That this should be needed is a national shame - Updated

Congress should haul its ass down to Wise County, Virginia, and look at where our current health care situation has taken us. We cannot afford the status quo - it will take us down a vortex from which there may be no return. Those obstructing reform should be horsewhipped in the public square (I'm looking at you Blue Dogs and Repugnicans!).

As for the executives of the insurance companies fighting tooth and nail to keep their cabals and obscene profits, I may bring the chainsaw and vinegar out of retirement.

Amy Goodman reports at Democracy Now:



Transcript available on Crooks and Liars.

An excerpt:

STAN BROCK: Well, Remote Area Medical history goes back to many years when I lived in the Upper Amazon, and this is before Wild Kingdom. And I was living with a tribe of Native Americans called the Wapishana Indians, and we were—well, it was a very remote area on the northern border of Brazil in what used to be British Guiana. I had a nasty accident there with a wild horse. And while I was being pulled out from underneath the horse, one of the Wapishana said, “Well, the nearest doctor is twenty-six days on foot from here.”

It was about that time that I got the idea of bringing those doctors just a little bit closer. And that’s what we did many, many years later when I formed Remote Area Medical, but subsequently found that there were a lot of people like those Wapishanas here in the United States that didn’t have access to healthcare. And so, 64 percent of everything we do is now right here in America.

h/t to Susie Madrak


UPDATE:

Teacherken is a frequent poster at Daily Kos. He is my age, teaches social studies in high school and is a passionate, articulate commenter on our society and the policies and politics thereof. He was there this weekend and shares his observations and responses here.

For others? Cannot we reconnect ourselves with what it means to be part of community, part of common humanity.

". . .and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity . . "

Might not being able to smile be one of the blessings of liberty? Do we not owe that to one another?

I will carry this weekend with me for the rest of my life. If I do not, if it has not meaningfully changed me, then I have neither conscience nor soul.

--the BB