Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit Discussion
In a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
Irregular Times Diaries: Unfit DiscussionIn a time of the spring, old paths are obscured and new growth begins.
I recently posted an article on communism and socialism and one of the recent visitors to this website left a comment in that post.
In response to one of Comrade Stalin’s flippant remarks in which he has to say
Our Peoples Health care will make sure you could see a doctor Free.
(Of course doctors will receive a Government salary set by me, so
can’t say about quality).
This is another argument I always see against communism and by extension, universal healthcare. However what these people fail to see is that all it would take to ensure quality healthcare for everyone in the USA (yes, that includes you, Bill Gates), is to just take maybe five or ten percent from the military budget. A few billion here and there and everyone can have a decent level of healthcare. And, quite frankly, I think healthcare should be available to everyone, not just those who can afford it.
And now I foresee people screaming at me “If we reduce the military funding we won’t be able to stop the axis of evil!” Bullshit. We already spend more money on the military than the rest of the planet combined, so a few billion ain’t really gonna make much of a difference. Shit, if we cut the military spending by half we could solve all of our domestic problems and most of the problems of the rest of the world. But no, the Navy has to have their new Super Carriers, the Airforce has to get it’s next squadron of F-22s, the Marines just can’t survive without their XM8s and XM-29s and gods forbid the Army has to give up it’s next batch of Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters! Why, without these things, we can’t fight the evil doers! Want to see how utterly fucked up the military budget is? Take a look here.
You honestly telling me that without a fraction of that we can’t fight the evil doers and ensure a standard of medical care? Are you fucking insane?
Never mind that the trillions of dollars we’ve spent on a pointless war could have funded a fucking transatlantic tunnel from New York to England. For the price of the Iraq war, we could have had fucking quality healthcare, funding for cancer research, planned parenthood, AIDS research, as well as being able to feed all the starving children. Yes, I’m going to throw out the christian fundamental belly-achin’ when they see something they don’t like “WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN!?” Are these people really telling me that they would rather give the military bottomless funds in the exchange for the illusion of security (a huge advanced army didn’t stop some loons from flying themselves and civilians into those buildings, did it?) rather than give their kids the very real security of healthcare when they need it? When I see christian fundamentalists bitchin’ about homosexuality and sex in the media and start screaming WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN! yet remain silent when the proposal for universal medical care is shot down in congress I have to clench my teeth to keep from screaming at the ceiling because of these sexually repressed homophobes. According to these people, they’d rather let the children die of a preventable illness because they can’t afford the shot but god forbid these youngsters see a couple of dudes swapping saliva!
People say that universal medical care paid for by the government won’t be of the best quality, then tell me why fucking Cuba has a medical and education system that’s second to none? Why is it that most of the civilized world will provide healthcare to it’s citizens free of charge while the USA tells it’s citizens to go die in the gutter. Tell me why the USA has a oh-so-much better system than Cuba, the UK, Canada, etc, etc, etc. Tell me why it’s better to let insurance decide which life-saving treatments it will pay for but not others? Why is Viagra covered in insurance, but not abortion or heart transplants? Yeah, great system of ours. The best of quality in healthcare…but only if you can afford it, otherwise we just have to stabilize you, then boot you out and bill you $50 bucks for an aspirin.
Tell me all of that and tell me against why communism is so bad and capitalism is so great.
~ Damen
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May 15th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
I saw this from the website where Ben Cohen from Ben and Jerry’s contributes, and, with just a fraction of the military budget, we could feed the entire country of Africa, and medically insure them for literally decades. It is sickening, the thought of giving the rich tax cuts while taking from the middle class and the poor, and cliaming not to have enough to medically insure every single American Citizen. Besides, all of that money is going to waste, especially when you consider the war is bullshit, and the spending it totally unecessary and seemingly unjust. Just sickening. Bill Clinton tried to get national health care when he took office, but the Rethugs shut him down from doing so, and now we have what, over 46 million Americans without healthcare? How can we be teh most developed nation in the world, if we cannot even insure all it’s citizens?
May 22nd, 2006 at 2:06 pm
not to be pedantic here, but Africa is not a country; rather it’s a continent…
May 23rd, 2006 at 9:29 pm
I sit here in my comfortable armchair reading Damens post. Over the top of my laptop I am watching a program on public television on traffiking of beautiful Eastern European girls being sold into the international sex trade. And I wonder why the telepreachers are spending time and energy supporting a godless American government in its illegal pursuit of a costly war that daily destroys countless numbers of innocent civilians.
I read posts in irregular times, from erudite young men and women who try to make sense of a world which seems doomed to repeat ad-nausaeum, histories mistakes.
One hundred years ago, Teddy Roosevelt worked to destroy corporate monopolies. In the last 20 years of the last century, Reagan, Bush and bush and the international corporate magacompanies have carefully undone all the progress made by hard working Americans and we are once again back in the dark days of Morgan, Rockefellers, Rothschilde, and the late 19th century robber barons.
I feel Damens pain. I am at loss to understand why those of us who see the terrible things that are done in the name of profit and power, are unable to get our message out.
If I stand at a political meeting and demand of my elected representatives a public accounting, I am either removed as some kind of nut, arrested for `disturbing’ the peace or beaten by the political thugs disguised as custodians of the law (cops).
I too wonder why it is more important to accumulate great wealth, when people are dying all over the world from want of the simplest of needs. Why we need a vast army to defend freedom.
Freedom needs no defense. It stands alone. We need to be defended from those who would cheat us out of the birthright gauranteed by the signatories to declaration of independance. We need to get up out of our comfortable armchairs, move away from our televisions and demand, yes DEMAND that our elected representatives start listenening to US. The WE in we the people.
Keep doing what you are doing Damen. I for one am starting to send selected posts from irregular times (with permission I hope) to my representatives to let them know that there are people out there who really do care what is going on.
Keep looking to see who is driving the bus.
Someone is taking notice
May 28th, 2006 at 8:36 am
Damen,
Let me give you a little background from an ER doctor (who grew up below the poverty level) and a father who recently had a beautiful baby daughter born at 27 weeks due to mom getting severe preeclampsia. I was blown away that even my family qualified for assistance to cover any part of my childs healthcare needs in the hospital that my insurance didn’t cover. If I hadn’t had a dime to my name every penny of her 3 month stay would have been paid for. All I had to do was fill out a few forms. The social services were amazing. They would walk anyone through the process if you took the time. My daughter lay intubated incubator to incubator next to infants of many ethnicities and infants from every socioeconomic background and everyone received the same excellent care my daughter received. I was astonished at how well this supposed broken system worked and was there for every infant there. Being on the otherside of the isle was painful and I spent many nights shedding tears and praying, but in the end I learned a lot, and I believe the experience has made me an even better doctor. My wife spent 2 months at the Ronald McDonald House (privately funded, not goevernment funded) and in that time met families from all walks of life and all over the world. Everyone had their problems, many of them financial, but one thing they had in common. Not one had to worry about paying for their childs healthcare.
Damen, I hate to burst your bubble but there are no children dieing from not getting shots because they can’t afford it. Every state has assitance that will cover every child’s healthcare needs if a parent can’t afford it, it just a matter of taking the time to apply (or in a few instances stop the drugs or booze long enough to help your child).
As for Jose’s “46 million” unisured that is of course thrown around by the mainstream media. 10 to 20% are people that could afford insurance if they wanted it but choose to have their Lexes or the big fancy house instead. There is nothing wrong with this, but it is their choice not mine and I am not willing to pay for their healthcare because they are irresponsible. Another 20 to 30% would qualify for assistance but haven’t taken the time to do it. Then there are the ones like me that are also included in that “46 million”. When I transitioned from residency to my job I went a week without insurance. It takes only one day out of the year without insurance to be included amoung the downtroden and healthcare malnurished.
Now of course, since I am a conservative and believe in capitalism, I am sure I will be labeled as a heartless, cruel, greedy devil, but my friends (even my liberal friends, can’t say that I know of a communist friend though) would disagree. I agree that there is a group of people out there that need help and fall through the cracks. Our system isn’t perfect but I do believe is better then any national system you come up with. I spend many hours each month volunteering my time to give free healthcare at a free clinic, as well as donate money to the same cause. The free clinic doesn’t get a dime from the federal government and is supported by donations from the community and grants from pirvate sources. Believe it or not we also get thousands of dollars in medicine from those evil greedy pharmacy companies.
One more point Damen, if not for the money we have spent on defense you would probably be speaking German saying Hil, Hitler, or speaking Russian living in the twisted form of communism you call stalinism. Your opportunity to spout the information you do here would land you in jail, or worse yet earn you a nice rope necktie. Also, using 9/11 in your arguement is a farce, all of the money and weapons in the world wouldn’t have stopped 9/11. Hindsite is 20/20. 9/11 was destined to happen no matter who was president thanks to previous administrations mistakes and a CIA/FBI with it’s head up its butt, but (no pun intended)that is for another discussion. I will be interested to see what kind of response I get. Many sites I have visited just attack with hatred and vitriol to any and all that offer a different view point. It just shows that they aren’t interested in freedom, or the exchange of ideas. Even though I have found nothing you have printed so far that I agree with, I am thrilled with the fact that you can.
May 28th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
Dan,
No kids are dying from not getting a shot? Then explain this to me,
City Pages - No. 1?
Unlike your own personal experience, there are people out there who can’t get the kind of healthcare you’ve experienced.
Cuba.
Yes, 80 years ago there was a chance we’d all be living under a swastika. But guess what, we’re not. Also the Cold War never turned hot because we had us a large stock of nukes. The Cold War is now over and has been over for quite a while. I think we can now cut back on military spending by maybe…oh say…200 billion dollars and still have an effective fighting force. There is no reason to spend more on the military today than the rest of the world combined. Or are you telling me that there’s a threat to the USA that has stuck around since 1941?
(Note: It’s actually spelled “Heil”)
So tell me then, why has our military spending skyrocketed? Also tell me, then, if 9/11 couldn’t be stopped why has our government used 9/11 every time they want more military spending?
Tell me then why is it that the Bush Administration was warned of a possibility that Al Quidea was looking to attack the USA? Why was it that Bush was told that they would likely “use planes as missles” to attack US buildings? But all that is another wonderful 9/11 conspiracy theory and, as much fun as I find those to be, I’m not going to drag that through the mud here.
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that I somehow am against freedom or the first amendment. Would it somehow surprise you to find that I am an admirer of the United States Constitution and, more importantly, the Bill of Rights? And if it does amaze or surprise you, I would like to ask you why?
Terry,
Any article I write and post here, feel free to copy and past to any site or in any e-mail you wish. I find it encouraging to hear from people who have a similar view and have asked the same questions that I have.
May 28th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
Thanks Damen. I am in the process of copiling a selection of posts. I will keep you informed.
As for Dan, consider the source. A Doctor of medicine who works in a hospital. Why am I not surprised.
May 29th, 2006 at 1:18 am
Damen,
I did not mean to imply that I thought you were against freedom of speech. Only that there are others out there that present themselves as champions of free speech and diversity, as long as you agree with them and, of course, diversity doens’t count conservatism. I am impressed with your response not being a personal attack on me, which is usually the case on most Left Wing sites I have visited. Of course Terry couldn’t help but throw in a personal slight. It does not amaze or suprise me that you admire our constitution, I know you not at all and your site is new to me and I have not gone through all of it. You put a lot of work into it and express things that you feel passionate about. I like debating and the exchange of ideas as long as it is not dishonest (like the President lied about WMD when every politician on capital hill believed the same thing be they democratic or republican) and believe we are all better for it.
(You will have to forgive me as I don’t know how to pull quotes from your response and highlight it in blue so I will just refer to a few of your comments) Cuba, give me a break. If I am driving down the road and get in a massive accident there is no way in hell I want to be in Cuba. If you think they can put you back together better there then the good old US of A you are sadly mistaken. I bet the majority of Cuban immigrants in the US would strongly disagree with you there as well. I have also looked at Princess Dianes accident. She had very treatable issues and if transfered per US EMS protocols most likely would have survived her injuries. And don’t give me all the conspiracy theories, her care was consistent with the French EMS system.
Why has our military spending skyrocketed? I was in Costa Rica a few years ago and found it quite interesting that they have no military. I asked many of the Costa Ricans why that was. The response: “We don’t need a military we depend on the Americans. The US will stop anyone if they invade or attack us”. If Canada had problems guess who they would expect to bail them out. Not any of those other coutries you listed above. We are not just spending dollars to protect ourselves but the naive people in other countries that think bad guys will just go away and not hurt you if you ask them nice. And the numbers on China, if you believe that to be true you are living your life with blinders on. There is no way to get accurate true statistics on anything China does regarding their military. I can’t say this as a fact but I have a strong suspicion that a large percentage of every purchase that says “Made in China” that you make goes directly into their military budget.
(Note: Thanks for the spelling correction as spelling is not my strong point.)
9/11. Just a quick note. The FBI had all the information needed to stop the attack. They had computers with the information on them. A liberal judge blocked them from obtaining a search warrent for those computers. And even if they had the information, (as they did have other information that would of helped) the Clinton administration put up barriers to keep the FBI and the CIA from talking and sharing information that “may” have stopped the attack. I don’t blame Clinton for that attack, but his administration made plenty of mistakes that contributed to the ability of the evil people to carried out that tragic event.
As for the 18,000 deaths a year from lack of insurance? I haven’t seen the article, but quoting the New York Times doesn’t have much weight with me as their reporting and honestly is significantly under question. How were those 18,000 gathered, as you know many statistics can be made to look just like you want them. For example. When documenting medical errors in the US, if a person gets a medicine two minutes late or even two minutes to early in the hospital setting that is considered a medical error. The paperwork that the government uses makes no differentiation between this kind of error or cutting off the wrong leg, they are reported the same and then of course printed in the New York Times or USA today with a heading that says “US Medical Errors Out of Control”. Of the errors reported at my hospital 90 percent are related to this. If a person happens to die unexpectantly and there was one of these type of errors this type of error has been known to errantly be labeled as the cause. Another point. How many of these people acually took responsibilty for thier own health care. How much did they smoke, drink, do drugs? I have many people that visit me and say fix me doc, but don’t expect me to quite smoking my 2 packs a day. I can’t help anyone who won’t help themselves. Also, how many of the 18,000 qualified for full health care benefits but didn’t take advantage of it. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Again as I said before there are people out there that need our help, but the government isn’t going to fix it. It is people like you and me that want to help people and want them to have the best possible healthcare we can give.
Terry,
As for your offensive comment. Does being a Doctor of Medicine make me unsypathetic to the plight of the poor, or uncapable of wanting to improve our healthcare system. Maybe in your book. I work in the trenches. I see the good the bad and the ugly. I want what Damen wants. Quality healthcare for all. I just think many of the lefts ideas are misguided and would lead to failure and worsening of the system. I believe that my experience puts me in a position to give ideas that may help. Tell me Terry, what healthcare background do you have? If you can’t listen and respond with ideas and at least think about what I have said you have no right to judge me!
May 29th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Dan,
It was easy for me to take your comments as saying that I am against freedom and the Constitution. That has been a typical history of mine when it comes to letting others know my political stance. They hear the term “socialist” and think I’m a Nazi. Granted, that was my knee-jerk reaction when I heard someone call themselves a socialist until I took the time to research socialism and communism and came to find that they were not, when put into practice correctly, what history has largely shown.
However, not every one takes the time to read up on socialism so I get a lot of the “pinko” remarks. Truth be told it gets very irritating after a time.
And that is fine. You can go to whatever hospital you want. But myself, if I had the option, I’d be taking a trip to Havana. 71,000 doctors and the cost paid for by the government? As well as having the best rated health care in Latin America and most of the world? Yeah, I’d trust Cuba over the USA considering the USA’s healthcare is ranked 37th by the World Health Organization and the USA’s health level is ranked 72.
Show me a Cuban who came to the USA who’ll still speak fondly of his home nation and not catch a load of flak for it. Social pressure can cause people to shut up or deny things better than the threat of jail time can.
I am not going to engage in a conspiracy theory debate.
Princess Diana might have died from wounds that could have been treated; but tell me how many people die in car accidents a year in the USA and how many of them die en rout. More than I can count. The paramedics had tried to stabilize her at the scene of the accident and that is what caused the delay in getting her to the hospital. I can’t fault them for that, it is what I would have done rather than risk complications that could have arisen from transporting her in an ambulance before she was stable enough for the journey.
I believe it was George Washington who warned against getting involved in world affairs. I can’t help but agree with him. I do not feel it is the place of the United States to play police or bodyguard to other nations or the world at large. If we stop policing the world and look more towards helping our own citizens we could cure a lot of our domestic problems and I think that is of a higher importance. The United States government should take care of and protect United States citizens and the Costa Rican government should take care of and protect Costa Rican citizens.
(Note: Anyone who wants to criticize me on my above opinion, go right ahead.)
Why do you say there is no way to get accurate and true statistics on the Chinese military budget?
Funny, I’ve always thought the New York Times to be an accurate, if not always unbiased, newspaper. Why do you feel otherwise?
You realize this statement can also be applied to criticisms of socialized medical care.
Probably less than you think. Most uninsured Americans are working-class persons between the ages of 2 and 65 whose employers do not provide health insurance, and who earn too much money to qualify for one of the local or state insurance programs for the poor, but do not earn enough to cover the cost of enrollment in a health insurance plan designed for individuals [1].
And that is why we need socialized medical care and less military spending. I’ll give them the best possible healthcare I can think of and I’d rather do it with my tax dollars than help the army fund development of their new XM8 and I’d rather everyone in the USA get the medicine they need to help prevent illness than I would in helping fund a World Police Force.
May 29th, 2006 at 9:20 am
Hmmmmm, interesting read.
I grew up in Canada, and went to College there for nursing. I spent 5 years working in a hospital before my husband and I relocated our family to Texas for his job. I love nursing and love patient care but have since given up after seeing the corporate world of the American health care.
Insurance companies make me sick.
Wage ratios for health care providers make me sick.
Seeing patients sent to another hospital makes me sick.
The class system makes me sick.
I’ve lived in Texas for 3 years now, after living the good life in Canada for 30, and taking our health care system for granted.
I now work in a bookstore and volunteer in a free clinic, which provides much more satisfaction than taking home a fat pay cheque at the expense of others who can’t afford the basics. I’ve seen people mortgage their houses and go bankrupt after a car accident. Like the accident wasn’t a big enough kick in the pants.
The salary offered to me, to work in an emergency department here in the states is tempting, but not worth trashing all I have ever believed in to become wealthy. I didn’t become a nurse to get rich.
May 29th, 2006 at 11:18 am
The caste system in American hospitals is indeed disgusting. At one time if a doctor sat down at the ward’s charting desk, the nurse sitting there charting had to give up her seat–we have gone beyond those days, but not much beyond. It all flows downhill; it shocked me to see the way nurses treat staff who are with different unions.
I worked in hospice/health care for the eight years it took me to finish the last two years of my undergraduate degree. Most of that time I was paid minimum wage or slightly over, and could not afford heatlh insurance for myself. Our state’s medicaid/kidcare system does indeed provide nicely for children and parents of children, but if you have behaved responsibly and not given birth to children you can not afford to take care of, well, you are the one who falls through the cracks. My primary health care provider is now a med student at a city clinic with a sliding scale of payments based on income, and my two medications paid for (I think by pharmaceutical companies) through elaborate paperwork.
Are you really sure, Dan D about a medication administered two minutes late being a medication error? The protocol I’m familiar with says medication has to be administered within 30 minutes of the time it is scheduled. Of course that doesn’t happen–as nurses get more and more patient load they have to do more creative paperwork. There is also a procedure to document the reason for a medication not being given on time. For example if a patient is off the floor getting tests, they may receive meds early or late on purpose, or routine meds may be held for good reason. I have also seen lots of med students chart ‘left foot’ when they worked on ‘right foot’–whether this consitutes an error, I don’t know, but I think it’s common enough that one doctor who was going in for an amputation took a magic marker and wrote NO in big letters on the limb that wasn’t supposed to be amputated.
BTW, if you want to figure out how to use the HTML code that highlights areas of text, the easiest way is to sign up to write a post and see how that software writes the code.
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July 8th, 2006 at 11:20 pm
I feel compelled to respond to Dan D, the ER doc. The ‘46 million figue’ is mostly made up of working class people whose jobs do not offer health insurance. I know becouse I am one of them. By the way, I work in a doctors office. Irony.
I have gone without insurace for several years now, not a few days or weeks as you imply. And yes I have filled out the forms seeking relif to no avail. Interesting note though, my son does qualifiy, but I do not. Even though his income is mine. There are an awful lot of people out there who work very hard for a living and do not have healthinsurance Dan D.
Even some who do have insurance have it hard. My partner* has insurace though his employer, but its almost useless. Since the company merger, they did away with the copay. They repaced it with a $2000 deductable.
And that crack about ’stop doing the booze or drugs long enough to help you child’ was unacceptible. And low.
I have been on the ‘reciving’ end of goverment services. It is no fucking picnic. No one is there that wants to be there.
* Both my partner, a man and myself, a women often have to explain that we are a straight couple.
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