The powers that be

Just finished watching Michael Moore's Sicko, and that's a pretty accurate description of how it made me feelo. Yes, I'm aware that Mr. Moore tends to "tailor" his footage a bit to suit his agenda, and that realities are sometimes exaggerated a bit to illustrate his points. That aside, the picture he painted of our health care system is nothing, if not demoralizing. The facts are the facts: Our medical insurers and caregivers are rewarded for finding ways to NOT treat us when we are most in need of treatment, and NOT to pay our claims for the treatment we need. Health care is one of the largest for-profit ventures in this country, and the bulk of people at the top are corrupt, as is the case with our present administration, unfortunately. The email that has been circulating around suggesting that we force our government representatives to depend on the same health care as the rest of us - well, I think they're on to something. Until the good citizens of the United States remember that it's supposed to be a government "OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people," and stop living in fear OF their government and BECAUSE of their government, our quality of life will continue to deteriorate, and that's just pathetic. We have a society of drones sucking down caffeinated beverages in order to stay awake, getting sicker from sleep deprivation, and then being denied adequate medical care. Bully for us - the richest nation in the free world, on its way to becoming a third-world nation.

But the real reason I sat down to write this was because I was considering the slight fender-bender I recently had on my way to work. It involved my car, a patch of icy road in the shape of a sharp 'S' under a railroad bridge, two guardrails, and me saying "Oh, shit." Now, I fortunately managed to avoid injuring anyone or even hitting any of the other cars in the vicinity, so overall I consider my first accident to be a minor one. Still, I am plagued by the realization that filing a claim with my insurance company might just be a huge mistake. I mean, I've been paying these people thousands upon thousands of dollars for years and years, with nary a claim ever filed, so I'd say it's safe to assume they have profited somewhat from our business relationship.

Only my car suffered damage, so all they would need to pay is whatever they convince their "recommended body repair facility" to accept for the job. It's probably less than I paid them this year alone to insure the car. Still, this is their excuse to increase my policy cost. So, in maybe a year, it will have cost me more in increased premiums than the cost of fixing the car's cosmetic damage at my own expense. In fact, when I pushed the underwriting staff for an answer, I was told that "the type of policy" I have has a threshold of $1050, beyond which my premiums get increased. You can't scratch a fender without causing a thousand dollars in repairs these days. So, car insurance is simply another means of extortion in this country.

When did it become ok for us to roll over and let our rights be trampled, all so that a handful of maniacally greed-filled sociopaths can garner yearly salaries that exceed the GNP of many thriving nations? I heard the other day that some big corporate exec just got a 67 million dollar holiday bonus. What the....?! What human being is deserving of that kind of money? Seriously, folks - did this guy cure any diseases or establish world peace? If history truly does repeat itself, I guess at some point the swelling ranks of poor folks will stage some sort of revolt.

I'm in no way suggesting a revolution, though I surely believe that one is inevitable if these conditions continue. All I'm saying is that we should start considering adding some Constitutional Amendments or something to begin reeling in the human refuse who are exploiting this country unabated and ignoring the needs of those they are sworn to serve. The fact that so many of us are literally counting the days until the Presidency changes hands -- well, the word "pathetic" pops into my mind yet again.

Condaleeza was quoted recently as saying that we haven't made any "permanent enemies." This, no doubt in response to people saying that most of the free world is slightly unhappy with our country's behavior of late. She's right, of course. We will eventually give enough money or weaponry to whomever we've pissed off to make them like us again. After the dust settles, it'll be the good ol' US of A that everyone looks up to as a beacon of hope and the best place to buy out profitable companies and real estate. Fills me with national pride - how 'bout you?