VIDEO: "Can this doctor take this chicken to a gas station?"

By GottaLaff

Chickens for Check-Ups calls fowl on Chicken Sue (who, if you missed it, has backed off her inane, clucked-up bartering comments... sort of a poor man's Cash for Cluckers) with their first TV ad:




H/t: Greg Sargent

Sue Lowden finally chickens out: “Bartering Is Not A Policy”

By GottaLaff



Chicken Sue finally chickened out. Join me in the Chicken Dance to celebrate the end of her extended, and hilariously pathetic, clinging to the few feathers that remained of her health care barter system.


Via Greg Sargent:

[T]he candidate has now taken to her blog to clarify once and for all that she is not advocating for a chickens-for-checkups health plan:

I can understand why Harry Reid and his Washington allies and Hollywood friends are creating political theater rather than solving real problems. Bargaining, bartering and negotiating for health coverage is not a policy — it is a fact. It is occurring today and has been since the founding of our nation. If you want to see my policy on health care reform, it has been on my web page since last year -– and it remains there to this day. Nowhere in my health reform proposal do I discuss bargaining, bartering or negotiating, rather I offer real solutions that work without creating a new, government-run entitlement program that Nevadans don’t want and they cannot afford.

And people say Joe Biden has gaffe-itis.

Lobbyists spent nearly $1 billion in first quarter of 2010

By GottaLaff

We the people can barely afford lunch:

The first quarter of 2010 marked another frenzy for Washington lobbyists as corporations, unions and other interest groups spent nearly $1 billion in their attempts to sway Congress and the Obama administration.

I wish I could see it put another way.

To look at it another way: Interest groups spent $19 million for every day that the House or Senate was in session.

Be careful what you wish for.

Guess who took the lead... The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other Big Biz. They spent $139 million. I'm sure they were looking out for interests. They're such softies.

Big Health, Big Energy, and Big Finance were the other Big Spenders.

For more details, go here.

The Lowden Plan: Chicken Converter!

By GottaLaff

Little did Chicken Sue know that when she insisted on touting her Chickens for Chest X-Rays plan, she'd created her own Macaca Moment.

The yolks, er, jokes have been flying like hens running from foxes. Poor ol' Sue has egg on her face, and it doesn't look as if it's going to let up any time soon.

Presenting the Lowden Plan (click on images to enlarge):


Reading the fine print is a must. It's hilarious.

Go to the site and click on all the fun places.

H/t: HarborGuy

GOP state rep.: "I know someone in the medical field who has been paid with vegetables"

By GottaLaff

Chicken Sue of Barter, Inc.,has a soul mate! Lucky her. Now maybe she won't feel so alone. Wackiness loves company, after all.

Rep. Mike Bell (R-TN) and Democratic state Rep. Joe Towns were discussing a possible state law-- what else?-- nullifying the mandate included in the newly passed health care law.

The law that passed. Legally. The law of the land. That law.

Bell was going on about how some people do just fine without insurance, and have no problem paying with cash, even when hospitalized.

That would be some big hunk-o'-cash:

Towns: You're saying they pay cash? For organ transplants and cancer and heart cases, they pay cash?

Bell: I said they pay cash or work out other arrangements. I know for a fact. I know someone in the medical field who has been paid with vegetables from the Mennonite community.

Towns responded as we would have, that it's a little unrealistic to expect people to schlep bags of carrots and broccoli down to, say, the electric company in return for "juice" (Bad pun; bygones).

I, for one, brought a tomato to Macy's when they had a sale on socks. They insisted on turnips.

Oh, but I kid the mall.

But for the sake of argument...

Have either of these barter-happy nutballs figured out where places of business would store all the livestock (and the livestock's waste) and perishable edibles?

And why anyone would need, or want, 70 pounds of brussel sprouts instead of money?

And how would the doctors then pay their own bills, not to mention the additional costs of upkeep?

Those are some sharp political minds, speaking of vegetables....

Chickens for Check-Ups: The Website!

By GottaLaff

Last night I had a little fun with Sue Lowden's new and improved health care plan: Bring a chicken to the doctor in return for medical care.

For example, I bring a hen, or a copy of Al Franken's Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, and I get a proctological exam. Why didn't Congress think of that? It's right up their... alley.

So simple. So. Very. Simple.

Like the person who thought of it:

"Before we all started having health care, in the olden days, our grandparents, they would bring a chicken to the doctor," Lowden told a local news station. "They would say I'll paint your house." [...]

Lowden's campaign sent a letter to the Las Vegas Review-Journal Wednesday defending her stance and providing a testimonial of "Robin L. Titus, M.D." who claims that he has "bartered with patients -- for alfalfa hay, a bath tub, yard work and horse shoeing in exchange for my care." Her campaign has also been circulating an extensive background document explaining the perks of bargaining with your health care provider.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee didn't waste much time developing a Very Special Website touting Chicken Sue's idea. Let the mockitude begin (click on image to enlarge):

Yes, it's an interactive site where you can write your very own letter to Chicken Sue, clicking on your very own options!

I wrote in telling her I'm looking for a doctor for "ill humours" (no "sick humor" option), offering my best ranch hand in exchange for medical services rendered. And what a ranch hand he is! He's worth at least three physicals.

What could be simpler?

H/t: harborguy

VIDEO: The Lowden Chicken Dance

By GottaLaff

Sue Lowden is not Harry's kind of chick. What a strange bird she is. Hopefully, this video will get her into a peck o' trouble, because it is pretty darn "fowl":

Reid's campaign blasted the video clip out to reporters this afternoon (subject line: "Seriously ... Has Sue Lowden Lost Her Mind?").

Sue Lowden, the front-running Republican challenger to Sen. Harry Reid, yesterday doubled down on her idea that health care could be paid for using the barter system.

So if you bring a pigeon, you only get your blood pressure taken? If you bring a hyena, you get a full-on physical?

What if you bring a moose? You get the Sarah Palin special? That would be half a check up during which the doctor quits in the middle.

The Santorum special is the trade-off for a poodle.

Oh, but I kid the feather-brain. I'm sure she's a good egg.

No I'm not.

What a dumb cluck. And the worst part is that she will most likely win.

Bobby Jindal: I won't run for president

By GottaLaff

From February 2009:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Shorter Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal: There is no way in hell I can win.

Why? There are any number of reasons, the least of which is how he's destroying access to mental health care in his own state.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal told a hometown crowd Friday that he will not make a bid for the White House.

"I am not running for president of the United States,"Jindal said at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference. "I've got the job I want."

And the job he wants is privatizing health care and destroying lives in the process.

Rachel's initial reaction to Ba-ba-Bobby back in 2009 still works today:

New Orleans has mental health care problem. Bobby Jindal makes it worse... again.

By GottaLaff

State Representative Neil Abramson (D) New Orleans and Bobby Jindal

I post as often as I can about Rep. Neil Abramson's valiant efforts to maintain, at a minimum, decent (mental) health care for Katrina victims, and of course other patients, in New Orleans. It's been an ongoing struggle with that stellar speaker and compassionate Louisiana governor, Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal.

Jindal has recently cut mental health care in Mandeville, which was supposed to replace the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH).

Last year, Jindal and Levine wanted to close NOAH and move everything over to a hospital in Mandeville. Neil blocked the move by amending the state budget bill, but Jindal line-item vetoed it, meaning NOAH would indeed be closed.

Back in 1981, a deal was made that said the property would used for "general health care" services for 30 years, until the end of 2011. Before Hurricane Katrina, it primarily housed inpatient care for mentally ill kids and teens.

Here's the latest:

After losing his fight last year to keep New Orleans Adolescent Hospital open as an inpatient mental health facility, Rep. Neil Abramson has returned this year trying to ensure that the Uptown campus at least continues to house some kind of health-care operations.

This time, Abramson, D-New Orleans, and state Health Secretary Alan Levine, the architect of closing NOAH, are on the same side, agreeing on a compromise bill that would accomplish Abramson's aim while satisfying the state's effort to aid Children's Hospital expansion. [...]

The bill would block the state from selling the NOAH campus [...] for at least a year. Thereafter, any buyer would have to provide health care or health-care education on the campus. If the buyer failed to meet that burden, Abramson said, the state would reclaim the property. The state would be free to lease the property immediately, as long as a tenant honored the health-care use requirement.

Neil Abramson continues to fight for those in dire need, who have nowhere to go, who see their options dwindling to nothing.

Bobby Jindal, on the other hand, has other priorities (read: privatization) which apparently don't include access to mental health care. So much for Returning to America's Core Values.

Video- Fox's Napolitano and Asman push conspiracy theory that Obama is creating a civilian army of health care workers

Ooooh, scary nurse's aides and lpns! Via Media Matters.

Jindal the Swindle

By GottaLaff

Here is Jindal turning down a stimulus check. Oh wait.

I have posted a lot about what GOP Governor Ba-Ba-Ba-Bobby Jindal is doing to health care in his state. You can find all of those posts here and here, including my exclusives with State Representative Neil Abramson (D) New Orleans.

Now Jindal wants to end the statewide Charity Hospital System, which has been around for a very, very, long, long time time.

And if that's not bad enough, he's cutting mental health care in Mandeville, which was supposed to replace the New Orleans Adolescent Hospital (NOAH).

His forthcoming book, On Solid Ground: Returning to America's Core Values, has a rather misleading title, under the circumstances.

Privatize, privatize, privatize:

[...] Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration is seeking to put its stamp on state government this spring by privatizing a broad range of state services.

The changes, many of which will be up for debate in the three-month legislative session that starts Monday, would affect everything from insurance claims processing and prison pharmacies to the way Louisiana cares for its mentally ill and people with developmental disabilities. They would shift hundreds of state jobs to the private sector.

And while some of the changes are relatively minor -- such as a plan to save $1.3 million by outsourcing lab services at the Department of Environmental Quality -- others are likely to impact the state for years to come. [...]

In mental health, for example, the administration is proposing what officials say are the biggest changes to the state's mental health system in generations.

There is a lot more at the links to this article and to my earlier posts. He has cut health care for so many in need, so many Katrina victims, and now he's compounding the damage.

And to think this man has presidential aspirations...

H/t: NolaTalk

Right-wing blogger Dan Riehl: "Isn't It Time To Euthanize Reid's Wife?"

By GottaLaff

You're all well aware of the serious automobile crash that Harry Reid's wife and daughter recently experienced. Mrs. Reid has suffered very serious, longterm injuries. I can't imagine the pain she must be in.

Alan Colmes just pointed me to a post about it... a nasty, disgusting post. Dan Riehl needs to be exposed for the heartless sicko that he is:

If Democrats want so badly to abort babies [...] why are we bothering with someone who has a broken neck and back at 69? It sounds to me like she's pretty well used up and has probably been living off the taxpayers for plenty of years [...]

I don't see that she's worth it at this point, frankly. I can't recall her ever doing anything for me.

And it is, after all, all about Danny Boy, who seems pretty "used up" himself.

Yes, it's all about him: The car accident. The frantic worry about Reid's family. The horror and physical suffering. Wow, how could that insensitive Landra Reid allowed herself to end up hospitalized after all Riehl has done for her?

Come on, Harry - do your civic duty. [...] Pull the plug and get back to work. And don't bill us for a full day today, either. [...] Air freight her home, you can bury her during recess on your own time and dime. Or are you going to bill us for that, too?

I'd love the media to get hold of this story and put this guy out of business, allowing him to join the ranks of the unemployed.

That way he could very well find himself without medical coverage. Wouldn't that be ironic?

Then let's see how he'd feel about the pain of living in the Riehl world.

UPDATE: Celtic Diva has more.

VIDEO: Let's all move to Canada... Plus bonus Sarah Palin lie #57473734!

By GottaLaff

The whole video by my Twitter pals Lester and Charlie (aka bondwooley) had me laughing, but the real fun starts at about 1:38:



Let's all move to Canada.

Meantime, Gryphen caught Doozy McBaldFace in yet another fib:

In the above link Palin claims that while living in Skagway her brother was burned and they took him to the town of Whitehorse, in Canada, for treatment. However in an article written in the Skagway News around May 0f 2007 (Using the guilty plea of the VECO executives as a reference point), Palin tells a completely story: Her brother burned his foot badly jumping through a fire, and her mother had to take him down to Juneau on the ferry to the hospital.

Well gee which story is true? Did brother Chuck get medical treatment in Juneau or Whitehorse? Or are we to believe Chuck was terribly accident prone and needed to be treated for burns multiple times, in a variety of locations?

Tsk tsk tsk. Doozy must have forgotten to jot down those oh-so-essential hand notes.

Immorality of the Right: Special Comment by my 72-year-old friend

By GottaLaff

My impassioned 72-year-old Twitter pal, who goes by the name 42bkdodgr, would like to share his feelings about the way the GOP has (mis)behaved lately. I am more than happy to oblige.

But first, a personal note from 42bkdodgr:

Many of you may wonder why I chose to use the “ 72 year old friend” as the introduction to my Special Comments. I selected the moniker so readers could see that from my age and life experiences I give a different perspective to the issues of today.

Now for his Special Comment:

Immorality Of The Right

For some time I have given much thought about writing a Special Comment on the Immorality of the Right. There are so many topics that could be covered in such an article, such as their positions on (a) health care, (b) women’s rights and (c ) gay rights. But a couple of things happened in the last few days that really shows, the immorality of the Republicans.

Unemployment Insurance coverage and COBRA benefits ends for many Americans on February 28, and they need Congress to approve extensions of both programs for their benefits to continue.

Yet there stands Sen. Jim Bunning, single-handily blocking a unanimous consent vote of the Senate for a 30 day extension of coverage. The Senate needs this time period to address the issue of continuing the benefits of the long term unemployed for the remainder of the year.

It is estimated that 1.2 million Americans will lose their benefits, which they surely need, if both extensions aren‘t approved. Sen. Bunning is against extending the benefits as it will increase the country's deficit by $10 billion unless there is an offset to it.

Yesterday, Sen. Bunning received the support of Sen. John Cornyn who said "I admire the courage of the junior senator from Kentucky... Somebody has to stand up finally and say, ‘No more inter-generational theft!’"

I have to wonder: Where were their concerns about the growing deficit during the Bush Administration?

You may say, these are only two Republicans who seem to be against the extension of benefits. My response is, the Republican leadership knows how important this extension is for the American people, and they could have put the clamps on Senator Bunning if they so desired, but their silence is deafening. Is it any wonder why Senator Reid took these items out of the jobs bill?

The Senate has recessed for the weekend without taking any action on the extension of benefits; which mean thousands of Americans will wake up Monday morning without any funds to pay their bills, and many will be without any health coverage.

By not extending COBRA coverage, the Republicans just increased the number of Americans without any health insurance. Just what this country doesn’t need, more people foregoing medicines and doctor visits while putting more stress on our emergency rooms.

What the Republicans fail to realize is, their inaction will not only affect those receiving benefits, but also their immediate family members. In many cases those unemployed are receiving financial assistance from their parents, and some have moved in with their parents because they can no longer afford either the rent or mortgage payment.

In many instances their parents are senior citizens who are trying to deal with our tough economic times and now will have a greater burden placed upon them. The additional people affected is never discussed by our politicians or the media. When they say 1.2 million American will be affected, it is much greater than that, by an unknown numerical factor.

Today is a very sad day for America, when Republicans show they have very little care for people in need. I wonder how they can look themselves in the mirror?

Republicans are the modern day Neros: They fiddle away their time while the country crumbles to the ground.

Many thanks again for another thoughtful, relevant piece, 42bkdodgr. You often say what many of us are thinking and feeling, and we thank you for your unique perspective.

House votes overwhelmingly to repeal antitrust exemption for health insurers

By GottaLaff

Guess who were the only votes NO?

Correct!

The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to repeal the antitrust exemption currently granted to health insurance companies.

The vote was 406-19 to repeal the exemption, which has been in place since the end of World War II. The 19 who voted against the repeal are all Republicans.

Take a bow:

---- NAYS 19 ---

Akin Boehner Brady (TX) Broun (GA) Buyer Franks (AZ) Garrett (NJ)

Jenkins Jordan (OH) King (IA) Lamborn Linder Moran (KS) Paul

Price (GA) Ryan (WI) Sensenbrenner Tiahrt Westmoreland

---- NOT VOTING 8 ---

Barrett (SC) Blunt Dingell

Hoekstra Pitts Radanovich

Reichert Stark

Anthem Blue Cross broke law more than 700 times, official says

By GottaLaff

These are the people that are causing us to die, and pay the big bucks for the privilege:

California's largest for-profit health insurer violated state law more than 700 times over a three-year period by failing to pay medical claims on time and misrepresenting policies to customers, the state's insurance commissioner said Monday.

Anthem Blue Cross could face fines of up to $7 million stemming from the alleged violations from 2006 to 2009. Commissioner Steve Poizner said that the insurer repeatedly failed to respond to state regulators in a "reasonable time" as they investigated complaints over the last year.

(Up to) $7 million dollars is a drop in the bucket to these thugs. They keep stealing our money, we keep getting sick.

Lose, lose.

Who has socialized health care again? Sarah Tripps up

By GottaLaff

Shannyn Moore has the yummy details about how Preachy McDeathPanel's grandson is covered by socialized health care.

Hyp. O. Crite.

Here is the proof, in part:

Shannyn has Moore.

See what I did there? Wink.


Oh, and did you hear? She lost the big CPAC straw poll.

Vets wrongly charged for free care, IG finds

By GottaLaff

Unacceptable:

Veterans seeking treatment for sexual trauma suffered in the military may have been improperly charged co-payments by the Veterans Affairs Department, according to a new report from the VA inspector general.

The report, issued Thursday, has resulted in a change in billing practices and a promise that anyone charged for mental health counseling or treatment for physical health conditions could get his or her money back. [...]

A review found that of 250 veterans treated for sexual trauma, 86 were billed for services.

While investigators looked only at the Texas clinic, the problems could have happened elsewhere, the report says.

“I am concerned that some veterans may still be charged for care they should receive for free, unnecessarily adding complications to the recovery process,” Akaka said in a statement. “However, I am pleased that VA’s leadership is ordering changes system-wide as the Inspector General recommended. I will continue to monitor this issue.”

Kudos for changing the system, but these veterans should not have had their recovery "complicated". Their trauma should not have been compounded by "problems that could have happened elsewhere." They've been through enough.

H/t: IanDavidB, TexBetsy

VIDEO: Scott Brown's Lawyer Refused to Answer Question on Not Providing Health Coverage To Campaign Staff

By GottaLaff

Previously, I posted about whether or not Scotty Brown provided his campaign staff with health care coverage.



But when asked directly, his lawyer blew off questions about it:

Scott Brown's lawyer, Dan Winslow, refuses to answer question about Scott Brown not providing health coverage to his campaign staff and failing to pay payroll taxes at Mass. GOP headquarters press conference.

So why all the secrecy?

Obama plan funds nurse visits to new moms

It was another campaign promise that the President is living up to, for those who are keeping score.

As a candidate, Mr. Obama touted the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP), founded in the late 1970s by psychologist David Olds.

"This program saves money," Mr. Obama said in 2007. "It raises healthy babies and creates better parents. It reduced childhood injuries and unintended pregnancies, increased father involvement and women's employment, reduced use of welfare and food stamps, and increased children's school readiness. And it produced more than $28,000 in net savings for every high-risk family enrolled in the program.

"I will expand the Nurse-Family Partnership to provide at-home nurse visits for up to 570,000 first-time mothers each year," Mr. Obama promised. "We can do this. Our God is big enough for that."

The Obama administration kept its word. Its first budget called for a home-visitation program for new mothers costing $8.6 billion over 10 years. The home-visit program is now embedded in health care reform, costing $750 million over five years in the House bill and $1.5 billion in the Senate bill. The bills are being merged.

But, as usual, the fundies read scary things into a program that should be as non-controversial as telling someone to brush their teeth-

The program could increase "matriarchal dominance" in poor neighborhoods already awash with absent-father homes, said Gordon E. Finley, a psychology professor at Florida International University who writes on gender roles.

Most nurses are women, he said, so it would mean more women advising women, without necessarily considering the fathers. And because nursing is a female-dominated sector, the program means more jobs for women, but not men.

The program may bring "biases of the medical community into the home," said E. Christian Brugger, an ethicist and senior fellow at Culture of Life Foundation. The medical community, for instance, has a bias against large families - women in maternity wards who have delivered a second child are "routinely asked" whether they want to be sterilized, he said.

Someone sounds a little afeared of the women folk, don't they?