Why I'm still up.

It's 1:50 AM, and I'm wide awake. I'm wide awake because right as I was crawling into bed, I turned on the TV and saw a certain local blogger on a certain cable news show, discussing the health care reform issue.

You probably know who she is. I'm not going to mention her name here because based on an ordeal a year or two ago with a guy running a news feed site, I got the impression that she's really quick to lawyer up at the slightest bristle, so she shall remain nameless. Besides, she gets enough attention as it is, so she'll do just fine without my three readers linking to her as well. Plus, it doesn't really matter if you know who I'm talking about. Just know that she's a spokesperson for the anti-reform crowd. And she and her "followers" are not adding anything to the health care debate. Just recently, she was repeatedly invited to have an open and honest discussion about the health care issue via a series of twitter posts in which another local blogger called her out. The result of that -- the person who was on TV just now blocked the other blogger who had invited her to have a discussion.

She argued that most Americans who are against reform know what's in the bill and know why they're protesting. She argued that the crowds of tea baggers who are showing up to shout down their elected officials are tired of calling their offices and leaving a message with an aide. That they're tired of filling out online forms over and over again with their complaints.

Ron Reagan, who was arguing on behalf of reform, said that these people were not doing anything to foster an open discussion about this very important topic. In fact, he argued that these folks were being sent to shut down the debate. I couldn't agree more.

She countered that someone in St. Louis put an ad on Craigslist offering $90 an hour to people to come to the debates and support the pro-reform side.

I haven't seen the ad to which she was referring. However, apparently she isn't aware that any jackass can put an ad on Craigslist. Especially a jackass looking to stir up some shit in the community. Besides, anyone who has ever used Craigslist for anything knows that any job advertised on there as paying $90 an hour isn't actually going to pay $90 an hour, and probably isn't actually a real job.

But I digress...

Here's what the pro-reform side wants. We want an open, honest dialogue. If you're against change, that's fine, but articulate your reasons why in some way that doesn't devolve into a yelling match.

We want you to read the proposal that is out there. No, really. Go read it. It's at www.whitehouse.gov. Take the time to learn something about an issue before blindly supporting it or opposing it.

Then let's talk.

Until then, I think this commentary I heard on All Things Considered sums up how I feel about the state of the health care debate: