Canada’s universal health care system was the envy of the world. But today five million Canadians don’t have a family doctor. As a result, when we get sick we either clog up hospital emergency rooms or go to walk-in clinics that don’t know our medial histories and can offer little continuity of care. The situation is already critical, and is about to get much worse–with a huge bulge of baby boom doctors about to retire, and younger doctors not inclined to sacrifice personal lives for their careers.

How did we get here? And how do we get back to the level of primary health care that we believe is our right as Canadian citizens? Filmmakers Sharon Bartlett and Maria LeRose set out on a cross country journey,talking to ordinary Canadians, doctors, and health care experts to investigate the present crisis , its causes and possible solutions.

Duration : 0:9:8

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TeyTV talks about some of the careers he wanted to pursue when he was younger and what he wants to pursue now.

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28 November, 2011 CNN

Washington (CNN) — U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, a prominent 16-term liberal Democrat from Massachusetts and arch-enemy of political conservatives nationwide, announced Monday that he does not intend to seek re-election in 2012.

Frank, 71, said his decision to retire from Congress was prompted partly by changes made to the boundaries of his U.S. House district. As part of Massachusetts’ recently concluded redistricting process, Frank’s 4th Congressional District will lose the heavily Democratic blue-collar port city of New Bedford while gaining several smaller, more conservative towns.

“I will miss this job, (but) the district is very substantially changed,” with roughly 325,000 new constituents, Frank told reporters. The veteran congressman said he was planning to retire after 2014 regardless, but said he didn’t “want to be torn” next year between the need to serve his existing constituents, reach out to new district residents and protect his signature Dodd-Frank financial regulatory reform law.

President Barack Obama issued a statement praising Frank’s public service, calling the congressman a “fierce advocate for the people of Massachusetts and Americans everywhere who needed a voice.”
Rep. Barney Frank not running in 2012

While Massachusetts’ entire House delegation is Democratic, local Republicans insist Frank’s retirement will put the reconfigured district in play.

“It is clear that Congressman Frank was not looking forward to another hard fought campaign after losing his gerrymandered district and spending nearly every penny he had in 2010,” Massachusetts Republican Party Executive Director Nate Little said in a written statement.

“Republicans were already gearing up for a strong race and Frank’s sudden retirement injects added optimism and excitement into the election.”

Frank, first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980, is the top Democrat on the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The controversial 2010 Dodd-Frank measure, designed to rein in Wall Street excesses after the 2008 financial collapse, passed the House without any GOP support.

Frank made headlines earlier in his career by becoming one of the first openly gay members of Congress. He was formally reprimanded by the House in 1990 for allegations relating to his association with a male prostitute.

Launching his career as an aide to Boston Mayor Kevin White in the late 1960s, Frank quickly became known for an acidic political wit.

“One of the advantages to me of not running for office is I don’t even have to pretend to try to be nice to people I don’t like,” Frank joked with reporters Monday. “Some of you may not think I’ve been good at it, but I’ve been trying.”

Frank’s current district — which extends from the affluent, liberal Boston suburbs of Newton and Brookline to the cities of New Bedford and Fall River — is considered safe Democratic political terrain. Frank did, however, receive an unusually strong challenge from Republican Sean Bielat in 2010.

Frank ultimately defeated Bielat, 54% to 43%.

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More than 1.8 million people die of HIV-related causes each year—approximately 5,000 deaths per day. HIV is a particularly significant threat in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. Researchers in South Africa and Boston are working with Microsoft Research to fight HIV. The effort is led by Bruce Walker, director of the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, and a professor of medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is joined by David Heckerman, Distinguished Scientist, Microsoft Research, who explains that as our immune system tries to block HIV, the virus mutates to evade the immune system.

The researchers are cataloging fragments of HIV that are vulnerable to attack by the immune system. The amount of data generated is enormous, but by using thousands of Microsoft machines working in parallel, researchers are able to make computations in a matter of hours that would take years on a single computer. Through research like this, Walker believes that a solution to the HIV epidemic can be developed. Like many other dedicated researchers, he is devoting his career to finding such a solution.

Duration : 0:3:33

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More than 1.8 million people die of HIV-related causes each year—approximately 5,000 deaths per day. HIV is a particularly significant threat in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. Researchers in South Africa and Boston are working with Microsoft Research to fight HIV. The effort is led by Bruce Walker, director of the Ragon Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, and a professor of medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He is joined by David Heckerman, Distinguished Scientist, Microsoft Research, who explains that as our immune system tries to block HIV, the virus mutates to evade the immune system.

The researchers are cataloging fragments of HIV that are vulnerable to attack by the immune system. The amount of data generated is enormous, but by using thousands of Microsoft machines working in parallel, researchers are able to make computations in a matter of hours that would take years on a single computer. Through research like this, Walker believes that a solution to the HIV epidemic can be developed. Like many other dedicated researchers, he is devoting his career to finding such a solution.

Duration : 0:3:33

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