Sir Bandelot

Actually, no I do not. Others in this thread have already answered your questions and I am satisfied with their answer. Just because you are addressing me, I don't need to repeat what's been said. We've moved on from those points. I could go back and copy/ paste the points but such cyclical arguments are simply too boring for me.

No, I'm not. I already explained my position on this. It's silly and boring. besides, my opinion of the situation is mine, and yours is your own. You might think it contradictory to reality, but I am pleased to inform you that you are not the arbiter of reality. All those things are exactly the work I said needs to be done. There is no problem unique to the Canadian system. The system is not in any more trouble than every health care system around the world. Changing the model only makes it a different system, with the exact same problems. I said fixing the health care system, any health care system, is a huge amount of work and it never ends. Remodelling is an even bigger task that does not provide any lasting improvement. Behold the crap-sandwich taking place to the south... The cadillac is an over-priced gas guzzler. Today we want the swift, lightweight, economical system.

Some believe that health care is a basic human right, in an advanced society. Straight teeth and eyeglasses are not...

I don't assume the government will do that, not easily to be sure. The government tends to defer such decisions to organizations like CMA, which are among the bloated bureaucratic organizations I referred to. they are the ones who come up with ideas like reducing services, closing beds. Completely preposterous, politically motivated solutions designed to put pressure on the government to ante up more cash. Meanwhile hospital bureaucracy grows and grows. The ultimate conclusion will be a hospital populated by administrators, but providing no health care services. The reform that is needed might never be realized, but for constant activism by the public, put pressure on politicians to make the right choices. Without this the hand will never cut off its own head. You like to open with 'Ummmm' a lot, don't you? Any system requires constant reform. There is no static system that will maintain its integrity for all time. There is always a need for constant maintenance. There is nothing wrong, actually. Only that we've got a lot of work to do. One does not discard an entire vehicle just because it needs new wheels

"and with a mighty wave of your hand..." etc.

Your magic bullet, my magic bullet. Your proposal for privatization will not accomplish anything. I am in the system, and have seen how it works not just in my own workplace, but in many others I've travelled to across this great land. I know. I told you the problem is not as severe as it's hyped up to be, as supported by data. You may find such data "odd", because it is at odds with your beliefs.

A fully implemented two-tier system means that the public system will fall into neglect. But the cost will not go away. It means that we will end up having to pay exorbitant taxes to support nothing. Eventually it must be dropped. That's why it's the thin end of the wedge. As I stated previously, I think you are all barking up the wrong tree. The problem is not funding or its sources, the problem is a lack of accountability. To my thinking a public system is best, but needs to undergo a drastic reform. Improve accountability and downsize bureaucracy. May I point out that the system enjoys a tremendous success rate, but as is often the case we don't hear about the overwhelming majority of successes, only the complaints.

It's the thin end of the wedge.

The problem is not solved by user fees, or where the money comes from. With the current problem, no matter how much money is poured in or where the source comes from, that money will never be enough and will get used up, and the problem will persist. The problem is lack of proper oversight for use of funds, lack of accountability in hospitals, managerial bloat. The problem is not caused by the health care worker at the front line. They are NOT overpaid. The problem is caused by incompetent and sometimes even corrupt management in hospitals and in medical associations. These people make the biggest incomes, and do the least amount of work. You could get rid of half of them and it would have no impact on the front line. The money saved could be used to buy more equipment and pay for more health care workers. Those are the people who deliver the actual health care! Instead we have seen services closed down, reduced to the point of being impractical and yet, management bloat continues to increase. That is the problem with our healthcare, too many hogs at the trough.

One light pat on the behind is a spanking, but so is walloping the hell out of the kid repeatedly. They're very different. Same with hot sauce. You got yer Durkee Franks Red hot, and then Blairs "Beyond Death". Still, hot sauce is not unlike your pepper spray, can be very painful. I don't think jail is the answer though. Makes it worse for the kid somehow, to take their mother away. it should only be done when there is significant danger to the kid. The problem is, who decides what amount of pain is appropriate in a childs punishment, if anything? I don't know. But from the point of convention, spankings have been around a while. Use of spicy condiments is a novelty. I'll leave that one up to the judge to decide... Apparently the US government and probably others consider water-boarding to be an acceptible method of punishment, IE. it's not torture. No doubt she has taken her cue from these rulings.

The hot sauce thing is bizarre, and cold shower somewhat reminiscent of dousing prisoners in cold water at Abu Graib. A spanking should be the last resort, but is still needed sometimes. beyond that is just not constructive. What's wrong with a time-out in their room for a few hours? Or removal of privlidges, or something along those lines. Those methods take longer to sink in to the kids head but they demonstrate that authority over the child is not based on the use of brute force. That there needs to be cooperation, otherwise there are consequences. I think the point of any punishment for a kid who's acting up is, what kind of lasting impression does it leave the kid with. Teach them cruel methods of inflicting pain as the consequence for making you upset, and they'll evetually start doing the same things to other people.

I have seen where these "shortages" are sometimes by design.

Agreed, I have thought the same about them, they are not helpful. They are used to provoke an emotional response. Hence the term "emoticons"

Like I said elsewhere, the response to his death is something that goes deeper than the man himself. People are somehow resonating with this. One reason could be that people need to feel hope, and need to believe there are leaders who really do care and are not pathological liars. Not saying Layton was any of these things, but that is the kind of message he tried to put out. ANd not just at the end if his life, neither

Yeah, too bad, so sad. And as he often liked to say to others, "Buh bye!!!..." along with his favourite emoticon, employed in virtually every post: :lol: Now we've only a few more to clean up around here, to make this place a decent, respectable forum!!! Hey Michael we descended to hell yet??

Rumour has it that this had to do with Layton's death, as he made a point of jeering about Layton's cancer, and even created a thread about it. Since we will never know, we are only left with speculation...

You are definitely on to something there, Bonam. The will to power. I think it's similar to the will to extreme wealth. But, I doubt that's what the OP is talking about.

I agree. I mean come on. Voting strategically... Most people are not often exposed to death in their lives, until perhaps much later when everyone they know has grown old. Jack Layton tried to live a healthy lifestyle. His sudden appearance as a frail man shocked us, and makes you realize how tenuous life is, and how quickly the situation can change.

tsk tsk. Such generalized sociopathy could also harm you. My mother-in-law, "Gramma" as she's know by the kids, is an Acadian woman who has always been afraid of dogs, ever since she was attacked by one when she was young. I don't find her an a-hole who's "hiding behind her childhood trauma". Are you perfect?

It is normal for people to have heroes. When that person dies, it's not mourning for the loss of the person, whom we of course do not know but for the loss of the ideal. When Mohammad Ali dies, I will mourn on that day.

The only way I would say dark matter is like god is that it fills the void in our understanding, as a form of scientific "faith". In other words, where our understanding breaks down, where the model no longer makes sense, is where these ideas are introduced with little or no proof. The reason they are attractive is they provide a possible answer and if they are real, they would support the model. Other examples are string theory and the higgs boson.

Any excuse to ask people to admit how great America is. That's his shtick. He must be a small man...

Disagree. It's like using "easy-off". You can clean your oven, while you sleep

He was no dummy, but didn't know how to behave himself. Basically he had mental problems. He must have been a small man...

Yup, used a special polish. My own blend...