Thy Plague Doctor

1. We saved the world a couple of times.

Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Volunteers from Ireland, contingents from India and the Carribean etc entered the war to help Europe from nearly the beginning. America entered the war quite late, letting its European allies and trading partners fend for themselves while countless millions died, then at…[Read more]

And yet…the evidence shows that when limited social programs and health care systems are employed in every single developed-democracy in the world except America (dozens of them)…the system doesn’t remotely resemble your cliche strawman description of it. I was born in and have lived in five countries with social-democracy (Germany, Canada,…[Read more]

What does property law have to do with universal health care? Every western country has had problems with one social programming or another and yet they are still able to implement universal health care. You have an extremely skewed and biased view of it with your constant referl and use of “liberal” as a pejorative. Europe is full of right wing…[Read more]

I’m careful to avoid anti-theist and I prefer the broader term anti-theism. Anti-theist has the connotation that you are anti-people-who-believe (of which many have no choice), whereas anti-theism has the connotation of being anti-world-view-of-God-believers (and the institutions and go along with it) and not necessarily the people in this…[Read more]

@ It is really strange to see something like healthcare become so politicised that no one appears happy with it.

There are so many cases of “ONLY IN AMERICA” per certain services or rights that the entirety of stable democratic countries have or have not. These are good things and not so good things in the eyes of others. America is full of…[Read more]

@_Robert_. Yes I am suggesting we provide food and stability to those regions – do you think bombing them is working out well?  Perhaps if we think about what causes someone to despair, we would have a better understanding of how to go about addressing it.

Ha! Thanks Reg!

Good for Canada!

Never mind, Jason, I enjoyed replying!

(We are all fumbling to some degree with the new platform.  However, better that, than having a platform that’s succeptible to crash and burn (Ning))

@JasonSimko.

My silence?  I wasn’t aware you were asking a question of me.  Do I have money?  Yes.  Do I have healthcare? Yes.  Would I be prepared to pay more in taxes to enable poorer people to have healthcare? Absolutely.  Do I think healthcare is a human right and there should be a national health service like they have in the U.K. and Canad…[Read more]

David, here’s a link to an article you might find interesting – 20 million muslims protesting ISIS

You know, I grew up in London.  I had my first bomb scare drill at school when I was six years old. This was in the mid sixties.   The IRA was the terrorist group of my time.  I have had my office bombed twice in two years – the first time, thankfully I was the last to leave, 20 minutes before our office exploded. This was in the late nineties.  T…[Read more]

David, if I started a terrrorist organization and started bombing and killing civilians in the name of David Boots, that doesn’t make you responsible in any way.  Annoyed perhaps- but not culpable.  Similarly, invoking Islam whilst you kill does not make Islam the culprit – I have read that people here believe the Qu’ran is the source of the e…[Read more]

The Trump presidency is doing two things particularly well.

1. His horrific behaviour is motivating the young to understand and engage with politics even if just to resist.  They are far more likely to vote going forward.

2.. He is putting the checks and balances in the structure of the American system to test – paving the way for potential…[Read more]

How about 8. I don’t even understand the definition of god

Yes David. That is an excellent summary.

@TJ. I’d be more impressed with such statistics if they were assessing the criminals before they were locked up.  At arrest, for example.  Lots of people in prison ‘find god’ because it helps them deal with their fellow inmates and includes them in a part of the prison community. It can be a helpful safety mechanism.

Simon, if you have an internal definition of right and wrong, you can’t really apply an objective moral framework around it.  I know your project concerns this, but if you’re trying to encompass all humanity, you’ll fall over.  Conceptually, your moral code would look like ant behavior.

So you voted Trump in the hope that his healthcare proposal would be better for you?  And yet you don’t seem to have any idea in what way that could happen.  Consequently, you voted for one of Trumps promises?  Mate, I really hope it works out for you, but I’m not holding my breath – so far the republican plan is rattling around in the Senate dr…[Read more]

Hi Jason,

out of interest, I imagine you’ve reflected on the new republican health care proposals – do you find that if these were adopted, your situation would have improved (notwithstanding your newer plans to relocate)?