Steve Bates can’t post to his site and I’m not sure of FCB because of problems at our mutual host. The sites are visible and I can update mine through WordPress, but we are blocked from using FTP to enable the host to rebuild a problem server.

Hopefully this will be resolved soon, but comments are working at Steve’s place, so you can harass him.

From the official site, here are the results of stage 6:

After yesterday’s sleeper people started making some moves in the Spanish leg with Thor Hushovd (NOR/Cervelo) [27 overall at +2 min 59 secs] taking it at the very end. The climbing is beginning to alter the field, and the serious climbs start tomorrow.

Overall standings

1. Fabian Cancellara (CH/Saxo Bank) 19 hours 29 minutes 22 seconds [yellow jersey]
2. Lance Armstrong (US/Astana) same time
3. Alberto Contador (E/Astana) +19 secs
4. Andréas Klöden (D/Astana) +23 secs
5. Levi Leipheimer (US/Astana) +31 secs
6. Bradley Wiggins (GB/Garmin) +38 secs
7. Tony Martin (D/Team Columbia) +52 secs [white jersey]
8. Christian Vande Velde (US/Garmin) +1 min 16 secs
9. Gustav Larsson (S/Saxo Bank) +1 min 22 secs
10. Maxime Monfort (B/Team Columbia) +1 min 29 secs

20. David Millar (GB/Garmin) +2 min 28 secs [red number] His aggressiveness cost him 10 places as the final climb was too much.

38. Mark Cavendish (GB/Team Columbia) +3 minutes 33 secs [green jersey]

141. Stéphane Auge (FRA/Cofidis) +11 min 35 secs [polka dot jersey]

I missed 31. Rigoberto Uran (COL/Caisse) +3 min 12 secs when I was mentioning the nations involved.

Via Paul Krugman, the breakout of who pays for health care: government – 46%, insurance companies – 35%, and other sources the remaining 19%.

The other sources are the out-of-pocket payments people make, and the money from various private groups to pay for health care, i.e. charities and the change jars, bake sales, etc. to help people cover the costs.

The goal of all of the sound and fury in DC is supposed to be about everyone getting health care, but all they are talking about is health insurance. Unless you have been living in a cave somewhere, you know that having insurance is no guarantee of getting health care. Three-quarters of the people in this country who are filing for bankruptcy because of medical bills have insurance, but it didn’t pay for the health care they needed. Get a clue DC – you don’t pay for health insurance to receive another card for your wallet, you want health care. If the insurance doesn’t provide the health care you need, the money you paid was thrown away.

Stop wasting tax dollars talking about insurance, and start addressing the real issue: HEALTH CARE!