DAMN THE REPUBLICANS [AND JOE LIEBERMAN AND EVAN BAYH AND OTHER BLUE DOG DEMOCRATS WHO ARE TRYING TO LOSE THE 2010 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS] AND ALL OF THEIR VICIOUS ATTACKS ON HEALTH CARE REFORM
THEIR RECENT SHAMEFUL PLAN IS TO RECRUIT CREWS OF RIGHT WING SUPPORTERS TO TRAVEL ACROSS THE COUNTRY, ATTEND THE TOWN HALL MEETINGS OF DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMEN WHO ARE EITHER READY TO VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL OR THOSE WHO REMAIN UNCOMMITTED--TO HARASS, EMBARRASS, FRUSTRATE OR BAFFLE THE CONGRESSMEN BY ASKING INANE QUESTIONS.
THIS, MY FRIENDS, IS THE SAME BUNCH OF REPUBLICAN HOOLIGANS WITH WHOM PRESIDENT OBAMA IS ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH A BI-PARTISAN APPROACH ON HEALTH CARE.
OBAMA IS WASTING HIS TIME AND THE ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF ENERGY NECESSARY TO PERSUADE REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS TO SUPPORT HIS AMBITIOUS AGENDA.
The president must never forget that it was the abject neglect of this country’s domestic issues by the Republican presidents and the Republican Congresses that controlled this nation’s agenda for the better part of thirty [30] years that places this nation so far behind all other civilized nations in the area of health care.!
THIS PLOY PLACES THE GOP AND ITS LEADERSHIP AT THE TOP OF THE LIST OF POLITICAL OF AMERICA’S MOST DIM-WITTED AND HARDHEARTED CITIZENS. THEY DISRUPTED THE TOWN HALL MEETINGS, CREATED BOISTROUS NOISES THAT DISTRACTED THE AUDIENCE FROM HEARING THE FACTS ABOUT THE MOST VITAL ISSUE CONFRONTING THIS NATION IN THE PAST 50 YEARS, TO WALK UP AND DOWN THE AISLES TO AGITATE THE AUDIENCE AND FURTHER CONFUSE THE VOTERS, AND IN GENERAL, LIVE UP TO THEIR REPUTATION AS AN INSANE, RUTHLESS HERD OF PITILESS EGO-CENTRIC ASSES!
Unfortunately, Senators like Chuck Grassley from Iowa, returned to Washington only to conclude that his constitutes were actually afraid of losing their present health care benefits. Instead of clearing up their misconception, Grassley gave into the fear and intimated he did not want anybody grandmother to have to appears before a “death panel” or have the “plug pulled” on her life support system.
GRASSELY, NOTHING EVEN CLOSE TO A DEATH PANEL APPEARS IN ANY BILL BEFORE THE CONGRESS AND YOU LIKE THE WHIMP THAT YOU ARE ALSO THE TITLE COWARD TO YOU’RE LIST OF NEGATIVES THAT SHOULD EARN YOU EARLY RETIREMENT FROM THE U. S. SENATE IN THE NEXT ELECTION.
Everyone knew that health care reform would be the MOST difficult “change” on Barack Obama’s agenda that called for throughout his campaign for the presidency. However, because the polls clearly reflected that somewhere between 72-80% of the American people wanted reform in what has become the most important factor in the lives of many people--HEALTH.
Everyone knew that around 50 million of our country’s 300 million citizens were without any form of health insurance that results in well over 120,000 people die each year due to inadequate health care engendered by inadequate health insurance.
The Republican diehards are playing every dirty trick in their repertoire to do what Rush Limbaugh and Fox News has repeatedly called for---“Kill the health care bill” for the sole purpose of hurting Barack Obama.
Everyone knew that the cost of health care had increased 3 times the rate of their income and was endangering their life style of choice, the possibility of sending their children to college, paying down their mortgages, in many cases forcing them to choose between paying medical bills and buying food for their table.
Everyone knew that 60% of all bankruptcies are a result of medical bills emanating from serious health problems with long term medical complications that cost them their jobs, their only source of income and was threatening their very lives.
Everyone knew that as the unemployment rate skyrocketed because of the Great Recession [the legacy of George W. Bush and the Republicans in Congress], more and more were losing their health insurance and falling through the cracks of adequate and affordable health care.
Really, I was naïve enough to believe that after the Republican Party had its elephant’s ass handed to them on a platter at the polls on November, 8, 2008 that they would have learned a lesson that they should have learned in the 1960’s commencing with the Reagan administration who for years had preached the same message, “Government cannot solve the problem; government is the problem.” Reagan was wrong then; and the Republican Party of 2009 is equally erroneous today.
There are some things that government and government alone can do. Without the government, we could not have created Social Security which to millions is the safety net that keeps them alive during the winter of their lives. Without government, one of the most revered programs ever passed by Congress and signed by the president would never have become the life line for literally millions of senior citizens—“the single payer” health insurance program called Medicare.
A Democrat, Representative Anthony Weiner, introduced to his House committee on Energy and Commerce and amendment to abolish Medicare. Anxious to determine just how committed the Republicans were to their perpetual mantra that “the less government, is the best government,” Weiner went on to say. “This is your opportunity…to eliminate the Medicare Act once and for all, stamp out the scourge of public, government –run, government administered, single payer health care. This is your chance… I dare ya. I double dare ya’ and then go home and explain it to your constituents…” NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR THE AMENDMENT.
You mistrust, hate, or attempt to overthrow the government the people have duly elected to office, at your own risk. The one institution in our nation that has the capacity to take on gargantuan undertakings for our collective survival such as defense, building our interstate highways, Social Security and Medicare, is the U. S. government; health care reform is one of undertakings and it is the only unattended right which the Republican continue to treat as a privilege for the well-off and only the well-off.
The American people have spoken out clearly and indisputably. In fact, for some time, their voices have been raised in favor of a program that would bring under the federal insurance umbrella, the nearly 50 million people who are without insurance coverage [simply because taxpayers pay out significantly more money when these people go to the emergency room at an average cost of $1,000 per visit], to eliminate the stumbling blocks the insurance companies have obstinately placed in the way of those who endure pre-existing illnesses when changing jobs, who suffer from catastrophic illnesses, who are refused coverage recommended by their primary health care physicians because of cost, and to include those unemployed children beyond the age of 18 who were refused extended coverage by the Republicans and the Bush administration.
Republican and Blue Dog Democratic Congresspersons and Senators who are recipients of copious campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical and health insurance companies are at this moment fighting vociferously to insure that the millions of campaign dollars from these bloodsucking worms in the extraordinarily profitable insurance game continue to pour into their coffers. The Republicans, in particular, and the Blue Dog Democrats in general, are not fighting for their constituents’, they are fighting for themselves and the campaign money that will keep them in office to receive their handsome salaries and the best health insurance coverage of anyone in the country.
The opponents of authentic insurance health care reform who are paper tigers that are, in reality, nothing but reactionaries whose minds have failed to escape from the 19th century while they continue to cling to the outmoded philosophy of “individualism” and “free market economics” at all costs are bought and paid for by the special interest groups that control health care in this nation.
An anonymous author wrote the following words that ring true when we talk of reactionaries: “Insects sting, not from malice, but because they want to live. It is the same with critics—they desire our blood, not our pain”
The facts are that the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats simply do not want to make decisions that will cause them pain should insurance companies and others in the medical field elect not to fund the ever-increasing costs they face on the campaign trail.
I understand their fear. But health insurance reform is bigger than any one Congressperson or Senator. The nation will survive the loss of a Congressman from Texas or Alabama or a Senator from Nebraska or Montana, but the loss of health insurance for millions of Americans for whatever reason, is potentially a death sentence for reasons not of their making.
IT WOULD TRULY BE PATRIOTIC FOR A FEW OF THE PEOPLE ON THE REPUBLICAN SIDE TO DRAG THEIR ANTIQUATED MENTALITY INTO THE 21ST AND TO MUSTER ENOUGH COURAGE AND INTEGRITY TO PROVIDE THEIR CONSTITUENTS THE BEST HEALTH CARE THAT EVERY OTHER NATION IS PROVIDING ITS CITIZENS, EVEN IF ITCOSTS THEM A FEW MILLION DOLLARS IN CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS.
One of most vocal opponents of health care reform is House Republican Leader, John Boehner of Ohio. Boehner hails from near Cincinnati, OH. I, too, am a Buckeye, but obviously have an entirely different point of view than Boehner.
According to the Associated Press, Boehner claimed on July 23, 2009 that the House bill for health care reform, [misrepresentation#1] “…may start us down a treacherous path toward government-encouraged euthanasia.” LIE! LIE! LIE!
Another Republican, former New York Lt. Governor, Betsy McCaughey, on July17, 2009, wrote, [falsification #2] “One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years…about alternatives for end-of-life care.” LIE! LIE! LIE!
The truth is: The House bill would require Medicare to pay for advance directive consultations with health care professions. BUT IT WOULD NOT REQUIRE ANYONE TO USE THE BENEFIT.”
Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council falsely reports in a video prepared by his organizations, “Unless Congress states otherwise, under a government takeover of health care [misrepresentation#2], taxpayers will be forced to fund abortions for the first time in over three decades.” LIE! LIE! LIE!
THE LEGISLATION PRESENTLY BEING DELIBERATED IN THE CONGRESS WOULD IN NO WAY MODIFY THE HYDE AMENDMENT WHICH BLOCKS MEDICAID FROM PAYING FOR ABORTIONS? SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT-RUN INSURANCE PLAN BE ADOPTED PRESIDENT OBAMA TOLD CBS NEWS “THAT THE NATION SHOULD CONTINUE A TRADITION OF ‘NOT FINANCING ABORTIONS AS PART OF GOVERNMENT FUNDED HEALTH CARE.’”
However, let us be clear, the majority of Americans who favor “choice” over the rigid invasion of one’s right to practice their religion as they see fit, would encourage the Congress to include the right of abortion in the bill they pass.
Many critics are claiming that the passage of the Obama health reform bill will force many people to change doctors and, perhaps, insurance companies [falsification #4]. LIE! LIE! LIE!
The legislation under consideration would not require people to change doctors or insurance providers.
Claims are being made by many Republican legislators in Washington and many right-wing pundits, i.e. Fox News, Bill Kristol [editor of The Weekly Standard], Ann Coulter [all around Republican nuisance] and hosts of others that an Obama passed health reform bill “will lead to rationing” of medical services to the American people. In fact, the lunatic fringe is saying overtly that should the health reform in its present form that the government will determine what medical procedures the patient may have. LIE! LIE! LIE!
The infamously right-wing Washington Times’ Michael Cannon has written [falsification #5], “Expanding health programs will hasten the day that government rations medical care to seniors.” LIE! LIE! LIE!
It is a known and widely accepted fact in the medical community that there are often too many tests being prescribed for patients of all ages. Every time a senior sees a new doctor, the same tests ordered by his or her previous four or five doctors, will be ordered once again. I have personally experienced this waste of money and time. When a national data bank is completed, a new doctor will simply pull up the patients records and know not only what tests other medical professionals have requested, but the results of those tests. That is not rationing, that is the wise use of government money expended on medical services. What Michael Cannon does not seem to comprehend is that medical care has been rationed for years, not by the government, but by the insurance companies.!
The next [falsification #6] issue being tossed around by the Republican devotees is the claim that by reforming health care the federal debt will be increased over time. The president has assured the American people and the Congress that he will not sign a bill that is not debt free, i.e. will not add to the national debt.
In fact, contrary to the claims by such Neanderthals as Lieberman of CT, the Congressional Budget Office recently declared that the inclusion of a “government option” in the final health reform bill will reduce the deficit.
Every opponent of health care reform jumped on the report that the chairman of the Congressional Budget Office [CBO], Douglas Elmendorf gave to the House Ways and Means Committee in which he made very clear, if the critics of health care reform would only read it, that because he and his staff did not have the sources of funding for the program, he could only base his evaluation on the information at hand without taking into account any source of unknown financing.
Elmendorf made several conclusions on questions about which he and his staff have very limited knowledge. However, they believe that the president and the Congress need to put in place a board that would oversee the expenditures and root out waste that now exists by the billions in present practices and procedures.
For example, the insurance industry’s administrative costs presently are approximately 20-30 % of its income from premiums, while Medicare’s administrative costs are between 2-4%. Granted individual policies have higher administrative expenses than group programs, but the truth here is that Medicare runs a tight ship in the face of the perpetual criticism from those who say that government can do nothing right. THOSE WHO SAY THAT GOVERNMENT CAN DO NOTHING RIGHT NEED TO RECOGNIZE THAT SOME OF THE MOST EFFECTIVELY RUN AGENCIES OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT INCLUDE: MEDICARE, THE VETERAN’S ADMINISTRATION MEDICAL CARE AND MEDICAID.
I found it very interesting recently, when the ever pompous and always obnoxious Bill Kristol, Editor of The Weekly Standard was forced to concede on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that the Veterans’ Administration ran the finest medical program in the country. Proving again that the government can do things right, the little neo-conservative was pounded on the question of health care reform by the sharp wit of Jon Stewart who always seems to skewer Kristol whenever he appears on the show. In fact, during his last visit, Stewart asked Kristol if he had ever been right.
In my humble opinion [which many would argue does not exist], the Republicans goofed by organizing these protests at the Town Hall meetings held throughout the country during the August recess.
Contrary to the propaganda pouring out of the Republican National Committee, these are not spontaneous protests. These are organized in the same manner the protests at the Florida recount locations were prearranged after the 2000 presidential election that ended with Bush being appointed the U. S. Supreme Court the president over the will of the people including the people in Florida.
Rachel Maddow did us all a favor by identifying the names and faces of the protestors who crowded into the offices used for recounting the Florida votes with the people who are organizing and staffing these protests. The woman who stood up in Pennsylvania last week and made a fool of herself by flashing her birth certificate in the air and calling on the president to do the same thing, was a plant by the Republican Party.
The fact is, the president went one step further and published a copy of his birth certificate on the internet for the entire nation to view along with copies of the Honolulu newspapers that carried his birth announcement. He has widely circulated letters from high government officials including the Governor verifying the validity of his birth. In- deed, he has done more than any other president to verify his American citizenship. NOW FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY, WOULD YOU MISERABLY ILL SOB’S PUT YOUR PARANOIA BACK IN YOUR BAG OF TRICKS AND STOP BRINGING UP AN ISSUE THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN RERESOLVED TO THE SATISFACTION OF 99% OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
By the way, those of you who still have an open mind, the only reason the Republican Party, the groups organized and funded by the insurance companies and others opposed to health care reform, the only reason that Obama’s citizenship and his birthplace are being brought up time and time again is for the sole purpose of distracting the attention of the American people from the issue of health care reform.
Erin Zorn of the Chicago Tribune wrote in his column on August 7, 2009 entitled Calling those bluffs about health care, “…Medicare—along with comprehensive coverage for active military, veterans and American Indians—‘is not only government –run health care, but it’s remarkably efficient,’” according to Congressman Anthony Weiner [D-NY].
The Congressmen went on to insist that while Medicare was not perfect, it is “a pretty darn good model of what a public plan [covering everyone] might look like.”
Last month, the Harris/Decima poll, found that 82% if Canadians who have single payer, government operated health insurance, prefer their nation’s health care delivery system to ours.
In 2008, the Globe and Mail newspaper along with the CTV Television Network Canada commissioned a poll that found that 91% of Canadians agree with the Harris /Decima findings.
Ipso/McClatchy poll, last month revealed that 65% of Canadians concurred with this statement, “I currently have access to all of the health-care services I need without it costing me more than I can afford.’
These polls did find that 74% of the Canadians believed they had to wait longer than they would like when referred to a specialist.
Zorn concluded his article with this very impressive fact. In the 1960’s Tommy Douglas who led the fight for universal health care in Canada was considered THE GREATEST CANADIAN OF ALL TIME.
Someday soon, America will have such a hero and we can only pray that it will be 2009.
