That will not happen so long as Obama and the Democrats are in charge and they are in the pockets of the trial lawyers!

But if there was ever an example of why conservatism has become irrelevant it was Limbaugh’s monumentally stupid remarks about the American health care system:

From the personal experiences of my family, the medical systems that we have availed ourselves of are excellent. I am no multi-millionaire, and I do not subscribe to any gold-plated medical insurance, merely those that bring down my out-of-pocket costs. Medicare has been a live-saver, but I fear that it will suffer a big hit from Obamacare.

However, I am continually amazed at the ability of Medicare and the various insurance companies to negotiate far less fees for my medical services from both hospitals and doctors.

For instance, my wife’s last stay in a hospital was charged at $20,000 for two days, but after submission to the insurance company, the hospital accepted a rate of $675 per day! Something is amiss here!

This pattern continues for every bill that I receive from doctors and hospitals. If these exorbitant rate structures are applied to those without insurance, most people could not afford care.

The bottom line seems to me to be that while the medical services themselves are very good, the costs and rate structures are totally out of whack. The fact that a very large percentage of ER services are given free of charge at public hospitals (by law!)is forcing hospitals to distort their rates to make up the differences. Defensive medicine practices also drive up costs: my primary physician is very quick to order up CT scans, blood work, and whatever else he can think of when presented with an illness.

While that satisfies me, some real number of those tests are actually not necessary: the doctor has already made an accurate diagnosis. He simply wants the backup that tests will show in case of a dispute. That is a good reason for us to be looking into tort law very carefully to reduce costs.

A non-response. Do you have an actual response? One containg, say, a fact?

For you? Maybe when you show a reasonable desire to debate a topic.

Until then?

Nope.

So Fucking Sue Me!

I love it when you try to defend Rick’s positions because, unlike you, he’s not an idiot. So when he sees you write something like:

“The facts of Obama’s terror policy speak for themselves. He has downgraded it as a priority in government, yes?” Can you refute this? Then do so.

He has to groan and die a little inside.

The burden of proof is on your end. Rick offered an assertion. You second it. And I sit here tapping my fingers waiting for a single fact to back it up.

So far you have rhetorical questions and a lame attempt at burden-shifting. In other words: nada.

A non-response. Do you have an actual response? One containg, say, a fact?

Dale Robertson, a Tea Party activist who operates TeaParty.org, is getting stung for an old photo — taken at the Feb. 27, 2009 Tea Party in Houston — in which he holds a sign reading “Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar.”

And giving.

Mike Parry, Minnesota State Senate Candidate, Defends Racist Twitter Message

Last week, Minnesota State Senate candidate Mike Parry scrubbed from his Twitter account messages calling President Obama a “power hungry arrogant black man” and linking Democrats to pedophiles.

Back in the day racists knew how to spell.

Thanks as always for a thoughtful post. I wish you and your fellows all the best in your struggle to take back your party from the likes of Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity. We need the best ideas from the entire political spectrum if we’re to succeed in the many challenges facing the country.

On the question of terrorism, however, I have to disagree to some degree. While we need to work to avoid the serious threat of a terrorist attack with WMD or standard weapons employed as such, we also need to remember what the ideal of terrorism is: to use fear as a weapon to keep us from living our lives with boldness and freedom. Taking the threat seriously doesn’t mean overreacting in law or force of arms. we have to take a cold hard look at what’s effective and, yes, the tradeoffs in terms of our rights as well as our economic system. Personally I disagree with many of the steps now being taken to deal with the latest threat but I don’t think the administration is “downplaying” the the threat so much as trying to fit it into our ongoing understanding of daily business. Terrorism isn’t going anywhere and while we must fight it on all fronts we can’t give in to its debilitating goals of creating a fearful reactive society willing to compromise its most fundamental principles on an ongoing basis.

Rick made the following points:

1. Obama’s failure to reassure the American public.

If he is wrong, why is it still an issue to this day. Why did the President have to come out more than once to make his statement. We didn’t hear him the first time? Or his first statement did nothing to alleviate the question. Any facts there in dispute?

“The facts of Obama’s terror policy speak for themselves. He has downgraded it as a priority in government, yes?” Can you refute this? Then do so.

2. Rush Limbaugh’s strange comments on Health Care.

Even a member of the Cheney Cabal like myself found his statements confusing. Any facts there in dispute?

3. Primal thrust of Global Jihad.

Are you saying there isn’t a potential threat there? Rick postulated about the potential head-to-head confrontations on various stages of Jihad versus the West. What facts did he leave out?

4. Conservatism’s Test.

A short discussion of where Conservatism is going and the forces that may bring the ideology down. He did not offer any facts but more so posed questions that may or may not be answered in the coming year.

LOL!!! The only partisan rage being demonstrated in these comments come from people like MR, DrKrbyLuv, and Dick Butt and company. They take a piece by Rick and attack the premise. They offer no facts themselves and when their points are refuted with fact, their only recourse is to charge Rick’s use of the facts.

Imagine my surprise. It’s almost as if none of you has the slightest idea what you’re talking about. It’s almost as if you’re just making stuff up. Like you just really don’t even give a damn about the truth but substitute partisan rage for reality. Yep, it’s almost like that.

It’s becoming more and more difficult to resist my inner snarkiness with your responses, but I’ll do it again.

I note that our host Rick has still not supplied a single one of the “facts” he said “speak for themselves.”

I assume it’s your contention that Obama is giving counter-terrorism the same priority that Bush gave it? How does that jive with terrorism being an overblown threat that the GOP is just hyperventilating over?