Saturday, August 22, 2009

Pro-life & Pro-lies

I just read the Conservapedia -"The Trustworthy Encyclopedia"- entry on "Obamacare," which features graphics that incorporate a hammer and sickle, stormtrooper jackboots and snakes attacking a balding middle aged white male in a suit. A far more trustworthy, less hysterical analysis can be found at Factcheck.org's 7 falsehoods about health care reform .




One of the biggest concerns of the anti-health advocates (besides death panels, bureaucrats and nazis) is the poor quality of care that a "socialized" system would provide, since the U. S. obviously has the best system around. So why do so many countries with "socialism" have healthier citizens?

Just check out the CIA World Factbook's country by country comparison of infant mortality rates. According to the CIA entry, this "rate is often used as an indicator of the level of health in a country." The United States come in at 44th, with 6.26 deaths per 1,000 during the first year. Compare that with Singapore, that had the best rate at 2.31 deaths per 1,000. The wealthy U.S. ranks behind places like Canada and France. And Sweden. And Japan. And Ireland. And Singapore. And Hong Kong. Don't forget Cuba. We did manage to edge out Croatia.
Since the far right usually postures itself as being concerned for the lives of "unborn" babies, the high infant mortality rate of the US should probably bother them as well. Too bad no one has yet stepped forward with any alternatives to the ones offered by the evil socialists and baby killers of the left. As the cliche goes, the right to life ends once you have been born.

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