posted
Christy says you aren't receiving any E-mail, and I just wanted to point out this thread on Ornery to you. It seemed right up your alley, since you've got the typical conservative argument against Canada's socialized heath care.
posted
Yep. And if she's out there, I should tell her that Christy's got the same horrible bug I got last week, and is staying home today.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Well, at least she isn't 8 and a half months pregnant and sick with something that causes one to forcibly expell liquid out of orfices from which liquids were not meant to be forcibly expelled. That's something.
Hope it doesn't hit her as hard as it did you.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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She woke up last night, ran to the bathroom, and proceeded to rinse and repeat that routine every twenty minutes for the next seven hours. I tried to be supportive, but I have to admit that I got a little worn down when she'd spend the time BETWEEN running to the bathroom sitting bolt upright and whimpering/gasping in pain and sadness.
Don't get me wrong: I was sympathetic, and felt horrible, and tried to help as much as I could. But how do you tell your wife, "Honey, when I had the exact same cold, I refrained from moaning in pain -- as much as I wanted to -- so you could get some sleep. Do you mind?" Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Yeah, that's a tough one. C is much more...vocal...when she's sick than I am, so I can relate.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Why didn't you go out and sleep on the couch?
I can sleep through anything but Steve can't, so that is what he ends up doing if I'm having a particularly bad gastroentestinal incident overnight.
Clearly the sick person should get the bed. But if it keeps the well one awake then they should opt for other sleeping arrangements. They are WELL after all!
I actually don't have much trouble sleeping through stuff, so I've never had to resort to the whole "sleeping on the couch" thing. It was more that I could just relate to Tom's frustration.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I can't imagine that Tom was seriously complaining though--I'm sure if he felt vexed enough to do that, he'd actually be talking to Christy about it.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Tom, I talked to Christy. She's still all sleepy now, but she might want some company later today. I was going to go in to work, but since I don't have to, I would much rather stay with her (if she wants company). Poor baby.
Regarding the other, I so dislike Ornery. Every time I even peek in at the place, I feel like hitting half the people a good crack upside the head. That would be non-productive, and -- if accomplished -- likely end up with me in jail.
Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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Tom, I went back there and it still depresses me. But I will work on pulling my information together into one place (I have to do this anyway) and then try to go back in a few days. Remind me.
Noemon, I appear to be able to receive mail now. When I was away in Canada about a week ago, I couldn't get it to work. I think that there must have been something wrong with the hotel connection. I sent myself something just now, and it went through fine.
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You were in Canada a week ago and you didn't let us Canadians know?
I'm wounded, CT. Fortunately my socialized health care will treat this wound for me. But that doesn't diminish the wound, CT, it doesn't diminish the wound.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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You know, I went and read that thread as well and I have to wonder where these people are getting their information. Sure there are plenty of people who aren't happy with the state of medicare right now, but few are calling for the system to be axed. You don't cut off your arm to treat your sprained wrist. Insofar as the lack of MDs go, that *is* a big problem, although hardly the fault of medicare. We just aren't pumping enough people through med school. But should we lower our standards? A new school is opening in Ontario and a number of places are offering a free education providing you work x number of years in x remote location after you get your degree. Certainly the brain drain of doctors in the 80s and especially the 90s didn't help. But it turns out that the number of people crossing the boarder to go to the states is going down and the number of people returning is going up. I won't say that more people are coming back than are leaving (yet?) but it's a good start.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I had a vile beast of a cold, and I was trying very hard not to infect anyone. We went up to see family in Winnipeg, and I spent all but a few hours recuperating in the hotel room.
Next time I'll send out a broadcast in advance. Posts: 14017 | Registered: May 2000
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posted
As I posted to the Ornery thread, the reason our medicare system is ailing is that when Paul Martin was finance minister, he cut the medicare transfer payments to the provinces. Some have argued – and I agree – that he did this needlessly. Plenty of other countries (notably European ones) balanced their budgets without slashing and burning their social programs, and medicare is one of the pillars of Canadian society.
It absolutely incenses me that not only is the man now Prime Minsiter, but he's also popular enough that many formerly Conservative voters are crossing the line to vote Liberal, since Paul Martin is really a Conservative in Liberal's clothing. I think most people don't look any further than the Liberal party logo. Those who do don't look any further than the budget, which became balanced during his tenure as finance minister – on the backs of the provinces and municipalities, but hey, who cares about them?
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Woah, you went to Winnipeg and you called it "Canada"?
I'm in Toronto, CT. As far as I'm concerned, Canada = Toronto. Maybe Southern Ontario, but Canada stops there. Quite literally, actually. Whoever wins Ontario wins the election.
/facetious.
I don't know, twink. The problem wasn't so much with the cutbacks as it was the loss of focus. They cutback all this money but nobody really drew up a new list of priorities to be funded within the healthcare system. So whenever a problem popped up nobody was really sure what to do with it so they tossed a little bit of money at it and hoped it would go away. Consequently all the money got spread so thinly and willy-nilly that a) everything got done only half right and b) nobody was really sure where the money was. Think back to Nova Scotia. Valley regional paid to have a helecoptor pad installed rather than putting in more hospital beds? Sure, you can know fly people in from remote locations to theoretically take the burden off the hospitals in Halifax, but they didn't get treated any faster because there was nowhere to put them.
Dear lord. I'm ranting and coming dangerously close to posting something other than snide one line comments on Hatrack.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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That's certainly true, I hadn't thought about the mismanagement of what was left. But I think the cuts were also important.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Why does no one ever consider the fact that living in our backyard, as Canada does, means that they have no need to maintain a large expensive military? Sheesh, of course they have lots of money to spend on socialized crap.
It's like someone living in your house, using your utilities, then bragging that they can afford a nicer car.
Maybe we should do one of those things you see in the newspaper sometimes when divorced men stop paying their ex-wives bills. "This is the United States. Let it be known to all that we are no longer going to protect Canada from attack by any foreign nation."
Then see how quickly Canada decides it needs to spend a few more bucks fixing its laughable armed forces. Suddenly, the dollars for socialized goodies start drying up.
Stupid Canadians! Stop living rent free in our attic! Get a job!
Posts: 5383 | Registered: Dec 1999
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You know, my position has always been that we *should* have gone to war in Iraq. But the ONLY thing we would have sent would be the leaky subs the Brits sold us.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Hey, that wasn't our fault. Disney owns the Mountie image and they wanted royalties for all the airtime they'd receive while overseas. Considering how many reporters were over there the whole thing was a legal mess so everybody decided it was easier if they stayed home and protected important Canadian dignitaries like the Minister of Sports and Recreation.
Edit: Just to be sure we're all clear on this. Yes, Disney DOES own the image of the Mountie.
[ March 02, 2004, 01:13 PM: Message edited by: Bob the Lawyer ]
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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That's why we American's like to elect former body builders and professional wrestlers as our governors. They don't need as much security, since they can beat the crap out of most attackers. It saves money on secret service.
Now if we could only get someone like that elected as president. I'd vote for the Schwarzenegger/Ventura ticket.
Ahnuld: "Mr. Saddam Hussien. Stop making WMD, stop gassing your people, stop shooting at our airplanes, or I will fly to Baghdad and snap your neck like a little weasel."
Jesse: "That's right, Saddam Hussloser, he'll bring the PAAIIINNNNNNN!"
Posts: 5383 | Registered: Dec 1999
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I think Arnold's bit of the conversation would be more like,
To Hussein: "Who's your daddy, and what does he do?"
To the soldiers: "Get to the choppa!"
To Iraq once the war is over: "I'll be back."
If his campaign taught me anything it's that (apparently) the only english he knows is what he learned from the movie's he was in.
Posts: 3243 | Registered: Apr 2002
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>> Why does no one ever consider the fact that living in our backyard, as Canada does, means that they have no need to maintain a large expensive military? Sheesh, of course they have lots of money to spend on socialized crap. <<
You know, even if Canada were in South America or Eastern Europe, we'd still have no need to maintain a military. Nobody ever invades us. We're too nice. The only real time we ever went to war with anybody, it was with you Americans, and if you remember, we burned down the White House.
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Poor Canadians. They keep bringing that up, as if it will make us forget that nowadays any one of our illegal semi terrorist white supremecy neo-nazi militia groups could conquer their whole country.
Posts: 5383 | Registered: Dec 1999
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