Explaining US Health Care System to an NHS Doctor

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Tuesday September 08, 2009 · 7:51 AM PDT

2009/09/08 · 07:51

Peter is a close friend and a neighbor. He had worked around the globe as an engineer and was looking for work in my metro area. It was our usual habit to eat breakfast together on Sunday mornings. I had just handed him a cup of coffee and was headed back to the kitchen when my son yelled, "Mom! Peter is acting like Frankenstein!"

I turned to see Peter in the throes of a full-on grand mal seizure, lying on the sofa. His arms and legs locked poker-straight, his jaw rigid, and his eyes bulging wide open. He had frothy, blood-stained saliva coming out of his mouth as he struggled to breathe. After about two minutes of that, his body relaxed and went into what I could only describe as a death rattle.

JenThinks

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Sunday October 29, 2006 · 6:55 PM PST

2006/10/29 · 18:55

Today, dKos has been aflutter with the Economic Disaster diary from One Pissed Off Liberal and then seeker's Economic Disaster: Don't Fall Into the Winger Trap.

I was one of the first commentors in OPOL's diary with the note about an article found in Maclean's Magazine in 2005 (link). It was an excellent article about David Walker's quest to spread the word that the US Government is in dire financial straights.

I have been printing out this article and handing it out to dozens of people. Mostly, they are just shocked and some can hardly believe what they read.

Folks, I must disagree with seeker in that I believe that this is no winger trap. This is for real. And players like Grover Norquist have been openly talking about bankrupting the government in order to assure their hard-right agenda even after they cycle out of power.

I was so taken with this article, that I wrote a letter to Steve Maich in 2005. Here is the letter. I would like for you to read it. Read More

Photo diary: the Legacy of Chernobyl

JenThinks

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Tuesday April 25, 2006 · 10:12 AM PDT

2006/04/25 · 10:12

Twenty years ago, the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl nearly experienced a "China Syndrome," in which the nuclear fuel rods were allowed to become too hot, fusing together and destroying the facility, releasing untold amounts of radiation into the environment. Read More

WH announces big change in foreign policy

JenThinks

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Tuesday January 10, 2006 · 6:49 PM PST

2006/01/10 · 18:49

I think that the international community implicitly understood that the US was giving them the finger when Bush appointed John Bolton as the UN Ambassador without the requisite Senate vote.

Now it is official. Read More

Greenspan's Last Speech: Finally the Truth on Deficit

JenThinks

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Friday December 02, 2005 · 2:22 PM PST

2005/12/02 · 14:22

Alan Greenspan is retiring after more than 18 years as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Yes, we've all heard the shrouded, bizarre, fiscal mumbling coming from this man for all that time, but this is the first time that he's come out and said it:

(AP Story)
"Outgoing Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Friday that America's exploding budget deficit and a protectionist backlash against soaring trade deficits could disrupt the global economy."

So, what is it about retirement that liberates even the most skilled political players? Probably because he has a compound in the Cayman Islands. Remember, this was the man that whole-heartedly embraced Bush's wreckless tax cuts. Read More

Foreign Press Covers US Economy better than Domestic Press

JenThinks

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Sunday October 09, 2005 · 9:39 AM PDT

2005/10/09 · 09:39

I have been watching with worried interest what is happening in the US economy in the past few years. I must admit that during the Reagan/Bush years, I became a deficit hawk, and reveled in the expansion and new markets during the Clinton years.

Recently, a friend of mine (more or less a blank slate when it comes to the economy) set me up in an email debate with his father, who I would easily say has benefitted from the tax breaks to the top 10% in recent years. He also loves Rush Limbaugh and Larry Kudlow. In round after round of this debate, I presented facts from the CBO and IMF, and his father used salty language to try to beat me down.

I relished the "conversation," however, which made me wonder WHY.

~~ more after the jump ~~ Read More

US Soldiers Trade Gory Photos of Iraqi Dead for Porn

JenThinks

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Thursday September 22, 2005 · 9:29 AM PDT

2005/09/22 · 09:29

As a nation, what have we become? We used to be the beacon for freedom and justice, but that reputation has been sullied in the eyes of the world. (And the descent didn't take that long, I might add.)

Check out this story. Its revelations rank with the Abu Ghraib. This is being reported in Europe, but apparently the US MSM won't touch it.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/Issues/2005-09-21/news/news.html

Choice quotes after the flip. If you don't follow me there, at least check out the article. Read More

RSS

Explaining US Health Care System to an NHS Doctor

Economic Disaster: NOT a Winger Trap

Photo diary: the Legacy of Chernobyl

WH announces big change in foreign policy

Greenspan's Last Speech: Finally the Truth on Deficit

Foreign Press Covers US Economy better than Domestic Press

US Soldiers Trade Gory Photos of Iraqi Dead for Porn