Sir Bandelot

I find this statement ironic, coming from a Jew.

Maybe if we hadn't a hacked so much rainforest down, hey? Grow Trees

Sad to inform you that dogs do this. It's a well-known fact. Coprophagia (the consumption of feces) is a behavior often observed in dogs. Hofmeister, Cumming, and Dhein (2001) wrote that this behavior in dogs has not been well-researched and prepared a study.[3] In a preliminary paper, they write that there are various hypotheses for this behavior in canines, although none have been proven: - Dogs are, by nature, scavengers, and this might be within the range of scavenger behavior. - Dogs might want attention from their caretakers. - They might have anxiety or stress. - To clean up in crowded surroundings (how considerate of these loyal animals!) - They had been punished for having defecated in the past, and attempt to clean up out of fear of being punished again. - They may be trying to prevent the scent from attracting predators. - The texture and temperature of fresh feces approximates that of regurgitated food, which is how mothers in the wild provide solid food to their pups. - Feces (particularly cat feces) contain protein; overfeeding can also increase the quantity of undigested matter in the feces. The coprophagia may be due to assorted health problems, including: Pancreatitis Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency Intestinal infections Food allergies, leading to malabsorption - The dogs might be hungry, such as when eating routines are changed, food is withheld, or nutrients are not properly absorbed. - Carnivores may sometimes eat or roll in the feces of their prey to ingest and exude scents that mask their own. Another hypothesis is that dogs want to investigate the diet of their opponents and get more acquainted with their smell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprophagia#In_dogs Maybe you should acquaint yourself with the habits of pets you have living with you.

No problem. No harm done. I did highlight the most significant part of the post. This relates back to the question in the OP, "Why is everybody so afraid of introducing user-fees and private pay?" I think it is not a criticism of US, since that system does have good medical competency. Rather that the failure of a private system shows itself in subtle but insidious ways. It's not that the services aren't available, but that people simply won't go for them.

And I have done exactly that, in several recent posts on this forum. Without invoking the United States. I've also said all health care systems are having problems in one form or another, and need constant maintenance. This article caught my eye and I felt it was a good counter to those who are advocating a private system and using the US as their example of one that works well. Simply put, there are some who refuse to believe that a private system would ignore the needs of those who can't pay. But there is evidence that is precisely what can happen. And this article shows it. Yet you and others don't want to address that point, but instead try to tell me not to bring it up. Thanks for feeding the trolls.

Plenty of people in this thread argued that the US system is better and there wouldn't be a problem if Canada implemented a full two-tier system. Did you call that 'weird'?

Well y'all can deflect if it makes you feel uncomfortable. Look at the arguments being made. It's not a criticism of the US per se, but trying to demonstrate that private health care has its own problems and is not necessarily better than the one we have now. In particular that people with low incomes could get inferior services when they have to pay extra.

Not all is as rosy with the US health care system as some would like us to believe. This timely article shows us that every system has its own problems: U.S. newborn death rate tied with Qatar South Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lithuania, Poland and Israel all outrank the U.S 8/30/2011 5:31:59 PM ET Babies in the United States have a higher risk of dying during their first month of life than do babies born in 40 other countries, according to a new report. Some of the countries that outrank the United States in terms of newborn death risk are South Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lithuania, Poland and Israel, according to the study. "We know that solutions as simple as keeping newborns warm, clean and properly breast-fed can keep them alive," said study researcher Joy Lawn of the Save the Children Foundation, which worked with the WHO on the report. "It isn't that you have to build invasive care units to halve your neonatal mortality." More health care workers, including midwives, are needed to teach and implement these lifesaving practices, she said. The United States dropped from No. 28 to No. 41 in the rankings of newborn death risk. It is now tied with Qatar, Croatia and United Arab Emirates. One of the bigger challenges in the U.S. is complications from preterm birth, Lawn said. The U.S. rate of preterm birth is double that of countries in Europe and Northern Africa, she said. Babies who are born preterm need extra care that is often expensive. While there are few things that can reduce preterm birth, she noted that disadvantaged people in the United States may be less likely to receive proper care for preterm infants. If progress is not made to reduce the number of newborn deaths, the portion of child deaths that occur in the neonatal period is likely to increase in the future, the researchers said. "It is essential that national governments, international agencies, and civil society increase attention to systematically preventing and tracking neonatal deaths," the researchers wrote. The study is published today (Aug. 30) in the journal PLoS Medicine. Oh, civil society. Oh, I see. That's like "advanced societies", isn't it.

I won't tell

Libya watchers say the Lockerbie bomber's continued imprisonment hugely complicated Britain's business prospects in Libya and might have torpedoed them had al-Megrahi died in jail in Scotland; at the time of his release, last Aug. 20, al-Megrahi had served eight years of a life sentence. British and Scottish officials have insisted that al-Megrahi was freed solely on compassionate grounds after a doctor declared that he would probably die from cancer within three months. Libya experts are skeptical, saying the business stakes were high. "If Megrahi died in jail in Scotland, there would have been high tension, and Libya might have frozen British contracts," says Guma El-Gamaty, a Libyan political writer in London. "Megrahi was a very, very emotive issue for Libya." Richard Dalton, Britain's former ambassador to Libya, says British companies were aware that they might be punished if al-Megrahi did not return home. "BP and other business interests knew perfectly well that if the Libyans did not get satisfaction on the four deals they'd agreed on with [former British Prime Minister Tony] Blair, there would be commercial consequences," he says. "That is the way the Libyans operate." BP and the Lockerbie Bomber http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/world/europe/16britain.html Not "compassionate grounds"...

British Petroleum

Raza is entitled to her opinion. Just because she is a muslim does not necessarily mean she is right. I don;t know what's going to happen. And I don't know if the people who want to build the mosque really intend to do it as an affront to non-muslim America. I doubt it, based on some evidence. But I do hope that they will be able to build some cultural bridges that over time will lessen the hostility some people feel towards law-abiding muslims who have no thretening agenda, live by our rules and just want to mind their own business.

Not at all surprised you would think they're BOTH awesome, BM...

Same thing as what I was saying. At the speed at which they are currently rotating, they should fly apart because there does not appear to be enough mass there to provide the gravity needed to keep them in orbit. Something unknown (presumably, gravity but now that is not so certain) is holding them together. Hence the theory that there is dark matter. True, and I'm surprised they could day this so early on in the experiments. But that's what the propeller head boys are saying. Maybe the article is wrong or misleading. However Hawking himself has responded so there must be something to it. It's not a done deal but early indications are negative, and they know it's about statistics that there is no expected sharp cutoff between 3.5 TeV and 7 TeV. I recall scientists say similar things in the late 1990's. We joked about it in our laboratory. "Scientists can all go home".

Only because it fits well with the standard model. That being that we believe there nust be missing mass that we cannot see, which is holding Galaxies together. Else based on our current observations and understanding they should fly apart. But I read recently that scientists are starting to concede the fact that the Higgs Boson may not exist. The LHC experiments are far enough along now that they should have started to reveal some evidence, but has not. Stephen Hawking is delighted about this. For one thing he made a $100 dollar bet that the Higgs boson would not be found. And what excites him more is that is shows something is wrong with our model or understanding of gravity. We need to re-think it. Higgs boson may be a mirage, scientists hint

Ok, as long as you concede that you ARE generalizing, and there are exceptions. I think dogs are pretty gross, myself. But I don't hate them. When I was little I made friends with a German shepherd, and I slept in his dog house. He protected me. He wouldn't let people come get me when they tried. We have a cat now. He's very smart, clean and polite. Dogs are for Liberals

So the good news is, this was all just a misunderstanding and a problem created largely by just one muslim person, or a small group of persons. Now that there is new leadership on this project, they're demonstrating what many of us suspected all along. This mosque isn't intended to antagonize or be provocative towards people who were affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. It's not intended to show muslim triumph over the west, by building too near to the site. Since I'm guessing that they're still building on the same spot as originally planned, but not as tall a building, the notion that it is too close to the WTC site must have been dismissed. But does this mean that citizens of New York are now satisfied, and we can move on? No, I think some will still be against it.

Ten lashes, no. That sounds a bit like Saudi Arabia.

When I was a kid one of my best friends was a boy from Turkey. He and his family lived in a house with a nice yard, and they had a big beautiful German Shepherd dog. They named him "Duke". They were Muslims. Point is, not all muslims hate dogs. And not all non-muslims, or "white" people treat them with love, neither. You just can't generalize with humans beings like this. If you try, you'll fail.

Thanks for taking the time to produce those links. As I said, I can't speak for other areas of health care. I think that overall cancer care is improving, but I;m not trying to paint a rosy picture. It still needs to improve in some areas. I believe that health care will always be in need of constant maintenance and reform, no matter how it's funded.

Which is why I could believe it to be true, like Saipan said, that the shortage is manufactured. I know for a fact this "method" has been used in other parts of the medical industry to put pressure on the government, to force them to recognize professional stature and increase wages. Sad, but true!

I know you were talking about overall improvements. But I can't speak to what's going on in other significant areas like heart surgery. I'm doing my best to show you what has been done, and gave you data. It's real data, it's not a cover-up and not games. I believe it too, because there are other indicators besides this data that prove to me it's real. Can you support your claims? Or is this just stuff that you suspect to be true. In other words, cite some evidence.

It could be, but the data I linked to shows otherwise.

Sure it will... such rhetoric is innate to the Canadian psyche and will never be defeated. What do you think you are, some kinda Hercules?

Great, so no harm done! I only skimmed your generally incoherent rant but I get the gist of it. However I re-read your first post on the matter, nowhere did you indicate she kicked it. I don't know you and I don't read minds, so I can only read and respond to what you say. Seems like you're just kidding and you have, in fact recanted on your claims to hate all people of different ethnicities, so that's fine. I'll let it go this time.