I participated in a live chat at C&L with Nancy Pelosi this afternoon. The speaker has a learning curve to master on the art of typing and expressing on your feet and on the computer. The C&L commenters are fast and have lots to say, naturally. And she dropped the bomb that much of the public option will not be completely effectuve until 2013. She did a very poor job of explaining what would be implemented immediately and what would have to wait. Certain commenters, facing financial ruin and serious health problems, went batshit.
On the other hand, those commenters were only looking at the issue through the lens of their own physical and financial suffering and didn't take into account just how far we've come. That is totally forgivable; it's gotta be hard when you're not covered, and I know I pissed away my entire 403B, over 35 grand, on three years of health insurance for me and my kids. Anyone who thinks $926.00 a month for insurance (or more) is "affordable" can kiss my ass. I totally get their point, but freaking out because something we never had in this country and is a huge change might take 36 months to put in place?
And I am so fucking pissed at the tiny little agendas on our side. I saw an ad tonight about "call your congressman and make sure public option includes autism." Listen folks, I have been INTIMATELY affected by a family member or two with autism and I yelled a big FUCK YOU to my tee vee. ABA therapy now costs about ten grand a year per child. It's hugely expensive, but the autism lobby has Hollywood behind them and the biggest fundraisers of anybody, so their agenda gets a "call your congressman" ad? We're so selfish and narrowly focused on ME ME ME.
Let's all go ShamWOW: How much would YOU pay to keep a Terri Schiavo like case on life support forever for the sake of her Roman Catholic parents? Allow me to mention, the Pope is on vacation. NOW how much would you pay? Discuss amongst yourselves for the next nineteen election cycles (the length of time it took for a Supreme Court nominee to have the balls to announce that Roe v. Wade is legal precedent***) and let me know what kind of conclusion you come to.
And the feds have NEVER funded elective abortion. Making that an issue right now is totally shooting ourselves in the nose. I wouldn't be surprised if big Pharma/Insurance floated that just to gum up the works on purpose. Do we want change in HEALTH INSURANCE or not?
Don't think for a minute I've forgiven Pelosi for taking impeachment off the table, either. That's come back to bite her on the ass in more ways than one and good thing.
I see so much waste. We Americans are so spoiled. Really. There's all this talk about how industrialized nations have this and that and no talk at all about countries where a bowl of rice is a good day. Clean water? Did YOU take a SHOWER today? Fuck. Everything is relative. And I've got genuine sympathy for those who say if they have to wait three years for health care they'll be dead. But the truth is, if I die tomorrow, even at Nancy Pelosi's hand? The world will go on.
I'm not negating ANYONE'S SUFFERING. I'm also PMS and exhausted.
***That said I'm so glad Sotomayor FINALLY told those white male fucks, and the nation, that Roe v. Wade after almost forty fucking years is legal precedent. It's about time. Maybe if people start believing that we can all stop spending so much money on that argument. Hey, the pro-lifers can go to bed at night knowing their precious tax dollars (if they pay any) did not kill a baby today, except maybe in Afghanistan or Gaza, which doesn't count. And Planned Parenthood can open clinics funded by money that used to go to defending Roe and open free reproductive clinics with birth control as well as elective abortions, which don't get bombed and doctors don't get shot.
As if that's gonna happen.
/rant off
Not a single day goes by that we don't need to be reminded where the real battles are. Failing to keep the perspective dialed in allows those who manipulate by fear to weasel their way into our souls.
ReplyDeleteLife is tough and there are no easy answers. It's going to be tougher before it gets easier--but that has been true for every generation. Think of what your ancestors who came to America went through to have a life here for themselves and their families.
A long time ago a former GF observed, "no matter who you are, there will always be someone in the world who is better off and someone who is worse off than you." The wisdom of her observation has never left me.
I believe the main reason we are all here is make life easier for others. So buck up and help somebody out today!
My first reaction upon reading the 2013 date was to say WTF but we have to realize that it's going to take a little time to get the public operational. I'm like you and many of the C&L commenters, I need it yesterday because my insurance costs are skyrocketing to the point I've had to settle for a higher deductible and less coverage. I'm scared to death that we are going to screw up this opportunity with some of our special interests. Thanks for the post and the recap on Speaker Pelosi's chat.
ReplyDeleteRighteous!
ReplyDeletei love this post. some rants aint rants atall, just the mf truth. well done, bg, huzzah.
ReplyDeletei rather like your pms rants :) i totally agree with it. my family currently has nada. nothing. i have a feeling- in fact numbers prove me out- that millions of families are in the same boat. do we pay mortgage/rent or insurance? no contest.
ReplyDeleteDDay has an interesting post on national health care and abortion. Your key point, about what's currently in place versus the hopes pinned on any new plan, remains important. However, it also looks like - yet again - the anti-abortion crowd are trying some backdoor bullshit measures. Those bear watching, because they could make things worse than the status quo.
ReplyDeleteYour made a good comment in the Pelosi thread about condoms, reproductive health, etc. Al Franken always talked about "Abstinence Plus" sex ed. It's a smart way to sell good and accurate sex ed, because it gives the "no sex without our permission - and no information about sex" crowd less room to maneuver. I guess the teenagers who don't break their purity pledges and contribute to raising red state pregnancy rates finally learn the facts from their parents before the wedding, huh? (Well, their straight children, anyway.)
As for the rest of the thread – I didn't think it got that bad, but I also don't know how many other comments you had to delete. Pelosi definitely could use to be quicker and explain herself better. However, given her position, it's understandable she'd want to be careful with her words. I imagine in a town hall Q&A she'd be better. Still, that she participated at all was progress, and yeah, commenters erring on the side of the civil ain't a bad idea given the circumstances. That said, I understand the frustrations, and think the more personal stories in these debates, the better. There are many human faces to attach to this problem, and most people know someone with health care woes. (Bernie Sanders was awesome the other day, and I wish he were the norm.)
As for Sotomayor and abortion – right on. That fight and dance is just ridiculous. Plus, if we're talking legality, Roe v. Wade has been further bolstered by Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) and other cases – although there have been plenty of other efforts to chip away at legal abortion. Incidentally, the biggest proof of Alito being a tool is in his circuit decision on Casey… since he actually argued a married woman would have to notify her husband she was having an abortion, just as under PA law a minor would have to notify her parents. So, a married woman would have less rights than a single woman, and be treated as a minor under the law. No, no glaring problem there! A woman could make that horrible a ruling, but she'd be less likely to do so – and O'Connor actually ripped apart Alito's reasoning when the case hit the Supreme Court. Abortion is mostly about social control for these bastards, and whatever her other faults, Sotomayor will help immensely on that front.
Right on, 'Gal. We're fooling ourselves (and no one else) if we think we're gonna get all the way to good all at once.
ReplyDeleteThough we could go a helluva lot farther down that path if we had more politicians (The Big One included) with the stones to point out that we need Health Care, not Health Insurance, and that those lying leaches are sucking 30% off the top.
And that the current move to legislate that everyone buy health insurance (as they did here in Massachusetts) is simply feeding us to The Beast whether we want to play or not!
>:(
I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of how little my Depression era Grandparents had compared to me and that they managed to go through that and a World War immediately afterward, I realize how good I have it.
More power to you, BG.
ReplyDeleteAmazing isn't it, that taxpayers can't figure out that caring about others makes health care a top priority as a collective human society, and that we sure as fuck can afford it if we say it's what we'll all work to support, and see to it that it happens— through our elected reps— or our new elected reps who get that.
But talk about tiny agendas...
If we're willing to care enough about each other— (hello all you "Christian Nation," "love even your enemies" Christians)— that we're willing to share the burden to ensure all Americans have health care provided by the people's government, that we as Americans really comprehend that life is sacred, spiritually charged and potentially eternal, and we demonstrate that comprehension as a morally upright society by ensuring everyone gets as much of a healthy, fulfilling life as we all wish to live, then we should be willing to take the next step, at least philosophically, by recognizing our shared relationship as human beings— that we are all members of the brotherhood of mankind.
Even some athiests get that, but Christian religionists in particular are called by their God-Man Jesus to recognize an even higher moral relationship in the spirit, the spiritual brotherhood of man and the Fatherhood of God. Growing into that idea is the next step in understanding why love and compassion are the driving force of our real lives, and health care is only the most-base physical understanding of our relationship in a Divine universe, and what that relationship requires of us.