I've also heard a couple of my friends able to quit using the ecigarette. It's too bad they're not marketed towards helping people quit, instead of helping people smoke when they can't smoke in public places. I guess not surprising here because blu is owned by a cigarette company.
Thanks pcbowen. And I always appreciate your contributions to threads! Very well thought out and rational.
Here is a good article on the notion that Obama has not expanded eligibility for Medicaid from an albeit partisan dude Ezra Klein. Still presents the facts well: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/gingrich-says-obama-is-the-food-stamp-president-is-he/2012/01/18/gIQA1Ino8P_blog.html
As far as the "lies" I was referring to: Romney said half of the green companies the government invested in have gone out of business. Only three have. The others have created some jobs, and a lot of good research base. Whether the private sector could have done better is up to debate, still a lie!
The other one I mentioned are preexisting conditions. Romney said preexisting conditions are covered under his plan. This one is more difficult because he hasn't specified, but from what his advisers have said, under his plan, people who are continuously insured (and lose coverage) can not be discriminated against. People who are now uninsured can be discriminated against.
As far as the cuts to Medicare, it's important to distinguish between regular Medicare and Medicare Advantage. I think 80% of seniors have regular Medicare. The cuts came to Medicare Advantage, and yes they are cuts. I'm not debating that and I don't think it's a lie. But the administration made the determination that the cuts will not lower benefits, and not have a dramatic effect on care. This is certainly up for debate, and Romney brought it to the forefront. Certainly something needs to be done about Medicare, and I look forward to hearing more from both candidates.
Again, both sides have issues. I think the demonizing of Bain Capital and Tax returns is pretty useless on the left, and the demonizing of immigrants and other stigmatized groups is pretty useless on the right, but I appreciate having a thoughtful chat about it with reasonable people!
"Romney’s point about food stamps was precisely that the Obama economy sucks."
Well I don't think so. Romney wants people to think that Obama has changed the eligibility for these programs to get more people on the government; at least this is what he's been saying.
I just think it's so funny to characterize Obama has this big government socialist that is slowing down the economy. He has not changed eligibility for Food Stamps or Medicaid. Government employment has fallen rapidly. There has been a small increase in regulatory staff, but the majority of it is in homeland security, which conservatives tend to love. One area he has increased regulation is the environment, and people will argue whether that is a good or bad thing. Also, healthcare. The debate about those two issues is worth having.But he's so far away from what he's painted as by conservatives.
As far as the position changes. I'm sure you can read any number of the articles today on fact checking things like his plans for pre-existing conditions or his statements about green energy. Not to mention that an across the board tax cut of the magnitude Romney wants is impossible to do without either increasing the deficit significantly or raising burden on middle class (no buzzwordo).
With all that said, even though Romney didn't really specify much of his plans, he made a couple good points (Dodd-Frank is a poorly written bill!), but he was extraordinarily misleading and Obama just didn't confront him on that
It's hard to tell at this point. Romney does have a large pro-bazinga base. Either way, there seems to be a recovery in the shenanigans market, which helps Obama. Nevertheless, wisecracks are at an all time low so who knows!
Sorry to get serious, but i'm pretty disappointed. I think even more frustrating than Romney contradicting his prior positions or just outright lying is the notion that even the things that he said that are true are easily refutable, but Obama completely ignored them.
The increase in people on food stamps comes to mind. Yes, there has been a large increase. But that the increase is almost entirely caused by unemployment and the economic downturn, or that eligibility has not changed for the program seemed not to matter at all to Obama.
It's not the first time Obama has capitulated to off-base Republican attacks, in hopes that the public will see through the bullshit, yet that approach has hardly worked. One thing to take solace in is that Obama plays a good long game. Romney is now boxed in to several tricky positions. But in a country obsessed with zingers and bazingas, I'm not sure it matters. ugh.
And now the image link appears to be broken, I guess you'll just have to solve the equation by yourself. The unknown variable knows What Women Want and has a Brave Heart
I think bullying is much worse now because cyberbullying. Back in the day, a bully could see the reaction of the bully-ee (?); their pain, tears etc, which probably helped develop some sort of empathy, no? Now bullies can cyberbully 10 kids in a minute and have no idea what the consequences of that action are. Even though it's natural to look back and younger generations and think that they are worse or more mean-spirited, but I think in this case, they might be!
http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs2/4002703_o.gif
THANK YOU KELLY! Have a fantastic weekend everyone. The first round is on me. Send invoices to fondue+invoice@kardashianomics.com
But I think Kim Kardashian deserves some respect. In the land of the blind (Reality TV), she is the one-eyed woman. She has built a brand and now has a finger in a number of successful and profitable pies like television, production, and modeling. A lot of people come and go, but she has managed to stay relevant and wildly prosperous for awhile. Her one mistake was marrying Kris Humphries--I have met him (ladies)--who is a complete idiot.
Oh, I thought the lawyer they were talking about was the lawyer trying to negotiate with Hank, and perhaps he knew too much. Thanks for clearing that up.
Oh, I thought the lawyer they were talking about was the lawyer trying to negotiate with Hank, and perhaps he knew too much. But that makes sense. Thanks for clearing that up.
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