Calling all bird lovers . . . get in on The Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend.  The bird count is from Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15^th.   

            It's sponsored by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Audubon and Bird Studies Canada.  This is the 13th year of the bird count.  The participation by Wisconsin residents continues to increase each year.  Records go back to 1998 at the site.  In 1998 there was no count submitted from Rhinelander, but 60 were submitted in 2009. 

            This will be the first time we have participated in the count.  The 2009 chart of Wisconsin localities shows one list identifying 9 different bird ... [Read More]

             Did you shop a locally owned store in the last week?  How about three different locally owned stores in the last month?  Are there locally owned businesses you would miss if they were no longer available?  

            Then you may want to make a conscious decision to take part in the 3/50 Project.  The 3/50 Project is based on a consumer making a decision to spend a total of $50 a month in three locally owned businesses.  Promoting the 3/50 Project goal to shop locally and spend $50 per month doesn’t mean swearing off franchises.   It is spending money in locally owned businesses so more of the money stays in the local communities; for instance, when $100 is spent in locally owned businesses $68 returns to the local economy through taxes, payrolls and other expenditures.  If the same $100 is spent in a “big box” store $43 of the $100 remains in the local community.  The same $100 spent online... [Read More]

            We will be leaving early tomorrow morning for a sport we have grown to love, snowshoe disc golf.  Never heard of it?  It is a derivation of the summer sport disc golf.  Snowshoeing is the twist that hooks us into going as often as possible to snow play the game.

            The course we traverse is in Sugar Camp.  The course has 18 holes.   Snowshoeing the 2 miles plus or minus a few yards around the course is a great workout.  The discs we use are engineered for the sport.  The discs are not Frisbees.  One looks at the plethora of disc choices for distance, engineered to fade left or right, and weighing in grams from 150 to 185. All three of the three described characteristics are taken into account when deciding... [Read More]

             Curiosity about the safety of personal care products led me to the Skin Deep site www.cosmeticsdatabase.com Over 142 million searches have been completed at the Environmental Working Group site since it began a little over four years ago.   Searches can be performed for personal care products for women and men including hair, eye, skin, oral care, makeup, fragrance, nail care and baby care at this website. 

            According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG) chances are most of us use 10 personal car products each day.  The list could include the following:  toothpaste, mouthwash, soap, shampoo, deodorant, lip balm, shaving products and cosmetics. 

           The products are used without a second thought.  I think most people believe the government is policing the safety of the mixtures used in the products.  However, that is not the case according to the EWG.  Many of the personal products used daily are under no systematic FDA safety reviews. 

            At the Skin Deep site searches can be completed three (3) ways:

                  Enter the brand name in the powerful search engine found at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com

       ... [Read More]

The current Canadian national health care system began in 1962 in Saskatchewan province.  Tommy Douglas, the province premier, created universal healthcare, guaranteeing hospital care for all residents.    By 1971 the rest of Canada followed the Saskatchewan model.   An interesting aside about Tommy Douglas is he is the grandfather to the star of 24, Kiefer Sutherland.

Dr. Michael Rachlis, physician and health policy analyst living in Toronto, Canada, appeared on DemocracyNOW  to discuss some misunderstandings about the Canadian national health care system.   Dr. Rachlis wanted viewers to understand:

·    Canadians have free choice of physicians in the country.  Wherever they go for treatment Canadians take their Medicare card and then the government pays the bill for whatever hospital or physician they choose.

·     The Canadian government provides money to the provinces for healthcare.  A province, to qualify for healthcare money, must provide universal healthcare to all its residents.

·    The wait-time Canadians experienced for certain procedures had nothing to do with the national health insurance system, but with streamlining the process for improved health care delivery.  Dr. Rachlis pointed out the new process followed for procedure such as cataract surgery and hip replacements now takes no longer than 4-6 weeks to complete.   

·    The decision about treatment is made just between the doctor and patient.  There are no bureaucrats standing between the patient and the doctor, according to Dr. Rachlis.
In a  July Los Angeles Times editorial Dr. Rachlis pointed out lessons the U.S. could learn from the Canadians:

·    Single-payer system provides for savings.  The savings are realized because, as Dr. Rachlis summed it up, “when y... [Read More]

As the health care discussion moves forward, there have been varying claims made by the President, political parties and U.S. Chamber of Commerce just to name a few.  Factcheck.org can be used to separate fact from fiction.   According to Factcheck, it is a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics.

The 7 Falsehoods About Health Care, Obama’s Health Care speech and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Campaign about Taxing Businesses and Consumers are just a few of the recent articles that are helpful in sorting out the health care rhetoric and facts.

Says Factcheck: “We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.  Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.”

Here is an example of FactCheck review of the latest RNC Tax Attack Web ads:

The Republican National Committee claims in a new Web ad that Democratic health care plans propose taxes on "charities and small businesses, a doctor’s tax. Taxes on your health insurance. Even a tax on medical supplies."

It’s perfectly true, as the ad says, that "hundreds of billions" in taxes are being proposed – spread over 10 years. But the ad exaggerates and misleads in a number of ways:

• It makes a downright false claim that ordinary wheelchairs would be among "medical supplies" subject to a proposed tax on manufacturers and importers. That’s not true: Wheelchairs and roughly half of all other medical devices would be exempt. (When we pointed this out, an RNC official said the ad would be modified, however.)
• It features a... [Read More]

Sometimes, as a nation, we forget how we look to others around the world when our antics take centerstage on the nightly news. How do these town hall meetings appear to the countries that have national healthcare, such as Great Britain? Especially when it’s their healthcare that is being denigrated?

Tony Benn, Great Britain’s longest serving Member of Parliament, had this observation while appearing on DemocracyNow last week: “It’s amazing. I think most people in Britain just regard it as being uncivilized for a great, rich country to ignore the health of 47 million people. And I don’t say that as an insult; we just don’t understand it,” Benn said.

I find it interesting that at the healthcare rally held in Rhinelander a few weeks ago, when of one of the speakers referred to those  47 million without healthcare, the remark elicited a snicker from those not supporting a public option. I didn’t understand that reaction.

Further, I didn’t understand the cheering and clapping of those against healthcare reform when it was stated we rank 43rd in the world for low infant mortality! What is so cheerful about this statistic? Many of the countries with lower infant mortality rates have national healthcare: Great Britain, France, Sweden, Norway and Germany to name a few. And unexpected places, such as Cuba and South Korea, also have lower rates that the U.S.

When asked about the disparaging remarks Americans have made about the British healthcare system, calling it “socialized medicine,” Benn had this to say: ”I suppose it’s really basically a question of, do you regard the health of the nation as a national interest? Now, in the U.S., taxpayers pay for the education of children. Does that make it socialized education? The police are paid for by the taxpayers. Does that make it a socialized police force? The fire services are public services. Does that mean they are socialized fire services? You see,” Benn said, “this is just the language of ver... [Read More]

The request below to Wisconsin U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl and House Representative Steve Kagen was sent today after viewing  an interview with Stan Brock on Democracy NOW! (The video is viewable on the democracynow.org website. Click here to view it.)

Stan Brock hosted the television series Animal Kingdom for several years. He is the founder of Remote Area Medical, an organization delivering healthcare to poverty-stricken areas in countries around the world.

Providing needed medical services, however, is not restricted to foreign countries. Remote Area Medical has held clinics in rural America. It was in Wise, Virginia, that Wendell Potter, former CIGNA executive and spokesperson now turned insurance industry whistleblower, saw for the first time the effect of private insurance exclusionary practices. The July 16 Democracy NOW! interview with Wendell Potter can be listened to by clicking here.

Potter was also interviewed by Bill Moyers on July 10. To view that interview click here.

What follows is the request suggesting that Feingold, Kohl and Kagen attend the Remote Area Medical event in Wise. A copy of this request was also sent to the White House.

          * * * * *

Dear Senator Feingold:

This weekend, July 25-26, Remote Area Medical will be holding a clinic for Americans who are in need of medical services (he... [Read More]