The Phoenix's editorial this week discusses the passage of health-care reform. At the end, it makes observations about various Massachusetts politicians. To that, I add: Maine Republican senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who opposed the bill, receive large contributions from the health-care industry, according to OpenSecrets.

Senator Olympia Snowe has said the recent US Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited corporate spending on elections is "regrettable" and "disappointing."

What remains to be seen is whether she will back the Fair Elections Now Act, which would provide public funding for federal elections (similar to the Clean Election system in Maine), some other attempt to solve the problem of corporate personhood, or take no legislative position at all.

US House Democrats made a huge concession on women's health the other day, in order to move forward the massive healthcare bill that passed 220-215 on Saturday night. Under pressure from (shocker!) the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, as well as conservative Dems who said they'd hold up passage of the whole shebang if certain abortion restrictions weren't in place (and despite the fact that there is already an existing ban on using federal funds to pay for abortion -- it's called the Hyde Amendment), Nancy Pelosi and other pragmatic politicians allowed the Stupak Amendment (so named for its legislative sponsor, Bart Stupak, a Democrat from Michigan) into the bill.