The big debate about Health Care Reform simmered down with the passage of the bill, but it continues to be the core of a nationwide ideological battle over the role government should play. The special interests are also battling it out over how to interpret - or in some cases, I'd say misinterpret - the new law. Here are some recent highlights:

• A pair of Congressmen say some states might have to secede from the union if the health care bill isn't overturned. Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) and Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) both say the law puts some states in an untenable position and may force them to go the way of the Confederate States if it isn't repealed. Wamp, who is running for governor in Tennessee, said: "I hope that the American people will go to the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 so that states are not forced to consider separation from this government." He has also promised to refuse to implement the law at the state level if he is elected.
• Some insurers, faced with the realities of health care reform, are offering lower cost plans that narrow the number of doctors from which patients can choose. This isn't the only area in which they're looking for loopholes. The bill states that $.80 of every dollar will be spent on actual health care. Are the insurers cool with that? Not so much. Some want to include the costs of checking doctors' credentials and ferreting out fraud as "patient care," and think commissions collected by insurance brokers shouldn't be part of the calculation at all.
• Within the parameters of the new bill, "preventative services" will be free. However, the foggy definition of "preventative care" remains an issue. Immunization and mammograms are among things classified as "preventative," but one item notably not included is birth control, which some feel is "the very definition of a preventative service." And, fellas don't duck out of this debate: you could be a consumer of birth control in the near future too. An Israeli professor has developed the Bright Pill for men, and says it could be on the market in the next five years.
• What about dental? If you were waiting for health care reform to visit a dentist, (which I wouldn't recommend) the new bill offers no relief. Right now, it is estimated that around 132 million don't have any dental plan. Is that bad? This guy thinks it is "white collar robbery."  What's your opinion?
• While the debate rages, the fact is that the lion's share of the laws won't come into effect until 2014. In the meantime, maybe your favorite pastime is good for your health after all: treehugging turns out to be an immunity booster.  If treehugging or rainbows aren't meeting your needs, and like me you're in the market for an affordable health plan, check out these helpful websites to compare costs and apply for insurance.

There are all sorts of ways to stay informed and active as the election season nears and HeadCount wants YOU in the mix! So follow our daily headlines on Twitter or check out our Health Care Reform Issue page.

As Phish's Telluride run nears, the beautiful Colorado village is preparing for whatever it is they think will happen when the circus comes to town. They've already taken measures to help with their biggest concern: the large number of fans showing up without a ticket (or money to buy one). But according to Telluride Chief Marshal Jim Kolar, they're also concerned about the use of psychedelic drugs causing bad trips.

“There are a lot of drugs involved with these folks,” said Kolar, describing the range of expected narcotics as “a whole potpourri of illegal substances” including marijuana, cocaine, LSD and heroin in addition to “a lot of drinking.”

Attached to the medical tent normally set up for large events like the Bluegrass and Blues and Brews Festivals will be a secondary “trip tent” where those high on hallucinogens can essentially go for a time-out if they need to.

Softly lit and containing cots and chairs, the tent will be manned mostly by concerned friends of the trippers and overseen by some Emergency Medical Services personnel, said Chief Paramedic Emil Sante.

“They can stay as long as they like,” he said, noting that the goal is to prevent law enforcement holding facilities from being clogged up with trippers.

“As long as they’re not a threat there’s no reason they can’t be in the tent,” said Sante.

Overcoming serious obstacles, New Orleans remains a city rich with culture and personality. Now with the help of an one of a kind interactive sound map, any one in the world can get a taste of NOLA's spirit, while bypassing the humidity.

Until your budget permits for a trip to Louisiana, enjoy the scene through Open Sound New Orleans. Users can simulate a stroll on Canal Street by clicking on the map which includes many aspects of the vibrant 'soundscape' like street jazz and random background noise. This website, created by a non-profit organization of the same name, manages to capture the authentic feeling of "The Big Easy" with ease.

Open Sound New Orleans seeks to celebrate and unite the city. On their website they state:

Our intent is to make more accessible the authentic, unedited sounds and voices of New Orleans. Sharing the sounds of our city as we hear them, move through them, and create them, is an act of celebration. But it also serves each contributor – you and me and anyone else who might participate – as a simple way to extend our own experience to others, harness our representations and those of our city, and participate in New Orleans' public culture with intentionality.

Let's give The Dark Side of the Moon a rest, OK?

One of the greatest musical events I've experienced recently was the Matt Groening-curated All Tomorrow's Parties at Butlin's Holiday Centre (don't ask) in Minehead, England. That's where Britpop stars Spiritualized, which is actually one guy – Jason Pierce (AKA J. Spaceman) – and a bunch of hired hands, performed Pierce's glorious 1997 psychedelic breakup album, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, in its entirety. Horns, strings, and a wailing gospel chorus joined the usual rock lineup for a show that took off within about thirty seconds and didn't let up until the last drop of heroin nostalgia had been wrung out of us. If you happen to be in New York City and want to give it a spin in person, Spiritualized is bringing this moving extravaganza to Radio City Music Hall on July 30 for the only North American performance of their Exile on Main St. for the '90s.

Spiritualized's sublime set got me thinking about bands covering albums – their own and others – and about when it works and why it sometimes doesn't.

Does this get your brain going?  Check out TED Talks. Billed as “Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world,”  TED gathers some of the world’s best public speakers and streams their talks wordwide.  Find out why TED has a huge cult following.  Warning: there are some mind-blowing experiences underneath this link. http://www.ted.com

Name: Jesse Campbell
Location: Columbus, OH
School Work or Alma Mater: Ohio University
Favorite HeadCount Band: The Dead / Furthur / RatDog
Best HC Experience: Some of the many great HeadCount memories that I have include: registering to vote through HeadCount, volunteering at a sold out O.A.R. show during the 2008 presidential election and seeing the excitement and energy of the many young people who were registering to vote for the first time, interviewing for the team leader position at Bonnaroo, meeting Ben Harper on the Campus Consciousness Tour and Jack Johnson in the All-At-Once Eco-Village.
What's Your Issue?: An issue that is important to me is personal liberty. I also think that Gulf Coast recovery is more important than ever after the recent oil spill.  New Orleans is a beautiful part of our culture that we need to preserve for future generations. Laisez les bons temps rouler!
Why do you like volunteering for HeadCount?: HeadCount is a great way to get people in the music community involved in the democratic process.  It combines two of my favorite things: people and music. I love to interact with fans and find out what's their issue because ultimately our neighbors' issues can become our own if we are not aware of what these issues are. It is rewarding to know that you are helping people make their voice heard by getting them registered to vote.  Also, it is a great opportunity to meet some very interesting people while hearing awesome music. Oh, I think I already mentioned that. But seriously, HeadCount artists are some of the best musicians on the planet. Last but not least, Bob Weir is on the Board of Directors.  How cool is that?
Hobbies: Reading, travel, hiking, canoeing, music, food, wine, nature, meditation, blogging, and spending time with family.

Jesse traveled to Cincinnati to meet up with our training team where they got 125 people to pledge to vote, then in Columbus he brought in 61 pledges at a CAKE show.

Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad bad news. After a year-long fight, and the House passing the first ever bill to curtail climate change, the Democratic-led Senate has finally caved and announced that it will not bring any climate legislation to the floor. They could not come up with the filibuster-proof 60 votes needed to pass any controversial legislation, and decided to give up rather than press on.

Not one Republican in the Senate is willing to put the fate of the species ahead of their drive to regain power by obstructing everything?

Kerry, Harry Reid, bring the bill and make them filibuster it on live TV. Where is the brave Lindsey Graham now? Where is Maverick Senator John McCain, who said not two years ago that global warming was a serious threat to national security? Sitting on his gnarled old voting hand to pretend he's as much of a know-nothing nitwit as the other jackass who's trying to take his job?

Obama -- you're the most powerful human being on the planet. How about twisting some tails here?

Here's what New York Times environmental columnist Andy Revkin says:

On a host of issues, Obama campaigned as a voice of reason, willing to listen to all views, amid all the polarized shouting. But on climate and energy, he has not yet, apparently, found the strength to break free of the 20th-century-style left-right fight to forge a positive path that is true to the scope and time scale of the climate and energy challenge and could resonate with Americans, particularly the young generation that will inherit the environment being shaped by decisions, or indecision, now.

Could it be that the White House has concluded what some political analysts have quietly told me - that only a Republican president could muster the Senate votes to pass a meaningful climate bill? That sounds strange initially but isn't so strange when you consider the  history of major environmental legislation and note that a moderate Republican could bring his or her base and lure many Democrats, while a Democrat is unlikely ever to lure sufficient Republican support to get 60 votes on a climate bill.

If that's true, we are certainly doomed. The only national Republican with a voice on Global Warming is Schwarzenegger -- and you'd have to change the Constitution. At this point, Republicans wouldn't support him -- exactly because he's taken some action on global warming.

Barack, this was supposed to be the moment, remember: "At this moment ... in this election ..." etcetera?

Brother, you're losing me. There's not a lot of time for your usual rope a dope here.

Of course, that's the Republicans' whole plan: filibuster EVERYTHING to make it look like the Democrats can't lead -- then return triumphantly to power.

But if you filibuster EVERYTHING, you look like assholes.

Unless nobody makes you actually go through with the filibuster. Then nobody actually knows that you're obstructing EVERYTHING because they never SEE THE OBSTRUCTION ON TELEVISION.

Maybe 40 flabby bags of fossils flapping their jowls for 72 or 127 hours would drown out the Fascist propagandist Glenn Beck's Racebaiting Scalpathon and the "gore sex scandal" -- at a factoid-ticker near you just in time to silence Gore during the debate on this bill.

If the Republicans in the Senate had to talk all day and all night for days and days for every bill they've threatened to filibuster in this weird new system where a 60 vote majority is required to pass anything, three-quarters of them would have dropped dead eight months ago.

If they want to block the energy bill, make them actually block it -- and let those hypocrites Graham and McCain explain why what was a dire threat to humanity in 2008 is not any longer -- without anyone having done anything about it.

It couldn't possibly be clearer what a complete Republican takeover of Congress would look like -- the Bush years, a decade of inaction. The decade in which it became too late.

The sucky part is that a Democratic majority can't act to save humans from self-destruction either -- and they actually get it.

Unless they represent fossil states.

Oh well.

We're ka-screwed.

The following commentary by Richard B. Simon does not necessarily reflect the view of HeadCount, our board of directors or our partner artists. We welcome all viewpoints on the HeadCount blog, and encourage our readers to comment or submit posts representing their personal opinions. Send questions or submissions to editor@headcount.org

“Go back to your cars and take shelter,” were far from encouraging words to hear as the Brothers Past set was cut short. Without a television to see what the weather man had to say we sat around a puddle under an EZ-up tent. It was Saturday night and it didn't look good. There was lightning coming at us from 360-degrees and rumors of a tornado warning. As my neighbors and I discussed the merits of taking a tornado on with a car versus an EZ-up, it was jokingly decided the chairs under the EZ-up would make for a far more comfortable final moment than the cars. There was also some mention of a potential trip to the Land of Oz if the tornadoes did touch down near our campsite. A couple hours later, much to our enjoyment the stage lights flicked on, and just as they did, the camp grounds began to stir. Eddy Grant's Electric Avenue started on the PA and everyone headed to the main-stage for the last Biscuits set of the weekend. I looked at our neighbor, told him we were headed in for some music and asked if he wanted to join us, to which he replied, "Don't you tempt me with a good time" and joined us for one last night of the organized chaos that is Camp Bisco.  The rain and lightening stuck around for the set but so did the dedicated fans. And so went Camp Bisco, a struggle for fans to hear great music while waging war against the elements, be they the oppressive heat or lightning and tornadoes.

Camp Bisco 9 was my first camp but still impressive to witness. What I've learned started as a gathering of about 850 people in Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania in 1999 has grown to a 14,000 person, premiere electronic event in upstate New York, centered around one of the jamtronica genre's heaviest hitters. The supporting acts were superb, including Thievery Corporation, LCD Soundsystem, Ween, Bassnectar, Raq and The New Deal.

Our HeadCount team arrived on Wednesday, before the official kickoff to the event. We set up the booth and got prepped for a weekend of registering prospective voters. That night we wandered the empty fields with a feeling of anticipation and excitement.  It was quiet, but we knew it would not stay that way for long, the gates opened at 8 am and that meant the party would start soon after. That night offered the HeadCount team an teaser of what was to come: the production team was testing the lights and more importantly the lasers. Even without music to set the lasers to, they were quite the sight, everyone in attendance on that Wednesday night knew we were in for a treat.

Marc Brownstein, bass player for the Disco Biscuits, is a co-founder of HeadCount so our team brought our A-game and used everything we had to prove that Biscuit fans care about the world and their community. The crowd was interested in what we had to say and happy to see us working. Those who were already registered to vote often responded to my approach with an enthusiastic “Yes, and thank you for what you are doing!”

What stood out to me  most the entire weekend was the crowds age, it was definitely a younger crowd than All Good and Nateva, most likely because it lacked Furthur to bring in the Dead Heads and offered groups like Pretty Lights and Major Lazer to provide the youngins some booty shakin dance beats. Camp Bisco was as they say “a boatload” of fun and we still managed to get a lot of pledges and register attendees who would not have been registered without us. Now it's up to them to participate in the process or stop complaining, but I would much rather see them at the polls this November and at Camp Bisco next summer.

I had a chance to speak with anti-poverty activist Syd Mandelbaum to discuss his inspirational non-profit Rock and Wrap It Up! (RWU) is a grassroots organization that was founded by Syd to address the needs of one soup kitchen in Queens, NY. After realizing the potential of collecting food at one concert, Syd expanded the concept into RWU. While the scope of RWU's work has grown in recent years, the core goal has not changed: Feeding needy Americans.

Who were some of the first bands to support RWU and how many total bands have agreed to participate?

Over 160 bands since 1991 have participated in donating food that is prepared and not served from back stage catering. The first bands, in no particular order, were Bruce Hornstein & The Range, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Phish, and Michael Bolton. All of these bands were signed up with us nationally in 1994 but it really was Bruce Hornsby and Branford Marsalis who I first bounced the ideas off of starting RWU. At the time, Bruce was in the Grateful Dead so they were one of the first bands to support us as well.

How many pounds of food do you expect to collect this summer and how many people will that serve?

RWU has expanded where the majority of the food is not just in music; music is a very small part of the RWU model. We now are in professional sports, we have over 40 sport franchises throughout the United States and Canada that give us all food that is prepared but not sold at their stadiums and arenas. We also have hundreds of schools throughout America that give us food and other assets to fight poverty. We also have hotels that give us food as well as when films and television shows are shot, like NBC Universal. We partner with them so we have plenty of opportunities to recover food from other venues other then backstage catering at rock concerts. Also, many rock bands have given us entrée into the arenas themselves so it’s not just the bands who are giving us food, the entire arena, whether the band is signed up with us or not, is giving us food that is prepared but not sold and we have that in a dozen arenas throughout the United States. In a nutshell we will probably feed, just over the summer, about 4 to 5 million people.

Have the recoveries at schools and colleges been successful?

I have to give credit to your mother, Alyssa Greenberg, and Dori Fishban, who were the first group on Long Island, as volunteers, to start a program in the Port Washington school district. We now have well over 200 schools throughout the United States who give food, not even mentioning the schools on the college level. On the college level our largest partners are USC and UCLA, all of the food from the UCLA campus goes to RWU and is recovered by LA mission, our partner in downtown Los Angeles. On the college level we have two programs, one is called College Wrap! and the other is Give and Go Green. These programs were started in the NY area, one of them at Barnard and Columbia, Give and Go Green, where students who graduated began giving all of their room and dorm assets upon graduation.  Instead of taking them home they give them to RWU, where we arrange with agencies to take those mini-refrigerators, microwaves, toaster ovens, televisions, books, clothing, linen, bedding to give them directly to families in crisis that instantaneously use them to have a place to live. That program is huge and we would love to see the supporters of HeadCount, as your motto is Music, Democracy and Action, we would like to see the Action work with RWU so that our mission, which we say is reducing the poverty footprint while still reducing the carbon footprint, can be more inculcated throughout colleges throughout the United States and North America.

Will you be continuing food recoveries at music festivals this summer?

I think we are going to be partnering with HeadCount also where we are going to have, like you coordinated at Mountain Jam, more festivals like Coachella. We coordinated at Bonnaroo, but they had already been setup, yet they continued our work. We have reached out to the people at Lollapalooza and we will be reaching out to other festivals like Gathering of the Vibes to try to arrange that all food that is prepared but not sold or used, feed the hungry in those communities.  We have had great support from the management of the festival themselves.

What other greening efforts are being made?

We are looking to expand our hotel work. So right now, one of the larger projects of RWU is to have bands that travel, and this was started by Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne many years ago, wherever they travel they would encourage their entire tour to take the shampoo and conditioner and soap that was unused, because many of them travel with their own toiletries and they would collect all the shampoo and conditioner and they would send it to RWU. In their first tour we received over 45 shipments from them which was a tour in Europe. This has been continued by bands like Phish, The Zen Tricksters, we have reached out to Vampire Weekend, which is our newest band.

We had the opportunity to go to Bonnaroo and talk to people in the artist hospitality area, the artists themselves, their management to talk to them about the types of things that we want to do and basically spread the word about RWU as an organization. Bands like Temper Tramp and Mike Snow expressed a lot of interest in the types of things we are doing. So we are definitely looking to expand to both established and up-and-coming bands that are traveling throughout the festival scene to raise their fandom which is what they are trying to do at  these festivals. Vampire Weekend has been the most responsive so far, even though they are not touring at large venues so we can’t get large amounts of food, they still have expressed interest in partnering with us to get the message out about RWU.

Some of the things that have been really important are that bands have been looking at the sustainability; RWU was the first green charity according to Sharon Osbourne. We understood 17 years ago that food that could be eaten and kept out of landfills could only be good for the environment but more importantly could help feed the hungry. All these bands we work with believe that through teenagers and kids in their young twenties that that is where the world has changed. So the more we can do to teach people that they themselves -- individually -- can make a difference, the better. It really comes down to re-empowering the individual. RWU has programs that starts as young as working with 5 year olds in our Snack Rap program. The Snack Rap program was started with RWU in 2002, but in 2010 it has been exploding.

Like HeadCount, RWU has a small core group of permanent employees. How does the size of the organization thrive with the limited help?

Because we have been around this long we have very few people who leave us. We are like a big bus that goes on a route and goes a little bit further out each time, but people can get on that bus whenever they want. We have people who have been with us for 16 years who want to make a difference through us. We have a staff of 6 with 3 interns on top of that; however we also have over 6,000 volunteers throughout the United States.

Where does RWU progress to now?

Right now our biggest issue is reducing poverty at a time when this country has never had more people that have had food issues. The economy sucks, where we were making a dent at reducing poverty before 2007. With the economy being so so weak, there are now close to 50 million Americans that are food insecure. Where in 2007 the numbers were dropping to about 35 million Americans. The other positive thing with RWU is that the partners and agencies we deal with are in dire need of the assets that we are able to develop for them. Because, as you know, our mission is very simple, the more assets that we give to agencies that fight poverty, the more money they have to pay for the services that attack the root causes of poverty. I believe we are still in our infancy; we still know we have so much more to do because the need is so great.

To volunteer, donate or find out more, visit the Rock and Wrap It Up! website.

The Silent Disco represented. Building on a concept Bonnaroo made popular, Camp Bisco extended the idea to include two deejays playing at the same time. Some might call it a battle (easy to say battle in deejay land) but this was just raw talent playing along side each other, literally all night long. And oh boy do I mean talent!! These were world class deejays, some of whom came up just for their silent deejay set, like the unbelievable Eclectic Method and sick-ass Welder. Add in Future Rock and Emancipator and Orchard Lounge. Um. Wow. That was just Friday. Also, there were plenty of headphones and no wait most of the night. It wasn’t even that crowded. Brilliant.

Speaking of brilliant: the intellect, creativity, and receptivity of Bisco heads felt crisper than a double rainbow (fully extended). Walking around campsites spread across all 200 acres of Indian Lookout, conversations delved into the deepest realms of politics, science, philosophy, and of course music appreciation. Approaching tent villages, little by little through trades and kick-downs, the most awesome keepsakes began to accumulate in my bag: a coloring book, original art, original music, glass, stickers galore, and the best—a pair of Camp Bisco headie socks.

Who could ask for anything more?? Great job, Camp Bisco . . .