Is it really hard to fathom why many people despise the US?

[vtsnowedin]

[Factually wrong again. If you care to research the actual numbers, you will find that the total cost, per head of population, for the NHS, is far lower than the total cost, per head of population, for your pathetically inefficient private healthcare system, both pre and post the piecemeal reforms of ObamaCare. But, hey, don't let facts stand in the way of your blind adherence to your ideology.

For one thing the US health care system has not been totally private sense 1965 with the passage of Medicare for those over 65. And as to it being "Pathetically inefficient" why is it then that UK citizens fly in to get procedures done today here that they would have to sit on a waiting list for weeks or months in the UK?

[Little John]

[Factually wrong again. If you care to research the actual numbers, you will find that the total cost, per head of population, for the NHS, is far lower than the total cost, per head of population, for your pathetically inefficient private healthcare system, both pre and post the piecemeal reforms of ObamaCare. But, hey, don't let facts stand in the way of your blind adherence to your ideology.

For one thing the US health care system has not been totally private sense 1965 with the passage of Medicare for those over 65. And as to it being "Pathetically inefficient" why is it then that UK citizens fly in to get procedures done today here that they would have to sit on a waiting list for weeks or months in the UK?

Oh, sorry, I forgot to add the qualification that, so long as you are very wealthy, then the US system is very "efficient" indeed. It's just a bit shit for the other 99%. But that's okay though because acording to the "American Dream", every poor yank is really just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire, right?

Wake the F--k up man.

[vtsnowedin]

[Factually wrong again. If you care to research the actual numbers, you will find that the total cost, per head of population, for the NHS, is far lower than the total cost, per head of population, for your pathetically inefficient private healthcare system, both pre and post the piecemeal reforms of ObamaCare. But, hey, don't let facts stand in the way of your blind adherence to your ideology.

For one thing the US health care system has not been totally private sense 1965 with the passage of Medicare for those over 65. And as to it being "Pathetically inefficient" why is it then that UK citizens fly in to get procedures done today here that they would have to sit on a waiting list for weeks or months in the UK?

Oh, sorry, I forgot to add the qualification that, so long as you are very wealthy, then the US system is very "efficient" indeed. It's just a bit shit for the other 99%. But that's okay though because acording to the "American Dream", every poor yank is really just a temporarily embarrassed millionaire, right?

Wake the **** up man.

Your exaggerating again old chap. I, like five out of six Americans, have had health insurance right along from my employment. The last time I was uninsured was 1975. The system has become grossly expensive and every time the government has gotten involved it has gotten worse not better. It does no good to have the best health care in the world if the premiums and deductibles (Or taxes in lieu of premiums) impoverish you before you or any of your family gets sick.
A temporarily embarrassed millionaire?
Well a million ain't what it used to be but I wasn't ever in the running to get that high. Had to settle with getting three kids through college and two through graduate school and having the house I built myself paid for.
I guess I'll just have to cling to my guns and keep the freezer and pantries stocked.

[PS_RalphW]

In 1982 the UK deployed 127 ships to the Falklands including two air craft carriers and a Nuclear Submarine. Today The total Navy is 76 ships and submarines with the largest in service being frigates. You have some large Aircraft carriers building but you are certainly a far cry from being the largest Navy in the world which you were up until the start of WW II

We were broke in 1945. We had been bombed to bits, lost millions of men in the fighting, and owed the US billions in war loans, which we spent several decades paying off. We were on food rationing for another decade after the war. We gave up the last of our empire and made the strategic decision that the RN was the least important part of our military as we were part of NATO et al.

In 1982 Margaret Thatcher had introduced her low tax policies and introduced much deeper cuts to the navy. It was the axing of a particular ship patrolling the south Atlantic that the Argentinians took as a sign we would not try to defend the Falklands. A lot of the Falklands fleet in 1982 were commandeered merchant ships. There are far fewer UK flagged merchant ships today.

I remember the Falklands well. My brother was heavily involved in the planning of the action, and was on the duty roster for one of the Vulcan bombing runs, although he didn't fly in the end.

We are a small island 21 miles from Europe. Apart from a few left over islands from the worlds largest empire, why would we need a massive navy? I agree that UK military expenditure is extremely inept and corrupt, and we end up with the weapons to fight non-existent wars whilst he foot soldiers can't even get decent boots, but we are hardly unique in that.

[vtsnowedin]

We were broke in 1945. We had been bombed to bits, lost millions of men in the fighting, and owed the US billions in war loans, which we spent several decades paying off.


We were on food rationing for another decade after the war.

I don't doubt you but really Who did you have in charge of that? Considering that Canada and Australia both needed to sell grain to pay their own war bills what was the hold up?

[kenneal - lagger]

We were broke and having already given the US the technology for the jet engine, computers and Asdic in exchange for a few old first world war destroyers and some other bits and pieces we didn't have a lot else to sell. The US made a packet out of WW2 and rigged world trade afterwards grossly in its favour. We are still suffering in that we can't tax air travel, for instance, because of agreements made then. And now we have the possibility of the TTIP to further rig world trade in the direction of the US corporations.

[vtsnowedin]

We were broke and having already given the US the technology for the jet engine, computers and Asdic in exchange for a few old first world war destroyers and some other bits and pieces we didn't have a lot else to sell. The US made a packet out of WW2 and rigged world trade afterwards grossly in its favour. We are still suffering in that we can't tax air travel, for instance, because of agreements made then. And now we have the possibility of the TTIP to further rig world trade in the direction of the US corporations.

Is that jet engine technology the stuff you got from the Germans?
But yes I know that much of your industrial base had been bombed to rubble and you had to start from scratch while the US had just to refit assembly lines from "in one case" Bomb sights to fishing reels. (ZEBCO)
A few years later you did send us the Beatles and other British invasion bands in retribution.

[kenneal - lagger]

No! We developed our own jet engines before we knew that the Germans had them.

You also controlled much of the world's oil supply at the time and that didn't come cheap to most other countries. All in all the US did very well out of WW2. It was the start of the US (Dollar) Empire which you have been, and still are, milking as well as any other colonialist has. It does look like it might be coming to an end soon though. Start to finish well less than 100 years; not one of the more lasting empires.

[vtsnowedin]

No! We developed our own jet engines before we knew that the Germans had them.

You also controlled much of the world's oil supply at the time and that didn't come cheap to most other countries. All in all the US did very well out of WW2. It was the start of the US (Dollar) Empire which you have been, and still are, milking as well as any other colonialist has. It does look like it might be coming to an end soon though. Start to finish well less than 100 years; not one of the more lasting empires.

I would not plan the funeral for the USA just yet. As much debt as we have and all the other problems we are still rich in natural resources and technology and that annoying American fighting spirit.

[PS_RalphW]

.... and that annoying American fighting spirit.

That may have been true 250 years ago but in the last 40 years I have been monitoring US invasions the unavoidable conclusion is that the average US grunt is

1. Only in the job because of the pay
2. Poorly educated
3. Doesn't know where they are
4. Why they are fighting
5. Who they are fighting
6. Extremely jumpy and shoots first, second, third before even looking
7. Would not even be there if they did not know that the US has the best military hospitals and evac teams in the world.

In Iraq something like 10,000 rounds of ammunition were fired for each enemy combatant killed. In the first Iraq war more UK military were killed by US munitions than were killed by the enemy.

By contrast a high proportion of Islamic fighters are prepared to accept certain death defending what they see as their God and their homeland, as can be seen by the widespread use of suicide bombs. They may be evil, but they are not, as described by the US media, cowards.

[vtsnowedin]

.... and that annoying American fighting spirit.

That may have been true 250 years ago but in the last 40 years I have been monitoring US invasions the unavoidable conclusion is that the average US grunt is

1. Only in the job because of the pay
2. Poorly educated
3. Doesn't know where they are
4. Why they are fighting
5. Who they are fighting
6. Extremely jumpy and shoots first, second, third before even looking
7. Would not even be there if they did not know that the US has the best military hospitals and evac teams in the world.

In Iraq something like 10,000 rounds of ammunition were fired for each enemy combatant killed. In the first Iraq war more UK military were killed by US munitions than were killed by the enemy.

By contrast a high proportion of Islamic fighters are prepared to accept certain death defending what they see as their God and their homeland, as can be seen by the widespread use of suicide bombs. They may be evil, but they are not, as described by the US media, cowards.

You should continue to monitor US military actions from a safe distance. You and the 82nd Airborne would not get along.

[emordnilap]

Oh, so how many of those 559 children aged 11 or under killed or injured as result gun violence so far this year are 'acceptable' as collateral damage associated with sducidal folk exercising their right use use a firearm?

I'd argue none.

The same percentage as the 2000 that die and 250,000 that are injured each year in auto accidents. World wide road deaths of children amount to close to a million per year and is their leading cause of death.
Shall we ban cars and motorcycles?

Not quite, but you could be on the right lines.

[emordnilap]

Over here we try really hard to stop people killing themselves. It's a cultural thing.

I'm not sure that is anything to be proud of.

If people want to die, in dignity, I don't think anybody else has any right to try really hard to stop them.

I also don't think this has much, if anything at all, to do with the debate about gun laws/crime in the United States.

I agree with all of that.

[UndercoverElephant]

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/60295

Bolivia: WikiLeaks exposes US plot to kill Evo Morales

Bolivia is calling for investigations into cables leaked by WikiLeaks that reveal the US had plans in 2008 to topple the left-wing government of President Evo Morales, including potentially backing his assassination.

“This requires an in-depth investigation,” said Bolivia's minister of the presidency, Juan Ramon Quintana. “We need to do an investigation to subsequently take decisions with regard to the United States government.”

Quintana referred to the cables WikiLeaks recently published in its new book, The WikiLeaks Files: The World According to US Empire.

“Tacitly it is a supported description of the destabilisation strategy of the United States that ranged between a coup and the assassination of President Morales,” he said.

“In 2007 the embassy of the United States installed a Centre of Operations in order to execute a civil coup to apply plan A, which was the coup, and plan B, which was the assassination.”

Relations have been strained between the US and the Morales government, first elected in 2005, which has brought key sectors of the economy into state hands, cut poverty by social spending and empowered the indigenous majority.

In 2008, Morales expelled the US ambassador from the country, alleging the ambassador was actively supporting a right-wing coup.

The US has denied the plans revealed by WikiLeaks. A representative described the WikiLeaks accusations as “absolutely false and absurd”. Despite the denials, the Bolivian government said it was pressing ahead with a thorough investigation.

“The relationship between the US and Bolivia couldn't be any further apart,” political analyst Franklyn Pareja told TeleSUR English.

“They are opposed on almost everything, the ideology of the Bolivian government is anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and for the Bolivian people the icon for imperialism and anti-capitalism is the United States.”

With Morales seeking a referendum to allow him to run for president again when his current term expires in 2020 — which he is expected to win — political observers expect no change in the hostile relations between La Paz and Washington.

[biffvernon]

Words fail....

At least one toddler under the age of 4 has been responsible for shooting someone at a rate of once a week so far this year in America.

Some 43 incidents involving toddlers using firearms have been reported so far in 2015.

At least 13 of these have seen children inadvertently kill themselves after getting their hands on a gun.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10 ... 03510.html