I have no problem with intelligent objections but the health for wealth lobby are determined it wont see the light of day because of vested interests. Any one with any sense must see that your health system stinks, not unless your in insurance or the mediracket.

But the lobbyists (and vested interests) aren't exclusive to healthcare is all I'm saying. People are paid off all the time for various things - that's just the nature of the game, man. Money rules, and most people in office will do what's in their best interest.

Oh, and even though I work in healthcare, I would definitely be receptive to criticism about our healthcare system. I just don't want people quoting from the movie "Sicko", without actually doing research into the matter themselves. :bigsmile:

Because everyone is doing it, does it make it right? The proportion of the 70,000 lobbyists that inhabit washington, the vast majority are either military or medical. The vested interests stand against those who are least able to make their voices heard.

Don't take criticism of system so personal, your not a guard at the barbed wired gates, well i hope not. I do have a small amount of knowledge on your system and the costs to those who cant afford it. In my opinion it is sick and only major surgery can help.

Barack (Obama) - is "virgin" ?

If silver turned that black it's a lot of polishing to do. May bee Sophia Can Help !

News from the front:

I've been asking more people I know about Obama being the actual Antichrist and my feeling of being in a Twilight Zone episode grows. It's like they all went to a meeting I wasn't invited to. Some of them begin quoting passages from Revelations. They don't all necessarily believe it, but they don't seem to have my sense of having just walked into a work of fiction, or somehow stepped into a medieval painting. [emphasis added] I'm still trying to figure out what's going on here. And William: so far, the groups I've found which seems to be immune from the shenanigans is immigrants and liberals. The guy from Kenya just stared at me when I asked. My friends don't think Obama is the Antichrist. When I brought it up to them, they just fired off as if it was a matter of politics. They didn't seem to understand: there is a strain of folklore here that has taken hold in what I will testify are really normal people. Maybe I didn't really understand what normal people are in the first place. I assume this is some regional issue.

First of all, I don't really hold myself as the standard for what's sane. I don't actually know they're delusional because I can't point to any criteria for determining who's sane. I notice my emotional reaction to the people I've been talking about is one of concern. From my point of view, they seem to be lost in illusion. So far, none of them has placed much significance to Obama being black. [emphasis added] There's more focus on the possibility that he's secretly a Muslim. This goes back to the old meaning of the Antichrist as one who hides a horrible truth. The fact that Obama is black is not hidden... and his race doesn't really push any horror buttons. One guy brought up the notion that Obama is leading the country toward socialism. I could have launched into a long lecture about the US culture's ongoing progression toward socialism, but instead I just mentioned that the economic crisis we're in preceeded Obama. "yea, but he's making it worse." was basically the response. I definitely think that the US culture has been operating on "crisis overload" for decades now. It's seemed that any way one turns, there's some unsolvable impending catastrophic event. I have noticed that every generation does a certain amount of suggesting that things were much better in the old days. It adds a little drama to life to imagine that our times are dramatically worse. Nevertheless, I believe that the banking system of the US has been unstable for years, that we've been living with known facts about the financial underpinnings of Medicare and Social Security... but just tossing concern into the pile of "problems with no solution." The grave atrocity I see Obama committing is that he's not ignoring the pile. I'm wondering if the backlash toward Obama is a desire to kill the messenger.

Ok, so this is what scares me: as we proceed in the coming years through some difficult adjustments, we need to operate with a little faith that everything's going to be ok... that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. This "blaming" thing obviously has Muslims tangled up in it... and the addition of supernatural images of doom and abomination is unnerving. I won't stand for it... like I know what to do about it. The truth is I don't know what to do about the foggy image I see in the crystal ball. Do I just toss it on the "unsolvable problems" pile? Do I face it and diffuse some of its energy by going "German" on my aquaintances and asking them to "get real?" As I said: in regard to Bush being just like Hitler, I learned that arguing only solidified my friend's notions.

What I meant by returning to trust, is the idea that you should be the way you want your world to be. I want people to have trust in each other, in America, and trust that whatever the future holds, we'll handle it.