Some fine bloggery from RAW STORY today. First, Diane Sweet highlights Dana Gould’s must-watch “WTF” moment on health care reform from last night’s Real Times with Bill Maher on HBO:
Gould’s package includes a visit to a recent health fair at Staples Center in L.A. where folks lined up around the block for free dental care, glasses, blood pressure checks, mammograms, vital immunizations for children, and other medical procedures not usually available to them, because they don’t have health coverage.
Stephen C. Webster notes coverage of that event by another outlet which additionally notes some stark statistics comparing the UK’s national health system to the system in the U.S. where health spending is twice that of the UK’s (as a percentage of the GDP), more than twice-over per person, and yet, the U.S. life-expectancy is shorter, infant mortality higher, and there are more physicians per capita in the UK.
Finally, Webster also features a video of a town hall forum featuring Congressman Rick Larsen (D-WA) who is forced to inform a wingnut: “I’ve got facts on my side, you’ve got Glenn Beck on your side.”
(Of course, Beck wasn’t always an opponent of health care reform. In fact, he was in favor of it before he was against it — after arriving at Fox “News” — as Jon Stewart reminded us earlier this week.)
That, and one other excellent point is made about the “Constitutionality” of Congress providing for the general welfare. Just like it says in the, um, Constitution. Go watch it…
Yew gotta catch the long version, much funnier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K21_teAW0Zg
Hey Brad, in that Larsen video, about Article 1 Section 8…that was me (my cover is now blown!)
Cheers.
SR
OUTstanding, SR. Your line was better than the congressman’s…. Waaaaaaaaay cool!
xoxox
For rils, SR?! If so, waytago!
Stephen Webster gave ya some serious props over at RAW too!
I watched the video again – stunning good looks, powerhouse build, silken locks that put Samson to shame – yep, that was me alright. I was disappointed that I couldn’t find my signed pocket Constitution I got from DK to take out of my pocket and wave at the wingnuts.
I read Webster’s piece, and I’ll comment here waht I said there – I am frankly very surprised that nobody has used this particular Constitutional justification before. It seems so obvious. Larsen also quipped, when a loony yelled out about healthcare not being in the Constitution, “Well it doesn’t say we should have an Air Force either.” But he is firmly against single-payer, so even though he’s willing to take a stand against some hecklers (and there were many, but they weren’t as obnoxious as we have seen in some video lately) he’s still not willing to take a stand FOR the wishes of the American people. He claims only about 5% of the campaign contributions listed under “health industry” were from insurance companies, and encouraged an FEC report check for those who were skeptical.
But the latest read on MSNBC.com says Obama is about to cave on the public option in favor of the co-op.
BTW – the British health service has suffered from increasing privatisation, under resourcing and “market-led” reform. A much better example would be the French, German or Scandinavian systems which have been more resistant to the tenets of the Anglo-Saxon model (which has been responsible for undermining the British healthcare system.)
Ooops – meant to add
(french, german and scandinavian models) perform much better then the British system.
A few stats I dug up from WHO
http://apps.who.int/whosis/data/Search.jsp
Hospital Beds per 10,000 population
Germany – 83
France – 73
Cuba – 49
UK – 38
USA – 32
Physicians per 10,000 pop-n
Germany – 34
France – 34
Cuba – 59
UK – 23
USA – 26
health benefits offered by morning walk
The secret of longevity for a major section of people who are ‘ octogenarians ‘ ““ That is People who are in their eighties would be morning walk which was done for decades. People have nowadays gradually started realizing the importance of morning walk in shaping the health of human body. But still there are umpteen number of people who do not unwind themselves from their mechanical lives. Technological advancements have made life more simpler in all respects but we humans must also pay the price for it if we do not allocate time in our hectic schedule for some physical work like walking or visiting Gym’s. Around fifteen years ago, TV remotes were rarely found in houses and hence we used to walk at least for changing channels. But now ? Sitting hours together in front of the idiot box, continuously feeding the stomach with snacks or sweets, leading to obesity. If you question a doctor on the health benefits offered by walking he would give you a long lecture. Let us see some of the benefits.
1) It is a stress buster which instills a feeling of freshness to the body as well as mind.
2) blood circulation is promoted, reducing greatly the chances of high blood pressure.
3) Checks obesity by burning unnecessary calories of fat in the body.
4) It makes the joints more strong and hence people would be less susceptible to Orthopedic troubles associated with old age.
5) Chases away neck pain and back pains.
6) If you go walk in a park surrounded by trees, you will inhale more fresh air, containing higher concentration of oxygen, thereby bringing down breathing problems too.
7) Keeps sugar levels under control.
http://nupek.com/health/health-...-morning-walk/
I would take a morning walk provided the local watering hole was a block or two away.
Remember one thing tho, “The Louisiana Purchase was bullshit”…God I love that Dana.
When are you going to be on Rach’s show there Soul?
I brought up this point a while ago why single payer/public option are not on the table.
Job Lock means the only thing that employers have to drag you in and enslave you is the substandard health insurance carrot, without that, they might have to pay a living wage to get you to come and put up with their bs. Heaven forbid that they would want to treat you right.
The upside with single payer is that we would have had tons of new small businesses opening up from people that were afraid to go out on their own before due to not having affordable healthcare.
If you think about it, there are waay too many upsides to contemplate. There would be an economic boom of major proportions IMO.
Great job, Soul Rebel~! So proud of you I could spit turkey balls.
Found 2 great links of T R Reid that sum up the overseas vs the US health care differences, with no politics, just the facts. These are not antecdotal, he actually went to all these countries with his problem and found the answers first hand.
T.R. Reid: Looking Overseas For ‘Healing Of America’ AUDIO interview and his Washington Post article on 5 Myths About Health Care Around the World Brad, I hope you can do an article about TR’s info and his new book