Because we shouldn't change a thing, since our health care system is so fantastic now:
Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. was 78.1 years in 2007, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That's a year less than the OECD average of 79.1, and puts the U.S. just ahead of the Czech Republic, Poland and Mexico, where spending on health care is many times less per person, the Paris-based organization said in its latest survey of health trends among its 30 rich member countries. PARIS - The United States ranks near the bottom in life expectancy among wealthy nations despite spending more than double per person on health care than the industrialized world's average, an economic group said Tuesday.
Let teh stupid reign supreme...
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Sounds like treason to me
House Republicans are preparing for a trip to Copenhagen and looking to derail Democratic efforts to negotiate an international climate agreement: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/shadow-government-by-digby-lets-air-our.html
Digby: I don't think I've ever heard of a group of political opponents going to a foreign country to confront the president when he's representing the nation. It's kind of startling. I'm not a big fan of the rules that call for royal deference to presidents, but you do have to let the country speak with one voice in certain situations, and the constitution anticipates that when it comes to dealing with foreign governments that voice should be the president's subject to ratification by the people's representatives. To personally go to Copenhagen and publicly argue with the president as he's negotiating a treaty is truly radical.
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Bringing Leviticus Alive
Sen James Inhofe
US Senate
African Specialist, The Family
133 C St. SE
Washington, DC 20003-1807
Dear Sen. Inhofe,
As The Family's self-described African specialist, you must be heavily involved in fellow Family member David Bahati's effort to make homosexuality a capital crime in Uganda. Certainly, no member would make such a move without The Family's guidance and support. It's all part of what it means to be a part of The Family.
Why do so few Americans know about this important work? Why aren't you and other prominent Family members proudly telling the story of how you're bringing Leviticus alive in Uganda?
Your silence may eventually cause the bill to fail. The gay and their allies are already pressuring Obama and Clinton to intervene. They need to be shown that the American people support a final Biblical solution to the homosexual problem. Who better than The Family, the patriarchs of our emerging theocracy, to deliver that message.
It's time for you and the rest of The Family to put gay execution at the top of the national agenda by sponsoring similar legislation in the House and Senate. Let us fight about important Biblical issues rather than waste time on things like universal health care.
I'm sending you a pebble. Its purpose is to remind you that there's still a lot of work to be done. Keep it with you always. Finger it when you speak out in favor of the Ugandan and American bills. And when the talking's done, let it be the first stone cast.
Heterosexually yours,
Gen. JC Christian, patriot
Taking Action
Below are the names of known members of The Family. Tell them what you think of their work in Uganda by sending your own note and pebble to the C Street house.
Name
133 C St. SE
Washington, DC 20003-1807
Sen. Sam Brownback
Sen. James Inhofe
Sen. Jim DeMint
Sen. Chuck Grassley
Sen. Richard Lugar
Sen. John Ensign
Sen. Tom Coburn
Sen. Mark Pryor
Sen. Bill Nelson
Sen. John Thune
Sen. Mike Enzi
Rep. Joe Pitts
Rep. Todd Tiahrt
Rep. Frank Wolf
Rep. Zach Wamp
Rep. Mike McIntyre
Rep. Bart Stupak
Rep. Michael F. Doyle
Rep. Heath Shuler
Rep. Jerry Moran
The British continue to investigate their path into the Iraq War.
The Guardian:
An Iraqi taxi driver may have been the source of the discredited claim that Saddam Hussein could unleash weapons of mass destruction within 45 minutes, a Tory MP claimed today.Adam Holloway, a defence specialist, said MI6 obtained information indirectly from a taxi driver who had overheard two Iraqi military commanders talking about Saddam's weapons.
The 45-minute claim was a key feature of the dossier about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that was released by Tony Blair in September 2002. Blair published the information to bolster public support for war.
And this claim received banner headlines in Britain. It also was of significant value to those promoting the war in the United States. In fact, it was that same month that Bush first made the claim that Iraq could launch a WMD in as little as 45 minutes. And the traditional media played right along.
Glenn Greenwald: http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/014619.php
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Poor, uneducated, obese, and religious
What a horrible, sad waste of a life: Tillmon Webb injured his knee, couldn't afford to get it treated, and sat in a recliner for 8 months, praying for healing. His saintly (and I don't mean that in a complimentary sense) wife tended to him as he rotted to death in the chair.
"He read his Bible daily, he spent his full focus on God," said Webb. "And he was literally waiting and praying for a Job miracle. If anybody knows the Bible and knows Job, he really and fully believed that God was going to heal him just like he did Job, because he said he couldn't think of a better testimony to go out and to tell people."
I think two lives were wasted here. His wife took care of this suffering lump for 8 months — he didn't even get up to use the bathroom, and the neighbors didn't know she even had a husband — and this is her response after his death:
"If I feel anything right now, it's envy for him because I wish he had taken me with him," said Webb.
"Popular religious belief is caused by dysfunctional social conditions." Their piety didn't save them and didn't alleviate their pain or their desperate conditions — it made them worse.
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Thanks for this, Sage!
"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.
First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.
Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."
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Sarah Palin's climate change op ed causes controversy
And another thing. I know for a fact that the Washington Post has published ghost written op eds in the past. But I'm not aware of them ever having published one that didn't at least pass the laugh test of credibility. Does anyone in their right mind actually believe for a moment that Sarah Palin knows the difference between the Chinese and Indian climate change proposals? Get real.
Much more over at Huffington Post.
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For yes, Virginia, it is now a tax crime to be poor. The IRS won't go after the really rich, because they can afford top-flight tax lawyers to fight off the IRS. So they go after the people who are too poor to fight back.
Attacking the poor for being poor: Is Bush back in the White House? Did he sneak back in and change the locks? Will someone please take a look and let me know?
