Barry White dies.....

[Wombat]

He shall live on. A fragment of him must exist in every child conceived to his music - and that my friends, is quite the army.

[thop]

Just read he was waiting for a kidney transplantation.

[lAmerZ]

[Admiral]

It really comes as a surprise

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
The "official" cause of death was kidney failure, but he had a major stroke some time ago and has never really recovered from it. This is unfortunately a common problem with black males that starts with a very high rate of hypertension in that demographic, which can bring on both strokes and kidney failure. The rate of kidney failure in black males is about 20x that of other populations because of this.

Part of the root cause is an inherent sensitivity to sodium in black males and the fact that, again unfortunately, they tend to eat high sodium diets.

Much of the dietary issue is cultural since southern "soul" cooking was and still is very high in salt content, and these eating habits and taste for salted food have spread with the black population as they moved across the US.

Medical types are very frustrated at how difficult it's been breaking this habit, especially among young males who tend to think they're immortal anyhow....be they black, white, red, yellow or green with pink polka-dots

Dr. Mordrid

"Medical types" would be a lot less "frustrated" at the pathetic level of preventative care people seek if they did not charge $1000 for a 10 minute visit wherein they act like they are superior beings because they are doctors. My vet gives my cat more respect.

No wonder I haven't seen a Dr. for a physical in 25 years. No insurance, can't get insurance, got sneered at by some ****ing uppity assed prick doctor in the ER once because I didn't have insurance. Doctors don't give a shit about anything but making money in America, and because they are so highly paid, they tend to look down at everyone else as scum unless they have the bucks to help them make the payments on their Mercedes' and million dollar houses. In America, your worth as a human being is 100% dependent upon the amount of money you make, and due to the predation of the likes of Wal-Mart and other such unchecked monopolist capitalists, the number of people who can afford to be sick is shrinking fast. I hope I don't die of kidney failure before I see doctors getting their comeuppance.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

hey, come join us in Canada

0 dollar when it comes to seeing doctors

[Dr Mordrid]

Sorry KV...they've been making public service announcements and trying to push low salt diets to those at risk for 40 years with no effect, so don't lay it off on the cost of health care. Besides: most any child that needs health care in this country can get it if the parents do their part. Here in Michigan we have the MIChild program. Most other states have something similar.

As for Canada's health care system, don't make me laugh. That system is on the verge of collapse plus our for-pay hospitals are doing land office business because Canadians themselves know their system sucks.

Ex: heart and other major care patients wait literally years to get even diagnostic tests, with many dying before they can get treatment. Put 'em off 'til they die; THAT is Canada's version of "managed care"

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Sorry KV...they've been making public service announcements and trying to push low salt diets to those at risk for 40 years with no effect, so don't lay it off on the cost of health care.

I would say that an approach that has been tried for this long without effect was ill-conceived from the beginning. If you want action on this, get laws passed. "No single serving dinner may have more than 700mg of sodium content" or some such.

Besides: most any child that needs health care in this country can get it if the parents do their part. Here in Michigan we have the MIChild program. Most other states have something similar.

So if you are over 18 and not yet a self-made billionaire like Lee Iacocca, it's your own damn fault, you slacker, so you deserve to die from lack of health care! After all, America is the land of opportunity, right? Why do you single out children as having more right to health care than anyone else? Their parents, who are working their asses off to make a living and support government programs aimed at everyone's benefit but their own, these people who make America work deserve nothing.. if they aren't rich it's their own damned fault, right? Maybe it's their own fault for being self-employed, or working for a small business that can't afford some group plan? Whatever. What are you gonna tell someone like Lizzie who got bitten by a spider, spends a week in a hospital, and winds up with a bill 3 times her annual pay? "Sorry, that's what you get for being an uninsured adult who isn't filthy rich?"

I'm all for weeding out the chaff in society, but fanatical laissez-faire capitalism is NOT the way. According to this, an 18yo moron who is 7 feet tall and plays basketball is worth 3000 times more as a person than an elementary school teacher. Because this difference impacts so directly upon the possibility of paying for health care, society is telling us just exactly that. I have noticed quite dramatically how the middle class has nearly vanished from America over the past 20 years. It's due to the screwing up of values by unchecked capitalism pandering to the basest impulses of the commonest people in society. The lack of any real leadership is equally to blame. No human being is worth 3000 times what another is worth (if anything, that teacher is worth 3000 times what the pro athlete is. She's probably trying to support a family, if she was so irresponsible as to decide that she could actually support one on her salary, while he is buying gold jewelry and cocaine by the boatload.) We are talking about feudalism here.. virtual indentured servitude.. but it is the best people slaving away to support the worst. We are elevating people who mirror the basest part of our natures and beating down what is best, out of some mania for democracy that says the masses are always right. Modern society disgusts me.

[Dr Mordrid]

Your autocratic socialism is showing

Would the politically correct socialist types accept this kind of limitation of their sacred cow activities? I think not. Can you say hypocracy?

Like it or not at some point individual responsibilty has to take hold. Maybe not as regards kids, where you can hold parents responsible, but certainly Mr. White had at least 40 years of adult-hood to repent his dietary sins. He didn't and now we see the result. Lesson learned for most of us, but some people don't care. Their decision and their responsibility.

As for passing laws forbidding more than 750mg of salt in a meal, how do you plan on managing allocation? Also; blacks may only be able to handle 500mg, so what will you say to those that sue saying you're "discriminating" against their right to salt pork in their beans?

Take your food NAZI's and pffftttt....

Please note my reference to MIChild, a program for those children without health insurance. That is far from "laissez-faire" sir. It's also not the only program out there for those without employer based health care. WIC is there for pregnant women and children up to 5 years and Medicaid provides managed & preventive care to those on various kinds of assistance. Medicare parts A & B cover those with disabilities, including children, and are part of the Social Security program.

Dr. Mordrid

[KvHagedorn]

Originally posted by Dr Mordrid
Your socialism is showing

I would have expected something less flippant as a response. This sort of attitude is what has gotten us to the far extreme that we have come to. It is simplistic and unfair. This is what is so disgusting about American "culture".. all things must be boiled down to their basest and most simplistic, the lowest common denominator. Everything must be distilled into black and white choices.. good or evil... easier for the common lowlife to decide how to vote that way, isn't it? Especially when all the rich ****oles who REALLY pull the strings want their money's worth from all those campaign ads they are buying.

Please note my reference to MIChild, a program for those children without health insurance. That is far from "laissez-faire" sir. It's also not the only program out there for those without employer based health care. PIC is there for pregnant women and babies and Medicare provides managed & preventive care to those on assistance.

I noted it, mentioned it, and made no argument against it. I didn't notice you taking note of my main argument, however, which was what about all the people who do not fit into this narrow target area? Suppose Lizzie wanted to get married and have a family, yet her life was ruined by a spider bite, so this is now impossible for her to contemplate? She is an indentured servant to that hospital now for however many years of her life it takes to pay off that ridiculous bill. (Sorry for dragging you into this, Liz.. but you are a perfect example, and we all know you are a very real case, and I DARE Mordrid to say that your life is not worth saving. )

As for passing laws forbidding more than 750mg of salt in a meal, how do you plan on allocation? Blacks may only be able to handle 500mg...

Another reason for having a homogenous population.

If I might quote myself, elsewhere on these forums I said "I contend that an established culture based on principles of honor is the essential thing which is required for any governmental system to work." This means Communism, Fascism, Federalism, Parliamentarianism, Totalitarianism, Anarchism, or whatever other "ism" you want to try and define. Don't even try and pigeonhole my politics; you and everyone else here should know better than that by now. What I am talking about does not fit easily into current frames of reference. Do I believe in socialized medicine? Define socialized medicine and I will tell you. I believe socialized medicine would be unnecessary if we were to limit the extremes to which remuneration can go in this country. The minimum wage laws are a joke. There needs to be a more creative approach to making remuneration more equal in society. One of those things has traditionally been education, but one of the side effects of our extremely pure laissez-faire capitalism has been the devaluation of education, as I inferred above. Not only this, but the traditional values of honor themselves have been devalued. This will lead us into another dark age.. in fact, I can feel the shadows falling...

[KvHagedorn]

Heh.. caught you before you edited that hmm?

Try "preview" next time.

[Drizzt]

Originally posted by KRSESQ
What the heck is going on this summer? We're losing way too many good people all of a sudden.

"candle that burn twice, last half"