Recent comments

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Re: Tom's guest from the Heritage who said he was against making it illegal to make a profit.
    It seems to me that the idea behind making it illegal to make a profit off of health insurance is that it is morally wrong to profit from another person's ill fortune.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Loretta,

    We called those big road-side ones "Himalaya blackberries" when I was growing up in Washington.

    We called the small native berries "wild mountain" but I think that includes several varieties.

    They are all good. The Himalaya are much easier to pick but sometimes not as sweet.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    And the congressmen who support the bast.... should go with them!

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    We should send people to jail for making profits by intentionally CAUSING THEM TO DIE!

    This is EXACTLY what insurance companies are doing under conservative healthcare.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    L-Grace

    Well... they aren't the baby ones that my grandma knew the secret places for in the foothills near Jacksonville Oregon. These are the backyard alley variety, but they are heavenly, too, this year. And just a few blocks away... and no one picks them... it's crazy. Too busy I guess.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    I'll guess that Switzerland insurance companies don't have a two-decade history of SCREWING their customers. -- literally killing them for profit.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Can you get Thom's podcast? Kuccinich gave a little talk on that yesterday, too. That's what his amendment was all about. You must have come on a bit later.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    The other meme that is burning my shorts this week is that:

    DEMs NEED to support OBAMA-Care™ cuz single-payer is ‘off the table’.

    I say screw the table and every REP, DEM or Independent who is not on board with single-payer.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Loretta,

    You got those good wild mountain blackberries in your area? Those are my absolute favorite.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Richard,

    I have not heard that before. State-run single payer is outlawed by Federal Law?

    Got a link for that?

    (I'm not calling you a liar. I just like to do my own homework in these debates.)

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    The one thing about the horrible Northwest heat wave we are having is that the Blackberries are ripe! Yahoo and they are SWEEEET. I am enjoying blackberries and buckwheat/millet cereal cooked in the crockpot all night and it is soooo yummy. All worth the misery.

    Richard your x-rated post was hilarious. While others get their relief you sound a tad bit frustrated:-)

    L Grace-- I hate those f..... initaitives, too and I once attended a forum at PSU put on by a group that was teaching people on both sides to speak rationally to one another. One of the leeches who makes his living on those initiatives was explaining his rationale for trying to get laws passed that destroy schools or take gay rights away. I was harshly scolded for my response to him and given an invitation to their workshop on learning to speak with reason to people we despise. I still need to attend that workshop.

    It seems like the "either you are a corporatist or you are for the people" is going to make it much easier to write to our congressmen. Like L-Grace said yesterday, we should follow Bernie Sanders advice, and maybe we can add to that advice that we must spend our precious time wisely, and, when we write to republicans, only write to those who are not corporatists.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    L Grace,
    Re: That’s one of the shameless lies being spread by the conservatives.

    That's why I guessed Obama's plan would be pretty much dead after the August break. The break will give an extra month for the Corporate "News" (actually propaganda) to spread their version of the "truth".

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    The REAL issue with any single-payer healthcare system potentially run by any state in our Union is . . . it would be illegal under current Federal law.

    Don’t get me wrong, Schwarzenegger would happily veto any attempt to provide virtually anything to non-Yacht-Club Member . . .

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    >> DRichards
    >> The poll also shows concern over the role of government in determining personal medical decisions.”

    That's one of the shameless lies being spread by the conservatives.

    Obama has said he would veto any such legislation -- but I'll guess that Fox news edited out that part of his speeches.

    >> With government insurance, the pharmaceuticals, hospitals, ect. will make even more money unless the cost is addressed.

    Single payer. Single payer. Single payer!

    We don't need to re-invent the wheel here.

    Every country with single payer healthcare is cheaper than our conservative for-profit system.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    >> Richard Adlof July 30th, 2009, 8:47 am
    >> Paying for illegal alien’s healthcare means that when Americans are illegal aliens in other countries . . . We can get healthcare. PLUS pandemic protection benefits us ALL.

    The last point is critical -- if ANY RESIDENT has a communicable disease, I want them treated.

    BTW, I've had healthcare overseas but I was always legal. I will guess that most Americans are on a legal visa status. Still, I agree with your point that universal healthcare should be world-wide.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    A couple of years ago, the supreme court said that if anyone, including illegals, comes into an emergency room, you have to treat them. That is why Arnie was supporting a single payer system in California a couple of years ago. If you have to treat everyone, single payer is the cheapest way to go. If that passed, I think he probably just eliminated funding for it.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Brian,
    Re: it makes me very sad to have a white under class that will follow political leaders that do not have their best interrest in mind.

    These folks are single issue voters. If the party says it is against abortion, then the folks will agree with whatever else the party wants, even if they shoot themselves in the foot.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Paying for illegal alien’s healthcare means that when Americans are illegal aliens in other countries . . . We can get healthcare. PLUS pandemic protection benefits us ALL.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    The best health insurance I've every had was the company "self-insurance" plan that Thom just described.

    But, it has to be an ethical company.

    Basically, it worked like a health savings plan underwritten by a corporate catastrophic plan.

    In other words, everyone had super-high deductible health insurance and then drew from a pool of funds to pay for routine doctor visits.

    But the company made no profit from the "deductible" fund. That's money belongs to the employees.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    L Grace,
    Good Question.
    According to the article "Declining popularity of the health-care overhaul reflects rising anxiety over the federal budget deficit and congressional debate over the most contentious aspects of the legislation, including how to pay for it. The poll also shows concern over the role of government in determining personal medical decisions."
    My concern with Obama's Healthcare effort is that it does not address the obscene cost of heathcare. (Why else would the AMA approve of his plan)? With government insurance, the pharmaceuticals, hospitals, ect. will make even more money unless the cost is addressed.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    does fox news care about the white under class? glen beck does not care about the white under class. he uses them. i just wish glen beck knew about the work of remote area medical in the rural south giving free medical care to the white under class

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    Franki,

    First of all -- I'm sorry for your illness. All best wishes to you.

    In my opinion, any drugs invented with tax-payer funded research should be generic.

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    I just read the WSJ poll:

    It revels that the lies of the conservtives are working.

    It also reveals that the public strongly supports the SPECIFICS of Obama's proposal. (at least the couple of specific points they mentioned.)

    For example, 68% of Americans like the idea of raising taxes on the rich to finance healthcare reform.

    56% of Americans support banning "pre-existing" clauses.

    Yes, the "liberal" media is reporting that the public has turned against Obama!

    Doe the media favor conservatives or are they just too damn lazy to read down to question #31 on a poll?

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    does the southern politician want to raise up the poor white under class or do they want to keep things as they are?

  • Thursday - July 30th 2009   14 years 34 weeks ago

    it makes me very sad to have a white under class that will follow political leaders that do not have their best interrest in mind. i feel we need to reach out to the white under class and help them understand the inportance of reforming healthcare and other issues.

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