that's not a reputable source, that's a blog.

source?

If this is true, that's a party almost every night. Gotta love government waste.

Close... yes, I'm on a student loan program but not in the traditional sense - I have paid cash for every dime of my schooling up to this point because my parents made too much and I still had to claim their income even if I wasn't living with them. The federal gov is having issues with getting IT people that can attain a security clearance. Thus, they pay for school and give a small stipend and living expense check in exchange for a few years service with the government - kind of works like the GI bill. Either way, it does not kick in for another month or so.

however, I have zero income right now and am living off of my savings (there's a thought)... christmas shopping and all. I'm still waiting for my unemployment to kick in (because as much as I hate the program, I've paid in for 8 years so i'm not missing the opportunity to get some of that back) so I'll get something for an income.

As for my health insurance, if my employer ever offered it, I bought it. If they didn't, I used COBRA or found some provider to give me a higher deductible plan that at least covered emergency care. Even if that meant skipping a few concerts when I was younger or not eating out (or as in the case a few years ago, eating well) I still paid for it. $*it happens and I realize that. I'm still waiting for my COBRA paperwork and when it comes, I'll adjust my budget to allow for that too. I've used it before in that timeframe where I'm not eligible for my new benefits and I'll use it now as long as I can until I finish this next degree. Unless I can find a "major issue" only policy on the cheap.


However, I do not see how my position alters anything in the grand scheme of things other than my personal opinion. Even if I had some major life illness, my opinion would not change on the public option or in government regulating healthcare in many of the ways they are discussing. I believe reform needs to happen to stop all the double-billing and procedural issues as well as start with tort reform, but i cannot support a plan that will ultimately lay the groundwork for a single-payer medical plan. It is against every single economic ideal I have.

no, you proved nothing as usual. you regurgitated information like a good little boy and didn't bother to read the data...again.

Look at the column titled "responsiveness." As a whole, that level for the US is #1. That means we have the best designed system implemented for medical response (dignity, autonomy, confidentiality, communication, prompt attention, access to social support networks during care, quality of basic amenities, and choice of provider are the different sections judged). that is more important to me than everyone having healthcare. I'd rather know that when something has to be done that it can be done.

So because healthcare is not 100% distributed, we lost points on the test. Try reading what you post sometime and don't just give a list of numbers.

If you'd like more info at why our health sucks, read up a few pages to my response to Fanta. Health in america is not a failure of the system, it is a failure in all of us.

Seriously... The fact he worked for the treasury and refers to that as trickle up economics is scary. I mean, it's an econ 101 term and he screwed it up!

Either way it is a totally biased and incomplete argument completely based away from logic. I'm not a huge supporter of any of our recent wars but this "surge" is not going to kill healthcare reform. The bill will hopefully kill itself.

Also, goldman was not the reason for the crash, it was that congress empowered them to guarantee all those securities. Congress is the root of the problem there.

The money cannot be paid back so long as we are running a deficit. This is why ss and medicare are essentially bankrupt. There are IOUs and an annual budget, but since we are borrowing hand over fist, "repayment" would just have to be done with borrowed or printed money. That is the problem.

As for healthcasr, take this for example:
You have high cholesterol and just survived a heart attack.
What is the #1 thing the doctor tells you to do?

Change your lifestyle.

Run, walk, bike, lay off the fast food, be healthy. Sure, meds can help but major lifestyle changes will make the largest difference. Right now, we have the highest obesity rate in the world. We live increasingly sedintary lifestyles full of junk and fast food. There is nowhere in the world that has the access to cars and fast food that we do. I mean, most of europe doesn't even have a car. They walk everywhere and can do so due to the organization and structure of their society.

I can understand the comparison you are trying to make, but healthcare is ultimately rooted in the health of the society. If you start high on health, it's not as hard or expensive to maintain that level. When you have higher need, there exists higher demand and higher costs like here in the US.

Swing and a miss...

If you can't comprehend what I posted, it's not my fault. We have the highest level of healthcare in the world. Just because the distribution isn't as good does not mean that I can't receive the highest quality of care here.

Social security never turns a profit. What you have is a whole lot of IOUs and no cash. I know you haven't the slightest clue about finance so I'm not going to explain how this works again.

I think it is the other way around. Technology and credit have become so accessible that those things only available to the upper class are now attainable by those in the middle and even lower classes.

I don't know how many guys working construction I'd see with their big lifted F-350 on 37" tires towing a huge fifth wheel or loaded toy hauler. The kids learn by example. It is no longer the days of "we can't afford that," it's the days of just putting it all on credit to keep up with the neighbors and the kids get accustomed to the lifestyle.

Finding out that lifestyle was a lie is a hard truth to comprehend.

"Listen up, maggots. You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else."

-Tyler Durden


I agree though. Didn't even read the article but this generation is all about me. They don't want to work for anything and expect everyone to take care of them. There's a few political things I want to say about this but I'll just shut up now and keep it on topic.

except that we are not like any one of those nations. yeah, we're close to canada, but we still live different lifestyles and have far different structure. We develop far more technologies and medications. We perform far more complex procedures and develop far more new procedures.

Apples and oranges. Other nations cannot be used to prove it will work or that it won't work. All comparisons must be "all else equal" to be valid... that will never happen in this case.


Also, check out who is #1 on the quality of care. us. if you take distribution out, we're the best in the world. That's just fine with me.


Also, gallup is still showing 49% against, 44% for. so... how can most want the public option if the majority doesn't even want the bill?


Lastly, you flag the government as so great citing the military, social security, and the military...

Do you realize that the military goes over budget every year, Social Security has not had any liquiid capital for many years (basically bankrupt with a lot of assets), and the post office hasn't been in the black this century. Sounds like they're great at this whole money thing.

and 8 years ago, it made sense to be there because we were after those that attacked us. now, intellgience shows there are less than 100 of them in afghanistan - they're now in pakistan along the border. Afghanistan has not been a righteous war for some time now.

so my question for you is should we attack Pakistan too? On your logic, it sounds like we should...

And the reason I don't believe in the draft is that while we enjoy certain freedoms, I do not believe dying for someone else's beliefs and desires. If we were geneuinely attacked and our freedoms had to be defended, I would fight; however, right now, there is nothing to do with our freedoms in Afghanistan and we're just looking at Vietnam part II right now. We leave, they come back. Guess we'll have to occupy yet another nation for eternity.

And before you jump off saying I won't do anything for my freedoms... in a year and a half, I'll be working for the DOD working on their IT security and surveilence. Yeah, not as glamourous as running around with a gun but it serves the same end purpose.

yeah, and they came in by the natural cycle. They'll leave by the natural cycle too and there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

except the one place on the planet that doesn't go through this cycle is the area by the ice sheets...ok...yeah...



that's convenient.

it's a good thing it's not real then. Otherwise my gf's cousin may not have his apartment in 100 years.

well right-to-work is definitely one thing I support. It's not the unions that I hate, it's that the government has to protect them like here in CA. The unions are the reason why our state is failing. When the prison guard union has a few thousand members making six figures, there's something wrong. When the legislators (democratic this time) are on the cellular with the unions as they are discussing budget cutbacks with republicans, there's something wrong.

The only time I am 100% against unions is in the public sector.

so what, no defense from all you climate change folks?

You should come to california. The unions have our state by the short 'n curlies.

good to know... i'll have to try that next time.

I just realized that ubuntu now has an x64 version and it's 9.1 now. I may just have to dual-boot. The MS stuff is really just for learning the programs for when I get this other degree i'm at least familiar with them. i really love the LAMP style with ubuntu though. a basic install and it's all set - slow as all hell computer (10 years old now) and it still runs like a champ.

Ouch... good luck with that one lol. I'll definitely let you know. I was loving 7 until this morning when i tried to run illustrator for some web graphics and i ran as badly as my storage server now would run it (666mhz P2, 512mb SDRAM ouch!). i realize it's a netbook, but a 1.6 with hyperthreading (i think... i don't believe x86 atom processors are dual-core) should do better. Maybe it's because 7 uses half the 1GB of ram on its own lol.