Canada gets drawn in to U.S. Healthcare Debate

This past week has been a gem for comedy.... not from comedians but from politicians and talking heads on the proposals for U.S. Health care reform.

I loved Lynn Cheney the other nite on Larry King when she said so matter of factly - the government (of Canada) tells Canadians what doctors they must use (factually wrong on 2 counts - health care is delivered by provinces not the Federal Government and of course we can chose whichever doctor we want)

But the absolute best comedian has to be Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX:

On socialized medicine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW_GDBokb8w&feature=player_embedded

On the Canadian system:

“I know enough about Canadian care, and I know this bureaucratic, socialized piece of crap they have up there…”


Other notables:

Rep Paul Broun (R-Ga) “Life is precious. Some would say, ‘Well, she’s 85 years of age; we should just let her die.’ And that’s exactly what’s going on in Canada and Great Britain today. They don’t have the appreciation of life as we do in our society, evidently.”

Arizona Republican Sen Jon Kyl “the average emergency room wait in Canada is 23 hours—if you are even considered sick enough to be admitted.”


Comedy Central please sign em up. On the downside, many Americans will believe this as fact (thanks to an on air quote by some forgotten politician, the majority of Americans believe that the 911 hijackers came thru Canada (wrong by 100%) and few know Canada took in tens of thousands of stranded air passengers (majority were Americans) when the US closed its airspace

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Are Public Service Unions Still Relevant?

Item: VIA Rail Canada has announced that its representatives are currently negotiating with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference union, which represents some 340 locomotive engineers. Earlier today, the union gave notice to the Corporation of its intent to go on strike on Friday, July 24, 2009 at noon.

Item 2: Two Toronto union groups representing about 26,200 workers, including garbage collectors and office staff, went on strike June 22 to protest proposed cuts in benefits and sick pay. Toronto residents have been taking garbage to 19 temporary sites in parks and hockey arena parking lots during the labor action.

On top of this, a recent survey showed that public service workers receive an average of 17-19% pay remuneration more than their private sector counterparts. Taking benefits into account, that difference becomes a whopping 30%.

We the taxpayers who pay for these "services" and these workers; we are quite often the target of strikes and labor disruptions in order for the unions to get their way - make it difficult for employers and the general public who are forced into capitulating to excessive demands or risk further inconvenience.

I like the way Ronald Reagan handled the air traffic controllers back in the 80's - fire the lot of them and bring them back into our world if they still want a job, but under our terms (equal wages and benefits to the private sector)

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First Post

Wondered why I didn't get caught up in all the Michael Jackson hoopla since his death on June 25th.

After all, I was a musician in my youth and love music today just as much as I did back then. I was a fan of Michael Jackson's music of the 80's - I remember having cassette tapes of Thriller & Bad in my car with the bass settings on maximum, drowning out the protests of my two children who were stuck in the back seats with car speakers vibrating just inches from their ears.

Of all the celebrity deaths in the past few weeks, none touched me less than his. Why? I finally figured out while I was a fan of his music, I was not a fan of his notoriety and was simply turned off. He achieved the highest level of fame and popularity as a recording artist and entertainer in modern times - I give him that respect.

The deaths of Ed McMahon, sidekick to the great Johnny Carson; Farrah Fawcett, the face and body which covered some of my bedroom wall; Karl Malden, from the Streets of San Francisco (with Michael Douglas); and Walter Cronkite, the face and voice of U.S. TV news my parents watched Monday to Friday - they shaped and impacted my evolution from boy to manhood.

And even though they had been outside my life in recent years, they will be missed....

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