Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Right Wing Extremist Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (56099)	9/23/2007 1:31:39 AM
From: calgal	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 59480

..Hillary's plan won't make us healthier By Linda Chavez jewishworldreview.com \| Hillary Clinton has spent years trying to erase the memory of her failed attempt to bring socialized medicine to the United States, but this week the ghost of Hillary Care was lurking in the wings again as she unhttp://jewishworldreview.com/cols/chavez092107.php3veiled her new plan to overhaul the nation's health system. Touted as an "American Health Choices Plan," Sen. Clinton's proposal is short on choice but full of government mandates, including a new directive that every American purchase health insurance. Like her Democratic rivals — and even some Republicans running for president — Clinton makes it sound as if we are facing a health care crisis, one that only government can solve. But what exactly is the problem? Advocates of universal health coverage like to trot out the statistic that about 46 million Americans lack health care coverage, a number based on Census data from 2005. But the figure is misleading. Most people, upon hearing that so many Americans lack health insurance, automatically assume it is because they can't afford it, but the Census study tells a different story. More than 17 million of those counted as uninsured earn more than $50,000 a year, including almost 9 million who make over $75,000 a year. Some of these people are, no doubt, self-employed, healthy and young, which is why they choose not to buy health insurance for themselves. Since there are few options out there for catastrophic coverage — the kind that will take care of your bills if you're injured in a car crash or suddenly get cancer — many of these Americans opt not to spend the money on expensive comprehensive health insurance, just as many people choose not to buy life insurance. Does it make sense to force them to do so? What's more, nearly half of the 46 million uninsured remain so for only a brief time, on average four months. Many of these persons are between jobs and choose not to pay the premiums for continued coverage available to most persons covered by an employer-provided health plan if they lose or quit their jobs. Finally, of the remaining uninsured, about 10 million are non-citizens, including an unknown number of illegal aliens. So, when the numbers are dissected, the health care "crisis" comes down to, according to some estimates, fewer than 10 million Americans who lack long-term access to health care coverage. Yet to deal with this problem, Hillary Clinton wants to dramatically change the way the rest of us receive our health care. Clinton's plan would force insurers to offer coverage at the same rates to everyone: smokers would pay no more than non-smokers; drug addicts and alcoholics would receive the same rates as the abstemious; obese people would pay the same as the physically fit — even though all of these behaviors affect health and can be avoided. The consequence would be higher rates for those who choose to behave responsibly. Moreover, to pay for the estimated $110 billion cost of the new Hillary Care, Clinton would raise taxes. First, she'd wipe out most of the Bush tax cuts, and then she'd tax employer-provided health care plans themselves for those she deems "rich." Clinton likened her plan of forcing all individuals to purchase health insurance (and requiring the government to pay for those who ostensibly can't afford it) to some states' requirement that drivers maintain insurance in case they injure someone in an accident. But the comparison couldn't be farther off the mark. Car and property insurance don't cover routine maintenance, and premiums are tied to actual risk. You don't submit claims to your car insurer for tune-ups or brake repairs or to your home insurer for painting your house or putting on a new roof. And your premiums depend on whether you are a good driver and how much your house is worth. But most people expect their health insurance to pay at least a portion of the cost of visits to the doctor for routine care when they get the flu or need vaccinations for the kids, and they don't want to pay more if they choose unhealthy lifestyles. We do need a new system — one that rewards individual efforts to stay healthy and provides incentives to get regular, prophylactic care. But Hillary's plan doesn't come close to doing that and will only result in higher taxes and rationed health care.

To: calgal who wrote (56099)	9/25/2007 4:13:55 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 59480

Bill as Hill’s Veep? By Julia Gorin (bio) According to James Hirsen’s Hollywood Confidential: Asked by [David] Letterman if her husband and ex-prez Bill could serve as her veep should she be elected to the White House, Hillary used humor to suggest that Bill is really fond of the idea. “Believe me,” she said, “he looked into that.” If Hillary’s smart, she’ll never let Bill be her vice president. It’ll put him one degree away from the Oval Office. (Like he really needs one more reason to want her knocked off.) URL:http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/2007/09/19/bill-as-hills-veep/

To: calgal who wrote (56099)	9/25/2007 4:16:13 PM
From: calgal	Respond to of 59480

And now for the important news .... URL:http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0907/hamilton092507.php3 By Argus Hamilton jewishworldreview.com \| . Buffalo Bills player Kevin Everett continued his miraculous recovery from a neck injury and doctors said he's making steady progress. The fans in Buffalo watch the news daily. Everyone is praying that Kevin Everett walks again and that O.J. Simpson doesn't. Barry Bonds told his online readers Friday he'll be sad to leave San Francisco after the Giants cut ties. Life is so easy for him there. Every week the Sparkletts guy comes by his house on Nob Hill and drops off a five-gallon bottle of clean urine. Floyd Landis was supported by his home Amish community after his Tour de France forfeit Thursday. They don't drink, smoke, drug or have sex outside of marriage. The Amish live a lifestyle just like a movie star if he's recovering on all cylinders. Britney Spears's car grazed a Mercedes-Benz station wagon in a parking lot Friday and she sped away. She's lucky no one was hurt. With all the foreclosures, more and more people in Los Angeles are living in their Mercedes-Benz station wagons. Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke to the U.N. about climate change on Monday. He would be a fine president but the foreign-born are banned from the job by the Constitution. Arnold must feel so singled out, considering how we are ignoring the rest of the thing. Democrats held a debate in Iowa Thursday sponsored by AARP. The candidates all claim they can save Social Security without cutting benefits. The only way to do that is for the government to agree with Baby Boomers that sixty-five is the new forty. J. Walter Thompson ad agency released an eye-popping survey Friday showing that twenty percent of Americans are giving up sex to spend more time online. It's a new world. Half of eHarmony's business now is fixing people up with new computers. Utah polygamist and breakaway Mormon minister Warren Jeff's trial went to the jury in Utah Friday after he ordered a fourteen-year-old girl to marry her nineteen-year-old cousin. His options were really limited. There is a state law against outbreeding. Fidel Castro discussed the week's news in a Cuban television interview Friday to disprove reports he had died. It's no secret how these rumors get started. Any time a liquor wholesaler in Miami has a surplus of rum in his warehouse he starts the rumor that Fidel Castro just died, and the celebration drains his inventory overnight.

To: calgal who wrote (56099)	9/25/2007 4:19:11 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 59480

Can Newt save the Republic — and the Republicans? By Jack Kelly > jewishworldreview.com \| An explosion ripped through a military base near Aleppo in northern Syria July 23, killing 15 Syrian soldiers and dozens of Iranian engineers. Summer temperatures of up to 122 degrees Fahrenheit caused an ammunition dump to "cook off," the Syrian government said. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich hasn't been getting as much attention as he likes lately. So he's told a few folks he'll run for president if he can raise $30 million by the end of November. My advice to Newt is to buy lottery tickets. But wealthy supporters of former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani should consider helping Mr. Gingrich out. Most of the political news over the weekend came from the biennial gathering of Michigan Republicans on Mackinac Island. The confab was more important than it's been in the past, because of Michigan's decision to move it presidential primary up to January 15. Only the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary will be held earlier. A straw poll was conducted, in which 979 of the more than 2,000 attendees voted. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won with 39 percent. Arizona Sen. John McCain was second with 26 percent. Libertarian nutcake Ron Paul bested Mr. Giuliani for third, 10.8 to 10.6 percent. The Romney victory in the straw poll was unsurprising. His father George was a popular governor in Michigan, and Mr. Romney paid the way for many people to attend the Mackinac conference. Sen. McCain's showing was surprising. He doesn't have the money to buy his supporters a cup of coffee, but it's apparent there is still a lot of affection for him among Michigan GOP activists. Sen. McCain won the presidential primary in 2000. Because they can so easily be stacked by those with deep pockets or distorted by nutbars (yes, Ron Paul supporters, I'm talking about you), straw polls tend to be poor indicators of overall popular sentiment. But Mr. Romney's margin roughly tracks with the most recent poll of Michigan Republicans, taken by the American Research Group in the first week in September. In that poll Mr. Romney had 39 percent of the vote to Mr. Giuliani's 13, Sen. Thompson's 12, and Sen. McCain's 9. While most of the political news over the weekend emanated from Mackinac Island, the most interesting news was from a poll Democratic pollster Celinda Lake took for the Latino Policy Coalition of 31 House districts represented by freshman Democrats. The poll showed Rudy Giuliani leading Hillary Clinton comfortably in them. "Giuliani takes 49 percent to Clinton's 39 percent, while the former mayor's lead over (Sen. Barack) Obama is far smaller, 41 percent to 40 percent," reported Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray in the Washington Post Sunday. (The poll was taken in August.) Mr. Giuliani has been running within the margin of error with Sen. Clinton in national polls, the only GOP candidate to do so. The Celinda Lake poll in slightly left-leaning swing districts suggest he might be stronger against her than those other surveys indicate. In these Democratic districts, the Lake poll found, 45 percent of respondents had a favorable opinion of Hillary Clinton, 48 percent an unfavorable one. By contrast, Mr. Giuliani's ratings were 53 percent positive, 33 percent negative. The Lake poll strengthens the principal argument for Rudy, that he's the Republican with the best chance to win in November. But he must win the nomination first, which is what makes Mr. Gingrich's potential candidacy so interesting. We have in effect semifinal matches between Mr. Giuliani and Sen. McCain for the more moderate GOP vote, and between Mr. Romney and Mr. Thompson for the more conservative vote. A Gingrich candidacy would split the conservative vote in the early primaries further. Since I'm for Rudy, that's reason enough for me to be excited about a Gingrich candidacy. But I have a less cynical reason. If Newt were nominated, he'd have no chance to win the general election. But he has the best ideas in politics, and he expresses them well. It'd be great in a presidential debate to have Newt expound on this, that or the other, and have the other candidates, say, in effect: "What Newt said." Debates will be critical for Sen. Thompson, whose performance so far has been underwhelming for many erstwhile supporters. The most fascinating disconnect is between the fairly comfortable leads Gov. Romney enjoys in polling in Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan, and his poor performance in national polls. He has only 8.5 percent in the Real Clear Politics average, to Mr. Giuliani's 27.8 and Mr. Thompson's 22.5. Will Mr. Romney's numbers go up when he starts advertising outside of Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan, or will his leads in those states shrink when other candidates start advertising there? Stay tuned. The Iowa caucuses are only about 90 days URL:http://jewishworldreview.com/0907/jkelly092507.php3