Facebook is an interesting animal. It allows you to trade opinions with people in slightly less-than real time. For the most part I find this to be a good thing. It gives you the chance to process, to think, and to then respond. This is, as I just said, a good thing. .... For the most part anyway. There are however, times when there is no way to respond to positions so separated from reality, that there is no longer any point in trying to have a reasoned discussion of whatever the particular issue is. Health Care Reform is such an issue.
I have friends with whom I disagree with on the issue of Health Care Reform. They are reasoned, intelligent, logical even compassionate people in nearly all other areas of their lives. Yet on this particular issue, they are so utterly, completely and unbelievably wrong, as to boggle the mind.
Tomorrow the President of the United States, will meet with , and seek common ground with, people who are irrationally committed to preventing any meaningful change in how health care is accessed and paid for in this country. First, before I tell you what is on my mind? As preface, I would ask you take just few moments and hear about one family's perspective on Health Care coverage in the United States.
To my friends who disagree with me on this issue. I love you . I love you even more we disagree on things. Your opposing perspectives make me the better, the smarter and the wiser for having had the debate. Yet on this issue, more than any other, I have had enough.. You are wrong. You are not just wrong, you are inconceivably, wildly and unbelievably wrong. Your opposition to a public option and any serious reform of the for-profit health insurance industry calls into question your basic human nature.
And I am done arguing with you about this. If you are unable to grasp the very basic concept that the need for a civil society to act in defense of the lives and health of its own people, MUST outweigh the lust for profit. Then you are saying that in the United States of America in 2010, you feel dying because you are poor and cannot afford medical care, is dying from a justifiable natural cause.
If you continue to claim that "the free market can provide" in the face nearly a century of indisputable evidence to the contrary. You are demonstrating a lack of even a basic understanding of the concepts of free market capitalism you claim to champion. Captialism 101 - what determines price in a free market? Supply and Demand. The demand for health care will always infinitely outpace the supply. Left only to market forces the costs of health care will never go down, only increase. To claim deregulation of insurance companies will lead to greater competition and more options is to demonstrate such willful ignorance of the economic realites of the costs of health care today, that I can't take you seriously.
If you cannot see the need for a public role, a public option a public hand in the defense of the lives of our citizens in the United States in 2010, then you are pro-death. You are saying the death of over 40,000 Americans each year because they cannot afford health care is just fine with you . You have placed yourself on the side of Economic Darwinism, and believe in survival of the richest.
In overall life expectancy of a child born in 2009, Canada ranks 7th in the world, the United States ranks 49th. The public health care system in Canada may not be a workable solution for our country. But to seriously argue that it isn't vastly more effective in overall outcomes compared to what we currently have in the United States, just makes you look incredibly stupid. If you seriously are pointing to a news story about a Canadian politician traveling to Miami for heart surgery as evidence of the failure of single payer health care, you may as well be protesting outside NASA with signs saying the Earth cannot possibly be round because from where you are standing on the ground it looks flat.
It is my deepest hope, that you find in your core being the understanding that this is not an issue of opposing perspectives on public policy. This is not about right and left. This is about right and wrong. This is about who we are as a nation, as a society and yes, as a species.
And to President Obama, enough is also enough. The Republicans are wholly and competely owned by the for profit insurance lobby. They will never vote for anything you propose, they can't. The GOP has boxed itself in with a rabidly nonsensical base that will never tolerate any sort of cooperation with you on ANYTHING. So I urge you to follow my example. You need to say to your Republican friends what I am saying to mine.
There no longer is any point to having this debate with them. they are wrong. Trying to explain this any more is, what my Uncle Dale would describe as; " Like trying to teach a pig to juggle. In the end it just frustrates you, and annoys the pig."
America can no longer wait. Get this done, and get it done now. The debate is over.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
We Pause to Look Back on the Joy that was CPAC 2010....
The Comedy Gift that just kept on giving....
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| CPAC 2010 - Rage Within the Machine | ||||
| ||||
Saturday, February 20, 2010
CPAC Day 2 Recap... let the Wing-Nuttiness Shine!
Keith Olbermann gets us all up to speed on the comedy gift that keeps on giving. that is the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
Friday, February 19, 2010
Ok the World has just turned Upside down...
When speakers at CPAC, the UberConservative Poltical "We Hate Obama-fest" get boo'ed for anti-Gay rhetoric, something really wierd is going on...
The Obama Administration had better be careful, the Republicans may not have been able to woo African Americans with Michael Steele's " hip hop GOP", but the LGBT community is very disappointed with the Democrats right now. When the crowd at CPAC is sounding more pro-inclusion than the White House Chief of Staff.... the world has clearly gone insane.
(Hat tip to Jon A. over at Americablog for this amazing bit of alternative reality... Here is the post in it's entirety:)
------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 19, 2010
When CPAC starts defending the gays, the Democrats ought to start getting worried
by John Aravosis (DC) on 2/19/2010 06:42:00 PM
Joe just posted this. but it's such a powerful video, I'm posting it again here. At the nation's largest conservative conference today - and we're talking right-wing conservative - a right-wing youth goes on a tirade against gays, talking about the natural order of things, about sex being for procreation, etc. The audience boos him. Then they boo him more loudly. A moderator had to get up and calm down the rather large audience.
Watch it, then a bit of commentary.
When conservatives are standing up for gays, and Democrats treat us like we are an embarrassment, there's a problem.
No one wants Sarah Palin to be President. But we're talking about our civil rights. I think a lot of straight Democrats don't get that. They see out and proud gay people, a lot of us have good jobs, nice clothes, get to travel the world (and a lot of us don't, but they don't ever meet them), so they think our civil rights battle is some kind of champagne party to us, as if we're doing it for fun because we really have everything we could ever want. Well, anyone who thinks that didn't grow up gay. They didn't grow up thinking they were a pervert. That they were sick. That they'd never find love, never get married, never have children or a family of their own - because God made them wrong. They didn't grow up thinking they'd have to kill themselves once they hit the age of 30 because they'd be single, and people would 'figure out' that they were gay, and then they'd lose all their friends and family and their job and career. And they knew they couldn't live with that.
That last point is important. Pick any political issue, any political constituency, and ask yourself how many of those issues, how many of those people, considered killing themselves over their issue. Not a lot, I'm guessing. Now you're starting to understand why gay civil rights advocates, why gay people, care so fervently about their "issue." It's not just an issue for us. It's our lives.
That's what it's like to be gay in America.
We're talking about our lives. And when the Republicans increasingly say the right things, like repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell now, and even supporting marriage, and all the Democrats show is political homophobia, gays get the message.
Some gays and lesbians will vote for Democrats regardless of how blatantly the Obama administration and the Democratic party back away from their promises to repeal DADT, repeal DOMA, and pass ENDA. Regardless of how clear it is that the White House will appoint an openly gay cabinet member or an openly gay Supreme Court justice when hell freezes over. But I think, come November, and come many more Novembers in the future, a lot of gays and lesbians, are going to realize that we're talking about our lives, rather than our right to attend a cocktail party. And when it comes to our lives, and voting for someone who treats us with the same kind of shame every single one of us grew up, I think you're going to see an increasing number of gay Americans distancing themselves from the Democratic party with their donations and their votes. They may not vote Republican, they simply may not vote at all.
To the White House, the DNC, and our leadership in Congress: You are messing with people's lives, and we know it. And the day that an anti-gay bigot gets booed at CPAC, you all better start being very afraid.
-----------------------------------------------
Wow... what's next? Chicago Bears fans defending Brett Favre?
The Obama Administration had better be careful, the Republicans may not have been able to woo African Americans with Michael Steele's " hip hop GOP", but the LGBT community is very disappointed with the Democrats right now. When the crowd at CPAC is sounding more pro-inclusion than the White House Chief of Staff.... the world has clearly gone insane.
(Hat tip to Jon A. over at Americablog for this amazing bit of alternative reality... Here is the post in it's entirety:)
------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, February 19, 2010
When CPAC starts defending the gays, the Democrats ought to start getting worried
by John Aravosis (DC) on 2/19/2010 06:42:00 PM
Joe just posted this. but it's such a powerful video, I'm posting it again here. At the nation's largest conservative conference today - and we're talking right-wing conservative - a right-wing youth goes on a tirade against gays, talking about the natural order of things, about sex being for procreation, etc. The audience boos him. Then they boo him more loudly. A moderator had to get up and calm down the rather large audience.
Watch it, then a bit of commentary.
When conservatives are standing up for gays, and Democrats treat us like we are an embarrassment, there's a problem.
No one wants Sarah Palin to be President. But we're talking about our civil rights. I think a lot of straight Democrats don't get that. They see out and proud gay people, a lot of us have good jobs, nice clothes, get to travel the world (and a lot of us don't, but they don't ever meet them), so they think our civil rights battle is some kind of champagne party to us, as if we're doing it for fun because we really have everything we could ever want. Well, anyone who thinks that didn't grow up gay. They didn't grow up thinking they were a pervert. That they were sick. That they'd never find love, never get married, never have children or a family of their own - because God made them wrong. They didn't grow up thinking they'd have to kill themselves once they hit the age of 30 because they'd be single, and people would 'figure out' that they were gay, and then they'd lose all their friends and family and their job and career. And they knew they couldn't live with that.
That last point is important. Pick any political issue, any political constituency, and ask yourself how many of those issues, how many of those people, considered killing themselves over their issue. Not a lot, I'm guessing. Now you're starting to understand why gay civil rights advocates, why gay people, care so fervently about their "issue." It's not just an issue for us. It's our lives.
That's what it's like to be gay in America.
We're talking about our lives. And when the Republicans increasingly say the right things, like repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell now, and even supporting marriage, and all the Democrats show is political homophobia, gays get the message.
Some gays and lesbians will vote for Democrats regardless of how blatantly the Obama administration and the Democratic party back away from their promises to repeal DADT, repeal DOMA, and pass ENDA. Regardless of how clear it is that the White House will appoint an openly gay cabinet member or an openly gay Supreme Court justice when hell freezes over. But I think, come November, and come many more Novembers in the future, a lot of gays and lesbians, are going to realize that we're talking about our lives, rather than our right to attend a cocktail party. And when it comes to our lives, and voting for someone who treats us with the same kind of shame every single one of us grew up, I think you're going to see an increasing number of gay Americans distancing themselves from the Democratic party with their donations and their votes. They may not vote Republican, they simply may not vote at all.
To the White House, the DNC, and our leadership in Congress: You are messing with people's lives, and we know it. And the day that an anti-gay bigot gets booed at CPAC, you all better start being very afraid.
-----------------------------------------------
Wow... what's next? Chicago Bears fans defending Brett Favre?
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
"We Are The World", Twenty Five Years Later....
Yeah, I know it's basically a gimmick, but as far as gimmicks go, this one is pretty cool AND it's for a very good cause...
Getting Caught With their Grand Old Pants on fire...
The brilliant Rachel Maddow calls out the GOP for it's blatant hypocrisy
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
A tale of two Google Searches...
During the Superbowl, the internet search giant Google ran a very clever ad, that featured the story of a long-distance romance which, thanks to help from Google has a happy ending...
For tens of thousands of "other" couples in long distance relationships, this ad is the opposite of the reality they live with every day.
Binational couples are couples in which the partners come from different countries. Nineteen nations allow their citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration benefits. Unfortunately, the United States does not.
Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, even same-sex couples who have been legally married in U.S. states or foreign countries are not able to immigrate based on their marriage
The odious, foul, misnamed and I might add, completely uncostitutional "Defense of Marriage Act", legally bars same sex couples from the Google ad's 'happy ending'.
For the more than 40,000 binational same sex couples in the United States, Google's ad should really look like this...
For more information on issues of Immigration Equality and to find out what you can do to help, check out immigration equality's website.
For tens of thousands of "other" couples in long distance relationships, this ad is the opposite of the reality they live with every day.
Binational couples are couples in which the partners come from different countries. Nineteen nations allow their citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners for immigration benefits. Unfortunately, the United States does not.
Because of the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, even same-sex couples who have been legally married in U.S. states or foreign countries are not able to immigrate based on their marriage
The odious, foul, misnamed and I might add, completely uncostitutional "Defense of Marriage Act", legally bars same sex couples from the Google ad's 'happy ending'.
For the more than 40,000 binational same sex couples in the United States, Google's ad should really look like this...
For more information on issues of Immigration Equality and to find out what you can do to help, check out immigration equality's website.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Stephen Fry vs. The Catholic Church
The brilliant Stephen Fry's rebuttal of the Catholic Church as a "force for good in the World" motion, from the "Intelligence Debate".
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Meanwhile at "TeabaggerCon" down in Memphis, TN...
We now join Sarah Palin's speech to the "Tea Party Convention" already in progress...
(hat tip to Andrew Sullivan..)
(hat tip to Andrew Sullivan..)
Saturday, February 06, 2010
A few words of wisdom for the Teabaggers...
| As the Teabaggers all gather down in Tennessee for their first "convention" Jon Stewart offers some sage advice... The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | ||||
| Baracknophobia - Obey | ||||
| ||||
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
Monday, February 01, 2010
We take a break from politics...
To settle an age old question once and for all. Which is better? Star Wars or Star Trek?
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