Celebrating My Birthday With Kinky And Bell

Today was my birthday, and I celebrated it by going to see Chris Bell and Kinky Friedman speak at the Health Care Forum on the campus of the University of Texas at Arlington. The forum was sponsored by AARP, National Health Policy Council, and National Coalition on Health Care. All of the candidates for governor were invited, but Perry was a no-show [obviously afraid to be on the same stage as Kinky and Bell] and Grandma Strayhorn could not be there until after 4:00pm.

Outside Texas Hall, where the forum was being held, there were three candidate tables set up - for Kinky Friedman, Grandma, and Judge Bill Moody [Democratic candidate for the Texas Supreme Court]. Judge Moody and his wife were manning their own table, shaking hands and passing out literature. They were getting a moderate amount of traffic, and I took the opportunity to meet Judge Moody and his wife. They were both VERY nice people and we had a good little chat. The only thing I regret is that I had a camera with me and didn't think to get a photo with them. Judge Moody is the candidate walking across Texas to meet the voters.

The Kinky Friedman table was buzzing with people buying T-shirts, caps, and buttons. It quickly became obvious that there were a lot of Kinky supporters attending the forum. My daughter braved the crowd and bought me a birthday Kinky T-shirt. I love it, and can't wait to wear it.

I felt sorry for the two women at the Strayhorn table. We were out there about 15 minutes, and I never saw a single person stop by their table. Doesn't look like Grandma has a lot of support in this area.

Going into the forum, I saw Anna of the blog Annatopia. Anna and I don't support the same candidate for governor, but she and her husband are exceptionally nice people, and I really enjoyed chatting with her for a few minutes.

The forum started with a short speech by Patricia Schoeni, National Director of the National Coalition on Health Care. She submitted the following facts for our consideration:

a) Texas has more people uninsured for health care than any other state in the Union.
b) 5.5 million people, 24% of the population, are uninsured in the state of Texas.
c) The United States spends twice as much on health care as any other industrialized nation, and yet is the only industrialized nation that does not have universal coverage for health care.
d) The U.S. ranks near the bottom of the industrialized nations in many health care areas, such as infant mortality.
e) Sub-standard health care is the third largest killer in this country.

Then the candidates spoke. Chris Bell went first, and was immediately followed by Kinky Friedman. Each was given 30 minutes. Bell came out to polite applause from the crowd, even the Kinky supporters applauded. But when Kinky came out, the applause was louder and more raucus. It looked like about 2/3 of the crowd were Kinky supporters.

Bell got the crowd's attention and enthusiastic applause from everyone, when he stated that he was in favor of universal health care coverage. Then he dashed our hopes by saying that it was a problem that must be solved on the federal level. All he could do as governor was use his "bully pulpit" to encourage the federal government to solve the problem.

Kinky, however, had a plan to cover all Texans with health insurance. He wants to institute a Texas version of Minnesota's health care coverage program - Minnesota Care. Under this program, a 1% surcharge would be levied on medical procedures, hospitals, and insurance companies. This would raise about $1.5 billion, which would be used to help all Texans purchase health care coverage.

After the forum, Kinky stayed around and chatted with his supporters. Pictures were taken and will be posted when they are developed. I was able to chat with Kinky, and his right-hand man, Little Jewford. Kinky was also nice enough to sign my copy of "Armadillos & Old Lace".

All things considered, it was a great birthday!