Why will socialized health care disproportionately help one out of ten whites, two out of ten blacks and three out of ten Latinos? Mostly because of illegitimacy rates and existing government welfare that subsidizes bad behavior, but let's not be judgmental. You pay, don't judge.
Who will pay the freight for this expanded welfare program? Not the recipients.
Who will pay as the programs inevitably expand? You will.
Who will continue to vote for those who support the expansion of the welfare state? The non-payers of course. Rob from Peter to pay Pablo and you will always get Pablo's vote.
Are whites and Asians responsible for black illegitimacy rates close to 70 percent? Less than 40 percent of black children live in two-parent families. Of course they cannot afford health care, or education, or housing or food. That is why society invented the family structure. Who wrecked the family structure with financial rewards?
Who is responsible for that? Has government created that problem and will more government make the problem worse?
Yes and yes, but let's not discuss it less we offend.
__________________________________
Health reform's true colors
The real racial issue in this debate is not about Obama. It's about inequality. While all 46 million uninsured Americans would benefit from health-care legislation promoting high-quality, affordable health care, twice the share of the African American population and three times the proportion of Latinos would benefit. For people of color, health-care reform is not just important; it's urgent.
By Michael Bader Philly.com
The "tea party" protests that started last spring sparked a debate over whether racism was motivating the opposition to President Obama's health-care reform proposals. The issue was revived by a recent Internet advertisement depicting regular folks who oppose health-care reform saying facetiously, "I guess I'm racist."
While this offers another opportunity to have a national conversation about race and health care, I fear that we are once again going to fail to discuss the most important racial aspect of health care.
Rather than focusing on whether health-care reform opponents are somehow motivated by racism, we should be focusing on the fact that African Americans and Latinos have the most to gain from health-care reform - and the most to lose from its failure.
After the election of the first African American president, we shouldn't be surprised that race enters our national debates more easily. The "guess I'm racist" ad reflects frustration over the fact that criticisms of presidential initiatives are caught in that web. Sometimes legitimate policy criticism can be carelessly linked with the racist motivations of a small minority - such as those who forwarded e-mails depicting the president as an African witch doctor.
But race is part of the health-care debate in a more important way. Health care reveals our racial divide. Almost all of our institutions - including those involved in the delivery and financing of health care today - were built on a legacy that treated people of color as second-class citizens. While we have made great strides to move past this legacy, people of color are still paying the accumulated costs of past discrimination today.
Forty-six million Americans do not have health insurance, according to the most recent census estimates. About one in 10 whites is in that group, compared with two in 10 African Americans and three in 10 Latinos. And these disparities start early in life: While children are covered at higher rates than the U.S. population as a whole, racial inequality occurs in all age groups.
Thus, while all 46 million uninsured Americans would benefit from health-care legislation promoting high-quality, affordable health care, twice the share of the African American population and three times the proportion of Latinos would benefit. For people of color, health-care reform is not just important; it's urgent.
While the nation fretted about the total unemployment rate passing 10 percent last month, African Americans had passed that point more than a year earlier, with current rates reaching close to 16 percent. Latinos, meanwhile, face unemployment rates around 13 percent. The unemployed are, of course, far less likely to have health coverage.
Furthermore, both African Americans and Latinos are disproportionately represented in service-sector jobs that offer less security and fewer benefits, making it likely that any recovery will come later and be less complete for those groups.
Racism in our country has been defined by actions. But racism can also take the form of inaction in the face of inequality. In 1899, W.E.B. DuBois wrote in The Philadelphia Negro that the "most difficult social problem in the matter of Negro health is the peculiar attitude of the nation toward the well-being of the race. There have, for instance, been few other cases in the history of civilized peoples where human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar indifference."
Those fighting health-care reform now are showing the same "peculiar indifference" toward the welfare of blacks and Latinos in this country at the beginning of the 21st century that DuBois identified at the end of the 19th.
I doubt that most critics of health-care reform today are motivated to criticize the president because of his race. But without health-care reform, people of color will suffer the most. Is that outcome an acceptable by-product of inaction? That is the conversation about race and health care that we should be having.
Way too much "Overthinking" going on, there.
ReplyDeleteLet's give Kudos to Doug. He's one of the few "Honest" critics. He says, simply (and, correct me if I'm wrong, Doug:) "They (White, Black, or Pink w/purple polka dots) don't have "Health Care?" Tough Titties, I don't want to pay for it."
THAT is a reasonable argument. It's the argument to which, probably, 90% of the HC Opponents, deep in their souls, actually resonate. I make a contrary argument, but I have to respect his.
Throwing "race" into the mix is, almost, a non sequiter. It's, certainly, not useful.
For example: What if Doug says to me, "Well, hell, Rufus, an insurance card ain't no good if you can't get to the hospital; I guess they'll come back and want me to buy'em a car next year."
ReplyDeleteWell, That argument does flow. It has a certain logic. It could, and probably will, start smaller. Like, "What kind of Policy?" "How much will it cover?" "Will it cover Sex Changes, or just Counseling?" "Viagra?" "Abortion?"
Will it cover lung cancer for "smokers?" How about Diabetis for the Obscenely "Obese?"
Will it affect "My" Coverage? Will my overweight ass take a hit? How deep will the government get in all this?
I think these are "Logical" concerns. We might not like some of the answers. In fact, it's damned well guaranteed we're not going to like some of the outcomes.
On the other hand, some people are living in pain, and, in some cases, dying for lack of health care. How far do we go? What's the balance?
Whether two blacks are helped to one white is kind of a cheap distraction to most of us, I think.
Almost all of our institutions - including those involved in the delivery and financing of health care today - were built on a legacy that treated people of color as second-class citizens. While we have made great strides to move past this legacy, people of color are still paying the accumulated costs of past discrimination today.
ReplyDeleteSo, instead of go after "reparations", we'll rename different things including health care reform.
When I'm told that we're going to provide health care coverage for an additional 35 million people and at no additional cost, my BS radar goes off "bigtime". When I think you're a liar or a fool, I don't trust you with decisions affecting me.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the point is made, but then deuce says to ignore it.
ReplyDeleteYou see, the white majority, led by LBJ, that liberal Texican, set up the system of social payments, the ones that rewarded the behaviors that deuce finds objectionable.
He then blames the victims of this payola, rather than those that paid for performance.
But then tells us we should not judge.
Mostly because of illegitimacy rates and existing government welfare that subsidizes bad behavior, but let's not be judgmental.
Well, we should judge the performance of the Federals, by their results, not their intentions.
We should not be judging the victims of fifty years of societal manipulations, but the manipulators.
But it is so much easier to blame the victims, while saying we shouldn't.
We should not be judging the victims of fifty years of societal manipulations, but the manipulators.
ReplyDeleteAre you saying that people aren't responsible for their own actions?
The "victims" or beneficiaries are also part of the society.
Being part of society, we can all be "judged."
The whole thing is wrong.
ReplyDeleteWe should be creating more doctors.
But, I've said that before.
Based on the article, I agree with Duece, this looks like stealth reparations.
ReplyDeleteThe victim of a rape, say one walking through a University campus, after the library closed, is guilty of poor judgment, guilty of walking alone.
ReplyDeleteBut the greater guilt lies with the Administration of that University, for leaving the library open and the campus unsecured.
The greatest degree of guilt is allocated to the rapist
The victim "played by the rules" but the rules did not the represent reality of the situation.
The same can be said for the cultural and societal machinations that were foisted upon the minority communities.
Those that "played by the rules" has their family units destroyed by Socialism.
The Government set the rules and then raped the "beneficiaries" of their good intentions.
The victims of these policies are no more to blame than the residents of Warsaw are to be blamed for the German policies affecting them, during WW2.
The folks dispensing the largess, they were from the Government, and were there to help.
The "unforeseen" consequences were not all that "unforeseen" but were of great consequence, none the less.
An Early Morning Serenade For Melody From Bob
ReplyDeleteThey "should" have known better, than to get on that "gravy train" to no where.
ReplyDeleteBut folks did as they were instructed to, instead.
Who's to blame, for that?
I have a very soft spot in my heart for Romeo and Juliet
ReplyDeleteIt's the play I wrote my paper about for Dr. Stein, back in the day.
"Baby, we need to get married, now that we're pregnant"
ReplyDelete"But honey the Federal man will give us $1,000 per month if we're an unwed mother. Honey that's just "free" money. We'll live together, instead.
Marriage is only a piece of paper, anyway."
And then the Federal man sent proxies to their homes, to make sure there was no man present.
The outcome was assured.
Never unforeseen or unexpected.
Now the Leviathan marches on, to the next phase of Federal Socialist machinations.
"And then the Federal man sent proxies to their homes, to make sure there was no man present."
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly the way it went down in Minnesota.
Skin color was no issue.
Teenage girls saw their gravy train and rode the high hard one at the same time.
The welfare was also opened to surrounding States. An influx of dysfuntional thinking individuals with children flooded the twin cities after that.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest healthcare need was behavioral health.
Free the mind,.. and all of that.
In October 2008, the credit bubble burst. It blew-up right in our faces. Overnight the system was thrown into uncertainty and chaos. The Dems consolidated their power and are hell bent are carrying out their socialist agenda.
ReplyDeleteFor years, during the Bush administration, the Dems portrayed themselves as the real "fiscal conservatives", the most responsible fiscal agents for the US taxpayer. With rearranged priorities and "PayGo", they would put right the US fiscal house. Let's how much of our money they're going to steal for the "Pay" part of the "Go."
The US is being spent into the poor house as the dollar is weakened by the day. Don't be surprised when the house of cards collapses.
The Democrats have a Federal agenda, whit.
ReplyDeleteAlways have.
So, too, do the Republicans.
There are a thousand points of light illuminating that truth.
The Democrats just push harder, but they're all going in the same direction.
ReplyDeleteAnd none of it means a thing, the housing crisis, whether stocks go up or down, the price of gold, but human emotion creates the meaning of anything there might be.
ReplyDeleteThe silver lining is that the Federal leviathan may be destroyed by its own lust for power and control.
ReplyDeleteWe may need to hit rock bottom before we can get DC under control again.
Welcome Dougman (or Saxum). At first, I thought you were one of our regulars, Hawaii Doug.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it deliciously ironic that just about every global meeting on global warming is met with blizzards and record cold temperatures?
ReplyDeleteI should be so lucky to be in Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteI'm the Doug that's freezing.
While the debate revolves around costs.
ReplyDeleteWhether or not it is "affordable"
Not whether the policy in question is "good", "right" or in the "best interests" of the people affected. Little matter whether the policy effects 'Guns' or 'Butter'.
That is always seems to be the case. Even on the ObamaCare issue.
The debate is fiscal, not philosophical nor even ideological.
It's just about costs.
My side lost, well before the debate even started, in DC.
No, Rat, you're wrong there. The Tea Parties are about much more than the dollars and cents. They are a response by common everyday Americans concerned that the Federal government is on the wrong track in every sense. Fiscal, constitutional, and moral.
ReplyDeleteIt's a balmy 20 degrees at the Marriot City Center in Minneapolis.
ReplyDeleteFirst time I've ever enjoyed most of a Frank Rich Column:
ReplyDeleteTiger Woods, Person of the Year
AS we say farewell to a dreadful year and decade, this much we can agree upon: The person of the year is not Ben Bernanke, no matter how insistently Time magazine tries to hype him into its pantheon.
The men who played us for suckers, whether at Citigroup or Fannie Mae, at the White House or Ted Haggard’s megachurch, are the real movers and shakers of this century’s history so far. That’s why the obvious person of the year is Tiger Woods. His sham beatific image, questioned by almost no one until it collapsed, is nothing if not the farcical reductio ad absurdum of the decade’s flimflams, from the cancerous (the subprime mortgage) to the inane (balloon boy).
As of Friday, the Tiger saga had appeared on 20 consecutive New York Post covers. For The Post, his calamity has become as big a story as 9/11. And the paper may well have it right. We’ve rarely questioned our assumption that 9/11, “the day that changed everything,” was the decade’s defining event. But in retrospect it may not have been. A con like Tiger’s may be more typical of our time than a one-off domestic terrorist attack, however devastating.
What makes the golfing superstar’s tale compelling, after all, is not that he’s another celebrity in trouble or another fallen athletic “role model” in a decade lousy with them. His scandal has nothing to tell us about race, and nothing new to say about hypocrisy. The conflict between Tiger’s picture-perfect family life and his marathon womanizing is the oldest of morality tales.
What’s striking instead is the exceptional, Enron-sized gap between this golfer’s public image as a paragon of businesslike discipline and focus and the maniacally reckless life we now know he led. What’s equally striking, if not shocking, is that the American establishment and news media — all of it, not just golf writers or celebrity tabloids — fell for the Woods myth as hard as any fan and actively helped sustain and enhance it.
People wanted to believe what they wanted to believe. Tiger’s off-the-links elusiveness was no more questioned than Enron’s impenetrable balance sheets, with their “special-purpose entities” named after “Star Wars” characters. Fortune magazine named Enron as America’s “most innovative company” six years in a row. In the January issue of Golf Digest, still on the stands, some of the best and most hardheaded writers in America offer “tips Obama can take from Tiger,” who is typically characterized as so without human frailties that he “never does anything that would make him look ridiculous.”
As cons go, Woods’s fraudulent image as an immaculate exemplar of superhuman steeliness is benign. His fall will damage his family, closest friends, Accenture and the golf industry much more than the rest of us. But the syndrome it epitomizes is not harmless. We keep being fooled by leaders in all sectors of American life, over and over.
A decade that began with the “reality” television craze exemplified by “American Idol” and “Survivor” — both blissfully devoid of any reality whatsoever — spiraled into a wholesale flight from truth.
---
Though the American left and right don’t agree on much, they are both now coalescing around the suspicion that Obama’s brilliant presidential campaign was as hollow as Tiger’s public image — a marketing scam designed to camouflage either his covert anti-American radicalism (as the right sees it) or spineless timidity (as the left sees it). The truth may well be neither, but after a decade of being spun silly, Americans can’t be blamed for being cynical about any leader trying to sell anything.
As we say goodbye to the year of Tiger Woods, it is the country, sad to say, that is left mired in a sand trap with no obvious way out.
When I tell people Minnesota was the meeting place of three glaciers just 13,000 years ago their faces go blank.
ReplyDeleteThen I tell'em,"Before Al Gore".
A sheepish grin creeps across the face.
They been hoodwinked. Wool over their eyes and the like.
And in Idaho, bob is running to the casino is short sleeves. Enjoying the 43 deg heatwave.
ReplyDeleterufus: On the other hand, some people are living in pain, and, in some cases, dying for lack of health care. How far do we go? What's the balance?
ReplyDeleteIn countries which adopted socialism ahead of us, they are dying for lack of health care too. But since the rationing system is the market instead of a bureaucratic maze that draws it's own energy from the system, capitalism gets short shrift. There's nobody being paid to speak for the market, but they sure as hell are being paid to speak for the bureaucracy.
Whit,
ReplyDeleteSun Dec 20, 08:53:00 AM EST
Our resident rodent inhabits an alternate universe.
BHO satisfies his ego/need for attention by becoming POTUS.
'Rat, by posting inanities.
Never argue with a socialist, T.
ReplyDeleteFacts are of no consequence.
They are a response by common everyday Americans concerned that the Federal government is on the wrong track in every sense. Fiscal, constitutional, and moral.
ReplyDeleteThat is the feeling I've gotten from my minor association with it.
Most of these folks are--just like you and me.
The feeling is, Uncle Sam is becoming no longer a friend, not the good old Uncle of yesteryear.
I hope, and think, there is going to be a lot of blowback in 2010.
rufus:
ReplyDelete"On the other hand, some people are living in pain, and, in some cases, dying for lack of health care. How far do we go? What's the balance?"
Boo hoo hoo,
Do it for the WOMEN AND CHILDREN!
Stalin did it for the Children!
ReplyDeleteMao did it for the common folk.
ReplyDeleteRufus apparently was mistaken about what he was fighting for.
ReplyDelete"Throwing "race" into the mix is, almost, a non sequiter. It's, certainly, not useful."
ReplyDelete---
Jeeze, I agree with Rich and Rufus on the same day!
I've noticed that tribes are set up in a form of socialist hierarchy. Wealth is distributed downward along the tribal and clan lines.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Rufus is merely being true to his heritage.
...but I have not read all the comments:
ReplyDelete"On the other hand, some people are living in pain, and, in some cases, dying for lack of health care. How far do we go? What's the balance?
Whether two blacks are helped to one white is kind of a cheap distraction to most of us, I think."
---
The Balance should be
THE CHOICE OF THE PATIENT AND HIS OR HER DOCTOR,
NOT
BARNEY FRANK AND CHUCK SHOEMEISTERSTEIN.
(to get back in 'Rat's good graces)
No, Doug, I knew EXACTLY what I was fighting for. I was fighting to stay alive. Just like every Man-Jack in the Nam.
ReplyDeleteI was fighting to get My Skinny White Ass back to the World.
And, don't worry, T. I made several bucks in the insurance game, and I'm here to tell you: They got plenty of people "talking" for them.
whit: The US is being spent into the poor house as the dollar is weakened by the day. Don't be surprised when the house of cards collapses.
ReplyDelete"Time is running out," Obama tells us, claiming that America will go bankrupt if we don't allow the kleptocracy to take over the health care system. That's the same thing he said when he pushed through his stimulus, and at Copenhagen, and the surge in Afghanistan. But he's right, time is running out. Next November, turkeys and Democrats will be an endangered species.
TWICE AS MUCH STIMULUS DOUGH (our money) HAS BEEN SPENT IN BLUE DISTRICTS OVER RED ONES.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait til "health care choices" are similarly decided.
"turkeys and Democrats will be an endangered species."
ReplyDelete---
Not if 'Rat gets his way and illegals become voters.
The Medicine Man treated ALL members of the Tribe, Whit. Or else, he was soon the late, dear, departed "Medicine Man."
ReplyDeleteHe might have fussed over the Chief a little more than the rest, but he shook the chicken feathers for everybody.
whit: Isn't it deliciously ironic that just about every global meeting on global warming is met with blizzards and record cold temperatures?
ReplyDeleteI discerned the Creator's incredibly wry sense of humor long ago.
"I'm for Regularization"
ReplyDelete---
Like a Democrat is Pro-Life!
I don't, T. Battle lines have hardened and we're a sharply divided nation.
ReplyDeleteNext November will be no slam-dunk and some pundits doubt that the Republicans will be able to take back anything.
My fear is that there is very little moderate center in the Democrat party. I believe they're all given over to the dark side.
reiderstvo (n. "raiding") a Russian term that describes an array of illegal tactics — including identity theft, forgery, bribery and physical intimidation — used by corrupt policemen, tax officials, lawyers and financiers to seize a person's business or property.
ReplyDeleteObama says, "Let me get a pen so I can write this down."
Huh,
ReplyDeleteSo you went to war for the same reason I submitted to the draft, Rufus, to try to save my (temporarily) bloated White Ass from the man.
(I was a bartender in a Pizza Parlour.
Not the best place to maintain your physique)
I discerned the Creator's incredibly wry sense of humor long ago.
ReplyDeleteDitto that and you discerned my thoughts as well.
Europe can afford healthcare for everyone; we can. We might have to cut back on the foreign "adventures" a bit. But, we could stand to do a little "cutting back," there, probably.
ReplyDeleteWe might need to cut back on the foreign oil, but we're going to be forced to do that, anyway. THAT, btw, will do more for the "Dollar" than anything else we could do.
I should pay an Obamacare penalty tax for all the Free Beer and Cheese I consumed at my place of employment.
ReplyDeleteCan Europe afford socialism? Not without the US subsidizing their medical technology, pharmaceutical research, prescription drugs, and defense spending.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how good 'ol Europe fares when the US is broke and the world's wolves are once again free to prowl.
Oh no, I "went to war" because I got broke, drunk, flunked out of school, and enlisted (thought I'd look spiffy in them dress blues, you know.) *emphasis on the "drunk."
ReplyDeleteOnce I woke my putrid ass up in Vietnam, THEN the whole thing was a fight to get home.
Jeeze Rufus,
ReplyDeleteDo you deny any truth to Quirk's 2018 link?
Both Soc Sec and Medicare are actuarally broke in the immediate future.
You spent your adult life on that stuff.
(actuary tables)
"Oh no, I "went to war" because I got broke, drunk, flunked out of school, and enlisted (thought I'd look spiffy in them dress blues, you know.) *emphasis on the "drunk.""
ReplyDelete---
Sorry, I lied about my reason.
You descibed my situation well, as well.
I even managed to get fired at the Pizza Parlour after I got my draft notice.
I'd forgotten that I've been fired twice.
ReplyDeleteThe other time, I was towing my bosses sister behind my VW.
...until she hit a manhole cover.
(i left out that she was on a skateboard)
ReplyDeleteNo, I did not drag her to death!
I was eight years old when Vietnam was a wrap. I remember watching them bring bodies home to Andrews Air Force Base on television and I was annoyed because it pre-empted my End of Night soap opera on ABC just like all the Watergate stuff. Now, of course, I'm an American Legionnaire, and so is my dog, he stops at every post.
ReplyDeleteWell, with the demise of the "Public Option" the Medical Technology, and pharmaceutical research industries are safe.
ReplyDeleteWe need to do something about pharmaceuticals, however. The logical answer is to put an end to "Quantity Pricing." One Price, all buyers. The Euros would pay more, the self-insured in the U.S. would pay less.
That "Defense" free ride, definitely, needs to come to an end.
Err, Edge of Night.
ReplyDelete"We need to do something about pharmaceuticals, however.
ReplyDeleteThe logical answer is to put an end to "Quantity Pricing." One Price, all buyers.
The Euros would pay more, the self-insured in the U.S. would pay less."
---
Yup.
Not bettin on the Dems to do it tho.
...although they do respond well to the entreaties of those with the big bucks.
ReplyDeleteNo, Doug, I don't deny that. I just deny that it's a problem. We'll slip another penny on the kids' social security, and medicare premiums, and all will be copacetic.
ReplyDeleteAnd, don't worry about the kids. They'll be busy living the good life in this Great Country we built.
Our only Real problem, and it IS a real problem, is finding something to keep'em busy.
I wouldn't bet on the Dems, or Pubs, either one, doing it. Too simple.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing is, it wouldn't cost the drug companies a penny.
ReplyDeleteYou reminded me of this, T:
ReplyDeleteKangaroo Attack
'roo holds dog underwater with front feet.
Man tries to save dog, 'roo almost eviscerates man with hind feet.
Rufus, the Rose Colored Glasses Reindeer!
ReplyDeleteIt's all good!
I think I'm stuck in the wrong country. I'd like to hear more about that "gave as good as I got" deal.
ReplyDeleteShit, we got it "made in the shade," Doug.
ReplyDelete"Made in the freakin' shade."
Google search on 'roo attack.
ReplyDeleteAn America Hating Marxist for POTUS and we got it made in the shade?
ReplyDeleteThe bar has been lowered to
ReplyDeleteRose Colored Levels!
Rose-Colored should go to the back of the bus.
ReplyDeleteRosa tells me so.
I worry about our assembly lines. They're outdated. And, our Education System isn't keeping up with what's needed.
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to continue to live this much better than the rest of the world we're going to have to stay on the cutting edge of "efficiency;" and, right now, that's looking problematic.
And, yes, the increased spending on Health Care DOES Stress the System.
This could explain Doug's anal myopia
ReplyDeletejes kiddink!
I worry about Oil going back to $140.00/bbl and throwing us back into recession. 10 years of bobbing in and out of recession could call all bets. THAT'S what Worries me.
ReplyDeleteU.S. Companies Shut Out as Iraq Auctions Its Oil Fields
ReplyDeleteThose who claim that the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to get control of the country's giant oil reserves will be left scratching their heads by the results of last weekend's auction of Iraqi oil contracts:
Not a single U.S. company secured a deal in the auction of contracts that will shape the Iraqi oil industry for the next couple of decades.
Two of the most lucrative of the multi-billion-dollar oil contracts went to two countries which bitterly opposed the U.S. invasion — Russia and China — while even Total Oil of France, which led the charge to deny international approval for the war at the U.N. Security Council in 2003, won a bigger stake than the Americans in the most recent auction. "
---
uh,
That would be...
Rufus!
But I repeat myself.
...as does he.
Thanks for that, Whit.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that:
"• Hawaii now has the shortest school year in the nation after the state and teachers union agreed to shutter schools for 17 days a year, leaving 171,000 students without class on most Fridays. Negotiations to reopen them collapsed last week."
If teachers gave a SHIT about the kids, they'd volunteer to have ONE teacher per 200 kids sit in the school library for ONE day or 2 days a year for what we used to call STUDY HALL.
Instead, they tell our (Republican) Governor,
"WE WANT THE MONEY!"
Isn't Hawaii in the top three or four states as regards "Income per Capita?"
ReplyDeleteOur Guv,
ReplyDeleteLinda Lingle was a union type in college.
The lord smote her with the truth, somewhere along the line.
...probly while living as a hippy on Molokai.
pop. 6,000?
Income?
ReplyDeleteWe don't need no stinkin income!
We're tired.
er ...retired.
Or, workin for the govt.
The war was to "protect" the ME oil; not to "own" it.
ReplyDeleteThose oil deals are "lucrative" for the Iraqis, not so much for the oil companies. They put up the money, take the many, and varied "risks," and get about $1.50/bbl.
"Commercial" companies want to see a good chance of "getting their money back" within a year, or two. These deals just don't meet that criterion.
CLOSE:
ReplyDeleteMolokai
Molokaʻi is the fifth largest of the Hawaiian Islands with a land area of 260 square miles. Molokai 38 miles long and 10 miles wide.
Population:
As of the 2000 U.S. Census: 7,404 (2000 census). Nearly 40% are of Hawaiian descent, thus its former nickname, "The Most Hawaiian Island." Over 2,500 of the island's inhabitants have more than 50% Hawaiian blood.
Filipino is the next largest ethnic group.
T claims her kind will cut the tires of the white tourist.
Fuck, Rufus,
ReplyDeleteYou're a one-trick pony.
It's ALL Good!
When wer're both drunk,
ReplyDeletewe agree!
Skool!
...or whatever they do in Denmark.
I should have said: Commercial "Oil" Companies want to get their investment back in a couple of years.
ReplyDelete...don't we all?
ReplyDeleteYou go ahead and get drunk. I'm going back to bed. Nighty nite (as the say in Dixie.) :)
ReplyDeleteProperty values Tripled in a decade in Hawaii.
ReplyDelete...now they're back to double.
Govt runs on property tax here, but somehow they cannot squeak by.
...that's why Rufus has so much faith in the Govt. running everything!
BACK to bed???
ReplyDeleteWhat frigging time is it in M...?
5:47 am here,
'bout time for me to hit the sack for the FIRST Time.
"Let's give Kudos to Doug. He's one of the few "Honest" critics."
ReplyDeleteA little judgmental this morning aren’t we Rufus. Now defining what is an "honest" opinion?
I agree that, in my opinion, race is at best a peripheral issue in people's thinking about the healthcare legislation. Merely a statistical factor determining who the winners and losers are under the bill. The cynical view would be that the healthcare legislation is merely about votes and how to get them.
However, you are begging the question when you lump the supporters of the bill on one side and those that oppose it on the other merely on the basis of "cost". Most Americans who oppose the bill do so for two main reasons if you can believe the polls. They do not believe the cost estimates but they do believe that their current coverage will be impacted negatively.
However, within the majority that oppose this legislation, people have numerous other reasons that would cause them to oppose it regardless of cost. There are moral issues (abortion), state’s rights issues (unfunded mandates), bureaucratic nannyism (government dictates on what has to be in your policy), “death panels” (government dictates on what won’t be paid for), expansion of government (you know this bill is merely the beginning), pc/affirmative action BS (i.e. on hiring, "develop standards for the measurement of gender" because male and female are no longer adequate), the process (typical big government: $100 million to Nelson for his vote, $100 million to Landrieu for her vote, bribe Pharma “give us $80 billion and we’ll drop reform”, bribe the doctors “don’t worry about that $250 million cut; we’ll just put it off like we have for the last 10 years”, bribe the insurers “you’ll be ok, we’ll guarantee you 30–40 million new, mostly young customers), and on and on.
The last one is the one that gets me from a libertarian point of view. That you can penalize, fine or throw in jail, someone for not buying health insurance. Good lord. (Please, no inane arguments about car insurance.)
That and the hypocrisy, the arrogant condescension, the patronizing that we get from these bozos as they try to convince us that they know what they are doing and it is the “right thing” for us.
Of course, from a practical standpoint, Doug’ argument on cost is the best one. We can’t afford it. Rufus argument that it will cost everyone $2,000 is off the mark in a couple of ways. First it is a static number and will escalate rapidly over time; and secondly, it will not cost “everyone” $2,000. A good portion of people will be subsidized and will pay nothing and their cost will be added on to what “everybody else” pays. And that is just on an individual basis. As a country, this plan will push us one more step towards fiscal disaster.
Back to the race issue, Rat’s arguments for pitying the poor victim are specious. It’s an amalgam of the worst of both worlds. Undoubtedly, there is a need for a safety net in any society. However, beyond a certain point, the government programs and their “victims” represent a symbiotic relationship. In fact, the government and its “victims” become co-dependent enablers.
The reference to the rape victim is merely a red herring.
.
Red Herrings and Blue States:
ReplyDeleteBlue States win under Obama.
(as they did under the compassionate one, "W")
Damn! There's no peppermint schnapps to go in my hot chocolate ,with whipped cream on top, after shoveling out 20 inches of snow this morning.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes but butterscotch schnapps works the same. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI got to wrtie a check for property taxes and put it in the mailbox at the Post Office by midnight.
ReplyDeleteouch, that's worse than twenty inches of snow
The solution to the government going insane is for us to go Galt...
ReplyDeleteI personally have cut back on all charities and time donated to social justice causes.
They say that 15% of the people donate most of the time and money to these causes....
So I am advocating, to those I know, in the 15%, to worry about themselves 1st and foremost...
Screw the masses....
Doug: T claims her kind will cut the tires of the white tourist.
ReplyDeleteOnly if Bubba tries to park his "Pussy Wagon" at our Amazon bar, trying to get laid. Our kind doesn't cotton to that. But mostly the tires that get slashed are rentals, so it's no big deal.
Looking over my property taxes yesterday, I didn't see any reductions. There weren't any increases, they don't have that much of brass balls, but no decreases either, which there should have been, what with the property sales prices being down somewhat. I imagine the county commissioners are going to get a lot of protests this year. You can protest the values used to the commissioners here, I've only done that once, and won, too, though I don't have the setup, and sales figures to do it every year. Some of the realtors do.
ReplyDeleteIt helps if you have rpublican county commissioners, which we usually have. Right now we're 2 to 1, R vs Donk.
Melody, try a shot of Buttershots and a shot of Bailey's Irish Creme on top, but make sure they're both well chilled in the freezer first. This is called a Buttery Nipple.
ReplyDeleteTry a shot of Chivas Regal and Mountain Dew, over some ice. This is called covering the waterfront, from the fine and fancy to the flophouse. From Wall Street financeer to Idaho farmer.
ReplyDeleteNo, doug, I have never advocated for illegal immigrants to become citizens of the US.
ReplyDeleteNot once.
Just legal residents.
I call it a slippery nipple and that's why I have the butterscotch in the cabinet. Delish...I don't have any Baily's right now so it went into my hot chocolate.
ReplyDeleteI also like blow jobs. Baily's, kahlua and whipped cream. The secret though is to do it with no hands.
Chivas Regal recently sponsored The Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, Beyonce’s, and Christina Aguilera’s tours in Asia.
ReplyDeleteThere, you can't beat that.
Oh, your're a whiskey drinker.
ReplyDeleteI had a blow job with no hands once, I liked it, too. And there was cream at the end.
ReplyDeleteWell Bob, I guess it was done right, then.
ReplyDeleteMust have been. I felt all stirred up, like in a blender, then powie.
ReplyDeleteNot a red herring, at all, Quirk.
ReplyDeleteIf you believe Thomas Sowell and VDH, the black community was improving itself, through the 1950s and '60s. I believe that the statistics back this up. There was no major statistical difference 'tween the races in out of wedlock births nor children raised by single parents.
After the introduction of LBJ's "War on Poverty" that began to change. I believe it was whit that posted about the Alinsky types gaming the welfare system, to the point of bankrupting New York City.
It has morally bankrupted the communities it was designed to improve.
That requires realistic judgment, not a blind eye
Is there now a symbiotic relationship between the administrators and the beneficiaries?
Without a doubt.
The Stockholm Syndrome is how law enforcement types describe that type of psychological condition.
But the professional "beneficiaries" are the real victims of the Federal system, even while they think they are exploiting it.
Besides and to the point, there was no symbiotic relationship, until the Federals first planted and then nourished the societal parasite.
Even doug has commented on the pre and post "War on Poverty" performance of the black community, how the Government attempt at help, didn't.
ReplyDeleteIn fact it made the problems worse.
Rewarding behaviors that had always been considered culturally detrimental, previously. Such as out of wedlock births and single parenting.
While not promoting marriage and family stability.
By design, with knowledge and fore thought on the part of the Federal planners and administrators of the programs.
Those minority communities have been raped, while they were paid a pittance for the privilege.
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot of sense today, Rat, but
ReplyDeleteBy design, with knowledge and fore thought on the part of the Federal planners and administrators of the programs.
I'm not sure about this. These things have a kind of drift to them, and I'm not sure there has been much forethought.
Though, you may be right.
What animates the Canadian approach to health care is that EVERYONE deserves EQUAL access to health care. Everything then flows from that.
ReplyDeleteI shake my head in amazement that the claim is made that there will be no extra cost in providing more health care to more folk in the US, especially when the steps to mitigate costs are so weak. I again restate my puzzlement at how everyone can be forced to buy something. That could bring up some interesting court challenges. Better to just tax folk and move on.
Doug's lament that health choices should be simply between a Doctor and a Patient. Nice thought but terribly naive - one must consider one's pocketbook, the doctor's pocketbook, the insurance companies pocketbook (doctors liability insurance and your insurance), the HMO's pocketbook,the availability and probability that any potential approach might work, ect. Hardly a simple doctor/patient consideration.
What animates the Canadian approach to health care is that EVERYONE deserves EQUAL access to health care. Everything then flows from that.
ReplyDeleteRight, Ash, except the elderly, and when it gets too expensive.
Where or where is that video of Frankenstein Immanuel telling the students, we'll just let the old folks die.
Old Folks--John Denver
ReplyDeleteA glimmer of good sense.
ReplyDeleteI again restate my puzzlement at how everyone can be forced to buy something.
Willie Haggard
ReplyDeleteQ, it's going to cost around $200 Billion to insure that 30 Million people. Some money will be collected from taxes, some from fines, some from higher premiums; but, in the end, someone has to, someway, pay $200 B.
ReplyDeleteThat's about 1.5% of GDP. About 7.5% of "taxes collected;" except it won't all come from taxes. Some of it will come from higher premiums on the presently, insured.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not pooh-poohing $200 Billion. It's a Big Number. But, it's doable. And, it's something we "should" do.
At least, that's MY story. And I'm sticking to it. :)
Oh, I was figuring that 100 million of us will "bear the freight."
ReplyDeletee-mail from Mat
ReplyDeleteYou guys are awfully easy to bewilder.
ReplyDeleteYou're forced into "buying" Social Security, and Medicare, aren't you?
You're forced to buy Auto Insurance, aren't you?
You're forced to buy a "Performance" bond in order to do certain types of business, right?
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
ReplyDeleteElla.
I got to write this damned check. I'm just putting it off.
Time to act, now.
Baily's, kahlua and whipped cream. The secret though is to do it with no hands.
ReplyDeleteO what was that recipe
From the girl shoveling snow
20 inches of it
As the temps go low
Look mother, see
No hands
That is a secret
Only a man understands
Though
The Kahlua, cream and
Baily's
Gets mixed in my mind
And to unstir it would be
A favor very kind
So I think it best
If a vixen come west
And teach me
Her recipe
Really really slow
Diana Krall...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMD__Q_VraM
So imagine walking outside in the late morning and noticing that the rear right tire on one dip-plated Suburban is flat. Then quickly noticing that the rear right tire on the other dip-plated Suburban is flat. Inside your compound. In the middle of literally fucking nowhere. (But not far from the MOD's place, where an attempt was foiled Easter of this year.)
ReplyDeleteTakes a lot in almost any circumstances to make me go, "Um. Hm."
For awhile there I was thinking, "I wanna read the news. I really don't want to be the news."
And - separate issue - let me just say once again to every single Colombian on the road everywhere: You fucker. What is your fucking problem? You *deserve* to have fingernails pulled.
Well, bob, that is one of the nicest things you have said to me in along while, thank you.
ReplyDeleteRemember if you will the folk that LBJ had around him. The "Best and the Brightest" of the Ivy League, from JFK's administration. Then he had his Texican friends and his Senate network. They were smart enough to know that if you paid women to have babies, without husbands, then they'd have babies and no husbands.
Any politician from Texas could have told you that, and LBJ was all about expanding Federal power.
They were trying to create that symbiotic relationship that Quirk thinks is part of the cause, rather than an effect of the Federal machinations, during the 1960s and 70s. Setting a subculture in place that now spans generations, and is and has been solidly voting en bloc for the Democrats.
ReplyDeleteLBJ was a masterful politician, he knew the real deal of what they were doing.
Oh my, Trish, did your weekend not go well?
ReplyDeleteAs to the fuel for generators, propane is the cleanest and easiest to manage. Especially if it is a permanent installation.
ReplyDelete”Those minority communities have been raped, while they were paid a pittance for the privilege.”
ReplyDeleteWhen those being screwed are paid for it, there are many words used to describe the relationship. Rape isn’t one of them.
With regard to the actual rape situation you outlined, I called it what it was, a red herring, because it had nothing to do with the subject at hand, race and healthcare.
With regard to your calling the recipients of welfare victims, it reflects the fuzzy thinking that got us into this situation.
Most people have problems at times in their lives and need public assistance. I’ve already said we need a safety net. Right now we are going through a crisis that demands even more. I think the extended unemployment benefits extensions just passed are a good thing given the hopefully temporary job situation. Others need longer term help, for disabilities for instance. However, there are limits.
We are talking 40 to 50 years here. When one group accepts to live off the dole for a generation and then passes on that ethic to the next generation, it is not “victimhood” it is acceptance of a lifestyle.
Are government policies at fault? Of course. However, calling these people victims does nothing to alleviate their situation: it merely provides them with one more excuse to justify their lifestyle choice. Basically, by calling them victims you also are acting as an enabler.
Just my opinion.
.
Then the propane can be used in other energy areas, like heating and food refrigeration.
ReplyDeleteThe technology is simple, the storage tanks readily available.
Truck delivers to your site when you need it, just like water or animal feed.
It was marvelous.
ReplyDeleteUntil shortly before lunch today.
"Fuck" happens. What can you do?
I would agree, Quirk, that it is an acceptance of a lifestyle. No doubt of that, but it is a Government approved and funded lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteIt did not exist before the Federals introduced it.
That is when the crime took place.
That some people prefer to be victims, well known to the social planners of the day.
That is the point, we agree on the fifty years of dysfunction, but the cause of it, that was by Federal design, to influence the body politic, for generations.
They were successful.
FDR did it with Social Security and LBJ trumped him with welfare dependency, as an effective political tool.
While both expanded the Federal's embrace of an expanding social mandate as an avenue to authority. Now, with BHO that embrace is extended to Health Care and Medical Insurance.
And that's the way it is.
That poem wasn't meant for you, Rat:)
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree (up to a point).
ReplyDeleteBut your argument falls short in assigning all the fault to the government.
It ignores freedome of choice. We all have free will. In the short run, we may not many options. However, over a generation?
Over time, these people are free to make choices that would get them off the dole. It might be tough, but they sure as hell wouldn't be the first to have to bust their ass. Given that reality, they are not victims.
.
The Lockerbie bomber had £1.8m ($2.9 million USD) in a Swiss bank account when he was convicted eight years ago, it has been revealed.
ReplyDeleteThe Crown Office, Scotland’s equivalent of the Crown Prosecution Service, has confirmed it refused to grant bail to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi as recently as November last year because of concerns he might try to gain access to the money.
The existence of such a large sum in a personal account casts doubt on claims by the Libyan government that Megrahi was a low-ranking airline worker.
The disclosure also raises further questions about the wisdom of the Scottish government in releasing the bomber, who has terminal prostate cancer, on compassionate grounds in August.
This is for our resident Grasshopper, Rufus.
ReplyDeleteThe Ant and the Grasshopper Obama Style
.
Tomorrow is the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere. Shortest day for us and longest day (middle of summer) for Trish and her neighbors.
ReplyDeleteWe're having a hell of a weekend weatherwise up here, Trish. Up to 2 feet of snow from the eastern shore up. More bad weather expected later in the week could really screw up Christmas travel.
"...longest day (middle of summer) for Trish and her neighbors."
ReplyDeleteTrish's husband's response, "Uh, I thought that was today."
: )
Oddly enough, it's moderate (high 30's low 40's) here right now, and no snow cover at all. It all melted away.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid tomorrow be even longer.
ReplyDelete:)
ReplyDeleteIf he had to change the tires, that could lengthen the day.
We have a star, not a cross, not a sign of David, up on the Lewiston Hill here. Great big thing. At night, it seems to hang there, unattached to anything. Almost floating.
ReplyDeleteAlways been there, long as I can remember, turned on, this time of year. Kind of nice, I like it.
Joking aside, we get preciously little variation in daylight hours. Miss it terribly in the would-be "summertime."
ReplyDeleteIf he had to change the tires, that could lengthen the day.
ReplyDeleteSun Dec 20, 07:46:00 PM EST
No tires were changed today, though thought was given to it. We drove on questionably reinflated tires and had they gone flat along the way, we had good reason to drive those fuckers until they quite literally would move no further.
Ten, maybe fifteen, minutes of ticking clock roadside. In hairy asscrack.
Drive-flat tires, baby.
"Just get off the X," as they say. "Just get off the X."
Fine tuning my poem--now called--
ReplyDeleteBLOWBACK
"Baily's, kahlua and whipped cream. The secret though is to do it with no hands."
Melody
O what was that recipe
From the girl shoveling snow
20 inches of it
As the temps swing so low
Look mother, see
No hands!
That is a secret
Only man understands!
Though
The Kahlua, cream and
Baily's
Get mixed in my mind
And to unstir it would be
A favor so kind
Thus I think it best
If a vixen come west
And teach me
Her recipe
Really really slow!
Bob, that actually is a really good poem.
ReplyDeleteAll inspired by thee, written for thee, sent to thee, O My Darling!
ReplyDeleteI've signed my tax checks, got to go mail them now. It really hurts.
Print it out, fold it carefully, and tuck it secretly, between thy lovely breasts.
ReplyDeleteAnts, grasshoppers, sounds like a cute little "childrens'" story.
ReplyDeleteI was reading a while back about the fall of the Roman Empire. Many people think it just "lost its Soul." The Rich got too Rich, too Powerful, too Arrogant.
Too many Legionnaires lost their farms while they were off fighting wars, and were forced into indigence. The Weather went bad, and the balance of trade went sour. The bankers had corrupted the currency.
Nothing about ants, and grasshoppers, though. What was that guy's name, again?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot70G4wSQi0&feature=fvst
ReplyDeleteWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Sunday sought to preserve the fragile alliance of Democratic liberals and moderates backing broad healthcare reform legislation, with tough decisions looming on abortion and a new government-run insurance program.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans vowed to continue to fight the measure, but admitted they probably were helpless to stop it in the Senate.
Which means they cannot stop it, anywhere.
"Something" is going to pass.
White House backs healthcare deal, sees victory
ReplyDeleteHere's a 'children's story' for you, Ruf.
ReplyDeleteFrom the mythology and human experience of my Nez Perce neighbors.
Ant and Yellowjacket
But it ain't 'just for kids'.
(Sighs.)
ReplyDeleteOkay. The Colombian soldiers on the side of the road giving us the thumbs up? That was nice.
The rest of you Colombians, trying to kill us and one another? Not so nice. Won't miss that. Really won't miss that.
Need some intensive driving lessons, you people.
Shakespeare is a really great poet.
ReplyDeleteWhen emotion and passion takes hold of Juliet, and becomes her very self, her language changes, from the controlled, taught, to her true expression.
Our bard got that.
"Ants, grasshoppers, sounds like a cute little "childrens'" story...
ReplyDeleteI was reading a while back about the fall of the Roman Empire. Many people think it just "lost its Soul." The Rich got too Rich, too Powerful, too Arrogant.
Too many Legionnaires lost their farms while they were off fighting wars, and were forced into indigence. The Weather went bad, and the balance of trade went sour. The bankers had corrupted the currency."
This from the man who says
"I just deny that it's a problem...all will be copacetic."
The fact that ever since the payroll taxes and medicare premiums started to be pumped into the general fund we have created a giant ponzi scheme the results of which are about to come due?
"Hey, not a problem."
The loss of good paying manufacturing jobs?
"No problem."
The fact that median income hasn't increased over the past 30 years.
"No problem. Look, 30 years ago we didn't all have air conditioning and big screen TV's. Life is good. Better than ever."
Yea, but 30 years ago, we didn't have two worker families. You didn't have kids living with their parents into their thirties. We didn't have average credit card balances of $10,000. You didn't have 75% of women of working age actually working. We're stretched. How are we going to keep up over the next thirty years.
"Well we could do away with those crazy child labor laws."
Well, what about healthcare reform? Even the most optimistic estimates show the cost will increase the percentage of GDP it represents from 18% to 22%.
"That's only 4%. That doesn't sound like much to me. Lighten up."
But that's on top of trillion dollar deficits. The costs of ongoing wars. Unfunded mandates of $100 trillion. Actual obligations projected to reach 100%of GDP in the relatively near future.
”…don't worry about the kids. They'll be busy living the good life in this Great Country we built.'
Our only Real problem, and it IS a real problem, is finding something to keep'em busy.”
But….
"Shit, we got it made in the shade,..Made in the freakin' shade."
And the voice of the Grasshopper was heard in the land.
:)
.
New post on the EB, you know my pet peeve is exceeding two hundred posts on one topic.
ReplyDelete"...you know my pet peeve is exceeding two hundred posts on one topic."
ReplyDeleteStrikes me as a bit anal T.
:)
Excellent commentary, Quirk.
ReplyDeleteBLOWBACK
ReplyDelete"Baily's, kahlua and whipped cream. The secret though is to do it with no hands."
Melody
O what was that recipe
From the girl shoveling snow
20 inches of it
As the temps swing so low
Look mother, see
No hands!
That is a secret
Only man understands!
Though
The Kahlua, cream and
Baily's
Get mixed in my mind
And to unstir it would be
A favor so kind
Yet I think it best
If a vixen come west
And teach me
Her recipe
Really really slow
Substituting yet for thus
BLOWBACK
ReplyDelete"Baily's, kahlua and whipped cream. The secret though is to do it with no hands."
Melody
O what was that recipe
From the girl shoveling snow
20 inches of it
As the temps swing so low
Look mother, see
No hands!
That is a secret
Only man understands!
Though
The Kahlua, cream and
Baily's
Get mixed in my mind
And to unstir it would be
A favor so kind
Yet I think it best
If a vixen come west
And teach me
Her recipe
Really really slow
And personally.
4. Yes We Did:
ReplyDeleteYou racist oppressors can whine forever about times gone by. President Obama rules this country now and the Progressives control the government. They are leading us all forward into a new world of peace and justice.
The time of the racist white male oppressor has gone, never to return. Just shut up and pay your reparations.
Dec 19, 2009 - 3:58 pm