The Hall of Fire

So, how do you qualify for SS? How is it decided, if it is not a "pension"? How do you figure out how much you get? We have the Old Age Security pension, which everyone gets at 65 whether they worked a day in their life or not. Then we have Canada Pension, to which working people contribut...

I think we've had this discussion before, but I wonder why no one uses the term "working class". What you guys keep calling "middle class" is working class to me. If you work for wages, you're working class. Something to be proud of, I think. The backbone of civilization. Doctors...

I had CNN on for a couple of minutes and the guy was saying that a tape of Mr. Obama, from 2007 or some such year, a speech about "race", that is going to be a real problem for him. I guess I'll watch it later. But what the hell? Are they just going to search and search and search for this...

Well, back in the day, they thought that type of science was so bloody useless they forced Galileo to recant and he spent the rest of his life under house arrest. Some things only attain value in hindsight. Drilling into the ice layer of Europa is arguably an extension of the work begun by the like...

A nearly infinitely small, nearly infinitely dense and nearly infinitely hot speck of energy, explodes and creates every subatomic particle, atom, element, force, neutrino, planet, star, black hole, animal, Holby and galaxy. I'm pretty sure most things are possible in the universe. Read "Drago...

The circumstances are so different, though! We never had the mess that you have now, with rapacious insurance companies, and, after all, medical care in those days was relatively primitive in comparison. Costs were low, even allowing for inflation, etc. Still too high for a lot of people, though. Yo...

I thought Social Security IS a pension fund. If it's not, what on earth is it?

The other difference is that everyone is covered. I've never thought we had "free" health care and I bet Tosh never has, either. I do pay a premium, as I've said before it's $128 a month for my family of 3. I have to pay for prescriptions, dental care, and glasses. But there is a limit to ...

How would you fix it?

CNN found the ambassador's journal. Were there NO US agents on the ground who could have been at the site?

I am shocked, to be honest.

I very much hope that Mr. Obama is not going to be sunk by the way the administration seems to have screwed up on the attack in Libya.

For the luvva pete. It was obvious it was a terrorist attack and they should NOT have leapt in asserting it wasn't. And it's been mishandled ever since.

So, improve the schools. Don't dream of throwing them away. The US is suffering from the oldest, most decrepit public infrastructure in the western world. Chicago's water system is largely made up of cast iron pipe that is more than 100 years old. What false economy!!!!!! Bridges, roads, water and s...

Some Canadian provinces have both Protestant and Catholic school boards: these are PUBLIC schools. I think it's atrocious. There are also many "private" religious schools, such as the Mennonite school Tay went to for grades 8 and 9. In BC, these private schools get some government funding,...

Rupert Murdoch.

Kick the old bugger out.

That would improve things right off the bat.

Horrible case. But I don't see where in the article it says that they killed another daughter - it says that Baby M's twin is recovering in a foster home. I don't see how they would have any say in the matter. In the US, the baby would have been appointed a guardian ad litem to make such decisions....

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Edmonton+lawyer+expected+appeal+Baby+case+Supreme+Court/7272727/story.html I don't know if that link is going to work, but at any rate, here's the situation: A little girl we know as Baby M is on life support in an Edmonton hospital. Yesterday the Alberta Supreme ...

The bill for my husband's heart surgery in Seattle in 2001 (he decided to have a heart attack on Valentine's day when we were there for the sale) took 90 days to get to us. It was complicated by the fact that the bill was going to be paid by the Blue Cross on our credit card. A long story, but they ...

5% of Americans cost 50% of your health care bill. Did you know that?

Because people do not have family doctors.

I agree with Eruname. He looked like a real person during that video, whereas he usually has that smarmy, slick, smooth-faced rich guy look.

Your friend was not a Canadian and was not entitled to "free" health care. I have never heard of an individual doctor demanding to be paid - it's too bad she didn't report it. She still should. However, she would have been billed by the hospital and they generally like to be paid while the...