Health Care

One Way To Connect

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by Gary Farber

ONE WAY TO CONNECT can be this:

This is America:

This is something we can do:

To Beat Back Poverty, Pay the Poor:

The city of Rio de Janeiro is infamous for the fact that one can look out from a precarious shack on a hill in a miserable favela and see practically into the window of a luxury high-rise condominium. Parts of Brazil look like southern California. Parts of it look like Haiti. Many countries display great wealth side by side with great poverty. But until recently, Brazil was the most unequal country in the world

Everything connects:

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He Was A Freelance Writer. He Had It Made.

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“He was Joe Mayer, freelance writer. He had it made.”

— Charles Bukowski

A friend of mine needs your help.  I’m asking you to help him. 

Not because you know him, though you may.

Not because you like him, or his opinions, because you may not.

Not because he’s special, though he is.  (We all are.)

But because he needs the help.

And everyone who needs help should be helped.

Who is Roy?

Edroso

I can only tell you some things I know. 

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Weekly Pulse: Obama gives GOP rope to hang itself at health care summit

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Tomorrow, President Obama will gather with Republicans for the long-awaited televised health care summit. Obama will promote his health care proposal, the Republicans will demand that we start over. Even House Minority Leader John Boehner dimly senses that the GOP is walking into a trap. The public is thoroughly sick of the … Read more

Bayh-partisanship = Giving your seat to a Republican

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By Lindsay Beyerstein In this week’s Pulse we look at the implications Sen. Evan Bayh’s (D-IN) decision not to seek reelection. As an incumbent, he could have easily won another term. But Bayh says he’s fed up with partisanship in Washington. So, he’s quitting and handing his job to a Republican. Blue Dog bipartisanship in … Read more

Did the fathers of modern obstetrics murder more women than Jack the Ripper?

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Latoya Peterson of Jezebel spotted this disconcerting story in Sunday's Guardian: They are giants of medicine, pioneers of the care that women receive during childbirth and were the founding fathers of obstetrics. The names of William Hunter and William Smellie still inspire respect among today's doctors, more than 250 years since they … Read more

Chill Out: Pelosi Hasn’t Given Up on Health Reform

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By Lindsay Beyerstein People are getting way too worked up about Nancy Pelosi's announcement that she doesn't have the votes to pass the Senate's health reform bill right now. "In every meeting that we have had, there would be nothing to give me any thought that that bill could pass right now the way that … Read more

Not One Dollar

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by publius From TPM: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just told reporters that she does not believe she has enough votes in the House to pass the Senate health care reform bill as-is — at least not yet. Here's my proposed response:  Not one dollar.  Not one ounce of effort.  Not one word of support.  The … Read more

Ping pong, anyone? The House must pass the Senate bill to save health care reform

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Martha Coakley's loss in Massachusetts will end the Democrats' 60-vote majority in the Senate. This is a major setback for health care reform, but let's not hang crepe yet. Remember, the Senate already passed its bill. If the House were to "ping pong" the bill by passing the identical legislation, the bill … Read more

Dorgan and Dodd to Retire, Cancel Each Other Out

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By Lindsay Beyerstein Yesterday, two Democratic senators unexpectedly announced that they would not seek reelection in 2010: Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Chris Dodd of Connecticut.  As I wrote in the Weekly Pulse this morning, the two announcements probably cancel each other out in terms of Democratic senate seats. Dorgan's seat is probably an … Read more