With regards to your challenge, I’ll follow Belcatar’s lead and simply put it here.  I volunteer at an organization which reads magazines and books to the blind and print-handicapped over closed-circuit radios.  I love doing it, more than I would building a home via Habitat for Humanity, serving food at a shelter or being a Big Brother. 

However, all of them are excellent organizations.  So my advice is not just volunteer, but to find one that lets you do something you enjoy.  Not only are you giving back, you’re having a blast doing it.  At that point, it’s not charity - it’s simply community.

Belcatar, if you’d be so kind, provide a link of some of the recommendations on keeping emergency packs nearby.  I’m already doing the first on your list, and will gladly take you up on the second.  (No backyard and a brown thumb prohibit me from jumping on your last suggestion, though.)

My comments are free, too.  Give your $40 to Haitian relief.

Dbug,

Here’s a good list that gives you an idea of what to include in an emergency kit. I’m not shilling for the company, nor am I affiliated with it. I just think they have a good selection of emergency preparedness items.

http://beprepared.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_K7%20B350_A_name_E_3-Day%20Lite%20Emergency%20Kit

Well here we are on Feb. 2 and I guess our friend didn’t receive any emails.  No word on if the $40 went to Haitian relief, his buddy “Face” or was spent on booze and strip clubs.

Amazingly, they haven’t answered any of the legitimate questions posed to them.  Color me “shocked.”

That’s what we get for giving away our ideas for free. Michael Moore gets 7.50 a pop to spout his. Maybe we should apply to the Michigan Film Board for a tax break.

No can do - I’m from Missouri.  Actually, if I use Mikey Logic, I’m from the Midwest which entails both MO and MI.  When I look at it that way, I’m as much from Michigan as he is from Flint.

Filling out those forms will give me something to do as I continue to wait for an honest response from our new-found friends.

Hi there! I’m a first-time visitor to this site, and was reading several comments and felt compelled to post my own.
As a Canadian citizen, I, like so many others were unaware until recently that a lack of universal health care existed in any industrialized nation. I decided to do a little research on countries without this system, and was quite surprised by what I found. Interestingly enough,the list included China, North Korea, Iran, Iraq (now the US provides their health care), most third-world countries and the US. I’ve seen many posts discussing the evils of such a system, including “allowing the government to control our health”, to wait times, etc, etc. Let me start by saying that unlike the US, we do consider medical care a basic right as all Canadians are equal, from the wealthiest to the poorest. I have never heard of a fellow citizen losing their lives because treatment was refused for any reason(at least not in my lifetime!).
Some provinces do charge a premium, ours is $130/month, but only if your annual income is above a certain amount.
I also have a great GP (who also happens to be a close friend), and contrary to what most Americans have been told, she makes a great living and is very proud to work in a system where she can provide care based on need, not money!!
I think what most Americans need to ask themselves is how can they allow a group of people whose only interest is making money the power to decide who lives and dies??  How can any of you sit back and do nothing while your fellow citizens suffer and lose their lives?? It is just disgusting - I think what many of you need is a wake-up call,you ought to be ashamed of yourselves!!
It’s time for all Americans to get their heads of of the sand and say we, the people will finally start taking care of our own first!!

Hello, Simone.

I have also never heard of a citizen losing his or her life because treatment was refused.  Something the people of other countries can’t seem to get is anyone in our country who shows up at a hospital with an emergency is treated - end of story - without the request of “how are you going to pay?” The idea dying people are turned away by US hospitals is a myth.

And I don’t doubt you have a friend quite content and proud to work in your health care system.  But I trust you won’t doubt there are plenty of doctors from Canada (and other countries) who come to the US because they do earn a stronger living.  Right or wrong, the best and brightest do come here.

And I also trust you are honest enough to admit the Canadian system has many of their own problems, which you touched on above.  Wait times have allegedly led to unnecessary deaths in your country.  (I don’t have personal knowledge or insight into the accusations any more than you have insight into the accusations you throw at the US so I’ll stick with “allegedly.")

Universal health care does cause well-documented financial strains on governments, however, and coverage does get cut. 

Ours is not a perfect system, and because we’re talking about health care specifically, it means those whom the system fails could die.  But before you point fingers, recognize the exact same shortcomings are true in your neck of the woods even if they take on different forms.

I’d say the difference is most Americans recognize it, but we disagree how to best fix (or at least improve) what we have.  Just because you read a thread here indicating we’re against universal health care, don’t assume we are FOR status quo.  We want to change our health care; we just don’t want to change it to yours.

All Canadians are equal and have a right to medical care...except for Danny Williams. He has the right to medical care in the United States. Is he more equal than other Canadians who perhaps can’t afford to just skip off to America for a little cardiac quickie?

It’s very easy to pass judgments on other people or nations. Unfortunately, most of those judgments are misinformed or simply wrong. You’re comparing the United States to Canada without taking into account the tremendous differences between our countries. Most of your population lives fairly close to the U.S. border. We have a much higher population spread out over a much larger area, which makes centrally run government programs hard to administer without a lot of waste, fraud and abuse. We have millions of illegal aliens who parade across our southern border. I live a few miles from the Canadian border, and I don’t see hordes of people sneaking around looking for a way to cross. Your health care paradise of Unicorns and Meadows might be working fine for you, but America needs a much different model to be successful. So far, the model that delivers the highest quality goods and services for the lowest price is the free market. It’s pretty clear that government-run models are impractical for a country as populous and large as the United States.

If you want shame for America, you’ll have to look elsewhere. Just watch the news...whenever President Obama lands on foreign soil, there’s bound to be an apology soon after.

I’ve never been turned away for being poor, and I pretty much live on the edge of poverty in terms of income. Of course, I doubt you’ll be back even to read our replies to your leftist screed, so my words are probably falling on blind eyes, yet again.

I think what most Americans need to ask themselves is how can they allow a group of people whose only interest is making money the power to decide who lives and dies??

We do ask ourselves that all the time.  We believe that before demanding that we ask ourselves that question, Canadians should ask themselves the same question.  You see insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, drug companies and health care providers as all being evil and only concerned with money.

What do you think the government is doing?  They certainly are not as efficient in anything as most private entities, so why would you allow a governmental person that is miles away control your health care options and decisions? 

How can any of you sit back and do nothing while your fellow citizens suffer and lose their lives?? It is just disgusting - I think what many of you need is a wake-up call,you ought to be ashamed of yourselves!!

How can you allow your fellow citizens to deal with substandard care which requires long waits for care, at a higher cost, with less outcome?

It’s time for all Americans to get their heads of of the sand and say we, the people will finally start taking care of our own first!!

You first.

Why is it that people that come here talking about “the people” always demand that the government is the answer and not the people?

Why is it that “we the people” means “the government taking more money from us” for a system that is less cost effective and efficient?

Oh, and by the way....

Some provinces do charge a premium, ours is $130/month, but only if your annual income is above a certain amount.

I just want to make sure that I understand this correctly.  You have people in your country that you feel can and should pay more for the same product or service than others?  Would that be an accurate assessment of this “premium?”

If that is the case, then please answer this hypothetical:  You walk into a McDonalds looking to order a burger.  The guy in front of you orders a burger and the clerk takes his dollar and the guy gets his burger.  You order the same burger and the clerk says “that will be three dollars, please.” When you ask why the discrepancy in the price, the clerk says “because you make more than he did and you can afford more.”

Are you happy with that?

Do you really believe that the price of goods and services should be based upon how much a person makes?

Wow, so many comments!! First to belcatar,"leftist screed”, lets save the name-calling for the playground, shall we??
I recently read a story posted in the December issue of the American Journal of Public Health co-authored by Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, a professor of medicine at Harvard. According to the report, “A lack of coverage can be tied to about 45,000 deaths a year in the United States”. Now, our system is not perfect (and I never claimed it was), but we just don’t understand your complacency with this. These are your friends, neighbors and family!
There seems to be so many misconceptions about our system - our wait-times are actually better than yours (i’ve visited quite a few US hospitals, and the average time in my experience was between 8-12 hours). As far as the gov. controlling any aspect of our care/treatment, what you have to realize is that health care is a basic right for us - our doctors are the law, just as the police decide what calls they respond to.
I was also asked, in so many words, if I mind paying a premium if I can afford it, my answer is a big yes!! I live in the interior of British Columbia and with a area of 364,800 sq miles, and a population of just 4,419,974, assistance is required. (keep in mind this also helps to pay for travel, accommodations, meals, etc). As most of Canada is rural and we have very few cities, travel is sometimes necessary. That was the case with Danny Williams, the Premier of Newfoundland. Not surprisingly, the rest of that story was omitted. He CHOSE to go to a US hospital rather than travel to Edmonton, and he is now in the process of petitioning the province to reimburse his costs - he will most likely succeed.
No one ever said that your country needs to adopt the same system as ours, but it is quite obvious yours is in serious need of an overhaul.
*just to clarify the premium comment - my husbands employer offers a benefit package. For $70/mo, our basic premium is covered, as well as full dental, extended medical (prescription, travel insurance, etc), massage therapy, Optometrists including glasses, extended disability, etc, etc. Keep in mind most of this is not needed for our children as government programs automatically cover everyone under the age of 18.