COFFEE BREAK 42

+ updated at 5:17pm ESDT.

+ Sojourners offers a Healthcare Reform Creed and is promoting its wide circulation. Here it is:

• As one of God's children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.
• I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22).
• I believe life and healing are core tenets of the Christian life. Christ's ministry included physical healing, and we are called to participate in God's new creation as instruments of healing and redemption (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1-6; Mark 7:32-35, Acts 10:38). Our nation should strive to ensure all people have access to life-giving treatments and care.
• I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).
• I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).
• I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7).
• I believe in a time when all will live long and healthy lives, from infancy to old age (Isaiah 65:20), and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who watch their loved ones suffer, or who suffer themselves, because they cannot afford a trip to the doctor. I stand with them in their suffering.
• I believe health-care reform must rest on a foundation of values that affirm each and every life as a sacred gift from the Creator (Genesis 2:7).Amen.
  Signed by:[Your name] [Your address]

+ We elected a new congress and a new president but we have not been able to elect a new media and that's a problem, a big problem. The media is simply not doing nearly enough to correct the lies and misinformation. How can we elect a new media? I vote for Amy Goodman to become the main anchor at CNN!

+ Tears come easily today as I hear about the life and legacy of the Lion of the Senate, Ted Kennedy. Talking Points Memo offers "Kennedy As Legislator: 'Very Liberal Instincts' Combined With 'Practical Sense'" by Zachary Roth, a thoughtful article about his effectiveness as a legislator. Excerpt: "Over 300 bills bearing his name became law, most dealing with the day-to-day social and economic needs of children, families, or the elderly."