and feed them to the whales. Use plastic bags to transport them. I have a car that runs on plastic bags. Too bad it won't run on cats too. That would solve a myriad of issues.

Doesn't anyone remember "Death Wish" (1974) with Charles Bronson? The trailer for this movies seems to be lifted right out of that one. The lone person on the subway, hiding the gun with a news paper. His wife and daughter have recently been murdered in a home invasion. The cops are innefective. Roll to the present. The bad guys enter the otherwise empty train, threaten Bronson who then blows them away. Am I the only one who remembers this? There were four sequels!

Not everyone can afford the best of everything. Some can't afford the best of anything. Some can afford next to nothing, and some don't deserve anything at all. If you want to extend to them charity, be my guest, but use your money, not mine (BTW, I as a conservative out-give 7 out of 10 liberals). Health insurance was not popular until wage freezes during WW II made it a handy way to up the compensation of employees. This testifies that it is not absolutely necessary in order to sustain society.

Just as home owner's insurance has adjusted to market conditions by becoming catastrophe only insurance (just try making a few minor claims on your homeowners insurance and see how fast you get dropped - No one does that with their car insurance either), health insurance should never have been designed to cover routine health costs. Groceries are routine costs (and quite expensive), and we don't have insurance for them. Nearly all of the people I know abuse their health insurance without even knowing it. We need a paradigm shift.

If we, as a society decide to provide everyone with not just reasonable care, but "the best" care, as we do now, we will end up like Britain. If every wino, slacker, illegal alien, or other person who has generally made poor choices gets Cadillac health care we will go broke. Of course, it may surprise some people to know that not everyone gets the medical treatment they want, and sometimes they die because of it (bone marrow transplant comes to mind). The fact is that we are all going to die of something. Sometimes the nicest people get the toughest breaks.

One thing that I am sure of is that if we implement true universal health care, the Canadians and Brits that routinely come here for quality medicine will be disappointed.

Poco

"Please defend the fact that we spend on average twice as much as nations with single payer, yet we get less and worse care (unless you are rich)."

-- Reality-based Liberal

As someone once said "there are lies, there are d***ed lies, and then there are statistics" I personally do not believe we pay more per capita for poorer health care. Now, how do I know this? Here is proof that you cannot dispute: My family and I get excellent, excellent health care, and I am not rich. End of story. Tell that one to Michael Moore.

"And one other note: you say the downtrodden shouldn't get care on your dime."

-- Reality-based Liberal

Wrong. I said I should not be forced to give my money to any particular person for any purpose. That is my right under the Constitution.

"Well why should insurance companies get any money? They're not sick and they're not making anyone well. They are more of a parasite than anyone you invoke."

-- Reality-based Liberal

RBL, do you really believe that we would pay someone for providing absolutely no service? Of course insurance companies provide a service, and it isn't health care. All insurance companies provide essentially the same service; they mitigate risk, and that is the service we pay them for, not health care. We pay health providers for health care. We pay insurers to keep us safe from catastrophic costs, whether it be a house fire, or a heart attack. They are by no means parasitic. No one is forcing you or anyone else (unless Hillary has her way) to buy insurance, but we do because we are risk averse. When we buy health insurance, we voluntarily join a risk sharing group. I like this much better than being forced to join a group (through taxation) at the point of a gun.

"Taxes are the only fair way to go, the only way to spread the burden to everyone."

-- chris49068

Or put more succinctly, Chris: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"

re: Poco

All of you people whining about insurance!

Back in the good old days people pulled themselves up by their bootstraps by being responsible and not getting sick!

But now Americans are lazy! And they get sick!

And it's the liberals faults because they can't be responsible and not get sick.

And some people die, but who cares?

If they were self reliant like the right wing they wouldn't die.

Oh, yeah, and those damn British!!

--Anonymous

Anon,

You forgot to include "If I get sick (probably due to irresponsible laziness), just shoot me so I won't be a burden to anyone!"

Actually, I always joke with my wife, "If I get sick, be sure my death looks like an accident; Double indemnity. It pays twice as much!"

(Referring to the double indemnity clause in most life insurance policies that state that accidental death pays X2 - Those dang parasites!)

Poco