Good luck and have a happy Thanksgiving, a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.
You too Bradford Schmidt and Joanna.

As for your tort reform, puked out from the conservative site “The Heritage Foundation” LOL!! All that copy and pasting must have been exhausting. As I said before, keep associating with those that only think like you then you’ll never learn a thing. Come back and share when you have some facts from an unbiased source… and instead of making a post with 3/4 of someone elses words, use your own.

BTW/Thanks for the Rachel Maddow comparison

Brad, I hope you and Joanna had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

You are right about one thing, I did over simplify, but that is only because I am dealing with people like you. So let me explain. Where did you read the word cap or the number 250,000 in what I wrote, because I do not remember writing any of that.

Here is the Tort Reform that I am talking about and it has nothing to do with capping the amount a plaintiff can receive when filing a true and just law suit.

here are a couple of proposals from the Heritage Foundation that will help:
Proposal A: a rule requiring truth in advertising. When lawyers charge a contingent fee, they should also disclose the equivalent hourly rate, and give the clients a choice. Based upon their own experience, plaintiff lawyers know how much they will have to work to get a settlement. So do the defense lawyers and insurance companies. Only the poor victims, inexperienced with the legal system, enter into the proceedings ignorant of these matters.

But it doesn’t take a legal education to understand money. Imagine how the average American would react if lawyers were forced to quote their fees as “33 percent or $5,000 per hour.” And why would lawyers object, except to keep the true nature of their fees secret?

Or, how about Proposal B, a rule that requires lawyers to try to settle cases before filing suit? And, if their client wants to accept the settlement offered, then they could only charge an hourly rate based upon the actual number of hours they must work to finalize the settlement papers. Either of these proposals would do two things: reduce the amount of money that lawyers drain out of the system, and increase the amount of money that actually goes into victims’ pockets. Wouldn’t that be a good thing?

This would curb the amount of frivolous law suits and would leave more money in the pocket of the true victims, not the trail lawyers. Now, the reason why this will never happen is because the trail lawyer lobby is very powerful and they contribute millions to, yes, you guessed it, THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. YEEEEY The Democratic party is in bed with the trail lawyers how surprising considering that they supposedly advocate for the little people, I guess that is the reason why Martin Luther King was a democrat, oh no, wait he was a Republican oops. Some Republicans are involved in this as well and they are scumbags who should be voted out of office.

Also, I do not remember saying that the principal reason that health insurance goes up every year is because of law suits. However, it does cost the tax paying public 180 billion dollars per year. That is the reason why I said START with TORT REFORM. Furthermore, dummy, how is Obama care going to fix the problem if “According to a recent insurance industry study by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the increase in health costs is largely attributable to new technology and hospital mergers. Malpractice claims is not listed as a factor.”. Or, are you saying that Obama care is going to disincentivize the pharmaceutical industry and the health care industry from developing new drugs and new technologies, so that the old technology and drugs become cheaper and since he will be taking over the medical industry, the only merger that will occur is hospitals will merge with the government.

So Genius Michelle: try getting a REAL education on the issues and stop spewing the bullshit MSNBC and ABC news feeds you. Instead of sitting on your butt and making it fatter, watching Rachel and Chris you’d serve yourself much better by going to school, reading a newspaper, talking to people of various backgrounds and doing some butt exercises. The reason you are so small minded is because you only associate with people who think like you and only listen to news programs that tell you what you already believe to be true.
As for the whole “immigration” topic. The facts were laid out for you. If you want to remain an idiot your entire life, than so be it. HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHA.

That comment was so perfect I could not bring my self to changing it, I only improved it.

It wasn’t really an argument, just something I pointed out. But I agree with you wholeheartedly: you don’t need my help to look bad.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

Since you brought up the topic and I have first hand experience in this area, let me educate you!

Your statement:
“Regurgitated talking points=liberal for I don’t know what to say because you are right. That’s cool I know you are still tired. What is so absurd, shaky or simplistic about stopping frivolous law suits, that force doctors to have million+ dollar insurance policies that raise our health insurance costs.”

#1 Genius, if we put a 250,000 cap on medical malpractice lawsuites like the conservatives would like, who do you think will pay the medical and life costs of all those people left severely disabled by the doctors incompetence? Or haven’t you thought that far beyond the FOX news program? You conservatives cry about your tax dollars now, well think of the tax increase you’ll face when YOU have to pay the medical care and life care for an individual who can’t walk, think, or use their right arm because some idiotic doctor “messed up”.

#2 Settlements are based on future medical and psychological needs of the person left disabled by the doctor. You presume to know every situation if you think 250,000 can cover the cost of most people’s care. Clearly you don’t know anyone left profoundly disabled by a physician and becareful… you might suffer at the hands of a doctor and no lawyer would take a case that the top payout is only $250,000. It isn’t even worth it to a patient when their medical care costs would exceed that amount in the first year.

Genius George, Enlighten me on the bigger issue. What information are you privvy to that the rest of us aren’t that makes you believe that putting a cap of 250,000 on medical malpractice would solve our current Healthcare crisis?

#3 I don’t know what state you reside in but, as I said before, stop whining and do something. Where I live we have a conservative, restrictive, malpractice law. An attorney cannot start action in our state without simultaneously providing a sworn affidavit by the attorney that the case was already reviewed by a qualified expert who opined that there was negligence; then within a short period of time the plaintiff must provide signed and very detailed affidavits from qualified experts as to the negligence and causation, or the case is thrown out of court. So, if you have a high number of frivolous lawsuits in your state start doing something about it. You clearly know nothing about the nation as a whole, a good starting point for you is to get educated on the laws in your state. Our state has the 2nd lowest malpractice suites filed in the nation, where does your state rank? I highly doubt you even know!

#4 As for the FACTS: According to the Journal of Health Affairs, over 10 years malpractice payouts have grown on average of 6.2% per year, which is less than the rate of MEDICAL INFLATION, which averaged 6.7%.

Even Pres. Bush’s Economic Advisors in 2002 stated: “The liability system makes persons who injure others aware of their actions and provides incentives for them to act accordingly.”

According to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, malpractice insurance costs amount to only 3.2% of the average doctor’s revenues. In contrast, they spend 17% on payroll costs and 5.8% on rent.

According to a recent insurance industry study by Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, the increase in health costs is largely attributable to new technology and hospital mergers. Malpractice claims is not listed as a factor.

Caps on malpractice do not lower medical malpractice premiums for doctors. Take California for example: Caps were enacted in Calif. In 1975 but malpractice premiums nearly doubled in the first four years after the caps were formed.

“There is not much difference in medical malpractice rates or the rate of change between California and the nation, based on the latest decade of experience,” according to a study by Robert Hunter, former Texas Insurance Commissioner and federal insurance administrator during the Ford and Carter administration.

If caps worked, Nevada rates would have gone down after Nevada enacted caps which are among the most severe in the country. Instead, once caps were enacted, insurers announced that they would not reduce rates.

It isn’t the lawsuits that are the problem. It is those fancy lawmaking politicians being LOBBIED by doctors that are trying to distract us from the real cause.

So Genius George: try getting a REAL education on the issues and stop spewing the bullshit FOX news feeds you. Instead of sitting on your butt watching Fox news you’d serve yourself much better by going to school, reading a newspaper, talking to people of various backgrounds. The reason you are so small minded is because you only associate with people who think like you and only listen to news programs that tell you what you already believe to be true.

As for the whole “immigration” topic. The facts were laid out for you. If you want to remain an idiot your entire life, than so be it.

Dummy.

PS what happened to the whole immigration thing, did you forget that was the original argument. Did you give up because you don’t have your facts straight and you are searching google for comebacks. Search what ever you want my arguments make sense and you know it and so does Michelle. Oh and Keith all I have for you is WHAT?

(pointy bird, oh pointy-pointy…)

The first was the old red herring of tort reform. Even if you buy into the absurdly simplistic and shaky arguments that tort reform will somehow fix health care, the Constitution places the writing of tort law into the hands of individual states, and federal tort reform is a clear violation of the Constitution’s limits on congressional power. Before someone berates Michele for being “so mistaken about what the role of the government is,” I’d think they’d bother to try and understand it themselves.

The second was this part of the comment: “Do you know what I will never forget, what ex-Pres. Fox said, I do not remember the exact quote.”

See, that’s fucking funny on so many levels.

That is pretty funny!

“Hi Brad,
I’ll step off the soapbox for now. LOL! Thanks for the additional info and for writing a great blog!”

Way to pat your self in the back, HAHAHA. You really think highly of your self don’t you. well here you go, gnaw on this for a while

I am going to respond to you because Brad is too tired to go do the research and you obviously did some research in the wrong places. I never said I do not do research, I said that I do not need to research the whole DUI thing because I see it every day. Another one I do not need to research is the domestic violence issue because we get one or more of those everyday. Now the rest of my comments I did research. I did not just wake up one day, Michelle and decide to blame Illegals for all of the troubles in the United States. I know how hard it is to be in a country that does not care about its people. I am an Immigrant as well, although you probably will not believe that either, just like you did not believe I am a PA, I was born in Cuba. I feel bad for some of these people. Now about the part that I should probably arrest those Illegals that I claimed to know, well:
#1 I do not hang out with these people I just know who they are.
#2 That is not my job, ICE is the one that takes care of interior enforcement.
#3 We are not allowed to go arrest people just because we feel we should, we need some kind of articulable facts and we are discouraged from arresting people that are already in the US.

Now you are jumping into healthcare and personal bankruptcy, which was not what we were talking about, but there are studies written that say its medical and others say its lack financial control. For example Harvard (the most liberal school on the planet) states that it is medical issues while other studies state that medical issues contribute but are not the leading cause. Next, I am just curious who told you that the conservatives do not want health care reform, was it Chris Matthews or Rachel Maddow. The only thing that liberals want to do with health care is to make it government run. This socialist form of healthcare has not worked in any country and they want to do it here, why? Because they want more control over us. If they really wanted change they would start with Tort Reform, but they do not want to make the trail lawyers and the Unions upset because Obama is in their pocket or they are in his (I haven’t decided yet). So, it is not that conservatives want to delay, it’s that the liberals do not want to include them. If they include the conservatives they will not get their socialist/communist health care.

Now about welfare, I think you just missed the point all together it doesn’t matter whether or not the leading cause is women with children or chipmunks with alcohol problems. The point is that illegals are a drain on social services and it’s the worse kind of drain because they are not even supposed to be here. I really do not care whether you believe me or not when it comes to which jobs legal residents will take. I had that conversation with a couple of different people whether you like it or not. The last point I want to make, Michelle, is that your last paragraph made my mouth water. It proves my point about liberals and how mistaken they are.

“Instead of using illegal immigrants as a scapegoat for our current economic crisis, why not try channeling some of that energy in a constructive way and help the conservatives come up with some ideas on how to solve some our countries current problems like health care, housing, world relations, job loss, etc… because it is obvious all that whining and crying is getting you republican’s nowhere!”

#1 I do not use Illegals immigrants as scapegoats for current economic crisis. I blame the government for that. Illegals contribute to the already dire crisis we are facing.
#2 Who told you that I have to come up with constructive ways to help conservatives, you are so mistaken about what the role of the government is. Government is not supposed to give us health care, housing, or do something about job loss. Those are all private sector things and if the government left the private sector alone and stopped taxing them to death maybe we would not have a problem with job loss or housing. Government should worry about world relations and regulating the health care industry. The way you solve world relations is by showing the world that our gun is bigger than theirs, which is something whining liberals hate to do. We should all hug and sing “we are the world”, the only problem with that is that a lot of those people would be stabbing you while you sing and the government meanwhile is picking your pocket. The health care industry needs to be regulated and made more consumer friendly, but the problem with that is that ALL politicians are in the pocket of these big companies, especially the democrats. Remember there are more rich democrats then there are republicans. Like I said before start with TORT reform, then move on to the more complicated aspects of it.

Do you know what I will never forget, what ex-Pres. Fox said, I do not remember the exact quote, but he basically said that the economy in Mexico was doing really bad right now because the economy in the US is not doing to good and there are less Mexicans sending dollars back to Mexico. WOW!

OK Michelle

I’ll step off the soapbox for now. LOL! Thanks for the additional info and for writing a great blog!

I started laying these arguments out last night and just decided I wasn’t going to try to have a discussion with someone so obviously disinterested in anything but yelling their talking points over the top of a reasonable conversation. Even one that started out as a snarky column on my site.

It’s too bad that people are so susceptible to accepting the validity of finger-pointing solutions to their personal problems. What’s next, are people going to blame their asthma on illegal aliens because they’ve breathed up all the good air? (sorry, still too groggy to come up with a better sarcastic comment than that)

But as an aside, I’d be remiss if I didn’t add to your argument: you didn’t mention the illegal immigrants that DO pay taxes (including social security) with false ss numbers, yet do not receive benefits in return.

More coffee for me now.