Cheech

As to "free-market" solution; have you ever seen an EOB from a private carrier? Ever compare the "initial charge" to the "adjusted charge?" Usually, the adjusted amount is somewhere between 50% and 90% lower. If all an uninsured person ever gets is access to the network pricing, they're much better off.

Also, the mandate is laughable. I don't know if it's good public policy or not, but it's blatantly unconstitutional. Somebody sitting in their living room deciding to not have insurance is not within the purview of the federal government. Period. CJ Roberts' assertion that it's part of the "taxing" authority under the 16th amendment would be kinda funny if it weren't such a tremendous breach of individual rights. The government lawyers didn't even assert that as a defense because it was such a joke.

So, under this taxing authority, you don't have to submit to a spot strip search, you just have to pay a $10,000 tax if you don't, right? Have fun with that kids.

...which is why, if all Americans join the same risk pool, our combined economies of scale would send that "adjusted charge" down even further.  It's one of reasons why Medicare Part D under Shrub was such a colossal fuckup, that Medicare and the massive amount of people that it serves is unable to negotiate for better rates.

I said it before and I'll say it again, health coverage for Americans should not be a for-profit industry.

This reminds me that I should really get my garage door and storm door re-keyed.

that is all.  Discuss.

If anyone has a moto that's going to go unused and wouldn't mind lending out for the day, I'd volunteer.

I don't think employers should be obligated to provide health care, and I would support a government option.  But I think that would really just be a group-buy plan through an existing private provider.

 

 

I'll take your stat at face-value, but I would wager that it's misleading.  90% of all businesses do not employ 90% of the American workforce.  I would guess that the remaining 10% of companies employ a disproportionately large portion of the country.  Factor in the owner/operator companies who are either providing their own coverage, or are on their spouse's plan (likely an employee of a large corporation), and the number of people who are employees of closely held corporations, but would go without health coverage diminishes significantly.    

 

This ruling may apply to more businesses than my post acknowledged, but I don't think it impacts as many people as you're implying either.

Not to take this too far off topic, but for a "free-market" solution, your proposition is pretty inefficient.  Why would we want a group-buy plan through a existing private provider as a "government option", and immediately introduce an inefficient and profit-motivated middleman into the mix?  Isn't that essentially a continuation of healthcare as we know it?

As far as the stat goes, I figured you'd want a cite, it's from the IRS.  I don't disagree with your assertion that 90% of businesses don't employ 90% of the workforce, however I would vehemently argue that the proportion is a lot more than 50%, and any decision that affects that many people I wouldn't classify as "narrow".

The way I look at it, the public suffers the burdens of individual's poor health choices whether we want to admit it or not.  We talk about freedoms from the government and all that, but when a calorie-guzzling, chain-smoking fat freak gets sick, it's gonna either get completely paid by him (unlikely), his employer's insurance (split burden between the company and the risk pool) or the public in the form of a very large insurance risk pool or loaded into ALL risk pools as a higher cost of medical care because as a nation we don't want to let anyone die at the doors of an ER.

 

Given that, it doesn't really matter if insurance is mandated or not - the expense is borne by everyone anyway.  However, with mandated insurance (i.e. universal healthcare), the availability of covered preventative healthcare helps to prevent poor health choices, or at least to mitigate them earlier in the disease cycles when they're less expensive to treat.  That's why I'm a fan of mandated health insurance and competitive insurance markets - not as a power play or communist plot to obtain everyone's bodily fluids for secret chemtrail experiments, but as a way to encourage healthier behavior, like getting regular checkups and treating issues before they fester.

 

As far as birth control goes...  If you know that people are going to be frisky no matter what you tell them, and that your risk pool is going to pay for extra children anyway, why not give folks cheap or free birth control?  Telling someone not to get freaky is a lot harder than telling them to use birth control, that's for sure.

 

Finally, as for Hobby Lobby's ruling, I agree with Cheech - the ruling itself appeared to be very narrow, but there are already cases forming to extend it as precedent to justify more employer-exemptions, which will dump those costs back into the public's risk pool.

Mandated insurance is not the same as universal healthcare.  Mandated insurance is just that, I'm mandated by law to have some form of insurance.  Universal healthcare is also just that, I'm universally covered just for being a US citizen.

I had both a Mossberg shotgun and a Beretta pistol in the Marine Corps. I own both now as a civilian. What makes you say I shouldn't have them? 

False equivalence is false.

Ah, it's been a while since i've posted on Politics, time to dust off the blockquoter and see if this thing still works.

The premise of this case was dumb.  It assumes that the mandate in the ACA is constitutional, which I flatly disagree with.  There is no "right" outcome when the basis for the decision is predicated on a wrong policy...

 

 

I do laugh at the people who are trying to make this a feminism issue though.  I keep asking outraged women, "So you're telling me a woman should have an unrestricted right to choose her form of 'birth control' that is provided by her employer - women should always have the right to choose ...unless that woman is a business owner choosing what insurance coverage her company should offer (or not offer) to her employees?  Am I getting that right?"

 

this notion that it's a bunch of men conspiring to keep women down is laughable to me.  The Catholic Church is a bunch of old white guys making decisions, but the government isn't responsible for their views...

 

Repeal the ACA mandate for employers to provide health care coverage, and this problem goes away completely.

I'll take these out of order.

So is it your contention that the link between job and healthcare be severed completely?  Perhaps in favor of something like universal coverage or single payer?  If that's the case, then sign my ass up.

As for the Catholic Church bit, in this particular ruling yes, the government is responsible for their views since the government, via SCOTUS, by acting as arbiter of what constitutes a "valid religious view", is basically giving a government sanction to their views.

Also, as of last Tuesday, the SCOTUS already expanded the ruling to include ALL contraceptives, not just the 4 abortifacients in Hobby Lobby.  So there's that.

You had mentioned the "narrowness" of this ruling earlier, when "closely-held companies" make up roughtly 90% of all businesses in the US, how is that a narrow ruling?

The "corporation as people" meme has to stop. It's a stupid misreading of Citizens United, which was really saying that individuals don't forfeit their first amendments rights by organizing into 1 of many types of business structures.

A corporation is a tax structure made up of People. It's an effective was to coordinate activities toward achieving the mutual goals of the People involved. Not some kind of evil sentient being...

No, it's not a "stupid misreading".  It's in the US Code (1 U.S.C. §1)

In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, unless the context indicates otherwise--

the words "person" and "whoever" include corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and joint stock companies, as well as individuals;

While your statement after Citizens United isn't wrong, the way that definition has creeped into other things is the source of our concern.  For instance, given Hobby Lobby, now corporations have recognized religious views and values.  What happens when they attempt to use those to discriminate against other people? (And before you bash the Church as not being relevant in the link, remember the Catholic Church is a non-profit corporation in the US.)  Add onto that Citizens United rulings, which meant that corporations can not only give unlimited funds to candidates, but do so in secret, AND without regulations for the truthfulness of any ads generated (PAC's run their own ads, "not coordinating" with the regular campaign to create deniability, see swiftboating), and there's a real concern for where American society is heading.

Yes, corporations are tax structures made up of people.  It's sole reason for being is to make money for its shareholders.  Period, full stop.

What the code monkey above said.  If you're looking for a specific device, I can tell you that the Meraki Z1 not only does time-based access, but also device-based time and content restrictions as well (all based on the MAC address).  As a cherry on top, all device data is viewable over the Web from anywhere (Meraki is cloud-based, configs happen on Meraki's site instead of on the device), so you can see monitor traffic from literally anywhere, including mobile devices.  I also happen to have one that I'm not using, if you're interested.

That's quite a list.  I really hope their case is airtight, I'm sure that will do a good amount to clean up the Short North area.

Didn't know there was a thread on OR about this, I responded to the FB thing.  I'm in.

We used to call this shit luck. It's a fine line between greed and being made whole. I never considered insurance to maintain a cars value as much as to repair it after it's damaged.

I'm not sure what I would do.

In this instance, there are two types of damages: physical (the car), and economic (the value)  Since Stumpalump is the victim here, I would expect, if I were in his position, that the insurance company make me whole for all damages incurred.  Since proving economic damage vis-a-vis the diminished value of the car is relatively easy seeing how new it is, tacking that on to the overall payment isn't a huge (or any) stretch at all.

 

Ya know, thats kind of what I was thinking.   Yeah, 13 is the last year, so will start shopping in 2017 or so.  With gas prices what they are, the truck doesn't really get used all that much.  I mean, if we travel, we take the Toyota car instead. 

 

Good advice, all, and I appreciate the input. 

 

We're keeping the truck.   And lowering it 6" as well as putting a Flowmaster on it.  And a system in it. 

 

You do that.  I'm bringing underbody and license plate neons back.  Recognize.

I just went through something similar to this, instead of taking an incremental upgrade of 1 year I was thinking of trading in a 2008 for a 2014.  Decided against it, the car I had only had 85K on it, and after a going-over by some mechanics I trust and shelling out for some tuneups (fuel system clean which didn't do shit for fuel economy, new plugs, new stereo w/Bluetooth, stuff for interior), I'm happy to hold onto it for a while longer.

If you're that on the fence about this, then figure out what your monthly payment is going to be for the loan you're taking out and start paying yourself that plus 100 (for insurance overhead) into a separate account.  If you so much as consider stealing from that for non-car expenses, you're not ready to buy a car.  If your existing car has some repair issues a year from now that you can easily cover with that account, then do so.  If it's a catastrophic failure, then use the account for a downpayment on a new/used one.

Yeah I'm not that into it dude. Someone else may need or want that sophisticated of a setup but I'm good with what I have. It works.

If you want to constantly have to fiddle with it, then that's your business.  With Sickbeard/SABnzbd (that can be run on anything, possibly even Android), it gets easier.  I'm not saying that you have to run out and drop 1.5 grand on a full-out NAS filled up with WD Red's, but it would turn me off as a new cordcutter to have to constantly massage and mess with a system to get what I want.

A HD hooked up to a "stupid" SAN does not a media server make. If you want to do it on the cheap, invest the $35 in a Raspberry Pi and run some sort of NAS flavor of Raspbian (the name escapes me, but I know it's out there) so you can at least offload and automate the fetching part of things. If you wanted a longer lasting solution, invest in a Synology NAS with some WD Red drives, with hat you'll be able to run full scale Plex (with the right device), and basically run your own cloud service, stream to your phone from the house, run your own Dropbox, make your own VPN connection, the works.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

TUN.co. read much? Tun.co is the kernel you need in order to run a private TUNnel. Weird tho, I can run openvpn connect on my phone with no problem, but it just won't run on the 808b, says it cannot find tun.co so I downloaded an app that supposedly installs it but it just freezes the device. We don't torrent hbo stuff any more any way, a friend of ours lets us use her hbogo sign on info.

Ah, after looking at the MK-808b I understand what you're trying to do.  Sounds like you need to make an investment in a centralized media server, or at least something that can run Sickbeard/SABnzbd with a SSL (or VPN, if you really want to get pedantic) connection to a Usenet host.

Yeah I have an account with private tunnel but I can't get it to jive with the 808. There's a kernel missing called tun.co so I rooted it and flashed in a rom that supposedly had this tun.co but it still wouldn't work. The only time the cable company would say anything was when I would let the download go too long and it would start seeding. I guess hbo tracks the ip address of people uploading their content.

That makes absolutely no sense to me at all.

Seriously, I've got two Sterling toilets in my garage now, I replaced them a week or so ago and don't want to schlep them all the way to Grove City for proper disposal.  I'll even throw in a dual-flush bolt-on valve from Costco that's new in box (another one's already installed).

PM me if you want'em.

First thing's first:  How much sports/sporting events do you watch?

^ This. I've ran 5 speakers off of a 7 channel receiver before with no issues.

As have I.  There will be an option in the speaker setup for 5 or 7.1.  I've found that 7.1 in any room other than a basement theater conversion is way overkill, and in oddly shaped rooms it's hard as hell to maintain the separation necessary between speakers.

That being said, put me in the Denon/Onkyo column as well.  Audyssey for Denons is a wonderfully easy way of getting your setup configured right without having to fiddle with ten million different things.  It's basically a microphone that you place near you in the room, and it sets up the speakers based on what it hears in the spot where it's at.

I probably would too if a series of bikers were brake checking me on the highway.  He's an idiot if he thinks everyone is safer if all the cars on the highway slow down while they speed up.  He's just making shit up to CYA.

Pretty much this right here.  He can claim he doesn't expect to be charged with anything, but that's not up to him.  I'd be happy to nail everyone identifiable in that group as accessories.

Unfortunately gix, the person I mentioned above does not currently qualify for medicaid. Which boggles my fucking mind. I might have to relook into that for sure.

...which is why Ohio should pass Medicaid expansion.  They won't because Kasich is an asshole that passed up federal funding before, but he should.

Revealed: FIVE off-duty NYPD officers were among the bikers involved in SUV attack but not one of them intervened to help father as he was viciously beaten in revenge for running one of them over

• Injured biker Edwin Mieses Jr now faces permanent paralysis
• Two detectives and three other officers, all off-duty, witnessed the attack
• A number of off-duty corrections officers may also have been present
• The attacker is expected to turn himself in soon

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2445011/5-duty-NYPD-officers-bikers-involved-Edwin-Mieses-Jr-SUV-attack.html#ixzz2gr6xOsPS

 

 

 

(Funny getting the news from the Brits)

 

Hmmm, seems like there was a little more to this than first reported, at least for the "ride" part. Undercover cops?

 

I have to wonder how exactly the Range Rover got the attention of the riders.

They are clearly shown to be ignoring other vehicles. Wonder what this guy did to attract their attention in the first place?

 

 

Strange days are upon us.

It's NYC, Manhattan at that.  My money's on the Rover getting on the entrance ramp at the wrong time and merging right into the sea of squids.  Couple that with the one squid brake-checking the Rover and you have what you have here.  There wasn't much the Rover could have done to avoid this, in my opinion.

The fact that Mieses retained Gloria Allred tells me all I need to know about the strength of their case.  She's in it to get her name in the paper, and that's about it.  I wonder if NYC law has any provision for civil liability immunity in cases of self-defense, and I expect that question to be answered here in the coming months as the legal process does it's thing.  Bottom line is that no jury in the world would convict this guy of any criminal act, and even though the bar for civil claims is set lower than criminal, exigent circumstances are all over this thing.  My guess is that Lien settles with Mieses (for a paltry sum, all things considered.  Allred knows she'll get clobbered in court, anyway) and either gets judgements on or collects settlements from the other charged riders and possibly the NYPD.  It would be pretty awesome if Mieses gets charged unde RICO, though.

I like to think karma is a bitch but 3 people being dead because of it is a bit extreme. Plus I have a voice record in if him refusing to let me write what happened in the log books so if it happens again he is royally fucked. They still haven't determined the cause of accident from the first crash a year ago.

I did some research on companies he has started in the past. Almost all of them have ended in a fatality then a company name change and putting the wife in control and the another accident with fatality which leads to their shut down.

You did the right thing and you KNOW you did the right thing.  You saved the lives of everyone on board your flight in the face of a catastrophic engine failure and no one can take that away from you.  If I were you I'd reach out to the families of those who died in the crash and offer to testify, between your report (you kept a copy, right?), your voice recordings of them fudging the log books, and their history of fatalities, you may be able to at least help them out with their inevitable upcoming legal battle.

Let me know when you get back if you're coming back to Columbus, there'll be a beer waiting for you at WOB Easton upon your return.