Month: July 2009

“Single-Payer” Health Care from a Primary Source

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“Single-Payer” Health Care from a “Primary Source“

Commenter “Grumpy Student” left the following comment to the post On Health Care. Around these parts, Grumpy Student is what’s known as a “Primary Source.” His comment is today’s Quote of the Day:

Living as (I currently do) in the UK, I find the debate about socialised healthcare in America pretty funny. Especially when the NHS (our nationalised healthcare system) is so appallingly bad. Even funnier is when the NHS is held up as some great example of how things should be done.

Some truths about the NHS:

1) If your treatment is considered “not an emergency” (by which I mean you are not gushing blood or whatever) you will go onto a very long waiting list.

2) Because of 1) the government got snappy and decided to set targets for waiting list times. Hospital managers came up with a novel solution: Secret waiting lists to get onto waiting lists. This meant they didn’t have to improve care, but the governments figures improve. Everyone who matters is happy. In the NHS, patients don’t matter.

3) Killer hospital acquired infections like MRSA are endemic in NHS hospitals.

4) NHS accountants make decisions about what treatments are worth spending money on. If the accountants decide your treatment isn’t financially worth it, tough luck. You can always go private.

5) Which brings us to private healthcare in Britain. In order to make up for their horrifyingly low salaries, most doctors also are involved in private practice. If you choose to go private, you still have to pay for the NHS. Not only are you paying for your care, but also for care other people are not really getting. It’s a fantastic system!

6) If you are struck by 4) and decide to pay for the treatment, then you are struck off the NHS with immediate effect and expected to pay for all your healthcare for issues related to the one you are paying for. You are still charged for the NHS through your taxes – you just can’t use it. If the condition you have is terminal then it’s likely that all the health issues you have will be related and you will have to pay for all of them.

These last two points conspire against the middle classes. Because taxes are so high, they can’t afford to also pay for private healthcare and so get worse healthcare than they would in the US. The poor get some healthcare which is better (I guess) and the rich can happily pay for private healthcare and the NHS at the same time. If they pay taxes in the UK at all.

7) Healthcare is not even free. I still have to pay for prescriptions, dental care, eye care and many other things that the NHS accountants have deemed non-essential.

You don’t want socialised healthcare in the US. Trust us. We live in Britain.

Of course, this wouldn’t happen here. We’d have the Right People in charge!

Guverment Skools

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I couldn’t make this up:

Wisconsin company fixes highway sign mistake

WAUSAU – A Madison company has paid to fix a highway sign south of Wausau with three misspellings.

The word “business” and the names “Rothschild” and “Schofield” were misspelled on the sign along I-39. The word “exit” was the only word spelled correctly.

WSAW-TV reported that Decker Supply Company, the Madison company which made the sign, fixed the errors at its own expense over the weekend. The sign had been installed by a separate company.

Wisconsin DOT records indicate the company was given the correct spelling for the sign.

I bet they were.

Here’s the sign in question:


“The word “exit” was the only word spelled correctly.”

I’m surprised they got the numbers right. If it wasn’t so damned sad, I’d be laughing.

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Anyone who is being honest recognizes the country is on a path towards a major calamity. We have been living beyond our means for decades and the fiscal mismanagement of the country will come to a dramatic climax in the next decade. What many deny is that this crisis was pre-ordained based upon a predictable timeline of generational forces repeating over and over again throughout history. The elites are continuously stunned that every 20 to 25 years a fresh mood engulfs the country and new generations act differently than the generations who proceeded them. The privileged are astounded because they don’t want to accept the fact that progress is not linear and that society will undergo highs and lows over the course of a century.

— Financial Sense Editorials, Boomers – Winter is Coming

Found at Bloodletting

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

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OK, I’m livid.

As most of you know, the fourth annual Gun Blogger’s Rendezvous is fast approaching (43 days away as I write this), and this year I planned to make a special contribution to support Project Valour-IT – a gun giveaway that would be for even those unable to attend. But I’m not a 501(c)(3) organization, or any other kind of tax-free charity, so I couldn’t actually run a charity raffle. Besides, I’m not really set up for it and wouldn’t know how. So, with the aid of Rendezvous organizer Mr. Completely, arrangements were made with Soldiers’ Angels to provide on-line ticket sales. Tickets went on sale Friday, July 17. We were ON!

Soldiers’ Angels uses PayPal for their on-line donations. PayPal even has a “Case Study” of Soldiers’ Angels’ success (PDF) using PayPal, bragging:

Today Soldiers’ Angels’ biggest online contributions go through PayPal. “It’s trustworthy to people and so they donate,” says (Founder Patti) Patton-Bader. “There’s a confidence that donors feel – that it’s a safe way to make a donation. There are not many companies that inspire that kind of trust.”

Trust.

Coincident with the Gun Blogger Rendezvous Raffle, Soldiers’ Angels had also started a fund drive for other projects that same weekend. PayPal put a stop to that. Here’s Patti Patton-Bader’s official statement:

Online donations through PayPal are a huge part of our fundraising. They shut down our entire account-not just the raffle button—for twelve hours right in the middle of an email fundraising push. Looking at the Terms of Use, we couldn’t understand where we’d gone wrong, but we had to immediately remove the raffle so we could get back online ASAP. This just breaks our hearts because we were so excited about the tremendous fundraising impact the Gun Blogger Rendezvous raffle was already having.

(My emphasis). The “tremendous fundraising impact”? In the short time (3.5 days) the PayPal button was live, they had 42 participants and 109 tickets sold.

As noted above, we’re still 43 days out from the Rendezvous. I just found out about this today.

And not only did the contributions for the raffle stop coming in, ALL contributions to Soldier’s Angels via PayPal were cut off for twelve hours.

Because PayPal is anti-gun.

So where does that leave us? Well, you can call Soldiers’ Angels and do a transaction over the phone. During normal business hours (PST) you can call (626) 529-5114, or you can call their voicemail service any time at (615) 676-0239, leave them a callback number and they’ll get back to you – probably the less expensive option, timewise. It’s not as convenient as a mouse click, but it beats snail-mailing a check.

You can also contact PayPal. Their Customer Service phone number is (402) 935-2050.

I’ve never asked this before, but I would appreciate it if every gun- and mil-blogger on the web and every gun board picked this up and spread it far and wide. I’m tired of gun-bigots. PayPal needs to hear from US – the law-abiding gun owners of this country – that we’re no longer willing to just roll over when we’re abused by the companies we “trust” just because we believe in and practice the rights guaranteed to us under the Second Amendment.

UPDATE – So far here are all the links (direct and indirect) to this piece I’m aware of:

1. – Maj. Chuck Zeigenfuss at From My Position, On the Way! – Paypal is asshats
2. – Laughingwolf at Blackfive – Step Up for Valour-IT, Especially as PayPal Won’t
3. – Blackfive at Blackfive – Anti-gun PayPal Shuts Down Soldiers’ Angels Contributions
4. – BillT at Castle Argghhh! – How Innnnnteresting
5. – Alan at Snarkybytes – Paypal: Anti-Gun
6. – Sebastian at Snowflakes in Hell – PayPal’s Gun Policies
7. – Kahr40 at From the Barrel of a Gun – Paypal is anti-gun
8. – Kevin S. at Brown Valley Kingdom – Paypal shows their ass
9. – Albert A Rasch at The Rasch Outdoor Chronicles – It’s About Time We Pushed Back!
10. – Major C at A Major’s Perspective – Important Information You Need to Know
11. – SayUncle – PayPal: Fear of guns overrides helping soldiers
12. – Tam at View from the Porch – Figures
13. – Joe Huffman at The View from North Central Idaho – Quote of the Day–Kevin Baker
14. – Phelps at The Everlasting Phelps – PayPal Hates Soldiers
15. – Jim at The Travis McGee Reader – A current outrage
16. – Morgan at My Two Cents Worth – Outrage via PayPal
17. – Derek at The Packing Rat – Paypal = Bigots
18. – Jennifer at In Jennifer’s Head – PayPal and Guns
19. – Pamibe – PayPal vs. Soldier’s Angels
20. – Firehand at Irons in the Fire – So PayPal is so anti-gun that they’ll screw over Soldier’s Angels
21. – Musings of the Geek with a .45 – That’s Quite Enough of PayPal
22. – falfenix of Insert witty title here – Sometimes you just can’t win
23. – Some Soldier’s Mom – PayPal is Anti-Gun
24. – Stephanie’s Blog – PayPal is Anti-Gun
35. – Ride Fast and Shoot Straight – PayPal is an evil, eBay anti-gun minion
26. – Caleb at Gun Nuts Media – PayPal cuts off donations to veteran’s charity group
27. – Russell at Solarvoid – Gah, stupid Paypal
28. – Sailorcurt of Captain of a Crew of One – Paypal and the Geek
29. – US Citizen at Traction Control – PayPal is no Pal to Soldiers
30. – Top of the Chain – Paypal = Bovine Fecal Material
30. – Dirtcrashr at Anthroblogogy – Pay-Pooper is Not Your Pal
31. – Linoge of Walls of the City – paypal sucks
32. – Phil at Random Nuclear Strikes – Some People’s Children
33. – Hazmat at Thunder River Home – Gotta Love That PayPal
34. – Evyl Robot Soapbox – Paypal is Anti?
35. – Jerry of Cogito Ergo Geek – The Smallest Minority Goes to PayPal – NOT!
36. – Josiah of Our Lunch Money – One more reason why I hate paypal!
37. – Instinct of Life in 3D – Paypal hates guns, and apparently the military
38. – Argent of Gay Military Life – PayPal Costs Charity
39. – Roberta of The Adventures of Roberta X – More Things that Induce Monitor-Punching Impulses
40. – Bore Patch – Paypal shutting down a Wounded Soldier Charity?

Bore Patch also mentions eBay’s (the parent company) Press Relations phone number: (408) 376-7458

41. – Mr. Completely his own self weighs in: Paypal Blocks Soldiers Angels Fund Raising and it’s cross-posted at the GBR site

42. – Little Steve of Sensibly Progressive – Paypal sucks
43. – Laughing_Wolf has a new post up at Blackfive – Ask PayPal How They Feel About the Wounded
44. – Gun Shy Tourist of Around the O-Town – In My Opinion Paypal Sucks
45. – CTone of Legion’s Fate – Anti-gun Paypal hates the military
46. – Nicki at The Liberty Zone – Note to self:
47. – Billoblog® – Paypal bans fundraising for wounded veterans
48. – Mulligan of Do Over – who’s your pal?
49. – Doubleplusundead at Right Wing News – Of Pistols, Project Valour, and PayPal
50! – Brian at Another Gun Guy – OK one real post – Paypal hates not just guns, but soldiers too. Boo.
51. – Misanthropic? Me? Inconceivable! – In Case You Didn’t Know that Paypal is Anti-gun
52. – Jeff at Alphecca – PayPal and Guns
53. – Don Gwinn, Chicago Gun Rights Examiner – PayPal suspends Soldiers’ Angels charity over gun raffle
54. – What Bubba Knows – Links for August 3, 2009

Thanks, y’all!

UPDATE – 8/7/09: ON-LINE TICKET SALES ARE ONCE AGAIN AVAILABLE!

Quote of the Day

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Quote of the Day

Van der Leun again:

As the dew dries to crusted smegma on the Obama rose, we need to find better metaphors for the Obamallationist media that’s looking for a way to rinse the acrid taste out of their morning-after mouths.

Yes, with every passing day spin is getting more and more difficult and desperate for those that stapled their scrotums to the axles of Obama’s juggernaut.

– Gatesgate moves MSM From the Tank to the Toilet

He does “evocative imagery” well, doesn’t he?