RRRRRRRRRRRR

So the AP is reporting that the 10 Senators tasked by Harry Reid to put together some sort of compromise have killed the public option. Then Reid semi-contradicted it, and as of now it's completely unclear as to what the hell is going on. The best I could tell from admittedly incomplete information is that it seems like they're cutting the public option in favor of extending Medicare down to the age of 55, which is fantastic and all that for anyone who's reached that age but does fuck all for anyone who isn't that old yet.

And so, again, just as with the Stupak amendment, I'm left feeling like voting for Democrats by and large means being thrown under a bus by the people who claim to be representing my interests. And I'm again reminded why I'm registered Independent, and why one of my two favorite Senators is Bernie Sanders (I-VT) (the other one is Al Franken). And why the only two Democrats I don't regret having voted for are the governor of the state I live in (because that governor is fairly genuinely progressive) and Obama (who I'm not thrilled with, but who at least hasn't made me regret the vote).

So I'm trying to temper my general feeling that the ten Senators involved in the compromise (along with the Blue Dog Democrats, most Republicans, all Tea Partiers, the insurance companies and Wall Street in general) can FOADIAF and am hoping that, once the dust settles at some point and we know what the hell actually is in the health care bill, it won't be as bad as it sounds right now. But I have very little hope for that, and I hate it.

I want to move to Canada. Or Norway. Or any other country that genuinely respects human life.

Back to your regularly scheduled thoughts later.