Congratulations! Your video, Trump to Give Primetime Address on the Shutdown, has reached the #1 spot in the current Top 15 New Videos listing. This is a very difficult thing to accomplish but you managed to pull it off. For your contribution you have been awarded 2 Power Points.

This achievement has earned you your "Golden One" Level 12 Badge!

Your video, Trump to Give Primetime Address on the Shutdown, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I remember when SNL was funny. It's too bad they're little more than mere propaganda shills for the White House with humorless skits like this one (to say nothing of the hour-long campaign ad they ran for Hillary last week). I wonder if the writers of this terribly unfunny sketch are requesting that NBC do away with the armed security at their studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.

Primetime propaganda passing as entertainment will serve to debunk itself, week after week.

@bareboards2

I'm also glad that we can discuss these issues like reasonable people. I apologize if I've come off as unreasonable in the past. The truth is that I'm always willing to talk things out.

I've heard the rhetoric about death panels from both sides; I just haven't put in the effort to separate fact from fiction. Now that I've looked into it, this is what I've found. What you're describing (end of life consultations) is not the same thing as what are now being called death panels in Obamacare. Yes, it is true that the provision you are speaking about was demonized by republicans and ultimately removed from Medicare. I'm actually not sure how I feel about it, because it is a form of assisted suicide, and it could be abused. Some seniors may feel pressured into forgoing care, just as you hear of some people receiving substandard care because they are organ donors.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dad-rescues-brain-dead-son-from-doctors-wishing-to-harvest-his-organs-boy-r

In any case, the conversation has evolved, and we are no longer talking about these end of life consultations when we are talking about death panels. The death panel in Obamacare is an unelected board of 15 "health care experts" (the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB) who will make critical decisions on what services within Medicare are financially viable, and which aren't. Here is a quote from President Obama in the first debate acknowledging this:

"It — when Gov. Romney talks about this board, for example, unelected board that we’ve created, what this is, is a group of health care experts, doctors, et cetera, to figure out, how can we reduce the cost of care in the system overall?” Obama said.

“Now, so what this board does is basically identifies best practices and says, let’s use the purchasing power of Medicare and Medicaid to help to institutionalize all these good things that we do,” Obama added.

This is also acknowledged by a senior adviser to Obama:

"WE need death panels. Well, maybe not death panels, exactly, but unless we start allocating health care resources more prudently — rationing, by its proper name — the exploding cost of Medicare will swamp the federal budget."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/health-care-reform-beyond-obamacare.html?_r=2

So call it death panels, or rationing, the principle is still the same. The recommendations this board makes will become law unless it is overridden by a 2/3's majority vote in congress. Here is a good example of how this type of legislative oversight is making health care "better" (penalizing hospitals for readmitting patients within 30 days):

"Beginning Monday, the hospitals will receive lower reimbursements on Medicare claims filed with the government for each admitted patient. Over the year, the total amount of those reductions will vary from $1.2 million for MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Northwest Washington, the region’s largest private hospital, to about $12,000 for Reston Hospital Center in Virginia. Of 16 hospitals in the District and Northern Virginia, all but three will get paid less."

"Some of the hardest-hit facilities are inner-city hospitals that tend to treat sicker, poorer patients. These patients sometimes end up being readmitted because they have a harder time getting medication and follow-up doctors’ appointments, often because they lack transportation, hospital officials said.

“Not only do we have the very sick patients, they also have very significant social needs,” said Kamaljit Sethi, who heads quality and safety at Providence Hospital in Northeast, where officials estimate they will lose about $320,000 in the coming year."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/hospitals-in-dc-va-to-lose-millions-from-medicare/2012/09/30/2fe0f96c-08ca-11e2-afff-d6c7f20a83b
f_story.html

What this means is that patients with the greatest needs will lose the most services, because the hospitals will no longer be able to serve them because of this penalty. This outcome could turn out to be deadly for thousands of people, ultimately, all in the name of efficiency. This is a perfect illustration as to why Government should have as little power over your health care as possible. Here is testimony from the front lines:

" Today while working my shift in the emergency room, an old lady was brought in very sick and in fact near death. I did my usual workup and evaluation and attempted to administer life saving treatment. It was my plan to admit this woman to the hospital. I found out a little later that this same woman had been a patient here just slightly more than 2 weeks ago with a DIFFERENT DIAGNOSIS. I was told that if this woman was admitted, the hospital would not be paid.

The new Medicare rule now is that if the same Medicare patient is re-admitted to the hospital within 30 days, the hospital will not be paid. When they first started this nonsense they said this only applied to patients with the same diagnosis. Now they have "expanded" the rule to include re-admissions for any reason. So if you're in the hospital for pneumonia, and 3 weeks later, you break your leg.......too bad. Medicare will not pay the hospital to fix your leg."

http://grouchatrighttruth.blogspot.com/2012/10/death-panels-are-here.html

This is completely outrageous, I think you will be forced to agree. Personally, I think we need to have a national conversation about this issue, and both sides need to come together to hammer out this issue. Obamacare is clearly not ready for primetime, and as it stands it is going to hurt people.

As far as your other comments, I'm not limiting myself to any particular news source. I am a political independent and I will share with you that I won't be voting for either candidate this year. I will still participate in the local elections but I cannot vote for either candidate in good conscience. While I am socially and fiscally conservative on many issues, I am liberal on others, such as helping the poor, the environment (within reason), and immigration. I don't fit into a polical cookie cutter and I don't automatically support a candidate because they give God lip service.

[Talking voice]
Yeah man, just left town man
I'm here, here
Had to get outta town baby
Where you stayin' now?
You can pick me up at the round busstation
Or I can take a plane
There's your cab? I'll be right over
It's gonna be a few sec, and I'll tell you what went down

[Kool Keith]
I stayed in New York, depressed, walkin' mad through the block
Watching brothers go down, my project friends smoking rock
My group divided and everthing was undecided
I was drinking, thinking: "Damn, man, my boat is sinking"
Everybody's wack and new groups comin' back
They on Arsenio, booty's on video
Watch this clown rhyme that's paid for on primetime
Everybody's mean, they're hard, they're killing mothers
Shootin' bang bang, fakin man killing brothers
I had to turn off the radio from all the Walt Disney
Mickey Mouse and friends all talking pop and lippy
Girls excited for what? And over-infatuated
People got their brain washed and folks got manipulated
They start beleiving Donald Duck made the earth
The industry was cursed since the Dinosaur's birth
(The industry was cursed since the Dinosaur's birth)

[Chorus]
It's over now
No problems in this world
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl
It's over now
My mind was in a twirl
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl
It's over now
No problems in this world
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl
It's over now
My mind was caught up in a twirl
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl

[Kool Keith]
Flying nighttime, eating peanuts on the plane
With no moneycontrol, my stress builds on my brain
My ticket's oneway
I'm out to southern Caliway
I left behind some people that wasn't even equal
I thought back with chicks and freaks in 86'
When Marley was in in control +the funky magic mix+
I had the limousine on hold with the real chauffeur
Ripped the ???? up with Ultra and I felt like Oprah
Girls in flocks and fans in lines from blocks
I didn't even hear a peep of you rappin' mister
I was your idol and probably on your older sister
Now you bad you signed stupid with a recorddeal
Your image is butt you perpertrating Shootin' Steel
Holdin' guns on albumcovers just to make funds
You the man quick fast payed out the ?anoass?
You can see I'm back and clear on stereo
with my own style, my intimite material

[Talking voice]
Ye, your style changed every year
Think about what you did
Used to dance, used to wear suits
Then you came back to wearing hip-hop clothes
Then you went back to wearing suits

[Chorus]
It's over now
No problems in this world
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl
It's over now
My mind was caught up in a twirl
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl

[Kool Keith]
No accountant, my lawyer keepin' checks on the low
Money, expenses for trips I didn't know
Agencies finding shows I could get myself
Writing rhymes at night in the house by myself
I open mailboxes, all I see was more bills
Gettin' cold chicken, walkin' down Bronx hills
Askin' moms for 50 cent, just to pay my rent
I had no will to ill, my mind was out to kill
I called up Kurt, got a big deal signed with Capitol
Money's flowin' now wild suckas out blowin' up
They my pupic care, and pupils still growin' up
Sucking mean while the g'ism as it hits the rhythm
They want that new style, no money it's called freestyle
Taping off the radio, smokin' from my crack vial
They on my tip now, as always as usual
You forgot me, but I didn't forget you

[Chorus]
2x It's over now
No problems in this world
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl
It's over now
My mind was caught up in a twirl
It's over now
I'm home chillin' with my girl

Yeah...

[Fades out, consisting of scratching sounds]

Do the authors think you can get a primetime TV spot for the cost of a cheeseburger or something? Maybe a Super Bowl spot for the price of two Top Ramens and a slab of bacon?

ANY time there's scarcity you need money to regulate it, and the more scarce something is (like primetime TV minutes) and the more people value it (like primetime TV minutes) the higher the price will be.

Fucking study economics, idiots.

Ready for Primetime, Mr. Pizza?

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I feel the same way. It's pretty tacky.>> ^FlowersInHisHair:

Maybe the other customers don't react because they can tell it's all staged? They're essentially trolling for emotional responses. It's all rather cynical.

>> ^EvilDeathBee:

This is just fantastic to see. The bit with the note made be choke up a bit.


Me too. Just a bit. Ahem.

>> ^KnivesOut:

"Most Watched News Station" is like "Prettiest Waitress At Denny's". It's statistical bullshit.
People don't watch news, in general. However, in one small minority of the population, Fox News is the most popular, and therefore becomes "Most Watched" because of this wacky concentration.
"Most Watched News Station" among wing-nuts, to be sure.


Actually, if you believe the Nielsen Ratings (which nearly every TV advertiser does, so it is backed by the weight of a multi billion dollar industry) then FOXN actually does get twice the ratings or better for most broadcasts.

I don't watch any big news, so I am not sticking up for this. I was only interested in the accuracy of this scrutiny, and in this case I find it lacking merit. In this case, the whole scope of your "people don't watch news" is actually incorrect. FOXN is actually the third highest rated station. And while the wing nut comment might be the only accurate part of the objection, it just means that the majority of people that watch TV are wing nuts in this case, like it or leave it


EDIT ( when tired, I say; actually and, in this case, way to often...but that's only in this case, actually)

Interesting. Talking about it openly like that seems like an honorable thing for Jay to do.

I have had a feeling for a long time that networks are way, way, way too tied to short term ratings when they make long-term decisions. Couple of examples, remember these are just my opinions:

Seinfeld is probably on the top of the list of my favorite shows I have watched during my life. However, the first season sucked. It definitely sucked in comparison to later seasons, and honestly I think that it wasn't really even good in comparison to standard TV dreck/fare that first season. It didn't get particularly good ratings, but it got picked up for a 2nd season. It then started to get better. Not extremely rapidly, but pretty quickly. It rose fast enough to get the slot after "Cheers", which introduced it to enough more of an audience that it exploded. One of the few examples of a network being nice and patient with a show that was struggling to a certain extent, and it payed off *huge*.

Lets go with Firefly specifically, but basically anything Joss Whedon has ever done fits to a certain extent. Firely comes out, and it isn't advertised very much. Fox thinks it is too cerebral and deep, it needs more things blowing up and less talky-talky. So, they cut his original pilot, rearrange episodes, and don't even provide the show with a stable timeslot, let alone a good one. It gets less than a full season to try the waters and build an audience before it is canceled. In the meantime, we've got umpteen versions of Law and Order, CSI, etc., and a very conservative guess of 2 hours of "reality" TV on in primetime per day per network. They had a show that was great and different, and at the very least could have captured a niche market of people who wanted something else beyond watching vacuous morons kick each other onto/off of "the island" etc.

It seems to me that a network that was willing to take some risks, go with their actual opinions instead of instantaneous market research ratings, and give any new show at least 1-2 seasons to catch its balance would quite possibly make for some great shows with dedicated audiences.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

My prediction (wish):

Conan moves to Comedy Central and comes on after Colbert, forming a new Stewart / Colbert / O'Brien comedy triumvirate - and destroys Leno in the ratings.

Leno, by all accounts is a nice fellow- I just can't stand his show.

Edit: Yes - a primetime, American Topgear would be the perfect gig for Jay. I enjoy watching him talk about cars.

>> ^Payback:
All's fun in UAV combat until a 16 yr old kid of a Russian Mafioso hacks the satellite...


No it was an Muslim kid, but he was just a fall guy for some rich white bastard. (NCIS Los Angeles)

>> ^wagthedog1:
A brief lesson in science (1min 25sec) and how easily ignorance could be exploited by charlatans:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Passionometer-Science-Why-science-matte
rs

I quite like the marvelous simplicity of it. Maybe a promote during primetime will get it some attention ...