Texsox

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 04:03 PM) The ~risky lifestyle~ of being born with a genetic predisposition towards an illness or just catching something or being in an accident. If you're sick, you must have done something to deserve it? Come on, tex. You're not really defending a nearly $1T tax cut for the wealthy in the face of letting people suffer and die from lack of health care access, are you? Mitch McConnell is not Trump, and involving zero actual health care experts or knowledgeable people in the secret crafting of a bill that impacts every American and 1/6th of the economy is horrendous. I object to the we're just going to tax that income if you are going to do X with it logic. I'm pointing out that allowing people to spend the money they have earned benefits society as well. We mock someone buying something beyond the necessities, but those contribute as well. When politicians decided that luxury taxes were an easy thing to tax, a number of industries were decimated. Most of those luxury boats were made in the US until we taxed them and their customers out of business. I see a slippery slope. Once we start deciding what a person can and cannot do with their money the taxing game changes. If you can buy a $100,000 car we can tax you more becomes a $75,000 car, then a $25,000 car. And what we really are talking about is which wealthy business owners get to keep their cash, the health industry rich or the other rich folks.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 01:16 PM) Pence pledged undying loyalty to trump via twitter today. This s*** gettin weird Psycho.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 03:12 PM) cowards Didn't trump pledge to stop the lobbyists and special interest groups?

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 09:28 AM) "Sir, we have cut you off of chemo treatment as you have reached your insurance lifetime limit. Good news though, there are some boats that need cleaning. That should help you pay the 300,000 health insurance bills!" Sorry you can't buy that boat, someone you don't know engaged in a risky lifestyle and now *you* are required to pay for their healthcare. Thank you for working so hard. Would you mind picking up a couple extra shifts? Did you see the guy you passed on the street? He's abusing drugs and going to need a transplant and someone has to pay for it. I can play the ridiculous example game.

If we base our laws on what the least responsible person in America will do then we lose everything. One big difference is most anything irresponsible someone can do with a gun almost always means they have broken a law.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 09:05 AM) We asked 8 Senate Republicans to explain what their health bill is trying to do (the real goal of the bill is giving tax cuts to millionaires so they can buy a bigger boat, any impact on healthcare policy is largely incidental) Which means more jobs for people working building boats, operating marinas, serving as crew members, etc.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 09:03 AM) They've already been deporting DACA and DAPA immigrants, though. ICE and CBP are rounding up anyone and everyone they can, even out of medical aid facilities, and the regular stories about their activities are disgusting and heartbreaking. Local police are dismayed and angered because these draconian actions are destroying trust and relationships with immigrant communities that take years or decades to build. There are apparently a lot of bad people within ICE and CBP and they've been given free reign by this admin. Officially by policy that has ended. What happens in the streets and courts has always been different.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 15, 2017 -> 05:30 PM) http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/15/politics/con...pons/index.html Meanwhile, GOP doubling down on gun control with their "good guy with a gun" scenario that usually works much better in the movies where lots of bystanders don't get killed. I'd hate to imagine if Rand Paul's "it would have been a bloodbath" scenario came to pass...everyone in the US would have been allowed the right to carry a gun everywhere they went beginning next week after a law was quickly jammed through. We can create scenarios in which untrained civilians with guns end in tragedy. How about the guy is pointing a gun at your head from five feet away? Do you want a gun then? We can go back and forth making up situations. You pick ones where an armed civilian is bad, I will create one where an armed civilian is good. What does that really prove?

On a good note, imnsho "dreamers" will not be deported. Trump will not be pushing for immediate deportation which was a campaign promise.

I'll bet his soon to be wife has a bunch of friends and he needs to "even out the wedding party". or He came from somewhere back in her long ago The sentimental fool don't see trying hard to recreate What had yet to be created once in her life She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale Never coming near what he wanted to say Only to realize It never really was She had a place in his life He never made her think twice As he rises to her apology Anybody else would surely know He's watching her go But what a fool believes he sees No wise man has the power to reason away What seems to be Is always better than nothing And nothing at all keeps sending him Somewhere back in her long ago Where he can still believe there's a place in her life Someday, somewhere, she will return She had a place in his life He never made her think twice As he rises to her apology Anybody else would surely know He's watching her go But what a fool believes he sees No wise man has the power to reason away What seems to be (if love can come and love can go, then why can't love return once more?) Is always better than nothing (fool's got the power) There's nothing at all (oh, now) But what a fool believes he sees (i believe she's never gone away) No wise man has the power To reason away (to reason away) What seems to be (oh, if love can come and love can go, oh, mama) Is always better than nothing (better than nothing) And nothing at all

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 14, 2017 -> 09:31 AM) These posts make me ill. Can we maybe, for a day, blame the lunatic who did the shooting? And not create a link that can never be proven just to score political points? Come on. This.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 6, 2017 -> 09:27 PM) That or a dick in a box Dammit, I just had to go watch the video . . . and read the Wiki . . . and watch a couple more vids . . .

What set of issues could a person find important and then find candidates on both ends of the political spectrum to support? I've never actually pulled the lever for a Republican Presidential candidate, although there were a couple I would not have minded winning (McCain, Bush), and one primary candidate I wish had done better (Perry). I probably have voted for about 85-90% Democrats in my life time, so I'm not independent by any means. I'm intrigued by people who can claim something close to 50-50. What are the issues you find important?

Civility is the main thing we are looking for. What Greg writes may at times be frustrating, challenging, baiting, maybe what some people would call trolling, I can't think of a post where we attacked someone personally. I don't know Greg the person, I only know what he writes which creates a screen character. Is it his true thoughts and beliefs? I don't know and don't worry about that. Same with every other poster here. I personally believe the 'Buster is a little better because of Greg and other posters like him stirring the pot. Let me offer an example. Years ago a poster here who I greatly respect and like accused me of not liking him based on the battles we had here on the pages of the 'buster. I was shocked that he thought that, but after thinking about the arguments we had and how we responded to each other, it made sense. That should not have happened and are the types of posts we would like to tone down. I recognize that the hope he has for America is the same as mine, we only differ on the route to that dream. Mine works and his won't. A final thought. I believe the topics we discuss here are important to the future of our country. If we each tried to move people to our point of view that is truly doing something for what we each believe is right. We aren't going to do that by insulting each other. I really want y'all to resist a border wall, especially through a National Park. I'm not going to do that by calling you a racist idiot. I want y'all to support a guest worker program and a path to limited citizenship for the undocumented workers contributing each day to our success. I can't achieve that through insults. I'd like y'all to push for less government borrowing. And I will leave you with this. A now banned poster accused me of always humming this tune as I was sitting around this campfire . . . Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Kumbaya my Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Someone's singing Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbayah Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Someone's laughing, Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's crying, Lord, kumbaya Oh Lord, kumbaya Someone's praying, Lord, kumbaya Someone's…

Ugh, I can't seem to get my home security system, thermostat, weather station, and lights to connect to the internet. Everything else works fine. Computers, tablets, phones, etc. I spent a couple hours with Spectrum, ADT is visiting tomorrow.

LOL

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 7, 2017 -> 11:26 AM) call me a bleeding heart, but the "unfair situation" of taking a little from someone who has a lot, to give a little to someone who has nothing, is something I'm ok with. I understand that others aren't. But there we have the fundamental disagreement between Democrats and Republicans. If this is a disagreement between Dems and Reps you are about the most liberal Republican I've ever met Fair in the sense of splitting the bill, not fair in how the care is different. I'm thinking fairness on the scale of you stopped by for just a cup of coffee, I had a bottle of wine, a nice steak, dessert and because you make $15,000 more than me we will split the bill evenly. Actually you should pay 60% of the bill. You would find this fair because people have to eat and you make more than I do. I still believe the fairest situation is everyone pays for their own care. The UNfairness comes in when we consider the inequality of opportunity and economic conditions in America. Our economy needs poor people. There are jobs that cannot pay a wage that would allow people to actually pay for the basic food, shelter, raiment, and healthcare that is necessary to survive. Our system requires people to compete for jobs, often based on being willing to work for less wages than someone else. As long as there are people willing to work for poverty wages businesses can pay poverty wages. As long as people are afraid of a $12 Big Mac voters will accept people living in poverty. We hide behind this idea that anyone can improve themselves and get out of poverty, which is true, but that does not take into account that someone else has to take that poverty waged job or we would have horrible inflation. These poverty wage jobs are necessary and are growing. The goal of every business is to be the next WalMart or Amazon. Drive costs (wages are the biggest) down and sell, sell, sell. That is the root of the unfairness. If there was true fairness in job opportunities and wages, every working person could actually pay for their own food, clothing, raiment, and healthcare. While it certainly is moral and ethical that I should pay for Larry's broken arm because he can't and I can, it isn't fair. While it is morally and ethically correct for me to pay for Bob's can of beans because he can't and I can, that doesn't mean it is fair. Again, I understand that system of everyone paying for the care they receive is unworkable and I am not a fan. I prefer a single payer system where everyone has equal access to healthcare.

People gotta die somehow. I wonder how many of these are assisted suicides?

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 09:11 AM) Here's the fundamental impasse. I completely disagree that your assessment of the most fair scenario is, in fact, fair at all. That doesn't take into account people being born into poor socio-economic situations through no fault of their own. Is it then fair if they can't afford to pay for medical treatments that someone like me was able to afford, simply out of sheer luck? Perhaps fair is the wrong word. But it's the best I have. And how is it an impasse? I moved right pass it and said that we would have to divide up the bill not based on each person paying their exact bill. Did you just stop reading at that point? Is it fair that people are born into different situations? No. But why create another unfair situation by taking from one person and giving it to another? Now we've created a second unfair situation. Which, as I noted, is what we must deal with.

Anyone else using one? Currently I am controlling my lights via Philips Hue, but the rest is really mostly as an alarm clock and quick weather reports, etc. It seems like I'm wasting a lot of capability.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ May 30, 2017 -> 11:45 AM) Illinois advances to the Final Four of golf for the 4th time in 5 years. Amazing for a school that can't play golf for 6 months out of the year. They have one of the finest indoor facilities in the world. Also, they travel to sunny climates for extended tournament trips. We get a lot of college programs coming through TPC and LaCanterra in San Antonio (plus some of our lesser facilities) each winter. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2017 -> 12:31 PM) It also seems like he may not have been coming from a club or something. He may have just hopped in his car at home and went for a ride. A close relative of mine had an Ambien experience that was scary. She basically woke up behind a firetruck with firemen pounding on her window. Zero alcohol was involved. She remembers taking the Ambien then getting into bed. Somehow she got dressed and went for a drive. She was heading towards work, but it may have been a coincidence. The fire fighters saw her drive up and stop. They called me when she said she had been talking to me, we hadn't been talking. They were kind enough to drive her car back home, about a mile of so.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 2, 2017 -> 12:14 PM) I have had the song Cinnamon Girl stuck in my head for three days and I have no idea why. Damn you. It has now replaced Schools Out in my head.

Let's look at the view from space. Add up all the care that all the patients have received from all the medical facilities in the US. That's the total cost (plus profit). Now the challenge is to equitably and ethically pay for all that care. Fairest? Each person pays directly for what they used. I mean 100% paid for. Not through insurance because that spreads the cost around people that did not receive the service. Need surgery, fork over the $25,000. Break an arm $3,000 will take care of that. Of course that will not work because most people can not afford a major medical bill under that system, many can't afford the broken arm. So that is immediately rejected as unworkable and unsustainable. So now we have to deal with an unfair system where the costs are shared among a large group of people. Call it insurance, call it whatever you like. But we are all going to pitch in and everyone covers those costs. What is the best way to share a large cost across a large number of people? Up until the 21st century we formed smaller groups of people who happened by chance to be grouped together, typically based on the company they worked for. Those people banned together and joined a larger group pulled together by a company that specialized in that service, called an insurance company. They carefully eliminated undesirable people from the group, they carefully eliminated expenses that hurt profits. The problem becomes even though they eliminated those undesirable (unprofitable) people from their group, those people were making things more expensive for everyone. The groups received all the pain and only small gain by eliminating those people who are all part of the same system whether they are in our group or not. Not only will we have to recoup the expense but we need to reduce the cost. Each reduction in cost hurts someone. Less care? Hurts patients. Less profits? Hurts providers. Are there ways to cut costs? Of course. Now we are moving towards a system that does just group everyone together. We are beginning to deal with the totality of the cost of medical care in the US. Who needs it and who pays for it. That is truly the point we are reaching. It will be fundamental shift that will impact society in ways both obvious and perhaps less so. I see an advantage for small companies that will not have to compete on the basis of benefits. Where workers are free to switch employment without the worry of health care changes and preexisting conditions. Small and medium businesses are less likely to move across the country or across the globe.

Thank you to everyone in this thread. I have been too busy to read and post much the past month. This was a great way to catch up in the 'buster.

Tiger has displayed zero forgiveness for people who he feels have slighted him through the years. Tiger has displayed the somewhat common arrogance that all top athletes tend to have. Tiger has crafted an image for advertising endorsements. What he has created and done is now coming down around him - again. I do believe many of the attacks will ease up now that the results of the tests came back that he wasn't drinking. No need to when you go right to the opioids.