I got as far as "Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all" - Helen Keller
These assholes have no sense of context, obviously. Spending someone else's money is not really like struggling against deafness and blindness.
Assholes.
I really don't give a shit what David Simon thinks of me. I praise him up every opportunity I get, and I continue to do so because I like "The Wire" so much and I want other people to enjoy it.
I work in a similar field as he used to (grammer!), so I really enjoy when there are fairly accurate depictions of crime and punishment and social disparity and all it brings: child protection, family law, uncertainty, pain, and stress.
an extra bit - when I talk about 'bigots' I don't necessarily mean racist people. My experience has been that with a lot of left-leaning people (who won't even admit that they are left-leanining), I find myself grouping them into a lump - and also right-leaning people: they speak vitriolically about ideas that they aren't willing to follow through on in their daily life, when it comes down to it.
I'm not witty like most commenters on videogum, but I will say - I don't get this video. She's a lady acting silly. With an audience, apparently. I'm not saying that I would be in that audience, but I think it's bad form to laff at performers who attract a hall full of people.
Non sequiter, but I also think (and I am ducking b/c I know you are throwing things at me as I speak, and I am drinking) that Americans waste a LOT of time and energy and do more harm than good by laughing at their opponents. They laugh at the politicians, but fail to appreciate that those politicians represent REAL PEOPLE living in the world. It's easier, I suppose, to laugh at a politician than it is to laugh at your next door neighbour. You don't want to look at your next door neighbour in the eye and call him or her a small minded bigot. You're too civilized; you would never do that.
In my opinion, political activity needs to retreat from the figure-heads and needs to start at your door. Not by telling your next-door neighbour that he/she is a bigot (get real with yourself - if you buy into the Daily Show, you start to judge your next-door neighbour - you do!) but by telling your next door neighbour that you have things in common with him/her. Find the things in common.
I am a horrible long-winded, non-witty, lecturing commenter (without ANY moral authority); I am sorry for this but I also kind of like my idea and I am too lazy to write it in pen so I will post it, so I can find it again.
That's a Moby song. Ech, Moby is to women like Moby is to anything.
Btw, I don't know what this video is about - one attractive woman can wear many different hairstyles?
The healthcare situation is complicated. I've thought more about it after I posted. I want to make clear that I was responding to what Ron Paul said, not the audience. Those people are morons. But I do think Ron Paul made some sense. The thought of a 30 year old person choosing to not buy health insurance is apalling. In Canada I have no choice. I pay for it through the nose through my income tax. And I'm ok with that. I also buy my own private insurance through work. The problem I have is that my tax money is being wasted on drugs we don't need. At the expense of specialists and hospital beds.
I had a family member die of cancer and it was unsettling how we were turned away by the medical system. Once the handwriting was on the wall that it was terminal, we could not get a bed in the emergency room in the hospital for all the issues that arose; constipation, nausea, dementia.
And they told us to go to the long term facility, and we went there, but they discouraged us from going there because they had only a couple of beds and those beds should be reserved for late stage alzheimers patients.
And I felt so angry that the healthcare system couldn't give my family member a bit of help, after all of those years of paying in and taking care of their health and doing their best.
So, we took the family member home. 1 month later, we were sitting up at 3 hour intervals giving morphine shots. I sat up for full nights, and I was working and I got no time off. We gave the morphine shots, and then it was over.
And I can't help being mad at how we did everything right and cared for others, and this is what we got in the end.
And we payed a lot in taxes for health expenses. Everyone in my family has always worked, mostly middle class. No one has collected EI.
I wanted somewhere else to go, another option. The panic and distress on my family member's face as we stood in the hall, with him on a stretcher, for 2 days kills me. And he died one month later. There was no where else to go.
I know you must all think I'm a jerk for coming against public health care, and I need to say, I am FOR public health care. My main point is to be careful: the budget goes to hospitals, drugs, and doctors' salaries.
In my experience, the battle is against drugs. The pharmeceutical industry is stronger in the US than it is in Canada, and my experience is that the drugs win.
Ultimatley, we need specialists, and beds. Drugs are needed when they are needed, but the drug industry tells us that we need them so much more than we do.
Excuse my bad grammar, but I hope I got my point across.
Yes, I do. I pay for it though my work monthly and through my income tax which is very high. The federal government takes a chunk of my income and the provincial government takes an even bigger chunk. Income tax is much higher in Canada than it is in the US, particularly in 'have-not' provinces. And I pay a lot, yet the service I get is sub-par. And there is no private option in my province.
I am a left-leaning person, don't write me off just because I have views on public health care. I feel qualified to speak on the negatives of that scenario.
There are positives too, obviously. I just think smaller, poorer places should approach it with caution. Big cities will be ok.
Speaking as a Canadian (slowly obviously!) - we have publicly funded health care available to everyone. This, in combination with the fee per service model, has caused a glut of unessecary procedures and perscriptions. And there is a shortage of necessary services. I thought Ron Paul made some sense.
Canada is turning away from the publicly funded model to a model that also has a private option. I live in a small province, and my mother shouldn't have to wait 9 months to see a specialist about her knees. In the meantime, her family doc gives her cortisone shots, but their efficacy decreases the more you give them.
Canada had a purely public model and I can tell you it did not work. Healthcare makes up about 50% of every provinces' budget and it increases as the population ages. And the service is not stellar, particularly in smaller places. Doctors increasingly demand higher wages and the pharmeceutical industry convinces everyone that they need drugs. And the public pays - because the system is publicly funded.
I would be cautious about adopting public health care, particularly where everyone is enthralled by drug companies, who continue to sell us drugs that we don't need. You'll be paying for those drugs. And the more you pay for drugs, the less money there is to pay for specialists.
thank you for taking the time to underline the fact that I am NOT being validated Friend. I'm not sure what that means in this very specific context because I am very far from being a Kardashian.
The way you people police the comments of videogum...ye gods...are you getting paid for this?
Comments