[Live blog here. --lambert]

"People should go where they are not supposed to go, say what they are not supposed to say, and stay when they are told to leave." –Howard Zinn

“How do I get myself into these things?” –Carol Paris

In honor of Dr Flowers' joining us here at Corrente tomorrow today at 1:00PM EST! [-- lambert], I have some homework assignments for you.   Read more…

It looks like tonight's show will cover several topics, but Dr Flowers and single payer will be in there somewhere.

Meanwhile, you can sign the petition asking the president to listen to this show. He did ask for better ideas on how to pay for health care.

In a little less than an hour from now, OFA is hosting a speech by Obama, followed by, apparently, a Q&A afterwards. You can RSVP here, and more importantly, ask your questions by email.

I suggest something along the lines of telling him we want Medicare for all, and nothing less. Why doesn't Obama want us to have a health care system in which You go in and you just say, "I'm sick," and somebody treats you, and that's it?

[I'm leaving this sticky. Why not call, if you already haven't? --lambert]

My goodness, but that was an inspiring speech! Obama can really turn on the oratory and tonight he used those mad skillz to ask us for two things:

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness, Mr. President, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:

I accept the Nobel Prize for Peace at a moment when 22 million Negroes of the United States are engaged in a creative battle to end the long night of racial injustice. I accept this award on behalf of a civil rights movement which is moving with determination and a majestic scorn for risk and danger to establish a reign of freedom and a rule of justice.

I am mindful that only yesterday in Birmingham, Alabama, our children, crying out for brotherhood, were answered with fire hoses, snarling dogs, and even death.

I am mindful that only yesterday in Philadelphia, Mississippi, young people seeking to secure the right to vote were brutalized and murdered.

I am mindful that debilitating and grinding poverty afflicts my people and chains them to the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

Therefore, I must ask why this prize is awarded to a movement which is beleaguered and committed to unrelenting struggle, and to a movement which has not won the very peace and brotherhood which is the essence of the Nobel Prize.

One of the few things the House got right on health care was that we ought to be taxing the rich to pay for whatever scheme they finally foist upon us. The Senate, quelle surprise, wants to tax instead the health care benefits that ordinary middle class workers get.

In the department of Be Careful What You Wish For, House Democrats who previously were hollering about Obama's refusal to weigh in on the debacle debate are, perhaps, about to wish he'd kept his distance after all.

Even McClatchy, the newspapers that can sort of be relied upon to not act totally M$M, can be found jumping on the bandwagon:

We've resolved to eat better, lace up the running shoes, shed a few pounds, quit smoking and lead healthier lives.

If we could keep our promises beyond the first weekend of the new year, perhaps our health care system wouldn't be as bloated as it is.

Indeed, some of the responsibility for health care costs sits squarely on the shoulders of consumers who make unhealthy choices – by supersizing meals, quenching thirst with sugar-laden sodas, filling lungs with tobacco and taking a less active role in maintaining their overall fitness.

Because a year in which Paul Krugman shills [yet again] for health care legislation that is a giant corporate bailout while David Brooks prefers single payer is a year that deserves to go down in ignominy.

Run for office [part 1 of 2]

Grassroots
Justice Party
Full Court Press [more]

Formal Training
Democracy For America Campaign Academy, coming to a city near you?

* Boynton Beach, FL - January 23-24
* Santa Barbara, CA - February 20-21
* Eugene, OR - April 10-11

Wellstone Action Camp Wellstone

Quality and Performance: Know What You’re Getting in Health Care

First Aired: 10/19/2009
89 minutes

[with apologies to The Bard]

Actually, it would appear that neither economists nor journalists should be allowed anywhere near the subject of health care.

Case in point: Paul Krugman and Jonathan Chait.

In his post Noo Yawk Roolz! Krugman has a few random thoughts:

This is a bull.

Of course, he's been saying so for quite some time now, but recently he cites these figures to make his point:

• Over 96% of tax-filing adults who completed the Schedule HC had coverage at some point during calendar year 2008; almost 96% had coverage for the full year.

• 45,000 filers, uninsured and deemed able to afford insurance, were subject to a penalty—down 25% from last year’s 60,000 penalized.

• Insurance was unaffordable for about 21,000 (plus 88,000 under 150% fpl) individuals for the full year of 2008 and 24,000 individuals (plus 47,000 under 150% fpl) for part of the year.

Bernie Sanders held a town hall in Vermont a couple of years ago, where he invited Pekka Lintu, the ambassador from Finland, to come and talk a little bit about their society. Free schooling [through graduate school], free child care, nearly-free health care, 30 days paid vacation and 10 national holidays every year, 10 months paid maternity leave, virtually no poverty at all, kids score high on math and science tests, a very egalitarian society, and a very competitive economy.

The weather kinda sucks though.   Read more…

And with good reason.

In a post titled Does Ezra Klein really think “managed care didn’t kill anyone”? Sullivan deconstructs this argument, starting with Didn't kill any one? Oh yeah? and moving on to Controlled spending? Prove it!

Short and [not so] sweet: managed care has killed people, managed care is not the reason health care spending didn't rise very much during the Clinton administration, and in spite of the fact that people fucking hate managed care, it has not gone away.

... because he doesn't need to outrun the bear.

Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning professor and New York Times columnist, has got running shoes so fabulous that they've probably got wings, and it's you and me he's leaving to be eaten by the health non-care bear.

Krugman does, however, offer some kool-aid to those of us who are about to get eated.

I am here today to say I think the employer-based health care system is dead. I think we need to find a system that’s not built on the back of the government. I am here to also say I don’t think we need to import Canada or any other system. We are going to build an American system because we are Americans and we don’t like any other system. So we are going to build our own….. This is now simply a question of leadership and political will. It is not a question of policy. No more policy conferences.

That was Andy Stern of SEIU, and if you're a fan of political intrigue you should read Kip Sullivan's part 6 to see why it's so funny.

WASHINGTON, December 15 - The Senate on Wednesday will debate for the first time in American history a proposal to create a single-payer, Medicare-for-all health care system.

[...]

To read a summary of the amendment, click here.

To read the amendment, click here.

To sign Sanders' petition, click here.

That was California Representative Pete Stark's take on "managed competition" back in 1993 when it was poised to become ClintonCare.

Celinda Lake, in 1993:

After conducting extensive focus groups on health care, pollster Celinda Lake discovered that the more people are told about the Canadian system, “the higher the support goes.” In contrast, according to Lake, working Americans found the managed competition idea “laughable.”

Because conservatives like it:

I am a retired lifelong conservative Republican, planning to change my registration to Independent. Why? Because of obstructionist practices of the Republicans, such as Saturday night’s vote in the House. Only one Republican voted for the House Bill 3962. All the rest played strict partisan politics.

We need change in our broken health insurance system in America. The best change would be a switch to single-payer — but in the interest of making progress, I implore my Representative, Darrell Issa, to stop playing partisan politics.

Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy for the California Nurses Association, explains:

The CBO score was bad, senior members of the Regressive Progressive Caucus was against it, the White House indulged in some behind-the-scenes machinations [quelle surprise], and even Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers came out against it at the last minute.

Nor did the Kucinich amendment get a fair shake either.

We still have Bernie Sanders on our side, with plans to introduce versions of both these amendments in the Senate. Call your Senators and tell them you want them to vote Yes on Sanders' Amendment 2837 substituting single payer for the present Senate plan. If you already know who your Senators are, you can call the Capitol switchboard toll-free at 866-220-0044.

... keep in mind the story of what happened to Anthony Weiner:

Back at the end of July, New York Congressman Anthony Weiner and six other HR 676 co-sponsors, brought into the Energy and Commerce Committee an amendment to substitute the text of HR 676 for the House bill. The leadership needed to get the main bill out of committee that day, the day before the summer recess. One day earlier, about a thousand people visited Congress and rallied outside the Capitol for single payer.

I love a good autopsy.

part 1
part 2
part 3 [not yet]
part 4 [not yet]
part 5 [not yet]
part 6 [not yet]

In part 1 Sullivan gave a brief overview what he's planning to serve up in his series showing that yes we do want Medicare for all. Plus, he provides a couple of links that if you want to wonk out you can read for your first homework assignment.

In part 2 he starts to dig into the polling data and gives us an insider's view on citizen juries: what they are, how they work, and specifically how they can be used to further the single payer cause.

For the Greener Good "Vertical Farming" from National Building Museum on Vimeo.