Well, I guess this means never

Last year, President Obama said it's "now or never" with health care reform.

With the bill that just passed, I guess it's never.

I guess I and millions of others are never going to be able to see a doctor again. And America's never going to have national health care.

A public option was a minimum requirement for health care reform. And this bill doesn't have it.

Thankfully, the bill does do some good things. For instance, it would rein in insurers' discrimination on the basis of preexisting conditions. (I'm told that Congress passed such a regulation years ago, but it was repealed under the fascist Contract With America.)

But I oppose this bill because it forces people to buy insurance from the same corporations that run the industry now - who have refused to approve life-saving care and have propped up psychiatric "hospital" scams. Luckily, this provision doesn't take effect for 4 years, so there'll be time to fix it. If it isn't fixed, I'm not obeying it, of course.

It makes no sense to make folks pay a fine because they can't afford insurance.

Meanwhile, America retains its status as one of very, very few countries without national health care.