Yes, I watched C-SPAN yesterday

You can watch the entire day too online.  (See my previous post on C-SPAN placing all their videos online.)  I have a couple of thoughts on this.  What surprises me (or more to the point re-enforced the thoughts that congress it beyond self-important most of the time) is the amount of grand standing there was.  I was kinda frustrated how valid concerns about the health care bill and valid reasons to pursue reform were transformed into talking points and applause signs.  There are valid reasons to worry about the holes you can drive a truck through.  There are also valid reasons to for change on the American people (we in general don't know what we want nor are consistant long enough to get anything productive done).

I have a lot of complicated thoughts on this bill.

• I feel like forcing people to buy in insurance is likely not constitutional (leaving aside whether it is 'the right thing to do')
• I don't feel like the commerce clause should be able to do anything
• I don't feel like people should go bankrupt because of medical bills
• I don't think people should expect to buy insurance to pay for daily needs (do we have food insurance or car insurance that pays for gas?)
• I feel that in general the media was unhelpful to the debate
• I feel like steps should have been taken that were more bipartisan
• I feel like republicans were not ever going to help pass any kind of health care
• I don't feel like the republicans are in the pocket of big business
• I don't feel like the democrats are socialists
• I don't feel like everyone voted the way they wanted to
• I don't feel like the taxes are 'fair'
• I don't feel like insurance companies should be able to stop payments if you bought insurance from them

Basically I feel like there are problems on both sides of the debate and in general quality work wasn't done.  However I do think this bill will likely be changed a lot before all the provisions are enacted (which is likely good).  This will encourage a lot of new blood into politics and will allow for more productive discussions... I hope at least.  I leave you with a lot of links that I have found that I have been reading recently.

• Link.  Gotta love maps.  This is is a map of all the votes by districts.
• Link.  Opinion about the winners and losers.  I don't always agree  with his assertions.
• Link.  Love OpenCongress.org.  I could spend all day here.
• Link.  Reason's take on the fiscal responsibility of the bill (spoiler, the butler did it).
• Link.  From the Washington Post.

I could go on but I will stop.  If you have any good websites I should have a look at please post a link to it for me.  :-)