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Friday, 29 Feb 2008
It's no secret that the republicans would love it if Hillary was the democratic nominee, because of how much easier Hillary is to defeat in a general election. That being said, it doesn't mean that they have something cooked up for Obama as well. They are just simply waiting until Obama and Hillary tear each other apart first, and if Obama comes out victorious, hit him with this. If the republicans can make the election over this video, especially that McCain is their candidate, and his major positive is National Security, then Obama has a serious chance to lose this thing!
February 29th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I agree. Barack Obama is extremely far left. A lot of people are going to be very disappointed when they learn his policy views.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
Don’t fall for the Republican trick. Painting Dems as soft on defense has never been true….Dems just aren’t trigger happy.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
“Don’t fall for the Republican trick. Painting Dems as soft on defense has never been true….Dems just aren’t trigger happy.”
The republicans don’t have to trick anybody. Obama wants to withdraw from Iraq and then go back in if violence increases. That’s retarded.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
“Don’t fall for the Republican trick.”
Hrag, you’re the one who’s trying to “trick” us, not the Republicans. If Bush is so trigger happy what do you call these Democrats?
FDR (DEMOCRAT) led us into World War II.
Germany never attacked us ; Japan did. From 1941-1945, 450,000 lives were lost, an average of 112,500 per year.
Truman (DEMOCRAT) finished that war and started one in Korea. North Korea never attacked us. From 1950-1953, 55,000 lives were lost . an average of 18,334 per year.
John F. Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) started the Vietnam conflict in 1962. Vietnam never attacked us.
Johnson (DEMOCRAT) turned Vietnam into a quagmire. From 1965-1975, 58,000 lives were lost.. an average of 5,800 per year.
Clinton (DEMOCRAT) went to Bosnia without UN or French consent. Bosnia never attacked us. He was offered Osama bin Laden’s head on a platter three times by Sudan and did nothing. Osama has attacked us on multiple occasions.
In the years since terrorists attacked us , President Bush has liberated two countries, crushed the Taliban, crippled al-Qaida, put nuclear inspectors in Libya , Iran , and, North Korea without firing a shot, and captured a terrorist who slaughtered 300,000 of his own people. And the Democrats are complaining about how long the war is taking.
But Wait, There’s More. It took less time to take Iraq than it took Janet Reno (DEMOCRAT) to take the Branch Davidian compound. That was a 51-day operation. We’ve been looking for evidence for chemical weapons in Iraq for less time than it took Hillary Clinton (DEMOCRAT) to find the Rose Law Firm billing records.
It took less time for the 3rd Infantry Division and the Marines to destroy the Medina Republican Guard than it took Ted Kennedy (DEMOCRAT) to call the police after his Oldsmobile sank at Chappaquiddick with an innocent woman in it.
February 29th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
” Painting Dems as soft on defense has never been true.”
I won’t argue the past with you, democrats have had a leading role in fighting tyranny (see above!). What I do know is that Obama is beyond “soft” on defense, he doesn’t want a defensive or offensive military capacity. He doesn’t believe the number one axiom of a secure and peaceful state: The best defense is a strong offense.
Obama plans to eviscerate the US military and defensive plans that will secure a peaceful future for us.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl32Y7wDVDs
February 29th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
there is no doubt that Obama will meet McCain in the general elections, Clinton is falling apart and sooner or later all the super delegates will go with the people’s choice. This election is about ending two things, the war and economic hardship be it health care, poverty, gas prices and many more. McCain holds the same policy of bush administration on those two issues, a policy which has shown complete failure. i don’t know what he is running on really and how he plans to win the public. will see how it goes
February 29th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
The guy is an idealist. These views probably seem naive and impossible to implement but you can only admire him for his faith and motivation to bring about major changes. He wants to talk to his enemies and restore respect for america instead of the tactics of internal fear mongering and external muscle flexing that will not achieve anything good. Not in today’s world. I really doubt that someone like that could ever get elected but the fact that he made it this far really gives me hope that common-sense still survives in the land of the free. Yes you can America! Yes you can!
February 29th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
You hit the nail on the head Tedders!
February 29th, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Lol.
This dude is living in fucking La La Land!!
Someone needs to tell Obama to stop skipping along the yellow brick road with Dorothy and Toto. He needs to stop playing with pixies and fairies and come back to reality that is this World.
We’ve already had Cindy Sheehag, Sean Penn and Danny Glover try and do what he said in that clip…it hasn’t worked.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
AF,
The guy is an idealist. These views probably seem naive and impossible to implement but you can only admire him for his faith and motivation to bring about major changes.
Sounds like Jimmy Carter to me.
He wants to talk to his enemies and restore respect for america instead of the tactics of internal fear mongering and external muscle flexing that will not achieve anything good.
“Respect” from who? Our enemies? Our enemies didn’t respect us in 2001, did they? Do you think they respect us more, or less, now? If you mean Europe, well then fuck Europe. Or do you mean China and Russia? It’s VERY important for the US to live up to THEIR standards, isn’t it? :O
I could go on, but that’s sufficient.
I don’t really have a problem with Obama, but that’s mainly because I don’t think he’d be fool enough to try to make good on his promises. I could be wrong, though. Jimmy Carter was just that kind of fool.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:12 am
S”ix U.S. senators and 49 House members are advisers for a group working toward a Transatlantic Common Market between the U.S. and the European Union by 2015. ”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59713
“now? If you mean Europe, well then fuck Europe.” ??????
then fuck US as well
March 1st, 2008 at 12:19 am
Nomad, exactly! Fuck the world.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:47 am
Yeah fuck you Craig.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:02 am
Grow up you guys! Enough f**king each other.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:33 am
Um, except that Obama promises to increase defense spending, while cutting back on waste…
And y’all can keep screwing each other as far as I’m concerned.
March 1st, 2008 at 1:52 am
Jimmy Carter is the first one I thought of when I first heard Obama’s rhetoric. If you work for a living and don’t have a dozen kids he will be very bad news. I was old enough to have heard Carter’s rhetoric firsthand.
I am here in Ohio and I can tell you that all of the people I know here who vote democrat have already said if he is the nominee they will switch over and vote McCain. This could be a rerun of the 1984 Mondale Regan election.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:39 am
“The guy is an idealist. These views probably seem naive and impossible to implement but you can only admire him for his faith and motivation to bring about major changes.”
The problem Obama is going to have is that while primary voters buy into the “hope and change” buzzwords the rest of the country is going to ignore it. He will have problems attacking McCain on the economy (NAFTA) because it turns out that he doesn’t mind NAFTA at all and is bullshitting (ask the canadians). He hasn’t done anything that would indicate that he can do the job, has weird friends (domestic terrorists, people going to jail for corruption), and while his tent revival speeches may make people feel good, emotion is fleeting.
This sort of thing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghSJsEVf0pU will be a joke by November. Most politicians are sleezy by nature and Obama isn’t any different, you just don’t know him yet. Romney tried to sell “Strong America” and Obama sells himself as an idealist with “hope for change”.
That said, he has a good shot at winning it if the economy is in bad shape or violence in Iraq starts to spike again before the election.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:00 am
“Um, except that Obama promises to increase defense spending, while cutting back on waste…”
I always loved lines like this. It’s as if department budgets included items labeled “waste”, and you just had to reduce the outlay for these items.
I’ve got news for you: the definition of “waste” to a congressman is any expenditure that sends funds outside ones own congressional district.
March 1st, 2008 at 4:47 am
“Any guy who is married, or who has ever been married to woman; recognizes the irreconcileable bitch that Hillary is. She’s the kind of woman that makes you pull the decoys out of the closet at midnight and sleep in your waders and camo so you can drive to the duck blind before she gets up at dawn… just sayin…”
LOL!
March 1st, 2008 at 6:15 am
So, Obama’s gonna save tens of billions of dollars cutting waste out of the military. I’ve got news for him: **HUNDREDS** of billions in waste can be found in our so-called “social” programs, or entitlements. Is he going to touch that? Hell no! Those that feed at the public trough are his biggest constituency.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:57 am
For those of you who is following the recent ads of Clinton this is a good one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceN8geCDbFg
March 1st, 2008 at 8:33 am
“christinaalohio”…Most of Obama’s support is coming from the upper echelon of the Democratic party, college-educated professionals with family incomes over 200,000. My parents fall into this category and are supporting Obama. So are almost all other liberals I know in this category. This is despite the fact that we have the most to lose from reverting the Bush tax cuts. Do you know why? Because some people do not selfishly express a love for their country without expecting to pay something into it. Because the only reason we have to roll back tax cuts is because the Bush administration drove us into a financial ditch with its extravagant spending and what will eventually be a trillion dollar commitment to a useless war in Iraq that has achieved nothing but depose a ruler who was never a threat to us and turn Iraq into a place for civil war. Because even with reverting the tax cuts, tax rates in the US are much lower than in Europe or other countries. Because Obama will be good for American businesses, particularly medium-sized businesses that stay in America. After all, his economic advisers are Warren Buffett and the CEO of UBS, one of the biggest financial services companies in the world. Because Obama will institute a Pay-AS-You-GO standard for congressional spending that will ensure funding for any congressional initiative, thereby discouraging pork and enocuraging spending cuts. Because we need a smaller government in order to decrease taxes (which I agree with by the way, I just don’t think it is our main priority right now), and part of that involves cutting government spending. If over 1/3 of our gov’t spending goes to the military, I honestly think it should be cut drastically. We don’t need a military budget equivalent to 48% of the entire world’s military spending. We don’t need a military budget ten times greater than China’s. I’m disappointed Obama refuses to cut the defense budget. Hopefully, he will change his mind eventually. Also, Obama’s health care plan, by covering more people, will decrease emergency costs for the non-insured, thus decreasing the hospital costs for all patients, which are higher to make up for it, and thus helping private insurers as well. We also need tort reform, which Obama, as an attorney, recognizes. Malpractice insurance costs doctors too much money.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:32 pm
I hope Hilary wins, she has nice hair.
March 1st, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Patrick,
News flash: the real Liberals may vote Republican this year, because the Democrats are too busy throwing the real Liberals out of their party, and because the Republican voters (as opposed to the Right-wing talking heads) may pick a pragmatic, principled adult.
http://eustonmanifesto.org/?page_id=132
Experienced people don’t like premature withdrawal.
March 1st, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Hey SM,
Your remember the name thing we spoke about earlier this week
http://www.juancole.com/2008/02/barack-hussein-obama-omar-bradley.html#comments
March 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm
lol, is this real:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02292008/news/nationalnews/tribes_rage_at_hill_99817.htm
March 1st, 2008 at 5:16 pm
” Because some people do not selfishly express a love for their country without expecting to pay something into it.”
Whoop whoop! Sanctimony alert!
March 1st, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Fo me, It’s like choosing a car, hehe I’ll take the colored one, and if possible, not too old, so that it can work a bit faster and longer
March 1st, 2008 at 9:24 pm
” Because some people do not selfishly express a love for their country without expecting to pay something into it.”
Patrick is smoking crack like his buddy Bama Lama Ding Dong!
March 1st, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Well I’ve never had a problem with putting a line on the income tax forms so those who want to pay closer to 70% willingly can the only problem is that the state that actualyl did that reports that for all of the hot air about wanting to pay more taxes that when gicen the option somehow those liberals you talk of just don’t willingly pony up.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Hillary Clinton,
Stand up and show me your tax return and your agenda as first lady to support your claims as an experienced candidate.
And guess what? that phone at 3:00 am in the morning was Monica
March 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Really tedders? Why am I smoking crack? I honestly doubt most anti-tax Republicans pay many taxes in the first place. Rednecks just don’t make that much money, and red states have nothing on the 10% or 11% income tax rates that CA and NY have. I’m personally in favor of a flat tax rate, but I don’t think taxes are the defining issue of this campaign. And I blame Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility, a bone-headed war in Iraq, and Americans’ obsession with militarism for the rising deficit and the compulsion for income taxes.
Christina, the point is, that in exchange for the privilege of being an American citizen, you should expect to give something up for the betterment of the country. Clearly, you don’t feel the same way. Why don’t you ask yourself how we can continue to fund our commitment to Iraq and government social programs
March 1st, 2008 at 10:23 pm
without raising taxes? What’s your solution? I doubt it’s feasible.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Tedders,
Don’t you tell me you are suggesting Mccain? please don’t tell me that
March 1st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Okay Patrick,
Let’s lay it on the line. When all is said and done, I pay 20% of my income as federal income tax. That’s what it ends up being when I’m done with my tax return. Plus I pay 2.9% medicare tax, between me and my employer. My social security tax comes out to less than the 15-and-change% because I’m over the cut-off. But that’s no benefit, as the amount of benefits cuts off as well. I pay over 7% taxes to my state, and 4% to my city, neither of which is federally deductible for me because of the AMT. To keep my billing within the limits of the law, I have to pay someone 6% of my gross, or else I run the risk of being prosecuted for fraud and sent off to jail.
My real estate tax is over $6000. This goes to pay for the public schools that the liberals have destroyed. Since I can’t keep a straight face while sentencing my children to those hell holes, I pay $56,000 a year for private school tuition for my two kids.
I pay $8.375 sales tax on everything I buy, except for utilities, for which I pay more, what with surcharges and all. None of that takes into account for the taxes that are embedded in the price of everything else I buy or do, from travel to gas to food to clothes. Not that I travel a lot, or have a lot of clothes, because I can’t really afford them.
OF course, since I’m a rich doctor, I lose out on any federal benefit, such as child tax credits, IRAs, tuition tax credits, etc. I am over the limit to deduct the usual dedutions on my taxes, and am denied all credits. My children will be denied scholarships when its time for college, while children of less motivated parents go free. Of course, I also get to pay for my license, registration, and DEA registration, the costs of which never go down, so some paper pusher somewhere can scrutinize every narcotic I administer and decide whether or not to send me off to jail.
All this because I work, on average, 80 hours per week taking care of an inner city patient population, half of whom pay so little that it doesn’t make up for the cost of my equipment, but who still retain the right to sue me for millions in case they’re dissatisfied with the outcome of my care.
Of course, because of all the training and education, I didn’t get my first job until I was 30. Until then I was penniless. But when I applied for food stamps and financial assistance, I was denied these because I was a student, and then in training. So I had to take loans. Lots of loans. I could have been a government-supported crack addict. But G-d for bid you want to study to support yourself and improve society, you’re on you’re own.
And, incidentally, my pay comes with no fringe benefits, and no retirement package, so it’s all taxable, and I get to keep working until I die. Of course, once I die, I stop earning money, but my patients retain the right to sue my children for 20 and a half years after that.
So, dear Patrick, please explain to me how it is that I must be a redneck if I think I’m already paying enough for the privilege of being here. I really, really want to know.
March 1st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Since I talk with Americans, (except Craig
) I have the impression that it’s horrible to live there : they work too much for the money they can benefit at the end ; if there is still money left, they can’t enjoy a good life, no time or too tired
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
Since I talk with Americans
Americans? Like Twosret?
I have the impression that it’s horrible to live there
It is! It’s a total nightmare being an American! That’s why I encourage people with 3 different nationalities, like Twosret, to exercise their options, and live someplace else!
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
bj,
I got an answer for you
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/10/lufthansas-new-selling-point-there-is.html
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 am
“but my patients retain the right to sue my children for 20 and a half years after that.”
Torte reform is your answer bj.
March 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 am
Tort not Torte
sorry I’m dreaming about a SacherTorte
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:49 am
Craig,
“they work too much for the money they can benefit at the end ”
that doesn’t correspond to her but to the poor guys that are condamned to work till the end of their life, and I “met” quite a few
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:09 am
that doesn’t correspond to her but to the poor guys that are condamned to work till the end of their life, and I “met” quite a few
Well, I have no idea who you think you “met”, Nomad, but why would an Egyptian immigrant in the US have a better time of it than anyone else? Please explain? Maybe there is some favoritism towards immigrants that needs to be corrected?
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:21 am
scratching my head!!!!!!!. Why is Craig dragging Twosret into this argument? someone explains?
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:27 am
Repeat #13
March 2nd, 2008 at 2:59 am
anna,
Here is a hilarious photo of Hillary done by the Tunisian queen of photo shop Leilouta
enjoy the hair.
http://bp3.blogger.com/_MPJCFSyeVFk/R8TGMVzQPRI/AAAAAAAAAXA/K-whgDLsj0M/s1600-h/hilary+a+la+marylin+copy.jpg
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 am
Obama has already chosen his running mate. Shows confidence.
March 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 am
Nomad,
This one will go well with a glass of wine enjoy and relax
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oyhlad64-s
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:15 am
scratching my head!!!!!!!. Why is Craig dragging Twosret into this argument? someone explains?
Why shouldn’t I, Samer? Are you suggesting Twosret should have some sort of immunity?
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:40 am
#47 great music.
#48 Immunity?? I was asking why do you have to include someone in an argument between you and Nomad when she is not part of the discussion ?
Who are you to tell someone to exit from a country as an option? There is favoritism towards Egyptian “immigrants”because they are much nicer people than you.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:42 am
Nomad,
Actually, the very idea of America has classically been freedom. This includes the freedom to make choices, the freedom to benefit from your good choices, and the freedom to suffer from your bad ones. Over the years, folks have been converting America into a nanny state in which people are protected from the consequences of their decisions.
Based on what I understand - and I can’t claim tremendous expertise here - we are on our way to where you are in Europe, but we are still not as Socialistic as Europe is. So, yes, while we are overworked and overtaxed, I suspect that it is mostly better here than in Europe, with one principal difference. The free world depends on America for its defense, more or less. Yes, I know France is a nuclear power and can defend herself, but consider the enfeebled state of the rest of Europe and, for that matter, the rest of the free world, save Israel, Turkey, and Britain. They are helpless. We defend them, and they, in turn, spend their money on socialized medicine and other social goodies. Sure, we’re spending a ton of money in Iraq, but how much have we spent in South Korea over the past 50 years? And in Germany? And in the Phillippines? And defending Japan? The list goes on and on. So that drag has to be paid for somehow. But at least we can be comfortable in that the free world, owing us a debt of gratitude, treats us especially well (he says, muffling a laugh).
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:44 am
Two,
After all that tajine talk the other day, I finally went to a Moroccan restaurant tonight to have a chicken tajine. And a fabulous bowl of Yemenite soup, by the way. Now you’re talking up tortes? I’ll need to buy new pants!
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:15 am
bj,
Was the chicken tajine with olives and preserved lemons
Yummm. I only said I was dreaming about the trote, I better step on the scale and see how many lbs I gained dreaming 
Yemenite soup
you had good dinner tonight sounds much better than the hospital cafeteria heheheee. Any dish that has a mix of spices like saffron, cardamom, turmeric, cumin, etc… go for it!
I work from home now so I cook, excercise to burn what I eat, blog, and enjoy the girls. Anytime you need an inspiration for what to eat let me know
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 am
Patrick, I’m in the same tax bracket as your parents with my income alone, when you add my wife’s income (she’s a high school english teacher) that might put us over your mommy and daddy’s tax bracket. Like brooklynnjohn I work hard for my money, I pay outlandish federal taxes and probably pay more just for the opportunity to be self employed every year than you pay in two or three years in total. Since your such an expert on taxation you should already know that Texas doesn’t have a state income tax but that’s not much of a benefit since I pay $15,700.00 in property tax every single year on my residence alone, by the way they raise that amount every year. Don’t even get me started on the taxes I pay for my business property, it’s much more than your mom and dad pay I’m sure.
Can you explain how Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility has resulted in increases tax revenues every year of his term as President of the US? Didn’t think so, because you have no understanding of how a free market system works, just like your friend Obama the Illinois senator doesn’t.
I’ve got to include these little pearls of wisdom you saw fit to express:
“I honestly doubt most anti-tax Republicans pay many taxes in the first place. Rednecks just don’t make that much money, and red states have nothing on the 10% or 11% income tax rates that CA and NY have.”
“Because some people do not selfishly express a love for their country without expecting to pay something into it.”
I’ve already informed you that this red (neck) state doesn’t have an income tax. I support myself, my family, keep eight other families in houses, cars clothes, food and pay more in taxes in one year than you make in one, possibly more years. Does that make me less selfish than you? Your assumption that Republicans are or aren’t rednecks, what ever you think that means, and don’t pay many taxes shows your fundamental bias and ignorance. The democrat’s that I know are democrats because they want a free handout from the government, is that why you’re one? Winston Churchill said that if when you’re twenty and you’re not a liberal, you have no heart, but if when you’re forty and you’re not a conservative, you have no brain. Which is it for you?
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:47 am
#48 Immunity?? I was asking why do you have to include someone in an argument between you and Nomad when she is not part of the discussion ?
I also was not part of any “discussion” - Nomad specifically made reference to me, without my consent. As follows:
Nomad: Since I talk with Americans, (except Craig
) I have the impression that…
Who are you to tell someone to exit from a country as an option?
Who are you to tell me not to? I am entitled to my opinions, aren’t I?
There is favoritism towards Egyptian “immigrants”because they are much nicer people than you.
Twosret, a nice person? She’s a pathological liar, and she is infamously abusive. Are you claiming she’s a typical Egyptian? Because I’ve known many Egyptians over the years, and I would dispute that. Twosret is a nasty piece of work, and she might be able to pass herself off as a “typical” Palestinian, but an Egyptian? No, I don’t think so.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:06 am
Craig,
I highly recommend you don’t visit Egypt. We call people like you not a man in our country. If you are caught talking like this in Egypt to a woman in the street you will get beaten up by real men. I bet in America it is the same, because no nationality will accept what you just said.
You can only wish that a Palestinian or Egyptian man will respect you after what you wrote.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:09 am
“I pay $15,700.00 in property tax every single year on my residence alone”
That is because there is no income tax right? but in other States you pay income tax and little property tax.
I’ve never seen you that mad Tedders
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:16 am
samer law samaht matrodosh aa’lih.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:24 am
Walla yehmek ya Twosret m3alesh makontesh a3araf eno bazee2 keda
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:33 am
Merci. Good night!
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:42 am
“I’ve never seen you that mad Tedders”
Oh, you’ve never seen me mad Twos, I very seldom get upset. Certainly not from someone who presents the youthful opinion that I’m selfish because I’m not willing to pay more of my money to the government for worse government.His thesis is laughable, when I read it I laughed, when I responded I tried to imitate Bush’s smirk just to get my point across!! LOL
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 am
bj,
One thing I’m asking myself lately that I can never figure out. We get the lawyer, CPA and IT technician bills, as you rightly said DEA and license fees dues and it gets paid no question asked. Why every Physician in this country’s bill is questioned and controlled by some clerk in an insurance company?.
I can’t sympathize enough with your post No. 35 it is a shame indeed.
tedders,
I hope we don’t have to pay more than 35% in 2009 otherwise Dubai is calling .
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:11 am
Walla yehmek ya set el kol.
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:51 am
Samer, fuck you.
March 2nd, 2008 at 7:53 am
I agree with you that this Egyptian pig Twosret belongs in Egypt, and not the United States, though. Why do you think she came here, when she had such great “real men” to defend her in Egypt?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:00 am
Oh, by the way, Samer, why don’t you come show me what a “real man” you are? I’ll be happy to show you how much American men respect tough guys who make threats on the internet. Twosret knows where I live. Shoot me an e-mail, maybe we can get this sorted out. Maybe we can get Twosret to agree to move back to Egypt where she’s got some real men to defend her, if I can manage to kick your ass all the way down the street?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
Hey I will agree with you, though, that Egyptian men are absolutely famous for being respectful of women. Aren’t they, Samer?
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:26 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7267488.stm
A man has been shot while queueing for bread in Egypt.
Details of the incident were published in an Egyptian daily newspaper, al Masri al Youm.
It said that a worker in a Cairo bakery shot the customer following an altercation over the way the worker had treated the customer’s wife.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
well, if we make a total of our taxes comparing to the taxes that you have to pay individually for each department, then at the end it costs you more money to breed and educate a family, not counting the “free” time and retirement.
Apparently our social system isn’t so bad, alltogether in EU, (now 27 states) we product more than your 50 states ; France, pointed as the bad pupil, just passed UK in the GDP rate (5th) .
That is also why we invest in your country now, see lately Airbus, see the diverse companies that have in share Eu finances ; it is becoming benefit for our cies to manufacture technological goods in your country cause of the low rate of dollar and bring there some employement.
hehe, we are going to save your country from a bankrupting
Nowadays, I don’t think that a state should ignore how its citizens are living, that means helping the unfavoriseds to get a better life or find a situation according to their abilities ; naturally, there are people who profit of the system, ; there were always the kind of persons, I am afraid , there will be allways ; in percentage they don’t represent so much ; just the medias are always focusing on the bad exemples, cause that brings them attention in titilling the worse.
Of course there are always improvements to be wished and to be brought, in controlling corruption, in aerating administration heaviness, in initiating creativity, in protecting the citizens from insane or radical religiosity that aims civil wars, etc… that the way a democraty works.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Twosret @ 61.
You are talking about dealing with an insurance company, not the US government. Insurance companies control an immense amount of wealth, and their business plan is to take their payments under all circumstances, and minimize their payments out. They will reject a selected percentage of claims, from both physicians and policyholders, every month. This rejection policy is not related to legitimacy of the claim. Rather, they give their employees a dollar quota of rejections.
The only way to deal with an insurance company is to be prepared to fight with them.
I have had top-of-the-line, private insurance for years. Before that, I had HMO coverage. In both cases, the companies found an incredible array of illegitimate reasons to reject ordinary, legitimate claims. They had to be made to pay.
This was true of every medical incident I have ever been involved with: two pregnancies, a serious infection, a hospital stay by my son after a car wreck, plus the smaller, maintenance-type matters.
The only way for a policyholder or a physician’s office to deal with insurance is to have a single person handle all insurance matters, and to make dealing with them a priority.
One of the reasons Americans view Hillary Clinton’s health-care plan with deep suspicion is that requirement for all individuals to have insurance coupled with a subsidy. We know that this plan will result in higher prices for insurance, with no better, or better distributed, health care. Other countries have tried this, and we don’t like the result. In fairness to Mrs. Clinton, if this were an easy problem to solve, we’d have had the legislation in place a long time ago.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Valerie,
I can’t agree more with your post. I have been doing that for living for a while now. I was only questioning why a Physician have to deal with this when the lawyer and CPA get away with it.
How are they expecting physicians to perform when they are treated this way by insurance companies and driven by fear of a law suit. We are a paperless clinic from day one but yet the amount of documentation is insane!
Physicians can’t go on strike but they are fed up for sure.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Also, the down side to this system is that Physicians have to see volume in order to make ends meet or become profitable and they wonder why health care is not the same. Reading the other day how BCBS wanted Doctors in California to report pre-existing conditions I was shocked and I was glad to see that Physicians refused and fought this outrageous request.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Out of topic but very outrageous to read this morning
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article3459144.ece
WOW now that is leashing the Israeli officials in public. Killing 45 or so yesterday wasn’t really that big of a deal to both candidates.
March 2nd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Valerie,
Not to excuse the insurance companies, which are parasitic scum, but dealings with the federal government are not any better. We get second-guessed, paid a paid a pittance, and scrutinized absurdly. If we get audited, we have to pay triple damages, with the feds disallowing the payment for an entire anesthetic because some inconsequential note is missing. And ultimately, if we make enough errors or miss enough details in our charts, we get prosecuted for fraud, and get to spend quality time in a federal penitentiary.
Personally, I think insurance, whether private or public, IS the problem.
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Two,
I agree that that isn’t the term I would have chosen.
What I imagine we will disagree upon, is that Israel has no obvious option other than total war in Gaza. This doesn’t make me especially happy, but making nice - or at least “nicer” - has resulted in less peace for the portion of Israel adjoining Gaza.
I wish Hamas would cut the crap with the missiles, and I wish Israel also stopped their attacks, and everyone could get on with developing their own economy and educating their children. But it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.
March 2nd, 2008 at 5:46 pm
“WOW now that is leashing the Israeli officials in public.”
What does that mean? Leashing? Are we going for walkies? (that’s what we say to our puppies when we go out for a walk! LOL
I heard the term the minister used could mean catastrophe or holocaust. The report I read said the minister that said it was known for not flying of the handle and saying outrageous things. I’m not a linguist, but it seems there is a difference in saying, “a shoah” or, “the Shoah”. Just saying.
March 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
There is a difference, Tedders. The Shoah is the Holocaust. But shoah means disaster. And most commentators who wrote about it, pointed out the difference. It is only those with an agenda who choose not to notice.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Gosh you say redneck like it’s an insult? LOL A lot of us wear that proudly knowing what the origins of the word are.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:45 pm
Tedders, My parents are in the 35% income tax bracket, whichever that is, I’m really not sure. I doubt your wife’s income as a high school teacher is particularly significant. Add to it the state income tax rate of 11% in California and property tax rates of 1% a year, and I assure you, you’re not paying more in Texas. I’ve been to Texas, I’ve seen the real estate section of TX newspapers, and from what I saw a five-bedroom, 4000 square foot house in Texas costs about as much as a condo in a mildly livable part of Los Angeles.
If your chief priority in voting is ensuring that you can retain as much money as possible, then good for you. Clearly, your ideal government is one in which you have to pay nothing to receive the benefits of American citizenship, and social security or medicare are simply useless in your regard, because they help poor people. I have more noble aims in determining my vote.
The Bush administration did nothing to actually restructure the income tax system. I am just as anti-tax as you, I support a Flat Tax Rate, but I acknowledge that maintaining the Bush tax cuts is absolutely fiscally irresponsible. Especially since Republicans just want to keep spending more on Iraq and defense. I don’t pay taxes, because I’m a student, but how much my parents pay in taxes directly affects me, because the fewer taxes they pay, the more I can spend. Still, I’d rather not bankrupt this country pursuing an ignoble war in Iraq and the militarization of the state. Sure, I want to privatize social security, but that’s not the most significant problem facing this country, when framed against the disastrous standing of AMerica’s reputation abroad, the growing financial burden of maintaining global military superiority, and the disgusting signs of a new gilded age, where middle class wages are stagnating. I am just as much an advocate of personal responsibility than most Republicans, but such a belief does not excuse the almost disturbing levels of inequality in America today. It’s not that visible here in Los Angeles, where almost everybody is well-to-do in some regard, but in the heartland, it’s pretty clear.
I also like Obama’s savings plan to automatically put a portion of income in a savings plan, that anybody can opt out of if they so choose. Americans need to save more. The culture here is of blatantly ignorant consumerism, with quantity valued over quality, it’s almost repulsive.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
Karen,
I think the statement was used, regardless of which meaning was intended, because of the frustration involved with the current miserable situation. That coupled with the idiotic hyperbole and rhetoric coming from the president of Iran has spilled over into counter hyperbole, it’s funny how one minute the holocaust is never supposed to have happened and then when the word is used in relation to them, the term is taken very seriously. The Palestinians already have the worst enemy yet imposed upon them; Hamas. Their own leadership continuously flushes Palestine’s future down the drain. I hope the Israeli military uses restraint in relation to innocent Palestinians.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:56 pm
By the way, as long as hedge fund managers and investment bankers are paying 15% capital gains taxes on their ludicrously high incomes, doctors/lawyers/businesspeople will have to suffer by paying higher incomes on their actual earned income. Once we raise the capital gains tax rate, or subject capital gains to the regular income tax bracket when it is the sole source of income, we can justify lower taxes. How are Republicans fiscally responsible anymore when the last eight years have seen a ballooning federal deficit? How do you suppose we take care of the deficit without raising any taxes? What programs will we cut? How will you do so without withdrawing from Iraq?
I wish a Democrat came up with a trillion dollar commitment to an occupation of Iraq, just to see how angry Republicans would react. I recall Republicans were a little perturbed about Bill Clinton’s much cheaper, and more successful/efficient, forays into Kosovo. I wonder how they’d feel about a five year war/occupation in a sovereign country that never posed a direct threat to US interests and that actually aided US interests against Iran in the 1980s and hadn’t threatened or attacked any of its neighbors since 1990.
March 2nd, 2008 at 8:58 pm
By the way, how ineffective is Israel’s military if they kill as many civilians as militants (28 civilians, 27 militants) in one day? That’s pretty reckless and disturbing if you ask me. All this for crude rocket attacks that have killed approximately six people in seven years? Yeah, what a reasoned, proportional response. Israel and Hamas deserve each other. I hope they wipe each other off the face of the earth. The rest of the world will be better off for it.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Well, Patrick maybe Israelis should just respond in kind, with rockets fired recklessly at Palestinian civilian population centers. Or maybe the Hamassholes and their supporters should just STOP shooting rockets into Israeli civilian centers. If they preferred life over death, that is what they would do. Not too difficult to figure out.
Tedders,
Of course they use restraint. I think the numbers show that. It’s hard though when the “brave” Palestinian fighters hide and attack amongst civilians.
Also, with regards to 911 it’s something Islamic extremists blame Israel for on the one hand and take pride in on the other. Interesting how that works.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Karen, if they fired back with the same rockets Hamas uses they’d probably kill far fewer civilians. And their targets would probably be even less random than they are now.
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
And their targets would probably be even less random than they are now.
Are you claiming that 50% of Palestinians are armed militants, Patrick?
March 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I only wish you were able to experience the “crude rockets” yourself, Patrick
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:05 am
I have more noble aims in determining my vote.
Whoop whoop! Sanctimony alert redux!
Patrick,
A little advice from an old philosopher:
if you mean to convince anyone of anything, never announce that you are the only principled one in the room.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:10 am
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/stats/deaths.html
No comment
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:15 am
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:19 am
“I don’t pay taxes, because I’m a student, but how much my parents pay in taxes directly affects me, because the fewer taxes they pay, the more I can spend.”
lol. When reality stomps on your nuts please come back and tell everyone how it feels.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7273651.stm
No comment.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7273493.stm
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:44 am
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7273668.stm
Some 88% of the British public want a referendum on the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, according to private polls for the I Want a Referendum (IWAR) campaign.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:49 am
McCain FRIENDS LOL!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gEROVh8zK4
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:57 am
I don’t get what you mean mikek. THe line you quoted was simply my explanation for how taxes affect me. Did you find any fallacies in the line you quoted: “I don’t pay taxes, because I’m a student, but how much my parents pay in taxes directly affects me, because the fewer taxes they pay, the more I can spend.” Does that sound illogical to you? Do you keep your money away from your kids or something?
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 am
“I don’t get what you mean mikek. THe line you quoted was simply my explanation for how taxes affect me.”
I think you are a spoiled kid and I hate spoiled children (maybe not you, but I am also in school and I despise rich kids who look down on me for working full time and going to school. Hate:)
“Does that sound illogical to you? Do you keep your money away from your kids or something?”
meh. You are garbage. Another rich kid who talks shit. Good luck with that.
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 am
The international community can go to HELL
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=pageview&pageld=57867
March 3rd, 2008 at 6:27 am
Let’s try again:
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGEview&pageld=57867