Relentless Health Care Reform

Health care reform grinds forward with the remorseless march of a glacier. For months the media reported on its steady advance with one form of this or another: "proposal passes House sub-committee but faces certain failure in the larger committee"; "proposed bill passes committee but faces insurmountable hurdles in the larger House"; "5 version of the Senate bill exist and merging them will be impossible"; "bill passes in the House, Senate bill not a viable option"; and on and on and on.

Each time the bill is certain to fail, each time pressure is applied and Federal monies (my, money) are heaped on hold outs to literally and unashamedly buy their votes. I simply will not believe the media on anything any longer. My elected representatives are ignoring the will of those they represent and not in any little way, either.

The latest tragedy is watching the Senator from Nebraska rail and rant about the abortion provisions in the Senate bill. For days snippets of this guy was all over the networks; some supporting his stance, some threatening his stance. Even the great Obama was reported to say to this Senator, "Don't think we are not keeping score, brother."

Just as the pessimist, or realist in this case, in me knew would happen, the Senate version of the bill passed last night while I slept. I woke several times at night and I didn't know why, but it seems like it was the sound of the nails being driven into America's coffin.

My country is dying and it is difficult to find too many people who even seem aware of it. Our Constitution has survived since 1789. It has been repeatedly assaulted since the time of Theodore Roosevelt and now it looks like it will flat line under Obama.

Who knows why the Nebraska Senator changed his mind and voted for it. The abortion provisions remain untouched, despite what I heard on the news. It is all still in there. However, Nebraska got a sweet Medicare deal where his state will get funding well beyond what the other states are getting. His vote didn't even cost as much as the Louisiana Senator cost. She cost $300 million. Must be a prostitution world record, somewhere.

I stand on the frontier, trying to reach out to people and tell them that things are grim. Most don't want to believe. Those that do are frustrated and meek, not knowing what to do. Others see the system as being too big to move, that their voices are inconsequential. The Tea Party folks and the 9/12 folks are simply being ignored. Time magazine did not even recognize that they even existed this year. I came across something on the net last year and I'll place it in this blog below. I don't know where it comes from but it describes how I feel right now:
"The enemy is just beyond the perimeter and darkness is all around us."
--"Loose Horse" Steve, Semper Fidelis

--Zavost