My Recent Comments

• Accuracy (what a misnomer) pretends he doesn't know that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid. So, no. higher proportions of illegal immigrants adults under age 65 will not gain Medicaid coverage in 2014. The proportion will still be zero. Those over 65 are not eligible for Medicare. Accuracy, of the misnomer, is just out of it when it comes to real facts.
  3 days ago
• It cannot be hammered home enough that the US health care system is the MOST EXPENSIVE in the world – by miles – and also produces the WORST health outcomes of any developed country - by miles. US healthcare produces comparatively high death rates among YOUNG people, starting with babies. The US is number 50 in infant mortality. It is number 51 in life expectancy because of excess mortality at young ages: One year olds die at a 22% higher rate in the US Two year olds die 31% more often Three year olds 25% more often Four year olds 27% more often Five year olds 32% more often Six year olds 31% more often Seven year olds 32% more often Eight year olds 27% more often 15 year old teenagers die at an incredible 51% higher rate in the US 25 year old young adults die 42% more often in the US 35 year old Americans die 37% more often By age 83, after Medicare for 18 years, Americans actually do better than those in most other developed countries. That is a long, long time to wait; and most Americans won’t make it; unlike the Japanese, Swedes, Canadians, etc. etc. who will. The reason for this amazingly abysmal performance of our health care system is that a majority of Americans do not have consistent and stable access to appropriate health care. This expansion of Medicaid is a small step in a direction that will correct this incredible deficit in our system.
  7 days ago
• In the 100 years from 1800 to 1900 humans went from putting about zero carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere to putting about one-half billion tons per year into the atmosphere from use of petroleum, coal, natural gas, cement production and gas flaring. By 2000 that amount had increased to 8 billion tons per year, and by 2010 it was 9 billion tons per year. This, unsurprisingly, has had an effect on the CO2 content of the atmosphere. In 1800 the atmosphere was 284 parts per million (ppm) of CO2. From there in parts per million: 295 1900 370 2000 390 2010 397 May, 2012 400 May, 2013 400 ppm is a 36% increase in 213 year, and is probably the highest CO2 concentration in the atmosphere in the last 22 million years. Because Galactic Cosmic Rays irradiate atmospheric CO2 produced by plants, it is possible to determine where the CO2 has originated; and thus we learn that CO2 derived from the burning of fossil fuels is an increasing component of the CO2 in our atmosphere. Not surprising. The raising of prodigious amounts of meat probably makes its contribution. These facts, undisputed (except by those who are willfully blind or clinically delusional), together with hundreds of other threads of evidence, show that: Atmospheric CO2 is rising very rapidly and all, or at least the most major portion by far, of that CO2 is a consequence of human activity.
  2 weeks ago
• CO2 is a gas that increases the warming of a body in the presence of sunlight in an approximately linear manner. Therefore, it would be surprising if the Earth were not warming in response to the 36% increase in CO2. Of course, it is. In fits and starts. There’s no good way to take an unambiguous three dimensional temperature of the whole 50 billion cubic kilometer volume of the Earth’s atmosphere, surface and oceans. But we don’t have to be all that exact; look at the disappearing polar ice caps and melting glaciers. Unless you don’t believe your lying eyes. Of course, there’s oodles of other evidence, which one can argue about, interpret, distort ad infinitum. This warming need not be all that alarming. The Earth has been warmer that it is today for most of geologic time. There are many benefits to a warmer Earth, which might be particularly appreciated by people in the northeast US, Canada, Russia, etc. More humans die of cold than heat. However, the Earth’s climate is unstable. Only 15,000 years ago Chicago was covered in over a kilometer of ice. Tens of millions of square kilometers of the Earth’s surface had been sterilized by glaciers. There have been huge fluctuations in the climate since; like the Younger Dryas when the climate flickered – one literally did not know if Spring would come from one year to the next.
  2 weeks ago
• When one is dealing with an unstable system, say a row boat, it is best not to rock the boat. We have been giving our boat one hell of a rocking for thousands of years and to a rapidly increasing extent. Changing the atmosphere (and not just with CO2), changing the Earth’s surface, including its reflectivity with agriculture and loss of snow cover, changing the oceans and other surface waters, and even the sub-surface. The Earth has a large number of equilibrium states, many of which will not be to our liking at all; the last mentioned ice age being one example, huge fluctuations in the oxygen content of the atmosphere being another. The real problem with rocking the boat is that it may tip over, and we have little idea what would be the consequences of tipping the Earth into a new equilibrium state.
  2 weeks ago
• We can make a start here in Arizona towards a return to civility by recalling Arpaio ASAP. There are still numerous ways to get hold of the Recall Arpaio petition: 205 W. Jefferson St in Phoenix - CAMP RECALL ARPAIO at County Plaza outside the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ Auditorium. 24 hours a day Thursday, May 30, 3 PM is the deadline at this location. 55 E. Thomas in Phoenix - the law offices of Snow and Carpio Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM. Notary on site. Thursday, May 30, 1 PM is the deadline at this location. 1615 N 36th St in Phoenix – CBA offices Monday through Friday from 10 AM to 4 PM. Notary on site. Thursday, May 30, 2 PM is the deadline at this location. 5110 N Central in Phoenix - Respect Arizona Offices 10 AM to 6 PM Monday through Friday, Notary on site. Thursday, May 30, 3 PM is the deadline at this location. 9201 S Avenida del Yaqui in Guadalupe - The Garage Bike Shop, Monday through Saturday 10 AM to 6 PM. When the Bike Shop is closed for lunch or other reasons, you can sign the petition next door at the Pan y Pane Bakery. Wednesday, May 29, 6 PM is the deadline at this location. 1505 E Thomas Rd in Phoenix - Gypsy Rose Tattoo, Monday through Saturday from 11:30 AM to 9 PM. Wednesday, May 29, 9 PM is the deadline at this location. 907 N 14th St in Phoenix - Rito's, Monday through Friday from 9 AM to 4 PM. Wednesday, May 29, 4 PM is the deadline at this location.
  3 weeks ago
• The economic incentives that drive immigration conflict with the laws designed to regulate it. Fighting economic forces in a market economy like the United States is an impossible task. You can’t shovel the ocean back with a fork, or even a bulldozer. So we do amazingly stupid things, like send a Chinese person with a PhD in physics from CalTech, who wants to stay in the US, back to China. To work on THEIR missile programs. Like deeply antagonizing and alienating a third of the population of our state - half the population under 18. Racial hatred works both ways, you know, and is terribly destructive of a society's civility and efficient functioning. And how do expect Latinos to behave when they are discriminated against based on their skin color? As Judge Snow just ruled has been going on since at least 2007. Of course, anybody who was awake in Maricopa anytime in the last ten years knew that already.
  3 weeks ago
• The real issues behind all the debate about contraception, abortion and Planned Parenthood: Pregnancy and a child are appropriate "punishment" for the "sin" of having pre marital sex. Failing that, an STD.
  3 weeks ago
• Their are over 40 countries in the world that have socialized medicine and that: Spend far, far less than we do on health care Have lower infant mortality rates Lower maternal mortality rates Higher life expectancy And zero personal bankruptcies due to medical costs Maybe they have something to teach us Americans. Or should our people just keep dying unnecessarily? How far ahead does the rest of the world have to get in order for us pay attention? Japanese live four years longer than Americans. American babies are three times as likely to die as Swedish babies American mothers die in childbirth and its aftermath five times more often than Italian mothers At age 5 Americans die at a 45% hgher rate than the Danish At age 25 Americans die at a 55% higher rate than Germans At age 50 Americans die at a 45% higher rate than Australians All these countries have socialized medicine, and the number of people who go bankrupt over medical expenses is zero. In the US millions of people are affected every year by medically induced bankruptcies. How much more does it take? When the Canadians live ten years longer than Americans? When Argentina passes us in infant mortality, lowering our position to number 80 in the world? Or do we just continue dying young? Credo ergo veritas.
  3 weeks ago
• Venting about bogey men is not likely to be helpful in preventing early American deaths. I believe that the primary reason US health care is so very expensive and so very bad is the lack of universal access to health care. For instance, an easily controlled asthmatic will not be controlled and will cost tens of thousands of dollars in emergency room visits and hospital admissions. It happens hundreds of times every day across the US at immense utterly necessary cost and human impairment and suffering. People don't learn how to use health care, so younger people suffer grievous problems and die more often. An huge menu of preventive care and cautionary methods are lost for decades or forever. Obamacare is a significant step in the direction of universal health care, and will dramatically improve our health outcomes.
  4 weeks ago