Whats Wrong w/ our government?

“Santartex,
I think part of the obesity problem is created by Life Insurance companies. You see, 10-20 years ago, the normal weight of a 5'9" male was 180lbs. Now the normal weight of a 5'9" male is 160lbs. So, the 5'9", 180lb guy is considered obese and you can charge him more for life insurance.”

“i think people who are unfit, smoke, etc. should pay higher premiums for health insurance. i remember seeing one lady with an oxygen machine outside a mall... smoking!!

i wonder to what extent our medical costs are so high because americans or so unhealthy.”

“.....not enough bandwith availible on the internet for me to explain :) .....”

“Consider the aging of America (more people living much longer); consider the increase in medical technology (CT scans and MRI's for everything, annual mammograms, etc.); consider the number of new drugs on the market, that are years in the developing and testing phases, consider the fact that everyone considers it their fundamental right to have every possible medical treatment, whether it costs $1 million dollars or $100, (like the folks in prison getting heart transplants), consider the growth of the chronic diseases (diabetes, aids, etc.) and consider the fact that insurance and medical rates are so high a lot of people aren't getting treatment until their health problems are acute -- no wonder we have an overburdened and outrageously expensive system. Too many people want too much -- the demand is so much greater than the supply. With a universal care system, that is more obvious, but it is still there in our system and is reflected in the high costs that are charged which discourage people from using the system. With our system, those with insurance or medicaid get care and those without do without, for the most part. When I was younger, I worked for small companies with very little pay and no insurance coverage. I didn't see a doctor for 11 years. I was young and healthy, so it didn't matter much. If I'd had kids or a chronic illness, it would have been a problem. If the patient dies - well then that is one less person using scarce resources. A universal system has the problem that workers end up heavily subsidizing non-workers -- as we do to some extent with medicare and medicaid, but consider how much we would all pay if everyone was entitled to all the medical care they want - including drugs and mental health and drug treatment etc. It wouldn't be 7.5 %, it would be more like 40 or 50% of salary going toward the health system. If we ration health care, who decides who lives and who dies? On what grounds? It's a complicated mess.

I do agree that tort reform is overdue. Too many doctors are leaving medicine, or switching to less risky areas of practice because they can't afford the malpractice insurance, and at the same time truly incompetent doctors are allowed to hide their malfeasance and continue to practice medicine because their colleagues cover for them. I know people who have to drive 100 miles to see an obstetrician, because the local doctor refuses to deliver high risk babies.”

“Savage, if that's true, then that's just downright slimey. I wouldn't put it past them.”

“Bush was in our town yesterday to give a speech at the university in front of doctors and politicians about how to fix the malpractice crisis we have going on here. His suggestion was to copy California's program and put caps on economic damage awards and stop frivilous lawsuits and promised to do something about it on the federal level. There were groups of lawyers and patients rights groups protesting outside and they are not happy with the plan. The governor is not too thrilled either and says it won't work and that increases in insurance and medicare payments to doctors would be better. There was a lot of bickering so lets see if anything will come of it.”

“I'd like to see a law that requires a lawyer to only bring suit for his client if there is some merit. Often suits are filed and settled before they ever get to court. I'm in no way suggesting that the outcome of the trial be the measure of merit, but this idea may discourage clients/lawyers from "extorting" money with frivolous claims which are often for less than the cost to defend them.”

“preventive maintenance people! yoga(body and mind), meditiation(mind & stress), excercise, eat your vegetables(preferably organic), beans, rice, grains, more fish/less meat.

Seriously though, I have friends who are pharmaceutical sales reps. and they tell me how corrupt their line of work is. Basically, if a doctor wants Yankee season tix and you can provide them, guess who's drugs he is going to prescribe rather than a generic form that may save you or your insurance co. $. There is so much competition. The people I know do more schmoozing then researching what exactly they are selling.”

“LOL...thank God for Mommy Government...the question you have to ask is..when will it be that the government will ban you from something you find fun becuase "of the DANGER" to you.....


http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2306958”

“They already did that in my town after some idiot hit a jump while sledding in the town sand pit and broke his back. He sued and won somewhere around $11million. After which the town posted signs ever 5 feet saying, “Use at your own risk.””

“JEEZE...I am sorry but when are we going to get some controls on the idiots out there who refuse to take RESPONSIBILITY for their own stupidity?

I still say if we got a Loser Pays law for civil actions....and if the Plaintiff can't pay I say the Attorney pays the bill.”

“Wow. XL is just asking for it now.”

“Funny how Bush, all at once, wants to stop spending after the repubs six year binge.”

“"Funny how Bush, all at once, wants to stop spending after the repubs six year binge."

Heart burn with a hang over will do that to some.”

“January 20, 2007
Your tax dollars at work...or not

U.S protesters found in Defense database: ACLU questions entries in tracking system

A Defense Department database devoted to gathering information on potential threats to military facilities and personnel, known as Talon, had 13,000 entries as of a year ago — including 2,821 reports involving American citizens, according to an internal Pentagon memo to be released today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The Pentagon memo says an examination of the system led to the deletion of 1,131 reports involving Americans, 186 of which dealt with “anti-military protests or demonstrations in the U.S.” Titled “Review of the TALON Reporting System,” the four-page memo produced in February 2006 summarizes some interim results from an inquiry ordered by then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after disclosure in December 2005 that the system had collected and circulated data on anti-military protests and other peaceful demonstrations.

This story reminds of something I saw scrawled on the wall of a men’s room in a truck stop just outside Houston a few days ago: I LOVE MY COUNTRY. I FEAR MY GOVERNMENT. Indeed. I’m not normally one to take my philosophical and/or ideological cues from restroom walls, but this got me to thinking, and I haven’t been able to stop since. With each passing day, I’m beginning to realize the simple truth contained in those two sentences.

When our government can listen to our phone calls, read our mail, and malign our patriotism if we don’t unquestioningly go along with these and other nefarious methods, who, really, are the terrorists? When government can label someone a “terrorist” and by doing so hold them indefinitely, deny them their habeas corpus and Constitutional rights, have not the terrorists already emerged victorious?

Over the past six years, we have sat idly by while Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader ©: and his neocon thugs have installed a state security apparatus that would have made Nazi Germany proud. The simple act of getting on an airplane now involves checking any sense of propriety and dignity at the airport door. Travelers must now endure a security protocol that involves just about everything short of a strip search and a digital rectal exam. Yes, in order to fly to your destination, you must willingly and unquestioningly check your dignity at the door.

What have we allowed our country to become in the five-plus years since 9.11? I’m not certain that I have a name for it, but it’s not a democracy. A democracy does not put 350,000 people on a “no-fly” list with no explanation or mechanism for appeal. A democracy does not label everyone named “Dave Nelson” a potential terrorist, thereby subjecting them to extra security searches/invasions of privacy. A democracy does not use 9.11 and the never-ending War on Terror © as justification for imprisoning human beings indefinitely, without charges and without access to any sort of legal representation. A democracy does not slap the “terrorist” label on an American citizen, hold him indefinitely and without access to counsel, and break that individual psychologically because they can.

After giving it some thought, I’ve realized that the restroom philosopher was onto something. Like him, I love my country. I’m proud to be an American, but damn, I detest and fear my government and what they’re doing to the country I love.

Somewhere, Josef Goebbels and Hermann Goering are smiling….”

“cats, we have this thing called "Fuego". ;-)”

“When government can label someone a “terrorist” and by doing so hold them indefinitely, deny them their habeas corpus and Constitutional rights, have not the terrorists already emerged victorious?

I may be wrong, but I'm not aware of this happeneing to any U.S. citizens who were not actively in combat on the side of the Taliban against my country. In a case such as that I agree that they should not be held indefinitely.
They should be shot within 48 hours of capture.
last edited: 1/20/07 4:06:27 PM”

“Actually there were American citizens held. The idea of our democracy is due process where the finger pointing is a public matter & held up to a jury of your peers.

What if "I" gat to point a finger at "you" and you were interrogated & detained without a lawyer, without a phone call to your family to let them know what's going on and you don't get to tell your side of the story to anybody except the interrogator under torture.

It's OK when it's the OTHER guy, right?”

“As I said, I'm not aware of that happening. And it's ok in my book when the other guy is engaged in combat against my country.”

“Considering they allow hearsay evidence,how can you be sure someone was in combat against your country? You may not even know who made the claim.”

“The problem we have right now, is instead of many of these bastards getting whats coming to them, the cases are being thrown out because they were shoddily done in the first place.

Our government blames the defense lawyers....why? If our government did their job correctly in the first place we wouldn't have to let them go.”