Yes, the health-care reform bill is now law. Read it and weep, Republicans
President Obama wasted no time this morning signing the health-care reform bill into law:
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama capped a yearlong political drama Tuesday, signing into law a landmark health care reform bill that had been seen as impossible just two months ago.
The president said the law "will set into motion what a generation of Americans have fought for."
He said he was confident the Senate would make fixes to the legislation "swiftly."
The president praised those House members who had "taken their lumps" during the overhaul debate. Shouted one lawmaker in the audience to laughter, "Yes we did!"
This wasn't just a major victory for Obama. This was a resounding defeat for the increasingly marginalized Republican Party and its controlling and now thoroughly repudiated conservative movement.
Make no mistake: Conservatives opposed this bill tooth and nail not because of its contents, but because they knew that success breeds success, and that the field is now much clearer for progressives to advance their agenda and heal the damage wrought by eight years of conservative rule. And the voters will continue to reward that success.
They fought this because they feared their own inconsequence. And in the process, they only made themselves even more so.
Just ask Russell King at TPM.
And if you needed any better evidence, check out the scene from today's pre-signing press conference by the GOP:
Talk about irrelevant.
[H/t Jamie, via Daylife.]
Of course, weeping should be no problem...
And foist!
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
... just smear a little Vicks VapoRub in your eyes. Works for Beck.
then you will know who will be weeping in the future.
Goodnight, Frau Blücher
Passing a life saving bill that the American people don't want.
I really don't think that the health care bill will be a disaster for the Dems, possibly unemployment not improving much might be. The best option would have been single payer but there way possible the economic elite and their actors the Party of Cruelty was going to let that happen. Despite the flawed bill I am glad it got passed never the less you can't always get what you want and the landscape to get this done was nearly impossible.
I am glad that many will have health coverage now who didn't have it before and it is not right for those people who refuse to buy health insurance when the could have to put the rest of us at risk with their irresponsibility.
I was just repeating a Republican BS talking point.
Aw this really is! I mean, what? Were they trying to do message control by having their press conference before the Prez? Waaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hah I love it!
They are so stuck in "00" politics thinking it's still a win for them. All they do is expand on those principals.
Funny thing is, BHO ALREADY BEAT THEM AT "00" POLITICS!!
So now they will just get further and further behind. It truly is a wondrous sight to behold!
Keep fighting, dig your heels in further, keep it up Gee-O-Pee this strategy is definitely a winner for you seeing as how it's been such a winner so far ...
I mean, we already had Tweety asking someone 'how does it smell out there'?
And CBS brought in Chip Reid to offer his Very Serious Opinions on the Challenges Facing The Democrats. I'm surprised Chip didn't opine that this was a clear sign that Obama has to move more to the right, but I'm sure that's coming.
Health care is solved. Now we need to solve Iran. I'm sure there's a corporate solution for that too!
Send Michelle Malkin.
When they throw her sorry butt in jail, then declare we need a surge and send 'em another batch of right-wing talking heads. Then surge the surge, insist that if we send them enough, we'll win through! Clear Channel, Hold, and Bill-O!
They've got thousands of "solutions" ready to go!
Do they have a weapon for those?
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Uh, no it's not even close to solved. We band-aided it at best.
Are band aids covered?
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Only if the Johnson and Johnson emblem is clearly displayed. If not, police will rip them off on site.
SOLVED! Stop it with the criticism. This bill is perfect. Do you have an alternate 20,000 page bill, written by insurance employees, laying around your house? No? I didn't think so!
... why would you turn to the Republicans to fix this bill in the first place?
Republicans aren't the only ones who should be reading and weeping.
Healthcare reformhealth insurance reform + mandates + tax on "cadillac" insurance plans - a public option = corporatewellpointwelfare.I tried reading the bill but didn't get too far. A bit too long, and legalese for me. But I have read several analyses and I am pretty unimpressed.
Fire Dog Lake did a pretty good "myth buster" type analysis at the following link. I think once people get over they hype they may have some serious concerns over this legislation. I know I do.
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/19/f...
I've had issue with FDL's actions, beginning with their alliances with Grover Norquist and the tea party movement to kill this bill, to not make me take their analysis with a grain of salt.
a little disingenuous to call it an "alliance," isn't it? They simply found common ground on one issue. John McCain and Russ Feingold found common ground on campaign finance reform, but I certainly wouldn't call that an alliance.
Everything I've read at FDL regarding
healthcarehealth insurancereformcorporate welfare has been right on. You might be able to convince me that this legislation is a slight improvement over what we currently have, but it's far, far short of Obama's positions as a candidate, and people who voted for him have a right to feel betrayed.The Firebagger in Chief crowed about it quite loudly. And it isn't just on one issue.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Talk about kicking and screaming, you disagree on one thing and now she's a "firebagger?" That's a little childish, isn't it? And what's wrong with calling for Rahm Emanuel's dismissal? That guy is a full-on choad if every there was one.
As I've observed many times before, Americans are expected to plant their flag in one camp or another and then defend that camp right or wrong. Your comment indicates that you are living up to this expectation. I plant my flag in the "truth" camp, even if it means I must occasionally agree with a puke like Nordquist. Indeed, the fact that I agree with him on the question of Rahm Emanuel is an indication of how far the so-called Left has fallen.
I'd have thought of a "firebagger" as a lit bag of dogshit on the front porch.
Jane's too cute for that.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
... the MSB (mainstream blogosphere). Must be biased or something. But don't worry, the free market will triumph! Good ideas shall flourish, and bad ideas will be tossed aside!
/snark
Follow the links.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
on the term "firebagger," but you still haven't demonstrated an "alliance" between Hamsher & Nordquist. As far as I can tell, they agree on dumping Emanuel for Fannie Mae conflict of interest reasons, which is entirely reasonable.
They have signed a letter stating that they are fighting a common cause. Here, do the rest of the legwork for yourself.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Thanks for the info Andy I read the trail but I still don't understand. Rahm is eff'ed up and corrupt and the health care bill has flaws that are so serious it could be argued it does more harm than good.
There is a lot of truth and well referenced facts in the health care myth vs fact pdf. Are the points invalid because members of the cite sided with someone of ill-repute on a different issue?
Emanuel was cleared. By the Bushco DoJ, who had no love for Fannie and Freddie, and who weren't above malicious political persecution and prosecution.
Rahm's the straw man in this administration. No one guy- or handful of guys- is responsible for every disappointment we might face. There are no solutions as simple as getting rid of a few people that will correct the systemic problems we face. It takes fundamental institutional change. But fundamental institutional change is difficult. Very difficult. Once you climb the Matterhorn that is building consensus amongst the willing on the approach to making that change, you've got to climb Everest and sell that consensus opinion to those who weren't even thinking about change in the first place.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
The truth and facts do seem to get in the way of the argument:..."this bill is the greatest thing since the invention of sliced bread"
FDL is GREAT...but they don't have all the cute Obama cheerleaders!
Cue the Kabuki....
:(
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
All you provided was a list of links, mostly from centrist faux liberal blogs like Daily Kos calling it an alliance.
By your definition, then, Russ Feingold and John McCain have an alliance, right?
The fact remains, as I stated above, "Everything I've read at FDL regarding
healthcarehealth insurancereformcorporate welfare has been right on. You might be able to convince me that this legislation is a slight improvement over what we currently have, but it's far, far short of Obama's positions as a candidate, and people who voted for him have a right to feel betrayed."The fact that you are choosing to argue semantics over the definition of the word, "alliance," rather than the issue at hand, which is this steaming turd of a bill, indicates to me that you are conceding the point that FDL's analysis of
healthcare reformcoverage expansion is correct. I mean, is Howard Dean a firebagger/PUMA too?Faux liberal my ass. Liberal but in disagreement with your approach to effecting change is more like it.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Or is that "changiness?" I got yer purity right here:
"The Washington Post's Ezra Klein has an amazing post in which he trumpets what he calls the "Twilight of the Interest Groups" reflected by likely passage of the health care bill. Why are Interest Groups -- once so powerful in Washington -- now banished to their "twilight"? Because, says Ezra, "the Obama administration succeeded at neutralizing every single industry." If, by "neutralizing," Ezra means "bribing and accommodating them to such an extreme degree that they ended up affirmatively supporting a bill that lavishes them with massive benefits," then he's absolutely right. He himself notes what he calls the "remarkable level of industry consensus" in support of the bill:
Pharma supports the bill. Insurers are incoherent on it, but there's not a ferocious and united campaign to kill the proposal. The American Medical Association has endorsed the Senate bill. The hospitals have endorsed the bill. Labor has endorsed the bill. The business community is split, with larger employers holding their fire."
More purity here:
"What happened in the health care debate is that interest groups were able to get their way on most key points without needing to seriously attempt to deliver votes in exchange. The AMA is supporting the bill, but it’s not running ads against opponents. Pharmaceutical companies and insurers haven’t dropped out of the ferociously anti-reform Chamber of Commerce. No interest group that I’m aware of is cutting off the flow of funds to Chuck Grassley to punish him for his role in sabotaging health reform. Nobody is hitting Olympia Snowe for her bait-and-switch. I haven’t read a single story about a single Republican being “in trouble” with supporters for his or her opposition to reform."
Still more purity:
"The United States’ health care system is so dysfunctional it has about twice the costs of comparable countries and some of the worst outcomes," Chomsky told Raw Story. "This bill continues with that."
Yet more purity:
"The claims made by the proponents of the bill are the usual deceptive corporate advertising. The bill will not expand coverage to 30 million uninsured, especially since government subsidies will not take effect until 2014. Families who cannot pay the high premiums, deductibles and co-payments, estimated to be between 15 and 18 percent of most family incomes, will have to default, increasing the number of uninsured. Insurance companies can unilaterally raise prices without ceilings or caps and monopolize local markets to shut out competitors. The $1.055 trillion spent over the next decade will add new layers of bureaucratic red tape to what is an unmanageable and ultimately unsustainable system."
ChangeSame you can believe in.Here.
Oh, and this, too. Follow the money.
On edit: Go to comment #28 in that second link. I don't have the time to hunt it down now, but there's another thread at Balloon Juice where Greenwald (commenting, iirc, as GG) evades questions from another commenter over the dispersion of the money that's gone to that PAC.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
that this bill is a steaming turd:
Health industry stocks haven't tanked. In fact, they're doing quite well.
I went to the link you provided, and the first thing I read was this quotation from Kos:
"So, we’re not going to go after representatives, congressmen, that are conservative just because they are quote “conservative.” We’re going to look at those districts, with representatives that elected officials that have lost touch with their constituents, and not providing their constituents service, are not voting in a way that helps the well-being and the welfare of the people who are in those districts. So, it’s not a left versus right sort of thing; it’s really more of a corporatist versus populist approach to governance. We think that elected officials should represent their constituents and not corporate interests."
But when Kucinich attempted to represent his constituents and not corporate interests by opposing
healthcare reformprivate insurance bailout, the very same Kos went on the TeeVee to say he should be "primaried." Me thinks me smells a hypocrite.Democrats have formed all sorts of alliances with Republicans, resulting in some very bad policies: the Iraq War, tax cuts for the rich, NAFTA, the repeal of Glass-Steagall, etc. I don't see you faux liberals complaining about that.
It would actually be impossible for any true left-wing group to oppose the Democrats without finding some common ground with Republicans, since some Democratic ideas - like the health insurance mandate, for example - are to the right of the GOP.
What freequark said.
off Rachel Maddow's regular guest list.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
"to not make me take their analysis with a grain of salt."
FDL lost me a while ago. The sad truth is: once you lose a loyal reader you lost too.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
There is a lot of truth and well referenced facts in the health care myth vs fact pdf.....READ IT....and weep....
Cue the Kabuki....
Hmmmmm, who taught you that trick....
Cue the Kabuki....
Totally jaded thanks for the post. That summary is very informative and quite scary. C&L should do a post about this list. There are some real red flags on it that make health care less affordable and might even make it inaccessible to many that have it now.
These are not right wing talking points. These are from the bill itself.
Link directly to myth vs fact chart pdf
not only is the myth list correct, but essentially all pro-insured provisions can be canceled simply by the insurance companies claiming that there was some element in the application that was fraudulent. They will be able to recind coverage as they do now, just by making that claim. Recission will be used to end coverage to age 26 and so on.
This is not healthcare reform. It is window dressing that provides a small amount of insurance industry reform, which is easily evaded. This looks to my eyes to be just one more open ended privatization scam that transfers hard-earned wealth into a sector that is parasitizing 1/6 of the economy.
Time will tell.
I understand people celebrating the passing of the bill, but the whole gloating part is just worsening the division in the US. The majority of articles on this site since the vote haven't been informative, but combative and as much a case of "We won, you lost, so SUCK IT!" as the Republicans have been doing on other topics and in the past.
This isn't going to help America. I was under the impression that the readers of this site were arguing for/from the moral high ground, but the echo chamber it has become is resonating with the pain of being unheard for the past 8 years.
Screaming "YES! WE WON! HA! YOU STUPIDS!" isn't going to help. Explaining to people how this actually helps them will. It might feel like talking to a brick wall, but there will be some out there who listen, and every journey has to start with a first step.
Gloating over this victory isn't going to help get the votes of the misinformed in November.
... the comments this morning (and yesterday) have been a nice balance between celebrating a difficult legislative battle and acknowledging there are SERIOUS shortcomings with what did make it to the President's desk.
Instead, you trot out a standard concern troll about how we're all baaaaaaaad people decrying the GOP as stupid and irrelevant.
There's a difference between "Yay! We won!" and "Awesome! We beat those Reptards, now let's show 'em more!"
I'm seeing more of the latter, and less of the former (though there is some).
Geeez..."forced down our throats"...."SUCK IT"...doesn't anyone simply get laid anymore?
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
I WISH!
lol
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
It's not sex unless there's some pain involved.
A guitar player in one of the bands I was in. 1995.
Dr Art Ulene (?) some years back as well.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7noLNveYbqc
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
They don't want it to help them. Here is a good example of the opposition. There's lots of words there, but it might as well be the barking of mad dogs, because it just means the same thing. "No! No! No!"
http://commonsensepoliticalthought.com/?p=9256
...stupidity won't win any votes, either.
And what the Repiglicans have been pushing over the past year - death panels and Communism and Kenya - has been pure stupidity.
It would be stupid to fail to point this out.
There is a chance that we can get the votes of Independents but the Teabagger crowd, don't waste my time! I have had to listen to the right's arrogance and abuse for to long to not have a little fun. Do you think you will get through to those on the Capitol who spit on members of Congress and hurled racial slurs or those who come to rallies with guns?
Save me the self-righteousness.
otherwise you might as well have a one-party system. (See China.)
But there are LOTS of people in the Independent crowd that are misinformed. Seeing the gloating isn't going to help bring them on board!
But I guess people who come to this site are already part of the choir, so the reaction is to be expected. :-)
(That last bit is meant as a recognition of the crowd, not a judgement. If that makes sense... hence the ":-)")
.... JUST LIKE CHINA!
The C&L crowd is all alike, dontcha know, a bunch of Pelosi-worshipping sycophants who are really corporate stooges.
IF troll = 1 THEN set IGNORE to 1.
What the people here don't understand is that their fight has just begun. Passing the legislation isn't enough- there were many people against this bill and still are. If the Dems cannot show why this bill will help by November, count on the Democrats losing control of a lot of seats. Then it will be the Republicans' turn to gloat.
And you're exactly right. This gloating does not help America. But doing what's best for America comes second to bashing Republicans on this site. I love your phrasing of this place as an "echo chamber." Please hang around and post- it is our job to help unify this country by breaking down partisan divisions that are destroying America.
Name 1 good thing ever done by republicans?
I make no apology for celebrating the passage of this bill. It's going to help people who sincerely need help.
I guess you think we should not have celebrated the day President Obama won the election either. I mean we were gloating that our candidate beat the republican candidate. Were we "worsening the division in the US" that day?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I know you are, but what am I?
Neener, neener, neener! :)
(Wow, that felt better.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5P5eQiKNQs
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I mean come on you never got "Your side lost hippie" from some smug self rigtheous asshat during the entire rule of the Bush admin?
I'd like nothing better then to go up to the literal Tea party patriots that I work with, stick a finger right in their face and say "nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyaaaaah"
But I don't I know what it's like to lose and to lose big time and they lost big time on this one make no mistake. They already know what losers they are we don't need to remind them.
But man this a blue liberal democrat leaning site ... where else can we gloat if not here?
F-N-A it feels great to win after all those years of losing it still doesnt feel right to come out the winner.
If things get any wilder in that pressroom
A nap might break out.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Only Republicans are allowed to taunt others. Didn't you get the memo?
Donate to Single Payer Action here
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
During his victory speech today Obama mocked the demented Repiglican nitwits perfectly. He mentioned that one of them had said that HCR would be "Armageddon," then paused while looking around with a bemused look on his face. Obviously everyone will be able to look around in the months and years to come and see just how hysterically stupid and wrong the Repiglicans were.
He knows exactly what they are, and that's why he beats them at will. Though his large IQ advantage helps, too.
That last picture says a thousand words.
When angry, count four, when very angry, swear.
-Mark Twain-
the republicans and teabaggers can cry all they want. they have/had plenty of input in this legislation/reform by way of special interest(s). the republicans know something has to be done now. the insurance companies want everyone covered for exchange in reducing their pre-existing condition(s) strategies to deny care. the republican minority will project to their base on how they should react to this bill inorder to gain power in the upcoming elections. watch the sunday political shows when republicans are reminded about the HUGE expensive MEDiCARE D entitlement program they shoved down our throats in 2003.....silence or hypocrisy. after 12 yrs. of republican congress and the bush presidency the republican minority want to use this bill/obama to forget the bush legacy that put us here.
Our corporate Democrats really beat 'em to the punch! Genius political strategy, instituting a Republican plan-- now they have nothing to run on!
I guess the next savvy political move would be to cut entitlements!
Go Republicrats! Privatize Social Security, that will really take the wind out of the Republicans' sails…
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Americans can break the law by not purchasing something.
(surreal)
The heathcare bill has made a criminal out of me!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
I was going to say auto insurance, but there are work-arounds to that law. This one's work-around for health insurance: never make more than 400% of the poverty level(?) Or something like that.
Anyway the best health insurance strategy is to stay poor. And our government, in concert with corporations, have made that strategy easier than ever before.
Under Medicaid, if you actually are sick, they can confiscate your assets. Like your home, if you have one.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Here.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
"The United States’ health care system is so dysfunctional it has about twice the costs of comparable countries and some of the worst outcomes," Chomsky told Raw Story. "This bill continues with that."
Oh, that's right, Obama was bribed. He even had his FDA declare Canadian drugs "unsafe." That's a lie, and everybody knows it's a lie.
But "it's better than nothing." Funny how that's the only comparison being made. Because, on the face of the planet, there is only one health care system even arguably worse that Obamacare, and that is the current system. The only way the industry could sell this POS is to make it a "this or nothing" deal.
Which is exactly what the Democrats did. And the industry is smiling.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Or did they not overturn previous legislation at this point?
And now that they neutralized the insurance/hospital/pharma alliance and passed this change, shouldn't that make it a bit easier to tackle the issues that effect one of those but not the others? Divide and conquer, maybe?
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
You know who stands to lose when we finally do get pharmaceutical price cuts? The countries that already get price cuts. We subsidize lower rates for Canada, France, the U.K.....You know who really, really opposes re-importation? Canada. Pharma goes back to them and says, "WTF? We agreed to sell to you at no profit, now we're taking a loss because you're shipping back across the border. That's bad faith. Stop shipping across the border, or we'll sue your asses and get out of this agreement."
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
will only build a case to regulate the snot of pharma, along the lines of electric utilities...where all rates a profits are strictly set based on rate cases. Big pharma is too greedy to even recognize their own self-interest, if they do what you are predicting. It will unify governments against them and there will be no place they could go to escape heavy regulation and still hope to do business in the developed world( read that as the place with customers who have the money to spend on their products). I'd say,"Go ahead..make our day".
But, remember, big Pharma isn't all based in the US. Its profits are. But we'll have to deal with the people in other countries who benefit not only from subsidized drug costs, but the taxes on the profits of those pharmaceutical corporations headquartered inside of their borders.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
You're right. Germany for example regulates per our own utility model. any company doing business has caps on the profits it can make. That's got to be worst case nightmare for the drug companies.
We give them a legally sanctioned monopoly which allows them to charge anything they want.
We subsidize drugs in Canada and France? I call BS. I know you have to work, but I'd like some authority on that later on.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Sorry, I don't have any links at the moment. I'll see what I can do.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Obama's back room deal with Billy Tauzin of PhRMA did that.
Divide and conquer. Interesting stategy. So in WWII we could have begun by capitulating to the Japanese which would have put us in perfect position for abject surrender to the Germans.
Talk about slimy: Obama using lies and fearmongering to increase the profits of pharmaceutical companies in exchange for their assistance in passing a bill written by insurance companies.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
If the US industrial base had been within reach of either the Germans or Japanese, then maybe. A better analogy is the way the Nazis ran all over Europe by dividing and conquering it. Invading the USSR might have worked had Pearl Harbor not been bombed.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
. . . in for-profit health insurance by anyone, anywhere, in history. Not one major interest was "conquered"; they designed the plan.
And the Russian Bear would not have been conquered in any event. I've only seen it happen a handful of times in Risk and never in Axis and Allies :)
Corruption favors the wealthy.
We've got our feet on the ground. Now we've got to bust out of the hedgerows- not an easy task, but we can do it. We WILL do it.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I'm off to sweat. Holler at you later.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
~
Corruption favors the wealthy.
But as far as the attack on the enemy, we didn't land at Normandy, we just sent them our supplies and ammunition.
I suppose some military mastermind figured it would make the invasion easier next time.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
There is nothing in the constitution that empowers congress or any state to craft laws requiring the de facto payment of taxes or tribute to private entities. you might argue that states can write laws governing requiring the purchase of auto insurance (but note that in doing so they also offer the option to pay an uninsured fee)in order to exercise a privilege. Being that privileges are always subject of conditions and restrictions, that might fly in court. But to compel such payment for basic necessities of life, access to which constitute the exercise of a basic human right is another story. If it is so important to jutify compulsory payment of the exact equivalent of a tax, then it is only meet and seemly that that tax be paid directly to the government and to no other and that the government is the sole rightful administrator of whatever is the program that consumes those revenues. To my thinking, Congress has exceeded its Constitutional authority in this case and is trying to appropriate for itself powers which do not exist and are not granted it. More, since this represents a major sea change in the fundamentals of how our government is going to work, if unchallenged, it seems to me that the only legitimate means in existence to craft and approve such fundamental changes is through the constitutional amendment process. In a very real way, this bill makes corporations the government or the equal of the government, and does so without the consent of those being governed.
I like this quote by Virginia's attorney general (who is in the first stages of a lawsuit)...(in spite of his repiglickant status)
"We believe the federal law is unconstitutional as it is based on the commerce clause. Simply put, not buying insurance is not engaging in commerce," the attorney general added.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_...
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
And is using the funds to run her own campaign to seek higher office? Like Senator or Governor?
Yeah, real patriotic.
Real pro life. fuck the kids. right?
What is your conceptual, continuity?
.
Using taxpayer dollars to fund her own agenda.
She's in deep shit.
I swear, everyday I hear about the Repugs digging a deeper and deeper hole for themselves.
Dumbfucks run amok.
Which is ok by me.
Just makes the next election even more difficult for them to show face. Let alone push their agenda.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
When you say "Using taxpayer dollars to fund her own agenda." are you referring to the lawsuit or to her campaign or both?
... the insurance companies WON by pushing through legislation that their buddies in the GOP are now furiously trying to repeal?
After that "uppity" Thurgood Marshall "crammed integration down our throats" there was the same reaction. Screaming, vile language, vandalism, and threats. States vowed to fight integration tooth and nail. People said they'd leave rather than live in an integrated nation.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Teabagger 2010 or white supremacist 1954... unholy brothers in arms.
This isn't a teabagger argument that is being presented. I do not think it will stand up to federal or supreme court scrutiny, which is interesting, because if overturned,it would also imply what is already common sense: that if something is important enough to compel the payment of taxes or tributes or penalties, that only the government is the rightful recipient of such revenues, and by extension the only rightful administrators or executors of such monies. If the government deems fit to turn that cash over to private entities, that's one issue (if the electorate allows it) and if the government deems that it can better do the job by itself (single payer), all the better. Forget the commerce clause, for the moment. All those issues aside, if the courts second this as being Constitutional, they are by extension granting private enterprise equal status as co-governing authority. A back-door corporate coup and further infiltration and usurpation of our government. It's going to amount to a final test of just exactly who our courts serve.
a victory for the democratic party, the GOP should be weeping.
through partisan-glasses, this is a big deal
I suspect we'll be treated to a series of political victories by both parties over the next 10 years until finally, all that is left of our country is walled-off corporate communities surrounded by smoldering rubble.
.
The GOP has adopted the teabagger identity of throwing a tantrum when they don't, deservedly and democratically, get their own way.
It's astounding. The teabaggers are nothing more than a group of spoiled, propoganda fueled idiots whose entire movement is nothing more than a prolonged temper tantrum.
The GOP has taken on this identity. They proudly proclaim that unless they get their way, even though they have lost in the electoral arena they claim to cherish, they will refuse to even attempt to govern.
I just wish the Democrats would aggressivly attack them for the thugs and false patriots they have become.
How about read it and weep for those of us who primarily see this as another government giveaway to private corporations -- this time to the insurance industry. True progressive thinkers shouldn't be smiling about this bill unless they're just getting off on listening to Rush Limbaugh rage.
MSNBC video by way of YouTube:
Howard Dean: This Is Coverage Expansion Not Health Care Reform
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Virginia Attorney General Cuccinelli Fights Back !!
Cuccinelli readies health reform suit
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
RT video from YouTube:
Biden to Obama: Health care reform 'a big f**king deal'
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Why oh why oh why, Joe?
With all due respect to Josh Marshall, the article linked to is actually an open letter to conservatives, written by Russell King.
Just saying.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
I think that this is totally a step in the right direction. We are never going to make everyone happy, but the way things have been handled in getting this passed downright makes me sick. Spitting and cursing what is going on with congress? I hope we can continue moving forward and I invite you to comment on my blog about how you feel about the health care reform bill. I am just learning what is all included and have posted it here http://sallyanne03.blogspot.com/2010/03/healt... Thanks for the great information.
In America the little guy doesn't have a chance. I have been screwed so bad the past two years it is unbelieveable. The state the feds the insurance companies, local government , business liscense, B&O taxes, unemployment insurance,workerscomp,general liability, auto, health, home owners, flood insurance.
I am just about to go postal. I have never felt so used and abused in my life. The fellow I had worked for since 2002 died in aug of 2008.
His employees came to me and ask me to start up a business and employ them. I did and it has been down hill since. No good deed ever goes un punished. I guess if I live I will pay for trying to help for the rest of my life.
If there was ever a god forsaken place this is it.
The handful of teabaggers that have been used as a distraction? No, they were and are few and powerless. There attacks were essentially: "death panels" and "fascist socialism." A real attack on the bill might focus on the industry giveaway aspects of the bill, but that was never allowed into the public discussion.
Major conservative interests didn't fight this bill at all but were in favor of it AHIP, PhRMA, the AMA. Ezra Klein notes the lack of fight and actually has the gall to announce the "twilight" of interest groups. Both Glenn Greenwald and Matt Yglesias point out that the bill was a product of special interests and hardly a signal of their demise. Greenwald has more today.
This is the industry's bill. They wrote it; it's what they wanted.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
If what you suggest is true the Republicans will roll over and play dead and any court challenges to the public mandates will disappear.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Strange as it may seem to today's Democrats, many, many people have a problem with being forced to buy a lousy product from an unregulated monopoly at whatever prices the monopoly wishes to charge.
Of course, others apparently believe that it's the best thing since sliced bread.
And you doubt it was written by the industry, Peter? The Senate bill that passed the House Sunday was drafted by Max Baucus's Senate Finance Committee. Baucus's chief aide in drafting the legislation was Liz Fowler, an executive at WellPoint.
I'm not making this up, and I'm not crazy about the implication that I am. They wrote the bill. If you have any authority which indicates otherwise, please, do tell.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Screamers and spitters on the Capitol steps 2010 = screamers and spitters on the schoolhouse steps 1963.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/...
The party of change did the work of the party of no.
Here we are fucked again!
I don't even care what's in the Bill anymore.
I just love the fact that republicans hate it. If they are against it, it must be a good thing for the country.
I love the fact that republicans lost. Lost big time.
Is that the republican outrage is fake like all other things republican!
health"care" "reform". It's all alligator tears. Their real crying will start when they realize that they have backed themselves into a corner from which there is no escape: If they are sincere about their objections to this bill, it is unlikely that they will ever raise the votes to either kill it or remove provision they don't like. They promise a bill to repeal the bill. If by some miracle it should pass, Obama would veto it. They will never achieve the votes to over ride it. Each "remedy" they propose is laughably unlikely to ever succeed. Forget for the moment that this bill is a POS that hands the key to the candy store over to the insurance gangster and Pharma, the position they are in is entirely of their own doing. Out of spite, they have neutered themselves and it is an injury from which they will not soon recover. this victory isn't for the People, and has nothing to do with healthcare or seeing to the needs of the People (which this bill abjectly fails to do). It's just a victory in tactical and strategic advantage that one political party has wrought over another, where neither party particularly gives a happy damn about the people they are supposed to be representing or the nation they are supposed to be serving. Just a couple predators duking it out and one of them wins. No victory for the people.
Those that own health industry stocks are quite happy right now. Once again, the Democrats have delivered.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Republicans are gobbling all the insurance company stocks they can get their gnarled fingers on, and . .
The rich get richer . .
So what else is new!!
They wrote the bill got it passed and we get screwed again!
I just erased a long post. There's too much self congratulating going on within the democratic party. Finally, they've taken away my will to give a shi*.
Single Payer may be coming to CA (Abbywood's been posting on it's development). I sincerely hope it does.
Single payer would help the whole country! What we have now helps the 1%.
God dam America.
it may have to be the states that lead the way into the light.
Saskatchewan and Tommy Douglas.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
I wonder who is going to get one of those 20 pens?
Apparently Carter signed all his bills with a single pen that he would stick back in his pocket which ticked people off.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
I think I will just adopt the attitude of never do anything that might help someone else. Just say fuck you to everyone and everything.
I hate it that 40 million have turned this country into a banana republic. This is just sick.
I disagree, it's more like 4 generations.
And I'm glad.
Now let's get a public option running, people.
I think we got screwed. But I would rather get screwed like this where at least some people might get some help, as to get screwed like we did over the past republican administrations. Nixon let the health insurance monster loose on us, reagan put a big nail in the coffin of the people, daddy bush did a lot to take away civil rights, and baby bush pulled off the biggest heist in the history of the world, lie us into two wars, gave trillions of dollars to his friends and other companies, halliburton, kbr,blackwater, the corporate bail out without any accountability.
Yes we got screwed again but this is the smallest one we have gotten.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness it has killed the economy and god only knows how many people.
God damn the GOP!
i could get behind this bill,
now i don't think i can maintain this equanimity, and i think i know why, it is the cheer-leading, the self-congratulation on the part of the democratic party; over a very minor sort of sell out. and then it came to me, it may not exactly fit, but it just seems so right.
"Slaves are generally expected to sing as well as to work"
from Mr. Frederick Douglass, the truth about what we are seeing; we are expected to be grateful to be paying more of our hard earned cash to the very people who are exploiting us in the first place. i think it is this attitude that galls me to such an extreme, i really didn't think i would feel this way, but i do.
if the president had said, "well, we made a few minor changes, it is the best we can get", if nancy pelosi had left her damn gavel at home, maybe i would feel differently; as it stands, another Douglass quote might be apropo,
"America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future"
i hope it does some good for some people, it is what it is, really doesn't help but the very poor, and those that have something to lose. for the working person, who has worked their whole life to wind up with a whole lot of nothing, doesn't change much, still be paying $1,000/month for family coverage. insurco execs will still get their $110 million retirement packages, working poor will take it on the chin, like always.
What Reform Means To American Families
Is it perfect? No. Is it a hell of a lot better? Yes.
Numbers from the CBO
don't forget that corporations have unlimited spending now. GOP is not irrelevant until Obama starts on campaign finance reform.
Health Care
it's so nice to meet you
It's been a long time - sorry I've been away so long
my name is...
Health care
I'm so glad to meet you (sung to Eminem's song - Hello)
Who knew?
It is now time for House Minority Leader Jon Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to sit down and shut their collective mouths up. Governing thru fear and deception has run it's course, and we, the people, are no longer buying what both of you clowns are selling.
However, I must say, they do represent the GOP, aka "the party of "No", quite well, as they both have no ideas, no balls, and now, no one to wipe their respective soiled undergarments, which became soiled as the President signed this bill into law sometime around noon today. The good news for Johhny and Mitchy, though, is that they have each other. I wonder - do you think they say 'No' to each other as much as they say it to America?
But what a great day for The Democratic Party... and our Nation. Congrats to President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid for all having the chutzpah to see Health Care Reform to it's conclusion. They would have made the late Rep. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) proud today, who spent most of his adult life advocating Health Care reform for middle and lower-class Americans. It was fitting that his son, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), was able to cast one of the votes which led the House to pass the bill late-Sunday night.
A healthier Nation is a stronger Nation. Today, we are much stronger!!!
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