Pills and iPhones

Obama is up against it. He opened a can of worms with his health care reform plan. It brought out plenty of resistance, lunacy cries of socialism, hate speech and other crap. It’s crazy.

It’s not a bull in a China shop, nor a cat amongst the pigeons. It’s much more than that. It’s war. For some it seems America is under attack. It needs to be saved urgently from the devil’s clutches. Looking at it from a distance, it’s just nuts. The insults. The slogans. The spin. The lies. The public relations millions spent by the private health care companies lobbying against any reforms. It’s mad.

The US President is right that access to health care is not working in America today. Let’s face it. If you have millions who can’t afford health insurance and you claim to be the role model of the civilised, developed world, then something is seriously wrong. Something needs to be done. Something needs to change. If then the first – emotional – reaction from conservative corners and from the stinking rich healthcare conglomerates is to cry foul and speak about socialism and Russian-style interventionism, then it just shows straight forward ignorance and narrow mindedness and egoism and greed and no sense of social values nor building a strong society. Building a nation is also building bridges between rich and poor. It has nothing to do with socialism or communism or any isms. It’s part of building a common future in a nation that binds its citizens together. Strength in unity. I thought togetherness was something Americans craved for. Waving the flag also means building bonds.

The scare tactics and misinformation around the debate is mad. Indeed there needs to be serious discussion about the content of a health care reform, but there should not be doubt nor criticism that reform is urgent and needed. If that is not clear then those opposing the basics and spirit of it all need to crawl back under their rock and live by themselves far away from any society. Neanderthals.

Protests, screaming, yelling, stand offs.

Republicans, conservatives and big business claim Obama wants a state-run health care system to take over from the private sector. A European style health care system. First of all, as far as I can see, Obama wants a mixed system in which all Americans have access to health care. Is that not a noble principle? Health care for all citizens. There are so many cases of Americans that cannot pay for life saving medical interventions because they have no private health plan. Many of them have to mortgage their house to pay for medical bills, or have to choose between good education for their kids or go ahead with a required medical intervention for a parent. A choice from hell. Is that the way to continue in a so called developed world? Is that the American model? The American dream? That’s Darwinism. That’s rot.

I’ve seen protest slogans that a health care reform would kill off private practices and increase taxes. Get real. Now already the prices of medicines are so high in the US – hello private profit! – that Americans cross the border to Canada to be able to afford drugs. That’s crazy. I’ve seen Republicans saying Obama’s plans will lead to a government run health care, but at the same time they want price control on medicines and more regulation to lower doctors’ fees. That’s also so called state interventionism, isn’t it?

And the tax issue. Just learn something from many European nations, especially the Scandinavians, where there is a serious tax burden but you get plenty of great social services back that creates a better life for all citizens: great hospitals, great healthcare access for all, great public transport, great support systems for working mums, etc etc. So put that evil-tax spin in some perspective please.
It is so typical American ‘romanticism’ and brainless criticism to just straight away shout socialism, Russia, taxes, individual rights,... Why don’t they add God and guns to the mix and it’s all complete. Cocktail of narrow-mindedness.

I’m not interested in the details and sub-layers of the healthcare reform plan(s) Obama has in mind, but what I do know is that ignoring the fact that so many Americans can’t afford access to basic healthcare is a sour joke for a nation like America. An insult in fact.

It’s a tough one for Obama. The Democrats remember well that Hillary Clinton tried to launch the health care reform debate during husband Bill’s first presidency, and it just got very ugly and didn’t get too far in the system. Buried by Republican spin and the hot-air of “American values”.

Anyway, the way this discussion is going now there will be pain and there will be need for some medical interventions. If you can pay for it!

Speaking of Hillary. She is still flying around Africa. Hardly any real access to decent healthcare there for the vast majority. I saw that she was in Nigeria and praised the government there for its peace initiatives with rebels in the oil-rich south of the country – the so-called Delta. Of course the US is very worried about destabilising factors in Nigeria because Nigeria is a large oil exporter and the US is urgently trying to be less reliant on oil from the unstable Middle East. So it’s all handshakes and smiles and keeping US-Nigerian relations smooth. Despite Nigeria’s human rights violations, Muslim extremism in the north, massive corruption, environmental onslaught, growing poverty. It’s all about oil. A classic story. Times change but some things stay the same.

Hillary started her African journey in Kenya last week where she also met the Somali President and promised him arms to defend his government against the ever-advancing Islamic forces. The sitting president has hardly any territory left to defend. Seriously doubt that US arms will turn the tide. Somali officials are more likely to sell those brand new toys to the Islamic forces and flee with bags of cash.
Saw that those Islamic fighters have banned gold teeth in the areas they control. They say it’s un-Islamic. Should I laugh or cry? Medieval butchers. I also saw that 5 Pakistani preachers were killed too in the capital Mogadishu. The Somali bloodbath just keeps going on and on. No more tears to cry.

From healthcare and Somali onslaught to the IPhone. It’s all possible.

A French teenager suffered an eye injury when his girlfriend’s iPhone exploded. The phone made a hissing noise and then the screen shattered, sending glass around. An iPhone attack! Maybe Apple doesn’t like the French! But then apparently the same thing happened in England recently.

Wondering if the French teenager went to a public hospital and got good, decent, affordable treatment there.

Next time I see somebody using an iPhone I better keep some distance. Guess some American entrepreneur in good old-fashioned American tradition is already formulating an insurance for ‘exploding iPhones’. I feel a business opportunity. Of course the insurance will have a private medical cover linked to it. Entry ticket to a private hospital of course. Going to a public health care facility would be socialism, right? And didn’t the US beat those damn Soviets in the wild nuke race back in the 80s? So hey, the Reds are history. And for any pills to save your eye from infection from the shattered glass from the iPhone, you can always cross to Canada. Just a quick weekend trip. No sweat! I just hope that the exploding iPhones were not made in Mexico, or even ‘worse’, made in China. We can’t have that too right!

Throw out. Tuned in to Jersey’s This Charming Man’s only ever release “Very little secret” from back in 2005. It’s Brian Fallon’s band before he started the popular The Gaslight Anthem. Jersey tunes rocking away.

C-Ya

collateral – as August 2009 moves on