Speaking of Health Care

This is just a conversation that I had with a guy I don't know on 2/21/11. All I do know about him is that he works for the military. I've put everyone down with just their initials showing. The guy to pay attention to is D S. I'm T S. I was admittedly slightly belligerent at first, but my curiosity helped me warm up after a while.

What sparked this was a post of an article 5 Myths About the Military You Believe (Thanks to Movies) by L K.


W G: Most important thing to take away from this article: "the mechanics do the work and the pilots get laid."

L K: Or this. http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/6/0/7/43607.jpg?v=1

W G: YES. I'm sending this to my enlisted buddy. *NOW*

T S: Sounds like any other job. Except you get free health care.

L K: Also our bosses can tell us where we are and are not allowed to hang out, where we are allowed to get said health care, and can call us in at any hour of any day (that we are not on leave).

T S: That still sounds like free health care to me. If I could get that somewhere in the US, I'd gladly go. Instead it's been... 11 years.

And where can't you hang out? And how often do you get called in at a ridiculous hour?

D S: No, it's free healthcare, for us and our family. It's amazing.

T S: I bet it is. But it seems like the article says that 70% of the military workers don't even face any sort of imminent danger. So why is it so vital that these fine people get socialized medical care while the rest of the working public of this nation is not deserving?

I realize that taking a military job is now fully by choice, but I also know that it wasn't my calling. And it seems so weird to think that military personnel are generally right-leaning when they're recipients of socialized health care. I guess if you're not paying for it, it's all good. I'd totally be on board with that too.

D S: T S, try sitting in a briefing and having the big boss complain about the government "taking over" healthcare. It was a silly day.

T S: Ha! If we were really feeling the anti-Communist agenda, we should make that the first thing to go -- health care for all non-combatant military. Elected officials should try it out as well. There's billions of tax dollars saved right there.

D S: Travis, but that would mean you hate the military. Why are you a socialist-nazi? I read that you hate kittens too.

The health care is a pain in the ass, but one of the main reasons I'll never get out is because my wife and I have 100% free healthcare.

T S: Oh, I forget elitism only works one way -- to the left. My two cats will tell you I was rather mean to them as kittens.

And I agree, even shitty VA (free) health care would be better than none. But does "support our troops" really mean I have to put someone on a higher pedestal who might do the exact same job that I do? If they were out kicking ass, that's another story. Yay guns and killing!

T S: But would you leave if there was *gasp* universal health care?!

D S: No, because I make a shitload of money.

T S: Damn you! They don't pay for your housing too, do they? Only if you're on base, right?

D S: Yeah, they do. I get about $1,100 a month for housing. Why would I live on base when I can life off base for cheaper?

T S: Dude. DUDE. Dude. I've lost my words. I wouldn't even need a salary on top of covered living expenses and health care. You must have like 5 cars, 3 boats, and 20 pairs of skis. I bet you could afford like 3 wives if it was legal.

D S: "Two wives are allowed in the Army, but one's too many for me!" Unrelated, but one of my favorite Pogues song.

I owe about $65,000 in student loans so I use my cash for that.

The enlisted guys don't make half of what we get. Well, that should change IMO. But, I take home about $2,300 every two weeks after taxes and that includes my housing and food.

Not half bad. In fact, I started in 2007, and in four years, I almost double my salary from when I started. I don't know many of my friends, in fact, I don't know any other friends that can say that.

Plus, if I get to do 20 years in service, I get half of my end salary, and free healthcare for life, for me and my family.(If I have kids, they get healthcare through college.)

Not a bad deal.

T S: I can't say that. Well, I'm currently unemployed...

So you didn't do ROTC? Seems like you'd be out if the red if you did.

Yeah. I almost got recruited into the Navy but pulled out at the last minute. That was 12 years ago.

D S: I did do ROTC, but I was a History major, and the military didn't want to give me money for that. Eh, no worries.

T S: Weird. That seems like something that should be supported, especially if it's American History, although it might bring to light parts of America's past that isn't all that great... And I can also see how it's not as "functional" as something like engineering.

I do archaeology when I'm on someone's payroll, so I support your endeavors.

Nice meeting you, sir.

D S: Good talk.

J L: Yeah, T S, I needed an x-ray for my knee the other day. Walked right over and 10 minutes later they were calling me back. How often does that happen in any hospital of Dr.'s office? That article was pretty spot on. I always feel bad for the Navy guys because in their boot camp it seems like they have 12 different uniforms to up keep.

Travis
Lucky bastard...

King of Fools

Take it or leave it; just throwing this out there. Feast of Fools is tied to the Roman Saturnalia which falls around Christmas time. However, I will argue that Feast of Fools was once associated with April Fools' Day, and I will also argue that this holiday once had a religious tie, specifically regarding Jesus as the King of Fools.

Saturnalia was the celebration of Saturn making his annual resurgence to the world as seen by the sun’s returning for longer durations after the winter solstice. This was a twelve day holiday in which the Feast of Fools was said to be involved. However, at one time, the Western New Year was said to be at the end of March or early April. This was the time slightly after the spring equinox where the light in one day was more than the duration of night in the given day.

So today people still celebrate Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday which falls somewhere between early February to early March. This is a celebration of making it through the winter where all the built-up stores could be consumed in anticipation of the coming spring and summer. One of the traditions during this holiday is the King’s Cake, or King of the Bean.

What happened here was that a cake was made and a coin, bean, or today a plastic baby Jesus was placed inside. Today, they who get the item in their cake slice will have certain privileges, including the purchase of the cake the following year. In Roman times, the “winner” was said to be the “King of Fools” or “Lord of Misrule”. Sometimes there was no cake but the person was simply elected.

This person had much more freedom in receiving this “honor”. This “king” was allowed to be as crude, promiscuous, and insidious as they wished. They had an entire month to basically do whatever they wanted. The newly anointed “Lord of Misrule” or “King of Fools” was paraded around the streets with a crown of palms and dressed in a purple or colorful robe, symbolizing their temporary stint of royalty. This holiday was also synonymous with the “Feast of Asses” where donkeys were led into churches and “sermons” were given followed by “hee-haw”, instead of the usual “amen”.

Now is there any coincidence that Palm Sunday occasionally lands on April 1st as it did in 2007?

But here’s the kicker. At the end of the month of misrule, the “king” is obligated to kill themselves as a sacrifice to the true ruler. So enter the Feast of Fools in which the person has their last chance to enjoy their hedonistic ways before meeting their maker. How this relates to Passover, I don’t know, but it seems like Jesus knew what was coming and accepted it.

What is also interesting is that Barabbas was generally not a person’s name in Syrian tradition, but this was likely a misspelling of “Karabbas” was the name for this mock-king. In the Gospels, Barabbas was the person who Jesus took the place of on the cross.

So as the god Attis, who is the god of vegetation and who is also said to have died and come back to life every spring, and is closely related to almond trees, might Jesus have just been a representation of this annual event rather than this being a one-time deal where Jesus, through death was able to rewrite the Old Testament? I’m going with Jesus being ritually sacrificed.