It’s been a busy few weeks for diplomatic engagement in Afghanistan. First Karzai’s meeting with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, then the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, and now this week French President Sarkozy is in Washington for a meeting with Obama, and the main topic of discussion will be Afghanistan. The AP reports…

The Health Insurance companies and other opponents of government-funded health care have been trying to overcome the statistical evidence of the superiority of public systems by spreading “Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt” using horror stories and, of course, outright lies about the failures of health care in other nations having such systems. Those of us who favor health care reform, either single payer, or plans with robust public options, have been replying with horror stories about health care here, and testimony from individuals, primarily Americans in Canada, or Canadians, about their own very positive experiences with Canada’s single payer system. The exchange of stories is probably somewhat effective, especially because people here really don’t trust the sources of the anti-Canadian health care anecdotes. Wouldn’t it be a big improvement, however, if we could cut through all the static and win the health care anecdote war? Guess What? I think we can.