text:
Thinking Right's weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
House Democrats propose to limit increases in the cost of some medical insurance policies to 1.5 times the annual rate of medical inflation, unless government says otherwise. Fair enough. Said government should agree, too, to limit its spending to 1.5 times the annual population increase or the annual rate of inflation of what it buys.
Best headline of the week: "Unclear how much time is left." Second best: "Get answers now, as time may be short." Both were over the same story. Guess its subject: a) a Southern Baptist, Holiness or Church of God revival; b) a late-night infomercial; c) cash for clunkers; d) global warming; e) the motorcyclist who sped to 170 mph in an attempt to elude police.
The legacy of former DeKalb CEO Vernon Jones lives on. Taxpayers there may be about to take a big hit to settle reverse-discrimination claims brought by four current and former employees of the county's Parks and Recreation Department. A panel of judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals finds "shocking" evidence of "an overt and unabashed pattern of racial discrimination" in his administration. It's amazing how many voters buy their troubles on election day.
Would that the federal government be as diligent in tracking the $787 billion "stimulus" money as it is in reviewing how the Georgia DOT manages $28 million in grants to small and rural transit operators.
When they're all arrested, it'll be worthwhile to see how many of those accused in the killing of Atlanta boxer Vernon Forrest were born into intact families with a mother and father in the home. Same with the four accused of killing two women in East Point.
It's noteworthy that the Rev. Al Sharpton plans a national conference here next week and nowhere among the topics is the crisis wrought by bringing children into the world without a mother and father in their home.
Praise be officials in Norcross, Snellville and Suwanee who decide to reject the red-light cameras that locals use to gin up revenue from motorists. Voters, meanwhile, should give the red light to those in Duluth and Lilburn who opt to bring them back. They're not about safety; they're about money.
This obsession with "bullies" is evidence of the diminished role of fathers in the family — and the push to dump a family problem on the schools. Two points: Bullies are at some time or other a factor in every boy's life. Children learn to fight, flee or adapt to adversarial people and situations. It's a part of growing up and adjusting to the real world. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a bully. Vladimir Putin is a bully. So was Saddam Hussein. Point two: Home is the place to socialize boys, both would-be bullies and those they target.
Nah, Washington's not going to raise taxes on the middle class. The president promised he wouldn't and his spokesman affirms it, disputing the two administration officials who actually know how the economy and the tax system works, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers. Somebody's dishonest or clueless.
Give me the Northern Arc and a traffic tunnel under Atlanta and I'll take toll roads. Congestion relief needs dramatic, visionary solutions. The DOT staff has those projects on a draft list for the board to consider. I'd even take the Lovejoy commuter rail boondoggle, if properly tolled.
Here are the people we trust to design and run a single-payer national health care system: U.S. Sens. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) say they thought the sweetheart loan deals they got from Countrywide Financial Corp. were "courtesy stuff" like frequent-flier discounts. When was the last time you got a sweetheart deal on a mortgage? They legislate for our world, but they don't live in it.
August 6th, 2009
7:47 pm
"It's amazing how many voters buy their troubles on election day."
I agree Jim – the classic cases are every president elected since the 1980 election. It has resulted in an accumulated deficit of $11.5 trillion by those five presidents. "Americans get the kind of government they ask for…….."
August 6th, 2009
8:14 pm
I wish Dubya had taken Jim's approach to limit spending. Halliburton would have been unpatriotically dissatisfied with jacking up prices 1.5 times. Anyone in the defense contracting industry would laugh at such a small "price adjustment." 1.5 is just a start.
Wow, Jim, way to ignore kids being harassed. Maybe it's a guy thing to accept bullying as part of life. We in the civilized world consider assault by co-workers abnormal. Then again, I'm not a Republican hiring thugs to disrupt town hall meetings. More of those good old fashioned Republican Family Values.
August 6th, 2009
9:21 pm
Good evening Jim,
The guy on the 170 MPH motorcycle is on borrowed time regardless of what his headline said.
We can't be having no reverse discrimination charges now.
It would be interesting also,Jim,to see how many of these bozos learned their trade from their parents.
The vast majority of the bullies and wise guys that I went to school with died before they were 50.
Where I live we barely speak stop sign.There are no red light cameras because we have no red lights.
William Jefferson had some weird ideas about courtesy stuff too.
Washington will raise taxes on the middle class.Let me repeat that.Washington will raise taxes on the middle class.
August 6th, 2009
9:22 pm
It's amazing how when liberals in the civilized world publically disrupt, scream angrily at meetings, form intimidating crowds or at times even break a few laws to voice opposition against anything they find objectionable that the government is doing, it is grass roots community organized and they who engage in the activities are called protesters.
Then again, when anyone other than socialist liberals in this civilized world publically disrupt, scream angrily at meetings or form intimidating crowds without actually breaking any laws to voice opposition against anything they find objectionable that the government is doing, it is Republican organized Astor turf and they who engage in the activities are called thugs, GOP operatives and plants.
This seems "fishy", Mr. Wooten. Best report this to the White House Ministry of Propaganda Control at once before this malicious roomer committed against the State and dear leader Obumer spreads any further; and our names go on "The List".
August 6th, 2009
9:28 pm
Repeat that one more time clyde. Obumer shall raise taxes on the middle class.
In fact, he already has raised taxes on the middle class in "one form" which breaks his campaign promise not to raise taxes in any form on the middle class.
August 6th, 2009
10:48 pm
If President Obama leaves the current tax structure intact, what chance would we have to reclaim our lead in world economic affairs?
Leave the taxes at current levels buys what?
August 6th, 2009
10:54 pm
From the confused Bean:
I don't know about anyone else, but I like my coverage as is. The only other thing I could possibly wish about it is that it be free. And the government taxing corporations and small business even more, not to mention taxing John Q. Public, not just the wealthy as has already been admitted by Democrats, is not going to help make things better.
Like the bussed in slobs in T-shirts being paid minimum wages by insurance company lobbyists you're operating from a paradigm of ignorance.
There are 5 committees crafting a health care bill, and only one, the Health Committee–Dodd's in the Senate has reported out a bill. 4 haven't.
So you're pulling your assumptions from your butt–which is the closest anatomical/physiological concept you get to when it comes to medicine or health care.
To make it simple Bean–your coverage wouldn't change.
If you get seriously ill, you will lose your coverage immediately under status quo. Whatcha gonna do then?
Where specifically in any bill that has cleared any House or Senate committee Bean, can you cite language that supports the phony delusions you're spouting. Of the 2 committees in the Senate, one with a bill already, and 3 committees in the House only one committee has a bill and it has reported none of your delusional crap in its bill.
There is nothing that taxes low to middle income individuals or small businesses below $250 grand a year
a) Your coverage you want will not change. If you get very sick,they'll cancel you before you can blink.
b) Where can you cite in any bill that says what you have claimed is in any health care plan since only one of the five committees 2 in the Senate and 3 in the House have not finalized a bill. Then the House and the Senate have to finalize a bill. That'd be steps 6 & 7. Then the Conference Committee would have to report a bill which would have to be passed by both House and Senate. That's 8 Steps before the House and Senate vote on a final bill.
If you're not sitting on Madam Ashley's lap when she reads palms in the shack behind the tires and pink flamingos on the lawn, how in the hell are you getting this info you make up, and where in the hell are you getting it from?
So Bean– Where in the hell is your information coming from since there are no bills yet except a proposal from one Senate Committee?
Making it up is default among wingnuts here who are about the level of the bused in minimum wage idiots that shout in town hall meetings because they can't get a job.
I'm sure since there are no bills from 4/5 committees, and the House and Senate, and the Conference Committee yet, that you have no authority for your self-inflicted fear stoking except your own delusions.
August 6th, 2009
10:55 pm
August 6th, 2009
11:00 pm
August 6th, 2009
11:05 pm
Wooten wasn't concerned about spending 3 trillion and growing on Iraq and he wanted to go on a lobotomized spending spree when it came to the obsolete F22. Wooten was denied. Get used to it.
When they're all arrested, it'll be amusing to see how many of those bussed in Astro turf minimum waged uneducatd slobs in T-shirts will ask for public defenders because they can't afford attorneys.
There's a difference between asking a question and shouting a speaker down. They'd find out if they went to any Republican speech and repeated their tactics and fat butt would meet the back of a squad car in nanoseconds.
Dishonest and clueless is easy to ID–it's Wooten and his bussed in slobs who pull their facts from their butts.
Georgia DOT has been a complete failure, like water policy during the entire Purdue administration which has been a joke.
August 6th, 2009
11:11 pm
Most Republicans in Congress are dead set against a public option, saying it would drive insurers out of business. Some key centrist Democrats in Congress, notably Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.), say Democrats must give up on it if they want to win a filibuster-proof 60 votes in the Senate, and they are instead proposing "insurance cooperatives, nonprofit groups owned by their members that are similar to rural utility co-ops". Obama recently expressed openness to this alternative.
"The hard reality is . . . that a public option does not have enough support in the Senate to pass," said Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).
Make the socialists liberals choke on the public single payer option government run healthcare!
Just say no to the evils of socialism!
August 6th, 2009
11:25 pm
Democrats manufacturing Astor truf sending out their goon squads and bussed in phony counter protesters: Watch'em shout, threaten, scream and show angry disrespect in meetings. Don't be surprised if they break a few laws to boot. Wonder how much stimulus money they'll get paid?
….the AFL-CIO announced plans to mobilize labor activists to attend town hall meetings in 50 congressional districts this month to counter the conservative protesters.
White House aides David Axelrod and Jim Messina traveled to the Capitol for their presentation to Democratic senators. Senators saw videos of disruptions at events held by House members, and "were told to organize their events more carefully as well as work with labor unions and other friendly groups to generate enthusiasm."
August 6th, 2009
11:39 pm
By SCOTT RASMUSSEN
For all the back and forth about the "public option," Congressional Budget Office estimates and proposed tax hikes, the fundamentals are really what make health-care reform a hard sell to American voters. As members of Congress head home for the August recess, they should take a close look at some poll numbers before they attempt to pass any new legislation.
The most important fundamental is that 68% of American voters have health-insurance coverage they rate good or excellent. That number comes from polling conducted this past weekend of 1,000 likely voters. Most of these voters approach the health-care reform debate fearing that they have more to lose than to gain.
Adding to President Barack Obama's challenge as he sells health-care reform to the public is the fact that most voters are skeptical about the government's ability to do anything well. While the president says his plan will reduce costs, 53% believe it will have the opposite effect.
There's also the reality that 74% of voters rate the quality of care they now receive as good or excellent. And 50% fear that if Congress passes health-care reform, it will lead to a decline in the quality of that care.
Advocates of health-care reform on Capitol Hill are up against something bigger than voters' reactions to a variety of specific proposals. Our polling in February found that by a 2-1 margin, voters believe that no matter how bad things are Congress can always make matters worse – OMG a Wootenism! That's one reason 78% believe passage of the current congressional health-care proposals is likely to mean higher taxes for the middle class.
August 7th, 2009
12:46 am
The quality of care isn't excellent for a large number of patients we see over the years who are cancelled. The quality of care is called "we don't got none.
The slobs in T-shirt mobb of hot air blowers here ignore the fact that insurance companies are in business to cancel you.
If you look at who is in the White House you'll find the answer to whether the majority of Americans want a public option to compete with insurance companies who screw them.
The majority of physicians' organizations that includes MDs who have years of experience with patients and insurance companies do want health reform. That does not include this obsessive pasting dope that calls itself Smith. It does include the AMA–Smith not a member there.
What is Smith's connection to health care? It's when he tries to wipe his ass. Other than that zero. It's where Smith pulls his phony stats from.
Note that the obsessive pasters who know nothing about health care don't link to polls that back their asspulled figures up.
A copy of Trigg Palin's Kenyan Birth Certificate has just arrived:
The 6 "bipartisan" Senators currently writing the bill, who represent 3% of the country's population. None of them share the beliefs of the 76% of the country that want a public option. in poll after poll.
August 7th, 2009
7:28 am
Speaking of obstructionist do-nothings—looks like Sonny Perdoofus is in full Republican mode, vowing to "play hardball" in the water wars. Idiot.
If you voted for this goon, do us all a favor, stay away from the voting booth. You have zero political common sense.
August 7th, 2009
8:15 am
They be crazy, is hiding their real name of I B stupid, just read the comments and even more most of the talk is lies without facts.Live in the present and for get the lies that lead you to your misbeliefs!!
August 7th, 2009
8:37 am
Take your pick cause the proof is there. This guy is a real clown
Obama is a SOCIALIST – proof: Health Care socialism
Obama is a COMMUNIST – proof: taking over the banking industry, GM and AIG
Obama is a FASCIST – proof: the soon to be enacted gun prohibition laws
August 7th, 2009
8:52 am
{From the confused Bean:}– the blog liberal wingnut drooler
I'm not confused at all. I WANT GOVERNMENT TO STAY THE HELL OUT OF PRIVATE BUSINESS. Why is that so hard for you drooling red doper diaper babies to get into your empty heads?
Oh wait, here's the mentality of this clown and what kind of thinking this diaper soiling jerk does:
{Wooten wasn't concerned about spending 3 trillion and growing on Iraq and he wanted to go on a lobotomized spending spree when it came to the obsolete F22. Wooten was denied.}
So a jet that will take American into the next 30+ years and do things the F-35 can't, and the Russian competition can't, is obsolete. And this diaper soiling liberal says that Wooten got denied because the program ended and it was all democrats {I assume that's the mentality here} that killed it. The plane has been in development since 1990 and been through three different presidents, all of which oversaw a reduction in production units before Obama and Pelosi came to town, and the final production reduction was established last year; with only the option given to the Obama Administration for four additional aircraft, used only for parts and never meant to fly. But I digress here. That diaper soiler probably hates the military period like all those fringe kooks in SanFran and wants us to just be protected by the UN. I'd also wager the kook soils diapers over The Military Industrial Complex.
That a-sshole can't even get facts right about the F-22 and the red diaper doper baby wants us to think he or she or whatever the hell that thing is that thinks it knows what's best for us WHO ARE HAPPY WITH OUR CURRENT HEALTH CARE.
Get out of OUR LIFE, you extremist leftist jerk.
August 7th, 2009
8:58 am
Social Security and Medicare/MedicAid was created to help Americans without the financial wherewithal to maintain themselves.
Many of those that protest about our current health care system are probably using Medicare/MedicAid themselves, yet, they say they do not want the government intruding into health care. WHAT??????
August 7th, 2009
9:18 am
Speaking of FAMOUS SOCIALIST: The following all helped create, save & promote SOCIALIST programs – Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 42 & Obama.
The SOCIALIST programs they helped create, save & promote? Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid & SCHIP. (I could name every president since Hoover but elect not to do so.)
What this country needs is a president who is NOT a SOCIALIST. We have not had one in the last 76 years.
August 7th, 2009
9:22 am
American International Group on Friday reported its first quarterly
profit since late 2007, though earnings are still on the decline as it
continues to restructure.
A.I.G. said its second-quarter net income was $1.8 billion, or $2.30
per share, after six losing quarters in a row; a year ago, the company
lost $5.4 billion.
"Our results reflect stabilization in certain of our businesses," Chief
Executive Edward M. Liddy said in the earnings report.
August 7th, 2009
9:23 am
I'm willing to bid all the tea in China and America that no one living in the Continental United States will say out loud that some of the so-called educated integrationist Settlers should've betrayed the ideals of the separatist founding fathers. And no one will say out loud that some of the so-called educated integrationist founding fathers should've conspired with the British and worked surreptitiously to integrate early Americans with the British. It's commonly accepted by historians that practically all of the founding fathers and the Settlers wanted their children and posterity to taste the freedom of separatism, independence.
But how unfortunate are the common Negroes today. History shows how the so-called educated integrationist Negroes chose the volunteer slavery of integration over the liberty of separatism for their posterity. And as a consequence, the common Negroes are suffering tremendously today. In addition to spiritual, physical, mental, and social issues, Negroes experience a peculiar kind of scorn or ridicule via the media primarily at the hands of their traitors, the so-called educated integrationist Negroes. And it's designed to conceal their shameful crime of treason and lock the common Negro mind into a perpetual state of confusion.
Although broken, tattered, drawers drooping, sometimes fatherless, and at other times motherless. Yet the record shows him/her consistently striking out blindly at their treasonous enemies, the so-called educated integrationist Negroes. And when clearly identified by authorities as those who strike out blindly at their enemies, they in no uncertain terms immediately proclaim their innocence when apprehended by the police. And from our vantage point, the message of the common Negro is crystal clear:
Oh freedom,
Oh freedom,
Oh freedom, God put freedom over me!
And before I'd be a slave,
I'll be buried in my grave,
And go home to my Lawde and be free.
August 7th, 2009
9:23 am
August 6th, 2009
You are all wet Aquagirl! You and your ilk have starved an oil based economy from oil and nuclear energy and that has contributed greatly to this economy's downturn. Everything you try is ideology driven and that is not the real world. For instance China, Russia, and India will tell you to shove it up yours about CO2 emmissions and coal burning.
Maybe as you get older you will mature and see socialist ideas do not and have not ever worked.
I suggest you read the constitution for the first time. While you are at it read some of the letters written by the writers of the constitution. These were religious people but you have to read it for yourself and not let some progressive liberal ideolog tell you what it says. It is the unchanging values that endure.
All my life I have see more radical liberals than I have see screaming conservatives. You just in the advantage of having the media treating you so kindly while reporting the worse on the conservatives.
August 7th, 2009
9:24 am
Federal regulators accused Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chief
executive of A.I.G., on Thursday of overseeing deals that fraudulently
overstated the insurer's financial position, charges that came after a
four-year investigation.
August 7th, 2009
9:28 am
Morgan Stanley said on Thursday that it has paid $950 million to buy
back a warrant it issued to the federal government as part of the broad
financial rescue plan rolled out last fall.
August 7th, 2009
9:32 am
How may of you wacho liberals have reported me to the white house yet? I am a prime candidate.
August 7th, 2009
9:32 am
Fannie Mae plans to tap $11 billion in new government aid after posting
another massive quarterly loss as the taxpayer bill from the housing
market bust keeps growing.
August 7th, 2009
9:34 am
Still spouting about things you can conflate, extrapolate and obfuscate. You don't have a clue as to what you are talking about and use innuendo and half-truths to make your irrational, illogical and specious point(s).
When you have a substantial point to make, why not post that point and its attendant supporting statements for all to get a clear picture as to what you are trying to say.
Currently, you are rambling and do not have a logical conclusion to your subject. What is your point? As I have heard many older people say in their pointed life-lessons, "you don't even know your name."
August 7th, 2009
9:40 am
Hey Aquagirl, it was the UAW union guys who beat up an older woman, guess who HIRED the UAW thugs? The Obozo administration, idiot!!!!
August 7th, 2009
9:44 am
Lately, I'm beginning to feel like Kenan Thompson of Saturday Night Live. In the scared straight program skit, he always goes too far in his attempt to correct the attitudes of young white would be criminals. And when cut off, corrected, or challenged by the top warden for going too far or being too explicit, he instantly throws up his hands indicating compliance and obedience.
August 7th, 2009
9:44 am
You can always tell when you get to a socialist liberal, when you are in their kitchen so to speak. They go personal, they get very angry, they go nasty, real nasty and they even go to down right lying. Worst of all, some of them like the one that is attacking me, can't sign their real names to their phony claims.
Setting the record straight:
To lay down some ground work a couple of definitions are in order.
Socialism: A political theory advocating state ownership of industry.
Populism: The political doctrine that supports the rights and powers of the common people in their struggle with the privileged elite.
I am a populist, this admittedly puts me at odds with many staunch hardcore Republicans which lumps me in an obscure group, though not necessarily a small group, of "pragmatists" or as some of Teddy Roosevelt's relatives would call themselves a "Practical Republican". However, I do not now nor have I ever been a card carrying member of any political party, though I have appeared on GOP contributor's list and in the past gave money to elect conservative candidates, my political status is actually Independent. That should thoroughly debunk lie number one that says Smith is a Republican. As though anyone really cares.
Debunking lie number two:
The quality of care isn't excellent for a large number of patients we see over the years who are cancelled. The quality of care is called "we don't got none.
This is an easy one to nail down quickly as a matter of law. If your healthcare insurance has been cancelled the claim of no quality health care, as called in "we don't got none" is untrue. Anyone in the United States, that means even an illegal alien, can go to the emergency room of any hospital and they must treat you with the same quality healthcare they give to anyone with private healthcare insurance. Consider lie number two debunked.
The slobs in T-shirt mobb of hot air blowers here ignore the fact that insurance companies are in business to cancel you.
Common logic alone nullifies this claim. Insurance companies are in business to make money. If the sole motive of insurance companies was to cancel the policies of the insured the insurance companies would not be in business for long. Insurance companies are like any other business they operate to make the most money possible by expending the least amount of money paid out from earnings. Insurance companies want to collect premiums, pay as few claims as possible even delay payment for as long as they can and cancel as few policy as possible. Lie number three debunked.
If you look at who is in the White House you'll find the answer to whether the majority of Americans want a public option to compete with insurance companies who screw them.
The person now in the White House was elected primarily to fix a failed economy which he is yet to accomplish that task after spending billions of dollars to produce jobs. Obumer was not elected to create a government ran single payer healthcare system. If Americans wanted to go after everyone and everything that has screwed us the insurance companies probably would make the list proceeded at the very top by the Federal Government, the politicians in it and the federal bureaucracy. Lie number four debunked.
The majority of physicians' organizations that includes MDs who have years of experience with patients and insurance companies do want health reform. That does not include this obsessive pasting dope that calls itself Smith. It does include the AMA–Smith not a member there.
Wanting healthcare reform is not the same as wanting government ran healthcare. I have for years advocated for a non-government ran healthcare system to compete with private sector insurance companies. The present Senate proposal of "insurance cooperatives, nonprofit groups owned by their members – ran by their members – that are similar to rural utility co-ops" is exactly what I want and nothing less. Lie number five completely debunked!
What is Smith's connection to health care? It's when he tries to wipe his ass. Other than that zero. It's where Smith pulls his phony stats from.
My connection to healthcare is the same as that of millions of other Americans. I am a consumer which truly is the most important part of healthcare: "We the Patients" not "They the Congress". The stats I use are taken form various public sources available to anyone over the Internet, in the print media or broadcast media. Lie number six debunked
The 6 "bipartisan" Senators currently writing the bill, who represent 3% of the country's population. None of them share the beliefs of the 76% of the country that want a public option. in poll after poll.
Disregarding the non-sense posting of irrelevant hyperbole to move directly onto address the six 6 "bipartisan" Senators and the poll numbers: Americans, at least the vast majority of mainstream and main-street Americans tend to shy away from political extremes. Americans do want healthcare reform by an overwhelming majority but "they do not want the extremes of a government ran single payer system nor do they to settle for the status quo". The majority of polls which anyone can check out, shows the majority of Americans do not support this Government ran Public single payer Option. I personally favor using Zogy and Rasmussen both highly respected polling organizations. Check poll after poll for your self reader, I believe you'll find the Government ran Public single payer Option does not measure up to the claim that 76% of the country that want a public option.
As for lie number seven only you can decide readers.
I hope you will also find out as much as you can about non-profit consumer owned consumer ran healthcare cooperatives and support it as the reasonable Private Public Option. That is if you can trust yourself more than you trust our government.
August 7th, 2009
9:46 am
@ WBK, I mentioned nothing on energy policy, the Federalist Papers (or rebuttals) and whatever else is stuck in your congested craw. If you like to rant, foaming at the mouth, on random subjects, it is indeed a free country. I do ask you please don't use me as an excuse.
August 7th, 2009
10:39 am
August 7th, 2009
8:58 am
The people on Medicare that are protesting against the Public Option are probably looking at the cuts in funding to Medicare that will be used in part to pay for this Public single payer Option and the possibility of rationed healthcare for seniors. The old folks have certainly have alot to lose if the Public option ever becomes law.
Medicare has trillions of dollars of funding liability going forward that must be corrected otherwise the entitlements are not sustainable and the budget deficits will be unacceptable.
August 7th, 2009
10:51 am
Jim,President Obama's National healthcare plan will ration healthcare for most everyone – except for
Republicans who want vasectomies,abortions or birth control pills.
August 7th, 2009
11:07 am
August 7th, 2009
11:10 am
Blah, blah, blah, you have been debunked, evil one.
August 7th, 2009
11:16 am
It is clear to me from this motley assortment of comments that the biggest issues we face today are partisanship and sensationalism (in some cases outright lying). Some of you just don't seem to understand the basic fact that American health care costs are unsustainable and on top of that we don't get our money's worth. As a small business owner that pays insurance costs for five families I am appalled by what happens each year to our costs. I have a policy for a family of four with a $3500 deductible for each of us ($12,000 max) that has gone from about $350 a month 3 years ago to $711 this year. We have had no out of the ordinary expenses and have paid more in premium that we have received in benefits yet our costs rise more than 20% a year. You people need to wake up to reality our country can't keep spending this much money on health care. At the same time it is clear to me that in the area of fiscal conservatism the Republican party has failed miserably. In the last 30 years we have had RR, GB1, BC, GB2 and now BO. Of that number the only administration to actually balance the budget was the sole Democrat. Over 80% of the accumulated deficit we face today was created by the last 4 Republican presidents.
August 7th, 2009
11:29 am
A person who was not allowed into a town hall meeting in St. Louis was attacked and beaten by a group of SEIU union members.
I suppose that's how the liberal, "tolerant" lefties choose to respond to those seventy year old, "manufactured", "right wing extremeists".
If one of those jerks touched my father or grandfather I hate to think what would happen.
Get ready…. It's on!
This story is blowing up by the hour. The accounts and videos are flooding the internet. I wouldn't be surprised to see firearms at these demonstrations. If the police refuse to protect American citizens gathering to protest and exersize their constitutional right of free speech and assembly those citizens WILL protect themselves!
Pay attention and beware ACORN, SEIU and democrats in Congress. This is just getting started. Anybody who thinks those folks are just going to go away or shut up or be intimidated better think again.
August 7th, 2009
11:32 am
Repubs Gowin' Down–They Be Crazy -another un-employed midtown gay heard.
August 7th, 2009
11:33 am
Wooten says: "Somebody's dishonest or clueless."
Say what there, Jim? Are you talking about tax dollars and how they're spent?
Are you describing Hank Paulson, our stuttering, stammering, $500x millionaire (thank you Goldman Sachs) former Treasury Secretary who got TARP's first installment sans accountability for his Wall Street pals?
Are you also describing George W, our clueless former President (who I regretfully voted for twice), who started a war (of choice) while simultaneously cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans, ignoring his then Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil's vehement and proper advice to not cut taxes while starting a war. A stance which got O'Neil fired.
August 7th, 2009
11:34 am
Don't believe me about the attack in St. Louis? See it for yourself.
http://www.breitbart.tv The video is on the homepage.
August 7th, 2009
11:38 am
Add Families USA of "Harry and Louise" fame to the association with ACORN, SEIU and the democrats in Congress pushing only for the Public Option.
August 7th, 2009
11:38 am
U.S. Congressman David Scott (D-13th district) is holding a public town hall meeting on August 15th.
Mundy's Mill High School
Jonesboro, GA 30238
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Start Time: 10:00 AM End Time: 2:00 PM
I wonder if he'll have the courage to show up.
August 7th, 2009
11:39 am
August 7th, 2009
11:41 am
MKSmith: There are no cuts to funding for Medicare in the health care reform bills before congress. You are misinformed. There are estimates that certain aspects of the health reform plans will lead to greater efficiencies and more cost-effective and higher quality health care which will result in lower increases in costs to Medicare going forward. The savings numbers are estimates of the difference between what would be spent if we do nothing and what we will spend if reforms are put in place.
August 7th, 2009
11:42 am
Saxby Chambliss voted against the little guy yesterday, guess we did not offer him enough money.
August 7th, 2009
11:42 am
Want to know if and where your congressman is going to be this month while home on recess?
this link will give you the information. Most democratic congressmen will not post their speaking locations on their websites and their offices WILL NOT tell you where they're scheduled to speak.
Interesting huh?
August 7th, 2009
11:45 am
Ignore EVIL REPUBLICANS TIME IS UP. What a fool.
He's proably blogging from a contraband cell phone in his jail cell.
August 7th, 2009
11:49 am
August 7th, 2009
11:50 am
The only things the F22 does that the F32 can't is need millions of bucks of maintainance every flight hour, has no use in any theater we are in or remotely will be in, and cannot be used by every branch of service. That's why the morons have delusions and we make the decisions. We win elections and you're relegated to pissing and moaning on a comment section of a newspaper that's deteriorated into high school level where you belong. As long as your party is homogenously stupid, you aren't winning any elections and that translates to eternity.
U.S. Congressman David Scott (D-13th district) is holding a public town hall meeting on August 15th.
Mundy's Mill High School
Jonesboro, GA 30238
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Start Time: 10:00 AM End Time: 2:00 PM
I wonder if YOU'LL have the courage to show up. Anyone disrupting the meeting will promptly be arrested. Make sure you come and ask a question by screaming "Liar Liar" at the top of your lungs. The Clayton county jail will be the perfect place for your idiot butt.
Database Takes Patients for Billions, Study Finds
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional investigators said Wednesday that two-thirds of the nation's health insurance industry used a faulty database that overcharged patients for seeing doctors outside their insurance network, costing them billions of dollars in inflated bills.
The flawed database was operated by Ingenix, a subsidiary of the health insurer UnitedHealth Group, which agreed in January to pay $350 million to settle allegations that it deliberately kept rates low to underpay doctors, driving up expenses for patients.
UnitedHealth has admitted no wrongdoing in its handling of Ingenix, though it agreed to close the database and help pay for a new one operated by a nonprofit group.
An investigation by Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, Democrat of West Virginia, shows that nearly 20 regional and national insurers also used Ingenix data.
A continuing investigation by the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, previously focused on the use of Ingenix data by only a handful of top insurers, including Aetna, Wellpoint and Cigna. About a dozen insurers, including UnitedHealth, have reached settlements with Mr. Cuomo.
More than 100 million Americans have plans that allow them to see doctors who are not part of their insurance network. For more than a decade, insurers submitted data to Ingenix to determine the typical cost for care received in such visits.
But Congressional investigators say companies would deliberately skew data to underestimate the costs of medical services, leaving patients to pay more in out-of-pocket expenses.
"The result of this practice is that American consumers have paid billions of dollars for health care services that their insurance companies should have paid," according to the report of the Senate Commerce Committee's investigative staff.
August 7th, 2009
11:53 am
nanny nanny boo boo. Stick your head in doo doo.
I ain't scared. Democrats should be.
August 7th, 2009
11:54 am
August 7th, 2009
11:55 am
"I wonder if YOU'LL have the courage to show up. Anyone disrupting the meeting will promptly be arrested. Make sure you come and ask a question by screaming "Liar Liar" at the top of your lungs. The Clayton county jail will be the perfect place for your idiot butt."
I doubt this homo would leave his mother's basement and go to the rally. Mr Policeman, Hellp! I broke a finger nail.
August 7th, 2009
11:58 am
@ Smith–
The idiot Bush, who like you had no medical training thought the ER was the place to treat Americans of all ages for all ailments. The ER is a place to treat emergent episodic problems. It is hardly the place to treat chronic ailments and is always clogged and impaired from doing what it was designed to do for acute medical and surgical emergencies by people showing up for the treatment of chronic illness.
It is not the place to manage ongoing hypertension, COPD, diabetwes, coronary ischemia that is chronic, to name just a few. The physician hardly has the time, and in most ERs the emergency specialist has a set of skills aimed at emergencies while the FP and Internist and medical subspecialists and surgical subspecialists have skills aimed basically at chronic problems.
I've done ER for years, them office based practice for years. You've picked your butt. Only an imbecile would say the ER is the place for this country's population to get their care if they lose their insurance. I did tertiary ER work as a physician for 7 years. We didn't do mastectomies in the ER. We could lower BP, and we could normalize blood sugar and ketoacidosis and did it every day, but we were not the place to do chronic medical history and treatment. Only an imbecile thinks so, and you've shown an imbecile does. We also did not do prostate surgery or breast surgery in the ER or surgeries for a gamut of problems or cancers. We were busy treating acute emergencies, sewing lacerations, treating acute fractures, acute MIs, acute CVAs, arrhythmias, and a list of hundreds of acute emergencies.
We were not the place for diagnosis and treatment of chronic non-emergent diseases, never have been, and never will.
This kind of statement tells us precisely why we are determined to revise the health care system.
August 7th, 2009
11:58 am
August 7th, 2009
12:02 pm
Th: Did I say there are cuts to funding for Medicare "in the health care reform bills before congress"?
I didn't use those exact words at all, so you are the one who is misinformed about what I actually said.
What I did say: The people on Medicare that are protesting against the Public Option "are probably looking at the cuts in funding to Medicare" that will be used in part to pay for this Public single payer Option and the possibility of rationed healthcare for seniors.
But here's something from reported by the AP on a liberal news organization Website.
Political role reversal
The dueling sound bites frame a political role reversal.
When the Republicans were in power, their attempts to cut Medicare to reduce government spending ran into a wall of opposition from Democrats. Now that Democrats are in control, they're calling for hundreds of billions in Medicare cuts to help the uninsured get coverage.
The House bill — the congressional proposal that has advanced the most — would reduce projected increases in Medicare payments to providers by more than $500 billion over 10 years, a gross cut of about 7 percent over the period. But the legislation would also plow nearly $300 billion back into the program, mainly to sweeten payments to doctors.
That still leaves a net cut of more than $200 billion, which would be used to offset new federal subsidies for workers and their families now lacking health insurance. Those uninsured workers also pay the taxes that go to support medical care for the elderly.
Despite the cuts, the seniors' lobby is supporting the House legislation. But AARP says that's as far as the cost-cutting should go. The group says it's troubled by a proposal recently embraced by Obama to create a special advisory panel that would regularly recommend more savings, with authority to force Congress to act on them. AARP says the costs board should also have to take into account effects on quality of care and access before making any recommendations.
August 7th, 2009
12:02 pm
See how these pathetic libs project their insanity?
Read all the posts of Repubs Gowin' Down–They Be Crazy. The only one crazy in this thread is you. Go get a job and move out of your mother's basement.Try to have sex with someone else in the room. And get a personality.
August 7th, 2009
12:04 pm
Hi Jackie,
Just wanted to let you know what you said is so powerful. Just so very very powerful.
"Still spouting about things you can conflate, extrapolate and obfuscate. You don't have a clue as to what you are talking about and use innuendo and half-truths to make your irrational, illogical and specious point(s)."
August 7th, 2009
12:05 pm
Oh and by the way Th, my name is Michael H. Smith not MKSmith.
August 7th, 2009
12:09 pm
In the past private business proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it could not be trusted to run itself in a manner that would not totally ruin everything it touched.It proved that it needed regulating by government.Private enterprise was it's own worst enemy.It still is today.
In it's infancy days in this country it had slaves working it's fields.It had children employed in it factories.Private industry exploited it's workers until unions were formed for protection.Government regulation is,unfortunately,necessary.Private enterprise caused the need for regulation with it's unmitigated greed.
August 7th, 2009
12:09 pm
August 7th, 2009
12:18 pm
Sorry I'm so late in writing. I had to go to work today. It's a shame you libtards don't have the same problem.
August 7th, 2009
12:19 pm
DEMOCRAPS – I'm gonna have to put that on a t-shirt. Thank you.
By the way… you're use of the word "phuck" is way out of line. This is a is a public discussion forum. Behave yourself or mommy will have to take away your big wheel.
Besides, isn't time for for your jello and inmate shower party?
August 7th, 2009
12:24 pm
The only evil greater than unfetter capitalism is the fetters of socialism, clyde.
August 7th, 2009
12:34 pm
During the campaign candidate Obama said, 'Argue With Neighbors, Get In Their Face'
What's the problem?
Seems "fishy" to me… Better flag it to the White House.
August 7th, 2009
12:38 pm
Taxes were raised 156% to fund the medicaid program. They wont cut taxes they are raising them on certain areas and certain people.
How many of you democrates are even willing to do the reading and look into things that the democrates are really doing. You might have a change of heart if you have kids who you want to be productive in the future.
Truely, the Government is not going to take care of you, they are going to rob you and then assist you in your death when you become a burden on the social security system and need medical care. This healthcare program IMO is one way to fix their democrate spending and cure social security at the same time. People who are refused medical care will die, thus not able to collect their social security checks.
August 7th, 2009
12:38 pm
Yippie, a new group of flaggers has been created!
August 7th, 2009
12:41 pm
What does an angry mob look like? Hmmmmmmmmm.
That grandma scares me to death. I'll bet she's a threat to national security. Better flag her to the Great Leader. She's dangerous.
August 7th, 2009
12:44 pm
Michael Smith,
Socialism is NOT the state ownership of the means of production. That is what is known as state capitalism, similiar to what the Soviet Union became under Stalin. Socialism is WORKER ownership and control of the means of production. All members of the factory, restaurant, or call center have equal say in how the industry is run, through worker's councils.
August 7th, 2009
12:48 pm
Dear Mr. Great Leader Obama,
You say, "Don't Want the Folks Who Created the Mess to Do a Lot of Talking". Your plan to silence us is backfiring more every hour.
Truthfully sir, you ain't seen nothing yet. We're just getting started. We will not shut up. We will not be threatened or intimidated by you or your minions. You work for us, sir.
August 7th, 2009
12:50 pm
The lazy, perverted libs in this country are all parasites. They will continue to suck the host (taxpayers) until the host dies or kills the parasites. It is that simple folks, biology 101.
August 7th, 2009
12:50 pm
just a word on internet world, using all caps is shouting, does that make you a mob? If you look on the keyboard there is a caps lock key, if you push it once it will turn off you loud and obnoxious yelling.
August 7th, 2009
12:54 pm
Dunwoody Mike
August 7th, 2009
12:44 pm
That is your definition of socialism Dunwoody Mike, Merriam-Webster's defines it quite differently.
* Main Entry: so·cial·ism
* Pronunciation: \ˈsō-shə-ˌli-zəm\
* Function: noun
* Date: 1837
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.
August 7th, 2009
12:57 pm
Wanna shock Washington, DC?
Show up on the National Mall on Saturday, September 12, 2009 for the March on Washington. If you've never attended a political rally and you want to make a difference we need you there.
When upwards of 500,000 – 1,000,000 people show up, they CAN NOT ignore or ridicule us any longer!
Delta has round-trip tickets from Atlanta to Reagan National Airport for $149. Take the Metro (subway) into DC and get off at the Smithsonian station.
Your country and our Constitution need you now more than ever!
August 7th, 2009
12:57 pm
August 7th, 2009
1:00 pm
Michael Smith,
I have capitalized the key word in the sentence below, which you have seemed to overlook:
any of various economic and political theories advocating COLLECTIVE or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.
If you want to know what socialism is, read some Marx, Engels, Lenin, or Trotsky. Their explanations are much more thorough than a single line in a dictionary.
August 7th, 2009
1:04 pm
August 7th, 2009
1:06 pm
Liberals do not read. They just moronically parrot whatever lib crap kos and huffington feed them. Notice how the libs do not want to discuss Odumbo's expansion of the war.
August 7th, 2009
1:17 pm
Go liberal Parrot, sqwawk sqwawk, fairy want a cracker? They spew from the keyboard because in real life they get their azz beat. sqwawk
August 7th, 2009
1:17 pm
The administration and leadership in Congress try to marginalize, dismiss and ridicule those who disagree with them.
They have very thin skins and are cowards. They wanted this gig. They got this gig. Deal with it.
August 7th, 2009
1:23 pm
If you want to use collective fine with me, though, the keywords that most use and which are commonly-normally accepted is "governmental ownership". It certainly does not change what I support in the way cooperative healthcare which is owned individually more so than as a collective. Which means the individual who puts more of their own money into a MSA will have more options than someone who puts less money into a MSA even though subsidies should assure to all participants-members have at least the two major components of minor and major medical care but not optional or elective healthcare.
If you look back in history Teddy Roosevelt actually proposed a major medical plan in order to keep people from going bankrupt due to untimely illness. Interestingly enough, it might come as a shocker but even Rush Limbaugh of all people actually said much the same thing about government providing a major medical insurance to prevent a medical induced bankrupcy in an interview with Fox New's Greta Van Susteren.
If your purpose was to simply argue correctness of theory you're probably talking to the wrong guy. My interest is simply getting every U.S. citizen healthcare by the most affordable, accessible, portable means by which they will always own and control, without government or business essentially owning and controlling their healthcare.
August 7th, 2009
1:23 pm
Good work Michael H. Smith. Keep the heat on these fascist Marxists on the fringe left on this blog.
@ No life moonbat:
"The only things the F22 does that the F32 can't is need millions of bucks of maintainance every flight hour, has no use in any theater we are in or remotely will be in, and cannot be used by every branch of service."
1). Nobody knows what the future holds. The plane is not for the here and the now, where apparently you liberals like to dwell in.
2) The Air Force has ALWAYS had specialized aircraft for aerial superiority that was not shared with other branches. Have you ever seen a Coast Guard or Navy F-15? Or have you ever seen a US Air Force F-18E Super Hornet, the Tomcat's replacement? Or a Navy SR-71? Navy F-117? You sheer idiocy over that subject is laughable.
3) The F-35 is a replacement for the multi-role F-18 for the Marines and the Navy, and the Air Force F-16. If you think the F-16 could have replaced the F-15 at the time of their inceptions in the 1970s, then you are perhaps the largest, big-mouthed ill-informed nobody I have ever had the displeasure of meeting on the web.
"I wonder if YOU'LL have the courage to show up. Anyone disrupting the meeting will promptly be arrested. "
I wouldn't set FOOT in a Democrat district. Don't really care what your people think and say.
Now for the grown up speak.
So, the off-the-chain Democrats are now stating that the outspoken town hall folks are violent and equating them to McVeigh and the OKC bombing. That's no joke. So what happens when a sole Conservative protests where a Democrat congressman is hosting a town hall forum? He gets the hell beat out of him:
"The Saint Louis Post-Dispatch is reporting that one of their own, reporter Jake Wagman, was one of six people arrested in connection with the beating of a conservative activist outside of a town hall forum held by Democrat Congressman Russ Carnahan. According to Dawn Majors, a Post-Dispatch photojournalist who witnessed everything unfold, an officer said that Wagman had been "interfering.""
Now how many "violent" people have you seen cause injury at those town hall meetings again? We'll see how DNCNN, PMSNBC, NYT, and other "news" outlets report that. Now it doesn't take much gray matter to comprehend what would happen if a Republican were in the White House and trying to ram an extremist and aggressive Conservative agenda through government. How about, say, the complete takeover and privatization of Social Security. Do you not think that those same DNC media wh0res would be praising those FREEDOM TO SPEAK OUT as these folks are doing?
But let's sit back and look at the bigger picture of what's going on. Madam Speaker equates the town hall folks were are exercising their American-given liberties and FREEDOM TO SPEAK OUT as Nazis. The White House is using the official White House dot gov website to establish a community watchdog organization of ordinary citizens to report any "questionable" material or even internet posts on health care reform. Again, another Nazi style tactic: report any of your family, friends, neighbors, or even strangers who speak out against tyranny. Saddam Hussein had a similar program in place and you can bet the little tyrant North Korean gargoyle who Bill Clinton just validated has something in place too.
Now the irony moment is that apparently Rush Limbaugh equated the current Democrat tactics as more Nazi-sque than anything else. The Democrats are now running around like little children whining and saying he should be taken off the air. OH THE HUMANITY! Yeah like that's never been said before. Okay, so here's a quick rundown of what this current crop of Democrat leadership in both chambers of Congress and the White House are doing if you haven't been keeping up with current events: suppressing free speech under the guise of labeling THE OUTSPOKEN as mobs/tyrants/McVeigh Nazis; attempting to shut down talk radio; moving towards an anti-gun owning establishment; taking over private enterprise; establishing government "czars" for just about every aspect of America who are taking powers away from appointed cabinets; abusing powers making closed door policies which they said they wouldn't do; buying corporate jets to fly themselves around the globe when previously crying over corporate jets by GM, Ford, and Chrysler; as has been mentioned here several times by several people and goes completely ignored by the left – taxing the middle class to pay for socialized health care; unconstitutionally threatening to force socialized health care into action even if there aren't enough Congressional votes and irrespective of the fact that the will of the American people are against it and growing more against it daily.
Obama's poll numbers have dropped 4 points in just the last month alone. In just six months in office, his approval ratings on Gallup have gone from a high of 71% to now 56%; on Rasmussen tracking those numbers have gone from 48% to 33%. It cannot be emphasized enough that this is truly a turning point in American history. Americans are standing up to these power-trip hungry Democrats, and the Democrats don't like it. They apparently have never been told NO! before. Their arrogance speaks loudly however. And like little spoiled children, they start crying, making false accusations of fellow Americans, and attempting to quell dissent. It's becoming fascinating to watch this current crop of Democrat leaders become unglued, unhinged, and turn into everything they said the Bush administration was and was doing, even going so far as saying that Bush was a dictator.
But back to allegedly dangerous and angry mobs according to the moonbatic leftwingnuts, how about some union thugs beating up people? Note the video at 3:21…
Yeah, Obama the uniter indeed. People of America, this is just unbelievable behavior and flat out setting a dangerous precedence for the future of our Democratic Republic. This is not what this nation was founded for, was not what we have fought wars for, and certainly is not what America stands for. Who would have thought that with complete control in Washington, moonbats continue to project the hate and scurry around b!tching about the Bush administration, Palin, Rush, et. al. You would also have thought that if these people truly believed in their socialized health care plan, and no it's NOT JUST about insurance as they want you to believe, then they wouldn't be using 1) the White House dot gov website to report "questionable" comments about said health care initiative and 2) dangerous and Nazi rhetoric against THE OUTSPOKEN who reject this proposal. You don't think those old people are going to come out of the woodwork in 2010 and 2012 and vote these Democrats out? And let's not forget all those baby boomers who will be swelling those ranks over the next decade. They know what's going on too. If the Democrats don't wise up and grow up and drop that chip off their shoulder, they will destroy themselves just like the Republicans did. Wow, it didn't take long for them to show their true colors, did it?
Have a nice weekend my fellow American Conservative Republicans!
August 7th, 2009
1:29 pm
Somebody explain that to the little midtown parrot. Sqwawk!
August 7th, 2009
1:30 pm
Dr Mr. Bean,
Way to go! You're the man!
Your last post was one of the best I've ever seen on this site.
When Obama sends the FBI to lock me up for speaking my mind I want you as my attorney.
August 7th, 2009
1:32 pm
Have fun folks, I probably return later on. It is time for me to get busy on my day off and do the regular stuff regular people do that have a life other than wasting it sitting around blogging all day and night. Okay dear leaderless obumer that means you got the rest of the day off too. Enjoy.
August 7th, 2009
1:34 pm
Michael Smith,
I also want healthcare for all in this nation. personally, I think any ideas to take funding OUT of Medicare is moronic; rather, I would prefer an expansion of Medicare to all citizens, as in H.R. 676. With that would be the option to purchase supplementary coverage through private insurers, to cover the 20 percent that Medicare may not cover.
I think with this we can get a mix, much like how the British NHS works…everybody gets the NHS coverage (which is rated pretty decently and cheaper per capita than here), but those that wish to purchase private insurance can do so.
I also think that we need to change how medical professionals are paid in this nation, and pay them by results delivered, not just number of tests ordered.
I had not really heard anything about Teddy Roosevelt, although I do know Truman wanted to create a national healthcare plan in '46 or '47, but was defeated.
Oh, and Mr. Bean, a "fascist Marxist" is an oxymoron. They are at completely ends of the political spectrum.
August 7th, 2009
1:38 pm
Common Sense for Healthcare:
I think that people have been so busy with their personal lives and the left has up until now been moving stealth with these programs, that it took healthcare for people to finally wake up and see what is going on.
1) Provide for interstate commerce to allow people to buy health insurance across state lines.
2) no free healthcare for illegals
3) cap malpractice judgments
4) allow people the same rate structure to buy healthcare as those found in group policies
5) allow portability.
This would address 90% of people's concerns, reduce costs, and keep the government – the same people who have botched every other program – out of the doctor's office.
August 7th, 2009
1:40 pm
In order to pay for this, we can "means test" (i.e., throw out) the top 5 percent of income earners. They can buy their insurance and pay cash. We can also increase the cap on which income is taxed for Medicare/SS. Since the richest in our society have benefitted the most from the public infrastructure, they have an ethical obligation to pay more…at least I believe.
And no, I am NTO talking out taxing them out of existence.
August 7th, 2009
2:05 pm
Mr. Bean
August 7th, 2009
1:23 pm
Have you ever seen Government Waste you did not love.? You big spending, big government liberals have ruined our country.
August 7th, 2009
2:12 pm
I believe no praise is due to Norcross….I was driving by the intersection of Peahtree Industrial & Medlock Bridge, and workers were feveriously running cables and reinstalling the redlight cameras.
August 7th, 2009
2:23 pm
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner should know how the tax system works; he certainly knew how to evade it.
The best way to deal with a bully is to bloody his nose. I had a friend who was a high school teacher. A female student in her class was constantly bullied and picked on by some of the boys. She (the teacher) reported it to her superiors and nothing was ever done about it. One day the girl had her fill of it and indeed bloodied a boy's nose. You guessed it; the girl was arrested. Is it any wonder things are in a mess?
August 7th, 2009
2:34 pm
Poor Jim, as usual Democrat = bad and Republican = good. The concrete personality is usually reserved for the 8-12 year old. In them it is acceptable. For an adult it is regressive.
August 7th, 2009
2:45 pm
I want someone to review the DOT's decision to install those decorative traffic signals on every freeway entrance ramp in metro Atlanta. What did that cost the taxpayers and whose personal economy was stimulated by that boondoggle? I would love to know what the good stewards of Georgia's tax revenue spent on that project. I have never seen even one traffic signal in operation and they have been there for at least 18 months. WTF?
August 7th, 2009
2:53 pm
Two universal truths:
Bullies are always pansies once you get below the first layer.
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
August 7th, 2009
2:53 pm
Aqua Girl is not all wet! She makes good points about Halliburton! They robbed the country, did inferior work and didn't even have to compete to be able to steal all they could. George W. Hitler and Vice-Fuhrer Cheney should be tried for their many crimes and punishment carried out.
August 7th, 2009
2:54 pm
Jenny Sanford and sons packed up and moved out of the Governor's Mansion today. They just got back from their 2-week family vacation in Europe. Suffice it to say, it wasn't a love connection.
Mel Martinez quits today as the Republican senator from Florida. This occurs the day after his party disses the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice of the U.S. It's just too embarrassing to be an Hispanic republican.
August 7th, 2009
3:06 pm
deegee – you conveniently forget the way the Democrats treated or mistreated Miguel Estrada who most likely would've been the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court or Janice Rogers Brown. Minorities are loved by the left until they learn to think for themselves and leave the plantation behind.
August 7th, 2009
3:20 pm
You sound as though you're all for giving Bush and Cheney a "fair" trial. Almost as fair as Obama was to the police officer who arrested Gates for showing his butt.
August 7th, 2009
3:28 pm
IC Atlanta 2:53, sorry to bust your illusion but liberalism is not a mental disorder but a dictionary term. For your edification liberalism is defined as, the quality or state of being liberal, as in behavior, attitude, etc. To further enlighten you liberal has multiple definitions but I will only relay the first few (you can go to a dictionary to look up the rest). Liberal, 1. favorable to progress or reform, as in religious or political affairs, 2. noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform. 3. of or pertaining to representational forms of government rather than aristocracies and monarchies.
I hope this discourse helps you understand that liberal is not, according to your view, a mental disorder. I can also suggest that you won't find liberalism defined in the official publication of mental disorders, The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
August 7th, 2009
3:44 pm
We already have a toll tunnel under Atlanta – it's called MARTA. It's (almost) never stuck in traffic!
Why would DOT want a traffic tunnel under ATL? They don't have enough money to mow the fricking highway medians now! Where are they going to come up with billions for a tunnel? They'd have to quadruple the gas tax. Wooten's World – featherbrained answers for complex, expensive problems.
August 7th, 2009
3:46 pm
Miguel Estrada was opposed by Democratic Senators in his nomination to the U.S. court of Appeals for D.C. because of his lack of any prior judicial experience at the local, state, or federal level. Democratic Senators also objected to the refusal by the Office of the Solicitor General to release samples of Estrada's writings while employed there. Miguel Estrada withdrew his nomination.
Janice Rogers Brown was nominated by Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. On June 8, Brown was confirmed as a judge on the D.C. Circuit by a vote of 56-43. She received her commission on June 10. Brown was the second judge nominated to the D.C. Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the Senate. She began hearing federal cases on September 8, 2005. What's your point. IC Atlanta?
August 7th, 2009
3:57 pm
Looks like you forgot the BIGGEST bully of em all Jim..
George W. Bush
August 7th, 2009
4:02 pm
All I need to do is hear the left opens its collective mouth to know that yes indeed, much to your chagrin, Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder. That is the only way I can come to terms with leftist thought. Funny thing is most lefties I know don't even live what they preach. I guess Millionaires Nancy, Teddy, Harry, Barry, Billy, Hillary, DiFi, Big Al, et al lead by what they say and not what they do.
August 7th, 2009
4:06 pm
Deegee – Miguel Estrada could never get an up or down vote due to the fact that he is a Hispanic Conservative. Liberals tend to judge everything by group – class or race. If you are rich and liberal – fine. If you are a minority and liberal – expected. If you are rich and conservative – you are hated. If you are a minority and conservative – you are despised by the left.
August 7th, 2009
4:32 pm
Estrada couldn't get a vote because he had no damn experience on the federal bench.n His problem had nothing to do with his race or heritage. Sessions got killed by Kennedy during his failed judge audition because lawyers under him testified about several racist comment and moves when he was US Attorney in Alawhitracistbama. LOL Law is hard for ya ain't it–if a Federal Reporter hit ya in da head you'd pick it up like a rock wouldn't ya?
August 7th, 2009
4:37 pm
Janice Rodgers Brown also had no federal litigation experience nor her ad she been on the federal bench. Further she never lived in the D.C. Circuit's area. She was one of the dumbest judges in the state of California, and remains one of the dumbest judges tied with Clarence Thomas in the history of the D.C. Circuit. Brown being stupid, almost never asks questions in oral argument before a 3 judge panel. Thomas is the only judge in US history to be on the S. Ct. bench and never ask one question at any oral argument in going on 18 years because he's too stupid to understand the arguments or the case law and code sections that inform them.
August 7th, 2009
4:40 pm
During the Republican domination of Congress prior to 2006, which you'll die before seeing again there was an astranomically lopsided denial of votes for Democratic Senators' judicial nominations. It was many factors greater by ratio than anything that has happened since.
Facts and numbers are hard for pubtards. Law is way hard. Medicine is impossible.
August 7th, 2009
4:42 pm
It's a real privilege to be in the presence of psychiatric expert "IC Atlanta" who could get into no medschool, and whose medical diagnostic prowess is confined to finding his zipper and the hole where he defecates.
August 7th, 2009
4:44 pm
IC, I was trying to bring some objectivity to your statement about liberalism. But, as is usually the case, the die hard liberal (as defined in the dictionary) and die hard conservative (also defined in the dictionary) are too caught up in the emotionalism of the moment to step back and analyze and evaluate what is being posited, which prevents them from ever hearing each other. Also it is tough to be objective when one goes into a conflict with a pre-set conviction of what the outcome should be. So, who is the villain here, the other who I disagree with or my own narrow focus?
August 7th, 2009
5:02 pm
1. The opposition party is completely irresponsible and has no intention of helping solve the country's problems. That means working with them is not just pointless; it's wasting time.
2. Leaders of the opposition party, their industry allies and hired provocateurs are persistently lying to incite the Jerry Springer mob actions and public hatred against anyone who tries to explain, let alone defend reform efforts. That means Democrats should refuse to work with the opposition. Why are they even allowed at the table?
3. Even if there are still one or two sane Republicans willing to consider meaningful discussions about the contents of reform, they are under unrelenting pressure and intimidation from their party and their organized crazies not to agree to anything that could reasonably be described as real reform. That means the absence of bipartisanship is a consequence of Republican obstruction, not a function of Democratic unwillingness to talk. We need to stop pretending this is our problem and make it theirs.
4. There are just enough numbskulls like Ben Nelson in the Democratic Party, plus unprincipled opportunists like Joe Lieberman, to coddle the opposition and stall Democratic-only reform efforts as long as they are shielded by their own colleagues. It's time to stop shielding them.
August 7th, 2009
5:11 pm
One of the few interesting things in the pubtard landscape amidst all the stupidity is the large dilemma for one Republican who has been willing to have a discussion rather than a Jerry Springer series of shows, Charlie Crist. From 538.com (with da number spelled out so you'd have to get a dictionary if you're a tard):
There is absolutely no upside here for Charlie Crist. When you're running for Senate, and you're protecting a huge lead, the last thing you need is a wild card like this that can cause people to grow upset with you. Odds are that Crist will take a look at what happened to David Paterson and at least make a decision quickly.
And/but — Crist just doesn't have a lot of good choices. Since he wants the seat himself beginning in 2011, he can't appoint someone like Jeb Bush who has equally strong credentials, and he can't appoint any sitting Representatives and then come back 18 months later and hope to kill their careers. He also presumably won't want to appoint himself — a moderate Republican senator is going to have two or three really tough votes over the next year and he would have to navigate carefully so as not to re-energize either the Marco Rubio campaign to his right or the Democrats to his left. If Crist does appoint himself, that would suggest to me that he's really looking more toward 2012 (or 2016) and is sort of going "all-in" on maximizing public exposure and may even try and be a "hero" on health care reform, etc. It would take someone pretty egomaniacal to think that way. Then again, it takes someone pretty egomaniacal to run for President.
In any event, the lack of alternatives is why former governor Bob Martinez (no relation), who has been out of public office for eighteen years, is getting so much buzz right now. He seems like the obvious choice — then again, he's 74 years old, and was distinctly unpopular by the time he left office, losing his re-election bit to Lawton Chiles by 13 points.
The nearer-term question is whether the Democrats might wind up with someone who could be a potential yes vote on health care — which Martinez almost certainly wouldn't have been, even though he'd been voting somewhat more moderately since announcing his retirement, including voting to confirm Sonia Sotomayor yesterday. Democrats shouldn't get their hopes up — Crist is arguably still more threatened by Rubio than by any of the Democratic general election candidates — but they nevertheless have something of a freeroll here.
If Democrats really wanted to play hardball and squeeze Crist on this decision, then someone like Robert Wexler could take one for the team and announce he had decided to run for Senate. That's probably too much risk for too little reward. But don't be surprised if you see a few bluffs/trial balloons along these lines if Crist takes too long to make his pick.
August 7th, 2009
5:16 pm
Guess what "Community Organizer and Chief" Obuma and "Sphincter of the House" Polosey, conservatives and independents can be community organizers too! Kiss your majority goodbye in 2010!
August 7th, 2009
5:50 pm
In response to Dunwoody Mike: I am against expanding Medicare for several reasons. It is socialism, a government owned and operated socialized single payer healthcare system that presently has huge funding liabilities going forward which not only threaten its' existence, but as well it threatens the financial prosperity of the nation, while Congress though being warned of these future challenges, refuses to act prudently in correcting the entitlement problems. Apart from being a socialists system, it is a far too political system and far too subject to changes made by the politicians for political reasons and for all the wrong political reasons more often than not.
Yes it is true Teddy Roosevelt, not by a long shot was it Harry Truman who was the first to call for national healthcare, which also precludes his fifth cousin Franklin Roosevelt's call for healthcare. To set the record, there are actually two different branches of Roosevelt's. Teddy's family is the Oyster Bay Republican Roosevelts. Franklin's family is the Hyde Park Democrat Roosevelts. The greatest social reforms that are often credited to Franklin (FDR) actually belonged to his fifth cousin Theodore (TR).
This article though dated does a good job of covering the Republican and Progressive party Populists Conservative Theodore Roosevelt's political philosophy and "protection of home life" policy. In fact it was part of the 1912 Progressive Party plank.
He's no Teddy Roosevelt
Written by Marvin Olasky
March 28, 10:15 AM
Barack Obama last month enlisted Theodore Roosevelt in his campaign for increased governmental control of health care, arguing that TR "first called for reform nearly a century ago." Google "Theodore Roosevelt, universal health care," and you'll find The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, DailyKos, and many other stalwarts of the left suggesting or claiming that Obama is carrying the Republican Roosevelt's banner.
That's nonsense. The propagandists take as their one piece of evidence a plank in the Progressive Party platform of 1912: "The protection of home life against the hazards of sickness, irregular employment and old age through the adoption of a system of social insurance adapted to American use."
The tip-off as to intention lies in those last four words, "adapted to American use." Germany's "Iron Chancellor," Otto von Bismark, had created in the 1880s insurance provisions for health, accidents, disability, and old age. The health service offered was local, not centralized, with employers contributing one-third of the cost and workers contributing two-thirds. The vague Progressive Party proposal was for something along those lines, and it's hard to know more about Teddy Roosevelt's thinking because this was not one of the issues he emphasized.
If Obama wanted to report accurately Roosevelt's beliefs, he would start with a speech about one of TR's favorite topics, "Deadening socialism."
The 26th president saw governmental control of the economy as the political manifestation of covetousness. He argued that "the only permanently beneficial way in which to help any one is to help him help himself; if either private charity, or governmental action, or any form of social expression destroys the individual's power of self-help, the gravest possible wrong is really done to the individual."
TR also contended that socialism could be fought most successfully by applying biblical ideas about helping the poor. The greatest hope lay through "voluntary action by individuals in the form of associations," particularly when the goal was "that most important of all forms of betterment, moral betterment—the moral betterment which usually brings material betterment in its train." Those who truly wanted to help had to stand "against mere sentimentality, against the philanthropy and charity which are not merely insufficient but harmful."
In response to those who thought that would-be helpers, even when naïve, should be cheered, Roosevelt argued, "I really do not know which quality is most productive of evil to mankind in the long run, hardness of heart or softness of head." He stated that the Bible tells each of us "to stretch out his hand to a brother who stumbles. But while every man needs at times to be lifted up when he stumbles, no man can afford to let himself be carried, and it is worth no man's while to try thus to carry someone else."
Governmental aid to those in need, TR emphasized, should be limited and "extended very cautiously, and so far as possible only where it will not crush out healthy individual initiative." He saw entrepreneurship as the most effective means of dealing with problems and argued that "socialists and others really do not correct the evils at all, or else only do so at the expense of producing others in aggravated form."
Roosevelt saw governmental redistribution of wealth as a surrender to covetousness. He argued that anyone elected on such a platform "is not, and never can be, aught but an enemy of the very people he professes to befriend. . . . To break the Tenth Commandment is no more moral now than it has been for the past thirty centuries."
In short, TR opposed both private and governmental corruption. He straightforwardly noted that "the Eighth Commandment reads: 'Thou shalt not steal.' It does not read: 'Thou shalt not steal from the rich man.' It does not read: 'Thou shalt not steal from the poor man.' It reads simply and plainly: 'Thou shalt not steal.'" President Obama should take that advice to heart instead of trying to twist history for his political advantage.
Theodore Roosevelt if he were alive today in my honest straightforward opinion would strongly favor a Private Public consumer owned and consumer operated Cooperative healthcare system to reform our nation's healthcare with as little government intervention, involvement and dependence as possible without yielding any ground to what he would now see as the corruption that exist in the private sector insurance industry nor would Theodore Roosevelt spare any effort to remove the corruption without destroying that private industry. He also would not claim any of these so-called progressives – spelled with the lower case "p" – of today who are in fact mostly socialists Democrats too embarrassed to admit that they are liberals in masquerade substituting their socialism for his original Progressive – spelled with the capital "P" – Populism.
August 7th, 2009
6:31 pm
Guesw what dumo. What maters are polls in 2010 and 2012. and Obama's poll numbers today are rising and at 58% already up from last week. LOL
And what you crazies don't realize is that Obama has narrowed his health care aspirations dramatically of late. None of what you claim are in any of the proposed bills are there because you're too dumb and lazy to read. The Springer alumni recipients of medicaid/medicare who are yelling "I want my country back" mean mah white canary brain don't want no negra to be presoodunt."
An increasing police presence now at those meetings is going to really keep the public defenders busy for the indigent ignorants who can't even complete sentences your party is bussing around.
August 7th, 2009
6:34 pm
The dummies here who invoke socialism and populism but have no specific ideas and paste away all day and all night don't begin to understand the meaning of the words.
There is nothing socialist in any of the markups and only one committee out of five has a proposed bill. Those little details escape the Springer stars here.
August 7th, 2009
7:11 pm
(Oh, and Mr. Bean, a "fascist Marxist" is an oxymoron. They are at completely ends of the political spectrum.)—–Dunwoody Mike
Yeah Mike, in theory anyway. But leave it to the democrats to sure know how to cover both ends of the extremist ideology spectrum under one political party: one end has the fascist government control over private owned companies down pat, and the other end has progressive income taxing down pat and the complaining that a small majority owns the majority of the wealth, dislikes capitalism because it caused inequalities, and wants that to change. So methinks Mr. Bean pretty much nailed it!
August 7th, 2009
7:16 pm
Of course, there is not a single word by the Springerwootens about the fact it took Obama 6 months to take out Mehsud, the second most valued target besides Bin Ladin. Boooshe of course couldn't do it in 8 years. It wasn't done with an absurdly inefficient F22–it was done with a Predator Drone–a Reaper that costs 4 million.
We done wants ouah countruh back. We done wants ouah F22. We done wants 3 Gulfstreams fo Kingston yeah yeah.
We be da Springerwootens.
August 7th, 2009
7:25 pm
August 7th, 2009
7:35 pm
I just hope like hell that the jobs report for the next 3 quarters keeps improving. Hopefully the banks will have recapitalized by the end of this year and will start lending again. Wouldn't a nice economic bounce just thrill the socks off of the Teabaggers in November, 2010?
August 7th, 2009
9:03 pm
I am disgusted wither the AJC continuing with its assult againt former Dekalb CEO Vernon Jones. i feel like you guys have tried to tear him down but he bounces back stronger everytime. as a current dekalb county resident i can tell u he was the most vocal and visable politician i have ever seen.
August 7th, 2009
9:04 pm
The sad part about the Parks Director is that we have a double standard. If that had been a white person saying that the department was too white, they would have been fired, pilloried, and banished to Lower Slobovia. Instead we have to wait until she proves her complete and total incompetence in a dramatic way. I think that only those people stupid enough to have voted for Vernon Jones should have to pay and the rest of us be left alone.
August 7th, 2009
9:20 pm
"Mah brain done been broke by the election of a person with black blood."
The Wootenspringers and the Springerwootens are on display. Some were arrested and several were taken to the hospital last night. They are so dumb they think their medicaid and medicare comes from sky.
One was the Vice Chairman of the Republican party in her area. She lied when confronted and claimed she had no affiliation. It just happened to be on her Linked In site and Facebook page.
One imbecile had his Blue Cross T-shirt on.
One was Presiden of da Glen Beck fanclub.
Wootenspringers and Springer Wootens–the hate mob and racist fanatics Wooten has spent his life cultivating with facts he pulls from his butt, ignorance and board certified stupidity.
And making sure but also that she did not disappoint, the idiot Palin out of the news for 48 hours issued a moronic statement proving that she isn't going to spend time fixing her life long larning deficit–she's determine to stay stupid for life.
August 7th, 2009
10:25 pm
Johnny Issackson of JawJaw introduces Cretin Palin who says "Da Obama Death Panels is comin' fer us and our chilluns."
Da Obama Death Panels is comin' like Shiva the Angel of Death fer ya and Johnnah Dimwit Issacson is a feered of it. And Sayrall is afeered.
"And who will suffer the most when they ration care?" Palin asks. "The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
And Johnuh sits there cluckin'.
Someone should wake Kingston up from hi its coma and Issa and educate the dummies that the publitards stopped medicare from bidding on pharmaceuticals like all the private clinics and hospitals. That's why it needs supplemental insurance.
August 7th, 2009
10:32 pm
Kingston Jawjaw just invented a new circuit which he called the "DC 4th Circuit."
August 7th, 2009
10:53 pm
Steve, I'm all for giving Bush and Cheney justice!
August 7th, 2009
11:56 pm
Mr. Wooten, would you kindy ask Senator Isakson if he still supports S. 446 "Medicare End-of-Life Care Planning Act of 2007″ which he co-sponsored with Senators Rokefeller, Collins, Kennedy, Lugar, and Nelson?
August 8th, 2009
12:43 am
There sure is a frenzie of the stupids about the aspect in one of the bills for a living will. Lawyers regardless of party have been making living wills for people for years, so that it's clear what someone's wishes might be when the end of life isn't sudden.
They have nothing to do with "death squads" or people coming to anyone's door. They are about planning and sparing confusion and heartache on the part of family as well as possibly prolonging care when suffering is taking place.
To the extent Palin made her stupid statement aligning her with the Springer Wootens on buses including LOL the Vice Chairwoman of a Republican organization who began asking questions as an "ordinary housewife" to the Congressman who kicked her butt from one end of the state to the other in an election, tells everyone Palin isn't qualified to pick up garbage let alone hold office. She did Alaska a big favor after damagint it. She continues to spew insipid hatred and lies because she's too dumb too read and too lazy.
It looks like 99/100 Wooten Springers here are as dumb as she is and refuse to read any bill completed or any of the markups not completed so far.
August 8th, 2009
12:45 am
The living will aspect is also a mechanism so that physicians can participate in a calm organized fashion with the family rather than a frenzied emotion torn argument among family memilbers when someone is dying. Try rushing to a code when half the family is begging you to CPR and half the family isn't, and the nurses are holding a phone at your ear while you're pumping someone's chest with the physician on the phone about the "no code" he didn't bother to write in the chart or discuss with the family.
Death Squads are for morons and there seem to be no shortage of them on the radio or in this comment section or in Palin's house.
August 8th, 2009
2:06 am
August 8th, 2009
6:58 am
Hey Aquagirl, you are a moron.
Name one Republican that has hired these so called thugs? The bottom line is that Barry and his dumb ass party can't find their way out of a paperbag. The Socialist, uh Racist was elected due to his skin color by the many who voted which have never paid taxes in their lives and will never vote again.
Wake up and stop these Socialist agenda's!
How do ya like that change now?
I'll take Bush any day over this idoit.
Enough Said!
August 8th, 2009
8:54 am
Page 424
6 (a) MEDICARE.—
7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1861 of the Social
8 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x) is amended—
9 (A) in subsection (s)(2)—
10 (i) by striking ''and'' at the end of
11 subparagraph (DD);
12 (ii) by adding ''and'' at the end of
13 subparagraph (EE); and
14 (iii) by adding at the end the fol15
lowing new subparagraph:
16 ''(FF) advance care planning consultation (as
17 defined in subsection (hhh)(1));''; and
18 (B) by adding at the end the following new
19 subsection:
20 ''Advance Care Planning Consultation
21 ''(hhh)(1) Subject to paragraphs (3) and (4), the
22 term 'advance care planning consultation' means a con23
sultation between the individual and a practitioner de24
scribed in paragraph (2) regarding advance care planning,
25 if, subject to paragraph (3), the individual involved has
Page 425
1 not had such a consultation within the last 5 years. Such
2 consultation "shall" include the following:
Continue through page 430
Our government (the Democrats in the House – Dingell and Waxman etc.) is so good to us they "shall" even tell us how we shall plan on ending our final days upon this earth.
Nah, nah, nah, that's not what it says! It only tells you what end of life planning services will be paid for under this bill should it – hopefully never – become law.
Some things our government has no business sticking its' all too "SHALL" powerful authoritarian hands into; end of life decisions is just one of those such things!
August 8th, 2009
9:30 am
Governors from Both Parties: We Can't Afford Dems' Government-Run Health Care Plan
Boehner-Pawlenty Report Warns: Democrats Government Takeover of Health Care Will Crush State Budgets
Washington, Aug 7 – In recent days, Americans' concerns about a government-run health care plan have become increasingly evident. First, a series of polls from the Wall Street Journal/NBC News, National Public Radio, New York Times/CBS News, Time Magazine, Gallup, and Quinnipiac University showed increasing opposition to a proposal that will raise health care costs, destroy jobs through a small business tax and onerous employer mandates, drive up the deficit, and put bureaucrats in charge of decisions that only patients and doctors should make – as House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) warns in a new web video.
Then came a CNN poll that found that a majority of American seniors oppose the Democrats' plan, which will cut Medicare and take choices away from millions of seniors – particularly those living in rural parts of the country. Now, add another group of Americans concerned by the Democrats' $1.6 trillion health care experiment: our nation's governors – of both parties. Today's New York Times reports:
"Washington's Democratic governor, Christine Gregoire, is among governors from both parties who fear the implications of the health care overhaul now being devised in Washington, D.C."
"The governors worry Congress will give the states expensive new Medicaid obligations without providing enough new money to pay for them…"
"The Congressional Budget Office had projected that federal Medicaid spending under the House bill could increase by over $430 billion over 10 years. The open question now is how much of that might become the states' new burden."
Gov. Gregoire isn't the only Democratic governor expressing some reservations about the Democrats' government takeover of health care. Other high-profile governors across the country, including President Obama's first nominee for Commerce Secretary – New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, are warning of the legislation's consequences for states:
- Gov. Bill Richardson (D-NM): "'I'm personally very concerned about the cost issue, particularly the $1 trillion figures being batted around,' said Governor Bill Richardson, the New Mexico Democrat who served in the Clinton Cabinet and ran for president against Obama." (New York Times, July 20, 2009)
- Gov. Phil Bredesen (D-TN): "Governor Phil Bredesen, a Tennessee Democrat, said he feared Congress was about to bestow 'the mother of all unfunded mandates.''' (New York Times, July 20, 2009)
- Gov. Bill Ritter (D-CO): "'There's a concern about whether they have fully figured out a revenue stream that would cover the costs, and that if they don't have all the dollars accounted for, it will fall on the states,' said Governor Bill Ritter Jr., a Colorado Democrat." (New York Times, July 20, 2009)
The impact of the Democrats' health care bill on state budgets was the topic of a report released jointly last month by Boehner and Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-MN) shows. The Boehner-Pawlenty report, entitled Capital Malpractice: How a Washington Takeover of Health Care Will Hurt States, is a product of the GOP State Solutions project, launched earlier this year to highlight policy coordination among reform-minded GOP governors, state legislators, and Members of Congress.
Americans are rightfully concerned about how much further the Democrats' government-run health care plan will drive up the deficit. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has warned that the legislation would increase the deficit by $239 billion over 10 years and even higher after that. Now, our nation's governors are sounding the alarm on the plan's impact on state budgets. In other words, Americans may very well be hit twice by the costs of the Democrats' legislation: once on the federal level, and then again at the state level. Isn't it time for Democrats to scrap this costly plan and work with Republicans on a proposal that will make health care more affordable and accessible for the American people?
August 8th, 2009
11:31 am
It's pretty funny reading the comments from obvious libbies on this blog. They are crying about people shouting out at health care forums. These are the same people who have no problem shouting down conservatives at college forums, and in the event of other public meeting events, getting into fist fights.
August 8th, 2009
11:35 am
{{{{{{{{Name one Republican that has hired these so called thugs?}}}}}}
Jim, they can't do it and they know they can't do it. Think about this when dealing with the mentality of a libbie: how long did it take them to investigate that plumber guy who had the audacity to question Barack Obama on the campaign trail? These people are horrible examples of American freedom. They lie, they viciously attack personally, and they will take whatever means necessary to ensure that conservatives are shut up. What did Barack say the other day? Oh yeah: we just need to shut up and get out of the way. Nice. That will win more votes.
August 8th, 2009
11:56 am
According to press sec. Gibbs, Obama is concerned that people are spreading misinformation about the health care proposal. The admin. is setting up a web site where anyone who hears something "FISHY" from blogs or any source can report this to the admin.
August 8th, 2009
12:22 pm
August 8th, 2009
11:35 am
" They lie, they viciously attack personally"
It sounds like you are describing right wing radio and talking heads. You guys got so upset over a comment by a US citizen who happen to be a Dixe Chick. Every day I hear comments about President Obama from the right that are not only rude, but just way over the line, in fact hinting of a serious mental condition.
August 8th, 2009
12:29 pm
If anyone is not aware of the "thugs" being hired by the Repubs, check FREEDOMWORKS, run by Dick Armey.
News reports show where the Executive Assistant of one of the counties in Wisconsin was interviewed and filmed indicating she was not a member of the Republican party and was a constituent of a Dem Congressman's district. Turns out she was not in his district and had posted on her YouTube page her Repub credentials and her opposition to the health care proposals.
Secondly, many of the so-called protestors speak of not having government interference in their health care when a vast majority of those protesting are Medicare recipients themselves. Do they not understand that Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration and the like are government run health care programs?
If one can not understand that, then they are not really paying attention!
August 8th, 2009
12:49 pm
I sure hope that midtown fag bar opened back up so all of these liberals have something to do. We all know none of you work.
August 8th, 2009
1:36 pm
Every dark cloud has a silver lining. If the moronic libs get this health takeover bill crammed through, it will help decimate their ranks. A huge proportion of them are gay. And I do not mean in the closet, I mean sing show tunes while they are taking it gay. Once the kenyan completes the slide from socialism into communism, the gays will be destroyed. There will be no money to treat their unique diseases, like AIDS. The kenyan just saw this group as an ends to a means. He just needed their vote, that's all. Just like the AFL/CIO employees at Lockheed in Marietta. Just an ends to a means. He killed the F22 contracts. The kenyan does not care about the unions, or gays, or the elderly, or the guilty-thinking whites (proven in Gates affair). Capitalism>Socialism>Communism
So as a population, we will soon be completely repressed as a populace. We will lose all freedoms guaranteed under the Constitution. But look on the bright side! Our fearless leader will destroy the fags, retards, sickly, old and infirm. After reading the comments from the libs in this forum that will be a good thing. All of the kenyans' supporters he will eventually throw under the bus.
August 8th, 2009
1:53 pm
August 8th, 2009
1:54 pm
Prime example ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
August 8th, 2009
1:56 pm
Repubs Gowin' Down–They Be Crazy
You couldn't resist it you had to throw in Clarence Thomas too. Black conservatives = dumb in liberals eyes. Black Conservatives are the most despised people by the left quickly followed up by Hispanic Conservatives. Miguel Estrada did not get an up or down vote because he is a Hispanic Conservative.
People like you should move to Finland, Canada or Sweden – somewhere where it mostly socialists and very few minorities or conservatives. Clearly you detest them both.
August 8th, 2009
2:06 pm
August 8th, 2009
2:31 pm
@master plan
The silver lining that you purport to see really exposes many of your views.
Your homophobic and racist slants are unquestionable. Given this vitriol, one can understand how you and the rest of those that espouse your hatred are continuing to sink lower one the humanity scale.
August 8th, 2009
2:33 pm
EVIL REPUB TIME IS UP must be serving time, as there are no lower-case letters, only caps locks keys in prison, and he/she is posting from the visitors' cellblock today. Sucks to be you, dear.
August 8th, 2009
2:37 pm
Repubs Gowin' Down–They Be Crazy is another lying pos dim racist, pay him/her no mind.
Liberalism is a mental disease.
August 8th, 2009
3:57 pm
If you're gonna shout at a Congressperson about healthcare reform why the fock would you give them a pass yet angrily demand that they cease trying to provide coverage to the masses? LOL Can ya get more stoopid!!!!!
That's kind of like taking a starving mob to a food bank and shouting at volunteers that they need to cease feeding people…or getting a mob of homeless people to get their mob on at a shelter.
Maybe they have a strategy to protests all government services and once they're finished defending the healthcare insurance lobby from the evil sin of people focused reform they'll move on to mobbing public schools, police and fire departments and sanitation departments.
Lawd, I can see them linking hands around water treatment facilities while screaming that they want their country back and then demanding that everyone recite the pledge of allegiance!
But Lawd knows conservatives are loath to put logic ahead of stopping anything associated with a liberal administration.
The story is not that there are mobs set to shout down members of Congress when they attempt to hold town hall meetings during recess.
The real story is that these mobs are passionately demanding that Congress not do it's job and threatening to replace any representative who does try to do her or his job with someone who will promise to do nothing if elected.
They be tryin' to get you to what they got but you don't wanna have it right 'cause you're stoopid.
An you say:
Cause ah done bes stoopid? Cause ah and mahs don't want no death squad bangin' on mah door and takin' mah guns an feedin' mah ass to rada aligators? Mah Sayrall Palin she done say death squads is a comin. An ain't nobody a medical sophisticate mo than mah Sayrall Palin.
When it come to medicine ole Sayrall she know her sheet. She wanna kill fruit fly research. She have trisomy 21 baby with Levi or First Dude ah don't know which, and the major vehicle of research for trisomy disease be duh fruitfly. Well that's muh Sayrall Palin. She may have her brain scrambled, and she and facts never cross paths, but she got de enthusiasm and she don't look like no Susan Boyle neither.
Cause duh govmunt gonna havetuh tak mah medicare and medicaid from mah cold dead hand if dem dare to substitute a govmunt mofokin program fo mah medicare and medicaid. It's mah medicare and mah medicaid. Don't want no govmunt Demcrat interference with it or ah come to meetin' with mah mob an shout ya down.
Ah be a Wootenspringer Springerwooten.
Ah don't know nothin' bout nothin. Ah don't unnerstand no medicun. Ah don't unnerstan no fedrul law.
An anyone else be mennnnttttttttly ill. So theah mofockuh.
How come Obama done kilt that terrrrrisssst that Bush couldn't touch for 8 years and he done it with a drone for 4 million instead of a fossil for a hunnertthousandkabillion? Beats me.
August 8th, 2009
4:17 pm
There ain't no computer access in prison dimwit. They havetuh get theah girlfriends to go on the web fo them. Ah learn't this from Jack Abramoff and the 275 other major Republitards who is in prison.
August 8th, 2009
4:48 pm
After reading the sad sob stories from some of the Obumer-ites I am totally convinced Teddy Roosevelt was on the right track:
"I really do not know which quality is most productive of evil to mankind in the long run, hardness of heart or softness of head."
Has anyone among the conservative flock asked the liberals, make that the "SOCIALIST" liberals, why only another government run healthcare program a.k.a. Public Option is the answer, the only thing that will work and it is the only thing acceptable?
There is not one thing I've seen or read to date that can answer that question satisfactorily.
August 8th, 2009
5:34 pm
Wooten can't counter with ideas so he's moved to censoship, but Wooten don't have no votes in Congress.
August 8th, 2009
6:21 pm
[...] take, compared to what they would get paid by a private insurance company. And why? … Voters buy trouble on Election DayLike the bussed in slobs in T-shirts being paid minimum wages by insurance company lobbyists [...]
August 8th, 2009
11:54 pm
August 8th, 2009
11:58 pm
Since Obama has yet to tell anyone including Democrat what his health plan is, how come all you stoopids are pretendin' to know what it is. No one else does. LOL But momma taught you when and where it'sreal dark, no pun intended, the bogeyman lurks right?
It seems to me a campaign that promised affordable, effective health care to everyone has deteriorated into "we'll pass anything, no matter what it really accomplishes, just to say we passed something."
That's a tired old song. That happens all the time in Congress–been happening for a couple hundred years.
August 9th, 2009
12:11 am
The easy explanation for all this anger that doesn't care whether bills help the rabid ignorant masses or not is simple. Like Jim Wooten, most of these raving maniacs, here, and like Heather Blish who lied and said she had no republican affiliatons but brags about them on her linked-in page, were absolutely sure Obama was dead in the water about the time the Reverand Wright junk peaked. Wooten wrote a whole column crowing that Obama was dead in the water in September. One to many nights at the Buckhead club where the pubs congregate to reinforce their echo chamber. And lo and behold about 11PM on Nov. 4 these people were stunned speachless. How could it be–McSame and his phony posturing and his nitwit got crushed. And the small splinter group here, and the bussed around slobs and their Brooks Brothers bretherin have been incensed they were crushed by a black man ever since. They'll never get over it and their ravings are causing them to lose perenially.
August 9th, 2009
12:14 am
From Greg Levine who is perfectly on point:
"How is it that Obama is president? How did we, America elect Barack Obama?
I ask that tonight because here is what I am seeing in all the organized outrage and outrageous organizing; here's what I am seeing in teabagging anti-care birthers: racists. Rabid and perhaps irretrievable racists.
Yes, we are a racist country—still—with a racist past, but most would contend that we have made some strides in the last 50 years. But what we are seeing in these protests—as pre-arranged and bought-and-paid-for as they might be—is still something real, a fear of other, an unwavering dislike, a complete inability to accept that we now have a black/bi-racial/African American president. For this minority, it is really too much to bear.
And, as you can see, it is so unbearable that they are willing to, if not organize, be organized. Willing to come out and shout at people in positions of power. Willing to appear on camera chanting and behaving in ways most would say are anti-social and rude. Willing, increasingly, to threaten, provoke, and even carry out physical violence.
If these folks are so exercised now, where were they a year ago? By this point in the summer of 2008, it seemed kind of clear to most that there was at least a chance that America would elect a non-white man president. But did we see this? I mean, we saw some crazies. . . a sign here. . . a billboard there. . . but nothing like this, I don't think.
Here's what I do think. I think there is difference between then and now, and that difference is George W. Bush. Or, rather, the difference is that the Bush presidency is now in the past.
What I think—what the last few weeks have made me feel—is that George W. Bush was so awful, so venal, so incompetent, and so pathetic that he actually demoralized these people into hiding. Bush marginalized their hate with his horribleness.
What I am saying—and so answering what I am asking—is that George W. Bush was so bad, America elected a black president.
You understand what I am saying—please don't take that quote out of context—I am saying that Bush the Younger sucked so hard that America, for a moment, was able to push past its inherited and perhaps inherent racism, and vote for the most obvious alternative. And now that Bush is gone—even though the misery lingers on—some folks are feeling free enough again to indulge their fears, their anxiety. . . their hate."
August 9th, 2009
1:23 pm
The Federal Government has no Constitutional authority over health care in America. It's time you stand up and say "No more".
What will be next in the grand scheme of control in America? Americans spend a lot on energy, so therefore it is in the best interest that energy industry becomes nationalized as well?
Ask your Congressman and Senators where the Constitution says they have the authority to take away your health care and nationalize it. No Sovereign state should submit to this. Georgia needs to act under the 10th amendment and reject this nonsense.
August 9th, 2009
2:28 pm
The Federal Government has no Constitutional authority over health care in America. It's time you stand up and say "No more". So Says the Moosa
The moosa, like the traveling bozo heads who want to kill the town halls, and their own health care, of course has equal ignorance of the Constitution as it pertains to law making in America, and the health plan.
Thousands of laws have been passed that are not stipulated in the Constitution. Federal Reporters which the Moosa has never seen, are full of appellate cases where legislative intent, as well as constitutional interpretation are prime time front and center in the opinions the law clerks wrote for their judges and justices, and the oral arguments analyzed as they took questioins from the judges and justices. Welcome to the U.S. and federal law.
None of these agitators, here or the traveling Springer idiots, has even mentioned what's in the bills BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW. What they do know is they lost and they are still in shock; they got trounced for many reasons, not the least of which was they chose to run a phony and an idiot.
Being a war hero is one thing; being a candidate who is terrible is another. McCain was both.
He chose a totally unqualified dimwit who only impressed dimwits like her. Her statement on health care was as stupid as the comments I see here.
Not one comment here by Wooten or his fan club has even noted what's in the various plans because you are clueless.
The House Version of the Health-Care Legislation
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Comprehensive health-care legislation approved by three House committees include changes to the Medicare program for 45 million elderly and disabled people. The bills:
– Extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by five years.
– Waive all co-payments on preventive services.
– Provide 50 percent discounts on brand-name prescriptions in the coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole." Eliminate the gap entirely within 12 years.
– Eliminate 14 percent in "overpayments" to Medicare Advantage plans over 10-year period; pay $10 billion in bonuses to high-quality plans.
– Increase reimbursements to primary-care doctors, general practitioners and psychiatrists by 5 percent.
– Reduce payments to skilled-nursing homes and rehabilitation centers by $15 billion over the next decade.
– Pay medical professionals for counseling patients about end-of-life options.
– Reduce payments to providers that have patients with high hospital readmission rates.
– Grant biologic therapies 12 to 14 years of market protection before a generic version can seek Food and Drug Administration approval.
– Cancel a proposed 21 percent cut in physician reimbursements, estimated to cost $228 billion over 10 years.
SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, House Ways and Means Committee, Kaiser Family Foundation
August 9th, 2009
2:30 pm
I'd like to hear from you traveling Springer types that are trying to say "NO" what it is about the points of health care bills I posted above you don't like, and if you think there are any changes to be made, or you think everything is just fine in health care spending that's 3 times the US economy since the 1980's.
Maybe you think physician reimbursement should be drastically cut instead of restored as the House proposes to do. As someone who makes a living providing health care, I don't and neither does every physician organization in the U.S.
August 9th, 2009
5:58 pm
Bottom line, bitch all you want.
However, we have A Socialist & Racist Moron in the White House.
Enough Said!
August 9th, 2009
6:14 pm
NOT ONE COMMENT OR ONE COLUMN BY WOOTEN OR KYLE WINGNUT HAS TAKEN ANY PROPOSED BILLS and there is no final bill from either the House or Senate yet, and discussed the points. Everyone knows that the Springercan party is livid that a mixed racial s?candidate kicked the butt of McSame and idiot, but that rage does not trasnlate into intelligent argument since you apparently have no clue what the provissions of a House and Senate plan are. Why would that be Springercans? Why do you need to send in wringers–Republican party officials and insurance company employees and former Bush campaign workers who lie about their republitard affiliations.
Heather Blish managed a losing campaign for the House that got trounced in 2008–and she lied about her identity which was easy to find on her Linked In page. She didn't have a clue what she was objecting to, except that she wanted a white ditzbrain a heart beat from the White House whose sole Health Care utterance is "Ah don't want no death squads for mah trisomy babuh."
August 9th, 2009
7:24 pm
Crushing the Pubts – you and your buddy Levine live in a bubble, "I ask that tonight because here is what I am seeing in all the organized outrage and outrageous organizing; here's what I am seeing in teabagging anti-care birthers: racists. Rabid and perhaps irretrievable racists."
Funny that the left refuses to debate on merit and goes straight to name calling.
Bottom line most of America does not want socialized and government control medicine.
August 9th, 2009
7:59 pm
Bottom line–besides ignorant Springertards reciting the same old platitutde about socialized government–Medicare is a single payer socialized program by the government that has been around since Reagan warned against it and the Springertards who only know how to yell and scream their ignorant rants are all on it if they are of age. Most of the springertards in the crowds are on it.
Bottom line–competition for the monopolies that are in 94% of the states that have only 2 insurance companies to chooe from is non-existent and they fear competition. Bottom line–if you get a significant cancer or other high priced illness or your wife gets a significant cancer or high priced illness, those monopoly insurance companies will drop you like a hot lead baloon. You will get sick, and you will be dropped. That's what a death squad is. It's called your insurance company.
Bottom line–that 94% figure came from the AMA which has been a party to suits against those insurance companies.
Bottom line, a number of medical groups and the Attorney General of NY–Georgia is way too stupid–sued those insurance companies and got a near 400 million dollar settlement in the last few months because they used phony data bases and screwed people just like you.
Bottom line–why would the Springertards who are livid at Obama's beating their stupid candidates, want to kill themselves by supporting the insurance company status quo.
Bottom line–why is it that ole Bottom line above and no commenter here except me will actually name and discuss the provisions in markups and bills.
Bottom line–you lost the election. Bottom line–if you don't educate yourself as to what the insurance climate is, you're going to get signficantly sick, lose your coverage, and die.
Bottom line–you'll have only yourself to blame.
Bottom line–there are people who are educating themselves as to the bills proposed and bottom line–they want competition for insurance companies.
Bottom line–if all you've got are ignorantards like Palin and Gingrich who talk about death squads, you are going to get crushed again and again. Keep the ignorance going. You do ignorant and the Springer show quite well.
August 9th, 2009
8:02 pm
IC I've been debating on merit for months–none of you can because you don't know what's in the bills. Here's merit right up your kazoo–let's debate on this–I can't hear you:
The House Version of the Health-Care Legislation
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Comprehensive health-care legislation approved by three House committees include changes to the Medicare program for 45 million elderly and disabled people. The bills:
– Extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by five years.
– Waive all co-payments on preventive services.
– Provide 50 percent discounts on brand-name prescriptions in the coverage gap known as the "doughnut hole." Eliminate the gap entirely within 12 years.
– Eliminate 14 percent in "overpayments" to Medicare Advantage plans over 10-year period; pay $10 billion in bonuses to high-quality plans.
– Increase reimbursements to primary-care doctors, general practitioners and psychiatrists by 5 percent.
– Reduce payments to skilled-nursing homes and rehabilitation centers by $15 billion over the next decade.
– Pay medical professionals for counseling patients about end-of-life options.
– Reduce payments to providers that have patients with high hospital readmission rates.
– Grant biologic therapies 12 to 14 years of market protection before a generic version can seek Food and Drug Administration approval.
– Cancel a proposed 21 percent cut in physician reimbursements, estimated to cost $228 billion over 10 years.
SOURCE: Congressional Budget Office, House Ways and Means Committee, Kaiser Family Foundation
August 9th, 2009
8:07 pm
Newt says death squads are in the bill like whackjob Palin–is that your merits argument IC?
August 9th, 2009
8:07 pm
Are death squads your merits argument IC?
August 9th, 2009
8:33 pm
Let's hear it from the Springers here who think 2 insurance company dominance in 94% of the states, cities, towns, and markets are comprised of 2 insurance companies.
Let's hear how the proposals by the House I put up are "socialized government." Momma right wing websites teach you to say the word socialized without knowing what it means or how competition for the insurance companies is "socialized medicine." In other words, you have the brain of a parrot, right?
August 9th, 2009
9:43 pm
Impressive retort – most people I know still do not want the government to make health care decisions for them. Certainly there is room some reform, but there is absolutely no reason for govt to control 100% of health care. BTW – you probably don't read the WSJ, but there was an article this weekend about the rationing taking place there. There is rationing in Canada and England too. I don't want it – still don't understand why you think the govt can better manage things like health care. I can only ascertain you must have financial motivation to see govt control health care.
Next stop food…
August 9th, 2009
9:45 pm
WSJ article was about rationing in France.
August 9th, 2009
10:18 pm
Hey, Crushing the pubt's, Shut the F UP!
You sound like the Socialist Racist in the White House!
Stop looking for government to take care of you and all of your non-taxpaying leaches.
Enough Said!
August 9th, 2009
11:36 pm
You don't have the money or the position to give orders to anyone "Morrison"–but you've known that your entire life.
August 9th, 2009
11:40 pm
I've been taking care of people for a lot of years, including imbeciles like Morrison.
August 9th, 2009
11:59 pm
We have no plan on the table like France at all. I do read the WSJ, and I also notice when they refuse to report the news–like the 3 months when they refused to cover the Libby trial at all. The plan would not order your around IC, and no one wants a plan that would, although the insurance companies have been ordering people around for years. Just ask the people that switched plans when Piedmont was having a 7 month battle with BCBS.
Your current plan wouldn't change unless you want it to under a public option. Obama has left the major decisions on "Health Reform" to 6 puppets of the insurance companies who represent states with 2.77% of the population, and from where I sit now they have eviscerated health care reform.
Rates will continue to go off the wall, and they will be out of the range that people can afford soon as will care.
August 10th, 2009
12:37 am
A Preimer on the Details of Health Care Reform
Or Uniquely American?
Republicans harshly criticize Democratic proposals to create a government-run insurance plan, or public option, to compete with private insurers. Republicans say the public plan would drive insurers out of business and lead to "socialized medicine" or a government takeover of health care. Democrats say they want a "uniquely American" system with public and private elements.
For now, the Republican criticism seems overblown. Major versions of the legislation all rely heavily on a continuation of private health plans, offered by employers and by insurance companies, subject to sweeping new federal regulations.
Whether a public plan would crowd out private insurers depends on details yet to be decided, including its premiums and its payment rates for health care providers.
The public plan is not even a certainty. To win bipartisan support for the overhaul, some Democrats have proposed private nonprofit health care cooperatives, instead of a public plan, to compete with private insurers.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that, under the House bill, the number of people with employer-sponsored insurance would climb to 162 million in 2016, which is 3 million more than expected under current law. Further, it said, enrollment in the proposed public plan might total 11 million, far lower than estimates cited by Republicans.
An additional 10 million people, most of them now uninsured, would enroll in Medicaid, the budget office said.
At any rate, the federal government already holds sway over the health care system through Medicare, Medicaid and various insurance programs for children, veterans, military personnel and other federal employees. The federal government will account for 35 percent of the expected $2.5 trillion in health spending this year, and that does not include subsidies built into the tax code.
August 10th, 2009
12:38 am
August 10th, 2009
12:39 am
em>SOCIALIZED MEDICINE
Or Uniquely American?
Republicans harshly criticize Democratic proposals to create a government-run insurance plan, or public option, to compete with private insurers. Republicans say the public plan would drive insurers out of business and lead to "socialized medicine" or a government takeover of health care. Democrats say they want a "uniquely American" system with public and private elements.
For now, the Republican criticism seems overblown. Major versions of the legislation all rely heavily on a continuation of private health plans, offered by employers and by insurance companies, subject to sweeping new federal regulations.
Whether a public plan would crowd out private insurers depends on details yet to be decided, including its premiums and its payment rates for health care providers.
The public plan is not even a certainty. To win bipartisan support for the overhaul, some Democrats have proposed private nonprofit health care cooperatives, instead of a public plan, to compete with private insurers.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that, under the House bill, the number of people with employer-sponsored insurance would climb to 162 million in 2016, which is 3 million more than expected under current law. Further, it said, enrollment in the proposed public plan might total 11 million, far lower than estimates cited by Republicans.
An additional 10 million people, most of them now uninsured, would enroll in Medicaid, the budget office said.
At any rate, the federal government already holds sway over the health care system through Medicare, Medicaid and various insurance programs for children, veterans, military personnel and other federal employees. The federal government will account for 35 percent of the expected $2.5 trillion in health spending this year, and that does not include subsidies built into the tax code.
August 10th, 2009
7:51 am
I wish all you lame liberals would do a little research and quit whining about Haliburton.
They one of only two companies in the world that could handle the contract. The other is a French company.
The division of Haliburton that did the majority of the oil services contract went bankrupt and was sold off. Got that you whiny libs?
They lost money on the deal!
But let Obama pump billions to Goldman sachs and GE and that is just fine.
Of course GE uses it network to promote Obama round the clock.
Obama just let GE off with a slap on the wrist (if you can even call it that) for defrauding their investors and that is just fine with democrats.
Let Obama and his thugs blow trillions funneling it to their buddies and not a mention in the media.
August 10th, 2009
8:56 am
Amen Mike,
Those morons that voted for the Socialist Racist Barry will be eating crow soon enough, change, HA!
Enough Said!
August 10th, 2009
11:55 am
Okay folks! There will be a rally at Centennial Park this Saturday hosted by Herman Cain and involving over 30 groups of small business owners and others opposed to Demrat socialist health care. It will be interesting to see the turnout, and more interesting to see any pro-Demrat socialist health care protesters. YES WE CAN!!! According to the Demrats and their pants dribbling supports in the MSM like the below USA Today oped, we who are opposed to this are un-American. Isn't it funny how those who were opposed to the war in Iraq were patriots expressing their freedoms of speech.
Oh, and to further make inflame the always-angry left, Michelle Malkin's book "Culture of Corrupton: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks and Cronies" is the #1 seller on the NYT list. Don't look for the MSM to report that either, similar to ignoring Mark Levin's recent best sellers.
August 10th, 2009
1:29 pm
Well Here is the Guy Jim didn't have a problem having a Mistress, and the guy he wanted to run for President……….
Seems Jim's Guy…. is not very "Conservative" ! Heck he breaks the law to fit his needs……Typical !
AP INVESTIGATION: SC gov's plane use questioned
By JIM DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer Jim Davenport, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 13 mins ago
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford used state aircraft for personal and political trips, often bringing along his wife and children — contrary to state law regarding official use, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Records reviewed by the AP show that since he took office in 2003, the two-term Republican has taken trips on state aircraft to locations of his children's sporting events, hair and dentist appointments, political party gatherings and a birthday party for a campaign donor.
According to state budget law, "Any and all aircraft owned or operated by agencies of the State Government shall be used only for official business."
On March 10, 2006, a state plane was sent to pick up Sanford in Myrtle Beach and return him to Columbia, the state capital, at a cost of $1,265 — when his calendar showed his only appointment in Columbia was "personal time" at his favorite discount hair salon. He had flown to Myrtle Beach on a private plane and attended a county GOP event.
The trip home on the state aircraft took off at 1:50 p.m. and arrived in Columbia at 2:35 p.m., enabling the governor to keep his plans for a 3 p.m. haircut across town. There were no other appointments on his official schedule that afternoon; the trip back to Columbia would have taken about three hours by car.
Also, on five of the last six Thanksgiving weekends, Sanford used a state plane to fly himself, his wife and their four sons from the family's plantation in Beaufort County to Columbia for the state Christmas tree lighting. The cost for those flights alone: $5,536, including $2,869 for flying the plane empty to pick them up.
Sanford, 49, has been under increased scrutiny since he admitted in June to having a mistress in Argentina. He's vowed to stay in office and says he is trying to reconcile with his wife, though she moved out of the governor's official residence on Friday with their sons and plans to spend the school year at the family's beach house.
The governor has made a political career out of being outwardly thrifty — known to demand that state employees use both sides of Post-It notes. He has frequently railed against government spending, and attempted for months to block federal stimulus money for South Carolina schools.
Last month, the AP revealed how Sanford had flown first class and business class on commercial airlines at taxpayer expense, despite a law requiring lowest-cost travel.
August 10th, 2009
2:02 pm
I wish ole Mike knew how to read, then he could start doing research. Reading comes first.
It's great ole Mike brought up Goldman, but he be done confused about who pumped money into it. Can ya spell Paulson? Can ya spell Bush? Can ya spell McSame who took credit for TARP even though he was so flumoxed in the room the days Letterman made a fool of him and Fey made a fool out of Palen that McSame said nothing.
While Mr. Paulson spoke to many Wall Street executives during that period, he was in very frequent contact with Lloyd C. Blankfein, Goldman's chief executive, according to a copy of Mr. Paulson's calendars acquired by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act request.
During the week of the A.I.G. bailout alone, Mr. Paulson and Mr. Blankfein spoke two dozen times, the calendars show, far more frequently than Mr. Paulson did with other Wall Street executives.
On Sept. 17, the day Mr. Paulson secured his waivers, he and Mr. Blankfein spoke five times. Two of the calls occurred before Mr. Paulson's waivers were granted.
Michele Davis, a spokeswoman for Mr. Paulson, said that the former Treasury secretary was busy writing his memoirs and that his publisher had barred him from granting interviews until his manuscript was done. She pointed out that the ethics agreement Mr. Paulson agreed to when he joined the Treasury did not prevent him from talking to Goldman executives like Mr. Blankfein in order to keep abreast of market developments.
August 10th, 2009
2:08 pm
Here's one ole Mike missed:<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/26793903/the_big_takeover/2″>THE BIG TAKEOVER:How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution MATT TAIBBI
August 10th, 2009
2:10 pm
August 10th, 2009
2:15 pm
Ah kin see Goldman Sachs fromGoldman Sachs Paulson and his team of five Goldman alumni–he gave 'em the farm while doofus Bush sat their drolling as always.
August 10th, 2009
2:24 pm
Ah Kin't See the Bailout Money Where It's Done Gone from Here Courtesy of Paulson Last Year
Goshdarnit you betcha but also.
August 10th, 2009
3:58 pm
The death squads killed Palin and Newt's Betz cells. Springer Wootens also, goshdarnit.
August 10th, 2009
7:24 pm
Democrats Take Aim at Supreme Court Decisions
The National Law Journal
Democratic lawmakers are pushing legislation that would reverse the effects of high-profile Supreme Court decisions, many of them driven by the Court's conservative majority. The bills are a sign of liberals' frustration with the Roberts Court's direction — and their hopes for Sonia Sotomayor.
August 10th, 2009
8:08 pm
Springermousketeer claiming he was injured at rally where he was there to scream turns out to be unemployed with NO HEALTH INSURANCE. And he wants to make sure he continues to have NO HEALTH INSURANCE. LOL
August 10th, 2009
8:12 pm
Ah is takin' up a collection for mah brothah flag seller who has NO INSURANCE Kenneth Gladney. Please give generously and mail to Sprintertards c/o Gladney Drama Queen 56 Springertard Don't Kill Mah Baby with Death Squads Lane. Bufook, JawJaw
August 10th, 2009
11:18 pm
The US governmentd should not run death panels. That is far too important responsibility–and should remain with the insurance companies.
Further, 50 million people don't have access to those death panels–this has to stop. They all must have access. Not just the elite should be pallin' 'round with death panels.
Why should only 62 and older people have access to the death panels when there are unproductive people from 15 to 62 as well.
Also, why is Obama putting a curse on all white people?
And Jim Wooten raised the prescient point that H1N1 emphasis is being done by cry babies. That's why Jim Wooten has been placed at the back of the line to receive his H1N1 15 microgram/ml. doses because Mr. Wooten is not a cry baby. H`N1 will beat the vaccines to the tape by months, but so what?
We have our privately run death panels and no one will take them away from us. We don't need a public plan for the death panels. People in choppers who kill wolves and mooses can run them superbly.
August 11th, 2009
6:34 am
Obama's town hall today is in New Hampshire. Get on the bus and yell that you want your death squads back. The federal lockup there is delightful this time of year for the Springertards. Show your ignorance of the health care bill. You can do it. Don't let him take those private death squads, the insurance companies from you. This is Amerika. Take it back. You're white and proud of your ignorance and lack of education. Show him.