You must buy an expensive flat screen TV from Best Buy, or get fined or jailtime

[Armstead]

You are hereby mandated to buy a television set you cannot afford under the new Video Reform Law passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

[stray cat]

1. You must buy me a house - I want one and don't want to pay for it myself

1000 sq feet, fireplace, location has to be close to work.

Thanks for buying it for me!

[Armstead]

8. That makes a whole lot of sense. Affordable health care equals a free house.

Ooops. I was trying to be enigmatic in my OP and I tipped my hand.

[dkf]

13. Health Care probably does equal the cost of a house.

Not a house in Hawaii, but a house anywhere else.

[David Zephyr]

2. Can I buy you dinner with candlelight? You just put it exactly as it should be framed.

The only thing at this point for progressives to do is to oppose the whole goddamned federalizing of a fascist policy that touches on the very lives of every single American.

Your analogy is spot on.

K&R.

[Booster]

3. SOMEBODY needs to buy me a new car. NOW.

[Lorien]

59. Cute Palin talking point. So a car is the same as life saving surgery?

Wow, what's it like to believe that a luxury item is the equivalent of your LIFE? Every civilized Nation on earth allows it's citizens to buy into a single payer system. You, instead, want to line the pockets of CEOs and investors while Americans die because they can't afford their 12k deductible. Nice.

[DJ13]

4. You must buy! Buy! Buy! Buy!

Sounds like China.

[femrap]

22. No, it's Dubai...

Do Buy! The ones that Abbu Dabai just bailed out with a few billion.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. I hate my pony. I want a bigger one, and I want it NOW. For free.

[Armstead]

11. Who said free? The key is affiordable based on income

[Luminous Animal]

23. I think your cows got out.

[Lorien]

25. Yeah, right. Now which insurance company are you invested in?

because the only ones to benefit from this deal are the stockholders and the CEOs. Health Insurance does NOT equal health CARE, and that was the reason for reform in the first place!

[girl gone mad]

35. You mean like those free wars and the free bank bailouts?.

Let me guess: you only give a shit about how we're going to pay for things when it's middle class people that are being helped?

[leftstreet]

36. Using 'free' in the healthcare debate is a rightwing talking point

[Jamastiene]

48. Not until you train yours to stop shitting the place up.

You got the smallest pony and it's leaving the biggest mess.

No, you keep the pony you have.

[TheCowsCameHome]

52. The govt. says buy a bigger TV and I can't afford it, I just want a bigger pony

No difference.

I can't afford either.

Sheesh, lighten up a little.

[Sanity Claws]

6. I want a pony!

And a pretty saddle.

[Lorien]

26. I want a more original reply. nt

[tekisui]

56. Callous and inane response.

[Cerridwen]

7. If that flat screen means the difference between life and death,

you almost have an analogy.

The choice becomes, "choose" to live (pain free, healthy, at all), or "choose" to die; and pay for it either way.

[Armstead]

9. No for some ;people it is NOT an option

If your bills for food, rent, heat and maybe transportation and whatever other costs you can't escape, already eat up all of your income, how are you supposed to squeeze out more?

Yes everyone should be covered. And there is no free ride. But offering a public plan that is based on a percentage of income is the only possible way to justify mandated coverage.

[dflprincess]

16. "Covered" doesn't mean you can get care

not if the copays and deductibles still keep you from seeing a doctor. A lot of people with insurance still wind up declaring bankruptcy.

Anything short of single payer is a scam designed to help the Congress' corporate masters and it can be paid for with a tax, just like they do in civilized countries where they pay way less than we do for healthcare.

[Lorien]

18. The point your missing is that we're mandated to pay into a FOR PROFIT

PRIVATE SYSTEM. We are not being asked to pay for our health care. We're being asked to drive up stock values, incomes and bonuses for CEOs and execs of those companies, and in exchange they MIGHT cover our pills and procedures if we get sick. It's expensive and ineffective-but only for the patient.

[Armstead]

28. I'm hoping you're responding to the post I responded to -- I agree with you totally

[Cerridwen]

24. Precisely. Actually, I'm probably on your side on this one.

Sort of.

The mandate; as it is currently defined; makes me want to puke. I understand the reason for it and I also think we already pay for our coverage; plus several magnitudes; and that we should ALL be receiving the health care for which we pay.

Means testing should go out the door. Subsidies to private companies; fuck 'em. Let the bastards compete with government regulated and negotiated prices. If they can't compete, fuck 'em.

We don't need to look at percentage of income. Go read about HR 676. It was ALL addressed. How to pay for it with what we already pay. What to include. How to save money and include ALL.

Yeah, I want a pony. Registered. And a lifetime supply of vet care, hay, grain, tack, supplements, farrier, chiropractic, dental, and show sheen. I've fucking paid for it. As have we all.

It's about god-dammed time we get what we've paid for.

[Lorien]

14. Health Insurance is not the same as health CARE. Insurers routinely deny

coverage for services, and lack of services often leads to death or disability.

[Cerridwen]

27. Read #24, please. Thanks. n/t

[Deja Q]

10. Just bought a better computer for school

Pity the damn school won't buy good equipment to begin with and won't compensate, but I'll find a positive spin on it all... tired of emo-depressing-shit...

[Lorien]

12. Funny, I was thinking the same thing today

I would have no problem with a mandate that I buy into Medicare because it's a not-for-profit system. But a "health insurance" corporation exists for one reason only; to turn a profit. Why should my hard earned cash pay for United's CEO's seventh yacht?

[David Zephyr]

17. Bingo.

If we thought that the Congressional giveaway to the banks was horrible, wait until every American is forced to take the mark of the corporate beast to get healthcare.

If this is what Obama wanted, then that's just sad and too bad.

I oppose this bill. It stinks. It needs to now be defeated.

[Joe Chi Minh]

58. You're unAmerican! It's the free market.

[Atman]

15. Or you could buy a cheap digital converter box for your old CRT.

Some people just want to find something to fucking bitch about.

.

[AzNick]

45. Exactly !!! And I don't miss "rake antennas" on every roofs

On top of that, the OP is dead wrong when he says that a flat screen TV is necessary to get over the air (OTA) digital signal. Some don't have an OTA tuner. And you still need an antenna, even if a small one.

One thing is for sure: the era of the ugly rake antennas is over, and it's about time because they were goddam ugly.

[Atman]

46. Even if both of us missed the OP's initial sarcasm...we're both right.

Nobody needs a fucking big-screen tv. No one is mandating you abandon a perfectly good "tv" just so you can get a way better one.

43 million people would be happy to have a the "basic cable" of a health care policy, but they can't afford it. They don't even have the rabbit ears.

It's a horrible analogy.

.

[Armstead]

57. It is a horrible analogy

Intentionaly.

Of course a lot of peopel would be happy with basic cable and a basic TV.

But that's not what we're being offered.

[femrap]

19. You Must Be In Debt....

it is the American Way.

[winyanstaz]

20. K & R....

any one know if they got rid of that loophole that will allow the insurance companies to cancel (cap) your policy if you get an expensive illness?

[dmr]

41. The last I heard: there no longer is a life-long cap, but there is a yearly cap

the dubious word used is 'reasonable' on the yearly.

If there's a yearly cap, I would think it would effect the life-long one - unless you live 200 years or so.

[Luminous Animal]

21. If you can't afford that TV, we have an expensive shittier TV that offers one channel.

... with a watch-a-bility time limit. When you've watched that one channel up to your limit, you may never ever watch TV again. Then, even though you've used up your TV watching allotment and Best Buy refuses to sell you another one, we will fine you or throw you in jail.

[woo me with science]

29. You said it.

Less expensive than the one I have now? I have seen NOTHING suggesting that will be the case.

[rucky]

30. This will mean millions of people without flat-screens will now get them!

a triumph!

[Armstead]

43. Which they can watch on the sidewalk after they get evicted because they had to use the rent money

[Faryn Balyncd]

31. K&R...Is it about time real Democrats rise up & STOP this farce of a "reform"?

[customerserviceguy]

32. Poor analogy

At least with the TV, you're getting something you might be able to use on occasion.

[Armstead]

42. LOL Sad but true

[dmr]

44. and you just buy it once. The mandate is forever paying big business.

The GOP will beat the Democrats up on this the next election cycle.

It'll be all about Big Government interfering - adding another burden on Americans. But mark my word, it won't be about making rich men richer, (or even sick Americans healthier).

Without an option, this mandate is poison, in so many ways.

[customerserviceguy]

47. Rather than watching the House and the Senate

in a footrace to see who can dumb down the bill even further, I'd like to see the most progressive members of both bodies stand up at a joint news conference, and declare that what this has devolved into is not reform. The immediate blame should be placed on Repukes, and it should be the first line in a Democratic "Contract With America" that says, "Elect progressives, and you'll get meaningful health care reform, including single payer."

Then, let the American people live with the broken system for another year or three until we can get the kind of people in there who will do it right. If we've taken the steps to fix the economy, then we will get the true majorities of progressives we need, if we have not, we will get Repukes who will manage to undo whatever anemic "reform" can be cobbled together in the next month or two.

[Jamastiene]

49. And you are not required to pay more for it if you use it.

like insurance.

[anarch]

33. hey, but don't worry! you'll get a $300.00 tax rebate

Which must of course be applied within 60 days to the purchase of a high-definition television costing no less than $699.99 or face a fine and jail time.

[girl gone mad]

34. If I was a 20 year old who had just voted for Obama last year, I would be PISSED.

I didn't have any health insurance in my 20s because the most affordable policy I could find (that wasn't a total scam) would have been $600/mo.

The total amount I spent on medical expenses during my 20s: ~$500.

$72,000 vs. $500

A lot of people will end up royally screwed by mandates.

[leftstreet]

37. K&R

[Cetacea]

38. Consume. Produce. Die.

[Kansas Wyatt]

55. Kind of like in the movie 'Independence Day'

When the President in the movie asks the alien at Area 51 what they wanted from us...

Alien: DIE

[blogslut]

39. Roughly $26.00, including shipping

http://cgi.ebay.com/MAGNAVOX-DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG-TV-CONVERTER-BOX-W-Remote_W0QQitemZ270500700290QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item3efb192082#ht_2510wt_960

[Brother Buzz]

40. Do we get free cable with that expensive flat screen TV ?

That could be the deal breaker right there.

[Jamastiene]

50. You don't have a choice.

Now, if you want to refuse to buy it (civil disobedience), you can wait and see what kind of TV they have in prison. Actually, the TV they have in prison, in this case, will be more than adequate.

[Brother Buzz]

53. Three hots and a cot

and dog-eared paperback books - woo-hoo. Sometimes civil disobedience is more than just a right, it's an obligation.

[quaker bill]

51. There is no mass transit

so to work that slightly better than minimum wage job, you must buy a car. If you don't have dependable transportation, they will fire you and hire someone who does. To have the car and the license to drive it, you must buy unaffordable car insurance or face jail and fines. Better yet, because you have no credit you have to buy the car from the "buy here pay here" place, that tacks on a couple of thousand for the clunker that barely runs and charges interest and finance fees of nearly 36 percent.

This situation is real and some of the guys I feed at the homeless shelter are fresh out of jail for driving to work on a "suspended" license because they needed to work to eat, pay rent, pay for the car, and couldn't afford the insurance.

Flat screen TV's are not the problem, neither is HCR. Living wages is the problem.

[Initech]

54. I'm fine using my HD computer monitor and streaming everything online.

[Lorien]

60. How nice for you. nt