He wasn't a third rate science fiction author though. Read his book Final Blackout, about the war in Europe. In 1939, he correctly predicted which country would use the first nuclear bomb in warfare. (Spoiler, it was the US.) Back in the heyday of scifi, he was one of the biggest names.
Also, if you consider he knew enough about the human mind, as well as society, that he created a really crazy set of beliefs and got people to accept them. There are plenty of crackpot false messiahs out there. Not many build a system like his, and have it survive so well after the messiah's death.
He built a fictional world, and got others to believe in it. That's what writers do. So, please, don't consider him to be just another third-rate science fiction author.
I didn't realize the UK was a dictatorship, or that the prime minister assumed the title after a military coup d'état. That's French for -- coup d'état. (Best line of the movie.)
Fine, have it your way. Charge up your phone, put it into your pocket, and run out into traffic. After a car hits you, come back and let up know how your cell phone is doing. Oh, make sure the vehicle in this test hits your phone directly; getting struck in the opposite hip doesn't count. So if the first one isn't at the right angle, stumble on until another opportunity presents itself. That will usually be about three seconds later.
Great, so now it's not just one battery pack in the back that's a fire risk, the whole exterior of the car could spontaneously combust at any moment. Oh, and good bye independant body shops.
Do you walk around with a phone thinking "in my pocket, near my crotch is a continuing, unending fire risk that occasionally makes phone calls".
No, but we also don't stab screwdrivers through our cell phones while they are in our pockets.
Try that for us and see if you have a positive result. Make sure you have a full charge first.
That is the best comment so far. Doesn't pull any punches, but doesn't try to sneak any in below the belt.
That roundhouse at the end, "I'm not actually American. Never even been there.", followed by the uppercut of "you utter fuckwit.", with the celebratory:-P . Exquisite perfection.
I don't care what country you are from, or even what your politics are, I commend you sir.
My main point in my original post above is that the Affordable Care Act has already been a disaster, and it isn't even fully implemented yet. As far as avoiding an even larger disaster in the future, the only hope is that every person, healthcare provider, employer, government program, and politician whole-heartedly jump on the bandwagon and sacrifice their own financial security to ensure everyone's medical security.
Not only do I not think that will happen, I don't think it is a good basis for providing healthcare.
Who do you think is to blame for the current situation?
The blame is basically both national parties that do have the "team" mentality, along with all of their supporters that have the same mentality. I don't mean simply liking one party more than the other, or agreeing with more planks in one party's election year spiel. I mean the guys who only care that their team wins any given dispute, and more laws are passed under their banner than the other team's banner.
So, Democrats blame Bush for expanding Medicare Part D coverage, and for No Child Left Behind. Although both programs expand federal control and regulation, the Democrats act like they are the worst programs ever, because they didn't include more taxes on the wealthy.
Now, Republicans blame Democrats for the ACA, even though its individual mandate is similar to (or copied from) plans the Republicans presented in response to Clinton's healthcare reform attempt. It is also based on Romneycare, which is the biggest reason he should not have been on the ticket last fall.
This is why I have put a radical proposal in my sig.
And what can be done about it?
If they actually got together and had an honest discussion, the great problem of having 30 million Americans uninsured could have been solved far easier and cheaper than it has been. Of that 30 millions, how many are actually "uninsurable"? Meaning they have the dreaded pre-existing conditions that prevent them from getting health insurance. That number would be far less than 30 million. So have a system similar to Medicare/Medicaid that focuses on those people.
For the rest that are uninsured, which ones want insurance but just can't afford it? There are options, including getting a job at a company that provides health insurance as part of the benefits. I know it seems strange to some people, but that is one of the deciding factors people use in choosing jobs, because it is something they have control over.
Personally, and I have stated this before, I like Hawaii's system. It uses the "employer mandate" for health insurance. All companies provide health insurance, at a reasonable price. Granted the employer pays the balance of the monthly premiums, so they pay a lower wage than if they didn't have to pay that, but the employee's take home pay is basically the same.
Greenwald explained that choosing to leave was not easy but that he was offered an opportunity no journalist could turn down. Greenwald said he will build an "entire journalism unit from the ground up" by hiring writers and editors who share his journalistic values.
You are under the impression that forcing companies to lay off employees, cut employees hours, and stop providing employer based health insurance, while at the same time causing the price of every insurance plan to increase, is "healthcare"
Find a dictionary, because the battle isn't about "healthcare", even with dopes like Rush Limbaugh being sucked into using that term when he shouldn't.
Ah yes.... wait for the next election to have the same voting body that has voted in shithead after shithead to pick another bunch of shitheads and a shithead-in-cheif. Slashdotters are lazy, myself included, but I'm simply someone who's not dumb enough into agreeing to the lesser of two evils bullshit that most people make up as an excuse. At least I'm not voting for the same old shitheads.
Short of assembling a rebel force and storming the capitol... there's no amount of outrage short of that that will budge these people.
That was done this weekend. By veterans and common Americans tired of the emperor walling off our national monuments because no one was available to change his diaper.
Given the extremely poor status of US healthcare, measured objectively against the rest of the world, especially against single payer systems such as UK / Finland / Norway etc - you pay more for a worse standard of care - why would you say it is a disaster?
Is it just too "socialist" a concept?
No. It would be a disaster because of two main reasons.
The first is for some reason summarily dismissed as inconsequential whenever I mention it. That is that the US isn't one small compact entity. It is 50 sovereign states, who each have their own authority to control business within their own borders. The analogy would be this: How good is Britain's NHS if it only covers the UK? Why can't Croatians get health care in their own village under Britain's NHS? Or under Sweden's system? Or under Norway's system? For that matter, can people in the UK choose to use Germany's system instead of NHS?
A national single payer system in the US has to be implemented consistently across the entire country, sparsely populated farmlands as well as densely populated cities. The 14th Amendment makes that mandatory. You can't nationalize the system if it will give the cities far better service than the rural areas, or (which would more likely be the cries of injustice) give the suburbs better service than the inner cities. If you don't want to accept this as a credible problem with the US, fine. You are entitled to your opinion, or to your own analysis of the difference between the US and any single country in Europe.
The second issue is simply human greed. With a national system that covers all of the US, everyone who wants to game the system will do whatever they can to suck the system dry as fast as possible. This includes administrators who siphon funds from the system, politicians and planners who take bribes from whatever contractors would be in the system, doctors who bill for bogus services, charlatans who claim to be doctors and bill for bogus services, patients who fake injuries to get medicine for free or low cost to sell on the street, and several other categories of scumbags that America is full of.
This doesn't even get into the fact that too many Americans think they can eat all the crap they want, never exercise, and then go to the doctor to get a pill or procedure that will 'cure' them. Japan, Canada, the UK, Germany, etc don't have that problem, yet. It is a growing concern though (no pun intended).
Fine, but please stop shooting all the store-owners, because I am trying to get a job and it is really difficult when the business culture is dead. Maybe if you hadn't killed the entrepreneur-class more people would have good insurance and you wouldn't have to threaten me with violence to do what I want to do anyway.
Now stop pouting and open up the grassy areas in our nation's capitol.
Oh and when the day comes that you get sick or injured and the health insurance you have because of the ACA ends up saving you without reducing you to a pauper remember to write a thank you note to Obama and the SCOTUS justices that made that happen.
And for all the people that no longer have health insurance because companies are dumping it left and right?
Or how about the people that used to have 'part-time' jobs of 33-35 hours a week, that now are reduced to 28 hours a week, with the alternatives being A) the company they work for going bankrupt from paying mandated insurance premiums; B) having their hourly pay cut back by the amount that those premiums will be; or C) being fired outright as their former company cuts expenses to pay those premiums for their full-time employees.
But, hey, great news, they can get on the Medicaid rolls, with the millions of others this law screwed over.
Yes, and I have already stated that the Supreme Court also overstepped its bounds, same as the Congress and Executive Branch. Just because a group of thieves tells you they have the right to your money, and they hold the weapons pointed at you, doesn't mean their buddies are honest when siding with them.
If you want single-payer, pass that as a law. If you want national health care, pass that as a law. Both are Constitutional. I think both would be a disaster, but I would not contest them on Constitutional grounds.
Telling me I have to buy a product (actually, not even buy, but make monthly payments for life) is not Constitutional. End of conversation. (Oh no, that sounds a bit like Obama's method of discussing something.)
Slashdot Mirror
He wasn't a third rate science fiction author though. Read his book Final Blackout, about the war in Europe. In 1939, he correctly predicted which country would use the first nuclear bomb in warfare. (Spoiler, it was the US.) Back in the heyday of scifi, he was one of the biggest names.
Also, if you consider he knew enough about the human mind, as well as society, that he created a really crazy set of beliefs and got people to accept them. There are plenty of crackpot false messiahs out there. Not many build a system like his, and have it survive so well after the messiah's death.
He built a fictional world, and got others to believe in it. That's what writers do. So, please, don't consider him to be just another third-rate science fiction author.
Or you could pay for your own health care. Do you let big corporations decide what you eat too? Do you have a co-pay for your shampoo and soap?
Wow, what insight.
I didn't realize the UK was a dictatorship, or that the prime minister assumed the title after a military coup d'état. That's French for -- coup d'état. (Best line of the movie.)
Fine, have it your way. Charge up your phone, put it into your pocket, and run out into traffic. After a car hits you, come back and let up know how your cell phone is doing. Oh, make sure the vehicle in this test hits your phone directly; getting struck in the opposite hip doesn't count. So if the first one isn't at the right angle, stumble on until another opportunity presents itself. That will usually be about three seconds later.
Great, so now it's not just one battery pack in the back that's a fire risk, the whole exterior of the car could spontaneously combust at any moment. Oh, and good bye independant body shops.
Do you walk around with a phone thinking "in my pocket, near my crotch is a continuing, unending fire risk that occasionally makes phone calls".
No, but we also don't stab screwdrivers through our cell phones while they are in our pockets.
Try that for us and see if you have a positive result. Make sure you have a full charge first.
That is the best comment so far. Doesn't pull any punches, but doesn't try to sneak any in below the belt.
That roundhouse at the end, "I'm not actually American. Never even been there.", followed by the uppercut of "you utter fuckwit.", with the celebratory :-P .
Exquisite perfection.
I don't care what country you are from, or even what your politics are, I commend you sir.
Obviously, you had to teach him "No disassemble!"
I don't have a "team" either.
Good to hear.
And your point is what exactly?
My main point in my original post above is that the Affordable Care Act has already been a disaster, and it isn't even fully implemented yet. As far as avoiding an even larger disaster in the future, the only hope is that every person, healthcare provider, employer, government program, and politician whole-heartedly jump on the bandwagon and sacrifice their own financial security to ensure everyone's medical security.
Not only do I not think that will happen, I don't think it is a good basis for providing healthcare.
Who do you think is to blame for the current situation?
The blame is basically both national parties that do have the "team" mentality, along with all of their supporters that have the same mentality. I don't mean simply liking one party more than the other, or agreeing with more planks in one party's election year spiel. I mean the guys who only care that their team wins any given dispute, and more laws are passed under their banner than the other team's banner.
So, Democrats blame Bush for expanding Medicare Part D coverage, and for No Child Left Behind. Although both programs expand federal control and regulation, the Democrats act like they are the worst programs ever, because they didn't include more taxes on the wealthy.
Now, Republicans blame Democrats for the ACA, even though its individual mandate is similar to (or copied from) plans the Republicans presented in response to Clinton's healthcare reform attempt. It is also based on Romneycare, which is the biggest reason he should not have been on the ticket last fall.
This is why I have put a radical proposal in my sig.
And what can be done about it?
If they actually got together and had an honest discussion, the great problem of having 30 million Americans uninsured could have been solved far easier and cheaper than it has been. Of that 30 millions, how many are actually "uninsurable"? Meaning they have the dreaded pre-existing conditions that prevent them from getting health insurance. That number would be far less than 30 million. So have a system similar to Medicare/Medicaid that focuses on those people.
For the rest that are uninsured, which ones want insurance but just can't afford it? There are options, including getting a job at a company that provides health insurance as part of the benefits. I know it seems strange to some people, but that is one of the deciding factors people use in choosing jobs, because it is something they have control over.
Personally, and I have stated this before, I like Hawaii's system. It uses the "employer mandate" for health insurance. All companies provide health insurance, at a reasonable price. Granted the employer pays the balance of the monthly premiums, so they pay a lower wage than if they didn't have to pay that, but the employee's take home pay is basically the same.
Also, see my sig.
Wait. You trust Clippy?
First off, not my "team". Second "your" team had the votes to do whatever they wanted. So they did.
Which is why it is such a horrible implementation of "health insurance reform", rather than any sort of "health care".
Do I have enough quote marks there?
OK, but you have to carry your own track.
Greenwald explained that choosing to leave was not easy but that he was offered an opportunity no journalist could turn down. Greenwald said he will build an "entire journalism unit from the ground up" by hiring writers and editors who share his journalistic values.
Glenn Beck just hired him to manage The Blaze.
You are under the impression that forcing companies to lay off employees, cut employees hours, and stop providing employer based health insurance, while at the same time causing the price of every insurance plan to increase, is "healthcare"
Find a dictionary, because the battle isn't about "healthcare", even with dopes like Rush Limbaugh being sucked into using that term when he shouldn't.
Ah yes.... wait for the next election to have the same voting body that has voted in shithead after shithead to pick another bunch of shitheads and a shithead-in-cheif.
Slashdotters are lazy, myself included, but I'm simply someone who's not dumb enough into agreeing to the lesser of two evils bullshit that most people make up as an excuse. At least I'm not voting for the same old shitheads.
That's why I changed my sig.
The really funny thing is that the term "neoconservative" is actually defined as:
Liberals who demand positive results for their money.
.
I know it's popular to pretend the term means 'warmonger', but that is simply the liberals re-defining words as they see fit.
Short of assembling a rebel force and storming the capitol... there's no amount of outrage short of that that will budge these people.
That was done this weekend. By veterans and common Americans tired of the emperor walling off our national monuments because no one was available to change his diaper.
Given the extremely poor status of US healthcare, measured objectively against the rest of the world, especially against single payer systems such as UK / Finland / Norway etc - you pay more for a worse standard of care - why would you say it is a disaster?
Is it just too "socialist" a concept?
No. It would be a disaster because of two main reasons.
The first is for some reason summarily dismissed as inconsequential whenever I mention it. That is that the US isn't one small compact entity. It is 50 sovereign states, who each have their own authority to control business within their own borders. The analogy would be this: How good is Britain's NHS if it only covers the UK? Why can't Croatians get health care in their own village under Britain's NHS? Or under Sweden's system? Or under Norway's system? For that matter, can people in the UK choose to use Germany's system instead of NHS?
A national single payer system in the US has to be implemented consistently across the entire country, sparsely populated farmlands as well as densely populated cities. The 14th Amendment makes that mandatory. You can't nationalize the system if it will give the cities far better service than the rural areas, or (which would more likely be the cries of injustice) give the suburbs better service than the inner cities. If you don't want to accept this as a credible problem with the US, fine. You are entitled to your opinion, or to your own analysis of the difference between the US and any single country in Europe.
The second issue is simply human greed. With a national system that covers all of the US, everyone who wants to game the system will do whatever they can to suck the system dry as fast as possible. This includes administrators who siphon funds from the system, politicians and planners who take bribes from whatever contractors would be in the system, doctors who bill for bogus services, charlatans who claim to be doctors and bill for bogus services, patients who fake injuries to get medicine for free or low cost to sell on the street, and several other categories of scumbags that America is full of.
This doesn't even get into the fact that too many Americans think they can eat all the crap they want, never exercise, and then go to the doctor to get a pill or procedure that will 'cure' them. Japan, Canada, the UK, Germany, etc don't have that problem, yet. It is a growing concern though (no pun intended).
And my response would be:
Fine, but please stop shooting all the store-owners, because I am trying to get a job and it is really difficult when the business culture is dead. Maybe if you hadn't killed the entrepreneur-class more people would have good insurance and you wouldn't have to threaten me with violence to do what I want to do anyway.
Now stop pouting and open up the grassy areas in our nation's capitol.
Oh and when the day comes that you get sick or injured and the health insurance you have because of the ACA ends up saving you without reducing you to a pauper remember to write a thank you note to Obama and the SCOTUS justices that made that happen.
And for all the people that no longer have health insurance because companies are dumping it left and right?
Or how about the people that used to have 'part-time' jobs of 33-35 hours a week, that now are reduced to 28 hours a week, with the alternatives being
A) the company they work for going bankrupt from paying mandated insurance premiums;
B) having their hourly pay cut back by the amount that those premiums will be; or
C) being fired outright as their former company cuts expenses to pay those premiums for their full-time employees.
But, hey, great news, they can get on the Medicaid rolls, with the millions of others this law screwed over.
What? I got modded offtopic for mentioning cufflinks, but Aighearach gets +1 Funny for bringing in neckties?
Where's the justice, /.?
Shentino: Interstate Commerce
Shaw: Prison.
Riley Poole: Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel.
.
Great movie. Thanks for playing along.
How about cufflinks? I can get a pair with lasers in them. Do those help?
Yes, and I have already stated that the Supreme Court also overstepped its bounds, same as the Congress and Executive Branch. Just because a group of thieves tells you they have the right to your money, and they hold the weapons pointed at you, doesn't mean their buddies are honest when siding with them.
If you want single-payer, pass that as a law. If you want national health care, pass that as a law. Both are Constitutional. I think both would be a disaster, but I would not contest them on Constitutional grounds.
Telling me I have to buy a product (actually, not even buy, but make monthly payments for life) is not Constitutional. End of conversation. (Oh no, that sounds a bit like Obama's method of discussing something.)
You don't honestly believe the fences and armed guards are to prevent vandalism, do you?