Comments on: Better Dead than Red

By: Don Hawkins

Don Hawkins — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:56:17 +0000

“Be well this is the people’s radio station. First reports this morning are saying more troops are massing on the Southern boarder of Russia. China has called for calm and trying to get food and water to the estimated 200 million people now on the Northern boarded. Reports out of India are hard to get and the best we know today July 2029 India is still under Marshall law. The fires in California have stopped for now and the central valley is almost uninhabitable and LA still under Marshall law gas in short supply and Long Range Acoustic Devices reported in many part’s of the city. Temperatures in Southern California are expected to reach records again today. The government is asking for calm in Texas and promising more water and food and gas as people move North. Flooding again in the Northeast and more new settlements on the border with Canada. The government and NASA again in talk’s to see if aerosol injection into Earth’s atmosphere can be used. All for now and temperature updates in one hour save energy be well”.

Let’s think of this as kind of a war. What would the battle lines look like or what do they look like. About two trillion barrels of oil still in the ground harder to get and yes about twice as much as we have already used up and we are now using it up faster. Coal still being used on a grand scale and the system known as Capitalism kind of likes more then more to keep going at full speed. If we keep burning fossil fuels at the same rate or more for just the next 9 years probably can’t slow a warming Earth and in twenty years or there about’s is when survival starts for the human race in a very real way. You can add to this cutting and burning as if we need more burning of the forests Worldwide and water fresh water that will become more rare like life on this planet. The answer from a few is drill more burn more coal burn more forests for the more and have more and so be it. All done with third grade level thinking. How do you like them Apples well forget Apples as the Bee’s are now going along with the forests. You can’t eat money but buy golly some are going to try anyway.

By: Mulga Mumblebrain

Mulga Mumblebrain — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:32:33 +0000

Rightwing opposition to ‘socialism’ flows from the same deep-seated psychological depths as does opposition to guaranteed access to decent healthcare for all. That is from hatred of other people. There is a chasm amongst humanity, betwixt those who see other people as the same as themselves, and who follow the injunction of the Nazarene, and other teachers like Mo Zi, and seek to ‘Do unto others..”, and those who see other people as the enemy. The latter tendency is manifest in various forms, as racism, xenophobia, sectarian hatred, misogyny, capitalism and Rightwing ideology and politics. The haters rarely admit their antipathies, instead projecting onto the hate-figures their own belligerence and anger. One need only think of the Zionazis for a perfect example, or the whole ‘Clash of Civilizations’ rabble, although they are generally a subset of Zionazism.
For the Rightist, the more people without healthcare the better. Low income losers are not an attractive mark for the ‘healthcare industrial complex’ in any case, and their suffering, increased morbidity, lowered life expectancy, and financial distress when their insurance proves a fraud, all feed the Rightists’ insatiable desire to feel superior to others. Rank sadism comes into it too, the delight in others’ suffering, such a widespread psychopathology on the Right. The US as currently constituted will never have socialised medicine, and acolytes of the ‘American Way’ like our previous, unlamented, PM, John Howard, will do all in their power, as Howard did for eleven years, to introduce just such an inhumane, cruel and wasteful , although immensely profitable, system in their own countries. You see, evil never rests.

By: David A. Smith

David A. Smith — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:44:12 +0000

To overcome the objections of the right, we could create a collection of non-profit cooperatives to handle the “public” aspect of health insurance.

To overcome the objection of the left, we could “regulate” the insurance providers in a manner than essentially makes profit negligible (somewhat in the way we used to regulate utilities?).

The result would be a national network of coops working to provide coverage for people, not profits for stock holders. What do you suppose the chance is of something sane like this coming into existence?

Of course, it would not deal with the obscene profits of the pharma industry, the lousy management of our hospitals, the arrogance of our medical professionals, the stupidity of ambulance chasing lawyers, and the excessive influence of the “medical” on our daily lives (to name just a few).

Yes, we have a long way to “reform” our health care and we can’t even get any agreement on the first step. Yeah, I’m counting on this legislation. Not.

By: beverly

beverly — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:58:37 +0000

Even if Obama’s healthcare plan prevails, insurance and drug companies will profit handsomely. Requiring every one to buy some type of insurance plan nets a windfall for insurance companies. Even the cheapest plans will mean mega profits as these plans come with high deductibles and cover little. Insurance companies will also benefit from taxpayer money going to subsidize costs for those who can’t afford to buy insurance. Medicare and Medicaid programs will also have money cut to pay for subsidies – the transfer of public dollars to enrich private coffers continues.

In June, Obama reached agreement with drug companies to cut price of medicine by 80 billion. Projected US spending on drugs for next 10 yrs is 3.6 trillion (source: HHS.gov, govt health stats). Obama’s deal with drug cos saves only 2% (80 billion out of 3.6 trillion). Big Pharma continues to make out like a bandit and neither the public option nor Medicare can negotiate for lower drug costs with drug companies.

Those lobbyists for insurance and drug firms are working overtime alright – and getting results. The plans from Obama and Congress are chock full of gold for these companies.

Who woulda thunk that one day bigots and right wing zealots might be of value. We’d better hope these guys can quash Obama’s healthcare deform plan (Lefty louts and losers aren’t doing shit about it). Obamacare- along every alternative proposed by Congress – except for HR 676 – makes a bigger mess than the system we now have.

Single payer – preferably enrolling all in the established, proven Medicare system – is the best way to go. Citizens can’t depend on the Democrats to go to bat for them on this. As one of the physicians from the Mad as Hell Doctor group said, healthcare reform will be the civil rights issue of this era. We will have to take to the streets and suites with civil disobedience and whatever means necessary to get what we want. Don’t hate the teabaggers and Glenn Beck – take notes on their tactics (they work) and use them for your advantage.