Location: FR | IC luftballons | Page 20 - photo thread: there be PPRuNe's most beautiful woman...
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So, John McCain has selected the female governor of Alaska as running mate...?!
Please correct me if I'm mistaken, but Alaska is one of the few states that actually pay their own citizens to reside there (no Federal taxes, generous tax-rebates)...?! That being the case, I reckon the residents of the remaining 50 US states take note. Sounds like the McCain campaign are willing to start writing blank cheques on behalf of a future government in order to encourage the voters in the other 50 states to board the USS John McCain...?! It's not explained who exactly might foot the final bill (but I expect it will be the illegal Mexican immigrants - as usual)...
Ok, once again, you are corrected. Stick to diatribes regarding bottom shelf scotch.
Alaska has no state income tax. But then neither does Texas, Florida, and several others.
You are referring to the oil revenue disbursement given to Alaska residents. You aren't paid to live there, you are paid because you are an Alaskan legal resident, so your job could be in Maine, but as long as your legal state of residency is Alaska, you are eligible.
Imagine that, a government returning excess collected taxes to its citizens. Shocking, I tell you, shocking.
is simply a metaphor. The chemistry of chemistry, ah! That is quite real. Get the ingredients wrong and everyone in town will know you made a boo-boo.
Politics, well, you say whatever you like about whether Salvador Allende was a great guy or a total KGB-agent jerk but who can say, really? That is just a matter of opinion even if the sayer has a sheepskin attesting to years spent in classrooms absorbing some particular brand of political wisdom.
Did you know that there are thousands and thousand of people in Germany now who have perfectly useless degrees in economics, politics and history just to name a few things? Yes, they learned the wrong version, one that is completely discredited. They know far more than you or I about stuff that has been completely discarded, that no one wants anymore.
I once worked briefly alongside a doctoral candidate in Mathematics. The trouble was that we were working in a Volvo garage and he had two left hands! I finally asked him what in the world made him think that he was qualified for this. He told me that he knew he was way smarter than the average mechanic so that he figured, "Hey, how hard can it be?"
Expertise in one narrow field often does not translate across to other fields or sometimes even to expertise in another area of the same field. Someone might have a degree from Nerdley Polytechnic with a focus on Collective Farming in Inner Mongolia but later find they really know very little about what they weren't taught or even that, God forbid, their tutors may have been really just making stuff up as they went along.
A lot of the folks here seem very surprised at some stuff happening in American politics that is not new. That or they try to draw far-reaching conclusions based on very little information.
The 1800 election was a rematch of the 1796 election. The campaign was bitter and characterized by slander and personal attacks on both sides. Federalists spread rumors that the Democratic-Republicans were radicals who would murder their opponents, burn churches, and destroy the country (based on the Democratic-Republican preference for France over Britain. At the time, the rather violent French revolution was in full swing). In 1798, George Washington (who had no political party) had complained "that you could as soon scrub the blackamoor white, as to change the principles of a profest [sic] Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the Government of this Country.” Meanwhile, the Democratic-Republicans accused Federalists of destroying republican values, not to mention political support from immigrants, with the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were later ruled unconstitutional; they also accused Federalists of favoring Britain in order to promote aristocratic, anti-republican values.
Airship, Not to mention that Alaskans are not exempt from federal taxes.
I thought you were going to be right on at least one assertion, Airship, when you seemed to know there are 50 states (Barack was stumped by that one), but then you blew it by saying "the other 50 states," implying there must be 51.
I won't even bother to ask the basis of your 'blank cheque' statement.
Just watched the introduction of Sarah Palin, about whom I knew very little. She is very impressive to me, and I would say so if she weren't. I think McCain/Palin are going to be very hard to beat with the American people outside of San Francisco and Hollywood.
Prediction
I'll go out on a limb and predict McCain will regain the lead shortly after the GOP convention and hold it through November, based on the strength of their ticket and the added appeal of Gov. Palin. She's going to add a lot of steam to the Republican chances. Obama's going to be on the defensive over his associations, ideological record, and lack of experience or achievement in government. Great speeches inspire, but will not overcome those negatives, IMHO. Congress, however, will remain under Democrat control.
Chucks, Brick, thanks for those posts. I understand it bit better now.
For clarification, why is the AMA against universal health coverage? Is it because then their income would be capped? And if that is what they fear, why would they fear that? If you go into private practice, you can still become comfortably rich being an MD in Northern Europe where we arguably have a socialist medcare system.
BenThere, I think that your prediction will be absolutely spot on.
For clarification, why is the AMA against universal health coverage? Is it because then their income would be capped? And if that is what they fear, why would they fear that?
That is the primary reason the AMA is so dead set against universal health care. However, there are other reason, take for example that our former family doctor has now stopped accepting Medicaid/Medicare patients, Medicaid/Medicare is the government medical health care program that is basically free to those over 65. Because of the mountain of government paperwork and government oversight many doctors in the U.S. are dropping out of the program. Medical Insurance covered patients are much easier and pays much more promptly.
My youngest son has two friends that are both doctors and are married to each other. He has been in practice for three years and she has been in practice for a little over a year. They are living off of his salary and they are using her salary to pay off their student loans, which are sizable. Their plan is to hopefully buy new cars and a home in the next five years. The medical malpractice insurance that they have to pay is staggering. Combined it is nearly $75,000.00 USD a year.
As Medical Malpractice law suites are nearly out of control here not only do you have the AMA dead set against universal health care you also have the American Bar Association dead set against it as well. While the medical insurance companies are make money like there is no tomorrow.
There must be a way that we can combine private insurance with a government type plan to include everyone, but that is way above my pay-grade.
One fact that no one really talks about is that the vast majority of doctors in the U.S. were not making huge incomes until after Medicaid/Medicare was passed into law. The power of the AMA in Congress bypasses party lines.
By the way, the AMA is a union, a very fancy union, but never the less a union.
On the face of it, only a truly selfish heel could be against universal health care. But it's more complicated than that.
There really aren't 47 million people in the US without access to health care. You simply have to be broke or poor to get it free. If you're on welfare or better yet, Medicaid, you just go to the emergency room and get priority treatment, even for a cold. If you are working, not poor, but not covered by health care insurance, you can take out a catastrophic policy with a large deductible at very low cost. I once did so myself for $21/month.
No one shows up at one of the many, many receiving hospitals with immediate health care needs, but no money or insurance and gets shown the door. They are required by law to provide care, and the cost is borne by other patients, the government, and/or the hospital. The perception that 47 million people go without is a political football. It tugs at our general compassionate instincts, but examination of the facts quickly show a different reality. I think if you don't buy the catastrophic care and remain uninsured, even though you have adequate income, your priorities are missplaced and most of the fault is yours.
The other main aspect of the issue is that the rest of us Americans do have fantastic health care access. Like me, they could call a clinic, see a doctor almost immediately, be diagnosed with a serious problem, and be on the operating table before dinner. We go to hospitals with state of the art equipment and receive care on par or better than anywhere in the world. With same day service if needed. On that basis, why would we want to change to a system that will take a big chunk of our income to build an unresponsive bureaucratic, health care rationing system. A whole lot of Canadians come to clinics where I live (a few minutes from the Canadian border) to get the health care their national system can't deliver.
People who think their health care is free are wrong. Someone, somewhere is picking up the tab. Now if you want to limit lottery type malpractice award and take the lawyers out of the health care equation, you've got my attention. As Con-Pilot illustrated, that's a big part of the problem.
I did spend a good deal of time in Southern France, and found their system seemed to be quite functional, with care apparently readily available. But they do pay a lot for it.
I have read several articles stating that a big part of the problem for U.S. auto makers, G.M. in particular, is the costs of providing health care to their employees. This has even led to a jobs shift to Canada or so I read.
My late mother was a Registered Nurse. She hated the AMA with purple passion while also worrying about being able to afford proper health care in her old age. I don't think she would recognise the description just given. Not that it is false, just that there must be another side to things. Some folks I knew stuck with their jobs just because they couldn't afford to lose the health insurance and that seems kind of grotesque to me, "un-American" if you like.
The Caucasian situation is a gift of God for McCain. Would it.. could it... nah...that would be too machiavellian, or would it?
McCain experienced? Didn't he said that Iraq bordered to Pakistan? And didn't he said that Al Qaida received training in Iran? He called Putin President of Germany. Still thinks Czechoslovakia exists. Confuses Sudan with Somalia. So many bloopers. The more he speaks the more he reminds me of Bush.
I liked the man back in 2000 when he was swiftboated by Bush' campaign team (Rove?). Watched some videos from those days and now. A huge difference.Seems like his memory is constantly failing. The man is old.
There is no doubt that the Health Care System in the United States can be improved upon, not the quality of Health Care Service in the United States. The problem seems to be that we have two camps, one demanding total control over our entire health system by the government and the other wanting no change at all.
There must be a way that we can provide complete health care coverage for all people without the risk of causing people who have no health insurance declaring bankruptcy for their health care cost. Make no mistake about this, you will receive quality heath care no matter whether you have insurance or not, but somebody has to pay. If you own a home, you may have to declare bankruptcy to save your home because of a high medical bill.
I wish I was smart enough to come up with an idea that would work, mostly because if I did I would be really rich. However, we must get control of the malpractice law suits with the lottery size awards, that most of go to the attorneys not the families or patient.
Personally I would not mind paying an extra $25.00 a month in taxes to have a fair and equitable health care system, as long as it was not run like the FAA.
Do you think the UK would ever be a state/states? Me neither, but it is something to contemplate the ramifications, n'est-ce pas?
Back to the election..
Sarah Palin knocked out an incumbent Republican governor and former senator and a former Democrat two-term governor in her quest for governor. Once elected, she pointedly rejected the funding from Congress for the senior Republican senator's earmarked 'bridge to nowhere' saying, "if we need a bridge, we'll build it ourselves." After dispatching out these entrenched political icons, she has attained the highest approval rating of any governor in the US.
McCain has spotted her, put her on the center stage, and she has the potential to one day be the first woman president, it seems to me. This choice, I think, is going to look better and better. She's a pilot, union member, hunter, athlete, family-first mother, and most importantly, has the integrity to attack corruption. Her husband is part Eskimo and a stand up guy, too, working as a commercial fisherman and North Slope oil worker. What's not to like? I think she could prove to be the real story of this election, maybe even overshadowing Obama himself.
McCain has spotted her, put her on the center stage, and she has the potential to one day be the first woman president, it seems to me. This choice, I think, is going to look better and better. She's a pilot, union member, hunter, athlete, family-first mother, and most importantly, has the integrity to attack corruption. Her husband is part Eskimo and a stand up guy, too, working as a commercial fisherman and North Slope oil worker. What's not to like? I think she could prove to be the real story of this election, maybe even overshadowing Obama himself.
Team Obama strategy HQ in New Canaan Connecticut & satellite offices in Berkley California:
With all of that going for Gov. Palin, there absolutely has to be something wrong with her. Let's see, former beauty queen & moose hunter, oh, here's something, oil connections, oh darn it, says here she stood up to big oil and exposed corruption?? Hmm, pro-life, well that's typical, we have to do better than that. Tried to fire her former brother-in-law, well we can't blame her for that.
I have it - she's connected to the bridge to nowhere.......nope sorry Josh, she said no to the money. keep looking guys.....Wait, she was in on an oil company tax change, oh no, she wanted to raise their taxes.
Here it is, paydirt everybody, the woman despises polar bears and she smokes pot. That's it. were done! Somebody call the ad execs and lets get this ball rolling. Suzie, get me Wolf Blitzer & whats his name, Gore on the horn right away. Zipedee do da.......
By the way, there have been over 200 edits to her Wiki page on 30 Aug alone.
Actually, her Wiki page was locked within the last 24 hours after positive sounding comments were declared 'political'. (by Wiki).
Personally, I'd weigh Obama's 140 days of supposed attention to duty in which he did absolutely nothing against Palin's years of successful Mayorship and Governorship...... and then I'd ask why the Republican VP candidate seems so much more qualified than the Democratic Pres candidate...
Palin appears to be a great gal. Mooseburgers, guns, God, planes, anticorruption, all that stuff. I still don't like the idea of a "hockey mom" sitting ready just next to the oval office. (We have a "soccer mom in tennis shoes" senator from my state, and she's a disaster.)
Now everyone raises the point that Obama has about the same level of experience. Fine. But he went through the primaries, spent two years making his case, and rose to the top of the Democrat dogpile by way of the very untidy process we use to pick our candidates. Some voters had a say in choosing him. (A few, anyway!) Folks got to decide if his character and his ideas appealed to them.
And then he realized that it would be advantageous to him to have an old style politician as his running mate. One that was known, if not universally admired.
Governor Palin, though, was plucked out of close to nowhere, and is now offered up as the standby president. Nobody had much chance to bloviate that "yes I like her", or "no she's a moron". It appears that McCain has only talked to her twice before.
To my mind the choice is typical of McCain -- do whatever he likes with little or no input from outside. Not a good plan for a man who wants to run the world.
It's not explained who exactly might foot the final bill (but I expect it will be the illegal Mexican immigrants - as usual)... 
However, we must get control of the malpractice law suits with the lottery size awards, that most of go to the attorneys not the families or patient.
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