Why France is so good at delivering health care to its citizens....

This week's Healthcare Triage takes a close look at how France handles its healthcare. Considered one of the best systems in the world, its not socialized and has one of the highest satisfaction records anywhere.

An example of a high - performing public/private blend, it is a version of what I hope we see here in the United States someday. Yes, the French pay a lot for their healthcare, but its nothing compared to what we pay for a far less efficient and effective system.


You may have heard from some conservative pundits that France is this or that, but when it comes to delivering healthcare to its citizens, they blow us away...



 Sources:

http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/healthcare-triage-france/

Ten Reasons Not to Vote For a Veteran...

 Interesting article from Stars and Stripes on the wisdom of voting for veterans in elections. Its not a hit piece, but rather, a fairly honest look at shortcomings veterans often possess as they run for public office. The trouble starts when voters can't see anything else other than the shine of the uniform. Not all veterans are suitable for public office despite their service to the country. The skill set required to be successful in Congress or in an office serving the public in administrative way, is different than the skill set required to be successful in the active military. No disrespect to the individual just because their service may not qualify them as well as some would like to think for the office they are running for. Each candidate with military service deserves as much scrutiny as any non-veteran does.

The author, Jim Gourley, is a veteran...

Click through for the article:

http://www.stripes.com/10-reasons-not-to-vote-for-a-veteran-1.279878

Dana Milbank: Bundy Saga Reveals Risk of Siding With Rebels...

The Washington Post's Dana Milbank has a thoughtful and thought-provoking article up this morning regarding the relationship between anti-government forces and racist/anti-Semitic view holders. Milbank is quick to point out that all anti-government people aren't racist not are all racists anti-government. There does seem to be a connection if we look closely:

In general terms, Bundy’s notion of state supremacy — “I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing” — is a variant of states’-rights claims that go back to the Civil War and were revived in the segregationists’ opposition to civil rights laws. Because the federal government has been the protector of minority rights, states’ rights have long been used to justify discrimination.

Specifically, the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks anti-government and hate groups, says that Bundy’s sentiments align closely with those of the “Posse Comitatus” movement, founded by William Potter Gale in the 1970s. That movement based its anti-tax position — and its belief in the primacy of county and state authority over the federal government — on a belief that the levers of national power were controlled by Jewish bankers. “Most of the ideas that bolster positions like Cliven’s that the federal government doesn’t exist come from Posse Comitatus ideology,” the SPLC’s Ryan Lenz argues. And that ideology is rooted in bigotry.

There are so many weak spots in the Cliven Bundy position, its almost depressing. If for no other reason that this crank and those who are holding him up (or were) until the NYT interview of  two days ago, make the centrist conservatives' job who want a smaller federal government that much harder. Further, it hurts the GOP in a broad sense as these type comments historically seem to come mostly from the mouths of one particular political party. Bundy blunder today was Todd Akin's, or Mitt Romney's of a few years ago. 

Give it time, in a few weeks or a few months, someone else will step up and let some garbage fall out of their face in front of the cameras and we'll do this all over again. 

Sources: 

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-bundy-saga-reveals-bedfellows-of-bigotry/2014/04/25/1d9700ac-cca1-11e3-93eb-6c0037dde2ad_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost

Where does your state stand on the Medicaid Expansion?

The Advisory Board has a pretty sharp interactive graph on how the fifty States stand on expanding Medicaid eligibility, as part of the Affordable Care Act.

Roughly half the States have accepted it, while the other half have not. You can click on the image and enter the interactive mode. Clicking on each State will give you a current status report.

If you're thinking the map and the breakdown of the States who have /have not expanded medicaid eligibility looks a lot like the 2012 General Electoral map results, you wouldn't be alone...

Sources:

http://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/resources/primers/medicaidmap

Obama slammed for weakness when it comes to Russia…

 You knew it was coming.

Stevie Wonder could’ve seen this coming.

From the Sunday Morning Shows:

"Putin is playing chess and I think we're playing marbles," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, speaking on Fox News Sunday. Rogers said the Russians have been "running circles around us" in negotiations on such items as Syria and missile defense.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaking on CNN's State of the Union, said "we have a weak and indecisive president," and that "invites aggression."

From Charles Krauthammer on Fox News last Friday:

"The Ukrainians, and I think everybody, is shocked by the weakness of Obama's statement," he said. "What he's saying is, we're not really going to do anything."

It’s a shame we don’t have a strong, Pro-American type in the White House, like we did during the George Bush years. None of this soft, mushy, touchy-feely stuff passing itself off as American Diplomacy. We need a firm hand at times like this. 

Hold it.

We've seen this movie before, remember? 

We love simple-minded, good versus evil type plot lines. We're America, so obviously we're the good guys, which makes Russia the bad guys. We're peace-loving, just looking out for the interests of the world while the Commies try and bully their way into here and there.

Remember back in 2008 when Russia tried to invade Georgia? Here's President Bush with his remarks from back then:

 

 Compare that to the statement President Obama has made: 
  

Not that different, if you ask me.

I'm not sure what people expect to happen here. America, with the exception of the neo-cons, are weary of war and want no part of any new military conflicts. People can go on the Sunday Morning talk shows, or facebook for that matter, and run their mouths about how terrible Mr. Putin is, how weak President Obama is, President Reagan would never have stood for this, blah, blah, blah. Its cheap theater. Its politics and its Washington DC bullshit. Period. 

I have no idea how this plays out. There looks to be some economic penalties and some isolationist repercussions from the West toward Russia should they persist with their actions in Ukraine. What else could there be? Seriously? 

I remember John McCain going on at length about the cause of the Georgian people during 2008, thinking, I'm sure, that this was a winning strategy to take. Present himself as the experienced foreign policy and military guy and let the neophyte Obama figure out how to respond. The whole affair wasn't as much about Soviet aggression as it was an itchy trigger-finger mentality by members of the Georgian army combined with an overreaction by the Russian army. In the end, it was men swinging their dicks around, as it so often is. President Bush considered a military response but decided a humanitarian effort was more appropriate. Which was the right thing to do. 

Care to predict the reaction across the Conservative landscape if Obama announced he was going to keep his distance on this but did plan on sending humanitarian supplies? Heads. Exploding.

There's this odd competition thing going on between the US and Russia, which probably shouldn't be. On some level, we feel a need to show Mr. Putin who's boss or something and Putin may feel the same towards us. Hopefully cooler heads prevail, something gets worked out that everyone can live with. It can't be the end of days every time a country does something we're not wild about. We have, arguably, the greatest diplomatic corps in the world. We should exhaust all possibilities before we dare to think about a new military operation.

In my mind, the criticism we're hearing from the right is more about political posturing than anything else. They have to appear to be hawkish and aggressive in order to make themselves appear strong and not weak and vulnerable to an attack from their right, most likely by a Tea Party candidate. There seems to be some bipartisan support growing for economic repercussions against Russia for Putin's actions, which may be the right tact to take. Hopefully the situation de-escalates soon and cooler heads prevail. 

However it winds up, keep things in perspective. As President Bush infamously told us he'd looked into Putin eye's and saw his soul, the last time something like this came up with Russia, we didn't exactly charge in with guns a-blazing. Things were messy for awhile and then they settled down.

While some would love to see President Obama scream and yell and talk tough, chances are very good that a less hands on approach will be better for all parties. They can call it weak, I call it responsible leadership and foreign policy.

Source: