Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Woo Hoo
Which Obama shows up.... tonight.

CHANGE CHANGE We need CHANGE

Craig - What kool-aid are you drinking today? Or is this sarcastic trap for tonight?

You are correct - the vote was as much against something as for Obama.
Please -No comparison of JFK and Obama - Stop it... JFK - What can you do for your Country - a great record and leadership, values that are strong in what built America. Not A lib like his brother Ted.

Obama - What can your country give to you. A Progressive socialistic sloppy administration that shares the ideals of a college student with no experience - and a dangerous authority to bankrupt our economic system.

The world might have looked to Obama - but they have already given up on him. Look at the Dollar ! The global vote of confidence is in and Mr. Obama and the Pelosi / Reid Congress has put our country in decline towards last place.

So you say Tonight he must choose? No ! choice was long ago and who he is has been developed over the years. Tonight is a SHOW. The prompter is set, the script is being fine tuned - the last polls evaluated. Put your hands on your wallet.

We have a good Country that can be better - To bad Obama sees the evil and not the good. We learned a lesson in this last election.

One Term - House cleaning of 2010

"We run our own country"

who is this "we"?

Oi vey.

Propelled to office by a surge of optimistic new voters and young people, Obama widened the universe of citizens who want to get involved in civic affairs due to his anti-war rhetoric and hope that marijuana would be legalized.

was tempted to employ the old tonto line in above response but tho't it too early to introduce racism and sexism into the conversation thus adding to ping's dramatic emoting. suffice it to say that "we" nowadays looks more and more like greedy corpulent corporate types and not your huddled masses yearning to be free.

"Whaddya mean ' we '...........you got a frog in your pocket?"

---Warren Beatty in "McCabe and Mrs. Miller"

Morn'n to all...
Dramatic emoting !! Love it...
Sturg..
That is no Frog - It is a Jamaican Marley Cigar !

The good news today - Beatles Everywhere. Maybe I-tunes

Off to my Capitalistic funding the innovations that will save us in the future world.

And, tomorrow?-----THE HAMMER!

Craig

It is unfair to compare a man to a myth.
Kennedy never got his major legislation passed either.

Jack

Well, at least we all agree.

I disagree.........

Cbob.......Tom Brokaw Reports: "Along Highway 50"

It's been leaked that tonight Obama will (once again) strongly advocate a public option.

You know, the public option that he said "must" be a part of health care reform during the campaign, but that he said was "not essential" after he got elected.

So, tonight, he wants his bargaining chip back, probably so he can give it up again next week.

Moi, aussi.

Jack, despite his abbreviated presidency he did get us to the moon and got us believing that the world is larger than ourselves. And did it in the face of some really nasty religious rhetoric.

Oldseahag: Legalize marijuana? I think you've just identified the Republicans next line of attack.

"Not only does Obamacare create death panels, it would also legalize marijuana!"

It doesn't matter if its true as long as people believe it.

sturgeone: I support you right to disagree. (Now get in the cell...and give me your belt.)

and now.... for a repeat from during the primaries....

O-Bama
Bama, Bama Bo Bama
Bonana fanna fo Fama
fe fy mo Mama, O-Bama

now back to your regularly scheduled programming

Arlo: "I understand why you want my wallet, so I won't have any money to spend in the cell, but why do you want my belt?"

Officer Obie: "Kid. We don't want any hangings."

Obama will give a great speech tonight.

Hillary was right. It's all he knows how to do.

Reid is going to lose his seat just as Daschle did.

This is his chance to make a real name for himself in history by establishing the right of all Americans to have cradle to grave healthcare.

And, no matter what happens, he can hold his head high.

a speech in time saves nine........?

Renee:

"And if the first two letters are ever the same, then drop them both and say the name..."

Like Fred, Fred, drop the F, Fo-red,
or Mary, Mary, drop the M, Mo-ary."

"That's the only rule that is contrary."

"We"

And just who is "We"?

The corporations of course.

Yes, the Republicans along with some Democrats brought Fascism too our shores.

And a protester at a hearing one time quite a while ago shouted out and called the committee members Fascists and accused them of bringing Fascism to our shores. At which time Senator Spector said to the Senator who was called a Fascist, "your no fascist".

How true that statement was that was made by the protester.

The Brokaw series Along HIghway 50 looks fascinating. Wish it was on now rather than waiting until January

http://www.usanetwork.com/highway50/

"As with John F. Kennedy, the world looks at Obama and sees a new America, one that looks more like the rest of the world." -CC

...what is THAT supposed to mean?

The latest conservative gimmick is the "Trigger."

Definition of "Trigger."

Roy Rogers' horse, which was stuffed after he died and is now on display in the Roy Rogers Museum.

As far as I can determine, if you have complaints about your health care, you take them to the horse.

Ha! pat, No problema here. I learnt that ke-mo sah-bee meant honky anyway.

Obama/Good Morning America interview

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/gma-exclusive-president-obama-health-care-reform/story?id=8521385

Nash- "It doesn't matter if its true as long as people believe it." That was his campaign strategy.
Good point dark lord. Wonder if Craig was smoking something last night?

My house insurance is 2600 a year. Anyone else here on the coast have comparable costs?

Rez......old joke......why did the Lone Ranger kill Tonto? He found out what kemo sabe meant........lol.......thanks

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NmFiZWM2NjhkNGE1YWI0ZWJhN2ZmY2U5NDc3NGY1NmM=

Sullivan gave the above comment the "Hewitt Award". He could have given it the "Well Duh!" award as well. 65 years ago, the US still had manufacturing jobs that could support a family. Coming out of the Depression and WW II, you could learn enough in HS to have a good life. There aren't too many careers like that left for today's students.

One of our major problems is how someone with only a HS eduction, which may or may not be comparable to the same years in school as 50 years ago, can support themselves and their households.

used to be rumored that roy rogers owned this island and that trigger was there on the property......i never saw him, but then, it'd be a stretch to imagine that i'd wind up at the same place as roy rogers..........

http://southcarolina.hometownlocator.com/maps/feature-map,ftc,1,fid,1223274,n,hoopstick%20island.cfm

this should be a very interesting speech this evening...the nutbags in this area are already responding with nazi flags and American flags being flown upside down. Really makes the news and reminds us why we want universal coverage. Someone has to take care of these idiots.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258477

BW

Shame Reagan emptied so many of the mental hospitals. Those people obviously need the services.

is any politician going to ever stand up on his hind legs and say "ENOUGH" to these stone-ground idiots?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258477

besides Barney Frank i mean.......he did it very nicely..........

Sturgeone

The ranch in Apple Valley is truly interesting

http://www.royrogers.com/index.html

I'm ready for a wholesale onslaught of SHUT UP from somebody somewhere in positions of power.......not just a lone voice comparing one of them to a dining room table.......just STFU and quit foisting your anti-merican idiocies onto the public stage.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258480

Oops the above is for the museum now in Branson MO

The Ranch is not commercial but still interesting place in California

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/13790

somebodies somewheres

Jamie...agreed. It has been a lifetime of regret and neglect for many of these people. A lot of veterans here are really hurting, confused. Juxtaposed with the mega million in bonuses for the CEOs, it really is the American shame. Money to the greedy who brought this country to our knees and still are squeezing any change out of the pockets of Americans. You can look at this change as literally or figuratively.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258475

Jamie, years ago the Journal did an article on what a 'high school' education included in Revolutionary times.

From what they said, it was a true classical education with the students learning Greek and Latin and reading authors in those languages. It included the mathematics of the era and geography and mundane things such as surveying, and instruction in the social graces.

It was at least the equivalent of a rigorous AB in a top liberal arts college.

mornin'

Ping, we'll get the President tonight, speaking as an adult, discussing the need for healthcare reform, and expressing an adult position of his view and the political realities, which will dictate compromise. You should be happy - you and the insurance companies are winning this so far.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258482

Sturge

Remember these are some of the same people who are burying thousands of rounds of ammo and weapons.

"wouldn't be prudent"

The Republicans may be crazy but they're kicking the crap out of Obama. Their talking points, nutty as they are, frame the debate.

Obama is weak, confused, and desperate.

When the healthcare reform bill goes down in flames, and it will, his Presidency will be in the toilet.

of course, since the "republicans" use them they are protected from the elements of reason by the big tent.

jack......if it came to that i bet the swat teams could take 'em.....what good is ammo if that's all you got? remember our red brothers......they finally got ammo and rifles and didn't do 'em a bit of good.....just staved off the inevitable......

Why can't the GOP see anything but EVIL in Obama? Politics! Don't you just love it?

Happy 09/09/09. Today's Julian Date is 252, 2+5+2=9.
What will happen at 09/09/09 09:09:09.09?
Nothing unusual.

Obama may give a great speech tonight, but who will believe him?

We all know now that his strategy is to talk liberal but then cave in to the right. He really believes that this is the only way to "get anything done."

The problem is that the right wing does not want to "get anything done." Thye just want to stop him from doing anything.

He still doesn't seem to have figured this out.

Surrender Speech by Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohulhulsote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led the young men is dead.
It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are--perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead.
Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.

"Someone has to take care of these idiots."

BlondeW.... the answer is Colorado Bob's HealthCare Plan. Making deals with the Afghan warlords for their opium. Giving all those idiots Afghani hash would make them all go sit in a corner and drooling with smiles on their faces...
it works for me....

and just think.... it would make fighting the war actually worth it...

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258486

I have a collection of "Readers" from the 1800s. The language and level of instruction in history, geography, world history etc. is amazing. How many students today could do something as relatively simple as diagram a sentence?

My grandfather left school after the 6th grade which was the dividing line between elementary and "higher" education. He managed to support himself a wife and 8 children as a store keeper in Oklahoma and during the depression working for Safeway in California. He read constantly and was a math whiz and used to tell his children, "I'll solve the problem, you can put in the X Y and Z wherever they are supposed to go." :-)

When the healthcare reform bill goes down in flames, and it will, his Presidency will be in the toilet.

Posted by: Nash2.0 | September 9, 2009 8:55 AM

Who will flush? Or will this be left behind for years? There are still stains in the white house bowl from Dick Cheney.

Is Obama "unique & thoughtful," or is he just out-of-touch with reality?

He believes that "all of us" share certain values and want what's right for the nation.

Faced with hordes of ignorant, violent racists whipped up by greedy corporations, he is unable to consider the possibility that his beliefs are not true.

RR

opium dens...it might work.

the whole south had ammo and rifles.........(sherman had tanks, so to speak.......)

what good is ammo if that's all you got?

Tanks for da memorrhoids

Sturg....
yeah.... but.... at least the Nez Perce gave us all those great horses with spots on 'em....

A friend of mine invented a cheap version of those fruity flavored drinks with umbrellas that's easy to make at home.... pour some crystal lite lemonade into a glass and add raspberry vodka to taste.... I'm gonna make me a really big glass of it tonight to have while watching Obama.

When did so many here turn so harsh on Obama? Hope it wasn't something I said. I'm still giving him a chance.

craig...I believe the harshness comes from the muted and mutated message from the white house during August.

It had appeared that the public option went by the way of the death panels.

with much respect for Sr Caballo and his opinion......i do think that second time around hillary would have kicked their anti-health care butts for them this time....no way of knowing this, of course, so......i won't give up the hope for change which O-man put out as his message to get elected, but that said, it looks bad for the home team.....

Posted by: sturgeone Author Profile Page | September 8, 2009 9:17 AM

I dont particularly wish to be harsh to the O-man, yet.....but I feel fairly harsh about the forces arrayed against the passage of an american health care comparable at least to that of canada.....

and I agree, President Obama is our only chance at getting a public option. Without the public option, this will be worthless.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258492

PiT

Nothing on the East Coast, a little less than three hours for the west.

One lesson any president should take from the Bush years.
The American people will support you even when they believe you are wrong as long as you do it boldly.

I haven't seen Obama being bold on anything.

As I said before Kennedy didn't get his major legislation (civil right reform) passed but as Flatus pointed out he did find places where he could act boldly.
BTW Kennedy faced a congress controlled by the conservatives. Obama does not.

Jack

Craig

It isn't so much anti-Obama but questioning whether he has the tools to defeat the crazies and haters. As I said yesterday, I really blame the media for August. They did nothing but amplify the small percentage of nut cases at the Town Halls, seemingly for no reason other than rathings. Of course, it might not have been all ratings. It could have been corporate marching orders if you trend to conspiracy theories. Either way, the American public got thoroughly screwed.

The White House did little or nothing to counteract that noise and nuttiness. They went on vacation and let the internet and FOX totally run wild with little response.
It is a mistake often made by the thinking in response to the wackos ... "Who would believe that stuff?". Well apparently "that stuff" got sold to a whole lot of scared people and as a result to Congress if only in the form of campaign contributions.

If in the face of that the President can actually pull off health care reform that is little more than more of the same, more power to him, but I genuinely fear that the mindless robots are winning.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258502
Craig,

Nothing you said. It is what Obama has done and has NOT done.

As I said yesterday, Obama is a great campaigner but is showing he has poor judgment, is a lousy manager, and is not a leader. He only does well when he goes into campaign mode.

I wonder who he is listing to. Who is the person behind the man that is really pulling the strings? I hope it is not Larry Summers.

Jamie,

Nash 2.0 got the 09/09/09 09:09 comment.
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258498

Craig....
yeah.... but.... what will you be drinking tonight?

actually.... being the pragmatist that I am.... I'm in a wait and see mode.
If the Democrats can get a plan passed that won't allow insurance companies to drop you if you get sick and where you can't be denied coverage because of previous conditions.... IMO, that will be a major accomplishment.

The myth of Republicans and fiscal responsibility

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/the-gop-vs-fiscal-conservatism.html

Another lie that they have sold to the American public while picking our pockets.

Craig: You may be right about Obama. He may still be able to turn the health care debate around. It's just that his performance, so far, has been horrible.

jamie...they did more than pick a pocket...they cleaned out our bank accounts and stole any equity we had in our homes.

PiT

9:09 tonight? It will be 6 here .. little slow on the uptake.

renee, will you play recreation director for tonight's cruise? maybe a booby prize to s/he who predicts the correct number of times certain words are mentioned or fullhouse standing applause lines occur.

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/items/1806

here is a review of a book from TR Reid's book about heath care. I ran into an interview on CSPAN over the Labor Day weekend. He went to several countries and looked directly into each country's HC program and it was determined that the US's system is the most wasteful. Who'da thunk it?

So what does Obama have to do to hit one out of the park tonight?

Because making a big deal out of this by calling a joint session almost requires it. Anything less makes him look even more weak and foolish.

Jack

bob......that visit to buddy's stone reminded me that i have a stamped envelope addressed to you in the door pocket of the truck.........i will overcome my highly developed fear of the mail box and drop said envelope containing short note and pick into one forthwith.......

friend of mine on a cross country run may find himself able to swing thru lubbock........will post further details as they rise to the bait..........

we can only hope Prez Obama uses the old groucho marx's secret word gimmick....public option. I would love to see that drop from the ceiling during the speech.

Must go...work calls. Be careful out there you do not want to miss tonight's numerologically correct speech.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258482

sturge, if not blatantly calling them to task and referring to them as unpatriotic, unamerican or treasonous, maybe a well-placed eyeroll, snicker or downright laugh at them would help or at least quiet them down, run them underground.
what we need are some good jokes and comedy routines about them.

"Tonight, Obama must choose. Will he lead his band of newbies to a better country, or more of the same?"

That is the last 2 sentences of Craig's post today.

I get the feeling that the "R's" will want nothing of those 2 lines except the last 4 words. "More of the same."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258493

Nash, EXACTLY. The change that we need to see in Obama is from the starry eyed optimist who believes that the opposition party gives a crap about the American people and doing anything that will benefit them rather than a flinty eyed realist who can recognize that they are about nothing more than trying to bring his administration and its initiatives to a grinding halt so that they can make political gains in 2010 and 2012.

Craig, the turn toward harshness about Obama has been growing - this has come to a head over the past month as the healthcare debate has heated up - and the retreat on the necessity of a public option in the reform legislation and lack of forceful refutation of the lies from the RW noise machine has led to an ineveitable souring of many here on Obama. Of course, as a group we a somewhat left of left center I'd reckon. :-)

Obama can get back vocal the support of us lefties, but of course he may be more interested in keeping the support of the middle - who, after all, will be needed more than we are when the next election rolls around.

patd.... I thought Obama winning the election was the booby prize....

numerologically correct speech..... the number nine stands for transformation...

so what will we see transformed tonight.... a bill that magically turns into a pile of shit.... or a pile of shit that magically turns into a bill....

Almost $400 million spent on health care fight. Enough to provide health care for 30,000 families

http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/08/news/economy/health_care_lobbying/index.htm

and sturge, a catchy tune that makes the charts lampooning them would do it. maybe kinky could come up with something that imus can promote.
yep, a good ole country song about how the nutballs are making fools of themselves.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258524

patd

THAT is what has been missing in August ... Saturday Night Live.

No one other than Barney Frank pointed at these hateful crazies and those they terrified and held them up to the richly deserved ridicule repleated millions of times a day on You Tube.

http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/school-refuses-obama-speech-but-will-bus-kids-to-see-bush/

Hypocrisy alert...Arlington TX wouldn't let students hear from President Obama, but they will bus kids to hear W....

New commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LGs_rz4Rpw

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258529

patd, Imus is one of the crazies. I doubt he would be interested in promoting anything but himself.

dooty, thanks for the alert on tr reid's "The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care"
disappointed to read the following about pbs, expect such things from the other guys, but not from them.

"So Reid was censored by Frontline/PBS for stating the most fundamental truth: for-profit insurance burdens the healthcare system with excessive cost, because otherwise where would the large profits come from?
And if you think television isn't an upholder of the status quo and entrenched powers, then why would public television censor Reid? Probably because many of their programs are underwritten by corporations who get a nice acknowledgement at the beginning of programs. Perhaps some of those companies are healthcare insurers?"

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258531

I live about 3 miles from this crazy place. And if Bear still works where he used to, he works in Arlington. That still correct Bear?

"Imus is one of the crazies"

dooty, sometimes it takes a crazy to expose a crazy

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258535

I am disappointed also. I had not read that. No doubt some of the underwriters are insurance giants.

"Imus is one of the crazies"

dooty, sometimes it takes a crazy to expose a crazy

maybe, but I don't see it from Imus and Fox Business Channel.

Republican response - Boustany

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/09/louisianas_boustany_to_give_go.html

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258514

Don't forget not to raise the premiums so high that no one can afford them. That is what they will do unless this is also included in any reform package that is signed.

As far as Obama's "legacy" is concerned, he will always be our first "black" president and represent a partial fulfillment of the promise of the civil rights movement, as long as he doesn't "mess-up" very badly. Not being able to successfully push the health-care legislation YOU might want in the time-frame YOU would prefer won't change that.

" for-profit insurance burdens the healthcare system with excessive cost, because otherwise where would the large profits come from?" (tr reid)

jamie, isn't this what you were saying some time ago? one of those slap-your-head and say "duh" moments?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258514

RR, I agree with you, but throw in a cap on the cost what a person pays for catastrophic illnesses plus a good tax break for premium expense or subsidies for lower wage earners.

Call it incremental all day, it will help many people and be a basis to build on.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258527
Renee,

We all know that politicians are the deluxe model of a manure spreader. Tonight we will see a pile of manure being spread from the super deluxe model of the manure spreader. Nothing more.

Yes I do Dooty, we are out of the Ballpark in February...

I just called the superintendents office and they've gotten some complaints so far...not only is the school district busing kids to go see Bush, but the school is picking up the entire tab, even though they are laying off employees elsewhere.

Moral of the story is it's ok to indoctrinate the TX kids in the religion of football or Bush, but god help you if it's a Democratic president...

BTW, if you wish to email the superintendent to voice your displeasure or outrage, the email address is jmccullo@aisd.net. His name is Jerry McCullough

"One Term - House cleaning of 2010"

So you can elect more geniuses like Tancredo and Inhof?

On another topic did you know that Texas executed an innocent man?

If you were watching Mojo this morning or maybe it was the show after it you would have heard how they killed an innocent man using junk science, almost like Creationism I guess.

Anon,

Was that the story of the guy who was convicted of Arson? I read about that last week...

That was the foundation of Scalia's statement that the constitution only provides for a fair trial, not a fair verdict mantra.

anon, political cretinism, not creationism...no intelligent design anywhere in sight.

Stop everything across every network to cover Michael Jackson funeral. Cronkite gets updates.

There are times when I just want to cry for this country.

"BW

Shame Reagan emptied so many of the mental hospitals. Those people obviously need the services."

some of those same people Reagan let out of the mental hospitals are now in Congress looks like to me.

Speaking of creeping cretinism, Boustany is a birther

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/09/gop-picks-birther-to-rebu_n_279952.html

Biography from official website

http://boustany.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=3§iontree=3

Random thought of the day...

Republicans continue to push for incrementalism in the reform of Health care while Progressives want swifter change...

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't World War I a stalemate because trench warfare led to incremental gains on the battle field?

If one were to look at the Normandy invasions and especially the battles in the hedgerows, gains were incremental...on some days, just 100 yards. Once the push was made for a large gain, there was a breakout and then a swift move eastward...

I guess the question is, what's the Maginot line of this debate?

Auto Tune healthcare: Sing Out Questions and Answers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CO2SfB1dnA

Pat,

No doubt about it.!

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258535

When Netenyahu, came to see obama, they cut their deal: Netenyahu told O. you yell and scream about not building anymore settlements in Palestine. I will look good for not listening to you. You will look good for telling me not too...but send over Mitchell, and we will have a little coffee and. I will send him back with a deal, that will look like Im starting to break my word.........and then you get tough on me again, but it will be too late, ( he already cut his deal with the Ins. corps) and you could say that you tried. Oh and by the way, that 3 bill that was supposed to have been paid by now, still hasn't arrived......can you get China to hurry it up....and don't tell anyone about the other cash......just send it to the AIPAC, they will know how to get it to me...ok gotta go.....no-no time for anything else, I will be in touch....remember: just do your job, and our corporate bosses will keep us in office, don't worry about the R's they will follow your lead, and make out like they are different than the D's....

Just fill in the name of the Insurance corps, where ever Netenyahu appears....same conversation.......A third party is too hard to do, thats what you all are saying....then give you vote to Dennis K. or someone like him in your party......this will be the new third party......or maybe the D's are just Cub fans......just like me.?? wait till next year.........

If we get U. H. I will never bother you again, about a third party (thats what he promised, I don't care if they all break them, he was supposed to be diff.)....If we get anything less, he sold out....its not like this is new to him, or anyone in DC...this fight has been going on: At least as long as T. Kennedy was alive.........

Bear

the absolute uncrossable line.

The title of this bill must have healthcare in it

All else is negotiable

OK how about just health?

An H ?

Please? just one H.

Don't worry Be happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyYZUhSeRYc

"The title of this bill must have healthcare in it

All else is negotiable"

If he does this, he will have some time to get it right: If he fights for the whole package that he promised; or the time for us to get over it. the next important thing that they will scare us with will be the 2010 elections......the R's are already in this game mode...

I just saw that tonight on the Kudlow report, he will have 5 US Senators discussing the health care debate...

Gregg
Alexander
Corker
Grassley

Bayh

If this is what you get with a liberal bias, what is the alternative?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258542

DLB, good point. And really, while Johnson got the Civil Rights Act passed, Kennedy gets his fair share of credit for raising the issue and getting that ball rolling. The same may well happen for Obama when the US finally makes a public option available, which will start the ball toward university coverage rolling. And it will eventually.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258548

A-P, it wasa worse than that. Google it and there will be shitloads of info about that reprehensible result. Barry Sheck wrote a very good column about it - I think it was at HuffPo last week. Scalia made idiotic, although legally valid, comments about the guarantee of due process having been satisfied in that case, essentially drawing a line between truth and justice.

Solar

The time to get it right is now.
As it is now if you use the Baccus plan, there are a couple of gifts to the dems and then a wholesale transferr of money out of our pockets into the insurance companies pockets. Not only that but if you don't transferr your money to the insurance companies the Feds will hunt you down and punish you.

Lets call this bill what it is

"The Health Insurance Enrichment Act"

Meanwhile they are rationing healthcare to the elderly by reducing payments to doctors, If all the antipublic option people are to be believed to a point even more underfunded than the current system. When that happens, good luck finding a doctor for granny.

So maybe we should call the bill coming out of the senated
"The Let Granny Die Health act"

Jack

Unfortunately, reports of the death of the Christian Right were sadly mistaken

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090802985.html

Solar, lunch.

Why not call them the Christian wrong?

Here is an interesting poll. Public blames health care companies and Republicans for health care mess

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS97007+09-Sep-2009+BW20090909

When I was in a party over the weekend full of born again's. After listening to them, and was not in the least bit interested in talking about abortion, and health care. I was asked for my opinion on these two subjects........this is what I told them to shut them up: Knowing that they are all gun-ho, and for war's

The right to live, argument. I asked them, if they soldier didn't have a right to live...they were ready for this one (just a head fake) should have heard them all, all on message.....and then it came around to the pregnant young women, and the rights for the UNBORN.

I told them that in Affhanistan, and all of the places that we are bombing: The women in these places on a norm have about 5-6 children...now if we kill these women with our bombs....aren't we killing the unborn, and thats not counting the little innocents that are already living........there was a complete silence for about one full min.......My nephew spoke up first...and said that he never though about it that way....

On the health care....they were all careful about another trap...this one I just used the Military again, and their patriotism...I asked them if if was patriatic to spend our tax money on the best things that a U S soldier could have, cos they are fighting for our freedom.

All of them said yes , they deserve the best. I then asked them, if the weapons, aircraft, subs, rifles, etc, etc, was the best that our defense contractors could make...they all said yes, My nephew did not say anything, he knows Im up to something...we talk a lot when we see each other.....but he has never heard me go this route...

I then told them , the the soldiers get the best health care that we and the govenment could buy, we give them the same health coverage that, all of the people in congress and the senate, and the pres, and his family has....if it is the best, and we could find a way that it will not cost anything, or very little, wouldn't they want all of us to have it.....Yes was the answer....but were skeptical of how to get it for free.....

I explained some of the things that I learned from you all...including the fact that we spend ( Jacks input-thanks) one bil, a year on people that don't have ins. and that we pay for it anyway...if in ten years it will cost us one Tril...etc, etc. we could have it for free....if you can do the simple math. You will understand it....and there are more way......again it was quiet for awhile. I was thinking that these very intelligent kids don't listen to anyone other that the Glenn Becks, and .......I keep thinking that the Ds are so much smarter that the R's ,,,why is this a problem? Why can't they reach these people with the truth.....Do we need people like Dr. Dean, Boxer, and other D's to go on the radio, and give them the other side of it.....or are they just too smart for all of this.....The R's robots, are a weapon on thier own,no? I think that this might be too boring for the D's.....

ps, 90% of the time at this party was with the kids....a great time...especially the cake and ice-cream, they got me my favorite....

Specter for Public Option

http://specter2010.com/news/headlines/specter_gets_support_for_health_reform/

Somebody must have mentioned primaries.

Caramba, The lawyer ban-dido srtikes again......

The Mountain Mail the 125 year-old paper in Salida , Colorado ....
On US 50

http://themountainmail.com/main.asp?SectionID=4&TM=31385.55

Thought for the day :
" Of all forms of caution, caution in love is the most fatal. "

"If you don't have the time to get it right the first time, where will you find the time to do it again?"

1585 Cardinal A Jean de Plessicide de Richelieu Louis XIII chief minister
1754 William Bligh nasty ship's captain (HMS Bounty)
1828 Leo Tolstoy Russia, novelist (War & Peace, Anna Karenina)
1941 Otis Redding Georgia, rocker (Sitting on the Dock of the Bay)
1942 Inez Foxx Greensboro NC, rocker (Mockingbird, Hi Diddle Diddle)
1943 Roger Waters rocker (Pink Floyd-The Wall)
1946 Billy Preston singer/pianist, the 5th Beatle (David Brenner Show)

Deaths which occurred on September 09:
1087 William I The Conqueror, King of England, & Duke of Normandy, dies
1976 Mao Tse-Tung Chinese communist party chairman (1949-76), dies at 82

1513 Battle of Flodden Fields; English defeat James IV of Scotland
1739 Slave revolt in Stono SC led by Jemmy (25 whites killed)
1776 Continental Congress renames "United Colonies," "United States"
1817 Alexander Lucius Twilight, probably 1st black to graduate from US college, receives BA degree at Middlebury College
1830 Charles Durant, 1st US aeronaut, flies a balloon from Castle Garden, NYC to Perth Amboy, NJ
1839 John Herschel takes the 1st glass plate photograph
1841 Great Lakes steamer "Erie" sinks off Silver Creek NY, kills 300
1850 California becomes 31st state
1850 Territories of New Mexico & Utah created
1862 Lee splits his army & sends Jackson to capture Harpers Ferry
1904 Boston Herald again refers to NY baseball club as Yankees, when it reports "Yankees take 2," Yankee name not official till 1913
1908 Orville Wright makes 1st 1-hr airplane flight, Fort Myer, Va
1911 1st airmail service (British Post Office)
1912 J Verdrines becomes 1st to fly over 100 mph (107 mph/172 kph)
1926 National Broadcasting Co created by the Radio Corporation of America
1950 1st use of TV laugh track-Hank McCune
1956 Elvis Presley appears on national TV for 1st time (Ed Sullivan)
1957 Nashville's new Hattie Cotton Elementary School dynamited
1966 John Lennon meets Yoko Ono at an avante-garde art exposition
1967 1st successful test flight of a Saturn V
1971 1,000 convicts seize Attica, NY prison
1971 John Lennon & Yoko Ono appear on the Dick Cavett Show (ABC-TV)
1971 John Lennon releases the "Imagine" album
1971 NHL great Gordie Howe retires
1975 Viking 2 launched toward orbit around Mars, soft landing
1977 1st TRS-80 computer sold
1983 Radio Shack announces their color computer 2 (the Coco2)
1987 Gary Hart admits to cheating on his wife on "Nightline"

Fox News: Latest facts about Obama-care.

* Illegal aliens would have seats on death panels
* Government "take-over" of Medicare
* Flu shots: Blacks can cut in line in front of whites
* Mandatory "exercise camps" for overweight people
* Socialized medicine: you have to share your
prescription drugs with anyone who asks.
* Youth in Asia: our kids sent to work in China

Posted by: jamie44.myopenid.com | September 9, 2009 8:45 AM : "Shame Reagan emptied so many of the mental hospitals. Those people obviously need the services."

The good news is, there's a lot of room.

jamie: I'm still waiting for Specter to tell us the truth about the second shooter on the grassy knoll.

(He was general counsel to the Warren Commission.)

GOP Lawmaker's Graphic Sex-Bragging Caught On Tape

........ " She wears little eye-patch underwear. " .........

According to both KCAL and the OC Weekly, an alternative weekly in Orange County, the woman who wears the "eye-patch underwear" is Heidi DeJong Barsuglia, a lobbyist for an energy company, Sempra Energy. Duvall is vice chair of the Committee on Utilities & Commerce.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/gop_lawmakers_graphic_sex-bragging_caught_on_tape.php?ref=fpa

From Wikipedia:

The Single-Bullet Theory (or Magic-Bullet Theory, as it is commonly called by its critics) was introduced by the Warren Commission to explain how three shots fired by Lee Harvey Oswald resulted in the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy. The theory, generally credited to Warren Commission staffer Arlen Specter[1] (now a U.S. Senator), posits that a single bullet, known as "Warren Commission Exhibit 399" (also known as "CE399"), caused all of the non-fatal wounds in both President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally. (The fatal head wound to the President was caused by a bullet other than this alleged "Single Bullet").

According to the single-bullet theory, a one-inch-long copper-jacketed lead-core 6.5-millimeter rifle bullet fired from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository passed through President Kennedy’s neck and Governor Connally’s chest and wrist and embedded itself in the Governor’s thigh. If so, this bullet traversed 15 layers of clothing, 7 layers of skin, and approximately 15 inches of tissue, struck a necktie knot, removed 4 inches of rib, and shattered a radius bone. The bullet that is supposed to have done all this damage was found on a stretcher in the corridor at the Parkland Memorial Hospital, in Dallas, after the assassination. The Warren Commission found that this stretcher was the one that had borne Governor Connally.[2] This bullet became a key Commission exhibit, identified as CE399. Its copper jacket was completely intact. While the bullet's nose appeared normal, the tail was compressed laterally on one side.

In its conclusion, the Warren Commission found "persuasive evidence from the experts" that a single bullet caused the President's neck wound and all the wounds in Governor Connally.[3] It acknowledged that there was a "difference of opinion" among members of the Commission "as to this probability", but stated that the theory was not essential to its conclusions and that all members had no doubt that all shots were fired from the sixth floor window of the Depository building. In actuallity this was a crucial assertion for the Warren Commission, since if the two had been wounded by separate bullets, that would have demonstrated the presence of a second assassin and therefore a conspiracy.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258577

Nash

It's pretty bad when the first couple of items actually sound believable.

Another thought from this party.....My favorite ( cos she is the most like my sis-Maria) niece: a three year old. Asked one of the women at the party-" where did Jesus go" and she was pointing to a cross the she was wearing, one that was plain, and did not have Jesus on it.

This was incredible cute, and incredibly sad to me....how smart and cute she was: How at such a young age, she was being brain washed........ok now more about the party, unless you want to hear about the wig that the kids put on me......cos I wouldn't let them have any of my favorite ice cream.......

The R's are teaching and training them at a very early age...I bet that my niece will become a Republican, just cos of the religious lessons, and won't be taught too much of the sciences: unless she learns to be an independent thinker later on in life...I will do my best.! They all ready know how to say... "I don't like Obama"...still think that the R's R dumb????

"1850 Territories of New Mexico & Utah created" Another war that the Newspapers promoted, and helped to start. Corporate co-operation ( with our elected officials) started at the same time, that we became a notion...the only diff. now is that they finally own everything....we were warned....it is our faults....

Drill Baby Drill ?

‘Once in a century’ downpour kills 20 in Turkey

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32752666/ns/weather/

max baucus on faux news stating he believes a public option will NOT pass the senate.

what a loser.

You Kennedy assassination conspiracy people are all nuts.
-Teabaggers, Birthers, and Death Panelists.
(If you're smart, you'll let it go. )

Tiptoe will be pleased about Duvall. She hasn't had a new addition to her Republican Hanky Panky and Hypocrisy list in quite a while

Nash,

Having stood in the spot where JFK was killed and after comparing the official story with the laws of science and physics, it's hard to let go of the second shooter, the second spitter or any other variant of this story.

Remember, back and to the left comes from front and right...aka the grassy knoll...

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/08/baucus-k-street/
Special interests receive a copy of Baucus plan before the White House does.

When is the Democratic Party going to stop putting the self-interest politicians in chairmanships?

Whoops, I forget, that is all of Congress!

In May 2007, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry voted to protect the Pharmaceutical Companies in the State of Massachusetts and screw the people with higher drug costs. On Senate vote # 151 May 7, 2007, the Senate blocked the bid to allow drug imports. In fact there were sixteen (16) Democratic Senators that appeared to be on the pharmaceutical industry’s payroll: Baucus (D-MT), Bayh (D-IN), Cantwell (D-WA), Carper (D-DE), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Landrieu (D-LA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Lieberman (ID-CT), Lincoln (D-AR), Menendez (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Murray (D-WA), Nelson (D-NE), Rockefeller (D-WV), Salazar (D-CO).

"The president's going to speak clearly and directly to the American people about what's in this bill for them," press secretary Robert Gibbs

Can you spot the lie

Nash

More for historical interest than any desire to unearth a conspiracy, I would love to live long enough for someone to talk before they kick off. I've always assumed that Oswald wasn't alone but that it didn't change anything and might or might not come to light some day.

I love the liber groups who put out adds that say

"support Obama's health plan"

Only problem is, he ain't got one.

It would be a big step forward if he came up with one tonight.
Anybody taking bets?

Jack

New 'Smart Choices' Food Labels Are Deceptive

Welcome to the bizarre world of the Smart Choices Program, where Lucky Charms cereal is one such "smart choice" for confused consumers wondering if the latest colorful marshmallow addition tips the marshmallow-to-sugary-oat ratio to something suitable only for honeybees and hummingbirds.

Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes and just about any other commercial breakfast cereal also get the Smart Choices seal of approval, a big green check mark, apparently for being a smarter choice for breakfast compared to rock candy.

http://www.livescience.com/health/090909-smart-choices-food-labels.html

jamie & Bear: Specter's favorite T-shirt:

"I covered up the Kennedy assassination, and all I got was a lousy Senate seat."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258564

Thank you, pogo; and I agree: it was a good point. All jokes aside, I would prefer nothing IMMEDIATELY being done concerning "health-care" reform beyond some common-sense regulation of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies, with discussion and analyses continuing among the general public, towards the end of a more thorough, rational, fair, effective, and ultimately universal health care system in this country.

The whole topic is very confusing to lay-people, of whom there are many, including myself. What might you venture are the percentages of people in this country who fully understand the issues at hand vs. those who don't, never-mind terms like "public option" and "single payer"? Not having done any hard statistical analysis, I'm going to go out on a limb and say they're pretty goddamned low.

Renee
Just for you ;-)

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Obama told her and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid during a White House meeting on Tuesday that his message to critics of such an option would essentially be: "If you have a better idea, put it on the table."

But the White House official, who discussed the speech on grounds of anonymity because preparations remain under way, also said Obama would not insist that such an option be included in any final package or signal willingness to use his veto over the divisive issue"

lol

This bill is going to make the perscription drug bill look simplistic.
I had to figure that one out for my mother and inlaws, what a cluster fck.

Jack

Greetings from the desert. Whew, there's a lot of tension in the house this morning as we all wait with abated breath for the speech that might define our times. Or not! One of my FB friends from Italy wrote to me this morning saying Italians are also waiting to hear what the president has to say tonight and what the Congress will do next.

Craig, I thought your post today was great providing a thoughtful backdrop to the opportunity given to Obama right now. While the JFK parallel might be a stretch, I'm thinking the parallel with FDR is stronger given the context of recession/depression and the ever-present dichotomy between private and public enterprises then and now.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258549

Bear...

Just got back from lunch and you are correct. Scalia let an innocent man be executed.

And who thinks are courts are now neutral when it comes to John Q. Public.?

"It's pretty bad when the first couple of items actually sound believable."

God yes, Jamie. Thank goodness I noticed it was from Nash because I believed it!!!!

AP,

I didn't follow that execution in Texas: How did they know he was innocent? Have a link to the story....thanks

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258549

Solar...

I'll have too find it later and post it from home. At work and I'm limited to what content or sites I can access.

Jack....
yeah..... but..... who doesn't like a good cluster fuck every now and then....

Monkeys Follow Economic Rules Of Supply And Demand

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090902122448.htm

Your lordship

Reforms hurt the bottom line so they aren't going to happen unless we guarantee profits and big bonuses for the insurance industry.

The Baccus bill ends up with the worse ideas of both sides.
It expands the totally busted system known as medicaid.
It forces everybody else to buy insurance
which is unenforceable except by a paperwork nightmare of a system that will make your taxes look simple.
It lets the Insurance companies game the system

What we are ending up with here is an invisible tax that goes straight to the insurance companies to support the least efficient option out there.

At this point it is better to have no bill and keep the status quo.
You can't reform the unreformable and it would require a huge expenditure of political capital right now just to get a few minor reforms.

Pull the plug on it.
Jack

When is the MSM going to reveal the connection between former somebody, Sarah Palin, and stalinist commie theoretician, lyndon larouche ?

Fires in Los Angeles County

Credit: NASA, Posted on: Wednesday, 9 September 2009, 06:22 CDT

The newly charred land is black in this false-color image, which was made with near infrared light. Plants are dark red, and man-made surfaces, particularly the dense urban centers of Pasadena and Burbank, are blue and white.

http://www.redorbit.com/images/images-of-the-day/

Renee

sure, but

I'd like to be on top of the pile once in a while.
why am I always buried down here.

Jack

After reading the details of the Baucus bill, I agree with Jack. Stop it now! It's an IRS agent's dream come true inasmuch as it's complicated, people will always be out of compliance, and the new bureacrats will have life-time employment trying to enforce it. As one of Bill Moyers' guests said about four months ago, he could write a national health care program on the back of a napkin: Medicare for All!

Garrison Keillor hospitalized after minor stroke

http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_people_garrison_keillor.html

Horsey -
I love the dog in this one .

http://www.seattlepi.com/horsey/viewbydate.asp?ID=1989

Just a short time ago on MSNBC the ticker on the bottom of the screen read "Baucus wants deal struck before Obama's speech tonight".

Trying to tie Obama's hands. I hope he don't fall for it.

PHOTOS: Giant Ocean-Trash Vortex Documented--

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/photogalleries/pacific-garbage-patch-pictures/index.html

Solar -

Trial by Fire
Did Texas execute an innocent man?

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258596

DL

This comes under the heading of "Ignorance is no excuse".

Piddling around is going to make things even worse than they already are. My insistence on a Public Option is so that when Congress hands all sorts of taxpayer funded expensive goodies to the Insurance companies (which they will) that it also give the public somewhere to go to avoid getting raped (or at least allow them to get screwed by a friend).

The killer mould behind potato blight has a giant genome, say scientists.

Potato blight was a major cause of the mid-19th Century Irish famine, when starvation killed a million people and drove a million more to emigrate.

The water mould Phytophthora infestans still destroys crops worldwide worth $6bn each year. In 2003 it wiped out the entire crop of Papua New Guinea

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8246944.stm

It has been reported in Turkey that one area received 24cm (10in) of rain in just two hours.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8245699.stm

I was first death row inmate saved by DNA

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8243991.stm

Whskyjack,

I disagree. We need a vote on the Baucus blue dog plan immediately.

The Baucus plan is a impossibly antique rattletrap & a complete red herring. No one really wants it. There hasn't been an upswell of republican support for it. rightwing crazies are not waving their Glock 9s and biting off peoples' fingers to show they demand it. Hardly any Dems have asked for it. On top of all that, it's inconceivable that the Harkins / Kucinich wing of the Dems would vote for it.

Talking about the Baucus proposal is a waste of perfectly good hot air. The Senate should administer a killing vote to it ASAP.

If we are only going to do reforms then the first one needed is Open Pricing. so I know what any procedure costs and what the discount rate is given to the government and Insurances.

Which brings up the question
That 100 billion in uncompensated medical care that the system absorbs. Is that at the billing rate, the discount rates or the cost of the service.
I have been billed for stuff at $450 and the insurance only payed $85.

My doctor only collects 50% of what she bills.

So may be the real number is closer to 50 billion.
About the cost of one of Max's experimental weapons systems.

Jack

Xrep

Bauccus has achieved nothing and has inflicted untold damage on the democrats and Obama.

But the one who deserves the blame for Bauccus is Harry Ried who should have had the ability to rein him in.

Jack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBi8A_HutII&

Dutch Schultz's secret buried treasure

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/09/dutch-schultzs-secre.html

Craig mentioned that a lot of us are critical of Obama. It's not just us....

From HuffPo: 9/9/09 12:26 PM

Public disapproval of President Barack Obama's handling of health care has jumped to 52 percent, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released hours before he makes his case for overhaul in a prime-time address to Congress.

With his health revamp moving slowly and unemployment edging ever higher, Obama's overall approval rating has also suffered a blow. The survey showed that 49 percent now disapprove of how he is handling his job as president, up from 42 percent who disapproved in July.

jamie, thanks for that 12:04 post re harris poll on who the public blames for problems in our health care system. wish the msm and congress critters would listen up.
here are some of the findings for those who didn't link it (note last line):

"Fully 90% of all adults blame the health insurance industry, and 60% believe it
deserves a "great deal" of blame. Almost as many, 84% of adults blame the
pharmaceutical industry and 53% think it deserves a "great deal" of the blame.

Substantial but smaller majorities believe that all of the following are to
blame: Republicans in Congress (74%), business (72%), hospitals (70%), Democrats
in Congress (69%), President George W. Bush (66%), and doctors (61%). However,
less than 30% believe any of these deserve a "great deal" of blame.

A 58% to 42% majority does not think President Bill Clinton is to blame."

with numbers like those in the harris poll, no wonder insurance is footing the bill for ads, lobbyists and crazies indulging themselves in craziness.

Patd

How many of them even know who Bill Clinton is. After all he is ancient history.

Jack

oh yeah, forgot to mention the big money big insurance spends taking care of individual congress critters and their favorite tv programs.

Patd

As I said several times here
How hard can it be to run against the insurance company?

For some reason the answer always comes up "Very Hard"

Go figure

Jack

This comes under the heading of "Ignorance is no excuse".

Posted by: jamie44.myopenid.com http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258615

..."haste makes waste"!

(note the ease of reference, Craig)

So are there any liberal senators any where?
Or are they too busy courting the insurance lobby to be bothered.

Jack

..."haste makes waste"!

but bullshit just gets deeper and stinks more

I just got this message from a good friend who biz is recording.

Today. Beatles Box set.....the entire catalog of 13 Beatles albums all remastered from analog, using technology that waaay surpasses the crappy encoding of the 1986 CDs. Warm, beautiful, with great separation and clarity.

He did emphasize it would be his last CD purchase. :-)

I can only hope that the Pres doesn't spend his time talking about the magic in Baucus' bill. If it's what Thom Hartman was talking about while I was running around looking for forest green soccer socks, it's not a bill I'd support. Like any bill with any reform, it has some good points, but it also puts up considerable roadblocks to participation in a public option should one arise. Sorry I don't have a link - I haven't learned how to post a link to a radio discussion I heard 2 hours ago. :-)

Looking at the GOP state senator who bragged about his sex life.

Only an oil company hooker would screw that guy.

roll on, thou deep and dark .... roll on

[lord b]

Bolder bears roam Aspen area looking for food
Sightings, run-ins are on the rise and could worsen before winter

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32738738/ns/us_news-environment/

Why the insurance companies and healthcare providers would fight open pricing.

Rope is cheap and anger is high.

Jack

faux news reporting Mexican plane hijacked from Cancun.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258508

Jamie, Exactly, Contessa B. just had on another testimonial about the horrors of recision, not unlike Alicia. If the news outlets had been running similar stories the past several months instead of all those about the tea baggers punching people and biting fingers, I believe things would be much different with this legislation.

Today our paper ran a full page story, Q&A style, about the bills, real simple and easy to read., plus facts about how the different bills vary and affect us here in WA. It was an AP thing. It's sad the admin could not have done the same without being trashed as biased, etc.

Just wait till Walmart takes over health care.

DLB, and you were doing so well....

It really doesn't matter in a representative democracy whether or in what percentages the people understand or approve of proposed legislation. They vote on Senators and Representatives, who pass laws. Those guys have a vested interest in pleasing their constituents, but they are not required to vote as their constituents suggest or even demand - at the peril of losing in the next election of course.

Any nonsubstantial reform effort I've heard of will do little more than drive insurance costs up and will ultimaely lead to a citizenry up in arms - the question
is "Who will they blame?"

btw, I've been working on some reports listening to Rush, now, Hannity in the background as noise - so that you don't have to of course - and JHC, talk about testaments to the value of education - these two dropouts' ability to analyze anything is somewhere around the level of a box of rocks.

One thing about Walmart, they deliver a good product at a cheap price.

Compared to the shoddy product at a high price which is our current system.

Walmart healthcare sounds good.

Jack

'We're pinned down:' 4 U.S. Marines die in Afghan ambush

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/75036.html

A lot of people work at walmart just for the health care.

A single payer system would mean some of those people could move on to better places.

Jack

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258632

Some form of universal coverage for the American public has been suggested for the past 100 years and it has been part of the Democratic campaign for the past 60.

You can't be "hasty" after sixty years.

Jack, problem is, most Walmart employees in "good" medicaid states qualify for Medicaid - which most part timers at minimum wage or just above qualify for. Many of them opt for Medicaid.

http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/ama-endorses-a-health-care-overhaul/

OK, the AMA has some suggestions - universal care is one of them. The letter is there in a link. Not surprisingly, they endorse scrapping the Medicare formula that pays docs peanuts and adopting malpractice limits. Go figure.

Afghanistan is the real Vietnam.
We need to carefully examine our interests there

Jack

Jack, I realized I didn't complete my thought - in "bad" Medicaid states you are likely right. Medicaid programs in the different states differs dramatically - with the best states paying about 3 times what the worst states do. (Again, courtesy of Thom Hartman - no link to radio info heard 2 hours ago).

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258645

CBob

That might not be so bad. A national outlet that trades across state lines. Lift the restrictions and I bet they would come up with a basic health care policy that the majority of families could afford. They would probably still need a wrap around major medical, but a clinic in every store wouldn't be a bad delivery system.

If it were allowed for the low income community health clinics currently supported by Congress to partner with something like Wal Mart, you would be darn close to universal health care for all needs outside of specialists and hospital level surgery or emergency.

Dr Kirby said: "The increase in temperature over the last 40 years has affected the whole food chain in the North Sea.

"It has affected everything from the plankton to fish and jellyfish, including animals that live on the sea bed such as crabs, sea urchins and bivalves - animals like mussels and scallops.

"The food that the fish larvae require to survive is changing as a result of climate warming.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/globalwarming/6162167/North-Sea-cod-could-disappear-even-if-fishing-outlawed.html

Here's some info on WalMart healthcare plans. Only 46% of Walmart employees are covered under their plans - of course those old enough for medicare probably aren't and some are likely covered by spouse's insurance.

http://walmartwatch.com/pages/healthcare#studies

The links at the bottom of the page to Susan Chambers' memo are very interesting reading.

Tonight is very important. I hope Obama surprises me and rises to the occasion..

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258648

"U.S. commanders, citing new rules to avoid civilian casualties, rejected repeated calls to unleash artillery rounds at attackers dug into the slopes and tree lines — despite being told repeatedly that they weren't near the village."

No rule of engagement (ROE) has ever been made that would deny our forces the ability of defending themselves when confronted with a situation as described in the McClatchy report.

That is, until now.

It's insanity sending our troops into situations without giving them reasonable means of protecting themselves and of extracting them should that need arise,

If there is anything that will destroy morale, it's the realization that no one gives a shit about you or your families.

Leopard savaging a crocodile caught on camera

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3347532/Leopard-savaging-a-crocodile-caught-on-camera.html

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258659

CBob

Maybe it is a fight between the birthers and deathers

Pogo

Walmart watch has an agenda

Walmart offer healthinsurance to any employee who works 32 hr or more. It is easy to get those hours.
It is an average plan where the worker picks up part of the cost and pays for the family.
There are better but there are many far worse. I've known a number of people who worked at walmart just so their family would have insurance. When m,y niece was born with water on the brain the insurance paid for the many operations to put shunts in and drain the fluid with no cost to my sister.

Jack

God, is Hannity stupid. A guy called in talking about folks on medicare and or medicaid, saying that 40% of Americans are in those programs - he was wrong, in 2004 about 29.5% of Americans were on those programs according to a Kaiser Commission study. Of course Hannity responds by throwing out unsupported opinion about French, British and Canadian healthcare - the latter of which was disputed by the caller whose relatives live in Canada and are very happy with the healthcare they receive. Hannity quickly went to a commercial. Like I said - I'm listening so you don't have to.

Pogo

In California for the parents to get Medicaid they have to make less than 100% of the federal poverty level.
Children get coverage up to 250%
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/The-California-Medicaid-Program-at-a-Glance-UDPATE-Fact-Sheet.pdf

Federal poverty level for a family of 4 is 22050
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/09poverty.shtml

If both parents are working at minmum wage jobs they don't qualify. And they would both need to be working at that wage rate.

Jack

Jack, WalMart watch does have an agenda, as does WalMart's Benefits VP, . But numbers are numbers - WalMart is not the shining city on the hill as far as healthcare insurance goes that Walmart would have you believe. The thing that strikes me is that Costco has 80% of its workers on its healthcare plans. I don't fault Walmart, btw, I just like to keep thiings in perspective.

well, i've got to run - 1st MS soccer game of the year.

Jamie -
That's one bad ass leopard.

Pogo

Walmart watch just doesn't square with what I personally know is reality.
I have know idea what the walmart spokesman is putting out.

I do know if you want you can get the hours it takes to qualify for insurance and that it is good insurance.

Jack
Jack

But these are merely "establishment" facts, according to Palin, verities that are irrelevant because the death panel falsehood "rang true" for many Americans. Ergo, "rang true" is morally equivalent to "true."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0909/Palin_again_with_the_death_panels.html?showall

Weather report

Tuesday morning the weatherman said it was going to be clear and sunny until thursday. We have had 3 inches of rain in the last 2 days. most of it in the last 3 hours 2 inches.
I scheduled a neighborhood meeting for this evening on my neighbors front porch. We are planning for our annual block party and celebration.
Looks like I had better get off of here and clean house so we can meet indoors

Just received an email from Palm, the cellphone people. Here's the subject:
"Introducing the Palm Pixi phone"

Being stupid and equipped with bad eyes, I read Palm in the subject as Palin.

I really wanted to see the Palin Pixi phone.

Just a thought I never see old people or kids working at Costco the way I see them at walmart and many other retail places.

SoCal GOP lawmaker resigns after caught bragging about sex and spanking with lobbyists

http://www.mercurynews.com/topstories/ci_13299655?nclick_check=1

He also owns an insurance agency.

LOL

Flatus
I did the same thing with your post.
I'm not sure I could handle a palin pixie.

Jack

" Now I really hate him "
Doc Holiday / Tombstone

WASHINGTON — Nearly half of all "serious" hazardous materials spills on roads, rails, airstrips and waterways go unreported to the government, leaving investigators without data used to identify unsafe carriers and containers, federal records show.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-09-08-hazmat_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

So what is a serious spill.

The most common one would be motor fuel of different kinds.

Jack

But for the first time, the state Fish and Game Commission has decided that fishermen may take no herring from San Francisco Bay this winter, effectively shutting down the bay's last commercial fishery.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/09/09/MNQQ19K93M.DTL

Jamie,

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258650

That's why I will side with Jack; once again. All or nothing. It will take a year just to find out how they screwed us. Nothing now will get a lot of voters mad, and demand a new start at this whole thing, from a different angel....my angle would be; full speed ahead, and don't stop for any red light...fm.....

Healthcare Industry News > Wal-Mart improves employee health care plans
Wal-Mart improves employee health care plans

After years of criticism, Wal-Mart is making changes in the health care plans being offered to their employees. The retailer is the country’s largest private employer but still only provides health care to about half of its 1.4 million workers nationwide. However, some former critics see the changes as a step in the right direction for the business.

Originally, Wal-Mart required its part-time employees to wait two years before being eligible for health insurance benefits. The most affordable plan cost $1,500 in annual premiums and had a $3,000 deductible employees had to meet before Wal-Mart would cover any of their medical expenses. Considering the average employee only makes $20,000 a year those fees were pretty steep. Now the company has reduced its waiting period to only one year and has plans with deductibles as low as $350. Some plans also include health care credits which can be used towards routine care, although these plans have higher deductibles.

While the changes are an improvement, Wal-Mart’s benefits package does not compare to that offered by Costco. Their plans cost employees several hundred dollars a year but provide extensive coverage.
http://www.vitalonehealth.com/WalMart-employee-health-care-plans.html

Count #3: Contributing to the U.S. Health Care Crisis

* Wal-Mart's health insurance only covers 43% of its employees.11
* On average, large firms (200 or more workers) cover approximately 68% of their employees.12
* Wal-Mart's most affordable individual plan charges premiums of $22 a month ($11 in some areas); but it carries with it a $1,000 deductible for individuals, a $3,000 deductible for family members with a separate $1,000 per person hospital deductible, and a $300 per person prescription drug deductible.13
* At these deductible levels, a person earning Wal-Mart's average hourly wage for a full-time worker would have to spend between 7% and 25% of his total annual income just to cover his premiums and medical deductibles.14
* The cost of premiums for Wal-Mart family health insurance has risen 117% since 2000. 15 In comparison, average premiums for family coverage in the United States have increased by 59% since 2000.16
* Wal-Mart admits that public health care assistance is a "better value" for its employees than its own plans. President and CEO Lee Scott said, "In some of our states, the public (health insurance) program may actually be a better value - with relatively high income limits to qualify, and low premiums."17
* Wal-Mart employees must wait longer than the average worker to gain access to plans:
o Part-time employees must wait two years before they are allowed to enroll and are not eligible to purchase family health care coverage.18
o Full-time hourly employees must wait 6 months before enrolling in Wal-Mart's health insurance plan.19
o By comparison, the average national wait time for new employees to become eligible for enrollment in company provided health care plans is 1.6 months.20
http://www.changetowin.org/why-organize/corporate-hall-of-shame/wal-mart.html

LOL

Good propaganda KGC

People who need health insurance don't have to wait 2 years to get health insurance. all they have to do is work full time.

Neither of my sisters had to pay $3000 when they had a child with serious problems.

Yes walmart hires a lot of parttime peole and they are parttime because they want to be.
I know of very few places that provide health insurance for parttime help.

Jack

Hi all, any Trail Mixers left who haven't signed up for invites to our launch party for the book I wrote with Helen Thomas? Do so right now at http://craigcrawford.com/contact.html

And what is funny about that list is all of the people I've meet that WORK at Walmart just to have health insurance for their families.

This pure union propaganda that ignores the realities of life for most of these workers. If not Walmart then it is nothing. For my sister and her friends who live in the Branson area there are a number of places where they can make more money but the places that offer the level of benefits that walmart does are almost nonexistent.

"DLB, and you were doing so well....

It really doesn't matter in a representative democracy whether or in what percentages the people understand or approve of proposed legislation..."

Posted by: newpogo.myopenid.com 3:21 PM
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258646

-Ivory-tower, nanny-state BS. You could use that logic to justify the most recent Iraq War and defend those who authorized it... you could, but I wouldn't buy that either.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258671

Jack

Partime people work part time because they "want to" . When did you join snobs R us?

Welcome to the real world where people often take what they can get and are damned glad to get it. There is a real world out here where people care for the sick and elderly while trying to work while trying to raise children while just hoping to survive. Just because you don't happen to live on that planet, is no reason to belittle the people who do.

from that famous leftwing propaganda source the Wall Street Journal

http://www.dsausa.org/lowwage/walmart/health.html

Wal-Mart has a limited benefit plan, called Starbridge.
Fast-Growing Health Plan Has A Catch: $1,000-a-Year Cap
Employees Pay $10 or So Weekly, for Basics That Provide Little Help for Serious Illness

By CHAD TERHUNE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Jamie

If it is at walmart then it is just that
Fact
It is very easy to work full time

Jack

Just heard a phone in comment on the radio and thought XR must be the line:

"Max Backassward's BIMBO bill, Big Insurance Monopolies Bail Out".

lol

those darn commies in Wisconsin

http://www.legis.state.wi.us/assembly/asm76/news/Wal-Mart%20facts.htm

Walmart

When you pull loads for Walmart, there's no place for drivers to piss . I pulled a lot of paper towels into their dis. centers. , and their attitude is that you are the scum of the earth because your bladder is full.

Walmart -
And if you object , they let you sit in their parking lot, and let you idle.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258502

Craig
It started for me when he backed off his promise to end Don't Ask Don't Tell.My disappointment increased after I watched "Rachael",she had on Congressman A.Hastings(D,Fl).Hastings said the Obama Administration pressed him to withdraw legislation to end DADT and he bowed to their pressure.The Administrations non-response to the crazies in August and their backing off support for a public option left me feeling BETRAYED...I'm still hoping President Obama will get the Republicans want him to fail. Even today while listening to the Obama ABC interview he was still appealing to the Republicans to let me be a friend in the White House.Still giving President Obama a chance, but what choice do I have,there's no where to go...

those liars at the Kaiser Family Foundation

Kaiser Family Foundation reports that less than 50 percent of Wal-Mart employees receive health care benefits. Full-time workers must wait six months to receive medical benefits, and part-time workers wait two years. Half the workforce turns over annually. As a result, part-time employees, who are more than one-third of the workforce, rarely receive benefits. For others, high deductibles, copays, and coverage limitations make the company-provided health plan unaffordable.

Walmart drivers are pricks too.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258686

Sure you can work full time Jack. Of course sometimes you have to get three or four part time jobs to do it.

Ms Cracker -

Wait till they get into under taking. They got us cradle to grave.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258685

Now there is non reality for you

Jack

Jack -

Remember hoss you're telling us how swell the largest corporation in the world is.

Here's laughing at you Jack.

Walmart's decision to back "health care reform" seems more in the spirit of hurting their competitors then doing something for their employees.
liars at the Washington Post...liars everywhere lying about Walmart......poor poor Walmart
Critics Say Wal-Mart Grows Part-Timers to Cut Benefits

Wal-Mart Stores plans to reduce the portion of its workforce that is full time to about 60 percent from 80 percent.
Wal-Mart Stores plans to reduce the portion of its workforce that is full time to about 60 percent from 80 percent. (By J.d.
By Amy Joyce
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is shifting a portion of its full-time employees to part-time status, company critics say, which they assert will have the effect of limiting health insurance, even though the company is expanding coverage for its part-time workers.

Now there is non reality for you

Jack

The only non-reality here is the evidence free little stories you've posted.

Maybe the Walmart where your sisters work is different from all the rest in the whole wide world.

Just now on The Ed Show: Congressman stern: 14000 people lost their health insurance today.

According to Jack they can all go work for Walmart and be just fine.

Sorry thought he was a Congresscritter. He was president of the SEIU

http://www.seiu.org/

KGC
For others, high deductibles, copays, and coverage limitations make the company-provided health plan unaffordable.

That is an absolute falsehood.

Walmart Insurance is just like everybody elses
My sister insures her and her family for less than $300 a month.
The rest of the numbers on turn over and partimers are irelevant to the discussion and are mostly being used to manipulate the numbers.

Jack

Jack

What that tells me is that your sister isn't one of the minimum wage or close to mw part time workers. I don't know of anyone with two children working 40 hours a week (if they can get it) for $8.00 and hour who can afford $300 a month

.

link to the various facts about walmart including from the employee benefits book..links are in the footnotes

http://action.walmartwatch.com/page/-/Fact%20Sheets/2009%20health%20care%20fact%20sheet_040709.pdf

Your sister must be sleeping with the benefits manager (just kidding)

nice how you dismiss any argument that presents facts in opposition to your theory.

KGC

I here on the ground and see the truth
Your manipulated numbers are just that.
As far as you facts are concerned , a person who worked one hour and one who workeed 40 are equal.
And that is just the obvious manipulation

Jack

Wal-Mart is on the record saying they prefer part time workers and that is their strategic plan. I couldn't find numbers for the Branson store...in fact they only numbers I could find are for a store in Mass and they are 50-50 full and part time.

http://www.mlive.com/business/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2009/06/walmart_to_hire_300_employees.html

oops Michigan not Mass

We are talking about a company that offers crap insurance to both full time and part time workers. And it has been their custom and practice to reduce full time to part time and they have stated as company policy that is there plan.

I'm happy for your sister.

Wal-Mart Employees Still Wait Twice As Long For Health Care Coverage Than Workers At Other Retailers. The Wal-Mart average for full-time workers to qualify for benefits is six months, compared to the retail average of three months. Part-time employees must wait a full year before receiving benefits. Since the majority of workers do not stay a year, the majority never get health care. [Wal-Mart 2008 Associate Benefits Book, Pages 10 and 13; Employer Health Benefits 2007 Annual Survey, The Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust]

Jack,

Is your sister married? Is she in management? Does her family have more than one source of income? How many children does she support? On the medical condition you cited, what was her copay on doctors visits? Her deductible on the procedures? Did she have a source of secondary insurance?

As stated by you, the conditions you list don't exist in the real world unless someone has a cadillac plan of some sort. Certainly, it isn't the basic plan of offered to part time employees.

Do you have insurance? Do you pay for it yourself?

Craig Crawford's Trail Mix -

See Cowboy Crawford rangle a whole herd of jack asses ....

Cowboy Craig Crawford - The Jack Ass Whisperer

wrangle

First Solar to build huge Chinese solar plant

The Tempe, Arizona-based company has long been a favorite of alternative energy investors, and is about 40 percent owned by heirs to John Walton, founder of Wal-Mart.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5874XC20090908?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=10530

LONDON (Reuters) - Another global financial crisis is inevitable because human nature always reverts to "speculative excesses" during a period of sustained prosperity, former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.

"The crisis will happen again but it will be different," he told BBC Two's "The Love of Money" television series.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5881R720090909
----------------
More deep thinking from the former Fed Chairman.

Dan Rather on HDNet had a fascinating hour-long program on the state of, and the future of, electric driven automobiles. I think it's a really worthwhile watch.

It's available, I think, on ITunes. Details should be here:
www.hd.net/danrather

Not Just for Wonks Anymore

Rush Limbaugh tells listeners you're better off not having insurance at all and simply paying out of pocket. You can make the best choices about cost and which doctors to use.

Late Update: Sigh. I think this has to win the prize for best reader comment of the day: "If it's one thing I trust Rush Limbaugh to do, it's doctor shop."

--Josh Marshall

"Slow down and start over. That was the message from top Capitol Hill Republicans in advance of President Barack Obama's address Wednesday night to Congress and the nation on health care."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_health_care_reaction

Why - besides politics - does this make sense?

Separate and apart from the sixty-year debate on this issue - BOTH parties debated and campaigned on the issue of healthcare.

There was consensus in the parties and the electorate - that healthcare is broken and needs to be fixed. We all know Washington can only do one thing at once - so let's get this done now. (Remember some other bills we decided to "wait" on - healthcare '93 - immigration during the last term.)

No. We will not wait. And the GOP has two choices.

1. Loyal opposition. Propose a plan. Have a serious debate on the Democratic proposals you disagree with.

2. Palinatic. Twist the most controversial parts of the bill, call Obama a socialist and try to make sure nothing gets done.

I thought Palin was a "reformer." Yet she is engaging in all of the Washington games that "conservatives" claim to deplore.

Palin - with a specials needs child and someone much closer to the middle class than the Washington elite - should know as good as anyone that we need to make sure people have affordable insurance and good access to quality healthcare.

By the way - the Palin, Cristol option, i.e., "kill the bill," is based on pure politics.

It puts the interests of American people - people who have lost their homes because of medical bills and people who have lost loved ones due to insufficient care - to the side. And cravenly says that politics is more important.

These people would be the first to go if I was on the "death panel" - not grandma and small-business owners...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Is oil giant Chevron afraid of a movie?

One of the stars of "Crude," a documentary about a $27 billion environmental lawsuit filed against the company on behalf of residents of Ecuador's Amazon, certainly thinks so. A spokesman for Chevron vehemently denies it.

The film's New York opening on Wednesday is the latest twist in a class action case that began 16 years ago, which argues that Chevron should compensate some 30,000 Ecuadoreans who live near waste pits left by oil exploration going back to the 1960s.

http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE5885L020090909

Hey, Craig--is there gonna be a new thread for comments after the speech? Just wonderin'--

Excerpts from Pres. Obama's speech released.

There appears to be a new operative phrase, that is,

"We will do this by creating a new insurance exchange-a marketplace where individuals & small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/10/us/politics/10obama.excerpts.html?_r=1

Hey everyone! Are we live-blogging the Presidnet's speech tonight?

Did I really just hear Keith Olberman say that "Tonight we will find out if Barack Obama works for the people of the corporations?"

Someone pinch me.

When they talk about this "market" where people can go to get insurance - they shouldn't say people will get insurance at a price they can "afford" - they should say they can get insurance at a price they can "trust".

Now I know it will be easy to make hay - Glenn Beck's monkey ass will say"oh! like u can really trust the government."

Here is what you can trust with the public option:

-You can trust that you are getting a good price for good insurance.
-What will be covered and what will not - will be analyzed in plenty of news outlets.
-The insurance program will be run as a non-profit govt program designed to promote the public wealthfare - instead of a for-profit multi-national corporation whose stated purpose is to line the pockets of their CEO's, shareholders and lawyers.

Choice amongst a bunch of blood suckers - with confusing policies no one can understand - is no choice at all.

Cbob is in rare form-LOL- love the jack ass whisperer!

excuse me, top form, not all that rare for him.

Flatus -
About that ambush in Afghanistan. The lack of fire support.
I can only guess that the attack on those high jacked tankers played a part in these Marines getting shot to pieces .

That was a huge screw up .

Sea -
Imus can invite him to the " Ranch" to teach the little sick children how to deal with jack asses.

NEW THREAD.. http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/obama-speaks.html

Off for some alfalfa and carrots.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/09/a-unique-and-thoughtful-man.html#comment-258729

Good one Warren - that is exactly what we need. Also the idea of eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions -- is hollow unless there is also an assurance that people will not be price-gouged for coverage of same.

Speech was a bit partisan. Which was probably the right pitch since at most 1-3 Republicans will sign onto bill.

Republican response was effective and opposition will continue. Surprise surprise.