EdgedInBlue's Comments (43)

“I try to make three points when I mail and call...

1. That I want Single-Payer scored (AND they are scoring Wiener's bill!) because Medicare for All is health care for all.

2. That if a bill is passed it must, at the least, have a strong public option, tied to Medicare +5. No triggers and no mandates unless countered by a PO.

3. If they've shown support for the public option (not a chance now that I've moved to Texas LOL), I thank them. If they haven't, I ask why and what plan they do support.”

“If she only made $300,000 in China, sans travel and expenses, I think you can prolly buy a speech with questions for the same. A small hall, dinner service and a robust debate (well, dinner service any way!).”

“"...accord­ing to Politico".

Nuff said.”

“Are these transcripts available only to subscribers because I have looked and they are nowhere to be found. Can you provide a link to the transcripts?

The timeline I am seeing on search engines in that Glenn Beck made a cowardly racist remark on Fox, bloggers began a boycott of Beck's advertisers, Color of Change joined in, and Beck began talking about Van Jones on his program.

If you are not just baiting, please provide a link to the first show after March 9th (when Jones was appointed) and prior to July 28 (when Beck called President Obama a racist), that features Beck denigrating Van Jones.”

“www.madashelldoctors.com”

“How could we, or he, foresee the forces that lobbyists would bring to bear in the form of lies, astroturf, and Republican/Blue Dog obstinacy. The fact is, we are being out organized and we have some catching up to do. We know that 77% of Americans want health care, but that 77% has to speak up or they'll be drowned by the 20% with bullhorns!”

“You have two options.

One is a healthcare march for reform in DC on September 13th. The information for that march is here: http://www.marchforhealthcare.com/

The other is the MadAsHellDoctors caravan, which has been started by several Oregonian doctors who believe in the single payer system. They will leave Oregon on September 8th and drive across the country in a caravan, with others joining them, until they reach DC on the 30th for a large rally and to present their plan to Congress. Find them here: www.madashelldoctors.com”

“In politics, I'd like to nominate AKMuckraker of the Mudflats blog. Not only did she tirelessly lead the charge against Palin "makin' stuff up", she also changed the lives of native villages in rural Alaska by raising awareness AND money to keep them from having to make the choice between food or warmth.”

“In Scandinavia, most workers take at least one month off to enjoy the summer. They usually take June or July. What if we donated August to their cause? ;)”

“We are not outnumbered. We are out-spent.”

“That would entail rolling back the clock. Communities are not what they were 20-25 years ago. For one, there are more people, period. Neighborhoods are not the same as they were, people are more mobile and that includes doctors.

The market, as the author points out, is dominated by large entities. Even were 'the market freed up so that insurers can compete on a national basis', it would be like the small pharmacy competing with WalMart. It's not going to work.

Neither are co-ops....”

“Actually, that it is a misrepresentation to say the Blue Cross/Blue Shield is a non-profit corporation. Blue Cross organizations nationwide lost their tax-exempt status at the federal level in the 1980s because Congress determined most of their business did not differ much from commercial business.”

“A doctor can expect to make a wage for his or her skills. A hospital a working capital. But when an insurance company is the one dictating the care that is provided or a pharmaceutical company dictating the drug that is administered, then neither costs NOR care are not being controlled by the provider (the doctor or the hospital), but by a middle-man who is not only making a profit but making it coming (health care insurance premiums from the consumer) and going (malpractice insurance premiums from the provider). Are the costs being raised by providers or by the middle-men? If the middle-men, then the quickest way to cut costs is to cut out the middle-men.”

“What amazes me about your statement (other than the number of times you repeat it) is that you believe this is normal. That anyone who is disabled will do exactly what you and your wife have done. Heck, that everyone will do it! Another thing that amazes me is that you criticize the system whilst outlining your use of said system. Just for fun, why don't you refuse the money that the government is giving your wife even though "she has never paid income taxes in her life". Support her on that $30,000 a year you make, insure her yourself through your employer. Make a real statement about how you feel about health care reform!”

“That would mean a private payer system and I'm all for it!

We should resolve now that the health of
this nation is a national concern; that
financial barriers in the way of attaining health
shall be removed; that the health of all it's
citizens deserves the help of all the nation.
Harry S. Truman”

“How is providing health care to those who don't have it telling YOU how to live?

Both bills (House and Senate) have provisos for you to keep living on exactly as you do now if you don't need the public option. You keep paying your insurance company or your employer does, no change. There is no proviso forcing you to join the Public Option...t­hat's why it's called an 'option'.”

“You do understand, don't you, that hospitals are required only to stabilize your condition prior to releasing you. That even if you don't have insurance, they still bill you? If you don't pay, public taxes don't pay, they either take it to collections or they write it off as a loss.

Most importantly do you understand that while you can go into an emergency room with a broken arm and they will stabilize that broken arm prior to referring you to an orthopedic specialist, you CANNOT walk into a hospital and say "I have cancer, treat me". Cancer, unless far enough advanced to to point of imminent death, is not an emergency. It is a long term, debilitating disease that may or may not result in your death.

And, just as an added bonus, could you provide a referring link to a document when citing public events, such as the Honduran who cost a hospital $1.5 million? Thanks ever so.”

“Enough with your conservative speeches. if you don't offer a specific plan that spells out how we take over Iraq and pay for it without unfairly raising taxes or increasing the deficit then all you're doing is wasting everyone's time.”

“Nor does government have the Constitutional right to criminalize political speech, suspended habeas corpus, compel support for war, or allow the government to spy on Americans without a search warrant. But it happens. The Constitution does enable the government to legislate for the general welfare. Not the free market welfare, but for its citizens welfare, individual rights. What could be more central to the welfare of a citizen than health?

We should resolve now that the health of
this nation is a national concern; that
financial barriers in the way of attaining health
shall be removed; that the health of all it's
citizens deserves the help of all the nation.
Harry S. Truman”

“The time for 'closer' was in the 90's. The time for 'spot on' is now. Insurance companies cannot be upheld with another crutch law passed by congress pretending to be universal health care. Why do we continue to accept 'half-assed' when we need the real deal?

I am not a lobbyist, I do think this bill is a step in the right direction, but I want a bill that will go the distance, not just 'get us close'. I want insurance's hand out of my health care and out of the legislatures' pockets. I hope the Senate will take this bill as a guideline, a beginning and give us back something that is the real deal.”

“We don't know that the single payer system will kill anything. What we do know is that one reason the foreign automakers are more competitive is because they don't have to foot the bill for their workers health insurance in their own countries. Imagine if one of the largest bills an employer pays for their employees, insurance, was covered by our country. Why do we allow insurance companies to rule our lives? They've managed to get their product legislated into everyday life (car insurance, home insurance), they tell our physicians what they can and can't do; they negotiate with hospitals for discounts and in turn dictate stay time. Last week I went to refill a prescription, synthroid, one I have taken for decades. I was told that my insurance company will no longer pay for what my doctor has prescribed, 2 tabs a day. Rather, they know better and will only allow me 1.5 pills a day. Yet that same insurance company will pay for elective abdominal surgery for weight loss. Go figure.

You hear of France, England, Canada...b­ut check out Sweden's health care. Whilst I was there, I was seen immediately, never a wait and, as a student, never a charge. Come to think of it, Sweden doesn't charge for uni either! ;)”

“Latest tweet from Ms. Palin:
AKGovSarahPalin

1. Learn how Wild AK Seafood can help combat world hunger. Pure, healthy, abundant protein; exciting initiative rolled out in NY this week.about 13 hours ago from web

LOL!”

“I don't' think you'll get much sympathy from the public quarter. It is still fresh in our minds how little Bush was pushed to actually tell the truth. We also remember:
+How talk show host Robert Novak was instrumental in outing Valerie Plame, never revealing his source but saying he was “confident the president knows who the source is.”
+How Jack Abramoff paid for news written to his specificat­ions...rem­ember Peter Ferrara, defending taking the money by saying “I do that all the time … I’ve done that in the past, and I’ll do it in the future.”
+How the Pentagon et al paid Iraqi columnist to right only positive stories about the war..."Zak­i [an Iraqi newspaper editor] said that if his cash-strapped paper had known that these stories were from the U.S. government, he would have 'charged much, much more' to publish them."
+The Bush Administrations lame attempts at manufacturing "news"; the Department of Education paying Armstrong Williams to defend the No Child Left Behind Act, HHS hiring Maggie Gallagher to promote its "marriage initiative," and both agencies sending prepackaged pseudo-news advocating administration policies to local tv channels.
Not too awfully inspiring of trust.

We're not talking about Jack Anderson here, we're talking about the white house press corps.”

“I don't care if it's bitter, I don't care if it's disrespect­ful...I logged in just to sing this song....

Sha na na na, sha na na na, hey hey, goodbye!

Dubya has left the building..­.and I'm glad of it!”

“I don't think you understand that just because it says "9 in the family" that it doesn't necessarily mean 2 adults and 7 children. It may mean grandparents, parents, children and grandchildren. We are not talking about the average suburban family where every family has their own home, their own cars, and vist at holidays. These people are truly a 'village' of indigenous peoples. Their culture is nothing like that of mainstream white suburbanites in the midwest. Native Americans are among the least educated, poorest minorities in the US. College fund? This is a people trying to preserve some of their natural heritage after being put on the dole by the government in order to take all that was plentiful and good about their lifestyle because others wanted the wealth found in their native lands. Because they did not conform to European culture, they were forced, as a society, to abandon their traditions and ATTEMPT to adopt those of their usurpers. In times of old, they would have migrated to warmer lands for the winter, now they are restricted in movement and action by civilization. It's not about people who have migrated to Alaska, it's about people where there before whites ever populated the Americas. .”