I Ain't Afraid of No Daleks

Many Americans ridiculously put down the idea of a National Health System, stating everything from "It will cost too much in taxes," to sub-standard treatment, to long waiting times.

What many Americans are utterly--if not deliberately--blind to, is that so many, many Americans (including myself) suffer needless in pain and distress, because of these people. The people against and American NHS, are EXACTLY like the German people who ignored the horrors of the Holocaust. And don't for a second think they are not!

How can you put your own selfish, narrow views forward, when some person with cancer can't get the treatment he or she needs? But, America does, every single day---even doctors in Emergency rooms, do NOTHING to help change things, even though they SEE the utter ruin to people's health and lives, the misery and the suffering--all because people are AFRAID to go to seek help, because they DON'T WANT TO RISK GOING HUNGRY, OR BECOME HOMELESS from medical expenses.

Do obtuse and totally selfish Americans get this? NO! Not until THEY lose their health benefits...oh God, and then the whinging starts...like all those middle class people suddenly forced to seek public assistance for the first times in their lives...they whinge more than the truly poor do!

And, sadly, that is what it will take, before American pull their heads out of their collective arses, and insist on a proper NHS system....at least 500,000,000 Yanks, either losing their private or group health benefits that they very obviously take for granted, or having their benefits cut or payments raised to the point where they have to choose between health benefits and paying the mortgage/rent.

Let me state, that we NEED NHS here--good or bad. Almost 50 million Americans (and that estimate comes from conservatives, so it's probably higher than that) suffer and die needlessly in America, every year--ONLY because they have no money to pay for medical care and medicine.

I'm supposed to get a physical, but am hesitant to do so, as Medicare doesn't cover physicals or many tests....and I've 6 months of unpaid medical bills, totaling just a bit over $2000 dollars, to prove it!

To put that into perspective, that's about roughly two month's salary for me, give or take a few hundred dollars.

As some of you know--including this obtuse blog friend--I spent months in horrendous pain, with a facial abscess--stemming from a bad tooth, only because there was NO dentist I could see. I STILL have no access to dental care, in fact. The nearest dentist is some 15 miles away...and I do not own a car, nor do I have anyone to ask to drive me, nor can I afford the $35 for cab fare--and still pay the dental co-pay, which one is required to have to be seen.

I also have a bad eye--retinitis pigmentosa, and may also be developing a retina problem--and have NO ONE I can see for it, because...I have no vision care benefits!

Sure, NHS has it's issues--sometimes terrible one's, sure there's sometimes a long wait...but a long wait is nothing, compared to NO care at all...which would YOU choose....NHS, or having to suffer unattended?

My story is not unique--even people with health insurance, sometimes are not covered for catestrophic illness--people with cancer frequently lose their homes, their possessions, for NO OTHER REASON than the people who run the UNTIED STATES are inhman PIGS, and are too greedy to grant dying people the dignity of retaining their homes, because the state takes their homes away, to pay for treatment---while the patient is still living! I'm not talking about old people in nursing homes.

My late mum's friend had a dughter with Lou Gerig's disease. This friend had a lovely home--a home she wanted to go back to, to die when her time was near. The state of New York and the US govt, confiscated her home, while she was lying in bed, horribly suffering...rather than wait until AFTER she passed away!

Does NHS take people's homes and prized personal possessions, if a patient cannot pay their bills? Not that I've ever heard of!

Can people on NHS get dental and vision care--whether they can pay or not? Yes. Hell, I'd wait ten years, if I could have my teeth seen to for free! No joke, I really would....as opposed to NEVER having my eyes or teeth seen to, that is. Which, as I said, IS my present situation!

Today, 22 sailors stranded in the Gulf of Mexico, on a frieighter filled with coke bound for the steel mills of America, are facing the worst of Hurricane Ike, all alone.

Their ship having become disabled and dead in the water, the ship's captain sent out a distress call to the US Coast Guard. Unfortunately, they were too far from shore for a boat rescue, so the Coast Guards' only option was to send out a rescue helicopter--sadly, high winds from the outer bands of Ike, forced rescuers to abandon their mission, leaving those 22 sailors to fend for themselves, as best they could.

My thoughts go out to those 22 seamen tonight, and to their families. May we hear happy news of them, in the next day or two. In the meantime, I dedicate this song to them:

I got a comment on another website--one I've not used in months, oddly enough, from some DT fan, wanting to know if I was going to see Tennant perform in London.

I had no clue, (being a totally clueless Yank), and not sure I reaaallly wanted to know, I aksed (with some rather rude visions in my old-maid's head), "Performing what?"

Seems the man's Hamlet is coming to some West End theater.

I told her I wasn't British, but lived in far northeastern New York. She says, "You could just hop on a plane from New York"...blah-blah-blah...

Oh. Well, considering the fact that I am going to be very, very hard pressed, to try and scrape up the $20 to see the Pendragon Players do "Inspector Hound" at the Charles R. Wood theatre down the street at the end of this month, I really kind of doubt that I'll miraculously be able to come up with the $600 to $800 dollars it would run me, to buy a ticket and fly to London for two days just to see a play--(OK, a GREAT play...one of the greatest ever, but still...sorry, David Tennant's not worth risking being homeless over)

WHY does everyone overseas think Amricans are flipping RICH? MILLIONS of us are not rich--millions of us know hardship, we do without food, medical care medicine or heat/electricity, because we are POOR.

And no, I can't just "hop on a plane!" The nearest large comercial airport is Albany International, 50 miles distant, and, JFK is 180 miles south of my location--about a four hour drive, at least!

Man. Fan-girl's....sheesh.

since Creationists--right-wing fundamental Christians---are so much in the news these days, what with Sarah Palin and Ricard Dawkins and creationists fighting for their (what I find personally laughable) "views" on how the earth was created.

No disrespect meant to fellow Christians, but the myth in Genesis, is just that...it's a story, meant by primitive peoples to convince themselves that they were created by an all-powerful being...basically, it's to make us feel good about God and ourselves.

I see it as a LESSON, that's all. A way for us Christians to connect with our God, and perhaps to understand His teachings better.

It was written for people who rode on donkey's, had no indoor plumbing--or toilet paper, cooked over open fires, and had no education except what their religious leaders allowed them.

For pity's sake, get some perspective, people!!

The reality is, that the creation myth was around in Summerian and Babylonian times.

The Summerian's were one of the first "civilized" people's of the ancient world. It was they who invented and were among the first to develop writing, laws, proper
music and musical instruments-like the harp, commerce, and a hierarchal social system...and...the "creation myth."

Much of the bible's stories, are based on ancient myths, interspersed with genealogy and factual historical accounts. Most of the "knowledge" in the bible, was passed on verbally...so the origins of some of these stories, was...and still are, to some extent...shrouded by time.

Here is the bible's account (taken from Wikipedia):

Genesis 1 God creates humans "male and female" in His image, and gives them dominion over the living things He has created, and commands them to "be fruitful and multiply."

Genesis 3 introduces the Serpent, "slier than every beast of the field." The serpent tempts the woman to eat from the tree of knowledge, telling her that it will not lead to death; she succumbs, and gives the fruit to the man, who eats also, "and the eyes of the two of them were opened." Aware now of their nakedness, they make coverings of fig leaves, and hide from the sight of God. God, perceiving that they have broken His command, curses them with hard labour and with pain in childbirth, and banishes them from His garden, setting a cherub at the gate to bar their way to the Tree of Life, "lest he put out his hand ... and eat, and live forever."

And here is part of the Babylonian version, written thousands of years before Genesis:

When the skies above were not yet named
Nor earth below pronounced by name,
Apsu, the first one, their begetter,
And maker Tiamat, who bore them all,
Had mixed their waters together,
But had not formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds;
When yet no gods were manifest,
Nor names pronounced, nor destinies decreed,
Then gods were born within them.

He spoke the word that charmed the waters, it fell upon Apsu, he lay asleep, the sweet waters slept, Apsu slept, Mummu was overcome, Apsu lay drowned, undone....

GO HERE, TO READ THE WHOLE THING: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Ane/enumaA.html

Gloomy, dreary day, here. No rain yet, though. I hear Houston, TX is going to get hammered by Hurricane Ike. They're telling people to stock up on food and water, and hunker down to wait out the storm...unlike the last hurricane, where they hurriedly evacuated people in a panic, causing nearly 101 more deaths as a result of the evacuation, than the hurricane did.

we're slated to get Tropical Storm Ike, sometime late next week...it's going to hit Texas, then make a complete U-turn, and cut across the American mid-west, ending up directly (so far as weather people know) hitting western New York and a bit of Ontario--though it may swing even further eastward, and head in my direction, going into New England.

Long day ahead, 4 hours make up time at work tonight, have to go cash my paycheck and pay a bill, get cat food...hate Fridays. Too busy! I'm very tired...had a mostly good sleep, 9 hours...interrupted at 4.30 am, by the kids upstairs running around...either going or coming...they had a bit of a party last night, but they weren't too bad...those teens do scamper around like a bunch of toddlers though...were we like that, at that age? I don't know...my sister was the wild, pot-smoking, drinking, stay-out-all-night party-girl, I was the horse-crazy tree-hugger bookworm....

...then, woken at 7.30am, by the guy next door mowing his lawn...this would be the same guy that will mow the lawn in late November--two weeks, maybe even days--before the snow falls...then will go half the winter without shoveling his walks. But, that's not surprising...this perfectly young and fit man actually uses a big riding mower, to mow a lawn not much bigger than the average person's lounge!

And I grew up mowing half an acre walking behind a self-propelled mower? Guess these "proud" American men aren't as macho as they claim they are, yeah?

Anyway, I'm still ill, but better somewhat. Gotta' do some indoor chores, before I get my check and do some shopping. Have a good day, all.

Okay, so, conflicting values aside, what about Palin's stance on global warming. I mean, coming from an environmentally sensitive state like Alaska, she MUST have an opinion on global warming, right? Yes, yes she does. As a matter of fact, she has TWO opinions, on global warming, apparently.

In a television interview last night, Palin said that Palin said she didn't disagree with scientists that "man's activities" can be attributed to the problem.

However, earlier this year, Palin ALSO said, and I quote: "A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. ... I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made."

Actually, the changing environment won't effect Alaska because of their "location," but, because of their delicate eco-system! DOH.

But then, this is a governor that campaigned against putting polar bears on the endangered species list, because: 1. It would impact oil drilling, and 2. The number one reason listed for putting polar bears on the endangered list is....global warming.

Palin also allegedly was said to be concerned about global warming, as a hunter, because birch forests may eventually replace the caribou's tundra feeding grounds, forcing the caribou into extinction. And, gee, it would really awful, if Palin had to stop shooting caribou.

In the past, the woman has offered a $150 bounty for the front legs of freshly killed wolves.

Despite the fact that most Alaskans have voted against it...twice, Palin has supported hunting wolves and bears from the air--using $400,000 in public funds, in an intense propaganda campaign to legalize the practice.

She fully supports oil drilling in Alaska's National Wildlife REFUGE, and her campaign slogan--according to the Wall Street Journal (just so you don't think I'm making this up), was "Drill baby, drill!"

According to ABC news here in the U.S.:

"It's nonsense not to tap a safe domestic source of oil. I think Americans need to hold Congress accountable on this one," Palin told Newsmax about drilling in ANWR.

"SAFE???" Where was she when the Exxon Valdez destroyed miles of Alaskan coastline, killing thousands of birds, fish and otters? Oh, she was probably busy running for Miss Alaska.

Again, in her own words, Palin in the past has said, "I'm not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist blaming the changes in our climate on human activity."

No, she's just another shallow, greedy, selfish republican. So, what else is new?

Here we have a hockey mum/governor/beauty queen/commercial fisherman/big game hunter, set to possibly one day be president of the United States.

Oh feck.

This would be the same woman, who is against abortions on moral grounds--even, in cases of criminal rape, medical emergency and/or incest...in fact, when she was mayor, she made rape victims pay for their own forensic evidence kits! Yet, this morally upright woman has no problems whatsoever, exposing her vulnerable pregnant unmarried teenage daughter, to intense scrutiny by both the national and international media, while mummy makes a bid at being president someday--which means she won't be having much time to spend with her children anyway, so what if they do become emotionally damaged? Hey, she'll be the first woman president!

Oh, and she's such a good mummy, she's going to FORCE her 17 year old daughter into marriage with a self-professed red-neck dead-beat dad, whether her daughter wants it or not. Aw, doesn't that display of motherly love and compassion, melt the cockles of your heart? Where was mum when it came time to lecture daughter about using protection? Oh yeah, she was busy ruining erm--I mean running, the state of Alaska!

"I had some crazed teenage fan-girl burst into ma' dressing room, while I was changing out of ma'costume! I was black affronted, I was! Then, she merely stood there, gawkin' at ma'bum, slabberin' all over the floor, lookin' like she was gonna' faint, and I thought, 'Oh Jobby!'

But then she told me I had the best lookin' bum on the planet, I said to her, 'really?' I thought that was pure dead brillant, the most braw arse on the planet--I always thought that designation would go to Beck, but that is so cool! So, I rang up my agent the next morning, and told her that I wanted all my still portraits from now on, to be bum shots."