2024 US Presidential Election

[xtsho]

Most countries have indexes to address or define level of costs, health care and disease, etc.

Likely numerous methodologies.

And Bhutan has a Happiness Index or Quotient rather than making their people simply pawns on a chess board whose worth is measured by a GDP/GNP that the worker bees don't necessarily get to benefit from in the first place, in any direct sense.

What is the cost of freedom we have in the States? Is that metric included in the stats?

 

[moose eater]

What is the cost of freedom we have in the States? Is that metric included in the stats?

Define freedom, because in this Country we've had the world's highest rate of incarceration per capita for decades, and running..

So 'freedom' means what?

 

[xtsho]

Subjective horse manure.

Access to a country has a lot to do with the destination. Thereby your reasoning in this post is hollow. The countries we helped to fuck up in Central and South America aren't headed to the Netherlands or Bhutan, as they can barely make it to the US or Canada

And they wouldn't choose those countries nor would those countries even accept them.

 

[moose eater]

And they wouldn't choose those countries nor would those countries even accept them.

Hahahahahaha!!

When I was spending time in Holland, they had a higher acceptance rate of refugees per capita than any other nation in the world, despite being a postage stamp size country that exists in part below sea level.

Your red, white and blue undies are showing.

 

[moose eater]

Laundry is done, shawarma is marinating, and I'm off to change the oil in some motor vehicles so I can drive to Anchorage next week for a $13,300 PET scan. Speaking of quality-of-life indicators.

And a person with prostate cancer in the US who gets Lupron as an ADT method, is looking at having over $36,000 billed to their insurance company or out-of-pocket, depending, for a single three-month injection with a drug that has been around forever, but the pharmaceutical folks continue fucking with the time-release component so they can keep it uber expensive, because Congress works for them, not you..

That same shot in the UK 2 years ago was $277 USD.

 

[xtsho]

Define freedom, because in this Country we've had the world's highest rate of incarceration per capita for decades, and running..

So 'freedom' means what?

We have the world highest rate of incarceration because we have the worlds biggest drug consumption and the crime that comes from those consumers committing crimes to supply their habit.

It doesn't help when states like mine decriminalize hard drugs and let criminals run rampant stealing anything and everything to fuel their drug habit and openly consume in public. Fortunately that was repealed and enforcement goes back into effect September 1st.

Freedom is living your life, obeying laws, enjoying a day at the beach, hiking in the forest, having a beer with friends at a local pub, walking your dogs in the morning, harvesting produce from your garden, the ability to speak whatever you want to speak, without fear of someone trying to kill you, take your stuff, or silence you by violence.

I have all that now. Many don't. Because I live in America I get to enjoy those often forgotten joys.

 

[xtsho]

Laundry is done, shawarma is marinating, and I'm off to change the oil in some motor vehicles so I can drive to Anchorage next week for a $13,300 PET scan. Speaking of quality-of-life indicators.

And a person with prostate cancer in the US who gets Lupron as an ADT method, is looking at having over $36,000 billed to their insurance company or out-of-pocket, depending, for a single three-month injection with a drug that has been around forever, but the pharmaceutical folks continue fucking with the time-release component so they can keep it uber expensive, because Congress works for them, not you..

That same shot in the UK 2 years ago was $277 USD.

Not disputing the pathetic health care services compared to other countries.

I wish you well with your health issues. I really do. That's one of the flaws and failures we have in the United States. The for profit health industry is despicable.

 

[moose eater]

We have the world highest rate of incarceration because we have the worlds biggest drug consumption and the crime that comes from those consumers committing crimes to supply their habit.

It doesn't help when states like mine decriminalize hard drugs and let criminals run rampant stealing anything and everything to fuel their drug habit and openly consume in public. Fortunately that was repealed and enforcement goes back into effect September 1st.

Freedom is living your life, obeying laws, enjoying a day at the beach, hiking in the forest, having a beer with friends at a local pub, walking your dogs in the morning, harvesting produce from your garden, the ability to speak whatever you want to speak, without fear of someone trying to kill you, take your stuff, or silence you by violence.

I have all that now. Many don't. Because I live in America I get to enjoy those often forgotten joys.

Tail wagging the dog. The drug busts are a product of the drug war that was implemented in large part as a war on minorities.

Laws get narrower and narrower and more of them all the time. Getting charged with 6 charges for the same offense, so the system can save money and have the defendant with limited means, or a questionable Public Defender take a plea deal to get out from under the weight of what happens if they go to trial on 6 inflated charges.

Many countries have serious drug 'problems'. I've been to some of them, and worked with prisoners, both paroled and incarcerated in Alaska and Washington State for years..

We tend to sentence people to much longer sentences than many industrialized nations for similar offenses, yet it doesn't work... I guess the Puritans are still barking up the wrong trees.

 

[moose eater]

Not disputing the pathetic health care services compared to other countries.

I wish you well with your health issues. I really do. That's one of the flaws and failures we have in the United States. The for profit health industry is despicable.

Thank you. I don't do Lupron, as it brings baggage with it that the Pharma's are permitted by the coopted FDA to market despite lengthy lists of side effects. Though it's the ONLY (across the board) accepted treatment for recurring prostate cancer, with radiation only being accepted by a portion of the medical orgs that deal specifically with cancer/prostate cancer.

For recreational reading open up a current or even older Physician's Desk Reference and randomly turn to the drug pages, making a point of looking at side effects.

In Europe, at least the last time I looked, it was still illegal to advertise Rx drugs on the television or airwaves. Not here. We're worker bees meant to make the Oligarchy rich, even if it kills us.

We did work with paroled sex offenders and those dealing with pedophilia who received Lupron injections.

As far as my mortality goes, I'm typically pretty comfy with it for the most part; there's a lot in this world I'll miss, but far more I won't, and we all die some time. The question is 'with what quality of life ?' (speaking of indicators).

On rare occasion I get a bit unnerved, like when I see blood draw numbers present a horrible equation off on the horizon, but you can either waste the rest of your time sweating what you might lose, in which case you're giving it away without a struggle, or you can go do those thigs you fear not being able to eventually do. Seems a no-brainer to me.

I met an old Deadhead friend of mine the other day, from up here over 40 years ago, coincidentally at the feed store, getting dog food, and we've been peripheral to each other for a good while now. She's always been a dear person in my eyes. It was a chance encounter, though I've been writing to her husband regularly, though they live in the next valley over.. I was aware a good while ago that she had breast cancer that had spread, that they'd removed one of her 5 lobes in her lungs, had opened her up to track a tumor or cyst near her kidneys and ribs, that they'd missed some shit up here, that she was headed to the East Coast to a well-known name clinic that shows greater professionalism and proficiency, to have both breasts removed; a major kick in the chest for a woman who is still attractive in so many ways, intelligent, worldly, and finds themselves in that place of having to choose between 2 or 3 shitty or shittier options.

They're both non-practicing Jews, btw.. He's from the West Coast for a good a bit, and she's from the East Coast. Lovely people.

She and I stood on the sidewalk in front of the feed store, not having spoken face-to-face in probably a couple or three years, both of us with glistening eyes, customers squeezing past us on the sidewalk, and we talked about that whole path of letting the awareness of the cancer struggle undo a person's pursuit of what -really- matters,, and giving away what they have left over shit they can't even control; the silliness of that path, the strength necessary to get the fuck off of it, and the Zen perspective needed to say, "Fuck it!! I'm going fishing!" Or gardening (her happy place), or whatever.

We hugged tightly several times, crying a bit each time, and I told her I loved her, and she reciprocated. Something we'd never said to each other in all the years we have known each other.

This Country tends to be caught up in a whole lot of arbitrary or random shit that, when the rubber meets the pavement, and the Grim Reaper is rolling up his sleeves, doesn't matter a fucking bit.

Spoiled, with an inflated sense of self, country, etc., etc., and often times an abandonment of the most basic awareness of what really -does- matter. And it's not whether your neighbor's wearing a dress, or using a generic bathroom, or smoking a joint, or snorting a line, or fucking their same-sex lover in a manner that the person judging wouldn't. Those are focuses that narrow-minded, judgmental people with no real -productive- or helpful focus in life engage in.

This Country has largely forgotten (no, discarded and rejected) boundaries, compassion, and humility. And that's often the beginning of the path that leads to where Rome went in the end. HUBRIS. Followed by implosion.

On to oil changes.

 

[Microbeman]

I have no allegiance to any party or single man or woman. I'm an American and feel fortunate to have been born in America and enjoy things people in most of the world only dream of.

Clean drinkable water is something many don't have yet we use it to flush our bodily waste into the modern sewer systems instead of dumping that waste in the street.

Free public education where both males and females are treated equally and have the same access to education.

A modern fire department that can arrive in minutes to save your house and belongings.

A criminal justice system that while flawed in many ways is one of the fairest in the world and provides representation to all even those that are indigent.

Many of these things are available in other countries as well. But the one thing America is definitely the leader in is opportunity. If you have a brain and are willing to work you can make a decent living regardless of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, etc...

It's not perfect and it never will be because none of us are perfect so there is always going to be something that can be improved. There are always going to be flaws. Those that want to take advantage of others. Those that want to harm others.

But overall I would not want to be a citizen of any other country on earth. I may want to visit. Possibly even live there for some time. But I'll always be an American that loves my country and always call it my home.

Call that what you want but if that's Patriotism then I'm guilty as hell and am not ashamed of it at all.

I believe the 'opportunity being superior to any other country' is part of the patriot propaganda. The rest is fairly even with what I said except for living there. When I hit 65, the only affordable place I could find in the US was mid-Florida (I cannot live independently in snow) but the evacuations every year made me move. Also medical costs.

So what about the patriotic chants, the boasting that the US is the pinnacle of democracy to the rest of the world and all that? I think maybe you evaded that part of it, if indeed you were replying to my statement.

 

[moose eater]

 

[Hiddenjems]

Quality-of-Life Indicators

www.isqols.org

OECD Better Life Index

www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org

Quality of life indicators - measuring quality of life - Statistics Explained

Statistics are presented on many dimensions of quality of life in the EU, completing the traditional measure of economic development - the GDP.

ec.europa.eu

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www.usnews.com

A value based index for measuring national quality of life - Social Indicators Research

A new index of the quality of life (QOL) of nations was created. The measured variables are selected based on a universal set of human values derived from the work of Schwartz (1994). The Basic QOL Index, designed primarily to discriminate between developing countries, includes seven variables...

link.springer.com

There are many other sites available, some better than others. but there's obviously a lot of subjectivity in some of the human 'balloons of self-importance' where hyper-nationalism is concerned, and among WAY too fucking many people.

Humility in the right moment can be a really good attribute, even an attractive thing. And our neighbors will/would/might think better of us for it, too.

I pay attention to this metric because I believe the glue of our society is having a good lifestyle.

For the most part foreign wars, government surveillance, and weakening of our rights don’t bother people making plenty of money to buy a home and fill it with Chinese trash. But, when things get harder economically people start looking for other problems.

The dishonesty surrounding our inflation situation is troubling too.

Inflation is usually calculated year to year. So, if prices triple one year, then level off the next year, the claim is zero inflation that year. Never mind the fact that your same paycheck from 2 years ago can’t pay triple prices.

 

[xtsho]

I believe the 'opportunity being superior to any other country' is part of the patriot propaganda. The rest is fairly even with what I said except for living there. When I hit 65, the only affordable place I could find in the US was mid-Florida (I cannot live independently in snow) but the evacuations every year made me move. Also medical costs.

So what about the patriotic chants, the boasting that the US is the pinnacle of democracy to the rest of the world and all that? I think maybe you evaded that part of it, if indeed you were replying to my statement.

I didn't evade anything. The United States is still the pinnacle of Democracy. It may be eroded but it's still there.

It's a young country as far as civilization is concerned. But we're still the fabric that keeps the world from plunging into chaos. Nothing is perfect. But the freedoms we have surpass those of most other countries.

We're the engine that runs the world. Could we be better? Of course. But imagine how bad things would be if we were not the gatekeepers keeping countries like North Korea, China, Russia, etc... in check. Those countries have visions of dominance and the only entity keeping them from progressing with their plans of dominance and submission is the United States and our massive military power.

We might not always be on the right side but in the overall scheme of things we're keeping order. At least as best it can be kept. So yes I'm patriotic in the sense that I believe in my country and the role it plays in the world.

 

[greyfader]

it's patriotism as religion, complete with peer pressure to "out" patriot your neighbor, that's wrong. i love my country, with all its faults and failures, because i cherish the dream of what it should be and could still be. i hope to be part of changing my country for the good of all.

now, for a little music to chill by;

lyrics;

Baby Night
Song by Sweet Smoke

• 
  Videos
• 
  Lyrics
• 
  Listen

In a world of glass teardrops
In a world of glass teardrops
You know it sounds so good
Sounds so good
Well, you know it sounds so good
You have been never stopped
Never never never stopped
Never never never never stopped
If you hear sounds of bitter weeping
To be sure the God of light is sleeping
No time for mirth
Much death and birth
Pain shakes the earth
Your hopin' never stops
Never never stops
Never never never never stops
In the time you're illusion might drop
Oh yeah
The soft parade has now begun
Listen to the engines hum
Gentle street where people play
It was meant to be that way
All our lives we sweat and save
Digging for a shallow grave
Welcome to the soft parade, yeah
Welcome to the soft parade
It was meant to be that way
Gentle street where people play
Working for a shallow grave
All our lives we sweat and save
It was meant to be that way
Welcome to the soft parade
The soft parade has now begun
Whoah, listen to the engines hum
Gentle street where people play
It was meant to be that way
All our lives we sweat and save
Digging for a shallow grave
Welcome to the soft parade
Welcome to the soft parade
Welcome to the soft parade
Welcome to the soft parade, yeah!
In a world of glass teardrops
In a world of glass teardrops
You know it sounds so good
Sounds so good
Well, you know it sounds so good
You've been never stopped
Never never never stopped
Never never never never
And if you hear sounds of bitter weeping
To be sure the God of light is sleeping
No time for mirth
Much death and birth
Pain shakes the earth
You will never stop
Never never never stops
Never never never never

 

[Microbeman]

I didn't evade anything. The United States is still the pinnacle of Democracy. It may be eroded but it's still there.

It's a young country as far as civilization is concerned. But we're still the fabric that keeps the world from plunging into chaos. Nothing is perfect. But the freedoms we have surpass those of most other countries.

We're the engine that runs the world. Could we be better? Of course. But imagine how bad things would be if we were not the gatekeepers keeping countries like North Korea, China, Russia, etc... in check. Those countries have visions of dominance and the only entity keeping them from progressing with their plans of dominance and submission is the United States and our massive military power.

We might not always be on the right side but in the overall scheme of things we're keeping order. At least as best it can be kept. So yes I'm patriotic in the sense that I believe in my country and the role it plays in the world.

Well you sort of addressed one but you are not addressing the rah rah bravado. Many countries do this...most but it is the worst of their citizens who ply this attitude. It is the bravado which makes patriotism suck. BTW the US is not even close to the most democratic country nor originator.

 

[moose eater]

I pay attention to this metric because I believe the glue of our society is having a good lifestyle.

For the most part foreign wars, government surveillance, and weakening of our rights don’t bother people making plenty of money to buy a home and fill it with Chinese trash. But, when things get harder economically people start looking for other problems.

The dishonesty surrounding our inflation situation is troubling too.

Inflation is usually calculated year to year. So, if prices triple one year, then level off the next year, the claim is zero inflation that year. Never mind the fact that your same paycheck from 2 years ago can’t pay triple prices.

The current and recent years' inflation has been global, not just in the US.

And much of the current data says that it has been 'greed in action' (gouging) by major corporations and lesser ones following their lead, rather than a true statement of the markets. Opportunists. Predatory crony capitalism.

And wage wise, the youngsters with only novice level skills are working for dollars, often long days, that won't pay their bills, let alone allow for comforts.

And many of the same players who set this system up to profit above and beyond anyone else's needs, are often the same folks who bitch about black markets at the street level. Yet they create a situation with their greed that many of the Commoners often resort to any number of below-the-table means by which to live. Because that's how one meets needs these days when a standard wage won't support basics.

They create the mess, then complain about how people clean it up.

 

[buzzmobile]

Something from the usual suspects is to be expected - Hillary style - my guess is they have absolute proof Walz is a Chinese agent, no spy has ever been caught more red-handed, details after FBI investigates.

 

[buzzmobile]

 

[GOT_BUD?]

Freedom costs a buck 0 five.

 

[buzzmobile]

Freedom costs a buck 0 five.

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