Join the Protest — for better Health Care

[Ion Saliu]

I wrote previously about the misery known as the “U.S. health care system”. I am not an activist or an advocate for any cause. I only ask for decency when I am hit below the belt by indecency. I wrote diatribes aimed the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is an indecent opponent of a decent health care system in the United States:

The U.S. Healthcare System Is an Organized Crime (Extortion)

I was hit again by a health problem that should not be a big deal in any country of the world. The weather got unexpectedly warmer. I didn’t know how to best dress. I lived with the windows open. Also, I drove my car with the windows open. I caught a cold. My mouth and eyes got infections due to the cold.

How to solve the problem? Go to the emergency room again? Last time I went over there, I was charged US$600 just to hear I had a poison-ivy infection! I am not allowed to even buy a couple of penicillin pills in a pharmacy! Instead, I have no choice but resort to cognac. My medicine of sorts — my antibiotic! And thus I get drunk to fight the infections …

How can this happen in the richest country in the world?! Someone from another country said that USA has become a new Sparta. There are too many people in the USA and the powers-that-be want to eliminate a good number of people living in America!

I’ve seen on TV the protests in New York City and other American cities. I received also a dozen or so emails to join the protest. I consider joining very seriously. I am not employed anyway! As I said I don’t have the nature of an activist. I can’t join any group or organization. I am too much involved with my own ideas.

It is an anti-capitalistic decision on my part. In fact, I appreciate capitalism as the form of government that has offered the highest degree of freedom to Homo sapiens. I only want to express my dismay with the health care system in the U.S. After all, Canada, Britain, France are capitalist nations. Still, everybody over there enjoys first-rate national health care systems. It is free for a wide range of basic needs.

Many Americans have been brainwashed. They are poor and with no health care at all! Yet, they are ready to kill in order to avoid a reform in healthcare. “It’s socialistic,” they scream. I can see on TV that redneck guy. His mouth is as bad as mine due to lack of health care. Yet, he would be willing to die “free” in the streets, rather than being taken care of by a “socialistic” healthcare system.

Not to mention that “his” Speaker of the House is enrolled in a first-class “socialistic” healthcare plan! The Speaker even enjoys extra perks, like expensive tanning, hair sprays and golf. Reminds me of the perks enjoyed by the Communist elite — except for the Communist elite didn’t play golf!

The Speaker doesn’t pay a fair-share for his healthcare. In fact, the Speaker commits robbery. His healthcare plan is subsidized by the taxpayers — many of them with no healthcare at all! A decent billionaire, Warren Buffet went public and admitted he does NOT pay a fair-share in taxes. He acknowledged that his secretary pays taxes at a higher rate Buffet the billionaire!

This is not class warfare! This is about decency and lack thereof. People get drunk “to fight” diseases! In a very cold February of 2000, I was in danger of pneumonia. As I had no healthcare coverage, my only hope was cognac. I escaped, but after a week of fighting the flu.

I lose so much productive time because I got to drink and getting drunk. But what choices for me? Looking for health providers to the uninsured is a war in itself. Those facilities are very hard to find. They are overwhelmed — there are so many uninsured! The healthcare-for-the-uninsured facilities actually discourage people from applying for help! I got a toothache and my eyes are itching…

And the Speaker wants to eliminate many of such facilities, plus slash funding for Medicaid and Medicare. Healthcare is not a privilege. Healthcare must be recognized as a universal human right.

Let’s join the protest movement any ways we can.

Ion

[Ion Saliu]

My email has been flooded in response to my previous message and also the fragment I published on Facebook. A personalized response from me is impossible at this time. And so I resort to cyber tools to say:

HOMO SAPIENS EXPRESS YOURSELF! LET YOUR VOICE BE HEARD!

Not necessarily in physical protests or marches. Social media is a good expression — and action — tool. Aren’t there one billion Facebook users?!

I had never been an advocate for physical expression, such as protests. I totally disapprove of violence. I detested the violent protests during the G8 Summit in Pittsburg. There is no place for violence especially in a democracy such as the United States. Voting is the most efficient tool of democracy — and self-expression. Go there and vote — even if some hot-headed bullies might attempt to intimidate you and keep you outside the polling booth.

I understand there are nations where peaceful protest is responded to with bullets and bloodshed. Problem is, if the protesters respond with their own bullets, more bloodshed ensues. Some protests in the Arab world turned into civil wars with a lot of blood in the streets. Tragic! There should be clear laws in a Constitution of the United Nations that would allow strong military intervention in nations that disregard human rights. That should not be the act of just nation, (like USA) or one organization (like NATO). That should be the act of the United Nations.

I am, however, the advocate for strong wording. Strong wording is not violence: It is freedom of speech. Strong wording originates in a principle of logic known as reductio ad absurdum. It exposes the worst elements in an opposing theory or opinion. All this endeavor of mine started with the healthcare catastrophe in the United States. The opposing opinion, in my case, was represented by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Especially, I was appalled by the word KILL the Speaker used in introducing new legislation. My language was in kind, mind you!

I was in a humiliating and undignified situation last Monday (yesterday). I appealed to yet another pharmacist to sell to me just 2 pills of 50mg penicillin. He saw the condition of my eye. I would have swallowed the pills right there, in the store. Now I realize there is no way to buy prescription drugs without a prescription in the United States. It would be a felony for the pharmacist. Meanwhile, such an act is totally legal in most countries of the world. I will not try it again in the U.S. …

I was amazed at the quantity of drugs in that pharmacy! Thousands and thousands of bottles! Yet, only a few patients (shall we say, customers?) A sad event takes place in the United States: Every year, in thousands of locales. They collect all expired medicines from the pharmacies in the area. The drugs are sold at throw-away prices. Still, prescriptions are required. I don’t think they sell more than 25% of the expired drugs. Some 75% of lifesaving drugs — tons and tons of them —become junk! There is so much waste in the U.S. healthcare system! No wonder it is so expensive!

Some argue that the current healthcare system must be kept in place to save the jobs of some 100,000 employees. Meanwhile, hurt some 50 million Americans who do not have health coverage at all! I noticed something else in the store hosting the pharmacy. The pharmacy staff outnumbered the patients! Most of the customers are retirees who benefit from Medicare. Tragically, The Speaker wants to shut down programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Of course, he doesn’t care. He lives the highlife of a Communist elitist!

Anyway, words have power. I urge again: Express yourself. I am aware, there is a level of cowardice in our blood. It does play a role in our survival. But total cowardice is the worst sin. Humans would have never evolved if some brothers and sisters would have not fought their level of cowardice. Every human advancement, leading all the way to social media, was fought harshly by all kinds of opponents, especially religious zealots. Some of the humans advocating progress were tortured and killed. Without their sacrifice, the humans would now still flagellate themselves to blood in front of cathedrals, mosques, and all kinds of temples…

Ion Saliu,
Advocate At-Large

[Ion Saliu]

Anyway, words have power.

Indeed. The current protests started as Occupy Wall Street in New York. The movement spread across the United States due, in great part, to social media. Traditional media did not spread the news in the beginning. Traditional media was afraid not to lose advertisers who are at the right end of the political spectrum.

The word spreads. You hear now of Occupy … protests in many U.S. cities. I heard yesterday of a planned protest in next-door York, Pennsylvania for today. Problem is, it is a rainy day and there is heavy rain in the forecast. I planned to participate in one of the protests as soon as my eye heals. Perhaps Washington, DC. It is closer than New York City — and it is the home of Da Speaker.

I am glad the protesters have remained peaceful. The only acts of violence were committed by police. The police pepper-sprayed protesters in New York. They also arrested forcefully protesters in Washington, DC. The worst act of police brutality was allegedly committed in Boston. The mayor promised to investigate. But they will not release the official videos to the public! On the other hand, I heard protesters in Los Angeles who praised how LA police handles the situation: with class.

There are lawyers among the protesters. I am sure they know how to handle cases of police brutality. Again, I do not advise responding to brutality with violence. Use the law instead. Hit the perpetrators of brutality where it hurts most: the pocketbook.

The Occupy itself might sound aggressive. But people can look at it as a concept derived from occupant. Occupant is the person who lives in somebody else’s house but pays the dues (rent). Landlords and tenants have equal rights, including protesting. Like they did last year, those at the right of the political spectrum: The Tea Party. It’s all in the Constitution: Left, Center, Right …

Ion Saliu,
Peacefully At-Large

[Ion Saliu]

I posted this message on their Facebook in response to a disturbing photo and comment that looked like 1930’s Nazi Germany …

“I sympathize with your movement, but I TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT! It is vicious anti-Semitism and it is a throwback to Nazi Germany.

I am not Jewish, but a statement as such is self-destructive for your movement. You are as bad as those extreme-right rattlesnakes who are full of hatred and spill it all over America.

YOU MUST APOLOGIZE FOR THIS ANTI-SEMITIC STATEMENT AND WITHDRAW IT.

I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU ARE SO FULL OF VICIOUS HATRED! You first looked to me like young intellectuals who were very intelligent and articulate. You fumbled the ball badly. What a shame …”

Photos of THE GLOBAL MOVEMENT | Facebook

Just one thing will keep me at an arm-length distance from the “Occupy …” movement. I feel so disgusted …

Ion Saliu,
Homo sapiens At-Large

[Ion Saliu]

There was one response to my previous statement of the “Occupy …” Facebook:

Being anti-zionist is being pro-Peace... Do some research and understand zionism is not the same thing as being jewish.... This is not an anti-semitist statement....

Hell, it is anti-Semitism! Zionism is only a smokescreen. The Jews created the “Scapegoat” concept in the Old Bible. The world has ever since put the blame on the Jews as the scapegoat for all evils!

Yes, I put a lot of blame on Bill Gates and Microsoft for “killing” major players in the computing world: Lotus, WordPerfect, AshtonTate (dBase III)…. I didn’t do it because Bill Gates is Jewish! Should we blame late Steve Jobs, another Jew, for potentially destroying Microsoft and land-based phone companies? Or, maybe, blame Steven Spielberg, yet another notorious Jew, for destroying film as an art form because of his moneymaking sci-fi fantasies?

Singularizing one nationality, or one race, or one credo, IS DESPICABLE! No legitimate movement should rely on that type of hatred. Actually, nothing should be founded upon hatred.

I am so disgusted at myself for being so positive about this “Occupy …” movement in the beginning! I know, there is a lot more to it. But one single element reveals an ugly monster inside! What a shame …

Ion Saliu,
Liberating himself from “Occupy …”

[Ion Saliu]

If you join a movement you accept the idea that you and they will not, and cannot, agree on everything. There are so many individuals in a movement that disagreements represent the most natural fact of life.

BUT HATRED IS NOT ACCEPTABLE IN ANY MOVEMENT. EXTREMISM IS NOT ACCEPTABLE IN ANY MOVEMENT.

I’ve already seen signs of extremism. The guy who published first the Facebook page of the “Occupy …” movement appears to be a Buddhist; perhaps a Hinduist as well. He publishes chants and graphical symbols from those religions. He goes hard against the Jews and also the Christians. But he publishes quite often chants from Buddhism and Hinduism.

RELIGION IS NOT ACCEPTABLE IN ANY MOVEMNT IN THE NAME OF REASON — NOT ONE SINGLE RELIGIOUS BELIEF.

Honestly, religion is a troubling, silly thing for this day and age. In truth, religion negates itself. All those thousands upon thousands of religious beliefs would label any particular religious belief — other than their own — as non-sense, or even crap. If you put together the results, all religious beliefs are considered non-sense or crap — by all religious beliefs! That’s the only truth religion “delivers”.

“Only my religion is the true one,” they insanely vociferate with their mouths foaming. That automatically translates to dangerous intolerance. Nothing brought about more bloodshed than religion, across entire human history. Only the Nazis caused more bloodshed in one single shot, inspired, in part, by one mad idealist named Friedrich Nietzsche. Don’t forget, the Nazis also claimed they wanted to rid Judaism, a non-Christian religion!

I saw also another sign of extremism. One photo of the “Occupy …” movement asks for the … demolition of the Fed (Federal Reserve Board or the national bank of the United States). They also ask for the demolition of the Wall Street.

You know, those institutions have always been in the “financial claws” of the Jews… The likes of Greenspan, Bernanke, Rubin … all those heads of Wall Street brokerage firms … I do have a huge problem with Wall Street. The law encourages them to gamble huge sums of money — trillions of dollars of other people’s moneys. If they lose, the government bails them out — while them fat-cats get to keep the millions or billions they had already made!

One extremist Republican candidate, Ron Paul, goes as extremely as to call for the demolition of the entire government of the United States! Another extremist Republican candidate, Rick Perry, goes as extremely as to call for the demolition of the social security system! Social security is the safety blanket for a vast majority of Americans. Perry calls social security a Ponzi scheme! In their views, those institutions are no longer Christian. The governing, they mouthfoam-scream, must be done in Evangelical churches one Sunday at a time!

Ion Saliu,
Non-Extremely At-Large

[Adam]

Ion,

I think what we see now is the world we've known for so long slowly falling apart. Piece by piece. It was sort of inevitable. Let's look at some pieces of the puzzle.

America is technically bankrupt. Interest rates kept artificially low for so many years with inflation going up month by month. Billions upon billions of dollars have been pumped in to the system. To no avail. Budget deficit is closing on the all-time high of after the World War II.
The difference is in those times Unites States, a new superpower, had a booming industrial infrastructure which made it possible to cut the deficit within a space of a few years. Now it's gone. The production has beem outsourced to China, India or Mexico. Internet does not create jobs. It creates virtual reality. So what will happen in America?
Hyperinflation, further rise in unemployment rate, investors giving up on US dollar as the world currency. The price of gold will soar screaming " Inflation, inflation" Then a rise in interest rate will be a must. That will give a final blow to those 6 million or more people whose homes are in foreclosure or who default on morgage payments.

Now Europe. Greece is bankrupt, Spain comes next and then Italy. For how long Germany, the only engine of the Union, will keep on financing the show?
The party is over. What comes next? Some sci-fi movies could give us an idea or two.

Adam

[Ion Saliu]

Adam:

There are problems, indeed. That’s why I had the intent to join the protests. In my case, it was mainly advocacy for free healthcare in the United States. It’s been almost two weeks since I struggle with an eye infection — I have no health coverage. I can only treat myself with the only “antibiotic” available to me: cognac!

Yes, America has taken the hardest hits … only because she wants to remain a superpower … the only superpower! That’s insanely stupidiotic … people want to live well, rather than be citizens of a superpower! Only very few Americans benefit from USA being a superpower.

There is a very good book dedicated to world powers and their fall from glory. “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000”, by Paul Kennedy.

At first sight, the “Occupy …” movement looked legitimate to me. One day after I endorsed it, the movement showed an ugly monster: hatred, anti-Semitism, extremism. I was shocked to see how prominently the swastika was displayed. It was under the disguise of Sanskrit symbols — but it still targeted the idea of an Aryan race.

That’s the problem I have. Some things are absolutely unacceptable for a reasonable person. Some might say the “Occupy …” movement was infiltrated by Neo-Nazi. It is the Extreme Right Wing who publishes the Web site of the movement. Regardless, I just don’t accept hate-based organizations.

Germany, Europe in general, also America, fell on hard times in the 1930’s. A bad world economy and social unrest. The Nazi took advantage of hard times in Germany. They indentified the crisis and also pointed out a culprit: the Jews. The same thing now, the same rhetoric. Wall Street caused huge economic problems, but the executives made millions, even billions. And, hey, Wall Street is a Jewish institution!!! The Jews have also bought the U.S. government. The Jews caused the September 11, 2001 tragedy in order to push the United States into a war against the Arabs! These are statements from the Web site of the “Occupy …” movement …

Rhetoric sounds even more dangerous in the United States now. Some political candidates remind of the era leading to the Civil War of 1860. Shut down the federal government completely. Let only the states have governments. That was the “philosophy” that led to the Civil War …

Peace!

Ion Saliu

[Adam]

Ion,

Thanks for what you have just written. I didn't know it's going that far. It seems the history is coming back in circles. Not exactly the same events repeat, but most of the ingredients are there.
Looking back we seem to be in the years of 1934-1937, economy-wise. In the coming 6-8 months I expect the FED to raise interest rates. Gold will go up, perhaps as high as $3,000 per ounce. Dollar will depreciate and unemployment will go up.
Street riots will start in earnest in America and spill over the rest of the civilized world.
Germany will leave the Eurozone dismantling the system, unless China decides to invest its huge surplus in it. That would save Europe, but not America.

Adam