COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

This Is a Big fucking Deal : Joe Jucking Biden




132 comments:

  1. Newt Gengrich just brought up an interesting idea. Let's say, the Republicans take back the House in November, and refuse to pass the appropriations for the bill.

    Then what?

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  2. “Once you have determined that you have met three basic criteria of disability compensation, you should then file the claim with your local Regional Office…

    “A Formal Claim for disability compensation is the VA Form 21-526. You should fill this out to the best of your ability. You should attach any Service Medical Records, Private Treatment records relevant to your claimed disability(ies), certified copy of your DD 214, copies of marriage certificates divorce decrees and dependent birth certificates…

    “After you send VA your Formal claim, there are a number of “teams” at your local regional office that process your application. There are essentially six "teams" at a Regional office that make up the "process"…

    As one can see the VA claims process can be complex. In essence a veteran’s claim is continuously going from one team to another until it has been decided. This process can be rather lengthy…”

    Nonsense! Just tell them that Rufus said, "Get it done in 10 or I'm out of here!"

    Establishing Service Connection for Veterans Affairs Disability Compensation:

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  3. You phony pos, I never said a word about disability claims. I signed up for VA Benefits - Doctors visits, co-pay on drugs, certain tests, in about 10 minutes (after sitting in the waiting room for, maybe, 30 minutes.

    Take your bullshit somewhere else. Two people responded, and two people informed you that you were full of shit.

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  4. Let me make this clear: you don't "sign up" for any of those things. They assign you a Doctor. He authorizes any of those things that he considers medically necessary.

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  5. I just want to know where the VFW is where wives go to get away from their husbands.

    ReplyDelete
  6. ...for the know-it-all who had not heard of non-service connected disabilities, here's Johnny!

    "How do I apply for veterans non-service connected pension?"

    So, yes, rufus, there is a non-service connected system of compensation and treatment.

    Of course, this is suspect, coming from VA itself and all. I mean: what would VA know that Rufus doesn't? No contest - Rufus is the man.

    Department of Veterans Affairs

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  7. You have to file a claim to get benefits of any sort from VA.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! Two alleged veterans, neither of whom knew of non-service connected conditions and benefits, tell me I am wrong.

    The VA, VFW, AL and DAV say I'm correct. They, by the way are not alleged veterans organizations.

    You are flat out wrong, Mister. You know nothing about the system that cares for you other than it is free. If you get meds or any other service from VA you filed and have a C#. That C-file indicates whether the service provided is for a service connected or non-service connected condition, Sport. And it took longer than 10 minutes to get it.

    The only phony in this matter is you. But, hey, what's new about that. You think that bluster and profanity make an argument. Well, Cowboy, you are wrong. FACTS win the day, everyday, all day, any day.

    Enjoy your free medical care. But I'm not a mushroom, so stop with the fertilizer already.

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  9. What does one call the multitude of non-service connected veterans receiving VA benefits?

    How in the hell is anyone supposed to understand that?

    If you were trying to say, "Veterans with non-service connected disabilities" why didn't you say so?

    I merely stated my experience getting signed up with VA, and you came in shouting "MALARKEY!" Claiming that I was lying.

    Look, I never address you. I never use your name. I will ignore you. How about YOU ignore me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh and Joe Biden can go fuck himself.

    Respect and trust are really dropping like flies around the white house these days.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I only said we needed to talk, Allen. Not that you were wrong. Unless you weren't referring to me. Rufus wouldn't get so far into benefits by applying today, unless he was destitute. His intake experience was before access was tightened. My experience would be filed under SNAFU. It was interesting.

    You're right regarding the furnishing of certain benefits. Hearing loss is a good example. Two friends have great hearing aids furnished by VA. One served on the Iowa, the other was a jet mechanic. Documented on discharge medical. Slam dunk. My hearing deficit was ruled non-service connected. I just asked and was told no. No harm, no foul. The Legion, VFW, etc were available for advancing the claim, had I wished to. I chose not to. Many advised me to continue, saying they always say no the first time around. That didn't feel right, since I wasn't sure myself that it was service connected. I'd simply gone in to inquire what was available and what the rules were.

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  12. Good thing I'm destitute, eh? :)

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  13. You got in before the politicians slammed the door, Rufus. It might be argued it needed closing a long time ago. I got in by the skin of my teeth, and then got bounced.

    What the hell is going on? You get up on the wrong side of the bed?

    You're dead wrong about your
    "change is good" bullshit, by the way. You might just find out how good change is if they go in and start axing veterans under copay status. Like you say, anything can happen.

    But, you and I will never agree on most things anyhow.

    Sweet dreams.

    ReplyDelete
  14. LT, let's just say that my VA status is the least of my concerns about the "unseen" consequences of this bill. It could, for real, render me destitute. I still support it.

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  15. PressSec tweet a short time later:

    "And yes Mr. Vice President, you're right..."

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  16. Our liar and scoundrel tries to move the Goal Posts, when his credibility is challenged.

    Typical of a schmuck.

    ReplyDelete
  17. TPM:

    (N)ow the bill's signed. It's law. It's over...Eventually you've (got) to stop with the sizzle and deliver the steak -- unless how bad Reform is for the Democrats is now actually the Republican campaign platform.


    ...the Republicans can't run on how bad Reform is going to be for the Dems politically. That's very meta, to put it mildly. You can't be so transparently cynical with your riffs that they don't even make sense on their own terms. They need to run on repeal. So, enough. The terms of the 2010 election are set...

    --Josh Marshall



    Just so and most certainly realize this to be the case anyway.

    Repeal has its problems, though, and I agree with Berstein that what Republicans are going to focus on in the main is whatever effects HCR might be said, plausibly and not, to be having NOW. That is, on any given day between here and November. You've got to show it actually beginning it's slow, steady march of utter devastation through the country.

    Make the appeal of repeal without designating repeal the centerpiece itself. Repeal is the more difficult burden for candidates to carry given, in even the most optimistic case for Congressional Republicans, the veto that will be sitting in the WH at least through 2012.

    Frum thinks there's too much pressure coming from the conservative entertainment establishment for the Party to avoid the pitfalls of repeal as the outright rallying cry and promise of November.

    He would like to see them focus on reforming the reform.

    The Bernstein route allows them to avoid that short-term choice between an unpractical, wholesale rejection and a politically uninspiring adjustment of present legislation.

    The WH and Congressional Democrats, for their part, are going to have to defend what is now their economy, responding to just those Republican attacks on the progressive (haha!) destruction by HCR of an already weakened body. As it were.

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  18. Or, in the same vein: Do what Paul Ryan just did in the closing of his latest op-ed.

    Use the word repeal but in direct reference to "costly missteps" rather than the whole of the thing. Carefully speak of "mitigating the disaster."

    A little concluding nuance. A little constructive ambiguity.

    Front-loaded with the proper amount of red meat.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The problem is it will be very hard to do as you suggest Trish.

    There are things in the bill that everyone believes in, like universal coverage and eliminating pre-existing conditions clauses. However, in order to get these good things you have to have the onerous (my opinion) and unconstitutional (again my opinion) individual mandate and also force unfunded mandates on the states. Without them there is no way HC providers can go along.

    On other factors the GOP advocates such as implementing tort reform its even harder. Tort reform is like earmarks. The direct cost savings you can actually point to are minimal in the big picture. However, the indirect costs such as defensive medicine that the current system drives doctors to can have an enormous impact on HC costs. However, how do you generate the costs figures associated with defensive medicine.

    The system that was just passed is merely a large expansion of the same ol same ol. It will exacerbate the problems it supposedly was designed to help.

    While I don't like the idea, I think the only way we are going to change healthcare positively in this country is through a radical new approach. It would probably involve some of the same subsidies for the poor as in the current bill, a high risk pool to prevent financial catastrophe for others, and a vast expansion of HSA for everyone else.

    Unfortunately, a large factor in the opposition to the Dems plan is the change involved in it. People don't like change. The route I'm suggesting would involve even bigger change and would likely be opposed even more.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  20. Linear,

    No offense was taken because none was given...We be cool.

    For clarity's sake, VA gives away nothing without a form on file - not so much as an aspirin. Anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong.

    Anyone receiving a VA benefit of any sort whatsoever, has filed a claim and been approved for said benefit. During the approval process it will be determined whether the benefit is service related or non-service connected and a percentage of disability will be determined. Anyone claiming otherwise is simply wrong.

    VA has been the source of ongoing scandals for decades. The agency has been chastised by the Congress, service organizations and the media for everything from substandard care to the loss of millions of files. Anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong.

    And to reiterate, the Dublin VAMC has its formal smoking area (neatly appointed) slightly forward of and about 50 ft. from the main entrance. This area is in constant use by staff, visitors and patients. Anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong.

    ...off to work...Have a great day!

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  21. Q, you've hit the nail on the head.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Josh Fucking Marshall.

    I'd rather have a beer with Joe Fucking Bidden!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Guess who picks up the slack/bucks when BHO/Pelosicare wipes out Medicare Part B?

    AARP!

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  24. "For clarity's sake, VA gives away nothing without a form on file - not so much as an aspirin. Anyone who says otherwise is simply wrong. "
    ---
    That's why Rufus gives Kudos to Obamacare:
    Equal treatment for all.
    He's a "Republican"

    ...but he praises the Dems for not doing the same thing that he damns the GOP for.

    (not insuring the uninsured without destroying our unmatched healthcare system and bankrupting our kids)

    ReplyDelete
  25. Insurgent Faction Presents Afghan Peace Plan

    "...An American Embassy spokesman said the United States supported Mr. Karzai’s effort to reach out to members of the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami through a reconciliation process, as long as the insurgents accepted the Afghan Constitution, renounced violence and renounced links to Al Qaeda and other insurgents.

    “Our policy is that it is an Afghan-led process, and we completely support reintegration and reconciliation,” said the spokesman, Brendan O’Brien.

    "Members of Hezb-i-Islami have held meetings with State Department officials, who have urged the Afghans to make peace among themselves if they want American troops to withdraw, said Mr. Abedi, the spokesman for the delegation..."



    Afghan Insurgent Faction Offers 15 Point Peace Plan


    .

    ReplyDelete
  26. A woman that works in insurance called limbaugh and explained how health insurance companies will be out of business in 3 years.

    Multiple examples of the exquisite timing of implementation BHO/Harrycare:

    Fer instance:
    Group policy rates will triple, but not until (immediately) after the November elections.
    Dittos for other poison pills wrt the re-election of the Marxist in Chief.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Another lady ("sounded" black to me) called in with the perfect
    analogy/visual of BHO"care":

    "If you are going to add a room to your house, you don't start by demolishing it."

    ReplyDelete
  28. So, the Republicans have settled on "Repeal" as their issue!?!?

    An impossible mission.

    There will never be sixty votes in the Senate, to repeal, so they are setting themselves up for failure. Even when they gain seats in the 2010 cycle, they will fail to achieve their stated goal.

    More schmucks.

    Being a Schmuck seems to be a character trait of the life long Federal Socialist.

    ReplyDelete
  29. "The new health-care legislation is a vast exercise in bureaucracy-building and social engineering, in a sector that already accounts for a mind-boggling 17 per cent of the economy. Will it produce better health outcomes? Will most Americans feel they themselves will be better off because of it? Don't bet on it.

    What you can bet on is that Obamacare will fail miserably at containing costs. Americans already spend 60 per cent more money on health care per capita than we do. Yet, this legislation will do nothing to check the power of trial lawyers, unions, Big Pharma or doctors. It does nothing to check consumer demand for more and better treatments. (And if it did, Americans really would revolt.) Instead of containing costs, the legislation adds even more open-ended entitlement programs.

    The official estimate says Obamacare will cost $1-trillion over the next 10 years but will actually lower federal deficits. Don't believe it. A more likely result, reckons Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the Congressional Budget Office, is that it will add at least another $562-billion to the deficit, which is already projected to reach an impressive $1.2-trillion by 2020.
    "

    ht - Ash

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  30. Aljazeera.net - ‎42 minutes ago‎
    Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has arrested about 100 people suspected of having links with al-Qaeda, the interior ministry has said.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Hope Barbara Bush doesn't lose any friends.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Reuters - Ibrahim Mohamed, Richard Lough - ‎1 hour ago‎
    MOGADISHU (Reuters) - A suspected Somali pirate was killed during shooting between pirates and armed guards on board a Panamanian-flagged ship, a maritime official and EU anti-piracy taskforce said on Wednesday.

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  33. VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - An Irish Catholic bishop who served as personal secretary to three popes on Wednesday became the latest and biggest casualty in the child sex abuse scandal that is convulsing the Church in Europe.

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  34. LONDON (Reuters) - European shares edged down around midday on Wednesday, surrendering early gains after Fitch Ratings downgraded Portugal's sovereign rating, with banks among the worst performers.

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  35. MY HEALTH CARE PLAN

    Liberals keep complaining that Republicans don't have a plan for reforming health care in America. I have a plan!

    It's a one-page bill creating a free market in health insurance. Let's all pause here for a moment so liberals can Google the term "free market."

    Nearly every problem with health care in this country -- apart from trial lawyers and out-of-date magazines in doctors' waiting rooms -- would be solved by my plan.

    In the first sentence, Congress will amend the McCarran-Ferguson Act to allow interstate competition in health insurance.

    We can't have a free market in health insurance until Congress eliminates the antitrust exemption protecting health insurance companies from competition. If Democrats really wanted to punish insurance companies, which they manifestly do not, they'd make insurers compete.

    The very next sentence of my bill provides that the exclusive regulator of insurance companies will be the state where the company's home office is. Every insurance company in the country would incorporate in the state with the fewest government mandates, just as most corporations are based in Delaware today.

    That's the only way to bypass idiotic state mandates, requiring all insurance plans offered in the state to cover, for example, the Zone Diet, sex-change operations, and whatever it is that poor Heidi Montag has done to herself this week.

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  36. I know the polls "seem" to back them up, but I'm not sure the Pubs are on the right track. A lot of people like Melody, and I are going to see their friends, and children getting "into the pool," and getting decent health insurance for the first time.

    If the Pubs run on "rolling that back" they might be playing with fire.

    The out of the presidency party always picks up a lot of seats in the first off-year election. The Pubs can add to that trend by running against "big deficits," high gas prices, slow economy, increasing tax burden, etc; but if they try to get too specific it might bite them in the butt. Just one opinion.

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  37. President Obama says we need national health care because Natoma Canfield of Ohio had to drop her insurance when she couldn't afford the $6,700 premiums, and now she's got cancer.

    Much as I admire Obama's use of terminally ill human beings as political props, let me point out here that perhaps Natoma could have afforded insurance had she not been required by Ohio's state insurance mandates to purchase a plan that covers infertility treatments and unlimited ob/gyn visits, among other things.

    It sounds like Natoma could have used a plan that covered only the basics -- you know, things like cancer.

    The third sentence of my bill would prohibit the federal government from regulating insurance companies, except for normal laws and regulations that apply to all companies.

    Freed from onerous state and federal mandates turning insurance companies into public utilities, insurers would be allowed to offer a whole smorgasbord of insurance plans, finally giving consumers a choice.

    Instead of Harry Reid deciding whether your insurance plan covers Viagra, this decision would be made by you, the consumer. (I apologize for using the terms "Harry Reid" and "Viagra" in the same sentence. I promise that won't happen again.)

    Instead of insurance companies jumping to the tune of politicians bought by health-care lobbyists, they would jump to the tune of hundreds of millions of Americans buying health insurance on the free market.

    Hypochondriac liberals could still buy the aromatherapy plan and normal people would be able to buy plans that only cover things like major illness, accidents and disease. (Again -- things like Natoma Canfield's cancer.)

    This would, in effect, transform medical insurance into ... a form of insurance!

    ReplyDelete
  38. My bill will solve nearly every problem allegedly addressed by ObamaCare -- and mine entails zero cost to the taxpayer. Indeed, a free market in health insurance would produce major tax savings as layers of government bureaucrats, unnecessary to medical service in America, get fired.

    For example, in a free market, the government wouldn't need to prohibit insurance companies from excluding "pre-existing conditions."

    Of course, an insurance company has to be able to refuse new customers with "pre-existing conditions." Otherwise, everyone would just wait to get sick to buy insurance. It's the same reason you can't buy fire insurance on a house that's already on fire.

    That isn't an "insurance company"; it's what's known as a "Christian charity."

    What Democrats are insinuating when they denounce exclusions of "pre-existing conditions" is an insurance company using the "pre-existing condition" ruse to deny coverage to a current policy holder -- someone who's been paying into the plan, year after year.

    Any insurance company operating in the free market that pulled that trick wouldn't stay in business long.

    If hotels were as heavily regulated as health insurance is, right now I'd be explaining to you why the government doesn't need to mandate that hotels offer rooms with beds. If they didn't, they'd go out of business.

    I'm sure people who lived in the old Soviet Union thought it was crazy to leave groceries to the free market. ("But what if they don't stock the food we want?")

    The market is a more powerful enforcement mechanism than indolent government bureaucrats. If you don't believe me, ask Toyota about six months from now.

    Right now, insurance companies are protected by government regulations from having to honor their contracts. Violating contracts isn't so easy when competitors are lurking, ready to steal your customers.

    In addition to saving taxpayer money and providing better health insurance, my plan also saves trees by being 2,199 pages shorter than the Democrats' plan.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Doug, you didn't attribute that article, but it was by Ann Coulter. Her argument is that the insurance companies HAVE TO BE FREE TO DENY COVERAGE TO THOSE WITH PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS.

    As such, it is a fringe argument that has no chance of being considered. She's just bloviating.

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  40. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  41. "If the Pubs run on "rolling that back" they might be playing with fire."
    ---
    Heard somebody yesterday say that they wouldn't, but who knows?

    THAT is one of the main things that will require companies to triple costs.
    Which BHO will then demagague as the reason to go to single payer.

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  42. "Doug, you didn't attribute that article, but it was by Ann Coulter.
    Wed Mar 24, 11:50:00 AM EDT

    See:
    Wed Mar 24, 11:47:00 AM EDT

    ReplyDelete
  43. Melody:
    Has your daughter checked out if she is lactose intolerant?

    I gave all my symptoms to my Doc, complained repeatedly that it was becoming serious, but he never brought it up.

    Wife brought home some lactose-free milk, and I was cured.

    Now take inexpensive Lactose eating enzyme sold @ Costco.

    Costco's version of "Lactaid"

    As a kid, I lived on milk.
    Over time, the Doug bod lost it's ability to digest cow juice.

    ReplyDelete
  44. Should do some research to see if restrictions apply to Sonia Juice.

    Where is Teresita, btw?

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  45. The cool thing about Coulter is that she was not able to speak freely in Canada.

    Ash's fascist state, devoid of free speech.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Coulter, recently, Steyn, some time ago.
    Free speech is subversive to
    "progressive" fascists.

    ReplyDelete
  47. When the gluten allergy got worse she feared maybe it might be Celiac disease. Now mind you, she wasn't following a strict gluten free diet and now has started back on it and also eliminated dairy not just lactose. There's a difference. She doing much better but a lot of times Celiac is misdiagnosed for a food allergy and it really should be treated differently.

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  48. My husband is lactose intolerant that shit is 7.00 freaking dollars a gallon.

    He couldn't be like me and just have a dairy allergy then I wouldn't have to buy any milk.

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  49. Suzanne Somers is kinda far out, claims most cancer treatments are only palliative, but might be worth checking out.

    Some Doc she swears by might have the magic cure.

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  50. Buy Milk, and buy Lactaid @ Costco.

    Geeze, 7 bucks a gallon is Maui price!

    ReplyDelete
  51. And basically with Celiac, you follow a gluten free diet but you have to worry about anemia, malabsorption and other insufficiency's, deficiencies and malfunctions.

    ReplyDelete
  52. Luckily, al-Bob is no longer able to post poetry to the contrary.

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  53. Yup, that just went up the last couple of weeks from 6.39. I do shop at BJ's which is equivalent to Costco and there it's 4.59 I believe. And the nice thing about it is it doesn't expire like regular milk so before my second frig went I would buy four at a time.

    ReplyDelete
  54. Because I only do the shopping thing once a month and if I can get away with it, I stretch it to six weeks.

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  55. And, btw, I would Love to get ol' smokin Joe drunk. That would be a hoot.

    ReplyDelete
  56. A little concluding nuance. A little constructive ambiguity.

    Front-loaded with the proper amount of red meat
    .



    Captured: essence of Trish commentary in a couple of short lines.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Here's someone touching that third rail:



    Pre-existing conditions...

    If you're far far more likely than the average person to need payouts,
    but you still think that insurance companies "shouldn't be allowed to" refuse you an $X/year insurance plan, what are you saying? Essentially you're saying you have the right to get something for nothing. You have the right to pay less for a contract than it's actually worth to you. You have the right to demand that other people give you way, way more money than you're giving them. Equivalently, that insurance companies (which, remember, are groups of people) -- any group of people that happens to be associated as an "insurance company" and that you decide to approach -- are required to subsidize you upon demand. But that is absolutely, positively, utterly freaking flat-out ridiculous. If that’s what you think, my only question is, what the hell is wrong with your head? Are you an idiot?-- Rhymes With Cars & Girls
    .

    From an American Digest sidebar a while back.

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  58. Doug said...

    The cool thing about Coulter is that she was not able to speak freely in Canada.

    Ash's fascist state, devoid of free speech.





    ummm, doug, it wasn't the state that prevented her from giving her speech just other folk more loudly exercising their right to free speech. In other words, a bunch of protesters prevented the speech from occurring.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Ash!

    Those Canadian freespeechers that caused Coulter's security and Canadian authorities to pull the plug on her speech were armed! But you knew that...The truth hurts, Old Man.

    ReplyDelete
  60. Just excercising their right of no free speech for "others."

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  61. Ash,

    You do have to give Canadians credit for target acquisition: A single, skinny, unarmed woman poses little risk of retaliation...girly men, all...threatening the waif with cudgels and rocks...Of course, reports from the field indicate that Canadian troops (with the exception of snipers) are little better armed...Seeing an uppity woman put in her place must have warmed the cockles of your little two-chambered heart.

    ReplyDelete
  62. Canadian Freedom From Speech Protestors.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Ash,

    Sorry! A correction is in order: I should have written "uppity INFIDEL woman". No intentional slight was intended to our resident Muslims.

    ReplyDelete
  64. Howard Jarvis Foundation supports Meg Whitman for California Guv.

    ReplyDelete
  65. Canuckistan Defends the rights of it's Muslim Brothers and their bitches.

    ReplyDelete
  66. "There is no limitation on the right of property in Jerusalem. Jews and Arabs can buy and sell freely private property and homes in all the city, and that is the reality,"

    "The Shepherd Hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was purchased by American Jewish tycoon Irving Moskowitz in 1985 for $1 million."

    When the fee is removed from simple, what's left?

    ReplyDelete
  67. Every home a settlement.
    Soon Republican Settlements will be eliminated throughout the formerly United States.

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  68. So, the Republicans have settled on "Repeal" as their issue!?!?

    An impossible mission.

    - Rat

    As a campaign issue or in the real world?

    Because right now it's the campaign issue that matters.

    Go to NRO. Scroll the Corner. I haven't yet today but I guarantee you they're pushing the No Quarter message. K Lo was very nearly suffocated yesterday under an avalanche of missives in response to Cornyn's delicate suggestion that the way forward is fiddling with parts of the legislation.

    How do you keep the troops fired up with some limp-dick notion of making Obamacare better?

    So I say that between now and August what they're going to settle on is skirting the more fundamental issue, avoiding the more substantive debate, by the very route highlighted by Bernstein.

    ReplyDelete
  69. The "Unable to get insurance" is, basically, a bloc of poor, and unconnected people. They are not, traditionally, known for being enthusiastic voters.

    However, now that they have "normalcy" in their sights they might turn out in the Millions to vote against the politician(s) that promise(s) to take that away from them.

    It's not a strategy that I would embrace.

    ReplyDelete
  70. "As part of the housing project that made headlines on Wednesday, 20 units are due to be built at the site of a defunct hotel in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem, an area where a U.S. millionaire has been buying property for settlers."

    BUYING...BUYING...BUYING...

    Why, this would require agreement between a seller and a buyer, ready, willing and able to make the purchase.

    Why, this is the way real estate has been handled for centuries.

    Since Mr. Obama's administration was educated in the Marxist model of property rights, they have some catching up to do. Hopefully, XXXXXX can be helpful.

    U.S. presses Israel for Mideast goodwill steps

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  71. Christopher Buckley wrote recently of the noise attending Alan Simpson's appointment to a blue-ribbon panel on deficit reduction:

    Apropos the attacks on him by the Rush Limbaughs and the conservative blogosphere, the folksy, good-humored Simpson told the Times, “Go ahead, keep babbling into the vapors. I’m not out to raise taxes but, for God’s sake, if these dizzy guys can’t figure out that this country...” The reporter noted that here Mr. Simpson “trailed off.”



    And getting back to HCR, "these dizzy guys" are the ones who have to deliver the would-be Sam Adamses to the polls.

    ReplyDelete
  72. Lt, the cycle goes something like this:

    Have Job, have insurance - Develop Health Condition - Lose Job, lose Health Insurance - Unable to buy insurance due to health condition - Unable to find new job due to poor health - Financial Ruin


    Or, Have insurance on Parents' policy - Develop Health Condition - be forced off parents policy at certain age - Unable to buy health insurance because of health condition - Health Deteriorates - Unable to find job due to Poor health - Miserable existence, or Death.

    Anyone can write fiery blog articles. Doing the right thing is sometimes more difficult.

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  73. trish,

    The Administration has lofty goals for a new, egalitarian America (where all outcomes are identical and guaranteed), with HC being but one. Between now and August, they may attempt to take one bridge too far. Mr. Obama does not lack for hubris.

    I have little fear that millions of "the poor" will find their way to the polls. Clearly, many cannot find their way to work.

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  74. Although almost totally wrong about everything else, Ulyanov was right about one thing: There will always be useful idiots, who through ignorance or greed will sell the rope that hangs them.

    No moral person wishes to see the unattended misery of others. Indeed, some of us are of a faith that demands our personal action in bringing respite to the weary. However, we are not permitted to pillage and steal from others to accomplish our good ends. As our teachers once taught: Two wrongs do not make a right.

    ReplyDelete
  75. "Captured: essence of Trish commentary in a couple of short lines."

    Hard work but someone's gotta do it.

    Along the same frustrating lines, Trish's husband now writes national security policy - in a tricky language that must avoid straightforward English wherever possible - properly balancing the imperative of language inflation and the necessity of obscuring actual intent. A true art little appreciated outside the happy galaxy of FedGov.

    ReplyDelete
  76. Wed Mar 24, 05:18:00 PM EDT

    The fear is the addition of the VAT to the toxic brew of taxes now reaching 60% for some high earners in California.

    ReplyDelete
  77. Wed Mar 24, 06:05:00 PM EDT

    SOP for the Alinkskyites.

    ReplyDelete
  78. "SOP for the Alinkskyites."

    We surround you.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Whit forwarded an email today from a patron of the bar. I do not wish to identify the person.

    The essence of the comment was regarding the rough and tumble of the bar. I will speak for me. I doubt their will be much space between Whit's and my opinion.

    Neither Whit nor I were interested in an echo chamber of our thoughts and beliefs. I do not believe in every position that I make a post on.

    I do believe that every post is representative of a current idea or something out there, interesting and yet arcane.

    The purpose is to stimulate discussion, argument and interest.

    Is it perfect?

    No, but on average, and over time, it represents some honest grist for the miller at the tiller.

    To my friend (and I am sincere) that sent the email, Whit and I value your input.

    Welcome to the sausage factory. It could be worse: Pennsylvania srapple comes to mind.

    ReplyDelete
  80. Deuce,

    Please continue with the EB's SOP.

    Obviously, you must weigh carefully any input by me, it being given that I have, on various occasions, been a "liar", "traitor", "racist" and "scoundrel", to name but a few :) Oh, and I hate little children, the poor, all military veterans and furry kittens.

    On a serious note, I do wish that civil conversation were more the rule than the exception. But I benefit from the links and opinions of others, even when I find the authors otherwise personally reprehensible.

    Right On!

    ReplyDelete
  81. One of the cardinal precepts of the real estate business is that a property is worth only as much as a ready, willing and able buyer will pay. BoA et al may be catching up with reality, if the bribe is sufficiently high.

    BofA to start reducing mortgage principal

    Since BoA's generosity is on the public's dime, it fits nicely with the current trends within the Empire.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Iran's Military Strength

    I always suspected that "Cousin It" was a randy little devil.

    ReplyDelete
  83. GoDaddy.com plans to stop registering domain names in China

    "GoDaddy.com Inc., the world's largest domain name registration company, told lawmakers Wednesday that it will cease registering Web sites in China in response to intrusive new government rules that require applicants to provide extensive personal data, including photographs of themselves..."

    GoDaddy Follows Google's Lead in China

    Kudos to GoDaddy (and Google).

    One wonders what they will do when the US asks them to do the same thing here.

    You know that there bureaucrats in D.C. right now looking at the Chinese actions and saying "What a great idea."

    Hopefully, these companies will hang together and try to maintain internet freedom.


    .

    ReplyDelete
  84. Not wishing to appear ever critical of the Obama Administration, I will let Zillow.com have a crack at it.

    Just to be absolutely clear, the same folk who are responsible for salvaging the mortgage meltdown will be in charge of HC.

    Housing's Big "Shadow": Up to 10M More Homes Could Be for Sale, Zillow.com Says

    ReplyDelete
  85. Quirk,

    ...good link on GoDaddy...

    It is easy to imagine the IRS absolutely salivating over the opportunity to closely monitor e-Bay, for example.

    "At any given moment, e-Bay is acting as the conduit for about 70,000 transactions". (Be aware that my number is from two years ago. Doubtless, it is considerably higher now.)

    ReplyDelete
  86. TOKYO (Reuters) - The euro stabilized, hovering around a 10-month low against the dollar after a credit rating downgrade on Portugal added to worries about debt levels in some euro zone nations.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Deuce,

    I just hate lose ends. There will be no rest for me tonight unless I also point out that I have been labeled a "motherfucker", "cocksucker", son-of-a-bitch", "piece of shit" and most hurtful, "phony". Gosh, I feel better already; confession is good for the soul.

    All this said, I would be very disappointed to see censorship imposed. Medication adjustments...not so much :D

    ReplyDelete
  88. I might have you all beat for the few short months I have been here.

    ReplyDelete
  89. melody,

    You have been called a "motherfucker"? I didn't know.

    You have not been called a "Jew", I hope.

    Recently, I saw the 3-D version of "Alice". Ms T and you came to mind. That is troubling.

    ReplyDelete
  90. Out of a job here? Move to France, buy a fedora, grow a mustache, and open a brothel. Just be careful you don’t piss off the workers.

    French sex workers protest legal brothels

    "Dozens of French sex workers proclaiming themselves proud to be prostitutes marched Wednesday to protest a lawmaker's proposal to legalize brothels in France, arguing that such a law would deny them the freedom to work on their own.

    "A lawmaker in France's governing party has proposed reopening brothels just over six decades after they were banned in order to move prostitutes off the streets and provide them with medical, financial and legal protection..."


    Sex Workers Protest

    .

    ReplyDelete
  91. @Allen 08:49 -

    Looks like an army of wookies.

    ReplyDelete
  92. I hope Go Daddy censors their Dana Ads in China, also.
    Hell, all them guys with no shot at a gal might revolt.

    ReplyDelete
  93. Say Allen, you forgot pompous and pretentious.

    Just saying.

    :)


    .

    ReplyDelete
  94. So where is T?
    Did I miss another exit?

    ReplyDelete
  95. I hate it when he tries to Jew us down.

    ReplyDelete
  96. Re: French brothel

    Sorry Melody.

    Didn't know you were around the EB tonight.

    You can skip the mustache.

    However, I think you'd look kinda sharp in the fedora.

    .

    ReplyDelete
  97. Brothels were legally outlawed in France in 1946. A 2003 law tightened restrictions against prostitution by making solicitation punishable with two months in prison and a 3,750 euro ($A5,500) fine.

    "The question is not, for example, about the brothels," said Alima Boumediene-Thiery, the Green Party senator who organised Wednesday's conference.

    "The question is about the recognition of the rights of these men and women who have made these choices that we must respect."


    Legal Brothels

    ReplyDelete
  98. Allen I would take any one of those words above being worthless. And don't forget all the shit I went through being used as collateral damage for a certain situation, I won't bring up.

    Haven't seen the movie, yet.

    Quirk, I don't wear hats they actually look horrible on me.

    ReplyDelete
  99. Okay, I've seen the light.

    We need more comity.

    I'll do my part.





    I'll quit calling Doug a "pineapple doo doo head."

    ReplyDelete
  100. Oh, Shit. To hell I will.

    He IS a pineapple doo doo head.

    :)


    There; I feel better, already.

    ReplyDelete
  101. C'mon Mel,

    You just haven't found the right hat yet.

    ReplyDelete
  102. Sorry Sam, I really wish I could wear hats but it just doesn't work and you know how I feel about hair.

    My sister and my daughter wear the hats in the family.

    ReplyDelete
  103. It looks like I'll be staying put.

    ReplyDelete
  104. Quirk,

    Re: pompous and pretentious

    Fair enough. I always value a second expert opinion :)

    Certainly, I must admit to the "occasional" rhetorical flourish; although I do try to link to validating expert opinion.

    But honestly, I never had sexual intercourse with my mom. As to "cocksucking", well, I am Kosher and cocks, other than the feathered variety, are off limits. It is hypothetically possible that I am, in fact, a "son-of-a-bitch"; but only Mom knew and she is dead. On the question of "piece of shit", there may be some merit...that whole ashes to ashes and dust to dust thing.

    The thought of a double shot of Scotch is suddenly very appealing. Before or after a hot, cleansing shower is the question.

    ReplyDelete
  105. melody,

    Bob was a sensitive, gentle soul. Tragically, as has so often been the case, he lost touch with the cruelty of the real world and self-emulated.

    By the way, sometimes just saying, unequivocally, "No" works.

    ReplyDelete
  106. In affectionate memory of the bob of ole times.

    My Secret Life

    ReplyDelete
  107. Allen, you've got her figured.

    She don't say NO.

    I've asked her to do that, just say no, in my last ten emails.

    She likes to play with men, I don't know why.

    Reference her last reference to Sam's short hair, talking about her hair, that is what that was about.

    Sam, don't fall for it.

    I don't know why she does this.

    There is a part of her I really love, and she has a tough situation.

    It's what they do in Philly I quess.
    We don't do it out here.

    Thank you for the compliment, Allen.

    You are the one makes most sense on this blog.

    Long live Israel!

    ReplyDelete
  108. I thot one of al-Bob was quite enough.
    Sure didn't need him to self emulate.
    ...although sometimes he should go fuck himself.

    ReplyDelete
  109. doug,

    :) immolate

    Time for another drink.


    Bob,

    Don't go there!

    ReplyDelete
  110. Sorry Bob, too late.

    I am a sucker for the Brazilian.

    ReplyDelete
  111. Bob,

    Don't go there!


    She's out of my mind now, Allen, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  112. bob, please think about this. You and Buddy Larsen are sorely missed.
    Countless others would love to join in.

    Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

    ReplyDelete
  113. (Maybe...the Scotch is at work)...finally, bob, remember...

    Stand By Me

    Come back to us whole. You are an exceptional soul. Ignore the darkness amd vermin. Life is too short; you have much to offer.

    Deuce is giving you the chance of redemption. Respect him. Stand by me.

    ReplyDelete
  114. Sam said:

    "Looks like an army of wookies".

    Yes, indeed they do. One can easily see what would happen if these "warriors" were hit by a hail of cluster munitions. They would fold like Saddam's highly regarded "Guard". But General McC would rather blame the XXXXXXXX for his failure of courage.

    The US has spent hundreds of billions futily, rather than confront these frauds. They would scatter like sheep at the first clash. They are not the "Immortals". Then again maybe they are in the mind of General McC - which is even worse.

    The US cowers before a gaggle of strawmen.

    If McC is a general, I'm the Pope. The man may jog, but he cannot bear the thought of fighting. A Civil War Mc had he same problem: no guts and no glory.

    The good General and the F-22 have much in common: big hat and no cattle.

    Had McC served under Patton, he would have been long ago demoted to LTC, given to paper clip counting.

    Sorry, trish, but the man is a weakling of the modern sort. O, and double speak is just a nice way of saying, "We await orders to cover our butts."

    ReplyDelete
  115. "Welcome to the sausage factory."

    : )

    ReplyDelete
  116. Trish,
    Ledeen says no western nation is in communication with the young Iranian revolutionaries.
    Comment?

    ReplyDelete
  117. You lying mother fucking jealous piece of shit. Did you think that response would get a private email from me? Think again. Now it's my turn to make an ass out of me.

    I'm going against the advice of my friends when they told me to not respond to your sorry ass or stoop to your pathetic little games and defend myself in public, on this blog. but now I have no choice. I really don't care what people think of me especially people on the Internets that I don't know but over time there are a couple of people here, I've grown fond of.

    You drug my name through the mud a month ago and I let people think what they wanted, I thought, as long as I knew the truth it didn't matter. Last night you did it again and for no reason.

    Who the fuck do you think you are? What gives you the fucking right to even mention my name at this point? Is it because I'm not responding to your emails or is it because Quirk said I would look good in a hat or the comment I made to Sam about hair?

    ReplyDelete
  118. You're right about one thing, I'm not the sweet little girl next door. I'm the bitch that only takes so much and when you light a match under her ass one too many times you better expect the fire to take over.

    I came to this blog for unknown reasons and I really didn't plan to stay. I would pop in every once in a while, jot down some thoughts for the day and leave. But you, Bob, you were the only one that was kind enough to respond to my nonsensical comments.

    I did nothing to coerce you into making you think you were in love with me. I did nothing except talk to you. I'm sorry if you took that the wrong way.

    It wasn't my fault, so I'm told, but I took responsibility anyway. I felt bad that, because of me, you made this blog into your own little fiasco to try and swoop someone off their feet. I thought if I emailed you it would take you away from acting like the ass you were making of yourself and let the patrons of the bar to carry on as usual. And that's the only reason I emailed you.

    Now you're wrong about one thing. I do say no. I said, "NO, we are not going to be together I have a husband and two children." I said, "NO, you're really not in love with me, you're in love with the fact that I pay attention to you." I said, "NO, we really shouldn't email because if you really do feel that way, you're probably going to get hurt."

    But you didn't care, you wanted a friend to talk to. So the emails kept flowing in and with each response, I said NO.

    I will come to your defense and say with the exception of one email and the fact that they all ended with, I really do love you, there was really no disrespect.

    Until I made a comment to someone and then I got, "What are doing? I can't believe you just said that. Is that all you are is a flirt, just whore that flirts with any guy that comes along? Well go run away with him." And a bunch of other inappropriate things that I won't mention. Well, I'll let you in on a little secret when the room is full of men who the fuck do you think I'm suppose to talk to?

    And when I didn't respond to these outrageous emails you brought it to the blog. You crossed the line, you lied, you manipulated, and you exploited your wife to all your friends here and for what, to piss me off or to make me angry so I would respond to your emails? You were turning into a friend, regardless of how you felt you respected how I felt. You took the advice to see a doctor but I think it was the wrong one.

    I told you what you did was unforgivable and you would never get another email from me. I said I couldn't stop you from doing what you wanted. I guess that was the wrong thing because your mail kept coming and I kept ignoring and you wouldn't go away. You said, "Tell me to stop emailing and go away and I will." I thought even if I responded to that it would give you hope to regain the connection that you once had before. I guess I was wrong again.



    No one probably cares to hear my story but at least now it's off my chest. I think I covered most of it.

    I really didn't think my comment last night would have made Allen bring it up. Shit happens.

    Peace out.

    ReplyDelete
  119. Peace to you too, Melody.

    I mean that.

    I won't email you again, fianlly!, not about dove hunting, fishing, farming, feelings, abject apologies, law suits, how I loved the way you spoke, the Desert poem, my daughter, CdA, life after death, NDE studies, my views on suicide, (never do that if you have a problem, it doesn't make it go away, it's not a permanent solution to a temporary problem, they will meet you on the other side, but it ok to go Anthony Strongoni at 80, if you have no problems, and want to avoid the rest home) nor how the Elk count is down by sixty percent in Areas 10 and 12, due to the wolves, nor John Donne and the Ecstasie, and what a beautiful poem that is, just holding hands, like dead, and out of the body, all the day, all the day!, by an English brook, nor Shakespeare's The Tempest, nor Roethke, who was fighting it out for all of us. But if you should ever write to me, I'll write you back, if my old fingers still work :).

    Peace to you, Melody.

    ReplyDelete