Prayer - Dr. Maya Angelou

Father, Mother, God,

Thank you for your presence

during the hard and mean days.

For then we have you to lean upon.

Thank you for your presence

during the bright and sunny days,

for then we can share that which we have

with those who have less.

And thank you for your presence

during the Holy Days,

for then we are able

to celebrate you and our families

and our friends.

For those who have no voice,

we ask you to speak.

For those who feel unworthy,

we ask you to pour your love out

in waterfalls of tenderness.

For those who live in pain,

we ask you to bathe them

in the river of your healing.

For those who are lonely, we ask

you to keep them company.

For those who are depressed,

we ask you to shower upon them

the light of hope.

Dear Creator, You, the borderless

sea of substance, we ask you to give to all the

world that which we need most—Peace.

prayer - maya angelou

http://www.worldprayers.org/

Monday, October 21st: Documentary Age of Stupid to Screen Across the Country

The Age of Stupid will launch in America on September 21st 2009 from a solar-powered cinema tent in New York LIVE to over 400 movie theatres across the country. Tickets are on sale NOW. Just follow the links below to your nearest theatre and you'll be taken directly to their online booking site. The timings are: 7:30 PM ET/ 6:30 PM CT / 5:30 PM MT / tape delayed 8PM PT.

This One Night Only …more

The Age of Stupid is the new movie from Director Franny Armstrong (McLibel) and producer John Battsek (One Day In September). Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance? It was released in UK cinemas on 20 March 2009, and is now to be followed in other countries.

Please do not miss seeing the documentary
Age of Stupid or spreading the word.

For screenings in your state, please go here:
http://www.ageofstupid.net/screenings/country/United%20States

* * *

Every single person in the country should be forcibly made to watch this film.

~ Ken Livingstone

I defy anyone to come out and not feel like they have got to make a difference.

~ Caroline Lucas

Michael Meade in Oregon Oct. 22 - 24th, 2009

Warmest Greetings

I am very excited to share that Michael Meade will be in Eugene on October 22nd, in Portland Friday evening, October 23rd, and giving a day long workshop in Portland on Saturday, October 24th. I hope to see you there and/or that you will help spread the word. For those not in the area, please go to the Mosaic website for more information on books and CDs that can be purchased. Proceeds support Voices of Youth and Intercultural Projects.

Peace & blessings ~ Molly

* * *

A Poetics of Peace

The Light Inside Dark Times

with author, mythologist and storyteller Michael Meade

News of financial downturns and economic collapse resonates differently to the ears of the soul than it does to the antennae of the mind or the aspirations of the spirit.When all the news seems bad and getting worse, the mind falters and even the spirit, that transcendent, uplifting aspect of earthly life, can fail to light the way. Spirit may offer "peak experiences," but soul would lead us down, past the "bottom line" into the real depths of life. Soul would makes us deeper in order to make us wiser. Secretly, our souls seek wisdom and wisdom is a darker knowledge found in dark places and in dark times.

The soul is primal, the older, wiser part of us that is deeply connected to the world. It is the premier source of changes in the world and of transformations in our lives. Soul awakens as things seem to fall apart and soul would have us each find our part and path in life even as the world becomes more troubled and confusing. The soul is the light inside the dark, the hidden quintessence that secretly holds things together within each of us and within the world.

Themes: Tales of Spirit and of Soul; The Second Hand of Creation; Inner Light of Soul; The Second Layer of Hope; Turning Things Around; Growing Things Downward; Return of the Elder; Touching the Timeless; Loss of Sight, Gaining Vision

Read more: http://www.mosaicvoices.org/page.cfm?id=2

* * *

I do not want the peace that passeth understanding. I want the understanding which bringeth peace.

~ Helen Keller

New Documentary - Capitalism: A Love Story

Please spread the word and see Michael Moore's powerful new documentary,

Capitalism: A Love Story, which will open nationwide on October 2nd.

For more information, please go here:

http://michaelmoore.com/

http://www.capitalismalovestory.com/

Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story': Exclusive Clip On ...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/06/capitalism-love-story-review

* * *

"The richest 1 percent have more financial wealth

than the bottom 95 percent combined."

– Michael Moore

Billionaires for Wealthcare

From the Billionaires for Wealthcare website:

Billionaires for Wealthcare is a grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, industry lobbyists, talk-show hosts, and others profiting off of our broken health care system.

We'll do whatever it takes to ensure another decade where your pain is our gain. After all, when it comes to healthcare, if we ain't broke, why fix it?

For videos and more, please go here: http://www.billionairesforwealthcare.com/

* * *

Reform is affirmative, conservatism negative; conservatism goes for comfort, reform for truth.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Conservative

Ignorance is preferable to error, and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing than he who believes what is wrong.

~ Thomas Jefferson

The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.

~ William Sloane Coffin

Video: The Profound Hypocrisy of FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey

Bill Moyers: Tea Party Organizer Is Epitome Of Privilege‎

"Here's the catch," Moyers says after showing video clips with protesters decrying "the lies" coming from the Obama administration. "Something these marchers who came to Washington at Armey's urging could hardly be expected to know. For most of his adult life, their leader has benefited from just the kind of government tax-supported health care he's fighting to keep them from having too."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/18/bill-moyers-tea-party-org_n_291625.html

* * *

I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.

~ Molly Ivins

Compassion literally means to feel with, to suffer with. Everyone is capable of compassion, and yet everyone tends to avoid it because it's uncomfortable. And the avoidance produces psychic numbing -- resistance to experiencing our pain for the world and other beings.

~ Joanna Macy

Truth, and goodness, and beauty are but different faces of the same all.

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Powerful Documentary: Money Driven Medicine

From Bill Moyers Journal website:

The film MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE reveals how a profit-hungry medical-industrial complex has turned health care into a system that squanders millions of dollars on unnecessary tests, unproven and sometimes unwanted procedures and overpriced prescription drugs. Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney has teamed up with producers Peter Bull, Chris Matonti, and director Andy Fredericks to produce a film based on Maggie Mahar's powerful book MONEY-DRIVEN MEDICINE.

After covering the health care industry for years as a financial journalist, Mahar wanted to write a book examining the system from the perspective of doctors and patients. The response from the doctors she contacted was overwhelming — five out of six called her back. The film brings their stories to the screen, portraying an industry where corporate profits often get in the way of care.

To watch the documentary, read the transcript, and explore other links, please go here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/profile.html

* * *

That only a few, under any circumstances, protest against the injustice of long-established laws and customs, does not disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction of the many, if real only proves their apathy and deeper degradation.

~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

America's health care system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.

~ Walter Cronkite

The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.

~ Mohandas K. Gandhi

Fox News Boycott: Working to Promote Truth and Integrity in Broadcasting + Glenn Beck Loses 11 More Sponsors

Racism is now surfacing in a powerful way for what I believe to be a profound opportunity for each of us to embrace taking responsibility, healing, and transformation. Let's join hands to seize the moment and increasingly work toward creating a nation and world that works for all. Peace ~ Molly

* * *

Glenn Beck Loses 11 More Sponsors
More companies have bailed on Glenn Beck’s show on Fox News Channel, including big names such as Discover, Capital One, Infinity and Mercedes-Benz!

Eleven new companies whose ads were recently seen during Beck’s program—Binder & Binder, Capital One, The Dannon Company, Discover, HSBC, ICAN Benefit Group Insurance, Infiniti, Jelmar (manufacturer of CLR All-Purpose Cleaner), Jordan McKenna Debt Counseling Network, Mercedes-Benz and Simplex Healthcare (creator of the Diabetes Care Club) —have pledged to ColorOfChange.org to take steps to ensure that their ads don’t run on Beck’s show. Fifty-seven companies have now committed not to support Beck’s show since ColorOfChange.org launched its campaign four weeks ago after the Fox News Channel host called President Obama a “racist” who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people” during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

“We applaud those companies that have recently pulled their support from Beck,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org. “There are at least 57 companies who will not tolerate Beck’s race-baiting comments and we will continue to reach out to those who are still supporting him.”

Read more: http://foxnewsboycott.com/fox-news/glenn-beck-loses-11-more-sponsors/#ixzz0Rg5OtTXg

---------------------------------------

From Color of change website:
What Is ColorOfChange.org?
ColorOfChange.org exists to strengthen Black America's political voice. Our goal is to empower our members—Black Americans and our allies—to make government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone.
Read more: http://colorofchange.org/about.html

---------------------------------------

Stop Glenn Beck's race baiting
Fox's Glenn Beck recently said President Obama is "a racist" and has a "deep-seated hatred for white people." Beck is on a campaign to convince the American public that President Obama's agenda is about serving the needs of Black communities at White people's expense. It's repulsive, divisive and shouldn't be on the air.
Join us in calling on Beck's advertisers to stop sponsoring his show. » Add your voice now!

Read more: http://colorofchange.org/

* * *

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie -- deliberate, contrived and dishonest -- but the myth -- persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

~ John F. Kennedy

It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth.

~ John Locke

I was brought up to believe that the only thing worth doing was to add to the sum of accurate information in the world.

~ Margaret Mead

Book - Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency

I just heard a powerful interview about this book with it's author on Ring of Fire radio with Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and am moved to do this post. May we increasingly have the courage to live with our eyes and hearts open...

Peace ~ Molly

* * *

ANGLER: THE CHENEY VICE PRESIDENCY

By Barton Gellman

Dick Cheney is the most influential and powerful man ever to hold the office of vice president. This special report examines Cheney's largely hidden and little-understood role in crafting policies on national security, the economy and the environment.

EXCLUSIVE EXCERPTS: Angler
Cheney Shielded Bush From Crisis

Three months into a legal rebellion at the Justice Department over warrantless domestic surveillance, President Bush was nowhere in the picture. The vice president, meanwhile, was "ready to go to the mat" to keep the program on track. » By Barton Gellman»

Conflict Over Spying Led White House to Brink»

Timeline Key Characters Documents»

Q&A With Gellman, Noon Wednesday»

More on "Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency"

The PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING SERIES

Working in the Background
A master of bureaucracy and detail, Cheney exerts most of his influence out of public view.
Wars and Interrogations
Cheney's office played a central role in shattering limits on coercion of prisoners in U.S. custody.
Dominating Budget Decisions
From behind the scenes, Cheney was guardian of conservative orthodoxy on budget and tax matters.
Environmental Policy
Cheney loosened protections on air and water quality and changed the rules on national parks.

More: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/cheney/?hpid=specialreports

http://www.amazon.com/Angler-Cheney-Presidency-Barton-Gellman/dp/1594201862

http://www.bartongellman.com/

* * *

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

~ Abraham Lincoln (attributed)

Reformers who are always compromising, have not yet grasped the idea that truth is the only safe ground to stand upon.

~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.

~ George Orwell

It takes two to speak truth -- one to speak and another to hear.

~ Henry David Thoreau

45,000 Die Each Year From a Lack of Health Insurance

One of the many urgent moral issues of our time. May we each learn to care more deeply about one another and have our caring reflected increasingly in our actions.

Peace ~ Molly

* * *

45,000 Die Each Year From A Lack Of Health Insurance - The Fierce Urgency Of Now

The Harvard Medical School released a study yesterday that I dare you to read without your heart breaking.

Nearly 45,000 people die in the United States each year -- one every 12 minutes -- in large part because they lack health insurance and can not get good care, Harvard Medical School researchers found in an analysis released on Thursday.

"We're losing more Americans every day because of inaction ... than drunk driving and homicide combined," Dr. David Himmelstein, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard, said in an interview with Reuters.

Overall, researchers said American adults age 64 and younger who lack health insurance have a 40 percent higher risk of death than those who have coverage.

This is well up from a 2002 estimate showing 18,000 preventable deaths per year from a lack of health insurance. And the increase is directly related to the increase of the uninsured, as well as the scaling back of public hospitals or free clinics or access to care, particularly for those in poor areas. Diabetes and heart disease are two of the most common preventable diseases among this class of the uninsured. As one of the professors in the study puts it, "it's completely a no-brainer that people who can't get health care are going to die more from the kinds of things that health care is supposed to prevent."

If anything, we're going to see this get worse, if nothing changes. Jobless rates are expected to remain high for years, according to the OECD. With the rapid job loss in this Great Recession, nobody expects as rapid a return. And that means more people dropping off the health insurance rolls. In addition, employers will raise costs and lower coverage, if they even keep it. And for every new member of the ranks of the uninsured, the chances increase exponentially for a preventable death.

The need for fundamental health care reform isn't just a statistical issue, or about budgets, or bending cost curves. It's a matter of life and death.

Posted at http://crooksandliars.com/dday/45000-die-each-year-lack-health-insurance-fie.

* * *

It is not enough to be compassionate. You must ACT.

~ HH Dalai Lama

The Age of Stupid Gives a Coin-Flip Chance of Avoiding Climate Catastrophe

Franny Armstrong
Director of The Age of Stupid climate movie and founder of 10:10

If you put yeast into a jar with some sugar, they will gobble up the energy as quickly as possible, reproduce wildly out of control and then wipe themselves out in their own waste products.

So far, our collective response to climate change has been of the yeast variety. All the talking, all the documentaries, all the international negotiations have resulted in a net achievement of less than nothing: global emissions just keep going up and up.

As Pete Postlethwaite's character says in our, er, documentary, The Age of Stupid, "We wouldn't be the first life form to wipe itself out. But what would be unique about us is that we did it knowingly." And there's the crux of it. We are the most intelligent creature ever to evolve and yet we are about to make the stupidest mistake in all of geological time. Hence the film's name.

So, what to do?

Clearly we should have started tackling the problem as soon as the seriousness was understood, back in the '80s. But given that we didn't and we are where we are, we must now come together to agree a binding international treaty which quickly and massively cuts total global emissions. Our last chance to agree this treaty within the timescale of the physics of the planet is at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December this year. It is being called "the most important meeting in human history" for good reason.

Obviously the treaty isn't just made up on the spot, they've been working on it for years. The best deal currently on the table is that from the EU, but even this would only give us about a 50/50 chance of not hitting the dreaded two degrees. Two degrees is where we trigger runaway climate change: two leads to three, three to four, four to five, five to six ... by which time it's about over for most of life on Earth.

In other words, our elected leaders are giving us -- at best -- a coin-flip chance of avoiding catastrophe. It is hard to think of a more total failing of our political system. Imagine if they were standing at a plane door ... "Come on citizens, please take your seats, 50/50 chance of landing safely... "

And this is the EU's position. If America wins the argument at Copenhagen we will have pretty much no chance of avoiding two degrees.

All of which means that we non-politician human beings who depend on the climate remaining habitable had best jump into action. We are launching The Age of Stupid on September 21st from a solar-powered cinema tent in New York, linked by satellite to 444 cinemas across America - plus 300 cinemas in 45 countries from France and Finland to Argentina and Indonesia. (Full list of participating cinemas here). The date is not coincidental: about a hundred Heads of State will be in New York for the UN General Assembly and we have joined forces with groups such as Greenpeace, tcktcktck and Avaaz, who are calling for 21st September to be the Global Wake Up call. The day the world finally wakes up to the desperate urgency of the climate crisis.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/franny-armstrong/the-age-of-stupid-gives-a_b_281903.html

* * *

Hear me, four quarters of the world - a relative I am! Give me the strength to walk the soft earth, a relative to all that is! Give me the eyes to see and the strength to understand, that I may be like you. With your power only can I face the winds.

~ Black Elk, Oglala Sioux holy man

People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle.

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Bill Moyers: Mr. President, It's Time to Fight

Powerful article! May we all care more and more deeply about one another.

May we increasingly recognize, heal, transform those obstacles to our caring.

May we have the courage to see more deeply with the eyes of our hearts.

Peace ~ Molly

* * *

Published on Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by Salon.com
Mr. President, It's Time to Fight

No one's ever conquered Washington politics by constantly saying "pretty please" to the guys trying to cut your throat.

by Bill Moyers

The editors of the Economist magazine say America's healthcare debate has become a touch delirious, with people accusing each other of being evil-mongers, dealers in death, and un-American.

Well, that's charitable.

I would say it's more deranged than delirious, and definitely not un-American.

Those crackpots on the right praying for Obama to die and be sent to hell -- they're the warp and woof of home-grown nuttiness. So is the creature from the Second Amendment who showed up at the President's rally armed to the teeth. He's certainly one of us. Red, white and blue kooks are as American as apple pie and conspiracy theories.

Bill Maher asked me on his show last week if America is still a great nation. I should have said it's the greatest show on earth. Forget what you learned in civics about the Founding Fathers — we're the children of Barnum and Bailey, our founding con men. Their freak show was the forerunner of today's talk radio.

Speaking of which: We've posted on our Web site an essay by the media scholar Henry Giroux. He describes the growing domination of hate radio as one of the crucial elements in a "culture of cruelty" increasingly marked by overt racism, hostility and disdain for others, coupled with a simmering threat of mob violence toward any political figure who believes healthcare reform is the most vital of safety nets, especially now that the central issue of life and politics is no longer about working to get ahead, but struggling simply to survive.

So here we are, wallowing in our dysfunction. Governed -- if you listen to the rabble rousers -- by a black nationalist from Kenya smuggled into the United States to kill Sarah Palin's baby. And yes, I could almost buy their belief that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, only I think he shipped them to Washington, where they've been recycled as lobbyists and trained in the alchemy of money laundering, which turns an old-fashioned bribe into a First Amendment right.

Only in a fantasy capital like Washington could Sunday morning talk shows become the high church of conventional wisdom, with partisan shills treated as holy men whose gospel of prosperity always seems to boil down to lower taxes for the rich.

Poor Obama. He came to town preaching the religion of nice. But every time he bows politely, the harder the Republicans kick him.

No one's ever conquered Washington politics by constantly saying "pretty please" to the guys trying to cut your throat.

Let's get on with it, Mr. President. We're up the proverbial creek with spaghetti as our paddle. This healthcare thing could have been the crossing of the Delaware, the turning point in the next American Revolution -- the moment we put the mercenaries to rout, as Gen. Washington did the Hessians at Trenton. We could have stamped our victory "Made in the USA." We could have said to the world, "Look what we did!" And we could have turned to each other and said, "Thank you."

As it is, we're about to get healthcare reform that measures human beings only in corporate terms of a cost-benefit analysis. I mean, this is topsy-turvy -- we should be treating health as a condition, not a commodity.

As we speak, Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has been fined a record $2.3 billion as a civil and criminal -- yes, that's criminal, as in fraud -- penalty for promoting prescription drugs with the subtlety of the Russian mafia. It's the fourth time in a decade Pfizer's been called on the carpet. And these are the people into whose tender mercies Congress and the White House would deliver us?

Come on, Mr. President. Show us America is more than a circus or a market. Remind us of our greatness as a democracy. When you speak to Congress next week, just come out and say it. We thought we heard you say during the campaign last year that you want a government-run insurance plan alongside private insurance -- mostly premium-based, with subsidies for low-and-moderate income people. Open to all individuals and employees who want to join and with everyone free to choose the doctors we want. We thought you said Uncle Sam would sign on as our tough, cost-minded negotiator standing up to the cartel of drug and insurance companies and Wall Street investors whose only interest is a company's share price and profits.

Here's a suggestion, Mr. President: Ask Josh Marshall to draft your speech. Josh is the founder of the Web site TalkingPointsMemo.com. He's a journalist and historian, not a politician. He doesn't split things down the middle and call it a victory for the masses. He's offered the simplest and most accurate description yet of a public insurance plan -- one that essentially asks people: Would you like the option -- the voluntary option -- of buying into Medicare before you're 65? Check it out, Mr. President.

This healthcare thing is make or break for your leadership, but for us, it's life and death. No more Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. President. We need a fighter.

© 2009 Salon.com

Bill Moyers is managing editor and host of the weekly public affairs program Bill Moyers Journal, which airs Friday night on PBS. Check local airtimes or comment at The Moyers Blog at www.pbs.org/moyers.

Prayer for the World - Rabbi Harold Kushner

Let the rain come and wash away

the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds

held and nurtured over generations.

Let the rain wash away the memory

of the hurt, the neglect.

Then let the sun come out and

fill the sky with rainbows.

Let the warmth of the sun heal us

wherever we are broken.

Let it burn away the fog so that

we can see each other clearly.

So that we can see beyond labels,

beyond accents, gender or skin color.

Let the warmth and brightness

of the sun melt our selfishness.

So that we can share the joys and

feel the sorrows of our neighbors.

And let the light of the sun

be so strong that we will see all

people as our neighbors.

Let the earth, nourished by rain,

bring forth flowers

to surround us with beauty.

And let the mountains teach our hearts

to reach upward to heaven.

Amen.

a prayer for the world - rabbi harold kushner - 2003

http://www.worldprayers.org/

Five Myths About Health Care Around the World

Please consider passing this on to others. Thanks. Blessings to all ~ Molly

By T.R. Reid

As Americans search for the cure to what ails our health-care system, we've overlooked an invaluable source of ideas and solutions: the rest of the world. All the other industrialized democracies have faced problems like ours, yet they've found ways to cover everybody -- and still spend far less than we do.

I've traveled the world from Oslo to Osaka to see how other developed democracies provide health care. Instead of dismissing these models as "socialist," we could adapt their solutions to fix our problems. To do that, we first have to dispel a few myths about health care abroad:

1. It's all socialized medicine out there.

Not so. Some countries, such as Britain, New Zealand and Cuba, do provide health care in government hospitals, with the government paying the bills. Others -- for instance, Canada and Taiwan -- rely on private-sector providers, paid for by government-run insurance. But many wealthy countries -- including Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland -- provide universal coverage using private doctors, private hospitals and private insurance plans.

In some ways, health care is less "socialized" overseas than in the United States. Almost all Americans sign up for government insurance (Medicare) at age 65. In Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, seniors stick with private insurance plans for life. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is one of the planet's purest examples of government-run health care.

2. Overseas, care is rationed through limited choices or long lines.

Generally, no. Germans can sign up for any of the nation's 200 private health insurance plans -- a broader choice than any American has. If a German doesn't like her insurance company, she can switch to another, with no increase in premium. The Swiss, too, can choose any insurance plan in the country.

In France and Japan, you don't get a choice of insurance provider; you have to use the one designated for your company or your industry. But patients can go to any doctor, any hospital, any traditional healer. There are no U.S.-style limits such as "in-network" lists of doctors or "pre-authorization" for surgery. You pick any doctor, you get treatment -- and insurance has to pay.

Canadians have their choice of providers. In Austria and Germany, if a doctor diagnoses a person as "stressed," medical insurance pays for weekends at a health spa.

As for those notorious waiting lists, some countries are indeed plagued by them. Canada makes patients wait weeks or months for nonemergency care, as a way to keep costs down. But studies by the Commonwealth Fund and others report that many nations -- Germany, Britain, Austria -- outperform the United States on measures such as waiting times for appointments and for elective surgeries.

In Japan, waiting times are so short that most patients don't bother to make an appointment. One Thursday morning in Tokyo, I called the prestigious orthopedic clinic at Keio University Hospital to schedule a consultation about my aching shoulder. "Why don't you just drop by?" the receptionist said. That same afternoon, I was in the surgeon's office. Dr. Nakamichi recommended an operation. "When could we do it?" I asked. The doctor checked his computer and said, "Tomorrow would be pretty difficult. Perhaps some day next week?"

3. Foreign health-care systems are inefficient, bloated bureaucracies.

Much less so than here. It may seem to Americans that U.S.-style free enterprise -- private-sector, for-profit health insurance -- is naturally the most cost-effective way to pay for health care. But in fact, all the other payment systems are more efficient than ours.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/21/AR2009082101778_2.html?referrer=facebook

* * *

The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people's medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage.

~ T. R. Reid

That only a few, under any circumstances, protest against the injustice of long-established laws and customs, does not disprove the fact of the oppressions, while the satisfaction of the many, if real only proves their apathy and deeper degradation.

~ Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

~ HH the Dalai Lama

Prayer for World Peace - Dr. Jane Goodall

We pray to the great Spiritual Power in which

we live and move and have our being.

We pray that we may at all times

keep our minds open to new ideas and shun dogma;

that we may grow in our understanding of the nature of all living beings

and our connectedness with the natural world;

that we may become ever more filled with

generosity of spirit and true compassion and love for all life;

that we may strive to heal the hurts that we have inflicted on nature

and control our greed for material things, knowing that

our actions are harming our natural world and the future of our children;

that we may value each and every human being

for who he is, for who she is,

reaching to the spirit that is within,

knowing the power of each individual to change the world.

We pray for social justice,

for the alleviation of the crippling poverty

that condemns millions of people around the world

to lives of misery - hungry, sick, and utterly without hope.

We pray for the children who are starving,

who are condemned to homelessness, slave labor, and prostitution,

and especially for those forced to fight, to kill and torture

even members of their own family.

We pray for the victims of violence and war,

for those wounded in body and for those wounded in mind.

We pray for the multitudes of refugees, forced from their homes to alien places

through war or through the utter destruction of their environment.

We pray for suffering animals everywhere,

for an end to the pain caused by scientific experimentation,

intensive farming, fur farming, shooting, trapping,

training for entertainment, abusive pet owners,

and all other forms of exploitation

such as overloading and overworking pack animals,

bull fighting, badger baiting, dog and cock fighting and so many more.

We pray for an end to cruelty,

whether to humans or other animals,

for an end to bullying, and torture in all its forms.

We pray that we may learn the peace that comes with forgiving

and the strength we gain in loving;

that we may learn to take nothing for granted in this life;

that we may learn to see and understand with our hearts;

that we may learn to rejoice in our being.

We pray for these things with humility;

We pray because of the hope that is within us,

and because of a faith in the ultimate triumph of the human spirit;

We pray because of our love for Creation, and because of our trust in God.

We pray, above all, for peace throughout the world.

prayer for world peace - dr. jane goodall


www.worldprayers.org