I have a picture in my mind from the old wartime (WW2) b&w movies.
Jesus asks a sick man for his papers, in a German accent.
Then he decides whether he is sufficiently human to heal him.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Dear Mr. Obama
I just clicked off that latest WH email without reading half of it.
You are going to lose this thing, son, if that's the best you can do...
Too wonky. I'm wonky and I have trouble reading it all.
My stupid friend B___ (see my commentary on conservative FWDs from a few posts past...) wouldn't be able to get through the first paragraph.
(Hell, half of North Carolina doesn't even know that Hawaii is a state!)
Get real. Call a liar a liar.
Read the individual lies out loud from the radio, television, and forwards so the masses will recognize what they've heard.
Then counter each one in down to earth language so the masses will understand how they were manipulated.
Take your time - you have a month of days - kill each lie and uncover the liars publicly by name.
Take off the gloves.
Be inexorable, unceasing, focused.
Let people know that there are 5 bills.
One is not out of the Senate committee yet because the GOP was striving mightily to delay. That was documented as part of their strategy.
The mouthpieces who say they've read The Bill are liars. There is no 'BILL'.
The GOP needed the summer break to turn it all into a ball of confusion.
When powerful people say there are death panels or rationing or euthanasia, or sharing with the people who illegally pick our produce, tell them to support their claims.
You can look up online and download a couple of the bills.
I'm personally behind either HR676 or the Weiner resolution. All or nothing. Bet the house.
We have a chance for greatness here, Obama.
Probably the last chance to do something really great in our generation.
I'm personally willing, as a left-wing socialist, to make this deal with the GOP:
I'd take the baby-killing out of all legislation, so they can't use that as their know-nothing fall back position. You can't understand from Washington, D.C. how the folks out here in the boonies stick their fingers in their ears and hum when you speak. You 'kill babies'.
Non-profits can take up the slack on providing abortions.
That's all I'd give them.
Draw a line in the sand. Make history.
What will distinguish this Empire from the rest?
That We The People took care of the least among us?
You are going to lose this thing, son, if that's the best you can do...
Too wonky. I'm wonky and I have trouble reading it all.
My stupid friend B___ (see my commentary on conservative FWDs from a few posts past...) wouldn't be able to get through the first paragraph.
(Hell, half of North Carolina doesn't even know that Hawaii is a state!)
Get real. Call a liar a liar.
Read the individual lies out loud from the radio, television, and forwards so the masses will recognize what they've heard.
Then counter each one in down to earth language so the masses will understand how they were manipulated.
Take your time - you have a month of days - kill each lie and uncover the liars publicly by name.
Take off the gloves.
Be inexorable, unceasing, focused.
Let people know that there are 5 bills.
One is not out of the Senate committee yet because the GOP was striving mightily to delay. That was documented as part of their strategy.
The mouthpieces who say they've read The Bill are liars. There is no 'BILL'.
The GOP needed the summer break to turn it all into a ball of confusion.
When powerful people say there are death panels or rationing or euthanasia, or sharing with the people who illegally pick our produce, tell them to support their claims.
You can look up online and download a couple of the bills.
I'm personally behind either HR676 or the Weiner resolution. All or nothing. Bet the house.
We have a chance for greatness here, Obama.
Probably the last chance to do something really great in our generation.
I'm personally willing, as a left-wing socialist, to make this deal with the GOP:
I'd take the baby-killing out of all legislation, so they can't use that as their know-nothing fall back position. You can't understand from Washington, D.C. how the folks out here in the boonies stick their fingers in their ears and hum when you speak. You 'kill babies'.
Non-profits can take up the slack on providing abortions.
That's all I'd give them.
Draw a line in the sand. Make history.
What will distinguish this Empire from the rest?
That We The People took care of the least among us?
Bush's Plan to Kill Medicare. This is only part 2.
We've all read in The Bible how Jesus checked people's insurance carrier before he healed, and of course, would heal no immigrant without documentation.
Remember this, let's call it Kill Medicare, Part 1?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Prescription_Drug,_Improvement,_and_Modernization_Act
From Wikipedia, with my comments in blue.
:
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (Pub.L. 108-173, 117 Stat. 2066, also called Medicare Modernization Act or MMA) is a law of the United States which was enacted in 2003.[1] It produced the largest overhaul of Medicare in the public health program's 38-year history.
(Did you hear a peep or a squeak from town hall Nazis screaming about the huge changes being wrought upon their beloved Amerika?)
The MMA was signed by President George W. Bush on December 8, 2003, after passing in (a GOP) Congress by a close margin.
One month later, the ten-year cost estimate was boosted to $534 billion, up more than $100 billion over the figure presented by the Bush administration during Congressional debate. The inaccurate figure helped secure support from fiscally conservative Republicans who had promised to vote against the bill if it cost more than $400 billion. It was reported that an administration official, Thomas A. Scully, had concealed the higher estimate and threatened to fire Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster if he revealed it.[2] By early 2005, the White House Budget had increased the 10-year estimate to $1.2 trillion.[3]
(Wasn't that just Bush's M.O.? Remember when he sold his Neocon Optional Invasion of a Small Country to the nation by minimizing the initial cost estimate, to the extent that he fired Larry Someoneorother for his WAY LOW estimate... and now we ultimately own that small destroyed country to the tune of a Trillion (which is still a low estimate according to Joe Stiglitz.)
Former US Comptroller General David M. Walker has called this "...probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s... because we promise way more than we can afford to keep." [4]
Reaganomic chickens, coming home to roost.
Remember this, let's call it Kill Medicare, Part 1?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_Prescription_Drug,_Improvement,_and_Modernization_Act
From Wikipedia, with my comments in blue.
:
The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (Pub.L. 108-173, 117 Stat. 2066, also called Medicare Modernization Act or MMA) is a law of the United States which was enacted in 2003.[1] It produced the largest overhaul of Medicare in the public health program's 38-year history.
(Did you hear a peep or a squeak from town hall Nazis screaming about the huge changes being wrought upon their beloved Amerika?)
The MMA was signed by President George W. Bush on December 8, 2003, after passing in (a GOP) Congress by a close margin.
One month later, the ten-year cost estimate was boosted to $534 billion, up more than $100 billion over the figure presented by the Bush administration during Congressional debate. The inaccurate figure helped secure support from fiscally conservative Republicans who had promised to vote against the bill if it cost more than $400 billion. It was reported that an administration official, Thomas A. Scully, had concealed the higher estimate and threatened to fire Medicare Chief Actuary Richard Foster if he revealed it.[2] By early 2005, the White House Budget had increased the 10-year estimate to $1.2 trillion.[3]
(Wasn't that just Bush's M.O.? Remember when he sold his Neocon Optional Invasion of a Small Country to the nation by minimizing the initial cost estimate, to the extent that he fired Larry Someoneorother for his WAY LOW estimate... and now we ultimately own that small destroyed country to the tune of a Trillion (which is still a low estimate according to Joe Stiglitz.)
Former US Comptroller General David M. Walker has called this "...probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s... because we promise way more than we can afford to keep." [4]
Reaganomic chickens, coming home to roost.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Harry, Louise and Barack
Is this the end for Harry and Louise?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 10, 2009
Harry and Louise were the fictional couple who appeared in advertisements run by the insurance industry in 1993, fretting about what would happen if “government bureaucrats” started making health care decisions. The ads helped kill the Clinton health care plan, and have stood, ever since, as a symbol of the ability of powerful special interests to block health care reform.
But on Saturday, excited administration officials called me to say that this time the medical-industrial complex (their term, not mine) is offering to be helpful.
Six major industry players — including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a descendant of the lobbying group that spawned Harry and Louise — have sent a letter to President Obama sketching out a plan to control health care costs. What’s more, the letter implicitly endorses much of what administration officials have been saying about health economics.
Read it here:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/opinion/11krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Is this the end for Harry and Louise?
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 10, 2009
Harry and Louise were the fictional couple who appeared in advertisements run by the insurance industry in 1993, fretting about what would happen if “government bureaucrats” started making health care decisions. The ads helped kill the Clinton health care plan, and have stood, ever since, as a symbol of the ability of powerful special interests to block health care reform.
But on Saturday, excited administration officials called me to say that this time the medical-industrial complex (their term, not mine) is offering to be helpful.
Six major industry players — including America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a descendant of the lobbying group that spawned Harry and Louise — have sent a letter to President Obama sketching out a plan to control health care costs. What’s more, the letter implicitly endorses much of what administration officials have been saying about health economics.
Read it here:http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/11/opinion/11krugman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Monday, August 03, 2009
Last week there was a charity sponsored giveaway of medical-dental care in a depressed rural area that drew huge crowds of the under served population, and it even temporarily made the national news. But who knows what news providers, if any, our Congressmen pay attention to. Maybe they missed the story.
My idea to reach these supposed representatives of the people is to enlist volunteer health care providers, doctors, dentists, public health nurses - to run free clinics, 24/7, on the Capital steps, in front of the great marble memorials, the White House lawn, until the job gets done. Volunteers can bus in the under served, uninsured, the poor. There is no shortage of the needy.
On their down time, the health providers and recipients of their charity can visit their Congressmen to tell them of real life outside the Beltway. We need some pictorials of lines for charity in the richest nation on earth to counter the conservative photos of Canadians waiting on line for treatment.
Middle Class taxes might rise to cover helath care for all
Today I read that in the AP.
Prez O. has said over and over that only people making over $350,000 a year would be taxed to make up the shortfall. Now, exactly who is speaking truth? Or is the AP unsure about what is a middle class salary in America?
Prez O. has said over and over that only people making over $350,000 a year would be taxed to make up the shortfall. Now, exactly who is speaking truth? Or is the AP unsure about what is a middle class salary in America?
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Put up or shut up time?
New York Democrat Representative Anthony Weiner introduced a very short piece of non-pork legislation:
Since the Congress has determined Medicare part B,C and D to be a socialist, single payer program we will eliminate eligibility and benefits effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Not one single member of the House voted for this bill.
Also, for the Birthers among us, not one member of Congress voted against the honoring of the State of Hawaii "the birthplace of our President"...
Since the Congress has determined Medicare part B,C and D to be a socialist, single payer program we will eliminate eligibility and benefits effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Not one single member of the House voted for this bill.
Also, for the Birthers among us, not one member of Congress voted against the honoring of the State of Hawaii "the birthplace of our President"...
Disclaimer
... after re-reading my Christian friend's diatribe, I'd like to make it clear, I have never worshipped an idol, or killed a baby except by bombs.
Humble, indeed.
Please let me know... beside the 'Religulous' mumbo-jumbo in the previous post, did B____ say anything substantive about health care?
An added note - B____'s husband, who calls himself Reverend Ch_____, is in the UAW working one of those lazy s.o.b. union chair warmer jobs*, while collecting a full Generous Motors paycheck as the company spirals down. Wouldn't you think her living on that devil's bargain would put her and the Rev in the SOCIALIST camp?
(*"people who are in a position to know" tell me the Rev is one of the worst caricatures of anti-union propaganda, always taking every offer of paid time off, shop rules, and so on...)
Does anyone but me remember back when the late Saint Ronnie said people who were homeless are that way because they choose to be?
Humble, indeed.
Please let me know... beside the 'Religulous' mumbo-jumbo in the previous post, did B____ say anything substantive about health care?
An added note - B____'s husband, who calls himself Reverend Ch_____, is in the UAW working one of those lazy s.o.b. union chair warmer jobs*, while collecting a full Generous Motors paycheck as the company spirals down. Wouldn't you think her living on that devil's bargain would put her and the Rev in the SOCIALIST camp?
(*"people who are in a position to know" tell me the Rev is one of the worst caricatures of anti-union propaganda, always taking every offer of paid time off, shop rules, and so on...)
Does anyone but me remember back when the late Saint Ronnie said people who were homeless are that way because they choose to be?
Why I don't do phone banks any more
The following email exchange with a conservative friend is illustrative of the level of discourse in America today.
First - yesterday I received a FWD. (Danger, Will Robinson!)I should have known better than to 1. open it, and 2. reply.
BTW, this was forwarded to 29 people.
Fwd: White House contact information to let our thoughts be heard - MEG
sad
-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj: White House contact information to let our thoughts be heard - MEG
Date: 7/29/2009 6:02:55 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
To:
Sent from the Internet (Details)
These are contact info for the White House. We need to let them know what we think about this "Health" care (?) plan.
Below is what I put in this link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/?ec=9
1 - I am very concerned about the stopping/reducing the benefits for elderly. The fact that our country would actually mandate counseling for "end of life" processes. Please explain to me how not treating our elderly is progress. Please rethink the treating of the elderly as expendable just because they may not be "contributing" to the economy! 2. This plan will bring with it the long wait for medical care as in other countries that have this type of “health” plans. This is a big ! This plan is only positive for anyone who does not have health care currently. Something is better than nothing. That is not the case for those of us that have been working and paying for our health care and want to have a choice in whether we get treatment or not and when. 3 - There is no way this can happen without higher taxes for the few of us that are still working.
You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Please include your e-mail address
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
Regards,
Mary Ellen
Here was my reply to only the fwd-er:
Hi _____,
Perhaps this person should have listened to the town hall meeting to hear the President set the record straight, instead of listening to the folks who are trying to scare us with made-up lies?
and:
Our corporate owned for-profit health care system is already broken. If you are worried about a higher tax, then you must be making more than $350,000 a year.
We spend over $2.3 trillion, or $7,500 per capita, for healthcare in the US, yet 42% of people under 65 have inadequate or no insurance coverage. My son included.
At least 18,000 of them die unnecessarily each year as a result. My brother included.
Every other industrialized country in the world makes sure its population has access to basic healthcare. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a human right.
Health care should not be rationed -as it is now, by the profit motive. W.W.J.D?
28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems like the type proposed in H.R. 676 - privately delivered health care, publicly financed - and none spend as much per capita on health care as the United States. The United States ranks near the bottom among industrial countries in indicators from life expectancy (20th) to infant mortality (23rd).
Under H.R. 676, a family of four making the median income of $56,200 would pay about $2,700 in payroll tax for all health care costs. No deductibles, no co-pays, no worrying about catastrophic coverage.
The services covered include primary care, inpatient, outpatient and emergency hospital care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, hearing, dental and vision care, chiropractic treatment, mental health services, and long-term care.
Physicians for a National Health Program estimates the nation could save over $286 billion dollars a year in total health care costs. That's enough to cover all the uninsured and provide full prescription drug coverage for everyone in the United States.
60% of physicians now support a national, single-payer health insurance system for everyone. HR 676 has been endorsed by 463 union organizations in 49 states including 116 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO's.
AND, I sent this link (only) to the whole freakin' list:
AARP had a town hall meeting on this issue. You can watch it here:
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/articles/townhall.html?cmp=NLC-ADVOCATE-0709
I preferred watching the CSPAN town hall meeting held at a Kroger store a few days ago. These Q&A sessions should calm your mind about the lies being spread about elderly care rationing. Our platinum plated, profit-driven private health care system which only serves some of us, and the results are very shameful indeed compared to other countries. We are way down the list on life expectancy and infant mortality among other indicators. WWJD doesn't hold much sway with industry lobbyists and the Heritage Foundation.
Does anyone remember when President Bush traveled the nation (they advertised it as 60 town halls in 60 days) to kill Social Security and vetoed the SCHIP that extended health care to children of the working poor? I wonder how many of us would really like to get rid of Social Security and Medicare tomorrow... and rely on Wall Street or our life savings hidden under the mattress.
You might be interested in this page:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/?e=9&ref=text2
B____ replied to me:
In a message dated 8/1/2009 6:29:40 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _____ writes:
I dont think we would agree on this issue. I love america it sure is better then any life style in a third world country. we can work and have health care. Other country teach them to not work as we are teaching a lazy ss. that can stay home and have babys to get buy .yes we need health care for no ins. familys a problem not yet solved might never be. our son lives at home and can not find a job soon to loose his ins. and no money to go to college so his car is in the garage. our system is confusing.
This is a subtle but common Republican insult to anyone who doesn't agree with them.
You are not as good an American as they are.
So, I replied to B____:
B_____, I love America too. No less than you. I want us to live up to our best values. seriously, do the Republicans have any ideas? Their donut hole prescription plan and Medicare Part D were financial time bombs that the big pharma and insurance companies loved! Do you have a plan for what to do if your son gets sick or hurt? The Republican health care plan is called the Yoyo - you're on your own.
Yes America is better than 3rd world (poor) countries. I'd rather not discuss the third world. They aren't comparable.
But think, our health care is way more expensive than comparably rich countries like Australia, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, France, Germany, England, Scotland, Britain, New Zealand, Ireland and many more who pay a lot less than we do, for much better care - and everyone is covered. These are smart educated, clean countries where any American would feel safe and comfortable.
Their health results - such as long life and healthy children are much better. So why do they pay less?
When did health care become an industry that decides life and death and our health - based on a profitable bottom line? Why are insurance company workers telling my doctor how to treat me?
I'll pray that your son doesn't get sick, but if he does, he can go to the emergency room which is what Bush said to do, And he can either take charity and the people who have insurance will be charged $200 for an aspirin to cover him or he can get in a payment program and declare bankruptcy. Most bankruptcies in America are from unpayable health bills.
The next couple months are going to be filled with pictures of lines in Canada and scary stories that are pure lies made up by insurance company lobbyists. While insurance lobbyists are paying for commercials and crazy tv shows, they are denying claims for sick people.
WOW! DID THAT GET HER RILED UP!
She sent this in full caps:
yes Iam a republican and we have along way to go on fixing a plan of health care plan. I believe if you don't work you don't eat just like God said and that if we don't have a good foundation you don't have anything to build upon. and we have lost our foundation. in the white house,we have kicked God and prayer out killed baby's,but no health care God will hold us accountable and God says in his word that if we keep cursing the ground by worshiping idols and self,we will have pestilence and pledge and he will pollute our land and food well I want to please God so he is first in our home and I want him to be in our leaders and government with out him you can pack it up, honey. but am sure we differ on this issue. we better stick to compost and butterfly's and gardening. we need to fix our soil and compost in more good, a solid foundation to build upon like gardening. You know what why are good things bad now day. hey Iam going to a better place he can come anytime Iam ready I have the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart and I will have a new body and new home better then any here on this side of heaven ta ta my dear. lets stick to gardening. till Jesus comes. but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I don't worship the creation I worship the creator. and it's not mother nature. or Buddha it is a God who had ears and hears our prayer. the word says if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray then will I hear from heaven and will heal there lands.
I've never told anyone I was a Buddhist! How did she come up with that? And when did I get upgraded to "honey" and "my dear"? Do I sense some hostility born of ignorance?
Then she sent this:
Finally, I ended my participation with this reply after reading the All Cap email:
I wasn't dissmissing your beliefs, B_____. I hope you weren't dissing mine. America is more than a country - it is also an ideal.
But she had to get a last dig in, the godly, 'umble woman:
should not speak on so we dont rub each other wrong way. yes I got to go now we have a lot in common too.our love for nature ta ta for now (my name)
My mistake? I forgot the KISS principle.
These folks seem to have their patriotism, their political party loyalty and their religion mixed up. And this one is operating at a pre-civics class grade level.
Which is, as I am trying to illustrate - the level of discourse in America, 2009.
First - yesterday I received a FWD. (Danger, Will Robinson!)I should have known better than to 1. open it, and 2. reply.
BTW, this was forwarded to 29 people.
Fwd: White House contact information to let our thoughts be heard - MEG
sad
-----------------
Forwarded Message:
Subj: White House contact information to let our thoughts be heard - MEG
Date: 7/29/2009 6:02:55 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:
To:
Sent from the Internet (Details)
These are contact info for the White House. We need to let them know what we think about this "Health" care (?) plan.
Below is what I put in this link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/?ec=9
1 - I am very concerned about the stopping/reducing the benefits for elderly. The fact that our country would actually mandate counseling for "end of life" processes. Please explain to me how not treating our elderly is progress. Please rethink the treating of the elderly as expendable just because they may not be "contributing" to the economy! 2. This plan will bring with it the long wait for medical care as in other countries that have this type of “health” plans. This is a big ! This plan is only positive for anyone who does not have health care currently. Something is better than nothing. That is not the case for those of us that have been working and paying for our health care and want to have a choice in whether we get treatment or not and when. 3 - There is no way this can happen without higher taxes for the few of us that are still working.
You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Please include your e-mail address
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD
Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121
Regards,
Mary Ellen
Here was my reply to only the fwd-er:
Hi _____,
Perhaps this person should have listened to the town hall meeting to hear the President set the record straight, instead of listening to the folks who are trying to scare us with made-up lies?
and:
Our corporate owned for-profit health care system is already broken. If you are worried about a higher tax, then you must be making more than $350,000 a year.
We spend over $2.3 trillion, or $7,500 per capita, for healthcare in the US, yet 42% of people under 65 have inadequate or no insurance coverage. My son included.
At least 18,000 of them die unnecessarily each year as a result. My brother included.
Every other industrialized country in the world makes sure its population has access to basic healthcare. The United States is the only industrialized nation that does not guarantee access to health care as a human right.
Health care should not be rationed -as it is now, by the profit motive. W.W.J.D?
28 industrialized nations have single payer universal health care systems like the type proposed in H.R. 676 - privately delivered health care, publicly financed - and none spend as much per capita on health care as the United States. The United States ranks near the bottom among industrial countries in indicators from life expectancy (20th) to infant mortality (23rd).
Under H.R. 676, a family of four making the median income of $56,200 would pay about $2,700 in payroll tax for all health care costs. No deductibles, no co-pays, no worrying about catastrophic coverage.
The services covered include primary care, inpatient, outpatient and emergency hospital care, prescription drugs, durable medical equipment, hearing, dental and vision care, chiropractic treatment, mental health services, and long-term care.
Physicians for a National Health Program estimates the nation could save over $286 billion dollars a year in total health care costs. That's enough to cover all the uninsured and provide full prescription drug coverage for everyone in the United States.
60% of physicians now support a national, single-payer health insurance system for everyone. HR 676 has been endorsed by 463 union organizations in 49 states including 116 Central Labor Councils and Area Labor Federations and 39 state AFL-CIO's.
AND, I sent this link (only) to the whole freakin' list:
AARP had a town hall meeting on this issue. You can watch it here:
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/articles/townhall.html?cmp=NLC-ADVOCATE-0709
I preferred watching the CSPAN town hall meeting held at a Kroger store a few days ago. These Q&A sessions should calm your mind about the lies being spread about elderly care rationing. Our platinum plated, profit-driven private health care system which only serves some of us, and the results are very shameful indeed compared to other countries. We are way down the list on life expectancy and infant mortality among other indicators. WWJD doesn't hold much sway with industry lobbyists and the Heritage Foundation.
Does anyone remember when President Bush traveled the nation (they advertised it as 60 town halls in 60 days) to kill Social Security and vetoed the SCHIP that extended health care to children of the working poor? I wonder how many of us would really like to get rid of Social Security and Medicare tomorrow... and rely on Wall Street or our life savings hidden under the mattress.
You might be interested in this page:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/?e=9&ref=text2
B____ replied to me:
In a message dated 8/1/2009 6:29:40 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _____ writes:
I dont think we would agree on this issue. I love america it sure is better then any life style in a third world country. we can work and have health care. Other country teach them to not work as we are teaching a lazy ss. that can stay home and have babys to get buy .yes we need health care for no ins. familys a problem not yet solved might never be. our son lives at home and can not find a job soon to loose his ins. and no money to go to college so his car is in the garage. our system is confusing.
This is a subtle but common Republican insult to anyone who doesn't agree with them.
You are not as good an American as they are.
So, I replied to B____:
B_____, I love America too. No less than you. I want us to live up to our best values. seriously, do the Republicans have any ideas? Their donut hole prescription plan and Medicare Part D were financial time bombs that the big pharma and insurance companies loved! Do you have a plan for what to do if your son gets sick or hurt? The Republican health care plan is called the Yoyo - you're on your own.
Yes America is better than 3rd world (poor) countries. I'd rather not discuss the third world. They aren't comparable.
But think, our health care is way more expensive than comparably rich countries like Australia, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, France, Germany, England, Scotland, Britain, New Zealand, Ireland and many more who pay a lot less than we do, for much better care - and everyone is covered. These are smart educated, clean countries where any American would feel safe and comfortable.
Their health results - such as long life and healthy children are much better. So why do they pay less?
When did health care become an industry that decides life and death and our health - based on a profitable bottom line? Why are insurance company workers telling my doctor how to treat me?
I'll pray that your son doesn't get sick, but if he does, he can go to the emergency room which is what Bush said to do, And he can either take charity and the people who have insurance will be charged $200 for an aspirin to cover him or he can get in a payment program and declare bankruptcy. Most bankruptcies in America are from unpayable health bills.
The next couple months are going to be filled with pictures of lines in Canada and scary stories that are pure lies made up by insurance company lobbyists. While insurance lobbyists are paying for commercials and crazy tv shows, they are denying claims for sick people.
WOW! DID THAT GET HER RILED UP!
She sent this in full caps:
yes Iam a republican and we have along way to go on fixing a plan of health care plan. I believe if you don't work you don't eat just like God said and that if we don't have a good foundation you don't have anything to build upon. and we have lost our foundation. in the white house,we have kicked God and prayer out killed baby's,but no health care God will hold us accountable and God says in his word that if we keep cursing the ground by worshiping idols and self,we will have pestilence and pledge and he will pollute our land and food well I want to please God so he is first in our home and I want him to be in our leaders and government with out him you can pack it up, honey. but am sure we differ on this issue. we better stick to compost and butterfly's and gardening. we need to fix our soil and compost in more good, a solid foundation to build upon like gardening. You know what why are good things bad now day. hey Iam going to a better place he can come anytime Iam ready I have the Lord Jesus Christ in my heart and I will have a new body and new home better then any here on this side of heaven ta ta my dear. lets stick to gardening. till Jesus comes. but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I don't worship the creation I worship the creator. and it's not mother nature. or Buddha it is a God who had ears and hears our prayer. the word says if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray then will I hear from heaven and will heal there lands.
I've never told anyone I was a Buddhist! How did she come up with that? And when did I get upgraded to "honey" and "my dear"? Do I sense some hostility born of ignorance?
Then she sent this:
if anyone can get there hand in the money besides the American people they will, so sad how money our money is handled. The rich get richer the poor get poorer. WE will never live in a perfect country with all the answers right but I still am saying in Michigan and the good old USA with all its flaws.
I replied in a second thread:
Oh, I forgot to tell you, the "euthanasia" story is a misreading of a part of one of the bills that says people should be allowed ahead of time to make end of life decisions with their doctor and have it put in their medical records. Rich people have living wills, it is the same exact thing. It may or may not stay in the bill after the two bills are go through committee to be reconciled into one bill that both houses will vote on.
The co-op provision is a poison pill - if it is in the final bill then I hope the bill is voted down. Then we will be back to where we started. Does this make sense to you?
And she replied:
NO, it don't ,make since to me, there is away's pork belly's so to speak in every bill.
Was that a "Duh"?
I replied in a second thread:
Oh, I forgot to tell you, the "euthanasia" story is a misreading of a part of one of the bills that says people should be allowed ahead of time to make end of life decisions with their doctor and have it put in their medical records. Rich people have living wills, it is the same exact thing. It may or may not stay in the bill after the two bills are go through committee to be reconciled into one bill that both houses will vote on.
The co-op provision is a poison pill - if it is in the final bill then I hope the bill is voted down. Then we will be back to where we started. Does this make sense to you?
And she replied:
NO, it don't ,make since to me, there is away's pork belly's so to speak in every bill.
Was that a "Duh"?
Finally, I ended my participation with this reply after reading the All Cap email:
I wasn't dissmissing your beliefs, B_____. I hope you weren't dissing mine. America is more than a country - it is also an ideal.
But she had to get a last dig in, the godly, 'umble woman:
should not speak on so we dont rub each other wrong way. yes I got to go now we have a lot in common too.our love for nature ta ta for now (my name)
My mistake? I forgot the KISS principle.
These folks seem to have their patriotism, their political party loyalty and their religion mixed up. And this one is operating at a pre-civics class grade level.
Which is, as I am trying to illustrate - the level of discourse in America, 2009.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Don't you wish your Senator/Representative/President cared about this?
KEEP IN MIND, that TARP was done under President George W. Bush. Obama is just following Bush's blueprint (for disaster.)
Now put that together with this exchange between Dennis K and Neil Barofsky, the special TARP inspector, who recently said the financial bailout was going to cost the taxpayers $24 Trillion ... er. make that $3 trillion ... (after Barofsky's thorough explanation later of what he did to attain the more shocking figure that is making the rounds). :
Does anyone remember when Dick Cheney was asked about the $1-3 Trillion estimate going around (after Stiglitz made that estimate) in reference to the Iraq War (a war of Cheney's choice), Cheney's reply was "deficits don't matter." And we couldn't find money for children's health care.
(American life expectancy is 50th in the world. Our infant mortality rate is a shame for a self described Christian nation.
'Rationing' is already being done by private insurance companies who make obscene profit by denying claims.
Bush's ploy of giving private insurers huge unneeded sums to carry a Medicare option was a time bomb meant to explode after he left office.)
Put your foil conspiracy cap on...
Could a half assed (and thereby damned to not work) program to make American health care slightly more universal be merely the Neo-Lib play to make it look like social programs are to blame when the economy tanks as it surely must do as the game is now being played - thus cementing our feet in Conservative/Imperialist/Oligarchical/NeoVictorian politics for the rest of the life of this nation?
Here is part one of the Barofsky testimony:
Now put that together with this exchange between Dennis K and Neil Barofsky, the special TARP inspector, who recently said the financial bailout was going to cost the taxpayers $24 Trillion ... er. make that $3 trillion ... (after Barofsky's thorough explanation later of what he did to attain the more shocking figure that is making the rounds). :
Does anyone remember when Dick Cheney was asked about the $1-3 Trillion estimate going around (after Stiglitz made that estimate) in reference to the Iraq War (a war of Cheney's choice), Cheney's reply was "deficits don't matter." And we couldn't find money for children's health care.
(American life expectancy is 50th in the world. Our infant mortality rate is a shame for a self described Christian nation.
'Rationing' is already being done by private insurance companies who make obscene profit by denying claims.
Bush's ploy of giving private insurers huge unneeded sums to carry a Medicare option was a time bomb meant to explode after he left office.)
Put your foil conspiracy cap on...
Could a half assed (and thereby damned to not work) program to make American health care slightly more universal be merely the Neo-Lib play to make it look like social programs are to blame when the economy tanks as it surely must do as the game is now being played - thus cementing our feet in Conservative/Imperialist/Oligarchical/NeoVictorian politics for the rest of the life of this nation?
Here is part one of the Barofsky testimony:
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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