Where Have All the Lefties Gone?

[Chef Jim]

I give him a pass- I lost my father to cancer/dementia just a few months ago. I don't expect people to understand what that is like, unless they experienced something similar- still, it was pretty rude.

 

And you are about as far from a wingnut as can be

 

I'm a heartless bastard though right? At least tell me I am, I've worked so hard.

[Adam]

I'm a heartless bastard though right? At least tell me I am, I've worked so hard.

Dude, you are a bills fan, what do you want me to say!

[Chef Jim]

Dude, you are a bills fan, what do you want me to say!

 

Actually I'm not so much of a Bills fan anymore. Being from WNY I kind of care, but not really enough to be considered a fan.

[DC Tom]

I'm a heartless bastard though right? At least tell me I am, I've worked so hard.

 

You're a heartless bastard.

 

Still not in my league, though.

[Magox]

You're a heartless bastard.

 

Still not in my league, though.

It's all a front, you guyz are a couple of cream puffs

[Chef Jim]

You're a heartless bastard.

 

Still not in my league, though.

 

No **** Tom, I may be a hearless bastard but I do have a conscience.

[/dev/null]

No **** Tom, I may be a hearless bastard but I do have a conscience.

Stop trying to defelct the issue

[Chef Jim]

Stop trying to defelct the issue

 

Defelct? Is that a medical term?

[DC Tom]

Stop trying to defelct the issue

 

I seldom defelct. It's just not my thing.

 

Although if you're interested, I know of a couple bars in DC...

[Magox]

You're missing the point. I have enough to do without going around interviewing random small business owners. Show me the numbers to back up your assertions. Your evidence is anecdotal because it relies on your personal experience, which is by definition not objective. Not because you're skewing it, but because human memory is subjective, selective and inaccurate. That's why anecdotal evidence is crappy and evidence collected using the scientific method is not.

Here is more anecdotal conjecture from some CEO's of these tiny little companies

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...G5_0&pos=12

 

 

Private companies, providers of benefits to 132 million Americans, will see little savings from legislation under debate in Congress, CEOs at United Parcel Service Inc., Safeway Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. said in interviews over the past two weeks. The measures are more likely to add expenses, through taxes and fees on employers who don’t offer affordable coverage, said Ellen Kullman, chief of Wilmington, Delaware-based DuPont Co., the world’s third-largest chemical maker.

 

“They’re disasters,” said John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts Inc., of Redwood City, California, the second- largest video-game maker with 8,000 employees. “What part of either the House or Senate bill is going to do anything with cost? I don’t see anything.”

 

What it won’t do is fundamentally alter a system in which medical costs routinely outpace inflation, hurting U.S. competitiveness, said Scott Davis, CEO at UPS, the world’s largest package shipper with 340,000 U.S. workers.

 

“Cost control ought to be at the base of any health-care reform, and I’m not sure it’s there,” Davis said in an interview from his Atlanta headquarters. “We need to talk about wellness. There’s not enough talk” about prevention.

 

The year-long debate has been a missed opportunity, said Riccitiello, of Electronic Arts, publisher of “The Sims” and “Madden NFL” games. The legislation, crafted mostly by Democrats, has left him “really disappointed.”

 

Riccitiello questioned why Congress didn’t tackle smaller changes individually, such as protections for doctors against malpractice lawsuits.

 

“These could have gotten done in three months,” he said.

 

UPS is worried it will lose as small businesses put off hiring and restocking inventory while they wait to see how the bills affect them, said Davis, the CEO. Lawmakers are debating whether to require employers to provide insurance to workers, and how much to penalize those that don’t.

 

“We have 2 million small-business customers out here who aren’t sure what impact that’s going to have on them,” Davis said. “Policy uncertainty is one of those things I fear right now. They need to resolve it.”

 

UPS will spend more than $3 billion on health care in 2009, said Norman Black, a spokesman, in an e-mail. The company offers benefits to all employees. Part-timers, who make up half its workforce, must wait a year to qualify.

 

Far from cutting costs for business, the employer mandate will raise them, said DuPont’s Kullman. So, too, will a tax on high-end “Cadillac” health plans in the Senate’s version, she said in an interview.

 

“We are a big believer in reform, but we’re not sure we see as much reform in there,” she said of the legislation.

 

The government-run plan favored by House Democrats “would not be acceptable,” Verizon chief Ivan Seidenberg said in an Oct. 28 news conference arranged by the Business Roundtable, the Washington-based group of CEOs. The plan will underpay doctors, forcing them to raise costs on private-sector clients, he said.

 

Health-care spending topped a list of CEO concerns in a survey released Dec. 8 by the group. That “underscores the urgent need for the right kind of health-care reform,” Seidenberg said in a statement. “Without reform, these costs will continue to weigh down the economy.”

[Adam]

Here is more anecdotal conjecture from some CEO's of these tiny little companies

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...G5_0&pos=12

Magox- I think either side's version of how to fix things will work somewhat, but neither is a silver bullet. Each side will continue to talk as if the other side's solution won't lead to utopia, therefore is a failure. Any bill that passes as far as health care, fixing the economy or anything else for that matter will end up being so watered down, that the effect will be minimal- which a lot of the time is a good thing.

 

The democrats blast the republicans, the republicans blast the democrats. Fact is, they are one in the same, and their division games between their bases keeps them in power and prevents a third party from rising. I for one, think there is no hope.

[IDBillzFan]

Magox- I think either side's version of how to fix things will work somewhat, but neither is a silver bullet. Each side will continue to talk as if the other side's solution won't lead to utopia, therefore is a failure. Any bill that passes as far as health care, fixing the economy or anything else for that matter will end up being so watered down, that the effect will be minimal- which a lot of the time is a good thing.

 

The democrats blast the republicans, the republicans blast the democrats. Fact is, they are one in the same, and their division games between their bases keeps them in power and prevents a third party from rising. I for one, think there is no hope.

I think he was actually referencing the article as it relates to small businesses being afraid to expand/hire right now due to the current administration's inability to stop spending our (particularly small businesses') taxdollars on stuff we don't want, like health care and tax-n-trade.

[GG]

Suicide is never even this simple.

 

A lot actually depends on what you decide to wear.

[ExiledInIllinois]

I give him a pass- I lost my father to cancer/dementia just a few months ago. I don't expect people to understand what that is like, unless they experienced something similar- still, it was pretty rude.

 

And you are about as far from a wingnut as can be

 

 

My mother passed away from ovarian cancer... It will be 11 years in early February (1999). Pretty tough to take, still is... But it makes me want to live all that more. My son was born in 1998, she is his GodMother... My daughter in 2002... I know she is smiling down on them.

 

Draw strength from life's unfortunate turn of events, not weakness.

 

[Adam]

My mother passed away from ovarian cancer... It will be 11 years in early February (1999). Pretty tough to take, still is... But it makes me want to live all that more. My son was born in 1998, she is his GodMother... My daughter in 2002... I know she is smiling down on them.

 

Draw strength from life's unfortunate turn of events, not weakness.

 

Thanks for your kind words- I agree with you. He had fallen ill more than a decade ago and was in constant pain. I am not sure he even knew that he was still suffering when it happened, but within a day or two, there was a huge sense of releif that he wasn't hurting anymore. Sorry for your loss

[Wacka]

And for you youngsters here, losing a grandparent is not like losing a parent, unless the grandparent raised you. My father died from lung cancer at 60, when I was 33. It was like a horse kicked me in the balls. We knew he was dying for months and I had even hoped he would have passed away in his sleep, but when it happens, it hits hard. the only thing worse is if your child or spouse dies..

[ExiledInIllinois]

And for you youngsters here, losing a grandparent is not like losing a parent, unless the grandparent raised you. My father died from lung cancer at 60, when I was 33. It was like a horse kicked me in the balls. We knew he was dying for months and I had even hoped he would have passed away in his sleep, but when it happens, it hits hard. the only thing worse is if your child or spouse dies..

 

So true. I feel your pain. My mother was 59. I was 31. The ovarian cancer was detected almost some 6 years earlier... One check-up she was fine and then she went to the doctor a few months later with pain and the tumor already was the size of a small orange. It seemed like she made it through, then wham-o... It came back again and she was dead with a few months. The big thing was being so far away, with a small child and not knowing what was going to happen. We made it into town, the waiting was agonzing... She seemed like she would make it, so we decided to take the long ride back to Illinois... No sooner did we get on the road, things took a turn for the worse and we had to turn back around and head back to WNY.

 

The sad part about it all is that her aunt had it in the early 1970's and beat it! Believe that one... Not fully understanding the cancer back then, the medical profession not knowing how bad ovarian cancer was with hereditary basically gave her a death sentence some 20 years earlier after my sister was born... My mother had a partial hysterectomy and they advised her to leave the ovaries in... Like two ticking time-bombs ready to go off. Knowing how the cancer runs in the family, both my sisters opted for voluntary ovariectomies after their child bearing years. Now with they know now, my mother would still be alive today had she opted for the full hysterectomy back in 1972.

 

Like Adam said:

"...but within a day or two, there was a huge sense of releif that he wasn't hurting anymore."

It was a huge sense of relief to not see her in pain and struggling to hang on anymore.

 

For anyone who has lost a loved one or somebody dear to them... Sorry for your loss.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Geez louise. Think for a minute the PAIN Paul must have been in to do what he did. Your situation is sad, but you aren't Paul. And you shouldn't judge him. Just think of your pain, and then imagine how bad that pain would have to be for you to decide death made sense. Think about it - And then please STFU.

 

Not to be crass, but life is PAIN.

 

It's through pain that people become stronger, and Paul could have used his wife's death to go on to greater things instead of killing himself.

[DC Tom]

Not to be crass, but life is PAIN.

 

It's through pain that people become stronger, and Paul could have used his wife's death to go on to greater things instead of killing himself.

 

That's not the thought process that was going through his head. No one "decides" to commit suicide.

 

I doubt you'd ever understand that. For which you should be glad, frankly.

[Chef Jim]

That's not the thought process that was going through his head. No one "decides" to commit suicide.

 

I doubt you'd ever understand that. For which you should be glad, frankly.

 

That's what scares me sometimes. I understand it too much.