cosmic space

Five hours and 27 minutes.  That is the average time you will spend getting treated in an emergency room in Arizona.  We rank 45th in quality of ER care, and 48th in availability.

Whether you have a serious emergency or just an important health concern, the emergency room is where you must go if, like millions of Americans and Arizonans, you have no health insurance.  They are required to treat you, even if you can't afford to pay.  So, the ER is packed 24 hours a day with people needing treatment that, while urgent, could otherwise be treated in a doctor's office or clinic.

And that doesn't mean it's FREE.  They will bill you for thousands of dollars, which of course you can't afford to pay, and then when you don't pay it, that goes on your credit report, making it harder or impossible to get a loan.

If you're uninsured and not wealthy, don't even think about preventative health care or regular checkups.  Just wait till a problem becomes serious enough and take it to the ER.

Why is Arizona worse than most other states?  Because we have more than our fair share of Republicans.  (What's a fair share of those?  Well under 50%, though none at all would be ideal)  Our political elephants provide only a minimal state health system for the poor, and you have to be very, very poor to qualify.  They enacted anti-union laws, which not only keeps wages lower than average but results in fewer employers offering health insurance benefits.

Not just in Arizona, but throughout the US, we are less healthy, yet pay more to get that way, than people of many other nations.  Write your Congressperson.  Support Barack Obama as he works to establish national universal health care for all Americans.

--captain rat

An ominously undemocratic move by the Prime Minister of Canada:
 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081204/ap_on_re_ca/canada_political_crisis
has revealed a seldom-noticed detail about the country's political status-- Canada has a Governor-General who represents the Queen of England, and evidently she has the power to authorize the Prime Minister to shut down Parliament. 

This is a bit unsettling.  It is one thing to have a theoretical ceremonial tie to the British Empire, but that the Queen's representative would actually act to suspend the elected legislature to protect a Prime Minister from being voted out is, as the story says, unprecedented, and I would imagine rather worrisome to Canadians.

--captain rat

Thank you!
Thank you for standing in line, for however long you had to, to help
elect Barack Obama. You have given new hope for our country to have the
kind of honest, humane, and just government that we so richly deserve,
and new hope for the world to work toward peace and harmony.

If you didn't vote for Obama, I forgive you. Thanks for voting anyway.
I hope you will give Obama a chance to show he is the President for ALL
the people.
___ ___

Now that MSN seems to have sold hotmail to the phone company, I wonder
if live spaces may be next to go. So, why not check out Multiply, where
I now do most of my blogging. My page is:
http://cosmicrat.multiply.com
and of course my main website:
http://www.cosmicrat.com
otherwise known as
Cosmic Cabdrivers' Guide to the Universe.

--captain rat


-
--Captain Rat
captainrat@cosmicrat.com
It's a friendly universe!
Help make the world friendly, too:
support peace and human rights for everyone.

My Websites: http://www.cosmicrat.com
http://cosmicrat.multiply.com
http://360.yahoo.com/captainrat23
http://cosmicrat.spaces.live.com
http://www.myfriendlyuniverse.com

Much of America has been experiencing this Presidential campaign as a "reality show".  That's how most of the media has been presenting it.  They want to entertain people-- get more viewers, sell more products.  They don't want to bore us with issues.  That's why they are sure to show us the latest lying smear by McCain's campaign, just in case we didn't see it as a paid ad, or talk about irrelevant non-candidates like Jeremiah Wright, or cheap political tricks like Sarah Palin.  They report on the campaign like it's a horse race, or an episode of American Idol.

Meanwhile, back in Reality, we're approaching an opportunity to actually save America from the disastrous path it has been on for the last 8 years (a path that started long before that, but which, under Bush, changed from a back road to a freeway.).  This has not  been  just another backwards Republican Presidency.  This has been a real attempt to change our nation from a republic into an empire-- the PNAC vision of the US controlling the world for it's own profit, and changing citizens from BEING the government to SUBJECTS of an authoritative administration.  Yes, we can LOSE our freedom, bit by bit.  Our right to privacy, our right to a fair trial, our freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, the separation of church and state, and even our freedom of speech have been threatened and disrespected.

Our foreign policy seems designed to infuriate the rest of the world.  We are feared, but not respected.  With hundreds of thousands dead as a result of  pointless invasions and occupations, we have created chaos and multiplied the hate in the middle east.  Our so-called diplomacy has become obnoxious at best, and aggressive at worst.  This is not what the Land of the Free is supposed to be about, and it needs to STOP.

There is more.  Listen to Joe Biden's excellent summation of domestic economics: 
Joe Biden Lights a Fire: http://wrenomatic.multiply.com/journal/item/382/Joe_Biden_lights_a_fire_for_the_people.........

We need to get serious about changing the course of our nation.  We need to stop listening to lies from both Bush and McCain and take our rights and our country back.

If anyone out there is still worrying about what race Barack Obama is, you need to realize that we're all in this together.  Your prejudices only help the greedy corporate leeches and the anti-democratic authoritarians divide and conquer the rest of us.  I don't think racism is a major factor anymore, but I would like to see us ALL come together.  This election may be the most important one in the last 50 years.

The only intelligent choice is Barack Obama. 
Please vote for him.