This is very disturbing. That's not what marriage should be about. It's too bad that's what it becomes to many people. I wish her the best of luck in finding what she needs, I also wish it wasn't necessary.

What is "marriage" about, then? If it isn't about two people trying to support each other through the maze of life, what is it about? It used to be about property (women were property to be given to men).. then it was about women not being allowed to own anything, so they needed to marry for food and shelter and protection (virtually property).. now it is magically supposed to be about "people loving each other"?

The legal constructs of marriage are a contractual issue, nothing more. You don't need to be married to stay with someone you love forever.. and if you get symbolically married because you love someone, you don't have to get contractually married.

What's disturbing (to me) is just how entrenched in tradition we are as a species. We do things "just because".. and that is no way to move into the future. It used to make sense, we used to be much more primitive technologically and the world was a much more strange and dangerous place. Now there is no excuse for our backward mentalities. Marriage is just another in a long string of out dated, useless paradigms we should shed; people should be living their lives on their own terms, enjoying their own lives, not figuring out how to survive. We have the means, we have the knowledge, we just don't seem to have the will.. it is subverted by the few that live like gods among men, exploiting the planet (and destroying it) and keeping the masses ignorant and subjected to archaic thinking that prevents truly moving forward as a species.

But, I suppose.. evolution is a slow process, even in the modern world of technology and knowledge. It just seems odd that intellectual evolution is so slow; I understand why biological evolution is so slow.

Disturbing in the same way as seeing a staving person on the side of the road with a sign that reads, " will work for food."

As long as she's marrying a guy for his insurance, the right-wing will be fine with this.. but god forbid she should "marry" a woman for the same reasoning, right?

This is a perfect example of what's wrong with right-wingers in America (and the world). They don't give a shit about anyone else, but demand to meddle in their lives and affairs. This woman is being drained by the medical/pharma industries and when her money is dried up, she'll be tossed aside by them like so much garbage. So much for the "greatest nation on earth", eh?

People being healthy and living their lives should not be a for-profit endeavor. Those that prey on the sick are the most vile of our species and should be put down for the greater good of humanity.

As long as she puts out i would marry her in a heartbeat.

Try Medical Exile, that worked for me. Ten years of not being home for Christmases, birthdays, funerals, not being there for my children and grandchildren, not being there to help my aging parents. A decade of loneliness and pain. But hey, I've got affordable health care and am alive.

There are 10s of 1000s just like me all over the world... denied the basic right to live and to live in our own home town, home state and home country.

...and the pursuit of happiness." Hasn't happened yet.

I'm a marriage celebrant for a Virginia county and have witnessed several instances of obviously ill people marrying others who do not seem to have anything in common with them. A couple of years ago I married a couple in which the woman wore the tell-tale chemo turban of a cancer patient and married a man at least 10 years her junior. Their behavior and the way they spoke to each other made it clear to me that he was a friend who was marrying her so she could have his insurance. This is actually the case with many of the people who come to me to marry. Many times I have been asked how soon the papers will be filed so they can get their certified copy and put the new spouse on the other spouse's insurance. If we ever had serious health reform in this country my business would go down the tubes. As a family lawyer the converse is true, too. Health insurance is an ever present factor in determination of everything from child support to spousal support to the final decision to actually split up. I've known people who stayed for years in loveless, sometimes violent, marriages because a divorce would sever their only access to health insurance.

This country NEEDS universal health coverage. Single payer is the way to go, but at this point I'd just settle for a public option and mandates forbidding exclusions based on pre-existing conditions, contract rescission, or discrimination based on age, gender, or current health status. Unfortunately, we have been so conditioned in the U.S. to think of universal health care as "socialist" and to think of all things "socialist" as somehow evil or undesirable that I have no hope whatsoever that we'll ever go to single payer. Just look how many lies are spread about the systems of other countries. In England EVERYONE pays about $3,000 a year for health care coverage, whereas the average American WITH an employer underwritten policy pays about $9,000 plus deductibles plus over-limit assessments plus "out of plan" overages. We've been bamboozled by a greedy industry intent on sucking us dry. This mess is affecting our country's prosperity. People worried about covering health care costs can't go out and stimulate the economy by buying consumer goods.

I would say this is an act that a Schindler would do today. It would be nice to see if it progressed to a point that it brought attention to the death care nazis and single payer would be passed, poisoning the medical care for profiteers.

I don't blame her a bit. Do it before the "Thought Police" from the death care companies will be in charge of regulating marriage as "pre-existing."

The mormons did almost the same thing when they "brought" polygamy into their fold. The trip to utah was killing a lot of the men off and it left the women and children to make the harsh travel on their own. Church officials "helped" by letting men that could "afford" extra wives and children to marry these widows to basically save their lives.

And all that extra pussy had nothing to do with it, especially the 12 year old daughters (and sons) that were part of the bargain. They were also used for slave labor when not bent over in front of their "earthly father."

Yep, they were doing it solely out of the kindness of their hearts. The Mormon church has been and continues to be a haven for pedophiles, evil wrapped in a heavenly mantle. It should be destroyed along with every other "organized" religion.

Robert S. Finnegan
SoutheastAsia Independent Media
rsfinnegan@gmail.com
Jakarta, Indonesia