Updated with video from TVW:

A hearing on single-payer health care is scheduled for this afternoon, Friday, February 1 at 1:30 p.m. in House Hearing Room B in the O'Brien Building on the Capital campus in Olympia.  The bill is House Bill 1085.

If you can't be there, then it will be available on TVW:
http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwliveplayer&eventID=2013020032

and now for a few photos from past healthcare rallies:

Seattle, May 2009

Olympia, August 2009

It seems likely to me that the Supreme Court Inc. will break out 5 to 4 to scuttle as much of the President Obama's health care program as possible, perhaps all of it. This is a pyrrhic victory for the opponents of Obama, but may not be all that bad a thing for those of us who think that health care reform based on private insurance and fee for service profitability has always been a poor choice. The anemic public option that might have kept a foot in the door for the better single payer (Medicare for Everyone) option was dropped by the even more anemic Democratic Party when they were pressed by the Republicans.

Robert Scheer hits the mark in my estimation with his article: Five Hypocrites and One Bad Plan that ran at Truth Dig. I think that the five justices in question are simply adhering the hypocritic oath and performing true to form.

Paul Krugman came out today with his view that the 5 right justices would seize on any argument that would allow them to strike down progressive legislation, and if that is true, then maybe it would not have mattered if health care reform had included a public option.

What do you think?   Are the Supremes going to strike it down?   Cast your votes and predict the score. I am going with the easy prediction: 5 to 4 to strike the law down.

Bill Moyers is someone whose opinion and wisdom I have a high degree of respect for. I like this article that makes some important observations about the disease at the root of our political system.

The Unbearable Lightness of Reform

Saturday 27 March 2010

by: Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

That wickedly satirical Ambrose Bierce described politics as "the conduct of public affairs for private advantage."

Bierce vanished to Mexico nearly a hundred years ago - to the relief of the American political class of his day, one assumes - but in an eerie way he was forecasting America's political culture today. It seems like most efforts to reform a system that's gone awry - to clean house and make a fresh start - end up benefiting the very people who wrecked it in the first place.

Which is why Bierce, in his classic little book, "The Devil's Dictionary," defined reform as "a thing that mostly satisfies reformers opposed to reformation." So we got health care reform this week - but it's a far cry from reformation. You can't blame President Obama for celebrating what he did get - he and the Democrats needed some political points on the scoreboard. And imagine the mood in the White House if the vote had gone the other way; they would have been cutting wrists instead of cake.

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From Counterpunch.org:

March 18, 2010 The Meaning of the Cave In
Kucinich and the Media

By DAVID SWANSON

When I worked for Dennis Kucinich's presidential campaign in 2003, he routinely won the most applause at debates but was minimized or entirely left out of the next day's stories in the corporate media. This meant that peace, and fair trade, and single-payer healthcare were left out too. At one debate at the University of New Hampshire, Kucinich pushed back.

Ted Koppel of ABC opened the debate with questions about endorsements. The second round of questions was about standing in the polls. The third was about the campaigns' bank accounts. One had to wonder when, if ever, the debate would touch on, you know, what the candidates intended to do if elected. Kucinich cut Koppel off, saying:

"I want the American people to see where media takes politics in this country. We start talking about endorsements, now we're talking about polls and then talking about money. When you do that you don't have to talk about what's important to the American people."

The applause for this was so intense that the other candidates on the stage started joining in the media bashing. Kucinich had briefly changed the narrative from a horse race to a demand for decent political reporting.

That's what he should have done on Wednesday when he flipped to support a disastrous health insurance bill. Rather than talking about the legitimacy of the presidency, Kucinich should have talked about the illegitimacy of the current narrative in the corporate media.

... read the rest: David Swanson: Kucinich and the Media

Here are some photos from yesterday's rally at the Washington State Legislative Building. The rally was to defend Washington State Basic Health Care and it was organized and sponsored by Sisters Organizing for Survival, a campaign of Radical Women. Participants in the rally called for substantial tax reform - including taxes for the rich and for corporate profits, and also to defend the poor and working class against the tyranny of the profit driven economic system. Over 3,000 signatures were gathered for a petition that demands, in a time of economic crisis, the expansion of health and welfare programs. The petition was delivered to the Office of the Governor shortly before the State of the State speech.

Leg. Building Scene at the Rally

What's up with the messy and maddening debate on health care? It seems like some people are behaving irrationally (e.g. Glenn Beck.) So, where can we turn for a calm, credible, sane, rational and respectful voice? How about Bill Moyers. This week's Journal has a wonderful interview with Wendell Potter. I encourage you to check it out!

from the description: "With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hijack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform."

Bill Moyers Journal Interview with Wendell Potter

I also recommend checking Media Matters, which has great information.

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