insurance is power.

stefano and i drinking white wine in the afternoon over a newspaper, headline shot of a boy in salute with trumpeting men behind, a military procession. stefano points to the article and says 'look. six men died, our men died in iraq fighting the war YOU started.'
my eyes grow hot with knowing guilttears and i shoot back angrily, 'i did NOT start that war.'
'oh excuse me, the president YOU elected.'
'you're an asshole.'
'oh excuse me excuse me the president you elected TWICE.'
'you are such an asshole.'



why is italy fighting in that war anyway? he says we're allies you saved our ass in the second world war and now we have to go along with every war you start which is every couple of months. iraq! okay... afganistan! iran! okay...

he says i was almost home. for a couple of months after the second world war, there were so many us troops in sicily who had set up shop to go north and kick hitler's ass, they wanted to make sicily the 51st state. then some shit happened with the CIA and the project was aborted.


i went today with marilia and the three babies to the doctor. we didnt pay for parking, parked right in front of the building actually. there was no one in the waiting room, which was clean and modern and uplifting to walk into. the walls donned beautiful colorful abstract paintings and collages. we were sent immediately back to the doctor's office, which was also the examination room. this sounds much scarier than it was. it was an office with mismatching eye-pleasing furniture, some toys, old style scales and a table with doctor's tools in a cute kiddie toybox. he had a medicine bag that opened down the middle like those in the westerns. he was kind of old, talked for an hour with marilia about the children's eating habits, teeth pain, and development in walking, and examined each of the children thoroughly. the room was large and reminded me nothing of the sterile, stifling doctor's offices in america which make you sick just by sitting in them.

since this was a private visit (he is a public doctor but marilia lives outside of his geographical boundaries), she paid him. for the 1.5 hour visit, and three patients, it was 80 euro. he wrote her 3 prescriptions for the babies, and helped us carry them out to the car, using his umbrella to shield them from the rain.

when we got home marilia called the farmacia and told them what medicine she needed. they delivered it about 30 minutes later. faster than most pizza places. and free.

what the hell is so scary about any of that? that is the best you can get even if you want to pay for it and it is still much cheaper MUCH cheaper than america. if you're going to pay taxes anyway what the hell should they go to? public education is a joke in america and roads should be a given. what has your government done for you lately?
why are americans pretending they have money to throw at insurance companies? why are they resisting using their tax dollars to help everyone lead healthy lives?

for a country that prides itself on being a step ahead of the rest, america is really behind the times.

and for a christian country it sure is a selfish one. fuck helping my brother out with my tax dollar, he'll abuse it anyway.


ivo summed it up in a thick italian accent while we watched obama on tv. i asked him 'why dont the american people want free healthcare?'
'insurance is power!'