.
.
Professor Krugman on Republican/glibertarian demands that the law, in its majesty, deny both the rich and the poor the chance to sleep under bridges, beg for bread, or play health roulette because they can’t obtain insurance:
… The real policy action at this point is in the states, where the question is, How many Americans will be denied essential health care in the name of freedom?
I’m referring, of course, to the question of how many Republican governors will reject the Medicaid expansion that is a key part of Obamacare. What does that have to do with freedom? In reality, nothing. But when it comes to politics, it’s a different story.
It goes without saying that Republicans oppose any expansion of programs that help the less fortunate — along with tax cuts for the wealthy, such opposition is pretty much what defines modern conservatism. But they seem to be having more trouble than in the past defending their opposition without simply coming across as big meanies.
Specifically, the time-honored practice of attacking beneficiaries of government programs as undeserving malingerers doesn’t play the way it used to. When Ronald Reagan spoke about welfare queens driving Cadillacs, it resonated with many voters. When Mitt Romney was caught on tape sneering at the 47 percent, not so much…
In fact, the real, lived experience of Obamacare is likely to be one of significantly increased individual freedom. For all our talk of being the land of liberty, those holding one of the dwindling number of jobs that carry decent health benefits often feel anything but free, knowing that if they leave or lose their job, for whatever reason, they may not be able to regain the coverage they need. Over time, as people come to realize that affordable coverage is now guaranteed, it will have a powerful liberating effect.
But what we still don’t know is how many Americans will be denied that kind of liberation — a denial all the crueler because it will be imposed in the name of freedom.
Betsy
This! I think there will be a small, but significant, uptick in new business creation after the beginning of 2014, when many employees now “job-locked” because of health insurance go out on their own and start new firms.
And labor mobility will increase — freeing up the sorting mechanism whereby skills and talents are better matched with job roles, which increases productivity.
That free market thing that Rrepublicans claim to love.
Schlemizel
Caught a case of Cole disease – woke up about an hour ago, can’t get back to sleep. But it isn’t coffee, I am immune to caffeine and beside I didn’t have any since early yesterday. Also don’t have netflix so I skipped that thread & felt sorry for this lonely little guy which has been open for half an hour with no comments!
I borrowed a copy of “Confederation Of Dunces” mostly because I keep hearing how great it is but I can’t find anyone who has actually read it. Has anyone here read it?
I have tried to start but one of the side affects of depression is that I can’t retain anything I read. I finish a paragraph and have no idea what was in it.
Betsy
Confederacy of Dunces – have read, enjoyed.
Schlemizel
It rare these days to find something funny on SNL, rarer still that it actually stumbles into politically relevant territory, so I was surprised to see this bit about big time college athletics:
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/outside-the-lines/n35031
WereBear
@Schlemizel: Confederacy of Dunces – good one, but a tad multi-layered for when you don’t feel well.
askew
@Schlemizel:
That was hysterical.
I managed two hours of sleep before I woke up with shooting pain in sinus. It’s been bugging me for awhile now, but didn’t figure there was any point in going to the doctor about it, but I might have to change my mind.
Linda Featheringill
@Schlemizel:
So sorry to hear that you suffer depression. Hang in there.
I am a fan of fluoxetine but YMMV.
Older_Wiser
“Glibertarian” is my new go-to word which I shall call them from now on. You should enter it in the Urban dictionary–it’s perfect for those idiots.
aimai
@askew: Take sinus pain seriously–you might want to check with a dentist as well as with a doctor. Have you tried using a hot pad and/or flushing out your sinuses with water?
askew
@aimai:
I’ve been to the dentist recently, so I am sure that isn’t it. I’ve been using saline solution to flush out my sinuses. It just doesn’t seem to be working on one of them. I get sinus infections like 4 times a year and last time I went to my new doctor, she basically told me to suck it up. So, if they aren’t going to do anything, I don’t want to waste the money going to the doctor.
Older_Wiser
@askew: It also might be a sign of a sinus infection–see a dr; an antibiotic will clear it up in no time.
Patricia Kayden
Can I assume that if a state has a Republican governor that means that the majority of its citizens reject Obamacare and are okay with their governor’s actions? Otherwise, they would vote for a Democratic governor. I’m tired of blue states electing Republican governors and then whining about their actions.
Older_Wiser
@askew: Sorry, we commented at the same time. I used to make my own saline solution (1 tbsp salt to a cup of very warm water) and used a baby syringe to flush. Use it at the first sign of sinus blockage, several times per day. Works like a charm if you get to it early.
WereBear
@Schlemizel: If depression is a chronic problem for you, search “cerebral allergy” and see if any of it rings a bell for you.
The food we eat does affect your mood, or else the ice cream industry would not exist. It turns out there’s a lot of evidence for people having a reaction to the proteins in certain foods; most commonly wheat, cow’s milk, bananas, sugar, or beef.
But it doesn’t manifest the way we think of an allergy; sneezing, runny eyes, etc. It messes up our brain chemicals.
I’ve known people for whom this approach has worked wonders, including someone in my own family.
Pinkamena Panic
First off, still selling a nook Color. $75 OBO.
Second, I can’t fucking sleep. I’m usually in bed by 4 and up around noon since I work second shift. I’m off today, thankfully, but it’s 8 AM and I’m still up. And I haven’t a clue why.
Schlemizel
@Linda Featheringill:
I used to be very fond of the stuff but since the cancer treatments killed most of my saliva production I find it impossible to deal with the side-affects. I tried bupropion which works very well in combination but does not do the job alone.
I have gotten so desperate I am currently trying mega-dose D and B complex at the moment.
@WereBear:
Thanks -I’ll have a look at it
JPL
Sarah won’t be able to visit Margaret Thatcher.
Older_Wiser
Margaret Thatcher is dead from a stroke. Ding dong.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
Not necessarily. What if the Democratic nominee isn’t pure enough? Isn’t it better to wait in that case?
satby
People don’t really understand the policies of the Republicans they vote for; thanks to our stenographer media they know sound bites and slogans. For instance, how many of you know that part of the immigration reform battle is over how many guest worker visas for “skilled labor” for restaurants and construction work? The Republican supporting lobbists are pushing for more visas, the Democratic supporting AFL-CIO is pushing to limit those visas. I was pretty stunned to discover there’s a shortage of Americans who are willing to work in restaurants and in construction, and I bet a lot of my R voting neighbors would be too. But what they hear on the news about unions is “greedy thugs” not “job protectors”.
askew
@Older_Wiser:
I definitely didn’t catch this one in time. I’ll have to call the doctor.
Pinkamena Panic
Margaret Thatcher is dead. Good fucking riddance.
qwerty42
@Schlemizel: ” … I borrowed a copy of “Confederation Of Dunces” mostly because I keep hearing how great it is but I can’t find anyone who has actually read it. Has anyone here read it? …”
Yeah. Very funny/sad/odd. Perfect for NO.
Schlemizel
In honor of her nations greatest export:
She’s passed on! This
parrotPM is no more! She has ceased to be! She’s expired and gone to meet her maker! She’s a stiff! Bereft of life, she rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed her to the perch she’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Her metabolic processes are now history! She’s off the twig! She’s kicked the bucket, She’s shuffled off her mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROTPM!!Is it safe to say the whole “speak no ill of the dead” bullshit we had to put up with when Dimbart croaked is being ignored for this one?
Dead Ernest
@Older_Wiser:
Older, there are so few ‘true facts’ in medicine that I usually couch anything that might be called ‘medical advice’ with a heavy dose of Maybe This, Consider That, but unless your also using sterile water, tap water up the nose (netti pot or other sinus rinse) is risky.
Amoeba & some others do get through water treatment unscathed. Up your nose, they make a home in the brain. Rare enough that the sufferer can become the dread ‘Interesting Case’ w a delayed diagnosis. Common enough that the cost of prepared saline is well worth the minimal cost.
Dead Ernest (physician)
askew
@Dead Ernest:
I forgot about the whole Amoeba thing. Am I ok if I use the saline rinse I purchased at the store. That one should be amoeba free right?
Davis X. Machina
@Pinkamena Panic: There’s speculation on my soccer (football) board about whether Thatcher gets a state funeral, or whether the Tory government pays for the ceremony by slapping a lot of sponsors’ logos on the coffin. The television audience will be enormous, so there are lots of eyeballs to sell.
She’s a very divisive figure — the mods are going crazy putting out brush fires, and trying to divert chat back to the promotion push.
arguingwithsignposts
@Schlemizel: I read it. It takes a while to get going, and I had to start it a couple of times before I got going, but it’s good. Quirky is the word I’d use.
SarahT
@ Schlemizel : Confederacy of Dunces is one of my favorite books ever – don’t read in pubic unless you don’t mind people staring at you while you’re crying laughing.
Older_Wiser
@Pinkamena Panic: You might enjoy this, as much as I did: http://thisaintnews.com/view/video/107753/Frankie-Boyle—Thatcher
SarahT
Uh, that’d be “Public”. But don’t read in pubic, either !
Older_Wiser
@Dead Ernest: OK, I get that. It was my practice in my 40s, after which I was no longer troubled with the problem, and am 72 now–still healthy and have acclimated to the allergy seasons here with no reaction.
gnomedad
The rules are: if there is any downside to Obamacare whatsoever, even if they are just bumps during adaptation, then it’s total fascist death panel fail.
gene108
@Betsy:
You do realize labor mobility – like we had in the late 1990’s, when we had full employment and rising wages for the first and only time, since the 1970’s – will to some extent cut into corporate profits, unless there’s economic expansion to match the 1990’s?
In short, labor mobility will hurt the cut of GDP going to the rich.
Therefore there’s a very sound reason Republicans will make sure that doesn’t happen, thus killing Medicare expansion and fighting to put up functioning state based exchanges.
Republicans can’t bite the hand of the rich that feeds them.
Cassidy
Speaking of running, BJ should do a marathon club. I’ve always wanted to run one and it would be cool to train together even if it’s virtual.
rikyrah
About Bill Clinton getting the GLAAD award before President Obama…
That would be akin to, after the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act were passed…
The NAACP not giving the Springarn to Lyndon Baines Johnson..
and instead giving it to Strom Thurmond.
THAT is how ridiculous this award to Bill Clinton is.
Maude
@rikyrah:
This
Jebediah
@Dead Ernest:
Am I safe using tap water that has been filtered then boiled?
lojasmo
@Jebediah:
Yes. Boiled tap water is fine (as long as it’s cooled)
Also, storebought preparations of saline are safe…but expensive.
ETA: Nurse.
RaflW
I think we will continue to see what some are calling the Great Sorting, as states like MN, CA and other freedom-hating hellholes attract people because of oppressive LGBT equality, brainwashing public schools, and incentive-destroying health insurance. Meanwhile truly free states like Mississippi may well shrink due to people not fully appreciating how glorious and liberating it is to be poorly educated for 21st century jobs that have no insurance, treat diversity as a problem, and have (g-d willing) abolished the terror of minimum wages.
I know where I’m sorted to.
StringOnAStick
@WereBear: I an offer I hearty “Yes!” to your statement regarding wheat and other foods causing trouble for folks. I quit wheat last August and not only am I NOT getting that knee replacement the orthopedic surgeon was hot on, I’m off anti-depressants for the first time in 10 years. Lots of other smaller scale health issues have resolved as well. I feel 20 years younger, and eliminating wheat is the only thing I’ve changed in my life.
Before anyone says gluten-free is a fad, consider this: the wheat of today is NOT the wheat of your grandparents; the protein content has been increased tremedously (glutens are protein molecules, as are most allergins like pollen). The presence of gluten antibodies in blood has increased at least 4 fold since the 1940’s (there has been some recent testing of blood serum collected from military recruits in the 1940’s). I say “at least” because the blood antibody test for gluten sensitivity has a false negative rate as high as 40% but if yours comes back positive then you can take it to the bank that you are allergic to gluten.
Gluten allergy causes all levels of leaky gut syndrome, and that easily leads to an endless parade of low-grade, sub-chronic to chronic health complaints that are like playing whack-a-mole, a game your doctor eventually gets tired of and no longer has the per-patient time to track down. It is funny to me how we expect our GP to be up on the very latest of everything while they spend 50 hours or more a week just trying to keep their practice from imploding and also having a family life; I doubt they have much time for keeping up on the latest research and there is no drug rep busy selling them on gluten-free eating. If that whack-a-mole thing sounds like you, then commit to no wheat for 30 days and see if you feel better; it was a matter of days for me. I’d suggest no grains at all, so no processed foods like ‘gluten-free’ breads; processed crap is the source of a lot of problems for people, so do your own personal experiment in an honest way with yourself. For those who say “I could never give up bread”, I have to ask, is bread more important than feeling healthy and happy again? Really?
Jebediah
@lojasmo:
Thanks – and yeah, I am pretty careful to let it cool. I can only guess how uncomfortable it would be to fill up one’s sinuses with hot water.
fuckwit
Substitute “privilege” for “freedom” or “liberty” wherever seen in the whinings of the wingnutosphere, and you’ve unlocked the code.
“Privilege” in this case meaning “white straight christian male privilege” in the case of those poor rural folks who oppose letting minorities getting medical care.
“Privilege” in this case is elite 1% privilege in the case of the BoBos, wingnut-welfare recipient, and millionaire TV commentators who don’t want anyone not rich to have medical care.
We don’t hate you for your “freedom”, we hate you for your “privilege”. Freedom without equality is privilege.