Publicus

It's a no win situation,had they tried to capture the women without shooting to kill,and if later it was found her vehicle was carrying explosives,then there would have been an enquiry,as to why they didn't shoot to kill. The fact is unfortunately 9/11 ended all mercy for those that are a threat to the USA,in whatever form!

Another factor complicating this unfortunate fatality is that the suspect was behaving in these bizarre and aggressive ways, at the White House and then at the Capitol Building, during an unusual and strange time in Washington, ie., the government shutdown in connection with Obamacare.

The shutdown tension and eeriness present at the time of the life threatening incident by the suspect already had heightened everyone's senses. People were out of their jobs and workplaces. Monuments and memorials were closed or, in the case of the WW II Memorial, experiencing high visibility controversy. The Capitol Police were required to be on the job despite their not being paid - I'm sure this didn't create a mood of hostility or vengeance among them, but the Capitol Police too were feeling the eeriness.

I thought the Capitol Police were patient not to shoot when the car was jammed against the posts, as we can see in the video. But I also think the Capitol Police may have missed an opportunity by not shooting out the tires while the car was in a stationary position right in front of them at the time.

That said, what did happen happened and is now being examined, investigated.

Here's one area of the changing economy of the CCP-PRC that needs some vital reforms.

The government is making some new laws but, as has been true for a long time, the Boyz in Beijing can make a lot of new laws that amount to little or nothing.

Business people in the CCP-PRC who deal with the public still have a long way to go before the People of the People's Republic can trust them.

For National Day, China Cracks Down on Tourism Industry

China’s National Reform and Development Commission just recently released a report (Chinese link) which has exposed some of the bad practices that Chinese travel agencies, tourist hotels and other tourism-related businesses have been implementing in order to maximize their profits.

Such companies have cheated customers by raising prices unfairly, faking discounts, forcing customers to purchase products on shopping trips as part of the tour, and signing monopoly agreements with other companies to dominate the market.

This is particularly important since there has been an increase in complaints about general Chinese tourist behavior, not only overseas, but at home as well.

http://thediplomat.com/china-power/

Well of course there were alternatives but the US does not spend all that money training killers to go have them shoot out a few tires!

Try shooting out the tyres on a moving vehicle...

As has been pointed out, had this happened in the burbs half way across the country, the outcome likely would have been different.

And what, just two weeks ago Washington DC had a mass murder incident.

Time, place, circumstance are central to the law and to law enforcement.

I have a feeling she was one of the Gov employee's locked out of work and not getting paid.

Of course, that does not excuse her behavior.

She worked as a dental hygienist, not as a government bureaucrat.

Let me tell you about the big difference.

Las Vegas and London do NOT have anything like the differential wealth you see in Beijing.

Rio in Brazil and Bangkok are very similar.

They also are very different from Beijing.

Whose the odd one out?

Gini coefficients are probably a tad more reliable than individual anecdotes re income inequality in different nations. See below and the darker shades show the highest degrees of income inequality. China is mid ranking with much of Africa and S.America far more unequal....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GINI_retouched_legend.gif

The point of the Gini coefficient concerning the CCP-PRC present is that the coefficient there is 0.6 - on the scale of 0.0 to 0.10.

Zero is no income or wealth inequality, ten is entirely a condition of great income and wealth inequality.

The UN has established through experience that the Gini coefficient wealth gap measurement that portends social unrest is 0.4.

So the income and wealth disparities - the yawning gap - of the CCP-PRC is well in excess of the danger level for the society as a whole.

When the several bubbles burst and the economy and financial system go bust, the peasants are going to be revolting.

Inequality is definitely an issue in PRC but the exact level is hard to gauge. The government did release figures for 2012 and a retrospective update, see below:

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21570749-gini-out-bottle

The last line is the key one:

"Whatever the true level, the decision to release the data now shows somebody in the new leadership is paying attention."

Li and Xi are at this point all but officially working at cross purposes.

Xi is a dogmatic Maoist-Marxist who already has instituted his "Mass Line Campaign," which is to restore the CCP-PRC to its old Maoist purity, simplicity, dogmas. Xi already has sent the first rounds of his cadres spanning across the CCP-PRC to instruct local party officials of the new official line, which must be learned and adhered to.

Li is a pseudo reformer, careful not to touch the corrupt State Owned (and operated) Enterprises and unable to control the massively corrupt budget busting local CCP cadres that run the country's municipalities and counties - the feudal barons of the PRC. Rather than attempt real and actual structural and institutional reform, Li has opened the diversion of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone which will focus on only one locality - and in one district of Shanghai, not in all of Shanghai. The parameters of the Zone are as yet unspecified and Li already has said no conclusions will be drawn until three years of the Zone and then only after thorough studies of it. That's another five years, probably 6 or 7, maybe 8.

Until 2012 Beijing hadn't published the Gini coefficient for something like 9 years - Beijing simply couldn't try to hide the data any longer. Nobody in Beijing cares what the Gini coefficient is when the CCP is spending more on internal security forces than on the armed forces.

Let me tell you about the big difference.

Las Vegas and London do NOT have anything like the differential wealth you see in Beijing.

Rio in Brazil and Bangkok are very similar.

They also are very different from Beijing.

Whose the odd one out?

Gini coefficients are probably a tad more reliable than individual anecdotes re income inequality in different nations. See below and the darker shades show the highest degrees of income inequality. China is mid ranking with much of Africa and S.America far more unequal....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:GINI_retouched_legend.gif

The point of the Gini coefficient concerning the CCP-PRC present is that the coefficient there is 0.6 - on the scale of 0.0 to 0.10.

Zero is no income or wealth inequality, ten is entirely a condition of great income and wealth inequality.

The UN has established through experience that the Gini coefficient wealth gap measurement that portends social unrest is 0.4.

So the income and wealth disparities - the yawning gap - of the CCP-PRC is well in excess of the danger level for the society as a whole.

When the several bubbles burst and the economy and financial system go bust, the peasants are going to be revolting.

Republicans already are losing the shutdown fiasco they started but don't know how to conclude. So as of today, 19 Republican members of the House are proposing to fund reopening the government unconditionally, i.e., without any connection being made to Obamacare. The R's are beginning to crack. Predictably. They have no ground to stand on.

Hopefully, moderate, clear-thinking Republicans can take back the House and put an end to this fiasco. I'm still amazed that so many have aligned with the Tea Party kamikazes. That path is a no-win for everybody.

Yes, the majority of Republicans in the House would not have done this on their own. It's the work of 60 or so tea party types elected mostly in 2010 when the R's regained majority control of the House.

The moderate R's are cowed by tea party threats to run opponents against them in Republican party primary elections for the party's nomination. The tea party threatens Congress men and women with this and Senators too. Ted Cruz won the Republican primary against the sitting Lt Gov on the strength of the Texas tea party vote. So the threat is real.

The Republican party is the beotch of the tea party, which forces moderate and reasonably conservative Republicans to assist the tea party to take hostages, i.e., the US Government and the vast majority of the American people.

The only way to stop the House tea party Republicans is for Speaker John Boehner to stand up to them and to say no. Put the proverbial foot down. Boehner is not a tea party guy. But then if Boehner did put his foot down, he probably wouldn't get reelected Speaker in January 2015.

Actually, if the moderate and right of center Republicans in the House who are not tea party minded don't start acting reasonably, they know they themselves may be jeopardizing their general election chances even if they don't get primaried.

India and the Rise of the Indo-Pacific

India will need to demonstrate diplomatic skill in this emerging region. Working with Australia would be a good start.

From South to East Asia, trade has surged and, especially with the rise of Asian powers like China and India, the Indo-Pacific incorporates some of the busiest sea lanes in the world.

The rise in commerce creates political and strategic interests, along with concerns that these interests may be under threat with the rise of China and its assertive maritime behavior.

It is in fact these concerns that have helped encourage the emergence of the concept of an Indo-Pacific region, although at least two other factors are at play: the U.S. pivot to Asia and, more recently, direct mention and discussion of the concept in Australia’s Defence White Paper (2013).

http://thediplomat.com/2013/09/30/india-and-the-rise-of-the-indo-pacific/

The article above points out that, with the rise of a powerful and territorially aggressive CCP-PRC, the Indo-Pacific Oceans area has been transformed from a biogeographic region into a global geostrategic region.

This has occurred simply because India itself is developing and has a concomitant interest in the sea lanes for commerce, good relations with neighboring governments and with the peoples of neighboring countries, the international rule of law and much else that is of interest and concern to a developing economy.

And by its huge size - geographically,its population, its economy - India becomes a major player in the region and in the international system.

It's been noted that India and the CCP-PRC are rising simultaneously for the first time in history, but that, while India's rise is a peaceful one, the rise of the CCP-PRC is characterized by belligerence and bellicosity, all the way to a long standing border dispute between India and the CCP-PRC, over which the two fought a brief inconclusive war in 1962.

While India and the US are moving to closer cooperation in the face of new Beijing aggressions, the article above focuses on India's relationship with Australia. It also gives attention to India's relationship with Asean. India also has allied itself with Japan as Japan is forced by the CCP-PRC to resist Beijing's aggressions there too.

A majority of Americans is misinformed by the very liberal main stream media which prints and talks with a progressive agenda.

Early on, Obama said he wouldn't negotiate with Republicans and he hasn't. Is that any way to run a railroad?

The republicans have sent proposal after proposal to the Senate and Obama only to not even get a reply.

The American people aren't told this. If they were, the polls would change.

Now Obama may use the Social Security nuclear bomb and blame it all on the Republicans. But who is the brat who would do that rather than negotiate?

Look at what Obamacare is already doing to the economy just as predicted. Companies are sitting on mountains of cash, business is pretty good, but they won't hire because they don't yet know the cost to them of Obamacare.

There is a rule in Obamacare that companies must provide it for any employee who works 30 hours a week or more. So companies are hiring people for 29 hours per week. Gone are many full time jobs, all due to Obamacare. These people are referred to as part of the "underemployed" in addition to the actual unemployed.

Now add to all of this that there is no such thing as a free lunch or free medical care, and the clear fact that Obamacare isn't even care paid for by the government as many think it is, and you're heading for a train wreck.

Next up is the debt ceiling and the Republicans wisely want to decrease spending and try to balance the budget. But Obama is the biggest spender we've ever had, and he'll chop off people's social security first and blame it on the republicans. That while he refuses to negotiate and instead flies to somewhere else in the world or goes and plays golf.

This stalemate is Obama's and the Senate's doing. The Republicans want to sit down and negotiate rather than to see the US crash and burn in the future.

The post directly contradicts everything the plurality or the majority of Americans believe or say about the shutdown and its being connected to Obamacare.

The scientific public opinion survey research results are reliable, as we have seen for decades now in presidential elections and in other matters of intense public interest or concern.

It's been said by many analysts and said repeatedly that the tea party Republicans are suicidal. The House tea party Republicans are expressing the contrarian and destructive views of the Confederates back home in the gerrymandered Congressional Districts in Republican party controlled states that elected them.

House tea party Republicans are gleeful they have shut down the government over Obamacare and are reveling in the ensuing chaos and disorder. The anarchy is all they really want or care about. When they lose this fight, after they get nuked by Obama over Social Security, they will return to their Confederate constituents back home to say, "Look at the hell we gave 'em in Washington" and will be cheered and applauded. It's madness.

Speaker Boehner is not an unreasonable man. Boehner knows Obama is going to nuke the tea party Republicans in the House with the Social Security bomb. It's up to Boehner to find a way out of his party's own self-destruction, self immolation.

The debt limit pays for spending outlays already incurred by the Congress. The debt limit does not add any new legislative spending to the national debt. Raising the national debt limit is done, according to schedule, to pay on existing fiscal commitments, and you know this. Yet you argue disingenuously against additional spending, as if increasing the debt ceiling means new spending legislation is being dropped in. It is not and you know it.

One has to be attentive to credibility here.

Poll: Americans not happy about shutdown; more blame GOP

On day three of the partial government shutdown, a new CBS News poll reveals that a large majority of Americans disapprove of the shutdown and more are blaming Republicans than President Obama and the Democrats for it.

Fully 72 percent of Americans disapprove of shutting down the federal government over differences on the Affordable Care Act; just 25 percent approve of this action.

Republicans in Congress receive more of the blame for the shutdown: 44 percent of Americans blame them, while 35 percent put more blame on President Obama and the Democrats in Congress.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57605822/poll-americans-not-happy-about-shutdown-more-blame-gop/

And everyone in Washington on all side of this knows that, when the Republicans join the shutdown to the debt ceiling limit - starting next week - Prez Obama then goes nuclear, i.e., he brings in Social Security.

When Republicans run the shutdown into the debt ceiling, before the middle of this month, Prez Obama and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce that Social Security payments will be in jeopardy. Serious jeopardy.

The Republicans are prepared for this so they will try to point their index finger back at Prez Obama and the D's in Congress. However, the clear majority of Americans are against the shutdown and are opposed to the US Government defaulting on the full faith and credit of the United States.

The majority of Americans, as we see in today's CBS News poll, blame the Republicans for the shutdown. And the country knows who also wants to cause default, i.e., the Republicans in the House.

Senior Citizens know who will stop them getting their monthly government contribution to their retirement support - the Republicans in Washington.

By going nuclear, i.e., bringing Social Security into the mix, Prez Obama will destroy the Republicans in the House when the R's complete their plan to join the shutdown to the debt ceiling limit. The consequence is that the Republicans in Washington will self-eliminate, self-destruct, in a final sense.

A Republican political Hiroshima.

Obamacare as an issue will be long forgotten by then.

Obama's nuclear option will make the Republicans radioactive to the voters for a long time to come.

October 2013 already is the month the tea party was obliterated and Republicans in Washington disappeared off the deep end.

I quote Business Insider:

http://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-social-security-trump-card-2013-10#ixzz2ggCmlWQ6

But in a note to clients, Potomac Research Group's Greg Valliere says that President Obama still has one "trump card" of his own left to play, Social Security:

THE HEAVY ARTILLERY: We have thought for weeks that Obama would play the Social Security trump card if there was no deal on the debt ceiling by mid-October. This is one of several reasons why we think a default is unlikely, and it's one of several reasons why Boehner will capitulate; the only questions are when and under what terms. We think he may get a few crumbs, but no major concessions.

It looks increasingly likely that the debate over the government shutdown will roll into a debate over the debt ceiling.

"GOP strategists like Karl Rove surely know that it's just a matter of time before President Obama throws a game-changer — warning senior citizens that their Social Security checks won't be mailed because of John Boehner," Valliere notes.

.

13% of China's population lives on less than $1.25 a day.

That is roughly 180 million people.

Which is about half the population of the US.

Chinese economy needs a big uplift.

Only 145 million PRChinese are middle class.

That's expected to triple by 2020, but I expect to be 20 years younger by 2020.

Projections about the CCP-PRC growing and surpassing the United States are already a bust.

The CCP-PRC is going nowhere.

Fast.

America was not shut down properly. Would you like to start America in safe mode, with free healthcare & without the guns? (Recommended)

Free healthcare?! Would you, notmyself, or Publicus, sustento or ToddWeston (likers of this reply) please explain to the forum how healthcare or almost anything else in this world becomes free? I would like to know so I can make a killing obtaining it in vast quantities and selling it. While you're at it, also see if you can determine how the marketing/selling process can be made to be free as well. I think I'd love a 100% profit, zero-cost situation. BTW, I'm particularly interested in free lunches these days. The Bangkok lunchtime demographic looks very good for a killer start-up.

As far as the "without the guns" recommendation goes ... is that a recommendation to disarm the US military, law enforcement and several well-armed politicians as well as the usual law-abiding citizens? Maybe you literally meant it to apply to the whole world? Can you be a little more specific?

I'm waiting patiently ...

Don't take my "Like" literally.

It was done more in the spirit of the post, at least from my standpoint.

I dunno about the others who ticked "Like."

So you might want to calm down a bit.

So much for another bogus claim against Obamacare, i.e., that young people aren't or won't join the privately based medical and health care program for all Americans.

Premiums on Obamacare marketplaces beat expectations, report shows

Play Video

The administration sees the lower-than-expected premiums as a sign that the plan to drive down health costs for consumers by increasing competition is working. They also point to the insurers entering the individual health insurance market for the first time as a sign of strong competition, as well as the variety of plans that will be available on the market.

When open enrollment begins on the online, state-based marketplaces established under Obamacare, premiums nationwide are expected to be around 16 percent lower than originally predicted, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department said in a new report released Wednesday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57604498/premiums-on-obamacare-marketplaces-beat-expectations-report-shows/

Yes, the liberal main stream media and its predictions. Remember, nothing has been done to lower the US cost of health care in any way.

Give it a couple of years and see if the youngsters actually buy insurance or pay the much lower penalties and remain uninsured. This is still a mandate to buy insurance, or pay a small penalty.

Give it a couple of years and see how much it costs the government in administrative grants to states, and its own administrative costs to NOT give people health insurance.

This battle is about spending money ie the debt ceiling increase, and a government intrusion to force this mandate.

In other threads there is this constant drum beat about how much debt the US has. Then when a group balks at more spending and debt, they are demonized. Folks can't have it both ways. That's hypocritical.

The Republicans are balking at spending more money on something that doesn't lower the cost of health care in the US or provide people with health care, and at increasing the debt. That's what the shutdown is about.

I think the Republicans have it right, but the media won't explain the truth to the masses.

People I talk to on the street actually believe the government is going to give them health care and of course they are all for it. Explain the facts to them and take another poll. Oh wait, the facts will come out in the next couple of years.

Get back to me in a couple of years when this mess hits the masses in the wallet and the national debt graph becomes steeper.

Saying now, presently, to see you a couple of years from now so you can prove yourself to be right, is meaningless.

In any subject, saying you will be proved to be correct at any point into the future is vacuous.

Unless, that is, you are Karnac the Magnificent.

*Deleted post edited out*

Ed, balls and pounds.

The Confederates in the Congress are at it again.

The civil war continues.

"The civil war continues."

Exactly what does that mean? What does this have to do with the Civil War?

Republican Calls Tea Party ‘Insurrectionist Neo-Confederates Dedicated to Apocalyptic Outcomes’ (VIDEO)

"Now what we have is an insurrectionist neo-confederate party that seems to be dedicated to all kinds of apocalyptic outcomes.

"This is something new. What we’re seeing here is a crisis of democracy where one party believe its principles are so correct, so strong and the other party’s principles are so evil, that we’re essentially talking about God compromising with Satan.”

http://samuel-warde.com/2013/10/republican-tea-party-neo-confederates/

That is what I'm referring to.

I'm not predicting another civil war. I am talking about tea party Republicans who are absolutists in a democratic system that is predicated on compromise in order for it to succeed.

I'm talking about a democratic system that is based on rationality and the reasonable person theory of society, by which a balanced and rational society, a liberal democracy, is enabled by a collective of individuals who agree to disagree.

The tea party group in the House, and now having its beginnings in the Senate, not only disagree, they disagree in the absolute. They behave and conduct themselves in the absolute. They are right, the country and world are wrong. They know, the rest of us don't. Which is the antithesis of liberal democracy. It is the opposite of the US democratic system, which is predicated on compromise.

You don't know any more than the rest of us do about Obamacare. You and I both know Obamacare is succeeding and will continue to succeed. Its success will only increase as more of it comes on line. This is what Republicans and right wingers fear and fear the most.

The above quotes are by the individuals below. The video of the appearance on MSNBC television this morning is at the link above connected to their quotes from their television appearance.

Bruce Bartlett is a former Senior Political Analyst in the Reagan White House and the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy in the George H. W. Bush Administration.

Michael Lofgren is a former staff member on the House and Senate budget committees - he held that position for 28 years. He is also the author of The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless And The Middle Class Got Shafted.

So much for another bogus claim against Obamacare, i.e., that young people aren't or won't join the privately based medical and health care program for all Americans.

Premiums on Obamacare marketplaces beat expectations, report shows

Play Video

The administration sees the lower-than-expected premiums as a sign that the plan to drive down health costs for consumers by increasing competition is working. They also point to the insurers entering the individual health insurance market for the first time as a sign of strong competition, as well as the variety of plans that will be available on the market.

When open enrollment begins on the online, state-based marketplaces established under Obamacare, premiums nationwide are expected to be around 16 percent lower than originally predicted, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department said in a new report released Wednesday.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57604498/premiums-on-obamacare-marketplaces-beat-expectations-report-shows/

Meeting called at White House at 5:30. Tea leaves are saying that both sides have deal and initiated this as means to end this fiasco in a way to save some face. I am betting that the Republicans and dems contacted White House and said: "here is what we are going to do" . . . We already got a deal, call meeting with heads of parties, we meet, act like we are hammering it out and announce our plan (which will likely be another face saving band aide over the abscess comprised of concessions on both sides that keeps government running).

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/02/20777759-obama-summons-hill-leaders-to-white-house-on-shutdowns-second-day?lite

I hope the Dems drive the nails in so as to destroy the Republican party in its present form.

The Republican party in its present form is the destroyed previous Republican party of Bush the father and those before him.

Worse for the R party, the R party in its present form is the Kamakaze party. They're self-destructing very well on their own. They don't really need any assistance from anyone, although your sentiments are well taken, so I agree we should contribute in any way we can, at any time we can.

Even if they don't make this part of the debt ceiling argument, there will still be a debt ceiling argument.

The video is precious.

One needs to follow the details presented, which is not difficult to do. It's just a few moments patience required for a big return of knowledge and information about the incestuous relations between retired (or defeated) members of congress - and their staffs - and the huge lobbying industry in Washington that represents neither you nor I (unless, that is, you're a Republican).

This video and its presentation is superb.

Jon Stewart keeps hammering the hammerheads in Washington who wrongly say that, beyond the fact of news reports, no one in the country has noticed the government is shut down - or the part of the government has shut down that affects National Institutes of Health cancer treatment of children programs, head start programs, veterans' administration programs, processing of home loan federal guarantees, school lunch program assistance and many more real, everyday programs funded by Washington and which assist Americans, the dwindling middle class especially.

Stewart Takes Down Fox News and 'Republican Morons' for Downplaying Shutdown - video link

The government shutdown has affected a number of government programs and agencies, but Jon Stewart noticed Tuesday night that some conservatives and Fox News pundits still don’t think it’s a big deal. He called them out for downplaying how serious the shutdown is, even issuing a strong “<deleted>*k you!” to one Fox contributor.

VIDEO here: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/stewart-takes-down-fox-news-and-republican-morons-for-downplaying-shutdown/

I really wish people would study this issue. The government shutdown is essentially over Obamacare.

Many people are fooled into thinking that Obamacare is national healthcare, Canadian or European style. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

I just posted and explanation of the Republicans' objections, and a google link to back it up.

A lot of people are in for a shock when they find out that this Obamacare is nothing more than a federal mandate that each person buy his own health care. If he doesn't for the whole family, he pays a penalty to the IRS.

He has to prove on each year's tax return that he has health care that meets the government standard, or get hit with a penalty.

The penalty is much less than the insurance and I believe that many people will opt to pay the penalty, remaining uninsured.

Here's that link again. Obamacare doesn't give people health insurance.

The Republicans are right on this one. It needs to be binned and re-addressed as something which will work.

https://www.google.com/#q=obamacare+buy+or+pay+penalty

I don't know details, but I know Republicans want to dis Obama every chance they get. More importantly; Have the Reps proposed any plan which is better? Perhaps they're just in favor of 'every man for himself, and tough tamales for the elderly and sick.' Most Republicans are rich anyway (certainly their politicians are), so buying high-priced insurance or paying out-of-pocket for health care is not tough for them.

The Republican Study Committee of the House, a tea party group, just recently presented an alternative health and medical care plan to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Republicans for several years now have been screaming "repeal and replace" Obamacare. They've been strong on repeal - the House has voted an absurd 42 times to repeal Obamacare - but very short on the "replace" aspect of it.

Hence last week the tea party Republicans in the House, i.e., most Republicans in the House, have presented a "replace" proposal, called the American Health Care Reform Act. Republicans needed this plan during the 2012 presidential election cycle so they missed the boat on this one. Obamacare easily won the 2012 presidential election.

As the analysis below makes clear, the Republican tea party health care alternative proposal throws a lot of people under the bus that are taken care of by Obamacare. It is also much too expensive to get the support of Republicans in Washington or throughout the country.

Here's the cite and the quotes:

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/the-republican-study-committee-has-a-replace-plan/

There are two problems with the House plan though. The first is that it will obviously cost a lot of money. How much is not clear, but it won’t be insignificant. How will that be paid for? The second is that a tax deduction is much more valuable to someone who makes a lot of money than someone who makes little. But people with large incomes aren’t the ones who need help affording coverage. It’s those at the lower end of the socioeconomic spectrum who need the most assistance. Because of their low marginal tax rates, a tax deduction is of very little help.

Sick Americans would receive very little help under the plan too. One of the ways the ACA helps the sick is by eliminating the ability of insurers to refuse to cover them (guaranteed issue) or to charge them more for being ill (community rating). The House plan weakens the guaranteed issue protection by extending it only to those who have continuous coverage. If you dropped (or were forced out) of prior coverage, you may not be able to get back in the market

The long and the short of the House tea party Republican alternative to the Affordable Care Act is that:

We understand that putting together a health plan is challenging. Nothing good comes without limitations and costs. That’s true of the House plan as well as the ACA. But if you’re committed to coming up with a way to expanding coverage while preserving the private insurance market, at least the ACA follows an established model. It happens to be how Massachusetts did it. It’s how Switzerland did it. And it’s how the conservative Heritage Foundation suggested doing it in 1989.

The House is claiming it has a new way. But to us it only looks like a way back to the same problems that plague the system today

And I don't know of anyone who thinks or believes Obamacare is national health insurance or medical care, UK style.

Americans know health and medical insurance under Obamacare is a market based approach to health and medical care provided by private insurance companies under closer government scrutiny and regulation, which is a good and needed thing.

A hundred million Americans went online beginning the past Tuesday, October 1st to find out this is what Obamacare is and which low premium private insurer plan is best for them.

The fanaticism of House tea party Republicans on this issue is reflected in the fact of their having voted 42 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act and now by shutting down the government.

If they shut Washington DC clear down, sent everyone home and then burned it down, it would be fine with me. The people could then keep their money, the states would raise taxes some to provide some of the services, and I wouldn't have this federal government breathing down my neck.

Each state has a National Guard with good military equipment - enough that all 50 of them and 100 million armed Americans could repel any invasion. We don't need the huge military being the world's policeman anyway, and this would stop it. Set up a very small federal military to man the nukes, etc., but make it 1/10th the size it is. ALL we need to do is to be capable of defending our own soil which we can.

As evidence, the mighty US military with all of the tricks up its sleeve hasn't won a war since WWII. The guerillas who fought against the US from N. Korea and 'Nam to Afghanistan have always been able to hold their own. You can't defeat a determined population on its own soil.

So, let's just shut it down, keep our money, and go have a beer. OK, I know that's oversimplified, but I'd truly like to see something in that direction.

The US government is way too big, way too expensive, and totally overbearing at home and worldwide.

Haha, do you realize how this sounds. Breathing down your neck, armed resistance do away with America . . . Hopefully you are already having that beer as this is pretty un-American.

Who cares if the bafoones fight and act like bafoones. Life is good, work your butt off, accomplish your dreams and we all need to stop worrying about everyone else's dysfunction.

Obama is just extremely divisive and I think a lot of this has to do with racial animosity and groups of paranoid good ole boys who think a black dude is just out to get them. Could be a karma thing they are worried about . . ., but . . . Half of these numbskulls have no clue about our health care system or Obamacare, but think is it just a black president taking money from the whites and shifting the wealth to the blacks. All of this hate and deep seeded animosity has to be driven by some deep personal issues and racial tension is the prime suspect here.

Well, I hope you didn't think I advocated armed resistance to do away with America. If you do, read it again.

Obama is divisive due to his policies. He was divisive about Syria, for instance which had nothing to do with his color.

Your dream that this is about race is really skewed. It's about spending wastefully, at which Obama is the best we've ever had. It's also about forcing many people to do what they don't want to do, in a supposedly free country.

The opposition to Obamacare is that some of are convinced it will fail, leaving us with more debt. Don't tell me I don't understand how it works. It isn't free national health care, nor is it universal national health care. It requires everyone to buy insurance or pay a penalty. It's more government intrusion, not an "entitlement."

Neither blacks nor anyone else will gain "free" health care and shift wealth from anyone to anyone. In fact the poor will suffer most, being forced to buy or pay a penalty.

The whole scheme is predicated on forcing everyone to buy health insurance. Then it becomes more affordable because the young people who don't have insurance, and who have few claims, will be forced to buy and help pay for the older people who do have claims.

It's the biggest con game and Ponzi scheme ever. Remember, it's called The Affordable Health Care Act. Affordable for everyone, and everyone must buy it.

ATM, people have a choice to buy from a private ins. co, or to buy from state run "exchanges."

It is going to fail because young people will opt to pay the penalty which is much cheaper than insurance premiums. THEN there won't be that imaginary money from the young people or the poor people to support the sick and old.

OTOH, it outlaws charging extra for pre-existing conditions, which will raise costs for insurance companies.

The young people who don't need care are expected to pay for this by buying insurance, but they won't and it will fail.

The unwashed masses who have been fooled into thinking this is good for them, especially the young and healthy and poor of all colors, are in for a shock.

Sounds like you are too.

You omitted from your post the large volume of scientifically researched market data from various and diverse sources that support your assertions.

Such data does exist?

Or maybe not.

If they shut Washington DC clear down, sent everyone home and then burned it down, it would be fine with me. The people could then keep their money, the states would raise taxes some to provide some of the services, and I wouldn't have this federal government breathing down my neck.

Each state has a National Guard with good military equipment - enough that all 50 of them and 100 million armed Americans could repel any invasion. We don't need the huge military being the world's policeman anyway, and this would stop it. Set up a very small federal military to man the nukes, etc., but make it 1/10th the size it is. ALL we need to do is to be capable of defending our own soil which we can.

As evidence, the mighty US military with all of the tricks up its sleeve hasn't won a war since WWII. The guerillas who fought against the US from N. Korea and 'Nam to Afghanistan have always been able to hold their own. You can't defeat a determined population on its own soil.

So, let's just shut it down, keep our money, and go have a beer. OK, I know that's oversimplified, but I'd truly like to see something in that direction.

The US government is way too big, way too expensive, and totally overbearing at home and worldwide.

Haha, do you realize how this sounds. Breathing down your neck, armed resistance do away with America . . . Hopefully you are already having that beer as this is pretty un-American.

Who cares if the bafoones fight and act like bafoones. Life is good, work your butt off, accomplish your dreams and we all need to stop worrying about everyone else's dysfunction.

Obama is just extremely divisive and I think a lot of this has to do with racial animosity and groups of paranoid good ole boys who think a black dude is just out to get them. Could be a karma thing they are worried about . . ., but . . . Half of these numbskulls have no clue about our health care system or Obamacare, but think is it just a black president taking money from the whites and shifting the wealth to the blacks. All of this hate and deep seeded animosity has to be driven by some deep personal issues and racial tension is the prime suspect here.

The die hard Confederates.

Also, my experience with the right wing is that they advocate only two functions of the federal government: a department of defense and a department of veterans' affairs. Everything else has to go, never should have been.

Now I'm hearing only a small "federal" army, when there would be no federal government, to control the US nuclear arsenal.

If they shut Washington DC clear down, sent everyone home and then burned it down, it would be fine with me. The people could then keep their money, the states would raise taxes some to provide some of the services, and I wouldn't have this federal government breathing down my neck.

Each state has a National Guard with good military equipment - enough that all 50 of them and 100 million armed Americans could repel any invasion. We don't need the huge military being the world's policeman anyway, and this would stop it. Set up a very small federal military to man the nukes, etc., but make it 1/10th the size it is. ALL we need to do is to be capable of defending our own soil which we can.

As evidence, the mighty US military with all of the tricks up its sleeve hasn't won a war since WWII. The guerillas who fought against the US from N. Korea and 'Nam to Afghanistan have always been able to hold their own. You can't defeat a determined population on its own soil.

So, let's just shut it down, keep our money, and go have a beer. OK, I know that's oversimplified, but I'd truly like to see something in that direction.

The US government is way too big, way too expensive, and totally overbearing at home and worldwide.

Aberration is a kind word - in private conversation I put it much more starkly. I'll extend my statement euphemistically to say aberrations of nature. Still, aberration is not the word I use in private conversation.

It matters not what rivers and river valleys India and China have, they have extreme populations that make their countries unmanageable to the point that the Chinese remain convinced they need dictatorship and the democratic former colony India remains unmanageable. Now that each is developing, each is devouring natural resources at a dangerous rate.

It's impossible to know what 1,300,000,000 people are until one lives there for an appreciable period of time. It's absurd.

Half the world's population lives in Asia as do two-thirds of its poor. This is not good for anyone.

The population of the United State is in fine shape and trends are good. I doubt other countries will be surpassing the US, but for the several countries next after it, significantly increased populations are not what they want or need. That too would be a hindrance to them, to state it mildly, and to the rest of us.

The CCP-PRC male - female ratio is 116 to 100 so the problem there is severe and it is a continuing one.

I'll make a statement, and expect no one to agree with me. But hey, you know what they say about opinions.

I like the main street Iranian people. I find them refreshingly different from many people in that area. I've pointed this out before, but Iranians aren't Arabs. They are Persians. It is hard, and debatable, to define their region, and to differentiate their ancient historical culture from the Muslim culture. I think of their region as S. Asia as do many others. But since the Middle East is also debatable as to borders, (some say it's a sub region of Europe, ignoring that some think Egypt is part of the ME.)

But the Persians' native culture is more like India if you subtract the Muslim encroachment in the leadership and among some of the people.

The Persians don't typically dress like Arab Muslims, but more like Westerners. They love all things Western. I think there is hope for the people.

Compared to Saudi Arabia where such is forbidden, Iranian women attend the universities, comprising 60% of the students, and they are allowed to

drive. BBC News

Iranians are poor, but if they can afford it they will have a satellite TV antennae, internet, car, and even Sony Playstations, etc. If I had to pick one country in that area that I guessed might do best if liberated, it would be Iran. It certainly isn't like Iraq in culture.

Just my $.02 and not worth that if you pay for it.

I've never been to Iran but, really, everyone I've talked to who's spent time there say such positive things about the people, the culture, the civilization.

Just in this way I can see why the foreign policy and other elites of the United States have long considered Iran as an important place to the US.

The Shah started out as a benevolent leader but, being a Shah, went power mad and quickly grew to have only contempt of democracy, moving decidedly away from his original benefactor, the United States.

The ayatollahs brought their religious philosophy to the place and established rigged elections. The Iranian people kept electing reformers who could accomplish nothing so finally gave it up.

The ayatollahs have gone off the deep end on the nuclear weapons drive but seem to have taken the population with them on this one.

So let's see what this new guy and his crew are all about. The thing really killing Iran is Obama's denying them access to USD.

I myself don't have enough of them but as a government and in their economy and financial system they have even less.