So, in the swing of things again, I’m trying out new blogging software. Not that I’ve ever had issues here on Blogger (formerly Blogspot) but because it came with my Windows Live! download and it was the only piece of software that looked interesting. It automatically self-configured, so as I type this it actually looks like my blog, which is pretty cool. Plus all the controls for adding bold, italic and underline are the Windows shortcuts (ctrl + b, i or u respectively) which I also really like. Adding pictures and links, maps, tables, video, everything is really simple and .
Has anyone else ever used this software? It’s called Windows Live Writer and it’s free. I really like it so far.
So a quick comment about the US Presidential Election – so far, I haven’t heard a single mention anywhere about drug policy. That’s because most Americans are so distracted by the sensationalizing of the economy that they can’t get their minds off of it. Now, I try not to buy into Canadian/American stereotypes, and I know many Americans who are proud of their country AND want to see change on the drug policy front, but mostly they are less educated and quite stubborn on the issue. I was listening to CBC Radio this morning, and one of the people being interviewed on Ottawa morning noted that (and I’m paraphrasing) “If you hear or watch something you agree with, it’s infallible and perfect. However, if you see or watch something you don’t agree with, even if it’s factually accurate and generally accepted as true, you’ll find something wrong with it and go out of your way to try and convince people it’s wrong.” This mentality has permeated most of the populace on both sides of the border – even though the generally accepted view that drug use is bad and drug users are worse has become standard, increasing amounts of well-researched, peer-reviewed studies are calling these mentalities into question on a daily basis. However, people are so comfortable with the status quo that they pick apart these studies trying to find some error in the methodology so that they can discount the whole idea of harm reduction.
This has always been common during election season – people who do advocacy at the sidelines, like anyone in harm reduction, see their issues getting even LESS attention than usual. I can’t imagine how people who lobby on behalf of, say, corporal punishment in schools feel around this time. Absolutely nobody is paying attention to them.
On a similar but separate issue – Americans who are voting for Romney instead of Obama because they want to get rid of Obamacare are INSANE. Like, completely, bafflingly insane. Why on earth would you want to get rid of the one thing that might actually improve standards of health in a country where, let’s face it, obesity is rampant, kids are more sedentary than ever before, our eyes are absorbing radiation all day long from staring at computer screens (at least, I am – the last person with a CRT monitor, I think), etc, etc. And yet, people who pay MORE out-of-pocket than they would with Obama’s new system (which, for those of you who haven’t been paying much attention, is not actually universal coverage, but a system where every state would have to offer an ‘insurance pool’ where the uninsured can get adequate insurance for less than a fixed percentage of their income (usually less than %10), thus, in theory, allowing the impoverished to get some sort of health care) are opposing this idea and voting for Romney. Romney’s campaign team is extremely sly and smart – they’re billing it as a ‘brave’ thing to do. Someone needs to stand up for America, and tell all these pinkos that we’ve had enough of them flushing money down the toilet. I can’t wait to see them eating their words if he gets elected and in 10 years the mortality rate in the US surpasses that of Africa (which, by the way, has had steadily increasing rates of health since the mid 1980’s – quite slow in some places but and increase nonetheless, whereas many American states have had a steady DEcrease in overall health in that same period). Africa is actually a good example of a psychological wordplay mechanism (that’s a verbose way of putting it, I know) that Republicans have been using for a while. When someone says the word Africa, I know that at least in my case, my first instinctual response is poverty and/or AIDS. You see in your mind’s eye those commercials trying to raise money by guilt tripping you – malnourished babies with distended bellies, etc. etc. Now the Romney campaign is trying to use this image-word association that was started by Republicans years ago – when people think of Obama, they think of Obamacare, which they now equate with state bankruptcy and unaffordable tax increases. This is pretty amazing considering that the average American actually stands to benefit substantially from health initiatives aimed at preventative care, and improving urgent and regular care. One of the biggest ‘facts’ that they present is how doctors will get screwed out of their money and it will destroy the integrity of health care – underpaid doctors don’t care about their patients because they’re trying to scrape by on pennies. Like come on. I mean, if you’ve ever seen Michael Moore’s excellent film Sicko about uninsured Americans, you’ll remember there’s a great section in that film where he talks to doctors working in a government-sponsored system (specifically the NHS in England). He asks them if they’re happy and if they make enough to get by. The doctor says yes, I have a home which I’ve paid off and two cars, and I’m putting money aside for my children. Michael then asks, well why don’t you work in America? You could make $400 000 a year instead of $200 000. And the doctor just looks at him disbelievingly and says something like, well, yeah, if I wanted TWO houses and FOUR cars, maybe, but we’re getting along fine here.
Anyway, my point being that even in the face of overwhelming factual evidence showing them that what they’ve been doing for the last God knows how many years is incredibly biased in favour of rich Americans, the average American is so convinced that Obamacare is the end of America that he’s expected to sacrifice his and his family’s potential health benefits just so he can pay (slightly) lower taxes and continue to make the fatcats at the insurance companies a little more insanely rich.
God I’m glad I live in Canada. Good luck on Tuesday, my American friends – keep that “crazy black man” in office!!! You’ll greatly regret it if you don’t – I promise you that. Americans who have been talked into voting for Romney just because they want to get rid of Obamacare are extremely misled – you’re going to get a hell of a lot more than just ending Obamacare. Take a good hard look at his platform. Take a REALLY good hard look at how he is while he has power.
I saw this amazing video on YouTube about his time as Governor of Massachusetts and I was blown away. Well, not really, because I already knew he was an idiot, but it just confirmed my fears. It takes a little bit to get up to speed, but it’s a great video and very informative. It says a lot about him. It’s made by someone who was ‘tricked’ into voting for him.
And right-wingers will attack me and say I think ALL Republicans are idiots. But that’s not true. I actually have a great amount of respect for some Republicans. I agree with many of their values (and this is just as true in Canada with the Conservatives), we just differ in the extreme on how those values should be implemented and upheld in our society.
Anyway, take care.
