FailedPosted By James McSheehy |
If more federal spending is the answer, and deficits don't matter, why the heck am I paying income taxes? 8O
Posts Made By: James McSheehy
December 8, 2009 11:51 PM
Forum:
Politics
December 13, 2009 03:14 PM
Forum:
Politics
Health Insurance UpdatePosted By James McSheehy |
My health insurance plan has a lifetime benefits cap of $5M per person. I'm sure the insurance company would love to lower that payout limit, and it looks like the latest crappola from the Senate will give them a way to do just that.
These plan limits are nothing new for socialized medicine. Many other countries have them because the simple truth is all of these programs have to ration medical care. In China, health care is "free" until the bill rises to about $2500. At that point the family is consulted and asked if they want to pay for additional care. If the money isn't there (from savings, private insurance, etc.), oh well...Grandma had a full life.
It all fits in with the general liberal philosophy that human rights are granted by the government, and your rights and worth as an individual are defined by the whims of a "really smart person" who decides how you will best lead your pitiful existence.
These plan limits are nothing new for socialized medicine. Many other countries have them because the simple truth is all of these programs have to ration medical care. In China, health care is "free" until the bill rises to about $2500. At that point the family is consulted and asked if they want to pay for additional care. If the money isn't there (from savings, private insurance, etc.), oh well...Grandma had a full life.
It all fits in with the general liberal philosophy that human rights are granted by the government, and your rights and worth as an individual are defined by the whims of a "really smart person" who decides how you will best lead your pitiful existence.
December 17, 2009 01:26 AM
Forum:
Politics
Tax credit extension fails.Posted By James McSheehy |
Yes, the entire stimulus effort is ass backwards, and all they managed to do with over a trillion bucks is keep the big banks solvent and employ more state and federal workers. The banks aren't loaning the money and the government workers for the most part produce nothing but annoying, expensive regulations.
They could have let the big banks fail, writen off the bad debts and used $200B to charter 200 new banks around the country to take over those customers. They could have used the rest of the money to declare a payroll tax holiday and given workers an immediate 9% pay raise, and most small businesses an 18% boost.
Instead we have an official zero percent interest rate policy that screws savers, politicians playing god with other people's money, and a growing resentment and distrust of government at the grass roots. But the bankers are happy...
Yes, change we can believe in, given to us good and hard. Thanks Mr. Obama
They could have let the big banks fail, writen off the bad debts and used $200B to charter 200 new banks around the country to take over those customers. They could have used the rest of the money to declare a payroll tax holiday and given workers an immediate 9% pay raise, and most small businesses an 18% boost.
Instead we have an official zero percent interest rate policy that screws savers, politicians playing god with other people's money, and a growing resentment and distrust of government at the grass roots. But the bankers are happy...
Yes, change we can believe in, given to us good and hard. Thanks Mr. Obama
December 17, 2009 04:04 PM
Forum:
Politics
Forget health care, the REAL crisis is...Posted By James McSheehy |
When you're busy grabbing and consolidating power in DC, it's easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Let them eat cake -- until the bullets start flying. 8)
Pat Buchannan (an admirer of Obama BTW) sums it up nicely:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34833
"Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months -- and that is before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time -- in pay and hiring -- during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
When the recession started, the Defense Department had 1,868 civilian employees earning $150,000. Defense now has 10,100. The Transportation Department had one person earning $170,000 when the recession began. Transportation now has 1,690 employees earning above $170,000. Recession in America means boom times in D.C.
The financial crisis that almost sank the capitalist system was the work of Washington and Wall Street. The Fed created the bubble. The White House and Congress goaded banks into making all those subprime mortgages. Fannie and Freddie bought up the lousy paper and turned it into securities. Wall Street banks bought them up and put them on their books as Triple A assets. Federal regulators looked the other way.
Yet happy days are here again on Wall Street. And Washington never saw better times, with federal workers now earning, on average, $31,000 a year more than workers in the gutted private sector.
Is this the government the Founding Fathers dreamed of -- or is this the kind of arrogant government they took up arms against?"
Pat Buchannan (an admirer of Obama BTW) sums it up nicely:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34833
"Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months -- and that is before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time -- in pay and hiring -- during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
When the recession started, the Defense Department had 1,868 civilian employees earning $150,000. Defense now has 10,100. The Transportation Department had one person earning $170,000 when the recession began. Transportation now has 1,690 employees earning above $170,000. Recession in America means boom times in D.C.
The financial crisis that almost sank the capitalist system was the work of Washington and Wall Street. The Fed created the bubble. The White House and Congress goaded banks into making all those subprime mortgages. Fannie and Freddie bought up the lousy paper and turned it into securities. Wall Street banks bought them up and put them on their books as Triple A assets. Federal regulators looked the other way.
Yet happy days are here again on Wall Street. And Washington never saw better times, with federal workers now earning, on average, $31,000 a year more than workers in the gutted private sector.
Is this the government the Founding Fathers dreamed of -- or is this the kind of arrogant government they took up arms against?"
December 17, 2009 07:54 PM
Forum:
CCD Imaging and Processing/Deep Sky
How many are using OAG vs. Guide Scope?Posted By James McSheehy |
I use OAG (QSI-wsg), one less thing to fiddle with on the hardware side.
December 17, 2009 08:02 PM
Forum:
Politics
Hard-ball politicsPosted By James McSheehy |
Mark Norby said:The tactics were described as "hard ball Chicago" politics.
Oh, you mean like this Rahm Emanuel training film:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc9zF8G2Pvc
December 20, 2009 02:39 PM
Forum:
Global Warming - REAL or NOT
RealClimate, Wikipedia & Climategate emailsPosted By James McSheehy |
If George Orwell were alive today, he would immediately recognize Wikipedia as the Ministry of Truth made real. A database of "trusted" information, subject to instant electronic modification by unknown people, and accountable only to their superiors. 8)
Wikipedia is one of the main reasons I see ebooks as a bad idea for students.
Wikipedia is one of the main reasons I see ebooks as a bad idea for students.
December 20, 2009 03:04 PM
Forum:
Maksutovs
Gregorian Maksutov ?Posted By James McSheehy |
TEC offered this design for a while about ten years ago. Theirs was a Gregory Gregorian Mak with a silvered spot on the meniscus. The Meniscus was reversed BTW, with the convex side facing outward -- a very interesting little scope.
December 23, 2009 04:47 AM
Forum:
Global Warming - REAL or NOT
Re: Cure for Global Warming found!Posted By James McSheehy |
LOL -- that is a funny picture. The expressions are priceless! Thanks.
December 23, 2009 04:39 PM
Forum:
Politics
Tyrrany part 2Posted By James McSheehy |
Another issue has popped up in the Senate, and we'll soon see how many of those fine folks take their oath seriously:
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/22/demint-to-force-vote-on-constitutionality-of-mandate/
" We’re forcing Americans to buy insurance under penalty of law and then Washington bureaucrats will then dictate what these companies can sell to Americans. This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.�
Americans who fail to buy health insurance, according to the Democrats’ bill, would be subject to financial penalties. The senators believe the bill is unconstitutional because the insurance mandate is not authorized by any of the limited enumerated powers granted to the federal government. The individual mandate also likely violates the “takings� clause of the 5th Amendment."
Both of Colorado's Senators are "in the bag" for Reid, and one of them even had the nerve to send me an email extolling the virtues of the health care plan. It was funny because at the time (late November) he had no clue as to it's final form, but according to Senator Bennett he was pledging his support even if it cost him his job. I replied and thanked him, and assured him that based on what I'd heard from my neighbors and friends, he would likely be joining the ranks of the unemployed next November. 8)
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/12/22/demint-to-force-vote-on-constitutionality-of-mandate/
" We’re forcing Americans to buy insurance under penalty of law and then Washington bureaucrats will then dictate what these companies can sell to Americans. This is not liberty, it is tyranny of good intentions by elites in Washington who think they can plan our lives better than we can.�
Americans who fail to buy health insurance, according to the Democrats’ bill, would be subject to financial penalties. The senators believe the bill is unconstitutional because the insurance mandate is not authorized by any of the limited enumerated powers granted to the federal government. The individual mandate also likely violates the “takings� clause of the 5th Amendment."
Both of Colorado's Senators are "in the bag" for Reid, and one of them even had the nerve to send me an email extolling the virtues of the health care plan. It was funny because at the time (late November) he had no clue as to it's final form, but according to Senator Bennett he was pledging his support even if it cost him his job. I replied and thanked him, and assured him that based on what I'd heard from my neighbors and friends, he would likely be joining the ranks of the unemployed next November. 8)
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