“What all the wise men promised has not happened, and what all the damned fools said would happen has come to pass.” – Lord Melbourne
“We voted for these people. We should be allowed to taser them.” – Mike
“If you’re standing around talking about doing away with fossil fuels while pointing at an electric vehicle that’s about 70% synthetic materials, you’ve already failed an IQ test you didn’t even know you were taking.”
“Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.”
“They’re not ignorant. They’ll tell you all about what they know.”
“You guys just don’t spend enough time giving yourself cool but limited super-powers. This is the internet.” – laura w.
“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” – Thomas Paine
“Whoever undertakes to set himself up as judge in the field of truth and knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods” – Albert Einstein
“They can pass a law to say anything, but reality gets to bat last.”
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke
“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.” – D.H. Lawrence
“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace.” – Thomas Paine
“God doesn’t call the equipped – he equips those he calls.” – Barbara Curtis
Always remember: Law is about arguing one fact that helps your argument and ignoring the ten facts that disprove it.
It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument – William McAdoo
“Hand-written notes in cursive writing are still the finest personal way of saying thank you. The people who send those after interviews are the ones who get the jobs.”
Koch's Tour 
po’ darlin, hope thangs settle down for ya
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Oh, it’s just this whole Obamacare thing – I had such hopes that it would be struck down in its entirety; now all I can see is my grandkids being stuck with the remains of some politicians’ naked ambition.
Obama has kept this country in chaos for the past 3 years, and this decision is going to keep the chaos going LONG after he is out of office.
I just have to work through the despair and come through on the other side with the resolve to fight like Hell for this country that I love.
My children and grandchildren deserve no less……
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Beautiful!
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I love this! Thanks, I really needed it… for the same reasons you did.
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And Bill Whittle made a great point in today’s video: Prohibition was overturned, and obamacare can be, too. Chin up, patriot!
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I know – I’m working through all of the “Stages of Grief” right now.
I’m hoping that I don’t get to “Acceptance” too soon – I need some white-hot anger to get me through to November 😛
Mostly, I just want him to go away.
I can’t live with this kind of chaos much longer…..
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Agreed. Just giving you a little sisterly punch in the shoulder. God sees. He knows.
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Thanks, darlin’ – we’ll all get through this together. It helps when those around me are able to put it in perspective! ♥♥♥
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Thanks Teresa. I don’t think I had ever heard Claire De Lune played on guitar before. I couldn’t remember the name of the piece but I posted it on the Falling Skies website and answered my question and referred me to this. Just a moment before that “Claude Debussy” came to my mind and I found it on YouTube, but it’s amazing that we have such resources for finding and sharing information.
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Glad I could help – like I said, I don’t know if this is the exact version that was played at the end of the show, but it’s close enough for me….. 😛
And I agree with you about this amazing resource – I always tell my kids that they are so incredibly fortunate to live in a time when they literally have the world at their fingertips.
I’m not sure they understand what a “miracle” that is; they’ve never known a time when they DIDN’T have it!
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Just think of what a mess your life and family’s life would be if you had a catastrophic illness and you had no insurance. What about the millions of people in the USA who don’t have the posh life you do, and can’t afford insurance. I lived that life once. I know. Where is your compassion?
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Joseph, compassion has obviously has nothing to do with it. When asked by a woman at a town hall rally if his plan would cover her grandmother who had a tremendous love for life and will to live but needed a pacemaker, obama told her the plan doesn’t take those kinds of things into account. He told her it would probably be better to just give her a pill to keep her from being in pain. There’s the compassion of the Affordable (We Don’t) Care Act.
And where is YOUR compassion for us and for future generations who will now be forced to pay a tax on something if we choose NOT to buy it or cannot afford it? In ten years, 75% of of the burden for the ACA will be on the backs of families making less than $120K. And now that the precedent is set, what is the government going to lay on our backs next? You’re delusional if you think it will stop with the ACA.
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That is what “Catastrophic” insurance used to be for – unfortunately, it has been bastardized into a “one-size-fits-all” mish-mash (which is why it is so expensive).
Do you drive a car? Are you a high-risk driver or a low-risk driver? There are different risk “pools”, depending on your driving record.
Health “insurance” doesn’t have that – if you are a single man, 20 years old, excellent health, you are going to have to pay the same insurance rate as someone who is 65 years old, morbidly obese, with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and a smoker.
I ask you – is that “fair”?
I don’t live a “posh” life – thanks to the government, we get to pay full price for our kids to go to college, we have to pay all of our own medical costs, we have to pay our own rent, buy our own food, pay for our own cell phone plan, AND we are told that 35% of our income isn’t enough for Uncle Sam – we need to pay our “fair share” so that some welfare queen who has made bad choices all her life can sit on her ass all day and complain that she doesn’t have everything that she wants when she doesn’t have to pay for ANY of those things.
Sorry – I’m tired of pulling everybody else’s weight.
I’ve saved my money.
I”ve gone without FOR YEARS so that my children could have nice things.
My husband works 60-70 hours a week – I hardly ever get to see him.
We donate 10% of our income to charity.
We pay 5% of our income for our youngest child to attend a private school for children with Down syndrome.
We pay 5% of our income on student loans for our other 3 children to go to college (and we’ll be paying on those for the next 20 years).
We were FINALLY able to purchase a new car a couple of years ago – our old one was 10 years old.
My husband drives a 12-year-old pick-up truck.
We’ve been married for over 30 years – we have had exactly 3 new cars in all that time; any others that we had, we bought used.
I can count on one hand the number of “vacations” that we have taken (that didn’t involve visiting relatives).
We set aside 10% of our income for retirement.
We set aside 3% of our income in a Health Savings Account to cover our deductibles and co-pay.
The company takes 2% of our income for health insurance.
The government takes 7.5% for Social Security and Medicare – and they may never give that back to us, because we “make too much money”.
On top of that, the government takes another 35% of our income for taxes – and they tell us that they want to take more.
So please don’t lecture me about compassion.
I am fresh out.
All of those people who say that they “can’t afford” insurance? Do they have cell phones? Do they have cable/internet? What about video games? How much do they spend going out to eat each month? Do they buy cigarettes and/or booze? Do they have a closet full of nice clothes and/or shoes? Do they go on vacations? Do they have big houses or cars?
Guess what?
All of the money that they are using to buy all of that nice stuff could be used to pay for health insurance for their families.
You’ll forgive me if I am less than enthusiastic about paying for someone else’s “basics” just because they want to buy “goodies” instead.
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Wow, what a sick blog. Rat’s nest of paranoia, Koch-fueled misinformation and not so subtle racism. In other words, just good old American patriots.
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I hope you enjoyed the song.
I’m afraid you are going to have to point out SPECIFIC incidences of my “not-so-subtle racism” (and bashing the president doesn’t count – I said the same things when Carter was in office); otherwise, you are guilty of putting words in my mouth.
(You do know that the blog’s name comes from the fact that my last name is “Koch”, right? As far as I know, we aren’t related to the brothers up north)
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We’re not racist… we don’t agree with Biden, either.
If you don’t like the blog, go elsewhere. You’re obviously not equipped for a substantive debate, so go back to your lib talking points blogs.
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Hello all,
First I came here to find this beautiful guitar piece, thanks a lot !
Then, i read the comments and as a non-American citizen i don’t understand why you are so against Obamacare.
I’m not provocative, just an ignorant foreign guy, please enlighten me 🙂
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How much do you pay for your health insurance in France?
And don’t tell me “It’s free”, because it most assuredly is not.
It is included in your tax rate – which is exorbitantly high.
I am against Obamacare because I do not want my government deciding what is and isn’t “acceptable” medical treatment.
I want to be able to CHOOSE what type of insurance I get, and with Obamacare, I will not have that choice – every policy is going to be a one-size-fits-all policy, and that is going to be EXPENSIVE.
I don’t want some bureaucrat in Washington deciding what will and what will not be “covered”.
Forgive me if I am uncomfortable with my government getting into my business.
My guess is that you have never known a time when the government didn’t “cover” your healthcare, so you have never known the freedom that comes with healthcare choice.
So many countries with “Socialized” medicine are starting to privatize their healthcare systems because they recognize that their system doesn’t work.
And the idiots in charge of this country are rushing headlong into disaster.
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Here is the new “power” that our IRS (unelected bureaucrats with police power) has:
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/07/02/Farewell-Personal-and-Medical-Privacy-ObamaTax-is-Here
Here is a Canadian doctor’s take on Socialized Medicine (written before Obama was running for office):
http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/_ibd-canadian_doctor_describes_how.htm
Natasha Richardson had to wait over 5 HOURS to get to a hospital with a traumatic brain injury, because the nearest one was over 2 hours away, and they didn’t have a LifeFlite helicopter that served that area. In this country, it is very possible that she would still be alive – and with a minimum of brain damage.
Cancer survival rates in countries with socialized medicine are SIGNIFICANTLY lower than they are here.
We value life here – we don’t view people in terms of dollars and cents and some bureaucrat’s bottom line. .
I don’t want to be just another number in a vast waiting room.
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Thanks for your reply, I will take a deep look into that.
A few more question for education :
Is it accurate to express the problem as follows “Best care for few or average care for many” ?
In France we sure have a public healthcare for everybody but if some want they can pay – expensive – private treatment and get the best care there is.
We are still able to choose the way we are gonna be treated, won’t it be the same in US ?
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As it stands, the “funding” for this “free” healthcare will come from taxpayers (that is how it will be enforced). If a person doesn’t pay taxes, there will be no way to enforce the “you must have insurance” mandate.
In France, if a person doesn’t pay taxes, I am sure that they get “free” health care. The same thing will end up happening in this country.
At some point, all of the people who are working hard are going to realize that they can get the same “benefits” by staying home and not working.
The system will collapse upon itself – if there are no taxpayers, there will be no taxes to pay for health care.
And if the “rich” in your country are able to pay for better health care, how is that any different from what we have in this country right now?
Many people don’t have insurance because they don’t see the point in paying $12,000/yr for a policy that will only “kick in” after a $4,000 deductible has been met. If they only go to the doctor’s office once a year, that’s an awful expensive office visit.
Now, they are going to be REQUIRED to pay that $12,000 + the deductible, whether they want to or not.
I don’t see how that is “fair” in anyone’s book. A person should be able to make that choice – the government should not be allowed to tell them how to spend their money.
The government will now get to decide “how much” insurance is “enough”, and we will be penalized if we DON’T carry enough. We will also be penalized if we decide to purchase a high-end policy – because it’s not “fair” to everyone else.
The people in this country who think this is a GREAT idea are the ones who haven’t taken the time to read the bill.
Of course, those of us who HAVE read the bill are called ignorant racist rednecks by our fellow citizens – they claim that we are hateful and arrogant for pointing out the pitfalls in this legislation. “You just hate poor people”, “You are listening to right-wing propaganda”, “You don’t want to see a black man succeed as President”, etc – we’ve heard it all.
For doing our research – and telling people things that they don’t want to hear – we are villified. It gets old really fast.
I studied Engineering in college – I am an analytical person. I read information from all different points of view, I read the information itself, and I think things through to their logical conclusion – be it good or bad.
Too many people ONLY see the “good”, and don’t want to think about the bad. Well, we HAVE to think about everything that can go wrong so that we can plan how to be prepared. Ignoring the bad consequences won’t make them go away, and it won’t prevent them from happening. If something is going to be a minefield of bad consequences, it’s better to scrap it and start over again – no matter how “good” it may look on paper.
Engineers HAVE to think about all of the bad things that could happen – they run models and figure out what it will take to “break” them. That way, they can design a system that is much less likely to break. That takes time.
This legislation was shoved through with NO input from Republicans – they were LOCKED OUT of all discussions. This legislation passed with NO Republicans voting in favor of it. The legislative chicanery that was used to drag it across the “finish line” was appalling.
This bill NEVER had bipartisan support. This bill only represents one side of the nation.
I’m sorry to go on so long, but this bill is a huge disaster waiting to happen…..
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The only way to stop it is by voting, but even that may not be enough. I completely agree.
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We have to start somewhere – I’ve voted in every Presidential election since I was first eligible. I waited in line for over an hour to cast my vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980. I’m seeing the same – if not more – feeling of resolve in the public today. It will be interesting to see what happens in this election.
People are DETERMINED right now. That’s only going to grow, I think; the economy is going to get worse, not better. The Obamacare decision was the nail in that coffin – all of those companies that were holding off on deciding to stay in business or not are going to start shutting down; too many of them just can’t afford the cost.
I somehow have a feeling that this election is going to be very much like my first one – lines out the door to vote the bums out.
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You guys. What does healthcare have to do with this post? NOT A THING. I hate it when people insist on making everything political. Can’t you just enjoy this beautiful piece of music for what it is? Keep your mouths shut, your opinions to yourself, and STOP making everything political!
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Thanks! I think I might have started it inadvertently – I’m not used to folks other than close friends/blog buddies visiting here; as you can see from my first comment, I was just explaining why this was such a balm to my soul the day that I heard it.
Things kinda snowballed from there…..
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I wanted to say how much I love this piece of music, this particular version, and thanks to the two of you who found it. And to the man from France. I saw a special on TV about many US citizens living in France. They almost without exception moved there to take advantage of the health system and to get good jobs, and they’re all happy. I’ve tried to convince my husband to move there temp. He speaks very good French, and I speak just enough to get by w/out a lot of trouble. I love it there. I love the people, I love the small towns. I love everything about it, especially the trains and public transport and the bakeries everywhere, and the fresh butcher shops, etc. It’s in the small towns where I feel like I’m back home in our old, tiny NC town, before it became the nightmare it is today, especially the traffic. My husband wants to retire. He’s decided not to, as it’s three yrs until I can get Medicare, (that’s the US version of gov’t healthcare, for our French friend here on this site.). I won’t be able to just buy health insurance w/out my husband’s company insurance, as I have A-fib and take blood pressure pills and a blood thinner to make my high BP normal. So, hospitalization could bankrupt us. It’s a horrible situation. There are places all over the world we’d be better off for coverage, but not necessarily the best healthcare. I understand France’s healthcare is among the best in the world. I just found out yesterday, those w/out health care insurance, under Obamacare, will have to pay some sort of penalty tax. It’s truly the most horrible craziness I’ve ever read. I bet there are thousands of people like me who didn’t know about it. Thanks.
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