Health Care Reform For Dummies

If one picture is worth a thousand words, then this video is worth the entire English language.

A friend sent it to me yesterday. It boils the argument for a government run health care system down to its simplest terms, and explains why private insurance companies, with a primary fiduciary responsibility to employees and shareholders, simply cannot do the job.

Have a look, and if you like it, pass it on. August is almost over. Congress will be back in session in a matter of days. There is no time to waste

In Lieu of Flowers, Pass Health Care Reform

Senator Edward Kennedy, the lion of Liberalism, is dead after 46 years in the United States Senate. As I write this post, a motorcade is making its way through the streets of Boston. I'm watching it on TV, and it feels like the entire population of the city is lining the roadways to say good-bye.

Not surprising since there has been a Kennedy representing Massachusetts in the United States Senate for more than half a century. For the past 46 years, that Kennedy has been Edward "Teddy" Kennedy, who started out the bad boy baby brother of a sitting President and ended up a beloved and respected. senior statesman.

Edward Kennedy was no flash in the pan. He was not a shooting star that burned bright before burning out as many thought he might be in his youth. It turned out that in spite of his personal foibles and disappointments, he was a tortoise not a hare; a man for the long haul, who spoke truth to power and remained true to his liberal political values, even when they were not popular.

Yes, he was a rake, a womanizer, a drinker whose name will forever be associated with a shameful incident at Chappaquiddick, and he cheated on his Spanish exam at Harvard. But he was also a man who was tempered by pain and who learned from his mistakes. With maturity he grew in moral stature and resolve. He was a proud liberal who authored 2500 bills, most of which passed into law. From Voting Rights and Minimum Wage to The Americans with Disabilities Act and No Child Left Behind, Senator Kennedy championed ordinary people. He never forgot who he was in Washington to work for,

He was also a skilled politician; a deal maker who knew how to get things done, and health care, was one of the things he wanted to get done. He started working on a national health care program during the Nixon Administration. He supported Hillary and Bill Clinton's ill fated attempt in 1994. He was an important backer of President Obama's current health care reform, and until ill heath prevented his participation, worked tirelessly behind the scenes and on both sides of the aisle to see it come to fruition

There are those who say that now that he is gone, so is all hope of meaningful health care reform. There are others who feel that health care reform stands a better chance of making it through Congress this fall as a fitting memorial to Senator Kennedy. If you are in favor of meaningful health care reform which includes a public option, let your voice be heard. Most of us can't line the streets of Boston or attend a viewing or funeral. So, in lieu of flowers, let's pass health care reform when Congress re-convenes this fall.






photo courtesy of http://kennedy.senate.gov/senator/

Bye Bye Lockerbie Bomber

The Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, went home to Libya yesterday. In case his name doesn't exactly ring a bell, he is the guy who was convicted of blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.


In 1988 the world was a very different place. Reagan was in the White House and the Cold War was going strong. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi' was playing the Russians and Americans off against each other. The PLO was beating it's chest. Iran was yelling " Death to America" but all that didn't seem too important compared to the possiblity of nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. Then poof-- there went Pan Am Flight 103. It shocked the world. The trail was hard to follow, but it seemed that this was an act of state-sponsored terrorism and the sponsor was Libya.

Megranhi and a co conspirator were wanted men. Libya refused to turn them over for trial for eight years, keeping them under house arrest in Tripoli, where it must be said they were seen as heros rather than criminals. Finally, in 1999 a trial began in the Netherlands. Only Megranhi was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment in Scotland. Lucky for him it wasn't an American jail. He would have been dead within a year. The inmates would have killed him.

What Really Happened?


I always had the feeling that Megranhi was a scape goat and that there was more to this story than met the eye. Conspiracy theories have abounded over the years. Some have pointed the finger at the PLO or the CIA. Iran has been implicated, but nobody has proof of anything. Megranhi is a former Libyan intelligence officer ( former?? I wonder) who always maintained his innocence. There are, it must be admitted, a lot of loose ends.

Now, Megrani, suffering from terminal cancer, has been allowed to go home to die , his sentence commuted on grounds of compassion. Lots of people are quite upset-- from the families of the victims to the President of the United States. I don't blame people for being angry. Me? I feel there is something funny going on. Part of me would like to see this guy rot in jail. Another part of me thinks this is about somethng bigger than just one man-- innocent or guilty.

Muammar Gaddafi',the bad boy Libyan dictator, has recently decided to play nicely with the West. This is going down well in high places because Libya has more oil than any other country in Africa. Gaddafi has stopped his nuclear program,restored diplomatic relations, gotten America and the EU to lift economic sanctions, paid reparations to the Lockerbie families and issued an apology. And now Megrani's sentence has been commuted on compasionate grounds. It's a regular little lovefest, isn't it? Nice to get that nasty Lockerbie thing over and done with forever.I don't know what is really going on, but I would guess that as always, it would be illuminating to follow the money.

So yesterday, Gaddafi sent his private jet to pick up Megrani and fly him home. Jubilant crowds waited at the airport in Tripoli. In two weeks Gadaffi will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the military coup that brought him to power. In three months or so, Megrani will be dead. In six months oil will be flowing and big money will be made. No doubt Megrani's family will get their share.

Families of the victims will continue to mourn. Terrorists will continue to plot. Nations will continue to jockey for power, and we, the people of the world, will believe what we wish to. Bye bye Lockerbie bomber. Are you a mass murderer or a patriotic soldier who fell on his spear for the good of his people? Truth, like beauty, is often in the eye of the beholder.

Note to Media: Leave Hillary Clinton Alone

I have spent the last two days watching this clip of a hot, tired, and out of sorts, Hillary Clinton snapping at a student during a "Q & A" in the Republic of Congo.

Now, I admit, it was not Hillary's finest hour, but please, talking TV heads, stop with the Cheshire Cat smiles and gleeful comments. You are taking entirely too much pleasure in painting Hillary as a hot tempered virago. It's making me and a lot of other women really angry.

The question really was insulting and I don't blame Hillary for being pissed and letting it show. She was absolutely right. Her husband is not the Secretary of State and this was an official, diplomatic visit. Yes, it would have been better if the hair and make up crew had done better by her, and if she had been wearing something other than a blue cotton pantsuit that looked like hospital scrubs. It would have been better yet if she hadn't been quite so tired, or perhaps suffering in the tropical heat.

All things being equal she could have framed a more diplomatic response, but that question pushed an emotional button that lies buried in the bosom of every married woman who has ever carved out a career outside the home. Even if she becomes a world famous brain surgeon or the CEO of a major corporation people will still ask her " what does your husband do" Rarely will they ask her husband, the same question. Working women still have to deal with the mommy track and the boys club every day and Hillary has had to put up with more than her share of it, since her husband is a charismatic ex President and larger than life personality-- not to mention a major league philanderer.

I didn't think Hillary was a great First Lady, but she was a smashing Senator, ran a great Presidential campaign, and has put her ego on hold to serve the current President brilliantly as Secretary of State. If she were male not female, nobody in Congo or anywhere else would have asked her about her spouse's opinion. I don't blame her for being defensive. I don't blame her for being angry. I'm a bit angry on her behalf myself.

If you are one of the few people on the planet who has not yet seen the clip, here it is. Have a look and then, please, leave Hillary Clinton alone and let her do her job.

Nightly Protest From the Rooftops of Iran

Listen to the sounds of protest from the rooftops of Iran.... the voice of a child in the darkness crying out " God is Great"

These voices in the night have more power than nuclear weapons. Watch the video below and add your prayers to the chorus. In the end, whatever our religion,we are all children of the same God. In the end a mushroom cloud will kill us all.

May God bless the brave Iranians whose voices are heard every night on the rooftops of Iran.

Medicare Is Socialized Medicine

Listen up my fellow Americans, especially those of you who fear that socialized medicine is the work of Satan.

Here in America we already have socialized medicine in the form of Medicare, a single payer, government run system for people over 65 and the disabled. Medicare comes in two parts. Part A covers hospitalization and Part B covers various tests and outpatient treatments.

Guess what, under this government run, single payer system, seniors get to choose their own doctors, their own hospitals, and since their health care is administered by the federal government, its administrative costs are much less than those of private health insurance companies( even given bloated government bureaurocracy).

There are no referrals or permissions necessary as with HMO's. On top of that, every hospital in the country accepts Medicare which means a New Yorker who breaks an arm in Arizona won't be turned away from the local emergency room if he hasn't got cash or a credit card. Medicare is good everywhere in the United States.

Scare Tactics

It amazes me how many grey-hairs I see in videos and TV coverage of the protests against the health care legislation now being hammered out in Congress. I'm stunned to find that many of these mature adults who are screaming about socialized medicine like it was the end of days, do not realize that Medicare, on which they rely, is socialized medicine. It may not be perfect, but it works. Every doctor I know spends more time hassling with insurance companies and filling out forms than seeing patients. Physicians can opt out of Medicare, but most don't. The fees aren't as high as for private insurance, but there is less hassle and they do get paid. Every hospital has a huge accounting staff just to handle insurance billing as every Insurance company has different rules, different forms and a different contract with the hospital.

Here's what folks. The American health care system is broken. We have to fix it, pronto. Entrenched Insurance interests are trying to scare the pants off you not because they care about you, but because they care about their bottom line. They won't make as much money if everybody has the single payer government option. It's that simple. They are businesses with a primary fiduciary responsibility to their investors and shareholders not to you. You are the product on which they make a profit. That's the way business works and in this country, health care is a business and a very lucrative one at that.

If I have to choose between corporate greed and government beaurocracy, I'll take the government. But you don't have to. As the President says " If you like your present plan you can keep it" Something for everybody. In the meantime, please remember that Medicare is not a dirty word.. Millions of seniors depend upon it and are happy to have it.

Blogging the Birthers

Everybody is blogging the Birthers these days, So here's my two cents. A recent poll announced that 28% of Republicans believed Obama was not born in the United States and another 30% weren't sure. The fact that 58% of Republicans had doubts about something provable like where the President was born has a lot of people puzzled-- but not me.

I know only too well what makes people cling to the crazy idea that our President is not really one of us, is sinister, a fraud and a dangerous foreigner who is trying to destroy us. It's just good old fashioned American racism wearing a new set of clothes.

Once we elected an African American president, I knew it had to surface sometime and here it is. Not surprising that the strongest support for the Birther movement is in the south, where slavery once reigned supreme and where when I was a child there were separate but far from equal facilities for black and white Americans and where 40 years ago the marriage of Obama's mother and father would not have been legal or recognized. So great was the fear in those days, that Obama's father could have been lynched for simply walking down the street with a white woman let alone marrying her.

The Birther movement is nothing more than a new incarnation of a dark secret in our national past. Our founding fathers believed in liberty but owned slaves. Our original constitution counted every slave as three fifths of a man ( women didn't count for voting purposes at all in those days). We fought a bloody Civil War which pitted brother against brother to finally put an end to " the south's peculiar institution" 25% of the young male population of what was then the United States died in that war, but fear, racism and Jim Crow laws did not.

You can show the Birthers all the evidence you want-- legal affidavits and birth certificates and newspaper announcements and it will do no good. Their minds are made up. Do not confuse them with the facts. Their truth is made up of fear and guilt and downright paranoia. It is the sad legacy of slavery. Ironically it is the Birthers who are enslaved by their own distorted fearful notions of truth. The rest of us are moving forward behind a President who really is who we are: multi- cultural, multi-racial, and all American.