Yet another poll has come up with the same results: Americans want a public health care option. But — count on it — Republicans and conservative Democrats will continue to thwart the will of the people.

You might remember that I fell hook, line, and sinker for the story of the car crash victim who told the tale of the horror he had endured over 23 years because he was “misdiagnosed as being in a coma when he was conscious the whole time.” Over at Science Blogs, Orac — the nom de blog of a (not so) humble pseudonymous surgeon/scientist with an ego just big enough to delude himself that…...

Disclaimer: I like and drink Heineken beer, in moderation, and I have written about this great Dutch beer before. However, I am not on Heineken’s payroll—I wish I was. I don’t know much about Heineken’s business practices, except that Heineken has defined seven areas on which the company believes it should focus its energy in order to maximize benefits for society, the stakeholders and the company. One...

According to Ezra Klein, Howard Dean, once thought to be a leading health-care guru in the Democratic Party, thinks that “this bill is worthless and should be defeated” — if it doesn’t include a public option. Like Ezra, and as I’ve written here many times, I’m a supporter of the public option and want Democrats to push for its inclusion, preferably in a robust form. But Dean’s...

Poor Barack Obama! All eyes and ears will turn to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) where the US president would announce whether he would send more troops to Afghanistan or withdraw them. Once again the world witnesses the tussle between powerful American war machine and “a multitude of young people who were the backbone of Obama’s campaign.” (Update: Meanwhile President Obama will...

That’s Rick Warren’s homophobia, and the human rights of gay Ugandans who are being targeted with legislation — sponsored by a Ugandan “minister” with whom Warren is friendly — that would punish homosexual relations with life in prison, and would authorize execution for homosexuals who are HIV-positive. The proposed law would also impose stiff penalties for anyone who knows...

WASHINGTON — The most surprising and disappointing aspect of our politics is how little pushback there has been against the vile, extremist rhetoric that has characterized such a large part of the anti-Obama movement. President Obama’s administration has largely ignored those accusing him of “fascism” and “communism,” presumably believing that restraint in defense...

Just a warning, for those readers who are bored of hearing about desperately sick Americans who could be successfully treated with surgery but can’t get the surgery done because they don’t have health insurance, and so are probably going to die:

What has Pres. Barack Obama accomplished in his first year in office? To hear conservatives and Republicans tell it, the answer is “nothing.” This, from enthusiastic supporters of the party that has enthusiastically voted “No” on every single piece of legislation this administration has put in front of them. What has the Republican Party accomplished to pull itself out of the doldrums...

UPDATE from Dr. E: ESPN Reports: “The highway patrol first reported Woods’ injuries as serious, though Woods spokesman, Glenn Greenspan, said Friday afternoon that the golfer was treated at the hospital and released in good condition. A statement from the hospital, as well as Greenspan’s statement, termed the accident as “minor.” The Florida Patrol spokesperson said “serious...

Matt Labash of the Weekly Standard writes about his effort to have a zero-carbon footprint. It literally involved smearing mayonnaise on his face. Go read! Cross-posted at Conventional Folly

David Gregory pointed to this Presidential declaration from July: PRES. BARACK OBAMA: We are–we’ve been under the illusion that the more health care we get, the healthier we become. And it turns out that every study shows that the question is are you getting the right care, are you getting the best care, the high quality care; rather than are you having a whole bunch of tests ordered that are unnecessary,...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote how one Senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, was obstructing urgently needed legislation intended to help wounded veterans and their families. The New York Times wrote: The omnibus legislation drew unanimous committee approval. But Senator Coburn objected to quick floor passage, demanding that the five-year, $3.7 billion cost be offset with immediate budget cuts. The senator’s argument...

Traditionally, Americans give thanks for the blessings our families, our people and our country have continued to enjoy during the past year, and years past—and so we should. However, this Thanksgiving, as our nation faces many problems and we are on the verge of making pivotal decisions on, among others, war and peace, the economy and our common health care, I believe that is also appropriate and important...

I watched this 60 Minutes segment last night on “The Cost of Dying” with extraordinarily mixed emotions. From anger to fear to horror, I have rarely had such an emotional reaction to an issue. But once past the knee jerk outrage, I began to assess the moral and ethical dimensions of the problem and am extremely unsettled in where these questions lead me. Some background on the segment: Last year,...

The weekend “victory” in the Senate has Pyrrhic written all over it as 2000 pages of proposed legislation is on its way to being held hostage by the likes of Joe Lieberman, Mary Landrieu, Blanche Lincoln, Ben Nelson et al. What we have now is an abortion of a bill that will only get worse as the back-alley bargaining goes on. Here’s a radical idea for the President of Change: Take most of it...

One of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Directed by Julian Schnabel, it’s the screen adaptation of a memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby. The editor in chief of the French magazine Elle, Bauby suffered a massive stroke that left him a victim of locked-in syndrome at age 43. He went on to author his memoir by blinking his left eyelid as a transcriber repeatedly...

On Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association said the following: I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school...

Most of us fail to grasp the enormity of trillions of dollars, let alone billions, so let’s just throw the numbers out the window and for the sake of argument concede we’ll never pay back what we as a nation owe in our lifetimes or those of future generations. Instead, let’s focus on ending this insanity and establishing our priorities. For the most part, these are tough decisions our elected...

And his name is Senate Majority Harry Reid. Read Dick Polman’s latest (as usual) MUST READ HERE.

I’ve been waiting, not so patiently, since the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force released new recommendations for breast cancer screening, to know what Bernadine Healy thinks. Now we know: she says we should ignore them. From Fox News Sunday: [CHRIS WALLACE]: What would you tell a woman patient with no particular history of breast cancer what she should do about getting mammograms? DR. BERNADINE HEALY,...

It’s an age-old question: If elected (or appointed) to public office, is it your primary duty to vote your conscience, or vote the conscience of a majority of your constituents, even if the latter runs counter to the former? Framed another way: If you are convinced a certain vote is the right vote, will you cast that vote, even if it means you might be voted out of office at the electorate’s...

Some pundits are now asking why it was so hard for the Democrats to start the health care debate in the nail-biting vote yesterday where GOPers were solidly against letting the bill go up for discussion and the Demmies were solidly for it? Political scientist Steven Taylor points to this piece in particular that asks the question. And Taylor — as usual — stands back and gives us his take on the issue,...

My computer is more than usually slow tonight (and that’s saying a lot), so probably the whole world knows this by now, but the Democrats just achieved cloture on health care reform. They got the 60 votes they needed, including all the conservative Democrats whose votes were in question, and including Joe Lieberman.

As Harry Reid pressures holiday-homebound Democrats to vote for a start of the Senate health care debate, Republican resisters have found a new weapon to use against the bill–a sudden deep concern about how it might threaten women’s bodies. Seizing on a quasi-government task force’s report this week recommending that annual mammograms start at 50 rather than 40, the GOP has gone into full outrage...