Politics

A Patient’s View of the Senate Christmas Healthcare Gift

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:21:53 -0500

by Donna Smith

So, all the great fanfare and all the king's horses. The great and almighty U.S. Senate has spoken. I will have to buy private health insurance -- forever, amen. The defective product that has left me wanting for real healthcare for all of my adult life is now a step closer to being the law of the land.

A lump of Christmas coal all polished up with sparkling rhetoric.

Here's what the Chicago Tribune said this week, and I agree:

Obama Double-Crossed Progressives on Health Care

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 12:51:33 -0500

by Matthew Rothschild

Are you feeling like a chump yet?

If you're a good progressive, and you wanted single-payer health care for all, or, second best, Medicare for All Who Want It, or third best, a robust public option, or fourth best, a paltry public option, now you've got nothing, nada, zippo.

Has it ever crossed your mind that this is the way President Obama wanted it to be?

That he tossed in the public option at the beginning only to get progressives on board, knowing full well that he was going to jettison the public option by the end?

Who You Callin’ Moderate?

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:08:06 -0500

by Laura Flanders

The Senate held a historic vote on health care reform last night at 1 AM. Splitting exactly along party lines-that is, if you call Joe Lieberman a Democrat-the health care bill made it through a cloture vote and is one step away from final passage and the conference committee.

To get so-called moderate Democrat Ben Nelson on board, however, Harry Reid had to agree to a decidedly un-moderate compromise on abortion rights. It's not Stupak language-but it's close.

On Health Care, Women Compromise

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:57:04 -0500

by Derrick Z. Jackson

Male privilige in health care reform deepens with each line drawn in the sand. Senate Democrats got their 60th vote to close debate and move reform toward a Christmas Eve vote by succumbing to Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson's demands to include abortion restrictions. The reform bill passed by the House contains even more harsh restrictions.

Senate, White House Health Reform Tucks in Gun Rights

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 08:31:59 -0500

by Donna Smith

Could we make this stuff up? We cannot get healthcare as a basic human right for one another. But we sure can make sure gun ownership protections are tucked into the Senate health reform bill that is so celebrated as historic by the White House.

Leadership, Obama Style, and the Looming Losses in 2010: Pretty Speeches, Compromised Values, and the Quest for the Lowest Common Denominator

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 11:49:14 -0500

by Drew Western

As the president's job performance numbers and ratings on his handling of virtually every domestic issue have fallen below 50 percent, the Democratic base has become demoralized, and Independents have gone from his source of strength to his Achilles Heel, it's time to reflect on why.

White House as Helpless Victim on Health Care

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:56:49 -0500

by Glenn Greenwald

Of all the posts I wrote this year, the one that produced the most vociferious email backlash -- easily -- was this one from August, which examined substantial evidence showing that, contrary to Obama's occasional public statements in support of a public option, the White House clearly intended from the start that the final health care reform bill would contain no such provision and was actively and privately participating in efforts to shape a final bill without it. From the start, assuaging the healt

Houston, We Still Have a Problem

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 09:16:47 -0500

by Derrick Z. Jackson

The election of lesbian Annise Parker as mayor of Houston, similar to the election last year of African-American Barack Obama as president, was another mature moment of Americans judging individual people of color and homosexuals by the content of their politics. Not yet answered is whether America is ready to let such figures use their office to remediate the economic and education disparities and the civil rights gaps that still bedevil people of color and gay and lesbian people in general.

The Tortured Logic of Health Care's Abortion Foes

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 09:53:44 -0500

by Ruth Conniff

The importance of this debate may be that it galvanizes more women to stand up to elected officials like Stupak who want to interfere with their health care and dictate what services they can and cannot get because of the moral sensitivities of certain vocal constituents.

Honduran Elections a Parody of Democracy

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 08:56:07 -0500

by Laura Carlsen

The production Honduran Elections, staged at a small, rundown theater in Central America on November 29, left the audience unconvinced, and failed to resolve a confused and conflict-ridden plotline.

Written and directed by the Honduran elite and the Honduran armed forces, with the help of the U.S. State Department, the play opens on the empty streets of Tegucigalpa in what is announced as the most participatory elections in the history of the nation.