To highlight my point:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate

The US has 10.4 fatalities in accidents per 100,000 inhabitants per year. Or nearly than 34,000 deaths every year from auto accidents

The UK only has 3.7 per 100,000 per year or just over a third that.

You don't think that affects the life expectancy rates?

How about the fact that Americans suffer 1.5 million heart attacks and strokes each year (1/2 of a percent of the population roughly) mostly due to lifestyle: smoking, bad eating habits, high stress jobs? Those also lower the life expectancy.

Draugnar, there's really no evidence that medical procedures are less likely to be successful or occur in other western nations, which on average all spend about half as much per capita as the US. It is true that *some* countries with UHC have longer wait times (while many do not), but never for something urgent, and that's it.

'The latest in asshole behavior from the Federal government during the shutdown. A major thoroughfare in a rural county is shut down because it passes through a Federal park, and kids in school are cut off from their route home.'

These are all the non-essential things that Americans could do without, right? Republicans are just trying to demonstrate what they mean by 'small government'

Doesn't 'Barrack Dickhead Obama' imply he has a Y-chromosome?

@Draug, ok - so americans live fast and die young, is that it? Great health care, but they kill themselves doing unsafe things. (in fairness on the road death issue, america is much bigger in land area than the UK, so you guys spend a lot more distance driving (and time?) That one stat is not much of a surprise.

On the other hand, the originally quoted state of 45% more likely to die in a UK hospital - Doesn't mean much if your chances are 1 in 100,000,000 in the US, your chances are still tiny in the UK. (145% of a tiny number is still a tiny number)

No, Ora, the Administration is punishing Americans for daring to think they can get by without their Federal nannies. The administration and the bureaucracies decide what gets shutdown--it is they who are making all these petty and punitive decisions to harass American veterans, children, tourists, etc. in the name of the shutdown.

i call bs on that isle of man statement. is it true that they pay no taxes to any central government? unlikely. the central banks would not allow any territory to get away with not paying its fair share to further enrich the worlds richest at the expense of its population. libya gave it a shot, we all know what they did the population of that country.

Hey blankfuck - http://www.gov.im/

It is its own governmental entity, much like Monaco.

damn. you are always forcing me to read up on crap i have mere peripheral interest in.

ok the isle of man looks reasonable. but taking 23% of the gdp in taxes tells me there must be some corruption in there. you taiwan taking half that amount and they are not perfect i am sure. but i agree, it is better than other places.

the government seems to print its own currency and use it rather than borrowing it from a central bank like every other country. so the government has basically no debt. and does not have really high taxes...

but you know there are other factors here. i think people living there are afflicted with some foreign accent. and it seems kind of a back country place. but yeah, maybe for europe it is the best you can get, if you dont need a big city.

Based on how you write here, I would be careful insulting others' "foreign accent" and some of us love land and country homes.

to be honest, if the isle of man ever became a big and popular place and money really flowed into it, then the banks would find some way of taking control of it. it is kind of surprising that they print their own money and get away with it, but maybe the banks figure it is too small and not worth the effort.

i think you just do not understand my humor. but i can understand if you are from south africa that the topic of accents can strike a chord.

I am from Ohio, blankbrain. The way you type here, you have no room to talk of others accents. No capitalization. Often your punctuation is wrong.

As far as printing their own money, countries don't get much bigger then the US and we print our own. In fact the "central bank" was *established* by the US federal government and the people who run it are *appointed* by the President.

Maybe you just don't understand why you're fucking wrong most of the time blankflag.

You don't know shit about economy and you don't know shit about banks controlling it.

Just to teach you something: banks don't work as one, their main oppositions are other banks. We support certain banks because we want to and we earn something through it.

It's like 'the' mob. It doesn't exist, it's not one organisation and they fight eachother for honour, reputation and money.

the american government does not print its own money...

see this is the problem with the mainstream media crowd, they do not understand basic facts.

ok the last president to try it was jfk when he started issuing US notes and they killed him.

actually america is even worse than other places because it borrows it from a private corporation. courts have ruled everytime that the federal reserve is a private corporation and not a part of the government.

maybe you are confused because the federal reserve hires the treasury to do the printing for them. but the printing is being done for the federal reserve.

so if the government wants to build a bridge in america and cannot get the money from taxes, they have to borrow money from the federal reserve to pay for it. but then the federal reserve just prints up the money at no cost to them. and now the taxpayer owes money to this private corporation for nothing.

on the isle of man, not only can the government get money from taxes, but if the taxes do not cover it, they can print the money. now it is not perfect because they have a fixed exchange rate with the uk, so they are somewhat restricted on how much they can print. but it is still much better than the american situation.

come to think of it were there any presidents who tried having the government print money who were not shot at? andrew jackson went against the banks. he miraculously avoided assassination. lincoln had his greenbacks and was killed... i remember there were some more examples. but i know jfk as i said started doing it and he was killed.

anyway maybe michael riveros all wars are bankers wars piece is worth a read if you want more info. but the money masters documentary is even better. but it is like 3 hours long. but interesting. and available on youtube. or if you know any good ones for me go ahead and recommend them.

i think the more we know about these things the better we can figure out what is happening. unfortunately the media does not want that. so the average person knows very little about 9/11 or global warming or even basics about the financial system we are all under.

For many purposes, yes, the Fed is a private organization. But the head of the Fed is still *appointed* by the *President* of the *United States*. Correct?

And you do. Because you've got your special resources and don't just use google to find people claiming shit. Google is of course much more reliable than the media. Thanks bro. You cleared that up.

Just for the record: which undoubtedly fucked up theory about 9/11 do you believe, what do you know about the financial system (according to you, all but you probably know the true answer to that), and do you think we're warming the earth up on our own even though there is no evidence that suggests it?

the president does appoint the federal reserve chairman
and the federal reserve claims to do things for two reasons
to control inflation and create jobs

but neither of these really do much
the banks always control what the fed does

the government also has the right to print its own money
but that never happens

the prime minister of canada is appointed by the queen of england
that seems to be the type of appointment we are dealing with here

but even if by a miracle some great guy became the fed chairman
the government is still borrowing from a private corporation
and its profits are still going to private shareholders

http://www.federalreserve.gov/faqs/about_14986.htm

"The Federal Reserve System fulfills its public mission as an independent entity within government. It is not "owned" by anyone and is not a private, profit-making institution. "

Gee. They claim they are part of the government, not private, and not owned by anyone. this is from *there* website.

Also, a little research shows that each *bank* in the Federal Reserve is deemed to be privately owned, but the Reserve itself is not.

WOAH! YOU MEAN THERE'S ACTUALLY CORRUPTION? I THOUGHT THAT WAS A CONSPIRACY THEORIST MYTH

for steephie

ok well the little known
among the typical media consumer
facts i am talking about
are
for instance

half of americans do not know that three buildings collapsed in new york
that is a pretty significant number
most americans do not know how impossible it is to take down a steel framed building without cutting the beams or the connections with something

on global warming i do not think the average person knows much about it
the fact that it has not warmed in 17 years
or that there is record ice at the caps this year
or that the polar bears dying myth was a fabrication

they are even misled on the things they do hear about
they may have heard of climategate
but they think it somehow does not harm the theory in any way
the fact that much of the evidence was altered to get the desired results

but a lot of it is just us-vs-themism
they think that people who are doubting the theories are paid for by oil companies or something
but if they are arguing for the theory then they are doing it for just reasons

i dont know...
all i know is that people who really question things like 9 11 or global warming or vaccines or gmos or the fractional reserve banking system or... things like these
from my experience
tend to know much more about the subjects than those who mindlessly repeat what the media spews at them

"half of americans do not know that three buildings collapsed in new york
that is a pretty significant number"

Citation or you are full of shit. Pretty much all of America knows that there were three buildings involved. Only two were hit by the planes and the third was damaged through fire and the collapses of towers one and two. If half don't know it's only because, by now, 25% of America wasn't born or was under age 5 when it occurred.

It is not impossible to take them down by weakening the steal via extreme heat. It didn't have to get hot enough to melt it like some "truthers" think and it didn't have to be cut. It just had to get hot enough to weaken the steel. And when you consider the building was designed to sway to compensate for wind and other factors, it is no stretch to understand that weakening the sway joints with heat would cause a collapse.

the fed is private
read this
http://www.globalresearch.ca/who-owns-the-federal-reserve/10489

but even look at court cases. the federal reserve branches are owned by its shareholders. its shareholders are banks. and its shareholders get profits from the fed.

the website is just full of crap. but their website says it honestly is not private because those shares cannot be transferred. even though they are held by private entities and generate profits for those private entities. but they cannot be sold to other private entities. therefore not private.

yeah... ok

Don't ask for citations from him, Draug. He'll just point you to sites that have so much bullshit on them they'll give your computer a virus.

yes. office fires and some swaying that nobody saw collapsed building 7. free fall collapse too. genius. this is wasting my time. i suggest you investigate it yourself and really try to read up on the physics of it. i cannot convince you if you still arent doubting it and arent inclined to look into it yourself.

I've investigated it myself. I've heard from a former FBI agent, a former CIA agent, a demolitions expert that lives down the street, and our very own MichiganMan, who told me I should talk to a demolitions expert, a CIA agent, and a former FBI agent so that I can find out the truth. So I went out of my way to talk to all of these people and I found out the truth.

They all told me it was two planes crashing into the buildings and that the only chance a conspiracy theorist would have in holding up their argument against an expert would be to claim that someone in America gave the terrorists some vitally important information as to where the planes had to hit.

you cant do a google search for
half of americans building 7
or something

it was a yougov poll sponsored by rethink911
i experienced people on this site who did not know about building 7
the thing is that people do not know basic facts about these things

do you even know about building 7 bo sox?
because that kind of discredits your planes crashing into buildings theory
as no plane hit it

The fed *doesn't* make a profit! Therefore is *can't* distribute any said profits to the branches. The Fed is not owned! The branches are owned but the Federal Reserve is not.

Building s7 collapsed due to the much taller towers 1 and 2 nearby collapsing and fire spreading to it!

Dude, I bet I know more about physics than you and I know *many* more civil engineers who know a shit ton more about physics than you could ever hope to know. To an individual, each of a dozen different friends and former coworkers at Parsons Engineering Science (a civil engineering firm, look it up, I used to work for them) have explained it in no uncertain terms and simple logic. But you continue to believe your whackadoodle conspiracy theories.

You are a fucking moron!