HCR: iv. Hope fades.

The good Prez stands up before Congress and tells them to STFU and pass the damned thing already. Sort of. Except he is all wishy-washy and crap. Some douchebag from South Carolina heckles him, calling him out as a liar in front of everyone. Republicans are so classy. But, anyway, not a very impressive speech.

What is on the table right now is a double-edged nightmare. Not only does the public option appear not likely, but the government is thinking about fining you $3800 if you have the gall not to be able to afford health insurance. I mean, talk about a gigantic load of fail.

Let's get one thing clear--there's not much point of changing anything without the public option. Saying "at least we have some reform" doesn't make any sense without it.

The other thing is that I'm tired of people (Republicans usually) saying "how are we going to pay for it?" Why do they ask this? No one seems to ever ask how we're going to pay for our military misadventures, and we have paid dearly for them: fiscally, in terms of human life, and in terms of foreign policy failure. Why we would suddenly get so concerned about fiscal responsibility when it comes to a policy that would actually save so many American lives is a mystery to me.

Actually, it's not much of a mystery at all--Republicans simply don't care whether you can afford health care. Destroying other countries and thousands of people along with them is fun to them, so they'll spare no expense. But making sure everyone has access to health care? What fun is that, really? Democrats are somewhat guilty of this as well, but at least they pretend to feel bad about it. I think they feel like merely promising it is enough. If they truly believe that, they have a pretty rude shock awaiting them, too.

The problems are deeper, of course: Our culture venerates suffering and death. The motivation for creating a national, government solution to health care gives our culture the middle finger in this regard, and malignant beast that "it" is, "it" fights back.

More about this tomorrow. Oh, I cannot wait.

Edit: Oh, hell, let's point the finger at Democrats, too, while we're at it.