Should Obamacare provision be delayed?

Yesterday, the Obama Administration announced that one of the major provisions in the Affordable Care Act will be delayed for one year. Under the law, starting in 2014, businesses with over 50 employees would have been required to provide healthcare to workers or pay a fine. That provision will now not take effect until 2015, after next year's midterm elections. Assistant Treasury Secretary Mark Mazur said, “We have heard concerns about the complexity of the requirements and the need for more time to implement them effectively.”
The change will not effect people who buy insurance individually, or small businesses planning to purchase healthcare through new insurance exchanges. It will also spare large employers a $3,000 per-worker fine for failing to provide workers with coverage. However, during the 2014 transition period, the Treasury Department will encourage employers to maintain or expand insurance coverage, and ensure businesses follow all other requirements under the law.
The majority of Obamacare will go into effect as planned, and is scheduled to start on January 1st of next year. Americans without healthcare coverage will be able to access affordable care, and small businesses will gain access to lower cost plans in states that have established insurance exchanges.
Valerie Jarrett, a White House Senior Adviser, said healthcare exchanges will be in place on October 1st, and “small businesses and ordinary Americans will be able to go to one place to learn about their coverage options and make side-by-side comparisons of each plan's price and benefits before they make their decisions.” However, even those who support Obamacare question whether the exchanges are on schedule as a direct result of Republican obstruction in GOP-led states.
Comments


Of course it is political, everything this manipulating administration orchestrates is for a political agenda, and this is obviously done to get past the 2014 election. But the real story is the perspective that our lord government has postponed their iron fist of mandates for another year, we should all be so thankful for their altruistic generosity. Thanks again Pelosi, Harry the hack Reid, John Roberts, and Obama for pushing through this train wreck. And thanks to all the Democrats who surrendered everyone's healthcare to this now empowered federal government. This is only the beginning of many more destructive revelations to come as this piece of Democrat legislation unfolds.

Wait a minute! Large employers are getting a free ride while small business and individuals are still being hit. This is madness! Large employers should be first and foremost held accountable. They have the majority of the workforce, the means and capital, and the moral obligation. Please don't tell me the Obama administration has dropped the ball again! This is getting monotonous!
Not only no buy HELL NO!

Quote Hartmann: The majority of Obamacare will go into effect as planned, and is scheduled to start on January 1st of next year. Americans without healthcare coverage will be able to access affordable care...Yeah, right, just how "affordable"--(not) do you think they will stiff us with? It won't be affordable. The game is rigged. And, as usual, they are reneging on making businesses pay their fair share while the rest of us get stiffed! If any of us don't go along with these government enforced payouts to the Health Insurance mafia then we will get fined won't we!? It has already been "reasoned" to us by the sales people of this boondoggle that the more people that participate the cheaper it will be for all of us...but if you take out a large chunk of big businesses out of the equation then how can it be made "affordable"? And not only that but I believe that there will be a very large number of people that are just not going to participate either because they already have some sort of health care, however ridiculously ineffective...like VA, or Medicare, (and I even understand that there is a way to avoid participating without being fined on some kind of religious ground), or because they are just going to see that the fine is going to be way, way less than paying those expensive Health Care premiums. I expect this whole thing is going to fall apart. The fact that some (big businesses) are going to be able to avoid Obamacare for another year is just a big sign that the whole scam is going to fall through and not work.
The Republicans and their Big Business backers know that the easiest way to circumvent something once it has been written into law is to just get it delayed. Whinge and moan that "it's too complicated to implement quickly" and say that if it isn't delayed "we'll all be runed". Giving Big Business a pass on this REALLY STINKS. After all, who's got all the money from the economy sloshing around in secret tax-haven offshore accounts? Big Business...Yes that means YOU Apple, et al.

No surprise here. This is merely Obama the Orator furthering his final transformation to Barack the Betrayer.
Like any other Republican -- never mind how he hid behind the (politically perfect) double disguise of African-American ethnicity and a Democrat label -- he will do anything he can to protect the One Percent while savaging all the rest of us.
Mark my word: by the end of his term he will have done everything we voted against Romney-Ryan to prevent, including the curtailment of women's rights.
As to 2014? Look for a Republican landslide...not because the nation's gone fascist, but because -- in our despair at Barack's betrayals -- none of the rest of us will bother to vote.
Which, just as the Ruling Class has no doubt planned all along, will be the end, forever, of not merely Obamacare but any other USian effort at health care reform. It will probably be the death of Medicare too -- and with it, the deaths of entire generations of elders.

Maybe those of us who will be forced into this boondoggle can also complain to the government that there are "too many complexities" to implement it...like big business is doing. But, of course, the government has long past stopped listening to the people...they only listen to big business...the ones with all the money. There has got to be way more complexities outside of big business than inside of it. Big business has mostly young and relatively healthy people compared to the rest of the population. They don't have a lot of poor people, old people, sick people. Just how complex is that? Way more complex than Big Business.
And how are they going to decide who pays what? The complexities range from young to old unemployed or retired people, people who may not work because they are incapacitated.
Insurance companies charge old people way more than they charge young people. They charge people with a history of being ill or incapacitated way more than they do young healthy people with jobs. Talk about complexities...they are all over the place.
What are they going to do? Go around through the streets with bull horns, or mail out what looks like junk mail (opening up yet another way that scammers can steal from Old People), or call us to mandatory community Obamacare education meetings, or start running a series on TV telling us what we have to do, what it will cost each one of us, how we can compute what the insurance companies are going to charge and/or maybe what the government will pay if you are considered not making enough money, will they look at what you have saved up in your banks, or retirement accounts so that they can soak you for whatever they can get? So far, we haven't heard squat! Are they going to just say you are required to have health insurance and you have to go out and decide which one you will sign up with? And if you do how can you be assured that the insurance company is not going to stiff you with whatever high premiums they would have charged you anyway without Obamacare? Will Obamacare really force the insurance companies to adhere to lower prices? I doubt it! What will happen is it will create a hell of a lot of confusion and people will be forced into making big costly mistakes. Insurance companies will take advantage of the confusion and rake in big bucks right out of your bank accounts. There will be a big sucking sound right out of all that money you saved for your retirement. It's going to be a disaster!
Even with taxes...at least we can compute what we owe Uncle Sam...but, I'm afraid, this is going to sneak up on everyone when they just get a bill in the mail saying you have to pay "$THIS MUCH$" every month from now on (until we raise the rates again and again). I think many people will just opt to pay the fine.

Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. Obamacare would fall like a stack of dominoes. By the way...that fine is not very big compared to what it will cost you to pay those health insurance premiums.

The Affordable Health Care Act being held up due to so called complexities is no surprise. Afterall it's still privatized for profit health care insurance not unlike Romney Care.....republican crap.
It's well known and feared by the piggish health insurance money grabbers that come 2017 after Vermont goes single payer the rest of the states will follow one by one. This is a key piece in the move towards Democratic Socialism and despite all the gloom and doom I'm hearing lately on this blog, it is going to happen. What ever happened to the spirit of 76? Good damn thing our founders had some balls and ovaries. Thom,Thomas, Ben, George, John, Molly, and Abigail, just to name a few.

Ok, here's some more doom and gloom...our authorities are not the only ones to have UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles...drones) in the US....get out your gas masks kiddies it's post 9/11 all over again...
http://cryptome.org/2013/07/parastoo-uav-launch2.htm
..are ye scared yets? UAVs are just so easy to build and fly..and they can carry almost anything that could cause lots of damage. And no one even has to hijack them with box cutters!

Careful: Businesses will not provide health care, they will provide health insurance. Health care is what hospitals do.

Good gawd, wtf--like the ACA isn't bad enough! How in hell can Obama expect to "push" (apparently a word he does not understand anyway) it on governors when he so obviously has little faith in it himself?
Look, to me its all the same. I am disabled and have been stuck on Medicaid for years. I accept that, as long as I am a US citizen (ugh) I will never be able to try to work again, and I will never receive what is considered to be "adequate" health care. Medicaid is awful (and can neoliberals not confuse Medicaid and Medicare just ONCE?!..Medicaid is the one you would move to Europe to avoid, ok?)
HR 676 was our chance to be civilized...one reason I supported Hillary over Obama was that I thought she might strike a better deal for heatlh care. But, that was when I still had any faith at all in the US as a "democracy". I am now a Socialist who would be willing to die to overthrow this Imperialist Capitalist govt.
Obama can go to hell

I thought corporations were people! So how come some people have to buy and some don't?

Quote Palindromedary:Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. Obamacare would fall like a stack of dominoes. By the way...that fine is not very big compared to what it will cost you to pay those health insurance premiums.
Palindromedary ~ A very good point! Any idea what the fine might be? It seems pretty stupid to me that we don't just demand single-payer for the price of the fine. Charging us for not buying something from someone else that the government should be providing for free seems like extortion to me. Imagine! We elected this man on a platform to create single-payer health care. His solution is to find a way to charge us for single-payer and provide nothing except aiding and abetting the extortion of the insurance industry.
What's going to happen to all these big business employees who have no health care? Are they going to be fined too while this rich companies get a pass? Who in their right mind could justify that travesty? I want my vote back!
I hope 2014 is the year we all finally take to the streets.

Good point, Willie W. !
Kings (the Corporations) and paupers are people too and the paupers have historically overthrown the Kings. It usually only takes a little bit of a push...as in...desperate masses on the verge of starvation...or a continued pressure from the "Kings" on the paupers to pay all the taxes so that the dandies don't have to...because they refuse to pay their share anyway.
In fact, the Kings, historically, have literally "lost their heads" when they have ticked off the paupers bad enough. There is great strength in great numbers. And the Kings, unless they are totally stupid, are quite aware of it and use the tools they can to keep the paupers in line...propaganda. "Want to SuperSize those fries?" "You go, Business Pro, you deserve it!"
The key is to recognize the King's propaganda...their symbols.. like flags...especially the "false flag operations"...like 9/11. Even Pearl Harbor was a "false flag operation". USS Maine in Havana Harbor. USS Lusitania. USS Liberty. We have a long list of "false flags" that these Harvard educated, foppish, dandies have used over the history of our country to rile up the paupers to support the greedy criminal acts of these capitalist pigs.
Conniving, capitalist, hucksters are usually always at the root of despicable atrocities around the world. Now the whole world is seeing how corrupt and despicable the US is now that it has committed this last act of desperation to get it's toady countries, it's lap dogs too pusillanimous to say no to the US, to force the Bolivian jet down to look for Snowden. Especially after Snowden revealed to the EU that they were being spied on. Snowden did the EU a big favor and then the EU knuckled under to the dictates of their Big Brother, the US. What cowardly hypocrites! The whole of our southern hemisphere is now, likely, going to expel all those EU ambassadors out of their countries. And I say GOOD! The US will soon fall full force into it's own selfish conniving, capitalist, cesspool. Capitalism will sell, to it's executioner, the rope to hang them with. They will sell out their own mothers for another dollar. Despicable!
According to Max Keiser...the housing bubble in Canada is getting ready to POP! Look out Kend...you'd better dump all those properties before you get caught holding a bunch of worthless junk.

DAnneMarc: Yes, I believe it is extortion! I don't remember, now, exactly what the fine is supposed to be..it's been a long while since I read the bill...but it seemed to me that it was something on the order of just over $1,000**...and if you compare that to what you would have to pay the insurance companies...most likely 12 times that amount in the year...well, a lot of people are most likely going to opt to pay the fine. When you also consider that the health care industry (doctors, nurses, hospitals, clinics) will likely be swamped (they don't have enough people now) then you can imagine how little care you will really get. You will have paid all that money and you still won't be able to get real health care in a timely fashion. The insurance companies will, like the housing market scammers, will take the money and run. By running, I mean they will squeeze our government to turn a blind eye...perhaps they'll say something like..."Oh, it is too complicated...too confusing...we have to wait to reimburse the insured"...or they will find a way not to reimburse people. They will do even more so what they do now...raise healthcare costs and make it seem like the insurance companies saved the day by paying for most of the bills...when actually..the insurance companies and the health care industry are in cahoots with one another setting the prices so that the small percent that the insured has to pay...say 10%, 20%, or 30%...is so much larger than what they should have paid had the prices not been fixed at higher amounts. Now, with government strong-arm enforcers working in tandem with the health care insurance/medical industry mafia we will all be sucked dry of everything we own.
** It might have been expressed in a percentage...but this could also vary depending on various factors like what your income is. If you have very little income then, perhaps, your "fine" would be very little. On the other hand, if you have very little income then, maybe, if the government really does supplement, or subsidize, people with little income, then it may be a good idea for them to just not fight it. Maybe it will be to their advantage...I don't know...but someone who does have some substantial income, even though it is not a lot, may find it better to just pay the fine. Someone who is fairly young and healthy and doesn't have a family may be willing to take the risk of just paying the fine. I know people who have saved a fortune, after they were laid off 5 years before they were eligible for medicare because they didn't have to pay $1,000/month to health care insurance companies. $60,000 is a lot to some people. They maintained a healthy lifestyle...not pigging out eating unhealthy foods...and stayed healthy. Yes, they took a risk and it could have been way more costly had they developed a medical problem...but you have to figure that the reason why health care insurers get so rich is because they have gambled that most of their insured will not be sick enough to cost them more than the insured paid in...that... and the fact that they keep two sets of books...they conspire with the health care providers in fixing the higher prices in the bills you get...so that they are inflated...then the actual cost is passed to the insurance companies. Some people want to take the risk.
And let's not forget that the whopping premiums we pay to the insurance companies usually are couple with co-pays, deductibles, and other surprises. So those people who saved $60,000 over that 5 year period also saved a whopping amount over $60,000 because they didn't even have to go to the doctor.

Quote DAnneMarc:What's going to happen to all these big business employees who have no health care? Are they going to be fined too while this rich companies get a pass? Who in their right mind could justify that travesty? I want my vote back!I hope 2014 is the year we all finally take to the streets.
Right on! DAnneMarc! But I don't want my vote back because I didn't vote for Obama this last time. Being fooled once was enough for me. The only reason why I was really fooled twice was because I voted at all. We are all being fooled when we vote because the whole exercise is folly. The game is rigged by fascists. The only way things will change is to stop voting and take to the streets en masse! "They" want us to think that "they" beat Occupy Wallstreet. But unless Occupy Wallstreet becomes Occupy Fascist America by masses of real Americans to expel the cancer that has infected us we won't see anything change for the better. It will just keep getting worse.

Quote Palindromedary:I know people who have saved a fortune, after they were laid off 5 years before they were eligible for medicare because they didn't have to pay $1,000/month to health care insurance companies. $60,000 is a lot to some people. They maintained a healthy lifestyle...not pigging out eating unhealthy foods...and stayed healthy. Yes, they took a risk and it could have been way more costly had they developed a medical problem...but you have to figure that the reason why health care insurers get so rich is because they have gambled that most of their insured will not be sick enough to cost them more than the insured paid in...that... and the fact that they keep two sets of books...they conspire with the health care providers in fixing the higher prices in the bills you get...so that they are inflated...then the actual cost is passed to the insurance companies. Some people want to take the risk.
Palindromedary ~ Interesting set of facts! It made me think. What is the psychological/biological impact of the health insurance industry vs that of a non-profit single-payer system on the overall health of our citizens? Seems to me that buying health insurance is gambling that you might get sick. Staying healthy takes effort--an effort expended to loose the gamble. Shouldn't we look for ways to reward staying healthy rather than charging for it?
You seem to be saying that you know people who forewent the insurance route in favor of taking care of themselves to save money. It worked for them. They saved money and stayed healthy. My question is could the converse be true as well? Could people who pay huge insurance premiums feel cheated by staying healthy? Could they subconsciously wish to develop medical conditions in the hopes of getting a return on their investment? Finally, could this subconscious desire, fed by the for profit insurance industry be what is behind the poor health of our citizens and the skyrocketing costs of medical care?
I know it seems a ridiculous notion that anyone would sacrifice their own health to get a return on an investment; however, in this country people have risked a lot more than just their health to make a profit. It certainly seems to me to be a valid suspicion that in this country our for profit health insurance industry may be a major contributing factor in what is making us sick.
If so, perhaps making medicare for all a reality would do more to improve the overall health of our citizens and reduce our medical costs than any other reformation possible. Make it free either way to get sick or stay healthy and it seems to me that the logical choice would be staying healthy.

Palindromedary ~ I once knew someone who used to have a lot of car accidents decades ago. His auto insurance rates went up really fast. At one point he got fed up with the insurance company and cancelled his insurance. He drove without insurance for decades--very, very, carefully. Finally, when California passed the mandatory auto insurance law he got insurance again. Sure enough, shortly thereafter the accidents started again. Don't get me wrong, insurance can be a great thing. It gives us peace of mind. However, can excessive insurance fees make us complacent and irresponsible? Is Health Insurance a substitute for taking care of ourselves? Food for thought!

The Twain Report
All The News That Mark Twain Says He Would Report If He Was Alive today7-5-2013 During the Twain Report's bi-weekly seance and tea cosy crocheting contest, complete with matching door prizes for the most inventive costume and the most outrageous nose hair, our illegal immigrant janitor and medium Jose Romney (who, if he is related to Mitt, won't admit it which is perfectly understandable because who wouldn't be embarrassed by such a family member), was possessed by the spirit of Christmas past, who sonorously intoned, "Every time an old white male bigot dies, the republican party loses yet more of its energy; within ten years it will roll over, fart twice, and in a not-particularly-interesting display of entropy and quantum physics, crawl into its own asshole and disappear." Make plans now to attend the non-denominational funeral service for the republican party, which will be held everywhere all over the world, with drinking of carrot juice, free education and health care, free exercise of women's reproductive rights, local-family-owned businesses, dancing, and lots of shiny, inexpensive necklaces!

Two points:
1) Palindromedary - Wouldn't that be a great way to send a message loud and clear...boycott Obamacare..refuse to get healthcare insurance....pay the fine...then work to call the fine unconstitutional...or at least criminal. -
Why pay the fine?
2) Medicare for all!!!

DAnneMarc: Of course the psychology of having paid all those big bucks every month makes most people think that they should seek medical attention for any and every trivial thing...from a slight case of sniffles...a cold...to a hangnail. And all of those trivial things bog down the system.
Of course, depending upon the insurance plan you have, there may be a big deterrent if you have high co-pays or high deductibles. So most people who can't afford to pay high premiums get the plan with high co-pays and high deductibles. And that may be a deterrent from seeking medical help for everything but actual life and death emergencies. So, poor people are still getting shafted..both in having to pay monthly premiums and then having to pay high co-pays and high deductibles.
So, the wealthy will have no problem, because they will likely get the low or no co-pay and no or low deductibles, and they will likely be the ones that will hog the available medical care because they will be the ones that will seek medical attention for trivial things. And, I'd venture to say that I suspect that doctors will actually do something to diagnose and test people in order to save their lives if you are paying for a very expensive health plan. And I believe that if you have just an el-cheapo health insurance plan with high deductibles...you may be ignored and the doctors will avoid giving the same kind of care that rich people get. I believe that we have a medical/insurance racket that are actually letting poor people die because they would cost too much to get the necessary tests in time to detect things like cancer.
I especially believe this to be true in the VA because the person I knew who was a Vietnam Vet was ignored...in the sense that the VA doctor (who I call Doctor Death) was doing everything he could to avoid prescribing the necessary tests..scans...that would have detected his cancer. The last thing the VA doctor prescribed for him was physical therapy. The guy was in so much pain he couldn't stand up and the VA doctor wouldn't admit him to the hospital. I had to take him in to the hospital, which ticked off the doctor. I took him in twice and the last time they did actual scans and found cancer all through his body. He died...and the look on his face..I'll never forget...it looked like he was frozen in agony..mouth wide open...eyes clamped shut...and I'd just bet those nurses took away his morphine and shot up themselves.
The poor will chance risking their lives in order to avoid seeking medical help. Of course, those who don't buy insurance also are risking their lives because they avoid seeking medical help. And, like the insurance companies, they are gambling that nothing will happen to them. Since the house always wins...(the insurance company always wins)..the odds are in favor of someone who thinks he/she can live a healthy life and avoid medical help.
Not everyone will be lucky enough to avoid needing medical attention, though, and unless you are really trying to live a healthy life, not taking chances, being reckless, dieting, and eating the right foods, etc, you increase your odds that you will get sick or have an accident. Lose that gut and stop smoking and stop eating all that red meat.
You are making the same bet that the insurance company does...that you are going to stay healthy and not need medical help. Making huge payments to the insurance companies is a definite continual drain on your wealth. And a lot of people, if they do get sick...need an operation, for example, get them outside of the US. The medical industry is really way overcharging for their services in the US.
One of the things that I noticed about when you become eligible for Medicare...the Supplemental Medicare that private insurance companies try so hard to sell people is the same kind of absolute, continual drain on your wealth, even when you don't get sick you still have to make those monthly payments to private insurance companies.
If you have medicare, without supplemental insurance, you have a deductible you have to pay before medicare pays for the rest. I don't remember now exactly what it is... something like $1100 per year. If you don't need medical attention during that year you don't pay for any deductibles...you save that money. If you get supplemental insurance..they may say they cover the deductible but, in fact, you have paid for that deductible up front...whether you get sick or not.
I read somewhere that most people don't get suckered into buying supplemental insurance. Medicare takes care of most of your medical costs...up to a limit..and that is where the supplemental tries to sell you on their plans...but I suspect most people don't ever reach those limits...except very sick people or people who have gotten into a very bad accident and need to be hospitalized for a very long time.

MontanaMuleGal: Good point! Why pay the fine? I don't know..why pay for taxes that murder innocent civilians? Problem is that if you don't pay what the government says you owe then they come after you. Wouldn't it be really great if everyone refused to pay not only that fine but not pay the part of their taxes that funds murdering innocent civilians? Well, I don't pay a lot of taxes anymore anyway!
And yes, I agree...medicare for all!

I "somewhat" share in your perspective PALANDROMDARY...At least the part about poor people with higher co-pays and high deductables. But the part about "seeking medical attention for every trivial thing..."Complete speculation and rehtoric! It fits right up there with "if you legalize marijuana 'everyone' will get stoned". Complete bullshit!!! Listen P, I'm not saying that hypocondriacts don't excist...They are already seeking medical attention for "every trivial thing".
Yes, boycott Obama's Healthcare Plan...FUCK THE FINE!!!Medicare for all!!!

Palindromedary ~ I wasn't referring to hypochondriacs. I'm talking about obese people and people who eat bad diets despite being diagnosed with diabetes. I'm talking about alcoholics and drug addicts. None of these problems existed before the emergence of the health care industry. I'm old enough to know that. I remember when folks could afford to see a doctor out of their own pockets. Doctors even made house calls and it didn't cost much more than a plumber.
There are people out there with health insurance shelling out good money every month who make a game out of disobeying their Doctors orders without a care in the world. When they say they need to see a Doctor, they really need to see a Doctor. Gastric bypass surgery is preventable and expensive. So is drug rehab. So is hypertension and diabetes treatments. Can you imagine the cost to amputate a leg and care for that person the rest of their lives. I think they got their investments back and then some. If you want to give it a name call it, "Well insured suicidal tendancies."
There are a lot of people out there that hate the insurance racket as much as you and I; and, in my opinion, are protesting with their health; and, unlike you and I, are winning in a morbid way. My point is that this phenomenon may very well be the result of a corrupt bureaucracy that never should have been allowed to be born in the first place; and, it's unintentional consequential psychological impact on many of its clients. It is a tremendous economic liability to our people; and, in my opinion, a tremendous threat to our nation's health. The health insurance industry is a cancer on our nation and must be removed for the betterment and general well being of all. If you will, compare the historic cases of diabetes and obesity together with the increase in health care insurance costs over time. In 1980 there were 400 thousand new cases of diabetes in the US. By the year 2010 when Obama care was enacted there were 2 million new cases. This is Adult Onset Diabetes--a completely preventable condition. In 1958 before commercial health insurance 0.5% of the population had been diagnosed with diabetes. By 2009 that number jumped to 6.4%. As well obesity rates went from 4% of the population in the US in 1960 to 20% by 2004. 20% of the population is 1 out of every 5 people. That's going from 1 out of every 25 people to 1 out of every 5 people! Obesity is beyond being merely overweight and is a serious risk to health. In essence 1 out of every 5 Americans--or 20% of the population--needs immediate medical attention for a completely preventable disease! Since obesity is a major risk factor in the developing of type two diabetes this is a horrendous portent to the near future. What is wrong with this picture? The fast food industry has been around since the 1940's and the soda industry since the 1900's. Clearly it must be some other social phenomenon that is behind these trends. Genetics and diet in this country did not change enought to fully account for any of this dispite the medical communities contention that they are the root causes.
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/slides/long_term_trends.pdf
http://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/resources/publications/AAG/ddt.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obesity_in_the_United_States
With that I agree wholeheartedly with you Palindromedary, MMmmNACHOS, and MontanaMuleGal--
Medicare for all!!

Good information, DAnneMarc! I noticed several things since I changed my diet and lost over 40 pounds...my blood pressure, while never going over normal (120/80) before (maybe because I stopped eating red meat over 10 years ago) but it was starting to rise... went way down ... sometimes to 90/65. I have not been bothered by Asthma as I had been for decades..and haven't had to take any inhalers for about 4 months now, I no longer have to take medications for indigestion which bothered be daily if I didn't take the meds. I don't know what my cholesterol level is now because I have not had it tested recently but had been taking medicine to lower it and it had come down a lot...I don't expect it to go back up because my diet doesn't add a lot of cholesterol to my system. I no longer take that medicine either...in fact, I don't take any medicine daily as I did before.
I didn't subscribe to any special diet plan or take anyone's advise. I don't even take supplemental vitamins..I get all of what I need in what I eat and drink. You really don't have to shell out any money at all as one would when they get enamored by fad diet hucksters who charge for their plans..get you to buy their products. In fact, you save money. I do drink smoothies and "green drinks" frequently. I grow my own kale for the green drinks. I just drastically reduced my food intake.
I had, for over 10 years, stopped eating red meat and I ate only chicken or fish...and very little of that. I mostly eat fruit, nuts, seeds, vegetables. I don't drink alcohol, take drugs, or smoke. All it takes is for people to develop a little will power and stick to it.
Every morning, I drink a 20 ounce glass of tomato or vegetable juice with the juice of a whole lemon (I have my own trees) with about 7 to 10 squirts of Tapatio or Tobasco sauce. I use hot sauce on just about everything. I'll even eat a little piece of the lemon peel as it has a lot of good things in it. Since I grow my own...and I don't spray the trees...there is no chemicals to worry about. The green drinks are made of kale, celery, lemon, apple, and cucumber and a tiny piece of ginger . Smoothies are various fruits: lemon, banana, peach, blueberries, or anything else you can find....along with a fruit yogurt and ground chia seeds and ground flax seeds along with ice...sometimes I'll put honey and/or peanut butter in as well. The ground chia seeds tend to thicken the smoothy a lot. Well, it's time to make a Green drink! Then, maybe a smoothie for later on this evening.

If I have learned anything as an American it is that Americans don't do anything they are not motivated to do. When staying healthy and leading a healthy lifestyle cost the same as being obese and being a drain on the for profit health insurance industry can someone explain the motive to staying healthy to me when both cost the same and being unhealthy is the easiest? The military industrial complex does not make the contention of suicide being less preferable to living when they suck up the majority of tax money as well. With this system can anyone tell me death where is thy sting? Anyone?

Palindromedary ~ Great advice! I myself may try your recipe if you don't mind. I was referring to Americans who do not share your wherewithal. Unfortunately, the country is full of them. I'm sure you are already quite aware of that. Enjoy your smoothie my friend, you deserve it.

This may be off topic; but, does anyone notice that the plane that just crash landed at SFO has two holes blown in the roof of the passenger section. Perhaps it is just me; but, I've never seen a plane blow two holes in the roof of its passenger section before without a bomb. Even when William Shatner was flying. Please, correct me if I'm wrong. After all I don't work for the FAA, DHS, CIA, FBI, or the DOD so please shed some light if you will, anyone! That must have blown the passengers carry-ons all over the San Francisco Bay. Anyone want to go scuba diving? Did a first class meal explode? If it did, I wouldn't be that surprised. They've given me a lot of explosive gas in the past.

DAnneMarc: What a shocker! I have flown on Asiana airlines a number of times many years ago. And I always thought they were a really great airlines....better than many others. The 777 model is supposed to be one of the safest. I don't know...it sure does look suspicious...but, it seems to me that if it was an act of terrorism, our government agencies would hop all over this opportunity to drum up more terrorist propaganda. It is too early to know much else until the people are interviewed and the wreckage fully analyzed. It is just a good thing that it didn't come down on top of someone's houses and that it came down in an area where they have emergency equipment for rapid response. Man, I am so glad that I don't have to fly anymore. I've been around the world several times and that was just for vacation...if you add in all the air miles I've flown for business it would probably, at least, add several more round the world trips. It is odd, when I think about it, that one flight that I took from S. Korea back to SF, back in 1989 was the very same day that we had the Loma Prieta earthquake. I got back early in the morning and was sleeping at the time the quake struck.

DAnneMarc: That Green Drink recipe I mentioned...at first, I was using a juicer but it seemed like such a waste...all of that pulp that I had to throw away...so I bought something at Bed, Bath, and Beyond called a NutriBullet for something like $99.00 that pulverizes everything. I do use juice...like grape juice.. in with the other ingredients...otherwise all you'd get is wet pulp. Now, I just drink the whole thing, juice and pulp. Some people spend upwards of $1000 or more on special juicers...although most are at the $300-500 range. But, I say, why waste the pulp...and why pay so much for something that will produce just juice and waste a lot of the pulp!

Quote Palindromedary:What a shocker! I have flown on Asiana airlines a number of times many years ago. And I always thought they were a really great airlines....better than many others. The 777 model is supposed to be one of the safest. I don't know...it sure does look suspicious...but, it seems to me that if it was an act of terrorism, our government agencies would hop all over this opportunity to drum up more terrorist propaganda. It is too early to know much else until the people are interviewed and the wreckage fully analyzed.
Palindromedary ~ No! Personally, I'm convinced that there was a couple of huge bombs in the carry on luggage. From who? Why? I do not know; but if you are trying to convince me that faulty landing gear or a malfunctioning engine caused this wreck you are definitely barking up the wrong tree. Happy tomato juice to you.

Palindromedary ~ Why would you think the government would be hopping all over this? It embarisses them; especially, now! How is their unconstitutional surveillance program is going to look good with yet another successful terrorist attack? I wouldn't be surprised if they covered up many terrorist activities in order to protect their precious spying network.
BTW It's really nice the way someone designed this plane to only burn where passengers sit. Whatever caused this wreck it does not make me want to get on another plane anytime soon. It's genuinely a miracle that almost everyone survived.

Get a grip. Why are you so unreasonably angry with this administration. It's not like you've seen a better one, not that that should be a criterion and its not like members of the opposition party act better, in fact, they act worse. So why the near hysteria. Lord Government? Really? Iron fists of mandates, are you trying out for a spot at Breitbart.
Rather than your rants, I would love for you to post rational alternatives. Impres us with your feel for politics and what is in the best interest of all Americans, not just a libertarian minority.
Explain, if you can, how Democrats surrendered everyone's health care when mostly the uninsured and underinsured will be affected by the ACA. Bitching is for the limited and the underinformed.
Tell us why you are right and we are wrong. Tell us how, where, and why, President Obama's administration is pushing through this train wreck and spare us the commie, socialist BS. Anyone who understands what is truly going on, knows that for the most part socialism is dead. Stalin killed it. Free market capitalism, the stuff that conservatives swear that they are the only ones who worship it, free market capitalism is under far more risk than it ever was with communism. State Capitalism is where it is all evolving to and no one on the Right seems to give a damn.
Until President Obama insists that the proletariat must control the means of production and share in the profit of their efforts, you have absolutely nothing to worry about with Commies. And in the meantime, China, Russia, the Middle Eastern oil caliphates, and so many more nations are seeing the political benefits of State Capitalism. Wake up conservatives and smell true fear and leave the poor, undernourished commies under every bed alone. joadcycle

DAnneMarc: What I saw in the last video taken from what looked to me to be from across the bay...maybe the Hayward area..the airliner's tail was dragging in the water for some distance before it hit the rocks and then flipped. The tail, it seemed, had already broken off in the water or when it hit the rocks which would have cause the upper fuselage to buckle...and the fuel tanks would have emptied in that area causing a massive fire. I sure don't think that this was an act of terrorism...no bombs...just very bad pilot error. Bombs on board would not have resulted in the airliner coming in too low and hitting the rocks. Notice in that video, that the fire didn't start until after the plane hit the rocks and rolled or spun out. You did notice that long white wave that the tail was making in the water before it hit the rocks didn't you? I watched this many times...there were two planes...one moving away from the video camera and the Asiana airliner which was moving from right to left (it was well forward of the airplane on the left). Just as the Asian airliner disappeared in front of the other airliner, there was a white streak in the water that occurred as the Asiana airliner made it's approach to the landing strip.

Quote DAnneMarc: How is their unconstitutional surveillance program is going to look good with yet another successful terrorist attack?How does it look now...after a growing number of people realize that we are all being soaked by government organizations that have stooped to infiltrate, befriend, and bait patsies who may be ticked off enough to say things they shouldn't but who have no way in hell to actually carry out their fantasies. The government has provided these patsies with things like explosives, and egged them on to carry out their fantasies, then arresting them, and then they used the propaganda to justify their expensive programs. The government entraps people to serve as their propaganda tools to keep us all fearful of terrorism and thankful that someone is "protecting" us.
There is a lot of big money in this terrorism game that many corporations are amassing at the expense of the tax payers. When the people start to question the government's importance in protecting us, when the people get really ticked off from undue internal surveillance, the capitalist corporate, military, industrial, and government jackals will have to hit us again to whip us back into line. It worked just dandy on 9/11...and it will more than likely work yet again. Most of the attention in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 was not that the government bungled it...but that "hate the terrorists" and "rampant jingoism" ruled the day.
Those in the government who, perhaps, should have been, at least, demoted were promoted. They all pretended that: yes, it was embarrassing (that the different government organizations did not "talk" to one another..(and even the fact that the head of the FBI would ignore their field agents reports on the so-called "terrorists")..that there was some kind of an organizational wall between them that kept them from communicating effectively)...but that was sure better, for them, than being hung as traitors for planning and orchestrating a false flag operation that murdered thousands of Americans.

When these major false flags happen..not many people get mad at our government for failing to protect us. They are cajoled by those who control the main stream media to get behind the government in order to strike back at those that were perceived as attacking us. It is so, so easy to do when the perceived aggressor is from another country...especially someone who is Muslim. Let's face it...there is a lot of innate distrust of people who hold such strong, competing convictions of another religion, or race. It sure didn't take much for FDR to rally the people against the Germans, once he baited the Japanese into attacking Pearl Harbor. The Germans were so very much like many Americans...not much difference...same basic religion...Christianity. But the Japanese were totally different in so many ways. So all FDR had to do was to get the German's allies, the Japanese, to attack us which would put us into the war against Germany. The McCollum memo was a multi-step plan to tick off the Japanese..and FDR followed every step till the Japanese finally invaded Pearl Harbor.
The insider architects of 9/11 knew full well that they could get the American people riled up and rally against Muslims. PNAC even wrote that they needed a new Pearl Harbor in order to do the things they wanted to do...including invading Iraq. The Muslilms were ideal villains. It was a given! It was an excuse for a renewal of the Crusades...even Bush slipped in his speech when he used that term..."Crusade"! What else could it be but an atavistic degenerative avalanche of irrational emotions of hate and fear fostered by generations of pious exclusivity. (ie: only we hold the truth and everyone else will burn in hell). Even an American rifle scope manufacturer, during the Iraq war, inscribed bible verses on the scopes so that Jesus would bless each and every shot to find it's mark on the heathen enemy.
As long as rich capitalist corporations go over to other countries, steal their raw materials, use slave labor, and treat the natives with arrogance, even rape and murder them and their families, the US will continue to have enemies. Some of these people may fight back in any way that they can...given that they don't have huge, well equipped armies to throw their weight around..like the US does. Of course, the US uses these actions of blowback, by people the US has wronged, as evidence of "terrorism". We weren't over there to "win hearts and minds". We were over there to create plenty of new potential "terrorists" that would keep American tax payers shaking in their boots and shelling out all their hard earned wages on taxes that go directly to the Military Industrial Spy Complex. And the Americans fall for it...they suck it all in...it fits in with their fear and hatred of people that are different. Americans had not experienced the violence and unfairness of another country invading them and stealing their raw materials, raping them, murdering them. So, they never know what it is really like. And every time "they" try to strike back at us our government acts like it "justifies" an even bigger act of terrorism of the US against even more families and innocent civilians in these countries when the US invades them.

Well hell, why not? It's Sunday night and no one is really listening except the NSA!

Palindromedary ~ I'm listening! Sorry, I had company most of the evening and they just left a while ago. Give me a minute to read your posts and review the info before I comment.

Quote Palindromedary:The insider architects of 9/11 knew full well that they could get the American people riled up and rally against Muslims. PNAC even wrote that they needed a new Pearl Harbor in order to do the things they wanted to do...including invading Iraq. The Muslilms were ideal villains. It was a given!
Palindromedary ~ Strange you should mention PNAC and insider info. I don't know if you ever followed the television shows called, Star Trek, by Gene Roddenberry. They focused mostly on the future and Roddenberry always tried to paint the future as peaceful with diplomatic ties between planets. There was occasional fights and battles for ratings; but Gene generally kept the peace in the Galaxy.
However when Gene died suddenly that whole general rule flew out the window. Star Trek took a very ugly turn for the worst. An intergalactic war was suddenly written into the script between the Federation and a new empire discovered across the galaxy called the Dominion. The warrior race from the Dominion were called the Jem'hadar. One very disturbing two part episode focused in detail on torture. This was many years ago; but I remember clearly being very suspicious at the time of the sudden illness and death of Gene Roddenberry and this new twist in the plot and philosophy of his program. Do you think that maybe Gene was iced and his program hijacked in order to turn it into a tool of propaganda and mind control to help prepare for the PNAC and NWO agenda?
After all, draw the parallels: Dominion and Muslim, Jem'hadar and Al Qaeda, galactic war and world war, high tech torture and enhanced interrogation. Are all these similarities merely a coincidence; or, part of a well orchestrated plot of psyops and mind control that is far beyond a simple conspiracy between the government and the petroleum industry. In the past I have ignored those thoughts and suspicions; but, in retrospect it sure feels good to get that theory off my chest. It certainly deserves scrutiny.

Quote Palindromedary:DAnneMarc: What I saw in the last video taken from what looked to me to be from across the bay...maybe the Hayward area..the airliner's tail was dragging in the water for some distance before it hit the rocks and then flipped. The tail, it seemed, had already broken off in the water or when it hit the rocks which would have cause the upper fuselage to buckle...and the fuel tanks would have emptied in that area causing a massive fire. I sure don't think that this was an act of terrorism...no bombs...just very bad pilot error.
Palindromedary ~ I'll take your word for that. There are two major facts that aren't congruent with an attack or intended crash. 1. Almost everyone survived. 2. There didn't seem to be anyone on the plane important enough to try to kill.
I haven't had a chance to see that latest video you mentioned yet. I'll look for it tomorrow. The one thing that puzzles me is why just the fuselage. As I understand airplane design the wings store most of the fuel; so, how--after a ten hour flight--when most of the fuel must have been spent did all the remaining fuel get into the fuselage? Please don't tell me they put the fuel tanks under the passenger seats in these big planes. I may never fly again.
It seems strange to me that the passenger area is toast and the wings and outer shell of the plane is unburnt. It must have taken 300 passengers at least 2-5 minutes to evacuate the plane after it came to a stop; therefore, the cabin fire must have started after the evacuation. If the plane caught fire before it came to a stop the passengers would all be dead.
However, at this point ,and from what I read this morning, I'm inclined to agree that this was an accident. An accident with many unanswered questions; but, nonetheless, an accident. Regardless, it doesn't make me feel any safer about flying.

Palindromedary ~ Never mind about the plane crash. I just Googled the fuel layout of a jumbo jet and as it turns out the auxiliary tank is located right where the plane exploded. Go figure! My bad! I just couldn't conceive that anyone would be so stupid as to design a plane with the passengers sitting on a potential bomb. What do I know? Somehow I always overestimate the level of common sense in my fellow man.
And then, who am I to judge? Despite the placement of the tank the passengers were still able to escape. Maybe the designers knew what they were doing after all? Unfortunately, that little tidbit of information is going to be in the back of my mind whenever I think about flying. In this case for sure, ignorance is bliss.

DAnneMarc: Wow! I don't know..that's quite a theory...I don't know about Gene Roddenberry being iced in order to change the theme of StarTrek but I do strongly believe that there has been, for many years, a very strong effort at using psyops through the movies and TV in order to control people's thinking. I remember seeing the movie The 300, I think it was, about Spartans...I found it just a little amusing, although not too surprising, when after the movie walking through the mall, I see Marine recruiters trying to sucker young men into joining.
I seem to remember that there was another explosion aboard an airliner, many years ago, where they suspected a hydraulic heater coil located in proximity to the fuel tank which was located just under the area of where the first class section.
By the way, have you played the Google doodle UFO game yet? I did and got the little creature back in his UFO. Cute! By the way, I went to the 50 year anniversary in Roswell, N.M. on July 7...what was it back in 1996 or was it 1997? Yeah, right, first it was a weather balloon..then it was a high altitude nuclear explosion detector to spy on the Russians...they even tried to throw mannequins out in the desert to misinform people on what really happened.
By the way, again, have you seen the new movie about the Lone Ranger with Johnny Depp? Good movie! The movie starts out where this little boy, in 1933, dressed as the Lone Ranger goes to this carnival sideshow about the Wild West. He comes upon this one panorama showing a TeePee and this old, wrinkly Indian (was that really Johnny Depp?) with a bird on his head. The panorama was labeled: "The Noble Savage". The Indian was, of course, Tonto who related to the youngster his history with The Lone Ranger. I won't say anymore about the movie but I just thought that it was just a reminder of how people thought in our history about other people who were different. The Noble "Savage"..although, I guess they could have just labeled it "The Savage"...it was quite noble of them to use the term "noble" I suppose...but it doesn't quite nullify or justify the "S-word". I'd say the real savages were of a lighter skin tone....and, like today, they still have the most sophisticated weaponry and most unsophisticated demeanor.
Strange, though, how people can get away with using the S-word, after all that has come to mean for the native Americans, who suffered and died at the hands of cruel men but no one, not even Paula Deen, can get away with saying the N-word many years ago without being skewered and loosing her show and sponsors. And then to hear a CNN anchorman Don Lemon use it when talking about Paula Deen...not to mention all those Rap musicians who float the word around all the time.

Palindromedary ~ I'll admit that calling Gene Roddenberry's death a murder is walking on thin ice evidence wise. However, hijacking the show is exactly what happened. I'm not sure how the plot and direction of the story ran askew and straight into the hands of the USA propaganda machine, but nevertheless that is exactly what happened. A very disturbing turn in the Star Trek legacy.
It's no secret how Gene was constantly hounded to write his show down the status quo lines of the Hollywood industry. From day one Gene wanted to project an anti-war philosophy in his show. The original pilot had a Captain that was supposed to embody Christian values and was named Captain Christopher Pike. He got scrubbed by the producers who didn't want to "upset the religious crowd" for a less suggestive Captain James Tiberius Kirk.
Star Trek trivia history is full of struggles between Gene and the media controllers as to where the stories would go with Gene for the most part winning out; until he died that is. Star Trek with its ship's weaponry capable of destroying planets is an irresistible propaganda tool for the war mongerers in our pentagon. I have no doubt that Gene's death was taken advantage of to turn his "example of peace" into a "model of war" by the plutocrats of this country. Whether or not they killed him to do it is really a lesser point.
The movie industry is so full of right wing war mongering propaganda that I have refused to go see a movie for the last 30 years. There are exceptions to this rule. One was Chariots of the Gods, and then two Michael Moore movies. Also, I saw Star Wars and a couple of Star Trek movies; but, thats about it. I saw the 300 movie a friend rented and insisted I watch. He said it was an historic documentary; but, I agree with you, it was more of a propaganda travesty; or, eye candy for the gay community. Documentary? Please!
No, I haven't played the Google doodle UFO game yet but I'll look for it later today. Also, no, I haven't seen the Lone Ranger Movie yet; and, probably won't till it is shown on TV. However, I do know people who go to these things and have heard, or will hear, just about the entire plot before I get a chance to see it.
I disagree that the term "Noble Savage" has any good connotations to it. "Savage" clearly is a blatant insult to all native Americans. The word "Noble" has nothing Noble about its use in this context. It is used as an adjective that clearly implies that this "Savage" is a "Noble" one; unlike, other "Savages" that don't need a quantifier word. That implies that all other native Americans are disloyal and untrustworthy "Savages." Just because the word "Noble" is generally thought of as a good complement word doesn't mean that in some context it can be misused. Much like guns, words in the wrong hands can hurt people.
In the same way I especially condemn Paula Dean for using the N-word. As a white boy, and lifelong resident of very black neighborhoods I can tell you that words hurt. I myself am very offended when anyone calls me a "white boy." I don't like it. Usually, that happens in an adversarial situation. It is intended as an insult. I never use the N-word because I know that doing so in any situation is insulting. I know how it feels. In fact, even around only white people I find the use of the N-word insulting to me as well. I can't stand it and I don't tolerate it. Also, I'm aware that were I to use the word with my northern big-city background it wouldn't be as insulting to the black community as it is coming from a Southern Belle. I also believe that that any Southern Belle should be perfectly aware of that fact as well and would only resort to using that word publically out of buried shear racial hatred. There could never have been any legitimate reason to resort to such language. She stepped way over the line and she knew it from the backhanded apology she offered. The apology was worse than the original offense. In one step she has offended not only the entire black community; but, the vast majority of the white community as well. Publically she admitted to using the word frequently in private. That says a lot about a person. The food channel acted appropriately. This was no accident or faux pas. Her treatment was justified and the only thing I can say in her defense is that it is a pity--she will be missed. Her show was very entertaining. (Though her recipes were as unhealthy as her vocabulary.)
As far as the parallel between Paula Dean and black rappers using the N-word all I can say is fine. The rappers can use it Paula can't. The black community has seized all rights to use the N-word how they see fit. Their approval is evident in music sales. The free market in action! That same market said no to Paula Dean. That's freedom talking, baby. What's wrong with that? The white community has its own words too. "Golly Gee!" "Nipped in the Pitard", "Shazam." The list goes on and on. Just like the N-word, black people only use these words to insult white people. Thats all they are good for in the black community. Let's be real for a minute and realize that words can be powerful things and should be used with responsibility, sensitivity, respect, forethought, and care. Like I've said before and I quote myself here:
MyselfQuote DAnneMarc:It is far better to think without speaking than to speak without thinking!
I don't particularly care to hear rappers say the N-word anymore than Paula; but I do believe in the 1st Amendment. If rappers or Paula want to defile themselves with language it is their constitutional right to be able to do so. As well, it is our constitutional right to refuse to listen to them. In the end words tend to come back to bite us in the end. Like the notion of Karma, what goes around comes around. It is best to heed my advice above and just worry about what one's self has to say. That is all we really have control over anyway, and all we really need to concern ourselves with.
It's too bad that implementation of this provision is being delayed. Perhaps Congress should have somewhat simplified the rules or allowed for more support to answer questions and assist companies in offering new health insurance coverage for their employees. The following comment is off topic, but I don't know where else to mention it. A few days ago, you were talking about Michigan and stated that Richard Devos and his family own "Tupperware." This is incorrect. Devos was the co-founder of Amway of Ada, a small community adjacent to Grand Rapids. Before making statements about prominient individuals on-the-air, it would be a good idea to do the research and fact-check the information beforehand for the sake of the listeners, who need and want accuracy in what is said.