I feel very honored that I had the opportunity to meet your father but very sad that our acquaintance was so brief. He was a great man. You are truly fortunate to have had Harold for a father.

Best,

Pete

It is interesting that you speak of rationing, since the rationing of care is exactly what got my uncle in the position he is in today: poor people have almost no access to adequate and affordable health care.

Also, I think it should be obvious by now that the Affordable Health Care Act does create a system like Canada’s. If it did, I would have been elated, but it simply does nothing of the sort.

As for Canadians, their health profile is vastly better than Americans’, and universal access to care is one major reason.

You may be speaking of expensive surgeries and cancer treatments, but the plain fact is that in this country, the poor have trouble obtaining affordable care for even the simplest of medical treatments.

As for Medicaid, no, my uncle did NOT qualify for Medicaid before his eventual strokes. He made too much money, but still never broke $15,000 a year. You make is seem so simple, but it’s not.

I suspect that you are among the lucky ones who never had to worry about it.

You are right in your admiration of Václav Havel, too. He was a rare, truly great man. At one time, he was the ONLY head of state in the entire world who I respected.

But you’re wrong about the rest of the Republicans. We are not the heartless goons you think we are. We are the Party which was founded for the purpose of emancipating the oppressed, and still stands today for the rights of those who cannot speak for themselves, such as the unborn.

Your disabled & destitute uncle should qualify for Medicaid, as well as charity care at any public hospital or county health clinic, and a wide variety of public assistance benefits, including social security, food stamps, housing assistance, etc., as well as private assistance through his church and various other private charities.

The danger of ObamaCare is well-illustrated in Canada and the UK, where healthcare rationing is depriving people of the care they need. This commercial Canadian web site, which sells medical care to Canadians (who supposedly get it for free) illustrates the danger:
http://www.timelymedical.ca/
So does this Stossel report on ABC:

They were far superior to the chicken leg. The AXA bus would do well do abandon the chicken leg and provide boiled peanuts and oranges.

I am well-aware what life is like in Malawi. I meant no offense to anyone. In fact, reading this post again, I don’t see what’s so offensive about it but I am very sorry that it offended you.

I reported what occurred on the bus exactly as I saw it. Perhaps I should have repressed my observations? There WAS a chicken leg and an onion sandwich. It was questionable (most food I’ve eaten in Malawi is not questionable at all). Kenny Rogers WAS playing on the bus. The bathroom WAS, well, a bathroom in a bus.

The AXA bus was really no different than any American bus, with the exception of the suspicious chicken leg and free sodas. We don’t get those here.

Believe me, I love Malawi. I could easily have written a similar article about a bus ride in the United States. I am sorry that it offended you.

As much as I agree with you that much our services need a lot to satisfy the citizens, your reporting is flawed and bent to potray an exaggerated negative picture.

I hope you know what a welbeing is here. while you groan over a chicken leg and the onion sandwich, someone appreciates it to be a delicacy. By the end of the day both of you fends for a restroom and yearns for the next food.

Report responsibly, do not belittle Africas efforts. You are better in other aspects and wanting in many of your ways too.

#23 on the human development index?! even though we have the highest GDP!! They made a new scale that accounts for inequality – (meaning they do not let the top 1% of the population throw statistics off but instead look at the statistics as a whole inequality included) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_inequality-adjusted_HDI

as far as war arguments are concerned.. he wants us not to be the world police, but obviously does not acknowledge our role in the world’s problems. For example, have you ever heard of the national monetary fund?? Its a US/EURO backed entity that puts pressure on international leaders to privatize certain industries so that US/euro investors can invest in them even if it has horrible consequences for the people. For example, don’t you know how the Zapatistas got started in Mexico?? what about the US backed leaders that argentina literally ran out of their country and back to the united states for privatizing previously government ran things in the interest of US firms. We fund “democracy campaigns” of certain candidates in several countries (usually leaders that will work in our interest not of that country).. we extract resources (water, gold, oil) etc from many places around the world leaving locals nothing. We also have set up sweat shops all across the globe. Also.. US firms has been known to hire militia groups in certain parts in africa to guard factories and extraction sites.. they have been known to shoot any africans that come on the land (even if its hunters looking for food!) So not even our US government.. but american corporations (NGOs) will run a country to the ground and then the US has the tenacity to tell these people that they can’t come here, and ron paul doesn’t even want to those these countries a bone… wtf?! Just because we may choose to not involve ourselves in wars and aid in other countries does not mean we aren’t doing anything else there.

I just met this rather interesting guy today in a cafe in Singapore and this meetup had also prompt me to some searching on google. I was pretty amazed by his real life experiences, and he is had some extreme views on certain issue. He started comparing how asian women dating white guys are like elephants and monkeys together. And went on how the western culture is so different from Asian(I was like isnt it obvious, I am a Chinese myself), and how the young generation had been influenced by the western media who are losing their traditional values. The latter part i somewhat agree on. But i left when he kept saying why we should keep our racial and enthicity group pure by avoiding interrcial marriage. Well, i respect every man ideas and view on things. But i must say that some of his poems are quite meaningful.