I'm supposed to believe

[keltic 1]

Ah but just because one hates the occupying force does not mean they hate the country

Don't you guys realize that this attitude will never get anybody anywhere..

Ok Dems win, now what.. The republicans use the same tactics as the democrats and start a hate campaign. Who wins?? nobody..

For advocates against the war you seem to start quite a few of them yourselves.. but I guess that is different. I bet anti-bush supporters had no problem with the US bombing Serbia in the 90's because billy boy authorized the bombing..

why dont you realize that one human (bush, in this instance) is not the whole country? you love america but dont care for "billy boy", right?

what attitude would you suggest we have? lay down and let anyone do anything they want just because they are the one in office? dont think so... and no bloody coup... just:

a ) speaking out to raise awareness... the media doesnt report things totally objectively... there is always money behind it...

and

b ) exercising our right to vote... which you should/could do yourself... everyone who has the right should... its one of the biggest gifts given to an american

[chri'stina 190]

I do not like everything Bush does. I don't care if someone wants to bash him or his administration. But it gets to me when the just over 50% of the voters who voted for who is president, are called totally stupid, gullible, etc. From the original piece:

Oh, if only I were GULLIBLE, ILL-INFORMED, EASILY LED and TOTALLY

STUPID

– what a FINE Bush supporter I would have made

What a way to alienate potential voters by insulting them...yeah I'll sure love to vote for a far left person next time. (I know you didn't write this dean, just saying in general about the piece). I know it goes both ways, people saying "leave if you don't like the gov't". I wouldn't say that. I'd say leave only if you don't like the whole country. If you don't like the gov't then you can try to change it next time around.

As someone said, a different day, same ****...well I say "different day, same agendas" by the same ppl on VJ over and over again. (even if I am included that's fine!) I am not stupid, I can tell you that. You can think so if you want to since I voted for Bush last time. I don't really think those who have known me for a long time on VJ would think I am totally stupid. They may think I am wrong, ignoring things, yes. Totally stupid tho? Don't really think so. That's my ramble.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I do not like everything Bush does. I don't care if someone wants to bash him or his administration. But it gets to me when the just over 50% of the voters who voted for who is president, are called totally stupid, gullible, etc. From the original piece:

Oh, if only I were GULLIBLE, ILL-INFORMED, EASILY LED and TOTALLY

STUPID

– what a FINE Bush supporter I would have made

What a way to alienate potential voters by insulting them...yeah I'll sure love to vote for a far left person next time. (I know you didn't write this dean, just saying in general about the piece). I know it goes both ways, people saying "leave if you don't like the gov't". I wouldn't say that. I'd say leave only if you don't like the whole country. If you don't like the gov't then you can try to change it next time around.

As someone said, a different day, same ****...well I say "different day, same agendas" by the same ppl on VJ over and over again. (even if I am included that's fine!) I am not stupid, I can tell you that. You can think so if you want to since I voted for Bush last time. I don't really think those who have known me for a long time on VJ would think I am totally stupid. They may think I am wrong, ignoring things, yes. Totally stupid tho? Don't really think so. That's my ramble.

Its the reactionary nature of current political discourse. Based on a person's perceived affiliations a person is apparently is either stupid, or disloyal.

Its infinitely tedious whenever you criticise the current administration, that rather than address the substance of the criticism someone prefers instead to turn around and makes the apparent assumption that you must therefore support the other side - as though any issue can only be understood by first filtering it through two apparently divergent political parties. Though I hasten to add I don't think the Reps and Dems are really all that different at the end of the day.

[ual777 0]

Both parties suck. The problem is that some people get so caught up with the "party" or hating a political figure that they become blind.

If a politician wants my vote, do the following:

1. Grab islamo-facists by the balls and don't let go. We have bombs....use them. If you support terrorism, you are CUT OFF.

2. Stop prostituting the US worker's job to foreign labor. It does us NO good to "play by the rules" when everyone else cheats. ESPECIALLY China.

3. Lower taxes, clean up the budget, and gut the obscene social programs. Welfare, Medicare, and Medicaid need to be reduced DRASTICALLY. Social security is also one of the worst ideas ever. Give me the option to dump it, and I will be at the local SSN office so fast that it will leave skidmarks up your back.

[Veiled Princess 1]

Both parties suck.

We agree on something

1. Grab islamo-facists by the balls and don't let go. We have bombs....use them. If you support terrorism, you are CUT OFF.

We almost agree on this.... change it to grab terrorists.... and we agree. There is no need to associate religion with terrorists. They want that. Don't give it to them. Actually I guess we can't agree unless you also drop the bomb idea because bombs kill innocent people, making the bomber no better than the terrorist target.

2. Stop prostituting the US worker's job to foreign labor. It does us NO good to "play by the rules" when everyone else cheats. ESPECIALLY China.

Agreed

3. Lower taxes, clean up the budget, and gut the obscene social programs. Welfare, Medicare, and Medicaid need to be reduced DRASTICALLY. Social security is also one of the worst ideas ever. Give me the option to dump it, and I will be at the local SSN office so fast that it will leave skidmarks up your back.

Not everyone can afford healthcare without medicaid and/or medicare so I can't agree with you here. IMHO, healthcare should be free to everyone, not just those who have the money to afford it. As far as welfare and social security... I agree

[munchkins 0]

for just a while there, I didn't know if you meant BLAIR or BUSH, could apply to both of them and oh, how true

[ual777 0]

Both parties suck.

We agree on something

1. Grab islamo-facists by the balls and don't let go. We have bombs....use them. If you support terrorism, you are CUT OFF.

We almost agree on this.... change it to grab terrorists.... and we agree. There is no need to associate religion with terrorists. They want that. Don't give it to them. Actually I guess we can't agree unless you also drop the bomb idea because bombs kill innocent people, making the bomber no better than the terrorist target.

2. Stop prostituting the US worker's job to foreign labor. It does us NO good to "play by the rules" when everyone else cheats. ESPECIALLY China.

Agreed

3. Lower taxes, clean up the budget, and gut the obscene social programs. Welfare, Medicare, and Medicaid need to be reduced DRASTICALLY. Social security is also one of the worst ideas ever. Give me the option to dump it, and I will be at the local SSN office so fast that it will leave skidmarks up your back.

Not everyone can afford healthcare without medicaid and/or medicare so I can't agree with you here. IMHO, healthcare should be free to everyone, not just those who have the money to afford it. As far as welfare and social security... I agree

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

Having experienced both the UK NHS and Private care in the US, I can say honestly I didn't find that there was much too much difference in standards of care at least.

Edited August 29, 2006 by erekose

[Veiled Princess 1]

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed.

Until you don't have the money to pay for it.... then you die on the stretcher wading through much red tape

It is a basic human right that all people should have access to adequate health care. Maybe we could exchange all the billions of $$$ that our government wastes on retarded projects like space rockets and such for health care that people on this planet actually need.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed.

Until you don't have the money to pay for it.... then you die on the stretcher wading through much red tape

It is a basic human right that all people should have access to adequate health care. Maybe we could exchange all the billions of $$$ that our government wastes on retarded projects like space rockets and such for health care that people on this planet actually need.

I'm not totally against private care - just that the system as is needs serious regulation, and should be about quality care first and foremost - not profit.

Also people should not be put in a position of being permanently bankrupted and enslaved to such massive debt that they cannot possibly repay it. $20,000 for a 1 hour exploratory neck biopsy is scandalous.

[Fischkoepfin 1]

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

Having experienced both the UK NHS and Private care in the US, I can say honestly I didn't find that there was much too much difference in standards of care at least.

Same here. Compared to Germany which has a 3rd-carrier system (everyone who works has to have insurance which is provided by private entities), health care is very expensive in the US (about 3-4 times as much). The quality of health care is better than here, at least on average, meaning that everyone has equal access to health services without endless wait times. The German system has its problems (due to declining birth rates and high unemployment), and I would like to see it replaced by a single-payer system because it would be cheaper without decreasing the quality of health care.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Incidentally its interesting to note that once again people here seem much less willing to trust the government when it comes to managing taxation and spending than they are when it comes to trusting the government on its foreign policy decisions (Iraq, War on Terror etc). Go figure.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

The US has the most expensive health care system in the world. It's absolutely inefficient: It's the least accessible yet spending the most on health care per capita and expending the most on red tape (i.e. supporting a huge private bureaucratic aparatus that dwarfs any government health care bureaucracy anywhere in the world, including in the US itself). The efficiency of privatized health care systems and the cost saving effects it has is a myth.

Quality and accesibility of care? Try, for example, to find an OB/GYN for your wife when you move from one city to another and she happens to be more than 12 weeks into her pregancy. It's an utterly ridiculous process one is put through. And that is with first class health insurance coverage. Don't want to know what that would be like without...

No, the US health care system is one big failure. It's the most expensive, least efficient, and least caring in the developed world.

[almaty 19]

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

The US has the most expensive health care system in the world. It's absolutely inefficient: It's the least accessible yet spending the most on health care per capita and expending the most on red tape (i.e. supporting a huge private bureaucratic aparatus that dwarfs any government health care bureaucracy anywhere in the world, including in the US itself). The efficiency of privatized health care systems and the cost saving effects it has is a myth.

Quality and accesibility of care? Try, for example, to find an OB/GYN for your wife when you move from one city to another and she happens to be more than 12 weeks into her pregancy. It's an utterly ridiculous process one is put through. And that is with first class health insurance coverage. Don't want to know what that would be like without...

No, the US health care system is one big failure. It's the most expensive, least efficient, and least caring in the developed world.

i agreed..worrked in hospitals in the Er off and on for about 8 years..it is a mess and totally ######..no insurance billed at top $$$ ..insurance discounted to a 1/5 of the billed cost...

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The problem with free healthcare is that it would ENORMOUSLY expensive and income taxes would sky rocket. If you think the government is running deficits now, just wait until we have national healthcare (which I think we will NEVER have because it is too socailist for the American people to stomach). Government spending would be out of control.

I prefer a private system where you get the care you need with great speed. I read that there are more MRI machines in Santa Clara county than in the whole of Canada (who has national healthcare). No thanks.

The US has the most expensive health care system in the world. It's absolutely inefficient: It's the least accessible yet spending the most on health care per capita and expending the most on red tape (i.e. supporting a huge private bureaucratic aparatus that dwarfs any government health care bureaucracy anywhere in the world, including in the US itself). The efficiency of privatized health care systems and the cost saving effects it has is a myth.

Quality and accesibility of care? Try, for example, to find an OB/GYN for your wife when you move from one city to another and she happens to be more than 12 weeks into her pregancy. It's an utterly ridiculous process one is put through. And that is with first class health insurance coverage. Don't want to know what that would be like without...

No, the US health care system is one big failure. It's the most expensive, least efficient, and least caring in the developed world.

i agreed..worrked in hospitals in the Er off and on for about 8 years..it is a mess and totally ######..no insurance billed at top $$$ ..insurance discounted to a 1/5 of the billed cost...

Hence the need for stricter regulation. If not by the government, then by some sort of independent professional standards authority.