My increase since 2005 is much more than double. I was paying $125 a month for Major Medical with $7,500 deductible in 2005. After ACA, it went up to $1000 a month for that plan. I dropped it and got another plan with a much higher deductible that was only triple what I paid the previous year. It is the cheapest plan there is, and is still triple the previous year's premium and still 4 times what my premium was in 2005.
Drunk driving responsible for 31% of fatalities. At least 23% of all accidents involved texting
For some reason, it is difficult to find statistics of percentage of actual accidents caused by drunk driving and similarly difficult to find statistics of fatalities caused by texting. I'm not sure why statistics are gathered differently for these two areas. But it does seem that well over half of all accidents are caused by one or the other.
I would bet that a close third is people who follow too close.
The fact that you said "texting and driving is perfectly safe." It's not. Ever. Be a grown up and admit your mistake, or go away. Don't double-down on stupid.
Sure it is. It is perfectly safe at speeds slower than you would ever drive a car. Be a grown up and admit your mistake, or go away. Don't double-down on stupid.
Rich people can afford the fines. Poor people cannot. So a rich person can speed and drink with impunity and get away with it as they always do. If you're too stupid to grasp that then maybe you shouldn't be on the internet.
And yet you don't see rich people driving and drinking with impunity despite the fact that they can afford to do so. I wonder why that would be?
I would never use COBRA. That is a ripoff. In fact, I never use the the company offered insurance because private insurance is usually cheaper. Before the affordable Care Act, I was paying about $175 per month for a $8,000 deductible major medical plan. After ACA, the cheapest plan has a deductible of $12,000, and the premium is now more than $500.
The statistics indicate that nearly 1/3 of all accidents are drunk driving related, while 1/4 of accidents involved cell phones. That seems to counter your position. It doesn't say how many are caused by people playing with their dashcams.
With the number of accidents reportedly caused by drunks and cell phone use, if we can just find two more boogeymenn, I think we can stop over 100% of all accidents.
The fact that you claim texting and driving is safe at any speed indicates that I was correct in my originally assertion - you're trying to excuse dangerous behaviour because you, personally, choose to engage in it.
And how do you resolve that with the fact that I don't choose to engage in it and that I indicated it is safe only at a speed which is impractical for both driving and texting?
It's entirely possible that Yoon Mi Rae did not want the song included at any price, for political or security reasons. She was born in the U.S., but she undoubtedly has relatives in South Korea. Due to being associated with this controversial film, the lives of her family could be endangered. Also, it is possible that she, like at least SOME of the South Koreans, is sympathetic to the plight of the North Korean populace, and does not wish to be associated with a film that treats North Korea as a whipping boy.
I have hands free in my car, but I usually only take incoming calls, because dialing is probably the most dangerous part of talking on the phone. You might note that I said that texting while driving is perfectly safe if you drive at about half of walking speed and only texted about one character every 10 seconds. Well, obviously that is entirely useless. The same applies to dialing.
People have been seriously injured by texting while walking, so clearly texting is not safe at that speed either.
This is not about turning idiots into criminals, but about deterrent. You assume that people will drink and drive no matter what and that we are just guaranteeing that more people will end up in jail. Me, I hold out more hope for humanity that with stiffer sentences, some people will put more thought into it before getting rip-roaring drunk and attempting to drive a motor vehicle.
Deterrent doesn't work as well with crimes like murder because a lot of murders are personal and the people have given up their lives already and don't care about the consequences. People will be less inclined to drink and drive if they know it will ruin their life.
Why tax liquor producers? They are not the ones that drank. Tax the people who are caught drinking and attempting to drive. Have the machine phone home and generate a fine for the person who blew over the limit and then attempted to drive,
I know this is anecdotal and I am replying to borderline flamebait, but the worst case of drunk driving that remotely affected me was when a beautiful young woman I knew from Church who was about to be married was brutally murdered by an illegal, intoxicated Mexican with no driver's license as he drove his car head on into hers while he was driving the wrong way down the highway.
Yes. Murder. Premeditated murder. You get drunk and get behind the wheel and you know the chances of killing someone goes up by a factor of 10. Pre...meditated...murder.
Why is that only poor people can drink? I earn close to 6 figures, but I don't drink at all because alcohol is too expensive. Apparently, alcohol and drugs are some magically priced items that poor people can afford but wealthier people cannot.
The law allows for a distinction between accidentally doing something and doing it on purpose. If you got yourself drunk and drove a car, you committed a crime on purpose, and any damage you cause or lives that you end was on purpose.
Before Obamacare there was affordable healthcare insurance available outside of your employer. Now, the very same type of policy I had before has deductible limit twice as high and costs three times as much. Obamacare was a welfare plan for the rich insurance companies.
We have a high homicide rate, but I think I can safely say that is because we are uniquely flooded with cheap handguns. But I digress...
Just imagine how high it would be if we didn't have cheap handguns. Criminals would still be able to get guns , and they wouldn't even have to be concerned that maybe you have a gun with which to defend yourself.
I also think thieves should have their left hand cut off when they steal bread for sustenance.
Theft for sustenance is such an incredibly small concern in the United States that I would be willing to 100% forgive it. Of all the theft that happens in America, stealing for hunger is not even a drop in the bucket.
Mentally ill people have no choice. Drunk people were once sober people who got themselves drunk. You don't get to explain away your actions when your other actions got you into the position in the first place.
That is ridiculous. One can easily eat french fries and pay attention to the road. One can drive drunk and TRY to pay attention to the road, but being impaired, you will not be able to pay proper attention no matter how hard you try. As for cell phones, it is possible to talk on a phone and pay attention to the road. If something on the road requires more attention, the phone conversation gets interrupted. Very few people actually do that. It is even possible to text while driving, though in order to give the proper attention to the road and surroundings, you would have to drive no faster than perhaps 2 miles per hour, and only text one character every 10 seconds.
People who drive drunk aren't concerned with ruining other people's lives, why should we be concerned about ruining theirs? Drunk drivers kill 10,220 people per year, in the United States alone. Drunk drivers injure 262,800 people per year. That is correct, about one person in 100 can expect to be injured by a drunk driver on any particular year. Your chances of getting injured by a drunk driver at some point in your life is around 70%.
Are you just intentional dense? Using monkey as a slur against blacks is centuries and centuries old.
This reminds me of a story from over 30 years ago when I was a kid growing up in New Jersey. One of the mall Santas got fired because he called a kid "a little monkey". Well, he called lot's of kids that, but it wasn't really an issue until he called a black kid that. Poor old Santa. He needs to realize that you can't just go around turning a blind eye to race and color and treating everyone the same. Being impartial is racist.
Inflation adjusted since 1970 per student. Would 6.5x have worked better?
That is not what is spent on education but what is spent on the budget for education. The amount of money spent per student in the classroom has gone down since 1970. The rest has gone for unnecessary administrators, buildings to house said administrators, and equipment and infrastructure for said administrators.
Slashdot Mirror
Atheists are welcome to put up nothing all they want. Nobody is stopping them from doing nothing.
My increase since 2005 is much more than double. I was paying $125 a month for Major Medical with $7,500 deductible in 2005. After ACA, it went up to $1000 a month for that plan. I dropped it and got another plan with a much higher deductible that was only triple what I paid the previous year. It is the cheapest plan there is, and is still triple the previous year's premium and still 4 times what my premium was in 2005.
Drunk driving responsible for 31% of fatalities.
At least 23% of all accidents involved texting
For some reason, it is difficult to find statistics of percentage of actual accidents caused by drunk driving and similarly difficult to find statistics of fatalities caused by texting. I'm not sure why statistics are gathered differently for these two areas. But it does seem that well over half of all accidents are caused by one or the other.
I would bet that a close third is people who follow too close.
The fact that you said "texting and driving is perfectly safe." It's not. Ever. Be a grown up and admit your mistake, or go away. Don't double-down on stupid.
Sure it is. It is perfectly safe at speeds slower than you would ever drive a car. Be a grown up and admit your mistake, or go away. Don't double-down on stupid.
Rich people can afford the fines. Poor people cannot. So a rich person can speed and drink with impunity and get away with it as they always do. If you're too stupid to grasp that then maybe you shouldn't be on the internet.
And yet you don't see rich people driving and drinking with impunity despite the fact that they can afford to do so. I wonder why that would be?
I would never use COBRA. That is a ripoff. In fact, I never use the the company offered insurance because private insurance is usually cheaper. Before the affordable Care Act, I was paying about $175 per month for a $8,000 deductible major medical plan. After ACA, the cheapest plan has a deductible of $12,000, and the premium is now more than $500.
The statistics indicate that nearly 1/3 of all accidents are drunk driving related, while 1/4 of accidents involved cell phones. That seems to counter your position. It doesn't say how many are caused by people playing with their dashcams.
With the number of accidents reportedly caused by drunks and cell phone use, if we can just find two more boogeymenn, I think we can stop over 100% of all accidents.
The fact that you claim texting and driving is safe at any speed indicates that I was correct in my originally assertion - you're trying to excuse dangerous behaviour because you, personally, choose to engage in it.
And how do you resolve that with the fact that I don't choose to engage in it and that I indicated it is safe only at a speed which is impractical for both driving and texting?
It's entirely possible that Yoon Mi Rae did not want the song included at any price, for political or security reasons. She was born in the U.S., but she undoubtedly has relatives in South Korea. Due to being associated with this controversial film, the lives of her family could be endangered. Also, it is possible that she, like at least SOME of the South Koreans, is sympathetic to the plight of the North Korean populace, and does not wish to be associated with a film that treats North Korea as a whipping boy.
I have hands free in my car, but I usually only take incoming calls, because dialing is probably the most dangerous part of talking on the phone. You might note that I said that texting while driving is perfectly safe if you drive at about half of walking speed and only texted about one character every 10 seconds. Well, obviously that is entirely useless. The same applies to dialing.
People have been seriously injured by texting while walking, so clearly texting is not safe at that speed either.
This is not about turning idiots into criminals, but about deterrent. You assume that people will drink and drive no matter what and that we are just guaranteeing that more people will end up in jail. Me, I hold out more hope for humanity that with stiffer sentences, some people will put more thought into it before getting rip-roaring drunk and attempting to drive a motor vehicle.
Deterrent doesn't work as well with crimes like murder because a lot of murders are personal and the people have given up their lives already and don't care about the consequences. People will be less inclined to drink and drive if they know it will ruin their life.
Why tax liquor producers? They are not the ones that drank. Tax the people who are caught drinking and attempting to drive. Have the machine phone home and generate a fine for the person who blew over the limit and then attempted to drive,
I know this is anecdotal and I am replying to borderline flamebait, but the worst case of drunk driving that remotely affected me was when a beautiful young woman I knew from Church who was about to be married was brutally murdered by an illegal, intoxicated Mexican with no driver's license as he drove his car head on into hers while he was driving the wrong way down the highway.
Yes. Murder. Premeditated murder. You get drunk and get behind the wheel and you know the chances of killing someone goes up by a factor of 10. Pre...meditated...murder.
Well, then an interlock won't do any good, will it?
Why is that only poor people can drink? I earn close to 6 figures, but I don't drink at all because alcohol is too expensive. Apparently, alcohol and drugs are some magically priced items that poor people can afford but wealthier people cannot.
I took the sleeping aid Lunesta
I have helpfully bolded the relevant word in that sentence. HTH. HAND.
The law allows for a distinction between accidentally doing something and doing it on purpose. If you got yourself drunk and drove a car, you committed a crime on purpose, and any damage you cause or lives that you end was on purpose.
Before Obamacare there was affordable healthcare insurance available outside of your employer. Now, the very same type of policy I had before has deductible limit twice as high and costs three times as much. Obamacare was a welfare plan for the rich insurance companies.
We have a high homicide rate, but I think I can safely say that is because we are uniquely flooded with cheap handguns. But I digress...
Just imagine how high it would be if we didn't have cheap handguns. Criminals would still be able to get guns , and they wouldn't even have to be concerned that maybe you have a gun with which to defend yourself.
I also think thieves should have their left hand cut off when they steal bread for sustenance.
Theft for sustenance is such an incredibly small concern in the United States that I would be willing to 100% forgive it. Of all the theft that happens in America, stealing for hunger is not even a drop in the bucket.
Mentally ill people have no choice. Drunk people were once sober people who got themselves drunk. You don't get to explain away your actions when your other actions got you into the position in the first place.
That is ridiculous. One can easily eat french fries and pay attention to the road. One can drive drunk and TRY to pay attention to the road, but being impaired, you will not be able to pay proper attention no matter how hard you try. As for cell phones, it is possible to talk on a phone and pay attention to the road. If something on the road requires more attention, the phone conversation gets interrupted. Very few people actually do that. It is even possible to text while driving, though in order to give the proper attention to the road and surroundings, you would have to drive no faster than perhaps 2 miles per hour, and only text one character every 10 seconds.
People who drive drunk aren't concerned with ruining other people's lives, why should we be concerned about ruining theirs? Drunk drivers kill 10,220 people per year, in the United States alone. Drunk drivers injure 262,800 people per year. That is correct, about one person in 100 can expect to be injured by a drunk driver on any particular year. Your chances of getting injured by a drunk driver at some point in your life is around 70%.
Are you just intentional dense? Using monkey as a slur against blacks is centuries and centuries old.
This reminds me of a story from over 30 years ago when I was a kid growing up in New Jersey. One of the mall Santas got fired because he called a kid "a little monkey". Well, he called lot's of kids that, but it wasn't really an issue until he called a black kid that. Poor old Santa. He needs to realize that you can't just go around turning a blind eye to race and color and treating everyone the same. Being impartial is racist.
Inflation adjusted since 1970 per student. Would 6.5x have worked better?
That is not what is spent on education but what is spent on the budget for education. The amount of money spent per student in the classroom has gone down since 1970. The rest has gone for unnecessary administrators, buildings to house said administrators, and equipment and infrastructure for said administrators.