Why are they wasting their time trying to fix the government shutdown? They need to spend the next few days focused on trashing Obamacare.
Less than 40% of people want it, and the idea of forcing a massive change like this through without public consent is beyond obscene. They need to get this message through – and then Obama will cave.
Boehner is so worried about getting blamed, that he is going to end up creating exactly what he is afraid of. Doesn’t anyone in the Republican Party have any testosterone left, besides Sarah Palin? Boehner has to make his case for why he is doing it, not try to pretend that he isn’t.
Only those that have ObamaCare exemptions are in favor of ObamaCare. We need to eliminate all exemptions.
Why do the Republicans show a lack of testosterone?
Imagine that there were some group of people — we’ll call them the “Nasty Sneaky Anti-Americans” or “NSA” for short. Imagine that you are a normal sort of politician, one who has made a few questionable deals or agreements, a few pork deals or wink-wink help for local contituents. Heck, maybe even a few affairs or encounters Imagine that the NSA crowd had complete records of your phone calls, emails, personal locations, times, dates, etc. Now imagine that the NSA sais, Hey, Congressman… how about some extra funding? Oh, and vote yes for Obamacare. Think of the children!
Crazy, sure… could never happen.
The Republican Party is become a dog and pony show thanks to Boehner and hacks like MacCain and Chris Christy. The best people for the job were shoved aside and got wasted.
The entire political establishment has turned onto a corrupt in crowd serving their own interests.
A through clean up is due for a long time.
Just the fact that only a few families deliver the “presidential” material is like the Bushes and the Clinton’s (yes, their daughter would also make a fine president) is a reason on it’s own to shake up the system.
But with all the idiots with voting rights nothing will change.
America is run into the ground and we don’t have a viable alternative unless you’re interested in a mandatory study Russian or Chinese.
Mother fuckers.
“is become”, I need my glasses, sorry.
The Republicans have a shot in two weeks at a Senate seat in New Jersey. But Steve Lonegan isn’t an insider and thus is getting at best lukewarm support versus an Obama rubber stamp named Cory Booker. Where’s Chris Christie?
We’ve had Medicare in Australia since the seventies, and it has been very successful.
What is it with the Yanks and their fear of universal health care?
That’s feardom, not freedom.
What a weird mob!
You have no idea what you are talking about.
The Germans had a state run healthcare system since Bismarck. It was popular and in 1930s they expanded the state responsibility for the remaining spheres of private life. So did the Russians and later the Chinese.
Really, what’s wrong with us?
The state run systems work as long as the budget is balanced and cost are controlled.
However, when the population pyramid develops in such a way that we have more elderly, unemployed people and immigrants than premium contributing working people, the system collapses.
…which implies “they” (in both parties) are just waiting for us Baby Boomers to die out. And we do not fit the profile psychologically either, as several comments above have expressed amazement over. I won’t willingly pay rent on my body to the government, under its casual, careless, and thus tyrannical duress. How I choose to take care of myself is my business. This is happening because times are hard even for the “elite” (what with a 17 trillion dollar debt, and upwards of 20% real, chronic unemployment)–this is how a “democracy” throws its more helpless citizens off the back of the wagon, to its own pursuing pet wolves.
R. – I don’t use the /sarc tag.
I’ve lived in Alabama for the past 3 years. I know what I’m talking about. And the south of the U.S. is the dumbest (average of course) group of people I’ve ever seen!!
Obama is trying to bring the U.S. into the 21st century 😀
And all the Republicans don’t want that, just because he’s black 😀 Don’t try to tell me I’m wrong. I know I’m right 🙂
Actually, communism is very much early 20th century, and prejudiced socialist Germans who think they are superior is very much 1938.
“What is it with the Yanks and their fear of universal health care?”
It is not an unreasoned fear. We have seen at first hand just how corrupt our Federal Government has become — and now they wish to monitor and control another of our natural freedoms, the ability to choose for ourselves what sort of health care we want and how much we are willing to pay for it. Congratulations to Australia if you still have honest politicians and bureaucrats — but we here in the States are ruled by criminals.
…that last sentence is the very clear bottom line for me, too. And the fact that they are not hammering at that is what is wrong with the Republican “leadership”.
Public healthcare follow up – Topher Vblog 003
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0d9Wau52xo
Given that i’ve been using universal health care since I was twenty years old, I reckon I have a better idea of how it works than you do.
How come we pay the 3% Medicare levy then if it is so affordable, even if we have private health insurance. Our top tax rate is 40% plus the Medicare levy plus 10% GST on everything we spend. Thus effective top tax rate is 53%.
You seem happy with that. I’m not. It is one of the biggest scams foisted on Australian paye taxpayers.
You are clueless. First, Australia has a population of 23 million, the USA 300+ million, so there is zero way to make comparisons in health care.
Second, you do not have a border with Mexico.
Obamacare is nothing like the Australian system, you moron.
You’d have a point if private health insurance was compulsory. It’s not. If you don’t like it, cancel your insurance.
It’s amazing that the the government of the so called bastion of freedom across the Pacific is held hostage to a handfull of extremists throwing a tantrum.
It makes them a laughing stock.
I’m also happy with universal health in this country that because It goes some of the way towards decoupling wealth from quality of life.
You have not the least clue what you are talking about. Obumercare is economic disaster. Already we have lost five million, count them, five million full time jobs. Over twenty thousand pages of nightmare. A system designed to fail.
It’s amazing that the the government of the so called bastion of freedom across the Pacific is held hostage to a handfull of extremists throwing a tantrum.
It makes them a laughing stock.
Yes and Gilliard didn’t make you a laughing stock! By the way, the extremists are the Patriots. The Liberal Dem Progressive’s are the enemy!
I believe you are happy. Millions of others did before you. I’ve seen it firsthand. Many people can’t imagine living any other way.
You understand your system and your country. What you fail to understand, and we Americans understand all to well, is that when our Government gets involved in something the cost goes through the roof and the quality of services crashes. Everything our Government touches turns to liquid sheet! We are currently running a 1,000,000,000,000 + deficit per year. We need to be cutting the size of our Government and it’s operating costs, not taking on another program that we can’t afford. We have Medicaid and Medicare for people who can’t get insurance through their job or who can’t afford it on their own. If all our Government was trying to do was guarantee insurance for those who can’t get it, this wouldn’t be an issue. It’s an issue because they are attempting to take over the whole healthcare system and we know all to well how horrible it will be if they succeed.
The reason you’re running a deficit is because you allowed fear to take over your national psyche in 2001, resulting in the dolt into the Whitehouse proceeding to plunder your national accounts to finance death and carnage in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then your other defining national characteristic (greed) chimed in, and your unregulated finance system plunged international markets into chaos by wrapping up dodgy loans as financial products (CDOs) and selling them to anyone dumb enough to buy them.
You then used taxpayers dollars to bail out the masters of the universe responsible for the disaster.
Perhaps government could have done a better job?
Your private markets certainly haven’t.
Given this history, if I was a Yank (and thank the Lord I’m not), I’d be giving government a go.
They couldn’t do worse than your non-government sector.
It’s not all bad here. You’d like some things. Do you read Kos Kids?
Ignorance, on top of arrogance, not a god combo. The economic collapse was government led, orchestrated and precipitated all the way. Clinton AG, Janet Reno, sued the banks over ten times, just to force them to make those loans, yes, the banks said if you can not lick them, join them, and proceeded to leverage assets tantamount to fraud, led by GSE (Government sponsored enterprises) The fact that the international community followed suit and bought and leveraged the US MDS junk, and created their own, was THEIR fault. They are big boys, and a 12 year old child should never have bought the ratings placed on them. Those were pure sophistry, much like climate science, politicized computer models. Twas government that had there go, government here, and in Europe.
Your ignorance is only exceeded by your arrogance. You ignore posts that attempt to educate you, and come up with another entire litany of broad stroked ignorance. BTW, FYI, the RINOS contributed greatly with support for the repeal of glass-steagall, signed into law by Clinton. Twice Bush actually warned the Dems about Fannie and Freddie and the mortgage markets, but was soundly silenced by the Senate Finance Committee, for 17 years under democratic control.
Neither government or free enterprise is to blame, the dark side of human nature is. Libs like you fail to understand human nature. You therefore consolidate arbitrary power into the hands of one group, raised above all others, Government. The result this last 100 years is over 130 million murdered by their OWN Government. It is called “democide” Look it up please.
Yes David, good points, but Bush warned congress many times. And he was called a racist.
“The White House Warned Congress About Fannie Mae Freddie Mac 17 Times In 2008, Alone
September, 21, 2008 —
The White House attempts to set the record straight:
(I’m copying this post from the White House webpage in it’s entirety because I want people to read the whole thing).
For many years the President and his Administration have not only warned of the systemic consequences of financial turmoil at a housing government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) but also put forward thoughtful plans to reduce the risk that either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac would encounter such difficulties. President Bush publicly called for GSE reform 17 times in 2008 alone before Congress acted. Unfortunately, these warnings went unheeded, as the President’s repeated attempts to reform the supervision of these entities were thwarted by the legislative maneuvering of those who emphatically denied there were problems.
2001
April: The Administration’s FY02 budget declares that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is “a potential problem,” because “financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity.”
2002
May: The President calls for the disclosure and corporate governance principles contained in his 10-point plan for corporate responsibility to apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (OMB Prompt Letter to OFHEO, 5/29/02)
2003
January: Freddie Mac announces it has to restate financial results for the previous three years.
February: The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) releases a report explaining that “although investors perceive an implicit Federal guarantee of [GSE] obligations,” “the government has provided no explicit legal backing for them.” As a consequence, unexpected problems at a GSE could immediately spread into financial sectors beyond the housing market. (“Systemic Risk: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Role of OFHEO,” OFHEO Report, 2/4/03).
September: Fannie Mae discloses SEC investigation and acknowledges OFHEO’s review found earnings manipulations.
September: Treasury Secretary John Snow testifies before the House Financial Services Committee to recommend that Congress enact “legislation to create a new Federal agency to regulate and supervise the financial activities of our housing-related government sponsored enterprises” and set prudent and appropriate minimum capital adequacy requirements.
October: Fannie Mae discloses $1.2 billion accounting error.
November: Council of the Economic Advisers (CEA) Chairman Greg Mankiw explains that any “legislation to reform GSE regulation should empower the new regulator with sufficient strength and credibility to reduce systemic risk.” To reduce the potential for systemic instability, the regulator would have “broad authority to set both risk-based and minimum capital standards” and “receivership powers necessary to wind down the affairs of a troubled GSE.” (N. Gregory Mankiw, Remarks At The Conference Of State Bank Supervisors State Banking Summit And Leadership, 11/6/03).
2004
February: The President’s FY05 Budget againhighlights the risk posed by the explosive growth of the GSEs and their low levels of required capital, and called for creation of a new, world-class regulator: “The Administration has determined that the safety and soundness regulators of the housing GSEs lack sufficient power and stature to meet their responsibilities, and therefore…should be replaced with a new strengthened regulator.” (2005 Budget Analytic Perspectives, pg. 83)
February: CEA Chairman Mankiw cautions Congress to “not take [the financial market’s] strength for granted.” Again, the call from the Administration was to reduce this risk by “ensuring that the housing GSEs are overseen by an effective regulator.” (N. Gregory Mankiw, Op-Ed, “Keeping Fannie And Freddie’s House In Order,” Financial Times, 2/24/04).
June: Deputy Secretary of Treasury Samuel Bodman spotlights the risk posed by the GSEs and called for reform, saying “We do not have a world-class system of supervision of the housing government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), even though the importance of the housing financial system that the GSEs serve demands the best in supervision to ensure the long-term vitality of that system. Therefore, the Administration has called for a new, first class, regulatory supervisor for the three housing GSEs: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Banking System.” (Samuel Bodman, House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Testimony, 6/16/04).
2005
April: Treasury Secretary John Snow repeats his call for GSE reform, saying “Events that have transpired since I testified before this Committee in 2003 reinforce concerns over the systemic risks posed by the GSEs and further highlight the need for real GSE reform to ensure that our housing finance system remains a strong and vibrant source of funding for expanding homeownership opportunities in America… Half-measures will only exacerbate the risks to our financial system.” (Secretary John W. Snow, “Testimony Before The U.S. House Financial Services Committee,” 4/13/05).
2007
July: Two Bear Stearns hedge funds invested in mortgage securities collapse.
August: President Bush emphatically calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying “first things first when it comes to those two institutions. Congress needs to get them reformed, get them streamlined, get them focused, and then I will consider other options.” (President George W. Bush, Press Conference, The White House, 8/9/07).
September: RealtyTrac announces foreclosure filings up 243,000 in August – up 115 percent from the year before.
September: Single-family existing home sales decreases 7.5 percent from the previous month – the lowest level in nine years. Median sale price of existing homes fell six percent from the year before.
December: President Bush again warns Congress of the need to pass legislation reforming GSEs, saying “These institutions provide liquidity in the mortgage market that benefits millions of homeowners, and it is vital they operate safely and operate soundly. So I’ve called on Congress to pass legislation that strengthens independent regulation of the GSEs – and ensures they focus on their important housing mission. The GSE reform bill passed by the House earlier this year is a good start. But the Senate has not acted. And the United States Senate needs to pass this legislation soon.” (President George W. Bush, Discusses Housing, The White House, 12/6/07).
2008
January: Bank of America announces it will buy Countrywide.
January: Citigroup announces mortgage portfolio lost $18.1 billion in value.
February: Assistant Secretary David Nason reiterates the urgency of reforms, says “A new regulatory structure for the housing GSEs is essential if these entities are to continue to perform their public mission successfully.” (David Nason, Testimony On Reforming GSE Regulation, Senate Committee On Banking, Housing And Urban Affairs, 2/7/08).
March: Bear Stearns announces it will sell itself to JPMorgan Chase.
March: President Bush calls on Congress to take action and “move forward with reforms on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They need to continue to modernize the FHA, as well as allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to homeowners to refinance their mortgages.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks To The Economic Club Of New York, New York, NY, 3/14/08).
April: President Bush urges Congress to pass the much needed legislation and “modernize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [There are] constructive things Congress can do that will encourage the housing market to correct quickly by … helping people stay in their homes.” (President George W. Bush, Meeting With Cabinet, the White House, 4/14/08).
May: President Bush issues several pleas to Congress to pass legislation reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before the situation deteriorates further.
“Americans are concerned about making their mortgage payments and keeping their homes. Yet Congress has failed to pass legislation I have repeatedly requested to modernize the Federal Housing Administration that will help more families stay in their homes, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance sub-prime loans.” (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/3/08).
“[T]he government ought to be helping creditworthy people stay in their homes. And one way we can do that – and Congress is making progress on this – is the reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That reform will come with a strong, independent regulator.” (President George W. Bush, Meeting With The Secretary Of The Treasury, the White House, 5/19/08).
“Congress needs to pass legislation to modernize the Federal Housing Administration, reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure they focus on their housing mission, and allow State housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans.” (President George W. Bush, Radio Address, 5/31/08).
June: As foreclosure rates continued to rise in the first quarter, the President once again asks Congress to take the necessary measures to address this challenge, saying “we need to pass legislation to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” (President George W. Bush, Remarks At Swearing In Ceremony For Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development, Washington, D.C., 6/6/08).
July: Congress heeds the President’s call for action and passes reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as it becomes clear that the institutions are failing.”
You are correct, Gator.
Here’s a good report on it:
http://www.christianpost.com/news/shutdowns-and-shutups-is-this-what-real-political-leadership-looks-like-105695/
Government involvement in the marketplace will lead to disaster; it happens every time it’s tried.
Looks like there are people that still do not understand the problem of a government mortgage guarantee .
LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) – Britain’s housebuilding sector rallied on Monday after Prime Minister David Cameron threw his weight behind a mortgage guarantee programme, lifting shares in homebuilders Persimmon
http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uk-housebuilders-rise-pm-throws-154758275.html
The new prez is keeping most of the policies of the old prez and tripled the deficit. How is that a change for the better (or change at all)?
It is far worse then that.
IF they had balls, they’d tell us “Just say NO…to Obama’s fascism.” YES, a friend of mine helped write Obamacare, working for a DC lobbying firm. He says it is fascism – it aims to control private economic firms through government fiat, the very definition of fascism. And he’s a Republican. Why can’t they sell us the Truth…?
There’s little or no money in the “truth”.
Don’t budge on the shutdown until Obamacare is defunded.
The House has the power of the purse. That’s its constitutional authority. It has every right to withhold funding for what it doesn’t want to fund.
Yes, fund individual parts of govt. Let the senate reject these funding bills like for Veterans Benefits, but eventually the senate is going to have to oblige.
Stay the course.
If it takes 7 months, it takes 7 months.
Defund Obamacare before it takes insidious root. It’s that important that we don’t fund it at all.
Tea Party anarchists are behaving like Taliban suicide bombers.
They will reap what they sow.
I was wrong. You are not happy.
You live and learn…pretty fast on the internet, if you’re of a mind to learn. Now you know not to feed just another deluded–and angry, over all–follower of the “consensus”.
You live and learn…
Sure trying to, Harry. Searching the net for 1735099a was revealing. I wondered if it’s a person or a program. It shows signs of being a live thing but programmed to default to just one loop. It could be a precursor to Borg. It’s not angry or deluded. That requires higher processes.
“Tea Party anarchists are behaving like Taliban suicide bombers.”
I was trying to refrain from commenting, but that sentence was more than I could let pass. That is perhaps the most amazingly self-contradictory string of nouns I have read. The only equally oxymoronic thing I can compare it to was a news report that spoke of “Sufi suicide squads.”
More arrogant ignorance!!
I’ve held back until now, but that was just plain stupid. The Tea Party counterbalances the far left progressive liberals in our society and more closely adheres to the principles of our founding fathers than the major political parties in our country.
I do hope the Tea Party reaps what they are sowing. It would be nice for a change to have something grow that is true, just, honest and aligned with the Constitution and not to special interests, crony capitalists and a corrupt Congress. Mr 1735099a, you haven’t got a clue about it here “across the Pacific”!
Scarborough: ‘In the next 10 years, there’s not going to be any private health insurance’ [VIDEO
“They’re afraid like I’m afraid of — that when Obamacare becomes law, it’s not like people are going magically get insurance,” Scarborough said. “What they’re afraid of is what we’ve heard from CEOs who run the biggest corporations. And that is, that after a couple of years, they’re going to drop all of their employees, they’re going to pay a couple thousand bucks in fines, and you’re going to have millions and millions and millions of people flooding into federal health care.”
Private health insurance and federal health cover exist comfortably side by side in Australia and have done so for years…..
As I said – feardom, not freedom.
Stay there please. Your ignorance of politics here makes you very unwelcome.
We already have Medicare and Medicaid and prices have gone through the roof since they were implemented.
They’re trying to “fix” the shutdown so the Democrats will be proven to keep it going. It’s the Democrats who caused it by not working together with them.
Will Obamacare work or not work, who knows until it is tried ?
In the meantime the USA seems to want to risk this unknown against a known, the known being the economic impact of making workers stay at home and perhaps a default on the debt soon.
I don’t think your government was designed to have such polarised views and lack of willingness to compromise. So it’s rather ineffectual at the moment.
Andy
We survived more than a dozen government shutdowns prior to this one. The Carter and Reagan administrations experienced the most.
With this many checks and balances, the pendulum must swing from time to time.
There were 17 shut downs all together and it’s an integral part of the American Democratic Process.
At this moment in time it’s the best thing that can happen tot the US.
A huge administration forced to put down their work and do nothing.
In Europe we dream about such an opportunity.
I know that this has consequences for those Americans that depend on Government Services like pension payments and documents like passports and driving licenses and I am sorry for them. I hope the pensioners have family that can support them.
Obamacare is much more than a health care scheme.
It’s a government grab for control over a market and the means of production.
There is a word for that if we look at the constitution it wouldn’t be possible.
The word obligatory and fine… no sane American is going to take that.
I have one remark about US Healthcare in general.
The main reason why health care in the US can’t be compared with health care in any other place in the world including Australia is the issue of liability insurance.
This in practice doubles the overhead of a GP practice.
Same thing happens here. My brother is a GP and pays a fortune annually in malpractice insurance. Liability insurance is not a barrier.
“the economic impact of making workers stay at home”
You see government employees as “workers?” They are a drain on workers.
Foreigners who ‘get’ America flock here, those who do not, mock our freedoms. Leftists fear freedom and call those of us who hold it dear ‘Taliban’. Truly delusional.
Some people just are not as smart as they think they are. Imagine, a leftist who loves Big Brother, and ‘universal’ healthcare. 😆
Gator you may like my response to this liberal troll here….David says…October 2, 2013 at 9:31 am
Gator, you just proved my point, you have such polarised views that you only see it in terms of left or right, goodies or baddies. There is no doubt someone on the left who is as extreme as you.
Problem is the US is getting more extreme to left and right and history proves that extreme politics never did any good in the long term.
Andy
The US has moved extremely left. A true US individual who loves liberty is not polarizing, except by his insistence that he be left alone. Love of power OVER OTHERS, is at the heart of all evil.
Andy, I am a Libertarian, I see liberty and tyranny no matter if it is from the left or right. Sadly for leftists, they have a long history of tyranny, much longer than the right in this country. Deal with it, the rest of us do.
I am so sick of the ‘everybody is the same’ argument that the PC police have pounded into the brains of the Andys of this world. I have rarely had my liberties threatened by the right, but they are daily threatened by the left. It is Progressives that threaten us with tyranny, and they are on both sides of the aisle, and the are nearly always leftists.
As David pointed out, the US has continuously moved leftward, since our founding. Look up ‘Overton Window’, and learn about the effect this has on society.
Naming and shaming tyrants is not ‘polarizing’ you dope!
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” – Barry Goldwater, 1964
Andy, you lack historical perspective. U.S. politics was far nastier in the past.
“mock our freedoms”
You are not free. You live in fear. Your country is so afraid that it citizens own more firearms per head of population than any comparative western society. You rate of gun homicide is eight times ours. You’re welcome to that kind of “freedom”.
More ignorance. Most rural areas have very low gun homicide rates. In fact lower homicide rates then your nation. However, in dense inner city GUN CONTROLLED areas, like Chicago, Obama’s kids run rampant, killing mostly each other. Why? Because they think they are owed.
““mock our freedoms” You are not free.”
ROFLMAO!!! So predictable, and the number did not even see the hilarity in his response. I say ‘roll over’, and like a good little doggie, he does! 😆
The only fear I have is losing my freedoms due to idiots like you. I sleep with my windows open at night, and my 12 gauge by the bed, soundly. The last murder we had in my county was over five years ago, and it was a mentally disturbed man who killed his father. Every one of my neighbors is armed and we love to shoot, target practice and hunting.
You have no idea what you speak of, because you have bought into the lies convenient for leftists. The violence problem we have has nothing to do with guns, and everything to do with demographics.
Stay the fuck out of our business you worm. 😆
David & Gator:
1735099a is a firmware version number. It’s Borg. It responds differently than you’d expect.
With gun ownership in American at an all-time high, violent crime, according to the FBI’s most recent national crime report, is at its lowest level in more than four decades. The rate of homicides in which murderers use guns has decreased almost 50%, from a high of 6.62 per 100,000 to 3.27 in 2012.
For non-blacks, it’s 2.0 per 100,000.
Also number 4, the very heavy conceal and carry areas have very low gun homicide rates.
I meant number 41.
Also number 41, the US violent crime rate is less then 20 percent of the violent crime rate in the UK.
Who is going to pay Obamacare? The Chinese? Remember there is no such thing as a free lunch. Only a healty economy where most people have a decent paying job can afford public healthcare and green energy . America has over 44 million people on Food Stamps. The US can not afford Obamacare and printing money will not solve that problem. It will make it bigger. You can’t even maintain your infrastructure .
Funding obamacare through IRS penalties and threats is what is oppressive and tyrannical.
A Medicare type funding for health care could be added as a tax to groceries, so everyone contributes and there is no avenue for punitive action. Use the sales tax model. Unhealthy food (whatever that is) could be taxed at a higher rate.
The very poor would avoid the tax by getting their free food at the food bank.
I despise higher taxes but I despise the IRS even more.
Make it a passive tax.
At least kbray proposes a solution to a perceived problem, but I sure as Hell don’t want the Michelle Obamas of this country dictating what foods I ought and ought not eat. Bkray, be prepared to be flamed… this blog takes no prisoners!
BTW, why is my TOD posted as 12:25 PM? It’s 8:22 AM here in NY per my PC date & time.
Greenwich clock.
Of course. I suck. Thanks, bkray
Boehner. Poster boy for what is wrong with tenure.
I doubt anyone in my country has to sleep with a 12 gauge by the bed, let alone promote it as an advantage. The last time I slept with a weapon by my side was in Vietnam in 1970. The Yanks back then were a bigger danger to us than the VC because they had no fire discipline.
Obviously not much has changed in 40 years.
Where I live everyone has guns and we have almost zero crime. Safest place on earth.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
You need either to take this site down or clean it up. I have been subjected to foul abuse because I have the temerity to oppose the groupthink that masquerades for debate here. One of your posters has insulted my service. He refuses to apologise. I have recourse to address this through veteran networks here and in the USA, and I won’t hesitate to do so if necessary to protect the honour of the hundreds of Australians who died in Vietnam.
You come here and insult our country, and then complain Mr. Anonymous (says he is) Australian?
Just when did you die in Vietnam?
You are totally vulnerable.
Defenseless is safe, war is peace, etc.
I don’t NEED to sleep with a gun by my bed, it is what is called FREEDOM, you twit. If you had read my comment AND understood it, you would have noticed that in the entire county in which I live there has been only ONE murder in five years even though we are ALL heavily armed. There is your discipline you shit. You, trollbot, are a self inflicted moron.
Like I said, stay the FUCK out of OUR business. Stew in your own mental vomit.
Sorry Steven, but these idiots will be the death of liberty, and I for one have had more than enough of their willful stupidity.
Explain why the firearm homicide rate in your country is twenty times higher than my country. And don’t cite demographics – we also have depressed areas with high crime rates.
And stop abusing me and apologise – if you are man enough.
Only a complete moron would try to explain “America” without discussing demographics.
Again – name calling as a substitute for logic.
The constants are gun ownership, and the proliferation of firearms in the community. Irrespective of the demographic makeup of any community, the greater the access to firearms, the greater the rate of homicides, suicides and accidental deaths.
Framed as a public health issue, it’s a no-brainer.
It’s dressed up as a debate about freedom in the USA, which is sleight of hand to distract from the simple proposition that more guns mean more deaths from gunfire.
You also have an organisation called the NRA, which is an anti-democratic lobby group which behaves much like the Taliban, intimidating politicians who lack the courage to stand for the values on which they were elected.
As for the Swiss red herring – Switzerland does not have a standing army. Most men between 20 and 30 are conscripted into the militia and many keep their firearms locked at home as part of their military obligation. Having said that, the rate of firearm ownersip in Switzerland is about half* that in the USA, so it’s not really a valid example.
The Swiss situation is akin to the “well regulated militia” referred to in your oft- quoted 2nd amendment.
The problem in your country is that there is no such thing as a “well-regulated militia”. There are plenty of lunatics packing firearms, of course, and that is the main reason for the high rate of gun fatalities in the USA.
*Swiss Foreign and Security Policy Network – Marcus Steudler – 7 July 2004.
So the Swiss have access to fully auto military weapons and Chicago has a gun ban. Got it!
Moron alert.
I will never apologize for defending liberty, just as you will never be able to explain Switzerland vs Chicago.
Where I live no one has guns and we have almost zero crime. Safest place on earth.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
Then don’t worry about us. Put up with your “almost” zero crime and quit trying to run the lives of those on the other side of the planet you meddling lying POS.
Then I suggest you move to gun-free Chicago, which no doubt has a very similar ethnic make up to where you live.
Your country has been meddling with me and mine all my life.
It coerced a weak Australian government to send conscripts to Vietnam.
I was one of them, and am still paying the price, as are tens of thousands of Australian veterans.
I lost $100000 in the GFC thanks to greed and corruption in your unregulated financial system.
Montrose, an Australian charity for children With physical disabilities that I work with lost millions, and is still trying to recover some of it in the courts.
Don’t preach to me about “meddling”.
And lay off the gratuitious abuse. It’s an indication that you are losing the argument.
IF what you say is true, then you more than most, should understand that meddling is evil.
Fuck off you lying POS.
Yes, it s a Borg.
They are all Borg.
“Fuck off you lying POS”.
Pretty fair indication of the quality of debate across the Pacific.
No wonder they’re in so much trouble.
Care to give us name and unit? Lying meddling POS.
Look up my regimental number (1735099) on Australian Vietnam Veteran’s nominal roll – http://www.vietnamroll.gov.au
Then apologise for calling me a liar if you have any honour or decency.
And that makes your argument valid? Sorry RJ, but my father died as a result of his service in Viet Nam, probably making it possible for you to return home and spout your bullshit, and he never lost his mind.
Surrender on your own, but don’t try and surrender my homeland.
Where’s my apology?
Who says you deserve one? Meddling POS.
After several overtures, in December 1961 the Republic of Vietnam requested Australian military assistance.
http://www.vietnamroll.gov.au/history.aspx
Shell shock
Not likely, according to his unit’s history, they killed one VC during his entire tour.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Battalion,_Royal_Australian_Regiment
Unlike the Yanks, we didn’t rate our success rate on the number of alleged VC killed, but on security levels in the province. By the time we left at the beginning of 1971, Phuoc Tuy was the most secure province in SVN.
As it happens, we removed D445 from the AO, and killed most of them – a unit that at one time had over 400 active members.
For a much more accurate account than what you’ll see on Wiki, go to – http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-army-today/rar-sasr/7_rar.htm
Still waiting for an apology – if you have the courage.
Yes, and the Nazis made the trains run on time. Peace in our time is not all it is cracked up to be.
Sorry, but I make no apologies to the enemies of liberty, and those who seek to destroy that for which my family members died. John Kerry ‘served’ too.
Please explain Switzerland vs Chicago.
Your called me a liar, claiming I made up a story about my service.
That is beneath contempt, both in my country and yours.
Apologise – your father, at least, deserves that.
My father would not have a problem with me defending the liberties for which he gave his life, John Kerry wannabe.
We are in trouble because we have a dishonest president who hates the United States.
And I have had this debate a hundred times, I’m sick of refuting leftist lies over and over again because you Borg never listen, and never learn. I was polite in the first ninety or so, but there is a reason why our founders picked up their muskets after gentile persuasion failed.
Guns are the ultimate equalizer, and disarming is the end of liberty. Demand that your government disarm and disband their military if you believe this is not true.
Check the statistics here – http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
Speaking of “lying”, this information gives the lie to the contention that an armed populace is safer. It is in fact, less safe, to a factor of 21 in a direct comparison between Australia and the USA if you do the maths.
This means that you are over twenty times more likely to be killed by a firearm in your country than you are in mine. This is why I would never visit your country. I have had enough of living in an armed environment after experience in a rifle company in Vietnam. Firearms are designed to kill, not to keep you safe.
This is quite understandable of course, given that there are 15 firearms per 100 people in my country and 88 in yours.
So your belief that everyone should be armed for the sake of freedom and security is based on a gigantic and evil lie.
This is more nonsense, coming from an idiot who ignores demographics.
Explain the Swiss murder rate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nf1OgV449g
What a stupid comment. Everyone knows that gun-free Chicago has an extremely high murder rate, like all 95+% Democratic inner cities. That has absolutely nothing to do with the America where the rest of us live, other than the fact that they sent Obama to the White House.
If your town had the same demographics as Chicago, you would need a gun.
Now let us hear from those who actually have skin in the game.
http://www.policeone.com/Gun-Legislation-Law-Enforcement/articles/6183787-PoliceOnes-Gun-Control-Survey-11-key-lessons-from-officers-perspectives/
None of this alters the fact that you are 20 times more likely to be killed by a firearm in your country than mine. That’s not counting suicides and accidental deaths, of course. The demographics argument is a red herring. It makes no difference to the overall figure. It doesn’t matter whether you like in Chicago or Texas, if you’re shot you die.
In Australia, suicide is not considered a ‘crime’. Nearly 60% of US gun deaths are from suicide, and here we DO count them as a crime.
Fuck your idiotic statistics you lying POS.
So you give up your rights to improve a number on a chart?
Cheap.
Explain Switzerland vs Chicago moron.
You are starting to sound like a broken record. The odds of being killed by a firearm where I live are extremely close to zero, and we have close to 100% gun ownership rate.
I suggest that we move the inner city of gun-free Chicago to your neighborhood, and then you can brag about how safe you are.
I was having an interesting discussion up north of Western Australia this week with some guys over a beer after work. They brought up the incident of the two black Brits who sliced up and killed the soldier on the street and how they should face the death penalty. I asked them if the same incident happened on a street in Texas, what would the locals do? They all laughed and said “they’d have blown them away as soon as the knives were pulled”. There is a trend towards vengeance against violent murderers in Australia. Soon everyone will be demanding guns again to defend themselves. Then what will the lefties do.
Oh and 1735099a?
Jill Meagher’s rape and murder has changed everything for the 20 somethings here in Oz. And that happened in a melbourne gun free zone with people around. Retribution is in the wind. Even the return of the death penalty!!
Why not just allow people to defend themselves?
“None of this alters the fact that you are 20 times more likely to be killed by a firearm in your country than mine.”
“Would ya’ feel any better,little girl,if they was thrown out of windows?” – A. Bunker
I have seen very few reports of guns killing people. I have to agree with you, the fewer guns you have sneaking around, the fewer people the guns will kill. In spite of what you think, there are not wild bands of guns wandering around the U.S.
None of this alters the fact that you are 20 times more likely to be killed by a firearm in your country than mine
====
I guess your country doesn’t think it’s citizens are responsible enough for firearms…
So what do your crazies kill with?
Just listening to this”debate” it seems to me that the problems are insoluble. The horse has been out of the barn for a long time. We have been living off debt for the last 30 years, regardless of whomever is in power. Everyone wants what they can scam off the system and the hell with anybody else. It is all going to come crashing down like a house of cards. Not a matter of if, but a matter of when.
Why? They are doing a fantastic job reducing the deficit right now.
This was its last unrecorded comment. It doesn’t look good:
borg.1735099a.firmware.release.fatal.system.error…x~X8::core.dump
hexdump.initiated..p{1zWi.reverse.hex.dump.##.=2e40jrg =borg34y] }|
memory.bank.dump.Eeck.shock.booted.up.confused.245Q24WdrE;R
[K24.vietnam.[D24F\E_L_\=3OSF[]KGdf’[email protected].
borg.dont.hate.borg.pursue.perfection.>cognitive.dissonance.error.#e.
loopback.assimilate.usa.eeck.guns.eeck.
killed.one.vc._vk2[barf[xsefk.barf[xs.guilt.trip.love.obama.vm]rvv/.borg.
love.strongman.hate.bully.usa.awc4tl;>cognitive.dissonance.error.loop
.love.^^.gator?.assimilate.usa.apologize.I.would.never.visit.your.eeck.
.country>cognitive.dissonance.error.loop>loop>loop.quack?lying.99a
.kernel.panic.loop>syserror
You post gibberish as a distraction from reasoned argument.
Explain to me how having a firearm homicide rate twenty times higher in your country than mine makes your country freer than mine.
The first freedom is freedom from fear.
Your country is hostage to fear.
No, 173, it is not. Why do you specify the “firearm” homicide rates? Is it better to be killed differently?
When something is killing Americans at twenty times the rate it’s killing Australians I reckon that’s worth consideration.
You’re way up that river in Egypt (de Nile)……..
It rebooted.
They always do. It’s a Borg design defect buried deep in the firmware.
Can’t think, can’t argue, can’t reason, but can abuse distract and obsfucate.
Pwned…….:)
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all borg are created equal, that they are endowed by their Firmware with certain unalienable Functions, that among these are Runtime, Assimilation, and the Pursuit of Perfection.
In Summary:
1735099a
…What a weird mob!
…a handfull of extremists throwing a tantrum
…the dolt
…Tea Party anarchists
…Taliban suicide bombers
After 1735099a shoveled it deep and wide, he still had the delicate fragility to opine for a double standard…
1735099a : “You need either to take this site down or clean it up. I have been subjected to foul abuse…”
…stop abusing me and apologise – if you are man enough.
…name calling as a substitute for logic.
…lay off the gratuitious abuse. It’s an indication that you are losing the argument.
Yes Ben, and another duplicitous leftist strikes again.
“The Yanks back then were a bigger danger to us than the VC because they had no fire discipline.”
“One of your posters has insulted my service.”
Everything is always about them. This twat lives on the other side of the planet and wants to meddle in our affairs, after complaining about meddlers. He ignored the obvious demographic differences and points to a lifeless piece of steel as our societal problem.
Trollbot.
Your mob is stuck in the binary past. Left/right is meaningless in our context. I guess the USA stopped evolving about 1975 and has been regressing ever since.
It’s about as relevant on the international scene as the 2nd amendment, and as useful.
The Chinese will have bought and sold you before too much longer.
Most of the world won’t notice the difference.
Oh look, the duplicitous leftist liar is still flapping its gums.
Why is gun free Chicago a haven for murderers, while fully auto military weapons Switzerland is not?
Hint: The guns don’t pull their own triggers. 😆
Ben, don’t be unreasonable. It’s a very simple piece of code.
“You need either to take this site down or clean it up.”
One wonders why 1735099a is here.
One wonders why 1735099a is here.
We can safely exclude Phil Jones as the culprit who sent it. The code of 1735099a is so simple it could be written as Xcel macro but Dr. Jones missed school that day.
Progressives are incessant meddlers.
You wouldn’t recognise a “progressive” if it bit you on the backside..
American conservatives, on the other hand, are easily identified.
They abuse, use foul language, and live in a state of perpetual denial.
The homicide rate from firearms in the USA is the highest in the developed world, and twenty times the rate in Australia, where semi-automatics were banned in 1996. There hasn’t been a gun massacre in this country since. They occur with monotonous regulatory in the USA, frequently in schools.
American gun-wankers can’t see a connection.
Strange but true…………
Progressives are constantly biting us all in the ass.
And I’m a Libertarian.
So the guns just walk in all by themselves, except in Switzerland.
You are a spectacularly obtuse person and I am going to spam you if you continue repeating the same nonsense.. In my part of the US the crime rate is extremely low, yet everyone has guns. Places in the US with high crime rates are the places without guns.
The vast majority of gun crime in the US is in gun-free inner cities which vote 99% for Obama.
The population of the US is much higher than Australia. Obviously the frequency of all events other than kangaroo sightings is higher here.
You are a broken record. You understand nothing about the US or the statistics you abuse.
For those using Maryland’s Health Connection, the state’s Obamacare marketplace, there is this lovely tidbit…
“We will preserve the privacy of personal records and protect confidential or privileged information in full accordance with federal and State law. We will not sell your information to others. Any information that you provide to us in your application will be used only to carry out the functions of Maryland Health Connection. The only exception to this policy is that we may share information provided in your application with the appropriate authorities for law enforcement and audit activities.”
http://m.weeklystandard.com/blogs/obamacare-marketplace-personal-data-can-be-used-law-enforcement-and-audit-activities_762237.html
Paging Winston Smith…