Praying For the Death of Health Care Reform (Plus Bonus Rant!)
Sunday, December 20, 2009 at 10:29AM Really? Really? It's come to this?
I'm not going to get into the "What Would Jesus Vote" debate on health care reform because Jesus seemed to be really into healing the sick and raising the dead as a one-man-HMO only he wasn't going to cut your coverage because of pre-existing conditions or if you were broke. He was Jesus. And it's kind of hard to get around the fact that Jesus was pretty serious about helping people and thought you should be serious about helping people too. He also wouldn't vote for things anyway because Jesus would never be a politician.
But that's besides the point. A Kill the Bill Pray-In? I mean, OK. I guess. Football players pray for victory on Sundays and Billy Graham used to always bless America for victory in whatever war we we're waging. But if you're a minister, how do you get roped into this sort of thing? What makes you agree to go, "I'm going to pray for the death of a bill that might -- MIGHT -- make it easier for people to stay healthy." I mean, you're a minister. Technically you're not supposed to care about corporations or taxes but people and how things affect the individual lives of people. I get why a Capitalist might pray for the death of health care reform, or an especially spiritual Libertarian. But ministers? Really? Even if you don't like the health care bill for one reason or another shouldn't you always be praying for the health of people? Don't you have bigger things to worry about with unemployment being high and people losing their homes? Shouldn't your response to your representative when he asks for a bit of spiritual healing over his or hers latest political free-for-all be "I'll pray that you do something that will help the people who need the help the most." I mean, you're a minister. You're supposed to "technically" be above petty, partisan bickering. You're supposed to represent your flock. What's Jesus supposed to do with this request anyway? "Um, yeah," sez Jesus. "I'll get around to that after I deal with this whole war and faminine and genocide and all the REAL PROBLEMS OF THE WORLD."
I'm just saying ... this seems a little lame. And kinda creepy. It's Christmas-time. Be a normal minister and pray for peace-on-earth or something. Go feed some homeless people. Collect toys for poor children. Go visit some sick people, dammit! Stop being partisan and WEIRD!
Sidenote: My friend Dorothy and I had a lengthy conversation a week ago about why I don't write more about the healthcare debate. I've written about it some, but I've mostly kept my distance because pretty much all the drama over it makes me want to slam my head into my keyboard and cry. It really shouldn't be this hard to make people do the right thing and take care of one another. I don't understand the "I'm-a get mine, screw the rest of ya'll" mentality. I don't think people should lose their houses and livelihoods because they get sick and then get screwed by the healthcare companies. I just want to scream, "FUCK! BE NICE! PEOPLE ARE DYING!" But that isn't a coherent argument. That's an emotional argument. I've been with health care and I've been without and being without sucks. And it pisses me off that if I had to get health insurance on my own I could be denied it because I have the "pre-exisiting" condition of Bipolar Disorder. And there's no CURE for that. I can't do much about it but take my meds that I can just barely afford. And it annoys me that some people's response to the pain of others is "Ha! Sucks for you! I'm great! Don't punish me for my greatness! It's my right to be a selfish bastard!" I'm not objetive about healthcare in anyway. NONE. I think the arguments against it are selfish, short-sighted, unChristian-like and MORONICAL. I realize that some people would be highly entertained by my bleeding heart rants, but for my own emotional well-being I have to maintain some kind of distance from this issue or I literally will stab my eyes out in protest. So I will continue to be completely random in my health care postings because otherwise you'd be reading nothing but pages and pages of rants about how much I hate Joe Lieberman and how I wish everyone who is so smug because they've never had to do without would have to walk a mile in the shoes of someone trying to make life work on $7.49 an hour, working three jobs and being accused of being "lazy" beause they don't make enough money to owe taxes at the end of the year and act like making less than $18,000 a year with kids is some fucking luxurious lifestyle when you're one fucking cold/injury/illness/bad day from being on the damn street begging for change.
Poor people don't pay taxes for a reason! They don't have any fucking money! They don't have any money because capitalism needs an underclass to survive so someone is ALWAYS going to be on the ass end of the stick no matter WHAT they do. But nooooo. You're completely fixated on the 2 percent of lazy fat asses and you want to punish the other 98 percent because some folks are perfectly content with government cheese and welfare. Thanks, from the other 98 percent making sure you don't have to eat your fucking Moons Over My Hammy off a dirty-ass plate and make sure you don't contact veneral diseases from public toilets! Shit doesn't clean itself!
See? And what you just read is why I can't write about healthcare on a daily basis. I can't! I won't! I go class warfare on people and it is NOT PRETTY. Besides, it's Christmas-time. I'm trying to be nice.
Seriously tho. Joe Lieberman can just go do unspeakable things to himself. UNSPEAKABLE!
End rant.
Reader Comments (6)
2% of lazy fat asses?
LMAO!!!!!!
have you seen the obesity stats? you got your numbers mixed up. it's the overwhelming majority who don't and won't take care of themselves. not the other way around.
@ swiv
Was NOT referring to obesity statistics. I'm referring to people who are broke because they like being broke because they are actually LAZY. I get sick of people acting like all poor people are poor and fat because they WANT TO BE! That was the point of the rant.
http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/07/worlds-fattest-countries-forbeslife-cx_ls_0208worldfat.html
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/commerce/091125/obesity-epidemic-fattest-countries
2/3 to 3/4 of the us population is overweight. and the majority of it has nothing to do with a thyroid issue. it's because as a country, we're lazy, we eat too much, and we're not hip on taking care of ourselves. i'm for health care reform, and i'm for helping people who "deserve" it, but the fact of the matter remains that MOST people bring their conditions upon themselves.
and i don't think that 98 percent of poor people are really just hard workers who had some bad luck in their life. i think a lot of them brought it upon themselves, as well. though, i can't substantiate what the actual percentage is, lol.
it's ok to disagree, lol. we're on two side of the spectrum, you're a bleeding heart, and i'm a moderate democrat.
Rant on, Snobster! I'm on my permanent disability, so I'm getting my government and private cheese, so to speak. I'm personally for universal healthcare for all Americans. It's complicated, though. We have to create a good bill, not one that will bankrupt the country because what good will that do if we all turn into beggars? Secondly, we need a bill to bring down medical costs and thirdly, we must have personal responsibility become a component of health reform. The religious right is politicizing this debate with misguided intentions. We should respect their concern for Right to Life at least.
"I get sick of people acting like all poor people are poor and fat because they WANT TO BE!"
Actually Danielle, it's people thinking that about poor Black people. Poor Whites are always the victim of some outside force that prevents them from working. And of course all poor whites hate taking handouts while Blacks love handouts.
At least that's the narrative the MSM loves during this recession. In every report or story I see concerning poor Whites the journalist always goes out of his way to say that poor Whites really want to work and will take any job available to them. In fact I just saw a piece on ABC just like that about the plight of poor Whites in Rhode Island.
THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!! THANK YOU!!!
I turned off CNN.
I turned it off cause nothing pisses me off more than watchin some rich jackass say something as cold as "There are people who cannot pay to see a doctor....That is not our problem". I hope he shits sticks for the rest of his life.
I lost my mother to cancer, this year. My mom worked her ass off trying to make ends meet. My mother was a well respected figure in our community and always paid her taxes, despite the fact that the government took more money than she could afford all while knowing she was a single mother providing for two, working on a dismal salary. and we lived in NYC. Yeah.....
My moms used to be real sick, went to work anyway. She always told me that she couldn't afford to see a doctor and pay the bills. So she paid the bills. I'd like to see any of those senators bury a mother at 18, who died from a cancer that is easily curable.