jcd11235

If your next employer decided yesterday that effective immediately, all new hires will be hired at a salary 5% less than current employees are being hired at, that is not taking anything from you. It is simply not giving you something. Your sense of entitlement doesn't count. Did you get that writer's handbook ordered yet, Shakespeare? Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

To use your steak vs. ground chuck analogy, steak is already being rationed in the US by insurance companies and HMO's. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

I would guess that you would be motivated by an irrational hatred of the most fiscally responsible president since Truman and Eisenhower, and place Clinton there with him. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

The extra cost of best qualified employees is often justified. I'd much rather make sure people who work for me have adequate healthcare than to wish for "universal" healthcare. I'm guessing that's a government-run healthcare system. Ugh. One only needs to compare the cost:benefit ratio of the United States' healthcare system to that of the rest of the developed western world to recognize that socialized healthcare is not the bogeyman it's so often made out to be. Having said that, I think Hillary's proposed system is the best and most cost effective healthcare reform proposal by any of the candidates. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

But you do like to bash Clinton, so that would demonstrate an obvious conservative bias. Psst … Mike! Libertarians aren't centrist! Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Touché. Like I said, I don't think the new hiring rule is perfect, by any means. However, current laws may have left the county's hands tied with respect to what options were available to them to help keep costs down for employees and taxpayers. Personally, I would prefer to see universal healthcare with tax incentives for healthy lifestyles. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

For bonuses? I would think so, but I'm not a lawyer. I'm pretty sure I've read about some companies doing something like that, giving bonuses for healthy lifestyles. They justified it with lower labor costs of healthy employees. Negative incentives (i.e. reducing existing employee's salary) for unhealthy lifestyle? That's probably illegal in most scenarios, but, again, I'm not a lawyer. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Par for the course - "I can't provide any proof other than my opinion, so I'll just say something snide about the poster" I didn't say anything snide about you. I said to search for your posts. That's not snide, that implies that most of your posts are closer to the extreme right than the center. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Sorry. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort to be intellectually honest. Notice how I didn't advocate taking anything away. I advocated lowering the starting salary of new employees, and then using the salary difference to fund incentives. That doesn't take anything away from anyone. You can't take away something that someone doesn't have. Do you mean how single quotes are used for quotes within quotes, and double quotes are used for quoting the person who is quoting someone (or not)? Paraphrasing does not get quotation marks, single or double. I already knew that, but, just to make you happy, I double checked in here, a copy of which always sits on my desk. Perhaps you should consider a similar practice. Like paraphrasing, summations do not merit quotation marks. However, your summation implied lowering the salary of current employees. The word their implied ownership by the employee. Lowering contractual salaries would indeed be negative incentives, but that isn't what I suggested. It's only illegal as it was misrepresented by you, not as I suggested it. Of course there may be union contracts that require a standard starting salary for a given job, but that's outside the scope of our discussion. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

That would be the expected perception from an extreme right winger like yourself, who actually claims to be centrist. Please, DO annotate all those EXTREME right views I espouse....please. Just do a search for your posts and make it easy. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Dude, no objective comparison can be made without considering the context of what else was in the news at the time. It was those other stories with which the coverage competed for air time, not the coverage of the other candidates trip. As pointed out, the news was the Democratic primary race. Would the Democrats field the first female major party candidate, or would the Democrats field the first black major party candidate? Did you hear the speech? It sounded awfully, well, Presidential. America hasn't seen that for a long time. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

That would be the expected perception from an extreme right winger like yourself, who actually claims to be centrist. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Or maybe it's because the only thing McCain inspires people to do is to go shop for mortuary plans, Unless something drastic occurs, such as Obama being arrested for being a serial killer or pedophile on the eve of the election, McCain has a snowball's chance in hell of being elected. See above about snowball's chance in Hell. Please, point out all his screw-ups. Yeah, because Jon Stewart never exaggerates anything. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Now, go back and read what I wrote. Did you intentionally misquote me, or was it simply poor reading comprehension? That you would misquote me rather than simply utilizing copy and paste makes me wonder whether you're actually trying to engage in meaningful discussion or are just trying to build straw men so you can tear them down. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

It's not misdirection at all. Males in that age range are just as likely to start (or expand) families as females. I think you'll find the lesbians have lower rates of STD's, IIRC, which should roughly balance out. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

It depends on the context and relevance. ***Of course - I must have forgotten that Obama's trip to Iraq and Europe was *4 times more important* than McCain's trip to Iraq and Europe - silly me. The coverage appeared to be more about the reactions Obama received than the trips, such as Maliki (sp?) publicly claiming that Obama's proposed strategy was good after McCain had been mudslinging about it being appeasement and/or surrender? McCain's criticism of Obama made his trip to Iraq very newsworthy. Crowds of unprecedented size in Berlin came to hear Obama speak. That was newsworthy, especially at a time when respect for America abroad is quite low compared to before OIL OIF. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Who said anything about taking money away? I didn't. That's what I said, I just didn't call it a bonus. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

No. There are other factors that are considerably more important than the gender of one's partner with regard to the amount of risk involved in sex. I think you will also have trouble verifying that same gender sex acts are inherently more risky than opposite gender sex acts. What about males in that age range? It is very common for spouses to be covered on a single policy. It's not realistic to single out women, as males may have spouses that are covered on the male's employer's group policy. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Oh, you mean the studies that found that the media was more interested in finding out whether the Democrats were going to field the first major party female presidential nominee or the first major party black presidential nominee. Yeah, I can see how you might think the race between Romney, Huckabee, and McCain was as news worthy. Once again, your sources don't say what you think they say. If the Republicans aren't doing as much that's worthy of positive news coverage, they won't get as much positive news coverage. Likewise, if they do more to garner negative news coverage, they'll receive more. It's a faulty logic to assume that both parties are equally deserving of the same coverage. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Not likely. Smoking is a choice. Being disabled? Not a choice. Homosexuality? Not a choice. Gender? Not a choice. Race? Not a choice. Religion? A Constitutionally protected choice. Are they currently forbidden from using a lack of visually identifiable obesity (as opposed to using measured weight) as a hiring criteria? Personally, I think positive incentives would be more appropriate. Still, maintaining weight within an allowable range is a criteria for obtaining and keeping some jobs, including some government jobs. Again, I think positive incentives would be more effective, such as decreasing initial salaries by a small percentage, and giving employees the opportunity to earn that money back by demonstrating a healthy lifestyle. That would probably also work well with smokers, instead of disqualifying them from new employment outright. No. HIV is transmitted through straight sex just as it is transmitted through gay sex. Besides, homosexuality is not a choice. Not as messy as you are trying to make it out to be. Unfortunately, we seem to have given this responsibility to the insurance companies. No, but I can see someone not being hired because they spent their time playing video games instead of doing homework, ruining their GPA. Or not being hired because they spent their time playing video games instead of getting any exercise, becoming obese, which the HR manager found to be an undesirable characteristic of employees. I think this is an example of the free market reacting to the insurance companies' power. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Surely you're not referring to your two quotes per year over a couple decades, some of which claim media bias collection are you? They were also laughable in the last discussion you tried using them in. I think I'll take the ABC exec's word over yours, thanks for playing. And I'll take academic studies over the word of an ABC executive's word. The studies, however, don't support your assertion. (I'm assuming that you still claim that the bias is liberal.) Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Surely you're not referring to your two quotes per year over a couple decades, some of which claim media bias collection are you? They were also laughable in the last discussion you tried using them in. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

The probability that hiring a smoker will increase the cost of the group policy is very likely higher than the probability of a homosexual increasing the costs. I would agree if the extra costs associated with the smoker (healthcare, productivity, sick days, etc.) can be passed onto the smoker. Otherwise, the new rule seems to be the best legal option. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

If you think that's not the point, then you're missing the reasoning behind the new hiring criteria. Happens all the time. Have you ever seen someone not get a job because they had long hair? The Marine Corps will now turn away otherwise qualified potential recruits because they have too many tattoos. A job interview is not usually the best time to bring up the fact that one skydives, unless it can be spun in a positive manner, highlighting how it makes the applicant better qualified for the position. It may, especially since their is much less data showing long term health risks of cannabis use compared to alcohol or tobacco use. No, the new rule does not dictate such things. It does not require present employees to quit smoking. Nor does it appear to prevent new employees from taking up tobacco. All it does is mandates that tobacco use disqualifies applicants for employment. The entire community benefits from kids receiving an education. The entire community suffers from people smoking, save the tobacco companies. Agreed that the insurance companies will benefit the most. They are a proverbial cancer of our healthcare system. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

Good question. In many (not all) cases, I think that question belongs in a discussion about insurance reform and underwriting reform. Insurance companies often pass "costs" back to the insured for expenses that they've already covered via reinsurance, the cost of which was already figured into the original price of the policy. Of course, insurance companies have a bit of political sway via lobbying, so their scams generally aren't illegal. One of the lecturers in an actuarial practicum class, who worked in the health insurance field, spent as much time apologizing for obviously unjust (to those examining things from an actuarial perspective) practices in the health insurance industry as he spent explaining the practices themselves. Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!