Category: Health Care

Im mad as Hell and getting madder and madder.  The sell out continues.  Don’t get me wrong. I like Obama.  I’m in love with his wife and daughters.  Despite all his likability, however, his actions to endorse and support corporate elites continue and make a joke of his promises of change.

The recent disclosures of deals made between the White House and Big-Pharma/Insurance are particularly disconcerting.  It is, for me at least, the Last Straw.  

After a week of denials that there had been any quid pro quo offered for Big-Pharma’s gift of $80 billion, a memo obtained by Huffington Post reports favors detrimental to the consumer.  Why wasn’t I holding me breath?

The memo… lists exactly what the White House gave up, and what it got in return.

…snip…

…the White House agreed to oppose any congressional efforts to use the government’s leverage to bargain for lower drug prices or import drugs from Canada — and also agreed not to pursue Medicare rebates or shift some drugs from Medicare Part B to Medicare Part D, which would cost Big Pharma billions in reduced reimbursements.

In exchange, the Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association (PhRMA) agreed to cut $80 billion in projected costs to taxpayers and senior citizens over ten years. Or, as the memo says: “Commitment of up to $80 billion, but not more than $80 billion.”

Let’s slither below the fold for more lubricating slime…

Okay, okay, the Dog has not been posting from Netroots Nation like he promised everyone he would. There are no excuses, the laptop is working, the wireless connection while sometimes spotty it functional for posting. The Nuns used to say “the Road to Hell is paved with good intentions”, so the Dog is just going to crank up Highway to Hell and own the fact the swirl of people and events here has kept him from posting to those playing the home game. Sorry.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“

As the health care reform issue continues it’s way through the legislative process, it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that there will be a moment in time where many progressives will face the difficult choice of whether or not to support a health care reform bill that looks nothing like what we wanted.

At the end of the day, however, the question will inevitably be: given that people are desperate and dying unnecessarily right now, and given the political realities impeding a better solution, how can we not support whatever incremental improvements survive this legislative process, while still pushing for better things down the road?

I’d like to argue that there is a better way, a politically-realistic way of providing health care for all, without getting into bed with the insurance companies and big Pharma . . .

WASHINGTON (FNS) – In a startling development related to the recent disruptions of town hall meetings, FNS is now able to confirm that the Obama Administration, with the assistance of Unilever Group and Queen Beatrix, both of the Netherlands, PepsiCo, Skull And Bones, and the Bilderberg Group, is unleashing a secret plot to dispatch fleets of unmarked aircraft and helicopters to prevent teabag protesters from having access to teabags.  

The goal of the plot: to disrupt protesters’ plans to save America from the destruction of our health care system.

FNS reporters have been following a trail of information that includes airport noise abatement records, classified documents, and the testimony of insiders, some of whom are now willing to be publicly identified.

We’ll begin our story by reporting on three events that occurred the evening of Friday, August 8th.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Seriously, these are the grassrootsy guys.

   The plaster the founding fathers and claim 1st amerndment rights. The problem isn’t their first Amendment rights, but how they use these images to influence the easily deceived to act against their own interests and in favor of special interests.

  Free speech is not a problem until special interests try to buy up yours.

   Meet the kings of phony astroturfed protest groups opposing change, reform, President Obama and whatever else you got except free market ideology and cutting taxes (for the rich).

   How do Joe The Plumber, racism, Republicans, Nazis, Ron Paul supporters, NWO CT theorists, ACORN CT theories, teabaggers, Oil industry insiders, free market advocates and health care opponents all tie in together?

   Natuarally?

   No. Only professionals are capable of this sort of co-ordination.

   The stupidity is just icing on the home made Entenmann’s cake.

Much more on this below the fold.

Crossposted at [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/9/151935/4860 Daily Kos}

Change Vs NOOOO!!!

    This is my personal account of Saturday’s town hall with Representative Scott Murphy.

    I have met the wingnuts and looked into their eyes, and they are very scared, badly misinformed, angry, and dumb as hell.

    Early on the screamers tried to troll out the event. Representative Scott Murphy (D-NY20) answered back with a line that sums up the whole argument when he said

“When we are done people can tell me what they hate.”

    I have broken this diary up into four sections, including a breakdown of Congressmen Murphy’s conversations with the public and his stance on Health Care reform, as well as pictures from the event, the lobbyists role in all of this, and a statement on the need to throw bipartisanship overboard from now on.

   Having engaged the GOP base firsthand, I can easily state that these are the dumbest people in the country.

Bullying is the act of intentionally causing harm to others, through verbal harassment, physical assault, or other more subtle methods of coercion such as manipulation.

[…]

In colloquial speech, bullying often describes a form of harassment perpetrated by an abuser who possesses more physical and/or social power and dominance than the victim.

[…]

The harassment can be verbal, physical and/or emotional.

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Bullies hurt people verbally and physically.

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There are many reasons for that. One of them is because the bullies themselves are or have been the victim of bullying.

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Bullying can occur in any setting where human beings interact with each other.

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Bullying can exist between social groups, social classes and even between countries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B…

As if it weren’t bad enough that Fox Nation populates its web site with right-wing hysteria and links to uber-conservative purveyors of propaganda, they have now demonstrated that their editors are (at least) as stupid as their readers are gullible.

Today I observed a graphic at Fox Nation linking to a column in the Washington “Moonie” Times written by Amanda Carpenter, an O’Reilly Factor frequent fluffer. The article itself was chock full of nuttiness that I’ll get to momentarily. First I need to point out that Fox Nation is so desperate to disparage its enemies that they will project whatever demon suits them into their coverage whether it’s there or not. Here is the graphic showing the groups they say are allegedly mobilizing against town hall protesters:

The National Endowment for the Arts??? Are they really mobilizing against town hall protesters? Were those artists who were crashing community centers and public halls where Tea Baggers were fighting to keep the insurance companies between you and your doctor? Umm…No.

Fifteen years ago today I entered Theda Clark Memorial Hospital in Neenah, WI.  I had a procedure scheduled for August 9, to be performed by Dr. Eugene Schrang, who has since retired.  A couple of years ago, I wrote about it here and here and wrote about the month before that here.

Like all other surgeons with his specialty, he required payment up front.  Even though I had what was supposed to be complete medical insurance, there was no aid in raising the necessary funds from that direction.  In fact, if AT&T hadn’t pre-approved a Universal Card for me a few months before my surgery, I might still be wondering where the money might come from.  I guess they call it plastic surgery for a reason.

By the way, AT&T still owns a portion of my soul.

If you’re lucky enough to still have Insurance —

1 in 7 Americans Don’t have that Luxury, by the way —

Well you might not feel so Lucky, after learning how much more of the Insurance Premium tab, you have been picking up, over the last several years.

Health Insurance is a “Benefit” of Employment — yeah Right!

A Benefit to the Employer, to keep you locked in your lousy Job.

A Benefit to the Insurer, who has a guaranteed source of Income, every time you get a paycheck!

That “Lucky Insurance Policy” has been to costing you more and more, each year, while promising you less and less, in terms of coverage … this squeeze has been happening for years!

Something is seriously wrong with this Nation’s Broken Health Insurance system …

No one following the health care debate can fail to know the Conservative movement in this nation is doing everything they can to stoke the level of fear of their base in an effort to spread the disease of fear to the nation as a whole and the Members of Congress in particular. Their overall goal is to keep any major changes in how health coverage is sold (which is what we are really talking about in this round of reform) from happening.

“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“