The WAWG Blog

Real Anti-Cap and Trade Grassroots Were Evicted From Energy Citizens Rally in Houston – The Energy Citizens’ rallies are really energy company picnics. The Houston rally was attended ONLY by energy company employees and retirees (at least that’s the way they wanted it). It’s no big surprise that a few rabble-rousing enviros were kicked out, but when even those that oppose cap and trade were turned away– that should raise major red flags about the true nature of these events. Watch the video at the link of people who were throw out of the rally because they didn’t work for an energy company.

Don’t Get Sick in Texas – From 2004 to 2007, employer-sponsored insurance for Texans, age 19-64, fell 2.6% (four times the national average) while the number of uninsured in this age group rose 1.2% (six times the national average).

If You Don’t Speak Up, It’s a Bad Deed – Congressman Pete Olson will have a health care town hall meeting on Saturday in La Marque. Here are a few questions that might interest Olson:

1. Why should the tax payers pay for your socialized health care plan? Why don’t you find and pay for your health care like everyone else does?

2. Under your socialized health care, your pre-existing condition (heart pacemaker) will continue to be covered even if you change health plans. Why do you refuse to fight for that same right for your own constituents?

3. Why should the tax payers pay for socialized health care for the 2 million federal employees, many who work in your district? If we can’t afford to cover all Americans, then let the federal employees pay for their own insurance.

4. What happened to the Christian compassion that should be reaching out to those who are sick and need help?

If you can’t make it to La Marque, or even if you can, sign the petition standing with President Obama for Health Care Reform today and this petition urging Congress to enact real reform and create a public option.

Burning the Future: Coal in America – This award-winning movie examines the explosive conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. Confronted by emerging “clean coal” energy policies, local activists watch a world blind to the devastation caused by coal’s extraction. Faced with toxic ground water and the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains, our heroes launch a valiant fight to arouse the nation’s help in protecting their mountains, saving their families, and preserving their way of life.

Regards,

Jim

Insurers Have 50,000 of Their Employees Lobbying Congress to Claim Their Profits Are Fair – A spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, the industry’s trade group, admitted in an article published Monday that as many as 50,000 industry employees are involved in an effort to fight back against aggressive healthcare reform. The health-insurance industry is sending thousands of its employees to town-hall meetings and other forums during Congress’s August recess to try to counter a tide of criticism directed at the insurers and remain a player — and not an outsider — in the debate over the future of the health-care system.” Employees of the health insurers have also been given talking points that encourage them to keep a low profile and avoid taking “the bait” when the industry is criticized in public

Fox Furthers ‘Death Panel’ Hysteria With ‘Death Book’ Claim by a Guy Trying to Sell His Own Guidebook to the VA – Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace devoted the first segment of this week’s show to trying to prove President Barack Obama’s administration was encouraging veterans to choose to die. However, they failed to mention that the so-called ‘death book’ contains the same advance-care planning required of all health care organizations under federal law, has been in use since 1997 and was developed with the input of interfaith ministers.

It all started with Jim Towey, the former president of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives under George W. Bush. Towey seems to have his own axe to grind. He has repeatedly tried to get the government to spend millions to purchase his “Five Wishes” book, which is published by Aging With Dignity, a non-profit group he founded, to distribute to veterans across the country.

In his op-ed, Towey stated that this panel did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. In fact, according to the VA, the panel included a priest, a rabbi, a renowned disability rights advocate, and the president of the organization that produces “Five Wishes,” the alternative advance care planning document that Towey is promoting and selling.

Without Reform, Health Insurance Rates to Nearly Double in 11 Years – Insurance rates will rise 94 percent by 2020 if cost-saving reforms to the US health care system aren’t enacted, a new study from the Commonwealth Institute finds. The 90-year-old non-profit health care charity released an analysis of health care costs and forecasts that says employer-sponsored family plans will rise from an average cost of $12,298 in 2008 to $23,842 in 2020. By contrast, the same coverage would have cost around $9,200 in 2003.

There is Essentially NO Competition Among Private health Insurers – One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition — just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S. Several studies show that in lots of places, one or two companies dominate the market. Critics say monopolistic conditions drive up premiums paid by employers and individuals. There is a serious problem with the lack of competition among insurers,” said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, one of the highest-cost states. “The impact on the consumer is significant.”

Help us stand strong against their despicable attacks. Sign the petition voicing your support for health insurance reform today and make sure to share it with friends and family.

Republican Congressman Supports ‘Proud Right-Wing Terrorist’ – US House Representative Wally Herger, of California’s 2nd congressional district, expressed “enthusiastic approval” of a town-hall attendee who described himself as a “proud right-wing terrorist,” newspapers in northern California report. “Amen, God bless you,” Herger reportedly replied to the comment. “There is a great American.”

Love, American Right-Wing Preacher Style – Steven Anderson, who preaches from the pulpit at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona, says that all gays and lesbians should face the death penalty. Anderson says that God “commanded it and said they should be taken out and killed.” He also said, “Our country is run by faggots,” and “God appointed him [Obama] to destroy this country for the wickedness of the United States of America,” and “I’m not gonna pray for his good. I’m going to pray that he dies and goes to hell.”

Sean Hannity is Wrong, Wrong, Wrong – Sean Hannity claims that Democratic Senator Max Baucus says Social Security will enter default in two years – but:

• It was actually Republican Congressman Spencer Bachus,
• Bachus said “deficit,” not “default,”
• And the claim by Bachus is wrong.

Study Finds Mercury in Fish Widespread, Blames Mining, Coal Plants – A federal study of mercury contamination released Wednesday found the toxic substance in every fish tested at nearly 300 streams across the country, a finding that underscores how widespread mercury pollution has become. The main source of mercury to most of the streams tested, according to the researchers, is emissions from coal-fired power plants. The mercury released from smokestacks rains down into waterways, where natural processes convert it into methylmercury — a form that allows the toxin to wind its way up the food chain into fish.

EPA Fails To Inform Public About Weed-Killer In Drinking Water – One of the nation’s most widely-used herbicides has been found to exceed federal safety limits in drinking water in four states, but water customers have not been told and the Environmental Protection Agency has not published the results. An analysis found that yearly average levels of atrazine in drinking water violated the federal standard at least ten times in communities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas, all states where farmers rely heavily on the herbicide. In addition, more than 40 water systems in those states showed spikes in atrazine levels that normally would have triggered automatic notification of customers. In none of those cases were residents alerted.

Regards,

Jim

The following was based on a new article by George Lakoff.

Populating the Administration with people from inside the beltway will help in some ways and hurt in others. Progressives are losing the health care reform effort because the inside the beltway team is using methods that have always failed in the past.

They have failed to use the methods from President Obama’s successful election campaign. They are fighting the conservative opposition the same way they always have. They are preaching to the choir while fearful members flee to join the other ‘church.’

Instead of trying to negate the lies of the other ‘church,’ but only reinforcing their lies instead, or talking about the logical interests of of the health care customers, everyone should be talking about what is wrong with the current health care system – The American Health Insurance Failure. It’s broken and needs fixing. The American Health Insurance Failure should be pointed out over and over and over, and consistently from every member of the Administration. They should also explaining how this failed system can be fixed.

Rename the reform effort – The American Plan. The “public option” only helps the other ‘church’ by making it the government option and how the other ‘church’ hates the government. The American Plan will fix our failed health insurance system.

We have a significant health care emergency. Tens of millions must resort to expensive emergency rooms for lack of insurance. Twenty thousand Americans die each year because the can’t get health care. Costs of health care have been, and are, growing faster than wages or inflation while quality suffers from birth to death. Other nations cover all citizens for half the cost. The American Plan is a response to this emergency.

Just because you have health care coverage via your employer doesn’t mean your insured. Loss your job – lose your coverage. And unless you are really rich and can afford to buy your own insurance, you are stuck with what your employer provides. You have no choice. The American Plan is about coverage if you become unemployed or have a preexisting condition when you change jobs. It is about choice.

For profit health insurance is about denying care. Even if you’re wealthy and can afford your own insurance, an insurance company doesn’t have to insure you – it’s their choice not yours. If you’re healthy, maybe they will choose you? The American Plan takes choice away from the insurance company and gives it to every citizen.

Health insurance is about delaying expensive health care. “I was, diagnosed with a terminal illness, and I had to wait 6 weeks to get an appointment … … I could have died by then. … I later discovered, my insurance company would have been very happy with that outcome.” Twenty percent of doctor recommended treatments are denied by health insurance companies.

Twenty to thirty percent of what is paid to insurance companies goes to denial of care and adding to the bottom line. This high fee constitutes a private tax on citizens which only benefits insurance company executives and investors. This is taxation without representation. The American Plan will provide relief from this unfair tax.

Doctors care about your health – they know you, insurance companies don’t care – they don’t know you. Corporations have no empathy. The American Plan is about helping doctors provide better care with higher quality and lower cost.

What about the insurance company bureaucrats? They put profit before health care. They ration care. They delay care. They deny care. The American Plan will put a stop to this.

Care is rationed by insurance companies. They have to authorize medical procedures – that takes time – and may be disapproved. They force your doctor to rush through your exam and get to the next patient by negotiating lower reimbursement fees for each patient. You have to pay more for each visit, so you don’t see your doctor as often?

Insurance companies are inefficient and wasteful. Their administration costs are 8 time higher than government provided medicare.

The American Plan is about doctor-patient care and making it better.

Let The White House know they are losing the health insurance reform battle to fear mongers and that they need to change their approach. They need a new plan – The American Plan.

Michael Bloomberg Has No Idea of What “Don’t Make a Lot of Money” Means – Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg defended multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical companies and their chief executives on Friday, declaring that they “don’t make a lot of money” and shouldn’t be scapegoats in the health care debate.

However, pharmaceutical CEOs are known to make millions, with generous salaries, stock options and other perks. Abbott Laboratories Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Miles White’s compensation was $25.3 million in 2008. The North Chicago, Ill.-based company saw profit rising 35 percent to $4.88 billion. Merck & Co.’s chief executive, Richard T. Clark, received a $17.3 million compensation package for 2008. The company’s profit more than doubled to $7.8 billion.
Earlier this year Bloomberg declared “we love the rich people” while arguing against raising taxes on the wealthy.

Democrats Missed a Chance to Show Bold Leadership – Let us imagine for a moment a world where Democrats proceeded from strength. Here is how the health care debate would have unfolded. Before introducing any legislation, the Democrats hold hearings on the state of health care in this country. They bring in the top health care industry executives and ask them to answer for these grave injustices and inefficiencies:

a. The practices of denying people care through rescission and denying people coverage because of pre-existing conditions. Rescission is where insurance companies will let people die because of a technicality. Then the Democratic congressmen and senators would get on all of the cable shows and pronounce that they are shocked to find out that private health care insurance companies kill people for a profit in this country.

b. Then the Democrats would ask the CEOs of these companies how much money they make. The CEO of UnitedHealth Group would have to concede that he has three quarters of a billion dollars in stock options. Then a Democratic congressman would lean in toward his microphone with great gravity and ask, “You mean to tell me that you deny people the life-saving procedures they need because it costs too much money while you personally are set to make over $750 million?”

c. Then you bring out family members of people who have died because they were denied insurance coverage either for pre-existing conditions or because an insurance company executive had found some technicality in their forms. Ask them how it feels to go on without their loved ones and how they felt about the practice of rescission. Finally, ask them how they feel about the millions of dollars the CEO of the company that denied the coverage makes.

d. Bring out the private insurance bureaucrats who deny people coverage on a regular basis. Not just the people who practice rescission or find pre-existing conditions, but also the people who decide what procedures you can and cannot get based on your coverage. Have them explain what [insurance] bureaucratic standards they use to get between you and your doctor.

e. Bring out the accountants of these private health care companies and have them explain how much money they spend on overhead, advertising and executive salaries. Ask them how much they have increased premiums over the last ten years — the answer is a stunning 119%. Ask them to repeat how much money they spent on advertising and executive compensation.

f. Bring back the CEOs and show them pictures of the people who died because their companies wouldn’t cover their medical expenses, as they had promised. Then show them pictures of their own houses/mansions and yachts and jets. And ask them, one simple question: “Was it worth it?”
After the hearings announce with serious concern and appropriate gravity that something must be done about this! The problem is undeniable and there has to be something that Congress can do to help protect the American people.

Then the Democrats introduce the legislation the American people really need, announce that they must do the will of the people by voting as a Democratic bloc, and treat the Republicans as the irrelevancy they are.

Republican Official’s Idea of How to De-Escalates a Conflict – Charles McAffee, an employee of a contractor for Wells Fargo, was sent to photograph a house whose owner, Robert Lutes, was delinquent on his mortgage. Lutes said, “I’m trying to find out why he’s taking pictures of my house. I said, ‘Knock on my door, let me know what you want.’ Then, I think he’s reaching for his business card and he pulls out a concealed weapon and I think he’s going to blow my head off.” McAffee acknowledged he pointed the .357 Magnum handgun at Lutes, according to the police account.

What kind of person would do that? McAffee is among Idaho’s anti-tax tea-party activists, is a member of the Idaho Republican Party Central Committee and Republican chairman from the Boise suburb of Garden City.

One of McAffee’s supporters said, “McAffee brandished the weapon to de-escalate the conflict.” Yes, you read that right: he pulled a gun to de-escalate the conflict.

Regards,

Jim

Bush Administration Pushed to Raise Terror Alert for Re-election According to Tom Ridge – Tom Ridge, the first head of the 9/11-inspired Department of Homeland Security, reveals in his new book that he was never invited to sit in on National Security Council meetings; was “blindsided” by the FBI in morning Oval Office meetings because the agency withheld critical information from him; found his urgings to block Michael Brown from being named head of the emergency agency blamed for the Hurricane Katrina disaster ignored; and was pushed to raise the security alert on the eve of President Bush’s re-election, something he saw as politically motivated and worth resigning over.

United Health Group Encouraging Employees To Lobby Politicians, Attend Tea Parties – Last week, United Health Group–the second largest health insurance company in the country–sent out a letter to its employees urging them to call UHG’s United for Health Reform Advocacy Hotline to speak with an advocacy specialist about health care reform. The advocacy specialist, according to the letter, is there to help UHG employees write personalized messages to elected officials, and to arm them with talking points to use at local events in order to better oppose the public health insurance option.

However, a source who’s insured by UHG–and who also obtained the letter–called the hotline on Tuesday and says the company directed him to an events list hosted by the right wing America’s Independent Party, and suggested he attend an anti-health care reform tea party sponsored by religious fundamentalist Dave Daubenmire, scheduled for today outside the office of Blue Dog Rep. Zack Space (D-OH).

Giant insurers like United Health Group see value in enabling right-wing shriek-fests. They’ll either derail reform, and keep a status quo that earned the CEO $124.8 million in 2005, or get a workable, sham “reform” without a public option that would essentially funnel government subsidies to their company. They have a good racket going, and they want to keep it.

Senator Cornyn’s Data Collection Program of Information on Private Citizens – Senator John Cornyn complained in a letter to President Obama that, “By requesting that citizens send “fishy” emails to the White House, it is inevitable that the names, email addresses, IP addresses, and private speech of U.S. citizens will be reported to the White House. You should not be surprised that these actions taken by your White House staff raise the specter of a data collection program.”

However, if you want to send a comment to Cornyn, in addition to your name and e-mail address, you must also provide your street address, city, state and zip code. Maybe you should send John a comment about this so he can have complete information on you.

Republicans Don’t Even Understand the Concept of Time – Nearly two-thirds of Republican supporters believe President Barack Obama is to blame for the recession that began in December, 2007, over a year before Obama took office, according to an opinion poll from Rasmussen Reports.

Among the general population, 39 percent say President Obama takes the blame for the economic downturn, while 55 percent blame President Bush.

“The partisan gap is noticeable,” Rasmussen states on its Web site. “Eighty-two percent of Democrats see Obama’s Republican predecessor as the cause of the nation’s current economic problems, while 64% of GOP voters blame the policies of the current Democratic president. Voters not affiliated with either party blame Bush more but by just eight points.”

Fox News Viewers Heads Crammed Full of Lies about Health Care – A poll done for NBC News finds that among self-identified Fox News viewers, 72 percent believe illegal immigrants will get free health care; 79 percent believe it will lead to a government takeover of health care; 69 percent say taxpayer money will be used for abortions; and 75 percent believe the “death panel” claim, all of which are untrue.

The same poll found that only 21 percent of the general public surveyed trust the Republicans on the issue of health care.

Want to do something about the misinformation, lies, and hatred being spread by Fox News? Send your complaints to the FCC. Let’s get something done. Here’s their info: Federal Communications Commission Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau Consumer Complaints 445 12th Street, SW Washington, D.C. 20554. The completed complaint form (obtained from FCC website) may be faxed toll-free to: 1-866-418-0232. Be sure to include all required information to prevent delay in the processing of your complaint. You may email your completed complaint form and supporting documents.

Why Does the NRA Hate Puppies? – In the 2009 legislation session, the National Rifle Association has been going state to state setting its sights on public policies that would crack down on abusive puppy mills. They actively lobbied against an Arizona bill requiring that puppy mill producers are subject to inspections by county enforcement agents at any time during regular business hours. They are working hard in Indiana and Minnesota to derail bills that would limit the number of dogs confined in puppy mill cages and set basic standards of care for exercise, flooring, and veterinary treatment. The Arizona and Minnesota bills have been shelved, and an NRA-backed amendment would gut Indiana’s legislation.

It’s a mystery why the NRA cares so much about defending the status quo when it comes to puppy mills. It can’t be a core issue for gun owners. The NRA claims that the puppy mill bills would impact hunting dogs, but surely most sportsmen would want their dogs raised humanely by responsible breeders, not treated like a cash crop. A dog who lives in a filthy wire cage with no exercise, socialization, or human interaction might not end up being a very good hunting partner out in the field, after all.

Not so fast there. Think about it. We already license and register dogs. So how much longer will it be before we face total dog confiscation? Well, according to the NRA, if the anti-freedom, er, anti-puppy mill lobby has its way, not long. Not long at all.

Regards,

Jim

Analysis Shows Republican Statements on Health Care Mostly False – As seen from the graphs below, the claims of Republicans and opponents of health care are much more likely to be false than true. Overall, 76% of their claims are either “false” or “pants on fire” lies.

They are also more likely to be false than are claims of Democrats and supporters of reform. Overall, only 28% of Democrats’ claims were found to be “false.”

For individual statements and their scores …

Republican Representative Encourages Taking Guns to Town Hall Meetings – Asked by MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews on Monday, a Georgia Republican member of Congress actually encouraged Americans to attend public forums packing heat.

Woman Shouts “Heil Hitler!” At Jewish Man Praising Israel’s National Health System – At a Las Vegas town hall meeting, an Israeli man holding forth on the virtues of Israel’s health care system, which is “universal and compulsory, and is administered by a small number of organizations with funding from the government.” The World Health Organization ranked it as the 28th best in the world. That said, let me sum up the countering argument, issued by another town hall attendee: “Heil Hitler!”

That’s right! Some idiot woman yells “Heil Hitler” at a Jewish man who was doing nothing more than being a passionate advocate for Israeli health care. The man, quite naturally, goes completely apoplectic, saying “Shame on you” over and over again. The woman counters by saying, “Well, you ought to be the most against President Obama.” The poor man responds by saying, “I want to talk, not against Obama or for Obama. I want to talk about [health care].” He goes on to describe his own experiences with high-cost health care. For his efforts, the woman mocks him some more!

Media and Right-Wing Misrepresent Numbers From AARP – You may have heard on some “news” shows and talk-radio that 60,000 seniors have canceled their membership in AARP this summer, specifically citing AARP’s push for some sort of health care overhaul. What many of these sources did not mention was that, on average, AARP loses some 300,000 members a month, and that AARP actually gained 400,000 members, and 1.5 million people renewed their memberships during the same time period.

Republicans Totally Out-of-Touch With the Rest of America on Health Care Knowledge – When a Research 2000 poll asked, “Do you think the health care reform plan being considered by President Obama and Congress creates death panels?”, 88% of Democrats and 76% of Independents gave the obvious answer of “No.” But only 43 % of Republicans answered “No.”

When asked if “the health care reform plan being considered by President Obama and Congress require elderly patients to meet with government officials to discuss “end of life” options including euthanasia,” 74% of Democrats and 61% of Independents gave the correct response of “No.” But only 32% of Republicans gave the correct answer.

Only 7% of Democrats and 8% of Independents didn’t know that Medicare was a government program. But 14% of Republicans didn’t know that.

Free Enterprise at Work: Enterprise Rent-A-Car Sold Cars Without Standard Side Air Bags to Make More Money – Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the nation’s largest private buyer of new cars and seller of used ones, chose to “delete” a standard safety feature from thousands of Chevrolet Impala fleet vehicles, saving millions of dollars.

After the company rented out those 2006-08 model vehicles, Enterprise and countless dealers nationwide offered them for sale on the open market — minus the side-curtain air bags that have been shown to dramatically reduce highway deaths.

What’s more, a Kansas City Star investigation found that hundreds of Impalas already sold were incorrectly advertised on Enterprise’s Web site as having the very head-protecting feature that the rental company opted to exclude on General Motors’ factory floor.

Coal Lobbyists Sent Fake Letters to Congress – A lobbying firm working for a pro-coal industry group sent lawmakers a total of 13 fraudulent letters opposing the House climate bill — five more than initially believed, the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming said Tuesday.

The fake letters purported to be from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, senior citizens groups and Creciendo Juntos, a Hispanic advocacy organization.

In total, the firm sent 58 letters, and committee investigators suspect several more may be revealed to be fakes. The newly discovered letters included one, allegedly sent from a senior center in Charlottesville, Va., that the lobbying firm originally claimed was legitimate, the committee said.

Regards,

Jim

To My Conservative Friends,

I cannot even begin to consider your view that America is a Christian nation until we have universal health care. Jesus said we should care for the sick. Period. Who would Jesus decline care to? Wouldn’t he endorse the public option? When he healed the sick, there wasn’t even a co-pay.
But maybe instead of healing the sick, your sensibilities are more in line with Joe the Plumber, who speaking about Nancy Pelosi said that “those kind of people I usually took behind the woodshed and beat the livin’ tar out of.”

And another thing,

It’s not okay to throw the word “Nazi” around unless you’re talking about actual Nazis. It’s definitely not okay to use it in a health care debate. In fact, put Nazi and doctor in the same sentence and you come up with one name and one name only — Josef Mengele. I’m going to assume you don’t know who Josef Mengele was. I assume that because if you did, I’d hope you wouldn’t be painting Swastikas on your picket signs.

• Dr. Mengele drew a horizontal line across a wall at Auschwitz, five feet from the floor. If you were shorter than that line you were immediately sent to the gas chamber. The line was drawn in the children’s’ barracks.
• Dr. Mengele performed experiments on live, fully conscious human beings to determine just how much pressure it would take to crush a skull. In order to be precise, he had to administer the experiment very slowly.
• Dr. Mengele put people in bread ovens to determine at exactly what temperature the skin would receive first, second and third degree burns.
• Dr. Mengele once murdered a thousand women in one day. Why? Because they had lice and it cost less to kill the women than to kill the lice.

Are you getting it now town hallers, town hollers and town criers? You may not like Barack Obama, but calling him a Nazi makes you sound like a clown, an imbecile and an infant. And continuing to cry about America no longer resembling the one you grew up in only further proves the point that you got it backwards. It’s America that did the growing up, and you’re the one we no longer recognize.

And yes, you’re scaring me,

But it’s not about death panels or socialism. America’s currently insured middle class will be increasingly desperate if health reform fails. Millions more such families will see their take-home pay shrink. Millions will lose their employment-based insurance, especially in medium and small-sized firms. And millions will find themselves inexorably priced out of health care as we know it.

If efforts at better cost containment fail once again, and health care costs rise to $36,000 on average for a typical American family of four under age 65 — as almost surely it would — that $36,000 will be borne entirely by the family. That family’s disposable income would be much higher if the growth of future health spending was better controlled. And, as noted, many smaller firms will stop altogether providing job-based health insurance.

It would be a major problem for families with an income of less than $100,000 a year. In 2007, only about 25 percent of American families had a money income of $100,000 or more. Close to 60 percent had family incomes of less than $75,000.

This prospect — relatively stagnant family incomes combined with family health-care costs that double every decade — is what America’s middle class should contemplate as it thinks about the imperative of health reform.

Regards,

Jim

Conservatives Long for “The Good Old Days” – What were those good old days without government interference when we had those freedoms the Constitution promised us and before the government took them away?….Let me think — (as nostalgic harp music plays):

Why can’t we go back to the time when we just let banks fail and people lost their money without these bailouts and FDIC insurance? What about those happy days when we could employ 10- and 11-year-olds in our sweat shops, before those child labor laws? Or stop or bust labor unions without those pesky labor laws? How about the time when you could take advantage of employees before the minimum wage laws spoiled it? Remember those good old days when old people couldn’t buy food or pay their rent without Social Security or could not get health care without Medicare?

Or when poor people starved without welfare and couldn’t get health care without Medicaid? And what about the greatness of G.I.’s coming home from the wars, many of them wounded, who couldn’t get a college education, and now that damn government comes along with this G.I. Bill. And how about guns. 30,000 people could get killed every year and 70,000 wounded and we could have automatic weapons. Oh, wait a minute. We still have that. Forget that.

Remember when unemployed people would have to shift for themselves and just get a job, before unemployment benefits came along. Remember when we could keep “those people” out of our neighborhoods, clubs, restaurants, and jobs and discriminate against women before those damn civil rights laws were enacted. We could get lung cancer from cigarettes, take defective drugs and eat poisoned food before that meddling FDA began telling us what was good and what was bad for us.
And now we want everyone to have health care. They want their America back! (Who needs death panels when we can kill people the good old ways: capital punishment and war?)

In Move to Appease Critics, Obama Promises to Extend Health Care Coverage to Morons 😉 – Facing opposition to his health care reform proposals, President Barack Obama has decided to reach out to a key demographic: morons.

Starting this week, Mr. Obama will host a series of town halls to roll out new features of his health care plan which will extend health care coverage to “all idiotic Americans,” in the words of one White House source.

“We clearly underestimated the role that doofuses and dimwits were going to play in this debate,” the source said. “We want to send them the message that this plan will give them coverage — but we need to come up with a one-syllable word for ‘coverage.'”

But critics of the president’s new plan worry that extending coverage to every American who is a few bricks shy of a load could triple the size of the nation’s deficit.

“The sheer number of lamebrains in the U.S. is much greater than the administration estimates,” says Davis Logsdon, who studies the demography of idiots at the University of Minnesota. “Just look at Glenn Beck’s ratings.”

News Over-Hypes the Differences on Health-Care Reform – Despite all the debate and protesting being featured in the news, there is actually broad agreement about 85 percent of what’s being proposed for health care reform.

Here are the things that, broadly speaking, legislators agree about:

• Insurance market reforms, including community rating, guaranteed issue, an end to rescission, an end to discrimination based on preexisting conditions, and an individual mandate.
• Subsidies for low-income Americans.
• Delivery system reforms.
• Health insurance exchanges.
• An expansion of coverage to about 95 percent of legal residents.
• Prevention and wellness policies.
• Retaining and strengthening the employer-based insurance market.
• Creating some kind of incentive for employers to offer, and keep offering, health benefits.
• Expanding Medicaid to about 133 percent of poverty.

Here are the things that legislators disagree about, but are discussing, and will probably figure out:

• Whether subsidies should reach 300 percent of poverty or 400 percent.
• Whether there should be an employer mandate or something milder.
• Whether medium-size employers should be eligible to enroll in the health insurance exchanges.
• Whether health reform should cost $1 trillion over 10 years or $1.4 trillion over 10 years.
• Whether it should be paid for through new taxes on the wealthy or a change to existing tax subsidies in the health-care system.

Here are the things legislators don’t agree about:

• Whether we should have a public option that is open only to the minority of Americans on the exchanges or a co-op option.
• How to handle abortion.
• How to handle geographic disparities in insurance costs.

Dancing Behind Bars – Some may be surprised that Tom DeLay will be doing the two-step this season on Dancing with the Stars. Not us. DeLay has demonstrated quite a bit of fancy footwork over the years avoiding jail time. Here are some of the DeLay’s political moves that Dancing With the Stars audiences may not be familiar with:

Cha Cha Cha Ching – DeLay laundered at least $190,000 in corporate funds through the Republican National Committee to spend on Texas Republican House cronies like State Rep. Dwayne Bohac (R-138). (Source: Austin American-Statesman, September 1, 2008)

Tango and Cash – DeLay paid his wife Christine and daughter Dani Ferro $350,000 from his various campaign accounts. (Source: The Houston Chronicle, May 10, 2007)

Hammer Hustle – DeLay convinced imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff to pay for a golf trip to Europe. (Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, April 26, 2007)

Backroom Jitterbug – DeLay convened Energy Lobbyists to help write energy legislation that “would allow the costs of deregulation of electricity to be passed on to their customers.” In exchange, DeLay received tens of thousands of dollars in donations from the lobbyists. (Source: Texas Monthly, May 2006)

Redistricting Rumba – DeLay forced through a mid-decade Texas congressional redistricting plan that robbed our state of nearly 100 years of seniority and three powerful committee chairmanships, leaving Texas with arguably the weakest large state Congressional delegation in the country. (Source: Austin American-Statesman June 28, 2007)

Beltway Boogie – After he was indicted and faced the possibility of losing re-election in a safe Republican seat, DeLay cowardly abandoned his constituents and fled the State of Texas for the suburbs of Washington, D.C. (Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram, August 20, 2006)

Military Institutes New ‘Don’t Tell, Let Me Guess’ Policy (More humor, we need it.) – WASHINGTON—Pentagon officials announced Tuesday a new policy toward homosexuals in the armed services, the so-called “Don’t Tell, Let Me Guess” system, which gives Pentagon brass the opportunity to state their opinion on a soldier’s sexual orientation, provided it’s followed by the phrase “Am I right?” “These new guidelines allow homosexuals to serve in the armed forces, as long as they don’t show any outward traits that would tip us off and ruin all the fun of guessing,” said Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who purports to have “excellent” gaydar. … Pentagon officials said soldiers who are correctly guessed to be homosexual will face immediate dishonorable discharge, unless they can prove they have killed at least 10 enemy combatants in a particularly brutal fashion. 😉

Dirty Energy Astroturf Rally in Houston – Last week we learned just how low dirty energy interests will go to block clean energy legislation. Greenpeace USA obtained a leaked memo from the American Petroleum Institute (API) that details plans to launch a national astroturf campaign to stage “Energy Citizen” rallies and attack clean energy legislation at staged public events.

So, on Tuesday, August 18 (tomorrow) Public Citizen and 1Sky will work together to show the public the difference between a real campaign and corrupt astroturfing by hold a counter-rally outside the Houston, TX “townhall”!

Regards,

Jim

The Rich Have Gotten Much Richer and You Got Almost Nothing – Income inequality in the United States is at an all-time high, surpassing even levels seen just before the Great Depression. the top .001 percent of American earners took home 6 percent of total U.S. wages, a figure that has nearly doubled since 2000. As of 2007, the top 10% of American earners pulled in 49.7 percent of total wages, a level that’s higher than any other year since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of stock market bubble in the roaring 1920s.

Did you hear that? A few rich people get nearly HALF OF ALL WAGES! That doesn’t include all the money they make on their other schemes. And they want more tax breaks! And high-deductable health insurance works just fine for them too. Look at the chart below. They’ve been getting what they want and leaving everyone else behind for the past 30 years!

The Palin-Grassley Freedom From Information Act – Hitler, like I have to tell you, supports Medicare reimbursement for end-of-life counseling because he wants the Federal government to talk America’s old people into killing themselves. We don’t know why he wants this. Maybe he’s still bitter about the Battle of the Bulge.

And he would have gotten away with it, too, if not for Sarah Palin’s Facebook page.

Sarah Palin Facebook status was: “… is fearing Death Panels.” (Thumbs down. Doesn’t like this.) And that was good enough for Chuck Grassley.

As Grassley explains: “We dropped end-of-life provisions from consideration entirely because of the way they could be misinterpreted and implemented incorrectly.”

Does Chuck Grassley mean we can only write laws that make sense to people who can’t name a newspaper?

Are we really stripping counseling from health care because of what doctors might say? (We all know, given the chance, a doctor will always talk you into suicide. That’s where the money is.) Why not forbid doctors from talking to patients at all, just to be safe? Call it the Palin-Grassley Freedom from Information Act.

What Kind of People Oppose Health Care Reform? – At a Hagerstown, Maryland, town hall meeting, there were signs comparing President Barack Obama to a Nazi and showing him with an Adolf Hitler-style mustache, and a sign reading “Death to Obama” and “Death to Michelle and her two stupid kids.”

More Conservative Fakery Planned for Town Halls on Climate Legislation – An email memo from the desk of American Petroleum Institute president Jack Gerard, asks API’s member companies to recruit employees, retirees, vendors and contractors to attend “Energy Citizen” rallies to attack climate legislation in key Congressional districts in the closing weeks of the August recess.

Taking a page from the playbook of Astroturf campaigners currently crashing health care town hall events across the country, API hopes to similarly sully productive communications between Congress members and their actual constituents at public events scheduled for the coming weeks. Gerard states that API is ready to bus in company members and provide logistical support, and reveals that API has retained “a highly experienced events management company that has produced successful rallies for presidential campaigns, corporations and interest groups.”

Gerard’s email states that API is partnering on the rally campaign with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, confirming that the groups are staging a coordinated effort to attack climate legislation despite the fact that several prominent members of these groups have stated support for strong Congressional action to combat climate change.

President Obama’s Bad Habit – Excerpts from this article by Bill Maher:

President Obama must give up that awful habit that sets such a bad example for young people. I’m talking, of course … about golf. …

It’s like being homeless in loud pants. Anyway, Time magazine is reporting that since he became president, Barack Obama has taken up golf with a passion, playing almost every weekend for the past few months — and I feel betrayed. He campaigned as a basketball player. It said to us, “I’m urban and athletic and hip and a team player.”

I don’t want a regular guy running the country. We tried that for eight years and New Orleans still smells like mildew. Obama was different. He wasn’t Joe Six-Pack. He had a six-pack. And when he gave a speech it didn’t make English teachers cry. …

So that’s why I’m so worried when I see my president playing golf, because golf is a slippery slope. First comes the golf attire, then the golf stories and pretty soon you’re telling black jokes. What’s worse is that you know Obama doesn’t really wanna be golfing, he’s just doing it because he thinks it will relax the white people. “How could I be a socialist, I’m putting!” …

Be who you really are – a basketball playing, Jay-Z listening, city-dwelling hipster. The only sand trap I want to see you get out of is Afghanistan. …

Regards,

Jim

Lou Dobbs Promoting Hate and Inciting Violence Towards Howard Dean – CNN pundit Lou Dobbs, speaking about Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean on August 10, said that the “bloodsucking liberal” could only be stopped by “a stake through his heart.”

With violence from right-wing extremist groups on the rise and Republican backed mobs hanging cardboard versions of members of congress in effigy, Lou Dobbs’ statement is dangerous.

Enough is enough.

This isn’t the first time Lou Dobbs has used the air waves to promote hate and embarrass CNN.
His relentless promotion of debunked, racially charged conspiracy theories about President Obama’s birth certificate have already seriously damaged CNN’s credibility. Yet, Lou Dobbs remains on the air.

It’s up to us to make sure CNN and the United Stations Radio Network know we’ve had enough.

Lubbock County Judge Posts Anti-Obama Posters in Courthouse – County Judge Tom Head of Lubbock, Texas, posted a flyer on his courthouse wall with photos of nine people that were arrested wearing Obama t-shirts and a narration about a person contemplating waking up, putting on an Obama T-shirt and then abusing drugs, robbing a store and hitting his wife. Of the nine persons depicted in the photos, seven appear African-American and one appears Latina.

Judge Head defended his actions, saying “he saw nothing wrong with the poster and had not heard from anyone in the community who did.”

There was nothing to say what the people in the photos had been arrested for, or if they were found guilty of any crimes.

In Emails, California Councilman Talks About Assassinating President Obama – The Merced Sun-Star says it has obtained 200 more emails sent by City Councilman Gary Frago, in which the elected official jokes about violence against black and Latino people, and even envisions a scenario in which the man who attempted to kill Ronald Reagan is enticed to assassinate President Barack Obama.
One of the most troubling of the new Frago e-mails, forwarded in January, joked that Nokia had designed a new cell phone for “nervous white people” who want to make calls in a series of cities known for their large black populations, such as Oakland and New Orleans. The phone was a gun.

Another e-mail forwarded by Frago on Dec. 9, 2008, was in the form of a fictitious letter sent by Sen. John McCain to John Hinckley Jr., a man obsessed with actress Jodie Foster, who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The letter said that Hinckley would be released soon and he should know that Obama was sleeping with Foster now.

Right-Wing Pundits Tear Into 11-Year-Old Girl for Asking Obama a Good Question at Town Hall – Ever since the sixth-grade resident of Malden, Massachusetts, asked President Barack Obama a question at his town hall on health care Tuesday, the conservative punditocracy has unleashed a torrent of criticism against the girl, accusing her of being an Obama plant.

“As I was walking in, I saw a lot of signs outside saying mean things about reforming health care,” Hall asked the president when the microphone was handed to her. “How do kids know what is true, and why do people want a new system that can — that help more of us?” The president responded with a long polemic on the false rumors.

Rush Limbaugh, Michelle Malkin, and various right-wing bloggers all said in unison, “Blah, blah, 11-year old, blah, blah, phony, blah, blah, parents, blah, blah, Obama supporters, blah, the Bogey Man, blah, mysterious woman, blah, blah.”

Gladney Has Sad Knee, and an Even Sadder Brain – Over the last few days, a conservative activist in St. Louis named Kenneth Gladney seems to have become something of a cause celebre in far-right circles. Depending on which version of events you choose to believe, Gladney either initiated or was involved in a scuffle at a town-hall event late last week.

At least one prominent conservative blogger said Gladney was “brutally attacked” by SEIU members outside the event. After watching the video, there’s ample reason for skepticism. Gladney was, in fact, pulled to the ground during the fracas, but he seemed to bounce back up quickly, and is seen walking around soon after without any obvious injuries. His attorney has argued that Gladney was beaten during the fight, but there’s nothing in the clip to support that.

Gladney later went to the hospital, claiming to have sustained injuries to his “knee, back, elbow, shoulder and face.”

Yesterday, about 200 conservative activists held a protest outside the SEIU office in St. Louis. Gladney was there — bandaged and in a wheelchair — as a featured guest. Some of the activists held signs that read, “Don’t Tread on Kenny.” But, there’s this tidbit in the local news account of the protest:

Gladney did not address Saturday’s crowd of about 200 people. His attorney, David Brown, however, read a prepared statement Gladney wrote. “A few nights ago there was an assault on my liberty, and on yours, too.” Brown read. “This should never happen in this country.”

Supporters cheered. Brown finished by telling the crowd that Gladney is accepting donations toward his medical expenses. Gladney told reporters he was recently laid off and has no health insurance. [emphasis added]

Wait, the conservative opponent of health care reform, fighting (literally) to defeat a plan that would bring coverage to those who lose their jobs, lost his coverage because he got laid off?

I’m not in a position to say whether Gladney sustained genuine injuries or whether he’s exaggerating for 15 minutes of Fox News fame and a lucrative out-of-court settlement.

Either way, the new right-wing cause celebre needs to take up a collection to pay for his medical bills because he doesn’t have health insurance. It’s a fascinating sign of the times.

A Small Number of Negative People Get the Attention of the News – A New York Times story about a recent poll is titled “New Poll Finds Growing Unease on Health Plan” and says, “Americans are concerned that revamping the health care system would … blah, blah, blah.” But the actual numbers in the poll give a different story:

• 55 % say the government should guarantee health insurance for all Americans (only 38% disagree)
• 66% say the government should “offer[] everyone a government administered health insurance plan” (only 27% disagree)
• 77 % say insurers should have to cover anyone regardless of medical history (only 19% disagree)
• 66% are concerned that without reform, they could lose coverage at some point
• 75% think that without reform, the cost of their health care will go up
• 82% say that health care in the U.S. needs fundamental changes or needs to be completely rebuilt (only 16% disagree)
• 76% say the rising cost of health care is a major threat to the U.S. economy (only 8% disagree)

If You Have Referred to “The” Health Care Bill, You Are Stupid: Get Educated – [An] interactive side-by-side compares the twelve leading comprehensive reform proposals across a number of key characteristics and plan components. Included in this side-by-side are proposals for moving toward universal coverage that have been put forward by the President and Members of Congress. In an effort to capture the most important proposals, we have included those that have been formally introduced as legislation as well as those that have been offered as draft proposals or as policy options. This side-by-side offers a summary of the major components of these proposals

Ann Coulter Says Obama’s Health Care Advisor is on Her Death List – Ezekiel Emanuel has spent his medical career opposing euthanasia and working to increase the quality of care for dying patients. But, on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show Thursday night, conservative commentator Ann Coulter said that Ezekiel Emanuel is on her “death list.”

Emanuel, a medical ethicist and oncologist whose brother Rahm is the White House chief of staff, is also a senior adviser on health care to President Obama. After Hannity read a quote from Ezekiel and said it meant there would be euthanasia in the new health care bill, Coulter responded: “Totally ironically, Zeke Emanuel is on my death list. Hold the applause. I’m going to be on the death panel.”

Senator Chuck Grassley Responds to President Obama’s Compliment By Lying About the President’s Health Care Proposal – President Obama told a gathering in New Hampshire on Tuesday that Senator Chuck Grassley was one of his “Republican friends on Capitol Hill” who was “sincerely trying to figure out if they find a health care bill that works.” But, on Wednesday, Grassley endorsed an unfounded, extremist argument that Democratic health care legislation could empower the government to “pull the plug on grandma” and has once again raised question about the utility of the White House’s efforts at bipartisanship.

Regards,

Jim