Category Archives: Health Care Reform

Celebrating (Mourning) a Culture of Lies

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My only complaint about this terrific and important essay, is what he says about Heath care reform. Of course, he's right in the main, but he ignores the fact that it's the only step in the only direction we could get.

It might have been a leap, but for the monumental lying by conservatives, the US Chamber of Commerce, virtually all elected Republicans, Hatriot talk radio, and of course, Fox News. Much of  it was merely a louder variant on the same kind of lying that enabled both the Vietnam war, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Even so, this essay is brilliant at summarizing the civic malfeasance and neglect that got us to this miserable place in history. Conservatism has raped this nation, raped its people, and raped history.  It's time we put it on trial, find it guilty, execute it, and cremate the corpse along with all its DNA.  Before it does the same to us.

It is time to grow out of our materialistic fetishes and begin cultivating the personal and civic maturity we like to fancy we possess, but which we don't. It is time to grow up and accept the burdens of mature citizenship, among the most important of which are a capacity and a willingness to tell the truth, letting go the comforting but corrosive lies in the confidence that courage mustered now will yield not only greater self respect today but a more sane, a more decent, and a safer society in the future.

It is important that we commemorate Vietnam, both to mourn the objective horror of what it was, but also to redeem our capacity to tell the truth, to ourselves, about ourselves. Only in that way can we begin to reclaim the country and the people we want to imagine ourselves to be.

Read the entire essay by Robert Freeman (Common Dreams)

Thanks to @goldymos for this.

REAL Canadians Talking Real Health Care

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Update

Wendell Potter, the former health insurance who has exposed much of that industry’s lies and deceptions, has recently called for more videos precisely like this one:

Introduction

In August of 2009, my brother and I went to a family summer camp in Ontario.  While there, we decided we’d use his little family cam and do some interviews with real Canadians, discussing their health care system and taking steps towards a better health such as buy Delta 8 THC, which is good for mental health.  But for a few prepared questions, it was completely unscripted. Most of the people were all from a small Island community.

It was far more successful than we dreamed, mainly because it exposed just how little the American media—or its the government—were really doing to tell the truth about the Canadian health system.  It’s received tens of thousands of YouTube views, and almost as many comments. It was also blogged by Huffington Post, and received over 1000 comments.

As of today (3/25/2010), the United States has just made a giant step toward finally providing some basic health care for its people.  It was made difficult mostly because of a half-century of selfish, corporate, and Republican resistance and malfeasance.

It’s a big step, but only the very first step. The goal must be a true single payer system, every bit as good as the one you are about to hear about in this video.

Comment Threads

The Quiet Secret of Health Care Reform

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Lost In The Noise of HCR

In the raucous, noisy, bloody lie-filled Health Care war we just won, a huge and immediate benefit that Republicans didn't want you to even know about—and the media never told you about—is the Bernie Sander's Amendment. America's only elected declared socialist, quietly inserted provisions that, in and of themselves, are a massive change we can believe in.

What is it? Merely $14 billion a year to finally operate up to 10,000 community health centers across the country.

A $10 billion investment in community health centers, expected to go to $14 billion when Congress completes work on health care reform legislation, was included in a final series of changes to the Senate bill unveiled today. The provision, which would provide primary care for 25 million more Americans, was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Please retweet this, so everyone knows of this huge win of America—and President Obama?

When You Watch The Bill Signed Today

Live stream: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live

Just think about how huge a change this is for millions of Americans. And this is why this bill is so important. It's not perfect, but it has completely changed the game. It's not public health care yet, but it certainly will be a major stepping-stone toward it.  And that, of course, is why conservatives tried so hard to kill it. They failed. 

So you see, this is change you can believe in. It proves that, yes, in fact, we can.

Overviews

Bernie Sanders On His Bill

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