chelle

Does anyone have an online subscription to WSJ? That lead in is kinda weird. Are they insinuating that something underhanded went on in 1970?

Careful. Trask took the red one the other day and wasn't pleased with the view from the other side.

Hadn't noticed the lack of blinking. When he ran in 96 I thought some of the stuff he said made sense. That was before I got reaquainted with my liberal leftist roots.

Now you're starting to get it. Keep taking those spray classes klenke.

Just raised the left-liberal score.

Who's this year's libertarian candidate? Perhaps you should write Steve Forbes in on your ballots.

They've got a new name for it now too. Gastrointestinal-esophageal reflux disease...or GERD for short. And the newest over the counter remedy requires you to take it for 14 days for full effectiveness. Caaching$$$$$.

The councilwoman was drinking (or at least holding the can). Maybe he'll face a recall from the good citizen's of Arvin. The dude seems to think police are leaders and forgot that he was one too.

They sell little paw protector things for fido, I imagine it being much easier on a dogs paws than duct tape. Unles sof course the dog is into pain and having fur yanked out when you remove it.

Jay - from what I have read the people who benefit the most are seniors who are very poor, which is a very good thing. Those in the middle will get some coverage. And wealthy seniors get very little. The tiering is a good approach. Unfortunately those seniors that have some level of perscription coverage through their company pensions will likely see that disappear because the companies willl want to save money where there is potential duplication, which would mean that they will pay much more under the new system. I understant the benefit to be about $600 per medicare participant. That's not a lot given the meds many seniors pay for, but yes it is better than nothing. What I wish congress had delivered was a real benefit rather than a confusing sandwhich benefit where they get some coverage after a high deductible, then no coverage for a period then some coverage again after a maximum outlay. And the whole thing doesn't even start for 2 more years. On the trade war thing...when is the last time the US has effectively used this strategy? (An honest question)

sunny in winter? probably won't find those kind of conditions up here.

eternalx- Guess I shoulda checked out the other side of the mountain. Maybe next time. I was over at chairs 7/8 and 5.

So the american consumer ends up subsidizing the rest of the world's access to new drug therapies, and the elderly (and their families) under the new medicare program will likely foot a larger part of the bill than they do now. And the drug companies and their executives continue to get rich. Who benefits from this "free" enterprise and "improved benefit"? I agree that price controls might stifle R&D in the pharmaceutical industry, but it seems to me that the whole process needs some overhaul. The American public seems to be the one to repeatedly get screwed by our capitalistic free market, while the rest of the world benefits from different rules and pretty much equal access to the benefits of our contry's investment in R&D. I imagine that they sell the drugs cheaper elsewhere because they are still sold at a profit, and some profit to offset R&D and increase share prices is better than standing on principle with viable product and few markets to sell it into.

Hey cluck I'm all for personal responsibility. Unfortunately the "rules" weren't written by you and I, and life is not that simple. Paying for good mental health treatment for someone who is seriously mentally ill is very hard to do for the average family even if there is health insurance. Many families do step up to the plate and try to get help for their loved ones, but unfortunately this is not always the case. What are families supposed to do when they can't pay the bill for the hospital or for the medication needed to keep the person grounded in reality? Mental illness is way more complex than you seem to understand. What happens when the family lives hundreds of miles away and doesn't realize that something is wrong with their loved one? Or when the mentally ill loved one drops out of their family's lives? My comment about government mental hospitals does not imply that I think that mentally ill people should be committed at the gov'ts expense. Unfortunately many mentally ill homeless people who were on the streets in the early 90s had previously been in mental hospitals in the 80s. The gov't released them without a sufficient system in place to continue to see they received treatment on an outpatient basis. This reflected their priorities to save money and was not a responsible way to treat these people. Do you think that people who can't afford health insurance should be turned away from the hospital doors as well when they have some non-mental health issue? Should access to the latest treatments and medications be reserved for those people who can afford them? You seem to have a fairly simplistic view of how this country operates (or should operate). And the whole eye for an eye thing is pretty barbaric, especially where mental illness and crime cross paths.

Not interested in working for big business Mr. Veggie. Already gave 11 years of blood sweat and tears to their causes. I'm holding out for a non-profit hospital system. Now if only our government would allocate some money to fund the special grants and loans for nursing education they promised all of us last year, I would be very appreciative.

Trask - yes there are a lot of things wrong with that act and the Patriot II act. I think when it was passed people didn't object because they were afraid and didn't think they would be hassled by their own government. From what I have read, Howard Dean seems to be the candidate who is most outspoken against the act. Have you looked at him as a possible candidate you could support? He is fiscally conservative and also pro-gun. One other scary thing that no one seems to be concerned about is the whole microchip identification tag. There are people marketing them (and people dumb enough to have them inserted) as a way for family members to claim bodies when something devastating happens and a body is hard to identify. These things were written about back in Penthouse (yes, there are some good articles in between the photos and the Forum ) back in the late 90s when the gov't started talking about inserting them in soldiers and prisioners. They were excited that the identification technology could be paired someday with GPS and they would be able to recapture escaped prisioners or find pilots who'd been shot down. I think it is a slippery slope to allow the gov't to track people via implanted GPS chips and a massive invasion of privacy. Some 11 year old kid was one of the first people to have one implanted after 9-11. And on the drug war...Do you really believe that the government is engaged in a war on drugs?

Will - everytime you post something about the south and rednecks I think of this and just crack up. Have you ever read Deliverance? I had to read it in my Romantic Lit class in college. That was one disturbing book. More so than the movie.

Agree with Erock. The snow was really good last time I was there, and it was great this time up high or off to the side of the groomed areas. It just sucked where they had groomed. Unfortunately I am not good enough at snowboarding to stray too far from the groomed blue runs. I think there is more snow at Baker than at Stevens. From what I've heard Stevens tends to consistently be more icy, but I've never been there so I don't know.

Cracked is young and hasn't really discovered how to think for himself, nor does he understand the value of an informed opinion in a discussion.

I think thumbs or wrists are the tops, then necks.

Oh, but there are fields of poppies though...

The guy could have been really high on drugs too, but if he was mentally ill they won't be able to prosecute him in the same way as if he were sane at the time of the murder. Most schizophrenics are more of a danger to themselves than to others. There are exceptions though and it is sad when someone has some form of psychotic break that results in others getting killed. Unfortunately mental health is not a priority in this country. Started back in the 80s when many state mental hospitals let nearly everyone who could marginally be classified as funtional out to save money. The general public is not educated about mental health and because they are afraid of it, have the attitude of our beloved cracked and trask. "Just kill the MFers!"

And it would have been nice if in his last pledge on the issue he had earmarked money to explore ways to affordibly produce hydrogen fuel cells that did not involve burning fossil fuels and creating more pollution than the fuel cell cars would save.

I thinnk it all fits well. Bush and his cronies are all about helping big business.