NO PUBLIC OPTION

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Jon Stewart rips into Democrats for not passing the public option plan

What's wrong with these Senate Democrats? They couldn't pass their health care plan despite having a super majority? They had the numbers on the committee, too, but some of those mangy blue dogs voted against the amendments despite 65% national approval for the plan. Now wait a minute. While we're busy keeping the world safe for democracy, maybe we should protect the homegrown variety. Let's give the people what they want. Did I mention 65% of the public supports this? Maybe I'm a little fuzzy on civics--yes, I realize this is a Republic and not a Democracy (look it up)--but why doesn't the majority rule?

Why does the stupid 35% win?

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS!

I'm getting tired of these ignorant dolts. From now on, let's make a rule: if you use the word "socialism," make sure you're referring to "various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with an egalitarian method of compensation."

If you mean "government-run," then say that when you complain about the "socialist" health care plan, but be consistent--also rail about your "socialist" fire department, your "socialist" post office and your "socialist" public library. You may hate the library already, since libraries are filled with books espousing all sorts of philosophies and economic theories and even evolution (gasp! they allow that?) and other wide-ranging subjects probably out of bounds of your Sunday school class or right wing study group. And fiction! Yes, fiction slays tyrants. There are books, actual books that lead the reader to imagine what it feels like to be a slave, to escape from a mental hospital, to chase a great white whale with a tyrannical captain at the helm! Go ahead, read a book--and not just the Bible. Read works of free, unchained imaginations if you truly despise tyranny!

Dictators always burn the books, don't they? So if your concern for freedom is genuine, and extends beyond your own self-interest and "talking points," make sure you support your local library.


Words are important. They mean certain, specific things, so try to use them correctly. In other words, don't just sling the word "socialism" around like an insult, the way you used to scream "communism" every time someone tried to organize voters or fluoridate the water. Words have actual meanings we can agree upon. Words have connotations, some very heated, connotations that can blind us to the actual issues being discussed. Choose them wisely.

Another word is "racist." Yes, there is racism alive and well in the USA, and just because we have a black president doesn't mean we've transcended our long history of disenfranchising certain groups based on race--as well as religion, and gender, and sexual orientation, and tax brackets. Nope, Obama didn't end racism, especially not in the dumber regions of America.


Conservatives love twisting words. For them, words are just a trick to befuddle the masses, to obfuscate reality, to throw sand in the eyes of the enemy. For them, words are tools to make their point when truth and reality don't suffice. Reminiscent of the days when they would decry "PC" as a way liberals were fettering their freedom of expression, now they claim any criticism of the government will be called "racism" by the liberals. Boy, they LOVE being underdogs, don't they? They claim they can't express themselves, but they sure don't have that problem when they howl and weep and wave their guns at the Town Hall Meetings. In spite of their claims, they never seem at a loss for words--whether or not they use them correctly remains a matter of opinion.

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OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE SPEECH

September 9, 2009. Obama gave a powerful speech about health care reform. Just when I was starting to get used to dim-witted, inarticulate, smirking, devious, fundamentalist hillbillies running the country--along comes Obama. What is happening to my country?!? Something good, actually. Step aside, fear-mongers.


President Obama, September 9, 2009

"Still, given all the misinformation that's been spread over the past few months, I realize that many Americans have grown nervous about reform. So tonight I'd like to address some of the key controversies that are still out there.

"Some of people's concerns have grown out of bogus claims spread by those whose only agenda is to kill reform at any cost. The best example is the claim, made not just by radio and cable talk show hosts, but prominent politicians, that we plan to set up panels of bureaucrats with the power to kill off senior citizens. Such a charge would be laughable if it weren't so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple."

The full text of President Obama's speech can be found here.

AL FRANKEN TEABAGS THE TEABAGGERS

Health care reform sure brings out the frightened crazies. Ill-informed, and whipped into a frenzy by right wing pundits, they cry and scream and repeat cliches and talking points. You've got to hand it to them. They sure work terribly hard against their own interests.

Once in a while truth prevails. A glimmer of hope brightens the darkness. You wonder if maybe, just maybe, logic and intelligence can overcome fear and ignorance--at least some of the time. Here, Senator Al Franken speaks with an angry crowd of teabaggers. He would have made Paul Wellstone proud.

Dusty Rice, who posted the clip, describes the scene:

"I got to witness something really special. About a dozen tea party activists had staked out Sen. Al Franken's booth, and confronted him loudly when he arrived. But within minutes, he'd turned an unruly crowd into a productive conversation on health care. The discussion went from insurance reform, to the public option, to veterans benefits, to cap and trade. He made a few laugh and even told a touching story that moved a few to tears. A whole lot of common ground was found."

SCREAMING FOR HEALTH CARE

This clip is about the single-payer health option--and contrary to the Republican propaganda blitz, this is not part of the plan Obama is proposing. Maybe it should be.

The current health care system isn't working. Currently, if you have the money the system works well enough, but for many, many people adequate care is a luxury--and even if we don't care about others their loss will come back and bite us on the ass, because when people don't get prenatal care, say, or preventive medicine, they show up in the ER with full-blown medical problems and the costs are shifted onto us payers (witness the nine dollar aspirin on your hospital bill--this is called "cost-shifting").

Not everyone will benefit from health care reform (unless community health is a value). There are powerful vested interests who want to keep things just as they are--the most prominent being the insurance companies, and some doctors who don't mind unlimited health care costs, but what surprises me are all the low income people in the Heartland who rally against their own interests out of fear of change. They would benefit from such a bill (and may already be on Medicare). They're being duped.

Health care should be a luxury--according to some people

Worried about the health care "death panels" that Sarah Palin keeps talking about? We already have them. They're called insurance companies. Read the Salon article, The "Death Panels" are Already Here." Click here.

Here's a good article from MoveOn.org addressing the common Republican talking points opposing health care reform, Top Five Health Care Lies--and How to Fight Them. Click here.