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American healthcare may be exorbitantly expensive, but it is the best in the world.

Isn’t it?

I’ve just been on the telephone to my family doctor’s office. I wanted to make an appointment. I was told the earliest I can see a “nurse practitioner” is in two days time.

I said I didn’t want a “nurse practitioner”, I wanted to see my family doctor, only to be told the first available appointment was on October 20th – in 22 days time.

Needless to say, I pointed out that if I died in the meantime they needn’t bother sending me a bill for a missed appointment.

Having lived fifty plus years with the UK’s National Health Service – yes, that’s right, the one Americans are so bloody scared of (socialist medicine = witchcraft) – I never had to wait more than three days to see a family doctor, and then I complained bitterly that it was too long. But, at least it didn’t cost me a hundred dollars for the privilege.

This country’s a bloody disgrace.

Filed under: Do better in a banana republic

…..if Christine O’Donnell and those of her persuasion were to gain the power of government in this country.

This was her on ‘Scarborough Country’ in 2003:

We are told to fear the Iranian regime, and the Taliban. Would a US government run by people like her not be similar to that of Ahmadinejad or Mohammed Omar ?

Like vultures, they gather. They circle over a carcass as yet barely visible through receding ice. Today they’ve landed in Moscow, squawking and arguing with each other over who’ll have what part.

No-one wants to fight over it, they say. But they will. One way or another, they’ll fight. Because that’s the way of vultures. Today, they may sit around, eyeballing each other with suspicion, pretending to divide up the spoils between them. But the weak know the strong will grab the best for themselves, and leave only the bones for them. Because that’s the way of vultures.

And the carcass is not yet warm.

Russia, Canada, the US, Norway, and Denmark have today sent representatives to Moscow for an international meeting intended to slice up the spoils waiting to be devoured under the Arctic ice shelf. With seaways barely navigable for more than a few months of the year, already the major powers are moving in to exploit vast oil and mineral reserves beneath the North Pole.^[1]

In far off Russian yards, the sounds of shipbuilding fill the frigid air. But these are not ships being constructed. Eight floating nuclear power stations are planned for launching, the first in 2012. They’ll be arrayed along Russia’s northern coastline, within the Arctic Circle, and will supply the power for Russia’s push to the Pole.^[2]

Canada disputes Russian claims to Arctic territory. A Russian spokesman says his country wants no conflict with other nations. He says Russia wants compromise. Then added, “Of course, conflict is always possible.”

And it is.

Because that’s the way of vultures.

^{[1] “Arctic summit in Moscow hears rival claims” BBC, September 22nd 2010}

^{[2] “The struggle for Arctic riches” BBC, September 22nd 2010}

Filed under: Scavengers