anyone work for Lowe's or Home Depot?

[mttt]

What's that old Joke? What do you call the guy who graduated *last* in his medical school class?

Doctor...

[Mortimer Schnerd, RN]

Or last in his class at Annapolis?

"Sir".

[Doug Miller]

Or last in his class at West Point?

"General Custer".

And that's a fact.

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

For a copy of my TrollFilter for NewsProxy/Nfilter, send email to autoresponder at filterinfo-at-milmac-dot-com

[CW]

[Secret Squirrel]

"CW" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

It's also not accurate. The nursing board exam is and has been for the last several years adaptive. The exact number of questions asked and the number required as well as their relative difficulty varies for each test taker. The test "adapts to your individual responses in an effort to judge competancy. The actual minimum scores are not published.

[Charlie Self]

Not just there. 60 Minutes, I think, looked over some malpractice insurance costs. Seems the companies are making plenty of money, not losing as they say, but are raising rates at a tremendous pace...reason: they screwed up with their investments, which lost as massive percentage in the past few years, so now they're gobbling it all back at once. You can bet your ever-lovin' that they won't lower rates at the end.

But it still isn't all the insurance companies fault. First, government lets them get away with thieving, and so do we when we don't storm our legislators' offices and demand reform. Next up, tort lawyers go for the wallet every time, even in cases where a deep into the change purse is more sensible. Juries too often go along.

Systemic, instead of being the fault of one type of company or person.

Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

[JPLipe]

Well, it was accurate when SWMBO was licensed. Granted, that's been a while, and I'm not surprised that things have changed in the meantime.

John

[Mark]

Your evasion of a comment on the facts by selective editing is a hallmark of a true Liberal.

[Charlie Self]

Mark responds:

And your style of reasoning is one reason I dislike spending time around Conservatives.

Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

[Brian Henderson]

A couple weeks ago there was some guy on the radio who wanted Walmart sued because they weren't paying a family wage to their employees. The radio hosts kept asking him "since when did Walmart ever claim they were going to pay a family wage?"

I have no idea what the local pay is like, but a lot of the people I see in the local Walmart have been there for years, at least as long as I've been going into the store (coming up on 5 years now). That's not just retirees, it's cashiers and the like.

[Charlie Self]

Everyone is supposed to get a "family" wage from day one? Maybe after 6 years in college.

It's a ludicrous concept, IMO.

I seem to recall an old idea, "work your way up", that may have gone by the boards now.

As I said, from what I've seen the number of retirees working at various Walmart stores is high (or apparent retirees. They are all people who look older than I do). I'm sure most of them would like $10 an hour for smiling at customers, but I doubt any of them would believe it if it was offered.

And, of course, your radio twerp didn't specify what a "family wage" might be. I know people who need 100K a year to barely maintain their family's life style and I know others who do pretty well on 10K, net. Depends a lot on what the "family" expects and how large it is.

Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore

[Michael Daly]

A recent study in Canada found that folks who earned in the $100k-$250k range found life "tough" because of economic issues. Folks who were in the lower wage ranges didn't see life as that bad, since they got by. Yer view depends entirely on how far yer head is shoved up yer ass :-)

Mike

[p_j]

You keep capitalizing Liberal. I like that. After all America was founded by liberals using liberal principles.

That's all pretty much dead now, but I think its worth keeping the ideas floating around in case somewhere else others want to live with the rule of law and rights granted to individuals rather than what is going on now.

When you mention evasion, I can't help but think of Bush. He has done it his whole life and it is working pretty well for him.

[Bill Everette]

"p_j" wrote

Now THAT is a stretch. I'm sure the ACLU would have prospered in the 18th century!

But I'm sure you'll provide a link from moveon.org or guardian.co.uk to prove that.

[Brian Elfert]

Have you compared insurance company profits by year from 2000 to 2003?

I'll bet the total dollars of profit compared between 2000 and 2003 isn't much different. Insurers made little profit in 2001/2002. An 800% increase could be because they are now back to normal.

I don't like the rate of insurance increases any more than anyone else. My insurance rate actually barely increased at my last renewal in December.

Brian Elfert

[Brian Elfert]

I'm 32 years old now. It wasn't until I was 28 years old that I really made enough money to support myself. I doubled my salary at age 29 so I could easily support a family now.

There were years after college that I was only taking home $500 or $600 a month after taxes. At age 29 I sold a business for 6 figures and got a new higher paying job.

I lived through a lot of lean years to get where I am now with a new house, RV, and a new car.

Brian Elfert

[Michael Daly]

No, the profits were an all-time record. Insurance=theft a lot of the time, IMNSHO.

Mike

[Bay Area Dave]

twerp??? you are dating yourself there, charlie-boy. :) I'm supposed to be the big name caller around these parts. don't try to usurp my place in the scheme of things.

do professional writers usually write in the manner that you have sunk to? I'm just wondering. I think you are the only one I know.

How about those "HAND" drills? Was it REALLY the editor that mucked up the title of your article? Seems kinda cowardly to blame him...

dave

Charlie Self wrote:

[Bay Area Dave]

you subscribe to the theory that the one who dies with the most toys wins?

dave

Brian Elfert wrote:

[Mark & Juanita]

liberals, not statists. Your views are statist, not liberal in the classical sense. You don't espouse individual liberty for anything other than personal gratification or moral depravity.

Yep, pretty much dead now, you can't critcize the sitting president (see your comment below) without dire reprisals, you can't worship where you please, you can't travel anywhere within this country without government permission. [Note to the irony impaired, the prior was sarcasm]

Let's look at your other statements above, " ... want to live with the rule of law" Actually, those who founded this country wanted to be able to live with a minimum of laws and controls and set up the constitution accordingly. Your modern definition of liberal seeks to impose more and more laws to limit individual freedoms to engage in commerce or industry, to regulate political speech by limiting the ability to air political speech more than 90 days before an election unless you are a member of a specific protected group (i.e. a politician running for office or a member of the press). Not at all what the founders had in mind. "... and rights *granted* to individuals" The founders are spinning in their graves over that one. The fundamental thought in the Constitution and even before that, the Declaration of Independence, was that individuals are *endowed* with inalienable rights and that repressive governments take away those God-given individual rights. The constitution does not *grant* individual rights, it affirms them and limits the governments ability to take away those rights.

The things you are decrying as removing freedoms are actually laws that were enacted to make sure that those seeking to really destroy those freedoms and most likely yourself. The laws you are indirectly referring to are directly aimed at the groups who are seeking to destroy the way of life you claim we have already lost and help prevent those groups from being successful in their quest.

Just can't avoid adding those little hate-Bush digs, can you?