Mooncat over at Leftinalabama has put together a good synopsis of McCain's 'non-solutions' to providing equitable and adequate health care for all Americans. Y'all go check it out.

In an exclusive to PB readers, I reveal McCain's current plan ^o^ here and now, with a h/t to Liz:

A young man joined the National Guard because he couldn't get a job with a good healthcare plan for him and his wife.  He ended up having to serve 15 months in Iraq.

You may be living closer to a bio-terror lab than you realize if you live in Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina or Texas.

We launch a war against Iraq on the lie that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and berate him for using chemical and biological warfare against his own people when in fact it is the USA who likely gave him these weapons of mass destruction to use in the first place. 

Bidding War for Bio=warfare Labs:   The Germs Next Door By STAN COX

http://www.counterpunch.org/

For even more reading on the topic

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20020923/1048504.asp

One good thing about the Democratic candidates--not only Obama and Hillary but all the ones who were on the ticket back in the fall as well:  HEALTHCARE is getting talked about and brought to the forefront as an issue.  As I mentioned yesterday, we are seeing ads on TV like the one where the woman is an an auto accident and then goes on to her job as a waitress, even though she is obviously injured because she has no healtcare coverage and cannot afford to miss work.

Well, on my way to work this morning I heard one healthcare story on NPR that tops all I've heard so far. Can you top this one:

A young man joined the National Guard because he couldn't get a job with a good healthcare plan for him and his wife.  He ended up having to serve 15 months in Iraq.  Now that is the limit--to have to serve in Iraq in order to get healthcare.

This is a detailed proposal for a workable, universal plan being backed by the AFL-CIO, and sponsored by the Economic Policy Institute.

Health care for AmericaA proposal for guaranteed, affordable health care for all Americans building on Medicare and employment-based insurance    by Jacob S. Hacker

The latest AFL-CIO newsletter is pushing this agenda in the health care forum. It's actually very similar in concept to Romney's plan, which was implemented in Massachusetts a few years back with the blessings of Ted Kennedy. Under Romney's plan, people are required to produce 'proof of insurance' within a mandated time frame, or be subject to increasing tax penalties. The Mass. plan is capped at $200/ per month for individual coverage.

It's also very similar to Hillary's health care plan, which includes mandated coverage as well. Obama's plan follows the same line, but without forcing anyone to purchase the coverage.

Basically, the idea is to keep status quo for people who have good coverage, and to keep the Insurance Lobby happy and unopposed, while bringing in a lower-cost option for the currently uninsured. It hits everyone a little bit. Small businesses, who may not offer any coverage at all, will be forced to contribute about 6% payroll tax to the'America' plan. Large  businesses, who currently get away without contributing anything as long as they classify an employee as 'part time', will also have to contribute based on a percentage of those employees' earnings. To my mind, that's a good move. The main reason people are now working two and three jobs is because of large corporate employers who decided that 2 people working 20 hours a week is much cheaper than one person working 40. A plan like this would 'disincentivize' that little ploy.

While it seems a good compromise in a lot of respects, I also find it a little scary, especially the 'mandated coverage' aspect and its enforcement proposals. Those in favor of a mandate say that we can't get the best rates without everyone doing their bit, and those against make the excellent point that the private premium would put such a plan out of reach for the very people it's designed to help.

To my mind, it's all part and parcel of the 'service economy'. The person (like a doctor, a nurse, or a chemist) who has actual knowledge, and a marketable skill, gets eaten alive by the eight middlemen who are basically making a living by marketing his skill, and adding on a profit for themselves. He slips lower and lower down the food chain, as the money boys reduce him to utter dependence on their 'system', which system the Federal Government is bravely tring to 'buck' by forcing the entire population  to pay them ransom for health care...sigh..

It's like letting the pilot fish to steer the shark.

Still, it's a start. 

Funding for development of the AIDS virus dating back to 1969. See Operation Trojan Horse.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Aurora/4519/funding.html

I am making a proposal here to have a nationwide 'Telecom Strike'. After the sad, sad support the FISA Bill got in the Senate, I feel the only voice left is that of the people themselves.

If we have ONE day where all computers shut down, all phones cease, even ATM and credit transactions stop - we can effectively look AT&T in the eye and say,

"Up yours, Jack".  

NO MORE SPYING

No MORE IMMUNITY FOR CRIMINAL ACTS.

This retroactive immunity ploy effectively gives ANY Executive the power to do ANYTHING he likes in the future - because then he can grant all his henchmen 'immunity' after the fact. Please sign the petition at Firedoglake. 

It isn't over.  We are pushing members of the House to stand firm against telecom immunity -- please take a little time to sign the petition here.  Have you called your Representative today? 

Most of you have probably heard about the Mexican truck fiasco, and when Congress heard about DOT's pilot program to allow Mexican trucks over the border to operate here, they passed legislation prohibiting just that. Problem is, DOT and its Secretary Mary Peters have continued blithely along wih the program, as if Congress had never spoken at all.

She's a typical Bush appointee. What George wants, George gets, and to hell with Congress. MEXICAN truckers hate it, too - so much that they staged a protest.

"The Pilot Plan is of no interest to our country. It is of interest [only] to a small group of business associates in the United States that get the Mexican President all wound up. However, when they stop to think about the consequences of the damage that would be caused to our economy, perhaps they will consider doing an about-face. At present, both CONATRAM and CANACAR are opposed to the Pilot Plan, as a result of which we now hope to convince the senators that if we don't achieve [our goal] through dialogue, we will have no other option than to carry out a protest along all of the country's borders. We cannot stand by with arms crossed, waiting from the worst to happen," said Elias Dip.

EVERYBODY hates it except George, Mary, and a handful of George's friends who would make bigger profits than ever if they could have American truckers competing with people who make a third of their salary. An American trucker can't live on what a Mexican trucker makes - but Corporate America sure would love to see him try. The Teamsters have a petition you can sign to Fire Mary Peters. Help them out and sign it. It's the right thing to do.

Mary Peters has a bachelor's degree in management from Phoenix University (I get spammed by them regularly), and yet she headed up the Federal Highway Authority before taking over DOT, with of course some corporate time done at HDR Engineering, which oversees a great many projects for a great many clients. They bill themselves as 'problem solvers' for business, and I imagine Mary was quite useful in that regard. She's certainly no engineer.

This is another 'malfunction junction' perpetrated by the Bush Administration.  

This video says it all. See if you can still support corporate private healthcare insurers after watching this. You may want give second thought to your own coverage as well.

You may THINK that you are covered and find otherwise when you try to collect money from your private healthcare insurer or when you try to obtain their permission for a life-saving operation that you need.  (They will first have to do the calculations for profitabiity for their shareholders--the ones who stand between you and the healthcare that you may need.  This is obsene and anyone who disagrees is of a different moral fiber than most Americans who care about others.).

THEY ARE THE PROBLEM NOT THE SOLUTION. REGARDLESS YOUR CANDIDATE, it is in your best interests to force BOTH Obama and Clinton to alter their healthcare platforms to include the establishment of nonprofit healthcare insurers at the least!!!

PLEASE UNDERSTAND:  Private healthcare corporation are part of the problem, not part of the solution. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9p4WODXM8Q

And both of these plans require that Americans pay health care premiums to privately-held healthcare CORPORATIONS who function as middlemen between you and the healthcare that you receive.

WHY PRIVATE HEALTHCARE INSURERS DON’T WORK

Now the problem with this plan is that CORPORATIONS exist for one reason:  to make money for their share holders.  So no matter what, a piece of your healthcare premium will always be split between the healthcare givers (doctors and nurses) and the corporation’s shareholders.  That is how corporations work.  They are in the business of making money for their shareholders—not providing you with health care. In other words it is a conflict of interest. When a private corporation is your health insurer, you will always be in competition with the shareholders of the corporation for whether or not you receive the healthcare you need.

This is why people like me, and millions of other Americans argue that it is better to have nonpayer health insurance where the money for our health care is taken from a tax pool, or at least as Edwards plan called for, with the formation of nonprofit healthcare insurers.  In the latter example, even though people would still have to pay healthcare insurance, the payments would be much lower because there would be no shareholders to pay off. Non profits have no middlemen/shareholder expenses and no obligations to the shareholders to deny you healthcare at every possible turn.

John Edwards when he was still on the campaign trail told stories of parents who lost their children because private healthcare insurers denied them the treatment they needed.  In other words, instead of the patients, the shareholders won the argument and people died.  This happens all the time.  Private health care insurers actually reward their claims agents on the number of care requests that they deny. (It is much like those traffic ticket quotas that officers have, except in this case, we are talking about people’s health and sometimes even their lives.)

a real American. Now he's being assailed by a Democrat for his seat in Congress. The power structure wants Dennis gone yesterday. Keep 'em awake - go to Kucinich.us and drop a couple of bucks in the hat to help Dennis maintain his presence in Congress. He fights for ALL of us, not just OH residents.

I'll miss you, Dennis. One thing for sure -you're never boring! ^o^ 

The CNN criteria specifically exclude the diverse and anti-war voice of Mr. Kucinich and his grass-roots supporters, according to the complaint. The exclusion of Mr. Kucinich undermines the purpose of the (Federal Communications) Act and is a blatant violation of the Act, including its equal time provisions.
Also, Mr. Kucinich is a successful candidate because of his anti-war message and strong criticism of the American healthcare system, issues that are not championed by his presidential primary opponents. In these and other policy issues, his opponents share very similar policy platforms that differ from Mr. Kucinich.

Breaking the Sound Barrier: Democracy Now! Re-Hosts NBC Las Vegas Debate to Include Kucinich After NBC Wins Appeal to Exclude Him

Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich was missing from the stage at last night’s Democratic debate hosted by MSNBC in Las Vegas after he lost a last-minute legal fight with the network over his participation.

Last week, NBC told Kucinich that he had met the criteria for the debate. Then, less than two days later, the network changed the criteria and declared that Kucinich was no longer qualified. On Monday, a Nevada judge ordered NBC to include Kucinich, but then NBC appealed the ruling and actively fought to keep him off the stage. On Tuesday night, less than an hour before the debate, the Nevada Supreme Court sided with NBC. Democracy Now! decided to break the sound barrier and give Kucinich a chance to take part. In an exclusive broadcast, we re-broadcast excerpts of the debate and give the Ohio Congressman a chance to answer the questions he might have faced if he hadn’t been silenced.

Dennis is still fighting his corner, and it's instructive to watch all the mainstream corporate media fight just as hard to render him invisible. I'm not sure what they think they stand to lose by including him, but it must be something important. I'm sick of Super Delegates, and Corporate Media, and hackable voting machines, and Corporate lobbyists running Washington and buying Presidential candidates, and all the other aspects of American 'elections'. Dennis Kucinich is the most interesting Democrat left - he has good things to say, and whether you agree with him or not he certainly influences the Democratic Platform in a meaningful way.

As long as he's a Presidential candi