Dad posted:

This, friends, sums up reality! Quite interesting that "the Wizard of Id", with it's record of off beat humor, was chosen as the vehicle fgor this message.
[Dad]

---------- Forwarded message ----------


Subject: Any Questions?




“You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”


-Dr. Adrian Rogers, Author & Clergyman (1931-2005)

TehSaurus posted:

Start with a straw man, add a fundamental misunderstanding of class mobility, wealth distribution, and motivation, mix with ignorance and selfish disregard for the plight of your fellow man, and what do you get?

This. This is what you get.

It is a content free message that will not change anybody's mind. The people who agree with you will pat you on the back, and the people who don't will shake their heads and wonder how it is possible to get everything so completely wrong.

Paranda posted:

It just saddens me that no matter how good the replies are, they will probably be ignored. Has anyone here actually succeeded in winning someone over?

Dad posted:

Your U.S. House & Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises.
They voted to not give you a S.S. Cost of living raise in 2010 and 2011.
Your Medicaid premiums will go up $285.60 for the 2-years and
You will not get the 3% COLA: $660/yr. Your total 2-yr loss and cost is
-$1,600 or -$3,200 for husband and wife.
Over 2-yrs they ea. Get $10,000
Will they have your cost of drugs - doctor fees - local taxes - food, etc.., increase?
NO WAY. They have a raise and better benefits. Why care about you? You never did anything about it in the past.
Do you really think that Nancy, Harry, Chris, Charlie, Barnie, et al, care about you? SEND THE MESSAGE-- You're FIRED.


CHANCE TO GET RID OF THE SITTING CONGRESS:
Up to 1/3 OF THE SENATE, AND 100% OF THE HOUSE.

MAKE SURE YOU'RE STILL MAD IN NOVEMBER 2010

It is ok to forward this to your sphere of influence if you're finally tired of the abuse.

Son posted:

Allow me to make some corrections:

The $4700 pay raise for 2009 was voted on by the 110th congress which ended in January 2009.

The 2010 pay raise was voted down by the 111th congress in February of 2009, and their term does not end until January 2011.

If you are mad about the pay raise, you should vote for the incumbents of the 111th congress, who are up for re-election in 2010.

Strudel Man posted:

doesn't even make any kind of cogent argument.

Strudel Man posted:

If you truly believe a person cannot be convinced, I don't see what benefit there is to engaging with them at all.

No You Shut The gently caress Up Dad! posted:

Subject: Fwd: FW: It's Called Christmas!
This is so cool, please pass on to all your friends!

#1 Christmas Song This Year!

These guys have really got it together....good song...

click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ

TehSaurus posted:

In order to preserve your originalist interpretation of Christmas, may I suggest you also protest against the following holiday customs:

Gift Exchange - Originally a Roman custom in celebration of Saturnalia.
Christmas Tree - Roman custom from the Roman New Year. This is also where the idea to use lights in celebration as well.
Date - The date of Christmas was moved to coincide with the celebration of Sol Invictus, presumably in order to make it easier to convert the pagan Romans.
Yule - Jul is originally the name of the pagan winter solstice celebration in Scandinavia. Using the word Yule as it applies to Christmas really should be more offensive than saying Happy Holidays. The two became synonymous in the 10th century.

Hope this helps.

Mongoloid Retard posted:

Tort reform!!!!~ BLARRGH LITIGOOUS SOCIALEST BLARGH BLARGH BLARGH!

A convenient prepackaged reply posted:

The first thing we have to do a sanity check. We have to compare the total cost of torts with the total cost of healthcare to figure out if it is possible to make a meaningful difference. There are a couple of studies (included at the end) that cite tort costs for 2005 at $30 billion and $11.5 billion. Both studies use different methods to get there, and neither is contested by advocates of tort reform. Contrasting that with the $1.9 trillion spent on healthcare in the same year the emphasis on tort reform seems ridiculous. So how has the issue managed to get traction?

Neither of those studies claim to account for defensive medicine. Defensive medicine is the notion that a physician will change their clinical behavior to avoid exposure to malpractice claims. As might be suspected, it is nearly impossible to get a good picture of the true cost of defensive medicine. There are a couple of studies that survey physicians to try and get a grasp on how pervasive the issue might be. In one study 76% of 300 respondents claimed to alter their clinical behavior. In the other study it was 93%. However, neither study hazards a guess as to the actual cost of these deviations, since, given the nature of the work conducted it is impossible. This is where things get incredibly sketchy. There are only a couple numbers available for estimates in the cost of defensive medicine. The Department of Health and Human Services claims $126 billion in 2003, and Price Waterhouse Coopers claims $210 billion for 2008. These are significant numbers that add up to about 10% of all healthcare costs and make a compelling case for tort reform as cost control. The center piece of both claims is a study by Kessler and McClellan in 1996. The work of Kessler-McClellan relied on a set of data collected in 1984. The premise was that they would compare clinical practice in states with disparate tort laws. The work is widely criticized, but I think it is especially noteworthy that in 2004 the Congressional Budget Office was completely unable to reproduce similar results from the same data.

The net here is that without Kessler and McClellan, there is no case for tort reform. I will acknowledge that just because we don't know what the cost of defensive medicine is, that does not mean that it isn't there. Now I will make the case against tort reform. According to a 2000 study by the Institute of Medicine there were more than 44,000 deaths in 1997 from medical errors during hospitalizations alone. To put it in perspective that would be the 8th leading cause of death just ahead of automobile accidents. This was a landmark study responsible for the creation of the entire modern field of patient safety. Injuries are estimated to be more than one million annually. According to the DHHS, in the year 2002, only 18,999 payments were made for medical malpractice claims. This number must be low because the average payout would have been $1.2 million for that year which is far too high. Even if we generously assume that four times this number of payments were made (bringing the average payout to $300,000), roughly 75,000 payments, that means that 86% of all medical errors go uncompensated. To me, this indicates that tort reform should actually be about relaxing the rules and requirements for bringing a suit, not further restricting them.

Finally, we can use tort reform to strengthen the case for single payer. According to a study by Studdert based on jury awards in California, real economic damages account for 90% of malpractice suit awards. Economic damages include lost wages and the cost of future medical care resulting from the error in question. Under a single payer system real economic damages would be reduced by eliminating the portion of the award allocated for future medical care.

Sources:
http://www.towersperrin.com/tp/getwebcachedoc?webc=TILL/USA/2006/200611/Tort_2006_FINAL.pdf
http://insurance-reform.org/TrueRiskF.pdf
http://www.aaos.org/news/bulletin/janfeb07/clinical2.asp
http://www.justice.org/resources/Medical_Negligence_-_Defensive_Medicine.pdf
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/no_20090831_5711.php
http://www.psnet.ahrq.gov/resource.aspx?resourceID=1579
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cg...ourcetype=HWCIT

jackpot posted:

Next up: Remembering Shiloh, and possibly Remembering the Battle of Long Island.



Someone get Japan on the phone and let them know that America forgives them for the deaths they caused in WW2.

Kieselguhr Kid posted:

Apparently rightwingers all have this recollection of Obama caming out whooping and screaming "I GOT HIM, BOYS, IT WAS ME ME ALL ME! I PARADROPPED IN FROM THE INTERNATIONAL loving SPACESTATION AND BEAT BIN LADEN TO DEATH WITH MY PENIS!" I think they all had a collective hallucination.

PerniciousKnid posted:

Hey, median individual income is around $25k. So it takes more like one month.

Manifest Dynasty posted:

Prediction: "Millions of Americans depend on the jobs that CEO creates!"

Uncle Crazy Man posted:

http://www.morningstartv.com/oak-initiative/marxism-america
You need to watch this and then forward to everyone you know.
A video that will make you think seriously!
This is bone chilling and 52% of the voters did this to us by
electing Obama. If you can't play this on your computer
(picture and sound) then send it to someone who can play
it and go watch it with them!

Amarkov posted:

No, it was entirely about totalitarianism. To the extent that socialist ideas were even brought up, it was to show how Ingsoc had rejected and corrupted them.

The preface to the first version of 1984 I read stated it best. The book isn't about how a failed socialist revolution caused totalitarianism; it's about how totalitarianism caused a socialist revolution to fail.

My Retarded Uncle posted:

Subject: Fw: Parade floats


Subject: FW: Parade floats
WHAT DOSE THE WORLD THINK OF US?






A chuckle amidst the insanity….the world is laughing at our government and the corruption.
These floats were part of the annual Carnival Parade in Germany watched by an estimated 3 million people in 3 German cities including Dusseldorf .

[bold]Insert a bunch of parade floats that make Obama, Hillary, and Clinton look silly[/bold]

"There are two ways to conquer
and enslave a nation. One is by the sword.. The other
is by debt." John Adams 1826
Please pass this on to all of your friends-
"You cannot strengthen the weak, by weakening the strong."
A. Lincoln
"When injustice becomes law, then resistance becomes duty."
T. Jefferson
GOD Bless America , In GOD We Trust

TehSaurus posted:

Yeah if only we had a public healthcare system with mandatory participation for nearly everyone paid for by a 15.5% payroll tax like the Germans maybe they wouldn't laugh at us so much. Of course, since when have Real Americans cared what other countries thought of them.

Keshik posted:

ts12 posted:

Horror.

rscott posted:

Did Bill Gates even write that or is that another one of those random screeds with some famous name attached to it?

No you shut the gently caress up dad! posted:

On Tue, Jan 10, 2012 at 7:45 AM, [Dad] <dad@dad.com> wrote:
Thought you might find this an interesting assessment of some stupid national political figures. And from a source worthy of respect.
[Dad]

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Subject: "Bud" Day, Medal Of Honor Recipient
To:


PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO LOOK AT THIS.



I got shot down over N Vietnam in 1967, a Sqdn. Commander. After I returned in 1973 I published 2 books that dealt a lot With "real torture" in Hanoi. Our make-believe president is Branding our country as a bunch of torturers when he has No idea what torture is.

As for me, I was put thru a mock execution because I would not respond... Pistol whipped on the head....same event.. Couple of days later...Hung by my feet all day. I escaped and a couple of weeks later, I got shot and recaptured. Shot was OK...what happened afterwards was not.

They marched me to Vinh...put me in the rope trick, trick...almost pulled my arms out of the sockets. Beat me on the head with a little wooden rod until my eyes were swelled shut, and my unshot, unbroken hand a pulp.

Next day hung me by the arms....rebroke my right wrist...wiped out the nerves in my arms that control the hands....rolled my fingers up into a ball. Only left the slightest movement of my L forefinger. So I started answering with some incredible lies.

Sent me to Hanoi strapped to a barrel of gas in the back of a truck.

Hanoi ..on my knees....rope trick again. Beaten by a big fool.

Into leg irons on a bed in Heartbreak Hotel.

Much kneeling--hands up at Zoo.

Really bad beating for refusing to condemn Lyndon Johnson.

Several more kneeling events. I could see my knee bone thru kneeling holes.

There was an escape from the annex to the Zoo. I was the Senior officer of a large building because of escape...they started a mass torture of all commanders.

I think it was July 7, 1969..they started beating me with a car fan belt. In first 2 days I took over 300 strokes...then stopped counting because I never thought I would live thru it.

They continued day-night torture to get me to confess to a non-existent part in the escape. This went on for at least 3 days. On my knees...Fan belting...cut open my scrotum with fan belt stroke. Opened up both knee holes again. My fanny looked like hamburger. I could not lie on my back.

They tortured me into admitting that I was in on the escape...and that my 2 room-mates knew about it.

The next day I denied the lie.

They commenced torturing me again with 3- 6- or 9 strokes of The fan belt every day from about July 11 or 12th..to 14 October 1969. I continued to refuse to lie about my roommates again.

Now, the point of this is that our make-believe president has declared to the world that we (U.S..) are a bunch of torturers...thus it will be OK to torture us next time when they catch us...because that is what the U.S Does.

Our make-believe president is a know nothing fool who thinks that pouring a little water on some one’s face, or hanging a pair of women's pants over an Arabs head is TORTURE.. He is a meathead.

I just talked to MOH holder Leo Thorsness, who was also in my squadron, in jail...as was John McCain...and we agree that McCain does not speak for the POW group when he claims that Al Gharib was Torture...or that "water boarding" is torture.

Our president and those fools around him who keep bad mouthing our great country are a disgrace to the United States. Please pass this info on to Sean Hannity. He is free to use it to point out the stupidity of the claims that water boarding...which has no after effect...is torture. If it got the Arab to cough up the story about how he planned the attack on the twin towers in NYC ... Hurrah for the guy who poured the water!! __________________________________________________________________

"Bud" Day, Medal Of Honor Recipient

George Everett " Bud " Day(born February 24, 1925) is a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and Command Pilot who served during the Vietnam War. He is often cited as being the most decorated U.S. Service member since General Douglas MacArthur, having received some seventy decorations, a majority for actions in combat. Day is a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

--------------
Please pass on to your family and friends.

TehSaurus posted:

In this case I'd encourage you and Bud to take the "waterboarding challenge." Can you beat the 14 second average posted by the CIA officers subjected to it?

http://waterboarding.org/how-to

Be sure to let me know how you do. Also make sure you have a doctor on hand so you don't die.

Love,
TehSaurus

Sarion posted:

Your response: "So you know it's a terrible thing to be passing around, and are rightly ashamed of it, but you do it anyways?" or maybe "So, what you're saying is we should be more like North Vietnam?"

(Also, I get that this is your dad, so I don't actually expect you to respond that way.)

Sarion posted:

Yeah it was Hitchens. He did an article on it for Vanity Fair. Also some shock jock did it on air and there is a video of it on youtube.

Arglebargle III posted:

TBF the medal isn't for popping out a fetus, it's for raising a child to adulthood. If the kid dies you don't get the achievement. Whether the death is your fault doesn't measure into it.

Think of it as an escort mission.

TehSaurus posted:

While the attacks leveled by Letterman (and others) against Palin are indeed offensive, trying to equate the criticism of an individual who deliberately cultivates a controversial public presence with a statement marginalizing an entire class of people for nothing more than seeking access to necessary medical care is pretty disingenuous and is not something I'm willing to entertain.

zeroprime posted:

For one, they're making a false equivalency http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_equivalence. The most offensive aspect of what Limbaugh said didn't even include any profanity or misogynistic slur words.

Shasta Orange Soda posted:

People normally don't take time to debunk an obvious humor article on an obvious humor site with obvious jokes in the article, and a column full of obvious joke article titles to the right of the article. And also the quote "A Stalinist Version of The Onion! - Rush Limbaugh" to the left of the article. I mean, drat.

constantIllusion posted:

Holy poo poo, the graphics.



"The people's solidarity cannot be destroyed!"

TehSaurus posted:

And what am I supposed to take away from this, exactly?

Uncle posted:

Just to remind you how much the Democratic party has deteriorated over the years. They don't even have to run a separate candidate for president now. The Dems are doing for them willingly. Did they teach that in college? You scoffed at me when I said Obama was the most unamerican president we have ever had. Which communist country has a better record for human rights and a better standard of living than the U.S.? Oh thats right. None! People come here for a better standard of living, the chance to excel and visit for better health care.

TehSaurus posted:

You know what else they taught me in college? How to tell satire from reality. Maybe you should give it a try. Then maybe you'll never have to look this stupid again.

In case that's too subtle for you, let me beat you over the head with it. The whole article you shared is satire, and as such is a complete fabrication and also never happened.

Cheers!