Sorry for the no-show yesterday. Worked late. Had nothin’. Phoned it in.
I have little more today, but I do have a question about dog psychology, for you dog psychologists. I mentioned a while back that Wendy had become a lap dog with the onset of cool weather. Now I’m not so sure it’s got anything to do with the weather. She wants to be in physical contact with me for amazingly long periods. If I’m sitting on a chaise, she wants to lie on, not next to, my legs. Couch, ditto. The other day I pushed her off — I’ve got a lame leg, after all — and she smushed up next to me and laid a paw where she had been lying.
I’ve never had a dog who seemed to need so much physical contact. Spriggy didn’t put up with much more than normal petting and belly-scratching. I don’t know if it’s a remnant of her shelter life, or what. It’s sort of nice, but sometimes it’s like having a clingy toddler.
Terriers are supposed to be independent. I’m a little concerned, as in a few weeks or months Bridge will be opening a Detroit office and I’ll be working there more often. I don’t want to come home to a vibrating, freaked-out dog.
Which is one reason ads for the Thundershirt keep turning up in my web perambulations.
And aren’t you sorry you dropped by?
I’ve come to think the prefix “ultra” never indicates something good. Today, “ultra-traditionalist Catholics” from the Society of Saint Pius X disrupted an interfaith ceremony observing Kristallnacht, at a cathedral in Buenos Aires. Which I’m mentioning just because. Even though you know how much I love Catholic rad trads.
With my achy knee and otherwise aging joints, I can only look upon this video of the Detroit Jit and think, sadly, oh, but this ship has sailed. Probably just as well.
Modern Farmer brings you the pie chart of pies. No more apple for you. And they are so, so wrong about cherry.
Again, a short effort, and I am off to bed. Cut way back on the ibuprofen this week and my gut feels better, but I also have Martin Cruz Smith to keep me warm, so back to “Tatiana.”
Dexter said on November 14, 2013 at 1:23 am
We have a terrier and a Labrador-mix, both females. When we return after just a few hours they both act crazy-happy to see us. They let us alone when we sit watching TV, but as soon as we go to sleep the Lab has to assume her nightly position at the foot of our bed, lower left corner. If I close the door she will charge it, scratch at it, and bark like a hound until I let her in. She furiously wags her tail, jumps to her spot, and is content for maybe an hour, when she jumps down and onto some old blankets I folded for a makeshift auxiliary dog bed.
Once on laundry day I had to leave unfolded tees on the bed to take a phone call, ad when I went back to fold them the Lab had grabbed them and dragged them to a corner of the bedroom, arranged a dog-bed, and was napping. That’s how the old blanket-bed came to be.
The older terrier enjoys solitude and the lab misses her more than the terrier would miss the Lab.
Maybe Wendy would do better with a playmate dog. Two dogs aren’t twice the work, just another dog bowl and another leash and dog tag. 🙂
In Cincinnati, the new mayor has been busy killing the street car before it progresses any further. That was a big reason he got elected, I heard. Lots of people hated the street car idea from the start. It’s been so long I can’t remember the history of the Detroit People Mover. I don’t recall if there was such a loud dust-up over it or not. I always got a kick out of riding both the People Mover as well as the Louisville street car, and the San Francisco cable cars eons ago. I guess the Cincinnati deal is dead now.
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DanB said on November 14, 2013 at 1:35 am
On that pie chart: indeed, the placement of cherry is just baffling. Is there any part of the country in which pie cherries are seasonal in September? The idea of limiting June, July and August to just one kind of pie being in season is ridiculous anyway. Basically, the whole chart is dumb and and should just be mocked. Too bad, because the basic idea that you should be making pies out of whatever is in season at the moment is one that I heartily endorse.
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Sherri said on November 14, 2013 at 1:54 am
Two pieces of interesting news from the upper left corner. The machinists’ union did reject Boeing’s contract extension offer, by a large margin (http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2022253577_boeingmachinistvotexml.html), though our legislature had already rolled over quickly to make sure Boeing had plenty of tax breaks ($8.7 billion worth.)
And Seattle may be electing an honest-to-God Socialist to the City Council: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2013/11/13/sawant-maintains-lead-over-conlin-in-latest-vote-update/
(Yes, we’re still counting ballots, even though the election was over a week ago. Elections are all done by mail here, and ballots only have to be postmarked by election day, so it takes a while for them to trickle in.)
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Brandon said on November 14, 2013 at 3:46 am
On interfaith matters from a traditionalist Catholic perspective:
http://www.traditioninaction.org/Questions/B451_Inculturation.html
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David C. said on November 14, 2013 at 6:45 am
If I remember right Wendy had an injured leg. I would bet that it gets sore when she gets cold. Maybe she would bunk in on something like this.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=22480
We had one when our late cat Dickens was 18 years old and had a bit of arthritis. He seemed very comfortable and happy spending his dotage there.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 7:20 am
If you need some NSAIDs, but want to steer clear of ibuprofen or aspirin, you might just want to eat a curry with a little extra turmeric in it. Turmeric can irritate the gut, too, but it’s got a bunch of side benefits. Apparently its anti inflammatory compounds cross the blood brain barrier, and help suppress the formation of the plaques associated with Alzheimers, as well as helping manage exposure to seasonal illnesses:
http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2013/11/antioxidant-turmeric-ginger-black-pepper-green-tea.html
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 7:20 am
My 16 year old cat is a total clingon. She didn’t used to be that way, it’s pretty much been since her sister died. She probably has arthritis in her back legs at least that’s what the vet says. She loves it in Santa Fe because it’s always sunny and there’s a fireplace so we left her there with my daughter rather than bring her back to cold, damp, grey Chicago. If you’re sitting, she’s on your lap, if you’re in bed she’s right next to you. I miss her but I’ll be in Santa Fe from Thanksgiving through February so I’ll have plenty of time to be with the little pill again.
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Mindy said on November 14, 2013 at 7:25 am
Wendy seems to be showing signs of separation anxiety. I went through this with one of my Labs when he was young. The vet told me to spend time with him every day but to ignore him completely. Put Wendy in her crate but be in the same room with her so she can see you but don’t look at her or say anything. She will cry and it will break your heart. After she has been calm and quiet for twenty minutes or so, open her crate without speaking or greeting her. Do this every day and gradually increase her crate time and begin leaving her alone in her crate. She will learn that your absence isn’t permanent.
This worked very well for me. Marty learned quickly that I wasn’t abandoning him. He still wanted to be on my lap in the evenings but wasn’t desperately needy. His crate was always available although he was seldom in it after a few months of use. If Wendy is afraid of thunderstorms, start a load of laundry if you can and put her in the laundry room. The noise helps mask the thunder.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 14, 2013 at 7:50 am
I’ve served in communities where the Catholic and Missouri Synod Lutheran clergy wanted to participate in ecumenical services, but had concerns — not with us, but with their hierarchies, and the couple of cranky actors in their congregations who lived to report deviationism to their respective Politiburos. The trick is to have a ministerial group who gets these issues, and you can craft the program so that they can participate without pushing buttons than can’t be explained later in the Chancellor’s office.
But it can be done! We have the full range in this vicariate of priests, RC-wise; some who see me as a full colleague who just happens to not be in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, others who are cheerfully parochial, and one who clearly thinks we’re all tools of Satan who don’t observe the Roman rite and accept any little ex cathedra thing. As the Marines and Mother Theresa say, “Love ’em all, let God sort ’em out.”
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alex said on November 14, 2013 at 8:14 am
As the Marines and Mother Theresa say, “Love ‘em all, let God sort ‘em out.”
And it doesn’t smack of condescension like “Love the sinner, hate the sin.”
Nance, if you remember my Doberman, I rescued her from an ice queen social x-ray who kept her outside for show and gave her no attention whatsoever. She about as needy as any dog I’ve ever seen. I’m sure it was because of abandonment issues and having been denied affection, and that’s on top of the fact that the breed has a tendency to want to bond with just one person. Fortunately the dog was able to bond with both me and my father so I was able to leave her with my parents during the day, where she eventually decided to take up permanent residence. She never warmed much to my mom and in my dad’s absence all she would do was howl and cry. She did the same when I had to leave her home alone. And she’d get all antsy whenever I’d have to take a time out for a shit or a bath. We never figured out break her of the habit. We just figured she was a tortured soul and we’d have to make the best of it.
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beb said on November 14, 2013 at 8:44 am
Nancy has a dog that acts like a cat (wanting always to be with or on you). We have a cat who thinks its a dog – it likes to play fetch.
I never understood ecumenical services. Aren’t the doctrinal disputes that caused the church to split again and again and again too insurmountable? Especially between the papists and the original anti-papists.
Do the Marines really say “love them all and let God sort them out”? I would assume for the Marines it would be the original version “Kill them all…”
Where do militantly conservative Catholics go if they don’t like the new Pope, as apparently they don’t?
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 8:55 am
Where do militantly conservative Catholics go if they don’t like the new Pope, as apparently they don’t?
There’s always the supreme court.
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Peter said on November 14, 2013 at 9:33 am
“I recognize the authority of the pope, but he is not infallible and in this case does things we cannot accept,” Bouchacourt said in an interview with Radio La Red.
Maybe I have to do some more reading, but isn’t papal infallibility a big deal with the trads? I mean, isn’t that one of big items that separates us from those satanic Espiscopaleans?
Those guys should have an ecumenical service with Sarah and Fox News.
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 9:53 am
I think PI* only comes into play in a very defined way, as when a matter of doctrine is formally addressed in an encyclical….but what the hell do I know – as a confirmed heathen?!
Jeff – you got me laughing – sounds a bit like you have the makings of The Council of Licking County!
Earlier this summer I read a concise book called The Council of Trent – which was surprisingly enthralling, and more than a little funny – what with various Popes making cardinals out of their grandsons(!) and guys who are made bishops of multiple dioceses – which they never set foot in, etc.
Martin Luther seems to have been the original tea party crank
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 9:55 am
* = papal infallibility
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Julie Robinson said on November 14, 2013 at 9:57 am
Wendy sounds like a clone of our daughter’s Chica, who is also a rescue dog. Even after two years, her eyes are always sad and wary, as if all the love and pampering are going to end at any moment. It’s heartbreaking. Mindy, I’m going to pass along your suggestions. Her crate is already a safe place for her, so it just might work.
Since I’m part of the tolerant branch of Lutherans, I’m saddened by how the church is showing itself to the world. We’d rather focus on what we have in common, and even more important, doing the work of the church by caring for the needy.
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Julie Robinson said on November 14, 2013 at 9:58 am
Oh, and Coozledad for the win once again.
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 10:28 am
Marty, Marteeee Loooother, Pop of the Lutheran Church. Seriously that was a song we sang at Walther League retreats.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 10:34 am
I’ve never been a traditionalist Catholic, more like a Jesuitical Catholic. We believe in Jesus, and caring for the least of our brethren. Don’t think Martin Luther and his ilk that have run things since the 1500s do. So fuck off. Protestantism brought out the worst in mankind. And find me an American Catholic that believes in Papal Infallibility. John XXIII maybe. None of these other poseurs, even the skier.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2013 at 10:51 am
Argentina was the refuge of choice for Nazi war criminals. Whatshisname, the guy in the glass booth, was kidnapped out of there by the Israelis, IIRC. Guess things haven’t changed much.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 11:00 am
Common sense on Obamacare:
http://thinkprogress.org/progress-report/million-shopping-obamacare/
And the Israelis have turned into the Nazis. The pathology is unmistakable. And they run the USA because end of times.
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Dorothy said on November 14, 2013 at 11:00 am
My Augie is pretty needy when it comes to closeness with me. I’m a little worried about all the kennel time they’ll be facing in the next ten days or so with our move, and then Thanksgiving. I plan to put a couple of my tee shirts in the kennel with him, hoping my scent will help him in some small way. Don’t you wish animals could talk so we wouldn’t have to speculate so much about what they are feeling?! Then again, that’s part of the appeal. We make up stuff all the time as if the dogs are actually speaking to us.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 11:00 am
Bitter Scribe: I always held out hope that South America would quickly interbreed, if only to produce an even finer race of beach babes. but from the looks of some of those lardy right wing gingers, some ethnics are keeping those fishwhite bog genes pure.
I think you mean Eichmann.
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nancy said on November 14, 2013 at 11:07 am
Dorothy, one day when Kate was about 10, she said she wished Spriggy could talk.
“But if he could talk, we might not like what he had to say,” I said.
“Why?”
“What if he said he didn’t like it when we petted him a certain way, or we smelled bad, or talked about the things he saw us do?”
“Yeah,” she said. “He might say, ‘Kate sometimes takes the can of whipped cream from the refrigerator and shoots it right into her mouth.'”
As soon as she said that, she realized what she’d done. It was a funny moment.
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 11:20 am
Ha!!
Well, that sounds like a thread winner – if it makes sense to award the thread to the person who owns the blouse!
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 11:37 am
I’m waiting for Coozledad to come up with new lyrics for “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”.
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MarkH said on November 14, 2013 at 11:57 am
You won’t have to wait long, Deborah.
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 11:57 am
Pros @ 21 – I disagree completely; that is a terrible – indeed a genuinely obscene thing to say.
The Israelis government does things I don’t like, and which costs innocent lives…same for the United States government.
But the leap to compare them to an evil like the Nazis is ridiculous.
One could reasonably say such a thing about Pol Pot’s Cambodia… but not Israel.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2013 at 12:12 pm
Nancy @24: Can anything really smell bad to a dog? I mean, considering some of the stuff they roll around in?
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Julie Robinson said on November 14, 2013 at 12:13 pm
Oh Kate, we all did that when we were 10.
President Obama is announcing changes to the ACA right now. Does anyone else think he’s being sold out by his fellow Dems? Even Bill Clinton, for crying out loud. Let’s give it some time.
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Julie – amen.
Every really big thing we’ve done as a nation, from wars to social reforms, has been flawed and imperfect – and usually severely so.
WJC might oughta not arm the opponents of the president, as soon enough they’ll be all over SecState Clinton, and the president will be a good ally to have
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 12:43 pm
Sorry Brian, I disagree. The Israel of the “settlers” is run amok. Settlers? Those are luxe condos. And the gubmint that enables it is a pariah. They are actually acting like Nazis. In the eyes of the Israeli government, every dead Arab is a dead terriss, even Americans like Rachel Corrie. The Israeli body politic is facing the same thing GOPers are facing in the USA. Ain’t gonna have the numbers anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tHPsphg9xc
Who is the nuclear power everyone should fear, because they blow up whoever they want whenever they want? That is the rogue, and the seriously evil state. And what they do to Palestinian Israeli citizens is just about exactly the same as what the DeKlerks did to the Bantus. Palestinians are like American aborigines, but they aren’t cooperating by dying of smallpox. They live on and fight back, as they can. If there is terror in the world, it was taught to the world by Aba Eban and Moshe Dayan, and fuck both those gentlemen, with your putz not mine.
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Dorothy said on November 14, 2013 at 12:44 pm
Nancy that was hilarious! I really did laugh out loud! Love those kinds of moments.
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LAMary said on November 14, 2013 at 12:48 pm
Three things:
Try doing a real obedience class with Wendy. I had a dog who was seriously insecure and would tear up the house when left alone. The guy at the neighborhood pet shop recommended obedience training, so I hired someone who worked with both my dogs (and me) twice a week and had me doing homework with the dogs twice a day. I swear, after four weeks no more craziness or clinginess.
Second thing: I know my contribution to the perfume discussion fell short the other day. To be frank, I’ve been in a bad place financially due to my ex and his demands, so no new perfume. I haven’t even gone to a perfume counter to check out the new arrivals. Things are improving right now so I ventured into the first floor of the new Nordstrom here and bought a bottle (small) of Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir. It’s wonderful. Earthy and different. It doesn’t remind me at all of any other perfume. I’m smelling my wrist as soon as I finish typing.
And lastly, I live and work in a place where there a lot of people who moved to the US from the Philippines. The devastation in their home country has impacted so many of them. If anyone is feeling like they want to help, Doctors Without Borders is there and they do such good work. Catholic Relief Services are already on site as well and they work with my employer, Providence Health, to care for the most vulnerable and needy. The need in the Philippines is extreme. If you are so inclined, consider sending a few dollars.
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Jolene said on November 14, 2013 at 12:48 pm
Amen from me too, Julie. Am really frustrated with the Democrats jumping ship on this. Moreover, I think there’ll be all sorts of problems with extending the cancelled policies, as he is now promising.
How is this going to work? Will the insurers cooperate? There’s going to have to be a lot of administrative jockeying to get them to notify their customers about continuing those policies. And his announcement was not very specific about what people can now expect.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 12:49 pm
What country has the largest spying footprint in the USA? That’s right. It’s Israel.
Medicare for everybody, y’all. That is how the civilized word does it, and their economies withstand the corporate and hedge-fund rapers and pillagers. For less than half the money.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 1:08 pm
Extending the cash for no coverage policies does nobody any good but the makers on the money side? What is wrong with people so stupidly raciss they hand over the carkeys to the racissist aholes that can’s stand a blapPresicent?
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Sorry Brian, but when the Israeli guv actslike Nazis, I feel its alright to point it out. and that is not anti-semitic by any sandwich. It’s positively pro-semitic.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 1:21 pm
Rob Ford proves the South Beach pussy diet is way bogus:
http://wonkette.com/534278/rob-ford-neither-licked-nor-sucked-on-that-ladys-vengetable-rob-ford-says-in-best-press-conference-ever
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 1:22 pm
My guess is that the insurance companies won’t want to extend the same coverage as before. They’ve probably already done a lot of in-house work to comply with the ACA. Anyway I think all the yelling about keeping your coverage if you like it is a smoke screen to find fault with the ACA. Once people figure out how much better off they will be they will calm down. It is soooo unfortunate that the website is screwed up so people can’t find that out now.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Propsero, you really need to dial it back. Comparing Jews to Nazis is profoundly offensive in any context. Plus, it’s not like the Israelis have a monopoly of evil in this conflict. Remember the Munich massacre? The hijackings? The suicide bombings? The Palestinian Arab fanatics are every bit as bloodthirsty as any Israeli.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 14, 2013 at 1:35 pm
beb — Hmmm. Maybe I’m remembering the gunny wrong. I’m sure about Mother Teresa, though!
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Scribe: Comparing the modern Jewish state to Nazis, is right on the money. And there is a clear, they did this to us so we can get away with it, vibe. And Israel is really sitting on a pile of shit out there in the Negev. And they stole it from their friends in the USA. OOpsie. And wouldn’t think twice about using it on a neighbor.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 1:56 pm
The Israelis do, in fact, have a great deal in common with Nazis. I will continue to believe that the Israelie governmwent does not mean the Jewish race, and I wil continue to view the racist policies of that government as I believe such asinine policies should be viwed. When Jew act like Nazis, they are Nazis, and they can’t be defended by stating “They are Jews.” Not even close, and you should know better.
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Julie Robinson said on November 14, 2013 at 1:58 pm
Deborah, your point was echoed on NPR as they were waiting for the President to speak. Most of the low cost policies are complete crap, and people don’t learn that until they make a claim. The commentator said she had gone around and looked at some of the policies being cancelled, and the policy holders were shocked to learn how poor the coverage was. One had a policy that would pay no more than $50 toward any occurrence, including hospitalization.
I am personally grateful for the change on preexisting conditions. My sister’s diabetes complications are severe enough that she may have to stop working. Right now she’s waiting to learn if she’ll lose all or part of her big toe. She couldn’t get coverage at any price under the old system.
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Bitter Scribe said on November 14, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Prospero: Bullshit. Comparing Jews to Nazis is beyond the bounds of civilized discourse, period. And as I stated before, both sides in this conflict have profoundly bloody hands.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 2:12 pm
I’m sorry.. When Jews act like Nazia, it’s somehos obvoxious th call them on it?
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Danny said on November 14, 2013 at 2:25 pm
It might surprise you, but I agree with you guys in most of your arguments regarding health care.
1. It should be considered a fundamental human right
2. Pre-existing conditions clauses had to go away
3. Most policies being canceled are crap
4. Single-payer is probably a necessary to ultimately make this work (i.e. everyone is in healthy or not, so that the actuarial numbers crunch right and policies are affordable).
The chief problem currently is that the overhaul has been too ambitious and neither government nor private enterprise is currently up to this monumental task at this point… at least in one fell swoop. We probably need to back off and do some interim solution that transitions us more smoothly into a final solution. That isn’t as sexy from a political hay-making perspective, but that’s part of the problem in an of itself.
Heck, if they had just legislatively done away with pre-existing conditions as a first step, it probably would have been a great first step.
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Charlotte said on November 14, 2013 at 2:27 pm
Have you all seen the Bourdain episode in Detroit? There’s a strong Michigander population out here in Livingston, but I have to admit, I haven’t been to Detroit since … 1984? And even that wasn’t Detroit, it was Bloomfield Hills for the horse show. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRWCfk4VzvQ
Firedoglake had a good roundup of the types of folks getting cancellation letters: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2013/11/14/understanding-the-four-categories-of-people-getting-cancellation-notices/
I’m happy to pay more for insurance I know wont’ just screw me if I get hurt or sick, but apparently I’m in the minority?
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Scout said on November 14, 2013 at 2:46 pm
I just had to listen to a co-worker’s extended screed about how pissed he is that his wife’s policy will be cancelled. Even though she is manic depressive and has OCD, his in-laws continue to subsidize her care, so she should get to keep her crap policy, and on and on and on. I gave up trying to reason with him. He wants to pay for junk, dammit, and it used to be a free country, blah blah blah. If the friggin’ website ever got up to speed I think much of this “he-lied” shit would go away. It’s a damn shame, really.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 3:10 pm
It’s funny listening to the con from a guy who’s not even in on the con. He hasn’t quite got his bit straight. The line is supposed to be “Socialism in the form of a public option would have been more palatable to Republicans than a market solution if you hadn’t elected that black guy nnn… sproing…derp”
Oh, wait. That is what he’s saying. Carry on.
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Jolene said on November 14, 2013 at 3:44 pm
Heck, if they had just legislatively done away with pre-existing conditions as a first step, it probably would have been a great first step.
Danny, if this were done without reforming the market to bring more healthy people into it, the premiums would be completely unaffordable. There’s a reason the ACA has as many moving parts as it does. To keep premiums remotely affordable, the risk pool has to contain lots of people who don’t need healthcare right now.
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 3:44 pm
Yeah, that’s my rightwing sister’s new talking point.
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 3:52 pm
And indeed, we’ve had Valley Forge moments before. Next week we reach a point 7 score and 10 years removed from a speech at a battlefield where the good guys were successful, and it was still a catastrophe all around.
And even after all that, and the end of slavery via a “king’s cure” – we still had another 100 years of overt segregation and racism, leading to the last 50 years of backsliding and active disenfranchisement.
Health insurance reform and hgealthcare delivery has always been complex and overly exclusive, and reforming it will be no less-so, especially with determined obstructionism at every turn.
We can do this, and we will
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Danny said on November 14, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Well it looks like the thing is a total cluster right now and that isn’t a talking point because if it were, you would not see as many high-profile Dems backing away and demanding for fixes and changes. Di Fi out here in CA is one of them and she’s usually known for doubling down, not backing away.
The best explanation is that it was over-ambitious by half, but many people who haven’t had to manage truly complex programs don’t really get that.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 3:54 pm
Too easy? Too cheap? Hahahaha NEVER.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfReTjAcyg
Like a pint of vodka I threw you down
And I hit that rock a little hard
After years of going down at home, well I thought that it was time
To move this show to someone else’s yard
And I can’t take the cameras and the boom mikes
I figure I’ve run myself out of this town
And I tried not to stagger as I walked to my wagon
And I knew then I had talked when I should have stood down
I knew then I had talked when I should have stood down
And I feel like media advisor to Robert Ford
I’m low as a paid director is
you know I can’t fall on every sword
I’m so ashamed I can barely cash my check.
You know I can’t even spin no more
You make me feel like a media advisor with his hand on the mouth of Robert Ford
Like the mayor when the shit’s really been stepped in
I stepped right up and stepped in again
I burst the glass pipe that both of us lived in
And the fragments are sticking to my third double chin
And if words could kill then I’d be a suicide
Your friends and mine have headed south
Hell, I thought it was best but now I feel stranded
It’s just me now, me and the fucking mouth
It’s just me now. Me and my fucking mouth.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 3:56 pm
Health care is an economic issue, It is Quite obviousthat when less is spent on the diving boards, less of the money is spent, Give me a break. And Scalito would have done away with the term “Pre-ex9st9ng conditions” and said that’s just life.
So sorry , kiddo, It’s a Raygun world.
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mark said on November 14, 2013 at 4:10 pm
“To keep premiums remotely affordable, the risk pool has to contain lots of people who don’t need healthcare right now.”
Which is precisely why those healthy young people (particularly those with money) can’t be allowed to stay in their existing plans or to stay uninsured. They have to be forced into the exchanges at rates that are designed to subsidize the premiums of the older, sicker population. “If you like it, you can keep it” was always a con and doesn’t represent a viable fix to the existing law. The dems who have a brain understand that.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 4:16 pm
Ooooh. I know! DEATH PANELS!
God. The daddy party is so full of shit of this it’s trickling out of their tear ducts.
This is how insurance works. You oiks keep coming here with your child’s fragile eggshell mind crap and end up on derp’s highway bleeding.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 4:16 pm
it seems a fair surprise to y’all that health care as it was, the ‘mergency room, was a white man’s game, just like VietNam was. The rest of the world actually figured this shit out
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 4:20 pm
To not keep Alaskqn half governors healthy
‘ Priceless.
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Prospero said on November 14, 2013 at 4:21 pm
I will die upon response. This world sucks bigtime.
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 4:22 pm
I don’t think it’s young healthy people who have had the shitty healthcare plans. Just a hunch, but it’s probably more like people who are about to go over the hump from being healthy to unhealthy, agewise. Has anybody got any data on this demographic?
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mark said on November 14, 2013 at 4:29 pm
The problem with the existing plans for young healthy people is not the coverage, but the premium; they don’t pay enough to offset the extra cost of all the expanded coverage required by the ACA. This isn’t a secret. We could have extended coverage to more people through programs funded by income taxes, letting the wealthiest shoulder the greatest burden as they do with most other social programs. Instead, we are funding it by requiring young, healthy people to buy unnecessary amounts of coverage at inflated prices and using the excess profit to subsidize the poor, old and sick.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 4:36 pm
Mark: I’m willing to bet one of Lara Logan’s titties could work the Harper’s crossword puzzle before you could fill out a goddamn W2.
That settles it. The next time I take a dump I’ma see if I can send that turd to law school.
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brian stouder said on November 14, 2013 at 4:52 pm
For me, the bullshit alarm always sounds when critics start making assertions about the inevitability of free-marketplace forces driving this or that.
If you get hit by a car or caught in a house-fire, or if you keel-over at the restaurant and get run to the hospital while you’re unconcious – or whatever else – how much shopping can you do? Your “demand” is inescapable, and the “supply” side – has ALL the power. Similarly, if you find you have a heart condition, or that some dreaded disease is slowly engulfing you, your options – excluding charlatans and quacks – narrow dramatically, and on your own, you have no bargaining power at all.
Here in Fort Wayne, there has never, ever been a time when the hospitals here are not renovating/expanding/acquiring other providers, right up to the day they close down and build brand-new palaces (out in the suburbs, natch) where the process continues. One of our hospitals just finished building a palatial brand new facility, and already the word is “it’s full” – so of course the process continues. The money flows like a river, and private insurance is a suckers’ game from the get-go.
Give President Obama, et al, this much credit – they’ve tried mightily to leave insurance in private hands, and what they get in exchange is pilloried, even as the folks (we, the people) who ultimately pay for all of this (including with our lives) sit in the cheap seats and imagine that the anti-reform crowd might have a good point or two, every so often.
Anymore, I’m much more inclined to agree with Cooz’s prosaic takes, regarding the souls of the people who run the insurance companies and the medical device makers and so on, who oppose the ACA so bitterly.
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Jolene said on November 14, 2013 at 4:54 pm
Mark, in fact we are doing both-that is, taxing the rich and relying on the premiums paid by healthy people to fund the ACA. People with incomes above $250K will pay a tax that, I believe, kicks in next year.
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Jolene said on November 14, 2013 at 5:01 pm
Deborah, here is a useful piece on the kinds of policies being cancelled: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2013/11/14/understanding-the-four-categories-of-people-getting-cancellation-notices/
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Sherri said on November 14, 2013 at 5:03 pm
Some Dems are backing off of ACA because they are spineless, as usual.
Yes, the ACA is a big mish-mash of stuff. That was the only way to actually pass the thing. Medicare for everybody would have been a much simpler plan, but if you think the Republicans have been sabotaging the ACA, you can imagine what the insurance industry plus the Republicans would have done to Medicare for all. Never would have passed.
And before we declare the whole thing a hopeless failure, let’s wait for more than a few weeks. Consider the fact that the system had to be built while under assault from the opposition party (which controls the House, which controls the purse strings), and consider that the opposition party has been spreading the message far and wide that Obamacare is going to kill you. And that some governors are willing to screw their own constituents in order to score political points. Under those circumstances, it’s hardly surprising that you can find people who are unhappy with the changes. In any circumstances, you can find people who are unhappy with changes, because generally, things get better for some people at some cost to other people.
I’m all for single-payer, Medicare for all, but short of the president nationalizing the insurance companies, I’m not sure how it’s going to happen. Maybe if al Qaeda infiltrated the insurance companies and attacked us by denying all claims or something.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 5:08 pm
From My very A$$hole is for Sale: A history of the Republican party 2008-2024 St. Martin’s Press, 2026.
The healthcare rollout encountered the same difficulties expected of any new product, but the limits placed on federal exchanges by Republicans, now uncharacteristically keen on enforcing provisions of the Hatch act they’d overlooked during the Bush administration, presented unforseen difficulties. But no difficulties as great as the Republicans’ problems in establishing a set of talking points that would emerge smoothly and swiftly from the bottleneck of their collective pseudointellectual scrod.
Historians have coalesced around the “Couldn’t find a free market argument if someone had shat one in their mouths” theory of what is now commonly referred to as the “Both Hands up Ass… Searching…Searching” period of Republican polemics…
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Danny said on November 14, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Yeah Sherri, we all know that Di Fi has to back down because her seat is always so, so vulnerable in California.
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Sherri said on November 14, 2013 at 5:46 pm
DiFi has a congenital spine defect. I regret that I ever cast a vote for her.
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MarkH said on November 14, 2013 at 5:55 pm
Of all the opinions/descriptions I have seen about Dianne Feinstein, that is a first, Sherri. She is a politician first and foremost, I’ll grant you that. I’m not one of her constituents, but IMHO, she backs away from very little, but is a realist. Including on the current situation with ACA. If she is as you describe, what’s that make our president as of today in his current, er, ‘statesmanlike’ stance on his own signature legislation. Remember, they ALL had this all figured out.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Danny should be well acquainted with DiFi, being a defense industry cipher. I’m sure his employer has had a mouth full of that carpet through its lobbying arm.
Her husband’s a big defense industry hooker who never met a weapons procurement program he wouldn’t wrap his moisty lips around. I’m sure they’re in with whatever whores the insurance industry can belch up, too. Once you make your living with the death industry, there’s really no other line to cross, is there?
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Danny said on November 14, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Ha! Wrong, Derek.
Jolene, from your article:
The other massive political problem for Democrats is that there are people in category 2 and 3 but Obama promised these categories wouldn’t exist. The “you can keep your insurance” promise was a deliberate lie for these groups. Democrats are trying to spin the situation by pretending people in category 2 and 3 are really in category 1, but it is not working.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 6:36 pm
Tim Jost, a professor of health law at Washington and Lee University who supports Obamacare, told TPM earlier this month. “You’re continuing to allow people to buy a defective product. Mechanically it’s very difficult and it denies people the community rating advantages that were the whole reason — or one of the reasons — for the law in the first place. … So I think it would be significantly disruptive to the law’s goals.”
Read more at http://wonkette.com/534253/dianne-feinstein-joins-colleagues-in-undermining-affordable-care-act-thanks-obama#r2XXu4rbGq7DiGJ4.99
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alex said on November 14, 2013 at 6:45 pm
I’m sure a good part of the spinelessness is in response to rabid constituents who believe the steaming shit being presented by such lazy news outlets as CBS, ABC and NBC, the supposed liberal media who do nothing but carry the water for Obama according to those who devotedly watch Fox. Feinstein may have a reputation for being tough as nails but she’s still a craven pol who backs down when hysteria overtakes her district.
As for young people having to pay to much for insurance? Please. The bronze option is pretty spartan but still beats the hell out of anything you could purchase on the private market before ACA kicked in, both in terms of the price and in terms of what’s offered.
I’m astounded when I listen to some of these sensationalistic and at the same time dumb arguments being put forth. “My policy shouldn’t cover birth control if I’m not using it.” Yeah, and it shouldn’t cover heart attacks if you’re not having one of those. We’ll make sure you get a big discount until the day you do. Like your old plan.
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MarkH said on November 14, 2013 at 7:02 pm
Alex, with all due respect, you blew your arguement in your last paragraph @77 comparing maternity risk with heart attack risk. My wife and I are 60+ and I can ASSURE you there is no way we would need maternity coverage. On the other hand anyone from birth onward is at risk for a coronary.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Another pro-lifer!
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Deborah said on November 14, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Isn’t paying for what you aren’t suffering from, the very meaning of insurance? Call me naive but isn’t that the point of it?
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alex said on November 14, 2013 at 7:25 pm
My point is that insurance is supposed to be comprehensive. My current plan covers mammograms and pap smears but I don’t avail myself of it. I don’t have kids in school either but my taxes support the schools. This nitpicking over the ACA covering things you don’t use is teabagger bait.
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coozledad said on November 14, 2013 at 7:32 pm
Teabagger bait, misogynist bait, same dif.
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Charlotte said on November 14, 2013 at 7:47 pm
Salon’s take was interesting — it’s so late in the game that they think it looks like bluff-calling. “Fine. You want your crappy insurance back. We’ll let them sell it to you. Oops. They don’t want to do that anymore.” Not sure I agree, but an interesting interpretation: http://www.salon.com/2013/11/14/the_president_strikes_back_insurance_companies_get_their_justified_comeuppance/
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Jolene said on November 14, 2013 at 8:23 pm
Danny, I think the sentence you quoted is not written correctly. I think the writer meant to say that, to those people, the president’s statement seemed like a deliberate lie. I don’t think he meant to say that the president deliberately lied.
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LAMary said on November 14, 2013 at 8:30 pm
I suspect my health insurance covers prostate problems. No chance of me needing that coverage. Let’s pick apart all insurance plans so they only cover stuff that applies specifically to each person who has a policy.
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Danny said on November 14, 2013 at 8:55 pm
Jolene yes, I got what it was saying and indeed it does not say that “the president lied.” What I was keying in on was the spin on the categories. And as the article points out, both sides are doing it.
I agree that the insurance is for whatever comes along in people’s lives. I am my brother’s (and sister’s) keeper… and they are mine. My point above, which might be getting lost in the shuffle of comments, was that perhaps this should have been done a smaller steps.
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MarkH said on November 14, 2013 at 8:57 pm
Wow. Just…wow.
Alex, define ‘comprehensive’. Does that mean anything and everything? How does that jive with the choices you all tout in the exchanges, bronze, silver, gold; when people make these decisions on what coverage and how much they want to pay, aren’t there some things they can leave out?
So maternity is something we ‘suffer from’, Deborah? I thought that was a choice. At my age and with my plumbing fixed I can assure you I made that choice long ago. Same with my wife.
Alex, your nitpicking accusation aside, I hear you on the property tax analagy. Depending on where I choose to live, there is a great liklihood that part of the property taxes I pay go to the schools, no matter that my kids are all grown. That’s fine with me as I support the necessity of educating our children, and using public funds to accomplish it. Anyway, I have grandchildren in those schools now. But in return, I have a right to be like Brian, go to my school board meetings regularly and have a say in how that money is spent. Same with health insurance. While the majority of risks deserve broader coverage that everyone should chip in on to lower the cost, there are some things that clearly do not apply to everyone. By the way, this doesn’t mean I am against universal coverage for contraception. Not in the maternity category, as I see it.
There is only Obama to blame for today’s mess the ACA is in. You all complain about the public that is too stupid to know what was in their current health plan or that they had wholly inadequate coverage. Well, our president knew the public dodn’t know what was good for them, either and this fit in nicely with his and Reid and Pelosi’s mission to not have the public look too closely at ACA and all its components (they’ve proven they sure didn’t look at it). How else to explain “If you like your plan, you can keep it, period.” He wasn’t the only one trumpeting that lie, either. It was all calculated to buy time to get the thing rammed through congress before anyone knew enough to stop it or even slow it down. Now, backers in the president’s own party want to modify it, as does Obama, as of today. And that’s the real sad joke. The ACA law does not provide for any of this without a major gutting of the entire structure. Are we headed back to court with this thing?
Some weeks back, Jeff(tmmo) left a very thoughtful post n the weaknesses and inadequecies of ACA and even made a prediction of its lifespan as enacted – 2017. You are all correct in the requirement of healthy young people to be on board and obtain policies to make this thing work for those that need coverage. Bill Clinton warned about this months ago and guess what. Studies are showing they ain’t signing up. Either they’re too stupid or they can’t afford it, so they’ll just take the fine. We’re in for a long slog.
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alex said on November 14, 2013 at 9:23 pm
It’s a gambit, Jolene, but anything that might spur at least a few people to pull their heads out of their asses long enough to comparison shop is a step forward. I suspect, though, it isn’t the uninsured and largely not even the badly insured who are the ones flipping out. I can say from experience that most of the people I’ve heard whining about Obamacare are people who are already very well-insured through group plans and ill-informed by their choices in media.
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Jolene said on November 14, 2013 at 9:24 pm
MarkH, as I understand it, the differences between the bronze, silver, gold, and platinum policies have to do with the percentage of cost that is covered and the size of deductibles, not with the kind of services covered. So, for instance, the bronze policy covers only 60% of costs and has a fairly high deductible. As the metals become more precious, the percentage of its covered goes up, and the deductibles go down. The policies, though, remain the same.*
I don’t really see why, from a social policy perspective, coverage for maternity care differs from taxes to support public schools. Both are about supporting the well-being of the next generation, which is, ultimately, in the interest of sustaining our society.
*Am fairly sure I’m right about this, but someone with better information can correct me if I’m wrong.
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Dexter said on November 14, 2013 at 10:02 pm
#39 I though Rob Ford could not possibly shock anyone after last week…then, OMG, I have never heard a presser end like this. And through all of this crackin’ and bangin’, Ford is turning into a folk hero. Wow.
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Linda said on November 14, 2013 at 10:06 pm
My sister has 2 rescue dogs–one a terrier mix, and another an American Bulldog. The terrier seems very possessive, and cannot stand for the other dog to get any petting–she is really jealous! She can’t even stand my sister being on the computer.
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Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on November 14, 2013 at 10:20 pm
LAMary, sorry to hear about your prostate. Wait, maybe I got that wrong . . . it’s hard to read thru 91 comments at 10 pm, darn it. I still think if there were a Medicare Part E put thru next month, next year the insurance industry would deftly retool to doing supplementals like they already do for Medicare. The dears would do just fine.
How this one year “keep your policy” extension deal will work or exacerbate the problems, I don’t know. My immediate concern in a concrete fashion, i.e. over the next year, is two fold: the number of low income working families that will choose the penalty, just as they avoid maintaining auto insurance beyond a token “in and out” maneuver for registration purposes, and will probably do the same next year, and how to get care structures in place for when they do enter coverage (such as when an illness arises, and yes, Amen for the end of the pre-existing condition exclusion, but it does change the fiscal equation), and the problem of finding the mechanism for low income families to pay after Jan. 1, since the current process presumes a credit card number, or at most, a more complex process for paying by check. Many low income families have neither, and it would be great* if we could just figure out how to work that payment into the EITC when they file their 1040.
*Medicare Part E as a line on your 1040.
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Sherri said on November 14, 2013 at 10:46 pm
I agree, Jeff(tmmo), that the insurance industry would adapt just fine. I just think they would fight tooth and nail to prevent anything like Medicare for all. Have you forgotten “Harry and Louise”? They weren’t a Republican invention, they were the product of the insurance industry’s successful torpedoing of Hilarycare.
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coozledad said on November 15, 2013 at 12:11 am
Ha! Danny is a SQUIRREL who works in a Mongolian domino factory, pressing camel shit into molds.
You heard that right. Dominoes from dooky!
He wears a little aviators’ helmet and rides a scooter!
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