing may also undermine the first-quarter rally in Treasuries as the economy improves.

“It’s a slap upside the head of the government,” said Mitchell Stapley, the chief fixed-income officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at Fifth Third Asset Management, which oversees $22 billion. “It could be the moment where hopefully you realize that risk is beginning to creep into your credit profile and the costs associated with that can be pretty scary.”

Nah....... It's the moment when you decide to create a huuuuuuuumongous entitlement program we can't pay for to add to the hundreds of other we can't pay for.

More........

Al Sharpton Claims American Public Voted for Socialism When Electing Obama

It's only going to get worse

I've noted repeatedly on this blog that I'm not a conservative for me but for the rank and file blue collar worker who is reliant upon a strong economy and a strong business environment to provide for the families.

Thanks to the Obamaunists, those workers will continue to struggle as companies continue to outsource jobs to other countries because of lower costs and regulation.

The LA Times on the He-cession...........

Obama's brand of liberalism is exactly the sort likely to drive such voters away. More like LBJ's than FDR's, Obama-style liberalism favors benefits over relief, a safety net over direct job programs, healthcare and environmental reform over financial reform and a stimulus package that has focused more on social service jobs -- healthcare work, teaching and the like -- rather than the areas where a majority of job losses occurred: construction, manufacturing and related sectors.

This recession remains disproportionately a "he-cession." Men account for at least 7 of 10 workers who lost jobs, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Blue-collar men have suffered 57% of the job losses. And blue-collar white men, who make up only 11% of the workforce, constitute 36% of those who have lost jobs. In total, nearly half of the recession's casualties are white men, having held 46% of all jobs lost.

In 1994, liberals tried to explain their thinning ranks by casting aspersions on the white men who were fleeing, and the media took up the cry. The term "angry white male" or "angry white men" was mentioned 37 times in English-language news media contained in the Nexis database between 1980 and the 1994 election. In the following year, the phrases appear 2,306 times.

Tarnishing their opponents as merely "angry" was poor politics for the Democrats. Liberals know what it's like to have their views -- most recently on the war in Iraq or George W. Bush -- caricatured as merely irrational anger. Most voters vote their interests. And many white men by the 1980s had decided the Democrats were no longer interested in them.

But they get to look forward to a shittier future now.

More....

The United States of Greece

So just how do I know that this health care bill is horrible for the country?

Just review my notes from December.............

Let's assume that these health care bill(s) were a totally kick ass pieces of legislation that would cure all of our country's health care woes.

1) You're telling me that that not one republican wouldn't have signed up so they could go back to their constituents extolling everything they do for them? That's not a politicians nature. It's definitely not a republican's nature

2) You're telling me that not one liberal republican like Snowe, Rinovich, Collins, Grahamnesty, et al wouldn't have loved to jump ship to the dark side given their "bi partisan" make up? Getting all these guys together is like herding cats; next to impossible.

3) If these bills are so awesome, how is it that it took billions of dollars of bribes to even get all the democrats on board?

4) What kind of calculated risk is there here? Again, assuming that this thing is awesome, it means that republicans will be out of power for for at least a half a century for trying to obstruct it. Why would any of them do that?

5) Why do democrats care if any of these get bi partisan support? Let's face it, if I have a great bill I want all the credit. Unless, maybe it's not so great, then I'm looking to spread the blame.

On second thought, maybe I'm giving the republicans too much credit here. Maybe these bills are so horrible that not even one of them can support them; taking no political courage what so ever.

There seems to be a certain irony that this bill passes on the same month that social security now starts redeeming all those IOU's to pay the baby boomers retirement.

I can hear the United moving vans loading up all those manufacturing jobs to Mexico as we speak.

Here's a wager for any liberal out there willing to bet it.

$100.00 says that unemployment under the Obama administration will never be below 8.5%.

What's Wrong With A Little Socialism

The Hill they'll die on

Rep Steve Driehaus D Ohio District 1, has made repeated claims that he'll vote against the Health Care Bill unless the abortion language is changed.

I suspect that Driehaus already knows that he's a lame duck and will overwhelmingly be voted out in November. I also suspect that he'll come up with some lame last minute claim that democratic leadership changed the bill to his pro life satisfaction and will vote for the bill.

Regardless, if you don't believe that abortion isn't the hill democrats are willing to die on then read this.......

A leading abortion rights advocate in the House said on Saturday that as many as 50 lawmakers were prepared to abandon health care reform legislation if the final bill were to include more restrictive abortion language.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told reporters that she has conveyed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she and at least 49 other pro-choice Democrats would vote against the final measure if abortion language authored by Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) were to be reinserted.

"She knows that," Schakowsky said, "and the Speaker is pro-choice herself. She has made it very clear to Bart Stupak that there is no deal. But he can't seem to take yes for an answer."

Schakowsky said that she would consider supporting a potential fallback option to the impasse currently over abortion: an executive order by the President affirming that no federal funds went to the procedure. Another pro-choice lawmaker, Rep. Diana Degette (D-Colo.), said she would also consider the compromise.

Beyond that, however, it looks like there is little wiggle room with the pro-choice caucus.

"There is no deal with Bart Stupak," Schakowsky said. "If the Stupak language is on the bill than the bill fails because you can't use this historic transformation of health care to throw women and their reproductive rights under the bus entirely."

The whole thing at The Huffington Post.

So you have a chance to pass an historical piece of health care legislation but abortion will be sole issue that makes or breaks it's passing?

If that isn't the hill they'll die on, I don't know what is.

Life in "Progress" State

From the Wolverine state of Michigan, where there hasn't been a conservative in state government since Ug rolled the first wheel down a glacier.

So Michigan's got a big time budget deficit, depression like unemployment, abandoned cities so what better way to celebrate than to have "Meatout Day"...........

Michigan hunters and meat producers had a collective cow today at the news Gov. Jennifer Granholm had issued an official proclamation declaring Saturday "Michigan Meatout Day."

The proclamation was labeled “unconscionable and insensitive to livestock and dairy farmers by the Michigan Farm Bureau.

“It’s inconceivable to us that the governor could stoop to this level of telling people what they should and shouldn’t eat based on the philosophies of 'food elitists,' ” said Farm Bureau President Wayne Wood.

Michigan United Conservation Clubs posted an image of the proclamation on its Facebook page, quickly eliciting a call from members to observe Meatout Day by having a massive barbecue on the Capitol lawn.

Granholm’s proclamation, issued at the urging of vegetarian activists, cited the benefits of a plant-based diet and the increasing availability of alternatives to meat and dairy products for vegans and vegetarians. Following a series of “whereases,” Granholm encourages “the residents of this state to choose not to eat meat” on Saturday.

Read the rest.

You know what's so "progressive" about meat out? The fact that under "progressive" policies you won't be able to afford eating good quality animal flesh.