It's big and it's complicated, and it's hardly single-payer, or perfect. But it is extensive, historic, and probably the best incremental approach we can hope for, given the sheer power that US business interests and their organizations have to obstruct and intimidate the political process.

You can find extensive details on the web, but most people care about the high points.  So let me list them for you here, so you can repeat them to friends and family, before Fox news trains upon them their inevitable fire hose of cynical and manipulative propaganda and lies.

According to the Washington Post, the measure includes:

  •   An individual mandate that would require people to buy health insurance.
  •   An employer mandate that would require companies to cover their employees, though small businesses would be exempted.
  •   Funding to create insurance exchanges to serve people who don't have employer coverage.
  •   A government insurance option to compete with private plans on the exchange.
  •   Subsidies to help households earning up to $88,000 in annual income for a family of four purchase coverage.
  •   A historic Medicaid expansion that would provide free health care to all Americans with incomes below 150 percent of the federal poverty level.
  •  Up to $400 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts, including to a Medicare Advantage managed-care program that serves nearly 11 million seniors.
  •   A surcharge on taxpayers who earn more than $500,000 a year, or $1 million a year for families.
  • A crackdown on the insurance industry, including bans on lifetime limits, premium disparity based on health status and sex, and coverage denials based on preexisting conditions. The bill also would end a federal antitrust exemption that has for decades protected firms from federal investigations.

VIDEO: Rise Of The Conservative Media

Media Matters releases new video showing right-wing media's leading role in driving movement. Very  powerful, and more than a little scary.   I really hope @mmfa will start releasing stuff like this far more regularly.  It's way past time we take the fight to the Conservative agenda, instead of waiting for them  to stick it to us.

Enough is enough.  Just tune in to Twitter’s #tcot hashtag on any given day, and the nitwittery about “the liberal media” flows like pus from a lanced boil.  It may seem like old news to some, but the fact is, the Conservative/Corporate dominance of our media is still one of the single  greatest threats to our democracy.

By controlling the popular (mass audience) print and broadcast narratives, they control the discussion, and the issues.  This is why it’s been almost impossible to do the logical things we must do as a society. The conservative/libertarian special interests have an ongoing compelling interest in ensuring that government be dysfunctional, and having a dysfunctional media is one of the best ways to ensure that.

I’ve never been able to locate a really clear and concise reading list on the topic.  Most web pages are random essays with suggested lists tossed in as an afterthought (like so many explainers and FAQs).

I’d like to make it easier to distribute (tweet) the best of the basic debunkers regarding this insidious lie that helps the conservative movement dominate our media and public narratives.

This is really just a starting list, and I plan on adding more,  but I want to keep it compact and focused on the high points of the issues, and not overwhelm. If you have good items to suggest, please post a link in the comments below.

Read:  The Liberal Myths Reading List