Our Chicago member, TENGU, sends this on. Don't watch it if you're in a good mood or have plans for the future:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature


Frank

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1970 240Z

I think I have a headache now! Thanks Frank!

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Stephen Snyder
89' 300zxt

Make it two.
Got a stiff drink?
When has the Government ever run anything effectively or efficiently?
The only three directions they ever run anything are (1) broke, (2) into
debt, or (3) into the ground. Examples: Social Security, Medicare......
want more?
~Rick~

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

When has the Government ever run anything effectively or efficiently?
When Bill Clinton was president. That's the last time the budget was balanced, the national debt was decreasing, unemployment was low and steady, and the standard of living for the middle class was improving. Things would have been even better if Hillary's proposed national health care plan had been adopted.
The country went to hell when the republicans took over. They answer to the greed of corporate America. Thanks to the economic "reforms" of the republicans, 80% of American wealth increases are now held by the top 1% of wealthy Americans. These wealthy Americans sold American jobs overseas and closed American factories, and now complain when we try to restore their taxes to Clinton-era levels. Why do we need more taxes? because they crippled our economy and produced our unemployment and economic woes in their productionless greed.
If you want to help working class Americans, tax the people who grow insanely rich by skimming the wealth that working Americans produce. Super-wealthy Americans are parasites who grew fat by sucking the life out of the American economy. They were able to do it with the help of the republican party. Here's just one example:
20% of American's GDP goes to our insanely expensive, inefficient, 37th ranked (in the world) health care system. If we were to reform this system to the levels that all other industrialized countries in the world enjoy, the American worker would effectively enjoy a 10% increase in discretionary income. Every year. Talk about a tax break and economic stimulus! A great idea except for the fact that this reform would dramatically reduce the income of the few super-rich parasitic CEO's that "manage" our current system. They pay millions of dollars to republican campaigns , and BILLIONS more for lobbyists, to keep the current system. In fact, health care connected expenditures for campaigns and lobbyists are the highest of any special interest group. Where does this money for campaigns and lobbying come from? Ultimately, it comes from the "health care premiums" that working Americans have to pay in order to enjoy healthy secure lives. That's right, your insurance payments are used, in part, to zealously prevent any meaningful reform of a system that is the laughingstock of the industrial world. And who blocks this reform? The Republican party. And when reform fails and the now-impoverished American worker needs public assistance to survive, who should we tax to pay for it? The screwed-over workers or the the super-rich CEO who has not actually produced ANYTHING of value?
Our country was at one time the wealthiest, most productive country in the world. We are now ranked 9th for per-capita worker production. The leading country is Germany, which we reduced to a pile of charred rubble only 65 years ago. Now they are back from the stone age and kicking our butts. The nine countries that are now pulling ahead of us all enjoy the following social and economic benefits:
Lower crime rates
Universal health care, cradle to grave, for each and every citizen
Higher literacy rates
Greater percentages of higher-education graduates
Lower drug abuse rates
Less hours spent at work (more leisure time)
Higher rates of satisfaction and happiness, as tested by social scientists
Lower unemployment

How do they achieve this?
Universal not-for-profit health care
State-financed higher education awarded on the basis of merit
State-supplemented or managed child care systems for workers and
college students
VAT taxes on cheap imported goods
Non-redundant single suppliers of basic services like postal services, telecommunications, and utilities
Progressive taxation systems which tax the extremely wealthy at higher rates. In other words, these systems produce far less super-rich parasites, and tax the heck out of them when they do spring up. Republicans argue that this policy would stifle American entrepreneurial spirit. But these countries have come from behind and are now beating us, so who's right? And...who would you rather have running our health care system...a group of super-rich CEO's who want to "earn" millions of dollars a year, or a group of doctors who rose through the ranks on the basis of merit and their desire to provide HEALTH CARE?

Try to implement these demonstrably effective, proven policies and procedures here in this country. Which party will block them, even if it requires the unconstitutional continuous use of the filibuster? The republican party has used the filibuster to require an unconstitutional 60% super majority more in the last two years than it has been used in the entire remaining history of the Senate.

The Once-mighty American economy was run into the ground by wealthy CEO's and greed and laziness,with the help of the laws and policies of the Republican party that they support with the money they make off the backs of working Americans. Our current attempts by Obama and his economists to fix the problem are still being hampered by the party of NO.The measures that we take, including the contortions of the FED and the printing of valueless money to buy treasury bills, are indeed ludicrous when examined by cartoon characters. They are acts of desperation forced upon us by the horrible collapse brought upon us with the aid of the Republican party.

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71 on a rotisserie, two more in pieces in my shed...and a 69 1600 waiting for me to get to it

"...these wealthy Americans sold American jobs overseas and closed American factories..."
(UNDER BILL CLINTON's North American Free Trade Agreement);

Clinton didn't have too much of a war to pay for while he was POTUS;

The Republicans didn't inject homosexuals into the world's finest military, either.

But all that is politics, and I'm not involved...........

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1970 240Z

The facts are we can’t blame this all on the republicans. The banking deregulation started in 1999 under the Clinton Administration which in turn has created the financial mess we are in today…. It has taken both parties many years to put this country in the financial mess we are in today.

Dave.

The Pain! It wont go away! All I know is I've always worked my butt off for what I have and I'm scraping by and proud of it. Everyone in my life that has worked hard is doing ok. The ones that are not doing well are the ones that never were by choice. Still barely working, if at all. Many not supporting their kids. But hey , lets help them out by offering every pathetic program or better yet free healthcare. Lets get back to the basics and be responsible for ourselves. The party of no is cute but not true. The liberals want to push everything through without an obstacle. Thats childish and unrealistic. By the way if you watched the bipartisan meeting on health care all the GOP ask was to hold off so both parties could come to an agreement. What did the liberals do? They pushed it through! Even with most Americans being against it. NOW Obama wants both sides to start working together to solve the issues we face. WHY? Because he has no choice. And you have to remember Polosi's infamous line " you'll need to pass the bill to see whats in it " Steve

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Stephen Snyder
89' 300zxt

"I've always worked my butt off for what I have and I'm scraping by and proud of it."

So sad. You've worked your butt off and yet you are just "scraping by". People who work their butts off should be able to enjoy the benefits that they do in our more-successful competitor's industrial countries (like Germany): merit-based higher education, decreased working hours, worry-free retirement, adequate modern health and child care, higher literacy rates, and lower crime and drug use rates. Instead of complaining about the sloth of Americans on public assistance (and by the way, your complaints are factually incorrect) you should be complaining about the fact that the benefits of your admirable work ethics are being ruthlessly channeled to super-rich corporate structures instead of to YOU. In other countries, hard work is not just rewarded with "scraping by", it's rewarded with a more comfortable, safe, secure,healthy, and fulfilling lifetime. From cradle to grave, without worry. Do you have that?
Less than 10% of the Federal budget goes to fund welfare and unemployment benefits. Stop believing the Republican propaganda line that says this expense is what's dragging down our economy. It's a lie designed to get your vote, because they need your vote in order to keep the power to exploit you and your work ethic.
Americans pay twice as much per capita (that means for every person) for health insurance as virtually every other country in the industrialized world. What do we get for that? A third of us, including our children, don't even have ANY health insurance. The second-leading cause of home foreclosures is debt from catastrophic health care needs, and many of those victims HAD BOUGHT "health insurance" from a faceless exploitative corporation. That corporation pays huge sums of money to politicians and lobbyists in order to maintain their stranglehold on 20% of our gross domestic product. (which is produced by buttless people like you).These corporations exist entirely for the purpose of enriching their shareholders. In exchange for that enrichment they provide us with a health care "system" that is barbarically exploitative and callously exclusive. They exist to take money, not provide health care.
There are 37 other countries in this world whose health care systems outperform ours. They are all cheaper, too. They have conclusively proven that it is entirely possible to provide superior health care for EVERY citizen, employed or not, at a lower cost than what we pay to insure two-thirds of our citizens. You could be paying far less than you do for health insurance AND enjoy the benefits of a society with universal "free" health care. But instead you are happy to scrape by. Imagine the benefits that you are denying yourself. For less than you pay now, you COULD and SHOULD be safe in the knowledge that you, your family members, children,friends, and every last man, woman and child in this country never has to fear financial ruin, or death because of health insurance problems. You would be able to retire without fear of deprivation, change jobs or move without fear of insurance loss, and enjoy the surge of patriotism and brotherhood that comes from knowing that our children and elderly are no longer dying from lack of health care. You can keep scraping by but I'm not willing to settle. I personally would feel selfish and ignorant to satisfy myself with our current system on the premise that personally "I'm doing okay, and so are my friends". Our system is a screwed up, exploitative cesspool of greed defended by the Republican party. People DIE in this mighty country of ours every day because of it. Many of them are helpless children or the elderly. Many more of us unnecessarily live in poverty and constant anxiety, unable to change our jobs or move or otherwise enjoy our live fully, because of it.
When I joined the Marine Corps, I swore to protect the lives and liberties of the American people, from any foe foreign or domestic. I was educated in the history and methods of my potential foes. As an American citizen, I hold the same desire, and have the same need to educate myself in order to recognize and combat the corporate enemies of American life and liberty. There's a reason that education level is an accurate predictor of which political party you will join. The more you know, the more you realize when a corporate-supported republican is trying to exploit you and your fellow citizens.

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71 on a rotisserie, two more in pieces in my shed...and a 69 1600 waiting for me to get to it

<--- Proudly studying to go down and contribute to the mess.

Mayhaps you might think about waiting until you actually catch your 1st Federal ambulance and own a Z before you go spurting off...

Still have the headache! What I wrote were things I've experienced around me and see everyday. You learn more living life than sitting in a classroom believing everything a book or teacher tells you. So called education will only get you so far. I look around everyday and see where my tax dollars are wasted. As far as health care is concerned I just saw a touching story of a child in Canada that was born with a tumor on his face. Guess where they had to take him for surgery. Yep! New York! Here is another thing I've witnessed. My nieces previous boy friend( who has barely worked in 8 years ) gets beat up and goes to the hospital. He stays a couple of days. You could imagine the bill. My sister( mother of that niece ) works at that hospital. I asked her how he could possibly pay the bill, seeing how he doesn't help in raising his child. Get this! She said the doctor stated they wouldn't go after him because they know he would pay. Did you know hospitals have funding by the government to cover uninsured people. I know your thinking , under Gov. health care he would be covered because he would be paying for it. Wrong! If your government health care payments are more than a certain percent of your income you are exempt from paying. Wow! I bet he's itching to go get a job. By the way, what countries health care systems are better and more efficient than the United States. Europe is completely falling apart. England has already admitted that their health care system is failing and is working to correct it. How did Massachusetts state run health care work. It was double what they planned. If you pay attention Europe is falling apart because they relied to much each other and the euro. Now the billions of dollars that is being giving to bailout Ireland, Greece and whoever is next is a burden on us. USA tax payers pay 17% of that bill.

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Stephen Snyder
89' 300zxt

"You learn more living life than sitting in a classroom believing everything a book or teacher tells you." Obviously not. In a college classroom you learn from the collective wisdom of history's wisest and best scholars. You learn how to apply that knowledge to what you see every day, and make sound conclusions based on logic, research, history, facts,and scientific method. Educated people see the same world you do, but they are able to see it in a context that people like you have no grasp of. It's insulting to an educated scholar to be told by a poorly educated person that they lack common sense or experience, because they have reached a conclusion that the lesser-educated person does not understand. It's also a disturbing and destructive trend in Republican politics....to discount and ignore scientifically researched conclusions, to ridicule educated scientists and researchers, to claim that "common sense" or "widespread belief" or "everyday common sense" should trump these results. This nation faces massive social and economic obstacles and you can be darn sure they aren't going to be overcome by the "common sense" of people who weren't smart enough or hardworking enough to pursue an advanced education.
So here's some scientific thought for you. A single televised incidence of a child coming to New York for surgery is not a logical basis to conclude that our system is superior to Canada's. Nor does your experience with a single deadbeat relative logically support your apparent conclusion that universal health care will promote laziness and joblessness. Both of these conclusions are factually incorrect.
England's health care system is not "falling apart". It has problems that are being corrected, but it still is ranked well above ours, costs less, and covers every last citizen. We should be thankful to have a system as screwed up as theirs.
As to which countries have better health care systems, the research was conducted by the World Health Organization . For a good discussion of the results and ramifications, you could try reading this article in the New England Journal of Medicine: http://healthpolicyandreform.nejm.org/?p=2610
I highly suggest you read it...you need to educate yourself in some other way than just looking around you every day.
As for your assertion that US taxpayers are paying 17% of the bailout costs of Greece and Ireland, I'm very skeptical of it....please provide a reliable source for that.

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71 on a rotisserie, two more in pieces in my shed...and a 69 1600 waiting for me to get to it

You sound like you could be the perfect politician!

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Stephen Snyder
89' 300zxt

By the way , nice liberal web site. We's uneduacated folk can sees thats a one sided web site. Politico and Washington Post huh. I have a feeling your itching to go on and on and on. I think my headache is a tumor. Instead of going to my local doctor I think I'll fly over to England. TaTa!

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Stephen Snyder
89' 300zxt

Im not trying to brag or anything but i think US goverment should pursue something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Finland (read the structure part)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Finland
You have the greatest nation in the whole world, if we can do it, you can.