Good Bye Old Friend

I just had to put my 12 year old boxer down and figured this might help me out a bit. I know people really get attached to their pets, as they should, but Hunter was really something very special. I have been around a lot of dogs before and I swear this one was half human or something. He was the smartest, kindest, most loving and gentle dog I have ever known and he will be missed tremendously. Enjoy the pics.

No, We Are OK. Really We Are

Just some of the days headlines:

Risks to global economy have 'risen significantly', top IMF official warns
The risks to a robust global recovery have 'risen significantly' as many governments struggle with debt, a leading official from the International Monetary Fund has warned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/7812903/Risks-to-global-economy-have-risen-significantly-top-IMF-official-warns.html

U.S debt to rise to $19.6 trillion by 2015
June 8 (Reuters) - The U.S. debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015, according to a Treasury Department report to Congress.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN088462520100608

Bernanke Puzzled by Gold Rally
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2010/06/09/bernanke-puzzled-by-gold-rally/

Bernanke Warns of ‘Unsustainable’ Debt
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/business/economy/10fed.html

(YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP. GOOD GOD, READ THOSE LAST TWO HEADLINES!!!)


FBI: Mexican soldiers used rifles to chase off U.S. Border Patrol
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/09/mexico-tensions-heightened-border-patrol-agent-kills-mexican-teen-near-el-paso/

(AND WE WILL LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT TO.)

Coming to America

Just one more article from one more country with universal healthcare that's not working.

Soaring costs force Canada to reassess health model
TORONTO (Reuters) – Pressured by an aging population and the need to rein in budget deficits, Canada's provinces are taking tough measures to curb healthcare costs, a trend that could erode the principles of the popular state-funded system. (gasp, say it ain't so)


"There's got to be some change to the status quo whether it happens in three years or 10 years," said Derek Burleton, senior economist at Toronto-Dominion Bank.

"We can't continually see health spending growing above and beyond the growth rate in the economy because, at some point, it means crowding out of all the other government services.

"At some stage we're going to hit a breaking point."
In some ways the Canadian debate is the mirror image of discussions going on in the United States.

Canada, fretting over budget strains, wants to prune its system, while the United States, worrying about an army of uninsured, aims to create a state-backed safety net.

Healthcare in Canada is delivered through a publicly funded system, which covers all "medically necessary" hospital and physician care and curbs the role of private medicine. It ate up about 40 percent of provincial budgets, or some C$183 billion ($174 billion) last year.

Spending has been rising 6 percent a year under a deal that added C$41.3 billion of federal funding over 10 years.

But that deal ends in 2013, and the federal government is unlikely to be as generous in future, especially for one-off projects.
Ontario says healthcare could eat up 70 percent of its budget in 12 years, if all these costs are left unchecked.

"Our objective is to preserve the quality healthcare system we have and indeed to enhance it. But there are difficult decisions ahead and we will continue to make them," Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan told Reuters.

The province has introduced legislation that ties hospital chief executive pay with the quality of patient care and says it wants to put more physicians on salary to save money. (Man these people just don't get it)

Full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/hl_nm/us_health_3