"Your face is your fortune, so some wise men spoke, my face is my fortune that's why I'm broke . . . I got no diamons got no wealth, i got no men but I got my health!" Bette Middler
2009-08-17, 9:59 a.m.

As Bette Middler so aptly put it, our health is all we've got!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAPSmvfvXnI

While most countries acknowledge the health of their citizenship is important, our country spends the most but delivers the least. (http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/index.html)

Our health care system sucks in many of the same ways our education system does, but that's another story. Sticking to health care;

What bothers me the most about this whole debacle is republican attempts to deface the entire process, and to spin the truth in order to incite hysteria. If you disagree with some of the issues presented in the bill, talk some f**** sense. They're starting to sound way too much like McCarthy with all the rhetorical fallacies(Palin! Death panels? Really? REALLY?)

(http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/aug/13/heath-care-fact-checks-greatest-hits-vol-1/)

and these town hall meetings are beyond ridiculous- the rest of the world is seeing this and laughing. (http://jezebel.com/5335689/they-think-theyre-mad-about-healthcare).

People (as in those who are bitter about losing the election) are using the health care debate as a platform to decry any sort of reform without addressing the facts. Instead of constructive dialogue on the issue, they're doing it the real american way and making a circus of the entire process.

We need health care reform, everybody agrees on that. The current health care system is devouring our budget, and at the same time leaving a significant number of our population without health care. This further strains our country for the shear fact that preventative medicine costs less than emergency interventions and surgeries. Cheaper to help a diabetic manage symptoms than to amputate their leg. Also cheaper for the community if its citizens make regular doctors visits rather than waiting till they need to be in the emergency room.

Anyways- as always Jezebel rocks my world and delivers a sassy break down of what the debate is really about free of the rabid red neck rendition of what the debate is about.

http://jezebel.com/5338904/what-exactly-are-we-arguing-about-regarding-this-health-care-bill

Side note: I think that this new bill being one of the first presented by the new administration is part of the reason it's being used as a war flag by people afraid of having a black president, afraid of 'unchristian' ways, etc. As much as I try to sympathize I can't respect opinions that are guises for racism and religous zealotism. I would also rant about the media enabling this kind of radical behavior, but what's new.

Established republican pundits/senators/congressional leaders are testing the new leaderships promise of bipartisan tolerance. I will say that they are taking it a little far. This issue is too important to be a stage for immature bickering about whether or not this bill is "american." Its not american to act like a baby, that's what's not american. Should unleash Mr. T - "Quit yo Jibber-jabber! . . . yo pathetic!, Argh! If I ever catch you acting like a crazy fool again, you're gonna meet my friend pain!"

That goes for Mr. Obama too. What's this backing down business?? I really hope that whatever comprise is made to appease partisan dissent does not include sacrificing real reform, and concluding with a watered down bill that leaves us right where we started.

Things I really like about the bill- less paper! Public option! Extended medicade/medicare/CHIP coverage! The Health Insurance Exchange!

Things I'm iffy on- cost. Democrats are doing their fair share of skirting this issue (see the myth article) and using their own rhetorical fallacies when it comes to cost. The plan will obviously cost alot, but it is a price that needs to be paid. If the price can by curtailed, then all the better. The current administration makes claims that it is hard to predict just how much the reforms will cost, but also it is hard to predict how much it will save. I do agree with the fact that many of the ideas for reform will save us money (prevention vs. emergency treatment, digital vs. paper records) but no one can say if this money saving strategy will be enough to offset the deficit currently predicted by the CBO.