A few things:
First, the issue of healthcare. I recently wrote a letter to my congressmen (plural) to illustrate how badly I think the healthcare reform bill is taking a beating due to misunderstanding of how the system will actually function. My letter is below:
Dear Mr. Dent,
Having read your editorial on the matter of health care, as a constituent of yours, I strongly urge you to reconsider or give the bill another chance. This health care reform bill may not be the best plan, but it represents more than what it entails: health care in this country has been run for far too long by insurance companies who are out to gain profits more than care about their patients. When health care becomes a capitalistic venture (which it has), everyone loses, especially patients. Having read article after article of patients being refused coverage for the most ridiculous reasons, this bill, despite its flaws, means that ordinary citizens are finally beginning to strike back against insurance companies, who hold too much of our lives and money in their hands and could care less about what happens to us. Passage of this bill shows something to the health care lobby and to big-business: caring for people should come BEFORE profit margins, not after. I note that the bill has flaws, but there is also a gross public misunderstanding about the nature of what public options entail that you should seek to rectify. In Europe, public options have been available for decades, and America remains the only first-world country to lack a public option. Would the world explode if America adopts one? Seeing as how Europeans are perfectly fine with theirs, I would say not. To address the issue, adopting a public option does in no way entail the death of private insurers. With a public option, those who NEED insurance can finally get some, considering the statistic that around 46 million Americans are uninsured. However, those with the financial means to acquire it can purchase their own private insurance. Private insurance will not die. It will remain available for those who choose to buy it or keep it, but the public option opens up availability to a lot more people in worse circumstances than those who can afford the premiums on health insurance. My father has worked a blue-collar job all of his life, and I've been lucky, as his job comes with health insurance. His deductible is $2000 and as hours are getting slashed, medical procedures that he needs for his eyesight are becoming extremely difficult for us to afford. They could be covered under insurance, but they're not. You see, each surgery rounds up to about $1,800 - a mere $200 from the deductible. As it doesn't meet it, the insurance company will not cop to co-pay. Working-class Americans NEED this bill and politicians like you NEED to make sure that other citizens understand what a public option really entails. The word "socialism" has been bandied about a LOT lately, but it's mostly to vilify Democrats and the administration, as well as intimidate those afraid of supporting it into a hardened "against" stance with a loud yell and deafness to opposing opinions. Public options can only seek to make the US a HEALTHIER place and a GOOD place. America advertises that it takes care of its people - well, we need to be taken care of, and our current health care system is not doing its job. Public options do not mean the death of private insurance companies - it just means they will be reaping a lot less money and will have to rely on actual HUMANITARIANISM and COMPASSION in order to continue holding current customers. This bill is not like long lines at the DMV; this bill is about the government serving its purpose and fulfilling its duty to the American people to ensure that companies do not benefit off of the breaking backs of working people. As a representative, please make sure that my voice, and the voices of those who agree with me, are not drowned out by the select few with bullhorns and closed minds. Public health insurance options are needed and we need to adopt this quickly. Health care reform has been a losing battle for years, if only because insurance companies can pony up money for hundreds of lobbyists and the US government can only do what it can. If this bill passes, it will represent another step in the process. Further revisions, further refining and retooling of how this system works - it will FORCE the insurance companies and those who are taking advantage of working-class people to take a look at their own policies and see what could happen if they stop treating people as capital and start treating them as people. THIS BILL REPRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO FINALLY OFFER HEALTH CARE TO ALL THOSE WHO NEED IT. Killing this bill would mean pushing health care all the way to the bottom of the list of priorities when it's election season again; it means millions of Americans having to suffer to try and figure out how to pay medical bills, or what's worthy of a trip to the emergency room or not, while someone sits in a corner office and counts their billions of dollars. Passing this bill means a chance; killing it means another few years under a system that not only is inefficient and harms those it supposedly cares about, but unabashedly reaps profits from the backs of the people forced to its yoke. PLEASE support the health care reform bill and PLEASE support us.
Best,
Karen Chau
And second, remember my Twilight thing? I've begun rereading it and it's terrible:
Twilight tries too hard to be Jane Eyre. Like Jane, Bella swears on her plainness. Unlike Bella, though, Jane actually admits she has some good qualities, and unlike Bella, when her brooding potential love interest does something douchey (like try and marry her, despite being married to someone else), Jane does something proactive - she runs away. Bella sticks with Edward, regardless of his emotionally abusive and controlling behavior.
"Too scary for me?" I asked when I could control my voice again.
"If that were it, I would take you out tonight," he said, his voice cutting. "You need a healthy dose of fear. Nothing could be more beneficial for you."
That's an actual quote. A HEALTHY DOSE OF FEAR? WHAT THE FUCKITY FUCK, HOW DOES ANYONE THINK HE'S A ROMANTIC ANYTHING.
THE FACT THAT STEPHANIE MEYER THINKS THAT EDWARD CULLEN = EDWARD FERRARS + EDWARD ROCHESTER + A HANDFUL OF MR. DARCY IS SAD. EDWARD CULLEN =/= AWESOME CHARACTERS (MINUS PERHAPS ROCHESTER).
