People ask us, how do you make money?

The answer's simple.   Volume.

I'm sorry, but if this thing is going to work, some of you folks need to die.

Now, stop the whining and line up over by the oven.

First off, F*** little ezra. Seriously. Ignore the little fool and the horse he rode in on.

Second, anyone thinking the GOP wishes to trash the entire O'bumf***healthcarethingy is whistling dixie. GOP leadership just wants their hands on the levers of power, not to dismantle that mechanism...

GOP leadership just wants their hands on the levers of power, not to dismantle that mechanism...

THIS!. That's why I  want fiscal conservatism to take over the GOP.

Whether or not it's a hostile takeover, I don't  really care.

#28  Obama decries reduction in corpse men as a result of sequester.  Also says states may have to be reduced from 57 to something more workable, like 12. 

Today  three  LA  hospitals  announced  eventual  closure.  Heckuva  job,  Barry.

"is there anything you can't blame it for?"

Er, Global Warming/Cooling/Extreme Weather/catchynameoftheday?

#52,

You properly expanded on what I posted, but hey, it's all good.

"and the insane hospital markup created by "health insurance" regime dictated to us via the federal govt..."

...

This is exactly where I've been coming from on this since day one. Teh Won and company want to be like that mythical land, Uuuurope, where all is run by mandarins and people live little, happy lives.

Trouble is, those mandarins never understood that we underwrote that theme park, and now that we aren't, it's falling apart - yet all the while we're being led down that same path...

Oh the drones know all, see all.......

Posted by: Vic at April 04, 2013 10:48 AM (53z96)

Smart as I am, and studied on this thing I still can't even get a handle on the solving of that one.

Chemo is expensive, always will be (unless there's suddenly some explosion of cancer that allows mass production of drugs on a scale order of magnitudes higher than it is now.)

Problem is of course even if we tinker with the system you still won't get anything intelligent out of it.  Take your average HDHP, it's going to have a deductible of somewhere between 5k and 10k (a few 2.5ks are classified as that, but for now let's stick with the 5k option.).

So you get cancer, every freaking year you're going to have to shell out 5k to satisfy your deductible.  I think this scares a lot of people.  (And some people start on a HDHP then jump ship if they get actually sick.)

Even if you plan really well, I think having 10-15k in a HSA is possible but rare, meaning you'd drain it in 3 years max.

So risk averse people stick to the soup to nuts insurance plans (and who can blame them.)

We need something more comprehensive with life time out of pock maximum values that trigger in case of truly catastrophic illness, but nothing even approaches that.  (We also need a culture change that says "yeah, at 75, you don't need a 90k prostate cancer treatment that extends your life by 2-3  months.)

Or to put it in Catholic terms (which I know best) we need to restore the language of "proportionate" and "disproportionate" care. (this decision is situated on the individual.)

Posted by: tsrblke (work) at April 04, 2013 11:06 AM (cdwHs)

3D drug printers??

As a physician,  I think it is important that we maintain some modicum of professional composure when we discuss Obamacare.  I think we should use the proper name for the legislation, and by doing so maintain the high ground in the ongoing discussion about our great nation's healthcare needs.

For example  it sounds better to say:

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 is a giant turd sandwich!

Posted by: HoboJerky, now with 45% more DOOM! at April 04, 2013 11:06 AM (xAtAj)

The flipside though is the American consumer is an idiot.  Get rid of the FDA and see the market flooded with moronic shit that doesn't do anything (but patients want).  See Also: "Anti-neoplastons" which Burzynski managed to sideskirt the FDA on and pockets thousands selling to desperate cancer patients.

Reform the FDA is a better option I think, especially with regards to generic drugs.

Also there's the weird issue of who gets sued when something goes wrong.  There's a case moving through the courts right now where a generic drug manufacturer is being sued because the drug had side effects which weren't discovered until after the generic went on the market.  The side effects are the result of the generic, but that's what everyone was taking at that point.

So who gets sued? The generic maker who did everything they were required to do (remember, generics aren't tested for new side effects, just that they mimic the uptake of the name brand) or the name brand company that failed to disclose test results properly?  Or no one?

Posted by: Misophonia Sufferer / Serious Cat at April 04, 2013 11:09 AM (UypUQ)

they'd have to be at a molecular level

Every cancer is treated differently, every Chemo has a different mechanism of action.  Some are antibody tagged some are purely chemical.

MAYBE nanobots will save us, but that's what 20 years off at the earliest? (And that's being optimistic.

Posted by: Dr Data at April 04, 2013 11:12 AM (f+fIu)

why sure, Docs, nurses, assistants, electricity , buildings are also all freee.

it's amazing!

Posted by: Dr Data at April 04, 2013 11:12 AM (f+fIu)

********

Oh, wait a second.  I didn't know that was even an option.  Where do I sign up?  

And yet, even with OCare not being fully implemented, the negative effects are already here.

And not one Pubbie dares to  talk about it.

Obamacare has never been about healthcare. Any sick people made well as the result of Obamacare is purely incidental happenstance. Obamacare was designed to serve as a transitional step, a temporary placeholder until the time was right for implementation of a single-payer system similar to Great Britain's NHS. That Obamacare was slapped together willy-nilly seemingly at the last moment before its passage should've been the first clue. In fact, from a 'progressive' perspective, it's better that Obamacare is rife with bureaucratic complexity, unworkable exchanges, and unintelligible directives.  Such failings furnish an argument to take it all the way.

Bill Ayers (Obama's political godfather and ghostwriter) stated that 2.5 million Americans would have to be 'eliminated' in order to implement his view of liberal utopia.

We've been assuming that elimination would be direct violence instead of inaction and indirect disdain...

Not to fuss too much, but I think your 2.5M figure is somewhat low.

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at April 04, 2013 11:15 AM (pxDth)

You don't have to. Look you can just hand over your income, and  not pay your lease, or you assistants, or you billing clerk,  or you light bill, or Your insurance premium.

see more money for the greater good.

i hope you don't have anyone at home depending on groceries or a roof over their head.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 04, 2013 11:11 AM (aDwsi)

The one's I'm looking at switching too don't have that option, the deductible resets every year as far as I can tell.

And they get really complicated in other areas.  If my wife and I switch to it, and decide to have a kid in the next year or so, we'll drain any reasonable contribution on that event alone.  So what's our incentive to switch?  HDHP costs $200/month puts $1200 per year in a HSA.  Comprehensive plan costs $350/month.  Even if we put the extra $150/month into the HSA we'll only have 3k at the end of the year, which pretty much gets drained on Labor and Delivery if my math is accurate.  So then we have to start all over, and hopefully start being able to get ahead next year.

So the system is rigged against new models of insurance.

Posted by: Fourth Virginia at April 04, 2013 10:48 AM (wbmaj)

In my former life I worked at a US branch of an Australian bank.  They downsized in the early '90's in stages.  On the day some of the corporate people were let go we had a guy do just that....brought a chainsaw to work. 

Yeah, he was escorted from the building by security.

Why fight this Obamacare thing when it may work out better in the long run?

The logical progression of this type of policy will leave us with a healthcare system similar to Argentina. 

There will be a totally free, birth to death system for the masses in one tier.

The second tier will be clinics that treat members of unions or trade associations, set up and run by those organizations for the benefit of their members.

The rich will have something like the Swiss Medical Clinics that serve those with money. 

People who use the free government run system won't receive the very best in care, but that's because no government can afford to give every person the ultimate in healthcare.  Those in the middle will get better care, but only to the limits their union or association set, then you're back to the government system.

As always, the rich will get whatever they want.  As it should be.

Why not just embrace what is the natural order of things?

Posted by: eman at April 04, 2013 11:13 AM (bP2re)

If you're paying this out of your own pocket I don't disagree.

But if you're dipping into the voluntarily pooled fun called insurance, that's not really the case is it?

Like I said we need a culture change.  It's going to have to be centered on the individual though.  I've seen people willingly bankrupt their family to extend their life a few months.  Shouldn't they have considered their family's future in that choice before they made it?

As long as the "payer" is some anonymous 3rd party entity (or goverment) though we can't even begin to have this discussion because the answer will always come back "you're entitled to it!"

http://tinyurl.com/cry4u85

Denninger  explains  the  how  we're  fucked  on  medical  care  and  why  government  interference  in  the  free  market  created  this  mess.  

"Tell me again why it is sleeting in CLT on April 4th?

Global warming?"

Asked and answered, peasant.  Now send me money so I can save you from further scary weather.  Or else.

Posted by: willow at April 04, 2013 11:28 AM (nqBYe)

Pathway to former-citizenship ??

Once you have accepted that 1+1=POTATO, the math becomes simple and it all works..

Sorta like Calvinball, then.

It doesn't take a genius to know that    a business receiving less money for their services is going to cut those services.   If    the cost to McDonald's to make cheeseburgers suddenly outstrips the money they receive in exchange for those cheeseburgers, guess what -      they're going to jack up the price OR decrease the number of cheeseburgers that get made until the balance sheets even out.  

Well, doctors can     jack up the price all they want (not that they want to), and the gubmint is still going to pay them the same pittance per    service   when it comes to Medicare or Medicaid.   So what do they do?  They decrease the services    available   to those patients.

HOLY SHIT IT'S LIKE MEDICINE IS A BUSINESS OR SOMETHING.

People -- and by "people" I mean mouthbreathing leftards -- seem to think that being a doctor or a nurse or a surgeon should be akin to being a monk.   Once you don the     scrubs     you should live a life of humble poverty    devoted to doing good works.     There should be no desire for monetary gain; your fulfilment should come from ministering to the sick and infirm.  

They're   all too    happy to forget that

A) Medical training costs mucho dinero,    and those loans have to be paid back

B) Medical equipment needs upkeep,     updating     and replacing

C) Medicines can't be reused   -  they have to be bought repeatedly

D) Medical staff AND administrative staff have to get paid

That    these are such hard concepts to grasp tells me that the        world -- not just our country, THE WORLD -- are populated by some of the stupidest human beings ever to walk the Earth.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 04, 2013 11:32 AM (tqLft)

perhaps the govt will chip in for a cheap cd and player,

for our final moments.

because compassion or something.

Posted by: willow at April 04, 2013 11:28 AM (nqBYe)

You must be mistaken....why I saw nurses dances around hospital beds and singing glorious songs about the NHS in the UK.  They all seemed so happy....even the patients.

/s

"I don't think this would violate the Fourth Amendment. Anyone who buys a gun could be forced to waive his Fourth Amendment right."

That is some prizewinning   STUPID right there.

"Oh, sure, I'll just go ahead and waive my CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT,   since I'm choosing to exercise another CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.   Sure, no problem."

What a fucking retard.       And I don't like calling people retards, but this guy (or chick)  --  fucking RETARD!

J.J. Sefton:   It's from RWC's     comment     at #152:

Posted by: RWC at April 04, 2013 11:29 AM (fWAjv)

Posted by: torquewrench at April 04, 2013 11:37 AM (gqT4g)

perfect.

of course they won't even attempt it. Because . why should They risk their families , childrens, spouses, health.

Posted by: shibumi at April 04, 2013 11:38 AM (z63Tr)

Because technically they haven't paid their premiums.   They paid the premiums of the generation    that preceded them.  

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 11:41 AM (4df7R)

Oh, and since,     like a spazz,   I hit POST before I finished my comment, Medicare is an    "insurance" like any other.   Medical facilities have no responsibility to accept it,   just as they have no responsibility to accept any other insurance carrier.  

Stairway to Heaven, played backwards, is Highway to Hell.  And it fucks up your needle (remember those?).

Word!

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 11:41 AM (4df7R)

And what do you do when premiums paid in is less than average patient paid out (which is IIRC what we're seeing with Medicare right now?)

In a private system you'd be forced to either a) cut care or b) raise premiums to cover the gap.

Posted by: AnonymousDrivel at April 04, 2013 11:44 AM (eHIJJ)

Hell yes!   A difficult, time consuming,  stressful,  often thankless job.   I don't know why anyone bothers becoming a doctor anymore, I really don't.

Posted by: Vic at April 04, 2013 11:30 AM (53z96)

Vic,

I'm not saying it doesn't work in all cases.

But those are actual numbers I'm dealing with. (Admittedly those are single person numbers. Not family, but the point still remains, and it only gets worse as you move to the family plan because the deductible and premium go up a lot, and the contribution to HSA doesn't increase by the same proportion.)

So based on those actual numbers, how the hell does one make it work? I actually asked my wife to ask that of her boss who apparently is on the HDHP.  His advice is far more useful to me than the 50 year old single woman with 0 health problems who keeps telling my wife "it's totally great!"

As long as the economics of it aren't in my favor should I make a stupid financial choice just to prove a point?

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 04, 2013 11:46 AM (XYSwB)

God bless him.   Let's pray this mess gets fixed somehow, for his sake and the sake of every medical        and allied health professional who has to deal with the sheer IDIOCY that is the medical and pharmaceutical industry these days.    A mess that, were it not for government,   would probably be nowhere NEAR as miserable as it has become.

Posted by: Berserker at April 04, 2013 11:46 AM (FMbng)

Good grief.   Fucking ridiculous!

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at April 04, 2013 11:34 AM (tqLft)

Yeah, but I think it should also have a deductible so people don't deplete it on routine stuff.  Perhaps it could be locked down to only be used on payments of $3 and up.

Imagine the shock of the Obama voters when they realize their premiums are going to skyrocket and they are going to get less coverage and care. Reality is a bitch isn't it.

I hate to say it, but here's what'll happen. Things will get progressively (?) shittier until finally Republicans win a significant victory. The MSM, having kept mum about the problems up to that point, will start shouting about them from the rooftops. Conclusion of LIVs? The Republicans caused those problems.

See, e.g., the homeless, "grim milestones," drone strikes on towelhead weddings, income "inequality," the list goes on and on.

In defense of LNP's, I've been under the care of two very good ones since  my bypass surgery nearly four years ago. They're both close to my age and spent years on the floors  as nurses  prior to  getting their certs. Both are well credentialed with all kinds of fancy letters after their names.

They have a doctor that oversees them (whom I've also met). They're compassionate and caring,  and try to do as much for me as they can  given their restrictions to only one area, the heart (yeah, it's a clinic, but run by the same people who run the hospital where I  had my surgery).

I feel blessed to have what little care I have. I just hope it doesn't go away under OCare.

This is not hitting "the poor" or "minorities."

That's part of the problem. If it were, the Dems would do something about it. Croaking productive taxpayers, meh.

It is hitting middle class cancer patients who need treatment or they will die. These are people that have had their treatments covered in the past, and now, on the whim of the government are being denied life saving treatment.

Only women named "Stanley" will get treatment. Everybody else is on their own.

Posted by: shibumi at April 04, 2013 11:54 AM (z63Tr)

Of course not.   But that is what is going to end up happening.   These doctors    don't WANT to turn patients away, but if they take      a   significant hit on every treatment for these people then not only will those people not get treatment but neither will anyone else, because the medical practice will be out of business.  

Emotional, awful stories like this are GOING to happen.     But   emotional,   sympathetic stories     don't mean a damn thing to   Math.    Math     always   wins.

But emotional, sympathetic stories don't mean a damn thing to Math. Math always wins

Fuckin' eh.  I take emotion into the back alley and beat its pansy ass with a crowbar.  Then take its wallet.

I don't know why anyone bothers becoming a doctor anymore, I really don't.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 11:45 AM (4df7R)

A friend of mine (recent college grad) is thinking about going to med school. I told him he needed to think that through carefully, because once he's made the investment, he's stuck with using it. It's kinda like building a Maginot Line.

If the House Republicans had any mojo, they'd be passing legislation to force EVERYONE to chow down on the Obamacare shit sandwich. No special treatment. No opt-outs. EVERYONE in the same system. Including the entire political class.

That would never pass the Senate, of course, but it would be hugely embarrassing to liberals for Obama to have to expend political capital on the Hill to beat back such a bill. Especially if the House started reviving the bill every new legislative session.

And remember, every minute the liberals are forced to play defense against such things is a minute they are not being able to move their own agenda items forward.

Cut.  Jib.  Fucking newsletter!

It's why I quit the GOP after Romney tossed the election.  And it's why I'm feeling bad for the first GOP telemarketer to call me.  I'll light the poor bastard up like Hiroshima.

I would rather have a private company determining my mortality than a government, frankly. At least then ideology isn't involved.

Posted by: esch at April 04, 2013 12:00 PM (K6s7T)

Also, you have recourse against a private company in the event of a dispute. Against the government, they can just say, "No, we don't think so," and that's that. Sovereign immunity and all that.

Of course not. But that is what is going to end up happening. These doctors don't WANT to turn patients away, but if they take a significant hit on every treatment for these people then not only will those people not get treatment but neither will anyone else, because the medical practice will be out of business.

Emotional, awful stories like this are GOING to happen. But emotional, sympathetic stories don't mean a damn thing to Math. Math always wins.

Of course, sob stories are a big part of how we got into this mess in the first place. Dims  always take advantage of that.

If only we had another political party  that could employ many of the same tactics,  but use examples of the seemingly-always-negative effects of getting the gubmint involved where it has no business...

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at April 04, 2013 11:46 AM (XYSwB)

Once he quits, he should call your Democrat mother:  "Still think we're bluffing, great-auntie?"

Posted by: Jones in CO at April 04, 2013 10:55 AM (8sCoq)

Every fucking Republican running for the House or Senate in 2014 needs to pledge to repeal BammyCare.  It's as close to a litmus test as I can imagine and anybody who doesn't pledge it should answer why the fuck not.  It's a perfect way to put the donks on the defensive and shake out the lying fuck blue dogs.  Everything else should be secondary in a campaign.

Posted by: Marcus at April 04, 2013 12:13 PM (GGCsk)

I know, its makes ZERO fuckingsense to keep those issues in the news.  Shut-up about that stuff already.

Posted by: Ezra Klein at April 04, 2013 11:00 AM (++kZl)

Do not tempt me....

Emovitism, it'll kill us all with kindness.

To paraphrase that noted philosopher Curly Howard, "Woid!"

Lets see if it sounds better in French:
Les Panels de Death.*
*(actually, 'Les Panneaux de Mort')

Posted by: Guy Mohawk at April 04, 2013 12:16 PM (IY7Ir)

Sounds like a kind of bread, a death bread if you will, with flour ground from the bones of the elderly. I could approve of this, I do like bread...

Why are chemo drugs so expensive?

Sunk R&D costs have to be recouped. Not just the ones for a given drug, but for all the ones that never made it to FDA approval.

Plus, fuckers in other countries' national health services buy drugs on a cost-plus basis, essentially dictating what they will pay. It's like saying you'll buy a copy of a movie for the price of an empty DVD, because that's the marginal cost.

That leaves sick Americans to pay the full freight of drug development. Drugs typically have about five years left of patent life when they're approved by the FDA, then they go generic. That means that all the drug development costs have to be recouped in five years, in one country.

and, I don't doubt that TFG's goons will scrub all evidence behind them

Let them try. If I was the head of the GOP, I'd have a division of Dim Archives, with a staff that did nothing but keep track of exactly what  they've said and done, along with  every instance that was ignored by the MFM.

Of course, if I was  in  charge of the GOP, we wouldn't be in the shit fix we're in now.

Chi-Town Jerry: "Do ya think when Medicare stops reimbursing at the higher rates the price might magically drop?"

More likely that manufacturers will just stand down from producing them.

"It's not enough," Elba Godoy, a crew member at a McDonald's just a few blocks from Times Square, said of her $7.25-per-hour minimum wage, which helps support her extended family of seven. "They don't like [that we're out here], but we have to do it. We cannot survive on $7.25."

Godoy and her colleagues are seeking a raise to $15 an hour and the right to form a union without retaliation. The walkout is part of a national movement by low-wage workers to raise wages and gain rights.

If you want your sequester kliff, you can keep your sequester kliff.

"No, I would empty my bank account of every single penny I have in order to pay for it. I would determine where they would be able to get treatment and I would move heaven and earth to get them there. If need be, I would sell everything I had to care for them. I most decidedly would not demand that someone go to jail or bankrupt themselves to give my parent free health care. "

This is exactly why these decisions need to be taken out of the hands of people who lose the ability to think rationally in crisis situations.

Grandma, grandpa, mom, dad... they all are going to die.  Bankrupting your family to keep them breathing a day or two more isn't the nobel thing to do.

"Hahah you guys kill me."

 Posted by: Ezra Klein at April 04, 2013 11:00 AM (++kZl)

Now there's an idea whose time is nigh.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at April 04, 2013 12:26 PM (9Bj8R)

Yeah there needs to be more discussion about how international price controls are screwing us over.

And so it is again. It really is crazy to spend ridiculous amounts of taxpayer money to keep old people alive.

Notice, if you will, the sudden (and only)  appearance of any  concern   about   the amount of money spent   in Washington.

It's only important to reign in costs when it's spent on you  and your health.

Posted by: Jones in CO at April 04, 2013 12:27 PM (8sCoq)

Too easy.

When too many doctors quit practicing, the President will declare an emergency and Congress will pass legislation permitting doctors to be conscripted into the armed forces. Its the Doctor Zhivago option. Find some doctor wandering in the woods and force him at gunpoint to ride a horse around Siberia for a few months or years and care for the Red Army. Deserters will be shot.

"Please note that what I said was in response to the specific scenario of people being denied chemo treatments that were working"

Sorry AtC, I missed that.

When too many doctors quit practicing, the President will declare an emergency and Congress will pass legislation permitting doctors to be conscripted into the armed forces.

But FIRST they'll pass legislation requiring that any medical practice of XYZ size,   or located in a region with   ABC   levels of poverty    and/or    minority populations,     must accept Medicare and Medicaid.

So, Medicare cuts to providers... which drive them out of business.

Cut the which supports subsidies...

Don't set up either State run, nor Small business exchanges in a timely manner, but DO enforce the penalties...

If you have insurance, you can't keep it, because we don't aproove of yours... or we might... next year... maybe...

Increase housing prices with a Tax to support healthcare... increase some rents nationwide (tax unearned income at a highter rate... and that includes LLCs)...

This whole thing is built to fail, and they are pushing it over the edge with incompetence... they are CREATING a crises.

#288,

It's a Union drive, nothing more. FF cashier in midtown runs between $30K ~ $35K. I know one franchise owner in NYC - his starting wage is already over $15/hr.

Also, this means that the US is subsidizing the price controlled drug for Canadian citizens to some degree

Yeah, uh, sorry about that. 

But on the bright side, all those Canadian politicians who would whip down south of the border  for life saving surgeries  when their 'free' health care system put them on multi-year waiting lists will  soon  be just as fucked as the rest of us.

So, winning!

"It's only important to reign in costs when it's spent on you period. Now get back to work"

FIFY...

A certain large technology company in my area just had to re-tool their cadillac health insurance plans, so now the deductibles are really high per year ($4000-$6000), there are co-pays for everything where there didn't used to be, a bunch of medications and tests have been severely limited under the new insurance plan, as well as payments for certain types of doctor visits.

Plus, there is now a rather byzantine system to pay for health services, you either have "medical credit card" (which my ex refuses to give me for our son, for reasons which make no sense) or if you don't have that, you pay for the health service up front full amount. Third option is some weird 3rd party co-pay thing you can set up so now yet another company besides the service provider and the insurance company has their finger in the money pot.

And yet, I keep getting told that this company's health insurance is still the best in the country. If that's the case, I feel really sorry for other people because they must be getting screwed royally.

How about we increase the incentives for people to die?

Got a terminal illness?  How about a 14 day cruise, first class, all expenses paid.  You just never get back to port.

People would get something they could never afford during their lifetime and go out happy. 

Gunman reported at University of Rhode Island:

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) — Police are investigating reports of a gunman at the University of Rhode Island.

Steven O'Donnell, head of the Rhode Island State Police, tells The Associated Press on Thursday that there is no evidence of an active shooter.

The school in South Kingstown wrote on its Twitter feed late Thursday morning that it was investigating a possible gunman on campus. It told people to seek shelter and stay where they were.

O'Donnell says the gunman was reported at Chafee Hall, which houses several departments including psychology, journalism and economics and some college administration offices.

Messages left with URI spokespeople were not immediately returned.

Posted by: Buzzsaw at April 04, 2013 12:31 PM (81UWZ)

I want my ashes loaded into a 3D printer and used to make a replica of myself.

"Gunman reported at University of Rhode Island"

Unpossible, as URI doesn't allow guns on campus.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at April 04, 2013 12:41 PM (9Bj8R)

They were getting all those guns and ammo ready to be lost at sea.

"Ship is Iranian, unknown course"

Of course it is... "unknown", that is. Let's guess it's destination: Germany, perhaps?

/s

How about we increase the incentives for people to die?

I'll take my  Final VayCay at the Playboy mansion,  thank you. And I'll choose the method to be dying at the sexual mercy of whichever set of twin Playmates, I'm not picky.

Of course, they  won't be able to close the  coffin lid, like I'll care...

Egyptian Navy seizes ship in Red Sea carrying 60,000 firearms:
sniper-rifles, AK-47s, RPGs, vast amounts of ammo; report: Ship is
Iranian, unknown course

I wonder if they were on the way to NK?

"$700 Million in Taxpayer Funds For Hurricane Katrina Recovery Gone Missing"

And this is news how?

Posted by: Nevergiveup

Paraphrasing, but Steyn (and many others of course) always makes the point  that the worst part about it (or any other part of the nanny state) is not necessarily the wasted money or inefficiency, but the destruction it wreaks on the national character and/or psyche.

It's next to impossible to convince otherwise semi-intelligent Canucks how poorly  fully run government healthcare  functions.  They all experience it at various points in life, but connecting the dots is next to impossible for them.

100% pure indoctrination.

Egyptian Navy seizes ship in Red Sea carrying 60,000 firearms:
sniper-rifles, AK-47s, RPGs, vast amounts of ammo; report: Ship is
Iranian, unknown course

They were getting all those guns and ammo ready to be lost at sea.

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 12:42 PM (GQ8sn)

See Reichwingers!  The UN Small Arms Treaty is working!

The most normal/ likable/ cutest male character on Lena Dunham’s cringe-inducing HBO series “Girls” has left the building.

Christopher Abbott, who played Marnie (Allison Williams’) on-off boyfriend Charlie on the first two seasons of the polarizing show, abruptly quit the series after reportedly “butting heads” with Dunham.

A source told the paper that Abbott didnÂ’t “like the direction” things were going on the third season of the show. Or perhaps he just realized he didnÂ’t want to be forever typecast as a boring, milquetoast character on a show with lots of gratuitous and awkward, floppy sex scenes.

http://tinyurl.com/c76s6xs

Egyptian Navy seizes ship in Red Sea carrying 60,000 firearms: sniper-rifles, AK-47s, RPGs, vast amounts of ammo; report: Ship is Iranian, unknown course

I'm thinking... Hamas?   Hezbollah?  All those places that are now so easily reachable since the Muzzie Bro'hood took over in Egypt and essentially ripped up the Camp David Accord.

"Yeah, good, dandy, but who invited the prick in the first place?"

...

Someone with a better medical insurance plan than you, that's who.

"I'm thinking... Hamas? Hezbollah"

That's RACIST, dontchknow...

Simply an innocent Iranian ship headed to, say, France.

Gunman reported at University of Rhode Island

And a million Democrats begin fapping in ecstacy. . .

‘Girls’ actor leaves show after realizing it is terrible
The most normal/ likable/ cutest male character on Lena Dunham’s cringe-inducing HBO series “Girls” has left the building.

*SNORT!*   Good for him.   Now is he just the first of many, that's the real question.

Gunman reported at University of Rhode Island

But isn't URI a Gun Free Zone?   Why is everybody freaking out?   No guns allowed!

You have to pass it to find out what is in it.

The Unaffordable Care Act (AKA Obama Doesn't Care)

WASHINGTON — In a long-awaited interpretation of the new health care law, the Obama administration said Monday that employers must offer health insurance to employees and their children, but will not be subject to any penalties if family coverage is unaffordable to workers.

The requirement for employers to provide health benefits to employees is a cornerstone of the new law, but the new rules proposed by the Internal Revenue Service said that employers’ obligation was to provide affordable insurance to cover their full-time employees. The rules offer no guarantee of affordable insurance for a worker’s children or spouse. To avoid a possible tax penalty, the government said, employers with 50 or more full-time employees must offer affordable coverage to those employees. But, it said, the meaning of “affordable” depends entirely on the cost of individual coverage for the employee, what the worker would pay for “self-only coverage.”

The new rules, to be published in the Federal Register, create a strong incentive for employers to put money into insurance for their employees rather than dependents. It is unclear whether the spouse and children of an employee will be able to obtain federal subsidies to help them buy coverage — separate from the employee — through insurance exchanges being established in every state. The administration explicitly reserved judgment on that question, which could affect millions of people in families with low and moderate incomes.

Also, this means that the US is subsidizing the price controlled drug for Canadian citizens to some degree.

That's the bottom line. The drug companies figure they'll make up the loss in Canada in exchange for the much higher prices they can get in the US and in exchange for actually staying in the Canadian market.

If the US implements the same thing, all of a sudden the drug prices in Canada will shoot up.

Posted by: AmishDude at April 04, 2013 12:25 PM (xSegX)

Pharma makes some money in Canada, Europe, and Japan, just not all that much. The American market is as big as all the others put together, which is why pharma companies fight for market share here.

If the US implements price controls, overseas prices may shoot up, but probably they won't pay them. Then pharma will get out of the pharma business. (I used to work in pharma, and the idea of shifting to another industry used to toyed with from time to time. Sound incredible? Look at GE, which is now essentially a financial services company. That was considered one model.)

So I remember reading a long time ago and I don't recall the book (though I think it was Robert Frezza's A Small Colonial War) one of the characters said words to the effect that you got a right to eat, but that don't mean there is any food. Whole lotta people about to learn that lesson.

My 'bumper sticker' line to people when the discussion comes up is, "Notice how you never have a problem finding a dentist?"  (dental, vision, prescription etc are, generally speaking, not funded through medicare).

Alternatively, "Food is necessary for quality of life.  Perhaps the government should run the grocery stores?"

I cringe in anticipation of the answer to the second one.

OT: I get to walk through one of the reactors at Indian Point tomorrow. It's pretty kewl.
See if you can get a spider to bite you.

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 12:52 PM (GQ8sn)

That's the plan!

#110 Your life? You didn't build that.

So, what difference does it make?????

Shortly before the last election I was with a group of very nice liberals (and well-off) my parents age.  One of them has a business background, someone who really ought to understand this.  But it was like running into a brick wall.  Couldn't see the contradiction between "not cutting benefits" and cutting Medicare reimbursements.  It was the literal illustration of my old psyche professor's line "you can't argue with a delusion."

Bet they'll find a way to blame it all on the Republicans, not the Medicare budget cuts.

Posted by: mugiwara at April 04, 2013 12:54 PM (D5hxK)

If anything kewl happens, remember...

With great power comes great responsibility.  Use your powers only for good. 

And for scoring hawt chicks!

"Does "gunman reported at University of Rhode Island" mean "guy was walking along one of the streets" like it has before"

Apparently, yes. AP reporting:

"Police are investigating reports of a gunman at the University of Rhode Island.

Steven O'Donnell, head of the Rhode Island State Police, tells The Associated Press on Thursday that there is no evidence of an active shooter. Democrats and women hardest hit"

(I may have edited the last part)

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Tea. at April 04, 2013 12:53 PM (VtjlW)

Ah yes, I remember that!   Where did that happen?     I remember the event, but not the locale.

Maybe this alleged gunman is just someone walking around carrying a    Pop Tart.    I mean, a girl wrapped in a blanket looks like a KKK member    at    Oberlin, so, y'know,    a guy walking around with an assault Tart could trigger a false alarm.

(Mind you, I don't want to joke around if this IS a genuine,   dangerous situation,   in which   case hopefully a legal gun owner can take the loony down before s/he hurts anyone)

Fuck it.  All this health care talk is guilting me into going for a run.  And it's actually sunny and half ass warm today, so there should be tons of hawt co-eds out and about.

Too bad I don't have any great powers.  Oh...right, and married and stuff.

Later all.

The Affordable Care Act rolls back payment rates for hospitals and insurers. It does not, however, change the basket of benefits that patients have access to.

The stupidity of this statement is astounding. So suppose ACA "rolled back" payment rates to zero. Patients would still have access to the same "basket of benefits," except no one would actually provide those benefits. It'd be like going to a restaurant with no food, but lots of menus.

I love a lot of people at breitbart.com.  And I surely can't speak for everyone at RedState. But I am done with that website.

#399,

That's Racist. Or Sexist. Or something.

With great power comes great responsibility.

With a great ass comes great responsibility:

http://tinyurl.com/clxakrt

The computerized health system overhaul is what really scares me. I have heard horror stories from my friend who works in a hospital. They had a perfectly functional system that they all knew inside and out, but were forced to change to a new system because of the computerized health care portion of ObamaCare. Because of the way certain things are on drop down menus, and the close proximity in numbers for certain tests, the doctors have already many times ordered the wrong test be performed.

I know some folks here work on the medical systems so maybe my perception is wrong, but it kind of sounds like from what she was telling me, the people who designed the interfaces weren't necessarily front line emergency room workers and so didn't take a lot of needs in that setting into account. The system seems to work best in a low stress setting and for people who spend a large part of their day doing data entry, not saving lives.

No shit you can't survive on minimum wage people, it's an entirely skillless job at that point.

Here's my question to these people: what would you hire each other to do?

Answer: not much, because they have no skills. So that's why you can't command top dollar, numbskulls.

"The system seems to work best in a low stress setting and for people who spend a large part of their day sitting on their ever enlarging a$$es, all the while bitching about everything and yelling about who got kicked off of AmericanSurviorDancing, not saving lives. "

Blog Of The Year.

Now with 40% less content!

From URI FB page....apparently their website can't handle the volume it's getting so they're updating via FB and twitter.

#419,

It's one o'clock (East Coast) on a Thursday. Whaddya expect?

http://news.sky.com/story/1073751/tarantula-the-size-of-a-human-face-discovered

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 01:02 PM (GQ8sn)

I want you to know, EC, that YOU will be paying my electric bills for the next month    and   a     half, because I will be sleeping with the lights on   thanks to this story.  *SHUDDER*   

Reagan fiscal guru, David Stockman, has a new book out and he is painting a very ugly picture.

He makes the case that the tax cuts and spending increases (AKA the stimulus) have made the country “fiscally ungovernable” and the best part is that his main conclusion sounds like it comes from #Occupy Â… it all trickles up to the 1% thru Wall Street while actually having created no real recovery.

It seems the real “Emperor Has No Clothes” moment will be when somebody finally says that there really is no recovery.

I’m still waiting for Joe Biden to start talking about “Recovery Summer IV” but it all gets drown out by the SSM and gun control stuff.

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 01:08 PM (GQ8sn)

AtC....can I call in a strike?

Wanna bet someone didn't finish their term paper that was due today?

Absolutely.      Heck, when are URI's final exams?   I know this early in april is a bit TOO early, but who knows what their school calendar looks like?  

#425, Ever been to a "Sheetz"?

Oh, and I'm wondering how EC knows that (427)

Posted by: Horrified Observer at April 04, 2013 01:06 PM (/sohm)

Rather than worry about "rebranding" and "messaging" and the rest of that Orwellian crap that gives good consultants a bad name, the GOP should be amassing a list of these lying turds and confront every fucking one of them on their lies to the public when they're up for re-election.

Posted by: elizabethe at April 04, 2013 01:08 PM (qPCAa)

_______

Also the Canadian MSM does a great job of portraying America's health care system as one where anyone short of $1M net worth gets turned away from a hospital when having a heart attack.

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 01:08 PM (GQ8sn)

Aaaaaaaaaand I hate you.

the GOP should be amassing a list of these lying turds and confront every fucking one of them on their lies to the public when they're up for re-election.

You're under the false assumption that the GOP actually wants to change the status quo...

Try to find a wolf spider.
Do they do anything except look scary?
Mugiwara needs to find this spider:

http://news.sky.com/story/1073751/tarantula-the-size-of-a-human-face-discovered
Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 01:02 PM (GQ8sn)

That's freaking awesome! I'm already hairy like tarantula, so maybe a good compatibility? Now where to find one in Buchanan... I know the puppy shop down the street, don't know if they sell other animals though. Wonder if I could sneak in a puppy!

Posted by: elizabethe at April 04, 2013 01:14 PM (qPCAa)

And pray it doesn't    hitch a ride on someone's luggage    or in a shipping container full of cheap t-shirts bound for America.

What's with all the Ad Council ads lately? I feel like they're mocking us.

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 01:18 PM (GQ8sn)

*waving pipe wrench above head*   Yeah, you'd better run!

Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 04, 2013 01:19 PM (aDwsi)

The first person who tries this on me gets a     faceful     of       my    Sock Full O' Pennies.  

#449,

Exactly. FWIW, the story was that "Friends" (inadvertently) helped support the '94 Republicans when one character got a job and complained "Who's FICA and why is he getting all of my money?".

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 01:19 PM (4df7R)

Bostitch!  Bostitch!  Bostitch!  Bostitch! 

*spinning in chair*

It's so nice outside.   Maybe I should call in a     gunman     threat.

Nah.   I'm not a lousy uni student.

*spinning more*

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 01:20 PM (4df7R)

Heh, I read that as Sock Full O' Penis, much like my bedtime attire.

Posted by: Tami at April 04, 2013 01:21 PM (X6akg)

lol!

"It's so nice outside"

*curses MWR* - it's 45 w/20MPH winds. Bleh.

Posted by: mugiwara at April 04, 2013 01:22 PM (D5hxK)

lol!

Now I've got a mental image of mugiwara as Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  

Now I've got a mental image of mugiwara as Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 01:23 PM (4df7R)

Well, now I know how guitar practice is going down tonight.

Engineering students from India claim to have made underwear that could thwart would-be rapists by jolting them with an electric shock as they try to attack a woman.

The students from SRM University in Chennai call the prototype of the anti-rape underwear “Society Harnessing Equipment” (SHE) and hope to someday introduce commercial versions of it.

Posted by: Captain Hate at April 04, 2013 01:11 PM (/1wLO)

I don't think the White Flag Party has it in them

"don't get me started on yogurt"

My favorite is the "fat free" half/half. What the #&*@ is in the other "half"?

Corn Syrup, apparently.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Tea. at April 04, 2013 01:27 PM (VtjlW)

I'm going to hide in a 'spider hole'. 

tee hee!!!

*curses MWR* - it's 45 w/20MPH winds. Bleh.

Where I'm from, that IS a nice day!   lol!  

It's about 46 here now, but the wind is calmer than it's been; only around     7mph.   So at least I don't have your wind chill!

=================

Low fat diets - the biggest fraud perpetrated on the American public.

And don't get me started with soy.....another fraud. 

My favorite is the "fat free" half/half. What the #*@ is in the other "half"?

Fat.

Engineering students from India claim
to have made underwear that could thwart would-be rapists by jolting
them with an electric shock as they try to attack a woman.

See, here's my question about this.   Actually two questions.

1) What's to stop the underwear from shocking the hell out of the woman wearing them?    And

2) How do the panties tell the difference between "Help, help, I'm being attacked by a rapist," and  "Oh, yes, Rajat, take me now."

But soy's great. Man boobs are sexy, right?

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Hobbit at April 04, 2013 01:34 PM (4df7R)

Also, do women really want a high voltage electrical charge going off near their nether regions?  A misfire could be.....shocking!

=======

Could be the reason so many 20 - 30 something males are girly men.

Posted by: elizabethe at April 04, 2013 01:36 PM (qPCAa)

Get out the vacuum....and dust rags.

Don't do drugs, you'll end up like a thug.

You'll make your mother sad and make your father mad.

A) this assumes the drug user HAS a father (far from guaranteed these days); and

B) Yes, by all means, let's just    tell the kid,   "So you'll make your father mad, and you know what happens when daddy gets mad, don't you?"

And why is THE FATHER the one getting mad?   My mother would have slapped me silly if I ever did drugs, because she'd want to make sure to get a piece of me before my father turned the rest of me to pulp.

Posted by: EC at April 04, 2013 01:36 PM (GQ8sn)

And where would you fit the battery pack? Oh wait, nevermind...

Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 04, 2013 01:38 PM (aDwsi)

My mother told us to go play in traffic....she was a marine.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at April 04, 2013 01:34 PM (aDwsi)

*HAPPY SIGH*

I am such a geek.   I was the only student    in my high school Brit Lit class who was upset we didn't    have to memorize and then recite the Prologue in the original middle english.   I'd been looking forward to it for at least six years at that point, and my class was the FIRST YEAR they didn't do it.  

My favorite part:

"...So priketh hem nature in hir corages;

Than longen folk to goon      on pilgrimages..."

That's lose-your-bike-in-a-mud-hole-and-walk-home-crying-with-cold-squishy-shoes day. Set 'em to it.

Kid bikes are cheap. You can buy about ten of them for the cost of replacing an iPhone that has kid germs all over it. (Do that, too.)

My kids are currently LARPING Ni No Kuni, so I'm not sure I'm the best person to ask.

Posted by: HeatherRadish™ needs a beer at April 04, 2013 01:04 PM (/kI1Q)

Yes, it's legal to carry a long gun openly in most places in Indiana. There are a few restrictions: courthouses, government buildings, x number of feet from polling areas, and so on (along with the usual federal restrictions). You can, however, be nailed on a brandishing charge if authorities think you're deliberately frightening people, so intent matters. For example, if you get in an argument with someone and show off your handgun (or wave your rifle, I suppose) in order to intimidate, then that's brandishing.

"Can we be friends?"

Definitely! In fact...I have no idea how to Skype because I'm lame, but if your kids want some fellow homeschool nerds to talk to, I'm sure we could figure something out

"My god, I'm getting old. I have NO idea what that means..."

LARPing= Live Action Role Playing. Basically, they're all pretending to be different characters from the (absolutely wonderful) video game Ni No Kuni.

Like I said, total nerds.

Proposal to nationalize hospitals in 3... 2... 1...

Older generation to dems:  Look, this isn't working.  What can we do to correct it?

Dems:  DIE!

wow, Drudge has 9 top links on the North Korea situation

I wonder if something might be going on?

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith's Other Mobile at April 04, 2013 01:49 PM (bxiXv)

I like spiders, too. I had a Grammastola Rosea tarantula for four years. Her name was Betty. She had this honey-blonde coloring and these pretty little onyx eyes. She didn't do any tricks, but I liked having her around. I only handled her when I cleaned out her habitat but she was always peaceable, never a problem.