On the way home the other day, I saw something that really irked me for some reason. Maybe it was just an accumulation of seeing these things every so often that set me off, so to speak. The object of my irritation was an Oklahoma Sooners fans' upside-down, chrome Longhorns decal. Occasionally you'll see Sooner fans wave a crimson flag adorned with an upside-down white longhorn. I've never really understood why they would choose the upside-down 'Horns symbol as their symbol of choice, perhaps just to rile their UT neighbors, but to me, this only smacks of unoriginality.
In my eyes, this means that they are not necessarily pro-OU, but anti-UT. Do they really care more about dissing their archrival than promoting their own university? Who knows.
And another thing... the formal name of the aforementioned university is The University of Oklahoma and not vice-versa. So why do Sooners call their school OU? Seriously, what's up with that?! Like one of my good friends, who happens to be from Oklahoma, once told me it's a part of the state's culture- "where else would a state choose mistletoe as their state flower?" Mistletoe is a parasitic weed.
Only in Oklahoma, I guess.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
Nice try, but it doesn't compare
There are people out there that say that Canada's healthcare system is better than what we have here in the United States. Yeah, maybe... Then there are others that say that some of our European counterparts also have a better system than we do. Uh, yeah, it's possible. But the thing is that the US has too many low income, poverty striken families in this country to have a true universal system. And I doubt that our first-world counterparts have the same percentage of folks that live near or below the poverty line.
I'm all about helping those who can't help themselves, but there are many folks out there who can work but choose not to. They unfortunately choose to ride the back of the welfare system as far as it is allowed. We can't afford to have a universal healthcare system because we have too many poor folks- they would flood the market, so to speak. We just need to get folks to work. What would be nice is to have a system that would reward those who do have a steady job. This system would alleviate the lower-middle class of the astounding insurance premiums they have to pay. Many families go without providing their respective families health insurance because these deductions from their paychecks are much too high to afford on their meager salaries.
So you have these people who are hard working and are making a decent living, yet they cannot afford to have the least bit of health insurance, and in the end, have to go on Medicare/Medicaid or some other type of public assistance to take care of their families. If health insurance wasn't so expensive, they would be able to fend for themselves. And therein lies the problem. Those who should, really can't.
You have to commend Michael Moore for going after the medical industry in his new movie, Sicko. I'm glad that someone has infiltrated the industry and helped bring out some of its negative aspects. Hopefully, what this will do, is show the people at large that something needs to be done to our healthcare system, because it does need work. There are too many corporations out there are making too much money off of those ever increasing insurance premiums. And there are far too many physicians getting kickbacks because they prescribe particular drugs from a specific drug company. Making a quick buck at the expense of others is not necessarily the American way.
Politicians are speaking more and more of making changes to our beleaguered healthcare system and that's a great thing. They are finally realzing that there is a problem. And realizing that there is something amiss, is the first step.
I'm all about helping those who can't help themselves, but there are many folks out there who can work but choose not to. They unfortunately choose to ride the back of the welfare system as far as it is allowed. We can't afford to have a universal healthcare system because we have too many poor folks- they would flood the market, so to speak. We just need to get folks to work. What would be nice is to have a system that would reward those who do have a steady job. This system would alleviate the lower-middle class of the astounding insurance premiums they have to pay. Many families go without providing their respective families health insurance because these deductions from their paychecks are much too high to afford on their meager salaries.
So you have these people who are hard working and are making a decent living, yet they cannot afford to have the least bit of health insurance, and in the end, have to go on Medicare/Medicaid or some other type of public assistance to take care of their families. If health insurance wasn't so expensive, they would be able to fend for themselves. And therein lies the problem. Those who should, really can't.
You have to commend Michael Moore for going after the medical industry in his new movie, Sicko. I'm glad that someone has infiltrated the industry and helped bring out some of its negative aspects. Hopefully, what this will do, is show the people at large that something needs to be done to our healthcare system, because it does need work. There are too many corporations out there are making too much money off of those ever increasing insurance premiums. And there are far too many physicians getting kickbacks because they prescribe particular drugs from a specific drug company. Making a quick buck at the expense of others is not necessarily the American way.
Politicians are speaking more and more of making changes to our beleaguered healthcare system and that's a great thing. They are finally realzing that there is a problem. And realizing that there is something amiss, is the first step.
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