Healthcare

A message for my American conservative friends

Pat Brittenden

An exceptional speech made by 91 year old veteran Harry Smith who has a message for the Labour Party in the UK, which I think needs to be listened to by the Labour Party of NZ, which was why he voted for Labour first in 1945.

He describes life before 1945 as barbarous and uncivilized. Why? Because “public healthcare didn’t exist.”

Life in the UK pre 1945 had a healthcare system that “was for the privileged few”…sound familiar America?

Profits before people in the healthcare system is a modern evil. It is also idiotic which you can do by simply Googling healthcare outcomes in USA. Look at where they sit on any OECD related graph, at, or around, the bottom in things like infant mortality and life expectancy.

Public healthcare helps the people of the country, its helps the most vulnerable most of all, Obamacare is good for America and anyone who things otherwise either has an agenda based on profit, or they are ill informed. A country without a decent public healthcare system is uncivilised and barbarous.

As a side note, if the Labour Party of NZ don’t get to grips with the message that Mr. Smith shares which is all based around why people used to vote for the left,  then they are doomed to inhabit the cross benches for a very long time. Mr. Smith explains where the left has come from, you need to go back there to re-win your support.

US Shutdown

Pat Brittenden

Many people here in New Zealand are confused about what’s currently happening in America and the whole ‘shutdown’ thing especially when we hear differing reports blaming one side or the other. Most in the media are saying there is blame on both sides, which on some minor way is probably true, but the truth is that the blame for this shut down lies 99% not even with the GOP, but with a subset of the GOP called the Tea Party. Think ACT on steroids, in it’s heyday with massive power, and the belief that they have the mandate from God to return America to ‘the traditions of it’s founding fathers’. On top of all of that you’d have to also imagine that National are fearful of losing votes so they began to accept and imitate the style and rhetoric of ACT…that’s what the Tea Party is.

Here’s the reason the blame is not spread evenly over the two parties.

The Democrats have attempted since the last budget 17 times to negotiate with the GOP to no avail, yet now that the Government has shut down the Republicans are screaming ‘Why won’t they negotiate?’ but the biggest reason the shutdown and all it’s negative impacts lies with the Republicans is that The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare is a law that has already passed, by both houses in 2009…It’s already law…sorry you may not have heard that…ahem…IT’S ALREADY LAW!!!

What you have is a small faction now saying they was to re-negotiate the law…which you cannot do…it’s already been agreed to and a small group has said ‘We don’t like it’ so they are holding the country to ransom and trying to act like they are the moderate party being reasonable.

There hasn’t been one time ever, when the US Government has shut down, that it was over a law that had already passed, so there are no apples to even compare this situation to.

I know I have used Jon Stewart recently but I have to say, with the use of comedy, the team at The Daily Show often nail the facts. Enjoy

March of the Dumbs

March of the Dumbs – Government Shutdown

And if you only have time to watch one clip this is the one for you

Obamacare Begins

 

 

I fell in love with Breaking Bad…but it could only be set in America

Pat Brittenden

I came to Breaking Bad late, but with millions of others around the world yesterday I watched with a  mix of excitement and sadness the end of the series and indeed the character of Walter White.

This morning I came across this cartoon in my inbox which I thought brilliant. If you are…

1.) A fan of Breaking Bad

2.) Confused by the Obamacare hold up at the moment

3.) Angry that some in America would portray healthcare for all as a bad thing

…then you’ll enjoy it (whilst being repulsed by it) too

BB

And as a wee note, for those in America who may read this. I live in a country where there is ‘socialised medicine’ as so many Republicans vomit out and we have better health and wellbeing statistics in every single area of healthcare than you do…that’s EVERY SINGLE AREA…’nuf said.