From TPM Reader MB …
One of the drawbacks of members of Congress and the federal government having such great health care is that they really don’t realize how bad private insurance is for the rest of us.
TPM Reader JS sends along this page from Frontline with brief discussions of how five other countries — UK, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland — cover their populations and links to much more detailed discussions of how each country does it with experts on how that particular country’s system works.
As others have noted, the Switzerland model seems closest to what health care reformers in the US are now trying to create. Another interesting point is that the Swiss system was only put into effect in 1994, which is significant for a few reasons. Read More
TPM Reader GR reports in on the situation in Massachusetts and their mandate-based quasi-universal plan …
Your friendly Berkshire’s pseudo-stringer here to give my impression of the Mass Health Experiment.
Former Rep. Traficant (D-OH) invokes Mandela after release from seven years in prison for corruption.
Here’s the text of Obama’s speech, which he’s given as I write. He’s got his work cut out for him on Wednesday. But it’s refreshing to see and hear him with some kick in his voice again. Seems like it’s been a while.
Late Update: Curious whether Obama will make a big post-August anti-liar push.
Latter Update: Departing from his text Obama tells his ‘fired up’ story.
We should be deeply concerned that our public discourse has become so degraded and the American right so consumed by paranoia and conspiracy theories that Newt Gingrich has released remarks (via Twitter) on the president’s school day speech that appear remarkably sane.
Newt Gingrich! Just Sayin …
Video: Here’s the end of Obama’s speech today at the Labor picnic where he went off script with his ‘Fired Up’ story. If you’re not fired up, you should watch.
This and other choice images as we review President Obama’s earlier attempts to terrorize and indoctrinate America’s school children in today’s slideshow.
ed.note: Ever notice how many right-wing complaints are prefaced by references to their own fear?
The New Jersey governor’s race is getting so down and dirty that nothing is off limits. Not even Chris Christie’s driving the wrong way on a one-way street, crashing into a motorcyclist, sending the motorcyclist to the hospital, flashing his US Attorney ID to get out of a ticket, apparently settling a lawsuit with a non-disclosed settlement and then lying about ever being sued in the first place. That’s one crazy race.