A local family was in a terrible car wreck

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

The two children were horribly injured-one is paralyzed and the other has extensive back injuries. The folks in the little town where I work have had spaghetti suppers, etc, for them, but it hasn't been enough to pay the bills. I found out yesterday that the family has been forced to sell their house. The pest control company I work for has donated the paperwork and the termite treatment that is necessary to sell the house; the title company has waved their fees as well. I'm sure other folks involved in the sale are doing what they can so that the family will get the most money they can to pay the bills.

As I was talking with folks about this matter, I brought up the fact that if we lived in many countries, this wouldn't have had to happen, because those countries have national health insurance. It was interesting that not one person disagreed with me on this (I live in a red state, and work in a very red town).

What was also interesting was one comment I received-"We would be able to have health care in this country if we stopped giving money to all the other countries in the world."

I added, "And tax cuts to the top 1%," and got a yes.

Will it take tragedies like this to wake people up?

[LiberalVoice]

1. "Will it take tragedies like this to wake people up?"

Of course not...it takes much worse tragedies to actually make the normal folk change their opinions or think in a different way then they were taught...Worst thing about people is for the most part they care only for themselves.

[booksenkatz]

3. Only if it specifically happens to THEM

From what I've observed over my 44 years of life, it is my opinion that the average American has little capacity to envision what it must be like to be born under any other circumstances than the ones under which he himself was born; or to imagine experiencing a circumstance such as the one described here. He will not wake up until he has literally the SAME level of experiential suffering. But I must say, the Bush cabal is doing everything in its power to ensure that more and more people experience suffering of various kinds at a quickening rate.

As a culture, we seem to have little foresight to prevent horror -- we seem only to be able to respond to it after the fact. And even then, our efforts are pitiful: spaghetti suppers and bake sales. Dear God, this is our safety net?!

I weep for my country (at least for those who tried to change the status quo. I have no tears for Bush voters.)

[LiberalVoice]

8. The day after the election...

I was in a convenience store and I hear this woman blabbing on and on about how "the church it back in america" and "morality is winning".

I said, "Morality? more then 15 thousand innocent people are dead because of your morality and your church." Her response was, "War is not a sin". I said, "Oh, it's so easy for you to say that while your standing in a convenience store buying milk. Your self righteous hypocrisy makes me sick. You and your kind disgust me not only because you are proud of your opinions, and incapable of thinking for yourself, your not smart enough to realize you're all fascists."

[shesemsmom]

2. So sad.......

but as long as the doctors of this county fight against it , it will never happen. Doctors where I work get all kinds of nuts if they here you talking about it. Why, they would lose money honey. Might have to live like the rest of us.

[DebJ]

4. sounds like a great Letter to the Editor for you to wake up your

entire town/readership with! Please do so! Personal examples hit home harder, even with Repubs...maybe especially required by Repubs, who seem to lack empathy for those not right in their home towns.
(Cheney's daughter comes to mind)

[elehhhhna]

7. Heck, get in touch with all local media and CBS

the a.m programs might be interested...

They should be able to arrange a payment plan, anyway, right? Or look into bankruptcy to save the house...

[ET Awful]

5. I can think of over $200 billion right off the top of my head

that could have been spent on improving health instead of taking life.

[leesa]

6. They don't seem to connect with the fact that it is the Republicans

primarily, who are doing thid though.

[high density]

9. What percentage of the budget goes to foreign countries? One percent?

Yes, if only we stopped giving all that money to foreign countries, this nation would be so much better. :eyes:

(I guess that doesn't count the costs of bombing and then rebuilding oil-rich countries in the Middle East, however.)

[MountainLaurel]

10. If that

And of course, that doesn't note the fact that the vast majority of the money the U.S. spends on "foreign aid" is in the form of weapons sold to Israel.

[Swede]

11. As former President Jimmy Carter commented:

'We are the stingiest nation of all'. Denmark is top of the table, giving 1.01% of GDP, while the US manages just 0.1%. The United Nations has long established the target of 0.7% GDP for development assistance, although only four countries actually achieve this: Denmark, 1.01%; Norway, 0.91%; the Netherlands, 0.79%; Sweden, 0.7%. Apart from being the least generous nation, the US is highly selective in who receives its aid. Over 50% of its aid budget is spent on middle-income countries in the Middle East, with Israel being the recipient of the largest single share"

http://www.vexen.co.uk/USA/foreign_aid.html