World Politics

[redtreviso]

This is funny...Shows you Reagan would say anything..1948

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f0A_P9kNBc

 

[redtreviso]

little dittoheads probably are surprised that Ayn Rand is not listed here.


http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/index.html

 

[redtreviso]

down through the Sinai into Long Island

 

[rhubroma]

Of course i can't convince someone like you who doesn;t deal with reality too well. You think in terms of theory, i think in terms of practical application. Healthcare is provided in the US regardless of your ability to pay. European healthcare is at a diminishing level of service at a rising cost. Canadians come across the border not as a priveledged class who have money to burn but as people who's inadequate system does not care for them. Oh you want a knee replacement? Sorry not neccessary. learn to limp.
Sweden, Norway. Denmark, all cutting back the level of care. You are searching for an ideal that no longer exists because it was non sustainable.
Good luck you are gonna need it.

What theory! I have lived in the European system for the past 15 years and it has always worked to my advantage and to the greatest number of people in its society. Or if it must be about "theory" then yours is simply the more mendacious, egotistical and utterly self-serving one. That everybody gets treatment in the US, as you claim, only works to driving up everyone else's insurance costs. Its system merely and scandalously caters to the most economically capable and to the private insurance businesses, for which everything is determined solely by the logic of profit gains and losses. This simply is a rather base and indecorous construction.

Public health care is the only humane way to do it, because private care per force of the market logic and rules will de facto exclude a certain percentage of the citizenry that does not have the economic means to afford it, even if, in the end, those outside the system receive treatment, though not following some ethical and humane principle but only to avoid being sued. How perverse! People like you always bemoan the fact that "my insurance is paying for those lazy good for nothings who don't have it." Well this isn't a problem in Italy for me. Sure it has its costs, though it is at least money well spent and the duty of the privileged classes before the weak and those in need. The alternative is a cast based health care system, which is precisely what exists in the privatized one. We are not talking about cars, or TV's, or computers, we are talking about people's health which can not, well should not, be quantified merely in terms of the costs and market determinants. You are blinded by the ideology of the market, by the belief in the propaganda of the private sector. If Europe is suffering it isn't because of a principle, which is the more noble one, but by the pressures of the type of chaotic and self-centered globilization that the neoliberal US way of doing business and treating society has exerted upon and so conditioned its world. With Britain towing this line from across the channel.

Well, it is the problem. That is the insurance business, that is caving into the neoliberal profit driven mentality for everything, as if it were the only God given way to provide the resources in every aspect of how people come to acquire what they would like, but also what they need in life. One could argue that such principle is proper in the former, but it is not so in the latter one.

Yet it is winning out, and may indeed mean that the knee replacement will have to wait. Though this, again, is not the fault of the public system, but the private sector muscling its way in and pushing the competition out. Although if anyone is limping I'm sure there are more among the lower and disenfranchised classes in a society with a predominantly privatized health care system, rather than a public one. So take the damn insurance companies out and let the public decide upon means to provide for itself under the aegis of government. For what is a democratic government if not one which acts in the public's interests. By contrast a democracy that constantly caters to the private sector and so called individual rights, what kind of democracy is that? How can you exist in such semi-darkness, it's like living in a museum! It can be done, it has been done, though because of the private interests and the ideological war the free market pundits in the US have fought against socialism, such has come upon most hard times lately even in Europe. Though it wasn't a fair fight, this, their war, it was lions against the sheep. "Lions against the sheep" underlined. How revolting!

In other words change the market, or, better yet, take it out of the State in regards to how people are able to get the care they need, when they need it, in hospital or at doctor's office. You say this is just "theory," that in the real world can't be done, though this is only your rather pathetic alibi to not have to think against that in which you have a religious faith: namely the private interests of the market.

You have a very narrow mindset, and it is an old mindset around these parts. This is the truly laughable thing, you pass it off for innovative yet it is most out of date. Neoliberals like yourself are in reality old and bored ideologues who have, in preaching their arrant nonsense to the masses, merely been trying to escape a deadly life long boredom; so that by now they're completely taken up with their fancies, their jobs, their girls and their women totally absorbed in their perversely superficial concerns. Talking to them one finds that they have nothing in their heads but this ghastly superficiality and think only about their trust funds and their cars. When I talk to one of them, I thought, I'm not talking to a human being but an utterly primitive, unimaginative, single-minded show-off who has gone well beyond his historical expiration date. You'll notice one day, that I'm right. And it has reminded me of how I was being far too lite on the private sector in previous posts, which had no doubt stroked Scott So Cal's ego, now that I come to think about it, so that actually one realizes that it must simply be done away with altogether, must be fought ferociously against, just as in determined and purpose driven way as it has waged war against society, and brought down, the whole thing must come crashing down if we are to realize a truly just world, a world worth living in and not the corrupt, nauseating, unimaginative and tasteless decrepit octogenarian one we have.

To quote Einstein: we can't think about solving the problem by applying the same logic that was used to create it. In the case of privatized US health care it is the logic of the market and its survival of the fittest and supply and demand praxis at the exclusion of others, which has caused the shameful situation in which over 50 million Americans are uncovered. And it is precisely this individualist and greed driven mentality that is being used to try and "fix it", by obliging all to buy coverage rather than aggressively attacking private insurance at its very foundations; not this great and vile "compromise" is what's called for, but a radically earth-shattering and annihilating war against the insurance industry and hence private care. Nothing less but the complete and total destruction and extinction of these social criminals will do. So rather than our governors investing in something truly public, as a value based philosophy that places health in the domain of a common ownership of which everybody partakes in equal measure and not something that is the privilege of the rich, we get this pseudo-social project that will place everyone under legal liability to purchase something from the private sector, something which should have rightfully been theirs from the day they were born. What a sham!

 

[rhubroma]

look.. its scotty and runnin and friends

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuBPrcwNHWY

Talk about ze world of quality information.

 

[rickshaw]

Thanks for the drive by. Go back and read the last 600 or 700 pages and you'll likely spot a trend.

Thanks for boiling the haelthcare debate down to terms everyone can comprehend

Always nice for the ignorant to point out ignorance.

Cheers, Ricky.

No problem, but if reading 6-700 pages of this stuff is a requirement for posting that's too harsh.

Though I am admittedly ignorant of many things I do not assume anyone else is ignorant.

The healthcare debate IS simple. All the Bullshyte about "We have the best HC in the world." is just political nonsense. The American sheep believe whatever info they are fed. WE have the most expensive everything, the components may be great, but the System is not great.

am i leaving something out?

 

[Cobblestones]

It seems today is the day.

The Egyptian army has started to arrest members of the secret police which are participating in the pro-Mubarak demonstrations (presumably as agent provocateur). Most of the Egyptian leadership has resigned from their party posts (within the NDP). This includes Hosni and Gamal Mubarak, Hosni's son.

It seems to be over. What is left is for Hosni to resign as president.

 

[redtreviso]

This is a Republican after reading the obituaries or learning of someone (not them) getting laid off from their job or losing their home or after passing a fatal auto accident.

God bless me.

 

[rhubroma]

It seems today is the day.

The Egyptian army has started to arrest members of the secret police which are participating in the pro-Mubarak demonstrations (presumably as agent provocateur). Most of the Egyptian leadership has resigned from their party posts (within the NDP). This includes Hosni and Gamal Mubarak, Hosni's son.

It seems to be over. What is left is for Hosni to resign as president.

If I were the anti-Mubarak partisans, I'd be most concerned about the Mossad.

 

[redtreviso]

Sarah Palin: “It’s a difficult situation, this is that 3am White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House it it seems that that call went right to um the answering machine. And nobody yet has, no body yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and um, no, not, not real um enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from dc in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And um, in these areas that are so volatile right now because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And um, we do not have all that information yet.”

 

[rhubroma]

Sarah Palin: “It’s a difficult situation, this is that 3am White House phone call and it seems for many of us trying to get that information from our leader in the White House it it seems that that call went right to um the answering machine. And nobody yet has, no body yet has explained to the American public what they know, and surely they know more than the rest of us know who it is who will be taking the place of Mubarak and um, no, not, not real um enthused about what it is that that’s being done on a national level and from dc in regards to understanding all the situation there in Egypt. And um, in these areas that are so volatile right now because obviously it’s not just Egypt but the other countries too where we are seeing uprisings, we know that now more than ever, we need strength and sound mind there in the White House. We need to know what it is that America stands for so we know who it is that America will stand with. And um, we do not have all that information yet.”

She was being prompted by a little whisper from Netanyahu in her earpiece. Thus the ticks and ums and general discontinuity, which, not really being her thoughts, but of course Netanyahu's reiterated and on a proxy basis, accounts for the vulgar arrantness of her speech.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

This is a Republican after reading the obituaries or learning of someone (not them) getting laid off from their job or losing their home or after passing a fatal auto accident.

God bless me.

"This aggression will not stand mannnnn".

 

[The Hitch]

It would be nice to be in the Cairo streets right now. Real celebrations. Real events of real importance.

Not celebrating some crap like winning a sporting event.

Real emotions. Not a fake 45 years of pain (what the English media calls the time since England won a world cup) but 30 years of REAL pain (matters of life and death).

The feeling of release, liberation after so much time.

Im not sure that the future will neccesarily be bright for Egypt, but they will always have February 11th 2011.

On with the revolution.

 

[roundabout]

It would be nice to be in the Cairo streets right now. Real celebrations. Real events of real importance.

Not celebrating some crap like winning a sporting event.

Real emotions. Not a fake 45 years of pain (what the English media calls the time since England won a world cup) but 30 years of REAL pain (matters of life and death).

The feeling of release, liberation after so much time.

Im not sure that the future will neccesarily be bright for Egypt, but they will always have February 11th 2011.

On with the revolution.

Looks like the junta is in charge for now so it may take a while to establish what the revolution has brought.

 

[The Hitch]

Looks like the junta is in charge for now so it may take a while to establish what the revolution has brought.

As i said, not necessarily a bright future. But atm they have that "moment of awesomness".

Huge crowds celebrating in the streets, people crying with joy talking about their happyness etc etc etc.

 

[Anonymous]

 

[rhubroma]

Mubarak won't go away. The US is secretly backing him, I bet.

 

[runninboy]

Since most of the posts here seem to be leaning left i am probably just preaching to the choir here, but i just have to say something.

I just read about Donald Trumps speech and how he is being considered as a GOP presidential candidate
Please listen this man is a total fraud.

When i lived in NYC in the 80's i found out who Donald Trump really was a pathetic limelight seeker who got where he was exclusively because of his fathers money.
His father was at the time the largest landowner in NYC. I was living in hells kitchen and wondered about all the warehouses on the upper west side near the river and found that Trump senior had vast tracks of real estate that he refused to develop until the City made some attractive arrangements. All of Donalds projects were backed up by the bigger economical power wielded by his father. He got lots of favors for his son.
But the most obvious show of power was when Donalds Atlantic City Casino was going down and headed for bankruptcy.
Oh i should probably mention this was the first of three times he sought bankruptcy protection for his Casino's
Anyway, his Daddy decided to protect the good name of Trump and bail him out with a personal loan. But of course Donald would have to pay taxes and the publicity of Donald senior financially in all of juniors projects had been successfully limited up to that point.

Well someone on the inside ratted these guys out. The plan was for Donald senior to purchase 45 million in a marker at a table and then walk away and not gamble. The feds were waiting for them and politely told the Trumps that if they attempted this transaction they would be handcuffed on the spot and charged with money laundering and attempting to circumvent federal tax law.
Donald senior walked away from the table to let Donald work it out on his own and of course being the astute businessman that he is the Taj Mahal was history.

This man created no wealth of his own, he merely spreads his fathers clout and money around for his own image. He is no businessman but merely a bad actor who plays one on TV.

The thought that somewhere there is someone who believes this man is capable of running a profitable business let alone our nation is depressing.
I guess that same person would probably want Kim Kardashian on the same ticket as Vice President. Donald would never go for that as he realizes that would be inviting an assasination.
disclaimer this in no way advocates violence against anyone in any form i am merely pointing out why Trump would deny Kardashian a spot on the ticket

Please people if u even like Trump do a little research. Its hard because his father stayed in the shadow but trust me, Donald is just a little actor who's RICH Daddy paid for his career and even Daddy didn't have enough money to save the Donald from himself and his poor judgement

Go away Donald just go AWAY!

 

[fatandfast]

ruinboy..Trump is a tool..yes. I listened to his news conference about the US as a whipping post. I don't like his views, hair,production company, his brand of golf,vodka,aftershave. The cost of apts in his Trump Tower complex on the West Side Hwy are an outrage.. I mean really 4200 dollars for a 1 bedroom.. the nerve!! I personally worked on a public/private funded project to redevelop down town White Plains (City Centre) Trump took on a major role in building the apts there. He sold them to a Japanese development company for a price of 105 million more than he bought them for..in my book anything million is real money. After 9/11 I was very surprised how little Liberty Bond money that Trump went after compared to other builders. He has recently increased his portfolio in Soho by 10's of millions including WS Hwy,NYU area buildings. I did attend meetings and oppose the Trump Soho. I detest Trump but his brand name and ability to make money have little to do with his dad. Hold your breath because if and when the NYC bike classic every returns he will be sure to put up some cash toward the cause

 

[redtreviso]

Obama Loses Egypt!! Hannity's headline..

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Obama Loses Egypt!! Hannity's headline..

You still watching that stuff?

 

[patricknd]

You still watching that stuff?

it's a disease. he can't stop himself. once a teabagger.........

 

[Clearly Unstable]

What theory! I have lived in the European system for the past 15 years and it has always worked to my advantage and to the greatest number of people in its society. Or if it must be about "theory" then yours is simply the more mendacious, egotistical and utterly self-serving one. That everybody gets treatment in the US, as you claim, only works to driving up everyone else's insurance costs. Its system merely and scandalously caters to the most economically capable and to the private insurance businesses, for which everything is determined solely by the logic of profit gains and losses. This simply is a rather base and indecorous construction.

Public health care is the only humane way to do it, because private care per force of the market logic and rules will de facto exclude a certain percentage of the citizenry that does not have the economic means to afford it, even if, in the end, those outside the system receive treatment, though not following some ethical and humane principle but only to avoid being sued. How perverse! People like you always bemoan the fact that "my insurance is paying for those lazy good for nothings who don't have it." Well this isn't a problem in Italy for me. Sure it has its costs, though it is at least money well spent and the duty of the privileged classes before the weak and those in need. The alternative is a cast based health care system, which is precisely what exists in the privatized one. We are not talking about cars, or TV's, or computers, we are talking about people's health which can not, well should not, be quantified merely in terms of the costs and market determinants. You are blinded by the ideology of the market, by the belief in the propaganda of the private sector. If Europe is suffering it isn't because of a principle, which is the more noble one, but by the pressures of the type of chaotic and self-centered globilization that the neoliberal US way of doing business and treating society has exerted upon and so conditioned its world. With Britain towing this line from across the channel.

Well, it is the problem. That is the insurance business, that is caving into the neoliberal profit driven mentality for everything, as if it were the only God given way to provide the resources in every aspect of how people come to acquire what they would like, but also what they need in life. One could argue that such principle is proper in the former, but it is not so in the latter one.

Yet it is winning out, and may indeed mean that the knee replacement will have to wait. Though this, again, is not the fault of the public system, but the private sector muscling its way in and pushing the competition out. Although if anyone is limping I'm sure there are more among the lower and disenfranchised classes in a society with a predominantly privatized health care system, rather than a public one. So take the damn insurance companies out and let the public decide upon means to provide for itself under the aegis of government. For what is a democratic government if not one which acts in the public's interests. By contrast a democracy that constantly caters to the private sector and so called individual rights, what kind of democracy is that? How can you exist in such semi-darkness, it's like living in a museum! It can be done, it has been done, though because of the private interests and the ideological war the free market pundits in the US have fought against socialism, such has come upon most hard times lately even in Europe. Though it wasn't a fair fight, this, their war, it was lions against the sheep. "Lions against the sheep" underlined. How revolting!

In other words change the market, or, better yet, take it out of the State in regards to how people are able to get the care they need, when they need it, in hospital or at doctor's office. You say this is just "theory," that in the real world can't be done, though this is only your rather pathetic alibi to not have to think against that in which you have a religious faith: namely the private interests of the market.

You have a very narrow mindset, and it is an old mindset around these parts. This is the truly laughable thing, you pass it off for innovative yet it is most out of date. Neoliberals like yourself are in reality old and bored ideologues who have, in preaching their arrant nonsense to the masses, merely been trying to escape a deadly life long boredom; so that by now they're completely taken up with their fancies, their jobs, their girls and their women totally absorbed in their perversely superficial concerns. Talking to them one finds that they have nothing in their heads but this ghastly superficiality and think only about their trust funds and their cars. When I talk to one of them, I thought, I'm not talking to a human being but an utterly primitive, unimaginative, single-minded show-off who has gone well beyond his historical expiration date. You'll notice one day, that I'm right. And it has reminded me of how I was being far too lite on the private sector in previous posts, which had no doubt stroked Scott So Cal's ego, now that I come to think about it, so that actually one realizes that it must simply be done away with altogether, must be fought ferociously against, just as in determined and purpose driven way as it has waged war against society, and brought down, the whole thing must come crashing down if we are to realize a truly just world, a world worth living in and not the corrupt, nauseating, unimaginative and tasteless decrepit octogenarian one we have.

To quote Einstein: we can't think about solving the problem by applying the same logic that was used to create it. In the case of privatized US health care it is the logic of the market and its survival of the fittest and supply and demand praxis at the exclusion of others, which has caused the shameful situation in which over 50 million Americans are uncovered. And it is precisely this individualist and greed driven mentality that is being used to try and "fix it", by obliging all to buy coverage rather than aggressively attacking private insurance at its very foundations; not this great and vile "compromise" is what's called for, but a radically earth-shattering and annihilating war against the insurance industry and hence private care. Nothing less but the complete and total destruction and extinction of these social criminals will do. So rather than our governors investing in something truly public, as a value based philosophy that places health in the domain of a common ownership of which everybody partakes in equal measure and not something that is the privilege of the rich, we get this pseudo-social project that will place everyone under legal liability to purchase something from the private sector, something which should have rightfully been theirs from the day they were born. What a sham!

Nice rant. Far to complex for many to grasp though as it's outside their box. Free market, free market, free market they shouted as they rearraigned deck chairs on the Titanic........

 

[rhubroma]

Nice rant. Far to complex for many to grasp though as it's outside their box. Free market, free market, free market they shouted as they rearraigned deck chairs on the Titanic........

Yes, and nobody hates it more than myself.

 

[Cobblestones]

It would be nice to be in the Cairo streets right now. Real celebrations. Real events of real importance.

Not celebrating some crap like winning a sporting event.

Real emotions. Not a fake 45 years of pain (what the English media calls the time since England won a world cup) but 30 years of REAL pain (matters of life and death).

The feeling of release, liberation after so much time.

Im not sure that the future will neccesarily be bright for Egypt, but they will always have February 11th 2011.

On with the revolution.

One interesting consequence of this might be that the limelight moves on from Egypt to some other country hungry for a change of leadership. As I understand it, there were protests in Jordan, Yemen, Syria and probably quite a few other places. Once the media circus moves on from Cairo, some other country might ratchet it up to seek the spotlight. I believe we haven't seen the end of the Arab revolution yet. The year is still young and two dictators have been toppled. Plenty still to go...