hannah_alive

Wed, 12 Jan 2005 18:13:09 GMT

What is the second largest religious community in France?
a. Protestant
b. Muslim
c. Jewish
d. Catholic

What percent of private Catholic school expenses does the state finance?
a. 25%
b. 60%
c. 80%
d. 15%

Who is the only prefect in France who is foreign born or Muslim?
a. Bernard Stassi
b. Shirin Ebadi
c. Aissa Dermouche
d. Edt Emyer

Which French political figure threatened to expel Muslim extremists?
a. Nicolas Sarkozy
b. Luc Ferry
c. Jacques Chirac
d. Michel Delpuech

When did the first Muslim Lycée, Averroes, open?
a. 2001
b. 2005
c. 2003
d. 1999

Averroes (The first Muslim Lycée) performs all of the following functions EXCEPT
a. provide a similar outlet to the private schools already in existence for French Protestants, Catholics, and Jews
b. provide Muslims with an alternative to public school education
c. meet the demands of the 2nd largest religious community in France
d. train Muslim youth to become Mosque leaders

What is a “rabbit cage”?
a. public housing
b. Muslim representation in Parliament
c. Lack of religious freedom in schools
d. Public schools

The following are true about The Union of Islamic Organizations in France EXCEPT:
a. They force young girls to wear veils
b. Preach strict, conservative interpretation of Islam
c. Urged to demonstrate peacefully that they have faith in the Republic
d. Is part of French Council

True or False

France is a secular country

Religious courses are part of the main curriculum of the Lycée Averroes

France does not gather data according to race, religion or ethnicity, even in its census

There is a law currently in effect banning religious symbols in public schools

The state clearly defines ‘bandannas’ as unacceptable in public schools

Sikh boys would rather quit school than remove turbans to attend

French Muslim organizations discourage daughters to test the limits of restrictions on scarves in school by partly covering their heads with bandannas or ribbons

The true issue the state has with head scarves is that they are seen as disrespectful to the teacher in a classroom setting

Muslims regularly face job discrimination and do not usually work full-time

Depression and drug use are uncommon in France among Muslims

There have been world wide protests on the subject of the ban of head scarves

Sarkozy threatened to close any mosque in France that is considered extremist, and expel any Muslim prayer leader who preaches a radical message

ANSWER KEY

B
C
C
A
C
D
A
A

T
F
T
T
F
T
F
F
T
F
T
T

Tue, 11 Jan 2005 18:22:23 GMT

Fri, 19 Nov 2004 18:17:09 GMT

Bevan’s Baby Hits Middle Age

• NHS seems remarkably cost-effective (compared to American Health care system, which spends three times as much on each person as Britain, while the health of the two countries is essentially the same).
• On the other hand, NHS has extremely long waiting list for hospital treatment, old and often shabby buildings and a lack of assessment and accountability among doctors that can lead to spectacular failures.
• Concern arises when considering that, as the NHS is funded entirely by taxes, it will be especially difficult for it to cope with expensive new treatments and an ever ageing public that lives increasingly longer.
• Must be funded either by tax hikes or budget cuts elsewhere.
A Promising Start
• NHS began in 1948. Prior, there had been much talk about the need for a universal health care system, but not much had been done. There was some medical provisions made for working men, but their wives and children were not included. Further, hospitals were “squalid, overcrowded, inefficient and often reduced to begging for donations in order to stave off bankruptcy”.
• Between the two world wars rich were treated at home by private, and expensive doctors, and a general despair existed over the countries apparent inability to offer the fruits of many advances in medical science to most people.
• Towards the end of WW2 with victory in sight, amid a growing mood of national solidarity, it was assumed the nations ancient class divisions were dissolving, seen in the fact that everyone, rich and poor stood in line together, waiting for food and other rationed goods.
• This rationing instilled the idea in the public’s mind that everyone should get fair and equal shares. Victory in WW2 as well as recent technological triumphs returned a can-do British attitude, seeming lost since Victorian times. This new outlook made a high-quality, egalitarian health service a serious prospect.
Medical Myths:
• Throughout its fifty year history, the queue for hospital treatment has become steadily longer, despite the larger sums of money poured into the NHS.
• NHS built on a central myth that there is a finite demand for health care and that some given amount of money would clear the NHS backlog. Another myth is that the system separates medicine and money and therefore doctors are able to treat patients based solely on their professional judgment of the patients need, not costs.
• Patients, however, have little medical knowledge, making it easy for doctors to hide financial motives under clinical justification.
• NHS does not actually offer equal service either. Most of the best facilities were intentionally positioned near richer people who used them less because they were generally healthier.
• Because demand for treatment is essentially endless, debate arises regarding the “right” amount to spend on health care.
Won’t Pay, Must Pay:
• British are less satisfied with their health service than other nations, but want more spent on it
• Conflict: in an election, vote for party that promises not to increase taxes
• Possible solutions:
1. label a proportion of income tax as devoted to NHS
2. accept private contributions to NHS (more people take out private insurance); only 10% of population has private medical insurance (in the past decade)
3. introduce more charges for NHS treatment
comparison to other countries
• more direct contribution from private sources accounts for a larger share of total health spending
• ex. Sweeden, private fees of doctors and nurses makes up 10% of the NHS budget
• health inequalities are smaller in other countries

Thu, 18 Nov 2004 18:03:19 GMT

Britains Prescription for Health Care: Take A Seat

National Health Service Waiting List:
- tells how many people are waiting for hospital treatment
- currently 1.12 million on list
- patients pay the price of long waits for free health care
- underground waiting list: the waiting list to get on the waiting list
- its numbers rising while government pronounces official list is shrinking
- idea that in order to reduce waiting list (and make gov’t look good) you put people on a list to get on the list
- governments struggle to keep health spending down to avoid raising taxes
- health service has a $67 billion annual budget
- waiting for appointments with neurologists orthopedic surgeons and ophthalmologists can stretch to well past a year, delaying patients from diagnosing and ultimate treatment
- government waiting list initiative suspected to have led hospitals to use various stratagems to meet Government imposed targets while diverting attention from other parts of the system
- would give priority to minor operations that can be taken care of quickly while waiting
- Because figures can be so easily manipulated the waiting list is a poor gauge of the overall health care system

Britain to Pay for Treatment Abroad

- European Court of Justice had forced the change by ruling that patients could seek treatment in the European Union countries if they face “undue delay” at home
- 1 million Britons are waiting for treatment and 40,000 wait more than a year
- About 500 patients travel from Britain to other members of the EU for treatment
- This usually only happens when they require specialized care not offered in England

National Health Service: The English Patient

New Plans for the National Heath Service:
• The New Labour Government claims to be champion of NHS
• Promised sharp increase in health spending (35% by 2004)
• New targets, action plans and examples how to spend the cash
The Old NHS:
Founding of the NHS:
- created after WWII (July 5, 1948)
- rationing and queuing common
- widespread poverty
- few individuals could afford private healthcare
- main idea: everyone should get same health care from same provider, paid through taxes
“Triple Nationalism”
- state funded through taxes
- state makes executive decisions
- state administers NHS
Current Problems of the NHS:
- ranked 18th in world by World Health Organization
- claims of neglected patients
- over-worked doctors
- bed shortages
- difficult to get appointments
- media exaggeration of NHS problems
- health and wealth increasing leads people to demand better care
- patients more informed of their condition (expect & complain more)
- all Western health care systems encounter these problems
• survival rate in Britain for deadly diseases lower than that of other countries
• higher incidence of heart disease
• American women 25% more likely to be alive after 5 years with breast cancer than British women
• Long wait for non-emergency surgery
Causes of NHS Problems:
- not entirely due to lack of funding (Blair trying to cut health care expenditure, not funding)
- non-availability of qualified specialists
- fewer doctors per thousand in the population compared to other industrialized countries
- spends less of its national income on health than other major western countries
- aged facilities
- organization is hard to reform/change
- too much centralized bureaucracy and too little local power
Government Remedy:
- main idea: extra spending and reorganizing how to use it
- “war on waiting”: target wait time for 2005 is 6 months for patients to receive hospital treatment after diagnosis from consultant for non-life threatening procedures
- reschedule operations cancelled for non-medical reasons in 28 days, or compensate
- government plans to hire 9500 more doctors and 20,000 nurses by 2004
- goal: shorter wait and better service
- introduction of “walk-in centers”
- patients can see nurse without appointment
- NHS Direct: telephone advice service
- Reform long term care for elderly
- Up to 20% of hospital beds occupied by elderly patients who could receive better care elsewhere
- Introduction of “intermediate-care” beds
A Mock Market:
- new plan to “reward the best and punish the worst”
- rewards to doctors for learning to perform minor operations
- performance related rewards for medical staff
- split between purchasers of health care (GPs) and providers (hospitals)
- grant better hospitals more autonomy, take more control over worse hospitals
- new ways to register complaints about hospitals
- NHS facilities will rent facilities from private hospitals
- Confrontational relationship between NHS and private hospitals
Problems that the Government Plan Misses:
- government sees patients of NHS as consumers, but in reality patients cannot choose which doctors operate on them, or time of appointment
- patients still have little say over what treatments and therapies the NHS offers
- services offered in different parts of the country vary greatly
- gov’t has tried to remedy this by establishing NICE (National Institute for Clinical Excellence) to supposedly see that everyone gets the same thing
- rationing: (priority setting): long standing problem, not enough available funds and priorities to supply all in need
- government proposes “citizens council” to advise NICE
- health spending has grown but is still not enough to meet EU average money spent on healthcare
False Choice:
- Blair’s presentation of NHS problem: Two Choices
1. egalitarian NHS
2. ruthless system of private insurances
- other European options that Blair does not acknowledge
- champions Labour as the guardian of the NHS
- if Labour’s national plan for NHS does not work, Blair will likely lose the government
- However, the public still trusts the Labour government to run the NHS

Mon, 13 Sep 2004 12:43:43 GMT

http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/3aa/3aa364.htm

http://www.pierluigisurace.it/imagerie/graph.htm

Fri, 19 Mar 2004 01:04:49 GMT

Don't you hate how the most harmless, painless break ups still hurt a lot?

BBL

Fri, 05 Mar 2004 21:35:29 GMT

I'll continue this when I get my trashy xanga friends to open up a livejournal.
http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=MissChevious

EDIT

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 00:54:58 GMT

Yea click that link, drew that a little while ago, gimme' feedback damnit! ;P
So that's really it
I love George
The End!

http://hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkPhoto?GUID=2bbd3570-64d0-53e5-4b81-55e9422b73df&size=lg

EDITx2
So as it happened, Meg told me I did miss a good night out, damn it all... Managed to pour HCl down my arm in chem, slight burning sensation.. kind of eerily watching the skin... wonder what will happen. Apparantly our chem class is staging a walk out under the direction of the Fearless Hippie, Glazebrook. Mr. Owen comandeered her "personal hall pass" twice today and shes just irate. It's greeeattt. Damn VPs. So if I don't graduate, at least I'll get high marks in chem (literally.. if that HCl leaves a mark I'm going to be muy sad).
Sam got her pix developed from the girls night out.. they're hysterical, but they came out horrible.. so she wants to retake them. But how many times can you capture 4 girls flinging lingerie around at each other.
Dress Rehearsal soon, "Merry Wives of Windsor" COME SEE IT. So baking cookies for tonight, which should be done in 2 min so I'll finish this up! Come see the show.

Stuck being Good is Bad

Wed, 03 Mar 2004 00:51:15 GMT

Lets see, not much too insane on the horizon, only the upcoming show/SCMEA/cast party/ w/e, now that Camerata (sp?) auditions are over - maaajooor relief.
THANKS TO the awesome seniors who came to my audition, so I simply couldn't be nervous.

Another really long rehearsal today, my head is on the point of splitting in half!

And in the spirit of true imaturity and stubborness, I'm going to complain about not getting to go out with Lea and Kris and ppl because my daaarrrliiing father couldn't make up his mind, so rather than deal with an argument, had to settle to come home and "do homework". Now do I plan to use this time to do my homework? Pssssshhhh! Of course not! I'd rather complain about it! :D

Nooo Live journal has no option to put pictures on it aiiiiigh,

Maybe I'll figure that out
http://hpphoto.com/servlet/LinkPhoto?GUID=2bbd3570-64d0-53e5-4b81-55e9422b73df&size=lg

Toto.. I don't think we're in Xanga Anymore?!

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 00:29:16 GMT

Hey all, not sure what I've gotten myself into, but it seemed like xanga got full of hypocrits so where does that leave me?.... For starters, Im dumb, so I can't make my own html, goodness noo... so then there's Meg.. and I decide to go to her journal to leave good luck for her audition.. and I was just entirely intrigued. So, experimentation time! woooo

Today and all day I've been close to sainthood.. Refrained from yelling at any exes, did [coughmost] of my homework, helped teach Sunday school, hell woke up at 6 am, and counseled friends and friend's boyfriends in crisis.. and all for what- I can't make greek babies with the Welsh priest like I'd been (kiiiinddaaa') looking forward too. Damn this world (Elphaba- "No Good Deed"!!!)

Any help on actually making this thing work is greeaaattlly appreciated, danke.

Nichts mehr, ich sollte meine Hausaufgaben tun, aber ich wollte lieber nackt mit meiner Lieben sein. Na Ja, so geht es. Tschuss!

German Pride