Rick Perry disgusts me

I try not to make it a habit of writing purely political posts but the new Rick Perry YouTube video threw me over the edge. If you like the video, you probably won’t like this post.

There is no shortage of reasons I don’t think Perry should be a presidential candidate for the Republican party. I don’t even think he should be the Governor of Texas. It’s not just because he’s a goof who embarrases most people from Texas, like myself, it’s the way he markets himself as a candidate.

For whatever reason, the loud, far right conservative politicians on the scene these days treat culture and intelligence as negative attributes. They forget that Christian law, much like Sharia law, is not United States law. They forget that smart people create solutions where others can’t. They forget a lot of things, many of which were their founding principles. I’m not talking about all Republicans, I’m talking about people like Rick Perry.

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And The Crowd Yells, “Let Him Die”

This comes to us care of Talking Points Memo and Think Progress‘s liveblog of the latest GOP presidential debate, the second to feature Rick Perry. This particular moment hits close to home for me. You might remember my attempts to pay for and get health insurance and where that got me.

In this moment, it is asked whether someone who is uninsured should be allowed to die or if the government should pick up where his lack of insurance and his bank account left off. The reaction from the Tea Party crowd is surprising, even for them. Below is the incident in question.

Ron Paul the doctor says a 30-year-old who has an accident and needs intensive health care should’ve planned ahead and is responsible for himself. When Blitzer asks if society should let that young man die, some in the crowd shout in approval. Tea Party audience members heard yelling: “Yeah!” “Let him die!”

I actually sort of like Ron Paul. I think his ideas are kind of crazy and his loathing of government a bit ironic but at least he has some ideas. This is more of a critique of the audience than Ron Paul though he sure didn’t challenge them.

And of course, Blitzer should have proposed the question again with someone like me who tried to get insurance, even paid for it for months and then was told he was uninsurable. What if I were the one in the hospital for six months? A twenty-something with all intentions of not getting a free ride.

Now, discuss!

UPDATE: Looks like Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson was right over a year ago when he said the Republican healthcare plan was, “Don’t get sick and if you do get sick, die quickly.” Well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration and the hypothetical situation isn’t specific enough but it sure doesn’t help the argument for the Tea Party reaction last night.

Ok, so now discuss.

Cause and Effect Politics

This post is not meant to be a definitive, journalistic, endeavor in reporting what happened today. It is instead an illustration of potential causes that lead to the tragic end of a Democratic representative.

A Democrat representative who was targeted with a gun sight on a website about “taking out” particular Democrats.  A site created by Sarah Palin‘s political action committee and an idea made popular by Sharron Angle who followed a comment on exercising “second amendment rights” with “[we need to] take Harry Reid out”

This is an example of what can/might happen when you play with fire. I’m not concerned with reasonable people, I’m concerned with the unstable people who take these gun rallies, tea bag parties, exclamations of revolutions and the like as gospel. I’m afraid of the people who think violence is a solution. Continue reading

Why I Was Denied Health Insurance

After months of waiting for my health insurance to be activated, and after paying for it all the while, I was informed recently that I am uninsurable.

What horrible malady might I have? Cancer? Multiple sclerosis? Heart disease? Let’s take a look at the letter they sent. I’m sure that will tell me why.

Oh, yes. I was denied health insurance because of “*”. Seriously? All you people who think the United States of America doesn’t need a major overhaul of its health insurance industry should look at this and think twice.

For no reason I was denied health insurance. Previously they told me they were waiting on the results of an electrocardiography exam I had nearly three years ago. An EKG that came back saying my heart was in perfect condition. Now they tell me because… asterisk. They literally have no reason for their rejection. I have been dealing with them since August with this mind you.

Welcome to America, land of the brave, the free and the uninsured.

Thanks Republicans who did all they could to prevent people like me from getting coverage and the Democrats that let them do it. Tea Party members… Don’t even get me started.

Share your insurance issues, thoughts on reform in the comments.