As Tweetpic'ed from user stefanoscalia, this image was broadcast by Fox News on July 27, 2009, during Live Desk.
Maybe you can spot the problem here ...
'By GottaLaff
You can read my blow-by-blow liveblog of the entire event here, including commentary by readers. Here are the opening and closing statements by President Obama:
By GottaLaff
Death Panel Barbie is truly pathetic and completely unqualified for anything but, well... um... ::thinking... thinking:: okay, found something: modeling hip waders... on FaceBook... at best.
From Keith Olbermann's Countdown, August 14th:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
By GottaLaff
I have a very caring, impassioned Twitter pal who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, one who I've actually had the pleasure to spend some time with. He wanted to share his feelings about recent events, and I am more than happy to oblige. I've posted other Special Comments by him here, here, and here; all got great reviews.
His latest effort concerns a childhood brush with racism and how it affected him. Take it away, 42bkdodgr:
Thank you once again for a thoughtful, heartfelt piece, 42bkdodgr.Life Experiences Shape You
Recently I wrote a comment about the hate and racism within the country and political arena. Since then I have discovered some of my friends who never showed any racist tendencies are suddenly saying they’ve become bigoted.
I usually discovered their sentiments came out during discussions on Health Care reform. They are senior citizens, like I am, and they fear the government, meaning Obama, will change the health care they currently have under Medicare. As I said in my previous comment I have never seen such hatred in my life, but I feel this racial hatred has been hidden in many people until now.
I am of the belief that your life experiences in your formative years are formed about race and society in general, before going to college or out into the business world. I would like to tell you two experiences that shaped mine.
I was about 10 years old, watching a Physical Ed teacher paint white lines on a handball court. With me was another white boy about eight, and a black boy about the same age as the other boy. While the paint was being applied, the white boy made a statement that the black boy could use some paint on him. The hurt I saw in that black boy's eyes has stayed with me for over 60 years, as has the response by the teacher.
The teacher said, “He looks just fine the way he is”. No words by the teacher could ever make up for the harm done by the other boy’s remark. I often wonder how those two remarks affected the black boy for the rest of his life.
The other event that shaped my life involved my sister. Recently married just after the Korean War, she and her husband, a Korean War vet, were looking for an apartment. In those days apartments were hard to get and usually, if one became available, a payment under the table to the building superintendent was required.
My sister got an apartment in a very short period of time and was quite surprised at getting it so easily. One day, upon meeting the building superintendent (who was black), she thanked him for renting the apartment to her with such a short waiting period, and without any payment.
He said to her, "Your father-- whenever I came into the store-- (he worked at a haberdashery) always treated me like a man by serving me in the front of the store, not like the other merchants in the area who would always directed me to the back of the store." This occurred in the mid-1950s in a predominately all white neighborhood.
These two events have stayed with me my whole life and guided me on how people of any color should be treated. I believe I have passed this on to my children as they have friends of all ethnic, racial, and sexual orientation.
By GottaLaff
Markey's staff will be handing out a copy of George Washington's “Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior” to everyone at her public events.I hope she realizes that some of the worst offenders most likely can't read.
“If you're going to have rules of civility, who better to get them from than George Washington?” said Markey spokesman Ben Marter.As they should. To back off now, IMHO, looks a little, well, wussy.
Trying to avoid becoming the next deer in the town hall headlights on cable news, some lawmakers have cancelled the gatherings, or opted for the convenience of telephone town halls.
But others are plunging into the fray.
“The problem is that they're not answering the questions that people are asking,” said Amy Kremer, national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots.I call b.s. on that one, especially when you consider the source. If the speakers could get their voices heard over all the screaming and catcalling, if people wouldn't act like animals, maybe the Democrats would be more inclined to answer a few honest, reality-based questions.
House Democrats traded ideas on how to tame the meetings in a conference-call caucus meeting Wednesday, tossing out suggestions such as inviting Boy Scouts to lead off the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance.That they even have to consider using Boy Scouts and ministers shows you how completely unhinged the TeaDeathers have become. It's a town hall meeting, a supposed exchange of ideas. Q and A. A communications op. And now they have to resort to Boy Scouts?
Another way to appeal to the better angels of seething constituents, some said, was to have a minister lead off with a prayer. Several lawmakers have attended prayer vigils hosted by religious groups who support the health care overhaul.
Lawmakers like Reps. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) and Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) have held marathon sessions, promising to stay into the night to answer every question. [...]Unless, of course, having legitimate questions answered isn't their goal at all.
“The goal of it is that no question is left unanswered,” said Jared Smith, Massa's spokesman. “People remain calm because they know they're going to be heard.”
But many are avoiding the classic auditorium-style town hall – which have hosted many of the most raucous exchanges – in favor of smaller events in coffee shops. Markey is among them, though Marter notes that “Congress on your corner” is a regular feature of the congresswoman’s trips home.That sounds reasonable, unless...
Markey, elected last year in a heavily Republican district, will meet with them in groups of 15 to 20 members, which removes much of the incentive for heckling and jeering. Marter said it's about expanding access.
“That way everyone gets to talk to Betsy face to face, and it's not just five people dominating the event,” Marter said.
But Cleaver found that a coffee shop can quickly overflow. [...] Cleaver extended his session by an hour and was able to talk one-one-one with about 75 people. But about 500 people had attended, so many went away without talking to him. [...]Another rule might be: If you act like a raving lunatic or rabid dog, you will be removed. Yeah, that could work.
Those waiting in line to talk to Markey will get a copy of Washington's “Rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation.” [...]
For example, Washington's first rule is “Every Action done in Company, ought to be with Some Sign of Respect, to those that are Present.”
Markey's update: “Respect one another. Don’t yell at people. Don’t hold a sign in front of someone’s face. You may not agree with what they say, but everybody deserves a right to speak.”
Oh really? /bangs head REPORT: The media have debunked the death panels -- more than 40 times over
By GottaLaff
The Town Hall mobs, the birthers, the teabaggers are all part of that long line of “coded” agitators for the notions of white entitlement and “conservative values.”Please go read the whole thing here.
[...] It also – and this is its hot molten core – fundamentally believes that white people are born with a divine advantage over people of other skin colors, and are chosen by God to lead the heathen hordes.
[...] Lies that confirm an emotionally reinforcing worldview – however heinous – become truths for those in psychological need of feeling superior and chosen.
Of course, when you start stirring the pot of race -- in order to preserve the status quo of entrenched power and wealth – you emerge with a stew of hate boiling over and ready to explode into full-fledged violence.
[...] Racism and the Neo-Confederacy are like a thermometer. The big media companies and their GOP allies can turn it up or down.
By GottaLaff
Gays already serve in integrated units. Twenty countries, including our allies Canada, Britain and Israel, allow gays to serve openly, and at times their troops serve with ours in integrated units. Nor is there a ban on openly gay contractors working with the military. Today, the U.S. stands embarrassingly alone in maintaining this costly fiction. [...]
Obama maintains that Congress should overturn the law rather than his doing so by executive order, and he's right. That way, a President Romney or, say, President Palin could not reinstate "don't ask, don't tell" with his or her own stroke of the pen. [...] But this is not 1993. Then, about 44% of Americans favored allowing gays to serve openly; last year, a Washington Post/ABC News poll put that number at 75%. And support is bipartisan: 64% of Republicans support a repeal.
The public is ready. The president should lead, and Congress should act.
By GottaLaff
Re "Dogs don’t care about dogma,” Opinion, Aug. 11***
I'm happy to read that Jonah Goldberg loves his dog, Cosmo; it somehow makes him more human. But does he realize there are millions of Americans who don't have access to the expensive and easily accessed medical care that Goldberg is able to provide for his pet?
I'm sure he and Cosmo did not spend an entire day sitting in some free-clinic waiting room, nor did they anxiously seek care at an emergency room. And of course Cosmo, regardless of any preexisting doggy conditions, was not denied medical treatment or the battery of tests necessary for these treatments, nor did he lose his coverage if he lost his job chasing balls in the doggy park. I begrudge Cosmo none of these advantages.
I like dogs very much. I just can't help thinking of the millions of Americans who would sure envy Goldberg's dog.
What a guy! Isn't Goldberg wonderful? How loving of Goldberg to take his dog to a neurologist. How wrong this liberal could be to think that a conservative doesn't have a heart.Once again, Jonah's in the L.A. Times dog house. He may have to flea for his life. Life's a bitch, ain't it?
I'm nauseated.
Goldberg's sweet column about taking his dog to a neurologist even though he is a conservative only shows how unfeeling he is. What about the parents who are told by their insurance company that they are not covered for a CAT scan for their child? What about the people who do not have insurance?
If true conservatives can think lovingly only of their animals and not of people, then we can only equate them as being heartless and uncaring toward people in need.
By GottaLaff
Our Trudeau fix:
Finally to the only thing I really wanted to post today, your Mad Men round up in anticipation of tomorrow night! W00T!! Above is the Season 2 refresher.
Mad Men Apartment Therapy
Mad Men Yourself!!
Inside Mad Men: Making of the Season 3 poster
Mad Men Trivia
Mad Men Fashion
ADDED- OMG, do not miss this- The Mad Men (And Women!) of Morning Joe
No, really, you think it's a parody then teh stupid explodes all over you.
Now conservative opponents of health reform have found a new threat: home nurse visits to low-income parents. "We are setting up a situation where Obama will be invading parent's [sic] homes and taking away their children," one columnist warned on RightWingNews.com. That something as harmless as home nurse visits has become a target of conservative ire is surprising because of its longstanding popularity with both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. But health reform advocates are scratching their heads at the attacks for another reason: funding for home nurse visits was largely included in health reform legislation to accommodate social conservatives.ADDED- So, I'm cruising thru the stations where I see this chryon on Fox (paraphrased from memory)- GOVERNMENT NURSES IN YOUR HOME: INDOCTRINATION OR GOOD RX?
(snip)
But that was before conservative anxiety over health reform reached its boiling point. In mid-July, Lindsey Burke at the right wing Heritage Foundation drew attention to the home visitation initiative, calling it a "troublesome provision...that would bring state workers into the homes of young families." Action hero and conservative activist Chuck Norris picked it up from there, penning a column sounding an alarm about "Obamacare's home intrusion and indoctrination family services, in which state agents prioritize houses to enter and enforce their universal values and principles upon the hearts and minds of families across America."
As with voluntary end-of-life-care counseling, optional home visits have morphed into "mandatory home inspections" in the words of health reform opponents, who charge that the provision is part of a "stealth agenda" to judge conservative parents unfit and remove their children into protective services. It's an unexpected evolution for a pioneering conservative idea.
I'm thinking this word "lie" should be used with a lot more frequency.
I'm liking this new fangled "diplomacy" thing the administration discovered, but I'm still not clear on why this guy was arrested.
WASHINGTON (AFP)– US Senator Jim Webb will fly out of Myanmar on Sunday with an American convicted to seven years imprisonment after securing his release from the military regime, Webb's office said in a statement Saturday.
(snip)
Webb, a Democrat who is close to US President Barack Obama, became the first US official to hold talks with junta leader Than Shwe and also held talks with detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
Webb said that the junta agreed to free US national John Yettaw, who was convicted along with Aung San Suu Kyi after the American swam uninvited to the Nobel laureate's lakeside home.
"Yettaw will be officially deported on Sunday morning," Webb's office said in the statement.
"Senator Webb will bring him out of the country on a military aircraft that is returning to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon," it said.
By GottaLaff
This is the happy-coolest video ever. Maybe it's my theater background, but I could watch it a million times. It is so feel-good, it makes you want to sing and dance and be utterly dorky for all four minutes:
This video was made in the Antwerp, Belgium Central (Train) Station on the 23rd of March 2009.So had you already seen it? I hadn't. And I lerved it.
With no warning to the passengers passing through the station, at 8:00 am a recording of Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system.
As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances.
They created this amazing stunt with just two rehearsals!!!
By GottaLaff
By GottaLaff
McClatchy joins Rachel Maddow in refuting all those Rushpublic punditiots on the Tee Vee Machine, and everywhere else for that matter:
Much of the money and strategy behind the so-called grassroots groups organizing opposition to the Democrats' health care plans comes from conservative political consultants, professional organizers and millionaires, some of whom hold financial stakes in the outcome. [...]Dickle Me Armey defends himself, laughably, here.The opposition groups' names sound catchy and populist: Patients First. Patients United. Americans for Prosperity. Conservatives for Patients' Rights. FreedomWorks. 60 Plus. Club for Growth.
Here's who's behind them:
Conservatives for Patients' Rights is led by health care entrepreneur Rick Scott, the co-founder of Solantic urgent care walk-in centers, which he's spread across Florida and is looking to expand. [...]
Scott left his job as CEO of the Columbia/HCA hospitals during a federal Medicare fraud probe in 1997 that led to a historic $1.7 billion settlement. He wasn't prosecuted and got a golden parachute. [...]
FreedomWorks, which has been advocating against the overhaul but has not launched TV ads, is chaired by Dick Armey, the former Republican majority leader of the House of Representatives from Texas.
But also noteworthy are the group's other backers and board members. They include billionaire flat-tax proponent and former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes; Richard J. Stephenson, who founded Cancer Treatment Centers of America, which offers alternative as well as standard therapies, sometimes not covered by insurance; and Frank M. Sands, Sr., chief executive officer of an investment management firm whose offerings include a Healthcare Leaders portfolio.
"They're on our board because they support lower taxes, less government and more freedom," said FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon. [...]
Patients First and Patients United are creations of a larger group called Americans for Prosperity. AFP's Web site describes a grassroots organization with more than 700,000 members that advocates "for public policies that champion the principles of entrepreneurship and fiscal and regulatory restraint."
It was started by billionaire David Koch, of the Koch Industries oil family, one of the country's top donors to conservative, free-market causes. The foundation's board includes Art Pope, a former North Carolina legislator also involved in conservative causes, whose family owns hundreds of discount stores.
Tim Phillips, AFP's president, is a former Republican congressional staffer who helped former Christian Coalition executive director Ralph Reed start up the consulting firm Century Strategies in the 1990s. Clients paid the firm to build Christian grassroots support for various business causes. That included work for since-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The group, along with FreedomWorks, was involved in promoting the anti-tax "tea parties" earlier this year. AFP also is organizing a campaign "exposing the ballooning costs of global warming hysteria." [...]
By Labor Day, he said, his group will have organized 600 rallies on health care. [...]
Two other grassroots groups have financed ads targeting peoples' fears that more government involvement would hurt seniors and hasten end-of-life decisions.
One of them, Club for Growth, which advocates lower taxes, is led by president Chris Chocola, a former Republican congressman from Indiana who lost his re-election bid in 2006. Club for Growth this week announced a $1.2 million ad campaign against a health care overhaul, to run in North Dakota, Colorado, Arkansas and Nevada.
The other, 60 Plus Association, is a conservative senior advocacy group that wants to abolish the estate tax. Singer Pat Boone is the group's national spokesman. Chairman Jim Martin started the group in 1992 with fund-raising help from conservative direct mail guru Richard Viguerie. It spent $1.5 million on TV ads opposing a healthcare overhaul in the last week.
Martin declined to identify his major donors. In 2006, he acknowledged that his group was getting funding from the pharmaceutical industry. But this year, pharmaceutical companies lead the spending spree on behalf of a health care overhaul.
By GottaLaff
Lawrence O'Donnell doesn't take no guff from no one, nohow, no way:
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
By GottaLaff
Just a taste.
My blow-by-blow liveblog of the entire town hall meeting, including Q and A is here.
UPDATE via CNN's Steve Brusk: Rep. Murtha predicts no health care deal before end of year, says members telling Pelosi "let's not rush this thing. Let's do it right"
By GottaLaff
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), one of six on the Senate Finannce Committee negotiating a bipartisan health care bill, "told an audience of 100 that he would not vote for a government-run health care program," the Jamestown Sun reports.
Instead, Conrad presented his "cooperative health care proposal" which "would offer a non-profit insurance option to compete with private health care. It would not be government run, he said."
TPM correctly notes that there is "still a question of whether he'd support a filibuster of a health care bill with a public option."
By GottaLaff
Former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) is resigning from DLA Piper law firm amid a wave of negative attention his grassroots organization, Freedom Works, has drawn for helping to organize protesters at health care town hall meetings with members of Congress.
[...] Armey said that he was concerned about the media scrutiny the health care protests were drawing to the firm he has been associated with since retiring from Congress.
As he should be.
“The firm is busy with its business, and shouldn’t be asked to take time out from their work, to defend themselves of spurious allegations,” Armey said. “No client of this firm is going to be free to mind its own business without harassment as long as I’m associated with it.”
He has a real flair for stating the obvious, doesn't he?
In a statement Armey said, “It is painful and frustrating to see a good, decent, able and effective partnership of honorable men and women and their clients attacked for things in which they are not involved simply because of their association with me. One would expect a higher degree of competence and professionalism from members of the media than spurious attacks on innocent bystanders.”
1. Somehow juxtaposing the words "innocent" and "Armey" doesn't cut it.
2. They weren't involved with astroturfing? Really? See: Show, The Rachel Maddow.
To that end, Armey, who had been with the law firm for six years, said that he intends to devote his full attention to FreedomWorks.
I wouldn't exactly characterize that as an upgrade.
“It is imperative for me, within the context of my life’s work in the defense of personal liberty against the encroachments of big government, to give my undivided attention to the work we do at FreedomWorks. In short, the threat to personal liberty in America is so serious and imminent at this time that it requires the full commitment of my efforts. While I consider it a personal sacrifice to leave DLA Piper, it is a sacrifice I must make in light of the important work I am committed to at FreedomWorks.”
What would we do with out Dickle Me to save us from Big Bad Obama? Without Dickle's selfless sacrifice, our very lives could be at stake! Democracy as we know it would die! In fact, we'd all die! We owe him our souls! God bless Dickle Me Armey! ::sniffle, snuffle, schmerfuggle, slobbergibble::
I'm sorry. I need a moment. I'm overwhelmed. I must go to my Quiet Place.
Armey told POLITICO he intends to counter misinformation about FreedomWorks’ role in the health care protests and said there have been no disruptions of any town hall meetings where his group has helped organize participants.
“That’s simply not true. We have always emphasized making a civil presentation. There’s been nobody at a town hall meeting who has been bused in, at least not by FreedomWorks.”
Take it away, Rachel! After all, he'll be on Meet the Press with you this Sunday.
Rather, he said, opposition over the prospect of government-run health care is organic.
As organic as say, astroturf? Of course, all that "organic" opposition has nothing to do with the promos, lists of emotionally charged talking points, and instructions fed to them.
This is one Armey that has nothing to do with intelligence, military or otherwise.
By GottaLaff
Good for them. They have a"real person" discussing her health issues, a cancer survivor. The signal keeps cutting out, so this won't be easy. The weather is the problem, says Tamron Hall.
Here's Prez O:
He's lauding Max Baucus. I cannot figure that one out, but okay.
Now he's lauding Montana and "it's moose, elk, but in DC... we have mostly bull... a nice change of pace." [applause]
He's referring to the cancer survivor, Katie. She's acting responsibly, but being penalized by those who aren't.
In New Hampshire, spoke of pre existing conditions. Now Katie had her policy revoked, even though she was paying premiums... This could be you [paraphrased]. Most of us have insurance, hope we stay healthy, but we're no different from Katie, held hostage by insurance companies.
It's wrong. We're going to fix it.
Tax cuts have already shown up, over 400,000 families. And we cut taxes on small businesses.
We've made health insurance 65% cheaper with COBRA. We saved 10s of 1000s of workers jobs.
The recovery plan is putting us on road to recovery, as we said it would. People on TV/cable shows have selective memory. We started with this mess, but now we're pulling out of it, but we're not out of the woods.
But this economy won't work without health care reform... [paraphrased] Every American needs security, peace of mind... This makes the debate an emotional one. A lot of attention paid to town halls, tempers flare.. TV loves a ruckus.
What you HAVEN'T seen on TV are the constructive meetings across the country... people having a civil, honest, often difficult convo... that's how democracy's supposed to work.
That reflects America a lot more than what's been covered the last few days.
#1: If you pay your premiums each month, and if a crisis comes, when you're most vulnerable, you can't be getting a call from insurance company saying your policy's been revoked! That can't be allowed to happen! [gives egregious examples of this happening]
#2: Can't deny coverage based on medical history/preexisting condition. We will hold insur. co's. accountable.
#3: We'll require co's to cover preventive care, colonoscopies, mammograms, because that saves lives.
If you don't have insur., you'll have affordable, quality options. If you do, you'll be secure, can keep what you have, keep your doctor. Gov't. won't meddle, but neither will insurance companies. [huge applause]
Under Max's proposals, tax credits for Montanans... a market place. Small businesses will be helped... without adding to deficit over next decade, by cutting waste and sweetheart deals by companies who don't want to help you.
We are closer than we've ever been in history to achieve reform. We have agreements from drug companies, AMA, AARP supports this policy agrees reform need to happen... but it's getting fierce because we're getting close. They try to scare the heck out of everybody. Happened before, it's happening now. We can't let them do it again, not this time. For all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary, risky is if we do nothing.
Deficit will grow, Medicare will go into red in less than a decade. Insurance co's will still discriminate... change is never easy. And it never starts in Washington, it starts with you... knock on doors, fight against the fear, spread the facts. This isn't about politics, it's about the American people.
Question time... nobody's been preselected or prescreened:
Q: I've been laid off. 2 kids with Medicaid. Have you looked at Canada, England? Can you pick and choose from them?
A: Amer's spend $5-6000 more than any other advanced nation, per person. If you have insur. through your job, it comes out of salary. You don't get raises. So we need to be more efficient, we're not healthier than them. They have single payer systems... or a socialized system in that gov't. owns the hospitals, hires drs. Netherlands = govt pays bill, but it's private drs and facilities. We need to come up with a uniquely Amer. way... I'm not in favor of their systems. Because most get insurance on the job. To change that would be disruptive, you'd lose what you have, it would be an entirely new system. So, we need the following: You can buy private insur. We'd give you tax credit, and provide a health care exchange. We'd make sure if you DO have insurance, you'd be protected from bad policies. If we do that, we can preserve the best of what we do have, but also make sure you're not as vulnerable. That's essentially what we're talking about... NOT socialized medicine, govt. coming between you and dr... not true.
Q: Medicare is great... it works well. But money doesn't grow on trees. Will Medicare get more expensive, less effective?
A: Medicare IS a govt. program... so those who hate govt programs and say leave my Medicare alone, I want to clarify that. Medicare needs changes in how the delivery system works, eliminate waste, then srs. will be vulnerable. So, benefits would stay the same, no rationing... We want to eliminate practices that aren't helping: subsidies to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage can be cut. $177 billion dollars can be used elsewhere. Another example: Hospitals keep getting reimbursed over and over even if they don't fix the problem (compares to auto shops). So give hospitals incentive: Charge one fee for overall treatment, until health problems are fixed.
Q: Single mom of 2, a student. Son is disabled, 11 years old, autistic, epileptic, diabetic. I rely on his Medicaid. What would happen to this?
A: You're a heroic mom, your son's lucky. If you qualify for Medicaid, he'd still qualify. No impact on that. Some reforms, delivery system, ex: encourage drs. to have fewer tests, email to all the specialists... that would save $. Benefits, qualifiers stay the same. May even expand Medicaid, but whole system needs to be smarter, more bang for buck. This includes preventive and wellness care. We have a disease care system, not health care system.
Q: NRA member. I believe in our Constitution. I get my news from cable, because I don't like the spin from other places. Baucus has been locked up in dark room trying to find $ for programs. We get bull. You can't tell us how you'll pay for this. You have no $. Only if you raise our taxes, you said you wouldn't.
A: I can't cover more people for free, you're right. We need resources. Overall, maybe $8-900 billion over 10 years.. a lot of money. About 2/3 can be obtained by what I mentioned. That's real $. Goes to patients, not insurance companies. [applause] But, your point is well taken. We need 1/3 more. $30 billion a year or so. Numbers change 'cause there's 5 bills right now. I promised I wouldn't raised your taxes if you make less than $250K a year. But people like me can pay more to help those who make less.
I said that when I campaigned. My original solution was: We could lower itemized deductions on my tax returns... Some disagree... I can afford it better than those making less. If we just did that.. JUST that... that would pay for health care. So, 2/3 we can get from eliminating waste. CBO agrees with that. Repubs agree. Other 1/3 have to find revenue, but not from middle class.
Some say, I don't care, no more taxes. I respect that. But the truth is, we gotta get over that we can have something for nothing. That's how we got into debt in first place. [big applause] Bush passed prescrip. drug bill... price tag was 100s of billions. We didn't pay for it. It got added on to deficit/debt. It amuses me sometimes when I hear opponents yell about how we can't afford this, when we're proposing to pay for it, but Bush didn't. [he never said "Bush"]. I do appreciate the respectful way you asked your question and I believe in the Constitution too.
Q: I lost my job. But thank you for health clinics, because I have new job. But lost insurance. How to fix that gap, when unemployed?
A: Stimulus helps that. Tax credit will help pay, to continue coverage [sorry, got a phone call, missed some], help businesses. Create a marketplace, lets you choose different plans, options. One option: public. [applause] Here's where the myth comes from. Let me inform you. The idea is, a govt. run plan that still charges you premiums, but govt. option wouldn't have same profit motive... a non profit, lower overhead, better deal. It's ONE option. Opponents: You can't have a level playing field, govt. drives private insur. away. That's a fair concern, especially if the public option were being subsidized by taxpayers... So it has to pay for itself. It's not a govt. takeover... everyone with private insurance can stay on it.
Q: Medicare pays about 94% of hospital cost. Medicaid: 84% or so. Private insurers get about 135% of cost and that makes up the difference. Will public option be underfunded?
A: Complicated area... Short answer: Medicare/caid shouldn't be squeezing providers for savings. We should change delivery system, smarter care, treat the illness instead of a million tests. Cure the patient. But we need to save money... We each spend about $1000 or so per family paying for uncompensated care... people w/o health insurance. You just don't see it on your bill. If we can help provide coverage, no emergency room, we can save.
Q: COBRA: Bldg. materials business... a lumber yard owner. I was forced to cut work force in half... I want to provide health insurance... COBRA doesn't apply to me, not enough employees. True of most Montanans. How do we eliminate discrimination against small employers?
A: Small businesses are as vulnerable as anyone. Baucus working hard on giving a substantial subsidy to help small businesses, allow their employees to get insurance. Small margins, no leverage. So: Allow them to buy into the exchange... use purchasing power of everyone in exchange. Also, give you a tax break. Nobody's talking about this. Small businesses have fastest job growth, so this will be an important component in bill that we pass.
Q: I sell individual health insurance. I've paid attention to this debate. The co's are in favor of reform, want to work with govt'. to provide insurance. Why did you switch from health CARE reform to health INSURANCE reform?
A: You're right, co's have tried to work with us. But, in some cases, we've seen funding in opposition by other co's. So I don't want to vilify them. Let's work with existing private system, but make sure certain practices that are tough on people .. change. Some reforms are very hard to achieve unless we have everyone covered. This is why insurance companies are with us. Since they can't cherry pick healthy folks, they take on more, and they'll have more customers. So, they're willing to join us. Everyone has a stake in it, then companies willing to make changes with us.
By GottaLaff
[A]nother of America's corporate sectors has decided to launch its own attack on the communication between congress people and their constituents.You can find the letters in their entirety here. I've grabbed screen shots of some of the excerpts.An internal memo obtained recently by Greenpeace USA details polluting interests’ plans to launch a nationwide Astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation at public events scheduled throughout the final weeks of recess before the Senate returns to debate the issue in September.
[...]
The objective of these rallies is to ... aim a loud message at those states’ U.S. Senators to avoid the mistakes embodied in the House climate bill and the Obama Administration’s tax increases on our industry. ... To be clear, API will provide the up-front resources to ensure logistical issues do not become a problem. This includes contracting with a highly experienced events management company that has produced successful rallies for presidential campaigns, corporations and interest groups. It also includes coordination with the other interests who share our views on the issues, providing a field coordinator in each state, conducting a comprehensive communications and advocacy activation plan for each state, and serving as central manager for all events.
It's no coincidence that "no cap and trade!" is being screamed at town halls that are supposed to be focused on health care.
By GottaLaff
Amy Sullivan: "You would think that if Republicans wanted to totally mischaracterize a health care provision and demagogue it like nobody's business, they would at least pick something that the vast majority of them hadn't already voted for just a few years earlier."Via Amy Sullivan, one more excerpt:
Remember the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, the one that passed with the votes of 204 GOP House members and 42 GOP Senators? Anyone want to guess what it provided funding for? Did you say counseling for end-of-life issues and care? Ding ding ding!!More like ding-dongs.
By GottaLaff
A Tweet from David Shuster:
By GottaLaff
A Twitter pal of mine sent me this video featuring her husband, Dr. Robert Fried. Please get this around, since so many people seem to need to be educated in an informative, rational, gentle way, about palliative care:
More of this composed, reasonable, compassionate communication, please... as opposed to this:Serious illness can pose many challenges for patients and their families: pain and other symptoms, uncertainty about goals of care, difficult choices regarding the type of treatment to receive. Palliative care focuses on supporting those who are struggling with such difficulties.
Specialists from the NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) Palliative Care Service are available at the request of attending physicians to assist in coordinating and managing the care of hospitalized patients. This may include:
[...] “An important part of what we offer is our time. Our job is to be infinitely patient. We will s all voices are heard and that patients and their family members get the support they needpend as much time as necessary to make sure.”
- Helping with strategies for easing pain and other symptoms
- Promoting communication between patient, family, and medical team about the goals and coordination of care
- Participating in difficult decisions about the use of medical procedures and technology
- Helping choose the most appropriate setting for a patient to receive care
- Robert Fried, MD, Medical Director, NorthShore Palliative Care Service
By GottaLaff
Paul Krugman:
“I am in this race because I don’t want to see us spend the next year re-fighting the Washington battles of the 1990s. I don’t want to pit Blue America against Red America; I want to lead a United States of America.” So declared Barack Obama in November 2007, making the case that Democrats should nominate him, rather than one of his rivals, because he could free the nation from the bitter partisanship of the past.BUT... well, you all know the "but". We've seen it all over the Tee Vee Machine for weeks. We've seen it at town hall meetings, in speeches, on FaceBook, and nasty, vile gatherings of corporate astroturfy TeaDeathers.
GObama... right now. Please. We can't afford to wait a minute longer.So much, then, for Mr. Obama’s dream of moving beyond divisive politics. The truth is that the factors that made politics so ugly in the Clinton years — the paranoia of a significant minority of Americans and the cynical willingness of leading Republicans to cater to that paranoia — are as strong as ever. In fact, the situation may be even worse than it was in the 1990s because the collapse of the Bush administration has left the G.O.P. with no real leaders other than Rush Limbaugh.
The question now is how Mr. Obama will deal with the death of his postpartisan dream.
So far, at least, the Obama administration’s response to the outpouring of hate on the right has had a deer-in-the-headlights quality. It’s as if officials still can’t wrap their minds around the fact that things like this can happen to people who aren’t named Clinton, as if they keep expecting the nonsense to just go away.
[...] It would certainly help if he gave clearer and more concise explanations of his health care plan. To be fair, he’s gotten much better at that over the past couple of weeks.
What’s still missing, however, is a sense of passion and outrage — passion for the goal of ensuring that every American gets the health care he or she needs, outrage at the lies and fear-mongering that are being used to block that goal.
So can Mr. Obama, who can be so eloquent when delivering a message of uplift, rise to the challenge of unreasoning, unappeasable opposition?
By GottaLaff
In past comments I talked about hate and fear in America. What I want to talk about is the fear being generated by the GOP in relation to Health Care Reform Bill; in particular as it pertains to “end of life” advance care planning.Well done and thank you, 42bkdodgr, you're on a roll.
Everyone likes to have quality of life when in good health, then why shouldn’t a person be able to decide for a quality of life they wish to have at the end-of-life. Having end-of-life counseling with your physician to discuss procedures that may be available to you for various types of illness, at a time when you may be unable to speak for yourself, is an important issue to be addressed. A living will provides for your end-of-life wishes and lifts the burden off your family to make such life and death decisions at an emotional time.
The proposed House of Representative Health Care Reform Bill has nothing in it about “a death panel” or “when to pull the plug on grandma”; it’s purely fear tactics.
I wonder if they ever lived through a period of seeing a loved one on a respirator, and knowing that even if they come off the respirator they will not have any quality of life. Do they want to see a loved one on a respirator for weeks on end, who is unable to communicate and has no awareness of their condition, but from the grimaces on their relatives face, you know they are experiencing agony and pain. Why would they want you to see a loved one in such a condition? Is this how they you want to remember a loved one for the rest of your life?
One of the more difficult decisions a family member has to make about a loved, if there is no living will, after considering the options given them by the attending physician, is how to end a loved one’s life. It is so heart wrenching that at times a feeling of guilt permanents one’s soul. If you haven’t been through it, it is hard to understand how it can affect family harmony. It can pit a parent against the children or siblings fighting with one another. No good can ever come from such a situation.
Having a living will is a step toward in letting a loved one die with dignity and it is not a step toward euthanasia. The politicians know this, but are more interested in scaring their constituents and trying to kill health care reform than doing what is best for the country. So why is the GOP against Americans having end-of-life counseling about the choices that may be available to them in considering the quality to one’s end of life?
I believe the first question to be asked of any Republican appearing on television to discuss healthcare reform is whether they have a living will. If they answer yes, the next question should be why they have one and why would they deny or attempt to scare their constituents from getting a living will through end of life counseling. It will be time for them put up or shut up on the issue of end-of-life counseling.
By GottaLaff
What would I do without my Doonesbury?
Nothing really to say about it, just found it interesting.
(CNN) -- Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme was released from federal custody Friday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons said.
Fromme was convicted in 1975 of pointing a gun at then-President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California.
She was released Friday morning from Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, said Felicia Ponce, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Washington.
I don't know how Media Matters keeps up with the bullshit.
No way that would sway the scale. Via Taegan.
"If there is any doubt that President Obama's plan to overhaul U.S. health care is the hottest topic in Congress, just ask the 3,300 lobbyists who have lined up to work on the issue," Bloomberg reports.
"That's six lobbyists for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate, according to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense. More than 1,500 organizations have health-care lobbyists, and about three more are signing up each day. Every one of the 10 biggest lobbying firms by revenue is involved in an effort that could affect 17 percent of the U.S. economy."
The way the man does a speech is unbelievable. Both Gotta and I watched the whole thing last night and were mightily impressed. The other parts are here, and thanks to FDL for getting it up so fast.
Now we just have to figure this g-d'd healthcare thing out.
The latest Economist/YouGov poll finds congressional job approval at a lowly 19% with a whopping 56% disapproving.
However, in a 2010 generic congressional ballot test, Democrats still lead Republicans by 10 points, 46% to 36%.
Steve Singiser: "If valid, this underscores how woeful the status of the GOP is at present, no matter the level of frustration voters may have with the progress on Capitol Hill."
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