The "Story"
After a relatively quiet weekend, the non-news machine is up again and in full swing.

Today we're greeted with news that Spain evidently doesn't like us anymore. Well does anyone? Evidently they're pulling their troops out of Iraq and are trying to persuade the Dutch to do the same. This begs the question, the Dutch have troops? Somehow 3N just can't picture nations trembling in fear on news that the mighty Dutch army is coming . . .

Also today, the slanted but generally acceptable Christian Science Monitor brings word of a study showing women are more ethical than men in the business world though they do embezzle more often. This is fascinating stuff to be sure, but shouldn't we instead be talking about the still huge disparity between the number of women CEOs vs the number of men? And how about that glass ceiling women are still staring up at in terms of compensation? What good are ethics if you a) can't rise to a position of power and b) aren't fairly compensated to begin with?

Oh yeah, there also may be a new planet and Whitney Houston is back in rehab.

No, today's "story" has to be the triumphant return of Attorney General John Ashcroft who, after being diagnosed with severe gallstone pancreatitis, had his gallbladder removed and is now free to oppress and tyrannize the American people once again. This is non-news because a) Ashcroft no doubt received the finest of medical care, b) he did it at very little personal expense and mostly with taxpayer dollars, c) we 3N can't stand his evil ass and d) no one is asking what would have happened to the man if he, like 41 million other Americans, had no health insurance?

The News
Dan Frosch of The AlterNet is asking that question. Were Ashcroft not a highly placed public official, he would have found himself in quite a pickle. Ashcroft is too young for Medicare and makes too much money to be considered a charity case and qualify for free or subsidized care.

Were he to head to D.C. General Hospital, one of the few public hospitals in the area that serve minority, poor and uninsured patients, he would have found it closed. The city shut it down in 2001 because it was "overburdened with uninsured patients who couldn't pay." In fact, Washington is hemorrhaging money right now as it tries to meet the needs of an exploding population of uninsured or underinsured patients who need affordable or free medical care. As Frosch points out, four of the city's seven hospitals are currently operating in the red.

Rather than regurgitate Frosch's fine piece here, readers should go to the source and read for themselves what may have become of John Ashcroft sans insurance. In all seriousness, the likely outcome is terrifying.

It's easy to point fingers at multi-million dollar Mars rovers, $200 billion dollar recovery plans for oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, etc. The fact is, the money is out there to put in place a comprehensive health plan for everyone in this country. There's no reason why the richest nation in the world can't keep its own citizens in good health. We have one of the highest infant mortality rates of all industrialized nations. The elderly and the infant starve to death, freeze to death and cook in their apartments during heat waves because they can't afford air conditioning. This is our America, where we welcome the world's sick and poor only to let them continue those ways on our shores.