Regular readers here will recognize the prolific Coffee Shop contributor - figure he deserves his own "column." So we hear both sides, eh? He thinks "progressives" are the new Jews, among other things, nice talking points, those.
On his paying taxes:Taxes pay for services. The Republicans idea of working with democrats is to make health care reform an even bigger cash cow for insurance companies while blaming Democrats for shutting them out of the process. Then they filibuster.
I have been paying health care premiums for most of my adult life. I only seek a doctor's services when I think I have a serious medical issue. My premiums have skyrocketed so high that in order to be covered I have had to raise my deductible to a level that denies me access for most everything that isn't considered terminal. Health insurance has been on a path of giving diminishing value. They charge more for fewer services. We are victims of their 'for profit' business model. Fewer people can afford it. Insurance companies purge people for pre-existing conditions and have increasingly denied coverage to people who need life saving treatments. The government could do better job of making health care affordable. And the government could make health care available to everyone.
Doctors buy malpractice insurance which is a separate issue. But I have no problem with socializing that too. Take profit out of malpractice insurance and those premiums would likely drop. In many states malpractice cases have a cap on the amount that can be asked for. Tort reform has already happened there. My concern is for people who have been denied access. They are the ones that have gotten a raw deal. I don't see many poor doctors, and I don't think they would be made poorer by socialized medicine. Hospitals and doctors do quite well in countries that have socialized medicine. Your arguments don't reflect the facts.
..."And it would do this how?"
The way medicare does it. The way the military does it. The way every other advanced country does it.
"you're either for us or you're against us"
Pretty much how Republicans see things since George W. Bush. Its how Republicans operate in Congress. It is the tactic of brutes, often accompanied by deception. ...
on health insurance....I sure don't think someone owes me anything. I have health insurance. And I certainly want it now that I'm over 50. But it should be more affordable, more available, and more reliable. Every other advanced country makes quality health care available to all of their citizens. In this country access to dependable health care is not guaranteed. Insurance companies can choose not to pay your medical bills for so many reasons. Like the child who was denied access to the drugs that he needed to save his life because his insurer decided that the pills were too expensive. Saving that kids life just didn't fit their profit projection. That insurance company could have provided for that child's medication without any significant loss to their profit margin. That alone convinces me that insurance companies should all be run as non-profits. They waste vast amounts of money, take to much of it as profit, create mountains of confounding paperwork, and will kill your children if there is profit in it. It is capitalism at its very worst. Socialized medicine would be the superior alternative. It would eliminate all the waste and get the jackals out of our health care system. I pay taxes that help support the police department so that I can be relatively safe. I would pay taxes to protect me from health insurance companies.
Well, get ready, I have returned to a state of sobriety.
on California...Most lawyers won't even take a tort case in California because the State capped the amount that you are allowed to collect in a medical malpractice case. They are not worth the effort. So I think that you can have true health care reform without tort reform. There are many ways to bring the price of health care down, not the least of which would be to discourage huge profit taking. Health insurance CEOs do not need to be making $20 million a year. And health insurance should not be a commodity with shares trading in the stock market. Drug companies are making outrageous mark-ups from products that were often developed in university labs. A single payer system would create a 'market of scale' that would negotiate prices downward. Digging in your heals over a single issue in the health care reform debate is covering up a larger issue for you. I wonder what that issue is. ...
on Letting Obama dictate via Executive Powers, yes he is for it...Sorry, what were Obama's failed attempts at radical, unconstitutional reform? You aren't talking about health care reform, are you? That was neither unconstitutional or a failure. Those are still in Congress. You are splitting hairs about the Constitution.
The Constitution gives the President the power to execute executive orders and to use reconciliation under certain circumstances. He will seek the advice of his A.G. before using those presidential powers. Nothing is being rammed through Congress because right now Congress needs a laxative. Its been made constipated by the Republicans. Obama's calls to act swiftly have had no effect on the blockage. We the people are tired of being hosed by health insurance companies. But conservative Republicans and Democrats are protecting the status quo. And each year costs soar higher and higher for less and less coverage. Reforming health care to lower costs is critical to long term economic recovery. There is nothing treasonous about that.
"progressives" are the new Jews...Progressives are to Republicans and their Tea Party enablers, what the Jews were to Hitler before he set up the death/labor camps. Sixty percent of adults in this country have the reading comprehension comparable to fourth grade elementary students. Its no wonder they've become militant. The proliferation of hate speech by the Glen Becks, Sean Hanitys, and the Rush Limbaughs keep them focused. They know who their enemy is. And they know that Fox News is fair and balanced and distrust those liberal news channels. They don't read liberal newspapers, or any other kind. Why would they do that when they pay for cable. Yup, they know that Sarah Palin is is one of their own and that she is damn fine lookin' too. And oh how it drives them bat shit crazy when people say she is stupid. They know that she has got what it takes to be President and that is what has got them progressives runnin' scared. And we know them progressives are runnin' scared when they start callin' names. But what do progressives know. They won't work and want everyone else to give them everything and they don't want businesses to be successful 'cause, er 'cause they, er, don't own their own bath tubs and don't have the money to go shoppin' and, so they don't think that anyone should have a Home Depot or a Walmart if they can't have one too.... Ya know what I mean? To shop at, but they have know jobs.... Right? ...
on the "progressives" destruction of business...Name some businesses that progressives have set out to destroy and I'll name some businesses that have destroyed themselves, deliberately, in the name of quick profits, leaving compromised ecosystems and unemployment in their wake. They destroy communities and run off with the money. Progressives always get the straw man treatment when they work to correct that sort of thing. You cannibals have always got a fire going somewhere. But we know what is in the stew you're cookin'. And we don't need an invite to dinner. ...
Nice straw man you created, Gus. You attribute the intolerance of Beck and Palin towards democrats and progressives while they whip up anger towards them within the tea party movement in a bid to co-opt their political clout for the Republican party. Sarah Palin has never read anything by Alinsky. Neither have I for that matter, but, what does that matter, when you can peg me as an elitist for pointing out that Glen Beck, who admitted that Rush Limbaugh, another substance abuser with control issues, is steering the Republican party by creating hatred for a group of people that is working to put people back to work and trying make health care affordable and available to everyone. It seems to me that you and your heroes are the elitist ones who are defending a form of unregulated free enterprise capitalism that has gone unchecked and destroyed the economy. You have no ties to the people in your community or your country which should be grounded in cooperation that is the hallmark of our species that began when our ancestors were hunter gatherers and which served them well as their emergent societies began farming, allowing them to settle into city states. Instead of advancing our country through cooperation you have chosen to attack and divide and destroy in pursuit of of personal power. And you do not care who you destroy for personal gain. I will destroy you seems to be the battle cry of the republican party. Where have we heard those words before, Rose. ...
Anonymous world view......Progressives are the new Jew to be targeted with hate in the Republican new and improved Morning in America. He bad-mouthed Theodore Roosevelt for saying that personal wealth should not be gained by damaging a community. He became indignant that Roosevelt had added the caveat that great personal wealth should be gained only when it benefits the community. He damned the progressive Bull Moose party.
Well what would you expect from Glen Beck. He is a recovering alcoholic and has the mindset shared by those self-centered, abusive people. Once an alcoholic always a alcoholic. Just like an alcoholic he believes he is not the problem. Just like other alcoholics he will always blame the wife, the children, the community and his Country. In his tortured worldview he now blames progressives for his blameless Republican party's fall loss of power. ...
It'll be a regular feature from now on.
