their last prime minister was indicted for tax fraud and bribery.

That's probably only the tip of the iceberg.

Is this a flouride thing?

Our vital fluids! /Dr. Strangelove

Consuela, that is a nice site.

I do not see anywhere on it addressing the mandates for employeers to offer dependant coverage up to age 26, or free preventative visits - and what that will do to business costs. That is the fear, I think. Honestly I do not know what the fear is.

I did allow myself a moment of amusement during everything by muttering "Mom was from Chicago?" to myself.

Heh. That's great.

I think I may buy myself a Happy Election Watch (it will really be my Christmas present to me).

That's a gorgeous watch, msbelle. I've got a Skagen that was given to all the employees of a company that I worked for years back as a Christmas present. I wear it with everything; it is my OTW. I like yours a little better (mother of pearl!), but the lines are so elegant and the way it sits on the wrist is so lightweight, you barely feel it.

You know what's really cool? Hearing so much positivity here about last night's election results. My work is 95% Democrat (UW-Madison, the bastion of liberal thinking), so I'm not getting any negativity here, but it's still nice to be able to come in here and listen to the squee.

Honestly I do not know what the fear is.

I truly don't think it's anything as specific as the cost of benefit X or Y -- it's a front for a much more basic "our assumptions about the way things would always be have shifted", and that's why any fact-based argument, whether it's "preventive screenings will only raise health care costs by X%" or "the Dow has gone way the fuck up", gets ignored or (if it has to be accepted) immediately replaced with some other fear.

I bought the watch, plus some DVDs for mac.

I am still not getting the agita over healthcare. A Canadian immigrant in the office was railing against Canadian healthcare today. His family having to wait 6 months for an appointment for an ordered MRI.

At least you can get it without losing your house that way.

I do not see anywhere on it addressing the mandates for employeers to offer dependant coverage up to age 26, or free preventative visits - and what that will do to business costs.

I don't know, I haven't dug into it deeply enough (I was looking for information about businesses on the 50-employee line, because my brother's restaurant is about that size). The setup appears to be that if you have more than 50 full-time employees, you either provide insurance or pay a penalty equal to $2K x (#of employees -30).

If you're smaller than that you don't have to provide insurance, but if you do, you can get credits against your costs.

I haven't looked to see whether employers are required to provide plans that allow family members to be covered.

Stuff like this frustrates the hell out of me. I have no problem discussing differences of policy and philosophy with people. But I hate them refusing to know or accept factual data.

Offer to bet. In my last job I made money from a conservative co-worker.After the third time he stopped discussing politics. Because I refused to discuss factual disagreements unless he was willing to bet on them.