WASHINGTON – Access to affordable health care is the top domestic concern among Americans and a majority say the U.S. government should guarantee health insurance to every American, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released Thursday. While the war in Iraq remains the top overall issue among Americans, health care is the No. 1 concern on the domestic agenda, ranked as far more important than immigration, cutting taxes or promoting traditional values, the poll said. Nearly two-thirds said the federal government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans and half said they would be willing to pay as much as $500 more in taxes a year for universal coverage, it said. Only 24 percent said they were satisfied with President Bush’s handling of the issue, despite his recent initiatives, and 62 percent said Democrats – not Republicans – were more likely to improve the health-care system. Looking ahead to the 2008 presidential campaign, 36 percent said they had confidence in the ability of Democratic contender Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York to ‘make the right decisions on health care,’ while 49 percent said they were uneasy about it, according to the poll. […]
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) said today that he will sign legislation requiring that sixth-grade girls get immunized against a virus that causes cervical cancer if their parents don’t object. Kaine had expressed ‘some qualms’ earlier in the week about mandating girls receive the human papillomavirus vaccine before entering high school, but many of those concerns were alleviated after he studied the bill closer. ‘The particular language that ended up in the bill is fine,’ Kaine said. ‘It’s very broad, and people get information about the health benefits and any health concerns about the vaccination and they get to make their own decisions. I think that is the right balance.’ Virginia will become the second state in the nation to require the vaccine, which is called Gardasil. Last month, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said girls in that state would also be required to receive it. At least 20 states and the District are studying similar proposals. Merck and Co., a New Jersey-based pharmaceutical maker, received federal approval in June to sell the vaccine. In Virginia, parents will be able to opt out of the requirement without citing a specific reason. ‘If they choose […]
LOS ANGELES — Archaeologists say they have solved the mystery of the Thirteen Towers, a line of stone towers that have spanned an arid Peruvian slope like a massive set of prehistoric teeth for 2400 years. The towers lined up outside the citadel at Chankillo, a ceremonial centre in Peru’s coastal desert, are a solar observatory that marks not only the summer and winter solstices, but the days and weeks of the year, the researchers said. ‘It seems extraordinary that an ancient astronomical device as clear as this could have remained undiscovered for so long,’ said Clive Ruggles, of the University of Leicester, one of the authors of the paper published in Science. The site is not the oldest solar observatory in the New World. That honour goes to a 4200-year-old site just north of Lima that marks the solstices. Other ancient structures have been found that have astronomical alignments. ‘Unlike all the other sites, however, [Chankillo]contains alignments that cover the entire solar year,’ said the article’s co-author, Ivan Ghezzi, archaeological director of the Instituto Nacional de Cultura in Lima. In effect, it is the oldest ‘full-service observatory’ in the western hemisphere, he said. In […]
My apologies that there was no Friday edition of SR. The internet is wonderful, but wholly and completely dependent on electricity, of which I had none, thanks to the failure of a major transformer at a substation about three miles from me, which left a whole section of Virginia Beach without power from late evening to nearly dawn. — Stephan
NEW YORK — Americans think the U.S. health care system is in need of major repairs, according to a CBS News/New York Times poll. Nine out of 10 say the system needs at least fundamental changes, including 36 percent who favor a complete overhaul. Although most Americans say they are generally satisfied with the quality of their own health care, including 41 percent who say they are very satisfied, it’s a different story when it comes to the cost of care. Just one in five are very satisfied with what they pay for health care, while a majority (52 percent) are dissatisfied, including a third who are very dissatisfied. U.S. HEALTH CARE SYSTEM NEEDS¦ Minor changes 8% Fundamental changes 54% To be completely rebuilt 36% Americans are even more critical of health care costs in the nation as whole: 59 percent are very dissatisfied with the overall cost of health care in the U.S. and another 22 percent are somewhat dissatisfied. Most Americans believe government can play a role in fixing the health care system. Two-thirds say the federal government should guarantee that all Americans have health insurance - and a similar number […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
