"This is what change looks like" or "armageddon"

Congratulations to my American readers: you're now going to get a healthcare system which may just help the poor and middle-classes. It's still going to be utterly rubbish compared with the Canadian, UK and European systems (it's not universal or funded through taxation) but in American terms, it's an earthquake because it at leasts hints at the idea that we're collectively responsible for each other (Michael Tomasky has a good piece on the philosophical issues).

Shame on the Democrats who opposed it and those who extorted the exclusion of abortion, on the Republicans generally (every single one voted against making affordable healthcare available), and it's a shame that Democrats who supported it will lose their Congressional seats barring a miracle.

Thousands of protesters gathered outside Congress at the weekend, shouting "kill the bill". Some directed racist and other derogatory remarks at African-American members of Congress, including John Lewis, one of the veterans of the 1960s civil rights movement. One congressman was spat on.

Another protester shouted "faggot" at Democratic congressman Barney Frank, who later told the Politico website: "It's like the Salem witch trials, and healthcare is the witches. There is mass hysteria."

The Republican leader in the House, John Boehner, described the bill as armageddon 

I've never considered vaccination and first-aid as 'armageddon'. What a strange man. Still, welcome to civilisation.