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Year: 2010

Fear And Loathing In San Francisco

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For three years now republicans have painted Nancy Pelosi as loathsome. Not because of anything that she did, but because she’s an easy target.

Let’s face it, she’s not viscerally likable. To be honest, between the turbo charged blinking and the overabundance of plastic surgery, she’s just not that appealing. Republicans leveraged those unappealing qualities to make her the focus of their base’s hatred because until a few months ago, President Obama was far too popular to effectively target. So poor Nancy has been loathed for a few years now, simply for being in a position of power.

Republicans don’t like their women in power. They like them cute and cheerleady. Okay, they like their men to be cheerleaders too. They just like the cheerleading in general, but I digress. I can’t think of one smart republican woman that the party has put forward as a leading voice. No, they give us Sarah Palin. When John McCain picked her, he clearly picked her as the antidote to Hillary. The problem is that his antidote sent a clear message to women, that any dumb bitch will do.

If republicans are smart (I know, I know, there I go with my optimism again), they will have figured out on Sunday that Nancy Pelosi is someone they should fear. Health reform is a victory that belongs to her more than anyone else. She’s fought republicans, democrats, the senate, the president, and his chief of staff to make it happen. There are reports that President Obama wanted to scale the bill back (even further) after Scott Brown was elected in Massachusetts. Nancy refused to have any of that, referring to the president’s proposal as “kiddie reform”. She pressed on to fight for us when everyone else was ready to retreat. She one of a very few handful of tough democrats.

But beyond just being tough, she knows how congress works in a way that very few of our representatives do. When she announced that they were going to pass the vote by using “deem and pass” it wasn’t because she didn’t have the votes (Nancy doesn’t lose votes, look at the record), it was because she rightfully doesn’t trust the senate. Using “deem and pass” (as republicans have done hundreds of times), would have allowed the house to adopt the sucky senate bill while simultaneously reconciling the improvements to the bill. She was trying to bypass a lot of the reconciliation noise that I suspect we’ll be hearing this week. She wasn’t trying to be sneaky with “deem and pass”. She was being very smart.

Despite my early doubts, Nancy Pelosi has proven that she’s a force to be reckoned with. President Obama owes the (I predict) 8 – 10 point jump in his approval rating to her. And we owe the glimmer of hope that we have that health reform is possible to her.

Take heed republicans, Speaker Pelosi isn’t just a dumb liberal with San Francisco values. She’s going to go down in history as one of the most significant speakers this country has ever had. Sorry Boehner, no one will remember you for anything when you’re gone (much like Denny Hastert).

So don’t limit your feelings toward her to loathing. You should fear AND loathe her.

Bravo, Madam Speaker!

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Got Hope?

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No, I’m not referring to the health insurance reform bill that passed last night. I do have to say, as an aside, that I didn’t appreciate being put in the uncomfortable position of being glued to C-SPAN for 10 hours, rooting for a shitty bill to pass because the alternative is much shittier.

I’m hopeful because of this.

I’m hopeful because David Frum and I don’t have much in common and yet, I find myself agreeing with everything that he said. Not most of what he said, but ALL of what he said. He’s exactly right. Republicans should have participated in the crafting of this legislation. Health insurance reform was a forgone conclusion, given the huge majority that democrats have in the house and senate. In the seven months between now and the midterm elections, republicans will have lost the vote of every senior that WON’T hit the prescription donut hole this year (that would be all of them). They will have lost the vote of every parent of a college student who, thanks to this legislation, will now have that child on their insurance plan. That’s a lot of votes to walk away from.

The republicans lost far more than they gained last night. They cemented the batshit crazy base that weren’t big enough to stop landslide victories for democrats in the last 2 elections. Good for you, Boehner! Your crazy base can now guzzle down the lithium they so badly need without fear of hitting the donut hole, so that they can live to fight another day to keep you in the minority.

Let me take a moment to go off on Boehner. Did you see him last night? He came off as the raving lunatic that he is. He was drunk, angry, and almost incoherent. America doesn’t relate to angry white (okay, burnt sienna) middle aged men anymore. He fundamentally believes that democrats have NO right to be involved in the legislative process. His disdain for democrats is irrational and impossible for most people to relate to. He and Mitch McConnell are both arrogant pieces of shit that have displayed nothing short of contempt for Americans, who voted overwhelmingly for democrats. When they talk about what the American people want, they’re forgetting the fact that they represent the MINORITY of Americans that voted for them. Hey Boehner, there’s a reminder right there in your title; house MINORITY leader! You bow down to Nancy Pelosi because WE THE PEOPLE say that you do. You would do well to remember that.

But getting back to Frum’s point, I wish that republicans had actively participated in the crafting of this bill. Look, if I had my way, we would have a system that allows every American to buy into medicare. Don’t go ape shit republicans, I said BUY IN meaning that I pay for my share of the premium cost of participating in medicare. I’m not so big on welfare programs that aren’t necessary. And as hard as I work to craft opinions that result from careful analysis of the facts, I’m acutely aware that as a human being, I am susceptible to ideologically driven tunnel vision. That’s why I need a rational opposition party to come at me from a different ideological perspective.

What we got last night wasn’t a liberal bill. It was an ideologically devoid bow to corporate America. This was SUCH a cave in to the insurance companies, that it makes a single payer system within the next 15 – 20 years a forgone conclusion. Health care costs will reach 19% – 20% of our GDP before these exchanges kick in four years from now because the insurance companies have four more virtually unregulated years to go to town on your premiums.

The biggest problem that we face in American politics today is that every single politician, regardless of party affiliation is working not for their constituents, but for the corporate interests that finance their campaigns. That being said, we were never going to get a good reform bill. But I would like to have seen republicans participate in the crafting of the final legislation.

We’re basically fucked until we start fighting for publicly funded campaigns. We’re doubly fucked in the interim, with one party completely removing itself from the legislative process. As it stands now, republicans are hoping to get elected by decimating the political process so that democrats seem less appealing than republicans do. I want a party that actively works at being a better choice. Don’t you?

I’m hopeful because one republican is starting to get it. I know that one isn’t much, but I’m a sunny optimist. I hope that one will turn into 20 million.

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Ann Coulter Is What Happens When You Add Tunnel Vision To A Cauldron Of Hateful

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Let me start off by saying that I do not believe that Ann Coulter is a stupid woman. She’s actually extremely intelligent and quite accomplished. So why does she perpetually say and write the stupidest things I’ve ever heard? Because her hateful persona mixed with her republican tunnel vision makes any sort of rational thinking almost impossible, thereby negating the intelligence she was born with.
I read her latest article here.
Almost everything that she says here is a fantasy. I can’t tell if she’s genuinely ignorant of the facts, or if she’s making a concerted effort to mislead. In either case, I’m going to set the dumb bitch straight!
But let me start by giving her credit for making a good point; insurance shouldn’t have an antitrust exemption. These exemptions kill competition and give business an advantage over consumers that they shouldn’t have.
Okay, enough of that. Now on to ripping her a new one.
Let’s start with this statement;

"The very next sentence of my bill provides that the exclusive regulator of insurance companies  will be the state where the company’s home office is. Every insurance company in the country would incorporate in the state with the fewest government mandates, just as most corporations are based in Delaware today."

This is a little vague. Is this a federal regulator? This would be nonsense if it were a state regulator, so I have to assume that she talking about a federal regulator. A FEDERAL REGULATOR? She wants to regulate insurance in a federal level? Interesting. Where have I heard that before?
Let’s move onto this little nugget of stupid:

"That’s the only way to bypass idiotic state mandates, requiring all insurance plans offered in the state to cover, for example, the Zone Diet, sex-change operations, and whatever it is that poor Heidi Montag has done to herself this week."

Does Ann really think that your premiums are high because your insurance company assumes that you’re going to get a sex change tomorrow? How much does she think premiums will go down by if you assure your insurance company that you like the parts you came with and have no intentions of rerouting the plumbing? This is where she obviously knows better, but needs to make shit up in order to make a point. Insurance doesn’t cover sex changes or plastic surgery. She would have had that Adam’s apple removed a LONG time ago if it did!
I really LOVE this little morsel of obtuse;

"Much as I admire Obama’s use of terminally ill human beings as political props, let me point out here that perhaps Natoma could have afforded insurance had she not been required by Ohio’s state insurance mandates to purchase a plan that covers infertility treatments and unlimited OB/GYN visits, among other things. It sounds like Natoma could have used a plan that covered only the basics — you know, things like cancer."

Insurance contracts are already entirely too complicated for most people to understand. I know, because I assess and design corporate insurance plans so my friends naturally come to me with questions about their coverage. Their eyes generally start to glaze over before I’ve even made a dent in answering their questions. How does Ann think health insurance contracts are going to look when you start to increase the already growing slew of exclusions? She wants more language to the already overly complicated insurance policies? Seriously? And does she think that maybe, MAYBE an explicit exclusion for cosmetic surgery may also exclude skin cancer treatment for example?
This one definitely tops the list of partisan, nonsense bullshit in Ann’s article;

"The third sentence of my bill would prohibit the federal government from regulating insurance companies, except for normal laws and regulations that apply to all companies."

Yes Ann, because deregulation has worked out SO well for us with the financial industry. Let’s spread the joy around until it metastasizes into your lymph nodes and kills you due to an inability to get treatment!
She goes on and on about some nonsense about pre-existing conditions, blah, blah, blah. I didn’t read anything that looked like a solution to this problem in her lunatic ravings, so I’m not even going to waste time on it.
I do want to address one more thing. This republican "nirvana" of tort reform. They’re completely full of shit when they offer this up as being the solution to all of our health insurance problems, and they KNOW it.
Texas passed a law limiting malpractice awards to $250,000 several years ago. Today Texas has the honor of being the state with 3 of the top 10 most expensive cities in America to purchase insurance in (McAllen, Harlingen and Corpus Christi). Now keep in mind that Texas is also one of the top 10 most obese states in the country, so I think it would be fair to conclude that cutting pork without cutting out the bacon isn’t really going to help solve our health care cost issues! But still, this is hardly a ringing endorsement for the power of tort reform to impact much of anything. In 2004, the Congressional Budget Office released a report estimated the cost of medical malpractice at 2% of the total health care spending. Again, 2% doesn’t sound like a game changing number to me.
Republicans know all of this. I sincerely wish that they would come up with a fact based solution of their own. As a citizen of this country, I hate to be put in the position of having only one party working to solve our problems. I think that having several fact based approaches, coming from different points of the ideological spectrum isn’t too much to ask for in the "greatest country in the world".
Come on republicans, apply yourselves!
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Bitchy Dictionary

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Every time I have a conversation with a republican, I’m struck by the fact that we don’t appear to be speaking the same language. This makes the conversation much more cumbersome than it needs to be because I find myself in the position of having to combine a history lesson with a lesson on what English words mean. So I’ve concluded that it’s about time to publish a dictionary that may be useful in any political debate, since I can’t be the only person running into this language barrier. I would first like to start with defining what I like to call "Bitchy’s Words". REPUBLICAN – A person that still approves of George W Bush, happily voted for McCain, fell in love with Sarah Palin, and believes everything that John Boehner tells them. These people are batshit crazy. They have no use for facts and they exist in some bizarre alternate reality. They cannot and should not be spoken to under any circumstances. Do NOT bother using this dictionary on them, as they won’t understand the big words. CONSERVATIVE – A person that believes in small government and fiscal responsibility, REALLY believes it. They believe in fiscal responsibility when it comes to matters of spending on social programs OR defense programs. They believe in small government when it applies ALL matters including; reproductive rights, federal taxes, states’ rights, gun rights, and a myriad of other issues. This is a person that hasn’t had a party that they can believe in for nearly 40 years. They used to identify themselves as republicans, but were forced out of the republican party due to ideological differences. Conservatives generally refer to themselves as independents, members of the Ron Paul revolution, and in some instances, tea partiers. These are people that can be reasoned with! You may engage them in productive conversation. Minds may not be changed, but meaningful ideas will be shared. DEMOCRAT – These are people that inexplicably believe that the democratic party is the party that stands up for the people. They are happy with all of their democratic leaders, and are happy to accept incompetence as an excuse for why their democratic representatives haven’t delivered any legislation that actually improves their lives. Unlike republicans, democrats don’t necessarily buy the entire democratic party package, but are easily placated with implausible excuses for why their legislators can’t deliver on promises that are made. PROGRESSIVE – (Sometimes also referred to as socialist or liberal). This is a person is a sunny optimist that believes in 2 basic concepts; good government can be achieved, and we are only as strong as the weakest among us. Progressives generally like to take wholistic approaches to problem solving and aren’t afraid of sweeping change. Progressives believe in creating a society where each citizen has the same opportunities for success. Progressives identify themselves with democrats but are so unsatisfied with the party that they are actively working on changing it, which is why the current Chief of Staff to the President refers to them as "retards". TEA PARTIERS – The original modern day tea partiers were known as libertarians. They were disciples of Ron Paul that would if given a choice, dismantle the government entirely. They are proponents of privatizing everything from the postal service, to the FDA, to fire departments and police forces. Tea partiers have morphed into ignorant racists, easily duped into protesting against their own best interests by Dick Army. You cannot communicate with these people since they don’t even have a clue as to why they’re protesting, or who paid for the bus to get them to the protest. LIBERTARIANS – These are people that have no use for government. They believe in "shrinking government down so that it fits in a bathtub". A true libertarian would allow government to exist only for the purposes of defense. Libertarianism sounds cute in theory but it’s a unicorn, in that there has never been a country governed by this particular tenet. Libertarians generally cling onto their beliefs, despite being unable to come up with an example of a successful libertarian government. I can think of an example; Somalia. Okay, now on to the English dictionary. SOCIALISM – A theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. This is closely related to (but not the same as) communism. An example of a socialist program in the US would be the veteran’s administration. This is a government run, government dispensed system of delivering health care to veterans. Everyone involved in dispensing health care through the VA receives a paycheck from the government. This includes doctors, nurses, administrators, etc. FASCISM – A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism. Fascism is a system of governance in which the lines between government and corporation are nonexistent. Nazi Germany is a great example of fascism because the state, military, and commerce were all under the dictatorial rule of one body. THEOCRASY – A governmental system ruled by religious tenets. The Vatican is an example of a theocrasy. If Al Qaeda had a country, they would be considered a theocrasy. Okay now that we have the words, let’s practice using them properly! Ready? A socialist government takeover of health care could be accomplished by extending the the VA system to all Americans. This would be socialist because physicians, nurses, and administrators would all be receiving paychecks from the government, which would have total control over the dispensation of health care in America. A system in which the government creates a marketplace of private insurance companies that must adhere to specific regulations  in order to participate is NOT socialism because the insurance is not dispensed by the government. Doctors and their practices would not be taken over by the government since they would be paid through a private insurance system. Fascists would NEVER advocate for a socialist program because a socialist program would eliminate corporate entities entirely. Fascists want to CONTROL commerce, not decimate it. An "islamofascist" is a person that can’t exist because an Islamic extremist is driven by theocratic beliefs, thereby making them anathema to fascists, who believe in a corporate takeover of governance. Now that we have a mutually understood vocabulary, I hope that we can all go forth and have more productive political discourse. I hope you all find this helpful!

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We Need To Band Together To Sue The Shit Out Of S&P

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Both S&P and Moody’s, actually. 60 Minutes did a fascinating piece on the financial meltdown last night. You can watch it here.

I’ve had an idea in my head for about a year now. And every time I read another story about this financial meltdown, I am more convinced that I’m onto something. I think that every single person in America with a 401k or a 403b should band together to instigate a class action suit against S&P and Moody’s. I believe that unions are the logical place for these class action suits to start.

Why sue the rating agencies? Because if they hadn’t rated these sub-prime mortgage bundles as AAA, they never would have ended up as investment options in your 401k. These agencies are responsible for analyzing investments and rating their viability. They were the first step in the disaster that we’re all suffering under now. I understand that Moody’s and S&P are relatively small fish in the grand scheme of companies that are responsible for stealing your money. But I believe that the discovery process in suing them will lead to the much bigger fish. I believe that the discovery process will show that the rating agencies are paid BY INVESTMENT FIRMS to rate their investment offerings!

I honestly don’t know why Moody’s and S&P are still in business. And why aren’t they forced to put emoticon winkies next to each and every investment rating that they put out?

Americans are understandably pissed. I’m pissed. So why are we acting like we’re powerless?

Our system of “capitalism” is broken and our government isn’t going to help us because the people that are benefiting from this broken system have bought our legislators. If go down the line and sue each of the players in this game of “raid America’s retirement plans”, we can start to fix our broken capitalism system by using it against the people that are using it against us.

No, it’s time that we took matters into our own hands. It starts with going after the rating agencies. I’m convinced that doing so will lead us to Goldman Sachs (and their brethren). We do have the strength in numbers thing going for us. We just need to get organized and band together to make things happen.

If we do nothing, I can assure you that there will be more privatization of profits and socialization of losses to come. This is surely something that we can all agree on regardless of party affiliation, isn’t it?

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YOU Are The Problem With Our Crappy Government

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I was reading this story over the weekend.

I have to tell you, I wasn’t really up in arms over the story. The guy was in a hot tub with a naked 15 year old a QUARTER OF A CENTURY AGO. There’s no evidence of rape and there doesn’t seem to be a repeated pattern of sexually harassing minors (or anyone else for that matter). The payoff is definitely an issue that needs to be investigated, but that’s not what most of the comments to this story were talking about.

Many of the comments to this article were just gratuitous attacks against mormons and Utah. Poignant commentary like, “An old guy in a hot tub with an under-aged girl… isn’t that called a honeymoon in Utah?” dominated the discussion. BRILLIANT! I think we’ve stumbled upon a modern day Soren Kierkegaard.

This kind of antiintellectual nonsense needs to stop. It exists on both sides, and it’s the reason why our government sucks. It’s amazing that “liberals” can spew off this bullshit while at the same time being offended by “San Francisco values” coming from the right.

You are all morons and you need to stop and think before you type (or vote).

Maybe we should all step back for a second before we claim outrage over these things. Stop and ask yourself if you would be as offended if it were a legislator from your own party. When your “outrage” is based solely on attacking the other party, you eventually lose sight of issues that are worthy of outrage. And it becomes impossible for anyone to actually communicate with you because you’ve become nothing more than a party hack.

We all need to stop gratuitously attacking the opposing party. We need to stop vigorously defending the indefensible actions of our own party.

Where was the democratic outrage when Bill Clinton dropped depleted uranium on Bosnia? Where was the outrage when he allowed the repeal of Glass Steagall?

Where was the republican outrage when W failed to get Bin Laden because all of our troops were busy losing a fabricated war in Iraq? Where was the outrage when the administration outed a covert intelligence agent? Where was the outrage over the fact that his entire presidency was an 8 year long period of deficit spending?

Our politicians will continue to abuse their power and lie to the American people as long as they still have the support of their party. Democrats attacking republicans isn’t going to stop corrupt republican politicians. Losing republican support will. The same is obviously true for democrats.

Pull your head out of your party’s ass and focus on what is good for your country!

Good lord, when this idiot Garn admitted what had happened, his fellow lawmakers “gave him thunderous applause for his honesty and embraced him,” according to the AP. Republicans did this with David Vitter, the senator that was a well known “John” in at least 2 states. This has to stop! We can’t go along with this crap because of a sense of loyalty to our parties.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it until I can’t say it anymore; we need to stop this from within our own respective parties. Attacks across party lines are futile. Our government serves us less and less every single day.

It’s time to stop being part of the problem. The only side we should be taking should be in the best interest of our country.

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Democrats Suck!

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And that’s possibly the biggest understatement I’ve ever made!

Nancy Pelosi came out a few days ago and announced that there will definitively be no public option in the final health insurance reform bill. I can’t say that I’m surprised. I haven’t thought that we would get a public option for several months now. Nancy Pelosi’s reason for not including the public option is that there aren’t enough votes in the senate. Meanwhile at last count, 51 senators have publicly announced that they would support a public option if it was in the bill. And on the day before Pelosi announced that there would be no public option, Dick Durbin announced that he would whip the votes needed in the senate to get a public option through if the house passed it. And then there’s the white house that would support a public option if…

It seems like most democrats would support the public option, if only… Seriously, what the fuck? Do you realize how stupid you all look standing in a circle pointing to the person on your right, and proclaiming that you will do something if that person does something first?

While all of this nonsense is going on, the American people have been completely ignored in this process. We all hate this bill. Republicans and democrats alike know that this bill blows. The media is happy to remind us of how unpopular this bill is. But they’re leaving out a big part of the equation; most of us want a public option. Here, see for yourself.

But ignoring the American people isn’t why democrats suck. Not directly, anyway. Republicans ignore the will of their constituents just as much as democrats do. Democrats suck because they lack the courage of their convictions, which makes them weak. When democrats are all claiming that they can’t get a public option done because they’re waiting for someone else to take the lead, they’re telling you that they’re weak. Americans hate weakness.

George W Bush showed us that Americans want a leader. We don’t even care if that leader is smart, honest, or even qualified. Dick Cheney got every half baked, ill conceived bill that he wanted through congress with nothing resembling a 59 vote majority. And he never whined about having a hard time getting something through. They pushed through a war, an occupation, and a trillion dollars in tax cuts for really fucking rich people with the greatest of ease. And you know what? They never even had to demonstrate that they had any intentions of paying for these things in order to get them through. That was some serious leadership, and it demonstrated strength. And because they seemed so strong, they got less scrutiny. You see when you’re weak it tends to make people want to pick on you more. But more than that, it makes people trust you less.

Democrats become more and more untrustworthy every time they claim to want to do something for the American people, but can’t get it done because of some insurmountable obstacle. We don’t trust you because you seem as if you’re either lying or weak. More accurately, you seem like you’re lying meekly. Americans don’t mind being lied to as long as it’s done with conviction. But no one likes someone that lies like a pussy.

All of this is fantastic news for republicans! They don’t have to do a damned thing to rehab their image. All they have to do is sit around and wait for Americans to hate democrats more than they hate republicans. I hate to say it, but this seems to be working. The public doesn’t like republicans any more than they have for the past 2 election cycles. But they do hate democrats more than they did 4 years ago.

Stand up and demonstrate that you believe in something, for the love of god! If you don’t, you’re going to see an ass kicking of epic proportions in November.

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John Mackey is Delusional

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In response to John Mackey’s editorial on August 12, 2009. Read it here.

I am a human resources consultant. I actually designed the exact the plan that Mr. Mackey described in his very well written editorial, for a client 3 years ago. What he said seems completely logical and makes perfect sense, until you have all of the details.

Let me map out this plan for you.

In exchange for a very high deductible, the insurance company offers the subscriber lower premiums. “High deductible” means $2500.00 a year for a single subscriber, $4500.00 a year for a family. When I received the quotes for the company plan renewal plan last year, the cost difference between a standard HMO and a high deductible PPO was $158 per month, per person. So for an annual premium savings of $1896.00, the insurance company is offering you an up front gap in coverage of $2500.00.

Sounds like a terrible deal, right? Not necessarily. If you never use your health coverage, it’s a great alternative because you’re saving that monthly premium money. That’s money that you spend whether you use your insurance coverage or not. If you have any sort of chronic illness, this is a terrible deal because you’re spending $2500 to save $1896!

So how is Whole Foods saving all that money on health coverage? Well, here’s where you get a lesson in how socialism works.

Whole Foods generously reimburses its employees for most of that deductible money, which is great for the employee because it limits their exposure. This is also great for the company because statistically, only 55% of all of the available reimbursement money will be spent. Most of their employees will use their health coverage 0 – 1 time per calendar year. Statistically, 15% of their employees will use all of the reimbursement money available to them. So the people that never use their coverage make is possible for those who chronically use their coverage to get a better deal. Now in Whole Foods’ case, that national average of 55% is much lower because of their employee demographic. The younger the demographic, the bigger the savings will be. This is a win-win-win for all parties involved. The insurance company makes out because the profit margin on this type of plan is higher than any other plan. It’s a win for 85% of the employees in the plan that use little or no insurance. And it’s a big win for the company providing this type of coverage because they are spending less money when people don’t use their coverage. There is that 15% who would be much better off in a traditional HMO, but the pool takes care of them.

This is pooled risk, which is by its very nature, socialism.

This type of plan only works when you are pooling risk. If you are out there purchasing a plan on your own, you’re back to that paying $2500 to save $1896. The only winner in this deal is the insurance company.

I don’t know where Mr. Mackey thinks the savings are coming from, but the money that his company saved perfectly illustrates how well capitalism works when it embraces socialist ideas.

The other lesson to be learned by these figures is that we’re being gauged by the insurance companies.

Remember how I told you that the national average for that reimbursement money is 55%? That means that 45% of people paying into the system don’t use their coverage at all. That’s a pretty big profit margin, especially when you add in that $158 per month, per person that the insurance company is reducing your monthly premiums by.

Incidentally, if we all had the option to buy insurance across state lines, all of the insurance companies would move to states that have legislation that is most favorable to them, exactly the way credit card companies did. All of your credit card companies are headquartered in New Jersey and Delaware because those states allow credit card companies to charge you far more interest than any other state. This is definitely not a “solution” that will favor the consumer.

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Accelerating The Race To The Bottom

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On Friday, the Texas Board of Education (they’re going to have to replace “education” in that title, as you’ll soon see) approved some seriously alarming changes to the social studies curriculum.

You can read the article here.

I’m actually stunned that a handful of ignorant amateur theologians and racists can be allowed to accelerate America’s already rapid decline to the bottom of the world’s rankings in education. These people want to erase Darwin’s theory of evolution and make the United States a country that was founded on christian principles. They want to erase Thomas Jefferson from our history. They want to make all of these bat shit crazy revisions to our history to “add balance” because “History has already been skewed. Academia is skewed too far to the left.”

Let me go off on a quick tangent about something that had been bugging the shit out of me for a long time now. This notion of “balance” that we’re constantly being fed by the media. Presenting a balanced view on an issue where both sides are presented fairly is a really good thing. Creating a false sense of balance where no balance exists in something else entirely.

A great example of this is creationism versus evolution. These are not 2 sides of a coin. One argument has thousands of years of scientific evidence to support it, and the other begins and ends with “I have faith”. You can’t weigh carbon dating against Adam and Eve to create a balanced argument. That’s just insanity.

Diminishing Thomas Jefferson’s role in the history of the United States isn’t “creating balance”. He wrote the fucking DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. Diminishing his role in our history means pulling shit out of your ass in order to create a reality that you WISH were so. It’s revisionism, and it’s dangerous. It reminds me of the most brilliant thing that Stephen Colbert ever said; “Reality has a well known liberal bias”.

When you attempt to make faith a reality, you diminish the power of faith and you turn it into something ugly and dangerous like say, Al Qaeda for example.

These people need to be stopped because their ignorance is dangerous. They need to be saved from their own insane notions that, if left unchecked, will turn the United States into a crazy fundamentalist cult like Al Qaeda.

Creating generations of ignorant neanderthals is NOT the way to disprove the theory of evolution.

We don’t lead the world in secondary education anymore. We’ve fallen to the eighteenth spot. These ignorant dumb fucks in Texas are doing their best to knock us off the top 20 list within the next decade.

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The Internets Is Proof That Science Works

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I run across a LOT of science denying on the internets. Climate change denying, evolution denying, stem cell research denying. You name the science, I’ll find you thousands of deniers on the internets.

Each time I run across one of these I laugh my ass off over the stupidity and the hypocrisy of the author.

Don’t these people understand that the internets that they’re using is proof that science is a valid method of figuring out how the world works? Seriously, if you believe that people are reading your lunatic rantings, then you MUST believe in science. Using the internet to spread your denial of science is like running from an avalanche while denying gravity. It’s inane and you need to stop.

If you really don’t believe in science, my recommendation is that you get the “creation” word out by using carrier pigeons. Stop cluttering up my internet with your stupid bullshit. And by the way, let me point out that the thumb you use to hit the space bar is proof of EVOLUTION!

Here’s the thing about science; the bad kind doesn’t last very long. That’s why we don’t clutch onto our belongings for fear that they may fall off the edge of the earth if we don’t. Good science is proven repeatedly, and then evolves to the point that you have the internet in your living room!

But unlike bad science, stupidity is forever. It can’t be disproved because it’s not interested in facts.

It’s fine if you want to be an ignorant science denier, but do you have to do by using a medium that proves that you don’t even believe your own stupidity?

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