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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (630764)	10/7/2011 9:36:27 AM
From: i-node	Respond to of 1579728

>> Medicare tries to rein in spending, "the great R word comes out," says Gail Wilensky , a former director of the Medicare program, referring to health care rationing. I remember when Obama was all about "prevention". How it was going to save so much money. Billions of dollars because people can't get adequate treatment in Emergency Depts, they need preventive care -- that's what will really save us money. Managed care, where people have access to care 24/7, they can go to the gym, stay healthy. That's what we needed, he said. Today, a different story. Prevention doesn't matter. The managed care of Medicare Advantage? Nope. No better than ordinary FFS. Cancer Screenings? Nope. No value in it. Yesterday came news the PSA isn't worth doing. And of course, treatments that extend cancer patients lives by four months? Not worth getting (in spite of the fact that four months in medical terms is considered a pretty huge advancement). Obamacare is just great.

To: Alighieri who wrote (630764)	10/7/2011 10:47:35 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1579728

Define ‘legislating’ At the Washington Ideas Forum yesterday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) lashed out at President Obama in a deeply strange way. Asked what he hoped someone would ask the president at his press conference, held around the same time, Boehner said, “Mr. President, why have you given up on the country and decided to campaign full time?” The Speaker added, “Nothing has disappointed me more than what has happened in the last five weeks. To watch the president of the United States give up on governing, give up on leading and just spend time campaigning. We’re legislating. He’s campaigning. It’s very disappointing,” On the list of ridiculous things John Boehner has said, this has to rank pretty high. In what universe can the actions of House Republicans this year be characterized as “legislating”? Is Boehner aware enough of his surroundings to realize just how pathetic the 112th Congress really is? We can debate whether the president is “campaigning full time.” I’d argue that Obama is trying to create the political conditions that might prompt Congress to actually try to govern for a change. But it’s at least a debatable point. But after watching congressional Republicans closely this year, several words come to mind — most aren’t appropriate for publication — and “legislating” certainly isn’t one of them. Jonathan Bernstein noted yesterday that it’s “hard to believe” that Boehner could make this comment “without bursting out laughing.” The current House has done hardly any legislating at all. They could barely pass a bill to keep the government’s lights on back in the spring, and they almost send the nation into default in the summer. They missed the deadline to pass appropriations bills just last week, and there’s still no guarantee they’ll be able to do it after their new November extension. And outside of that there’s … well, almost nothing. As Obama pointed out today, there is no Republican initiative that can meaningfully be called a jobs bill. They passed a bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but did not keep their promise to develop a “replace” bill, or even begin the work on doing so. Same thing on financial regulation: they don’t like Dodd/Frank, but there is no Republican alternative. Right. Boehner and his cohorts aren’t only failing to legislate; they’re failing to even try. In a divided government, with both parties enjoying some power, a legitimate policymaking process would require some give and take, concessions and compromises, and the Speaker has decided it’s not worth the trouble — or more accurately, the weak Speaker has been told by his radicalized caucus that compromise is impossible. Boehner’s tenure has been a nine-month-long fiasco. Thanks to his style of “legislating,” this Congress has passed no meaningful pieces of legislation, and won’t improve on this record before 2013. Public support for the institution has reached depths unseen since the dawn of modern polling. If Boehner wants to explain his failures, fine. If he wants to apologize for them, great. But to blame the White House for trying to rally the public behind credible solutions, and pretend that he and his caucus are making a good-faith effort to govern, is insane.