More Obama seemed like good idea
Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. More Obama. Maybe it wasn’t. The latest Rasmussen poll shows the President’s Sunday blitz of talk shows — excluding Fox, of course — did nothing to boost support for a radical remaking of the nation’s health care system.
Support nationally is down another two percentage points, to 41, while opposition is solid at 56. Among the group commonly called “seniors,” just 33 favor with 59 percent opposed. Of those, 16 percent tell Rasmussen pollsters they strongly favor the remake, while 46 are strongly opposed.
The public knows — especially those seniors who have sorted through scams and snake-oil pitches for six decades or more — that the health care makeover will cost more while quality drops. Since they’re at an age where quality medical care is important, they’re of no mind to be gamed.
Meanwhile, for the younger generation who’ll be fined if they don’t buy health insurance, there’s no good news concerning their future financial obligations. Social Security officials say that starting next year, the fund will pay out more than it collects to retirees. The deficits are expected to be $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office. After that, it’ll be able to pay benefits from the payroll taxes paid by those who are currently employed until 2016, when it falls into deficit again.
The alleged “Social Security Trust Fund” has $2.3 trillion in paper, presumably held in trust to pay benefits. In reality, of course, it’s borrowings, so income and other taxes levied on workers and generations to come will be needed to repay those borrowings.
The old folks know that ObamaCare is not in their best interest. When the young become fully aware of their government debt, they’ll know too.
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84 comments Add your comment
Churchill's MOM
September 29th, 2009
8:14 am
Who cares about Obama, POLITICO has 3 pages about our next President, you need to get with the program. By the way your replacement is not doing too well.
Despite a torrent of criticism from the media, Democrats and even some in her own party, Sarah Palin remains the hottest brand name in politics.
Her recent resignation was perplexing. It’s raised doubts about her viability as a potential presidential candidate. Still, she remains extremely popular with the GOP grass roots, and most Republican Party leaders would jump at the chance to have her headline one of their events.
That’s the picture that emerges from interviews with dozens of GOP state and local leaders from across the country.
As part of an effort to gauge Palin’s popularity with the rank and file beyond the Beltway, where the GOP establishment is lukewarm toward the charismatic former governor, POLITICO surveyed nearly 50 prominent Republican Party officials and politicians, representing every region of the country and ranging from statewide-elected officeholders to state legislators to state and county party chairs.
Some refused to talk about her at all. Others, mostly her critics, would do so only off the record. But taken as a whole, the body of interviews revealed that despite Palin’s high negative ratings in recent national polls, Republicans at the grass-roots level and their leaders still hold a very favorable impression of the former Alaska governor.
Westerners have a particular affinity for Palin, with many noting that she embodied the values of freedom and self-reliance.
Scott Sales, the minority leader of the Montana House, referred to her “curb appeal” among the party’s rank and file.
In Colorado, a state where Palin campaigned hard last year on behalf of the Republican ticket but which Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) eventually lost to Barack Obama, Arapahoe County Republican Party Chairman David Kerber said that Palin was a good fit with Western sensibilities.
“She comes across as someone who’s going to say what she says and if you don’t like it, that’s just too bad,” Kerber said. “She’s not going to lie, she’s not going to sugarcoat it — she’s just going to let it rip. I think that’s what Westerners want.”
“People saw her as one of them — someone who could relate to an everyday person. She’s not one of the political class,” said Heidi Gansert, the Nevada House minority leader. “I also believe that women appreciated her message and what she’d accomplished in her political career and family life. A woman who has a young family, who is able to become the governor of Alaska — a lot of people, women who worked the everyday jobs with their families — they know that she’s experiencing the same things they are.”
Evangelical Christians and rural and small-town Republicans also hold Palin in high esteem.
“The ones who are most supportive of her are what I would term the very conservative, libertarian-leaning voters of southern Nevada — of which there is a very large contingent,” said Bernie Zadrowski, the chairman of Las Vegas’s Clark County Republican Party. “You might also classify them as the constitutional wing of the party.”
Charles M. Webster, the state GOP chairman in Maine, said Republicans there are very enthusiastic about Palin largely because they can see themselves in her.
“I see her as being somebody who the average, what I call ‘working class guy,’ relates to,” Webster said. “Somebody who’s plain-spoken, somebody who hunts and fishes. And this is Maine — we’re in the country up here.”
In Florida, Pasco County Republican Party Chairman Randy Maggard agreed that Palin’s down-to-earth style also connected with many Gulf Coast Republicans.
“The people I talk to that like her say she relates to them because they don’t really look at her as a politician in Washington,” Maggard said. “They look at her as a mom who was in business who happened to get into politics. They feel like they can relate to her.”
Churchill's MOM
September 29th, 2009
8:23 am
There is no reason to waste your time on the whole 3 pages, here’s the best & last.
Still, nearly everyone expressed awe at Palin’s knack for generating enthusiasm among the party faithful and, in particular, her remarkable ability to draw a big crowd.
“I was at a forum recently in northwest Ohio. We talked about Sarah Palin,” said Ohio State Auditor Mary Taylor. “Everybody’s interested and waiting to see what she is going to do next, and I did feel a sense of energy, support and enthusiasm for her.”
A New Hampshire state senator predicted: “If she showed up tomorrow in New Hampshire, they’d be lined up across the state.”
Since Palin’s talents are easily translated into fundraising, like many other party chairs, Palm Beach County, Fla.’s Sid Dinerstein said he’s ready to roll out the red carpet for her.
“She’s the most popular politician in America today,” Dinerstein said. “We would beg her to come to Palm Beach. There’s nobody who can raise money like Sarah.”
Another Palm Beach County Republican, state committeeman Pete Feaman, argued that Palin has been misunderstood and that, at least among Republican voters, her support is durable.
“Republicans love Sarah Palin whether she’s a presidential candidate, a governor or an ordinary citizen,” he said. “It’s interesting that inside-the-Beltway people have no clue how much she is really loved.”
Reality Check
September 29th, 2009
8:44 am
Yeah, and here’s what is going on in the wonderful Chicago where TOTUS is flying around the world on our dime pimping that city for his buds in the hopes of cashing in on the Olympics. Don’t watch the video. It will upset you. Just read the story.
http://www.myfoxchicago.com/dpp/news/metro/video_derrion_albert
I thought Obama being elected was going to “change” this nation. Some community organizer. And Mr. Moon River himself has a few thoughts on TOTUS:
“Andy Williams had a less favorable opinion of the current president. ‘Don’t like him at all,’ he said, ‘I think he wants to create a socialist country. The people he associates with are very Left-wing. One is registered as a Communist. Obama is following Marxist theory. He’s taken over the banks and the car industry. He wants the country to fail.’”
Oh look! The sex offenders in Marietta ousted from society and living in tents in woods have made AP news. You can almost hear the bed wetting liberals upset that child molesters and rapists are having to live in such squalor. They should of thought of that before putting their fingers and other things where they don’t belong.
“MARIETTA, Georgia – A small group of homeless sex offenders have set up camp in densely wooded area behind a suburban Atlanta office park, directed there by probation officers who say it’s a place of last resort for those with nowhere else to go.The nine sex offenders live in tents surrounding a makeshift fire pit in the trees behind a towering “no trespassing” sign, waiting out their probation sentences as they face numerous living restrictions under one of the toughest sex offender policies in the U.S.”
Sure am glad Obama and Biden saved all those jobs with a trillion of our tax payer dollars:
“Despite signs that the economy has resumed growing, unemployed Americans now confront a job market that is bleaker than ever in the current recession, and employment prospects are still getting worse.”
So, STDs and abortion records can be excluded if individuals choose in the upcoming EHR law that mandates EVERYONE report their health records to one big massive government database. Nah, you won’t hear liberals whine about privacy rights here, let alone hiding information that can cause complications and spread diseases to others. Idiot liberals.
“Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D.-R.I.) says people will be able to stop doctors from including records of sexually transmitted diseases and abortions in the new national system of Electronic Health Records that was mandated by the stimulus law enacted in February. The law says that doctors, hospitals and other health care providers must create an Electronic Health Record (EHR) for every American by 2014 or else face deductions in their Medicare payments. The EHRs are supposed to be integrated into a national health care IT system where health-care providers nationwide as well as the government would have the ability to access them when authorized.”
Change we can believe in!
pd
September 29th, 2009
9:11 am
In France, people on the Public Option are issued a smart card that holds their entire Health Record. If they go to a doctor, the doctor simply swipes the card, views their health record, updates it to include whatever treatment he prescribed, and he receives payment within 3 business days.
In America, if you visit a new Doctor, he requests your records from your previous Doctor which arrive several days to several weeks later. Your previous Doctor more than likely employs a person simply to send and recieve and file your medical records which means he has to charge more for overhead. Once the new Doctor treats you, he then sends the bill to your insurance company who has one of its many claim specialist review the information to make sure the treatment was necessary. If they decide that it was necessary, then they send the Doctor payment which he should receive (IF all goes well this time) within three to four business weeks. Your Doctor also employs someone just to deal with the insurance companies, once again driving up your costs.
Van Jones
September 29th, 2009
9:11 am
Hey @$$holes, please limit your moronic dribble to 50 words or less. Nobody has time to read all that, umm, stuff.
Jimmy62
September 29th, 2009
9:11 am
It is sickening ho much of Hollywood is willing to defend Roman Polanski, who undeniably drugged and raped a 13 year old girl, while at the same time they are demonizing Sarah Palin. Disagree with her political views or not, but she’s done nothing even close to drugging and raping a 13 year old girl.
This alone should get people to stop listening to anything coming out of the mouths of the liberal uneducated Hollywood elite.
Cutty
September 29th, 2009
9:12 am
Wooten, are these the same ’seniors’ that are receiving socialized Medicare benefits? They don’t want anyone else to receive basically the same health care that they do. What a stand up group they are.
William
September 29th, 2009
9:13 am
Obama lies!
jconservative
September 29th, 2009
9:15 am
Jim you did not stir much activity with this column on the health care debate. You got 2 comments on Palin & another comment on Andy Williams & sex offenders.
Let me address the health care debate re the trust funds. Both the Social Security Trust fund & the Medicare Trust Fund have their “trusts”
invested in notes from the US Treasury. You are correct that the taxpayers will need to fork over the money to pay off the notes when Social Security & Medicare redeem those notes.
But you err on one thing. People under 45 years of age really need to demand some type of health care reform. CMS (medicare, etc) will pay out $803.1 Billion to beneficiaries in FY 2010. In the period 2011 to 2021 that will triple as baby boomers start going on Medicare.
The people 45 & younger will bear the brunt of the increased taxes.
But at present they do not seem to care. Like Scarlett O’Hara they choose to think about it tomorrow. But I am afraid tomorrow will be too late.
pd
September 29th, 2009
9:19 am
Oh, and did you know that Doctors charge individuals more than Insurance Companies?
Thats right, if you show up to a Doctor in this “Free Market”, and they determine that you don’t have coverage for whatever treatment you need, thats a big pay day for the Doctor. He will charge you more than he would charge an Insurance company.
One day, I was golfing with a Chiropractor who recieved a call from his office. He then cursed and said that he had gotten the “bad news” that some treatments he had been giving to a patient were “unfortunately” going to be covered by the patient’s insurance company. That meant he would not be able to charge as high as he was planning when he thought the individual would cover it.
Is everyone aware that is how it works?????
robt
September 29th, 2009
9:25 am
Time to pull out the race card ( I guess libs forget when health care was defeated under Clinton, he was white). An if that don’t work, it’s time to pull out “they’re going to kill him card” (ala the Facebook poll which was probably posted by the White House Staff).
It’s a predictable pattern folks; he has been using since the campaign and you turkeys keep falling for it. Gobble Goggle.
RAMBLE ON!!!
September 29th, 2009
9:40 am
39 more months till this buffoon is out of office. I just hope we can last that long.
When is the next Letterman appearance?
booger
September 29th, 2009
9:49 am
pd,
Thats the way it has always worked if you are in a preferred provider plan. The insurance company negotiates rates with the doctors and other providers in their system. If you go to a doctor in their system you , and the insurance company, get the discount. If you go to someone outside of their system, they do not get a discount so you are charged a higher co-pay.
jconservative
September 29th, 2009
9:59 am
pd
Yeah. The insurance pays the doctor the “customary & reasonable” amount
unless the doctor is part of a larger practice with contracts with insurance companies. If an uninsured individual walks in the doctor can charge what he wants. Of course, he then has the problem of collecting.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
September 29th, 2009
9:59 am
The Star Tribune emerged from bankruptcy protection Monday with its
main lenders becoming the new owners and its debt slashed by 80
percent.
Big Bucks GOP doing the Lords work
September 29th, 2009
10:00 am
Morris Publishing Group, the parent company of three daily newspapers in Georgia, on Monday said it’s working with debt holders to keep a restructuring plan out of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Details of the agreement struck Friday between debt holders of 75 percent of outstanding notes and the Augusta, Ga.-based media company were provided in an after-hours regulatory filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to the filing, a successful deal now hinges on the cooperation of a holdout minority.
The disclosed terms of the agreement provide, among other things, “for the restructuring of existing notes through an out-of-court offer (if holders of at least 99 percent of the existing notes participate), and/or a Chapter 11 filing and a plan of reorganization confirmed under the United States Bankruptcy Code.”
Morris on Sept. 25 agreed to terms of a restructuring agreement with the majority holders of outstanding debt to exchange their existing notes for $100 million of new second-lien secured notes. Additionally, Morris affiliates would repay $110 million of $138.75 million in existing senior secured debt.
pd
September 29th, 2009
10:01 am
booger, do you think its right that a doctor would charge you more because you don’t have insurance?
Its not a small “discount”, its a totally different charge.
So, the doctor fixed your broken leg. The service was the same. You don’t have insurance and are charged twice what I am for the same broken leg.
Is that OK?
Have any of you purchased Life Insurance or LTC Insurance? If so, then you know that the insurance company underwriters more than likely had your doctor send your medical records to them. How long did that take? What were the costs associated with that? Did the insurance company hire someone to recieve those records? Does your doctor hire someone just to take care of that request?
Wouldn’t a digital record accessible by the swipe of a card eliminate those costs?
booger
September 29th, 2009
10:09 am
The cost has always been the issue with this plan. The explainations for how it will be financed are all beyond what most thinking people can believe. beyond the idea that $500 billion can be taken out of existing plans, the idea that taxing everyone in the healthcare system is is going to bring down the cost of healthcare is laughable. If the insurance co., doctor, medical products companies, and other health providers are taxed, this will not come out of the providers pockets, it will come out of mine and your pockets in the form of higher payments.
The other argument as to whether or not this represents govt. control of the health care industry is also bogus. The simple fact that the government is going to reform the industry says they control the industry. Could they not as easily decide to reform the computer industry, or the heavy equipment industry. You cannot reform something which you do not control.
go to www.altshirt.org
September 29th, 2009
10:16 am
wouldnt a digital record accessible by the swipe of a card eliminate jobs here in america putting a bigger strain on our already weak economy ?? Go to atlshirt.org to learn how $15 can help to boost our economy again!
pd
September 29th, 2009
10:19 am
As far as the costs are concerned, we currently spend a lot more than any other country per capita in health care. And we are the ONLY Industrial Country without Universal Coverage. What does that tell you?
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_hea_car_fun_tot_per_cap-care-funding-total-per-capita
clyde
September 29th, 2009
10:20 am
Dear Cutty,
Yes thats us.We seniors who are currently receiving socialized medicine.Except me.I’ve never received any yet,but I probably will,someday.And so will you,If you live long enough.It would be nice if it were still there for you,Wouldn’t it?
go to www.altshirt.org
September 29th, 2009
10:21 am
Industrial Company ?? What is made here in America ?? NOTHING.. it is all made over sea.. we are becoming a 3rd world country!!
pd
September 29th, 2009
10:21 am
“wouldnt a digital record accessible by the swipe of a card eliminate jobs here in america putting a bigger strain on our already weak economy ??”
Yes. It would eliminate jobs like the ones I’ve mentioned. The personel the Doctor hires to bill and deal with Insurance companies. The person the Insurance companies use to recieve health records.
The invention of main frame computer eliminated jobs of file keepers.
However, a new industry was created.
go to www.altshirt.org
September 29th, 2009
10:24 am
Eliminating jobs in BAD Idea, we already lost 3 million jobs this year alone… anymore loss and we will be in a depression !
pd
September 29th, 2009
10:33 am
go to,
While the loss of jobs is unfortunate, paying higher costs for health care for the sole reason to be sure needless wasteful spending on employees is maintained is insanity.
Imagine if invented a small solar panel that could power yoru entire house for a fraction of the cost of your monthly power bill. The panel was cheap and it would eliminate you dealing with the Power Company Servicemen in the case of a storm. Would you say, “Hey, don’t sell that thing because it will eliminate power company jobs?”
go to www.altshirt.org
September 29th, 2009
10:37 am
The power company would purchase that technology, the make it available to the market at the same rate.. of course, no jobs would be loss if that were to happen..
booger
September 29th, 2009
10:40 am
pd,
I did not make a judgement about whether insurance companies negotiating lower fees is good or bad, I simply said that’s the way it has been for many years. It’s the same with almost everything you buy. If you go to office depot and buy 100 sheets of paper, you will pay much more than a company who buys 100 boxes.
pd
September 29th, 2009
10:43 am
OK go to, you win.
We can keep paying considerably more in health coverage than any other nation by continuing to shun new technologies simply so that needless jobs can stay filled.
Remember switch board operators? (Picture Mayberry or Green Acres) You picked up the phone, then you asked the operator to plug you into a specific line and connect you. By your theory, we should have shunned the technology that made their jobs wasteful just for the sake of keeping them employed.
go to www.altshirt.org
September 29th, 2009
10:51 am
if I have to go to the doctor, I pay 40.00 and that is it.. 10.00 for the prescription.. you want government mandated health insurance, it will cost you more than that on a monthly basis, and if you get sick, be prepared to sit in a crowed emergency room waiting all day long before you even get to speak to the receptionist, then you will get to sit in another room waiting for the doctor.. do not believe me ?? Go to any government run entity, such as the DMV, your local health clinic, or better yet, go to the VA hospital.. not to mention, social security is going bankrupt, medicaire and medicaid are practically bankrupt.. government should stick to running government and not business that are ran better by the private sector….!
Chris Broe
September 29th, 2009
10:52 am
“In reality, of course, it’s borrowings, so income and other taxes levied on workers and generations to come will be needed to repay those borrowings.”
Note how deft Wooten is as he winds his way in and out of fiscal and monetary policy and then how he effortlessly weaves in the demographic generational support-gaps to convince us all of the soundness of his judgement about healthcare reform.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 29th, 2009
11:03 am
if I have to go to the doctor, I pay 40.00 and that is it
My Doctor won’t even say hello to me for $40.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 29th, 2009
11:04 am
Most Americans of any age disagree with poorly informed Wooten. The vast majority of physicians find Wooten’s childish grasp of health care reform reprehsibly poor, and I’m speaking for them having cared for patients for many more years than Mr. Wooten.
Rockerfeller has just layed out the relationship Mr. Wooten supports as well as the new conservative Cox Editorial Board for AJC.
It is hooker / john where the insurance company would contribute $20 billion dollars to get $463 billion back.
A public option will have a very good chance on the floor and in conference (Mr. Wooten has no idea how the process works–that’s very clear nor does his little protoje Kyle Wingfiedl).
Mr. Wooten is arguing for insurance companies to be able to take 13-20% of your income prior to your paying a cent of a co-payment or deductible for your physician or your medication.
To my knowledge, Mr. Wooten is not taking money from insurance companies for lobbying, but his Republican and Blue Dog Congressmen both in Georgia and nationally are collecting millions and trying to leave it to the insurance companies to regulate.
This is an absurd paradigm and Wooten supports it as well as the bankrupting of middle class families because under Wooten’s plan insurance companies would be able to charge as much as they want, and triple your premiums and deductibles for any pre-existing conditions.
Mr. Wooten carefully avoids letting you know this. The AJC’s new board “Andre Jackson for the editorial board” makes no mention of the Insurance John Senator hooker relationship nor does the AJC outside the editorial pages. One would think Lukovitch would have had a field day with this paradigm but he refrains–possibly under orders from the Republican Cox Board and Cox Communications brass.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 29th, 2009
11:20 am
Wooten is in full support of 430 Georgians and 14000 per day losing their insurance and 18000 dying from loss of their insurance last year.
Wooten is in full support of the bankrupting of 10s of thousands of middle class Americans under the Republican proposed plan which is the default Senate Finance plan.
Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
September 29th, 2009
11:29 am
Why is ABC so mad at Saxby for spending $250,000.00 of LOBBYIST money on golf? He could be spending it on little boys like a real Republican.
http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=8677408
Churchill's MOM
September 29th, 2009
11:34 am
When will someone post the like to the Republican Health Care program that is not written by the insurance companies?
Facts Please
September 29th, 2009
11:35 am
18000 DID NOT die from losing health insurance. It is against the law for hospitals to turn away people with no means to pay. That argument just does not hold water.
Reform is good but reform does not cost anything, not one red penny. It takes away regulations, rights to sue for nothing, and large, very very large insurance policies on doctors. Heres the thing though, you wont have real reform because the house is full of lawyers who wont want to hurt the real problems of health insurance. LAWYERS AND LAWSUITS.
Jim Galloway
September 29th, 2009
11:39 am
If only golf could be played in church basements instead of at country clubs. We told you about that ABC News piece from last week, which focused on the way members of Congress use leadership PACs to boost their lifestyles.
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss was the poster child. But Republicans are still talking about the numbers rattled off in this parallel Washington Post article over the weekend:
In California, he’s putted at Pebble Beach, where a round of golf costs $495. In Florida, he’s driven the ball down the fairways of the Boca Raton Resort, with its signature island green on the 18th hole. These are among the dozen premier resorts where Chambliss played golf in 2007 and 2008 at a cost of a quarter of a million dollars.
Yet Chambliss is hardly rich. His net worth is between $181,006 and $415,000, according to his 2007 financial disclosure report, ranking him 91st in the Senate in terms of wealth.
The congressman pays for his golf through a political leadership fund, the Republican Majority Fund, which took in $692,618 during the 2008 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Almost all of it came from lobbyists, political action committees and corporate leaders.
But of the $112 million that leadership PACs spent during the two-year campaign cycle that led up to the 2008 elections, less than half was passed on to candidates or party committees, according to a ProPublica analysis of Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. The rest paid for entertainment, administrative costs, fundraising and other categories that are so vague that it’s impossible to know for sure how the money was spent….
Leadership PACS file disclosure forms with the FEC that are so cursory that lawmakers don’t have to disclose who contributed at a PAC fundraiser, the day the event was held or how much money was raised.
Chambliss’s leadership PAC ran up a $50,394 bill at the Ritz-Carlton Naples on Jan. 25, 2008. The only note of explanation was the stated purpose, “PAC EVENT/LODGING/BANQUET/GOLF.”
“The problem is that sometimes it’s hard to tell the personal from the political,” said FEC Commissioner Ellen L. Weintraub. Only a quarter of the more than $750,000 that Chambliss’s PAC spent during the 2008 cycle — about $200,000 — went to help GOP candidates. The rest went for golf, including payments to resorts and transportation — a private jet on one occasion and limos on another. In July, ABC News cameras captured shots of Chambliss and other lawmakers playing golf at the five-star Greenbrier resort in West Virginia.
Chambliss declined to be interviewed but his communications director, Bronwyn Lance Chester, defended the golf outings.
“Every fundraising event Sen. Chambliss has held has been appropriately conducted, all expenses have been closely scrutinized and all reporting has been accurate,” she said.
Jim Galloway
September 29th, 2009
11:41 am
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/26/AR2009092602083.html
Does it really matter
September 29th, 2009
11:41 am
What I think doesnt really matter as they think we are all stupid anyway. They are not listening to us. They are going to shove this down our throats. Now we already pay for Medicare out of our checks, just how much will this public healthcare cost us out of our checks? Another 20%, 30%. Maybe even 50%? Will they leave us enough to actually eat or will more people lose their homes and businesses close.
Government should stay out of our private lives. They have not right to take our money and spend it at will as if its their personal checking account, its not! They have no right to forse us to buy anything, none at all. As for the social security, I believe it was a democrate who pronounced that there was so much money in the fund that it would never go broke and turn it into the general fund. Steeling tax payer retirement. Its not their money to spend. Stand up and yell and yell loud. They are steeling our country and our money right out from under us.
Famuan
September 29th, 2009
11:43 am
Teabaggers are funny. LOL
JackLeg
September 29th, 2009
11:49 am
Public Option’s Doing Swell,
Must be a liberal because you just make up numbers, try facts for a change. By the way riddle me this who can spend 1 trillion dollars and not create a single job, in fact loose jobs? Only the Obozo administration could be so inept. If the Obozo administration cared about health care in the slightest he would concentrate on creating jobs in the US. But instead they are looking at every way possible to tax us. Remember actions speak louder than words and so far Obozo is one lie after another.
pd
September 29th, 2009
12:18 pm
“if I have to go to the doctor, I pay 40.00 and that is it.. 10.00 for the prescription.. ”
Really? Thats a great thing you have going! Most of us have to pay premiums for Health Insurance. In fact, you very well may be the only one in America with that deal you’ve got there.
For me, I pay a premium for health insurance every month in addition to the costs that you pay.
Jefferson
September 29th, 2009
12:33 pm
Each day I am more and more disappointed with the human race.
jack
September 29th, 2009
12:42 pm
Note to Churchills Mom
You seem to be confused into thinking you are writing the column instead of Jim. Your two posts were longer than Jim’s column. Perhaps you have a similar community college education as your idol Sarah Palin – Palin went to 5 different colleges over six years – including Matanuska-Susitna Community College to get a four year degree.
She was the mayor of a town of 5000; Roswell has 87,000 people.
She was the Governor of a state with 600,000 people for barely over 2 years. She quit to cash in on her fame from being chosen (foolishly) to run as VP by John McCain.
So you want a community college educated woman with 6 years of running a town about 1/12 the size of Roswell who was the governor of a state for 2.5 years before she quit to cash in on her celebrity to be the President of the United States?
The current President got his degree from Columbia University (8th ranked University in America), his law degree from Harvard (ranked 1st in America) where he was the President of the Law Review.
He was a professor in Constitutional Law at the prestigious University of Chicago (also ranked 8th in America – a tie with Columbia) for 12 years. Its useful for the President to understand the Constitution. Personally, I doubt Sarah Palin has ever read the Constitution.
Obama also served as a senator for 8 years in the Illinois state legislature before being elected to the U.S. Senate. He left the Senate not to cash in on fame but to become the President.
Both Presidents Bush went to Yale and got law degrees. President Clinton went to Yale and also got a law degree.
You, like many foolish people, confuse your fondness of Sarah Palin’s personality and political views (and maybe that $150,000 wardrod and $20,000 a month hair stylist) with her having the credentials to actually be the President.
A community college (she went to 3 community colleges) education and being mayor of a town of 5000 and serving half a term as governor does NOT qualify anyone to be President. She will wind up on Fox where you and other right wingers can worship her there. Or maybe she will replace Rush Limbaugh when he goes into drug rehab. Or Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck.
But under no circumstances should this woman be allowed to run anything much less be the President.
2Cents
September 29th, 2009
1:04 pm
While I’m no Palin enthusiast, the circumstances in which she could become president would be for people to vote for her.
I don’t get the angst of the left about Palin and find their whining particularly pathetic. Palin has the right to run for office. We have the right to vote for or against her.
Hyperbolic statements about how she Palin shouldn’t be allowed to run make the left appear more akin to the rednecks they scorn than they seem to realize.
pd
September 29th, 2009
1:19 pm
The American Medical Association, Doctors for America, and a dozen other physicians groups representing 500,000 doctors are endorsing reform. So are the American Nurses Association and other organizations representing millions of nurses.
Moonbat Patrol
September 29th, 2009
1:36 pm
“Hey @$$holes, please limit your moronic dribble to 50 words or less. Nobody has time to read all that, umm, stuff.” -Van
Hey Van, it’s always funny listening to you asstard liberals whine about others who post a few paragraphs when you pathetics on the libtard left never have a problem doing so here. Yeah, and we already know you pathetics can’t handle the truth and just call posts like that from Conservatives/Right “moronic dribble.” Idiot.
Now look what we have here. US Rep. Pat Kennedy says that “violence” will occur over health care takeover by the government.
” PROVIDENCE — U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy fears that supercharged passions fueling the national health-care debate may lead to violence. Drawing on his family’s violent past, the Democratic congressman told roughly 75 people gathered at a private health-care forum Saturday morning that opponents of Democrat-backed health-care legislation had gone too far. He cited, as an example, 10,000 signs distributed at a recent Washington protest that read, “Bury ObamaCare with Kennedy.”
How pathtetic and cowardly. Instead of addressing what OVER HALF of this nation doesn’t want, this typical liberal wingnut clown equates dissent to violence. Funny, these same bozos said for 8 years under Bush that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Amazing how those pathetics change their tune when on the receiving end of dissent. Damned foolish hypocrites. Every last one of ‘em.
Public Option's Doing Swell
September 29th, 2009
1:49 pm
September 29th, 2009
11:35 am Facts Please
18000 DID NOT die from losing health insurance. It is against the law for hospitals to turn away people with no means to pay. That argument just does not hold water.
Reform is good but reform does not cost anything, not one red penny. It takes away regulations, rights to sue for nothing, and large, very very large insurance policies on doctors. Heres the thing though, you wont have real reform because the house is full of lawyers who wont want to g ithurt the real problems of health insurance. LAWYERS AND LAWSUITS.
For something calling itself “facts” you sure don’t have any.
I don’t know how it works in your medical practice whatever planet you practice on. 18000 absolutely did die after loss of insurance and Kaiser Family Foundation has tracked them.
You invoke malpractice with the understanding of a 5 year old. We have several states with the definitive cap that has been shown to improve malpractice insurance rates for US lamebrame not for you the patient.
In Texas, there have been caps for years. The definitive study on this is the Robert Wood Johnson Study which showed 20% reduction in malpractice premiums across the board for doctors. We want this. Call the fat hog white legislator in your district and tell them to give us 250 grand caps. There is a case over caps in the Georgia Supreme Court argued last week.
In Texas, the 2nd largest state after California, 1/4 have no insurance because they can’t afford it or their employer can’t. Malpractice rates have no impact on their insurance. Patients don’t buy malpractice to pay for their doctors; they buy health care insurance.
Malpractice Rates Went down in capped states; not health insurance rates
http://www.rwjf.org/reports/grr/050298.htm
Malpractice lawsuit are a very small percentage of the costs of healthc are currently. As doctors we need the rates down, and are happy to have 250 grand caps–the only caps that work. But for patients, they do nothing to lower costs or for this economy.
pd
September 29th, 2009
1:52 pm
I have no problem with dissent. But it is foolish to try to engage in a dialogue with someone who has no chance of hearing your side and considering it.
This isn’t simply about health care, but rather almost every aspect of our culture.
We are a bumper sticker culture now. One where people state their view, then drive off with no attempt at dialogue.
Its arguing rather than conversing.
Its throwing a fit rather than listening.
But I do agree that dissent is a form of Patriotism.
clyde
September 29th, 2009
1:55 pm
Jack,
What is the guy you elected for president,the one with the vast experience,141 days,I think,of federal government under his belt before you voted for him,doing ,anyway?? Has he accomplished anything?Does he think he’s still campaigning? Is he looking for defeat in Afghanistan?Is there any aspect of American life he isn’t meddling in? Is he ever going to accomplish anything except alienate proven allies? I understand that the commander in Afghanistan has spoken to Obama only one more time than I have.What’s going on with this guy??
Moonbat Patrol
September 29th, 2009
2:00 pm
The WaPo bedwets that Democrats don’t have an attack dog to go up against the ObamaCare rejectors (The Right). Yes, this is real:
“The national debate over President Obama’s health care plan has exposed a weakness in the Democratic Party apparatus: it lacks a high profile surrogate to push back — hard — against the rhetorical arguments put forward by Republicans.”
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/morning-fix/morning-fix-an-attack-dog-need.html
Really? What do they think they’ve been *doing* calling us racists, nazis, and whatnot? What’s up, their feces slinging isn’t sticking to the targets? Well it didn’t take long for a response from a blogger at Commentary Magazine:
“Only in political reporting from one of the chief cheerleading newspapers for the Democratic party could you find a lead like this: “The national debate over President Obama’s health care plan has exposed a weakness in the Democratic Party apparatus: it lacks a high profile surrogate to push back — hard — against the rhetorical arguments put forward by Republicans.” Hmm. Let’s think about that.
Obama attacks his opponents as silly, uninformed, and deceitful. The Democratic party’s congressional leaders call American citizens who disagree with them “un-American.” Democratic senators and congressmen on a daily basis accuse Republicans of favoring the status quo and lacking alternative ideas, both untrue assertions and both repeated ad nauseum. Nancy Pelosi speculates it’s only one step between town-hall criticism and shooting gays. Robert Gibbs uses the White House press room to vilify specific reporters and conservative talk-show hosts who dare disagree with the president. The entire Democratic party has become an attack dog. So what could the Post’s Chris Cillizza possibly mean?”
Dunwoody Mike
September 29th, 2009
2:14 pm
Here is what it comes down to:
Do you believe that all people should have affordable access to high quality health care, without having to go bankrupt?
Do you believe that health care is a human right, or a privilege?
Casey
September 29th, 2009
2:22 pm
No matter how much the conservatives say so, this debate on health care has very little to do with cost. Compare the backlash against all the stimulus packages to the backlash against possibly giving health care insurance to people without jobs or illegal immigrants. Which of these was more expensive?
No, this is not about cost. It’s about class.
philosopher
September 29th, 2009
2:47 pm
What in the world?! There is so much trash mouth talk and lack of civility toward the moderator and toward your fellow man that no one should read this stuff. This isn’t inellegent dialogue! This is a free-for-all deserving of little, if any, credibility. Someone needs to set some ground rules on appropriate dialogue and throw out any of these with name calling and foul language. The arguments are lost in the trash! Go post in the vent if you must just spout off at folks!
TruAmerican
September 29th, 2009
3:09 pm
Hey pd- MOVE TO FRANCE
Ragnar Danneskjöld
September 29th, 2009
3:12 pm
Governments do three things well.
They kill people more efficiently than any other entity ever conceived. There are people who need to be killed, and I thank God for the US Marines.
Government deprives people of freedom more efficiently than any other entity ever conceived. There are some bad types out there, and we need to constrain their freedom, so that we may live our lives and conduct our affairs without abnormal interference from those individuals.
Government expropriates wealth more efficiently than any other entity ever conceived. This is not necessarily a virtue to be admired.
With healthcare, government has capacity to prove its strengths in all three areas. Even now it currently kills more Americans via regulatory constraints issued by FDA. That is why we all love Big Brother.
TruAmerican
September 29th, 2009
3:17 pm
The healthcare issue is easily resolved without creating another useless bureaucracy.
1. Enact Tort Reform
2. Make it where I can buy health insurance in any state
3. Instead of making secret deals with the pharmaceutical industry- regulate them.
Or did I just hit on three big campaign donors that will not be touched by the politicians they own… er …I mean support
Zedd
September 29th, 2009
3:18 pm
Time for some more fact checking on Obama and the Democrats health insurance reform:
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjJmNjY4MjA2ZmNkZWNmZDU2ZmY1NTUwZmMzNmIxMjE=&w=MA==
Churchill's MOM
September 29th, 2009
3:19 pm
Raghead, have you found a job?
pd
September 29th, 2009
3:24 pm
“Hey pd- MOVE TO FRANCE”
Why should I move?
Are you aware of the term “Benchmarking” as it applies to Business Management?
If not, what it means is that a business identifies the business out there that sets the standard in some area. The other business then uses the standard set to try and benchmark their own strategies in this area.
France sets the standard when it comes to digital record keeping of medical files. They are the bench mark we should strive for in that one, very limited area.
Why should I move there just because of that one thing?
South Korea is one of the standard bearers for education, but I don’t wish to live there.
Chris Broe
September 29th, 2009
3:26 pm
LOL!
Susanne
September 29th, 2009
3:40 pm
If a State Attorney General supports charges of election fraud…..you can find the answer here.
Call to action…..
http://jbjd.wordpress.com/
Chris Broe
September 29th, 2009
3:40 pm
The Born Again Birther Secessionists (BABS) are polling on Facebook about whether Obama should be killed or not. These are domestic terrorists. How evil R they? The radical Shia in Iran only polled their facebook sleeper cells whether Obama should be shoed or not.
BABS is the enemy we are supposed to meet when we find ourselves. A line has been crossed, and I fear it is a Rubicon. They came. They saw a president. They went Oswald on his sorry non-contiguous ass on Facebook.
woodie
September 29th, 2009
3:52 pm
I fully support health care reform and I’m an old person. Oh, I guess they forgot to ask me. Statistics are misused all the time to support a position. The last statistic I heard was about 70% of people support health care reform including a government option. But I guess that poll wasn’t Republican enough. How can anyone in their right mind think they can trust a profit driven enterprise to take care of their health? This is wishful thinking.
Milyunair
September 29th, 2009
4:05 pm
Obama: less is better.
http://www.milyunair.com/
RetiredSoldier
September 29th, 2009
4:16 pm
Woody-
Latest poll, 59% opose Obamacare, 41% are in favor. Say goodnight to Obamacare!
Shaneneeee Faneneeeeeee
September 29th, 2009
4:24 pm
“In 2009 and 2010 all existing buisnesses will receive a $3,000 tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired.” – Barack Obama. “To reform healthcare we will have the debates televised on C-SPAN so that people can see who are making the arguments for their constituents and who are making the arguments on behalf of the insurance companies. This way people will be able to stay involved in this process.” – Barack Obama ?????????? YOU LIE MR. PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!
Base
September 29th, 2009
4:28 pm
You can talk ,you have medical insurance from the AJC.However you may need some public insurance when the AJC goes out of business or you get older.
The Truth
September 29th, 2009
4:31 pm
Obama is not worried about the countries problems as he is pushing our rights overseas……..for the Olympics. I wonder if Chicago was not the option would he be doing this? I say no. He was a Senator in Illinois and probably has many friends that will benefit from having the games in the windy city. Corruption…………… ” As President I will eliminate all income taxation of Seniors making less than $50,000 a year.” – Barack Obama, Promise broken.
Ragnar Danneskjöld
September 29th, 2009
4:41 pm
Hey. Mom @ 3:19, slaving away in the Miami sunshine. hard life.
clyde
September 29th, 2009
5:31 pm
Ragnar,
Chain gang?
irishmafia116
September 29th, 2009
6:40 pm
Simple question-name anything the governemnt does quickly, efficiently, and cheaply? Anything? Anything at all? And you want them to oversee your health care? good luck with that!
pd
September 29th, 2009
6:59 pm
“Simple question-name anything the governemnt does quickly, efficiently, and cheaply?”
There are plenty of government run programs and entities subsidized by government that are well run. As far as subsidized, there is no better radio or television than what is Public. NPR is consistently the best radio. Public Television is also very good.
You won’t find many Seniors unhappy with their Social Security. Before you say its broken, remember it can easily be fixed by lifting the cap.
I am also impressed with the guys who come to my house in their truck, pick up a piece of paper from me and deliver it to my friend 1000 miles away in three days for 49 cents.
clyde
September 29th, 2009
7:43 pm
The government can get 400 men through a chow line pretty easily also,day after day with no hassle.Try that down at the corner greasy spoon.
Algonquin J. Calhoun
September 29th, 2009
9:03 pm
What a bunch of Republinazi hacks! health-care is going to change. Get used to it! As for doling out rescue money that was done by George W. Hitler. AIG and Citi got money on weekends when no one could say anything about it. Stop your damn lying!
Moonbat Patrol
September 30th, 2009
8:54 am
Hey libtard Algore J. Cackle: if the MAJORITY of Americans do NOT want their health care to change, which IS the truth, it isn’t going to happen. Know why libtard? Because even the idiot Democrats aren’t THAT stupid. They know they’ll get voted the hell out. Up yours, you fascist freedom hating libtard goon – and grow up beyond “NAZI!!” comments, you worthless trash hole.
Anyway, listen to the liberals at Newsweak downplay “happiness” now. I guess when Thee Appointed One didn’t bring America together and make everyone happy overnight right after his election, things have to be downplayed now:
“According to a study from the General Social Survey by economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers of Wharton, despite three decades of economic growth in America, men and women are no happier…The broader point remains—while Europeans are growing happier, especially Italians, Americans are not.”
Speak for yourself, Newsweak. Conservatives are much happier than dwelling in the permanent misery of libtardism. I’m happy as a clam and have just about everything I want short of a Lamborghini and Gulfstream V.
“Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities. Regardless of marital status, income or church attendance, right-wing individuals reported greater life satisfaction and well-being than left-wingers, the new study found. Conservatives also scored highest on measures of rationalization, which gauge a person’s tendency to justify, or explain away, inequalities..
Well that makes sense. Libtardism is an ideology born, bred, and fed off mindless emotionalism. Libtards are emotion driven, not rational and logical thought driven. No further proof of that need be said than that idiot libtard Janeane Garofalo saying that Conservatives have a synapse gap in their frontal lobes – she’s a regular brain surgeon, isn’t she. Reminds me of that other wacko libtard Rosie O’Donnell who said “for the first time ever steel melted” with regards to the WTC attacks – she’s a regular structural engineer and metalologist if you didn’t know. Idiots.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/216147/?GT1=43002
This is all almost as much fun as listening to Jimmy Carter’s senile lips say that the Bush II administration was the worst in American history. LAUGHABLE! Let’s see here, under Carter, 12 nations went to communism, defeating 30 years of fighting it; 14% unemployment; 21% interest rates; 12% inflation; four hour gas lines; American hostages taken by Iranian goons and held captive for 444 days; Cuban criminal refugees running loose in America; the birth of radical Islam and the sellout of the Shah; Soviets invaded Afganistan; brother Billy (beer) ambassador to Syria. Finally, Ayatollah’s son recounted that his father realized that America was a paper tiger and that we did not have the guts to do anything under Carter. That was when the phrase “Death to America” and “America is the big Satan” was coined. All of that happened under his watch and he has the gall to call the Bush II administration the worst ever. LAUGHABLE.
And now we have nothing but a Carter II administration. Go figure.
pd
September 30th, 2009
9:59 am
“I’m happy as a clam ”
I wouldn’t have guessed that. I would have guessed that you were very angry. I suppose it difficult to judge one’s state of mind through their writings sometimes.
Moonbat Patrol
September 30th, 2009
1:18 pm
“I wouldn’t have guessed that. I would have guessed that you were very angry.”
I am happy, and no, I’m not “angry” any more than libtards were “angry” at Bush for 8 years – back then of course dissent was the “highest form of patriotism” and being “angry” was just being “passionate.” Today of course when the libtards are facing down opposition, it’s we Right Wingers who are the racists, the haters, the Nazis, the domestic terrorists, the violent prone, blah blah blah ad nauseum.
The libtards are permanently “angry” and unhappy in life because they are looking for a Utopia that doesn’t exist – as much as they want to destroy this nation from the core and rebuild it into one to their liking. Sorry libtards, that just ain’t gonna happen. Moderates are the majority in this nation, not mindless libtards as much as they want to believe otherwise.
Proud American
September 30th, 2009
1:53 pm
pd
Pretty dumb, I have been going to a Chiropractor for several years, my current healthcare provider that I CHOSE, does not cover chiropractor visits, I pay a very nominal fee per visit which is less than when the healthcare provider that I CHOSE did cover these expenses. Not to turn this in to a testamonial for Chiropractic care but it is very inexpensive for the care you receive.
Perhaps you may want to CHOOSE a more scrupulous golfing partner!
retiredds
September 30th, 2009
3:43 pm
Jim and all others, the chickens have come home to roost. Republican and Democratic fiscal and economic mismanagement over the last 40 years yields today’s result: the deficit climbs because Americans in general have lived and continue to live, although a little less lavishly since the near depression that began in 2007, well beyond our needs and means. I guess you might say we reap what we sow and all of us participate. Looking to blame Obama for all our ills is an avoidance issue and just allows the blamers to push off their responsibility and accountability for the mess we’re in. It is an age old axiom, blaming the other is a fools way out being responsible. Blame might make you feel good but does nothing toward a constructive solution.
Charlie
September 30th, 2009
7:31 pm
Enter your comments here Why not take the cap off Social Security and let the high-priced ballplayers and their owners plus all those bright-bulbs in Hollywood help shore it up some?
Tim
September 30th, 2009
8:54 pm
Hey Moonbat, glad your mom’s letting you stay up late to keep churning out all those witty names you have. You are an idiot. Really.
SONYA MATTHEWS
October 1st, 2009
4:10 pm
OPPOSE ALL YOU WANT, BUT WHEN “IT” (SICKNESS, SWINE FLU, HEART OPERATION, LONG TERM ILLNESS) HITS AT YOUR ADDRESS, AND YOU HAVE NO CURRENT COVERAGE, REMEMBER TO KEEP OPPOSING….
I TYPE IN CAPS BECAUSE I NEED TO SEE IT- NOT SCREAM…
Bill
October 13th, 2009
11:59 pm
Obama never seemed like a good idea to me. But a whole lot of you people did think so. Or maybe you weren’t thinking at all, but let your emotions get the better of you. You all thought you’d be proving something to the world and to your compatriots by electing the first black president since you weren’t quite ready for the first female president. But you were tempted to go that way too. So you had your big moment in the spotlight and the world applauded you and cheered. However that may be, the party was short-lived and, more significantly, it’s over. Don’t make the same mistake twice. Anyway, it should never be about electing the first anything. But rather electing a person who can lead effectively and who upholds the foundational ideals that are distinctly American. If it turns out that that person is a minority or female, that should only count as coincidental, not the reason for casting your vote. You didn’t like George W. So what did you do? You voted for a pair of hucksters you’ll like even less.
I realize politics exerts a strong influence on the emotions, but reason must come first. Control your emotions next time. Don’t be carried away by your peers and the media circus. This is the hard-nosed world of politics, not American Idol.