I was flipping through the channels today, and I saw a "Mentalist" on the Today Show bending spoons. I had to smirk, as it seems like Uri Geller's old routine is still worthy of show business. For those of you unaware of Uri or those of you, who actually believed he had psychic powers, it was and still is a trick. Before the trick ever happened, Uri had already bent the medal of a key or spoon to an angle, and presented the object at a visual angle, which hid the bend from the viewers sight. Slowly he would reveal the bend over the course of the trick. This created the illusion of bending. It crossed my mind that we are seeing the same thing with the upcoming health care legislation. Follow me below the fold, if you want me to reveal the trick. We are in the preparation phase of this trick right now. The illusionists in politics are framing the debate in such

In the West the image of the Tank Man is well-known, as photographs and video footage of his actions that day were widely disseminated throughout the media at the time. However, in China the image is largely unrecognized, due to the government's attempts to erase the June 4 events from public memory.

A patient centered medical home model combined with technology actually allows medical providers more time to spend with patients, lets them provide better care that is patient focused and results in higher quality outcomes while increasing their incomes in most cases.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, the nations largest public utility, plans on shipping millions of tons of coal ash from a massive spill to a landfill in Perry County, Alabama. Perry County (AL-07) boasts one of the highest poverty rates in the country. Despite officials from Alabama and the federal government stating otherwise, environmental activists argue that the material could contain some very toxic material.

During a "Rediscovering God in America" lecture, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee announced "a miracle from God's hand" was behind the approval of California's Proposition 8. Of course, for Huckabee, who repeatedly cited divine intervention to explain his surprising early success during the 2008 GOP presidential primaries, such visions are now routine. The former Baptist Minister and 2012 White House hopeful testified to God's role in furthering both the American Revolution and Huckabee's own reactionary social policies.

Bloggers are the kindergartners of the news world. They have tremendous potential. But they've got to find a way to make it pay on the local level before they will offer an alternative to the current news infrastructure. In short, there has to be a way to produce "shareholder value" in the blogosphere. Otherwise, you will continue have what we have now -- outlets that exist to put out a person's, or a small group of people's ideology. There's nothing unbiased about that.

As I've posted before, there are a lot of people becoming frustrated with the slow pace of GLBT rights federally. Obama, who promised to be our "fierce advocate", has proven to be a soggy supporter at best. He's been called out by Frank Rich and scolded by Andrew Sullivan for the "fierce urgency of whenever". The White House wants credit for expanding the hate crimes legislation to include gay folks, but this is not and has not been one of our "major" issues. Our MAJOR concerns are repealing DADT (Don't Ask Don't Tell), to allow our community to serve openly in the military, repealing DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), so our marriages and partnerships are eligible for federal recognition, and passing ENDA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act), so you can't be fired simply for being gay.

As a practicing family physician who has been seeing patients since Medicare was started I can tell you what really ails our national health system. Today the biggest barrier to improving our health care system in the United States is the private health insurance companies. They are the disease we suffer from. The best, and perhaps the only, public policy cure that will work is a single payer, Medicare for All, health care financing program.

The Clean Energy bills navigating their way through the Senate and House sound good at first glance. Consider the sales pitch: Create clean energy jobs. Achieve energy independence. Reduce global warming. Who can argue with such lofty goals? Not you, not me -- not unless we look at the fine print on Jeff Bingaman's 21st Century Energy Technology Deployment Act (S. 949), and the Markey/Waxman American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (H.R. 2454). Here's the dirty little secret. These not-so-clean energy bills would also provide financing for a new generation of commercial nuclear power plants.

Everybody has an opinion of what is wrong with the health care system. Most solutions that have been proposed just tweak the current system. I think that this is a naive view. Concepts like "Public Option" have been bandied about but not defined. To me the system is so messed up, there's no way to patch it into shape. A bold new change is needed.

Read Older Articles