_BiB_

Yeah, you and me both.

Go Astros. And that's coming from the other Braves fan.

That's mega-**** to you, son.

Keg, looking at your sig. Have you ever read the whole poem that comes from? One of my favorites. It was written by an American volunteer to the RAF in early WW2. Later shot down and killed in his Spitfire. It's called "High Flight". Not to bust the spirit of the thread, but Ron picked a great line for those seven.

Yeah, I know she's been around. She told me about you. Called herself "used". I said "don't worry, you're great once I get past the used part".

What's wrong with hating Steve?

Hey, the goat pours me wine by candle light. No problem with the goat. She knows what I like without being told.

Point? Of course, that could get me a beer too.

I thought about an alternate, but my unmitigated assholiness would show through. I have a hard enough time being me, let alone another personna. I think it's Poojer. Whoever he is.

I was disappointed in the fluent English part. WTF would I want to talk to her?

Because he's an idiot. He could be a stand in for either Chinatown or Sybil. Wouldn't even have to read the script. And he's loving every second of this thread.

Saddle up Rodeo queen?

Some of us outside Ohio get it too. Look out for the lawsuits.

Since you indirectly broke the ice, his folks have also put out the word indirectly that he will undercut defense spending to help make ends meet. His budget folks have a pretty good idea on what is getting spent where, otherwise they wouldn't be making specific inqueries. There aren't only contingency plans being thought up for bad guys, people have to plan how to keep various programs going with budget cuts not anticipated over a five year projection. But he'll be "tough on defense". I see how. May fortune favor the foolish.

I too have a PPO, and have a question of my own. Whenever I get a statement, it includes charged costs and "negotiated" costs. And of course, whatever I have to pay. Can anyone here (I'm still a believer that there is a lot of worldly knowledge here-and no, !@#$ you Darin I'm not doing my own homework) explain to me what the true deal is behind negotiated costs? I know there are formulas to price services and what not. I'm curious as to whether the hospitals/health corporations can use their charged receivables as a source of showing income using an accrual based accounting system, rather than using what is actually paid under cash accounting?

Son, you have a future. I have to differ with you on the "give in" part, though. That's a lot of why we're in the mess we're in.

For the masses, you may very well be right. It's the smart ones in charge I'm worried about. They want Kerry. They can get the "lemmings" to rally to just about anything. Not hard to do. Look at this place.

I thought some of them were pretty funny.

Dig? That was a general comment. I didn't say "RCow". If you're going to try to convince me that there aren't several people who get their info from a single source-mostly TV, and that they won't do anything besides get their 30 second feeding-you'll have a hard time.Goes for both sides. And I will go back to my original statement. That show was hopelessly, shamelessly biased. As I said, I don't watch much network news, but when I have I have yet to see the same type of biased manipulation against Kerry. It's against Bush. Hence, the post was aimed at the libs. Shoe fits? Wear it. If it don't it don't. I just have to shake my head at how far down into the mud this country will go.

That's why I used the phrasing I did. Hard to find. I consider Janes to be neutral. My method is to use the"media" to get or become aware of the situation, then if I have interest or reason to, I generally go directly to the applicable sources for actual information, when possible. If there is a public health issue, I'll look to the CDC, the AMA and some of the scientific journals to get info. The most actually neutral sources I use are unfortunately very limited access. I have access to classified "news" and search engines that pretty well just give a "this is what happened", without an opinion attached. If you work in an area where this kind of stuff is applicable, one can't work with "opinion slanted" information. These are not intelligence channels, they are actual news sites to include things like financial information, political information, etc. Actual trade publications are the closest I can name to non-spun information, for the same reasons. If one has to work with information-one needs information, not opinion. Questions on the oil situation? Dozens of trade and market publications that have pretty clean info. One doesn't hedge futures based on opinion, one does is based on facts. Just my way, but I am a firm believer in using multiple sources, including sources I don't agree with. I see no other way to get anything approaching an "informed" opinion. When I can get to it, I'll PM you some links from my home computer.

Who's Poojer?

They make white robes that big?

My sources are quite varied, moo moo. It would actually take way to long to list them all. Suffice that they are a mix of conservative, liberal and sometimes if I can find one-neutral. I peruse a lot of international news-links. My concentration is defense, so I use Janes for a lot of info. They have some excellent White Papers on file. I also use the direct links to the agencies and their databases that I have questions about. I'm an avid listener of NPR. I watch FOX and CNN, the news-not the shows. When faced with something I'm unfamiliar with, I will do a search string and read maybe ten or fifteen articles on a subject from both obviously biased and somewhat unbiased sources to try to get a flavor of what really might have happened. I sometimes get my information by making a phone call. I also rely heavilly on the non-public sources I use in my work. Plus other stuff.

That said, I can't believe people will actually argue about following directions. If voting is important to someone they bear the responsibility to make sure it's done right. No one should be expected to do it for them. If the rules are silly, the rules are silly. They're still rules.

I find it bordering on the incredible that people can argue about whether or not to follow directions.