Our Finn goes in soon....I fear for the vet...

Healthcare Crisis?

I've become increasingly...anti-political. I see the system as being largely corrupt, run by two sides of the same coin, with the aim of both being to gain further control over the American people.

That said....I just don't get uproar over health care. I have friends on both sides of the political spectrum, from tea baggers (who chose that name?) to ardent liberals. And I like it that way...it enables me to at least attempt to see where both sides are coming from.

My tea bagging conservative friends are in a snit about this bill...as if we will suddenly turn into Communist China tomorrow if it passes tonight.

I guess most of them haven't been to other first world countries with universal health care. I had the occasion to get hurt in Canada and needed to be taken to the er. The er visit, the treatment and the medication ran me the whopping total of.......$100 Canadian. The service was excellent, the treatment state of the art and professional, the medication the same as I would have gotten in the States.

Yes, the Canadians pay high taxes. They have gst, and pst, and income tax...it totals a fair amount of their income, nearly 40% in most cases. Yet the standard of living in that country is high....the country is beautiful, the cities well kept, the schools flourishing. And Canadians take more vacations and long weekends than anyone I know....and happily pay $10 for a six pack of beer. Somehow....they're not broke, and their country works.

Now...some are saying...we're going to have big govt if this bill passes. Umm...wake up...we've got that already. We've had it for decades, and as far as intrusive big govt...let's all stand up and clap for George Bush, who's wonderful Patriot Act gave the feds more power over our lives than any other law. It's telling that Obama, who supposedly ran on "change"...happily renewed the Patriot Act, and then increased it's powers. And instituted a Council of Governors. And I'm sure he is hoping that McCain's new bill against "Belligerent Dissidents" gets on his desk, so he can get even more power over our lives.

We're so busy, as a nation, fighting over this that we're not paying attention to what else is going on in life. Health care isn't going to bring big govt....it's here. Health care isn't going to make govt all of a sudden "intrusive" ...it already is. Health care isn't bring about the decline in American morals....we are. (look what we, as a nation, watch on tv, in movies, read in books, do for entertainment...that's what's destroying our country. We don't need to enact laws to censor things (I hate censorship.) But if Christians, which are supposedly the majority of this country, stopped watching those shows, going to those events/movies/concerts...the market would dry up, and more suitable materials would be put up for consumption. It is our own fault, as a faith, that our country has popular video games where kids get points for killing teachers and cops. Want to clean up the country? Clean up what is in your home first.)


The health care bill though, for all the news coverage and hoopla....that's not a big deal. Every other first world country has universal health care. Even Switzerland, who caved in about 5 years ago, under much the same conditions as we're seeing now....and 5 years later guess what? People love it, the govt hasn't gone bankrupt, people aren't being left to die because they're old or handicapped. Life has gone on there....and actually gotten better for the average citizen. (And they still have all their guns too, just for the record.)

It bothers me that most of the folks against this bill cry out that they're Christian....yet behave in a way that I just can't see Jesus approving of. What did Jesus do during His ministry....He healed the crippled, He admonished us to care for the poor and the orphans and widows....not sneer at them with visible hatred that so many of the "tea baggers" have shown at rallies. Do you really think that by mocking a cripple that you've made God proud? You, who claim to hold His banner in your life....You are the one not showing compassion? And for all that is good and right....what is with these banners? Talking about killing people? (ie, the signs that have said things like, "If Brown won't fix this, a Browning Will" are we serious???? Very very Christian of you...remind me not to be near any of you on judgement day, I don't even want to hear what is said to you.

I think we've become a nation of pharisees.....but that's for another time. (If we want to get back to being a nation of disciples....let's start with the love and compassion bit.)

I admit....I'd like to see the health care passed. I have a heart condition, and two cancer scares in three years. Do you have any idea what my health insurance monthly payment rates? It's high, exceedingly so, and we'll leave it at that. And that's with my husband working full time. We're thankful he's a veteran of the army, and can get his treatments at the VA. There isn't a way we could pay for full health care on both of us. Period. There is something wrong with that.

So what is the objection to affordable health care? I've heard people say in videos "well, if someone doesn't have health care...work harder." How do you work harder if you're already working full time? Besides which....it doesn't matter how much "harder" my husband works....I still have pre-existing conditions.....most of which just come from genetics. So who is to blame here?

I can't wait for this bill to pass....or not. At this point, I just want this to be over. So we can move on. Don't like how your rep/senator votes? Vote them out in November. (I personally think we should vote everyone out anyway...but that's because most of them voted to renew the Patriot act....) But let's move on to something else, some other issue, some other passion. This is getting old and mean and beyond divisive. I'm rather sure it will pass actually (and I think this is the only chance the dems have of passing it....I think there will be a turn over in Nov....but hey think of it this way, Clinton got his best work done with a republican congress....so dem friends, take heart) and once it passes.....I'd wager in ten years we'll all just take it for granted and wonder what the fuss was about.

......

After being up..again...(medicine makes me sick) I am finally sleepy and about to do the above....

Spring...sometime?

I was getting all happy and excited...it's been in the 60's for almost a week (except for one cooler day) and you know, for Montana that's short sleeve shirt weather, heck, some folks are out in shorts!

But....but....sigh...I just checked the weather. Another nice day or two and then it's supposed to drop to 37 degrees. THIRTY SEVEN, with possible snow.

Dang it. And I was so hopeful those days were behind us for this year.

4:33 AM

It is late, or early, depending on what kind of person you are. I'm the kind that at night can only sleep for a couple of hours at a time, then has to get up again. *insert grumbling about health issues* I love sleep, and am irritated about only visiting my dear friend on limited hours. So unfair, to be parted this way.

And drat corgis that keep trying to lick my feet...what is it with them? UGH. I must go find slippers.