If that’s what you want to call it. I think of it as Socialized Insurance, Medicare for all citizens.

The Medicare system has a lot of problems right now. I have an HMO that’s pretty good. I only had to schedule two weeks ahead of time. My co-pay for appts is $20, $10 for prescriptions and only $50 for emergency room. In Canada, I’m sure you’ve read about three month waits for serious illness. I’ll find the links for you if you want. The only difference between socialist medicine and single-payer is the govt doesn’t own the hospitals or employment of personnel. But GOVERNMENT STILL CONTROLS THE MONEY. This has made me wary from the get go, Don Quijote. The links you provided are certainly tragic, but there is no guarantee that govt controlled healthcare would prevent such circumstances.

Also I take your point about the U.S using a big stick approach since WW2 about the world. Here that is widely seen as to the key problem with the U.S, the bullying element. Its very off putting to people in Australia and elsewhere.
Amusingly, its only because of escaping infrastructural damage in WW2 and by systemic plundering of a technically more advanced Germany post 1944-46 and later applying the same plundering tactics in Western Europe generally in the decades hence (the so called brain drain) that the U.S has been able to dominate others.
One wonders what would have happened if Europe has kept its talent and the freedom and resources to exploit its capability had it not been ‘nicked’ by the Americans.
Perhaps we’d be seeing less carping by the Americans these days about ‘free riding’ by Europe on defence. As a physicist myself, one is aware of this commonly held knowledge.

Finally my friend, we are in agreement on the vexed issue of how to handle the terrorism issue. Wars don’t work and just alienate and annoy friend and enemy alike, leading to more determination to oppose the bullying aggressor. With supposed ‘close friends’ like Australia ‘off side’, due to this current approach, its testiment to the failure of this mechanism. Your comment on using quiet intelligence and police action is a better approach.
Best to criminalise the terrorists, deprive them of the legitimacy they seek . As a fan of British culture (most Australians are), there is a growing feeling that terrorism is best addressed by a popular 1970′s TV show called ‘The Professionals’ that was well received here as well as the U.K.
Stop terrorism etc, behind the scenes, with proper people and resources and let normal civil society go on as normal, no ID cards, spying on people, removing freedoms etc. The stopping of the Howard Goverment de facto I.D card by the new Rudd govenment here is a positive move in the right direction as few here wants to live in a surveillance state with I.D cards etc.
Thank goodness that silly idea is now gone, a real victory for freedom in my view and something Australia has gotten right!.
Many thanks for an interesting discussion, good health to you.

Are you suggesting socialized medicine?

If that’s what you want to call it. I think of it as Socialized Insurance, Medicare for all citizens.

If so, what’s so great about it?

Every Industrialized country that has socialized medicine has better health outcomes than the US, People live longer, healthier lives and spend substantially less to get those results.

And you don’t get to read this sort of crap:

Funeral Held for Northridge Girl Who Died after Insurance Company Delayed Liver Transplant

or this
Hospitals Accused of Dumping Patients on Skid Row

Generally speaking I trust American Business and their lackeys the Republican Party almost as far I can throw an elephant.
Does that answer your question?

Almost…

“Bill of Rights (you know those first ten amendments that Bush has used to wipe his ass )”*dude!*

Anyway, I’ll assume that you are primarily referring to Republican politicians and American Business you may also be working for. We all gotta “suffer” from somethin’, until there is an alternative. (not necessarily meds or euthenasia) And if you will forgive my ignorance, what you mean by “single-payer healthcare system”? Are you suggesting socialized medicine? If so, what’s so great about it?

I have not seen you disclose your affiliation, btw, unless you did on another post. Would you be so kind as to do so?

I am solidly on the far left of the Democratic Party, I am pro-labor, pro-environment, pro-media reform, pro single-payer health care system, pro-choice, pro-peace, pro civil liberties, pro the Bill of Rights (you know those first ten amendments that Bush has used to wipe his a** ), anti drug-war, anti military-indutrial complex and just plain anti-republican, I just don’t like them ( Bunch of ChickenHawks eager to send other people’s kids to fight the wars they start and in which they make damn sure they don’t get to participate see GW Bush as perfect example ) . Some people would claim that I suffer from RDS.

Generally speaking I trust American Business and their lackeys the Republican Party almost as far I can throw an elephant.

Does that answer your question?

You can be a centrist or you can be a libertarian, but you can’t be both at the same time, so when I hear someone call themselves “Libertarian/Centrist” I safely assume that they are Republicans so ashamed of the last 6 years of Republican Rule that they would rather call themselves anything else.

Now, the only reason I can think of as to why you would come up with such a spiteful statement is because you are annoyed with my agreement with “Somebody” that you were the reason Republicans keep getting votes. For that, you have my sincere apologies. But, going forward:

I have absolutely no shame over mistakes in judgment, or for having been a Republican. I am not ashamed of my friends who are Republicans, either. They are great people with a lot of strength. I also choose to forgive the President if I think he’s done anything unethical or amoral, and try to look ahead to constructive problem solving. You can safely assume that I’d rather be called anything else than a Republican? Certainly not a Democrat or a Liberal, who would prefer me to be “ashamed”, rather just forgive, try to learn from mistakes and find solutions.

There are basically two main types of libertarians. Mine, by definition, is closest to that of the Rights theorist which asserts that all persons are the absolute owners of their lives, and should be free to do whatever they wish with their persons or property, provided they allow others the same liberty. (Live and let live.) They maintain that the initiation of force by any person or government, against another person or their property—with force meaning the use of physical force, the threat of it, or the commission of fraud against someone—who has not initiated physical force, threat, or fraud, is a violation of that principle. They do not oppose force used in response or resistance to initiated aggressions such as violence, threat of violence, fraud or trespassing. I am also a centrist because my independence allows me to review all sides before determining what is the best possible choice in a given circumstance, regardless of the absolute partisan definition. I really don’t care if you agree with my perspective or not because recent revelations have helped me come to my own conclusions. (Yes, I did get part of this from Wikipedia, but only because it saves time from taking those damn tests again and showing you the results.)

I have not seen you disclose your affiliation, btw, unless you did on another post. Would you be so kind as to do so?

Those who actually took the time to read and digest what I had to say will find that I totally agree with what you are saying. Because as I was criticized for being too general the fact remains that each and every nation has its own best interests at heart and you quite aptly point that out as being the primary reason why Europeans and Austrailians do not agree with the war on terror that the USA has chosen to fight.

Our foreign policy, not just under Bush but since Teddy Roosevelt has been one of domineering and waving a big stick around because we can. The one president that tried to revert to a pacifistic form of Foreign policy was met with The fall of Iran, the invasion of Afghanistan and the Iran/Iraq war in a very brief period of time.

I do not believe that the war on terror can be solved with WARS……….I believe that it must be solved with the covert and subvert and open assistance of all civilized nations of this world.

Terrorism is a bane to all countries. It keeps countries like Pakistan and Egypt and Saudi Arabia teetering and totering instead of offering people a life worthy of living. It only offers them fear and trepidation and a sincere lack of freedom.

I am a Libertarian/Centrist.

Another weasly word for Republican.

When you say something like that, it indicates you don’t really know what either are. Oh, no you don’t. Answer my question. “Weasly”?

Libertarian: Someone who believes that the only valid functions of government are law enforcement ( Police & Courts) and defense, all other functions now performed by the government should be and would be better performed by private actors be they individuals or Corporations.

Centrist: Someone who’s political views are to the left of the Republican Party (not hard to do) and to the right of the Democratic Party (a little more challenging since most Elected Democrats are no more than Eisenhower Republicans).

You can be a centrist or you can be a libertarian, but you can’t be both at the same time, so when I hear someone call themselves “Libertarian/Centrist” I safely assume that they are Republicans so ashamed of the last 6 years of Republican Rule that they would rather call themselves anything else.

Another weasly word for Republican.

When you say something like that, it indicates you don’t really know what either are. Oh, no you don’t. Answer my question. “Weasly”? Look who’s talking.:

You said this to “Somebody”:

All I noticed were the inane slogans of a scared little boy,

What were you talking about?

Point out his “inane slogans of a scared little boy”, or are you going to cop out again and insult me? Is that your last resort?

“Somebody” is right, you know:

Bizarre.

You are the reason Republicans keep getting votes.

I am a Libertarian/Centrist.

Another weasly word for Republican.

Get a grip and embrace reality. Like it or not terrorism must be dealt with and it must be dealth with stiffly and with resolve.

Good Luck…

How is that Iraqi Occupation working out in that respect?

How is that Palestinian Occupation working out in that respect?

Get a grip and embrace reality. One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter ( Ask the Israelis, the Palestinians, the Irish, the Tamils, the French, etc..).

I do not speak for those on the right who wish to bully the Europeans into following us willy nilly into every military misadventure because “We said so”.

My foreign policy does not include democrats nor Republicans because neither have really had a clue about diplomacy for a very long time. Even Roosevelt lorded it over Churchill and we ended up with a communist Eastern Europe. But FDR had the bigger stick. Had England had the bigger stick perhaps we would have seen a drastically different Europe because the invasion would have taken place around the French coast and a serious push to split the germans from the beach and the Soviets in the east.

Diplomacy is about embracing your allies wants and needs…..not forcing them to accept yours at the expense of ours.

The knife at the worlds throat since 1945 was the USSR and communism. The knife at the throat today weather you like it or not is Terrorism and WMDS.

Like it or not that is the facts. When I heard Bush give his preemptive speech I about passed out.

You read I am in favor of Republican diplomacy when in fact that is far from the case. Republicans do not practice diplomacy. They practice waving a big stick around. Democrats do not practice diplomacy they practice appeasement.

Neither is nor ever will be diplomacy.

Longing for the good old days of 1980 is simply a pipe dream. The world spent trillions of dollars to prevent the spread of communism and now we act as if its a horrific crime to spend trillions to prevent the spread of WMDS and terrorism.

Get a grip and embrace reality. Like it or not terrorism must be dealt with and it must be dealth with stiffly and with resolve.

If you bother to go past the first page of FreeRepublic,

All you have done here is link to a page of articles under the keyword: homosexualagenda.

You said this to “Somebody”:

All I noticed were the inane slogans of a scared little boy,

What were you talking about?

What?

O’reilly, Limbaugh and all their bodies on Talk Radio have spent the last few years telling us that there is a war on Christmas, now every year I see Christmas threes, wreath & nativity scenes all over the place and Christmas sales starting even before thanksgiving.

I never listen to talk radio, because I don’t have the time. The early Christmas products are in the stores primarily for profit, to give shoppers an “early start”, and have less to do with the actual celebration of Christmas. I’m not sure why you are using store marketing in comparison to what talk show hosts say, that doesn’t even make sense.

If you think illegal aliens are an issue put more people on the border to prevent them from coming across, and start enforcing the laws and penalizing businesses who employ them. Have the Republicans done either of these things in the last six years?

Not only are you confusing me with the lawmakers, you are confusing me with the Republicans. I am a Libertarian/Centrist. I certainly agree that the laws should be enforced, but to focus blame on one political party is not going to solve the problem. You lost your patience with me and told me to put more people on the border.

You blame Republican politicians for “Politically correct” agendas, which is a primarily Democratic approach to acceptance of all cultures? I assume that is what you mean by “the war on Christmas”.

What?

O’reilly, Limbaugh and all their bodies on Talk Radio have spent the last few years telling us that there is a war on Christmas, now every year I see Christmas threes, wreath & nativity scenes all over the place and Christmas sales starting even before thanksgiving.

Which “illegal aliens”? The ones trying to make life for themselves, or the murderers and drug dealers that infiltrate the U.S. border? These are “invented boogiemen to you?

The vast majority of illegals are here to work, make a living and send money home. As in any large group of people, there is going to be a handful of assholes who will go out and commit despicable crimes. Such is life.

Now in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 I didn’t hear all those republican politicians who were running for office or in power complain about all those illegals when they had the power to do something about it. Could it be that it was because all those illegals were good for business (their real base) in that they drove down the cost of labor, but amusingly now that they can’t do anything about illegals, they will demonize the poor schmucks who crossed the border to get a job and put food on the table for their family.

If you think illegal aliens are an issue put more people on the border to prevent them from coming across, and start enforcing the laws and penalizing businesses who employ them. Have the Republicans done either of these things in the last six years?

The 50% of the eligible voters who didn’t vote, the 25% of the eligible voters who voted for Shrub.

If you think that a handful of dumb-ass terrorist even with WMDs can destroy the US then you have far lower opinion of the US than most rational people do.

Bizarre.

You are the reason Republicans keep getting votes.

Welcome to Free Republic!
“”Free Republic is the premier online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the web. We’re working to roll back decades of governmental largesse, to root out political fraud and corruption, and to champion causes which further conservatism in America. And we always have fun doing it. Hoo-yah!

You blame Republican politicians for “Politically correct” agendas, which is a primarily Democratic approach to acceptance of all cultures? I assume that is what you mean by “the war on Christmas”. Which “illegal aliens”? The ones trying to make life for themselves, or the murderers and drug dealers that infiltrate the U.S. border? These are “invented boogiemen to you?

The only way the US can be destroyed is if the people of the US do it as they are seem wont to.

And you blame misinformed voters, suggesting their choice is self-destruction? Got to blame someone, huh?

Which “people” of the US?

The 50% of the eligible voters who didn’t vote, the 25% of the eligible voters who voted for Shrub.