people: a love/hate relationship
this past week, i've yelled at my car radio on two notable occasions. i tend to do that from time to time. a story or interview will come on and i just have to yell. what with all the craziness in politics these days, i've been yelling more often than what would be considered "normal". before this week, the last time i yelled at my radio was regarding health care. i'm sorry, but does everyone need a vocabulary lesson - what part of option don't you understand? it's an OPTION, it's not mandatary, it's not forced, it's available IF YOU WANT IT. don't want it? don't have to use/take it. want to keep your doctor? more power to you, but your neighbor who can't afford health care right now, may want to take advantage of cheaper health care...that just happens to be run by the government. who gives a shit? it's not socialism and we're not turning into sweden. the government is looking out for those millions of people who live their life in fear that if they get really really sick, they have no coverage; OR if they have coverage it's the super cheap stuff that won't even cover the kleenex to wipe your runny nose because they can't afford anything other than what their cheap employer provides. it's an OPTION. *sigh*
anyway, earlier this week it wasn't so much that i yelled at my radio, but i nearly cried at how incredibly horrible health care is in this country. the "pay for service" system encourages over-servicing. doctors simply providing more than what is necessary because they'll get paid for it. a town in maine whose women were getting hysterectomies in their twenties because of some belly pain. why? it wasn't just because it was the 70s and no one knew better, it's just that it was an operation that got the doctors paid. for most, it wasn't a problem. it became a problem for the woman who had 6 different spinal fusion surgeries and now lives in constant pain. why? the doctor was getting top-dollar for the very complex surgery for fuzing the spine together...THAT'S BEEN PROVEN TO NOT WORK! compared to the lesser complex spinal surgery, the fusion surgery has been proven to not work as effectively and, in some cases, make things worse. you can get mad at the doctors, but without the "pay for service" they're basically working for free. do you get mad at the system? you can, but it doesn't do any good. yet it seems like no one else sees what's going on. the ones that CAN see what's happening, just aren't as loud as the other guys who think this country is just fine. we're not. we have the worst health as a country for being so damn rich.
the second thing that got me to yell at my radio this week was the recent passing of hate crimes legislation when pertaining to hate crims against sexuality. i'm not mad about that. i'm really happy it finally passed. what made me mad was the way it had to pass. it couldn't happen as a regular bill, because it would get shot down. why? first ammendment rights, is what's usually stated. hate crimes against someone's sexuality would infringe upon the hater's possible religious beliefs. i am all for freedom of religiou, but that does NOT give ANYONE the right to persecute someone for who they are. you may not agree with it, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt someone else. how is hate crimes against someone's sexuality any different than hate crimes against someone else's race or, god-forbid, someone else's religion. so, what did they have to go to get this thing passed? paperclip it to a goddamn defense spending bill. some redenck hick senator actually said: i have a son doing his 3rd tour in afganistan and i want him to have all the money in the world to help him, but i'm NOT going to vote for this bill because it's also protects gays from being lynched. what kind of fucking backwards thinking is that shit?! that just made me so incredibly angry and, for lack of a better word, hateful. it still passed the house with a 2-1 majority, but still, this kind of thing should NOT have had to be paperclipped to something people wouldn't vote for. ugh...
+_+_+
what made me love people this week? my coworker told me what whatever i'm doing with my hair recently looks great and fits me well. it only makes me feel that much better because i simply don't do hair. having to blow dry it and use 2 different products is totally beyond what i can do. hearing that it's working and looks really nice, just helped make my thursday. :)
anyway, earlier this week it wasn't so much that i yelled at my radio, but i nearly cried at how incredibly horrible health care is in this country. the "pay for service" system encourages over-servicing. doctors simply providing more than what is necessary because they'll get paid for it. a town in maine whose women were getting hysterectomies in their twenties because of some belly pain. why? it wasn't just because it was the 70s and no one knew better, it's just that it was an operation that got the doctors paid. for most, it wasn't a problem. it became a problem for the woman who had 6 different spinal fusion surgeries and now lives in constant pain. why? the doctor was getting top-dollar for the very complex surgery for fuzing the spine together...THAT'S BEEN PROVEN TO NOT WORK! compared to the lesser complex spinal surgery, the fusion surgery has been proven to not work as effectively and, in some cases, make things worse. you can get mad at the doctors, but without the "pay for service" they're basically working for free. do you get mad at the system? you can, but it doesn't do any good. yet it seems like no one else sees what's going on. the ones that CAN see what's happening, just aren't as loud as the other guys who think this country is just fine. we're not. we have the worst health as a country for being so damn rich.
the second thing that got me to yell at my radio this week was the recent passing of hate crimes legislation when pertaining to hate crims against sexuality. i'm not mad about that. i'm really happy it finally passed. what made me mad was the way it had to pass. it couldn't happen as a regular bill, because it would get shot down. why? first ammendment rights, is what's usually stated. hate crimes against someone's sexuality would infringe upon the hater's possible religious beliefs. i am all for freedom of religiou, but that does NOT give ANYONE the right to persecute someone for who they are. you may not agree with it, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt someone else. how is hate crimes against someone's sexuality any different than hate crimes against someone else's race or, god-forbid, someone else's religion. so, what did they have to go to get this thing passed? paperclip it to a goddamn defense spending bill. some redenck hick senator actually said: i have a son doing his 3rd tour in afganistan and i want him to have all the money in the world to help him, but i'm NOT going to vote for this bill because it's also protects gays from being lynched. what kind of fucking backwards thinking is that shit?! that just made me so incredibly angry and, for lack of a better word, hateful. it still passed the house with a 2-1 majority, but still, this kind of thing should NOT have had to be paperclipped to something people wouldn't vote for. ugh...
+_+_+
what made me love people this week? my coworker told me what whatever i'm doing with my hair recently looks great and fits me well. it only makes me feel that much better because i simply don't do hair. having to blow dry it and use 2 different products is totally beyond what i can do. hearing that it's working and looks really nice, just helped make my thursday. :)