Hundreds protest hospital's closing - If the fate of Deaconess-Waltham Hospital could be decided by people like 83-year-old Jeanne Saunders, instead of the volatile forces of the health care market, the outcome would never be in doubt.

Trouble is, there's no way for most voices to be heard in the health care market. [Michael J. Hehir's Radio Weblog]

Hospitals are closing for demographic and market reasons.

• Current shortage of trained nurses, technicians and doctors.
• Compounded by retirement and departure of boomer health care workers.
• Said workers not being replaced fast enough by students in the health care education pipeline.
• Compounded by aging of the population and increased demand for health care.
• Compounded by market segmentation, as the wealthy bid up private health care services, drawing talent from public hospitals.

There are few easy answers. How do you convince a large portion of our youth to devote their careers to health care, to elder care, to tucking in the boom? How do you convince the public to pay for retirement homes and retirement food instead of for guns and missiles? This is happening on Bush's watch; hard to pick a politician less responsive to this problem.

Blog love.

I am ready to start blogging romance for valentine's day.

Remember your first kiss?

First crush?

Intimacy that surprised you?

Enduring love?

Love lost?

meme of the week.