Health Care Reform round-up, with a painting by Mira Schor

Daughter Number Three rounded up a few interesting pieces regarding the passage of Health Care Reform, including a link to a post by science fiction and fantasy writer George R.R. Martin, "recounting specific cases of self-employed writers who could not get insurance, writing with anger, grief and relief."

Writer John Scalzi (who is also creative consultant for the television show Stargate: Universe) offers Health Care Passage Thoughts here. He has received 160 comments on that post, which is preceded with a preemptive note about civil commentary:

The Mallet of Loving Correction is in play as of NOW. Please be polite to each other even if you disagree with each other vehemently as to the benefit of the health care bill. Also, just as a general tip, comments that are rhetorically indistinguishable from what they would be if the GOP and the Democrats were merely football teams in the Super Bowl are likely to be mocked by me, if in fact I don’t just delete them for inanity. What I’m saying is be as smart in your comments as I know you can be. Thank you.

Daughter Number Three also tracked down a summary of the new law at Women's Voices for Change, a chart called "How the bill affects you" from The Los Angeles Times and a CNN Money story about how the bill will affect small business.

Here is a look at the 34 democrats who voted against health care reform, from Talking Points Memo, where there are many more relevant bits, including wacky RNC Chairman Michael Steele's comments to Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, captured on video: he agrees with House Minority Leader John Boehner's assertion that health care reform is akin to Armageddon.

On a more positive note: over on facebook, I learned that Annie Corrigan, co-host and producer of the NPR podcast Earth Eats, early morning radio announcer extraordinaire, and oboist (for Pete's sake!) is another one of those ubiquitously creative and hard-working people who has been uninsured. That should change now, and that alone makes me pleased.

New York artist Mira Schor, author of A Decade of Negative Thinking: Essays on Art, Politics, and Daily Life (and painter of the image here) has been posting historic videos about health care to her facebook page, including one of Teddy Kennedy from 1978. Pounding the podium in the name of health care as "a matter of right and not of privilege," Kennedy's comments about his own family's ability to pay for and "receive the very best" point to the disparities that fueled his passion for health care reform. Here is another, even earlier (1974) interview with Edward Kennedy on the topic.