Austrailia's on top

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by Benjy136, Jun 18, 2012.

  1. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Stop it you two (Woz and Pebble) - my sides hurt from laughing!
     
  2. Grahame

    Grahame Senior Member

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    Onions?
     
  3. ecodharmamark

    ecodharmamark Junior Member

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    G'day Len

    No worries, Len.

    I genuinely do enjoy our discourse, even though we are at opposite ends of the spectrum, and so it is a sincere 'thank you' that I offer you in return.

    I understand (from many of your recent posts) that your health may be causing you some grief, and for this, I truly am sorry. I do hope that you can get the medical attention that you so rightly deserve, and soon.

    Peace to you and yours, Markos
     
  4. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    that's ok markos,

    no worries to me, i get all my history from hard copy find it a very easy read, no pictures needed.

    the health issues are not ego/self interest driven, lower socio economic the poor in australia are suffering in silence, my family seems to be caught up in not just i, have had friend take their health issues not critical ones to the grave, this is of course what the gov' want you are off the waiting list then, waiting lists that can take more than 8 years. but too many aussie's in the "im alright category". be good if we expended energy fixing real things.

    tomorrow ends a 6 month wait to get 2 teeth pulled, that's a common wait, dunno what i would have done if the pain was critical. one thing i am quiet sure of in the public dental system they won't be happy until i have no teeth in me head. there's people worse off than me out there. like the lady who was flown from tasmania up to brissy for a cancer operation, she was cancelled because there was no bed for her, she was distraught, and her family had already headed back to the isle with her plane ticket in hand hey! aussie humanity at its best. one bloke eventually got his shoulder op' in brissy after coming down from bundaberg 8 other times and being cancelled as late as 5pm on the day. amazing how say denmark can do better?

    take care

    len
     
  5. Woz

    Woz Junior Member

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    >>Is that a West Island saying Woz? I don't think we have that here ;-p
    >>Onions?

    Well, I was trying to be more politically correct than Pistols. Shall we say Stinging Nettles then? You'll have to wait until I visit the Greater Eastern Suburb though Pebble. :p~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     
  6. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Pistils at dawn?

    I wouldn't bother visiting Auckland, it's very overrated. We should probably go for neutral ground anyway....


    (sorry Eco!)
     
  7. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    Please please! There are tears running down my cheeks now! It might be from the onion juice...
     
  8. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    Careful, you could get a pullet in your head! ;)
     
  9. Woz

    Woz Junior Member

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    Speaking of thread hijacking ...
     
  10. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    Its 9:00 am over here and I'm just getting all this on my screen. My heart goes out to all of you. At least you still have a good sense of humor. That has sustained many a PERSON in dire straits. (notice I didn't say man, as that would be politically incorrect) Hell! MAN...MAN..MANDAMN!...Whew! That felt better. If I'd have known this would turn into a battle over our origin, I'd have left you blokes down under. I do wish all these leeches on the dole over here that are fighting to keep Obamacare could hear your stories. President Ronald Reagan warned us many years ago that the socialists would try to take health care out of the private sector as a first step toward complete control. I've talked with perfectly able-bodied people on welfare here who are so uneducated they really believe the government has an endless supply of money. They really don't realize that us working blokes are paying them to sit on their backsides. The government tells them what they can and cannot purchace and the Gov. has ads on the tube all day long in an effort to get more into the system. We'll be joining you soon. It's just a matter of time. Who said slavery is dead?. What do y'call a plane crash with 1500 polititians aboard?.......A good start. Only kidding. They'd probably all be conservatives. Well? Got to go tend to m'worms. Hooroo and God bless you folks trying to make a difference.

    Benjy
     
  11. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Benjy, many of the people on this forum live in socialist democracies with public health systems. Please take your nasty, judgemental world views somewhere else.

    Care of the earth, care of people, fair share/return the surplus.
     
  12. eco4560

    eco4560 New Member

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    In Oz it's about a 50 - 50 split between people with private health cover and those without. And even the private cover is government subsidised. There are bits of health care that work really well in the publicly funded system - if you are hit by a bus or have a heart attack you will get completely free care that is world class without any questions asked. Same if you are having a baby - some states will even pay for you to have a midwife for a home birth. Medications are heavily subsidised - if you are a pensioner you pay about $3.50 for any medication on the government list - which is pretty inclusive - even Viagra is on the list!
    What doesn't work is dental, or elective surgery particularly the 'non - life threatening' sorts like hip replacements. You'll eventually get it done for free but it can take years. There is always the option of paying to have it done in the private system and it actually costs less for private treatment in Aus than the US. But that is still beyond the means of many.
    I'm pretty sure Len wouldn't be getting anything done if he was in the US....
     
  13. gardenlen

    gardenlen Group for banned users

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    that's right eco'

    in the US a most inhumane society.

    over here as you say if you are in life threating emergency, and child birth some cancer treatments, all other hospital procedures (new term for operations so they can lie about the waiting lists) are called elective surgery whether you choose of health dictates, so elective surgery get bottom order listing, i have been on elective surgery list for 5 years now same list my friend was on for 8 years, you start as catagory one, then 2, then 3, then urgent but treatment is not guaranteed until it is critical. so when i see all that pink around i see red for men, as we live with prostrate problems all day every day, the procedure is simple, a lump in the breast gets neon light treatment. men still dropping off with testicle and prostrate cancers, no public awareness even of their plight. know men who have died in their late 40's from 'T' cancer. i am now catagory 1 and have a letter in there from a urologist specialist, for a year now. my friend who was 8 years got to urgent they called him in and gave him a life time supply of kimbies great hey, he died of heart attack soon after his life time of kimbies prob' still in his wardrobe. this is ok as far as the i'm alright and out of touch yuppies are concerned.

    anyhow i had a heart failure as distinct from a heart attack nowadays, yes got the right sort of help, there. but now as my GP got it wrong my INR (warfrin effect) is too high for my now waited 6 months for 2 teeth to be pulled that will occur on the 20th of next month all things being equal.

    yet all this aid gets poured out over seas and we have no idea who's hands it goes into. all to bolster australias ego.

    charity needs to start at home, the same in the US

    there's much much more to be told

    len
     
  14. Michaelangelica

    Michaelangelica Junior Member

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    Benjy136 you are new so please take this as a warning. and check your facts before mouthing off. The USA seems to have little to be proud of when it comes to public health care. It would also be nice if Yanks knew the meaning of the word 'socialism'.
    lens problems relate to teeth and there is little health cover for this in Australia but hopefully this may change in the future.
     
  15. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    My bad.

    You are 100% correct, and I most humbly apologize. It was wrong for me to make assumptions and comparisons based on banter between countrymen, I am still an outsider trying to fit in, as we do have a common bond, which is making whatever improvements we can in the space we live in. My intrest in worms came out of a desire to raise a better garden, which entailed improving the land, which led to more and better worm population, which led me to you. You accepted my comments and joked with me even when you didn't agree. I have learned much from you, and now you have taught me one more thing. Please accept the humble apology of this most unworthy one.
    Benjy.
     
  16. Pakanohida

    Pakanohida Junior Member

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    The word socialism has suddenly taken on a new meaning in the USA. It is a word that divides the country thanks to our 2 party system of control. Socialism in the USA suddenly, according to some, means free hand outs & other negative conotations. They don't realize it also covers things like cops, fire departments, libraries and so on.

    Sadly, the word "Socialism" was used to directly counter "Individualism" which is what is running amok in many places today.

    Source: Wikipedia

    Seems like a good portion of the world is screaming to fix those problems above because of the individuals that have monetary sources to use things like the problems & social manipulation to get us to be complacent or worse, lie to us to kill ourselves over some misplaced ideology.
     
  17. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    I apologize, again. The socialism I was talking about is "Soviet Socialism," also called Communism. And you've seen how that has worked out for the workers of the world. ...lol
    Benjy
     
  18. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Seems to be working well in Cuba. They have the highest proportion of doctors per head of population in the world and one of the longest life expectancies.

    https://richardbrenneman.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/another-look-at-cuban-healthcare/

    See also

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Cuba#Comparison_of_pre-_and_post-revolutionary_indices



    Have a read of Dmitri Orlov for comparisons between the US and Russia and why Russia was better off in a resource limited world than the US will be when it hits the wall.
     
  19. Benjy136

    Benjy136 Junior Member

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    Pebble:

    Thank you for the site. What you probably didn't realize is that he and I are on the same page. True capitalism has not been around for at least 75 years, and probably longer. When the government started taking the risk out of big business ( federally insuring banks) it was the first step in destroying true capitolism. From there it was a long slide down to an unsustainable system where the Govt. will do everything but wipe your backside if you meet their qualifications. Perhaps I should have used the word Stalinism instead of socialism or communism. Remember how Stalin was claiming prosperity for the working man while he was systematicly starving five million Ukes in the breadbasket of Russia? Taking ALL of their produce and livestock, then joining Hitler until the nazis invaded Russia and he turned to the U.S.A. After the war his IRON CURTAIN fell accross the part of europe closest to Russia. I was wrong and appologized for my earlier remarks. which were said in pure humanity, and my country's position is not defendable, but in spite of the Cuban propaganda figures (fact or fiction) I knew people who fled the country for our freedoms (which are now in grave danger) and I would not want to live there. Pebble. I see things we agree on. Can we focus on them? I have gained so much and given so little I would like to be able to continue, in the hope that I may,in some way, return the favor to those who have been so gracious to me. lol

    Ben
     
  20. Finchj

    Finchj Junior Member

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    Just emigrated from the USA to Finland.

    Glad I did. While I'll miss friends and family (and the garden), I won't miss the vileness of political discourse in the States.

    Benjy, "the government" would be the politicians who have been serving "big business/finance" for over a century in the States. "The government" in our Republic isn't some nebulous force out to get anyone as you well know. Our elected officials, who are supposed to represent us, prostitute themselves to the highest bidder. Hence the cozying up to big business.

    And yes, you should have used the world "Stalinism" before saying socialism or even communism. None of those three "isms" are the same. If you remember your history, you'll remember that the Bolsheviks weren't the only left wing party in Russia in 1918. They weren't even the most popular. The Socialist Revolutionaries were:

    Emphasis added.

    The Bolsheviks were the "majority" of the RSDLP until their official split with the Mensheviks (generally more moderate and tolerant of opponents)- whom they also decimated with totalitarian ruthlessness. Lets not pretend, by any means, that the Bolsheviks were representative of left wing politics. From at least 1903 when they split with the Mensheviks the party exuded the hubris of future despots. Not at all what most liberals and socialists at the time- and now- would consider a leftist mentality.

    Let us at least attempt to be precise while discussing matters online. Welcome to the forum.
     

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