iralarry's Comments (198)

“I would say that covers the majority of decent parents. I happen to be an RN as well. I do not feel recognized as an RN. I do as a parent, but isn't this my job?

If I were a military spouse, I could care less about recognition and would like to see the government care as much for the TBI/PTSD victims as it does to wage war in the first place. It always comes down to money here. The right thing done the right way is always part and parcel with the economics of it. These people need jobs upon recovery ant this should be a priority. Good grief, they offered their bodies and lives for the government. They are owed everything.

BTW, the same thing occurs in families dealing with Alzheimer's. If you do not have the money or the insurance to get the supportive care you need for your loved one with this devastating affliction, you are doomed to be a caregiver till the person dies or returns to the hospital-a bit of respite.”

“This may sound naive, but the whole privacy proponent touting the Swiss make of their banking system is about as great an advertisement for their banking system as I've ever heard. You never hear, "Where is your money?", Answer, "Japanese bank", precisely because the Swiss want the business. There is enormous revenue for the Swiss in doing this. It isn't about your rights as much as it is about their bottom line. Never let anyone tell you they are doing this for you. The real bottom line is there is something in it for them. THAT is the way of the world.

Cynic, yes.”

“I am a Registered Nurse. I get offers from managed care companies weekly to become a case manager for them. that means they want me to review requested services for approval or denial. I wouldn't work for them for twice what I make now having the understanding of what it is they really do. When I have to fight for my patients to get home care services they really need and must talk to a fellow nurse about it, I get all steamed up having to explain and reexplain the rationale for the service.

A perfect example. It is Thursday and a patient who is released from the hospital needs daily wound care. We seek authorization for 4-5 visits up front so we can get past the weekend without delay in services. What do they nearly ALWAYS do? They give us 2 or three. They say that will cover till Sunday then call us Monday for more authorization. Now we are not seeing the pt Monday and the request for auth may take 5 days to come through. Ins Co have time constraints to respond. Imagine that. Without auth we will not see the pt. We won't get paid. Pt is unseen unless there is family to learn and attend to it. If not, tough luck. Go to the clinic, the ER. Frequently enough so much time goes by that the wound becomes infected and they are readmitted. Some MANAGED care, eh?”

“Is that constitutionally permissible? I guess a private paying audience has to deal with inconsistencies like this Palin who has the right to free speech but you don't have a right to rebroadcast it. Believe me, every time she opens her mouth, we pay for it...

Looks like Palin is more about the money than about anything substantive. I guess there will always be a few fringe element folks who would shell out 30 small for a chance to be stifled. You would think this a rock concert.”

“Then in the immortal words of Roseanne Roseannadanna: "Never mind." Guess it just goes to show how fed up with this I/We have become. And in the less than immortal words of the band, Orleans, "It's just business as usual watching as the world ends."”

“Isn't the point of responsible parenting to provide safety to protect both lives and health-physical and mental? The children in the orphanages in Afghanistan, there because they saw their parents shredded by car bombs or raked with machine gun fire have no need to be scared. They are not safe even in these new facilities but they are still scared. They live with fear, real fear of death. Scared of a reality that few children here can imagine. I am sure they do not like the feeling of being scared. When the fear dies down, there is no real safety for the fear pervades every bite of food, every game played, every giggle of laughter. The difference in being scared here is the fear gives way to a real sense of safety for most, not for all. So maybe you have a point but without expounding on your point, you leave the reader with a sense of ambiguity about what you mean and leave it to the imagination of the reader to fill in. Here is my fill.

Too safe implied for me a flaw. But I would prefer that to being inured to acts of violence and gore. I believe this facilitates a child's ability to commit these same acts. Not a good thing at all.”

“Untainted? Christmas? Where have you been? I imagine the only way you can perceive Christmas as untainted is to never leave church for the entire span of the holiday which is 1 day. (When did Christmas ever become an entire season?) Never mind the ceaseless marketing and promotion of present buying straining the budgets of people meant to feel guilty if they do not participate in this economic ritual now starting earlier and earlier. Never mind the droning of redundant Christmas music from all corners of car radios to elevators. Never mind the increase in suicide as people feel unloved even by God on a day when all God loving children should feel at one in the fold.

Christmas is only about Christ for the enlightened. For the rest of us victims of it, it is about capitalism. Churches fill and the spirit now soaring for the real celebrants soon wanes. Then it is business as usual. Counting the cash-was it a good season for us? The irony is that Christmas can make or break a business and that is the report from our camera hogging newscasters at the end of the day. When retailers go to church it is to pray-for people to spread their money about, not so much spread good cheer.

Christmas, bah humbug.”

“You call THIS quiet?”

“The news anchor-father said the the problem doesn't exist with the insurance company but with the system. Sorry, but insurance company's ARE the system. They are the gateway.

This must be the payoff for making that statement, company-wide policy change virtually overnight to insure his and supposedly all babies who are heavy in infancy, not an entirely unusual happening.

Now, when you or your kids are denied coverage on a policy you are paying for, or want to pay for, what is your recourse if you do not happen to be a anchorman”

“Michael is an intelligent man. However, like us, his limited insight into complex world events does not allow him to offer any advice to President Obama with any more worth then the opinions of myself or anyone else here. We are removed from the situation room and the conversation that takes place, blind to significant information. This allows us a different perspective and one which should be taken into consideration.

I have come to appreciate the Prize committees decision. Mr. Obama is a beacon of hope, an inspiration for change. His heart is in the right place. However, peace is a most elusive prize, much more so than the actual award itself.

When he provides more than just the inspiration to attain peace, but serves as its instrument for the actual change, this award will mean more to him and the people of the world than it does right now.

A prize awarded for inspiring peace in many is no prize should peace never come to fruit on trees planted with nothing more than ideas of peace and watered with nothing more than hallowed words. The hard part is in the doing and doing it together is paramount to its success.

Obama cannot do this alone. If we were to vilify him for failing, then it is us who should take the blame. Peace begin within each and very one of us. An individual can unify but it is in unification that change is brought about.”

“Interesting commentary. War has always been a modality promoted as a way to promote peace. Kill the aggressors so we can go back to watching TV and eating our McDonald's. And isn't it a wonderful oxymoron?

This is what I think of President Obama's receipt and acceptance of the NPP.

I am curiously ambiguous about this most prestigious award given to my president for whom I eagerly voted. My first and most honest reaction was, "Why President Obama?" Might even have been his own initial reaction. I am convinced he did not expect it nor revel in it either.

Now I have come to better appreciate the reasoning for the Prize committees decision. Mr. President, you are a beacon of hope, an inspiration for change. Your heart is in the right place. Just a few of the cliches apropos to this situation. Peace is a most elusive prize, much more so than the actual award itself. Wouldn’t you agree?

When he in fact, in time, provide more than just the inspiration to attain peace, but serve as its instrument for the actual change which needs to come, this award will mean more to him and the people of the world than it does right now.”

“I am curiously ambiguous about this most prestigious award given to my president for whom I eagerly voted. My first and most honest reaction was, "Why President Obama?" Might even have been his own initial reaction. I am convinced he did not expect it nor revel in it either.

Now I have come to better appreciate the reasoning for the Prize committees decision. Mr. President, you are a beacon of hope, an inspiration for change. Your heart is in the right place. Just a few of the cliches apropos to this situation. Peace is a most elusive prize, much more so than the actual award itself. Wouldn’t you agree?

When he in fact, in time, provide more than just the inspiration to attain peace, but serve as its instrument for the actual change which needs to come, this award will mean more to him and the people of the world than it does right now.

The fact that the Taliban and Hamas chide him for it is indication that they WANT change and they want it now! Like a child that jumps up and down in antsy anticipation of something great, so do these people and everyone. They want change equals peace now. Something to start with. Thousands of years of incompatible ideologies clashing cannot be undone in 10 months. Wait, the best is yet to come. Have patients and hope and actually try to attain peace within yourself first. That is where all peace will emanate.”

“I am curiously ambiguous about this most prestigious award given to my president for whom I eagerly voted. My first and most honest reaction was, "Why President Obama?" Might even have been his own initial reaction. I am convinced he did not expect it nor revel in it either.

Now I have come to better appreciate the reasoning for the Prize committees decision. Mr. President, you are a beacon of hope, an inspiration for change. Your heart is in the right place. Just a few of the cliches apropos to this situation. Peace is a most elusive prize, much more so than the actual award itself. Wouldn’t you agree?

When he in fact, in time, provides more than just the inspiration to attain peace, but serves as its instrument for the actual change which needs to come, this award will mean more to him and the people of the world than it does right now.

The fact that the Taliban and Hamas chide him for it is indication that they WANT change and they want it now! Like a child that jumps up and down in antsy anticipation of something great, so do these people and everyone. They want change equals peace now. Something to start with. Thousands of years of incompatible ideologies clashing cannot be undone in 10 months. Wait, the best is yet to come. Have patients and hope and actually try to attain peace within yourself first. That is where all peace will emanate.”

“Well, I see you have a happy and stereotypical marriage which serves admirably as fodder for the menagerie of sitcoms that plague our network television screens.

I wish you luck, my friend.”

“One committed to the fundamental interpretation of the word of God has no room for reexamination of other ideologies or realities for that matter. There is only one way to see the world. These are the most dangerous people like those bent on murder and mayhem. You cannot change their course of thinking just as you cannot talk a person out of murdering you by talking to them in logical terms. For the fundamentalist, it is rapture-esquely emotional for them and serves as the very foundation of their existence. To deny themselves the comfort of the bible is to deny them their very existence. It is like you denying your homosexuality. It is incompatible with who you are and know to be. Why they cling to the bible is beyond me. This is a matter for discussion on another board/topic.

It is saddening that a mind can close down and refuse to see other realities. So weak the mind that so forcefully prevails in guarding against the logic of other realities.”

“I like notthistime's comment. It gives me pause to consider what the real motivation in allowing Blacks to join and fight was about. Was it as pure and simple as equality for blacks in general society, or, was it a push to give equality only in the military? That would certainly accommodate the military's need for bodies. Since I have inherent distrust for all thing governmental but without the paranoid delusion of conspiracy theorists, I would never accept H. Truman's measure on face value. There is always more than meets the eye. As notthistime derides, what better way to extend reparations to the enslaved people then by extending to them the right to go into battle and die?

Now we have minorities entering the military in record numbers, targeted in military recruitment advertising because there is still repression on a mass scale and when you are desperate, the military does provide a means to education and future employment. Now the military has an inexhaustible renewable resource for recruitment in minorities provided with equal rights to go to war. The military thanks you from the bottom of its bottomless war mongering heart.”

“I have reservations about the statement, “Even if they're not serious about pushing for their own health reform agenda, American Progress's Wonk Room has highlighted their ostensible goals (as opposed to a possible hidden agenda of simply enriching health insurers):

Republicans historically are pro-business and capitalism. ANYTHING that would discriminate, jeopardize or otherwise limit the free market within the for profit health care/insurance paradigm causes hair to rise up on their necks. For some reason, Republicans it is OK to have profit on illness and injury, even ridiculous, opulent, ostentatious profit. In some respects it is like Coca-Cola going into India, diverting or usurping local water aquifers or other sources of it and then selling it back to the populace at ridiculous capital gain when in fact it is the local populations birthright to have it in the first place. For you Trekies, Republicans are the Ferengi of the US. Their rules of engagement are self-serving. It is as if they believe if a person or a people cannot provide for themselves, they see no point in lending a helping hand. It is a drain on their pockets and their one for me and none for you mentality.

The above statement is out of line and purely sarcastic and for provocative reasons only. It should not have been included as the late add on it so obviously is.”

“Maybe this thing will pass because it is dawning on Obamapposers that they are sinking their wn ship. We figured this out a while ago, they just caught on. Plus, I am sure there is money in it somewhere. Notice no indication on what changed as to alter their perspective other than, oh, its a great idea.”

“As far as I am concerned, it is a matter of public safety that all pts with diagnosed TB be provided with the medication to eradicate their disease and to prevent resistance and it spread. Anything less is tantamount to treason and the state, feds and any pvt MCO’s must be held accountable for allowing any pt. go untreated. Lack of money is a sorry excuse when the end result of TB unchecked and made resistant is hundreds fold more costly than simply ensuring it gets treated.”

“Hershey’s Chocolate is there as well. Should have listened to Ross Perot cause we are going both deaf and broke from the big sucking sound as jobs fly to other countries such as Mexico. Wal-Mart manufactures in India since 2005. These are billions in jobs and taxes.

Oh what a mess. Sigh...”

“As I conveyed to KK78 above. Would you stop and teach after nursing for 29 yrs and earning an excellent salary and benefits for half or less the compensation? Imagine turning out students who make significantly more out of the gate than you or any RN instructor who has been teaching for 10-20yrs!

When this country appreciates nursing as a really valuable and non-expendable profession, then maybe teacher salaries will be commensurate with the level of performance they turnout in quality nurses. I would begin teaching tomorrow. Pair me with a seasoned instructor or send me to nursing instructor education and I am in.”

“You are unenlightened into the realities of becoming a Registered Nurse. I’ve been an RN for 29 yrs and make a decent salary and have outstanding benefits so you can trust me.

No. 1 There is a dearth of nurses in this country and hospitals are chomping at the bit to hire. The reason there are so few nurses is because there are not enough qualified nursing instructors to teach the 100,000 or so want to be nursing hopefuls. That is correct, last year finds more than 100,000 people turned away from nursing education. The problem is not getting a job once you graduate; it is first getting into school. I guarantee you will get a job right out of nursing school should you get in.

No. 2 I want more than anything to teach new nursing students to become excellent nurses. Why don't I? Because after 29 yrs into it, I make good money and for me to stop and first become a qualified instructor, I have to take a 50% pay cut and I cannot afford to do that. I still have college loans for my daughter and offer some support for my son. I would teach for the same or damn similar salary but no one pays that, NO ONE. I would even consider teaching at night-God knows TV sucks-but I need a license first.

Go for it.”

“First, congratulations to the winners. A special high-five to the women who had the courage to venture into a so called mans demean.

Now, a suggestion for ambitious future Nobel Prize seekers:

Attempt to discover why healthcare in this country has to be profit driven to astronomical proportions. What is happening on the telomeres of MCO CEO's that allow them to come undone and lead a life of denial for coverage and delay tactics that people often get so infuriated at they just dig deep and pay for the test or procedure OOP!!! Unravel (pardon the pun) this dilemma and solve the healthcare cost runaway train problem.

Love and Peace…”

“Absolutely correct. Anti-Semite Arabs are hateful of their own indistinguishable ancestry.”

“The safety of a city like Chicago to host a world Olympic event is not a salient issue. I would agree with you if say for instance the Olympics were awarded to Lagos, Nigeria or Mogadishu, Somalia, like that will happen anytime soon. Chicago could easily be secured for the athletes and dignitaries who would have attended.

I doubt this was a snub of any sort. It was time South America got its chance. We are reading far to into this for our own good. But that is not a bad thing. It does allow us unbridled introspection into what we worry about and should be a force for change and mitigation.”