Today the walking man, posted an eloquent and stirring piece regards the proposed health care plan before congress, in favor of the single payer version.
His post will stir your emotions if you are a proponent. If you are agin it...suck an egg....and get sick...and go to the hospital...and pay exorbitant amounts of money to get the egg stink poison out of your system...and drop dead to boot...with no coffin money...or food for your children...because you had a pre-condition which pre-cluded any post-payment despite the fact that you pay 37,000 dollars a year for minimum health coverage...if...if...if, you go to their doctor...and, your widow will have to become a ho...working out of your 12 year old sedan...because the bank foreclosed on your house, due to the fact that your widow had to use the mortgage money to buy food...do fucking dah. Welcome to the third world America.
Sorry...back to my rational post.
The issue is running into stiff opposition, not just from the Republican side, but from a few Democrats as well. And in this past week it has taken a violent turn, at some of the "town hall" meetings across the country. The new tactics, remind me of the Nixon years...and the Nixon "dirty tricks" goons who went out to Democratic rallies and purposely disrupted them. And the tactics also put me in mind of the Brown Shirts of the German National Socialist Party of the early thirties.
Unfortunately, I am an artist, not a writer, and there are far more competent voices out there saying it for me...the way I'd like to say it. However, just so that I feel I have contributed in some way, I have a video of Millie Jackson singing a song dedicated to the Republican Party, wayward Democrats, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity...and my favorite traitor to free people everywhere...Rush Limpcojones. Here's to you boys and girls who drink the kool aid of insurance execs everywhere:
ADDENDUM - A great suggestion in the comments here...by The Walking Man. CONTACT YOUR SENATOR...http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
34 comments:
she is just so darlin'.
eloquent.
rightous.
love the dress.
drummer is kickin'.
You left out the biggest douchebag of all, Sean Hannity!
I sure hope that reason wins and that the U.S. gets some social health coverage. Frankly, once you've lived somewhere where you are protected, you'd never be able to do without it.
CONTACT YOUR SENATORS
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Punch---yes indeedy.
Otin---Damn good suggestion!
Dedene---We are not a nation of reason. We are a nation of reactionaries and kool aid drinkers. But thanks for the good thoughts...and don't be a stranger here :)
wm---Thanks for the suggestion...it's a good one, and I added it to the post.
its really disgusting what's going on.
Glad I live in Canada now- but its not much better. Money for some basic health care services is being taken away here in Alberta because of budget issues, yet some high-cost procedures are still covered even though they really have nothing to do with health...
Anyway, the US Dems can't seem to agree on anything.... I've always thought the only way to get healthcare reform is to erode away at the current system, little by little. We could get a lot of congress men saying ok to not letting insurance companies exclude people because of preexisting conditions...especially if its on a bill they really want passed...
Valerie---Thnaks for stopping by and commenting...I truly appreciate it.
Believe me...stay in Canada. U.S. politicos cannot agree on anything. I have no reason to think they will get together on this one either. If we get a bill, it will be so watered down and favorable to the drug companies and medical interests, that we might as well have nothing. They may be getting the message...but just don't give a shit. They are the ultimate "I-got-mine-fuck-you" bunch.
Thanks for the comment. Free health care for all should be a goal for all of humanity not that it will be achieved or will not be abused. Still a goal to work towards to is needed right?
SJ---I absolutely agree. That is certainly my hope. The abused part doesn't bother me. I don't how that can be avoided, but to use that as a reason NOT to have universal health care, is obscene, methinks.
Also, thanks for coming by...I thoroughly enjoyed visiting your site as well.
Insurance companies have no business in the health delivery business. How they got there is a convoluted story of government abdicating its responsibility and corruption. The internationally best rated health care system in the world is France. They have a hybrid single-payer system. Basic services provided by the public augmented by supplemental insurance coverage. It works.
But I agree with you JJ. Fat chance we would copy the French, after all, we had to save their bacon what can they teach us.
BTW, I didn't realize Millie was so eloquent!
Mr. C---Correctomento on that one...no chance we'll copy any other system that HAPPENS TO WORK...especially the fucking ungrateful frogs. Twice ungrateful at that. Let's keep on beating that drum, over and over...64 years later. Oh, and then there's that matter of backing them in IndoChina...now there was a great idea.
Did you know the U.S. was the only nation fighting the Germans...twice?
Mr. C(2)---I have loved this woman and that song since my second divorce. It says it all.
intelliwench reporting in, sir, finally on hiatus from the hell which passed as my job for most of the last 6 weeks.
Why isn't Faux News pointing out that the folks who are yelling the loudest about gov'mint health care already have insurance? Or perhaps the better "why" to ask is: how come the folks who don't have health insurance aren't yelling even louder?
(My senator is Bob Corker...'nuf said?)
intell---I was thinking about you just today. Glad you survived. We were about to send a patrol into them hills over yonder to look for you.
I read a beautiful synopsis of the plan especially for dummies, about 30 minutes ago.
Nonnie9999, who can be found here: http://mikk2.wordpress.com/, puts it this way:
1. if you lose your job, you will still be covered.
2. if you have no insurance now, you will be covered.
3. if you have a preexisting condition, you will be covered.
4. you will not have to declare bankruptcy and lose everything you have if you get sick.
5. if you have insurance that you like, you can keep it.
I am not sure that those who don't have health insurance know how, or don't have the wherewithal to be heard. It is all very mysterious.
I don't think the dems are hanging tough enough with this thing. And then of course, right wing pundits and radio "commentators" are loud and shrill with total BS for the uninformed.
If we don't enact a health care program this time around, we are in serious trouble.
Welcome back.
What the fuck is it with you guys and the French. Just 'cause they did not give Bush's asshole of an invasion, a French Kiss, the wing nuts of this country go batshit. When is the last time you ordered Freedom Fries, for crying out loud.
Intelli, welcome back, sorry for the language. Just bad habits from disgust with the whole blame game.
ewww we don't like the Freenccchhh,
ewwwww they know how to cook,
eewwwwwwuu they take care of their own,
eeeuuuuuwwww that have the Louve,
eeuuuwwwwww, they gaavve us the Statue of Liberty,
eewwwwww their prez is banging a babe.
eewwwwu, they are all catholics
eeuwwwwwww.
Punch---Fries are not free.
Perhaps you should come back tomorrow...when your head is clearer.
Catchy lyrics, easy to sing along.
that is my point!
My head is clear, if you ran a scan, put a probe, had a team of doctors operate and open it up and look around they would not find anything.
Punch---you must have insurance. Have you ever consider running for national office?
Doug---I particularly like the second refrain.
lol, Uncle you win
you are the man.
I can attest to that. Punch's head is completely empty, as he has so aptly pointed out on many occasions.
And dammit! Fries should be free. Fat free that is, so you hopefully won't have to depend on the for-profit-insurance-pharmaceutical-complex for your heart surgery.
So, Mr. C, are you saying he should run for office?
All because of the damned Bastille.
Thanks for the welcome back, Punch. There is no such thing as bad language, only bad grammar. And speaking of grammars, I do have to remind you, jaded, that if not for the French, there'd be no wench (my grand-grand-mère was a froggie).
I think that there is just a soupçon of jealousy that the French have figured out how to live the good life, guilt-free (even with all that Catholic baggage). Probably because les Français don't watch so much foquing television to guilt-trip them into thinking butter, wine, and sex are eeeevil. Not even when you do them all together.
(Note to self: do not post comments here on less than 2 cups of coffee in future...)
I live in the UK, but I'm from Ireland, which has a weird mix of public-private that sounds like what you might end up with. The result is decent basic health care for all and fantastic health care for the rich. The former part of that is clearly an improvement on what you have in the US, but the latter is socially divisive. The Irish system is a result of a very poor and young nation trying to build an infrastructure after centuries of colonial neglect. It's not a viable solution for a rich nation such as the US.
The UK's press coverage of your debate is mostly wonderment - the presence of Karel Sikora, who is ideologically opposed to taxpayer-funded healthcare, on US TV channels is a total distortion. People here love the NHS (National Health Service) despite its many problems. The current Labour government and the incoming Conservative one have both been entirely captivated by the argument that profit-motivated private businesses can run public services more efficiently than public services, despite well-documented failures in privatised areas such as hospital cleaning.
The NHS was founded as part of the 1945 Labour government's pledge to reform the country to serve the people who won the war - the 1918 generation had been visibly, massively failed by the state. It's had problems, but it's shining proof that a people, through its goverment, can provide top quality services at reasonable cost. Yes, you can have cosmetic surgery, or give birth, or get dentistry, physiotherapy and so on privately, but the actual care is no better - flashier offices and more convenient times don't matter very much.
The bottom line is this: NHS care is paid for through general taxation (0% for the first £5500, 20% for the next £30,000, 40% on anything over about £40,000 and 50% on anything over £150,000). You phone 999 and an ambulance is there in minutes.
Nobody has to hand over a single penny at ER or at their local doctor. In England, you pay £6 for a prescription, whether it's for cancer drugs or for athlete's foot powder - in Scotland and Wales, prescriptions are free.
It's no exaggeration to say that, despite occasional frustrations, people actually love the NHS. It's Britishness at its best - kind, friendly, sometimes ramshackle, racially diverse and above all, fair.
I guess the absence of a US equivalent is because the initial colonists were social darwinists - they misunderstood Darwin completely, and believed that life should be a struggle between people, and that material failure in this life is a marker of spiritual failure, while material success is proof that God smiles on you (Robinson Crusoe is a primary literary example of this).
It's pretty selfish, and it's self-defeating. The rich don't want to pay for the poor. Fine - but the children of the rich can catch diseases from the unprotected poor, the children of the rich might need a kidney from some deceased proletarian etc. etc.. The rightwing in this country ask why a binman should pay to train a surgeon, who'll earn a lot of money. The answer is that binmen need surgery too! A taxpayer system ensures that everybody gets a high standard of care while paying a fair amount for it.
You Americans deserve to have something like the NHS. Governments are formed because communities realise that together, they're stronger. A national health service is the ultimate expression of mutual care. Go for it.
"the kool aid of insurance execs"
I've been looking for some of that everywhere, our supermarkets don't seem to stock it.
intell---not to insult your "intell", but you do know don't you, that the Franchy comments were in jest...oui?
Butter? Ahem, er...really? Would you care to elaborate (I hope)?
You read this blog in the mornings? Très courageux (ok, I looked it up).
Plashing---Thank you for this background information. Further proof that the ridiculous idea of many American's assertion that we should leave health care in the hands of private corporations is just that...absurd.
You refer to the "debate" going on over here regards this issue. I am not sure there ever was a debate, and that is the essence of our problem. The "debate" has now gotten physical...by the right-wing, I should add. How does one cope with screaming meemies, shouting platitudes...and completely uninformed platitudes, at that. The situation is grim, to say the least.
Mo.---Not obtainable in a supermarket here either. If you have satellite reception, simply turn on the American cable news, FOX. Tons of it by osmosis there.
Ain't 100% sure, but then, who is, eh?
The deal with the French took a real bad turn when their countrymen decided that Bush junior was an aggressor with his verbal attack on Iraq.
They thought him a lying sack of manure with only two items on his wish list.
A country near the oil
and
to build up his military/industrial stock.
Well, McCain wanted to stay (for a thousand years, if need be) but personally, being a vet, I don't cotton to the idea of the 51st state being in the middle east.
French are an odd group, to be sure.
But they by god demand their government do the right thing or they get out the guillotine! Y'gotta love that attitude! Maybe if we had done that after we found that there were no weapons of mass destruction, that their army was a sad collection of running chickens (we knew that from the first time in), and that both, Bush junior AND cheney were sucking up money left and right, maybe we wouldn't have lost some 4200 of our nation's children to their own private money making amchine.
For sure, if they hadn't retained their bogus position, we wouldn't have given Pakistan all those F-16s (goddam Bush junior to hell and cut off his wiener! and feed it to Cheney) but now, just like Reagan, we have a new threat to worry about.
Of course, everybody remembers that Reagan trained and supplied bin laden...(geez. good idea, dumbass!) but now, the only radical Islamic nation in the world with nuclear capabilities now has the deployment systems they need to exact death and destruction on a grand scale.
I'll take France over Pakistan, any day of the week!
Course, I also think they should legalize pot because thousands of us need the work!
(not out of line, was I? Too rough?)
boneman---No one is out of line.
Your comments are always welcome here...I live for comments. I think however, that possibly mine and Mr. Charleston's banter about the French weren't taken in the tongue-in-cheek way we meant them. Not sure. Maybe I should do a disclaimer in an addendum to that effect.
And incidentally, the French were absolutely correct...although now there is some evidence that George baby invaded Iraqi not for oil, or his daddy, but for God...to fulfill some damn Revelations prophecy. Gotta look that one up, as I read it a couple of weeks ago and didn't note the source.
Yeah, McCain...well, a thousand years is a long time in homo sapien time. Not even the Nazis could pull that one off.
Pakistan...yes, there is a "sum of all our fears" if ever there was one.
My dear Ms. Wench, may I pour you another cup of decaf? A fine French product.
Poutain for everyone!
Punch---you leave intell alone...she'll grind your ass up and sell it to McDonalds.
wm---that's cheesy.
J - I know you jest. But I like to exploit my heritage whenever possible.
(Decaf, punch??? Real women, regardless of nationality, don't drink decaf!)
Told you so, Punch.
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