Congratulations Mr President.

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dirtbag

climber

Mar 16, 2017 - 11:04am PT

PT
Hi dirtbag, Sorry to disappoint you but I am not Lois.

Sure...

Right on cue, a not-Lois, Lois denial from Lois.

dirtbag

climber

Mar 16, 2017 - 11:09am PT

Yeah...I wonder what Lois would think?

Cragar

climber

MSLA - MT

Mar 16, 2017 - 11:18am PT

(or, rather, thinks he does not need)
^^
seems like the 'emotional crux' to me..

This would be a great discussion to have, pros and cons, geographical relevance, types of x, y or z. It help to get folks on a similar page to allow work with forward thinking to take place.

Cragar

climber

MSLA - MT

Mar 16, 2017 - 11:33am PT

Work for the better of the whole.

I was in Challis ID one summer for a month working fires and fire research and every AM a group of us met for coffee and b-fast when the local diner opened. We always sat next to a table of 5 or 6 farmers/ranchers. Somewhere into what seemed like their second cup, one of them would ask the others "What are you going to do for the good of the order today". Well, myself and my pardners thought that'd be a good way to start our days on future projects, current projects and life in general. It all really leads back to the jist of Ed Hartouni's awesome lil note about his grad school days. I believe we have all been there/here, some just fail to recognize, forget or are just ignorant. The one that contains cognitive dissonance is what hurts us all.

Or a balance that humans depend on...clean air and water. The current admin places $$ above this. How can you spend your $$ on a golf game if you can't breath or drink clean water? Very simplistic, I understand but you get the point eh?

Ken M

Mountain climber

Los Angeles, Ca

Mar 16, 2017 - 11:46am PT

KenM, you are right on one thing and wrong on one. I am not perfect and should "turn the other cheek" more often. You are wrong about me not even trying...I was one of the first users to ever register on this site, #19 or something like that back in 2001. Ever since, my beliefs and faith have been under attack. I understand that it comes with the territory. But I also assert that I have exhibited some exceptional restraint also.

Jody, it's hardly fair to point out, that as one the earliest posted, you came aboard with an agenda to talk about your faith---in other words, to proselytize. (you would probably disguise this as talking about the "good news"). Right from the beginning. So when people complain about non-climbing content, they are complaining about YOU, and you did it from day one.

Take, in contrast, Jim Brennan. He doesn't write a thing about his faith, so you'd never know that he heads a Black Demon worshiping cult (Just kidding!)

You've taken the path of the Christian Warrior (similar to the Islamic Terrorist), in which you will shove your faith down the throats of everyone---THEN play the martyr.

You are reaping what you have sown.

Ken M

Mountain climber

Los Angeles, Ca

Mar 16, 2017 - 11:52am PT

Where's the evidence Russia hacked the election and helped Trump win?

Put up or shut up.

We have all these Intelligence Officers (law enforcement in many cases), who state that the evidence is clear, but classified.

You insist, Jody, that it doesn't exist unless it is revealed to the public.

How patriotic.

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Mar 16, 2017 - 12:27pm PT

sounds like Lois...

crankster

Trad climber

No. Tahoe

Mar 16, 2017 - 01:05pm PT

Trump want $4.1 BILLION for the Wall. Huh? Where's Sumner? We're paying for it?? I thought Mexico was????

What happened???? Did he lie again???

(yes)

Norton

Social climber

Mar 16, 2017 - 01:07pm PT

get the hell out of here

divad

Trad climber

wmass

Mar 16, 2017 - 01:08pm PT

didn't ya notice that every time he puts his thumb and forefinger together, he tells a lie?

NutAgain!

Trad climber

South Pasadena, CA

Mar 16, 2017 - 02:04pm PT

I try to be constructive in my political posts, but this was too hilarious for me to not share:

survival

Big Wall climber

Terrapin Station

Mar 16, 2017 - 02:18pm PT

More bombs, less meals on wheels for poverty stricken seniors. Thank you Mr President.

Isn't this the same guy that promised during his huge inauguration that the forgotten men and women of America would be forgotten no more?

10b4me

Mountain climber

Retired

Mar 16, 2017 - 02:33pm PT

Isn't this the same guy that promised during his huge inauguration that the forgotten men and women of America would be forgotten no more?

I guess so, but he is also the guy that called Hillary a liar.
pot-kettle

where is cosmic now?

Winemaker

Sport climber

Yakima, WA

Mar 16, 2017 - 02:56pm PT

This is a bit long, but worth it I think. This is Nicholas Kristol, in the New York Times today.

A woman who had been bleeding for 12 years came up behind Jesus and touched his clothes in hope of a cure. Jesus turned to her and said: “Fear not. Because of your faith, you are now healed.”
Then spoke Pious Paul of Ryan: “But teacher, is that wise? When you cure her, she learns dependency. Then the poor won’t take care of themselves, knowing that you’ll always bail them out! You must teach them personal responsibility!”

They were interrupted by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and shouted, “Jesus, have pity on us.”

“NO!” shouted Pious Paul. “Jesus! You don’t have time. We have a cocktail party fund-raiser in the temple. And don’t worry about them — they’ve already got health care access.”

“Why, they can pray for a cure,” Pious Paul explained. “I call that universal health care access.”

Jesus turned to the 10 lepers. “Rise and go,” he told them. “Your faith has made you well.” Then he turned back to Pious Paul, saying, “Let me tell you the story of the good Samaritan.

“A man was attacked by robbers who stripped him of clothes, beat him and left him half dead. A minister passed down this same road, and when he saw the injured man, he crossed to the other side and hurried on. So did a rich man who claimed to serve God. But then a despised Samaritan came by and took pity on the injured man. He bandaged his wounds and put the man on his own donkey and paid an innkeeper to nurse him to health. So which of these three should we follow?”

“Those who had mercy on him,” Pious Paul said promptly.
Jesus nodded. “So go ——”

“I mean the first two,” Pious Paul interjected. “For the Samaritan’s work is unsustainable and sends the wrong message. It teaches travelers to take dangerous roads, knowing that others will rescue them from self-destructive behaviors. This Samaritan also seems to think it right to redistribute money from those who are successful and give it to losers. That’s socialism! Meanwhile, if the rich man keeps his money, he can invest it and create jobs. So it’s an act of mercy for the rich man to hurry on and ignore the robbery victim.”

“How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven,” Jesus mused to himself. “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter heaven.”

“Let me teach you about love, Jesus — tough love!” Pious Paul explained. “You need a sustainable pro-business model. And you need to give people freedom, Jesus, the freedom to suffer misery and poverty.”

“The Lord God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor,” Jesus replied, emphasizing the last two words. Then he turned to a paralyzed beggar at his feet. “Stand up!” Jesus told the man. “Pick up your mat and go home.” As the man danced about joyfully, Pious Paul rolled his eyes dismissively.

“Look, Jesus, you have rare talent, and it should be rewarded,” Pious Paul said. “I have a partner, The Donald, who would like to work with you: He’d set up a lovely hospital, and the rich would come and pay for you to heal them. You’d get a percentage, and it’d be a real money-spinner. Overhead would be minimal because every morning you could multiply some loaves and fishes. You could strike it rich!”

“Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of God,” Jesus said. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received comfort.”
“Oh, come on, Jesus,” Pious Paul protested. “Don’t go socialist on me again. Please don’t encourage class warfare. The best way to help the needy is to give public money to the rich. That then inspires the poor to work harder, galvanizes the sick to become healthy, forces the lepers to solve their own problems rather than kick back and depend on others. That’s why any realistic health plan has to focus on providing less coverage for the poor, and big tax benefits for the rich. When millions of people lose health care, that’s when a country is great again!”

“From everyone who has been given much,” Jesus told him, “much will be required.”

“Well, sure, this hospital would have a foundation to do some charity work. Maybe commissioning portraits of The Donald to hang in the entrance. But let’s drop this bleeding heart nonsense about health care as a human right, and see it as a financial opportunity to reward investors. In this partnership, 62 percent of the benefits would go to the top 0.6 percent — perfect for a health care plan.”

Jesus turned to Pious Paul on his left and said: “Be gone! For I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; and I was sick, and you did not help me.”

“But, Lord,” protested Pious Paul of Ryan, “when did I see you hungry or thirsty or sick and refuse to help you? I drop your name everywhere. And I’m pro-life!”

“Truly, I say to you,” Jesus responded, “as you did not help the homeless, the sick — as you did not help the least of these, you did not help me.”

NutAgain!

Trad climber

South Pasadena, CA

Mar 16, 2017 - 04:07pm PT

On Universal Healthcare:

IF we start from the premise that some form of baseline healthcare is a human right, then the cheapest way to provide it is with a single-payer system. It should be obvious why: any for-profit insurance entity is a middle-man that increases average costs for all because you still have the same healthcare services to pay, but you also have to pay for the profit of the insurance companies on top of executive salaries (which tend to be higher than government workers with similar levels of experience and responsibilities).

A single payer system will be the most powerful entity to negotiate lower prices from vendors, the equivalent of all private insurance companies combined. This will yield the lowest prices possible from drug vendors, hospitals, and medical service providers.

I see the main debates as these:
1) How to maintain transparency in the price negotiations, to ensure that government officials are doggedly pursuing the lowest prices possible for each drug and category of service, not succumbing to kick-backs or helping their friends
2) How to set AND MONITOR quality thresholds to ensure medical companies aren't making the wrong decisions about making their companies more efficient and profitable
3) Need to find a balance between the rights of government workers to seek gainful and equivalent level employment when they are done with their government role, but also mitigate the threat of time-shifted bribes where a government official approves some drug to the formulary or negotiates less aggressively to lower prices, and then goes to work for a company that benefited. This can get very tricky to prove when it is a real violation, and also too easy to punish someone for appearances when they have done nothing wrong.

And the most obvious issue:

4) What constitutes the baseline human right health service? Where do we draw the line on birth control, chiropractic visits, acupuncture, X-ray vs. MRI, minimally indicated vs. comprehensive panel of blood tests for each set of reported symptoms or suspected illnesses... Am I allowed to ask for a comprehensive panel of allergy tests if I read a magazine article about the evils of gluten?

Some people worry that this approach will kill innovation, that pharmaceutical companies won't receive investments if they can't make huge profits from their high-risk low-probability investments with long time commitments to get through FDA approvals, etc. Well, we might rediscover the merits of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institute of Health (NIH) grants to university researchers that really are breaking ground on the new discoveries. The pharmaceutical companies are like parasites that swoop in with the finishing details to reap a profit after over-worked and under-paid researchers have spent a decade or more to advance a new discovery.

We are cutting funding in basic research now... who is going to have the memory to tell the news stories 10 years from now why our pharmaceutical companies are not as innovative? Because they don't have as many discoveries to cherry-pick and profitize as they do during periods of government investment in basic research?

Argghhhhhh.... must self-regulate, going to withdraw from supertopo for the rest of the day :)

dirtbag

climber

Mar 16, 2017 - 04:31pm PT

And, you know which "former" republican taco member also supports universal health care?

Gee, what a coincidence!

(LOL!!!)

10b4me

Mountain climber

Retired

Mar 16, 2017 - 04:50pm PT

So the idiot in chief wants to cut funding for the coast guard. Coastlines also constitute borders.

Ken M

Mountain climber

Los Angeles, Ca

Mar 16, 2017 - 04:53pm PT

Ken, it is very possible they did hack the election and lend a hand, so to speak. Having said that, I do believe Trump would have won, in any event. Hillary was a terrible candidate and she ran an awful campaign. As a GOP voter, it floors me that Trump managed to pull this thing off. I would have never thought it could happen. Now, if Trump had run against Biden, we might be looking at a very different outcome or, then again, maybe not. Hard to speculate but the same dynamics would have come into play.

Pivot to another topic, Lois?

It doesn't matter if they swung the election to Trump, they committed an act of war against the US. That is the issue.