'I can't afford surgery in the U.S.,' says bargain shopper - CNN.com

When Godfrey Davies learned he needed surgery to remove polyps blocking his nasal airways, the self-described bargain shopper set out on a mission to find an affordable surgeon. He quickly learned a good deal is hard to find.

"The total numbers they were throwing at me were just incredible. I couldn't believe it," he says.

Davies, who is semiretired from his real estate business and uninsured, says he received estimates from two surgeons. When hospital, anesthesia and incidental fees were all tallied, the cheapest price he could find in Indianapolis, Indiana, was $33,127 -- which he would need to pay out of pocket.

Kate Winslet Exposes Foie Gras Cruelty

Kate Winslet is one of my favorite actors—top three for sure. So, when I found out she was narrating our exposé to show the world what ducks and geese endure for foie gras, I literally jumped for joy.

Major UK retailer Selfridges recently pledged to stop selling the so called "delicacy" forever. Foie gras, for those of you who don't know, (which I'm pretty sure is most of you, because foie gras is disgusting and eaten mostly by older, snooty people!) is made from the engorged livers of ducks and geese. Eat someone's fatty liver? … I don't think so.

Tubes are shoved down the birds' throats several times a day to force-feed them grain and fat, which often punctures their throats, resulting in tissue damage and internal bleeding. Watch as Kate describes the horrors behind foie gras.

Gordon Brown self-destructs | Video Cafe

Eight days before the British election Labour Party leader Gordon Brown makes a tremendous gaffe on an open mic. The polls suggest Labour is already in third place but this may collapse their vote entirely. From the Telegraph:

Emboldened by Mr Brown's new confidence dealing with the great British public, one of his senior Downing Street staffers, Sue Nye, clearly thought he would be more than a match for Gillian Duffy, an opinionated 66-year-old widow who was vociferously voicing her views to anyone who would listen as Mr Brown visited a community payback scheme for offenders in Rochdale.

Mrs Duffy was delighted - robustly telling the Prime Minister her thoughts on a range of issues, from student tuition fee, to the deficit and, apparently to Mr Brown's disgust, immigration.

Their conversation was overheard by dozens of gleeful journalists and camera crews, again to Mr Brown's dismay.

As he climbed into his waiting Jaguar, he turned to his adviser and demanded to know who had been responsible for putting him in a situation he found so uncomfortable.

"She's just a sort of bigoted woman who says she used to be Labour," he raged.

Barroso: EU proposal on 'reinforced economic governance' to be presented in May

During question time with the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Tuesday, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that the EC will present a proposal on 'reinforced economic governance' in the 27 EU member states in May.
The proposal is to be delivered at the request of the EU's 27 national governments, and will include measures to deepen economic cooperation. Barroso said the proposal will seek to strengthen the Stability & Growth Pact for the countries in the eurozone and will introduce 'more effective' supervision on economic problems such as the ones in Greece at the moment.

 

 

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