Memo To Rahm: Do You Think We're MotherF#@kin' Stupid?
In the past few days, a disturbing reality has come into razor sharp focus -- the White House may be completely willing to go along with the lobbyist funded Senators on selling out real health care reform for America.
If anyone wanted to hold on to the illusion that perhaps President Obama was actually doing a head fake with 'moderate Democrats' in his call suggesting that they shouldn't be attacked for taking huge amounts of health industry money in exchange for creating faux reform legislation that would entrench and benefit the private insurance industry, Rahm Emanual made it clear on Monday that the compromise is a pre-approved condition at the White House.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.
"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.His comments came as the Senate Finance Committee pushed for a bipartisan deal.
The White House and Congress need to get the message loud and clear that so many of us have waited so long for real health care reform that we're in no mood to watch the compromise that The Public Option already represents crumble in front of us.
Eight years of the blatant corporate governance of George Bush and Dick Cheney don't make the slick, two faced corpora governance of people like Rahm Emanuel and Max Baucus go down any smoother.
We know the lies about how awful the rest of the world's health care is and how great we have it in the U.S.A. with our freedom to go bankrupt. We know that we're the only modern nation in the world where the private insurance industry is allowed to choke profits out of its citizens. Thanks to defiant American voices like filmmaker Michael Moore, we get it.
Let's give credit to Barack Obama for making us feel like we could make a difference -- like we could WIN this time. That's a powerful feeling; just ask our brothers and sisters in Iran. Are we Americans ready to show 1/100th of the courage that they showed when they braved police and bullets to let their government know they demanded change?
Are you willing to at least pick up the phone and tell the White House what you think?
On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama said:
You're who I'm working for every single day in the White House. I've heard your stories; I know you sent me to Washington because you believed in the promise of a better day. And I don't want to let you down.
You're letting us down, Mr. President.
Here's my two latest videos.
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According to the Washington Post, true healthcare reform will fail because there is not a mass movement insisting on it:
http://www
Perhaps it's time for one.
Rahm Emanuel was quoted by 2 wsj journalists authors of that article and absolutely not misrepresented, I am disappointed and more suspect because of this lie and walk back.
Great.
We Must Keep Up the Pressure!
We Want Real Health Care Reform - and at least a public option.
Stop the Health Insurers who put Profit before Good Health Care.
Keep Calling Congress and the White House!
It's obvious that Pres Obama, Mr Emanuel, the 111th Congress, K St, appointed administrarion Obama officials think the we, the public, are fother mucking stupid. This is the time to send all of them e-mails to discorage them from treating us like dumb fothermuckers.
Scary stuff, right from the DLC:
http://www
If Obama fails to give us the "Public Option" , I suspect the democrats have been overcome by the same "Hubris" of the 2005 Republicans ( Rove). Not using the cloture available with 60 votes so that up and down votes can be tallied in the Senate, rolling over for alleged "bi-particainship" will show the American public that the Democrats are really just like the Republicans. Owned by Big Corps such as banks, Pharma and Health Insurance. Maybe the Democrats will lose seats in 2010. Obama may already be headed for z 1 term presidency. Obama's purported "change" may just be an illusion that the public will see thru by 2012.
Rahm should resign.
It's time for the President to grow up.
This isn't 'Entourage'.
This is real life, and there are millions of Americans you're f****** with.
Apparently the 6th of Septmeber is DO IT DAY - to fight procrastination. It seems like a good day to start a civil disobedience campaign, or at least a march on DC
I think that's a great idea!
Scrap Health Care Reform!
What we need to do First is Reform Congress.
Until Congress is forced to keep all Personal Investments in Blind Trusts, just like the president, we will continue to have these problems with our elected officials.
Reform Congress, then Reforming Health Care will become Much easier.
Term limits or a parliament type of congress, such as Great Britain and Israel have would be nice.
MESSAGE TO DEMS:
No universal, single payer: No vote for you in 10 or 12!
Simple!
I sent email to both of my Senators and the Prez with the long version of the Above Post
Ralph Nader: America's Champ for 40+ years would never have let us down but punched the lights out of the healthcare lobbyists and lead the nation to full Universal Single Payer Socialized Medicine. The same system that the anti-Socialist obstructionist Republican Congressmen and women (and some Democrats) are now indulging in at taxpayer expense.
Here's Ralph's most recent article on how to move our nation to Single Payer Healthcare:
http://www
Since Ralph was not elected and Obama is on office, we must make our voices known to help push the change he is supposed to be creating. Make your voices know folks!
Call the White House directly at: 1-456-1111 or 1-888-355-3588
Call the Capitol Switchboard at: 1-800-828-0498 or 1-202-224-3121
If you don't call they may assume that you don't care or don't want Single Payer care.
Also check out http://Sin
Let's make a difference!
HAhahahaha, oh seriously hmmm Nader or Sarah Palin?
Man you college kids havent changed a bit since I was there 8 years ago!
Nader, ha, the man has never run for any political office, and what has he done since invent the seatbelt. Gotta love how Nader and Ron Paul can carry these people :D
I suggest you wake up, there is a whole world of serious liberals out there, how you picked Ralph for inspiration is perplexing. Try Howard Dean who is actually getting stuff done.
http://www
Bernie Sanders
Nader freeloads by living in his sister's house, not paying rent and generally looks and acts like a stumblebum. If this is the paragon of what we want for America, go for it. He also wants someone else to pay for his healthcare, as, seemingly do most of the people on this blog site. Now the question really is, how much are YOU prepared to pay for YOUR healthcare and those Americans who are truly needy or find themselves confronted by catestrophic health challenges? All of would agree that we need to take care of those folks (I'd guess the number is in the 10-20 million range).
Obama did push back today....
http://www
Obama also seemed to push back on his "looking forward, not backward" approach to torture--but he didn't change a thing, and we're still "looking forward" as the US continues to torture ...
A little ambiguous push-back is politics, not truth.
Obama also seemed to push back on his "looking forward, not backward" approach to detainee interrogation--but he didn't change a thing, and we're still "looking forward" as the US continues using "harsh interrogation techniques" ...
A little ambiguous push-back is politics, not truth.
[Second attempt to get past "moderation"]
Nothing changes until the pain of staying the same becomes greater than the pain of change.
there will be no meaningful healthcare reform unless the people demand it. not inquire about. not hope for it. not expect others to 'give' it to them. the people who want it; who need it so badly must 'take' it - take it from those who control it now and are doing such a piss-poor job of delivering a system of real value and benefit, to those who consistently overpay for it.
there are something like 78 million baby-boomers who are getting screwed instead of served. they need to unite. and act. there are millions more, too poor to pay the going rate for first-class healthcare. these poor people also need to unite. and act. and there are millions more who are already ill and at the mercy of the current, substandard system. they too, need to unite. and act.
history and mankind has proven repeatedly that there is real strength in big numbers. real people, in real streets, demanding real change - refusing to take no for an answer - is what it will take. the salient question of the hour is: have all these truly needy americans got the guts to unite and act? are these americans prepared to rally en masse and take control of the situation; and insist that they finally get the quality of service and affordable fees to which they should each be entitled?
Right on Phil!
Here's a locamotive engine to move progress forward in Universal Health Care.
http://sin
Tell Rahm that the 80 percent of us happy with our healthcare want a minimally invasive way to provide health care/health insurance to all who are here legally but cannot afford it (US citizens cannot be asked to pay for health insurance for illegals). Require all Americans to buy health insurance - no opting out if you are young and healthy, and no moving from a job with insurance to become a potter with the expectation that the American taxpayer will then pay for your health insurance.
This is like the uninsured motorists pool for car insurance. How much would it cost to buy a minimal health insurance policy for the, say, 7-8 percent of American citizens who cannot buy it now due to simply being our neediest (and least capable) or who are temporarily down on their luck? For the neediest I'd say we all (all, not just the magic top 5 percent of taxpayers) to pay for them. And for the others we pay half and loan half and when they are back in the employment pool they can have some of their wages garnished to pay back the government/other taxpayers.
Those who need to be on the government dole for insurance should be tested for obesity and penalized if smoking or drinking to excess - such behavior cannot be permitted for those who need government subsidized health care (companies are increasingly cracking down in these areas). Daily bootcamp style exercise to promote fitness would be helpful.
Exercise, fitness, and encouraging people to give up cancer sticks and moderate their drinking habits are always welcome. A "health tax" on junk food would also be helpful in raising consumer awareness about nutrition and can help fund future expenses caused by diabetes, obesity, and other illnesses attributable to junk food. Can more bike paths be made by unemployed workers in between jobs?
One of the chief drivers of insurance premiums that is overlooked are the salaries of CEO's of HMO's.
The handpicked board of of United Health Group approved CEO Dr. William McGuires's salary of $800,000 per hour in 2006, ($1.6 billion annually). Dr. McGuire said he worked hard and earned it so other shameless CEO's started demanding more non-performance driven pay. A race of greed exists and escalates year by year, Goldman-Sach's is on course to pay out the biggest bonuses and retention benefits this year-despite abysmal performance and government handouts in 2008. The disease of Greed can only be treated with salary caps.
Outrageous salaries are drive up premiums for all businesses and individuals that can currently afford to still pay. For those who cannot, healthcare becomes an ever more unreachable goal.
Or we could ban high fructose corn syrup and reinstate PE classes in the public schools...
Good ideas DesertDog.
PublicAdvocate has a point here. Getting all Americans insured is important, as is limiting the amount of health care money that goes straight into the pockets of executives, or into denying care to people who really need it. A public option is an important part of doing that, and would be more effective than other ways I can think of. As much as humanly possible, that public option needs to be funded by the people who actually use it, like a private insurance company is. By cutting out the profits, it should be able to provide similar insurance for a lower cost, and force private providers to become more efficient, which the current health insurance oligopoly does not.
As to your last paragraph, it's not necessarily terrible, but I think we need more voluntary/incentive based ways to discourage poor behavior in these areas and less forced compliance (you think you hear people screaming Fascism now? Imagine that one). Government plans could also specifically withhold coverage for ailments deemed to be a direct result of alcohol and tobacco abuse (does anyone know how this works in other countries, say, France? I'm told they have high smoking rates there). Obesity is more complex, I'm not exactly sure what to say about that one for now.
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