We cannot afford all the health care we think we need, but we can afford all we really need. But someone has to ration it. In a single-payer system the rationing will be done by the Congress and bureaucrats, guided by special interest groups. A lot of us suffer under the rationing by insurance companies, under the guise of managed care, copays, and deductibles. A few of us have high deductible insurance with health savings accounts, where we can ration ourselves. Rationing can also be done by queuing, the favorite method of single-payer systems.

Until I retired a few years ago I ran a small company where we provided the employees with an HSA. The company paid for the $5000 Major Med plan and also put $5000 a year into each employees HSA account. That plan cost us less than a so-called "low-deductible" plan. Every year we had it the cost of the major med went down, while the cost of the "low-deductible" plans went up. The insurers experience with HSA plans was that the people in it did not go above the $5000 as often as people in low-deductible plans. In other words people who have some control of their own medical money somehow stay healthier than those who have first dollar coverage.

The medical industry gets most of its income from chronic patients. Its conscious and unconscious bias is to turn us all into chronic sufferers. We all have something wrong with us that could be treated, but is usually self-limiting. Treatment frequently leads to side effects and other adverse outcomes, which require additional and expenive treatment.

I, too, suffer from a congenital heart defect, a very leaky aortic valve. I went to cardiologists and they recommended many treatments, which after researching I rejected and took up marathon running instead. My leaky valve prevented me from running very fast, but I could run 26 miles in under nine minutes a mile. I firmly believe that if I had followed the medical advice that I would now be an invalid. Now that I am 73 I no longer run marathons, but I probably could if I was willing to train 10 hours a week. But I hike, mountain bike and XC ski a lot. I do not think that I should subsidize those who choose expensive and ineffective conventional medicine.

Persian culture is widespread in Central Asia. Even the Mongols, who conquered much of the Middle East under Genghis Khan and his descendants e.g. Timur the Lame) learned Farsi and could write poetry in it. I suspect that there are no Iraqis or Persians who would be interested in American culture (rock music and videos are not culture). Persia is an ancient civilization that will again might dominate the Middle East, and compete with Russia in Central Asia. Unless global warming leads to a big increase in agricultural output in Mongolia, and a population explosion, so the Mongols ride again. The US is an ephemeral blip on the history of the region, but we want to steal all the oil before we leave. The real enemies of the US live in Rhiyadh and Houston.

Well, the earth might get 100 Watts per square foot from solar radiation. A lot of that has to re-radiated right back into space (at longer wavelengths, naturally). If we could usefully capture that whole 100 Watts (useful being a human term) the present definition of runaway greenhouse would be woefully indadequate. If we degraded that 100 Watts by converting it to something "useful" it would become lower temperature energy that might not reradiate very well. Again runaway greenhouse would be an inadequate description. The earth can only lose energy to space by radiation; convection and conduction don't apply. Actually there is some loss by "convection", water molecules high in the stratosphere are split into H2 and O2 by radiation. H that has sufficient kinetic energy will exceed the escape velocity and carry away a little energy.

Nuclear energy will add a little to the energy that has to be radiated, but compared to the 100 Watts per square foot, it is very little. I know that most Saloniacs are proudly not too technological, but wikipedia is a wonderful resource. Look up things like blackbody, emissivity, wavelength, radiation, and of course the first and second laws.

As for "closed systems", the proper place to place your "boundary" might be at an altitude of a few hundred miles. the amount of energy crossing the boundary and leaving the earth has to be equal to that crossing the boundary on its way in, or we will get hot pretty fast.

My wife and I and our grown children eat lots of fat, but we make sure that it contains no hydrogenated oil, i.e., trans fat. It should be obvious by now that obesity is a result of insulin problems. Most of the so-called "kids food" is highly processed stuff with lots of corn sweetener, and probably hydrogenated omega-6 oils. Omega-6 oils, straight or hydrogenated, and corn sweetener are the major causes of obesity. They all screw up your ability to process carbs, resulting in huge swings in insulin level, and finally diabetes. Easily digested carbs should be avoided by children and adults. If adults feed their children a proper diet, they also will eat properly. Of course your kids will whine about all the goodies their fat friends are eating, but a good parent will hold firm.

It is the wifes duty to provide healthy food for her family and herself. However, having said that, I do a lot of cooking, including all the bread making.

What does all this have to do with feminist and lesbian issues? Most of the lesbians I know are as fat as houses.