Aug 18 2009
Crossposted at Daily kos
I am beginning to believe that President Obama has this figured out, and that we WILL get HCR and a Public Option.
Why do I believe this? Let me explain.
But first you have got to FIGHT, DAMMIT ROCKY!
So here is some inspirational music to inspire Hope, and while you get riled up let me take you below the fold and reveal the genius of 9-sided chinese chess, exposed.
Aug 18 2009
Burning the Midnight Oil for Progressive Populism, xposted from My Left Wing
OK say, just hypothetically, that you are an administration looking to get one of your two signature policies passed. And the Senate, deeply entrenched in the pockets of the affected industry, looked like it will gut your legislation so badly that getting the result passed will stink of failure almost as much as the stench of failure if it is defeated.
Suppose its so bad that the Senate action is the most likely way for your party to lose the Majority in the House is for the disappointed Democratic supporters of so-called “Blue Dogs” to stay home in the midterms while fire up Republican opponents turn out in large numbers.
That would be the time to bring out the “nuclear option” … the threat to radically change the Senate Filibuster rule so it can no longer be used as a roadblock to reform.
Aug 18 2009
As promised, I’m posting Thom Hartmann’s excellent suggestions for REAL Health Care Reform. I’m posting this now to save time. I’ve got to go away for a bit, but I’ll be back to edit with more information.
The Hartmann letter, like many good things, is beyond the flip….. It begins with the letter I added to e-mail to my lists….
Aug 14 2009
In his essay, “Senator Conrad Says He’ll Vote Against the Public Option” Slinkerwink at Firedoglake notes . . .
In a town hall meeting with his constituents, Senator Kent Conrad, D-N.D. pushed his co-operative plan, and said that he would vote against the public option in any Senate health care package. Conrad presented his cooperative health care proposal Thursday and said he would not vote for a government-run health care program. The proposal has received bipartisan support for several reasons, he said. The cooperative would offer a non-profit insurance option to compete with private health care. It would not be government run, he said.
In response to Conrad’s dog and pony show “co-op plan”, Slinkerwink notes that . . .
Conrad’s been pushing the co-operative line ever since the debate over health care reform heated up earlier this spring, and he’s a part of the Senate Finance Committee that is keeping the rest of the Senate Democrats out of their caucus talks. And he knows full well that his co-op plan wouldn’t help the majority of his constituents. In what’s been leaked about the Senate Finance bill, the co-operative plan actually is a series of regional co-operatives, which wouldn’t do anything to lower health premium costs for American families.
Aug 13 2009
Script follows the break.
Aug 10 2009
Robin Wells . . .
Are we having fun yet? Birthers, Limbaugh’s diatribe equating Obama to Hitler, fistfights at town halls, an enormous increase in death threats against the president. And now our diva moment, with Sarah Palin–in full victimhood throttle–charging on Friday that an “Obama death panel” could deny health care and pass a death sentence on her Down syndrome child.
In an unbroken line from Goldwater to Limbaugh and Palin, the Republican Party has committed itself to scorched-earth tactics that have shredded the economic, political, and moral fabric of this country.
New millennium. Same RePug tactics.
blueintheface . . .
Rahm Emanuel, the man who dismissed the 50-state strategy that led to the political revolution that the 1994 Republicans could only dream about, the Democratic leader who made it his priority to nurse a petty grudge against the man who pioneered the grassroots internet campaign instrumental in Democrats gaining control of the House, Senate and Presidency, recently held a meeting to slam Democratic activists for pressuring the legislators who are holding up healthcare reform, calling their ads “fucking stupid”.
New millennium. Same Democratic tactics.
The Health Insurers Have Already Won . . .
The insurance industry has succeeded in redefining the terms of the reform debate to such a degree that no matter what specifics emerge in the voluminous bill Congress may send to President Obama this fall, the insurance industry will emerge more profitable.
New millennium. Same corporate fascism.
Aug 06 2009
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 …
Aug 05 2009
The Dog has been talking to some of his friends in the thick of the fight for health care reform. We are doing a moderately good job of calling and e-mailing and faxing Reps and Senators, but now with the August recess about to be in full swing there is more we need to do. We have seen the Astroturf forces from the Insurance and Health Care lobbies working to disrupt Town Hall meetings, which show our next area where we need to put in some time.
“Originally posted at Squarestate.net“
Aug 04 2009
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“
Aug 04 2009
Medical bills prompt more than 60 percent of U.S. bankruptcies
By Theresa Tamkins — CNN, June 5, 2009
This year, an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.
Bankruptcies due to medical bills increased by nearly 50 percent in a six-year period, from 46 percent in 2001 to 62 percent in 2007, and most of those who filed for bankruptcy were middle-class, well-educated homeowners, according to a report that will be published in the August issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
1.5 million Americans x 60% = 900,000 Americans
that’s about 2500 more people per day
… going bankrupt from medical bills, which were NOT covered by our broken Health Insurance system
Aug 02 2009
In light of recent enthusiasm for a “robust public option” on Big Orange I thought it apropos to suggest other “robust public option” solutions to the routine denial of necessities offered Americans by their beloved capitalist system.
(Crossposted at Big Orange)
Aug 02 2009
Former CIGNA Exec Wendell Potter, says Michael Moore was right!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
WENDELL POTTER: I thought that he hit the nail on the head with his movie.
But the [Insurance] Industry, from the moment that the Industry learned that Michael Moore was taking on the health care industry, it was really concerned.
BILL MOYERS: What were they afraid of?
WENDELL POTTER: They were afraid that people would believe Michael Moore.