A return to blogging about disturbing political trends.

[sabotabby]

Via zingerella, the second-most disturbing news I've read this week: A 12-year-old boy died because his family didn't have dental insurance. It would have cost $80 to save his life. And we Canadians aren't in a position to be smug about it, either; with dental coverage excluded from provincial health care plans, this could have easily happened here.

This, dear readers, is why I get so incensed when I encounter people who are against universal health care. There still exists a pervasive myth, at least in North America, that the invisible hand of the free market will solve everything. As far as I can tell, the invisible hand of the free market exists only to give hand jobs to the rich and knock the teeth out of the poor.

The most disturbing news I've read this week comes via Lenin's Tomb, and it has to do with the revival of the use by the U.S. of the strappado, a medieval torture device. It's apparently also known by the Israelis as a "Palestinian hanging." Hey, remember when the Israeli government claimed that it banned torture and didn't torture people anymore? It's not like anyone believed them, but it was indicative of an idea that the general public considered torture distasteful, and something that should at the very least be kept under wraps. I guess we can forget about that.

Comments

[wlach.livejournal.com]

Uh, the second article was about the U.S., not Israel. For all I know Israel is torturing their prisoners again (though I would hope not), but there's nothing there to suggest they are.

[sabotabby]

Oh, I know (though I clarified the phrasing, which was unclear). The U.S. has started using it recently (or has always used it, more likely, but they killed a prisoner that way, so it's in the use). The Israelis use it often enough, apparently, that they've come up with a name for it.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wonder how much training the CIA has gotten from the Mossad on that front.

[apperception.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I heard that when the New York Police Department wanted special training to deal with terrorists, they called Mossad and not the CIA.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Wow, even thinking about makes me sick to my stomach :(

[apperception.livejournal.com]

I just think it's hilarious that they don't ask the CIA for help.

[lemur-man.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the invisible hand. It's like 'trickle-down economics' - someone will be making damn sure nothing actually trickles down, as nice as the whole idea sounds.

Same with 'a rising tide lifts all boats'. You need to be able to afford a boat to benefit from that one.

[sabotabby]

Also, some people are swimming with concrete boots.

[lokilokust.livejournal.com]

five bucks says that you'll find piles of people saying that the mother should be charged with murder, and that it's their fault for being poor.

[sabotabby]

I'm afraid to check either conservatism or libertarianism; not like someone would post that article to either community.

[lovableatheist.livejournal.com]

Hey. I don't know if you have a place to stay when you come to Ottawa, but I'm offering my place for people from out of town. I have a couch and a floor. No cats though. I also have a roomate and she's pretty cool. It's veggie friendly (of course), non-smoker and the only hiccup is that it'll have to be drug and alcohol free, but that doesn't mean you can't get there drunk. We just can't drink there (roomate's request).

I don't know how they're assigning billets, but I figured I'd offer my couch to someone I know (know as much as one can know someone through lj) first.

Let me know.

you'd probably also be the first guest, so that's an honour in itself.

[sabotabby]

Well, I do wanna hang, but writer_grrrrl has already offered her pad (I wonder if you know her). But thanks!

[lovableatheist.livejournal.com]

no problem. I just thought I'd make the offer.

You know, I don't know if I know writer_grrrrl. I also wonder.

[sabotabby]

She's very cool. We've known each other since tenth grade. If you don't know her already, you'll get to meet her soon.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

It's hard to find an NHS dentist in the UK now, a lot of them are all going private.

It's a shame that America doesn't provide universal health care to children at the very least. But then I was shocked to find that apparently you have to pay for your own ambulance in the US! It seems that would get very complicated if someone called the ambulance on someone elses behalf?

[sabotabby]

You pay for your own ambulance in Canada if it's not a life-threatening emergency. It gets charged to the person who was taken to hospital by ambulance, not the person who called it. I found that out the hard way. :(

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

It's insane about ambulances here. One time my step-father got charged nearly $5000 for one. Granted, he was in a rural area and it was a 60 mile ride to the hsopital, but that's insane.

[realcdaae.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the dentist situation sucks over here. But thank god for the rest of the NHS. Whatever its limitations and problems, it sure as hell beats being in the US with no insurance.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

Many states actually provide universal healthcare to children.

However, the paperwork is horrendous.

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

Thats awful on both cases. Not offering universal health care is just asking things like this to happen, and I can't see why anyone should find that acceptable.

Walking the Dead a crime drama series over here, had a whole storyline in which several vitims were tortured by the strappado and about the torture trade, recently.

[sabotabby]

I've never heard of Walking the Dead. Is it good/should I try to download it?

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

It's quite good, basically they're a cold case unit and each week there is a two part story on a different case.

[beam-oflight.livejournal.com]

whoops typo - waking the dead. sorry.

[rohmie.livejournal.com]

I think this might interest you.

[sabotabby]

It does! Alas, I think they are too expensive for Wobbly purposes. :( I might order some, though.

[cleobourne.livejournal.com]

that's hard core.

He's right, it is broken.

[sabotabby]

Yep.

[elgordochico.livejournal.com]

Even sensible ideas like universal health insurance take twenty years to become good legislations in America. There is too much lobbying against this idea, but bad guys can only win until they don't.

[sabotabby]

Let's hope so. I think a lot of Americans still pee their pants every time it gets called "socialized health care" and that might have something to do with the fact that they care more about dudes butt-fucking each other than not having children die from toothaches.

[seaya.livejournal.com]

The boy *did* have coverage, but the papers for renewal were sent to the homeless shelter, i.e. the wrong address, so the mom couldn't renew in time, and it took a while to find a dentist to take people anyhow.

But, yeah I agree.

And I was going to post about this, because I saved my student's life, I think.

Due to her emergency status, the medicaid dental clinic took her anyhow, even though they weren't supposed to. She got antibiotics, and yesterday had two teeth pulled, and will have two more pulled in April.

People were telling me about this story today and talking about how it could have happened to my student. At least I'm doing something right in my job.

Bleh.

[sabotabby]

It sounds like you're doing a lot of things right.

But it's a shitty state of affairs when this sort of thing is happening (and probably commonplace).

[jaymoh.livejournal.com]

Doesn't this kid have any personal responsibility in this matter? I mean, he was eating and that contributes to tooth decay. Everyone knows that.

:('s all around.

And I need to get my ass to the dentist. (no insurance).

[sabotabby]

If the kid had *really* wanted to live, why, he would have worked really hard, studied, become a dentist, and yanked the teeth out himself. With a bootstrap.

[dorianeldritch.livejournal.com]

Both those stories creeped me out, along with the one i read the other night on a wbesite about falun gong where the chinese govt has them force fed using tubes up the nose with no anesthetic and fed *dry cornmeal* thru the tube...repeatedly. WTF? If I wasnt already an anarchist,the behaviour of current governments would convert me instantly!

As I am currently in the process of fighting(again!) to try and get the medical care that I am literally dying for the lack of, the little boy's story gave me double chills. In America the message literally is if you are poor "DIE-and hurry up!"

We can spend billions killing people, millions are outraged about the death of a single fetus-but once we are born....total loss of interest(since, apparently we are not living on top of oil or whatnot, then i spose theyd be willing to spend money to kill us instead of going natural on it:-/

I saw in YES! magazine the other day some statistic on costs and how it would cost lesss for universal health care than it does for what we spend on soemthing military, or makeup, or something.

[sabotabby]

I hope you're okay. Apparently, in America, people frequently go into lifelong debt in order not to die. It's sickening, no pun intended.

[dorianeldritch.livejournal.com]

Lots of poor people use the emergency rooms since you have to pay up-front to see a doctor in their office. If you don't have insurance or up front money to see the doctor, it appears to be pretty much impossible to get long term non-emergency care for chronic illness-even if you are willing to go into debt(well i guess unless you can get bank loans which is fairly hard when you are already poor)
Its a really awful system, and lots of people are pushing for change, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
Even people who are not poor to start with, end up that way due to an unexpected illness-its such a profit based industry here:-(
I am okay in that I am still here;-)(My neighbor who also had COPD, just died a few days ago) and in that I am far too stubborn to give up. Doubly so since it seems like they would really prefer the poor to just disappear-especially the loudmouth activist ones;-) I am pretty disgruntled by how limited my life is by illness when it very likely would not be if I had money.

I am luckier than a lot of poor people tho, because I am very well educated and I do my own research and treat myself using alternative methods.

[king-felix.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, the invisible hand of the free market exists only to give hand jobs to the rich and knock the teeth out of the poor.

Win.

[sabotabby]

What do I win?

The Free Voice of Labor - The Jewish Anarchists

[ghostwes.livejournal.com]

Check this out:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5956512346545790190

Re: The Free Voice of Labor - The Jewish Anarchists

[sabotabby]

I'll have to check it at home. All I'm getting is sound.