As most of you probably know, yesterday Representatives Michele Bachmann, Steve King and the rest of the Republican caucus, along with Mark Levin and several other conservative celebrities rallied their base against healthcare reform on the Capitol steps.

The Billionaires for Wealthcare showed up; I followed them around for a couple of hours.

These folks have always made me laugh. Their shtick is creative and fun. What I hadn't thought about is how dicey (meaning borderline - or actually - dangerous) their work can be. In fact, when they finally broke character and went home for the day, I spoke with one of the troupe. He told me that at one of their outtings, he watched one of his performers take a punch to the face.

I put this video together to show you what it can be like in the lion's den...

By Dave Lindorff

It would be easy to read too much into the few statewide races that
were decided last night, but I think it’s fair to say that the results
in New Jersey and Virginia, where Republican gubernatorial candidates
won--in New Jersey’s case knocking off a well-funded Democratic
incumbent--that the results were a blow to the Barack Obama/Rahm
Emanuel strategy of playing to the right, of avoiding confrontation in
Congress and of ignoring the progressive voters whose enthusiasm and
effort back in the 2008 campaign put Obama in office.

Congress thinks we're too stupid and the issue too complicated to convey to the public - so that no one will know the difference if they offer the uninsured Medicaid or Medicare.

The House HealthCare Reform Bill recently delivered by Nancy Pelosi, included a proposal to expand Medicaid to enroll an additional 20,000 recipients. The Senate is poised to put this in the combined bill, as a means to reach universal coverage. But no one has exposed that Medicaid is in shambles, costs the feds and the states billions...

AND

When Speaker Pelosi announced her "floor version" of the healthcare bill on Thursday, she made a critical mistake: she removed the "State Single Payer" amendment proposed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

The "Kucinich Amendment" passed the House Education & Labor Committee on July 17 by a rare bi-partisan 27-19 vote.

States should be free to create the best possible healthcare plans for their residents. If Congress gives States the right to "opt-in" or "opt-out" of a national "public option," it must also give States the right to "opt-in" to a State Single Payer plan.

Tell Congress the "Kucinich Amendment" must be included in a "Managers Amendment" to H.R. 3962 immediately. Pelosi will decide on Monday.
http://democrats.com/state-single-payer

Capitol Hill sources tell me we're very close to a 218-vote majority for a robust public option, but we're still 4 votes short. Call/fax/tweet everyone below with this message:

The only way to reduce healthcare costs and make healthcare affordable for America's working families is to pass a robust public option based on Medicare+5%. Will you stand with the overwhelming majority of Democrats in supporting Medicare+5%?

Please post their replies in the comments below. Thanks!!

On Monday, Harry Reid dramatically announced he would include a "public option" in the Senate healthcare bill. But progressives won't settle for just any old "public option." Here are the minimum requirements for a robust public option that progressives can support:

• based on Medicare rates (Medicare+5%), not rates negotiated with providers (which would delay implementation for several years)
• nation-wide, with no state opt-outs until several years have passed
• administered by Medicare, not a for-profit insurance company
• available in 2010, not 2013
• negotiated discounts for newer brand-name drugs and full coverage of older generics

San Francisco General Hospital does not accept private insurance.  It is the only public  hospital that does not accept private insurance in the general area.  This could prove to be a thorn in the side for those public figures championing for health insurance.  I have written Mayor Gavin Newsom, asking why he would want all San Franciscans insured when the largest general hospital in the city will not accept private insurance.....no answer.  Ditto for Nancy Pelosi, Dianne Feinstein and local ABC news.  Maybe someone here could get the ball rolling.  Make them put the money where their mouth is!!

By Dave Lindorff

The Democrats in Congress, and their main man Barack Obama in the
White House, have taken tens of millions in legal bribes from the
health insurance industry over the past year, and have obligingly been
hammering out in Congress a health “reform” bill that, instead of
helping people, has been designed to help the insurance industry.

They started out by immediately blackballing any discussion of real
health reform in the form of an expansion of Medicare to cover everyone
of every age, which of course would have ended the problem of the
uninsured, while cutting the nation’s overall health bill by at least a
third, but in the process shutting down the private health insurance
business.

An ad idea for Health Care Reform.

EXT. HOME -NIGHT

Flames and smokerise up from a suburban home. A family, father, mother and two young girls,rush out the front door onto the lawn. The father holds a cell phone to hisear.

DISPATCHER (O.S.)

This is 911. What is your emergency?

FATHER