New new election thread

[Party @ the Moontower]

I have a breast cancer client that racked up over a million in insurance costs and is forced to stay at her job in order to keep the insurance. If she leaves or gets fired she's screwed..and dead.

[bleedorange]

Chet Edwards? really?

 

:/

 

Yeah, that seems like an odd choice.

[Winston Legthigh]

Tim Kaine.

[solace]

Obama really really really needs to make an Ad out of this comment, and if not, some other group:

 

 

wow...

 

*shakes head*

[bobbob1313]

I'd like to live in a world where he didn't have to make an ad out of that.

[Guest Jules]

what did he say? can't watch here.

[fatheadfred]

"Lower cost" that goes up 15% per year.

 

I see your point.

 

What doesn't go up 15% per year? Health care is exceptional at inflating. Wonder why? Pharmaceuticals are increasing more than 15% and lots of people use them. Our food quality sucks. Our health sucks. It is depressing to think of our main industries in the US.

[Norbs Jr.]

I'll pick lettuce for $50/hr. Where do I sign?

[Guest Jules]

What doesn't go up 15% per year? Health care is exceptional at inflating. Wonder why? Pharmaceuticals are increasing more than 15% and lots of people use them. Our food quality sucks. Our health sucks. It is depressing to think of our main industries in the US.

you lost me

[myboyblue]

I'll pick lettuce for $50/hr. Where do I sign?

 

you lost me

[bjorn_skurj]

"Lower cost" that goes up 15% per year.

 

I see your point.

Well, when we have socialized medicine, all employers will be off the hook.

[fatheadfred]

you lost me

 

later

 

Well, when we have socialized medicine, all employers will be off the hook.

 

I am hoping this plan is another promise that goes undone. Perhaps regulation is easier, quicker and still allows for some creative private ownership of healthcare vs. the gov't taking over and screwing it up.

[bjorn_skurj]

Somebody made this point: "We do have socialized medicine in this country and we pay for it an minibar prices: It's called the 'emergency room.'"

[tugmoose]

This just in . . .

 

Obama Names Musician Rick Astley as Running Mate

Self-proclaimed "greatest prank evar" required 18 months, $390 million in prep work

 

Springfield, IL - August 23, 2008 - In front of a cheering crowd as well as in a text message to over three million anxious supporters, U.S. Senator and prospective Democratic Party presidential nominee Barack Obama declared to the world that he had selected 1980's pop musician Rick Astley to be his vice-presidential running mate.

 

 

Rick Astley, Prospective Democratic nominee for vice-president, pending an immediate alteration to the U.S. Constitution

"And now, America, what you've all been waiting to hear!" shouted the Junior Senator from the state of Illinois, as an American-flag-decorated curtain dropped behind Mr. Obama, immediately followed by the familiar opening drum beats and funk synthesizer chords of Astley's 1987 hit single, "Never Gonna Give You Up."

 

Pumping his fists downward in a striking motion as he spoke, Mr. Obama continued, "you just got Rickrolled, America!"

 

While the title of "greatest prank ever" remains speculative, experts from the Guinness Book of World Records verified shortly before press time that Obama's announcement likely set the world record for the longest sustained silence from a crowd of over 10,000 people, at roughly over seven minutes.

 

Markos Moulstas, founder of the liberal weblog DailyKos.com, has not been seen since Obama's announcement. San Francisco police have begun an extensive search of local bars for bodies.

 

"This is truly a landmark in internet memes," opined Cory Doctorow, founder of the popular internet site BoingBoing. "Obama is a pioneer of the free creative expression that makes the internet so wonderful. When we shape these paradigms via-a-vis the viral meme of the 'Rickroll,' we can understand the new scope of the digital revolution embraced by the Obama campaign. I'm still annoyed that Obama didn't register this entire prank under a Creative Commons license, thus allowing the entire supporter database he gathering for what I'd call a new phase of "involuntary interactive art" to surpass the RIAA's objections to the use of the YouTube of..." it is assumed that as of press time, Mr. Doctorow is still talking.

 

Senator Hillary Clinton could not be reached for comment.

 

Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, acknowledged the cleverness of the Obama campaign's prank, calling it "an act of surprising vision and initiative." However he did express regret that Mr. Astley, being a British citizen not born in the United States, was Constitutionally ineligible to be elected to the office of vice-president, as well as expressed "disappointment" that the revelation of the entire Obama campaign being an elusive scam inarguably guaranteed victory in the November election, and the likely power to nominate up to three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, to Republican Senator John McCain.

[Edie]

[John Smith]

This is probably a topic for another thread, but how did we get to the point that employers are expected to provide health insurance anyway? I have found employees see it less as a true "benefit", but expect it. (I realize this has changed somewhat with some companies dropping it altogether due to cost.)

 

I don't expect employers to provide my health insurance. I pay via pretax deduction from my pay, adn I realize that I am paying maybe 20% of the premiums. However when shopping for a job i look at the total picture. depending on my wife's situation I can take a little lower pay to get health insurance. I ti is a cost of doing busines today (and has been for quite a while) I view my health insurance, 401-k, deferred comp plan etc...all as part of my compensation package. My employer views it the same way. So taking away the deduction takes away a compensation incentive. They can still offer the insurance, but they have less reason to do so, less incentive. The other thing about insurance is it pays off for employers to have healthy happy workers. Productivity is better, less time off etc... My employer has an on-site health club with free personal trainers and a medical clinic, annd even though it is a cost center it pays off with healthier employees and gets us lower insurannce premiums.

 

This definately belongs in this thread if an individual candidate is running on a position to end the deduction for health insurance.

[bjorn_skurj]

In this part of the country (Northeast), any full-time job worth getting up for in the morning features health insurance. I pay half, the company pays half.

[Analogman]

Speaking of such things -

 

States push paid sick leave

Critics say small businesses can't afford to add benefit; others argue families need it

 

Thursday, Aug 21, 2008 - 12:08 AM

 

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 

For school bus driver Jamille Aine, a cold is more than an inconvenience. His employer does not offer paid sick days, so if he can't shake the bug, he may not be able to pay his bills.

 

Some 46 million U.S. workers lack paid sick days, but lawmakers in 12 states -- including California, Connecticut, Minnesota and West Virginia -- have proposed legislation in the past year that would require businesses to provide them.

 

"This is the next frontier in assuring workplaces are safe," said Kate Kahan, director of the work and family program at the Washington-based National Partnership for Women & Families, which lobbies on paid sick leave and other workplace and health care issues.

 

Businesses -- especially small companies -- argue that forcing them to offer paid sick days hinders their ability to provide a flexible array of benefits, such as a mix of vacation and personal days that also may be used by employees when they are sick. And they say it's a costly new mandate for businesses already struggling through a contracting economy.

 

Karen Kerrigan, president of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, an Oakton, Va.-based lobbying group with 70,000 members nationwide, said the costs of providing paid sick days are particularly difficult for her constituents. The new requirement would add to already high taxes and costly workers' compensation, she said.

 

"This is a piling-on measure," she said.

 

Bills requiring paid sick days were rejected or allowed to die in several state legislatures. Maine lawmakers rejected a paid sick leave bill. And for the second consecutive year, legislation died in the Connecticut House of Representatives after the state Senate passed it.

 

But in several other states -- Alaska, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia -- legislation failed when lawmakers refused to take up paid sick leave bills before legislative deadlines passed, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families. Paid sick days are already law in Washington, D.C., where employees earn days off based on the number of hours worked and the size of the business, and in San Francisco, which requires one hour sick leave for every 30 hours worked.

 

Proposed federal legislation would provide workers with seven days of paid sick leave a year for employees who work 30 or more hours a week. The benefit would be prorated for part-time workers.

 

Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, supports the legislation.

 

Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, opposes employer mandates, particularly when the economy is slowing, his campaign said. It did not address the pending federal legislation.

 

I hope when Sen. Obama wins the election - he will move forward on doing something about health care issues.

[solace]

I'd like to live in a world where he didn't have to make an ad out of that.

 

it sucks that they've had to resort to Rovian-esque negative campaigning, but we learned from '04 you can't just sit back and take it like Kerry did

[bobbob1313]

Well, yeah. If winning an election is the be all end all of being involved with politics. I can't wait till Obama wins, is inaugarated on January 20 and begins his reelection campaign on the 22nd.

[LouieB]

Those dirty hippies changed society for the better and are still doing it.

 

Imagine life today had they not created a social revolution. I'm all for anyone who speaks up for my rights as a woman, gay rights, racial equality, legalizing pot (for health benefits of course), and the end of senseless wars.The hippie culture brought about change in music and art that is still present today.

Well thanks......now I think I will go take a shower for the first time in 40 some years.....

 

LouieB

[bjorn_skurj]

Well, yeah. If winning an election is the be all end all of being involved with politics. I can't wait till Obama wins, is inaugarated on January 20 and begins his reelection campaign on the 22nd.

 

He's going to take a day off?!?!?!?

[bleedorange]

Politico

 

Maybe the wrong message

 

 

Obama's Pottstown, PA offices take down the signs (accurately) advertising: "Felons Can Vote."

 

"They just realized maybe it was sending the wrong message and took it down themselves," [Obama spokesman] Sean Smith said.

 

[Basil II]

that employers are expected to provide health insurance anyway? I have found employees see it less as a true "benefit", but expect it. (I realize this has changed somewhat with some companies dropping it altogether due to cost.)

 

 

 

 

Costco Wholesale rewarded their employees with stock this year for saving the Company money on health care costs. benifts are a reward and not a right.

 

--Robert

[Beltmann]

I'd say benefits are neither a right nor a reward; they are part of an agreed-upon compensation package.