tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post6882169148797725796..comments2023-12-23T16:22:22.290-05:00Comments on alicublog: FORCED INTO HEALTH CARE: A MOTHER'S LAMENT.roy edrosohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15161980502027888634noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-29930241481061720482014-02-03T13:37:22.221-05:002014-02-03T13:37:22.221-05:00" And then of course, us taxpayers will have ..." And then of course, us taxpayers will have to swallow the costs of her catastrophic care."<br /><br />Look on the bright side - her children might be dumb enough to sign all of the forms which her hospital gives them to sign. One of which will require them to pay any unpaid bills from her care. At, of course, the retail rate, not the insurance reimbursement rate.Barry_Dnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-43007336378651834262013-11-25T09:42:56.648-05:002013-11-25T09:42:56.648-05:00It actually did show up in Doonesbury. ♫"My c...It actually did show up in Doonesbury. ♫"My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of subsidy..."♪Halloween_Jacknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-75790881864671844802013-11-23T17:23:10.771-05:002013-11-23T17:23:10.771-05:00I think it has to with the humanities obsession th...I think it has to with the humanities obsession that there must a canon of classics in which eternal verities are written down, which you absolutely have to read so that you can cultivate a mindset that rises above mere contemporary politics.Tiny Hermaphrodite, Esq.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-19771570633556992572013-11-23T17:12:02.287-05:002013-11-23T17:12:02.287-05:00Yeah, but I'm just personally irritated with t...Yeah, but I'm just personally irritated with the way de Toqueville "stands in" for something that every educated person should have read about US politics when there are much more insightful works available. You see him name checked all the time but you seldom see things like The Authoritarians referenced when of the two TA is much more provocative, explanatory, and necessary.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-13303754255491357312013-11-23T17:01:58.273-05:002013-11-23T17:01:58.273-05:00That is a fantastic book--and you might put it up ...That is a fantastic book--and you might put it up with Angela's Ashes.<br /><br />Imagine block quote here:<br /><br />When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived it all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood. <br />. . . nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire; pompous priests; bullying schoolmasters; the English and the terrible things they did to us for eight hundred long years.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-17429120463938227982013-11-23T17:01:01.017-05:002013-11-23T17:01:01.017-05:00To be fair de Toqueville is 170+ years old and pre...To be fair de Toqueville is 170+ years old and pre-Civil War.Tiny Hermaphrodite, Esq.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-55330688045784319182013-11-23T16:53:56.429-05:002013-11-23T16:53:56.429-05:00Yes, The Authoritarians is my favorite book ever. ...Yes, The Authoritarians is my favorite book ever. I think it should be required reading for everyone studying American history and politics. Its way more important, in its own way, than de Toqueville (say) as a guide to understanding our politics.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-64462805951986145532013-11-23T16:39:35.746-05:002013-11-23T16:39:35.746-05:00And that's why you shouldn't casually read...And that's why you shouldn't casually read even the "respectable" wingnut press. Remember it could happen to you.Tiny Hermaphrodite, Esq.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-63357593091249996882013-11-23T16:37:57.396-05:002013-11-23T16:37:57.396-05:00And I don't drive on roads at all.And I don't drive on roads at all.Tiny Hermaphrodite, Esq.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-63829344129013979542013-11-23T16:37:22.245-05:002013-11-23T16:37:22.245-05:00But if go with an AR-15 style rifle you automatica...But if go with an AR-15 style rifle you automatically get a mancard. At least that's what Bushmaster? tells me.Tiny Hermaphrodite, Esq.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-66224808107411661932013-11-23T13:44:40.276-05:002013-11-23T13:44:40.276-05:00I don't support Social Darwinism, except when ...I don't support Social Darwinism, except when Life Happens to people who do. I know that's wrong, but I don't care...Meanie-meanie, tickle a personnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-43517413723159917022013-11-23T12:53:47.488-05:002013-11-23T12:53:47.488-05:00Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Normans out of Britai...Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Normans out of Britain! Pictland for the Pictish!AlanInSFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-59606165623544488072013-11-23T12:51:58.860-05:002013-11-23T12:51:58.860-05:00No wonder this woman's unemployed. How was sh...No wonder this woman's unemployed. How was she going to drive to work without using the publically subsidized streets?AlanInSFnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-45637433287098767422013-11-23T11:37:54.671-05:002013-11-23T11:37:54.671-05:00I'd say it's Stockholm Syndrome, but they ...I'd say it's Stockholm Syndrome, but they have national healthcare in Sweden.DocAmazingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-47796526831457343722013-11-23T02:53:16.219-05:002013-11-23T02:53:16.219-05:00Ah yes. Fingers. The naturally stern fleshy commis...Ah yes. Fingers. The naturally stern fleshy commissars forcing you to finish a coherent thought. Anyhow, I guess the natural end to that argle barble (maybe I should get a job as a rightblogger) is that the natural factors (demography, historicism vis-a-vis the natural swing of the political pendulum) already favor us so a committed vanguard strategy a la the right (which we have to admit has been very successful despite the angst of the rightbloggers) would be a good move for the Left. <br /><br />I'm to the President's Left myself, but OFA is a step in the right direction. Its already started to share its data with local campaigns. The next step is to get even more micro. Run for the local offices. That builds you a farm team and lets you set policy at a level where a lot of good and bad is still done (often over an ambit that the federal/state levels do not quite reach.)Clio's Bitchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-43998646608048893462013-11-22T23:11:44.490-05:002013-11-22T23:11:44.490-05:00A nice salary was involved, I assure you.A nice salary was involved, I assure you.StringOnASticknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-7383438266690594832013-11-22T20:23:40.703-05:002013-11-22T20:23:40.703-05:00or Bloom County. To be a farmer you have to be ab...or Bloom County. To be a farmer you have to be able to say "keep your dirty mitts off of my farm, you government goombahs" and "where's my subsidy check" consecutively without laughingbillcinsdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-9885819324297549962013-11-22T19:06:58.678-05:002013-11-22T19:06:58.678-05:00I'm proud to be an American
'Cause at leas...I'm proud to be an American<br />'Cause at least I know I'm free<br />And I won't forget the men who died<br />So I can die in poverty<br />And I'd proudly lay down in front of you<br />And drop dead here today<br />'Cause there ain't no doubt I'll fertilize this landIn my hand-dug shallow gravewhetstonenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-59896424930867390212013-11-22T18:13:56.753-05:002013-11-22T18:13:56.753-05:00Oh you mean just because all those other stories a...Oh you mean just because all those other stories about the hardships of the ACA have turned out to be bogus? Lieberals are soooo untrusting!marindenvernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-87932351583856026252013-11-22T16:35:16.656-05:002013-11-22T16:35:16.656-05:00Rurality isn't a derogatory term--its just a s...Rurality isn't a derogatory term--its just a stupid one. Rurality isn't the issue. There are poor, badly informed, angry, sad, miserable, sick, people in every corner of this country. There are people who are desperate who aren't in rural areas at all--and of course the vast majority of American citizens are not in rural areas at all, and not in flyover country either. (Technically, I'm in flyover country right now! Imagine that!) <br /><br /><br />You don't speak for all those people anymore than I do. And you aren't more concerned for those people than I am. You just have an enormous chip on your shoulder about how you do as opposed to other progressives. You are simply delusional about how other people--myself for example but pretty much everyone you interact with here at alicublog--is somehow isolated from "real people" or doesn't care about "real people" or has never met or dealt with "real people." <br /><br /><br />You are so pathetically full of your own self importance that its hard to take you seriously as other than a troll. I get that you don't think of yourself that way--you think you are sincerely progressive or whatever. But the truth is you speak for and about only one class of people: poor, angry, white people in non urban areas. In other words: everyone else who is out there fighting for progressive values, everyone else out there who has an idea for who to talk to, how to organize progressively, how to do electoral politics? They are all fakers, poseurs, and useless because we don't think that appealing to angry white males in basements is the sine qua non of effective political action.<br /><br /><br />Its not: its one aspect of getting out the vote to get into power to do stuff. But its not the be all and end all of the work that needs to get done. You can elect yourself captain of the good ship "bitch all lot" all you want but you remain simply a miserable, angry, bystander to the real work that other people--notably our President--has been doing to matierially improve the lives of the people you pretend to speak for and about.<br /><br /><br />If you had a little less miserable ego wrapped up in speaking for and about other people you'd have something to add to this conversation. Instead it allways devolves down into how angry Chuckling feels that there are other people in his politics not catering to his angry feelings. Look: there's more to politics than angry white men. You should get out more, maybe in an urban area.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-31689870805400153322013-11-22T15:46:02.544-05:002013-11-22T15:46:02.544-05:00Well, the term you used was "morons from flyo...Well, the term you used was "morons from flyover country" and you have used many other phrases referring to those less educated and wise than yourself that come of as insufferably snobby. You just don't seem to have respect for the people you claim to (and I believe you do) care about. <br /><br /><br />As I've mentioned, I get out a lot and meet a lot of people. I know plenty of Ivy Leaguers and very wealthy people and on the other end of the spectrum I know meth addicts and people barely getting buy in this shit economy. And I know a lot of people in between, many of whom are mostly ignorant about politics and more or less conservative in their voting habits, if they vote. <br /><br /><br />And yes, I realize that all my anecdotal evidence may or may not throw any light on national issues, but it does demonstrate one thing which I know is very important and that you fail to understand. That is that there is a lot of nuance in people. They are not the cardboard cutout morons from flyover country or Ivy League snobs or evil billionaires, or any kind of idiot or bad person about most things at all. <br /><br /><br />And yes, duh, progressives need to do a better job of messaging for people at the lower ends of the economic and educational spectrum. Two presidential elections talking about hope and change and a mainstream media that ranges between outright propaganda and misinformation from the right to false equivalence and horse race politics in the normal corporate media obviously isn't doing the trick. And unfortunately, if they pay much attention to the progressive left, the message they're likely to get is that we think they're all a bunch of morons in flyover country. <br /><br /><br />I trust you are not a bad person and probably quite nice and not hardly snobby at all in the real world, but your internet persona does not show enough of that good side of you. But I think you are capable of having empathy and understanding for those less educated and less fortunate than yourself who hold beliefs people like you and I know to be poorly researched and thought out. But they are probably not morons. They are probably not stupid. They probably are good people just like yourself in more ways than not. If you, and big time liberals in general, would focus on understanding them and communicating with them rather than constantly ridiculing them, it would be conceivable to turn this thing around. Facts, as we all know around here, tend to be very liberal. It's all that and much more so out in Rurality. Don't believe me, get out here and check it out for yourself. Turn off the teevee and the computer and get out and meet some real people in socioeconomic situations you're unfamiliar with and I'm confident you'll find that very few of them are the caricatures you believe them to be.chucklingnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-83552229029770400742013-11-22T15:38:06.643-05:002013-11-22T15:38:06.643-05:00And now you know why I seldom fly!And now you know why I seldom fly!glenniswnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-46173927503567014512013-11-22T15:22:41.378-05:002013-11-22T15:22:41.378-05:00Come, come, Chuckling--what make you think that an...Come, come, Chuckling--what make you think that anyone can tell how badly you were educated? AS for "flyover country"--it is you who invented a place, "rurality" which you represent as entirely inhabited by people who need more messaging than an entire two campaigns by a President and a massive media infrastructure can give them.Aimaihttp://aimaiameye.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-71798972794524897602013-11-22T14:39:20.622-05:002013-11-22T14:39:20.622-05:00It's a wonder our military can even function s...It's a wonder our military can even function seeing as how them and their families get Government Socialist Healthcare. How do they bear it? My poor dad must have hung his head in shame when I got that free open heart surgery.merl1noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5191252.post-91553967616852655442013-11-22T13:32:48.057-05:002013-11-22T13:32:48.057-05:00Threw you folks in there because y'all were on...Threw you folks in there because y'all were on the KKK's list. After the blacks and the race-mixers but before the Catholics, if I remember correctly. The point is that whether the excuse is racism, misogyny, religious intolerance, or libertarianism*, the actual outcome of the policies of intolerance is an artificially created underclass.<br /><br /><br />*Listen to the tone of voice that's used with the words "taker" or "moocher", and see if you can tell the difference between that and the n-word.BigHank53noreply@blogger.com