Detente is over! We did it: one whole week without mentioning all that dumb political stuff. And now, back to boring you with tedious details about the people who want to run our country. Not to mention the politicians they hate.
Hey, you know how John McCain is a clueless old fart who doesn’t know Steve Jobs from Steve Austin? Jacob Weisberg at Slate.com sure does. On Aug. 23, he said:
McCain represents a Cold War style of nationalism that doesn’t get the shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics, the centrality of soft power in a multipolar world, or the transformative nature of digital technology. This is a matter of attitude as much as age. A lot of 71-year-olds are still learning and evolving. But in 2008, being flummoxed by that newfangled doodad, the personal computer, seems like a deal-breaker.
What a throwback that McCain is, huh? “Kids these days, with their dungarees and their social networking!” Which totally backs up what Weisberg himself said at Slate on Feb. 11, 2000:
In the first “Net Election” column back in September, I made the prediction that the Internet probably would not have a decisive impact on the 2000 presidential race. The best shot at proving me wrong now belongs to John McCain. If McCain survives South Carolina and goes on to defeat George W. Bush for the Republican nomination — still a very big if — the Internet may eventually be judged not just a contributing factor, but an essential, enabling condition of his victory.
Six months ago, no one would have pegged McCain as the most cybersavvy of this year’s crop of candidates. At 63, he is the oldest of the bunch and because of his war injuries, he is limited in his ability to wield a keyboard. But McCain’s job as chairman of the Senate commerce committee forced him to learn about the Internet early on, and young Web entrepreneurs such as Jerry Yang and Jeff Bezos fascinate him.
What a fuddy-duddy. Nice try, old man!
And remember Rielle Hunter? Seems like ages. Well, here are a few tidbits on that story that have fallen through the cracks here at Deceiver:
- John & Rielle literally saw each other across a crowded room. And when they met:
Face to face, their connection was instant. They spoke briefly, and could have left it at that. But they didn’t.
Good point. More on this timeless love story at the LA Times. That’s right, I said the LA Times!
- The WSJ Law Blog reports on givethemoneyback.com, which is saying that everybody who’s received money from Fred Baron should… take a guess.
- Gob Bluth lookalike Andrew Young, who at last report had not withdrawn his claim to be the father of Rielle’s baby, is building a nice new house at the end of a private drive in North Carolina. Presumably he and his wife Cheri can afford it! Maybe he saved up all the money he hasn’t been paying Rielle for child support. Allegedly.
And I suppose now I’m obliged to cover the latest Palin scandal. Tell you what: Why don’t you pick whichever earthshattering contretemps they’re talking about at the time you’re reading this, assuming it hasn’t been debunked already, and discuss it amongst yourselves. I can’t keep them all straight. (Today it’s something about a tanning bed, right? That’s what took down Nixon, ya know.)
PALIN! PALIN! PALIN!
What a gal! First she rents her OWN DAUGHTER out as a prostitute and gets her pregnant, just so she’ll look like a more ’seasoned’ candidate, THEN she disbands the Alaska State Police to stop them from arresting her husband for DUI, THEN she sells her OWN SON to the Army so she can collect the life insurance, and THEN she spends $35 million dollars of state tax money on a TANNING BED, which she used it to cook her newborn son until he contracted Down Syndrome. And she did it all JUST TO GET SYMPATHY FROM THE AMERICAN PUBLIC.
Wow. Just WOW! How could anyone with a conscience vote for Sarah Palin?!?
She makes John Edwards look like Father of the Year-2007. (Oh wait, John Edwards was Father of the Year-2007).
Nevermind.
Nooooooooooo! I thought no more politics. I thought you PROMISED. Please! You know this is going to lead to crying and crushed windpipes, shattered hopes and sh*t about that trashy Palin family.
It’s on you, Simon. It’s all on you!! Isn’t Paris Hilton saying she’s a virgin? Or like Miley Cyrus saying she’s hard core. What about that Megan Fox? She’s up to no good.
“McCain’s severe war injuries prevent him from combing his hair, typing on a keyboard, or tying his shoes.”
-Boston Globe, March 4, 2000
http://graphics.boston.com/news/politics/campaign2000/news/McCain_character_loyal_to_a_fault .shtml
Hey, we made it through a whole week. That was tough.
Just think — After November 5th, we’ll have nothing to write about except Madonna’s crotch biceps and Pam Anderson’s secret closet full of full-length mink coats.
What fun!
Barack Obama’s real name is Barak (without a ‘c’) Obama?
In all his publications, his father goes by “Barak H. Obama”, including in this June 1965 publication with the East Africa Journal
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_eastafrica.html
“Nooooooooooo! I thought no more politics.”
YEE-HAWWW!!! It’s on! It is ON!!!
One for Maggie
http://i35.tinypic.com/2rn785l.jpg
Oh please, god, no! No more of Madonna’s crotch biceps. Haven’t we already suffered enough?
By November, they’ll be crotch pectorals.
If McCain can’t even tie his shoes, what good would the internet do him? I mean, you know. Internet. Free po- Forget it. I guess that’s just me.
Tanning beds installed in the Governor’s house is pretty interesting considering McCain’s Melanoma (skin cancer).
For those who aren’t aware, tanning beds are very, very bad for you. As in they will turn you your face into a shriveled prune and give you skin cancer.
That being said, tanning beds are a medical treatment for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), which has some of its highest recorded levels in the world in (you guessed it) Alaska.
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/149/9/1176
“By November, they’ll be crotch pectorals.”
And they will kill us all!
Elizabeth Edwards is back!!!
“Although her husband has said he would not participate in any public events until after the election, his wife, Elizabeth, returns to the public stage today when she makes a speech on health care at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where she’ll assess the policy stances of John McCain and Barack Obama. The couple has shunned the spotlight since John Edwards admitted in early August to having an affair.”
http://online.worldmag.com/2008/09/16/the-return-of-elizabeth-edwards/
Lee Stranahan was right:
(http://deceiver.com/2008/09/05/john-edwards-publicly-admits-hes-a-political-liability/)
I don’t think Elizabeth is interested in a Rehabed John. I don’t think it’s a strategy to throw him under the bus I think it is part of a grieving process that demands he be thrown under the bus. EE is a sympathetic person. What was she suppose to do about that hillbilly white trash she married? He’d already announced for the presidency. She could have been sick from treatments. I’d like to see any of us stand up to what she has had to face since March 2007. It’s easy to critize. What we need is compassion.
“What was she suppose to do about that hillbilly white trash she married?”
What was she supposed to do? We have a nation of bright, independent, well-educated and respected feminists like Edith Ann, but suddenly we just don’t know what to do about a lying, cheating, scum-bag, narcissist, uber-douche cheating on his wife.
What to do, what to do…. Really, I guess there are NO options.
There’s NOTHING Elizabeth Edwards can do. Absolutely nothing. Better just “take it” and stand by your man. After all, other great feminists (Silda Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, etc.) have done it.
I agree with you Edith Ann - Elizabeth is moving forward without John. I can’t imagine she even cares about John’s career (I wonder if Edwards is still living at their beach house?) Even if Elizabeth allowed him to come home for the two smaller children, I bet it has to be a strained relationship between the two of them knowing he’s told the mistress they’ll be together after she’s gone.
He messed up his career all by himself - I wonder if Edwards had known that Rielle had been sending emails all long to gal pals telling details of her relationship with Edwards. With everything thats transpired in the news, I wonder if Edwards has had a change of heart about being her “love lips”? She cost him is family (even if he’s living at home), career and he has to be paying her the hush money $15k through Baron’s.
Actually, I can’t imagine anyone is going to schedule Edwards as a speaker until all the baggage has been resolved (the baby’s paternity).
“…until all the baggage has been resolved (the baby’s paternity).”
Oh, I’d say the paternity has pretty much been ‘resolved’.
John Edwards holding strong at #26 on the NYT’s “most searched” terms, more than thirty days after his last public appearance.
http://i36.tinypic.com/15rmcmr.jpg
Snoop-Diggity-Dang-Dawg. First of all I’m not a feminist. I’m myself and I have my own very definite opinions and attitudes. While I take in information from all sources I make up my own mind.
Now to Elizabeth Edwards. Why are you so angry and judgmental re: a person you don’t know and have never met? I take it you have never had a painful experience that has paralyzed you. No one you loved has ever left you, no one you know has been through the processes of dying and trying to live at the same time. EE was probably paralyzed with pain and denial when she first found out about John. She was in shock. She probably never dreamed he would hurt her or the family the way he has. It takes time to process this kind of pain and to figure out what to do. Unlike John, she had to consider the effects this betrayal was going to have on her three children, especially the 2 younger ones. How horrible to think that RH might be their stepmother. Women don’t always get to shoot from them hip the way men do. I personaly would go and sit in a corner for I don’t know how long. If you know anything about this woman or have read her book you know she spent months watching the weather channel with the sound off after her son was killed. I don’t think this betrayal took that long but I’m sure she spent a fair amount of time in denial. I also believe she did’t realize the depths of his deception until the interview he did on ABC. After that interview I believe is when she threw him out.(I read that and didn’t fact check it). I don’t know what will happen, but I do know that stress will shorten her life. She may not have time to deal with John as you deam appropriate, which by the way you didn’t comment on. She may have to choose what she does carefully. Why waste time on him she could spend it with her children? I personaly would like to see EE sue RH for alienation of affection in a North Carolina court room. I’d like to see a multimillion dollar judgement and see EE follow RH around collecting the money the way the Brown’s and the Goldman’s follow OJ., but it isn’t my call.
I understand that all this happened during a presidental electon and that his getting the nomination could have been disastrous. Maybe Elizabeth was the one who forced him out of the race for just the above reasons. Maybe she was able to stop him once she came to terms with what he had done and realized he had to quit for the sake of the Party. All I know was just the week before I saw him at an event and he had planned to stay in the race through Super Tues. At his last event he stated the same thing. Then the next day he quit. He didn’t look happy and his speech sounded forced. Maybe Elizabeth had something to do with that. Just saying, think about it. Cut the woman some slack. Beating up a dying woman with a cheating husband isn’t my style.
The baby’s paternity has been resolved? That’s assuming RH was a faithful mistress. Given her sexual history, someone should at least question paternity. They need a paternity test. I wonder what number John was?
Yeah, once Elizabeth Edwards saw those baby pics, I bet she remembered basic biology.
Rielle Hunter - Blue Eyes (BL BL genes - BL is recessive, meaning that someone has to have two BL genes)
John Edwards - Blue eyes (BL BL genes)
Andrew Young - Brown eyes (BR is dominant when present irrespective of whether second gene is GR, BR, or BL)
Baby - Blue eyes (BL BL genes)
Take a look at http://www.athro.com/evo/inherit.html and you can see how unlikely it is that Hunter and Young could have produced a blue eyed baby. This doesn’t even take into account hair and complexion.
Angry? Where do you see angry? I’m just amazed that none of these high-profile women ever dump their cheating husbands.
“…she had to consider the effects this betrayal was going to have on her three children”
Damn right she did. What lesson is she teaching them now about how a husband should treat his wife and how a father should treat his children? John Edwards didn’t give a damn about those consequences.
Should have divorced his sorry ass and ran for president herself. Hell, I mighht have even voted for her myself.
As far as the tanning bed, I think that a private tanning bed is a great thing. Then again, I am biased, as I own one myself. It’s much easier, and more private, than going into a tanning salon. Seriously, if you were a governor (or mayor) would you feel comfortable going to a tanning salon and laying there buck-naked, or mostly naked? Besides, they’re not as expensive as people think. Home-use ones are $2000-8000.
I work two jobs and attend school full time, and as per my doctor I am required at least 30 minutes a week of UV exposure due to my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. However, tanning salon hours and my work hours don’t mix. Home-use beds are also MUCH, MUCH weaker than the high-volume beds at tanning salons where they want to get as many people in and out as quick as possible. Most salon beds have 36-48 bulbs. My bed has 16. It’s been one of the best things I’ve done for myself.
As far as the melanoma issue, I don’t feel she’s being insensitive. Alaska has a very limited UV exposure, and in mild doses, UV radiation creates vitamin D- a very powerful ANTI-CANCER nutrient. I have a cousin, aunt, and my mom who have all dealt with melanoma. However, they work as teachers so they’ve also spent their entire summers laying in the sun full-time for 30-some years (and even did so AFTER their diagnosis!!!). They may lecture me for my tanning 10 minutes a day (if that!), but in my eyes, 10 minutes a day in a tanning bed versus… 8-10 hours per day in the summer in the sun AFTER melanoma treatments, is nothing.
While I do not agree with Sarah Palin on a lot of things, I do feel that she has the right to her own private tanning bed.
BTW… look up Barrow, Alaska sometime and find out what they do to help children in the winter months when it’s dark for 24 hours.
We will all die eventually. Some probably before Elizabeth Edwards.
Some suspect Rielle Hunter’s statement that “Someday, the the truth about her will come out” (http://www.newsweek.com/id/151783/output/print
) has to do EE’s repeated cancer press releases.
In light of the strict legalese John Edwards has used e.g.:
1. “tabloid trash is full of lies” does not mean that he did not have sex with Rielle Hunter;
2. “I’ve been in love with the same woman for thirty years” does not mean I didn’t tell Rielle Hunter I loved her; and
3. “the story’s absolutely false” means “the story’s absolutely true
I’ve taken a fresh look at John Edwards statements about Elizabeth Edwards, things like:
1. “I don’t expect my life to be much different”
2. “Its completely treatable”, and
3. Its like “living with diabetes, which can be managed but is a lifelong condition.”
Conclusion? EE has completely exaggerated her condition to currry public sympathy.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/03/22/cancer.edwards/index.html
In her speech last night, Elizabeth Edwards said:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioDnhGJfjAQ2q7_ps5SsP-g91EEwD93864IO0
Hard to believe Elizabeth Edwards can talk about healthcare costs with a straight face.
Her husband and his trial lawyers are the primary reason healthcare in the US is unaffordable.
Even Barack Obama said:
“Anyone who denies there’s a crisis with medical malpractice is probably a trial lawyer.”
http://www.marylandlawyerblog.com/2008/01/hillary_clinton_and_barack_oba.html
Who da daddy. I didn’t say Andrew Young was the baby’s father. John Edwards is the only man with blue eyes? Due to mom’s history I’d still DNA the baby before I paid money.
Fortunate Son. The only redress to a wrong for the common man is the court system. Do away with trial lawyers and the population of this country will become guinne pigs for every sleeze who will make money at all costs. What would you do if your child sat on a drain and had her bowels sucked out and needed expensive feedings to survive you couldn’t afford? Would you watch the child die or hire a trial lawyer? All that needed to be done was to put 2 screws in the drain cover to protect the children and the company did’t tell anyone. While JE may be a crappy husband, he was right to sue. The child he sued for was the 4-5th child this had happened to, one of them died. While you may be comfortable being used and discarded by corporations and doctors, I’m not. I want the option to take care of the people I love. I’ve worked with doctors for years. Some of them deserved to be sued.
Wheither or not trial fees are capped, the insurance companies will continue to raise costs as long as the primary concern is their bottom line and not the good of the patient. Insurance companies pay their CEO’s multiple million dollars a year in salary and bonues. If they were in trouble they wouldn’t have so much extra money. I say this as someone who pays $2,000 a month for bad health insurance and resents the hell out of it. The trial lawyers didn’t do this the insurance companies did it by creating pools of money and then closing the pools. New people get lower rates until the pool is closed and then the rates rise sometime every 6 months.(this is individual insurance). If all people were in the same pool costs would go down. 0-40 yrs. spend very little money on health care as a group. 40-65 yrs. generally just need tweeked here and there. 65 yrs. to dead spend more money on health care with most of the money spent on the last month of life that is usually spent in the hospital at high cost. Maybe Sarah Palin can pass a law to put old people on ice caps and float them to never never land, provided you can find an ice cape a polar bear isn’t clinging to. That would save about 30-to 40% of the money. The problem with the above: The younger population is losing ground due to poor eating habits, smoking etc. Their life expectancy is lower due to diabetes, and other diseases related to poor life style. There is more type 2 diabetes in the younger population than existed when I was young. It is even popping up in children. This is a type of diabetes related to diet not childhood diabetes which is a more serious type of diabetes.
Bottom line we need all the protection we can get from corporations who would kill us for money and from incompetent people who put our lives at risk. If you don’t care so be it. I care.
Snoop-Diggity-Dang-Dawg, Why don’t you call Elizabeth up and give her the benefit of your expert insight? I’m sure she would be grateful.
“Yeah, once Elizabeth Edwards saw those baby pics, I bet she remembered basic biology.
Rielle Hunter - Blue Eyes (BL BL genes - BL is recessive, meaning that someone has to have two BL genes)
John Edwards - Blue eyes (BL BL genes)
Andrew Young - Brown eyes (BR is dominant when present irrespective of whether second gene is GR, BR, or BL)
Baby - Blue eyes (BL BL genes)”
Uhm I have an issue with this….
I have brown eyes, the mother of my children has blue eyes. My oldest daughter has blue eyes and there ain’t no doubting who’s child she is.
My brother has brown eyes, his ex has blue eyes. Both his kids have blue eyes.
So you’re paying $24,000 a year for health insurance and still support trial lawyers?
Please elaborate on your statement below. What kind of physicians do you work with and why did they ‘deserve’ to be sued?
Have you ever sued a physician?
Edith Ann - I totally agree with your thoughts about Elizabeth. I hope she has many more years with her children and is able to continue speaking for the issues she feels passionate about like healthcare. I admire her strength and perspective on life and her willingness to try to help those around her when it surely would be easier to crawl up in a corner (I know I would).
I guess the high cost of health insurance has nothing to do with the high paid executives and their golden parachutes! - naw let’s blame it all on those darn thiefing trial lawyers. Standard Republican talking point. Who do you think is paying for all those lobbyists the insurance industry has in Washington?
Wake up people and stop drinking the koolaid!
“Given her sexual history, someone should at least question paternity.”
Yah, Edith Ann. You’d think, wouldn’t ya’? Someone like John Edwards might wanna challenge that, er sumpin’, wouldn’t he?
Cuz he’s only a $100 million dollar trial attorney, so the National Enquirer would be pretty stupid to say, “It’s John Edwards’ love child if they weren’t pretty friggin’; sure about that. Cuz that slander trial would be a slam-dunk, wouldn’t it?
Guess we’ll just have to wait around and scratch our heads about that one some more, huh?
“Snoop-Diggity-Dang-Dawg, Why don’t you call Elizabeth up and give her the benefit of your expert insight? I’m sure she would be grateful.”
I suspect Elizabeth Edwards has known for a long time exactly what kind of man she married, so I doubt my flawless insight would be taken to heart.
Thank you, Fortunate Son. That was sweet of you. Now I have to take a scalding shower.
Its also a standard Obama talking point, Marilyn.
“Anybody who doesn’t believe there’s a crisis with medical malpractice is probably a trial lawyer”.
I’ve never heard anyone say this is a partisan issue before.
Edith Ann said…”Now to Elizabeth Edwards. Why are you so angry and judgmental re: a person you don’t know and have never met?
The baby’s paternity has been resolved? That’s assuming RH was a faithful mistress. Given her sexual history, someone should at least question paternity. They need a paternity test. I wonder what number John was?”
Great comments, Edith Ann. Good thing you’re here on this site. You know, all about hypocrites? Unless you really did meet Rielle?
Maybe John wants to believe the baby is his. He’s stupid or he wouldn’t be in this situation. Elizabeth trusted him and got burned why couldn’t he get burned for trusting RH. Maybe there has already been a DNA test. Maybe he isn’t as stupid as we think he is. Even a “$100 million dollar” trial lawyer can get in a bind by thinking with his “little head”. I don’t believe JE will be as good a lawyer without Elizabeth. She helped him with his cases and summations. She found the mistakes and asked the questions he missed. It would be interesting to see if he can stand on his own two feet. No one is going to listen to RH give a speech for him the way we listened to Elizabeth. RH is evey woman’s, who has been married for awhile, nightmare. The midlife crisis some men can’t resist and some woman play into. These women, particularly this woman, need to get a job and make their own way instead of stealing.
Fornuate son. I didn’t say every doctor needs to be sued, but working in a hospital is like working in a resturant, if you knew what was going on you wouldn’t go. Dr’s who don’t wash their hands and pass MRSA around. Dr’s who walk off and leave their patient’s when they should stay. Dr’s who won’t answer their beepers in an emergency. Dr’s who don’t keep up with current treatments. Drs who do surgery under the influence. I could go on and on.
Now you answer my question about if it were your child that was hurt and you couldn’t afford the care would you call a trial lawyer? Also pharmacy companies are putting drugs out on the market they know can hurt people. They figure they can make their profits before they get caught and get sued. In the meantime, a lot of good people are injured or die. Even though the amounts look big to us, they are a drop in the bucket compared to profits. Companies know they can fool the public.
Trial Lawyers aren’t raising my premiums. Insurance companies who want more profit this month than last month are raising my premiums. As explained before, the larger the pool of risk the cheaper the premiums. Insurance companies know this. I believe California capped awards in law suits, it didn’t stop the increase in premiums it just protected the insurance companies from risk.
Snoop, given the litigious nature of Edwards, Rohn and Baron, I would be shocked if they haven’t already swiped the baby and matched it.
You can pull Edwards’ DNA from fingerprints these days, and any drinking cup, business card, or kleenex would do.
Rielle Hunter’s (aka Lisa Druck’s) DNA was probably a voluntary donor from Roxanne Druck, and seeing as the Enquirer seems to have had an inside man at the Beverly Hilton, I’m sure that included ‘private’ garbage pickup, also.
The Enquirer made some very explicit claims they would never make without collaborating evidence, and yes(for the followup questions), I don’t doubt that same standard of evidence extends to the claims about the Palin kids doing drugs.
Oh one more thing. Google stage 4 CA. Elizabeth is getting the very best treatment we have to offer. The CA went to her bones first. It will go to her lungs and then to her brain. Once it gets to her brain she won’t be making any more speeches. She has already survived 4 1/2 almost 5 years. The next 2 years will tell the tale. New drugs have kept her alive longer than in the past and she can afford them. Someone who can’t afford the care would have died 2 years ago.
Elizabeth Edwards may outlive us all, according to the American Cancer Society link below.
If Rielle Hunter is waiting for Elizabeth Edwards to expire, her child may no longer be a minor when that happens.
Interesting tidbit - I was reading the comments at CBS and one of the comments said Elizabeth was not wearing her wedding ring at yesterday’s healthcare forum.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/17/earlyshow/main4454318.shtml
I hope she’s setting up half the assets for her children’s future.
“I believe California capped awards in law suits, it didn’t stop the increase in premiums it just protected the insurance companies from risk.”
Alright - now answer this question. Has 50 years of open-ended, uncapped, unregulated, and generally morally questionable lawsuits done anything to lower your premiums either? You think every insurance company in America keeping a legal division the size of a professional football team on retainer keeps your premiums low?
My step-father is an MD and my biological father worked in the claims department for Principal Financial for more than a decade, so I think it’s safe to say that I’ve encountered nearly every nasty little secret a doctor or insurance company has to offer. Seeing as how my step-father the MD practices in the UK, I’ve also had the distinct displeasure of listening to him complain about how much worse EVERYTHING has gotten in England since they were stupid enough to socialize their healthcare system. You know, kids on waiting lists for 8-12 months just for a tonsil removal - not exactly the kind of thing they like to advertise about their fantastic system over there.
Like anything else, when the factor of price is removed from the equation, there is no reason to be responsible with it. Runny nose? Hospital. Upset stomach? Hospital. You get the picture. You can’t afford to pay the doctors competitively, so now your best and brightest abandon ship at warp speed, and you’re left with those who are too piss poor to get a job in a country where they can make decent money. What exactly would you advocate to fix that problem Edith? You gonna go Stalin on them and just tell them that if they try to leave you’ll kill them? Because short of that, they’re going to go where the money is, just like any other person that has 8 years of student loans to pay.
You worked for a doctor? Ever happen to work in the financial department? Ever tried to get a government agency to pay for a patient’s care before? It’s about 3 times harder than getting those ‘crooked insurance companies’ to foot the bill, and in the end, after ALL that effort, you’ll end up getting paid about 30 cents on the dollar of what you’d get from an actual private insurance company. Wanna guess how they make up for that profit gap? Well, if you worked in a hospital, you would know the answer to that!
Since they only make 30 cents on the dollar for people with gov. healthcare, they charge people with private insurance MORE to make up for the gap. That’s why if you get 2 Tylenol, they charge you for the entire bottle. If they use a pair of surgical gloves, you get charged for the whole box. You want to explain to me how that’s the fault of the insurance companies? They’re basically being extorted - and their clients are forced to foot a portion of the bill for those who the government is supposed to be paying for. So if you’re a taxpayer, you’re actually paying for their care TWICE if you have private insurance.
It’s not just the insurance companies that want more profit, so do hospitals. And here’s a hint they won’t tell you - if they don’t make enough profit, they can and will just close the hospital. Don’t believe me? Take a look at how many hospitals there are in LA today vs. 10 years ago. They were treating so many illegals and the uninsured, they were losing money hand over fist, and they closed the hospitals. Now you have one of the lowest percentages of patients to hospitals in the Western World, in one of the largest and most metropolitan cities on Earth.
But yeah, lets keep blaming the insurance companies. God forbid we actually focus on the underlying problems that WE allowed to manifest with years of God-awful financial policies and feelgood legislation when we can just burn an evil corporation in effigy.
Naw I don’t believe for a minute … Rielle Hunter is waiting for Elizabeth Edwards to expire, her child may no longer be a minor when that happens.
Rielle’s sister - the one who went on Entertainment tonight show and more or less did Rielle’s bidding for getting the affair out in the open and probably tipped off the National Enquirer exposing Edwards at the Hilton Hotel. Rielle is pushing Elizabeth to divorce John. I bet Rielle has been asking Edwards to divorce Elizabeth and he was telling her to wait it out, trying to keep Elizabeth in the dark. I believe John said in the ABC interview that “Rielle was having some “struggles” - who knows maybe she knocked up again since Edwards saw her in June too.
“Snoop, given the litigious nature of Edwards, Rohn and Baron, I would be shocked if they haven’t already swiped the baby and matched it.”
Same here, FS. And the Edwards camp’s silence is simply deafening. And WRT EE ‘not wearing her wedding ring at her latest speech’, why would she play these mickey-mouse games? Perhaps it’s due to something innocuous like finger-swelling from her treatment, but if not, why not divorce his sorry ass? I’d respect that a lot more for showing that reslove than “standing by her man”.
@ Edith: “Oh one more thing. Google stage 4 CA. Elizabeth is getting the very best treatment we have to offer.” “New drugs have kept her alive longer than in the past and she can afford them.”
But how can that be?!? I thought all doctors were corrupt and evil and all the Nazi health insurance companies were poisoning us so our premiums would sky-rocket, thereby taking over the world? Me so konfoos’!
I didn’t say I worked for doctors, I said I worked with them. Truth be told there are a varity of reasons for health care costs to be out of site. Not all law suits are bad and not all doctors and other professionals in medicine are good. Health care costs started rising when corporations took interest in medicine and health care and changed the focus from the patient to the bottom line. The Sisters of St. Frances and St. Mary’s founded hospitals all over the country and didn’t have problems helping the poor or the rich. As to waiting for care, I’m sorry but you already have socialized medicine brought to you in the form of HMO’s and PPO’s provided by insurance companies. If you don’t believe it ask people on HMO’s how long they wait for care, my uncle waited 2 years for hip surgery, and how many times they have to change primary care physicians. The government followed up with Medicare Advantage programs. Now with that program you get what you pay for. Insurance is cheap but treatment may not be there when you need it.
Just for my information, who do you want to leave out of the medical system? Who is expendable in your mind? Just want to know.
FYI, most of the Dr’s I know have pleanty of money, live in big houses, take incredible vacations, have multiple cars and can afford to send their kids to college. Are there poor Drs., probably, I just don’t know one.
Fortunate Son, I agree and I pray so. Thank you.
Edith - Yeah, we have HMOs already, the question is; do you want the whole country to be like that? Because that’s what is going to happen if we keep punishing the ‘evil insurance companies’ and decide to join the already failed socialized health care experiment.
“Just for my information, who do you want to leave out of the medical system? Who is expendable in your mind? Just want to know”
Hyperbole, and if you ‘work with doctors’ (sorry I misunderstood you earlier) you would know that. No one needing treatment is ever denied. Between high school and joining the Marines I didn’t have insurance for more than a year and a half. After a whole lifetime of no health problems besides tonsil removal and half a dozen broken bones, my appendix picked that exact time frame to rupture. I was rushed to the hospital, got surgery, then the nice lady nurse in the office managed to get me onto the state health care plan RETROACTIVELY (which in most states is perfectly legal) to pay for my surgery. I was out a few hundred bucks for lifesaving treatment.
Does that sound like a system that’s really all that broken? What the people who give statistics like ‘50 million uninsured!’ don’t tell you, is that those safety nets exist for just about every one of those 50 million that are just like I was back then. No one is being sacrificed on the alter of ‘big medicine’. Do people fall through the cracks? You’re damn right they do. Would people still fall through the cracks even if we got rid of the insurance companies and the government poured more money into it than the military? Well, if Canada, France, and the UK are any indication, MORE people will start falling through the cracks.
Health care in America is a lot like Democracy - it’s not perfect, but it’s still the best system anyone has ever come up with.
You are in for a rude awakening. You need to wake up, we refuse to treat dialysis pt’s right now who have no insurance. True they can go to the ER, but free standing dialysis units will not admit pt’s without insurance right now today. Not all pt’s are eligible for Medicare, some haven’t worked enough quarters. Not all are eligible for Medicaid. ER’s won’t treat them forever without money. Insurance companies refuse life saving tx’s all the time. Watch the 6:00 news. An appendix operation now will cost upwards of $40,000. In my state they did away with helping 21-65 year old working people a long time ago. Voc Rehab use to help with care to get someone back to work. They stopped that a long time ago. State legislatures and congress keep cutting budgets and leaving people out. They want to stop care for kids and will when they get enough votes. Keep your head in the sand it will feel better.
Well said, Scott.
“They want to stop care for kids and will when they get enough votes.”
This is the kind of paranoid BS that just leaves me shaking my head when I make an effort to listen to liberal thought.
Yeah yeah, I know, anyone who doesn’t agree with you is just ignorant of the facts (sound familiar to anyone who’s ever argued with a liberal?). We’re cutting kids health care!! Except that in my state (Indiana if you care to check and see how right I am) we just passed two new programs that cover anyone who doesn’t have insurance. Children (up to 21 if they go to college) get free coverage if their household income is under like 50k a year. Adults are covered with a small co-pay. This is to replace a program called Hoosier Healthwise, which happens to be the one I was put on after my surgery to pay for it like a decade ago.
Now, this is in a state that hasn’t been blue for more than 70 years - so why aren’t the Republican criminals cutting these children off from health care? Because only in your mind, and Democratic propaganda, are people so callous and awful that they would deny care to needy children.
However, programs like the one I just mentioned are already in place in most states. We just don’t see a need to cover people WHO ALREADY HAVE PRIVATE INSURRANCE. Private insurance works for far more people than it hurts, and if you can find numbers to the contrary, me and about a gazillion trial lawyers would love to see ‘em.
But Snoop, Palin increased funding by less of an amount than they wanted her to!
It has already been established (at NewsBusters; at BizzyBlog) that the Obama campaign’s ad ridiculing John McCain’s computer skills, including the claim that McCain “can’t e-mail,” has several reality-based problems:
http://www.bizzyblog.com/2008/09/14/more-on-obama-cant-e-mail-attack-ad-mccain-an-internet-pioneer-per-dem-internet-pioneer/
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/09/17/olbermann-echoes-thinkprogress-lies-smear-palin
Note: I replaced the full text in this comment with links to the same material (above). No need to re-invent the wheel. -The Oversneer
There are 50 different state Medicaid programs. Each state controls how they spend the money. I’m only talking about my state. This isn’t a Demo, Repub thing. It may come down to that in each state but I’m only talking about my state. My nephew needs medical help. He goes to the ER when he needs to, but he needs corrective surgery on an old injury. Our state medicaid program said no. He’s only 29 and may end up with a life long disability because of this. He can’t keep a job, so alot of this is his problem. He could get a job and stay long enough to get insurance to take care of this but he doesn’t. He has mental heath issues and substance abuse issues but no treatment program to help. We only have one state hospital now to meet out mental health needs. We tend to put our mental patients in jail. We have a lot of jails. In my state this is a Rebub. lead issue as they control the state house.
The Congress passed SCHIP but had to override the President’s veto to do it. That’s the children’s program. HEW is trying to regulate how the states allocate the money by their policy and proceedures. They are always trying to cut people out, but these are children.
There is no point in arguing about this. I see the results of this everyday. I have a person in front of me who is scared and lost and has no were to turn. This appears to be an intellectual exercise for you. I hope that is always the case. Go volunteer some place and help someone. It won’t cost you any money and it may lift your spirits and give you new insights.
My views are determined by the Christian principles I learned as a child. Those principals led me to the Democratic Party. I believe in helping the poor and lifting people up not holding them down and stealing their pensions. Those are corporate beliefs. Jesus was an activist who fought against the money changers. As far as I know no one has rewritten the Bible yet, but everyone’s entitled to their opinion.
“Those principals led me to the Democratic Party. I believe in helping the poor and lifting people up not holding them down and stealing their pensions. Those are corporate beliefs.”
That is so funny, Edith Ann. You know why? Because the rest of us believe in stealing your pension, stomping on the por, NOT voluteering for anything, and keeping people like your drug-addled nephew living on your couch for the rest of his life.
Maybe someday we can all learn the Democratic party’s wisdom of aborting the troubled people in this world like Trig and said nephew. Why don’t you call Jesus Christ on your red phone and run those thoughts by him?