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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: geode00 who wrote (75770)	1/10/2008 4:38:12 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

France Is Healthcare Leader, US Comes Dead Last: Study _______________________________________________________________ WASHINGTON (AFP) — France is tops, and the United States dead last, in providing timely and effective healthcare to its citizens, according to a survey Tuesday of preventable deaths in 19 industrialized countries. The study by the Commonwealth Fund and published in the January/February issue of the journal Health Affairs measured developed countries' effectiveness at providing timely and effective healthcare. The study, entitled "Measuring the Health of Nations: Updating an Earlier Analysis," was written by researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. It looked at death rates in subjects younger than 75 that could have been prevented by timely and effective medical care. The researchers found that while most countries surveyed saw preventable deaths decline by an average of 16 percent, the United States saw only a four percent dip. The non-profit Commonwealth Fund, which financed the study, expressed alarm at the findings. "It is startling to see the US falling even farther behind on this crucial indicator of health system performance," said Commonwealth Fund Senior Vice President Cathy Schoen, who noted that "other countries are reducing these preventable deaths more rapidly, yet spending far less." The 19 countries, in order of best to worst, were: France, Japan, Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Some countries showed dramatic improvement in the periods studied -- 1997 and 1998 and again between 2002 and 2003 -- outpacing the United States, which showed only slight improvement. White the United States ranked 15th of 19 between 1997-98, by 2002-03 it had fallen to last place. "It is notable that all countries have improved substantially except the US," said Ellen Nolte, lead author of the study. Had the United States performed as well as any of the top three industrialized countries, there would have been 101,000 fewer deaths per year, the researchers said.

To: geode00 who wrote (75770)	1/15/2008 3:31:53 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

A Defining Moment for The Clintons: The Lawsuit Against Nevada's Culinary Workers Union huffingtonpost.com Posted January 14, 2008 \| 09:11 PM (EST) By Thomas de Zengotita* As this link shows, the Clinton campaign is supporting, if not actually inciting, a Nevada State Teachers Association lawsuit against the Culinary Workers Union. thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com The reason? The Culinary Workers Union has arranged for its members to caucus in their workplaces, to cast their votes in the hotels and casinos that support that state's economy instead of taking time off to get to polling places -- at the risk of getting fired. That lawsuit was filed right after the Culinary Workers Union endorsed Obama. Gosh. What a coincidence. It's an unfair disadvantage, the teachers union lawsuit says -- they are supporting Hillary -- to let all those maids and bellboys vote while they are on the job. The caucus is on the 19th. It's a Saturday. I guess the teachers are going to be -- really busy compared to those maids and bellboys? I don't know this for a fact but my guess is that the Nevada's Teachers Association is more entrenched in the state power hierarchy than the Culinary Workers Union. It's more white, more middle class. I bet the teachers are much more spread out, demographically and geographically, firmly ensconced in tenured security. The Culinary Workers Union, on the other hand, represents all the little brown people who clean hotel rooms in Las Vegas and Reno. Living and working from day to day. If the Clintons don't repudiate this lawsuit, Obama and Edwards have a giant, gaping opportunity to nail them to the wall of cynical win-at-any price entitlement. There is no way they want to be in this position on the national screen. It's a short term stop-gap, a sign of fear, that they are even doing this. If they don't repudiate this lawsuit, it will be an albatross around their necks that will be dangle like a leaden anchor into super-duper Tuesday on Feb the 5th -- if only Obama surrogates and supporters can keep it in the public eye. ______________________________________________________ *Thomas de Zengotita is a contributing editor at Harper's Magazine. He teaches at The Dalton School and the Draper Graduate Program at New York University.