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I think I just did.

All your discussions are belong to Barbra.

Medical expenses are the majority cause of bankruptcy. And while you do not have to 'sell your [primary] house' to declare bankruptcy, the idea that _no one_ has sold their house for medical treatment is insane.

Bankruptcy needs an excuse other then I went on a spending spree. Medical expenses usually entails loss of employment to why they cannot pay it back. When people file bankruptcy because of medical expenses, it is because of their loss of income. This is something that government health simply does not fix.

So, taking it at face value, let's google 'sell house for medical treatment'. And let's see what do we find...a bunch of home medical stuff...hey, look, the second damn page: http://www.prlog.org/11847260-selling-house-to-pay-for-medical-bills-leads-to-pillow-talk.html

That doesn't say they lost their home to medical expenses. It says they lost their income and eventually their home to a medical condition. The main character "gary" lost all employment and they decided to move to another state. Even if their insurance covered 100% of their medical costs, they would be in the same boat because "mary" had to work less to take care of Gary's medical needs which also meant loss of income. Something else government medical didn't won't cover.

Now the devil is in the detail. It says the house didn't sell in time so they filed bankruptcy. But it also said that Gary was blackballed from employment because of his condition so they had no intention of staying in the home. Had Gary remained working and had Mary taken time off to tender Gary and eventually moved to start over, they likely would have been in an entirely different situation. But loss of income isn't covered by Obamacare so the outcome would have been the same- perhaps a little longer to happen had the insurance covered everything.

I understand it is a human interest story. And what better self promotion and human interest is there then someone rising from the ashes when everything was going wrong for them. They were selling the house anyways because they had to move out of state to allow Gary to find employment. This story doesn't say what you think it does.

Also, judgment law, at least in my state, will only allow a creditor to attach a lien to a home if the debt judgment is medical related. So even if you owed 10 million dollars in medical bills, they can't take your home. They can stop you from selling it or transferring ownership to anyone else (except a surviving spouse or surviving child) but they cannot take it.

No one in the US has had to sell their house to get medical tests or treatment unless they were purposely trying to manipulate their income and assets to sneak into a government program and have the state pay for their health care.

Medical expenses are the majority cause of bankruptcy. And while you do not have to 'sell your [primary] house' to declare bankruptcy, the idea that _no one_ has sold their house for medical treatment is insane.

As is the idea that 'selling your house' is the problem. The problem is _losing_ it, and plenty of people do not own their home and miss mortgage payments or rent due to medical expenses. But I will take the premise at face value.

So, taking it at face value, let's google 'sell house for medical treatment'. And let's see what do we find...a bunch of home medical stuff...hey, look, the second damn page: http://www.prlog.org/11847260-selling-house-to-pay-for-medical-bills-leads-to-pillow-talk.html

Please note this story is from 2001, when medical expenses were much lower. Also note that reason that story was reported was a weird human interest fact it turned out for the best...presumably, the ones that do not are not reported.

it is THAT terrible. with no family connection in the US and with an advanced degree, you could wait YEARS to get a green card. without a degree, you would have to wait decades.
http://www.prlog.org/10338595-waiting-your-pending-green-card-cases-consider-other-employmentbased-green-card-options-tiya-plc.html

Or when a proven carcinogen, oral contraceptives, are not clearly labeled as such.

http://www.prlog.org/10922665-birth-control-pill-shown-to-be-carcinogen.html

The difference may looks subtle, but consider that herbal supplements like Enzyte aren't likely to kill you, although they won't work.

Oh really? (google it for many more articles) Many drugs come from plants - if the drugs work so do the herbal versions but with far more risk to the idiot taking them! When using a plant extract the concentration of active ingredient is not well controlled and there are other, potentially harmful, chemicals in the plant. Compare that to drugs which are carefully synthesised under laboratory conditions so that you have a precise dose and there are no other harmful substances included.

The only good thing that can be said for allowing these herbal remedies without controls is that it is one of the few mechanisms for natural selection we have left.

Radioactive water found leaking into sea from pat at Japan nuclear plant. This radiation is now showing up in the rain water falling into the United States and Canada at levels 1000% of normal. This can be devastating to say the least to all humankind! The effects of radiation sickness and poisoning include cancer, genetic and reproductive damage, hormonal damage, and thyroid blockage (that's why they want you to take potassium iodine, another dangerous toxin) but I wouldn't. There are much safer substances like Zeolite. http://www.prlog.org/11417424-natural-treatment-for-radiation-exposure-what-you-need-to-know-to-not-get-sick.html A couple good articles on radiation sickness protection that shows what you need do to test radiation levels, treat water, and what to take internally to not get sick: Water Purification Radiation Sickness

They're NOT pulling people aside because they're nonwhite. This has never been done.

It's been done. It seems like you've never talked to a non-white about what it's like to fly in the US. citation more etc etc

If you let white wheel-chaired grannies through without screening, where do you think terrorist will hides stuff? And don't tell me you trust all white wheel-chaired grannies, please.

Japan at 75%? You're a liar. http://www.prlog.org/10306512-ie6-still-broadly-used-in-japan.html

Umm? Do you even realize who this hedge fund is? I'm going to copy from groklaw here.
Sounds like no, my sarcastic friend. Elliott is run by Paul Singer. Link states:

Paul E. Singer, a former corporate lawyer, is "the founding partner of Elliott Associates, a $7 billion hedge fund with a conservative, risk-averse bias that has been in business since 1977, making it one of the oldest funds around. A reserved, private man who would answer questions only via e-mail, Mr. Singer is a self-described conservative libertarian who has given millions of dollars to Republican organizations that emphasize a strong military and support Israel."

Singer is a member of the Board of Trustees of the neo-conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; a "member of the boards of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and of Commentary Magazine, and is on the Board of Advisors of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University", and a member of the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School.

Also from the NYT

Paul E. Singer is the founding partner of one of the oldest hedge funds around. And while he has become a major donor to Republican and conservative causes in recent years, he has largely managed to stay out of the limelight, even avoiding having his picture appear in newspapers. [...]

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, questioned “Paul Singer’s involvement in this dirty trick aimed at stealing the White House.” A group of Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that Mr. Singer had been acting on behalf of Mr. Giuliani in his efforts to change the California law — which Mr. Singer and the campaign deny. And the Democratic National Committee drew attention to the part of Mr. Singer’s business that involves buying the debt of poor countries at a discount and then seeking repayment in full — prompting an article in The Times of London labeling his firm, Elliott Associates, a “vulture fund.”

.

I didn't have to read either of those to already know that. Notice from the NYT: Vulture fund.

Meanwhile, what's the kicker?

The shareholders are pissed already and think it's BS/hostile takeover. from that link:

An investigation on behalf of current long term shareholders in Novell, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:NOVL) concerning shareholder claims over potential breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with an alleged unfair takeover was announced.

So umm, whoops?

Umm? Do you even realize who this hedge fund is? I'm going to copy from groklaw here.
Sounds like no, my sarcastic friend. Elliott is run by Paul Singer. Link states:

Paul E. Singer, a former corporate lawyer, is "the founding partner of Elliott Associates, a $7 billion hedge fund with a conservative, risk-averse bias that has been in business since 1977, making it one of the oldest funds around. A reserved, private man who would answer questions only via e-mail, Mr. Singer is a self-described conservative libertarian who has given millions of dollars to Republican organizations that emphasize a strong military and support Israel."

Singer is a member of the Board of Trustees of the neo-conservative think tank the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research; a "member of the boards of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs and of Commentary Magazine, and is on the Board of Advisors of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University", and a member of the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School.

Also from the NYT

Paul E. Singer is the founding partner of one of the oldest hedge funds around. And while he has become a major donor to Republican and conservative causes in recent years, he has largely managed to stay out of the limelight, even avoiding having his picture appear in newspapers. [...]

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, questioned “Paul Singer’s involvement in this dirty trick aimed at stealing the White House.” A group of Democrats filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission charging that Mr. Singer had been acting on behalf of Mr. Giuliani in his efforts to change the California law — which Mr. Singer and the campaign deny. And the Democratic National Committee drew attention to the part of Mr. Singer’s business that involves buying the debt of poor countries at a discount and then seeking repayment in full — prompting an article in The Times of London labeling his firm, Elliott Associates, a “vulture fund.”

.

I didn't have to read either of those to already know that. Notice from the NYT: Vulture fund.

Meanwhile, what's the kicker?

The shareholders are pissed already and think it's BS/hostile takeover. from that link:

An investigation on behalf of current long term shareholders in Novell, Inc. (Public, NASDAQ:NOVL) concerning shareholder claims over potential breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with an alleged unfair takeover was announced.

So umm, whoops?

A law firm is already investigating 'potential breaches of fiduciary duty and other violations of state law in connection with an alleged unfair takeover.' Basically seems to allege that should this deal go through, it would be unfair for current long time shareholders of Novell as Elliott's takeover would be underpaying and ripping them off. I'm not sure if this is standard operating procedure or not but one would think that the stock market would offer a good estimate of Novell's true worth. Apparently someone thinks 20%+ on top of that is unfairly low.

The disadvantage is cost. There are many battery technologies more suitable for this application than lithium.

Yup. Lithium supply is marginal at present and future pricing is expected to keep climbing.
http://www.prlog.org/10207569-lithium-demand-pricing-supply-forecast-with-case-study-of-mountain-capitals-lithium-brines.html

But IPCC's role is not to set policy, but to present evidence and options.

IPCC is an inter-governmental institution that publishes alarmist reports and policy recommendations, used as excuse for government legislation. Tell me more about them not playing politics.

Tell me more about how scientists only publish results: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/23044
http://www.abcmoney.co.uk/news/052007177503.htm
http://www.prlog.org/10075695-climate-change-petition-pits-scientists-against-each-other.html
Of course, you could google it yourself, but you prefer to keep your head in the sand.

Finally, I don't see any reason as to why any involvement in this way this would influence their research.

O'rly? Promoting policies, which are based on your research isn't going to influence you? But not promoting policies would? You're trolling, my friend, you can't be that blind to the obvious or dumb. If you are, you can't claim you understand the "science".

"The buzz "center" is moving from the old media into the piratebay's top100."

you are probably right with that. I have even seen the first press release where an unknown artist gave out a press release pointing out how they were in the high ranks of the "TPB top 100 music"-charts!

http://www.prlog.org/10171331-unsigned-band-breaks-into-top-20-most-shared-music-on-the-planet.html

and

Pirate Bay Snapshot 18/1/09
http://www.gwonder.com/gwonder/snapshot/14th.jpg

Well, we really agree. This is the crucial part. Do they work? Almost certainly yes.

Hold on, there, friend. We agree about cataract surgery, perhaps. There are other techniques I'm much more skeptical about. There are some orthopedic procedures that I would not be very surprised to see a placebo-controlled study find little or no value in.

I also wonder about cardiac bypass surgery, I wouldn't be surprised if a controlled study found it only beneficial for certain classes of high-risk patients - but I'd be very surprised if a such a study were ever conducted, since CABG is one of the High Rituals of the Church of the Holy Scalpel. And I think there's a significant chance that in the next twenty years someone will do a placebo controlled study of bariatric surgery and find it no better than a placebo technique. In these cases, it seems possible to me that the surgical experience may help the patient make significant post-operative changes in lifestyle that have more to do with the outcome than the cutting and sewing do.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure we don't need to do a placebo trial of surgical reattachment of amputated extremities, I'm willing to accept that one at face value. :-)

If surgeries which are clinically studied tend to be ineffective, it's because of a selection effect on which surgeries get studied, not because surgery as a whole is a bunch of crap.

That's a hypothesis worthy of investigation. And I'm not saying surgery as a whole is a bunch of crap; I'm just saying that it over-promises and under-delivers. And I'm saying that if we set the bar of "acceptable evidence" low enough to admit surgical techniques that have not been tested with controlled studies, it's irrational to exclude CAM techniques that have the same level of evidence.

And an aside: homeopathy, wildly popular? Not in my universe.

Note: I am not endorsing homeopathy. However, according to one market research group, it is trusted by "64% of people in India, 58% Brazil, 53% Chile, 49% Saudi Arabia, 49% United Arab Emirates, 40% France, 35% South Africa, 28% Russia, 27% Germany, 25% Argentina, 18% of America, and 15% Great Britain."

Those of you who think you can make a buck off a police state would do well to remember learn the fate of Fritz Thyssen. He was an industrialist and early supporter of Adolf Hitler, in part financed by Prescott Bush. He made plenty of money re arming Germany and he approved of racial purity laws. By the time he realized the Nazis believed all of the crazy things they said, it was too late for him to do anything about it. He was thrown into a concentration camp and was lucky to survive the wars he did not approve of. If you don't think the Neocons are just as crazy as the Nazis you have not been listening to them long enough.

I'm a big fan of the tesla and electric cars in general. I think the US government has a site up stating that there is only about 12 million tonnes of lithium available worldwide, but then I saw this: http://www.prlog.org/10062026-world-lithium-reserves-found-to-be-abundant-in-new-report.html. Seems we have enough, depending on how much lithium a battery pack takes. I guess there is always some possibiliy that EEStor will have something great in... store for us.