The Conservative Death Panel
By Thom Hartmann A...
It’s time to kick the bums out of office. Right now, millions of Americans across 23 states are uninsured, because their Republican lawmakers have refused to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. As a result, they fall into the “Red State Donut Hole,” that was drilled into Obamacare by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and his four right-wing buddies. The Supreme Court said that states could refuse to take federal money to pay to insure working poor people, and Republican governs have jumped at the opportunity.
Millions of Americans are unable to afford life-saving healthcare, because Republicans would rather play politics than protect people’s lives. In fact, the rate of uninsured Americans is a staggering 50% higher in Republican-controlled states. In Florida alone, 750,000 Floridians are without insurance, because Rick Scott thought that a political win was more important than a person’s life. Harvard researchers estimate that six people in Florida die every day because of Governor Scott’s decision.
Charlene Dill was one of them. Charlene was a hardworking single mom, who worked three jobs to help make ends meet. Last year, Charlene made just $11,000 cleaning houses and babysitting. She used that money to help put food on the table for her children, and to put a roof over their heads. Charlene also had a severe heart condition, but she couldn’t afford the proper treatment for it, because she didn’t have health insurance.
Despite her health woes, Charlene continued to work three jobs, and continued to be the best mother that she could be for her children. But then one day late last month, when she was in a neighbor's house trying to sell a vacuum cleaner, Charlene died from her untreated heart disease. She died because multimillionaire Rick Scott chose to play politics, rather than protect the lives of the Florida citizens he is supposed to be serving.
But now, it looks like people are figuring out how sick and twisted this Republican political strategy is. New polling suggests that Republican opposition to Obamacare, and to expanding Medicaid for millions of Americans, is a losing strategy. Recent polling carried out by Public Policy Polling shows that Republican governors in five states who have opposed expanding Medicaid under Obamacare are in serious danger of losing their bids for re-election.
Maine Governor Paul LePage and Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett are both losing in the polls right now, while Georgia Governor Nathan Barrow and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback are also losing out to Democratic challengers. Voters in all four of those states overwhelmingly want their governors to expand Medicaid.
Meanwhile, in Florida, polling shows that by a 58-33 percent margin, Floridians want Rick Scott to stop playing politics with people's lives, and to accept federal funding for Medicaid expansion. Right now, Rick Scott is losing out to Democratic challenger and former Florida governor Charlie Crist by a 49-42 margin.
That’s because Floridians realize that not only should all Floridians have access to affordable and life-saving healthcare, but that states that have refused to expand Medicaid under Obamacare have to give up $35 billion in federal funding in 2016. That’s a ton of money. But let’s hope that these polling numbers aren’t just numbers, and that they turn into results come November.
Because, if Republicans across the country play politics with people’s lives, there will be thousands of more stories like Charlene Dill’s. A study by researchers at Harvard University and the City University of New York found that as many as 17,000 Americans will die this year directly as a result of Republican states refusing to expand Medicaid under Obamacare. We can prevent those deaths.
On November 4th, 2014, millions of us will go to the polls, and we'll have a choice: re-elect Republican lawmakers who care more about politics than people’s lives, or kick them out of office, and let Democrats expand Medicaid, so that millions more Americans will have access to affordable and life-saving healthcare.
Let’s stop the Republican's life-and-death political game, so that there don’t have to be any more mothers like Charlene Dill who die unnecessarily.
Comments
#2
Millions of Americans and others all around the globe will be paying the price of needing medical care because of THE SMART METER GRID, The safety standards are bogus the information is supressed, big business is making money and governments are colluding because they will gain more control of us. This extra dose of EMFs damages our children and makes us sick, when that happens it is hard to think about anything else. Get this award winning documentary to understand the enormity of horror being visited on you and your families, and what you can do about it.
Take Back Your Power - A film by Josh del Sol http://www.takebackyourpower.net/
http://www.bioinitiative.org/ for more on this issue
#3
DAM -- Very good. The Democrats need to hire you.
#4
Thank you for your announcement today on your radio/Free Speech TV program that you find it hard to believe that a Republican could be a Christian. I too find that today’s Republican and the Righteous are mutually exclusive.
#5
Right under Thom's introductory post is this photo of John Boehner on display with a caption that reads: "Tell John Boehner and Republicans to extend unemployment insurance." How many petitions like this have I signed already?! Telling a Republican to be nice to poor people is like telling a Nazi to be nice to the Jews. Now, I'm well aware that Thom tends to frown on such parallels involving Nazi Germany... but I look at it this way: 45,000 annual casualties from our uniquely American pay-or-die heatlhcare system adds up to nearly half a million per decade. Multiply that times two decades, three decades... If we can't find a way to put these insurance hacks out of business and rectify this problem, it's only a matter of time before we can count six million Americans murdered by healthcare denial.
Petitions, petitions, petitions... I'm getting petitioned out, folks. - Aliceinwonderland
#6
AIW - I'm no historian, but I have, for many years now, seen similarities between the rise of Nazism in pre-war Germany and events that are happening these days; the only real difference is the Nazis rose to power in less then a decade, where as our "parallel events" have thus far taken over three decades. The comparison is not at all unreasonable, and I wish Thom would dedicate at least one entire show to a discussion of the similarities. But he may have to answer to "higher-ups" who would probably take offense.
#7
YOU are so correct. The last time I signed a petition against the Republicans, I was inundated for 3 years by all the Republican propaganda they send out EVERY DAY! I kept telling them to take me off their e-mail lists, and it took them forever to finally give up on ever getting another response from me. I counted one day - 102 e-mails from every PAC they had, and from the Senators and Congress, too. I won't make that mistake again.
#8
Ms. Metcalfe, I sure can relate. I was getting online solicitations from the GOP for awhile. How I wound up on their e-mail list is anyone's guess. For awhile I had fun sending flip, smart-ass replies, telling them to go to hell, to kiss my liberal ass, etc. etc. until finally, I got bored and hit the "unsubscribe" button. Of course that "unsubscribe" button is very tiny and hard to find, waaaay down at the bottom of the page... but it works. Haven't heard a peep from 'em since!
"Stecoop", thanks for the reply. This kind of feedback assures me that I'm not going crazy, becoming paranoid or suffering from delusions. Much appreciated!
As for Thom having to answer to "higher-ups" who might take offense, he oughta be the least likely to suffer such consequences. Being the only progressive talk radio host who actually owns the show from which he broadcasts, Thom should be fairly immune to that stuff compared to his colleagues.
I've heard Thom, several times, express disapproval of us drawing parallels to Nazi Germany. And while we have yet to reach the level of horror that Nazis are remembered for (on our home turf at least), these parallels are getting harder & harder to overlook. Privatization of the commons (schools, post office, the military, our media, the Internet, etc.), rampant hate rhetoric polluting our airwaves, the shredding of our safety net (with its tragic consequences), environmental destruction, eminent domain that serves private interests, pay-or-die healthcare extortion, de-regulation of banks, junk mortgages & mass foreclosures, rampant usury (and other forms of financial terrorism); Ayn Rand worship, corporate "personhood", corporate hijacking of state-run institutions, corporate control of our food supply, the "war on drugs", institutionalized child abuse, stop-and-frisk, indefinite detention without charge or trial, so-called "extraordinary rendition", Guantanamo, torture, murder-by-drone, the "war on women", the targeting of certain groups (Muslims, gays, blacks, immigrants, etc.), voter suppression and election fraud, attacks against unions and workers' rights, debtors' prisons, the militarization of our police forces, the militarism of our youth, Obama's Mafia-style hit list, our out-of-control spy dragnet, not to mention our military industrial complex with its long & growing list of war crimes... Not looking too good, is it? - AIW
#9
Oh and by the way, as Thom pointed out the other day, the U.S. imprisons about 50% more of its population than Russia, and between three and four times more than China! Home of the brave, land of the free... And these wars are protecting whose freedom, now? - AIW
#10
Quote Aliceinwonderland:Telling a Republican to be nice to poor people is like telling a Nazi to be nice to the Jews.
Aliceinwonderland ~ Well said, and soooo true! I'll never forget Mitt Romney saying, "I don't really care about poor people." You can actually see a level of disdain and raw resentment in the eyes of these people whenever the topic of the poor and needy is brought up. Your figures comparing the Holocaust with the casualties of the American healthcare system are very accurate and reasonable. In fact, you should also figure in the staggering casualties of cut welfare, unemployment insurance and the death toll of homelessness. There is little difference between soft genocide and hard genocide. They are both genocide and a crime against humanity. The mere fact that this time the Nazis have learned that it is easier to get away with soft genocide doesn't make it any less of a crime; and, doesn't make Republicans anything less than Nazi cold blooded killers. All these monsters should be made to stand trial in The Hague
#11
Quote Aliceinwonderland:And while we have yet to reach the level of horror that Nazis are remembered for (on our home turf at least), these parallels are getting harder & harder to overlook. Privatization of the commons (schools, post office, the military, our media, the Internet, etc.), rampant hate rhetoric polluting our airwaves, the shredding of our safety net (with its tragic consequences), environmental destruction, eminent domain that serves private interests, pay-or-die healthcare extortion, de-regulation of banks, junk mortgages & mass foreclosures, rampant usury (and other forms of financial terrorism); Ayn Rand worship, corporate "personhood", corporate hijacking of state-run institutions, corporate control of our food supply, the "war on drugs", institutionalized child abuse, stop-and-frisk, indefinite detention without charge or trial, so-called "extraordinary rendition", Guantanamo, torture, murder-by-drone, the "war on women", the targeting of certain groups (Muslims, gays, blacks, immigrants, etc.), voter suppression and election fraud, attacks against unions and workers' rights, debtors' prisons, the militarization of our police forces, the militarism of our youth, Obama's Mafia-style hit list, our out-of-control spy dragnet, not to mention our military industrial complex with its long & growing list of war crimes... Not looking too good, is it? - AIW
Aliceinwonderland ~ Wow! You are on fire today. Perfectly accurate too. Just thought that little rant deserved repeating. Hopefully, everyone will read it at least once. It's sooo provocative because it is soooo true! Good job! Take a bow!
#12
Aliceinwonderland ~ Our prison population is larger than any other country in the history of the world. Not unlike the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. In fact, through FEMA, we have actually built an entire chain of genuine modern concentration camps of our own haven't we? Though what you say about the horrors of Nazis not existing at least within our own borders--YET--when you consider the US funded Death Squads that preceded the overthrow of all the nations we've stepped on, we have actually outdone by far anything the Nazis ever dreamed of doing that involves Horror. Right now in Syria our former enemy--conveniently turned ally--Al Qaeda is beheading members of Christian families in front of each other all in our name. Insurgents backed by US and Saudi Arabia gassed to death over a thousand innocent civilians--including almost 500 children--just for an excuse to go to war. In Fallujah, Iraq we dropped depleted Uranium on innocent civilians leading to the worst outbreak of catastrophic birth defects ever seen. We also used White Phosphorus on civilians. Even the Nazis never sunk that low. When you consider everything the Cabal running our nation is doing in the world--and has been doing in the last several decades--your comparison is not only not an over exaggeration; it is, in fact, an under exaggeration. This country is late for a date in The Hague.
#13
Thank you, Marc. You are spot-on about "soft genocide", in its various forms, compared to "hard genocide"; the end result is the same... except for one important difference: from the fascists' perspective, soft genocide, lacking all the drama, doesn't attract so much unwanted attention from the rest of the world community. It's more easily overlooked.
Marc says "...when you consider the US funded Death Squads that preceded the overthrow of all the nations we've stepped on, we have actually outdone by far anything the Nazis ever dreamed of doing that involves Horror." No argument there, my friend! American fascists are masters at persuading foreign tyrants to do much of their dirty work for them. I've no doubt the collective death toll from their mischief would exceed that of the Nazis. - AIW
#14
stecoop01 -- I have seen no evidence any higher ups. He has often talked about Mein Kampf and all the strategies that the Nazis used.
#15
Just a note to those who questioned my comment about "higher-ups" that Thom has to deal with: While it is true that he owns his programs, he does not own the broadcasting facilities, the studios, the uplinks, the satellites, the etc., etc. All those form a long chain of "higher-ups" he must please to get his programs on the air; any one of those links could squelch Thom, at least in part, if they take enough offense to Thom's programs. Sorry folks, but Thom does not operate in a vacuum, he does have to answer to "Higher-Ups", any whatever form they maybe.
#16
All right "stecoop"; point well taken. Then why haven't these "higher-ups" not objected or taken offense to Rush Limpballs' or Glenn Beck's ugly, toxic rants against women, minorities and poor folks?! - AIW
#17
stecoop1 -- I think Thom's higher-ups is us; especially on Free Speech TV.
#18
In one word - MONEY! There's money in supporting the left, there's money in supporting the right, and there's money in supporting both sides at the same time, as long as doing so doesn't drive money away. Some broadcasters don 't really care which side the money is coming from, as long as it keeps coming. And, yes, there are many broadcasters that take sides.
#19
Quote stecoop001:In one word - MONEY!
stecoop001 ~ Well said! I agree. MONEY is God in our society; and, it is the main driving motivation of every behavior. Even if you don't particularly agree with that, in order to influence society you have to compete with others who do. Especially if you own a business of any kind; and, as we all know, Thom is a very successful businessman many times over.
However, like Chuck said:
Quote chuckle8:stecoop1 -- I think Thom's higher-ups is us; especially on Free Speech TV.
One thing we often forget in this race to the "bottom line" oriented society is that good business means happy customers. Pleasing customers is what we really should focus on. The most successful businesses are the ones with the happiest customers. Thom knows this. He has learned this lesson over, and over, and over through experience. For this reason, he has evolved in the business community to the level of realizing that only by pleasing his demographic is any "MONEY" ever going to be made for his sponsors. Likewise, his various sponsors are also only interested in that "bottom line" and don't really care if Thom sings bird calls for 3 hours to maximize it.
Therefore, both you and chuckle8 are right!
#20
Back to where this part of the discussion came from. I think the reason Thom stays away from comparing to Nazism, is because it is like name calling. As soon as you use name calling everybody quits listening. For example, they call Obama a Nazi. I, for one, quit listening to those people. However, using the details of "Mein Kampf" to explain something does not turn off as many listeners. As a matter of fact, Thom has played the audio of FDR using "Mein Kampf" explaining the action of the repugs.
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Thom & Louise at a "private audience" with His Holiness Pope John Paul II at his summer palace, Castle Gandolfo, Italy
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17,000 innocent lives sacrificed on the altar of Republican politics. Surely the Democrats can use a little creativity to turn that into a successful campaign slogan. Such as, "Republican Politics, Bringing Back The Lost Art of Human Sacrifice." The photo on the banners could be a montage of photos of the dead victims; or, simply Joe the Plumber laying on an altar below whoever the Republican opponent is holding a knife at his chest. Nice touch!