What people need is health care. Insurance may get you in the door, but if you've got a high deductible, as many do, you pay the co-pay and then you pay the balance.

You may find that there are many necessary medical treatments that are not covered. So you pay for them - in addition to those pricey monthly premiums - or you go without.

If you have some pre-existing condition, as Ms. Price does, and manage to get medical insurance, you may find that anything associated with your condition will not be covered. So you pay again - or do without.

But you still pay, even if you never get to see a doctor or fill a prescription. And if you "consume" too much medical care, you'll pay an escalating premium, if you're not dropped altogether.

People are getting rich from selling medical insurance. It's a high profit business, denying care and refusing to pay bills.

Why do Americans put up with it? People are smarter throughout the rest of the world. But here in the "Good Ole U. S. A." we're blinded by jingoism and market-worship.

I apologize for this morbid and unpleasant digression from the considerably more upbeat subject of taxes.

tom payne's comments on voter turnout:

Well, in the primaries so far this year, turnout on the Democratic side is breaking records, and hordes of people are registering with the Democratic Party.

Unfortunately, they're all Republicans, voting for Senator Clinton. It may be time to face it: this is now a right wing country, and people here l-u-u-v-v torture, and George Bush, and the new feudalism.

The self-proclaimed "Greatest" generation, who everyone agrees could do no wrong and whose like will never again be seen on the face of this Earth - begat the 60s generation. The "Greatest" generation raised them - or, apparently failed to do so.

If you've got to denigrate the 60s, keep in mind from whose loins it sprang: "By their fruits ye shall know them," and all that.

Maybe they weren't actually the "Greatest" after all.

I've watched the (new) series from the very beginning, and to the best of my knowledge, we really don't know.

I could only stand to watch the first few episodes of that 70s series before giving up on it in disgust; great costumes, spiffy sets, but the writing was putrid - too cutesey, too jock-strappy, at times like a lame Western. Reading wikipedia, it appears that the Galactica reaches our Earth some time shortly after the 1969 Apollo moon landing - in that series.

They've changed everything else, so why not the time frame of Earth? Maybe they'll arrive during WWII and "give" the United States the atom bomb (cliché, cliché). Maybe they'll get here when we're in our early Star Trek phase - space travel, but no or a limited warp drive. Maybe it'll be back in ancient times, and they'll end up blending with and sparking the intellectual developments of the Greeks or Romans. Maybe they'll arrive last week. Have I left out the real story of "Roswell"? Clichés on steroids!

It'll hopefully be more complex than that, because of the Cylons. Both flavors of Cylon. "There's somethin' happenin' here, and you don't know what it is - do you, Mr. Jones?"

Footnote: My speculations about Galactica reaching Earth in past actually don't make sense, unless they also have time travel, because last season, Galactica encountered what appears to be a 20th century (or later) Earth satellite. This is what caused the "Cylon plague." Dr. Baltar actually recognized it as having come from the semi-mythical 13th colony. So, as Emily Litella used to say: "Never mind."

At this point, my bet is that Galactica will get here in our future.

Yes, it's sad but true that ALL the candidates are "Manchurian" - operated by hidden shadowy forces whose interests differ substantially from those of ordinary Americans. These are the interests that provide the Big Bucks, the free Learjet transportation, the television spots; who hold the secret, no-press-allowed "fundraising" meetings.

Every candidate, to some extent, is owned and operated by external forces.

It's because we don't have public financing of elections. No duh.

"...we're now a country that literally exempts our highest political officials from the rule of law, and have decided that there should be no consequences when they commit serious felonies."

C'mon, Dr. Greenwald! It's not as bad as all that. Only Republicans are exempted from the rule of law. Once we're back under Democrats, nobody will give them - or the "Democrat gummint" - a break.

"Cheetah is still alive." And on NPR, no less!

I thought that was one of their celebrated April Fool's stories. Today is the first, after all.

So there's less public shrieking about public figures and adultery? Yeah - that's because, over the last 7 years, they've been largely Republican. Eliot Spitzer, erstwhile Governor of New York, was the most prominent Democrat in several years, and did you miss the media circus? If he hadn't promptly resigned, it would still be going on, with photos and tearful testimonials from the call girls on every cable channel, 24x7.

In contrast, there have been a large number of Republican sex scandals, generally revolving around pedophilia and homosexuality, and most of those guys are still holding office today. Sure, there was a flurry of titillating coverage when each instance was revealed, but relatively little "personal destruction."

It's the Half-Vast Right Wing Conspiracy in action again, this time protecting their own. What's in the media or on the right wing recesses of "the Internets" doesn't necessarily relate to what the average American thinks. You really can't tell from the coverage, because the coverage is driven by the political needs of its owners - nearly all of whom are in the Republican fold.

Per Strangely Enough

"being indicted for any kind of voter fraud is ludicrous."

Not if you are an elected or registered Democrat...

Exactly. But "It's okay if you're a Republican"™.