The One Nation Without Universal Health Care

This is what Capitalism has gotten us in both health care pricing and mortality rates as well internet pricing and speed. Ours are both the most expensive and worst quality.



We're just not that bright.

Links:

Once again, U.S. has most expensive, least effective health care

U.S. Healthcare: Most Expensive and Worst Performing

The American Hellhole That Is Donald Trump's America

Bill Maher has it correct.



Have a great weekend, y'all.

Today is.......

National Women’s Equality Day

This Graphic Shows Why We Still 

Need Women's Equality Day

Links:

Women's Equality Day | National Women's History Project

Women's Equality Day - Wikipedia

The United States---the Actual Big Problem in the World?

I've said it here before. I'll say it again.

The United States is the world's warmonger.

We spend more on war and what we call "defense" than any other nation in the world, far and away. Here's 2009 alone.

We're in more nations, with more bases and more weapons and more bombs and tanks and planes and ships and more of everything else's than any other nation, bar none.



Look at the last big wars of the past 5 decades. What were they and who was in them? Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan is where they were and we started them. We keep saying we're saving someone from something so we go over and blow 'em up real good.

Then there's weapons manufacturers as a nation. Guess who's making more weapons, by country, than any other nation and putting those out in the world. I think you see where this is going.

(H)ere is the list of the world’s top 10 arms exporters, along with their respective shares of global exports between 2010 and 2014, from SIPRI:

1. United States: 31%
2. Russia: 27%
3. China: 5%
4. Germany: 5%
5. France: 5%
6. U.K.: 4%
7. Spain: 3%
8. Italy: 3%
9. Ukraine: 3%
10. Israel: 2%

See the entire study from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

And those two are external. Now let's consider ourselves internally.

I think we know which nation on the planet has more weapons, for civilians, than any other, don't we? Sure we do. It's the good old, USA, once again, bar none.

We, as a nation, as a people, need to both stop thinking of ourselves as a "peace-loving people" and nation, we need to stop kidding ourselves and we need, badly, to do something about it. More people are being killed on this planet, both inside and outside the US.

We need to cut down on the weapons. There are a lot better ways to "do business" on this planet than by creating and selling and profiting from weapons.

We need to get started.

We need to give peace a chance.

The world--our own and the rest of it--will be a lot better place for our having done it.

Link: Ceasefire in Yemen Faces Collapse as U.S. Continues Weapons Sales to Saudi Arabia, Fueling Civil War

The Gettysburg Address

Given this day, 1863



Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, upon this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that "all men are created equal"

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of it, as a final resting place for those who died here, that the nation might live. This we may, in all propriety do. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow, this ground-- The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here; while it can never forget what they did here.

It is rather for us, the living, to stand here, we here be dedica-ted to the great task remaining before us -- that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people by the people for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

TODAY IS WHAT DAY??

And here are some deals and freebies.

So get out there...

Born This Day, 1827

Indeed, born this day, September 27, 1827 was one Hiram Rhodes Revels and for a few reasons, should absolutely be taught and known by Americans who he was and what he did.

Hiram Rhodes Revels was a minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church(AME), a Republican politician, and college administrator. Born free in North Carolina, he later lived and worked in Ohio, where he voted before the Civil War. He was elected as the first African American to serve in the United States Senate, and was the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress. He represented Mississippi in the Senate in 1870 and 1871 during the Reconstruction era.

During the American Civil War, Revels had helped organize two regiments of the United States Colored Troops and served as a chaplain. After serving in the Senate, Revels was appointed as the first president of Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Alcorn State University), 1871-1873 and 1876 to 1882. Later he served again as a minister.

One of the biggest things Hiram Revels did was to  be The Black Man Who Replaced Jefferson Davis in the Senate

Too few Americans know this man and know what he did and how important he and it all was.

Quote of the Day -- On Fairness

On fairness. And sanity. And racism, too.



Think on this.

America has 315+ million citizens.

China?

China has 1.357 billion.

1.357 billion people. They dwarf us, by numbers.

Yet we have more people in jails and prisons than they.

To whom does this make any sense?

Good Kansas City manufacturing news

Here it is, from AOL online news last evening:

Bullish on Hogs: High Gas Prices Drive Harley-Davidson Sales Way Up

"It's a good time to be a Hog: On Wednesday, Harley-Davidson (HOG) announced a stunning second-quarter jump in income, making the legendary Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer a rare bright spot in a gray economy.

Between April and June 2011, Harley brought in $190.6 million in net income; a year later, its net had jumped 30%, to $247.3 million. But while the company's growing income was a boon for investors -- the year-over-year growth translated to an extra 26 cent dividend on every share -- its changing fortunes also highlight some major, and lasting, political and economic shifts that may have long-lasting effects for the motorcycle market."

So, the bad news?

Gasoline costs too much.

The good news? And there's lots of it--

People are trying to save. They're trying every way they know how to use and burn less gas.

That's good for the air we breathe.

It's good for putting less pollution in our atmosphere and air.

It's good for manufacturing in America. (At least so far).

It's good for exports for the nation, hopefully, potentially.

It's good for jobs.

It's good for the middle class in the country.

It's great for Kansas City.

Link: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/08/02/harley-davidson-sales-rise-high-gas-prices/

How this winter shaped up in temperatures

Click on picture for larger, easier viewing.

Happy National Chocolate Covered Cherry Day!

Yes, really. Link: http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/National_Symbols/American_Hollidays.html

Happy National Bicarbonate of Soda Day!

Admit it. You didn't know, did you? (Wouldn't you have thought it would be January 1st or 2nd?).

Best health care in the world?

Think again: US health care statistics according to a just-released study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECD): --We rank 29th--out of a total of 34 nations examined--in the number of hospital beds per person and 29th in the average length of a stay in the hospital. --We have high rates of avoidable hospital admissions for people with asthma, lung disease, diabetes, hypertension and other common illnesses. --We rank 26th--again, out of 34 nations--in the number of physicians, especially primary care or family doctors, per 1,000 people. --In life expectancy, we rank 28th, just behind Chile. The average age of death in the U.S. is 78.2, well below the average of 79.5 years in the other OCED countries. --We now rank last out of 16 countries in the Commonwealth Fund study when it comes to deaths that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care. --A big reason for the dismal results is the fact that more and more Americans are falling into the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured. As of last year, according to the Commonwealth Fund, 81 million adults in the U.S.--44 percent of all adults under age 65--were either uninsured or underinsured at some point during the year, up from 61 million as recently as 2003. --The US spends two and a half times more on health care per peson than the OECD average. We spend more than twice as much as France, which many experts contend has one of the best health care systems on the planet. The average cost per person in the US is $7,960, a third more than Norway--the 2nd highest in cost. The OECD average, by comparison is just $3,233 (it is $3,873 in France). --Hospital spending is 60 percent higher than the average of five other relatively expensive countries (Switzerland, Canada, Germany, France and Japan); spending on pharmaceuticals and medical goods is much higher here than any of the other countries; and administrative costs are more than two-and-a-half times the average of the others. Conclusion? Don't let any lawmaker or industry shill tell you we have the best health care system--or health care, for that matter, in the world. We just don't. We pay more than any other nation, by a long shot, and we get less results. We need to change this. Links: http://www.oecd.org/document/30/0,3746,en_2649_37407_12968734_1_1_1_37407,00.html; http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/does-us-have-worlds-best-health-care-system-yes-if-youre-talking-about-third-world

Quote of the day

“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate.” ―Edward W. Said

Will we all be Americans first again, anytime soon?

That song and now the video I posted on earlier. To leaders in Washington: Note the people standing with the signs that say "I want to work."

Quote of the day

"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there -- good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory. Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea -- God Bless! Keep a Big Hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along." - Elizabeth Warren

Apparently the police state is also in Canada, as here

I put this up to point out, yes, that we've seem to become a police state here in the US but also to point out that this kind of thing happened to me, too, here in good ol' KCMO. I walked up, one night, to a police tape on Main Street and spoke to the officer standing there. He said if I said one more word to him, literally--he repeated it twice--that he would arrest me. "One more word." So much for "free speech." Or, in this young lady's case, so much for peaceful protest.

Amerika, the police state

Notes by the poster of this video on YouTube: As Congressman Paul Ryan cracked a joke about him, Tom Nielsen found himself face down on the floor being handcuffed by police. The 71-year-old retired plumber from Kenosha was thrown to the ground, placed in handcuffs, and arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest after objecting to Ryan's plans to gut Social Security and Medicare during his congressman's only public appearance scheduled during the August recess -- a $15 Rotary Club luncheon in West Allis on Tuesday. Nielsen repeatedly told police that he wasn't fighting them and that he didn't want to make any trouble. He also told them several times that he had a broken shoulder. Police officers ignored his comments as they wrestled him to the ground despite his howls of pain. I've been to Rotary meetings and you don't just blurt out and yell and it's rude and crude but I don't think he should have been arrested. (Thanks and a hat tip to Joe My God blog for this). Additonally, you can see another YouTube video here showing people being arrested when trying to speak to Mr. Ryan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRhFnLeDdzM&NR=1. It seems to be a repeating occurrence for this Congressman. So much for "land of the free", eh, Mr. Ryan?

And then another protest, next month, from "the people"

 

Last post, I told of an effort by "Anonymous" to organize people to occupy Wall Street in New York this month. This is being followed next month by another organization--October 2011--to protest, also. They are asking people to take the following pledge: "I pledge that if any U.S. troops, contractors, or mercenaries remain in Afghanistan on Thursday, October 6, 2011, as that occupation goes into its 11th year, I will commit to being in Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C., with others on that day or the days immediately following, for as long as I can, with the intention of making it our Tahrir Square, Cairo, our Madison, Wisconsin, where we will NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine by occupying Freedom Plaza to demand that America's resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. We can do this together. We will be the beginning." They also express their goals as the following: --Tax the rich and corporations; --End the wars, bring the troops home, cut military spending; --Protect the social safety net, strengthen Social Security and improved Medicare for all; --End corporate welfare for oil companies and other big business interests; --Transition to a clean energy economy, reverse environmental degradation; --Protect worker rights including collective bargaining, create jobs and raise wages; --Get money out of politics. I have said, time and again, that if we don't do that last one, that is, get "campaign contributions" (read: legal bribes) out of our political system, nothing will likely change. It seems the American electorate--some of us, anyway--are finally waking up. Let's see if we can do constructive, positive and so, non-violent but changing, improving things for the country with all this. "You say you want a revolution?" Link to their site: http://october2011.org/welcome

You know, governments fall when there is too much imbalance

It's a lesson from history and humankind learns it again and again, down through time.

The Romanovs were removed from rule in Russia because of it.

Marie Antoinette and her crew were removed likewise.

There is turmoil in Libya and Egypt right now because there are the few people with much and the many with "not much."

And it's certainly true here in America.

The imbalance between the rich--and really rich--and so many of the rest of us was wide and it has gotten much wider.  There is a report out right now, showing these very statistics:

Mother Jones magazine has crunched the data on inequality, and put together a group of stunning new charts. Taken together, they offer a dramatic visual illustration of who's doing well and who's doing badly in modern America.

This chart shows that the poorest 90 percent of Americans make an average of $31,244 a year, while the top 1 percent make over $1.1 million:



• According to this chart, most income groups have barely grown richer since 1979. But the top 1 percent has seen its income nearly quadruple:





• And this chart suggests most Americans have little idea of just how unequal income distribution is. And that they'd like things to be divvied up a lot more equitably:



To see the rest of the charts, click on over to Mother Jones


It's a matter of a system that rewards the wealthy and very wealthy grossly improportionately.


And it's not healthy for the country, folks.


Link to original posts:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110223/ts_yblog_thelookout/separate-but-unequal-charts-show-growing-rich-poor-gap