B-Large

Liberals biggest flaw outside of being infatuated with an egalitarian paradise that is mostly well intentioned, is they refuse to bail on bad ideas rather feel more support and money will make them better. Failing schools, more money. People are poor, more assistance. It feel like you are doing something by increasing a budget, but in fact you are only locking in losses. Conservatism to me was idenitfing solution to problems that work, and building upon those ideas. When it failed, scrap it and move on. Liberals are super optimists, Conservatives super pragmatist... I will disagree as I am sure you will not be surpised on the the ACA is the crown jewel of failed policy for Liberals. I don't think "buy insurance and cover your own expenses" is quite the afront to success that most say it will be. I think it will work, not ideally, but it will in time cover alot of people and me midly successful- so the question is, will liberals build on the succcesses, of throw money at the failures in 5-10 years? We have been over this again and again, but I stil think a State Based Cat Pool for all citizens with fairly high out of pocket routine expense liability woudl be the better approach- I already have patients bitching about how adminstratovely burdensome it is to use the HSA accounts... uh, yeah, duh!... the enitre system is one giganitic adminstrative boondoogle... people just don't listen, and seek to understand the issues we had with the domestic delivery system.

Oh, B, I am sure it was well documented... lol... never a bad kid, in fact teachers liked me, just couldnt sit down... Public schools often fail to hone in a students individual needs, whether it be accerated courses or simple guidance on growing up, showing repsect and learning self control. I would send my kids to a parochial school should I have them, it was just an excellent expereince and great back-up from the school on issues. I am not slamming Public Schools, there were many friends of mine who did well there... but many who languished and ended up !@#$ed up

The Liberal idea of a solid, egalitarian education in and of itself is a noble idea. Where the walls come crashing down is in the fact that reality is very rarely equal in any facet of life, and Unions are the anithesis of progress and building idea that actually work- they always want more control, and that usually means keeping crappy teachers on staff and tying a schools one hand behind their backs. The losers are oftens underserved kids and their families who were on their way up, on to have the rug pulled out from under them. I was never a great student, and always a "Behavior" problem as identified by teachers in Wiliamsville Public Schools. When my parents sent me ot parochial school, all of the sudden I was engaged, grades got better and no more trips to the pricipals office. Why? Because the staff at my high school were not confined by public school rules... not they didn't beat me, but they held me accountable, invested time and energy into me and my potential, and naturally I became more proud and engaed.... the point is I was a marginal kids with parents who gave a ****, and we had the resources to send me to a good school... poor kids don't, but program like Charter Schools break down those barriers.. sad another thought- why are there teachers Unions anyway? It was never considered dangerous work, and I don't think teachers were 8 day a week slaves... weird.

Wow, bad move. You think healthcare expensive now? Wait until you pay Nurse Managers for the 70+ hours a week they work, not just 40. Those people live here, and there are tons of them keeping these places open and running. Holy ****, I have defended the President on many occasions mostly supporting and backing the ACA, but Jesus H BHO- put together some proposal that deal with the real problems in this country.... people are getting tired of politics and small time nitpicking...

He certainly doesn't like Black People.....

I was listening to a Chuck D interview a while back after seeing Pubic Enemy in concert, and it was very interesting what he said. He said no Democrat or Repiblican was going to help the Black Community as much as they Black Community would be able to help itself. He focused on how starting and owning business' would be the catalyst to give the Black Man not only power, but self reliance and the ability to lift his fellow man out of poverty and crime. He said it all starts with building strong neighborhoods, looking out for one another rather than the Government, getting our kids educated and pushing them intellectually, and creating opporutnity that are plentiful rather than producig more scarcity and dependence. IMHO, the welfare and support we as a nations have provided for Black Americans probably helped intitially, and it had an efficacy after Civil Rights movement... but it is pretty obvious by most measurements that it is not longer working, rather holding that demographic down. So the question is not who to blame for the problems, but rather the first steps to fixing them, and building on those fixes and successes.

the Anti-Pork Law could be seen as Anti Gay as well.

thank you Chef, I will

this topic didn't really fit elsewhere, so I thought I might place it here and if it need moved, so be it. My wife has 4 qualified plans that remain at past employers, 403b's I believe, and I have asked her for years to roll them over, research how to do that, etc... shocker, she has never done it. But now that she is self employed, what is the range of options for a new retirement account, and what do most sole proprietors do? Also, can you roll over old qualified retirement accounts into a new individual IRA and continue to build the balance? I have thought about having a financial planner, but most of our assets are tied in physcial real estate and I haven't really met with a Planner who adds much value to that. We just want to make sure we are saving not only in real estate, but in some retirement accounst as well. Thoughts are appreciated.

As the Muslim shop owner, I would print them but ass rape them on price. Then I would either make great margins or he would take his business elsewhere. Some bigot doosh burning a koran doesn't change my realtionship with Allah, and in a country that is often times very sympathetic to the downtrodden, it could be a silver lining toward the mainstream acceptance of my religion in America. Forcing that relationship breeds comtempt, thats the reality.

A national Medical records system is no brainer- the fact that in 2014 we still print records to send to another hospital is ludicrous.

I hate the cliche because it makes me want to puke, but lack of "Vision" makes these places the economic nidus they have become. Perhaps Buffalo was doomed as soon as water based transpot gave way to rail, or when manufacturing left, but I don't see much in that city that reeks of innovative economic or policy strategy- hence wh I live in Denver.

Detroit is an interesting case study of town/industry that refused to see the forest though the trees. Monlithic, competitively lazy compaines often get their clocks cleaned when their industries change and they no longer can pump out average products and still rake in generous profits. Detroit to me is failing because of the insistence that it will "come back", and they are stuck on a permanent competitive hangover. Unions are simply the ironic icing in the cake- they at one point helped workers and improved their lives, but when GM faced fierce competition, they screwed the worker through excessive demands and making management unable to adapt (even if they had a clue). As far as the City, when you have a gigantic industry that dominates a market and the tax revenues come pouring in, why not make big promises, right? Until the tax revenues are no longer pooring in. It sucks but it appears pensioners will have to take some kicks in the nuts to balance out those long-term obligation, or else Detroit will conitnue to be a place inhospitable to business and residential living. Detroit is a blessing to this country, yet the media fails present it that way. These lessons learned, should at least, be some of the most valuable with regards to pensions, government excess, unions, etc... California, NYS and Illinois should be paying attention, close attention, because the time will come for them as well if they don't shape up.

watch out for your corn hole Explain how identifying good candidates for the program would be racist and profiling...

Its a good point. But you have to wonder if people who made bad decisions reflect poor modeling/ upbrining from parents and influencers, or if they are hardwired for stupid. I do generally believe some people are hardwired for tough, law breaking lives and no matter what intervention they will likely always be in and out. The question is, who is a good prospect, and how does one identify them? In gut I am tending to say there will be failures than successes... but I sure would like to be wrong.

I would cite Tasker's point about offenders leaving only to be back in the system again, simple because the skills they have coming out are only conducive to hustling again. I am not suggesting that you offer the program to everyone in prison, but I have to believe there are offenders that fit a profile that makes them more likely to be chnaged by education programs. Plus there could be a way to earn/ pay back your degree by picking up extra work cleaning up bathroom, or painting prison walls, or cleaning up roads.. something... It isn't just about feeling good, its about attempting programs that improve the goal of our prison system- rehabilitation... may it works maybe is doesn't, but that doesn't mean don't try.

that may very well be the case. Some tigers do not change their stripes, and it would be naive to think otherwise- but if you can capture a few turnarounds, the program would be well worth it IMO.

The point is if you can capture a criminal audience who catches fire and gets postive self image from learning while in the clink, rather than trying to shank someone, perhaps they come out and find a life of employment and propersity- and maybe their debt to society is repaid as these educated ex-cons get involved wiht youth and other at risk Americans to keep them out of jail and in school, or in job training. Maybe the repayment is not going back to prison, rather manning up and paying your bills the honest way. Many of these guys were dealt a **** life, **** family, **** friends, **** situation- We might be amazed what is inside some of those criminal given teh chance to success, rather than rob and steal.

I don't disgaree. Not quite the same, but we have tenured, untouchable professors at out school of medicine who draw huge checks and don't do **** anymore... in fact, they become polticians internally and make it hard for people to get stuff accomplished. The fact that you cannot fire people who are blatently bad is just one reason people are starting to rethink Unions. The drop in Union mebership is a concrete example of that very trend. It is very eye opening though that asking most parents with young kids, they solution it always to spend more, build more schools, etc... very few want to step back and consider that the appriations are not the issue anymore.

The workers voted no by secret ballot- hard to argue with the result, and you have to think the workers are pretty happy with a stable job and didn't feel like they were getting ripped off or put in unsafe working conditions. See Detroit and that mess as an example of why Unions have a bad name. In Mining or some other hazardous industry a Union still makes sense- but good lord look what they did to GM....

I just appreciate the addtional layer of customer service.

There is no reason for a fight, 2014 looks great for the GOP House to stay in tact, and the biggest Progessive PAC has already thrown in the towel on the midterms to prepare for Hillary. What would they gain from a fight?

With regards to healthcare I am still amazed by a few things: 1. SO many people in this country still don't know how insurance works, they have no idea why risk pools exist. It is fascinating to hear people talk about the Helth Insurance industry and the amount strange information they have been told. 2. Tons of people do hold onto a job just for insurance, at least prior to 2013. One of the gals that works for me is leaving- her husband is a private insurance adjuster, makes alot of money, they have three kids, but cannot get insurance because he had some condition or maybe it was one of the kids. She is going to just take care of her kids, and they will not get subsidies or loaf on the public dole. I also have other staff people in their late fifties who only work for insurance bacuse they have conditions and aren't old enough for Medicare. Why is the assumption that everybody who quits their job is just going to sit on on the dole all day? ****, I am leaving in September- my wife already left and makes more money self -empoyed that at some crap job. Where did this lazy narrative come from? I know come people won't do ****, but they were probably on Medicaid anyway.

Dog Style. Yep, certainly Dog Style

might be the ass end of this discussion.