At the end of the day, much of Obama care is welfare: tax dollars are being used to help the poor. You can argue about the details, and all the other stuff in the plan, but thats the major cost component.
So, the question is: how long before the GOP realizes that Obama care is actually 100 billion dollars of welfare, and how long before we see the willy horton equivalent...
Opening Shot TV Ad: Tired working class guy, maybe a plumber or carpenter, on the job.
Sun angle establishes end of day
Voice over: working extra to pay more taxes for OBama's socialist healthcare plan.
What will the dems do next - make you work all night to pay for illegal immigrants...
Fade out to Flag waving in the breeze
Voice over: The Republican Party, Keeping Your country strong and your taxes low.
(note to conservatives: above is satire)
Friday, January 22, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
The Victory of Scott Brown in MA
Remember , all politics is local; if you are republican, before you celebrate, consider this newstory
The message seems clear: it was jobs and fear of economic problems that drove a lot of voters to vote for the GOP candidate Scott Brown.
Of course the arrogance of the MA democrats - and I speak as a Liberal MA voter - is beyond belief.
Just before the election, a story , also here broke on how the the grossly overpaid president of UMASS got a huge salary increase, at a time when many towns are laying off teachers , fireman and even police officers.
Coakley's emphasis on Abortion was a huge mistake, that cost here dearly among labor unions.
The message seems clear: it was jobs and fear of economic problems that drove a lot of voters to vote for the GOP candidate Scott Brown.
Of course the arrogance of the MA democrats - and I speak as a Liberal MA voter - is beyond belief.
Just before the election, a story , also here broke on how the the grossly overpaid president of UMASS got a huge salary increase, at a time when many towns are laying off teachers , fireman and even police officers.
Coakley's emphasis on Abortion was a huge mistake, that cost here dearly among labor unions.
Do people realize how much ad blockers change your web experience
To browse the web, I use Firefox with "addons" , also called extensions which block a lot of advertisements and animations.
Whenever I switch to Internet Explorer, and visit a site like, say, www.yahoo.com, I am amazed at how much advertising has taken over the screen, and how much the FireFox/adblock plus browser reduces this annoyance.
I urge you to try FireFox, and get the addon 'adblock plus"
if you like it, try the extensions 'trackmenot", "ghostery" , "better privacy' and 'taco"
take back the web - you'll like ti
Whenever I switch to Internet Explorer, and visit a site like, say, www.yahoo.com, I am amazed at how much advertising has taken over the screen, and how much the FireFox/adblock plus browser reduces this annoyance.
I urge you to try FireFox, and get the addon 'adblock plus"
if you like it, try the extensions 'trackmenot", "ghostery" , "better privacy' and 'taco"
take back the web - you'll like ti
Monday, January 18, 2010
Newton, MA home of the slob
Newton MA is a suburb just west of Boston. With 90,000 residents, there are small pockets of poverty and many working class neighborhoods, but, generally, Newton is known as a wealthy town, with a highly educated citizenry: professors from Brandeis and MIT and Tufts and Harvard, doctors from the famous boston hospitals, CPAs, lawyers, and a strong contingent of professionals from the areas biotechnology companies.
Yet despite all this, the citizenry are slobs who are incredibly noisy.
Newton has several little shopping districts, with the expected - starbucks, and clothing shops an so forth, with trash barrels maintained by the city. Since the city doesn't empty the barrels on weekends, the barrels are often overflowing (literally) by Sunday, particulary in the summer when people are out more.
I personally, with my own eyes, have seen people walk up to an overflowing trash barrel, and place their trash on the ground, to be blown about in the wind.
I wonder what the overwhelmingly white citizens of newton would say if they saw a black person do this in Boston.
The citizens of Newton are no more respectful of their athletic fields, heavily used in the spring and fall, then they are of their sidewalks; after every weekend, the fields are littered with plastic bottles and other trash that people were to lazy to take with them; often one fines the plastic bottles in a little pile, surely the ultimate in snobbish arrogance: here maintenance person/maid, I've been so nice as to put the trash in a little pile for you.
Yet despite all this, the citizenry are slobs who are incredibly noisy.
Newton has several little shopping districts, with the expected - starbucks, and clothing shops an so forth, with trash barrels maintained by the city. Since the city doesn't empty the barrels on weekends, the barrels are often overflowing (literally) by Sunday, particulary in the summer when people are out more.
I personally, with my own eyes, have seen people walk up to an overflowing trash barrel, and place their trash on the ground, to be blown about in the wind.
I wonder what the overwhelmingly white citizens of newton would say if they saw a black person do this in Boston.
The citizens of Newton are no more respectful of their athletic fields, heavily used in the spring and fall, then they are of their sidewalks; after every weekend, the fields are littered with plastic bottles and other trash that people were to lazy to take with them; often one fines the plastic bottles in a little pile, surely the ultimate in snobbish arrogance: here maintenance person/maid, I've been so nice as to put the trash in a little pile for you.
when will people realize that google is a monopoly like ma bell
Why is it that people have such a hard time understanding that google is not the good guy, but rather, sustained by huge monopoly profits, seems to lack the evil traits of most large corporations ?
1) the google search engine isn't that good. Don't compare google to the even worse loosers like yahoo or altavista or nothernlight; instead, think about what you would like in a search engine.
Does google deliver ? I know it sure doesn't deliver for me a lot of the time.
2) What about all those free services and wonderful new technolgys like google earth?
Google is a monopoly; like any monopoly, the huge extra money google earns can give it the appearence of a compnay that is interested in something other then raw greed; just look at the history of Kodak, or Polaroid, or ATT - they to once looked sort of paternalistic, untill they actually had to compete.
3
1) the google search engine isn't that good. Don't compare google to the even worse loosers like yahoo or altavista or nothernlight; instead, think about what you would like in a search engine.
Does google deliver ? I know it sure doesn't deliver for me a lot of the time.
2) What about all those free services and wonderful new technolgys like google earth?
Google is a monopoly; like any monopoly, the huge extra money google earns can give it the appearence of a compnay that is interested in something other then raw greed; just look at the history of Kodak, or Polaroid, or ATT - they to once looked sort of paternalistic, untill they actually had to compete.
3
Why are Professors more liberal then other people ?
18 Jan 2010
Todays N Y Times has an article that discusses why university professors are more liberal then other people.
The article doesn't mention one obvious reason - that professors, with tenure, are the only professionals in our society who are free to speak their minds.
Anyone who has spent anytime in the business world, particularly in small companies, knows that most CEOs are conservative, and that employees tend to adopt the attitudes of the boss.
You could call it ass kissing, but it is more self preservation: if your boss's boss is an open admirer of (say) George Bush, you will probably be somewhat quiet if you are a liberal democrat.
This effect tends to become a habit; after many years of denying your own beliefs, you take on the beliefs that you pretend to hold.
The other reason people in business are conservative is that convservate thought provides a justification for the often unseemly acts of business. If, say, you are looting the pension plan of a company to make large sums for your self, it is easier to sleep at night if you are a conservative; people don't say "social darwinism" any more (just like they don't say "nigger") but they darn well think it.
Todays N Y Times has an article that discusses why university professors are more liberal then other people.
The article doesn't mention one obvious reason - that professors, with tenure, are the only professionals in our society who are free to speak their minds.
Anyone who has spent anytime in the business world, particularly in small companies, knows that most CEOs are conservative, and that employees tend to adopt the attitudes of the boss.
You could call it ass kissing, but it is more self preservation: if your boss's boss is an open admirer of (say) George Bush, you will probably be somewhat quiet if you are a liberal democrat.
This effect tends to become a habit; after many years of denying your own beliefs, you take on the beliefs that you pretend to hold.
The other reason people in business are conservative is that convservate thought provides a justification for the often unseemly acts of business. If, say, you are looting the pension plan of a company to make large sums for your self, it is easier to sleep at night if you are a conservative; people don't say "social darwinism" any more (just like they don't say "nigger") but they darn well think it.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
New York Times MD Anderson 25 Oct 09
Front page of today's NY Times is long story about M D Anderson Cancer Center. The story talks about how people with rare cancers are referred to M D for best case treatment.
However, there are other reasons why a local primary care doc would refer someone to MD
Grief avoidance - not that many primary care docs have the mental toughness to deal with a 34 year old with an incurable cancer.
Money - It is quite possible that for the exact same treatment, MD gets paid more then a local doc, so the same treatment is profitable at MD and a loss for a local doc
Lawsuit avoidance - if a person dies of a rare cancer, who is more likely to face a malpractice lawsuit, a primary care doc who may never have seen this type of tumor before or MD Anderson ? Clearly, if a patient with a rare tumor, under the care of a local doc, dies , it is the doc's fault; if that same patient dies at M D, it is an incurable tumor.
Playing God - perhpas the primary care doc knows full well that the cancer is incurable, but decides it is his (the docs) perogitive not to tell the patient this, but to send him to MD go generate a sense of false hope, that the doc thinks, will sustain th patient
Illegal medical research - It could be that the local doc knows quite well that the cancer is untreatable, and that going to MD is not going to do anything, but , playing god, offers the patient as a guinea pig. Now this would be quite acceptable if the doc was honest, and said to the patient, you have an incurable cancer and have two choices - I can provide you with palliative care, to make your remaining time as comfortable as possible, or you can go to M D Anderson and be a guinea pig; if you do this, you will experience months of extreme discomfort, and there is a very small chance that what they learn will help anyone else; but it is your choice.
However, there are other reasons why a local primary care doc would refer someone to MD
Grief avoidance - not that many primary care docs have the mental toughness to deal with a 34 year old with an incurable cancer.
Money - It is quite possible that for the exact same treatment, MD gets paid more then a local doc, so the same treatment is profitable at MD and a loss for a local doc
Lawsuit avoidance - if a person dies of a rare cancer, who is more likely to face a malpractice lawsuit, a primary care doc who may never have seen this type of tumor before or MD Anderson ? Clearly, if a patient with a rare tumor, under the care of a local doc, dies , it is the doc's fault; if that same patient dies at M D, it is an incurable tumor.
Playing God - perhpas the primary care doc knows full well that the cancer is incurable, but decides it is his (the docs) perogitive not to tell the patient this, but to send him to MD go generate a sense of false hope, that the doc thinks, will sustain th patient
Illegal medical research - It could be that the local doc knows quite well that the cancer is untreatable, and that going to MD is not going to do anything, but , playing god, offers the patient as a guinea pig. Now this would be quite acceptable if the doc was honest, and said to the patient, you have an incurable cancer and have two choices - I can provide you with palliative care, to make your remaining time as comfortable as possible, or you can go to M D Anderson and be a guinea pig; if you do this, you will experience months of extreme discomfort, and there is a very small chance that what they learn will help anyone else; but it is your choice.
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