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That Right Thinking Girl has scored an interview with someone working inside Gitmo. Read it.

Steve over at Random Notes blogs about the CPC and healthcare. I take issue with a few of his points.

Steve wrote:

In my view, the Conservatives should be vociferously supporting universal health care, not two-tier health care.

Now see, I don’t see why people insist that the first tier of a two-tier system can’t be a universal tier. In my opinion, the second tier should be available without caveat. If someone is willing to pay, then they can go to a private doctor, clinic, MRI lab, or whatever and simply buy the service they want. This in no way shape or form is meant to replace the “universal” care we have now.

The fact that private health care is now an attractive option speaks to how the current system has been mismanaged and nothing more. While private care provides an important safety valve, it is not the answer to our problems.

It might also speak to the absurdity of our current system, and the fact that it simply does not work, and is not sustainable because it stifles competition, creativity, and innovation.

There is a fundamental advantage to having a single-payer, universal health insurance system. The advantage is economic and moral.

Economic advantage? Forty percent of our tax dollars being dumped into the current pit of healthcare is an economic advantage?

As for the moral question. I question the morality of those who would take away my right to choose what is best for me in terms of care. A second tier only provides an alternative to the current queue one has to wait in to receive care. People in the current queue aren’t hurt when someone leaves the queue – indeed, anyone behind the person who leaves a public queue gets to move up a place and get care faster. Is it morally better to have people who might otherwise be able to afford a private procedure to potentially die in line waiting because the government deems that it knows what is best for your body better than you do?

I would add that doctors, who get much of their training at public expense, should also reimburse the government for the full costs of their training if they opt out of the public insurance system.

And I guess to continue Steve’s line of thinking, anyone who isn’t employed by the government who has received a degree or diploma should have to repay the full cost to the government as well. It’s only fair after all… Or is blackmailing doctors to not move into private care (but still keep those economic dollars in Canada) suddenly an ok thing to do?

I do agree with Steve that the CPC needs to start speaking about healthcare more, but please don’t let it be the vision he is advocating.

And the scale says:

200.2 lbs!

Stephen Taylor has posted part two of a two part podcast interview with Andrew Sheer on his blog. Give it a listen!

Here are a few more I have been working on.

Bear Claw Biker!:

Born To Fish:

Memorial (picture in the gallery is bigger than this one):

Lunch On Broadway:

I uploaded some photos from a recent stop to see the “Bears On Broadway”. I will be uploading more pictures as time goes on, but for now, here are a few that I uploaded (click on any picture to go to the “Bears On Broadway” photo album):

Flower Bearer:

Beary Trippy:

Bear Biker:

More to come!

Stephen Taylor has posted part one of a two part podcast interview with Andrew Sheer on his blog. Give it a listen!

And the scale says:

202.4 lbs

I’ll get below 200 some day

I met a new friend tonight. She and I have been chatting online for a very short while, and I suggested we meet for a coffee, and she agreed. So, I drove to her area of town and met her in at a Tim Horton’s for coffee and conversation.

It was really interesting. There was a lot of topical conversation. I should mention that the conversation wasn’t between me and her. Nope, it was between me and (mostly) an old guy at the next table who was more than happy to share his stark views of reality with us. Like the time he called the cops, and after they didn’t show up for 45 minutes, he called back, and upon hearing the dispatcher tell him they were severely backlogged he assumed it was a personal thing (I guess – it was hard to figure out where his anger was specifically directed), and dealt with the situation himself.

Now, apparently me suggesting that perhaps more money could be dumped into hiring more police officers was the wrong thing to say, since he immediately began to lecture me on how the police don’t actually do anything, and that there are multiple sets of the same laws depending on how rich you are (citing the Michael Jackson case as prime evidence as a bribed jury).

As a sidebar, as to where we would get all the money for new police across this country – how about taking the $2B dumped in the “useless as tits on a bull” gun registry and use it for putting more police presence on the streets?

Anyways, back to the reason I am at Tim Horton’s – no, not her, the old dude is still rambling… Well, we touch on theology. He seems to be unable to grasp the concept of what “faith” (small f) is. And then starts to berate me for being religious (which really, I’m not to any great degree, though I waffle on Faith issues quite a bit).

Actually I am getting damn tired now, so to wrap this up…

The woman I went to meet manages to extracate us by suggesting we go for a walk (which we do). She is actually a pretty cool lady, and for a first meeting, I think it went really well. I walked her back to her apartment, and then sat in her apartment talking to her for a while longer until she kicked me out (politely) with instructions to call her tomorrow to make arrangements to meet up again.

So, all-in-all it was an interesting night. I got to meet a new friend, and get berated by a shit-disturbing old man – all within a couple hours!

Ferret over at Conservative Life has posted some interesting ideas for healthcare reform that are part of the Family Coalition Party (Ontario) platform.

Highlights:

• The Family Coalition Party of Ontario (Ontario Coalition) will introduce a system of Medical Savings Accounts to provide healthcare for ALL Ontarians, according to the description included below.
• The Ontario Coalition will eliminate government funding for abortion, euthanasia and sex-change operations.
• The Ontario Coalition will require that the members of Hospital Boards and two thirds of the members of District Health Councils be elected in conjunction with Municipal elections.

And more:

Of specific interest is the concept of Medical Savings Accounts. These accounts would reward people for not using the medical system but would not punish people who do. It maintains the concept of universality and does not impose user fees. In fact, the concept of Medical Savings Accounts is actually very progressive in nature. The reward of up to $2,000 per person is proportionately more beneficial to low income earners. Here are the highlights of the system…

• $2,000 per year is earmarked in an MSA account for every adult person in Ontario. Money from the MSA account will be transferred to hospitals when healthcare services are actually used by this person (up to $2,000).
• $1000 per year is earmarked for each dependent child.
• The money in the MSA account cannot be spent or used by the individual, until the end of the year, when any amount leftover in the MSA is rolled into the individual’s locked-in, non-transferable RRSP, at which time the RRSP rules take over.
• If the MSA amount is exhausted, then no amount is rolled over into the individual’s RRSP, with the exception that these funds may not be withdrawn until age 65.
• The government will pay premiums for a High-Deductible Health Insurance (HDHI) with a $2000 deductible for each individual and $1000 deductible for its dependent children.
• Each individual can choose to replace the government insurance with his own Insurance, with equal or greater coverage than the one provided by the government.
• (in both cases…) Insurance premiums for basic care (standard amount) are paid by the government through general revenue.
• Private health care outside of basic care (e.g.: not currently paid by OHIP) must be totally paid by the individual.

And to make the notion of healthcare reform even more crazy, it looks like some of the ideas are actually…. you know…. workable! So, without a doubt, they will get no play with the powers that be in this country.