If you're interested in this topic, you should read 1945:the downfall of Berlin, by Anthony Beevor. Reads like a novel, and brilliantly captures both the experiences of the ordinary person on the ground as well as the manoeuvring in the circles of power.

France2 makes some really great historical documentaries, glad to see they're starting to get international exposure.

Did Jabbah the Hutt just switch sweatshirts between questions?

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brilliant!

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excellent

Comfortable under your rock, GeeSussFreek? Where have you been the last 30 years?

An excellent commentary on the two Joe Wilsons: http://www.juancole.com/2009/09/tale-of-two-joe-wilsons-tale-of-two.html

Winstonfield, you have a point, but I doubt it's much comfort to people like the ones in this video who fall through the cracks.

Rotty, it's not like Wilson's campaigns have been underfinanced. Guess who's been paying for his: http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/09/10/obama-speech-disrupter-a-health-industry-darling/

Winstonfield, what do you base your assertion that a significant portion of the uninsured are voluntarily choosing to be uninsured on?

It seems to me that those young healthy people would want to be insured even more since it would be cheaper for them and cover them in cases of accidents or latent conditions which mean they weren't so healthy after all. At the very least, it strikes me as risky behavior on their part.

Quantum, you can't really compare the current costs with the ones which would result from a goverment run system as the latter would implement a social insurance model, rather than an actuarial one which is so punishing for people who have the bad luck to be risky customers for private companies. This explains why the rest of the developed world pays less per capita for health care, yet offers more people better care.

You may find this enlightening: http://www.gladwell.com/2005/2005_08_29_a_hazard.html

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she's hot, pity she knows how to escape from handcuffs...