nanny state? NAHHHh

So i read this and just laughed uncontrollably. Luckily the British are years ahead of us on nanny-stateism so we got lots of fun things to look forward to.

With a 1000 lies and a good disguise

So while im reading the nasty healthcare bill today, im going to need some music to get me through it without killing people.

my recomendation:



This whole album is actaully really good. Ive been working out to it for the past few days, and its speed is motivating which we all know when lifting weight is good.

I got a new Novel Today

Its a whopping 1990 nap inducing pages. What it it you might ask, Well its the House bill outlying the newest orwellian name for the public option, the consumer option (which technially we all have under private insurance, but lets not get into that).

So if you dont hear from me im doing what our congressmen wont be doing, ill be reading this bill and by tonight or early tomorrow ill have my list of questions about it.

Wish me luck, and if anyone wants to do the same let me know below, we can turn tomorrow into an open thread.

Video: the Obama Care Help Line

Ed over at HotAir found something Interesting today. Lets take a look.



This one made me laugh pretty hard. Its just like the VA! So now everyone can experience the pain, neglect and abandonment of the Vetrans Affairs Health Program. The one thats screwing over people across this nation, including yours truely.

Also, if you get a chance hit the Concerned Women for America site, see the rest of the adds and give them some support!

Maureen Dowd needs to just suck Obamas dick already

Since day after day after day, week after week she writes this drivel about how much she is personally excited, and personally hurt after anything Obama does. She needs to just pull a lawinski, get it out of her system and start being a somewhat objective journalist again.

To be honest the story, as usual with a Dowd column is full of the typical 'feminist' hashpoints:

As long as I’ve covered politics, there were always women running up against “The Boys.”
In 1984, Geraldine Ferraro complained about the “smart-ass white boys” from Walter Mondale’s campaign who tried to boss her around. As first lady, Hillary Clinton had to deal with Bill’s coterie of cocky “white boys.”

Then of course making fun of people who point out valid concerns about Obama:

Besides, if Obama starts using a quota system for recreation, it will give fuel to the Republican campaign to paint him as a hand-wringing, Mom-jeans-wearing girly-boy. Churlish Cheney charged the president with “dithering” on Afghanistan and nerdy potential 2012 rival Tim Pawlenty, the Terror from Minnesota, accused Obama of “projecting potential weakness” on national security.

You know Maureen, it would be a better idea to NOT use the Cheney quote as a negative when your writing a column about Obamas golf games while hes still not decided (6 months after he announced his own strategy) on his what to do with Afghanistan. Thats dithering.

But the crux of my annoyance was how it starts:

I felt a twinge of envy when I heard that my pal Tom Friedman had played golf with the president for five hours one September Sunday.

Tom learned a lot about Barack Obama’s positions on weighty issues and sporty ones. (This president doesn’t cheat and he does expect bets to be paid off.) My natural impulse was to shrug it off. Men have always craved private realms — the golf club, men’s club, garage, workshop, shed; a place to get away from the chatter and clatter of women and kids. (In Obama’s case, he may desire a testosterone break from his estrogen nest — a wife, two daughters and a mother-in-law.)

Its ick covered in gross with a top of jelousy. Maureen, honey you gotta get this Liberal hero worship out of your system. It was sad during the campaign, but i fear you might get all stalker before the midterms, and that would just add too much fuel to my fire to make fun of you. So for your own good, either fuck him or get over him already.

So i was reading around....

and yeah i found an older news story. But it helps make my point about yesterday. See if the government starts running your health care like they do for our vetrans decisions like this might just come down a bit more often.

Slippery slope straw man? NAHHH

Healthcare may be a right....

I dont get into a fundamental debate over health care reform in this country. I do however admit it is one of the most important debates about health care. Is it a right, and i tend to say yes. And heres why, everyone in this country has a right to health care. Thats why emergency rooms cannot turn you away.

The question though is a bit of a paper moon. Its not really asked to have a real answer, its asked to prove that your an uncaring bigot. I personally hate loaded questions.

So much has been written and analyzed about Health Care that its almost like im screaming into the 'Echo Chamber' of the blogosphere, but this has been bugging me and i feel like i need to get it off my chest somehow.

I first started to make this comparison in June, when i asked why Healthcare was still so tied to employment. health insurance and car insurance have many similarities but also some important differences.

Take for example:
Car insurance protects you from massive costs incured when you get in a car accident
Health Insurance protects you from massive costs incured if/when you get injured.

However, theres an important distinction to make here. many people use health insurance for what most car owners would call 'routine maintaince'. I dont file a claim with my car insurance company because i needed to get a tune up, just like i think its a little insane to use my health insurance to get a yearly checkup.

Also important to remember is the way we buy each
Car Insurance is bought on a family by family basis tailored to meet individual needs
Health Insurance is bought on a bulk scale by employers and is one-size-fits-all type care (with some exceptions, but for the sake of argument roll with me)

to me this seems a little backwards. Car insurance at its root is to protect from accidents. Roadside assistance is why Triple-A exists. But in many ways, your ability to shop around for the best services for the lowest price has helped keep the price of car insurance relatively low. The exact opposite is the case with health insurance. Since much of the Insurance market is taken up by employers, companies have little reason to help market to individual buyers and when they do, they have little reason to give you a good price. This is inflated by a stupid federal provision not allowing insurance to be bought across state lines (although this does help keep healthcare prices even with cost of living in various states).

Now here is where my liberal friends tend to argue with me. Liberal would say "but Skip, the government mandates that you buy car insurance, why not the same with health insurance?" Now this is a valid point, however it misses one crucial issue.

Car Insurance : Involves other people
Health Insurance: Between you and your doctor

Let me put it another way. The state requires you have car insurance, not really for you though. They want you to have insurance so when your distracted while driving and ram into the car in front of you or run that red light/stop sign you have at least a little bit of coverage so they get something before you declare bankrupcy. So in otherwords, when you buy the state minimum of car insurance your not really buying it for you, your buying it for other people.

Health insurance on the other hand is alot more personal. If i get cancer without insurance and take no government aid, thats my choice and it doesnt really affect anyone else (except emotionally).

The difference is really in application. Yes healthcare in this country is a right, and as i said thats why the hospital cant deny you care. But there's something fishy about individual mandates in health care. And government run options just scare me into the government regulating things that might possibly be unhealthy. Theres something profoundly wrong with our current system, but congress wont solve it. It will take some personal responsibility and a little bit of courage to change the current system.





But since that wont happen................

the Matthew Shepard Act

Ok,

So as a first post on this thing it might be bad, but at the same time its somthing that annoys me. When did murder stop becoming murder?

So Im a white male, if i kill another white male its just murder, but if i kill a white gay male, its a hate crime.

Im confused, can someone tell me when murder stopped being murder

ADDENDUM:

this is not to say what happened to Matthew Sheppard was not horrible, it was an atrocious act that i think everyone can see. But at the same time, when did murder stop being murder?