BlueinVA's Comments (85)

“There are no words that could adequately express my reaction to this article, other than to say I am left stunned. I have the deepest respect and admiration for Joey Graziano. What an amazing young man. His family and those who supported him are no less amazing. Wow.”

“I wish President Obama and the appropriate Senators could grasp that the majority of Americans will support a strong push for a public option/medicare buy in. It's as if they're more afraid the of the Teabaggers and right-wing media assult than they are losing the support of the people who voted for them -- and will again in 2010/2012 if they give us the bill we want! The teabaggers will never vote for a blue dog Dem (much less Obama), and they'll never get any praise from the right-wing talkers, so why are they bending over backwards not to offend them? You've got to dance with the ones that brung you, ladies and gentlemen!”

“Martha Stewart embodies the wretched excess of the 80s and 90s. Her schtick now rings hollow as American women struggle to provide even the basics for our families. I think most of us look back at the days when we slaved to create elaborate children's birthday party cupcake towers -- built according to Martha's meticulous direction -- with a certain wistfulness and fatigue. Rachael Ray represents the anti-Martha for post-Recession American women. Martha understands that, and her feud with Rachael is a ridiculous attempt to reclaim her status as America's Homemaker.”

“This isn't a game.”

“Let see if I've got this right. 50,000,000 uninsured Americans are at the mercy one very small (literally and figuratively) self-proclaimed Independent senator from Connecticut. Our future is in this creep's hands.

Something's wrong with this picture.”

“Re-gifting is too good for him.”

“humility”

“Voted for Harkin in the Minnesota Presidential Caucus, way back in the day. He's a Democrat who gets is, and who I am always proud to support. Go get 'em, Tom!”

“In other words, you've got substantive reply. Didn't take long.”

“It's already being paid back, with interest, as required by law. Those are the terms of the bill Bush asked for, and that both Senators McCain and Obama supported. How could you not know this already?”

“Yes, I'll vote for whoever the progressive democrat is in the primary. If he or she loses to an incumbent Democrat, I'll stay home. If the more progressive candidate runs in the general as a third party, that candidate will get my vote.

The Democratic Party can no longer take my vote for granted.”

“A public option would be funded by premiums paid by the Americans who opt in to it. Nobody's getting anything for free under this proposal. If you believe that to be the case, you need to watch something other than Fox News.

Hear it again: A public health insurance option would be required to be self sustaining, and funded by subscribers.

I'm paying $1700/month for my current private insurance. How about you?”

“I’ve never sat out an election in the 32 years since I became eligible to vote, and I have always voted a straight Democratic ticket. It was hard voting for Creigh Deed’s in the VA Governor race last month, especially after he stated he’d consider opting my state out of a federal public health insurance option. He lost despite my vote. Why? Because the Democratic base in VA that turned out in droves for Obama stayed home because Deeds ran away from us. I hope that sent a strong message to Sens. Reid, Lincoln, Landrieu, et al because, hear my words: If this committed Democrat sits out in 2010, you will lose your majorities in the House and Senate. And I WILL stay home if you pass some lukewarm version of health care reform that does not contain a public option. If you squander this opportunity, you will lose my vote. I won’t vote for a Republican; rather, I will simply stay home. Why? Because you will have caved to Lieberman and the private insurance lobby. I’m paying $1700/month for my employer’s unsubsidized group health insurance, and I don’t want any part of insurance reform that mandates private health insurance and let’s them dictate the terms.

I’m done if there's no public option. Heck, I'd settle for a medicare buy-in.”

“Thanks for this! I'm going to make sure my college kids practice this when they're home for the Christmas break!”

“Your insurance premiums will go up a heck of a lot more than your taxes! That I can guarantee. No American would sit still for a $1700 monthly pay roll tax to fund a public insurance option -- yet that's how much we pay EVERY month for our current insurance! Besides, any public option will be REQUIRED to be self-sustained by premiums paid by members. And I guarantee those premiums will cost my family significantly less than $1700/month.”

“So what do you do when you need surgery, dutchess2? Or break a bone and go to the ER? The monthly retainer you pay your primary care physician won't cover tests, scans, xrays, surgery, anesthesia, specialists -- not to mention your hospital bill. God forbid you get cancer!”

“This is why we need a self-sustaining, not-for-profit, government-run public option. Any questions? Where else do you think these 600,000 former Aetna customers are going to get private insurance once Aetna boots them.

Enough.”

“What? They haven't closed their facebook accounts? At least make them private. Geez. If that's true, it simply confirms that they're shameless publicity hounds.”

“Matt:
"It's my pleasure."
"We look forward to having you hear."
"Thank you very much for joining us this morning. I appreciate it."

Now I remember why I quit watching The Today Show.”

“Loved when he said their homes have been invaded. The White House is the Obama's home, fool. How do you think they feel?”

“I'll give them this much: They're good. Much have DVRed every episode of The Riches, because they are darn convincing grifters.

Unless they received an engraved invitation, addressed to them, in the mail, they weren't invited. It sounds as if they did not, which is why they did not stay for dinner. I have no doubt that they reached out to a quasi-contact (in the Pentagon, at least from the quote Matt Lauer read), and initiated some kind of email that led to a trail that they will now attempt to twist into some kind of electronic email confirmation. I wish Lauer had asked them whether they had received the engraved invite.

Also, glad she was able to make time for those hair extensions this weekend. Could not have been easy, as devastated as she was.”

“You can be sure Bono has already been in touch w/ MTV. The wall will be removed. If not, the Berliners will take care of it themselves. :)”

“wilsonveteran: The father left his employer's group plan when he left his job to start his own business. What most people (including you) do not understand is that it is only illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage when an individual is moving his/herself and dependents from one group plan to another, ie., you move from a job w/ benefits to another job with benefit (provided that happens wi/in 60 days of your last day of previous employment). Again, this only apples to GROUP coverage.

The Bates were trying to get private insurance because they no longer had access to a group plan. In the private, individual insurance market, anything goes. Everybody in the family who is applying for coverage goes through underwriting -- in which the insurance company looks over your entire medical history with a microscope. They can deny coverage outright for any reason at all. They can also offer coverage to some family members, but not others, Or, they can single out a family member for higher a higher annual individual deductible (on top of the annual family deductible), and exclude coverage for anything the insurance company, in its sole discretion, determines to be pre-existing. Anything.”

“I bought a new Mac this summer. I go back and forth between it and my partner's Dell laptop. What you say is absolutely correct. The Dell constantly bombards me with warnings, messages, questions, confirmations -- not to mentions buzzing, clicking and whirring. And start up takes FOREVER.

From my Mac? Total, utter silence. The only sound I hear (and I'm on it right now) is the clicking of the keyboard, and the occasional ding when I get new .mac email. It does whatever I ask it to do quietly, intuitively and efficiently. And it starts in under a minute, without making me witness every step of the process along the way.

I love it.”

“Someone asked for a source for the Dad's comment. If you click on the link to the Denver TV station in the HuffPo article, you'll see him directly quoted in the 13th paragraph. He also says it in the embedded video.”