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America’s disastrous health care system is responsible for incalculable amounts of illness, death, lost productivity and federal deficit — not to mention anxiety, anger and disgrace. And it’s not going to get fixed, writes Matt Taibbi in the new issue of Rolling Stone, because it’s encased in another failed system: the U.S. government. Rather than attempt to remedy the problem this summer, our government sat down and demonstrated its dizzying ineptitude. “We might look back on this summer someday and think of it as the moment when our government lost us for good,” writes Taibbi. “It was that bad.”
Taibbi breaks down the five steps Congress took to be sure no bill would pass — aiming low, gutting the public option, packing it with loopholes, providing no leadership and blowing the math — in his story, which is available on stands now. In a series of video interviews for RollingStone.com, Taibbi explores one of our system’s most severe flaws, explains how the government wedged itself into an awkwardly damning position, and looks at how the proposed bill would change the ordinary American’s life.
Perhaps the biggest flaw in the American health care system is that 31 percent of costs are associated with administration and paperwork. Here Taibbi examines the easiest way to eliminate the red tape:
Taibbi on how the Democrats wound up on the defensive — and theories that the government struck a sideline deal with the pharmaceutical industry:
Inside the “individual mandate” that would require people to buy insurance and how the bill might make conditions worse than before:
— Rolling Stone
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.
And by the way, Captain Subtext, that system sounds incredibly fair (no sarcasm, I’m serious). The major difference is that here in the US we believe that we get to bleed the wealthy to pay to benefit everyone else. So our system involves increasing the taxes of 5% of the population while the uninsured who will get government health care pay no more than they pay now (nothing).
Lovely stuff. People oppose health care reform because of some unproven notion some Latino illegals may get some benefit from it. Some simply believe whatever rubbish thr right wing says believe….like a herd of sheep. The bald truth is United States health care sucks and what sucks more is the insurance companies are making out like the merciless pirates and bandits they are. I always say self-serving people are not usually well-served. If health care is not fixed soon and if those who have the most income yet pay 28% less income tax and if and end doesn’t come to the farm subsidies paid to people who do not actually farm or are so wealthy they do not need the money, it will all come back to bite this entire country in the ass.
Or we could just take all the money from people who work hard to earn a decent living and give it to people who want and expect things to be given to them. I’m sure that would leave us with a more productive society…….
Atl Movers, pfff i assume your from atlanta and your entire family will never have to worry about healthcare for as long as they live. thats the problem with this country, theres no more humanity in society in the U.S. We feed and clothe inmates and murderers, why would we not want to collectively take care of each other?
RS/BS, it’s also possible that ATL MOVERS owns Atlas Van Lines, one of the largest Moving companies on the planet. That would explain a LOT.
Have any of you who are against health care reform because you all believe, I surmise, it takes from the rich and gives to the poor (and supposedly people who don’t pay taxes..which is generally NOT a fact)ever heard of Thomas Malthus or Harriet Martineau or Jeremy Bentham? You should know they are the sources of many ideas supported by the so-called conservatives. This means much of this rubbish is from moldy notions approximately 200 years old and formed, in part, by a man whose mental health would be thought questionable. I keep hoping a 21st century America can do better that. Actually,I have read the Federalist Papers. It is interesting to note the basic of these Founding Fathers was to support big business and landowners, personal greed, and protect them from the common rabble. No surprise there. The true causes of the revolution were taxes and regulations which were, supposedly, problematic for those in business who felt they should keep a fatter purse and not be regulated by government. Most of this was a non-issue for ordinary people. Nearly every person who signed the Declaration of Independance was either a large business owner or a wealthy landowner. The Bill of Rights was an after-thought. Puts a different face on the idealistic stuff kids are taught in school, doesn’t it?
My grandfather (RIP) once told me a story about the first time he went all the way to Minnesota for a complicated surgery, this was the late 60’s, early 70s. Before the surgery the doctor sized up my grandfather and created a price for the surgery, a price that he figured my grandfather could afford. My grandfather at first felt stiffed (OTW why would he wear a business suit to a meeting, if only to get hosed on price) but he thought twice about when he saw the next man in line, the guy with patched jeans, and knew that his inflated price would help counteract the poorer man’s price. In the good ole’ days of American medicine, the doctor could price whatever and however he wanted, but he knew he couldn’t charge someone more then they were worth. Nowadays, we allow insurance companies to set prices. We allow banks to foreclose houses because of hospital bills. We allow insurance companies be our “death panels”. And we allow insurance companies to scrape 31% off the top via bureacracy? Why? Because we’re a capitalist country. Middlemen need to get paid, and its tearing our country apart. The middlemen pay off our politicians, and our politicians forget who put them there. People say Obama is a socialist, but socialism does not come about because we are being more socialist in our capitalist world, but because of a need to replace the capitalist model that’s overgrown its use.
Look up the words ‘Corporate Fascism’ and it’ll read ‘See the US’, ‘Caveat Emptor’ A’int it the truth. We’s done bought it now.
My sister moved to the usa almost two years ago.
she got pregnant with her husbands child, but she had complications during the carrieng of the child.
one of the things that had to happen was blood drawing to examine it for deseases and stuff.
they drew 8 vials of blood. it cost her around 2000$ just for the drawing and examination.
in almost the same period they withdrew 6 vials of my blood cause the feared i had pfeifer’s desease. it cost me 59 euro’s.
i live in the netherlands, healthcare there has his problems, but look at the difference. 2000$ versus 59 euro.
there is something really wrong here if its that big a difference.
that said, according to my sis she prefers the way that in the usa, if u can afford it that is, they check everything 2 times and never ever take chances. in that regard, the netherlands can learn a thing or two.
but in general, the healthcare in the usa is lacking. how can u leave so much people suffering cause they just havent got the money for it? thats just wrong and opposes everything that makes us human.
peace
Matty-boys rant against the health care system here is not entirely crapola – after all what is every totally anything. But I think I smell more of his hypocrisy: case in point, history tells us that Matty-boy, while living across the pond in one of the great empires, got his rag-tag ass sick with pneumonia. Instead of staying where he was and take advantage of the hearth care system over there, he came screaming back (wetting his pants, no doubt) to an American health care provider, why I wonder, why. If it was so bad and inadequate here, why did he risk his life and put his health in the hands of the nasty money-grabbing capitalist pigs to nurse his ass back to health. Was he not confident in the socialized care where he was? Matty-boy, if your gonna spew bile from your mouth, at least walk your talk and not be a typical leftist hypocrite and do everything but what your big mouth preaches. Give me a frickin’ break here.
After reading this article, I sent emails to my local representatives. We need single payer NOW and everyone that agrees needs to be HEARD! No compromises! I voted for BO b/c I thought we were going to see change. This is our country too and I believe health care should be an inalienable right. No one should have to declare bankruptcy because of medical bills. I own a small business and right now I have NO options. I could pay my monthly premiums, but do you think any of those asshole insurance companies are going to pay any claims? NO! It is time to stand up against these corporations that are recording record profits because they are denying claims. Our health care is ranked 37 people!!! We pay MORE for inadequate care! Doesn’t that bother you people?
Too bad the framers of the Constitution didn’t see the “needy” of the future generations bleeding the country dry for stuff they are obliged to buy on their own. I don’t recall seeing in any official document that health care was an “inalienable right”. If we are starting to feel and demand “rights” where they don’t exist, I feel I have a right to a private jet so I can travel to Washington and thank my politicians for caring for me like the house servant they see me as( like the “spewer of the house” bug-eyed Pelosi), a big gas guzzling SUV so I can get to my government job or local welfare office (like the politicians drive their fat asses around in, read:Obama), a new house in the Hamptons with the rest of the fat liberal-elites so i can thank them for making me an Uncle-Tom on their Plantation known as The Welfare State, free education at Harvard or Yale, free food (read: special imported foods like the Ombama’s bring in on our dime and not the standard crap from food stamps that I get)- can’t survive without food, so that makes it a right, and while we are at it, how about a dash of new electronics – wide screen TV – I need to stay current on this Health Care issue, laptop computers and high-speed Internet access so I can communicate with my leaders in Washington, and I need that in the rare case I get a job. I deserve an overpaid job – have to have that to not feel oppressed anymore … What ever happened to being self-sufficient: this cradle-to-the-grave mentality is sickening. I thank you Mr. and Mrs./Miss Government for making me dependent on you to stay alive.
So, does that mean you didn’t go to public school? Do you plan on collecting social security and medicare when you are of age? What about calling the local fire department or police department in case of emergencies? People like you make me sick as you spew out everything you hear on right wing radio. So, because I run a small business instead of working for corporate America, I don’t deserve to have health care? My point is that, I can pay for it, but the companies are not required to pay claims. It is worthless to have health insurance when you are self employed. I am not asking for anything free. You need to actually do your research because BO’s plan is going to have a public option, which I can BUY. It is not free health care. I just want these companies to have some sort of regulation and competition so they can’t just charge us whatever they want and pay for whatever they want. If you had ever tried to file a claim with one of these companies, you would know that they usually do not cover anything.
As for my first comment for single payer, I do feel that that would be the best option for our country, even though the public option will do for now. I know that it is not likely because people like you, Just me, are scared by the media and don’t actually learn about these issues and how they could benefit all of us.
I see you are confused. Let me see if I can help shed some basics on the facts to help clear up your misunderstandings – I will try, with you it might be difficult, because I try to start with reasonable thinking people. But here goes:
My parents paid for my education via their taxes when i was but a small child – that was not a freebie, my fire and police departments are paid for with my property taxes – that is not a freebie, my social security and medicare was pre-paid from my earnings – so that is not a freebie. By the way, your friends in Washington have bankrupted the social security and medicaid programs -(I don’t know if they or Radio America or NPR shared that with you or not but it is true), so there isn’t any money to pay me back for what I paid into it – thank you very much. What do you think they are gonna do with this program – can you spell bankruptcy?
I am self-employed and I have a provider who pays my claims, I don’t know who you are freely giving your money away to, but you made a poor judgement with the company you did choose. A little research, might have prevented that.
I couldn’t agree with you more when you refer to El Presidente as BO – he stinks!
Jaimie, Jaimie, Jaimie … I am the result of a public school education, the same government that you are so willing to trust with your life. Poor, poor, you. I don’t know what kind of half-assed policy you bought, but the one I have has been paying my claims with no hoops to go through. Maybe if you shopped your policy as well as you should, you wouldn’t be having this delusional nightmare.
Sorry to break your little leftist heart, but I listen to alternative radio, not right or left wing crap. Seems you fall into the simple trap that anyone who disagrees with the insane left must be a Nazi or terrorist from the far right. Wake up, while you can, listen, research and maybe, just maybe you will begin to think on your own without prompting from the lunatic left … or right for that matter. You are being played you fool, snap out of it before it is too late.
If you signed on with a company that isn’t required to pay the claims, you got taken – you must be very easy to sell anything. Oh, wait, you are … you bought into the nanny state version of health care. Don’t you think it is time to do a little more research and stop regurgitating the leftist talking points. Just say “No”, it really is easy once you start your recovery process. Sorry i got you sick, but at least there are still coverage out there that can get you better wait until Daddy Barry Obama gets his team on your case … they might recommend pulling the plug! Or better yet, just take an aspirin, there I saved you a $100.00 office visit. You can thank me latter!
The same Prez that claims amputations of the foot earns a doctor $30,000 – 50,000 when the fact is they get about $750.00. This is the same bozo you are gonna trust to take care of you. Go for it, and reduce the excess population.Do the research and you won’t look so silly. You don’t make me sick btw, you just bring out my “pitty” emotion.
good points but i think Obama even if he gets a victory in health care reform looked like a failure. Obama should have been playing this one close to his chest he could have been much more successful. however from the start they were only interested in health care for all which meant even if they would force them to take employer based insurance they could still apply for government option, and just to stop the chain of debt that would one day be to much to handle
Taibbi if you ever need an assistant/apprentice, consider me throwing my hat in the ring. You, sir, are a genious. It is too bad that there aren’t more reporters out there like you and definately more politicians like you. One can only hope that with the failure at health reform American’s will finally draw a line in the sand and put these fucking politico’s running our lives as a game and a means to line their own pockets, and put them on notice.
Ponder this America: Why the hell should some company big wig make a fucking profit off of my health and well-being? Health care is not a commodity, it is a god damn right in 2009 and beyond.
Support health care reform, and that means pretty much Pres. Obama. After seeing what his team has done, in avoiding yet Another Republican Depression, credit card reforms, better foreign policy, etc., I’m confident he can put together a decent plan. I doubt hardly any Republicans will vote for it no matter what as they have become the No Nothing Party!
But the writer of this article was seen on a National Geo program on the problems with the “offical” version of 9-11. He belittled Any serious effort to find out the answers to so many curious and hard to believe aspects of this tragedy. He and another guy over and over made any critical look at this seeming to be crazy, yet polls show that millions think far less than the truth is known, and for good reason.
The Nat. Geo program was very disappointing, especially for them. They spent far too much time on the most extreme theories, and even then didn’t totally knock them down. They acted like all of the 9-11 truther’s believed all of the theories, while most obviously study it carefully and pick the most logical possible answers.
It was a sham and so much so that it leads one to think it deliberate, and therefore needing it’s own questioning. Taibbi was part of this, implying liberal-tending readers like of Rolling Stone would believe this guy. Many in the 9-11 truth movement, including many related to victims, could have easily torn his “logic” apart immediately, let alone with a little research.
This event helped to give the US the “new Pearl Harbor” that Neo-Con’s like Richard Pearl or Dick Cheney wanted, which led to the totally unnecesary Iraq War. Which dramatically drove up the debt and helped to create the economic crisis! Not to mention cause the deaths of over 4,000 US troops and serious wounds to over 31,000, losing arms, legs, eyes, etc.; the Biggest Blunder in US History !
Ben…”dramatically drove up the debt” due to the war….hmmm….who’s dramatically driving up the debt these days at 4x the rate on less than 6 months???? And the “stimulus” [which didn't stimulate much...ask 9.7% of the people] was said not to be enough money. The principal of the war was OK at the time it was voted on (by MANY Dems I might add). It unraveled over time and here we are. I like to focus on looking ahead and massive spending and messing with the best health care in the world is going to pull us down to the level of Western Europe. I’ve spent enough time over there to know that our country will accelerate it’s downward spiral if we socialize our system and take away people’s incentives to create, invent and push things forward. That principle alone should be what people question when new programs are dreamed up which control our lives.
Revolt – When and where. Everyone puts out emails and bitches about the HC reform but no one is forming anything to get this done. I am ready. Obama is a nut. First he wants to people to squeal on you if you send out emails against him. How high school can you be?!? Now he is having a talk with the children about how they can help the president. My goodness history is repeating itself – Hitler is back!
I worked for a number of years with Ted Geisel (Dr. Seuss), a lifelong liberal and supporter of all causes that got in the face of the Nixon gang (Marvin K Moony Won’t You Please Go Home).
When Ted was diagnosed with cancer, he fell into the great American health care pit …. and fought back with the only weapon he had: he wrote. For anyone seeking an acerbic, timely and prescient look at what happens when the doctor calls… read “You’re Only Old Once”. And brace yourself; it’s not a pretty picture.
Mr. Taibbi,
Please refrain from using the phrase “Health Care Reform.” There is NO SUCH THING, and the perpetuation of such an idea is only further hurting any real chance at the change we are all looking for: Health INSURANCE Reform.he
The language we use to frame these debates is just as important as the logical cohesion of the arguments themselves. PLEASE make note of this. I was tempted to pass this article around the world (friends, family, bloggers), but didn’t because of the simple mislabel.
WHY DO NONE OF THE 20 NEWS CHANNELS COVER THIS IN DETAIL?? AMAZING HOW CLEAR IT IS THAT THE MEDIA DO NOT WANT THE SHEEPLE IN THE COUNTRY TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE TO BE DECIDED ON. THANK GOD FOR MATT TAIBBI!! WHEN WILL THE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY WAKE UP??
A man called into C-Span and asked Senator Grassley (one of gang of six/ some democracy eh?) how long he’d been in Senate and when was the last time he had to decide between medicine and food for his kids.Grassley (cradle to grave politician) said he’d been in for 5 terms. He then went on of how he’d worked from ‘61-71/ in some factory screwing bolts in metal. The company had health insurance which he decided to use the last three years he was employed. The point being – GRASSLEY felt that this experience in ‘71 identified him with today’s working class/ HONEST! The guy (caller) reminded him that insurance rates have gone up 400% and mfg jobs are GONE! In all – Grassley was so disconnected – disjointed in his explanations of this health plan that you couldn’t understand any of it. Here you have MATT (not a politician)explaining the entire issue in an understandable (frightening) article. Where’s the promise of Kennedy and Obama that “We want you to have the same insurance that we have”?? They get 10 plans to choose from/ NO co-pay, no problem with pre-existing conditions – free or almost free prescriptions etc. We pick up 72% of their premium costs! Ted under his & Obama’s plan, would be kicked to the curb. People need to check out Rahm Emanuel’s “The Plan” / goofy booklet he wrote – basically Ice Floe care for anybody over 65 (over the hill). Of course there’s rationed care and a DEATH panel – when an Advisory Committee decides what treatments you (handicapped child – someone chronically ill) DON’T NEED! With millions out of work and millions set to retire/ figure it out. Some need to be disposed of/ but not them with CADILLAC coverage. The rest will get Medicaid on steroids/ ha and try finding a doctor.
Tort Reform? Well how can that happen with trial lawyers (most of them all lawyers) donating so much/ Yes we have the best medical care IF you have big bucks. Mandated insurance? Yes and they’ll have the IRS with access to your bank/ BUT they couldn’t put the IRS in charge of the BILLIONS missing in Iraq! Recall that on Sept 10-2001 Donald Rumsfeld stated that the Dept of Defense couldn’t account for 2.3 BILLION dollars/ that got lost in the tragedy of 9/11 !!
How does someone earning (today’s new hires wage, GM) 12 an hr afford insurance at 12,000 per year. The insurance/pharmaceuticals met secretly with Obama and Kennedy. They’re thrilled –with millions of mandated new customers/ it’s business as usual $$$ / This is the Change we’ve been waiting for / God help us!
Hey guys, this revolt is not so hard. If every progressive cancels their insurance policies, the financial crisis will seem mild. We need to boycott the insurance companies just like the bus boycott. I don’t really see where its such a big deal. Its not like they (insurance companies) are providing security anyway since they always find someway not to pay. I’m in. But enough people have to do it to make a dent in their profits. Obama said today another 8 million due to recession. How many more of us need to boycott before they feel the pinch?
Its not about Bi-partism…- Its about the next elections – what does that mean ? It means no one cares about how the soup tastes, its about who gets to serve the soup. – Dems need to rally – pass leg. and stop worrying about hurting Rep. feelings. I get all the wacky protical in congress….
here are the facts.
Insurance comp take advantage of there customers
Insurance companys internal systems are 10 fold on red tape costing us huge $$
Hosp-doc’s make way to much $$
Richest country in world needs to support its people
Our President has a plan..
rep. are supporting the negative campaign just to win electons
Most people supporting republcn. veiws on Health care reform are so un-informed
Independants and Dems need to rally
I am a Independant
The writer of this article has a sound and full understanding of what is wrong with the American system, in particular health care or the lack/shoddy nature thereof. As long as the public is exposed to blatant lies from their politicians like “the best system in the world” (it is number 37, let me repeat THIRTY SEVEN in the so-called civilized world – I live in Portugal which ranks number 12) people will believe this nonsense. The ONLY viable way for all people to get a fair share and good care is a one-payer system.
But wait, just a thought – how about taking the cushy and free health care plans away that are being enjoyed by all senators and members of Congress? That ought to bring them a taste of reality! No more perks, no more pampering, no more lobbies but there seems to be no REAL will on the side of the American people. They are so very un/misinformed it is pathetic and the few who have an inkling of how they are being exploited are just not enough to really cause change. The “public option” is a cheap compromise and will do little should it come to pass in a much diluted version.
Living abroad in a country with a one-payer system, choice and Big Pharma being controlled, you really get a good perspective of just how bad the American health care system most folks do NOT want to give-up, provided they have not fallen through the cracks yet, is.
Likewise it is utterly astounding how people can vote on one issue, such as birth-control, abortion etc. Represented by good church-attending family-oriented representatives (never mind all the “outside sexual activities” coming to light weekly now) they still hold on to the illusion that they have a say in what is happening on all fronts. Most of those “holy rollers” are delusional, afraid or unable to look reality squarely in the eye. What a pity – so much potential but then all empires fall once the elites start totally ignoring the public who put them there in the first place. GREAT ARTICLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Could someone please explain why the hell Rolling Stone refuses to post the original piece by Matt Taibbi?
Here’s to all of the fanatics who do not want health care reform…I hope that you and your loved get sick. I mean like gravely sick. Then, I hope your beloved insurance company (THE REAL HITLER’s OF OUR SOCIETY) drops your coverage and you go belly up. Then, as you are living on the streets begging for a hand out, I will come and before I step over you to get to where ever I may be going, I will make sure to give you a golden shower. The only real reform we will get is if 2012 wipes most of the population out. I hope it starts with Bush/Cheney lovers, Wall Street, lobbyists, and finally politicians. Unreal, the state of America these days. F U democrats, republicans, liberals, and any other way you wish to label people these days. Let’s drop the labels and actually solve issues for the good of the community as a whole and not the ruling class. NO 2012, then REVOLUTION.
Here’s what cracks me up about America. The majority hated Bush and wanted change. So, what does America do…they vote for change. Then, when we finally get a President who cares about the people and wants to enact change, America freaks and labels him a fascist, socialist, etc, etc, etc. I do not agree with all of his policies, but man, I would rather have Obama for a lifetime then one more day with the likes of Bush/Cheney and the rest of the fanatics. If Obama isn’t qualified for office, what does that say for Bush?
Nothing to do right now but eliminate corruption in the three branches of government. We just gave Trillions to our Voodoo economy, anything we sign up for is just another “Open for Looting” bill. If it was about change, explain Biden… All the signs of the usual suspects abound. Change, sides in bed.
The change we need will never happen as long as lobbyists and special interests groups are allowed to run free. Also, the insurance companies need to go away or at least work out a deal with doctors to operate somewhere around non-profit, same as the utility companies. I was ranting and pissed the other day, hence the messages I left! I do like Obama, if for nothing else than he is an upgrade over Bush/Cheney. I am a hard line Ron Paul supporter though. I hope like hell he can make it through the primaries this next cycle, but it’s a long shot for sure.
Matt:
Wanted to connect you to our new site designed to put pressure on Rupert Murdoch to be a more responsible corporate citizen. As you will see from this post, its appropriatedly called “StopMurdoch ThisMustEnd”. Our goal is to oranize and connect thos people concerned with the negative affect Murdoch’s endeavors are having on the unity of the general society. We’re hoping to become a market place for ideas on how to put financial pressure on Mr. Murdoch’s entities and the people who do business with him. First effort is to approach on campus student groups of the Big Ten Universities and solicit thier help. Why the Big Ten?? Well, you may know that Murdoch and News have set up a TV Channel called the Big Ten Network to televise sporting events from these schools. Our thoughts are that when some STudent’s find out that their University is in bed with Mr. Murdoch, they may feel concerned as we do and more importantly be motivated to action to pressure advertisers and others who do business with Mr. Murdoch. Wish us luck and we welcome any advise or support you may feel is appropriate. Keep up your good work.
The “StopMurdoch ThisMustEnd” Facebook site Friends
Everyone can argue their points one way or another of who’s correct and who’s not in this debate. However,why doesn’t the American people wake up and smell the bullshit
I’m an advocate and supporter of The Fair Tax Plan[fairtax.org].
In my opinion only a fucking IDIOT wouldn’t want to keep their own money, every penny of it as the fruits of the hard earned labor.
Those who demagougue or spin the research to fit their agenda to put the Plan down and knock it for no other reason than “politics” are missing the point of the plan altogether. This plan would put and end of the ludicrous arguments as posted right here right now, as well as the “class warfare” games instilled by Congress on both sides.
The merits and benefits of the Plan are to vast to post here. Do the research yourselves to discover how to turn the US into “The Tax Haven Of The World” by and through the “elinination of all taxes” and the repeal of the 16th Amendment [abolishhing the IRS for good] with a National Sales Tax of 23% on all “new goods and services” ONLY. Used items are “exempt”.
Plus every legal citizen get a “prebate check” every month to “untax the basic necessities of life”, WITH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY KEEPING EVERY PENNY OF YOUR PAY CHECK. NOW YOUR EMPLOYER CAN GIVE YOU THE MATCHING FUNDS S/HE PAYS IN PAYROLL TAXES! It’s your money! No more income tax, pay roll you get it all and only pay taxes on the goods and sevices you buy after the prebate check is spent. The dollar amount of the prebate check is determined by the number of dependants in the hosehold not by income any longer.
Now we would all have the $$$$$$$$$ to buy health care insurance if we CHOOSE TO MAKE THAT PURCHASE.
Again, only a complete and utter asshole wouldn’t want to keep THEIR OWN MONEY FROM THE RATS AND THE RAT HOLE CALLED WASHINGTON D.C.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Suppose you are a full time student, any age, and you suddenly find that you have cancer that will require an aggressive chemo regiment. Supposed that because of this you find that you positively cannot continue with school and the chemo simultaneously, one of them must be dropped. Which would you drop? Which is more important? I’m guessing that school would be put on the back burner. But guess what? Now we have a large group of citizens that will tell you that school is more important. “Go ahead, go to school, and don’t worry about that nasty old cancer.” At least, I guess that is the thought process. They will pay to teach you how to read and write without complaint. But if you get sick, you may be on your own.
I am 54 years old and never had any children. Never sent any kids to school, but over nearly 30 years I have paid tens of thousands of dollars in property taxes to support schools in 3 different states and I never asked why. I knew why, because it was the right thing to do. I don’t regret one dollar of it. Why is ensuring that everyone has health insurance such a difficult pill to swallow? I see an “I got mine, tough beans for you and your family” attitude that blows me away. And I see another group that will do anything, absolutely anything, including self destructive behavior, to aid and abet the failure of the current administration. And they apparently have no clue what that means to them personally. What I do not see is a civilized debate nor any good (better) ideas being proposed to help the situation. Maybe it truly is time for the U.S. to be moved out of the “world power” status. For cryin’ out loud, if we can’t come up with a solution for something this easy without dividing the nation in half, we sure don’t have the common sense to lead the world in any other endeavor.
man i hate trying to read in all caps. Were you typing violently when you were writing it also? What is worse? giving your money to the government so they can then pay for your medical bills at no profit, or giving money to a for profit corporation with huge administration costs so they can pay their CEOs billions of dollars. big government is a nonsensicle term, nobody wants big government, we all want efficient government. The words you should be looking for are efficient, cost effective, beneficial. these are all good concepts, just because i didn’t include the word profit doesnt mean i’m against it. but in the exchange of money from patient to doctor there should be no middle man grabbing every dollar they can. I wish i could just pay my doctor $50 a month but then i would be living in the 18th century and they would be blood letting me with leaches and giving me morphene cure alls. It’s complicated to live in an advanced society, but we all should agree that the best way to do it is with efficient, cost effective, and beneficial tactics. I know some of you wont believe me but that is what proponents of true health care reform want.
This health care “reform” sounds like it could be a new chapter in the next edition of “Shock Doctrine.”
Matt Taibi is one of the few journalists worth reading today. From the Fed and Goldman Sucks to the Global-Warming/Climate-Change fraudulent finance hoax you’ll find Matt in there digging for facts. Being a young man he’s a little short on understanding, however, he makes up for this in effort. The deeper he’s allowed to go the more restrictive the parameters become on his disclosures. This must make for interesting times in the Editor’s office. As for healthcare there is no rational discussion to be heard anywhere on the polital or media landscapes. FDA, FTC, Big Pharma, etc. No way, what for? It’s not really about healthcare, is it? Any semi-student of history or engaged American knows these are policies straight out of the British Empire playbook. In fact, a nasty runt with a moustache was the last to run this program outside of England or on a world stage exactly 70 years ago. The results of his theft of life/health and wealth are known and in part, at least, resulted in media-style prosecutions. Today there can be no sane proposal without key elements that are fundamental yet lacking in the junk generated by the national disgrace referred to as the Congress. From Pelosi and Frank to Reid and Dodd et al, all I see is, well, a joke that legislates for minnows, an alledged former brothel proprietor who spits when he yells down opposition, a backroom manipulator with his hand out, and the embodiment of all that is wrong and can be crammed into one suit after 35 years of so-called service. The “et als” are either stupid or complicit, though surely they are the richer for their inaction. You cannot operate a Corporation, the U.S.A., under the guise of “our Government”. You cannot run a business as a country that “borrows” from a private/corporate/tontine/insurance/ monetary system that is disintegrating globally. You cannot go around begging for the only product manufactured by that hybrid, debt in the form of fiat currency. The net result of these machinations are products that are poorly conceived and manufactured, then rolled out with the built-in obsolesence required to only perpetuate future theft, and no more. So, what are all these bills, bailouts, and stimuli about? Let the reader find the ultimate fact on his own, gruesome as it may be. Otherwise, for today all the palaba and all the programs only mean more of the same platforms constructed somewhere out there for ongoing off-the-books fraudulent finance. Our national wealth and our physical economy is being looted to stuff the Wall Street Banks and Commercial Banking with more junk to be passed of as money. There is no money, never has been…..and there are no loans to be had because there never were any to begin with, at least in my day. Only the honest audit of account general ledgers will reveal this. And only a sovereign national system of credit works. The proof of this is right here, right under our noses and embedded in the history of this nation. Hell, all you guys at Rolling Stone should know…..it was immortalized on paper made from hemp.
The healthcare problem should be easily fixed:
1. Immediately vote to Remove all healthcare from ALL
politicians and their families UNTIL they can find
a way to effectively provide it for every
“citizen”.
2. Immediately vote to Prohibit ANY money or benefits
from Insurance Companies being given, loaned, or
contributed to ANY politician.
3. Immediately vote to Prohibit ANY money or benefits
from Insurance Companies being given, loaned, or
contributed to ANYONE on the State Board of
Insurance.
4. Find a way to publicize grade reports on every
Politician on major issues like healthcare
supported by news media reporting on a semi-weekly
basis. Put the Politician in the Spot Light! Ask
him/her why they are NOT doing what they are paid
to do. Hold them accountable in front of the public.
5. Create an organization to oversee the government.
When they use stall tactics to bicker between each
other with the public being the ones to suffer
while they benefit off the poor, put in place
Penalty Steps with recourse.
6. Invoke heavy financial penalties followed with
impeachment IF they are proven to betray the
taxpayer while they benefit.
7. Have a Watch Dog organization monitor the News
Media who refuses to report on their progress while
in the Spot Light and invoke a Boycott on all of
their advertisers with reported results.
Just feel there are so many legal ways to eliminate their greed and lack of duty. After all, they are being paid to do a job and are merely showing up with no important progress except voting themselves benefits and raises at our expense. The rest of the day they just bicker while knowingly punishing the taxpayers.
Just a thought. Seems no one else is making any common sense and effective improvements………
I thought the dark day was November 2, 2004 when even after the public knew about Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo torture, they still voted for Bush and Cheney. (Even the dead people in small Ohio counties voted for Bush-Cheney according to the RS article by Robert F Kennedy Jr!). But then Obama happened. We have 60 Democrats in the US Senate. The executive orders for FEMA which permitted Cheney to create a secret government outside of the Constitution did not happen! As Mark Twain once said, “The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated”, the rumors of the death of democracy in America are just that–rumors. Obama stated clearly today, “The public option will be in the package.” Check out his live webcast!
You left out 1895 when the Supreme Court (Sparf v. US) ruled that jurors need not be told of their inherent power/right/function to judge the law as well as the facts of a case to find justice. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparf_v._United_States.
And before that, 1886, when a clerk’s error in the headnotes of a Supreme Court case gave corporations the status of persons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood
Now we the people means we the corporations, and jurors in courts cannot know of their power of jury nullification, the power to find the law unjust or wrongly applied. Thus while most people find the war on drugs insane, the constitutional remedy of juries nullifying drug laws on a case by case basis (as happened with alcohol laws during Prohibition) is largely lost. And we’ve lost that common ground where people of all political stripes come together and reason their way to a decision about law and justice. Which leaves us polarized, and tools of the prosecution, and of the corporations whose lobbyists write the laws, and ignorant of our role and power in the constitutional ecosystem.
You left that out.
Matt,
Thank you! Elected officials, are you listening?
Madaline Reddy
Your ‘I’m-right-and-everybody-but-me-is-stupid’ assumptions are just mind blowing to comprehend!
Let’s begin with your assumption that everyone in Abu Ghraib (or Guantanamo) is a terrorist! How can you know when many have been there for years without benefit of something like a preliminary hearing? Forget treating them according to our own Constitutional, legal principals – how about simply if we’re going to torture, maim and kill, we should WANT TO be sure get the right guys? How about ONLY the right guys instead of everybody from their country, everybody of their color, everybody who’s fearful enough to run away from our armies, any age, any gender?
Are you aware that there are about a dozen kids in there, arrested when they were 12 yrs old, near the battlefield but not engaged in battle or terrorism? Do you know rewards offered to turn in anyone they could point at, equaled a year’s income for most Iraqis and and more than a year’s for most Afghanis! What does that fact tell you about the percentages of guilt among the detainees?
Speaking of everybody from their country, which country IS THAT? Do you recall that the 19 hijackers were mostly Saudis, and we neither attacked Saudi Arabia nor picked up ‘terrorists’ there OR that we have damn few if any Saudis in either place?
Assumng you can always trust your government about such matters – aside from the charges he has been a bonafide CIA asset at times – and if we actually had our hands on Osama bin Laden, m a y b e e. . . in the extreme it would be OK to slap him around a bit BUT thoughtful people would ask first, ‘do we want to become like the terrorists? or do we want to be measured, legal and rational in our approach to this?
I won’t even trouble an angry white redneck like you with bigger concepts like our reputation in the world or the International Conventions of War which we are always eager to hold others to, coz it appears to me you’re angry and hurt and you just want somebody to suffer and cry out in pain – ANYBODY!! That’s good enough for you!
Then with all the variables, I’d think it best to treat them just like American citizens so we knew we were on firm legal ground from the git go, but that’s just me.
Even if I were as into revenge as you are, I’d sure as hell want to be sure we had the right guys!
Public option is DOA. The Democrats will hail their stripped down worthless socialized medicine bill as a big victory, but it will do nothing to help anyone.
YOU MUST HAVE READ MY COMMENT FROM LAST NIGHT AND I WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE SINCERELY FOR UNDER ESTIMATING THE RATIONALE OF YOU BLEEDING HEARTS. AGAIN THIS COUNTRY WAS AND IS BASED ON INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM. FREEDON DOES NOT EXTEND TO TERRORISM OF ANY KIND. THAT SAID IF YOU BRING YOUR DOG TO MY BACK YARD AND HE EVEN ACTS LIKE HE WILLBITE MY KIDS THAT DOG IS DONE. CALL ME A REDNECK, I WILL BE THAT BECAUSE IT IS BY FAR BETTER THAN A COMMIE. EVERYTHING THIS COUNTRY HAS IS HARD FOUGHT, EARNED. SO YOU, MICHAEL MOORE, OLIVER STONE, AND BEN AFFLECK GO SPEND YOUR TIME AND DOLLARS SOCIALIZING MY COUNTRY WHEN ALL IS SAID AND DONE WHERE YOU GUYS GOING FOR YOUR HEALTH CARE? SHOOT OFF YOUR PIE HOLE BUT YOU FELLAS WILL FIND SOME OTHER MAENS OF GETTING HELP. MONEY MONEY MONEY, I DON’T HAVE MUCH, BEN AFFLECK JUST MADE ANOTHER MILLION IN MY CAPITOLISTIC SOCIETY. PLEASE BOYS I AM TRULY SICK OF YOU GUYS WITH THE BANK TELLING ME I AM WRONG IN MY THINKING. PRETTY SOON IF BO HAS HIS WAY I WON’T EVEN HAVE THAT FREEDOM, JUST SAYIN’
> 19 hijackers were mostly Saudis,
What 19 hijackers? those who left Koran complete with pilots’ instructions in the parked cars, and then carefully put their passports on the top of the rubble left after WTC fell?
How could anybody know who were the hijackers, how many and where from, if not a piece was left from the airplanes, not even the black box (which by the way was not even attempted to be found)?
I think, everybody’s acceptance of this tale is the pinnacle of gullibility. American society is quite on par with its leaders, so neither the current healthcare system, nor the betrayal of its reform by the leaders are not surprising at all. In fact, both are well deserved.
All caps. Nice.
Somebody, HELP me puhlease! Was there a coherent thought in that diatribe – or maybe a complete sentence – in there somewhere?
Well, you bring YOUR dog in my backyard – or since your dog is likely to be a lot like you – I should say some normal, rational guest or friend brings his dog in my backyard and it threatens, maybe coz it’s a dog – maybe threatened itsalf, by something I don’t understand – I’d try this approach in this order – a) – ‘Would your dog bite?, Would you restrain him please?’ b) ‘Your dog is threatening, – I’m going to restrain him!’ then, c) ‘I’m calling animal control!’
Call me a ‘bleeding heart’ but I wouldn’t whip out the pistola and put the neighbor’s kids at risk!’
Obviously, you would because you are – among other things – a reactionary moron!! No time for restraint no time for critical thought just, ‘Kill all the sonsabitches and ask questions later!! – Corollary damage? – tough shit!!’
The upside of the way the world works is that people like you have brought us a whole new vocabulary – words like xenophobic, psychopath, paranoid, racist, redneck and reactionary. Without any real imagination of your own you’ve contributed to etymology and even to poetry!
Who’d have guessed?
I used to wonder why this old world was becoming such a dangerous place. Thanks for helping me answer my own question!
I’m trying to make a solid connection here between Ben Affleck, Michael Moore and Health Care. It’s difficult though. Doesn’t Michael Moore make documentaries? Doesn’t Ben Affleck act and write films?
Health Care has nothing to do with Ben Affleck or Michael Moore, or dogs for that matter, making that entire rant a hopelessly moot point.
However allow me to redirect. I saw the word “commie” pop up; look it up. Dissect the differences between communism, socialism and capitalism. Perhaps you will then notice that the American system already relies on socialist aspects in its economy.
There is no such thing on planet Earth as a “pure capitalist” or a “pure socialist” or even a purely “communist” government. What there is a lot of is mixing and matching, because no system is perfect, and so all systems collude with each other in an attempt to create the best plausible solution to the age old economic problem of Supply & Demand.
And that’s all there is to it really. As pointed out in a previous comment I made, the system is not meeting the demand, it cannot supply at an efficient and affordable rate. Ergo, it must be changed, regardless of whether it holds true to the principles of a free market system.
It should also be pointed out that free markets aren’t necessarily always free, because the largest players skew the market to their favor since they have more stake in the game at hand. Coercion is an undeniable part of democracy and the capitalist system.
I should also point that this is not “bleeding heart” commentary. Cold, hard economics is all it is.
Dear Mr. ALLCAPS! Why do you and your ilk continue to support and defend the very people and policies that oppress you, the people who don’t support freedom and are robbing you blind? You fight against your own interests. Why?
I think it a bit odd that, besides your writing in caps, you say it is all about freedom. If that were so for you, where were you for the last 8 years when our Constitution was being eviscerated, civil liberties were being curtailed by the Patriot Act and the Military Commissions, and an exorbitant expenditure–hardly a fiscal conservatives dream–was wasted for unnecessary wars and occupations, ones whose rationale were based upon lies and sold to the American people (at least the tea-bagger types who believed all the bull put out by Bush/Cheney)? Not a peep from your crowd. I would like to hear you if you might wax poetic about corporate personhood, and address the real problem with our democracy–that the moneyed and corporate interests have a stranglehold on policy and that the desires and needs of the people are being ignored from those elected to “serve” their interests.
And I say this as one finds that the problem with Obama is not change, it is that his change is not nearly as radical enough as it needs to be. PDA has been a single-payer supporter since its inception, and is a part of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care along with the California Nurses Association (CNA), Physicians for a National Health Program, and Health Care-NOW. Single payer is a fiscally conservative approach to health care, saving over 300 billion a year and creating 2.6 million jobs (see CNA’s non-partisan and excellent econometric study). And yet, Obama embracing partisanship and rushing to the middle and not the extreme as the ill-informed believe, the ones calling him a socialist.
I commend Taibbi for his comments, but I must say they are the same we have been saying for some time. Obama blew it by not seeking an expanded and improved Medicare for All(improved by ending Medicare Advantage, a misnamed corporate giveaway). He is a corporate Dem, and we all ready have one corporate party and don’t need another. His choosing of Rahm Emmanuel, Geitner, and Summers should attest to who he is, and in truth the right wing should be happy about it.
And those supposed “freedom lovers” who fear socialism, well drive on those publicly financed roads, enjoy water from the tap and flushing your toiler, experience the freedom to have public libraries and schools (if Obama with his penchant for charter schools don’t destroy them), languish in the protection of protection by the police and fire departments, thank God that your parents if older than 65 have Medicare and Social Security to protect them from poverty–all social programs, socialistic in nature, and wholly agreed by the far majority of Americans to be worthwhile expenditures for a more just and humane world.
Unless of course, you can only say no and suffer the illusion that freedom means you alone against the world.
Amen brother
James – great post! Mr. AllCAPS and many “rednecks” like him
are angry and frightened… not educated enough to understand that the “socialist” policies they are fighting/ranting against would actually help them…but…because it appears the only education they get comes from the pulpit on Sunday the GOP uses it to win their very vocal support…they are sadly misled…
HOW DO I TURN OFF CAPS LOCK. ALSO WHAT IS A COMMA. I ONLY GOTS TO FIF GRADE SO I DUNT KNOW WHAT YOU BOYS ARE TALKING ABOUT
SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS. I JUST DON’T TYPE VERY WELL. MY FIF GWADE EDUMACATION DID NOT EXTEND TO TYPING. SO YOU BASH WHAT YOU DISAGREE WITH. GRAB A CLUE, BECAUSE I AM NOT QUITE DONE PONTIFICATING. BIG WORD GRAB A DICTIONARY. I AM NOT A CONSERVATIVE, MY SOCIAL VIEWS ARE VAST AND WIDE SPREAD. I JUST DON’T BELIEVE IN SOCIALISM, I STILL LIKE A LOT OF SOCIAL PROGRAMS. BUT TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT SCARES ME. LOOK AT THE CHILDREN AND FAMILY PROGRAMS OUT THERE. THEY DO NOT HELP CHILDREN OR FAMILIES IN A LOT OF CASES. THE GOVERNMENT TAKES CHILDREN OUT OF DECENT HOMES AND PUTS THEM IN THE CARE OF PEOPLE WHO WILL ABUSE THEM FOR THE SMALL STIPEND THEY GET TO TAKE THESE KIDS IN. FOSTER HOMES FOSTER VIOLENCE. WHEN THEY LEAVE A CHILD IN A HOME THAT IS FULL OF ABUSE THE CHILD DIES AND NO ONE IS EVER HELD ACCOUNTABLE. THEIR ARE PLENTY OF SITUATIONS WHERE THE REMOVAL OF A CHILD IS NECESSARY AND DONE BUT I HAVE SEEN WHAT A LITTLE POWER DOES TO THESE SO CALLED SOCIAL WORKERS. SOMETIMES IT DOES NOT TAKE A VILLAGE. JUST ONE EXAMPLE WHERE SOCIALISM DOES MORE HARM THAN GOOD, IN MY VERY HUMBLE OPINION. NEXT I GO TO CHURCH, BUT I REFUSE TO APOLOGIZE FOR THAT. MY CHURCH IS VERY PROGRESSIVE, WE HAD ONE OF THE VERY FIRST BLACK PASTORS IN THIS COUNTRY A VERY LONG TIME AGO, THE ANCESTORS OF MY CHURCH ACTUALLY PROVIDED THE SLAVES OF THE SHIP AMISTAD, ATTORNEYS. WE ALSO ORDAINED THE FIRST GAY AND LESBIAN PASTORS. WE BELIEVE CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME BUT WE ARE VERY GOOD ABOUT HELPING OUR COMMUNITY AND ALL THE PEOPLE IN IT. INSTEAD OF SOME PREACHY SIGN OUT FRONT FULL OF CONDEMNATION OUR SIGN SAID WE WELCOME ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE PEOPLE ALL THE PEOPLE. THAT IS A STATEMENT! A BEAUTIFUL SENTIMENT BUT A TRUE TESTAMENT TO WHAT MY CHURCH IS ALL ABOUT.SO IN A TRUE REALITY I AM A CONTRADICTION. I BELIEVE IN BEARING ARMS AND I HAVE USED MEDICAID FOR MY CHILDREN, BECAUSE I AM A SINGLE HARD WORKING MOTHER WHO IS VERY POOR. BUT THE SYSTEM IS SKEWED, ONCE I JUMP THROUGH ALL THE HOOPS THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTS TO GET MY CHILDREN SOME MEDICAL HELP IT IS TIME TO DO IT AGAIN. WHEN I WORK OVERTIME I AM PENALIZED AS WELL. I AM NOT ASHAMED OF USING WELFARE, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW I COULD USE A LITTLE HELP, BUT IT IS A DEMEANING PROCESS, AND IF YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN THROUGH IT YOU COULD NOT KNOW. AND THAT IS HOW I SEE THIS REFORM BUSINESS. MY FORFATHERS CAME HERE FOR FREEDOMS I FEEL THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PAST 100 YEARS HAS BEEN SLOWLY DECONSTRUCTING. NOT JUST YOU DEMOCRATS ALL THE LEADERS, POLITICIANS SUCK, SOME JUST DO IT HARDER THAN OTHERS. NOW YOU FREAKS MIGHT UNDERSTAND MY SITUATION A LITTLE BETTER. IF YOU DON’T THAT’S YOUR OWN THING. LOVE THIS BLOGGIN’ SH#T
Ha ha ho ho and hee hee. Bait is to heavy hit bottom.
Please learn to spell, you pea-brained “troller”!
A word about our personal protected freedoms—rather the fact that our nation was founded on or based-on individual freedom; actually the original creators of the Constitution did not include much in the way of individual freedom. They were working very hard on binding the thirteen colonies into one co-existing nation, and it was a difficult thing to do. By September 12, of 1787 the main Committee of the Constitutional Convention had rejected the option to include a Bill of Rights. As it was, the original Constitution included very few individual rights. There was the clause about “the obligation of contracts, the forbidding of ex post facto laws, and the barring of bills of attainder,” and that was mainly it. Many of the founding fathers thought that individual liberties were protected enough due to the division of powers structure. There was a group called the Anti-Federalists that announced they would oppose the thing all together if sections about individual liberties were not addressed. Jefferson was totally in favor of a Bill of Rights, George Mason actually wrote most of them, and James Madison gets credit for getting them in to the Constitution, but here is where that gets sticky. Even way back then, there were certain people who did not want certain freedoms for everyone, such as Slaves (African Americans), and women were not even addressed—just rather grouped with (all men). Women were not even allowed to vote until 1920, and while they marched and protested for their cause, American men spit (literally) on them. What about African Americans—we should all know that they did not really get an actual piece of the pie until 1964. What I’m telling you is that any of the individual rights Americans have came at great debate, long, lengthy debate. Almost every right you, and me, and other Americans take for granted every day came after a fight, or a war, or massive protesting, and strife. Look, you state you love certain Federal program, social programs, you and any one else who is on them are glad that they have them—try taking social security away from anyone’s Grandpa, or try to take away their Medicare, and they will plainly fight you to the death! Why? Because they work! As for me, you go ahead and label me whatever you want—answer in all caps, or be upset over social programs you do not want, but actually enjoy using—for me, if my tax dollars were to be spent on decreasing poverty, on making every person healthier, on making medical procedures and drugs cheaper, and used to make everyone smarter, I’d smile every night before going to bed. The D.O.D. takes more of our tax dollars than anything else, and they always will—that’s how it is designed, but when I go to bed at night and know that most of my tax dollars are being used to blow-up total strangers into tiny bits or used to issue our military into harm’s way for stuff like oil—I do not smile and no amount of time praying changes that!
Yes, Matt Taibbi is good on finance and health care, and an idiot on 9/11.
WOW, WHAT A RESPONSE, THANKS EVERYONE. WHERE WAS I ONE OF YOU LIBERAL BLEEDING HEARTS ASKED WAS I DURING THE LAST EIGHT YEARS? WELL I CERTAINLY WAS NOT TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THEMEANING OF THE WORD IS. NO NOT THERE, SO LET ME SEE, YEAH THAT’S RIGHT I WAS USING MY BIG WORDS TO TEACH MY CHILDREN THAT IF CLINTON HAD NOT LEFT OUT BORDERS OPEN OUR COUNTRY COULD HAVE AVOIDED ATTACK. IN THOSE EIGHT YEARS W DID A LOT OF DIRY BEHIND THE BACK POLITICING THAT BO HAS BEEN DOING HIMSELF AS OF LATE. BOYS BOYS BOYS GET ME RIGHT HERE I APPLAUD YOUR SOCIALLY CHALLENGED INEPTITUDE TO ANYTHING YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I HAVE BEEN CALLED REDNECK RACIST AND XENOPHOBIC REALLY? SINCE I DON’T KNOW WHAT A XENOPHOBIC IS I WILL LAUGHAT THAT. JUST BECAUSE I DID NOT VOTE FOR BO DOES NOT MAKE ME A RACIST. BUT I AM SURE OUR OPINIONS WILL DIFFER HERE AS WELL. SOMEONE ELSE POSED THE QUESTION OF COHERENCE IN MY WRITING. IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND I AM DOUBTING THE ISSUE IS COHERENCE, YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND A VIEW THAT IS NOT YOURS. NONE OF YOU BOYS WILL. I TRY TO TAKE ALL OF YOUR CRITICISM AS CONSTRUCTIVE, I CAN ONLY GROW AS A PERSON. BUT AS A PERSON WITH FREEDOM THAT WAS FOUGHT FOR, AGAIN YOU MORONS, FOUGHT FOR I HAVE THE RIGHT TO KICK YOUR DOGS ASS IF HE GROWLS AT MY CHILD IN MY BACK YARD. MY BACK YARD. THAT WAS KIND OF A METAPHOR, BOYS. BECAUSE REALLY IF YOU BROUGHT SOME MEAN ASS DOG INTO MY BACK YARD I WOULD BELIEVE YOU WERE EVEN MORE OF AN IDIOT THAN I ALREADY KNOW. THIS IS MY COMMENTARY AND I MENTIONED MIKE MOORE BEN AND CRAZY OLD OLLIE BECAUSE THEY ARE PART OF THE HOLLYWOOD LIBERAL LEFT THAT ARE NOT AS SMART AS THEY THINK THEYARE, JUST DON’T WANT TO HEAR THEM ANYMORE. CHILL PUPPIES I AM DONE NOW. LOL
Benice, I appreciate your description of the Constitution and the Civil Rights that were added, but the problem I have with the current system is we have not lived within are means since the late 60’s or early 70’s. The concept of a “balance budget” or living within our means has been lost by those in Washington. I was on the bandwagon against President Bush for signing so many deficeit budgets produced by Congress. Everyone blames the President for the budgets, but it is Congress that writes the budgets and the President only signs or veto’s the budgets sent to his office. I am concerned that we are looking at deficits much larger than when Bush was President and this is before the Health Insurance Bill cost is added. We are already paying 18-19% of every tax dollar to pay the interest on past debt and it is going up very quickly. I don’t think President Obama really understands the long term consequencies of the deficit and the cost of this health insurance bill. And besides that, this new Health insurance bill will be at least as complicated as the Tax Code. This bill is a albatros and we will regret the results if it passes. I would have prefered if they would have just concentrated on cost reductions such as tort reform and expanding Medicad.