| Friday,
November 19, 2004 A large part of the
health insurance problem, is in fact, an immigration problem (43% of the
non-insured are non-citizens). The linkage is at least three-fold. First,
huge numbers of illegal aliens have no insurance. Given their legal status
and predominantly cash employment status, this should not be surprising. Of
course, they know quite well that for them, health care is always free, paid
for by the taxpayers of the US.
The second point is that, the dominant Open Borders
ideology of the US, has resulted in substantial declines in the wages and
working conditions of ordinary Americans, rendering them considerably less
able to pay for health insurance (actually more eliminating the marketplace
need for employers to provide it). The Left has actively aided and abetted
this process for a number of reasons, perhaps the most important of which is
the pervasive influence of multiculturalism which has long trumped any
interest in the lives of ordinary Americans. Of course, business interests
have found the status quo, desirable at worst, and sacred otherwise. The
editorial page of the WSJ is notorious for promoting Open Borders, and every
possible restriction on immigrant voting.
A quick check of the state by state insurance
statistics shows the serious impact of Open Borders. The states with the
highest numbers of the uninsured are, with a few exceptions, the states most
impacted by mass migration. Of course, a few traditionally poor states
(Mississippi) also have large numbers of the uninsured. However, the
relatively rich states with few illegals (Vermont, Minnesota) have very few
uninsured.
The third point is that as the number of illegals has
risen, the cost shifting burden has grown. In other words, the cost of
health care for those who actually (directly or via insurance) pay their
bills has been progressively inflated to pay for those who don't. This
process has made health care insurance significantly less affordable.
See the following links
Illinois Hospital Association Health Insurance Percent
of Total Population Health Insurance Coverage-All Ages Uninsured By State,
1999-2002 Facts & Figures
http://www.ihatoday.org/public/facts/uninsured.htm
Sinking Under the Cost of Covering the Uninsured
Immigrants
http://www.fairus.org/Media/Media.cfm?ID=410&c=35
Uninsured Immigrants Burden the Health Care System
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=456
One Year Of Illegal Alien Health Care Costs Would Pay
For Border Barrier
http://www.parapundit.com/archives/001731.html
Thank you
Peter
====================
Subject: Healthcare in Canada
Jerry,
The Canadian healthcare system is dramatically and
irreparably broken. Worse, it has created an intellectual and political
climate that would have made Karl Marx proud. Canadians who have not had to
spend much time in the system don't tend to give it much thought. They just
assume, like I did, that the quality care is there and that we just have to
be patient, wait our turn and things will work out in the end. There may
have been a time when this was true, but that is certainly not the case
today.
Healthcare discussions in the media today are handled
with kid gloves. The tone on the news, in the papers and on TV is one of
"fairness". Most Canadians simply cannot abide the possibility that
somewhere, sometime, someone could get better service sooner if they were
willing and able to pay for it. Somehow, a system that has only been in
place since the 70's has managed to work its way into our concept of
national character. Private MRI clinics popping up in Toronto are greeted
with less enthusiasm than the opening of a new Hell's Angels chapter. Of
course the MRI clinics were legislated out of existence before they could
become "problems". Proposing any solution to the problems other than
throwing more public money at them is seen as right-wing crazy-talk.
Private MRI clinics as a threat to national identity?
I'd probably feel differently if I hadn't had to deal firsthand with the
healthcare system in the last five years as the health of my parents begins
to fail.
My mother has Parkinson's. The muscle spasms tend to
cause other problems, particularly with her back. Between the back problems
and the Parkinson's my father has had to retire early in order to look after
her. Eventually the Parkinson's reached a point where she could no longer
type, feed or bathe herself. She was allowed one visit to her neurologist
every six months, at which time she had fifteen minutes to try to describe
her problems. The neurologist changed her medication slightly which resulted
in leaving her almost completely paralyzed a few weeks later. We had to put
her in a home. Of course the neurologist would not return our calls for help
because she was still alive and she had to wait another six months for her
next appointment. She did, however, send my mother to a psychiatrist so that
she could learn how to live with (and accept) her current condition (brought
on by the neurologist fiddling with her drugs in the first place).
My mother is South African and still retains strong
family ties there. Since they have a private healthcare system there, we
flew her to Johannesburg. In three weeks she could use her computer again.
In three more she could walk again.
Now she is back in Canada and has recently had another
MRI. But due to the Parkinson's she was too twitchy on that day for the MRI
results to be readable by the doctor. No problem; we just need to wait
another six months for another appointment… So back on the plane she goes.
To be fair, Canadian healthcare is at least reasonably
competent when it comes to emergency treatment. Get in an accident or come
down with a life threatening illness and they will patch you up and keep you
alive. It's in the quality of life that the system fails its people. I know
too many people that have had their lives stolen from then in their latter
years due to a severe lack to resources within the system. It seems there is
enough money to keep you alive, but not to keep you well.
Don't give in to the lure of public healthcare. A
system that cannot look after its middle class is not worth having.
Ed Armstrong
===========================
Dr Pournelle,
The NHS
"...in Edinburgh, Scotland in December of 1998
while working overseas for a few years. England's National Health Service (NHS)
was happy to treat her..."
Here is one bait I have to rise to. The English NHS
does not extend to Scotland. In Scotland you'll find the Scottish NHS.
I am not a doctor and so know nothing about this
particular lady's problems. But in any case, you can't generalise from the
particular.
However when you look at the general results, the
statistics tell you one significant fact: life expectancy in Britain is
better than in the US for both men and women, by three or four years. This
says that the British health system works better than the American one, and
for a lot less money to boot.
What's more, Scottish outcomes are better than
English, and Edinburgh is generally recognised as a world centre of medical
excellence.
----
I've just spoken to a friend who is a surgeon. I
mentioned this story. He said that is sounded as if the patient had informed
or given the impression to the Edinburgh hospital that she was about to
leave the country, as what they did sound exactly like temporary treatment
so she could travel prior to the longer term treatment she had said or
implied she was not going to be around to get in Scotland.
----
In any case, if she had US medical insurance, in my
(personal) experience this is effective world wide. After all, there is
nowhere where medical services are more expensive than in the US, so
insurance companies save money when patients have treatment abroad. She
could have gone to a private hospital in Edinburgh if she had felt strongly
enough about her problem, but seemingly she didn't.
Jim Mangles
==========
From another conference:
Griffe here:
Sander's "research" fails the test of parsimony. For a
definitive analysis of the same data see:
http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com/testing.htm ,
The relevant paragraphs are appended below:
Need a Lawyer? In 1988, New York State's Chief Judge
established a committee, The New York State Judicial Commission on
Minorities. Its purpose was to study the presence and effects of racism in
the state's courts. Buried in its final 2000-page report was the finding
that minorities passed the New York bar exam at significantly lower rates
than whites. The commission found that for the period spanning 1985 through
1988, first-attempt pass rates were 31.1 percent for blacks and 73.1 percent
for whites. Applying the methods of Appendix A, we translated these pass
rates to a corresponding black-white mean difference of 1.11 SD.
Several years later, commenting on the Commission's
findings, Edna Wells Handy wrote in The New York Law Journal of April 1996,
"Determining whether those pass rates have remained constant since the
Commission's report must await the completion and dissemination of the
national bar exam study presently being conducted by the Law School
Admission Council." Ms. Handy was referring to the most ambitious study of
law students ever attempted. The Law School Admission Council is the
organization that administers the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). At the
time Handy's article appeared, it was tracking 27,000 students who enrolled
in U.S. law schools in the fall of 1991. The students were followed from law
school entry to the bar exam. The Council issued its report in 1998, finding
that 92 percent of white law-school graduates passed the bar exam on the
first attempt, as did 61 percent of black graduates. This implies a
black-white mean difference of 1.13 SD.
The Council also reported the results of repeated
attempts at the bar exam. It found that eventually 97 percent of white and
78 percent of black law graduates passed, corresponding to a black-white
mean difference of 1.11 SD.
The one-plus SD gap between black and white lawyers
stubbornly refused to go away. Others, however, viewed the Council's
findings differently. "This study strongly refutes the myth that affirmative
action policies tend to set students up for failure on the bar exam,"
hallucinated Henry Ramsey Jr., a retired California state judge and member
of the committee that oversaw the study.
Tamar Lewin, covering the Council's report for the New
York Times, characterized the Commission's findings as "likely to provide
important support for advocates of affirmative action." Her column appeared
under the headline: "Minorities Achieve High Success Rate in Bar Exams,
Study Says."
The fact is that affirmative action has stratified the
bar by race and ability. Black lawyers lag behind their white colleagues in
measured ability by about 1.1 SD. Affirmative action creates a racial gap at
law-school entry that never goes away. When entrance credentials are
controlled, racial differences mostly vanish. More than 20,000 adult blacks
in the U.S. have an IQ of 130 or more, but because of affirmative action,
the chance that your black lawyer will be one of them is vanishingly small.
-----------
Ciao a tutti
===== La Griffe du Lion
http://www.lagriffedulion.f2s.com
==========================
Subject: The idea of humanity
Re this bit from today's View:
"The Greeks had a concept of homonoia, the
union of humanity which had a common obligation to help out against the
barbarians (everyone who didn't speak Greek, as a first approximation), but
it didn't prevent the Athenians from enslaving rebellions against their
League, nor the Spartans from keeping the Helots in slavery. Christianity
always had the ideal of humans as potential members of a universal
Brotherhood which they could join by conversion."
Not to take anything unnecessarily away from the
Christians, but it struck me that this skids rather lightly over the
contribution of Alexander the Great, that _tres courant_ figure. J.F.C.
Fuller credits him--though perhaps it's just his power-worshipping side
talking--with universalizing the concept of _homonoia_ and embedding it in
the Hellenistic tradition. Of course it's all very complicated at both ends:
there were Athenians who disapproved of and denounced their city's conduct
in the days of the League, and later on it's not always so easy to find much
trace of that Greek conscience in the conduct of the Romans (though I
suppose they did give Carthage a fair chance to behave itself before
reaching for the salt)...
-Best, C.
-- Colby Cosh http://colbycosh.com/
All true, and I could go back further: the Hittites
of Asia Minor were among the first to embrace the principle of Empire, the
notion of a nation made up of diverse elements who had different gods and
customs, but were all loyal to one emperor. Later the Persians -- The Medes
and the Persians -- had much the same concept, and the King of Kings, Great
King gloried in his law and the nations that were faithful to it. It is
interesting that Rome, which had the notion that Latins and Sabines and
Samnites and others could all be citizens, part of the Senate and People of
Rome -- that Rome claimed descent from Troy in Asia Minor. But I had not
time for all that. But you are certainly correct, and it's more to think
about if not precisely relevant to the point I was making.
===============
Subject: The Andorran Secret Police
Jerry:
Somehow, you always knew:
http://www.galactanet.com/comic/409.htm
Charles Krug
Heh
===============
On PHISHING:
Dr. Pournelle:
Regarding your Thursday view (11/18/04) about phishing
email, there are a few places you can report this.
One is the "Anti-Phishing Working Group", at
http://anti-phishing.org/index.html . You can email your phishing
mail to
reportphishing@antiphishing.org . Make that you send the whole
mail; you can't just "forward". Create a new message, then drag the phishing
message into the "attach" area of the new message. This makes sure that they
get all the 'envelope' information.
That site also contains an 'archive' of phishing
mails, including what the mail looks like, and the pages that you'll get if
you get 'hooked'. Those pages are great as an educational tool. I use it in
my presentations to users in staff meetings, showing the pages where you can
type in all your personal information.
The key point is the be very careful about entering
personal and financial information. If you think you need to enter
information for a bank site, don't click on a link in an email. Enter the
address manually.
And before you do that, step back for a moment. Think
about why a bank would need your credit card number, or your PIN number.
Wouldn't they already know that?
Identity theft is big business. And a big pain to fix;
it can take months. Readers would be well-advised to check their bank/credit
card activity regularly.. at least once a week.
There are some good resources about privacy and
identity theft:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ (US Govt),
http://www.privacy.ca.gov
(California), and others places (found via any search engine).
Regards, Rick Hellewell
==
Subject: Paypal Phishing
I have been receiving 3 confirmation e-mails each day
for the past 10 days. I checked on paypal.com and they said to forward them
to spoof@paypal.com . The e-mails
contain a link for more details, which I have not used because of your
recent warning.
Al Hetzel
Good. Don't respond to them, but do report: see
details above
=================================
Subject: Rules of engagement
-- Cliff notes version
Jerry:
I found this on Citizen Smash's web log...
Rules of Engagement
"LISTEN UP!” I addressed the twenty men and women of
my security team.
It was January 2003, and the sun had just risen on a
chilly winter morning over the Persian Gulf. We were preparing to go on the
first operational watch of our deployment, protecting the port of Shuaiba
from possible attacks by terrorists or enemy commandos. My sailors had just
been issued weapons and ammunition, and several of them appeared a little
bit nervous about it.
“Sometime in the next few days, the JAG is going to
come around and give us a formal ROE briefing.” I explained, referring to
the Navy lawyer who would bore us in infinite detail about the rules of
engagement under which we would be operating. “But seeing as how we now have
real weapons, with real ammunition, and this isn’t a training exercise, I’m
going to give you the Cliff’s Notes version.” I scanned their faces, to make
sure they were all awake and paying attention.
“YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO DIE,” I boomed.
“Does everyone understand so far?”
Nods.
“Good,” I continued. “Remember that. No matter what
the ROE says, no matter what the Geneva Conventions say, you ALWAYS have the
inherent right of self-defense. Nobody can take that away from you.” I let
that sink in for a moment.
“If you see someone making preparations to attack you,
you will level your weapon at them, take the safety off, aim for center
mass, and fire.” I paused again, briefly. “You will continue firing until
they are no longer a threat.”
They were definitely awake now.
“WE WILL NOT TAKE THE FIRST HIT,” I commanded. “Do not
hesitate to defend yourself, or your shipmates. If we are attacked, you will
only have a very limited amont of time to react – just a few seconds. If you
hesitate to do your job, people will die.
“That doesn’t mean you have a liscense to kill
indiscriminately,” I explained, “But if you honestly perceive that your life
is in danger, and you take lethal action to protect yourself, I will go to
the mat to defend each and every one of you.” I looked each person directly
in the eyes. “Remember, it’s much better for you to have to defend your
decision to use lethal force after the fact, than for me to write a letter
to your widow or parents explaining why you didn't.
“I don’t want to have to write any of those letters,”
I declared. “I will NOT write any of those letters – because YOU ARE NOT
AUTHORIZED TO DIE.
“Any questions?”
“NO, SIR!”
“Good. Let’s go to work.”
http://www.indepundit.com/archive2/2004/11/rules_of_engage_1.html#
................................Karl Lembke
==================
Subject: War is hell.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1359053,00.html
----- Roland Dobbins
==============
Subject: Fallujans pay the price
of liberation
Another point of view to the success in Falluja.
Couv
Posted on Aljazeera.com 11/19/04
Fallujans pay the price of liberation
By Dr Muhamad Ayash al-Kubaisi
Friday 19 November 2004, 16:21 Makka Time,
13:21 GMT
When a nation's identity, existence and dignity
is put at risk, the sacrifice required is far more than the lives of a group
of fighters, and that is why Falluja has chosen to carry the flag of
resistance in Iraq, in the clear knowledge it may be wiped out.
Fallujans and Iraqis have witnessed the boots
of US marines stepping on the heads of Iraqi prisoners, not to frighten them
but to tell Iraqis and the rest of the world that they owe the superpower
obedience and gratitude.
The fighters in Falluja are fully conscious of
the balance of power, they know only too well that one bomb from their
enemy's arsenal is enough to render their beautiful city a ruin.
But the inhabitants of this great city wanted
to send a message to decision makers in the US that coexisting with the
occupiers is not possible.
They wanted to tell US officials that it is
easier for Fallujans to sacrifice their lives than to shake hands with
occupiers; it is easier for them to see their houses razed to the ground
than see an occupying soldier enjoy them.
This clear message has been delivered by the
people and fighters of Falluja. The occupiers must understand it or the
ghost of Falluja will chase them everywhere in Iraq, and they will end up
with two options:
Stubbornly remain in Iraq, losing their
credibility and wasting more resources which could result in a worldwide
alliance against them to bring such a prodigal power - the US - to heel, or
leave Iraq.
If they leave, Falluja would have paid the
price of liberating the nation and saving the world from a potential danger.
Crucially, the US should not get the impression
that it has performed a successful pre-emptive strike.
The Iraqi resistance is fully cognizant of the
nature of the fight, and appears to be acting according to a carefully
crafted plan.
The indications coming from Falluja point to
the fact the resistance is continuing, which will prevent the US from
enjoying the taste of success in Falluja.
The Iraqi resistance realises that it is very
dangerous if the US administration thinks its excessive use of power is
achieving its goals.
This can be seen throughout the mounting
resistance operations across the country from Talafar in the north to al-Qaem
in the west and Buhruz in the east.
Last week, Iraq's third largest city, Mosul,
the capital of al-Anbar governorate (Iraq's largest governorate), Ramadi,
and vital positions in Baghdad fell to the Iraqi resistance. What does that
tell us?
It shows that resistance in Iraq is Iraqi, and
not dominated by "foreign fighters" or the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi group as the
US had claimed before the strike on Falluja.
A group of non-Iraqi fighters crossing the
borders to fight the US in Iraq for whatever reason cannot achieve that, and
the US is fully aware of that from a military point of view.
The widespread resistance operations in Iraq
prove the issue can no longer be consigned to a "restive city" or
"rebellious region" - it is obviously a popular uprising by people refusing
military occupation of their homeland.
This gives us confidence that the blood of our
brothers in Falluja has not been shed in vain. Rather, it is the price paid
for a noble aim: The liberation of Iraq.
Dr al-Kubaisi represents Iraq's Association of
Muslim Scholars outside the country. He is a university professor in Islamic
Sharia. He was born and lived in Falluja until before the invasion of Iraq.
This article, written exclusively for Aljazeera.net, was translated from
Arabic
===============
A letter from Fallujah
I thought this would be of interest to the site. DW
Coleman
http://www.strategypage.com/respect/articles/military_20041118.asp
Hi Everyone,
I am here in Fallujah and well. I have been forward
for the last 36 hours or so and am back now in our camp for a bit before
heading back out to the forward command post.
We are doing well...only 6 KIA and 68 WIA so far from
our regiment. 7th Marines on our flank has taken some pretty good losses but
we are killing the enemy in droves. They are hiding in houses that are
heavily fortified and we just destroy the house with a tank shot or a bomb
or missile.
There is no negotiating or surrender for those guys.
If we see the position and positively ID them as bad guys, we strike. When
they run, we call it maneuver and we strike them too. Why? Yesterday the muj
attacked an ambulance carrying our wounded. The attackers were hunted down
and killed without quarter. These guys want to be martyrs.....we're helping.
Don't hear a lot of this on the news huh? Fox News is
doing a pretty good job over here so stick with them for coverage. This is
the only way this place can ever be safe. And in the midst of all this we're
helping to restore power and protect and feed and evacuate the ordinary
citizens of Fallujah.....although most left the city as soon as the muj
moved in.
And today is the Marine Corps's 229th birthday. It is
only fitting that we are engaged in combat and serving our country today .
The beer, cake and steaks will flow once we're all done. As the Regiment's
S-4, it's one of my responsibilities to see that they get just that. But for
now it's chow and water and fuel and ammo.....lots of ammo.
My thoughts are with all of you and thanks for keeping
us in your prayers.....I'm sure God is around here somewhere, above all of
this...keeping an eye on things and protecting the just and the
angels.....that's what our KIAs are referred to as.....but we all hope he
turns a blind eye on the muj and their false beliefs as we find them and
kill them. And I'm just here doing my job.
1st Marine Division Camp Fallujah, Iraq
===
Dr. Pournelle,
I do not know if you have seen this or not. I usually do not buy in to such
things, but this one may be worth while. I despise what has been done to
that poor Marine, a man who was merely doing his job and trying to stay
alive. Please tell me what you think. Thank you.
Sincerely
Matt Kirchner
>To: U.S. Congress
>
>Friday November 12 2004
>
>U.S.Marines were fired upon by snipers and insurgents armed with
>rocket-propelled grenades from a mosque and an adjacent building. The
>Marines returned fire with tank shells and machine guns.
>
>They eventually stormed the mosque, killing 10 insurgents and wounding
>five others, and showing a cache of rifles and grenades for journalists.
>
>The Marines told the pool reporter that the wounded insurgents would be
>left behind for others to pick up and move to the rear for treatment.
>But Saturday, another squad of Marines found that the mosque had been
>reoccupied by insurgents and attacked it again.
>
>Four of the insurgents appeared to have been shot again in Saturday's
>fighting, and one of them appeared to be dead, according to the pool
>report.
>In the video, a Marine was seen noticing that one of the insurgents
>appeared to be breathing.
>
>A Marine approached one of the men in the mosque saying, "He's
>[expletive] faking he's dead. He's faking he's [expletive] dead."
>
>The Marine raised his rifle and fired into the insurgents head, at
>which point a companion said, "Well, he's dead now."
>
>The camera then shows two Americans pointing weapons at another Iraqi
>insurgent lying motionless. But one of the Marines step back as the
>insurgent stretches out his hand, motioning that he is alive. The other
>Marine stands his ground, but neither of them fires.
>
>When told by the pool reporter that the men were among those wounded in
>Friday's firefight, the Marine who fired the shot said, "I didn't know,
>sir.
>I didn't know."
>
>"You can hear the tension in those Marines' voices. One is saying,
>'He's faking it. He's faking it,'" Heyman said. "In a combat infantry
>soldier's training, he is always taught that his enemy is at his most
>dangerous when he is severely wounded."
>
>A Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he
>tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.
>
>NBC reported that the Marine seen shooting the Iraqi insurgent had
>himself been shot in the face the day before, but quickly returned to duty.
>
>About a block away, a Marine was killed and five others wounded by a
>booby-trapped body they found in a house after a shootout with insurgents.
>
>Amnesty International has noted reports that insurgents have used
>mosques as fighting positions, and have used white flags to lure
>Marines into ambushes.
>
>
>The Marine who shot the insurgent has been withdrawn from the
>battlefield pending the results of an investigation, the U.S. military
said.
>
>These terrorists do not follow the rules of war. These terrorists kill
>innocent women by disemboweling them, cut of the heads of innocent
>truck drivers, detonate car bombs in crowds full of innocent people,
>and fly planes into buildings filled with innocent Americans.
>
>It is my opinion that NOTHING should happen to this American Marine. He
>should be returned to his unit or be given an honorable discharge. We
>don't need our young men and women taking an extra second to decide if
>its right to shoot an enemy terrorist when that could mean that one of
>our soldiers could lose their life. The lives of our soldiers should be
>the single most important factor in this war against terrorism. The
>rights of terrorists can come second.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>The Undersigned
><http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?as123>
>
>View <http://www.PetitionOnline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?as123> Current
>Signatures
>
I attempted to add my signature to this, but something blocked it; so I have
sent private mail to the petitioners.
==================
Subject: Fatwa on Nuclear Weapons
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/12/60minutes/main655407.shtml
After Sept. 11, Scheuer says bin Laden was
criticized by Muslim clerics for launching such a serious attack without
sufficient warning. That has now been given. And he says bin Laden has even
obtained a fatwa, or Islamic decree, justifying a nuclear attack against the
United States on religious grounds.
"He secured from a Saudi sheik named Hamid bin Fahd a
rather long treatise on the possibility of using nuclear weapons against the
Americans. Specifically, nuclear weapons," says Scheuer. "And the treatise
found that he was perfectly within his rights to use them. Muslims argue
that the United States is responsible for millions of dead Muslims around
the world, so reciprocity would mean you could kill millions of Americans."
Rich
We have been warned...
=====================
Subject: queue jumping for
medical care
Dr. Pournelle,
It's trivial to find a way to corrupt a system that
allows queue jumping in medical care waiting lists. Here is a simple one.
An unethical doctor decides to pad his salary (capped
by govt. regulation to below the demand price point) and schedules a few of
his friends for some of the hardest to get procedures. These friends then
hold auctions for their queue positions as they move up the waiting list. At
some point, they find someone desperate for the procedure and their
positions are swapped. Get this - They don't even need a new appointment,
and can re-sell their new line number later when it moves up the list.
A few friends at a time could make a tidy second
income for a doctor who is pissed off at the low pay and bad working
conditions in a national health care system. Or a professional "doctor
shopper" willing to not get their problems fixed could spend a lifetime
getting paid to drop back down on a list they never intend on exiting,
switching doctors anytime one of them suspects the scammer does not really
intend on going through with the procedure, much like scammers in the US
will go from doctor to doctor getting expensive or controlled prescription
refills and then reselling them on the street.
For what it's worth, almost every British doctor my
wife has spoken to in our stay here has asked one question - "Who do I talk
to if I want to get certified to practice in the US?" They all want to
leave, nearly every one of them. They dedicate years to their training and
then they're treated like expensive draft animals. They have no advocates
since all doctors in every country are by definition overpaid elitists, yet
they get singled out whenever something happens regardless of how
undermanned they are or how unfunded their departments are.
Sean Long
====================
Dr Pournelle,
The Scottish Empire
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/
184158259X/qid=1100771501/sr=12-10/102-1910251-1180111?v=glance&s=books
Here is a book confirming what those of us Scots with
some knowledge of history have long known: that the British Empire was
dominated and run by Scots and that it truthfully became 'The Scottish
Empire'.
Jim Mangles
First the Irish saved civilization, then the Scots
ruled it, with, of course, Norman supervision...
====================================
Subject: Some retired generals
speak on Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/6k4cs
I cannot speak for or against the views above, but one
thing is crystal clear. The US political leadership made the same mistake
that made Vietnam much worse. Instead of telling the military what to do the
politico's told them how to do it.
Tim Cunningham
======================
If you have an interest in
private space, READ, COMPREHEND, and ACT NOW
If you do not know your 9-digit address, vote-smart
has a link to where you can find that too. Act now.
URGENT! Call your Congressman TONIGHT, Friday 11/19,
and ask them to support HR 5382, The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act,
when it comes up for a vote by the full House - probably late tonight. If
you don't know who your Congressman is, or if you don't have the phone
number of their DC office handy, log on to
http://www.vote-smart.org and
enter your nine-digit zip code in the Find Your Representatives box. Then
phone their Washington DC office (the area code 202 number) IMMEDIATELY -
minutes may count - and tell whoever answers that you're from <your
hometown>, and you're calling to ask Representative <your
Representative's name here> to vote for HR 5382. If they ask you for
more info, do your best to provide it (take a quick look at the info below -
the short version is "because it's important for the success of the new
commercial space flight industry") then thank them for their time and ring
off.
EVERBODY reading this who votes in the US needs to
do this - every vote counts, as the way to get the Senate to also pass
HR 5382 in the very short time remaining in this Congress is for the House
to pass it by an overwhelming margin. As soon as we've sent this out, we're
going to go look up the number and make the call - you do it too!
Background
HR 3752, which provided important regulatory support
for a new commercial space flight industry, has widely been reported dead in
the last day or two, and it almost was. It has been reintroduced in the
House of Representatives as HR 5382, it was debated today, and it should be
up for a vote by the full House sometime in tonight's extended session -
possibly as early as 8 pm EST, possibly well into the small hours of
tomorrow morning.
For more info on the history and content of HR 3752,
see http://www.space-access.org/updates/sau105.htm. HR 5382 is the latest
hard-fought compromise version of HR 3752 that everyone interested had
finally agreed on. The current problem is largely a matter of a few who
hadn't been following the issue closely not understanding why certain
features of the bill are necessary for the healthy birth of the new
industry. A letter from the head of the House Science Committee summarizing
the issues follows:
Dear Colleague:
A few minutes ago you received a letter from
congressman Oberstar about H.R. 5382 which will be before the house shortly.
Mr. Oberstar’s objection to the bill is well intentioned but reflects
fundamental misunderstandings about the bill. Here are some facts:
The house passed earlier this year by a vote of 402 to
1 and earlier version of this bill (HR 3752) that gave the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) less regulatory authority over commercial human space
flights than does the bill before us today.
The Science Committee which has primary jurisdiction
over this bill which was given the sole initial referral had several
hearings on the bill and has talked about it frequently with the press,
engendering more public discussion.
This bill concerns the commercial space flight
industry, an industry that is now of interest only to entrepreneurs and
daredevils and should not be regulated as if it were a commercial airline
acting as common carrier, which is basically what Mr. Oberstar is
advocating.
The bill does give FAA unlimited authority to regulate
these new rockets to ensure that they do not harm anyone on the ground and
to ensure that the industry is learning from any failures. The bill also
gives FAA additional authority after 8 years by which time the industry
should be less experimental.
The Oberstar approach would be the equivalent of not
letting the Wright Brothers test their ideas without first convincing
federal officials that nothing could go wrong.
Without this Bill the FAA will continue to license
private space flights without adequate authority to protect either the
safety of the public or the finances of the government.
Please support HR 5382, just as you voted for the
initial version in March. Today’s bill is an equivalent of a conference
report as it reflects bipartisan negotiations with the Senate.
Sincerely,
SHERWOOD BOEHLERT
So - again, we ask you ALL to call, tonight, and ask
your Congressman to vote for HR 5382. This is important. Thanks!
________________________________________________________________________
Space Access Society's sole purpose is to promote
radical reductions in the cost of reaching space. You may redistribute this
Update in any medium you choose, as long as you do it unedited in its
entirety. You may reproduce sections of this Update beyond obvious "fair
use" quotes if you credit the source and include a pointer to our website.
________________________________________________________________________
Space Access Society http://www.space-access.org
space.access@space-access.org
"Reach low orbit and you're halfway to anywhere in the
Solar System" - Robert A. Heinlein
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