Keith Olbermann says he'll go to jail before being forced to buy health insurance and

[Cleita]

I have read many DUers saying the same thing. The irony of this rebellion against government sponsored criminal protectionism offered by the corporate health care industry is that you will get health care in jail. All though the laws vary, federal laws have stated that prisoners have a right to health care under the eighth amendment.

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/conlaw/2009/11/panel-debates-constitutional-rights-to-health-care-in-prisons.html

Too bad we can't make that amendment extend to the rest of us!

:shrug:

[HuckleB]

1. ROTFLMAO!

KO will go to jail? Now that's funny.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/16/illusions-and-bitterness/

http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-treatment/the-left-playing-fire

[cliffordu]

2. I like this. The irony is epic....

[elocs]

3. Really, what are the odds of that ever happening to him?

So it really is an easy claim to make.

[Luciferous]

8. Exactly nt

[sabrina 1]

97. If this bill passes as it is, the odds of anyone, including

him, who doesn't buy a premium, of going to jail, are pretty good. Unless he pays the fine of the tax as it is now. The odds are the same as they are for anyone who doesn't pay car insurance, but continues to drive. Otoh, they might not want to throw someone like him in jail as it would draw too much attention to this travesty of a bill.

However, the jails are filled with poor people right now, who could not pay fines. They've changed the fines to a punitive tax for those who fail to do business with their buddies in the Private Insurance Ind. Anyone who cannot afford, or refuses to pay that tax, can and will end up in jail.

Otoh, after three years of Romney Care in Mass, there are still hundreds of thousands of people without Insurance despite the mandates. Enforcing this will take time. But they'll get to it. There's nothing we like better in this country than filling our jails. Our economy runs on war and jails so the more laws there are for the poor to fall prey to, the better the jail business will be.

[slipslidingaway]

4. k and rec the unrec n/t

[asdjrocky]

5. Sure, he says it he's a hero...

I say it and I'm just a dork.

[Cleita]

9. His commentary tonight was really tough for him and heartfelt.

He's been on the side of the people. He's watching his father die of renal failure. My husband did too. When we went to the clinic for dialysis, the prisoners from the local men's colony were also brought in for dialysis. Shouldn't everyone have the same care? Hard working people? KO has sponsored and donated big bucks to the free clinics who have shined a light on the hard working people who can't get medical care unless someone helps them out. I wish you had a bully pulpit too. I wish I had one.

[asdjrocky]

17. Oh I know.

I was not really taking a shot at Keith. By the way, my BIL has dialysis and it's a hard road.

I was just talking about a silly thread I started earlier tonight about going to jail for not buying health insurance.

No offence at all to Keith, hell I got a man crush on him.

[truedelphi]

14. Dork-ism can be good, if suffered for the right causes.

And it is a bit more heroic to say it when you aren't a multi millionaire (Not that I resent KO being successful, but again, chances he'll go to jail are very slim.)

[asdjrocky]

20. Thank you.

I'm for the Dorks. And Keith.

[Cleita]

35. I think it's nice that a multi-millionaire can still think on the level

of a guy in a exercise suit bought at a second hand store, while he's wearing a really nice and tailored pin stripe. Sure he won't go to jail for that. He could go to jail in the future for inciting rebellion or whatever fascist overlords accuse people who dissent from them in thought. Keith is very brave in that way and don't think it couldn't happen here.

[truedelphi]

43. Oh I agree.

I love Keith and find it great to watch him.

But I just wanted to be counted "in" on the side of dork-ism for a good cause.

[JVS]

18. Life is rough

[provis99]

6. I got first dibs on prison, Olbermann!

I said I wouldn't pay for the insurance 2 months ago! I am a hero! Fight the power, man!!

[lonestarnot]

7. Snort yeah!

:rofl: try collecting on that in a privately owned camp. Hugh ugh, no thanks, I'll shoot first and ask questions later.

[Cleita]

16. A lot of those places are in violation of the law if they aren't doing it.

Maybe the ACLU needs to get active in those places.

[lonestarnot]

36. Law means nothing doncha know. Laws are only for little people.

[SIMPLYB1980]

10. LMAO!

:rofl: :popcorn:

[Cleita]

11. Can you back that up? n/t

[SIMPLYB1980]

19. I'm sure KO has a nice cadillac plan.

You think he's really worried about going to jail?

[Cleita]

27. If you listened to his show, he is giving it up, if this last bill

stays the way it is. The jail thing is well, no he probably won't go to jail, but if he does, he is entitled to health care under the eighth amendment, you know the one in that document...the...the...hmmm...CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! This is what I was referencing and more so for the DUers who will do the same thing and who stand a good chance of actually going to jail.

[SIMPLYB1980]

30. I don't care what KO has to say.

He's a windbag and I bet he wants back on the bus soon.

[Major Hogwash]

47. Comcast will probably fire him later.

Since they just bought 51% of MSNBC stock.

[Cleita]

Probably and he knows that too, which is why his commentaries are

braver than ever.

[Major Hogwash]

59. Yeah I agree with you totally on that. Keith may be the next in line to go unemployed

for disagreeing with the last 2 administrations.

I miss seeing Aaron Brown on CNN, he was pretty damn good.
And yet all he did was point out the catastrophe that was Hurricane Katrina - and bam! - just like that, he was gone.

[Cleita]

62. I remember. He refused to lie. I liked him too.n/t

[girl gone mad]

12. I'm with Keith. n/t

[1]

13. pfffttt... sure you will "keith olbermann." ko has health insurance. he ain't going nowhere...

nice talk, tough guy...

[Cleita]

21. Did you hear what he said? He said he will be self insured from now on, which

means he is rejecting his health insurance and will take his chances about paying for his own health care, and if he is forced to buy into it, he won't. If he has to go to jail he will. But this isn't about Keith, but the number of DUers, if you have been reading posts, who are willing to do the same.

[1]

24. "keith olbermann" is a fucking corporation. you do get that right? right?

the stupidity here is overwhelming sometimes...

[Name removed]

48. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[1]

56. you wondering about me. heh. maybe you should take a good look at yourself.

you and keith and all...

[jberryhill]

25. He said he "is" self insured, which is not unusual at a certain level of wealth

If you can underwrite a risk of, say, 100K in a year, then you come out ahead by not buying health insurance, since you can get a better return on your money.

[Cleita]

29. Self insured means he can pay his own bills without insurance

as long as he can still make money. What he said and no one seems to have listened to, was his objection to mandated insurance. That was the jail thing. Pay attention.

[jberryhill]

37. Yes, I know what it means

Having spent time as a "self insured", and now as a "hardly insured".

[niyad]

84. were you and I the only two people who heard that little detail?

[1]

32. "keith olbermann" is a fucking corporation. go ahead, be simple, ignore the facts...

we hate corporations. oh, wait... maybe just not certain corporations.

fuck me please...

[jberryhill]

39. Come back when it wears off....

In the meantime, do not operate heavy machinery, and try to stay away from bright lights and loud noises.

Okay?

[1]

44. but, but, but... it's "keith olbermann." the dude that made $7million+ this year...

oh, THAT "keith olbermann."

the champion of the great unwashed. the fucking corporation himself. the fuck who can afford to pay his own health insurance.

THAT "keith olbermann."

well, then i can see how we should bow down to that guy.

absolutely...

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[jberryhill]

54. It's probably going to take a few hours to wear off, be careful

I don't know what your problem is.

I'm self employed, and my employer is simply my name with "LLC" after it, because I am also quite literally a corporation.

I don't get your "bow down" business.

I'm guessing your point is that because Keith Olberman makes a lot of money, then he cannot hold or express a valid opinion.

Is that your point?

If it is, then I do not agree with you. I don't think that having a lot of money, or being poor, is a factor in the quality of one's ideas or expression of them.

FDR was an extremely rich person, who did a lot of good for the disadvantaged.

JFK was a man from one of the richest families in the US, who did a lot of good for the advancement of equal rights in this country.

Rosa Parks was a woman of very modest means, who changed this country profoundly.

Frederick Douglass was a slave, whose writings shaped the way we think.

You.... you are... what? Stoned?

[1]

58. my point, bud... is that keith is full of shit here. you don't get that. i understand. heh...

[jberryhill]

72. Well why didn't you say so? /nt

[1]

76. i did. many times. what part of the "many times" did not you get?

[jberryhill]

77. The "many times" part /nt

[1]

78. i did.

[laughingliberal]

79. Thank you. I was just reading here and thinking there have been wealthy people in history who stood

up for the common good. I believe we even have a few, today.

[Zhade]

99. Please don't equate stoners with stupid asshole douchebags like this guy.

NT!

[Cleita]

41. Did you read my post? It isn't just about KO. Or is your comprehension

lacking because you like to attack before digesting what is actually said?

[1]

45. or are you just that "starstruck" ???

[Starbucks Anarchist]

57. How do you know he'll keep his promise?

He's on TV. They say things for ratings.

[Cleita]

60. How do you know your credit card company isn't going to take you

to debtor's prison for not paying what they demand on time? However, KO has never said untrue things for ratings that he hasn't corrected. He has to have an entertaining show for ratings. Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Chris Matthews tell deliberate lies for ratings. I have never heard KO do so. If you can find that he has, do post your findings with sources and links.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

63. He's claiming something that nobody can independently verify.

I don't care if he plays with theatrics, but let's not hold him up as some paragon of virtue based on something we have no proof of.

[Cleita]

65. If you find that crystal ball that can prove what people do in the

future, let us all know. TaTa. *wave goodby*

[Starbucks Anarchist]

66. It's up to Keith to prove he's not just blowing hot air.

Sorry you had to run off because I besmirched your idol.

[Waiting For Everyman]

15. K&R The first shot across the bow.

He won't be alone.

From war protestors to insurance protestors... back in VN days, I never would've imagined that could happen. What a disgusting place we've come to - and by Dems. Incredible. Shame on them all.

[TheWebHead]

22. not sure if KO's ego can survive within the confines of a jail cell

mandates have always been in the bill, but has been conveniently ignored but now used as an excuse as the fringe of the party takes their ball and goes home pouting.

[jwirr]

23. If he follows through on this they will ignore him - he will never be

arrested. Can you imagine Countdown from Prison?

[Odin2005]

26. A mandate without strong regulation of the insurance companies and a strong PO is FASCISM!!!

KILL THE BILL!!!

[Cleita]

33. I think that was his message, however, this isn't just about KO.

There are many others who are thinking the same way and they probably didn't even listen to Keith tonight.

[Dinger]

28. Well He Sure Has Changed His Tune Since The Primaries, Hasn't He?

Guess it depends on which way the wind is blowing.

[jberryhill]

40. No - he hasn't - a mandate with a public option is fine /nt

[Feron]

31. I like Keith and all, but in this case..

I think that he is being dramatic. Maybe I'm jaded, but when it came down to it I would expect him to pay the fine and/or acquire insurance rather than go to jail.

And I would expect many of the internet tough guys to do the same.

[Cleita]

38. Maybe that's what he would do, however, he wouldn't talk about it.

I've known KO since his early days in LA as a sportscaster and one thing about him is he's always spoken his mind. He was a smart ass in his earlier days but he never was two-faced.

[dysfunctional press]

34. won't he have to drop his coverage first...?

i do not believe for one iota of a second that keith is uninsured.

[O is 44]

42. I highly doubt Keith does not have healthcare n/t

[Swamp Rat]

50. k&r

[Cleita]

51. Querido! Muchas gracias!eom

[Swamp Rat]

53. De nada

¿Todo bién? :hug:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_J8WlGDOJxWw/SmTZn_BEUBI/AAAAAAAACro/-tEifoyd3nQ/s320/222_2143-amigos+gatos.jpg

[Cleita]

55. Si, en mi mundo, pero no en el mundo largo. n/t

[krawhitham]

52. Keith Olbermann is a stupid fuck

He gets health insurance through NBC so he would not have to buy it, He is just running his mouth for ratings

[upi402]

61. Play by the rules and work hard - and ya get screwed

This system is broken. There's no opposition party, not in a meaningful way. KO will have company in his civil disobedience I am sure of it. The field is fertile for that strong seed.

[hfojvt]

64. nice of KeithO to use his liberal platform to push the jail b.s.

or not.

maybe KeithO's part of the problem.

"After all these years, what a treat it can be to have a progressive news program! The last half hour of Friday’s program was completely devoted to Woods’ affairs; this encompassed three full segments. In the second of these pointless segments, guest host Lawrence O’Donnell played the churlish boy, offering extended tape of an interview in which one of Woods’ alleged girl friends insists that she isn’t a prostitute. “We will leave it to the audience to decide which category the various women belong in,” O’Donnell chimpishly said. (At least he didn’t refer to his subjects as “those girls,” as he had done a bit earlier.)

In the third and final segment, we were treated to a long string of recent, late-night jokes about Woods. Then, the first eight minutes of the Maddow Show were turned over to the simpering Bill Woolf, who mused, quite pointlessly, about the same general subject. Progressives were thus allowed to spend forty straight minutes entertaining themselves with this utterly puerile dreck."

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh121409.shtml

PART 2—WHEN LIBERALS SNEER: Why has this country had so much trouble passing some sort of national health care? We cheered when Rep. Anthony Weiner talked about Democratic “messaging” problems on last Friday’s Maddow Show (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 12/8/09).

Weiner’s comment produced no further discussion; when pundit panels convene on TV, conversation does tend to move on. But Melissa Harris-Lacewell also made an excellent point about our decades-long failure to produce a national health system. The countries which have passed national health care have typically been “more ethnically homogeneous” than the United States, she noted. In this country, divisions of race, ethnicity, class and region may have made it harder to promote a basic notion: We all deserve adequate health care.

Alas! In our view, Harris-Lacewell’s point reflects on the point made by Weiner. Over the past fifty years, part of the liberal world’s “messaging” problem has involved the tendency among certain liberals to exacerbate distinctions of class and region—elements of fragmentation which make social progress much harder. It was true in the 1960s, and it’s true again now: A certain type of pseudo-liberal has always loved to mock the (white) rubes who live in red-state America. The pattern is familiar: First, we mock their rube-like ways. Then, we marvel at the fact that these rubes won’t accept our own brilliant views! Over the past fifty years, this class condescension has made it harder to build consensus for certain kinds of progressive ideas.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh120909.shtml

[Cleita]

68. You love Nixon?

KO is a commentator. He doesn't make policy or legislate. He comments, and he is as much affected as the rest of us with legislation. Lawrence O'Donnell, whether you like him or not spent years in the pit of Washington and he really gives us a great understanding of what is actually going on. It's too bad you don't listen. Oh, btw O'Donnell wrote many of the scripts for the TV Show "The West Wing".

You conservatives have no idea what real compromise is. You are so used to being told what to say and do that the idea of meeting at common ground would break up the Stockholm's syndrome you are all suffering from.

[hfojvt]

98. When did I say I loved Nixon?

the quote

"Nixon understood the anger and frustration of working-class people, the humiliation of being looked down upon by elitist ,liberal betters." J Patrick Coolican paraphrasing Nixonland

explains that Nixon acheived success because edjumacated liberals tend to turn off the working class masses with their constant insults directed at the average working person. You know the type, the average ignorant, bigoted, simple-minded one of the sheeple.

[Berry Cool]

96. Why listen to what the Daily Howler says? Bob Somerby has always hated Olbermann

for being wealthy and having a successful TV show. Somerby's opinion is as worthless as those who fail to understand that:

1. KO never says things he doesn't mean just for ratings or attention

2. KO has been known to fall on his sword for a principle in the past

3. KO said he has private insurance NOW and that if this bill passes, he will give it up and doesn't care if he's fined or jailed

4. When KO says stuff like that, HE MEANS IT.

[hfojvt]

100. Why listen to anyone?

If Somerby says something, it's not like I say "Somerby says it, I believe it, that settles it." If Olberman says something, it's not like I say "Olberman says it, I believe it, that settles it." Everything gets evaluated. Does it make sense? Is it true, or do I have information showing it is false?

Somerby, however, makes the point that we need liberal messaging to sell liberal programs. We need facts about our healthcare for example. Facts that almost never get discussed and that much of America is in the dark about. Like how much our healthcare costs compared to Europe and Japan. And what about the Estate Tax? Isn't the Senate debating about that right now? According to emails I get from CBPP, they are. Yet, our 'progressive' news shows spend their time blathering and giggling about Tiger Woods.

That seems like a valid criticism to me, no matter who makes it, and what his supposed motive is.

Your argument is that KO always means what he says. My point is that he is a posturing idiot, because he said "I will goto jail" and the bill does not have any provision for sending people to jail. For KO to be pushing this false meme that "this bill is gonna send people to jail" is just the same type of ignorance or dishonesty as Sarah Palin with her "this bill has death panels".

[Withywindle]

67. Keith is grandstanding for sure, but I think there's a larger point here.

Social breakdown? I really would NOT be surprised to see a wave of people, who have always been law-abiding before but are chronically or terminally ill, broke, and desperate, committing crimes with the HOPE of getting some jail time and the health care, rudimentary as it is, that comes with that.

It's already happened before. It could become much more common.

If I were penniless and had a serious health scare with no way of paying for it without bankrupting my whole family? I wouldn't want to really hurt anyone, but yeah, I MIGHT consider something like robbery with an unloaded gun or stealing a car. Am I alone? I bet I'm not.

[Cleita]

69. Minor vandalism like spray painting would do it.

You could also make a statement before getting arrested.

[Withywindle]

71. I'll spray paint and smoke pot at the same time.

That's easy, that's my teens and early 20s in a nutshell. :D

[Cleita]

74. That'll do it.

:rofl:

[Cleita]

75. Actually, just vandalize your own property and have a neighbor report you.

By the time you go through the system and get the medical care you need, it will be all over with.

[Egnever]

70. Olberman is full of shit

He has great health care and he aint givin it up.

[Cleita]

73. Blanket statement accusation.

I wonder how you always get away with it. Of course, late at night and you sneak into posts that are large. Do try to come up with something fabulous one of these days.

[niyad]

83. geez, I need a drink after reading the virulent loathing and hatred of KO expressed by several

posters here. one would think KO had stolen all their toys or something.

[Cleita]

85. He has.

His mind, grasp of situations and ability to articulate them makes them look like the droolers that they are. You'd think they would be too embarrassed to post. Although I wonder why they aren't in bed on a school night?

[niyad]

86. mums and daddums are out for the evening

[Egnever]

90. LOL worshiping at the cult of personality

and calling other people droolers! Love it!

[Egnever]

89. blah blah blah your outrage is duely noted

try to think for yourself once in a while and I'll try to come up with something witty just for you :)

[niyad]

82. you obviously have serious issues with KO--wjy is that, exactly? has he ever lied? stolen? been

with prostitutes? shilled for the corporations?

he never said he didn't have health insurance--he said he is self-insured, and pointed out, when talking about his father, that he was glad he was able to pay the bills.

just as a matter of curiousity, who, in the media, do you think does a good job?

[Egnever]

88. I wouldn't call it lying but he bends the truth

All the time.

I didn't watch the show where he said this so all I have to go on is this post. It sounds to me as though Keith is advocating not buying health insurance simply because there is a mandate to do so. Which I find to be complete bullshit coming from a guy who will never be without it.

there are very few in the media I think do a good job. The folks on the PBS news hour are fairly good. Rachel is pretty good most of the time when she isn't pushing an agenda.

just today I listened yet again to another puke news conference where McConnell repeated over and over that the majority of americans were against health care reform and yet again not one reporter called him on it.

Our media is pathetically broken and keith has gone too far over into Limbaugh of the left territory for my tastes.

I want the facts from my news not either sides spin. I don't like it when limbaugh does it and I really don't like it when the folks on the left do it.

[SIMPLYB1980]

92. +100

[niyad]

94. since you didn't watch the show, you really are in no postion to say he is "bending the truth"

or is the problem that he talks way over your head, and you really don't have a clue what he is saying, and are too embarassed to admit it?

[Egnever]

95. LOL keep sucking up whatever he says like its mana from heaven

if you want to if theres anyone who has trouble understanding what hes saying its people like you who cant tell when they are being manipulated.

I'll take my clear eyed reaction to his over the top BS as opposed to your sycophant drone like response any day of the weak.

Of course you probably don't listen to what he is saying at all you are so busy rolling around on the floor in ecstasy any time he opens his mouth.

[Name removed]

80. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[niyad]

81. have been saying the same thing for months now--but very glad to hear KO--that special comment

tonight was excellent.

[PSzymeczek]

87. I recall back when Keith was

working for Fox Sports, and did a special on the Top 50 athletes of the 20th Century. He left OJ Simpson off the list and was very explicit about why. He sincerely believed/believes that OJ killed Nicole and Ron. I believe that Keith is sincere in his support for a decent HC bill.

[Mithreal]

91. damn fine point k&r

"Too bad we can't make that amendment extend to the rest of us!"

[Vidar]

93. K&R.