More on Health Care

TPM notes that Health-Care Market Characterized By Consolidation, Not Competition. The short summary is that in many places one or two large health-care companies control the market in effective monopolies.

These companies would be damaged severely from getting their huge profits if there was a public option to compete against. As a result, such companies are pouring tons of bribes campaign dollars into Congress to convince them to not allow a public option.

Whoa!

So let me see if I get this straight: the United States national soccer team actually beat Spain, the top ranked team in the world? And are now in the finals of the Confederations Cup?

Isn't that as unlikely as Tampa Bay beating both Boston and the Yankees and playing in the World Series?

Oh, right...

Health Care

So, you can have:

a) A footsoldier of a greedy corporation that benefits if it can deny you coverage for your health care.

Or

b) An apathetic government bureaucrat who isn't actively trying to kill you but has little motivation to get you well.

Or

c) A choice between the two.

I choose b or c, because that way I'm less likely to end up with someone who gets bonuses if I don't get the coverage I need. I'm 100% for a single-payer system, aka "The Public Option". Frankly, at this point I'd even rather have "socialized medicine" (which is NOT what single-payer is) than the current for-profit insurance companies that are vying harder and harder to kill their customers for the short-term profit. The current system only works if you are already healthy. If you are sick or will get sick in the future, the system is broken and the companies benefit from your suffering, not your cure.

Iran

I don't have an opinion on who should win the election. I don't think one hard-liner is much better than another. I do, however, feel for the people who think the election was stolen from them. As an American, I felt the same in 2000 and 2004. Unfortunately, my concerns about those elections were never addressed (although more proof that fraud happened surfaces every day). It appears the same will happen in Iran. The only question now is how the people of Iran will react to the election fraud.

I wish them well, but this is entirely an internal Iranian problem. Anything the US government can say will only make the situation worse. Obama's choice to leave the whole thing alone is certainly the best choice at the moment. He can criticize the violent reaction to the protests, but he cannot take sides.

The Republicans who are criticizing the President's decision to leave it alone are idiots. But then, most of the current Republicans in office are idiots.

Tasers

So... tasers can be fatal. In fact, they have resulted in enough deaths that many police have been told not to use them unless they would be willing to use their regular gun in the same situation.

So how exactly is this situation one in which the use of a taser is justified? The officer was bigger and stronger than the 72-year-old. Did he need to pull his gun to control the situation? She deserved to be arrested, maybe. To be tasered? NO WAY.

This officer deserves demotion, retraining, and a few years of the worst jobs possible until he proves his judgement has improved. At the very least. Had the woman died, he should have been charged with murder, so maybe some jail time for assault and loss of his job would be appropriate.

The wanton abuse of tasers needs to be stopped. Tasers are NOT "stun guns". They often kill. Cops should have as much paperwork for pulling a taser as for pulling a gun, and every single use of a taser should require detailed justification and an explanation from the officer of when he lost control of the situation so badly to require the use of potentially deadly force.

Torture Time

Tiller's murderer claims to know of more plans of violence. So, if you are one of those scumbags who believes torture actually works, this is clearly a case of a "ticking time bomb scenario" and therefore we should be torturing this guy to find out what he knows, right?

Right?

I mean, he's a domestic terrorist, who knows of more terrorist attacks that have been planned, therefore he should go through "enhanced interrogation" to determine what he knows. That's exactly the situation you morons who supported Bush's torture program always argued that torture was for, right? Why aren't you all yelling at the top of your lungs for this guy to be tortured?

I'm waiting. Silence only confirms your hypocrisy.