A few more words about health care.

Let me start by recommending this story from a blog called The Baseline Scenario called "You Do Not Have Health Insurance". It makes the case that, since most Americans get their insurance through their employer, and are therefore very likely screwed if they lose or leave their jobs, that their health is only insured as much as their job is ensured. Ask your unemployed neighbor about those odds.

Second, the opponents of reforming out horrid system are now shamelessly spreading any type of lie they can think of. My friend Jerry Zremski writes in today's Buffalo News about a the congressman from my home town of Clarence, NY (Motto: "Beware of Falling Planes) who sending an email that says 120 million people will lose their health care if Obama's plan passes. This is quite simply a lie, taking a number that is wrong to begin with, an misusing what it says to make the lie even worse.

Meanwhile, quite a few GOP'ers have been spreading the false idea that seniors will be forced into suicide under "Obamacare" (these same crazy righties would prefer many of us get "No Care"!). This would be hilarious if it weren't tragically helping their lying cause. First, it is not at all true. The provision they state states only that seniors would receive counseling on getting affairs in order. Second, the very people who are making that claim are also the "get govt out of everything" righties who believe that Medicare, which is responsible for keeping many of our seniors alive now, is a communist government program. If they don't, then why don't they want all of us to be taken care of as well as seniors are. And, by the way, Medicare recipients are far happier with their health care than the rest of us. Clearly the government can't do anything right!

Which gets to the guy, often quoted, who yelled at his Congressman to "keep government hands off my Medicare". This is the level of ignorance that symbolized the nutty right, lead by idiots like Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and, well, just about anyone on Fox News. They appeal to the folks who are proudly stupid and ignorant. Fortunately for them, there are a lot of those people in this country.