I count myself lucky. Mostly. I live in a state in which my two Senators and Congressman are generally on the side of the angels and I rarely lose sleep over their votes in Congress. Many of you are not in this position however. I found myself wondering what I would be saying to my elected representatives if they were on the wrong side of the single payer debate...and that is the genesis of this diary. For those of you gearing up to have such a conversation, I hope this helps. Generally, I would be responding to their already articulated position on the issue and would want them to know the following: Please do not tell me that "we don't need this because we already have the best health care system in the world." The US health care system ranks first on one dimension and one dimension only: cost. No matter how you slice the apple--total costs, per-capita costs, proportion of GDP spent

Now, the right wing tells us the way to get that is to lower the taxes on the rich. Specifically, the Republican alternative budget replaces Obama's stimulus plan with a "holiday" on Capital-Gains taxes. If you want more saving, lower taxes on the rich; if you want more consumption, lower taxes on the rich. Their prescription for any situation.

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.

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