US and the G8

I want to talk here for a minute about a group of nations that we belong to called the "G8". What this stands for is "group of eight", and, although it's not politically correct to say it, we are basically the eight nations that rule the world. In alphabetical order, the G8 is Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US. China is not represented there, and frankly I think that they should be. They kind of hold us by the short and curlies and we've given them so much money and power that we've basically turned them into a very, very scary world power. 21st century technology and money in hands controlled by a sixteenth century mindset.

Be that as it may, I got to wondering how well we actually fit with this group of enlightened nations.

So let's start with health care. ALL of the G8 provides health care for it's citizens… except us. A L L of them.

So that means that they spend more on health care than us, right? Wrong. Canada comes closest, but even they only spend half as much money on a per capita basis than we do. We're spending more money and STILL not covering everyone? Something's seriously wrong there, folks.

So what about life expectancy? Well, let me start by saying that the WORLD'S average life expectancy is 67 right now and we're WAY above that. So that's okay. But what about the rest of the G8? Well, if you're Japanese, you're living to about 82 right now. Of course, that may change with the vengeance with which they've adopted McDonald's over the last decade. If you're Canadian, you're living to about 81, eh? Just over 81 in Canada, just under it for the French. If you're Italian, you're going to about 80 and about 79 for the Germans. Take it from a half-German… that's only because they're too damned stubborn to die! Frankly, I can't help but wonder that they're not higher on the list. If you're British, you're going to about 79 as well. And the states? 78. The only one of the G8 that we beat is Russia. If you're Russian, it's 66.

Okay, what about infant mortality? Our combination of veneration of our children, hatred for abortion and THE FINEST FUCKING HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN THE WORLD means that we should have no infant mortality to speak of, right? Well, let's see… Well, the Japanese are at the top of that list, too. They lose about 3 infants per 1000 live births. Then us, right? Well, no. Then France. They lose about 4. Then us? Wrong again. next comes Germany who loses about 4 and then the UK who loses about 5. God, tell me that we're doing better than Russia, at least. Well, Canada and Italy each lose about 5 per 1000 live births, and then… YES! US! We lose about six babies out of every 1000 live births - more than twice as many as Japan. Slovenia, Singapore and Czechoslovakia all have lower infant mortality rates than us. So let's see, that's 7. Again, we do better than Russia, where they lose about 16 babies per 1000 live births. Compared to Russia, WE ROCK! But since when have we set our goals as being "We're not as bad as Russia"?

The final point that I'd like to make, and the only one NOT associated with the health care debate is this one…

Out of this group of nations, this group that I think most of us would consider among the most civilized and advanced of the nations on the Earth right now, only the United States of America ritually puts people to death. Even Russia has outlawed capital punishment.

Jesus, how can we even consider that we're worthy to sit at the big-kids table with this group?

Peace.

Rev. Randal