Comments on: Spring Break

By: Timothy (TRiG)

Timothy (TRiG) — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 23:41:11 +0000

I've just realised I made a rather ridiculous typo somewhere above where I said I like in bed instead of I lie in bed. TRiG.

By: volcanista

volcanista — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 16:38:31 +0000

I agree with the other commenters above that moralizing about pet food and pet diet is not a whole lot different from moralizing about human food and diet. Do what works, stop beating yourself up, and if your vet is being an asshole about it, maybe find a new one? I mean, I don’t think the “natural” argument works here any better than it does for people. (Cats are built like carnivores, sure, but they also have evolved as domesticated and partly-domesticated animals alongside people for thousands of years, and they are excellent scavengers. And when they hunt and eat, say, rodents, the rodents still have grains in their stomachs. Grains aren’t going to kill your cats, FFS.) And as with people, each individual cat has different needs from every other cat.

For instance, some of them have chronic digestive illnesses triggered by both food allergies and high-fat foods — either wet OR dry high-fat food, that is, which means basically all of the high-end foods made without by-products. So do I deliberately free-feed my beloved cats dry food with by-products? Hell yes, I do. In fact, it’s technically weight-loss food from the vet, because it’s low in allergens but cheaper than the technically-hypo-allergenic stuff (but they free-feed; they are NOT on weight loss diets). I do this because eating is better than not eating, digesting is better than not digesting, and pooping normally is better than blood on the floor. And do my cats get fat every winter because they free feed? Yes, they do! And anyone who wants to tell me I’m Doing It Wrong can stuff it.

By: snarkysmachine

snarkysmachine — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:05:48 +0000

But then I live in one of those crazy European countries where I’ve had modern medical care for free since birth and will till the day I die, so what do I know about anything? There’s no way that should be the birthright of every human being, so it’s completely not ridiculous that citizens of the richest country in the world don’t have access to it.

Yeah, I lived in SEVERAL of those “crazy European countries” and it was new hotness. My Nana broke her ankle in London and received excellent care! That said, what it would require to get the US there would require some serious bootstrapping from folks who don’t have boots or feet.

Firstly, the US is MUCH larger than all of Europe and would need a total infrastructure reorganization, since we’d have pay eleventy billion dollars for a thimble of gas and probably need to have 15% sales tax on everything like I remember in Germany (and that was in 1984!) Hell, they were already rocking the equiv $2.70 for a LITER of petro in 1984.

And to be sure it would all be new hotness: reliable public transit, sustainable infrastructure and the rich paying their fair share in the form of VATs (value added tax), but we got to get some feets and some boots before we can do all of that. Plus, I’m not sure the US could be as overtly Xenophobic in its immigration policies/border stuffs as most European countries are, which I’m sure those countries feel is really useful.

Otherwise I’m afraid we will create more problems than we’d solve.

By: snarkysmachine

snarkysmachine — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:58:23 +0000

hsofia, I think we pay “The brown tax”. You can be the healthiest POC around and I swear it feels like you’re still gonna pay more than a white 20something smoker.

By: hsofia

hsofia — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:44:47 +0000

All I can say is, Screw the insurance companies. I have a private policy with Blue Cross Blue Shield and in the last two months they’ve raised my rates twice – by $135. I am now paying over $600 a month for coverage for two people. In the last 18 months, my rates have been raised by $175. They don’t even bother giving a reason – the reason is that according to their own algorithms they CAN. And I have a $1000 deductible. My health insurance is almost as much as my rent, and I am a healthy person!

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 06:05:07 +0000

because nothing say’s “Health” like the IRS!

Actually, nothing says “health” like having life-or-death decisions made by for-profit companies.

By: aleks

aleks — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 05:35:48 +0000

Diane, I don’t have your qualifications as a Constitutional Scholar, but pragmatically which would you prefer to the personal mandate:
1. That people who get sick without insurance be ineligible for medical care of any kind, including emergency care, unless they can pay for it out of pocket?
2. That people who get sick without insurance get coverage they haven’t paid for, sticking everyone who’s paid their dues with the bill?

Me, I prefer that everybody pay in according to their abilities and then when someone needs help we don’t have to determine whether or not they deserve it. I personally think that I deserve medical care even though I’m already sick (and have been since I was 15). I’m mandated to pay taxes to cover everyone over 65, an age I probably won’t live to see . . . but I can’t buy care for myself because of a “preexisting condition.” ObamaCare is far from perfect, but BushCare has been murder.

Also, do you have something in mind when you say “Cuts in care to the elderly and the mentally disabled come first. ” or is that deliberately false concern trolling?

By: Alexandra Erin

Alexandra Erin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:03:31 +0000

@diane – They can levy taxes and provide services in exchange for them, and have been able to do that for a while. Of course, this law doesn’t do that… we have to go through a bunch of middlemen to get the same basic idea. Somehow, though, I have a feeling that if they’d cut out the middle steps and stuck to “government taxes and provides public service for the common good”, most of the people decrying the existing bill as unconstitutional would be screaming even louder.

By: LilahMorgan

LilahMorgan — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:23:09 +0000

And most frightening of all — the IRS is responsible for making sure US Individuals are complying and if not then we’ll be fined and possibly jailed. WTF is going on?!?!?! Since when can the US Govt force people into buying a product and fine/jail them if they don’t?!?!? Yeah..because nothing say’s “Health” like the IRS! WTF!!!!!!

Well, we can go to jail if the IRS determines we’re not paying taxes. In some ways that’s what these fines are – an additional tax with a rebate if you buy health insurance.

By: diane

diane — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 02:12:50 +0000

I noticed in my local health food store they have quite a selection of natural/organic food for cats/dogs. Perhaps those looking for alternative pet food to what they’re using now might want to inquire at their local shoppe?

As for the Un-Constitutional so-called “Health Care” bill. I think it’s a disaster and I find it interesting that most of the taxes and cuts don’t start until after the Nov 2012 election. Cuts in care to the elderly and the mentally disabled come first. And most frightening of all — the IRS is responsible for making sure US Individuals are complying and if not then we’ll be fined and possibly jailed. WTF is going on?!?!?! Since when can the US Govt force people into buying a product and fine/jail them if they don’t?!?!? Yeah..because nothing say’s “Health” like the IRS! WTF!!!!!!