Chan Lowe by Chan Lowe

?fh=8c36aafa1c6d70357c98cd2ef9203b26

Comments (28) Jump to Comments Form

  1. scottfreitas

    scottfreitasGenius_badge said, 25 days ago

    Chan Lowe may be too stupid to understand what the Demoncrats are doing, and why they are so desperate to get the camel’s nose under the health-care tent, but intelligent, politically-astute people aren’t.

    PS it’s the Demoncrat Party that has always has the attitude that voters are stupid and need an educated elite to make all their decisions for them….

  2. 4uk4ata

    4uk4ata said, 24 days ago

    Riiight. That’s why right-wing pundits, rehashing the news so as to drive the base into a frenzy, have been so important to the GOP in the last decade or two. Or why we have such BS like the rumors about Obama being Muslim, not American, or what have you stoked about politicians on the right (not all, of course).

  3. a.c.d

    a.c.d said, 24 days ago

    I would like to add that the Ameircan health care is one of the worst among modern states. I live in the Netherlands, and we have a totally private health care (used to have a public option), but now have private insurance. 50% is paid by employer, 45% by the consumer and 5% by the government. Then there is a common fund that insurance companies can use to level off risk from very unhealthy customers and to give free health care to anyone under the age of 18 (this makes sure that everyone gets coverage). There is also a provision to opt out of health care entirely (on religious grounds) and the money would normally go to your health care is put into a bank account which you have access to, but can only be withdrawn from to pay medical bills (if you die the money is transfered to your next of kin). These changes were added in 2006, where previously we used to have a public option (a system instituted by Hitler during the German occupation of the Netherlands) and it suited us for close to 60 years). We changed it to a more fully private system in 2006, to keep down administrative costs. Although, this system is very invasive to the insurance companies, where the basic policy (universal policy) is kept nearly identical to the next, and must be no more than €100 per month. Additional plans like dental or life insurance can also be purchased. But all in all the system is excellent and has very little chance at anyone trying to ‘free-ride’ the system.
    So here is the pay off, either there is a public option which can be more easily abused and costs the government more time and effort, or have a fully private health insurance system that is heavily regulated and controlled to ensure everyone gets coverage.
    I would like to add that at no point during either of the systems (public option or heavily regulated private) have the insurance companies not made a profit.

  4. NeoconMan

    NeoconMan said, 24 days ago

    a.c.d.: “Profit” is not sufficient. For it to be American, it must be “obscene profit.”

  5. charlie555

    charlie555 said, 24 days ago

    a.d.c.

    Thanks for posting. The religious option is interesting. It is something definitely needed here if we go the way of mandatory insurance, but I have not heard it discussed.

  6. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 24 days ago

    The slippery slope meme is way out of whack these days.

    I heard Rush saying that the health care issue is all about the government telling us what foods to eat and what drugs to take and blah blah blah…

    At first I just dismissed it as more Limbullshit, (which it is) but as it percolated in my psyche it occured tome that corporations are doing this very exact thing. Firing employees who are fat or who smoke or who this or who that.

    I would wonder why the right is willing to give this power to employers. Except that I already know why.

  7. oldlegodad

    oldlegodadGenius_badge said, 24 days ago

    In all fairness…..

    http://failblog.org/2009/10/27/amish-fail/

    Not paying attention this AM. Wrong link, Sorry. Will be back later.

    Here is the correct link
    http://roflrazzi.com/2009/10/27/celebrity-pictures-jack-nicholson-republicans-health/

  8. Kylop

    Kylop said, 24 days ago

    Its fair to say BOTH parties think that voters are:
    1) too stupid to know what’s good for them
    2) apathetic
    3) easily manipulated

  9. scottfreitas

    scottfreitasGenius_badge said, 24 days ago

    I’ve never heard of employers firing people for being fat or smoking but if they are, good for them.

    Unlike loser “liberals”, I’m pretty fed up living in a culture that discourages every virtue imaginable, while defending every vice. Leftists do everything they can to destroy the notions of people being responsible, accountable, exercising self-control, etc

    Such non-thinking attitudes grew old by 1970. It’s high time people started fighting back. Throw their Leftists masters out in the snow and slam the door shut on them, then go back to living more like people instead of the animals Lefists claim we are…

  10. Ken Warren

    Ken Warren said, 24 days ago

    Scott: Iceland and Denmark are still there.

  11. dtroutma

    dtroutma said, 24 days ago

    Thanks a.c.d. for showing an option- notable that “heavily controlled” is still in there, and that the companies make profits either way.

    There is indeed a line between total free market and total government control. The problem is that the right will only have total unregulated, “free market” as in “monopoly” , in their quiver. NONE of the “liberal” plans take away private practice, or freedom of choice, so it is time for folks to realize that indeed, it is “stupid voters” responsible for “why I’m here.”

  12. Magnaut

    MagnautGenius_badge said, 24 days ago

    the problem is really simple and we get lost in theories….our elected representatives are self-serving and not to be trusted with anything….we need a big broom..the problem isn’t the system..it isn’t the parties…….. its the PEOPLE WE ELECTED….

  13. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 24 days ago

    Here’s a link to an article from 06 that talks of how employers are starting to see obesity as a work related issue:

    http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Atio/story?id=1426391

    Here’s some CNN news (which I know you think means its a pack of lies, but, so be it) :

    “Some people, however, bristle at what they perceive as having lifestyle choices dictated by an employer.

    “This May, for example, the University of Massachusetts Medical School banned all tobacco use from their campus and hospital, including parking lots. If an employee is caught smoking, they risk being fired.

    “‘They won’t even allow people to smoke in their cars,’ says James LeBlanc, 45, an employee at the university and himself an ex-smoker who kicked the habit prior to the ban. ‘We all know smoking is bad for you, but last time I checked it was still legal in this country.’

    “Some companies forbid their employees to light up at all – even at home. There are at least 20 states that allow for this type of work policy, including Ohio, where the state’s second-largest employer, the Cleveland Clinic, stopped hiring smokers in September.

    “In Massachusetts, Scott Rodrigues, was fired from Scotts Miracle-Gro Company – which bans its workers from smoking at all – after testing positive for nicotine. Rodrigues has sued the multibillion dollar corporation for an invasion of his privacy and civil rights. The case is still being decided in the Massachusetts courts. A spokesperson for Scotts Miracle-Gro said the company does not comment on pending litigation.”

    From http://tinyurl.com/yghtcpw

    This is from a Union so I’m sure that Fox news wouldn’t ever tell you about it.

    http://tinyurl.com/Then-there-s-this-one

  14. scottfreitas

    scottfreitasGenius_badge said, 24 days ago

    Testing for nicotine is silly. Ever heard of Camel “Snus?” There are tobacco products now which can be used in the workplace without lighting up, or spitting into a container, etc

    If someone wants to simply indulge in nicotine via hiding a tiny pouch of Camel “Snus” under their top lip, who cares?

    Whereas being obese is simply a stupid, destructive choice–hard on both the body and mind–no matter how you slice it.

  15. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 24 days ago

    You see Scott, you’re not about “Freedom” you’re about being able to make up your own rules.

    What the Right seems to hate is the idea that they have to live with rules including the rule that they can’t go around making up their own rules!

    And the bottom line is they really hate having to rent their apartments to black people! They hate having to hire black people while there are white people looking for a job! They hate having to promote black people to be the boss of white people! And they hate it when a black person who is just as lazy as they are get promoted when they don’t!

    Nothing cheeses off the right wing nutjob more than when somebody doesn’t check to their power! Give you hobnails a set of keys and you think you run the freaking place, no dude, you’re the freakin janitor! You’re a mall security guard! You’re not “protecting Democracy”, you’re a low paid employee of a government works program called the TSA! You’re not the front line defense against anarchy, you’re a freaking waitress on an airplane!

    You have no power. There is NO power for you! You are only a distraction, a diversion from the real world into your demented ego driven pit of dispair.

    Employers firing employees because they don’t live the way that the employer wants them to is a perversion of the market. You’re against perverts aren’t you? But not all perverts, just some?

  16. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 24 days ago

    http://preview.tinyurl.com/a-pinch-in-yur-cheek-n-gums

    What could it hurt?

    It occurs to me later that what you are saying with the SNUS suggestion is that it would be fine because if a person were using SNUS for their niccotine fix it wouldn’t disturb anyone else.

    What this means is that you are willing to buy into the idea that the reasoning behind banning cigarette smoking in the workplace (the second hand smoke issue) is valid. Ok, let’s say that it is valid and lets say that using SNUS viciates the issue. But then…. Why can’t the fatty be left alone too? What is it that she’s doing that disturbs someone else?

    As I said above, your issue is not that you want freedom for all, you just want to be free to impose your rules on others.

  17. sclark55

    sclark55Genius_badge said, 24 days ago

    Anybody ever thought of this? It’s not perfect but it’ll keep govt and insurance companies both out of the picture (other than some govt oversight).

    In each state, every healthcare provider is part owner of a full-service provider. Whether the providers are doctors, midwives, dentists, hospitals, maybe even dietitians (depending on broad decisions of state governments). There may be 5 to 50 such corporations in each state, depending on the size of the state. There has to be enough to encourage competition, since that is what makes the US health care system as good as it is. I think generally these would have to cover an entire state geographically. (Obviously there are issues like corporations that manufacture drugs for the whole country, etc.)

    Then, everybody has to have some of their pay siphoned off to the health care providing corporation of their choice. Obviously there have to be copays. Govt has to (carefully) subsidize those who aren’t working.

    Then the govt isn’t telling me to get a pain pill when I need an operation, but neither can an insurance company do anything like that. (What insurance company would we need?) With enough such corporations, people will have plenty of choices. No providers can start such a corp. w/out ensuring all facets of healthcare are covered (I spoz each state has to define “all facets of healthcare”.)

    The first problem I see is that this means doctors and others who prefer to be self-employed would lose that option, which they now enjoy. Also how do you get care outside your home state. But these can be addressed.

    I went the HSA route once and realized there was so much paperwork behind the scenes, overall the cost of health care didn’t go down, due to how insurance companies have to act, etc. It won’t be better if govt runs the show, deciding how much to spend, etc.

    Opinions?

  18. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 24 days ago

    “Opinions?”

    Yes, they are and not very good ones either.

    They’re not even full fledged ideas.

  19. motivemagus

    motivemagus said, 24 days ago

    scott, using tobacco products is also “a stupid, destructive choice–hard on both the body and mind–no matter how you slice it.” And hard on others, too, including the unborn, even if you are not providing passive smoke. And we’ve had data on that for decades and decades now.
    I’m not commenting on the main thread here, other than to point out that we are placing ourselves at the whim of companies’ coverage at this point in any case, and their main motive is profit.

  20. churchillwasright

    churchillwasright said, 24 days ago

    (un)REASONS: You take the ramblings of Scott, and then attribute them to the “right”?

    This is a person who would rescind the 19th Amendment (that’s women’s right to vote for you in Rio Linda).

    Are you out of your mind?

    If there is any party that is for onerous taxes to engineer what society does, and doesn’t do, and thinks, it is the Democrats. It is they who will extend these rights (or rather, infringement of rights) to corporations, just as they’ve extended them to school districts to disregard search and seizure. (Not that I give so-called Repubs a pass here. They just haven’t figured out how to debate with someone whose talking point is “but if it saves one child…”

    And then you use two examples from Mass., one from Uof Mass, to support your claims? Yeah, they’re the bastion of conservative thought.

    And your race-baiting vile is disgraceful. Straight out of “Rules for Radicals. Typical.

  21. HUMPHRIES

    HUMPHRIESGenius_badge said, 23 days ago

    Devout are we now churchill ??

  22. sclark55

    sclark55Genius_badge said, 23 days ago

    Churchill, you have to understand Reasons - he has pre-judged us all on the right, and it’s ok for him to pre-judge, since he’s on the left.

  23. a.c.d

    a.c.d said, 23 days ago

    The fact that they are trying to control your behaviour is nothing new or evil. Thats what all laws are, be they murder to speed limits. Now the issue is trying to enforce these laws in ways that people will follow them. We can do so by fines, taxes or inprisonment, corporal or death (depending on where you are). I dont see an issue with trying to get people to be healthier and more conscious through taxes. In fact, taxing individual evils would be a more effective a deterent and in fact could work to reduce income or property taxes.
    As a side note, I believe whole heartedly that there should be a sugar tax (because of fructose’s metabolic properties) but in America that would be a near impossibility thanks to the inpenetrable sugar cartel (which is heavily funded by the government, and vise versa).

  24. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 23 days ago

    Oh Churchill, you disappoint me!

    The oldest trick in the book “But he’s not a ‘true’ __” just like the Catholics do when they’re confronted with Torquemada. Just like the Evangelicals do when confronted with the laundry list of the fallen preachers.

    Scott is the right. Striper is the right. Perhaps they are the extreme right, but they are what the right has produced over the past three decades of hyper right rhetoric.

    They are following the examples of their leaders which is to say the most outrageous thing (thereby justifying their “Out rage”), the problem here is that there has been a 10% annual inflation rate for what is considered “Outrageous.”

    The right yanked the genii from the bottle and now you’re trying to say “Genii? What Genii? He’s not with me!”

    Hey you slept with the dogs, don’t blame me for noticing your fleas!

    As to your further blindness, dig! It is the aim of the NeoCon Revolutionaries to “Starve The Beast” which is to use spending and tax cuts to create an environment wherein there is not enough money to go around to the programs initiated by the New Deal. Look it up, I’m not making this up, you should know all about it by now anyway.

    It is the aim of the Neocon agenda to have people so taxed out that they are willing to give away long term benefits for short term cash flow. That is doing “for onerous taxes to engineer what society does, and doesn’t do, and thinks,” and that isn’t the Democrats.

    And then I use two examples from Ma. Ad Hominem much? What difference does it make that the examples are from Ma.? If anything it bolsters my position that it is foolish to be afraid of Government intrusion into personal habits while not being mindfull of corporate intrusion into personal habit. Even in a “Liberal” state like Ma.

    But you go on ahead and keep trying to tilt my arguments, there Don Quxiote!

  25. ReasonsVentriloquist

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 22 days ago

    OOOOOhhh. I feel bad.

  26. kat827618

    kat827618Genius_badge said, 22 days ago

    Great cartoon !!!

  27. cabrobst

    cabrobst said, 21 days ago

    Medicare for everyone who wants it.

  28. d_legendary1

    d_legendary1 said, 19 days ago

    That’s churchill admitting defeat