Letter to my congressmen in support of the Public Option

Dear Representative James Moran:
The US health care system is in deplorable state. Upon repatriation for any number of reasons your ~7 million expatriates are the only citizens of OECD member countries with no social health protection mechanism in place to assist in transitioning back home.

As a voting constituent in the 8th Congressional District of VA, I respectfully urge you to vote for a strong and comprehensive public option that guarantees all Americans with the choice of a public health insurance plan, as proposed by President Barack Obama.

This reform package, which aims to provide all Americans with access to affordable health insurance, must include a strong and comprehensive public option that:

• is available to ALL Americans on DAY ONE. Co-ops or triggers weaken the public health insurance option and make it ineffective. I ask you to oppose these proposals.
• is national, available everywhere, provides transportability and thus a continuum of benefits.
  
• has government-appointed decision-makers and thus are accountable to Congress.
• provides substantial bargaining leverage against providers and pharmaceutical companies.

I also ask you to put a statement on your web site's home page supporting these points. As aptly stated by our fellow American expatriates in Canada: health insurance in a civilized society is a collective moral obligation, not a discretionary consumer good.

We voted for Change in 2008 and I ask that you support what voters have overwhelmingly demanded from our representatives. I look forward to reciprocal support for you on the 2010 ticket.

Sincerely,

----------------------------------------------------------

Look up your representative(s) in the House here.

Look up your US Senators here.
.
.

Watching Obama's Inauguration in Phnom Penh

That was a pretty nice event.. Lots of energy and a huge crowd at the Gym Sports Bar: we had about 180 people throughout the night and well past 230am-- was not a good idea to have an 8am meeting like some folks did! And check this piece out, a short blurb on the Phnom Penh Post (though you need to subscribe to get the entire article).
And here, our two most favorite things-- ZULU and BARACK-- we just found our theme for the Mardi Gras Madness event!


And on a side note, a hmmm moment... Bush will be the first ex-president not to get a lifetime security detail. [[cocking head to the side]]] ..of all the living POTUSes that'd need it most...!
.

Bye George!

Join us in the countdown pandemonium nearly a decade in the making, and share in the merriment of 43's imminent and much anticipated departure! What started with some hanging chads in the Fall of 2000 will finally come to an end! No weapons of mass destruction will be unfound; no Vice Presidential shotgun will be uncocked! Watch the West Wing purge of 8 years of carnage and idiocy and toast the End of an Error at two events!

If you can't catch the Beltway action on the 20th, then join us at the Gym Bar for the LIVE inaugural soul cleansing! In honor of the Accidental President, we celebrate his departure with a nostalgic trip down memory lane with a Pub Quiz before commencing with the ceremonies. So get your game on, test those brain cells, have some fun and win great prizes! And in true Phnom Penh tradition sure to inspire a drinking problem worthy of Bush's past, the evening will end in a special toast to the return of reason and a period that can only head in one direction-- up!!

And no festivities worth the 8 exhausting years of getting beaten up, stolen from, knocked down, lied to and laughed at can end with one event! The going away revelries for our favorite cowboy continue at CHOW on Saturday 24 January with a rebroadcast of the most exciting POTUS torch pass in a generation! We wanted change and we made it happen! So once again, let's GIDDY UP, GET GLAM and PARTY HARD-Y with friends who helped make history!!