sallysimmons

And the worst thing is, these people have made no attempt to find out about what the bill does and doesn't do. They are happy to wallow in ignorance and, if challenged, they'll imply no one could possible understand it all because it's so complicated. Yes they can - they just have to read.

It's not just the wingers either - I had a friend - who is fairly moderate politically - tell me that in the UK people are not given medical care once they get too old to be productive. He swore blind this was true even after I told him about my 93-year old gran who has Alzheimers and is getting home care mostly paid for by the government, and who has been treated for all kinds of illnesses despite the fact she is highly unlikely to add economic value to the larger society anymore.

And to the OP, I so sympathize. I have been struggling so much lately - I am a political junkie, so I know just how much Obama really has done for people and how stupid the 'they're all the same' argument is. But to see the hysterical overreaction to his very moderate changes has made me realize I am still as much of a foreigner as the day I arrived here 15 years ago. I do not understand this country or its politics. How can this mosque stuff not just be laughed off TV?

Jerseygirl

Maybe your friend was referring to this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...n-the-NHS.html

sallysimmons

No ... and by the way, that happens everywhere in the world, not just on the NHS.

He wasn't talking about people on life support or at the true end of life. He was talking about the Sarah Palin idea, that people in the UK and Canada are not cared for once they stop being 'productive.' It didn't seem to matter to him that I had personal experience of just the opposite. He read it somewhere so it must be true.

HarryTheSpider

Interesting article on several levels in my humble opinion.

First, the essence of it may be true... Or not... It's certainly a subject that should be debated more widely, in my opinion.

Seecond, it's just a shoddy piece of journalism, in my opinion. And that's a shame for a potentially important topic. You don't have to be in the US to suffer awful 'journalism'.

I'd be interested to learn what aspects of this Telegraph article strike other readers as indicative of shoddy journalism.

Cheers

harry

chartreuse

Really? What's he done then?

Jerseygirl

My mother was put on 'the pathway' twice earlier this year. The first time she improved...the second time she was put into a morphine induced coma. She died 7 days later...she was almost 90. She wasn't terminally ill but after the death of my father 12 months previously...had more or less given up on life.

Brit3964

Ooh careful now, you'll be branded a Socialist or worse still an Independant I'd like to believe that Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future may still come true one day.

Zonie

He made a dog famous.

meauxna

I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't know what that means!

From wiki There is not any authoritative, universally accepted definition of the phrase "natural born citizen".

AmerLisa

Our daughter was born in the UK and because I'm American and registered her birth at the US Embassy, she's a naturalized US citizen. Or so I thought.

Jerseygirl

I thought a person had to be born on American soil to be president...but after Hobbes79's post I'm not so sure.

AmerLisa

No, well not the way I understood it. As I said, our daughter was born in the UK, but because we registered her birth at the US Embassy, she should be naturalized and be able (although this is not where I see her going ) to become president some day.

Jerseygirl

I see thanks Lisa.

md95065

You just have to remember that there are various patches of US soil outside of North America ...

chartreuse

I think you'll find that "naturalized" is the exact opposite of "natural born". I suspect your daughter is a natural born USC.