Religious leaders of all stripes are pushing for health care reform, rooted in the belief that health care is a basic right for all people, not a commodity. Not that you'd know this by following the TradMed . . .

Before any Democrat sits down to negotiate with a Republican over health care, the Democrat must ask a simple question, in public with cameras rolling. If the answer is anything less than "No, of course not," then send them home and don't waste your time.

Emanuel Cleaver holds monthly "Coffee With Cleaver" get-togethers around his district, and today was the day for one near me. I went early, but not nearly early enough. Lots of folks, generally calm . . . with a little watching by the police to make sure it stayed that way.

Want to hear about insurance companies rationing health care? Just ask your local clergyperson. Most of us hear about the rationing almost every day as we visit with our members, and can paint a clearer picture of the need for reform than any lobbyist, without all the spin.

The public option isn't a new idea -- it goes back to Harry Truman. Firmly rooted in the problems faced by ordinary people individually and by the nation as a whole, he proposed a broad health care plan. Of the five interconnected pieces, only a public insurance option remains unenacted.

Listening to many of the members of Congress talk about health care makes me ask one question: do any of them remember the preamble to the Constitution?

A coalition of religious groups is taking out radio ads in five states in favor health care reform over the Fourth of July recess: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Nebraska, and North Carolina. That's an interesting set of states: Four wavering democratic senators and Focus on the Family come to mind.