Patting the wrists, rolling the eyes.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
That may be in standard contracts. Hell if I know. And some indemnity policies don't have "approved" facilities -- you go where you go, and they pay what they pay, and you have to make up the difference. I'm not sure that even "participating" facilities in PPOs necessarily won't charge you more than what the insurer/plan deems reasonable and reimburses, but I could be wrong on that.

In any event, even for non-emergency care, if you read the actual articles, most of the facilities contacted weren't able/willing to provide cost estimates even after the fact, and prices negotiated with particular insurers/administrators are even more unlikely to be disclosed.

If one of the effects of HSAs etc. is to make prices for healthcare more transparent, I wonder whether prices for the insured will go up b/c the hospitals have a hard time justifying charging so much more to uninsured people (who, the hospitals note, often never pay b/c they go into bankruptcy, which brings us back to the bankruptcy issue . . .).

Mmmmmmmmm

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
If there are only 22 million people, even with a pretty high birthrate, and even given 10 years or so, that's a significant proportion of the population.

You know those IQ improvement experiments, like in Flowers for Algernon? Does your PPO cover that?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Introduce a little math and you do get addled, don't you.

Some of the dead US troops are from al Queda. Bilmore doesn't have to get 1500 per Al queda killed guy does he?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Spanky
Have your friends been back since the Iraqi elections?

and if so, have you reported them?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
It's like the Libya concessions- okay it hadn't anything to do with people thinking Bush mioght actually stand up for what he says- the changes had been coming for sometime, then again in Egypt and Iraq and Lebannon and ? At some point all this couldn't have "been coming for awhile" or just coincidence- could it Ty?

I don't think it's all just a coincidence. That's bilmore's thing, remember? And do you learn about foreign policy by reading Highlights For Kids?

Egypt is no coincidence. I'm sure that it was pressure from us that got Mubarak to change the election rules. Bush can take the credit for that. The bad news is, there isn't much. Mubarak is still banning the most popular opposition party from running.

Bush can take all of the credit for what's happening in Iraq. It's not exactly a success story yet:

• By day or night, Baghdad has become a cacophony of automatic weapons fire, explosions and sudden death, its citizens living in constant fear of being shot by insurgents or the security forces meant to protect them. Streets are crammed with passenger cars fighting for space with armored vehicles and pickups loaded with hooded and heavily armed Iraqi soldiers. Hundreds of bombs in recent months have made mosques, public squares, sidewalks and even some central streets extremely dangerous places in Baghdad. On Haifa Street, rocket-propelled grenades sometimes fly through traffic. Rashid Street is a favorite for roadside bombers near the Tigris River.

AP. So Bush gets to take the blame, too.

Which leaves Lebanon. You guys say Bush takes the credit for all the demonstrations by the "pro-democracy" forces who don't want proportional representation but do want the Syrians out. Apparently wanting the Syrians to leave is something the Lebanese couldn't have thought of until we invaded Iraq. All this has to do with the "tone" of Bush's State of the Union, which the Lebanese must have been paying close attention to. Or they're just on Grover Norquist's e-mail listserv.

I agree, no coincidence. But also no clear pattern.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
I got a 59. "You are a medium-core libertarian, probably self-consciously so. Your friends probably encourage you to quit talking about your views so much."
.

54-same group

I call bull shit on 160 as a perfect score. Anarchy and libertarianism are not equivalent. "Should the state be abolished"? "Should all taxes be abolished"? I may be medium-core, but i still like things such as stop lights and a modicum of property protection from the state. It's not like paying off criminals not to rob me is a viable approach.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Sexual Harassment Panda
I got a 20. Soft-core.

I got 18, you Fascist libertarian (in a relative sense) scum.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I don't think it's all just a coincidence. That's bilmore's thing, remember? And do you learn about foreign policy by reading Highlights For Kids?

If you think the hours you spend reading biased bloggers makes you better educated than me, you might want to reconsider the values of the degrees you earned. I read fuck all on foreign policy. I read the news and apply common sense.

Bush can take all of the credit for what's happening in Iraq. It's not exactly a success story yet:

• By day or night, Baghdad has become a cacophony of automatic weapons fire, explosions and sudden death, its citizens living in constant fear of being shot by insurgents or the security forces meant to protect them. Streets are crammed with passenger cars fighting for space with armored vehicles and pickups loaded with hooded and heavily armed Iraqi soldiers. Hundreds of bombs in recent months have made mosques, public squares, sidewalks and even some central streets extremely dangerous places in Baghdad. On Haifa Street, rocket-propelled grenades sometimes fly through traffic. Rashid Street is a favorite for roadside bombers near the Tigris River.

AP. So Bush gets to take the blame, too.

You think thats enough to write off the whole vote and change? You're dealing with a country where people have never felt safe doing anything and suddenly there is a power vacuum. For a few years there will be extreme crime, then there are the insurgants and the AQ guys. I believe as the Iraqui peoples step up to police and militia positions they will take care of all these problems. Best piece of evidence? Its gory but- for awhile the high profile bombings come at recruitment/graduation things for police and militia. They still happen and they still kill scores of people. I say things are going in a positve way in Iraq- if not, why are there still scores of people killed at police recruitment/ graduations?

Bahgdad is violent and you want to blame the W? Shit- start at home people get murdered here every day. Wisconsin may not be "ready" for democracy under the Ty test.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150324,00.html

[Anarchocapitalist Man]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
54-same group

I call bull shit on 160 as a perfect score. Anarchy and libertarianism are not equivalent. "Should the state be abolished"? "Should all taxes be abolished"? I may be medium-core, but i still like things such as stop lights and a modicum of property protection from the state. It's not like paying off criminals not to rob me is a viable approach.

There is a level of cowardice lower than that of the conformist: the fashionable non-conformist. Luckily for you, you have hank to keep you company.

[Replaced_Texan]

Motherfucking asshole redux

Via Charles Kauffman

What I want to know is why it's fucking taken so long for DeLay Ethical Concerns to Now Cause GOP Concern? (emphasis mine)

It's not as if they didn't know he was an unethical bastard and the man was admonished three times last year for ethical violations.

Have I mentioned how much I hate Tom DeLay?

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Bahgdad is violent and you want to blame the W?

The bitterness is still way too high. This conversation, like mine before, goes nowhere. I just picture all of these people around Ty patting his wrist and saying "yes, dear" and rolling their eyes.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
By day or night, Baghdad has become a cacophony of automatic weapons fire, explosions and sudden death, its citizens living in constant fear of being shot by insurgents or the security forces meant to protect them. Streets are crammed with passenger cars fighting for space with armored vehicles and pickups loaded with hooded and heavily armed Iraqi soldiers. Hundreds of bombs in recent months have made mosques, public squares, sidewalks and even some central streets extremely dangerous places in Baghdad. On Haifa Street, rocket-propelled grenades sometimes fly through traffic. Rashid Street is a favorite for roadside bombers near the Tigris River.

I once stayed in Detroit, in the Pontchartrain, for weeks while trying a case in downtown fedcourt. Sounded just as you describe at night.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
Motherfucking asshole redux

Via Charles Kauffman

What I want to know is why it's fucking taken so long for DeLay Ethical Concerns to Now Cause GOP Concern? (emphasis mine)

It's not as if they didn't know he was an unethical bastard and the man was admonished three times last year for ethical violations.

Have I mentioned how much I hate Tom DeLay?

If I were you I'd be up in arms with my county Road Comissioner more than Tom D.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by bilmore
I once stayed in Detroit, in the Pontchartrain, for weeks while trying a case in downtown fedcourt. Sounded just as you describe at night.

Now that the NHL has closed down its usually less crowded at night during winter.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Replaced_Texan
What I want to know is why it's fucking taken so long for DeLay Ethical Concerns to Now Cause GOP Concern?

Because, like Torriccelli, it's starting to affect the chances of retaining the seat?

(If you'd like to start a one-to-one listing of the unethical fucks from each side over the years, let me know. Frankly, I think our time would be better spent elsewhere, but, hey, I'm only here to please . . . )