[SunRescue] OT: CA: It's Our Turn

[Tim Harrison]

Patrick Giagnocavo wrote:

> I don't believe that YOUR need justifies stealing from ME, when you have no
> rightful claim on my work.

[snip]

> What *ACTUALLY* happens is that Americans end up paying the highest prices
> in the world for some drugs, because the USA is one of the few places that
> respects intellectual property.
> 
> Other countries, including Canada, make the drug companies sell at a lower
> price than the market will bear, or don't even recognize copyright or
> patents to begin with.
> 
> So poor Ugandans get their AIDS drugs, but poor Americans don't.  How
> exactly is this compassionate?!?

I'm sorry, I can't help myself.  I have to make a comment.  I'm hoping
it's going to be the only one, as I tend to get all wrapped up in stuff
like this.  So, here goes...

I think intellectual property is a shitty excuse for deciding that
hundreds of thousands of people should die.  Fsck intellectual
property.  If I had something that could increase the quality of life,
or, indeed, cure an illness, I'm bloody certain that I wouldn't quibble
about the amount I wanted to charge for it.  Whether the dying person
was Ugandan, American, or martian... if they needed something that I
had, then I'd damned well give it to them.

"Poor" Americans.  Poor Americans my ass.  As a Canadian, I'm quite used
to socialized medicare.  If something happens to me, and I don't have
coverage, I'm going to get treatment anyway.  The government pays for a
lot of things, including part of our drugs.  I think this is a wonderful
thing.  In case of emergency, I don't get turned away because I don't
have a cheque on me.

When I first moved to the US, I found it really hard to swallow the fact
that I was being asked for money when I went to the doctor's office for
a sore throat, or when my wife was ill, I had to give them my credit
card.  The people you should be blaming for the cost of medical care are
the insurance companies, not a Ugandian who doesn't have enough money to
feed a family properly.

The "praise America, damn the rest" attitude that I've run across in
some (not all, mind you -- most of my closest friends I met once I moved
down here) makes me ill and angry.  Pride in your country can be a good
thing.  Pride in your country, at the expense of others is not.  Don't
forget:  what you consider "anti American" is considered nationalistic
pride in another nation.

I'm sorry if this sounds like a personal attack, Patrick.  It's not
meant to be that way.  I just get frustrated when people say that the
Americans get the short end of the stick.  Try being one of the
unfortunate souls in Uganda with AIDS, trying to get medicine for you or
your family, and having someone say "I'm sorry, you'll never be able to
afford it because the American drug companies and insurance companies
say that it's 30 times more expensive than it should be."

</rant>

BTW, what are your thoughts on the Netra X1 over the AC200?  I'm trying
to decide which to buy for our shared hosting platform.  I figure, the
cost savings on the X1 would be nice, but the AC200 looks a bit more
powerful, and not IDE based.

-- 


Tim Harrison
Network Engineer
harrison at timharrison.com
http://www.networklevel.com/