Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Black Knights of Health Care Reform



You've got to give it to them, the shameless shills for the health insurance industry are delivering on their end of a deal with the devil. They are going to resist health care reform as long as they have the capacity to do so.

Like some of their forerunners in the age of Massive Resistance knew, they know their side is eventually going to lose. While some see they're on the wrong side of history, they're going to keep on kicking that reform can down the road, as long as they have feet.

In the marketplace of ideas, when the reform resisters' limbs have all finally been chopped off the resisters will still try to fight on, like Monty Python's Black Knight (in the video above).

Why?

Money.

Every day billions of dollars are being sucked toward the owners of heath insurance companies; dollars that don't really have much to do with protecting America's greatest asset -- its workforce.

Furthermore, until we, as a people, understand that in the long run that's fundamentally why the government has to act now -- to protect society's interests -- we're likely to keep on spinning and spinning and getting nowhere. Nonetheless, if a lot of people get too sick to work that will be a major problem.

With the potential for an epidemic to break all the banks, one day, the government now has a duty to oversee the delivery of timely health care to all of us. That also means once we finally do move around the noisy Black Knights of the reform resistance movement, to establish a single-payer system, we'll all have to get occasional checkups.

Legs to stand on, or no legs, the health care reform resisters are never going to quit.

So, whatever lofty notions of compromise and bipartisan consensus President Barack Obama may have envisioned, when the debate started, has become yesterday's news.

Now it's time for Democrats to do the job without Republicans. It'll a lot easier to walk around Black Knight resisters once Democrats give up on trying to appeal to the good sense of people who know only one thing -- never quit.

10 comments:

Scott said...

As usual, F.T., your Democratic Party loyalty is getting in the way of your good sense.

Defeat ObamaCare- We Need Health Care, Not Health Insurance!

http://www.vagreenparty.org/richblog/?p=492

Green Party leaders today called the Stupak Amendment in the recently passed US House bill on health care reform a disaster for women’s reproductive rights and a betrayal of the Democrats’ stated support for women’s rights and well-being.

http://www.vagreenparty.org/richblog/?p=493

Protesters were in downtown Richmond today, hoping to influence their representatives.

At the same time, single payer advocates called for a fresh start-

http://www.vagreenparty.org/richblog/?p=495

SinglePayerAction.org : Defeat Democratic Health Bill

http://www.vagreenparty.org/richblog/?p=502

Big Pharma and Obama

http://www.vagreenparty.org/richblog/?p=503

F.T. Rea said...

Scott,

Since you're familiar with the way I approach politics, you know perfectly well I'm not a loyal Democrat.

But that doesn't matter to you.

So, you're happy to insult me, because it's just another way to establish a platform for you to post your propaganda. Propaganda that frequently falls flat, because it is so strident it puts people off.

If the Black Knight thing doesn't strike you as at least a little bit funny, there's no hope for you to ever enjoy what I have to say about politics.

So, maybe my readers aren't really your audience.

Scott said...

Your propaganda puts me off, F.T., because its almost always black and white- the Democrats are always right against the dastardly Republicans.

If I am strident by giving another angle, then so be it. The duopoly keeps failing us.

Sorry if I don't appreciate the Monty Python jokes (how old is that movie now?) in this context, but people deserve more information and richer views on this important topic.

pigeater said...

Actually, I can visualize Mr. Rhea's comparison. I, too, see the current crop of democrats as grown men and women dressed as brave knights riding sticks to the sound of coconut hooves...only to have a slutty flight attendent use their testicles as castanets. Or maybe that traitor jew Lieberman and his comrades in the Peoples Judean Front..or the Peoples Front of Judea..or World Can't Wait..or INT. ANSWER..or whichever carbon copy revolutionaries he's running with.

At the end of the day the command will be "runaway! runaway!"

...or "deploy the Holy Hand Grenade of reconciliation!"

I'll put my money on "run away". I've seen this movie before.

Then maybe we can start over on something that might actually work and has the support of the country...not just the support of the true believers who search for magic cups.

F.T. Rea said...

Scott,

Please note that I don't come to your web sites to stick my thumb in your eye. And, I've been putting up with your rudeness here and at the Fan District Hub for a long time, because I have thought you were sincere.

That, while you frequently ignore the topic of my post, to vent on whatever topic is your peeve of the day. Now I'm realizing your style is more about you than it is about the ideas you push.

Yes, it's an old movie. So, what the hell does that matter?

In other words, Scott, I'm getting tired of you using my blogs to promote yourself.

F.T. Rea said...

Pigeater, you are a more recent annoyance. The sort of claptrap you've been slinging at SLANTblog for the last week, or so, belongs somewhere else.

At some sites they are trying to attract comments such as yours, in order to promote feuds online. They are looking to get more hits.

That's not my game.

Scott said...

How do I lack sincerity? What am I doing that is so rude?

Your post tries to make it out that anyone who challenges the Democrats' push for health insurance is a 'Black Knight' and should just be 'walked around' (or is that 'walked over'?), to use your comedic movie metaphor.

My point, which is very clear here, is that the health care debate is much more nuanced than that. There are very good nonpartisan reasons for resisting Obamacare, ones that deserve recognition.

I am sorry if it seems rude to you to disagree with you on this or to, gasp, suggest that this post is dumbing down an important political debate.

But we do need new thinking on this subject, and we are not going to get it by deciding to put on ignore or demonize everyone who disagrees with the President's direction. Wasn't that one of your chief complaints about the last President?

pigeater said...

Ha! I'm an "annoyance"? Kinda like a blue jay peckin' at a cats head, huh.

I annoy you because I point out the flaws in your cherished assumptions. Instead of defending your words or acknowledging that your assumptions might be wrong, (as in your statement that threats against Bush never come from the left) you get mad at me for pointing it out. The same with your comment that the nazi's were Christians. I understand that this is a commonly held belief among the left but, for those of us who get our information from actual history books and not from scratchy old Dead Kennedy's albums, it's a slight that shouldn't be allowed to go unchallenged.

As for this thread...I simply used your own play on Python to make a different point. You could appreciate the creativity but, apparently you aren't that big.

This is why the Richmond Arts Community is such a stale loaf. They have their sacred reality constructs that they cling to... bitterly. Anyone who points out a flaw or a fault or a hypocrisy is an "annoyance".

Me? I enjoy being challenged. I gladly defer to any man who can formulate and defend his point. It keeps mold from forming on the brain loaf.

I had hoped you'd see the value in that. Obviously you don't.

F.T. Rea said...

pigeater, you flatter yourself. Just because you can make noise doesn't mean you are making sense. But that hardly means you have no place in the busy blogosphere.

Hint: If you can't figure out how to start your own blog, Scott runs some blogs and he might enjoy engaging the likes of you.

But I don't.

Nor do I like to debate drooling drunks in bars, ranting roughnecks on the street, and so forth. Do yourself a favor, quit reading SLANTblog.

pigeater said...

No, you prefer the choir. Fair enough. It's not the first time my pointing to the obvious has caused some grief.

When I was about 10 I asked my aunt why there were no dinosaurs in the bible.

I'm still waiting for an explanation on that one too so, you're in good company. I really liked my aunt. She didn't like having her mythology challenged but, she made great hush puppies.

Aufweinerstain.

(I figured that get a chuckle from those who giggle at the term "teabagger".)