Last week, the Chicago Tribune's Letters to the Editor section was abuzz with responses to the news that O'Hare International Airport is in the process of adding whole body imaging to their vast TSA arsenal. The indignities of air travel have grown ever worse since the "War on Terror" first began but apparently, in Chicago at least, the inmates are growing restless.
Several more airports are set to install the machines, which have "low dose" x-ray capabilities that see right through clothes, including underwear. The TSA says that the employees viewing the personal footage will be prevented from seeing any identifiable traits such as faces, but that is cold comfort to private citizens reluctant to be violated over and over, for the crime of wanting to visit Grandma this summer.
It is heartening to see an end to the apathy which began after 9-11, when it was mostly agreed that more airport security was necessary. But as the years go by, it seems that Americans are beginning to realize that there is apparently no end to the violations of privacy and decency that the administration is willing to inflict on law-abiding citizens in the name of security. Further, what are the health ramifications of being subjected to even low doses of radiation, particularly for young people? It will take decades before studies can be conducted on say, frequent fliers who allow themselves to be scanned on every trip.
Of course, the TSA says that it will offer traditional pat downs as an alternative to the whole body imaging but the selection process for both is so arbitrary that once again, ordinary citizens, not terrorists, will likely be the most inconvenienced.
Metal detection and other reasonable precautions to protect our safety is one thing. But this has gone too far. Americans need to take a stand, for their freedoms and for their own health and well-being. TSA personnel are often uneducated and unprepared to answer questions and most travelers are detained for asking questions anyway. With a bad economy and fewer people flying, the airlines can't afford to lose any more money. Body imaging is a bad idea and it will result in loss of income for the airlines, longer lines, more hassles, possible health risks and worst of all, the further leaking away of precious American freedom.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Has America Lost Its Way?
Americans don't like the word "socialization." The spectre of living in a communist-like society has been the crux of any argument against universal health care. Yet, most Americans have an expectation that whether they are rich or poor, the fire department will come to their home and put out a fire. Most Americans also enjoy, at least at one time or another, taking books out from the local library and many also either went to or are sending their own kids to public school. Somehow, America has evolved with the idea that these services are not "socialized." But in fact, they are. If you pay taxes, you are supporting all of these liberties, whether you ever utilize them or not. So, who is it among us who believes that health care is not a RIGHT, just like those other public services? Without healthy, productive citizens, a society cannot exist.
At a recent health care lecture at Denver's Regis University, former Washington Post reporter and universal health care advocate T. R. Reid presented his PBS Frontline documentary special, which sought out the various health care programs of several other countries, including Japan, Germany and Switzerland. In addition to concerns raised about higher taxes (yes, in exchange for "free" health care, people must support the system with taxes, but they seem to think it's worth it!), one student also expressed alarm over her mounting debt and said that new doctors require higher salaries in order to pay off debts of more than $100K after medical school. Although it is a legitimate concern, Reid pointed out that other countries also offer free higher education, thus freeing up doctors to focus exclusively on their obligations under the Hippocratic oath: the health and well-being of their patients.
In America, in the name of spending less money on taxes, our society compels college kids to rack up debt and become prisoners to their jobs after graduation. Increasingly, employers are reducing vacation benefits, maternity leave and sick days because they know they have most workers over a barrel. If 2008 America didn't put making a profit ahead of everything else in life, its citizens wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Who among us doesn't know someone whose life has been torn apart because of illness? Gone into debt in order to pay for surgery or chemotherapy or drugs that enable them to live? What if you lost your job? Who would pay for your blood pressure meds? Or take your kid to the doctor? Right now, thousands of people are filing for bankruptcy or worse, because they had the temerity to be sick in America. What kind of a morality is that?
Not all Americans have access to the best medicine in the world. Not even close. We throw poor sick people out on the street. Literally- in Michael Moore's documentary, "Sicko," video surveillance shows clearly the dropping off of two separate patients, still clad in hospital gowns, in the middle of the street. These patients had been at the University of Southern California Hospital. How could America, once the best in country in the world, treat its own this way? We're worried about illegal immigration? How about the illegality and complete indifference to the suferings of our own people????
Here's the bottom line: Making a crappy buck in no way justifies any of this. Unless you are in that 1-2% of super wealthy people, you are truly not getting a fair shake. Not in this country. Sure, we might have the best medical care but most people don't even get the chance to receive it. Why? Because insurance companies are big business. They don't care whether you live or die. If you get common afflictions like headaches or step throat routinely, indivudal coverage automatically goes up hundreds more dollars per month in premiums, rendering unaffordable for most working people. Even if the problem was minor, even if it was cured several years ago. Children are being REJECTED for having chronic ear infections! Mothers-to-be in Colorado are being denied maternity coverage if they've had one Caesarian section birth in the past... Sure, dignitaries and movie stars can get the best treatments, because they can afford to pay for them. It's the rest of us who are hurting and forced to put it on a charge card, if we're lucky enough to have one.
The lemmings of this country want to believe that we're still in an age where we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. It's not the same as it was 50+ years ago in America. It's simply not possible to LIVE here if you are a human being without money. A more "socialized" system will certainly encounter problems but I'd rather have a level playing field when it comes to our collective health than decry higher taxes and do nothing.
At a recent health care lecture at Denver's Regis University, former Washington Post reporter and universal health care advocate T. R. Reid presented his PBS Frontline documentary special, which sought out the various health care programs of several other countries, including Japan, Germany and Switzerland. In addition to concerns raised about higher taxes (yes, in exchange for "free" health care, people must support the system with taxes, but they seem to think it's worth it!), one student also expressed alarm over her mounting debt and said that new doctors require higher salaries in order to pay off debts of more than $100K after medical school. Although it is a legitimate concern, Reid pointed out that other countries also offer free higher education, thus freeing up doctors to focus exclusively on their obligations under the Hippocratic oath: the health and well-being of their patients.
In America, in the name of spending less money on taxes, our society compels college kids to rack up debt and become prisoners to their jobs after graduation. Increasingly, employers are reducing vacation benefits, maternity leave and sick days because they know they have most workers over a barrel. If 2008 America didn't put making a profit ahead of everything else in life, its citizens wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Who among us doesn't know someone whose life has been torn apart because of illness? Gone into debt in order to pay for surgery or chemotherapy or drugs that enable them to live? What if you lost your job? Who would pay for your blood pressure meds? Or take your kid to the doctor? Right now, thousands of people are filing for bankruptcy or worse, because they had the temerity to be sick in America. What kind of a morality is that?
Not all Americans have access to the best medicine in the world. Not even close. We throw poor sick people out on the street. Literally- in Michael Moore's documentary, "Sicko," video surveillance shows clearly the dropping off of two separate patients, still clad in hospital gowns, in the middle of the street. These patients had been at the University of Southern California Hospital. How could America, once the best in country in the world, treat its own this way? We're worried about illegal immigration? How about the illegality and complete indifference to the suferings of our own people????
Here's the bottom line: Making a crappy buck in no way justifies any of this. Unless you are in that 1-2% of super wealthy people, you are truly not getting a fair shake. Not in this country. Sure, we might have the best medical care but most people don't even get the chance to receive it. Why? Because insurance companies are big business. They don't care whether you live or die. If you get common afflictions like headaches or step throat routinely, indivudal coverage automatically goes up hundreds more dollars per month in premiums, rendering unaffordable for most working people. Even if the problem was minor, even if it was cured several years ago. Children are being REJECTED for having chronic ear infections! Mothers-to-be in Colorado are being denied maternity coverage if they've had one Caesarian section birth in the past... Sure, dignitaries and movie stars can get the best treatments, because they can afford to pay for them. It's the rest of us who are hurting and forced to put it on a charge card, if we're lucky enough to have one.
The lemmings of this country want to believe that we're still in an age where we can pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. It's not the same as it was 50+ years ago in America. It's simply not possible to LIVE here if you are a human being without money. A more "socialized" system will certainly encounter problems but I'd rather have a level playing field when it comes to our collective health than decry higher taxes and do nothing.
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