Al Franken Pwns Hudson Institute Bitch

Hahahahahahahah.

It would be funnier if it weren't so damned sad.

Let me tell you a little story about the "American Dream." My step-mother developed cancer. Her insurance company dropped her and she needed multiple surgeries to remove the tumor. (Surprise, surprise you say). She kept having seizures and couldn't work obviously, she had to wait forever to get disability. My father and her had to file bankruptcy to keep from losing everything they had worked so hard for. It destroyed their marriage. And they're not the only ones. Their story is the same many times over throughout this whole country.

Meanwhile, these politicians are lining their pockets with lobbying money from the Corporatocracy. Wall street fucks up and they get million dollar bonuses. How does that bitch in the video sleep at night? I'm not sure.

I'm sorry, but if you bust your ass and work hard, you shouldn't be in danger of losing everything if you get sick. When the one percent of the people in the United States are worth the same amount of money as ninety percent of the people here, you have an uneven distribution of wealth. Guess what? Tax the fuckers, because there is a point where "doing well" becomes having an obscene amount of money. Oh, "but that's not fair" whine the idiots who are persuaded by those who it affects (see: the bloody filthy rich) to be righteously indignant. Life isn't fair. Guess what else isn't fair? Starving to death on the streets while Buffy dines in her yacht and complains about having to pay too much in taxes.

Come on, I want to make so much money that I have to pay a lot of taxes on it. I'll do it and I'll be happy about it! Seriously. But then again, I grew up in a ghetto. I know true poverty. I have seen it with my own eyes. I have lived it and I have breathed it. It's ridiculous that in the richest nation on the planet, we have people who are homeless, who don't know where their next meal is coming from, who are laid off after working thirty years at the same place because their job was outsourced to Mexico, where we have people who die because they can't get the care they need. Where Corporations are subsidized with our tax money by the government while they make record profits. WTF America? WTF.

Transcript:

Al: I think we disagree on whether the health care reform we're talking about now in congress should pass. You said that kinda the way we're going will increase bankruptcies. I want to ask you, how many bankruptcies because of medical crises were there last year in Switzerland?

Bitch: I don't have that number in front of me, but I can find out and get back to you.

Al: I can tell you how many it was. It's zero.

*laughter*

Al: Do you know how many medical bankruptcies there were last year in France?

Bitch: I don't have that number but I can get back to you if you like.

Al: Yeah, the number is zero. Do you know how many were in Germany?

Bitch: From the trend of your questions I'm assuming the answer is zero, but I don't know the precise amount and I would have to get back to you.

Al: Well, you're very good, you're very fast. The point is, is that I think we need to go in that direction, not in the opposite direction. Thank you.

Bitch: Do you know the cancer survival rates in those countries?

Al: You know, you've picked on one, and if you look at that study, did you know that we pick easily, much more easily survivable cancer rates. So if you want to get into digging deep into studies, that study isn't legitimate. I've heard that before. That's because we find easily survivable cancers to count as ones that we survive. You can cherry pick stuff to find one little place where somebody says our system works better than the French or the Germans, but we're talking about bankruptcy here today.

Bitch: *deer-in-headlight look*

Al: And the fact of the matter is, you're saying that if we go more to a French system or a Swiss system, that we'll have increased bankruptcies, but the fact is they don't have bankruptcies and we do for medical care. Thank you.

Arguing with a Dining Room Table: An Analogy for having a Conversation with Conservatives

This is total LULZ. Rep. Barney Frank (D. - Ma) totally gave some of his idiot constituents a what-for.

Rep. Barney Frank lashed out at protester who held a poster depicting President Barack Obama with a Hitler-style mustache during a heated town hall meeting on federal health care reform.

"On what planet do you spend most of your time?" Frank asked the woman, who had stepped up to the podium at a southeastern Massachusetts senior center to ask why Frank supports what she called a Nazi policy.

"Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it," Frank replied.

These people, who come to these event to disrupt them, are like two year olds who won't let mommy and daddy have a conversation because they're busy banging pots and pans together on the kitchen floor because someone took their toy away. This is a start, but I really think they ought to start treating them like the two year olds that they're acting like. Perhaps some parenting experts can help in this regard.

Just Say No to... Trolls and your Own Interests while you're at it

Two things today. The first is, no more anonymous posting. I originally (and probably naively so) didn't have a problem with people posting anonymously, until I realized that it's usually only trolls that have nothing to add to the conversation, and that I can't tell who I'm talking to. They're all anonymous. So from now on, you have to be registered. Sorry, but some pricks always have to go and ruin a good thing for everyone else.

The second thing is, I was checking out France24, a news agency in France. I like to watch them, they tend to give a different perspective on things, since they have less of a vested interest in our politics, especially so when compared to local news networks. And I have to say, I love the comments regarding our health care. I'm sure the French, who have that *evil* "socialist" medical system are laughing their asses off at us. Well, at least laughing themselves silly over the idiots in this country. And we wonder why there is a prevalent attitude that Americans are stupid. We re-elected GDubya, so that's a case in point. We have people running around screaming against their own interests in favor of the interests of the Insurance Industry. How dumb can you get? Some comments from France24... translation is mine, and I'm not a native speaker, so I might miss some of the subtelty, but you'll get the gist of it anyway

"When Bush was in power, the Senate didn't hesitate to vote in favor of more funds to support an increase in cost of opearations for the soldiers in Iraq, that money was wasted and lost, but now they hesistate to vote in favor of a project that benefits all Americans, especially the poor."

"I do not understand why certain people (USA) are so hostile to this project? It's simple enough to be empathetic and understand the best interest of the project..."

"Good luck to this President, for this initiative for health."

Yeah, he's going to need all the luck he can get. And yes, it should be simple to understand that we think health care is a right, and that all people regardless of income should have access to it. But that requires critical thinking skills, and those are unfortunately sorely lacking in this country.

When I was in France, I came across a French family vacationing in the Pyrenees. We had a conversation about our vacations and what we were up to. The husband told me he thought it was insane that we didn't get more vacation time here in the States, followed by a little laugh, as if he knew he had the better end of the deal and was thanking his lucky stars he wasn't American. The French get an average of 39 days of vacation a year. In my white collar job, I get 10 a year. Yeah. They understand there, that there is more to life than money. Something that I think we've forgotten in this country. Sure money is important for living, I come from poverty and understand that really well, however it is not the be-all and end-all of life. What happened to enjoying life? Or are we too busy killing ourselves chasing after material shit that the talking heads on the TV tell us we have to have?

If you want to see an prime example of this, watch HGTV sometime. Watch how prospective home buyers and home owners either talk about or rip out entire kitchens and bathrooms because they're "dated". They complain about the color of the appliances because they're not "in". Talk about environmentally unfriendly! How many resources are wasted to build a new appliance, how many appliances are dumped in landfills because they're the "wrong" color? And these same people talk about going "green" while being the most wasteful fucks on the planet.

Everyone has to have the latest of everything, the latest phone, the latest custom cabinetry, the latest computer (okay well, maybe if you want to play the latest games you'll need that LOL), a brand new car, a brand new this and a brand new that. What happened to using things until they don't work?

Le sigh.

Your Quote of the Day on Health Care, or how you're a fucking idiot if you think private corporations are the answer

"...leaving private insurance companies the job of controlling the costs of health care is like making a pyromaniac the fire chief." --Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.

You know after much thought, I've decided that if people are so stupid that they don't want universal and public health care like Canada and the UK and much of the rest of Europe have, that they don't deserve it. God forbid that they lie sick in the hospital with cancer, and are having to argue with their creditors because they're losing their house and everything they have because their insurance company dropped them when they got sick. Think it can't happen to you? It can, and it will. If you get sick with an expensive disease, your insurance company WILL drop you. End of fucking story.

Against universal health care? How does it feel to be a pawn of the insurance lobby? If you haven't enough sense in your head to see that the problem is the corporations, the insurance companies, etc., then you deserve exactly what you get. Hope you eat it up. Enjoy! Let me know how that works out for you, k?

I'm sick of the stupidity in this country.

"Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on." --Winston Churchill

Sensationalism is the New Press: Or How We're all going to DIE!!!

So, I was checking my email, and one of the links to yahoo!News happens to catch my eye. It screams "Swine Flu epidemic enters dangerous new phase"!!!!! zOMG... it must be terrible, they must have more information, more people must have died, or something... Nope. Same story that I read earlier this afternoon. Nothing had changed, except they felt the need to make the title sensational.

As an aside, I happened to visit the WHO's website. Their latest update says that seven people are dead in Mexico from this. Yes, you read that correctly. There are 26 confirmed cases of swine flu in Mexico, and seven, yes that's seven people are dead. According to them.

Swine Influenza - Update 3

27 April 2009 -- The current situation regarding the outbreak of swine influenza A(H1N1) is evolving rapidly. As of 27 April 2009, the United States Government has reported 40 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A(H1N1), with no deaths. Mexico has reported 26 confirmed human cases of infection with the same virus, including seven deaths. Canada has reported six cases, with no deaths, while Spain has reported one case, with no deaths.

Further information on the situation will be available on the WHO website on a regular basis.

WHO advises no restriction of regular travel or closure of borders. It is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention, in line with guidance from national authorities.

There is also no risk of infection from this virus from consumption of well-cooked pork and pork products. Individuals are advised to wash hands thoroughly with soap and water on a regular basis and should seek medical attention if they develop any symptoms of influenza-like illness.

Now the AP is saying it's 160 dead in Mexico, and their numbers keep going up every hour. They have no information though on who is dead, demographics, age, etc and no source for their numbers. The Health Minister of Mexico has said that twenty are confirmed dead of swine flu, but he can't give details because of privacy reasons, and doesn't "have the information" on him concerning their ages or situations. Really? You have got to be fucking kidding me. What are we basing these numbers on? Rumors?!

What I want to know, is when the fuck someone is going to reign the press in and tell them to stop spreading possible lies and causing panic. And when the fuck is Mexico going to get their shit together and figure out what is going on and who has actually died of this as opposed to any other form of flu or illness. It's like, "oh yes, old lady Juarez is dead down the street of something, must be swine flu because what else could it be?"

And again, a public health announcement. Wash your fucking hands!

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"You turn the page, you wash your hands. You turn the page, you wash your hands. You turn the page, you wash your hands."--Filbert, Rocko's Modern Life

God will Save You From Swine Flu

Mexico doesn't have the manpower to send people to interview the families of the deceased who supposedly died from swine flu, but they say they have enough medicine to treat the outbreak if need be. Huh? In the mean time, religion will solve this, so you better start praying.

"For the first time in 300 years, the cathedral in Mexico City's main plaza has pulled an icon of the Lord of Health from storage, and worshippers placed it on the principal altar."

I'm beginning to doubt Mexico's ability to handle the situation, whether this flu is a global threat or not. The people of Mexico are obviously suffering, as usual.

In Toluca, a city west of the capital, one family said health authorities refused to treat a relative Sunday who had full-blown flu symptoms and could barely stand. The man, 31-year-old truck driver Elias Camacho, was even ordered out of a government ambulance, his father-in-law told The Associated Press.

Paramedics complained that Camacho — who had a fever, was coughing and had body aches — was contagious, Jorge Martinez Cruz said.

Of course, this is if you can even believe anything the press is saying at this point. They say over a hundred people have died in Mexico of this, but if you dig deeper you find out that the majority of those cases are *not* confirmed yet. Confirming them requires them to sequence the DNA, which takes days, if they even have samples from these cases. Leave it to the press to spread panic prematurely.

Sure, we should all be careful and wash our hands well, cover our mouths if we cough, and if you're sick you should stay home or see a doctor if you have symptoms, but seriously. On that note, this whole thing rings of Christian Fundamentalism "the-end-of-the-world-is-coming" ideology, also known as "we're-all-gonna-die!!!!!" There's a point where we should panic, and we're no where near that point. So, let's not panic yet, shall we? Turn off 24 hour CNN (or whatever news network you watch) and go do something else. Remember, the press is merely in it for the ratings. I suggest if you want information on this, to look at the CDC's website, which is not in it for the ratings.