We can promise to defend them against a holocaust without funneling them money and covering for their excesses at the UN.Originally Posted by Hilmar Keller
Edit: Also, a next holocaust is pretty unlikely if they can actually do some diplomacy with their neighbors so the entire region doesnt want to see them burn.
If you kill enough of them they stop fighting - Gen. Curtis Lemay
Fear the KKM
That's probably because the Dems are all about the 'fair share' which is in reference to federal taxes, not state. State taxes don't have anything to do with the argument.
Case in point:
ALBANY — Low-income smokers in New York spend 25 percent of their income on cigarettes, according to a new study, which led advocates for smokers’ rights to say it proved high taxes were regressive and ineffective.
The counter argument to the smoking tax is that they have a choice, they can quit smoking. Plus the argument about taxes are really from a federal level, but this does bring up a good point. Would the US be better off doing a similar VAT tax or a federal sales tax instead of a income tax?
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There are arguments either way, the largest of which would be that the US Government wouldn't be able to decrease their spending if they got less revenue. There are a whole host of things that would need to change before they could go with a consumption tax, which really is the 'fairest'.
Really? You actually think anything short of a threat of MAD is going to stol them from being wiped out? They're literally almost surrounded by hostile countries including two of the region's biggest powers (one of which can field modern American equipment). They're seriously outnumbered and have a nice fifth column in their country comprising about 20% of their measly 7.8 Million population. This is vs 26 Mil Syrians, 82 Mil Egyptians, 76 Mil Iranians. I'm leaving Jordan out as I think they're the only country who doesn't harbor enough hatred to go to war over it. They'd add less than 6 million anyway.
Yes, I said and still say that they should stand on their own mainly because I don't like our many military alliances as a matter of principle. However, I won't kid myself about the untenable situation the Jews have. They're fucked if we leave, and I'm OK with that.
Define a lot. If you mean the amount they pay as a percentage of total taxes, you'd be right, as they don't pay any fed at all. State income taxes generally don't come out to anywhere near the federal percentage and most of the rules are based on Federal rates, so it's likely someone who doesn't pay fed won't pay much if any state. This assumes the state even has an income tax (some don't)
That leaves you with sales, vehicle, and property taxes. In the case of property taxes, if you have the scratch to pay for a house, you can kick in some fucking money for income tax. Same goes for owning a car. Sales tax can suck but many states don't charge that for the necessities (food and the like). You'd be hard pressed to pay enough in sales taxes to approach anything like "a lot of taxes".
I find it both scary and mildly amusing that one thinks the problems Israel is having are diplomatic.
Stop smoking? Taxes were part of why I quit. Not a big part but I hated how much I had to pay for decent smokes.
This is like saying if you're an alcoholic you pay a lot in taxes. Who fucking cares. Quite your vice and save money. It's a retard tax.
------------------------------------------
http://bostonherald.com/news/politic...e%26position=0
Holy crap. I wonder if Obama might even lost my oh so very blue home state. I doubt it but I figured Warren had her Cherokee voter dance game on.
Aren't all problems by definition diplomatic?
As for the VAT or some Fair Tax, I think it's ideal but we have a lot of spending to cut or that tax is going to be crazy high. Like 50% high.
I've noticed that there's a pretty big disconnect between the general consensus of kugu and what's actually happening. It seems enough people have said it in this thread that people are taking it as fact.
It's a holy war, nothing diplomatic about that. Hasn't it been going on for like multiple centuries?
I believe some people have theory crafted that a consumption tax would need to be somewhere around 15-20% but don't quote me on that, it's one of those topics that isn't heard very much.
California's sales tax is 9.25%. Yes, it's not as bad as the re-fucking-diculous 20% VAT in England (and I'll be happy not to spend 6 pounds/9 bucks on a pack of shitty Pall Malls), but we don't get free healthcare or the London Times either, so often I'm not even fucking sure what I'm paying for.
But you are paying for free health care. Not YOUR free health care, though.
You trollin?
This is, as Quesa said, a holy war against the evil blood sucking (they literally believe this still) Jews. Israel can do nothing to appease that anger until the surrounding populations evolve beyond the twelfth century thinking in regards to religion.
BTW, there's a second, less defined war you'll never fix through diplomacy. The west can never do enough diplomatically, either. Either the middle east evolves or there will be continuing low level fighting.
I hate Israel and the Jews that live there.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
I know there is a winky smiley after that fella, but is that a real issue?(and you are paying for your free health care if you need it) . I don't have a problem that my national insurance money each week goes towards free healthcare for everyone, if I don't use it is all good because I'm not ill and someone who is can get the treatment they require and if I am Ill , I can get treated without worrying. I know it's off topic but I'm intrested to know how people feel about it over the pond, I've never known it any other way and think it's great tbh.But you are paying for free health care. Not YOUR free health care, though.
Honestly the NHS is awesome, it seriously rustles my jimmies to know that the US will never have a system remotely as good or comprehensive.
Why is that though fella?, it seems such a simple idea that works really well considering, I can't see why it can't work anywhere
I pay around £22 a week for it and it's taken out of my wages before I get it, seems a bargain tbh.
It's not that it wouldn't work, it's that our politicians would never get behind it with the private healthcare/pharmaceutical lobby being what they are. They quite enjoy belonging to a government-subsidized and ill-regulated cartel. 'Obamacare' is just a step closer to being the NHS, but it's far from it, and look at all the shitflinging which resulted from that.
I've said before that I wouldn't be opposed to some form of national health care but IMHO America can't put one in place that is both efficient and innovative. The first is almost impossible and the latter is antithetical to the first. I'd be more in favor of a national clinic system for people needing general care.
If the US did NHS, it would look like the Veterans Administration system. Let me tell you, non-vets have no idea just how bad the VA care is. Go in for a colonoscopy, come out with the HIV or HEP (or both).
NHS is great for common shit. It falls down when something major comes up. That's why so many people in other western countries come here for critical treatment; there isn't enough capacity in their NHS systems.
BTW, have you heard of post code lotteries?
Is that an argument against the NHS system, or an argument for the expansion of the NHS system?
We do ok on the uncommon shit aswell fella we get the same range of illness and issues as everyone else, and the postcode lottery is not as big an issue
The conflict between muslims and jews only started when they started their mass migration to Palestine in the late 1800s. Prior to that they had amazingly good relations, with the Ottomans being quite accomodating to Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition.
If you kill enough of them they stop fighting - Gen. Curtis Lemay
Fear the KKM
Whether you have an NHS or solely private Health Care provision it is all just deductions on your wage packet before you even see it.
I'm in the UK and as well as the NHS, I also have private health insurance through work.
The only major problem I see with a country having a purely private provision whether in the US or another country are cost spirals. When everything goes through private insurance companies there aren't enough constraints on price escalation.
I get excellant private cover for which I pay £15 ($24) a month. Work pays the rest. I've only actually used it once though when I had an MRI scan about 5 years ago (on my brains).
AFAIK, we do it better. My son was given chemo within two days after being diagnosed with AML. He could have been put in a bed that very hour but the docs said he had enough time to enjoy his weekend before the torture started.
While in the hospital, we realized that a large minority of the patients were from NHS countries (not specifically the UK but all western countries with national health care). The same thing came up when he was transferred to Duke for his BMT. I managed to speak two a couple of Canadian couples and they said flatly they would have been in queue for a month to get treatment. Leukemia doesn't sit around waiting for you to have an available bed.
That's not all, either. The US serves as the test bed for a variety of super expensive treatments.
It's not just Leukemia or even cancer in general. Major heart surgeries are also done on foreigners. Can ya hear me Canada?
This isn't meant as a slam on NHS so much as it is an attempt to show that Americans do have very competitive healthcare once you get beyond the basic flu type shit.
Neither. It's simply pointing out NHS has some downsides.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...al-stakes.html
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba596
I will admit this much. I'm extremely biased on this subject. My son has lived five years since he received treatment and while he may not be able to have kids of his own, He is far more likely to live a long time than he would have been in our nearest NHS neighbor. I was bankrupted by the ordeal but I'm happy as hell to have been made space poor by his treatment.
All they have to do is commit suicide today and all will be forgiven. I suppose at some extreme it is a diplomatic problem. That doesn't mean diplomacy will solve it. Israel's neighbors need to grow the fuck up and accept that they're going to have to deal with the evil Jews long term (as Jordan seems to have) OR kill them off and rejoice.
Either way our only involvement should be making popcorn and watching the game.
Happy to hear your son is ok Manny. Yea, Iceland sends about 20 peeps to the US for medical treatment per year. Its saves cash in the long run. We can take care of 99.9% of patients here. No reason to build a 500 million dollar wing for 1 guy, much better and cheaper to send him to the US.
Some Sara Silverman for you guys.
My mother's a VA Geriatric NP and has worked in several private companies doing the same job in the US and abroad. She says the VA gives great care and that her veterans tell her all the time how amazing the VA is (while railing on socialized medicine, which apparently they don't realize they have.) The VA even saves a lot of money compared to private medical care for a few reasons, most notably massive discounts on drugs because of the volume they purchase and less haggling with insurance companies.
I'm inclined to agree with her, since I interviewed veterans for the Veterans History Project for a year or so and part of my questioning involved the care they got post-military. To a one they were thrilled with the care. Call it anecdotal if you like (it certainly is), but as far as I can tell (and my mother, who's worked there for nearly 20 years) the VA is great. You probably got pretty unlucky.
The Colorblind Angel of Kugutsumen - Turning Bad Country into Mad Country one post a time
So, to be clear, conservative republicans are distancing themselves from Mitt (I can get you a list if you want, nobody is being shy about what they're doing), he's pissed off most of our allies around the world in someway shape ore form, he's insulted a full half of the country, he refuses to put forward any facts and is sticking to his "i'll tell you everything AFTER I'm elected" stance, his fundraiser speech (if you haven't listened to it) takes a shot at both blacks and latinos and to top it all off before appearing on the latino debates he sprayed himself orange to look less white...
And you think I shouldn't call it before he steps in front of a mic and humiliates himself beside Obama, who is an excellent orator and debater....
It feels like Monty Pythons Quest for the Holy Grail, and you're screaming "ITS JUST A FLESH WOUND".
You mom works for the VA and thinks it's great care? Coincidence?
The vast majority of vets I know (and I'm one of them of course) hate the VA. Perhaps your mom is working for one of the exceedingly rare good VA hospitals or perhaps because she is in Geri, her patients have mushy brains and think a cup of applesauce is great care for gout.
The VA is adversarial to veterans, has terribly trained staff, has been known to experiment on vets (want some syphilis?) like they were lab rats, and has a habig of amputating limbs from people who go in for stuff not having anything to do with that limb. The VA recently gave the gift of Hepatitis and HIV to people who had their assholes checked out.
The only thing I allow the VA to do to me is examine my service connected disabilities. Even then, I've had a nurse stick a needle to draw blood and go right through the vessel, the muscle beneath, and right into my elbow. It's dangerous even having blood work done there.
And let's not forget they like to play a game called "Let's let all of out veteran's PII out in the open"by nor following even the most rudimentary security precautions to protect Patient's privacy and identification.
Grath,
You're letting your emotions color the way you look at this. I'm not crowing about an Obama loss, I'm saying it's premature to call the race, especially when polls have them neck and neck. I think you have some trouble with knowing who gets to vote in this election. Our "allies" don't have a vote. Their opinions matter about as much as the opinions of our enemies. That and they've cooled considerably on Obama anyway.
Dude, I know Obama must be giving you some good head but you might want to stop equating being good with his mouth to being the worlds preeminent orator.
The only one of us that spends all his time screaming is you. I guess the head is just.that.good.
She thinks it's great care, but she's not one to love a workplace just because she works there. If she says it, I believe it.
It seems somewhat unlikely that the care is as bad as you say anyhow; an MD is an MD, pretty much. I'm in med school now and it's pretty universally agreed that no matter where you get your MD, your knowledge and expertise is just about equal. Obviously Harvard medical school will probably be better than the one in Nowhere, Arkansas, but the difference is much less significant when you look at the differences between undergrad education. So if the VA hires someone with an MD, chances are they're just as competent as someone any private firm would hire. I can't speak to nurses/NPs, but I'd imagine it'd be the same.
Honestly it just sounds like you and a couple of buddies had some bad luck, and combined with your dislike of socialized medicine (which most doctors support, by the way), you don't want to like the VA or accept that it might provide good care on the whole.
e: I am perfectly willing to accept that maybe we just have an exceptionally good VA in Reno, since I don't go around memorizing statistics on incompetent government employees or malpractice. However, I think it's pretty likely given my experience and some logical thinking, that the VA gives perfectly average medical care and is staffed with perfectly average professionals. I do know for an absolute fact that the prices it gets on its meds are second to none, which is a big plus.
The Colorblind Angel of Kugutsumen - Turning Bad Country into Mad Country one post a time
Sorry but the only poll that puts them neck and neck are from Fox News, hope that helps, everybody else says Mitts being buried under the landslide of his own stupidity.
47%
The Colorblind Angel of Kugutsumen - Turning Bad Country into Mad Country one post a time
You're ignorant, Sec. Seriously ignorant.
Go intern for the VA when you finish school and come back to enlighten me. I doubt half the VA MDs are US trained (or even western) Your idea that competence between MDs is equal is ridiculous. Are all of the students who are passing med school show the same degree of skill in all areas? No? Unpossible!
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-06-30/u...ental?_s=PM:US
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/02/10...ams/index.html
(NOT the same hospital as previous link)
http://www.tampabay.com/news/militar...-cases/1076194
(The above took almost 20 years to resolve and involved many thousands)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskege...lis_experiment
These are just a few.
RCP average 48.6/44.7
Ras has them at 46/45, advantage O
Gallup 47 all
AP at 47/46
National Journal has O at 50/43 That's a big lead but not mirroring the majors I listed above. Some of the recent polls have been drawing oversampling criticism as well.
Oh, Manfred.
Romney is all but done. He has to either die and be resurrected as the second coming of Christ or Obama has to be caught banging an underage white girl and a dude at the same time. In the next two months. Neither are probable. Yes, I acknowledge that there is a non-zero possibility of Obama having a colossal clusterfuck moment, and if Romney had any such trick up his sleeve he'd wait until the last minute to pull it out in order to capitalize on the kneejerk reaction of moderate voters, but it's fair to assume that unless this is the case Romney is fucked, end of story.
You call a lot of people ignorant/uninformed, while you seem to know all the answers, Manfred. What makes you smarter? I guess you've sat in on some medical school classes? Tailed doctors for countless hours? Educated yourself on a profession moreso than someone going into it?
I'm sure I've spent more hours than you in a VA hospital. With patients, nurses, doctors, and with a pretty good idea if the latter know what they're doing. And not just the VA, but other hospitals too. Oftentimes, it's the same doctors who work at the VA and at other local private hospitals. I'm also sure I know a fair bit more about how competitive medical schools are relative to one another, given the fact that I don't know, I researched that for 6 months while applying to them.
I especially love that we're having this discussion in a rational way and you start attacking me for being "ignorant."
The Colorblind Angel of Kugutsumen - Turning Bad Country into Mad Country one post a time
Quoting this for when Romsay Snow wins by a landslide
Most betting sites have Obama on 1/4 to win and Romney anywhere from 3/1 to 20/1.
They are generally quite good at it.
Ignorant is not the same as stupid, Sec. I have lived 45 years and I've had fantastic doctors and shitty ones who dealt cocaine on the side. Yep, that's right; not all people are born with the same level of skill.
Again. Ignorant is not stupid, though if you don't already know that in so many years of schooling...I'm sure I've spent more hours than you in a VA hospital. With patients, nurses, doctors, and with a pretty good idea if the latter know what they're doing. And not just the VA, but other hospitals too. Oftentimes, it's the same doctors who work at the VA and at other local private hospitals. I'm also sure I know a fair bit more about how competitive medical schools are relative to one another, given the fact that I don't know, I researched that for 6 months while applying to them.
I especially love that we're having this discussion in a rational way and you start attacking me for being "ignorant."
You're applying to the VA system for jobs? Why set the bar so fucking low, sec. You should have more confidence in your abilities than already be applying to the only litigation proof medical practice (and not by accident) in America.
Hilmar,
He's had a bad week to be sure. However, that's somewhat offset by the country being in the toilet. That alone should be making Obama worry. Then there's the deteriorating situations in China and the M/E as well as a terribly unpopular health care bill and bailouts that fucked our government expenses.
I don't deny Obama has the advantage at the moment but I think it's silly to be setting out the party favors and calling game over. I'd be saying this if the situation were reversed.
Personally, I wish Scott Brown had the name recognition to be in the driver's seat.
The economy being in the toilet isn't a win for Mitt. Whatever your/my feelings on the issue are, Mitt doesn't get a free pass on that.
There's a lot of anger at people like him for fucking the economy, and a crapload of Republicans are openly vocalizing that they don't trust him any further than they could throw him.
Also:
I was wrong about the Tuskeegee study. It wasn't the VA after all. It was the government experimenting on people who thought they were getting government provided healthcare for free. heh.
Think of it like this - The economy is in a mess and Mitt is still trailing Obama.
That should tell you something about Mitt.
Even Fox quit that recently. There's really not much left.
Do you even pay attention? It's not only the Fox News polls, pay attention and stop being delusional.
On the topic of fox news and its statistics (around 55 seconds)
The Colorblind Angel of Kugutsumen - Turning Bad Country into Mad Country one post a time
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
It gets better.Fucking forum will only let you post one video per post.
The Colorblind Angel of Kugutsumen - Turning Bad Country into Mad Country one post a time
I TOO STATE THINGS WITHOUT FACTS TO BACK THEM UP.
Its over, for 4 more years you get a nigger behind the trigger because you literally couldn't come up with a candidate who could manage to simply shut the fuck up
Yup, looks like we're all going to have to brown up just like Mitt.
http://www.examiner.com/article/dail...tember-21-2012
I shouldn't have had to point this out to you when a simple Google search would have pointed it out to you if you actually cared to know what is really going on. All you have to do is pay a little attention to the news to hear this.In the latest Rasmussen Reports presidential poll President Obama holds a 1% lead over Mitt Romney. The Rasmussen tracking poll was released September 21, 2012. Rasmussen had President Obama at 46% compared to 45% for Romney. Third party candidates were at 3% combined while undecided voters made up the remaining 5% of likely voters. The 8% support for Third party candidates plus undecided voters is up slightly from the previous few days.
Over in the Gallup presidential poll it was a dead heat between President Obama and Mitt Romney.
According to Gallup both candidates were at 47%. That does represent a 1% improvement for Romney while Obama stayed at the same level. The Gallup poll was conducted September 20, 2012. Third party support and undecided voters were only at 6% in the Gallup tracking poll which is a slight decrease from the previous few days.
There are a lot of other polls out there, the majority of them have similar results.
The race will be close. If you don't think so then you are a hyper-partisan bonehead. Get grip dude.
Sorry, I'm not getting sidetracked with a stupid Fox News debate. All news networks are failing us terribly. That is why I hate Fox bashing, because it is just partisan retards bitching about 1 bad apple in an orchard of shit.
National polls are meaningless. The presidency is decided by the electoral college, of which Obama has a 75% probability of winning: http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
At this time it also looks like the Dems will hold the Senate and the House is too close to call.
While you sit there making up shitty excuses for the atrocity that is Fox News I went ahead and pulled the article that Aurora linked for you to save you the trouble:
Basically the people saying the race isn't over yet are those people who are ignoring all the other polls (seriously the one you linked shows a 1% difference, most others are a minimum of 4%) and selectively sighting polls that give Romney a slight chance.President Obama’s position inched forward in the FiveThirtyEight forecast on Thursday. His chances of winning the Electoral College are 76.1 percent, according to the forecast, up from 75.2 percent on Wednesday. Mr. Obama’s projected margin of victory in the national popular vote also increased slightly, to 3.4 percentage points.
By and large, the story that Thursday’s polls told was the same one as on Wednesday. Mr. Obama continues to get very strong results in state polls that use industry-standard methodology, meaning that they use live interviews and place calls to mobile phones along with landlines.
In the 10 states that have generally been ranked the highest on our tipping-point list — Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire and Michigan — there have been 21 such polls since the Democratic convention ended. Mr. Obama has led in all 21 of these surveys — and usually by clear margins. On average, he has held a six-point lead in these surveys, and he has had close to 50 percent of the vote in them.
Mr. Obama’s results have been more varied among polling firms that use different methodologies. A series of polls in eleven swing states, released on Thursday by the online firm YouGov, were fairly strong for Mr. Obama, putting him ahead among likely voters in all of the states except North Carolina.
But automated polls, like those from the Rasmussen Reports, have had lukewarm results for Mr. Obama. A Rasmussen Reports poll released on Thursday, for instance, put Mr. Obama three points behind in Iowa.
Let me help you here:
All the other polls are against you, the book makers are against you, the blacks are against you, the mexicans are against you, the elderly are turning against you, you could have picked a real candidate but you could only find one that would carry the crazy flag that half the republican party wants carried. Don't be mad at us, be mad at all the republicans who find the need to comment on a womans vagina, the half that feels the need to publicly declare an attempt to stop the black voters, the constant need to insult the middle and lower class and the complete divergence over the past 12 years from everything Republicans ever stood for.
Did you know when taxes were first introduced that only the rich were required to pay them?
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