Its fun to make shit up
 

I'll guess the overall ratio of good dead/bad dead is similar.

Ukraine
 

Once again you are playing fast and loose with the facts. The Medeval Russian word for border transliterates roughly as "krai", and while it is the etymological derivaiton for both the Crimea and the Ukraine, no one would translate Ukraine as "border".

I hate magnetic ribbons.
 

Heh.

Its fun to make shit up
 

This baffles me. Who are you trying to insult here - dead civilians in Iraq or dead anyone in Chicago?

I just want to know who it is in to hate these days.

Its fun to make shit up
 

Always start this list with "people who go far out of their way to find things by which to be offended." You can't go wrong that way.

(Next, I would add Baathist thugs, Islamicist jihadists, and gangbangers. And then, people who walk on crowded sidewalks with open umbrellas. Oh, and the guy who takes the last of the toilet paper and doesn't get out a new roll.)

ETA - And clowns. Can't forget clowns.

Ukraine
 

Sort of like the derivation of "France" is "Franks," which meant "Germans," but if you call them Germans they get sort of pissy?

Its fun to make shit up
 

National healthcare
 

Can someone explain to me why, in light of studies like this one, national healthcare is a bad thing?

Please take into account that between 1999 and 2003, the number of patients enrolled in the VHA system increased by 70 percent, yet funding (not adjusted for inflation) increased by only 41 percent.

Find me a private payor that has the same efficiency.

National healthcare
 

Anecdotally, I guess, I'd point to the widespread dissatisfaction that I see expressed with the Canadian and English systems. It hasn't been my impression that either one of them leads in any quality or access study. I suppose it can be done right - this study, if it says what the abstract implies, sounds good - but I've yet to see a large-scale system work well.

Ukraine
 

I've pondered your reply, and all I can add is that a russian told me this - I'll bow to your better knowledge, as I've never taken russian - but, if "krai" means "border", I'm not seeing what a huge leap it would be for someone to link "Ukraine" with "border".

National healthcare
 

It is a tiny percentage of what universal health care would be across the United States. Smaller is easier.

Perhaps the biggest thing for me is that any national healthcare program would require limits on what would be covered. I fear those limits would be stricter than I would for my healthcare.

Why Not Kinky?
 

Kinky's officially announcing his campaign for gov. next week. He is determined to fight the "wussification of Texas."

"I am determined to get back to a time when the cowboys all sang and their horses were smart," Friedman said.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/...eut/index.html

This should be fun.

Why Not Kinky?
 

did you catch every Bob Hope appearance on TV, right up to the end?

National healthcare
 

There are 24.6 million veterans in the US. There are 32,040,292 Canadians, and 59.2 million Brits. I don't think it's inappropriate to compare those systems.

It's a pretty large scale system, much larger than anything else in the US. Kaiser Permanente comes in second in terms of scope of services and payment, though BCBS leads the pack in total covered lives. It's not really a system, though, since it's pretty open.

National healthcare
 

Smaller isn't easier. Records get lost in small systems, because people keep on moving from doctor to doctor. Every single record in the VA system is electronic, and can be easily accessed from any VA hosptial if a patient moves or gets in an accident away from home. There's no continuity of care in smaller systems, because people's coverage changes from year to year as the plans drop some physicians and keep others. It's easier to find epidemeological trends in larger systems, with larger populations numbers to study for variances. It's easier to share information in a single large system than in several hundred smaller systems.

You can pull your kid out of public school and pay a little (or a lot) more for private education and get more for your buck. Why can't you do the same with your healthcare?