Nate probably isn’t actually done with the subject, but here’s a good article about it.

He’s right of course. The public option, much as I’d have loved to move my family to it, was already neutered and restricted for use from nearly all of us. Losing it in favor of providing Medicare coverage for some old uninsured folks is probably all we’re going to get this time around, but that’s still a damn lot more than we’ve currently got.

Bush can turn us into a nation of aggressive warmongers overnight, Reagan can kill our economy and break up the family in just a couple months of trickle down economics, but it took decades of workplace violence to get a 40 hour week. It took the Great Depression to give us Social Security, it took losing dozens of college kids, JFK, RFK, and MLK Jr. to get close to starting to have racial equality in this nation. We just had a pretty bad recession and hopefully we’ll get some kind of health care reform out of it.

It sucks. It really, really sucks how easy it is for men to do evil and how hard it is to just get in the ballpark of doing things right. But when your opposition is a pack of racist Talibangelical hypocrite blowhards in the employ of wealthy capitalist shitheels, sometimes you unfortunately have to take what you can get.

Comedy Central video link

“Americans have no sense of community welfare, no willingness to be discomforted in the least for the greater good of the entire population.”

– British woman lamenting our health care system to the author

Here’s a reasoned and moral editorial on the need for health care reform from a former surgeon. Give it a read please.

This is a glaring road sign of the coming health divide in our nation. Take a look at this list. Here is the main article.

If the Senate grows a pair and passes health care reform, it – sadly – will include an opt-out option for the public health care plan. Judging by the states who already have miserable health outcomes and probably a large percentage of uninsured residents, this list might continue to look the same as the Treason States opt out. However, I imagine that the chasm between the healthiest and unhealthiest states will grow even larger as those with improved health care will have more fit, better cared for residents and the others, well, they’ll be choking to death on Deep Fried Twinkies or something.

Actually, here is a map showing that the South and other Sedition States are way overrepresented as having large percentages of uninsured.

And as a taxpayer, if your state opts out and all of you start dying of lung cancer and heart attacks from your unhealthy living, I don’t want my tax paying for nothing more than a backhoe digging a mass grave for you conservative idiots. You HAVE a chance to make this problem go away by your Quisling congressmen and senators are trying to screw it up for the rest of us. You all go choke on your own anger and stupidity for all I care. Just don’t send me the bill.

I’ve been pretty down on Harry.

Ever since he hemmed and hawed last year on Barack Obama’s candidacy (because his kid was Shrillary’s state chairman) he’s seemed pretty damn spineless. His so-called work as majority leader has been equally flaccid.

But he finally came through on inserting a public option into the Senate’s health reform bill. And since he’s asking for help, here’s a link to a petition he’s pushing to show other senators that they need to get behind this. So, since he’s actually on the side of Americans for once, I’m asking you to sign the thing too.

Thanks.

In short, Republicans who soullessly say we should not reform health care are complicit in allowing things like the following happen.

Yeah, I know, it may be an unfair generalization, but these are the same folks who stand in the same party as racists, bigots, wife beaters, child rapists, misogynist “compassionate conservatives”, folks okay with gang rapes brought to you by Halliburton, Talibangelicals, gay murderers, etc.

At some point, some of the shit has to stick.

These health care stories happen every day. Don’t believe me? Do a quick search on HuffPo, or Bob Cesca’s site. Troll the internet. Americans are suffering and the bastards cashing checks from the health and insurance lobbies are complicit in this, regardless of party affiliation.

October 9, 2009: A Bill Moyers essay on the health industry lobby.

Good stuff. Wish I could figure out how to embed these videos.

Some damn serious info on what’s at stake with health care reform. Looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.

This should be required viewing for every member of Congress that still believes they owe their jobs to their electorate. If you need just the transcript, you can get that here.

Here is Nick Kristof’s story on the Waddington family and the sons who have been advised NOT to try to donate a kidney to their father. Keith referenced this story tonight and I remember reading it the other day in an increasingly blind rage.

I heard most of the sad story of Heather and Dave Mroz tonight on the way home. If this doesn’t make you want to beat the living hell out of an insurance executive, I’m not sure I want to know you anymore.

Hypocrisy, thy name is the GOP. Check out their plans for Iraqi health care versus their bullshit arguments against offering the same to Americans.

Apparently, to Republicans, you need to have your country ruined by Republicans to qualify for health care. Wait a minute! They ruined our country TOO!