Health Care "Reform" that Will Enrich For-Profit Insurance Companies and Big Pharma is What the WH is Fighting For Now
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG
By Mark Karlin
Okay, we've heard enough.
Just yesterday, the White House reluctantly released a partial log of who has visited with Obama's staff on so-called "healthcare reform" and it reads like a who's who of Big Pharma and health insurance lobbyists.
Let's stop the pretense of Obama making some bold move here.
Remember Medicare Part "D"? That was when Bush stuffed money in the pockets of Big Pharma by getting more prescription coverage for seniors, but only because the government was prohibited from negotiating or setting prices for the medications. In short, Big Pharma dictated the bill and has made billions of dollars and contributed to the Medicare shortfall at an an exorbitant rate. Medicare Part "D" helped seniors, but its real purpose was to loot the public treasury in order to fatten the profits of Big Pharma.
Now in that bill was a so-called "trigger" that if Big Pharma charged "too much" then a public option would trigger in on pharmaceuticals. But Big Pharma wrote the target for the trigger so high in the bill, which the Republicans championed, that the trigger has never been reached.
So a few weeks back Rahm "I don't give a shit about anything but winning -- don't f**king talk to me about principle and doing the right thing" Emanuel suggested to the Wall Street Journal that the public option for "Healthcare Reform" was no big deal anyway and the WH would be satisfied with a "trigger" for "healthcare reform," meaning that the for-profit insurance companies would police themselves. The WH had already negotiated a "self-policing" deal with Big Pharma, while keeping true healthcare reform advocates -- including public opiton and single payer advocates -- at bay, not even including them in negotiations.
Now, a New York Times article on Friday indicated that Emanuel was negotiating with Olympia Snowe on a "trigger" instead of a public option. This is Bush style "reform," not the change Obama promised. It's a sad joke that will allow Emanuel to end up with an outhouse and call it a victory, because that's all he is concerned with; i.e., to say he won, but what he won doesn't matter a whole lot to him.
This has all the makings of a travesty.
During the primary campaign BuzzFlash lost many readers because we were highly critical of certain racial coding in the Clinton campaign. Now, we will probably lose some readers because we are critical of the White House having been changed by D.C. into corporate appeasers rather than changing D.C. (Pissing people off is what comes of BuzzFlash being completely independent of any corporation or co-opting political relationships.)
Sure, we'd still vote for just about any Democrat over just about any Republican, particularly since the GOP has turned into a colony for lunatics and racists. But when it comes to corporate control over Congress, the healthcare "reform" that's on the table is only going to enrich the for-profit insurance companies and Big Pharma.
Yes, it will (after a multi-year phase in) eliminate pre-existing condition disqualification and recissions, but the insurance companies will just jack up their rates to accomodate the new requirements. It won't cost them a thing -- and the increased costs that for-profit healthcare brings to the system will stay in place.
What will happen is that the taxpayers will end up subsidizing for-profit insurance and Big Pharma through government subsidies to cover the premium increases.
This isn't "reform"; it's looting of the public treasury when Medicare has shown that a government option that negotiates and sets healthcare costs -- and doesn't need to make a profit -- dramatically reduces the costs of medical care.
Right now, the WH is leaking that it wants a deal, just about any deal. Obama can't afford to walk away without the appearance of a "win."
But the real winners will, it appears, once again be the corporations who pull the strings in D.C., with the cooperation of the White House.
Axelrod and Emanuel are also "anonymously" telling the press that it will be good for Obama to slap down progressives to show that he's a centrist.
But when given accurate information, more than 3/4 of Americans support a government option -- before FOX and Limbaugh get to them with lies.
Obama is buying the "centrist" mythology created out of a GOP disinformation campaign, as have his Democratic predecessors.
We need a Democratic President for Supreme Court appointments, but as far as anything related to Wall Street or business, it's business as usual.
BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG
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Yeah, you lost readers ....
... when you were "highly critical" of "certain racial coding in the Clinton campaign", and you may lose readers now by being critical of Obama's caving on health care reform. The difference, of course, .....
.... is Obama's capitulation is real.
The Fog of Disinformation
It is always difficult to navigate the seas of disinformation in a fog of misinformation when the lighthouses of truth are so few and far between.
Non-cryptically speaking, what Obama actually says, what the media says he says, even what some of his spokepersons say he says, often don't mesh. E.g., I read recently (a few days ago) in one of the AP (Associated Propagandists) reports on the status of healthcare reform that the public option was supported by "liberals" while opposed by "moderates and conservatives" (exact labeling). Really? Do liberals now constitute 70% of the population? They must because polling in May 2009 (WSJ and NBC, no less) reported that more than 70% favored the public option.
Keep in mind the very real possibility that Obama is playing Pharma off Big Insurance, although, obviously, the result may not be all good. If you want to add to the likelihood of a "good" result, make sure to report the dollar amounts of Pharma and Insurance Cartel stock owned by key players in the Obama Admin, especially by Rahmbo.
Based upon what Obama actually said, and upon Mr. Axelrod's recent revelations, Obama still supports the public option and has not ruled out vetoing a healthcare reform bill that does not contain it.
Based upon what the Ministry of Corporate Propaganda says he said and implies he will do, Obama will pass a healthcare bill written exclusively by corporate public relations firms, shoot all the legislators who refuse to sign off on it; veto any bill containing the public option; then resign and form a PR law firm with Rahm handling only corporate insurance and pharmaceutical clients.
I say we wait and see what Obama actually says this Wed., and then what he actually does. He would be foolish indeed to alienate his only real supporters (REAL Democrats like Mark) because then he would have about 90% of America against him: the right that will hate him no matter what, the milquetoast pansyassed centrists who secretly hate him but lack the cojones to own up to it, and the left that actually represents the views and positions of about 70% of Americans (who don't realize they are actually liberal). Although I am not a political strategerist of the caliber (and wealth) of Axelrod, Rahmbo, and crew, I think if you have the left, right, and center against you, you don't have much wiggle-room.
Appeasement of the right wing (fascism) is illusory and a proven failure. It just strengthens your enemies, weakens your support, and postpones your day of reckoning.
Mark, It's good to see you pissed off!
Confucious say, "It is better to be pissed off than pissed on."
Rahm'en "Noodles" Emanuel is corporate thug who is doing the bidding of Wall Street thugs and now, especially, the Health Insurance Company thugs. Noodles missed his calling as a lieutenant of Al Capone.
Bill Moyers said it best, "No more Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. President. We need a fighter." Single Payer or Public Option are the only ways that will stab the Dracula Health Insurance Company Vampires in the heart.
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/on-health-moyers-urges-obama/
Time to vote for the Green Party!
he Democrats aren't going to give us healthcare for all.
The Democrats aren't going to give us an even break.
The Democrats are on the corporate payroll; the majority of their income comes from corporate sources.
The Democrats think the insurance corporations are too big to fail, and that we're too little to matter.
Time to replace them.
The Green Party doesn't accept ANY corporate money.
The Green Party has been strenuously for Medicare-for-all from the beginning.
The Green Party represents CITIZENS' interests.
The Green Party will get Federal matching funds when they get 5% of the vote.
It'll take several elections to replace the Democrats with Greens. Voting Green won't get you health care in the next election. But voting Democratic won't either; we've seen that.
Right now the Democrats think they can sell us out to the insurance corporations, and we have nowhere else to go. They're wrong; the Green Party is on the ballot in every state.
Let's show them how wrong they are: Vote Green!
Is there any hope for the US then?
I am starting to think the prevailing mythology is so wack ass Right that A big enough minority of Americans to stop anything good might be a permanant feature of the US. Is there a point when it becomes like leaving germany in 1934? I know Progressives talked like tha in 2004 but the amazing coop-tion of the Obam administration, coupled with the lightning speed that reactionary idiocy spreads in the makes me think the US is a lost cause. I hadn't left because of familiy but the lifestyle/pollution/diet is getting them all with cancer. Call me a quitter but I guess so was Einstein.
Don't leave Democrat, stay and FIGHT!
The Democrats have become spineless Republicans. That's the problem. We can take back our country by dumping the Democrats AND Republicans. Right, center and left would all be better off if we all stopped voting for Republicans AND Democrats. Rs and Ds have both become wings of the Corporate Party. Corporate lobbyists write our laws and fund both parties. Congress must be doing a lot wrong when everyone hates what they do...except corporate lobbyists.
We just need ONE independent member of Congress or a state to introduce a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood and end corporate lobbying/bribes. The state legislatures are controlled by the Corporate Party and we'll probably not start reform there. One third party/independent member of Congress could introduce an amendment and then let the Corporate Party defend their corporate bribes.
It's only a dream now but it could happen. It will never happen as long as the sheeple in this country refuse to vote for anyone other than the Corporate Party that is sucking the life out of us.
On Supreme Court appointments
"We need a Democratic President for Supreme Court appointments, but as far as anything related to Wall Street or business, it's business as usual." ( I would add war, empire, the police state, campaign financing, foreign policy and a host of other issues to the biz-as-usual category.) On the SC, so far we have Obama replacing the Republican-appointed Souter (GHWB) with someone well to his right on most issues. With Republican-appointed Stevens (Ford), the most liberal justice on the Court looking to be the next to leave, we've gotta ask the question: Should Obama even CONSIDER anyone who is to the right of a justice whose appointment was vetted by then-WH Chief of Staff DICK CHENEY? Is there any point at which the evil of the lesser-weaselist religion becomes UNacceptable to the congregation of true believers?
Get serious
Obama is a DLC DINO. Of course he is going to appoint a right of center justice. THAT'S WHAT DINOS DO! He'll then explain that he only wanted someone that could get confirmed in the Senate...the joke is that the Senate is controlled by corporate DINOS.
the question is
are political candidates naturally corrupt or does office-holding corrupt politicians? Both I suspect, tho I suppose they call it realism. Meanwhile, I don't know about losing readers but Carpenter may find himself tempted to revolt in response to this essay.
Power
Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.
John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton ~ 1887
Well, I do wish some one would do something
Really now people, I for one am mighty tired of hearing all this talk, and that's all it ever is, of revolution, marches on DC, voting the rascals out and so on and so forth ad nauseam.
On this Internet forum, Alternet.org, HuffingtonPost.com, DailyKos.com and on and on. The reactionary blogoshpere is abuzz with such nonsense too. The talk is of pitchforks and torches. Care to dust off the tumbrels and guillotines?
And so, big talkers, you march on Washington, DC and, should you get past whatever comic opera military force the Pentagon, the FBI, ATF, US Marshalls, CIA, US Park Police and the DC police force can throw together on a moment's notice then what? Murder all the US Senate and House leaders and whips, then send the rest of Congress to re-education camps?
Do you know why Osama bin Laden and his merry band of mad men targeted the World Trade Center? Well, some time in my education many, many years ago a teacher said, "If you dropped a nuclear bomb on the US Capitol when the president was giving the State of the Union speech and killed all of them the country would go on. But if you dropped that same bomb on Wall Street the country would be in chaos." Or words to that effect. I believe I heard that a year or two before the Tet Offensive in Vietnam...you do the math.
So you see, marching on DC or voting the Republicans back in or voting Green, who in the fullness of time would be corrupted by big corporate money anyway, won't make a bit of difference until corporate influence is tamed.
And really, the only surefire way to leash the corporate beast is a Constitutional amendment stripping corporations of 14th Amendment rights granted, illegally perhaps, by the 1886 Supreme Court decision in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad.
Now, if anyone can come up with a better suggestion than that I am willing to listen.
ET Spoon
Boycotts
Boycotts are very effective because they strike at the pocketbook of the corporations. Just look at the changes in advertising that occurs when people start or even threaten to start a boycott on corporations who advertise on such shows as Glen Beck. But the liberals have feared boycotts under the assumption they will cost people jobs. This is the same logic that the liberals fall back on when they repeatedly vote for corrupt Democrats. The latter is often called the "spoiler theory." In either case the concept is that if we strike against corporations or the Democrats we are hurting ourself. This theory is false at its very base. If we keep voting for Democrats and we keep fearing boycotts we simply repeat the same results, i.e. the corporate interests win big time. We must brave a few initial setbacks, such as losing jobs or losing an election, if we are to effectuate meaningful reform. After all, liberals banded together and voted for Obama thinking that a vote for Nader would cause Obama to lose. And the result? Four more years of Bush's oligarch policies designed to further undermine democracy. Now we will not have a chance to speak our voices until the next election. What did we win by supporting Obama? Nothing. We should have voted our beliefs and lost the election. If McCain had won with Palin at his side the truth about the fascists would have become much more apparent and the 2010 and 2012 elections could have meant REAL change. Instead, we will probably lose control of Congress in 2010, Obama will be a lame duck one term Presidency and by 2012 we will have another 8 years of right wing rule. THis much is obvious to all but the brain dead. And to make matters worse, after destroying the economy, the Presidency was handed over to the Democrats and they will be blamed for the results of 30 years of neo economics (considering Clinton's NAFTA and free trade stance, the Democrats deserve at least half the credit for the failure of the US economy anyway - but that is beside the point). Many Democrats I know have stopped paying attention to the news and simply ramble on that Obama is better than a Republican would be, not noticing that 'no change' has occurred in Washington. The anti-war movement has been all but silenced. The opposition to illegal eavesdropping has disappeared. Torture, renditions, war and corporate profits all continue at an alarming rate while protest remains almost mute. So what else can progressives do? They can boycott. That is all left for real Americans to do. And it is a potent weapon but one so far unused by the progressives except in the case of a few TV shows.
spoilers
The spoiler effect is real. Look at 1912. If a very popular former president couldn't win a 3rd party bid I'm not sure who could. Republicans to this day blame Clinton on Perot. The theory that is false is the hoary revolutionary line about it being good when things get bad cause the oppression will be less veiled and the masses will rise. If the last eight years of Bush/Cheney were not bad enough I do not see what could be. The thing that cause Russians to take to the streets was not oppression, it was tobacco shortages. I think Americans are just weak, contrary to our self myths. I do not have a better solution on a National level because the United States is a bad idea, it is too big and should be several states. Fifty is too many but one too few. What to do in the meantime is the question.
Hmmm, an idea...
Could we get all of the Krispy Kremes closed and blame it on the Republicans? <evil laugh>
No prob....
We'll do it tomorrow, ok? You call Baucus and I'll call Grassley. Easy as stepping in dogshit. This'll slide right on through. We'll have a "stripping party", as it were.
Yeah, easy as meaningful campaign finance reform
The original post is right that marching is stupid. I've been saying for years that power doesn't care what exercise you take in your free time. Blows off steam and a little walk is good for your heart. You'll be that much better at work Monday morning.
But as I'm learning French by watching the French news station on stream these last years, I'm getting the clear impression that occupying factories and walking off the job is just a holding pattern too that slows the stampede of jobs to Asia but doesn't stop it. So what to do is a damn good question when you have a government that listens to the corporations instead of the people. Unfortunately, I've also been predicting that we are just going to slide down into the anarchy and chaos of a third world nation that may or may not explode into a revolution that goes God knows where when people's desperation finally does become critical.
Hegel's cycles. As a population, we behave like morons.
good post
nuff said
Sure,...
...we'd still vote for just about any democrat over just about any republican...
Pardon me, but FUCK THAT SHIT.
It's obvious that, but for the few progressives and MAYBE one or two "principled, moderate" conservatives, our nation, our democracy has been hijacked by corporate power. We've been couped, and the continual mantra of "better a democrat than a republican" needs to be confronted head-on. I don't know what amount of sincerity Obama felt before he moved into the WH, but at this point he needs to see his base disappear. That may involve losing the House in 2010. So be it. This democratic party is bought and paid for by Greed Inc. We need to crash it and rebuild it or walk away and build something else entirely.
Easier than marching on DC
Stop donating to members of Congress and then call them and tell them why you will not give one more penny. Tell them that they work for corporate America, let them get ALL of their bribes from corporate America. Also tell them that you plan to let everyone you know know how much they get in bribes and where they get them. Don't use nice terms like "campaign contributions", call them what they are "B-R-I-B-E-S".
What we need is a FUCK THAT SHIT Constitutional Revolution!
We don't have to wait until the next election, WE THE PEOPLE can peaceably march on Washington and assemble there for as long as we want.
We can say FUCK THAT SHIT, and call out our mutinous, treasonous representatives and have them address our grievences before we summarily kick them out of office and out of Washington for good!
Those are indeed our rights under the Constitution.
They did it again
When will voters in Demcratic primaries learn that voting for DLC members like Obama and Clinton is the same as voting for a Republican? The DLC is filled with nothing but Republicans that want to get elected in Democratic states and districts. Half the Democrats in this country would vote for Pol Pot or Idi Amin, if they ran as a Democrat, just so they wouldn't have to vote for a Republican. That's why we keep getting stuck with people like Obama. Obama is a corporatist DLC Republican and no one should be surprised or disappointed. His DLC affiliation was no secret and I and others tried to warn folks last year.
We're getting screwed on health care and we should have an immediate progressive boycott of ALL Democrats. No volunteering, no donations, no votes. It is about time that the Democrats learned that liberals and progressives will no longer accept being taken for granted, abused and lied to. If they want our support and trust they will have to earn it.
The Democrats had the chance of a lifetime to give us REAL health care reform. Instead, they have chosen to collect bribes and probably make this crisis worse by doing exactly what insurance and drug companies tell them to do.
Enough is enough! It is time for a Dump the Democrats campaign!
the Supremes
Maybe we dump the Dems once we have young healthy liberal jurists like Sotomayor in all "our" supreme court seats. I am so fuckin glad we had Obama to pick a justice instead of McCain. That is entirely why I voted for him.
Yes, yes and yes again!
I love it when I read common sense. Dumping the Democrats is the first in our twelve step program to democracy! We MUST stop voting for corrupt Democrats. After all, many Democrats are simply Republicans who switched sides when they realized the Republicans were going to lose. Career politicians are all bought and paid for by lobbyists. They are wholly owned subsidiaries of the oligarchs that coup'd our nation over the past 30 years. Get the Democrats out!!! Demopublicans and Repocrats are criminals.
CUT OFF THE CASH!!
You are exactly right! If we cut off the cash they will take notice. It worked for the gay community when they boycotted a democratic fundraiser. Obama immeadiately set up a cocktail party at the White House for gay leaders which was another nice way of doing absolutely nothing as far as keeping his promises to the gay community. Sad but I guess all they understand is money! So lets CUT IT OFF!
Progressives already cut off the cash to Blue Dog DINO-Fascists
Last week progressives raised $500,000 and donated it to the Democratic House Reps. who only support Single Payer, as a sign to Blue Dogs as to what to expect in their upcoming Democratic Primaries if they don't start voting like real Democrats, instead of voting like they were Republican Light.
Don't blame me I voted for Hillary
Obama care now and Obama care during the primary is in fact the same. He is keeping his promise for an insurance industry hybrid plan. If you really wanted Universal Single Payer health care, Hillary WAS you option. Hindsight is 20/20. Sometimes, it is worth the time to read a candidate's plans as well as look at a candidate's voting records as opposed to getting sold on two words "Hope and Change". None of this is a surprise!
Give it a rest.
Give it a rest. Hillary could be comfortably occupying a powerful senate seat where she could oppose Obama's lurching to the right - but instead she happily signed on to his operation, and I haven't heard a peep out of her that puts her boss on notice.
Our last good chance went down the drain when Howard Dean was swift-boated as a "lunatic" by the corporate media in 2003. Scary how easy that was for them. I thought Obama represented a new chance, but was cleary hoodwinked - don't think for a minute that Hillary represented anything different.
an exercise
Imagine if Hillary had actually run in 2004 like we begged her to. That was her moment and she did not stand up. She wanted to wait until a more opportune time. She probably would have lost but we would have lost with more dignity
Hillary is even further to the right than Blue Dog DINO-Fascst O
And McCain's campain was not further to the right than hers. Which is of no surprise since she test marketed every dirty trick for McCain in the primaries.
Worse, she continued to bleed Obama's campaign finances long after it was apparent she could never win the primary.
At that time, I thought Biden was the man to worry about if he ever had to take over. But now he is beginning to look like a real lefty compared to DINO O.
So you were wrong ...
... about Obama, you were wrong about Biden ....
... exactly what makes you think anyone should give your opinion of Hillary any weight?
Don't blame me I voted for Hillary
Keep telling yourself Hillary is to the right of Obama, maybe you will feel better! We could really use her balls right now but unfortunately, she cannot get involved in domestic issues. If you think she would be playing tiddle winks with the Repugs now, you are sadly mistaken. Without any leadership skills, you can talk all youi want and nothing will happen. Live and learn, an empty suit is an empty suit. This is absolutely no surprise, all the signs were there, all you had to do is look.
strategy
Of course Hillary would have been a stronger Prez but the Rethugs had a well oiled machine agianst her but seemed to only get how to smear Obam AFTER he got elected. I just though he had a better chance. I would have loved to live in a Parliamentary system where Hillary would be Prime Minister.
I DO Blame You For Voting For Hillary!
Keep telling yourself Hillary is a Democrat. Maybe you will feel better!
Her husband was instrumental in allowing the majority of our manufacturing base to be stolen from America. And he helped to dismantle the banking laws that were enacted after the last Great Depression.
If Hillary were in the White House today, we would be in far worse shape than we currently are under Obama.
To be fair, they both SUCK! They are both Blue Dog DINO-Fascists who cater to corporate special interests over the interests of WE THE PEOPLE. For that reason alone, they both never should have been allowed into the presidental primaries in the first place.
Based on what???
Despite what we were sold in the primary campaign, Obama's voting record was not more progressive than Clinton's. As far as NAFTA, the non-partisan CBO analyzed the four major studies of the effects of NAFTA, and found no net loss of jobs due to NAFTA.
"If Hillary were in the White House, we would be in far worse shape than we are currently under Obama?" Really? She's not the one making backroom deals with the pharma and health insurance companies. She's not the one backtracking on virtually every major campaign promise. As far as your NAFTA concerns, she's not the one who promised to renegotiate NAFTA, then quickly reneged on that promise after the election.
But, hey ..... if it makes you feel better, keep telling yourself that we'd be worse off with her in the White House. After all, ....
.... some people still choose to believe in Santa Claus.
Kuchinich
Dennis Kuchinch runs every election, giving the US a clear, intelligent Left choice. He never gets very far in getting wins. I'm not sure if better candidates are possible with our most intense of the idiots primary system.
HOPE-less
Too bad Obama drank the water in DC that makes you forget 1) why you're there, 2) who got you there, 3) it's not about you and your party "winning", and 4) killing people is wrong, whether they are "terrorists" and American soldiers abroad or sick Americans at home.
Shame on America.
Based On This Article (& Posts) Is A Liberal Consensus Emerging?
"Namely?"
"It's up to us."
"Based on?"
"Our elected representatives invariably selling us out."
"The answer being?"
"We rise up en masse."
"In support of single payer?"
"En route to a better world."
Thank you
for facing the truth, you got taken like so many others by an intelligent pretty face telling us what we wanted to hear. Hope and change - yeah baby, only now that's he in, he's Bush lite and there is little hope and no change for the ultra rich or the controlling corporations. Some of us could see thru him, and it's nice to see other progressives facing the truth now.
I'm really torn about the health care bill. I work in the medical industry and know first hand the treachery of the insurance companies and the pain and suffering they cause to people who they should be helping, who freaking paid and can't get the services they deserve. We need their practices to change, no denials for pre-existing conditions, no cutting off coverage due to exceeding the maximum benefits, we need healthcare for the uninsured - but will they be honest brokers or just find some other way to deny care because they have a monopoly and can? I tend to think that nothing will work without competition from a govenment plan. I rather hope the progressive Dems in the house vote no if Obama sells us out, as all the signals say he will.
jaglady
Pay-to-Play "Obamacare"
Okay Mark, here it is: Sure, we'd still vote for just about any Democrat over just about any Republican, particularly since the GOP has turned into a colony for lunatics and racists.
That's what they count on. A progressive voter boycott is maybe our only option. Organize an "I'm staying home" movement for 2010 and Congressional Democrats will quake in their boots. Move-on has 5 million members. I think it's the only way left to us. Why do Democrats not fear their base like Republicans do? I think that a large enough segment of Evangelicals typically stayed at home. Then they were organized into a voting block and then they were feared. Progressives have always voted (although sometimes for Nader). What if we became the feared base instead of the doormats?
Our Only Hope:House Progressive Caucus
Forget Obama, the Blue Dogs & ALL the Republicans. The ONLY hope to get a robust public option and avoid a terrible Fig Leaf Bill is to contact members of the House Progressive Caucus to stand firm. No public option means no bill for the corporate owned politicians to hide behind. It's hardball time for progressives to demand a bill a majority of Americans want. This isn't a "leftist bill", this is a mainstream bill. Because Corporate America essentially owns the MSM , the White House, all Republicans and the Blue Dogs, we must make our "Last Stand" surrounded by the progressives in the House. We & the Democratic Party will stink or swim with what they do. If your representative is in the Progressive Caucus, call, visit, yell "With your hair on fire": "No public option is no bill. Do not cave on this. Represent us and the America people, not Big Pharma & the private death panels called insurance companies." ...Do it NOW!
ahead of you boy
I think enough Progressive have pledged to refuse to vote for any bill without a real public option that they can't pass it without them. They are standing firm. So they are doing what you are asking. If one is your Rep congradulate them.
I Agree With Mark:
I agree with Mark. I have no illusions or delusions that Obama is going to do anything bold on behalf of the progressives or the majority of the people of this country who want comprehensive health care. He's a corporatist who has been staying the (Bush) course ever since that mind-bending FISA vote and his biggest trick is keeping us addicted to hope that at SOME point he's miraculously going to turn around and do what's right and best (yuh, with a thug like Rahm Emmanuel running his organization.) Mark has it right: It's not going to happen.
And I also agree with the person who points out that mass progressive rallies aren't goint to do it either. Obama is just not listening to any other than his corporate pals. Obama wants to be "obscenely" wealthy; the darling of the industrialists, by brokering a global WTO and to this end he is applying all of his talents and he's not going to let anything stand in his way; especially not We the People. My understanding is that he has never rescinded posse comitatus. This is where Obama gets to set the US military (or Blackwater) loose on the public if he decides that the progressives are getting too rowdy. I live in a rural town in a sleepy county yet last week on the TV they were showing off our newest and latest SWAT team in full military gear with assault weapons and a desert tank painted in full camoflage colors. Why would we EVER need something like that around here??? I saw this news clip as a warning and a threat to the general populace while they sold it as the newest support team for public assistance in case anyone became sick or there was a sniper. Say what? Full military gear and a tank to take the place of the local police? I was sure I was looking at the latest incarnation of Blackwater, now named "Xe"... which is what? Chinese for death squad?
The powers that be don't want any references to Nazi anything because it is infalmmatory. But this is what a lot of us see Obama's handling of this country and policies to be. Just like the orchestras that greeted the transport cars, Obama is keeping everyone lulled into complacency telling us that things are going to have to get worse before they will get better, that we have to "be patient" while he does everything it takes to sack, loot, destroy and commandeer this country in the worst coup d'etat the world has seen since the Nazi regime.
I also agree with the other author who wrote that the Democratic Party (and particularly this president) are the biggest obstacles facing us to ever getting ourselves back on track. One thing is for sure, after this upcoming wednesday, when Obama unveils his "trigger" instead of a comprehensive health care package, I'm done. I won't vote to put him back in office under any circumstances. I too believe that we are headed for some terrible times if not some terrible fate.
There was a period of time at the end of W's second term when many of us felt a sense of impending doom. We were second guessing our democracy and our freedoms. We were guessing at the sanity of our president. The Bill of Rights became a redacted zero proffered to Congressman John Conyers in hearing by Bob Barr. (We can't even watch C-SPAN or our government process here any more as our service provider has removed all three C-SPAN channels from the affordable packages watched by the poor.) Step by step our rights and our freedoms are being leached away until we will be no better off than those interns at Dachau or Auschevitz or Treblinka... pretty scary stuff.
Right and left
One of the saddest things is the fact that common cause could be found with Right Libertarians IF they could get over 10. Racism 2). virulent anti environkmentalism. I'm sure they say that is why they can't form common cause with us. If we had a united front maybe positive change could happen. I see negative change coming from We the People being more likely.
Obama's Chinese Cure
The comments below which project more suffering for more people for more cost to provide more corporate profits appear to be to be more realistic than anything Obama is likely to say this Tuesday. I am sorely tempted not to even watch the speech because I can tell that we have been sold out already and feel like I've been lied to enough by the Pompous Prompter of Audacious Hope!
Obama's "campaign" to bring about a health care "victory" is beginning to look like the fabled Chinese torture in which a captive is promised aid to escape, but at the cost of a limb. The limb is removed, and the aid never appears. At a later date, this failure is excused for some believable reason, but they are now again in position to make good on their promise - provided another limb is taken. And so it goes, until no limbs remain and escape is definitely impossible.
Tuesday, when Obama surrenders yet again, we lose another limb. I don't believe that escape from corporate dominance of health care is possible anymore. I no longer believe that Audacious Hope is anything more than a sales slogan to promote a pig in a poke.
One Party Parading as Two
Dear Mark,
Thank you for seeing through the subtrifuge!
We have a one party system, The Corporate Party, but it disguises itself as a two-party system, to make the Illusion of Democracy.
The rhetoric is the only thing that is different between the parties, but the ACTIONS taken are the same as the Republicans. Obama sounds much better than Bush, but does exactly as Bush did...everything the corporations want. Same with our Democratic Congress.
We have been so 'gaslighted' (Dr. Bryant Welch, State of Confusion) we actually believe what we HEAR, and remain dumfounded by what is actually DONE. Words do NOT match actions. Actions do not match what the majority of the people want. Yet no one connects the dots.
There is a great DISCONNECT from REALITY in this nation. And it is a serious problem.
Chris Hedge's, Empire of Illusions, is a great treatise of the 'illusion making' apparatus of media. The Celebrity Culture, promulgated by advertisers, the idea if we 'buy' the right product we, too, will become rich, successful, and happy.
We are nothing but frenetic fans of the World Wide Wrestling Federation, jeering at this week's drama of bad guys, and cheering for its Heros. The drama changes every week. The good guys become the bad guys, and the bad ones become the heros. All depends on the story line.
The drama is fabricated, FAKE. It is made up by those who are stealing our national treasury while the blind watch the boob tube enthralled in this week's made up psycho-drama.
We must wake up from this nightmare, and grab for the wheel! The people robbing us blind don't give a damn what happens to our nation, our world, or her people's. The have gone mad with greed and power.
Thanks for poking a hole in the illusion that there will be anything given to the people, when the Health Care/Insurance Industry is sucking every cent from the taxpayer's pocket book.
For a fantastic analysis of Health Care Reform, and Dr.s who are fighting tooth and nail against this horror, go to www.madashelldoctors.com. Amazing people starting on a cross country tour Tuesday, Sept. 8th to drum up support for Single Payer!
Mark, I do hope you follow their progess and report on it! This is real grassroots activism!
Thank you, Paula Kline
Time to leave the Dumb-o-cratic Party
No public option? No more support for the Dumb-o-cratic Party.
I'm tired of supporting invertebrate Dems and their conservatism. Damn the Supreme Court. I sick of getting screwed by the very people I've worked my butt off for all these years. I've given this party more money than I can afford to, carried water for them till I'm about to drop. Screw the Democratic Party. It's good for nothing, and it's time we all realized it.
The only way for liberals to get respect instead of crap is to cause conservative Dems pain ... plenty of it. Stay home. Don't vote. Vote Green. Or vote only for liberal primary challengers to conservative Dems. Re-register as a Green or an Independent, and write to let the DP know why.
What a sham: "Change you can believe in." Yeah, right. What total b.s! Let Republicans regain control for a while. Sure, that would be worse, but how much worse, really, than Obama's "change" is turning out to be? I'm tired of being one of the Rodney Dangerfield's of the political world.
Our country and the world desperately need American progressivism to come to the fore. But it's the Democratic Party, not the Republican Party, that's standing in the way! Is there any one of us who doesn't realize this, by now?
Only after humbled Dumb-o-cratic leaders realize that it was the loss of progressive activist support, the loss of their loyal, hard-working base, that lost them power, will they give us the respect that we deserve ... the sooner, the better.
Till then, screw them. Even Democrats are Republicans, these days, and I've had it with their their corporate-loving, people-hating lies! At least Republicans revere their base, while Democrats abhor theirs. The Dems think we liberals are dirt, to be walked on, shoveled around, pissed on. It's time that we the Democratic base just up and walked out, en masse. It's our duty, in fact.
I never thought I'd say this ... but I'm saying it: The modern Democratic Party is now the main problem we face, the main impediment to "change," and must be fought with every tool and every single ounce of strength we liberals have got.
just say Sotomayor
I agree that a boycott is something to do maybe AFTER Obama picks some more justices.
Er, Rahm ...
The moment you surrender your principles, you have already lost.
Wow Mark. You just won't see it!
What's going on? "A nation of sheep WILL BEGET a government of wolves [CORP(ses)]." ER Murrow.
Not "might beget." Not "may beget." "WILL BEGET."
Entropy, the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics WINS BY DEFAULT. GUARANTEED.
Progressive Plans WILL LOSE, EVERY TIME, EVERY TIME, EVERY TIME
unless they are pushed by the MASSES of Progressives - AND WE DON'T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHY DON'T, WHY WON'T YOU SEE THAT?
The article you published yesterday...
http://www.blackcommentator.com/340/340_aw_do_not_wait_for_obama_to_take_on_the_right.html
...captures this brilliantly! "Using the logic of many of today’s progressives,
the focal point of the Civil Rights Movement would have been appeals to
President Kennedy. That was, in fact, exactly what the Civil Rights Movement
did NOT do. The Civil Rights Movement had a set of... objectives, with the idea
of outlawing Jim Crow segregation at the center. Demands were placed upon
President Kennedy, but the movement did not wait for Kennedy to act."
What don't you get about this Mark?
firearms
There is a simple reason small numbers of Right demonstrators get mucho attention yet thousands of left demonstrators gets a "there go allthose people who can't get over the 60's". They have guns. We don't. A demo is a show of potential force. Everyone knows that the US Left is too wimpy to be a danger to anyone. The Right, on the other hand, is perfectly willing to kill and already trained and equipped. See a power imbalance? Get a gun, learn to shoot it.