P-Model rules harder than other stuff

Mr. Balloon Hands

health care proposal gets attention, does not create an NHS

Sen Baucus' proposal includes (from MarketWatch):

Create a new health insurance exchange that would guarantee coverage for individuals and small businesses. They could compare prices between private health plans and a new public option similar to Medicare and use a standardized form to enroll in coverage. Some individuals and small businesses would be eligible for subsidies to offset the cost.

Allow people age 55 to 64 to buy in to Medicare immediately instead of having to wait for their 65th birthday to be eligible

Phase out the two-year waiting period that people with disabilities face when applying for Medicare coverage

Require states to make the state children's health insurance program (SCHIP) available to children at or below 250% of the federal poverty level

Require most employers to make coverage available to their workers or pay into a fund

Require drugmakers and medical device companies to disclose the gifts they bestow on doctors and other providers in an effort to root out bias and conflicts of interest
Invest in health information technology and comparative effectiveness research

We just watched Sicko a couple of weeks ago and until we form an equivalent to Britian's National Health Service, I'm not letting them take my temperature...

i'm not saying i agree

but hawhawhaw

obama's first week - tawlk amungst yuhselves...

c-span video of obama's press conference friday. gov. granholm from MI, biden, emanuel (in the house!) to explore legislating - one can only hope - carrot and sticking detroit to put Americans to work making electric cars post-haste.

rtsp://video1.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08_110708_obama.rm

he spoke broadly answering the question of exactly what his first priorities would be on friday, but he did mention specifically that the country couldn't continue to hemorrhage jobs before his inaguration without that affecting the game.

taking an assuringly more ambitious tone, rahm emanuel suggested on cbs this morning that the combination of the economic meltdown and the momentum of president-elect's victory suggests it's a ripe time to try and address BOTH energy independence and health care to stimulate job creation, and generally ease the suffering of taxpayers to save the economy.

-- change.gov --

i'm off to find his first weekly radio address for more clues...

so here's a forum

it's pretty plain, but it's free.
recorded sound forum
i don't know how to be administrator for such a thing, so if i suck at it, give me a minute..

moonlight feels right and the law of diminishing returns

original:



japanese pop cover:



old man at bar karaoke version:



young shirtless man siniging along to original on webcam:

because there's no video for tastes good on the bun

sing it.

Fayetteville Potheads FTW

As much as there is to bitch about the backwoods mentality of Arkansas, the city of Fayetteville actually passed -- 2:1 -- an initiative that makes adult marijuana offenses (less than an ounce, intended for personal use) the lowest law enforcement priority. Lowest priority initiatives have already passed in six California cities (Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, West Hollywood), Seattle, Denver, Columbia, Missouri; Hailey, Idaho; and Missoula County, Montana.

The question is will Fayetteville police actually abide by the initiative? The police chief says no, stating that city laws do not supersede state laws. BUT it is a good first step -- especially in a college town where getting caught with a small amount of marijuana can destroy your chances of receiving any kind of financial aid including student loans and in a state where two offenses is an automatic felony.

can we all agree

that after this election, we should round up all the nader and ron paul supporters and drown them?
i mean, christ, obama is down 17k votes in missouri and guess how many votes nader has there?
17,330.

i, for one, will welcome our gay muslim black marxist overlords

who's drinking?

Olive pits next in line for ethanol subsidies

We Proudly Endorse John McCain for President

And we steal our endorsement 100% from Ken Layne of Wonkette fame:

This first decade of the 21st Century has not been very good for America. We have been terrorized at home, humiliated in war, humbled by Asia, surpassed by Europe, invaded by Mexico and laughed at by Canada.

We are also so much sicker and sadder and poorer than we were eight years ago.

The question, on November 4, is this: Are we man enough, as a nation, to admit things are just going to keep getting worse? Can we finally grimace into our national mirror and admit that we need someone to finish the job? Then let's make John McCain, and then Sarah Palin, our president(s). Let's do this right!

Experts say the United States is like a bus full of enraged cows teetering on the edge of a sea cliff, with swarms of bloodthirsty sharks circling the waters below. Tragically, the frightened and confused livestock are unable to tilt the bus over the cliff by themselves.

We can't afford to prolong the misery. We can't afford to elect some pie-in-the-sky character who appeals to our better instincts. We can't afford to put aside ignorance and poverty.

We need to be pushed over that ledge.

John McCain was once a well-regarded senator with a dramatic personal history. He was admired by most Americans, and everyone loved his bawdy stories and how he constantly screamed at other senators and then had to write notes apologizing for his insane behavior. Nobody cared when he abandoned his children and his first wife, after she was crippled. He was a Maverick, after all, and Mavericks love adultery. Mavericks have no morals. They are free, like the wind.

Over his three decades in Washington, John McCain has stuck to his ideals, which are "take everything you can get from lobbyists" and "make your second wife buy mansions and luxury cars for you, because you are a Maverick."

But at least he has spent a very long time in Washington, at cocktail parties. Also, he loves to have wars. Do you love getting into wars and then losing them? John McCain is your man. He dropped bombs on people in a war, against Vietnam, and that was a very big war that America lost! Some say we've never recovered from that debacle.

Lest we mistake McCain's three decades in Washington for a steady temperament and lifetime of experience, John McCain picked some random idiot to be his vice-presidential nominee because she looked good on the teevee, until we heard her voice. So you don't have to worry about McCain having a group of professional advisers to guide his administration or, god forbid, set a sane course should he expire of old age while in office. If Sarah Palin doesn't nuke various U.S. states she's never heard of -- watch out, "New" Mexico! -- she'll surely start nuclear wars with Russia and China.

And then we'll be gone, just a smoldering 3,000-mile-wide wasteland of radioactive skeletons. It's sad, sure, but you can't say we didn't have it coming.

Make a difference. Fight the future. Vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin.