Dear Crabby, you asked, "What can have happened to schools since Crabby Old Lady's day?"

Well, as grandparents of 7, we could tell you what happened, but there really isn't space here for that. But you are a taxpayer and should take any opportunity you can to visit your local school and see what administrators have done to the education process. Eye opening. But that's only half the story because education takes place in homes as well. And that's where the generations that grew up on TV live. That's where the believers in 'talking heads' live. Sad. And statistics tell the same story...we are being dumbed down.

The whole world is going to hell in a hand basket.

Ronni, here in Raleigh, an 84 year old woman hit and killed a 6 year old girl as she got off her school bus. Do you think elders should be re-tested? How often?

It is way beyond crazy and what irks me even more about the gun wearers was how the media showed their guns on their hips over and over and over to doubtless encoruage other nutcases. So a few were expanded into what seemed like the many.

Another thing for all of us to watch out for is the email trap. Nice people get them and they claim to be from nice people and then they set out to spew lies that sometimes are multiplied many times as right wing bloggers repeat them without checking.

One of those I went quite a ways trying to find the truth because it didn't sound right to me, and all I could find was more posts from right wingers about the fear they felt at it (if you are curious what it is Google Obama Montana lobsters and you'll find a ton of fear spreading right wingers). It took several days for Snopes to do what I was trying to do-- verify the lies. One of which was the email changed first names through it dissemination. And never had a last name. In that email, some of the lies I knew because I've been to Montana but others were difficult to find anything beyond ore passing it on--because a lie is hard to disprove. You basically have to take something that never happened and prove it never happened. It's like proving you were not born in Kenya. I'd have a hard time proving I wasn't either if my own birth certificate wasn't good enough.

Right wingers both in emails and bloggers often spread this stuff with no sense of responsibility for checking any of it.

I couldn’t believe it when George was elected to a second term. Are there really that many stupid people in America who vote? Yes! And here we are again - witnessing terrorism as a political tactic and hearing it called freedom of speech.

Amen!

Forgive me; I’m trying to hold back chuckles while writing this. Ok, let’s start with about the only two valid points in this post. Yes, the president is a citizen. Yes, the president was born in the U.S. Now, let’s move on. The president has already proven how picky he is in the department of choosing a church; he has yet to choose one that he likes in DC. Based on that level of hesitation in decision making, I must deduce that he picked reverend Wrights church for twenty years specifically for the anti-Semitic, racist sermons.

Now on to health care; the health care bill proposed gives the government an enormous step in the door for every Americans private life, giving government the lee-way to make decisions for the way everyone lives their lives “for the greater good.” That is a concept of socialism. The Nazis were socialists. Do I think that Obama will go on a genocidal mission across the world as Hitler tried? No, I don’t. But socialism is socialism no matter where it is.

Now on to specifics of health care reform, point by point:
Health care reform will allow the federal government access to people's bank accounts.

HR 3200 America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009
Sec 163 sub sec 1173A (a)(2) GOALS FOR FINANCIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSACTIONS
Read it.

Health care reform will require old and/or disabled people to be euthanized at the discretion of death panels

HR 3200
Sec 1233 ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION
Read it.

Health care reform will require the government to pay for abortions.

HR 3200
SEC. 1714. STATE ELIGIBILITY OPTION FOR FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES.
Read it.

With health care reform, government bureaucrats will make people's health care decisions

HR 3200

Sec. 123 HEALTH BENEFITS ADVISORY COMMITTEE
TITLE I
Subtitle E – Governance
Sec. 141 HEALTH CHOICES ADMINISTRATION; HEALTH CHOICES COMMISSIONER
Sec. 142 DUTIES AND RESPONSABLILITIES OF COMMISSIONER
Sec. 143 CONSULTATION AND COORDINATION

Read it.

Me thinks Crabby should pick up a reading hobby for all these “myths” I just cited from the actual legislation.

Oh, and Crabby, I don’t appreciate being called a terrorist for owning a gun. If you don’t feel safe, maybe it’s time you invest in one; that is why they are a right of the people. Not one gun carrying protester ever fired a shot, nor threatened to do so. In fact, I would argue that members at those venues were safer considering there were many armed Americans just outside.

Crabby should do some homework before calling over half the country stupid. Lest someone like me comes across her blog.

Sorry Mona, I'm twenty years old and am currently uninsured medically. But you are correct, if it is a choice between being uninsured and taking a socialist program like the one outlined in HR 3200 then i would remain uninsured every day of the week.

Sometimes it does get tiresome when you have to keep educating the ones who get their information from Fox TV, Glenn Beck, Rush, and dishonest e-mails.

Ms or Mr. Rausch, you have much to learn. First you show your lack of knowledge by saying the Nazis had a Socialist system. The were Fascists, for God sakes.

Second, I am very sure you did not read HR3200. It's long and boring. Space does not permit going into all of your errors so I will take the first one.

HR3200, Section 163A. etc. I read the whole thing and have edited it leaving in any pertinent info. You can go read the rest on the government page.
**************************
SEC. 163. ADMINISTRATIVE SIMPLIFICATION.

(a) Standardizing Electronic Administrative Transactions-
‘(C) be comprehensive, efficient and robust, requiring minimal augmentation by paper transactions or clarification by further communications
‘(D) enable the real-time (or near real-time) determination of an individual’s financial responsibility at the point of service and, to the extent possible, prior to service, including whether the individual is eligible for a specific service with a specific physician at a specific facility, which may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card;

‘(E) enable, where feasible, near real-time adjudication of claims;
harmonize all common data elements across administrative and clinical transaction standards.
1
‘(4) REQUIREMENTS FOR SPECIFIC STANDARDS- The standards under this section shall be developed, adopted and enforced so as to-- 1
‘(A) clarify, refine, complete, and expand, as needed, the standards required under section 1173;
1
‘(B) require paper versions of standardized transactions to comply with the same standards as to data content such that a fully compliant, equivalent electronic transaction can be populated from the data from a paper version;
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‘(C) enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice;

1
‘(D) require timely and transparent claim and denial management processes, including tracking, adjudication, and appeal processing;
‘(E) require the use of a standard electronic transaction with which health care providers may quickly and efficiently enroll with a health plan to conduct the other electronic transactions provided for in this part;
an expedited upgrade program for continually developing and approving additions and modifications to the standards as often as annually to improve their quality and extend their functionality to meet evolving requirements in health care;

programs to provide incentives for, and ease the burden of,implementation for certain health care providers, with special consideration given to such providers serving rural or underserved areas and ensure coordination with standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria being adopted under the HITECH Act;CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

‘(D) programs to provide incentives for, and ease the burden of, health care providers who volunteer to participate in the process of setting standards for electronic transactions;

a
‘(F) an enforcement process that includes timely investigation of complaints, random audits to ensure compliance, civil monetary and programmatic penalties for non-compliance consistent with existing laws and regulations, and a fair and reasonable appeals process building off of enforcement provisions under this part.CommentsClose CommentsPermalink

5
‘(b) Limitations on Use of Data- Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the use of information collected under this section in a manner that would adversely affect any individual.
‘(c) Protection of Data- The Secretary shall ensure (through the promulgation of regulations or otherwise) that all data collected pursuant to subsection (a) are--
‘(1) used and disclosed in a manner that meets the HIPAA privacy and security law (as defined in section 3009(a)(2) of the Public Health Service Act), including any privacy or security standard adopted under section 3004 of such Act;
*******************************
Now if you are still with me and were able to read and understand the clause you should realize it's basically a simple housekeeping chore. Nothing about abortions, euthanasia, personal bank accounts, or any of the other myths you swallowed. Nor can you find any of those things in the bill.

It is not Crabby that needs to do her homework, but you.

This is all truly laughable. First off, Sophronia, Federal employees don’t have socialized health care, their plans are provided by the private sector. But at least you can admit that I do indeed know it all. Reading the legislation helps.

Now, Darlene, for one, try to at least get my name right. It’s only printed on the very same page that you are commenting. Now, the word Nazi was derived from a word meaning ‘national socialist.’ In essence, they were socialists. And yea, I followed through the section you posted on access to bank accounts, thanks for posting that for everyone. Now for the rest of the sections I outlined for the other bullet points from the original blog. Of course one section from the entire 1017 page bill wont contain everything, you have to read ALL the sections to get the big picture.

The information I have gotten and posted here hasn’t come from right-wing pundits; it’s come from the bill HR 3200 that is going through the house after the recess. But really, by all means, don’t take my word for it, read it yourself. Library of congress, THOMAS, HR 3200, full text. It’s all there, and the sections I outlined above tell the whole story, unedited.

Ok, so you want me to get into specifics. I can do that. It was Hitler and the National Socialists in Germany in the 1930s that were allowed major stakes of ownership in properties and industry, like VW and Volvo (you know, kind of like GM and Chrysler here in this administration). They also established make work projects all around the country, like the autobahn and certain national monuments (you know, kind of like TARP and the stimulus bill here in this country). Hitler also appointed public advisors for policy making that answered to no one but himself (you know, kind of like the czars here in this country). 1930s Germany also had a sweeping state run health care plan that allowed the government unprecedented access to the private lives and choices of its citizens (you know, kind of like the health choices act going through the house in this country). We can look at it all day, fact is, pre Munich invasion Germany parallels the current administration frighteningly often.

As for Barney Frank, I have a whole post for him on my site.

Nothing would tickle me more than resorting to banning me. It would absolutely illustrate the mindset of those on the left that support ramming federal legislation down the throats to govern everyone.

Well, when you can’t beat him, ban him I guess.

I think Hattie is right - to a degree - Mr Rusch is trolling for an argument (the only comment on his blog is from me so obviously he needs someone to talk to him). The way to deal with trolls is not to ban them - they only go and hide under someone else bridge - but ignore them. Trolls hate being ignored - they stamp their feet and hold their breath but eventually they fade away.

Don't feed the troll...

I'm breaking my own rule here, but did you notice one tell tale passage in the trolls post above?

"It is why we were given the right to free speech"

I found that interesting since clearly he doesn't think the right to free speech is intrinsic - someone has to give it to us. As I say, interesting from someone getting so excited about freedom and individual rights.

"From her vantage point, it looks like the United States has gone batshit crazy."

It looks that way from over here in Sweden, too. It breaks my heart. And it scares me.