Apparently Lush Rimjob wasn’t aware that Hawaii already has a form of socialized medicine when he was bitching about getting good health care after stroking out from his hillbilly heroin or whatever the hell happened to him.

Another sobering chart to let you know that we keep throwing good money after bad in our current system with crappy outcomes (except for insurance execs) should be giving us the imperative to fix our system.

Thousands of Americans are increasingly traveling to resort towns like Puerto Vallarta, in Mexico, not for vacation, but for the cheap health care. In many cases, reports Ray Suarez, for care they couldn’t afford in the United States.

Yep, those damn illegal Americans stealing health care from the Mexicans. The story here if the embedded video isn’t working.

“And this is good. Democratic leaders are hoping to pass healthcare reform before Christmas. And really, what better Christmas present could Obama give the country than the gift of not having to talk about healthcare anymore?”

– Jimmy Fallon

The Senate finally got off their ass and health care bill.

Flawed as it may be, this is a huge step away from Republicans wanting people to die in the cold if they can’t squeeze a dime out of them.

“What the American people ought to pray is that somebody can’t make the vote tonight.That’s what they ought to pray.”

– Republican Hero Tom Coburn (OK), hoping Senator Byrd died before voting to stop Republican obstructionism on health care

As if I needed another reason. When Republicans are literally praying for people to die so that laws they don’t like can not get passed, you absolutely guarantee that I’m never voting a Republican, not even for dog catcher. Screw every single one of them.

All the Republicans have done is obstruct. They have gone to the filibuster on 70 percent of every bill in this past year. At their worst, Democrats have used it 27 times over a whole session of Congress. Read up on it here.

More on this problem of childish Republican obstinance here.

Seriously, angry infants who want people who don’t agree with them to die. Such odious bastards.

“This is the beginning of health reform, not the end of health reform.”

– Tom Harkin, on on the health reform bill

Hey folks, it might not be the bill we all wanted, but there are cost savings for our families.

Also, as Senator Harkin says, we’ve got our foot in the door. Republicans will find it nigh impossible to remove the concept of government involvement in health care. This idea will grow and we will hopefully have some form of government health care in the future, because, ironically, the people who may most benefit from it are the angry treasonous teabaggers who are currently conned into being against it so fervently.

And to put it all in perspective, here is Ezra Klein’s take:

Imagine telling a Democrat in the days after the 2004 election that the 2006 election would end Republican control of Congress, the 2008 election would return a Democrat to the White House, and by the 2010 election, Democrats would have passed a bill extending health-care coverage to 94 percent of Americans, securing trillions of dollars in subsidies for low-income Americans (the bill’s $900 billion cost is calculated over 10 years, but the subsidies continue indefinitely into the future), and imposing a raft of new regulations on private insurers. It is, without doubt or competition, the single largest social policy advance since the Great Society.

In my lifetime, we’ve only had one Democratic president before Barack Obama and that was Jimmy Carter. I really couldn’t tell you what the hell Clinton was. So, considering the ever-growing track record of presidential warmongering and reckless deficit spending by Reagan, the Bushes, et al, this actually really is a surprise. It isn’t the perfect outcome by a long shot, but really, given the odds, let’s take what we’ve got and build a foundation out of it.

More good arguments for the health reform bill to pass.

Also, Bob Cesca’s top 10 fixes he’d like to see, including:

Bonus: Government-funded, government mandated atomic wedgies for Joe Lieberman. Administered daily. By me.

Hey! That’s what I wanted to do!

I linked to some of the same stuff this article does but here’s the part that really hits home. Consult the following chart:

(h/t to Bob Cesca for linking this)

Face it folks, a flawed bill that does a lot of what we’d like to see is going to save lives and money. Just get in line and let’s do this!

Evan a bad health care bill is better than the crap we’ve currently got according to the numbers.

Nate Silver breaks it down in clear dollars and cents.

Josh Marshall questions the sanity of those who want their pet bill or nothing at all.

And Ezra Klein points out that even if, and maybe because, insurance companies are in the running to make a ton of money from this bill, the advantage of having rules finally put in place still counts as a benefit to all of us.

Hey, I would LOVE to ditch my current plan and put my family onto a public plan that doesn’t spend my money to lobby Republicans or douchebags like Joe Lieberman or Max Baucus to do their bidding. But I can’t, but I’d love to be able to see my Mom get some health insurance.

It isn’t everything I want, but it is what millions of folks need.