So, the Shutdown...

Actually, they proceed haltingly if at all because the sites can't handle the traffic.

Consider that for a moment. we pass a law DEMANDING that millions of people buy insurance or face a financial penalty, we set up a sight which is designed to facilitate these purchases, and on DAY ONE the site is overloaded with traffic it was technically unprepared to handle.


THESE are the people who are going to FIX healthcare? SERIOUSLY?!!?!?!


Moreover, I was listening to NPR on the way home this afternoon, and the copy was written something like this:

"Republicans claim that the new health care law is wildly unpopular, however on the first day it was open for business, healthcare.gov was swamped with millions of people...."


Imagine that. There's a law that REQUIRES millions of Americans to do a thing, and when millions of Americans comply and try to do it that is somehow proof that the course of action is popular?

As if there were cheaper prices outside of the exchanges and they chose to use it anyway.

It strikes me as a combination of herd mentality, the billions of dollars of disinformation that's been spewed over the airwaves since the ACA was passed, and a failure on the part of its proponents to get an accurate message across.

I'll bet you if you asked the people who couldn't get through yesterday, the majority would tell you they thought October 1st was "the only day you gotta sign up for this Obamacare thing."

Once everybody relaxes and realizes they've got months, things will go more smoothly.

Except that they've got six months to do it. You'd think if they were all kicking and screaming about being forced to sign up, they'd have at least put it off a day or two.

Shoes! Where ya been?

MAOHS sighting, hooray!

Now where's that gun toting shower dude avatar?

Ever play an online videogame? Companies like Sony, MS, & Blizzard have some of the best web and network programmers in the industry...on launch day under sudden load wanna know what happens? They crash and burn almost without fail. Because the fact of the matter is, load simulations aren't like the real thing and it takes a few days to a week or more to iron out difficulties.

It's there now.

I'm inclined to agree here. Many on here would say that the private sector does things better than the government, yet with nearly every hyped website or game launch, they crash and burn as hard as the government did with the rollout of these exchanges. It's one thing to simulate server demand, and it's another thing entirely to go live.

The simple fact that you think it's a fallacy undermines your position.

The simple fact that you don't think it is undermines yours.

The slippery slope is only valid for shoring up your own position. When somebody else tries it, then it's a fallacy. There's no slippery slope here, there's just somebody who can't make the case in favor of what the House is doing.

I wasn't talking about what the House is doing. I was talking about Obamacare being a massive federal power grab.

Yeah, my post still works. Just put the prefix White in front of the word House.

You're aware of all the stories about people who don't even know the actual name of the thing?

Counting on the American public to be well informed is a mugs game.

Isn't what that what you were doing? "They were swamping the website because they thought they were REQUIRED to do it!!!oneone!!"

So they're ignorant, but apparently not of the first possible day to sign up and how and where to do so, but still of how much time they actually have to get it done?

That's some pretty specific ignorance. Seems more likely to me that, if they signed up on the first day, it's because they wanted to.

In other words, I'm assuming, but you're not. Is that what you're saying?

You're going off point.

I'm not complaining that the site was swamped, I'm complaining that the planners had every reason to assume it would be and still were not ready.

Yes, that implicitly assumes the public was ill-informed....but that's my position on most every issue - the public is ill-informed.

and no, honestly, i DON'T think that saying that millions of people knew when the first day was but didn't know how long the enrollment period was is a contradiction. There are a thousand "Tomorrow is the first day you can ..." news stories for every one that leads with "on the first day of a three month enrollment period..."

If not more.

Even those who are marginally informed are usually only aware of the first soundbite, which is why so many biased stories lead with a slanted headline or paragraph, then later on they get around to mentioning the counter-point - after most have stopped reading.

As others of pointed out, it's an extremely common phenomenon. Even in the private sector. Even with the most successful private companies.

Why?

I love this sudden zeal for "it's the law" thinking. The Second Amendment, immigration enforcement, and laws against weapons trafficking to drug cartels and terrorist organizations are also "the law" -- got any zeal left over for those?

So John Castle thinks defunding the 2nd amendment is a legitimate tactic, that's hilarious.

It's hilarious that you think you can distort what I said to mean anything like that.

What else would you expect from a noted statist like John Castle?

Actually he's one hundred percent right.

The CR is sent to the Senate who then immediately votes it down. There isn't even a discussion of it. So the Continuing Resolutions are not being considered. They are not even being looked at.

They're called Escorts!
*Benefit 1A of having a resident gay on board

The vote IS consideration. If the leadership was blocking the vote from occurring, then you could argue that the bills were not being considered. But they are being considered and voted down.

Unlike the house which won't even take them up for a vote/consideration.