# Winter's a-coming! Season of Death Mini-Rants **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 18, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833 "2010-09-18T09:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 63
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1241 "2010-12-16T19:05:22Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > lindsay’s not touting yours, she’s bashing ours. Well, it’s hard to bash the Canadian system when you’re an American without utterly lacking perspective and self-awareness… oh. I see your point. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1242 "2010-12-16T19:11:19Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > The problem, **linds[del]e[/del]ay**, is that your point appears to be that people in the U.S. who want a system like Canada’s are idiots. Except that their system, while not perfect, it still \*much \*better than ours. Have you ever met a Canadian who wished they had American health insurance? > > “Socialized medicine” is a “right-wing meme” because it’s used as a scare tactic. We \*already have \*“socialized medicine,” where everybody with insurance pays for everybody else’s care. It just gets routed through incredibly inefficient middlemen–or rather, middlemen who are very efficient at making money for themselves. See also discussions about “rationing,” as though there were currently an infinite supply of health care in the U.S. that would disappear if we moved away from the current system, versus changing to rationing care by need instead of by net worth. I have met many a Canadians who wished for a hybrid system besides the two extremes of American and Canadian medicine. Where many have had surgery wait times that baffle my own experience. I also know a number of Canadian doctors who are dying to get out of there and work here. Kinda fucked up, eh? If it’s a scare tactic (which I certainly had no knowledge of) then it’s been stolen like the words “freedom” and “liberty” by crazies. The only socialized medicine we have is Medicaid and Medicare, both of which are unlikely to exist for you and I and everyone else under 30 in its current state. Hospitals bear much of the cost burden of the uninsured, not those with insurance. Some, but not most of the cost is shifted to the insured. ETA: **blondebear** , is there any language in your lease saying that the pool maintenance is provided for, just as (perhaps) the shrubs and flowers and gardening/mowing are taken care of as part of your rent? Or maybe some language about how if you hurt yourself/drown they’re not liable? The latter could possibly be used as proof they’re required to maintain it in the first place… ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1243 "2010-12-16T19:13:27Z")
> [@lindsaybluth](#): > > If it’s a scare tactic (which I certainly had no knowledge of) then it’s been stolen like the words “freedom” and “liberty”. It has. So yeah, you actually nailed it on the head. ETA: And when I say we already have socialized medicine, I don’t mean in the best sense of a system that would actually work. I mean that right now, health insurance involves everybody paying into a pool that only pays out for people who get sick, which is more or less the big scary bugaboo of the right wing, only it does it much less efficiently than if everyone were in the same system instead of being spread out among a brazilian different providers, all with their own eldritch restrictions on coverage and care, and with the distinct and easy possibility of a person having no coverage at all. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1244 "2010-12-16T19:32:08Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > “Socialized medicine” is a “right-wing meme” because it’s used as a scare tactic. We \*already have \*“socialized medicine,” where everybody with insurance pays for everybody else’s care. It just gets routed through incredibly inefficient middlemen–or rather, middlemen who are very efficient at making money for themselves. See also discussions about “rationing,” as though there were currently an infinite supply of health care in the U.S. that would disappear if we moved away from the current system, versus changing to rationing care by need instead of by net worth. We have socialized medicine. It’s just that for us “socialized” has a “poorly” in front of it, as if it were a little dog snarling at you and biting your ankles. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1245 "2010-12-16T19:49:02Z")
I will happily punt our health care/insurance system over the fence. ---
**Author:** ![perfectparanoia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a5b964/32.png) [@perfectparanoia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/perfectparanoia)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1246 "2010-12-16T20:01:39Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I will happily punt our health care/insurance system over the fence. \ ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1247 "2010-12-16T20:04:02Z")
:shakes fist: ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1248 "2010-12-16T20:05:12Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’m learning a few for [special occasions](http://inter.scoutnet.org/cgi-bin/semanim?font=font0&text=Please+don%27t+trip+over+my+severed+arm). You made me laugh. ---
**Author:** ![lindsaybluth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90db22/32.png) [@lindsaybluth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lindsaybluth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1249 "2010-12-16T20:13:44Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > It has. So yeah, you actually nailed it on the head. Hmph. Wonder how that escaped me. 90% of my (national) news comes from [Reason.com](http://Reason.com) and the Times. I steer entirely clear of Fox and MSNBC. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1250 "2010-12-16T20:15:17Z")
[Borders.com](http://Borders.com), stop jerking my chain. You keep sending me tantalizing coupons good for 40% off any item, so I order Christmas gifts for my husband, and then a week later I get an e-mail saying my order is cancelled because the item isn’t available. _Three times_ you’ve done this to me in the past six weeks or so. Yes, I know the items I want aren’t bestsellers, but when you say you have them in stock, you should have them in stock. One of them I was able to get on Amazon; the others are backordered. Assholes. And WinterSilks. Against my better judgment I ordered a couple of items from you on Nov. 9 and paid the outrageous amount you charge for shipping ($14 for a sweater and a blouse? Really?) and when I received them, the sweater was immense. So I return it for a smaller size, and wait. And wait. _Three weeks ago_, November 29, I called to see if you received the package back, and you confirmed it. So I wait. And wait. On December 14 I called to see if I was ever going to get my sweater and you said that the package is at the warehouse and _ **they haven’t opened it yet** _. Still sitting at the warehouse unopened after three weeks. I had to demand to have my exchange made or it probably wouldn’t have occurred to them till January. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1251 "2010-12-16T20:16:25Z")
ETA@ **lindsay** : I hadn’t had a TV in the house for a couple of years, listen to the radio, or follow news except for a stint where I was reading NYT articles online every day, but I still picked it up. It’s been a pretty common complaint that the right has hijacked the term “socialist” to mean something scary and bad, like “liberal.” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1252 "2010-12-17T00:18:57Z")
Of course. “Liberal” was losing it’s shock value. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1253 "2010-12-17T00:48:33Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > :rolleyes: > > Our ER wait times aren’t that long (she was exaggerating for effect) nor are surgery wait times (again for effect) we can get routine appointments with our docs pretty much when we want (though it is hard to find one in some areas). > > Wrong thread. Actually, I’m not exaggerating; Calgary wait times are very long, mostly because of former Premier Ralph Klein’s policies, and my wish is that he gets to experience the consequences of his actions like the rest of us do. ETA: Beyond the horrendous wait times, I have no complaints about our healthcare system. As I like to say in discussions about healthcare, a little socialism goes a long way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1254 "2010-12-17T01:59:05Z")
I hate being sick. I hate coughing up a lung, and I hate the achiness that goes with the coughing up a lung. I get to call my doctor tomorrow to see if she can get me in, or if she wants me to go to the ER. I especially hate feeling wrung out and tired. My cough is more productive than I am. I hate my life. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1255 "2010-12-17T03:49:12Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > I hate my life. But… but… we love your life. At least, we love that your life brings you here. I’m sorry you feel like poop. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1256 "2010-12-17T05:08:52Z")
Why in hell is it not possible to find footie pajamas for little girls? My nieces (sizes 8 and 10) want footie pajamas for Christmas this year. I can’t find anything bigger than 4-6, unless I want to pay almost $40 each, which seems overmuch for something they won’t be able to wear for more than a few months before outgrowing it. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1257 "2010-12-17T05:14:06Z")
O.M.G.W.T.F!!! One (1) centimeter of snow, and the entirety of northern Delaware turns into a vast pool of drooling morons! ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1258 "2010-12-17T06:53:37Z")
Mini-pit of myself. I said something very awful about someone who didn’t deserve it. I should know better. I should do better. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1259 "2010-12-17T14:01:35Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > O.M.G.W.T.F!!! > > One (1) centimeter of snow, and the entirety of northern Delaware turns into a vast pool of drooling morons! Just be glad you don’t get to experience the particular joy and wonder that is Rt. 422. At least, I hope you don’t. That commute makes me wish for hood-mounted nuclear land torpedoes. And when it rains, or snows, or gets dark, or gets sunny, or on random days ending in Y, it’s doubly so. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833/1260 "2010-12-17T14:28:31Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > O.M.G.W.T.F!!! > > One (1) centimeter of snow, and the entirety of northern Delaware turns into a vast pool of drooling morons! Turns into? _runs_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833.md?page=62) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/winters-a-coming-season-of-death-mini-rants/554833.md?page=64)