Sen. Bill Nelson still waffling on health care

We’re getting through to him, at least in the sense that he has heard the phones ringing off the hook. Sen. Bill Nelson, whose former job as state insurance commissioner makes us suspect him of being too close to the insurance business (definitely not a problem in his earlier career as astronaut), is listed as “unknown” on this chart at Open Left. Dear me, unknown is further from the goal than the maybes.

Come on, Senator. We who put you in office are in a big majority for strong health care reform with a strong public option. Why waffle? We like leaders better than those who tinker at the edge.

Here’s what’s up on his Twitter page, dated June 18.

Lotta folks asking me about health-care reform. We really need it. I'm working on it. But we need a viable plan for how to pay for it.4:43 PM Jun 18th from web

Spam-struck

This blog now requires word verification to post a comment. Spam seems to be a problem. Your blogger apologizes for the inconvenience. Your comments are still welcome.

A long read on Scientology

Your blogger was out of town and missed this huge report on Scientology when it was published a week ago in the St. Petersburg Times. Worth your time to understand more of a strange phenomenon rooted across Florida in Clearwater.

Notable in media catching my attention this weekend:

!. The cover of the June 29 New Yorker is a masterpiece of subtlety. A young woman looking at a punch card. No, a young woman with a head scarf looking at a voting record. No, a young Iranian woman raising her eyeglasses like the vote-counters in Broward County in 2000 to better fix her dubious stare on a paper record of a lost chance for better government.

Here’s a link to the New Yorker contents page where you can admire Barry Blitt’s artwork with the brilliant title ”Hanging Chador.” Wasn’t there a letter in a recent Miami Herald comparing our election two terms ago with what the Iranians now have to endure?

2. The Sunday NY Times Book Review section had a fine surprise on p. 14, with a photo of the lovely former Miami Herald columnist Ana Menendez and, under the headline “Sleeping with the Enemy,” a review of her new novel, “The Last War.” We’ve missed your column, Ana Menendez, but will trot out and get your book that may be about your wandering NY Times war correspondent husband, Dexter Filkins, and the life that adds temptations galore to married people living apart.

Miami’s big day of community service for Health Care Reform

A video report on one aspect of the Health Care day of community service by Organizing for America in Miami. There were numerous events in Miami-Dade County on Saturday, and around Florida perhaps 100. Wow, great participation!



Your blogger also dropped in on an informational event run by the Miami Beach Democratic Club in South Beach, in which the main tactic was to find local families enjoying a day on the beach and to give them data on how to sign up kids and adults for reasonably priced health care. Another useful event aimed at making our neighbors aware of the Democratic Party’s drive to reform health care in the United States. Bravo!

Why Floridians should be calling their reps in Washington

This link is Florida-specific. THE HEALTH CARE STATUS QUO:

You can arm yourself with facts on why we need health care reform and why Florida is deficient in providing good health care for all. At the top of the list was that you'd have to work all year full-time at minimum wage to earn enough to pay the premiums for a family health insurance plan.

Fine, the neo-cons will say: They are young and healthy and don't need health care. But what about the ones that are injured in a car wreck? The ones who get pregnant? The ones who catch swine flu? Those who need counseling for obesity, substance abuse, family abuse? Those who should get a checkup every few years to confirm that they're healthy and that their vision is sharp?

This link comes from the federal secretary of health, and it's time to be dialing your reps in Washington to demand a strong public option in the new legislation.

Michael Jackson was a Democrat

That is the import of the photo caption showing him airborne while performing at a DNC benefit concert. This link is to a New York Times slide show on his career.

UPDATE:

I’m too old to have been a big fan of the Jackson Five or Michael Jackson, but I remember the disco craze that I joined into heartily and danced like crazy for some decades in lounges and living rooms in three or four foreign countries, in addition to the United States. Some of that was Michael Jackson’s music, wasn’t it, my fellow disco-dancers? So I take his passing as a moment to turn away from the lurid stuff of his life and to appreciate the enjoyment he provided to millions, perhaps billions.

There are a lot of videos out there. This one was the most fun for me.

That video came to light by following links in this illuminating post at Huffington Post by Deepak Chopra, who was a friend of Michael Jackson’s. Therein find a link to a Huffington post by his son Gotham who at a tender age also was a friend of Michael Jackson and traveled with him. Chopra father and son seem to be saying that Michael Jackson was after song lyrics and friendship, enough said.

On the road again

Greetings from Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, part of the
Black Hills. Where the buffalo roam.