Thursday, December 5, 2013

A Repost

I posted this a while ago. Time for a repost, as she died Tuesday. It's unjust of course, she was a very happy and sunny person, and the numbers would say she was owed another few decades of life. Her other half got to stay with her for the last two weeks. He's a great guy who set a whole lot aside in order to both be with her and help her, but he couldn't have done any of that if there weren't some humane laws and policies in place. He and I will drink soon, and perhaps he will clarify where any excess methadone might be. Demerol also accepted.
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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:

Goatse wins again.
The goatse must try harder.

10 comments:

OBS said...

Sorry about your friend. R.I.P.

Substance McGravitas said...

Yeah, she got dealt a bad hand, but lived a pretty fun life for the most part, and picked a good boyfriend. I dunno if I'd have the fortitude to get the things done that he did.

Pupienus Maximus said...

My condolences.

zombie rotten mcdonald said...

also she had the good fortune to be born into a civilized First World country.

RIP indeed.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

My condolences.
~

Smut Clyde said...

Sympathy. Enjoy the drinks. The Frau Doktorin does a lot of volunteer work in the local hospice, but she never brings home presents.

Dragon-King Wangchuck said...

Condolences. Especially considering that you didn't get any of that methadone.

M. Bouffant said...

Ugh. Awful world.

fish said...

Very sorry about your friend.
You might also like to know that every once in a while when I get particularly strident in my arguing that dems are as evil as repubs (THEY ARE!), I remember that post and realize maybe (MAYBE!) not everything the dems do sucks.

Substance McGravitas said...

That is a really wonderful thing to say, so thank you.