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Greetings from Canada
We are testing out the Canadian healthcare system on Richard’s oldest daughter. Cleo, an avid soccer player, rearranged the interior of her knee joint last year and after a valiant effort to treat the mess with physical therapy, she reluctantly came to the conclusion that surgical repair would be required.
So far, in comparison to the home-based healthcare system known fondly around our house as BC/BS CareLESS or Care-Not-At-All, I have to say that this system, while peculiar in its own ways, is a stripped down but effective process. No one actually has any additional information, such as where one is supposed to go and when, but a doyenne of French-Canadian efficiency, in blue scrubs, is obviously in charge and is good-natured and directive.
We decide to obey.
Cleo, who is more fluent in French than we are (years spent in Washington DC have inured us to most communicative language and our fuzzy brains scramble to remember the language of romance), translates the rapid-fire instructions: Sit and wait. You will be called in based on order of importance.
Finally! Honesty in healthcare!
Cleo is called and Richard retires to a sunny picnic table outside to nap. I have gone through all of the old People and Us magazines, noting which hot romances of a year ago are already kaput and which hot new fall movies of 2006 we never saw and have no memory of.
The newspaper reveals a little too much attention, for my taste, on Karl Rove’s imminent departure, but the Stephen Harper lampooning is reassuring. The French-Canadians sitting here with me seem, if nothing else, sensible and down-to-earth. The surgeon comes out to joke with the family members; this is not Gray’s Anatomy, the doctors are more Patrick Stewart than Patrick Dempsey.
We are grateful to be NOT-in-the-USA and relax into the sense of basic competence and straightforwardness that is Quebec.
The French are different, but their practicality overrides the tendency for the overly-dramatic and I am grateful for the simple time passing, waiting, the ease of it all without the billing dramas, the denials of coverage, the sudden arrivals of gunshot victims, etc. that is the hospital scene in DC too often.
C’est vie. We will check in later, post-surgically, to see how the lower America is faring this Friday.
Lower America... you got that right.
How low can you go, eh?
Tears of Rage
by Bob Dylan and Richard Manuel
We carried you in our arms
On Independence Day,
And now you'd throw us all aside
And put us on our way.
Oh what dear daughter 'neath the sun
Would treat a father so,
To wait upon him hand and foot
And always tell him, "No"?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Why must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so alone
And life is brief.
We pointed out the way to go
And scratched your name in sand,
Though you just thought it was nothing more
Than a place for you to stand.
Now, I want you to know that while we watched,
You discover there was no one true.
Most ev'rybody really thought
It was a childish thing to do.
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so low
And life is brief.
It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe.
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse.
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so low
And life is brief.
Recently my wife and I were in Calgary, Banff and Canmore for Canada Day. While watching fireworks we spoke at length with the ExCEO of Canada's largest healthcare provider and numerous other Canadians in healthcare. They were shocked to hear that American employers spend $1200 per month for their workers and generally felt sorry for Americans and what they saw as miserable healthcare system in contrast to what you read in the mainstream media. They laughed at Americans making fun of their system and criticizing their wait period for Elective procedures of up to the 3 months. While there their government announced a billion infusion to cut their wait period, but again they make sure that we understand that for heart attacks and emergency care that their care is second to none. This gentleman also made sure that we understood that Canadian corporations could not endure the $1200/month cost for employees of US companies.
Does anyone know of any US workers who would brag about putting in 5 hour days at work?
The Not:
snip
"And perhaps today is not shaping up to be any smoother for Giuliani as he encounters the double-edged sword that is his calling card -- his 9/11 stewardship. Responding to complaints that he didn't guard against health risks at Ground Zero, "he has boasted that he faced comparable risks himself" at least three times, per The New York Times' Ross Buettner. Though no records exist for Sept. 11-Sept. 16, his mayoral archive shows that he spent a total of 29 hours at the site in the three-month period beginning Sept. 17, "often for short periods or to visit locations adjacent to the rubble," Buettner writes. "In that same period, many rescue and recovery workers put in daily 12-hour shifts."
snip
"The Edwards camp can make up for some of the bad press today by reading and re-reading The New York Times' David Brooks mostly glowing op-ed championing his campaign rationale for running for president. "The Edwards campaign is based on the same conviction that organized his last campaign: no one understands regular people the way he does," Brooks writes. "No one else can get out of a bus in places like Pocahontas, Iowa, and bond with the farmers, nurses and hairstylists the way he can. No one else comes from their ranks the way he does." (The campaign may need to take a brief break from debate prep to make sure every donor and potential donor sees this piece today.)"
from ABC The Note
"The Note" typo
Posted by: Bubba at August 17, 2007 11:35 AM
And we are talking about Alberta, the most reactionary/US-like province in Canada...
If Albertans know something about healthcare that we don't know, then the US is in serious trouble.
DICK CHENEY - YOU TUBE SUPER-STAR:
(TWO VIDEOS NOW)
Cheney in 1994 on Iraq
01:23
Added: 2 days ago
From: karinmoveon
Views: 940,059
2745 ratings
Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire C-SPAN
01:22
Added: 6 days ago
From: grandtheftcountry
Views: 618,054
4450 ratings
_________________
http://impeachgonzales.org/
"Follow the money." All the President's Men
http://www.thesoapboxroadshow.com
Lamestream media reports on the likeliness of "socialist" universal healthcare:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20002130/
REPOST:
As for FOX trying to get the action in DC on Sept. 15 stifled and as for their attempt to revise Wikipedia in their favor (for propagation of propaganda), it's because of this:
They hate us for our freedom.
Posted by: Not My President at August 17, 2007 09:07 AM
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
I just talked by phone with the D.C. public works person about the posters and the $10,000 fine. He was polite with me and told me the situation as they see it in D.C.. He said there were over 100 violations of a sign ordinance (I asked for the ordinance which he said he would email me today) and that city residents were complaining about the posters first ( not Fox News ). He said D.C. is a blue city and that the mayor has endorsed Obama (LOL!!!! sorry Hillary...) but they don't like all the posters everywhere...
When I receive his email I will post it here...
Posted by: Ralpheh at August 17, 2007 09:58 AM
Canadian executives we spoke with were shocked to hear that American employers spend $1200 per month for their workers and generally felt sorry for Americans's healthcare, American corporsations and our miserable healthcare system. In contrast to what you read in the mainstream media about the failure of Canada's healthcare system it is a source of Canadian national pride. Their economy is booming. We saw signs all over Calagary desperately seeking workers, in malls, restaraunts, hotels. Does that sound like socialized medicine has destroyed their economy? Waitresses are making $10-$15 per hour plus tips, retirement and healthcare. Their cost of living is higher because of the boom in shale oil drilling but ask a Calagarian what socialized medicine has done to their economy. It kind of reminds me of Senator Phil Gramm's pronouncement prior to the 1993 budget deficit reduction legislation that it would drive our economy into the ditch, 50 million jobs later. Both Republican comments were way off base.
Would like oncall's comments about this subject.
from the D.C. DPW on the ANSWER posters:
Thank you very much for your call. Let me be clear on a couple of things. Contrary to what has been reported, the only connection that we have with FOX News is the fact that they did a story on poster violations which prompted more DC residents to call in and complain. These complaints had been coming in prior to the news story. ANSWER was only asked to take down those posters in violation. The statements that the ANSWER Coalition is making with regard to normal practice here in DC is utterly false. I work at this desk during local election cycles and I assure you a lot of manpower is dedicated to making sure that candidates follow the letter of the law with regards to campaign posters. The $10,000 figure is the result of 100+ violations. Honestly, I just took a call from another anti-war, anti-bush DC resident who applauded our efforts because their particular neighborhood was flooded with posters.
Please note that I am not speaking for the agency. I wanted to address you personally. I am not allowed to express personal political opinions. Suffice it to say that I would never defend taking away anyone's right to free speech and I honestly believe that did not happen here.
Posted by: Bubba at August 17, 2007 12:06 PM
I hate to say this, but I must.
The US deserves the sorry healthcare system that it has, because when real reforms were proposed in 1993, the PEOPLE responded by ousting the Democrats from Congress.
These are the same PEOPLE who made madman W the most powerful person on Earth - twice.
I have no faith in this country's electorate anymore.
Another lie from my neocon father re: Canada -
Canada is in serious economic doldrums.
Honestly, I don't think Vancouver would be attracting tons of Chinese immigrants, if its economy were sour.
Vancouver IS sour for the Korean bastards who want a more right-wing place, and move on to the US. But the Koreans are the exception, not the rule.
The only sour place in Canada, possibly, is Montreal, because of the uncertainty over the Quebec independence issue.
No Ally we don't deserve GB or our miserabble healthcare system, none of us. I post so much about Canada's healthcare system b/c everything I have read about it implies that Canadians dislike it.Far from it. I just wish that the mainstream media would go up there and interview some of the same sort of people we spoke with, to give Americans an accurate report of what universal healthcare coverage looks like. While we were there for only ten days it seemed to be a common topic of conversation. Maybe it was just b/c it was their version of July 4th but we saw a lot of national pride in their country, their economy, a self confidence, a bounce in their step I don't see here.
Bubba,
According to my neocon father's not-so-neocon friend in British Columbia, the Canadians are sick and tired of their high tax burden, and on the verge of a tax revolt.
He further told me that the reasons that the tax revolt NEVER actually happens are twofold - healthcare, and general competence of government. The Canadians pay dearly for their government, but they like what they get in return, especially compared to W's America.
He told me that virtually nobody around him liked W, and the intellectuals all predicted disaster upon hearing of W's election victory in 2000.
This friend is a hotelier, btw, and if things get really out of hand in the US, I will take refuge at his hotel for a while.
Ask your father in law if he would trade lower taxes in exchange for America's healthcare system. Their economy is booming and their quality of life seemed to be high. T Shirts and food cost about 10% more but imagine a waitress earning a real living wage of $10-$15 perhour plus healthcare, and retirement savings and employers begging to find these workers. just imagine an American economy like that, I can't because of Republican demagogues who think that all that matters is reducing taxes. No one wants to pay more taxes, but it seems like Americans are searching for a government that can compitently deliver services and not WASTE their tax money. Getting real services for their tax dollars like a well run healthcare system is better than a govt that is busy kicking back tax credits to oil executives here.
Bubba,
The Canadian friend (not an in-law, btw) certainly won't settle for US-style government in exchange for lower taxes, as much as he thinks his burden is high.
In fact, while visiting this friend in suburban Vancouver, my father, bragging about his alleged fishing trip with W back in his Texas days, really stood out as an oddball.
But then, we're talking about someone who thinks Katrina is exactly what NOLA deserved. (My father, that is, not his Canadian friend)
HOUSE BILL TO HAVE THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE INVESTIGATE ALBERTO GONZALES:
H.RES.589
Title: Directing the Committee on the Judiciary to investigate whether Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General of the United States, should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.
Sponsor: Rep Inslee, Jay [WA-1] (introduced 7/31/2007) Cosponsors (27)
Latest Major Action: 7/31/2007 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on Rules.
Posted by: Ralpheh at August 17, 2007 01:50 PM
FBI chief's notes: Ashcroft 'feeble,' 'stressed' after Gonzales visit
Aug 17, 2007
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House demanded in 2004 that the Justice Department approve a secret national security program without allowing the ailing attorney general, "feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed," to discuss the matter with top advisers, according to the FBI director's personal notes.
The partially censored notes from FBI chief Robert S. Mueller, dated March 12, 2004, describe a distraught and feeble Attorney General John Ashcroft in his hospital room just moments after being visited by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card, the president's chief of staff at the time.
Mueller's account backs up earlier descriptions of the dispute over whether to continue the program despite Justice Department concerns about its legality.
Last month, Mueller told a House committee that the clash was about the government's warrantless wiretapping; Gonzales and the White House denied that and said it was about other intelligence activities.
"Saw AG," Mueller wrote in his timed log of the events on the evening of March 10, 2004. "Janet Ashcroft in the room. AG is feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed." Ashcroft was in the hospital with pancreatitis.
Before seeing Ashcroft, Mueller met with then-Deputy Attorney General Jim Comey at the hospital about 7:40 p.m., the notes indicate. Comey said Ashcroft told Card and Gonzales that he would not approve the classified terrorist surveillance program, which was set to expire the next day.
"The AG then reviewed for them the legal concerns relating to the program," Mueller's notes show. "The AG also told them that he was barred from obtaining the advice he needed on the program by the strict compartmentalization rules of the WH."
FBI director appears to contradict Gonzales
Gonzales became attorney general less than a year later.
White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Thursday that Ashcroft was fully briefed on the program but could not discuss it with advisers who were not. Fratto declined further comment.
The notes were released by the House Judiciary Committee, which had asked Mueller to hand them over when he testified in late July. The committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers, D-Michigan, said the notes prove the White House tried to strong-arm the ailing Ashcroft.
"Particularly disconcerting is the new revelation that the White House sought Mr. Ashcroft's authorization for the surveillance program, yet refused to let him seek the advice he needed on the program," Conyers said in a statement.
more from the compassionate ones here...
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/17/gonzales.ashcroft.ap/index.html
love and good health care to all !!!!!!!!!!!
hugs!
lil sis
Puzzling Evidence
by Talking Heads
You got the CBS...!
And the ABC...!
You got Time and Newsweek!
Well, they're the same to me!
Now don't you wanna get right with me?
(Puzzling Evidence)
I hope you get ev'rything you need
(Puzzling Evidence)
Puzzling Evidence
Puzzling Evidence
Puzzling Evidence
Done hardened in your heart
Hardened in your heart.
...Alright!u
Now I am the gun
And you are the bullet
I got the power and glory!
(Puzzling)
And the money to buy it!
(Puzzling)
Got your Gulf and Western and your MasterCard
(Puzzling Evidence)
Got what you wanted, lost what you had
(Puzzling Evidence)
I'm seeing
Puzzling Evidence
Puzzling Evidence
Puzzling Evidence
Done hardened in your heart
It's hardened up your heart.
...alright!
Huh...huh...huh...huh...huh...huh...huh...u
Well, I'm puzzling (Huh!)
I'm puzzling (Huh!)
I'm puzzling (Huh!)
Puzzling (Huh!)
I'm puzzling (Huh!)
Woo...I'm puzzling (Huh!)
Sometimes I'm puzzling! (Huh!)
See the little children! (Puzzlin')
And the family! (Puzzlin')
Gonna live together! (Puzzlin')
Take them home with me! (Puzzlin')
Well I hope you're happy with what you've made
(Puzzling Evidence)
In the land of the free and the home of the brave
(Puzzling Evidence)
I'm seeing
Puzzling Evidence
Puzzling Evidence
Puzzling (sometimes) evidence
Done hardened in your heart
Hardened in your heart
Huh...huh...huh...huh...huh...huh...huh...
I'm puzzling (Huh!)
Puzzling (Huh!)
Puzzling (Huh!)
P-P-P-Puzzlin'! (Huh!)
Still Puzzlin'! (Huh!)
A Return To The Bad Old Days?
The brutal murders of three Newark college students are a sign of a larger problem: Violent crime rates, after years on the decline, are on the increase in many cities across the country.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20320054/site/newsweek/
Clint Curtis, the whistle blower who worked for Yang Enterprises and was asked by corrupt congressman Tom Feeney to create vote flipping software to “control the vote” in southern Florida, is blogging on DailyKos.
Miracles do happen! Clint’s Diary is number 1. Over 2000 hit between 6-8AM today. I’ve been told his almost never happens on Kos. Check out Steve’ Dairy Science Friday on the front page of www.dailyKos.com.
Look for Clint’s guest Blog on Bradblog this weekend and for our fund raising blast next week http://www.ActBlue.com/page/ClintCurtis.
WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Tony Snow said Friday he'll leave sometime before the end of the Bush presidency because of financial pressures.
He declined to say when he would depart, but that, "I'm going to stay as long as I can."
The 52-year-old Snow, the father of three children, earns $168,000 as an assistant to the president but made considerably more as a conservative pundit and syndicated talk-show host on Fox News Radio. He was named press secretary on April 26, 2006.
"I will not be able to make it to the end of this administration, just financially," Snow said.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20320804/
Awww, poor Tony can't make it on $168,000 a year...
I don't believe those US death numbers at all Christy, I believe the estimated number of wounded, the deaths I believe are much higher but it is just that we cannot prove it.
I remember body bags with US military dogtags buried in Iraq.
So what the real numbers are is anybodies guess
Posted by: rossiann at August 17, 2007 10:58 AM
Right again Rossi.
After what we saw together, there is no way in hell I believe the casualty or wounded numbers.
No way.
I still wonder about those 'green card soldiers' pretty much every day. And the journalists killed.
No way those mass graves and reporters getting sniped are unrelated. No way.
God, just thinking about it still makes me so freaking angry, and I have no idea what to do about it.
BTW, my regards to Cleo. I am glad yall have access to a better system.
I hope she recovers 100%.
"My brother just had to have his spine rebuilt, or reinforced shall we say. Lots of pain, but is expected to recover 100%. So miracles do happen!)
Sending you good vibes.
HAHAHA!
The ACLU is planning to run this ad in the hometown papers of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=832
We are back at Cleo's apt., post-surgery. It was such a relaxed and uncomplicated experience, we are in some awe!
Ally, from sunny Montreal, where we are listening to young people speaking French on the fire escape outside in this lovely Portuguese neighborhood, I have to say that our observations, along with Cleo's experiences of two years thus far, support the notion that differences can be worked out easily, especially when basic human needs are addressed.
Everyone has been lovely.
As for Cleo, she is in pain, but the medicine she was given is doing the job nicely, and there were no issues about getting it, or getting enough. We picked up some superior dark chocolate as well, so she will be feeling much better very soon!
This seems to be a country that basically WORKS.
I am so jealous of Canada.
What a sad sad thing for a US Citizen to say.
Canada also has an 11% budget surplus and the value of their dollar is almost at parity with the US dollar, whereas a few years ago it was almost 40% lower. Canada prospers and contrary to what Mann Coulter thinks, they did not send military to Iraq OR Vietnam. When soldiers are killed in Afghanistan that are Canadian, their coffins cover the front page of the newspapers, in color (rather than being hidden). Cars in Canada are not covered with polarized bumper stickers. Harper is creepy but it isn't as urgent as in US. & then, as Michael Moore showed in "Bowling for Columbine," there are guns but less violence - the mentality is different. People don't have to lock doors as much. It is always a pleasure to drive 2-1/2 hours to Vancouver BC and realize, "I may be drinking a damn Starbucks but at least Bush isn't President here."
Posted by: karen at August 17, 2007 06:10 PM
Best regards to Cleo as she goes through her recovery.
And I miss Montreal - had a short weekend there ten years ago, and didn't get a good look at the place then. Would love to be back there now.
Posted by: not my president at August 17, 2007 06:46 PM
Last September, it cost me $102.20 US dollars to buy $100 Canadian, after commission. I am not kidding!
The US does have room for a particular polarizing plagiarist tranny whore (AKA Mann Coulter) to flourish. On the other hand, Canada is tolerant enough to let non-whore transgenders exist and prosper.
Is it true Merv Griffen was gay? Seriously, was he? I never heard that before.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/television/columns/e3ided21673370e52a353cc9eb8f5365cd8
Oh look. TOTALLY BUSTED!
Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns
WASHINGTON — Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/19034.html
Posted by: Christy at August 17, 2007 07:42 PM
Your hacks dollars at work.
This is really odd to me. I can't remember when we first got universal health care, but I'm pretty sure I was in secondary school. I have friends and family who are extremely wealthy, and while they complain about their enormous taxes each year, no one has ever suggested that we do away with health care and save them 8% of their overall taxes. That part they are quite happy to pay.
Just peeking in from the road... Just spent a week in the Maritime provinces of Canada & am ready to move to just about any province. The people are so very civil & happy, the provinces are beautiful, & yes, they have great health care.
If things go the wrong way in 2008...I think I'd pick Montreal.
My best to Cleo.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at August 17, 2007 06:59 PM
It will cost me $134 dollars to buy $100 Euros.
It used to cost me $85 just 7 years ago.
Darn Darn Darn I left all my links on the last post.
At last, about time
Democrats target 2008 Calif. vote plan
Edited on Thu Aug-16-07 04:49 AM by Judi Lynn
Source: Associated Press
Democrats target 2008 Calif. vote plan
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer
19 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - Leading Democrats are uniting with Hollywood producer Steven Bing and hedge fund manager Tom Steyer to oppose a California ballot proposal they fear could hand the 2008 presidential election to the Republican nominee.
A lawyer with ties to the Republican Party wants California voters to change the way the nation's most populous state awards its electoral votes — a proposal Democrats call a power grab but that supporters describe as a blueprint for fairness in presidential contests.
California now allots all of its 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections, a practice followed in most states.
The proposal calls for awarding two electoral votes to the statewide winner, with the rest allocated according to results in each congressional district.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070816/ap_on_el_pr/california_votes_1
PUBLIC ACCOUNTING
Pentagon Paid $998,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers
Tony Capaccio 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- A small South Carolina parts supplier collected about $20.5 million over six years from the Pentagon for fraudulent shipping costs, including $998,798 for sending two 19-cent washers to an Army base in Texas, U.S. officials said.
The company also billed and was paid $455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq, and $293,451 to ship an 89-cent split washer to Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Pentagon records show.
The owners of C&D Distributors in Lexington, South Carolina -- twin sisters -- exploited a flaw in an automated Defense Department purchasing system: bills for shipping to combat areas or U.S. bases that were labeled ``priority'' were usually paid automatically, said Cynthia Stroot, a Pentagon investigator.
C&D and two of its officials were barred in December from receiving federal contracts. Today, a federal judge in Columbia, South Carolina, accepted the guilty plea of the company and one sister, Charlene Corley, to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to launder money, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070816/pl_bloomberg/a_piz20xqxeu
Reclaiming US's liberal soul
LIBERALISM in the US is a political tradition so reviled that its adherents dare not speak its name.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22262439-28737,00.html
Dash of liberalism will aid US war on terror
Muscular liberalism, as Beinart sees it, is "a narrative of national greatness that (links) America's mission at home and abroad". It requires the US to lead by example, in the best tradition of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman and the Kennedys. Military strength and firm resolve should be accompanied by fiscal responsibility and progress on inequality, education and civil rights. Above all, Beinart argues, the US must welcome international constraints on its power and fund nation-building generously.
His most damning observation is that between 1948 and 1952, the US spent $US200 billion a year on non-military assistance to Europe. The Bush administration's total non-military spending on the Muslim world has been a comparatively piddling $US8 billion. As Beinart asks, "What kind of way is that to fight World War IV?"
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22205095-5001986,00.html
U.S. troop level in Iraq likely to increase this fall
Army official: Number of soldiers could jump temporarily to a record high
Posted by: monkey at August 16, 2007 09:52 PM
Didn't they marginalise and dump General Shinseki for telling Congress they would need 200000 to secure Iraq post war
Army chief says 200,000 troops needed to keep the peace
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/26/1046064103887.html
There are now almost 200,000 private 'contractors' deployed in Iraq by Washington.
The Mercenary Revolution: Flush With Profits From the Iraq War http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081507L.shtml
One For The People.
Feds pay $80,000 over anti-Bush T-shirts
Source: Yahoo News
A couple arrested at a rally after refusing to cover T-shirts that bore anti-President Bush slogans settled their lawsuit against the federal government for $80,000, the American Civil Liberties Union announced Thursday.
Nicole and Jeffery Rank of Corpus Christi, Texas, were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally at the state Capitol, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges against them, and an order closing the case was filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
"This settlement is a real victory not only for our clients but for the First Amendment," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. "As a result of the Ranks' courageous stand, public officials will think twice before they eject peaceful protesters from public events for exercising their right to dissent."
White House spokesman Blair Jones said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing.
"The parties understand that this settlement is a compromise of disputed claims to avoid the expenses and risks of litigation and is not an admission of fault, liability, or wrongful conduct," Jones said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070817/ap_on_re_us/bush_protesters_lawsuit_2
We'll go no more a-Rove-ing
The country takes leave of the political serial killer who tried to forge a one-party state. But don't expect the Mayberry Machiavelli to pay for his civic sins.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/08/13/karl_rove/
Bush, Cheney and Rove were prepared to govern as radicals
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/08/13/karl_rove/index1.html
HAHAHA!
The ACLU is planning to run this ad in the hometown papers of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=832
Posted by: Christy at August 17, 2007 05:18 PM
Hahaha Now that should hit home, don't you think?
Any Elvis fans click on my name (it's Kayakbiker, actually).
Posted by: rossiann at August 17, 2007 11:21 PM
I am making a shirt that says "GET RID OF THEM!" - that should not be illegal.
Posted by: woz at August 17, 2007 09:31 PM
woz, I have an uncle who retired to Sydney area (St. Ives, to be exact). He raves about your healthcare system too - he had his glaucoma treated free of charge.
He shakes his head whenever he hears about life in the US under W. He hasn't, however, given me a good answer on why Australia keeps voting for John Howard and the Liberals.
Hint to Homeland Insecurity: I got contacts in Australia. That makes me dangerous, and you better wiretap me!
One more thing re: my uncle in Sydney -
He was a Vietnam War veteran, though he didn't fight for Australia's armed forces. But that does not matter - he is treated the same as Australians who fought in Vietnam.
That, and his current retirement status (no significant income), allow for generous government benefits at minimal cost, even though he has some assets (in fact, more than my neocon father ever had).
He hasn't, however, given me a good answer on why Australia keeps voting for John Howard and the Liberals.
Posted by: Ally McRepuke at August 18, 2007 12:01 AM
I shake my head on that one, Ally
No one knows better than myself Ally on our health care. It sure as hell saved my life 2 surgeries one 11 1/2 hours one 8 hours, 6 mths chemo, 10 units blood and 6 years of checkups all free.
I can't imagine it, if I had been living in America.
Same here rossiann - 22 years of it. I'd have died if I'd been American. No other way.
Posted by: Bubba at August 17, 2007 12:21 PM
Bubba,
A few years ago I was in the travel industry, and I met quite a few Canadians who went to Reno and Las Vegas for excursions.
I was very impressed with them, they had a kind of regal class that was not uppety - they were very down to earth, but they still had what many Europeans have, a sense of dignity.
The first time I went to Europe I came home disallusioned: They stopped their work day in many countries to have a long luch and "siesta" time, closed their shops to do so. Almost every country we went to did that. Also, I got to talking to an American who was a wife of a soldier stationed in Germany, and she was making two dollars and hour more than someone here in the U.S. would have been making for the same job, plus she got a MONTH of vacation every year.
I came home then knowing that America was conned.
Conned into working three people's jobs in Corporate America to keep their health care, and to stay off the inevitable moment when their own job would be outsourced. I have seen people in Corporate America assume the duties of others who were "laid off" because the company was trimming it's fat, (or should I say they had been with the company long enough to have almost had their 401K's set). I knew a guy here in the states who worked for a corporation (we worked together), and his 401K would be set for him after he completed five years with the company. He got "laid off" three months before his five year anniversary.
I knew we were conned when I saw people taking time off in Europe and other countries for those hours in the afternoons, but they still had that pride you were talking about....they enjoyed those hours off each afternoon, dining alot of times with a fine linen tablecloth and nice dishes and water goblets, and time to chatter and relax and visit, as opposed to our feeling very grateful if we can afford the time and the money to drive through a fast food window and eat in our car after we have done three errands in congested traffic.
I knew we were conned when I saw the people in Europe wearing beautiful clothes, and although we "thought" we had it pretty good in the states, we felt fortunate when we could buy jeans and Nikes.
Right now I almost feel like the middle class American people have been treated worse than rats on a wheel. When you get worn out and tired on that tread mill, and a little older, you are not given the dignity that we baby boomers were always promised when we were young and working our butts off. Instead, they lay you off, take the salary they were paying you and pay two younger workers to do the job(s)you were busting your butt to hold on to. Leaving many baby boomers without affordable health caare (don't forget it DOES cost those corporations more for their share of our health insurance premiums when we get over 50, or have ANY pre-existing conditions. I'm VERY TIRED of hearing person after person in this country say they don't dare go to the doctor and be treated for something that is wrong with their health, for fear it will become part of their record and they will be denied health care for that condition in the future. When the nation was in such a recession (I personally felt like it was the beginning of a depression) in the summer of 2001, and business came to a stand still, the corporation I worked for started laying people off - first went the one's they didn't really need, the gravy, then second they started laying off staff and executives OVER 50 whose insurance premiums were at least 40% higher than those in their twenties. They laid an executive off who had just found out his wife had cancer. Sure, he could continue his insurance premiums himself, at a much higher rate, but that's kind of hard to do when you are unemployed.
Europeans are wearing better quality clothes than we are, eating better, resting more, getting more time off for illness, family crisis, and holiday, with pay. And they have propagandized us into thinking we have it just grreat because we can wolf down a hamburger or burrito while driving back to work or after working a 12 hour day. I know. I have done it, and I have seen lots of others do it.
Now, OT of this thread a bit, but our infrastructure.....the congestion in Reno on the freeways that were built when the town was 100,000 people is very inadequate for the traffic that exists today, when it is supporting almost 600,000 people.
It seems like every where you look, it doesn't matter in what direction, this country is getting FUBARD.
I'm tired of wearing Chinese clothes and buying my products that increasingly are coming out of China and could be tainted, but that's all I can afford these days.
We DESERVE the dignity we should be treated with after we fed the belly of the large corporate machine for forty years, instead of tossed aside like trash as we get older because we become a "drain" on society and the economy. I really think they want us baby boomers to kick off early so they don't have to treat us medically or take care of us with social security and in rest homes. And frankly, I won't mind. I know it sounded a little dramatic for me to say a couple of years that I wouldn't be surprised if they put us baby boomers in trains and took us off and gassed us. Sounds over the top, but they are killing us slowly and cruelly anyway. Little by little. There is no way I expect this corporate run nation to change it's greedy ways and take decent care of it's elderly, even after it bilked them for decades. Sad.
I'd have died if I'd been American. No other way.
Posted by: woz at August 18, 2007 01:46 AM
Amen to that woz
They stopped their work day in many countries to have a long lunch and "siesta" time, closed their shops to do so.
Posted by: TSP at August 18, 2007 02:21 AM
Ahhhhh do I remember, but it used to drive me crazy. I always wanted to do something when everything closed down
Posted by: monkey at August 17, 2007 04:13 PM
Re: Snow. Didn't take him long to desert the ship. Hope it's really that he needs more money to send his kids to college and pay his medical bills, and not that his health is rapidly declining.
(And, yes, I am up in the middle of the night again after a few hours of sleep, and can't get back to sleep right away.)
Posted by: rossiann at August 18, 2007 02:26 AM
Hi Rossi!!!! Long time no see!! How you going girlfriend?
And, I'm still NOT over the fact that they treated my mother like nothing more than a statistic in her final days. The freaking insurance companies and hospitals wouldn't let her doctor hospitalize her while she was dying, and make her comfortable. They tapped her lungs after a 13 hour wait in a cold emergency room, and sent her home. She went in delerious from the infection in her brain, and they wouldn't treat her because they had seen her for the same condition within the prior 30 days. And that is with my dad having the best insurance he could have gotten in his day, and working well into his seventies.
I'm kind of angry tonight, I guess you can tell. Nothing like watching your parents suffer when they should be given dignity and quality of life, all for a buck.
And we're next.
P.S., and I mean, that is after dragging a very sick woman to the doctors and to the emergency room almost every day for the last six months of her life by her 89 year old husband.
My dad is in a fit at the state of this country. He said he wonders if we will ever recover, and that he thinks it is ruined already beyond repair.
That's the "good news".... Now, how was YOUR day???
DOD Stops Plan to Send Christian Video Game to Troops in Iraq http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081507C.shtml
Anna Schecter, of ABC News, reports, "Plans by a Christian group to send an evangelical video game to U.S. troops in Iraq were abruptly halted yesterday by the Department of Defense after ABC News inquired about the program."
Hi Rossi!!!! Long time no see!! How you going girlfriend?
Posted by: TSP at August 18, 2007 02:34 AM
Really well TSP, I dont blame you being furious I would have been out of my mind, my Mum is 93, 94 in a month still lives at home by herself and does everything for herself except shopping and banking.
When she had to have major surgery a few years ago
I didn't like the doctor that was to do the surgery, and demanded and got a fantastic doctor that I felt I trusted for her, and he bought her through, My sister and I where so excited I think we stocked his bar, but he was sure as hell worth every cent of it. We still have her and she is going strong.
No Child or partner should ever have to see their parent or other half suffer in that way ever.
Rossi, my dear, I said how are you going?
I am doing great other than the fact that I live in this rapidly declining country. Scarey isn't even an adequate word for it.
Done any traveling recently? How are the kids?
Hurry and answer cuz I am going back to bed in a couple of minutes.
My best to you!!!
I have sat here and wondered for the last eight years, when the garbage in the White House will finally have to account for all their criminal actions, I hope I am around to see their downfall. Not much hope of that though in the near future I guess.
Kids all Good, I'm good, another Grandchild on the way number 8, hell I must be getting old. No travelling lately
Rossi,
Oh, okay, I see our posts crossed each other in cyberspace.
I can't describe the feelings I had when we were going through that with my mom. My dad was so concerned about her that he didn't realize he was getting the shaft, but I did, and felt helpless to do anything about it. Twenty years ago I would have raised a terrible fit (and did one time when my mom was in hospital for three months and I slept in her room with her every night.) The hospital nursing staff was very understaffed, and my mom had just acquired a staff infection, and had broken out in a sweat from the fever. The nurse came in, took a look at her, felt her and her bed, then tried to sneak out. I had one eye open from my cot and I said "Is everything okay?" She said "Oh, yes." and left.
I got up and went over to my mom's bed and it was drenched from her perspiring because of the fever. I went out in the hall and stood there and demanded someone come change her bed to a dry one. The nurse was upset when she had to come in and change it, but, hey, she could have gotten pnuemonia. I am an avid believer that anytime anyone is hospitalized they should have someone there with them 24/7. I had spinal neck surgery 12 years ago, and when I came out of anesthesia I stopped breathing because they had me on too high of a dose of morphine. My girlfriend was there when I stopped breathing, and she ran and got the nurse, who came in and gave me something to counteract the effect the morphine was having. I mean I just STOPPED breathing. If that girlfriend hadn't been there at that precise moment I wouldn't be here today.
Posted by: rossiann at August 18, 2007 03:13 AM
My fear is, and from judging from the smug smirks on their faces, they have it all sewn up and will NEVER PAY for what they have done.
I hope they enjoy all that money while watching "underlings" in the middle and low class croak off early and plentifully.
It's all about the almighty freaking dollar.
Glad kids are good, number 8 on way? I still don't have any grandkids, my kids are taking their time.
Flying to Reno next week for my dad's 90th birthday party, and seeing long time friends and relatives, and one of my sons. I am very excited!!
Well, girlfriend, I guess I will go back to bed now and see if I can get some shut-eye. Tomorrow is a busy day.
So good to see you and talk to you again, Rossi!!! Come around more often, and take VERY good care of YOU!!!!
Billions In U.S. Aid Wasted In Afghanistan
Lara Logan Reports That On The Reconstruction Burden When Projects Go Unfinished
(CBS) American doctor Dave Warner is on a mission in eastern Afghanistan to show people back home how billions of taxpayer dollars sent here are being wasted.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/05/25/eveningnews/main2852531.shtml
So good to see you and talk to you again, Rossi!!! Come around more often, and take VERY good care of YOU!!!!
Posted by: TSP at August 18, 2007 03:27 AM
You to, Have a ball in Reno for your Dads birthday, I had a ball when I was there.
Peace
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) – Likely Republican White House hopeful Fred Thompson told CNN Friday that he would work to overturn Roe v. Wade if elected president, and would push for a constitutional amendment that protects states from being forced to honor gay marriages performed in other states.
“I don’t think that one state ought to be able to pass a law requiring gay marriage or allowing gay marriage and have another state be required to follow along,” Thompson told CNN’s John King in an interview Friday.
Thompson added that the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion “was bad law and bad medicine.”
As for when he will jump into the race, the former Tennessee senator said "shortly."
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/08/17/thompson-on-running-we%e2%80%99ll-be-in/
Posted by: monkey at August 18, 2007 07:46 AM
That's exactly what blows the whole "State's rights" argument that Bush and others make about gay marraige and civil union into the garbage bin.
I think I saw a post a few weeks ago that showed the exerpts of Bush's 2004 stance on it. And that's what he was using.
However, the state's rights argument with regards to gays is equivalent to the state's rights argument used to allow slavery. A good place to read about the tensions between state's rights and Federal laws is the wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States'_rights
Though frankly, under the banner of 'state's rights' we allowed slavery, discrimination, unequal voting rights (for both blacks and women), and many other things. I've always felt that the original founders, in order to agree to this 'union' refused to create one Federal law and as a result, slavery and the torture was allowed to exist way too long.
I'm sure all of you already remember that after the Civil War the Southern states began implementing Jim Crow laws it was the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v Ferguson that eventually allowed the legal discrimination of blacks under a faux "Separate but equal" heading. (I think that would be called the big wink, wink...)
At anyrate, the legal discrimation continued for another 100 years until the Civil Rights movement in the 60's. And of course we're still fighting the same 'state's rights' people today (within the Republican party) to keep equal rights for all. (Extend the equal rights to equal voting rights and you already know where that leads.)
And as a result of Alito and Roberts, we are now moving backwards on civil rights. Now Bush may have said in 2004 that he is 'for state's rights to decide about gay marraiges and civil unions' however, this 'frame' has a longstanding history of discrimination and brutality behind it.
Congrats Rossi!
8th grandbaby, that is wonderful.
Bubba sends his love.
In the scheme of the planet, our country is now "middle class" not "upper class" - in terms of housing, infant mortality, healthcare, budget deficit, vacation time, value of dollar, literacy. We rank way below the other developed nations. We are now officially "top of the bottom" or "bottom of the top" - something like that.
A Letter to the editor in my newspaper today:
War supporters should enlist and go overseas
Regarding recent letters by Richard Hand ("Bush bashers, wake up," Aug. 7) and Clarence Kavanaugh ("Clinton administration failed to fight terror," Aug. 8) I feel I must clear up some things.
Mr. Hand says that his president (not mine) is a Christian and believes in Christian principles. Well, I didn't know that Christian principles allow so-called Christian presidents to invade a country that did nothing to us and in the process get thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children killed. Also, let's not forget the thousands of Americans who have died and the tens of thousands who have been wounded. Also, Mr. Hand mentions that our volunteer military force knew what they were getting into then they joined the service. Well, when our military takes the oath to join the service, they swear to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Not to invade innocent countries and kill innocent people. However, they have no choice but to follow orders from their commander in chief.
Mr. Kavanaugh still seems to think that Iraq was responsible for Sept. 11, 2001. Duh! Can you say Saudi Arabia? I have been to the places that Mr. Kavanaugh mentioned, like Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, and also Kenya in Africa.
Religious fanatics who have never been in the service and consequently have never been in a war continue to support the war and this never-elected president. It's so easy to support a war when you are 6,000 miles away, have a cushy job, live in a comfortable home and have no relatives overseas in a war zone. I strongly suggest that all people who support this war grow a backbone, enlist, put on the uniform and go overseas and fight!
Oh, by the way. I did grow a backbone, enlisted in the military, put on the uniform for 21 years and did go overseas and fight.
Doug Keeton
Naval Special Warfare Group 1 (ret.)
Athens
new thread--grab a brew!
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