(Reuters) - Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries -- Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report found....

In 2007, health spending was $7,290 per person in the United States, more than double that of any other country in the survey...

"We rank last on safety and do poorly on several dimensions of quality," Schoen told reporters. "We do particularly poorly on going without care because of cost. And we also do surprisingly poorly on access to primary care and after-hours care."

Republican primaries in Arizona won't be decided until August, but the prospective challengers have been hitting Democrats for not supporting the law or not staking out a specific position.

Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to maneuver past the controversial issue by focusing on border security and calling for action on immigration reform at the federal level. But if the Obama administration goes ahead with the suit, it will put the issue front and center during a campaign in which Democrats already face a tough environment.

This week Mitchell was joined by two other vulnerable Democrats in expressing public opposition to the administration's legal strategy. Reps. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and Ann Kirkpatrick (D-Ariz.) are also urging the administration to reconsider its suit.

A 19-count federal indictment accuses former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick of carrying out a scheme, hatched 11 years ago, to use his non-profit Kilpatrick Civic Fund to pay for personal and campaign expenses in violation of the law.

If convicted of the charges, he faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The indictment says that Kilpatrick, 40, currently imprisoned for probation violation, used civic fund money to pay friends and relatives and for items ranging from countersurveillance and anti-bugging equipment to yoga and golf lessons, golf clubs and summer camp for his children.

Other expenses from the fund -- which had a stated purpose of voter education and improving Detroit's neighborhoods and image -- included personal travel for Kilpatrick, moving expenses, car rentals and leases, and a personal residence, the indictment alleges.

Campaign expenses allegedly paid through the civic fund included public relations and consulting work.

While Kilpatrick was mayor he received unreported taxable income of $640,000 between 2003 and 2008, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit.

The income included cash, private jet flights and personal expenses paid for by the Kilpatrick Civic Fund.

Kilpatrick is accused of filing false tax returns, failing to declare the income and failing to declare that income in the tax years 2003-2007. He is accused of evading taxes in 2008.

Perhaps a hoax or fantasy:

When combined with the heating Gulf of Mexico waters, [Corexit's] molecules will be able to "phase transition" from their present liquid to a gaseous state allowing them to be absorbed into clouds and allowing their release as toxic rain upon all of Eastern North America. Even worse, should a Katrina like tropical hurricane form in the Gulf of Mexico while tens of millions of gallons of Corexit 9500 are sitting on, or near, its surface, the resulting toxic rain falling upon the North American continent could theoretically destroy all microbial life to any depth it reaches.

disputed as impossible because oil can't evaporate, but wait:

One of our readers points us to a report (PDF) from the former Minerals Management Service claiming that lighter crude oils can evaporate. So it might be possible that oil is mixing with rain.