See this is where you blow chunks Tom,

This sort of cool response is like rubbing salt in wounds. People really hate you when you do that. And since you were late incovering your web tracks, you've got to be more tactful.

This is how you answer Art...meet emotion with emotion:

Insure those millions of children under the program and you may indeed save X number of lives. But when the government takes those billions of dollars from other programs, which will speed up the demise of Social Security and Medicare, what then? You save Johnny from tuberculosis, only to let his grandma die of infected bedsores in some poorly manged private home? Little Timmy get's well faster, but the old lady down the street has been living on canned food and handouts for two years and her health steadily declines since she lost her home three years after they ended Social Security?

Robbing Peter to pay Paul...doesn't work.

You need to create new wealth which can, in turn, provide healthcare and coverage for more people.

If you really want universal coverage, you need a program which incoporates the creation of new wealth or value. If everyone between the ages of 18-50 was required to donate a week a year serving as support for the healthcare industry, you might have enough free labor to run a support net for the masses. They could build hospitals, do all sorts of support jobs that don't require medical skills. And for those who do possess such skills, they would be wrking pro-bono in State run facilities. You could take a page from the LDS Church and create a universal funding system in such a manner.

But to simply "will" into existence universal coverage, based upon emotional sympathy, is foolhardy and destructive to the health of the nation. Creating new wealth is the only answer to anything resembling quality care. And how many folks would be willing to give up a week a year, when most folks can't even be bothered for Jury duty?

And anyway, I thought Alan Greenspan was the left's new icon? Surely he would repeat this age-old pathway to plenty: create NEW wealth - don't spend like a spendthrift.

Don't let Tom rile you up. He's a good guy at heart. His bedside manner with the many suffering liberals here however, leaves something to be desired.

;-)