We are going to be talking about taxes and tea parties – live. There will also be a special bonus interview with director Jake Rademacher for a new movie opening this weekend Brothers at War. My review of the movie can be found here. Also, Brothers at War has partnered with Soldiers’ Angels.
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Cheers!
Looking forward to the tea party discussion manana.
Tea parties are not the answer, in my opinion. What Glen Beck did with We the People – We Surround Them is closer to it. The new website could not stand the load, and it crashed, but they are getting a new one. The “we the people” mosaic that shows the faces of just some of the thousands of people who understand that our power may be limited as individuals but it’s limitless when we bond together.
I like his Nine Principles
1. America is good.
2. I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
3. I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.
4. The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.
5. If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.
6. I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
7. I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
8. It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion.
9. The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
and 12 Values: Honesty, Reverence, Hope, Thrift, Humility, Charity, Sincerity, Moderation, Hard Work, Courage, Personal Responsibility, Gratitude
Glenn Beck is not the answer. It’s hard to take him seriously. He’s such a drama queen. I can’t watch him.
It’s going to take a while for the Tea Parties to find their voice but they will. I think people will be shocked by the turnout on tax day. People are being inspired to speak up and get involved for the first time. Not speaking up is giving tacit approval to the status quo.
Greta, I think your real estate sponsor should emphasize that this is the best time to buy a house in decades and also go after those afraid to sell in this environment. This is when you need a realtor more than ever. Houses used to sell themselves, but they don’t anymore.
Why would you need Glenn Beck of all people to define YOUR OWN principles to live by? Set your own, and maybe unlike Beck you might actually define principles Here’s the definition…
prin·ci·ple – a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption b (1): a rule or code of conduct (2): habitual devotion to right principles c: the laws or facts of nature underlying the working of an artificial device
“America is good” is not a principle… it’s a statement of fact. A statement misused by the Likes of Beck to get people to believe that there are swarms of people enjoying the liberties of this great country of ours yet spit on it’s colors. The moment you read or hear such a statement and feel “special”, or that you’re one of the few true patriots in that loves their country you NEED to skip to #8 on his list and come to the realization that we all love this country of ours in different ways… we all show our displeasure in different ways. You also need to come to a realization that Mr Beck is full of bunk and his main purpose with this is to get you to join facebook and provide him with another outlet with which to goose Madison Avenue into providing his outlets with advertising $$$.
I did notice and will note that missing from Mr. Beck’s list is something that covers loving his fellow man and being ready to lend a hand when they are in need. Humor me for a moment and drop such an ideal into the middle of his 9 principles… if it looks a bit oddly out of place, you have to ask yourself if you want to subscribe to a way of being in which such an ideal looks awkwardly out of place.
Why would you need Glenn Beck of all people to define YOUR OWN principles to live by? Set your own, and maybe unlike Beck you might actually define principles Here’s the definition…
prin·ci·ple – a comprehensive and fundamental law, doctrine, or assumption b (1): a rule or code of conduct (2): habitual devotion to right principles
“America is good” is not a principle… it’s a statement of fact. A statement misused by the Likes of Beck to get people to believe that there are swarms of people enjoying the liberties of this great country of ours yet spit on it’s colors. The moment you read or hear such a statement and feel “special”, or that you’re one of the few true patriots in that loves their country you NEED to skip to #8 on his list and come to the realization that we all love this country of ours in different ways… we all show our displeasure in different ways. You also need to come to a realization that Mr Beck is full of bunk and his main purpose with this is to get you to join facebook and provide him with another outlet with which to goose Madison Avenue into providing his outlets with advertising $$$.
I did notice and will note that missing from Mr. Beck’s list is something that covers loving his fellow man and being ready to lend a hand when they are in need. Humor me for a moment and drop such an ideal into the middle of his 9 principles… if it looks a bit oddly out of place, you have to ask yourself if you want to subscribe to a way of being in which such an ideal looks awkwardly out of place.
Why would you need Glenn Beck of all people to define YOUR OWN principles to live by? Set your own, and maybe unlike Beck you might actually define principles
I have my own principles, and they closely track Becks
“America is good” is not a principle… it’s a statement of fact.
Not based on what many in the media or on the left wing blogs say.
to get people to believe that there are swarms of people enjoying the liberties of this great country of ours yet spit on it’s colors.
there are
I did notice and will note that missing from Mr. Beck’s list is something that covers loving his fellow man and being ready to lend a hand when they are in need.
Not really. #2 is ,i.I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life. And Christ said whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.
drop such an ideal into the middle of his 9 principles… if it looks a bit oddly out of place, you have to ask yourself if you want to subscribe to a way of being in which such an ideal looks awkwardly out of place.
It doesn’t. Now if you mean that the Government is going to tell me what to do to help someone in need; that looks awkwardly out of place. #7 I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable.
Cut and paste response… never a good sign.
Don… what percentage of your taxes go toward social/assistance programs in this country? I’d really be interested to gauge your perception on this.
I’d appreciate actual links or examples of Liberal blogs, (in proper context), or other media heads who say definitively that America is a bad country. That “liberal elite” ditto head mantra is tired and old, and has been baseless since it’s inception.
In the case that you don’t fully understand the meaning of the word “swarm” it implies there being a large engulfing group. If there were several large engulfing groups of such people one wouldn’t need the media to put it on display… it would be in our faces every day.
Don you can’t cherry pick statements and mold them to your argument… it’s insincere at best. By your rationale of statement #2, Beck didn’t need to list 9 “principles”… he could have just said…
I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.
… and left it at that.
But he didn’t Don… he chose to list 9 statements that were meant to pander to the frustrated.
He could have listed the 10 Commandments Don… but he didn’t. He chose to list items that give him an easy rail into hot button issues.
As for the last bit about the government… it’s not that they’re trying to tell you how to help people in need… it’s that they’re doing their jobs. What’s next… you and Beck going to ask the Pentagon to give you daily troop updates?
Cut and paste response… never a good sign.
Ad hominum attack rather than something on point – never a good thing
what percentage of your taxes go toward social/assistance programs in this country
Manditory spending is more than 1/2 of the budget, which includes # Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and a myriad of smaller programs. It is a matter of debate which ones are social/assistance programs. I would exempt social security and Medicare from that, since at the time we were paying into it, we thought of it as a mandated retirement plan and personal insurance plan that the government made us buy from them, i.e. if they had not existed the money we paid in FICA would have gone into our own private plans
I’d appreciate actual links or examples of Liberal blogs, (in proper context), or other media heads who say definitively that America is a bad country.
Practically any post in the far left sites under Bush. And some are beginning to turn on Obama
Don you can’t cherry pick statements
You are the one that identified the subject
he could have just said… I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life. … and left it at that.
God is the Center, but there is more than the Center.
He could have listed the 10 Commandments Don… but he didn’t.
Those were already listed, by The Center.
it’s not that they’re trying to tell you how to help people in need… it’s that they’re doing their jobs.
Schools now require students to put in X hours of Community Service Community Service is good, but having a student being required to do X hours is not. I can speak with authority on that, because I run a non profit organization, and have had kids work off their required hours with me, and have to spend more time training them than to do a task myself, and then once they have their signed paper, you never see them again. And Obama’s web site implied they might havr required service of all Americans.
Do I need to break this up? Nahhh….breaking out the popcorn and taking notes.
Adjunct maybe, but hardly ad hominem… But even if so, discussing politics online is much like NASCAR… if you’re not bumping, you’re not driving. 🙂
I’m glad that you clarified your stance on SS and Medicare, I’ll admit that I was ready to jump on you on that one. Otherwise it would have been padding along the vein of when my buddies on the left pad military numbers with among other things diplomacy costs and what we drop on helping the poor in the countries in which we take action… ie doing the right thing.
Actually if you drop SS, Medicare/Medicaid the percentage drops below 10%… somewhere around 8% covers every program that falls under the general category of assistance. And that includes the disabled… though I will admit I’m not 100% on that…
I think it boils down to what you and I might each consider charity. I do not view public assistance as charity. I view it as taking care of those around us who for whatever reason are not capable. I also view it as investment. Off the top of my head I can think of six different people who at one time or another were on assistance and are now very productive members of society. In two cases they own their own businesses and make six-figure incomes. In these six cases NONE would have been able to escape their prisons of poverty without public help.
The problem is in identifying who is making a legit attempt to better themselves, and who is content in living off others. My overall view is that if the 8% a paycheck that I drop ensures that some needy children receive 3 squares a day, and are clothed, then I can accept that there’s going to be a chunk of that 8% that will end up going to some deadbeat. It stinks but there are always going to be people who play the system… that on the 1st and 15th I’ll be stuck behind a line of bluehairs at the local quickie mart dropping too much of their assistance on scratch tickets and lottery.
Not liking George W does not equal not liking the US. Out of curiosity I googled “the US s*cks” and “America s*cks” and two pages into each I didn’t hit a site that ACTUALLY tried to make the point that they hate their country. Most closed their rants with something along the lines of:
“Well folks, that’s the end of the list. I hope you all, like me, have thought about how we can make America a better place by first learning how it s*cks.”
Not exactly how I would have put it, but just because the poster decided to do so does not mean that they have any less love of their country. I DESPISE the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity and especially Malkin, but just because I disagree with their messages or methods of delivery does not mean that I question their love of country. Quite the contrary… the passion with which they comment on what they see as being wrong shows a true and strong love of country. I just think that they’re a bit warped… as is Olberman. These people make their livings in entertaining, and providing commentary, not so much with informing.
D@mn this is long… sorry…
Quick hits on the rest.
My point on his list is that his nine “principles” are nothing but his proposed talking points. Helping your fellow man is a good discussion but makes for bad TV… unfortunately. He did not choose to illuminate this “principle”, but rather those that lead into hot button issues.
I am genuinely interested in knowing what you’re talking about concerning mandatory community service. I’m in Boston and upon reading what you wrote asked a few of my H.S. aged nephews about this and they haven’t been hit with such a requirement. Is this something that’s going on in LA? We can take this bit, (or even all of it), via facebook if your interested… maybe Greta can suggest a friend or something. I’ve seen the President’s proposal and from how I read it think that it’s a good idea, but didn’t know that anything like it has been implemented. Not being a wise@$$, I’d really like to know.
I think it boils down to what you and I might each consider charity. I do not view public assistance as charity. I view it as taking care of those around us who for whatever reason are not capable.
I view charity as the job of churches or other non-profit organizations; not a job of government. You are entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Not happiness provided by the government with the power to compel citizens to pay for it.
I also view it as investment. Off the top of my head I can think of six different people who at one time or another were on assistance and are now very productive members of society. In two cases they own their own businesses and make six-figure incomes. In these six cases NONE would have been able to escape their prisons of poverty without public help.
Again investment is not the government’s job, and while you know of 6 that used the help to get up and out, there are 6 million held down by public help. that is why welfare reform was one of Clinton’s shining accomplishments, and Obama destroyed that in his first month.
The problem is in identifying who is making a legit attempt to better themselves, and who is content in living off others. My overall view is that if the 8% a paycheck that I drop ensures that some needy children receive 3 squares a day, and are clothed, then I can accept that there’s going to be a chunk of that 8% that will end up going to some deadbeat.
Helping a child, and keeping his parents trapped in Welfare, are very different things.
Not liking George W does not equal not liking the US.
True, but just because you don’t like him does not mean you need to demean everything the country did when he was in the White House.
I am genuinely interested in knowing what you’re talking about concerning mandatory community service. I’m in Boston and upon reading what you wrote asked a few of my H.S. aged nephews about this and they haven’t been hit with such a requirement. Is this something that’s going on in LA?
I don’t know. I am in Tulsa, OK, but I think I have hear of it elsewhere, and in his campaign Obama was talking about something like a draft to compel people that did not go into the Military to do a year or two in something like AmeriCorps.
Living on public assistance does not equal happiness Don… not even close. Living in a slum or some broke down town in middle America is not an atmosphere conducive to happiness. In a Utopian society unemployment would be 0%… never going to happen. There will never be such an employment need to be filled. A government conscious of this will know that needs of the long term unemployed or even unemployable must be met.
It’s part of the American dream and a slice of what makes this country great Don… that if an individual or family falls on hard times we’ve got their back while they try to recover. I chalk that up in the life column. What someone chooses to do with that life is up to them… if they choose to remain trapped, then that’s on them… we tried.
And on the subject of trapping people on welfare… much more complicated than that. I could go into redistricting that limits the vote of the poor and downtrodden, lack of industry and commerce in such areas due to problems in crime, substandard funding of schools in one area, while schools on the other side of the same city are purring along… Heinous things are done to the poor, (black, white, Hispanic, other it doesn’t matter), across the board and from both sides of the isle Don… it boggles the mind.
Do a search on Thomas Finneran redistricting case for but a taste of what goes on… and he’s a Dem, so you’ll love that.
As for what was part of that bill, the increase in spending was in anticipation of an increased amount of families applying for the benefits due to the rise in unemployment and a hammered economy. It did not suspend the TANF term limits which is the instrument used to pull people off welfare. In other words if a person is slated to lose their benefits in May of ’09… they’re going to lose their benefits. That did not change.
Investment is ABSOLUTELY the government’s job. We invest in a strong military… we invest in innovation… we invest in infrastructure… we invest in protecting our GDP… what’s wrong with investing in our citizens?
If one didn’t like a thing that George W did, then why not demean everything he did. Again Don… not the country… the man. For example, just because someone didn’t like the way he used the military doesn’t mean that they don’t appreciate the military and all those who serve.
There are those on the lunatic fringe of each party who take things to ridiculous lengths. They’re best ignored, because what they usually have to say makes no sense. Beware those who attempt to paint an entire party based on the ramblings of a few dimwits.
Ah… what you’re taking about is this:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/service/
As far as I know nothing has been done yet. I see nothing wrong with the plan… give it a quick read and share your thoughts.
How did aisle become isle? This thing autofix or something?
Living on public assistance does not equal happiness Don… not even close. Living in a slum or some broke down town in middle America is not an atmosphere conducive to happiness.
Never said it was condusive to happiness. But it trapped a lot of people into a system of expecting government handouts which Clinton reversed, and Obama reinstated.
In a Utopian society unemployment would be 0%… never going to happen. There will never be such an employment need to be filled. A government conscious of this will know that needs of the long term unemployed or even unemployable must be met.
full employment is usually about 5% to allow for transitions etc. And I do not agree that government is responsible for meeting those needs. That should be the job of churches and non-profit agencies that can detect when they are being used.
It’s part of the American dream and a slice of what makes this country great Don…
No the American Dream used to be that with hard work you could rise as high as you were willing to work for it. Under Obama those that work hard to improve themselves will find the government taking what they earned and giving it to people that did not work hard. The incentive to work is reduced when you implement from everyone according to his ability, to everyone according to his need
if an individual or family falls on hard times we’ve got their back while they try to recover. I chalk that up in the life column. What someone chooses to do with that life is up to them…
Not the government’s job. That is the job of churches and non-profit agencies.
if they choose to remain trapped, then that’s on them… we tried.
no one chooses to remain trapped
Investment is ABSOLUTELY the government’s job.
Where does it say that in the Constitution
We invest in a strong military…
“provide for the common defence… To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;… To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years; … To provide and maintain a Navy; … To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces; … To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions; … To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;”
we invest in innovation…
That is the job of the Private sector; government just screws it up
we invest in infrastructure…
Any investments in infrastructure should be made at the lowest level of government, i.e. city rather than state, state rather than federal
we invest in protecting our GDP…
5 and 10 year plans worked so wonderfuly in the Soviet Union. And socialism has caused Europe to flourish.
America’s greatness was because the Free Enterprise system did that here, not the government
what’s wrong with investing in our citizens?
Slavery was abolished by the 13th amendment
Barack Obama will enable all Americans to serve:
Obama and Biden will expand AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps, engage retiring Americans, and set up an America’s Voice Initiative to send Americans who are fluent speakers of local languages to expand our public diplomacy.
Everyone has the ability (is enabled) to serve. This means he will require it, and that went away with the 13th amendment.
Integrate service into learning:
Obama and Biden will set a goal that all middle and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year, and will establish a new tax credit that is worth $4,000 a year in exchange for 100 hours of public service a year.
So he is setting a price of $40 and hour on something you will be required to do.
Community service should be something you do because you want to. I have experience because I run HelpingTulsa. I had a number of volunteers that i trained and they worked a long time for no pay because of the pleasure in helping others. I had a few (two high school and one college) student working off a community service obligation, and it took a lot of my time and effort to train them, and then they stayed only long enough to get me to sign off on their 50 or 100 hours, and then they were gone.
Wow… OK…
You’re missing the point that the instrument that was implemented to keep people from being “trapped” on public assistance has been left unchanged. It’s still TEMPORARY assistance whereas before the legislation the Gingrich dictated and Clinton signed it was open ended. Adding more funds to accommodate an increase in demand is not resetting the trap, but rather prudent planning.
It is indeed the responsibility of the government to ensure that all of it’s citizens have access to assistance. A citizen should not have to submit themselves to the whims of a particular church or non-profit to eat. People should be able to move about this country… state to state, county to county and expect a minimal baseline when it comes to support.
Again Don… I place this in the category of “Life”
At one point the Constitution didn’t say that people couldn’t own slaves… it changed. And with significant protest at that. It took us over 90 years to correct what most of us now see as a no brainer. It’s a growing, living, breathing document. A beautiful thing.
Government screws up innovation? You’re kidding right? First off I said that it invests in innovation. One of those investments is providing us the opportunity to send each other these messages. Where’s is a company like Raytheon getting the bulk of it’s R&D cash?
Does that include interstates Don? Messing with you… For the most part I agree with you on this. Tulsa shouldn’t have to shoulder the financial quagmire of projects like the BigDig was here in Boston. However, when considering defense and responding to a state of emergency the Feds should have some say in infrastructure. Having a say always leads to investment.
No idea where investing in people equals slavery…
Ability (enable) reads as slavery for you? Really? Kind of a harsh reach man.
This is a proposal Don not law… a proposal that could directly effect you as someone who runs a non-profit. It’s a proposal that you could have a part in shaping. Actually… an opportunity for you and others to show how you believe that the non-profit sector can best handle the issues of poverty and need.
The proposal isn’t a bad idea, but it shouldn’t be implemented in a vacuum or criticized as such. The same could be said of a few of Bush’s initiatives. As a society we’ve allowed polarizing figures on each side of this thing dictate that we’re either 100% with or against them. It doesn’t have to be that way and it shouldn’t. Society has become quick to immediately kick an opposing view in the nuts rather than consider it and add their input. I’m sure if Bush had rolled such a proposal out there would have been people on the left who would have trashed the idea in much the same way you are. Workfare rather than welfare would be an example. That was called 20th century slavery, and was fought tooth and nail. I’m pretty freaking liberal and I was optimistic about the idea.
I get what you’re saying about investing in an individual for 100 hours only to see them walk away. That would be frustrating. During the DOT.COM boom I hired and spent months training a network engineer only to have him jump ship when another company made him an offer. Ticked off wouldn’t begin to explain how I felt. Maybe the answer is in finding a way to use the help in a way that involves minimal training and allow them to move themselves along. Stockroom to the boardroom kind of thing.
We share a similar thought on people and computers. The entire “Teach a man to fish” thing. Hearing people say, “Yeah, my computer is out of memory so I’m going to buy a new one.” usually leads to a 20 minute lecture on upgrading. Don’t even get me started on self-induced viruses.
You’re missing the point that the instrument that was implemented to keep people from being “trapped” on public assistance has been left unchanged. It’s still TEMPORARY assistance whereas before the legislation the Gingrich dictated and Clinton signed it was open ended. Adding more funds to accommodate an increase in demand is not resetting the trap, but rather prudent planning.
I believe you are wrong, and there was language buried in the stimulus bill that reversed Clinton, but I can’t prove it.
It is indeed the responsibility of the government to ensure that all of it’s citizens have access to assistance.
Where does it say that in the Constitution? Promote the General Welfare was not talking about Welfare as we know it now.
A citizen should not have to submit themselves to the whims of a particular church or non-profit to eat. People should be able to move about this country… state to state, county to county and expect a minimal baseline when it comes to support.
If they get hungry enough, they will work. Unless a government takes food from someone else’s table and gives it to them. Then many will just sit and whine for food.
At one point the Constitution didn’t say that people couldn’t own slaves… it changed. And with significant protest at that. It took us over 90 years to correct what most of us now see as a no brainer. It’s a growing, living, breathing document. A beautiful thing.
The thirteenth amendment was approved by a 2/3 majority of both houses, and 3/4 of the states. I agree it is a beautiful thing, it provides a way for it to be changed.
But it should not be changed by a few judges, or a congress critter slipping something in to 1,000 page document no one will read.
The Magna Carta is 3,575 words long. God got it down to less than 150 words in the Ten Comandments.
Why does a law have to have 1,000 pages, and be so long no one can read it.
They ought to limit a law to 2 pages; maybe 10 for the budget.
Government screws up innovation?
They screw up anything they try? Post Office? UPS is better. Medicare? I used to have private insurance; I am now on Medicare. Private insurance is much better, and I pitty you if Government takes over Health Care.
You’re kidding right? First off I said that it invests in innovation. One of those investments is providing us the opportunity to send each other these messages.
OOh, yeah, Al Gore inventing the internet. Not. The net started as a military connection between universities with military contracts, and then a few non military-contract departments in academia got on, but it did not take off until ISPs began selling induvidual access.
Where’s is a company like Raytheon getting the bulk of it’s R&D cash?
I don’t know. I hope the government is not paying for a company to do research it will make money from.
Does that include interstates Don? Messing with you… For the most part I agree with you on this. Tulsa shouldn’t have to shoulder the financial quagmire of projects like the BigDig was here in Boston. However, when considering defense and responding to a state of emergency the Feds should have some say in infrastructure.
Actually the interstates were built because of the need to move manpower and machinery by the military. But I would support a similar system on the electric grid, so that a nuclear plant could distribute power to cities far away, but I don’t support federal funding for someting like the BigDig, or a bridge in Tulsa.
No idea where investing in people equals slavery…
If you invest in something you own it. We don’t own people.
Ability (enable) reads as slavery for you? Really? Kind of a harsh reach man.
The statement was Barack Obama will enable all Americans to serve
It was not Barack Obama will enable all Americans that want to do volunteer community service work to do so.
You will serve the mighty O. As the Borg said resistance is futile … You will be assimilated or as the European Sega Mega Drive version of Zero Wing said All your base are belong to us
This is a proposal Don not law…
I would not be too sure about that. You can hide a lot in 1,000 pages.
I get what you’re saying about investing in an individual for 100 hours only to see them walk away. That would be frustrating. During the DOT.COM boom I hired and spent months training a network engineer only to have him jump ship when another company made him an offer. Ticked off wouldn’t begin to explain how I felt.
And in your case the government was not requiring him to do what he did; he just went to someone willing to pay more money.
Maybe the answer is in finding a way to use the help in a way that involves minimal training and allow them to move themselves along. Stockroom to the boardroom kind of thing.
So all school children should be required to do a certain amount of janitorial or stockroom work. And what does that teach them?
You can’t prove it because it’s not there Don. Fact is there are people on the left who are criticizing the fact that they didn’t remove that portion of the legislation citing that if there is going to be this new demand, then one would rationalize that people receiving the aid will need extensions.
View the word “Life” much like you view Beck’s all encompassing “Center” and you’ll get where I’m coming from.
I’ve had a problem with BS being stuffed in legislation from the first time I’d learned about them doing it in grade school, so you won’t get an argument from me about the 1,000 pages of craziness.
Private insurance is much better depending upon what plan you have, the provider and if you can afford it. If one was insured through AIG, they’d be pretty screwed if the government didn’t step in.
The problem isn’t the idea of Medicare… it’s in how it’s being managed. The free market, (of which I am fond of by the way… not a socialist. I’d love to be sitting on a $billion right now), has made the health care industry a nightmare. The financial industry is showing us how poor management can cripple an economy. My point is that neither is perfect and capable of failure.
UPS is better? For specific delivery functions maybe. My mailman delivers in the middle of blizzards… love her for that. UPS scope does not touch that of the USPS. One can’t assume that if UPS entered a day-to-day delivery of all mail that their service would be any better.
Al Gore never said he invented the internet. A quick search on what he actually said clears this up. Here’s a quick link.
http://www.snopes.com/quotes/internet.asp
The government provided the initial investment in the internet. Never said that they built it to what it is today. The porn industry did that.
The military, which last I checked is part of the government, does invest in private firms R&D. It’s how we got all those cool missiles and jet aircraft. Could be money or expertise…
So, if I think the kid down the street has a good head on his shoulders and decide to invest in his future by giving him $$$ for college I own him? Could just be that I hope he pays it forward and does the same down the line… so one could say that I’m investing in society. I guess one could say that in such a case I’m taking ownership of the task of improving my world. Always happy to do that… even at the cost of 8% of my paycheck.
We agree on the powergrid. People need to stop bellyaching about nuclear power and get with the program.
Sega Mega Drive??? Zero Wing? Cool reference man!!! Very cool! Never got around to grabbing one of those.
Out of curiosity If I asked you what you thought of the Battlestar Galactica finale would you have an answer?
What students would learn would be up to them. What time you invest in them would be up to you. As I said, I view his proposal to be more of a start and not a final product. We’ll see if it even gets done.
You can’t prove it because it’s not there Don. Fact is there are people on the left who are criticizing the fact that they didn’t remove that portion of the legislation citing that if there is going to be this new demand, then one would rationalize that people receiving the aid will need extensions.
Have you read the 1000 or so pages? I have not, and neither did the people voting for it. So why are you sure it’s not there>
Private insurance is much better depending upon what plan you have, the provider and if you can afford it. If one was insured through AIG, they’d be pretty screwed if the government didn’t step in.
AIG collapsed because the government did step in. And very clumsily. In a truly free market system credit default swaps may have their place, but before someone is willing to insure a risky loan, he needs to be able to judge the likely hood that that loan will default. But congress, in their effort to pump up low income housing said don’t worry about it, we will ultimately cover any bad loans, and that took us to where they are today. If they wanted to support low income housing they should have done it directly, so we could see how much was going to do that, rather than getting the government involved in blowing up a housing bubble until everything fell with it burst.
Health care is the same thing. If you want to provide health care for the poor, don’t pass laws that says Emergncy Rooms must take anyone, regardless of ability to pay, and don’t take over all health care. Build clinics that anyone can go to, regardless of ablity to pay, and leave the rest alone. The free clinics may not be as good as the care for people that can pay for it, but you have provided a basic level of support for people that can’t afford any better, and they have an incentive to work hard and be able to afford the better stuff.
The problem isn’t the idea of Medicare… it’s in how it’s being managed.
True, and that is by the government.
The free market … has made the health care industry a nightmare.
No the legal system did that. High health care costs are because doctors run so many expensive tests to protect their own rear ends from a lawsuit. I was in the hospital for one thing, and about to be discharged the next day, and in getting into bed the last night I twisted my shoulder wrong, and temporarilly created a problem where I lost the use of my left arm. It had happened several times before, and my PCP had me put a heating pad on it, and it would go away in 4 hours. Without the heating pad it would go away in 8 hours. I tld the nurse about it that night, and confirmed it to my Urologist (the doc I was in the hospital with) the next morning, just so he could tell the PCP that it had really happened where medical people saw it, and he was so worried I might sue him that he had to have an Orthopod look at it, and I had to have an expensive and painful for me MRI of the shoulder, not because I wanted to know why the shoulder was acting up, but because he feared I might sue him because it happened in the hospital, and he was the admitting doctor.
The financial industry is showing us how poor management can cripple an economy.
No, it is showing how government can really screw something up.
UPS is better? For specific delivery functions maybe. My mailman delivers in the middle of blizzards… love her for that.
I am disabled and cannot go to the door and get something. My UPS man reads the sign on the door, and brings my packages in. Same for FedEx and other courier services. Not for my mailman. He leaves it on the porch.
Al Gore never said he invented the internet.
You are right. He said he took the initiative in creating the internet, when he reall did not even do that. He just supported some legislation for one step in the process.
The government provided the initial investment in the internet. Never said that they built it to what it is today. The porn industry did that.
The military got the ball rolling with a connection of some university R&D departments, but then other university people wanted the same thing, and that created a security risk, so the military bailed out and created its own separate system. The universities had it for a while, then people wanted to stay connected after they left school, and that resulted in commercial ISPs. The porn insustry came in much later, and despite the fact that there are a lot of porn sites out there, there is an even larger amount of good (and bad) information, and many many things to do other than pornographic. Such as this blog.
The military, which last I checked is part of the government, does invest in private firms R&D. It’s how we got all those cool missiles and jet aircraft. Could be money or expertise…
And the space industry gave us Tang. It also spurred the development of smaller, light weight circutry, which is why I am able to type this on my notebook sitting on my stomach in my reclined lift chair.
So, if I think the kid down the street has a good head on his shoulders and decide to invest in his future by giving him $$$ for college I own him? Could just be that I hope he pays it forward and does the same down the line… so one could say that I’m investing in society.
If you want to give the kid down the street $$$ for college, go for it. Just don’t pass a law taking my money, and giving it to kids the government decides are worthy.
Out of curiosity If I asked you what you thought of the Battlestar Galactica finale would you have an answer?
No. I have cable, but that channel is not in my package. I am certainly familiar with the original series, but back then Cylons were obviously metal beings with a red scanning beam for eyes.
What students would learn would be up to them.
And what would one learn spending 100 hours doing manual labor that would mean someone looking for a job would not be paid to do. And would they not have learned more spending those 100 hours improving their math skills, or reading something from Shakespeare, or …..