From our friends at National Nurses United:Nation’s Nurses Sharply Criticize Deficit Commission’s Bowles-Simpson Proposal for Unwarranted Attacks on Social Security and MedicareWashington Insiders Misreading Demands of American Public With Efforts to Undermine Retirement Security – Middle Class to Suffer If Bowles-Simpson Passes(Washington, D.C.)–Jean Ross, RN, co-president of National Nurses United, the nation’s union and professional association for registered nurses, issued the following statement on suggestions from Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, co-chairs of the Commission on the Deficit, that Social Security and Medicare be cut:”Nurses are aghast at the Commission on the Deficit’s Bowles-Simpson proposal for a cruel and senseless cut to the Social Security and Medicare programs that are the core of American retirement and healthcare security for tens of millions of people. This is just heartless at a time when the average Social Security benefit is already insufficient, especially for women, and for the millions of Americans who have seen their retirement savings lost in this Great Recession.” Read the complete release here.LESSONS LEARNED…One lesson that can be drawn from the election last week is that supporting Social Security and Medicare isn’t just the right thing to do, it will help members of Congress keep their seats. Only 15 of 140 members who signed a letter to the president pledging to vote against any cuts in these important programs lost their bid for re-election, and only one of eight senators who have signed on to a similar Senate resolution lost his seat.And yet, the news coming out of Washington this week is that the president’s Deficit Commission still plans to release a report in the near future recommending that the lame-duck Congress hastily pass deficit-reduction legislation that could slash these critical programs, because they decided this election meant that voters want austerity. Read more…

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:50 — 0.0KB) | Embed

Casey and Dan rap with Donna Smith about the midterm elections. What now? What later? What is the future of health care reform and what can we do to keep the drum beating for single payer health-care? It looks as if it will happen state by state not on a national level. We at Nurse Talk support health care for all as a right not a privilege.

AND please listen to Whiz Kid Cameron Harris. Cameron has been on Nurse Talk before and he is an amazing guy. When he was 8 he was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. Fast forward 8 years and here he is with his own national podcast show called In Range. Cameron shares tips about how to manage the disease, and not let it manage you. You can find Cameron’s podcast empire at www.harwoodpodcast.com.What ever happened to Haiti? That’s what we want to know. In the coming weeks we’ll have an update. What happened to the billions of dollars in pledges? The hundreds of thousands of volunteers? Answer: Not sure…but we will find the people who can tell us. Stay tuned.The holidays are coming up…you will be with friends and family…don’t forget to add laughter to the recipes! Read more…