(I repeat, I know this is not the majority opinion around here. I provide this disclaimer so right wingers and others can't claim it IS.)
Here's three reasons I support socialized medicine:
1) People in developed nations that have socialized medicine tend to live longer than we do.
2) Plus, they have better infant mortality numbers than we do.
3) And the reason that wasn't even on my radar until this summer: With socialized medicine, there's no place for a health insurance industry. And I'm SICK AND TIRED OF OUR HEALTH INSURANCE INDUSTRY! They're in the business of keeping us scared. And every bogeyman they raise about the Obama/Dems' plans -- rationing of health care, "death panels," etc. -- our health insurance industry is already doing! Plus, they're financing the organizing of those town hall hooligans.
There. Rant over. Now back to your other posters, who prefer something else. (And I will admit, ANY health care reform will beat doing nothing.)
We've heard about Fox' astroturf "demonstrations" scheduled for April 15th. The blinkered adoption of the term "teabagging" has provided (admittedly juvenile) chuckles for me, and I want to give something back.
Of course gay male fans of "Sex and the City" have got to show up in counter-demos, but Fox is ready for that and eager to run footage of it. It makes their (Fox') efforts look legitimate.
More fun might be to show up in Fox swag and infiltrate the crowd. I mean Fox t-shirts and tote bags and caps. And not just with pictures of their news channel celebrities. Heck, hold a sign plugging "24"! "SAVE US, KEIFER! Mon. 9PM."
This would mock the astroturf nature of the events, and Fox News might not even realize that. Other news organizations might, however, and whether they recognize the sarcasm as such or not, heck, they might run stories talking about Fox' activities.
Tomorrow I go to the local fire house to vote in the special election in New York's 20th Congressional district.
The main bit of my preparations is my talking points, just in case a TV newsie shows up to interview me. Not that this is likely -- I have a real face for radio, but it's in the same spirit of planning what I might buy if I win a lottery. And since I look like what they probably imagine a Republican to look like -- fat, white, middle-aged and suburban -- it might be useful to have something to say that would jolt 'em a bit.
First point: All filibusters in this Congress have to be REAL filibusters. Not the phone-it-in sort. Force them to take the actual time running their mouths. That's pure YouTube fodder. Out of 24 hours per day of Republican senators running their mouths, there have got to be at least enough segments of hilarity to fill any news hour. They're putting theirselves at risk here. It's been a long time since the word "laughingstock" could be meant so literally.
Second point: For their filibuster to work, they have to have 40 senators on the floor at all times to counter the resolution. For that period of time, all the Democrats have to have in the field at any time is 41 senators. The other seventeen should be spending their times ON CAMERA, with any news organization that will take them. Should the Repubs want to counter, well, if they take a senator off the floor to do so and the Dems take that moment to rally, IT"S OVER.
And when a Dem senator is on camera, when the interviewer uses the word "filibuster," the senator should ask, "What's a filibuster?" and force the interviewer to define to the audience what it is, and what's going on.
Third point: And that's just the Senate. During a filibuster, should the President start talking, especially if there are instances of TARP'ed institutions funding lobbyists who fund senators ... well, the man can talk, when he needs to. This might be the time.
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