The Republicans say we can't have the government involved in health insurance because government is wasteful and inefficient.
They also say a public option would be unfair to private insurance companies because it would be too competitive.
Does that mean that the Republicans think private health insurance companies are more wasteful and inefficient than the government?

This just in from senior psychic correspondent Ben Ostradamus with  PNS, the Prescient News Service.......
(audio only, video not available)
4:20 PM, Wed. 5/27/2009

Good afternoon fellow Americans, I have just been told that our Futurelink®™ video feed is down so I will describe the future afternoon's activities while our Best Team in Time®™ technicians work to get the feed.

On the future eve of Fox news personality Sean Hannity's waterboarding for charity, with at least $47,000,000,000 [forty seven billion dollars] pledged to charity on the condition that Mr. Hannity's waterboarding be filmed independently by both Michael Moore and Glen Greenwald , we are told that there will soon be an announcement regarding the event.

While we wait for that announcement, a few interesting facts. So far more than 234,000,000 Americans have pledged $47,000,000,000 to charity to see Mr. Hannity not tortured.  [Update: now more than $53,000,000,000 as of 5:13 PM]

Both Mr. Moore and Mr. Greenwald have also promised that all receipts from their respective documentaries will be donated to charity. The two primary charities are Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. [Update: now more than $67,000,000,000 as of 5:33 PM]

With less than an hour to go until the non-torture event, we still have no word from Mr. Hannity or his people.

The suspense is building, the crowd is getting restless. I am told that the total of pledges is now $73,000,000,000. Only minutes to go and still no Mr. Hannity. There are some who say that he will not show. I can only report and let you decide.

There seems to be some movement in front of the facility. My producer tells me that we are still without our Futurelink®™ video feed. I wish you could see the scene here. There must be at least 100,000 people waiting to see the event on the Bozotron®™ on the front of the building and who knows how many millions watching at home. Now we are seeing a rather nervous looking man who looks like a doctor stepping up to the microphone.

I will let you listen to what he is saying,

 "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Dr. Bogost, Mr. Hannity's personal physician. Just hours ago I diagnosed Mr. Hannity with a dangerous medical condition that precludes Mr. Hannity from participating in this charity event. It is a very rare condition for which Mr. Hannity and his colleagues seem to have a propensity. It is an intestinal condition known medically as Fortitudinus abandonalus.

Needless to say, Mr. Hannity is devastated that he can not participate and prove that waterboarding is not torture. His condition precludes him from making this statement himself. There will be no questions. Thank you."

Well, there you have it. More later in the future. This is Ben Ostradamus signing off. 

Now that Bush is back down here in Texas, along with Dick Armey, Tom Delay, Alberto Gonzales, Karl Rove and who knows who else from the Bush league, why should we be surprised that Rick [Good Hair] Perry wants Texas to secede from the union? [God bless Molly Ivins, she would be having a ball with this.]

I'm certain that there would be no extradition treaty with the USA. Texas would become the Argentina of post WWII.

I live in Texas now. Maybe we could make Austin be like West Berlin was to West Germany and those of us who didn't drink the Kool Aid would have a refuge. There might even have to be an Austin airlift someday. Austin could have its own Elie Weisel just in case any of the Bush league tries to infiltrate. That should keep out the riffraff.

[Thanks to my wife for this idea]

If the argument of the gun lobby is that assault weapons and high capacity clips are for "sportsmen" and hunting, the implication is that they are better hunting weapons than bolt action rifles.
If a hunter really needs a semi automatic weapon to hunt, maybe NRA really stands for Not Real Accurate.

     For whatever reasons, it seems that the wisdom of our parents and grandparents is watered down and even refuted by the distractions of today's world. The role models of our grandparents are not the role models of popular culture now. We seldom seem to live close to our folks, grandparents don't have the influence on their grandkids that they did when generations lived in the same neighborhood or even the same house. I think we are the poorer for it.
     My sister was going through our folks things when they sold their old home and downsized. She found these notes from our paternal grandmother to our father when Dad was 53 [I am now 60 so I take her advice to heart]. Nanaw died when I was 32, so I knew her as an adult. She was one of the kindest people I ever knew. My aunt told me that during the depression Nanaw fed anyone who came to her door hungry and never turned anyone away.
     Until my sister sent this note for Dad to me, I never appreciated her wisdom. I see where Dad got his wisdom and it is my intention that I contribute as an "elder" in the way that Mom did and Dad does.
     The first and tenth pages and possibly some at the end are missing but nonetheless, I wanted to share this from our Nanaw, Norvell Kanning Jezzard.

Dear Brother
The following is transcribed from handwritten notes Nanaw wrote for Dad when he was 53 years old. Unfortunately, the first and 10th page are missing and possibly more at the end. She wrote this on a small note pad. I'm assuming the "they" she's talking about in her note is us...Dad's children.

Nanaw's advice to Dad when he was 53 years old

"...Remember, if they love you as they should, they will advise and try to help you in every way that is for your own good - and you should let them - even if you don't like it. Remember you've had your day and a good one it has been. So let them have theirs and you sit back and rest on your laurels.

Get all you can out of life - by doing for others as long as you are able. Try to keep interested in other people. Try to adjust yourself to the way people, or your children live and like it. It will be hard - but you can do it. Don't expect them to adjust their living to your way.

Remember - your eyesight will get poorer and poorer. Your children are not going to tell you something is soiled and needs changing when it isn't. They want to be proud of you - listen to them.

Don't make a practice of doing a certain thing on a certain day unless it fits in with everyone else's plans.  Remember your children will have some one else's pleasures and conveniences to consider as well as yours. Make yourself as adjustable as possible. You might not like it, but it can be done.

The best place for you where you'd fit in to the picture better all around ...{ page 10 missing}...page 11...hole of grandchildren and in-laws - as well as your own, out - Your own won't mind - but the rest may. So play safe and don't put your children between two fires. For that doesn't mean they don't love you any more.

Grow old graciously. You're independent and don't like to have people wait on you - but do what you really can (if they'll let you), and don't insist or try to do something they don't want you to do. You might - fall and break a hip.

Don't talk too much. Let the other fellow do that. That's what he likes to do anyway. Try to be agreeable at all times. Don't expect to get in on the children's parties. Feel complemented if they ask you and accept some times. But all down the ages - older people have cramped kid's style - why? I have never been quite sure - it's happened to you and it will happen to yours. Don't get careless about your person. You may not intend to - but that seems to go with old age.

Listen to your children. They are around to remind you. Try to concentrate on programs etc. and your vision will not be so good but it will also narrow down. You will not be able to take in so much as you did when younger. You will get more forgetful than you even are at 53. Be patient with yourself and others about it. Recognize the fact - Never allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself. Always be able to count your blessings and be thankful. Keep cheerful - even with your own family. Try to fit in. Remember that sometimes your family wants you, even your in-laws, if you will honestly cooperate and try to make yourself agreeable and adjustable.

It's natural for older people to grow in-ward. Don't you allow yourself to do that. Don't you get selfish and self centered. Old Gabriel will do something to you up there if you do"

Thanks Nanaw, I miss you.

 

I heard an interesting fact regarding foreclosures on the Randi Rhodes show a few months ago. That fact keeps showing up more and more. Evidently, as many as half of the mortgages out there don't have the original signed paperwork to back up the banks' legal right to foreclose. So if you are going into foreclosure, ask the bank to produce the paperwork. If they can't, don't leave your house because you are in a very strong position to re-negotiate your mortgage.

The courts are deciding that if a bank can't produce the physical paperwork, it cannot foreclose.

What will be the impact of the missing mortgage documents when added to the pile of "toxic" assets? Are they already considered toxic because they are going into foreclosure? Or will it take them out of the toxic category because the homeowner is in such a strong position to re-negotiate and get the mortgage back on the books as an asset that is generating income? If that's the case, the patriotic thing is to make the bank produce the paper and re-negotiate.

Update: Feb 3, 2009 5:07 PM

     International Ombudsman Institute and the Republican National Committee merger called off.

     Citing philosophical differences and an inability to decide which group's name would get first billing, the IOI and RNC have ceased negotiations to combine operations.
 
     Michael Steele, newly elected head of the RNC said, "We thought they were the International Bombudsmen Institute, a perfect fit for us. When we found out they were actually an organization who stands up for the little people, we fired our people who wanted this merger.  We want a new face for the Republican party, but we are talking strictly cosmetic."

     Bill Angrick, president of the IOI said, "We were excited because we thought the RNC wanted to transform the party and give working and middle class Americans a voice. When we were trying to come up with a catchy new name for the merged organizations' sign, they [the RNC] insisted on top billing. When one of our staffers suggested that we alternate the letters in our acronyms and she came up with I R O N I C, we decided it was a sign all right, and ceased negotiations."

After he was elected as head of the RNC, Michael Steele said "We want you to be a part of us, we want you to work with us, and for those of you who want to obstruct, get ready to get knocked over."
"It is going to be an honor to spar with him [Obama]," Steele said. "And I would follow that up with: How do you like me now?"

The angry black man is a Republican. How ironic.

Imagine if Obama had said anything like that. He got the right's panties in a knot when all he said was "I won".

And to [gleefully] take Mr. Limbaugh out of context,  "is about race, R-A-C-E, it is about race, and you can quote me."

You got it.

     Just how much does the lifestyle of the average American hasten the tipping point for global climate change? The tipping point being that point beyond which we cannot get the genie back in the bottle.
     Last winter my wife and I spent the night at a 50 acre permaculture community in Argentina. http://www.gaia.org.ar/english/iinstituto.htm I was very impressed with this sustainable community. They use cutting edge solar and wind energy strategies as well as low tech solutions to create a very comfortable lifestyle for themselves.
     Something I got from them was that the slogan "Save the Planet" doesn't make sense. The planet will be fine, it was fine when it was a molten ball of lava. The conversation should be "Save the Human Beings"
     After we left I started thinking about ways to push back the tipping point. What changes in my lifestyle might delay the environmental tipping point by even one second? Can one person change their lifestyle so they could give human beings one more second or even one more minute to work on saving ourselves?
     The world population is approaching seven billion. More than half live in poverty making less than $2 a day. The biggest impact most of those people could make might be by having fewer children. How much would zero population growth put back the tipping point?  Those folks can't change their light bulbs or adjust the thermostats [a whole other conversation].
     The people who can make the biggest difference right now are those of us who live in the developed world.
     According to the 2008 World Population Data Sheet, http://www.prb.org/pdf08/08WPDS_Eng.pdf, issued by the Population Reference Bureau, about 18% of us live in the "more developed" segment of the world, roughly 1.2 billion of us.  5% of the world population or 300 million live in the United States. We in the US account for 23% of worldly energy use each year. Said differently, the 5% of the world's population that lives in the U.S. has more environmental impact than the 51% that live in the other five largest countries.
     I actually see an opportunity in those statistics. Our actions in the US have a greater proportionate impact on the problem of climate change than the actions of those in other countries.
     If each American added one more second to the time before we reach a climate change tipping point, how much time would that be? There are a little more than 300,000,000 Americans, so 300,000,000 seconds = 5,000,000 minutes = 83,333 hours = 3472 days = 9.5 years. Would that make a difference? We went from a standing start to putting a man on the moon in only 10 years.
     I don't even know if one person could change their lifestyle in such a way that it would give humanity one more second to save itself. If it is possible, how about one more minute? 300,000,000 minutes = 5,000,000 hours = 208,333 days = 570 years.
     What kind of actions would make any difference? I imagine there are lots of things that we don't even think of. I started shaving with a mug and brush about 20 years ago. How many cans of shaving cream did I save? I never thought about it until I went to that community in Argentina. I have been looking for double edged razor blades in the store to replace the cartridges I use now, they don't carry them. Online I found 100 stainless blades for $17 delivered. I could shave for a year for $20 bucks and have hardly any garbage.
     At home my wife and I eat food that our grandmothers would recognize.  As a result we eat a lot of food cooked from scratch that doesn't make a lot of garbage. We didn't start cooking at home to save humanity. We cook like that because we like our own cooking. Again, I never though much about it until we were at that permaculture community.
     I know I get more than 15% better mileage when I drive 55 instead of 70. I also notice that when I am going 55, the same drivers pass me all day long. We probably go about the same distance in a day.
     None of that seems like much, and yet certainly makes some tiny fractional difference. Can we make enough of a difference to save us humans? I don't know, but I know if we don't try, the planet will be fine, it just may not be habitable by us.

Well, Bush/Cheney sure has kept me and mine and you and yours safe during their presidency, at least according to the current Republican talking points. Except of course for that one day in September, but that was only an aberration. You really shouldn't blame someone who only blew it one day out of 2922. Nobody crashed any planes into us for 99.9658% of the Bush/Cheney presidency.

Only a whiner would complain about the suspension of habeas corpus, posse comitatus and the de facto line item vetoes, aka "signing statements".  Who cares if warrantless surveillance of American citizens is against the constitution? I'm not doing anything wrong. We are safer, right? They are telling us so.

We are so safe that Bush/Cheney cut back on the enforcement activities of agencies like the FDA and the SEC. In this enlightened capitalistic age companies can be trusted to do the right thing and regulate themselves. Just ask Sydney, "I'm Shocked, Shocked I Tell You", Greenspan.

Let's see how safe Bush/Cheney and Company kept us.

How about deaths due to no health insurance during Bush/Cheney? According to the Institute of Medicine, http://www.iom.edu/Object.File/Master/17/748/Fact%20sheet%205%20Quality.pdf, 18,000 people died in 2000 because they had no health insurance based on year 2000 data.

After 6 years of Bush/Cheney, [according to the the Health Policy Center of the Urban Institute and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411588_uninsured_dying.pdf,] 22,000 people died in 2006 because they had no health insurance based on year 2006 data. I found that info here: http://www.ninenineohnine.org/pages/Real_People#noinsurance.

The difference between the Clinton and Bush/Cheney numbers is that about 1000 more people [per year] died under Bush/Cheney than the 2998 who died on 9/11, or almost equal to the number of Americans who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq since we invaded them. My instinct tells me these results are more a factor of failed economics than the abrogation of the constitution.

If we are safer from terrorism because we gave up some freedoms then it stands to reason that we must be safer from other foreign threats. If that is the case, why did 47.1% of high school seniors say in 2007 that they could obtain cocaine fairly easily or very easily and 29.7% say the same for heroin? Data from US Dept. of Justice http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/dcf/du.htm

I reference cocaine and heroin because they are not domestically grown and must be smuggled into the US, therefore they are foreign threats.
 
According to he CDC, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/deaths.htm, in this pdf file, http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_10.pdf, drug induced deaths climbed from 1999 to 2005 as follows:

1999 - 19,128 deaths
2000 - 19,720 deaths
2001 - 21,705 deaths
2002 - 26,040 deaths
2003 - 28,723 deaths
2004 - 30,711 deaths
2005 - 33,541 deaths

[The category 'drug-induced causes' includes not only deaths from dependent and non-dependent use of drugs (legal and illegal use), but also poisoning from medically prescribed and other drugs. It excludes unintentional injuries, homicides, and other causes indirectly related to drug use. Also excluded are newborn deaths due to mother's drug use.]

In the last 2 years of Clinton there were an average of 19,424 drug related deaths. For the first 5 years of Bush/Cheney, the average was 28,144. That is an increase of over 44%.

Again, the above statistics do not differentiate between illegal and legal drug induced deaths. The original document does have the breakdown by code if you are interested in breaking them down.

Let's say that only 10% of those deaths were from cocaine and heroin overdose. I'm guessing that is conservative.

Under Clinton that would average 1,942 deaths per year. Under Bush/Cheney, the 2,814 deaths per year almost equals the death toll on 9/11, and that is every year from 2001 thru 2005. I don't have later statistics. If anyone does, please post them.

If the surveillance etc. that Bush/Cheney has subjected us to is keeping us safe from terrorists because of intercepted communications, did they ignore the communications from the narco-terrorists? If you extrapolate from the years of data I used, you could say conservatively that at least 7 times more Americans died from narco-terrorism under the Bush/Cheney watch than the Saudi/al Qaida terrorists killed on 9/11. That number does not even include injuries, homicides and other indirect deaths related to drug use. Safer? Not so much.

But wait, there's more! The majority of the heroin that comes to the US comes from Afghanistan. "Despite more than 30,000 international troops in the country, Afghanistan now produces 92 per cent of the world's opium, a United Nations report said Tuesday. The 2007 World Drug Report http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/WDR-2007.html, which was released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said that production in Afghanistan increased nearly 50 per cent in the last year. CBS News, Tuesday, June 26, 2007"

Osama bin Laden is where? What if Afghan narco-terrorists know some al Qaida terrorists? I would say it is a given. If you believe the United Nations report and Fox News commentator Col. David Hunt's, "Al Qaeda Profiting From Afghanistan's Production of Opium" http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296418,00.html then you might say that 92% of all heroin related deaths under Bush/Cheney since 9/11 have been terrorist attacks on American citizens on American soil.

And then there's this Reuters headline on Jan 14, 2008. "Pakistan Drugs Create Al Qaeda Chaos Under Bhutto Assassination Radar, Say ex-White House Drug Spokesman Robert Weiner and John Larmett; U.S. and Military, with 'No Plan,' Fail to Block bin Laden Funding Source" The full article is here: http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS99131+14-Jan-2008+PRN20080114. I am not feeling any safer yet.

It seems to be easy to get literally tons of cocaine and heroin into the country. It also appears to be a fact that many narco-terrorists and plain old run of the mill terrorists are one and the same. Given those facts, I'd say it would be easy for any self respecting terrorist organization to get explosives, biological agents, nuclear material, suicide bombers or whatever else they want smuggled into the USA.

I assert that we haven't had a major attack inside the US because either no one is ready or has wanted to, not because any Bush/Cheney policies have prevented them from attacking.

I don't know about you, but every time someone says Bush/Cheney made us safer, I shall not keep my mouth shut. I will take Molly Ivins advice and "Raise hell!" [Molly died 2 years ago tomorrow Jan 31. She must be loving all this. I miss her.]

Then again, maybe it's just another incredible set of unexplainable coincidences that just happen to make Bush/Cheney look bad.

I hope the working class republicans [democrats who are only victims of incorrect thinking] can get this headline on their radios after their TVs stop working February 17.
I wonder if this is the new republican southern strategy. If so, they will lose the south for 50 years. Soaps do not look the same on the radio.
Maybe those working class republicans will finally get it right and blame their own leadership for the fact that they are uninformed.

Hey Folks,
It's that time again. It's time for our middle class reunion. It's hard to believe it been 10 years.
As exciting as it is to look forward to the reunion, this time it will be bittersweet.
We are having a difficult time finding many of our middleclassmates. Please look at the list before and get in touch with the committee if you know where any of them are.
Missing Middleclassmates:

Autoworkers
Union Workers
Machinists
Tool and Die Makers
Engineers
Lumberjacks
Computer Engineers
Computer Scientists
Computer Programmers
Help Desk Workers
Telephone Operators
Architects
Chemists
Accountants
Consultants
Rubbermaid Workers
Tire Plant Workers
IT Workers
Printers

We are sorry to report that we have heard of the deaths of some of our middleclassmates. Let us know if we have been misinformed.

Deaths:

Textile Workers
Shoe Makers
Shoe Repairmen
Television Repairmen
Furniture Plant Workers
Woodcarvers
Stained Glass Workers
Potters
Toymakers

Please inform us of any other deaths you know about.

There is a silver lining to all this. We will be able to save lots of money on postage and we will be able to rent a much smaller [and cheaper] facility for the reunion this year than we did 10 years ago.

Look forward to seeing the few of you who are left,
The Middleclass Reunion Committee

PS
If you want to purchase our fundraiser item, email us.
This year it is a timely bumper sticker, tastefully done in black and blue
"CLASS WAR, ENLIST NOW!"

I was organizing my desktop [a daunting task] and I found this rewrite I did of an old Tom Paxton song, Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation. For those of you who don't know that song, it was a great Viet Nam war protest song. If you don't know of Tom Paxton, you certainly know his songs. When GW started making surge sounds, Paxton's old song popped into my head and kind of rewrote itself.
I googled a line from the original song because I wasn't sure of the right name for it and much to my surprise found that Tom had also rewritten it and it is on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ft36GQMmvXs
I have posted some comments regarding ways to shift the context and the center of the national conversation to the left.
I think music has great potential. This song is not so relevant now. I just hope I never have to write this so I have to rhyme with and fit Afghanistan into the song. If my attempts at waxing lyrical can inspire anyone to do something similar that will forward peace and social justice, I will feel like I have done something worthwhile.

So here's my rewrite:

George Double You Told The Nation

I saw an ad on my tv
You can be all that you can be
Come on down and sign the dotted line
Though it may seem very queer

We've got no jobs to give you here
We will send you to Iraq's front line

[Cho:]

G Double you told the nation

Have no fear of escalation.

I am trying Conoco to please.

Though it isn't really war, 

We're sending 20,000 more

To help save Iraq from the Iraqis


I landed on the hot tarmac
Something told me that Iraq
Was not a place I wanted to be found
Hot as hell and dry as dust
They loaded us upon a bus
And told us duck your heads and just keep down

[Cho:]

Every night the local gentry,

Sneak out past the sleeping sentry.

To put IEDs where they can't be found
Never mind we've got no training,

Think of all the ground we're gaining,

Just don't take one step outside of town

[Cho:]

We go around in camo Hummers,

Without armor, it's a bummer,

Searching for the insurgents in vain.

They left a note that they had gone.

They had to get down to Iran,

Their government positions to maintain.

[Cho:]

Well here we are in this oasis,

Going through our daily paces,

And I know that Dub'ya loves me so.

Yet how sadly I remember,

Way back yonder in November,

When he said we'd never have to go.

[Cho:]

The people here don't seem to see
That we brought them democracy
They owe a debt of gratitude to us
And yet they have the nerve to say
That we should up and go away
As if we were to blame for all this fuss

[Cho:]

We'll kill a hundred thousand more
To save you from your civil war
We're the ones who know what's best for you
All we want's some gratitude
You only give us attitude
Why you hate us, we don't have a clue

[Cho:]

They say it's not about the oil
That's underneath this sandy soil
Ask Exxon Mobil Conoco and Shell
We die to honor those who died
To satisfy our nation's pride
So you can drive your SUV to hell

[Cho:]

Have fun

How do you get people in the streets today?

If you get them in the streets how can you get fair media coverage?

In the 60s the draft focused the minds of us boomers regarding the war, the draft was key in getting us organized and in the streets. Draft resisting and marching for racial justice were natural matches. At first, the media marginalized the racial justice and anti war movements. Then middle class kids starting coming home in boxes and middle class kids started disappearing while organizing in the south. Media started to get on board, not a lot, but enough. Politicians started realizing they could get elected by standing for racial justice and against the war in Viet Nam.

It took a generation to forget what happens when we go to the other side of the planet and save a people from themselves. The warmongers got smarter after Viet Nam and sold the country on an "all volunteer" army. No more middle class moms and dads writing angry letters to their congressman because Johnny might get shipped home in a box after he got drafted.
They pulled off a war where there was no real effective outrage.

Today we have a situation in the US where, in three years, more Americans die because they have no health insurance than died in the Viet Nam war, and the American public doesn't even know it. This site: http://www.ninenineohnine.org/pages/Real_People has some great stats regarding unnecessary deaths because of no health insurance.
 
Based on year 2000 data there were 18,000 deaths in the US due to no health insurance. After 6 years of Bush, there were 22,000 deaths in the US due to no insurance [2006 data]. Bush sure has kept us safe. 22,000 minus 18,000 is about the number of people who died on 9/11, and thats just the comparison from one year under Clinton and one year under Bush.
In 3 years more Americans die in this country from lack of insurance than the 57,000 plus who died in Viet Nam from 1956 through 1973. Even if those figures are cut in half the situation is horrible.

So, how do we get people upset enough to do something that will make a difference? Face it, people dying because they have no health insurance doesn't get eyeballs on the commercials the way people dying in war or being beaten up because they wouldn't leave their seat in a lunch counter does. Since TV gets an amazing amount of advertising revenue from entrenched players in the health business, they are not going to be much help, at least initially.

In the 60s we were limited in the way we could get our messages out. We had guitars and mimeographs and passion. Today we have texting, cell phones, email, faxes, Youtube, Facebook, Myspace, blogs, Colbert, the Daily Show, Thom Hartmann, Randi Rhodes, Rachael Maddow, Keith O.
We have young people who wonder what the big deal is for their parents about race, gender inequality and sexual preference. They are way ahead of most of us, in the way we progressive boomers were in the 60s. What today's youth doesn't have is an experience of a government that works. For all its faults, the post WWII government in the US worked much better and cheaper than the private companies that have taken over way too many government functions.
Not having that experience of an effective government makes it even easier to just embrace resignation. "Why bother? It won't make a difference anyway."

So we have a travesty of a health access problem in America, more tools for information dissemination that ever in human history, more media access than in decades, a large percentage of young adults with very progressive attitudes and a resigned population who ironically would rather watch America's Biggest Loser than write their congressperson.

Ironically we even have 2 health delivery systems that could be great models for universal health coverage.  It amazes me that most people don't know we already have socially accepted single payer [Medicare] and socialized [the VA] medical care here today.
I would love to see some uberconservative try to get re-elected on a platform of getting rid of the VA health system and medicare.

Youth made the difference 40 years ago, youth can make the difference today.

So what is missing that would make a difference?

I would assert that relevance is missing for people in their 20s and 30s and even 40s. So how can you make health access relevant to them? When you are 50 and older, relevance is usually a given.

Maybe it will become relevant to younger America when a friend or parent dies because we don't have universal health care in this country. Then again, they might get really involved when they realize that their parents are spending the kids' inheritances on medical expenses.

That one could be a winner. "Honey, We Shrunk Your Inheritance". That might get them in the streets. You can get just about anyone's attention if you take their money away from them.
The system isn't just stealing young people's inheritance, it is stealing America's inheritance.

My wife and I are 58 and 60 years old and self employed. We pay $550 a month for $10,000 deductible PPO coverage, last year it was $454 a month. Both of us have pre-existing conditions that keep us from changing insurance. Even so we have paid in way more than we have taken out.  If I had the choice of paying $3000 more a year in taxes to have universal coverage with no exclusions or pay $6600 a year for the coverage we have, what do you think I would do? If we paid $6600 a year in taxes with little or no deductible, we would still be better off than we are now. I have to believe that the amount we pay into health insurance now as a nation would absolutely cover the whole country's health costs with a system like Medicare that delivers care for a fraction of the overhead of private insurance. The people who work in the front lines for the insurance companies could become civil servants. We could probably save enough for the whole shebang by not hiring upper managment after the switch.

It looks to me like we have almost everything in place to have universal health coverage. We just have to convince congress that not only is it their best interest to vote for universal health coverage, but they can get re-elected if they do. That convincing comes from enough of us letting them know that we want it and we'll toss them out if they don't listen to us.

I know that there is a 60 second Youtube video waiting to be made that could go viral and give the conversation for universal coverage unstoppable momentum. There is a bumper sticker so funny and so compelling that everyone will want one. There is a song that will make the most conservative old fart in America want to move to Canada so they can have universal health care there.

So get cracking, there is work to do.


[as a side note, this started as a post in another blog but started getting so big I thought i would write my very first blog of my own. As it is, it got out of hand. Thanks for getting far enough to read this. I am open to any suggestions or outright fawning adulation that might be out there. Thanks]