fayfreethinkers.com

From an exchange I am having on Big Dog's Blog:

[I have been roasting this guy for months, he is a birther, deather, teabagger, tenther etc.]

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BLAKE: "we do not have, nor do we want, a socialized system of anything,..."

DAR
Time for a little rant about something I have put off for far too long.

Have a seat little grasshopper.

[Dar cracks knuckles]

Rather than "not having... a socialized system of anything," you swim in a sea of socialism. You are a product of it. You probably fancy yourself a rugged individualist but this is a packaged fantasy someone sold you and you bought it hook line and sinker.

Every piece of glass and rubber down to the fibers in the cloth in every new vehicle requires a government seal of approval. Every aspect of every new vehicle has to follow a litany of government mandates and goes through a battery of government required tests. Brakes, restraints, lights, flammability, crumple zones, air bags, paint, emissions, stability, all regulated and strictly enforced.

Every new window put in a home, every treated board used, every shingle, every water pipe, every light switch, every drop of paint, all made to government enforced, socialized, standards of safety and efficiency.

Every power tool, every appliance, every toy, every battery, every electric cable, every couch, every off road three wheeler (oops, BANNED, can't have those), every off road FOUR wheeler, all made to government enforced, socialized, standards of safety and efficiency.

Firehouses = socialized

Police = socialized

Laws (obviously) = socialized

Courts = socialized

Military = socialized (with private contractors)

Education = almost all socialized and regulated

Health care = at least half socialized and heavily regulated

Pharma = heavily regulated and socialized

Employer and work related rules = heavily regulated/socialized

Banking, commerce, investment, insurance, aviation, fuel manufacture and transport, imports/exports, cable, ALL utilities, wireless, radio bandwidth, TV, broadcast, explosives, agriculture, internet, cross border travel, disease control, child care, all controlled, licensed and enforced by local, state and federal government mandates (socialized).

Almost all municipal aspects, garbage pick-up/disposal and containment, all public water, toxic chemical manufacture and use, factory smoke stacks, building construction, all done to government enforced, that is socialized, mandated standards of safety and efficiency.

Let's start at the beginning. Every baby crib, every disposable diaper, every jar of baby food, every box of cereal, every medicinal treatment, every teddy bear, every pair of pajamas, all made to government mandated, government enforced (socialized), standards of safety.

Every new car, every new house, nearly every item of food purchased at the grocery, every glue product, every motor oil, every cosmetic product (and service) all controlled by government (socialized) standards.

Every medical treatment (with claims of efficacy), every medical device, every pill, every drug, tested, labeled and approved to follow government mandated (socialized) standards of safety and quality.

When you get old, if you move into an assisted care facility, the living conditions and terms will be heavily regulated by our socialized system. When you die (not if), the treatment of your body, how your possessions are dealt with (if intestate, no will), the duration before burial, the place of burial, the manufacture of your casket (or the process of cremation) are all controlled by licenses and government mandated, government enforced (socialized), standards of safety.

That's not all of it, but it's a good start.

So, dear Blake, next time you feel like saying:

"we do not have, nor do we want, a socialized system of anything..."

Please consider the reality of my comments above. You are the product of, and swim in a system, that, while driven and fueled by a thriving private sector, is heavily socialized from top to bottom.

D.
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LINK

Darrel,

May I use your "rant"? I know some right wing nut jobs that need to read that.

James

JamesH wrote:Darrel, May I use your "rant"?

DAR
Please do. That's what it's there for.

And I missed a few:

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Interstate highway system = Almost all socialized

Space technology = Almost all socialized (NASA)

Patent office = socialized (but goes under laws/government already I suppose)

Parks System = Socialized

Lakes, beaches, dams = Almost all socialized (Army Corps of Engineers)

Veteran health care = Socialized

Senior health care = Socialized (medicare)

Low income health care = Socialized (medicaid)

Retirement, disability, poverty income = Socialized (Social Security)

Railroad system = Mostly socialized (not sure on this one, Amtrak, but they are a small part I think)

PZ Myers posted a massive list on his blog taken from another site.

As for Me, I Love Socialism at Pharyngula

I teach in a rather conservative town in Arkansas where "socialism" gets ripped upon constantly and the idea of health care reform gets ridiculed often.

A teacher at my school sent an email today reminding everyone about a fundraiser being held for a young man who was badly injured in an accident. The hospital bills are huge and their insurance (yes, they had insurance) doesn't cover it all. They recently got the bill for the helicopter transport to the hospital: $24,000. The teacher pointed out that the insurance would probably pay for some of it, but not all of it, thus we really should help out the family.
Shortly thereafter, he informed us that he'd learned that their insurance doesn't cover any of the helicopter transport fee, so we really need to dig deep and help out.

But remember, we shouldn't have to pay for other people's health care and the system is fine the way it is.

Welcome to Backwardsville.

Here are two anecdotes from Huffpo:

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Mom Goes Blind So Her Daughters Can See (see VIDEO)

Monique Zimmerman-Stein has been nearly blind for the last two years from Stickler syndrome, a rare genetic disorder. She recently decided to forego her own treatment to save funds to treat her two daughters, who also suffer from the condition, reports Lane DeGregory of the St. Petersburg Times.

The family is covered under husband Gary's Blue Cross/Blue Shield plan, but that coverage only pays for 80 percent of medical expenses.

She will no longer get treatment to preserve that last slice of light. The injections that might help cost $380 after insurance, and she needs one every six weeks. She could be spending that money on her daughters' care.

If forgoing treatment might help them see, she said, "That's a choice any mom would make."

The expensive care has already forced the family out of their home, which was foreclosed, and forced them to sell their furniture and to cash in their life insurance.

Tampabay.com put together an excellent video to accompany the story:

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Kenneth Hoagland, of Nashville, Tenn., was put in jail for getting a cold, reports Janell Ross of the Tennessean. Hoagland, previously bankrupted by a week-long stay in a hospital for his diabetes, was on a health insurance waiting period for a new job when what started as a cold landed him in a hospital for two days with a $1,200 tab. He could not pay, was afraid to miss work to show up in court, and was arrested on what's known as a "body attachment."

"They fingerprinted me, took my picture and asked some questions about my medical history," he said. "When the guy who tested (my blood sugar) asked me why I was there and I told him ... he said, 'I didn't know we did that in this country.' I told him, 'Until now, I didn't either.' "

The Tennessean reports that "Hoagland, 36, is one of the hundreds of thousands of Americans -- insured and uninsured -- facing collection suits, wage garnishments and, more rarely, trips to jail because of medical debt."

Link for both

DAR
Wealthiest country, on the planet.

Another one on socialism. A friend sent me this:

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"This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by socialist electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated
by the US Department of Energy. I then took a shower in the socialist clean water provided by the municipal water utility. After that, I turned on the socialist radio to one of the FCC regulated channels to hear what the socialist National Weather Service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like using socialist satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of socialist US Department of Agriculture inspected food and taking the socialist drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the appropriate time, as kept accurate by the socialist National Institute of Standards and Technology and the US Naval Observatory, I get into my socialist National Highway Traffic Safety Administration approved automobile and set out to work on the socialist roads build by the socialist local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the socialist Environmental Protection Agency, using socialist legal tender issued by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door, I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the socialist US Postal Service and drop the kids off at the socialist public school.

If I get lost, I can use my socialist GPS navigation technology developed by the United States Department of Defense and made available to the public in 1996 by President Bill Clinton who issued a policy directive declaring socialist GPS to be a dual-use military/civilian system to be managed as a national socialist asset.

After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the socialist workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the socialist USDA, I drive my socialist NHTSA car back home on the socialist DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the socialist state and local building codes and socialist fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the socialist local police department.

I then get on my computer and use the socialist Internet which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and browse the socialist World Wide Web using my graphical web browser, both made possible by Al Gore's socialist High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991.

I then post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right."

.

Mayor John L. Gray had a wonderful suggestion today. Of late he has been lobbying Ark legies to reinstate the motorcycle helmet requirement into Ark statues.

He hears the argument about how the helmet requirement is an "infringement" upon the personal freedoms of cyclists and how they can take care of themselves.

So John replied that it would be fine for them to ride without helmets but they should be required to sign a waiver upon being issued a license.

The waiver would be to the effect.."If you happen to find me crashed on the highways or streets in the state of Ark with bleeding or injury around any part of my head please
do not disturb me, just let me be, I can take care of myself. This way my helmet-free ride will not be costing the taxpayers any additional money or services and so other riders will not be required to wear one either."

.

Doug writes:
A woman I work with went to a doctor in Ft. Smith. At the clinic, she was given a 2-page flier telling people to contact their congressional representatives and voice opposition to Obama's health care reform. She sent the flier to her son, who put a blog about it at the Arkansas Times website.

Feel free to comment on it.


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There's a whopping big medical clinic over in Fort Smith, the River Valley Musculoskeletal Center. You get a dose of politics there these days along with treatment for what ails you.

The receptionist is passing out this flyer to patients. It encourages them to call elected officials to oppose the Obama health care plan.

Opening sentence, to save you some time:

WE ARE OPPOSED TO GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE!!!

I probably don't need to tell you that the good doctors accept Medicaid and Medicare.

See here.

Another one.

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If you Don't like socialism:

Stop driving on public streets, highways, freeways and any other roadway built, maintained and monitored by taxes.

Stop sending your children to public schools.

Don’t call 911 to get help from the police, fire department, or an ambulance.

Stop using electricity, water, and sewage from public works.

Stop buying food and taking medicine that is regulated by the FDA.

Stop cashing your Social Security or unemployment check and shred your Medicare/Medicaid card.

Don’t file for unemployment benefits, food stamps, or any other form of government assistance.

Stop using the public library.

Stop working for any employer who pays a federally guaranteed minimum wage or complies with OSHA standards.

Stop going to state or national parks or forests while on vacation.

Stop taking your children or dogs to city parks to play and stop walking on public sidewalks.

Don’t buy any house that was built, plumbed, or wired to code.

Stop buying goods or services that are required to meet minimum safety standards.

Don’t join the military or go to jail where everything you need is provided.
If you’ve been in the military, don’t use any of your benefits (Veterans’ Hospitals, GI Bill, etc.).

Don’t use a public defender, court appointed lawyer, or the court system.

Stop using the United States Postal Service to send mail and packages.

Stop complaining to the FCC about TV shows that you don’t like.

Stop doing anything that could be monitored by the NSA, FBI, or CIA.

Don’t expect FEMA to help you after a natural disaster.

Andrea the Anthropologist

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