Such a big ocean… still it is, inviting the boat… a sailboat… to sail the ocean… which is not very American because we like cars.

Cars are meant to be driven, even on Christmas:

Keep on knocking but you can’t come in…

Nice eye. They say that it’s often not that good an idea to put the “object of interest” in a photo smack in the middle. The boat isn’t the picture. It just offsets the monotony of the slightly choppy water.

Dylan: Things Have Changed

Prodigy - Fuel My Fire

Xmas song: Sheryl Crow covering the Pretenders: 2000 miles.

Christopher Walken reading they lyrics to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face

Happy belated Halloween!

Love the Prodigy. And very Halloween.

Boo dailyredundancy.com Very scary.

re: #6 iceweasel

Xmas song: Sheryl Crow covering the Pretenders: 2000 miles.

Proclaimers - 500 miles (on foot mind :))

The blonde hollywood starlet was filling out an application for a visa when she came to the line that asks: “Single___Married___Divorced___.” She hesitated a moment, then wrote in, “Everything.”

re: #7 Pepper Fox

Christopher Walken reading they lyrics to Lady Gaga’s Poker Face

Happy belated Halloween!

William Shatner reads Sarah Palin’s tweets: Twitter poetry.

Now that’s scary.

Insurance salesman to his customer: “You’ve filled in this application all right except for one thing, Mr. Perkins—where it asks the relationship of Mrs. Perkins to yourself, you should have put down ‘wife,’ not ‘strained.’”

I’ve been loving this song lately.

Manfred Mann - Blinded by the Light

Another Oldie I can’ t get enough of in the car these days.

Electric Light Orchestra - Evil Woman (With Lyrics HD)

Watch this. It’s pretty funny — fun for all. It has Tea Partiers, feminist milk and “the ghost of Bob Marley.”

Whole Foods Boycott
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Sign in a clinic waiting room: “Patients in the Waiting Room Will Please Not Exchange Symptoms. It Gets the Doctors Hopelessly Confused.”

re: #16 Gus 802

Watch this. It’s pretty funny — fun for all. It has Tea Partiers, feminist milk and “the ghost of Bob Marley Peter Tosh.”

Whole Foods Boycott
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Doctorin’ the Tardis:

/geek girl.

re: #18 Bagua

Oh, yeah, he does say Peter Tosh. I must be really high. /

Nice one ice-ski :) Gotta love that Dalek diplomacy :

“Exterminate! We obey no-one. We are superior beings. “

Orbital : Dr Who

Daylight savings time! I wonder if the banks actually charge you an extra 1 hour of interest and then give it back to you come spring.

Political comment from 1958…

Government should be like your stomach—if it’s working right you don’t know you have it. -Manufacturers’ Record

Every little American boy has a chance to be President when he grows up—it’s just one of the risks he has to take. -Boston Globe

You cannot have just a little state planning, any more than you can be just a little bit pregnant. -James S. Duncan

Trouble is there are too many Democratic and Republican Senators and not enough United States Senators. -Ed Ford

Many a person seems to think it isn’t enough for the government to guarantee him the pursuit of happiness. He insists it also run interference for him. -Unknown

We should behave toward our country as women behave toward the men they love. A loving wife will do anything for her husband except stop criticizing and trying to improve him. -J. B. Priestley

How Goldman Sachs secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash

WASHINGTON — In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs Group peddled more than $40 billion in securities backed by at least 200,000 risky home mortgages, but never told the buyers it was secretly betting that a sharp drop in U.S. housing prices would send the value of those securities plummeting.

Goldman’s sales and its clandestine wagers, completed at the brink of the housing market meltdown, enabled the nation’s premier investment bank to pass most of its potential losses to others before a flood of mortgage defaults staggered the U.S. and global economies.

Only later did investors discover that what Goldman had promoted as triple-A rated investments were closer to junk.

Now, pension funds, insurance companies, labor unions and foreign financial institutions that bought those dicey mortgage securities are facing large losses, and a five-month McClatchy investigation has found that Goldman’s failure to disclose that it made secret, exotic bets on an imminent housing crash may have violated securities laws.

SNIP

re: #22 Gus 802

Daylight savings time!

Good grief… it’s happened already an hour ago.

I was watching the clock go to 2am and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t falling back.

I blame iceweasel for my mistake.

re: #25 Bagua

Good grief… it’s happened already an hour ago.

I was watching the clock go to 2am and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t falling back.

I blame iceweasel for my mistake.

Mine fell back about 13 minutes ago.

I’m starting to wonder why we even bother. Just leave it at the spring setting.

re: #23 ausador

We should behave toward our country as women behave toward the men they love. A loving wife will do anything for her husband except stop criticizing and trying to improve him. -J. B. Priestley

That in particular is kind of brilliant.

It’s been said that the difference between the way conservatives love their country and the way liberals love their country is this: conservatives love America like a young child loves Mommy; everything Mommy does must always be right, and anyone criticising Mommy is evil.
Liberals meanwhile love their country like an adult: they love it passionately but can still see its flaws, and believe that making it better (and becoming better) is part of what love is.

This is a pretty partisan way of putting it, and I don’t think it captures reality, but the bit about conservatives does capture a bit of how the deranged wingnut type on the right thinks— the kind of people who think antiwar protesters must hate their country. (It’s not an accurate characterisation of all conservatives IMO, let me say, just the deranged wingnut type, before people freak out and think I’m arguing that)

Any suburban mother can state her role sardonically enough in a sentence: it is to deliver children—once via pregnancy and by car forever after.

/ducks

re: #25 Bagua

Good grief… it’s happened already an hour ago.

I was watching the clock go to 2am and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t falling back.

I blame iceweasel for my mistake.

Why me? Well, why not?
That shadow thing is awesome, listening now! Though I’m murdering sleep, not time…

Methought I heard a voice cry “Sleep no more!
iceweasel does murder sleep,” the innocent sleep,
Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleave of care,
The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
Chief nourisher in life’s feast—

re: #27 iceweasel

Several years ago I met a WWII man, Xavier, who seemed to be out of the ordinary. He was a pacifist during WWII and refused to serve in the military. However, he was also a merchantman and ended up in the Pacific as a ship’s captain ferrying American troops in the Pacific for the duration of WWII.

re: #29 iceweasel

Why me?

iceweasel, you are to blame because I was watching Peep Show and missed the exact moment of time falling back.

Now I have to wait a whole year to repeat my experiment, all my data is useless… it’s not even wrong.

re: #24 Gus 802

How Goldman Sachs secretly bet on the U.S. housing crash

Impossible for me to be surprised by this, sadly.

And let us remember once again: who benefited most from the bailouts? Who oversaw them? What company are the various econ advisors to the WH most affiliated with, past or present?

Goldman Sachs breaks record with $16.7bn bonus pot

• Firm’s employees could get average sum of £430,000
• Payouts come one year after bank took bailout cash

Check out Matt Taibbi’s archive at True/Slant for comprehensive coverage of G-S — and for the added profanity!

A lot of suburban home dwellers have discovered that trees grow on money. -Fred Houston in Look Magazine 1956

Hmm…this one actually applies to me very well right now…

Nobody who can read is ever successful at cleaning out the attic. -Franklin P. Jones in The Saturday Evening Post 1957

re: #32 iceweasel

Check out Matt Taibbi’s archive at True/Slant for comprehensive coverage of G-S — and for the added profanity!

Yes. And they cross party lines. The idea that GS represents American principles is laughable and going even further that they are exemplars of a free market is even more so. If ever there was a corporation that is intertwined with the American “system” and evidentially “above” the law it is GS.

Of course this is a matter of degree and there are other financial firms in their league. Bank of America is one with their double standards of being, through market or propaganda, “a typical free market American bank” while at the same time being an equal partner in the corporate welfare operation like GS.

AIG got a free ride. This was all propped up using public money. What they got was a sustaining of their corporate welfare status on out dime which will run up well into the future while at the same time the retained their executive “golden parachutes”, profits, perceived public status, etc. What the rest of the American public got was future public debt, 20% higher interest rates on the average, and the clamping down of credit.

Oh, and the corrupt theocrat, Hamid Karzai (the man that approves of husbands raping their wives), along with his drug lord brother, will continue to run Afghanistan.

Good to know what “we’re fighting for.”

(cough)

Ouch, do you think maybe somebody pissed off the Mayor?

Mayor George W. Freyermuth of South Bend, Ind., speaking at the 84th birthday of the Studebaker Company, told a coast-to-coast audience, “Studebaker, I congatulate you! For 84 years you have been turning out a product equal to few and superior to none.”

re: #36 Gus 802

McClatchy is conducting a witch hunt on Goldman Sachs. They can repeat the scare word “secret” as many times as they like but the Swaption market traded off exchange and there were no reporting requirements.

GS was smart enough to hedge off their risk as the market weakness became apparent. That’s what they do, they predict future market moves and manage their risk.

The pensions were responsible for their own risk profile, they could have used swaptions to mitigate their risk as well, instead, they were greedy and tried to collect all of the premium on their bonds.

Now they are in essence alleging breach of fiduciary which is highly ironic as the the pension funds lost vast amounts of capital entrusted in them by individual investors failing to use hedging on the mutual fund and stock market investments.

The bonds GS sold were rated by the ratings agency, not GS. They were the real con artists but as they are shielded from lawsuits the lawyers are going after GS and making them scape goats.

re: #32 iceweasel

Check out Matt Taibbi’s archive at True/Slant for comprehensive coverage of G-S — and for the added profanity!

Matt Tiabbi is a gonzo journalist from Rolling Stone. His writing is entertaining but it’s National Enquirer level when writing about finance.

re: #39 Bagua

Matt Tiabbi is a gonzo journalist from Rolling Stone. His writing is entertaining but it’s National Enquirer level when writing about finance.

Bollocks.
Taibbi won the National Magazine Award last year for Columns and Commentary.

This category recognizes excellence in short-form political, social, economic or humorous commentary. It honors the eloquence, force of argument and succinctness with which the writer presents his or her views

here’s what they said about him:

Layering telling anecdotes beneath a veneer of gonzo brio, Matt Taibbi constructs some of the most insightful political profiles of the day. Brash, unmerciful, and extremely prescient, Taibbi’s prose has matured and deepened without growing safe or stodgy.

The National Magazine Awards, btw, are the industry’s most prestigious editorial honors.

That being said, his style is not going to be for everybody. It’s not for nothing that he gets called the new Hunter Thompson.

re: #38 Bagua

McClatchy is conducting a witch hunt on Goldman Sachs. They can repeat the scare word “secret” as many times as they like but the Swaption market traded off exchange and there were no reporting requirements.

GS was smart enough to hedge off their risk as the market weakness became apparent. That’s what they do, they predict future market moves and manage their risk.

The pensions were responsible for their own risk profile, they could have used swaptions to mitigate their risk as well, instead, they were greedy and tried to collect all of the premium on their bonds.

Now they are in essence alleging breach of fiduciary which is highly ironic as the the pension funds lost vast amounts of capital entrusted in them by individual investors failing to use hedging on the mutual fund and stock market investments.

The bonds GS sold were rated by the ratings agency, not GS. They were the real con artists but as they are shielded from lawsuits the lawyers are going after GS and making them scape goats.

Goldman Sach was about to fail. This is counter to the argument that “they were smart enough.” The only thing that kept them afloat was public funding. The free market, a real free market, would have led to their bankruptcy which is what they deserved along with AIG even if it meant the loss of pension funds which turned out to have great losses in the end. They’re rated by their own hacks as it is.

re: #41 Gus 802

Goldman Sach was about to fail. This is counter to the argument that “they were smart enough.” The only thing that kept them afloat was public funding. The free market, a real free market, would have led to their bankruptcy which is what they deserved along with AIG even if it meant the loss of pension funds which turned out to have great losses in the end. They’re rated by their own hacks as it is.

Precisely. And fuck AIG, those bastards (in response to your earlier comment about them as well.) Here is the epic smackdown Taibbi penned in response to whiny bastard AIG exec Jake DeSantis crying in the NYT OpEd pages about not getting his bonus:

alternet.org

re: #40 iceweasel

The National Magazine Awards, btw, are the industry’s most prestigious editorial honors.

That being said, his style is not going to be for everybody. It’s not for nothing that he gets called the new Hunter Thompson.

Goldman Sachs is another sacred cow amongst the pseudo capitalists. When in doubt blame the regulating agency. Not unlike ENRON. Of course Goldman Sachs is so entrenched in politics that they’re almost untouchables. Sometimes I wonder if we’re about to break out in a “patriotic song” about banks and insurance companies over here.

re: #42 iceweasel

Precisely. And fuck AIG, those bastards (in response to your earlier comment about them as well.) Here is the epic smackdown Taibbi penned in response to whiny bastard AIG exec Jake DeSantis crying in the NYT OpEd pages about not getting his bonus:

[Link: www.alternet.org…]

When AIG came to the trough after Goldman Sach I knew they would get their corporate welfare check since they’re a rather well known GOP corporation — within the context of the Bush administration that is.

50 comments is too high!MY OPINION MUST BE KNOW, IN RED OR GREEN FORM

re: #40 iceweasel

The National Magazine Awards,

LOL, the National Magazine Awards, the media is not exactly a font of wisdom on financial matters.

In fact, when all the magazines agree it’s a bull market that is considered a contrary indicator.

re: #45 checked08

50 comments is too high!MY OPINION MUST BE KNOW, IN RED OR GREEN FORM

All your opinion are belong to us!

re: #38 Bagua

As far as getting out of the housing bonds I agree with you, they, unlike a lot of others, saw the looming bursting of the bubble and tried to minimize their exposure. Nothing wrong with that, thats what they get paid for, to forecast the markets and “bet” on them.

I do think that they are being a bit ‘tone deaf’ with the obscenely high bonuses and headhunting of talent away from other firms right now though. A good rule right now in business P.R. should be “if you’ve got it, don’t flaunt it,” they are creating a problem for themselves by violating that. There are still too many unemployed, people who lost too much of their savings, and too many people struggling to make house payments for that not to have consequences.

When people read or hear about “fat cats on wallstreet” paying themselves 6-9 figure bonuses on top of 6-9 figure salaries they feel ripped off. This is the kind of stuff that brings about witch hunts, it is normal human nature to react that way. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard someone snort derisively about people being paid millions for “shuffling paper” I’d be a lot better off myself.

Seriously, they are bringing this on themselves whether or not it is within their right to do it is kind of moot.

re: #46 Bagua

LOL, the National Magazine Awards, the media is not exactly a font of wisdom on financial matters.

In fact, when all the magazines agree it’s a bull market that is considered a contrary indicator.

You would make a good corporate lobbyist.

re: #43 Gus 802

Goldman Sachs is another sacred cow amongst the pseudo capitalists. When in doubt blame the regulating agency. Not unlike ENRON. Of course Goldman Sachs is so entrenched in politics that they’re almost untouchables. Sometimes I wonder if we’re about to break out in a “patriotic song” about banks and insurance companies over here.

Yup. Let’s face it, the sacred ‘invisible hand’ of the markets bitchslapped us, picked our pockets, and is even now still giving us the finger (as I put it here recently). It’s enough to make me actually turn socialist or commie, as opposed to just playing one at times to freak people out. :)
The comparison with Enron is very apt. Here’ a nice Taibbi rant from the column I linked:

It was apparent as early as last February that Cassano had basically destroyed not only the unit but perhaps AIG itself. The company announced over $11 billion in losses around that time.

If I’m Jake DeSantis, and I’m really innocent, I’m looking for a job that very instant. And I’m taking the first good job anyone offers me. Because by then I’d have realized that I was working for the latest version of Enron. That the man I’ve been working for the last six or seven years has turned out to be one of the most irresponsible Wall Street villains of all time, a man who single-handedly destroyed the 18th-largest company in the world. If I’m Jake DeSantis, I’m quitting out of moral disgust, because I don’t want to be associated with this kind of behavior.

The only reason I’d stay is if I didn’t have a choice. Which I feel sure is what happened here. If Jake DeSantis didn’t take advantage of an opportunity to get a better job elsewhere with a company that didn’t hide billions in losses and make $500 billion bets with money they didn’t have, that’s his fucking problem.

The notion that I the taxpayer have to pay this asshole a million-dollar bonus because he turned down a better job at a less-guilty company is repugnant to begin with; the notion that he stayed at AIGFP because he expected me to pay him this bonus makes me hate him even more.

re: #46 Bagua

LOL, the National Magazine Awards, the media is not exactly a font of wisdom on financial matters.

In fact, when all the magazines agree it’s a bull market that is considered a contrary indicator.

What can I tell you. You sniffed that Taibbi’s journalism was on a level with the National Enquirer; I provided you links and quotes proving he’s earned the highest honour possible from the industry, and so now you want to just impugn the whole magazine industry.

When you decide where you want to leave the goalposts, let me know so I can score another touchdown again.
BTW, glad you’re liking peep show! hee.

re: #45 checked08

50 comments is too high!MY OPINION MUST BE KNOW, IN RED OR GREEN FORM

Make…

more…

posts.

re: #43 Gus 802

Goldman Sachs is another sacred cow amongst the pseudo capitalists.

The world “capitalist” gets tossed around the right-o-sphere as some magic word… a mantra… against which all evil is supposedly waging war.

However, I think of GS (and similar international power brokers) not as capitalists but more as mercantilists, much like China has become. Whereas traditional mercantilism might be thought of as economic nationalism, in the case of GS what appears to have emerged is a new class of international citizens, where nationalism has been replaced by a class-ism.

Probably makes me sound like a marxist… but so what…

Here is where the traditional nationalists (e.g. Buchanan) will find the fuel for their next adventure - the very real absconding of wealth by a limited few at the cost of the many. This is the fuel for future ugliness.

re: #43 Gus 802

Ha, psuedo capitalist re: #43 Gus 802

Goldman Sachs is another sacred cow amongst the pseudo capitalists. When in doubt blame the regulating agency. Not unlike ENRON. Of course Goldman Sachs is so entrenched in politics that they’re almost untouchables. Sometimes I wonder if we’re about to break out in a “patriotic song” about banks and insurance companies over here.

Ha, ha, pseudo capitalists, I like that. So the Gonzo journalists are now the experts on the economy?

But hey, enjoy your witch hunt for those evil bankers and let’s get all frumious over those dastardly bonuses and salaries, how dare they make more money that us real workers.

What’s amusing is how easily people can take a partisan view and accept simplistic explanations for complex events, and how convenient to have scape goats. Shall we flog them or burn them at the stake?

re: #50 iceweasel

True. But don’t tell that to the party of suckers. A great deal of the Reagan generation grew up with this and hold an unthinking allegiance to corporations and banks even though they work against their own self interest. There’s a great deal of false identification coming into play here.

re: #45 checked08

50 comments is too high!MY OPINION MUST BE KNOW, IN RED OR GREEN FORM

You could always post some music…

re: #56 Bagua

So the Gonzo journalists are now the experts on the economy?

No, but you conflated two issues in your comment here and the one prior. No one is looking to journalists like Taibbi to tell us where the market will go or what to invest when; that’s what the financial guys are supposed to be getting right.

He’s a reporter. His job is investigative reporting and analysis, and muckraking. Not predicting furture financial trends.

re: #56 Bagua

Ha, psuedo capitalist re: #43 Gus 802

Ha, ha, pseudo capitalists, I like that. So the Gonzo journalists are now the experts on the economy?

But hey, enjoy your witch hunt for those evil bankers and let’s get all frumious over those dastardly bonuses and salaries, how dare they make more money that us real workers.

What’s amusing is how easily people can take a partisan view and accept simplistic explanations for complex events, and how convenient to have scape goats. Shall we flog them or burn them at the stake?

Has nothing to do with being partisan. It’s called life. You might think it’s partisan because you’re partisan which is rather obvious. But I’ve heard this justification before that you emulate even from liberals.

re: #5 Jimmah

Prodigy - Fuel My Fire

[Video]

The female vocals in that (on the CD at least) are my mid-90s crush, none other than one Saffron Sprackling of Republica.

re: #51 iceweasel

What can I tell you. You sniffed that Taibbi’s journalism was on a level with the National Enquirer; I provided you links and quotes proving he’s earned the highest honour possible from the industry, and so now you want to just impugn the whole magazine industry.

When you decide where you want to leave the goalposts, let me know so I can score another touchdown again.
BTW, glad you’re liking peep show! hee.

Well worded my weasel, touche!

But in National Enquirer I’m not saying that level compared to other magazines in general, but in comparing Rolling Stone content to a real financial journal the gap is, yes that large.

And I’m not talking about the whole magazine industry, rather the popular press such as Time, and Newsweek, and NYT, and LAT, who definitely report the news with a political slant, as well as general laziness and in the case of the financial markets, clueless-ness.

And Rolling Stones? Their view of the economy and politics is hardly mainstream. They represent the freak agenda.

O Hai… Back from my Halloween Party…

Not violating the IF rule either. It was way too hot in all that tactical gear to get drunk unless I had an alcohol IV. I’ll throw my weight into trying to derail an economic debate. How was everyone’s Halloween?

re: #59 iceweasel

No, but you conflated two issues in your comment here and the one prior. No one is looking to journalists like Taibbi to tell us where the market will go or what to invest when; that’s what the financial guys are supposed to be getting right.

He’s a reporter. His job is investigative reporting and analysis, and muckraking. Not predicting furture financial trends.

When I talk of the economy I don’t mean only predicting financial trends, I mean how they report on the financial word, the economy, economic instruments, markets, etc.

I watch this closely and the media hacks are generally out to lunch on the bigger pictures. This “mudraking” as you say is actually a witchhunt.

But yea I know, blame the Republicans, blame the Evil Bankers, have fun.

re: #64 Bagua

When I talk of the economy I don’t mean only predicting financial trends, I mean how they report on the financial word, the economy, economic instruments, markets, etc.

I watch this closely and the media hacks are generally out to lunch on the bigger pictures. This “mudraking” as you say is actually a witchhunt.

But yea I know, blame the Republicans, blame the Evil Bankers, have fun.

You’re retired aren’t you?

re: #60 Gus 802

Has nothing to do with being partisan. It’s called life. You might think it’s partisan because you’re partisan which is rather obvious. But I’ve heard this justification before that you emulate even from liberals.

What “justification” is this that you imagine I am “emulating”? What is “called life”? You’ve lost me.

What you see as “partisan” in me is knowledge, not bias. I am partisan to reality, not political catch phrases and media distortions.

re: #65 Gus 802

You’re retired aren’t you?

Tired, I’m exhausted, what with daylight savings and all.

Seriously though, why would you think I’m retired?

re: #67 Bagua

Tired, I’m exhausted, what with daylight savings and all.

Seriously though, why would you think I’m retired?

Oh, never mind. I’m pissed off about other things. Fuck it.

Good night.

The difference between G.S. and a lot of the other firms was that they only had a short term liquidity problem, just as every single other investment firm did when the bottom dropped out of the stock market. They were able to recover very quickly and pay back the government because they did not have a large portfolio of non-performing assets while most of the other firms did.

While I think they do have too cozy a relationship with many in government I really don’t see where they did anything evil or underhanded during the financials meltdown. They played the market and they won (compared to most others), isn’t that what they are supposed to do?

re: #68 Gus 802

Oh, never mind. I’m pissed off about other things. Fuck it.

Good night.

No problem mate I enjoy your point of view, goodnight to you!

re: #62 Bagua

And Rolling Stones? Their view of the economy and politics is hardly mainstream. They represent the freak agenda.

Let’s assume for the sake of argument that were true.

Most of (if not all of) Taibbi’s financial columns weren’t written for Rolling Stone, and did not appear there.
GOOOAAL!

re: #64 Bagua

I watch this closely and the media hacks are generally out to lunch on the bigger pictures. This “mudraking” as you say is actually a witchhunt.

But yea I know, blame the Republicans, blame the Evil Bankers, have fun.

Anyone reporting on this sensibly is blaming dems as well as repubs. Like Taibbi.
I don’t even think you’ve read his financial columns at this point. If you had you’d know that. You didn’t know that they weren’t written for RS, and you didn’t know any better than to characterise him as not respected within the industry, as on a par with someone writing for the National Enquirer.

I am starting to think you’re just repeating talking points you’ve heard somewhere, or you have a reflexive pro-corporate bias for some reason.

re: #68 Gus 802

Oh, never mind. I’m pissed off about other things. Fuck it.

Good night.

Good night Gus. I hope you’re ok. I’ve been thinking about your move.

re: #63 ArchangelMichael

O Hai… Back from my Halloween Party…

Not violating the IF rule either. It was way too hot in all that tactical gear to get drunk unless I had an alcohol IV. I’ll throw my weight into trying to derail an economic debate. How was everyone’s Halloween?

Hai! It was pretty great!
How was your costume? (must bail soon but wanted to say Hai!)

re: #70 Bagua

No problem mate I enjoy your point of view, goodnight to you!

iceweasel on the other hand is very, very naughty!

In fact,

Naughty by Nature.

re: #73 iceweasel

Hai! It was pretty great!
How was your costume? (must bail soon but wanted to say Hai!)

Worked out well but it was definitely hot. The place I went to had about 2-3 times more people there than I expected.

re: #71 iceweasel

Anyone reporting on this sensibly is blaming dems as well as repubs. Like Taibbi.
I don’t even think you’ve read his financial columns at this point. If you had you’d know that. You didn’t know that they weren’t written for RS, and you didn’t know any better than to characterise him as not respected within the industry, as on a par with someone writing for the National Enquirer.

I am starting to think you’re just repeating talking points you’ve heard somewhere, or you have a reflexive pro-corporate bias for some reason.

iceweasel,

sorry your way off on this. I know Taibbi didn’t write those “financial columns” for RS, what I’m saying is that he is basically a Rolling Stone gonzo type journalist, I know his style. He ain’t writing for WSJ or Bloomberg either. So no goal there. I read through what you linked before replying, and based my opinion on what he wrote. I also gave you a key example with his use of “secret” which was a demonisation on his part.

As far as “repeating talking point you’ve heard somewhere” please, don’t be patronising you know me better than that I hope, this is a subject I know very well. Most of these media hacks didn’t know a swap option from a flea market before the “credit crunch”. Now they have boned up on the subject and are looking for scalps, memes, political points and to sell their rags.

re: #75 ArchangelMichael

Worked out well but it was definitely hot. The place I went to had about 2-3 times more people there than I expected.

great, I hope you had fun!

re: #74 Bagua

iceweasel on the other hand is very, very naughty!

In fact,

Naughty by Nature.

Bad to the bone, like Bagua!

Later folks. Have fun!

pimf: your you’re

I am a chat hack.

re: #76 Bagua

As far as “repeating talking point you’ve heard somewhere” please, don’t be patronising you know me better than that I hope, this is a subject I know very well. Most of these media hacks didn’t know a swap option from a flea market before the “credit crunch”. Now they have boned up on the subject and are looking for scalps, memes, political points and to sell their rags.

No, i wouldn’t patronise you at all— and i don’t even disagree with you about the other media hacks. We just disagree about the worth of Taibbi’s stuff, and from the above I did wonder if you’d read him or really knew him, or were just lumping him in with the (actual) hacks.
Taibbi does do that gonzo thing, hence my initial comment that his style isn’t for everyone. those who are turned off by it might not finish reading, either. FWIW, I find it a tad irritating too at times.
later, folks!

Well the morning papers are here, I guess maybe I’m not going to get any sleep before the sun rises.

Hmm…looks as though the St. Pete Times is doing another big anti-scientology spread, something they do several times a year lately (good for them). The headline is “CHASED BY THEIR CHURCH” with a subtitle of “Leaders feared that those who left Scientology without permission might reveal church secrets so they went after them.”

Too late idiots, all your documents be belonging to us already, we know about Xenu and the ‘space opera’ crap. Hard to believe a loon like L. Ron could actually get people to fall for that craziness

re: #79 iceweasel

Dear me, I just read though a half dozen of Tiabbi’s blog entries, the man is slightly to the left of Karl Marx. He’s whining about Obama and the Democrat’s being too conservative, George Bush and the Republicans being evil, and his political support for someone in favour with Michael Moore and pushing the rich people over cliffs.

Entertaining stuff, but fun for its venom and pathos, his knowledge of the financial word is very limited and highly biases. He’s just a notch above Glenn Beck and his Rockefeller the progressive obsession.

Big thumbs down as far as serious analysis of the world of high finance, but fun to read.

re: #81 Bagua

Dear me, I just read though a half dozen of Tiabbi’s blog entries, the man is slightly to the left of Karl Marx. He’s whining about Obama and the Democrat’s being too conservative, George Bush and the Republicans being evil, and his political support for someone in favour with Michael Moore and pushing the rich people over cliffs.

Entertaining stuff, but fun for its venom and pathos, his knowledge of the financial word is very limited and highly biases. He’s just a notch above Glenn Beck and his Rockefeller the progressive obsession.

Big thumbs down as far as serious analysis of the world of high finance, but fun to read.

I tend to agree. I think the phrase is “All heat and no light.”

Not the source I’d consider for actual news of any sort.

re: #45 checked08

50 comments is too high!MY OPINION MUST BE KNOW, IN RED OR GREEN FORM

No. Not really.

re: #74 Bagua

I sat beside Treach on a plane once.

oh,oh, it seems the like the loonier leftists are trying to sneak faith healing payments into health care reform. The Center for Inquiry is campaigning to get a “non-discrimination” provision taken out of the health care reform bills working their way through Congress. Why? Because they claim:

If the health care bills in Congress pass as they are currently written, a nondiscrimination clause will force all insurance plans that participate in the insurance exchange to cover treatments such as therapeutic touch, Christian Science prayer healing, or even Scientology E-meter readings, none of which have any proven medical benefits. This clause would also require both Medicare and any public option that to provide this coverage, providing for taxpayer and government funding of potentially religious treatments. If this happens, it would represent an egregious violation of the principle of separation of church and state.

So what does the provision actually say?

Sec. 125 of HR 3200 says:

Neither the Commissioner nor any health insurance issuer offering health insurance coverage through the Exchange shall discriminate in approving or covering a health care service on the basis of its religious or spiritual content if expenditures for such a health care service are allowable as a deduction under 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as in effect on January 1, 2009.

When you look up an explanation of Sec. 213(d) of the IRS code…

cahi.org

…you find it covers Medical Savings Accounts and what kinds of medical expenses can be deducted if paid for out of such an account. It explicitly includes Christian Science Practitioners and “healing services.” However scientology is currently non-deductible.

So if this provision stays in we will be paying for at least the Christian Scientist ‘Practitioners’ to pray over people and very possibly (inevitably I think if they allow any) other forms of ‘faith healing’ as well. Check out the Center for Inquiry site for more info or to add your voice to the email campaign.

ga1.org

re: #87 ausador

Da gubmint gonna buy me a pyramid! Woo hoo!

Hot rocks! Woo hoo!

Magnets! Woo hoo!

My own shaman! Woo hoo!

So if insurance will have to cover forms of faith healing then maybe I guess it will be time for me to tell my insurance company that my faith requires the periodic application of hot oil all over my body by cute asian girls in order to heal my…err…malady.

/

Good Morning Lizards.

FL/GA Tailgate was a huge success. We ate roasted boar and drank my Cherry Wheat, 5 gallons disappeared quickly. A great time was had by all.

re: #90 rwdflynavy

Good Morning Lizards.

FL/GA Tailgate was a huge success. We ate roasted boar and drank my Cherry Wheat, 5 gallons disappeared quickly. A great time was had by all.

Good Morning..Who won? I haven’t turned on ESPN yet

Good Morning LGF.

re: #92 Spare O’Lake

Good Morning LGF.

Good Morning!

re: #91 HoosierHoops

Good Morning..Who won? I haven’t turned on ESPN yet

FL 41 to 17

re: #94 rwdflynavy

FL 41 to 17

Woot! I see USC got there butts kicked…I’m happy

re: #87 ausador

oh,oh, it seems the like the loonier leftists are trying to sneak faith healing payments into health care reform. The Center for Inquiry is campaigning to get a “non-discrimination” provision taken out of the health care reform bills working their way through Congress. Why? Because they claim:

When you look up an explanation of Sec. 213(d) of the IRS code…

[Link: www.cahi.org…]

…you find it covers Medical Savings Accounts and what kinds of medical expenses can be deducted if paid for out of such an account. It explicitly includes Christian Science Practitioners and “healing services.” However scientology is currently non-deductible.

So if this provision stays in we will be paying for at least the Christian Scientist ‘Practitioners’ to pray over people and very possibly (inevitably I think if they allow any) other forms of ‘faith healing’ as well. Check out the Center for Inquiry site for more info or to add your voice to the email campaign.

[Link: ga1.org…]

Not at all surprising. This is what happens when you make medical care a political decision rather than a medical decision. The same thing is common throughout Europe, with countless “alternative” treatments merrily provided at taxpayer expense.

And politicians are only too happy to go along with such demands. On the one hand, it allows them to curry favor with special interest groups. And on the other, it reduces the strain on an unworkable system by providing worthless “care” and getting people off the system by dying.

Pretty soon, we’ll all be paying for Cherokee Hair Tampons.

re: #96 SixDegrees

Not at all surprising. This is what happens when you make medical care a political decision rather than a medical decision. The same thing is common throughout Europe, with countless “alternative” treatments merrily provided at taxpayer expense.

And politicians are only too happy to go along with such demands. On the one hand, it allows them to curry favor with special interest groups. And on the other, it reduces the strain on an unworkable system by providing worthless “care” and getting people off the system by dying.

Pretty soon, we’ll all be paying for Cherokee Hair Tampons.

The Netherlands have good health care…single payer..Even if you are on unemployment you pay 150 euro a month…
It’s a small country so it works well for them

re: #96 SixDegrees

Not at all surprising. This is what happens when you make medical care a political decision rather than a medical decision. The same thing is common throughout Europe, with countless “alternative” treatments merrily provided at taxpayer expense.

And politicians are only too happy to go along with such demands. On the one hand, it allows them to curry favor with special interest groups. And on the other, it reduces the strain on an unworkable system by providing worthless “care” and getting people off the system by dying.

Pretty soon, we’ll all be paying for Cherokee Hair Tampons.

Problem: Dead people can’t pay health care premiums.

re: #97 HoosierHoops

The Netherlands have good health care…single payer..Even if you are on unemployment you pay 150 euro a month…
It’s a small country so it works well for them

What happens if you don’t cough up your 150 Euros?

And do they pay for things like ear candling and homeopathic treatment?

re: #98 Spare O’Lake

Problem: Dead people can’t pay health care premiums.

True, but they also aren’t generating medical bills anymore.

re: #100 SixDegrees

True, but they also aren’t generating medical bills anymore.

“Make health care affordable - DIE!”
/

re: #99 SixDegrees

What happens if you don’t cough up your 150 Euros?

And do they pay for things like ear candling and homeopathic treatment?

everybody pays.. It’s the law…Same thing happens if you don’t pay child support. You are in trouble.. The dutch live longer (81+ years) than any nation in Europe and America…They must be doing something right…
But they are a small country and it works well for them.. My friends over there love it…I’ll call and find out more about different treatments..Cause I really don’t know…

I tried reading some of Pelosi’s Bill..Holy Cow..It’s unreadable
I guess we need a dream team of Lawyers to understand it

Ahmadinejad says the West is like a mosquito.
Israel and US continue working on a flyswatter defence shield.
jpost.com
jpost.com

I love a good defence, but how about showing this little prick some offence?

I could save the Dems 1900+ pages of nonsense..
If you have heathcare you are going to pay more for it to cover the uninsured.
If your employer have to pay more they will just dump you on the Gov’t plan.

See..How fricking hard was that?

re: #105 HoosierHoops

I could save the Dems 1900+ pages of nonsense..
If you have heathcare you are going to pay more for it to cover the uninsured.
If your employer have to pay more they will just dump you on the Gov’t plan.

See..How fricking hard was that?

but.. but, savings from Medicare!
//

Gotta get ready for church. Stay classy and scaly lizards!!

My wife and her buddies off to the Race for the Cure. Great stuff. Hundreds of thousands of people across the country getting together to say “Fuck cancer”

re: #105 HoosierHoops

I could save the Dems 1900+ pages of nonsense..
If you have heathcare you are going to pay more for it to cover the uninsured.
If your employer have to pay more they will just dump you on the Gov’t plan.

See..How fricking hard was that?

massive, epic shakedown…simple as that, in the end the feds will have all the cards, intruding into business and limiting choices…the only wealth to pay for such a beast is within the middle class and up

re: #108 cliffster

My wife and her buddies off to the Race for the Cure. Great stuff. Hundreds of thousands of people across the country getting together to say “Fuck cancer”

Good for her.. Tell her thanks for me

You got it. Props are double from double-H

re: #104 Spare O’Lake

I love a good defence, but how about showing this little prick some offence?

I think they’re waiting to see if the hive collapses in on itself after the election debacle.

/also good evening

re: #112 laZardo

I think they’re waiting to see if the hive collapses in on itself after the election debacle.

/also good evening

Hey you! I was just looking at your website art
lazardo.deviantart.com
You have a bright future ahead of you young lizard

re: #113 HoosierHoops

Hey you! I was just looking at your website art
[Link: lazardo.deviantart.com…]
You have a bright future ahead of you young lizard

I hope so, or rather given my cynicism I’ll be content with stable employment. I’m working on my industrial design thesis, as well as my portfolio.

four months, another 148 deaths…

weeklystandard.com

unacceptable

noobies don’t post…these morning threads used to boogie right along

re: #115 albusteve

The US casualties in the last four months are in part the result of more aggressive campaign to root out Taliban; we saw a similar spike in casualties during the surge.

The problem is the perception of dithering by the Administration is going to lead to problems on the battlefield as the Taliban watch the news as well. They see that they may be about to outlast the US efforts and if enough casualties are imposed on US forces, Obama may go the route of limiting/curtailing any troop increase or opt to slowly reduce troop numbers in Afghanistan despite an ongoing presence of Taliban/al Qaeda in Afghanistan and along the Afghan/Pak border.

At the same time, the Pakistanis are continuing their military efforts in the frontier provinces and taking casualties, even as they’re dishing it out to the Taliban.

The base problem with the Obama Administration is that they’re looking to put political expediency ahead of strategic and tactical military concerns. Even if that isn’t their intention, the appearance of just that is strong enough to warrant concern and question the Administration’s commitment to the Afghan campaign.

Moreover, it will be interesting to see how the Administration addresses the Afghan government following Abdullah’s dropping out from the runoff election. The Administration was quick to accept the bogus election results in Iran with a bunch of tyrannical mullahs who had no problem slaughtering opposition members marching in the street demanding that the vote be recounted. Here, what will the Administration do? Will they shape their Afghan policy and curtail efforts or will they accept the disputed results and work towards improving the situation?

If they curtail the efforts and somehow use the disputed elections as a wedge, it would be extremely troublesome particularly because the Administration would be pursuing a strategy that undermines our military efforts, distances ourselves from our allies, and once again shows that the Administration is more willing to deal with our enemies than to stand by our allies, even when our allies aren’t quite up to snuff on matters like elections.

re: #102 HoosierHoops

everybody pays.. It’s the law…Same thing happens if you don’t pay child support. You are in trouble.. The dutch live longer (81+ years) than any nation in Europe and America…They must be doing something right…
But they are a small country and it works well for them.. My friends over there love it…I’ll call and find out more about different treatments..Cause I really don’t know…

I guess the question is: what about the unemployed, and others who are simply unable to come up with that kind of money every month? There must either be some sort of “safety net” that provides for them, or they’re SOL and don’t get treated - reminiscent of the 10% to 15% of the US population that doesn’t have coverage for one reason or another.

Question - Are we back on Standard Time? I have not seen anything about a time change for today but notice the ‘puter and the time stamp on the posts is back to Standard.

re: #119 Bear

Question - Are we back on Standard Time? I have not seen anything about a time change for today but notice the ‘puter and the time stamp on the posts is back to Standard.

Yup.

Gonna hang out with my little brother. Cheers.

re: #117 lawhawk

The US casualties in the last four months are in part the result of more aggressive campaign to root out Taliban; we saw a similar spike in casualties during the surge.

The problem is the perception of dithering by the Administration is going to lead to problems on the battlefield as the Taliban watch the news as well. They see that they may be about to outlast the US efforts and if enough casualties are imposed on US forces, Obama may go the route of limiting/curtailing any troop increase or opt to slowly reduce troop numbers in Afghanistan despite an ongoing presence of Taliban/al Qaeda in Afghanistan and along the Afghan/Pak border.

At the same time, the Pakistanis are continuing their military efforts in the frontier provinces and taking casualties, even as they’re dishing it out to the Taliban.

The base problem with the Obama Administration is that they’re looking to put political expediency ahead of strategic and tactical military concerns. Even if that isn’t their intention, the appearance of just that is strong enough to warrant concern and question the Administration’s commitment to the Afghan campaign.

Moreover, it will be interesting to see how the Administration addresses the Afghan government following Abdullah’s dropping out from the runoff election. The Administration was quick to accept the bogus election results in Iran with a bunch of tyrannical mullahs who had no problem slaughtering opposition members marching in the street demanding that the vote be recounted. Here, what will the Administration do? Will they shape their Afghan policy and curtail efforts or will they accept the disputed results and work towards improving the situation?

If they curtail the efforts and somehow use the disputed elections as a wedge, it would be extremely troublesome particularly because the Administration would be pursuing a strategy that undermines our military efforts, distances ourselves from our allies, and once again shows that the Administration is more willing to deal with our enemies than to stand by our allies, even when our allies aren’t quite up to snuff on matters like elections.

well said as usual…BO seems to have no problem going this way and that, and it clouds his objectives, if he actually has one…I would rather see some principled straight line forward toward a positive conclusion, but if not then get the hell out of there

re: #120 SixDegrees

OK thanks.

Usually there are all sort of warnings to change the clocks. Fall Back etc. Not seeing anything I thought it might have been changed to next week due to the concern about Halloween’s Trick’nTreaters.

re: #118 SixDegrees

I guess the question is: what about the unemployed, and others who are simply unable to come up with that kind of money every month? There must either be some sort of “safety net” that provides for them, or they’re SOL and don’t get treated - reminiscent of the 10% to 15% of the US population that doesn’t have coverage for one reason or another.

You’re not going to like the answer…
Unemployment is pretty good pay in the Netherlands..
If I was dutch I’d just hang out on the Canal painting pictures and living off the Dole..Weee!
Jeez the taxes are so high…My buddy has a SUV and pays around 50 euro a month just to drive it.. A road tax…Tax. tax.. tax..It’s all about taxes…
Meanwhile.. The Hoopster dreams about painting pictures and making a couple grand a month.. Ah the good life
*wink*

Victor Davis Hanson is up…

I’ve been following Hillary’s disastrous Pakistan trip: she seems nearly incoherent—sermonizing to the Pakistanis to do this or that, bragging that we Americans tax anything that moves and so should Pakistan, always blaming George Bush for all her challenges (her “Bush did it” spin is different from Obama’s: he blames Bush for leaving him hard decisions instead of vote-present easy ones, she does too, but adds that “her husband” had once upon a time done it right (nothing about the damage from Monica, the pardons, and the serial appeasement of the embassy bombings, the first World Trade Center attack, the USS Cole, etc.), but Bush then undermined their legacy.

re: #45 checked08

50 comments is too high!MY OPINION MUST BE KNOW, IN RED OR GREEN FORM

Wait for a “boob pun” thread.

re: #126 Decatur Deb

Wait for a “boob pun” thread.

Don’t get me started…

Pirates to ‘Lower’ Ransom For British Couple…” honey, we’re on sale now”…

foxnews.com

(lets just sail, alone, into the most treacherous waters on the planet…what could go wrong?)

re: #128 albusteve

Pirates to ‘Lower’ Ransom For British Couple…” honey, we’re on sale now”…

[Link: www.foxnews.com…]

(lets just sail, alone, into the most treacherous waters on the planet…what could go wrong?)

“Oh no, I’ve been kidnapped by K-Mart!”

re: #129 Alouette

Next thing you know they’ll be on an ad with Vinnie the “Slap Chop” Guy…

Good morning lizards! I hope everyone had a ghoulish Halloween.

I went to my daughter’s Halloween party at school yesterday. Most of the costumes were great. I did see the infamous illegal alien costume as well. One kid was dressed as a soldier complete with a plastic M16 and another kid was some sort of scary ninja with a sword in one hand and a crossbow in the other. I told my wife if we were in some other school districts the SWAT team would’ve been called and those kids would have been tasered & locked up.

I love living in the country.

re: #124 HoosierHoops

You’re not going to like the answer…
Unemployment is pretty good pay in the Netherlands..
If I was dutch I’d just hang out on the Canal painting pictures and living off the Dole..Weee!
Jeez the taxes are so high…My buddy has a SUV and pays around 50 euro a month just to drive it.. A road tax…Tax. tax.. tax..It’s all about taxes…
Meanwhile.. The Hoopster dreams about painting pictures and making a couple grand a month.. Ah the good life
*wink*

So they pay the unemployed so the unemployed can pay their taxes…

This is the economic equivalent of a dog licking it’s balls.

I’m reading a Frank Luntz memo.

This line is funny:

Claims of deficit-neutrality are roundly rejected and even ridiculed. No one believes that the government will enact a massive new entitlement without costing Americans more money. In fact – and quote this – by an incredible 61% to 14% margin, more people believe scientists will discover life in outer space than believe the current healthcare plan won’t add a penny to the deficit. The President has clearly diminished his credibility by claiming this won’t add “one dime” to the deficit.

Heh.

Good morning, Lizards!

What the hell time is it? Some clocks changed themselves over, some I need to change manually. Clocks I never bothered to change in the spring are now right. And there’s this one clock that managed to break the space-time continuum and is now 2 hours off. I will have it destroyed.

What Time Is It Eccles?- Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan

The headline for Frank Rich’s column this morning is rich:

The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

re: #135 Conservative Moonbat

The headline for Frank Rich’s column this morning is rich:

The G.O.P. Stalinists Invade Upstate New York

Conservocommie pinkos!

/ :B

Many of the schools around here, including my daughters’ elementary school, have had to delay the H1N1 vaccinations because of shortages.

This ticked me off this morning.

H1N1 vaccinations to be offered to Guantanamo Bay detainees

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Pentagon will offer the H1N1 vaccination to detainees at the U.S. facility at Guantanamo Bay, officials there said Friday.

The Pentagon made the decision based on U.S. government assessments that people held in detention facilities are at high risk for the pandemic, said Maj. Diana R. Haynie, a spokeswoman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which is in charge of holding the suspected terrorists.

“Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination,” Haynie said.

re: #103 HoosierHoops

I tried reading some of Pelosi’s Bill..Holy Cow..It’s unreadable
I guess we need a dream team of Lawyers to understand it

Major bills aren’t literature. They are machines constructed by teams of
specialists to be disassembled and used by other teams of specialists.

re: #27 iceweasel

That in particular is kind of brilliant.

It’s been said that the difference between the way conservatives love their country and the way liberals love their country is this: conservatives love America like a young child loves Mommy; everything Mommy does must always be right, and anyone criticising Mommy is evil.
Liberals meanwhile love their country like an adult: they love it passionately but can still see its flaws, and believe that making it better (and becoming better) is part of what love is.

This is a pretty partisan way of putting it, and I don’t think it captures reality, but the bit about conservatives does capture a bit of how the deranged wingnut type on the right thinks— the kind of people who think antiwar protesters must hate their country. (It’s not an accurate characterisation of all conservatives IMO, let me say, just the deranged wingnut type, before people freak out and think I’m arguing that)

LMAO!

Oh wait- you really think liberals are the adults and conservatives are children, don’t you?

Bwahahaha!

Wingnuts are children, but how dare people on the right question the patriotism of those adults on the left. This is far from an accurate characterization- of both sides, since no one here except you thinks teh left iz perfek. I loved your back peddling at the end so you could give yourself wiggle room should anyone dare criticize your brilliance (not all conservatives- just wingnuts!) except you didn’t use wingnuts throughout, did you? Since I know you check your dings obsessively, I will tell you why I dinged you down- it’s called “projection”.

re: #139 Sharmuta

LMAO!

Oh wait- you really think liberals are the adults and conservatives are children, don’t you?

Bwahahaha!

Wingnuts are children, but how dare people on the right question the patriotism of those adults on the left. This is far from an accurate characterization- of both sides, since no one here except you thinks teh left iz perfek. I loved your back peddling at the end so you could give yourself wiggle room should anyone dare criticize your brilliance (not all conservatives- just wingnuts!) except you didn’t use wingnuts throughout, did you? Since I know you check your dings obsessively, I will tell you why I dinged you down- it’s called “projection”.

Calling conservatives the children in these times is insulting to the children.

The Little Green Football Prayer List

Part one: We pray Father for our dear Lizards in need… Those that cry out for help and comfort in a dark hour.
The victims of the Philippine typhoons, the earthquakes in Indonesia, and the tsunami in Samoa..
Reine: Health and Family
gregb - 4 year old son who suffered a head injury last Friday and spent the
weekend in the ICU with some lingering effects all week.
Semper Fi – longtime friend and co-worker “Jim” diagnosed with intestinal cancer. Surgery to remove entire large intestine scheduled for the 6th of October. Also pray for his wife, Debbie.
Irish Rose… midlife retraining for a new career
Irish Rose I have a loved one who has been out of work now for almost 2 years.
I’m trying to cope with the loss of my little dog, Bayley. Had to have her put to sleep yesterday afternoon, she was my loving and faithful companion for 15 years and I’m just devestated.

2. I received word yesterday that my son is going to be working the flight deck on the USS Stennis for a month or two, helping train pilots for an upcoming middle eastern deployment. He worked the flight deck for months while out on the USS Nimitz, its’ a very dangerous environment and now he’s going back to it. I’d like to request prayers for his safety.

SteveC: Two friends, one needs heart surgery, and one might.

lurking faith… prayers for an aunt
Sanity Inspector: Wives Nephew: is in graduate school and is buckling under the strain. His relations with his mother are tense,
In Memoriam:
Obi Wan
Dublin(CA)Dude
USMC 1968
ElderZion
All our Troops who have died protecting our Freedom and their families.
Lord. Hear our Prayers

Part Two:
Please submit a story for next week of answered prayer and thanksgiving

Part three: Lord we pray for the Victims
Baghdad, Iraq (CNN) — At least 108 people were killed and 512 wounded in twin suicide car bombings near government offices in central Baghdad on Sunday morning, officials said.
The death toll was the worst in a single incident in Iraq for many months.
Two car bombs detonated in quick succession near Iraqi government buildings about 10:30 a.m., an Interior Ministry official said.

Part four:
Israel
Many lizards at LGF have Parents, children and friends living in the holy land…
Please submit their names here and your prayer for them
{ Names and prayers here}
Lord hear our cry

Part Five:
Our Military
Faith without Works is dead…

This Section is the special part of the prayer list… Please submit names below of our Military serving in the War Zone. We will collect names here and send $8.95 Post office packages for Christmas. These boxes are available at any post office and you can pick a name of a brave hero serving for our freedom and send a box for Christmas…
I will post a list of things to send… Canned Tuna, Chicken, (mega protein stuff) Hard Candies etc… You can stuff the box as much as it will handle without busting…
Save just enough room to slip in a card saying how much you appreciate them fighting for America…That you are praying for their Safety…
Your 9 dollar message of love and respect may end up in the hands of a Soldier during the Christmas season that hasn’t even had a shower in a week and has cleaned blood off his uniform in the middle of Hell. Your Prayer and package can make a difference…
Please list names of our hero’s below…
Link to the official Marine website:
thecarepackageproject.com

{Air Force, Army, Marines names and posting here}

re: #117 lawhawk

imo, the sooner the Canadian forces are out of Afghanistan, the better. (I consider the entire endeavor an abject farce.) Oh, and according to an article published in the National Post the other day, the Pakistan area of Waziristan (where Osama supposedly hides out) is one of the wealthiest areas of Pakistan — so all the garbage we’ve been told about Osama hiding out in a cave, scraping out a miserable existence, isn’t true. If the S.o.b. is still alive, he’s probably living in a mansion with servants, wives, and all sorts of luxury (that would include, electricity, running water, air conditioning, etc.)

re: #142 J.S.

imo, the sooner the Canadian forces are out of Afghanistan, the better. (I consider the entire endeavor an abject farce.) Oh, and according to an article published in the National Post the other day, the Pakistan area of Waziristan (where Osama supposedly hides out) is one of the wealthiest areas of Pakistan — so all the garbage we’ve been told about Osama hiding out in a cave, scraping out a miserable existence, isn’t true. If the S.o.b. is still alive, he’s probably living in a mansion with servants, wives, and all sorts of luxury (that would include, electricity, running water, air conditioning, etc.)

“He’s dead, Jim.”

NH hunter shot while using rope to hoist rifle

OSSIPEE, N.H. – A New Hampshire deer hunter has accidentally shot himself in the right hand while trying to lift his loaded rifle into a tree stand using a rope tied around the weapon.

A state conservation officer says a branch or stick apparently got stuck in the trigger of Robert Lapointe’s .50-caliber muzzleloader, setting it off at around 1:45 p.m. Saturday.

Mark Hensel of the state Fish and Game Department says the 63-year-old from Somersworth was hunting in Ossipee (AH’-sih-pee) on the first day of muzzleloader deer season.

re: #141 HoosierHoops

Part four:
Israel
Many lizards at LGF have Parents, children and friends living in the holy land…
Please submit their names here and your prayer for them
{ Names and prayers here}
Lord hear our cry

Please include my daughter, her husband and their four children. Thanks.

re: #143 NJDhockeyfan

“He’s dead, Jim.”

Whatever happened to JamesTKirk anyway?

re: #143 NJDhockeyfan

yeah, sure. (for all we know, Osama could be under the protection of Pakistan’s ISI.)

re: #146 laZardo

Whatever happened to JamesTKirk anyway?

He’s dead, Jim.

re: #143 NJDhockeyfan

“He’s dead, Jim.”

and the proof is?

re: #140 laZardo

It’s something some people can’t understand, Dear. This gets back to the visions. It’s not a left-right dichotomy on who the political children are and who are the grown ups- it’s non-partisan. I would say the fringe is the children, and in only that regard was the weasel correct, except she thinks it’s only a phenomenon of the right. She would think that. The truth is- it’s the fringe on either side who are children, and I would say the adults are the rational middle people who know politics is the art of compromise.

re: #143 NJDhockeyfan

“He’s dead, Jim.”

I hope not. He needs to die in a humanely-run prison.

re: #145 Alouette

Please include my daughter, her husband and their four children. Thanks.

Thanks.. I just did..Except I added precious children…

re: #149 albusteve

and the proof is?

I am not going to go to Pakistan with a shovel. Has anyone seen him lately? It’s been quite a while since he made a video. If I remember right he was not shy in front of the camera back then.

re: #153 NJDhockeyfan

I am not going to go to Pakistan with a shovel. Has anyone seen him lately? It’s been quite a while since he made a video. If I remember right he was not shy in front of the camera back then.

in other words, there is no proof…it’s just as likely he is in Paris, or Miami for that matter

re: #154 albusteve

in other words, there is no proof…it’s just as likely he is in Paris, or Miami for that matter

If he is alive he very well could be running a Domino Pizza store in Ft Lauderdale with Elvis & Jim Morrison.

re: #27 iceweasel

That in particular is kind of brilliant.

It’s been said that the difference between the way conservatives love their country and the way liberals love their country is this: conservatives love America like a young child loves Mommy; everything Mommy does must always be right, and anyone criticising Mommy is evil.
Liberals meanwhile love their country like an adult: they love it passionately but can still see its flaws, and believe that making it better (and becoming better) is part of what love is.

This is a pretty partisan way of putting it, and I don’t think it captures reality, but the bit about conservatives does capture a bit of how the deranged wingnut type on the right thinks— the kind of people who think antiwar protesters must hate their country. (It’s not an accurate characterisation of all conservatives IMO, let me say, just the deranged wingnut type, before people freak out and think I’m arguing that)

I can’t agree with that. You did qualify it well enough to not get a downding, but I think you’re wrong. Dogmatic thinking occurs on both sides of the aisle. There are thoughtful liberals like Barney Frank (listen to him talk, he does make a strong effort to understand the issues even if his solutions are wrong), and dogmatic ones like Barbara Lee. By the same token, there are thoughtful conservatives like Haley Barbour, and dogmatic ones like Rick Perry. It’s not as much about one’s place on the political spectrum as about a person’s ability to look honestly at things without needing the crutch of dogma.

re: #150 Sharmuta

It’s something some people can’t understand, Dear. This gets back to the visions. It’s not a left-right dichotomy on who the political children are and who are the grown ups- it’s non-partisan. I would say the fringe is the children, and in only that regard was the weasel correct, except she thinks it’s only a phenomenon of the right. She would think that. The truth is- it’s the fringe on either side who are children, and I would say the adults are the rational middle people who know politics is the art of compromise.

tanking cred…that post was ridiculous…high school level

re: #152 HoosierHoops

Thanks.. I just did..Except I added precious children…

Thanks.

re: #150 Sharmuta

It’s something some people can’t understand, Dear. This gets back to the visions. It’s not a left-right dichotomy on who the political children are and who are the grown ups- it’s non-partisan. I would say the fringe is the children, and in only that regard was the weasel correct, except she thinks it’s only a phenomenon of the right. She would think that. The truth is- it’s the fringe on either side who are children, and I would say the adults are the rational middle people who know politics is the art of compromise.

Given that the American political spectrum would be calibrated to the right-of-center, the wingnut presence would actually seem to be dialled down.

re: #155 NJDhockeyfan

If he is alive he very well could be running a Domino Pizza store in Ft Lauderdale with Elvis & Jim Morrison.

those two are proven to be dead…Binny isn’t

re: #146 laZardo

Whatever happened to JamesTKirk anyway?

re: #148 Alouette

He’s dead, Jim.

He didn’t die, he turned into a stalker troll. He’s now posting at The Deuce.

Haven’t heard anything from J.D. Salinger. He must be dead.
/

re: #160 albusteve

those two are proven to be dead…Binny isn’t

Prove he is alive.

re: #163 NJDhockeyfan

O come on — the whole point is that “nobody knows” — no one can definitely state “He’s dead” or “He’s alive.” There is no concrete evidence either way — only conjectures at this point. (it’s an eigenstate.)

re: #163 NJDhockeyfan

Prove he is alive.

to disprove he isn’t dead?…why are you so hung up on something that has not been proven, I mean what’s the point?

re: #164 J.S.

It’s possible to apply probabilities to the variables and make a reasonable guess however. His needing dialysis for example, puts him into the “probably dead” category for me.

re: #161 Dark_Falcon

He didn’t die, he turned into a stalker troll. He’s now posting at The Deuce.

Aw, hell. Now who am I gonna have 4chan meme time with?

/ ಥ_ಥ

re: #164 J.S.

Correction (when I suggest that “nobody knows” that’s in reference to The West, etc.) clearly, Osama, if alive, and his “friends” would know. but right now, we don’t know…

re: #166 McSpiff

“the kidney disease” claim is based on rumors. Snopes has an article about that…here.It’s status is “undetermined.”

re: #169 J.S.

“the kidney disease” claim is based on rumors. Snopes has an article about that…here.It’s status is “undetermined.”

then there is the 50 large to consider

re: #159 laZardo

Given that the American political spectrum would be calibrated to the right-of-center, the wingnut presence would actually seem to be dialled down.

When polled on values/issues- Americans lean right of center. Yet this doesn’t add up to GOP victories. The far-right fringe is why. When the kookosphere starts yelling about how we need to be more conservative, in a sense they’re correct and it’s this polling data that justifies their position.

Where they get it wrong, however, is their understanding of “conservative” in the winning sense. It’s Goldwater conservatism that the American people lean towards. Fiscal discipline, strong national defense, personla liberty, and supportive of science. This is called a RINO by todays standards.

It’s no wonder so many republicans are leaving the party to the theo-cons. They are driving the party now, and the style of conservatism they’re promoting is ugly and unAmerican. They will not win elections with this strategy. When the center right values/issues that Americans have become the party’s bread and butter again- they will be back.

re: #169 J.S.

Ah fair enough then. He just shifted back to “Hell if I know” then ;-)

Good morning all! Just looking at comments to see what’s on everyone’s mind…

re: #144 NJDhockeyfan

NH hunter shot while using rope to hoist rifle

A state conservation officer says a branch or stick apparently got stuck in the trigger of Robert Lapointe’s .50-caliber muzzleloader, setting it off at around 1:45 p.m. Saturday.

What was he hunting? Bears?

re: #170 albusteve

Yeah, did you hear that they “discovered” one of the top al Qaeda guy’s passport in Pakistan? (from the Hamburg cell). From the NY Times article:

A Pakistani military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, said that Mr. Bahaji was not in custody, and that the military did not know whether he was dead or alive. He said the passport stamp for Mr. Bahaji’s entry into Pakistan — Sept. 4, 2001 — was too old to shed any light on his current whereabouts.

Ja. The Pakistani just can’t figure it out — is he alive or is he dead? Sound familiar? Why, they just can’t figure it out, just too dang perplexing, and even if they could, they ain’t sayiin’…Now, those, are allies!

re: #171 Sharmuta

When polled on values/issues- Americans lean right of center. Yet this doesn’t add up to GOP victories. (snip)

That’s sort of an artifact of where the “center” was defined in the
polls. A voter behavior approach would say that the person who won
the last election is the effective center for that time and electorate.

re: #174 Conservative Moonbat

What was he hunting? Bears?

typical deer load…similar to a 12ga slug…I’d want more firepower for bear

re: #114 laZardo

I hope so, or rather given my cynicism I’ll be content with stable employment. I’m working on my industrial design thesis, as well as my portfolio.

I wanna second HoosierHoops - you are really talented, please do share your work: it’s really neat stuff.

re: #171 Sharmuta

Where they get it wrong, however, is their understanding of “conservative” in the winning sense. It’s Goldwater conservatism that the American people lean towards. Fiscal discipline, strong national defense, personla liberty, and supportive of science. This is called a RINO by todays standards.

The latter are not only “RINO” (quotes intended, wingnutism has not been historically limited to one party) but liberal standards as well given the events of the past 8 years.

Strong national defense also needs to be responsible, thought-out defense (something that needs to be quickly found on Afghanistan) and one not prone to spontaneous outbursts of unilateralism (e.g. Somalia 1993 and Iraq).

And I will agree that the government not just at Congressional but also State and lower levels should learn financial discipline, a very complex thing to master especially when it comes to implementing better healthcare programs that would bring us closer to the quality of those found in Europe and Israel.

re: #173 akarra

Good morning all! Just looking at comments to see what’s on everyone’s mind…

I put this in the spinoff links overnight. I think it’s an important article for everyone to read, but since we’re discussing adults who act like children, there is certainly a type a adult that does that very well. Read the link and see for yourself.

re: #180 Sharmuta

I put this in the spinoff links overnight. I think it’s an important article for everyone to read, but since we’re discussing adults who act like children, there is certainly a type a adult that does that very well. Read the link and see for yourself.

Thanks! *goes and reads*

re: #180 Sharmuta

Voted it up after skimming it; it’s bookmarked for a much closer read later - thanks for sharing!

Off to work. BBT

More strange race baiting on Drudge this morning. Links to a Washington Times article (RS McCain’s old paper), “Atlanta poised to elect white mayor…”

Other headlines on the Wash Times Sidebar “Blacks vying for all-white Md. council” and “Holy war against conservative speech” (defending racial hate speech)

re: #184 Killgore Trout

Also this: Washington Times Reaches Out to Tea Partiers

An article I think everyone should read was written by Marty Peretz in the New Republic — about how this is the age of vicious, unfounded accusations. Hit the nail on the head, imo.

re: #182 akarra

Voted it up after skimming it; it’s bookmarked for a much closer read later - thanks for sharing!

It is a great link. I know the word is thrown around a lot these days to describe a lot of notable people, but it is a very real condition.

re: #187 Bloodnok

Understood; my thanks to everyone again. I gotta get going, lots to do today.

I’ve been checking out some of today’s articles on the NY-23 race. I was just reading this one:

Shift in Upstate N.Y. race shows GOP’s split

On the ground in the North Country, local tea-party activists provide the core of Hoffman’s campaign army, augmented by compatriots from as far away as Colorado. But local organizers say they are not pawns of the national debate; rather, they say, people in Upstate New York are fed up with politics as usual.

“We are just the visible face for something much deeper and much less organized,” said William Lamar Wells, an economist and farmer who leads CNY912, which takes its name from the Sept. 12 march on Washington to protest the federal government’s growing role.

“I’ve never seen people so terrified of their government,” Wells said, calling the national debt “a force of physics that is going to catch up to us.”

Kind of trivial, but that bit stood out to me. Any time I see these Tea Party groups with 912 in their names my immediate assumption is that they’re referencing the 9/12 Project. Looking at this group’s site, in this case, that assumption seems to be correct:

New York Glenn Beck “We sourround them” Meetup Group

CNY912 is one of many groups of Americans who wish to restore responsibility and accountability to the leadership of this nation. We work to restore to this REPUBLIC the system of government that is expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The limited form of government as intended by the Founding Fathers is based upon millennia of understanding human nature and upon their faith in the God-given virtues of mankind. These foundational beliefs being represented by the nine principles and twelve values described by the 9/12 project.

So probably just a mistake on that staff writer’s part, though sometimes it seems the media is loathe to acknowledge how much the Tea Party movement is infected with/by Beck.

Update: British nuclear expert’s 17th floor UN death plunge ‘was not suicide’

I’m totally bummed out about Afghanistan…another American shame heading our way led by a democrat president

Obama isn’t sure because he just hasn’t thought very much about matters of war and peace. He really needs that Harvard Law Seminar they’re having in the White House. It’s the only explanation for this murderous delay, with our troops stuck in places where the Taliban can find them. The Taliban are trying to kill as many Americans as possible because they know American casualties make headlines, and that’s how they plan to win

James Lewis at AT

re: #189 simoom

Michelle Bachman is calling for conservatives to descend on DC next week to stop health care reform. We’ll see if Beck gets on board.

re: #192 Killgore Trout

Michelle Bachman is calling for conservatives to descend on DC next week to stop health care reform. We’ll see if Beck gets on board.

I hope he does if it helps stop that fiscal atrocity…don’t you?

Looks like Scozzafava is endorsing Owens now.

watertowndailytimes.com

re: #192 Killgore Trout

Michelle Bachman is calling for conservatives to descend on DC next week to stop health care reform. We’ll see if Beck gets on board.

McLaughlin Group just did a fawning piece on her this weekend - “Madam GOP”. Saying that everything is in place for her to succeed with the GOP in the future. She’s being primed. I think Jindal and Palin have been burned out so she’s the new person they are giving false hope of success to.

re: #193 albusteve

I hope he does if it helps stop that fiscal atrocity…don’t you?

No, not really. I’d like to see the public option taken out but I’d be happy to see healthcare reform, especially if it reduces the deficit. I don’t see much to object to.

re: #161 Dark_Falcon

He didn’t die, he turned into a stalker troll. He’s now posting at The Deuce.

In bed.

re: #195 Bloodnok

Although she’s really popular with the Tea Party crowd she’s not that popular with voters at home. Her seat is pretty vulnerable. Maybe her new found celebrity will save her.

re: #196 Killgore Trout

No, not really. I’d like to see the public option taken out but I’d be happy to see healthcare reform, especially if it reduces the deficit. I don’t see much to object to.

well, when you put it that way, who wouldn’t…

re: #198 Killgore Trout

Although she’s really popular with the Tea Party crowd she’s not that popular with voters at home. Her seat is pretty vulnerable. Maybe her new found celebrity will save her.

I dunno. This looks like the kiss of death for her opponent

dailykos.com

re: #195 Bloodnok

McLaughlin Group just did a fawning piece on her this weekend - “Madam GOP”. Saying that everything is in place for her to succeed with the GOP in the future. She’s being primed. I think Jindal and Palin have been burned out so she’s the new person they are giving false hope of success to.

I saw that.

They must have worked hard to assemble that video clip montage where in each segment they’d cut out just before she said something nutty. They even brought up someone’s response to her wrist cutting comment, without ever referencing her original statement, to make it seem like she was being unfairly persecuted.

McLaughlin had the same bizarre infatuation with Palin — seems he’s moved on to Bachmann.

re: #200 Conservative Moonbat

That’s not the one I was looking for

poopie

Sorry, internet’s being patchy.

re: #178 akarra

I wanna second HoosierHoops - you are really talented, please do share your work: it’s really neat stuff.

Thanks a bundle, see my #114 for more stuff.

re: #201 simoom

I saw that.

They must have worked hard to assemble that video clip montage where in each segment they’d cut out just before she said something nutty. They even brought up someone’s response to her wrist cutting comment, without ever referencing her original statement, to make it seem like she was being unfairly persecuted.

McLaughlin had the same bizarre infatuation with Palin — seems he’s moved on to Bachmann.

Yes, that was my take as well. I kept waiting for one of the nutty comments and they never played them.

KT is right, her seat will be vulnerable. She barely won that second term -and that was before many of the TRULY crazy things she has said.

re: #199 albusteve

CBO estimates it will reduce the deficit by $104 billion. Sounds nice to me.

re: #204 Bloodnok

KT is right, her seat will be vulnerable. She barely won that second term -and that was before many of the TRULY crazy things she has said.

Yeah, it was amazing how well Elwyn Tinklenberg did considering he was such an unlikely, unpolished candidate. During the election, every time I’d see one of his videos, I’d think to myself, “It’s going to take a miracle for that guy to win.” :P.

re: #194 Conservative Moonbat

Looks like Scozzafava is endorsing Owens now.

[Link: www.watertowndailytimes.com…]

Here’s a NY Daily News article that speculates along the same lines:

Dede’s Democratic Preference?

At 10 p.m. last night - right in the middle of the Halloween festivities - Scozzafava’s husband, Ron McDougall, president of the Jefferson/Lewis/St. Lawrence Central Labor Council issued a statement through the AFL-CIO that he is endorsing Owens against Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman.
…
“This has been a difficult day for my family. But the needs and concerns of the men and women of the 23rd Congressional District remain paramount,” McDougall said. “As such, I wholeheartedly and without reservation endorse the candidacy of Bill Owens.”

I am reading up on the latest on Scozzo… Radical leftist? Oh my.

So where does the line go these days? Pro-gay marriage and pro-choice = radical leftist? In that case I am all there.

I give up.

re: #206 simoom

Yeah, it was amazing how well Elwyn Tinklenberg did considering he was such an unlikely, unpolished candidate named Elwyn Tinklenberg. (snip)

Fixed

re: #207 simoom

Looks like Scozzafava is endorsing Owens now.

Good. if the GOP is going to be God’s Own Party, then I want Democrats to win.

Yes I know Hoffman is not technically GOP.

re: #208 enoughalready

I am reading up on the latest on Scozzo… Radical leftist? Oh my.

So where does the line go these days? Pro-gay marriage and pro-choice = radical leftist? In that case I am all there.

I give up.

Welcome, comrade.

re: #207 simoom

Hmmm, that’s an interesting twist.

re: #208 enoughalready

Want me to say “Modern Whig Party?”

I could be the Ojoebot.

How to celebrate a goal when you have NO FANS AT ALL

re: #208 enoughalready

I am reading up on the latest on Scozzo… Radical leftist? Oh my.

So where does the line go these days? Pro-gay marriage and pro-choice = radical leftist? In that case I am all there.

I give up.

Shut up, you RINO! It’s time to report to Bible Memorization class! /

re: #215 SixDegrees

Shut up, you RINO! It’s time to report to Bible Memorization class!

In bed.

re: #213 Ojoe

Want me to say “Modern Whig Party?”

I could be the Ojoebot.

I thought Reine had Sundays 9-to-5.

“By maintaining the separation of church and state the United States has avoided the intolerance which has so divided the rest of the world with religious wars … Can any of us refute the wisdom of Madison and the other framers? Can anyone look at the carnage in Iran, the bloodshed in Northem Ireland, or the bombs bursting in Lebanon and yet question the dangers of injecting religious issues into the affairs of state?”

-Barry Goldwater

re: #217 Decatur Deb

Yes she does!

LOL

BBL

I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.

-Barry Goldwater

re: #220 Sharmuta

I think every good Christian ought to kick Falwell right in the ass.

-Barry Goldwater

Would he turn the other cheek?

The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government.

-Barry Goldwater

You don’t have to be straight to be in the military; you just have to be able to shoot straight.

-Barry Goldwater

re: #205 Killgore Trout

CBO estimates it will reduce the deficit by $104 billion. Sounds nice to me.

HI Killgore! CBO also estimates the cost of this legislation at (including the $250 billion for physician payments - in another bill) at around $1.2 trillion. So, the idea is to spend $1.2 trillion to cut the deficit by $104 billion?

Here’s an idea. Let’s just cut spending, drop this health “care” (read: insurance) monstrosity, and go have a beer.

re: #224 subsailor68

The $104 billion is net profit above the cost.

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.

-Barry Goldwater (November 1994)

re: #226 Sharmuta

It was nice when we Dems had opponents instead of enemies.

re: #227 Decatur Deb

It was nice when we Dems had opponents instead of enemies.

Treating each other as enemies is one of our biggest problems.

The big thing is to make this country, along with every other country in the world with a few exceptions, quit discriminating against people just because they’re gay. You don’t have to agree with it, but they have a constitutional right to be gay. And that’s what brings me into it.

-Barry Goldwater

re: #225 Killgore Trout

The $104 billion is net profit above the cost.

Two things:

1) The government isn’t supposed to be pursuing a profit.

2) It isn’t a profit anyway; it’s a reduction in the deficit - a smaller loss, and a pittance when compared to the truly frightening deficits projected over the next few years, with each year’s annual deficit adding to the nation’s total debt what formerly took years or even decades to accumulate.

If Medicare and Medicaid are so riddled with debt, fraud and corruption, it’s hard to see a way clear to allowing the same managers - the Federal government - have control over a system that’s at least an order of magnitude larger.

In a 1988 interview on Larry King’s radio show, Goldwater was asked if he thought the U.S. Government was withholding UFO evidence; he replied “Yes, I do.” He added:

I certainly believe in aliens in space. They may not look like us, but I have very strong feelings that they have advanced beyond our mental capabilities…I think some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we don’t know about – and probably never will unless the Air Force discloses them.

neat:)

re: #225 Killgore Trout

The $104 billion is net profit above the cost.

I know - that’s the plan. But it doesn’t change my point, really. First, to cover the cost of the $1.2 trillion, we’re looking at increased taxes, cuts in existing programs (e.g. Medicare), and ephemeral concepts like “eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse”. And quite frankly, I’m skeptical. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid - all supposed to be self-supporting, etc. But the same people (i.e. congress) who created these programs couldn’t help themselves. They had to get their fingers into those cookie jars to fund new projects, or cover losses in other areas. Hell, it started with Medicare in about 1939.

I can’t imagine that Congress - even if they actually saw a $104 billion “profit” - could resist spending it elsewhere.

But we’d still have destroyed our health care system.

re: #228 JasonA

Treating each other as enemies is one of our biggest problems.

And a hard one to back away from.

re: #231 boyo

In a 1988 interview on Larry King’s radio show, Goldwater was asked if he thought the U.S. Government was withholding UFO evidence; he replied “Yes, I do.” He added:

I certainly believe in aliens in space. They may not look like us, but I have very strong feelings that they have advanced beyond our mental capabilities…I think some highly secret government UFO investigations are going on that we don’t know about – and probably never will unless the Air Force discloses them.

neat:)

Human thought is so primitive that it’s looked upon as an infectious disease in some parts of the galaxy.

/Men In Black. Great movie.

re: #232 subsailor68

Oops. My bad. I meant Social Security, not Medicare - in referring to 1939.

re: #234 laZardo

truth stranger than fiction …

re: #232 subsailor68

The problem is that everyone seems to confuse the paying for health care with the actual providing of healthcare. There is a difference.

One of the biggest issues is that Medicare pays by procedure rather than based on patient or outcome.

There needs to be movement away from paying by procedure so that 1) Doctors don’t have any incentive to perform tests that aren’t needed. 2) Billing is simplified. 3) We remove the profit motive from paying for healthcare while retaining it in the actual delivery.

re: #232 subsailor68

And quite frankly, I’m skeptical.

I am too. We’ll see what happens. The critics of healthcare reform have pretty thoroughly discredited themselves with Tea Parties and Death Panels. My guess is that it will probably be fine.

re: #231 boyo

He was a big science lover. Accepted evolution, and believed there was life on other planets. I did find the full quote of that, and it does seem kooky, but given he’s fairly rational everywhere else, I’m prone to not holding this against him too much:

I used to receive a hundred calls a year from people who wanted me to get into the Green Room at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, because that’s where the Air Force stored all the material gathered on UFOs. I once asked Curtis LeMay if I could get in that room, and he just gave me holy hell. He said, “Not only can’t you get into it but don’t you ever mention it to me again.” Now, with the millions of planets that we know are up there, it’s hard for me to believe that ours is the only goddam one that has things that can think walking around on it. So when people tell me they’ve seen UFOs, I don’t say they haven’t. In fifteen thousand hours of flying, I’ve never seen one, but I’ve talked to pilots who have. I talked to an airline crew that swore up and down that an object came alongside of them one night, and before they could do anything it vanished. We lost a military pilot who went up to intercept strange lights and never came back. His airplane disappeared, too. I won’t argue for or against.

In context, it seems he’s more interested in not arguing against such a possibility because he’s being rational about the science supporting life on other planets. A little kooky, but not too much.

re: #231 boyo

Went to a “ghost walk” last night at a local historical area, hosted by the local paranormal research group. Was all I could do not to hum the theme from Ghostbusters.

UFO conspiracy believers are in the same group, along with the rest of those who value belief over evidence.

/Hard core skeptic rant over…

re: #232 subsailor68

I know - that’s the plan. But it doesn’t change my point, really. First, to cover the cost of the $1.2 trillion, we’re looking at increased taxes, cuts in existing programs (e.g. Medicare), and ephemeral concepts like “eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse”. And quite frankly, I’m skeptical. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid - all supposed to be self-supporting, etc. But the same people (i.e. congress) who created these programs couldn’t help themselves. They had to get their fingers into those cookie jars to fund new projects, or cover losses in other areas. Hell, it started with Medicare in about 1939.

I can’t imagine that Congress - even if they actually saw a $104 billion “profit” - could resist spending it elsewhere.

But we’d still have destroyed our health care system.

Once health care is driven by political considerations, it’s game over. Every constituency will immediately start haranguing their representatives for special coverage of either conditions or treatments, and taxpayers will be responsible for providing dick pills and boob enhancements to anyone who asks, because it will become a “right.” And as noted earlier, every quack treatment, from homeopathy to ear candling, will also find coverage - not because it passes scientific muster, but because it’s politically popular.

And those capable of shrieking the loudest - rather than those with the best evidence - will win the day. The Jenny McCarthys, colon cleansers, dowsers and colloidal silver swallowers will be in the ascendancy, and you don’t have to look any farther than Europe to see this happening.

I want to believe

/whistles theme to x-files

re: #242 boyo

upding for that, boyo

re: #243 PT Barnum

well right back at ya

re: #237 PT Barnum

Doctors don’t have any incentive to perform tests that aren’t needed

That “incentive” will always exist unless there is tort reform. The last thing a doctor wants is to be on a witness stand with a lawyer asking him “Well, you did X and Y tests, why didn’t you do Z?”

re: #241 SixDegrees

Canadian’s cant get prescription coverage let alone boob jobs from the government plans. Do you have any sort of evidence to support these wild claims?

re: #240 PT Barnum

(snip)

/Hard core skeptic rant over…

re: #238 Killgore Trout

“Skepticism is the chastity of the intellect.”
—forget who

re: #242 boyo