Recently in Health Care Category

The AWRA (Angry White Republican Astroturfers) held their "press conference" on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. yesterday, so named because they didn't have a permit for a "rally." The speakers at this event planned and coordinated by Americans for Prosperity spontaneous gathering of concerned Americans who aren't about party, just happened to all be Republicans, and also all white (with the exception of George Hamilton John Boehner), but I'm being redundant. Here's...

With all deference to Desperado, I wanted to piggy back on his idea of looking back at the last year since Obama was elected president. However, instead of evaluating his performance, I wanted to take a look at the political landscape. Obama made a lot of noise about changing the tone in Washington. He wasn't the first and he won't be the last. George W. Bush made the same pledge when he went to Washington....

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of the day Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Although he has only been in office for nine months, I thought it would be an appropriate time to reflect and re-assess my vote for him and see if I made the proper choice, based on what I know now. As I did I remembered his speech on the night of November 4, 2008:"The road ahead will be...

Republican candidate for New York District 23, Dede Scozzafava, recently pulled out of the race.  She had come under withering attacks from Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman and his supporters, including Sarah Palin, for not being "conservative enough" because of her pro-choice, pro-gay marriage stance on social issues, ties to organized labor, and support for the stimulus.  Scozzafava claims her record was misrepresented and that she simply could not raise enough money to counter the...

In the latest episode of our national soap opera, As the Health Care Reform Turns, Senator Joe Lieberman said that he would support a filibuster of a bill that contains a public option. Sort of, kinda, maybe: "Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) told reporters today that he would in fact filibuster any health care bill he doesn't agree with--and right now, he doesn't agree with the public option proposal making its way through the Senate."I told...

If you want to see what stifling free speech really looks like, examine the case of Simon Singh.  I had the honor of seeing him speak at the Museum of Natural Science here in Houston once, so I'll get my own bias in his favor out of the way up front.  He's a real scientist and a brilliant communicator, kinda like Britain's Neil deGrasse Tyson.Singh recently published a book with Edzard Ernst, the first Professor...

Bear with me as I take a shot at something new this morning--video editing. This is from KFMB in San Diego yesterday. San Diego is the first stop on the national tour for the Tea Party Express, which will be here in the Houston area on November 7th. All the usual suspects were in attendance, including the "take our country back" crowd. Billionaires for Wealthcare also made an appearance. Take a look: Roll out the...

As our politicians in Washington dicker and bicker over the details of health care reform--over how the CBO will score this, or how many votes can we get for that, or how can we deal the president a political blow on this, or what can we vote for and still keep the campaign contributions flowing on that--here's what happening to REAL people in the REAL world. A husband and father in Wisconsin, Bill Caudle,  has...

Pardon my disillusionment this morning on the prospects for meaningful health care reform. That would be health care reform that includes a public option, a real one, not a POINO (public option in name only) and other elements upon which President Obama campaigned. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on CNN's State of the Union yesterday:"As you saw the president say in the joint session to Congress, he believes a public plan, a public...

I found this at Firedoglake, and thought it was a great take on how the hundreds of millions spent by lobbyists trying to influence legislators in order to maintain the status quo could have been put to much better use:"In an article at CNN.com we learn how much money is being spent in an attempt to prevent real health care reform:"The health care sector has spent $263 million this year lobbying Congress for changes to...