Politics: Onward from New Hampshire

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Either you are requesting that I absent myself from this board (in which case, be happy, I have to go to dinner) or you need to reread the post to which you are replying, paying particular attention to the differences between "and" and "to" as well as between "when" and "what."

On your computer did "try" show up in my post?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by bilmore
Only to someone who wanted it to be so.

Cute, but wrong. The left's proposition that certain policy goals are more effectively obtained by government programs than incentivized private sectors does not constitute a wholesale adoption of communist philosophy, except on these boards (a.k.a. www.birchsociety.com/chat).

Perhaps your favorite response to "Let's create universal health coverage" will always be "While you're at it, why not just nationalize my entire paycheck?!?!?" but this is not a frightening prospect to those of us who live in the region voted Most Likely to Actually Adopt This Policy. Even in San Francisco, there is a limit to the political support you can get for outright wealth redistribution --- be not afraid, then, of what a Congress including, by definition, people from Missouri will do with universal healthcare as a precedent.

So yes, it is a non sequitur, except if we live in a world in which someone who says "Let's do X" is always forced to respond to whether they'd necessarily also like to do 2X, 10X, and X^20.* In other words, law school.

*When your kid asks for an eclair from the dessert tray, do you immediately say, "If you like eclairs so goddamn much, why don't you have them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, huh? Then we'll see how much you like eclairs! Oh, you'll have eclairs until you're bleeding custard out your goddamn ears!" Just askin'.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Atticus, fringe is dating brain damaged.

Her boyfriend's name is "brain damaged"?

[confidential to Hank]Please change the tan guy's outfit. TIA.[/confidential to Hank]

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Not Me
Her boyfriend's name is "brain damaged"?

Please change the tan guy's outfit. TIA.

If we're voting, I would like to see a lobster bib. TIA.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
The left's proposition that certain policy goals are more effectively obtained by government programs than incentivized private sectors

Do you really think that about health care? The rest of the world by and large gets to free ride off the medical innovations that are developed in the US because the companies are willing to invest R&D because of the return on their investments that they can get in a capitalist system. Take capitalism out of the US healthcare system and significantly reduce the profits that can be earned and medical innovation will come to a screeching halt.

Drug costs are high in the US because these companies cannot recoup very much of their R&D in socialist countries because of the price controls. The rest of the world enjoys the fruits of what the American health care consumer pays for.

Do you know how they keep drug costs down in Canada and Europe? They threaten to void a patent or compulsory licensing if the manufacturers refuse to sell the drugs at the price that the single payers want to pay for them. That is why the drugs cost more here - we have a takings clause in our constitution and that cannot be done in the US without just compensation.

I wouldn't want to need a heart bypass operation in Canada. And if you are over 70 and need dialysis in Europe, good luck getting that.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
*When your kid asks for an eclair from the dessert tray, do you immediately say, "If you like eclairs so goddamn much, why don't you have them breakfast, lunch, and dinner, huh? Then we'll see how much you like eclairs! Oh, you'll have eclairs until you're bleeding custard out your goddamn ears!" Just askin'.

No. that's a good point Atticus. i remember once though, at this fancy big city restaurant, they brought around the dessert tray and my daughter grabbed a torte slice, I yelled at her big time. My problem wasn't she was having dessert, I just wanted her to stick to things I had paid for.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
If we're voting, I would like to see a lobster bib. TIA.

Lobster bib is a good one, but there needs to be headwear, too.

I was thinking orange clown 'fro and red nose might be a nice combo.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
No. that's a good point Atticus. i remember once though, at this fancy big city restaurant, they brought around the dessert tray and my daughter grabbed a torte slice, I yelled at her big time. My problem wasn't she was having dessert, I just wanted her to stick to things I had paid for.

Have you tried taking her ot one of those all-you-can-eat places? You might want to consider doing it on a regular basis if for nothing else, to keep sebby away from your daughter. Won't be long before she reaches sebby's age of consent.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Not Me
Her boyfriend's name is "brain damaged"?

Tomorrow, i will change outfits.
as to her boyfriends name, I doubt his name is brain damage, unless he was rasied traditional american Indian. I really can't tell much about the people who post here, and how they are in real life.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Not Me
Do you really think that about health care?

Beats the fuck out of me, dude. I don't understand the health care system. Fortunately, I am a Californian, which means when I vote it's to "send a message to Sacramento/Washington/Brussels." It's surprisingly un-nuanced and doesn't require a command of the facts. By comparison, what Ty knows, he knows as an aficionado and connoisseur, not as an informed citizen per se.

I got involved not out of concern for substance, but because I get pissed when the left is forced to eat its reductio ad absurdum while the right gets to point and laugh from behind the impenetrable fortress that is Godwin's Law.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Beats the fuck out of me, dude. I don't understand the health care system. Fortunately, I am a Californian, which means when I vote it's to "send a message to Sacramento/Washington/Brussels." It's surprisingly un-nuanced and doesn't require a command of the facts. By comparison, what Ty knows, he knows as an aficionado and connoisseur, not as an informed citizen per se.

I got involved not out of concern for substance, but because I get pissed when the left is forced to eat its reductio ad absurdum while the right gets to point and laugh from behind the impenetrable fortress that is Godwin's Law.

Quit arguing my posts to bilmore or notme. your therapist would call your behavior passive-aggressive.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Beats the fuck out of me, dude. I don't understand the health care system.

Quick primer. The biggest flaw of our current system is that the ultimate consumer (the patient) is by and large insulated from the cost of care at the point of service by the third party payer (assuming that they have health insurance) and that there is an informaiton imbalance between those seliing the service and those receiving the service. For non-discretionary spending (i.e., cancer, heart attack, certain proven preventative measures, etc.) provided by ethical providers (i.e., those who only will sell the patient services that the patient actually needs and can benefit from), it is not a problem that the consumer is insulated from the cost.

But for discretionary health care (i.e., going to the doctor for every sniffle or cut or sprained finger or treating minor skin problems, etc.) it is bad when the consumer doesn't share in the cost or only shares minimally because there is no disincentive to utilize the services and the result is overutilization. And for unethical providers, the patient is not typically able to tell if the services are unnecessary or not (information imbalance). Basically, the doctors can create the demand for their own services.

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Fortunately, I am a Californian, which means when I vote it's to "send a message to Sacramento/Washington/Brussels."

Fine as long as the message you are sending is not the equivalent of waving a white flag to AQ after they bomb us as the Spanish did.

[Dave]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
Quit arguing my posts to bilmore or notme. your therapist would call your behavior passive-aggressive.

Nice personal 2k.

On an entirely unrelated note, mostly because I'm too lazy to google, anyone have an over/under on how many virgins will supposedly be awaiting Sheik Ahmed Yassin in paradise?

[Hank Chinaski]

deadoraliveinfo.com has the following entry for Sheikh Yassin:

3/22/2004 67 Sheikh Ahmed Yassin Religion,Miscellaneous

I suppose this shows progress. 60 years ago "Jew Killer" wouldhave been a stand-alone catagory.

Interesting AbuAbbas was just catagorized as "Crime"

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Dave
Nice personal 2k.

On an entirely unrelated note, mostly because I'm too lazy to google, anyone have an over/under on how many virgins will supposedly be awaiting Sheik Ahmed Yassin in paradise?

None. It turns out that there will only be white raisins for him:

Virgins? What Virgins?