A Really FUN Explanation of Public Healthcare

I think you'll enjoy this...



hat tip to tunesmith at dKos

The Shame That is American Health Care

This video says it all. It needs no introduction. It does, however, need to be thought about. This is ONE woman and there are thousands more out there just like her.

Breaking the Myths: 14 Lies and 14 Truths

NOTE: There are two parts to this post. The first is on the Media Matters Lies/Truths and the second is a two-part video (and the second part is absolutely killer) between John Steward and insurance company shill Betsy McCaughey on the health care bill. If you don't know who Betsy McCaughey is, she was trotted out during Clinton's campaign to shut down the health care bill then, which she succeeded in doing. But Stewart, who is a really bright guy, eats her up. McCaughey resigned today from the medical device (read really profitable) company she works for to work on healthcare to "avoid" the appearance of impropriety. Gee, Betsy, a little late, isn't it?

*****

Media Matters has taken on 14 of the top myths about health care. Not only is their piece well written including some historical perspective on how many of the myths got started, it is helpful in understanding the truth AND is a great source to be able to send to others.

You can view it here.

Hat tip to mcjoan/dKos.

Now, on to John Stewart.

I attached these at the last minute to give you a flavor of how the discussion has become so absurd, especially after reading Media Matters. You'll get it.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

and part two, which is especially yummy:

Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 2

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Healthcare Protests

My Mom Needs Your Prayers, and So Do I and So Do The Rescue Animals

I received a giant jolt today. They believe my 95yo mom may have multiple myeloma.

I don't have the time right now to post much more about it than to send you here.

I have asked other rescues to take my animal rescues off my hands so I can clear my plate. I have gotten a few responses and sure hope to get more. In this economic environment, for every one animal I place well, I have at least 60 requests (and these would make you cry) to take animals that have no place to go because of death, foreclosure, homelessness... The list is long.

Every day that I open my e-mail, I pray to God that things will change. And I open my e-mail a lot. So, I pray a lot.

I have always lived on the edge, emotionally, as this is what people in rescue do every minute of their lives. If you have not done it, you have no idea.

Rescue is emotionally painful to the max. The suffering we see--both animal and human--is over the top. Many of us become shells of people. Some of us become suffering saints. Some work their abilities to brave new worlds (like Best Friends in Utah). Some fall to the depths of despair (and this is usually really awful and involves dead animals). With the exception of the last, most of us are a combination of all of these to one extent or another. And there are lots of dark spots in that mix as life intercedes as it always does.

I have three cats coming in this week. The people are depending on me as their last resort and I have made a commitment. What a mess. The cats will, indeed, come in and be safe even if they have to stay at the vet until I can get my feet on some kind of land again. If I do not do that, they will be taken to the shelter where, right now, over 80% of cats are being killed. It's kitten season. These little ones are being killed too.

So please, will you... will you PLEASE say a prayer for my mom? I am her only caregiver and I am scared shitless right now. My life is even more upside-down than it was six months ago.

Hard to believe that is even possible.

Dr. Howard Dean on Public Option (video)

There are two three outstanding interviews done today with Dr. Gov. Chairman (!) Howard Dean on health care reform and the public option, etc.

Please note... if you REALLY want to understand what is going on after the whipsaw weekend, go to my first post from today, below, and see the shake out from yesterday which was rather incredible.

Here are the three videos and they are VERY telling about how not only health care reform will get passed, but passed with the public option and WHY the public option is necessary.

If you don't understand the public option OR co-ops, this will help you.

He also addresses:

Co Ops (excellent discussion, second video)
Economies of Scale
Public Option (third video and others)

The first video, from MSNBC's Morning Joe 8/17 (today):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Dr. Dean on Dr. Nancy's Show on Co-ops etc. 8/17 (today):


From the Today Show (8/17 (today):

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

My goal in doing all of this is to help you sort out the wheat/chaff and to sort of distill some of the arguments of the day. The postings will be getting far more frequent now as this is becoming a battle of lines and lies drawn.

I hope this is helpful to you. This is the most important legislation since Civil Rights Legislation of the 1960s and is now or never.

On The Public Option...

Many of you may have opened up a local or national newspaper today to see that Obama is walking back on the public option. That does not appear to be the case. Let's take a look at what is happening and think this through, okay?

First of all, this situation totally exploded yesterday when HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that the president may not require a public option in health care reform. Believe me, that was like a declaration of war against most dems and most certainly against progressive and liberal dems.

For great coverage of what happened (including Sebelius commenting and commentary on her comment and other comments in contrast etc.) go here... it's a great piece and pretty well sums things up.

So let's look at today [what the newspaper DIDN'T print this morning and where things now seem to stand (this constantly changes)].

1. First of all, you have the infamous Dem Blue Dogs (you may be in one of their districts, so PLEASE check this list) many, but not all, of which are acting more like republicans than democrats. If YOU find your rep on that Blue Dog list, call them using the toll free number, 1-866-338-1015 and ASK them if they do or do not support the public option. Many of the Blue Dogs do NOT support the public option, but some do.

If they don't support the public option, straighten them out. Without a public option, there is NO way to control costs in the private industry (and for those of you WITH private insurance, this is a big, big issue).

2. Second, you have the progressive caucus. Look for your house member on this list. Then, using the toll free number above, call their offices and see what they think. IF they are NOT a signatory to the letter discussed here at FireDogLake, ask WHY. Let them know in no uncertain terms you want a public option to be included in health care reform.

Now, you saw, above some math done by Jane at FireDogLake on the numbers. THAT is the tale.

So, is the public option dead? NOPE! Not even in the ER. Not even at the doctor's office. But we need to get and keep support for it.

Here is a GREAT CNBC interview done this morning with (my hero) Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY9). Weiner is extremely bright, very articulate, and KNOWS this issue. Watch:



The bottom line is this, folks: YOU either fight for health care or everyone loses.

Losing means those of you WITH insurance will still have caps (lifetime and illness), your policies can and will continue to be rescinded, your premiums will continue to rise dramatically, your insurance will REMAIN forever tied to your job and you will have no back up if you lose your job and cannot afford escalating and temporary COBRA rates, you can be back-charged by the insurance companies for things they have already paid for if they decide they WANT you to and you made one teenie weenie error on your app (and geez, is there anyone that probably hasn't?) etc.

For those of you without insurance, or who cannot GET insurance, you will continue in limbo without health care just as you are now.

If we blow this chance it is blown for years. So if you are NOT actively working on this... please start now.

Obama Absolutely Hits the Mark in Colorado Today

These two excerpts from his speech/town hall meeting in Grand Junction today are absolutely powerful and help to explain a LOT about what is and is not intended.

These are just *must watch*.

IRD and Soujourners At Odds Over Healthcare Reform

NOTE: There is action to take to support healthcare reform at the bottom per Soujourners.

IRD and Soujourners at odds shouldn't be shocking, right? True.

Here you can read IRD's thoughts on the matter from President Mark Tooley. A snippet:

“The new Evangelical Left, like the old Social Gospel Religious Left of decades ago, always materialistically equates Big Government and centralized control with the Kingdom of God. They learned no lessons from the 20th century, when Big Government again and again wreaked destruction and was often the antithesis of Christian teachings. For the Religious Left, Obamacare is just one more opportunity for coercion and eradication of private initiative."

Soujourners, on the other hand, has developed a creed-statement on the issue which is remarkably beautiful and faith oriented. You can send this to your senators and congressional members by going here:

As one of God's children, I believe that protecting the health of each human being is a profoundly important personal and communal responsibility for people of faith.

I believe God created each person in the divine image to be spiritually and physically healthy. I feel the pain of sickness and disease in our broken world (Genesis 1:27, Romans 8:22).

I believe life and healing are core tenets of the Christian life. Christ's ministry included physical healing, and we are called to participate in God's new creation as instruments of healing and redemption (Matthew 4:23, Luke 9:1-6; Mark 7:32-35, Acts 10:38). Our nation should strive to ensure all people have access to life-giving treatments and care.

I believe, as taught by the Hebrew prophets and Jesus, that the measure of a society is seen in how it treats the most vulnerable. The current discussion about health-care reform is important for the United States to move toward a more just system of providing care to all people (Isaiah 1:16-17, Jeremiah 7:5-7, Matthew 25:31-45).

I believe that all people have a moral obligation to tell the truth. To serve the common good of our entire nation, all parties debating reform should tell the truth and refrain from distorting facts or using fear-based messaging (Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:14-15, 25; Proverbs 6:16-19).

I believe that Christians should seek to bring health and well-being (shalom) to the society into which God has placed us, for a healthy society benefits all members (Jeremiah 29:7).

I believe in a time when all will live long and healthy lives, from infancy to old age (Isaiah 65:20), and "mourning and crying and pain will be no more" (Revelation 21:4). My heart breaks for my brothers and sisters who watch their loved ones suffer, or who suffer themselves, because they cannot afford a trip to the doctor. I stand with them in their suffering.

I believe health-care reform must rest on a foundation of values that affirm each and every life as a sacred gift from the Creator (Genesis 2:7).

Amen.

Amen indeed. What a difference in tone and legitimacy.

Lawrence ODonnell Rips on TX Congressman Culberson

Boy, this is absolutely worth watching! The hypocrisy!

Go Lawrence! Rep. Culberson is lying through his teeth.



As for him saying that no one has proposed eliminating Medicare, Culberson isn't doing his homework. Recently, during the House Energy and Commerce hearings on HR3200, Rep. Weiner (D-NY) did exactly that: He offered to the republicans who call HR3200 socialism (without telling their constituents they support/oppose Medicare which clearly IS socialism) a chance to shut down Medicare through an amendment. He, like many of us, are sick and tired of the socialism meme.

You can watch Weiner take on the Republicans below. It is a beautiful thing:



I challenge ANYONE to a discussion about how this country is not ALREADY a socialist country given tax moneys are collected then distributed for:

Schools
Police
Fire Departments
Roads
Health Clinics
Sarah Palin's famous Bridge to Nowhere
Military funding including the National Guard
Farm programs
Libraries
Museums
Animal Shelters
Housing renewal projects
Social Security
Medicare
ETC.

And now health care.

Everyone needs to stop with the socialism meme. It's not credible, not factual and designed to illicit some strange response (especially in the same crowd with people calling healthcare Marxism, Fascism, Nazism etc.) from those in the nitwit category.

The level of ridiculousness has reached a new and appalling height.

Hat tip to theone718 at dKos.

Focus on The Family Stops 'Gay Conversion' Project

It's a money thing. They aren't rollin in the dough now, so they are dropping the program.

Read about it here.

However...

The Love Won Out conferences on "leaving homosexuality" will be handed over in November to a longtime ministry partner, Orlando, Fla.-based Exodus International.

So... it ain't over. It's just being recycled.

Powerful Stuff From a Former Right Wing Evangelical

This is must watch stuff... especially given the rhetoric against Obama, the current situation with town hall meetings across the country, etc.



More from Frank at HuffPo.

And here's a doozy, also... c/o Rachel Maddow exposing the truth about a Republican party operative who falsely identified herself at one of the town hall meetings.



The bottom line on these town hall meetings is this: GO! Stand with those who refuse to see the right take down the democratic process. It can be done peacefully, nicely. Take a camera or a video camera.

We cannot let the democratic process fall from rhetoric and fear.

Hat Tip to: ohcanada at dKos and marabout40 at dKos

Be As Rich As Ed!

Here's a neat new 30 sec. commercial on healthcare.

Just for the record, if anyone makes over $5K/hour, as Ed does/did as CEO of Cigna, please contact me. I need a loan (to buy insurance!).



Hat Tip: dKos.

MO Senator Roy Blunt HATES Medicare!

He also hates the public option being considered.

For those of you in Missouri, I hope you will take this Vid and pass it around, especially to those ON Medicare.

Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy.
--Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO)

Hat Tip to Jed Lewison dKos, here.