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Short RNAs Show A Long History: MicroRNAs Found In Animals That Appeared A Billion Years Ago
ScienceDaily (Oct. 2, 2008) — MicroRNAs, the tiny molecules that fine-tune gene expression, were first discovered in 1993. But it turns out they’ve been around for a billion years.
Evidence reported in Nature on October 1 by scientists in the lab of Whitehead Member and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator David Bartel provides a window into the early evolution of these key regulators, placing their origin within the earliest of animal lineages. The research also suggests that microRNAs present early on have undergone extensive changes, which likely have altered their functions across various lineages.
More of the real science (not creationism) at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081001145018.htm
Jonathan Chait notes –
” Palin’s final quote was from Ronald Reagan, warning that without vigilance, “you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children, and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.”
In fact, Reagan was not warning about a general lack of vigilance about freedom, he was warning what would happen if Medicare was enacted.
How is a $5,000 tax credit supposeed to help the average American buy their own insurance when the average monthy premium for a couple is $900 per month and $1600 for a family…and that’s only considering that there are no pre existing conditions that would deem them uninsurable?
And why is government involvement in the health care system so bad? As I nurse for over 22 years, I can tell you that Medicare, Medicaid, and the VA have provided adequate and quality health care for it’s recipients.
It’s pretty easy to see that McCain and Palin are out of touch with the average American and their need for affordable and accessable health care.
I think Obama has the best solution…a government subsidized policy that would be affordable and nondiscriminatory towards those who can’t afford or have no access to employee or private health insurance. People should have to pay more for their health insurance than they pay for their home mortgage.
That’s people SHOULDN’T have to pay more for health insurance than for their motgages!
No caffeine yet. Gotta go.
ahhh…’government subsidized’. Who pays that, Mary? Just the people who have been responsible all along, getting/keeping jobs, paying taxes, working hard…and now you want to penalize us more for being responsible?
And that is “in touch with the average American”?
Another beautiful day on our corner of the planet. Waking up to the birds chattering outside the window. The temperature just cool enough to invigorate and the trees just showing the first signs of the color show ahead. Couldn’t be better if Someone had designed it.
Here are a couple more of the incredible number of unlikely factors that came together (or more correctly, put together) to create this bastion of life in a cold harsh universe.
—————
Unique continental crust and tectonic activity
Recent evidence tells us that the earth is unique in many ways, even compared to the other rocky planets in our Solar System. In a recent study (3), Dr. Roberta Rudnick says that the earth has a unique continental crust, which is different from any other planet in our Solar System (even Venus, our “sister planet”). The mechanisms which resulted in this unique continental crust is not entirely certain as she stated, “Perhaps the greatest dilemma facing those interested in understanding how the continents formed is their composition.” However, the earth’s crust is much thinner (4 km) than that of Venus (30 km). Tectonic processes cannot happen with such thick plates. If most of the crust of the earth had not been blown away during the formation of the moon, the earth would have no continents, but would be completely covered by water (see The Moon And Plate Tectonics: Why We Are Alone from spacedaily.com). The tectonic processes which recycle the crust are extremely important in maintaining life on our planet by recycling minerals and nutrients (coincidence or design?).
All other earth-sized planets will be either deserts or waterworlds
Scientists now know that planets like the earth, with large amounts of both water and land, are virtually impossible to form. Large planets do not form continents because the increased gravity prevents significant mountain and continent formation. Earth-sized planets completely flood, and any land formed is eroded by the seas in a short period of time (in the absence of tectonic activity, which results only from the effects of the formation of the moon). Smaller planets lack tectonic activity, so would have no land masses, but would be completely covered with water. According to Dr. Nick Hoffman of La Trobe University, Melbourne Australia:
“Around countless stars in our galaxy, and innumerable galaxies through space there will surely be Terrestrial planets, yet they will not be Earth-like. They will not have glistening Silver Moons orbiting silently through space around them, but only small dull rocks whizzing in orbit. The worlds will be, almost without exception, waterworlds.” (Venus – What the Earth would have been like from spacedaily.com)
http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/designss.html
More Violence against Christians:
“Christian missionaries in Kenya fear an Obama presidency would encourage Odinga to fulfill campaign promises by pushing to alter the country’s constitution to specify the application of Islamic Shariah law in regions dominated by Muslims.
Odinga was appointed prime minister last February after he lost the December 2007 election to Kibaki, and Odinga encouraged his Luo tribe supporters to protest alleged voter fraud engineered by the Kibaki government to steal victory.
In the wave of violence that followed Odinga’s charges of voter fraud, some 1,000 Kenyans were killed and another 350,000 dislocated as mobs of Luo supporters of Odinga viciously attacked Kibaki’s supporters, primarily members of the majority Kikuyu tribe.
Muslims also attacked Christians in the post-election violence, killing some 50 in a particularly horrific incident in the village of Eldoret.
In Eldoret, a group of some 50 Christians sought refuge in a Christian church, trying to escape from a rampaging Luo mob that ultimately set fire to the church and burned the refugees to death, including women and children.
Odinga signed a memorandum of understanding with Muslims in Kenya prior to the December 2007 election in an effort to win Muslim support of his candidacy.
In the post-election violence, an estimated 800 Christian churches were damaged by mobs, while not a single mosque was harmed.”
copied from WND 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
FBI raids Obama friend’s home
Andrea Billups (Contact)
The FBI on Wednesday raided the county offices of a former Illinois state senator who is a poker-playing buddy of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
According to Chicago authorities, the FBI visited the offices in Joliet, Ill., of Will County executive Larry Walsh, a longtime friend of Mr. Obama’s, and his chief of staff Matt Ryan.
Mr. Walsh, who served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2005, was endorsed by Mr. Obama in his county executive election bid. With the support of some of Mr. Obama’s U.S. Senate volunteers, he easily defeated incumbent Republican Joseph Mikan.
Will County auditor Steve Weber confirmed that his office had been asked by the FBI to assist in an investigation, but he did not elaborate on the specifics.
Two FBI agents out of Chicago reportedly spent more than an hour in the Will County offices on Wednesday morning.
According to sources, the Walsh investigation may be tied to lobbying firm Smith Dawson and Andrews, which was hired in 2006 for $10,000 per month to help Will County acquire federal grants.
The firm, which is registered with the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, assists clients with communications and legislative strategies that better their public policy agendas, according to its Web site. Last month, Mr. Walsh announced that Will County was the recipient of a $750,000 federal government grant that would allow law enforcement and prosecutors to fight against domestic violence.
One of the firm’s partners, James P. Smith, contributed $2,000 to help Mr. Walsh’s county executive election bid.
A corn farmer from Joliet, Mr. Walsh has supported his friend’s presidential bid, and campaigned for him in rural and farming areas of the state. They are seen hugging each other in photos before Mr. Obama’s announcement that he was running for president.
The two men became tight friends during their tenure in the Illinois Senate and bonded over games of poker. According to a report in Time magazine, Mr. Walsh lost to Mr. Obama once with what he thought was a winning hand, and then slammed down his cards and said: “Doggone it, Barack, if you were more liberal in your card-playing and more conservative in your politics, you and I would get along much better.”
Mr. Walsh denied any knowledge of any investigation.
“I don’t have a clue what you are talking about,” Mr. Walsh said in reports published Thursday in the Chicago Sun-Times.
CYNTHIA!!! HE HE KO KO!!
McKinney Accuses Government of Slaughtering Prisoners, Dumping Bodies During Katrina
WASHINGTON: Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney claims the Department of Defense executed 5,000 prisoners with one bullet to the head and then dumped their bodies in a Louisiana swamp during Hurricane Katrina.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/10/02/mckinney-accuses-government-slaughtering-prisoners-dumping-bodies-katrina/
That’s your canidate KFG?
That execution claim is as ridiculous as the claim made by Maxine Walters a few years ago. The Compton Congresswoman heard from a crackhead that “the CIA made him do it” so she demanded a full investigation of the CIA forcing people to use crack cocaine.
Can we expect another campaign denial from the McCain campaign? John on Morning Joe stated that the reason he voted for the bail out was because the legislation would drive the U.S. economy over the brink and into ruin.
“We want to make it clear that the candidate does not speak for his campaign”.
Actually the CIA been caught more than once smuggling drugs, not that long ago one of their planes used in renditions crashed in Mexico with 5 tons of cocaine
To All My Friends, this is long, but very important, please take the time to read it.
This election has me very worried. So many things to consider. About a year ago I would have voted for Obama. I have changed my mind three times since than. I watch all the news channels, jumping from one to another. I must say this drives my husband crazy. But, I feel if you view MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News, you might get some middle ground to work with. About six months ago, I started thinking “where did the money come from for Obama”. I have four daughters who went to College, and we were middle class, and money was tight. We (including my girls) worked hard and there were lots of student loans.
I started looking into Obama’s life.
Around 1979 Obama started college at Occidental in California . He is very open about his two years at Occidental, he tried all kinds of drugs and was wasting his time but, even though he had a brilliant mind, did not apply himself to his studies. “Barry” (that was the name he used all his life) during this time had two roommates, Muhammad Hasan Chandoo and Wahid Hamid, both from Pakistan . During the summer of 1981, after his second year in college, he made a “round the world” trip. Stopping to see his mother in Indonesia , next Hyderabad in India , three weeks in Karachi , Pakistan where he stayed with his roommate’s family, then off to Africa to visit his father’s family. My question – Where did he get the money for this trip? Nether I, nor any one of my children would have had money for a trip like this when they where in college. When he came back he started school at Columbia University in New York . It is at this time he wants everyone to call him Barack – not Barry. Do you know what the tuition is at Columbia ? It’s not cheap! to say the least. Where did he get money for tuition? Student Loans? Maybe. After Columbia , he went to Chicago to work as a Community Organizer for $12,000. a year. Why Chicago ? Why not New York ? He was already living in New York .
By “chance” he met Antoin “Tony” Rezko, born in Aleppo Syria , and a real estate developer in Chicago . Rezko has been convicted of fraud and bribery this year. Rezko, was named “Entrepreneur of the Decade” by the Arab-American Business and Professional Association”. About two years later, Obama entered Harvard Law School . Do you have any idea what tuition is for Harvard Law School ? Where did he get the money for Law School ? More student loans? After Law school, he went back to Chicago . Rezko offered him a job, which he turned down. But, he did take a job with Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland. Guess what? They represented “Rezar” which Rezko’s firm. Rezko was one of Obama’s first major financial contributors when he ran for office in Chicago . In 2003, Rezko threw an early fundraiser for Obama which Chicago Tribune reporter David Mendelland claims was instrumental in providing Obama with “seed money” for his U.S. Senate race. In 2005, Obama purchased a new home in Kenwoood District of Chicago for $1.65 million (less than asking price). With ALL those Student Loans – Where did he get the money for the property? On the same day Rezko’s wife, Rita, purchased the adjoining empty lot for full price. The London Times reported that Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born Billionaire loaned Rezko $3.5 million three weeks before Obama’s new home was purchased. Obama met Nadhmi Auchi many times with Rezko.
Now, we have Obama running for President. Valerie Jarrett, was Michele Obama’s boss. She is now Obama’s chief advisor and he does not make any major decisions without talking to her first. Where was Jarrett born? Ready for this? Shiraz , Iran ! Do we see a pattern here? Or am I going crazy?
On May 10, 2008 The Times reported, Robert Malley advisor to Obama was “sacked” after the press found out he was having regular contacts with “Hamas”, which controls Gaza and is connected with Iran . This past week, buried in the back part of the papers, Iraqi newspapers reported that during Obama’s visit to Iraq , he asked their leaders to do nothing about the war until after he is elected, and he will “Take care of things”.
Oh, and by the way, remember the college roommates that where born in Pakistan ? They are in charge of all those “small” Internet campaign contribution for Obama. Where is that money coming from? The poor and middle class in this country? Or could it be from the Middle East ?
And the final bit of news. On September 7, 2008, The Washington Times posted a verbal slip that was made on “This Week” with George Stephanapoulos. Obama on talking about his religion said, “My Muslim faith”. When questioned, “he make a mistake”. Some mistake!
All of the above information I got on line. If you would like to check it – Wikipedia, encyclopedia, Barack Obama; Tony Rezko; Valerie Jarrett: Daily Times – Obama visited Pakistan in 1981; The Washington Times – September 7, 2008; The Times May 10, 2008.
Now the BIG question – If I found out all this information on my own, Why haven’t all of our “intelligent” members of the press been reporting this?
A phrase that keeps ringing in my ear – “Beware of the enemy from within”!!
My last post was from an email, not my words. Forgot to put that in there before Copy-Paste.
Governor Palin was not that great of a governor which is why she is under investigation at the request of the Alaska republican party. Bush,Cheney,McCain are doing their best to sweep it all under the rug aka squash the investigation.
Is McCain still running for president?
VOTE OBAMA 2008 YES!
Hey Hank (the other American Way)!!!!
RE: our discussion yesterday on Social Security.
I forgot to mention since you are nearing the critical decision point, that your annual Social Security Statement may be understating your entitlement.
You may be entitled to a higher amount than the amount reflected on your annual statement. This information is hidden in the fine print on the very bottom of page 4 of your statement (not the insert). On older forms it is hidden in the statement on the back of the first page, near the discussion about railroad pensions.
********************************************************************************
Extra earnings
http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10017.html
Your Social Security benefit depends on your earnings, averaged over your working lifetime. Generally, the higher your earnings, the higher your Social Security benefit. Under certain circumstances, special earnings can be credited to your military pay record for Social Security purposes. The extra earnings are for periods of active duty or active duty for training. These extra earnings may help you qualify for Social Security or increase the amount of your Social Security benefit.
If you served in the military after 1956, you paid Social Security taxes on those earnings. Since 1988, inactive duty service in the Armed Forces reserves (such as weekend drills) has also been covered by Social Security.
Under certain circumstances, special extra earnings for periods of active duty from 1957 through 2001 can also be credited to your Social Security earnings record for benefit purposes.
• From 1957 through 1967, we will add the extra credits to your record when you apply for Social Security benefits.
• From 1968 through 2001, you do not need to do anything to receive these extra credits. The credits were automatically added to your record.
• After 2001, there are no special extra earnings credits for military service.
The information that follows explains how you can get credit for special extra earnings and applies only to active duty military service earnings from 1957 through 2001.
• From 1957 through 1977, you are credited with $300 in additional earnings for each calendar quarter in which you received active duty basic pay.
• From 1978 through 2001, For every $300 in active duty basic pay, you are credited with an additional $100 in earnings up to a maximum of $1,200 a year. If you enlisted after September 7, 1980, and didn’t complete at least 24 months of active duty or your full tour, you may not be able to receive the additional earnings. Check with Social Security for details.
If you served in the military from 1940 through 1956
(see link)
*************************************************************************************************
PS: Being the tightwad that I am, I called SS and asked about this credit.
This amount will be computed at the time of retirement.
IT IS NOT AUTOMATIC!!! They manually do this – and they refused to do it for me because, “You are too young.”
I disagreed, but that’s another issue (when should I do retirement planning?).
Bottom line: Do NOT assume SS Administration will automatically compute this for you.
(Of course if the liberal congress decides to MEANS TEST Social Security, to give more to those who paid in less – this is all a mute point.)
Day-yum!
I go away for a couple of hours and come back to two new threads full of roused rabble.
Considering most of those who are huffing and wheezing about the bailout, I’m compelled to reconsider its merits; it might be better than I think.
As it is, I don’t think it’s good but I’m getting convinced it is necessary. I don’t like it but I don’t think what I’d like 100% is possible to get through Congress.
I’m coming to believe that the American economy is just another religion dependent upon faith and nothing but faith to sustain itself.
As I posted this morning, the RepubliCON fetish for deregulation built this house of cards and no one should be surprised that a house of cards is destined to collapse. But, like it or not, that’s the house we’re living in.
I wonder if Sarah Palin would be able to get health insurance for $5,000 if the insurance company knew she’d be seeking coverage with a down syndrome baby? My thoughts are no, but I’ll check it out and get back to ya.
“This bill provides no assurance that we will not be faced with this financial crisis again because it falls short in reforming the underlying problems, like anti-regulation fanatics like me.”
- Todd Tiahrt (with this writer’s embellishment added to provide additional truthiness) on his vote to let the econmony sink further into recession because he’s too afraid he’ll lose his job if he does the brave and right thing.
Hello Wichita! Been out of the loop for a couple of weeks. Company has decided to make a “go” for the “green”. Feels a bit strange, but will get used to it.
We sold both limos. We got rid of the corporate jet. Found pilot jobs for our two flight crews, one based in Memphis, and the other in Dallas.
All of our execs will be flying straight coach from now on. So far our projected savings is expected to be in upper 6-figures per year.
Office space being re-modeled for “green” as well. All of our heating will now be on a hot water heat plan, eventually leading to full solar panels for daytime heating. Thermostats all set at 68 between October 1 (October 10 this year) and April 30.
Summer A/C will run at 75 between May 1 and September 30. We are studying costs of re-doing the standard A/C system, and moving to a Water evaporating system, but not sure if use of water is better for future projected shortages.
All in all, I am most happy with these decisions.
SquarePeg
Posted October 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm | Permalink
Hello Wichita
Well hi Chas.
“As I posted this morning, the RepubliCON fetish for deregulation built this house of cards”
Nice lie MonkeyHawk. Here’s what the FACTS website reveals:
BIDEN: Complained about “economic policies of the last eight years” that
led to “excessive deregulation.”
THE FACTS: Biden voted for 1999 deregulation that liberal groups are
blaming for part of the financial crisis. The law allowed Wall Street
investment banks to create the kind of mortgage-related securities at
the core of the problem now. The law was widely backed by Republicans as
well as by Democratic President Clinton, who argues it has stopped the
crisis today from being worse.
Lawmaker Accused of Fannie Mae Conflict of Interest
Friday, October 03, 2008
By Bill Sammon
WASHINGTON — Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s.
So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions.
Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank’s relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie.
Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical.
“It’s absolutely a conflict,” said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. “He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane?
“If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have – or at least what’s not in the stock market – that this would be considered germane,” added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. “But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard.”
A top GOP House aide agreed.
“C’mon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?” the aide told FOX News. “No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Frank’s political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxley’s wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCain’s wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nation’s housing and banking laws.”
Frank’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Frank met Moses in 1987, the same year he became the first openly gay member of Congress.
“I am the only member of the congressional gay spouse caucus,” Moses wrote in the Washington Post in 1991. “On Capitol Hill, Barney always introduces me as his lover.”
The two lived together in a Washington home until they broke up in 1998, a few months after Moses ended his seven-year tenure at Fannie Mae, where he was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses “helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs.”
Critics say such programs led to the mortgage meltdown that prompted last month’s government takeover of Fannie Mae and its financial cousin, Freddie Mac. The giant firms are blamed for spreading bad mortgages throughout the private financial sector.
Although Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants. In 1991, the year Moses was hired by Fannie, the Boston Globe reported that Frank pushed the agency to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively.
Three years later, President Clinton’s Department of Housing and Urban Development tried to impose a new regulation on Fannie, but was thwarted by Frank. Clinton now blames such Democrats for planting the seeds of today’s economic crisis.
“I think the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president, to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Clinton said recently.
Bill Sammon is FOX News’ Washington Deputy Managing Editor.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,432501,00.html
“SquarePeg” –
Good call.
Although you won’t get picked up in hotel bars now that you don’t have a corporate jet.
I knew a guy who was a corporate salesman who used to rent a jet in the city he was visiting… at a low rate because it never left the ground.
He’d schedule meetings with clients on “his” jet, sitting on the tarmac, sign the deal, then take a coach flight to the next city.
Nobody needs a limo unless you’re taking your posse to the Grammy Awards. Even then, no one needs to own a limo. Hire a car service and ride in the back seat of a town car.
I worked all summer in an office with the thermostat set at 79 degrees and, apart from those few 86-degree days when the humidity was 99%, ya got used to it.
Now the heat is set to kick in at 70-degrees (although I lobbied for sweaters and 68). It’s a small office but we’ve saved $700+ since we adopted the policy last March (compared to last year’s bills).
Thing is, these don’t amount to a whit of “sacrifice” in any practical sense. It’s just applying common sense.
People in limos are showing off.
People in Learjets are showing off.
Energy in 2008 is like cocaine in the 80s: God’s way of saying you have too much money.
And a good travel coordinator can be amazing in gaming the airlines. In the 38 flights I’ve taken this year, three had me flying with someone sitting in the seat next to me. When you get three Coach seats to yourself, you can stretch out even better than flying Business Class. Just bring your own food.
And if you fly out of Cincinnati with an extra quart of Skyline Chili, or out of Kansas City with Arthur Bryant’s ribs, or take-out from Eliza’s in San Francisco, you’ll attract friends for life.
Oh, so Biden is one of yours “Get government out of our way de-regulators now?” Pish posh! McCain opposed a bill that had funds for troops in it. Does he support defunding the troops? No. You can cheery pick anybody’s vote on anything, if they have any record at all.
We are blaming eight years (and more) of a huge push to “free the markets” for the mess we are in.
Bush leaves office with America in ruins. Still at war. nine solid months of steady job losses – last month the worst in 5 years. Escalating prices. Weak dollar. International esteem ruined. Military depleted. Rising prices and stagnate wages. Soaring medical costs. Unfathomable federal deficit (following Clinton’s budget surplus)
Yeah, blame Biden. Put a Soccer mom in line for big chair. Good idea.
There’s an upside, “DavidB” –
“Bush leaves office…”
Nothin’ better’n that.
I think the bailout just killed gov’t provided health care,which is the only good thing I see resulting from it
“I think the bailout just killed gov’t provided health care”
Oh now I wouldn’t say that. And if he is elected, Obama better not say that.
Where is the money going to come from? More taxes? There arent enough rich people in this country to tax enough to get the funds for that BS entitlement program.
There’s an upside, “Bush leaves office…”
Four years too late.
Obama woiont have anything to say aboput it,Congress will. And really I can reasonably see a Democratic president and a republican congress
Guess I’ve got tiping isus this evening
SquarePeg
Posted October 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm | Permalink
Hello Wichita! Been out of the loop for a couple of weeks. Company has decided to make a “go” for the “green”. Feels a bit strange, but will get used to it.
————————
You know square I saw Chas the other night and he had been looking for you and SFReader. Seems NorthernNeighbor, Das, Sugar, ::, and many others don’t feel complete unless you are there.
Did you see the movie Sybil?
My apologies, ANTI – My remarks would be directed to Americn Way. I am breaking in a new set of bifocals. Just caught the “A”.
okobserver – I call you out right here and now:
You are one of the more consistent of the Liars on this Blog, and you prove that you have lost none of your mental illness since I was last here.
Please read my previous posting upthread. The same message goes for your conceited ass as well as AmericanWay.
“Did you see the movie Sybil?”
Why, yes, I have indeed seen that film. I understand there is to be a re-make – And that the producers are considering asking you to play the lead role, since you need to training for the part. Lunatic.
to = no
I see that Chas has reverted once again to one of his fantasy characters, Squarepeg.
“ahhh…’government subsidized’. Who pays that, Mary? Just the people who have been responsible all along, getting/keeping jobs, paying taxes, working hard…and now you want to penalize us more for being responsible?
And that is “in touch with the average American”?”
So you want to do away with Medicare, Medicaid, and Veteran’s health care benefits, Rap?
Where do you people think gov’t provided health insurance is a right? Why should I pay for your’s and mine both?
Hey AmWay,
Thanks for the link. I’ve been busy all day getting ready for WoofStock tomorrow and haven’t been free to BLOG all day.
I’m drinking a beer right now thinking about taking a nap to rest up for bed. I’ll probably wait until 66 to collect SS, I’m in pretty good health and I don’t need the money.
I was maintaining diver’s quals until I retired from the Navy and according to my last flight physical I’m in better shape now than I was twenty years ago.
Of course I might die tomorrow but I’ll be healthy when I go! I won’t get back all the money I’ve paid in to SS anyway.
You don’t get it..the average American CAN’T afford to pay totally for their own insurance. The average monthly health care premium for a family is around $1,600 per month. If you didn’t have Medicare, Medicaid, VA benefits, or employer subsidized health care, could YOU afford to pay for your own private health insurance, Free?
And why should we have to pay more for our health insurance than we do for our home mortgage?
And to make it worse, I can’t even get private insurance due to a pre-existing condition…and there are many people out there like me. 40 million Americans without health care benefits are too many.
Not my problem.
Bettering the health of every American is important to everyone’s well being. Some are just too dumb to know it.
“Not my problem.”
It is unfortunate that you do not see the value in your fellow man and countryman.
Fortunately, there are ways around individual selfishness. The greater good must be considered and will ultimately prevail.
Why should I pay for yours and mine both?
I see the value of my fellow man. What I don’t see is why some of the fruits of MY labor should go to support them
You already do, Free…you’ve just been manipulated into thinking you don’t.
Free, why is it that the fruits of MY labor go to paying for the health care of others but I can have none for myself?
BlueJay
Posted October 3, 2008 at 9:24 pm | Permalink
“Not my problem.”
It is unfortunate that you do not see the value in your fellow man and countryman.
Fortunately, there are ways around individual selfishness. The greater good must be considered and will ultimately prevail.
————————————————–
come out and say it gimmeee,gimmeee,gimmeee,I want I wantbut I don’t want to work for it
If my husband would lose his job and I get sick again, we’d lose everything we have, because I’m uninsurable. I help pay for Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran’s benefits, and Social Security..but there is nothing to help me if I get sick and we don’t have my husband’s benefits..THAT’S not fair.
There should be a government program that I could buy into so I could get affordable medical treatment if I need it.
I WANT to pay for my health insurance, Free…but even if I could get it, the insurance companies would make sure I couldn’t afford it.
I’m not asking for a handout…just a fair chance if I should get sick.
See that’s the problem, cons like you don’t want to understand what the problems are, you just want to judge.
There should be a government program that I could buy into so I could get affordable medical treatment if I need it.
Mary I have no problem with that type of help because you are trying,its the ones who think it is owed them that I have an issue with
Blue Jay,
If you are as big on taking care of you and yours as you claim to be it would only seem logical that part of it would be providing health care for your son at least,yes I know that would mean working for the man,but if you are so keen in caring for him you would do anything to provide for him
“Freebird”
I was an advocate for national health care even when I had my own insurance.
From YOUR posts, I detect a great deal of self centered thinking.
IF you can understand otherwise, I assure you my interests as to this matter are not of a personal nature.
Your nic is at odds with your posts “Freebird”.
Our current system LEASHES people to the jobs that they have for fear of losing their health insurance. This in a system where the employer already has so much power over the employed.
I’m feeling more confident everyday that Obama will win. For the first time in a long time, I’m feeling hopeful for our country’s recovery. He has insight, the right attitude, and the intelligence to be a great president. It’s been a long time coming.
Good nite all.
That’s right my thinking is now and always has been to provide for my family,if that’s self centered then youre damn right I am. But answer my question,what makes you think I should help provide you with something you wont even try to provide for your self?
IF you can understand otherwise, I assure you my interests as to this matter are not of a personal nature.
I CAn and I say BULLSH&T
BlueJay
Posted October 3, 2008 at 9:50 pm | Permalink
Your nic is at odds with your posts “Freebird”.
Our current system LEASHES people to the jobs that they have for fear of losing their health insurance. This in a system where the employer already has so much power over the employed.
—————————————————-
You know nothing. I’m not in any way shape or form leashed to my job. I stay at my job because I enjoy what I do ,it has good benifits and pays well
I was taught don’t depend on others to provide the things a man should provide for himself and his family
“something you wont even try to provide for your self?”
You know this about me…how?
“I stay at my job because I enjoy what I do ,it has good benifits and pays well”
Hey, lucky you. And though you prefaced that by telling me that I know nothing?
I can recognize a defensive reaction when I see it.
This is only as personal as you care to make it “Freebird”.
The fact of it is, that while you may feel comfortable and safely protected in the current system? Your take is in the minority.
IF you can understand otherwise, I assure you my interests as to this matter are not of a personal nature.
Your stance would be much more believable if you you were providiing your own insurance
I don’t count on the system to provide me anything other than the basics such as police fire and roads,which my taxes help support,he come to think of it I’m helping provide for the common good. I’m doing my duty
The fact of it is, that while you may feel comfortable and safely protected in the current system?
I do not feel comforortable in any system, hey I know I could lose everything tomorrow,but I would by God pick myself up and start over,I’ve done it before.
YOUR stance would be much more believable if YOU had to purchase your own insurance instead of satisfying your employer to get it.
Touche!
You are posting about three to my one “Freebird”.
This suggests the need for you to justify your argument…to yourself?
What is wrong with doing a good job for the man who pays my wages? You sound like you believe working for someone makes you less of a man
BlueJay
Posted October 3, 2008 at 10:15 pm | Permalink
You are posting about three to my one “Freebird”.
This suggests the need for you to justify your argument…to yourself?
—————————————————-
Didn’t know we were keeping post count. You know it’s obvious we are never going to change each others mind on this topic. Although I don’t agree with you I respect that you stand firm on your ideals.
“And why should we have to pay more for our health insurance than we do for our home mortgage?”
Oh I don’t know Mary, just how more important is your LIFE than owning a piece of property?
What’s your life worth?
“What is wrong with doing a good job for the man who pays my wages? ”
As long as you feel fairly compensated and treated? Not a thing.
“You sound like you believe working for someone makes you less of a man.”
No not at all. It was my own personal experience and I don’t wish it on others.
Consider. If there was some basic level of government provided health care, employers would be forced to INCREASE the health coverage for their workers in order to recruit them into their labor force. Health insurance such as you enjoy now (and I once did) would become a carrot instead of a stick.
I come from the right originally. I get how supply and demand works.
“employers would be forced to INCREASE the health coverage for their workers”
Not necessarily. It would not be compulsory, and an employer might take a quite different approach. Why should I offer you healthcare since you already have it?
” was taught don’t depend on others to provide the things”
Things have changed Freebird.
Ask not what you can do for your country,
but what your country can do for you.
It’s bass ackward.
These social engineers still believe there are money trees out back of the white house just ripe for the picking. I’d say they live in a make-believe world, but that isn’t quite true.
Because their belief in money trees which can pay for more social entitlement programs from our federal government – they also claim outrage at the terrible 10 trillion dollar debt.
I’m starting to believe it’s a form of bi-polar disorder.
Consider. If there was some basic level of government provided health care, employers would be forced to INCREASE the health coverage for their workers in order to recruit them into their labor force. Health insurance such as you enjoy now (and I once did) would become a carrot instead of a stick.
Health insurance,well really all benifits is one of the main things a savvy job seeker looks at when looking for a new job. So to a certain extent health care is already and has been a carrot of some sort
Hey Hank,
Glad you read it. Hope it helps. Be nice to know someone with more TIS than me, makes it to the finish line and starts drawing all the entitlements.
I’m told the SS kicker for military is due to the non-taxable pay we received; BAQ, BAS (commuted rations), later VHA.. Anyway, since the govt kept our pay low, our FICA contributions were lower. So to help us “catch up” they throw in the 300 a month to the annual wages.
Of concern also (for me anyway) is the conversion from TRICARE Prime to medicare, I’m learning, at 65?
I thought we were promised healthcare for life. Guess I had that wrong. Does TRICARE (old Champus) become a paid up second payer? Like supplementals to medicare? Confusing to me. Just reading up on it, but healthcare costs require planning, as they will eventually eat up a large chunk of change. Presently, my better half has great family coverage through her employer, which beats the one offered by mine. So we don’t even use tricare. And Delta Dental is same-same via her coverage.
I guess I’ll have more time to check all this out when I too, am an old fart with time on my hands.
Oh, and I’m off tomorrow, so I’ll be me. If you here from Max or Regular, kindly pass the word.
I’m starting to believe it’s a form of bi-polar disorder.
To bad it can’t be controlled with medication. However the ballot box could be a possible remedy at least put it in remission long enough to figure out what the hell happened to us
here=hear
“Too bad it can’t be controlled with medication”
Darn it Freebird! Now you just gave them another reason to demand free healthcare!
Of course, bi-polar disorder might even qualify for disability. Heck, that’s a double bene: medicare and social security!
“American Way”
Yeah he is ONE American way.
The one where debt is ok, even to be encouraged and increased…
when Republicans are in charge.
You grow that debt to fund mostly for private profit foreign wars and lately to bail out corrupt
financial institutions from the fruits of their own greed.
Because THEN they get to use the debt to justify cutting social and domestic government spending.
To whit, “It would be nice to be nice. But we just can’t afford it.”
“The one where debt is ok, even to be encouraged and increased… when Republicans are in charge.”
JM/BLUEJAY/JR: Find one post over the last 1.5 years of mine which supports your claim.
Anyone who has read my posts knows that is not true of me.
And the rest of your fantasy about,….well it just all sorta goes downhill from there and finally fizzles out to nada.
I didn’t say you posted it “American way”
You aren’t that honest.
I said that was your agenda.
Oh I see Bluejay/JR/JM, I get it. Since I have never posted any such thing, you have mystical abilities to grasp things out of thin air and pull them out your ass.
Because you got nothing.
” The one where debt is ok, even to be encouraged and increased…
when Republicans are in charge.”
Reagan increased the debt.
bush EXPLODED the debt.
I don’t see you opposing that.
You can if you would like.
Maybe you will come out and say it was wrong to launch a mostly for private profit war at the same time as a tax cut on the wealthy?
Baseball in a nut shell ~~~~
Sox win! Sox win! (Red)
Sox lose! Sox lose! (White)
And so it goes ~~~~
“Oh I don’t know Mary, just how more important is your LIFE than owning a piece of property?
What’s your life worth?”
No one should have to lose everything just because they get sick…I see it too often everyday, that’s why I’m such an advocate for some sort of program where the average working Americna could get affordable health insurance that provided adequate medical care.
Have you checked out the price of an ordinary hospital stay lately, AM? Without insurance, it would cost you everything you probably have and more.
One of my patients had bypass surgery on his legs a couple of months ago..he was in the hospital for less than 3 days and his total bill was over $40,000…$5,000 alone just for his medications.
Could you just cough up that kind of money? God forbid you ended up in intensive care.
It’s always easy to sit on teh outside of a situation and judge..but when it happens to you, you’ll be singing a different tune.