Texsox

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) The saddest part is you are all smarter than this, but apparently it's not hard to pull the wool over your eyes. Keep believing that ACORN is shutting down because of a vast right wing conspiracy. BEYOND ridiculous. Not a vast conspiracy, but it was a right wing group that mounted the effort to stop ACORN. And let's not fool ourselves, they targeted ACORN based on ideology. They also used entrapment, a technique that is often criticized.

I think it is sad when a couple employees' actions cause an entire organization to fold. That is bad news for a lot of people. Imagine if today you lost your job because someone in a remote office ripped off a customer. No fault of your own, but you are as much out of work as the guilty person(s).

$25 via Paypal. I will make another donation in a couple months.

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 09:59 PM) For years on this board and others, I have bashed Dye's defense in RF and I have been met with a fair share of protest. Some more dellusional than others, but for the most part it seemed that more people than not think JD was/is a solid option in RF. And clearly, a strong majority, if not all MLB GMs seem to believe that Jermaine cannot play as an everday outfielder; and JD doesn't want to be paid as a 4th OF or DH, hence the current extra time to spend with the fam. So what rock did all of you crawl under this offseason? And is Hawk or Rongey under there with you? QUOTE (GREEDY @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 03:26 PM) Who did I insult? What the f***! Most people would believe it is insulting to be called delusional and being asked what rock you crawled under. The opurpose of the trhead was not to discuss or even debate a player and his abilities, the thread was basically you calling out posters who disagreed with you. But I can see where you are confused over who was insulted because the list of people that disagreed with you about Dye's defense is basically zero from any threads I could find in a search.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 08:41 AM) If anyone said insurance companies don't profit, they're misinformed or lying. They do profit...they just don't profit that much. You know who has higher profits? Doctors, hospitals, drug companies, and the like...which will continue to have the same (or higher) profits than they have right now. And I see people spouting these percentages of administrative overhead when it comes to insurance companies, with no evidence to back these claims. From what company? I work for Blue Cross Blue Shield, and I assure you our administrative overhead is nowhere near 30%. That reeks of cherry picking inflated statistics from what is probably the worst run health insurer in the country and using it as a blanket fact applied to all. The bill does a hell of a job curtailing the huge 3% profits from health insurance companies... But does nothing to curtail the even higher profit margins from drug companies, hospitals, etc. In essence, nothing truly changed...we're just going to have raise your premiums even more now. Whether you pay for it or the government/taxpayers help, we're still getting paid. Doesn't sound like much was accomplished in terms of cost savings, which was the key point of this entire thing... Since I own quite a few drug companies (stocks), I just did a quick check of some of the money they make -- oh, and thanks to this bill, I'm banking on those drug companies now. Merck Revenue: 23,850,000,000 Cost of Revenue: 5,582,000,000 Minus R&D, Admin, and other -- 5,053,000,000 CLEAR profit. And yes, those are billions, with a B. Bristol-Myers Squibb Revenue: 18,808,000,000 Cost of Revenue: 5,140,000,000 Minus R&D, Admin and other -- 5,052,000,000 CLEAR profit. I work for Blue Cross Blue Shield. It would take us 7.5+ YEARS to clear that kind of profit. It's actually considerably longer than that, but I don't have exact numbers so I'm giving an ultra liberal estimation there. In reality, it'd probably take us longer than a decade to turn that. The best part is, part of this reform was made via back room deals with those drug companies -- so those profits you see above, they're about to get a whole lot bigger. Not that I'm complaining, it'll put my kids through college. But the point is, you watched the left hand, when the trick was being done with the right. One TINY area of health care was "fixed", while the larger parts of it were left alone, or actually HELPED. Good job. I do not get too worked up over profit. Their are too many factors that determine profits. Perhaps the drug companies could be less efficient and pay their employees more to match profit percentages. What we should have is a level playing field and then allow companies to profit as they can.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 22, 2010 -> 07:34 PM) I am posting the link to my facebook page. This should be fun..... I did the same thing. About 75% of my friends are GOPerheads.

The "baby killer" congressman came forward. I hope the story ends quickly.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 22, 2010 -> 02:57 PM) It's not perfect (nothing in this bill is) but there's actually an effort in the bill to change that. One of the medicare changes that kicks in after 2014 is to start changing how medicare pays out. Currently, as you note, most health providers get paid based on numbers; you do more treatments, you earn more. This, of course, encourages doctors to over-prescribe and over-treat, rather than focusing on the outcome, because that's where the profit is. There is a task in the Medicare change part that will, at least at some level, put incentives into Medicare payments for positive overall health care outcomes, rather than number of procedures. No one knows at this point if it'll work and it's somewhat complex, but that's exactly how you want the pay structure to work. I like the path this takes. Overall, as more and more concrete examples of the plan being implemented come out, I think we will be pleasantly surprised.

That's good enough for me. I hope the story ends quickly.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 22, 2010 -> 09:20 AM) While I am disgusted by the absurdist over the top messages being spewed by the right on this, I actually agree that mandating people have health insurance is a bad idea. I brought up car insurance as an anaology, just for discussion - but driving is a privilege, not a right. Can anyone else think of a situation where the federal government required the purchase of a product or service from everyone in this way? Paying for the government itself. Taxes. We are paying for all sorts of goods and services in that way.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 10:04 PM) Well, I now have health insurance until 26. No need to get a job then...i'll just collect unemployment and live like a king. Welcome to my utopia You need a job for a while before getting unemployment.

Some GOP lawmaker called Stupak a "baby killer". Nice.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 09:54 PM) Clearly, I've been doing that. GOVERNMENT SAVES!

216 Done. Let's hope this works as well as many believe it will.

No video of lawmakers announcing yea or nay. Electronic voting.

Over 200 GOP amendments are included in the bill. At least according to the Majority Leader.

Could we have just a little bit more partisanship?

QUOTE (KipWellsFan @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 08:59 PM) Didn't stop Mike Pence and Eric Cantor from claiming that this bill still pays for abortions... I'm confused. And for the record Paul Ryan sounded like Cicero compared to Pence and Cantor. yep, to save a mother's life.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 08:45 PM) Today, over 200,000 protesters gathered on the Capitol steps to protest the Health Care bill. As per usual, the media ignored them completely. Damn liberal media. Oh wait, they were immigration reform advocates. They're ok to ignore. Look, 200 tea-baggers! Gotta love the tea party folks. They know how to get on TV

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Mar 21, 2010 -> 08:12 PM) No, it really isn't but keep pushing those talking points. x2

The GOP has to make this out to be the worse thing ever in the history of humanity. Something that will destroy America unless they are elected to undo it all. The Dems have to make this out to be the greatest moment in the history of mankind. The truth is somewhere in the middle. We're a great nation and will do health care better than any other nation on earth. For everyone.

What is interesting in this story is how technology has changed how we complain about an employer. A couple beers after work, spouting off how your boss sucks was rarely a problem. Now, everyone has a bullhorn.

is death an option?

QUOTE (GREEDY @ Mar 20, 2010 -> 09:59 PM) For years on this board and others, I have bashed Dye's defense in RF and I have been met with a fair share of protest. Some more dellusional than others, but for the most part it seemed that more people than not think JD was/is a solid option in RF. And clearly, a strong majority, if not all MLB GMs seem to believe that Jermaine cannot play as an everday outfielder; and JD doesn't want to be paid as a 4th OF or DH, hence the current extra time to spend with the fam. So what rock did all of you crawl under this offseason? And is Hawk or Rongey under there with you? Did that feel good? Put your finger in your ears, stick out your tongue, and repeat your post. Most posters here have the baseball acumen to accurately access JD's defense. They can also discuss his strengths and weaknesses like adults instead of like a bunch of 3rd graders on a playground.

The American voter will always shift mid term.