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remember no child left behind?
i hear the exact same things being said now, as were said then.
@Quark: My “future donors” crack failed to fully deliver the truth of the situation . . . It should have read:
“The White House, and its current tenant, has no corporate enemies . . . Only future donors who have yet to receive an unwarranted, unsolicited hand-out, yet.”
during a hearing, cbo did state that consumers could pay up to 17-20 percent of their income for health care.
that is in the bill.
it may not be 25 percent, but it is significant.
At each juncture in negotiating healthcare reform, progressives have used tape and glue to construct some semblance of a public option. None of these were the real deal, but progressives kept trying to put together something that would appease detractors. And in each instance, a handful of corporate sell-outs in the Democratic caucus whipped out their scissors and cut.
What has been the progressive response? "Well, this is better than nothing. There's still some good things in there. We'll think about it."
And then they've gone along with whatever leadership wants, essentially caving to the corporate sell-outs. That's how it looks to the public.
Are progressives capable of using scissors? It would be a demonstration of strength if Senator Sanders or someone else were to say "I cannot vote for this bill so long as it includes a mandate that would force citizens to purchase insurance from private corporations. I cannot vote for that mandate without giving citizens the choice of a robust public option."
That position carries populist appeal. It could also put Sanders in a media position similar to that enjoyed by others who have said they could not support the bill unless something was removed from it.
Yes, there are arguments for a mandate. But if progressives aren't willing to pick up the scissors we will continue to have little leverage and we will come across as weak to the public.
DDay,
I called Al's office to thank him. I told the staffer that the more Al opens his mouth, the more loyal I become. The staffer was laughing the whole time. It was a fun phone call.
Richard,
Re: future donors
Yes, that is the sad truth. I think the corporate personhood issue is the way to cut all this off. I wonder if the municipalities and states can pull that off through legislation to refuse to recognise this status (until a national "tipping point" can force the issue in Washington.)
I was real proud of my senator yesterday. Word is that Al does a really mean impersonation of Joe Lie...ber..man too.
@Quark: The White House and its current tenant has no corporate enemies . . . Only future donors.
I tried for 2 hours & the state numbers were busy. I received an anti abortion call this morning. I told Luke in DCA per American Journal of Public Health 45,000 Americans die annually because of lack of health care access, that is 122 die a day. Please put the same value on living Americans as Senator Nelson values fetuses. Also if he runs for re-election, he needs Democratic votes to win and we are angry.
@Quark: Best part of the Lieberman shut-down was Schumer telling McCain (who declared he had never seen such a impolite thing) that other folk had been cut off that morning . . . Leaving the question . . . What was McCain up to for the lat 27 years? Sleeping?
Hey Sen. Sanders... you say a positive part of this new bill is that it disallows exclusion of coverage for pre-existing conditions.... well isn't it true that the insurance companies can just jack up the rates for pre-existing conditions anyway? You call that good?
s.b. "its" --- sorry for all the cx (I have an anxious day ahead)
"his corporate enemies" s.b. "it's corporate enemies" (spoken by the grammar policeman in my brain)
@Mark: Yes, La Follette was magic and is missed.
What the White House doesn't seem to understand is that this health care "reform" bill makes his corporate enemies even MORE powerful and more impossible to fight against!
Nels Nelsen,
Thanks for that (I hadn't heard 'bout Grandpa's retort.) LOL!
@Quark, I didn't see the exchange, but I did hear it last night. Loved it. I also loved McCain's complaint about it afterward, saying in his 27 years in the Senate he's never seen such a thing happen... another Senator had to point out to him a that indeed such a denial had happened in the Senate before, in fact just a few hours before. Grandpa should try to stay awake when he does bother to attend.
I called both of my senators yesterday, Bennett and Udall of Colorado AND sent them an email from their web site. I also called and emailed my representative, Betsy Markey. Basically I said I am 58 and self employed with a pre existing condition. (something every one has after 50), therefore I can't get health insurance period. I WANT TO LIVE SAME AS YOU DO. I want life and liberty from the fear of catastrophic illness. I want you to to the right thing for the American People. I want you to represent "We the People" and not "We the corporations". Therefore I demand that you address Campaign Finance Reform, because the bottom line is that we the people WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK. It is OBSCENE that 125 people die EVERY DAY because they can't access medical care.
PS On my FB page I called Joe "Obstructionist" Lieberman a tergiversating rodomontading hebetudinous windbag, (Stephen Colbert inspired Thesaurus hunt). translated as: and evasive blustering obtuse windbag who's time has come to GO.
Have You Seen This?
"Al Franken Shuts Down Joe Lieberman on Senate Floor"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m3MyjHM-a4
Once again, Al does what I wish I could do. (Maybe Al and I are more alike than I realized. That's not to say that I always make the best decisions...LOL)
I didn't quite get all the words I wanted to say in the Islam part of my last post. Males also "suffer" from the teachings of Islamic fundamentalism. I wanted to get that in before the batteries die.
A few comments about some other shows I listen to: If Stephanie Miller's show is any example, real health care reform would be in the bag if the media spent as much time describing the sordid details of private insurance company shenanigans as it is spending with the sordid details of Tiger Woods' bedroom shenanigans (Miller keeps her listeners well-informed on the latest Woods revelation). Tiger, of course, forgot lesson number one about being a black man with money: stay away from the white women--their nothing but trouble. Your story will trump serious news every time.
I also heard yesterday Mike Malloy talking about women under Islam. I think it is useful to point that in countries where fundamentalist Islam holds sway, males also from being taught antiquated beliefs that stunt their ability to adapt to the modern world. Life on earth is transitory, meaningless; why doing anything useful to advance civilization when "paradise" is just around the corner?
We also seem to have an overload of Ed Schultz on AM1090 (six hours worth), caused by yet another mysterious disappearance of Randi Rhodes. She must have been a naughty girl again. Maybe she should join Howard Stern on Syrius Radio. I have to admit that on slow news days, Rhodes tended to say outrageous things, helped along by a battalion of adoring callers feeding her ego, which after twenty minutes tended to be a drag.
When I was growing-up in Wisconsin, grade school history books made certain that Joe McCarthy wasn’t the most “important” politician ever to come out of Wisconsin, but it would be Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette, governor and later U.S. senator. Thom ought to know who La Follette is: He was the acknowledged leader of the progressive movement in the early 20th century (Teddy Roosevelt merely used the movement for his own purposes). His reputation as a reforming governor helped him win election to the Senate at a time even then when most observers believed a senate seat was the province of elitist millionaires.
La Follette earned the reputation of a lawmaker who was not bought and sold by the “interests;” he continuously battled what he termed “selfish interests," and championed numerous regulatory laws defending the rights of labor and consumers. He founded La Follette’s Weekly, later renamed The Progressive (Thom didn’t know that?). La Follette also opposed Wilson’s creation of the Federal Reserve Board, which he saw as government sponsorship of business interests.
La Follette would lose much of his reputation for his opposition to the U.S. entry into WWI, and would be harshly criticized for his stand. Yet La Follette correctly saw war as a means for business to take control of the government. Answering pleas from progressives to run for president, he entered the 1924 presidential race on the Progressive Party ticket. La Follette would win only Wisconsin, and manage but 17 percent of the popular vote. He died before the Great Depression; one of his son’s would be a supporter of FDR’s New Deal as a U.S. senator; another son as governor of Wisconsin would enact the first unemployment insurance measure in the country.
I would give Obama a B+ if he had accomplished as much as he had with with a slim Democratic majority--but we gave him the supermajority in the Senate the Democrats said they needed to get anything of substance done and instead of acting like they have a progressive mandate, they threw us a bone and before we even got a chance to gnaw on it, they threw us to the corporate wolves.
At least the GOP makes no pretense of NOT being corporate whores.
I phoned both Senators from Washington to inquire as to their position on the drug re-importation bill (they both voted AGAINST re-importation). As I spoke to Cantwell's staffer, I urged the Senator to do the right thing, and told her "you guys are killing us". She responded that she had heard a lot of that kind of talk lately! Interesting for her to acknowledge that I thought. Then she thanked me for being so polite with her. I was a bit surprised by that as well. Lets not let our frustration over this situation turn us into T-Baggers, rudely getting into people's faces. Lets keep up the fight, and do it politely.
The problem of course is that President Obama has RUN for the centrist position, and in so doing, he has tossed the progressives who elected him under the bus. The President once said he was willing to be a one term President if he didn't get this done, I just assumed it would be because the crazies on the RIGHT had stopped him, not because he was leaving the LEFT out in the cold!
Matt
Ya' know, I've gotten so ticked at the spineless reaction and cohelsion by the Democrats in both the House and the Senate, and knowing both my House members and Senate members here in Idaho are positively worthless, that I went right for what I considered the jugular vein. I called both the chairmen of the DCCC and the DSCC. OK, so I called their Washington offices, hoping to hit that vein even faster, the silly little seething vampire I've become with my frustration over this health care bill. Chris Van Hollan's office forwarded me to the D Triple C and I got voicemail. OI VEY! So, I let 'em have it. "My wallet is now closed! I've donated! I've been a moderate worker bee, and I can't believe you people can't even hang together and get something passed for the American people that you have as a Congressman." And I ranted for about another minute more until I felt better. I marked the message urgent, left my phone number, and requested a reply. I'm still hoping to hear something back.
Next, I went on to Senator Bob Menendez's office as chair of the DSCC. Yea, I called his Washington office hoping for that quick fix. Oddly, I got an automated reply that his mail box was full. So, I called one of his local offices. They patched me into somewhere, the where, I don't know. I said I wanted to leave a comment for the Senator in his capacity as DSCC chair. After being on hold for awhole, I actually got a real person! I launched into my rant, previously used on Representive Van Hollan, but inserted that I wanted the Senate Dems (and President Obama also) to "grow a pair of Roosevelts and stand up and yell for what they believe in." The kind lady on the end of the line muttered, "Grow a pair of Roos....a....felts?"
"A pair of Roosevelts", I said.
"A pair of Rose...." I heard her say softly, still trying to get the meaning of my message. "I'm writing this down", she added. "Let me get this right."
"A pair of Roosevelts," I said. "Like Teddy and FDR!"
"OH!" she said, and began to chuckle. "A pair of ROOSEVELTS!"
She continued to chuckle through the remainder of my call. I sincerely hope that the Democratic Senators and the Representitives will suddenly 'sprout' a pair of Roosevelts....before it's too late. That's what we're waiting for, and they haven't figured it out yet.