I just have to say ...

(settle down, lesley, settle down)

Woo hoo! Boo ya! And a big "Way To Go!" to President Obama and Nancy Pelosi.

The health reform bill isn't perfect. I'd prefer single payer myself. But they did it. Amazing.

Some good things will start to happen right away. Insurance companies can no longer say "Sorry, your child was born with asthma. That's a pre-existing condition." They can no longer say "Sorry, you had a cold six years ago. That's a pre-existing condition." They can no longer say "Sorry, your illness is too expensive. Even though you paid your premiums, we're cutting you off."

Of course, they wouldn't say that anyway. At least, not the "sorry" part.

It amazes me to see the backlash, particularly from my Christian friends who I am now about to totally offend.

If Jesus designed a health care plan, what do you think it would look like? Would he do his best to avoid taxing the wealthy? Would he be mainly concerned with maintaining the hefty profits of the hospitals and insurance companies? If he suggested caring for the poor (like, hello, I believe he did over and over) would his disciples run away clutching their wallets and screaming about socialism?

I think not.

If you are upset about health reform, please take a few minutes to learn the facts.

Your taxes are not going up, unless you make over $200,000 a year.
The government is not taking over health care. (I wish they would)
There are no death panels.
There are new, common sense controls on the insurance industry.
There are over 200 Republican amendments in the bill.

And last but not least - tort reform and selling across state lines would NOT provide meaningful reform.

Rant over. I feel better now.

More to come.

~~~

You're all still here! Me too.

I'm happy - and somewhat amazed - to see that my merry band of followers has not yet dissolved into the mist. Inertia can be a wonderful thing.

I suppose the same can be said for the health reform bill. It's still alive, amazingly enough. I don't think inertia has much to do with it, though. Kudos to Obama for keeping it alive. Agree with him or not, you have to admit the guy has guts.

Meanwhile, I've been quite busy but I had to come tell you about my new hobby which I heartily recommend:

I signed up as a "fan" of John Cornyn, my conservative Texas Senator, on Facebook.

It irked me that there was not an option to access his page as a "person who is NOT a fan but just wants to make comments." I'm afraid my Facebook friends probably have the wrong idea about me. ("Did you hear? Lesley is a FAN of John Cornyn's! We knew she would see the light sooner or later!")

But anyway. His Facebook page is lots of fun.

Senator Cornyn loves to post questions with obvious answers, like this one:

"Will Texas members of congress embrace a $24 billion unfunded Medicaid mandate for Texas taxpayers (over 10 yrs) in Senate HC bill? Texans, should they?"

That little question has gotten 212 replies since last Friday. Approximately two hundred and eleven people posted compassionate answers like:

"It is not my responsibility to care for those who choose not to care for themselves."

I kid you not. This was a typical reply.

We're talking about Medicaid here, which helps children. The elderly. The disabled. The poor.

I answered that I thought we SHOULD help these people, and I pointed out that (1) the Senate HC bill is not unfunded, and (2) Cornyn's questions are deliberately slanted and divisive.

The very next commenter told me I should move to California.

If your senators or congresspeople are on Facebook, join their page! It's much more therapeutic than sending emails to them or banging your head against the wall, which are both pretty much exactly the same thing. If yours don't have a page, join Cornyn's! I'd love to have the company.

Here's the link:
Facebook/John Cornyn

~~~