Recently in Health Care Category

This Op-Ed, by Charles M. Blow, documents the United States decline in a number of measures.  Not only are we no longer "Number One", in many measures we are among the worst of the worst of industrialized countries.American Shame.html...

(Above--The Donley County, Texas Courthouse received Texas Historical Commission funds for renovation. Governor Perry wants to end funding for the Commission. Photo by Billy Hathorn.)We all know that brutal cuts in the Texas state budget are on the way.Due to longstanding Republican mismanagement of state finances, we have a massive budget deficit in Texas.These cuts to health and education will cost lives and leave Texas children less able to compete with young people in other parts of the nation and from elsewhere in the...

Due in large part to Republican mismanagement of state finances, and due to the failure of many ordinary Texans to meet the everyday obligations of citizenship, the State of Texas faces a massive budget deficit.(Above---Not long after the Arizona shooting rampage, the Austin State Hospital, which offers mental health assistance, faces drastic Texas state budget cuts. Photo by Larry D. Moore.)State Comptroller Susan Combs says the deficit could possible be as high as $27 billion for the 2012-2013 biennium.The...

My first inclination is to call the Republican vote to repeal health care reform yesterday meaningless, since it's unlikely to even come up for a vote in the Senate and faces a certain presidential veto even if it did,  but it actually wasn't meaningless at all. It told us everything we need to know about today's Republican party. Since they offered no alternative, only a "no" to the current law, the message was loud and...

As the new Republican majority in the House gets set to waste time this week with a repeal of health care reform that has zero chance of either passing the Senate or being able to withstand a presidential veto, the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol appeared on Fox News Sunday yesterday to detail what the "replace" part of the alleged "repeal and replace" of health care reform might look like. As you would expect from the...

I've never been a fan of raisins. There's just something about a so-called fruit that is all shriveled up and looks like dead bugs that has never appealed to me.   Over the years, raisins have become analogous with things that I have found annoying. I find it particularly annoying when a situation calls for bold, decisive action ... and in comes Mr. Stay Puft to handle it. You know what I'm talking about. You...

In a January 20 article at the Center for American Progress, Michael Linden differentiated between those who are serious about addressing our fiscal problems-the deficit hawks-from those who posture and preen about it--the deficit peacocks. Here's how he defines a peacock:"Deficit peacocks like to preen and call attention to themselves, but are not sincerely interested in taking the difficult but necessary steps toward a balanced budget. Peacocks prefer scoring political points to solving problems."This is...

Far-right Republican Texas State Senator Dan Patrick has announced the Patrick Family Sugar Cookie on his Facebook page.Here is the recipe--This is not a sweet cookie, but a pure flour-sugar cookie-really different-like peanuts, once you eat one you can't stop1 pound butter4.5 to 5 cups sugar6 eggs1.5 teaspoons salt2 teaspoons nutmeg½ cup milk2 tablespoons butternut flavoring2 teaspoons almond extract8 cups flour1.5 teaspoons baking powderCream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs. Add the salt, nutmeg, and...

From Media Matters: At the height of the health care reform debate last fall, Bill Sammon, Fox News' controversial Washington managing editor, sent a memo directing his network's journalists not to use the phrase "public option." Instead, Sammon wrote, Fox's reporters should use "government option" and similar phrases -- wording that a top Republican pollster had recommended in order to turn public opinion against the Democrats' reform efforts. Journalists on the network's flagship news program,...

I've been in Tokyo, Japan this week for business meetings, so have spent a couple of days walking the city and riding in the back of cabs from place to place.  In my spare time, I've be absorbing as much as I can of Tokyo, walking back streets of shops and trying to experience Japanese culture and cuisine as much as I can.  As I've become comfortable in this city, I've also become painfully aware...