Thoughts on Ryan as VP?

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Originally Posted by bae

Heretic!

Lettuce must be hand-dried by all-natural-fiber cloths woven under the light of the waning moon by The Faithful.

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Excuse me...you DO mean organic, heirloom lettuce lovingly grown in poop from free range chickens? Right?

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Originally Posted by dmc

If Ryan would say something like that Peggy would be screaming that he was a racist. But Biden's got a D after his title so its ok.

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:laff:
Ha ha...you HAVE noticed I don't jump in here every time Romney makes a gaffe....and there HAVE been a lot of them! There is just too many real, important things to talk about to waste time on misspeaks.
Also, I have the rather odd habit (i know) of actually LISTENING to the WHOLE sentence, and the WHOLE paragraph, whichever side is speaking. Admittedly it would be more fun to take any number of Romneys gaffes or partial sentences or misspeaks, and create a 'controversy', but that wouldn't be totally honest, would it.;) Who do you think I am? Fox News?

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Excuse me...you DO mean organic, heirloom lettuce lovingly grown in poop from free range chickens? Right?

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The lettuce also grows better if sung to, strictly operatic pieces for my lettuce.

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Originally Posted by creaker

Affordable to us - I think in those places medical care is not so affordable to most of the people living there.

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One plus! Robs friend's $800 hernia surgury in Mexico would be affordable to us from the USA, but would that be considered afordable for most low-income Mexicans? Also, how much does the governement of Mexico (or any other country with lower out-of-pocket medical costs) substidize healthcare in their country? With, I'm assuming, their citizens tax dollars. My sister lived in New Zealand for over a year and went to the doctor for something. It was very inexpensive for her. However it was inexpensive for her because the taxpaying citizens of New Zealand were paying a large portion of their income towards the system.

Of course other countries generally have a lower cost of living so therefore their medicsal care is going to cost less even if not subsidized by taxes. Sounds to me that is what Rob is looking for. I read that India has a whole sub-culture of medical workers, hospitals and doctors that just provide cash-only medical services for foreigners. And while those medical services would be much too expensive for the average Indian, they are very inexpensive to most foreigners from the west.

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Originally Posted by LDAHL

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Originally Posted by SteveinMN http://www.simplelivingforum.net/ima...post-right.png Ahh, Saint Ronald. A President who was practically a Leftist compared to some of the current wanna-bes...

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Jonah Goldberg has noted this phenomenon of liberals seeing the good in prominent conservatives after they are safely dead:

[snip]Over the last decade or so, as the giants of the founding generation of modern American conservatism have died, each has been rehabilitated into a gentleman-statesman of a bygone era of conservative decency and open-mindedness.

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Oops. I forgot the <sarcasm></sarcasm> tag on that one.

Sorry, no warm fuzzies for Ronnie here. I will give him credit for being a better communicator than White House inhabitants like Bush43, Quayle, and (yes) Biden. I will give him credit for being able to quickly alter the national conversation from "should we cut?" to "how much should we cut?" Beyond that, though, I absolutely believe America's slide into becoming a banana republic started on his watch, and that GOP fealty to their vision of what Reagan stood for has screw^h^h^h^h^h messed up the country since. The issue of abortion aside, at least Ronnie stayed out of people's bedrooms. And he was realistic enough to realize that life as we knew it would not end because he authorized a tax increase. In today's Republican party, Reagan -- as he was -- would be a RINO, having failed to display the evangelical extremism that politicians like Bachmann and Perry muster and not being able to sign on to Grover Norquist's country-killing tax pledge.

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Originally Posted by dmc

All this worry about Ryan, is no one worried that Biden is actually that heartbeat away from being President.

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Aside from occasional bouts of foot-in-mouth disease (also suffered by George W. Bush and Dan Quayle), what's the beef with Biden?

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Originally Posted by dmc

if things continue the way things are, but then when the USA goes bankrupt I'm not sure where else would be much better.

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Down in our hidey-hole with the rest of us crazy-armed-tin-foil-hat-wearing-waiting-for-the-mutant-zombie-hoardes looneys? Bring cake!!

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Originally Posted by Spartana

Down in our hidey-hole with the rest of us crazy-armed-tin-foil-hat-wearing-waiting-for-the-mutant-zombie-hoardes looneys? Bring cake!!

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Heck, I'll almost be happy the day the ferry to the mainland stops running. Life will be good.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-4...6/IMG_0060.JPG

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Originally Posted by Spartana

One plus! Robs friend's $800 hernia surgury in Mexico would be affordable to us from the USA, but would that be considered afordable for most low-income Mexicans? Also, how much does the governement of Mexico (or any other country with lower out-of-pocket medical costs) substidize healthcare in their country? With, I'm assuming, their citizens tax dollars. My sister lived in New Zealand for over a year and went to the doctor for something. It was very inexpensive for her. However it was inexpensive for her because the taxpaying citizens of New Zealand were paying a large portion of their income towards the system.

Of course other countries generally have a lower cost of living so therefore their medicsal care is going to cost less even if not subsidized by taxes. Sounds to me that is what Rob is looking for. I read that India has a whole sub-culture of medical workers, hospitals and doctors that just provide cash-only medical services for foreigners. And while those medical services would be much too expensive for the average Indian, they are very inexpensive to most foreigners from the west.

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The $800 hernia operation was in Cambodia, not Mexico. Mexico is not quite that cheap.....I wish it was but it's not. Mexico does have socialized medicine BTW - the only real problem is that you have to be in the formal economy to get it - so all those people hawking goods at you on street corners - they don't qualify.

And India does have great health care available for foreigners who can pay cash. I am reading a book now called State of the Heart about a couple who went to India for the husband's open heart surgery. They had very good things to say about the experience and encourage others to offshore their health care too. India sounds absolutely fascinating but it's very hard to stay on legally long term. Rob

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Originally Posted by gimmethesimplelife

The $800 hernia operation was in Cambodia, not Mexico. Mexico is not quite that cheap.....I wish it was but it's not. Mexico does have socialized medicine BTW - the only real problem is that you have to be in the formal economy to get it - so all those people hawking goods at you on street corners - they don't qualify.

And India does have great health care available for foreigners who can pay cash. I am reading a book now called State of the Heart about a couple who went to India for the husband's open heart surgery. They had very good things to say about the experience and encourage others to offshore their health care too. India sounds absolutely fascinating but it's very hard to stay on legally long term. Rob

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I've also been interested in moving out of the country at some point even though I am able to use the VA for medical care cheap or free. But the cost of living overall in many places is so much cheaper that my quality of life, both financially as well as from a lifestyle perspective, may be better. One of the books that inspired me to retire early was called "Cashing in on the American Dream: How to Retire at 35" by Paul and Vicky Terhorst. They got rid of everything and became travellers, living for long periods of time in low-cost counties like Thailand, etc... eventually settling down in Argentina. They had good jobs and a large saving accounts to live off so didn't need to work (making that transition MUCH easier for them) but much of their advise may work for those who need to work. For me, as a female, I do have to many consideration about living in a foreign place that males usually don't have to deal with. Everything from safety issues (is it safe to walk alone at night, drive or travel by train or bus long distances, etc...) to social issues like how must I dress and behave? Will I be accepted in the culture if I don't abide by certain gender-roles/rules? Lots of little things that can be big things over the long term. I know you may have those same issues in a forgein country being a gay man as many places aren't as enlightened as the USA - well, parts of the USA :-)!