Healthcare Update. Do You Think Rearranging The Deck Chairs On The Titanic Would Have Made A Difference?
This fight is now about individuals, sound bites, massive falsehoods, corporate corruption, accusations and innuendos, and an unhealthy dose of fear and “Confuse you lose”. We dare not lose focus on reality and the issues that need addressed. This is no time for the liberals of America to either delude themselves by rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic or assuming a circular firing squad configuration.
The Democrats believe they have avoided the major Icebergs and that all will be well in the end. The Republicans are safely overboard on their Red Life boats and they have rewarded a few blue dogs “scuttle the ship saboteurs” and revenge-driven “Judas Joe”. The Democrats are looking for the Blue Life Boats and can’t find them because they chicken shit yellow colored.
The Carpathia in this case is commanded by Captain Pelosi, a rather stubborn single-minded helms-person not averse to throwing troublesome crew members over board.
The scenario is made even more complicated by the fact that beached Former-Captain Dean is calling for torpedo boats to bring the ship down faster and the hell with anyone on board or afloat in the waters of the Congressional cease pool.
Meanwhile in all of the “would-be” rescue room operation centers, media and pundit, bloggers and crazed talk show TV and Radio; the analysis and advice is poling up like manure on a horse farm.
There are those trying to sound plausibly intelligent in their pontifications of why the Democrats are desperate to pass this bill before Christmas. At least a portion of this punditry provides a sensible life rope. Don’t send the Democrats home without something to defend and sell during the Christmas break or that will be out there is the Right Wing Rubbish be thrown at them from the audiences. I agree, but I am also obligated to say that, that would not be true if the Democrats were willing and able to take of the nice guy gloves, fight fear and in politically incorrect language of the past simply paint their opponents for the corporate shill bastards that they are, folks who simply don’t give a damn about people who fall into the classes of the uninsured or under insured; don’t give a damn whether you live or die so long as their corporate sponsors are rewarded and send nice lobbyist Christmas presents to their campaign accounts.
Unlike scrooge they have no socially redeeming qualities.
Some are advocating a “sneaky end run gimmick play” on fourth and ten yards, a really gutsy maneuver requiring a helluva lot of Democratic Party Gonad content that I’m not sure exists any longer.
For the foreseeable future America will be treated to a noxious concoction of confusion and illusion devoid of any semblance of truth and fact. The political blender will spin out verbal cocktails of every intoxicating design and this nation is drunk dizzy and blurred of mind to the point where everyone is ready to heave. But wait; we have only a few more days of Senate sound bites and hate spewing in this season of hope and celebration. What about the idea that we simply ignore all that rubbish; stay the course at slamming home the message of what we want and make their lives miserable. They certainly deserve it!
Somehow the media has done it again. For the moment they have served up the “Last Supper on the Titanic” from the Senate cafeteria menu…but wait…there is the small matter of “The Conference Committee” with the House and Nancy Pelosi. Those folks are so pliable and the ship’s captain has an entirely different perspective from Captain Reid. That guy really needs a Molly Brown to kick his posterior around. If there was ever a case of seniority equal senility; Reid is way up front in the running. If you examine his history you will find that the only political expertise he has ever demonstrated is that of protecting his ass back home to the extent of political infanticide his own party in Nevada, lest they become with time a treat to his continued re-election. Where have I heard those words before?
Reid will never be a true Senate leader outside of exercising powers of the agenda and calendar provided by the rules of that body. He will always, first and foremost be willing to compromise, bastardize and sacrifice any principle to curry favor and indebt others to him in his own person future…and therein lies the real problem in this debate.
Healthcare, a concern since 1912 and Teddy Roosevelt has been hammered, slammed and tamped down unceremoniously into the Congressional graveyard for 97 years by the forces of inequity and corporate domination. The question that I and others have posed repeatedly is: “Are we A Broken Defeated Enslaved People”?
Returning from these digressions; are we as a nation so self-absorbed so self-indulgent, so incapable of standing up for ourselves that we have come to accept the failings, the corruption and manipulations of those we elect to office that we have surrendered the very hopes and dreams of what this nation can be and should be…not in terms of the rhetoric of campaigners, but in the reality of everyday life? Have we become numbed by the political and media opiates fed us that we can no longer hope to affect any positive change in this nation and must be prepared for a future of being mere political chattel of no importance other than that of working for the commanders of our society and living and dying as a matter of circumstance and chance?
Certainly there are areas of concern in the bill working its way through The Senate, but it is premature to give up the pressure to fix the short comings. The Conference Committee lays ahead and like an Iceberg it can sink the good ship The USS Republican Titanic.
So lets focus on some issues that have been both clearly and responsibly defined before we advocate either scuttling the ship or launching torpedoes to bring it down. There will be time for that type of destruction if it becomes necessary.
The task has some challenges to be confronted and more calm and intelligent sources are defining those points rather than participate in the daily witch caldron stirring of the moronic and myopic media.
Democrats Face Challenge in Merging Health Bills
New York Times
... also oppose the abortion provision in the Senate bill, leaving Speaker Nancy Pelosiwith a challenge in rounding up the votes she needs in the House. ...
Senate healthcare bill may be hard to reconcile with House's
Los Angeles Times
By Janet Hook Reporting from Washington - As the Senate lumbers toward passage of its healthcarebill, Democrats are looking ahead to the potentially ...
Nelson Sets Up for Reconciliation; Pelosi Will Ram Through This Bill
RushLimbaugh.com (subscription)
And he said, "'Once in the House, it will be about what Nancy Pelosi wants to see happen. If it goes to conference, the public will have a better chance to ...
See all stories on this topic
Want Universal Health Care? Move to Vermont New York Daily News (blog)
Bernie Sanders accomplished what no one else in Washington seems to be able to do: Providing his constituents with affordable universal health care coverage ...
Dear MoveOn member,
In just over 48 hours, the Senate will vote on its health care bill, and then House and Senate leaders and the White House will meet to negotiate the final bill.
While the House bill is quite strong, the Senate health care bill is seriously flawed. And with negotiations about to begin, we have one last chance to fight for key fixes in the final bill.
Here are five key problems with the Senate bill that must be fixed. Please check this out, then pass it on! Click here to post on Facebook, or here to post on Twitter.
Five Critical Flaws in the Senate Health Care Bill
The Senate bill would:
#1—Deny Americans the choice of a public option. In contrast, the House bill contains a national public option, the key to real competition, greater choice, and lower costs.1
#2—Leave insurance unaffordable for some lower income and working people. Both bills require virtually all Americans to buy insurance. But even with the subsidies provided, some families could have to pay up to 20% of their income on health care expenses.2
#3—Impose dangerous restrictions on women's reproductive health care. Unfortunately, both bills do this and the House provision is worse. Both versions would be a dangerous step and neither should be in the final bill.3
#4—Tax American workers' health coverage to pay for reform. The Senate would pay for part of reform by taxing the hard-won benefits packages of some working Americans. The House, on the other hand, pays for reform with a small surcharge on only the wealthiest Americans—a far better approach.4
#5—Allow insurance companies to remain exempt from anti-trust laws. Under current law, insurance companies are actually exempt from laws designed to prevent monopolies and price-gouging. The House bill would fix this, but the Senate bill leaves it in place.5
Of course, these aren't the only problems with the bill. Most glaringly, both the Senate and House bill would leave millions uninsured,6 a far cry from the vision of universal coverage so many of us have fought for. That remains a long-term goal.
But these five things need to be fixed immediately—and we need to spread the word to make sure House and Senate leadership and the White House get the message we're counting on them to craft a final bill with these key fixes.
Can you spread the word? Forward this email, and click here to post on Facebook, or here to post on Twitter.
Thanks for all you do.
–Kat, Carrie, Michael, Joan, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals: Public Plan," The New York Times, December 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85859&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=5
"The House Bill and the Senate Bill," The Now! Blog, December 21, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85861&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=6
"Why We Need a Public Health-Care Plan," The Wall Street Journal, June 24, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124580516633344953.html
2. "Assessment of Affordability Provisions in the Exchange in House (H.R. 3962) and Senate (H.R. 3590) Health Reform Bills," Health Care for America Now
http://hcfan.3cdn.net/46590729111c307ccc_lom6b3a6r.pdf
"Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals: Individual Mandate," The New York Times, December 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85860&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=7
"The House Bill and the Senate Bill," The Now! Blog, December 21, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85861&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=8
"Senate health bill is launch pad," Jacob Hacker, December 22, 2009
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30871.html
3. "Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals: Abortion," The New York Times, December 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85862&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=9
4. "Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals: Paying for the Proposals," The New York Times, December 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85863&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=10
5. "Comparing the House and the Senate Health Care Proposals: Insurance Regulations," The New York Times, December 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85736&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=11
6. "H.R. 3962, Affordable Health Care for America Act," Congressional Budget Office, November 20, 2009
http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=10741
"Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act," Congressional Budget Office, November 18, 2009
http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=10731
"REPORT: How the Senate Bill Compares to Other Reform Legislation," Think Progress, November 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85670&id=18394-3532124-ejCMUNx&t=12
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We are going to be treated to the largest display of garbage slinging in the days ahead that this nation has ever witnessed. Much of it will be total falsehood dressed up in the guize of the truth by various talking heads and Republican Congressmen.
I remind you: “Confuse you lose” that’s the name of the game!
You will hear all manner of insanity, lies and fictional stories like:
Take Two Aspirin and Call the Undertaker
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