Sep 13 2009
What the band played as Titanic slowly began to sink is never disputed – ragtime, waltzes, specific tunes noted by survivors included ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’ and ‘In The Shadows’. But a question mark still hangs over what the last song was as Titanic’s stern began to rise clear of the Atlantic Ocean, and indeed, would it be physically possible for them to play anything in those conditions?
Sep 13 2009
Sometime last week we (or “current resident”) received a slick 4-color 6×10 card stock mailer that looks at first glance to have come from our NC-11 congressional rep, Heath Shuler. At the top the reverse-on-blue header reads:
“Congressman Shuler Is Fighting To Make Medicare Prescription Coverage Even Better”
and on the bottom reverse-on-red the italicized message reads:
“Call Congressman Health Shuler today at 202-224-3121. Tell him thanks for fighting to improve Medicare without making seniors pay more, and ask him to keep on fighting until we get the job done.”
The wording struck me a little odd as I read the mailer along with my morning Cheerios. Why would Heath tell me to call him and tell him thanks for his notably atrocious Blue Dog position on health care reform? I mean, it’s not like he cares what Democrats in his district have to say about the issue. He made that perfectly clear during the August recess by meeting personally only with Teabaggers, not with his Democratic constituents (whom he pointedly ignored). So I flipped it over and read on the bottom of the address/postage space:
“Paid for by Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.”
Whoa. These corporate shills are actually BRAGGING about having bought our Congressman? That’s incredibly nervy!!!
This slick, costly bit of propaganda was produced by the very people whose lobbyists actually WROTE the Medicare-D legislation in the first place to ensure American seniors would pay more – and more directly – for necessary drugs than anybody else in the entire world! Heath is helping them screw Americans yet again in the health reform battle, and they want me – as an actual constituent of Shuler’s – to thank him personally on behalf of Big Pharma? Ha!
Big Pharma can kiss my shiny white ass, and so can Heath Shuler. Below is the letter I have written in response to this blatant insult from the Drug Pusher’s Union Propaganda Squad…
Sep 13 2009
Burning the Midnight Oil for the Next American Revolution
crossposted from The Hillbilly Report, also available in orange
From some online dictionary somewhere:
Robustness is the quality of being able to withstand stresses, pressures, or changes in procedure or circumstance
So: (1) Public Choice
“No Taxation without Representation”. Every single person facing an individual mandate must be provided with the choice of a publicly administered plan. Otherwise the government is forcing the citizen to pay without the elected representatives of the citizen controlling the spending.
You want to put a trigger on the public option. Fine, except the exact same trigger applies to the individual mandate.
You want to restrict access to the public option to some smaller group? Fine, except the same restriction applies to the individual mandate.
The system is not politically legitimate if it requires payment to for-profit commercial corporations.
(2) Robust
It cannot be lumbered down with any restrictions not faced by private insurers.
State by state public options? Really? You are really prepared to restrict the corporations to firms with no commercial activity across state lines? If they are free standing state by state public options, it has to be state by state for profit corporations. Oh, not allowing UHC into the exchanges defeats the purpose of lining private pockets at the public expense? Yeah, kind of thought so.
Sep 13 2009
Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, interviews Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, regarding a Robust Public Option:
AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Grijalva, I also want to ask you about Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus and his close ties to the healthcare industry. […]
REP. RAUL GRIJALVA: I think the product that has come out from his committee and himself, I really believe that it has no legitimacy in this debate. It’s an insider product. It’s there to protect the industry. It is not there to try to look for that middle ground. He is key in holding up deliberations, has been key in trying to work on a consensus, but everything you see in his legislation had to be approved by the industry before it became part of the plan. So I don’t think it’s legitimate.
[…] I consider Senator Baucus’s proposal to be essentially an insider trader move to protect an industry and really doesn’t have validity at all, both political validity or content validity.
Sep 12 2009
SurveyUSA conducted a Poll in Mid-August — prior to Obama’s well-received Speech in September — and they found that across the spectrum of Demographics Groups, a majority of Americans thought it was Extremely Important to have a Choice of a Public Option!
Here is the Question which was asked, in a Survey of 1200 Americans, from all around the Country:
In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance — extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?
All Groups
Margin of Sampling Error: ± 2.9%
Survey by SurveyUSA
Geography: USA 50 States
Data Collected: 08/19/2009
Release Date: 08/20/2009
Sponsor: MoveOn.org PAC
Sep 10 2009
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Caroline Heldman: “End of life counselling does not constitute death panels.”
Hannity: “It does to me”
Caroline Heldman: “That is an idiotic reading of that . . . ”
Hannity: “I’m an idiot?”
Pretty much the definition of an idiot is someone who, if you call their ideas idiotic to their face, says something stupid like “I’m an idiot?”
No, Sean, you’re a freakin genius!
The transcript and more below teh stupid fold
Sep 10 2009
copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org
Only today Cable News Network aired a report that suggests most of those who want a public option health care plan are African Americans, Persons in this population are more likely to be uninsured. Statistics show dark skinned individuals also seem predisposed to poor health. News broadcaster Kyra Phillips continues. Black people, when surveyed, say they think Mister Obama has performed well in office. In contrast, far fewer white Americans approve of what the Obama Administration has done on the job. Subtly, Ms Phillips reminds the audience, the current President of the United States is the nation’s first Black Commander-In-Chief. The implication is obvious.
Yet, the tale is not necessarily as told. Witness the stories shared in a MoveOn.org video, study the faces, and consider the situation of those who say they cannot afford to wait for health care reform, Mostly white faces fill the screen.
Sep 09 2009
We gotta be ready this time. We gotta do this. Say it with me now:
“Enough!”
This person norabb said it well this morning at the orange but it scrolled off. He included several good media links and addy’s. I sure hope to see the entire Rec List over there today with nothing but this. And then some.
(I can dream, can’t I?)
The right wing has a message machine that always seems to work better than ours. They have surely already written their attack pieces against President Obama’s big speech tonight. I propose that we all have our own support message ready to go immediately after the speech.
UPDATE (11:40AM): Here’s an ACTION call out from the ever vigilant slinkerwink.
UPDATE #2, 12:20PM, from tahoebasha3′s comment below (thanks!):
Here is another action that can be taken tonight, right after the speech:
After the speech, Jarrett and Axelrod will return to the airwaves. And as part of the White House new-media strategy, Communications Director Anita Dunn will go on www.whitehouse.gov right afterward to engage with online viewers through a live video chat, responding to reactions and questions received via Facebook and Twitter.
UPDATE #3, 12:24PM,: here’s a comment from nyceve in slinkerwink’s GOS Diary:
Jane Hamsher and I are heading to Capitol Hill, where we will be distributing the petitions all of you turned into reality (a 50,000 plus signature reality) to at least three progressive members of Congress.
So far, we’ve got appointments Pete Stark, Keith Ellison, and Raul Grijalva (sorry for my bad spelling). Now let me tell you guys something, a trip to Capitol Hill is special, when when you’re with Jane Hamsher, it’s memorable.
Then, we’ll be watching the President at 8PM. Whatever he says, I want all of you to know, this battle is far, far from over, and you can take it to the bank.
And I thought Lawrence O’Donnell made some excellent points on tv last night…
And… see copy of FDL’s email from Jane below…
Sep 07 2009
Well according to this former HMO Medical Director, she traded Necessary Patients Care, for Career Advancement and a 6-figure Salary:
Linda Peeno MD, testifies
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
Question: Are the Patients, who are Denied Care, to save the Insurance Companies Money — DO those Patients have a RIGHT to their Health Care?
Or are Those Patients simply a Commodity — a “Cost Center” — that must be constantly constrained?
Sep 07 2009
To achieve anything in politics or anything else in life one critical factor is to have a clearly defined end state. Without this you can not know when you have actually crossed the finish line. We all know, either from watching politics or being involved directly, how easy it is to get so focused on the fight you lose track of the over all goals. It seems to the Dog this has become the case with Health Care Reform in general and the Public Option in particular. Over the last few months the Netroots has been strongly engaged in trying to get a version of the public option enacted as part of the over all health care reform.
“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“
Sep 06 2009
Crossposted at Daily Kos
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me– George Orwell, 1984
Funny thing is, I don’t remember the part where I sold anyone.
Okay, so the White House is circulating an upbeat polling memo citing a bunch of public surveys showing that public opinion still tilts heavily in Obama’s favor on health care.The memo, by Obama pollster Joel Benenson, doesn’t mention the public option (the White House may not be committed to it) and largely cites general numbers showing support for action and for Obama’s plan.
But here’s the funny thing: We went back and checked, and virtually every poll cited in this memo also found strong support for the inclusion of a public plan.
By Greg Sargent
More analysis and my own take on things below the fold.
Sep 05 2009
Doctor Linda Peeno, a renown expert in the field of “Managed Care”, explains to Congress the dirty little secrets behind the Business of Health Care Denial:
Doctor Linda Peeno, a renown expert in the field of “Managed Care”, explains to Congress the dirty little secrets behind the Business of Health Care Denial:
THE REAL DEATH PANELS: Insurance Companies That Deny Care
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
Linda Peeno, M.D.
In the spring of 1987, as a Physician, I denied a man a necessary operation, that would have saved his life. And thus caused his death. And I’m haunted by the thousands of pieces of paper, on which I have written that deadly word: Denied.