I hear a lot of talk about how undocumented immigrants are “sucking the system dry”, but I don’t see much data to back it up. Sure, it probably does happen, but it’s not the huge issue it is often made out to be, although guys like David Duke would have you believe otherwise. Notice that your friend said “uninsured patients”, not illegal aliens - lots of US citizens are uninsured because they can’t afford it in our system.

It’s kind of like the terrorists coming over the border story, and the Iraq WMD scare - it isn’t actually true, but that doesn’t stop people from constantly referring to it. I know that the health care situation is slightly different than these examples, since it does exist (on a smaller scale than some make it sound), whereas these others were just complete fabrications.

As for defending Saddam, I’ve never said he was a good guy, or that I approved of anything he’s ever done. Does that somehow mean that he shouldn’t have legal counsel? I do really look forward to this trial though, since he probably has a lot to say about his former close associations and sponsorship by/with Bush Sr., Rumsfeld, etc. When we ask him about gassing people, etc. the subject of who gave him those weapons might come up. For these reasons, I’m betting the trial will not be public.

OK, this post has gone off on about a million different directions…

“I can think of worse things than countries competing to help people who genuinely need it. Countries competing to build atomic weaponry, for example.”

I would also agree that the generosity of the individual people is important as well. I donated personally, because that’s really all I can do directly, by myself. At the risk of losing my “socialist” designation, I don’t think that the government should bear the complete burden for providing for this need.

However, given the structure of our government, and the fact that it is supposed to represent us (the people), I feel perfectly fine expressing my opinion to them that they should step up and give more (of the money we’ve given them) to causes that I think are worthy (like this relief effort) as opposed to those that I think are wrong (like the invasion). Of course, everyone will have a differing view on the value and importance of these things, and, as Michel mentioned above, that’s a part of the way the country works (or at least it’s supposed to).

Health care is a great example of this; it works best when there is an adequate base-level of help available to everyone, while still allowing room for private specialization and extra services, with a corresponding increase in personal cost. You can’t allow it to go completely private (although some conservatives will disagree), because private corporations will inevitably strive to be profitable, which means maximizing their money taken in while minimizing the products and services given out. Most HMOs we have right now in the US are a shining example of this kind of model.

I wonder if there are any stat comparisons on the generosity of different nation’s citizens. I would be much more proud to win that race than any government aid race in these cynical times.

Instead of looking to either the media or the soldiers for an opinion on how it’s going over there, why don’t we ask the Iraqi people themselves? Isn’t it their opinion that matters? Oh, wait, they *don’t* think it’s going well - maybe they need some more “liberation” (or torture), until they “realize” that they “appreciate” what we’re doing for them.