"Daybreak urgently reminds us that good political intentions are not sufficient to ensure the continuation of our democracy; informed vigilance is vital to that task."
-Mark Karlin, editor of Buzzflash.com
Posted: Monday, July 13, 2009 12:08 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: White House, Economy, Barack Obama
From NBC's Mark Murray
In the conveniently timed intermission during the Sotomayor hearings, President Obama announced Regina Benjamin to be his pick for surgeon general.
But the president also used the announcement as a kind pep talk on health-care reform, as congressional watchers and the press have begun to doubt whether Congress can meet his goal to pass reform bills before it goes on its August recess.
"We are going to get this done," Obama said. "Inaction is not a option."
He added, "Don't bet against us. We are going to make this happen."
And mentioning a sports/exercise metaphor he's used before, Obama said that Washington's muscles for enacting change have atrophied. So: "We are whipping folks back into shape."
I was very encouraged about the stories coming out today. It appears Obama may just twist some arms to get reform. This is a relief, because I had begun to wonder and we really need him in this fight.
Gang Of Six Centrist Senators Demands Delay On Health Care Reform
July 17, 2009
Ryan Grim
A bipartisan group of centrist and conservative senators sent a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders on Friday urging delay in consideration of health care reform.
The letter, obtained by the Huffington Post, was drafted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and is also signed by Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.). Independent Joe Lieberman (Conn.), who caucuses with Democrats, signed on, as did Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins -- moderates heavily courted by President Obama.
Joe and Ben have had their day and have shown so many spot changes, they simply can't be relied upon, to do the sick. Widen is a pessimistic dem of the status quo. He thinks he's looking out for all concerned, but corporations don't die, they just change thier name like AIG, or is it AIO now?
These fools have been playing "monkey in the middle" with our tax dollars for a long time. They get donations from the corporations, and are whoremongers on the votes.
KEEP AN "I" ON THE REST, and take names and let's scout for their seat a Independent like Nader, or Green like McKinney, who is in Gaza bringing relief aid and has just been released from and Israeli jail for doing so.
Teach these clowns to "be their brother's keeper" for they too will one day be, one of the brothers that need us. They think "karma" is just an "Indian" belief.
Boy are they in for a surprise.
The Bible says: "Ye shall reap what ye sow."
Case closed.
No affordable healthcare for US, ABSOLUTELY "NO" HEALTHCARE FOR THEM!!!
Let them walk in our shoes. A year without healthcare for each day delayed, on the single payer vote.
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent – Mon Jul 20, 12:45 am ET
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Republican party is accusing President Barack Obama of conducting "risky experimentation" with his health care proposals, saying they will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage.
Michael Steele, in remarks prepared for delivery at the National Press Club, also said the president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key congressional committee chairmen are part of a "cabal" that wants to implement government-run health care.
"Obama-Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions," Steele said in excerpts of his speech made available in advance.
"Many Democrats outside of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Waxman cabal know that voters won't stand for these kinds of foolish prescriptions for our health care. We do too. That's why Republicans will stop at nothing to remind voters about the risky experimentation going on in Washington," the party chairman said in advance excerpts. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is Senate majority leader; Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Republican officials said they were supplementing Steele's speech with a round of television advertising designed to oppose government-run health care. No details were immediately available on the areas where the commercials would run or their cost.
Obama Demands: The Bill I Sign Must Include Public Option
By Brian Beutler - July 20, 2009
[quote]Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family.[/quote]
At present most Republican Senators and too many Democratic Senators are against Universal Healthcare or a Public Option. Thats because instead of being for the greatest good for the greatest number, they are primarily concerned with their own re-election and the Healthcare Insurance Companies donate up to several million to some of them. In other words they are bought and paid for advocates for the status quo. The status quo is the continued fleecing of American citizens in order to enrich the few. Why else would the Healthcare Industry spend 1.2 million a day against a Public Option or National Healthcare. In their ads watch how they speak from both sides of their face. From one side, they say in as many ways as they can how bad public healthcare will be and from the other side they say public healthcare will drive private healthcare out of business. The latter is the truth because public healthcare will not pay about 17% more in expenses to advertise, lobby congress and pay exorbitent executive salaries and bonuses that do nothing for caring for anyone's health.
It's way past time to push the hogs away from the trough America. Quit believing what comes from the other side of the face. Fire Republican Senators that are on the take. If, in the senate a public option comes to a vote, and some Democratic senators won't even vote for closure to cut off a Republican fillibuster because they are on the take, fire them as well!
Obama Calls On Bloggers To Keep Health Care Pressure On Congress (AUDIO)
07-20-09
In a reflection of a legislative strategy that has left no stone unturned, President Barack Obama on Monday called on like-minded bloggers to help his administration keep the heat on lawmakers to pass health care reform.
"It is important just to keep the pressure on members of Congress because what happens is there is a default position of inertia here in Washington," the president said during an invitation-only conference call. "And pushing against that, making sure that people feel that the desperation that ordinary families are feeling all across the country, every single day, when they are worrying about whether they can pay their premiums or not... People have to feel that in a visceral way. And you guys can help deliver that better than just about anybody."
In a roughly 25-minute session with a handful of prominent progressive bloggers, the president also asked for help combating disinformation about his health care plan.
We could use some help on Huffpost. This is getting stinky and the "TROLL PATROL" is very busy with the lies. C'mon America, this fight is for OUR children
and NO PARTY OF NO IS COMING IN BETWEEN OUR HEALTH, FOR A PROFIT OR POLITICAL DONATIONS TO STOP IT!!!
Tell Congress: Don't Go Until You Vote on Health Care
The Senate just announced they'll take a month-long vacation before voting on health care reform.
But Americans can't afford to wait: while the Senate is on vacation, over 400,000 people could lose their health coverage.
Every member of Congress needs to hear--quickly--that voters want them focused on health care now, not running off on vacation. Sign the petition today.
A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your Senators and Representative.
"Don't go on vacation without acting on health care. Americans don't get a break from the health care crisis, and Congress shouldn't get a break until they vote on the bill."
The Republican 10 Point Plan for Health Care
By Jon Perr Saturday Jul 25, 2009
After Rep. Roy Blunt, leader of the supposed House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, suggested Thursday that Republicans won't offer a health care plan of their own, Minority Leader John Boehner insisted one was still in the works.
Of course, the Republican plan as in 1993 is to stop health care reform at all costs to prevent an enduring Democratic majority. Bill Kristol, who told Republicans 16 years ago that there was "no crisis" justifying health care reform then, now simply calls on his party to "kill it." With spinmeisters Frank Luntz and Alex Castellanos supplying the talking points that a supposed "government takeover of health care" is "too much, too fast, too soon," obstructionists like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe boasted his party would "stall" President Obama's health care initiative to ensure a "huge gain" in the 2010 election. In a nutshell, the GOP is proposing to extend the status quo for a nation gripped by a collapsing health care system.
Here, then, is the Republican 10-Point Plan for Health Care:
1. 50 Million Uninsured in America
2. Another 25 Million Underinsured
3. Employer-Based Coverage Plummets Below 60%
4. Employer Health Costs to Jump by 9% in 2010
5. One in Five Americans Forced to Postpone Care
6. 62% of U.S. Bankruptcies Involve Medical Bills
7. Current Health Care Costs Already Fueling Job Losses
8. 94% of Health Insurance Markets in U.S Now "Highly Concentrated"
9. Dramatic Decline in Emergency Room Capacity
10. Perpetuating Red State Health Care Failure
For the details and data behind each, continue reading.
Submitted by anniefey on August 3, 2009 - 11:18am.
QUESTION FOR THE "AXIS OF MED-EVIL"
To Insurance Companies, Pharma, Repubs and Blue Dogs: Why Do You Want to Kill Me?
byTom D'Antoni
July 27, 2009
I wish I were sitting across the table from an insurance company CEO, one from Pharma and any Republican or any of the Blue Dog Democrats who are trying to block the public option. All I want to find out from them is their answer to my question.
Why are you trying to kill me?
Really. Why? Me, the person sitting across from you. Why would you deny me medical care?
I know the answer, of course. It's money. Greed, to be more specific, because there's lots of money to be made in health care without killing me. How much money do you need to make? How many of us are you willing to make suffer and die to make that money?
The stakes are high and Republicans are stooping low. But if health reform falters as a result of GOP demagoguery, Democrats may face a reconstituted Gingrich coalition in 2010.
August will be a liar's month, breeding conspiracy theories and falsehoods out of the cynical opposition to health-insurance reform. President Obama's invitation to bipartisanship has been answered by Republicans with expedient delay and a rising cacophony of fear-mongering. South Carolina's retrograde Sen. Jim DeMint explained their purposes perhaps more plainly than his like-minded colleagues would have wished: "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo," DeMint said. "It will break him."
With the political stakes so high, Republicans are willing to stoop very low. The problem is that reform is inevitably complex—and the opposition can opportunistically cherry-pick and distort its individual provisions. The fear-mongering ranges from the false claim that tax increases on the wealthy, included in the House bill, will devastate small businesses—in fact, 96 percent would pay nothing more—to the simplistic fraud that Medicare reforms equal cuts in Medicare benefits. Meantime, the lies multiply about government "bureaucrats" stifling individual choice or rationing care.
The ugliest smear of all is that Obama's proposed reform, in the words of the reliably demagogic House Republican leader John Boehner, "may start us down a treacherous path to government-sponsored euthanasia." The charge has been taken up by a rogues' chorus of intentionally misleading critics. One of them is Betsy McCaughey, who gained fame penning an error-riddled attack on ClintonCare before moving up to become lieutenant governor of New York—a position she handled with such flaky abandon that Republican Gov. George Pataki dropped her from the ticket. Among Republican health-care critics, however, she passes for credible.
McCaughey contends that the bill "would make it mandatory that ... every five years, people in Medicare have a required session that will tell them how to end their lives sooner." The counseling is not mandatory; the legislation simply provides an option for seniors or the terminally ill to consult on their choices, enabling them to decide which medical interventions they do or don't want at the end of their lives. It gives them a right that millions of Americans already exercise—to refuse treatments that prolong their pain and degrade their autonomy.
The effort to use this provision to terrify the elderly has predictably been taken up by Randall Terry, the extremist foe of a woman's right to choose, who now crassly traduces the President's health reform as an attempt to "kill Granny." Not for the first time, one has to wonder whether Terry is less interested in the right to life than in the Republican right to rule.
Submitted by PatriotMom on August 23, 2009 - 3:46pm.
Those Republicans should consider we already HAVE "death panels"! They are called medical insurance company employees. They consider who gets insured all the time. They put limits on who and how you are insured by not insuring people with pre-existing conditions and they put age caps on people. They already "ration" insurance. Insurance companies use people who are not in the medical professions to make these decisions. Their "death panels" consist of their own regular employees to make these decisions regarding your care.
Twenty years ago my friend worked in a medical insurance agency. She was making decisions about people's medical care. She only had a couple of years of college education. She used to talk about the one common medical book they kept by their desks they all used to make these daily decisions. She joked about the fact there was only one book available for everyone to use, so they kept it in a place so everyone could easily get to it. These are the "panels" of people who decide your fate everyday about your medical care.
Consider how many senators and representatives have much of any education at all. Many of them have the same conclusions as their constiuents do. The education level of many of our congressmen/women seems to be lacking in my point of view. All they do is continue to expand the fear among their own constituents by not speaking about the facts of this healthcare reform. Maybe, those congressmen should also be added to these "death panels" since they want to make these decisions about our healthcare. Seeing the constiuents and congressmen on t.v. advocating these falsehoods, and citizens getting all caught up in the falsehoods, just makes me angry.
Update your address so we can find your Senators and Representative. If your current address is correct but your Representatives are missing, please contact us so we can fix your data.
Obama: 'Don't bet against'
Obama: 'Don't bet against' health reform
Posted: Monday, July 13, 2009 12:08 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: White House, Economy, Barack Obama
From NBC's Mark Murray
In the conveniently timed intermission during the Sotomayor hearings, President Obama announced Regina Benjamin to be his pick for surgeon general.
But the president also used the announcement as a kind pep talk on health-care reform, as congressional watchers and the press have begun to doubt whether Congress can meet his goal to pass reform bills before it goes on its August recess.
"We are going to get this done," Obama said. "Inaction is not a option."
He added, "Don't bet against us. We are going to make this happen."
And mentioning a sports/exercise metaphor he's used before, Obama said that Washington's muscles for enacting change have atrophied. So: "We are whipping folks back into shape."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/07/13/1994860.aspx
"President Obama announced
"President Obama announced Regina Benjamin to be his pick for surgeon general."
... What Channel is her show on?
Actually...
I was very encouraged about the stories coming out today. It appears Obama may just twist some arms to get reform. This is a relief, because I had begun to wonder and we really need him in this fight.
Best wishes!!
This news is not very
This news is not very encouraging:
Gang Of Six Centrist Senators Demands Delay On Health Care Reform
July 17, 2009
Ryan Grim
A bipartisan group of centrist and conservative senators sent a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders on Friday urging delay in consideration of health care reform.
The letter, obtained by the Huffington Post, was drafted by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and is also signed by Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) and Ron Wyden (Ore.). Independent Joe Lieberman (Conn.), who caucuses with Democrats, signed on, as did Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins -- moderates heavily courted by President Obama.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/17/gang-of-six-centrist-sena_n_237...
SLEEZYMAN, LANDRIEU, AND NELSON are already on Replacement list
Joe and Ben have had their day and have shown so many spot changes, they simply can't be relied upon, to do the sick. Widen is a pessimistic dem of the status quo. He thinks he's looking out for all concerned, but corporations don't die, they just change thier name like AIG, or is it AIO now?
These fools have been playing "monkey in the middle" with our tax dollars for a long time. They get donations from the corporations, and are whoremongers on the votes.
KEEP AN "I" ON THE REST, and take names and let's scout for their seat a Independent like Nader, or Green like McKinney, who is in Gaza bringing relief aid and has just been released from and Israeli jail for doing so.
Teach these clowns to "be their brother's keeper" for they too will one day be, one of the brothers that need us. They think "karma" is just an "Indian" belief.
Boy are they in for a surprise.
The Bible says: "Ye shall reap what ye sow."
Case closed.
No affordable healthcare for US, ABSOLUTELY "NO" HEALTHCARE FOR THEM!!!
Let them walk in our shoes. A year without healthcare for each day delayed, on the single payer vote.
Let's see if they read it and understand it then!
mommapanther
Well...
What to expect from a pig but a grunt:
RNC chairman attacks Obama
RNC chairman attacks Obama on health care
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent David Espo, Ap Special Correspondent – Mon Jul 20, 12:45 am ET
WASHINGTON – The chairman of the Republican party is accusing President Barack Obama of conducting "risky experimentation" with his health care proposals, saying they will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage.
Michael Steele, in remarks prepared for delivery at the National Press Club, also said the president, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and key congressional committee chairmen are part of a "cabal" that wants to implement government-run health care.
"Obama-Pelosi want to start building a colossal, closed health care system where Washington decides. Republicans want and support an open health care system where patients and doctors make the decisions," Steele said in excerpts of his speech made available in advance.
"Many Democrats outside of the Obama-Pelosi-Reid-Waxman cabal know that voters won't stand for these kinds of foolish prescriptions for our health care. We do too. That's why Republicans will stop at nothing to remind voters about the risky experimentation going on in Washington," the party chairman said in advance excerpts. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is Senate majority leader; Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Republican officials said they were supplementing Steele's speech with a round of television advertising designed to oppose government-run health care. No details were immediately available on the areas where the commercials would run or their cost.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090720/ap_on_go_ot/us_gop_health_care
Obama Demands: The Bill I
Obama Demands: The Bill I Sign Must Include Public Option
By Brian Beutler - July 20, 2009
[quote]Any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family.[/quote]
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/obama-demands-the-bill-i-sign-must-include-public-option.php
Universal Healthcare Costs Less & Insures More
At present most Republican Senators and too many Democratic Senators are against Universal Healthcare or a Public Option. Thats because instead of being for the greatest good for the greatest number, they are primarily concerned with their own re-election and the Healthcare Insurance Companies donate up to several million to some of them. In other words they are bought and paid for advocates for the status quo. The status quo is the continued fleecing of American citizens in order to enrich the few. Why else would the Healthcare Industry spend 1.2 million a day against a Public Option or National Healthcare. In their ads watch how they speak from both sides of their face. From one side, they say in as many ways as they can how bad public healthcare will be and from the other side they say public healthcare will drive private healthcare out of business. The latter is the truth because public healthcare will not pay about 17% more in expenses to advertise, lobby congress and pay exorbitent executive salaries and bonuses that do nothing for caring for anyone's health.
It's way past time to push the hogs away from the trough America. Quit believing what comes from the other side of the face. Fire Republican Senators that are on the take. If, in the senate a public option comes to a vote, and some Democratic senators won't even vote for closure to cut off a Republican fillibuster because they are on the take, fire them as well!
Obama Calls On Bloggers To
Obama Calls On Bloggers To Keep Health Care Pressure On Congress (AUDIO)
07-20-09
In a reflection of a legislative strategy that has left no stone unturned, President Barack Obama on Monday called on like-minded bloggers to help his administration keep the heat on lawmakers to pass health care reform.
"It is important just to keep the pressure on members of Congress because what happens is there is a default position of inertia here in Washington," the president said during an invitation-only conference call. "And pushing against that, making sure that people feel that the desperation that ordinary families are feeling all across the country, every single day, when they are worrying about whether they can pay their premiums or not... People have to feel that in a visceral way. And you guys can help deliver that better than just about anybody."
In a roughly 25-minute session with a handful of prominent progressive bloggers, the president also asked for help combating disinformation about his health care plan.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/20/obama-calls-on-bloggers-t_n_241570.html
We started with 7 pages and now it's up to 100
We could use some help on Huffpost. This is getting stinky and the "TROLL PATROL" is very busy with the lies. C'mon America, this fight is for OUR children
and NO PARTY OF NO IS COMING IN BETWEEN OUR HEALTH, FOR A PROFIT OR POLITICAL DONATIONS TO STOP IT!!!
mommapanther
Tell Congress: Don't Go
Tell Congress: Don't Go Until You Vote on Health Care
The Senate just announced they'll take a month-long vacation before voting on health care reform.
But Americans can't afford to wait: while the Senate is on vacation, over 400,000 people could lose their health coverage.
Every member of Congress needs to hear--quickly--that voters want them focused on health care now, not running off on vacation. Sign the petition today.
A compiled petition with your individual comment will be presented to your Senators and Representative.
http://pol.moveon.org/dontgo/?id=16660-3949571-nq7B8Xx&t=3
Full petition text:
"Don't go on vacation without acting on health care. Americans don't get a break from the health care crisis, and Congress shouldn't get a break until they vote on the bill."
The Republican 10 Point Plan
The Republican 10 Point Plan for Health Care
By Jon Perr Saturday Jul 25, 2009
After Rep. Roy Blunt, leader of the supposed House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, suggested Thursday that Republicans won't offer a health care plan of their own, Minority Leader John Boehner insisted one was still in the works.
Of course, the Republican plan as in 1993 is to stop health care reform at all costs to prevent an enduring Democratic majority. Bill Kristol, who told Republicans 16 years ago that there was "no crisis" justifying health care reform then, now simply calls on his party to "kill it." With spinmeisters Frank Luntz and Alex Castellanos supplying the talking points that a supposed "government takeover of health care" is "too much, too fast, too soon," obstructionists like Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe boasted his party would "stall" President Obama's health care initiative to ensure a "huge gain" in the 2010 election. In a nutshell, the GOP is proposing to extend the status quo for a nation gripped by a collapsing health care system.
Here, then, is the Republican 10-Point Plan for Health Care:
1. 50 Million Uninsured in America
2. Another 25 Million Underinsured
3. Employer-Based Coverage Plummets Below 60%
4. Employer Health Costs to Jump by 9% in 2010
5. One in Five Americans Forced to Postpone Care
6. 62% of U.S. Bankruptcies Involve Medical Bills
7. Current Health Care Costs Already Fueling Job Losses
8. 94% of Health Insurance Markets in U.S Now "Highly Concentrated"
9. Dramatic Decline in Emergency Room Capacity
10. Perpetuating Red State Health Care Failure
For the details and data behind each, continue reading.
http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/republican-10-point-plan-health-care
QUESTION FOR THE "AXIS OF
QUESTION FOR THE "AXIS OF MED-EVIL"
To Insurance Companies, Pharma, Repubs and Blue Dogs: Why Do You Want to Kill Me?
byTom D'Antoni
July 27, 2009
I wish I were sitting across the table from an insurance company CEO, one from Pharma and any Republican or any of the Blue Dog Democrats who are trying to block the public option. All I want to find out from them is their answer to my question.
Why are you trying to kill me?
Really. Why? Me, the person sitting across from you. Why would you deny me medical care?
I know the answer, of course. It's money. Greed, to be more specific, because there's lots of money to be made in health care without killing me. How much money do you need to make? How many of us are you willing to make suffer and die to make that money?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-dantoni/to-insurance-companies-ph_b_245751.html
The lies of August by
The lies of August
by Robert Shrum
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The stakes are high and Republicans are stooping low. But if health reform falters as a result of GOP demagoguery, Democrats may face a reconstituted Gingrich coalition in 2010.
August will be a liar's month, breeding conspiracy theories and falsehoods out of the cynical opposition to health-insurance reform. President Obama's invitation to bipartisanship has been answered by Republicans with expedient delay and a rising cacophony of fear-mongering. South Carolina's retrograde Sen. Jim DeMint explained their purposes perhaps more plainly than his like-minded colleagues would have wished: "If we're able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo," DeMint said. "It will break him."
With the political stakes so high, Republicans are willing to stoop very low. The problem is that reform is inevitably complex—and the opposition can opportunistically cherry-pick and distort its individual provisions. The fear-mongering ranges from the false claim that tax increases on the wealthy, included in the House bill, will devastate small businesses—in fact, 96 percent would pay nothing more—to the simplistic fraud that Medicare reforms equal cuts in Medicare benefits. Meantime, the lies multiply about government "bureaucrats" stifling individual choice or rationing care.
The ugliest smear of all is that Obama's proposed reform, in the words of the reliably demagogic House Republican leader John Boehner, "may start us down a treacherous path to government-sponsored euthanasia." The charge has been taken up by a rogues' chorus of intentionally misleading critics. One of them is Betsy McCaughey, who gained fame penning an error-riddled attack on ClintonCare before moving up to become lieutenant governor of New York—a position she handled with such flaky abandon that Republican Gov. George Pataki dropped her from the ticket. Among Republican health-care critics, however, she passes for credible.
McCaughey contends that the bill "would make it mandatory that ... every five years, people in Medicare have a required session that will tell them how to end their lives sooner." The counseling is not mandatory; the legislation simply provides an option for seniors or the terminally ill to consult on their choices, enabling them to decide which medical interventions they do or don't want at the end of their lives. It gives them a right that millions of Americans already exercise—to refuse treatments that prolong their pain and degrade their autonomy.
The effort to use this provision to terrify the elderly has predictably been taken up by Randall Terry, the extremist foe of a woman's right to choose, who now crassly traduces the President's health reform as an attempt to "kill Granny." Not for the first time, one has to wonder whether Terry is less interested in the right to life than in the Republican right to rule.
continues:
http://www.theweek.com/bullpen/column/99201/The_lies_of_August
Insurance is already "rationed" out to people!
Those Republicans should consider we already HAVE "death panels"! They are called medical insurance company employees. They consider who gets insured all the time. They put limits on who and how you are insured by not insuring people with pre-existing conditions and they put age caps on people. They already "ration" insurance. Insurance companies use people who are not in the medical professions to make these decisions. Their "death panels" consist of their own regular employees to make these decisions regarding your care.
Twenty years ago my friend worked in a medical insurance agency. She was making decisions about people's medical care. She only had a couple of years of college education. She used to talk about the one common medical book they kept by their desks they all used to make these daily decisions. She joked about the fact there was only one book available for everyone to use, so they kept it in a place so everyone could easily get to it. These are the "panels" of people who decide your fate everyday about your medical care.
Consider how many senators and representatives have much of any education at all. Many of them have the same conclusions as their constiuents do. The education level of many of our congressmen/women seems to be lacking in my point of view. All they do is continue to expand the fear among their own constituents by not speaking about the facts of this healthcare reform. Maybe, those congressmen should also be added to these "death panels" since they want to make these decisions about our healthcare. Seeing the constiuents and congressmen on t.v. advocating these falsehoods, and citizens getting all caught up in the falsehoods, just makes me angry.