U.S., Britain are Iran’s axis of evil.

Ayatollah Aliv Khamenei

As frustrating as it was for Americans to see protesters in Iran being shoved off the streets and back into their apartments and dorms, to know that this “revolution” would quickly wither under the whip of the Iranian dictatorship, given the history between our two countries, Barack Obama’s restraint — no doubt advised by Hillary Clinton’s State Department — has been the wise thing to do.

To the Iranian leadership and to many Iranians themselves, the United States and its foreign policy ally, Great Britian, are Iran’s “Axis of Evil.” Together we represent a two-headed Satan that has done more than meddle in their affairs — we have literally, cruelly changed the history of the Iranian people.

What the Iranians remember about the past is more important that what we have conveniently forgotten.

As Roland Martin points out in a CNN commentary, what most Americans remember is the Iranian hostage crisis after the fall of Shah Pahlavi in 1979. That event destroyed the Carter presidency and brought to Iran the clerical dictatorship that now rules so ruthlessly.

But the historical events that matter most to Iranians today concern a coup d’etat that was instigated by the British and assisted, at first reluctantly, by the Americans.

In 1953 Iran had a democratically elected president, Mohammed Mossadegh. His crime in the eyes of the British who had deep colonial roots in that part of world was to take back from the British control of Iran’s oil fields. The fact that the British never had full legal rights to the oil didn’t matter: oil is oil and legalities and democratic principles be damned! Although the CIA chief in Iran, Mr. Goiran, opposed the coup, he was over-ruled by Kermit Roosevelt and the State Department. The coup took place, Mossadegh was exiled, and the Shah — our dictator — was installed in his place.

Of course, the official “excuse” for the coup wasn’t oil. The British convinced the U.S. to participate in order to better contain Soviet influence in that region.  That was an easier sell in the early days of the Cold War. And as The Guardian points out, Britain’s interference in Iranian affairs goes back to the 19th century.

Iran, perhaps correctly, has accused the Twin Satans of having a hand in stirring up post-election violence in that country. Would we be surprised if we had? And let’s not be surprised if the Iranians look at Britain and the U.S. as an Axis of Evil no less dangerous and untrustworthy as the one George Bush identified at the beginning of his presidency.

Should we leave Iran alone? I think our history suggests that we have no other choice.

Same groups that doomed Hillary’s health care reform are at it again.

To paraphrase the Godfather of the vast right wing conspiracy, Ronald Reagan, “There they go again!”

If Lindsey Graham’s comments today on ABC’s This Week are any indication, the same groups that attacked Hillary Clinton’s plan 13 years ago are after Obama-Care and are using the same scare tactics. Keep in mind that Graham was against universal health care months ago during the GOP Convention. It’s not the cost, it’s the idea of it that rankles conservatives.

Our fear is that anyone brazen enough to try to provide health care to 43 million uninsured Americans — has not learned enough about the power of the medical establishment and the Far Right. The simple fact is that special interests — the insurance lobby, doctors and the American Medical Association, hospitals and other health care providers — have always put profits over the health of needy Americans.

Correct that: they have put profits over the health of ALL Americans.

Back during the first Clinton Administration, the main assassins of health care reform were Bob Dole and Phil Gramm. They did the dirty work of the special interests. The only thing that has changed since 1993-1994 is that more Americans are uninsured and the health care system is even more dysfunctional.

What hasn’t changed is the ideology that says that Americans without health care must fend for themselves, that the taxes of “well-off” Americans should not be used to pay for health care for the poor (i.e. it’s their fault that they are poor and should suffer the consequences), and that in a theoretical free-market economy the health care providers — doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, etc. — should be free to maximize their profits regardless of the consequences.

Do not deceive yourself: those doctors who whined ad nauseum that health care reform would destroy your relationship with them were referring to their relationship with your wallet, not your body. To most doctors, your body is a means to an end: a high six or seven-figure income and the lifestyle of the rich and not-so-famous.

Mark my words: in the looming health care battle, the attack points of the far right will be identical to those used 13 years ago. If nothing else, their greed is consistent.

Only the insured are against health care reform.

OK, here’s my challenge: if you are currently without health insurance of any kind and are against health care reform, please write in and tell us why. I promise I will publish whatever you have to say.

My guess is that no one who has gone at least a year without health insurance is against health care reform. Everyone that I know who has spoken or written against universal health care already has insurance.

Should we be suprised? Probably not.

The latest predictable, cliche-ridden anti-health care reform editorial comes from John Howe, the wealthy and well-insured retired editor of our local newspaper, the Laconia Citizen.

The editorial was ostensibly about Michael Moore’s film, Sicko, but it really was an excuse to dust off all reasons why the insured don’t want to provide medical care to the uninsured. John writes like someone who knows he is entitled in a general way, and certainly entitled when it comes to the issues that divide rich and poor. Only a health care “have” could write with such insensitivity to the plight of the “have nots.”

His editorial follows a conversation I had two nights ago with a young man who was limping rather awkwardly out to a friend’s car.

“What’s the problem, Dave?” I asked him.

“I got two bad disks in my back from work,” he said.

“Gonna have someone look at it?” I asked, hopefully.

“Nope. No insurance and no one will take me.”

We talked about some other options, like pretending he had just landed from Mars without a social security card and showing up at some hospital’s emergency room. In that case, someone might look at him, but he still wouldn’t get the surgery he needs to repair his back.

I know Dave is a hard worker — he does yard work and painting for the wealthy landowners in Mitt Romney country, Wolfeboro, NH. But now he can’t work and his financial situation — near poverty level already — can only get worse.

In the Live Free or Die Hard state — and elsewhere across this Promised Land — Dave is out of luck. And people like John Howe intend to keep it that way.