State of the Union by Carl Moore

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Radical-Knight said, 3 months ago

Whoopsie!!!
Radical-Knight said, 3 months ago

Got Breakfast Burritos with Eggs, Sausage, Potatoes and Hot Sauce. Jalapenos in the little cup should you want any. Sour Grapes? just humor and meant in fun I’m sure. I also noticed, Shaliach, you removed your comment, I thought it was most entertaining.

Guten Nacht.

EDIT - Couple of posts missing that was before this one.
Shaliach said, 3 months ago

Rad

Breakfast sounds very tasty. I deleted yesterday’s comment about the breakfast menu because FLS deleted his opening comment which basically rendered my comment meaningless.

The original comment was:

I notice that it’s customary for the first person that posts on Big Top to provide a breakfast menu for everyone that follows. FLS, that would be you.

So, what’s on the menu today? (And you can’t cheat by copying and pasting the Big Top menu.)

Maybe FLS doesn’t do breakfast?!
slug_queen said, 3 months ago

Mark, the USPS is technically independent. It receives ~0~ tax dollars.

And when you consider the sheer volume of materials it handles, it does a pretty bleeep good job. Here’s a few numbers:

203 billion Total mail volume processed in 2008, in pieces

667 million Average amount of mail processed each day

28 million Average amount of mail processed each hour

463,000 Average amount of mail processed each minute

7,700 Average amount of mail processed each second

46 Percentage of the world’s card and letter mail volume
handled by the United States Postal Service

835 million Number of pieces of international mail processed

2.1 billion Dollar amount paid every two weeks in salaries and benefits

656,000 Number of career employees

221,000 Number of vehicles in our fleet — the largest civilian fleet in the world

1.2 billion Number of miles driven each year by our letter carriers and professional truck drivers

121 million Number of gallons of fuel used in 2008

32,741 Number of Post Offices™ nationwide

14 Percent of the nation’s population that moves annually

46 million Number of address changes processed every year

1.2 million Number of people who visit usps.com® each day

442 million Revenue from online stamp and retail sales at usps.com

8.5 million Number of passport applications accepted in 2008

597,000 Average number of Postal Service Money Orders issued daily

510 million Revenue from nearly 92 million transactions on 2,500 Automated Postal Centers® in 2008

56,659 Number of stores and banks that sell postage stamps

1.2 million Number of new delivery points added to the network in 2008

0 Tax dollars received for operating the Postal Service

And funny thing- my mail arrives just fine. It was UPS that lost a bunch of expensive books of mine last month. And not the first time, either.
slug_queen said, 3 months ago

Good grief! This place has the twitchiest censors! They bleeped d.a.r.n!
HUMPHRIES said, 3 months ago

slug-queen, you can lie here, but it’s important to spell correctly and avoid “profanity” while doing so.
sablebrush5 said, 3 months ago

After the last two recessions, the unemployment rate kept climbing for more than a year, giving rise to the term jobless recovery. The rate didn’t peak until 15 months after the recession ending in 1991, and 19 months following the one ending in 2001. Will this recovery also be a “jobless recovery”?

With these enormous debts and spending jags, it is not hard to picture interest rates spiking, investment pulling back, risk-taking crawling to a halt and the result being “stagflation” - inflation with economic stagnation, a genuine bummer.

If this happens, Obama’s approval numbers will continue to crater. Any president’s status in the eyes of voters is directly tied to the unemployment rate. As long as that rate falls, Obama is good. If it flattens out for a prolonged period he will become vulnerable. And Nov., 2010, is only 15 months away.

Many economists of both the left and right forsee a recovery but a jobless one. That the White House is sweatting this out goes without saying.
GJ_Jehosaphat said, 3 months ago

Unemployment - Like a Wild Fire Burning Thru the Dried Up Economy Left to US by the Previous Administration. We’ve been Bush-Wacked! & It’s Not Funny.

Is this Sour Grapes? Add some sugar & yeast to the grapes. Let it ferment a while & you’ll have some wine.

Another use for Sour Grapes - Add some sugar & pectin to the grapes then heat up till you make some grape jelly.

I’m one of the Unemployed - I’m in agreement with sablebrush5 this morning. Looks like one of those “jobless recoveries” (again). Too bad we can’t just add some “sweetener” to make an Economy Gone Sour into something Sweet for EveryOne…

Fortunately I’ve got some savings, rental income & a garden to get by till the jobs outlook improves. I’m one of those so-called “Liberals” because I Care about Others & not just myself. Selfishness & Greed got US into this mess!
SQUIDBREAKER said, 3 months ago

Can you imagine the amount of hot air that filled that ballon which is now being dispersed into the environment?

——————————————————-
@ RAD< Shaliach > FLS:

If I ever have to serve breakfast, it will be Pep cereal.

“Where there’s Pep, there’s iron.”

I keep looking for the 9-iron in the cereal box.

A.
10ZEPHYR01 said, 3 months ago

Ironic, the unemployment rates are in fact increasing with the amount of drug users in America. And it might actually end up being an over sized needle that busts this administration. I hate junkies…
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

Obama’s job efficiency and what is on the minds of the American public are two different questions.

Obama ran on a platform of long-term change. In office, he has addressed the foundational problems of our economy and foreign policy. He is attempting a paradigm shift in ideology. That’s the kind of “change” he operates his presidency on. And in that regard, the astute observer will note that Obama has made all the right moves.

However, poll numbers are a reflection of what is going on in the respondents kitchen at the moment. Americans either can not or will not look past their current plight to recognize the changing climate (in all senses of the word). Unemployment is the immediate problem that may not be fixed immediately, but one day, Americans will wake up to a stronger economy, and they will have President Obama to thank for that.

They will also, MarkTrail, have a stronger healthcare system because the Obama plan will create competition, not negate it. You are simply lying when you suggest that any plan currently in Washington wants to create a government run system. Think safety net and fallback option, not first option. If I were you,MarkTrail, I wouldn’t bash the system because you may need it one day to surgically remove your foot from your mouth and your head from your …
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

zephyr …

The “drug users are ruining America” way of thinking is so … 1980’s.

If you want to be current in your absolute obtuseness and ignorance, your punchline would include references to nanny states and welfare checks.
mroberts88 said, 3 months ago

This strip is pretty much spot on. Unemployment is rising, and the liberal media has nothing but good to say about Obama.
10ZEPHYR01 said, 3 months ago

Mr WEDITOR
Wait? So you are saying that the increase of drug abuse has nothing to do with unemployment? Maybe it’s just my area but there is a significant increase of H. Junkies and drug addicts. At some point the effects of unemployment will need to be dealt with.
jmworacle said, 3 months ago

You detractors of “The Benevolent One” should thank your lucky stars he hasn’t called down the heavens to rain chaos on you. Oh, the meds must be wearing off, if he is so conifedent in his ability to convince people that his healthcare policy is right for this country why are his “townhall” meetings stacked with his supporters?

Farleftside, if I am not mistaken, Mr. Murdoch created the FOX network he did not purchase it.
DavidDow said, 3 months ago
1. WHAT “liberal media”?? America’s mass media are conservative. They are big business, and they cotton to the interests of the wealthy over the interests of the middle- & working-classes & of the disadvantaged. America’s mass media prefer sound bites over analysis. Thus, they turn complex issues–like healthcare (which everyone in the media has)–into simplistic mottoes.
2. Satipera & FarLefty, you are in agreement. Please don’t squabble.
3. Satipera, not telling you what to do, but you should ignore Someguy. His remarks are utterly without redeeming social value. His sources are filled with lies & prejudice; thus, his remarks are the same.
This “Hussein” business is risible. People use President Obama’s middle name to associate him with the “great enemy to the U.S.A.”, Saddam Hussein. Those who do this forget that right after the U.S. won its freedom from Great Britain, it elected a president of the same ethnicity (English) & with the same name (George) as the tyrant who had oppressed Americans when we were colonies. After Bush-Dick lied to us to create a bloody, oily, money-squandering fiasco in Iraq, what could be more appropriate that we elect a president who shares the name with the so-called enemy? Obama is no more connected to Saddam Hussein than Washington was to George III, but maybe Obama can, like Washington, help restore a country brought to its knees by poor leadership.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago
Mikey I am going to correct you one by one.
1. We elected a black president so this is about racism. No. The opposing party had two black secretary of states and a black chairman of joint chief. Yes one of the secretaries of state was the same guy who was chairman, but gasp Republicans are not racists. It is true. If you want to see racism. Go to Europe, Africa, China, or anywhere. Europe treats it’s Turks like something we did in the 50’s. Africa you can be killed by just being in the wrong tribe, forget about race bigotry. China will jail a North Korean for just coming to the country. Iraq one of the places I have been to, the Sunni, Shia and Kurds are after each other for religion and resources. God help you if you are a Christian there.
2. Barack media machine is as good as anyone’s. He has brought out a lot of stuff himself. Remember, “he is younger got a funny name oh and did I mention he was black” comment. He played the race card.
3. Barack was given every thing he asked for from 700 billion dollars and the GM and Chrysler corp. That makes this his economy. He likes to say it is his or he inherited what ever he likes at the time. He acquired enough of our money in six months that yes it is his.
4. The indifference to politics is right on though.
5. Now please notice I don’t think I insulted you once or made a single sarcastic comment. Please keep that in mind.
DavidDow said, 3 months ago

Woracle, President Obama’s meeting was full of supporters because people wanted to hear him speak & because most Americans want health-care reform, which is the reason that the puppet minority has to be so vocal & violent: they are so small.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

WebEditor

The reason for Obama’s falling numbers is 1.6 trillion sticker shock on health care. If what Obama is doing is correct why then has it failed everywere else.
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

Come with it Jack …

Where has it failed? Where? No where. Because the health care proposals being made now are unprecedented.

No other country in the world is on scale with the United States in terms of population mass and system of government. Nor is there anywhere else in the world that has a such a blended private-public system as ours.

Our system is entirely unique. There is no analogous system. And, therefore, the proposals being made are unique solutions to a unique system.

By the way, in case you are interested, the social system of medicine – that is, completely government run – is highly successful in France. Actually, the French system is the best in the world. But that’s not the system the Obama plan suggests.

But if you were referring to the “one payer system” (which, again, is not what the Obama plan equates to) then that system works just fine in Canada. And before you jump on the Canada analogy, you should know that the non-governmental World Health Organization ranks the Canadian system as superior to the United States in terms of delivery of care, access and price.

You did get one thing right. The sticker shock. And that’s all the outcry is about. Its the immediate, short sighted concern. The rest of the health care shock relates to people who don’t know the actual facts of the plan attempting to comment on it.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

WebEditor
Ok I am not sure were you are coming from. The U.S recovery rate for patients is 9% higher then in Europe. So no we have the best in the world not France. People come over here when they can not get help fast enough. When Medicare and Medicaid started that is when our prices started going up and has out paced inflation ever sense.

If the one payer system is working in Canada then why are they opening private clinics like hot cakes in Canada. To be honest Canada and Europe is trying to become more like us.

Web to be honest there is a lot of bad info on both sides of this debate.

Also here are two articles they dispute each other please decide for yourself.

http://smartgirlnation.com/2009/06/01/popular-ranking-unfairly-misrepresents-the-us-health-care-system/

Sorry could not find the second link I was looking for.
dkalloch said, 3 months ago

I like eggs
SQUIDBREAKER said, 3 months ago

@ GJ_:

We don’t need a ship because there is never going to be a worldwide flood again.

We just need good shades and a big glass of ice tea to ride out the next storm, which should shed lots of light in all the right places….. and even the wrong places.

SOS not needed. Its well-grounded in the sand.

A.
Lewreader said, 3 months ago

Why after he paid our tax dollars to bail out auto unions and corporations did he then feel the need to pay the down payment on their product? Wish he would buy stock in small companies too. We can afford higher taxes or at least borrow the money from foreigners until our children can
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

“The U.S recovery rate for patients is 9% higher then in Europe.”

A metric for quality of care. Not for delivery or access or cost or price. What good is good health if only some people can get it? Measurements of health care systems account for quality AS WELL AS delivery. That statistic is a vast, vast over simplification.

France is widely (WIDELY!) acknowledged as the best heath care system in the world. Even by US physicians and US health care experts and leaders. Their system is so far superior that it is, literally, the envy of the world.

They are opening private clinics in Canada because … they can. Guess what? Wealthy Canadians can pay out of pocket for service. Just like here in the US with the advent of boutique medicine. Private clinics are not an indication of a bad system; they are a reaction to market forces and the potential for profit.

Canada and Europe have no interest in becoming anything like America with regard to health care. That is simply a ludicrous statement. No one wants a system that is bloated by cost, accessible only by the wealthy and well-to-do, and overly restrictive with regard to innovation.

People come over here to get care … do you mean America? Well. Sure. But people go over there, too. And by there, I mean that many an American travels outside of these borders to go get care they can’t get here. And to get procedures far, far cheaper than they do here. Or procedures that have been denied by insurance companies. Look up the term “medical vacations.”

Cost of health care is multifactorial, and escalating cost started with the instillation of managed care, not with Medicare and Medicaid. Those are government funded programs. Cost escalation is a factor resulting from private market forces. Redundancies, inefficiencies, litigation … these are some of the factors that have contributed to high cost. Where do you get the idea that Medicare and Medicaid have had anything to do with the high cost of health care? Those are access programs and are intended to be safety nets.

Cost of care, by the way, is different than the price to individuals. The price paid by individuals and the government for care is disproportionate to the cost. Managed care offers a cheaper price for heath, but it does not address the cost of health. Historically, cost has risen, and in response, price has risen, although not proportionally. Price has risen much faster than cost, and that’s why systems like Medicare and Medicaid are tragically failing. Government funded programs can only afford so much cost, and the price they have to pay is unduly burdensome.

Hence, the calls for reforms that will lower the cost of health care. Cost correction will lead to price reduction. Price reduction will lead to greater access (not to mention less burden on small and large business). And greater access will lead to an improvement in the overall state of health care in America. Only then will our health care system be in the same stratosphere as the French system, the Japanese system, the UK system or any other industrialized nation in the world.

It’s really a shame that you seem only to source the evidence that supports your predetermined viewpoint, because you seem like you genuinely want to know about this.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

Ok here is an article that explains why the WHO system is stacked in the government favor.

http://www.cato.org/pubdisplay.php?pubid=9259

Of the 5 measurements the WHO uses only two are directly linked to health care the others are only indirectly related to health care.
mytinytown said, 3 months ago

satipera4
“This business of always using Obama’s middle name because it makes him sound like a Muslim just would not happen here. It is reprehensible and an encouragement to hate.”
Fortunately it is our amendment right to free speech.
If you can eliminate free speech you can get away with anything. This is why the USA has the oldest working government in the world. Some very intelligent repressed ENGLISHMEN made it due to your countries hate filled government even as far back as the late 1700’s.
GNWachs said, 3 months ago

Problems arising within the French system. Remember this is the country where workers/unions closed everything down because someone suggested a 35 hour work week rather than a 32 hour one. The french are different but..

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/05/06/ED0K17F7GO.DTL

http://blogs.abcnews.com/johnstossel/2009/08/more-problems-with-french-health-care.html
mytinytown said, 3 months ago

satipera4
This is a public forum, so it need to be kept clean and personal attacks need to stay out. FYI I flag ALL person attacks. Personal attacks on each other in a public forum should not be tolerated by anyone. But when pointed to an elected official it opens things up a bit. As long as you do not slander. As liberals STILL do to Bush.
So do you have any issue with fls slamming Bush every other day? Because Obama’s middle name is Hussein whether you like it or not and calling Obama “B Hussein” is pretty much the same as calling Bush Dubaya as liberals love to do. Except Hussein IS his name and Dubaya is an insult on his name and IS HATE SPEECH if you want to call B Hussein hate speech.
The only different is the shoe is on the other foot. It is hate when a republican attacks a liberal, but OK if a liberal attacks a republican and it is a fact that when a liberal attacks it is far more violent.
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

GNWachs …

Yeah. There are problems with the French system. That does not negate the fact their system is better. No system is perfect. I think anybody would acknowledge that fact. What’s your point?

BTW … why the mention of unions? What kind of bias are you trying to perpetuate? Or use to your advantage in your argument? I wonder why you felt it was necessary to bring up facts not in question …

(I hope you followed the whole thread here; my point about the US system is that it is not tops in the world, and that we do not want to nor should we adopt the French system. I don’t see how casting doubts on the French system at all changes the argument. The mention seems to be off topic.)
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

Jack …

That’s it? That’s all you respond with? A broken link from a web page sponsored by a Libertarian think tank? And you think a Libertarian think tank would say anything but negative thoughts about government?

You’re going to have to do better than that.

If you think that delivery of care is not directly related to health care, then you know nothing about health care. And if you think delivery is not directly related to cost, price and availability, then you are obtuse, a naysayer, a contrarian, or all of the above.

It’s quite simple, really. We get good care in the US. But, what is the value of good care if you can’t get access? I would suggest that if you can’t get access, then it really doesn’t matter what anyone says about how good the health care is. In fact, if you don’t have access, I would say that you have bad health care. How can you disagree with that?

(And what’s your point here anyway? Are you suggesting we should just leave health care alone? That there’s nothing to fix? All you have said so far is that the US is best, which is completely unsubstantiated, no matter how you look at it.)
sablebrush5 said, 3 months ago

One of many myths about the Canadian Healthcare system.

“We have a partially free market in the US where drug companies spend a ton to develop new wonder drugs.

The cost of this development is called a “fixed cost.” Once it’s developed it does not cost that much to make each pill. That’s called a “variable cost.” If people only paid the variable cost for each pill, the whole thing would not work. The drug company would never get back the massive fixed cost of creating the drug in the first place, and so no company would try to develop one. Thus, manufacturers have to, and do, charge more than the variable cost of making each pill.

Some look at this system and say to the drug companies “gee, it doesn’t cost you much to make one more pill, so it’s unfair that you charge much more than your cost.” They are completely wrong and not looking at all the costs.

The Canadians are paying well below normal costs. Drug companies that spent the enormous fixed costs to create new miracles are charging a relatively high cost in the free and still largely competitive world (the US) to recoup their fixed cost and to make a profit. But socialist societies like Canada limit the price they are allowed to charge. The US-based company is then faced with a dilemma. What Canada will pay is not enough to ever have justified creating the miracle pill. But, once created, perhaps Canada is paying more than the variable cost of each pill. Thus, the company can make some money by also selling to Canada at a lower price; as it’s still more than it costs them to make that last pill.

If we all tried to be Canada, it’s a non-working perpetual motion machine and no miracle pills ever get made because there will be nobody to pay the fixed costs.

When it comes to pharmaceuticals, Canadians, and indeed, all the European healthcare systems as well, are subsidized by Americans. Drug companies in general sell their products to Canada and Europe at low prices, making a little profit, and reducing slightly the amount they need to charge us.

This does create the silly illusion that the Canadian system is somehow better than ours because our own drugs are cheaper there. They are only cheaper to the extent we are subsidizing them by paying their portion of drug development costs and, unfortunately, we cannot subsidize ourselves.”

Excerpted from a piece by Clifford Asness, Ph.D… You can read the entire article here:

http://www.stumblingontruth.com/
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

satipera …

Surprised you didn’t jump on this nugget offered by ‘mytinytown’

”This is why the USA has the oldest working government in the world.”

Oldest in the world? I think a few centuries of history might dispute that fact.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

Web
When you are sick all you are going to want is a doctor to fix it.
The Metric of %9 is huge. Because think about it every one will be covered. So all of that %9 drop, those we will lose, will be the ones best able to server. They will be the Doctors the engineers the doers who can help society

Second Tiny is right. We are the oldest Government you are thinking Country.
GNWachs said, 3 months ago

@WebEditor

In the US 8% of all non government workers belong to a union. That means 92% don’t. Since it is a zero sum game whenever a union gets special consideration 92% of Americans pay for it.

Of course a libertarian think tank would offer alternative views. Don’t liberal think tanks do so similarly? I don’t arbitrarily dismiss all ideas promulgated by liberal think tanks because of the source. i evaluate them. Why don’t you evalutate libertarian views similarly?

@Tiny sincere question what does “flag” a post mean and do?
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

Jack …

“When you are sick all you are going to want is a doctor to fix it. ”

That’s all I was able to understand. The rest is unintelligible.

But you just made my point. You get sick. You want a doctor. You don’t get a doctor, then you get sicker. So a good system lets you get to a doctor. A bad system _.
SQUIDBREAKER said, 3 months ago

@dkalloch:

never ask for spam with your eggs. Pep goes Ok with it though.
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

sablebrush …

Correct. Pharma has to recoup cost in the market price. Also correct that drugs cost more in the US to recoup cost from non-US systems that don’t pay a high price.

But cheaper Canadian drugs are not the totality of why the system is “better.” The example presented merely begs the question (that a demonstration of cheaper price is equitable to a good system; conversely, that exposing the fallacy of the cheaper price somehow equates to a “not good” system).

I don’t think you show a “Myth of the Canadian System” so much as you demonstrate the complexities of cost and price inherent to drug development.

I think I’ve been pretty consistent in saying that cost must be lowered in the US health care system. And that does include the cost of drug development.

And it would be disingenuous not to point out that the bloated US prices for drugs also must account for marketing costs that are unique to the United States. The price of any given drug in the the US is inflated by the cost of making commercials, funding thinly veiled marketing seminars disguised as education, and selling commodities that should, by the nature of medicine and good science, sell themselves.

Just as an afterthought, many pharmaceutical companies have realized the obscene cost of developing drugs in the US. And so they develop them in other locales, recoup their investment, and then bring it to the United States. Thus, the US is often last to get new drugs. That kind of says to me (better drugs are being offered to non-US patient) that the highest quality care is not necessarily being delivered to US patients.

And so, one of the myths about the US health care system is that the US is home to the most cutting edge medicine, when in fact, most of the latest and greatest is being developed outside the United States.
WebEditor said, 3 months ago

GNWachs …

I still say, “So what?”

What do these facts you present mean? Do they even relate to this discussion? What’s your context?

Union health care is a zero sum gain? I don’t understand what that means. And why? Because they can force insurance, through mass buying power, to offer a lower price? A price, I might add, that is more in line with the cost of care? That simply capitalistic competition. Insurance companies simply pass that difference along to the other “92%” because there is no competition for insurance. They pass that cost along because consumers have no choice.

For the record, I reject liberal think tanks. I reject any and all zealotry. I evaluate them for their merit, but then I make up my own mind. I took issue with someone offering as complete fact a source that was admittedly biased.
GNWachs said, 3 months ago

Liberals have often asked for what alternative Libertarian/free marketers propose. This is the #1 emailed article from today’s WSJ. To me very reasonable. Something I could support.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204251404574342170072865070-email.html
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

Web
Sorry I did not have enough time earlier. And because of it I have been jumped on every time I used a misspelled word. I don’t know where you are getting your info. I have never heard anyone say that France had the best medicine. As for the American Medial Association they are not even Doctors. It is true they are mostly clerks taking down every medical survey and making a bunch of info come out anyway they want. There are like only 100 or so doctors working for the AMA. Please try to read both sides. Like I said earlier there is a lot of bad info on both sides.

As for some of your other points we should not leave it alone. We can find out why the cost of health care is going up and up. It started about 30 years ago when they created Medicare and then more with Medicaid years later. Cut back on Medicaid for the healthy in there younger years Medicare to. Like the original plan called for. Change the retirement age to 70 so people can work longer and contribute more. We are living longer it is fair to ask people to work longer. Ask people to pay more for there health care. I pay $150 a month for my coverage and my company pays the other ½. It is pretty good insurance to. I even have a prepaid medical card, legal services and a life insurance policy.

Yes the wealthy in Canada can afford private clinics. The wealthy can afford. The middle class and the poor are also using it when they have to. People are waiting up to a year for some treatments. If you are dying or in a great deal of pain you will find the money. I know Canada is a very nice country but the rich would only account for one or two Clinics in a city. Canada is opening a lot more.

As for delivery a good question when has this country ever had a problem of delivery. As for innovation we are still the most innovative people in the world. As for people going overseas lets look at the most famous one of all Farah Fawcett don’t care what you think of her personally. She went to France Gasp for gene therapy and wound up first in a Coma then Dead several months later.

As for your other comments as a whole lay off the insults no one wants to here them please.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

Web it is very simple:
As for the 9% point the poor will be better off true the ones who are more capable will suffer so if a man wants to be a Doctor and dies he will not be able to help any of us. We all lose.

The second comment is simple a Government is a function. A country is a area on the Map. Both can have a culture.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

I am done for the day.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

Sorry saw GNWachs post. My vote for today’s best link. Now I am done. Love that Wall Street Journal.
jack75287 said, 3 months ago

I had to come back with this one.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?mavenreferralObject=8130464&mavenreferralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/

Don’t know what went on here you will have to copy and paste.
KingRat said, 3 months ago

farleftside said,

At which point he gave away Fox News for FREE to cable stations. Now he charges for it.

Yes, that’s how drug dealers work, too.

I don’t know how old you are but when Fox News first came to cable there was already a 800,000,000 pound gorilla in the 24 hour news market (CNN) and number of cable operators wouldn’t even take it when it was free (for a reason I agree with: do we even need one 24 hour news channel let alone two?)

as far as the drug dealer comment is concerned I recently got a coupon in the mail for a FREE box of Boca Burgers does that mean that vegan food outfits are drug dealers too?
GJ_Jehosaphat said, 3 months ago

Cool - My SOS posts are MIA - Musta been effective striking a nerve target.

I thought maybe it was EMIT from his remark:
“SOS not needed. Its well-grounded in the sand.”

But then mytinytown was “OUT-ed” for all his flagging - which is more funny (strange) with his comment:
“Fortunately it is our amendment right to free speech.
If you can eliminate free speech you can get away with anything”

So if one gets “Flagged” by Right Wing Ditto (SOS) Heads - then I must be doing something right!

For folks coming in after previous comments deleted - SOS a common term for Creamed Chipped Beef On Toast (aka S#!% On a Shingle OR Same Old S#!%). Menu items were mentioned by other commentors. Mytinytown must be having a ball being a ball-busting flagger.
DavidDow said, 3 months ago

Jack & WebEd., I appreciate your attempts to argue from facts, not ignorance & prejudice, but please cite sources for these facts.

WebEd., your response about the Canadian phenomenon is correct. Nothing in the Canadian system— or in any system known to humanity—will stop the wealthy from purchasing the best health care for themselves. A single-payer system, like those in Canada & in many European countries, would be best for America. I wish that President Obama & Congress would enact such. Why can’t all Americans have the health care that our elected representatives enjoy? They have government-run single-payer health-care. The rest of us should, too.

You are also correct, WebEd., that none of the countries with universal health care would want to be like the U.S. The rest of the developed world laughs at our inefficient, bloated, wasteful system.

Thanks, too, WebEd., for your words on pharmaceuticals. Whence is your information?

Jack, an article from the Cato Institute will argue against any government-run health-care, even Medicare. The Cato Institute is a radical libertarian forum: it believes solely in the sanctity of private property. Given its druthers, we would have no city, state, or national parks, no public education, no police force. It’s hardly the place to go for a serious article evaluating a public-run program.

TinyT., didn’t you see my remark. Those who use Obama’s middle name associate him with Washington. Obama becomes more presidential, not less.

Wachs, John Stossel’s blog is hardly a suitable source. He represents the right-wing mainstream media, and he is a meat-puppet. He has no qualifications to evaluate any health-care system. Your ranting against unions is without substance. Unions do not force higher costs on the rest of us. Thanks, though, for John Mackey’s article. Mackey is a sleazeball, but his article makes some good points. One could easily incorporate some of his suggestions into a larger tax reform bill. In addition, I’m glad to know that you have shed meat-eating & will live almost solely on fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes, & grains.

In conclusion, please everyone: Don’t flag one another. Let all the comments live. They do no harm.

State of the Union by Carl Moore

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