Since healthcare is the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the US, you’d think it would have been more of a forefront issue over the years —especially for those right-wing-types who seem to live by the rule that money is all that matters. Healthcare has been on the minds of Americans for the past few years but it’s been one of those political "third-rails" so politicians have been largely scared to touch it. (Remember how Hillary was crucified a few years ago for her "socialist" health care plan.)

The tide seems to have shifted and it seems that people are finally starting to demand that this healthcare mess be solved. Just so you know where I stand, I don’t think that healthcare should be a for-profit enterprise. When Humana et al came in and started running healthcare as a business with only the bottom-line as the goal, healthcare began a monumental shift to taking care of Wall Street instead of taking care of people.

As a sign that things are indeed shifting, one of the most powerful lobyist groups has taken on the issue. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) has created a website called DividedWeFail.org where they take on the issues and the politicians. You can sign petitions, tell your congress people how you feel, and get involved in other ways if you’re interested.

The org is non-partisan as their logo illustrates:

Check it out. Make your voice heard.

 As an aside - I just heard John McCain unveil his healthcare plan today. In short, it’s a whole lot of nothing. A whole lot of business-as-usual. I’m not so sure about Barak and Hillary’s plans either, but their proposals are still a hell of a lot better than what we’ve got now.
John McCain’s healthcare plan
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Barack Obama’s healthcare plan
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Hillary Clinton’s healthcare plan
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Regardless of your political persuasion, I hope that we can all agress that the current healthcare system has to change. Healthcare costs are rising at twice the rate of inflation and have been for years, meanwhile the health of the US citizen as a whole has been greatly degraded.

The US has the worlds most expensive healthcare system and yet our system is rated #37 in the world by the world health organization (WHO).

Here’s a report from the university of Maine about the sorry state of the US healthcare system. It’s from 2001 and you know things have only gotten worse. It again outlines that we have the most expensive healthcare system in the world (by far) but also interesting nuggets such as the US ranking #26 for infant mortality rates in the industrialized world. (That’s 26 from the top).

To sum it all up—the US healthcare system sucks for everyone except the insurance companies and drug manufacturers and the politicians they pay off. It’s time for a change. DEMAND IT!

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Don’t complain about how hard your life is.

Tree man ‘who grew roots’ hopes to marry after 4lb of warts removed

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Well no shit!

 
President Bush often argues that history will vindicate him. So he can’t be pleased with an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network. It found that 98 percent of them believe that Bush’s presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history. In 2004, only 11.6 percent of the historians rated Bush’s presidency in last place. Among the reasons given for his low ratings: invading Iraq, “tax breaks for the rich,” and alienating many nations around the world. Bush supporters counter that professional historians today tend to be liberal and that it’s too early to assess how his policies will turn out.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/politics/2008/04/11/the-first-draft-of-history-looks-a-bit-rough-on-bush.html

On the bright side, Warren G. Harding’s presidency now looks a whole lot better.

But what’s seriously disturbing is reading the comments on that story. I’m absolutely astonished that there are so many people who are still drinking the republican kool-aid and saying that Bush is a good president. Bush and Reagan fucked up this country, its people and the world and these people are still blaming it on “the liberals”.

When did we last have a liberal president? Jimmy Carter in the 70’s. (A failure I agree) (Clinton was a republican in liberal clothes.) Before that…LBJ? Hmmm…wasn’t that back when the country was still strong and “moral” like the conservatives like to reminisce about.

LBJ, JFK, Ike, Truman, FDR. 4 democrats and one republican. When was the last depression? Hmmm…after 3 republican administrations? Hoover, Coolidge, and Harding. You’d think that people would finally realize that trickle down economics doesn’t work. Unless you’re one of the top 1 or 2 percent that is…

The ability of people to stick their heads in the sand in order to not admit a mistake is truly amazing.

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