Saw this graph at Firedoglake-link

The figure for deaths due to lack of health insurance came from a Harvard study that was published in the American Journal of Health Care, the other numbers for accidents and deaths due to sickness are from the National Center for Health Statistics (part of CDC). I did not realize that there were 10K deaths from Swine Flu this year, turns out, that's the estimate, might be as high as 14K.

At the right end of the graph is a sliver that represents 16 deaths due to terrorism. Certainly there are some Americans that are totally freaked out by shoe bombers and underpants bombers, unfortunately the heads of most of our media outlets are among that group. So, if you subject yourself to American news programs it's most likely going to be Terror! Terror! Terror! for the most part. Any news about HCR will probably be inside baseball about how the big players are wheeling and dealing.

My problem with the graph is that it says deaths due to lack of insurance, insurance is not health care. I have insurance from my employer, we're all required to enroll in the company health plan if we're not covered by any other plan. The deal is the coverage sucks, if I got seriously ill, the co-pays and out of pocket expenses might well drive me to bankruptcy.

The endless war on terror that we seem to be committed to is siphoning an enormous amount of resources away from our health care problems. that is the shame of this nation. My suggestion, ditch this piece of crap masquerading as health care reform now, enact universal single payer health care/ Medicare for all, pay for it by scaling back the MIC accordingly. It's a plan, but I'm not holding my breath.

Human Shield

A very brave young Palestinian woman places herself between demonstraters and Israeli guns.

Bill Moyers

This is the most fact-based and fair commentary you're likely to see on the subject of the current events in Gaza.

Quote of the Day-link

"All nationalists have the power of not seeing resemblances between similar sets of facts. A British Tory will defend self-determination in Europe and oppose it in India with no feeling of inconsistency. Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side ... The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." - George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism, 1945

I found this quote in Glenn Greenwald's blog at Salon.com today (title-link). I highly recommend his recent posts dealing with the events unfolding in Gaza. The comments section of the blog offers many examples of the pathological mentality Orwell described. One needn't wade into those comments to see that kind of thinking on display, simply tune to any American news broadcast. American politicians of any stripe can be depended on to echo the exact same sentiments, as if that would give cover to their funding of the atrocities committed on their behalf. Of course the greatest offense in evidence here is that all the Palestinians in Gaza have been denied their humanity, they're less than human, barbarians, beasts that can only be dealt with by brute force. The last forty years has certainly taught us that!