Lets hope that Obama takes this as a learning experience.

 "He's waited and waited," Daschle said yesterday after
 meeting with the president. "He has indicated, much to
 the chagrin of people in his party, that virtually
 everything's on the table. And he's gotten almost
 nothing in return for it."

 A move by Democrats to seek a partisan bill may
 provoke a backlash from Republicans and weaken public
 support for the health-care overhaul, Obama's top
 domestic priority. It might also result in
 watered-down legislation.

 Former Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole told
 reporters earlier this summer that while he believed
 the Democrats could pass a bill on a party-line vote,
 it would be a mistake.

The lesson being that republicans are only interested in making
political points. They are not interested in non-partisanship at
all.

I hope you have learned this Mr. president and that it does not
turn out to be a hard lesson indeed.

C

It was customary for Master and Student go spend time
each day walking along the paths that wound through the
mountains around the monastery.  One day, while Master
and Student were out walking, they came upon a cliff
edge.  Master boldly stepped to the very edge of the
rock and gazed lovingly at the valley below and the
surrounding mountains.  He then turned to Student, who
was standing quite safely back from the edge of the
cliff, and said "Come closer so that you can see the
beauty that is all around us."

"No thank you Master," replied the student nervously.
"I can see quite well from here."

"Nonsense," said Master.  "You must come closer."

"But I may fall.  Please Master, I am afraid."

"Trust me," said Master.  "I would not ask you to do
anything that would harm you.  Now come closer."

Slowly the student edged toward the cliff.  As he
reached the edge, Master smiled and put his arm around
Student.  "There," said the Master.  "Is it not a
beautiful view?"

"Yes, Master," admitted Student.  "It is quite
beautiful.  I did not know the valley was so far below
our monastery.  It is quite a drop to the valley
below."

"It is not so far," replied Master.  "Here at this
cliff you need but take a single step to reach the
valley floor."

"But Master," insisted Student.  "The drop from here is
great. If I stepped out here, I would surely die from
the fall."

"You will learn that the distance between life and
death is but a single step," Master told him.  "Our
life is one long series of steps.  We go through life,
step over step until one day we die.

"Each step brings us great joy and adventure as well as
the possibility of death.  But you can not simply stand
still in fear of meeting death upon the road.  Walk
boldly along the path of life.  Enjoy the wonders that
are there for us all to see. So that when the day comes
when you you do meet death, you will know that you have
not shrunk from life, but embraced it.

How many of us go through life in our protective cocoons ?
Feeling safe and secure. Some with cocoons made of money
only to find that money does not really protect as well as we
had thought. Causing the cocoon to unravel and expose us to
the world.

Or we make our cocoons out of nice pictures of the world the way
we want it to be. Like a soap bubble it reflects our view of the world
back at us. Giving the illusion of safety. But bubbles break and once
again we are exposed to reality.

Then there are those who build cocoons like a fortress. Thinking if
we use force and might, that no one can enter. But all fortresses
have a week spot and once again reality gets in.

Or do we except life on it's own terms and enjoy the beauty and wonder
it provides.

Most of us fall somewhere in between. Peeking out once in a while
to see if the coast is clear.

"But it is not your own Shire. Others dwelt here before Hobbits.
 Others will dwell here when Hobbits are no more. You can fence
 yourself in...but you cannot for ever fence the wild world out."
Gildor Inglorion


C

From Larry Flint ? Oh you betch ya.

The problem with bankers is longstanding. Here's
what one of our Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson,
had to say about them:

    "If the American people ever allow private
banks to control the issuance of their currency,
first by inflation, and then by deflation, the
banks and the corporations that will grow up around
them will deprive the people of all property until
their children wake up homeless on the continent
their father's conquered."


We all know that the first American Revolution
officially began in 1776, with the Declaration of
Independence. Less well known is that the single
strongest motivating factor for revolution was the
colonists' attempt to free themselves from the Bank
of England. But how many of you know about the
second revolution, referred to by historians as
Shays' Rebellion? It took place in 1786-87, and
once again the banks were the cause. This time they
were putting the screws to America's farmers.

Daniel Shays was a farmer in western Massachusetts.
Like many other farmers of the day, he was being
driven into bankruptcy by the banks' predatory
lending practices. (Sound familiar?) Rallying other
farmers to his side, Shays led his rebels in an
attack on the courts and the local armory. The
rebellion itself failed, but a message had been
sent: The bankers (and the politicians who
supported them) ultimately backed off. As Thomas
Jefferson famously quipped in regard to the
insurrection: "A little rebellion now and then is a
good thing. The tree of liberty must be refreshed
from time to time with the blood of patriots and
tyrants."

Perhaps it's time to consider that option once
again.

To which I say he maybe right. Once again the American
people are being fleeced in a shell game by both parties -
pawns of Wall Street and the elite.

C

Remember all those meetings Obama had with the CEOs of the
health insurance industry, big pharma and the health car industry ?

Love him or hate him, Ralf Nader does.

RALPH NADER: What is emerging here is what was
being planned by the Obama White House all along,
which is they would only-they would only demand
legislation that was accepted by the big drug
companies and the big health insurance companies.

You can see this emerging over the last few months.
President Obama has met with the heads of the drug
companies and the health insurance companies. Some
executives have met with President Obama four to
five times in the White House in the last few
months. He has never met with the longtime leaders
of the "Full Medicare for Everybody" movement,
including Dr. Quentin Young, who is a close friend
of his in Chicago; Dr. Sidney Wolfe, the head of
the Health Research Group of Public Citizen; Rose
Ann DeMoro, the leader of the fast-growing
California Nurses Association-not once in the White
House.

That's all you need to know to realize that the
deal that's being cut here is from Obama to Senator
Baucus, the Blue Dog senator from Montana, who is
cutting a deal, largely in private, with right-wing
Republican senators and getting it through the
Senate and presenting Henry Waxman and John Dingle
and others in the House with a fait accompli. So
whatever they pass in the House will be watered
down in the Senate-House conference. And what we'll
end up with is another patchwork piece of
legislation, allowing huge and expanded profits for
the health insurance companies and the drug
companies, and continuing this pay-or-die system
that has plagued this country for decades, a system
that takes 20,000 lives a year, according to the
Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of
Sciences. That's about fifty to sixty people who
die every day.

The big mistake that the Obama administration made
was they did not have continual public
congressional hearings documenting the greed, the
fraud, the $250 billion in billing fraud and abuse
alone that the GAO years ago has documented. They
didn't document the $350 billion of waste, the
overhead of Aetna and UnitedHealthcare and other
health insurance companies with their massive
executive salaries and bureaucracies. They did not
document the deaths, the injuries, the sickness
that hundreds of thousands of Americans go through
every year because they can't afford healthcare.
And by not doing that, by playing this
behind-the-scenes game with these executives from
the big health-industrial complex, they were
vulnerable to the split in their own party in the
House, with the Blue Dog Democrats emboldened by an
apparently wavering and indecisive President Obama,
and they made sure that they were placed on the
defensive.

And, Amy, when you're on the defensive in a battle
like this, with all these right-wing websites and
Swift-boat-type people filling town hall meetings
around the country, it's very hard to get back on
the offense. And when you're cutting deals, as
Obama is, with these big corporations, you will
never focus the public attention on the sources of
the abuse and cruelty.

AMY GOODMAN: Ralph Nader, President Obama is going
to be in Montana today. Democracy Now!, we traveled
through Helena, Missoula, Bozeman, other parts of
Montana in April. There was a very strong
progressive healthcare movement, healthcare
activists, throughout Montana. But the senator who
really is in charge of this healthcare reform, Max
Baucus from Montana, let's just say wasn't their
hero. The Montana Standard reported he's received
more campaign money from health and insurance
industry interests than any other member of
Congress in the past six years. Nearly a fourth of
every dime raised by Baucus and his political
action committee has come from groups and
individuals associated with drug companies,
insurers, hospitals, medical supply companies, and
other health professionals. The significance of
this?

RALPH NADER: Well, the significance is that Obama
is being undermined by his own party in Congress,
because the Blue Dogs are getting far more money
from these corporations and campaign contributions
than the so-called liberals in the Democratic
Party.

But, you see, I say "undermined"-I'm not quite sure
that Obama is objecting to this. He has set the
whole atmosphere of catering to these giant
corporations. He has made every mistake that the
Clintons made in 1993, '94 with their health
insurance plan, except that he's leaving Michelle
Obama out of it. He's made every mistake.

You do not cut deals with the system that has to be
replaced, which is the health insurance system and
the monster costs imposed by the drug corporations,
all of which are getting huge taxpayer subsidies,
by the way.

So, what Obama failed to do, because he's never
done it when he was campaigning, he did not pay
adequate and due regard to the folks that brung him
to the White House. He has not mobilized the
progressive base in this country. He has not done
anything but, you know, humor the labor unions. And
as a result, he doesn't have a base out there.

You point quite clearly to, or you imply, that
there a lot of people for a single payer, a full
Medicare-for-All system. And that's true. Every
poll has shown a majority of the American people,
majority of doctors, majority of nurses, are for
the single-payer system.

So why isn't the President of the United States,
who was elected in large part by these same people,
why isn't he representing them in Congress and in
the White House? Because he is not a transforming
leader. He is a harmony ideology person. He's a
concessionary person. He wants any bill with the
label "health insurance reform" on it, no matter
what. He's not even willing to draw the line and
say there will be no bill, I will veto any bill
that doesn't have a vigorous public option, not a
phony public option that will allow-that will allow
people to be dumped into the public option when
they're the sickest and leave the healthiest people
for the profiteering insurance companies.

Yes I know....there is little love loss between progressives
and Nader. But what he says here is probably very close
to the truth.

If you want to win the war, you do not begin by negotiating
with the enemy.

C

This should come as no surprise. It seems that not just those so called
sub-prime mortgages are not being payed, but also the AAA rated prime
loans as well.

When does the willful blindness in terms of bank
fraud taking place daily in the so-called "marks"
on housing-related loans stop?

The Mortgage Bankers Association released its
latest update:

  The non-seasonally adjusted delinquency rate
  increased 64 basis points from 8.22 percent in the
  first quarter of 2009 to 8.86 percent this
  quarter.

and

   The delinquency rate includes loans that are at
   least one payment past due but does not include
   loans somewhere in the process of foreclosure.
   The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process
   at the end of the second quarter was 4.30 percent,
   an increase of 45 basis points from the first
   quarter of 2009 and 155 basis points from one year
   ago. The combined percentage of loans in
   foreclosure and at least one payment past due was
   13.16 percent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis,
   the highest ever recorded in the MBA delinquency
   survey.

That's right folks.  That means that of all
mortgage loans 13.16% are not in "accrual" status
- that is, they're not performing in that interest
and principal are not being paid.  This is no
longer about "subprime" - it is now all about
prime loans; the claim that this was going to be
"contained' is now proved false.

That our banks are not being forced to take the
marks associated with these delinquencies is an
outrage.  It is the cause of the FDIC's losses, it
is the cause of our credit system remaining locked
up, and it is the cause of our continued moribund
economy, as without a functioning credit system
there can be no actual economic recovery.

These institutions are being protected by our
Congress and the willful, intentional blindness of
The Federal Reserve, FDIC, OTS and OCC.

I'm shocked...SHOCKED..to hear of such a thing. Recovery ?
What recovery...

C

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) lays it out in not uncertain terms.

"If the president thinks he's cutting a deal to
get Senate votes, he's probably losing House
votes," Weiner warned during an interview on CNBC
this morning.

The liberal New York Democrat said that healthcare
reform would be essentially meaningless without
having a public option made available for
consumers.

Obama administration officials had subtly signaled
during the Sunday morning talk show circuit that
they may relent on their desired public option in
favor of establishing healthcare cooperatives, an
issue on which centrist Democrats and Republicans
have expressed some semblance of agreement.

"If he says, 'Well, we're not going to have that,'
then I'm not really quite sure what we're doing
here anymore," Weiner said.

What will come this I do not know. But there maybe a show down.
Let's hope Obama chooses correctly.

That being said - the only way we will actually bring the costs
down is when the government takes over some (not all)
aspects of health-care. The basics, and removes the incentives
for those who enter the field only for the money with little
regard for the patient.

C

Good old Paul Krugman lays it out again.

Besides being vile and stupid, however, the
editorial was beside the point. Investor's
Business Daily would like you to believe
that Obamacare would turn America into
Britain - or, rather, a dystopian fantasy
version of Britain. The screamers on talk
radio and Fox News would have you believe
that the plan is to turn America into the
Soviet Union. But the truth is that the
plans on the table would, roughly speaking,
turn America into Switzerland - which may
be occupied by lederhosen-wearing
holey-cheese eaters, but wasn't a socialist
hellhole the last time I looked.

Let's talk about health care around the
advanced world.

Every wealthy country other than the United
States guarantees essential care to all its
citizens. There are, however, wide
variations in the specifics, with three
main approaches taken.

In Britain, the government itself runs the
hospitals and employs the doctors. We've
all heard scare stories about how that
works in practice; these stories are false.
Like every system, the National Health
Service has problems, but over all it
appears to provide quite good care while
spending only about 40 percent as much per
person as we do. By the way, our own
Veterans Health Administration, which is
run somewhat like the British health
service, also manages to combine quality
care with low costs.

Yes we must be careful of those Swiss, you know the
people who hide all the money of insurance CEOs
(among others) from the IRS.  Bad...bad...bad.

I have said it before and I'll say it again and again,
corporate insurance is not unlike the protection
rackets. And unlike health insurance, at least when
the protection goons break your legs - you can get
them tended too.

C

        "The master in the art of living makes little
          distinction between his work and his play, his
         labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his
         information and his recreation, his love and his
         religion. He hardly knows which is which. He
         simply pursues his vision of excellence at
         whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether
         he is working or playing. To him he's always doing
         both." - James A. Michener

      "Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work
         with love but only distaste, it is better that
        you should leave your work and sit at the gate of
        the temple and take alms of those who work with
        jpy." - Kahlil Gibran

How many of us are truly happy with our lives ? Or do we
just stumble along blaming our current situation on :
{Pick one}
* Our parents.
* Society
* The government [A biggie]
* Our teachers.
* The competition [Another biggie] 
And on and on.

     "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
      But in ourselves, that we are underlings."
     Julies Caesar Act I Scene I

That the reason that our lives do not measure up maybe because
of something we are responsible for.  That we - ourselves - have
made some decisions that were not wise. Yet we carry on and blame
and blame. "if only my taxes were not so high.." "if only had gotten
the brakes I deserve."  etc.

How many people live lives of anger and resentment refusing to
look at their part or take the risk of moving out of their current
situation. Like a spouse in an abusive relationship. Because staying
is safer and more comfortable than leaving.

Not all of us are cut out to be executives or teachers or nurses or
engineers or lawyers or business owners. But we stay - rationalizing
our decision to do so. "The money is good." "It looks good on my resume."
"This is an important job." "it;s a very secure position" - using greed and
ego and what ever as our excuse.  Or maybe our expectations for
life and carrier were vastly out of whack. 

So people get pissed off and resentful when anybody threatens our lives -
lives that we resent anyway.  And sometimes we even take our resentment
out on others. "my live sucks...so yours should too"

"Of course I hate my job. And you'll hate yours too. That's normal damn it !"
Mark Slackmeyer's father - Doonesbury

But is it ? I know that sometimes we have to make compromises in our
life choices. But that does not mean giving up or caving it.

It's far easier to sit an blame other people or forces for our problems.
All the while being pissed of sitting in our own lousy puddle.



C

But of course this story won't be told here.

Christine Smith arrived at 3am in the hope of
seeing a dentist for the first time since she
turned 18. That was almost eight years ago. Her
need is obvious and pressing: 17 of her teeth are
rotten; some have large visible holes in them. She
is living in constant pain and has been unable to
eat solid food for several years.

"I had a gastric bypass in 2002, but it went
wrong, and stomach acid began rotting my teeth.
I've had several jobs since, but none with medical
insurance, so I've not been able to see a dentist
to get it fixed," she told The Independent. "I've
not been able to chew food for as long as I can
remember. I've been living on soup, and noodles,
and blending meals in a food mixer. I'm in
constant pain. Normally, it would cost $5,000 to
fix it. So if I have to wait a week to get treated
for free, I'll do it. This will change my life."

Along the hall, Liz Cruise was one of scores of
people waiting for a free eye exam. She works for
a major supermarket chain but can't afford the
$200 a month that would be deducted from her
salary for insurance. "It's a simple choice: pay
my rent, or pay my healthcare. What am I supposed
to do?" she asked. "I'm one of the working poor:
people who do work but can't afford healthcare and
are ineligible for any free healthcare or
assistance. I can't remember the last time I saw a
doctor."

Although the Americans spend more on medicine than
any nation on earth, there are an estimated 50
million with no health insurance at all. Many of
those who have jobs can't afford coverage, and
even those with standard policies often find it
doesn't cover commonplace procedures. California's
unemployed - who rely on Medicaid - had their
dental care axed last month.

Julie Shay was one of the many, waiting to slide
into a dentist's chair where teeth were being
drilled in full view of passers-by. For years, she
has been crossing over the Mexican border to get
her teeth done on the cheap in Tijuana. But
recently, the US started requiring citizens
returning home from Mexico to produce a passport
(previously all you needed was a driver's
license), and so that route is now closed. Today
she has two abscesses and is in so much pain she
can barely sleep. "I don't have a passport, and I
can't afford one. So my husband and I slept in the
car to make sure we got seen by a dentist. It
sounds pathetic, but I really am that desperate."

"You'd think, with the money in this country, that
we'd be able to look after people's health
properly," she said. "But the truth is that the
rich, and the insurance firms, just don't realise
what we are going through, or simply don't care.
Look around this room and tell me that America's
healthcare don't need fixing."

Yes....look around. Visit an ER and see the people who cannot
afford to get medical attention until they are very ill. But then
these people are not white and rich so they don't count. And
the rest of the world knows it too.

C