Tag: Insurance Monopoly

President’s Obama misuse of the role government continues to go beyond the breeches of Richard Nixon, and is equally as bad as George W. Bush/Dick Cheney.

We’ve already scene this abuse before with the indefinite detaining of people with no legal process, Military Tribunals, the denial of Habaeus Corpus, the perpetuation of horrific CIA Secret Renditions, escalating Predator Drone reckless Bombings of civilians throughout Afghanistan and Pakistan, sheltering and providing legal protections for Human Torturers, the perpetuation of the Orwellian “U.S. Patriot Act“, new undeclared Paramilitary and Military provocations and hostilities in Iran and against Venezuela (via Columbia), and on and on and on.

If any Foreign leader on the planet ever did these things, the U.S. Media and our Government would universally regard him as a dangerous Tyrant on the World stage, and a War Criminal.  

But Obama has obliterated the Constitution and the role of government now in an entirely new way.  He has made it unlawful for an American citizen to exist without writing overpriced checks to a predatory Corporation, for an unguaranteed product.

Not only has he used the role of government to subsidize and advance the interests of a Corporate Monopoly, using the hard-earned money of American citizens (itself a robbery of the public), but he has also tasked the I.R.S. to deprive them of their own private money and assets, if they do not become the slaves of these predatory Insurance Monopolies.

Now, this is not free market capitalism.

It is not socialism (as “teabaggers” might incorrectly claim).

It is not communism or a “Soviet health care” system.

It is pure Fascism/Corporatism.

It is a 100% misuse of Government, and Violation of the Oath of Office: to protect and defend the Constitution.

FreeSociety has posed the question, Why Did Kucinich Cave In To Obama? Which is fine if you are reporting that Kucinich has capitulated to the Obama administration. But I think it’s more important that we should consider, “What does this mean and how should we go forward from here?”

I refuse to believe Dennis is a turncoat or an evil liar. Instead, what this news means to me is that they finally got to him. To me Dennis Kucinich symbolizes the last bastion of integrity left in congress.  The one stalwart figure who had balls to bring an impeachment resolution to congress and read the resolution into the record. And what was the response like? There was a resounding echo of crickets from the news media and from most of the members of the House. Kucinich is just and good man. You can bet that whatever “deal” Obama offered him, he chose “the lesser of two evils”. The problem he faces is that of a crushing and corrupted system.

We will probably never know the full details of this shit sandwich. However, I do think is important that we recognize what this means: Dennis Kucinich, our firewall, our levy, our one true remaining voice in the House of Representatives, has been compromised.

I am totally shocked by what has happened.

It had appeared that Dennis Kucinich had Obama worried, rather than the other way around.

It appeared with Obama and Kucinich “discussing” Health Care on Air Force 1 no less, that the opportunity existed where Obama might possibly consider making a concession or two, just to secure Kucinich’s vote.

Suddenly, and sadly, Kucinich just gave in, and got absolutely nothing back in return.

While DKos, MoveOn.bored, and mainstream Democrats all publically threatened to oppose Kucinich and get their pay back and revenge on him, it is pretty well established that Kucinich is in a district which knows him well, and that re-elects him every two years — whether or not he faces a Primary challenge. I can’t see Kucinich caving just on something like empty “reelection” bluffs, hot air, and threats of this nature. Kucinich has been through all of that many times before and won the War.

Remember Dennis Kucinich is a guy who stared down the Bank Monopoly in Ohio before and won. He even faced an assassination attempt before and won.  This is a man not easily shaken. So why would Kucinich suddenly be so easily intimidated now?

What threat did Obama issue?  Black Ops?  Did his unconstitutional wiretapping program create or fabricate some embarrassing family story or personal smear?  Did Obama threaten Elizabeth Kucinich? Did Obama and Pelosi move to take away Kucinich’s SubCommittee Chair (something they’d never do to Joe Lieberman)? Was Dennis Kucinich’s life directly threatened?

Well..well.well.  Guess who Barack Obama is finally paying attention to? Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Only not necessarily in a good way.  

First, Obama chose the State of Ohio as his staged photo-op site for his last public Health Care Rally (apart from D.C. speeches), and guess who was onboard Air-Force 1?  Dennis Kucinich. I’ll bet Kucinich hasn’t even been invited on Air Force 1 perhaps more than 2 or 3 times in his entire career.

But, then Obama put a plant in the audience to yell out “Vote Yes” right on cue, when Obama called out Congressman Kucinich’s name.  

The goal was to make it appear that RahmobombaMonopolyCare is just so overwhelmingly popular with the little people that Kucinich would have no choice but to drop his principled objections to the Corporate bailout bill, or otherwise face mutiny by his own district, and by his own supporters.

Well done bit of stage craft by Obama (he’s slick), but the fact remains that progressives do not like this shabby excuse for “reform”, once they are told what is in it (IRS forced mandates and enslavement to the Insurance Monopoly), and what is not going to be in it (cost control, competition, medicare expansion, public choice).  

We are now entering the final insult phase of Health Care by the Democratic Party.

Dick Durbin went on record to state that he would whip the Senate against any consideration for “public option” related amendments to be brought up in that chamber — even though over 40+ Senators are already formally on record in favor of supporting having it added during reconcilliation.  His excuse?  The House would never agree to it.  The same House that had already passed it last year. Keep in mind that the original reason why the Senate dropped the public option, was because it did not have 60 votes — not 50. Simply getting 50 was never (originally) a problem.

Durbin has since said that he will strongly support the public option if (and only if) the House moves to add it back first (before the Senate acts) during the reconcillation process. So Durbin is trying to fool people into thinking that we would have a public option — but it is just the House that is the obstacle  (the same House that had already passed it last year). In fact, Durbin could allow the public option amendment, and whip the Senate in favor of it..and then make the House vote on that.

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Meanwhile, over in the House, Nancy Pelosi is now saying that she will never take up the public option because the U.S. Senate could not ever pass the bill. But the Senate never had a problem with 50 people (it had been 60 that was the original problem), and already 40+ Senators have come out on their own and publically signed a statement pledging support for a Senate public option. Given Durbin’s artifical and phony requirement that the House must act first, Nancy Pelosi could add the public option, if she really wanted to, into the House version — as we know the House had already passed a bill last year with the public option included.

But now Nancy Pelosi (like Joe Lieberman) only supports a gutted House bill that is completely stripped of the public option.   See:   Pelosi Blocks Public Option.  Of course, Pelosi wants to just blame it all on the Senate, where getting 60 votes had been the
problem — not getting 50.

“We’re talking about something that is not going to be part of the legislation.”

         —Nancy ‘Impeachment is off the table‘ Pelosi,   March 12, 2010

It has been reported now that Obama officially received over $20 million from health insurance industry in 2008 campaign: Obama pockets $20 milllion from the enemy

While, I’m sure this surprises no one, all that money has been well spent on getting Obama to totally betray the public interest.

The tragedy is that Obama is all too willing and happy to do this.

Here’s the money quote:

Historian and media critic Norman Solomon, who was also an Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention, called the president’s transformation on healthcare since taking office “shameful.”

“Overall it’s been a very corporate friendly healthcare approach from Obama as president,” Solomon said in an interview with Raw Story. “Corporate friendly in a way that I believe is injurious to public health.”

He underscored the subtle but substantive change in healthcare language used by Obama and the White House.

“We don’t hear so much now about ‘healthcare reform,'” Solomon said. “We’re hearing a lot more about ‘health insurance reform.’ And that is absolutely in large measure driven by the White House.”

“The funding from the healthcare industry to the Obama campaign, in retrospect, was not misplaced,” Solomon said. “It appears, based on policy, that those funders are getting what they would’ve hoped for.”

“Let me put it this way,” he added. “Single-payer advocates literally couldn’t get into the White House. And you have [chief pharmaceutical industry lobbyist and former Republican congressman] Billy Tauzin and Big Pharma and all of these in-depth strategy meetings in the White House in mid-2009 cutting deals. And I think it’s shameful.”

I have seen a number of Diaries writtien over at DKos today that are just attacking Dennis Kucinich and making him out to be a villain, for having done the correct thing and voted no on the faux Health Care “reform” Bill.

As I feared, that whole site just blindly believes all the untrue soundbites, phony PR, exaggerated claims, and hype about the Health Bill, and DKos neither knows nor cares at all about the actual language of the Bill, and what this very bad Bill actually does, and what it does not do.

In fact, it is the Insurance Companies who are cheerleading even more wildly than the people over at DKos, which is a reflection of the ignorance, and dogmatic “anything the DParty or Obama does is great” mindset that DKos is hopelessly stuck in.

I am banned over at DKos.  I cannot write anything there. So this Essay is a plea and a request for someone here to write a Diairy over at the DKos site (on my behalf), that both defends Dennis Kucinich (and his no vote), and also educates the readship there on just how bad this Health Care Bill really is.

You do not have do write a new Diary from scratch.  I have already written one Diary right here at Docudharma on this very subject that you can just copy word-for-word verbatim, that detailed the reasons why the “reform” Bill deserves to be defeated.

Please See and Use this:  Why The Health Care Bill Deserves To Be Defeated!

You can just repost it word-for-word.  I also wrote a second essay here, containing an additional statement by Kucinich, that also helps provide some further background context for a no vote:

See: Statement by Kucinich on Health Care Bill

Congressman Dennis Kucinich made the following statement today:

“Before we celebrate the new health care legislation, keep in mind that the American people will be required by law to buy private insurance and that they will pay a penalty if they don’t.  

That insurance companies will be subsidized by the government.

That insurance companies have had double digit increases in premiums in the past four years.

That we are locking in a for profit structure.

This is the result of a health care debate of which the flawed premise is that health care reform can not happen without the cooperation of the insurance companies, which make money by not providing health care.  

The truth is that reform can not happen with them. The insurance companies are the problem not the solution. This legislation, no matter how well intended, will likely not be able to deliver, cost too much and be another bail out for big business at the expense of the American people.”

    –Congressman Dennis Kucinich, D-OH