It Came from the Comment Boards! #3: Fucking Freeloaders! Edition

Here are a few nice little ditties I found on a CNN comment board talking about an article regarding the public option aspect of the proposed health care plan(s):

1) There is the "Fuck-you, I'm gonna get mine" (probably an evangelical Christian) perspective:

"I can certainly understand why irresponsible citizens who are facing bankruptcy for buying more of a house than they can afford are for a government funded option. They're in quest of more taxpayer handouts. As a responsible taxpayer who doesn't live above my means I don't approve such an option. I'm not making your house payments either. Get a job and work it out like the rest of us."

2) To twist the free-loader idea on it's head, here is one from a guy/girl who understands that it is, in fact, the insurance companies and their executives that are getting rich on our dime:

"Somebody once compared the public option to the shipping/parcel industry. They said the public option is like the United States Postal Service (USPS) while the private insurances are like UPS & FedEx. Only while they said this scenario proves the governments program, USPS, is inefficient and not nearly as good as the private providers, I think it proves the system works. The fact that the USPS is a competitor forces UPS & FedEx to offer excellent service at low cost. Eliminate the USPS and see what happens to shipping costs. My guess is that they would go up. So why not institute a government entity to lower health insurance costs? It is difficult because so many people make money off healthcare & they don't want that to change."

3) Finally there's the thought that government will become the free-loader on our own money:

"This is yet another deceptive article written by an intelligent Democrat who is too smart to actually believe what he is saying.

The public option, sponsored by the government, out to make no profit at all, will ultimately and INEVITABLY become a monopoly on health care. The writing is on the wall. The public option is not an "option" at all. Any public option will become the only option within a decade.

If you want the government to control ALL health care, which comprises a massive portion of our economy and personal lives, then by all means, go ahead and support this disaster."

The Health Care Chronicles: How could "change" affect you?

Let me first start out and say that it's fair to have some concern and perhaps even some reluctance about the government stepping into a privatized industry like the Health Care-Industrial Complex. Our country was founded on the outright disapproval of centralized power understanding that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I understand the history we have experienced as a country and therefore I understand where the ambivalence comes from. There is no doubt in my mind that total government control at least leads to inefficiencies and at worst leads to outright corruption. For this reason though, I have enough reason to equally fear the executives of many companies

Too frequently however, I hear the comparison of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to the proposed healthcare initiative. I think you're confusing the British system with what is technically being proposed. Comparing the DMV to healthcare is not even close enough to say that you're comparing apples and oranges. The proposed system would not make public the hospitals nor the administers of health. On top of that, doctors will still funnel into their private practices and private hospitals much in the same way they did before. I applaud the efforts of the administration and Congress to at least try to do something so that even hard-working people do not end up in compromising circumstances. If a larger majority of hard-working people get healthcare and a few abusers of the system slip by, that is fine by me.

By the way, I will continue to enjoy my company-sponsored health care. If the day comes that the company cannot afford as has been spelled out by doomsdayers, then I will buy market-rate individual health insurance, because I can. Yes, I have made all the right moves because I had parents who supported me, I was lucky enough to go a great bunch of schools, and worked hard to get a scholarship to undergrad. I do not aggrandize my experience b/c it took the support from a good number of people.

The Health Care Chronicles: I hear cries of "RINO" in the distance...

Amidst all of the disinformation campaigns and cries of "socialism" and "communism" on the right and the unwillingness to back down from a full public option on the left, it is nice to see that there are some politicans that are interested in working together to craft bipartisan (or at least compromised) legislation. The sad part is that any attempt by a Republican to reform health care will be viewed by neocon Republicans (and their adoring public ditto-heads) as capitulation to the Democrats; they term these people "RINO" - Republicans In Name Only - a term that plagued Arlen Specter for years. In this potential legislation, the public option would only take hold if the health care industrial complex does not meet the goals outlined in the proposed legislation. Unfortunately however, few are likely to report this in depth and even fewer in the public are going to care.

It was said best in the movie Gladiator: "The mob is fickle, brother." Even now as we have important things to debate, the more viewed stories on CNN are "Heigl to take 'Grey's' Hiatus" and "Michael Jackson to be interred Thursday." People have hit overload and they are losing faith in the plan according to polls, and the politicians - outside of a few - are doing nothing to help keep this topic as a part of REASONABLE public discourse.

I have heard many positive messages on NPR as of late regarding health care, but it's falling on ears that already agree that something needs to be done. We have some semi-objective studies done of what is offered around the world ( TR Reid's The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care), but people have already made their minds up. They listen to Glenn Beck decry socialism at the idea that the government could take on a minor role, while leaving much of the system private (read: STILL CAPITALISTIC!) and see images of the hammer and sickle and imagine themselves being planted into a bread line in Communist Russia. The few responsible Republicans that remain and the Democrats are doing nothing to battle this perception problem. I want Olympia Snowe to come out against the neocon notion that she is only a Republican in name only; I want her to come out sneering at the Party-of-No Republicans that at least she is attempting to compromise. But that might be expecting too much out of politicians, and expecting that the public will be thoughtful and open-minded probably would be too.

You've Got To Be Kidding Me! #4: Michael Jackson's Death Ruled a Homicide

[It's been a short while since I've posted, so here's another one in the "You've Got To Be Kidding Me!" series]

I was reading in the news today, amidst speculation that Jacko's death was a homicide, that it was officially ruled as such by the coroner. You've got to be kidding me!

I can definitely say it was not a suicide by any means, and part of me really thinks this is a case of wrongful death, but homicide or even manslaughter? I just cannot agree that enough of the fault lies on the doctor to rule against him. Certainly the doctor prescribed Propofol, which according to the article can only be administered by anaesthesiologists, violating medical guidelines; I hear that many of the "Doctors to the Stars" will prescribe a variety of drugs to sedate their clients. But at what point do we put the onus on those who have been prescribed the drugs rather than those doctors who have prescribed the drugs?

My fear is, based upon the outpouring of ridiculous coverage of Michael Jackson after his death, that people are simply searching to find a scapegoat for Michael's often weird and outlandish behavior. If Michael was taking the reported 60+ prescriptions, at what point did he not say to himself: "These are a lot of fucking pills!" For that matter, I cannot imagine that Michael was so non-techno-savvy that he could not look up "Propofol" on the internet (WebMD, Wikipedia, etc.). We may never know how many pills MJ was advised to take, but if it is as powerful as it's said to be, I highly doubt the doctor was like "Dr. Spaceman (pronounced Spa-chi-min)" from 30 Rock and said "Take as many as you'd like."

MJ was an amazing pop-star. He reached out and touched the world and I have many fond memories in the early-to-mid-80's of listening to his music. But at some point, we all need to admit that he snapped and become an incredibly odd and (excuse me) fucked up individual. Is there no reasonable doubt here that perhaps Michael took too many of these pills on his own accord?

It's not about who we WANT to hold accountable, it is about who we CAN hold accountable and I sincerely doubt there is enough evidence to conclude that MJ's death was the doctor's fault. Sorry, but I'm just not so infatuated with Michael Jackson that I think he was not capable of doing wrong. Quite honestly, this is a waste of time and money. Furthermore, I'm not a lawyer, but I have to consider whatever legal precedent this may set if there is none on record.

Peter Tosh Said It Best.

I just recently finished reading an opinion piece on CNN that reminded me of our ass-backwardness in this country. Regarding pills, we are growing increasingly dependent on prescription pain killers (read: Rush Limbaugh and his Oxycontin bout) which can sometimes lead to heroin abuse - if the drug is opiate based.

The sad part is that my tax dollars (through Medicare and Medicaid) and health care premiums pay for many of these peoples' "legal" drug addictions while it is still illegal to own the smallest amount of marijuana. I see, when a big pharma company makes a drug, everything is OK about it, but use a drug recreationally (in the SAME WAY in which alcohol is consumed) or even sometimes to self-medicate persistent pain and suddenly it's a terrible thing. We can truly be a backwards country sometimes still lost in its puritanical hypocrisy.

Want to find a way to fund healthcare? I do. Regardless of the proposals on the right and left to fix healthcare, it will undoubtedly cost some amount beyond what we can already afford. Legalize marijuana, regulate it, and tax it. Immediately it will serve as a means of tax revenue, but over the long term it will help to discourage small time drug dealers, make the cross-border Mexican drug trade multitudes less lucrative, and will clear our prisons for the violent and malevolent offenders. The economic benefits will be astoundingly one-directional in our favor.

I have recently said to a few friends that the drug trade is - in my opinion - the last TRUE free market out there. Prices are set by supply and demand. There are no bailouts. You have to build your business from the ground up and cannot make more lucrative money unless you start out small-time. Can you imagine what good it would do if we prevent the "gateway" drug from being one of the cheaper ones that dealers can start selling? Ask any dealer and I would BET they started by selling marijuana in high school or sometime close to then.

Bad News #4: Who Cares?

I will tell you, I have been trying desperately to avoid using less-than-savory language while writing this blog, but I keep having Lewis Black moments where the word "fuck" just comes flying out beyond my control.

It is stories like this one recently posted on ABC.com that confirms the fucktardedness of our present-day media. It should be clear from scanning my posts that at this point, for all practical purposes, I am a fan of Obama, but PLEASE... why the fuck should I care about what beer Obama chooses for his sit-down meeting between Gates and Crowley?! This is national business news? Not only that, but this is a news article that deserves FOUR fucking pages?! Come on ABC, save this story for something like All About Beer magazine or some equivalent.

I have long maintained that we do not have a liberal -OR- conservative media, though both sides frequently try to point out "bias" to gain the advantaged position and generate mistrust of the press (recent example: Sarah Palin). Rather, we just have an equal-opportunity idiotic media that largely shows puff pieces anymore. This comes in the middle of some potentially ground-breaking and financially crippling legislation that of which the citizenry of the US needs to be made aware: Health Care Reform. Instead we focus on Michael Jackson, So You Think You Can Dance, whether or not Paula Abdul is returning to American Idol, Henry Louis Gates-gate, and what fucking beer Obama is going to choose when he sits down with Gates and Crowley... Yes, please don't pay attention to what is happening behind the curtain...

Corporate advertisers and lobbyists need their asses handed to them for a month or two while our news networks need to be straight with us about all the potential advantages and ramifications that could result from upcoming health care proposals. Instead of airing the dis-information commercials from the left and right, PRESENT US WITH THE FUCKING FACTS! DO YOUR DAMN JOBS!

It Came From the Comment Boards! #2: A Good One

Usually I will visit the comment boards on the Washington Post and CNN (and a variety of other places) and there are a sea of two sentence responses uttering the most idiotic garbled nonsense that indicates the "Me" Culture we live in; everyone thinks they have a voice. The irony of course is that by writing this blog and hoping people will read, I am succumbing to that same very cultural urge, however, not all commentary/blogs/opinions are created equal. Occasionally, I come across some affirmative/positive opinions on the comment boards and I'd like to display one thoughtful post in reference to a "Black in America 2" commentary regarding parenting:

"I agree with you Mr. Ferguson - the last few generations of young Americans are the MOST dumbed-down Americans ever to walk the country - but I dont know how you can manage such an undertaking.

First, look at Television - its a total wasteland with mindless shows promoting mindless goals. Second, look at movies - again, endless mindlessness and the kids all think its "cool" simply because of special effects. Third, look at music - where we used to have musicians and performers we could envy and look up to, it seems now to make it in music you have to be a criminal, and have the IQ of a vegetable.

An old college professor once said to us that "democracy without individual responsibility is merely defacto chaos" and today, that is very true. We have parents who's main concern is the size of their house, their car, and how much they can consume devoid of any real parenting responsibility. We have children who can name all the latest rappers, but cant name the state capital of the state they live in, let alone understand anything about the world at large - and this, and lots more only gets worse.

Vladimir Lennin said "if you want the people to crave white bread, you feed them only white bread" meaning that to control a populous, dumb them down so that what they consume seems to them to be the best. If you look at our society now, that is what we have. Kids who think their music, movies and television are "ground-breaking" when in fact, they are merely being dumbed down by these media outlets so that they can flood the airwaves with commercials for stuff no one needs.

I admire what you aspire to - but for me, frankly, I have given up and realize that eventually, the United States will implode on itself because we chose to raise greedy morons who have no individual responsibility, let alone deep thinking capacity.

It does not take violence, or rigid rules to make a democracy work - but it does take an informed and interested populous - and that, we have just about killed off."

When folks make commentary like this, it gives me hope that we still have some portion of our country that is educated and thoughtful. Praise goes to the commentor. Parenting has fallen off in all communities, not just the black community, and as a result we have a generation of parents who are so concerned about themselves that they assume school and society will teach their children. Sad state of affairs.