My Blackberry recently died on me, and I'm undecided as to what I want to replace it with. Do I hold out for the Holy Grail iPhone on Verizon, go with a Droid, or stick with the tried and true BB?
While I ponder life's great questions, I have decided to reactivate an old Motorola RAZR to tide me over. For fucks sake, I may as well be using a soup can with some wire.
And it got me thinking about just how spoiled we have become as a nation. Dont get me wrong, times are tough, but they aren't - despite the political rhetoric - Great Depression tough. Sure we are on the verge of a complete global meltdown, but at least we have cable television and jeggings.
That I am besides myself for not having ready access to the facebook and real time stock quotes on my cell phone maybe says more about me than it does society at large, but maybe it doesn't.
I see people on the news wake up at the ass crack of dawn to stampede their fellow shopper looking for a sweet deal on a Nintendo Wii, and I think to myself, self, where the fuck did we go wrong.
This country wasn't built by three years of unemployment or internet access as a constitutional right. I hate to bring this back to Sarah Palin, but maybe that's why the left hate her so much. She reminds them of just how big of pansies we have become.
So, I'm going to stick with the RAZR, not because I'm some bold frontiersman or making a grand luddite statement, but because I have an iPad.
Ee-aw!
17 comments:
Good point donkey. Poor people in this country are FLAT OUT RICH in most parts of the world.
Bottom line, if you you internet access and cable t.v.....you ain't poor!
as i believe Gary might have pointed out at one point, internet access is available free every public library and most every coffee shop in the country. and in most places you can't even have tv with out cable. and basic cable is relatively inexpensive.
once again, you guys are nutty in saying that "if you have internet access and cable tv you ain't poor."
and yes, compared to the average wage earner in india, some "poor" people are rich in relative terms. but you need to dig a little deeper (and really, just a little deeper) and look at the costs of living in these other parts of the world.
sarah palin only reminds us "lefties" of how far low the right has sunk in terms of the requirements to be a standard bearer of the party. as someone recently wrote about the episode of her show where she, for no reason other than the thrill of the kill, killed a caribou. this person correctly likened it to a snuff film. there was no reason for her to kill that animal. she didn't even know how to use a gun, so she's clearly not even a sportsperson hunter. a sickening display.
you can have your sarah palin. she's going to do nothing but bring the republican party to their knees.
SUCKA'S.
oh, and 'jeggings' ???
Big surprise Anita is anti hunting.
Yes anita the cost of living in india is lower than it is here but everything is relative.
You can't even watch TV without cable? You can get the internet at the coffee shop? guess what..If you have a tv and a computer and can afford to buy a coffee at starbucks ...you ain't poor!
you can't compare the "average wage earner" in india to the poor in this country. You have to compare the POOR in india to the poor in the U.S.
The poor in India die of starvation....
here endeth lesson.....you're welcome.
i am not anti hunting or fishing. that was not my point. reread what i wrote.
libraries and schools provide internet services free of charge. no one needs to buy a $5 latte to do a google search there. all they need is a library card.
many poor in american die of starvation and other related illness that most middle class and weathy americans never, ever die of. this is because they have no health insurance, this is because they live in subhuman circumstances. do some research.
you're welcome.
Like most conservatives Rhino and Donkey believe that poor people have too much money and rich people don't have enough.
Like most liberals gary is stupid.
The poor in the US die more from obesity related illnesses and lung cancer. Lung cancer and heart disease are still the #1 killers. Hmmmmm.
gee. i wonder why that is. poor people dye of cancer earlier than rich people as well. i wonder if this has to do with the fact that they don't have health insurance? hmmmmmmm.
Anita,
That's an interesting question. What kind of healthcare do poor people have? Um I beleive that the poor have state run Medicaid. And they die earlier.
When the line gets longer do you think each person in line will get more?
Very common sense Sam.......u should know however that u will now be accused of being a racist Nazi who hates poor people.....welcome to the dark side
you are highly mistaken samw. "poor" people don't get medicaid. it's for the disabled and sick. there are some programs on the state and federal level that provide health insurance to poor children.
believe me, for people and families who are at the poverty level and the working poor get very, very little public assistance in any way shape or form any more. and it's those people, and there are tens of millions of them, who do not get any health care at all. and they are often the ones working two or three menial jobs to support their families and who are unable to get the preventative care to detect and treat early cancers.
and on the obesity issue, junk food is less expensive than good food. and it takes less (or no) time to prepare for families where both the mother and father have one or more jobs (and are still poor despite that!). that is why the school lunch programs that were recently enacted are so important. while there are lots of tubby rich and solidly middle-class people for sure, obesity and the carry-on illnesses related to obesity are heavily weighted toward the poor and working poor.
and no, i don't think that samw is a racist nazi. he's massively uninformed and spouts the same cliches that the uninformed right tends to spout. nothing new here.
actually anita I think it is you who is uninformed. Medicaid is intended for low income families. I knew many families growing up who were on medicaid and welfare and recieved food stamps and none of them were sick or disabled.
Also Samw is a woman and i believe she is also a homophobe who hates poor people and mexicans.
Funny I work in a place where I encounter 80 to 100 medicaid recipients every day. Its possible I know first hand that Medicaid does not provide for quality care. Its possible that I see providers frustrated on a daily basis because they have the skill an the training to meet the needs of the patient but their hands are tied by the system. So much that we spend tons of time an energy with each patient preaching prevention. We can't tell them if this happens we can't help you. (Becuase they don't have coverage) We just have to say don't let this happen to you. Like I said before...the system does need reform. But the model used for Obama's plan is the most exploitive system available and it does the least for the inividual. And the patients in my clinic on Medicaid are the working poor. Very few are unemployed ,or disabled. But those patients with the most need are also the ones with the highest liability risk. This means that they get boomeranged from specialist to specialist until they find one with the cajones to risk a malpractice suit.
This is just a fact. I understand and agree whole heartedly with the idea of providing access to care. But I don't agree with the method here. Simply because I see its failure on a daily basis.
i agree with you again samw. it seems to me, and i could be wrong, that you would be a proponent of universal health care, not the patchwork quilt that the obama plan was forced to become.
I once thought the term universal healthcare was a good idea. But really affordable healthcare is the best idea. Universal healthcare is kind of like Utopia. Its pleasant term that is easy to sell and nearly impossible to implement.
It sounds good. No one wants to deny people in need basic healthcare. In the end it's supporters will feel decieved. Because very one will get a little coverage and no one will get enough.
There are simpler, less profitable, and more effective ways.
"But really affordable healthcare is the best idea."
"There are simpler, less profitable, and more effective ways."
once again, i am agreeing with the new aurora reader. on behalf of myself and (i hope) of the other reader, gary, may i take this opportunity to say, welcome.
i'm NOT saying the this vast audience of aurora readers are in perfect alignment with each other or the aurorans. but i see you are a thoughtful person and in a place like this, that is to be commended.
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