Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

I didn't. You've got plenty of stamina yourself, on a number of issues. I fear I've just gotten a little tired of feeling that I'm not able to get my point across.

Heath's cabinet secretary was quoted by Andrew Marr regarding the coal strike in 73:

"They were all tired men. The smell of death was all around."​

There are times when I get that feeling. It's been a bloody rotten summer. A summer of discontent. For me at least. Let's hope for a fall of common sense, eh?
 
nomix said:
I didn't. You've got plenty of stamina yourself, on a number of issues. I fear I've just gotten a little tired of feeling that I'm not able to get my point across.
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That seems to be not only your problem ;) I have made experiences, too, with people who constantly ask for proof or evidence, when logic and common sense should have been reason enough to carry on with the discussion. The unwillingness to put yourself into the other's place and see their point of view comes from a certain arrogance, if you ask me, but also from uncertainty: "If I keep my ground, no matter what, and refuse to take a step in another direction, I'm not showing my vulnerable flank to my opponent". Discussions are not fights, though, they are meant to be stimulating.

Also I think some people seem to lack self-confidence and therefore mistrust their own instincts so much, that they have to rely on what others said or wrote before, thus being unable to form their own distinctive views without becoming repetitive.

I know not everybody shares my views (and quite frankly it would be disturbing if they did) and not everything I write is well-formulated - or even thought through at times - but when people even refuse to discuss it, because "it was never written in a book" (short version), the whole idea of a discussion becomes useless. Imagine a discussion only between experts with the same knowledge - boooring ;)
 
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MacGuffin said:
That seems to be not only your problem ;) I have made experiences, too, with people who constantly ask for proof or evidence, when logic and common sense should have been reason enough to carry on with the discussion. The unwillingness to put yourself into the other's place and see their point of view comes from a certain arrogance, if you ask me, but also from uncertainty: "If I keep my ground, no matter what, and refuse to take a step in another direction, I'm not showing my vulnerable flank to my opponent". Discussions are not fights, though, they are meant to be stimulating.

Also I think some people seem to lack self-confidence and therefore mistrust their own instincts so much, that they have to rely on what others said or wrote before, thus being unable to form their own distinctive views without becoming repetitive.

I know not everybody shares my views (and quite frankly it would be disturbing if they did) and not everything I write is well-formulated - or even thought through at times - but when people even refuse to discuss it, because "it was never written in a book" (short version), the whole idea of a discussion becomes useless. Imagine a discussion only between experts with the same knowledge - boooring ;)
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Now imagine a discussion where someone writes or quotes basically just utter BS while pretending that everything he writes is right. A person full of prejudices and utterly ignorant of the world outside of his street, then it's when discussion becomes really boring and useless.
 
That can only be self-irony.

Well, if the shoe fits, wear it.
 
So, the rt. hon. Secretary of State for Hulture Jermy Cunt was on Newsnight last night. I thought the BBC gave him a rash.
 
 
My mother's been through 12 months of hell. First a bloody painful knee op, followed by months of recovery, painful recovery. It then transpired that the pain had hidden something else, and once the pain from the knee op subsided, she realized she had pain she didn't recognize before.

Cancer.

She's finished with the ops now, and we taught it was time to visit our place on the coast. Bad mistake, she's taken a turn for the worse. Nothing serious, it seems,but bad pains.

So, while I'm beginning to understand what Elizabeth II was talking about, Annus horibilus and all that, I'm still sitting in a beautiful, world state of the art emergency boat, 4 million dollars of it. The place on the coast is miles from anywhere. But the boat came here in a matter of 45 minutes. It's staffed with professionals, from the para to the skipper and we're doing forty nots through the night.

It's even got bloody WiFi!

And there will be no forms to fill out. No bills to pay. It's all covered.

We often mistake ourselves as being anything other than lucky, we western Europeans with our government socialized health care.

There's a thing Andrew Marr said once, and I'm paraphrasing;

"With all its issues, this island of ours, being born British is an amazing stroke of good luck."

Nomix out.
 
Sorry to hear about your mom.
 
nomix

I am really sorry to hear about you mum. I really hope you mum can get remission on her cancer.

Have the Doctors prescribed anything for the pain, sound like she needs something very strong but not addictive?
 
It's not the cancer. She's finished with the cancer. But this particular type of cancer entails some serious changes in how you approach the basic things in life, including going to the loo because she doesn't have that part of the body anymore, and in the process of that there's a great deal of discomfort and from time to time pain. She's already on enough meds to kill a donkey, don't know what she got at the hospital last night.

I'm happy to report she's allright today.

Thank you both, by the way. :)
 
Positive thoughts, prayers, vibes etc. for your mom Nomix.
 
I wish your mom the best nomix, sounds like you're being positive about the whole thing which I'm sure helps raise her spirits.
 
Like the rest of the guys, Nomix I wish your mom and yourself the best.

Not that i want to make anything out of this, but I'd like to point out that if where the US system that her trip on the boat would have cost tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars. Why do we let greed run healthcare?
 
Nomix, sorry about the problems of your Ma and am pleased her health concerns are being addressed well.

The Marr quote reminded me of Churchill's regrarding democracy. as applied to the NHS here:
The NHS is the worst kind of free public health system, but it is still better than any other.
 
Thanks, guys. I'm taking it well because I've known for months it's not even close to being a very deadly form of cancer, and even then it was a kind version of that cancer. I've also got the advantage of my father being a medical professional with close to 40 years of working experience, so I trust him to know what to do, and to know what's just bad and what's very bad. And you do get used to it, even though it's tireing.

As for the health care thing, it was a taught I had. I just don't get why these kinds of services can't be implemented in the United States. When said system is, in fact, cheaper. It boggles the mind.

William Beveridge, a great man in many ways.
 
nomix said:
As for the health care thing, it was a taught I had. I just don't get why these kinds of services can't be implemented in the United States. When said system is, in fact, cheaper. It boggles the mind.
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It's because healthcare in the US is big business. Big business own the politicians, politicians set the policies and make the laws.
 
Insurance companies aren't even making that much money. Their profit margins aren't that big, I believe. The fact is that the market price of a CT scan is higher than it costs to provide it. A lot, lot, LOT higher. Remove the profit motive, and you'll slash prices.

Another thing you need to do is to stop giving people tests they don't need. Got an uncle who broke his back about the same time mum got cancer (yeah, annus horibilus and all that), and last night he got a head ache of epic proportions. Now, given his history of trauma, and the health insurance he'd have if he was living in the US (he's a well paid publishing executive), he'd probably spend half a day having tests done to him, because the hospital knows his insurance will cover it.

We Norwegians get a feel for that when we need to go to the hospital in Greece or anywhere outside Norway. The local hospitals know that we're either covered by extraordinarily generous government guarantees or just as good travel insurance, so they do every test in the book. A Norwegian patient means the money will be arriving in lumps.

Now, that's waste. Big time.
 
When my wife hit her head at work about two years ago they though she might have a concussion. She didn't want to go to the hospital but because it happened at work she had to go just in case. They insisted that an ambulance be called because it was a head injury and she was dizzy with a huge lump on her head.

The ambulance came and picked her up then took her right to the hospital. It took no time at all.

Guess how much they tried to charge her before we got it all settled as a workman's comp claim because it happened at work and they made her to go to the hospital?


Keep in mind the paramedics didn't need to try and do anything to her as she was conscious, responding to the correct stimuli and was not bleeding.
 
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