THIS Is Why Insurance-Based Healthcare Has to Go
December 21, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 6 Comments
As I’ve said a few times before, private insurance in this country has every reason in the world to drag their feet on (or flat-out deny) requests for treatment. If they wait long enough, the people in desperate need of treatments will die, saving the insurers millions that they can then use as bonuses for their CEOs. Executives of health insurance companies literally make a killing by making a killing.I don’t think that there’s a better example of the way private insurance in this country works than the example of Nataline Sarkisyan. CIGNA undoubtedly knew that if they stood firm, that nature would take its course and a big claim they might have had to pay would conveniently disappear. And of course, that’s exactly what happened.
Treatment decisions cannot be made by bean counters if a decent and just healthcare system is to exist. Healthcare decisions must be made by healthcare professionals. Now the wingtards always argue that this will just drive costs though the roof, and yet…… this country spends more per person on healthcare than any in the industrialized world, and we get far LESS value for our healthcare dollars than any “socialized” industrialized country gets. And right here, in front of you, is the answer as to why this works the way it does. Treatment decisions are made based on what is best for the INSURER, not what is best for the patient. We know of Nataline because of her family, but I guarantee you that day in and day out, every single day, many others will quietly DIE because treating them isn’t as cost-efficient as killing them is. Hell, the end of the year is coming up, and this might have shaved a bunch of money out of that bonus pool. What’s more important-one family that spends this Christmas grieving over the loss of a child, or a bunch of executives not getting to collect that extra swag at the end of the year? You don’t have to be a psychologist to figure out how the folks in charge at CIGNA would see it, do you?
Sphere: Related ContentWhy Did LIEberman Defect? Them Damn Libruls Made Him!
December 17, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 4 Comments
A Jolly Roger preface: I am not a kinder, gentler kind of guy. I pretty much call ‘em as I see ‘em, and that can be bothersome to the point of offensive. The rest of this post will be boilerplate Jolly Roger, and if you’re easily offended…. it’s time to find a “Brady Bunch” rerun to watch. If you continue to read, remember-I told you ahead of time 
So says DLC scumbag Bob Beckel, who is nearly as beloved by the FOX “News” crowd as Holy Joe himself is.
I had hoped to avoid throwing my two cents in on LIEberman’s kiss-kiss with McCavein, but Beckel opening his idiotic mouth was just too much.
What qualifies Beckel to speak as an “expert” in these situations? Why, his work as Walter Mondale’s campaign manager, of course. I’m sure everyone remembers the “heckuva job” he did on that one, right? He’s the guy that advised Mondale to hide from the “liberal” label, something that Mondale had worn for his entire life with justifiable pride. Beckel conspired with the wingnuts to trash the term “liberal,” and make those who were identified with it look like weak cowards when they tried to run from it. How many people have done the Democratic Party more damage than Bob Beckel has done?
If you clicked on the link to Beckel’s bio, you know by now that he’s also described as a “born-again Christian.” And if there’s any doubt in your mind about THAT, let me put those doubts to bed for you by introducing you to what Beckel puts to bed. He’s a Jesusistani through and through.
Shitbags like Beckel have been major enablers of wingtard turncoats like LIEberman, who ceased to be anything but a corporate whore decades ago. Of course, whoring is one of those things that Beckel can totally get behind. It’s really too bad that he’s never been able to get behind the ideals that made the Democratic Party a great force in American prosperity and opportunity.
Sphere: Related ContentJesus the King? Or Filter Kings?
December 15, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 2 Comments
What would you think about a minister who worked for the death-peddlers of big tobacco? Would you think that perhaps the minister was being just a wee bit less than a messenger of God? And what if the minister then decided to lie about taking payoffs from big tobacco? Would you consider these to be the actions of a holy man?It seems that perhaps Jesusistanis should be asking their new favorite boy these questions. For it does appear that Godly Mike Huckabee went out and preached against universal healthcare (which you’d think a Christian pastor might see as a good thing,) and he got paid for doing it by big tobacco (not something we usually associate with messengers of God.) Talk about your conflicts of interest! The man of God was on the payroll of mercahts of death, to preach AGAINST giving aid and comfort to those too poor to afford it! Is your head spinning yet?
Of course it isn’t. Huck’s a phony, a charlatan, and a thoroughly despicable figure. The more we learn about Huck, the more our collective stomachs turn. That any preacher could sign up to do the bidding of a tobacco company is disgusting in and of itself, but then lying about it adds a whole new layer of contempt to the disgust that we naturally feel at learning of this. Huck is a repulsive serpent, no doubt a direct descendant of the fellow that whispered to Eve back in the day.
Sphere: Related ContentWomen Enjoying Freedom and Democracy! Chimpy’s New Iraq
December 13, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 7 Comments
Here’s another cross post. This one is one that’ll hit home with a lot of us. I have 2 daughters and a wife I love very much, and any opperssion of women anywhere bothers me. But as you will see, this goes way beyond just “oppression.”
It was pretty damned funny when they sent Pickles off to the Middle East to talk about the plight of women in the Gulf countries. It was also pretty damn funny to listen to Chimpy’s moans over the Saudi rape victim that then got sentenced to be whipped to add to the humiliation of her rape.
“Funny?” you say. “How can anyone find anything funny about the plight of oppressed women in the Arab world?”
What you say here is true. What women have to endure in such places is horrible indeed. But it is my opinion that the wife of the region’s worst oppressor of women shouldn’t have been the one doing the advocating. And how can the oppressor, himself, give a damn about a girl in Saudi Arabia after the horrors he’s unleashed on MILLIONS of women in the region?
Sphere: Related ContentHow Will They Replace the Fallen?
December 11, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 4 Comments
I will almost never cross-post myself, as I like to spread different ideas around. But this is important enough to me to port it over. Please read this, and resove to protect your loved ones.
Larry from the fabulous Lydia Cornell blog turned me on to this all-important post from Identity Check.
I urge you to go read it now, and I’ll tell you why. I have a son who graduated high school in 2006. My son is 6′ 3″, 220 pounds, and is built like a blast furnace. The last year he was in high school, he (and I shit you not about this) spent a lot of time hiding in bathrooms to avoid the Army and Marine Recruiters who were constantly wandering the halls. Let me tell you about some of the things they promised him.
-Medical care for life, even after his hitch was up (with no explanation of things like stop-loss, which I have a bit of personal knowledge of. Too bad for them.)
-A career training that would make him irresistable to private employers (which the 15% of our veterans who are unemployed right now would just LOVE to know about.)
-”Almost no chance” that he’d have to ship out overseas. As a matter of fact, the NG Recruiter told my son he’d “guarantee” that he’d never have to go to Iraq.
My son was also told that the talks he was having with these guys was “between us” and that he shouldn’t mention it to me because he was “getting to be a man now, and it’s time your father stopped making your decisions for you.” Then (and even now) however, on matters like these, my son sought my counsel. As a former serviceperson, when I heard the bullshit they’d been feeding him, my blood boiled. Sure, they lied to me TOO to get me to sign up-but NOTHING like the shit they were trying to feed my son.
I advised him to simply break off contact with them, which he tried to do-but they pursued him relentlessly. Thus, the hiding in bathrooms.
From what I see in Identity Check, they’ve actually gotten worse. I’ll give you the start of the post on Identity Check, but please-go see the rest of it yourself. Especially if there are young people you love and want to protect.
Sphere: Related ContentThe Hard-Working Fred Thompson Campaign
December 11, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 6 Comments
There were people who said that Freddy was simply too lazy a man to commit himself to the requirements of a Presidential campaign. Those of us who are “Law and Order” fans knew better, as we watched Fred appear for 30, 45, sometimes even 60 seconds in nearly every “Law and Order” episode. Sometimes he even went longer than that!
It turns out that those of us who knew about how hard Fred works were right all along, as details of his grueling campaign schedule have been released. Now, can anyone read this and still say that Fred isn’t willing to commit himself to getting the job done?
Yeah, I thought not.
Now that we’re coming down to the last few precious weeks before voting begins in the primaries to choose candidates in the race to decide who should lead the country and the Free World, former Sen. Fred Thompson is ramping up his campaign schedule. Seven other hard-working Republican campaigners are close on his tail.
One recent morning, according to the schedule from Thompson’s press office, he began his campaign day bright and early at 8:15 a.m. with a telephone interview with Andy Peterson on WMT in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He followed that 25 minutes later with an interview on WFLA Tampa Bay, Fla., and then at 10:40 with an interview on WHO in Des Moines, Iowa.
By 11 a.m., he was done.
Sphere: Related ContentAnd that was it for another campaign day.
Let me get this straight
December 9, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 1 Comment
The revaluation of the renmibi isn’t going to do anything but make life more expensive for you in the short term.
Between Chimpy’s policy of subsidizing outsourcing and Mao-Mart’s strong-arming vendors into relocating their shops to China, the simple truth is we don’t make a hell of a lot of stuff here anymore. If you don’t believe me, go to the nearest store and just try to find a microwave oven not made in China. Or an artificial Christmas tree. Or a DVD player. Or a flat-screen television. Or a kerosene heater. Or a…… get what I mean? If you don’t, I recommend that you go try it yourself. I have.
If the renmibi revalues even higher, for mst Americans it will mean that the goods they are buying just got a lot more expensive. Nothing else. In a perverse sort of way, the Chinese pegging to the dollar has been pretty good for American consumers, who are facing a de facto annual inflation rate of about 50% for things like food and fuel (although the fuel seems to be backing off now.) If it weren’t for all the Chinese stuff still being cheap, a hell of a lot more of us would be bankrupt, or going hungry.
Sphere: Related ContentPresident, or Prefect of Jesusistan?
December 8, 2007 by Jolly Roger · 6 Comments
Quite a few of you have probably seen my anti-Jesusistan rants before. We devote an entire category to it at Reconstitution. But there are people who take offense (or, more accurately, want to take offense) at the term “Jesusistan.” So I like to explain every now and then where the word came from, and who and what it is I’m talking about when I use it.
Reconstitution’s view of what a Jesusistani is can be seen here and here. I coined the word sometime during the runup to the invasion of Iraq, while I was arguing with a faith-based wingtard on a message board. Although the wingtard professed to be “shocked” and “offended” at my newly-invented word, I found using it very satisfying. With this one word, I was able to evoke precisely the image I wished to evoke. This one word has saved me paragraphs and paragraphs of typing.
This was the way I defined what I saw as a “Jesusistani” awhile back. I stand by the definition now. If the definition doesn’t fit you, then you’re not my target
Good men, Bad men
December 8, 2007 by Guest Author · 2 Comments
Todays feature is from Jolly Roger’s blog. Its authored by Jim Burke who also writes for Yes, I do take it personally-Dusty
There are good men and bad men. Because of past sins and despite my attempts to correct them, I know where I stand. I have no doubt commenter Sauros and I will be roomates in the afterlife, despite our differing opinions. I had to hoped that equality for women might raise the bar for us guys so we try to do better, but Hitlery has put me off that idea. You’ve come a long way, baby.
Do you ever wonder where you stand? There are examples of both we can measure ourselves against. Two of them, representing the extremes of good and bad, are Prescott Bush and General Smedley Butler. Here’s a little teaser for you to read from Wikipedia. I encourage you to study this incident and the players so you can decide for yourself who is the good and who is the bad. It will also introduce you to one of our greatest American Heroes that you never heard of in school.
Before you read on, however, I can’t resist another opportunity to remind everyone of some pertinent wisdom from one of the Founders.
Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it.
Sphere: Related ContentJohn Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776
