Of course, in order to be a good blogger, one has to be consistent, one has to post regularly. Obviously Ms. Sanity has been falling down in that regard. Ms. Sanity’s Mother has noticed this behavior for many a year now–she calls it the “Refusing to write a letter unless all the pencils in the house are sharpened, and you have the most beautiful stationery to use phenomenon,” when of course, the recipient would just be happy to get a durn letter from Ms. Sanity.

Mum’s right on the money there. One should just write the letter. And I know for a fact that I am not the only one with this phenomenon.

I was horrified and pretty annoyed with myself on this Thanksgiving Day when I realized that it has been 29 days since my last post. That’s simply not acceptable. See, when I make a post, I want it to be thoughtful. Original, well-written, preferably well (or at least marginally well) illustrated.

Here are some of my excuses. See if they mesh with any of YOUR excuses. (My father would say: There are always REASONS, but rarely excuses.)

• I’ve been busy.
  Well, we are ALL busy, in one way or another. If Ms. Sanity wants to be a blogger, she needs to blog, yes?
  
• I wanted my posts to be good. Exceptional, even.
  Well, my readers are looking for helpful, hopefully thought provoking information from me, and perhaps a little entertainment here and there, not proof of my substantial brilliance. (heh)
• I wanted to do research and provide LOTS of useful information in my next post.
  Well, even one piece or useful information or one link can make a difference to someone’s life. It doesn’t have to be fifty links! Helping out even a little is better than my silence, yes?

So, now: the flip side is this. I will do my best stop the habit of trying too hard, and perhaps you need to do the same. (Some of us, perhaps including yours truly, may need to watch out for “trying too hard not to try too hard,” but that’s a whole other post….)

Nike’s relatively inspired slogan “Just Do It,” is actually more than a good way to sell shoes. It’s a mantra many of us would do well to hold in mind, and act upon. So here’s my “Just did it” post… and I wish everyone, everywhere, a day or at least a moment of thanksgiving, as we celebrate here in the USA. Have a lovely day.. and don’t try too hard. Good enough is really, good enough, and something is almost always better than nothing…Nobody is perfect, anyway, no matter how hard one tries.

Anyway, ran across this, and it needed more eyeballs:

Apparently Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), explaining the Republican health care plan could pare it down to two little words:

“Die quickly.”
~Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL)

Major hat tip to twitterist @Ander517 who brought this to my attention.  Said Mr. Anders also added the following link which has a video clip, lest you think we make all this stuff up: click here.

Personally I couldn’t watch it. One is wise to know when to limit one’s news consumption, and I hit that mark a while back….

Onward and upward folks. Personally, I hope none of you die quickly. But then I’m not afraid of health care reform. And it’s not because I expect the frigging government to take care of all my needs, either. But that’s another post…

Over and over and over ad nauseum I’ve seen blogs and “tweets” and letters to the editor filled with craziness, outright, bald-faced lies and inaccuracies not only about the intentions and effects of the (FOUR) potential, proposed bills/new systems – but also about what life is like in the rest of the civilized world where they DO have universal health care. (For you accuracy buffs, there’s no such thing as “Obamacare”… yet, anyway.)

Few people -if any – are idiotic enough to believe that having a system of universal health care creates instant nirvana, nor would any thinking people living in a country with such a system insist that their systems are perfect.

However, because of the work that I do and the fact that I am married to a man who was born in Europe, I know and work with- regularly and intimately- people all over the world. I also, obviously, have relatives by marriage living in other countries, and I am here to tell you that NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THEM would come here for health care, nor would they trade our system for theirs, nor do any of them have any desire whatsoever to come here to live. Period. In fact, none of them will even set foot on US soil without (expensive!) traveler’s health insurance, due to the fact that any sane person knows that a minor accident (much less a serious one) can BANKRUPT a person who doesn’t have health insurance.

Unlike what people have assumed elsewhere, and asked me about, these people/relatives/clients I am referring to – in various European countries – are not exclusively or even usually:

• Very Young
• Very Healthy
• Extremely Poor
• Incredibly Heavily Taxed
• Interested in coming to the USA for health care
• Of the belief that the US is the sole seat of innovation in health care and science in the world. (Check the facts! Other countries invent and produce things too!)

I’m sorry that I’m screaming at you if you have read this far but I’m truly annoyed and sickened and disappointed in the way this health care debate thing is going. I despair at the apparent level of discourse and the seeming inability to think critically about this issue. It’s all fear, fear, fear, machismo, “we’re number one,” fear, money, fear, socialism strawmen, and “I’ve got mine, to heck with the rest of you.” (Oh yeah? Who’s going to perform the roles you take for granted if we little people all kick the bucket? You gonna take your own trash to the dump? Fix your own sewers, your own car, wait your own tables???)

Yes, okay, as someone once  said to me, reasonable people can disagree about the best way to solve the problem. It’s just that there seems to be precious little reasonableness around this issue in the public fora. From anywhere or anyone (quite frankly, at this moment, including Ms. Sanity!)

If you’ve been paying attention, and are living in the USA, you must have seen this stuff flying around also.

Here’s a quote from one of the more authoritative writers who has bothered to do research and to try to deconstruct some of the lies (which are being widely circulated!) One thing many of my fellow Americans are insanely failing to do is to consider the costs of DOING NOTHING. Here’s a glimpse, folks:

The US CBO {Congressional Budget Office} estimates that, with no changes to the {current USA} health care system, premiums will increase by $1,800 per year for the next ten years. That means a family will pay an average annual premium of more than $32,000 by then.

Oh, yeah, that’s going to be easy to handle with an average income in this country of about $48K or so. You really think that with this fabulous economy that your wages are going to go up that much in a decade? Think again.

Look, please, for your own good, for our collective good, for heaven’s sake, do some research, consider (shocking, I know) actually speaking to someone who lives in a country besides the USA about their experiences with their health care, read more than one source, don’t just believe the first chain email you get or the supremely unintelligent Sarah Palin stupidly telling you that we’re suddenly going to start killing off old people.

The simple fact is this: We ARE all in this life together. You do not live in isolation, you do not single-handedly completely create the prosperity and wealth that you have amassed, no matter how much you have–and you have a vested interest in the good health of your fellow man.

If a majority of people in this country cannot begin to grasp that simple fact, then our collective future is far darker than it seems.

In the meantime, cut the crap. There are a bazillion resources out there (factcheck.org is a good one, too) if you don’t trust the ones the government is putting out. But if you’re pulling your hair out over some chain email (or even blog posting, purporting to be from someone’s brother in law who is just “concerned” or from some dude the “health care ranger…”) first have a look here:  at the aptly named “Please Cut the Crap.”

My grandfather once, with a grimace,  years ago, said “People get the government they deserve.” (When the people of the state I live in elected – for his second term- a guy who if not a felon, was certainly “crooked.”) If that’s the case, then by the look of things at the zeitgeist, we are deserving not very much…since so many of you seem to believe you are all living on desert islands, and so on….

To riff on a lovely line from the movie Serenity:

You are not John Galt. Universal health care is not some Evil Empire or socialistic conspiracy leading us to the evils of communism. The Obama Administration is also not some Evil Empire. You people railing against health care are not the plucky heroes. This is not the grand arena.

Get a grip. Cut the crap. Read some stuff and don’t limit your information intake to Fox (Faux) news or, for that matter, Daily Kos or the Huffington Post.

If you don’t or won’t, don’t go crying to the rest of the world in a few years when only five perecent of the population has much access to health care, your premiums are $20 grand a year, and our trade imbalance and business competitiveness is even lower than it is at the moment.

I grew up in this land of hyperbole, these United States, and I know I am prone to overstating the case, (culture seeps in, inorexably, after all.) But these days I cannot escape near-constant visions that many, many thousands are going to have to literally lose their lives due to inadequate health care, before the “plucky heroes” of the right-wing begin to see it. And that quite literally breaks my bleeding heart. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Obviously this blog is called Manic Meltdown, and just as clearly to those who look around a bit, I rarely write about truly being manic. That’s largely because I rarely am manic, myself, I’m more of a unipolar depressive type myself, when my grip slips. (Yes, I know, that’s shocking to those of you who actually know Ms. Sanity…)

Anyway, manic depression (actually the proper term these days is “bipolar disorder,”) truthfully does run in my family along with a host of other ummmm… interesting mental proclivities. Accordingly, I thought it might be helpful to the casual observer or those of you who land here because you are looking for information on mania – for me to offer a bit of anecdotal information about what I know about mania and “real” manic meltdowns.

The best source of information of course is always a qualified medical or psychiatric practitioner, and
nothing in this blog or anywhere else in the universe should be taken to be actual medical advice unless
you’re under direct treatment.

To start with, of course, manic meltdowns aren’t pretty. But generally they are treatable, and there is help
available to those who can and do seek it.

Mania generally is unpleasant for all concerned. A psychiatrist once told me, and I was surprised to hear,
that “Mania is on a continuum; it’s not always physical mania of not sleeping and painting the whole house
in three days… for example, extreme irritability in adults can be one symptom or a type of mania.”

So that’s an important thing to remember, when you’re looking at whether or not you or someone you care
about might need help or treatment. It’s also important to remember that Mania/bipolar disorder is a
complex disease, and it can be important to call in the cavalry (doctors!) as soon as one begins to realize
there is a problem.

Symptoms of mania (courtesy of Web MD) can include:
• excessive happiness,
• excitement,
• irritability,
• restlessness,
• increased energy,
• less need for sleep,
• racing thoughts,
• high sex drive,
• and a tendency to make grand and unattainable plans.

That doesn’t necessarily sound as awful as it is. Other reported experiences and behaviors of those in a full
blown “manic meltdown,” can include spending money recklessly, indiscriminate sexual behavior (which is
later regretted) crying jags, and particularly after several days with insufficient sleep, literal hallucinations
and/or psychoses.

Most people experience the milder end of these symptoms, from what I understand, and someone doesn’t
have to have them all in order to actually be experiencing mania.

Drug abuse (and Ms. Sanity doesn’t judge people, I’m just pointing this out…) can make bipolar disorder
worse and/or can mask the symptoms and make diagnosis more difficult depending on the situation.

If you’re looking to understand more about manic meltdowns and are new to the mental illness party (we really need to get rid of the stigma about it in the good ole USA, people with chemical imbalances- who are not “just jerks,” can no more pull themselves out of it “by their bootstraps” than a six week-old infant can start speaking in sentences because of superior willpower. Bipolar disorder- and in fact most, if not all, forms of true mental illness – are biochemical, physical issues…) …you may want to have a look at this link for more clinical and authoritative info.

The life you save may be your own, or that of someone you care about. People with bipolar disorder have a
much higher rate of suicide and/or accidental death than the general population, I have been told.  It is important to know that most people with bipolar disorder will insist that “there is nothing wrong,” particularly in manic phases. If in doubt, check it out!

Just because I’ve called this blog Manic Meltdown in no way aims to minimize the serious issue of Mania and bipolar disorder. It’s more that I was pointing to the fact that many aspects of modern life tend to POINT your Ms. Sanity toward the ugly side of manic behavior, because of occasional frustration and so on; and I wanted to share some of the thoughts, ideas, and resources that help me from ending up going over the edge, in the hopes that they may help someone else.

I’m no expert, of course, but are there any questions?

Oh yeah, one last thing. Someone landed on the first iteration of this blog (at Blogspot) recently because they had searched for “how to know if you are self centered.” That question is fairly easy. First of all, nearly all of us are self-centered to a degree, and that’s not a crime, necessarily. It can often be healthy and self preserving, provided we don’t carry it too far. Secondly, are you able to understand how other people feel? Are you able to imagine and empathize/sympathize when they are having difficulties? Do you care about what happens to others? Do you sometimes think of others and put them and their needs before your own? If so… you probably don’t have a darn thing to worry about. But if everyone you ask tells you that yes, you come across as being self-centered, then perhaps you should talk to someone you trust about it, preferably your doctor. This too can be a symptom of a variety of mental health challenges. It’s very normal for people who are struggling with depression, for example, to be focused on themselves and their own feelings, etc., just as it is normal for someone with a broken leg to be focused (especially at first) on the pain from their leg and how their leg is feeling—because it HURTS! The problems come when the leg—or the feelings—are the thing one lives the rest of one’s life being focused on. Never hesitate to reach out for help.

And if you don’t like the first “help” you get, keep reaching. There is always help, and almost always hope. The thing is, we have to do some reaching out to find it.

Of course the intelligent people who read this blog probably were already clear that this so-called explanation is utter BS.  Or, as they might say in Britain, total bollocks.  Here’s one study (printed in the reputable PubMed Central and also the British Medical Journal) which shows the above popular misconception for what it is… a lie promulgated by the people who stand to profit by the curent state of affairs. For my non-American buddies who may somehow not know this: the truth really is on the ground here that people, (and not just poverty stricken elderly people or people who have never had a job) often have to make choices such as whether to buy food or refill a prescription. I have been there many times myself. So the next time people trot out that misconception..call a spade a spade. If there were truth to this, drugs would cost the same or nearly the same in all industrialized countries. They don’t. Oh and not only that, drugmakers in other countries are still pulling in handsome profits, even with their lower (much lower) prices.

On a perhaps happier note, Ms. Sanity also just became aware that as I write this, there is under consideration a bill in the US Senate which would make it legal for Americans to “re-import” drugs from Canada by purchasing from Canadian pharmacies over the internet. If this actually happens, this could be a good thing for some Americans, (though our Canadian brethren might not be too happy about it…)

Not surprisingly, the conservative alarmists are, well, alarmed. They’re claiming with straight faces, even, that allowing Americans to “re-import” these drugs, is unsafe.

Yeah, right, spare me. You’ll notice that there aren’t throngs of Canadians and British folk dropping dead left and right from the medication they’re taking…..

Allowing re-importation (which thousands of Americans are doing or trying to do right now anyway) is all well and good, but shouldn’t we freaking fix our own broken so-called system, rather than sponging off of countries such as Canada and the UK who have been taking better care of their citizens healthwise for decades?

Well, at the very least, US citizens should stop telling themselves (and each other) the lie that we pay such exorbitant and usurious prices for medication because we are politely covering the R & D costs for the entire world.

We pay these prices because we want to keep the big US Pharmaceutical companies really, really, really well-to-do.  I shudder to think what those in management at, say Pfizer, are paid for a year of work. (Yes, they save lives, and so on and so forth, but they also end them, thanks to the crazy prices people are asked to pay for the medication here.)

I don’t have the stomach to look up their salaries right now, though I’m sure the information is available. If one of you trusty readers wants to do so and report back, by all means…feel free.

Executives of three of the nation’s largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders…

Note that these are POLICY holders–who have been paying premiums.  To continue from this same story, located here:

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

Are you clear on what that means? It means that, by God, they feel perfectly justified in dropping you from your health care if the care you need is too expensive.

A little more from the story:

The executives — Richard A. Collins, chief executive of UnitedHealth’s Golden Rule Insurance Co.; Don Hamm, chief executive of Assurant Health and Brian Sassi, president of consumer business for WellPoint Inc., parent of Blue Cross of California — were courteous and matter-of-fact in their testimony.

But they would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud to obtain coverage, a refusal that met with dismay from legislators on both sides of the political aisle.

So, again, these people losing coverage are not liars are fraudsters, it could be you or your Aunt Mabel.

And there’s ANYONE in America who would prefer the status quo rather than some sort of Universal Health Care?

Now from the “not much hope” department, here’s some info on our Congresspeople who are currently trying to draft some sort of bill for universal health care.  Have a little look at THIS:

Almost 30 key lawmakers helping draft landmark health-care legislation have financial holdings in the industry, totaling nearly $11 million worth of personal investments in a sector that could be dramatically reshaped by this summer’s debate.

And there’s more…

The first big congressional moment on health care comes Tuesday in the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which will consider a liberal-leaning proposal that includes the creation of a “public plan” meant to be a government-administered alternative to private health insurance.

On that 22-member panel, at least eight senators have financial interests in the health-care industry worth a minimum of $600,000 — and potentially worth as much as $1.9 million. The investors include  Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), a senior member of the panel, who holds at least $165,000 in pharmaceutical and medical stocks, and freshman Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), who holds at least $180,000 in investments in more than 20 health-care companies.

And the list goes on, see the link above if you want to see the full list. Sure, it’s very possible that these folks can have all this investment in companies which “refuse to stop dropping sick people off of their health insurance!” and still do the right thing–e.g. provide health care to everyone who needs it.

My point is only that each of us had best be watching, that we need to keep our eyes on the ball here. It’s well past time that they stopped throwing their hands in the air (they meaning our so-called leaders) and crying “We can’t do this, it’s too hard...”

Your life may hang in the balance, folks. Whether you have health insurance or not. If you’re sane, you’re going to be paying very close attention to this issue – and you’ll be investigating it, and letting your representatives know what you think.

But the insurance companies? How can you read the first article and feel for two seconds that they are NOT the bad guys? Especially when, say, the CEO of WellPoint, Angela Braley, was paid $9,844,212 in 2008…. for running a company that denies claims to people who have health insurance! How nice!

By the way, that didn’t include her private plane or an additional “$10,000 for legal services relating to her employment agreement and cash credits.”

If you’re not outraged, you are not paying attention. This situation cannot stand. And if you think it “couldn’t affect you” or someone you love because you have health insurance, THINK AGAIN. It’s the only sane way to go.

The Bankers are Not Your Friends

I don’t know that much about Senator Dick Durbin, (though I am glancing over his voting record as I write this) but I did run across this interesting little quote from him today.

Durbin is a Democratic Senator from IL, and apparently he said recently:

“And the banks – hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created – are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”

Senator Dick Durbin

How interesting.  I suppose it’s hardly surprising,  since even after the freaking financial meltdown, the banks are still “where the money is…” but it sure seems to me that essentially the banking boys ought to be personae non grata on Capitol Hill, since by nearly all accounts, they directly caused this crap.

Looking at Durbin’s evaluation by special interest groups (courtesy of “Project Vote Smart,”) in 2008 the National Tax Limitation Committee gave Senator Durbin a grade of F in its special report. Hmm, I can venture an educated guess that the National Tax Limitation Committee is a conservative leaning organization in large part centered around keeping the collective wealth of this nation in the pockets it currently resides in. (That is, under the control quite literally of far less than 1% of the population.)

So, if that organization thinks Durbin is no good, my guess is, that he probably has a good head on his shoulders.

At any rate, the quote from Durbin ought to be thought provoking, and since he’s been “On the Hill” since 1996, I would think that he knows what he’s talking about.

The bankers were not the “friends” of this country in 2003, or 2007, or in 1999, when they successfully got the Glass-Steagall act of 1933 repealed under the Clinton Administration…which led directly–if convolutedly–to the current financial meltdown.

They certainly are not the friends of this country (or for that matter, of the world) today.

Oh, yeah, wait. They do make huge campaign contributions.  That’s why they’re still listened to, I suppose. Never mind, my bad. That makes it all right then…

Uh, I can answer that without having to bother anyone to tie me up or anything. Yes, it’s torture. Simple as that.

Apparently the powers that be said that the longest anyone has withstood this particular form of torture was something in the neighborhood of 14-15 seconds.

This guy lasted about 6 seconds. (See link here.)

How completely insane. And some people look to idiots like him to help form their opinions about the world? God help us.

Ok, so perhaps we can look at it as a publicity stunt, but it’s still perfectly appalling.  What next? Someone cutting off Rush you-know-who’s fingers to see if HE will confess to anything interesting?

Come to think of it maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Note to the humor challenged: my next statement is entirely meant as sarcasm, mmmmkay?

Well, heck, if we can water-board one “rethuglican” talk show host, why can’t we water-board them all?

Oh wait, because it’s TORTURE.

Ms. Sanity shakes her head in wonder….Who pays these idiots? and furthermore, who listens to them?

All your data belongs to...whoops, never mind.

I saw a great comment on Twitter lately; having to do with the recent kerfluffle over Facebook’s (now reversed)change in their “Terms of Service,” where for perhaps a period of 24 hours it said something like “All your data are belong to us forever and always if you put it on Facebook.” Within hours, after people got justifiably annoyed about that, Facebook changed their mind and backtracked.The great comment was “Why do we freak out over so little?” and it’s a point well taken, I thought. Economists are suggesting with straight faces that we start hoarding scotch and gold, people are losing their jobs ever two seconds all over the frigging world, 17,000 more troops are apparently heading to Afghanistan, yet people are freaking the hell out over facebook? (now, I’m saying this as someone who did react to the Facebook crap by thinking, well I’m never going to that site again, but then I’ve not been on there in ages anyway, since someone I don’t particularly want to talk to “found” me on there.)

Still, the twitterer (whose name escapes me, sorry.) was spot on. Priorities people. Facebook can do what it wants. Or not. Seems to me we’ve got FAR more important things to focus on. And we do. Individually and collectively.

For an upbeat thing, check out this “Random Acts of Kindness” initiative here.  It’s a way more important thing, whoever the people are that started it.

Diogenes, Like Obama, Was Looking For an Honest Man!

I know I’m late on the uptake here but I just had to mention that it seemed that President Obama is unwittingly being called to behavior right up there with one of the original cynics, Diogenes. I’m speaking in the context of President Obama’s attempts to get his cabinet populated.   In case you don’t know, Diogenes was the guy who went around with his lantern lit at midday way back in the day (This was in the time period of Ancient Greece.) Of course his community thought he was crazy. People didn’t walk around with lit lanterns in the day time!

When they finally got around to asking Diogenes what the heck he was doing with the lantern (most likely after having made fun of him for a few years behind his back…but that’s just a guess…)

The story goes that he replied earnestly, “I’m looking for an honest man.”

Centuries later, we’re still repeating that story,  not to mention finding honest people few and far between, particularly politicians in the good ole USA.  Follow me on the flip for more…. So it was what, three, or even FOUR of Obama’s cabinet pics who turned out to have either not paid or severely underpaid their damn taxes? What’s the deal with that?

Daschle was the one I was paying the most attention to, since he was by all accounts a good guy, and he was a great hope for fixing the morass that passes for a health care “system” in this country. So, Daschle said, apparently, that he “DIDN’T KNOW” that a car and driver provided to him by someone at no charge was taxable. What the heck??? My unemployment  benefits will be taxable, (if and when I ever get any…) So it’s a safe frickin’ bet that one’s limo, even if it is ummmm donated by some ahhhhhhhhhh grateful constituent or whatever–gets taxed at market value. Sheesh. I mean, I’m no tax expert,  you know? and I would have known that I couldn’t just ride around in a limo at my leisure, and not expect to pay the taxes on the value of it.

And then, what, there were at least two, maybe three other appointees who screwed up their taxes one way or another? I mean, really. And some, if not all of them were Democrats–widely regarded to be the “good guys.”

Is there not an honest man or woman left in DC? One has to wonder, sometimes….

Obama, to his credit, somewhere recently said something along the lines of “One does not go into public service to enrich oneself, one does it to help the public.”

Ah, if only half of them saw it that way, this might be a whole other kettle of fish.

I hate to fan the flames of discontent when they are already higher than I’ve seen them in my lifetime (not that tons of people read Manic  Meltdown anyway…..yet…) but it really is ridiculous.

If you want to go into public service, and yet you aren’t prepared to pay the very same taxes you’d throw any of us in jail for not paying…. and if you don’t expect to have your “stuff” gone over with a fine tooth comb, then that is patently insane.

Yes, our leaders are just people, and we don’t have to worship the ground they walk on- nor should we (that’s  insane too.) And yes, people make mistakes, even  Ms. Sanity here. Still, I have grown more than a little weary of the folks making more in a year than I have in my entire life not living on the up-and-up. How about the IRS audits every single member of the federal congress every year and it becomes part of their job description? Now there’s an idea.

It seems to me that the “powers that be” ought to get it figured out soon that ‘we the people’ are not likely to just accept this kind of behavior indefinitely. Not when millions of us are worried about where our next meal or prescription or mortgage payment is going to come from.

I suggest that while this country is in a meltdown too, and people losing their jobs every day, etc., that Congress do the right thing (at least the US Congress, that is) and vote themselves out of their regular $4500 a year “cost of living” increase for their salaries. If they REALLY want to be impressive (and they don’t, of course…) they could also go ahead and let go of their (free) stellar health insurance paid for by the taxpayer and opt to try and purchase their OWN health insurance on the open market. That would really be a gesture of solidarity with their constituents (and an eye opening experience for them, too, but that’s beside the point.)

The cynical side of Ms. Sanity says (particularly after one Dick Cheney’s appalling “So?” statement) that our congressional representatives outside of election time don’t really care what we think or feel.

That is a situation that cannot stand, or be allowed to stand, forever. Those people work for US. NOT big corporations, not lobbyists, they work for you and me. Eventually I think they will be reminded of that in no uncertain terms,  one way or another.