Lindsey

I think he's just trying to demonstrate that I'm illiterate. It's probably because I got my BA from one of those Liberal Arts colleges. But somehow I made it through a Masters and Doctorate without being able to read. Maybe it just irks him that I post like I talk (I am a bit of a hick), and I don't edit all of my posts as though I'm submitting my dissertation.... Either way, I'm obviously illiterate on my own, and not because of crack. I suppose that's a good thing. :) linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Aint it fun... looking at the tax bill and going "WTF"??? Of course, now that you're "rich", your fellows are going to say you aren't paying enough and getting a break from the gov't... LOL!!! I think it's a far cry from "getting a break," but I don't mind so much either. I'm thankful that the hard work's paying off and that I was given the chance to do what I'm doing. Not everyone has the opportunity. I could see myself getting a little pissy, though, if I'm paying $80K or more in taxes being called a neo-con because I disagree that I owe more.... -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I don't have a cite either. But in my poor years I paid next to nothing in taxes. Last year I made a little bit more money because I did at least work for 6 months after finishing school. Being a single mom with a $20,000 income that year, I got 2-3K more back at tax time than I had paid in during the year. I thought it redistributed the "wealth" in a pretty favorable way. This year my tax bill will be 30% of my income...also redistributing the wealth, but in a direction that's not as favorable to me. However, I'm making enough that after paying out the nose, I'll still have enough. I don't mind too much....yet. Maybe after I get rich and greedy off all the bottom-feeders I'll develop a different attitude. We'll see. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

You're right, you're just illiterate on your own. At least those on drugs have an excuse. If I need 10 cent advice on the physiological / intellectual affects of crack on the human body, I'll be sure to ask. Umm....Crack affects the human body, but it's the 10-cent advice on the physiological/intellectual effects of crack on the human body.... Your illiteracy is showing... I guess anyone who disagrees with the con minority must be on drugs. Well, since I disagree with the con minority on most things, I must be on drugs too....lol. The crack post was only referring to the endless string of posts that you make, silly boy.... Have you lost your sense of humor too? Surely you can at least laugh at that??? The "crack" crack was in jest....lighthearted....silly.... :) linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I think people just really don't know. Talking about shitty care in small town ERs....(which, of course, is often me)....there are no pharmacies open near here from noon on Friday until Monday morning. Whatever medications I prescribe are given out of the hospital's "medicine closet." Of course we gotta try to make do with what we have on hand, but it is given directly from our supplies to patients to get them through the weekend. Sometimes when we don't have what we need on hand, we can call one of the local pharmacists who will usually go open up shop to meet someone's need. But small town ERs suck...lol...and poor people are routinely denied access. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I have a bumper sticker (not on my car though) that says, "Cats humor us because they know that their ancestors ate ours" linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I bought some Ren and Stimpy DVDs for my kid to watch on our trip to Colorado. Surely he'll like 'em. He wasn't impressed with Land of the Lost even though it was one of my childhood favorites, though. Who wouldn't get into a show with Sleestaks???? Any other good suggestions? He's 9. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Bullshit. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

But it's not this surgeon or this cardiologist in this instance doing a good thing. It's them doing the right thing over and over and over again. And not just them. It's the general surgeon who I sent the woman with appendicitis to that accepted her without question....and the gynecologist who in turn accepted her when the appendicitis turned out to be ovarian torsion. It's the gastroenterologist whom I sent the diabetic with gastroparesis to. It's the pulmonologist and the interventional radiologist whom I consulted for a guy with a mediastinal abscess. It's all the family doctors who see these folks to begin with and take care of them every day. I guess that's why it irritates the hell out of me when I hear people slamming us for what we do. Or maybe I'm just too sensitive....lol. "Suck it up, cupcake!" -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I thought it was his love of relativity....but he was sort of a homophone, but not really. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

and they argue too much too.... -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Or maybe they're just over your head?! DOH!!!!! j/k linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Does that make me a bad-ass? linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

There are great ways to boost the immune system. Taking good care of yourself is the best way. Unfortunately, working a GOOD hundred hours a week is bad for your immune system....and what I do. Couple that with getting coughed on by all the people with the flu, and BAM! Interesting that this is the first time I've been sick in a long time. If everybody were like you, people like me wouldn't be so likely to get the flu. :) -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Thinking about this stuff makes me wanna share....lol. I have lots of stories like this one, but this is the most recent. I took call the other night for our local ER. At 4:30 am I had to go in for a woman who woke up with chest "discomfort" and felt nauseated. She was comfortable by the time she got to the ER. She was talkative and obviously in no acute distress. Her EKG was normal. All her labs looked good. She walks 4 miles a day. Her only health issues were diabetes and a hiatal hernia. She'd never had any chest pain with all of her exercize. BUT she had had 2 brothers die of heart attacks in their early 50's, and her father had died of a heart attack at age 70. She's 71 AND she has no health insurance. Her physical exam was not impressive, but her description of her symptoms and family history were enough to make one concerned. I called (at 5:30 am) the cardiologist whom I think is the best one we have at my residency hospital, and one to whom I refer a lot of patients. After telling him the situation, he said without hesitation for me to send her to him. He knew she couldn't pay, and he wasn't bothered by the early morning phone call. I send him a lot of business that makes up for an occasional no pay. I visited her today. Tomorrow she's having a 4-artery bypass. The cardiovascular surgeon won't get paid either, but he's taking care of her. And that's not an isolated event. Rarely do I have problems getting our best doctors to take care of those who are least likely to pay. The rest of us pay enough to cover their costs. Maybe it's different here where so many people are poor. Maybe doctors here are here because they understand and are willing to meet the need for the most part. But this has been my experience time and time again. Now, she surely won't get the same work-up that some of us would for, say, carotid sinus hypersensitivity , but she's not paying for that either.... -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Sure better prenatal care would decrease infant mortality. But lack of prenatal care is very different from lack of access to prenatal care. If you're a pregnant woman, it's really, really, REALLY easy to get health care. However, you have to make the choice to go to the doctor. Lots of women don't make that choice. Also, lots of women continue to do things during pregnancy that doom their babies. How many have I seen born at less than 30 weeks because their moms were using meth or crack? Lots. How many poor people don't access health care because they live too far from a hospital and choose not to make the commute (Medicaid pays for the ride). How many don't access the system because their mothers didn't....and their mothers....? How healthy are babies born to diabetic mothers compared to those born to non-diabetic moms? What about when those babies are born at home? I think that our infant mortalilty rates are more reflective of these issues than quality of healthcare. It's hard to keep babies alive who are born at 24 weeks addicted to cocaine. Those same babies tend to sit alone in the NICU until they're okay-enough to go home. How do you think they fare when they get their first pneumonia, and their parents really aren't any more interested now than they were before the kid was born? Back when I was social working, these were the issues I dealt with. Those issues were much bigger than the ones that come rolling into the ER....and usually a lot harder to solve. It's not as simple as some would like to make it. And it's certainly not something that fits very squarely on the shoulders of the healthcare system. edited to add: Bill, I'm not sure what a good hard-and-fast measure is. It's apparent what some of the problems are, though. And we can pretend to address them by pointing a finger at a tangible source. It being a visible target doesn't make it the right one. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

HERESY! While I don't think that we provide the best health care in the world, I also don't think that longevity and infant mortality rates are the best measures for the quality of our healthcare. I think those are confounded by some pretty problematic social issues that our healthcare system....or any healthcare system....isn't going to be equipped to fix. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

In that case, your sentence should have read: I don't think that crack affects sentence structure as much as it affects general thought processes. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm See, and I'm not on crack....lol. Since crack doesn't screw up sentence structure so much, then it's really not an issue for either one of us, is it. It's thought processes that tend to be more affected by crack. That's what I said the first time though . I'm not sure about what happens to reading comprehension or to attention. linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Well, if I were. On crack. I would write. In sentence frangments. I don't think that crack affects sentence structure as much as general thought processes. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I'm coming down in a couple weeks. If I have any left-overs, I'll bring 'em to you....lol. :) linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Nope, its not what you say, its what you quote. Quoting the entire post you're replying to and then quoting again the individual parts you are addressing is not only a complete waste of space, it makes your posts very difficult to break down. The empty can rattles the most. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

Place all liability on the doctor would be a better solution. If he screws up he should lose everything. I'd be real damn picky about who I chose to treat. Difficulty with access to medical care would take on a whole new meaning. For example, AIDS meds rake in well over 1 billion dollars per month yet very little of these profits go into research and next to none is use to find a cure. The pharmetcutical companies latched onto this cash cow and cares nothing at all about finding a cure. Much like the supposed AIDS "doctor" who attend a few siminars and then call themselves AIDS "doctors". They care very little, if they care at all, about the patient. Okay. Get out your pencil and make a list of HIV meds available 10 years ago, 15 years ago, and now. I think there are very few illnesses that as much effort has been put into treating....with as much progress as has been made with HIV/AIDS. In my experience, the docs who treat people with HIV are some of the MOST caring of all. Then there's Ryan White Foundation. In my area, people whose access to health care is limited get HUGE benefits from Ryan White Centers. It's not limited to medical care, but also helps with rent, utilities, groceries. Hell, they'll even pay for a social worker to help you out, cart you around, whatever you need, pretty much. Had you gotten cancer instead of AIDS I don't think you'd find as much available to you. BTW....your bitterness is showing, and has just lumped you into that group who wouldn't get the time of day in under that plan you were talking about (above). On this, you are far off track as medicaid users must pay a "spend down". My spend down is $695.00 a month and must be paid monthly if I wish to use what you call "free". Most people with Medicaid don't have to pay, or only minimally, for health care. People with Medicaid spend-down are people who don't qualify for Medicaid, but whose medical bills place an unusually high burden on them, as a percentage of income (or something like that). It has to do with how high medical bills are and how much you bring in. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

My good news is that I bought a cool new mountain bike for $500 on Ebay....it's a Fetish frame with great components. It's locked up out back in my new storage building that some young hotties built in my back yard today before it started sleeting. AND my son and I are going snow skiing in a few weeks. All this good stuff is happening because I FINALLY started making some actual doctor money. I ain't starvin' no more!!!! THAT's good. :) linz -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

I work in the ER...it is starting to show up here now, but really had not been as rampant as last year. We had 32 positives in the ER last Sunday....and it's not THAT big of an ER... I get the flu shot every year and consider myself protected....even though I know better. This year was a reminder. Ugh. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

he's on crack. -- A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail