Free Republic

MORE PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IN CANADA URGEDFebruary 20, 2008 The architect of Quebec's now-overburdened public health care system is proposing a strong and controversial remedy that includes further privatization and user fees of up to C$100 (about U.S. $98) for people to see their family doctor. In a 338-page report, former provincial Liberal health minister Claude Castonguay concluded that Quebec can no longer sustain the annual growth in health care costs. The province currently spends about C$24 billion (about U.S. $23.6 billion) annually on health care, or about 40 per cent of its budget. Other recommendations include: - A new...

Dr. Claude H. Organ Jr., an internationally known surgeon and medical educator who was the second African American to serve as president of the American College of Surgeons, died Saturday in Oakland. He was 78. Organ was editor of the prestigious Journal of American Medical Association publication Archives of Surgery for 15 years. He came to Oakland in 1989 to establish and lead the University of California, Davis/University of California San Francisco East Bay Surgery Department, now the UCSF-East Bay department of surgery. There, he oversaw the training of dozens of surgeons, including several African-American women, a population severely underrepresented...

United Nations - CIA-Iraq chief weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, whose report cast doubt on Bush administration claims that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction, was blocked from reaching that same conclusion in 1999-2000 by the Clinton White House. Before officially joining the CIA weapons hunt earlier this year, Duelfer spent more than 8 years hunting WMD at the United Nations, first for the noted Swede Rolf Ekeus, than the flamboyant Aussie Richard Butler. Butler, known for his repeated clashes with Iraq officials, was eventually forced out of his U.N. job by the French and Russian ambassadors in June...

Many Helped Iraq Evade U.N. Sanctions On Weapons By Craig Whitlock and Glenn Frankel Washington Post Foreign Service Friday, October 8, 2004; Page A01 BERLIN, Oct. 7 -- As part of its stealth effort to evade U.N. sanctions and rebuild its military, the Iraqi government under President Saddam Hussein found that it had no shortage of people around the world who were willing to help. Among them: a French arms dealer known only as "Mr. Claude," who made a surreptitious visit to Iraq four years ago to provide technical expertise and training. Mr. Claude worked for Lura, a French company...