Looks that way. What's done... is probably done. None of this is perfect by any means - we'll still need much more reform to actually "fix" the problem. But change has come to America. Universal health care coverage is coming to America.

For all its faults, the bill makes law the most critical ideological notion upon which all future debates will rest: it will soon be the law of our land that all Americans - regardless of race, health, or station - have the right to basic health care; will have the basic right to life.

The destruction of America has begun.

@2: I hope we get to eat your family first. Please begin bathing in barbecue sauce, democrats hate bland bland radical rightist meat.

Baconcat dear, Basil is all fat, gristle and fungus. But if you insist on eating him, MAKE SURE you reach an internal temperature of 195 degrees.

I would make a lovely pan gravy - making sure I degreased and deglazed first, of course - and serve him with some roasted root vegetables and a nice Oregon Pinot.

As for leftovers - and there'll be plenty - he would probably make a lovely sandwich with the right kind of bread.

Baconcat & Catalina--XXXOOO. You have made my Sunday.

Also, here's a choice quote from Edward Markey (D-Mass) reported on the NYT liveblog: “The G.O.P. used to stand for the Grand Old Party. Now it stands for grandstand, oppose and postpone.”

Caterina, please don't waste one of the finer Willamette Valley Pinot's on this dish. A less refined Pinot or, dare I say, a Washington Cab would better complement the level of spice you will need to overcome the bitter flavor.

The better part was earlier, IMHO, when the Republicans were asking annoying pointless questions and the chair was refusing to even answer them. :) But this is still good TV. Reichert was just on, being an ass as usual.

Suck it Republicans. The Democrats called your bluff.

If and when my insurance premiums go up, I'll post the new numbers somewhere on Slog. If you opponents had balls, you'd post yours, too.

Welcome to a modern economy, everyone else.

Notice how the coverage stopped being about what is actually in the bill and about the political theater since the start of the new year? There's a reason for it, the bill royally sucks and is nothing but a give away to the insurance industry and most of it they wrote.

Now that's change you can believe in!!

@9: Right there with ya. I don't think Republicans are used to Democrats mustering up some courage to DO SOMETHING. They still need to muster up the courage to do more, but the days of caving to Republican lies and bullshit like we those see at #2 are over.

You know... welcome to the Millenials' America.

@10:

I dunno, I've heard more about what is in the bill since the new year started. All last year, I heard a lot about what isn't in the bill: socialized medicine, death panels, killing granny, Marxist Hussein Ameristan, even a public option.

Little was said about comprehensive insurance reform, extending coverage to pre-existing conditions, tort reform, medicare expansion, deficit reduction, banning outright fraud and rescission, allowing small businesses and the self-employed to buy into pooled coverage, extending coverage to some 32 million uninsured, etc. etc.

The publicity about all of that seems to have come across the news AFTER the wholly overhyped Scott Brown election.

"buy into Medicare. You want it, you buy it, you got it." is one political idea being pushed at the moment. Obviously by folks who have never dealt with SSI or Medicare.

So why not instead push for a medical model based on one of the most successful in the world? The Veterans Administration offers some of the best care in the world. Of course, I wouldn't be costing the taxpayers nearly as much money if I'd had health care the previous 62 years of my life.

If you believe that health care is a 'human right', why do you celebrate a law that defines and limits that right????

I've dealt with Medicare and SSI for both my parents - my dad had fatal lung cancer and my mom had lymphoma from which she's recovered - and I never had any problems whatsoever. They're great programs.