This is the best, most succinct argument I've seen for doing the right thing on healthcare.  It's far more honest than any of the garbage coming out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or Capitol Hill.  It isn't long and it's the truth.  But don't take it from me.  Take a look for yourself.

Go here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbO022f92SA&feature=player_embedded

Getting prominent play all over the net and all over the nation today is AP's latest contribution to distorting the issues in the healthcare debate.  Today's distorted, one-sided and thoroughly misleading insurance industry propaganda piece was written by someone named Calvin Woodward.  The article is running under the misleading heading "Fact Check" on Yahoo.  It can be found here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_bi_ge/us_fact_check_health_insurance

A better heading for the article should have been "Selective Fact Check".  In it, whore Woodward puts forward the industry argument that health insurance companies do not, in fact, make obscene profits.  We all know how badly maligned the health insurance companies are don't we?  You remember them don't you?  They are the heartless assholes that routinely find reasons not to pay insurance claims so they can just keep their heads above water and stay in business right?  They are the people driving a million American families every year into bankruptcy because they can't pay the medical bills and most of them have insurance.  So we all recognize just how unfairly the insurance industry has been treated when critics point out that the profits they make are obscene.

First, let me be clear, the fact that they are profiting AT ALL is obscene and immoral, but let's set that aside for the moment.

Whore Woodward claims on behalf of his patrons in the insurance industry that when one compares the percentage of profit the health insurance parasites reap annually to other industries they don't reall make all that much.  In point of fact, Whore Woodward insists that the profits of the parasites, far from being obscene, are quite modest.

This is, of course, just what one would expect of a whore and particularly a cheap whore who performs the service the client wants for no quid pro quo but simply to foist their own poorly informed opinion on the public.  Anyone with half a lick of sense knows that comparing the percentage of profit of one industry to another is a completely bogus comparison.  Exxon tried to put forth the same dodge when it was racking up record profits just a couple of years ago.  Despite the billions they were raking in just on profit the rapacious oil company tried to claim that because the percentage of profit vs all the money they took in wasn't all that high, that somehow they were then not gouging consumers worldwide.  In that case, as in the present case, since they were sitll in the midst of screwing the public, the public wasn't dumb enough to believe such transparent bullshit.

Whore Woodward claims on behalf of the insurance parasites that compared to other industries the percentage of profits just aren't that big and so the profits couldn't be obscene!  So let's look at just a few insurance companies and the proft they made last year--after taxes:

Wellpoint:  $2.49 Billion

Humana:    $647.15 Million

Aetna:        $1.38 Billion

And that is just the profit reported for three of the bigger insurance companies.  These profits are also what's left after the excessive compensation doled out to their executives and all the other overhead it takes to keep denying claims efficiently.  That these numbers represent only a small fraction of total dollars taken in by the insurance parasites doesn't change the magnitude of the actual amount of money we're talking about one whit!  These profits are indeed obscene given that we have millions who go without healthcare in this country and millions more that pay outrageous sums in premiums that don't adequately cover their medical expenses.  Think how much money would be saved if we simply eliminated these parasites and their companies altogether!  We would have huge amounts of money to put toward actual healthcare.  What a novel idea huh?  A healthcare system that eliminated profit in order to provide more and better care to everyone.  But, God forbid we should discuss that eh?

That Whore Woodward's piece was an excercise in pure pro-insurance industry propaganda being falsey peddled as an objective analysis is not something that informed people will fall for.  However, the group most likely to fall for this transparent bullshit are... other corporate journalists who slavishly reprint what the AP provides them as though it were, in fact, objective when it clearly is not.  This is a blatant and disgusting example of how the AP has whored it's entire operation to the corporate masters of our economy and how it has destroyed it's once vaunted status as a neutral reporter of facts.  There are many, many other examples of the AP shilling for power and wealth in the past year or two and they should no longer be allowed to get away with doing that without being called on the carpet for it.

I just saw a AP news item here on TPM announcing with the following headline:  "Goldman Exec Named First COO of SEC Enforcement."  You can find the article here: 

 http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/10/goldman_exec_named_first_coo_of_sec_enforcement.php?ref=fpa

For those of you who didn't realize how rotten the appointments of Summers and Geithner by Obama to the Obama administration were, I would think this ought to finally open your eyes.  Of course this was not a direct Presidential appointment so the Obama apologists will say since he didn't personally make the appointment, blah, blah, blah...  No President who would allow these thieves to be in charge and allow this sort of thing to come to pass after they and their buddies wrecked the economy, can claim to be a friend of the common citizen.  No friggin way!

This was a very important and politically sensitive appointment.  Due to the corrupt nature of the appointment it is no surprise the announcement is made on a Friday aftternoon.

Goldman Sachs is the most corrupt, monopolistic big investment bank on Wall Street.  Goldman Sachs, along with it's former Chairman engineered the first heist of taxpayer money to cover the bad debts of the crooks on Wall Street.  Goldman Sachs' butt boys Summers and Geithner have been managing the remainder of the heist.  The last person who should be heading up an office like this is someone who works for Goldman Sachs.  It could not be more obvious that the Obama administration is not serious about enforcement or curbing the criminal fraud that brought this nation to it's knees when they appoint a Goldman Sachs executive to this key position.  The conflicts among people like Summers and Geithner, et al are extraordinarily glaring and this new appointee is no different.  But in some respects this is even worse given the central importance this position will have in preventing the sort of criminal irresponsibility Wall Street is so famous for.  I wonder how big this fella's bonus was last year and how big it was this year?

By far, President Obama's worst moves have been the appointment of Summers and Geithner and their "work" since January to service the criminals who brought about our economic collapse and rig the game once more for the despicable leaders of Wall Street are enough to turn the stomach of any decent, law abiding, tax paying citizen.  There ought to be a revolt over this transparent move to protect the interests of Wall Street while claiming to reign in abuses.  It's sickening.  But as we already knew, this crowd of crooked bankers has no shame. 

It is at times when I hear of stunts like this that I pray to God that hell is real and painful because I know that these guys are going there.  It's too bad our President isn't protecting the interests of the people on such matters.  It is going to haunt the nation for years to come as a result of the predictable negligence and insider's influence that will no doubt characterize the performance of this office's responsibilities in the coming months and years.  It will also haunt whatever legacy the President hopes to leave.

Is it really all that big a surprise that its own greed got the best of the insurance industry causing them to agressively criticize the Baucus Caucus Insurance Subsidy bill?  Despite being handed tens of millions of new customers and the billions in profits that means to them, the insurance companies seem to be having cold feet when it comes to health insurance reform.  Remember, we gave up health "care" reform a long time ago.

I've heard several "experts" speculate already that this signals that the insurance industry as a whole has gotten cold feet and they will try to kill the reform effort altogether.  Of course the first reaction of any progressive is naturally to start thinking about how to stop them from scuttling the efforts of Congress when we are this close to the end of the process.  But ya know what?  I'm not sure that scuttling the tortured morass of industry protections, subsidies and other favors that we are being asked to swallow is all that bad and I'll tell ya why.

We all agree, even the President agrees, that we ought to have a single payer health care system in the United States.  It is only because of the President's unwise decision to take the best option off the table that it hasn't been seriously discussed this year.  Instead, we have had to swallow mouthful after mouthful of rotten half measures that will neither cover the entire population nor do a great deal to reduce healthcare costs in the long run.  All this was done to placate and buy the support of the insurance industry and their fellow travelers in obscene profit at the expense of the sick.  The insurance industry has been kept in line up until today with the prospect of all those millions of new customers and profits subsidized by taxpayers.  But their greed just won't let them stay in line.  And good for them!  I think it's important that they show their true colors to the American people.  They are about profit for themselves and nothing else and the people need to be fully aware of that.

If the insurance industry turns the screws here in the coming weeks they will likely be able to kill the entire effort of the many committees of Congress and the White House and the various interest groups that have been lobbying their little $400/hour hearts out all year long to come up with a dog of a bill featuring the onerous mandated insurance subsidy scheme.  And when they kill reform what should the response be from the President and the progressives in Congress be? 

My suggestion is that they should respond to this as a call to arms.  They should respond to the perfidy of the insurance industry as a declaration of war that must be answered.  My suggestion is that the response be a full court press for Medicare for All!

All year long, despite refusing to even discuss single payer, the President and the Democrats have been accused of favoring a single payer system.  They have weathered the storm of criticism.  They have managed to counter all the claims of the Republicans and their allies in the insurance and related industries that are sucking the life out of our economy for their own profit. 

So since Democrats are being accused of wanting Medicare for All I say the President and the progressives in Congress go balls to the wall for just that come January.  The timorous corporate Democrats cowering at their wine and cheese parties and at their elegant dinners in Georgetown would shriek in terror at the very thought.  The oh so wise and serious mavens of our insular and out of touch Capitol City would declare the Democrats crazy and perhaps even suicidal.  And perhaps they would be.  But I think not. 

We would, however, for the first time have a proposal we could all get behind that is everything the malodorous beast moving through Congress right now is not.  Medicare for All is simple.  It is easy to explain and to understand.  It is the best plan for our nation and achieves the greatest savings possible while covering everyone.  And on top of it all it can be relatively quickly and easily implemented because the system is already working efficiently and equitably for millions of our seniors.  The Medicare for All legislation could take effect (even if passed in 2010) long before the garbage they are now debating would ever begin to take effect! 

By championing Medicare for All, our candidates would have an energized population behind them.  Remember, a majority of Americans support a single payer system already even though most of our leaders have been too timid and cowardly to fight openly for it with the exception of a few brave souls like the late, great Teddy Kennedy and a handful of others in Congress.  What the Democrats would also have, for the first time, would be the strategic advantage politically.  They could go on the offensive and stay on the offensive making the issue of Medicare for All the line in the sand that would define American politics favorably for Democrats for the next 50 years just as Social Security has done for the last 70 years.  And when they do this, the President should push for quick action on Medicare for All so that two things could happen.  First, citizens across the land would find out where their members of Congress stand on the issue of Medicare for All and if they don't support it, primary opponents who favor it could be found.  And second, for the Republicans, their Democratic challengers could bludgeon them day and night through Election Day in November and possibly even defy the odds by knocking off some Republican incumbents and actually increasing the majority Democrats have in both houses in an off year election despite it being midway through the term of a President of their own party.

If, just for once, the Democrats in Washington DC would have the courage of their convictions, if they would just stand up and really fight for what is right, the American public would back them up.  But that is clearly the toughest part of the task... getting the pathetically cowardly DC Democrats to stand up and fight for anything let alone the most important thing they could possibly fight for: the health of their constituents and the simultaneous rescue of millions of small businesses while making American corporations competitive once again with foreign companies who already have government run, single payer systems.

The wimpy Democrats of DC would, of course, need to learn how to actually stand for something but they could take lessons in having balls and backbone from a few of the more courageous members of Congress like House members Grayson, Weiner, Kaptur, Kucinich and Conyers.  They might even get a few tips on standing up for what you believe in from Senator Brown of Ohio.

So, despite the huge obstacle of Democratic spinelessness in Washington that has plagued us now for a generation that remains my suggestion: come back in January and make Medicare for All the singular priority of the Congress. 

Be relentless in demanding Medicare for All.  Let the President forcefully denounce (if he can bring himself to do it) the insurance industry and the other parasites that killed the bill in 2009.  Let him actually lead us in an effort for demonstrably real change of the kind we elected him to pursue!  Let our progressive Democrats lead a vigorous populist assault against the corporate greed of big pharma and big insurance, et al.  Make Medicare for All the litmus test for everyone running for Congress in 2010. 

If we lose, we are better off, in my opinion, and certainly no worse off than we would be if we get saddled with the rotten bills going through Congress this year.  But, if we lose we will have at least defined the debate on our terms now and forever and we know it is only a matter of time before we do pass Medicare for All because it is a necessity for our people and our economy.  And even if we don't get it passed in 2010 the people will finally be able to have some respect for the Democratic Party once again as a party that fights for what it believes in and that also fights for the interests of the common man and woman in America: even when it is hard.

So for now I say to the insurance industry go for it!  Do your thing!  Kill that rotten insurance subsidy scheme and show the people how truly ugly and worthless you really are so they'll never forget it.  Set the stage for progress by showing your true character, you reprehensible parasites, so we can finally do what should have been done 60 years ago. 

Bring it on baby!

While the media is doing a full court press to aid and abet the Military Industrial Complex's demand for escalating the war in Afghanistan it is increasingly clear that what they are demanding is an excercise in futility.  Instead of bending to the will of the Washington establishment that demanded the illegal invasion of Iraq which necessitated failing to get the job done in Afghanistan when it could be done, the President needs to tell the Pentagon, their contractors, their bought and paid for enablers in Congress, and the all war all the time wing of the corporate media it is time to plan and implement a scaling back and eventual withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

Why should we do this when practically every very serious person in Washington and in the media is telling us we must at least stay there forever, but moreover we must dramatically escalate the war if we hope to "win"?  Several reasons, all of them quite sound.

First, not one soul in the warmongering chorus coming out of DC can tell us what victory is, how long it will take to accomplish, how much it will cost us or what we could possibly hope to gain by it.  That, it would seem to me, is a real problem.  But it isn't a problem for the media or the warmongering cheerleaders of Washington.  It makes no sense at all to support escalating a war, the costs or aims of which, cannot be justified. 

Second, the same people demanding endless war in Afghanistan are the same very serious and smart people who also demanded we invade Iraq based upon lies.  The folly of the Iraq war, not to mention it's illegality and immorality, is apparent for all to see.  Why it is that the same nitwits who insisted on the benefits of invading Iraq are not thoroughly discredited and ignored now is beyond me.  The insistence of the isolated and out of touch warmongers of Washington on remaining in Afghanistan is no reason for thoughtful citizens not to look at the facts and ignore those whose bad judgement and shortsighted lust for blood got us into Iraq.

Third, we simply cannot afford to stay at war.  Our nation is virtually bankrupt.  This is not because of the stimulus bill, it is because of the outrageous and irresponsible combination of waging two wars simultaneously while also cutting the taxes of the rich by trillions of dollars these past ten years.  This idiocy on the part of the very serious and smart people who run our government, our corporate media and economy has nearly ruined our nation's once unchallenged economic superiority.  The combination of the wars and tax cuts with the thievery and fraud (still completely unpunished) conducted by the largest banking institutions on Wall Street have brought our nation to it's knees and caused a modern depression (yes, that's what it is and it's time to face up to it) that threatens the future stability and prosperity of our country.  We cannot afford to waste money, as we have been doing, on these imperial wars when our economy has collapsed and when as many millions of our people are suffering as there are suffering now.  Again, I point the reader to the up to date numbers on what the two pointless imperial wars are costing us.  Go here to see how obscene the cost of imperial war really is and ask yourself if anything the oh so serious and wise people on tv are talking about is worth this pricetag: http://www.costofwar.com/  As I write this the total appraoches a trillion dollars and is relentlessly increasing.  And by the way, it's all borrowed money for which we'll get absolutely no return as we would doing almost anything else with it.  When you look at the numbers, consider how much good that money could have done here at home in myriad ways including but not limited to how useful it would be and what a difference it would make if applied to healthcare or education just to name two vitally important areas of concern to our people.

Fourth, for the amount of money we've spent, we could have built a new Afghanistan instead of destroying it.  Just as an example, we could have bribed every citizen of Afghanistan into ceasing opium production and disarming themeselves. Everyone has their price and we could have bought off the Taliban's soldiers and paid the tribes to lay down their arms.  We could have built factories to employ the people, we could have built schools to educate them, hospitals to care for them, we could have done an endless amount of positive nation building.  Instead, we choose to try and blast and maime and kill them until they behave.  That's just plain nuts.  We could have made everyone in that poor nation rich beyond their dreams with all the money we have wasted on killing and destruction.  When the cost of war is far in excess of the cost of peacefully buying off the population, what the hell are we really doing?  Realizing there's not a chance in hell for our policy makers to use the money they are wasting on death for peaceful and productive purposes, we need to get out and demand they stop wasting all those funds.

Fifth, and perhaps most importantly, the people are already opposed to our continued involvement in Afghanistan.  The people, once again, are smarter than the leaders and have realized there's no victory to be had in that war.  It is time to bring the troops home not to send more into the slaughterhouse.  The most surreal aspect of all the brouhaha the past couple of weeks about what to do in Afghanistan has been the complete lack of mention that a majority of our citizens oppose the war and want it to end.  How stupid and arrogant are our leaders?  It boggles the mind.

Sixth, if our objective is to keep the Taliban and Al Qaeda in check, we can certainly do so by any number of less expensive means and with fewer soldiers.  Isn't that what all our war technology, air superiority, drones, etc... is all about?  Escalating the war and ocupying Afghanistan for an undetermined length of time is not the only option we have for achieving the stated objectives.  But, imperialists demand occupation and control of territory and cannot conceive of other options.  Yet, scaling back is the area in which we have real options that are both effective in achieving the desired outcomes and far less expensive than attempting to win an unwinnable war.

The very smart and serious people who clamor for escalating the war are not smart enough after 8 long years of futility to have learned there's nothing to "win" in Afghanistan.  I am unwilling to see anyone else's sons or daughters go to their death, be wounded, maimed, permanently traumatized, etc... just because of the stupidity of our leaders and their refusal to admit they cannot win.  I am also unwilling to endorse the further murder of the many Afghan civilians who will necessarily die if we remain there and escalate the war.  I am in the majority on this question yet the majority and I appear to have no voice in Washington.  It's time for that to come to an end.  Is that the change we voted for?

So, for all these reasons and more we, as citizens need to stop listening to the idiots who have gotten us into the disasterous imperial wars, nearly bankrupted the government, and brought our economy to it's knees.  They need to start listening to us.  We need to make it clear to them that we do not approve of their imperialist aims, that we will not tolerate endless war and that we have far more important priorities here at home like our children and their economic future just to name one important priority.

The President is the only official elected by all the people.  He alone represents the nation as a whole.  More than anything else we must demand that the President not give in to the clamor for escalation and endless war.  Mr. President we want you to wind up the war effort in Afghanistan and bring it to an end.   Quit wasting our money on a gold plated imperial military and return the focus of our government to the very serious problems we have here at home. 

Following up on his one hour Special Comment on Wednesday evening, Keith Olbermann announced on Thursday's edition of Countdown that he will donate $50,000.00 of his own money to the National Association of Free Clinics.  An impressive examply of putting one's money where one's mouth is.  Hats off once again to Keith Olbermann for his leadership!

The donation is so the National Association of Free Clinics can put the funds toward conducting free clinics in the states of the six Democrats who have not committed toward voting for cloture to prevent a Republican led filibuster of Healthcare Reform Legislation. 

The Shameful Six are:

Nelson of Nebraska

Lincoln and Pryor of Arkansas

Baucus of Montana

Landrieu of Louisiana

Reid of Nevada

Wednesday's special comment was a very compelling and well done piece... one of Olbermann's best efforts to date.  His generous donation goes a long way toward making the free clinics a reality in those five states.  But these things are obviously expensive and even with a big donation of this kind more money is going to be needed to pull these clinics off.  If all of us who support doing this each donated something toward the effort I feel confident it would raise a considerable amount of cash and perhaps even raise enough money to pay for one or more of these free clinics to be held in one of the states of the shameful six Democrats.

If Olbermann is putting up $50K then it ought to be possible for most, if not all, of those of us who agree with Olbermann's goal of having these clinics in the five aforementioned states to make some kind of contribution as well. 

I am going to donate online and you can too. 

I urge you to do so even if it is just a few bucks.  Everything adds up.  Just go to the National Association of Free Clinics and make your donation now.  I think this is an effective contribution to the fight and one that also helps those in need.  How can ya beat that huh?

Here's a link to the National Assoc. of Free Clinics website:

https://npo.networkforgood.org/Donate/Donate.aspx?npoSubscriptionId=1000863&code=NAFC2009

And, if you haven't seen Olbermann's extraordinary Special Comment from Wednesday night you can do so by going to the Countdown website by clicking here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677

Last night Keith Olbermann used the entire hour of his show Countdown for a special comment on Healthcare.  It was an extraordinary thing to do in a number of respects.  It was a bit risky and it could easily have been a dud.  But instead, Olbermann delivered one of his finest and most compelling arguments to date.  In fact, I'd say his special comment was the best argument I've heard from anyone for genuine healthcare reform all year long.  IMHO, Olbermann is turning out to be one of the most forceful and effective progressive voices in the country and this special comment proved the point once again.

Olbermann uses his communication talents extraordinarily well on a regular basis, but he used them in this case to take us to a higher plane of discourse very effectively.  Olbermann cut through all the political bullshit that has thus far defined (or more accurately mis-defined) the debate over the healthcare reform effort in Washington.  He doggedly stayed on the points that Democrats should have been focusing on all along and those are the moral and ethical bottom line of making sure every American receives the health care services they need as Teddy Kennedy always said "as a matter of right and not of privelege."  Repeatedly, Olbermann asked us Americans, all of us left and right, to look into the mirror and see what we have wrought.  He underscored several times the basic question: Is this what we've become?  Are we a nation that allows people to die simply because they don't have insurance?  Are we a nation that bankrupts families in their desperate attempts to secure the health of a loved one?  Are we really okay with that?

Anyone who didn't see it can always go to the Countdown website and watch it.  I highly recommend it to those who didn't see it.  It is worth the time. 

In the broadcast he made it clear that there is a moral imperative that we provide healthcare to all citizens and that is the overiding consideration that must take precedence over all the other noise, static, hype, etc...  Medicare for All, Olbermann said, is what we need to be pushing to the American people, not the lame insurance subsidy program that is the centerpiece of the Baucus abomination and the other Congressional bills.  I certainly agree with Olbermann on this.  Medicare for All (aka Single Payer) is what we should have been focusing on from day one, but the President and far too many Congressional Democrats were afraid to take the bull by the horns and do what was right.

Olbermann called for a series of free health clinics to be conducted in the Capitol cities of the states where the six wishy washiest of the Democratic Senators hail from to demonstrate how widespread the problem of not having insurance is and how desperately we need to address the problem once and for all.  The six Senators Olbermann called out were Nelson, Baucus, Landrieu, Lincoln, Pryor, and Reid because those Senators (with the exception of Reid) have refused to commit unequivocally to voting for cloture to stop a Republican filibuster of healthcare reform legislation.  And Reid is on the list I'm sure because of his unrealiability when it comes to supporting what is best for the people on healthcare reform.  I hope the organization that does these free clinics takes up the challenge because this would, in fact, be a way to bring enormous pressure to bear on each of these weak Democrats who cower before the insurance lobby.

Olbermann's special comment properly highlighted how inadequate and anemic has been the Democratic effort, rhetoric and substance on healthcare reform all year.  Had our President and the Democats in Congress been making the case since January that Olbermann was making on his program we would be in a much different position right now.  Let's hope it is not too late for Democrats to find their spine and do several things that will allow meaningful and worthwhile healthcare reform to take place.  First, broaden the public option concept so that anyone who wants that option can choose it instead of only those who have no other choice.  Second, drop the insurance mandate which is nothing more than a giveaway to the culprits whose business practices are inhuman, unethical and at the root of the problems we face in healthcare.  And third, let's make sure that the reforms take place within 12-18 months of enactment and not 3-4 years down the line.

Finally, I think we should all be grateful for the outstanding job Keith Olbermann has done for years as the host of Countdown.  He almost single handedly kept hope alive for millions of progressives during the darkest days of the Bush regime.  He continues to keep the progressive agenda on the front burner of American politics and tonight contributed an extraordinary boost to the progressive effort on healthcare reform.

Thanks Keith!

For those who missed tonight's special comment, here's the url to Countdown: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677

This afternoon the AP reports that leaving the war we have already lost in Afghanistan is "not an option" according to the headline.  Really?  Leaving Afghanistan is not an option?  Says who?  Why? 

In real terms then, what does this mean for the average American?

Well, in the end it's pretty simple really.  Here's what it means in a nutshell:

1.  The war was lost some time ago and there's not even a glimmer of a hope of "winning" the war whatever the hell that means.  Nobody in the White House or the Pentagon can explain what winning is, what our objectives and purposes are in Afghanistan or how many eons it would take to achieve the unknown aims if we had some.  Though they confidently assert that leaving is not an option, nobody ever explains why that is.  They just make vague references to everything being worse if we leave.  Ya know what?  I think that's just plain old bullshit.  We can and we should leave and things would be no worse tomorrow than they are today.   They might even be a whole helluva lot bettert, but I digress...

2.  The war in Afghanistan, like it's illegal and ill conceived cousin: the Iraq War, is currently costing an obscene amount of money each and every day.  We have already blown approximately $228 billion on the Afghan misadventure (which could pay for one shitload of healthcare services) and there is no end at all in sight.  I'm estimating from my own calculations that the pointless imperial war we are waging there is costing us about $1,000.00 every two seconds or thereabouts.  You can get an up to the moment cost esimate on how much is being spent on the futile effort in Afghanistan by going here:

http://www.costofwar.com/

You can also see the price of the illegal, imperial and quite fruitless invasion and occupation of Iraq at the same site.

It's important to remember that all the money being wasted on whatever the hell they're attempting to achieve in Afghanistan is borrowed money.  That means we are taking borrowed money and investing it in nothing but the ongoing destruction of life and property on the other side of the world.  There is no way to get one penny of it back or returned: ever.  It's going down the proverbial rathole.  Some would call this a classic and penultimate waste of money.  I don't see how anyone could really disagree witht that assessment.  Why would our leaders be so stupid and imprudent with our nation's treasure, not to mention it's future?

But it isn't just destruction of life and property on the other side of the globe that is being accomplished with all that borrowed money.  In a very real and tangible way, the continuation of the imperialist effort in Afghanistan is also causing the destruction of lives and property right here at home. 

Every penny of this borrowed money which is being diverted from productive use and instead is used for war is the equivalent of denying our citizens healthcare, denying our children the best education we can provide them, denying American workers the employment and training they deserve, denying funds from efforts to protect the environment to start fighting global warming, and denying funds from the almost endless list of infrastructure projects that are needed here at home.  Our nation literally rots from within in the name of wars that cannot be won... ever.  Our economy weakens further with every day the imperialist prescription in Afghanistan is followed.  Our children will suffer immensely in the future because of our current lack of will and resolve to stop the warmongering and futile attempts to dominate and control foreign lands.

The approximate cost of both our imperial wars is almost $920 Billion at present.

3.  The military industrial complex in alliance with the bloodthirsty politicians and think tanks of Washington DC have clearly already won the day and so it isn't a question of whether we will continue, as a nation, to squander resources and lives in Afghanistan but just how enormous and obscene will the amount of squandered money be?  How many of our brave young men and women will die, have limbs blown off, be the lucky recipients of brain injuries, and be brutally, unspeakably traumatized for life in the name of the blood soaked fantasies of a bunch of wealthy and extraordinarily stupid men in Washington DC?  This warmongering and irresponsibility on the part of our military and political leaders is nothing short of sinful.  Itis high time their reckless wars be brought to a halt.

Frankly, I cannot imagine anything more sinful than to advocate the certain bankruptcy and destruction of our nation from within due to the inability to face and accept that American imperialism is not only a failure but is a clear and present danger to the future peace and prosperity of our people.  And make no mistake, the warmongering is a thoroughly bipartisan affair (just like our President likes things to be).  Why there is virtually no end of corporate Democrats who are more than willing to allow this folly to continue forever.  To stand up and try to do anything about this travesty would be too risky for their taste.  They'll just go along to get along and allow our country's future to be dim instead of doing all they can to ensure the future is a bright one.

4.  The President has no intention of challenging the status quo in Afghanistan.  This means that our President whom, millions had prayed would bring this imperialist folly to a speedy conclusion, is firmly in the camp of the imperialists and has no intention of ending the destruction of life and property at home or abroad.  The AP report referenced above can be found at:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091005/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_afghanistan

The article included the following:

"White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that walking away isn't a viable option to deal with a war that is about to enter its ninth year."

So the only question for the bipartisan deciders in DC as stated above is how much money and how many lives must be wasted instead of asking the obvious question which is: Why in the hell are we still in Afghanistan to begin with and why aren't we preparing plans to end our presence there?  But, just as with healthcare, the President has taken the real solution to the problem we face off the table so it isn't going to be discussed unless the people themselves force the politicians to get real and end the war.  Why?  For political reasons of course.  Should the President attempt to actually change the course of the nation that would upset the bipartisan nature of this drive toward national suicide being led by the Washington establishment in a vain effort to preserve the global status quo.

In more ways than one, this foolish and pointless dance of formulating a bipartisn leap over the cliff demonstrates conclusively that Bin Laden has indeed won the fight.  Instead of addressing the real and serious issues facing the nation and the globe, we continue to pursue this stupid plan for national bankruptcy out of a misplaced sense of pride and conquest and a lack of political backbone on the part of the President and the Democratic Congress to lead us back to peace and prosperity.  Have none of the bright bulbs in DC ever read the history of any of the empires of the past?  Are they all so blinded by their bloodlust and dreams of conquest they do not see the similarity between the foolhardy course they are pursuing and that of the fallen empires of the past?

5.  If the people do not act decisively to demand and end to the war it will never end.  Citizens must demonstrate that not only is a majority of the nation opposed to continuing this idiotic war, but we are not going to simply sit on our hands while Washington extends the war into the indefinite future.  The time to act is now.  We have no time to lose friends.  They think they can get away with this because people are not objecting to the wars so speak up!  Contact your members of Congress. Contact the White House and without equivocation let them know that we have no intention of allowing the imperialist fantasies of a few destroy the future of our country, the lives of our young people, and the prospects of our posterity to live a good life in an economically prosperous and stable nation.  War is the enemy of all civilization and humanity.  We must conclude our insane, self destructive imperialist wars or it will be the end of our nation.

The President's fetish for bipartisanship has born some interesting fruit here in the first 10 months of his administration and as far as I can tell it all tastes like crap.

This is an unusual request but I'm making it on behalf of a friend who I strongly believe in.

Russ Patterson is running for the Democratic nomination in Florida's 60th legislative district.  The election isn't until next year of course but he needs your help now to take this seat from the Republicans.  A critical fundraising deadline looms in his race.

Russ is a retired career military man.  Since leaving the military he has focused most of his energy on liberal politics and endeavors.  He is a man of stellar character, strong liberal Democratic convictions and you can be sure he would never be coopted by the money and power of corporations or the wealthy.  In short, he is exactly the sort of person we need in public office these days.  I would say he is not unlike some of the other retired military people we've seen lately standing up as progressive Democrats and helping lead our country back to the path it needs to be on. 

He has a very good chance of winning this district for the Democrats for the first time particularly if he meets his fundraising goal in the next two days.  If he does that, the Democratic Party will pour significant resources into his district to help him win the election.

I would urge everyone at TPM to help Russ with a donation right away so that he meets that fundraising goal.  Any size donation will be a great help.  I donated $100 to his campaign already.  Please join me in helping Russ.

I know Russ Patterson well.  He is a fine man, hard worker, honest as the day is long and will be a strong advocate for all the causes and principles progressives hold dear.

His is a grass roots campaign and he needs the support of every progressive out there.  Russ is precisely the sort of Democrat we need to see more of in public office and though it isn't a big, sexy, federal race; this is one where your assistance will make a huge difference.  You can learn more about him by visiting his website at:

http://russforus.com/index.php?/main/home

You can donate directly to his campaign on the website or you can go directly to the donate page here:

https://www.russforus.com/main/donate

Thanks to all TPMers who answer this call for help!

Since 1979, when the Shah of Iran finally lost his grip on power and the American CIA that controlled him was run out of Tehran, the elite power structure of our government has been engaged in one long, sustained hissy fit of belligerence, threats, instigating an illegal invasion of Iran by Iraq and supporting Iraq in every way during that period of time, embargoing and generally attempting to punish and destabilize the regime of Mullahs and nationalist Shiite religious zealots.  At the same time, the US government has also dealt with this same regime when it was convenient for them, for example when the Reagan administration traded arms for hostages with them in the Iran Contra affair.

The track record of American diplomacy and other relations with Iran over these past thirty years has been, to say the least, abysmal.  No one can dispute that.  In almost every instance, the decisions and choices of the United States have been wrong.  It is an irony of ironies that our every effort to destabilize the ruling class of the Islamic Republic has actually served to strengthen it.  The failure of our strategy of bullying and cajoling is quite well known and is there for the entire world to see.  It never worked.  Not even once. 

After all these long, long years of abject failure and of demonstrating that bullying, intimidation and threats don't work the ruling classes of the United States have apparently learned nothing whatever.  The threats of war against Iran have been steady and relentless, even if sometimes in the background, since 1979.  The Bush regime and its warmongering wing salivated at the thought of getting to finally go berserk on Iran and bomb the living hell out of them for their ongoing impudence.  The American war industry and their cheerleading enablers in the government have been in a state of near apoplexy for years over the nuclear development program in Iran that may or may not be for nuclear weapons.

The ruling class, via both major political parties in the US, have been laying the groundwork for some kind of military assault on Iran since the moment the Ayatollah Khomeini stepped foot back on Iranian soil and the Shah fled.  After the repeated and obvious failure of this strategy, many had hoped the Obama administration would make a significant departure in both posture and substantive strategy with Iran.  Alas, that clearly is not going to be the case.

President Obama has demonstrated clearly that it was just as unwise to elect a Democratic President with no experience in foreign policy (though an admittedly smart man) as it was to elect a dunce Republican without any such experience.  The outcomes, it appears, will not be all that different.  The military industrial complex and the war industries will have their way regardless of which party is ostensibly in power.

What a disappointment it was to see Obama in self righteous tones condemning Iran for having a "secret" nuclear development plant in violation of the nonproliferation treaty and perhaps other treaties as though it were a revelation that somehow changes things.  And this from a President who refuses to honor the US's own treaty obligations regarding war crimes and torture.  We were treated to this appalling propaganda demonstration in order to set the table for western military aggression of some kind against Iran.  This aggression could take any number of forms and depending upon circumstances it could be a measured and limited approach that would only kill tens of thousands of perfectly innocent Iranians or it could be a full aerial and missile bombing campaign launched from American bases in occupied Iraq and/or in the Persian gulf that would kill hundreds of thousands of perfectly innocent Iranians.

The public is being treated to a similar spate of war hysteria and propaganda not unlike the lies and fantasies leading up to the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq.  We are being asked to believe once again that a second rate power in the middle east represents some sort of unacceptable threat to US and western interests generally if it were to acquire, at some as yet unknown date, nuclear weapons capabilities.

Now, it could well be that Iran is hell bent on acquiring nuclear weapons.  It could well be that Iran might irresponsibly use such weapons against American or western interests in the region.  It might even use nuclear weapons against Israel... if it ever has any.  As of this time it doesn't have any such weapons.  No one makes the claim that they do.  But, we are to believe on zero evidence that the regime in Tehran is so crazy and so irresponsible that nuclear weapons in their hands would be totally unacceptable.  We say this even as two of the most unstable and dangerous regimes on this planet now have nuclear weapons: Pakistan and North Korea.

So why is Iran the great threat instead of the two far more volatile and unstable regimes that already have these weapons?  They never bother to explain this part to us because that isn't really what is driving all this.  The whole schtick about what a threat Iran is, is nothing but a deception.  We are simply to accept that those crazy, bearded and turbaned mullahs are insane and likely to bomb us.  Oh my God!  Whatever will we do if the big, bad mullahs get the bomb?  The level of panic our ruling classes are trying to foment bears no relationship to reality.  Who in their right mind could ever think that Iran poses an immediate threat to a nation like ours when we have tens of thousands of far more sophisticated weapons than Iran will every have.  We, the public, are to be terrified at this prospect.  We, the public, are to be prepared to lay down the lives of even more of our young men and women because our ruling class is still angry that Iran had and continues to have the gall to want to determine it's own destiny and to control it's own natural resources, namely oil.

I pray to God that this time, the warmongers have overplayed their hand and the public will simply refuse to support their wildly irresponsible and reckless military plans.  There is simply no reason whatever to believe in what our rulers are telling us about Iran nor is there any reason to trust them to lead us through the sort of crisis they claim we are confronting.

It was clear in the lead up to the Iraq invasion that diplomacy and a myriad of options other than military invasion were being given the bums rush and nobody was allowed to discuss in a sober manner whether or not a war of aggression against Iraq was actually a sound idea and one that was bound to benefit or harm American interests.   

There is an uncanny similarity between the revving up the war machine t0 illegally invade and occupy Iraq and what is now taking shape regarding Iran.  We have made few, if any, serious diplomatic efforts to try and engage Iran and deescalate the tensions we have been maximizing for the past 30 years between our two countries.  Now, we bring to the world the dramatic, but not terribly surprising news, that Iran had a secret nuclear facility.  The manner in which this revelation was made public was a transparent propaganda exercise intended for the domestic political audiences of the G-20 and not at all intended to convey any real or substantive new "threat" being posed by Iran.

Our ruling elites have no credibility left at all with the public.  If you don't think so, look at the total disconnect on the healthcare debate in Washington and the preferences of the vast majority of the American people.  Or, if that isn't enough, take a look at the completely out of touch policy discussions going on in DC versus the very well established fact that the majority of our citizens oppose the war in Afghanistan and want us out of there as soon as possible.  Take a look at the complete and total disgust and disapproval by the American people for what both parties did to steal from the taxpayers in order to pay off the bad debts/bets of our financial industry and banking barons.  And now we are expected to trust this pack of untrustworthy swine when it comes to how much of a threat Iran poses to us and what we should do about it?  It is simply mind-boggling how out of touch, arrogant and unworthy are ruling class has become.

Any military strike against Iran is not only unwise, but profoundly stupid and could be catastrophic for the United States.  Chinese leaders are undoubtedly toasting the stupidity of the American rulers as they see the future being a completely open field for them once the Americans bankrupt themselves on their endless imperial wars and equally endless government subsidy for the corrupt and criminal financial industry. 

It seems clear that there will be increasing calls for military aggression against Iran as a means of preempting their acquisition of nuclear weapons, even though there's no evidence that such an eventuality is at all imminent.  The war drums are now beating a little louder and their tempo and volume will be increasing in coming months.  The people cannot allow the powerful and the war industries to destroy the stability and prosperity that ought to be the birthright, not only of every American, but of all people everywhere.  Using the military to attempt to break the Iranian regime using the cover of that regime someday, maybe, almost certainly will acquire nuclear weapons and use them against "us".  Bah I say!  Bah! 

I am sick of having the American people manipulated by the most demonstrably incompetent ruling class that has every trod the earth!  All sane people should do everything they can to make sure that no military action is taken against Iran by the US or any other nation.  It will be a disaster if such a dangerous notion become policy and begins to be implemented. 

We must all shout from the rooftops if necessary NO  NO!  NO! We will not go along with your sick, bloodthirsty plans to attack Iran and bring about even more bloodshed, heartache, destruction and death in the name of the people of the United States.  Common people don't believe that malarkey and have no reason to believe it. 

The approach Obama is preparing the public for would have been wrong had Bush manipulated public opinion on this question and it is perhaps even more wrong and reprehensible now that Obama is pushing this irresponsible line.  There are other ways to deal with Iran that don't involve military force and that can or will be even more effective, but none of these alternatives have been given a serious try. 

Iran is not our friend it is true, but that was a choice the US made over and over again.  It was the choice we made in 1953 when we overthrew Iran's democratically elected, secular government in order to avenge the loss of British hegemony over Iranian oil.  It is the choice we made by installing the Shah of Iran as our puppet to rule Iran.  It was the choice we made over and over again as we continued to attempt to bully, cajole, threaten and intimidate Iran into complying with the wishes of the war machine.  It was not the choice of the people of the Islamic Republic or their regime.  We can still choose to undue the hostility our 30 year tantrum has produced. 

Sure Iran has engaged in incendiary rhetoric over the years, but essentially their revolution was about self determination more than anything else.  That is their right if we are to believe in our own historical positions on such matters.   The legitimate desire of the Iranian people to be in command of their own destiny has been portrayed to the people of the west and American in particular as a "threat" when it simply is not true.  Iran is a sovereign nation.  As such the people there get to choose, by right, their own leaders.  They have chosen the Islamic Republic and so we must deal with it.  To continue to throw political and military temper tantrums over the assertion of the Iranian people's right to self determination is what is crazy and far crazier than what the mullahs are up to. 

The US must grow up and start dealing with Iran from the basis of mutual respect instead of the mutual contempt we have been fomenting all these years.  It may not be too late to avoid having the US military used to attack Iran and destabilize it.  Look at the long list of benefits we earned by doing that in Iraq for God's sake!  It's a disaster through and through.  We cannot allow our insane ruling class to get away with more pointless killing and destruction that will not produce one positive thing on this earth.

Wednesday night, after Pres. Carter's remarks identifying the racism attendant to the teabagger rally in Washington and the other virulent eruptions of the right, Rachel Maddow interviewed a fellow named Frank Schaeffer about what it all means.  She introduced the segment by pointing to some of the survey results about New Jersey "conservatives" and how many of them believe that Obama either is the antichrist or might be.  Schaeffer grew up in the "Evangelical" movement and was an influential player early on in organizing the Christian right.  Like Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, Schaeffer, at a certain point had an epiphany and changed the course of his life.  He now recognizes Christian fundamentalism for what it is and does what he can to combat it's continued malignant growth.

I think Mr. Schaeffer has a great deal of wisdom to impart about the Christian right, what it's all about and why it manifests itself politically as it does.  People should listen carefully to what he has to say on this subject.

Rachel noted that about 60% of McCain voters in New Jersey do not think Obama is an American citizen.  She wondered aloud why this is and how this could be and this is what Mr. Schaeffer said:

Those of us who come from the evangelical subculture have been weaned with our mother's milk on a changing cast list of villains.  It might be Kennedy to one generation, Obama to the next, but I think the larger point this brings up is that the mainstream, not just media, but culture doesn't sufficiently take stock of the fact that within our culture we have a subculture which is literally a fifth column of insanity that is bred from birth through home school, Christian school, evangelical College, whatever to reject facts as a matter of faith.  And so this substitute for authentic, historic Christianity, and I may add a little caveat here I'm a churchgoing Christian, really brings up the question can Christianity be rescued from Christians? 

And that's an open question and when you see a bunch of people going around thinking that our President is the antichrist you have to draw one of two conclusions.  Either these are racists looking for any excuse to level the next accusation or they're beyond crazy and I think beyond crazy is a better explanation and that evangelical subculture has rotted the brain of the United States of America.  We have a big slice of our population waiting for Jesus to come back.  They look forward to Armageddon.  Good news is bad news to them.  When we talk about the Left Behind series of books that I talk about in my book Crazy for God, what we're really talking about is a group of people who are resentful because they know they've been left behind.  By modernity, by science, by education by art, by literature. 

The rest of us are getting on with our lives.  These people are standing on a hilltop waiting for the end.  This is a dangerous group of people to have as neighbors and they are our national neighbors.  And this is the source of all these insanities that we see leveled at the President, one way or another they go back to this evangelical subculture.  Uh, it's a disaster.

Rachel then went on to discuss the large numbers of self-identified "conservatives" who pay heed to the birthers and deathers, etc...  She then asked...

Q: How do you work to move people off of that position?  It doesn't seem like facts are relevant in trying to move people away from these beliefs.

You don't work to move them off this position.  You move past them. 

Look, a village cannot reorganize village life to suit the village idiot.  It's as simple as that.  And we have to understand we have a village idiot in this country: it's called fundamentalist Christianity, and until we move past these people, and let me add as a former lifelong Republican, until the Republican leadership has the guts to stand up and say it would be better not to have a Republican Party than have a party that caters to the village idiot there's gonna be no end in sight.  The next thing they'll do is accuse Obama of being the antichrist and then who knows what comes next?  On and on it goes.  There is no end to this stuff.  Why?  Because this subculture has, as it's fundamentalist faith, that they distrust facts per se. 

They believe in a young earth, 6000 years old, with dinosaurs cavorting with human beings.  They think that whether its economic news or news from the Middle East it all has to do with the end of time and Christ's return.  This is La La Land and the Republican Party is totally enthralled to this subculture to the extent that there is no Republican Party.  There is a fundamentalist subculture which has become a cult.  It's fed red meat by buffoons like Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and other people who are just not terribly bright themselves and they are talking to even stupider people.  That's where we're at.  That's where all this is coming from and it's becoming circular.  It's becoming a joke.  Unfortunately a dangerous joke because once in a while one of these looney tunes we see brings guns to public meetings.  Who knows what they do next?  It's a serious thing we all have to face but the Democrats and sane Americans just have to move past these people and say, go wait on the hilltop for the end.  The rest of us are going to get on with rebuilding our country. 

You can go to the following url which will take you to Mr. Schaeffer's website.  The clip from the Maddow show is front and center and can be watched by clicking on the link:

http://www.frankschaeffer.com/

Mr. Schaeffer knows these people and their beliefs very, very well.  He understands their mentality.  Mr. Schaeffer does not dispute that much of the vitriol for Obama comes from racism but interestingly, he thinks that racism is only a part of it and even the racism we see emanates in large part from fundamentalist Christianity.  I went and looked around on his blog and he believes that soon they may well turn to violence.  I think he may well be right.  The paranoid, sensationalist rhetoric of the right is very reminiscent of other times in the not too distant past when right wing violence sprang up.  Speaker Pelosi was warning of that today and was all but ignored by the Republican leadership.  People need to be prepared.  And we need to be prepared to smack down any further violence by the right quickly and effectively so they do not pick up anymore momentum.

According to Sen. Bernie Sanders, 18,000 Americans die annually because they do not have access to our medical system.  A million people declare bankruptcy annually due to their inability to pay medical bills.  Medical expenses are now the number one cause of bankruptcy in America.  Countless Americans are routinely denied medical care they need and that their doctors have recommended because of the effort of insurance companies to maximize their profits at the expense of the health of the American people. 

Currently, insurance companies are firmly and unquestionably in the driver's seat when it comes to healthcare decisions in the United States: not doctors, not patients.  The insurance companies ration care based on how much profit they wish to generate, not on any basis even remotely related to the interests of those who need healthcare in America.  Given these indisputable facts, why are our political leaders making preservation of the current system the central priority of alleged healthcare reform legislation?   

Along with numerous others, I've been advocating that progressives in Congress should kill any healthcare reform legislation that does not include a strong public option that will force the insurance companies to improve their practices or lose their businesses. Yes, lose their businesses. That is what is supposed to happen when actual competition is introduced in any marketplace: somebody wins and somebody loses. The winners are those that provide the best value to the consumer in relation to how much they are spending on the product or service. That's supposedly the reason why capitalism is worth having. 

Our current, for profit healthcare system is more mercantilist than capitalist.  No genuine competition between insurance companies exists  nor does any substantive choice exist for consumers.  So the beneficial aspects of a capitalist approach for society have been eliminated.  Instead, we have a noncompetitive marketplace designed to guarantee profits for the broker (not the provider) of medical services and no other genuine choice for those who need to access the medical system.

The opponents of substantive and meaningful healthcare reform are doing all they can to maintain a competition free marketplace for the insurance companies that are bleeding our families and businesses white. Their primary tactic is to preserve the status quo in a form as close as possible to the form in which it exists today. They are accomplishing this goal by eviscerating every bill in Congress to the maximum extent possible and watering down every aspect of legislation that would negatively impact insurance company profits and the profits of the associated parasitical businesses.  All those industries have grown obscenely and unjustly rich at the expense of the people of the United States.

The strategy at the moment is to bamboozle the public into believing that a bill that does little or nothing to reform our healthcare system, but much to protect and increase the profits of the insurance parasites is actually healthcare reform when it clearly is not.   The insurance and associated interests have flooded the halls of Congress with their legalized bribes (campaign cash) in order to buy just enough loyalty to scuttle any threats to the continuation of their outrageous practices and the obscene profits that result from them. Remember, insurance companies are nothing more than middlemen who profit from transactions to which they add not one scintilla of value to any medical service: ever.  Yet they decide what is and is not allowed, what will or will not be paid for based upon how much profit they wil make instead of the healthcare needs of patients.  It's simply an immoral basis upon which to operate a healthcare system.

Protecting the interests of these companies who have been profiting off the denial of care to sick people for decades is the most shameful and perverse aspect of the charade going on in Washington over healthcare reform. In addition to all the Republicans in Congress, among the ranks of those protecting the insurance and other parasitical interests and opposing meaningful healthcare reform are all the corrupt, cowardly Democrats such as Baucus, Reid, Lieberman, Landrieu, and all the other alleged moderates and Blue Dogs who bow and scrape to the power and wealth of the insurance industry. I would include also the DLC Democrats at the top of the food chain at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue including especially Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod who are doing all they can to convince Americans and progressives particularly that "any" bill is better than no bill when that is simply not true. "Any" bill might be better for the short term interest of the political hacks at the White House and for protecting the President's political fortunes at this moment in time, but in the long run, a faux healthcare reform bill will do far more damage to Democrats from the President on down the line than anything else including losing an honorable fight for a good reform bill and any progressive with the slightest common sense ought to be able to discern that this is the case.

If it is true, as the President said last week (and I believe it is), that this is a moral issue then it is clear that the advice of the political hacks is not acceptable.  Why?  Because, at it's heart, if all we get is an insurance subsidy bill without a strong public option it isn't reform at all and there will be no benefit for the American people worth the heavy price paid for "any" bill at "any" cost.  

A bad bill is, in fact, worse than no bill. It's that simple.  Why?  Because we will be stuck with a set of "reforms" that do little or nothing to improve the situation for the average citizen and the schemes being proposed are onerous. A bad bill will provide all the ammunition the forces of the status quo need to prevent any further "reform" for the next generation or more.  And please, don't hand me that cliche of not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. We are, after all, only talking about including a strong public option when we should have been talking about a single payer plan all along.  So that tired line is nothing but pure BS employed by cowards to cover up their failure, or is it betrayal? 

Whenever DC Democrats start using that canard you know it means the people are about to get screwed... again. Besides, that perfect vs good analogy isn't what is shaping up anyway. What is shaping up is that the corporate Democrats who have led our party to defeat, retreat and humiliation time and again are making the bad the enemy of the good. The good, at minimum, includes a strong public option. No public option means there's nothing else in the bill that can make up for the failure to include that feature. Period.  So, how is it in the best interest of the Democrats and the nation to go down that road once again with the corporate Democrats whose rotten leadership has been demonstrated over and over and over?  Well, the fact is, it isn't in the best interest either of Democrats or the nation and we shouldn't follow the corporate/DLC Democrats over that cliff.

Last night on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, there was a segment on the day's developments regarding the healthcare reform legislation in DC. One part of the segment had a clip of testimony being given at a healthcare forum on the Hill by Wendell Potter, the former Communications Director for CIGNA, one of the largest of the health insurance companies. He knows from his many years as an insider in the industry exactly how these companies play the game, what they're up to and why they do what they do. He was very direct in his statement about what the failure to include a strong public option means and by extension, it is clear that defeating a bad bill (one that doesn't include a strong public option) would be better than passing a health insurance subsidy bill as is clearly the intention of the administration and Democratic Congressional leadership at this point.  Here is what Mr. Potter said:

If Congress goes along with the so called solutions the insurance industry says it is bringing to the table, and acquiesces to the demands it is making of lawmakers and if it fails to create a public insurance option to compete with private insurers, the bill it sends to the President might as well be called "The Insurance Industry Profit Protection And Enhancement Act."

The quote from Mr. Potter is at about the 1:35 mark in the clip and can be seen at the following url:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677#32868158

Between now and whenever a bill nears passage, the best thing progressives can do is to apply as much pressure as possible to the wishy washy, corrupt corporate Democrats in Congress by calling them and insisting they support a public option just as a strong majority of Americans do and also to contact the progressives in Congress and encourage them to hold fast and kill any legislation that fails to include a strong public option and not to settle for less.

Rep. Wilson is an embarassment to the Congress and to the United States for his unprecedented display of outlandish and unacceptable disrespect for the President of the United States.  There has never been such an incident in the history of speeches to joint sessions of Congress.  I myself have watched every such speech for the past 40 years and there was never, even in the most tense and difficult circumstances any member of Congress who behaved so shamefully.

I do not think it any coincidence that Rep. Wilson hails from the state of South Carolina.  He would never have dared to heckle a white President.  For his disgusting and repulsive behavior, Wilson should apologize to the people of the United States for his outrageous conduct, he should apologize to the President and then he should immediately tender his resignation from Congress having brought shame upon the House of Representatives in such an unprecedented manner and upon his state and constituents. 

Every decent citizen should contact his office and demand his public apology to the nation and his resignation.

It appears more and more that if the Congress passes something lableled "healthcare reform" this year it will be the legislative equivalent of the infamous fat substitute Olestra.  Olestra, you may recall, was a product that provided all the fat taste in products with no calories but because it was a material that could not be digested had one very memorable downside: "anal leakage."  Jay Leno had a great time with that one and few of us who heard of this rotten product ever forgot it.  Olestra did more harm than good and if our Congress passes a lame, half assed, public option in name only or a "trigger" it will have the very same appeal and popularity of Olestra.

First they deep six Medicare for All which makes sense on every count and is what our nation needs.  Then they deep six the public option that was supposedly the essential element in "keeping the insurance companies honest".  Now they are discussing a "trigger" that is not only a bullshit idea but one that is clearly designed to fail.  Regardless, what we'll get in the end is an insurance subsidy bill that will cost too much and for which we will get too little in return, while the insurance companies will grow even more obscenely rich than they already are because they will now be allowed to feed directly from the public trough.  The message Obama and the Democrats have sent to the parasites in the drug and insurance industries is clear: we are weak and do not have the courage to fight for what we claim are our convictions.

With any luck, the progressives will kill any bill that doesn't include a public option strong enough to actually accomplish the goal of reform.  Anything less and it will deserve to die on the floors of Congress which will be a gift to Democrats because despite the fact that losing this issue demonstrates their ineptitude and lack of resolve on healthcare, winning a bill that only enriches the bad guys and makes matters worse is is a much less appealing alternative.  But of course, that's not the tune the corporate centrist Democrats are singing now is it?  They say that what is important is to pass "a" bill, any bill.  Bullshit is the only thing I can think of to say to that.

Under the leadership of the corporate centrist Democrats, the average American has gained absolutely zero the past 40 years even when we controlled the legislative and executive branches of the government.  If 40 years of defeat being snatched from the jaws of victory isn't enough to figure out these guys are rotten leaders who are full of it then nothing will. 

So is there a lesson in all of this?  Is there any good that can be taken away from this shameful, humiliating display the Democrats of DC have put on for all the world to see?  I think there is.

The lesson is that we who comprise the Democratic wing of the Democratic party must resolve never again to support a corporate centrist Democrat even if that candidate is marginally better than a Republican.  You don't have to support the Republican but you can support primary challengers to the Democrats who deserve it and you can simply refuse to give them your vote.   A bad Republican is less of a problem than a rotten Democrat as the healthcare debacle makes clear.  We have to send a message in 2010 that is loud and clear that even a Blue Dog can understand which is: we will no longer vote for Democrats who vote like Republicans either for Congress of for President.  It doesn't work for us politically and it is ruining our country.  We need to return the power of our government to the people and put that power to use on behalf of the common people and their interests instead of the special interests who control our government and who corrupt our elected officials with their money, lobbyists and power.

Never again should Democratic voters give the beneift of the doubt to a waffling centrist whose real aim is to see how much money he or she can squeeze out of the special interests for their next reelection instead of seeing what they can do to advance the long neglected interests of the average American.  No more Lieberman's. No more Nelson's or Baucus'.  No more Landrieu's and no more Lincoln's.  That is the only avenue I see that will get the attention of those chickenhearts we elected to office in DC.

We all know that the untrustworthy politicians who comprise the bulk of Democratic members of Congress and the key decision makers in the White House are furiously scheming to ditch the "public option" compromise upon which Obama and Co. sold this insurance subsidy plan to progressives.  We all know that it was disasterous to waste most of this year looking for a mythical group of Republicans willing to negotiate in good faith on the subject of healthcare reform because no such group exists: never did and never will.  We all know it was also a foolish mistake on the part of Obama and the progressives to take our strongest and most desirable health care reform position off the table before anything else.  We all know and even Obama himself has made plain that he knows it too, we should not be debating an insurance subsidy bill which is what is going on but instead we should be focusing on some form of single payer plan such as Medicare for All. 

Obama's foolish bargain with the devil to flip flop on single payer once he became a candidate for President is the biggest tactical error among many that he has made during his metamorphasis from liberal Senator leading the fight for change to conservative, timid, DLC Democratic defender of the status quo.  Now, because of his desire to be popular with the monied interests so they would help fuel his campaign, the nation suffers and faces a choice between an, at best, undesirable alleged healthcare reform bill including a pale imitation of the public option Obama himself previously stated was an absolutely necessary feature of any reform package and a flat out rotten bill written by and for the special interests that primarily sucks billions out of the treasury to further enrich the greedy, unethical businessmen profiting off the current bad system.  If the first bad choice is adopted it might be to the political benefit of Democrats.  If the latter is chosen it will be disasterous for Democrats and those elected officials who get thrown out of office as a result will have richly earned their defeat.  Unfortunately, once again, the people who will suffer most are the common, everyday Americans who always have to suffer most.

We all know that what stands in the way of reform more than anything else is not the reluctance or confusion of the American people but the opposition of the health insurance, pharamceutical, and other industries that benefit from the current rotten system we have which is too expensive, doesn't cover everyone and produces amongst the worst health outcomes in the industrialized world.  We all know it isn't the Republicans who stand in the way of real healthcare reform because they are such a tiny minority they cannot have much influence on the outcome unless the Democrats abdicate their power which they seem more than willing to do at every turn.  We all know that even with the great power of the insurance and associated parasitic industries, the Democrats have enough votes to pass anything they wish but that there are enough corrupt Democrats up for sale such as Nelson, Landrieu and Lieberman that the 60/40 partisan split in the Senate is really only technically a fillibusterproof majority and the margin in the house is, in fact, much smaller than it appears for the very same kinds of reasons.

We are faced with a familiar political problem now which is all as a result of the predictable and now commonplace Democratic cowardice and lack of backbone.  Obama and many Democrats campaigned on reforming healthcare dramatically and the people supported that proposition overwhelmingly as evidenced by the huge majorities in Congress and the Democratic victory for the White House.  But the Democrats haven't in the past and don't have now, the courage to actually propose and support the kind of reform that is needed.  The best, easiest to implement, easy to explain, most cost efficient and effective healthcare reform is to pass some form of single payer national healthcare plan.  This fact is really beyond rational and honest dispute.  The best single payer option out there is, IMHO, the Medicare for All bill.  But the Democrats in DC are such cowards and so afraid to anger their owners, on behalf of the people they are supposed to represent, that they ran away from the one option really worth fighting for and the one that would seal Democratic victory for the next 40 years just as Social Security did many years ago.  So they ditched single payer and sold us a bill of goods called "a public option" without which the President told us, there could be no real reform.  So reluctantly, progressives started lining up behind the public option as at least a start and an example.  But in an all too familiar move by the Democrats of DC, they have all but ditched even the public option at this point and are now hiding behind euphemisms for weak imitations that theoretically could provide some of the benefits of the public option idea.  So instead of fighting for the public option feature we are being asked to swallow a poison pill that will cover the politicians' asses but not those of the American people when they get sick and need healthcare.

Instead of healthcare reform, we are witnessing yet another version of the usual set of excuses and reasoning for why the people must accept the failure of corporate centrist Democrats to represent their interests and to do even remotely what they were elected to do.  The President and his people have been telegraphing for weeks that they are going to dump their own "essential" feature of healthcare reform and instead hide behind the famously time worn industry-friendly phrases "competition" and "choice".  Now, anyone who's lived the past 35 years knows everytime an unsuccessful attempt at reform is made in DC of some industry directly impacting the lives of most Americans and gets hijacked by the industry and its lobbyists that they always hide behind those phrases or variants of them.  And it always means the little guy is going to get royally screwed.

The Obama of earlier in the year would have pointed out truthfully that there is no meaningful competition or choice in the area of healthcare without, at minimum, a strong public option.  Not anymore.  Now it's simply a matter of finding any excuse to justify and rationalize this pig in a poke so the President can achieve a victory in name only that isn't worth having and the people are simply presented with the poison pill and told to take their medicine once again.  That the President and his people are so willing to flip flop so dramatically and now try to hypnotize the public into believing that the opposite of what they said about a public option is true is genuinely disappointing and downright disgusting.  After all the other flip flops and open betrayals of his campaign promises one has to wonder if there really is anything at all that the President campaigned on that doesn't become instantly unnecessary if even one right wing or monied interest raises an objection.  It's as though the President and his people are afraid of everything.  With all the backpedaling and excuses for not doing as promised, the President looks more and more like the weakling Harry Reid who seems unable to organize a trip to the bathroom let alone major reform legislation.

What remains of the much vaunted effort to reform the nation's healthcare system is now not much more than a massive subsidy plan that will enrich insurance companies, cost taxpayers far more than real reform, not cover everyone and which will quickly become deeply unpopular.  If, at minimum, there is no public option that is designed to succeed (not fail) included in the legislation it will not be worth passing or signing.  It will be worse than leaving the current system as it is because the average voter will get little out of it other than increased costs.  The foolish DLC type Democrats will argue that we "must" pass "something" this year or else it will be disasterous.  Oh really?  These people, like Rahm were also the guys advising Democrats to support the Iraq war resolution in order to "take the war off the table" as an issue when a majority of our people were against the war.  These same people were advising Democrats to avoid the war issue in 2006 election because it was too risky.  They were wrong on these and many other things.  They are wrong now and have been wrong all year on healthcare reform.

Mr. President, if you are listening, or if someone there at 1600 is paying attention please pay some heed.  The middle of the road half measures you've proposed are too little, too late, and far too expensive for the American people to swallow without what you yourself told us was absolutely essential: a strong public option to keep the insurance companies honest.  Anything less and we all know the tinkering in the rest of the bill means little.  The people were expecting real reform of the healthcare system but instead you apparently think it's okay to hide behind the buzzwords  "choice" and "competition" to make them think that will make the bad bill you are willing to support an acceptable "compromise" when in fact it is at best a capitulation.  Do not hide behind these words in the hopes of getting us to swallow the poison pill that is your "compromise."  It isn't too late Mr. President for you to stand up and fight at least for the public option instead of surrendering to the worst elements in healthcare related industries, Washington and the Democratic Party itself.

There are worse things than losing and one of them is saddling our people with a "reform" package that sucks and primarily serves the interests of the parasites while making little or no positive difference in the lives of average Americans.  At least if you lose while fighting for what is right you can be proud of what you managed to do under difficult circumstances and you will have the distinct benefit of giving the public a clear choice in the next off year elections and people will know where the Democratic Party stands on healthcare.  It would be far better politically to lose and use that defeat against the Republicans and the corrupt Democrats in next year's elections.  It is far, far better to make the lines clear for the people about who is actually on their side and who is not than it is to blur the lines so badly as you have already done far too much of.  Why not just for once flip flopping and taking the progressive position instead of telling the vast majority of those who voted for you against Hillary to take a hike once again?

No poison pill Mr. President.  Please.  You've already hoodwinked us into swallowing poison pills on transparency in government, the rule of law, the bailout of the Wall Street crooks, and ending the two pointless wars.  A poison pill on healthcare too?  No thanks.  That's just not a pill that I or many progressive Democrats are willing to swallow. 

I have a prediction though, if you ignore all the progressive voices warning you of disaster and are successful in getting enough Democrats to swallow the poison pill of healthcare reform sans the real reform: the damage you will have done to your own future electoral chances and that of Democrats up and down the line will be catastrophic. 

So, just this once Mr. President, stiffen your backbone and lead like an actual Democrat and not some milquetoast corporate centrist.  Not only will your conscience be clear Mr. President, but your political future will be much brighter indeed.