Thanks from Michelle Obama

[cjlmlml]

>>> Thanks from M. Obama
>>>
>>> The American People
>>>
>>> For only the second time in my adult life, I am not ashamed of my
>>> country. I want to thank the hard working American people for paying
>>> $242 thousand dollars plus additional expenses for my vacation in Spain.

>>> My daughter Sasha, several long-time family friends, my personal staff
>>> and various guests had a wonderful time. Honestly, you just haven't
>>> lived until you have stayed in a $2,500.00 per night suite at a 5-Star
>>> luxury hotel. We only booked 70 rooms for our friends, staff and family.

>>> Thank you also for the use of Air Force 2 and the 70 Secret Service
>>> personnel who tagged along to be sure we were safe and cared for at all
>>> times.
>>>
>>> Air Force 2 only used 47,500 gallons of jet fuel for this trip and
>>> carbon emissions were a mere 1,031 tons of CO2. It costs only $11,500
>>> per hour to operate Air Force 2 and each additional plane for the other
>>> members of our party group. These are only rough estimates, but they
>>> are close (who's counting?). That's quite a carbon footprint as my good
>>> friend Al Gore would say, so we must ask the American citizens to drive
>>> smaller, more fuel efficient cars and drive less too, so we can lessen
>>> our combined carbon footprint.
>>>
>>> I know times are hard and millions of you are struggling to put food on
>>> the table and trying to make ends meet. I do appreciate your sacrifice
>>> and do hope you find work soon. I was really exhausted after Barack took

>>> our family on a luxury vacation in Maine a few weeks ago. I just had to
>>> get away for a few days. Will write more from Martha's
>>> Vineyard where we will spend our sixth vacation this year with more of
>>> our family and friends.
>>>
>>> Cordially,
>>>
>>> M. Obama

[cobra132]

Must....not....type.....response........

[AllZWay]

Must....not....type.....response........

Someone be sure to bring this post up to Frank on race weekend....late night party fun. :lol:

[Fbody383]

Look at is this way Doc... with Obamacare, everyone over 65 is a shovel ready project.

[ShadowBolt]

Saw a bumper sticker the other day......My Pastor says God BLESS America.



JJ

[marshall_mosty]

Look at is this way Doc... with Obamacare, everyone over 65 is a shovel ready project.That's the truth. My 88 year old grandmother broke her ankle two weeks ago and it took my mother about 20 calls to find a doctor to take Medicare... it's hopeless.

[Fbody383]

...it's hopeless.


I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.

No it ain't... elections are in November.

[chris-CMC#35]

Wait a minute. You guys are pissed because the gov't spends too much money on socialism and the welfare state, but then you turn around and bitch because Medicare coverage sucks. Sorry: you can't have it both ways.

And what's your solution? Elect Republicans? Are you kidding?! You think grandma is screwed today? Wait until John Boehner kills Medicare and Medicaid, puts means testing on Social Security, zeroes out public education, and grants bigger tax breaks to folks who make 10 times what any of us will ever see in our lifetimes.

Sorry, but I listen to retired people complain that they didn't get a social security increase in 2010. Well tough shit: your cost of living didn't go up.

It's always the same: cut the other guy's benefits, to pay for my rightful dues.

And with that.. let the "libtard" blasts begin. :lol: Though if you really read my post, you'll be hard pressed to brand me a left-wing nut...

-chris

Yeah. That'll work.

[ShadowBolt]

Wait a minute. You guys are pissed because the gov't spends too much money on socialism and the welfare state, but then you turn around and bitch because Medicare coverage sucks. Sorry: you can't have it both ways.

And what's your solution? Elect Republicans? Are you kidding?! You think grandma is screwed today? Wait until John Boehner kills Medicare and Medicaid, puts means testing on Social Security, zeroes out public education, and grants bigger tax breaks to folks who make 10 times what any of us will ever see in our lifetimes.

Sorry, but I listen to retired people complain that they didn't get a social security increase in 2010. Well tough shit: your cost of living didn't go up.

It's always the same: cut the other guy's benefits, to pay for my rightful dues.

And with that.. let the "libtard" blasts begin. :lol: Though if you really read my post, you'll be hard pressed to brand me a left-wing nut...

-chris

Yeah. That'll work.

Left-wing nut LOL

I still like you Chris but we will not discus this at the track.

You did not hear me saying someone should pay for Grandma. I never wanted to pay into SS or any gov. program. Do you think our founding father's would be happy with the size of the Government today? They were worried sick this would happen. They composed a Constitution that we no longer live by. And yes the Republicans I thought spent as much of our money as was possible but this SOB takes the cake! You really think the government can run health care? If you do there is not hope for you. I agree there are issues with health care but the Feds are going to fix it? No way.


JJ

[Fbody383]

Wait a minute. You guys are pissed because the gov't spends too much money on socialism and the welfare state, but then you turn around and bitch because Medicare coverage sucks. Sorry: you can't have it both ways.


As Arnold Kling has observed, why does the Times think that that we cannot possibly afford health care if we have to pay for it individually, but we can afford it if we pay for it collectively? (Source: http://blog.kir.com, Houston attorney's blog I follow)
Personally, I do NOT believe technology, thus most medical technology is a right and certainly not the purview of the federal government. The direct quote was "20 doctors;" why aren't there more? The payment rates of Medicare. Now, is it "reasonable" that we have MEDICAID for truly poor folks, probably. Is it "reasonable" that the federal government controls medical insurance for people over 65? Absolutely not.


And what's your solution? Well it's not Obamacare or Hillarycare. It's also not Social IN-security nor higher incremental tax rates, nor deeper involvement in captial markets, nor additional employer regulations, nor inaction on immigration, artificial home lending standards, etc.


...grants bigger tax breaks to folks who make 10 times what any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. Those are almost fighting words. In this country you're only one good idea away from as much money as you can make. Here's (http://www.taxfoundation.org/news/show/250.html) my source; how do you conclude the "rich" don't pay enough?


In 2007, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 40.4 percent of all federal individual income taxes and earned 22.8 percent of adjusted gross income. Both of those figures—share of income and share of taxes paid—are significantly higher than they were in 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) and paid 36.9 percent of federal individual income taxes. And since when did economies grow without efficient utilization of capital?



Well tough shit: your cost of living didn't go up. Really? My property taxes are up, my food costs are up, my energy costs are up, my medical costs are up, my marginal tax rates are going up. Maybe I'm living wrong.


And with that.. let the "libtard" blasts begin. If you'll run it on the car, I'll give you the LIBTARD decal. And I'll admit there are morons on both sides but I'll take less government, please.

At least we'll have something exciting to talk about with beers at Hallet next year after the Texicans crush the field at Nationals. All love, man.

ps - nice car color. 8)

[chris-CMC#35]

This is good. :D

Jerry - we're together on this: I don't think medical care is a right. That argument has riled me from the beginning.

My argument is basically this: until this country is ready to whack ALL of the entitlement programs, we're not going to be able to fix anything. The problem is that because so many of those things are considered "third rails" we end up playing with stupid stuff on the fringes. Like the state of California trying to outlaw plastic bags at retailers. Or Rick Perry trying to fund Texas schools with a lottery program from his campaign contributors... (I know: Rick is a third rail himself)

-chris

[kbrewmr2]

Wait a minute. You guys are pissed because the gov't spends too much money on socialism and the welfare state, but then you turn around and bitch because Medicare coverage sucks. Sorry: you can't have it both ways.

don't go bringing sound logic into this. It's politics damnit!

:lol:

- KB, agrees with ya. This country has a spending problem.

[cobra132]

My dog got an intussusception. Thats a condition where the bowel telescopes into itself. Fairly common in humans. It often requires an operation to fix. I paid the Vet his fee of $1800 to do the surgery. I get $385 from medicaid to do the same operation on a HUMAN. Don't get me going on medicaid. Its a complete disaster, did you know that only 4% of the medicaid budget goes to physician payments. F the government. We need a balanced budget amendment, term limits and dramatically smaller government.

[cjlmlml]

Until the idiot in Washington becomes more business friendly:

1. People wont want to start companies.

2. People wont want to hire or grow their companies.



Maybe over simplification, but reduce corporate tax and give more business incentives and see what happens.

Dont just hand out money to morons so they can go buy red fanta.

[edrock96GT]

I'm not gonna get involved in this one...

...I don't even know what a medical bill looks like (thanks Uncle Sam) :lol:

Though I could complain that Obama says we'll be ok getting a 2% pay raise next year as opposed to our usual 3.5-4%. :roll:

[BlueFirePony]

My argument is basically this: until this country is ready to whack ALL of the entitlement programs, we're not going to be able to fix anything.
Probably true. A decent chunk of the country apparently feels guilty of the fact they somehow are living more comfortably than someone else and are not able to sleep at night AND are too damn lazy to do anything about it so they end up abdicating their guilt to legislators who use it as a tool to stay in power.

Data point:
I've have run into dozens of well educated, otherwise sensible people wo insist that they are OK paying high taxes because "less fortunate people need it". I could easily find thousands of these people but i lose a handful of hair every time!
Those same people, who when challenged to volunteer additional tax payments instead of allowing the gov't to increase taxes across the board, suddenly go silent. WHen challenged to take their money directly to those they think need it, would rather make a payment online to the United Way (oh,,,another post for another day!) so they can go back to their conversation on how the government is not doing enough.

Another data point. Days after Katrina hit, my wife scrambled around town lobbying local churches (including ours) and businesses to help organize volunteers to take an old Wal-Mart and convert it into a shelter for several busloads of folks who were on their way to McKinney. Leaders from our own church (which we no longer attend) couldn't find the time to even help make phone calls so my wife could get busy on the construction (yes, I said construction...my wife is awesome). We finally went out and bought hammers, etc. ourselves so she, my kids, some of our friends and 4 great guys who showed up could get started. She got two crews of plumbers to come in and work on the showers, kitchen etc.

During the days it took to convert the facility, I saw people come in and work side by side with her through the weekend - all of them just melted back into the world when it was over...not seeking credit or anything. Then there were another 100+ who drifted in for morning coffee, pep talks and photo-opps for their MySpace pages.

Some people are committed to working toward a better (not necessarily utopian or even "equal") world, others just want to Twitter about it.

(P.S. I have the bestest wife in the world).

[Fbody383]

...I don't even know what a medical bill looks like (thanks Uncle Sam) :lol No Eddie, thank you. We should take care of armed service volunteers. Even Glenn.

[ShadowBolt]

Until the idiot in Washington becomes more business friendly:

1. People wont want to start companies.

2. People wont want to hire or grow their companies.



Maybe over simplification, but reduce corporate tax and give more business incentives and see what happens.

Dont just hand out money to morons so they can go buy red fanta.


You are correct. I have 40 people working for my company (down from 52). Right now we would not purchase any new machines or hire anyone. Business is down 40% from two years ago. If the blood suckers keep taking and taking from me I will sell everything and put 40 to 50 more on the gov. Tit. If the good times had laster two or three more years I would already be out of here. Make doing business a pain in the ass and those that can afford to will just close up and live of their winnings.


And Frank is right except we need to add two things. You should not get your pay for the rest of your life when you serve as a Senator or a Congressman. Did you know that? Serve one term and get your pay for the rest of your life! Also we need to get back to the Constitution. And don't get me started on killing unborn babies.


Eddie, you can never be paid too much for your service.


JJ

[AllZWay]

......I get $385 from medicaid to do the same operation on a HUMAN. Don't get me going on medicaid. Its a complete disaster, did you know that only 4% of the medicaid budget goes to physician payments. F the government. We need a balanced budget amendment, term limits and dramatically smaller government.

Well.. I see this all the time from my wife's perspective as well. The medicare crap is exactly why we will be moving back to a cash type system for healthcare if the Obamacare crap continues on.

Doctos will just opt out as they are now doing over medicare reimbursement... then if you want healthcare... pay up out of pocket or you don't get healthcare and then truly only the have's will get good coverage.

The have not's using Obamacrap will get the doctors that could barely pass class. :shock:

[GlennCMC70]

Dont just hand out money to morons so they can go buy red fanta.

I like the orange and grape best.

[ShadowBolt]

We could get a good start restoring our country with this guy in charge.

My man Ted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCHtw6WbbnM

JJ

[Fbody383]

And there's Bryan Glover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfH46DTAkxo)

[BlueFirePony]

Until the idiot in Washington becomes more business friendly:

1. People wont want to start companies.

2. People wont want to hire or grow their companies.



Maybe over simplification, but reduce corporate tax and give more business incentives and see what happens.

Dont just hand out money to morons so they can go buy red fanta.


You are correct. I have 40 people working for my company (down from 52). Right now we would not purchase any new machines or hire anyone. Business is down 40% from two years ago. If the blood suckers keep taking and taking from me I will sell everything and put 40 to 50 more on the gov. Tit. If the good times had laster two or three more years I would already be out of here. Make doing business a pain in the ass and those that can afford to will just close up and live of their winnings.

...

JJ
Add to that how hard it is to START a business in this environment and I think you have all the proof you need that a democratic congress + liberal president has NO interest in supporting small business. I cringe everytime I hear a liberal politician say "of course we need to support our small businesses - they are the engine that drives our economy. We can't believe that the republicans are holding up legislation to help small businesses" because I KNOW they are full of it and as soon as they close the backroom door they are figuring out other ways to tilt everything towards more macro-regulated industry rather than allow a market driven economy to continue.
If the democrats had any interest in supporting small business they've had almost 2 years to do something about it and no one could stop them (as we saw with ObamaCare, and all the other well thought out legistlative "change"). I am just as teed off at republican legislators as well - sitting on their hands except to point at democrats and say 'they aren't doing anything to help small business' instead of working to eliminate some of the obstacles.

Well screw 'em...I'll do it on my own as it should be - though in the end I'll be able to hire far fewer people and it will be much harder than it should be!

[Rsmith350]

Add to that how hard it is to START a business in this environment and I think you have all the proof you need that a democratic congress + liberal president has NO interest in supporting small business.

I resemble that remark :cry:

[marshall_mosty]

We just need to wait until November... it will happen...

Hope and Change... Hope and Change...

[j3ffbrooks]

Chris, made a correction......



Dont just hand out money to morons so they can go buy red fanta, cigarettes, and beer from Walmart and park in handicap spots.

[BryanL]

My dog got an intussusception. Thats a condition where the bowel telescopes into itself. Fairly common in humans. It often requires an operation to fix. I paid the Vet his fee of $1800 to do the surgery. I get $385 from medicaid to do the same operation on a HUMAN. Don't get me going on medicaid. Its a complete disaster, did you know that only 4% of the medicaid budget goes to physician payments. F the government. We need a balanced budget amendment, term limits and dramatically smaller government.

I guess fairly common to you and me is different, but interesting condition.
My question is how tempted were you to perform the operation yourself and save the money for a set of Toyos. I assume you have enough clout that you could bring the dog into your OR at night or probably have a setup where you could do it at home?

[cobra132]

I considered doing the operation in the garage, but I was on-call that weekend. FMR