“White collared conservative flashing down the street
Pointing their plastic finger at me
They’re hoping soon my kind will drop and die
But I’m gonna wave my freak flag high, high
Wave on, wave on
Fall mountains, Just don’t fall on me
Go ahead on Mr. Business man, you can’t dress like me
Sing on Brother, play on drummer”
“If 6 Was 9,” Jimi Hendrix, 1968
Tuesday was the Bizarro world antithesis of the late Mr. Hendrix’s take on politics.
For months some of the more developmentally challenged commenters (that would be you, Harley and Mysterious J) have responded to my posts with sensitive and nuanced thoughts like, “Why don’t you just curl up and die, embittered old white man! Don’t you realize your day is over!”
Well, apparently it isn’t.
There’s still life in this old Republican party yet. There’s also more to the party than elderly, white straight men, with African-American, Hispanic, women, and gay Republicans being elected throughout the country. Young people are also in full recovery from their infatuation with Obama and the Democratic Party. (Nothing like living in your parents’ basement with no job prospects into your 30’s to concentrate the mind wonderfully.)
There are only two things further to say about the results of Tuesday’s election that haven’t been made elsewhere because they are local in nature.
One, the complete and utter discrediting of the Kansas City Star as any kind of reliable news source, with any pretense of objectivity in its coverage. Month after month, week after week, day after day, the Star waged a journalistic jihad against Sam Brownback. There were editorials, opinion pieces, cartoons and “news” stories that were all dedicated to establishing that conservative Republicans in general and Brownback in particular were the spawn of the Devil.
One particularly nice Orwellian touch was the Thought of the Day “Blog Bits” at the top of the editorial page. These little quips, from such noted public intellectuals as Barbara Shelly and Yael Yabba-Dabba-Do (see ‘The Flintstones’) were usually devoted to jabs at the Kansas governor. Coupled with their not-so-strange crush on the oily Greg Orman, the Star read more like the newsletter for the Kansas Democratic Party than a general circulation newspaper.
Greg Orman
Don’t expect anything like contrition though.
As the champions of peace, justice, and federally funded and licensed day-care, they cannot be wrong! (Yesterday brought the news that MIT professor Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, was caught on camera saying that the law was intentionally drafted so as to be unreadable in order to take advantage of “the stupidity of American voters” to pass it.)
The other delight was the Mod-Squad/Old Guard Republicans complete rout.
At long last we may be rid of this den of thieves who have plundered state and local government for so long. The days when Dick Bond, Mary Birch, Larry Winn, III, David Atkins, David Wysong, John Vratil, et alia could run things are over. Fair notice to Republicans for Traditional Values (i.e. Paul Davis), Republicans for Orman, and the rest of the pompous poseurs calling themselves “Moderates,” Operation Payback begins.
Reap the whirlwind, Kansas.
Kansas deserves this, without lube.
WHITE RICH ENTITLED MEN RUNNING THE NATION
ARE OVER. IF YOU READ THE POLLING DATA FEMALES
WERE DOWN FOR REPUBS…(A DISTURBING MATTER)…
AFRICAN AMERICAN AND LATINOS TURNOUT WAS WAY
DOWN….AND EVEN DEM VOTE WAS DOWN…TYPICAL
OF ALL MID TERM ELECTIONS IF YOUR READ YOUR
HISTORY BOOK.
FOR GUYS LIKE SOUTHY WHO NEVER WORKED A DAY
IN THEIR LIVES WE’RE COMING FOR YOUR THEFT OF THE REVENUES.
ITS OVER SOUTHY….WE’RE JUST PREPARING FOR THE
REVOLUTION!
IF YOU READ MY PREVIOUS STORIES TO THE MID TERMS
I EXCPLAINED THAT THESE MEANT NOTHING.
THE WINERS WERE IN RED STATES…AND THATS WHAT
MAD THE DIFFERENCE (EX. NC/WV/ND ETC.)… BUT
IN 2016 THE TABLES TURN AND THE SENATE GOES BACK
TO DEMOCRATIC CONTROL….ANY BETS SOUTHY?
so no I don’t hate you…but we’re about to organize into the
new society and you and your ilk die off and a new
generation takes the reins. You and your family and your
associates have destroyed this nation. You can’t even run a
bank give free money without the government having to come
in and take over because you missran the bank and the oss
says there’s not enough reserves….how bad a management
team can there be at that bank southy.
Your greeddiness and run for the filthy money there causes
families to split and sue each other…how bad has it become?
As I said 5 months ago…the demographics of the nation are
changing. This was not a republican wave (according to
even republican experts)…its the calm before the storm.
16 million more democratic voters in 2016 will put the repub
party in the grave for the final time. Any bets???????????????????
You’ve got more money than me. And your mouth is bigger
than mine. Put some of that free money you get every month
wherer your big mouth is. Or lets see how toughbyou are outside
the banks and property you own.
YOu…and your people have stolen from the nation making
almost every reader on kcc suffer because of the actions taken
by those who think they deserve it….well you deserve it…
we’re going to come get it.
as far as the election…tell us now where we get the
even more money to cover brownbacks failed experiment.
today the losses pile up even more!!!!! get your checkbook
out southy….we’re coming for thatvmoney because no one
has the money to cover brownback (your ally’s ) mistakes.
same with pat….how many more years before we solve
the problems that have lingered fro 40 years?
Obama will pass all his legislation with executive order…
voter drives will make 2016 the biggest election in history..
the Hispanics blacks and females will flood the polls like
never before..Hillary will keep us in control….because souty
you do understand this fact…without the white house
guys like you ain’t got shit
!!!!!
we’ve decided to no longer fight on guns…we’re arming
along with our friends and cohorts. We’ll see how rich
old white dudes like you can do when the revolution begins…
get ready boys….we’re taking back the nation……
here we come….
I’m not going to let this one pass without noting that Harely is dead wrong in saying Dwight never worked a day in his life.
Broad,sweeping ignorant assertions such as the above tend to take away from the sometimes spot on comments that the H Man makes.
I doubt if his true identity were on the line, he’d be so needlessly flip and careless.
That he seems blind to such obvious stupidity does call into question – not just his “body of work” – but his overall ability to reason.
i’ll accept that…but when you’re born with the
kind of money southy has theres no pressure
to perform…no pressure to meet a payroll..
daddy and granddaddy made sure of that.
I see they sold the property at 107 and nall. (I think that was owned by the southys)….and its
brought them big money.
So southy has nothing to worry about…he’s never
dug a trench…worked in front of a stove….
chopped lumber…filled a road hole…
never cleareda field…stack 10,000 boxes…
he’s never done that kind of work.
Pushing paper is hardly work hearne…let him
come with one of us and lets seehow long he
lasts.
Now answer all the other claims in my
comments. You can’t and southy wont.
How about the bank? lets hear some answers.
Many people attacked glaze when his father
sued the family…exactly what happened at
the bank>>>> everyone said it was sick…
bt that bank was according to the lj world
having problems. Just what was reported….
so come out southy and stand upfro yourself..
or isn’t there enough money involved…
And this garbage about black/latins etc
elected. Defendthat? ONe black woman?
The repubs will probably expect her to clean
the caucus roomor confuse her with the maid.
The repubs hate blacks just like Obama…
its in every polling piece of data out there!!!!!!!
And I’d be interested to see how much government moneywas used to keep some of those bad banks running because we don’t
want no freeloaders do wer repubs!!!!!!!!!
mon
OK, just like that you’ll accept that Dwight has worked hard all his life, how noble of you after having bogusly asserted the opposite for more than a year.
But you hasten to remind that he chamfered a well off family and never had to dig a trench.
Please.
Who has had to dig a trench? You know, funny thing, but outside of Third World countries and backyard landscapers, not many people dig anything approaching a trench by hand. Mostly that is done by machines.
Since I came from a similarly privileged background you might make the same assertion about me. However I was in the Navy and very much did have to dig the earth by hand in the hot sun and other tasks, so you really never know.
And remember, as the king of commenters who “assume” – you may want to heed the words given to me by a teacher long ago:
Never assume. Because to assume makes an “ass” out of “u” and “me”
And your assumptions about which branch of the Sutherland family did this or that and calling upon Dwight to clarify or defend your vague, baseless accusations is as good an example as any of what assuming does to you.
Harley, seeking ordnance for the coming propaganda of the deed, is indeed a fearsome thing to contemplate.
Finally, the Liberal light at the end of the tunnel, personified by Harley, in person, with ordnance and attitude to match those old white men’s mountains. By god RUN!!! RUN!!! DWIGHT RUN!!!
Harley you fraud, fake, lying, low life puke, the idea that you are going to arm yourself and storm Sutherland’s Bastille is not just preposterous, puerile and predictable, it is a tribute to the madness and WILLFULL IMPERCIPIENCE that resides at the extreme Liberal end of the political Bell Curve.
Throwing rocks from across the moat at Sutherland’s castle might make you feel good, but if you slip into the water, there be dragons and you, you contemptible douche bag, are a coward and will slay none, neither here, or, in the real world.
So many CAPS, H Man. So little time!
I say we go ahead and toss Harleys real identity out there. Ive got clear legal approval on that….
Do it, Paul!
Sorry, but NOBODY’S mouth is bigger than yours, Harley!
And of course the Greek chorus of the media again declares the death of a party. As it has done for decades, one election defining all time. At least till the next one.
And as a member of the socialistic, communist, radical commenters I say the media has again put all the round pegs in square holes to morn the great loses of women and progressive politics.
True if you have a narrow view of women according to this Liberal woman.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2014/11/07/midterms_2014_bad_for_women_or_just_bad_for_liberal_women.html
And despite the Red Tide, progressive issues flourished in Red States. Arkansas passed a minimum wage law.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/11/republicans_win_the_senate_by_sounding_like_democrats_america_is_moving.single.html
The American people voiced their displeasure with both parties by throwing out incumbents.
The local politics tell a story the national media can not see and local media is too weak to be anything but an enabler.
Pat Roberts I guess I can understand. I don’t agree with his politics but voters seemed to have the opinion that Roberts is the devil that you know. That being said, what is the argument for Brownback? I see the typical cheerleaders for this vision (Wall Street Journal, Ben Stein, Grover Norquist) but I just don’t see the hard evidence that this “experiment” is working out.
The evidence is there, jimmy…
Not in Kansas – yet anyway – but clearly in Indiana and Texas.
Before I get into a debate about this, what specifically are you looking at that makes you think that what happened in Texas and Indiana will happen in Kansas? Also, are you just looking at job numbers? Do quality of jobs, quality of life, access to affordable health insurance, education, etc. get figured in?
I’m not suggesting that what happened in Indiana or Texas will happen anywhere.
Just noting that, in answer to your question, it did happen in those states. Read about Indiana in a book a few years ago.
Now it went down in those states during more prosperous times and doing it during this recession obviously made it all the harder for Kansas.
Plus as Dwight pointed out, this wasn’t entirely Brownback’s doing. Read his column a week or so back.
I agree that it was too mjuch and the timing was bad. That Brownback defends it is a bit lame as well.
He kind of had to with the election upon him and the criticism has been so polarizing that there’s been little room for reasoned discourse.
Where we go from here is the question and clearly some throttling back and/or changes appear in order, Jimbo
I’m not sure what you mean when you say, “It did happen in those states.” What exactly happened in those states? Are you referring to job creation? Budget surplus? Quality of life improvement?
“Plus as Dwight pointed out, this wasn’t entirely Brownback’s doing. Read his column a week or so back.”
I have read his last two columns. If you are referencing the column from October 21st then you might have seen that I commented:
“They may have wrongly assumed that Brownback wouldn’t sign onto a law that was a (as you put it) “budget buster.” He did sign it and he is taking most if not all of the blame for the state of things. It sure seems like a poor political move on his part and a wise political move on the moderates part at this point. Is it cynical? Sure, but politics are pretty cynical by nature.”
I guess my point is that there is a lot of faith being put into Brownback’s economic policies but there is little evidence that anything positive have come out of these policies. The future doesn’t look particularly bright either.
From The Star: “Kansas will collect $1 billion less in revenue in 2015 and 2016 than its projected expenses following massive income tax cuts signed into law by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
The new revenue estimates released Monday revealed that Kansas would burn through about $380 million in reserves and still need to cut $280 million to balance its current budget for fiscal year 2015, which ends next June 30.
The problem continues in 2016 when revenues are projected to run $436 million short of expenditures, the estimates show.”
Is there a silver lining here that I am not seeing? What is the end game here?
uh hearne…here I go again having to educate
you on thefacts again….because you know nothing.
1. Texas: texas had the advantage of not
getting hurt in the housing crisis of 2008.
Their laws prohibited many of the crazy loans
other states allowed such as 1.9/low equity
refis and almost all the exotic loans that actually
got the housing crisis going. So in 2008 while they had a booming economy….lots of new
people moving in….an aggressive program to
bring business in …..and most importantly
a booming oil business that brought in jobs
and cash….they can’t reallybe usedas an example of a turnaround. Again…Harley has to
educate you because you did no research.
fact is that texas duringthis last crisis added
so may Hispanics that their economy and work
force grew dramatically and long before the
rest of the country started to get back onits
feet…it was booming. In 2009 they were
building like crazy…in 2010 they were rolling.
So again…Harley has to correct mr. hearne
for being wrong about a major part of his argument.
And they had fewer taxes already in place.
In Kansas…brownie said lets cut taxes and
we’ll getthose companies to hire people. The
companies like mine got a tax break but we
didn’t hire any newpeople (but opened a new
biz)…..while other companies just pocketed this
newfound tax rebates without hiring new
people. The next day brownback and his
supporters find out that revenues are down
dramatically and costs are still coming up.
He says holly sh(t…and finds himself and his
state in a billion dollar hole with no new jobs
(except those that came across from kcmo)
which were minimal…but he’s stuck us with
a billion dollar revenue hole with nothing to
cover it with.
He gets reelected and the day after the
election we reax the hole is even bigger and
worse.
So don’t tell us everything is fine in Kansas…
we just lost 900 goodpaying jobs…theres
little if any growth in our state….we’ve been
sold crap by the governor and his supporters…
the people who sawwhat was coming…even
republicans tried to warn the voters…but no
body listened.
THANKS HOMEOWNERS AND TAXPAYERS
IN KANSAS FOR THE TAXBREAK. GET YOUR
WALLETS OUT!!!!!! BROWNBACK LIED WHEN HE SAID THIS WAS ALL OBAMAS
FAULT…BECAUSE EVERYTHING LIES AT
HIS DOORSTEP.
so hearne…again Harley makes you and your
pal look like fools. You did no research on
texas…southy mistook what was happening in
Kansas because his company and his taxes
got cut…so why vote for change.
this is getting old..having to correct everyone
on here from shoedogto glaze…k to southy…
I mean I could fill up entire days correcting
the stupid ass mistakes and mistaken statementsmade by your entire corp of
writers.
Again….who’s the fool HEARNE?
you and your writers.
What a freaking mess I always have to
clean up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I ‘m going to give the same answer that defenders of the Obama stimulus bill,which cost $800 billion but produced no discernible results, give. Maybe we can’t point to many,if any,new jobs which were actually created by Brownback’s(actually Vratil’s ,but that’s another story !) tax cuts,but think of all the jobs which were SAVED ! Think of all the jobs that might have been lost had we NOT passed the tax cuts. How do you know there weren’t hundreds of thousands of such jobs that were saved because of Brownback? By that standard,the tax cuts were a wild success! I dare you to prove otherwise!
Evidence > Snark
Dwight, glad to see you jump back in and respond here.
Don’t think I can PROVE otherwise but I would like to offer a shot at it. Again, I’m not an economist but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn recently. My recollection of the few classes I took in economics tells me this. Business owners are focused on profits and return to their shareholders. Just as they should be. Hiring and/or firing decisions are based on demand for their products and services and not whether they have or do not have money in their pockets from lower taxes. If a company in Kansas retains more of their earnings because of lower taxes but consumers are not lining up to buy their products or services, it’s foolish for them to hire more people, just to sit around. If their current staff is greater than needed to handle demand, they are going to let those people go ( ie Sprint). If a company in Kansas pays higher taxes and has little or no money in their bank account but demand for their product or services is greater than their current staff can handle, they hire. Lenders, seeing proof that the borrower has greater demand than they can currently handle and the product/service has appropriate profit built in, are happy and anxious to lend money in those circumstances. It’s a good banking decision on their part. Returns profit to the banks. Demand drives hiring and firing decisions, not money, or the lack of money, in the pockets of business owners.
That’s my two cents.
On the money
“Jonathan Gruber, the architect of Obamacare, was caught on camera saying that the law was intentionally drafted so as to be unreadable”
– the only good Liberal is Kansas…
“in order to take advantage of “the stupidity of American voters” to pass it.”
– BINGO! Dumbocrat voters – the party of stupid – affirmed said when they blinked not an eye @ mealey-mouthed Pelosi’s “you have to pass it so find out what’s in it”.
Last Tuesday was the beginning – beginning of the end our long, national nightmare.
Exactly Kero. Dead on the money.
It’s hard, so very hard to get your arms around the arrogance and contempt these folks have for not just America, but Americans. Here is the quote from Gruber.
“This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure [the Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. OK? So it’s written to do that. In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if you had a law which said healthy people are going to pay in — you made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money — it would not have passed. OK? Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass. Look, I wish … we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not. ”
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/gruber.asp#fI1yuAAM2jjDxRyl.99
This attitude, this condescension, this sanctimony, contempt and Holier-Than-Thou, down-our-noses activity by our Liberal Overlords in Politics, the Media and the Halls of Academe (Gruber, a Prof from MIT), is not only pernicious and counterproductive ledgerdemain, it is Illegal. Not that this administration, whose calling card is Executive Action by way of the phone and pen (Read Government by Fiat) is concerned with the will of the people or the execution of the law.
Nice article D.S. The Kansas City Star’s graveyard spiral, like most graveyard spirals, are the fault of pilot error. The instruments, in this case, the electorate, don’t lie.
Except you are taking two quotes out of context. With Pelosi, she was specifically talking about the controversies surrounding the bill that she saw as manufactured. The full statement is usually cut off but what she said was, “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy.” In context of that speech to that audience she was saying that once the bill is passed you (the audience) will actually see what it is and what it is not. Plus, uh, citizens didn’t actually vote on the bill so her saying “You have to pass the bill to see what’s in it” doesn’t make a lick of sense.
Gruber’s remarks are a little bit more nuanced but also said in a rather dumb way. Here is what he said: “This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure [the Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. OK? So it’s written to do that. In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if you had a law which said healthy people are going to pay in — you made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money — it would not have passed. OK? Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass. Look, I wish … we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not.”
Again, context is important but what he is basically saying was that the bill was written in such a complex way so that it could not be twisted into “healthy people pay in and sick people get money” which would basically be the headline if it was written in a way that wasn’t as complex. I.E. it is unfortunate that so many Americans are stupid and can’t understand what the law would do because they would gravitate towards the headlines but we decided to use that to our political advantage when writing the bill.
Passed in the proud tradition of T.H.E.P.A.T.R.I.O.T.A.C.T.
The Patriot Act and The Affordable Care Act are both bad. They are both overreaching and attacks on our personal freedom.
I think Polsinelli has a spot opening up in that new building. If any of us are ever indicted for murder, We want you on our team.
If the rhetoric don’t fit, you must acquit.
OJ killed his wife, Gruber killed our Health Care System (With a lot of help.)
“If the rhetoric don’t fit, you must acquit.”
Two things:
1. Your pop culture references are a bit dated.
2. I’m not exactly doing linguistic gymnastics in my last post. I’m simply putting a context to the controversy.
Seems like yesterday to me. I haven’t aged a day.
No amount of spin is going to save you on these two gaffes! The beauty of these quotes( the third such bone-headed remark by the nutty professor from MIT) is that they are by prominent Dems. They can’t be disavowed so easily as those by some dim-witted local political figure like Christine McDonnell or Todd Akin. Speaking of which,I was delighted to see Fox interview former Democratic congressman and presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich on election night. I think his bill barring the feds from manipulating our behavior by brain waves from outer space should be the principal plank of the Democratic Party in 2016. Actually,now that I think of it, it might explain a lot of Harley’s outbursts, Bush era implants that is. (Rumsfeld and Cheney were behind it,right Harley ?)
How am I spinning it? I am not defending the guy as an eloquent speaker but rather giving context to the crux of his point. I even wrote that he made his point in a dumb way. It was written in a complex way so that “sick people get money!” wouldn’t be the headline. A lot of people see the big bold headline at Drudge or Huffington Post and think they understand an issue. I’ll agree that it was a gaffe (from over a year ago but whatever) but I don’t think saying that some people are stupid and easily manipulated by big dumb headlines is a very controversial thing to say.
They didn’t write the law in an indecipherable way because they were justifiably worried about “big bold headlines”. They wrote it that way to hide the truth,that one group of citizens’ wealth was being redistributed to subsidize another group’s.(Guess which of the two tended more to vote Democratic ?) Professor Gruber said it was worth the dishonesty employed because the bill had to be passed.What was merely cynical became actively offensive when he explained that they were counting on the stupidity of the American voter(not”some” but” voters” period) to pull off the deception. There is nothing “nuanced”or ‘taken out of context” about that comment that gets you out of the latest hole Gruber dug for the Party of Workers,Peasants ,and Intellectuals. To claim otherwise is the essence of spin.
I can’t reply to Sutherland’s last comment for some reason so I’ll do it here:
“There is nothing “nuanced”or ‘taken out of context” about that comment that gets you out of the latest hole Gruber dug for the Party of Workers,Peasants ,and Intellectuals. To claim otherwise is the essence of spin.”
I don’t know what to tell you at this point. I see the context of his speech and the context of his audience. You are making this an “us vs. them” issue because you are refusing to look at the context of the statement and instead are viewing it through an ideological lens. It was a gaffe but it didn’t reveal some underlying nefarious plot to redistribute wealth.
Gruber said they didn’t want one group of tax-payers(the healthy) to figure out that they we’re being asked to subsidize another group’s( the unhealthy)premiums because that would make it politically unpopular.Very few people like having their own wealth redistributed,no matter how deserving the recipients.(That includes George Soros and Warren Buffet,their posturing notwithstanding !) The context of the statement is Gruber bragging to a group of fellow academics in an arrogant and elitist fashion how the Obama administration and its allies misled and tricked the stupid American electorate. If it was such an innocuous statement,why has he had to come forward and retract it,just as he has on two prior occasions re the state exchange issue now up before the Supreme Court in the Burwell case? Cut your losses!
no southy…but you and your losers have fuked up
Kansas…they fuked up the war and lied in Iraq…
they fuked up the economy before Obama came in
and cleaned it up.
With a rich family you should care less. Butlers…
limos…you don’t have to work…except to fire
the maids!!!!!
now southy…we’re going to runyyour gang out of
d.c. in 2016 and you’ll be back to playing with your
own balls while we put America back on track.
I’ve been reading this blog for quite a while now, and this is my first post.
Actually, I wouldn’t post now, but I prefer to understand both sides of every argument.
Harley, I really want to understand your point of view, but you are so hyper-focused on Mr. Sutherland’s position/family/money that it is almost impossible to see any point you might be trying to make – unless that is the point you are trying to make… which would really say more about you than about him.
Possibly if you simply focus on your point and avoid the vitriol you might be a bit more understandable…
In his own semi-literate way,”Harley”reflects the Marxist notion of “class enemies”, i.e.that your socioeconomic background determines if you are inherently virtuous as a “worker,peasant or intellectual”(Mao and Kim Il Sung’s preferred name for the Communist Party) or inherently evil as coming from the class of exploiters. This is errant non-sense as analysis,of course,but it’s not even remotely based on fact. Not only does it seem unfair to blame me for the alleged sins of other family members(never specified,I might add)but I get no credit for any of the civic or charitable efforts of my family,including Childrens’ Mercy Hospital,The University of Kansas Medical Center,The Nelson Gallery, Shawnee Mission Medical Center, et al.,or the many years of pro bono legal work I have personally done for the indigent. Not once has Harley addressed the merits of my positions. Thank you, Harlea, for pointing out how tiresome this attitude of his has gotten for all concerned.
Rest assured D.S., if Harley lived in China in 1966, he would have sent your azz to a re education camp and murdered your parents. The Cultural Revolution still lives in the minds of those “Grubers” who know the “Shining Path” to a perfect world.
Fair warning, Harley…
If you persist in repeating the same hollow slams I’m going to limit the number of them
It makes little to no sense to go on and on about the exact same thing four or five times in a single comment section.
Do you have kids or friends or something and they’re always telling you something like, “Dad, you just said that five minutes ago” ?
I suspect that you do!
Two more videos have surfaced,in addition to the three I previously mentioned. One was from October 2013 speech at Washington U.in St.Louis:” Well,they imposed a tax,you’ll see.Americans are too stupid to understand the difference.” On November 5th,2012.Gruber again boasted of selling the ACA by taking advantage of the ignorance of the American public;”Its a very clever basic explanation of the lack of economic understanding of the American voter.” I suggest that you quit now before I further run up the score !
He also said this: “Someone would raise their hand and say ‘You mean you want to tax my health insurance?’ I’d say no, no, no, you don’t understand, I want to equalize the tax burden between health insurance and wages, and they’d say ‘You mean you want to tax my health insurance?’ And I just couldn’t get through.”
And this:
“Let me tell you a little dirty secret about American politics, if I may? Americans don’t really care about the uninsured. It’s not a voting issue.”
Is he being arrogant and pretentious? Sure, I’ll agree to that (though I haven’t been arguing that he wasn’t being an ass) but he isn’t exactly wrong that a lot of voters are stupid (which I’m sure you would agree with) or that they are more interested in their bottom line as opposed to more people having insurance (which I am pretty sure you would agree with as well). My main point here is that this isn’t some smoking gun pointing to corruption but rather a gaffe that the right has molded into, “SEE! LIBERALS THINK YOUR’E DUMB! THEY INTENTIONALLY TRICKED YOU!” In reality, the right has a victim complex and you guys have hurt feelings. It’s OK. My side has a victim complex and gets hurt feelings too. My side thinks your side is dumb and greedy. Your side thinks my side is full of peasants and arrogant intellectuals.
Thanks for fighting the good fight here, jimmy. You’re a rational and articulate advocate for your position but I don’t think you’re going to convince Dwight, nor he, you. Not saying Dwight is a conspiracy theorist but both sides have them and debating them is a difficult wall to scale. Perception becomes reality in the minds of both sides so at some point we just need to accept it and move on.
However, I would like to see the comment total hit 100 here, so…….
When your political opponent brags before a friendly audience that his signal achievement was pulled off by using deception to deceive a gullible public, you do not have to have a “victim complex” to take offense at such remarks. This is especially true when it occurred on three occasions. Nor does arrogance on your side’s part have anything to with hurt feelings on mine. The line about “”peasants,workers,and intellectuals” is a play on classic Marxist rhetoric about the makeup of the Communist Party.By treating voters as dupes that need to be deceived for their own good you are indeed treating them as” peasants” that can only be led by intellectuals like yourself,e.g..”a lot of voters are stupid” is not a very appealing attitude for someone of the “Party of the People”.
Dwight jr. your family has done some good things..
no doubt. But the world is changing. The entire
system has been rigged.
Here’s your quote:
“Gruber said they didn’t want one group of tax-payers(the healthy) to figure out that they we’re being asked to subsidize another group’s( the unhealthy)premiums because that would make it politically unpopular”
that’s the essense of insurance. Large numbers…
the healthy pay for the unhealthy.
In social security without the young healthy americans
paying into ss the program doesn’t work. It would
be bankrupt. Same with medicare.
The program needs healthy young adults paying in
to pay for those that need claims paid.
Why so down on this….it was your buddy Romney that
did this and you never complained about massachussettes or the heritage foundation or
newt gingrich doing this exact same program.
Now the supremes are going to force Roberts to
change his vote and this will be a civil war.
What do you do with those on aca now and trying
to tear down what is already law.
I would love to hear of a program that could get
passed now that would replace what is in place.
remember as your brothers said…ELECTIONS HAVE
CONSEQUENCES…NOTHING LESS WILL BE PASSED….WHAT DO YOUDO?
LETS HEAR AN ALTERNATIVE.
And what happens when 11 million Hispanics get
a pathway to citizenship….get ready boys Obama is
going to do it.
and hence comes the tsunami…the dems will be
pulling the strings again in 2016…..
ssorry….the old white male is withering and dying.
fact of life.
the new world is coming. Get ready.
You will become irrelevant….the tsunami is on its
way.
southy..I look forward to reading your alternative
to the failing health care system we had before that
was sending us into bk. No b.s. Lets hear your
alternative! thanks;
heres what southy says;
“When your political opponent brags before a friendly audience that his signal achievement was pulled off by using deception to deceive a gullible public, you do not have to have a “victim complex” to take offense at such remarks. ”
sounds like your boys bush and cheney who
lied repeatedly to get us into a war that cost
us 250,000 injuries 6000 lives and 2 trillion
dollars and counting.
they lied to get us in and Obama hadto get
us out.
You need to watch what you say…you’re tearing
up your own group of liars.
sorry southy….but we fought a war on a lie
from your side of the aisle.
remember that…the longest war in history
that your boys lied to get us in to.
or did you forget?????????????????????????????
Donald, whats funnier is Nancy Pelosi’s denial of knowing who he was, when questioned, the the news producing a video where she’s extolling is virtures a year ago. Looks like we really are that stupid, because they are still in office and WE put them there…
As usual, GREAT piece…
In the time it takes to moderate a comment, thousands of thoughts have gone through harley’s head and died of loneliness.
He’ll be OK, Orphan…
I moderated him and he’s unleashed a sea of semi incoherent thoughts
I was writing of moi.
Was hoping you were vetting the links or at least read them.
“Young people are also in full recovery from their infatuation with Obama and the Democratic Party.”
That’s grasping. We heard this line in 2010 and we know what happened two years later. Midterm elections are notoriously low turnout and the base of the opposing party of the WH occupant shows up in disproportionate numbers versus the rest of the electorate. With this being a record low turnout, it ought to trouble the GOP that they squeaked by in predominately red states. In 2016, the WH stays Democratic, the Senate flips back in the D column, and the GOP loses a modest number of House seats and governorships. And I say that not as a Democrat, but as a long time independent who’s seen these cycles too many times and notes the demographic trends. Just as the segregationists learned, you’re running out of frightened old white guys hanging on to a whitewashed past and reality that exists only in their own minds.
That’s great Rich. If you are in a hurry to get past that “whitewashed” past, I hear you can buy a house cheap in Ferguson Mo. today! In addition, as I believe you are right and “Hope and Change” are upon us for the foreseeable future, don’t just limit yourself to Ferguson. All over America, citizens are throwing off the yoke of evil white suppression and yearning to be free in Detroit, East St, Louis, Selma, Birmingham and dozens of dozens of other cities where like minded folks can prosper and grow.
Good luck to you and your family and on to the 2016 election of Hillary Clinton! In two more years, even more dead white guys will be out of the way for a newer, younger, more hip and in tune generation to finally make this a great country.
In two more years, even more dead white guys will be out of the way…”
as long as you’re one of them, fine
no but shoedog and chuckles the sad clown will both
be at john knox village spitting into a cup.
that’s a fact jack!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rich has some good points…
As a fellow Independent who voted twice for the Big O, I have to say I’m wildly disappointed.
He puts on a great show and has many ideas and ideals that I agree with but he is so awful at building a consensus and so paranoid about whistle blowers that – Obamacare aside (I like it in general) – he’s been one of the worst presidents I can recall.
Hate to say it but…
wait for it
I think we would have made more progress had Mitt won the White House.
Check out that documentary about him on Netflix btw
Time will decide how we view the O man. Clearly he is vilified by many right now. Truman was pretty widely trashed while in office as well. Now he is revered by most on both sides of the aisle. Hopefully we are both around in about 20 years, Hearne and we can discuss this again while our nurses give us our meds. Maybe we can have Dwight and Harley join us. Share a jar of strained carrots.
Speak for yourself, Stomps…
No nurses needed.
I think people become more charitable with the passage of time and much is forgotten by most. Which in part explains Truman and others.
In many respects the best judges of a president or politician are the people in the then and there. History can look back and see how certain things worked out in the long run, but that doesn’t undo everything that went down while people were watching it all live.
Can’t say that outside of people in the region – Truman is viewed as a kickass prez.
If I recall, Obama even channeled Reagan for some props.
There’s always something good to say, but I think it’s clear that Obama has been an utter failure at building consensuses and getting things done.
He blames it on Republicans and congress and that’s fair but only carries him so far.
Clinton got the job done.
And more whistle blower prosecutions that every president before him combined. Talk about thin skinned.
here I go again hearne…having to correct you
on a misstatement.
Truman had balls..and while many of the
top military felt that manhattan was a
bad project he ordered it continued. Hence
he changed the path of history.
read up onyour history sometime hearne and
learnthat when social security was passed it
faced a worse opposition than the aca.
When medicare passed it faced a brutal
opposition than the aca.
No one wanted the great society or the VA
or the other hundreds of successful government
progrms. They all had opposition…and many
opposed to them.
If you take just statistical numbers….Obama
will have done a better job in many ways than
the repubs hero Ronnie.
Now you and southy and even chuckles and
next ydar shoedog get to reap the benefits of
these once hated and heavily opposed progrms.
So before you write about the future…rememeber
the past and how much opposition some of
America’s greatest programs faced until they
go established and got the kinks out.
Your daughters get to stay on your policy til
their 26…saving them thousands of dollars…
and don’t forget aca is already working well and
its predecessor designed by republicans is
doing great things in mass.
When from day one the opposition states they
will kill everything you try…then its hard
to get anything done.
Sofor lazy guys like you waiting for change
to happen…not reading that real change takes
time and those willing to fight for it…its
pretty cut and dry.
What have you had to fight for in your life?
anything? or was it all given to you or you had
the money to fix or correct things went it went
wrong!
“yes…we are running out of frightened old men”….the sooner the better…
and lets get America back on track.
Don’t see too many of those frightened old white men complaining about
medicare or social security.
Lets take that away…see how they like that!
Dwight; First off, congratulations on your side’s overwhelmingly victorious day last Tuesday.
Secondly, if by “developmentally challenged commenters” you mean their inability to master even basic rules of grammar and civility in the written word and not their political views themselves, then AMEN to that as well.
With regards to the ACA, I am most anxious to see what the GOP proposes as a replacement. While it appears that the GOP sees the ACA as a huge overreach by the federal government into the private sector/insurance company domain, they all seem to embrace the critical piece of taking away the ability of private carriers to deny coverage based on prior conditions. Denying coverage based on prior health conditions is a key component of the private sector’s business model. To criticize the invasion by the government into the private sector on one hand but then to embrace this critical doctrine of universal coverage just seems very hypocritical to me. I guess I’m just developmentally challenged. If the GOP recognizes that our current method of healthcare and it’s delivery are fatally flawed but just don’t like the design and application of the ACA, then I can live with that. Let’s work on something we can both agree on. If on the other hand, they feel like the current system is working fine and the federal government needs to stay completely out of it, well that drives me to apoplexy.
While we disagree on our politics far more than we agree, your offerings are almost always well thought out, well supported, and well written. Rarely do you stoop to insults, even in your initial responses to insults from our group of commenters. The 2016 elections are now on the horizon and I anxiously look forward to the political exchanges here in the next 24 months.
Good stuff Dwight. Let the games begin.
And let the record show that the Stomper noted quite early on that the elephants had little to worry about with Davis and Orman
Harley, do you ever take the time to actually read and comprehend what I write ??????
I’m on your side politically. Just because I try to be civil and complimentary to my political opponents doesn’t mean I agree with their point of view. Both sides have to work together to get anything accomplished. I agree that Brownback and his blind allegiance to an economic theory that clearly does not work is destroying the state but even the most shallow follower of politics in Kansas should have suspected he was going to win. Just because I picked him to win does not mean I supported him.
Your slash and burn writing style is a detriment to making your point Harley. I think you’ll have better luck with a velvet hammer, not a sledge hammer.
I don’t read Harley — I would if he/she would construct one complete sentence.
Saying that Harley is “as dumb as a bag of hammers” is an insult…..To the bag of hammers.
I used to try to respond to him in an effort to show him where he’s off base. I then came to the understanding; I could write a story on a situation, and no matter which angle I picked, he’d be willing to tell me I was full of crap. He’s been caught in more lies than anyone, yet he wants to talk about liars. He’s been off base more than anyone here, yet all he wants to do is point out how wrong everyone is.
Long story short, there’s nothing gained.
He did commit a felony, however. My attorney has the email with IP from his home address, where he wrote me over a year ago, portraying himself as Stan Goldstein, a wealthy, retired class action attorney from Phoenix. That was proven false and his response? He “punked” me in his trick.
Point is, it’s still traced to him, it’s still portraying an attorney in a threatening email to me.
Trust me, its just one in a stack of, which allowed me to get a John Doe Subpoena to Sure West. It’s allllllll just brewing until the right moment.
And with that, I’ve stopped responding until “I” and “I” alone decide when to pull the trigger. And it’s getting close…
Well…that’s…uh, creepy.
What if we all put the hammers down, and come up with solutions? Nah, that’s just crazy talk. As you were.
You are right about one thing. Republicans had better get busy finding a replacement. The information on Gruber, missed by the media, but discovered by a reluctant soul from my profession found it just in time to interpret justices of the US Supreme Court as stupid, as they, along with Democrats in Congress were the only ones who had votes, not the general public. What it will come down to, according to Gruber, is whether the “stupid” Justices will side with the spirit of the law or the letter of the law. Yes, I think a Congressional Caucus is in order before the swearing in ceremonies. Better to have something ready to go, if the Supremes axe non-state created exchanges.
southy …heres the breakout:
fem: 56% dem.
black: 5
hsipanic 38
with hillaryand Spanish running mate here’s the new numbers
female 65% dem
black 94% dem
Hispanic 90% dem (include the 11 million nw citizens in 2016..hahahahaha!)
its a landslide earth shattering election…bring it on southy…if you’re still alive
you old goat to see your republican party still in action.
Saw dick bond /////when the repub party breaks in half and has time to
organize and get out the vote (unlike they did in 2012) they will move across
the nation and be bigger than the original republican party.
So slow down….let Kansas go bankrupt (which it looks like its going to
have to do…where the extra 350 million coming from ? maybe you have some
ideas because the cupboard is already bare. Close down all the schools? bust ku
and kstate? cut all social programs? Yes your people won…but how stupid can
those people be. Have they not seen the damage and how long it will take to
fix that damage that brownback created? All your fancy words and inheritd
money can’t change the wreck knsass is in. So take your phony stories…your
free money fvrom daddy because you’ve never worked a day in your life…
and lets so how well you survive when they come to take your free money away.
good luck . The party is over!!!!!!!
In 2006, the leading contenders were Hillary and Giuliani, not Obama and McCain. There is a lot of territory to traverse between now and then. The news media also gets it wrong, assuming 53 or 54 Senators is not enough. It may in fact be enough with the addition of 6 or 7 Democrats who would like to keep their job. Even Harry appears to be thinking about it. Will there be radical idiocy on the right? Count on it, but also count on idiocy on the left. Let’s hope that in the next two years, moderates from both sides can make some progress.
It’s a great day in America when 38.5% of the electorate re-elect 90% of the people who had a below 10% approval rating. My head spins like Linda Blair trying to figure out what message was sent and by whom?
Spot on, Randy.
The fact of the matter is the public tends to do two things:
1. Believe the last, loudest voice they hear that
2. Confirms whatever bias they tend toward.
This makes election outcomes logically incomprehensible to reasonable people but excellent troll-bait for adherents of whichever party lucked out in the latest polling place.
One message is that 61.5 percent of the people have gotten too apathetic to vote. That may be one reason both sides seem to be more successful playing to their base, instead of people that are straddling the fence. Many of the people in the middle may answer a poll, but don’t have enough passion to get off their couch and vote.
What a great country…where we force our insurers to pony up hundreds of thousands of dollars for someone who, not having purchased insurance before getting sick , now gets cancer and gets insurance AFTER THE FACT. Like someone said, why don’t we just let someone by fire insurance AFTER their house burns down and make BIG INSURANCE pay for it???? Or for some real fun…lets let everyone buy collision insurance AFTER they have a wreck! And if BIG INSURANCE can’t bite that one off, then jack up our taxes to 80% and let the white guys pay for it. Yep, Harly…this “revolution” bodes well for the your desired destruction of the country.
vincent, are you seriously trying to generate sympathy for the financial plight of insurance companies? Obviously you think healthcare is a privilege and not a right if you think healthcare can be compared to owning a car or a house, which is clearly a privilege and not a right.
Trust me, insurance companies are doing just fine. You have to know that anything insurance companies pay gets passed on right to you and me and everyone else. And, it’s not just in insurance premiums. These costs get passed to us in everything we spend money on right down to a pack of gum.
People that get sick, get cancer, now without ever having insurance, get healthcare and it’s paid for, eventually by all of us that spend money on anything. No matter how you slice this, you are paying for it currently. Just because it is not a clean and easily identifiable expenditure in your insurance premium does not mean you are not paying for it already.
Excellent point, Stomps…
And FYI to readers, the Stomper is a longtime insurance industry exec (sorry to out you).
With you stomps. We are one of the few modern industrialized nations in the world without socialized healthcare and our school system is falling behind. Do we do anything well anymore besides wage war?
limited to 20%. Sure wish my BCBS rebate hadn’t gone to wife’s old employer, but if you don’t have a Mongoose, COBRA is miserable.
And Harley, you are delusional if you think the schools going to hell in Kansas. Please take a drive out south and take a look at BV West High School and, while you are touring, swing by BV Southwest and Olathe NW (the more recent additions to the local Kansas educational system) and then with a straight face tell us all that there isn’t enough money for the children and the schools. With you communists, its never about the children or the schools, its really at its essence about income redistribution (and on a more base level, your visceral hatred for anyone who has become financially successful) …which is the basis for your continued ad hominum attacks on DS…you just want to take money from those that have more of it than you do…plain and simple.
sir…check the financial stats….the first place money will come from
will be blue valley and sm. Yes..they’re nice schools but already
look at the cuts.
It’s now about income redistribution..but the wrong way.
brownie gave a huge tax cut to his rich buddies and cut the
services to the 99%.
You sould like shoedog…toally uneducated in what is goingon.
If you need the numbers and how they will affect education in the
state..including class sizes that are ballooning and the futur3e
cuts brownback will have to take them frm contact me at law4life1000@yahoo.com Okease do me a favor…do your research
before you write on here. We have manyeducated people in these
areas who will set you straight.
The middle class is huriting. That’s where the money to payfor
the cuts brownie instituted will come from.
Thebanks/oil cos./corpos all have their lobbyists protecting
their money….no one’s looking out for you vega.
HooooooooRaaaaaah
+1
Stomper,
I can apprecite your argument that health care is different than casualty insurance (though I don’t agree with you that it is a “right”)…but, if the redistributionists have their way and the Occpy WS crowd gets entrenched (God forbid…I’m then moving along with Chuck) then having a car and a house will be a “right” soon enough…An “Obama Car” or an “Obama house” have nice rings to them…
I got lost up there somewhere, Jimmy but…
Indiana made a decision years ago to cut taxes and overhead, streamline the government in the hopes of attracting businesses to move there. And that has worked.
That was in answer to your early post.
Baggers gonna bag.
Why is it that” progressives “,who are supposedly so sympathetic to gays,think it is hilarious to accuse conservatives of the most repellant gay sexual practice they can think of ? The joke is that the phrases ” Tea Party” and “tea-bagging” both use the word “Tea” ! Hardy-Har-Har ! Laugh, I thought I’d die! Nixon’s name was Richard Nixon ,which made him (wait for it !)………..DICK Nixon! He’s a DICK!!! Get it ? TEA partiers do TEA bagging ! Get it ? (They do stuff that gays do !) Hilarious ! The eugenics movement in the 20’s proposed the sterilization of imbeciles,a measure I thought was unnecessarily cruel,at least until I read your last dozen or so virtually identical comments.
sorry Dwight..i didn[t know that “tea bagging ” had any
sexual connotations til I read it from you and other right
wingers. Maybe its the people you hang out with that get
a laugh from the term.
for progressives I’ve never heard thtb connotation and with
so many repubs now coming out I can see your upset that
people use that term…only it wasn’t progressives.
I never used Dick when referring to Richard Nixon.
I hated the guy.
Where do youget all this? at republican precinct committee
meeting?
Do republicans sit around and dream up this stuff? seriously…
I have many friends on both sides of the aisle for many
many years and not one every made those connections.
Now tell us the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hmmmm….tea baggers…I thought it was apolitical party.
Iguess I need to catch up on whatthe republicans aredoing
in their spare time….hahahahaha
If you haven’t heard that version of “tea bagging” Harley you must be really, really old and/or out of it. Seriously
Yeah,and Nancy Pelosi had no idea who Jonathan Gruber was either,when she was asked about him at a press conference yesterday. It just so happens that your buddie Mysterious J used the one phrase of dozens that had “tea”in it(like tea pot,tea towel,tea leaf,tea caddie,etc)which had a sexual connotation.Remarkable coincidence,no? I also loved your sniggering comment about”what Republicans are doing in their spare time”.This proves my point about the irony of the supposed great champions of the LGBT community thinking it’s hilarious to accuse their political opponents of gay sexual practices.
That all you got, Mysterious?
Looks to me like you got schooled.
And how about Dwight sitting there all calm and remaining above of the fray?
Nice job, wild man
The media coverage AFTER the election has been equally ludicrous. KC Star to Kansas voters: “You didn’t follow our instructions. You MUST SUFFER.”
Gruber’s lies (With all due respect to jimmy, I think, after reading his statement, he flat out lied, again, in spite of jimmy’s rhetorical gymnastics-just my opinion.), have all the elements of fraud, as I understand it from looking it up.
The legal elements of fraud are present:
(1) a false statement of a material fact,(2) knowledge on the part of the defendant that the statement is untrue, (3) intent on the part of the defendant to deceive the alleged victim, (4) justifiable reliance by the alleged victim on the statement, and (5) injury to the alleged victim as a result.
No doubt Eric Holder, will seat a Grand Jury to explore the nefarious and surreptitious machinations of the apparatchiks who fostered this onerous and unworkable legislation onto the backs of the American taxpayer.
Again, here is the quote–
““This bill was written in a tortured way to make sure [the Congressional Budget Office] did not score the mandate as taxes. If CBO scored the mandate as taxes, the bill dies. OK? So it’s written to do that. In terms of risk-rated subsidies, if you had a law which said healthy people are going to pay in — you made explicit that healthy people pay in and sick people get money — it would not have passed. OK? Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage. And basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to get the thing to pass. Look, I wish … we could make it all transparent, but I’d rather have this law than not. ”
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/gruber.asp#fI1yuAAM2jjDxRyl.99
The premise that we could read into the quote, some nuance which would negate the actual language of the quote, unless we are “stupid” like the implied and inferred stupid American taxpayer, is preposterous, unless of course, we are breathing sanctified air in the presence of those “Thought Leaders” so comme il faut and deigned against their will to countenance our presence.
What a load of crap.
stomper have you read to retractions to my writings when I point out with
facts that these supposed ‘writers” ARE WRONG
When hearne said texas turned around over the last 8 years…he was
dead wrong. I usedfacts to prove him wrong. He can come back with
stats…but he printed something that was 100% wrong…Harley knew
it was wrong…and pointed it out.
I love debate…love kerowacky and glaze. but if you write something
wrong (which they all consistently do) then be ready for Harley
to prove you wrong.
Southy gave excuses thoday for brownbacks failed billion dollar experiement.
I ripped him a new one because he had no backup and point black was incorrect.
Hearne lets others read my posts before they get posted which is totally
unfair. I don’t attack families wives kids just the uttr stupidity of the
writers who claim to know everything.
And yes stomper I have been right every time. Noone can prove me wrong.
I say bring it on. Prove me wrong. They can’t. And that’s why they turn to
personal attacks…even hearne. thanks.
I am exalted in the numbers, but perhaps Kansas needs to be admonished in their choices, particularly with respect to electing a Virginia Senator. Now, go with God, and sin no more. In the last few days, our illustrious leader has given us reason to doubt. He is hearing the voices of 2/3rds of the registered voters who chose not to speak, and he seems to be in denial about the status of reality, were it reinforced again this morning with the fall of the Alaska incumbent. To most people, hearing voices in one’s head and not having a grasp of reality is a sure sign of mental illness, whether or not we end up chewing gum at a State Event, and find we are seated or stood in the Spouse Section of the class picture. So much for leadership. On the back side of the docket, an Economics Professor from MIT claims to have defrauded the public with the Affordable Healthcare Bill because the American voters were stupid. Ah, well, one problem, the only time the ACA came up for a vote was when Democrats in Congress voted for it, not the public. In fact, the only ones who did vote for it were Congressional Democrats an a majority of Supreme Court Justices. Perhaps, on the second bite of the Apple, those justices will be intrigued by being called stupid by one of the engineers of the law…Whoops. Oh, I’m sure it won’t matter. The only time the American public has had the opportunity to vote on the law, the elections of 2010, 2012, and 2014, voters have turned out 28 yes votes from the Senate alone. I guess the public wasn’t fooled. Well who am I to talk, living in Missouri the future site of the beginning of the next Civil War in Ferguson. I think I’ll sit this one out and let my incompetent Governor handle it. After all, his namesake claimed not to be a crook.
Virginia Senator or a Minnesota carpetbagger with a whiney voice.
It’s good not to live in kansas.
What makes no sense to me is that on one hand, Harley brags continuously about how many successful businesses he owns. He used to even call other people on here wage slave losers and said he never worked for anybody else in his life. On the other hand, he seems to hate rich people and denigrates them at every opportunity. Based on that, he should hate himself also, yet is even a bigger narcissist than Obama and Donald Trump put together!
wrong sir…just the ones that destroyed the nation.
Southyis all up in arms about aca but we never hear about the trillions
we wasted on a war his buddies got us into….the hundreds of thousands
injured seriously….the 5000 dead kids. He never wants to talk about
his bush buddy who destroyed the worlds economy for decades!!!!
or the millions of americans that were financially devastated by the
recession they (southy and his buddies) led us into.
Lets instead change the subject to aca (25 million people with health
insurance. Southynever worried about that…his daddy paid for it…)
or how the economy has tripled…come back…how his brothers
fought to keep jobs from being created.
NO…i don’t dislike rich people. Most of my friends are very very
wealthy. Actually my friends run this town in real estate/construction/
finance/entertainment/business/arts/sciences/philanthropic/ and almost
every other significant area of wealth inthis town. I don’t hate them…we
drink/party and work together. I don’t hate wealth. I worked my ass
off to get what i have. I have a great house…Mercedes…but what i do
despiseis those that choose to use their wealth to destroy this nation.
I could write a book…but the true 1 percenters have a plan…its being
played out…but its about to fall apart because without the other 99 percent
the whole plan falls apart.
I have done well…as I said..name someone and i can tell you stories
about being with them in business and pleasure.. I know everyone.
So don’t say i hate the rich..i only despise those selfish…self serving
…and greedy bastards who have ruind the nation. On both sides of the
aisle. Both dem and repub.
Read my comments from years ago.
I know everything. I just proved hearne wrong about the state of
texas and why they really never experienced the recession and why
that state has done well while other states suffered over the last 6 years.
I made hearne look like a fool because he did not know what he was
talking about.
Noone has done that with me. I proved the tivol story was bogus..
I proved the sprint merger was bogus….the big stories Harley knows
the truth.
PRINT THIS HEARNE…..i only include facts….i don’t threaten anyone
but Stan Greenberg is pissed and preparing to sue (I warned you)…
instead of doubting me believe what i say…because as glaze will tell you
that Harley is always right. K will tell you Harley is right.
now go back and take your high blood pressure pills old boys…
Harley just worked out and is puuuuuummmmmpppppppeeeedd up!!!!!!!!!!!
Harley, half my friends are lawyers and judges in JoCo . I’m with them daily. There IS NO “Stan” retired or in practice, not in Kansas, Missouri OR Arizona. Or at least, not a LAWYER by that name. I’m so far ahead of you in the legal game it’s not funny.
Just shut up before I open the faucet on you, Mr Hard Rain Gonna Fall . This place is an inch away from knowing who you REALLY are. You’ve committed enough libel for 100 trolls. Go make more poop roll ups.
all you losers write about is Harley!!!!!
I own each and every one of you.
And stan will be owning the shoe lover with the bat!!!!!!!!
Dwight; The length of the comment trail here is so long (congrats by the way, Glaze has hit 100 a few times but doubt anyone else here has) that it is too cumbersome to reply to your response above about the “victim complex” and Gruber’s comments so I’ll just post it down here.
Arguing about the ACA has us in a cul-de-sac with no exit so I’d like to toss this out. Obviously, based on the response, the ACA is a flawed document. To me, however, it is a critical first step. While you and I may argue about whether healthcare is a right or a privilege, our society has demonstrated that they consider it a right. When uninsured people appear in ERs, they get care. When emergency responders encounter those needing healthcare, without having insurance, wherever, they are transported to hospitals, clinics, etc. for care. Everyone in this country that presents a need for healthcare, gets healthcare. Certainly the level and quality will vary but healthcare is not withheld simply because someone is uninsured. Healthcare costs money. Going to an ER for healthcare is probably the most expensive entry point into the system and waiting until a situation becomes life and death results in costs far greater than would have been experienced if the patient had addressed an issue earlier in the process. I won’t repeat my points from above and previous postings but these costs all work their way through our economy and end up on our plates. Yours, mine, and every person in this country that spends money on anything. It results in almost 20% of our GDP !!! Every other developed country in the world is about half of that. Right now, with our current system of healthcare delivery, we are spending/wasting/throwing away, whatever you want to label it, well over $1 BILLION for our healthcare and the WHO doesn’t even place the US in the top 35 countries in the quality of healthcare delivery to our citizens. Set aside for a moment that this is a huge humanitarian issue. It is even a greater economic threat to our nation. If the scope of this economic threat presented itself in the form of a terrorist attack, or an epidemic like Ebola, we would all, left and right together, be screaming for our federal government to respond. But this has been growing at a slow but steady pace, like the frog sitting in the pot where the water temperature has increased almost imperceptably until it’s too late for the frog to recognize the danger.
Ok, now let’s take the position that the ACA should be scrapped completely and we go back to the drawing board. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the majority of republicans will acknowledge that our healthcare system is flawed and the need exists for some level of intervention by government. It is not the job of the private sector to fix a public policy issue.
What would a republican healthcare plan look like? My contention is that there currently exists a lot of common ground with parts of the ACA. Both sides seem to like the removal of the ability to restrict insurability based on prior conditions ( a major invasion of the private sector’s business model) ; both sides seem to like keeping kids on their parents plans until the age of 26, regardless of insurability ; it seems that those supporting the view of states rights would like the funding of and delivery of healthcare through the Medicaid programs of the individual states. People with Medicare seem to be pretty happy with what they have so the federal government has already displayed the ability to adminster and deliver healthcare to a large portion of our citizenry. Just seems to me that we have some common ground to build on to replace the ACA with something that we not only can agree on, but that allows the federal government to act where they should be acting.
I’m a capitalist. I don’t want the government involved in anything that the private sector is handling well. But I do expect the federal government to get involved where a threat exists to our country, our society, our economy where the private sector can’t, won’t, or shouldn’t get involved. I can’t understand those that think the federal government is the enemy. The founding fathers, when drafting the Constitution, didn’t feel that way. To me, what we call the Commerce Clause expresses that pretty clearly. When our economy is running on all cylinders, it is roughly a 70/30 split between the private sector spending and public sector spending as a percent of GDP. I’ll admit that the size and scope of our federal government, in certain areas, is bloated and inefficient. There are places where the federal government does not belong but healthcare is NOT one of them.
My question to Dwight, and others on the right is ” Do you think we have a problem with healthcare that warrants intervention by the government and what would your solution look like?”
Just my opinion, but, I agree with most of what you just said.
The problem with Obama Care, is that it was politicized from inception. It was always a wealth transfer scheme designed to punish those folks with different ideologies than the administration. The “Pen and Phone” presidency’s Magnum Opus, fostered on a nebulous, evil, white electorate, whose greedy and pernicious agenda, would be bent to the will of the people. The creation of this fatally flawed piece of legislation, from soup (The Roll Out) to nuts (The never ceasing adjustments and executive orders, the lies, the mismanagement, the economic effects, the economic insecurity based on the metaphysical inability to extrapolate because no one, but no one knew what was in the bill and how to enforce it–Well, Gruber and company knew.) to post mortem is a Three Stooges Federal Over Reach Cluster Fu*k.
The one silver lining, is that the “Stupid Americans” have spoken and it looks as though, the folks in Washington are listening for a change. I am guardedly optimistic that solutions are forthcoming.
For the record, I do not think the Federal Government is evil, I think a Narrative that drives folks into thinking that problems must always be solved by the Fed is counterproductive and Obama Care is prima facie.
Hearne, you are going the wrong way !!!
Quit removing posts !!!!
Jimmy:
Re our discourse on Indiana I offer the following:
“The tax reform efforts in Indiana deserve special recognition as a success at cutting corporate income taxes and reforming personal property taxes in inventive ways. Policymakers reached compromise despite varying approaches and ended up enacting policy that could serve as a starting point for discussion in other states.”
The Tax Foundation, s a non-partisan research think tank, based in Washington, DC. founded in 1937.
And this from Michigan Future (a competing state):
“What Indiana is best at among the Great Lakes states is adherence to the low tax/small government policies advocated by conservatives as the magic elixir to grow the economy. In the 2011 state rankings by the well-respected conservative Tax Foundation, Indiana is the highest ranked Great Lakes state on both overall state business climate (10th) and corporate tax index (21st). The latter is the lever the Snyder Administration has argued is the most important to growing the Michigan economy. So for those who live on Planet Ideology — where all that matters is faithful adherence to a conservative policy agenda — Indiana is a model for Michigan.”
So as I’ve read, they’ve also worked hard at keeping government small and not over extending government funded pension plans.