Mangled Package

Jonathan Richards, 12.21.2009

www.jonrichardsplace.com

Sometimes these things get a bit battered in delivery ...

Do American Taxpayers Receive Dividends on Repaid TARP Funds?

Ben Arnon, 12.21.2009

Social commentary about digital media, culture, and society

I diligently followed the TARP debate and happenings early on. However, at this point there have been so many versions, revisions, and debates about the TARP program that I have lost track.

What the Media and Obama Never Understood About the Public Option

Cenk Uygur, 12.21.2009

Host of The Young Turks

What I'm afraid of is that this bill makes private insurance larger and stronger -- and thus, gets us further away from curing the main problem of our health care system: perverse incentives.

Healthcare: A Christmas Present of Epic Proportions

Philip Lee Miller, 12.21.2009

Founder and Medical Director of Los Gatos Longevity Institute

Here is your Christmas present -- a big lump of coal. You are ill and need help. You want the best. Whose wise counsel and help do you seek? You want someone who is sympathetic, skilled and competent.

Are Progressives "Special Interests Who've Prevented Health Care Reform for Decades"?

David Sirota, 12.21.2009

Newspaper columnist, radio host (AM760), bestselling author

"By standing up to the special interests -- who've prevented reform for decades, and who are furiously lobbying against it now -- the Senate has moved...

Tobacco Lobbyists Join Wall Streeters on Debt Crusade

Dean Baker, 12.21.2009

Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research

Millions of people around the country have been treated to the anti-debt ads run by one-time tobacco industry lobbyist Richard Berman. Mr. Berman, w...

Health Care: Some Doctors Are Healers, Others Are Destroyers

SaraKay Smullens, 12.21.2009

Family therapist and educator

Long ago I learned that not all doctors are healers. But this man was a destroyer. I do not remember leaving his office, or walking over a mile home in the bitter cold. I do remember vomiting at a street curb.

Cartoon: Obama's Predicament

Sunil Adam, 12.21.2009

Editor, "The Indian American"

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Gutted Health Care Bill Ignores This Nation's Best Opportunity for Reform

Judy Patrick, 12.21.2009

What does it say about our society when government requires us to purchase health insurance and fines us for not doing so yet provides no support to make this possible?

'Let's Talk About Health Care.' 'Please, God, No!'

Michael Wolff, 12.21.2009

Author of Newser.com's Off the Grid column

What is in the health care bill? The Senate version? The House version? I have been looking through the coverage--the vast sturm und drang about it--...

Islands of Excellence in a Sea of Mediocrity

D. Brad Wright, 12.21.2009

Doctoral candidate in the department of health policy and management at the University of North Carolina

We value health care, our health care is of an exceptionally high quality, ergo we pay a lot for our health care. But what if the middle part of that statement isn't quite true?

Leadership Lessons for Obama from Health Care Reform

C. Clinton Sidle, 12.21.2009

Dear Mr. President, what have you learned from the health care debate? Hopefully you now know it was a mistake to delegate your top priority

Beyond Fluoride: Pharmaceuticals, Drinking Water and the Public Health

Jacob M. Appel, 12.21.2009

Bioethicist and medical historian

If we are willing to ingest fluoride to prevent tooth decay, surely we can tolerate a trace of lithium to prevent suicides.

Health Care to Suffer Fate of Welfare, Not Medicare or Social Security

Rupert Russell, 12.21.2009

PhD Candidate at Harvard University

Without bringing the middle class into a new entitlement program, the health reform bill is only going to get worse over time, and not better.

What Should Progressives Do?

Stephen M. Davidson, 12.21.2009

Professor of health policy and management at the Boston University School of Management

We should see this episode as part of a continuing saga, rather than as a process that ends with the a new law. This is a bill worth supporting.

Tiger Woods Story Apparently Has Nothing To Do with Healthcare Reform Or Anything Else Important To Us

Scott Blakeman, 12.21.2009

Political comedian

Although you wouldn't know it by the front page tabloid news stories or the endless panel discussions on television, the Tiger Woods story has nothing to do with our lives.

Learning from Lieberman

Robert Kuttner, 12.20.2009

Co-Founder and Co-Editor of The American Prospect

If the health care bill goes down, the far right will add another notch to their belt, the media will paint Obama as a loser, and Obama will be even more cautious and pro-corporate going forward. If he wins, maybe he'll be a little bolder and maybe progressives can call in some IOUs. But that doesn't mean progressives in the House should just roll over and back the Senate bill. House progressives need to play the same kind of legislative hardball as turncoats like Joe Lieberman.

The Long-Term Value of Insisting The Health Bill Is Not Enough

David Sirota, 12.20.2009

Newspaper columnist, radio host (AM760), bestselling author

In my piece yesterday about the rigged assumptions confining our health care debate, I might have added one more assumption that seems to be at work h...

Yes, the Health Care Bill Is Flawed. Exactly Why Are Democrats Only Blaming Democrats?

Steve Marmel, 12.20.2009

Marmel is a comedian, a writer and a TV producer. It's not as impressive as it sounds.

We are all disappointed in the health care bill, but the Democrats were trying to accomplish what a majority of Americans elected them to do. It's the Republicans who were the biggest roadblocks to what it seems a majority of Americans wanted.

Are Progressives Just Whiners? Saving Lives Is What Matters

Linda R. Monk, J.D., 12.20.2009

Constitutional scholar, Author of "The Words We Live By: Your Annotated Guide to the Constitution"

The bottom line, folks, is that whatever bill Congress enacts will save the lives of thousands more working Americans. Since when have progressives been opposed to that?

Why Boo A Political Win?

Jim Jaffe, 12.21.2009

Washington observer

Like every major piece of legislation, the health care bill is a compromise. It will require tweaking as the law of unintended consequences kicks in -- but such imperfections come with the territory.