Man Self-immolates in National Mall

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Man douses himself in gasoline, sets himself on fire on the National Mall in Washington

Nothing yet about his motivation, but it's definitely a bad week for the capital.

Yeah. People are getting desperate. This is bad.

I was going to do a book tour for my book but had to cancel it because my disability application is now on hold due to the government shutdown. I'm essentially in limbo, and with funds quickly running out, it'll only be a matter of months before I'm homeless.

The sooner the government gets back on track, the better. I also noticed food stamps have been delayed. At least here in Washington anyway.

damned good for nothing TPers! and the boner man is going to have some 'splainin' to do when he and his maker meetup and compare notes.

Republican Representative Randy Neugebauer confronted a park ranger for not letting veterans into Washington's World War Two memorial, in a scene caught by cameras.

that crook is a candyassed poseur of a bully who would not dare do that to a male park ranger. the NERVE of that guy! he votes to shut down the gov't and then picks on some innocent park ranger over something he did in the first place!

I know . . . what the heck is she supposed to do, for Heaven's sake. What an old bully.

This reminds me of that one time a Vietnamese monk burned himself. History is repeating itself. *sigh*

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/04/us/man-on-fire-national-mall-washington/index.html

The unidentified man is in critical condition.

he would be far better off dead at this point.

I went to have blood drawn from me this afternoon for a1c testing. While speaking to the phlebotomist, I mentioned to her about the mess in Washington. She agreed that there's plenty of blame to go around between both parties. She wasn't quite sure what to think about my comment on subjecting the politicos to Applied Behavioral Analysis than to those of us on the spectrum.

Ann, since any talk of why this man self-immolated is premature, since we don't know what happened, how about a minor digression?

I noticed in your OP that you said "the capital" rather than the American capital, as your capital is in Ottawa. I'm guessing this is from watching the same news Americans do. Do you sometimes feel that you're part of the fifty-first state? Out of curiosity, do you watch Canadian news as well? And is this cultural inundation the reason some Canadians have less than warm attitudes toward the US, and are very vocal about it? I'm just curious. I wouldn't want to live anyplace else other than where I am, but I worry about the influence the US has, and not only militarily, but culturally. I'm not sure it's healthy.

Okay . . .


I'd say for a few reasons . . . WP is based in America (even though participants are from all over the place,) if I was posting about Ottawa, I would name it as it would be misleading otherwise. . . I do watch American news, but I watch Canadian and the BBC as well.
I don't feel that Canada is a state; we are very different. I can't see us blending well with the US as it is now. I think we are unique in the world in a good way.
I don't know that the US influences the world as much as might be thought. It's more like watching a spectacle with possible world-wide implications.



Very well. Thank you. Since I haven't been there in a long time, I can't speak of Canada personally. But they have been a lot more responsible than the US has in some ways, not the least of which is not running up such obscene amounts of debt.

as well as insuring that all of their citizens get health care.

Blabby, I certainly won't defend our health care system. But the problem is too much government rather than not enough. Costs are rising while incomes are stagnant or declining, and this has been the case for the last forty years. Right now, the federal government is paying medical schools not to train more doctors, thereby keeping the supply very limited, so they can charge exorbitant rates. Also, most drugs in the pharmacy, along with ordering medical tests, need to be made OTC.

Do these things, along with adopting sane economic policies that put Americans first in their own country, and the problems we are seeing will largely be gone.

but as long as the bigwigs are profiting handsomely from the present [pre-ACA] setup, nothing will change except by fiat.