Only 72 more shopping days until Christmas!

BTW, interesting beach shot... wonder how it would look in b&w...

The ocean. The last thing Walter saw before he went missing.

So pretty!

re: #4 Sharmuta

So pretty!

Thats what Walter said before...THE HORROR!

re: #3 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

The ocean. The last thing Walter saw before he went missing.

Thats ok. He's with Zoth-Ommog now or some shit.

Walter ran into Dagon.

re: #3 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

The ocean. The last thing Walter saw before he went missing.

This is one of the best overnight pics yet. One of my favorites.

re: #4 Sharmuta

Yes it is... also, I played with it in PS... it does make a very nice b&w image too if mixed down properly.

I find BarackBorat terribly funny

Here's another one of those weird back-handed complements Charles keeps getting lately:

Charles Johnson is the Arlen Specter of the blogosphere. I don't mean this derisively. Once blind, Specter may well be the bastard son of Wade Boggs and Ted Williams, happily supporting a "robust public option."

So, even though Johnson's split with the wingnuts has been well-chronicled, it's still a tad disorienting to see him adopting one of the reality-based community's most cherished googlebombs.

Odd, yes. Weird, yes! But at the same time, kinda delightful!

There is an excellent comment too:

What's really frightening is that Charles hasn't changed in the slightest. He's always had a low tolerance of bullshit. It's just that the bullshit being shoveled out but the wingnuts these days is so thick and dumb that he can't help but stand against it.

Spot on.

re: #12 Sharmuta

Exactamundo...

re: #12 Sharmuta

Those who think Charles used to be the devil and said completely outrageous and vile things about him in the past, and now thinks he's "ok" because he "changed" to "side with them" are just as dumb and partisan as those who used to think he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but now hangout at a Stalker site saying completely vile things about him 24/7 because he "changed". That bottom comment is spot on though.

re: #14 ArchangelMichael

Indeed.

re: #12 Sharmuta

Heh. Instaputz is just amazed that Charles is adopting thegoogle bomb term 'shrieking harpy' for Pam Gellar, because it originated in the snarkosphere and was a grassroots effort by commenters on many, many lib and prog blogs. The tradition continues to this day.

Now when I google shrieking harpy though, the first return is still Atlas Shrugs, but the second is now LGF posting about her.

The Prodge : Outer Space

re: #14 ArchangelMichael

Those who think Charles used to be the devil and said completely outrageous and vile things about him in the past, and now thinks he's "ok" because he "changed" to "side with them" are just as dumb and partisan as those who used to think he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but now hangout at a Stalker site saying completely vile things about him 24/7 because he "changed". That bottom comment is spot on though.

I'd have to check, but I don't think Instaputz was a major LGF hater. He was just going by what he'd heard about LGF-- i.e., comments by Iron Fist, Zombie.

Haven't read him much though. He's mostly about snarking on Instapundit, obviously.

re: #17 Jimmah

The Prodge : Outer Space

And now the original track that tune samples:

I'm gonna put on a iron shirt
And chase the devil out of Earth
I'm gonna send him to outer space
To find another race

So, is it true that Walter may have been eated by Cthulhu?
/:)

re: #19 Jimmah

And now the original track that tune samples:

I'm gonna put on a iron shirt
And chase the devil out of Earth
I'm gonna send him to outer space
To find another race

[Video]

Speaking of outer space...this is so touching. So, so touching.

Greatest Star Trek greeting. (For some reason my favorite lines in the whole movie).

re: #21 iceweasel

Speaking of outer space...this is so touching. So, so touching.

Enjoy!

re: #22 ArchangelMichael

Greatest Star Trek greeting. (For some reason my favorite lines in the whole movie).

Hi Christopher, I'm Nero...and I'll be your waiter today.

re: #16 iceweasel

Well- you know what they say. If the shoe fits...

Olbermann tonight: " ... total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred, without which Michelle Malkin would just be a big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it."

World-class journalism in action!

Sure is quiet here tonight...maybe I can liven it up a little with some self-serving blog pimping?

/No? Didn't think so...

re: #24 iceweasel

Hi Christopher, I'm Nero...and I'll be your waiter today.

Very much like the Joker visiting Dent in the Hospital.

re: #25 Sharmuta

Well- you know what they say. If the shoe fits...

Take it off and throw it?
/

re: #26 mulgamutt

Olbermann tonight: " ... total mindless, morally bankrupt, knee-jerk, fascistic hatred, without which Michelle Malkin would just be a big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it."

World-class journalism in action!

Link?
I can believe it. Olbermann is the left's blowhard version of O'reilly-- and Olbermann also traffics in misogyny, apparently.
Honestly, I agree with the rest of his assessment of Malkin, but this:

Michelle Malkin would just be a big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it."

is totally unacceptable.

re: #25 Sharmuta

Well- you know what they say. If the shoe fits...

The Russian Epic of Cinderella?

/chekov

re: #30 iceweasel

Interesting how every kook with a swastika sign or foaming at the mouth talk-show host is emblematic of the 'angry right' in the eyes of progressives, but the tried and true 'No True Scotsman' defense is applicable to the Keith Olbermans and William Ayers on the left. They can detatch themselves to vile people like that at their leisure...

re: #32 Fenway_Nation

Interesting how every kook with a swastika sign or foaming at the mouth talk-show host is emblematic of the 'angry right' in the eyes of progressives, but the tried and true 'No True Scotsman' defense is applicable to the Keith Olbermans and William Ayers on the left. They can detatch themselves to vile people like that at their leisure...

Let's not pretend I defended either Bill Ayers or Keith Olbermann in my comment, or made a sweeping generalisation about the right...like the one you just made about 'progressives'.

**sigh**

re: #33 iceweasel

It's not about defending Ayers or Olberman- it's about conveniently distancing yourselves from them while every Klansman, Paulian or Alex Jones (redundant, I know) is supposedly emblematic of opposition to President 0bama.

re: #35 Fenway_Nation

It's not about defending Ayers or Olberman- it's about conveniently distancing yourselves from them while every Klansman, Paulian or Alex Jones (redundant, I know) is supposedly emblematic of opposition to President 0bama.

Oh this crazy bullshit again. Massive strawman argument, unhinged accusations which are sweeping generalisations about 'all' progressives, the demand that I stand in for the straw liberal in your head that you'd like to debate.

Sorry. Not playing. I've got someone more important to talk to. Later.

re: #30 iceweasel

Michelle Malkin would just be a big mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it."

And lord knows I'm not exactly a card-carrying member of NOW, but that comment just seems to ooze Philipino = dirty whore.

If I'm not mistaken, 0lby was a regular contributor to venues where comments like that were more blunt and straightforward.

re: #36 iceweasel

Wait.

no. Don't go.

/I salute your gallant service in the Global War Against Straw

re: #37 Fenway_Nation

Shh...we can only read into racism on the right.

/

re: #39 TheMatrix31

Did not get the memo...

I have something for the next open registration.

Is everyone still downstairs at the Beck thread?

re: #42 Fenway_Nation

Well, I'm plowing through the 11Mystics website...

re: #43 freetoken

What? No Bazilian women's beach volleyball?

re: #44 Fenway_Nation

Our beach for today, as seen in the image at the top, is a rocky beach... not friendly to volleyball!

re: #27 Fenway_Nation

You do know all these colors go with rust, right?

Speaking of, I found my dream office for a mere $10k, plus transportation and setup. Mr. Heat does not share my enthusiasm or vision, however. Me? Practically giddy. His feet are dug firmly in the sand. Mr. Heat, aka Mr. Dream Killer.

re: #46 theheat

Ah...the Ozark Mtn Railcar page- Lord knows how many hours I wasted going through that page. That's a fixer-upper if there ever was one. Failing that, you could always go for the RV on flatcars.

I thought I was the dreamkiller. Guess I've been demoted. *pout*

As for today's Train of Thought, think of the leaves as 'rusting'.

re: #47 Fenway_Nation

You're both stinking dream killers! And you, to suggest one of these nasty old camp cars - about as warm and inviting as a pelvic exam in the Klondikes - might be preferable to a 1905 mega fixer upper. Ha! Where's your sense of adventure? Men. Sheesh.

I was really hot for the woodwork on the old train car. It's gorgeous. That, and all the brass hardware still intact. Sure, it's a godawful project, but it still taunts me. It speaks to me when I look at it. It wants to roll clear across the country to become my secret lair.

It's good to be Olympia Snowe these days.
Olympia Snowe's Very Own Health Care Bill

Democrats negotiated with her for months; President Obama wooed her personally. Olympia wants amendments? She gets amendments. Olympia needs more time? The Senate Finance Committee delays its vote. Olympia opposes government-run insurance? Voilà -- the public option is gone.

The coy routine was working so well for Snowe that, as she walked into the Hart Building on Tuesday morning for the committee vote on the legislation, she claimed she still hadn't made a decision.

"I have certain inclinations," she told the reporters and photographers who mobbed her. And: "I want to hear more." And: "You always learn something new about this bill." And: "I haven't made up my mind." And: "Let's see how the day goes."

Finally, three hours later, the wavering lawmaker was ready to announce her position. Sort of. "Is this bill all that I would want? Is it all that it can be? No," said Snowe. "But when history calls, history calls." After this halfhearted announcement that she was, with "reservations," becoming the only Republican to vote with the Democrats, she added a warning: "My vote today is my vote today. It doesn't forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."

Ambinder on the last-minute about-face by insurance companies:

Insurance Lobby Miscalculated: Some Evidence

Let's get the chain of events correct:

Some insurance industry CEOs start to panic about reform. They press their DC lobby, America's Health Insurance Plans, to do something about it.

AHIP asks PriceWaterhouseCooper to score a few of the Baucus mark's provisions.

Sunday, the industry issues what would quickly become a widely debunked report about what health insurance reform would mean for your health insurance premiums. Even GOPers are reluctant to use the report as a talking point -- so effectively did the White House and Democrats discredit it.

Investors freak out and start selling off their health insurance stock. PriceWaterhouseCooper acknowledges that their report was partial and incomplete.

Today, unbowed, the Senate Finance Committee passes the Baucus bill

Only then do health insurance stocks start to rebound

To lay my cards on the table: I'm for health-care reform. I don't know if this is exactly the right bill, but it seems to be the one that is politically possible for now. We can debate whether it will work in practice or not, but the debate can't be settled conclusively until we try it and see. If it doesn't work, they can fix it again.

And now for something completely different

re: #48 theheat

Well, maybe you could offset the restoration costs by having some Extreme Makeover or HGTV type show document (maybe even finance?) the restoration.

re: #49 Timmeh

If it doesn't work, they can fix it again.

This is called "job security".

re: #49 Timmeh

Great...can't wait to see this logic applied to cap & trade

/

re: #51 Fenway_Nation

I've rarely seen any come to the NW, except Trading Spaces, which I'm not sure is still taping new shows. The majority of those shows take place in California.

We just bought a clapped out house as a rental to fix up. I think Mr. Heat will blow a circuit if I add any more projects to the mix. He's about ready to redline, as is. Although, he's the one that found this crappy fixer upper house. Really, when it's fixed up, it's still just an icky little house and nothing more. The train car, however, is way cooler.

It seems that the GOP (or opponents of health-care reform) are taking a page from the dems traditional playbook.

Fiscal conservatives have been for entitlement reform in the past. These are those famous "unfunded liabilities."

CBO has said that this will reduce the budget, not increase it, but so-called "deficit-hawks" still don't want to support it.

What The Budget Scolds Are Saying

CBO: Public option would save taxpayers $85 billion

And, of course, they are scaring seniors about their Medicare. Talk about role reversal.

re: #54 theheat

Well...not to boost my dreamkiller status, but where exactly are the nearest railway tracks from you?

re: #56 Fenway_Nation

Probably 20 miles, max. And I think you also have to have tracks put down to set it on, don't you? So that's at least 70' of track, if the car is 70'. I don't think they put them on blocks like some old Chevy Nova, but maybe there's another way to park them. I don't know anyone who has actually moved one.

What's the story, Morning Glory?

re: #58 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I smell Chocolate pumpkin cake.

Rationing in MA?

re: #58 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

What's the story, Morning Glory?

We fear Walter may have run into Cthulhu.

re: #59 theheat

Well. There go the pants.

re: #61 Sharmuta

Scared the shit out of me when I saw that.

Four rebuilt Quebec, North Shore & Labrador SD40-3s in running order for sale.

Wonder if that includes free shipping anywhere along the Canadian National system. If you don't live anywhere near the CN tracks, just wait 5 minutes...they'll probably take over whatever railway is in your neighborhood.

re: #63 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Sorry, Hon. You'd have to see the last thread for the joke.

re: #65 Sharmuta

Oh, I found it.

Well, panicked first, then I found it.

Charles has a "knock it off" in the top ten, then I saw that.

Have a friend from High School who I found on Facebook. He joined the Marines out of HS. We were chatting and he said he has worked for the Federal Government for 9 years. We've been out of HS for almost 30... so I said, "What are Marines? I'd consider that a Federal Government job."

He said, "Marines are the Marines. The Marines were organized, the federal government is not.".

I'm still giggling over that one. The Marines seem to take every individual that joins them and turns that individual into the same dude.

I'm skinching out to the noise of crickets. I have to work to save up money for a crappy train to rehab. Duty calls, and it's a bitch goddess. Adios.

re: #68 theheat

Vaya con Ferrocarriles, theheat!

re: #69 Fenway_Nation

Vaya con Ferrocarriles, theheat!

Guess you drove everyone away. How about that Junior Seau?

re: #70 soxfan4life

First order of business, knock some sense into Brandon Merriweather.

Good Morning LGF.

re: #71 Fenway_Nation

First order of business, knock some sense into Brandon Merriweather.

Given that act Sunday, that could be a tall order.

Good Morning, Spare!

re: #73 soxfan4life

Stranger things have happened...but I won't hold my breath.

We're going to have to recruit a better class of morning threaders. Well, at least more active...
/

re: #76 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Well, if it would help I could always post more Christmas tunes...

I have only 71 more days of posting "X shopping days until Christmas" left and there are far, far more tacky Christmas songs available on the internet than just 71...

re: #77 freetoken

heh.

and

ugh!

re: #47 Fenway_Nation

quoting:f there ever was one. Failing that, you could always go for the RV on flatcars.

A few years ago, an outfit would put you, your RV, and any others on
barges dead-heading up the Mississippi. Might still be in business. They
were rather pricey.

re: #57 theheat

Probably 20 miles, max. And I think you also have to have tracks put down to set it on, don't you? So that's at least 70' of track, if the car is 70'. I don't think they put them on blocks like some old Chevy Nova, but maybe there's another way to park them. I don't know anyone who has actually moved one.

In Italy, they load very heavy railcars onto roadable "dollies" and transport
them down the Via Aurelia to other spurs.

re: #78 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

heh.

You asked for it:

re: #81 freetoken

Oh, hell.

re: #55 Timmeh

It seems that the GOP (or opponents of health-care reform) are taking a page from the dems traditional playbook.

Fiscal conservatives have been for entitlement reform in the past. These are those famous "unfunded liabilities."

CBO has said that this will reduce the budget, not increase it, but so-called "deficit-hawks" still don't want to support it.

What The Budget Scolds Are Saying

CBO: Public option would save taxpayers $85 billion

And, of course, they are scaring seniors about their Medicare. Talk about role reversal.

If I'm not mistaken, the CBO has assumed the figure of about 500billion largely in Medicare 'waste' (efficiencies & fraud?) instead of challenging the assumptions.

One of the bigger questions is can that much money be gained through waste & effeciencies w/o cutting services. If I understand correctly (and whether we agree or not), that's an essential part the 'challenge' coming from the GOP.

re: #83 Pianobuff

If I'm not mistaken, the CBO has assumed the figure of about 500billion largely in Medicare 'waste' (efficiencies & fraud?) instead of challenging the assumptions.

One of the bigger questions is can that much money be gained through waste & effeciencies w/o cutting services. If I understand correctly (and whether we agree or not), that's an essential part the 'challenge' coming from the GOP.

I also meant (but forgot) to add the question that if 500 billion can be cut out by attacking waste/fraud/inefficiency and Obama's team sees the path clearly, why isn't the administration doing that already?

re: #84 Pianobuff

Because you can CLAIM you are going to do anything in this arena.

Where is five hundred billion dollars worth of waste and inefficiency?

Two years from now... Answer?

George Bush.

re: #84 Pianobuff

I also meant (but forgot) to add the question that if 500 billion can be cut out by attacking waste/fraud/inefficiency and Obama's team sees the path clearly, why isn't the administration doing that already?

Umm...'failed policies of the last 8 years'?

re: #86 Fenway_Nation

MMTA

It is just flippin' beautiful here, this time of year.

James Taranto has been posting little quips about Britain's Socialized Medicine that are a hoot. Here is an example:

Great Moments in Socialized Medicine
Yet another dispatch from the Liverpool Care Pathway, from London's Daily Mail:

A grandfather who beat cancer was wrongly told the disease had returned and left to die at a hospice which pioneered a controversial "death pathway."

Doctors said there was nothing more they could do for 76-year-old Jack Jones, and his family claim he was denied food, water and medication except painkillers.

He died within two weeks. But tests after his death found that his cancer had not come back and he was in fact suffering from pneumonia brought on by a chest infection.

To his family's horror, they were told he could have recovered if he'd been given the correct treatment.

Perhaps it will ease the family's horror to hear the reassuring words of former Enron adviser Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winner no less: "In Britain, the government itself runs the hospitals and employs the doctors. We've all heard scare stories about how that works in practice; these stories are false."

Morning all. Just having fun with the Linkviewer right now.

re: #55 Timmeh

Unfortunately, the CBO estimates are based on little more than puff; the bill contents they evaluated have already begun changing, and what finally passes will bear little, if any resemblance to the particulars they based their estimates on. There have already been over two hundred amendments made to the proposal, before it even left committee.

Also, "reductions in the deficit" are based on a deficit that has tripled in the last year alone, and is projected to grow to terrifying, astronomical levels in years to come. In short, this claim is little more than a sham, typical Congressional weasel-wording no different from claims that "w3e cut the budget!" when what really occurred was a reduction in the proposed increases put forward originally. Note that they aren't saying the deficit will be eliminated; only that it the rate of bleeding will be slightly less than the lethal gushing of red ink projected going forward. The deficit itself remains at astronomical levels by any measure, several times the worst deficits seen at any time in the past and exceeding even the percentage of GDP the deficit represents over levels not seen since World War II.

re: #89 rwdflynavy

I'll be honest. I'm not sure if these stories are "exceptions" or if certain details were embellished in some way.

re: #84 Pianobuff

I also meant (but forgot) to add the question that if 500 billion can be cut out by attacking waste/fraud/inefficiency and Obama's team sees the path clearly, why isn't the administration doing that already?

Another excellent question. If there's that much waste, eliminating it ought to be a front-burner priority, no matter what the outcome of health care is.

re: #91 SixDegrees

Agreed. I always thought this graph from the Heritage Foundation was useful in showing why a health care overhaul might be a financial disaster. It isn't like we're not spending tons of money already.

Slow thread. Take it easy.

re: #95 lazardo

Slow thread. Take it easy.

[Video]

Bless your heart!!!

Morning all. Looks like I missed all the fun last night.

Morning Lizards. I get the feeling I'm going to be driving to work in the pre-dawn dark, even after the so-called "Daylight Savings Time" kicks in. Ugh. So what fun did I miss?

re: #92 lazardo

Hey!

Who can be sure of anything anymore?

re: #96 MandyManners

Gosh, I hit 25,000 posts last night and thought I was all that.

You are all that!

Shar is nearing 100,000 karma.

re: #97 RogueOne

re: #98 thedopefishlives

You missed "very not fun".

Charles is getting very frustrated with the sniping. Look at the top comment.

re: #101 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

re: #98 thedopefishlives

You missed "very not fun".

Charles is getting very frustrated with the sniping. Look at the top comment.

Sad to say, but things like this have been going on for a while. Thankfully, today's morning thread seems to be rather tame, compared to some of the ones I've lurked about in.

re: #101 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Sounds like he was irked by the infighting here. Can't we all just get along?

re: #94 akarra

Agreed. I always thought this graph from the Heritage Foundation was useful in showing why a health care overhaul might be a financial disaster. It isn't like we're not spending tons of money already.

I think every GOP member of Congress needs to have that graphic printed on a T-shirt that they wear at every session.

Lefty evolution denial? I hadn't seen this before. I'll assume that Deepak C is also an anti-vaxxer.

[Link: scienceblogs.com...]

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Twenty-seven U.S. labor unions defied White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and announced their opposition to the $829 billion health-care measure passed yesterday by the Senate Finance Committee.

[Link: www.bloomberg.com...]

re: #101 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

re: #98 thedopefishlives

You missed "very not fun".

Charles is getting very frustrated with the sniping. Look at the top comment.

Which thread?

Great CBS news article about one facet of the health care debate. Lindsay Graham comes off very well, and the GOP would do well to follow his example here:

[Link: www.cbsnews.com...]

About half of the members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, use the Attending Physician benefit. For $42 a month, they can get all the primary care they need - physical therapy, X-rays, minor surgery, specialists and a pharmacy for emergencies - no appointment needed.

They also get VIP hospital treatment from the best doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital. And they have a reserved spot at the elite Ward 72 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the late Sen. Strom Thurmond spent a lot of time.

Outpatient care is free. Well, free for them. Your tax dollars pick up the cost.

Graham says in the current climate, it's just not fair.

"If we pass a law that says a public option will be made available, I think people like myself should get out of this plan and go into the public option," he said.

That's unlikely. Congress has voted down all proposals that would switch them to a public option.

Even if you're mad enough to vote out your representatives, they still won't have to stress over health care. Their plan is portable. Until Medicare kicks in, they can keep the generous coverage for themselves and their families at the same low cost, still subsidized by your tax dollars.

Nancy Pelosi is a multi-millionaire. She can damn well pay for her own medical care, and should, or she should only have access to the same health insurance that other civilian government employees get.

I didn't know about the lifetime medical benefit. No wonder creeps like Rick Santorum and Tom Daschle move the family to DC after they lose their elections.

re: #106 albusteve

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Twenty-seven U.S. labor unions defied White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and announced their opposition to the $829 billion health-care measure passed yesterday by the Senate Finance Committee.

[Link: www.bloomberg.com...]

Interesting. Basically, union opposition boils down to their realization that this bill will mean higher costs and shitty care for everyone.

It'll be interesting to watch the Left spin this reaction by one of their major constituencies.

Not to stir shit so early, but does Tim Blair having something against LGF? I just went to a post there from an Instapundit link.

re: #109 SixDegrees

Interesting. Basically, union opposition boils down to their realization that this bill will mean higher costs and shitty care for everyone.

It'll be interesting to watch the Left spin this reaction by one of their major constituencies.

they are demanding a public option...man the torpedos!

re: #110 RogueOne

Not to stir shit so early, but does Tim Blair having something against LGF? I just went to a post there from an Instapundit link.

These days, the more appropriate question to ask is "Who doesn't have something against LGF?" People from both left and right have been hating on Charles for a while now because he refuses to be a nutter.

re: #104 SixDegrees

I posted 4 links health care reform related on my blog recently: 2 of them were from Megan McArdle, who really is excellent reading on this issue. She talks explicitly in earlier entries about the issue of how these reforms and moves toward universal health care will hurt innovation.

re: #112 thedopefishlives

Like I said, I don't usually read his stuff so I don't know if this is typical of him. I was wondering why he felt it necessary to call LGF the "crazy left". Felt like a cheap shot.

re: #3 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

The ocean. The last thing Walter saw before he went missing.

I've been distracted with trivial things like work, so I wasn't aware that Walter had gone awol. When did this happen?

re: #110 RogueOne

Not to stir shit so early, but does Tim Blair having something against LGF? I just went to a post there from an Instapundit link.

Probably. I don't know or even care much about the specifics, but hatin' on LGF is the new black. Or the new pink. Or whaever the new new color is.

re: #114 RogueOne

Like I said, I don't usually read his stuff so I don't know if this is typical of him. I was wondering why he felt it necessary to call LGF the "crazy left". Felt like a cheap shot.

"Crazy left"? Us? HAH!

Let me get my grill brush. Sounds like we've got a troll-be-que coming up.

re: #114 RogueOne

Seriously? I'm not even a moderate. I am pretty right. But I refuse to get irrational.

re: #115 John Neverbend

I've been distracted with trivial things like work, so I wasn't aware that Walter had gone awol. When did this happen?

O nothing serious, he just went to investigate Cthulhu last night.

re: #109 SixDegrees

Interesting. Basically, union opposition boils down to their realization that this bill will mean higher costs and shitty care for everyone.

It'll be interesting to watch the Left spin this reaction by one of their major constituencies.

Maybe not - maybe it's just that their "Cadillac" plans will be taxed under this plan. That was always Bush's program, to tax such plans, and since the unions were obviously going to get nailed the Dems said "Oh No!" to this idea.

Until they needed the money to even pretend to pay for all this new stuff.

The unions are maybe just as greedy and tax-averse as those terrible right-wing Tea-Partiers and other troglodytes... /

The Left will spin this to say that the program doesn't go far enough, and saves the rich by putting some of the cost onto union members.

The whole Obama era to date has been wasted in a historic, amateurish botch of the health-care issue. This began as a crusade for social justice — to cover the uninsured, whose numbers were suitably exaggerated, as most of them are people changing jobs from one health-insuring employer to another, or foreigners resident in this country, legally or otherwise, or the indigent, who are eligible for Medicaid.

[Link: article.nationalreview.com...]

buckle up if you want to read the rest of this op ed...

re: #118 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Seriously? I'm not even a moderate. I am pretty right. But I refuse to get irrational.

Exactly. I don't think it's at all fair or accurate to describe LGF in aggregate as either crazy or left. It seems clear from various comments that I've read here that the blog has evolved, but it sounds as though it has evolved to a higher level of rationality.

re: #116 SixDegrees

Probably. I don't know or even care much about the specifics, but hatin' on LGF is the new black. Or the new pink. Or whaever the new new color is.

There's an older entry on LGF detailing Tim Blair's attempt to smear the site:

"Tim Blair goes cherry picking"

re: #119 McSpiff

O nothing serious, he just went to investigate Cthulhu last night.

Oh dear. In which thread did the investigation begin?

re: #115 John Neverbend

Hey, Sledge Manmeat.

It's a joke from last night. Walter is still around.

re: #60 TheMatrix31

Rationing in MA?

The state’s ambitious plan to shake up how providers are paid could have a hidden price for patients: Controlling Massachusetts’ soaring medical costs, many health care leaders believe, may require residents to give up their nearly unlimited freedom to go to any hospital and specialist they want.

Efforts to keep patients in a defined provider network, or direct them to lower-cost hospitals could be unpopular, especially in a state where more than 40 percent of hospital care is provided in expensive academic medical centers and where many insurance policies allow patients access to large numbers of providers.

So MA citizens think they should have low-cost government healthcare but should have no limits on their use of the most expensive providers at the same time? Bollocks.

This kind of thinking is why I think a public option will fail here in the US. I honestly don't think US citizens are able to understand that the government isn't going to fund gold-plated, Nancy Pelosi level care to them at low cost.

My husband is in the military, and I've spent years and years figuring out which hospitals and doctors will accept the military family insurance as we've moved around. We can't just use any doctor and any hospital in town as a lot of them don't take the insurance. I know that many/most private health insurance policies have similar restrictions, especially HMOs. I'm stunned that Americans can't grasp that government-provided health insurance is bare-bones insurance, but we seem incapable of doing so, and there certainly aren't any politicians brave enough to tell people that fact.

re: #121 albusteve

Thanks for the link.

Buckling.

re: #123 akarra

That would explain it, thanks.

re: #125 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Hey, Sledge Manmeat.

It's a joke from last night. Walter is still around.

Hello Mike Myers, GET IN MY BELLY!!! Bugger. I had a feeling that was the case. I just wanted to check out what had happened. I think I'll start using "going to investigate Cthulhu" as a euphemism for going to the bathroom.

370 megapixel photo of me swimming in Syri i Kalter (the Blue Eye) at 10 degrees celsius: [Link: gigapan.org...]

re: #128 RogueOne

No problem. Have some karma.

re: #129 John Neverbend

ha!

re: #121 albusteve

Damn, not a single "Nazi!". No "Nirther". Just the facts with opinion.

How refreshing.

Thanks for finding that Steve.

re: #126 funky chicken

/Based on how the government manages the Post Office, Medicaid, Budgets, and Social security, I foresee no problems with an expensive new entitlement. And if you do, you my friend, are a monster.

re: #130 MPH

370 megapixel photo of me swimming in Syri i Kalter (the Blue Eye) at 10 degrees celsius: [Link: gigapan.org...]

I like the zoom facility which seems to be centred on your right ear.

re: #126 funky chicken

First of all, I love it when someone says "Bollocks!"

Second. Yep.

The Miracle of Birth...

re: #132 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

ha!

re: #121 albusteve

Damn, not a single "Nazi!". No "Nirther". Just the facts with opinion.

How refreshing.

Thanks for finding that Steve.

Conrad Black is on fire...reminds me of VDH only even more direct...everyone should read that piece

re: #137 albusteve

Conrad Black is on fire...reminds me of VDH only even more direct...everyone should read that piece

Er, where is Conrad Black at the moment? I actually read the article earlier this morning and thought it was damn good.

“You can see it’s wearing him down a bit, in his shoulders; they are a bit more stooped,” says King. “It bothers me. ... This is a guy who is so proud of his district, was a real hero in Korea, who has really accomplished things. It would get to anybody.”

Read more: [Link: www.politico.com...]

cry me a river...Charlie Rangle is a liar and a thief and has gotten away with his scam for way too long

re: #130 MPH
Great pic. It looks like the guy in the "replay sports" shirt is scoping out your butt tho. I think he liked it.

re: #139 albusteve

Is "Perp-walk" too much to ask for?

re: #60 TheMatrix31

Rationing in MA?

The state’s ambitious plan to shake up how providers are paid could have a hidden price for patients: Controlling Massachusetts’ soaring medical costs, many health care leaders believe, may require residents to give up their nearly unlimited freedom to go to any hospital and specialist they want.

I'm shocked, shocked that "nearly unlimited freedom to go to any hospital and specialist they want" and controlling costs aren't compatible.

re: #133 baier

I had my first child in an MTF (military treatment facility, which is what they used to call the base hospitals). I used those pediatricians for the first 9 months of her life. It is very much like receiving health care from the DMV, on a bad day for the DMV.

My second child was born at a public county (but civilian) hospital that took the military insurance. It was a day and night difference in the quality of the facility, the cleanliness, the courtesy and competence of the staff, etc, etc, etc...not to mention the attitudes of the doctors and nurses. The buildings were about the same age, but the civilian one had been maintained and cleaned to American civilian hospital standards over the years. And the difference between civilian and military pediatric clinics is beyond anything I can express in typing.

I don't oppose a public option per se, but people NEED to understand that it will be a bare-bones, safety-net type coverage, and that they will most definitely want private medical insurance and access on top of it. If they CHOOSE to only join the public option plan, their choices and access will be limited. There simply is no way to cover such a huge population without such limits.

But we Americans tend to believe in unicorns and other fairy tales way too often.

re: #138 John Neverbend

Er, where is Conrad Black at the moment? I actually read the article earlier this morning and thought it was damn good.

don't know...he pops up here and there, he pretty much speaks for me

re: #142 Timmeh

I'm shocked, shocked that "nearly unlimited freedom to go to any hospital and specialist they want" and controlling costs aren't compatible.

As any idiot knows, but many fools seem to be willing to believe.

re: #144 albusteve

don't know...he pops up here and there, he pretty much speaks for me

I think I've said this before, but I always used to like seeing his wife on British TV. Barbara Amiel was often the token conservative on "Question Time", where 3 left-wing loonies, one complete nonentity with no idea what was going on and a token right-winger would debate topical issues.

re: #143 funky chicken

My son is very health (vegan, in fact... ahem) and I advised him to find the most bare bones but most comprehensive catastrophic coverage he could get. Hasn't been to the doctor in five years, but, if he broke a leg, without insurance, he'd be screwed.

re: #104 SixDegrees

I have seen some dismiss all Heritage has to offer. Guilt by financial association. Wingnut dollars. I am not yet ready to dismiss the work that easily.

re: #147 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Bare Bones plan? Nice turn of phrase there. And yes have him get something. HMO maybe.

And Congressmen/women and their families should have NO BETTER health insurance than my family does. If the GOP had a brain, they would follow Lindsay Graham's lead on this issue and shame the bastards into dropping their lavish, taxpayer-funded care. I thank CBS news for putting this article on their website, and I hope it made the evening broadcast.

About half of the members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, use the Attending Physician benefit. For $42 a month, they can get all the primary care they need - physical therapy, X-rays, minor surgery, specialists and a pharmacy for emergencies - no appointment needed.

They also get VIP hospital treatment from the best doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital. And they have a reserved spot at the elite Ward 72 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the late Sen. Strom Thurmond spent a lot of time.

Outpatient care is free. Well, free for them. Your tax dollars pick up the cost.

Graham says in the current climate, it's just not fair.

"If we pass a law that says a public option will be made available, I think people like myself should get out of this plan and go into the public option," he said.

That's unlikely. Congress has voted down all proposals that would switch them to a public option.

Even if you're mad enough to vote out your representatives, they still won't have to stress over health care. Their plan is portable. Until Medicare kicks in, they can keep the generous coverage for themselves and their families at the same low cost, still subsidized by your tax dollars.

[Link: www.cbsnews.com...]

This would make a perfect 60 Minutes segment.

re: #143 funky chicken

I had my daughter in a hospital in Canada. The hospital was dirty, Labour and Delivery was overcrowded, the nurses and physicians were rude, and everything was completely chaotic. There were no semi-private rooms available in Maternity so you were thrown in a dirty crowded ward. When one woman with pre-eclampsia started crashing, they couldn't find a blood pressure monitor (Dyna Map machine). It was the most traumatic event in my life...and not because of the childbirth part. And this was in a big University hospital in a big city. Not somewhere in the boonies. I adopted my second child...

re: #149 Rightwingconspirator

Then he found the ultimate solution. Got a job that provides comprehensive coverage.

CHHIIING!

re: #84 Pianobuff

I also meant (but forgot) to add the question that if 500 billion can be cut out by attacking waste/fraud/inefficiency and Obama's team sees the path clearly, why isn't the administration doing that already?

Because politically it's probably easier to do it as part of a large comprehensive bill than piecemeal. To get something through congress you have to have something for everyone (or something for enough of a critical mass of votes).

re: #148 Rightwingconspirator

I have seen some dismiss all Heritage has to offer. Guilt by financial association. Wingnut dollars. I am not yet ready to dismiss the work that easily.

I'm not certain, but I think this graph may have actually come from Newsweek.

It's out of date; things have gotten considerably worse since it was published in the spring.

Oh. Get ready to sooo hate me.

I worked for a HealthCare collection agency for 8 years.

re: #149 Rightwingconspirator

Who'da thunk there'd be two of you.

Less chance of my nic being doubled, but, damn! How'd that happen?

re: #155 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Oh. Get ready to sooo hate me.

I worked for a HealthCare collection agency for 8 years.

So, did you go and repossess people's livers when they got behind on the transplant payments?

re: #154 SixDegrees

We all need some care about charts etc. If Newsweek used Heritage numbers? In any case Heritage and CATO have helped me in financial policy lurks.

re: #146 John Neverbend

I think I've said this before, but I always used to like seeing his wife on British TV. Barbara Amiel was often the token conservative on "Question Time", where 3 left-wing loonies, one complete nonentity with no idea what was going on and a token right-winger would debate topical issues.

Here is a clip of the first ever Question Time. Check out Robin Day (the host). Notice that there's a cock-up over the first question which, in any case, was rather bland. The show went into a decline after this.

Here's a joke version with Rowan Atkinson as Lord Carrington. The Clive Jenkins is marvellous.

re: #158 Rightwingconspirator

We all need some care about charts etc. If Newsweek used Heritage numbers? In any case Heritage and CATO have helped me in financial policy lurks.

Simple enough to work around. Use the CBO projections. They're every bit as dismal as what's seen here.

re: #157 SixDegrees

We only re-possessed people who didn't pay the exorcist.

Collection Agency Joke!

re: #155 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Oh. Get ready to sooo hate me.

I worked for a HealthCare collection agency for 8 years.

Yeah, because doctors should spend 12 years in school after age 18 and work for free, dammit!

//sigh

re: #162 funky chicken

Yeah, because doctors should spend 12 years in school after age 18 and work for free, dammit!

There were, of course some sad storys. And a bunch of deadbeats.

re: #163 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

ies.

Damn.

PINMFIIAAI.

(Preview is not my friend if I am an idiot)

re: #160 SixDegrees

That does help. Thicker to navigate but its all there. For the "other" view the Economic Policy Institute has been interesting. Leans left as I see it but that affords perspective. Bring coffee, its terribly bland.

About half of the members of Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, use the Attending Physician benefit. For $42 a month, they can get all the primary care they need - physical therapy, X-rays, minor surgery, specialists and a pharmacy for emergencies - no appointment needed.

They also get VIP hospital treatment from the best doctors at Bethesda Naval Hospital. And they have a reserved spot at the elite Ward 72 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where the late Sen. Strom Thurmond spent a lot of time.

Outpatient care is free. Well, free for them. Your tax dollars pick up the cost.

Graham says in the current climate, it's just not fair.

"If we pass a law that says a public option will be made available, I think people like myself should get out of this plan and go into the public option," he said.

That's unlikely. Congress has voted down all proposals that would switch them to a public option.

Even if you're mad enough to vote out your representatives, they still won't have to stress over health care. Their plan is portable. Until Medicare kicks in, they can keep the generous coverage for themselves and their families at the same low cost, still subsidized by your tax dollars.

I would dearly love to know how many "small government conservative" former members of congress still rape the taxpayers by using this medical care after they have been voted out of office.

Delay? Armey? Santorum?

re: #166 funky chicken

TRUE STORY...

MY SISTER IN LAW HAD HER COLONOSCOPY WITH (ready?) Donald Rumsfeld.

Seriously. She told me the other day.

Said he was kind of "Stand-offish".

BWAHAHAHAHA!

re: #166 funky chicken

I would dearly love to know how many "small government conservative" former members of congress still rape the taxpayers by using this medical care after they have been voted out of office.

Delay? Armey? Santorum?

That sounds like a so called "cadillac" plan to me. Would be nice if the legislation they passed saddled each current and former member of congress with a substantial fine for having such a nice plan. My guess is they'll be exempt from those fines because "they know better" then the rest of us poor unwashed masses.

re: #167 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

TRUE STORY...

MY SISTER IN LAW HAD HER COLONOSCOPY WITH (ready?) Donald Rumsfeld.

Seriously. She told me the other day.

Said he was kind of "Stand-offish".

BWAHAHAHAHA!

*WHACK!*

re: #167 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Seriously, he didn't speak to her, so he's "stand-offish". I said, "Please do not come to my colonoscopy."

What did she expect him to talk about?

re: #170 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

What did she expect him to talk about?

Probably colons. Ha ha.

re: #89 rwdflynavy

You can find medical horror stories in the US too.
In Hospital Deaths from Medical Errors at 195,000 per Year USA

An average of 195,000 people in the USA died due to potentially preventable, in-hospital medical errors in each of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002, according to a new study of 37 million patient records that was released today by HealthGrades, the healthcare quality company.

Of course, describing one case in gruesome detail like James Taranto has done may make for a more emotional appeal, but we shouldn't be fooled by it.

Later, spokesman Robert Gibbs rejected a published report that the president had authorized 13,000 additional troops that were now arriving in Afghanistan. He said those troops were part of a deployment ordered by the former Bush administration, but had not made their way to the Afghan theater by the time Obama became president. The Washington Post had reported those forces were authorized by Obama.

[Link: www.foxnews.com...]

well what'da know?...the Post got it wrong...so BO has not budged on the Necessary War after all...should be a surprise to some people

re: #171 bosforus

The funny thing, is as we were talking, I'm thinking... I thought they'd have a "High Security Super Sekrit hospital bunker under Mount Doom" or something for guys like that.

Nope.

re: #167 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Said he was kind of "Stand-offish".

BWAHAHAHAHA!

I'm sure he never expected to be the butt of her insult.

re: #175 bosforus

Don't be an asshole.

re: #168 Jetpilot1101

That sounds like a so called "cadillac" plan to me. Would be nice if the legislation they passed saddled each current and former member of congress with a substantial fine for having such a nice plan. My guess is they'll be exempt from those fines because "they know better" then the rest of us poor unwashed masses.

Congress has a long, long history of exempting itself from it's own legislation. Remember the mandatory thermostat setbacks during the Carter years? Specific exclusion for Congressional buildings. Hiring quotas? Not for Congressional staff. Low-flush toilets? Not in Congressional restrooms. The list is endless, and health care will be no exception. Even if there's a terrific uproar and they are forced to change to a plan more in keeping with what they're foisting on everyone else, they will immediately start whittling away at such restrictions through earmarks and other opaque legislative measures, and within a year or two they'll be right back where they were before, or better - it wouldn't surprise me if they wound up being paid to see a doctor.

re: #170 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

Seriously, he didn't speak to her, so he's "stand-offish". I said, "Please do not come to my colonoscopy."

What did she expect him to talk about?

"Hey! come here often?"
"What's your sign?"
"have you ever been anally raped with a garden hose before?"
"last time I did something like this, at least I got a dinner out of it!"

re: #178 Spider Mensch

"Hey! come here often?"
"What's your sign?"
"have you ever been anally raped with a garden hose before?"
"last time I did something like this, at least I got a dinner out of it!"

Oh good grief. Cleanup on aisle 4, we have a Coke sprayed all over a computer monitor...

re: #178 Spider Mensch

snort.

re: #91 SixDegrees

The worsening budget deficit is mostly due to the the financial crisis.
The bailout and the stimulus were extraordinary measures that were necessitated by the financial crisis that occurred in 2008. In addition, tax revenues fell at the same time.

The meme that Obama is a spendthrift is overstated. If there had been no financial crisis to clean up after, the deficit wouldn't be nearly as big.

re: #167 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

That ___ bastard!

/because Karl Rove has dibs on "magnificent."

re: #176 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

A two person pun exchange just isn't as fun.

re: #183 bosforus

Ya think?!

re: #184 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I'm having a wonderful time but I'd rather be whistling in the dark.
Slow morning around here, it appears.
However, I either face LGF orifice my work day.

re: #167 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

TRUE STORY...

MY SISTER IN LAW HAD HER COLONOSCOPY WITH (ready?) Donald Rumsfeld.

Seriously. She told me the other day.

Said he was kind of "Stand-offish".

BWAHAHAHAHA!

Was Rumsfeld performing the colonoscopy?

re: #95 lazardo

Slow thread. Take it easy.

Awesome! :D

re: #172 Timmeh

You can find medical horror stories in the US too.
In Hospital Deaths from Medical Errors at 195,000 per Year USA

Kind of an odd article. They state that the authors of the study "applied the mortality and economic impact models" developed by another team, which raises the question: why use a model to arrive at such conclusions, instead of simply reporting actual statistics? Details of the model are never discussed; from that point on, only the numbers that fell out of the model are put forth.

Given that such things are accurately and widely reported and are as simple as adding to arrive at, the use of some sort of unspecified mathematical model to generate the results seems, at best, unusual. Also noted is that their results are nearly double those of an independent study done in 1999. The methodology used in that study also goes unreported, but such wide variance is eyebrow-raising.

I'd like to see some raw data on this - something as simple as deaths in-hospital versus admission rates would be a place to start, and has the advantage of normalizing the data per location. I find this study's results, at least as reported, questionable.

re: #178 Spider Mensch

"have you ever been anally raped with a garden hose before?"

Reverse waterboarding?

/does not work with certain fetishists

OMG:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The National Republican Congressional Committee has removed a tweet Tuesday that linked to a video comparing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with Adolf Hilter.

The tweet, sent out Tuesday morning on their official Twitter account, read: "Funny Video: Moonbattery: Hitler Reacts to ObamaCare Maneuvers [Link: bit.ly...] #Pelosi". It comes the same day the NRCC released a petition on their site to "Fire Nancy Pelosi."

The tweet immediately drew strong criticism from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "House Republicans have gone way too far. The NRCC's despicable promotion of a video comparing Speaker Pelosi's effort to reform health insurance in America to Adolf Hitler's extermination of millions is a shocking new low that must be condemned," said DCCC spokeswoman Jennifer Crider. "Republican Leader John Boehner should order NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions to immediately remove this vile Tweet and apologize."

NRCC spokesman John Randall said Tuesday the group had made a mistake. "We obviously made an error in linking to this video and it has been taken down," said Randall.

This tweet comes on the heels of a controversial NRCC statement last week that called on Gen. Stanley McChrystal to "put [Pelosi] in her place" on the topic of Afghanistan.

[Link: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...]

I can't stand Pelosi, but ... youcannotbeserious.

re: #190 funky chicken

OMG:

[Link: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...]

I can't stand Pelosi, but ... youcannotbeserious.

We talked a bit about this yesterday, in one of the threads about the GOP's epic FAIL on their new gop.com website. The RNC has been bumbling and botching their online presence completely.

re: #190 funky chicken

OMG:

[Link: politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...]

I can't stand Pelosi, but ... youcannotbeserious.

The craziness is strong with the young GOP paduins.

re: #188 SixDegrees

There's a reason why things are called mistakes. Do what you can to prevent them, take measures to not repeat them, move on.

For every procedure where something unfortunate happens, there might be, oh... maybe one that went just fine.

Also? Sometimes people die. Sometimes babies are born with defects. Sometimes shit happens.

re: #175 bosforus

I'm sure he never expected to be the butt of her insult.

The lack of respect for his service nearly rectum.

re: #181 Timmeh

The worsening budget deficit is mostly due to the the financial crisis.
The bailout and the stimulus were extraordinary measures that were necessitated by the financial crisis that occurred in 2008. In addition, tax revenues fell at the same time.

The meme that Obama is a spendthrift is overstated. If there had been no financial crisis to clean up after, the deficit wouldn't be nearly as big.

Take a look at the graph I linked, which is based on CBO estimates, and get back to me on that. The simple fact is that we're headed for a completely unsustainable financial catastrophe is we stay on the present course, even leaving aside stimulus spending and other recession-related expenditures.

re: #194 CommonCents

How do I work General Powell into this...

Eh. Final question: I wonder if Ron Paul uses that massively huge and expensive congressional health care service? You know, since he's so determined to dismantle the Fed and the FDA and all.

Really, this would be a terrific 60 Minutes segment, and I wouldn't even care if they chose to skewer only republicans with the story. It would obviously be more fair to focus on members of the majority who repeatedly vote to exempt themselves from the kind of health plan that most of us have, but people who bray for small government while using that kind of health care service would be an easy target.

see you guys later.

re: #196 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

How do I work General Powell into this...

into a rectum? That's sick.
/

re: #195 SixDegrees

Take a look at the graph I linked, which is based on CBO estimates, and get back to me on that. The simple fact is that we're headed for a completely unsustainable financial catastrophe is we stay on the present course, even leaving aside stimulus spending and other recession-related expenditures.

And GW Bush put us on that path. A lot of GOPers still like to repeat that it was because of increased spending for the DOD. As a military wife, I can tell you that's a crock of bullwaste. Bush's domestic expenditures and his "compassionate" foreign aid expenditures (all while running increasing deficits) put us where we are today.

I think my town might be under terrorist attack. We just had 3 power transformers blow up the street and we had a fire a block away first thing this morning. Someone call DHS for me.

//

re: #200 RogueOne

I think my town might be under terrorist attack. We just had 3 power transformers blow up the street and we had a fire a block away first thing this morning. Someone call DHS for me.

"Son? You're on your own."
-Blazing Saddles

re: #199 funky chicken

It's Bushs fault the defecit is 3x larger this year than last? I wasn't a big fan of the overspending during the last 8 years but very soon more people are going to be wishing for the return of the "spendthrift bush" years.

re: #201 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

+1 for the best movie ever

re: #199 funky chicken

And GW Bush put us on that path. A lot of GOPers still like to repeat that it was because of increased spending for the DOD. As a military wife, I can tell you that's a crock of bullwaste. Bush's domestic expenditures and his "compassionate" foreign aid expenditures (all while running increasing deficits) put us where we are today.

The graph doesn't support that narrative.

re: #200 RogueOne

I think my town might be under terrorist attack. We just had 3 power transformers blow up the street and we had a fire a block away first thing this morning. Someone call DHS for me.

//

I can fedex you my last roll of duct tape.

So where's Walter??

He better not be messin with our heads!!

re: #205 CommonCents

I can fedex you my last roll of duct tape.

Tonight's Mythbusters has duct tape myths.

re: #206 reloadingisnotahobby

He's not blocked or anything. Calm down.

The health care "plan" is going to come down to this:

It's not going to work as intended.
Health Care Companies will use this to an advantage to move people into lower coverage plans.
Unions are going to get screwed (not that I am opposed to this, mind you), but my costs are going to go up, along with my dues (spit!)
Medicare and Medicaid will cover 1 cent on the dollar (if the hospitals and the providers are lucky!)
The Medicare Part C (Medigap) HMO's are sure to go away.

And:

I need to point out that you cannot peg costs to what Medicare pays. Medicare payments are nowhere near market reality.
Good care is expensive. Really good care is astronomical.

"I prefer an elevator to an escalator. I fell down the escalator once for an hour and a half."
-Dimitri Martin

re: #208 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

I'm calm! I'm calm!
I'm well armed and calm...Sort of!
We should have told him not to repair the bear damage cause they're just messin with him!!

re: #202 RogueOne

It's Bushs fault the defecit is 3x larger this year than last? I wasn't a big fan of the overspending during the last 8 years but very soon more people are going to be wishing for the return of the "spendthrift bush" years.

It's not Bush's fault that we are running a $1.4 Trillion deficit to date this year but he did start us down this road with the bank bailout and the rest of government intervention. All Obama and the Democrats did was put what Bush started on a steroid IV drip with a dash of pork. If Bush had simply allowed free market policies to work with minimal government intervention, we would already be through the pain and into a real recovery instead of staring down the tunnel at an oncoming inflation and commercial real estate bubble train.

re: #204 SixDegrees

The graph doesn't support that narrative.

So, Bush did a good job fiscally and bears no responsibility for where we stand now?

I voted for McCain, and I even voted for Bush in 2004 (J Kerry? idiot democrats) but Bush's record is piss poor, and I don't defend the indefensible.

OK, now I'm really outta here...gotta get some work done :-)

re: #214 funky chicken

Go do the ... the ... oh, whatever dance you might do.

re: #213 funky chicken

So, Bush did a good job fiscally and bears no responsibility for where we stand now?

I voted for McCain, and I even voted for Bush in 2004 (J Kerry? idiot democrats) but Bush's record is piss poor, and I don't defend the indefensible.

It's also an entirely different topic that bears no relation to the CBO deficit projections illustrated, which deal with the future, not the past, and which take an alarming turn in the wrong direction following a small decline (which still doesn't fall anywhere near as low as the worst deficits of the past.)

Currently, the deficit is worse than it has ever been, no matter how you look at it - in terms of absolute dollars, or in terms of percentage of GDP, which latter ratio currently stands at it's highest level since World War II. And it's headed much, much higher in the years to come, to completely usustainable levels.

Trying to blame this on someone who no longer holds office is ludicrous, and doesn't at all match what's shown in the CBO figures - a minor pullback, followed by a nosedive off a fiscal cliff. The Democrats control every branch of government at the moment - it's their problem and their responsiblity, and they are sucking at it, plain and simple.

Aargh. meant to post this earlier. Really, whiskey tango foxtrot. Small government for thee but not for me, from another "conservative" republican:

[Link: www.nj.com...]

TRENTON -- The Republican candidate for New Jersey governor, who has campaigned on a platform of ethical integrity and cutting government waste, regularly spent beyond federal guidelines on business travel while U.S. attorney, records show.
The newly released travel records show that Chris Christie occasionally billed taxpayers more than $400 a night for stays in luxury hotels and exceeded the government's hotel allowance on 14 of 16 business trips he took in 2008.
"Generally, U.S. attorneys, assistant U.S. attorneys and all federal staff stay within the government rate," said Justice Department spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz. "The government rate is not a suggestion, it's a guideline."
Christie said he stayed in more expensive hotels only when cheaper ones weren't available.

and

On trips in 2007 and 2008, his top deputy, Michele Brown, also exceeded the guidelines after Christie approved her requests for rooms in the same five-star hotels where he was booked.
The vouchers show Christie and Brown stayed at the NineZero Hotel in Boston on Oct. 16, 2007 and each billed taxpayers $449 plus taxes and fees for their rooms, more than double the government allowance for a Boston hotel room at the time, according to a General Services Administration travel reimbursement table.

and

Records turned over so far show Christie exceeded the government lodging allowance on 23 of 30 business trips taken between 2004 and 2008. In some cases, his travel vouchers were approved first by Brown, then certified by a third person. Christie, who was Brown's supervisor, signed off on her travel, either in advance or when she submitted vouchers, the records show. The vouchers were all certified by a third party.
Christie's hotel tab exceeded $400 per night on four trips. A night at the Four Seasons in Washington in October 2008 cost taxpayers $475; five nights in London were $401 each for Christie and Brown, the records show.

Try the Hampton Inn next time, you fat fuck.

If this is really the best the GOP can offer, I hope Corzine is re-elected. At least he pays for his own hotels.

And yeah, as the wife of a military officer, these politicians feeding at the trough really, really piss me off.

re: #212 Jetpilot1101

I won't disagree with the argument that Bush overspent, continually. My point is the current spending frenzy has nothing to do with the last administration. Remember the "we can't let a good crisis go to waste"? At this stage if all we had to worry about was digging ourselves out of the fiscal hole bush left, things would be rosy in comparison to what has happened the last 8 months. The truly scary part is there isn't any end in sight to the current spending spree.

re: #61 Sharmuta

We fear Walter may have run into Cthulhu.

I'm not sure what happened, but I washed up on shore, at the town of Dunwich, in Massachusetts. This is horrible.

re: #219 Walter L. Newton

tee hee

re: #209 acwgusa

He had a dream...

Teddy Roosevelt first called for national health care in 1912; his dream came one step closer to reality, with the 14 to 9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.

re: #221 oldegeezr

He had a dream...

Teddy Roosevelt first called for national health care in 1912; his dream came one step closer to reality, with the 14 to 9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.

No comparison. He didn't have to deal with a intrenched broken system called Medicare and Medicaid. He didn't have to deal with tort gone out of control. He didn't have to contend with big pharma. He had basically a tabula rasa in which to possibly build a workable system on, a system to would help, not take eventual total control of cradle to grave health care.

Teddy would have handled it much differently today.

re: #221 oldegeezr

He had a dream...

Teddy Roosevelt first called for national health care in 1912; his dream came one step closer to reality, with the 14 to 9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.

Which is going to be a nightmare for this country.

Good day all.
In case anyone missed this. It's funny that some on the left think Obama and his handlers are a bit whiny when it comes to the media.
I think it's less about growing a spine and more about the need for total control.

Bully!

Wow! I missed some real fun last night by logging off and eating dinner. I did however make some awesome peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and ate half of them.

re: #226 DaddyG

Wow! I missed some real fun last night by logging off and eating dinner. I did however make some awesome peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and ate half of them.

Where's the other half? My browser is set to accept cookies.

re: #217 funky chicken

In New Jersey - you get a choice of total shit -or- mildly crappy.
Of course - Corzine - a mega-rich uber-lib, has the money to dish out the dirt. Never mind that he's driven the state off a cliff economically.

re: #12 Sharmuta

Here's another one of those weird back-handed complements Charles keeps getting lately:

It should be "compliments." Sorry to channel your 8th grade English teacher...

re: #221 oldegeezr

He had a dream...

Teddy Roosevelt first called for national health care in 1912; his dream came one step closer to reality, with the 14 to 9 vote in the Senate Finance Committee yesterday.

And, this IS NOT National health care. It's a piecemeal system slapped together by people who have no clue what health care delivery consists of. Any system that is projected to cover 94% of people by 2013 is a non-starter.

re: #196 Fat Bastard Vegetarian

How do I work General Powell into this...

By calling him General Bowel?

Just thinking about the latest defection from this blog -

I don't think I will ever "flounce" or go off in a huff from LGF. But if I did, the LAST place I would migrate to is the festering sewer swamp where a lot of them have headed recently.

It is TRULY a nauseating site! Even by the low, low standards of today's wingnut blogosphere.

The Dow is up over 100 pts and may crack through the 10,000 barrier today. I don't know why, and I hope it lasts.

And since my kids' 529s and my 401k stand to benefit, I have no problem with the fact that this is happening on Obama's watch. It may help him politically, but it will help some of us financially.

Anyone got a problem with that?

Washington Will $ave US. Oh glory be.

Want to hear a real laugher? Despite the current disharmony in politics, there's one policy on which all of Washington agrees. Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate, president and Congress all agree that after last fall's financial crisis, the federal government has to regulate the financial industry more closely to protect our economy from risk of systemic financial collapse.

Here's the joke. As boom- and bust-prone as high finance always has been and remains, the greatest systemic risk to our economy is not Wall Street. It's the growing federal debt (and weakening dollar) being enacted by those Washington politicians -- the ones who want to protect us from Wall Street.

It soon may be not a risk but a certainty of generations-long economic stagnation and hard times as a direct result of "unsustainable" and ever-growing national debt, driven by a federal budget almost half of which is to be paid for each year by borrowing money -- primarily from China -- and already weakening the dollar such that foreigners are trying to get rid of their dollars any way they can.

Don't take my word for it. In June, the Congressional Budget Office published "The Long-Term Budget Outlook," its summary reading in part: "The federal budget is on an unsustainable path -- meaning that federal debt will continue to grow much faster than the economy over the long run. ... Rising costs for health care and the aging of the U.S. population will cause federal spending to increase rapidly. ...

re: #232 martinsmithy

Just thinking about the latest defection from this blog..

Who was the latest?

re: #232 martinsmithy

Just thinking about the latest defection from this blog -

Who was the latest defector?

re: #236 John Neverbend

Copycat

re: #227 wrenchwench

Where's the other half? My browser is set to accept cookies.

I still have six children at home. Sorry but they are accounted for.

re: #232 martinsmithy

Just thinking about the latest defection from this blog -

I don't think I will ever "flounce" or go off in a huff from LGF. But if I did, the LAST place I would migrate to is the festering sewer swamp where a lot of them have headed recently.

It is TRULY a nauseating site! Even by the low, low standards of today's wingnut blogosphere.

And which site is nauseating? Read your comment, you may not of meant this, but it sounds like you are talking about LGF.

re: #233 _RememberTonyC

The Dow is up over 100 pts and may crack through the 10,000 barrier today. I don't know why, and I hope it lasts.

And since my kids' 529s and my 401k stand to benefit, I have no problem with the fact that this is happening on Obama's watch. It may help him politically, but it will help some of us financially.

Anyone got a problem with that?

Not me, some of the stocks I bought in March are up 70 % and I don't care who gets credit.

re: #239 Walter L. Newton

And which site is nauseating? Read your comment, you may not of meant this, but it sounds like you are talking about LGF.

I think he intended to speak of the stalker blog.

re: #236 John Neverbend

Who was the latest defector?

Windhorse. He went nuclear nosedive last night, and started spewing insults at me and a lot of other posters before Charles booted him. He's almost certainly over at The Deuce by now, thus confirming he's a jerk. BBL

re: #242 Dark_Falcon

Oh yes. Wind from Horse. He certainly was a smelly jackass.

re: #239 Walter L. Newton

And which site is nauseating? Read your comment, you may not of meant this, but it sounds like you are talking about LGF.

BTW Walter, every morning I see your shiny face, I'm relieved since you are on the swamps wish list with Mandy.

If someone is going to lapse into insult mode at the very least they could be creative about it.

Thou caluminous brazen-faced moldwarp!

re: #240 avanti

Not me, some of the stocks I bought in March are up 70 % and I don't care who gets credit.

agree. but you already liked Obama, so I would expect you to be happy. I'm curious as to whether some of Obama's opponents will feel the same. On this board, I'm sure many will. But outside this place, I'm not so sure.

re: #245 DaddyG

That's what I like-High standards for low comments. Hehehehe

re: #244 avanti

BTW Walter, every morning I see your shiny face, I'm relieved since you are on the swamps wish list with Mandy.

Honestly, I have no idea what you mean by that statement, but I hope it's nice :)

re: #248 Walter L. Newton

Honestly, I have no idea what you mean by that statement, but I hope it's nice :)

He's basically saying, thanks for not giving in to temptation and joining the asshat brigade. Sort of an underhanded compliment, but a compliment nonetheless.

Dow at 9984 ... I'm off to the Salvation Army thrift store with a loaded car and some extra space in my house. Hopefully when I get back, the Dow will pass 10,000.

Later Lizards

re: #233 _RememberTonyC

The Dow is up over 100 pts and may crack through the 10,000 barrier today. I don't know why, and I hope it lasts.

And since my kids' 529s and my 401k stand to benefit, I have no problem with the fact that this is happening on Obama's watch. It may help him politically, but it will help some of us financially.

Anyone got a problem with that?

I have no problem with it. I'm up big this year. My only reservation is that the commercial real estate bubble hasn't burst yet and could usher in a new downward leg. Take profits when you can because when the bottom falls out, it's going to get ugly.

re: #244 avanti

BTW Walter, every morning I see your shiny face, I'm relieved since you are on the swamps wish list with Mandy.

Yeah, I've seen their wish list from time to time. They're in an active campaign to pry people away from here.

re: #122 John Neverbend

Exactly. I don't think it's at all fair or accurate to describe LGF in aggregate as either crazy or left. It seems clear from various comments that I've read here that the blog has evolved, but it sounds as though it has evolved to a higher level of rationality.

My impression is that it resembles LGF pre-9/11, back when Charles was simply a website designer with a centrist current events blog.* The "season of rage" has largely passed, and now his attention has turned back to domestic right-wing doings.

*Content-wise, that is; obviously the size and sophistication of the place has grown.