The Watercooler for 10/27/09 5:00 PM

Obama daughters get swine flu shots

I had the previous strain and am passing on both the shot and the H1N1 dose.
My wife has astma and is getting them this year.
We are pushing 63 anyway.

Never had a flu shot.  Ain't startin' *this* year, lol!

I do NOT get  any flu shots.  Have seen too many folks get sick from the shots.  I'm 66 anyway.  I did get a shingles shot.  I remember my grandmother getting shingles and it was excruciatingly painful.  Don't want that fer sher! 

Going to the Warren G. Magnuson Awards tonight (fondly known as the "Maggies") as a young man I first met 4 or so years ago and pegged as a very special person, is going to be receiving the Volunteer of the Year award.  He doesn't know it.

He has managed to go from an At Large member of the Board of the 46th LD Dems to the Chair.  And along the way, he has taken on managing the website of the 46th and the King County Dems and I think he even helps out with the State website.  The Chair of the 46th Repubs goes to our site when they need any kind of information because our is so complete.  He is a big help in working our Votebuilder file and many other little (or not so little) jobs in the democratic party of Washington State.

I am most proud of him.  He is running the 46th like a business and being very successful at it.

Ive had the flu 2x in my lifetime..........BOTH times I did NOT get a flu shot...........its true, I did want to die..............not nice or pretty.............I did get to watch I Dream of Jeannie all wekk long however and eat chicken soup..........what a combination.

US out of Iraq and Afghan NOW.....................WOM........waste of money (and lives).

http://www.cnbc.com/id/33477456

With a weak dollar, inverstors are borrowing dollars to buy foreign assets. The problem happens when the dollar starts to rise which could cause a market collapse.

Most data points point to this happenning. What may help is oil is overpriced now. It should drop as it needs to align with the dollar.

He makes an interesting data point that bank consolidations are now creating new banks that may be "to big too fail". Without consolidation, they were too small to survive.

INMO, the issue is not the big banks being too big, but the missing seperation between investment banking and deposits. Big banks can do a lot more to help their customers then small banks - providing seperation and transparency are present (both are missing now).
It takes a big bank with lots of assets to handle the creation of companies to form new businesses, and help the old businesses to participate in the green economy. The mom-and-pop corner bank doesn't have the deep pockets or access to massive ready cash to be able to handle this.

Roubini says if big banks get into trouble, they should be broken up into smaller banks. That is a rather flippant statemnt which ignores just how difficult it is to take care of investors and depositers and not unbalance the monetary syustems. For instance, which owners go with which banks? Does everybody lose which would devastate the 401Ks even more? I really dislike sound-byte economics as the indepth discussion is missing and it is impossible to discuss the data that led to the conclusions.

If, however, they mean breakup by reinstating the Glass-Stegall Act then that is the best solution. A firewall would exist between the deposit and investment activites. I can see instances where one-stop-shopping works for the consumer. But the downside is too risky.
That is a breakup that I favor.
BTW....protections were to be put in place to limit the damage banks could do when Glass-Stegall was repealed, but they were never implemented.

Na.  Jealousy isn't one of my vices, lol!

I used to get looks like that from Mark's two year old daughter, though.  (Freud was right on. . . .)

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1009/Kerry_Too_far_too_fast.html

Uh..We need a Grand Strategy first. Without it, we are bouncing around like human pin-balls in a giant machine.
-------------------------------------------
[snip]
Kerry sets three conditions for sending more troops:

* “First, are there enough reliable Afghan forces to partner with American troops—and eventually to take over responsibility for security? The quickest way out of Afghanistan for our troops is to speed up the training and mentoring of the Afghan National Army and police so that they can defend their own country.”

* “The second question to ask is, are there local leaders we can partner with? We must be able to identify and cooperate with tribal, district and provincial leaders who command the authority to help deliver services and restore Afghans’ faith in their own government.”

* “Third, is the civilian side ready to follow swiftly with development aid that brings tangible benefits to the local population? When they support our troops, Afghans need to see their lives improve.”

is 68 years old.   When he turned 59, Blue Cross sent him a letter  increasing his premium 300%.  He couldn't afford the higher premium and had never been ill.  So he dropped his Blue Cross.

Several years later, he had 5 heart attacks within a period of 6 months.  His friends made him go to a hospital and the hospital knew he didn't have insurance.  Two stints were put in his heart and he was in the hospital for 3 days.

$42,000.

I'm on his case to pick up medicare but he's reluctant since "this country is done."

I am so sad and so angry at the same time.  I'll do my best to get him into Medicare.

Will Medicare take s/o with a pre-existing condition like the nice man doing my bathroom?  It has to, doesn't it?

******************

I just got a letter saying that a credit card (I hardly ever use) is going from 9.99% to 26.99%

That's the spirit.  They weren't making enuf from me so now they'll make NOTHING  from me.

I thought that law was already in effect.  Silly me.

All you have to do to be on Medicare is be sixty five and to pay the premiums (about 20% of my income) and the copays (about 20% of the charges).  May be more or less for big things like hosptal stays, I haven't had any of those.  Part D depends on what your doctor's prescribed.  I pay for my own, so far, it's cheaper.  (My pharmacy will give you a discount for large orders, so if I get a year's worth, with the discount, it's cheaper than the copay with my insurance co.).  For other meds, the insurance company pretty much decides what you'll take. . . .  'Course, part D was put together by the rePublicans ~~ no wonder they're so leery about gov't health, lol!

was outstanding on Keith.  Try and catch the re-run if you can.

She says that every pol on the Hill knows that medicare for all is the best and most cost-effective way to go...

CA nursing association. And I may have the spelling of her name wrong.

http://heartscanblog.blogspot.com/

My son got his H1N1 vaccine.  I don't intend to get it as I don't have any chronic illnesses and I don't typically get the seasonal flu vaccine.  But I do think children (and college students) should be vaccinated.  The nurse said there is a lot of misinformation/disinformation out there (spread by some cable shows).  She said those folks had her worried.  Gee, I wonder who she was referring to.  Limbaugh, Beck ~~ cough, cough.  

Nite folks.

if fred were here, we'd be drowning in anti-vaccine "information."