my connection with the tea party

[FireIceTalon]

Mmmm. Bait. Ok, I'll bite. You knew I would.

"Hatred as the central element of our struggle! Hatred that is intransigent…hatred so violent that it propels a human being beyond his natural limitations, making him violent and cold-blooded killing machine...We reject any peaceful approach. Violence is inevitable. To establish Socialism rivers of blood must flow! The imperialist enemy must feel like a hunted animal wherever he moves. Thus we’ll destroy him! These hyenas are fit only for extermination. We must keep our hatred alive and fan it to paroxysm! The victory of Socialism is well worth millions of atomic victims! " - Che Guevara, 1966 Message to the Tricontinental Conference

So after watching the recent Republican/Tea-Bagger debates this past week....

I'm sure you do know that tea-bagging is a sexual act. Your crudeness is noted.

...all I can say is, scary. VERY, VERY scary.

Whereas, warrant-less wiretapping, extraordinary rendition, secret prisons, and the suspension of due process for anyone captured throughout the whole world, including our own citizens is entirely normal and not to be worried about.

When the issue of healthcare came up and one of the candidates (I forget which, I think it was either R. Paul or Newt Gingrich) asked should we let a 20 year old die if he/she has no proper coverage and most of the crowd said yes. Are you kidding me? Have we really sunk THAT low? These people should be tarred and feathered....

Let's re-frame the question. A 40 year old, single, "wealthy" man is driving his pickup truck around on bald tires. He knows he should spend the $1000 to get them replaced, but he wants to use the money to shower gifts on his girlfriend. Should the government give him new tires, and/or force him to buy new ones? Were he to crash, not only would he be injured, he might injure or kill others. Life is filled with decisions like this, and we'd be locked in rubber rooms (at our own expense) if we were to expect our government protect us from all of our own bad decisions.

When it comes down to the negotiation of care, ALL of my poor friends get the care they need, but maybe not the care they want. I'm reminded of a close friend who is a very poor artist. She needed a $30,000 (rock bottom price) surgery and didn't have insurance or that kind of money. She ended up negotiating a deal where she would make a sculpture in exchange. Barring that, her cadre of artist friends were willing to step in and help out too. By far, most of my personal experience and the stories of "denied" that I hear of are from people with insurance where the insurance company refuses to pay after the fact.

The question is not "Would you treat him?" The questions was, "Should someone be forced to treat him at their own expense?" And, people always get confused by this... insurance <> health care. Insurance is a financial product where you abate risk. I can afford to pay $13500 per year for health insurance to protect me from the rare chance I'll need millions of dollars of health care.

We are on the verge of having a racist & fascist, immigration & Muslim hating, social security privatizing, anti-intellectual, militaristic, hyper-nationalism ideology supporting, Nation-building/oil seeking, health-care and education cutting, creationism loving/science denying moronic dillweed as our next Commander in Chief.

Really, dill weed? With Beavis and Butt-head as the critic, how can it err. Specious venting deserves no better. And, I'm sure there are no extremist positions in the Democrat ranks either.

But, let's examine the "Tea Party" and their "extreme" positions... Quinnipac Poll on the make up and attitudes of the Tea Party.

Time to move to Canada or France. I seriously cannot watch these clowns without almost regurgitating my previous meal.

A phrase repeated by our electorate ever since George Washington stepped down, and they need to consider which unqualified loser should be our next President.

God save the Queen. Or, the French... I guess.

The term "tea bagger" has more than one meaning. In this case, it is used by those as a disparaging term to describe the group of idiots that call themselves The Tea Party. There is absolutely no sexual connotation in the term when it is used in reference to the political party.

As far as unwarranted wire tapping, suspension of due-process, secret prisons, and yada yada yada, no disagreement from me there. In fact, it just helps my point further that its time to get the hell out of here

Im not saying government needs to do everything for us. It doesn't, and it shouldn't. But when it comes to healthcare, I will fight you tooth and nail on this issue. We are the ONLY advanced democracy (well, if you can even call it that, I think that went down the toilet with the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United but that's another matter) that doesn't have universal healthcare. Sorry, but in this department, we are NOT the center of the universe my friend. We need to catch up to the rest of the world, not the other way around, in the healthcare department. Even friggin Cuba, a 3rd world country, has universal healthcare. Not that I would choose to live in Cuba over living here, but surely if they can supply this basic and most intrinsic need to its citizens, we can too. We just choose not to, because profits are more important than the well-being and general health of our nations citizens, yes? There is a reason why citizens of the other advanced democracies live longer, healthier, and overall happier lives than we do, and much of that is attributed to socialized medicine, among other reasons. That means me paying more taxes to take care of someone who I don't even know or will never meet or have no knowledge that they even exist. But as a good citizen, it is my duty to help out my fellow citizens (including the evil tea baggers, the very same people suffering from false consciousness that wish to have completely privatized healthcare at their own peril), for the sake of having a progressive civil society, therefore I'd be willing to do it. Gasp! Helping someone else out. People get hurt, people get sick. I guess in our country, that's a crime.

Congrats to your friend. But not everyone is that fortunate and/or lucky (especially in the current economy). For everyone who has such luck, there are many who do not. Your experience is purely anecdotal evidence, and not necessarily a reflection of the general of how things really are in the big picture. Ever seen SICKO? Good documentary, give it a watch if you haven't already Good for you that you can afford to pay 13,500 dead presidents every year toward the profit making commodity that is health insurance. Clearly, you are quite well off. Here's a cookie. Now...The median household income was just over $46,000 in 2010....I imagine that most if not all of these people can afford such a luxury, as $13,500 wouldn't be a serious chunk of change for them. Right. Tell me, where can I buy a pair of your rose-colored glasses at? And do they cost under $13,500?

Beavis and Butthead? Mhmmm, your ad hominems (or weak attempt at) won't get you very far with me. Save em'. I have my issues with the democrats as well, but more so for their weak character and hastiness to appease and/or sell out to the neo-cons and less so for their actual political ideology or stances. Truth be told both parties seem one and the same right now. Obama is a conservative democrat at best, but certainly not the progressive he campaigned as. At the end of the day, I don't think either party has ordinary citizens interest in mind (Obama even admitted this during his American Jobs Act statement last week!), but the Republicans, and especially the Tea Party, are extremely out of touch with reality.

Link doesn't work btw, but I know what the tea party stands for in general, and its all a load of crap and misinformation spewed forth by Faux News. Good day.