busyHere is a piece from the United Kingdom, describing another third-world-esque scene from American health care, and demonstrating how the paltry health care system is undermining America's reputation among civilized nations.
The Brutal Truth About America's Healthcare
Guy Adams, The Independent UK: "They came in their thousands, queuing through the night to secure one of the coveted wristbands offering entry into a strange parallel universe where medical care is a free and basic right and not an expensive luxury. Some of these Americans had walked miles simply to have their blood pressure checked, some had slept in their cars in the hope of getting an eye-test or a mammogram, others had brought their children for immunisations that could end up saving their life. In the week that Britain's National Health Service was held aloft by Republicans as an 'evil and Orwellian' example of everything that is wrong with free healthcare, these extraordinary scenes in Inglewood, California yesterday provided a sobering reminder of exactly why President Barack Obama is trying to reform the US system."
In some cases, conflict of interest is creating enough heat for people to resign positions. Sometimes this is a good thing. However, we need to keep an eye on these and make sure the problems are genuine before ranting at people. It would be Very Bad for people to start feeling they had to quit just because they were involved in a protest that proved unpopular. Look deeper.
Dick Armey Leaves Firm Amid Health Care Flap
David Mark, The Politico: "Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is resigning from DLA Piper law firm amid a wave of negative attention his grassroots organization, Freedom Works, has drawn for helping to organize protesters at health care town hall meetings with members of Congress. In an interview with POLITCO Armey said that he was concerned about the media scrutiny the health care protests were drawing to the firm he has been associated with since retiring from Congress."
I was seriously disappointed -- though not surprised -- to hear that Obama is backing away from including a public option in the health care reform. I'm intrigued by the idea of nonprofit health cooperatives, but I'm not sure how we could make them powerful enough to keep insurance companies from continuing to cheat people. If anyone has more info about nonprofit health care, however, that's worth exploring. Also, both the health care industry and the Republicans have chiseled away at health care reform without ever giving any support when their demands are met. The give-and-take is mostly just take.
White House backs off public healthcare option
Reporting from Washington - The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was on the verge of abandoning a government-run insurance option in its healthcare overhaul -- a bow to political reality and a big win for insurers.
But some experts said that may not completely relieve pressure on insurers to deliver cost savings.
Another angle on this examines how America is turning into the land of "me first" rather than taking care of all its citizens.
Marc Ash | Fight for the Public Option
Marc Ash, Truthout: "As August comes to a close, one of the most important debates in American history will come to a point of decision making. Will Americans have the option to support their own health care system if they choose? It will not only be important as a political precedent or as policy statement; it will be a landmark moment socially. Will we as Americans care for Americans in illness and need? The conflict could not be more stark, the stakes any higher."
Of course, Obama is disappointing his liberal supporters by backing down on the public option (which itself was a lesser plan that some people want).
Obama Picks Fight With Left on Health Reform
Ian Swanson, The Hill: "In backing away from its support for a public option in healthcare reform, the Obama administration is picking a fight with the liberal wing of the Democratic party. Liberal Democrats have insisted a public insurance option is necessary to ensure competition for private insurers. Just this week, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean predicted there could be Democratic primary challenges if a healthcare bill without a public option is approved by Congress."
This article takes a look at who's driving the opposition to health care reform.
Who's Behind the Attacks on a Health Care Overhaul?
Margaret Talev, McClatchy Newspapers: "Much of the money and strategy behind the so-called grassroots groups organizing opposition to the Democrats' health care plans comes from conservative political consultants, professional organizers and millionaires, some of whom hold financial stakes in the outcome. If President Barack Obama and Congress extend health insurance coverage to millions of uninsured Americans, raise taxes on the wealthy to pay for it, and limit insurers' discretion on who they cover and what they charge, that could pinch these opponents."
For every person in Congress who is supposed to work for you and represent your interests, the constituent, there are six health care lobbyists -- who most certainly do NOT work for you. You can vote for a different Congressman; if you don't like their job performance, you can theoretically replace them with someone else. You have no rights regarding lobbyists, who are free to pressure your elected officials to do something against your wishes, at the behest of companies who can give politicians more money than you will ever see in your life. No wonder Congressmen pay more attention to the companies and the lobbyists.
Six Lobbyists Per Lawmaker Work on Health Overhaul
Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O'Leary, Bloomberg News: "If there is any doubt that President Barack Obama's plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have lined up to work on the issue. That's six lobbyists for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate, according to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense."
August 18 2009, 01:51:22 UTC 11 years ago Edited: August 18 2009, 01:55:18 UTC
And not only is education free of charge, but their education system is based on values, skills, critical thinking, keeping education fun, and is set up to find individuals' best ways of learning and teaching them how best they're able to learn.
Furthermore, their society has always been in love with ideas and with art, so intellectuals and artists are encouraged and have a larger market there than even on Earth. Basically you have a whole planet full of people who most of them are the sort of people who would say, "When I have a little money, I spend it on books (or art), and when I have some leftover, I buy food and clothing."
Getting a job on Traipah is fairly easy, too. Whether you've found what you love to do or not, the Guilds will give you apprenticeship in their trade, rewarding good work with money and/or extra food. Then you can either go on to be a full, paid Guild member, or you can explore other options. One can also go into one of the Spiritual/Religious Orders, and one wouldn't even have to be abstinent because Traipahni society doesn't stigmatize sex.
And if one can't find a job one wants to apprentice in to try it, one can take one's time in figuring out what one finds interesting enough to make a career of. And mentally ill or depressed persons don't have to have the added stress caused by financial difficulties here on Earth, so it's a better environment to heal in. And that free health care includes mental health care, too. And free medicine.
Because of all this, the crime rate is really really low, to the point of near non-existence. And regardless of what the crime is, criminals are treated like people and are rehabilitated. You don't find on Traipah the shit like the sex offender registries, the subsequent ostracizing of individuals, and the resulting inability to fit back into society. The Traipahni people long ago figured out that the fear-based approach to criminals and crimes creates more problems than it solves, was creating monsters, and making what monsters there were even worse.
And the whole reason they do all this is because they long ago realized that the better off the poorest among them are, the better off *everyone* will be. Every individual contributes, for good or for ill, to the welfare of the whole, and the more people are desperate, insane, or monstrous, the more desperate, insane, or monstrous the society as a whole will be. Especially since the greater monsters tend to be those seeking to protect society from those they call monsters.
Wow!
August 18 2009, 02:21:30 UTC 11 years ago
How do they deal with the challenge of teaching people to be industrious when the basics are provided?
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 02:59:03 UTC 11 years ago
2. Most people on Traipah live with other people, usually in large family groups. It's rare for people to live alone on Traipah.*
3. It's not really safe to live alone on Traipah. There are more things that can kill you on Traipah than there are in Australia. And most of the things that can kill you on Traipah will also eat you. Some won't even wait for you to die before they start to eat you. There are even carnivorous trees, and crocodile-like creatures that are warm-blooded and have feathers and are sometimes big enough to swallow a saltwater crocodile whole. So there's safety in numbers.
* There are a lot of reasons for this whole "living together in family groups" thing:
1. Habitable areas for conscious beings on Traipah are limited by a deep-seated Traipahni belief in being harmonious with the environment, and fear of the consequences if the environment is screwed up, a fear which is based on The Reformation (when the biosphere basically rebelled against the planetary abuse, for lack of better terms, via an explosion of biodiversity with species that almost wiped out Traipahni civilization) and on Jophwaan Island, an island whose ecosystem famously died because of "conscious being" interference, and only recently began to have life living on it again with an entirely new ecosystem.
2. The Ah'Koi Bahnis are just more social than humans. They're also more touch-oriented, needing the physical touch of others very powerfully. So much so that more than 3 months of being alone at a stretch is *very* detrimental to the mental health of Ah'Koi Bahnis individuals.
The Duenicallo and Shaokennah species aren't as socially needy as the Ah'Koi Bahnis, but both of those species are pack animals. (Both of those species being carnivorous, where most Ah'Koi Bahnis are herbivorous.)
In case you're wondering how two carnivorous species and an herbivorous species get along, well:
They didn't, at first. When the Duenicallo first came over to the Tahl'Bahn continent from their own continent of N'Ai'Shahn, they hunted Ah'Koi Bahnis.1 When the AKB started fighting back with sophisticated tools, the Duenicallo realized they were people and made peace with them. Now the only time Duenicallo eat AKB is if it's in the shared culture of an area for Duenicallo to eat the deceased among the AKB, as a form of ritual body disposal. Which *does* happen in a lot of places.
The Shaokennah2 only hunt small game, and sometimes scavenge corpses of larger animals. Ah'Koi Bahnis never interested them, food wise. And Shaokennah have always generally kept to themselves.
At one point in Traipahni history, the AKB and the Duenicallo started taking Shaokennah as slaves. These slaves eventually broke free after a couple thousand years, and the Shaokennah still don't entirely trust either species even 10,000 years after The Reformation. (They can hold a grudge for a very long time.)
Footnotes
1 = The thought of Duenicallo on boats amuses me greatly. They're four-legged carnivores whose forepaws double as hands (and who can stand and walk on their hind legs, but can only run on all fours) and are more massive than polar bears or grizzly bears. (There are two "races" of Duenicallo; pygmy Duenicallo are just a little smaller than grizzly bears. The larger race of Duenicallo are the size of average Arabian horses.)
What amuses me is that Duenicallo *can* swim, but they generally don't like to. They're rather catlike in that regard, as well in how they clean themselves. But they also have characteristics similar to bears, hyenas, and dogs.
2 = Shaokennah are warm-blooded and resemble the velociraptors in Jurassic Park, except that they have shorter snouts, more fingers, smaller claws, and lack the giant toe claws of the 'raptors. Their legs also bend differently, as they share ancestry with a smaller creature called a vungtraf, which is a large warm blooded lizardlike creature with four legs, whose legs are more like a frog's legs.
Ah'Koi Bahnis are humanoid.
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 04:32:26 UTC 11 years ago
>>1. Part of it is what you get at that basic level: a tiny apartment, just enough food to get by on, and what food you do get is rather dull. It's a stable "income," but a dull one.<<
My Common Ground colony does this. Basics are provided, but if you want perks, you have to work for those. It's easy to get work, though; if you can't find (or don't want) a regular job, you can go to the work halls where there is always various stuff to do.
>> Most people on Traipah live with other people, usually in large family groups. It's rare for people to live alone on Traipah.*<<
My Freedom System colony is like this. Households are a recognized social unit. First story I wrote there, I think the characters were living in a household of 17 or 18 people. Come to think of it, on the fantasy side, Waterjewel folks almost never live alone; they have tent-families of several people. The only people who live alone are ones whose habits might be awkward for tentmates -- shamans, healers, artisans, etc. -- but not even all of them do that. And being semi-nomadic, they also came up with the idea of storage tents. So when you travel, you dump most of the stuff you've been using into a storage tent, carry with you only your most personal possessions, and then pick new stuff from the storage tents in your new camp.
>>There are even carnivorous trees, and crocodile-like creatures that are warm-blooded and have feathers and are sometimes big enough to swallow a saltwater crocodile whole.<<
0_o Remind me to pack my laser sword and gravitic rifle if I ever visit that planet.
>>The Ah'Koi Bahnis are just more social than humans. <<
I have several species like that. The Centaurs are capable of acting as individuals, but they usually don't; their person-unit is the herd instead of the individual. On the SF side, the Silico androids require close contact with others of their kind.
One thing I love about speculative fiction is that it lets us consider other ways of living that are very different from ours, and what we might learn to do (or not do) based on those examples. I really like
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 06:00:26 UTC 11 years ago
For some reason, this reminded me that on Traipah there *are* homeless people, but they're very rare, and those who *are* homeless are either homeless by choice, or are mentally ill and running from treatment. If the latter, they tend to not last long on Traipah... if someone doesn't bring them back in for treatment quickly, they tend to wander off into the wilderness and get eaten or killed.
Oh, and insanity reminded me of the only disease the Traipahni are unable to cure completely. It's called the voong brain fungus (named after the vungtraf, who mimic voong's symptoms as a defense mechanism), and starts growing in the ear canal and into the brain, causing insanity and death. Well, they can cure it if they get to a person fast enough, but usually by the time they become symptomatic, it's too late to do anything for them. And they can't get exterminate the fungus that does it because 98% of the time it just grows in dead things like any other fungus, playing an important ecological role; only 2% of the time does it end up inside a living organism and grow there.
And being semi-nomadic, they also came up with the idea of storage tents. So when you travel, you dump most of the stuff you've been using into a storage tent, carry with you only your most personal possessions, and then pick new stuff from the storage tents in your new camp.
I was listening to something earlier today where this one person said that Western society and similar urban societies are unhealthy because such large groups are unnatural and unhealthy for human beings, since human beings are by nature tribal. And that this unhealthiness manifests in things like theft, rape, murder, and child abuse, stuff you couldn't get away with within one's own tribe without being ostracized; and in the tribal model of life, being exiled is often a fate worse than death.
They also went on to say that another symptom of this unhealthiness is an extension of childhood into realms they never were at before. In the tribal system, children usually become adults at or just after puberty, and are capable of a lot more responsibility and skills earlier on before that as well. And urban societies like Western society extend childhood into the late teens and this results, ultimately, in people who are less capable of fitting healthily into adult society. (I think I can cite myself as an example, since I'm a child in an adult body.) Especially when society adds bodily shame and shame towards sex.
I can see their point, and I agree for the most part. But I disagree on one thing: I think urban societies *can* work, if people's basic social unit remains tribal, and an urban society were composed of a cooperation of these tribal units. (As well as losing the body and sex shame.) Which, examining Traipahni culture as I know it so far, I'm pretty sure that's how they've been operating this whole time unbeknown to me.
They do that a lot, actually; when I figured out that they were naturally multiplicitous (and capable of storing copies of other peoples' minds inside their own heads), looking back at past information showed me that they'd been that way before I even knew what multiplicity was!
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 06:08:08 UTC 11 years ago
Defense mechanism against what? Are there predators that avoid prey that they believe to be infected?
I was listening to something earlier today where this one person said that Western society and similar urban societies are unhealthy because such large groups are unnatural and unhealthy for human beings, since human beings are by nature tribal. And that this unhealthiness manifests in things like theft, rape, murder, and child abuse, stuff you couldn't get away with within one's own tribe without being ostracized; and in the tribal model of life, being exiled is often a fate worse than death.
The problem with that is that hunter-gatherer societies are generally MORE violent than modern Western societies. Both murder and war are far more common. It's been found that in many tribes, some 25-30% of adult male deaths are from violence, either murder or war.
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 06:10:35 UTC 11 years ago
Yes.
The problem with that is that hunter-gatherer societies are generally MORE violent than modern Western societies. Both murder and war are far more common. It's been found that in many tribes, some 25-30% of adult male deaths are from violence, either murder or war.
Between tribes, maybe. Not so much within the tribe.
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 06:13:24 UTC 11 years ago
Depended on the tribe. Some tribes had high rates of intratribal violence, but, yes, in most cases it was between tribes. But, really, what difference does it make if you're killed by someone in your own tribe or by someone in another tribe? You're dead either way.
Re: Wow!
11 years ago
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 06:35:48 UTC 11 years ago
*nod* It's possible to be homeless on Common Ground too, but you have to be pretty determined about it. More typically, people who don't fit into that society will catch a ship to somewhere else.
>>I was listening to something earlier today where this one person said that Western society and similar urban societies are unhealthy because such large groups are unnatural and unhealthy for human beings, since human beings are by nature tribal. <<
Some urban societies work better than others. We're gradually learning. Freesh, we've only had cities for about 6,000 years and tribes for about 50,000. But it's clear that we don't yet have all the pieces we need to live in large groups sustainably and sanely.
>>They also went on to say that another symptom of this unhealthiness is an extension of childhood into realms they never were at before.<<
I've noticed this, and it's getting worse: young people are trapped with their parents well into their 20s now, but we've destroyed most of the social skills necessary for healthy multi-generational families. That's creating a lot of human wreckage. I hope we regain those skills. But we've taken one of the most miserable periods of human life -- adolescence -- and extended it from a year or two to somewhere between 10 and 15 years. Young people whose bodies and instincts are telling them it's time to mature, move away from their parents, and start a family are forcibly retained in a child role. Not only is it maddening for them, it can be crippling: if they don't grow into adults at the time the urge strikes, they may be unable later when society tells them it's time, because the capacity was not properly developed. It's a window. It closes. And then society blames the young adults for continuing to behave like children, because they've been doing it so long, they don't know how to do anything else.
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 06:52:52 UTC 11 years ago
The Ah'Koi Bahnis race called the Her'my'oh'ahd'jahg, who because of their carnivorous nature don't fit in among *any* Ah'Koi Bahnis group yet, and whom have a hard time finding each other, usually end up living with groups of Duenicallo, since Duenicallo are carnivores as well and have a generally amicable relationship with AKB despite disagreements throughout their shared history. (For example, the Duenicallo argued constantly with the Ihg'Dahk over the insane stuff they did like genocide against the Mahg'lih'mihn and other things).
Some urban societies work better than others. We're gradually learning. Freesh, we've only had cities for about 6,000 years and tribes for about 50,000. But it's clear that we don't yet have all the pieces we need to live in large groups sustainably and sanely.
Fair point. :-)
I've noticed this, and it's getting worse: young people are trapped with their parents well into their 20s now, but we've destroyed most of the social skills necessary for healthy multi-generational families. That's creating a lot of human wreckage. I hope we regain those skills.
I wonder if we're some author's "What if people lived like this?" dystopia?
But we've taken one of the most miserable periods of human life -- adolescence -- and extended it from a year or two to somewhere between 10 and 15 years.
Miserable indeed.
Young people whose bodies and instincts are telling them it's time to mature, move away from their parents, and start a family are forcibly retained in a child role. Not only is it maddening for them, it can be crippling: if they don't grow into adults at the time the urge strikes, they may be unable later when society tells them it's time, because the capacity was not properly developed. It's a window. It closes.
And you're right, it's getting a lot worse. Now the source I was listening to was a few years old, and I don't know if they were right about this at the time or not, but they said something about there being debate to set the international age of consent to 25. o_O Someone else responded to them, "Might as well forbid breeding altogether!"
And then society blames the young adults for continuing to behave like children, because they've been doing it so long, they don't know how to do anything else.
Indeed! It's society's own damned fault!
Re: Wow!
August 18 2009, 07:09:45 UTC 11 years ago
Oh, sure. If they write embarrassing things about me personally, I spill coffee on it. If they write embarrassing things about society, I egg them on and direct their attention to the really bad stuff. I've also retold bits of our history to people in other worlds, variously as comedy or horror.
>>they said something about there being debate to set the international age of consent to 25. o_O Someone else responded to them, "Might as well forbid breeding altogether!"<<
All that would do is create a lot of new lawbreakers. You can't stop people from fornicating. Adults will tell young people in puberty not to have sex. Well, the sex drive is one of the most powerful forces on the planet; it has to be, in order to cancel out the conscious mind's awareness of how much pain and WORK goes into raising a child. With what resources do adults expect adolescents to rein in this mighty force, when they themselves fail publically and frequently to do so? Adolescents have less experience, are not customarily trained in mental disciplines, have no legal spouse, and have no legal access to sex toys. They are left to discover masturbation on their own, and condemned even for doing that. So no wonder they screw in the back seats of cars. They're not going to stop. Society might as well quit wishing for the impossible and deal with the actual, which is that Mother Nature turns on the plumbing around age 10-12 and we need to figure out some healthy ways to satisfy those urges without crushing adolescents or creating unwanted pregnancies.
Re: Wow!
11 years ago
Re: Wow! CONTINUED
August 18 2009, 06:00:53 UTC 11 years ago
LOL!
Some regions are safer than others. Stay out of the swamps, for one. (Large parts of Tahl'Bahn, and the entirety of Viin'Ihd are out, in that case.) The people of Vaish aren't very friendly to offworlders currently, so avoid that area; a human who is a professional Vacationer was recently rescued from there after being put on trial for a crime the government of Vaish fabricated.
I think Kohrihn and N'Ai'Shahn are the safest continents. Kohrihn because it's cold, N'Ai'Shahn because it's mostly steppe or grasslands and because it's the home continent of the Duenicallo. Remember, Duenicallo can be as big as Arabian horses when on all fours (and even taller when standing on their hind legs!), are carnivores, are honorable, and they don't eat people; and in a fight between three male polar bears and a single large Duenicallo, I'd bet on the Duenicallo.
Oh, and you can go into the dangerous parts if you have an escort. Ah'Koi Bahnis are pretty good escorts, as they're a lot stronger than humans and since professional AKB guides tend to be Gifted with The Sense and/or other mental powers (like telekinesis) but a Duenicallo escort would make you feel safer probably (aside from the fact that they are intimidating), despite The Gift/The Sense being rarer among them. There are a few Shaokennah guides, as well, but they're kind of rare since Shaokennah mostly keep to themselves.
"The Ah'Koi Bahnis are just more social than humans."
I have several species like that. The Centaurs are capable of acting as individuals, but they usually don't; their person-unit is the herd instead of the individual. On the SF side, the Silico androids require close contact with others of their kind.
The Kri-Krit, in my "Carbon and Silicon" world, are set up a lot like insect hives. The Queen is, of course, the most important member of the hive, because she does all the replication (replication is the machine word for reproduction; they even use the term in reference to the reproduction processes of organic beings). There is one caste that attends the Queens. There are castes for construction and for repairs of important systems. There is a scholarly caste. And then there are the Soldiers.
Kri-Krit society demands obedience. You absolutely must obey without question the first time or you're treading on very thin ice, because one of the Soldiers can, at any time, snap the brain of any individual in half with their pincers. There is no repairing of most castes except for the Queens and the Scholars. All other castes, if they need more than the most minor of repairs (5 to 10 minute repair time) are disposed of by a Soldier and scrapped for parts.
While the Kri-Krit *do* have a relationship with the more humanlike Zedaleph species (and other silicon races that don't share their values), the relationship is a tense and strenuous one. They have to give any of their members who have contact with races like the Zedaleph extensive training to keep them from extending their own values upon members of other races. (Can you imagine the diplomatic and political shitstorm that would happen if a Kri-Krit Soldier killed a Zedaleph, a race who question almost everything, for not obeying a command?)
Oh, and BTW, the Scholar caste gets a little bit more leeway in questioning than other castes simply because it's a scientist's duty to question things. Still, it can be tricky.
One thing I love about speculative fiction is that it lets us consider other ways of living that are very different from ours, and what we might learn to do (or not do) based on those examples. I really like haikujaguar's Kherishdar for that. I think some of the ideas there are really sensible.
Indeed.
Oh, by the way, that minority of Ah'Koi Bahnis who are obligate carnivores (and are the only group remaining that the AKB discriminate against) that I was talking about earlier are called Her'my'oh'ahd'jahg. That term literally means "flesh eater."
PS (Re: Wow!)
August 18 2009, 03:14:11 UTC 11 years ago
August 18 2009, 01:53:21 UTC 11 years ago
One friend suggested that I send it to healthreform.gov, which I did.
I think that we are doing no good, and then I think back to the suffragettes and the reforms they campaigned for and achieved while facing similar opposition.
Thank you!
August 18 2009, 02:19:03 UTC 11 years ago
Reform is always difficult. Sometimes we can make progress. Other times, all we can do is refuse to make it easy for other people to abuse us. They may still win, but it's gonna cost them.