EvilMonkey

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 30, 2012 -> 05:30 PM) It was your assertion, why don't you do the legwork to actually support something you say. You seem so generous with other people's money. Do you at least follow thru and be at least as generous with your own money? I do. Last year we donated 7% in direct cash donations to charities, as well as over $1000 of material goods. Wife and I also volunteer about 30 hours a month as well. I give enough, and I have been doing it on my own, not thru government cashgrabs. If you want to feel better about yourself, and help your fellow man, go donate some of YOUR money and time. Stop trying to donate mine.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:52 PM) Btw focusing on one sometimes-affordable aspect of dental care makes it seem like you're intentionally ignoring the larger issue. No, I am cherry-picking out one issue to see how far you will twist things to make it seem like a dental epidemic exists. Yes, root canals are expensive, for many even with insurance. SOme regular inexpensive checkups and a manageable filling now and then when required can forestall most of those. But those would require people giving up something else. AND while I am fully away that there are people that even $60 would be a huge burden, those are what percentage of the population? .05% less?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 03:59 PM) You do realize that this isn't strictly a dental check up clinic, right? I do realize that. That is why my comment only referenced dental care. You do realize that dental care is actually affordable to those without insurance, right? It is just a matter of choices. And not between rent and a filling, but of some 'extras' and the filling. But I guess you can't have poor people sacrifice anything. They may be stigmatized if they don't have an xbox and iphone like their neighbors.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 07:20 AM) "stop eating out" Yes. $60 for a cleaning/checkup. Stop going to McDonalds for a few weeks and save that cash for a checkup.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 04:37 PM) This is the reality for many Americans without health insurance: Unless you need crowns or root canals, dental work is pretty inexpensive. Give up a few packs of smokes or stop eating out for a few weeks and go get a damn checkup.

How about gun safety classes so they actually hit the other gang bangers they are aiming at instead of some 6 year old kid sleeping 5 houses away from their target. (Make that line half-green in color)

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 09:15 AM) That program is 100% real. They have it here in Chicago. A buddy of mine is a cop and texted me a picture of the tent they set up on the West side. You don't even have to bring ID, you just have to bring proof that you're a welfare/SS/whatever recipient. The sign on the tent was "FREE GOVERNMENT CELL PHONES." And it was crowded. f***ing pathetic. I saw those tents in downtown Joliet about 2 weeks ago, thought it was some scam. Amazing.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 07:14 PM) This is the same thing I've been saying for years, but nobody pays attention. They're busy looking at the big green face in the smoke instead of the little man behind the curtains. The insurance companies aren't the ones sending the bills...your f***ing doctor is. For example, in the past 2 months, my wife had 3 "5 minute" doctor visits...the 5 minute part is NOT an exaggeration. Billed at over 600$ EACH. That's 1800$ in bills sent to insurance. For 15 minutes of work. Let me repeat that. For 15 minutes of "work". Do the math. Knee surgery, my friend. $6k for surgicenter, total time in the place 6 hours with 4 of it knocked out in recovery.. $6k for the surgeon, for an hour surgery. $1k for the anestesia guy, however you spell that. $1.8k for a surgical 'assistant'. 4 doc visits prior to the surgery, all 4 totaling less than 10 minutes actual time (like you, seriously not kidding on the time) with the doc, $220 EACH visit. MRI at $700. PT, 9 visits at $95 per visit. Had follow up visit this morning, longest visit so far, 4 minutes, I timed it. $220. But insurance is the bad guy here?

Back in the pre-paypal days, I had once bought some baseball cards from a guy on there, and 10 days after my check cleared the bank, still no cards. So I emailed nicely asking when he had sent them since I still had not received them. I got back "You didn't pay for that service, You will get them when you get them". Well I got them a few days later, postmarked the day AFTER I had emailed him. They were also not quite as good of shape as advertised, so i left a neutral feedback, stating that I the cards were good but possibly a bit inflated on quality. I then start getting emails from this guy, complaining about how I am 'ruining his reputation', then he gives me a neg feedback, starts calling me a pain in the ass buyer and seriously sends me an email a day for a week about it. So we got into a flame war on Ebay, I started messaging everyone bidding on his crap and forwarding them all the nasty emails he was sending ME. He finally changed my rating to neutral, and changed the feedback to something very dry (you could still do that, too, back then). Since then, I refused to leave any feedback for a seller until i got it first. After all, as a buyer, I completed my part of the transaction first, the seller should rate me first. Although I guess you can't do that now either.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 27, 2012 -> 05:28 PM) You can't get mad at the mom for wanting to go back to school. Remember the mom and dad made several phone calls just to get the current insurance to agree to treat him at all. She obviously cares. I am mad at the fact he couldn't get insurance. No company would take him so he had to get on some lousy student plan. Reading that story don't you agree we are a country turning into savages? We won't allow an American to receive treatments that fix him. No, we purposely put him through misery. I think we have become savages. Yes the insurance companies deserve to make money, but what I'm saying is if these companies won't allow suitable treatments, maybe Obamacare is our only hope to remain a civilized society!? I still don't get why this is all insurance's fault? Why can't a group of docs just take care of his treatment for no cost, or for whatever he can pay? Your anger is at the insurance company not wanting to lose tons of money in this deal. I see none at doctors making tons of money in this deal, or drug companies making tons of money in this deal, or even the mom for putting him in that situation to begin with. She cares, but not enough to forgo the education a while longer so he can keep the affordable treatments. In short, why, to you, are the insurance companies savages, and not every one else who isn't willing to give up stuff for this kid? if the mom won't give up grad school, why should the insurance company give up profits? I CAN get mad at the mom. Ooooh, she made some calls. How about a real sacrifice and keep your job with benefits. No, she wants some other company to just pick up the slack for what SHE doesn't want to cover any more. I just think thanks to the politics of it, the insurance company gets made out to be the bad guy, and nobody else, even though there are other places where people/companies can give up stuff as well to help, but they don't.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 09:36 PM) uh huh, well, maybe not... Maybe they can just make some up and use the Rather defense, 'fake, but accurate'.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 04:41 PM) Yes, a train linking the 2nd, 8th, and 14th most populous cities in the united states is going from "nowhere to nowhere". From Wikipedia: "2.6 billion will be used for build an initial 130-mile segment of high-speed line from Madera to Bakersfield in the Central Valley. This initial operating segment will be used when completed for Amtrak's San Joaquin service." Since when is Madera and Bakersville anywhere even in the top 100? However I was referring to the section getting the most press from Victorville to Vegas. Nobody is going to drive from LA to Victorville, then take the train to Vegas. Hour drive to train station, 90 minutes on train, then Vegas. Can fly there for half that time. As for the California only routes, it is claimed that the train will provide "door-to-door travel times comparable to airplanes and less than one-half as long as car travel." However air travel doesn't cost the taxpayers billions, and the high speed rail will never be self supporting.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 01:41 PM) Please do me a favor and read this story in our local student newspaper. I don't want this to be political but I do, as human beings, want you to comment on this student's dilemma. Answer these questions for me: "What should this student do?" "How should this student feel?" He had an effective treatment in place, a treatment paid for by mom's awesome insurance company. Mom has to give up insurance so he is left to find his own plan. His current insurance company, the only one that would take him, requires treatment that is much worse with horrible side-effects. Does he not have a right to the treatment that f***ing works???!!! Treatment that doens't have him pissing every 20 seconds? Treatment that doesn't have him facing horrible withdrawal symptoms and feeling like he is dying? My comment is we are almost like savages as a society as evidenced by this case. This kid cannot get effective medical care!!!!! Savages are we. http://kansan.com/opinion/2012/09/24/webbe...-just-finances/ A serious question for you. Are you more pissed at the insurance company for not wanting to pay, or for the drug company charging $5000? It seems as if your first reaction is 'f*** those insurance bastards for not paying for this'. but don't they have just as much right to make money as the drug makers? I am not pointing or accusing, just wondering where you are placing the blame. Also, how big is this 'group'? 5%? 1%/ .004%? You can't save everyone, so where is the cutoff? As for this specific case, if what he says is true, that this costs MORE that what he was doing, then I don't understand the logic behind it. Also, pretty selfish of mom to quit her job knowing what the damages would be. Perhaps you should be focusing some anger on her for that situation alone. I know some people who have stayed in crappy jobs because the pay/benefits were just too good.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 01:58 PM) He's really horrible. Then I read Rush Limbaugh saying last week that if Obama wins California will declare bankruptcy, Obama will get other states like Texas to bail it out and in Rush's words "we're doomed." Is this true??? Yet they will spend billions on a high speed rail from nowhere to nowhere, because it 'feels' like the right thing to do. Oh, and they will probably do that regardless of who wins, but will have an easier time of it, as in keeping all the union contracts in place to continue draining the coffers, if Obama is President.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 02:24 PM) I'm not certain that's correct, at least about W. I recalled those being "leaked," and found an old article from the New Yorker that seems to support that: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1999/11/0...LIBRY_000019458 Everything else I've found from a Google search on the question seemed to come from highly partisan sources (on both sides), but I believe this is a newly Trumped up "issue." Not 'newly'. The media seems to have gone out of its way to find report cards from Romney's prep school and even grade school, but can't seem to 'find' anything on Obama's grades. More like a challenge to actually try and be neutral and report both sides. They hide tapes of private donor meetings from the public, only report what they want to report, so this is just more of the same. If Obama wants to be known as the smartest person in the room, let's see some proof of it. You don't need proof that Romney is rich. And since Harry Reid can do it, so can everyone else. I heard Obama is stupid from some unnamed person who says he used to work with him. It's not up to me to prove he is stupid, but up to him to prove he isn't.

"The doctors performed better when they knew someone was checking their work." I always tell my sons, 'Trust, but verify' and 'They respect what you inspect'. Seems to fit here as well.

I would be more worried about teaching Sale how to field. While he doesn't get hit often, a lot of those hits go up the middle and quite close to his non-fielding body.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 24, 2012 -> 01:04 AM) Ever since this post it's been like watching Mr. Genius flop like a fish on land. Just a 'bump in the road'.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 11:57 AM) Sure. Release the transcripts and that ends that. They won't, though. How about releasing all the Holder emails regarding Fast and Furious that Obama claimed Exec privilege on? Most Transparent Admin Evah! (I forgot, Exec Privilege is only bad when Bush does it)

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 23, 2012 -> 01:55 PM) With just about every poll within 2 points either way, why do you think this?

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 22, 2012 -> 02:18 PM) Serious question -- do presidents release transcripts? Also, what kind of content on the transcript would you be interested in? Serious question. if the media can find Romney's grade school grades, why can nobody find out Obama's college grades or even the classes he took? Or how he managed to pay for said college? We always hear how smart he supposedly is yet never offered any proof. I wan to know what grades he supposedly earned and in what classes he took. I heard he is stupid and got F's. It's not My job to prove it, it is HIS job to prove me wrong ala Harry Reid. Oh, and how many President's or candidates have released more than a year or two of tax records, including Obama? Bet you can count those one one hand. You already know he is rich, what are you looking for? He also released his taxes for the last 10 years or something like that. Why is that not good enough for you. Anything to keep the focus away from jobs and economy.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 21, 2012 -> 05:05 PM) lol, they should really keep hammering after Romney's tax returns. I'd just make commercial after commercial about it, along with the quote from his own father saying that if someone won't show them, they have something to hide Like Obama's transcripts? Or almost anythign else to do with Obama's past? yeah, good tactic to take.

Nobody said 'Ebony & Ivory' yet?

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 20, 2012 -> 11:41 AM) That's probably a pretty small number of people he's "f***ing" over. But it is fairly regressive. You should applaud that, no? The moochers being forced to pay? I know you think you are being smart there, but just how do people who go to Sox games or the museums or a play 'moochers'? If anything the city should be welcoming those dollars into their economy, not actively f***ing people who decide to visit. Several million at Sox/Cubs/bears/Bulls games? Museum attendance has to be high, and I bet more than half from out of the city. Again, how are they moochers? The parks were either privately built or with STATE funds.

You all missed half the point. The ACLU was saying that the schools had no business in trying to 'force' these gender stereotypes that all girls want a dance or that all guys want to play sports. So the mere fact that it is daddy-daughter dance, and not parent-kid dance is one of the complaints.