JIGGETY JIG
Back from Newfoundland, just in time to turn around and zip out of town in FULL WEDDING MODE.
Or as these folks would put it [slide to minute 4:00]:
Or maybe it's closer to this version:
Anyway, it's not me, but sonny-boy #2, and it all goes down in just four days!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY (and the next 1200 days or so):
WE TOLD YOU SO
And I believe we also told you this:
And we sometimes dared to mention this:
And it all added up to this:
MY TWO-CENTS' WORTH ON HEALTH CARE:
There are many comments and criticisms one could make about any single-payer [government] health insurance system, such as Canada's. But on that subject, I am fond of making this factual (not critical) observation:
The Canadian Health Care System is a gift from the American taxpayer and their national military.
Why? Because if Canada invested in its own defense to the extent required to genuinely protect its people and territory without dependence upon the United States, the country wouldn't have a hope in Hades of affording socialized medicine.
The U.S. military is 2,300,000 strong (regular plus reserves), with plans for another 750,000 to be added within the next three years.
The Canadian military is less than 100,000 strong (regular plus reserves), with no plans for increase. The number has already increased from its nadir in 2001 [having fallen by one third in the decade since 1991].
Canada's population is approximately one tenth [10%] that of the U.S., and its land mass is larger. Canada's military population is less than one half of 1% [.043] of that of the U.S. [Feel free to help me with the math if I've screwed this up.]
Canada is essentially defended at the expense of the United States, with Canadians secure in their knowledge that the U.S. would never permit any military threat to their northern neighbour, because it's just too close to home and would leave America vulnerable.
So Canada's far (FAR) from perfect health care system is even more expensive than anybody is letting on. In at least one sense, it has cost Canadians their sovereignty.
