The Glenn Beck Phenom

Quote: mkl654321

You stole that line from a Reagan-era Bloom County comic strip.

Not so much as "stole" as "borrowed to see if anyone would notice."

Quote: mkl654321

Huh? It was "racist" to say "white boy"?

Would "black boy" be racist?

Quote: EvenBob

One of my oldest friends live in Canada and is married to a CA woman. She has a long term debilitating disease and treatments are so expensive that CA won't pay for them. He has health insurance in the States and they come here every 6 weeks so she can be treated. They're terrified of Obamacare, it will mean a death sentence for her, much like if you get certain kinds of breast cancer in the UK.

Evidence? I am not aware of any sort of breast cancer being a death sentence in the UK.

Healthcare in Canada is dependent on each province. I do know some treatments are not on the books in Canada, it's true. It's still a good enough system for Sarah Palin to have used in the past. It's where healthcare gets tricky (even private insurance) : at what point is it too expensive to keep someone alive? It's a question I know people don't even want to answer.

Sicko, while a good movie, does tend to massage or warp the truth. The UK NHS doesn't work exactly like he shows and the interview with Tony Benn (while a great man) is a bit of a fix... Benn is a socialist and long term proponent of the national health service. Also, unusually, he's not working class... he was born into the aristocracy and gave up his title to become an MP (lords aren't allowed in the House of Commons). Also Sicko treats Canada as one big mass in healthcare. I pay a monthly fee for my Medical Services Plan. People in Alberta don't, and Ontario has a different method. BC charges for medicine, up to a certain amount per yer when it starts get heavily discounted. BC also charges for supplementary items, such as casts and crutches. Handing over my credit card with a broken leg (not much pain thanks to the Tylenol) was one of the oddest experiences of my life after having used the NHS for years.

My MSP is covered by my work place, and my extended healthcare is also work place perk... which makes me lucky. However base coverage gets you world class care for 95% of short and long term illnesses, so I'll take it, thanks.

US healthcare needs to be more efficient. It's crazy that you pay so much in GDP for health, but don't have anything like a similar gain in overall health (some measures, like life expectancy, would put the US behind places with much lower health care bills). How you get there, I leave as exercise for the citizens. However, I would say, it seems that Obamacare is neither fish nor foul, designed by committee plans, compromised and taken away from anyone's vision.

Quote: AZDuffman

Would "black boy" be racist?

Of course not. Presuming, of course, that the person referred to was indeed a boy, and black. I remember some famous broadcaster was burned at the stake not very long ago for referring to a black boy as a "black boy". How awful of him.

Knee-jerk PC-ness does nobody any favors, particularly not the particularly group or class that one feels aggrieved for.

Evidence? I am not aware of any sort of breast cancer being a death sentence in the UK.>>>

The more expensive cancer drugs are not available in the UK. Its a well known fact that cancer death rates are far higher in CA and UK than in the States, look it up.

Quote: EvenBob

Evidence? I am not aware of any sort of breast cancer being a death sentence in the UK.>>>

The more expensive cancer drugs are not available in the UK. Its a well known fact that cancer death rates are far higher in CA and UK than in the States, look it up.

If it was well-known, why would I be asking for the evidence or your source?

The source I have just found gives deaths per 100k at 155 for the US, 166 for Canada and 172 for the UK. 10% variation is not "far higher". Finland runs at 134 and Denmark at 199. Compared the US, Canada has followed much the same trends, sometime slagging behind, sometimes in front.

(http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/health/mortality-cancer.aspx#peers)

When I ask for evidence, it's because your saying something that is new to me, and would like to see where you are getting your info. So I can learn and revise my ideas. "Common knowledge" and "well known facts" often aren't.

I also found, via Cancer Research UK, these numbers :

Incidence of Breast Cancer (per 100k) UK : 87.9, US : 76.0
Mortality rate of Breast Cancer (per 100k) UK : 18.6, US : 14.7

=> 21% of people diagnosed with breast cancer die in the UK, against 19% in the US.

Now, I'm not saying this is fine, just I would not call it a massive difference or a virtual death sentence.

Quote: mkl654321

Of course not. Presuming, of course, that the person referred to was indeed a boy, and black. I remember some famous broadcaster was burned at the stake not very long ago for referring to a black boy as a "black boy". How awful of him.

Knee-jerk PC-ness does nobody any favors, particularly not the particularly group or class that one feels aggrieved for.

Then perhaps you should re-read your own reaction:

Quote:

Would it have been as big of a "joke" if the Mexican had been a white boy from Kansas? Would it have been as big of a "joke" if your sister-in-law, or you, had been the one dragged under the tractor? Would it have been as thigh-slappingly hysterical if he had been hauling hay instead of manure?

Seems you were the one who raised the race card for some reason. In the case of the story the Mexican was described as Mexican, also illegal-alien. Both perfectly descriptive terms that you seemed to have the knee-jerk PC reaction to. My statement was made to see what your reaction would be, and it was about what I expected.

Quote: AZDuffman

My statement was made to see what your reaction would be.

That's certainly my motivation for writing anything at all that's not mathematical or psychological analysis ... what other reason is there? Oh, I know ... say stuff for the "common good" ... yeah that's it ...

For the common good, I feel compelled to say: It's part of the "common good" to say stuff and not care about other's reactions ...

Wait, yet another recursive meta-post, I need to water the dirt ...

--Dorothy

The problem with Canadian medicine is that it is great for preventative and urgent care, but lousy for the rest. If you have a minor problem in the States (and you are insured), you get it resolved quickly. Here in Canada you wait on a list and suffer while you wait to be treated.