People who advocate for Private “American Style” Medicine in Canada crack me up:
Ontario’s healthcare monopoly almost killed Lindsay McCreith. After suffering a seizure in January of 2006, the 66-year-old retired auto body shop owner from Newmarket was told he had a brain tumour. But he would have to wait four-and-one-half months to obtain an MRI to rule out the possibility that it was cancerous. Unwilling to risk the progression of what might be cancer, Mr. McCreith obtained an MRI in Buffalo, which revealed the brain tumour was malignant. Even with this diagnosis in hand, the Ontario system still refused to provide timely treatment, so Mr. McCreith had surgery in Buffalo to remove the cancerous brain tumour in March of 2006.
In Ontario, Mr. McCreith would have waited eight months for surgery, according to his family doctor. Eight months is quite enough time for a cancer to worsen, spread and progress to an irreversible stage. Had Mr. McCreith not paid $27,600 (USD) out-of pocket for immediate medical care, he might be dead today.
Shona Holmes, a self-employed family mediator and the married mother of two children, began losing her vision in March of 2005. She also experienced severe headaches, anxiety attacks, high blood pressure, extreme fatigue, and weight gain. In spite of these serious symptoms and an MRI revealing a tumour in Ms. Holmes’ brain, Ontario’s health care system told her that she would have to wait months to see a specialist.
With the Mayo Clinic test results and diagnosis in hand, Ms. Holmes returned to Ontario, only to be told to wait for more appointments and tests. Having lost one half of her vision in her right eye and one quarter in her left, and unable to expedite appointments with specialists, she returned to the Mayo Clinic, where surgeons operated to remove the tumour. Within ten days, Ms. Holmes’ vision was completely restored. Visual field testing and a post-operative MRI also confirmed that the tumour caused the vision loss. Surgery had indeed been necessary to save her eyesight. Nevertheless, the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) refuses to reimburse Ms. Holmes for any of the expenses she was forced to incur in seeking necessary medical care abroad. While she has returned to work, her husband must now work two full-time jobs to pay off the debts they were forced to incur to save her vision.
Did you ever get the idea that Private Care proponents don’t read their own press? The answer; in their minds is to sue to force a tiered health care system, where the wealthy can jump the line and take up the limited health care resources because the can afford it. I mean, what if there was private care in Ontario before these two sad sacks got sick? Would there magically have been more doctors? It’s not like the doctors would magically appear out of thin air:
“The United States is experiencing a primary care shortage the likes of which we have not seen,” Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP, president of the American College of Physicians (ACP), told the House of Representatives Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee. “The demand for primary care in the U.S. will grow exponentially as the nation’s supply of primary care dwindles.”
As the population ages, and dementia, delirium and Alzheimer’s disease impact millions each year, Medicare refuses to grant psychiatry the same “specialty” rates as others, and only pays these physicians about 50 percent of billings.
–Michael Golding
Patients per Doctor
Perhaps in MAgic Private Enterprise Land, health care is better, by and large, right?
This is from the CIA World Fact Book, not “My Commie Left Wing Free Halth Care Supporting Guidebook” at all. I keep for that for verbal debates.
Anyway; the only thing I hate about the free health care is that it isn’t actually universal, dentistry isn’t free, nor is eye care. All of these things should be free too. They all relate to quality of life and for the most part good overall health is good for the country, because healthy people both happy and productive and in our Hybrid economy, productive people have money and money is spent.
If anything, the two unfortunates should be suing the Federal and Provincial governments for not ensuring that staffing and funds were there to ensure their good health. That’s what our taxes as for, not adventures in the Middle East!
Ever since I signed up for daddyhood, I can’t stomach these sorts of stories. I can’t read things like that without imagining my own son or daughter as the victim. I’m going to have to go hug something.
“All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That’s his.”
-Oscar Wilde
It seems that almost every one of my male friends who become Dads also become Mothers. They cease to hold onto the essential Maleness of their lives and start being fretful hens who “get all concerned” when something happens to a kid somewhere (anywhere) in the world. This may go a long way to explaining the lack of violent kid death in movies and video games. I’m probably a hypocrite on this matter myself, as the Parent who brushes hair and checks clothing before my own goes out the door (but I believe strongly that I am motivated by necessity and not nascent ovaries).
When did it become “okay” for Dad’s to stop being “Fatherly” and start wearing the proverbial June Cleavers around the house? These aren’t even Single Dads or Stay-at-home Dads; I’m talking about Dad’s who are out of the house for eight hours a day, drink beer, watch Nascar and Fret Fearfully when little Portia skins her ‘wittle‘ knees while playing on television in another state 20 years ago. The kind of Dad who knows how to unstop a drain without Draino and knows what a Ubend is for. Why is he crying on the Internet about some tragic horror in a world of Tragic Horror?
For that matter; who CRIES ON THE INTERNET at all? ( Results 1 – 10 of about 66,200 for “cryingrightnow“. (0.27 seconds)
It’s not like I expect Fathers to be the Violent Misanthropes we’ve been trained by Television and Movies to think they were or even Wise Patricians like Heathcliff Huxtable or Atticus Finch; just something more masculine than “The Fresh Prince” (circa 1991). No crying Jags in public and no fretting like hens over other people’s kids. It’s okay to worry in private, sensible people don’t need you to shred your shirt every time someone’s kid gets a boo-boo, even a fatal one.
Don’t visit his page; it’s infectiously crazy. DrinkwithBob is all about selling ads for his Mouth Stretching goods. Not for me; not for you. If you need yuor mouth stretched, let me suggest the Pear of Agony. It’s less of a chore.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showth…
Next up is saran wrap. The idea is that you wrap saran wrap around the mouth in several layers, and poke a hole in the mouth area, and then waterboard away. I didn’t reall see how this was an improvement on the rag technique, and so far I would categorize waterboarding as simply unpleasant rather than torture, but I’ve come this far so I might as well go on.
Now, those of you who know me will know that I am both enamored of my own toughness and prone to hyperbole. The former, I feel that I am justifiably proud of. The latter may be a truth in many cases, but this is the simple fact:
It took me ten minutes to recover my senses once I tried this. I was shuddering in a corner, convinced I narrowly escaped killing myself.
Here’s what happened:
The water fills the hole in the saran wrap so that there is either water or vaccum in your mouth. The water pours into your sinuses and throat. You struggle to expel water periodically by building enough pressure in your lungs. With the saran wrap though each time I expelled water, I was able to draw in less air. Finally the lungs can no longer expel water and you begin to draw it up into your respiratory tract.
It seems that there is a point that is hardwired in us. When we draw water into our respiratory tract to this point we are no longer in control. All hell breaks loose. Instinct tells us we are dying.
I have never been more panicked in my whole life. Once your lungs are empty and collapsed and they start to draw fluid it is simply all over. You know you are dead and it’s too late. Involuntary and total panic.
There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. It would be like telling you not to blink while I stuck a hot needle in your eye.
At the time my lungs emptied and I began to draw water, I would have sold my children to escape. There was no choice, or chance, and willpower was not involved.
I never felt anything like it, and this was self-inflicted with a watering can, where I was in total control and never in any danger.
And I understood.
Waterboarding gets you to the point where you draw water up your respiratory tract triggering the drowning reflex. Once that happens, it’s all over. No question.
Some may go easy without a rag, some may need a rag, some may need saran wrap.
Once you are there it’s all over.
I didn’t allow anybody else to try it on me. Inconceivable. I know I only got the barest taste of what it’s about since I was in control, and not restrained and controlling the flow of water.
But there’s no chance. No chance at all.
So, is it torture?
I’ll put it this way. If I had the choice of being waterboarded by a third party or having my fingers smashed one at a time by a sledgehammer, I’d take the fingers, no question.
It’s horrible, terrible, inhuman torture. I can hardly imagine worse. I’d prefer permanent damage and disability to experiencing it again. I’d give up anything, say anything, do anything.
The Spanish Inquisition knew this. It was one of their favorite methods.
It’s torture. No question. Terrible terrible torture. To experience it and understand it and then do it to another human being is to leave the realm of sanity and humanity forever. No question in my mind.
I had the misfortune of reading “Miss Eva”s twitter feed:
@perez hilton stick to Hollywood gossip. Leave the morals of America alone. Miss America is entitled to her views.9:06 AM Apr 21stfrom web
Miss California is a strong woman. I’m glad we still have young people with morals and values.9:08 AM Apr 21stfrom web
Perez Hilton, should stick to what he is good at, hating on celebrities. He is a gay man with no moral values.9:09 AM Apr 21stfrom web
The Miss America judges should be brought to task.9:10 AM Apr 21stfrom web
I’m not fond of the “She’s got strong morals” crowd; because if you are familiar with what Miss C said she said she was “Bible Correct” [SHE’S A BEAUTY QUEEN WEARING MAKEUP AND SHOWING OFF HER BOOBS]. Morals are such mercurial things, sigh.
So, the point of this post.
I went to “TeamRose” or “Miss Evas” blog and read about their Fast. Their fast started in 2007 and it’s two years later and they have lost a total of 48 pounds. Yup. They’re not cheating.
Conclusion 8: Detainee abuse occurred during JPRA’s support to Special Mission Unit (SMU)
Task Force (TF) interrogation operations in Iraq in September 2003. JPRA Commander Colonel
Randy Moulton’s authorization ofSERE instructors, who had no experience in detainee
interrogations, to actively participate in Task Force interrogations using SERE resistance training
techniques was a serious failure in judgment. The Special Mission Unit Task Force
Commander’s failure to order that SERE resistance training techniques not be used in detainee
interrogations was a serious failure in leadership that led to the abuse ofdetainees in Task Force
custody. Iraq is a Geneva Convention theater and techniques used in SERE school are
inconsistent with the obligations of U.S. personnel under the Geneva Conventions.
“I know this is difficult,” Mr. Clement said. “I know this affects real workers in real towns and cities across Ontario.
and
CAW president Ken Lewenza has called Fiat’s proposal to cut labour costs at Chrysler Canada by $19 an hour an “unreasonable” demand and has said it is “not going to happen,” arguing the CAW is competitive with unionized environments in the United States.
Why $19 and not a Percentage? That’s a strange way of doing things. It’s not like “cut them by 5%”; which would be the normal way to approach cuts.
Something stinks there. Is there anyone inside of Fiat who can break their wall of silence and pass along the skinny on this?
Also; this again:
“I know this is difficult,” Mr. Clement said. “I know this affects real workers in real towns and cities across Ontario.
If there is something that can be said about Harper is that Canada lives between Alberta and Saskatchewan. That’s it. The rest of the landmass that we think of as Canada is “the Rest of it” and is dismissed very easily by the Snow-Texans of the West.
Some Interesting Reading on Tony Clement too (National Post)
What’s hilarious about the teabaggers, though, is how they never squawk about waste until the spending actually has a chance of benefiting them. You will never hear of a teabagger crying about OPIC giving $50 million in free insurance to some mining company so that they can dig for silver in rural Bolivia. You won’t hear of a teabagger protesting the $2.5 billion in Ex-Im loans we gave to GE through the early part of this decade, even as GE was moving nearly a hundred thousand jobs overseas over the course of ten years. And Michelle Malkin’s readers didn’t seem to mind giving IBM millions in Ex-IM and ATP loans at the same time it was giving its former CEO, Lou Gerstner, $260 million in stock options.
In other words teabaggers don’t mind paying taxes to fund the salaries of Bolivian miners, Lou Gerstner’s stock options, deliveries of “sailboat fuel,” the Hermes scarves on Sandy Weill’s jet pillows, or even the export of their own goddamn jobs. But they do hate it when someone tries to re-asphalt their roads, or help bail their slob neighbor out of foreclosure. And God forbid someone propose a health care program, or increased financial aid for college. Hell, that’s like offering to share your turkey with the other Pilgrims! That’s not what America is all about! America is every Pilgrim for himself, dammit! Raise your own motherfucking turkey!
You know you’re a peasant when you worship the very people who are right now, this minute, conning you and taking your shit. Whatever the master does, you’re on board. When you get frisky, he sticks a big cross in the middle of your village, and you spend the rest of your life praying to it with big googly eyes. Or he puts out newspapers full of innuendo about this or that faraway group and you immediately salute and rush off to join the hate squad. A good peasant is loyal, simpleminded, and full of misdirected anger. And that’s what we’ve got now, a lot of misdirected anger searching around for a non-target to mis-punish… can’t be mad at AIG, can’t be mad at Citi or Goldman Sachs. The real villains have to be the anti-AIG protesters! After all, those people earned those bonuses!
Don’t know about you, but given the choice, I’d rather be an elitist than a peasant any day.
Ronald Reagan’s acting career hit a lull in the late 1940s. Despite parts in minor films such as The Voice of the Turtle and That Hagen Girl, he became increasingly preoccupied with his more important role during Hollywood’s “Red Scare” as head of the Screen Actors Guild. It was revealed last week that the future President played another role as well: as a secret FBI informant, code name T-10. According to an article published in the San Jose Mercury News, documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act indicate that Reagan and his first wife, Actress Jane Wyman, provided federal agents with the names of actors they believed were Communist sympathizers.
Reagan was no friend to the Common Man, Classist and a turncoat. Ronald Reagan could not resist the chance to take credit for other peoples efforts. However; I’m not writing about Ronald here; I relish the chance to take a bottle of piss to his grave any day now; but oinly after my Thatcher, Bush I and Bush II urine around the world tour sometime int he next 20 years.
Instead; I wanted to note the sycophantic bleating of one of his supporters:
• Commented on Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch
Reagan, like the rest of the world knew next to nothing about AIDS in the early 80s. To slag him off for inaction on something that no one fully understood at that time is silly. So we’re blaming Reagan for terrorists killing marines in Beirut? Should we blame WTC employers for the deaths of their employees on 9/11? That’s preposterous….
• Commented on Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch
and what might that be #34? Reagan not only won the presidency in ’80 and ’84 but it was damn-near unanimous. To see people take potshots at a dead president who was nationally and internationally revered pisses me off. Do you know how many streets are named after Reagan in Eastern Bloc countries that suffered under Communist rule? Reagan wasn’t perfect…but he did more in his 8 years at the helm than any president in the last 50. That’s virtually undebatable….
• Commented on Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch
#25 “Reagan saved the world from nothing.” So winning the Cold War, saving U.S. Hostages in Beirut and saving the U.S. economy don’t do it for you? I’m sure I could name more……
• Commented on London cops beating the shit out of peaceful G20 demonstrators
For people commenting that the “police were pushing more”…uh, what’s the cop to protester ratio here? Would I have to push harder to fend off 5 guys than they would to advance on me?…
• Commented on London cops beating the shit out of peaceful G20 demonstrators
Ok…so maybe I’m the dense one but if I was in a pack of about 20 with my back against a wall and I was being pushed/advanced upon by literally hundreds if not thousands of people…I would probably push back—possibly even quite forcefully. Doesn’t matter if the protesters were being “non-violent”, I doubt I would allow myself to be crushed by throngs of people….
• Commented on “Marx was Right!”
Marxism, Communism, Socialism…whatever you want to call it—has always seemed to me something that looks good on paper…but history has shown (and will continue to show) does NOT work in real life. No ideal situations exist in this world and for Communism to work requires ideal situations/environments. I don’t think Marx was evil, as some seem to, but just an idealist with some interesting ideas that don’t really work. “Right” or no…they just don’t work. Heck, I even think that pacifism is a neat idea and would be great in an ideal situation…but then some guy comes along with a gun or knife and it’s back to Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”…
• Commented on Thomas Fuchs and Felix Sockwell’s ‘Deconstructing Dumbo’
I don’t know if your comment on bloggers holds water or not…however, I do like BB.net despite the transparent “leanings”. I do wish there to be a bit less political speak on here or at least a bit more objectivity, however. I’m currently on my second username, because I was apparently banned from posting prior (not because of profanity or any such thing, but for disagreeing) Wouldn’t be overly surprised to see this post end up in the bin….
• Commented on Thomas Fuchs and Felix Sockwell’s ‘Deconstructing Dumbo’
So is your implication that educated people are not conservative? The fact of the matter is a) I am conservative b) I am educated c) I, myself am a graphic designer. I supposed applying labels is what this post is really about and the comments have proven it….
• Commented on Thomas Fuchs and Felix Sockwell’s ‘Deconstructing Dumbo’
It is clever logo manipulation…but yeah, the mongers are on both sides, on that there is no debate. The left has Michael Moore, Franken, Maher, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins etc…the right has Limbaugh, Colter, Hannity to an extent. Clearly, BoingBoing has chosen which side they wish to get behind. I suppose we’ll have to deal with it….
NOTE: I’ve removed Comments from “Whimsical Stories”
Here’s another one:
• Commented on Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch
The American communists were managed directly out of Moscow. The only reason they didn’t get their chance to put millions “up against the wall” was because of people like Ronald Reagan….
• Commented on Ronald Reagan was a secret FBI anti-commie snitch
I really wonder if you would feel the same way if Reagan had been informing on Nazis? The only difference between the two groups is that the communists have a higher body count….
• Commented on “Marx was… second???”
Well, Mr. Jefferson also thought it was OK to hold slaves, have sex with your slaves, sell people into slavery etc. Probably not a paragon of good economic thought. Thank God the Republicans came into power and freed the slaves….
• Commented on “Marx was Right!”
Failix This is a new form of argument to me. You write “Fail” and that logically proves what? Only that you have no critical reasoning skills. Open your eyes, read Liberal Fascism, you might get a clue. #247 Buddy666 I meant to write Lenin and Stalin. Do not forget that Lenin started the camps and the mass murders long before Stalin took control….
• Commented on “Marx was Right!”
#231 Jesse Hitler is included as he was also a socialist, a national socialist. The red fascists and the black fascists are heads and tails of the same coin. When you line up the greatest mass murderers of the 20th century, Lenin and Marx and Hitler and Mao, along with lower ranked contenders like Pol Pot and Castro and Che, you do find Socialism as the common thread. Instead of re-reading Marx, Metzger should do a first read of the Gulag Archipelago, the Black Book of Communism, and Liberal Fascism. Or is that too much reality for this community?…
• Commented on “Marx was Right!”
Raj77 – the point being that on the one hand you have the socialists, with a body count in the hundreds of millions, and the capitalists, who got excessive bonuses. Of course it’s time to run into the arms of the state and try socialism again….
• Commented on “Marx was Right!”
Hey, what’s a few hundred million dead among progressives? You Marxists will get it right one of these days. You have to break some eggs, right?…
Note: Gay Republican, Money Quote: “Open your eyes, read Liberal Fascism“
Considering that every conflict that wasn’t in the name of either Communism, Fascism or Socialism was ostensibly in the name of some form of Capitalism (if you wash away the veneer of honor or politics) the idea that Communism has killed Millions while Capitalsm has clean hands; is preposterous. Ask a dead homeless person how Capitalism helped them out. You can’t though, because they starved to death, in AMERICA.
Anyway; where was I going?
Authority.
That’s it.
I can’t stand authoritarians; even though at times that is exactly what I am. I stand on my Bully Pulpit at home and demand blind obedience in the name of social order and cleanliness. Thwip,Thwack, Crack (Whipping Noises, I don’t know). However; I know that out in the streets I don’t carry any real authority. Sure I may possess the requisite size and strength to push people around; I could even lose a millions pounds and become a police officer (if I didn’t have such a problem with following orders). However, even given these sweeping powers of persuasion or intimidation I know what actually moves society; that is the social contract. The understanding that while I want to make my life so much better; I can’t just stomp my way to success, even if I was on TV.
These guys; the Reagan cheering squads; don’t actually understand the social contract. They appear to fervently believe that cooperation and looking out for your neighbours is some kind “girly” persuit and that no person in their right mind would care for it. They want DADDY to look after society while they do there level “naughty” best to get one over on all their brothers and sisters. Daddy will take care of the monsters. Daddy will scare off the bad man. Failing that they will buy themselves a big gun so that they can be like Daddy. Don’t you just want to squeeze their precious little heads (with loving arms)?
Then there are the “Rebellious” Ones:
CelleCast: @hhavenwood what is #teaparty ?? well, it traces back to our history where the sons of liberty protested onerous taxation from an elete govt
markhendricks: Hmmm? Right wing radicals… religious fanatics with guns? Sounds like our Founding Fathers that the head of DHS doesn’t like #teaparty
joecaruso: They “Cling to their guns, religion and bias”. -Barack Hussein Obama And what does he “Cling” to???? #tcot#teaparty#USA
joecaruso: I heard the guns and ammo used in this rescue mission of Richard Phillips can be traced back to America. #tcot#nra#teaparty
Tweets from Twits (What was really remarkable was how many “New Media Marketers” there were there)
Oh, those “Tea Partyers” they’re so “Mad as Hell” about what? For 6 years the US government has literally been pissing money into the Deserts of the Middle east, driving up national debt to record amounts; spending national treasure on adventures overses that have produces nearly zero appreciable positive results. If any of you crankknards say “Iraqi Freedom” I’ll poke you in the eye with Ahmed Chalabi’s Cock. They were their own country before America got it’s metal wang all wet and they will be their own country again when America finally stops spurting. However, like a dim-witted john, America left the money on the table next to it’s wallet and fell asleep. America also lets it’s kids have access to the pin number on the Cash Card.
So the Rebels (like Tim McVeigh) get all up in arms about the Government wasting their money and then one of them goes out and does something crazy; like shooting up a bunch of Cops or Killing people in an Immigration Center or Blowing up Federal Buildings. Does the Right-Wing take responsibility? Nope.
They just go back to their default state; kissing Daddy’s ass and telling us how we should love the president, but only if he’s a Right-Winger.
Free Health Care almost killed me! Except it Totally didn't
Published by NiteMayr on May 30, 2009People who advocate for Private “American Style” Medicine in Canada crack me up:
Did you ever get the idea that Private Care proponents don’t read their own press? The answer; in their minds is to sue to force a tiered health care system, where the wealthy can jump the line and take up the limited health care resources because the can afford it. I mean, what if there was private care in Ontario before these two sad sacks got sick? Would there magically have been more doctors? It’s not like the doctors would magically appear out of thin air:
Perhaps in MAgic Private Enterprise Land, health care is better, by and large, right?
(years)
Shit, No, Huh?
This is from the CIA World Fact Book, not “My Commie Left Wing Free Halth Care Supporting Guidebook” at all. I keep for that for verbal debates.
Anyway; the only thing I hate about the free health care is that it isn’t actually universal, dentistry isn’t free, nor is eye care. All of these things should be free too. They all relate to quality of life and for the most part good overall health is good for the country, because healthy people both happy and productive and in our Hybrid economy, productive people have money and money is spent.
If anything, the two unfortunates should be suing the Federal and Provincial governments for not ensuring that staffing and funds were there to ensure their good health. That’s what our taxes as for, not adventures in the Middle East!