Will Someone Please Pay for my Rubbers

[heironymouspasparagus]

Was curious,  so went to Zillow and looked at Malibu.   There are 17 results in the immediate area.  Starting from $2.4M (nice place in the woods, on a .28acre lot), to $27.5M (.3 acre, but on the ocean side of the highway.)

Supposedly this thing is 'worth' about $85 million.  $7 million plus for a bathroom...??  She is her own "force of nature".

"Nose bleed seats" for most people I know....


http://santabarbarapocketlistings.com/2008/03/08/oprah-winfrey%E2%80%99s-montecito-ca-home-has-appreciated-well-in-a-solid-santa-barbara-california-real-estate-market/

[Conan71]

Ahem, back on topic.

[Gaspar]

Perhaps it was her campaign signs that were the problem?

[guido911]

From the "You have got to be kidding" file.

[Conan71]

From the "You have got to be kidding" file.

Don't you get it??? Someone else needs to pay Marci, Sandra can't be bothered to pay for her help. Hell, Sandra can't even afford her own birth control!

[heironymouspasparagus]

So for 6 years now, Colorado has been doing a grand social experiment on a large scale.  Providing free birth control to people - all ya gotta do is ask.

And guess what ??

Remember all the derision, ridicule, and snide comments by the Faux News fans in this thread? 

Birthrate among teenagers down 40%.
Abortion rate among teenagers and poor targeted by this program down 42%.  (Rich women still got enough abortions to take the overall down only about 20% or so - from about 12,000 to about 10,000 over that time.)

Cost - $23 million.   Now, RWRE - what is a life worth?  Or NOT stopping a life?  A few thousand times a year?   $23 million sounds like a bargain that should be doubled to get even larger reductions in these numbers.  Expand it to rich women so maybe they will stop disposing of unwanted babies, too!

And yet, I have no doubt there will still be the shrill 'harpies' - the nattering nabobs of negativity - who feel that putting this program into the Affordable Care Act and taking it nationwide would be a 'bad thing'.  Liars.  Hypocrites.  Intellectually dishonest.  RWRE...of course.   

They spend much more than that every year just trying to get around the law of the land - here is a way to accomplish the goal of reducing abortions legally, morally, effectively, spiritually enlightened.  I bet they will continue to fight it....


http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/06/science/colorados-push-against-teenage-pregnancies-is-a-startling-success.html

[Conan71]

Revolutionary thinking.  Of course today's GOP understands absolutely fu*kall about fiscal conservatism.

Imagine this:

Decriminalize MJ, tax it, regulate it, and commute minor drug sentences not related to violent or significant property crimes.

Pay for this program with the gain in tax revenue and savings from fewer inmates, and you end up preventing people from ending up on the government dole and in a cycle of poverty or eventually from becoming a guest of the DOC because they are stuck in a cycle of poverty.

Makes far too much common sense to come from the GOP-led OK legislature or as a national initiative.

edit/ I had skimmed over this in the first read of the story.  It is estimated for each dollar spent on the program, it saved $5.85 on the state's Medicaid program.  An ROI of 5.85:1?? 

[Hoss]

Revolutionary thinking.  Of course today's GOP understands absolutely fu*kall about fiscal conservatism.

Imagine this:

Decriminalize MJ, tax it, regulate it, and commute minor drug sentences not related to violent or significant property crimes.

Pay for this program with the gain in tax revenue and savings from fewer inmates, and you end up preventing people from ending up on the government dole and in a cycle of poverty or eventually from becoming a guest of the DOC because they are stuck in a cycle of poverty.

Makes far too much common sense to come from the GOP-led OK legislature or as a national initiative.

I've been screaming for decriminalization  for 10 years or more.  My view is that if it can be grown from the ground without altering it chemically, then you should be able to do with it as you please (however, tobacco as we know, IS altered chemically by the tobacco companies to keep people hooked).

If, as this state is prone to do, you are going to slash taxes without trying to find out how to plug up the fund-hole, this is where you should start.  Not increasing county sales or states sales taxes.

And for those of you who say 'well, we don't need more people on the road driving impaired'...if you think people in Oklahoma aren't sparking up now, you're deluding yourself.  I doubt the stats on driving impaired would increase much over time.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Revolutionary thinking.  Of course today's GOP understands absolutely fu*kall about fiscal conservatism.

Imagine this:

Decriminalize MJ, tax it, regulate it, and commute minor drug sentences not related to violent or significant property crimes.

Pay for this program with the gain in tax revenue and savings from fewer inmates, and you end up preventing people from ending up on the government dole and in a cycle of poverty or eventually from becoming a guest of the DOC because they are stuck in a cycle of poverty.

Makes far too much common sense to come from the GOP-led OK legislature or as a national initiative.

edit/ I had skimmed over this in the first read of the story.  It is estimated for each dollar spent on the program, it saved $5.85 on the state's Medicaid program.  An ROI of 5.85:1??  

Pretty good payback, huh?   But still less than 1/2 the payback for free college tuition....that gives back almost 15:1....just spread over a few years.  That's fine, 'cause it's positive cash flow back to the source (government).  Boosts people's standard of living - the REAL "rising tide lifts all boats" rather than the voodoo economics version of Reagan.

Common sense for Oklahoma, as well as nationally, means they can't engage in political cronyism, graft, and corruption as much as they can now.

Colorado is having surges of real common sense from time to time.....

[patric]

Decriminalize MJ, tax it, regulate it, and commute minor drug sentences not related to violent or significant property crimes.

The unions will fight it with every public safety and asset forfeiture dollar they can lay their hands on.

[Conan71]

The unions will fight it with every public safety and asset forfeiture dollar they can lay their hands on.

I see what you did there...

I predict in the next 50 years MJ will be legal in 35 to 40 states.  In a century, even Oklahoma will have to admit it was wrong.

[heironymouspasparagus]

GOP in CO says they won't fund it further - even though the program showed an $80 million reduction in just Medicaid costs alone.  Literally - if you give me $25, I will give you $80 back.  And the CO GOP says no...they don't want that!


Sounds like OK GOP.  Or any GOP nationwide.  They get their way - dramatic reductions in abortions, but say no because it was something good thought up by someone with a more progressive thought process - actually a thought process as opposed to the RWRE no-thought process.

[Conan71]

GOP in CO says they won't fund it further - even though the program showed an $80 million reduction in just Medicaid costs alone.  Literally - if you give me $25, I will give you $80 back.  And the CO GOP says no...they don't want that!


Sounds like OK GOP.  Or any GOP nationwide.  They get their way - dramatic reductions in abortions, but say no because it was something good thought up by someone with a more progressive thought process - actually a thought process as opposed to the RWRE no-thought process.

That is the other part which makes no sense whatsoever.  It is proven to reduce abortion rates.

[heironymouspasparagus]

That is the other part which makes no sense whatsoever.  It is proven to reduce abortion rates.

To be fair, the $25 million would have to be 'allocated' across several parts of this.  Reduction in abortions is huge!!  Savings in Medicaid.  Savings in other types of aid - food stamps, section 8 housing, etc.  This ripples through and if the true saving could be captured, I bet it would be much higher.  $80 million direct, identifiable, certifiable is more than enough justification though on its own.

I guarantee the RWRE spends 10 times that $25 million fighting against abortion every year (small hyperbole there) trying to take illegal actions and use illegal methods.

[Ed W]

The unions will fight it with every public safety and asset forfeiture dollar they can lay their hands on.

You lost me there. Why would a union oppose legalization?