Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Math is a Bitch! (special Obama campaign footage from our friends at EDSBS... bonus!)



Welcome to 21st century American medical care. CLICK THIS.


WITNESS THE GENIUS OF OBAMA

Posted by 911DOC at Wednesday, October 22, 2008

45 comments:

  1. Amelia Ames11:41 AM, October 22, 2008

    My magic 8 ball says outlook does not look good

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:57 PM, October 22, 2008

    Another premonition of the Obama era.

    Some musings on the upcoming coronation or our new caesar, Obama...

    Start looking for a new job, because a lot more hospitals are going to fail.

    With the tax rate increasing for incomes over $250,000. we must consider cutting back our practices to stay under the income limit. So, want a new career? Now will be the time to leave the profession. If you fail at your new career, don't worry, because the government has your back with tax credits.

    With the increase in Wall Street regulation, expect spillover to the health care field. After all, the current health care system has done pretty good with all the regulation. So, paper companies and EMR vendors are a strong buy. Hospitals? Not so much.

    EMTALA will be expanded to cover clinics, offices and veterinarians. (Good thing, because Shrodingers Cat's Dog will develop hypokalemia from the diarrhea developed after watching the daily newscast gush over Obama)

    When the heath system is finally nationalized by "bailout" in a fit of "Massachusetts health care love", look for the docile ACEP and AMA to cheer. And, with the $250K limit, look for a few doctors to leave and the rest not to care anymore.

    I, like Barbara Striesand, will leave the country. I plan to move to the island than Tom Hanks got marooned on in 'Castaway'... the island that only Fedex can find.

    Striesand is still here?

    Crap!

    ReplyDelete
  3. mark's tails3:15 PM, October 22, 2008

    Igloodoc you crack me up.

    This link     shows the tax changes across all income levels under Obama's tax plan. Those in the 250-500 thousand dollar income level will, on average, see a 1.5% decrease in their after tax income. So if you do the math it still works out pretty good for you even if you make over %250K. Or, hopefully, you saved enough during the last 8 years you benefited from tax breaks to offset this little inconvenience until the next election.

    Oh and implicating Obama for the closing and buyouts of Hospitals which has been occurring across the country for the last 10 years is priceless as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 911DOC3:20 PM, October 22, 2008

    mark,
    we are not implicating obama for hospital closures, we are implicating EMTALA. obama has never voted to lower taxes on anyone. if you believe the numbers you stated, iow, if you believe with a democrat supermajority that these numbers will be accurate then i have a super deal on subprime mortgage securities for you.
    best.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous3:23 PM, October 22, 2008

    Mark, We'all Understand BOHICA when We'll see it, and unlike you we don't like it. Or as my Great Great Grandpappy said when axxed why he always voted Democrat.."Oh Yeah? Well Lincoln said I could keep my Slaves too!!"

    ReplyDelete
  6. mark's tails3:34 PM, October 22, 2008

    911 doc, fair enough perhaps I was a little over zealous in interpreting or mis-interpreting Igloodoc, and as i've mentioned in the past i agree with you on the EMTALA issue.

    I stand by my comments on the tax issue, you may have to settle for the Mercedes instead of the Maserati but I'm sure all of you will do just fine.

    Frank, I really wish I knew how your mind worked. Seriously how do you come up with all of this s**t. I'm sure you'd whoop my a$$ in a yo' momma contest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 911DOC3:39 PM, October 22, 2008

    mark,
    then for the life of me i can't understand why you are for Obama, as his health care solution is EMTALA times 10! i don't want my family or my loved ones to have to get in line at a VA type medical facility with people who have never bothered to think about health care insurance.
    best.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Lynn Price3:52 PM, October 22, 2008

    I stand by my comments on the tax issue, you may have to settle for the Mercedes instead of the Maserati but I'm sure all of you will do just fine.

    Ach listen to this! How could any sane thinking American believe that it's our "patriotic duty" to give the government money we worked our asses of for only so they can in turn hand it over to someone else? I planned and worked damned hard for my future, and I didn't do it with the idea that I'd have to snarl over the little my own government would "allow" me to keep.

    Your assertions that "I'll do just fine" is arrogant and assumptive. This is socialism plain and simple, and I'm ashamed that any American believes this is the proper foundation for a once-great nation. Don't you understand that the minute you kill the golden goose, the goose will decide not to lay anymore eggs? Maybe they'll decide to sit back with all the other non-producers and get their freebie handouts - like Hawaii and their universal health care implosion. Once we're declared DOA, who do you think Obama will bleed next?

    Sorry, Mark, you're really a very nice guy, and I'm not shouting at you, per se, just at the whole sad affair of watching our country go down the toilet. Who needs to fear our enemies when we have them governing us?

    ReplyDelete
  9. shrodingers cat6:58 PM, October 22, 2008

    Here are several leaders that came to power while their country was facing a crisis,promising "change":

    Castro
    Pol Pot
    Lenin
    Musillini
    Hitler
    Mao Zedong
    Hugo Chavez

    An estimated 90 million people were "dying" for a change, any change, and boy did they get it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous7:05 PM, October 22, 2008

    Mark
    We just gave an economist $800 billion to "bail" us out of a government created depression if McCain wins, recession if Obama wins -- just watch how it is reported. Ok, $700 bilion and $100 billion in pork.

    Do you think anyone is going to get a tax decrease? Really?

    What I worry about in the Obama tax plan is that the drug abusing fibromyagic patient I just saw and got underpaid thanks to medicare disability is going to get a piece of my underpaid income from medicare in the form of a tax credit. Why?

    Seriously. Why?

    Is it not enough that I subsidize her food, apartment, utilities, cell phone and bling? Now every April I get to give her cash?

    Is this not EMTALA for taxes? Just have a pulse, no income, demand the equivalent of a medical screening exam by filing a tax return and the government will mandate "the rich" to turn over cash? Before you know it, she will be demanding the cash as a "right" enshrined in the constitution.

    As to hospitals closing, thanks to diseases like EMTALA the government already offloads costs of medical care to the physicians and private hospitals. Do you think Obama is going to appoint a "cut the paperwork and the bloated bureaucracy " physician to run HHS and CMS, or some looney lawyer with a penchant for paperwork? Look for an expansion of EMTALA, something that hospitals can no longer afford. At the very best they will just leave things alone and hospitals will die a slow predictable death under the current system.

    As I see it, our job on election day is to elect the lesser of two liars and the lesser of two evils.

    OK -- now I really want to find that island. And I'm taking Cat's dog with me.

    And Cat... didn't the Nazis start out as socialists, and were elected because the Germans wanted change?

    oops -- I see you included Hitler

    ReplyDelete
  11. Pink7:12 PM, October 22, 2008

    I think this photo/commentary essay says volumes about the 'power' of government.

    http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2008/10/open-campus.html

    enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. mark's tails9:21 PM, October 22, 2008

    First if I were basing my decision on the candidates health care plan I wouldn't be voting for anyone because neither candidate is addressing the big issues in healthcare. Having said that, have any of you read the healthcare plan of either candidate.

    911doc I assume you already have health insurance for your family, thats great because Obama isn't going to take that away from you. The jist of both plans is to try and make health insurance more affordable.

    Second, please,please try and explain to me how the Bush tax breaks on the wealthiest Americans not considered a redistribution of wealth, yet Obama's rollback of these very same taxes is? This argument of "redistribution of wealth" is the new 2 second catch phrase (given that is the attention span of most people). When did taxes which have been around since, oh I don't know, since our government was first formed all of a sudden become a "redistribution of wealth". Hey, I got news for you it has always been a redistribution of wealth.

    Third, my mother is 66 and still works two jobs to maintain her middle class life and your telling me she doesn't deserve a little tax break that you all have been enjoying for the past 8 years?

    The problem is you equate all these tax breaks with the skewed view of society you see in your ED's and not the regular real middle class people that work just as hard for there money as you do but can't 'afford' the tax deductions you can.

    Oh and here is another leader that came to power during a crisis and started to strip away our civil liberties and endorse the torture of prisoners (something that even John McCain is against), and then socialized the Banking industry. His name is BUSH.

    Kindest Regards

    ReplyDelete
  13. 911DOC9:47 PM, October 22, 2008

    The Question:
    When did the people start paying federal income tax?
    The Answer:
    According to the History of the Income Tax in our almanac, the federal income tax was first enacted in 1862 to support the Union's Civil War effort. It was eliminated in 1872, revived in 1894, then declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court the following year. In 1913, the 16th Amendment to the Constitution made the income tax a permanent fixture in the U.S. tax system.

    ReplyDelete
  14. 911DOC10:16 PM, October 22, 2008

    mark,

    i don't know how you can be so highly educated yet so misinformed.

    as to the candidates positions on health care i prefer mccain's as it puts the onus for one's health on the individual and not his neighbor.

    second, if we go to a canadian system then YES, obama will take all private insurance away and you will be forbidden to have supplemental. look it up. i'm not saying he is advocating this, i'm telling you what is the reality in canada and everyone thinks canada's health care is so peachy and all.

    your second question is a common misconception in the following way. 97% of all federal income taxes are paid by the top 50% of wage earners. this data is easily found on the IRS site.

    so, cutting taxes for the bottom fifty percent is kind of impossible since they pay almost nothing in income tax. the democrats call Bush's tax cuts 'for the rich', but 'for the rich' means people making more than about 50k a year.

    but lets play devil's advocate. if Bush had only cut taxes for billionaires i would still approve, because billionaires like gates, and jobs and a few other giants of industry employ hundreds of thousands of individuals. when they get a break, jobs increase.

    and tell me why you have so much faith in the government. name for me a federal program that
    a. works (i'll give you the postal service)
    b. stays within budget
    c. dissolves itself when it's job is done
    d. tell me someone you know that has been fired from a government job for anything other than a felony conviction (my point being that a bloated government bureacracy is ineffficient in part because no one tries very hard... they don't have to)

    tell me how much poverty has decreased in the forty years of our 'great society'. the answer? zero.

    the reason? why work when you can live comfortably without working? why buy health insurance when the ER is free?

    as you can see from my prior post the income tax was initiated, against howls of protest, to fund the civil war. in other words, we did just fine with small government and small budgets until the income tax became entrenched and, if you've ever worked in the VA, you can see the inevitable result of a government agency, with guaranteed funding, trying to do what a business does.

    and no, i would love your mother to get a tax cut. only thing is, obama has never voted for one. not once. in fact, he is on record voting for tax increases for folks making more than 42k a year. you are backing the wrong guy.

    as to the erosion of our civil liberties might i point out to you that FDR put japanese nationals in prison camps in WW2 and, as tragic as it was, we were at war with japan so nobody said boo until thirty years later.

    so far i have not noticed the heavy hand of government in my life. have you been bugged? and one other thing, the number of terrorist attacks on our soil since 9/11. zero. number of dead terrorists? a whole fuckton.

    might i also redirect your memory to september 11 when 3000 US Citizens were crushed and incinerated in NYC in an unprovoked attack by muslim extremists, many of whom are now dead or in prison thanks to GWB and folks like my neighbor who has been to Iraq about fifteen times now with the Army special forces.

    I would be happy to try to arrange for you to house some of the oppressed and misunderstood detainees at GITMO at your residence if you like.

    finally, get off your high horse telling me about who the middle class is in this country. just a hunch but i bet you live in somewhere like Seattle, Portland, Boston, or San Franscisco. if you have kids i bet you fought to get into a good school district or sent them to private schools. also, toward the end of the 1040 is a line for giving extra money to the government. i trust you do this every year and i applaud you for it. if however, you try to pay the minimum amount of tax then you are a hypocrite. no one's stopping you from paying more, just don't tell me i have to so the 'government' can 'spread the wealth around'. did you ever take history?

    my dad emmigrated to this country with $300 and the American dream and he succeeded. my wife was the first in her family to graduate from college. we got to where we are by hard work and sacrifice and you can stuff the high and mighty class warfare rhetoric up your ass.

    if obama institutes socialism in america you will learn that just as trickle down economics does really work, so does trickle up poverty. my wife and i will simply work less and choose not to open a business. this means, on a larger scale, that large companies will quit expanding and stop hiring.

    i do think however, and this is a huge bonus for us, that marijuana will be decriminalized with a democratic supermajority so we will all, at least, not care about it. happy bong hits.

    ReplyDelete
  15. shrodingers cat11:03 PM, October 22, 2008

    Mark,

    You are a woman.

    CAT

    ReplyDelete
  16. shrodingers cat11:04 PM, October 22, 2008

    Bush didn't come to power in time of crisis, dipshit, unless you count the crisis of trying to get all Bill Clinton's jiz scrubbed off the White House.

    ReplyDelete
  17. CannedAm11:10 PM, October 22, 2008

    Canada's healthcare system is not peachy. It's failing in many miserable ways. Many Canadians don't realize how bad it is because it's all they've ever known and they're healthy. Why are they healthy? Oh, I don't know. could be a lifetime of regular healthcare. Something the poor in American don't know. And sure, you see the poor in your ER's...how many of those ER visits could have been prevented with simple, basic well-care?

    No one has offered up a single-payer health care plan for the US. No one has offered up anything that remotely resembles Canada's health care system.

    America needs its own system, and it will end up with one. So many people are disgusted with the gluttony in the healthcare industry coming from every avenue that something will give one way or another and things will change.

    You could stop whining so damned much about losing any portion of your 6 figure income (seriously, not many have or ever will have sympathy for your plight when we're faced with options like paying 95% of our income for COBRA coverage when our employer goes belly-up)and roll up your sleeves and help to come up with a plan that doesn't in any way resemble Canada's, but does pay its doctors well and meet the needs of the American people -- all of them.

    I truly cannot understand how so many of you and your readership are so heavily invested in the well-defined monetary caste-system that is America. We have the great unwashed -- the horrendously impoverished, but hey, they could be top earners but they are the most undeserving, so they're not. The golden ones stand tall above all, hoarding all opportunities for their own kind and scream when anyone mentions a tax increase.

    Americans pay the lowest taxes in the developed world. The wealthiest Americans have the greatest breaks. And they cry over every dollar the government gets as if their government does absolutely nothing for them. Really? Come on.

    I don't think I want to be treated by someone who places value on human life by the size of their yearly income. I hope I never come across one of you when I need care.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Amelia Ames11:45 PM, October 22, 2008

    "Bush didn't come to power in time of crisis, dipshit, unless you count the crisis of trying to get all Bill Clinton's jiz scrubbed off the White House."

    Ok now I just feel dirty.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Devorrah11:51 PM, October 22, 2008

    CAT: And what's wrong with being a woman? I can avoid traffic tickets by crying. That will only work for you if the cop is gay. So there. And I've gestated and given birth to entire human beings. Twice.

    ReplyDelete
  20. 911DOC12:23 AM, October 23, 2008

    and mark,
    i was a bit off on guessing where you are, but am not surprised at all that you are an academic! YAY! the rarified air of the academy without all the yucky real-world consequences! now i understand.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Greta12:48 AM, October 23, 2008

    I'm with you Devorrah. Ditto on the dual gestation and fun extraction of humans.

    I just don't understand why the drug abusing fibromyalgic has to be a girl.

    And 911doc, why don't you pass that bong over on my way, man. This aint no hit, hit, give. You docs can have your cash but when you take your entitlement to the mary jane, and that's where I must draw the line.

    And comment.

    ReplyDelete
  22. erdoc8512:56 AM, October 23, 2008

    911: That video made me think that the cast of Lost had melded with the Village People. Truly disturbing.

    As for the tax issue, have you noticed what governments are doing now? They know that none of us will stand for higher taxes on ourselves. So, they divide and conquer.

    How about a cigarette tax? The 70% who don't smoke shouldn't care.

    How about a luxury car or boat tax? People who can't afford one won't care.

    What about a tax to build a new stadium? Add that onto hotel rooms so that the locals don't have to pay it.

    How 'bout an SUV tax?

    Now they're selling the "tax the wealthy" line again.

    I'll PROMISE you that they're coming for you too! I oppose ALL new taxes even those that don't affect me since I believe that we shouldn't have to pay more until government spending is controlled.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Savage Henry3:37 AM, October 23, 2008

    CannedAm, I'm not one of the "rich, entitled" doctors you are railing against. I make a decent, lower middle class living right now.

    I'm on their side, though. You know why? One day, I hope to get paid as much as them. Even though I come from nothing, if I bust my ass and work smart, I can make something of myself. I went into the military to serve my country and get some college money in return. I study my ass off so I can get into grad school. I work hard at my job because it's in my nature to do so, and because I'd like to stay employed.

    Right now, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can get there from here. I can build a comfortable life for myself and give my future kids a life with a little less struggling than I had.

    Busting my ass like I'm doing right now is not fun. There is nothing intrinsically enjoyable about working full time and being a full time student. The thing that gets me out of bed in the morning is the hope that one day I'll enjoy the fruits of my own labor.

    Of course, if things change and the reward for working so hard disappears, why would I bother?

    Gimmee some of that Government Cheese, and I'll kick back a bit. Maybe I'll take up drinking seriously. Uncle Sam will make sure the docs replace my liver when I wear it out. You docs do that kind of thing just for kicks, right? All that school was fun for you, and you'd do it for the promise of a job taking home $40,000 a year or so, right?

    Right?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Lynn Price8:28 AM, October 23, 2008

    You could stop whining so damned much about losing any portion of your 6 figure income (seriously, not many have or ever will have sympathy for your plight

    Cannedam, who do you think is paying the lion's share of the taxes. You bet your sweet Canadian bacon we're whining. Even Joe the Plumbers of the country are whining. See, America was based on The American Dream. That meant we had the freedom to pursue our dreams unfettered by the chains of government. Listen to Joe Biden lately? Obama? They have stated outright that, gosh, we don't mean to punish your success, but we feel it's right for you to give, give, give to make it "more fair."

    MORE FAIR? For whom? Why should someone be getting the benefits from my hard work? Suddenly our American Dream is harder to obtain, and the Dems are working very hard to kill altogether. When it implodes, we'll have the libs to thank.

    Socialism has never, never, never worked. You cannot expect to run a successful country like America based on milking the producers. At some point we're going to say a collective "Fuck you." And I'm there, with my middle finger aiming straight into the sky, wondering who in the hell killed our American can-do spirit.

    ReplyDelete
  25. shrodingers cat8:43 AM, October 23, 2008

    Dev

    I love women. It just makes me cringe when a man acts like a woman. And please don't go into the "anything you can do I can do better" song. Let's just leave it at "there are differences" (John Wayne shits bigger than Mark, and only cried when his mother died). I admire you for being able to expel a baby after carrying it for months, and probably working the whole time. I couldn't do it.


    CAT

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  26. Anonymous8:54 AM, October 23, 2008

    "I truly cannot understand how so many of you and your readership are so heavily invested in the well-defined monetary caste-system that is America."

    SHUT UP!

    I work with Doctors, Emergency Medicine Doctors, I KNOW what they make down to the penny since I help negotiate contracts.

    After you account student loans, TAXES, and living expenses, Doctors net less than me in their first few years!

    I know Doctors that have a "six-figure" income that buy used cars, not cause they're stingy but because they need to break even.

    Once a Doctor hits his mid to late 40's, s/he is really "Starting" his or her career. Because s/he is only now probably out of debt. (What would you do with something like $238,000 of debt?)

    This is coming from someone who does not have a college education, and has had to work hard to get where I am.

    Sir, if YOU want to go through 12 years of GRUELING school, missing most if not all of your 20's for the opportunity be hated for your "wealth", be my guest!

    I would let any of the authors of this site care for me in any circumstance, they are all competent physicians, that unlike you, experience the hand-cuffs of unfunded government mandates daily.

    ReplyDelete
  27. jennifer10:32 AM, October 23, 2008

    To various liberals.....

    I am responding as a member of the "middle class" you and your ilk are so intent on "saving....delivering" and other such mumbo jumbo. And BTW....I know what you and your kind REALLY think of the middle class...your treatment of Palin, Joe the Plumber, and other various members of small town America with their "god and guns" have been revealing, to say the least!

    I am a nurse and my husband has just left the lucrative, albeit dangerous, career of commercial diving to become a nurse's assistant.....ain't no 6 figure incomes here by friend. Under Obama's plan, I would probably make out pretty well.

    There is just one small problem...I do NOT regard government as my wet nurse or as some sort of behemoth assisted living center. I, like, the Founders feel that government should exist at my benevolence, tolerance, and mercy.....I DO NOT AND WILL NEVER exist at the benevolence, tolerance, and mercy of my government. I do not need or want to my government to feed, clothe, and succor me. What I need is government, with it's grasping hands, to stay the hell out of my way so that I can feed, clothe, and succor (ohh...that sounds a little dirty) myself. Are you really so foolish to think that you can give the government such power and they will not want your body and soul in return. Oh I know...you liberals love to use the totalitarian Big Brother image in your complaints about The Patriot Act......you are fools....our future will look much more like Huxley's Brave New World with the people eagerly giving the government their freedom in exchange for mind numbing and dependence creating entitlements.

    I do not suffer from the liberal malady of wealth envy. I not begrudge those more educated, intelligent, or skilled than me their success. I have no problem working OT or a second job to keep with my neighbors' with the MD after their name. In fact...I get on my knees and offer thanks that I live in a country that will reward my desire to work 2 jobs....at least for now.

    How do those with any sense of morality and/or integrity accept money that has been, for all intents and purposes, looted from someone else? And yes...now you will throw the evils of greed, capitalism and business in my face...the last time I checked no business has ever "stolen" from people without their consent.....government just uses the subtle, but so much more effective, end of a gun.

    And yes...you did have a point...all income tax is a form of wealth redistribution...which I why I favor abolishing the IRS and instituting the Fair Tax which is a nation wide sales tax. But the masses should still be comforted in that everytime the evil rich buy their bling, they will still be getting a cut.

    And as far as civil liberites and all that, if memory is serving me right...it was the liberal hero Lincoln that has gone down in history as the only President who actually suspended habeas corpus.

    ReplyDelete
  28. erdoc8511:43 AM, October 23, 2008

    WOW!

    Jennifer, Jack, Lynn, Henry, EXCELLENT POSTS! Reasonable, well thought out, logical, and based on facts and/or experiences.

    The socialists won't like them at all. They'll actually have to withdraw the hand that is extended for a handout in order to scratch their heads!

    Jennifer, to your point about the national sales tax...can't you hear the bitching now? The "rich" can afford NOT to buy the bling, but the poor MUST buy the cell phones, and the Nikes therefore it's an unfair tax on the poor.

    Just as taxing me at a higher percentage rate as you is somehow unfair to these libs because I "get a bigger tax break". Obama wants to raise it to "make it more fair" and McCain wants to cut EVERYONE'S taxes to make it "more fair".

    ReplyDelete
  29. mark's tails2:25 PM, October 23, 2008

    911doc, ofcourse you are correct on the tax lesson, I believe I missed that one on my civil service exam which explains why I never was hired in the post office. But really, taxes have been around for a long time right, and even before our Governement was formed other Governments used taxation to collect money and provide services which also include things like highways and movement of goods and security and transportation and things you probably use everyday but take for granted. Regardless, as i've said before, I know I'll never change anybodies mind here but at least you provide a cogent argument for your case, which is better than some of your following.

    Regarding my job description, we all have choices in life and I love my job and what I do, I wish you could say the same without adding a BUT.

    BTW Bush was re-elected by continuing to promote fear and the idea that taking away our civil liberties was the only way to protect us, and to me that is coming to power during a time of crisis. oh yeah and under the promise of banning gay marriage.

    Regards

    ReplyDelete
  30. Amelia Ames3:45 PM, October 23, 2008

    Life isn't fair,
    It's not meant to be fair,
    And the Gov'ment can't make it so.

    If you take 'way my rights,
    Please put out my lights,
    Cause agency's all that I know.

    ReplyDelete
  31. 911DOC4:25 PM, October 23, 2008

    mark,
    you wanna marry a dude, go to it, but remember as you do that if, as i assume you would agree, momentous changes such as the government blessing same sex unions, should have the support of the populus, then i think you would be hard pressed to pass it. that's why it is being done by the courts and not the ballot box. we are, and remain, a mostly Christian country and our values are Judeo-Christian, when you start throwing around same sex marriage you will never have popular support. personally, i say let same sex couples form civil unions with all the benefits of marriage in terms of taxes etc... but don't profane my religion, and the clear Christian beliefs of the founders by giving the government's blessing to sodomy.
    best of luck.

    ReplyDelete
  32. Devorrah5:28 PM, October 23, 2008

    Thanks CAT. Yes, I took and passed the Calif. bar exam while studying during the day and feeding a baby at night. Aack. But I turned down an awesome job offer to stay home with the kids for a few years, as the first Mr. Dev. was also a type A attn. Some of my best memories come from those years.

    ReplyDelete
  33. shrodingers cat8:02 PM, October 23, 2008

    Even if the gov't never sanctions gay marriage they can't forbid you in the comfort of your own home to place your privates where another man evacuates his bowels. Heck, even straight people can't do that in public. You never answered 911If you love taxes sooo much, check the box where you can give more and do so. And as for Bush, you mentioned his re-election, not his first. As stated befored only Jiz-gate was going on then.

    ReplyDelete
  34. shrodingers cat8:07 PM, October 23, 2008

    superbadjack,

    You really are superbad. Like Billy Jack, if anyone remembers him from the 70's. Thanks for telling it like it is.

    CAT

    ReplyDelete
  35. Anonymous3:11 AM, October 24, 2008

    "The golden ones stand tall above all, hoarding all opportunities for their own kind and scream when anyone mentions a tax increase. " -cannedam
    Cannedam
    A brief Canadian history lesson to illustrate the wisdom of 911Doc, erdoc85, Cat, savage henry, lynn price, superbadjack and others...
    Back in the late 80's (and even back to the 70's) there was political shift that essentially moved the entire Canadian political system to the left. The mantra "make the rich pay" was chanted by the socialist party (paradoxically named the New Democratic Party) and became incorporated into law, especially tax law.
    And indeed, the "rich" paid. (The uber-rich families, like the Molsons and Labatts, who funded the liberal parties, never paid, of course. Sort of like George Soros, but that's another story).
    And the definition of "rich" began to trickle down to the middle class. Why? Because the "rich" paid for one more thing... a plane ticket to the USA. This began the great "brain drain" of the highly educated (ie Doctors) to the US and was accompanied by capital flight as assets were moved south. Using doctors as an example, there has been a net loss of doctors since 1992. (this year, for the first time, there is an increase of about 10 doctors. Yes. 10.)
    Now, Canada is scrambling for Docs from other countries such as India, South Africa, the middle east, Britain,and other counties. Some provinces are actually paying docs "retention bonuses" to try to keep them in the country.
    So, the lesson here is: engage in class warfare at your peril.
    Believe me, if Obama and his redistribution policies are enacted, smart people and money will flee. Their destination may be local (into any tax loopholes/shelters available), or out of the country (where tax laws are better). Some, like me, will work less hard (or change professions) to avoid tax bracket creep.
    And when the flight begins, the definition of "rich" WILL creep down much lower income levels.

    I like the national sales tax idea. I believe it is a privilege for any American to be an American. It is the duty of every citizen to contribute no matter what the income level, rich or poor.

    ReplyDelete
  36. mark's tails8:04 AM, October 24, 2008

    Cat I appreciate your concern over my tax situation but don't you worry. Every year I am taxed with the AMT, which means I make just enough to pay extra taxes but not enough to benefit from Bush's tax breaks. In addition to the 5% I donate to various charities, animal shelters, our local food bank and starting a college fund for my son, I also set a little aside this year to give to Obama.

    ReplyDelete
  37. mark's tails8:08 AM, October 24, 2008

    Just to be clear, I realize the AMT is something neither the Dems nor the Repub want to touch because it is such a revenue generator. So try not to get your panties in a wad over that statement.

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  38. CannedAm12:44 PM, October 24, 2008

    Just to clear the air -- I'm not Canadian. Nor am I man.

    Didn't need the NDP lesson though. I'm well aware of the mes the NDP has left behind.

    Why do you all believe the only healthcare system option is the Canadian one? No one with half a brain would go there. It's not a model of working socialized medicine. Medicine doesn't have to be socialized to work for everyone. I would much rather see a system that does not necessitate the very poor from signing up for any type of welfare in order to gain health care.

    The fact that you guys act like anyone who is poor deserves to be poor and have no health care simply baffles me. You assume that all the poor are either the progeny of addicts and alcoholics, addicts & alcoholics themselves, or layabouts who've found a way to siphon cash from the government.

    Four years ago, my sister experienced a recurrence of trigeminal neuralgia. Her insurance would not cover a neurologist let alone a neuro-surgeon. But since she had a history, her family doc prescribed the same drugs she'd had previously. It didn't work. This time was much worse. She borrowed money from her 401(k) to see a neurologist who simply prescribed even more anti epileptics. She eventually lost her job due to her illness-related absences and in the haze of excruciating, debilitating daily pain she didn't even fight it. She emptied her retirement accounts, liquidated everything she could and still she lost her car. She lost her home. She lost the ability to keep herself at all. She had no option but to apply for disability simply to get the medical care she desperately needed. Frankly, I'm surprised she's still alive. Neurologists don't call this the suicide disease for no reason.

    This kind of thing is wrong. One illness can take your whole lifestyle away when you're in the lower-middle class. She wasn't a child making poor choices. She was a middle-aged woman looking forward to a modest retirement in 15 years. Now, she gets to work the rest of her life and the only reason she can is because she got the damned surgery that her own insurance wouldn't even let her be evaluated for.

    Why is your only solution the way things have always been?

    It's not working. You're not happy. Millions of Americans aren't happy.

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  39. 911DOC1:00 PM, October 24, 2008

    dear ms cannedam,

    all i can say is this, i am not offering a solution to the health care crisis. i am offering a philosophical truth. absent free market forces and absent consequences for bad decisions efiiciency tumbles through the floor. all i am saying is that i am in favor of a 'fix' that puts the responsitility of maintining one's health on the person in question. any other 'solution' is merely socialism or communism and that HAS NEVER WORKED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD ANYTIME IT'S BEEN TRIED. personal responsibility. tough but simple and it works.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Anonymous10:37 PM, October 24, 2008

    Mark, you know that cheap canned food you leave at the food bank ends up in the stomachs of your towns needy Pitbulls that every other dirtbag owns? I know, cause I used to go by the foodbanks myselfs when I was in med school(I was Really poor, so poor, I couldn't even pay attention!)and all people donated was crap like stewed prunes and figs. Admit it! you don't leave anything that you'd actually eat yourself.

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  41. shrodingers cat11:00 PM, October 24, 2008

    Mark

    5%? Is that all you got? You are a cheap bastard. Libs notoriously donate much less than conservatives. Look at Obama and Biden donating .004% (I made that up, but I know they donated a mere pittance) of their incomes, all the while telling us WE can do more. Charity starts at home, cornholes

    CAT

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  42. shrodingers cat11:00 PM, October 24, 2008

    Mark

    5%? Is that all you got? You are a cheap bastard. Libs notoriously donate much less than conservatives. Look at Obama and Biden donating .004% (I made that up, but I know they donated a mere pittance) of their incomes, all the while telling us WE can do more. Charity starts at home, cornholes

    CAT

    ReplyDelete
  43. erdoc8512:05 AM, October 25, 2008

    cannedam: your sister's situation is tragic, but isn't emblematic of all medical care in America. I wonder how her situation would have fared any better in a country with socialized medicine?

    She would have waited months for the specialist appointments under socialized medicine. Once she finally got the appointments, I assume that there wasn't much that could be done for her condition. Since the doctors ultimately had nothing to offer her. (as you probably discovered from your research, this is a difficult condition to treat).

    Due to her condition, she was unable to work in either system.

    Point I'm trying to make is that I can't see where changing our entire system of health care is the solution to all of our problems and isolated tragic cases.

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  44. erdoc8511:09 PM, October 25, 2008

    Cat: I looked up the stats.

    According to a Scientific American column by Michael Shermer, the "heartless" conservatives donate 30% more than the "bleeding heart" liberals (income adjusted). Conservatives also log more volunteer hours and give more blood. Religious conservatives are 3 times more generous than secularists and 57% more likely to help a homeless person.

    As to the current candidates, here are the percentages of charitable giving:

    McCain: 23.1%

    Palin: 2.4%

    BHO: 0.9% until he began to run for president. It has increased to 5.4% over the past 2 years.

    Biden: 0.2% Yes, that's right!

    ReplyDelete
  45. pinky7:07 AM, October 26, 2008

    I think it would be helpful if you guys post the group of drinking guys story again. The one that explains our tax system now. That was a good post.

    ReplyDelete

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