StrangeSox

They can limit your access to a non-Constitutional-right event, such as a town hall. They can't institute what amounts to a poll tax (according to some) to exercise your right to vote. Isn't that the objection to registering your guns? That you shouldn't need a license to exercise your right? The comparison just doesn't work.

QUOTE (RibbieRubarb @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 12:26 PM) I got that without the need for the extreme close-up, though. It was sort of "lord-privy-seal" if that's why he did it.

Town hall meetings aren't a Constitutional right.

Is it as hilariously inept as their budget proposal? Where's that section mandating government health care insurance?

There's a programming language based on LOLcats. LOLCODE HAI CAN HAS STDIO? I HAS A VAR IM IN YR LOOP UP VAR!!1 IZ VAR BIGGER THAN 10? KTHX VISIBLE VAR IM OUTTA YR LOOP KTHXBYE

Wasn't there a cutout of Obama that was his head photoshopped onto a white guy's body?

Was I missing something with the close-ups of the dollop of creme, or does Tarantino just like weird shots sometimes?

You have to wonder if its just phone-trolling.

That is a good point, because cars are directly analogous to personal health.

QUOTE (SoxFanForever @ Aug 26, 2009 -> 09:38 PM) I believe it is called Downfall. It is completely in German and subtitled. I'm told it is a very good movie. It is.

Making an insurance plan that they can "afford" the premiums on but would be f***ed if they actually had to pay that $1000 or whatever deductible doesn't really help much imo.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 09:59 AM) Tort reform, ability to compete across state lines, (i don't know how to do this, but) untying insurance from employment, remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts and reform Medicare. The last one should be easy since the Dems already claim to have these magic savings ideas which will provide the needed cash for any public plan they propose. Don't wait then, propose THOSE changes now, let's see if they work first. This will help the uninsured how?

Here's the CBO report I've linked a few times. http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=4968&type=0

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 09:54 AM) WHich we don't have a link for? If you were citing rigorous studies that showed the opposite, Balta or others would have been screaming for links by now. http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=tort%2...l=en&tab=ws

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 09:39 AM) Simply put, when doctors are trained to run every test up the yingyang to CYA, how can you know that is 2% of total cost? Of course, the flip side of this argument is that they need to run every test up the yingyang to figure out what's wrong. Honestly, though, "defensive medicine" is a pretty loose term - which is my point. It's pretty hard to "cap" that number or percentage. IMO, it would have to be quite a bit more. Yes, its difficult. That's why people spend a lot of time and effort doing studies on these things and try to eliminate and identify the variables. It's not a hard quantification of defensive medicine costs down to the penny, but it is something that can be measured and observed. Again, look at the methods sections of the reports to find out exactly how they arrived at these numbers. If you find some glaring error or oversight in it, fine, but you're just casting blanket doubt over the numbers because you don't like them. The basis for my opinion is rigorous studies. What's the basis for claiming that it is "quite a bit more"? And, like another said, I don't have a problem with tort reform. Its just not the magic solution its thrown out there as.

I forgot the "for my birthday" part. They're charging more than when I went to see the Foo Fighters at the All State last year. What happened to affordable concerts?

Dye has a much, much better track record than Swisher does. Also, Swisher was/ is pretty annoying.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 09:29 AM) There's absolutely no way to know that. Think about it. Go ahead and criticize the methodology of the studies, then.

In the interview, Steele was using both nuanced positions (there's role for goverment regulation) and black-and-white polemics (government suxorz!). Steve Inskeep asked him about the difference and he got offended. "Nuance" is a dirty word in Republican circles, I guess. Maybe Steele genuinely does not know what that word means. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...oryId=112281170

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 09:07 AM) The immediate concern is to get this clusterf*** of a bill killed. Then, let's talk about real reform. What's going on today isn't reform, it's revamping (removing), and there's a total difference. Reform means to correct and make elements better, not scrap and start over. Tort reform is a pretty big element because it will lead to changes of testing, which is a big part of cost. No, it won't, because all tort costs, including defensive medicine, only amount to a couple of percent. Also, where in the bill(s) is this?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Aug 27, 2009 -> 08:34 AM) On the patriot part or that he should have retiered part? I can see them all vainly hanging onto their position, for the power, perks, money, prestige, ego, etc. None seem to want to give it up. As for the patriot part, like I said, being a Senator doesnt make you a patriot. if you think Teddy served all those years 'for the good of his country', you are sadly mistaken. What did he serve for? The paycheck?

What's the point of asking for fake sympathy from people? I won't be sad when Cheney dies.

My girlfriend bought me (us) tickets to see Kings of Leon in Milwaukee.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Aug 26, 2009 -> 12:22 PM) I kept looking at the SO2 and thought, what are you talking about? Ah, now I'm with you - the carbon tax legislation. That's pretty significant but not as significant as health care. SO2 is sulfur dioxide, not carbon dioxide. It's responsible for acid rain. There has been a cap-and-trade tax-and-kill! program in place for that pollutant for a little while now, but it was fought fiercely when it was proposed. You don't hear too much about acid rain these days.

For all the talk of tort reform, I just need to keep pointing to study after study by places like the CBO that shows it is, at most, only a couple of percentage points of total spending. That includes payments, insurance and defensive medicine.