Corporate Whores
As you can probably tell by the title, if you are looking for a polite post, go elsewhere right now.
This fucking story is maddening. It is appalling. It is sickening. And that this could happen in this country, while that fat pile of gelatinous goo known as our vice president rips Americans off millions with his reach-around friends at Haliburton, George W. Bush and his borderline retarded daughters never hold an honest job in their lives and the rest of the kleptocracy bleeds working people...well I had better stop before I go searching in the street for a random conservative to pummel.
Here is the story. A young boy in Maryland needed an $80 tooth extraction. His mother didn't have insurance, so he didn't get it. The bacteria spread to his brain. He DIED.
But hey, let's keep cutting taxes for rich dick Republicans who choke their girlfriends, try and molest children and invite gay prostitutes into the White House briefing room.
If this doesn't get you apoplectic, it should. This is not the America I believe in.
posted by Cliff Schecter @ 5:57 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
It is too bad that the invisible hand of the free market cannot rob Paris Hilton of her 15,000 dollar handbag and allow this poor child to get the dental work he needed. It is a shame that there wasn’t a check from Pat Robertson’s “charity”; however, they did have the fuel money to pay for Pat’s trip to his Caribbean villa missionary. It’s too bad that the Lakewood church in Texas decided to upgrade their spinning globe rather than donate the money to the poor.
It’s too bad that I have spent more than the 80 dollars needed for this Childs dentist visit on pointless consumer items to like the pockets of some of America’s worst parasites.
I would gladly sacrifice an arm and a leg to go back in time and save this child.
This story makes me weep. There are tears running down my face.
God save us.
Yet Bush wants to give the Waltons (of Walmart money) a tax break over the next 10 tears which equals what he proposed in cuts to Medicaid.
I really wish I was making this shit up.
Oh and let's not forget the $8 they're charging the maimed Walter Reed patients for meals. Oops, but they're not supposed to talk about that to anyone.
This story is beyond...well, beyond anything I could have ever imagined in this country.
How did everything become so utterly twisted around and sickeningly tragic? Rhetorical, of course.
Why we remain the only industrialized country who does not have Universal Health Care is directly the fault of the Republicans. This is a tragedy. The richest country on Earth and we dont take care of our own citizens. Shameful. Canada spends half of what we do per capita on its UHC system and they live longer on average than we do here in the US.
This is such a sad story. While there is clearly lots of blame to go around, I appreciate that Benjamin_Roberts identified one of the places we can look and take some action. At ourselves!
I am familiar with the concept of micro loans for entrepreneurs (Google it to read some amazing stories). In some cases all that is needed is a few hundred bucks – and that small amount can get someone started with a livelihood that can sustain them and their family. It is mostly a developing world tool, but since America has a health care system for the poor that is about as good as that – the shoe fits.
Why can’t we establish a micro aid program? Using the netroots; not the government, we could become a crisis ATM. Rather than buy that new iPod or some of the other “pointless consumer items” we all horde, we can put small donations into these micro aid accounts.
But this money has to be given for the kind of situation this young boy faced. We can’t help with big procedures, for that we stay on top of the system. The United Way and all the big charities and all the government programs miss too many of these small cases.
For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost. Let’s not ever allow a child to die aqain for want of a tooth pull.
Administering the donation collections and promotion would be almost free (how about we all retag our blog posts with that link). I am not sure yet how we interface with this family or those like them. But since they did contact at least one social service organization then we would have an access point there – and it’s something that shelters, public libraries, and even word of mouth would spread.
How many kids need dental work so bad it places their health in serious jeopardy? How many people face such barriers to help that is short on dollars needed but very consequential in impact? Probably not a ton, but that is point! This should have been dealt with well below the radar, well below the level of some major undertaking – it should have been, indeed, routine!
Of course this is no substitute to real health care reform, but it is something we can do NOW! I am willing to pitch in time, effort, and money. How about the rest of you? How many people can you cross post this message too (or just cut and paste it in whatever other boards you visit)? How many of them would help?
What ideas and suggestions do you have to make a public interface workable? What ideas might the millions of bloggers and netroot activists have?
Let’s ask them!
In 1993, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I worked as a dishwasher and I had no health insurance. I thought my life was over, and that I would be dead in a few years.
Fortunately, due to a government program called 'The VA Hospital', I was able to get insulin. (I'm prior military).
Today, I'm still alive, still diabetic, and able to take care of myself. And, I'm working as a computer programmer.
However, I wonder what would happen to others who don't have the kind of GOVERNMENT program that I had. What would happen to someone who wasn't a veteran and was diagnosed with diabetes and had no health benefits? Or, I don't know, maybe needed a tooth extraction and didn't have access to a doctor? hmmmmmmmm...
100% health care coverage for all!!! Now!!!
Amos, you are so off target. In no other country in the world is basic health care regarded as an appropriate subject for charity, And all the figures suggest that charity is the most expensive way to deliver health care,.
No one should have to fill in a form explaining why they need assistance.
If Americans spent half the time campaigning for universal health care that they do collecting for charity they might actually get it.
Save fundraising for the extras, the holidays for kids with cancer, relief support for carers.
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