Azalin

And when you lie directly into the faces of the victims' grieving families while standing at their flag-draped coffins, blow if off. Bad **** happens, right?

South Park and Archer. Cartman and Sterling are my role models.

I would add that too few people understand that to maintain a free society, they need to participate. Most people I know aren't even registered to vote, and even more can't even name their congressional representative. Almost nobody I know can explain the balance of powers or name a single supreme court justice. Abdicating your personal responsibility only serves to create a vacuum that will quickly be filled by special interests. In other words, the mess we're in is on us, not anyone else.

RIP

Now that's just child abuse, plain and simply.

Don't worry, they'll all graduate soon. Let's just wait for the fun when they enter the real world. The Darwin Award potential alone has me salivating.

But Leonard Nimoy put you up to it, didn't he?

Those people did however stress that their children learn English, because they were smart enough to know that if you want a chance to attain anything in life at all, you need to be able to communicate with people. Otherwise, you isolate yourself from society at large. Rather than use your head for once, you're simply content to continue accusing Jim of not liking "these people". I wish you could see how incredibly ironic your display of that mentality is when applied to the subject of people from other lands or ethnicity.

I appreciate your response, but I have a few questions. Why would we want to do away with individual plans? An individual's lack of bargaining power shouldn't enter into it - they're customers, each with their own particular health concerns. I believe people should be free to assess their own risks and invest accordingly. And I'm not talking about anything like the ACA's bronze, silver, or gold plans, but real choices for people. I also happen to believe that insurance companies can and will make more affordable options for people if it means it will bring them more customers. I'm also wondering about funding insurance vouchers for everyone based on collections from what - basically a new national sales tax on all good & services? Wouldn't it be an understatement to say that would have a massive impact economically, especially on the lowest income earners? At least you're modest.

The only comics I ever collected over the years were the Superman series (Action, Man of Steel, etc) and the Batman series (Detective, Batman, Dark Knight, etc). According to the Batman/Superman canon (at least in one or two story lines) Superman entrusted Batman with a kryptonite bullet in case anything ever happened to make Superman lethally dangerous to humanity. Then again, expecting movies like this to stick to the original spirit of the characters, even ones as iconic as Batman and Superman, is probably ridiculous. One of the stories involving the kryptonite bullet occurred in this story arc featuring probably the only DC superhero that could actually defeat Superman. The Spectre:

If you read the thread, you'll see that I have indeed been participating, but right now I'm just trying to annoy you.

So you know some smart people?

Aren't 'superiors' expected to have spelling skills?

You shouldn't trust online translators. They have been known to make the stupid sound even dumber.

Well, he very thankfully hasn't left a trail of bodies through Texas on his rise to national prominence. None discovered yet, anyway.

I can only imagine what the extent of ridiculous costs are throughout the health insurance industry. Last year my doctor prescribed liquid Albuterol for me to be used in a device called a nebulizer. The company that provided the equipment came out to my home to instruct me on how to use it, and told me that since I'd already met my deductible, there would be no charge until after January, when the annual maintenance contract on the device was due. When I learned that it was going to cost me $500, I thought about buying an air pump and fashioning my own nebulizer. The very first link I clicked on after googling 'air pump' showed a display for the exact device I had at home - with a price tag of $34.95. I called the company who was leasing me the device and told them I was going to send it back, and they told me "All you have left on the device before you own it is $11.00". Own it? I was never even told that was an option. The experience made me realize how much this sort of thing must happen, how much unnecessary cost is accrued, and how much less insurance might cost if things like this were reigned in.

Indeed.

I'd be interested in hearing any specifics you've got.

True, Cruz's delivery makes him come off as a mustache-twirling, snake oil salesman. He'd be a lot more popular if that weren't the case.

I think by DOE he meant the dept of education.

That's the European model. Besides, it's not about competition between hospitals, but competition between insurance providers.

I figured you did. It gives added perspective to the issue of illegal immigrants that I think other folks might not appreciate, doesn't it?

Thanks for the info. I meant my post to sound more tongue-in-cheek than it probably did.

My own particular political leanings aside, this is shaping up to be the most fascinating presidential election cycle in my lifetime. One side has been whittled down from what - 17 candidates to four, and the other side has a real-life socialist still actively running and attracting the youth vote. Frightening yes, but fascinating.