Common Sense

Captain See Sharp

Christian Graus wrote:

Yeah, having spent at least 6 months of my life there, over the course of three years

ChitChatting in a confy hotel and riding around in the back of a car gives you little idea of American life. Until you grew up here, experience all levels of public schools, and worked most of your life here then you can pretend to know America.

Christian Graus wrote:

and having seen your media

The media is crap. Each news program is designed to make you feel a certain way and think certain thoughts. The fancy graphics, music, catch phrases, personalities, and the loads of eye catching commercials interfere with normal thought processes. I find it sickening when a newscast lacking almost every detail gets interrupted by a GW commercial picturing kids playing in a bright green grassy field with butterflies and a rainbow, or some crap about change and hope. I especially hate that Cricket Wireless commercial picturing all these low income workers in a dirty city singing and making music with garbage cans. Then a black lady puts up a cellphone to her ear and starts rapping.

Stan Shannon

Christian Graus wrote:

but I don't feel it's as bad here as it is in the US.

Thats because no one gives a shit about what happens in Australia. There is no bang for the buck in swaying popular opinion of Australians. Far more effort goes into trying to promote a particular world view in the US by both sides. What happens here affects the entire world. What happens in Australia affects Australia.

Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.

Christian Graus

We don't have 12 trillion in debt.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Christian Graus

Oakman wrote:

But what frosted my cookies, for what it's worth, is that you dismissed an entire country not even just its media.

I did not mean that, I meant that the media is that way, although by definition, it's that way because that's what people want to hear. I still love Americans :-)

Oakman wrote:

However, I'm glad we agree about hysteria.

I actually got the WORST newspaper Melbourne has to offer, and it wasn't much better, I must admit. Some person wrote in and said that people who were not worried should watch the movie 'outbreak' for a dose of reality. That was an eye opener.....

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Christian Graus

Well, there could be someting in that. But, I suspect the people who most like to be scared, like the people here who like to be made to feel helpless, are the ones least likely to actually have any effect on the world.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Christian Graus

Mike Gaskey wrote:

it'll bankrupt the nation

Possible.

Mike Gaskey wrote:

and increase taxes to stunning levels

Also possible, it has to be paid for

Mike Gaskey wrote:

drive down the number of medical professionals

How will it do that, apart from stopping them from charging astronomical amounts for poor care ?

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Mike Gaskey

Oakman wrote:

Hmpf.

missed it, sorry.

Oakman wrote:

a whole lot of reporting on that, from what I can tell

disturbing, wasn't aware. didn't even see it on FNC.

Oakman wrote:

I woulda given Oily's left nut

making an assumption here.

Mike - typical white guy. The USA does have universal healthcare, but you have to pay for it. D'oh. Thomas Mann - "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.

Mike Gaskey

Christian Graus wrote:

How will it do that, apart from stopping them from charging astronomical amounts for poor care

the investment of time that it takes to become a doctor doesn't make it attractive to work under the tether of a federal buracracy. simply isn't worth it so I would imagine budding careers will be redirected. pure cost benefit thought process.

Mike - typical white guy. The USA does have universal healthcare, but you have to pay for it. D'oh. Thomas Mann - "Tolerance becomes a crime when applied to evil." The NYT - my leftist brochure. Calling an illegal alien an “undocumented immigrant” is like calling a drug dealer an “unlicensed pharmacist”. God doesn't believe in atheists, therefore they don't exist.

Lost User

Wow, looks like you're hitting a sore spot with some of the folks from the States. I have no idea what Australia is like, but I watch both Canadian and American news, and the Americans certainly have an intensity about their news that we lack :laugh:.

- F

Christian Graus

OK, so you're saying that people won't become doctors if it means they are accountable for their actions ?

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Christian Graus

Intel 4004 wrote:

ChitChatting in a confy hotel and riding around in the back of a car gives you little idea of American life. Until you grew up here, experience all levels of public schools, and worked most of your life here then you can pretend to know America.

What a pile of BS. I am claiming to know your media. And, I stay in an American home, with American friends. But, thanks for playing.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Christian Graus

ROTFL !!!!

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Stan Shannon

Christian Graus wrote:

apart from stopping them from charging astronomical amounts for poor care ?

By reducing the level of care everyone else gets. There is a word for a form of government that redistributes wealth to ensure equality of outcome - its called Marxism. Freedom is a dangerous thing to have, people who cannot use their's wisely shouldn't live here.

Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.

Lost User

Mike Gaskey wrote:

the investment of time that it takes to become a doctor doesn't make it attractive to work under the tether of a federal buracracy.

You just get the medical establishment to buy ethically into universal health care as being a human right, then they'll just self-select people who believe the same thing into the profession.* And really, when you think about it - up here in Canada, doctor salaries are roughly 1/2 to 1/3 of what they are in the States, but do you really want a doctor who would have chosen a different profession because they're going to make $125,000/yr instead of $250,000? Obviously, the issue is way more nuanced than I'm making it out to be, but frankly, my general response would be "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out." If you're smart, there are far easier ways to make boatloads of money (even in the States) than as a doctor. * I am completely serious

- F

Stan Shannon

Oakman wrote:

Congressional Progressive Caucus

I'm sure he wants to support them...[^] But, hey, lets not call them what they really are - Marxists.

Chaining ourselves to the moral high ground does not make us good guys. Aside from making us easy targets, it merely makes us idiotic prisoners of our own self loathing.

Christian Graus

Stan Shannon wrote:

By reducing the level of care everyone else gets.

I have been to the doctor in the US, and I don't see how that is physically possible. I get better care under 'socialised' medicine in Australia, by a LONG shot, even if I went to a cheap doctor.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. "I am new to programming world. I have been learning c# for about past four weeks. I am quite acquainted with the fundamentals of c#. Now I have to work on a project which converts given flat files to XML using the XML serialization method" - SK64 ( but the forums have stuff like this posted every day )

Oakman

Christian Graus wrote:

But, thanks for playing

Did he win a booby prize?

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Oakman

Stan Shannon wrote:

By reducing the level of care everyone else gets.

That does seem to be the Canadian system. (A Canadian friend of mine is celebrating - next month she actually gets into see an orthopedic surgeon - something she's been trying to arrange for the last 18 months since she was hit as she crossed the street by a teenager driving through a red light.) However, if I understand it correctly, in Australia, there is a basic minimum health care available that is paid for by taxes. Since not everyone works, but everyone is covered, this is definitely a single-payer national health plan. However, you can also get more/better health care if you've got the bread by buying additional insurance. Just as you can over here. As Rob pointed out awhile back, some sort of national healthcare would get the costs off the back of the business community, allowing them to be much more competitive with businesses in other countries.

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Oakman

Stan Shannon wrote:

But, hey, lets not call them what they really are - Marxists.

Groucho, Harpo, or Zeppo? Personally, I think they're Lennonists. All sitting around smoking dope and singing "Give Peace a Chance. . ."

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin

Oakman

Christian Graus wrote:

I have been to the a doctor in the US and was amazed to discover that I wasn't going to be let off without paying for services rendered. I could have purchased insurance before I left but I gambled and lost and it really pisses me off when I lose.

FTFY ;)

Jon Smith & Wesson: The original point and click interface Both democrats and republicans are playing for the same team and it's not us. - Chris Austin