American human experimentation atrocities through the years

we move to canada: u.s. admits infecting guatemala mental patients with gonorrhea and syphilis in secret medical experiments
Excerpt:
I have heard people claim that the US would never do anything (or allow
anything to happen) to its own citizens. As though those in charge of
the US would bother to make some distinction based on where people
happened to be born. History says the truth is the exact opposite. Here
is a super-small sample from this webpage (emphasis mine; I have also edited some entries for brevity):

Read the full post at the top link.

We can torture you with immunity, but you have to pay if you torture us

America the Exceptional - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Excerpt:
So, to recap: the U.S. creates a worldwide regime of torture,
disappearances and lawless imprisonment. Then, the Bush administration,
the Obama administration, and the American federal judiciary all
collaborate to shield the guilty parties from all accountability (Look Forward, Not Backward!),
and worse, to ensure that not a single victim can even access American
courts to obtain a ruling as to the legality of what was done to them,
let alone receive compensation for their suffering, even while
recognizing that many of the victims were completely innocent and even
though other countries have provided the victims with compensation for their much more minor role in what happened. Our courts even ensure that Blackwater guards are shielded from prosecution for the cold-blooded murder of Iraqi citizens.

But we invade, occupy and destroy Iraq -- while severely abusing, torturing
and killing their citizens -- and then demand, as a condition for our
allowing the end of crippling sanctions, that they fork over hundreds of
millions of dollars in compensation to American torture victims, even
though it all happened 20 years ago, under an Iraqi regime that no
longer even exists. They hate us for our Freedoms.

Perspective on 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and AfghanistanClick the link

Perspective On 9/11 And The Invasions Of Iraq & Afghanistan
Click the link to see the graphs

Mental Illness in America - the numbers

Mental Illness in America
infographic

U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study

U.S. scores dead last again in healthcare study | Reuters
The United States ranked last when compared to
six other countries -- Britain, Canada, Germany,
Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report
found.
...

The report looks at five measures of
healthcare -- quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the
ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives.

Britain, whose nationalized healthcare
system was widely derided by opponents of U.S. healthcare reform, ranks
first in quality while the Netherlands ranked first overall on all
scores, the Commonwealth team found.

...

US funds to warlords for protection ends up being paid to the Taliban as bribes

Funding the Afghan Taliban - INSIDE STORY - Al Jazeera English
...

In an ironic twist of events, US citizens have discovered that it
is their tax money that indirectly funds Taliban - the very people their
troops are fighting in Afghanistan.
 
A congressional
investigation revealed that millions of dollars spent by the US
military for security puposes has inadvertently gone into the pockets
of the Taliban.

The US pays millions of dollars annually to local warlords across
Afghanistan in exchange for gunmen to protect the supply convoys.
 
Investigations
revealed that these gunmen in turn bribed the Taliban not to attack.
 
When
convoys refused to pay warlords, their trucks were often attacked.
 
The
report concluded that this has undermined US efforts to end corruption
and build an effective Afghan government. On the contrary, it has
unwittingly funded the insurgency.

...

Win a Gun!

Celebrate the day after 9/11, win a free gun! - Tea Parties | Tea Party Movement, Tax Day Tea Party - Salon.com

Mineral riches found in Afghanistan

US finds vast Afghan mineral riches - CENTRAL/S. ASIA - Al Jazeera English
Another reason America will continue to wage war in Afghanistan.

...
A report in the New York Times said previously unknown reserves of lithium, iron, gold, niobium, cobalt and other minerals could transform the impoverished country into one of the world's most lucrative mining centres.
"There is stunning potential here," General David Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, told the paper in an article published on Monday.
"There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant."
The New York Times was reporting the final results of a study by the US Geological Survey (USGS) and a Pentagon task force, initiated in 2006.
...

A look at the right-wing Conservatives of North America

Buckdog: Understanding 'Authoritarian' Conservatives
“Conservatives Without Conscience”
by John W. Dean is a worthy read for all progressive thinkers. John W.
Dean was White House legal counsel for President Richard Nixon for
three years but become a key witness for the prosecution in the
Watergate trials. He is a self admitted ‘conservative’.

However,
he was NOT a Bush supporter,
His book, published 4 years ago, provides urgent warnings concerning the
political mind set and aggressive behaviour of the Right-wing in North America.
Continue reading the above link for samples.

Why Americans should never be allowed to travel

why americans should never be allowed to travel
(thanks Glen!)
Hilarious anecdotes from travel agents.

Americans to pay health care penalty

4M Estimated to Pay Health Care Penalty in 2016 - CBS News
Excerpt:
Nearly 4 million Americans will have to
pay a penalty if they fail to get health insurance when that element of
President Barack Obama's health care overhaul law kicks in, according to
congressional projections released Thursday.


The penalties will average a little more than $1,000 apiece in 2016,
the Congressional Budget Office said in a report.


The vast majority of people paying the fine will be middle class,
which would violate Obama's 2008 campaign pledge not to raise taxes on
individuals making less than $200,000 a year and couples making less
than $250,000.



...

Noam Chomsky has "Never seen anything like this"

OpEdNews - Article: Noam Chomsky Has "Never Seen Anything Like This'
(thanks Ron!)

Excerpt:
...

What are
people supposed to think if someone says "I have got
an answer, we have an enemy'? There it was the Jews. Here it will be the
illegal immigrants and the blacks. We will be told that white males are
a persecuted minority. We will be told we have to defend ourselves and
the honor of the nation. Military force will be exalted. People will be
beaten up. This could become an overwhelming force. And if it happens it
will be more dangerous than Germany. The United States is the world
power. Germany was powerful but had more powerful antagonists. I don't
think all this is very far away. If the polls are accurate it is not the
Republicans but the right-wing Republicans, the crazed Republicans, who
will sweep the next election."

"I have
never seen anything like this in my lifetime," Chomsky added.
"I am old enough to remember the 1930s. My whole family was unemployed.
There were far more desperate conditions than today. But it was
hopeful. People had hope. The CIO was organizing. No one wants to say it
anymore but the Communist Party was the spearhead for labor and civil
rights organizing. Even things like giving my unemployed seamstress aunt
a week in the country. It was a life. There is nothing like that now.
The mood of the country is frightening. The level of anger, frustration
and hatred of institutions is not organized in a constructive way. It is
going off into self-destructive fantasies."

...

US Flag Recalled

U.S. Flag Recalled After Causing 143 Million Deaths | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

US Troops fire on passenger bus outside Kandahar, killing 4 civilians

Anti-American anger grows in Afghanistan - The Globe and Mail
U.S. troops fired on a crowded
passenger bus on the outskirts of Kandahar city, killing four civilians
and injuring 18 others, stoking anti-American protests that promised to
complicate a massive offensive against Taliban insurgents this summer.
...

URGENT - Harper signing away our sovereignty while parliament is closed

James Laxer: Urgent National Debate Needed on Harper Trade Deal

excerpt:
In return for this “concession” from Washington, Ottawa has agreed to pay an unacceptably high price. Under the deal, Canadian provinces and municipalities will permanently give up the right to favour local companies in awarding contracts. Government procurement at the municipal and provincial levels is an extremely important economic development tool, crucial for job creation, the encouragement of Canadian firms and the development of home-grown technology. At a time when cities are rebuilding their transit systems and are refitting homes to make them more energy efficient, it is the height of folly to open all these contracts to American bidders. (Given the multiplicity of measures used to protect them from outside bidders, it is foolish to imagine that Canadian firms will have an equal opportunity to bid on U.S. state and municipal contracts.)

What makes the Harper government’s deal particularly maddening is that the Buy American provisions in the U.S. Recovery Act violate the spirit if not the terms of NAFTA that guarantee the right of Canadian firms to bid on U.S. federal government projects with the exception of defence contracts. Instead of publicly and loudly asserting that Washington is violating NAFTA, the Harper government is bribing the Obama administration to stop doing that by opening up tens of billions of dollars worth of public contracts in Canada to American corporations.

Obama administration pushing Afghan war into Pakistan

Another Point of View: On The Expansion Of Afghanistan War Into Pakistan
US considering drone attacks on Pakistani city of 850,000: report

Senior US officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond Pakistan's tribal region and into a major city in an attempt to pressure the Pakistani government to pursue Taliban leaders based in the city of Quetta -- a city with some 850,000 people, according to a report Monday.

The Obama Administration is eyeing Predator aircraft strikes in Quetta in an effort to decapitate the Taliban, according to the LA Times. But the prospect of launching a major attack in a highly populous city has struck some officials as unwise, officials who apparently leaked news of the program to a major US newspaper.

Pakistani officials have also warned that the fallout would be severe.

"We are not a banana republic," the Times quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying. If the United States follows through, the official said, "this might be the end of the road."

Read the top link for more on this story.

Iraq: The Proof is in the pudding...

Another Point of View: Iraq: The Proof Is In The Pudding - Or So They Say
As Britain's inquiry into the origins of the 2003 Iraq War goes ahead full steam, "shocking" revelations already abound.

I use the word shocking in quotes because, to be humbly honest, these revelations so far merely confirm what has been known for years: that the Bush administration had no valid reason to go to war with Iraq other than securing oil resources, and that the Blair government simply went along for the ride to get its fair share of said resources.

Read on for more details...

Abbas Quits Election - Palestinians tired of waiting

Abbas Won't Seek Re-Election in Threat to Peace Efforts - TIME
"It's time for you to find another donkey." With those words, according to Palestinian sources, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas told the Palestine Liberation Organziation (PLO) executive committee that he would not seek re-election in January. The 74-year-old leader, on whom U.S. peace efforts in the Middle East are heavily dependent, reiterated that message later on Thursday in a televised address from his home in Ramallah. "This decision does not at all amount to bargaining or political maneuvering. While I appreciate the views expressed by brothers [in the PLO, who rejected his move], I hope they will understand my wish."

...

Omar Khadr Innocent but still imprisoned

Omar Khadr 'innocent' in death of U.S. soldier - thestar.com
Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr was buried face down under rubble, blinded by shrapnel and crippled, at the time the Pentagon alleges he threw a grenade that fatally wounded a U.S. soldier, according to classified photographs and defence documents obtained by the Star.
...

Healthcare around the World

BBC NEWS | Health | Healthcare around the world


US, UK, France and Singapore are compared in this news item.

Here are the Canadian numbers compared to the US

Expenditure on health % GDP (Wikipedia - 2005): US: 15.2% , Canada: 9.8%
Expenditure on health per capita (Wikipedia - 2005): US: US$6,347 per capita, Canada: US$3,463 per capita
Expenditure from the private sector (Wikipedia - 2005): US: 55% , Canada: 30%
Live Expectancy (Wikipedia - CIA World Factbook 2009 estimates): US: 78.11 (ranked 50th on this list) , Canada: 81.23 (ranked 8th on this list)
Infant Mortality Rate (deaths per thousand)  (from Wikipedia - CIA World Factbook 2009 estimates): US: 6.3, Canada: 4.8
Population without healthcare: US: 15.3%, Canada: 0%