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 | comment listing type: Top Sift for Nov 26th, 2009Friends O' the Sift Top New Catsanddogs Videos by Vote  Subscribe Top 15 Catsanddogs Sifters of All Time Top 15 Catsanddogs Sifters of the Past Week 11. nach0s
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Sarah Palin Latenight Show Joke Compilation
Sarah Palin Latenight Show Joke Compilation
*politics
*book
Tea Party: The Documentary Film (Trailer)
Also, does this mean they've already surrendered, since Obama is still President?
Yes Men vs Coca Cola and Dasani Water
*politics
*parody
Chris Matthews: Americans Don't Bow
*controversy
Rape, Rape, Rape, Rape!
Rape is apparently the next big thing.
Palin Screws Her Stupid Fans
Couple Arrested for Not Paying Tip
I don't think there's any fundamental societal issue at play here other than people can be confrontational assholes over almost any kind of dispute.
If someone gets a reasonable fix for that, let me know.
Healthcare Around The World - America Pay Attention
You forgot one!
United States
GDP spent on health care: 16.0%
Average monthly family premium: $1,100, with some employers paying a portion
Co-payments: Varies, can be as low as $10 co-pay with other costs covered at 100% for HMO in-network, or with HDHP you pay out of pocket until the deductible is met, with deductibles falling somewhere in the $4,000-$12,000 range. You are also given the option to not get sick, or to save up lots of money just in case you do.
What is it? If you're 65 and older, single-payer. If you're a veteran, it's socialized medicine. If you work for an employer with benefits, it's whatever they've decided to offer. If you don't get employer insurance, and you're healthy you may be able to buy overpriced individual insurance, with no guarantee that the contract will be honored. If you're seriously ill, you will be paying out of pocket. It's the Ayn Randian ideal of economic eugenics, minus the bit where people can escape it if they survive to 65, or join the military.
How does it work? Poorly. We spend the largest portion of our GDP for healthcare, but our basic health statistics (e.g. life expectancy, infant mortality, etc.) are nearly 3rd-world. There are certain procedures that the US does better than other countries, such as organ transplants and boob jobs, but our overall ability to deliver care is no better than other countries that spend much less. The US does not have anywhere near universal coverage, with over 15% of our population without insurance of any kind, and many of those who do face denied claims or rescinded policies if they become seriously ill. On the bright side, the profits in the US health industry are second to none.
What are the concerns? All trends point to the situation only getting worse. Costs continue to grow faster than in any other nation. Due to a lack of a national guarantee of universal coverage, this leads to a steady increase in the number of uninsured. Insurance policies themselves are becoming more and more limiting, with denials of coverage becoming a regular occurrence, while premiums continue to rise apace.
What about reform? We're thinking about setting up something less intrusive than Switzerland, and they're calling our President a Nazi. Aside from that, it's going swell. We will probably end up with a system that's a bit of a hybrid of the Swiss and German systems -- no government mandated pricing (aside from Medicare), but we are likely to end up with nonprofit, privately run sickness funds (co-ops), as well as a nonprofit, government run sickness fund (teh public option). However, as it stands, only the unemployed and people working for small businesses will be allowed to purchase plans either through the co-ops or public option (and only then if their small business chooses not to provide a group plan). Most will receive coverage from mandated employer coverage, which includes a minimum requirement for the quality of the employer provided plan. People will still be permitted to forgo insurance altogether, but they will need to pay a penalty/excise tax for doing so.
There's almost certainly too little in the plan to control costs, but it should improve the quality of life for millions, and help bump up our OECD stats to the level of our economic peers.
Eventually the people who own our country will realize that upwards of 20% GDP on healthcare isn't worth it, and will inflict cost controls on us one way or another. You can choose the free-market eugenic path of "if you can't afford it, hurry up and die" or you choose the path where we try to come up with some fair, medically-based rules for how we provide care to cut costs (aka *scary voice* SOCIALISM!!!).
The Stupid Virus
Pretty much sums it up nicely.
Giuliani hypocrisy on Federal Court trials for 9/11 terrists
Automatic Holy Water Dispenser
Automatic Holy Water Dispenser
Yo! Corporate Training Raps!
Instead the message seems to be like dft said in the description, that we're supposed to believe that the big entertainment stars just climbed some sort of economic ladder that rewards anyone who has the willingness to tough out a boring, low-paying job for some indeterminately long period of time.
That's crap. The three virtues in life are laziness, impatience, and hubris. Just ask any programmer/white collar professional.
Truther Proves 9/11 was an inside job with a $20 bill
1. Seeks out hosts
2. Bypasses natural defenses via use of cheap trickery
3. Once inside, it reprograms the internal machinery of the host to build more of the virus
4. Uses the host to spread itself to new hosts.
This video is a virus.
I suspect many here are immune to such a crude variant, even if you're already infected with other strains.
Fox News Version Of The Sum Of All Fears: Cheney/Palin 2012
Smart Republicans would be making hay over Obama adhering to a sexist practice, instead they pretend like bowing before foreign royalty is somehow wrong.
*news
*future
I will promise you this..
People are kinda funny about saying Obama lied here. See, this was October 27, 2007. 1 year, 2 months, 24 days before he was sworn in as President.
He hasn't even been President a year yet, and troops are being withdrawn from Iraq.
Was it a lie because they aren't all gone by Thanksgiving of his first year? If they're all pulled out by the end of 2010, was it still a lie? What about 2011?
People seem to have already forgotten that we very nearly had people in charge who wanted to stay for 100 years, or longer.
He wants out of Iraq, and the big news of the last few days is that he's telling the Pentagon to come up with a plan for Afghanistan that has a definite endpoint, rather than a open ended commitment.
If we're not out of Iraq by the next time we get to vote for him, he's going to be in serious trouble. But so far he's on track to have the troops out long before then, so I'm not feeling particularly put out.
Maybe next people will start saying he's totally a liar for having promised he's going to pass health care reform, because god damn it, it's almost Thanksgiving, and it hasn't passed.
South Park: Eric Cartman channels Glenn Beck
STAR TREK 40th Anniversary Tribute
However, I find it remarkable that even though I watched every episode of Voyager, I had absolutely no fond memories triggered by anything they showed here, and I have never had any real desire to rewatch any portion of it.
I'd also forgotten how many times they'd used some excuse to get the crews to mix together, and to shoehorn in some visit to the Old Series in some way.
Hannity: Jon Stewart Was Right