Now that is an awfully mean way to make an argument, and follow-up comments from Walt (who I like a lot as a commenter) take Wiley to task as it can be extended into this or that absurdity, and if you complain about the president you're killing grandma and so on. But look at this:
Yesterday I was out drinking with two friends, one of whom has been told by some doctors that she's gonna die. Those are nachos and pills, including, apparently, some methadone. Shoulda begged to try one: she's gonna get more! Anyway, it was a nice Sunday drink, and those pills are mostly paid for, not just through sociamalist Canadian government programs, but through extended health benefits at a union shop (though I don't know if she was union or exempt). Her partner, in the union at the same employer, has leave. She and he get to spend as much time as they like together in relative comfort, though not at full pay. And that is a pretty important thing.
People - myself included - can be as disappointed with Obama as they like, but a plan passed under him will provide more people with those pills. It falls short of what I take for granted here, but I am fortunate enough to live in a civilized nation where I can go out with my dying friends for a drink instead of despairing that I have to figure out how to hold a benefit for them. For a lot of people that health plan is gonna be a very practical matter with quick impact despite its piecemeal nature, and it's a step that you'd be insane to think would happen under a Republican. [Important caveat: getting money for autism treatment is a fucking bitch here.] There are of course other issues, but a step is a step.
Also we played some trivia:
15 comments:
Not enough people care about the quadrivia.
Did you see the final 1994 interview with Dennis Potter, where he is sipping a methadone cocktail, having found the concentration that took the edge off the pain but still left him alert enough to write?
but a step is a step
This is the trap that leaves me helpless/hopeless. 0.06% less shitty is still 0.06% less shitty, and that 0.06% can save real people. But the bombs keep dropping and the bankers are still free, and I start to think it is incredibly selfish of me to care more about a hungry US kid than I do a splattered Iraqi one. There is no way out that doesn't involve lots of people dying. I can't keep pretending that continuing to tick dem instead of rep is the solution. More and better democrats is ashes in the mouth.
So there is that ray of motherfucking sunshine for you.
I am also sad that Goatse's national ranking is only 9th. Who is ahead, 2 girls 1 cup?
I'm in the cranky-about-Obama camp myself, I must say, but numbers is numbers.
The main counterargument to health care that I can see is that poverty is not good for anybody's life-expectancy, and that pooch, I think, is screwed.
I'm really sorry about your friend. Assuming none of you, are, like, 75 that is just really weird and sad. I hope the time she has left is spectacular.
I'm like "meh" about Obama. He'll never be want I want him to be or should be, but I'd rather have him than someone who is actual sociopath.
I can't believe y'all have the same trivia game up in Canada. I think if I saw "Goatse" pop up while I was playing I'd probably laugh through the entire game...so it's a good thing we're not playing you Canucks. I did an entry about this too.
BTW, I'm sure I've mentioned this on your blog before, so forgive me for repeating myself, but my sister has to live in Canada because her is autistic and has a speech disorder...and most of his care is paid for up there.
son. Her son
Each province does different things: ours parcels out a sum and pretends it's enough, which it is not. But it's something as opposed to nothing. AFAIK NY state is not bad, while I imagine a place like, say, Missouri would be awful.
I'm really sorry about your friend.
She is about as old as I am and fun and entertaining to be with and has an excellent husband. It is weird, but it's fun hanging around with them nonetheless.
Did you see the final 1994 interview with Dennis Potter
No I did not, but I see it's on YouTube and I will give it a look.
It is weird, but it's fun hanging around with them nonetheless.
I'm glad.
BTW, my sis lives in Calgary, though I couldn't tell you much more. We aren't close. Not for any bad reason, just because our parents married when she was well into adulthood and I was on the cusp of it, and we were ending up in different states and stuff. But she is a lovely person.
More and better democrats is ashes in the mouth.
I don't think we ever got more and better democrats. As much as I am unenthused about Obama, the alternative is too freaky to contemplate.
The problem is the system, and the system is the problem.
The political system.
The electoral system.
The governance system.
All the wrong incentives, all while the system owners have hardened it against democratic reform. The two party system, the electoral college, the bicameral legislature, obscure and undemocratic Senatorial rules, too much power in the executive, and high courts overly influenced by ideology and corruption.
Now, tell me how you're going to fix that.
Anyone?
Bueller?
That's right. We'll tear it down and rebuild it or we'll continue to complain about it while it eats us.
Remember, those who OWN the systems are the ones who BENEFIT from the systems. They will never, EVER change the systems, and they, unsurprisingly, are the only ones who can.
It simply can't be any simpler. The system is entirely corrupt - and there's nothing to be done working within that system.
Please don't tell ZRM I was here spreading this kind of darkness...
Please don't tell ZRM I was here spreading this kind of darkness...
OH I'M TELLIN'!
(Tellin' on the mountain...)
~
Thank you, Substance. I heart you.
sniff
I'm assuming it's a power trio called Knob, composed of Goatse (The Lead Guitar Player) & the rhythm section of Pooh & Cool H.
Haw! Love the perfect username. :)
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