Corporations and First Amendment Rights from Elyn Heyn on Vimeo.

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Just as the "birther movement" was long ago discredited to rational people, and more recently by even the irrational who had to cave when the "smoking gun" birth certificate turned out to be a product of "forgery-R-us," opponents of health care reform will also be discredited because they aren’t really worked up about health care, they are energized in their fear and distrust of President Obama by buzz words like "socialism." They lost the election, and now, it seems, they are losing their minds. They are being manipulated by the for-profit health insurance lobby, who knows they are in the fight of their corporate lives if the legislation proposed by Congress includes a "public option" or (gasp!) even worse for them, becomes Medicare for All, the "single payer" option.

Even the term "ObamaCare" is a misnomer. The truth of the matter is that President Obama set out to accomplish health care reform by only specifying expectations for legislation, leaving the details (and presumably any attendant devils) to Congress. He specified three bedrock principles of health care reform: reduce costs, guarantee choice, and ensure quality care for all. He left the actual design of the legislation where it should be - in Congress, where there are now 3 bills pending in the House, and one in the Senate. The bills still need to be reconciled in the legislatures before going to the President.

Here's an example of the first turn of the health insurance/big pharma corporate worm as it propagandizes to protect its interests - and for its very existence in its current form.

And here's how John Perry replied to the OpEd writer Patrick McIlheran:

Your corporate insurance propaganda could not be any more naked, Patrick. How much stock do you have in the industry?

I love how you talk about the $5000 deductible and say "The trade-off is that she must accept her coverage isn't free," without making any mention of the premiums already being paid.

Here's a news flash for you: Nobody expects their coverage to be free.

The bipartisan Senate committee on negotiating on health care met in secret to "compromise." AP is reporting the following:

• participants were on track to exclude a requirement many congressional Democrats seek for businesses to offer coverage to their workers
• no provision for a government insurance option, despite President Barack Obama's support for such a plan
• considering a tax of as much as 35 percent on very high-cost insurance policies, part of an attempt to rein in rapid escalation of costs
• likely to be included in any deal was creation of a commission charged with slowing the growth of Medicare

Health care reform has them on the run. There’s no doubt about it. If there were, they wouldn’t be pitching this Newsmax survey.

Go ahead. Freep it.

And there are signs that the $1.4 million dollars a day that the insurance/health industry lobby is spending to drown out support for single payer, universal health care isn’t enough.

They’ll have to up the ante.

Declare Your Support - "Make Congress and the President Do It!"

President Obama has announced three bedrock requirements for real health care reform:

1. Reduce Costs — Rising health care costs are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals and families and they must be brought under control.
2. Guarantee Choice — Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option - but has the single payer option benefits and costs been fully explored?
3. Ensure Quality Care for All — All Americans must have quality and affordable health care.

Now we have to show Congress where the American people stand.

Don't support the current proposals? Tell Obama why not - tell him what you prefer here.

Pssst...Please pass it on! Thanks!

To recognize Earth Day 2009, President Obama returned to Iowa, the state where he broke out of the pack as a contender last year, to visit a wind turbine plant. Renewable energy is one of the economic pillars in his strategy to grow our nation out of the fiscal calamity the Bush administration left in its wake.

President Obama's remarks on the administration's plans to support expanded renewable energy development follow.

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you so much. Thank you, Rich, for the great introduction. Thank you very much. Please, everybody have a seat.

It is good to be back in Newton, and it's a privilege to be here at Trinity Structural Towers. I've got a couple of special thank yous that I want to make, because I've got a lot of old friends -- not old in years, but been friends for a long time now. First of all, your outstanding Governor, Chet Culver, please give him a big round of applause. (Applause.) His wonderful wife, Mari, I see over here. She's not on the card, but -- (applause.) My outstanding Secretary of Agriculture, who I plucked from Iowa, Tom Vilsack and his wonderful wife Christie Vilsack. (Applause.) We've got the Attorney General of Iowa, one of my co-chairs when I ran in the Iowa caucus and nobody could pronounce my name -- Tom Miller. (Applause.) My other co-chair, Mike Fitzgerald, Treasurer of Iowa. (Applause.) We got the Iowa Secretary of State, Mike Mauro. There he is. (Applause.) We've got your outstanding member of Congress who's working hard for Newton all the time, Leonard Boswell. (Applause.) And your own pride of Newton, Mayor Chaz Allen. (Applause.) There he is, back there. It's good to see you again, Chaz.

It is terrific to be here -- and by the way, I've got a whole bunch of folks here who were active in the campaign, and precinct captains. And I just want to thank all of them for showing up, and to all the great workers who are here at this plant -- thank you. (Applause.)

President Obama gave this speech earlier today at Georgetown University. After describing how Bush and the Republican held Congress got us here, he outlined five pillars for our national economic growth: 1) Wall Street regulatory reform, 2) improved educational attainment, 3) transitioning to renewable energy sources, 4) health care reform, and 5) fiscal discipline. His remarks, as provided by the White House, follow.

It has now been twelve weeks since my administration began. And I think even our critics would agree that at the very least, we’ve been busy. In just under three months, we have responded to an extraordinary set of economic challenges with extraordinary action – action that has been unprecedented in both its scale and its speed.

I know that some have accused us of taking on too much at once. Others believe we haven’t done enough. And many Americans are simply wondering how all of our different programs and policies fit together in a single, overarching strategy that will move this economy from recession to recovery and ultimately to prosperity.

So today, I want to step back for a moment and explain our strategy as clearly as I can. I want to talk about what we’ve done, why we’ve done it, and what we have left to do. I want to update you on the progress we’ve made, and be honest about the pitfalls that may lie ahead.

And most of all, I want every American to know that each action we take and each policy we pursue is driven by a larger vision of America’s future – a future where sustained economic growth creates good jobs and rising incomes; a future where prosperity is fueled not by excessive debt, reckless speculation, and fleeing profit, but is instead built by skilled, productive workers; by sound investments that will spread opportunity at home and allow this nation to lead the world in the technologies, innovations, and discoveries that will shape the 21st century. That is the America I see. That is the future I know we can have.