ArtemisEnterri

I would rather take home more in my paychecks and choose my own healthcare plan than have one shoved down my throat by politicians while they take even more taxes out of my paycheck. And don't forget the fact that the money you pay into a government-controlled system is very likely to be used for services you might not agree with (like abortion)... At least with a private plan you can specify what services you want your money to be used for...

Gee, if only the politicians could use intelligence instead of their overinflated desire for "equality for all".... I'm so sick of seeing illegals having better benefits than I can get... And don't forget that the legislation being voted on takes away freedom of choice, because of the section penalizing anyone who doesn't have "approved" coverage (like college kids who think they are healthy enough they don't need a plan, or the "rich" who can afford to pay cash at the doctor/hospital and don't want to deal with an insurance company)... I thought the whole idea of being an American was the FREEDOMS we get...

Well I sure as hell don't trust the politicians in DC to be able to fix it either. When has ANY program created by the American government EVER been SUCCESSFUL??? When a program goes bad, they throw more money at it thinking it will help, even though it never does. In the corporate sector, if 2 nearly identical programs are being tested and one fails (loses too much money) but the other succeeds (provides profit), the companies will TERMINATE the programs that fail, they do NOT keep failing programs running (unless of course it is a "not for profit" business, then all their programs lose money month after month). The problem with the DC politicians is that the overwhelming majority of them have previous job histories as LAWYERS. There are almost ZERO politicians who were previously corporate CEO's, teachers, accountants, etc - people with REAL business backgrounds... Which is why there's always out-of-control spending, and when they need more money they either raise taxes or cut benefits for things, they NEVER try to SAVE any money for future concerns... Term Limits need to be applied to ALL of them (not just the President) so that we can get fresh, uncorrupted, people into office who will actually do things for US and not for special interest groups and lobbyists.

At least people aren't hating on me in this thread...

Yes, but look at the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are in a royal mess. Do we really want the politicians in charge of a plan covering ALL American citizens EXCEPT the politicians themselves? Doesn't that make you wonder? They are basically saying "It's not good enough for US to use, but it's okay for YOU"...

But the government's plan as it is right now PROHIBITS "free choice". There is language in the bill that makes it an offense for someone to NOT have a health care plan (or to have a plan that the government doesn't approve of - which is likely to be a very small list of plans). The are kids just starting their first jobs either while still in school (high school or early college) who think they are healthy enough they don't need a plan right now. And at the other end of the spectrum, there are multi-millionaires who choose not to pay a monthly fee for an insurance plan because they have the money to pay in full when they need services. BOTH these groups would face PENALTIES in the form of ADDITIONAL TAXES because of the way the politicians wrote the HR 3200. As I just said in my long post, the government needs to stop trying to take over the health care situation and put pressure on the insurance businesses because THEY are the problem, NOT the doctors.

Ugh, another "I want universal health care in America" thread... The problem with the current system is that the doctors/hospitals/specialists/etc charge too much and the insurance companies pay too little. Fact: BOTH sides of the situation are BUSINESSES whose primary focus is on MAKING/SAVING money, NOT on spending money. As was previously mentioned, doctors have to pay back years of student loans as well as their insurance bills (property, liability, malpractice, etc), employee payroll, rent & utilities for the building they use, not to mention their own home bills (rent/mortgage, utilities, etc), so they raise their rates in order to "recapture" the excesses they need to spend. Insurance companies (being larger businesses than doctors offices) have even higher expenses (more buildings means more rent/mortgage bills, more employees to pay, more utility bills, etc) so not only do they increase their rates to their customers, they REDUCE the amount they pay to the doctors' offices for any billable services rendered. A "single-payer universal" plan WILL NOT CHANGE THESE FACTORS! All it will do is take the multiple insurance companies out of the picture and insert the government, who has proven time after time after time for close to 60 years (not sure exactly what year Medicare/Medicaid were first started) that they have NO CLUE how to SUCCESSFULLY handle health care. I know people who use those programs, and for most types of service you have to search for a doctor/specialist who will accept those plans in order to get treatment. Good luck trying to find a dentist or optometrist who accepts Medicaid these days, they are few and far between (we once had to drive 90 minutes each way for a dentist who would accept the plan used by my old job). Think about this: who will choose to become future doctors knowing that their expected income will NOT allow them to successfully pay off their student loan balances during their own lifetime? Because that is what WILL happen. Instead of protecting the DOCTORS who need to have profit to keep their offices open so they can take care of patients, the government is gonna SCREW the doctors by limiting their income (with NO CONCERN about the expenses the doctors are required to pay). What the government SHOULD do is tackle the insurance companies and the malpractice suit lawyers. THEY are the ones causing the problem! The "health" insurance companies should be REQUIRED to pay (IN FULL) ALL claims issued by the doctors/hospitals, and they should NOT increase the rate billed to the consumer (patient). The "malpractice" insurance companies should be REQUIRED to REDUCE the rates billed to doctors WHO HAVE NO RECORD OF MALPRACTICE INCIDENTS for the last 5-10 years, and if a doctor has NEVER had a malpractice incident in MORE than 10 years, their bills should basically be almost FREE. The idea of raising the rates for ALL doctors when someone has a lawsuit is insane (just like the way car insurance companies might raise your rates when your neighbor has an accident). As far as the lawyers go, there needs to be a CAP on the maximum a patient can receive from a malpractice suit. If the doctor leaves a sponge or scalpel in the patient, they (the patient) don't need or deserve multi millions in "damages". However, if the wrong body part is amputated or the patient is permanently paralyzed or dies because of the surgery, then yes sock it to the doctor, but still not for more than a realistic amount (like the calculated total of that patient's pre-surgery earnings). Come on, would that patient have earned 4 million or more from their job BEFORE the surgery made them unable to work? I very highly doubt it. To summarize: say NO to "universal" health care plans, say YES to insurance & lawsuit reforms.

Awesome. I haven't played a real sit-down paper & dice game in nearly 10 years... Moved around so many times that I never had a chance to find anyone to game with...

Classic D&D/AD&D, Shadowrun, Battletech/Mechwarrior (which was paper & dice before being computerized)... I've also played an RPG based on the old Robotech tv series... I've been both a player and a DM/GM.

You got that right!

I have been saying the exact same things since Clinton got in. The dems and their lapdogs like to say things like "Clinton was the BEST president we had" and ignore his acts that STAINED (literally) the Oval Office. Now we've got O who bows to foreign leaders as if we as Americans are their subjects. WE ARE NOT THE SUBJECTS OF ANY OTHER COUNTRY'S LEADERS, WE AS AMERICANS BOW TO NO KINGS, QUEENS, PRINCES OR PRINCESSES!!!!! O and the dems say "America has been rude to other countries". What about all the charity America has given to other countries (Egypt, Sudan, ect to help with THEIR homeless/needy populations) WITHOUT EVER REQUIRING A SINGLE PENNY PAID BACK????? I am so sick and tired of hearing people whine and said "the government needs to do .... for me". I wanna smack them upside the head and yell at them "what the hell have YOU done for YOURSELF or your country?????" People need to get up and do things FOR THEMSELVES! Think about something: there are 546 people in Washington holding the power: 100 Senators, 435 Representatives, 10 Supreme Justices, and 1 President. They make decisions that affect over 300 MILLION people across America. How often are those decisions based on what WE want? Whatever happened to the concept of MAJORITY RULE??? Why are MINORITY groups (not meaning racial, meaning philosophical and religious) being given so much of a voice? When 84+% of Americans say to KEEP the words "In God We Trust" on our money and the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance, WHY are the 15% MINORITY even being paid any attention?!?!?!?!? Like that jackass piece of crap Michael Newdow (dunno the real spelling) who bitched cuz his daughter had to say God in the Pledge. But HE is an Atheist, SHE isn't, and he is a NON-CUSTODIAL parent, so what gives him the right to file any lawsuits about it? And WHY does the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) follow the ANTI-Christian and ANTI-Republican causes? What about the REST OF US whose civil liberties are being infringed by these morons? Who is gonna help US against THEM?????

I LOVE my Wii (which we've had since 2007)... Lots of good suggestions, but I'm surprised some of these weren't mentioned: Prince of Persia - Rival Swords (good hack 'n slash) Thrillville off the Rails (a cool Roller Coaster Tycoon type amusement park game - where you can ride ALL the rides, and play ALL the arcade games you build) Carnival Games (which is good for passing the time, and has full 4 player competition) Carnival Games Minigolf (only has about 24 holes, but they are really zany) What I like most about the Wii is the amount of HomeBrew available for it if you're willing to "softmod" the unit (it does not damage the machine, but if done wrong could "brick" it - making it unusable). Check out WiiBrew.org for info. Some of the best "homebrew" is what they call "USB backup loaders" allowing you to dump the contents of your game discs to a USB harddrive so you can play your games without putting the disc in the drive all the time... (And there are people who figured out how to make ISO images of the game discs and shared those image files for others to download.........)

Gee, I seem to have the same problem... People hate me because of politics... I've even had a certain person (not gonna say who) who the other day iggied me when I entered chat to "avoid any unpleasant politics", and I never said a freaking word at that moment (nor said anything politics related for the whole 45 minutes I was in there)...

Well, I'm in NC, but way the hell inland by Winston-Salem... Never been to the OBX region (when we want beach time, we go down to Myrtle).

I've even told them for the last 3 years "Don't buy me clothes, just give me a gift card for the stores and I'll get the stuff I want." And they STILL don't listen to me... I've actually had to have the occasional temper tantrum in the store to get the items I want... I hate the reminder that my birthday means I'm getting older... I don't WANT to be older... I want to be able to have fun and enjoy my life...

I'll join you. I hate the last days of November cuz my birthday is the last day (the 30th) and in the last half dozen years or so, I *NEVER* get what I want as birthday or Christmas gifts (unless I buy it myself). What I want is mainly electronics (stuff for my computers and video games) but what I usually get is clothes (which I don't need more of).

Count yourself lucky. My wife absolutely hates my interest in diapers, and won't allow me to wear while she's around... My wife has bladder issues herself, but refuses to use any form of "protection" for it, because she doesn't want me "stealing" her supply... (She's larger sized than me, so pull-ups/diapers for her would be too big for me... so there'd be no reason for me to "steal" any...)

If only the people who bitch and moan about how people waste so much water would think about the fact that flushing a toilet wastes at least 2 gallons of water PER FLUSH... So in a way diapers are BETTER for the environment...

Some rumors say that even Nascar drivers wear them... It boggles my mind trying to understand why "normal vanillas" have such a hard time with the subject of adult diapers...

AMEN! O needs to be impeached because he has NO CLUE AT ALL how to be president. At least GWB was a state governor before being elected. Obama was a nobody NOTHING before the elections.

Yeah, I've played around with SL a few times. There's also a lot of AB/DL content on the 3D animated instant messenger called IMVU...

Dang, with all the construction crews in my area lately, that woulda been a great job to have... And I coulda worn my diapers all day and not had to worry about it.

I kinda wish movie theaters (and malls) would add a machine in the restrooms for toddler/child and adult diapers, so people can put one on before their movie starts... They usually have the machines with the headache pills, breath mints, and even disposable tooth brushes...

If it's so boring, why do you keep opening your mouth to continue it? Drew, you just don't get it. The US Government already controls TWO healthcare plans (Medicare and Medicaid) and BOTH are TOTALLY SCREWED UP! This bill DOES NOT FIX ANYTHING! I just makes things WORSE! For years my taxes (and yours, and the taxes paid by every other American) have been used for programs to give OTHER PEOPLE "assistance" options that we (those of us PAYING the taxes) cannot touch (because we "make too much", even when I only made 28k a year and was considered barely over the poverty line), and I think that is complete and utter bullshit - particularly since a LARGE PORTION of the people receiving the benefits HAVE NEVER PAID INTO THE SYSTEM THEIR ENTIRE LIVES (families living for generation after generation using welfare checks, people PHYSICALLY ABLE TO WORK but NEVER working, ILLEGALS getting benefits WITHOUT EVER PAYING TAXES)! And by the way, car insurance is a DIFFERENT subject from health insurance. Why not let each state (or even each separate county in each state) decide for themselves how to handle healthcare? Since WHEN did a small group of politicians in DC have the right to SHOVE THINGS DOWN OUR THROATS? The Federal government answers to US, the PEOPLE. We DO NOT answer to them! Look up the wording of the Constitution in Article 1, Sections 8 and 9. Section 8 specifically states the powers Congress DOES have, while section 9 specifically states powers Congress DOES NOT HAVE! Also, read the wording of the Tenth Amendment which says "The powers not delegated to the United States" (meaning the Federal government) "by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." Therefore Congress does NOT have the power to create a "federally mandated" healthcare plan.

No, Fox News reports TRUTH while ALL OTHER "news" channels report the party line (only what Obama and the Democrats want reported). And THAT is the TRUTH! The "Change" Obama wants is just like what Karl Marx did in Russia. If you can't see that, then you are BLIND (or else never paid attention to world history before the USSR - Union of Soviet SOCIALIST Republics - collapsed). Gee, think about this: There are 545 people in Washington with POWER (ignoring all lobbyists, aides, secretaries, etc): The President, 9 Justices on the Supreme Court, 435 members in the House of Representatives, and 100 Senators. And THEY make the rules for over 300 MILLION citizens! That is a serious case of a minority trying to rule a majority, when it's supposed to be MAJORITY RULE. WE elected THEM, THEY WORK FOR US, so why do they not listen to US about what WE want? Simple: they lie to us with their promises, they care more about the money given to them by lobbyists and special interest groups than they do about our votes which put them in those seats. It is time to vote out the corrupted politicians who only care about money, and vote in NEW people who have never been in a position of power. People who KNOW what it's like in the REAL WORLD of America (since the DC politicians live in a FANTASY). We need more Doctors, Teachers, Accountants, every possible profession in America, EXCEPT LAWYERS! Over 90% of ALL the politicians in office right now have histories as lawyers/attorneys or judges, so they have NO IDEA AT ALL how it feels to live under the laws they pass, since they ALWAYS act like they are IMMUNE to the laws they pass for US to live under.