This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Health Care debate

  • 9-12 march & 9-13 march

    Tankerbabe sends along this very well-made video of the 9-12 march in DC;

    Our buddy DanNY at GOE/NY sends along a link to his Tale of Two Marches which includes this video of Health Care Now’s march in Upper Senate Park the following day;

    Boy, they really showed us, huh?

  • Baucus: Our moment in history

    The Senate has announced their Democrat-only health care bill. Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told the American people that “This is our moment in history”. Then he set about scaring people claiming 17,000 more people lost their health insurance this week. I wonder from which orifice he pulled that figure. Anyway, the Washington Times writes;

    Republican negotiator, Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, accused Democratic Senate leaders and the White House of trying to rush the process.

    “I’m disappointed because it looks like we’re being pushed aside by the Democratic leadership so the Senate can move forward on a bill that, up to this point, does not meet the shared goals of affordable, accessible health coverage that we set forth when this process began.”

    Mr. Grassley said he still has concerns that the bill would open the door to federal funding of abortions and coverage for illegal immigrants. He also said he wants alternatives to the mandate for individuals to purchase health insurance and tougher medical malpractice reforms.

    In fact, House Democrats specifically excluded measures related to immigration and abortion according to Michigan Democrat Bart Stupak, who says he’ll vote against health care if unless federal money won’t be used for abortion in this interview with Megyn Kelly;

  • The never-ending 2012 campaign

    This morning we awaken to a new phase of the Obama 2012 campaign – the election campaign that never ends. Apparently, the face we never tire of seeing has called a special joint session of Congress so he can explain to them what he expects from their healthcare that he refuses to draft – voting present on one of the most important issues to be decided this year. (Washington Times link)

    The White House on Wednesday said Mr. Obama would head to Capitol Hill on Sept. 9 to speak to lawmakers in prime time upon their return from a monthlong vacation that was highlighted by heated town-hall meetings on health care. Top advisers to the president promised that Mr. Obama would give more detailed direction to Congress, after months of only general guidance.

    Though David Axelrod, top adviser to the president, said Mr. Obama still “embraces” a government-run “public option” for health insurance, which combined with the plan’s price tag has fueled much of the public blowback, the president was not expected to insist that it be part of any final plan. The White House has declined for weeks to be pinned down on the controversial government-run component embraced by the Democratic Party’s liberal base, saying only that Mr. Obama’s priority is a reform that increases competition in the health insurance industry and choice for consumers.

    So, Obama is for the single payer option, while simultaneously being against it. That’s what you get when you elect a politician instead of a leader.

    The Washington Post calls it “fleshing out his vision”. You’d have thought he would have done that sometime before now, wouldn’t you? That’s what has Americans so upset – no one really knows what’s in that thousand-page document – not even the folks who are writing it. But this administration speaks in abstract concepts and doesn’t pin itself down to specifics. So, I’m pretty sure all we’ll see is the strutting rooster at the podium, chin high, staring down his nose at America – pretty phrases and no specifics.

    Oh, and TSO, look who is expected to flip on the GOP side to lock in the health care vote in the Senate according to the Wall Street Journal;

    The White House is holding intensive talks with Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, a moderate Republican, about Ms. Snowe’s proposal to use the public plan as a fallback option, aides familiar with the conversations said.

    Surprised? Yeah, me neither.

    But that’s not all. After a big kerfuffle yesterday about Obama attempting to campaign to school children, going around their parents, he’s decided that he won’t require a term paper from children in which they pledge their souls to Obama (yet another Washington Times link);

    President Obama’s plan to inspire the nation’s schoolchildren with a video address next week erupted into controversy Wednesday, forcing the White House to pull out its eraser and rewrite a government recommendation that teachers nationwide assign students a paper on how to “help the president.”

    Presidential aides acknowledged the White House helped the U.S. Education Department craft the proposal, which immediately was met by fierce criticism from Republicans and conservative organizations who accused Mr. Obama of trying to politicize the education system.

    Yes, our President who struggles every day to find a new way to get his face on television, is surprised that parents are starting to push back against the incessant blather that comes from the White House.

  • Suppressing the debate

    You’ve probably seen this video in which an HCAN worker instructs other supporters how to disrupt the disruptions of their opponents at Jan Schakowsky’s (D-IL) town hall meeting in Skokie, IL.;

    Do you notice the little stickers they’re wearing on their left breast?

    sticker

    Well, I just saw the guy who took the video on Fox News and he claims that he overheard the person who handed out the stickers tell health care plan supporters that only people wearing the sticker would be able to ask questions of the Congresswoman .

    Whether you want this new health care plan or not, the whole process must enrage everyone. Every American should be upset that other Americans are being denied the opportunity to express their opinion – whether you agree with it or not. I don’t remember the Bush Administration trying to clamp down on the anti-war crowd, or stifle the debate about Social Security or the myriad issues that presented themselves over those eight years.

    I’ll admit there were cranks who complained that the CIA was flying mosquito-sized cameras around anti-war protests, there was plenty of hyperbole over the PATRIOT Act (which hasn’t changed, but I don’t hear the Left complaining about it any more) and wire taps (Obama has extended the program to the Left’s utter silence). But actual voter fraud and real suppression doesn’t seem to raise the hackles of the Left these days.

    And, oh, the stickers on the breast? What’s next? A bar code?

  • Townhall News

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    Our buddy El Marko at “Looking at the Left” spent a few hours documenting a town hall meeting in Denver on Friday. Pretty amazing stuff. he certainly has a lot of self-control.

    I wonder what this guy’s actual motivations are;

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    Crystal Clear Conservative has some photos of the Moran/Dean protest in Virginia. Our buddy, DanNY of Gathering of Eagles New York has pictures and videos of another Empire State townhall meeting.

    There’s a football coach in Ohio on a one-man protest to force his congressman Zack Space to have a townhall meeting.

    Waco residents are demanding the same from their congressman, Chet Edwards.

    SWAC Girl has all of the information on our 9/12 March on DC.

  • WaPo warns of tax hikes

    Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post demonstrates her keen eye for the obvious this morning as she warns that tax hikes are on their way;

    During last year’s campaign, President Obama vowed to enact a bold agenda without raising taxes for the middle class, a pledge budget experts viewed with skepticism. Since then, a severe recession, massive deficits and a national debt that is swelling toward a 50-year high have only made his promise harder to keep.

    The Obama administration has insisted that the pledge will stand. But the president’s top economic advisers have refused to rule out broad-based tax increases to close the yawning gap between federal revenue and government spending and are warning of tough choices ahead.

    Of course, it’s Bush’s fault, and although Republicans warned during the campaign that Obama couldn’t keep his myriad of patronage purchasing promises without raising taxes, Montgomery writes that Republicans are “already on the attack”. Um, most of Republicans have been on the attack since the campaign. Why do you think Republicans, with the exception of a spineless few, have generally opposed Obama’s budget-busting “stimulous” packages and oppose the healthcare proposal?

    Democrats say Obama is highly unlikely to break the pledge before next year’s congressional election and observe that it would be safer to wait until his second term if a tax increase becomes unavoidable.

    Of course, Montgomery includes that line to demonstrate the Democrats’ political adeptness at fooling voters just one more time. But, most voters know that tax hikes are coming, it doesn’t matter when. We know Democrats won’t make the politically tough decisions – like cut spending – we all know that they’re so good at raising taxes.

    But poor Obama is a victim of the Bush boom;

    Obama not only faces the fallout from the worst economic downturn in 30 years, but also inherited the debt piled up by his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush. Bush invaded Iraq and approved an expensive new prescription drug benefit for the elderly while pushing through one of the biggest tax cuts of the post-war era — worth an estimated $1.6 trillion in foregone revenue by the time the provisions expire next year.

    So the Washington Post, obviously, is wishing that Saddam Hussein was still in Iraq instead of under Iraq and the Washington Post wishes seniors would pay more for their drugs. And I guess the Washington Post wasn’t elated that they kept more of their money during the Bush boom.

  • Drunken sot’s town hall turns into shouting match

    Jim Moran, carpetbagging Congressional drunken sot, presided over a raucous townhall last night with Howard “The Scream” Dean. I wish I’d gone – it would have been a dream come true. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against drunken sots, having spent some time as one myself. But, Moran has made a career of it. Link from the Examiner;

    Inside, the scene was just as raucous. Moran — fuming that his introduction of Dean was met with jeers — finally lost his temper with the crowd.

    “There are hundreds of people in this gymnasium who can’t hear [Dean] because of a handful of people,” Moran said. “These folks are not from the 8th District, they don’t really belong here, and I’m going to ask them to leave.”

    I don’t know where he thought the loud crowd came from, but from the videos I’ve seen, most of the people identified themselves as his constituents. I guess it’s just easier to ignore the fact that he’s unpopular in his district.

    Here’s a video from our local news Fox 5;

    Sweet. Moran gets to see what his own behavior looks like to others. Is anyone going to ask where the health care supporters are getting those slick signs they hold up when their opponents, who are supposedly backed by the insurance lobby have hand-lettered signs?

  • Those shrinking Social Security checks

    The Associated Press is warning (or frightening) seniors that their Social Security checks will be smaller next year if President Obama doesn’t fix healthcare this year under the headline “Millions Face Shrinking Social Security Payments”

    The trustees who oversee Social Security are projecting there won’t be a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for the next two years. That hasn’t happened since automatic increases were adopted in 1975.

    By law, Social Security benefits cannot go down. Nevertheless, monthly payments would drop for millions of people in the Medicare prescription drug program because the premiums, which often are deducted from Social Security payments, are scheduled to go up slightly.

    The headline should actually read, “government healthcare costs seniors more”, but that would probably upset the Obama Administration, wouldn’t it? Can’t have that.

    Despite the fact that Republicans (and now Senator Joe Lieberman) have been telling the Obama Administration to fix Medicare before he takes on a new single-payer health care system, the administration has forged ahead blindly and the elderly are the folks that are going to pay the price for Obama’s inattention.

    Is it any wonder that’s it’s the elderly who’ve been dominating the townhall debates? They saw this coming. Hell, Ray Charles could’ve seen it coming…from space.