I used the unnaturally plentiful gifts that made me arguably the greatest actor in modern times, gifts which propelled me to the highest level of achievement, to assume the guise of a Right Winger.

How is it that a certain segment of the population is perfectly content to resist even the notion of questioning whether or not we can make things better?

Thanks to the town hall turmoil from bigots, birthers and assorted miscreants, Republicans can savor a sugar-high on health care -- a decadent and ultimately short-lived victory.

"Actually, Mr. President..." "David?" "One more thing before we move off the logistics."

Last night I went to a town hall meeting in West Hartford hosted by representative John Larsen. I planned to sit in on the health care reform debate inside, but the real story was happening outside.

What will be catastrophic is if we continue as we are, with only those who are healthy, wealthy, employed with a really great insurance plan or with Medicare coverage reaping the benefits.

It is always easier to make a story out of the sensational, as we've seen time and again over the past. But steady, solid yet passionate democracy in action - this, too, is a story worth telling.

Health-care reform is said to be in trouble partly because of those raucous August town-hall meetings in which Democratic members of Congress were bes...

Here in Sweden, forsaking your neighbor is the unforgivable sin. Even if you let the state do the caring, even if you never smile at them, you do not forsake them.

While health care is in need of radical reform for millions of Americans, minorities and especially blacks have historically suffered disproportionately from poor or non-existent health care.

There was fear in the middle school gym Saturday, palpable fear; fear of what the government might do to impose by fiat health care on the nation -- but it was driven by lies and distortions.

The town hall protests are a form of undead politics, and these are the necromancers who have raised it.

I drove to a middle school in the Spring Valley area of San Diego to moderate a "town hall" meeting on health care.

The shifting definition of "public option" is not accidental, but is emerging from the perception by Democrats in the House that the August recess caused them great damage.

The health care debate is about name-calling, it is about "death panels," and it is about socialism. Decision tables are nowhere to be seen.

Seventy-eight percent of the people who had to file for medical-related bankruptcy actually had health insurance. Hillary St. Pierre, a spunky 27-year-old mother, is a case in point.

Local and regional media have been on point about what's going on in their backyards. Unfortunately, local media does not create a national theme

We knew change was not going to come easy. It never has. But, it is coming. I can feel it in the air here in Milwaukee.

Shouting at town hall meetings may vent anger, but it is not sufficient to eliminate corruption in American government. Exercising popular sovereignty through constructive civic duty, though, would be a start.

Much has been said this week about Sen. Ted Kennedy. About his life, his legislative legacy, and what effect his death could have on the passage of health care reform. Sadly, it's not going to make it any easier. We are not talking about naming a bridge after him but about milestone legislation. And even the death of a major political figure whose cause this was is not going to make the insurance companies, the drug companies, or a single GOP colleague of Kennedy's suddenly see the light. It just doesn't work that way. The best proponents of real reform can hope for is that Kennedy's death will turn the debate away from the lies, misconceptions, and petty squabbling, and back to the millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet who were always Ted Kennedy's prime focus.

Here are ten simple things we can do to reform health care.