Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

[Malacite]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I would also like to add that in the U.K., doctors are actually paid according to how well their patients are doing correct? There's incentive pay to actively enforce preventative health care.

That's another massive problem with the system in the U.S. - it's like 90% reactionary. It costs far more to fix a problem once it's occurred than to prevent it from happening in the first place. And yes Ray, you really do make a hell of a lot more money in the private sector vs a system like ours. Hell, it's gotten to the point where you have doctors trying to maximize their profits by minimizing the time spent with their patients.

Also, as far as going anywhere for fast, efficient care, more and more people are going to India - not the U.S., for things like major operations.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I think there's also other issues to consider. Problems like non-citizens getting free health care while people that can prove their citizenship are being forced to buy insurance by mandate (and don't weasel, it is a mandate no matter how you gussy it up). So citizens are techinically paying for the health care of people that don't have to pay at all. This is fact. Fathom the stupidity and hypocrisy of that for a moment and remember our government made that happen. President, House, Congress, Supreme Court - a nice, big fail in all three branches.

That will cause a strain on this system, its another reason why its not sustainable. This on top of a government that will not reform the immigration system to make the path to citizenship easier so these people can pay in, too. You can't just pull a Regan-style amnesty without pissing off immigrants that have become citizens, either. Regan's amnesty was a necessary thing, it wasn't fostered by three decades of ineptitude with the border or decades more of US meddling south of the border. I know why some people hop the border and can't blame them for not wanting to cross back over given what they'd potentially face to get home. The US and Mexican governments need to own up to their fuck-ups but that's not going to happen with the leaders we have now.

[Firewind]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

The NHS in the UK is pretty much paid for through taxes and not through mandated insurance.

Health tourism really isn't much of a problem in the UK due to EU Regulations.

European Health Insurance Card - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Having one of those will get you free medical care in Europe because it's a requirement that you have some kind of Social Security Number to get one. This doesn't render Travel Insurance obsolete but it does mean that the relevant nation's health service can recoup any costs from the EU itself. Countries that take part on the scheme can turn down the use of this card and demand that the person pay their own bills though some other means like insurance, if they have a very good reason, one of them being it's obvious that the person is only in the country to get free treatment.

As for non-EU visitors tryi nto get free healthcare. I can link you to a list of the regulations here. That is for England only, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have slightly different regulations.

There's also a couple of other lists if you want to see what the NHA here will and will not cover:

This is basically a list of what kinds of non-emergency, non-life threatening things that the NHS will or may cover.
List of the things that you have to pay for but can get help to pay for if you qualify (Dentist fees, prescriptions etc)

And yes in the UK it is entirely possible to buy private health insurance and go to a private practise which is all every bit as expensive as it is in the US.

As for Immigration. Here in the UK it's a combination of government fuck ups, and the EU Free Movement regulations that were intended to allow easy trade by making it much easier to travel from country to country. So instead of your delivery driver having go go through customs and immigration every time they cross a border they are free to keep moving their goods.

As you can imagine, this was fantastic for small businesses and a wet dream for big corporations who now only need a tiny presence in the EU to exploit these regulations.

As you can also imagine, these regulations were also abused to no end for the purposes of migration by people in the EU. Economic Migration is actually putting a real strain on EU nations that are allowing it to run unchecked like the EU to the point where "DEY TEWK UR JERBS!" actually isn't as dumb a thing to yell as it sounds due to Government fuck ups when it comes to EU Regulations. As it stands there isn't much stopping me from moving to a country that is as dumb as the UK is about this like say France, grab a job there and watch the locals fume because local hiring practises don't favour the local community. I would have given Germany as an example but they actually favour hiring Germans and aren't actually afraid to say "We aren't going to hire you because we think you are only here as an economic immigrant and will vanish the second work dries up" (I know this from experience). Unlike the most of the rest of the EU.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Interesting video. While as with Samuel L. Jackson I'm not too invested in what musicians and actors think, there are some that have been out there and have done serious charity work to be commended for. Kid Rock and Will.i.am do bear that distinction:

Personally, my only problem with what Will.i.am said was "STEM." When it comes to education, that's all Democrats and Republicans ever focus on when they bother to focus on it.

Science - Science is cool, but its nothing without asking questions. Science has sadly stopped being about this, Its now taught as dogma in schools. If kids were taught English, Literature and book reports had priority over science lab, Science classes would only benefit See, like science, literary and journalistic research start with a premise, a theory, a lead. If your book report hinges on a certain interpretation - like Mercutio being gay in Romeo and Juliet - you have hypothesis there and have to prove it. How do we prove this lead? We look at the source material, we look for the information that agress and contrast it with things that may disagree. Variables and controls. So you do the reasearch, you find the evidence and results to support he hypothesis and end with either a very strong theory or facts. the reason science suffers its the system fails to push English and literature as hard so students don't learn to correlate these things. Hell, even home economics is a good start to science. Cooking has chemical reactions - and what's more fun that getting to make something and eat the result?

Technology and Engineering - Obviously Science and Math converge here a great deal, But if we only each those things, people aren't going to think out of the box. Theater tends to require a bit of construction and learning the benefits of technology. Microphones, lighting, cameras, visibility, sound, reverb, building set pieces. Wood Shop is a great thing, it does encourage creativity and artistry so there's no qualms there. It fits - but its never mandatory, always optional.

Math - I don't give a damn when Train A leaves Station X and Train B leaves station Y, at what speeds over some distance and when they meet. This is a BORING way of explaining math. You know what isn't a boring way of explaining math. Sports, music abd, hell, even video games. Math is all up in that and people tend to grasp it quickly when its applied to something interesting. RPGs base themselves around math. Everyone that's in high school now grew up with Pokemon. Exploit that, football, soccer, tennis and music. You have kids that can do a good DPS build for WoW that are failing math because teachers don't engage them the right ways.

So much of STEM would be so much better if they let this other stuff in instead of cutting it off every time.

Moving on...

[Malacite]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

FFXI did more to teach me about economics than any course I took in school LOL.

It also helped with number crunching. I must have spent countless hours taking into account the various formulas for optimizing performance and profits vs expenditures etc. Games are a fantastic way to teach Math & critical thinking skills, if applied correctly.

I'm not so sure if I agree with you on the science point - would need to see some hard evidence of that. However, things like NOVA and Neil Degras Tyson make science fun and interesting.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I'm not so sure if I agree with you on the science point - would need to see some hard evidence of that. However, things like NOVA and Neil Degras Tyson make science fun and interesting.

Let me put it another. The way math and science are taught is like FFXIII. They'll bombard you with a fuckton of tutorials until some people just burn out on it. Most math book writers can't even tall a good story and the math language is so dull it doesn't help. Zelda; OOT does not really do this - instead of slamming prompts down your throat they give you a small sandbox with signposts. The player is trusted to read it and given reasons to use the information almost right away. Each new tool opens up new possibilities and the player is encouraged to experiment and find out what they are.

One insists upon vertical progression, which for someone that's more of a horizontal thinker (which is to say daydreamy, spiritual, artsy) makes these subjects feel unscalable. FFXIII might be beatable, but it is certainly not engaging for fun. Zelda:OOT, on the other hand, embraces lateral thinking. The logic may seem abstract on the surface, but as you progress the use of those newer fancy tools comes to you faster, more intuitively. This is also why Western RPGs have gain so much more popularity in recent years, they've ditched vertical progression and thinking for lateral instead.

Math and science can be taught laterally and end up catching more people than the vertical method. Math can be turned into a game. People like games. If you show people the fun you can have with science (ohi Mythbusters, Vsauce) you can make the process and experimentation more fun.

[DakAttack]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I would also like to add that in the U.K., doctors are actually paid according to how well their patients are doing correct? There's incentive pay to actively enforce preventative health care.

That's another massive problem with the system in the U.S. - it's like 90% reactionary. It costs far more to fix a problem once it's occurred than to prevent it from happening in the first place. And yes Ray, you really do make a hell of a lot more money in the private sector vs a system like ours. Hell, it's gotten to the point where you have doctors trying to maximize their profits by minimizing the time spent with their patients.

Also, as far as going anywhere for fast, efficient care, more and more people are going to India - not the U.S., for things like major operations.

Preventative care is difficult. Most jobs discourage employees from taking time off unless they're sick. Some will fire you if you're "too sick". Most doctors are completely booked by people who are already sick, so even if you did find the time for a preventative care visit you'd find it difficult making an appointment on short notice. The most we get for prevention is the yearly physical, if you even bother with it.

Also, there are a lot of schemes doctors use to maximize their profits, one of which abuses the fact that certain doctors receive pay from insurance companies by simply booking an appointment. They'll stack these patients all on the same day, cancel all the appointments, reschedule, and finally see them (maybe) for a minimum of three pay-outs. I can't blame them; they get blasted in the ass by fees or insurance associated with malpractice, even if they haven't done anything wrong.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Had one of those fun "voting third party is throwing a vote away" talks with family today. What it really comes down to is "Boo hoo you're not voting for my guy, so you're really voting for the other guy by voting for that guy."

Or butthurt. I almost used that word.

I think if you can concede that Obama and Romney are not the best for your the two parties parties that then you must concede third party candidates are also viable options as well. I can understand if it were people that broke from party ranks as sore losers to run third party, but that's not really who Nadar, Stein or Johnson are. It wasn't even what Ross Perot was, he didn't have a party and got 10% of the vote.

In fact, its kind of funny, since Perot was totally right about NAFTA and what it would do, but pride prevented people from admitting it even fifteen years later in the 2007 democrat primary debates.

I don't have vague memories about that whole "giant sucking sound" thing.

----------------------------

Of interest today was actress/model (of Clueless, among other things) Stacy Dash recently tweeting her intent to vote for Mitt Romney, and drawing a slew of misogynistic comments for stating this. Of course, the press hasn't given her nearly as much focus as they did Sandra Fluke for being called a "slut." Dash has been called that and worse.

She's even been called "Aunt Jemima" for it...

If that's Aunt Jemima, mother of God, can I be pancakes?

She's 46, btw.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Had one of those fun "voting third party is throwing a vote away" talks with family today. What it really comes down to is "Boo hoo you're not voting for my guy, so you're really voting for the other guy by voting for that guy."

This is something I've been struggling with.

The Romney/Ryan ticket is something I absolutely do not want getting near the white house. On the other hand, I don't feel like Obama has done an adequate job of protecting my interests.

When the race is between two candidates voting third party is roughly equivalent to not even showing up to the polls on election day. The third party candidates aren't going to win. We know they aren't going to win. They haven't had enough media presence for most voters to even be aware of their existence much less their positions on any issues.

I'd love to vote third party this election, but I don't know if I can do it in good conscience knowing that it could help Romney get elected. Especially since I'm in a swing state.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

If we accept the system is corrupt, our options inadequate and tell every third party person to go home and not try nothing will get better or ever change. Some to get elected at the city, state and federal level.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Third party candidates need stronger campaigns and some air time if they are to have any hope of getting elected. That hasn't really happened with this election.

What value is there to be had in voting for a third party candidate this year?

I'd love to do so, but from a pragmatic standpoint the best course of action is to use my vote to keep the greater of the two evils from getting elected.

[Malacite]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

I still maintain that Bill Maher is right in a few of his assertions, that while Obama has been a disappointment with regards to some things on his own merit (like the increased crackdowns on medical marijuana, which is just mind-boggling given his personal history with the stuff) a lot of it has been because of Congress, and specifically with regards to health care, even his own party.

However, on that point, there have been past presidents (FDR, and most famously LBJ) who fought tooth & nail and did everything in their power to reach out to them and get them to see their way with things. At the same time, while FDR also faced extreme opposition, it wasn't anything quite like the shit Obama's had to deal with - I mean you literally have people on the other side who have pledged never to compromise on anything no matter what. That would be your so-called "Tea Party" candidates like Rand Paul (who's every bit as crazy as his father but with far less experience due to his youth and quite frankly, the old man seems to be a bit more charismatic - I actually like the guy, while his son just gets on my nerves).

You also have to come to grips with just how much these assholes control the country. It more or less is a plutocracy now, the super wealthy are pretty much in control and there are very few people willing to stand up to them. Obama's not an idiot, he's not going to jeopordize himself or his family. He cares, but he's also got plenty to lose. Romney on the other hand is an empty-suit - he'll do whatever they tell him and that doesn't seem to bother him one bit. It's why Jesse Ventura is only going to run if has enough support. He who has the gold makes the rules.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

One signed away due process and the other will maintain that new status quo - there is no lesser evil here, only equal evil.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Ouch

Obama Says He Wants to Debate Civil Liberties With Romney; Here's Some Atrocious Decisions He Should Explain - Hit & Run : Reason.com

He should also be asked to answer for at least a few of the following:

Why does Obama's Justice Department continue to raid medical marijuana dispensaries, and to ignore the will of voters in states where medical marijuana is legal?
Why has he condemned police brutality during the Arab Spring and the Iranian uprising, but failed to condemn a single act of police brutatlity in the United States, particularly the murder of Kelly Thomas and the murder-by-torture of Nick Christie?
Why does he allow the Department of Defense to distribute military grade weapons and equipment to local police departments?
Why has he done nothing to reunite the roughly 5,100 children ripped from their deported parents and placed in American foster care?
Why has he done nothing to curtail the frequent humiliations and abuses Americans are subjected to by the Transportation Security Administration?
Why has he allowed his Justice Department to defend the right of DEA agents to shackle young children at gunpoint?
Why did he give himself--and by extension, future presidents--the leeway necessary to indefinitely detain Americans?
When he reduced the sentencing disparity between cocaine and crack, why did he reduce it from 100-to-1 to 18-to-1, and not just 1-to-1?
Why has he commuted only one federal drug sentence in nearly four years?
Why has he permitted his FDA to conduct armed raids on Amish farms that sell raw milk?
Why did his party eliminate nearly all mentions of civil liberties from its 2012 platform, and in the process, soften the party's long-stated opposition to torture?
Why has privileged the regulatory powers of the EPA over the due process rights of American citizens?

Obama really just wants to drag out the abortion issue to raise tensions among voters, possibly also gay marriage, the latter of which is a difficult position for both to address given all the flip-flops they've made. To his credit, Romney did find loopholes in the state judical and legislative side of things to make gay marriages happen when he was governor. Obama has done what there exactly, aside from change his mind on an election year?

In fact, I find the whole pro-gay Democrat trend to be a be anemic. Obama got a rousing applause from his base when he stated marriage was between a man and a woman, the Prop 8 vote wasn't exactly won by Republicans alone and its still banned in 42 states and my state was an Democrat stronghold state until 2010, so I don't buy for a second that this was just voted on by conservative Tea party types.

And we supposedly dumped Osama's body in the ocean. No photo evidence that's who it was as to "not offend Muslims" because as we all know he was a real stand-up "religion of peace" kind of guy. I suppose no more videos means we did get him, but proof would have been nice. Obama was respectful enough to not provide proof, but at the same time more than happy to spike the football and do an endzone dance.

Also Fast and Furious. Whoops.

[Armando]

Re: Melody's Melodramatic Meltdown on Mitt Romney (Tounge Twister?)

Had one of those fun "voting third party is throwing a vote away" talks with family today.

At the risk of making an ass out of myself (didn't follow US politics much when I lived in PR), isn't it? You hate A, and B is OK but you still don't like that option either. Then C appears with a similar platform to B, but better. Some of B's voters vote for C, now A wins by a landslide. Isn't the solution to move away from a single vote system? I don't see what voting third party is going to achieve other than help one of the two mainstream candidates win.