Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Morwen Lagann]

Sadly, I don't think this is going to harm the Tea Party as much as it really should, because of the way the House collects seats: gerrymandering.

They've drawn their districts specifically so that they never, ever face any challenge from someone outside of the Republican party, because nearly all of their constituents are just as deaf, dumb and blind as they are and will happily vote for them again and again and again because the only people in those districts are people who will support them no matter what.

The problem will persist until sensible district lines are drawn and laws are passed to make gerrymandering illegal.

[orange]

Sadly, I don't think this is going to harm the Tea Party as much as it really should, because of the way the House collects seats: gerrymandering.

They've drawn their districts specifically so that they never, ever face any challenge from someone outside of the Republican party, because nearly all of their constituents are just as deaf, dumb and blind as they are and will happily vote for them again and again and again because the only people in those districts are people who will support them no matter what.

The problem will persist until sensible district lines are drawn and laws are passed to make gerrymandering illegal.

You do realize that the same technique keeps Democrats in office as well.  It isn't just a Republican activity.

It is actually required by the voting rights act to gerrymander to create majority racial minority districts in order to ensure a certain number of racial minority House members get elected.

[Victoria Stecker]

You do realize that the same technique keeps Democrats in office as well.  It isn't just a Republican activity.

While true, the Republicans did a much better (and more blatant) job of it in 2010. As such, 2012 was teh first time in US history that the party receiving fewer votes in House races ended up with more seats. I think the last count was that the democrats had something like 125-150 "safe" seats while the Republicans had damn near 200 - which is bad when a majority is 218.

Additionally, the democrats don't generally run quite such psychotic candidates, so it doesn't end up being quite as appalling.

At this point, my hope is that the Republicans will keep killing themselves for another 6 years to give the democrats a better shot at winning state elections in 2020. Maybe by then we'll have figured out some way to draw electoral districts (or get rid of them entirely) that isn't so open to abuse.

[orange]

In general we need to break the two party systems stragglehold on the system.  But this will effectively require a bloodless revolution in which both extremes are soundly defeated.

This requires a 4th estate more interested in truth than the power of its financiers, a 3rd estate willing to appreciate truth and not seeking the echo chamber, a neo-2nd estate (scientific community) that the 3rd estate is willing to listen to and that can effectively communicate with the 3rd through the 4th.

I think the 4th estates alliance with the 1st is killing the neo-2nd estate and blinding the 3rd.

[Katrina Oniseki]

UPDATE!

I just got back from the local clinic. Due to my income level, they only charged me a co-pay of $25, plus prescription costs. After speaking with the doctor and a quick examination, the Doctor determined that it was likely not the flu (because she hasn't had many other cases of flu in town yet) and was probably seasonal allergies. Apparently, allergies can cause fever, serious coughing, headaches, body aches, and all that other mess. I likely do not have pnuemonia, and the noises in my chest are probably the result of inflammation and post-nasal drip from my clogged sinuses.

Either way, it's too late past the original symptoms to judge what the original sickness was, and we're going to focus on covering the two most likely scenarios:

• That it could be allergies. An inhaler of [something?] was prescribed to help the wheezing in my lungs, but costs $53 so I cannot afford it right now. It's on hold at the pharmacy for me.
• That it may have been flu/cold and we're going to treat any residual infection just to cover our bases. A prescription of Azithromycin 250mg was prescribed instead of Penicillin because of drug allergies. I'll take a daily regimen of this for five days which should clear up any infection and prevent a pneumonia issue down the road.

I also got a sinus flushy thingy. It's basically a big squirt bottle that I flood my nose with warm saline to clear my sinuses. That will be fun!

If in a week I am not feeling any better or if it gets worse, she wants me back in her office this time next week. So, hopefully we've all seen the last of this seasonal horror story, and I will once again be an unproductive member of the RP community inundating you all with terrible puns and Caldari grumpiness.

[Lyn Farel]

You know what, the more I read about your case, the more it reminds me the shit I got the whole year until the doc found out what it was. Not sure if it was long enough to be chronic for you, but chronic coughing usually means 2 things and it is hard to find what it is usually :

- allergy to something, thus, an inhaler and stuff like that.
- gastric issues, which irritates the throat.

I was prescribed stuff for both, had to do an x-ray, nothing.

After 6 months I ended up to make a legion of blood tests to eventually find that I was positive to Pertussis (apparently coming back as I said earlier in the thread). I'm still recovering from it since it takes aaaaages to manifest itself, and then disappear. I just looked up the symptoms on wikipedia and apparently, it can involve The classic symptoms of pertussis are a paroxysmal cough, inspiratory whoop, and fainting and/or vomiting after coughing.[5] The cough from pertussis has been documented to cause subconjunctival hemorrhages, rib fractures, urinary incontinence, hernias, post-cough fainting, and vertebral artery dissection.[5] Violent coughing can cause the pleura to rupture, leading to a pneumothorax. If there is vomiting after a coughing spell or an inspiratory whooping sound on coughing, the likelihood almost doubles that the illness is pertussis. On the other hand, the absence of a paroxysmal cough or posttussive emesis makes it almost half as likely

So if you are coughing to the point of choking, or something unusual like that, keep that in mind. Considering the time it took them to understand what it was, and the fact that old vaccines are totally outdated now (I was vaccined...), well... I hope it's not that. It was annoying as hell, even if it was not really violent in my case.


edit ; apparently you already got one of the antibiotic against it.

[orange]

UPDATE!

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on it.  While it definitely spawned an interesting conversation, I appreciate you sharing the challenges you faced and what sounds like relative success you have had.

[Katrina Oniseki]

UPDATE!

Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on it.  While it definitely spawned an interesting conversation, I appreciate you sharing the challenges you faced and what sounds like relative success you have had.

Oh yeah. I know it's ridiculous, but finally taking a prescription antibiotic to knock out a 6 week issue makes me feel like I'm conquering a terminal illness. It's a really really encouraging feeling to know that it's finally and hopefully over.

On the other hand, now I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier when I was actually miserable.

[Vikarion]

On the other hand, now I'm kicking myself for not doing it earlier when I was actually miserable.

Hindsight is 20/20. Glad you are feeling better.   

[Katrina Oniseki]

Hindsight is 20/20.

Not for meeee! I've got the memory capacity of a sweaty doorknob.

[Vikarion]

Hindsight is 20/20.

Not for meeee! I've got the memory capacity of a sweaty doorknob.

*fetches cleaning rag*

[Makkal]

Dental is NHS subsidized, which is even better (as in the US Dentists are pretty much cowboys, and it isn't included in medical, for those who don't know - it is its own separate insurance plan.  For all the dumb teeth jokes, Brits are better covered in Dental than Americans without dental are.)

Yep, yep.

I currently have a tooth infection. A root canal I got about ten years ago has gone bad, which means I need an endodontist to fix it, and then my dentist will give me a new build-up and crown. Here's what I've paid/been quoted so far.

Dentist's Exam - $60
Lady at dentist's front desk writes me a referral to endodontist, plus prescriptions for antibiotic and pain killer - $19
Endodontist Exam - $90
Root Canal by endodontist - $900
Build-up - $280
Crown - $880

Total: $2,229

I don't recall what I had to pay for the prescriptions themselves.

I'm going to see if I can't get my dentist to just fix the crown instead of getting me a new one. Or I'll just skip the crown altogether until I can afford one.

Either way, if I seem on edge, it's because I'm in a ridiculous amount of pain right now.  Tylenol with Codeine #3 is a pussy little pain pill - whatever happened to dentists who proscribed oxycodone?

[Morwen Lagann]

Too many threats of or concerns over "OMG STOP PRESCRIBING POTENTIALLY ADDICTIVE DRUGS" lawsuits, probably. Plus, if they put you on a shitty, useless painkiller, odds are you'll come back complaining it isn't good enough and they'll get to make more money off of you by prescribing more shit.

[Arista Shahni]

Yeh, you won't get oxycodones without a serious, serious issue.  With the street value at ~$1/mg or more for the pure drug the DEA has their jackboots planted very firmly on that matter.

One of the main issues with tooth pain though is a lot of is could be considered nerve pain anyway.  Oxy and other opiates really do very little to fuck-all for that.  If they feel you're in enough pain and dealing with muscular spasms they may offer a benzodiazepine along with the painkiller (usually valium).  Depends on the doc though and if your jaw is in spasm.