dog-liek tyeping detected

Socialized medicine, right here in the good ol US of A

Veterans get to have it, why can't we? Well, we could if Barabara Lee's HR 3000 were passed.

Your money or your life!

Dennis Kucinich peers into a crystal ball and predicts the future --

The Private Mandate Sausage Machine

While the political process in Washington suffers through its grotesque pantomime on health care, let us prepare our neighborhoods, our communities, our states for the eventual triumph of single payer health care. Please sign the petition for a single payer system. Download, print and circulate the petition among friends and neighbors.

Dear Friends,

It is said one should not ask how sausage or laws are made. Are you concerned about a public option? Let me share with you some insight about health care legislation which may not be good for your health.

A lesson in politics. The Kucinich Prediction: Here's what's going to happen ...

1. House will make a big deal about keeping/putting a public option in HR3200 because it competes with insurance companies and will keep insurance rates low.
2. The White House will refer to the President's speech last week where he spoke favorably of the public option.
3. The Senate will kill the competitive public option in favor of non-competitive "co-ops". Senate leaders like Kent Conrad have said the votes to pass a public option were never there in the Senate.
4. The bill will come to a House-Senate Conference Committee without the public option.
5. House Democrats will be told to support the conference report on the legislation to support the President.
6. The bill will pass, not with a "public option" but with a private mandate requiring 30 million uninsured to buy private health insurance (if one doesn't already have it). If you are broke, you may get a subsidy. If you are not broke, you will get a fine if you do not purchase insurance.

This legislative sausage will be celebrated as a new breakthrough and will be packaged as health insurance reform. However, the bill may require a Surgeon General's warning label: Your Money or Your Life!

The bill that Congress passes may pale in comparison to the bill that millions of Americans will get every month/year for having or not having private health insurance.

It will take four years for the new legislation to go into effect. During that time we are going to build a constituency of millions in support of real health care, a constituency which will be recognized and a cause which is right and just: Health Care as a Civil Right.

Join our efforts. Sign the petition. Contribute. Insure a democratic future.

Thank you.

Here's hoping that last part proves to be true -- During that time we are going to build a constituency of millions in support of real health care, a constituency which will be recognized and a cause which is right and just: Health Care as a Civil Right. Do what you can to help that along.

David Axelrod, The White

Just a random factlet to brighten your day [or not] -- that's what my email inbox preview pane shortens Axelrod's 'from the White House' emails to.

Cats on a hot tin roof skylight

Eric Massa shrine post

[continuing to steal the idea; anthony weiner here]

Eric Massa, at a protest of AHIP: "We are not radicals. We are not a fringe element. We are men and women who want to provide for our families."





Eric Massa has read HR3200 four times, and will not vote for it as it's written now.

Anthony Weiner shrine post [updated]

Stealing a good idea from donnadarko



updated to add this video:



Found this one [via] at Hillbilly Report, Anthony Weiner on Bill Maher's show:




And then there's the time he made Joe Scarborough speechless:




Weiner dares, double dares, Republicans to repeal Medicare, on its 44th anniversary no less:




Weiner: Why do we need insurance companies at all? [posted by JesusSavesAtCitibank; is that a cool name or what?]



more Anthony Weiner -- on TV, on YouTube


[and the same for eric massa here]

I've done that

In fact, it's the only time I've ever been knocked unconscious.

Irony deficiency, bumper sticker edition

So the dog and I were driving around this past holiday weekend, trips to the dog park and other fun places, and so were a lot of other folks, though not quite so many as in past years for the final weekend of the summer.

Still, there were enough cars at enough stoplights to collect a few new bumper stickers for my [mental] collection.




Seen on the back of huge brand new SUV, turning into a rawther ritzy-schnortzy neighborhood --

Live Simply
So that others may simply Live

And these 2 stickers side-by-side on another SUV --

McCain / Palin 08

I get mail

From the inbox ---

Today, I had the honor of being sworn! in as Florida's thirty-fourth United States Senator. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson and former U.S. Senator Connie Mack accompanied me to the Senate Chamber where I swore to support and defend our Constitution, and bear faith and allegiance to the same.

It is a privilege to serve the people of our great state and I am grateful for the opportunity to represent Floridians in our nation's capital.

I thank Senator Mel Martinez for his service and his assistance during this transition; he is a great example of the fulfillment of the American Dream. I look forward to continuing the Florida tradition of working together with my colleague, Senator Bill Nelson to ensure that Florida's interests are well protected in the United States Senate.

There are tremendous issues facing this nation, and although my time in Washington will be brief, I intend to work hard every day to address these critical challenges and serve the people of this unique, diverse and wonderful state.

As the father of three small children, I will do my part to make sure that America continues to be a place of hope and opportunity, for all Americans. I know that parents, both in Florida and around this country, want the same for their children and share my concerns regarding the national debt and out of control spending that threatens our children's future.

As the son of parents who worked hard all their lives to provide for their family, I will work to safeguard seniors and the programs that protect their quality of life.



George S. LeMieux

The best way to save Medicare for our seniors is to raise taxes and let all of the rest of us into the pool, as well as making it the source of health care for all our legislators. Somehow, I don't see Senator Stand-in agreeing with this simple prescription.


The oath of office for US Senators

Woman's Best Friend is a Large Black Dog because

the teeth show up so well, especially at night.

Either I need 11 more dogs

to balance things out number-wise, or I just need one more 50-lb dog to balance things out weight-wise. I wonder which it is.

from the inbox...

Health Care or Insurance Care? It's Time to Respond!

Dear Friends,

The health care decision-making process in Washington is horribly tainted by the campaign contributions of insurance and pharmaceutical interests. Under the pay-to-play system health care becomes insurance care, the public option shrinks to irrelevance, the choice we are left: What kind of private, for-profit insurance do you want? This is not acceptable. We must respond now, and not settle for a plan which subsidizes insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and sets the stage for the privatization of Medicare. We want Health Care for all the people, Medicare for All, which is exactly what the bill John Conyers and I wrote, HR 676, accomplishes. And the only way we will achieve it is to organize and take action in our communities to effect real change at a state and national level. Let us initiate immediately an action plan to intervene and provide health care for all:

1. On-line petition. Please contact your lists, your family and friends. Please sign the petition for a single payer system. I will deliver the petitions directly to your Congressperson.



2. Petition to download, print and circulate among friends and neighbors - including an instruction sheet.



3. A National Health Care for All Conference Call from Washington, DC, at 10 pm EDT, Thursday, September 10th at 1-800-230-1096. Join us, so that we can discuss our new beginning and ways in which we can all help. Pre-registration is necessary in order to reserve sufficient phone lines. Please RSVP. [NB: I don't seem to be able to make the link work directly from the post but it looks like you should send an email to rsvp@kucinich.us with Health Care For All Teleconference in the subject line.] When you call in and the operator asks, "what conference call?" tell the operator, "Health Care for All."



4. Health Care Meet-Ups. Coming Thursday September 10 2009.



5. Tell A Friend. Every email forwarded will make a difference. [NB: I can't make this link work from the post either, so you can just forward this post for lack of a better solution.]

I need your help to initiate this action. If you believe, as I do, that we can and must begin a new long-term state-by-state grassroots effort to create a single-payer, not-for-profit health care system, please contribute now at Kucinich.us


Thank you.

Sincerely.

So *that's* what they were doing!

Looking for the door to the secret room! I thought that excuse about inculcating a love of classics in the youngsters sounded specious.

Why I have no houseplants

I used to have an over-achiever dog too

Fortunately,

most of mine prefer touchy-feely. And like the yard sign that says

This property guarded by pit bulls three days a week -- You guess which three

I'll leave you to wonder which of teh 12 kittehz fall into which cat-e-gory.

Woman's best friend's best friend

The dog and I were on our way home from the park the other day, when we saw a woman out walking with her big black dog, the biggest, shiniest, blackest Great Dane I've ever seen. Handsome guy, but I gotta tell ya, Shetland ponies aren't as big as this dog.

Trotting along in front of them was the shiniest, blackest, best-turned-out little Scottie I've ever seen.

I've always said that Woman's Best Friend is a Big Black Dog

but this would work.

Dominoes 7 [and last]

And now for my capstone post in the series!





dominoes 2009

Wonderful time-wasters, these domino videos,



but now it's time to move on.



And because I wandered off into domino land solely because of FlippyCat and because I think this is the most adorable cat video evar, here it is again.

[for reference]

Tags: Anthony Weiner, Barack Obama, GRITtv, health care, Healthcare Reform, HR 676, Single Payer Healthcare, Single-Payer, universal healthcare

via Healthcare NOW!

[for reference]

upcoming blue dog town halls:

Tuesday, 8-11-09, 7pm
Adam Schiff, Alhambra, CA

WhenTue, August 11, 7:00pm – 8:30pm

WhereAlhambra Civic Center Library, Community Room, 101 S. First St., Alhambra, CA 91801 (map)

DescriptionIMPORTANT! PLEASE ATTEND! Schiff is a BLUE DOG who SUPPORTS the public option. Please attend and support/encourage him to work the Blue Dogs rear flank.

more details» copy to my calendar

Wednesday, 8-12-09, 6pm
Joe Donnelly, Kokomo, IN

WhenWed, August 12, 6pm – 8pm

WhereInventrek Technology Park,Auditorium, 700 E.Firmin St., Kokomo, IN 46902 (map)

more details» copy to my calendar

Saturday, 8-15-09, 10am
David Scott, Jonesboro, GA

WhenSat, August 15, 10am – 2pm

WhereMundy's Mill High School, 9652 Fayetteville Road, Jonesboro, GA 30238 (map)

DescriptionHealth Care District Health Fair

more details» copy to my calendar

What Obama said

via Susie

Dominoes 6

idolatry

Dominoes 5

back atcha, flippy!

Dominoes 4

now flippy takes on loki

Dominoes 3

ok, so the dominoes were meta, but hey, it's flippycat!

Health care town hall meetings, August 2009

calender widget thanks to FDL

Dominoes 2

jason




flippy

Dominoes 1

sparta [and loki, too!]




flippy

Do want

in, like, triplicate.

of Gods and Goddesses and single p[r]ayer health care

God

Anthony Weiner is God. And so is Henry Waxman. And so is Nancy Pelosi.

Seeking to dampen liberal anger about deals cut with centrists, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said House leaders have agreed to allow a floor vote on a government-run, single-payer system.

"A lot of members on our committee want a vote on that," said Waxman said in an interview. "I believe their wishes will be accommodated."

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) offered a single-payer amendment in the Energy and Commerce Committee on Friday, but withdrew it after Waxman said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had promised a floor vote.

So, on Medicare's 44th birthday, not even the Republicans could bring themselves to vote to do away with that evul guvmint-run health care. And, they're actually going to vote on single payer.

If you haven't been following the Weiner amendment saga, you can play catch up here.

[for scarecrow]

the database gods still won't me comment here, so i'll try it here...

medicare admin -- depends how you want to calculate it.

from the latest medicare trustees report [these are somewhat interim numbers, i'm informed, but they're not usually too far off from what cms calculates later in the year], pg 11: in 2008 medicare took in $480.8 billion, paid $461.6 billion in benefits [doctors, hospitals, drugs, etc], and paid $6.5 billion in admin costs. that's 96% going to care, 1.4% going to admin costs, and 2.6% staying in the trust fund[s].

distortions: how much is crap like this costing us, all told? you could get a phd studying just that one question. and the 'practicing medicine without a license' aspect of it... grrrrrr. i worked for a few years as a middle-person: buying and selling, negotiating contracts between me and vendors, me and subcontractors, me and customers/clients [from sole proprietors on up to multinationals], in wide-open, not-very-regulated fields -- if it's an atmosphere you've never worked in, it's almost impossible to imagine all the permutations. i could go on at length, but will refrain from inflicting that on you. :)

fee-for-service: canada, japan, france, all have lots of ffs in their systems, and lots of solo docs or small group practices, probably more than we do. the difference is that they charge so much less for each service that you can have lots and lots of services for an overall reasonable cost. i don't know as much about other countries [i think germany has more managed care / large group practices like the us does, but don't know for sure].

more on payment methods from steffie woolhandler and david himmelstein.

i get what you're saying about the provider side, but if insurance companies are either jacking around the providers, or colluding with them, on prices and payments, then you no way can you estimate the impact of trying to take a chunk out of the providers' hides to pay for reforms. put a choke collar and short leash on the insurers first [and none of the proposed bills do this, so far, in this regard], and then maybe you can talk about 'incentivizing' physicians to do 'better' [although the vast majority of doctors go into medicine because they want to help people, so they're not really the ones who need 'incentives'].

some stuff about france's system [i would dearly love to have their system, but i'll happily settle for canada's].

First Walter Cronkite,

and now Gidget.



15 years is a pretty good run for a chihuahua.

Don't laugh...

Back when I worked 2 or 3 crappy jobs to try to piece together the income of one mediocre job, one of those jobs was delivering newspapers. And I had the route from hell, too. The three golden retrievers who roamed the neighborhood early, early in the morning, grabbing up other people's papers to take home with them, were the least of it.

Socialized medicine, single payer, and the US

fizzickz lab

1st semester:





2nd semester:

Marking up the HELP! bill

Got something to say about the proposed health care deform legislation? Come join the fun.

Some early comments and other possibly helpful stuff.

The Far Side, photoshopped

here.

[for reference]

Senate HELP bill -- the Affordable Health Choices Act, which is not in the least about either affordability or health or choices.

Sicko

You can watch it online here.

Sicko is not a movie about the 50 million Americans walking around without health insurance. Sicko is a movie about the other 250 million of us who have insurance, but are just as well and truly screwed. It’s also about freedom, real freedom, not the empty kind that gets thrown around as a buzzword; the freedom to live your life with the certainty that forces beyond your control won’t take away everything you have and everything you are. We don’t have that kind of freedom here in America, and Moore’s film makes that point by simply talking to real people. They’re your neighbors, your friends, your parents, some of them are even 9/11 heroes. Moore uses his camera to let them tell their stories of insurance company mistreatment and in the process paints a complete picture of a corrupt and fatally flawed system which isn’t just killing people but taking away their dignity and their liberty.

New favorite blogs

counterspinyc


ear candle productions, who reads the rude pundit so i don't have to:

... I reproduce this quote from one of his [rude pundit's] readers.

"For some few years I volunteered as an escort at Dr. Tiller’s and several other clinics. I didn’t know the good doctor well, but met with him on several occasions and was impressed with his kindness and the care he obviously felt for the women who needed his services.

"Of course I have been heartbroken by his assassination, but I’m not so full of hate towards his killer. I’ve seen too many of his kind on the lines; in fact I remember seeing him. We knew Mr. Roeder as 'Prom Queen' from the flowers he usually carried there, and the screaming fits he would throw when approached by escorts. He was one of many not-too-bright mentally ill recruited by various self-appointed fundie leaders who groomed them to scream the threats they themselves were so careful not to utter aloud.

"I’m pretty sure that he has been exploited again to shoot Dr. Tiller. I don’t know who is using him this time- when I saw him, he was in Troy Newman’s stable of nuts, but the fundie leaders are an incestuous bunch who tend to swap followers as needed.

"According to papers Roeder filed today, his possessions amount to a 16yr.-old Taurus and $10, and he only works occasionally at minimum-wage jobs. Yet he managed to finance several 400-mile round trips to Wichita from the KC area in the last month to case the church and know Dr. Tiller by sight, bought a handgun, gas and meals etc. Also, he asked- begged- for bail to be set today, despite his total lack of assets. Obviously, the poor bastard expects someone to post it, all of which leads me to believe that he is not the solitary nutcase the fundies claim he is.

"Somebody had to put him up to it, help him plan it and pay his expenses, and will now feed him to the sharks. Hopefully, and maybe with a bit of psych help, he will realize how he was used and name names."

While you're there, you can check out this movie review and this piece on this piece on Iran.

My new idol

The White House held its annual congressional picnic yesterday, and the star of the show was Sasha Obama for sinking chief of staff Rahm Emanuel in the dunking booth.

Yessss!

The House health care deform bill

here, and the summary of the public option FAIL.

via badtux

Clearly, this drug had to be stopped

RIP Andante

So long, and thanks for all the blogging.

[for reference]

Can't remember if I've linked to it before or not, but here's a nice description [from 1993, so some things have maybe changed] of the French health care system.

It's a guy thing, isn't it...

this standing up to pee?

Curmudgeon cat has always been a stand-up kinda guy, especially in the litter box. This has posed some problems, given that he won't go inside one of those enclosed litter boxes, and the high-sided boxes aren't generally built for a cat who likes to balance on the side of the box [standing up] rather than dirty his paws by touching the litter.

It took me a few tries, but I finally came up with an arrangement that works, except that it's a bit of a Rube Goldberg cat box, and since everyone likes a clean bathroom, curmudgeon cat can be counted on to jump into the clean box even before I can get it fully assembled again.

Which he did tonight. Cats.

This time, though, as I watched the puddle spread across the bathroom floor [thank ceiling cat for linoleum], it was with great joy mixed with only a little exasperation. Not long ago, curmudgeon cat's old-cat-itis [he's, best guess, about 18 or 19] turned from a creeping case to a galloping case, and in short order he went from being his own sofa cushion to downright skeletal, literally half the cat he used to be, and nothing the vet did seemed to help.

Every day I came home from work expecting to find a dead cat, and every night I wondered if I'd put it off too long and should have already taken him in for that final trip to the vet. And since things seemed worse at night, and since he was going to die anyway, I decided to stop the bedtime medication to see if his last days would be a little more comfortable. And lo, he was. So much so, that he perked up a bit. And so, I stopped all the other medications too, at which point he perked up even more.

He's been eating, drinking, pooping, peeing, grooming, purring, and talking up a storm for a couple of weeks now. And while he's still pitifully thin [the photo is from fatter days], his skin is clearing up and he's got enough strength back to jump from the floor to the counter top without any intermediary steps [though he still takes the easy way most times].

So, apparently his aging system can no longer handle any of the drugs he's been on for much of his life [he's always had that 'sensitive stomach' trouble, it's just worse now] and I've had to search ever further afield for food that doesn't make him throw up, and the new no more drugs policy means that the only defense left against his skin problems is frequent medicated baths [thank ceiling cat he actually likes baths]... all of which is a real pain, but golly gee whiskers I'm deliriously happy that he's going to stick around for a little longer.

I get mail

email, that is, from Bernie Sanders ---

Issue June 16, 2009 - http://sanders.senate.gov

A PETITION TO CONGRESS
Supporting Single-Payer Health Care

Our current private health insurance system is the most costly, wasteful, complicated and bureaucratic in the world. Today, 46 million people have no health insurance. Even more are underinsured with high deductibles and co-payments. Close to 20,000 Americans die each year because they don’t have regular access to a doctor.

The time is now for our nation to address the most profound moral and economic issue we face.

The time is now for our country to join the rest of the industrialized world and provide cost-effective, comprehensive quality health care to every man, woman and child in our country.

The time is now to take on the powerful special interests in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries and pass a single-payer national health care program.

• Sign the petition
• Tell Bernie your experience with health care and insurance.

"... [T]he Viscount Monckton of Brenchley

has calculated that Energy Secretary Chu’s modest proposal to paint all the world’s roads and rooftops white would cost $17 trillion this century, and would cut global temperature by just 0.2 Fahrenheit degrees..."

Yeah riiiight, like I'm gonna believe that dude can do math. Not.

Also, apparently he did this calculation per Rush Limbaugh's request.

[for reference]

The American Medical Student Association has a short primer on various countries' health care systems.



note to self: see if there's any follow-up to these comments--
1
2



dartmouth atlas mortality statistics

New favorite blogs

Ill and UNINSURED in Illinois, someone whose situation is even more dire than mine

The Peter Rost Blog, because how can you not like a drug company whistleblower who posts pictures like this?

i c dead peeps

[for reference]

draft of the kennedy bill

[for reference]

kff.org slides: medicaid

Rose Ann DeMoro is God

[for reference]

ghassan's trip to lebanon

[for reference]

"It is way worse than I thought it would be."

Right-wing tough guy talk show host Mancow [sorry, not gonna link] does the Christopher Hitchens:



and Keith Olbermann declares Sean Hannity unnecessary:



Veterans of Valor

Alan Grayson and the Progressive Economists

via

Apparently some of my crew have been daylighting while I've been at work

SINGLE PAYER NOW NOW NOW!

from the inbox:

Dear [hipparchia],

This week, Congress will make crucial decisions on two issues: single-payer health care and the widening war in Afghanistan/Pakistan.

1. Single Payer Health Care

On Monday, the for-profit health industry promised President Obama to cut costs by 1.5%, but we can only laugh.

For-profit insurers will always put profits first - ahead of Obama's cost-saving goals and ahead of our health care needs, even our lives.

The only serious way to reduce health care costs is to move from for-profit health insurance to a single-payer system like Medicare.

Thankfully, Rep. John Conyers has a serious single-player plan, H.R. 676, which has 75 co-sponsors. But we need 218 votes in the House to pass H.R. 676, so we must pressure every other Representative .

First, sign our petition and forward it to everyone you know who is sick of - or sick from - for-profit health insurance:
http://www.democrats.com/single-payer-petition

Then, if your Representative not a co-sponsor, call him/her at 202-224-3121 and demand to know why not.

Then tell the Senate Finance Committee to stop laughing at (and arresting!) single payer advocates like us, and put a single-payer plan "on the table":
http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum982.php

And if you're near Washington DC on Wednesday May 13, join Progressive Democrats of America in a Day of Action for Single-Payer Health Care:
http://pdamerica.org/articles/news/2009-05-11-12-29-05-news.php

2. The Widening War in Afghanistan/Pakistan (Af-Pak)

This week, Congress will vote on another $85 billion for Af-Pak and Iraq. But our careless bombing in Af-Pak is only making things worse. And there are horrifying new reports we used white phosphorus against civilians.

This week, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) will propose an amendment for an Afghanistan Exit Strategy. Please sign our new petition to your Representatives and Senators:
http://www.democrats.com/afghan-exit-petition

Thanks for all you do!

Bob Fertik

p.s. Thanks to Ed Schultz for asking fans of The Ed Show to sign our single-payer petition. Many of us love Ed's radio show, and now we can see him fight for working families every weekday at 6 p.m. ET on MSNBC. Visit:
http://WeGotEd.com

While you're at wegoted.com, vote no.

Flood MoveOn.org's Dr Dean email inbox

I get mail... from Democracy For America:

hipparchia -

Next week, Congress will begin making the actual decisions about what reforms will make it into this year's healthcare bill.

Our actions over the next few days and weeks will be critical in building the support we need to win.

Meanwhile, conservative groups have launched a new assault on inclusion of a public healthcare option like Medicare. Their million-dollar ad campaign claims that healthcare will be rationed and "bureaucrats" will "decide the treatments you receive." It's an old message that you and I know isn't true, but it will stick if we don't fight back with our message of Choice, Competition, and Comfort.*

So we're holding an emergency online briefing on Monday night with Governor Howard Dean, M.D. at 9pm Eastern to make sure we're all ready for the fight ahead. This is a joint Stand with Dr. Dean event hosted by MoveOn, one of our biggest campaign partners.

All you need to join in is a computer with speakers and an internet connection. Please join us.

Emergency Online Briefing with Dr. Dean Monday, May 4, 9pm Eastern

Hosted on MoveOn.org's web site

[...]

P.S. If you would like to share a personal healthcare horror story or submit a specific question for Dr. Dean before the event, you can do that by clicking here.

Every time DFA sends me an email, I reply asking them to unequivocally support single payer. Imagine my glee at being given the opportunity to fill up yet another email inbox with

HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676! HR 676!

I'm also planning to listen in on the forum, if RL doesn't intervene.

Meanwhile, some choice tidbits from the Stand with Dr Dean website FAQ [yes, I've, um, edited it a tad] --

MORE ON WHY WE NEED A PUBLIC OPTION

CHOICE

Americans deserve the right to choose their own healthcare. Congress must act to give Americans more choices for their personal healthcare by allowing universal availability of a public healthcare option like all of us to have an expanded and improved Medicare. Limiting choice to for-profit insurance or a quasi-public plan modeled on existing for-profit plansonly, is the same broken healthcare system we have right now.

COMPETITION

Capitalism thrives on competition. The more healthcare choices the American consumer has to choose from the harder the healthcare supplier will work to be chosen. [And when you can't beat the competition, you can always join them, or eat them.] A public healthcare option would bring new competition into the market without driving lower prices and incentives for better service and care.

COMFORT

There is no need to create something new or unfamiliar to the American people. Americans already know about for-profit insurance and they already know about Medicare. Medicare has been around for over 40 years. Most people know someone over the age of 65 already on Medicare. There is nothing new about Medicare and people are comfortable with it, now we need to make a public option like Medicare available to all Americans.

There, fixed it for ya, Dr Dean.

Meanwhile, as long as you're sitting at your computer, 1payer.net has a new fax flood campaign this weekend, this one to the Senate Finance committee.

If you haven't already sent them a few $$ to put Dr Jess on tv, you can do that here. The first Mike Farrell ad is on! Yay!

And if you've got a well-heeled group with money to burn, you can put Dr Jess on your local tv airwaves too!

12 cats a blanket do make

but I think somebody's got me beat:

Send faxes, faxes, and money! [update]

1. Help this video go viral:



2. Send a fax:

Baucus a few days ago: 'Everything BUT single payer is on the table. Single payer if off the table'

Pelosi: "In our caucus, over and over again, we hear single payer, single payer, single payer. Well, it's not going to be a single payer."

Pelosi's aide: "Where are the phone calls, e-mails and faxes in support of single-payer? Speaker Pelosi has been in favor of single-payer for a long time. Now make us do it."

Nancy Pelosi wants faxes? Fax her.

A copy of your efax will go to Nancy Pelosi, Dan Bernal (Legislative Aide to Representative Pelosi), Joel Segal (Aide to Representative Conyers), Senatory Max Baucus and The White Office of Health Reform.

3. Send them another fax.

Tell them to expand and improve Medicare.

Fill out the following form to send this letter and your comments as an electronic fax to the White House Office of Health Reform, Senator Edward Kennedy, Senator Max Baucus, Senator Chuck Grassley, Senator John D. Rockefeller, Representative Fortney H. "Pete" Stark.

4. Send them yet another fax.

Tell them to stop threatening Medicare and obstructing health care reform.

A copy of your eFax will go to Senator Baucus and the White House, too.

5. Send $$.

TODAY. Srsly. We need to get these ads on TV. If you can't afford to give them $50, round up 10 people to send $5 each.

6. after you've done all that, call the White House.

1-800-578-4171

Tell them Yes we do want single payer!

7. Sign the petition.

No more secret meetings with insurance companies!

8. Link, link, link.

Here's the Health Justice website. Here's their YouTube channel.

9. And Dr Jess will be on the radio too.

[thanks be to lambert]

--------------------------------------

YAY! [but keep sending faxes anyway]

WIPEOUT!! WE SUCCEEDED
By cnewhall on Sun, 04/26/2009 - 10:04pm

I am happy to tell you that as of 17.56.21 mst, the last remaining fax machine that was receiving gave up the ghost. It was the White House fax that lasted the longest and it was up again in an hour -- all set to receive the 514 more faxes that were queued for sending when it went down.

If you type "over the cliff, onto the rocks"

into Yahoo, the second hit in the list goes to this post and the third goes to this post.

So, my 15 seconds of fame rests on a rant to, about, and at the Democratic Party and the propagation of a mutating gene meme.

Life is good.

Hillary Clinton's 1995 speech on women's rights

text [and mp3]

NY Times article

Caturday blues

I have helper cats!

They help with the blogging...

...and with the vacuuming too!

Well... maybe not so much.

HR 676 Rally at the California health "reform" forum

Single Payer Rally April 6th 2009, Los Angeles, CA from Michelle Klein-Hass on Vimeo.

via

I've always said that Woman's Best Friend is a Big Black Dog

see more dog and puppy pictures

I'll take door #3

Now, if door #1 had been a weekend in New York with Hillary...

Friday cat blogging? whuzzat?

Well, this one is perfect, because I did just find the USB cable a couple of hours ago.





These have been sitting in the camera for awhile...

zzzzzzzzzzz...

wait... did you hear something?

catnip toyzzzzz!!!!!

[for reference]

We're all Keynesians now, but the neo-Malthusians were not wrong.

ELO, program for FFA 2009

Syngenta, video of Paul Krugman's speech at FFA 2009 [text]
nb: not sure i agree with him on the [non]impact of speculation on food prices, but he's right that it wasn't just a speculation bubble, we're in for more troubles. seriously scary stuff.

slides from Stephan Schulmeister's presentation

selected interviews:







more

statement from the FFA 2009

tangentially related: 50-year farm bill

more fabulous than you