This originally appeared at Pax Nortona. Reprinted with permission.
We have good insurance, provided by Lynn's job. She pays extra so that I am covered. If it were not for this, we'd be paying thousands of dollars for my medications that protect me from the effects of my various medical conditions which include bipolar disorder, diabetes, asthma, gout, and coronary heart disease.I suppose in some reactionary's Spencerian thinking, I should be culled when society's interest in keeping Lynn employed diminishes. To the private concerns that keep our country moving, I'm little more than her pet, a non-producer. But then society has other concerns. "Take your meds" it says to me, the bipolar. My meds are very expensive, thank you, and I do take them even though we pay hundreds of dollars in co-pays to keep me on them. If I were to stop and do something illegal because my insurance ran out, no judge or jury in this country would have pity on me. "You <i>elected</i> to stop taking your meds," I would be told. There would be no winning except for the fact that in jail they would put me back on medication. You will get to pay for that.For personal reasons, I have elected to stay off of the public dole. I do not take SSDI because I consider my wife and I to be fortunate. The money that we save the government can be used to help another person in more needy circumstances. Or make your burden less. Yet every day I worry that Lynn will lose her job and we will be left without insurance to keep me on my medications. It's a valid fear.The point I wish to make is that our family could be yours. How close are you to finding yourself without coverage and needing it badly? Would sickness of you or your spouse or one of your children put you in a vulnerable position? We are lucky not to be bankrupted by my medical conditions, but cancer could strike your family. Heroic measures could lock you in the thrall of a bank <i>for the rest of your life</i>. Your dreams of owning your own business, enjoying retirement, etc. could be erased that quickly.It says a lot that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/21/health-experiences-from-a_n_242154.html" target="_new">every major nation in this world has created a health care system that is unlike ours</a>. Germany, which has the best health care system in the world by all measures does use private insurance, but insurance companies must be NONPROFIT which makes coverage cheaper. It is only here in the United States that health care is seen as a business rather than a service. And greedy businessmen fatten themselves to the tune of millions of dollars. Nowhere else does a high school graduate decide whether you can have the MRI your doctor ordered or not. The money that pays these unneccesary cogs in the machine could be used to help you meet the costs of fighting your cancer or other delibating disorder.We have come to a critical hour: we can change the world. Private health insurance concerns are fighting the public option for this reason and this reason alone: it will require that they must use the capital which we invest in them to cover our medical needs. They can still function for profit, but they will have to compete with the public option and with each other.The same forces that forced George W. Bush on us and slathered in his trough want the idea stopped. That should be reason to change our minds. Think of me, then call your representative and Senator, especially if your senator is a centrist Democrat. We cannot afford to have bad health care. I don't want to be a burden on society should Lynn lose her job. You shouldn't have to pay for the costs that will accrue if my conditions are allowed to degenerate into their worst possibilities. Help us to be able to pay our way no matter how Lynn is employed.
IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THAT OBAMA CHOSE BIGOT RICK WARREN FROM THE SADDLE BACK CHURCH TO GIVE A "PRAYER" AT THE INAUGURATION!!!
FIRST OFF; ANYONE REMEMBER WHEN WARREN GAVE MCCAIN THE QUESTIONS BEFORE THE DEBATE AND OBAMA WAS NOT PRIVY THE THE QUESTIONS ?
SECOND; IT IS INAPPROPRIATE TO HAVE "PRAYERS" AT A GOVERNMENT EVENT!!! STOP THE RELIGIOUSLY PREOCCUPIED INSANITY!!!
THIRD; WARREN IS A BIGOT PIG !! HE QUOTES THE BIBLE ON GAYS ISSUES LIKE THE BIBLE IS CREDIBLE, IF THE BIBLE IS CREDIBLE I WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU HAVE HEARD A SNAKE TALK??? I REST MY CASE !!!
I HAVE A QUESTION...... WHO WROTE THE BIBLE???
HANG IN THERE WE ARE COMING FOR YOU!!! PEACE KIMI
I THINK JOHN WOULD BE PROUND OF US DON'T YOU!!!
GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!!!
BABIES MEET THEIR FATHERS FOR THE FIRST TIME
CHILDREN WONDER
MOTHERS ARE REUNITED WITH THEIR ONLY CHILD
FATHERS LIE ON THE GROUND AND EMBRACE THE EARTH
WIVES MEMORIES STAND STILL
HUSBANDS STAND AND CRY
PARENTS WANT TO SWITCH PLACES
SOLDIERS COME TO RESCUE THEMSELVES
THERE IS A SEA OF WHITE MARBLE OVERFLOWING WITH BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS AND TRINKETS
LOVE, PEACE AND HARMONY TRIUMPH
A RIVER OF TEARS RUNS FREE
THE DIGGING NEVER STOPS
IRON DOORS LOCK AT FIVE UNTIL THE SUN RISES AGAIN
THIS PLACE IS ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY THE NEW HOME OF THE CASUALTIES FROM IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN.
AS OF 2002 THIS IS WHAT RELIGION IS COMPRISED OF IN AMERICA:
75 % OF AMERICANS SAY THEY ARE CHRISTIAN
15% OF AMERICANS HAVE NO RELIGIOUS AFFILATION
5-6% OF AMERICANS ARE JEWS, BUDDHISTS, ISLAM, HINDU AND OTHER
WHAT DOES CHRISTIANITY MEAN, GOING TO CHURCH ON EASTER AND CHRISTMAS?
The time has come to put out a commercial describing Obama's achievement. Frank Keating has called Obama "a guy of the streets" and insinuates that if you are not a Republican you are still taking drugs.
Obama's real story is that, like so many Americans, he tasted drugs for a short time -- but decided that they were not for him. He chose achievement instead.
What were these achievements? List them. Don't assume the American people know them. And emphasize that he never lost sight of what it meant to be a middle class American, that he had student loans to pay off.
Again this is about the Big Zero that John McCain has to offer the American people. No program except the same old bad economics that are spiraling us into depression.
We don't want McCain running things.
NOT A GOOD MIX!!! CAN WE LEAVE THE THE BIBLE AND JESUS OUT OF THIS CAMPAIGN! IT IS REALLY ANNOYING! I AN SICK OF HEARING ABOUT PEOPLE TALKING TO THEIR FAKE FRIEND!
VOTE OBAMA !!!
IF ANYONE VOTES FOR THIS NUTCASE THEY HAVE A MAJOR BOLT LOOSE !!! WHAT A FREAK !!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwkb9_zB2Pg
Sam Harris confronts Sarah Palin supporters' insistance that what America needs in the presidency is an ordinary person:
What is so unnerving about the candidacy of Sarah Palin is the degree to which she represents--and her supporters celebrate--the joyful marriage of confidence and ignorance. Watching her deny to Gibson that she had ever harbored the slightest doubt about her readiness to take command of the world's only superpower, one got the feeling that Palin would gladly assume any responsibility on earth: "Governor Palin, are you ready at this moment to perform surgery on this child's brain?" "Of course, Charlie. I have several boys of my own, and I'm an avid hunter." "But governor, this is neurosurgery, and you have no training as a surgeon of any kind." "That's just the point, Charlie. The American people want change in how we make medical decisions in this country. And when faced with a challenge, you cannot blink." The prospects of a Palin administration are far more frightening, in fact, than those of a Palin Institute for Pediatric Neurosurgery. Ask yourself: how has "elitism" become a bad word in American politics? There is simply no other walk of life in which extraordinary talent and rigorous training are denigrated. We want elite pilots to fly our planes, elite troops to undertake our most critical missions, elite athletes to represent us in competition and elite scientists to devote the most productive years of their lives to curing our diseases. And yet, when it comes time to vest people with even greater responsibilities, we consider it a virtue to shun any and all standards of excellence. When it comes to choosing the people whose thoughts and actions will decide the fates of millions, then we suddenly want someone just like us, someone fit to have a beer with, someone down-to-earth--in fact, almost anyone, provided that he or she doesn't seem too intelligent or well educated.
I'm a little bothered that Newsweek put this under the headline "An Atheist Attacks" when all this represents is good common sense for the most part. There is no necessity to identify a critic's religious persuasion or lack of it when the article does not dwell on religious issues but the greater ideals of reason. I sense a poison pill which will prevent many people from reading these words or, worse, an atheist who naively thinks that he will gain some converts by it.
KEEP HOPE ALIVE
From the climactic end of the Democratic Convention through the shocking selection of Sarah Palin, I have sensed a GOP attack machine in high gear, using all their devious arts to try and damage our candidate. They put some of their ugly message into our convention coverage (thanks to the MSM), and they’re recycling the old character attacks, plus submitting new ones. But their attacks are getting shriller and shriller, even taking on an edge (in my opinion) of desperation. That desperation is born of the realization that Barack Obama is beating their game, slowly but surely.Obama’s acceptance speech subverted the GOP message, canned in advance, which anticipated fluff and empty rhetoric. Instead, he presented substantive proposals, and millions of the doubtful were watching. Those millions must have wondered at the GOP message, asking themselves if the critics were talking about the same speech they saw. Doubts.When rumors about Gov. Palin’s 5th child achieved MSM status, Sen. Obama nobly and forcefully denounced the rumor mongers and seriously threatened any staff members who participated. Millions heard it. When the GOP accuses the Democrats of unfairly attacking Palin’s family, those millions must wonder if they’re talking about Obama’s Democrats. Doubts.When Hurricane Gustav threatened New Orleans, McCain’s “presidential” response was to travel personally to a few hundred miles from the coast. Obama offered his millions of supporters for volunteer relief and no one, to my knowledge, claimed it was an empty gesture. The undecided millions must have wondered who was being truly presidential and who chose the standard photo-op. Doubts.Stay tuned.The attack ads and e-mails and VP appointments that worry us so much are aimed at the true believers, the 25% who believe G.W. Bush is doing a “heck of a job,” and the millions just beyond them who still have doubts about this new guy. But the doubts are slowly being turned around. Obama and his team are skillfully turning the tables on the methods that have always worked before. The watchers who have always been ready to accept GOP claims are beginning to wonder if they’re being lied to. Skepticism, slowly but surely, is on the rise.I’m starting to liken this campaign to a wagon train of settlers moving toward a new frontier, the far horizon. We are debating the choice of wagon master. Our candidate insists that the high road is the best way to reach the Promised Land. We believe him. In our hearts we’re sure it’s true. But sometimes, when the going gets rough, we can’t believe how difficult it is. It’s stony and steep and full of hazards. The road has been neglected and untraveled, so we have to chop at the narrow places, rebuilding bridges and culverts, removing debris and obstacles caused by erosion. Sometimes we have to put our backs to the wheels to get them over the boulders and fallen trees, many put there by rivals to impede our progress.The opposing candidate is leading a section of the wagon train to the low road, knowing it’s easier and better traveled, and he claims it leads to the same place. You and I don’t think so. We’re sure it only goes deeper into the valley and ends at a swamp of cutthroat competition, leaving the less able to sink out of site in the mud.The writing of the American Constitution and the creation of a unique form of government of the people, by the people and for the people was a high point of human progress achieved on this continent more then 200 years ago. America has since surmounted other high points on the road to its destiny of leading mankind toward freedom and self determination. There will be others to climb, followed by gullies and canyons to be crossed on the journey to a high, fertile plateau. Maybe we can’t see it yet, but we know it’s there, on the far horizon, where people from all the tribes can prosper in peaceful commerce.We should consider ourselves the scouts and engineers of the high road. As we use and improve the neglected track way, making it smoother and easier to travel, more wagons will follow. As more follow, the wider and smoother it becomes. But it will always tend uphill, and require steady effort.
The slope that we're on now rises to what I call a Rennaisance of Reason. After years of political destruction based on division and rancor, Americans are now hungry for leadership based on rational debate, rather than mutual recriminations. Barack Obama can provide it. He and we are the new pioneers, following the dreams of our nation's founders, the extraordinary leaders who have come after them, and the great thinkers who have gone before. The destination is a society in which no one is denied the opportunity to do their best for themselves and for each other, with liberty and justice for all.
Slowly but surely. Wagons Ho.
