Hello Bob,

 LL>> As it should.  However, the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare)
 LL>> is NOT universal health care.  It is an improvement from
 LL>> what we had before, but even when fully implemented far
 LL>> from what Americans need and truly deserve.

 BK>> That is true. It's a first step, not a panacea.

 LL>> The Affordable Care Act brings us in line as to what
 LL>> Switzerland and the Netherlands have.  Not a perfect
 LL>> system, with a lot of fixing left to be done, but better
 LL>> than what we have now.

BK>It's not even that good, but you do have the right idea. In
BK>fact, Switzerland is the country I always compare out system to,
BK>because it's the most expensive of the other industrial
BK>countries. Yet still 1/3rd cheaper than our system. That's a
BK>$trillion a year we would save.

I mentioned Switzerland and the Netherlands because both of their
health care systems forbid cherry picking.  IOW, coverage (access)
for people with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied.  With
our healthcare-for-profit system, such discrimination has always
existed, a sickening system (especially for pregnant women) that
finally comes to an end this coming January.

Americans pay far more than they should have to pay for access
to quality health care.  Folks in other countries have to pay only
about 40% what Americans pay for the same amount of coverage.  Why
is that?  We say we have the best quality health care in the world.
But if access to that health care is not available, what good does
it do?  If something is not affordable, it is not accessible.  Duh.

 LL>> What exactly do Americans need and truly deserve?  Improved
 LL>> Medicare for All via single-payer health care.

 BK>> It could be done within the same general system we have now.
 BK>> Most other industrialized countries do it, but they regulate it
 BK>> much more.

 LL>> More regulation is needed in this country if access to
 LL>> quality health care is to become a reality for all, or even
 LL>> most.

BK>Just for the health care system to survive. When it hits 20% of
BK>GDP, which it's close to, it will be way too much.

Governor Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is ending the charity hospital system
in Louisiana, privatizing all charity hospitals in the state.  Within
a few months, his dream will be complete.  And then, poor folks can
look forward to obtaining all their health care needs at a local clinic
or (private) hospital emergency room.  All that with no expanded
medicaid coverage.

 BK>> In this country I believe the republicans are going to force
 BK>> single payer on us, by simply destroying the system we have now.
 BK>> Impoverish too many people, reduce business to the point where
 BK>> few get medical benefits, and you have a failed system.

 LL>> For Republicans, it is all about power.  Not healtcare.

BK>Which they demonstrate in their arguements against Obamacare.

Defund now, Obstruct later?  Nah.  The Party of No! must remain
The Party of No!  Never the Party of Yes We Can!

 LL>> IOW, Republicans are willing to do anything and everything
 LL>> to get back into power, even if it means gutting access to
 LL>> quality healthcare. Right now they are threatening to
 LL>> defund the Affordable Care Act. However, that is an empty
 LL>> threat as Democrats continue to control the Senate, as well
 LL>> as the White House.  As such, it is just a stalling tactic,
 LL>> an attempt to make President Obama look bad.

BK>And that last sentence sums it all up.

Just you wait until President Piyush "Bobby" Jindal takes charge.
No more will the Republican Party be the stupid Party.  It will be
the Party of Stupid ...

 LL>> What is going to happen when people find out they like
 LL>> Obama's health care plan more than what we had before?  Do

BK>The right will tell them they are secretly on drugs.

Taken straight from an episode of "The Walking Dead" ...

 LL>> you think they will want to turn back the clock?  Do you
 LL>> think Republicans can retain the House and take over the
 LL>> Senate by promising to repeal "Obamacare"?  Do you think
 LL>> the Republicans can win the White House in 2016 with that
 LL>> line?

BK>Once it's complete they will start reminding us it was their
BK>idea in the first place.

Of course it was their idea - courtesy of The Heritage Foundation.
Mitt Romney ran with it, enabling 98% of Massachusetts residents to
afford access to quality health care in that state.  President Obama
is borrowing a page from Mitt Romney's playbook, tweaking it a bit
so that even more folks will enjoy the many benefits of access to
quality health care.  Nobody can really blame Republicans for being
jealous.

 LL>> Notice I did not say Obamacare, Romneycare or Hillarycare.

 BK>> I noticed.

 LL>> Leecare is the solution.  Paid for by Bob K. and US
 LL>> taxpayers.

 BK>> Uhh... wait a minute until I get my boots on.

 LL>> The world owes me a living, not the other way around.  :)

BK>Yeah, but you gotta work to collect on it.

A tin can works for me.  Or rather, a glass tips jar.  :)

 LL>> Regardless of rank, our men and women in uniform deserve
 LL>> better than what they get.  What we have today is a

 BK>> Oh is that ever true.

 LL>> That is an understatement.

BK>When I was in it was not as good as the generation before. Now
BK>it's awful.

Today we can manage to fight small wars, maybe even two at a time.
But only limited engagements.  No way we could manage to fight a big
war.  Even with a draft.

We can barely afford to pay veterans who have been disabled since
9-11-2001.  What about those vererans who have been disabled prior
to then?  No stipends for them.  They (and their families) have to
manage the best way they can with what they have.

 LL>> mercenary army that has been brainwashed to think that only
 LL>> they can save the world. The reality is far different, as

 BK>> They have learned that. 10 years of foreign wars have taught
 BK>> them that.

 LL>> And yet, all too soon we seem to forget.  Look at Syria.
 LL>> Look at warhawks in the Congress.  Look at President Obama.
 LL>> Seems like war has been with us from the time we were born.

BK>Damn few of them ever wore a uniform, I doubt any saw battle.

Chickenhawks.  Rush Limbaugh got off because he had (literally) a
pimple on his ass.  Dick Cheney received not one, but five deferments.
One of those deferments was because he and his wife wanted to make a
baby.

Barack Obama did not serve in the military.  Neither did Bill Clinton.
Serving in the military is not a prerequisite to be president.  Serving
in the military is not a prerequisite to serve as a member of Congress.
Serving in the military is not a prerequisite to serve as Secretary of
Defense.  But God forbid is the Secretary of Defense is a veteran of
the Vietnam War!

 LL>> it is led by a president who is a wimp (re: Syria).

 BK>> Bush was the whimp. Obama is trying desperately to keep from
 BK>> getting us into another military trap. Syria? Which side really
 BK>> did use the poison gas?

 LL>> Wimps go to war.  Tough guys get bullies to back off without
 LL>> ever having to throw a punch.  That is why Jimmy Carter was
 LL>> such a great president.  I would have been so easy for him
 LL>> to have taken us to war in Iran.  Instead, he chose to get
 LL>> our American diplomats who were held hostage returned to
 LL>> our soil, all safe and sound, using diplomacy as his weapon
 LL>> of choice, without losing any combat troops during his
 LL>> presidency.

BK>If he had sent the military first thing he would have won
BK>re-election, and we would never have had Reagan or the losers
BK>who followed him. We would not be in this situation now.

The Americans who were held hostage in Iran thanked President Carter
for having freed them from captivity, even though the Iranians refused
to allow their airplane to depart Tehran until Ronald Reagan had been
sworn in.  When our people arrived back home, they were greeted on
the tarmac by former President Carter, NOT President Reagan.

Ask yourself this one question - had President Carter taken military
action against Iran, how many Americans being held hostage would have
survived?  The answer is NONE.

Remember the failed rescue attempt, in which eight Americans died
in a helicopter crash?  It was expected that less than half of the
Americans held hostage would have survived.  Half of 52 is 26.
Had the rescue attempt been successful, Americans would have cheered
and President Carter would have been re-elected.  But dozens of our
people would have been dead, along with untold numbers of Iranians.

 LL>> Ronald Reagan would have simply nuked the joint, killing
 LL>> untold numbers of Iranians, as well as all 52 Americans.

BK>Nah, he may have been a puppet, ok he was a puppet, but the
BK>puppet masters were not that crazy.

Reagan allowed terrorists to blow up hundreds of our troops in
Beirut.  What did he do in response?  Did he order our Air Force
to bomb Hezbollah?  Did he send in Marines to storm the beaches?
Nah.  Secretary of Defense Cap Weinberger refused to abide by
Reagan's wishes and forced him to reconsider, leaving Reagan with
no other alternative but to withdraw our troops from Lebanon.

President Barack Obama is making sure he does not make the same
mistake that Reagan did, ordering our diplomats out of Lebanon before
Hezbollah has the chance to blow them up.  See how that works?  Ask
the Congress to authorize him to use military force against Syria,
and then withdraw from Lebanon.

 BK>> He suffers from the same failing Bush did, the inability to name
 BK>> the real enemy, Saudi Arabia.

 LL>> Saudi Arabia is our friend (as long as they keep selling us
 LL>> oil).

BK>If we bought it from Iran we would not need near as much Saudi
BK>oil, and it would all become cheaper.

We used to buy it from Iran.  But then President Carter made the
mistake of allowing the Shah to seek medical treatment in the US,
and France allowed the Ayatollah Khomeini to return home.  As you
can plainly see, it was all a Jewish plot, being Henry Kissinger's
fault.

 BK>> IOW, BFD.

 LL>> That is exactly what President Assad of Syria said about
 LL>> President Obama's warning not to cross that red line ...

 BK>>> He may learn the hard way.

 LL>> Oh, come now!  Russians and Iranians are his friends!
 LL>> And with friends like that, who needs enemies?

BK>Think about what you just said.

What'd I say?  Tell me what'd I say?  C'mon, baby,
tell me what'd I say?  Ooh, yeah.  All right. ...

 LL>> The fact of the matter is that Bashar al-Assad has
 LL>> survived in Syria far longer than you or me ever could.

BK>We are not brutal enough.

We really have lost our touch.  PETA is bad enough.
The ACLU almost just as bad.  And don't even mention
Amnesty International ...

We waterboarded one individual after 9-11.  One.  Just one.  And the
world howled in outrage.  We had soldiers waterboard our own soldiers,
showing how safe it is to use waterboarding as a means of torture.
None of our soldiers complained.  And yet, the world still objected,
calling our president a bunch of nasty names that cannot be repeated
on television.  Seeing how pained our president was by all the nasty
names he was being called by his European friends, our vice president
declared, for all the world to hear, "Waterboarding is not torture."

Well, you know what happened next.  Everybody started calling
our vice president "Darth Vader" - and maybe even for good reason.
I mean, the guy really was heartless ...

 LL>> The guy lives in a tough neighborhood and knows how
 LL>> to survive.  We might not like the guy, but you do have
 LL>> to give him credit.  He has survived where others have
 LL>> not.

BK>Only by killing good people. OTOH, Ghadafi and Saddam did the
BK>same.

Two wrongs does not make a right.  Ten wrongs does not make a right.
Not even a million wrongs makes a right.  Even though the world without
Gadhafi and Saddam is a better world.  At least for those remaining.

 LL>> Will he run away and seek exile in Saudi Arabia (or some
 LL>> other Muslim country) if we invade Syria?  Nah.  He'll
 LL>> stay where he is and let his bodyguards (Iran and Russia)
 LL>> protect him.

BK>Iran won't. Russia can't, realistically speaking.

If the Syria regime thinks it is going down, it may decide to use
whatever means are at its disposal to go down fighting, including the
use of chemical weapons.  If Iran has at least one working nuclear
device, it might decide to use that device as a means of deterrence
by attacking Israel, thus protecting both Syria and itself from
attack by the US and its allies.  Russia is probably more interested
in hosting the Winter Olympics in Sochi rather than fighting a war
on its border.

 LL>> Not that I expect us to invade Syria anytime soon ...

BK>Just bomb and arm the rebels.

We do that and there will be consequences.  Syria will respond, in
some way.  It might attack Israel.  It might invade Lebanon.  It might
attempt to sink one or more US ships stationed along its coast.  It
might even awaken sleeper cells inside the US.  And that's just for
starters.

--Lee

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