Balance of power

[bobinc]

Cable and a car do not constitute health care or affordable housing (unless you have an Excursion, perhaps). It's always possible to find someone who is milking the system, but a more important question is, what kind of society do we want to have? If we are comfortable with having 100 million people under or uninsured for health coverage, then that's fine. If we believe this is unacceptable, we should take steps to fix the problem. There is always a way to pay for things that we deem important enough, whether it is a personal decision or a public one.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

quote:

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Originally posted by RobBob:

quote:

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How is it that our poor are so fucking lazy, and yet they have two TV's and a car, holmes?

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It's called Welfare, DFA.

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So, Greg is pointing out that on the one hand, the poor are too lazy and don't deserve any help. He is also pointing out that we have the richest poor in the world, a condition which Greg finds to be indicative of a sound America, and, it seems, stems from them getting welfare, a benefit which he does not condone. Removing welfare and assuming that the poor are still lazy, that would give America a huge number of very poor poor people, right? Would America still be such a fine nation?

[Dru]

It must be hard fitting the two cars and cable TV in the shopping cart with all the garbage bags full of god-knows-what already in there.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

It's two TVs and a car, brah. Two cars and a TV must be what the poor in Canada have. Oh, and health care.

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg W:

quote:

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Originally posted by Lambone:

Greg, that is about the stupidest thing I have heard you say...

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Well, fuck you too, Matt. You know, if the poor didn't want to be poor they should have gone to college like I did. Instead they sit at home watching fucking Sally Jesse Rafael and downing Malomars and fried chicken like it's an olympic sport. I am sick of lazy assholes expecting a handout from the government, which in turn comes from my hard work.

 

Fuck the poor.

 

Greg W

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Maybe they were too poor working their minimum wage job to afford tuition?

[Dru]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing:

It's two TVs and a car, brah. Two cars and a TV must be what the poor in Canada have. Oh, and health care.

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I dont even have a TV. I must be poor!

[bobinc]

DFA and Dru: you are adding too much complexity to this "debate." The beauty of the Republican "platform" is that it only has one or two planks (lower taxes, save the unborn/kill the bad buys) so it's always easy to look between one's feet and be reassured...

[iain]

Thanks for the tip! There's been a homeless guy out crapping in the bushes in front of my apartment. I'll see if I can catch the Blazers game next time he's around, maybe go for a cruise in his spare car too.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

 

bobinc, that raises an interesting question. Do you suppose Republicans would be for or against abortions for pregnant terrorists' wives?

[bobinc]

Uh -oh, we need a decision! I don't think Greg or Trask will disappoint, however. I'm eager to see how they rule on this.

[Greg_W]

quote:

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Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing:

[QB pregnant terrorists' wives?

[/QB]

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Is the bitch poor or an illegal alien?

[allthumbs]

I'm for abortion, and castration of every other male in a third world country.

 

[ 11-06-2002, 02:19 PM: Message edited by: trask ]

[Greg_W]

quote:

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what kind of society do we want to have? If we are comfortable with having 100 million people under or uninsured for health coverage, then that's fine. If we believe this is unacceptable, we should take steps to fix the problem. There is always a way to pay for things that we deem important enough, whether it is a personal decision or a public one.

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Exactly, and how many of those people without health care don't deem it important enough? Why is it the government's job to force people to have health care? Shouldn't they make that decision for themselves?

[rbw1966]

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg W:

Exactly, and how many of those people without health care don't deem it important enough? Why is it the government's job to force people to have health care? Shouldn't they make that decision for themselves?

What about the mentally ill who cannot make those decisions for themselves? What about the mom with three kids who married young, didn't go to college to take care of her kids (family values ya know) whose husband split and she is now working as head fryer at the BK lounge? 'Course these are worse-case scenarios but not everyone on the dole wants to be there homey.

 

Your trite Rush-isms don't cover the spectrum. The world is not black and white. Take off your racist and mysoginistic glasses.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

"... force people to have health care ..."

 

Greg, Dr. Flash Amazing will buy you a damn beer next time he's in the Seattle area if you can find him one person who honestly wouldn't take effective free health care if it was given to them.

[Greg_W]

quote:

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Originally posted by rbw1966:

Take off your racist and mysoginistic glasses.

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Please explain how, in this thread, I have denigrated those of other races (assuming you know my race) and expressed hatred towards women.

 

Your examples are valid; we have Basic Health in WA State and all have access to county hospitals. I don't have all the answers, but that doesn't mean I can't point out the problems.

 

Greg W

[rbw1966]

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg W:

quote:

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Originally posted by rbw1966:

Take off your racist and mysoginistic glasses.

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Please explain how, in this thread, I have denigrated those of other races (assuming you know my race) and expressed hatred towards women.

 

Your examples are valid; we have Basic Health in WA State and all have access to county hospitals. I don't have all the answers, but that doesn't mean I can't point out the problems.

 

Greg W

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Well, right above here you wrote: "Is the bitch poor or an illegal alien?" Arguably its not racist, but certainly smacks of mysoginy.

 

And, rather than go look for exactly what you wrote, I do recall seeing you use the term "raghead". Regardless of your race, using a term like that is racist.

 

By the way, I don't need to know your race to call you on racist terminology.

 

Enough PC BS though. May I simply just call you nigga biotch?

 

Pointing out the problems is wonderful, it opens up dialogue. I know I learn from these discussions and hope others do as well. But what are we doing to help?

 

Excuse me while I go wring my hands some more.

 

[ 11-06-2002, 02:53 PM: Message edited by: rbw1966 ]

[allison]

Several random thoughts:

 

Having all branches of government controlled by the same party is bad news, no matter what the party.

 

The Ds have done nothing to curry the affection of voters lately. Unfortunately we have a leadership vacuum at the moment. Not our day in politics, I'm afraid. We've had plenty of chances.

 

To say that the 2 major parties are the same is, to my mind, naive and simplistic.

 

Greg W is white.

 

Cynics.....remember that Democracy is at its healthiest and most functional when the citizens are actively participating. It was designed that way.

 

On the other hand, I wish the voters of this state would allow their elected leaders to do their job. To wit: we voted in favor of Sound Transit four years ago. Now I understand that the Sound Transit thing is a bit of a mess right now....but, yesterday we removed its major funding source. We made an unfunded mandate. Now what shall we do? Vote on Sound again? I'd like to hear from someone who voted Yes on 776 to tell me what their idea of a next move is on this.

[Greg_W]

hehehe. The "raghead" comment was a troll that didn't take. Just because I call a woman a bitch doesn't mean I hate women - look at how well Alli...oops, I mean "she-who-cannot-be-named", and I get along

 

We could solve a myriad of problems with we cracked down on illegal aliens and deported these criminals.

[bobinc]

The Invisible Hand will take care of everything, including directing traffic. (Actually, once we reach terminal gridlock, this will no longer be necessary.)

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

quote:

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Originally posted by Greg W:

We could solve a myriad of problems with we cracked down on illegal aliens and deported these criminals.

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Like the problem of having dirt cheap produce because the agriculture sector has to pay so many people sub-minimum wages?

[allison]

And one more thing:

 

I am a middle-class blue-collar worker with full benefits. Can someone tell me how we got to the point where a person like me has to put up with mediocre at best HMO health care? The quality of care that we all should have access to is only available to people with PPO insurance, and the poor in certain cases.

 

I guess I think there should be some sort of health care revolt going on in this country. A lot of the middle class are getting seriously screwed by the HMO system.

 

Oh, and Greg, please leave me out of your defense. Thanks.

 

[ 11-06-2002, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: allison ]

[Greg_W]

quote:

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Originally posted by allison:

Greg W is white.

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I don't appreciate being pigeonholed by such restrictive labels. I know that this means you are in love with me, doesn't it?

[eric8]

Greg W next time DAF is in seattle come find me and you will get a beer. I could have free health care from my parents but I use the health care from my work, instead. I don't have to pay for this except for deductables and stuff but it isn't free because i work for it.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Allison,

 

Start raising hell with your company. Get all your co-workers to chip in with their stories of shitty health care experiences because of the HMO, and keep bugging management to switch. You know, union-style.