Twenty years ago today, the hated Wall of Berlin came thundering down under the hammers of a long-suffering people denied their freedom and their basic dignity by the communist tyranny of East Germany.

A year and some days ago, America astonished the world by drawing a bright blue line under the hateful Bush era, with the election of a new, young Democratic President, Barack Obama, and equipping him with almost unprecedented majorities in both chambers of the national legislature. Calls for change echoed around the nation, tearing down ancient prejudices and long-held assumptions in their wake. Everything was possible in the new, shining moment, the shining city on a hill restored to its full luster.

And as twenty years ago, the uprising in the United States was built on the will and the power of a people that had had enough.

Today the Congress is debating one of the great challenges facing the country, health care, and it's muck. Republicans and anti-choice Democrats will vote on a poison pill amendment to the main, must-pass bill that bars insurance for abortions, which is a complete tragedy.

From the left, netroots superstar Eric Massa declared that he could not support the main bill that is now making its way to the floor of the House. All other members of the New York Democratic delegation, including newcomer Bill Owens - who prevailed in NY-23, hahaha, despite Sarah Palin's orders to the contrary - are expected to vote for the healthcare bill see update and expect a roll call after the vote. Yes, we'll be keeping score.

The day before the much-anticipated vote on health care reform in the House of Representatives, Eric Massa, D-Corning, said that the Affordable Health Care for America Act gives too much to the insurance industry, doesn’t do enough to control costs, and he can’t support it.

“At the highest level this bill will enshrine in law the monopolistic powers of the private health insurance industry,” Massa said in a telephone news conference this morning. “There’s no other way to look at it.”

Massa said that the bill “fails to address the fundamental question before the American people, and that is, how do you control the costs of health care?”

Congressman Massa is correct when he argues that the current House bill creates a system that is glaringly inferior to the ideal solution, a single-payer approach that at a slice of the scalpel removes layers upon layers of bureaucracy, expenses, lobbyists, advertising budgets and what not other expenses that lard up U.S. health care spending with a cool $350 billion a year. But if that's your position, please, Sir, show us the votes in the House and the Senate, and how exactly you're going to get them.

And please don't expect a single netroots dollar for your next campaign.

Update: Spoke too soon. McMahon of Staten Island is voting against, Patrick Murphy of NY-20 is undecided.