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California Assembly passes bill to provide universal health care
Mercury News ^ | Aug. 28, 2006 | ROBIN HINDERY

Posted on 08/28/2006 7:39:01 PM PDT by FairOpinion

The Assembly narrowly approved a bill Monday that would provide health insurance to all residents, a move that would make California the only state to offer government-operated universal health care.

The bill, which passed the 80-member house on a largely party-line vote of 43-30, received strong Democratic backing. But supporters say pressure from the insurance industry and Republican lawmakers is likely to doom the measure when it reaches Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The governor's office has declined to take a position on the bill, but Schwarzenegger in the past has voiced his opposition to single-payer systems.

The bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, must be approved by the state Senate before it heads to the governor's desk. It would provide every California resident with health insurance through a system controlled by a newly created entity called the California Health Insurance Agency.

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; callegislation; health; healthcare; kuehl; libertarians; medicine; rationing; sb840; socializedmedicine; taxes; universalhealthcare
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Be afraid, be very afraid.

This bill alone can not only destroy California, but will literally endanger your life, because it will mean rationing of healthcare.

I think the Dem Senate committe already approved it and it will be approved by the entire Senate.

Arnold is the only one standing between you and socialized medicine.

Angelides is on record that he will sign it.

1 posted on 08/28/2006 7:39:03 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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To: Rabid Dog

Good test for Arnold.


2 posted on 08/28/2006 7:41:50 PM PDT by Snapping Turtle (Slow down and get a grip!)
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A statewide campaign to grow support for universal health care and a single-payer health care system in California kicked off Saturday in Morro Bay.


http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/local/15264240.htm


"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger does not support a single-payer system, calling it a tax increase. Gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides has said he would sign the bill if he wins the November election."


3 posted on 08/28/2006 7:42:03 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
I said it on an earlier post: This is an election year ploy, jamming a bill at Arnold, in the hopes he'll veto it. I just hope he doesn't sign it.

What I suspect Arnold will do is veto it, point out the problems with this bill (it does have problems in terms of how it would be administered, beyond the question of how it would be funded), and then say that he will lead an effort ("A better program...") if re-elected to expand health care coverage to the state's uninsureds.

4 posted on 08/28/2006 7:42:14 PM PDT by My2Cents (A pirate's life for me.)
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"But opponents counter that access to health care would be limited under a single-payer system because care would be rationed and the latest medical technologies would no longer be widely available.

They also argue that the reform would result in a multi-billion dollar tax hike, and the state’s population would explode as people moved to California to take advantage of the new system, according to Senate and Assembly committee reports which list arguments for and against the bill. "

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1690230/posts


5 posted on 08/28/2006 7:43:49 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: My2Cents

Arnold already vetoed a "healthcare for all the children" bill.


6 posted on 08/28/2006 7:44:59 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion

Sure, the ileagal invasion has already bankrupted most emergency service facilities. Why not just drive the final nail in the coffin?

The dems here in Cal are the most vile in the entire USA.


7 posted on 08/28/2006 7:45:26 PM PDT by Bullish ( The pig headed monkeys of Islam can kiss my grits!)
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To: Bullish

"Why not just drive the final nail in the coffin? "


===

That's about what this bill would do.


"In theory, payroll taxes on businesses and individual income taxes would replace the premiums that individuals and businesses now pay to insurers. The bill does not allocate funding for the new system, and the funding method would have to be approved separately before the measure could go into effect."


http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/14310556p-15207669c.html


8 posted on 08/28/2006 7:49:06 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
They also argue that the reform would result in a multi-billion dollar tax hike, and the state’s population would explode as people moved to California to take advantage of the new system.........

Taxpayers will move out and taxusers will move in. It's hell trying to fund utopia with taxusers.

9 posted on 08/28/2006 7:51:03 PM PDT by umgud (Do moderate muslims luv us infidels and Jews?.... Didn't think so.)
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To: FairOpinion

Anybody have any idea how this impacts Kaiser. Are they against this? Wife works for them in Maryland.


10 posted on 08/28/2006 7:52:42 PM PDT by USA-Forever
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To: FairOpinion

We all know that the taxpayers of Cal would end up footing the bill for a "health care" system that would be a dismal failure.


11 posted on 08/28/2006 7:53:39 PM PDT by Bullish ( The pig headed monkeys of Islam can kiss my grits!)
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To: FairOpinion
"Under Kuehl's bill, the state's health care overhaul would be partially financed by converting existing governmental programs to the new system, while the rest would come from consumers and their employers in place of private insurance."

Let me guess... who picks up the slack for those who are illegals, unemployed, and low income? For the consumers who earn more, will they have to pay more, based on their income?
12 posted on 08/28/2006 7:54:16 PM PDT by PeanutbutterandJellybean
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Down To The Wire For Universal Healthcare

"Greg Aghazarian, (R) Stockton: "Let's face it. We shouldn't be putting the decision-making process for healthcare into the hands of the government. Do we really want another DMV making healthcare decisions for so many hard-working Californians?"

The governor has already said he'd veto the bill, opting instead to bring political parties, consumer groups, businesses and the insurance industry together next year to solve the healthcare crisis.

===

Thank God. Now we just have to make sure to keep Arnold for another four years.

13 posted on 08/28/2006 7:56:55 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
*BUMP* !

Already the U.S. has $ 80 Trillion in entitlement obligations going forward. What's a few Hundred Billion Dollars more? No big deal. Nothing to see here. "Move along people, move along." Freepers all say in unison, "OMG ! Aaaack! I did not know . . ."

14 posted on 08/28/2006 7:57:08 PM PDT by ex-Texan (Mathew 7: 1 - 6)
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To: FairOpinion; All
I hope somebody knows for certain the answer to this question:

Are California legislators and other California politicians included in this "universal health care" scheme along with the general public? Will they stand in the same lines and get exactly the same level of health care as everybody else in the state?

Or do they get to have their own separate health care plan?

Thanks,
LH

15 posted on 08/28/2006 7:57:08 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: FairOpinion

16 posted on 08/28/2006 7:57:18 PM PDT by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: FairOpinion

It will defeinitely see the sick and ill throughout the US and the world flock to California to acquire affordable coverage.

New Jersey's health insurance laws which provide universal right to buy health insurance coverage has created a situation where NJ has the highest (or second highest depending on the year) health insurance coverage costs in the nation.

The insurance companies can not discriminate but they can enforce waiting periods for pre existing conditions. No one outside the richest 2% of the population in NJ who has continuous coverage and a long term illness will ever leave NJ, the economics are impossible.

Recently had a family friend move from NJ to NC to enjoy the lower cost of living and do the semiretirement change with the new empty nest, a few months there, she found out she has a certain long term disease, her insurance went from 85% of the equivalent cost in NJ to ~400% the equivalent cost in NJ. Plus she would have a $400,000 lifetime max coverage for the illness. In NJ it's usually unlimited, though some policies are $1 million cap.

Now translate that to statewide universal coverage.


17 posted on 08/28/2006 7:58:26 PM PDT by JerseyHighlander
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To: FairOpinion

"Universal free healthcare" is the first step towards rationed healthcare. California needs to go for it. "If you build it, they will come!" (And come until the state goes broke.)


18 posted on 08/28/2006 8:02:52 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (What changes do you intend to make to your lifestyle now that Pluto is no longer "a planet?")
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More items of note:

"The bill, which passed the 80-member house on a largely party-line vote of 43-30, received strong Democratic backing."

"The bill passed the Senate by a straight party-line vote of 25-15 in May 2005. Monday’s action in the Assembly returns it to the Senate for a final vote on amendments. The bill is expected to reach Schwarzenegger’s desk by Sept. 1."

http://cbs5.com/local/local_story_240214442.html


The point of the above is also to remind everyone of the ratio of Dems/R-s in the CA Legislature.

The Republicans are vastly outnumbered.

With a Dem governor, nothing stands in the way of this leftist liberal Dem Legislature from passing hundreds of bills making CA into a "socialist paradise".


19 posted on 08/28/2006 8:05:15 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: USA-Forever

As long as you and your wife are not in CA, you are OK. Kaiser would survive without CA.


20 posted on 08/28/2006 8:06:38 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
Thankfully I moved away from that socialist pesthole. If this law is approved, I expect my company would close up shop in California. They wouldn't tolerate having the state wrest control of the healthcare coverage for the employees.

I still have family in San Diego. My sister is a nurse. My 78 year old mother still has healthcare from the Naval hospital as the window of a naval officer. My middle son has some benefits from the USMC. It is terrible news.

21 posted on 08/28/2006 8:07:01 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: FairOpinion
The bill by Sen. Sheila Kuehl would provide every California resident with health insurance through a newly created entity called the California Health Insurance Agency.

Does that make Sheila Kuehl a CHIA Pet?

22 posted on 08/28/2006 8:09:39 PM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all.)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
It's already been demonstrated in the UK and Canada, not to mention in the formerly socialist countries in Europe, that socialized medicine means NO proper healthcare for anyone ( except the privileged few, who can pay under the table or go elsewhere for their medical needs).

There is no way they can take enough away from the taxpayers to cover everyone else and themselves. In Canada, people literally die waiting for operations and treatments.
23 posted on 08/28/2006 8:10:43 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion

If this bill was to pass, would that mean that all physicians, nurses and medical personnel would then become state employees? If so, then the pay cuts are coming. Who would spend all those years in med school to be handed a income controlled paycheck? Doctor shortages will be the next thing.


24 posted on 08/28/2006 8:11:59 PM PDT by PeanutbutterandJellybean
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To: FairOpinion
I lost my Kaiser coverage when I moved to Idaho from San Diego. The company offers a "Med Plus" PPO via Aetna for about $400/month. That includes a $1500 per person per year "deductible". Choices in Idaho are not as good as they were in San Diego. That is likely to change if this bill is signed. A Democrat governor would be the final nail in the coffin for CA. The state flag already has a Russian bear and Chinese red star. Add a red hammer and sickle over the bear's backside to finish the job.
25 posted on 08/28/2006 8:14:20 PM PDT by Myrddin
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To: FairOpinion

Oh, hey, now I'm SURE illegals aren't going to flood right into Cali..! GREAT!


26 posted on 08/28/2006 8:16:05 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: FairOpinion

Everyone who can afford itcarries secondary insurance in the UK and Canada... National Health didn't change a thing...


27 posted on 08/28/2006 8:18:26 PM PDT by ARA
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To: FairOpinion

The Dims will not give up until they've destroyed the nation.


28 posted on 08/28/2006 8:19:28 PM PDT by Fiddlstix (Warning! This Is A Subliminal Tagline! Read it at your own risk!(Presented by TagLines R US))
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A glimpse into socialized healthcare in Canada:


Healthcare in Canada, a true test of patience , says survey

http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=13727


A survey conducted among many Canadian households has revealed that nearly 40 per cent of the respondents were unable to realize timely medical guidance and facilities, especially during the bygone three months.

The Decima poll conducted amongst 3,000 Canadians has shown that 81 per cent of households required medical care during the previous three months and felt the waiting times were unwarranted. Many felt that emergency care and appointments with specialists were unduly delayed.

Among total respondents, 37 percent felt, at least one person in their household had been denied timely medical assistance. The percentage of people facing indifference from healthcare was found to be higher in households that required medical care urgently or needed to meet with a specialist.


29 posted on 08/28/2006 8:21:50 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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National Healthcare = Stethoscope Socialism


http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16494


A national healthcare system may be the Holy Grail of American liberalism. If only the government managed medicine, the argument goes, costs could be restrained, quality assured, and access extended from the poshest beach house to the humblest shotgun shack. On NBC’s “Meet the Press” last fall, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D.–Ill.) advocated a “universal health-care system over the next 10 years.” If Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D.–N. Y.) reaches the Oval Office, she likely would take another crack at socialized medicine, as she did so disastrously in 1994.

Amy Ridenour of the National Center for Public Policy Research sees this model more as a poisoned chalice. Her Washington-based free-market think tank (with which I am a Distinguished Fellow) has begun educating Americans on the massive belly flop that is state-sponsored healthcare. Wherever bureaucrats control medicine, the wise money says: “Don’t get sick.”

It would be bad enough if national healthcare merely offered patients low-quality treatment. Even worse, Ridenour finds, it kills them.

Breast cancer is fatal to 25 percent of its American victims. In Great Britain and New Zealand, both socialized-medicine havens, breast cancer kills 46 percent of women it strikes.


30 posted on 08/28/2006 8:25:00 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion
The only way to prove the folly of socialized medicine is to see it fail in the states. That is the reason for federalism. Let states be different than others and try new things. If it works, other states can and/or will implement them if the voters will.

It won't work, especially in CA, and hopefully will be the deathnell of this tired socialist failure.

31 posted on 08/28/2006 8:34:19 PM PDT by morkfork (Candygram for Mongo)
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To: FairOpinion
Dan Aykroyd is no fan of the bureaucratic bungling and cut-rate care of (Canada's) socialized medicine.
"One place you don't want to get sick is Quebec," the Canadian actor advised us after a screening of Denys Arcand's 'The Barbarian Invasions.' "It's all socialized. Believe me, you don't want to go to a hospital there."
32 posted on 08/28/2006 8:35:46 PM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: FairOpinion
California Assembly passes bill to provide universal health care

So I just have to move to California for 30 ~ 90 days(?) and my health care is free?

Excellent! I'll winter in California and have all my ailments fixed by the taxpayers in California.

/S

33 posted on 08/28/2006 8:38:36 PM PDT by RJL
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To: gaijin

Probably not to be honest, they are already getting free health care :-)


34 posted on 08/28/2006 8:40:58 PM PDT by spikeytx86 (Pray for Democrats for they have been brainwashed by there fruity little club.)
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To: FairOpinion
Why only "health care?"

How about free food?

Maybe clothing?

Or houses?

I just find it interesting that the commies pushing this don't ever explain why medical care should be singled out for subsidy.

35 posted on 08/28/2006 8:42:14 PM PDT by B Knotts (Newt '08!)
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To: FairOpinion
I'd think that if you were a young doctor looking to establish a practice, instant success would be waiting for you in one of CA's neighboring states.

36 posted on 08/28/2006 8:44:06 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: B Knotts

"Why only "health care?"
How about free food?

Maybe clothing? "


===
NOW you are talking. Healthcare is just the FIRST STEP.

What you describe is exactly the socialist utopia the liberals are striving for -- one step at a time.


37 posted on 08/28/2006 8:44:46 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: RJL

How do I save my state from going off the deep end..... somebody help me...PLEASE! Living in Lost Angeles.


38 posted on 08/28/2006 8:48:38 PM PDT by Republic Rocker
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To: FairOpinion

As it should be per our Constitution - the STATE has the authority to enact such legislation.

What is unconstitutional is the federal govt intervention into a state's rights for self governance.

If Kalifornicate wants to go absolutely fiscally, morally, and medically bankrupt - that's their problem and SOLELY their problem.


39 posted on 08/28/2006 8:52:13 PM PDT by TimesDomain (When a judge declares himself "MASTER", you become his "SLAVE")
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To: FairOpinion

It will only ration health care for the poor and middle class...The rich,liberals,movie stars and such will have GREAT access to health care...You won't see them standing in line with the little people!!!!!!


40 posted on 08/28/2006 8:54:00 PM PDT by fishbabe
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To: TimesDomain

It isn't solely CA's problem, CA comprises some 10-15% of the total US economy. You can't write that off without consequences to the country.


41 posted on 08/28/2006 8:55:34 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: gaijin

DAY 1..Health care signed into law. DAY 2...50 million mexicans stampede over the border!!!!!!


42 posted on 08/28/2006 8:56:20 PM PDT by fishbabe
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To: Republic Rocker

"How do I save my state from going off the deep end..... somebody help me...PLEASE! Living in Lost Angeles."


====

VOTE for Arnold and have all your friends get out and vote for him, and while you are out, vote for all the Republican candidates.

As I said earlier, and it's really true, right now Arnold is the only one standing between us and full socialism in CA, starting with this horrendous bill.


43 posted on 08/28/2006 8:57:40 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion

Oh, goody. So how much is this universal health care going to cost me? Not being in one of the Dims' favored victim groups, I will never qualify for it, but will certainly wind up paying for it anyway.


44 posted on 08/28/2006 8:57:58 PM PDT by Wolfstar (Suffer the little children to come unto Me...for of such is the kingdom of God. [Mark 10:13-14])
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To: fishbabe

"DAY 1..Health care signed into law. DAY 2...50 million mexicans stampede over the border!!!!!!"


DAY 3: all businesses and working people move OUT of CA.


45 posted on 08/28/2006 8:58:34 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion

DAY 4...Calif bankrupt.Demands feds pay all bills!!!!


46 posted on 08/28/2006 9:00:12 PM PDT by fishbabe
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To: Wolfstar

You will end up paying and paying, and still not getting quality healthcare.


Read article posted in post 29 with some stats about survival rates in countries with socialized medicine vs. the US.


47 posted on 08/28/2006 9:00:15 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: fishbabe

DAY 5: Dems announce it's all Bush's fault and demand that the Federal Government bail them out.


48 posted on 08/28/2006 9:00:52 PM PDT by FairOpinion (Dem Foreign Policy: SURRENDER to our enemies. Real conservatives don't help Dems get elected.)
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To: FairOpinion

You omitted the medical doctors. They'll leave too.


49 posted on 08/28/2006 9:01:33 PM PDT by onyx (1 Billion Muslims -- "if" 10% are fundamentalists, that's still 100 Million who want to kill us.)
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To: Republic Rocker
How do I save my state from going off the deep end..... somebody help me...PLEASE! Living in Lost Angeles.

California neo-coms seem bent on the proven failures of liberal socialism/communism, so not much anyone can do until it fails completely.

For you though... Rent your house out at an exorbitant fee to the out of state families coming to get free (to them) health care, then retire to another state.

50 posted on 08/28/2006 9:01:52 PM PDT by RJL
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