Poll: The Politics Of Health Care

I think that Walter Reed hospital, and their treatment of the wounded soldiers is pretty typical of just what happens to our medical system when the private sector takes control. These rightwingers out there with all the ribbons on their gas guzzling SUV,s that scream at the top of their lungs that they “support our troops” but when the smoke clears, they turn their backs on our wounded, and our troops return home to this kind of treatment. The truth is that liberals are the only ones that truly support our troops, the fact that liberals want them home and safe proves this.  Refusing treatment to our wounded, in the name of “profit” is the way of the rightwingers. This is not the country that I grew up in; it’s time for a change. Universal Healthcare is the answer. Greed MUST be taken out of the healthcare equation, and a universal healthcare system is the only way to do this.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

Crazy Dave

I would not call other people names if I were known by my neighbors in Idabel as Crazy Dave.  I met the neighbor in the airport at Dallas Fort Worth.  We struck up a conversation and the subject of home towns came up.  I asked if he had heard of you.  When I mentioned your pro-union anti-Walmart position, he said “Oh Yes.  I know who that is.”

Walter Reed Hospital is not privately owned.  It is run by the US Army.  It is as far from the private sector as you can get.

John in OKC

Here are some sights for you, although you probably don’t know how to read. The proof of that is that you couldn’t read my post, as I never said that Walter Reed was privately owned. You made that up just like you make everything else up.

On a lighter note though, I’m glad to see that I have become a celebrity (of sorts) with the rightwingers out there. The fact that you are so troubled by my posts that you mention me to strangers that you meet, then come back here and share that with us, well lets just say it touches my heart.

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_Administration_push_for_privatization_may_0303.html

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4944/1/32/

http://news.google.com/news?q=privatization+of+walter+reed&hl=en&lr;=&as_qdr=all&um=1&sa=X&oi=news&ct=title

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY;=/www/story/02-26-2007/0004534780&EDATE;=

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

Davie

“I think that Walter Reed hospital, and their treatment of the wounded soldiers is pretty typical of just what happens to our medical system when the private sector takes control.”

Actually it proves the opposite.  That is the kind of care we have to look forward to when the government is involved.  By the way your statement does imply Walter Reed is in the private sector.  Crazy Dave indeed.

Peace

“A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.”

Tony

I did say that Walter Reed was in the “CONTROL” of the private sector, and it is......I NEVER said that it was “PRIVATELY OWNED” as John says, and you try to imply.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

IRONHEADED,

“ on their gas guzzling SUV,s”

And, what kind of gas mileage does that old truck of yours get?

“The truth is that liberals are the only ones that truly support our troops,”

Is cutting and running and holding back on military spending, ‘supporting our troops’?  Remember back when Clinton was in office and he cut millitary spending and closed all of those bases?

“This is not the country that I grew up in”

I wonder what country it was that you did grow up in, oh, I remember, part of that was in Germany.  Guess you never heard of Korea, Viet Nam, Bosnia, and other wars we were involved in (I know, some of them were called police actions).  And, then there were the liberals who ran to Canada, to avoid the draft.  And, how about Hanoi Jane Fonda.  Talk about ‘supporting the troops’, hey!!  Remember what happened to the troops who were pulled out of Viet Nam without ‘winning’, most liberals ‘spit’ on them and called them ‘baby killers’, wonderful support!!  In the America I grew up in, their was patriotism and we were concerned about what was good for America, so we supported things that helped America grow, we were “for” things, not “against’ things.  When we went into space, many said that it was a stupid idea, and we should spend that money helping the poor, but now we have seen that the entrance into space, has yielded terrific gains in technology.  There have always been those who can’t stand change, so they are against things, I put you in that camp!!!

IRONHEADED,

“Universal Healthcare is the answer.”

BTW, where does Universal Healthcare fit into the country that has been against socialism, all the years you were growing up?

Boob

As for my truck Boob, It’s a show truck, I seldom drive it. My main form of transportation is on one of my bikes (Harleys) or my Jeep Cherokee (24 mpg) nice try though.

You sure talk a good “patriotic” game for a man that NEVER served. BTW Boob, I was 18 when I joined the Army and went to Germany, and did drills on the Czech border while watching communist soldiers watch me. All this while Reagan was doing his entire sward rattling act at Russia. So Boob, I served my time, while you sat on the sidelines and watched the body bags come home. You never made an effort to come to the aid of your country, in a war that you supported. You could have volunteered if you only walked it like you talked it. So you are no better than those, in fact I would say that you were much more a coward than those that went to Canada. They faced imprisonment for their beliefs. You faced NOTHING!

Just how many support our troops ribbons do you sport Boob? And just how do you support our troops, by supporting the people that treat them so poorly? By your reaction I would bet there are 3 on yours, and 2 on the wife’s. I would also bet that you haven’t been bothered in the least about the treatment of our wounded by this administration. So much for your support! (or should I say Lack of it).

BTW Boob, I see you have nothing to say about the fact that it’s the private sector that is causing so many problems for our troops. So much for you theory that privatization was the cure all. You made a valiant effort to get off subject, as usual.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

Boob

“BTW, where does Universal Healthcare fit into the country that has been against socialism, all the years you were growing up?”

You realy are an idiot Boob. Universal Healthcare is no more solcialistic than public education.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

IRONHEADED,

“You sure talk a good “patriotic” game for a man that NEVER served.”

You don’t have to serve in the military to be “patriotic’ and just serving in the military doesn’t make you ‘patriotic’.

“I served my time, while you sat on the sidelines and watched the body bags come home.”

I would not call Germany (during the Reagan era), a battle zone, but, at least you did serve and I thank you for that!!

“You could have volunteered if you only walked it like you talked it.”

Sorry, but I tried to join the army, under what was called the “buddy system” back then, but was rejected for medical reasons.  That was during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

“I would also bet that you haven’t been bothered in the least about the treatment of our wounded by this administration.”

If it didn’t bother me, I wouldn’t be against government run programs.  The government workers NEVER care about efficency, ever go to an unemployment office, I went once and it took 45 minutes before I got called to the back and I was the only one there.  There were about 8 workers there, drinking coffee and talking to each other about sports, etc. and they got to me when the felt like it, kind of that union spirit.  Also, I think I told you once about that mortgage payment I mailed, that took 17 days to get to the other side of the town I live in, great service by the U.S.P.S., I could have walked it there faster.  Then look at government highway crews, 20 people, but only 4 actually working, most of them standing, leaning on shovels.  As for Universal Healthcare, it won’t solve a thing, just transfer who pays and would probably end up like Social Security, later on, less service for higher taxes.

“You realy are an idiot Boob. Universal Healthcare is no more solcialistic than public education.”

First, you have to look at the definition of socialism:

‘The theory of public collective ownership or control of the basic means of production, distribution and exchange, with the avowed aim of operating for use rather than profit.’

I think the public school system fits into this catagory and so would Universal Healthcare.  I believe that is why they are called “Social Programs”!!!  How much more can taxpayers bare, before you tax them to death, supporting more and more ‘social programs’?  Look at what happens to other socialistic countries, like Russia for example, they go broke!!!

Boob

What you and those of you that “defend” capitalism are forgetting is that Walter Reed was, until the Bush administration begin to turn it over to the private sector, was the crown jewel of the militaries hospitals. Now that it has begun the “privatization process” it has become the arm pit that it is. At one time wounded troops would beg to be sent to this hospital, now they beg that they aren’t. So much for the private sector treating our wounded soldiers with the respect and honor that they deserve.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

Ironhead

I met a relative of yours, that lives is a small town of 850 or so people, not too far from where you live.  I believe he said he was a truck driver.

knowledgeable in

I don’t have any relitives in this area, nice try though.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

Sorry Davie,

The government is still in charge of that hospital.  Yes, some services have been privatized, but ultimately the government is responsible.  The buck stops there.  Face it government is incompetent at administrating anything. 

Peace

Ironhead

To answer—the person’s name was Ron Smith and supposedly you were a relative of his.  He was from a small town near you.  He was a truck driver and we were discussing some things relative to Arkansas as he was making purchase in a store.

We did not get into anything on this site as I didn’t have time. So perhaps he was not a relative or perhaps he was.

knowledgeable in

No relation; all my family lives on the coastal reigns of the U.S. West coast, East coast, and Gulf coast. I have only a sister in the mid-west; we were transplants, so to speak. As I stated before there are many, many, Dave Smith’s out there; I once worked a construction job where there 3 and all Ironworkers and two of us were on the same crew. So don’t be surprised when you meet people with relatives named Dave Smith. But I would still love to hear John’s physical description of me. I am very easily described, to say the least.

DAVE SMITH
PROUD UNION IRONWORKER

Someone wake Bob up from his dream.
He said: “In the America I grew up in, their was patriotism and we were concerned about what was good for America, so we supported things that helped America grow, we were “for” things, not “against’ things.”

This is the same guy that is supporting Walmart?
The company that is helping implode American manufacturing while being a direct channel for slave labour goods from Communist China?

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse.
We will never forget what you did Walmart.
Never.

Davie is such a coward he refuses to answer when he’s made to look foolish.

All,

Time for my two cents’ worth—Walter Reed is a U.S. Army Medical Center, paid-for by our tax dollars, staffed by both soldiers AND federal civilian employees (for those here who didn’t know, those in the civil service are card-carrying members of the American Federation of Government Employees, which is roughly an equivalent of the union which sponsors WMW).

I’m not saying the current woes at Walter Reed are the union’s fault (it’s already been established as WRMC leaders’ fault)—but, aren’t organizations as large and powerful as AFGE supposed in a position to make places like Walter Reed better facilities in which people can work (the facilties in question must’ve had workers of some sort)?  At least, that’s what I’ve been able to glean from this, and other sites as to why unions want representation at Wal-Mart, in the first place.

More to come…

JB

Ironhead and the rest,

For the record, Walter Reed has not been privatized, whatsoever.  If anything, it is scheduled to close in the near future as a result of BRAC 2005 and the Walter Reed name, as well some of the specialties currently practiced, there will transfer to what is currently known as the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD.

Quite a few military hospitals worldwide have indeed closed-down since the early 90’s and the “privatization” you speak-of might be the fact that some active duty, most family members, and practically all retired military now have the option to get their medical care in the private sector through the DoD’s TRICARE program.

I guess I’ll go-ahead and state my credentials so that my patriotism never comes into question (and so that I am not accused of receiving Wal-Mart money for my postings):

My father and I served in the military for a combined 42 years (we are both military retirees).  In addition, my father is also a Wal-Mart retiree (store level), and his experiences with the company, as a whole, were nothing but positive experiences.

As for where I work, now—I will not disclose it in a public forum, but, I can assure you that I do not work in retail, or any PR firm, whatsoever.

‘Nuff said—for now…

JB