Everyone in the United States, every illegal immigrant, every visitor to the US, every child, and every old person has health care. Everyone of the alleged forty million uninsured will get free medical care if they need it and show up at a hospital. 85% of all Americans have a paid insurance plan. 85% is a big number. Imagine being right in the market 85% of the time, or have an 85% chance of recovering from cancer, or a president with an 85% approval rating.
Many of the uncovered 15% have made the economic decision not to pay for insurance because they do no want to. They know they will be covered in an emergency. I pay for my own insurance and pay 100% of the policy for everyone who works for me. That is my choice. It gives me an advantage to get people who I want to work for me. If the government wants to coerce the remaining 15% to get insurance that is fine with me.
They could start by deducting premium payments from any and all government assistance payments being made to the uncovered individual.
I would wager that many of the uninsured drive without auto insurance. It would take little to put insurance information on a drivers license and have all licenses swiped at the pump at the time of purchase. No insurance on the driver and/or the car, let them pay an extra buck or two or three per gallon, and be insured for the time it takes them to use a tank of gas. They will soon see the value of a private insurance plan.
Other than that let the lying bastards in the government mind their own business and leave the rest of us alone.
Other than that let the lying bastards in the government mind their own business and leave the rest of us alone.
ReplyDeleteJust do not enable the Administration any more, duece.
Stop it!
It is a wonderful thing, that you pay those folk's health care insurance premiums, to bad the payments are not considered taxable income for those employees.
Even though it is, income.
It would take little to put insurance information on a drivers license and have all licenses swiped at the pump at the time of purchase.That sounds like a good idea, that I've never heard before.
ReplyDeleteThough it might touch off a small black market in gas, it should sure put a dent in driving without insurance.
Think that George Will lurks at the Bar?
ReplyDeleteTincture of Lawlessness<
By George Will.
WASHINGTON -- Anyone, said T.S. Eliot, could carve a goose, were it not for the bones. And anyone could govern as boldly as their whims decreed, were it not for the skeletal structure that keeps civil society civil -- the rule of law. The Obama administration is bold. It also is careless regarding constitutional values and is acquiring a tincture of lawlessness.
In February, California's Democratic-controlled Legislature, faced with a $42 billion budget deficit, trimmed $74 million (1.4 percent) from one of the state's fastest growing programs, which provides care for low-income and incapacitated elderly and cost the state $5.42 billion last year. The Los Angeles Times reports that "loose oversight and bureaucratic inertia have allowed fraud to fester."
But the Service Employees International Union collects nearly $5 million a month from 223,000 caregivers who are members. And the Obama administration has told California that unless the $74 million in cuts are rescinded, it will deny the state $6.8 billion in stimulus money.
Such a federal ukase (the word derives from czarist Russia; how appropriate) to a state legislature is a sign of the administration's dependency agenda -- maximizing the number of people and institutions dependent on the federal government. For the first time, neither sales nor property nor income taxes are the largest source of money for state and local governments. The federal government is.
Mr Will read and understood the lessons of Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals".
Even trish dislikes George, so he must be on the right track to rightousness.
Swipe your ID at the pump to make sure you are not exceeding your "fair share" ration of gas, too.
ReplyDeleteWell, there are questions like that, too.
ReplyDelete4:00 am here, just when the birds start their early morning chipping. Must be time to go to bed.
Other than that let the lying bastards in the government mind their own business and leave the rest of us alone.
ReplyDeleteWhy extend their digital control all the way to the gas pumps.
That is certainly an interesting interpretation of the meaning I thought was derived from "...leaving us alone...".
More in line with an expansion of them "...minding their own business...".
What is the business of the Federals, at the gas pump, checking up on Health Insurance premiums?
Why not at the subway token dispenser?
Why not just scan the bar code tattooed on the back of your hand?
The Troubled Assets Relief Program, which has not yet been used for its supposed purpose (to purchase such assets from banks), has been the instrument of the administration's adventure in the automobile industry. TARP's $700 billion, like much of the supposed "stimulus" money, is a slush fund the executive branch can use as it pleases. This is as lawless as it would be for Congress to say to the IRS: We need $3.5 trillion to run the government next year, so raise it however you wish -- from whomever, at whatever rates you think suitable. Don't bother us with details.
ReplyDeleteThis is not gross, unambiguous lawlessness of the Nixonian sort -- burglaries, abuse of the IRS and FBI, etc. -- but it is uncomfortably close to an abuse of power that perhaps gave Nixon ideas: When in 1962 the steel industry raised prices, President Kennedy had a tantrum and his administration leaked rumors that the IRS would conduct audits of steel executives, and sent FBI agents on pre-dawn visits to the homes of journalists who covered the steel industry, ostensibly to further a legitimate investigation.
The Obama administration's agenda of maximizing dependency involves political favoritism cloaked in the raiment of "economic planning" and "social justice" that somehow produce results superior to what markets produce when freedom allows merit to manifest itself, and incompetence to fail. The administration's central activity -- the political allocation of wealth and opportunity -- is not merely susceptible to corruption, it is corruption.
The perimeter to stop government intrusion has been breached. I think you told us that Rat. My new line of defense it to halt needs based sharing, tribalist that I am.
ReplyDeleteSeems a reasonable position to take, though the idea of linking cars to health insurance ...
ReplyDeleteWhile the subway riders skate ....
Well Rat, maybe I
ReplyDeleteam misinformed, but did you not make many a post showing us how entrenched the automobile is in the US? Seems to me that you recited some compelling statistics as to the size of the US auto fleet and how impossible it would be to convert away from gasoline fueled engines. I merely have extrapolated from your data.
I did say that 85% was a big number. In my economic model I had not considered the fatal impact of subway users.
Welcome to Soviet Amerika...
ReplyDeleteOur Great Father will solve our issues...
Health care for all... and those that stole their wealth from the masses? they will share to be fair...
share to be fair...
Our Great Leader has spoken....
The problem we've got, Bubba, is that when they show up at the emergency room we're paying for it, anyway; but we're not getting our money's worth.
ReplyDeleteThey give'm a battery of expensive tests, determine it's Not "life-threatening," give'em a prescription for some pills, and send'em home.
Then, they do it all over again the next day, or week. Nobody ever gets "cured."
It's Horrendously Expensive, and, you (and, I) are paying for it.
Exactly, and gentle persuasion will not have much influence over the 15% who take at no cost to them what others have to pay for. Thus my reccomendation. I have to ponder on the subway riders.
ReplyDeleteAnd a large part of that waste is on non-citizens, who the Obamatron ACORN nuts recruit to vote.
ReplyDeleteW presented Obama the nuclear trigger, the rest is the history we are living through.
ReplyDeleteHeads in the SandThe so-called Sunni Awakening, in which American forces formed tactical alliances with local sheikhs, has been credited with dampening the insurgency in much of Iraq. But new evidence suggests that the Sunnis were offering the same deal as early as 2004—one that was eagerly embraced by commanders on the ground, but rejected out of hand at the highest levels of the Bush administration.
ReplyDelete---
More evidence that Rumsfeld, Garner, and company, and many commanders pursued workable plans to leave sooner rather than later, but W chose to take the advice of Wolfie, Feith, Slocum et al and have Bremmer screw things up, just like they did with the original Garner plan not to disband the Army.
What is Deuce refering to about the Subways?
ReplyDeletedesert rat said...
ReplyDeleteSeems a reasonable position to take, though the idea of linking cars to health insurance ...
While the subway riders skate ....
Sun May 17, 07:47:00 AM EDT
We need a Federalist Party!
ReplyDeleteDid you see the Rumsfeld Slides shown on the GC web site.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia's worthless Dems in Sacramento were too honest for the boys from Chicago, so the put the Stimulus Billions on the line for leverage.
ReplyDeleteWhat else could Sacramento do?
...they gave more money away to the service employees, union, big Obama funders.
Cool,
ReplyDeleteMost of us knew really, in our heart of hearts, that W's cave on the Crusade marked the begining of the end of a non-long war with a clear victory.
Giving up the Hat and the Swagger was the final proof.
No more Cowboy, we are all Indians now, or worse, simply dhimmis.
"There was exasperation,” recalls a senior aide. “‘How much more are we going to have to endure? Why are we keeping this guy?’” Rumsfeld has also received ongoing criticism that his Bush-mandated efforts to modernize America’s Cold War–era military contributed to the early stumbles in Iraq. But in speaking with the former Bush officials, it becomes evident that Rumsfeld impaired administration performance on a host of matters extending well beyond Iraq to impact America’s relations with other nations, the safety of our troops, and the response to Hurricane Katrina."
ReplyDelete---
And those insiders continued to make disasterous decisions, ditching Rumsfeld's workable plans.
Wolfie, Feith, Slocum, with Bremmer and Bernie Kerik (!) for a while, to put their mistakes into action.
ReplyDeleteThe problem, Deuce, is "insurability."
ReplyDeleteThe Only way you can afford to insure the "sick" is to insure "everybody." Mandates are absolutely necessary.
When you go to work for a big corporation the health insurance premium is paid whether you wish it to be, or not. If you get your pay stub, the "Medicare" premium has been deducted. Period.
There are Millions of Americans (many of them young) with "Preexisting Conditions." They cannot, at present, buy health insurance for the condition that will put them in the emergency room next week. Or, next month.
We should be studying Massachusetts. It must be working pretty good, because you just don't read much about the "problems."
Rush just had a caller from Mass. describing some disaster.
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can find what it was.
Oh, I'm sure the woods are full of individuals that have had a "disaster" with Any statewide system.
ReplyDeleteI was reluctant to get hooked up with the VA. I'd heard stories of horror by various individuals, etc. But, I did, and I'm very glad I did. My care has been excellent.
I remember the Screams of Pain from Republicans when various states started passing laws requiring SR-22 Car Insurance. It was "Communism," it was "Totalitarianism,", yada yada, yada. Well, now it seems like a "no-brainer."
We need a Nationwide system of health insurance modeled on SR-22.
"In many ways the government is self-enabling, and no individual can stop it.
ReplyDeleteBut since I may not fully understand your storyline, explain please, why and how you think individuals are enabling the Government, and how they could avoid it, please do.
Since you, as a newly employeed Federal, actually are enabling Obama and his Administration to function.
Are you advising yourself to quit, in the effort to disempower the Administration.
A resignation in protest of the enabling election results?
The combined decision of those voters being what empowers any Administration or the combined three branches of US Government"Yes, I'm enabling it as well, to some extent. As is every tax payer.
But I'm not spinning their propaganda work for them, whether out of enjoyment or sadism.
"No one individual, here or anywhere van "enable" this or the past Administration."Nonsense, each and every individual is responsible for their own decisions and actions, however large or small in their effects.
The Indiana P;an covered the uninsured, wit h Health Savings Accounts. I do not know the particulars, but the GOP Governor there, who implement it, is recieving some good press.
ReplyDeleteThat'll scuttle him in doug world.
Ower 300 million cars and growing, even at the lower production levels.
Seems they are not junked out faster than they are built, even now.
The private individual cannot, sinless, disempower the Admiistration, so it cannot empower it, either.
ReplyDeleteTo present a rational for the actions of the Government is not empowering that Government, it is attempting to find a theme which guides it.
Stating that Cuba has a lower infant mortalitiy rate than the US does not empower or enable Cuba.
It is observing the reported reality.
Working for the Government definately does empower and enable that Government.
Federal employees empower the Administration every time they go to work and then again when they cash their check.
Seems they are not junked out faster than they are built, even now.
ReplyDeleteNor should they be. Run 'em til the wheels fall off, and then put 'em up on blocks in the yard. Parts.
Sentimental attraction plays a part. Save 'em till they're gutted out, and then paint 'em gray. Stock up and erect your own Car Henge. Don't save Chrysler products, though.
County comes around? Tell 'em you're organizing an automotive museum, another roadside attraction. Free passes to the neighbors.
Federal employees empower the Administration every time they go to work and then again when they cash their check.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget to add: ...and when they share their opinions at the bar.
While everyone is responsible for their actions, it does not follow that those actions can enable the Federal Government, or disable it, either.
ReplyDeleteBeing responsible for ones actions means being responsible for the effects of those actions.
Or thoughts would be criminal, not behaviours.
So if there is no ill or good effect obtained, there is little to be held responsible for.
Who amongst us furthers the Federal agenda each and every working day, more than the Federal employees?
May 17, 2009
ReplyDeletePakistan to attack Taliban in Bin Laden’s lairPAKISTAN is to extend its war on the Taliban beyond Swat into the fiercely independent tribal areas bordering Afghanistan where Osama Bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda leadership are believed to be hiding.
“We’re going to go into Waziristan, all these regions, with army operations,” President Asif Ali Zardari told The Sunday Times in an interview. “Swat is just the start. It’s a larger war to fight.”
Donations appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Rat. Mitch Daniels is a pretty smart cookie. I'll have to look around and see what I can scrounge up on his plan.
ReplyDeleteI was reluctant to get hooked up with the VA. I'd heard stories of horror by various individuals, etc. But, I did, and I'm very glad I did. My care has been excellent.--
ReplyDelete--
That's what a friend says here too. He just had a bypass and is doing fine. Well, a lot better.
The local county commissioners meet once every week or two and go through the bills. They have been paying about 41% of the average indigent medical bill, I have discovered, after finding the billing outrageious. The indigent, and illegal aliens pay nothing. Some of this gets passed on in higher property taxes from the state. What the feds contribute or how I'm not exactly sure. The hospitals are overbilling to point where it is fraud. Same with some of the doctors. (One doc I talked to says some of the doctors overprescibe, just to make money) Doctors always live in nice homes, drive nice cars, have a vacation home, maybe an airplane. The nurses are expensive. Blue Cross/Blue Shield keep raising rates. We've lost 5 doctors here recently, going to greener pastures, the others are not taking more patients. You'd have a hard time getting a simple physical if you don't know your way around. The whole system creaks, starting to give way.
ReplyDeleteOne proposed answer, just bump off the old people :)
Rationing.
If we just had the healthy walking around, I quess we wouldn't need doctors at all!
My proposal--build a medical school in Boise, for starters. It's time.
Seems everybody is guilty, except the dead, from the date of their death.
ReplyDeleteAfter the funeral expenses are paid.
ReplyDeleteI was reluctant to get hooked up with the VA. I'd heard stories of horror by various individuals, etc. But, I did, and I'm very glad I did. My care has been excellent.
ReplyDeleteSame here, Rufus. I got in through a glitch in my intake interview. Then IRS said my income didn't meet means test criteria, and VA said my application being made after Jan-03 didn't qualify me for
entering the co-pay required catagory, which I would expect you're in. Our politicians seem to have meddled again. I'm in the curious position of getting my RX's filled, but can't get an appointment for ongoing exams. It's idiotic because I also carried over health insurance from federal employment into retirement, and the VA still gets reimbursed there.
I want back in to VA simple because it's the best I've experiencd.
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ReplyDeleteheh, my life insurance company, Northwestern Mutual Life, is in the final stages of a class action suit.
ReplyDeleteSeems they weren't paying some dividends on certain term life policies when the legal reality was they should have been doing so. That's the type of policy my wife's policy is in.
Got a letter from them the other day saying 'while no guilt is admitted' I would be getting a check.
No check. So I called, seems there's been a delay, all the parties to the suit being not totally satisfied.
The lawyers get a third of the proposed settlement, a litte over $34 million by my calculations.
I am getting a $50/month credit to my insurance bill. And am hoping for a check.
Whether I'll live to see it remains undetermined.
The nation's new vibrant growth sector--the underground economy.
ReplyDeleteIs it any wonder that more and more of the economy is being driven into the untaxed underground? --
--
Caracas on the Potomac--
--
If all blog posts were taxed, per post, like letters, we'd have longer, fewer, more intelligent posts.
:)
"The private individual cannot, sinless, disempower the Admiistration, so it cannot empower it, either."Really? So now, apparently, the voters themselves did not empower the Administration either. Nor, apparently, the people who influence how they vote, in their own little ways.
ReplyDeleteGovernments are created and carry out their policies as the result of millions of individuals - inside and out - all interacting in their own ways.
Face it, Desert Rat, you've made a career out of unabashedly arguing both sides of every case, and then subsequently declaring yourself a prophet. Some people are fooled by such chicanery, but certainly not everyone.
I thot you'd say they'd Euthanize you first.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have nightmares about that, while Rufus dreams of Eternal Life under national healthcare.
Yin and Yang.
Which is al-Bob?
If I had the time and inclination, I could carry out the equivalent of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, merely by quoting you...Not that isn't true for other people here, as well.
ReplyDeleteSince posts are free--
ReplyDelete"we’re trying to get the money out as quickly as we can, but not too quickly, so we don’t end up really screwing up here.”--
--
Joe Biden
----
It's all up to the wife, al-Doug.
But, I like the term 'letting nature take it course'--rather than 'euthanize', which sounds so darned harsh.
As to eternal life it's up to God, or the nature of things.
Lincoln-Douglas debatesfor verbosity, not content
ReplyDeleteTax internet postings, I say!
I just don't want the government, and Ash, mucking around in my end of life decisions.
ReplyDeleteIf you cover both sides of every question, you can claim to have always been right.
ReplyDeleteThis has its advantages.
Probabably a few day late but what the hey!
ReplyDeleteLet me say:
I like Dick Cheney and have absolutely no problem whatsoever with him speaking up about the present administration's missteps regarding national security.
Furthermore, I do not see him (Cheney), Rumsfeld or Rove as evil, Machivellian characters. I'll take them any day over the likes of Rahm Emanuel, Hillary Clinton, or Joe Biden.
ReplyDeleteThe situation is degrading to hardened battle lines...and that's not good for the country.
I don't want National Health Care, Doug. I just want Health Insurance available to all, and mandated.
ReplyDeleteHealth insurance available and mandated to all sounds like National Health insurance to me.
ReplyDeleteWho is going to pay for it and who is going to manage it? You've got a significant segment of the populace pushing for single payer and universal health insurance. Also, much is said about the Obama plan eventually putting the private plans out of business.
Its going to be very interesting to see how we're going to pay for all these grand social programs. Even more interesting to see the reactions when the realization dawns that we can't pay for anything except the interest on the debt.
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ReplyDeleteHey, Sinless implied we're all as bad as 'Rat.
ReplyDeleteI vote to disbar Sinless, and exact a cover charge equal in percent to Obamatributes tm for each visit and post.
As long as Obama's around Whit, they'll just call that
ReplyDelete"Interesting Times"
and move on.
Gotta admit, Whit, it will be interesting when interest is all there is.
...if you see my (extremely interesting)point.
Sung to the tune of
ReplyDelete"Is that all there is"
Which only us codgers will recognize.
Ladies and gentlemen:
ReplyDeleteMr. Thompson will not speak to you tonight. His time is up. I have taken it over. You were to hear a report on the world crisis. That is what you are going to hear.
For twelve years, you have been asking:
Who is John Galt? This is John Galt speaking. I am the man who loves his life. I am the man who does not sacrifice his love or his values. I am the man who has deprived you of victims and thus has destroyed your world, and if you wish to know why you are perishing -- you who dread knowledge -- I am the man who will now tell you...
------
Wi"O" said it: Read Atlas Shrugged.
The trajectories of life and art draw closer each day.
Every state in the Union, so far as I know, has "Mandatory" Auto Insurance. How has that worked out?
ReplyDeleteThose with insurance pay for those w/o.
ReplyDeleteNo, that's the system we had before. You remember, the "uninsured" driver ran into you, and you paid it all. Now, you just pay "part" (by partially subsidizing the SR-22 guy's premium.)
ReplyDeleteWe're already "subsidizing" the uninsured when they go to the ER. We're just Not getting our money's worth. In fact, we're, basically, flushing it down the crapper.
Guys, I've seen this in action. I've seen a gal go through, probably, a hundred thousand of your money going to the emergency room with Endo, and Crones Disease, when 10 Grand in "treatment" would have, basically, carried the day.
I'm telling you, guys, you don't realize how fouled up the current system is. It's a Mess; and it's costing you a LOT of money.
The situation is degrading to hardened battle lines...and that's not good for the country.That's true, at least the first part. 27 arrested at Obama's Notre Dame speech. Speech interrupted by boos, etc.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long time since I've seen anybody really protest except the lefties. And I admit I get something of a kick out of it.
Though I don't like some of the tactics.
People need the health care, for sure. Question is, how to pay for it and keep it more or less 'fair', and keep Ash from rationing it., and let a person have their own doctor.
ReplyDeleteWe've got 50 states. Maybe as many ideas. What fits New York City may not fit here.
"We've got 50 states. Maybe as many ideas. What fits New York City may not fit here."
ReplyDelete---
Sounds like Ruf is surrounded by Trent Lott Benificiaries Quality Healthcare.
Meanwhile, mine is more like the Senators themselves.
Plus, the docs don't know Ima jerk, which cannot be the case for Reid, Pelosi, et al.
Anonymity has it's benefits!
Trent Lott's Swamp Rat Medical Center.
ReplyDeleteOn the car insurance, Ruf, not sure exactly what you mean:
ReplyDeleteWhen they made it "Mandatory" here, some more people probly got insurance, but it did not stop a sizeable minority from driving w/o, as over time people learned more ways to evade the law until they get caught.
Then they get caught get a wrist slap, and most no doubt resume breaking the law.
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ReplyDeleteHealth services are effectively rationed now, bob. By your report.
ReplyDeleteYou have a solution, but it is not being promoted. If you do not want to work on the 2010 election, start having folks over for tea, promoting a teaching hospital.
Back in the olden days, sinless. Back before you were amongst us, I played the ideological card, pretty consistently. I was for a change of course in Iraq. Aiming towards a policy where we were turning over responsibility for Iraq to the Iraqi.
We should have started sooner and been more effedtive. A major mistake was made when General P was removed from training the Iraqi Army and transfered to Kansas.
Cost us years of wasted effort and the 2008 election, beyond doubt.
doug links to a report that, in retrospect, outlines the debate within the Admnistration. When it did count, there was no arguing both sides.
Now, this is entertainment, blogging.
The political battle that counted was lost, my side routed, in mass retreat. The survivors hunkerin' down and armin' up.
Which is the steady state of life, here, nothing new there.
Seein' as how we are refugees from the life of a Rockefeller staff member at the Tri-lateral Commission meetings and such.
I don't think that Obama will miss going to the mosque, in Eygpt, not takin' two sides of that one. I do think he'll go to the Temple Mount, too.
Sooner rather than later.
How 'bout you?
I thought Obama would win the election, after I heard him speak, and he then swept the caucus States.
When "Maverick" became the GOP nominee, that sealed the deal.
Did not play both sides there, except to endorse the Librarian, hoping he'd garner 5% of the vote or so. He didn't even do that well, Nationally.
Ron Paul promoted a theme I could support, whit thought he was a tad of center, until well after the FL primary had come and gone.
Indeed, I do not think I argue both sides of most issues, just the ones I find the most entertaining. I which case it is just an intellectual pursuit of pleasure.
Not much of a political statement.
I don't work for the Feds, I am not someone that empowers the Federal agenda with their daily efforts, but one that pays for those that do, instead.
Coercive takings are not enabling.
Volunteery employment is.
Stop enabling the Administration, sinless.
Get a real job, in the real economy.
Do something productive for the Nation, add to the vitality of the economic opportunities that the private sector of the US provides, don't become a leech off of those that do.
The local Iraqi elections, that they had organized themselves, schduled for 23Jun03, should have been promoted and celebrated, as a first step in a democratic movement, not cancelled at gun point by the Liberators of Iraq.
ReplyDeleteNever took any other side of that issue. It was the first and greatest blunder of the Iraqi war.
All the other missteps followed US taking that wrong course, initially.
Let say this, bob, " ... health services are ineffectively rationed, by your report. ..."
ReplyDeleteThat is a more accurate statement of reality.
I posted that @ BC and got the standard, unanamous reply, different in details only:
ReplyDeleteThe way it was was the way it had to be.
Obviously a preposterous notion, but good enough to satisfy them.
I think there is clear witness from people who were there, that for Iraqis, there was a clear dividing line between the overthrow of Saddam, and an occupation.
Seems Rummy's plan for both Iraq and (esp) Afghanistan was to get out ASAP.
But to argue that is to argue against perfect George, and his perfectly clueless "Neocon" advisors.
Can't have that.
Folks just seem to ignore the enormous damage done to relations between Sunni and Shia and the infrastructure of the country by the years of unnecessary warfare.
ReplyDeleteFolks act like Iraq was what it has become now, yet evidence abounds that it wasn't, and Sunni and Shia DID both serve in the Army, including the officer Corps.
...the closer to Saddam, the less that was true, of course, until you got to all the pigs that were as bad as the Hussein Boys.
Trillions in Financial Bailouts: After 2 years, the major Beneficiaries are Banks and Wall Street. What other Proof do you need that we are Focusing on Bailing out the Banking Oligarchy? Foreclosure Filings at All-Time Record High.
ReplyDeleteThe Iraqi units wuld have had an US Officer Corps, along with NCO advisors, throughout the ranks.
ReplyDeleteThe Katusa Program writ across Iraq would have done wonders at standing up a competent Iraqi military.
We had Iraqi that we were authorized to train, by Congress, but that Team43 did not follow through on, due to in-fighting within the Halls of Power.
The Decider equivicated.
It does not much matter, now.
Bush lost, Obama won.
Proper prior planning prevents piss poor performance.
The election of 2008 was called in 2003 & 2004. There was no playing both sides, didn't even know who the candidates would be, just that Iraq would be an albatross around the Republican's head.
And it was.
That other Team43 policies came to fruition in September of 2008, just more bad karma for the GOP.
And you called the insanity of the occupation before me and many others but great numbers are still Dug in in Camp Denial.
ReplyDeleteSad thing is, there may well have been proper prior planning.
ReplyDeleteThe Decider Could not Resist the Attraction of becoming George of Arabia, bringer of Democracy and Peace on Earth.
A Compassionate Giant.
All of Barry's dismal deficit forcasts assume some ridiculous growth rate (3.7, I think, higher than the average of 2002 - 2008)
ReplyDeleteGood luck for that.
What comes after a Trillion?
I’ll leave you with a quote from Henry Ford:
ReplyDelete“It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.”
Dr. Bubble
They fine the hell out of'em, here, Doug. Second offense, I think they throw'em in jail.
ReplyDeleteI'm just telling you, we have a crappy system, and it's NOT cheap. For a little more we can have a good one.
If we half-fix it the Dems will have something to "run on" next time. Might as well fix the damned thing, now, and "fix it right."
Even in the most "primitive" villages the Shaman treats everyone. If he didn't he would soon be the late, departed Shaman. The pubs are going to have to get in the front of this mess, and help sort it out, or they're going to belong to the "late, great" grand old party.
Hugh Hewitt: "How ObamaCare Will Affect Your Doctor"A key op-ed by Scott Gottlieb in today's Wall Street Journal. Key graphs: Doctors will consolidate into larger practices to spread overhead costs, and they'll cram more patients into tight schedules to make up in...That's before it goes broke, which shouldn't take long
ReplyDeleteLet say this, bob, " ... health services are ineffectively rationed, by your report. ..."--
ReplyDelete\--
That's a good way of putting it.
And if Obama gets his way, it will be worse, maybe even homicidally rationed.
Don't know who this Dr. Bubble is, but Henry Ford makes some sense.
With a revolution might come total Fed control of the banking system.
When was the last time anything got fixed in DC.
ReplyDeleteWelfare Reform, far as I can tell.
Now BHO's Washington has unfixed it again.
Good work, boys, girls, and TranieFannies.
Even in the most "primitive" villages the Shaman treats everyone. If he didn't he would soon be the late, departed Shaman.--
ReplyDelete/-
According to my man Joseph Campbell, there was in many places quit a fierce competition between the shamans.
They didn't have perfect job security, like a tenured 'professor.'
The sense I got of it was being a shaman wasn't a perfectly safe occupation.
If a patient died, and obviously many did, they'd get bad local 'press' from the other shamans, and maybe get run out of the community, or worse.
Here we let the lawyers sue 'em, it hasn't occured to us to use a different method.
Medicare's failure underscores why an inherently local undertaking like a medical practice is badly managed by a remote and political bureaucracy.--
ReplyDelete/
Good article there, Doug
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Nearly 40 people were arrested Sunday as they tried to enter the University of Notre Dame to protest President Barack Obama's appearance at commencement, police said.
ReplyDeleteAt least 39 people were taken into custody on trespassing charges, police Sgt. Bill Redman said. Among those arrested were Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as "Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. She now opposes abortion.
Obama's commencement speech capped weeks of protests at the nation's most prominent Roman Catholic university. Critics have condemned the university's decision to invite Obama, who supports abortion rights and embryonic stem-cell research, and some have called for the resignation of the Rev. John Jenkins, the university's president.--
/
And of course there is the problem of what is a doctor or a hospital to do if they are required to follow Obama mandates and it goes against their conscience?
This whole thing seems to me a nightmare in the making.
Unless you are 30 years old, and in perfect health.
It is a little-odd-to watch Notre Dame University handing out an honory degree or whatever and giving the floor to speak to a man that was for witholding care for those that against all odds manage to survive an a abortion.
ReplyDeletehehheh--HEH
ReplyDeleteAnd there's this in today's news.
Biden outdoes himself, reveals location of super-secret bunker.
In vino veritasLord, what a crew.
Biden Reveals Bunker
Coast to Coast tonight
ReplyDeleteMass Extinctions
Art Bell returns live to chat with Prof. Peter Ward about his latest work on mass extinctions and the self destructive nature of our planet. --
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Peter Ward is I think the guy from the University of Washington who had me biting at the global warming apple some time back.
Ought to be good.
-----
The Dumbest Generation--
-/
Obviously these folks ought be to reading The Elephant Bar.
Pakistan Is Rapidly Adding Nuclear Arms, U.S. Says
ReplyDeleteBy THOM SHANKER and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: May 17, 2009
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions on Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear program.
Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed the assessment of the expanded arsenal in a one-word answer to a question on Thursday in the midst of lengthy Senate testimony. Sitting beside Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, he was asked whether he had seen evidence of an increase in the size of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal.
“Yes,” he said quickly, adding nothing, clearly cognizant of Pakistan’s sensitivity to any discussion about the country’s nuclear strategy or security.
Inside the Obama administration, some officials say, Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has been a source of growing concern, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents.
What a revoltin' development this is.--
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Chester A. Riley
I see you and Doug have found the work-around for quotes in italics garbling the format, Bob.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations.
Rat found it too.
ReplyDeleteDo you suppose we should give the tip to sinless?
ReplyDeleteI forget to do it sometimes.
ReplyDeleteArt Bell is saying the Large Hardron Collider may eat us up after all. Some of the scientists at Oxford having some doubts about some of the calculations. Those mini-black holes may last longer than thought. May take in more than they expel.
What a revoltin' development this is.
Somebody around here should have quessed---Pakistan diverting development money to make more nukes.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if it merits the term "work around" if you're refering to my lame return dash return.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I forget sometimes I decide it's not worth the effort.
That's three operations, ya know.
Just so special it deserves the OT treatment:
Hotel made from wine barrelsHotel de Vrouwe van Stavoren in the Netherlands features four rooms made from giant wine barrels.
Some cool stuff about the Salton Sea here, linear.
ReplyDeleteal-Bob will link it to some mysterious hole somewhere.
Quake near LAX shakes countyThe quake hit at 8:39 p.m. and was centered near Lennox, a community between Inglewood and Hawthorne and east of Los Angeles International Airport. Lasting about 15 seconds, the temblor could be felt as far away as the High Desert, Indio, Carpinteria and San Diego County.
The earthquake was "a bit deep," said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Susan Hough -- originating 8.4 miles below the surface. "That tends to make it less sharp -- less of a jerky, abrupt motion," Hough said.
In picture number six, why do they have all those limbs piled on each side of the mini pier, al-Bob?
ReplyDeleteJohn Burns Real Estate Consulting in February identified Phoenix as "the most unique market in the nation," where affordability was better than at any time since 1981 and buying a house was once again cheaper than renting.
ReplyDeleteSince then, said Chris Porter, a manager at the Irvine-based firm, there have been signs of life in the Sacramento and Washington, D.C., housing markets.
"You'll start to see some markets emerge, and it'll be the ones that went into the downturn first," Porter said. "But it's going to be a slow recovery."
Phoenix experienced one of the most dramatic real estate crashes in the nation. Median home prices for resold homes peaked at $268,000 in June 2006. Now the median price is $120,000. It is the biggest decline in the top 20 metropolitan areas tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home price index.
The collapse was devastating in a city that has long depended on housing to power its economy. In the last year, Phoenix lost 41,000 construction jobs and 136,000 overall, accounting for 7% of its workforce.
Home building came to a halt. Many illegal immigrants, discouraged by the sudden lack of jobs, returned to Mexico. Realtors cut staff. Home prices dropped faster and faster each month for two years.
Until March. For the first time in two years, the decline in home prices slowed -- from 37% in February, compared to the previous year, to a still-painful 36%.
Phoenix's housing bust goes boom
ReplyDeletePicture # 6--
ReplyDeleteBudget cuts, al-Doug.
Otherwise they'd use real cut timber.
Those are big wine barrels, alrighty.
ReplyDeleteI think they're just made to look like wine barrels.
Without the moon we'd have a four hour day.
ReplyDeleteTwo hours sun, two hours stars.
Bless the moon.
Giver of our good weather.
Slower of our rotation.
Giver of our kind of life.
C2C
Art Bell is saying the Large Hardron Collider may eat us up after all.
ReplyDeleteOh, boy! Had to read that three times. All I could think of was Bob on a hot date behind the wheel of that old Cadillac.
Maybelline!
Doug,
ReplyDeleteIf your quote or whatever object ends in a punctuation mark, just slip the tag inside the mark. Where there's no mark, just add whatever floats your boat.
Followed by two taps on the [return] key to give you the spacing that used to be automatic, until some kids started fucking with the code.
ReplyDeleteLike I'm sure happened with Firefox 3. They ought to have adult supervision.
In picture number six, why do they have all those limbs piled on each side of the mini pier, al-Bob?
ReplyDeleteIt's a trick they learned from CalTrans, Doug. Pile your crap down on the shore and wait for highwater to wash it away. Saw it many times down the Klamath.
HADRON
ReplyDelete:)
Doug's got the Hardon Penetrator.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteAny idea how I'm going to saw that lumber while drifting down the Klamath?
Some people have ridiculous expectations, don't they?
"just slip the tag inside the mark."
ReplyDeleteYeah, that one works in other places besides blogger.
Always the safest way to do it,
so sometimes I do.
But that's just me, as everyone already knows.
I'm very selective when it comes to my anal retentive nature.
Do a few things well, I always say.
Then I do them again, and...
"a man that was for witholding care for those that against all odds manage to survive an a abortion"
ReplyDelete---
And what were President BHO's most inspirational words regarding the miracle of New Life?
"Kick em When They're Down! "
Chicago Style Warm Fuzzies.
Happily Ever Laughter
ReplyDeleteJay Leno: My mother was from Scotland, had a horrible childhood—came to the country by herself when she was 11. My grandmother had run off with a younger guy, and my grandfather was stuck with six kids.
Mavis Leno: His mom was the youngest.
JL: But he could only afford to take care of five, so they took her around the neighborhood as a servant girl to try to see if people would keep her for a few weeks.
ML: Jay, how are you telling this story? Her father took her there but not as a servant!
JL: But it gets to the comedy angle. My mother was not a depressed person, but I always sensed a sadness. Every time I could get my mother to laugh, it was like a huge gift.
My dad was Italian and very outgoing. He would say, “Show people you’re Angelo’s boy.”
My mother would say, “Whatever you do, don’t call attention to yourself.” So it was hilarious to be stuck in the middle. When I made it sort of big, I bought my dad a Cadillac, and of course, he had to get the white Cadillac d’Elegance with the red velour interior.
My mother was mortified. They would drive down the street, and she would sit below seat level, and people would say, “I saw your father driving and yelling at somebody.” Sometimes if she saw people looking, she would roll down the window and go,
“We’re not Cadillac people. My son got us this.”
My father would yell, “Of course we’re Cadillac people! We’ve got a goddamn Cadillac! We’re driving the goddamn thing. It’s paid for!"
SS: And they were together their whole life?
JL: My dad was never sick a day in his life, but when my mother died, he was gone in nine months.
Just take a nap as you're floatin' along, al-Doug.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be sawin' logs.
Buzzzzzz Saw
ReplyDelete