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Cliff Asness Takes On flag@whitehouse.com And The Orwellian Totallitarian Watch-List

Tyler Durden's picture




 

From: StumblingOnTruth Comments

Sent: Monday, August 10, 2009 11:54 AM

To: 'flag@whitehouse.gov'

Cc: 'flagmeobama@gmail.com'

Subject: Flag me! I.e., please put me on your Orwellian totalitarian watch-list as one vigorously opposed to your socialist takeover of health care (as one example of many). Others interested in sending similar emails please see http://flagmeobama.com/

Importance: High

 

Dear Leader and Minions,

The only thing more un-American, anti-freedom, and hypocritical from this administration, that dared to campaign on the prior administration's respect of the constitution, than your attempt to socialize vast swaths of the American economy, is your new attempt to silence your legitimate critics. You have (collectively with your party) called them Nazis, you have lied about their generally peaceful demonstrations while ignoring the incredible hypocrisy of your own brown-shirt like efforts (New Black panther thugs let off the hook by Holder, Code Pink, SEIU and ACORN vigorously disrupting free speech; and just try to give a speech offending the Left on our academically "free" campuses?). Now this explicit effort to have Americans, who happen to disagree with the current people in charge, inform on other Americans to this email address. You all have no shame.

Is anything more certain than if Bush called for this fascist surveillance that the liberal press from the New York Times to the network news to a smirking Jon Stewart (for about 3 weeks straight along with out of context clips) would have skewered him at witch-burning levels even they had not reached, and congressional democrats would have been so apoplectic you'd have seen Nancy Pelosi's face move? Bush asked to have DANGEROUS behavior reported, not dissenting behavior, and you all wanted him impeached.

So, I am a small fish, but a few thousand people read and commented on this essay I've attached a link to (www.stumblingontruth.com). And I've copied them all.

Please print the essay. Read it and learn something and stop your attempted coup d'etat of our free system that will lead to pain and suffering for all the people, but power for yourselves, so I understand giving it up may be tough for you.

If not convinced, roll up the essay, stick it where the collectivist sun does not shine, and then put your name on the waiting list to see the government provided "free" proctologist in 6-12 months. It will give you some small insight into how the American tax-payer feels.

The existence of this monitoring and “informing on thy neighbor” effort is embarrassing to America.

Mr. Obama, tear down this firewall (firewall makes no sense here but the pentameter is beautiful and it's vaguely related to the internet).

- Cliff Asness

Ps. Some fun links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_SGGcJu_c

http://reason.tv/video/show/obama-to-citizens-on-health-ca

http://reason.tv/roughcut/show/paul-krugman-gets-owned-on-hea

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/08/07/white-house-collect-fishy-info-health-reform-illegal-critics-say/

 

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Mon, 08/10/2009 - 16:59 | 32034 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I come to zerohedge for news on the economy. You can save lame bullshit like this for freerepublic.com

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:11 | 32051 Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

alas you and many others fail to grasp something very relevant, namely:

i) this is economic news

ii) this indicates how the portfolio manager of a $20 billion + quant fund thinks

iii) the quant fund manager in question was a former goldman employee

now, if you prefer not to get news (you also seem to miss that a majority of people found this quite interesting), i am sure you can find other blogs that provide that particular service.

lastly, zero hedge is ok with being the shot messenger. in fact, we enjoy it.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:48 | 32118 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

You'll enjoy it less if it becomes a hangout for far right crazies to share conspiracy stories. I've seen good blogs go down that way before. Both from far right loons and from far left ones as well(911 truthers were a fucking plague a few years ago).

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:34 | 32257 Printfaster
Printfaster's picture

Sounds a lot like a threat.

 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:18 | 32424 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

How?

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:35 | 32259 erich
erich's picture

"You'll enjoy it less if it becomes a hangout for far right crazies to share conspiracy stories."

Are you joking?  You just described ZH's base. 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:39 | 32263 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

But not erich, who is here 24/7 merely to point out how crazy everyone else is for being here 24/7

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:09 | 32302 georgetown (not verified)
Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:42 | 32269 erich
erich's picture

So, stuff from former Goldman employees is good, if they agree with you?

I wonder how much stuff you post you actually understand.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:59 | 32298 Tyler Durden
Tyler Durden's picture

amusingly i do not recall indicating agreement or disagreement with mr. asness. but then again, who cares about details in our day and age.

as to your second point, the answer is "troublingly low." the reason: i digest it as promptly as possible, without grasping anything of substance, and merely try to influence the perception of habitual yet not too sophisticated readers who come here repeatedly, yet criticize content without even reading it (or did i take the logical next step of your argument as my answer?)

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 21:06 | 32350 Tao Jonesing
Tao Jonesing's picture

"amusingly i do not recall indicating agreement or disagreement with mr. asness. but then again, who cares about details in our day and age."

TD, are you sure you aren't Marla posting in disguise?  That statement and other comments you have made to this post seem most lawyerly.

I've actually rather enjoyed your more sphinx-like comments and the ensuing responses.  You are a natural born muckraker.  Hats-off to you.  ;-)

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 21:59 | 32400 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

It is an amazing to watch repressed human nature come out through the anonymous writings of such a variety of people... nobody would ever say these things in their day-to-day public life...with the exception of Cheeky:-)  

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:47 | 32716 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

Thank you Tyler.  Tremendously on point.  Thank you.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:03 | 32037 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Next post from TD will be Flash news: The real Obama's kenyan birth certificate
"These disruptions are occurring because opponents are afraid not just of differing views -- but of the facts themselves. Drowning out opposing views is simply un-American." Pelosi
"carying swastikas nad symbols like that" Pelosi

Can anybody point in her words where she called somebody a Nazi? English is my second language, but i can read, i do not believe that most of you can. Can anybody point a lie in her words? Is drowning opposing views American way? Is carrying swastika same as calling somebody nazi?
Maybe you blind GOP simpatysers should go back to school and learn reading comprehension.

If gathering informations on missinformations and lies such as "Death panel", "kill Granny" is same as spying on people then you are right to be afraid, but since i can read i know that only paranoid and scared, full of hate people will intentionaly misread about flag@whitehouse. If you believe that they do not have list of all supporters already, everybody elsse is unsuportive is easy to deduct, then you must be naive.

If attacking another country for oil with intentionaly false inteligence and in process causing hundred thousands of people wrongfully imprisoned, over milion of refugees, close to million deaths and thousands of american lives killed, maimed and destroyed i do not know what else could be fascist like behaviour. Hitler also wanted his country to become most powerfull country, also wanted germans to be the top predator and glory for them. The way it ended is not the way he wanted.
The way america ends is not the way Bush wanted.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:09 | 32048 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

i will give you a little piece of advice that was given to me a few days ago: if you are not an American, this does not concerns you. We, foreigners are considered a lower specie here, so lower your tone and act accordingly.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:52 | 32126 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I live in America, and i am Croatian
He he Cheeky. you fell for this proto fascist thingy about Obama.
Would a someone who does not care about his country like Obama does, start investigation on secret offshore accounts that belong mostly to politicians who are secret milionairs with kickbacks from government contractors like Haliburton? All those secret accounts that UBS is refusing to disclose and is geting penalized into hundreds of millions of dollars do belong to private persons, not to companies. There are thousands of offshore secret accounts that politicians hold cash in. It might be about blackmailing politicians, but then that would not be so public as it is. He does care.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:55 | 32130 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

pa sta ima LOL .... i dont think he cares, that was just a political move; nothing else. 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 18:06 | 32142 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

LOL ma nema nis
I hope you got a nice sun tan today. Take a dip for me tomorow will you he he

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 18:10 | 32149 Cheeky Bastard
Cheeky Bastard's picture

no problem man; but those are the only words of Croatian know; even though my dad was Croatian; I'm practically an imbecile when it comes to speaking the language. I only learned this pa sta ima to pick up Cro-chicks :D

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:54 | 32723 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

anon #32126,

 

"Would a someone who does not care about his country like Obama does, start investigation on secret offshore accounts that belong mostly to politicians who are secret milionairs with kickbacks from government contractors like Haliburton?"

 

There is speculation (perhaps somewhere even evidence) that the gentleman referenced in your passage quoted above has/had his own account at UBS.  Since the settlement between DOJ and UBS only goes after the "big" accounts and this gentleman's account is/was "small" his account would not be included and, therefore, remain anonymous.  Question everything.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 20:04 | 33379 Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now's picture

Public to threaten and intimidate, Chicago politics.

They can of course use the information as leverage against powerful wealthy individuals and politicians (Democrat & Republican) internally or threaten to release information based on how they choose to categorize the accounts - it doesn't have to be public, they could also selectively go after certain individuals.  Administrations have used the IRS politically in the past for audits.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:09 | 32047 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Wow, this is truly amazing, the polarization going on here - at an economics website. There is rarely very much difference in the R/L sides anymore - they run on a bs platform, and once they are elected, are just cogs in the machine, living the high life while selling their constituents out. There may be shiny examples on either side, pressing for certain issues that their party embraces, but most of them are being rented right out from under us, right in front of us, by the people with the most money that are willing to spend it to further their agenda.
I would expect an article like this to pull out libertarians and liberals, and really, ANYBODY, who at least wants to know what's going on here at Animal Farm - rather than just mindlessly graze in the field until it's their turn at the pigs' slaughterhouse.
Your money (taxes AND investments) is being pillaged and stolen in illegal, no-bid defense contracts with the wars, the stock market being played and manipulated, and the bailout is all going to those who need it least, all while the corporations relocate into tax havens and send all of our jobs overseas. All of this after a lot of very patriotic rah-rah about being responsible and pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, working hard and putting your hard-earned life/retirement savings into the market, as it suddenly crashes just in time for the baby boomers to hit retirement. Yet coincidence theorists abound, pointing their fingers and shouting at the conspiratists. Why would someone with so much money and power conspire for more of both? Who doesn't want to be the rich boss of everybody?

Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly...does it matter what flavor the farmer that slaughters you is?
-SD

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:27 | 32080 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Obama and Goldman are joined at the hip. They are the creme de la creme. Evidence of their brilliance --- they win, you lose. Yes, they are golden, and all of you are so stoopid.
Get over it, finis

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:10 | 32049 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

One of the conservative demonstrators (Kenneth Gladney) supposedly nailed by "union thugs" at the Carnahan town hall meeting in St Louis last week is now asking for donations to pay his medical bills.

Gladney doesn't have health insurance.

Stranger yet, because Gladney was shown on video walking away from the dustup apparently fine but reappeared with his lawyer later in a wheelchair.

:)

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:10 | 32481 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

and i saw the breck girl himself, Johnny 'pigfuqer' Edwards running after the guy.........

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:18 | 32060 erich
erich's picture

Are people so eager to forget Bush that they don't recall he had people arrested at his campaign stops for wearing t-shirts?  Shouting down people at these town hall meetings should result in a visit to Gitmo, or super special rendition.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-07-23-bush-protesters_x.htm

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:20 | 32062 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Cheeky-
I, for one, love your posts.
I also love it when Tyler throws in a topic like this one. After all, what's a fight club without a good fight? Now wipe off the blood, and start writing those checks to your masters again, slaves...

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:32 | 32093 Doobie Keebler
Doobie Keebler's picture

See what madness $100 million can buy?

http://mediamatters.org/columns/200908080001

 

 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:33 | 32095 SWRichmond
SWRichmond's picture

Wow, isn't it 'nice' to have all these new visitors patrolling the 'Net looking for health care information so that they can 'correct' it.

Perhaps one of you would like to cite for me where in the U.S. Constitution it says the government should provide health care?

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:11 | 32232 Doobie Keebler
Doobie Keebler's picture

>> Perhaps one of you would like to cite for me where in the U.S. Constitution it says the government should provide health care?

 

That would be a purely hypothetical discussion since the governemnet is already shoveling Medicare/Medicaid dollars by the truckload, and has been for many decades.

The matter at hand is, "Why do Americans pay over twice as much per annum per person for healthcare compared to ROW, yet our quality of care ranks in the bottom quartile."

cite: In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in the U.S. was US$6,714; in Canada, US$3,678

http://assets.opencrs.com/rpts/RL34175_20070917.pdf

The ugly truth is, we have a for-profit healthcare system gone wild, with teh role of GS played by Kaiser-Permenente et al:

http://businesspractices.kaiserpapers.org/nixononkaiser.html

IMHO, our only way out is to go single-payer.

 

 

 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:37 | 32261 erich
erich's picture

Keep the government OUT of Medicare!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:04 | 32407 MinnesotaNice
MinnesotaNice's picture

Erich... Medicare is and has been a government program since its inception in 1965... what are you talking about?

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:27 | 32429 Doobie Keebler
Doobie Keebler's picture

Brilliant! These are the fine citizens who show up at Town Hall meetings and scream "LIAR" until they turn blue. Amazingly, none have been tazered (unlike Dem protestors in Bush World).

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:13 | 32483 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

are you really that dense? it's called ILLEGAL ALIENS plus 400 lb BO supporters who think KFC and grade drank thrice a day is a good diet

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:25 | 32495 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Asness's paper addressed the "we spend more of our GDP on heahlth care" myth exhaustively, get the "F" off this board if you can't read what you're attacking.

And as to bottom quartile, that's on "quality of life" things like lifespan and infant mortality (measured more harshly in America so it's skewed) and having to deal with American's leading more unhealthy lifestyle (as is their right as long as THEY PAY FOR IT). When it comes to GETTING CANCER, or HEART DISEASE, or other diseases, what a medical system is for, nobody would rather be ANYWHERE than the USA. So, if you hate our system, and get sick, go elsehwere, and apologize when you DIE.

That this myth that we have the worst system for the most cost persists just shows you Leftists won't or can't read.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:47 | 32275 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Where in the constitution does it say that I have to pay for the music I listen to? Where does it say that I have to have a license or insurance to drive a car? The constitution is not the sum of all our laws. It is simply the standard that all laws must meet or be deemed "unconstitutional". Far right wing wackos tend to not get that when they are shrieking their various "X isn't in the constitution!" diatribes.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 21:32 | 32374 Tao Jonesing
Tao Jonesing's picture

SWRichmond asks: "Perhaps one of you would like to cite for me where in the U.S. Constitution it says the government should provide health care?"

One could argue that the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution provides a constituional basis for the government providing health care:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

If the purpose of the constitution was to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, promote the general welfare, and secure liberty for Americans forevermore, one can argue that an inherent power granted Congress by the U.S. Constitution was to enact laws that ensure a minimum standard of living for all Americans.  Now, before you go all "strict constructionist" on me, can you cite for me where in the U.S. Constitution it says that U.S. corporations are citizens of the United States with all the privileges and rights attendant thereto.  Actually, you can't because the form of corporation that persists today did not arise until the mid-1800s.  How is this relevant?  Well, the only two choices we are being told we have are allowing only large corporations to provide health insurance or to also allow the government to provide health insurance.  I'd be happy to let private industry provide health insurance if it were forced to strip itself of the limited liability that it currently hides behind to ration healthcare.  Unaccountable corporations are just as dangerous as unaccountable governments.  Let's see what happens when there is a real free market where everyone is fully accountable for his actions.

Of course, nobody is proposing that the government should provide health care.  Rather, some are proposing that the government provide health care insurance, while others are proposing to maintain the status quo.  There is a huge difference between providing health insurance and providing health care that seems to be getting lost with all of the emotionally-charged rhetoric being flung around. 

 

 

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:59 | 32735 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

Tao,

 

Very good points. 

 

With regard to, "Unaccountable corporations are just as dangerous as unaccountable governments," I feel that our current situation reduces these to one and the same.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 17:39 | 32107 vf4 (not verified)
vf4's picture

I, for one, love your posts.
I also love it when Tyler throws in a topic like this one. After all, what's a fight club without a good fight? Now wipe off the blood, and start writing those checks to your masters again, slaves...amen

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 18:41 | 32191 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

god bless asness ......... to bad so many liberal sheeple ( who i assure you know this encouragement of spying on fellow americans is as bad as it gets ) pretend its ' no big whoop' and useless idiots like ACLU finally revealing with 110% certainty how deep in the tank they are for anything liberal ( even if it smells like a dead carp locked in a car trunk for a week in August ) don't speak up and tell their 'Dear Leader' that he has erred and to reverse course quick ....

of course Dear leader is too busy compounding his stupidity by ordering the SEIU goons to get out to townhall meetings and punch back 'twice as hard' .

shades of how Hugo Chavez started out .

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:20 | 32237 bergsten
bergsten's picture

Anybody who has spent any time living in Northern Virginia knows that there is precident for this sort of thing.

I-66 from the Beltway into Washington DC is (or at least was) 100% High Occupancy Vehicle (multiple passengers per car, no motorcycles, no children, etc.) during rush hours.  Government vehicles, limos, etc. were excepted -- kind of like those "VIP-only" lanes in Moscow.

Point being, there were signs along the road with an 800 number to call to REPORT VIOLATORS.  It's been years, but I believe the number was 1-800-RAT-FINK.

So, for people used to this environment, this is nothing new.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:19 | 32239 bergsten
bergsten's picture

By the by, anyone looking for a cure for insomnia (or really wanting to read the 1,000+ page health care plan instead of just assuming what it says) can look here:

http://docs.house.gov/edlabor/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf

As to whether the text of the bill should be email'ed to the White House as something "fishy" is left as an exercise for the reader.

 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 19:41 | 32264 erich
erich's picture

I don't want to waste more time reading Cliff's stuff, again, but does he make any suggestions for fixing the system? 

Any advice for the parents of a child born with cancer who wonder what he or she will do upon turning 18, if the parents are lucky enough to have insurance to keep the child alive that long?  Any advice for people who don't make $50 million a year and avoid taxes because it is all a deferred capital gain, as opposed to actual work?

Remember in the debate when Bush forgot he defined himself as a small business owner?

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:31 | 32501 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

You admit to not reading it, what a joke. Asness says that the poor should be provided for, and even says while it goes against libertarian principles, it should be by the government in a limited capacity. He goes on to say that's a relatively small issue. I believe he says, by analogy, if you don't have enough homeless shelters, you don't re-organize the whole housing industry as they are trying to do to health care, you built more shelters, you don't, quoting him, say "hey let's try coumminism." But hey, you're ignorance (hey look at me I didn't read it!) and class warfare (I found someone badly off so they have a "right" to steaL), that might work too. To create the hell on Earth you are building.

Read it next time, lots of good stuff, some you might even like.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:10 | 32299 georgetown (not verified)
georgetown's picture

It doesn't matter, you need not be legalistic, he spent most of his time outside the country soaking up Marxism. He is an internationalist, only cares about this country enough to rip it off.

hat tip to http://... for the good finance news..

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 20:39 | 32332 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The talk of Marxism, Fascism, Nazism etc. in relation to Obama is silly. This is a Plutocracy: government of the wealthy for the wealthy, and Obama is one of them. Obama cares as much about healthcare as Bush did abortion. They use the social issues as wedges that give the illusion we have a two party system. But the Dems and Republicans are all in the same money and power gang. The Golden Rule: He who has the gold rules. The left and right need to forget the social crap, and follow the money. Right now the main road goes to Goldman. (Which is why I appreciate what Tyler is doing.)

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 20:54 | 32340 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Yeah there are all kinds of kids with cancer dying at age 18 after they fall off their parents insurance.

Sell crazy some place else we are all stocked up here.

The fact is when you look at those so called 47 million, strip out the illegals, strip out hose making $75 grand per but would rather drive a Beamer and strip out those who already qualify for a Government program but don't bother you are down to about 6 million. So let's fuck it up for everyone for 2% of the population.

The huge new taxes involved should help us be competitive.

Fascist dolts.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:32 | 32434 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

The post above should be dipped in bronze and put on display at the Smithsonian so that 30 years from now when right wingers are extinct people can read this post and get some good insight into the deranged thinking of the average wingnut.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:32 | 32504 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Basically correct. The 47 mm is yet another big liberal lie.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 21:09 | 32355 newera22
newera22's picture

Great post. Ditto.

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 22:47 | 32451 Doobie Keebler
Doobie Keebler's picture

I AM AN AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE SH*THEEL

this morning I was awakened by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US department of energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the national oceanographic and atmospheric administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the national aeronautics and space administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US department of agriculture inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the food and drug administration.

At the appropriate time as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the national institute of standards and technology and the US naval observatory, I get into my national highway traffic safety administration approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the environmental protection agency, using legal tender issed by the federal reserve bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US postal service and drop the kids off at the public school.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the department of labor and the occupational safety and health administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to ny house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all it's valuables thanks to the local police department.

I then log on to the internet which was developed by the defense advanced research projects administration to post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right.


Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:18 | 32487 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Fascism, Nazism, Communism, Socialism, ethnic cleansing, mandatory abortions, slavery, genocide all great things brought to you by the governments of the world (mainly european 'governments').

go back to enjoy being a ward of the state, slave

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:38 | 32707 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

word

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 11:16 | 32850 Doobie Keebler
Doobie Keebler's picture

Before you go gettin' all uppity and Randite, try a two-week vacation at this Government -less Libertarian Paradise. Then get back to me with your thoughts on 'government failure' versus 'failure to govern':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0

p.s.

"And now you have cholera."

.-=d00b

.

 

Mon, 08/10/2009 - 23:49 | 32513 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

On political parties (therefore, particularly relevant to most of this thread)"

 

"

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another."

 

George Washington, Farewell Address, 1796

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 00:42 | 32535 D.O.D.
D.O.D.'s picture

+10!

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 02:26 | 32572 Tao Jonesing
Tao Jonesing's picture

Boeing,

Let's remember that Washington was a Federalist, somebody who was for big government and against Jeffersonian small government.  Alexander Hamilton was Washington's boy, as was the first Chief Justice, John Marshall, another Federalist, who invented judicial review out of whole cloth to avert Jeffresonian democracy.  And, like the current "conservative" (what does this word mean any more?) movement, the Federalists were known for relying on the clergy to foment civil unrest. 

Accordingly, a speech made by George Washington to defend his Federalist legacy-- despite the concern trolling it makes about public liberty-- strikes me as distinctly against public liberty, at least from the Jeffersonian and libertarian points of view.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 07:02 | 32623 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

Tao,

 

All points by you duly noted.  Perhaps, as an old man leaving office, GW had a crisis of conscience and was in the quoted passage speaking out against that which he had previously embraced.  This would seem to make sense as, ultimately, he did free his slaves (from the slaves' perspectives he waited too long to do it). 

 

However, since I did not know GW personally, all I am left with are his words and my interpretation of them.  The passage from GW's farewell address that I quoted speaks to me about the insidiousness of political parties and their causality for corruption. 

 

BTW, I am also a fan of Jefferson.  Here's one from TJ that speaks to me, at least partially, about why corruption currently exists:  All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 09:44 | 32713 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

GW would have fought again to prevent what has happened to this once great country. No federalist supported the monstrous conception which prevails; however, the anti-fedralists were proved right by the ultimate illogical abuse of the can of worms they opened.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 10:03 | 32742 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

Yes, thank you.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 00:55 | 32545 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Employer based health care means a boss or union collects money in advance to pay for a worker’s medical care later on. The “bank” is an insurance company like Blue Cross or Kaiser. The money belongs to an employer like GM or a union like SEIU.

Trouble is, the piggy bank is empty. Check out SEIU's (under)funded pensions. Other examples abound. See www.pensiontsunami.org

How to ration? Give physicians financial incentives to both give medical care and to withhold “unnecessary” care. This is called “distributive justice” or a “complete lives system.” As Dr. Emanuel notes, it “considers prognosis, since its aim is to achieve complete lives. … When implemented, the complete lives system produces a priority curve on which individuals aged between roughly 15 and 40 years get the most chance, whereas the youngest and oldest people get chances that are attenuated.”

Don't believe it? Look up QALY - quality adjusted life years. See http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/70/22/2053 or http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=7924

I thought canard was a duck in France.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 01:55 | 32565 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Don't worry. Be happy. Physicians must make Medicare recipient's medical records available to the feds - or face $12,000/incident fines and jail time. flagwhitehouse.org is redundant. Your doctor already gave (away your life) at the office.

Medicare only pays for "medically necessary" health care as defined by "generally accepted" criteria. One set of criteria is marketed by HBOC/McKesson. These Interqual Criteria say a patient must have a fever of 105 or blood sugar of 800 to be hospitalized.

Some think you have to be dead to get in.

This is all real. Fall through the rabbit hole.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 07:36 | 32632 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

Having commented on the insidiousness of political parties, let me now turn my attention to HR3200 (I believe that is the bill number for the health care initiative currently under consideration by Congress).  Can anybody here provide me with any sane reason why this bill (or any other for that matter) needs to be 1036 pages long?  Serious replies only please. 

From where I sit, the ONLY reason for any proposed legislation having that kind of length is to discourage citizens from reading it.  By extension, it appears to consistently discourage Congresspeople from reading the bills before they vote for them.  That should sufficiently HORRIFY "libs" and "conservatives", "Dems" and "Pubs", "etc." and "etc."  Your elected representatives do not even read bills that they vote into law.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 10:14 | 32765 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Cliff Asness has become nothing but a senile old loser. Pity him the poor hedge fund manager because he makes over a million bucks per year and will have to pay a little more in taxes! The funny thing is the poor dumb trailer trash mob that actually listens to guys like him like to think that they're in the same league. Asness is a fag.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 13:34 | 33007 BoeingSpaceliner797
BoeingSpaceliner797's picture

anon 32765,

I really don't care what you think of Asness.  I find the following from your post far more revealing, "The funny thing is the poor dumb trailer trash mob that actually listens to guys like him."  Wow!  Way to paint the dissent with one broad brush, they're all trailer trash. 

The last poll I saw showed 52% of the citizens polled were against HR3200.  So 52% of the country is trailer trash? 

And I just referred to them as the dissent, rather than the majority.  Why would I do that?  Because if the majority is not listened to, then they are de facto the dissent.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 14:49 | 33104 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Schiff and Assness should run in 2012 and dbag 1 and dbag 2. Schiff can say the crash is coming, the crash is coming and then proceed to UNDERPERFORM the broader indices by a margin of 2 to 1 as he did in 2008. f ucking morons with big mouths.

Tue, 08/11/2009 - 14:48 | 33100 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

Dbag Cliff Assness was silent during patriot act, haebeus corpus and now has time to spout off. what a f ucking turd, no coincidence his funds are tanking too.

Wed, 08/12/2009 - 02:57 | 33612 Anonymous
Anonymous's picture

I made a Fishy Rumor Letter Generator the other day, for easy composition of fishy rumor letters. It works like Mad Libs.

http://icanhastarp.com/index.php?article_id=18

Wed, 08/12/2009 - 05:03 | 33624 Econocataclysm
Econocataclysm's picture

You are fracking kidding me.

Wall Street is currently enjoying the benefits of Socialism while avoiding the risks of the Free Market, courtesy of first George W. Bush & Hank Paulson and now Obama & Tim Geithner.

Don't you think we should get paid out as well?

Health care is already rationed: the rich get what they need and the rest of us can die.

And as for Socialism... this country hasn't had anything resembling a "Free Market" since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. They're central economic planners through monetary policy, duh. Except it's the Soviet Union in reverse: the markets are all rigged to steal from the poor and give to the rich. Corporate Socialism, a game rigged in favor of Goldman Sachs and AIG. Now, we want our cut. And this is a bad thing? Why should AIG be the only ones to profit from the looting of America? We want our goddamned payout, too!!!

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