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[smeeprocket]

I'd get a second opinion, personally.

[UXLZ]

God, I'd swear that the prerequisite to becoming a politician is to get a lobotomy, and only a few manage to squeeze through and avoid it...

The issue is that power always, always corrupts. It's an inescapable fact. Governments tend to suck by nature.

[Angle]

Yeah, you also have to remember that our tax code is designed to HEAVILY favor those with the time + expertise/Money to do their taxes professionally. You can cut what you pay by gigantic amounts.

[Moghjubar]

American healthcare system:

I had an aneurysm in my left middle ear area few year back.  Burst in the morning but I felt it and jammed my head down and squeezed on it and just barely didn't pass out and throw up everywhere and die.  I decided to just write a good-bye letter and hope for the best instead of calling emergency services because I figured I may as well just give the small amount I had saved to family instead of getting shuttled off, killed in some ER secondary infection clusterfuck, and lose all the (relatively small) amount I had saved that would just be given to my brother otherwise.

After surviving (yay, walked off an aneurysm: achievement unlocked) ended up looking around for an MRI.  Took several days to find a cheaper one I could afford, which was in a state away.   A long car drive with a *barely* healed aneurysm is not a fun thing I tell ya w'hat.  MRI doesn't show anything specific (maybe I waited too long) and I would end up needing a much more expensive operation to really see shit so I said "done with that" and didn't go back to the doctor that I payed $250 bucks to just to have her say "well, good luck!" (more or less exactly what she said) and that was it. 

The irony: year+ later, the place I went to tries to bill me again for outstanding accounts because they were being bought out, and the secretary accidentally put a negative sign somewhere.  Yay for keeping receipts.

The double irony: I live in Texas and I take care of my grandfather, who has pretty bad dementia from time to time, basically full time.  So I can't get medicaid, and I also don't even earn enough to get subsidies, so I'm basically right fucked out of even getting Obamacare.  'murica.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I know but I mean, it's the white southern dudes that are the idiots. We should be able to make an exception for them

I'm going to try to be polite here and say you should be more careful and less sure of yourself when talking about things like this.

I live in the south, I am under the watch of these people. I am speaking from experience.

I live in the south and I am one of these people. I am speaking from experience that you'd be better off not making stereotypical assumptions about anybody. It is that exact kind of elitist attitude that prevents the existence of a strong left-wing in the South specifically or the US as a whole. Nobody is going to be open to being convinced when you identify their class of people as a problem to be solved. This is literally the exact reason people here are intellectually closed to the left. Let go of the ivory tower.

[Helgoland]

Ironically, about half of that is closer to the US reality than the European one, not that I'm much a fan of either system.

Where do you see the problems with the current European system?

(Actually that 'the' should have big fat quotation marks around it. German and British healthcare for example have very very very very very very very very little in common. In fact we tell horror stories about the NHS like the Republicans do about Europe )

[smeeprocket]

I know but I mean, it's the white southern dudes that are the idiots. We should be able to make an exception for them

I'm going to try to be polite here and say you should be more careful and less sure of yourself when talking about things like this.

I live in the south, I am under the watch of these people. I am speaking from experience.

I live in the south and I am one of these people. I am speaking from experience that you'd be better off not making stereotypical assumptions about anybody. It is that exact kind of elitist attitude that prevents the existence of a strong left-wing in the South specifically or the US as a whole. Nobody is going to be open to being convinced when you identify their class of people as a problem to be solved. This is literally the exact reason people here are intellectually closed to the left. Let go of the ivory tower.

I changed it in my post for fear of getting warned. No one should have to be convinced not to be racist, which is the biggest problem we are having with the tea party right now. TBF there are also women involved being equally as awful.

But the tea party isn't exactly racially diverse.

[UXLZ]

I had an aneurysm in my left middle ear area few year back.  Burst in the morning but I felt it and jammed my head down and squeezed on it and just barely didn't pass out and throw up everywhere and die.

Err... How the hell does that work?

Where do you see the problems with the current European system?

(Actually that 'the' should have big fat quotation marks around it. German and British healthcare for example have very very very very very very very very little in common. In fact we tell horror stories about the NHS like the Republicans do about Europe )

Do you live in Germany, Helgoland?

[Moghjubar]

I had an aneurysm in my left middle ear area few year back.  Burst in the morning but I felt it and jammed my head down and squeezed on it and just barely didn't pass out and throw up everywhere and die.

Err... How the hell does that work?

Upon looking at diagrams, was probably closer to outer ear than middle ear.  Also, it only just barely worked: you go from fine and dandy to nearly dead in about 3 seconds, its not a fun experience.

[UXLZ]

I had an aneurysm in my left middle ear area few year back.  Burst in the morning but I felt it and jammed my head down and squeezed on it and just barely didn't pass out and throw up everywhere and die.

Err... How the hell does that work?

Upon looking at diagrams, was probably closer to outer ear than middle ear.  Also, it only just barely worked: you go from fine and dandy to nearly dead in about 3 seconds, its not a fun experience.

What I meant was 'What's an Aneurysm' and 'How does squeezing it help? Where did you squeeze, your head or your ear?'. >_>

Doesn't sound fun...

[smeeprocket]

yea my boyfriend suffers from crippling back pain.He tried to get a govt program that tries to get people back to work if they have a fast turn around to cover what basically amounted to a few weeks of physical therapy.

Rick Scott got re-elected though and that went out the window.

Half the state didn't want him in office. The alternative was charlie christ and I voted the fuck out of that part of the ballot. Former conservative versus tea party nutjob? I know what I preferred.

[smeeprocket]

I had an aneurysm in my left middle ear area few year back.  Burst in the morning but I felt it and jammed my head down and squeezed on it and just barely didn't pass out and throw up everywhere and die.

Err... How the hell does that work?

Upon looking at diagrams, was probably closer to outer ear than middle ear.  Also, it only just barely worked: you go from fine and dandy to nearly dead in about 3 seconds, its not a fun experience.

What I meant was 'What's an Aneurysm' and 'How does squeezing it help? Where did you squeeze, your head or your ear?'. >_>

Doesn't sound fun...

it's a burst blood vessel in your brain and it can result in instantaneous death.

I'm not sure how you could be sure that's what you had though. Without diagnosis.

That's the poor man's diagnosis "not dead? check. Healthcare is working!"

[MetalSlimeHunt]

No one should have to be convinced not to be racist, which is the biggest problem we are having with the tea party right now. TBF there are also women involved being equally as awful.

Whether they should or not is kind of irrelevant. In the Hypothetical Vacuum Utopia that underlies many most morality discussions, sure, nobody should have to be convinced not to be racist. It's just that HVU does not exist and could not possibly exist. I think this is one of the more powerful negative effects of trying to exist within a thought experiment instead of the real world, which the politically marginalized have a very powerful tendency to do because it allows them to feel good and powerful even though they don't have political power in reality.

Until people begin thinking of these things in terms of what can be accomplished in reality and how it relates to the non-affiliated, we're going to keep staling in place.

[smeeprocket]

No one should have to be convinced not to be racist, which is the biggest problem we are having with the tea party right now. TBF there are also women involved being equally as awful.

Whether they should or not is kind of irrelevant. In the Hypothetical Vacuum Utopia that underlies many most morality discussions, sure, nobody should have to be convinced not to be racist. It's just that HVU does not exist and could not possibly exist. I think this is one of the more powerful negative effects of trying to exist within a thought experiment instead of the real world, which the politically marginalized have a very powerful tendency to do because it allows them to feel good and powerful even though they don't have political power in reality.

Until people begin thinking of these things in terms of what can be accomplished in reality and how it relates to the non-affiliated, we're going to keep staling in place.

Trying to make borderline racist people not racist is as frustrating as it is exhausting though.

I have some conservative friends that I game with.

One genuinely asked me what racism black people have to deal with these days. It floored me so hard it kicked all of the actual examples out of my brain for a bit.

The other one asked me when black people were going to get over slavery.

These guys are probably good people at heart, but there's not even a foundation to work with there, you are just building on quicksand.

[Helgoland]

Do you live in Germany, Helgoland?

Ayup, I'm pretty much the resident Hun.

(I really live in Prussian-occupied North-East France, but that's another story )