pinkozcat
Full Member
Remember - pillage first, THEN burn.
Posts: 233
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Post by pinkozcat on Jul 12, 2009 19:03:10 GMT -5
I'm here and drop in to read the latest posts. I just don't feel that I can contribute anything at the moment.
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Post by RobertGraves on Jul 17, 2009 4:29:14 GMT -5
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pinkozcat
Full Member
Remember - pillage first, THEN burn.
Posts: 233
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Post by pinkozcat on Jul 17, 2009 20:40:12 GMT -5
I sometimes think about getting a Kindle but, as a member of BookCrossing.com I think that it would take out all the fun soI have decided to stick with the paper versions. However, I buy most of my books from Amazon as they are able to supply books which were published in the past, whereas bookshops generally only stock current publications.
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Post by RobertGraves on Jul 18, 2009 18:04:33 GMT -5
I still purchase a book a fortnight but would much prefer to download to a Kindle.
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Post by Wyndham on Jul 18, 2009 22:25:09 GMT -5
Hi there. Had no real access to a computer for a couple of weeks, and won't for another. Some few comments briefly (because I only have a few minutes now):
Robert, Pink, WTH is a Kindle? I prefer, personally, books in paper although they are unholy expensive these days -- the fewer sold, the more expensive the few printed will be, alas. What's the French marketting blurb -- it sells because its fresh; its fresh because it sells; because it sells, its cheap.
Tenarke: what will the Turks say? I agree. That's the big issue. I think, however, that the Turks have been plain for about 80 years on this issue. That's their usual pattern, I think: so brutally plain that the rest of us conclude that there must be secret agenda, inscrutably hidden by the devious oriental. Just like with Cyprus. For twenty years: 'it may be an independent republic, but it will NEVER request enosis with Greece. The day that happens, we invade'. Whatever could they mean? Why couldn't the Turks be more plain? Wheels within wheels, obviously. Archbishop Markarios is elected PM (?) and requests enosis . . . and the Turks invade instantly. Who saw that coming right?
Their line on Kurdistan has always been 'there will never be an independent Kurdistan, as the Kurds are no-where a clear majority . . . and as they are no friends of secularism or democracy anywhere'. Incidentally, their line on North-Western Iraq has always been very clear too: its actually part of Turkey, include in the National Pact (1919) and never thereafter renounced. For Republican Turks, Kirkkuk and Mosul are now, and always have been part of the Republic.
Stay tuned, but don't be surprised to discover that they actually meant what they've always said.
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Post by RobertGraves on Jul 21, 2009 1:12:57 GMT -5
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Post by Tenarke on Aug 24, 2009 20:54:29 GMT -5
Our news of late has been dominated by the political battle raging over health care. There is no question that the profit based system offered now by both our insurance and pharmaceutical industries falls far short of covering the real public need. I had hoped for some sort of National Health scheme similar to those enjoyed by almost all of the other developed nations. However the political right, though not denying that our system needs fixing, will apparently oppose anything Obama proposes lest he be credited with actually accomplishing anything of note. Their goal apparently is regaining political power for their party at any cost and the devil take the public interest they are supposed to serve. I knew that Obama was a political pragmatist who wished among other things to mend our political process in general and to encourage a bipartisan spirit of negotiation and cooperation. It is clear, however, that the GOP sees any such offer as a sign of weakness to be exploited to the fullest, no quarter given. This is an example of the same old “swift boat” tactics at work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULtgIBKemlc&feature=fvstI think that it is time for our President to take a cue from Barney Frank. It is apparently as impossible to engage the current Republican establishment in a reasonable bipartisan negotiation as it is for Congressman Frank to have a discussion with the dining room table.
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Post by Wyndham on Sept 6, 2009 19:31:44 GMT -5
I've been watching that Tenarke. News up here is full of the health care mess. Nobody can really figure out the great reluctance, other than the fact that some people make so damned much money out of the existing lack of system. Guess that's it eh?
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Post by Tenarke on Sept 6, 2009 21:17:50 GMT -5
Correct, Wyndham. As regards our reluctance to establish a national health system; I think you nailed it on the first try, greed.
It is indeed naïve of us to express surprise, much less outrage at the fact that businessmen are mainly interested in profit. That’s what business is mainly about. If return on investment can be enhanced it is considered good, whether or not there is a corresponding improvement in the product or service offered.
I have often wondered why businessmen even find health care to be an attractive field for investment. The service that it provides is terribly labor intensive. At some point each patient/consumer needs one on one time with a highly trained health care professional. This process does not lend itself to techniques such as mass production or automation. It is therefore next to impossible to deliver good quality health care at an affordable price and yielding an attractive rate of return. Something’s got to give. Under our existing system this turns out to be the quality or quantity of care. Thus we see so any cases of HBO’s finding ways to limit medical treatment as much as they can and can get away with.
The latest possible compromise being leaked around Washington is that of a “triggered” national health scheme. This would only be offered where and when affordable private insurance wasn’t available. “Affordable” would be defined by a government formula considering family size, family income and what percentage of that income the premium would be; that allowable percentage in turn based on a sliding income scale. From my engineering past I recall the saying that a camel was what a horse would be if designed by a committee.
Come on, Mr. President; time to grow a pair! You’ve got a majority in both houses, they just need to be organized and jawboned if necessary. Stop playing Camille and get on with it!
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Post by Wyndham on Sept 8, 2009 15:53:08 GMT -5
I'm with you Tenarke. Obama got 700 odd billion for corporate buy-outs and more or less nationalised the auto industry, and banking industry in a heart beat. I was awe struck. Sorting out insurance can't be all that difficult.
Issue is, in part, that people love doctors and value their health. They listen to pros, not aware that many of them: a) don't know their ass from a hole in the ground (most of them would do better with socialised medicine, albeit some wouldn't be doctors) and, b) that possessing an MD doesn't make you a good person.
My wife is a lawyer for insurance companies. The going rate for perjury for a member of the medical profession is 40k a day. You are prepared to pay that, and a man who lost a leg in an accident becomes a man suffering from a congenital defect.
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Post by Tenarke on Sept 10, 2009 13:38:52 GMT -5
It’s incredible. I have never met Maureen Dowd personally. We do not correspond in any way. However, frequently when I get a bee in my bonnet about something or other; she will write a column about it within the next few days. For example: www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/opinion/09dowd.html?_r=1&th&emc=thI did hear the President’s address to Congress last night and I am hopeful that it will do some good, but I do agree it would have been better had it come sooner. It may serve to persuade some of the “Blue Dog” Democrats in the Senate to brave the ire of their more regressive constituents and to get on with it.
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Post by Wyndham on Sept 11, 2009 23:31:31 GMT -5
I was feeling some bad vibes regarding your man Obama even during the election Tenarke. Dangerous thing to compare yourself to Abraham Lincoln, generally (those are some big shoes); worse when you have Cal Coolidge's problem (what would Abraham have done. Probably pooched it, truth be told). Obama would have done better to have won less convincingly (even if he had to pull punches) and left himself some room.
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Post by Wyndham on Oct 9, 2009 9:24:11 GMT -5
Obama gets the Nobel Prize for peace, for his actions during his first month as President!
Amazing.
Anybody else think that's a little much?
Also in the news, the Roman Polansky mess. Funniest turn has been the exposure of the French Minister of Culture -- of the cutting, anti-American phrase -- as a self-confessed sex tourist. Very nice.
The world gets stranger all the time. So often caused to reflect on Kurt Vonnegut's admission, shortly before he died, that he had stopped writing fiction because he couldn't think of anything to beat reality.
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Post by Tenarke on Oct 9, 2009 18:31:08 GMT -5
Yes, Wyndham, I caught this first thing this morning when I turned on CNN just in time to hear Obama’s acceptance. To be fair, he sounded just as surprised as everyone else.
As to be expected the reaction here was strictly on partisan lines. We Democrats were struck by the wonderfulness of it all, while the Republicans were once again morally offended with the President for doing such a thing; as though he had chosen himself. Who knows, maybe Obama is a closet Norwegian!
I agree, I have been impatient with the President over the lack of much progress and just how long it is taking to clean up the mess in the stables left behind by Bush, Cheney & Co.
Interestingly the reaction from overseas is mostly positive approval. I suppose he is being rewarded more for his good intentions and to encourage him to stay the course.
Or perhaps it is just a matter of contrast. Anyone following George Bush who is able to walk erect and talk in complete sentences is seen to be an outstanding statesman able to stun the world by virtue of his brilliance.
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Post by RobertGraves on Oct 10, 2009 2:47:22 GMT -5
My partner heard that Saturday Night Live did their first cutting skit on Obama. The worm has turned. He will need to live up to his promise in the next 12 months.
Who would you give the Peace Prize too?
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