No I don't think health insurance should be mandatory. That smacks of Socialism on the highest order. I do think that it should be available to those who what it at an affordable rate. Mandatory Health Insurance is simply another form of tax. Why is it that Russia, long the bastion of Socialism, is struggling to embrace Capitalism and we who once were the leaders of Capitalism are rushing headlong toward Socialism.

Thanks Zap, very interesting reading and it obviously rubbed some of the liberal socialists the wrong way, that's a good thing.

Can someone please show me something the government has funded that they didn't end up running? Anything the government funds or runs can be described in two words and the first word is "Cluster".

Social Security is going broke because there will soon be more people being paid from the fund than there are paying into it. Medicare is a Fiasco that no one totally understands. The prescription drug program it total chaos. The food stamp program is a joke. Now you want this same government to set up a health care program and run it efficiently and economically. You may have health insurance under that sort of program but you will die of old age waiting in line to see the doctor THEY decided that you need to see.

Perhaps you might also enlighten me as to who will pay for this program. Oh here's how we will do it, we will simply raise taxes. Perhaps you could get my support for such a program if it were tied to a streamlining of the federal bureaucracy, a substantial reduction of federal employees and pay cuts for all politicians.

Is there other life in the universe? Probably.

Do they have the capability of intergalactic travel? Possibly.

The real question is why would an "Intelligent" life form want ot visit this planet?

nobody said anything about availability the question was government run or private.

Take a look at the Post Office, FEMA, or any other government agency and then ask yourself if you want someone like that in charge of your health care.

There is absolutely nothing that is done by the Government that cannot be done better and more efficiently by private enterprise.

A few examples. The Post Office could't make money on parcel post but UPS made a fortune out of it. The Post Office says they need to continually increase the cost of first class postage, but they continue to handle tons of junk mail as a few pennies a piece.

FEMA - Katrina, need I say more.

Legislation is enacted requiring a passport to travel to places where only proof of citizenship was required before. No additional staff is added to handle the increased influx of applications resulting in delays of up to 3 months to get a passport.

Dave works hard at the plant and spends two nights each week bowling and plays golf every Saturday.

His wife thinks he's pushing himself too hard, so for his
birthday she takes him to a local strip club. The doorman at the club greets them and says, "Hey, Dave! How ya doin?" His wife is puzzled and asks if he's been to this club before. "Oh no," says Dave. "He's on my bowling team."

When they are seated, a waitress asks Dave if he'd like his usual and brings over a Budweiser. His wife is becoming increasingly uncomfortable and says, "How did she know that you drink Budweiser?" "I recognize her; she's the waitress from
the golf club. I always have a Bud at the end of the 1st nine, honey.

A stripper then comes over to their table, throws er arms around Dave, starts to rub herself all over him and says, "Hi Davie. Want your usual table dance, big boy?" Dave's wife , now furious, grabs her purse and storms out of the club. Dave
follows and spots her getting into a cab. Before she can slam the door, he jumps in beside her.

Dave tries desperately to explain how the stripper must have
mistaken him for someone else, but his wife is having none of it. She is screaming at him at the top of her lungs, calling him every four letter word in the book. The cabby turns around and says, "Geez, Dave, you picked up a real ***** this time!"

Will an astroid hit the Earth in my lifetime? maybe.

Can I do anything about it? No.

Will worrying about it change anything? No.

Will being totally prepared with food reserves etc do any good if it wipes out all life? No.

Sorry I just can't seem to get all concerned about something that may or may not happen and is totally beyond my control. I am not being nieve, I just don't give a big rats ass.

Well I could get trampled by a pregnant elephant on the way to the mailbox too but I ain't going to worry about that either

I love all this speculation by the talking heads. If this one gets elected they will do this, if that one gets elected they will do that. If a frog had wings he wouldn't bump his butt every time he hopped. The first IF is IF they get elected and that isn't a slam dunk for anyone yet.

I have a novel idea for all the talking heads in the media, Shut Up. Let the election take place and report the results after they happen, then when the one that is elected appoints a cabinet, report that. I am sick of the media trying to trying to make news instead of reporting it.

Killer Astroid the size of a major city like Texas??? Last time I was there, Texas was a State. Maybe the end has begun already Global warming has evidently shrunk Texas from the second largest state in the Nation to mere city size.

But fear not my friends I have I am assured by my financial adviser that there are Travelers Checks and Banks all over Hell so we can take it with us.

So the world is going to end on Dec 21, 2012, well thanks a hell of a bunch for spoiling the supprise for me

Due to the climate of political correctness now pervading America, Kentucky, Tennesseans and West Virginians will no longer be referred to as " HILLBILLIES."

You must now refer to them as APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS.

And furthermore ...

HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:

1 She is not a "BABE" or a "CHICK" - She is a "BREASTED AMERICAN."

2. She is not "EASY" - She is "HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE."

3. She is not a "DUMB BLONDE" - She is a "LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY."

4. She has not "BEEN AROUND" - She is a "PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION."

5. She does not "NAG" you - She becomes "VERBALLY REPETITIVE."

6. She is not a "TWO-BIT HOOKER" - She is a "LOW COST PROVIDER."

HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:

1. He does not have a " BEER GUT" - He has developed a "LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY."

2. He is not a "BAD DANCER" - He is "OVERLY CAUCASIAN."

3. He does not "GET LOST ALL THE TIME" - He "INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS."

4. He is not "BALDING" - He is in "FOLLICLE REGRESSION."

5. He does not act like a "TOTAL ASS" - He develops a case of RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION."

6. It's not his "CRACK" you see hanging out of his pants - It's "REAR CLEAVAGE."

That is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time.

Maybe they ran out of History and have to wait till someone makes some more of it I agree with you about all the crap now. Who cares what Nostradamus wrote you can read almost anything into his quatrains. It is easy to look back and things that have happened and say oh gee that's what a certain quatrain meant but nobody yet has looked at the quatrains and said gee at this date and this time this event is going to happen. A ball of fire at 45 degrees don't equal the world trade center in my book.

G. W. Bush and Bill Clinton somehow ended up at the same barbershop. As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken.

The barbers were both afraid to start a conversation, for fear it would turn to politics. As the barbers finished their shaves, the one who had Clinton in his chair reached for the
after shave.

Clinton was quick to stop him saying, "No thanks, my wife Hillary will smell that and think I've been in a whorehouse."

The second barber turned to Bush and said, "How about you?" Bush replied, "Go ahead, my wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like."

Guns and ammunition are about as responsible for the death rate as General Motors is for the people killed by drunken drivers, but that's fodder for another thread. The fact that wal mart wont sell the morning after pill makes it totally unavailable I am sure. My point was that there are precautions that can be taken to prevent pregnancy that are very effective all one has to do is use them.

Electile Dysfunction: the inability to become aroused over any of the choices for president put forth by either party in the 2008 election year.

SMO I find your train of thought more than a little hard to follow. Did you perhaps play hockey before the mandatory helmet rule?

At Christmas a man did not give his parents a present. He told them that since they had everything then needed he had decided to take the money he would have spent on a present for them and spend it on a ski vacation for himself.

The father took his son into the kitchen and said "Son there is something that you should know an you are now old enough to handle it 'your mother and I were never married'"

The son was agast, he began to stammer and stutter and he blurted out "how could you do this, never married, do you know what that makes me?"

And the Father calmly replied, "yes I do and a cheap one at that!"