Well, duh. As far as any rich rabid chipmunk GOP shill is concerned, if you’re not for the rich, you’re against them.

If the tea party didn’t exist, would any progressives feel compelled to go out and protest the current administration. Because all the energy seems to be going towards calling out the partiers. So either progressives believe the administration is doing the right things for the country, or they don’t have the energy or desire to protest the government. In other words, following the administration’s script.

also. not known for anything loosely regarded as pro active – yet I get the feeling CARB is setting the table to yell “Infiltrator!!!” everytime someone accuses them of racism

the use of the word anchor baby here is just awful. Its awful to spread the myth that people came to this country just to have children and suck off welfare. Thats what the term anchor baby implied please take it down.

Michelle Malkin demonizes immigrants and writes love letters to Minutemen. Do some Googling and you’ll find out quickly why I call her that.

Stealing the ever popular anti-war ship-in-distress, upside down flag schtick. Is there nothing sacred to these folks? It would be interesting get a couple of pictures to hand out the next time there is an anti-war protest with appropriate addresses to the thin-skinned.

“See these folks? They are guilty of whatever it is that makes this bad. Go get ‘em.”

she left out some rather obvious field marks -

vegan shoes
correctly spelled signs and tattoos
dogs with Dont Tread On Me kerchiefs
earnest attempts at civil dialogue with fellow protestors

Now they have someone to blame for their racist, wacky, crazy signs and costumes. “It’s not real TeaPartiers; it’s infiltrators.”

(I don’t think Malkin should call them agents provocateurs; that sounds French.)

Anchor Baby

Jesus. Talk about racism. Does Malkin use the term herself, or is it only progressives.

Jeeze, just show up wearing natural fiber fabrics and no cheap perm and you’ll stand out. Don’t even think of spelling correctly on your handmade sign. Dead giveaway.

Seconding BT’s use of the appellation Anchor Baby for Malkin.

Do. A freaking. Google. Search.

Has Malkin used the term herself, or is it just a popular slur among progressives.

I did. Couldn’t find an instance where Malkin used the term herself. Just alot of links where progressives used the term. Do you have a link. I’ll back off.

heh. What are vegan shoes?

I’m still partial to CARB but BT’s use here is like totally appropriate :D

From Google:
Michelle Malkin » No more drive-by citizenship
Jun 13, 2004 … (An estimated 5000 South Korean anchor babies are born in the US every year). … February 25, 2010 05:13 PM by Michelle Malkin …
http://michellemalkin.com/2004/06/13/no-more-drive-by-citizenship/

Really, BT, leave Anchor Baby Michelle alone!

Sorry, I don’t get “CARB” — did I miss something?

Thank you.

If the 10th amendment gets little attention the 9th gets none at all:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The 9th is the great repository of the rights, like that of privacy, that the current radically conservative Supreme Court says we don’t have.

shoes made from non animal, cruelty free ‘leather’. personally getting some vegan chaps for the new scooter :D

samples here

If I wanted to clean up my image, Michelle Malkin is one of the first I would want to have on my side, speaking up for me and offering advice. /s

the inimitable TBogg – Crazy Ass Racist Bitch

should add Malkin is about the only exception to my standing rule of never using the b word to describe women:D

Oohhh, cool shoes…

You’re welcome. Next time, do it yourself. I hate to give the crazy bitch a link.

So either progressives believe the administration is doing the right things for the country, or they don’t have the energy or desire to protest the government. In other words, following the administration’s script.

What is it with the false choices? I can’t even get depressed and have an adventure with a bottle of drink without being accused of supporting O’bams.

Do you know that multiple choice questions have more than yes or no for answers? And that the mammalian stress reaction is not just fight or flight, but fight, flight, manipulate, or sulk? Ask any teenager.

Meh….these people abound. I VOTED for Orahma in the primary yet when I tried to point out that bashing Hillary Clinton and her supporters after he got the nomination was counter productive, I was accused of being a Hillary-bot and a PUMA. Only conservatives see the world in black and white, whether they view themselves as conservative or not.

from what I’ve read around the blogosphere, she herself is what she so despises, an “anchor baby”

Well please enlighten. Me, I think the most productive thing to do right now is to hold the administration’s feet to the fire to deliver on some of his important campaign promises to his supporters and the nation. How about you.

Absolutely. A self loathing case if ever I saw one.

I agree with that
let’s get some of that change we hoped he’d promised.

Gee, Tex, there doesn’t seem to be any point to this post other than to reprise the same old boring litany of stereotypes and lame insults. I thought you were better than this.

LOL. Thanks!!

The way I see it, if someone is stupid enough to use the N word or the A word, I’m not particularly moved to call that person by the N word or the A word.

I hate to give the crazy bitch a link.

I like your style. Thanks.

No offense to anyone….but I am sick to death of hearing about the Teabaggers, both here and in the MSM. If the Democrats had done their job, and done what they promised to do, the Teabaggers would be absolutely irrelevant. The independent vote, and a very large turnout of the Democratic vote, would be guaranteed.

Honestly, I could care less about how nuts, racist, dumb, whatever the Teabaggers are. My anger is solely focused on the Dems, because no one stopped them from solving what needs/needed to be solved except themselves.

Sorry to go a bit off topic, but I’ve been trying to figure out if this Joe Ryan guy running for the 52nd district in California is a teahadist, or just flat out crazy. Further, since there’s one or two things I agree with him on, does that make me crazy as well? I am loving the retro site design he’s got going on though, it takes me back to a simpler time.

Other signs they are not “official t-baggers”

-Not carrying a half eaten mickey d burger in their hand bag.

-Have a decent book to read due to boredom. And they can actually read it.

-Refuse to wear a three dollar walmart “I jus love my country and my chicken” flag shirt with matching knit sox and cap.

-Dad has real teef…

Don’t know if you (can) read the papers or not, but there are teabagger rallies all over the country today (04/15/10). Hence, timely post. Further, Malkin’s diatribe is also dated 04/15/10. Hence, timely post. BT won’t post about these dingbats when they stop. Think that’ll happen anytime soon?

Thank you for playing. Enjoy your parting gifts.

-Not wearing their sheets.

What’s most interesting to me is how many Teabaggers are going to wrongly accuse other Teabaggers of being infiltrators. Even with no actual infiltration…I believe there may actually be the potential for Teabagger-on-Teabagger violence. That is the logical result, carried out to a conclusion.

Well it is April 15th and the day of their “overwhelming” descent into DC

a lot of us feel that way jake. and, we all need some comic relief from time to time to keep us from kicking the cat :D

lol. 400 count Egyptian cotton would be a dead give away wouldn’t it

You CIP’s and BBL’s seem to be full of hate against those who opposes you. Why is that?

By the way, Michelle did not coin the phrase, Anchor baby. It has been in use for many many years. I believe Robert Byrd( the conscience of the democratic party) use to use that term all the time, when he and the democratic party where part of the KKK.

Protesting this Administration includes about 80% of the content on this site.

Chucks = rubber and canvas

Clothes, belts = cotton

Hat = straw

Projecting I see. By the way, it has been very well documented that there are some on the left who are trying to make the Tea Party rallies look Racist, etc. They know that the lame stream media will only focus on the kooks, and not the 99% of those attending these rallies.

ooooo, nice sheets

there are some on the left who are trying to make the Tea Party rallies look Racist

They haven’t had to try hard, as it is self-evident that there are many teabaggers who are racist.

….it has been very well documented….

Gotta link?

the lame stream media will only focus on the kooks

True, but that’s what they do in all situations.

Other signs they are not official tea-baggers:

- Can read
- Can add
- Under age 60
- Not white
- Fuckable

For the record, any ‘infiltrators’ don’t have to work too hard to make the Tea Party rallies look racist.

They’ve managed to do so quite easily on their own with the witch doctor signs, etc.

That’s real funny. As a PROUD BLACK MAN, who has attended a number of these rallies, I have never encountered any racism by the Tea Partiers. If it is so self evident, I assume you can document the racism you are alleging. Tell me, is it first hand knowledge you posses, or is it second hand? You know, something Rachel, Ed or Keith put in your head?

Sho,

I didn’t say the post wasn’t timely. I just think it’s utterly pointless.

Here’s the Anchor Baby, complaining about anchor babies.

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin — herself born in the United States to alien parents who were legally, temporarily in the U.S. at the time[11] — has asserted that “the custom of granting automatic citizenship at birth to children of tourists and temporary workers such as Yaser Esam Hamdi, tourists, and to countless ‘anchor babies’ delivered by illegal aliens on American soil, undermines the integrity of citizenship—not to mention national security”.[12]

Reason why I visit. When I say “progressives,” I mean Kos more than FDL. Hopefully the term can mean more than being lackeys of the administration. I would like to see the President come around, but he is not paying attention to the left right now, and there is hardly any pressure on him coming from the left.

http://www.kgw.com/home/Ore-probes-teacher-working-against-tea-partiers-90868974.htm

Yeah,they do, but that doesn’t excuse those on the left who try to maintain the kooks the lame stream media promote actually represent the Tea Party Movement.

That’s not bigoted at all. Thanks for being part of the left.

He has been so dismissive of the left that it is difficult for me to figure out just what would push him left, absent a primary challenge. Even then, he seems to have no problem committing to liberal positions, then ignoring them after he’s won. Seems to be his MO, and it’s been effective so far.

No, I don’t think BT is better than this. Of course when you’re obsessed with the word ‘teabagging’ then it’s really not surprising.

You know BT, they’re doing marvelous things with therapy and meds these days. You should check it out.

That’s part of the problem that afflicts activists both left and right-when you embrace the kooks, and give them a platform and receptive audience, you wind up being mistaken for a kook.

When I say “progressives,” I mean Kos more than FDL

ROFLMAO Aw, shit, yer killin’ me here. bwahahahahaha can’t breathe bwahahahaha

As a PROUD BLACK MAN, who has attended a number of these rallies, I have never encountered any racism by the Tea Partiers.

http://simmerdown3.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/teapartysign1sm1.jpg

http://racistconservatives.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Wow.jpg

http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/racist_tea_party.jpg

http://www.newyorkslime.com/tea-party-racist-signs-04-back-to-kenya.jpg

http://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/teapartypic-e1264782711595.jpg

http://img.wonkette.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/obama-half-breed-muslin.jpg

Excuse me. You have it all wrong. It is well known that most of those attending the rallies are well educated, successful people. You must be one who has fallen for the left wings lies about who these people are.

Thank you.

I gather you consider yourself a real progressive. Good for you. Give yourself a pat on the back.

Thanks, jake. I just didn’t feel like it.

So, in other words, you have no direct knowledge of this subject. Seems you rely on other peoples spin. There will always be some nut jobs in any rally, be it a left wing one, or a right wing one. My point is, they do not represent the Tea Party Movement. You seem to feel they do.

Excuse me, but I don’t believe the Tea Party people embrace the kooks, as you claim

Actually, in addition to the racist signs, poll after poll after poll has shown Teabaggers harbor a good deal of racial resentment, including the one Jane linked to earlier today.

I would say multiple polls is superior to your unsupported assertion.

Yeah, it’s just a coincidence that all these “well educated, successful people” are complaining that Obama and the admin might actually try to help folks who don’t have as much.

The overwhelming majority of supporters say Mr. Obama does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves. More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.

They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.

You would probably be better served by inverting your perceptions. There is very little progressive about Kos-as he says, Kos is a partisan, Democratic blog, dedicated to winning elections. You will find much more progressivism and much less lockstep lemming-ness at FDL, IMO.

still wrong to use the word whatsoever. Would you it be okay to call a black person the n word this is just wrong.

By the way, if that’s all you have, you don’t have much, do you?

No, Sparky, I’m a revolutionary.

I have never encountered any racism by the Tea Partiers. If it is so self evident, I assume you can document the racism you are alleging.

Documentation of the racism.

Based on the email forwards of many of my conservative “friends” and relatives, unfortunately, as well as the many, many conservative officials who have been caught fowarding racist emails……racism is a large part of the GOP opposition to Obama. Which is stupid, because if they weren’t worried about the color of his skin, or the ridiculous “D” after his name, he’s following exactly the policies they’d like, with a small crumb thrown here and there to the unemployed and otherwise downtrodden.

What polls are you talking about? And what signs? The few carried by those on the left who are trying to make it seem they represent the Tea Party? They don’t you know.

There is simply no equivalence there.

Huh, you consider what you posted as proof of something? Weak, dude, very weak.

You post what appears to be a quote from someone who says this and that, but does not substantiate what is being said. Very weak come back on your part.

By the way, if that’s all you have, you don’t have much, do you?

That was after a 2 minute G.I.S. of “teaparty racist signs”….exactly how much of my time do you think you are worth?

Even if it were my job to convince you that much of the conservative hatred of Obama is racist, I don’t have the requisite puppets or special education skills to adequately convey this message to you.

By the way, white liberals do seem to focus more on my community then is necessary, in my opinion. The best thing whites can do for us is to get out of our way. By the way, it was the democratic party who, historically, has cause my community the most grief.

Then a double pat on the back. Saddle up.

Obviously any signs of Teabagger racism is the result of liberal infiltration, since it is by definition impossible for a Teabagger to be racist, while liberals have for decades fought to preserve racist institutions and paradigms.

/s

xin loi

So what do you consider proof since you’ve discounted posts on current polling from the NY Times and CBS?

Or is it just anything that doesn’t match your idea is to be dismissed out of hand?

Dude, I have been to a number of these rallies. Have you? I thought not.

That’s a stupid comment.

What does polling have to do with anything? How does a poll prove racism? Someone calls a stranger up, ask him or her if they believe the movement is racist, then you site these responses as proof of racism? You must be a very gullible person.

Don’t bother. He’s just intent on ignoring whole piles of objective evidence in favor of his own narrow experience.

It’s absurd.

When you resort to personal, ad hominem attacks, you have already lost the argument. I consider your insult a badge of honor.

As a PROUD BLACK MAN, who has attended a number of these rallies, I have never encountered any racism by the Tea Partiers.

And btw, I’m not going to believe this until I see your Long Form Birth Certificate.

Dude, I have been to a number of these rallies. Have you?

Fuck no. My advice to you is to stop drinking the water from your air conditioner.

What piles of objective evidence are you referring to? So far, none of you CIP’s or BBL’s have posted anything that would fit that definition.

What insult? You made a stupid comment. I didn’t call you stupid.

Yawn!!!!!!!!!!!

Off on the business of the Queen. See all later.

You all sound justlike the cheating husband who tells his wife, who just found him in bed with a hooker: Who are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes.

Just so we can know how you are attempting to insult us, please define “CIP” and “BBL”

Did someone say Birth Certificate.

please give the Queen my regards ;)

cast iron pipe who’ll be back later?

hatenomore must be an ironic screen name

You all sound justlike the cheating husband who tells his wife, who just found him in bed with a hooker: Who are you going to believe? Me, or your lying eyes.

[ ] Great analogy
[x] A mildly ret@rded dolphin could have done better

http://georgiateapartypatriots.com/wordpress/
FYI: The organizer is A PROUD BLACK MAN.

CIP=COMMUNIST INSPIRED PROGRESSIVES
BBL=BIG BROTHER LOVER.
I use both terms descriptively, not as an insult.

Thank You!

I haven’t been called a Commie Symp (or variant) in over thirty years.

So where were you when BushCo was passing the Patriot Act and destroying the Constitution that you hold so dear by allowing non warrant phone taps and such?

We need a better quality bunch of bridge dwellers.

AGREED!!

My doG this one is so lame as to be p.a.t.h.e.t.i.c.

YAWN!!!!! indeed.

That’s all you have? Weird little acronyms designed to demonize those with whom you disagree?
Do you realize how hard everyone on this thread is laughing at you?

I mean that descriptively, not as an insult.

Well, he’s not exactly a librul, he’s a libertarian (mutualist, actually), but he’s planning on trolling them a little bit. Here we go: http://twitter.com/jeremy6d/status/12241646518

Commie!!! Hey there! Haven’t heard that epithet farted in my general direction in a while. LOL! Kinda woke me up from the rest of this snooze fest. Meh. Onwards.

If someone who claims to be an AA cannot see the racism in front of his nose at the majority of tea party rallies – March 20 2010 at the US Capital springs readily to mind – then perhaps this person needs a new lense prescription for his glasses and an updated hearing aid to listen to the racial slurs shrieked out at minority congressmen.

Whatever… the bs rolls down hill…

BTW, BT, I apologize for helping derail your thread by my responses to this troll.

One: your question is irrelevant, as it implies that if I didn’t object to Bush, I can’t object to Obama. FYI: I don’t agree with your statement about Bush, but I will say that I didn’t vote for Bush, either times, nor did I ever support most of his domestic policies. I believe that both parties ceased doing the peoples business long ago, and are now only serving themselves, for the sake of power. I am an anarchist at heart, who is smart enough to realize that we do need a very limited amount of “government”. And as was once said: Democracy/Capitalism is the worse form of government we could have, with the exception of ALL OTHER FORMS OF GOVERNMENT WE HAVE HAD.

I say you progressives are communist inspired, not communist. Tell me, how does your version of progressiveness differ from that of communism?

So when are you moving to Somalia? Surely with all the anarchy and chaos there, you’ll be right at home…

To be laughed at by a bunch of know nothing morons makes me feel proud.

Excuse me, but some of these rallies are organized by people of color. Like the one in Atlanta. http://georgiateapartypatriots.com/wordpress/

Progressivism is just the attempt to get rid of all discrimination. Do you have a problem with that objective?

You failed to answer my question.

Dunno. Markos and Arianna call themselves progressives, and they used to be Republicans. Think they like the money, just not the wars and being socially uptight. They’re definitely good with the money though.

We know why you are here.
We know what you are up to.

Please pups – the more oxygen you give it, the more precious space it takes up.

Do
Not
Feed

So, progressives what to do away with discrimination, is that what you are saying? Well, you should have joined the Republican party, as that was one of the things they were founded to do, as opposed to the democratic party, which was founded on the notion of perpetuating slavery.

Progressives can be found in both parties.

On behalf of all know-nothing morons, I’m glad we could contribute to your enhanced mental health and improved self-image.

Discrimination. Big word. Racial or economic, or both.

You do? Well, good for you.

I have no doubt.

I find your comment to be racist.

Well, you guys still support discrimination on the basis of health (see: your support of health INSURANCE over health care for all) and wealth (see: your suggestion that poor people don’t have the right to health care). So, you’re not really progressives. Not anymore. We are.

Both, baby. Both.

How to answer a strawman question that has been de-bunked since the earliest parts of the 20th Century takes a bit.

Let’s see, wanting to protect the environment is considered a progressive position. Trying to force our society to live up to its professed ideals of equal opportunities for all (not just some being more equal than others). Education. Military as a true means of self defense and not overseas adventuring. Reining in the corporations and regulating their actions for the good of all and not just the few.

Just a few progressive ideals in my eyes.

So I guess believing in community does make me a Commie inspired so and so

But it’s so much fun (kind of like the cat and mouse)

You do? Well, good for you.

Teddy Roosevelt has come back to life?

Name ONE current Republican office holder that is a Progressive in any way shape or form.

How is that discrimination? When did the payment for your health care become my, our the governments, responsibility? Why should a company want to pay for you medical bills, when you were not a customer of theirs prior to your illness? Get real, dude. Hey, George Soros has plenty of money. Maybe I should send him my medical bills and expect him to pay them for me. Or how about I send them to you. Will you discriminate against me, by not paying my bills?

Discrimination (not just racial) is how private insurers make money. Healthcare has no business being in the business of making profits. It is unethical and undemocratic.

This is clearly what happens when you learn your history from Glenn Beck.

It is also considered a conservative idea. Most hunters consider themselves conservative, and they are usually the ones doing the most to protect the environment they hunt in. As to the equal opportunity thing, well, again, a republican ideal, since that is what that party was founded on, as opposed to the democratic party, who didn’t enter that game, in a positive way, until well after the mid point of the twentieth century.

John McCain.

There are just about no more hippies left. They have all traded their freak flags for Brooks Brothers suits and work for insurance companies and banks. The few holdouts that there are left are spending their time dealing and trying to stay under the radar.

How so? So, are you saying that there should not be insurance companies? Hummm Ok. Don’t purchase it. That is your choice. Pay your medical bills yourself.

OK, so now your going for comedy?

Parody.

It is you that seeks to be funny. You don’t seem to know the difference between health care and the payment for said care. Seem what you really are advocating for is free health care for all. Is that what you advocate?

What aoyama said.

What it takes to keep someone alive should not be monetized. Then you start getting into the realm of “how many dollars is a human life worth?” and I refuse to accept the notion that rich people deserve to live more than the rest of us. Why should they? Because they ripped lots of people off? Because of caveman-style laws that authoritatively protect intellectual property? Who says things shouldn’t be open source? Who says that it’s RIGHT to declare that something is eternally yours just because it came out of your head? Once many people expend their labor working on your idea, it should be partly theirs, no?

Yes, no profit making health insurance companies. They cost us up to $500 billion every year, and they don’t do a thing that actually involves health or medical care. The Medicare system could administer healthcare coverage for everyone, and it would cost a fraction of that number. That cost is unsustainable. We may need to preserve jobs at private health insurers for now, but they will go away. Matter of time.

Then deal with the health care provider. After all, it is the provider who is charging you, not the insurance company, who is only paying your bills. And you seem to live in a world of stereotypes. All rich people in your world are rich because they ripped someone off? Please. And by the way, if I invent something, what gives you the right to benefit from it?

And by the way, if I invent something, what gives you the right to benefit from it?

Then keep it to yourself.

Then don’t buy a policy then. That is your choice. But it is not your choice to deny me the opportunity to purchase insurance if I so choose. And again, we are talking health care costs, not insurance costs.

Free health care for everyone sure seems to work in most of the rest of the so-called developed world with far fewer over all costs and far better outcomes.

Are you aware of the rate of denial of coverage under medi-care. Look it up.

What polls are you talking about? And what signs? The few carried by those on the left who are trying to make it seem they represent the Tea Party? They don’t you know.

Well, I’ve read the past 15 or so of your comments, all defending the Tea Partiers. You’ve got an excuse for every one of their behaviors.

No it doesn’t.

I don’t know what you have been reading, but my position is only that they do not represent the Tea Party Movement. Just because some a hole attend a rally, does not mean they are reflective of the whole.

You could buy your coverage from Medicare if the government would allow it. Why pay more. Sounds like you approve of the President’s private health insurance industry bailout plan.

Are you aware of the rate of denial of coverage at the private insurers.

You expect a government to be there to protect your “property rights,” but when it comes to health care, it’s “Live and let die?”
WTF?

What doesn’t give me the right?

You’ve never illegally downloaded a song or a movie?

Thanks for the link. It’s nice to know what you [Edited by Moderator. No need for name calling] are up to.

I see that Freedomworks is a prominent sponsor. you do know about Freedomworks, right?

Read this, you might learn something (PDF)

Or this

Or this

You might learn something other than what Rush tells you.

OMG, the Stupid really hurts.

I have to stop reading this commentor’s drivel.

Medicare is an unsustainable program. And FYI: The private sector does a much better job doing most things than the Government does. FYI: Where does the Government even get the right to take from me to pay your bills? This is America. We have a constitution that limits the power of the feds. You BBL want to give the feds more power over our lives than I think they should have. That’s why I call people like you big brother lovers. You like the idea of big brother taking care of you wants and needs.

Yeah I know what freedom works is. Whats your point? Guilt by association? Hummmm Two can play that game. Who can I associate Obama with?

Now you’re really sounding like Beck. Don’t fret. We’ll cross you off that list for medicare and social security.

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/03/02/alice_in_health_care

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/03/03/alice_in_health_care_part_ii

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/03/04/alice_in_health_care_part_iii

And you are starting to sound like bath tub boy.

Just ban him.

Come on man, this is the 20th century. You’ve got to see that government is necessary. Do you want Blackwater patrolling your streets? Healthcare is something everyone needs, from infants to great grandparents. Insurance is a middleman that only serves to divert money, increase cost and decrease efficiency; it is by definition discrimination. The banks, insurance, energy, and defense contractor oligarchies are not “free markets.” They are beneficiaries of the public trough, and they influence our government to serve THEIR purpose, not the common good. You do believe there is such a thing as common good?

Hummm now that is really a communist inspired statement.

Sorry but opinion columns from a conservative columnist don’t quite have the same level of credibility as a Congressional Research Report.

We have the most expensive health care system in the world. That does not make it the best.

But thanks for trying.

Isn’t that what government does? You know, divert money, increase cost and decrease efficiency? Government may be a necessary evil, but that doesn’t mean I or you should encourage it’s growth. And again, there you go with your stereotyping of business.

So, you choose to remain in your progressive cocoon.

By the way, there are a lot of facts and cites in those pieces.

And the congressional reports I have seen demonstrates how inept the government is and has been in administrating health care payments. And again, you are not addressing health care, but only how the bills should be paid. You want your bills to be payed for by people who work and pay taxes. I don’t.

Actually there were no facts and links to supporting information in those columns.

A lot of assertions but no supporting links to justify them.

Yes. Mr Sowell sounds like a lobbyist for the private insurance industry. Not that I’m suggesting he is. Just that he’s saying the same things.

Government is how we agree to organize our society. It gets complicated and we have a pretty complicated system, but that doesn’t make it evil. What does, is graft. Together, we can agree to say let’s take care of some people who can’t take care of themselves. But when the law serves business, that becomes secondary to profit. If you’re talking about what kind of clothes you wear, great. If you’re talking about providing basic healthcare, that’s wrong.

And the people who are unemployed and underemployed, or those who don’t pay taxes, no healthcare for them I guess. Tough luck.

No, I want the insurance companies and their for-profit nonsense out of the health care system completely.

Or do you not understand that a Single payer or medicare for all system would actually cost less for everyone.

Businesses would be more competitive internationally as health insurance costs are not something required of companies from other countries. We wouldn’t have to pay the CEOs and executives of Aetna and Wellpoint multi millions of dollars just so they can report their quarterly profits that came because they found an excsue to claim “pre-existing condition” or fraud because someone failed to disclose a treatment for acne when they were 18.

Not true at all.

Don’t we already do that? We are the most generous people in the world. We don’t need the Government to act as a middle man with my generosity.

Again, you do not address the cost of health care, which has nothing to do with insurance.

Then I have no idea what you’re talking about as there were no links anywhere in those articles supporting Sowell’s statements.

Which puts it in the opinion range.

Here’s a great quote to add to my “stereotyping” of business. It came from the book “The Informant” I believe. I haven’t seen the movie, because I don’t think collusion of corporations to the detriment of humanity is a comical situation, but it sums up corporate philosophy pretty well. “The customer is the enemy.”

Call me a pinko and then go out and buy your mom her 200 dollar a bottle prescription (that’s really only worth about 15) and then ask yourself “Is this a great country or what?” while other people have to wonder whether they should do without in order to pay their rent.

By the way, if all insurance companies do is collect premiums,count profits, and pay ceo’s big salaries, why would anyone buy insurance? I believe they provide a service, and provide that service in a fair and equatable way, for the most part. Can you site examples of them acting poorly. Probably. But I could counter with the millions upon millions of health care bills that are payed by insurance companies, daily, that are paid in a fair and equatable way. You cite exceptions, I cite the rule.

This is the real world, not a book or movie.

So the cost of the insurance has nothing to do with the cost of the care? Even when the insurance companies are raking 30% off the top of what is paid before they start paying out the charges?

I’m uninsured. I had to go to an emergency room a few years ago after slicing my hand one Saturday morning. Seven AM. I paid $300 to walk out with 4 stitches and a tetanus shot. I was there less than an hour. Then the following week I received a bill from the ER doctor for $600 and another bill from the hospital (owned by for profit “health care” firm Humana) for another $600.

And the bill was indecipherable due to the debits and credits that did not match.

So for profit hospitals just MIGHT be a reason for high health care cost combined with uninsured folks forced to go to the ER regardless and then forced to pay basically the costs for that visit since the companies manage to cut sweetheart deals with each other.

There won’t be any actual progressive “infiltrators.” It’s just a play on right-wing paranoia. The Tea Partyers have been punked.

I don’t have enough time to go find all the stories of insurance companies operating in bad faith but it happens often enough that lawyer web sites have FAQs on the issue.

But just the other day, after the HIR bill was passed, a new born in Texas was denied coverage (until the insurance company was shamed into providing it) due to a “pre-existing condition”

Or how the insurance companies started trying to game the system as soon as the bill was passed.

Believe me, you just haven’t been paying attention if you think the insurance companies are your friends on these things. Or you’ve never actually had to use the insurance for anything long term.

The Medicare system could administer healthcare coverage for everyone, and it would cost a fraction of that number. That cost is unsustainable.

I completely agree with you.

Sorry to have run off, I had some “real world” business to attend. The book is a true story.

You cite the monopoly. 30% off the top for the last 40 years. No competition. Extortion. What’s anyone going to do? Lose your job, lose your coverage. So did you pick up your mom’s arthritis meds yet, here in the real world?

If what you say is true, then why is medi-care unsustainable?

Again, you site exceptions to the rule. By the way, do you know the outcome of the story you site? I suggest you follow up with it. I bet you will find that the denial of coverage was reversed. By the way, I totally disagree with your assertion that it is insurance companies who are driving up the cost of health care. Apples and Oranges, dude.

So, tell me, how would government run health insurance bring down the cost of services? Your hospital bill would not have changed, would it? And Medi-care only pays a portion of your bills, leaving you to pay the balance unpaid by Medi-Care.

I paid the full freight charges at the ER because the current law does not allow the hospitals to give breaks other than negotiated breaks negotiated by the health insurance industry. The uninsured are the only ones that are forced to pay full charges.

I hope for your sake, that you are allowed to continue on in your fantasy land and never actually do have to use the insurance for any long term big ticket costs.

Yes, that decision was reversed.

After the public outcry forced the insurance company to back down so that they didn’t show how much greedy pigs they truly are.

Humm the current law you say? So, Government interference meant you couldn’t negotiate with the provider to reduce his bill? So, how would that change under Obama care? By the way, hospital routinely write off bills that cannot be paid. And you seem also to be saying that any price break you receive is due to the insurance industry.

Then why did you cite it as problem. Fact of the matter is, a new born cannot have a “pre-existing condition, as defined by your insurance policy. I assume you are insured for health coverage. Look at your policy, and tell me what the definition is for Pre-Existing conditions. I bet it says something to the effect that if you had a condition you treated for, prior to obtaining your policy, than you would have to wait one year before your new carrier will cover that treatment for that pre-existing condition. If you had not had any treatment for over one year, than that condition would be covered. Look it up. Most health policies use the same language.