John Adams

I wasn't really involved in this discussion much but I provided the link to the lawyers because it discussed SSI, which appears to answer the question of how people can get Social Security (in some form) and not have worked. I have worked with a lot of families in Philadelphia on family law and trust me, they have NEVER worked and all have a way to game the SSI system so that they get their checks. In addition to SSI, they get their food stamps (which is actually just a credit card you can use to buy food these days). That gives about $700-$1000 worth of food a month depending on dependents.

http://www.mysocialsecuritylawyers.com/wha...ked-before.html Voila.

Once chance to take this back or revise it.

What's the correlation there to how whiney teachers are? (Don't even get me started on the value of an Education Masters Degree.)

It was a rerun and I've seen it before. It is a good episode. My 8 year old daughter found it all fascinating as well.

I'm practical enough to understand things like this happen. If I'm running down a hall after bin Laden and the hall splits and a nearby bad guy knows what way he went, I'll probably beat it out of him. But that doesn't make it right and I should be accountable for torturing the guy.

I hate you for breaking the consecutive Magox post run.

That can't happen because you can't be trusted to take care of yourself.

Thank you. The argument will go "people who opt out will need care if they fail to save so we must provide for everyone." Motherment.

The more you pay in, the bigger your benefit at retirement.

PPP is the only place the mods won't punt his self-promoting post to the curb. I think of us as existing in TSW's Star Wars trash compactor. When we yell and act like idiots, our screams bounce off the walls and don't affect the other boards. Darin is that snakey thing in the water: He reaches up and grabs someone once in a while but for the most part, unless you're deep in the muck, you're safe. SDS is the power that can squeeze us all down if we get too out of control.

Is there a profession that complains more about their pay than teachers? I can't think of one. The most underpaid professions like police officers and military hardly make a peep in comparison.

As a strictly practical aside, Medicare reimburses hospice $100/day. That's for skilled nursing, drugs, doctors, and any equipment. So from a practical standpoint, lots of people can't afford hospice care but they can afford chemo and the like. Another stupid consequence of government-run medicine. (Most hospices are thus non-profits.)

You sir, are a Grade A class 1 moron. My wife has run into enough Catholics afraid of taking hospice care to fill a room. And she's also had many patients scared off hospice by priests.And those are only the people who have made it to the stage where they will even consider hospice--an entire legion of people won't even consider talking to the hospice workers because of their beliefs. As I said, and I don't expect your not-so-nimble mind to grasp this subtlety, there is a tension between Catholicism and hospice. Hospice is allowed in Catholicism but if you stray to far into "willing to cause death" or stopping treatment to cause death, you're going to hell. Given the fine line there between "wanting to die" (Hellfire) and "allowing yourself to die" (no Hellfire)--and I'll say it IS a fine line because many people at end of life are often wanting to die--how do you not acknowledge that Catholic beliefs are in tension with hospice? This isn't a Catholic bashing thread by the way. It just so happens a Catholic piped up first. Other ethnicities and religions have different hospice issues. Some poor people don't trust the "system" when it recommends hospice, feeling like their needs are being disregarded just because they are poor. Many people feel it's not dignified to stop feeding or giving water, even though that's one way a patient may be signaling they are ready to die.

I can discern meaning from WisconsinBills posts; that doesn't make them inoffensive. When you decide to rebuff the rules of grammar, it's disrespectful. If you're in a place where everyone does it, it's the norm. Here, it's not the norm as a sign of respect for each other. Other things that are disrespectful: cursing in front of people you don't know. Spitting in public. Pissing on the toilet seat. If you require other lessons in public decency, please see the poster named stuckincincy. He's got an wikilist of things he considers in bad taste.

"Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded." Learn your faith. If you don't see the tension between the Church's teachings and people on hospice, you're dense. My wife sees it all the time. Priests telling people they should seek treatment and not be on hospice. Cahtolic patients worried they are going to go to hell for not taking more chemo. All sorts of Catholic BS. Don't worry: Other sects are nuts too.

Considering that a Catholic patient goes to Hell if they refuse medical treatment in hope of ending their suffering and causing their death, I'd say religion gets in the way of A patient choosing hospice.

I don't know one Catholic hospice worker and it's safe to say I know a lot hospice workers more than you.

No it's a fact. And the reason is because no one's heart is in the war on drugs. Arresting users is a colossal waste of time and money.

ee cummings Wawrow doesn't mind a little shrapnel.

Sorry that I expect you to make an attempt to communicate the way most people do. Carry on and don't be shocked that no one takes you seriously except Wawrow.

Try grammar: It's invigorating.

I'm not one for predictions (unlike you) but I'll see how I do predicting what Obama will tout as deficit reduction strategy: (1) No more Iraq/Afghanistan by 2012 (2) Increase tax rates for top earners (3) Increase capital gains rates (4) Increase certain spending and tout revenue it will save in the future (5) Slight decrease in military spending

There seem to be a few things open to interpretation on gun laws. - What you can have, ie, what's an acceptable legal way to blow **** apart and what isn't? (No to nukes...yes to .22s...where does "yes" cross to "no"?) - What kind of background check is OK? To me it seems OK to not sell guns to violent offenders. But that's just me. Besides that, don't care. And maybe I don't even care about that. - No gun sales to kids. I'm OK with kids shooting guns but let's at least pretend a parent is involved and make adults buy the guns. - Maybe a handful of places where you can't bring guns like schools. Beyond that, I don't care much. I don't carry but feel free to.

The implications? He can pay cash anytime. Medicare shouldn't pay for extraordinary end of life treatment. That's simple. Where that line is drawn is hard but so be it. The real issue is that people need to get more comfortable with choosing hospice. Saying "no" to doctors when they want to prolong life. Doctors need to get better at having a discussion with patients that involves quality of end-of-life and not just work so hard on keeping life going. Right now, doctors fight death until they are out of options, which makes someone live longer (perhaps) but reduces that quality of life to something negligible. I would rather have 3 relatively pain free months in my home at the end of my life than 9 pain-wracked ones in chemo and in and out of a hospital. Most people don't make that decision.