Now I remember why I was an independent all those years.

[Dick Ctionary]

 

lol

 

too

Pronunciation: \ˈtü\

Function: adverb

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tō to, too — more at to

Date: before 12th century

1: besides, also house and furniture too>

2a: to an excessive degree : excessively b: to such a degree as to be regrettable c: very

3: so 2d

[Sir Stewart]

too

Pronunciation: \ˈtü\

Function: adverb

Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tō to, too — more at to

Date: before 12th century

1: besides, also house and furniture too>

2a: to an excessive degree : excessively b: to such a degree as to be regrettable c: very

3: so 2d

 

I don't find this funny.

[Sweet Papa Crimbo]

Have you checked out this guy’s shtick – it’s fooking hirarious:

 

www.metacafe.com/watch/178650/rare_video_of_hitler/

 

 

May need a ruling from somebody with more gravitas than I have...breach of Godwin's law?

 

I don't really think so...but it is only a matter of time.

[Good Old Neon]

I say bullshit to your claim that Savage doesn't believe anything coming out of his mouth. He may exaggerate and push buttons like ALL people in the media do, but that's it.

 

Thanks for the invitation to think about your statement. OK....I'm thinking about it......hmm.....interesting.....OK.....I'm done. I still find Savage a very entertaining host.

 

Letterman used to be a late night talk show host who was goofy and silly and funny and genius. Now he's a Jon Stewart wannabe, and he fails miserably anytime he tries.

 

Yeah, Stewart IS kind of like a left version of Savage.

 

And because I don't consider myself a very knowledgable political thinker....hell, I don't consider myself a political thinker period....if getting information from Savage and Leno and Letterman and Stewart and O' Reilly is filling my head with junk, so be it. Is it any worse than constantly quoting some guy named Anderw Sullivan. Who gives a shit what HE thinks? Should we?

 

Sweet, so actually advocating the use of nuclear weapons against civilians is even better than saying it, but not really meaning it? What an improvement. Feel free to call bullshit, but before you do, why don’t you like, read the article first?

 

Stewart is actually nothing like Savage, who, as I’ve already pointed out repeatedly, shares some of the very same views as both the Klan and the skinhead movement - both of which, like Savage, are known for their quirky humor.

 

Yes, in fact it is worse, much worse - you would be wise to read Sullivan, you might actually gain something from it. Glenn Greenwald would be another great place to start. Based on your current reading list, you're digesting the intellectual equivalent of a Snickers Bar, but not a real Snickers Bar, more like one of those shitty knock-offs.

[Good Old Neon]

May need a ruling from somebody with more gravitas than I have...breach of Godwin's law?

 

I don't really think so...but it is only a matter of time.

 

Interestingly enough, the bile that dribbles out of Savage’s mouth on a regular basis is worse than anything Hitler said in front of the camera.

[Beltmann]

One of the things I really like about Sullivan--I read him every day--is that he's willing to let his opinions evolve right there on the screen for all of us to witness. He often writes about how blogging isn't about foolish consistencies or doubling-down on ideology; it's refreshing to read a political writer unafraid to shift opinion or admit mistakes. Unlike most bloggers, he sees his blog as a give-and-take, a place where the discourse in his own head is there for all to observe. I also think he takes a longer, wider view of American traditions than most conservative pundits. (Let me second GON's endorsement of Sullivans's book The Conservative Soul.)

[Edie]

 

lol

 

I only now realized that these pictures are not of Heath Ledger's Joker, but of Barack Obama in whiteface. This shit is sicker than anything that was ever put forth about Bush.

 

I heard a story on NPR yesterday with some woman from the recent religious convention in Indiana (Focus on the Family and similar groups). She said how we was afraid that we have become a socialist nation with the takeovers of the banks and auto companies and now healthcare. She said she wanted to have "leave the same America for her kids as her parents left for her". I could not help but think that without the policies first by the Bush admin and now by the Obama admin, her kids could be growing up in an America without entities like BofA, Citibank, Chase, General Motors and Chrysler (for better or worse). Now ain't that America?

[ikol]

 

George W. Bush: Comic-Book Villain?

[Edie]

They didn't put him in blackface -- nor is that a doctored photo. Willie, you have to admit, that is some sick, scary stuff. And frankly, they are both appalling.

[ikol]

They're wearing the same makeup in both pictures. I'm not excusing either, but the idea that worse things are being done to Obama's likeness than Bush's is ridiculous. That was in a mainstream publication no less. And I also recall a picture comparing Bush's facial expressions to apes. Imagine what would happen if someone did that to Obama!

[Good Old Neon]

They're wearing the same makeup in both pictures. I'm not excusing either, but the idea that worse things are being done to Obama's likeness than Bush's is ridiculous. That was in a mainstream publication no less. And I also recall a picture comparing Bush's facial expressions to apes. Imagine what would happen if someone did that to Obama!

 

But there is a difference - Bush was responsible for some real evil shit while he was president, torture, fabricating a war, at least partly responsible for the economic collapse etc etc etc. If the US didn't play by its own rules, there is a very real possibility that Bush and his cabinet could be prosecuted for war crimes - and should be. Of course, the same right that was actually supporting and or justifying Bush's actions, is now attacking Obama for what? Aside from fabricated stories and outright lies, what, exactly, has Obama done to earn the title of Hitler?

 

I'm all ears.

[ikol]

One thing that Bush was not responsible for was killing 6 million Jews. He also never tried to kill Batman.

[Good Old Neon]

One thing that Bush was not responsible for was killing 6 million Jews. He also never tried to kill Batman.

 

True - but Bush earned his caricature portraits.

 

I am batman, he tried to kill me - you weren’t there.

[ikol]

I am batman, he tried to kill me - you weren’t there.

 

Actually, that does make a lot of sense considering Dick Cheney is The Penguin. I was wrong.

[Edie]

Can someone explain how/why it makes sense to equate Obama and Hitler?

[Beltmann]

Can someone explain how/why it makes sense to equate Obama and Hitler?

Because if Obama is Hitler, then I don't have to justify my irrational hatred and fear of him; if he's Hitler, his evil is self-evident and needs no further justification.

 

Other than that, I got nuthin'.

[uncool2pillow]

Can someone explain how/why it makes sense to equate Obama and Hitler?

The people comparing Obama to Hitler mostly accept the idea that health reform includes death panels. Pretty Nazi-like, if only it were true.

[Edie]

Because if Obama is Hitler, then I don't have to justify my irrational hatred and fear of him; if he's Hitler, his evil is self-evident and needs no further justification.

 

Other than that, I got nuthin'.

 

Just as I suspected.

 

The people comparing Obama to Hitler mostly accept the idea that health reform includes death panels. Pretty Nazi-like, if only it were true.

 

You mean like insurance companies have right now when funds for care are withdrawn/refused??

[Beltmann]

You mean like insurance companies have right now when funds for care are withdrawn/refused??

Yeah, but those are free-market death panels, which makes all the difference.

[ikol]

Yeah, but those are free-market death panels, which makes all the difference.

 

Indeed. With the free market, you have competition among the death panels, which will result in the most efficient method of offing old people. Would you really want the same government responsible for running the postal service to be the ones responsible for disposing of the elderly?

[Good Old Neon]

More well reasoned wisdom from the right:

 

Michael Shwartz, Senator Tom Coburn’s Chief of Staff – the comment was made at the recent Value Voters Summit:

 

The windup:

 

SCHWARTZ: But it is my observation that boys at that age have less tolerance for homosexuality than just about any other class of people. They speak badly about homosexuality. And that’s because they don’t want to be that way. They don’t want to fall into it. And that’s a good instinct. After all, homosexuality, we know, studies have been done by the National Institute of Health to try to prove that it’s genetic and all those studies have proved its not genetic. Homosexuality is inflicted on people.

 

The pitch:

 

SCHWARTZ: And one of the things that he said to me, that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark. He said, “all pornography is homosexual pornography because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards. Now think about that. And if you, if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to go out and get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants.” You know, that’s a, that’s a good comment. It’s a good point and it’s a good thing to teach young people.

 

Wouldn’t it be great to be allowed access to the contents of their hard drives and internet history logs?

 

More inadvertently hilarious wisdom from Mr. Schwartz – with video:

 

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/19/coburn-schwartz-pornography/

[bjorn_skurj]

Hopefully, things like this will help put all that paranoid Libertarian "Don't Tread On Me" bullshit in its proper perspective.

 

 

45,000 American deaths associated with lack of insurance

• Story Highlights
• Study calculated that the uninsured have a 40 percent higher risk of death
• An expecting father worried about ER cost and died from ruptured appendix
• Previous research also shows uninsured are more at risk than insured

By Madison Park

CNN(CNN)-- A freelance cameraman's appendix ruptured and by the time he was admitted to surgery, it was too late. A self-employed mother of two is found dead in bed from undiagnosed heart disease. A 26-year-old aspiring fashion designer collapsed in her bathroom after feeling unusually fatigued for days.

 

What all three of these people havein common is that they experienced symptoms, but didn't seek carebecause they were uninsured and they worried about the hospital expense, according to their families. All three died.

 

Research released this week in the American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 deaths per year in the United States are associated with the lack of health insurance. If a person is uninsured, "it means you're at mortal risk," said one of the authors, Dr. David Himmelstein, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

 

The researchers examined government health surveys from more than 9,000people aged 17 to 64, taken from 1986-1994, and then followed up through 2000. They determined that the uninsured have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those with private health insurance as a result of being unable to obtain necessary medical care. Theresearchers then extrapolated the results to census data from 2005 and calculated there were 44,789 deaths associated with lack of health insurance.

 

For years, Paul Hannum didn't have health insurance while he worked as a freelance cameraman in southern California.

 

One Sunday, Hannum complained of a stomach ache which alarmed his pregnant fiancée, Sarah Percy. "He wasn't a complainer," she said. "He's the type of guy who, if he got a cold, he'll power through it. I never had known him to complain about anything."

 

Hannum thought he had a stomach flu or food poisoning from bad chicken. On Monday, his brother saw him looking ashen and urged him to go to the hospital. "He had a little girl on the way," his older brother Curtis Hannum said. "He didn't want the added burden of an ER visit to hang on their finances. He thought 'I'll just wait,' and he got worse and worse."

 

By the time Hannum got to the hospital and was admitted to surgery, it was too late.

 

Paul Hannum, 45, died on Thursday, August 3, 2006, from a ruptured appendix. His daughter, Cameron was born two months later.

 

Other studies have indicated that the uninsured are at greater risk of mortality than the insured. A 2007 study from The American Cancer Society found that uninsured cancer patients are 1.6 times more likely to die within five years of their diagnosis than those with private insurance. In 2002, the Institute of Medicine estimated that lack of health insurance caused about 18,000 deaths every year.

 

The latest findings come amid the fierce debate over health care reform in the U.S.

 

Two authors of the Harvard study, Himmelstein and Dr. Steffie Woolhandler are co-founders of the Physicians for a National Health Program, which supports government-backed "single-payer" health coverage.

 

The National Center for Policy Analysis, which backs "free-market" health care reform, calls the Harvard research flawed.

 

"The findings in this research are based on faulty methodology and the death risk is significantly overstated," said John C. Goodman, the president of the NCPA in a statement. But Goodman did note there is "a genuine crisis of the uninsured in this country."

 

The lead author of the Harvard study, Dr. Andrew Wilper said he's confident in his and his colleagues' estimates. "It's consistent with the vast body of literature that has found reasonably similar findings," said Wilper, instructor in internal medicine at the University of Washington."There's broad agreement in the health literature regarding this point."

 

Wilper said there is often fear from those, including his own grandmother, who don't feel well but avoid the hospital because it could mean financial catastrophe.

 

For 10 years, Sue Riek suffered from back pain, but couldn't afford medical care.

 

When a mid-life divorce left her single and without health insurance, Riek started a home-business selling make-up on eBay to support herself and her two daughters.

 

Riek, who lived in Charlotte, North Carolina,didn't qualify for Medicaid. And she couldn't afford a $5,000 monthly insurance premium, said her eldest daughter, Kaytee Riek.

 

"I don't know if she felt trapped, but it was a constant in her life --struggling outside the health care system to exist," her daughter said.

 

Riek took comfort in her faith and regularly attended church. Then one Sunday, she didn't show up.

 

The next day, September 3, 2007, her daughter received the call telling her that her 51-year-old mother died from undiagnosed heart disease -- a condition treatable with lifestyle changes, medication and certain medical procedures.

 

"I feel incredibly strongly that she would still be alive if she had been able to regularly see a doctor," said her daughter.

 

It has become lethal to be uninsured, said Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard.

 

"If you can get good primary care for your high blood pressure, your high cholesterol, diabetes -- those don't have to be lethal conditions," she said. "If you fail to get good ongoing primary care, you may end up with complications and even death."

 

The ranks of the uninsured have grown, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It says the number of Americans without health insurance rose to 46.3 million last year, up from 45.7 million in 2007. The percentage of the uninsured remained at 15.4 percent.

 

Young adults are more likely to be uninsured.Elizabeth Machol, 25, told her mother she felt tired. She had just moved into a new apartment in Santa Rosa, California, with her boyfriend and thought the fatigue was from the move and her cat Bert, who would keep her up at night.

 

Her mother, Marlena Machol told her to go to the doctor's office, but Machol was reluctant. Machol worked at a movie theater and didn't have health insurance. Her parents were still paying her medical bills from a previous condition and she was worried about the cost.

 

A few days after their phone conversation, Machol collapsed in the bathroom. She never regained consciousness.

 

One day after her 26th birthday, Machol was declared brain dead.

 

After signing papers to donate her organs, her parents kissed her face, held her hands and said goodbye to the daughter who had played the violin, organized her own fashion show and taught neighborhood kids how to swim. The coroner's office could not determine the cause of death.

 

Six years after her death on September 22, 2003, her family wonders if things would've been different had she not feared the cost of going to the hospital.

 

"Maybe they would've found out what's wrong," her mother said. "I don't know if that would've saved her, but it would've been a chance to. There are people like Elizabeth-- young people who are starting out in life and they don't have options."

[Edie]

And these are just the deaths in a year. Think of how many seeds (meaning delayed health care) are planted every year for deaths and disabilities further down road.

[mountain bed]

More well reasoned wisdom from the right:

 

Michael Shwartz, Senator Tom Coburn’s Chief of Staff – the comment was made at the recent Value Voters Summit:

 

The windup:

 

SCHWARTZ: But it is my observation that boys at that age have less tolerance for homosexuality than just about any other class of people. They speak badly about homosexuality. And that’s because they don’t want to be that way. They don’t want to fall into it. And that’s a good instinct. After all, homosexuality, we know, studies have been done by the National Institute of Health to try to prove that it’s genetic and all those studies have proved its not genetic. Homosexuality is inflicted on people.

 

The pitch:

 

SCHWARTZ: And one of the things that he said to me, that I think is an astonishingly insightful remark. He said, “all pornography is homosexual pornography because all pornography turns your sexual drive inwards. Now think about that. And if you, if you tell an 11-year-old boy about that, do you think he’s going to want to go out and get a copy of Playboy? I’m pretty sure he’ll lose interest. That’s the last thing he wants.” You know, that’s a, that’s a good comment. It’s a good point and it’s a good thing to teach young people.

 

Wouldn’t it be great to be allowed access to the contents of their hard drives and internet history logs?

 

More inadvertently hilarious wisdom from Mr. Schwartz – with video:

 

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/09/19/coburn-schwartz-pornography/

Jesus Christ, if that isn't the biggest pile of shit ever. Between Coburn and Inhofe the Sooner state sure does have a lot to be proud of.

[Edie]

And I am 100% sure that my 11 year old would not care

 

Also, I am still waiting for the explanation of how Obama = Hitler