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Badtux the Snarky PenguinIn a time of chimpanzees, I was a penguin. Religious fundamentalists are motivated by the sneaking suspicion that someone, somewhere, is having fun -- and that this must be stopped. |
Sunday, July 15, 2007Those poor Scandinavians...I mean, they got that socialist medicine thingy going. They got those high taxes and stuff. They probably live in grey dreary cities, eating mush for supper, in impoverished dreary nations where everybody is poor and stuff, right?Errr... not so much. Turns out that one in 85 Norwegians is a millionaire, as vs. 1 in 125 Americans. *AND* they get free health care. *AND* they get free university tuition. *AND* they have the world's best infant mortality figures. *AND* they have the world's longest lifespan. And their cities are beautiful. And income inequality is relatively low -- with living wage laws and high taxes, the middle class actually control more of the national income than the upper class, and unlike here in the United States, the middle class is seeing their standard of living improve, not decline. Wow, imagine that, what a remarkable thing that must be! Crap, if that's what socialized medicine and high taxes do for a people, gimme some of dat! -- Badtux the neo-Scandinavian Penguin Labels: health care, taxes Posted by: BadTux / 7/15/2007 03:05:00 PMComments:This country is about greed, and I'll bet their political system is different than ours.# posted by BBC : 16/7/07 6:02 AM
my personal exposure to socialized medicine happened in norway. we were on a boat trip out of stavanger up the coast and into a fjord to play at a small festival (i was doing stomp jazz with harry "the hipster" gibson). i came down with a brutal case of pnuemonia. dangerously high fever, lungs almost at the shutdown stage. i was taken to the local clinic, given excellent first aid (O2 tent and stuff) and then flown by helicopter down to oslo. where i was placed on a course of IV antibiotics and kept in hospital for 3 days. i was discharged with a 2 week supply of medications. the charge? nothing. not even for the flight. we were traveling with piano, bass, drums, and guitar, hiring locals to flesh out the rest of the band. all over scandinavia our horns and other players were often folks that held PhD's in music (courtesy of that free tuition you pointed out). one of the coolest was when our brass section (three trumpets, 2 trombones and a bass bone) was two sets of siblings. they were family tight, sight read like demons, and swung out loud.
But...but...but Michael Moore is fat! And if you want national healthcare, then I bet you want to send people to the Gulag! |
About Me
I am a black and white and yellow multicolored penguin making his way as best he can in a world of monochromic monkeys. ArchivesApril 2004 / December 2004 / January 2005 / February 2005 / March 2005 / April 2005 / May 2005 / June 2005 / July 2005 / August 2005 / September 2005 / October 2005 / November 2005 / December 2005 / January 2006 / February 2006 / March 2006 / April 2006 / May 2006 / June 2006 / July 2006 / August 2006 / September 2006 / October 2006 / November 2006 / December 2006 / January 2007 / February 2007 / March 2007 / April 2007 / May 2007 / June 2007 / July 2007 / August 2007 /
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"Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce." -- Molly Ivins, 1944-2007
"The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men."
-- Plato
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