Healthcare schmealthcare

nataliedee.com

I couldn't find a comic or anything to express my opinions on the healthcare debate and then I realized that this is the closest one. I find that I can't have a civil conversation because it's another one of those situations where no one makes sense to me. It's like they're speaking another language, I disagree with them so profoundly. I'm paralyzed. The things I heard on npr this morning just made matters worse. Apparently 54% of Americans approve of Obama's energy policies and, they didn't give a percentage, but, far fewer are on board with healthcare. Do you want to know why I think that is? Because he's been asking them. I think the town hall meetings are a mistake. Pearls before swine. Not because the healthcare plan is pearls, per se, but because the American people don't have anything intelligent to contribute. They say things like, "I don't want government-run healthcare and don't you dare touch medicare." and "I was bankrupt and using foodstamps and living on welfare and no one helped ME out." We're a nation of idiots. I think that what we need to do is quickly improve the educational system before we re-introduce town hall meetings. I think that the reason so many people approve of the energy policy is because it's not been paraded around for bozos to criticize with their half-baked opinions and bullshit points of view. Take me for example, I'm not too crazy about nuclear power. It's dirty and nasty and needs to be a last resort. Lots of people feel that way. Ask us about Obama's energy policy, however, and we're like, "Sure, whatev [finger 'w']" So, as you can see, I'm not leaving liberals out of this, nor am I omitting myself. What I'm saying is that Obama has a nasty habit of worrying too much about consensus. Fuck consensus. You don't need it. Doesn't he have all the votes he needs? They're all out to get you. Just fucking pass a bill and forget about it. Here's where I love Barney Frank. It's a different issue but it makes me happy. Jon Stewart showed this clip recently (you can skip to 1:19):

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Barney Frank's Town Hall Snaps
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

Teeheehee. Love him. Anyway, all this in the face of the death of the senate's best consensus builder...well...I do understand the importance of consensus, I guess. If only everyone were trying!

That's right, I said I'm pregnant, would you like to offer me your seat?

I tried to find an internet image to plug in here and it just made me even more annoyed. My annoyance is something I've just uncovered, having posted on my friend's blog. I'm annoyed about a list of social aspects of pregnancy I've just discovered. I'm going to use list form since I don't have an image and I need to hold your interest:

(1) People are more concerned about my safety than they used to be. I've decided that it's probably because small injuries can result in dramatic repercussions. This is my decision. What I'm having trouble resisting is the idea that this baby's life is more important than my life was, before he/she existed. Alternatively, that I've suddenly become the blameless Madonna, since becoming pregnant, and, hence, don't deserve accident or injury. I've got news for you people, almost all pregnant women got that way from sex. They are the same slutty potty-mouth jerk-faces they were before, although sometimes married and, hence, again, blameless, for some reason.

(2) Related to my search for an internet image: The juxtaposition of pregnancy and sexuality seems to endlessly titillate people, thus, the media is filled with these ridiculously sexual pregnant ladies. Let me tell you one more thing: She just farted. And it smelled terrible. Just so you know. Also, she feels a little like eating an entire pizza but also a little like throwing up. She's exhausted and cranky and probably doesn't have anything nice to say about you or your mother.

(3) I can not handle one more person's reaction to this news. Why is that? Why did I spend my entire childhood imagining what it would be like to be pregnant (that's right, I did) only to feel completely out-of-place, confused, and embarassed by the whole thing? I thought I would be someone glee-fully shouting things out to the world as soon as the stick turned pink and, instead, I want the various friends and loved ones in my life to just magically know, so that I don't have to have the appropriate response to their resounding joy. Do they realize how hard this is going to be? Why so un-abashedly happy? My life is about to change dramatically and, while I'm excited and happy, I'm also terrified...and I'm probably uncomfortably gassy.

Okay, that's done. Phew. I feel somewhat better. I'm happy about all of this, I really am. And I don't want to be labeled as a complainer (since another thing about pregnancy is that #4 people like to rank the women they know in terms of how well they handled the whole thing). I just sort of needed to say some things. Maybe that's why my blog has been so vacant for so long, since this is the only thing I think about...not really...that's item #5 that annoys me about the social understanding of pregnancy.