In Norway, medical care is nationalized, and all pharmaceuticals are strictly regulated by the government, so that only those drugs which the government has found to be of value are allowed to be dispensed, without any profit motives. In Switzerland, by contrast, drug companies are free to market whatever products they want, and the result is that many more (and probably unnecessary) drugs are available, but also are covered by medical insurance, which is affordable for everyone (and it is required of all full-time employees). In the U.S. we could learn a lot from the various European healthcare systems and find a better system than the one we have.

I hate to be pessimistic, but coporate and social healthcare seem like two necessary evils, and I don’t like the prospect of either. If some of my tax money went to independent organizations with proven success rates, I might be more for it.

It’s probably something I should research more, and I’ll try, but for now, this is my stance.

Who exactly took us into that misbegotten war and occupation in Iraq? The Right did. The Left was on the sidelines, powerless. More than 3,200 Americans dead, more than 20,000 injured, more than 50,000 Iraqs dead. And for what? So Bush could get re-elected as a “wartime” president? So the Right could push through massive tax breaks for their friends and corporations, while leaving the majority of Americans worse off? No. November ‘06 changed that and the sooner you get with the new political realities, the better off we’ll all be. Then again, maybe you’re one of the 30% that still supports Bush and his desire to remain in Iraq forever.

AND the 9-11 responders didn’t get sick? You can’t be serious. Oh wait, you probably get your “news” from Faux News Network and right-wing radio. Get a clue, man. You’re being lied to. Smarten up. Look online. The EPA put out a report about dangerous levels of dust, debris, and toxins that lingered in lower Manhattan for weeks and months after 9-11. AND Guiliani said it was fine. It wasn’t. Man up and help those who were brave and compassionate enough to do what was right (and not Right) back then.

Erin: you ask genuinely good questions. Feel free to do some research about national healthcare systems in Canada and Europe (France in particular). You’ll find that the bilge the right wing in the United States has been pumping over the last few decades about “socialized medicine” is incorrect. Why do Americans pay more for healthcare than any other Western industrialized nation? Corporate profits, that’s why. Why are 43 million citizens of the United States without medical care? Where’s the (social) justice in that?

As for the deficits issue, blame 14 years of Republican misrule, especially the last six years, when Bush took then current and projected budget surpluses (read that one again, please) and turned them into massive budget deficits, all thanks to corporate giveaways, massive defense spending (if you invested in defense contractors back in ‘00, you’d be in the green today; of course, that also means you’d have no conscience to speak of) and tax cuts for the wealthy. Republicans used to love to smear Democrats by using the phrase “tax and spend.” Well, they’re far, far worse: they’re “tax cut and spend” Republicans.

Let’s not forget that the budget deficit doesn’t even include the Iraq war and occupation, which is costing us upwards of $8 billion a month (read that again, please) with a current estimate of $400 billion (all borrowed) with a projected total of $500 billion. Where exactly are we getting that money? Borrowing from foreign markets. Someone somewhere is going to pay for these deficits. Now imagine if we hadn’t gone to war, imagine spending a fifth of that amount to provide healthcare for all Americans, rich, middle-class, and poor. It’d help corporations too, since they wouldn’t have to provide healthcare through a for-profit system that practically guarantees waste and overages.

That is all.

Fidel Castro recently had a life threatening illness. What did he do? Did he take “advantage” of his so called advanced communist health care system? No. Castro went to democratic Spain for his major surgery.

Now, Michael Moore is attempting to profit from his rehab of Fidel’s system’s reputation.
What crap. It’s all propaganda. None of the 9/11 rescue dogs smoked and none of them are suffering from all the alleged 9/11 resperitory problems.