kapkomet

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 10:05 PM) I never said all opposition to Obama is born completely out of racism. I said there is a racial component to quite a bit of the opposition to Obama. I then backed it up with evidence. You attacked a statement I never made, then when I corrected you, you just ignored what I really said. Hello, I said that. You said again - PARTLY - which means what I said was wrong. I'm pretty sure that was pretty plain english there.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 09:55 PM) Please show me where I've said that. Oh you said partly. Yeah, that gives you your out to say whatever you want.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 09:42 PM) Undefeated and the #8 team in the state of Indiana, Michigan City is expecting something close to 10,000 people this year for homecoming. This week's going to be a really tough game. Merriville isn't a bad team. I saw their only loss is to Warren Central, and they're an Indianapolis 5A school that's pretty good AND they beat Ben Davis, who's almost always good.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 09:35 PM) No, California is not. California's tax system is a disaster, and California's public services are soon going to be at the level of Mississippi. Because the state can't collect property taxes at any reasonable level, the state has to rely hugely on income and sales taxes, which pushes up those rates to ridiculous levels making California seem like it's overtaxed. It has the side effect of murdering California any time there's an economic downturn, because housing prices are more stable than incomes or sales. And it has the side effect of being a huge subsidy to the housing industry. And of course, putting a giant distortion in to the housing market can have no negative consequences whatsoever, right? I was joking. I understand that. Property taxes SUCK in Texas, but it's one reason that this state is faring pretty well is because the prices weren't skyrocketing like everywhere else - thus creating a more stable stream of income to the state. With that said, every other tax is low here.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 07:37 PM) Reality has no place in the minds of those people, so it wouldn't matter. And yours either, apparently, since opposition to Obama = racism.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 08:48 PM) Climate Change is bad for beer quality. Oh s***, that convinced me. GREEN EVERYTHING! UTOPIA EVERYTHING!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 08:55 PM) Actually we already pay almost as much for Medicare as they pay for their universal health care system (per person), so you save a bundle on health care there. That's one of the reasons Toyota et al. keep putting factories in Canada instead of the U.S. And their tax collections are astronomical if you mean in the lower 1/3 of developed countries and about 5 percentage points higher than the average rate paid in the U.S. The liberal utopia continues to be those Scandanavian countries. Then go there, since it's so damn great. Of course, California is pretty close.

It's so laughable that you all think racism is a major factor of all this. But go on thinking that. Then you wonder why it is said that the Democrats are really the racists. Here's a perfect example of why... because you think this is majorly to do with race.

The bottom line is it is still government run health care. Period. Or more specific, there's still an "option" that will promote price controls - that will either consolidate the industry more then it already is or outright force the shutdown of insurance companies. Then the government says - oh wait, we'll subsidize you... essentially that means they take over anyway (aka Freddie and Fannie and we all see how that turned out).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 04:07 PM) Wait one moment...so the insurers have flooded them with money in exchange for control...and the thing that the insurers want with that control is single payer...aka none of them existing any more? No, they don't want it, of course not. But the choice is get subsidized (taken over) or put out of business.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 03:55 PM) Not "can't understand" like "I'm naive", but "can't understand" as in "I can't think of a GOOD reason to do that". No there's not... but that's of course why they're doing it.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 03:46 PM) Well, on the one hand: They don't seem to know what a whistleblower is. Dissenting opinion is not blowing the whistle - nothing illegal was being uncovered. But on the other hand, to me the real story is getting ride of that NCEE office, and there I'd have an issue. The EPA should indeed make sure it makes real estimates (as real as projections can be, anyway) of anticipated costs of regulations. Seems stupid to remove that. Seriesly? You can't understand getting rid of something that's in their way to implementing "global warming" or "cap and trade (aka tax and kill)" policies?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 02:01 PM) Why would anyone be surprised by that. This first nine months has been handouts for anyone and everyone. Right - they flood them with money in exchange for control. Pretty simple, and expected, just like we've all been saying - the lead in to the single payer - because it is. It's just a lot more veiled.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 09:21 AM) Except not, because with a public option and a health insurance mandate, the costs won't be passed on because someone is paying for the procedure, the hospital won't be forced to write off the manpower either. Someone is paying for the costs through the insurance pool, government subsidy or not. Even if everyone on the public option who are currently uninsured got a Medicare or Medicaid option, we're all better off. Because Medicare and Medicaid costs aren't passed along nearly as much as Charity Care costs are. Why don't they? (I know the answer - I want to see if you are going where I think you are).

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 08:17 AM) And you pay for those people to get them in the form of higher medical bills. Right, so status quo with our government now intervening.

Sorry Shipps, no stupid posts tonight.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:41 PM) I would imagine that other presidents were asked similar questions regularly, if anything just for making small talk. Difference was this being recorded. I also don't see it as a big deal. We do agree on something. Amazing. The thing is he knew he blew it, because he said immediately "give me a break on this"... or something very close to that effect. And honestly, this isn't news, or it shouldn't be, other then he expressed his opinion - which happens to coincide with 99.8% of America in this case. But, no one cares.

That, and, poor people CAN get them now and in fact DO get them. But keep burying your head in the sand on that point. AGAIN, no one is saying REAL reform shouldn't be done, but any road to government takeover of the insurance or health care profession should flat out be rejected. But no one wants to talk REAL reform, because all the drones have already set in motion the biggest boondoggle in American history. And no, no Kaperbole ™ here.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 09:19 PM) "you guys are all racists. " Jimmy Carter = Pat Buchanan. Yes, I said it.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 09:14 PM) Eureka! I have developed the X-ray machine! What's that? We can make an image of your bones without opening you up! Whaaaaat? What is thaaaat gonna cost!!?? We take one of these expensive X-rays and what is nothing is broken? What a waste of money. Yeah, I guess it was a dumb idea. You know, just wondering when medical tests became a waste of money. There is a small chance, one in a thousand, this is some scary ass thing that could kill you. Fortunately, we developed a test that could detect it before it can kill your ass. Waste of money? Nope, but it is according to the "outline" proposed by our president.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 08:40 PM) So individual doctors aren't making more money, but don't many medical centers perform their own phlebotomy and testing procedures? So wouldn't bundling in extra tests and such mean more money for the corporation owning the center where a doctor works? If that's true, is the solution prohibiting vertical integration and tort reform? It depends... a lot of lab work is actually outsourced. There's arguements both ways. But the point of "testing so the doctors make more" is a fallacy, which is my point.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:55 AM) Because our system is designed in a way such that everyone makes more money the more they do. The more procedures a doctor orders, the more money they make. You guys like capitalism, you ought to understand that concept; if you make more money by ordering more care, you're going to order more care for people. The British, IIRC, do something different. If you pay doctors on salary, even if they're making really, really good salaries, then you remove the economic incentive where it benefits a doctor to overtreat. This points back directly to that test-case in El Paso TX we talked about a few times, where in McAllen TX, the doctors were ordering vastly more care for the same amount of tests as the city next door and were getting worse health care outcomes. I would also like to call bulls*** for every one of you people who keep saying "more tests, the more they get paid". That's wrong. Flat out wrong. They diagnose, they get paid a contractual amount per that diagnosis. Period. No more, no less. Then they refer the people to get tests done. The labs who perform the tests then get paid via a pre-agreed contractual obligation. Period. No more, no less. Still, defensive medicine AS A WHOLE does cost money. It's something that captures a lot of procedures and doctors. With all that said, "the doctors were ordering vastly more care for the same amount of tests" is a fallacy dictated by payor mix, contractual obligations, and a different structure - and "worse health care outcomes" is also a fallacy. The whole thing is a sham to make you think that you're on the road to health care hell when it's simply not the case. As a matter of fact, doctor's offices are "incentivized" to see as many people as they can - you want to kill the system, put them on salary and put a "quality standard" (aka how much they have to treat) and watch what happens. The incentives to do anything just went out the window, and that includes emergency care, IMO.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 04:25 PM) Does Hank Wilson only kiss one of my ass cheeks? Naw, he walks around in the "lostfan fog".

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 03:26 PM) OMG GMAFB THOSE ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS They are?

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 02:48 PM) So much for "off the record" journalism integrity: Obama Calls Kanye a 'Jackass' -- The Audio LMAO. You, of all people, making a big deal of "off the record journalism integrity" when almost all of your posts is "sensationalist" BS? Oh, poor Obama.