In the U.S., oil is more important than our children

According to the new UNICEF report Child Povery in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries, children in the United States have the second worst quality of life in the developed world.

Yes, the second worst. Nice, huh?

And I just stumbled upon a case in point:

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Md. boy dies from toothache

Twelve-year-old Deamonte Driver died of a toothache Sunday.

A routine, $80 tooth extraction might have saved him.

If his mother had been insured.

If his family had not lost its Medicaid.

If Medicaid dentists weren't so hard to find.

If his mother hadn't been focused on getting a dentist for his brother, who had six rotted teeth.

By the time Deamonte's own aching tooth got any attention, the bacteria from the abscess had spread to his brain, doctors said. After two operations and more than six weeks of hospital care, the Prince George's County boy died.

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[Read more.]

So far we've spent more than $400 billion dollars on an unnecessary war in Iraq. Think of how much better off we'd be if that money had instead been spent on taking care of our children.