Posted on RR, Americans Are Getting Tired

[MaybeNever]

Apr 4, 2009 5:11:23 GMT -5 chad sexington said:

Apr 4, 2009 2:03:59 GMT -5 MaybeNever said:

Like, if we hadn't overthrown the popular and fairly democratic Reza Palavi in Iran in order to support British oil interests, we might have a democratic, friendly Iran these days.

Minor correction: Palavi was installed in the 1953 coup (you're thinking of Mossadeq). Anyway, excellent post *thumbs up*

Oops. Thanks for the correction. I have a hard time keeping that nightmare of events straight. Doing a little research, it turns out it's more complicated than that, though - Pahlavi was already the Shah, and had been since '41; once the CIA got involved and things started going down the crapper, he fled for a little while, and basically returned only once things were "safe" - i.e., without that pesky democratic leadership around - and reigned for 26 more years until a bunch of disenfranchised ultra-rightist radicals came to power.

Apr 4, 2009 10:31:16 GMT -5 anonymous said:

"Turns out there actually isn't a job for everyone who wants one, and plenty who can't work through no fault of their own. You think anybody'd care about Stephen Hawking if he hadn't been able to get his education and show his stuff before his ALS crippled his entire body? No, he'd be a statistic, probably, a financial burden on his family. And if they couldn't pay, well, sucks to be them. Speaking of, there are plenty of people who can work, but have crushing medical bills that'll take most of their LIVES to pay off. Nobody asks for that kind of stuff. God forbid you kick in seven dollars a month to help out."

I worked for several years with a life-threatening medical condition and no health insurance. I was too sick to do anything more strenuous or really to even look for other jobs. People shouldn't have to live like that. I don't mind one bit if my tax money goes to help people who are like I was. Also, we had to go on welfare for a while after my father left. It was just for a year or two. That's what welfare is for. There are so many people on RR who are struggling to survive and have health problems, you'd think they'd be more understanding.

Exactly. Exactly. I wonder how many millions of Americans there are in that position, where it would only take a couple years of help before they'd be in a far better position. Instead we have these jerks who'd rather let the less fortunate be pushing up daisies or just suffering in silence. WWJD indeed. I don't really see how the free market jibes at all with Jesus's teachings.