Also, You Are More Likely To Be Killed By A Sasquatch There

Via Think Progress, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Church):

When you tell people that the mortality rate in Canada is 25% higher for breast cancer, 18% higher for prostate cancer, you know, they say why in the world would we emulate a system like that? This is life threatening.

And then when you tell those people that the mortality rate for mortality is 3% higher in the United States, they’re all, so why in the world did you give me that line of bullshit about breast cancer and prostrates, you stone-faced Okie gargoyle?


Brad adds: OHGOODYOHGOODYOHGOODY!!!! I’ve been waiting to do one of these! Let’s get started, shall we?

Circulatory disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 219
  • United States: 265

Child maltreatment deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 0.7
  • United States: 2.2

Digestive disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 17.4
  • United States: 20.5

Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births

  • Canada: 5.08
  • United States: 6.3

Intestinal diseases death rate

  • Canada: 0.3%
  • United States: 7.3%

Proability of not reaching age 60:

  • Canada: 9.5%
  • United States: 12.8%

Respiratory disease child death rate per 100,000

  • Canada: 0.62
  • United States: 40.43

Heart disease deaths per 100,000:

  • Canada: 94.9
  • United States: 106.5

HIV deaths per million people:

  • Canada: 47.423
  • United States: 48.141

You get the point. If this is “socialized medicine,” sign me the hell up.

 

Comments: 169

 
 
 

Senator Concern Troll (R – ubi) is concerned.

 
 

The US has the most expensive healthcare on the planet yet ranks 37th in life expectancy, ahead of Costa Rica and right behind Cuba.

From an efficiency standpoint alone, government could do it better.

 
 

“right behind Cuba”

I knew you were a commie

 
 

I knew you were a commie

Worse, I give it from behind! I’m a commiepinkoliberalhippiefaggot!

 
 

Didn’t the Senator once entertain us with the astonishing statistic that there has never been a homosexual in the Inhofe famiily?

 
 

I’m guessing too many of us get shot in the head and run over by drunks to make it to prime prostrate cancer age or something. USA NO. 1 FUCK YEAH

 
 

Interesting if true, and specific enough that those were probably the only two statistical blips that his staff was able to find after days or weeks of research.

Also: Canada’s nice and all, but it’s not the only universal health care system in the world. See Germany for a model that keeps the private insurers in business (as an option for people making over a certain amount of money) but strictly regulated.

 
 

BTW, since it’s going to go unread on the previous thread since all the cool kids are going to be on this one now – I do recommend Carnal Nation over there on the sidebar. All kindsa fun no matter what your preferences are, and you’ll piss off wingnuts merely by reading it so it’s a win-win.

 
 

Prostrate yourself before my prostate libs!

 
 

Bread pudding comes with raisins. That’s the industry standard.

 
 

Prostrate yourself before my prostate libs!

He will brook no protestation.

 
 

But KKKK, can you read it at work?

 
 

I’m guessing too many of us get shot in the head and run over by drunks to make it to prime prostrate cancer age or something. USA NO. 1 FUCK YEAH

There’s one school of thought that says that prostate cancer is universal in men worldwide, that if you live long enough, you’ll develop it, 100% certainty.

Its percentage of diffusion in America is alarmingly high and lends some anecdotal credence to this.

 
 

Speaking of Creed-ence, I saw a commercial humping Creed tickets for their appearances in the NYC area this summer

I wonder, was “Arms Wide Open” written for zombies?

 
 

Speaking on behalf of the Prostate majority, I’d say there are too many Roman Catheters on the Supreme Court already.

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

Prostrate yourself before my prostate libs!

Address my prost!

 
 

Also, in Canada some of their doctors do an entire procedure in FRENCH. Think about that — would YOU trust a doctor who spoke some sort of freakish ancient fag language?

 
 

Speaking on behalf of the Prostate majority, I’d say there are too many Roman Catheters on the Supreme Court already.

Well, it is a penile institution…

 
 

From http://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html :
The overall 5-year relative survival rate for 1999-2005 from 17 SEER geographic areas was 89.1%

From http://www.cancer.ca/canada-wide/about%20cancer/cancer%20statistics/stats%20at%20a%20glance/breast%20cancer.aspx?sc_lang=en

5-year survival 84%[male] 87%[female]

 
 

But KKKK, can you read it at work?

FUCK NO, what am I, crazy? Let’s see – I work for a store that has a big table of Bible books (including The Wit & Wisdom of Cal Thomas) for sale prominently up front. PROB’LY NOT A GOOD IDEA to be readin’ that. Anyway I’m sure the Iron Curtain of Websense would block it.

That’s what the Internets at home is for.

 
 

would YOU trust a doctor who spoke some sort of freakish ancient fag language

Let ’em talk silly made-up Eurobabble and the next thing you know they’ll be writing prescriptions in Latin! Where will it stop?

 
 

tigrismus said,
July 23, 2009 at 23:12

My math’s not so good, but I don’t think the 89.1% (female) survival rate in the US and 87% (female) survival rate in Canada can plausably be described as a 25% difference.

The incidence rate is lower in Canada (significantly). I wonder if they decided to manipulate the numbers using that.

 
 

Remember a couple threads back how I was advocating giving Oklahoma to the Revenge of the Truck Nutz Brigade? Inhofe is a big part of that.

What kind of state keeps someone like him in office? Saying he is untethered from reality is being polite.

 
 

Obviously, there must be far less people in Canada than in the US becoming sick with breast cancer and prostate cancer, which skews the overall mortality rate, or something.

I love the way that Canada has suddenly replaced France as our national boogeyman. If you don’t behave, I’m going to sic Canadian Health Care (“What you have is a longer life span, better outcomes and about one-third less costs…”*) on your ass!

*
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-vadum/2009/07/21/cnn-aims-discredit-canadian-mayo-clinic-patient-flops-spectacularly

 
 

phleabo: Maybe something like deaths from breast cancer per year, adjusted in some fraudulent manner for population and incidence rate and then compared?

 
 

Sure you will live two years longer in Canada – Canadian fag years! LOL stoopid Canadians!

 
 

Maybe they somehow adjusted for the Canadians having a bird on their currency.

 
 

American vending machines will not accept Canadian mortality rates.

 
 

Given Inhofe’s track record of blatantly lying about climate change, I’ll need some serious citations to show that these aren’t pulled directly from his ass. He deserves no credibility whatsoever.

 
 

Maybe they somehow adjusted for the Canadians having a bird on their currency.

An old bird at that

 
 

Wif a crown on ‘er ‘ead

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

Didn’t the Senator once entertain us with the astonishing statistic that there has never been a homosexual in the Inhofe famiily?

Those farm animals were all female.

Sure you will live two years longer in Canada – Canadian fag years! LOL stoopid Canadians!

Yeah, those ten-month metric years!

In Canada’s favor, the country does have a higher population of

WOLVERINES!!!!11!!!

 
 

Feh, it’s over.. Harry Reid bent over already.

 
 

Re:The Update:

Which of those are connected to health care? Seems like most of those are fat lazy American problems. Digestive problems, hearth problems, respiratory problems. Maybe infant mortality? (don’t know if obesity in the mother is a complicating factor).

It doesn’t matter anyway. Stop playing their fucking game. The point is that everyone should get to see doctors. That’s it. End of fucking story.

 
 

On he Evil/Stupid scale of modern conservatism, Inhofe falls strongly on the evil side. He knows he’s full of shit and cherry picking (and thus killing people with our current sub-standard system.) He just doesn’t give a shit. Asshole.

 
 

Okay, so a comparison with Canada doesn’t work out.. How about comparing the US healthcare system to some other socialist health care system? France? Nope. Germany? UK? Japan? Sweden? Australia? Iceland? Andorra for gods sake? Nope.. All of those are still better than the US system.

Now the US healthcare system is getting much worse than it was. Sure, a case of cancer has always meant having to sell your house to pay for your treatment.. But now, nobody will BUY your damned house!

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

On he Evil/Stupid scale of modern conservatism, Inhofe falls strongly on the evil side.

Having read his opinions on Creationism, I would characterize him as equally stupid and evil.

 
 

That’s what the Internets at home is for.

I only surf the intertoobz if someone is paying me to do something else. It’s the American way.

 
 

When a know-nothing prick
Pulls a statistical trick
That’s Inhofe

 
 

Occam’s Razor says that Inhofe just pulled those numbers out of his ass.

That’s who they are. It’s what they do.

 
 

was “Arms Wide Open” written for zombies?

now shut up.

I ask you, what did I do that warranted such savagery?

 
 

The Wit & Wisdom of Cal Thomas)

on the World’s Shortest Books table?

 
 

Occam’s Razor says that Inhofe just pulled those numbers out of his ass.

Using the razor itself to slice through the dingleberries, hernia and enlarged prostate blocking the passage.

(I am almost not going to post this, it is so horribly disgusting)

(but fuck it, here goes)

 
 

Also, fucking senators have some of the best coverage around … what a total douche.

 
problemwithcaring
 

With such comprehensive preventative care, Canadians that are actually treated for breast and prostate cancer may actually have more aggressive forms. That may skew the mortality numbers.

It would be interesting to see (breast cancer/prostate) diagnosis per capita comparison.

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

The Wit & Wisdom of Cal Thomas
on the World’s Shortest Books table?

And it’s published in Ace Doubles format with GOP Ethics.

 
 

Roller Coasters by Country

#1 United States (624)
#8 Canada (51)

USA! USA! USA!

 
Lady Doctor Missus Marita
 

I have nothing on-topic to say. I just wanted to post the latest image of Lil’ Studebaker from yesterday’s medical scare, because I think he is cute and looks like Gavin. YMMV.

 
 

I think he is cute and looks like Gavin.

The rudimentary penis counts for a lot.

 
 

Whilst we are at it, what about that old wingnut talking point that free healthcare will make people over-use it?

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_con_wit_doc-health-consultation-with-doctors

Oh wait, that’s a load of bollocks. Possibly because of higher quality preventive care, people elsewhere in the world tend to see a doctor LESS often.

 
 

FWIW, how to lie with statistics:
US mortality rate (100 – 89.1% survival) = 10.9%

If you want to mislead somebody, you can talk about a “25% higher mortality rate” as 25% more than 10.9% (= x1.25) = 13.6%.

Canada mortality rate (100 – 87%) = 13.0% from the numbers listed above (plausibly around +25% given rounding errors). An honest person would say Canada’s mortality rate is 2.7% higher, but we’re not dealing with honest people.

I teach this at the university with the general rule of thumb that if somebody talks about rates of rates (25% higher mortality *rate*), hold on to your wallet, you’re being lied to. Plus some of the students probably go into marketing, so teaching them how to lie with numbers is a useful life skill.

If you want to use these powers for “evil”, you can convert Brad’s infant mortality rates the same way and you’ll discover that the US has a 25% higher infant mortality rate than Canada (well, +24% actually, but who’s counting). And if you really want to be fancy you could consider “excess deaths” (multiply by the occurrence rates) — since there are more babies than people with breast cancer, that’s not going to make the US health care system look good.

 
 

And it’s published in Ace Doubles format with GOP Ethics.

Wow, BOTH sides of a sheet of paper! Whod’a thunk it?

 
 

Nice one, Lady Doctor Lady! Hope the scare wasn’t too scary.

 
Lady Doctor Missus Marita
 

Nice one, Lady Doctor Lady! Hope the scare wasn’t too scary.

Thanks, DA! It was a lot more ouchy than scary, or rather, the pain lasted well past when they figured out little Studie wasn’t in any danger.

 
 

I think he is cute and looks like Gavin …

So that’s why he told me to rub ultrasound gel on my eyes before our last meet-up … it all makes sense now

 
 

As bad as many U.S. health care statistics are, I bet we’d pretty much match Canada if we could just leave Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, ans Mississippi off the list, so maybe the U.S. private health insurance industry should start pushing for the Deep South secession movement II.

 
Glossolalia Black
 

NutellaonToast: I bet a big portion of those respiratory illnesses are Kid Poors growing up in housing where the insulation is 99% roach droppings.

 
 

I used to work in a breast cancer screening facility, and while we were all encouraged to keep banging on the scare statistics — “1 in 11 women” (at that time; it later went up to 1 in 9) WILL GET BREAST CANCER!!!”

We were also reassured, in order to keep us from losing our collective nut, that that statement was true … assuming you lived that long. Yes, 1 in 11 (or 9 or whatever it is now) will develop breast cancer, but only if she lives into her 70s or 80s, which is when the majority of those cancers first show up.

Since it’s pretty clear from the context in which they were presented by Inhofe that breast and prostate cancer are the only two illness that actually occur with greater frequency in Canada than in the US, it seems logical to ask — why those diseases specifically? I’m no scientician, but it woulld seem likely that it’s because both tend to be diseases of, if not the elderly,then at least older people. You don’t meet a whole lot of 26-year-old guys with prostate problems.

I’m guessing that at least part of the reason more people develop those particular cancers in Canada is because (a) there’s no cure for cancer wherever you live and (b) since the average Canadian lives almost 3 years longer than the average US American, and (c) well, I mean, hell. Everyone has to die of something, eventually, there are simply a larger number of Canadians who survive everything else long enough to eventually develop breast or prostate cancer (I’m gonna guess for the most part either one or the other).

I wonder why Inhofe didn’t reason that one through?

 
 

Djur: Um. I hate to be That Guy, but doesn’t the US already have a bird on its currency?

 
 

I think Brad should continue this series – but “so why in the world did you give me that line of bullshit about breast cancer and prostrates, you stone-faced Okie gargoyle?” is a keeper.

 
 

I wonder why Inhofe didn’t reason that one through?

Because there has never been a homosexual in the entire history of the Inhofe family, silly.

 
 

So, prostate: US survival rate near 100% over 5 years in current studies, but a 98 NIH study found a 76% overall 5-year survival rate, and 62% for those from poor communities. Apparently, it’s so overdiagnosed now that the survival rate data is all screwed up: “One study applied a computer model to the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries and estimated that 29 per cent of prostate cancers detected in white men and 44 per cent of those detected in black men were overdiagnosed.” So most people survived the diagnosis because a hell of a lot of them didn’t have cancer in the first place…

And even though we can’t be sure it’s apples to apples, Canada: “Five-year relative survival rates for ages 15–99 were highest for prostate cancer (87%).” OMG the 99 year-old dude died before his 104th birthday! Booooo SOCIALISM!

It doesn’t matter anyway. Stop playing their fucking game. The point is that everyone should get to see doctors. That’s it. End of fucking story.

This is true, but it never hurts to be able to say: everyone should get healthcare, and Inhofe is a fucking liar.

 
 

I cant get over the difference in child asthma deaths, that’s major! but hell they’re probably (coff) black kids so let’s not worry too much in wingnut ville. Our commie health care in Aus is pretty damn good and you can even have private care on top if you want a boob job.

 
 

It was a lot more ouchy than scary, or rather, the pain lasted well past when they figured out little Studie wasn’t in any danger.

So, you got total strangers coming up to you on the street and rubbing your belly, huh?

(I’m glad everything is okay.)

 
 

“I think he is cute and looks like Gavin. “

I see a frog. Gavin’s a frog?

I had no idea.

 
 

Edmund, our bird is on the back, and it’s an eagle, which is basically like a velociraptor with wings, and it also happens to be holding a bunch of arrows, and a concealed weapon. The Canadians have a duck.

 
 

“…you can even have private care on top if you want a boob job.”

I see what you did there.

 
Lady Doctor Missus Marita
 

I see a frog. Gavin’s a frog?

Don’t take your Rorscach failures out on my lovely husband and son. 😛

 
 

The Canadians have a duck.

Duck? That’s the Queen. Who may be a duck, no?

 
 

If you’re up for a little god news on the healthcare front, the Congressional Black Caucus is blasting away at the Blue Dogs. May not make a difference at the end of the day, but at least some of the people in Congress aren’t total wankers.

 
 

The Queen – she’s a bird by definition, no?

 
 

The Queen – she’s a bird by definition, no?

I thought she was a bee.

 
 

yeah–that’d be “good news.”

 
 

Also, you are more likely to be killed by a sasquatch there

I believe you, D. Aristophanes, but I’d still like confirmation from our resident cryptozoology expert.

 
 

I see a frog. Gavin’s a frog?

Mantis shrimp. I thought this had been covered already?

Anyhoo, glad all is well, and I hope you didn’t have to barf on somebody to get there in comfort.

 
 

The congressional Black Caucus is pretty awesome on the issues in general.

 
 

“I thought she was a bee.”

More of a WASP

 
 

J— said,

Roller Coasters by Country

#1 United States (624)
#8 Canada (51)

USA! USA! USA!

Standardise! Standardise!

Roller Coasters per 100,000

• Canada: 0.150
• United States: 0.203

See, you still win. Happy?

 
 

See, you still win. Happy?

I’m happy we still beat Canada, but our current world ranking is unacceptable. We can’t even beat one of our overseas colonies!

 
RUGGED IN MONTANA
 

I AM SUSPENDING MY CAMPAIGN SO THAT I MIGHT BETTER ADDRESS THE INFILTRATION OF RABID CANADIAN PELICANS ACROSS THE MONTANA BORDER!!!!!!

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

It is pitch black Canada. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

 
 

“That’s the Queen. Who may be a duck, no?”

But does she float?

On he Evil/Stupid scale of modern conservatism, Inhofe falls strongly on the evil side.

Having read his opinions on Creationism, I would characterize him as equally stupid and evil.

Creationism? Heh, the idjit said that heliocentrism was a plot by da Jooooos!

 
Gabriel Ratchet
 

D. Aristophanes said,

July 24, 2009 at 0:45 (kill)

The Queen – she’s a bird by definition, no?

No, she’s a lizard.

 
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
 

I still haven’t seen the figures for sasquatch-related deaths per 100,000. How can I trust your headline?

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

Creationism? Heh, the idjit said that heliocentrism was a plot by da Jooooos!

Those same wacky dudes who wrote that book he’s always carrying on about? No way!

 
 

Thanks, drlemur. that was really helpful.

 
 

Gavin’s a frog?

That’s Tintin – French or fag or both.

 
 

Djur: A duck will fuck you up if you give it the chance.

 
 

Maybe they somehow adjusted for the Canadians having a bird on their currency.

That’s loonie.

 
Big Bad Bald Bastard
 

A duck will fuck you up if you give it the chance.

Don’t make me re-post that video of a mallard banging a golden retriever!

 
 

Don’t make me re-post that video of a mallard banging a golden retriever!

Are we making dumb blond jokes?

 
Lurking Canadian
 

You know, I’m not even American, and thus just observing this issue, but it is making me want to cry. I just don’t get it.

I understand about ideology. I understand that there are people in the world who honestly believe that anything that involves taxing somebody for somebody else’s gain is evil and just one short step from the gulag. I think such people are not sane, but they can think what they want, and if they can convince enough people to agree with them, that’s baseball.

What I don’t understand is why these people are allowed to stand up in the public square and utter demonstrable falsehoods without being called on it? They are telling bullshit stories about CANADA for fuck’s sake. It’s not like it’s war-torn Iraq and therefore difficult to investigate their claims. It’s not like reporters couldn’t just rent Sicko and find out the truth about single-payer health care. How do they get away with this shit, seriously?

 
 

Djur: A duck will fuck you if you give it the chance.

FYT.

 
 

Lurking Canadian said,
July 24, 2009 at 2:52

You’re from fuckin’ Canada. What the FUCK do you know about baseball. Fuck you. Get fucked. Fuckin’ French fag. Go fuck yourself.

(Does that answer your question?)

 
Lady Doctor Missus Marita
 

America, if you can’t play nice with the other countries, we’re going to give Mexico all your toys.

 
 

LC: see previous thread.

used to be, magical fairies called JOURNALISTS could write down tehse utterances, then interview people and perform a magic ritual called READING and RESEARCH, wherein they magically could determine the truth or falsehood of these claims. Then these fairies would write in NEWSPAPERS and inform people of the various claims.

In recent years, the magical fairies were killed. Genocide, really. The last one died last week. In their place, magical robot heads with impressive hair were dispatched to perform the duties formerly performed by MAGICAL FAIRIES. However, the robot heads could only record and play back what they heard; so they would record one person’s utterings, then search out a person who said something diametrically opposed to the first. Determining the veracity of the statements is beyond the capabilities of the robot heads.

These two utterings would be replayed, and this is called BALANCE.

 
 

We are in danger from all these stories of far-away Canadia, because it is an alien dangerous poor land and it is so far away and they speak bizarre languages and no Americans understand them.

 
 

It looks to me like lil’ Studebaker von M. is holding a rubber duckie. About halfway up and a little to our left. How’d he get that? Wait, is that p’shopped? Where’s an expert kerner when you need one? If it’s not faked then there’s the source of your discomfort right there. No charge.

 
Lady Doctor Missus Marita
 

That would explain the squeaking, Lawnguylander. Good call.

PS – would you be able to make it up here for a Boston Sadlyfest either of the first two weekends in August? I know you couldn’t make it last time, and no one has expressed a date preference for this time, so I thought I’d ask.

 
 

Edmund, our bird is on the back, and it’s an eagle, which is basically like a velociraptor with wings, and it also happens to be holding a bunch of arrows, and a concealed weapon. The Canadians have a duck.

Look at the Messkin flag. They have an eagle. We have vulture in drag.

(I know, I’m a traitor for saying it. But Jefferson thought so, too!)

 
 

Edmund, our bird is on the back, and it’s an eagle

Our bird’s name is Edmund? I’m sorry, but that’s a silly name for a bird, even an eagle.

 
 

Canadia sucks. The USA rocks:

A two-year corruption and international money-laundering investigation stretching from the Jersey Shore to Brooklyn to Israel and Switzerland culminated in charges against 44 people on Thursday, including three New Jersey mayors, two state assemblymen and five rabbis, the authorities said.

The case apparently began with bank fraud charges against a member of an insular Syrian Jewish enclave centered in the seaside town of Deal, N.J. Eventually, stemming from that arrest, a federal informant posed as a crooked real estate developer offering cash bribes to obtain government approvals — and the case mushroomed into a political scandal that could rival any of the most explosive and sleazy episodes in New Jersey’s recent past.

It was replete with tales of the illegal sales of body parts; of furtive negotiations in diners, parking lots, and boiler rooms; of nervous jokes about “patting down” a man who turned out to be an informant; and, again and again, of the passing of cash — once in a box of Apple Jacks cereal stuffed with $97,000, according to prosecutors.

F.B.I. agents anticipated seizing so much money that they planned to go to the offices of a federal credit union in Lower Manhattan to use its counting machines, one law enforcement official said.

“For these defendants, corruption was a way of life,” Ralph J. Marra Jr., the acting United States attorney in New Jersey, said at a 12:30 p.m. news conference. “They existed in an ethics-free zone.”

I thought the entire Bush Jr. administration was an “ethics-free zone”.

 
 

Yes, I might be able to make it and thanks for the invite. I have an open invitation from my sister’s in laws that I keep not taking them up on and that’s nagging at me so I now have two reasons to go and also babysitters for young Edsel. But it would have to be a late Saturday thing as I have to manage his baseball team against hated rivals from other parts of L.I. in the afternoon. Or maybe Sunday?

 
Jonathan St.Lawrence
 

Though I’m sure it comes as a surprise to you foolish liberal deniers, more Bigfoot related fatalities occur in Georgia than in all of Canada. It may have something to do with the glaciation patterns from the ice age, migratory habits, or the greater prevalence of assault weapons and beer in the swamps of Georgia.

 
 

The US health care system is BY FAR the best in the world.

… at making money for insurance companies, that is. That’s what it was designed to do, and it does that very well.

 
 

Lurking Canadian says: “How do they get away with this shit, seriously?”

Simple. Essentially ALL the US media is controlled by Rupert Murdoch and his ideological twins. That’s all it takes.

 
 

Also, chupacabra. Not a single death due to chupacabration in Canada in the past 100 years, ranking the United States first in Cyptozoological Mortality during that period.

Address my unicorn, libs.

 
The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge
 

Jonathan St.Lawrence said,

July 24, 2009 at 3:42

Though I’m sure it comes as a surprise to you foolish liberal deniers, more Bigfoot related fatalities occur in Georgia than in all of Canada. It may have something to do with the glaciation patterns from the ice age, migratory habits, or the greater prevalence of assault weapons and beer in the swamps of Georgia.

Lies! We have so many Sasquatches in Washington that D. B. Cooper landed right next to one and it ate him and all his money!

 
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
 

I thought the entire Bush Jr. administration was an “ethics-free zone”.

Only until they all sat down and watched a Powerpoint presentation about ethics, and then it was all squeaky-clean.

 
 

Only until they all sat down and watched a Powerpoint presentation about ethics, and then it was all squeaky-clean.

Also, if you get a Justice Department lawyer to say something, anything, is legal, then it magically becomes legal.

 
 

I thought the entire Bush Jr. administration was an “ethics-free zone”.

Only until they all sat down and watched a Powerpoint presentation about ethics, and then it was all squeaky-clean.

Microsoft. Is there anything it can’t do?

 
 

Whoa … those numbers for intestinal- & child-respiratory-disease deaths look like they’re from different PLANETS, never mind different nations.

Hmm … perhaps changing the laws in the US to allow dumping industrial-strength toxic waste into regular sewers wasn’t QUITE the cunning plan it seemed at first sight. Let’s just hope that if it’s cleaning the toilet, the Invisible Hand is wearing a heavy-duty HazMat-3 glove right now.

Oppenheimer in 2009: “I am become Deregulation, Destroyer Of Worlds.”
———-

More or less OT: “thanks” to The Daily Show, I now have looked directly upon the face of Orly Taitz … & what has been seen can never be unseen.

Damn you Interwebs! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

 
 

I now have looked directly upon the face of Orly Taitz … & what has been seen can never be unseen.

That’s strange. I looked into the taint of Orly Face.

 
 

Jonathan St.Lawrence said,

July 24, 2009 at 3:42

Though I’m sure it comes as a surprise to you foolish liberal deniers, more Bigfoot related fatalities occur in Georgia than in all of Canada. It may have something to do with the glaciation patterns from the ice age, migratory habits, or the greater prevalence of assault weapons and beer in the swamps of Georgia.

I can’t help buttnotice that you avoided any mention of the Grapefruit Chupacabra menace.
~

 
 

Dammitall.

I blame S,N! for this link atrocity.

And such as, also!1!

 
 

Lurking Canadian said,

July 24, 2009 at 2:52

You know, I’m not even American, and thus just observing this issue, but it is making me want to cry. I just don’t get it.

I understand about ideology. I understand that there are people in the world who honestly believe that anything that involves taxing somebody for somebody else’s gain is evil and just one short step from the gulag. I think such people are not sane, but they can think what they want, and if they can convince enough people to agree with them, that’s baseball.

What I don’t understand is why these people are allowed to stand up in the public square and utter demonstrable falsehoods without being called on it? They are telling bullshit stories about CANADA for fuck’s sake. It’s not like it’s war-torn Iraq and therefore difficult to investigate their claims. It’s not like reporters couldn’t just rent Sicko and find out the truth about single-payer health care. How do they get away with this shit, seriously?

Thank you for that comment. It’s exactly like the MSM buying all the B.S. about Iraqi WMD.

Except we’re talking about health care, in Canada.

It’s not that far away, and you don’t even have to learn a new language.
Except for the “no longer sucking up to corporate parasites” language.

And there lies the rub.

 
 

Now that Dick Morris has informed me that Obamacare will kill Bill O’Reilly, I’m for it TWO hundred percent.

 
 

I looked it up, and the rate of sasquatch deaths per 100,000 is 2,000,000 in Canada. That’s what we’d get in America with communist medicine. A hairy stinky angry army of made-up imaginary monsters! Well, that, and decent healthcare.

 
 

And mooses that bite you.

See 3Bulls! for more.

 
 

That’s strange. I looked into the taint of Orly Face.

That would be… looking up at an owl?

 
Canadian Asshole
 

If hubby and I lived in the US, he’d be uninsurable because of a congenital disability. I think I’d have turned to robbery long ago if I lived in your neck of the woods, just to cover the medical bills. What I don’t get is how a jackass like Inhofe can claim to be pro-life when he hates everyone so god-damned much.

Oh, and this pretty much goes without saying, but most of what Americans hear about Canadian healthcare are either half-truths, lies, or damned lies.

 
Canadian Asshole
 

Oh. and surely someone is investigating the staggering rate of respiratory disease-related death in the US.

 
 

“surely someone is investigating the staggering rate of respiratory disease-related death in the US.”

Ha, yeah right.

 
 

More or less OT: “thanks” to The Daily Show, I now have looked directly upon the face of Orly Taitz … & what has been seen can never be unseen.

At least it explained where “Charo” went.

 
Dragon-King Wangchuck
 

a box of Apple Jacks cereal stuffed with $97,000

That is some serious jack.

Except for the “no longer sucking up to corporate parasites” language.

Sad to say but we are totally fluent in that language up here as well. On the plus side, our beer is much better.

 
The Tragically Flip
 

And don’t forget, Canada has a moderately but signifiantly lower per-capita GDP, and spends a whopping chunk less of GDP on health care than the US. We spend a smaller percentage of our lower income on health care.

If Canada was at GDP per capita par with the US, and spent 17% of GDP on it, our treatment coverage would have theraputic oral sex delivered round the clock to our population of immortal Athenian god-like beings as a treatment for the only uncured disease that would be left, the ennui of perpetual youth, beauty and health.

My fucking God, 17% of GDP and these atrocious insurance companies can’t manage to cover everyone. The US system is a systemic crime against humanity.

 
 

The US system is a systemic crime against humanity.

Yes, but for some reason it’s impossible to get people to understand that. All I hear on the news is that Barack Hussein Obama wants to make your granny wait 90 years to get her hip surgery.

 
slightly_peeved
 

Oh, and part of the reason the US does better at Breast Cancer is because of all the PUBLIC MONEY they spend on Breast Cancer research:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/47531.php

 
 

ITTDGY, are you getting commissions for flogging 3Boolz?

 
 

I don’t think anyone here has understood the necessity of the “millionaire’s club” getting the therapy they need, through 6 weeks of yachting and soothing their aching brains with single malt and loads of quality time with Jesus. If you Communists care so much about health, then why aren’t you all for the senate getting the mental health break they need this August.
Ah, fuck it, can’t bring on the snark. Feel too sick about this mess.

 
 

133.

Feel too sick about this mess.

Good fuckin luck getting THAT treated. Maybe go to Canadia?

 
 

REP. LOUIS GOHMERT: Well, if you go to the socialized medicine countries, you find about 20 percent worse results. You get it? One in five people have to die because they went to socialized medicine! Now, I’ve got three daughters and a wife. I would hate to think that, among five women, one of them is going to die because we go to socialized care, and we have to have these long lists.

I wouldn’t trust any health care statistics that come from a guy who adds up “three daughters and a wife” and gets “five women.”

 
 

I bet he’s including himself.

 
 

It may have something to do with the glaciation patterns from the ice age, migratory habits, or the greater prevalence of assault weapons and beer in the swamps of Georgia.

…or mistaking Uncle Ed before he’s shavedSunday morning, and covering up the homicide.

 
 

So, you got total strangers coming up to you on the street and rubbing your belly, huh?

Dr Mrs is the Fifteenth Buddha? Or Studie is?

 
 

“In [place of real reporters], magical robot heads with impressive hair were dispatched to perform the duties formerly performed by MAGICAL FAIRIES.”

Nice story, ZRM, but we all know the truth is ZOMBIES ATE THERE BRANES AND TURNED THEM INTO MORANS.

 
 

I want JOSH ST.Lawrence back, he knew everything I ever needed to know.

 
 

Nice story, ZRM, but we all know the truth is ZOMBIES ATE THERE BRANES AND TURNED THEM INTO MORANS.

It’s a fair cop.

 
 

Inhofe’s numbers on prostate cancer are due to the fact that Canadians use the metric system. That’s a metric percent.

 
 

That’s a metric percent.

Tee hee! That’s perfect.

 
 

One other pertinent observation: Canada spends less per capita on health care than we do…Many countries that have even better results than Canada or the US spend HALF what we do per capita. And they all cover about 98% of their population to boot.

Let’s just suppose that any of the above countries spent 25% more on health care per capita (thus, cutting the difference in half), you’d see a whole lot more “technology” in their systems, and their results would be even better.

As for Inhofe…well, he’s about as off-base on health care as he is on climate change.

Bottom line: When you hear someone using the words “rationing”, “government run” and my favorite, “socialism”, then you can be sure that they either don’t know what they’re talking about, or are just flat-out lying to you.

 
 

One thing’s for sure…the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, chaired by Roy Blunt, will not have any “alternative” to see the light of day…they can’t even coordinate their message about it. These three statements all came out yesterday:

Our bill is never going to get to the floor, so why confuse the focus? – Roy Blunt

… or has everyone already seen it?

Our reform plan to lower costs, increase access, and improve quality was released weeks ago and it is well-known. – Roy Blunt

… or, is it a work in progress?

We’re continuing to put the final touches on our bill as the Democrats are continuing to put the finishing touches on their bill – John Boehner

 
 

Does anyone have a link for the very FIRST post here ? I’d like to see the source of the Canada vs. US stuff (per 100,000)

many thanks, Mike

 
 

In Canada, if you cut two fingers off in an accident, and they are both viable for reattachment both will be reattached, no questions asked.

My brother cut off the tip of his thumb and another finger in a bandsaw accident in Ontario. He had no provincial health insurance coverage at the time (because he was not the best at filling out the forms and just generally lax about these things). When he was rushed to hospital, the doctor in the emergency ward told his wife never to mind about the insurance, the gov’t would back date it three months to make him eligible for full coverage if she paid the required amount. She paid the $90 (yes, that’s all it cost).

A specialist was summoned. He spent 17 hours reattaching my brother’s fingers. There was no fee for the surgery, the ambulance service or the hospital stay.

In the US, you will receive an estimate of the cost per finger. This NEVER happens in Canada.

 
 

Here’s a Canadian Health Care by Comparison chart from the OECD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Canada#Canadian_health_care_in_comparison

 
 

I work in the healthcare field, I see patients every day that go without treatment and medication because they can’t afford it. There are tests that we need for diagnosis that the patient can’t get because they run $500 and up and that’s with full coverage insurance. There is something terribly wrong with the system. It’s not just broke, it’s smashed and shattered and if something doesn’t happen soon we will ALL (rich and poor) be left picking at the pile of rubble trying to find ourselves and loved ones the help we need.

 
 

Let’s not forget that Canada spends 10% of its GDP on Health Care with its government system, and the US spends 16% GDP on its Private “system”.

Cost effective my butt.

 
 

Yea, but in the USA I can get a cat scan tomorrow. I know of at least 3 people who have moved to the States after spending over 20 years in Canada. they did so for better/quicker helathcare care as they got older. Maybe they are morons, but that is what they did.

 
 

Why do Canadians live longer. One reason is due to the excess number of accidents and homicides in the U.S. compared to Canada. In fact 50%-85% of the mortality gap between American and Canadian adults in their twenties can be explained by the increased American accident/homicide rates. For people over 50, 30-50% of the difference in age-specific mortality rates can be attributed to the excess number of heart disease patients in the U.S. These heart disease findings are more likely driven by American lifestyle choices rather than the efficacy of the U.S. medical system.

These two countries are very different in life style and diversity of culture. the US is very diverse, Canada much less so. this too makes a difference. If costs where the only concern, the Canada system is much cheaper and much slower. I do not know if Americans are willing to wait weeks for a test to be performed…a good question.

 
 

Your country really mystifies me – both in your stubborn insistence on allowing profit-taking middlemen to insert themselves into your life-and-death decisions as well as the failure of your government to properly explain to you the lunacy of it (and this includes the Obama administration).

This year, I was diagnosed with a low-grade, but invasive brain tumour. My CTs, MRIs, Neuro, Neuro-Onc, and Neurosurgery consults were all paid for, and copies of the clinic notes and radiology reports faxed to my family doc. All of them spent time with my family, explaining to me the options. I thought about it, and a few months later, I underwent surgery to remove the tumour. I was provided the pathology reports, and now will have MRIs every 4 months for a few years in order to check for recurrence (my last one was clear!).

Neither I, nor anyone in my family ever thought about the cost, except once perhaps, to say “Thank God we don’t live in America.” I am dead sure that it would have cost a bloody fortune. OHIP (that’s the Ontario Health Insurance Program – Medicare in Canada is funded through, and mostly by, the Provincial governments) paid for the whole thing from start to finish, and, God-willing, will continue to for as long as I need.

Now I have “pre-existing condition.” I suppose in the US this would have some sort of effect on my future health insurance options. This is not something I worry about.

Get yourself a real health care system, people.

 
 

A higher murder rate wouldn’t explain most of the statistics above, unless our intestines are killing us on purpose. And while it’s nice if you can get a CAT scan the next day, that’s not the typical experience; the US triages tests, appointments with specialists, etc, just like Canada and the other single payer nations do. At any rate, do what Britain already does, and what Canada is moving to, a system in which there are public and private practices and people can choose.

 
 

Does anyone have a link for the very FIRST post here ? I’d like to see the source of the Canada vs. US stuff (per 100,000)

Mike – the very first post being Inhofe’s statistical horseshit? If so, I don’t have the source for that, but many here suspect it is his ass.

If you are looking for the stats that led me to my reply, regarding overall mortality rates (how Canadians enjoy an extra 2.5 or so years of life over their American brethren) … that’s from the CIA Factbook and also pretty much identical to UN figures.

Brad’s numbers are Brad’s, but I expect he got them from similarly reliable sources.

 
 

miles is blowing a load of shit out of his ass this evening.

miles, you’re free to pay thousands for a cat scan tomorrow on top of the thousands you’re paying to a private health insurer who won’t cover the cat scan because they’ll find a pre-existing condition somewhere.

 
"Oh Stewardess, I Speak 'Nut"
 

I’ve had socialized medicine in Korea for the last two years, and it rocks.The times I’ve needed care it’s taken less than an hour from my front door back to my front door, including a walk-in doctor visit and a stop at a pharmacy on the way home. Total cost in the area of $6 or $7 (plus a small monthly paycheck deduction).

Ladies and gentlemen, if anyone ever asks if you want socialized medicine, say yes!

 
 

So I’ve seen a lot made from CONCORD’s study and how it shows that socialized medicine kills people and is evil and doesn’t work and blah blah blah. Except if you actually read it, or skim it, or LOOK AT THE DAMN GRAPHS AT ALL, you see that while the US tends to be at or near the top for 5-year survival rates for most kinds of cancer, so does Cuba.

(Cancer survival in five continents: a worldwide population-based study (CONCORD). Lancet Oncology 2008)

 
 

Sure your life expectancy in Canada is two years longer, but when you adjust for the exchange rate it’s more like 22 months.

 
 

miles,

Have you ever been to Canada? It’s urban areas are some of the most diverse in the world. Toronto is the most racially diverse city in the world. Maybe rural areas of Canada are homogeneous, but that’s not unique. Visit some of the small towns where I grew up in southern Missouri, places where someone was considered a foreigner if their name sounded “Eye-tallee-un.”

 
 

You know I am glad they are such idjuts about health care and have such a political tin ear. This is great news for progressives.

I guess these yahoos did not stop to consider the fact that when national health care was clubbed to death in its cradle back in 1994, the population of the country was an average of 15 years younger (and probably a lot healthier) than now. Graying boomers, with their diabetes and creaky bones, have practically guaranteed that health care is Topic A in any political debate nowadays. The question is no longer IF we will have health care but WHEN HOW MUCH and WHAT KIND.

 
 

What are the stats on how many people die in the US due to undiagnosed conditions only found at autopsy?

Undiagnosed because they didn’t have the hundreds or thousands of dollars it costs to get simple diagnostic tests.

My husband immigrated to Canada from the US in 2005. To immigrate you need to get a physical exam, a chest x-ray and some blood work that is sent to immigration authorities.

If he had had them done in the US his insurance wouldn’t cover it and he would have had to pay $850 for the office visit and exam, $280 for the chest x-ray and $139 for the blood work. (All amounts US dollars)

He opted to have the medical report done here in Canada and it cost us $125 for the office visit, $25 for the x-ray and $23 for the blood work. (All amounts CDN dollars)

The x-rays and blood work were both done at the facilities of private companies who have a contract with the province to deliver these services.

To say that there isn’t any private companies or private insurance companies in Canada is to lie. For $128 a month, both my husband and I had health insurance nearly identical to what the US senators get. There’s room for both insuring everyone and the private sector to make money and people like Inhofe are lying to you if they say there isn’t.

 
 

How about this idea:

The President and Congress hash out a federal government-mandated and funded medical plan, and whatever they come up with, I will support 100% — under ONE CONDITION:

THEY have to use it, TOO!!

NO MORE special medical plans for Congress and the President/VP, nor for their families. For life. Even AFTER they leave office. Nor are they permitted to opt-out or obtain private medical care, ever, even if such is available to the rest of us under their proposed plan. They’re stuck with whatever they think is good enough for the rest of us.

What’ya wanna bet that they’d actually come up with something that WORKS in that case?

 
 

Lies, damned Lies – and statistics.

 
 

How much of those statistics is directly due to health care and how much is due to lifestyle – don’t we Americans eat more crap and live fatter, more processed food lives than the rest of the world? It seems to me like the fact we survive at all is a testament to our health care system…

 
 

don’t canadians have free medical care?

 
 

Sure your life expectancy in Canada is two years longer, but when you adjust for the exchange rate it’s more like 22 months.

 
 

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