John Amato:
I posted on this already, but Nicole has found out that Ben Nelson takes a boat load of cash from the health care industry.
Nelson's problem, he told CQ, is that the public plan would be too attractive and would hurt the private insurance plans. "At the end of the day, the public plan wins the game," Nelson said. Including a public option in a health plan, he said, was a "deal breaker."
Are you kidding me? Screw the American citizens and what's best for them...let's be worried about the poor for-profit healthcare companies? So much for that vaunted filibuster-proof majority. Nelson plans on gathering together some like-minded sell-outs Democrats to oppose any public health plan. Go to Open Secrets to find out who has donated money to Nelson last few years for his re-election and whaddya know? Blue Cross/Blue Shield is in the top 5 with $31K. In fact, Nelson received more than $230,000 from the healthcare industry in the last four years. Actually, HCAN lists more than $600,000 from the insurance industry to Nelson.
And so, Nelson has decided to bow to the wishes of his campaign contributors, instead of standing up for what 73% of the American public want: A choice of a public health insurance option.
In his opposition, Nelson can't even muster the courage to be honest about his motives. Instead, he parrots the latest right-wing talking point, that a public health insurance option will somehow undermine the employer-based health care system.
This point, of course, is ludicrous. How exactly would this undermining happen? Every person in America will be offered a choice. If they choose the public health insurance option, how exactly is anything being forced upon them? And if businesses choose the public health insurance option, again, how is that not a choice?
If you're of a mind to let Sen. Nelson know that his job is to represent the people of the United States, not the insurance companies, you can send him an email here. The phone numbers for his various offices are available here. Remember, you get further being polite.
Ya don't say.
I'm am just so totally and completely surprised by this. This also happens when I see the sun rise in the east every morning too.
Call Nelson's campaign donors and tell them you refuse to do business with them until Ben Nelson supports single payer universal health care.
One such donor: Omaha Steaks.
Better yet sign this petition.
http://www.change.org/actions/view/i_demand_c...
on his head in that photo.
His pockets are lined with gold from the Healthcare industry
that's cold.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
you just keep on shilling for the insurance companies.
I've got a check ready to fill in with your opponent's name.
You're a tired, old, hooker.
Figures
...that in this day and age that we as the "dirty public" can really can keep a spotlight on douchebaggery such as this. Long live the interwebs!!!
These companies should be non for profit for basic health care. It might hurt the insurance companies, but it hurts people more.
if bribery and public corruption has been legalized. Payments made in exchange for favors or influence are bribes IF they are "illegal" payments.
These guys are had for pennies on the thousands of dollars.
statusquObama, change you can only pretend in
Between healthcare donations and bank donations these guys make a pretty good living don't they. Assholes!
they get full taxpayer paid health bennies!
73% of the American public want it but how does Nebraska poll?
They are part of that dwindling demographic in America known as working class chumps - or republicans.
They demand their elected representatives work tirelessly for their economic destruction, which is why ole' douchebag will have nothing to worry about as he screws the rest of America, on behalf of his imbeciles back home.
What a country!
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Nooooooo, you're joking. I'm so surprised you could have knocked me over with a feather.
lightening bolts from the tip of my fingers with pin point accuracy. From great distances.
Unfortunately it is not surprising. You expect Senators to have some suspect dealings (a sad commentary of our gov.) but he is totally in bed with Big Medicine. When is he up for re-election again?
It was another lovely day in Iraq by the way:
http://yellingatthemoon.com/2009/05/02/man-in...
Please do try to watch it.
Michael Moore makes the best case for an "All for one and one for all" national health care system that ELIMINATES THE "FOR PROFIT" ROTTEN HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES that I've ever seen.
All we need to do is DOWNSIZE the Military Industrial Complex, then use the funds for building the most important "infrastructure" project for our country...a National Health Care System that would be the best in the world.
Right now I believe we are at about #37 in delivering high quality health care....right under Malaysia??
What a freakin' embarrassment.
My understanding is that the physicians and nurses who represent "Physicians for A National Health Care System" have been essentially locked out of the meetings that are taking place that will shape the legislation in Congress.
Shame on Barack Obama if the voices of the People are shut out by the private insurance companies and their filthy lobbyists.
Please. Watch "Sicko". And encourage your family/friends to watch it too.
"The US has an army of 90,000 soldiers in Afghanistan and is spending $100bn a year, but has still been unable to defeat 20,000-25,000 Taliban who receive no pay at all." - Patrick Cockburn
Now would be an excellent time to have Sicko do another round of showings in the Nation's theaters.
Obama has been a disappointment on many fronts thus far. I'm hoping he gets better, but with all the Clinton flunkies he has surrounded himself with, I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact he is no FDR, nor is he interested in being one.
Supporting the status quo is not change.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
“All we need to do is DOWNSIZE the Military Industrial Complex, then use the funds for building the most important "infrastructure" project for our country...a National Health Care System that would be the best in the world.”
While I would like to downsize the military industrial complex anyhow, we don't need to do so in order to pay for health care.
Courtesy of someone else in a different blog is some data. Right now, the health care debate revolves around ideology because the data supports a national self insured (‘single payer’) approach.
This is somewhat dated, but if you take the private expenditures for health care as a percentage of GDP ...
http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/51.html
... and add the public expenditures ...
http://hdrstats.undp.org/indicators/50.html
... then, you wind up with what other countries are paying for health care.
Ross Perot was the one who articulated the solution, study the health care systems in other countries and copy the best one. In other words, no need to invent the wheel, it has already been invented. And these systems, many of which rank higher than our #37 cost less and cover everyone.
What, if anything, makes this guy a not-Republican?
..certainly not his deeds.
This is a government of the Corporation, by the Corporation, and for the Corporation - it's as simple as that.
We spend about 16% of GDP and leave 16% uncovered whereas Europe and Japan spend about 11% of GDP and cover everyone. That 5% of GDP difference? That's the amount that our corporate owned politicians want to rip us off. That's maybe $600B, probably more.
Obama's really in the same boat. He wants to spend more on health care to cover the uninsured, whereas no extra spending would be necessary if we restructured our health care and copied a system that produces same or better results, and costs less.
I think that the economy as a whole loses more than the individual sector, in this case insurance, gains. This is particularly true in sectors of the economy that export and provide insurance for their workers. Productivity, which is producing the service or goods in the cheapest fashion is good for the economy, and systems designed to drive up costs, such as the current health care system, is bad for the economy.
86% of large corporations provide insurance for their employees on a self insured basis. If we want to run our country like a business, and we decide that everyone should receive health care coverage, then the business-like approach would be to self insure as a nation.
Naturally, the opposite would be to have everyone buy individual policies. That was McCain's and the GOP's approach, which was to end employer coverage and have everyone buy individual policies. That would maximize the costs as a percentage of GDP and maximize profits to the insurance companies.
We've seen massive Wall Street fraud, but where are the prosecutions? A generation ago, 18% credit card rates was considered usary, now the same practice gets special protection under the bankruptcy laws. I think the current situation is that we have a very corrupt and bribed government. Our present economy is proof - essentially, unchecked criminal fraud has caused the financial meltdown.
So no surprise that this same government that brought us the financial meltdown would like to rip us off on health care costs.
You've nailed it. But, surprisingly.. the Internet is really a terrific equalizer. Sites like C&L and Daily KOS shake the status quo and their friends in high places to the core. Let's all show Ben Nelson who he really should represent OR ELSE!
isn't it embezzling or fraud to take money
from your constituents who actually cast the ballots
to get you elected. last time i looked companies
can not go to the voting polls and cast a ballot.
the American citizens are also paying assholes like
sen. nelson to work for their interests.
maybe we should take away all the salaries and perks
given to senators/congressmen when they don't support
the people not companies that actually vote. fuck
all these asshats for deceiving us.
"last time i looked companies
can not go to the voting polls and cast a ballot."
Yeah, but when people go to the polls, they're choosing between two corporate owned stooges.
If Obama wasn't a corporate owned stooge, we would have had a closing benediction by Reverend Wright at the conclusion of the nightly news programs each night for the 2 months leading to the election.
it always seems that on the weekend
you koolaid drinkers can't resist your ignorance.
you opinion just above mine was quite interesting,
but this response to my remarksis just more
gop asssucking lying.
"this response to my remarksis just more
gop asssucking lying."
Obama shuts out single payer advocates from his health conference.
Video (around 10 minutes) discussing among other things, Obama's corporate donors.
http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com...
What we voted for was the lesser of two evils, and no question that Obama was the lesser evil - wasn't even close. But it's not going to be a situation where we can sit back while our beneficial messiah works unending good. We're going to have to hound these politicians to favor people over corporations.
"We're going to have to hound these politicians to favor people over corporations."
i am in complete agreement with you on this.
to deserve this bullsh*t?
They voted for repiglicans. They should be happy, after all, corporate fascism is what they supported at the polls. Nelson is a DINO, and even that is a stretch.
I guess they found out the hard way, that nothing the conservatives say or do is in the best interest of the American people.
At least the ones who aren't braindead have figured it out. Unfortunately, 46% of the people in this country voted for another tour of the GOP fascist shit show last year. You gotta wonder about those folks.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
...& watched it happen. Same for stolen elections, two illegal wars, blah blah blah,... how long is America going to sit on it's fat ass while everything get stolen out from under us?
They care more about what dolt is going to be the next American Idol more than what's going on in that sewer named Washington D.C.
I can think of few things more evil than that. A system in which profit overrides the health and well being of an individual. Can you really get any greedier than that? CEOs and board members of these companies are no less scum than bank CEOs. I say we put the pitch forks to them as well.
for what its worth. These slimeballs should be put on notice and often, that the old days of hiding are over, we can watch and keep watching them now.
here:
http://bennelson.senate.gov/contact/
You get even further with wads of cash.
and the smart people there ought to run this old whore Nelson out of town on a rail.
The effing basted.
This is really a positive grassroots education movement, associating specific votes in congress with corporate supporters. If this could get exposure in the main stream media, it would make an impact. CNN is brain-dead but sometimes if a grass roots movement is effective enough those lazy dull-witted bastards take notice.
If he even hears about the emails, he would just laugh -- as he cashes insurance checks. What I say is all the power of the netroots should make this their No. 1 priority. Unlike womens' issues, gays, Hispanics, etc. heath care involves ALL Americans. And if you are so lucky as to have a good health care plan, don't be smug. Yours could very well fade away very soon. (That is Americans' problem -- they tend to think. "I have great insurance -- why should I worry about others? It's THEIR problem.") I have been harping on this for almost 20 years and I have seen it all. The only reason now it has more teeth (to change the insurance system) is that now a LOT of Americans are getting screwed.
You didn't listen to me in 1990 -- will you now? And these watered down plans are bogus. Obama has a MANDATE. Be brave, Obama! Go Single Payer. If not, it will be another 30 years before anyone gets a chance again.
How dare he object to a public health care plan that "would hurt the insurance industry" while he, himself enjoys the best of health care options, provided courtesy of the U.S.taxpayer! We need to demand the same health care options that these losers enjoy.
Like demanding the same bankruptcy protection rights as the taxpayer bailed out banks and insurance companies?
Oh thats right, the blue dog dickheads, along with their psychotic republican pals, killed that when the same bankrupt bankers used our tax bailout dollars to bribe SOB's like Nelson, to vote against individual bankruptcy rights protection.
Un-effing-believable. You can't make this shit up.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
. . . conflicts with employer-funded private care is absurd. It's ridiculous. Nonsensical.
Public care REPLACES employer-funded care. It reduces the costs to business and consumers by getting rid of the dead loss of overhead costs that, in public systems, gets spent on actual care.
Tell GM, Chrysler, the UAW, or any thinking car buyer that employer-funded private health insurance reduces the cost of care, is competitive in globalized industries, increases returns to shareholders, or is more efficient than single-payer insurance.
!!!
HR-676!
... or so I'm betting most jury members of citizens faithful and true would conclude. Can this corrupt douchebag be prosecuted for accepting bribes or pay to play? This asshole is clearly a crook, unworthy of any person's trust. He has sold his office for monetary gain and holds office for reason other than serving the People's trust. He needs to be called to accounts by comptetent law enforcement authority.
I'm ready to sign a national petition calling for his censure and expulsion from the Senate.
I'm ready to sign a national petition calling for his censure and expulsion from the Senate.
Yeah it would be great if we had a system that worked that way.
Let's see how far to the right they go before they fall off of the edge of this flat world.
the uninsured has grown to be about 47-48million and of the people that do have insurance about 25%
are UNDER insured. although unemployment took a small dip/decrease it's expected to continue. so now more people have no insurance and many can't afford cobra. i don't believe an increase in becoming more efficient will entirely bring the cost down enough. currently, a family of four with healthCare insurance pays about an extra $500.00 a yr. depending on region of country you live in to cover people without healthCare insurance. with the increasing unemployment and stagnate low earner wages the paying pool often absorbs the cost of the people using services but unable to pay. i believe unpaid healthCare bills are a leading cause of bankruptcy. those costs are shifted to the paying pool/TAX payers. in addition to that,companies that provide healthCare insurance for their employers receive TAX breaks/credits. essentially, being partially subsidized by TAX payers many without healthCare insurance. the bottom line wages have NOT kept pace with the cost of healthCare. with economic globilization one of the reasons we can't compete with other countries is because they have some type of nationalized/lower cost healthCare. china is NOW working on providing people with healthCare. the chinese know their people save money because they have NO healthCare. so to get them to get into consumerism/save less they will now put money into providing healthCare.
as gw. Both are disgusting human beings.
Senator Ben Nelson
Sir,
Your recent statements explaining your opposition to an optional public health insurance plan are probably politically unfortunate in these times.
The public, even the "low-information" public, have internalized the realization that for-profit enterprises, while they may have lots of competitively-honed "products", are essentially motivated by profit.
Unfortunately, in health care, the motivation must be health, not profit. This is life or death, and this is the sort of thing that drives us to form a consensual government in the first place.
Let the capitalists make their fortunes with all of those shiny electronic toys they're so good at.
And for all that is good and holy, find another industry to get your "support" from.
Respectfully Yours,
Michael J. Petro
Phoenix, AZ
What I find interesting is that 86% of our corporations with over 5000 employees are self insured, the "single payer" option for corporations. After a certain amount of people, and geographical dispersion, there is no point in paying an insurance premium since the risk can be determined within a fraction of a percentage.
So, in order for Nelson to not support national self insurance, he must simultaneously support the position that not all Americans should be covered, if he wants to make sense. If on the other hand, he supports all Americans being insured, then, he would have to support national "self insurance" ie single-payer as the most cost effective approach.
It's quite clear what Nelson supports, ripping off the American public.
except for a few core issues, there is very little dif between the dems and repugs
they are both owned by the corporatists...so we are doomed
the greatest evil ever to be unleashed upon the american people is for profit health insurance companies...never shouldve been allowed
I trust we have a better candidate lined up for the primary?
Guaranteed: whoever it is will be underfunded compared to a sitting Senator with connections to the Health care industry.
Let's see how far to the right they go before they fall off of the edge of this flat world.
if he gets that much money from the health insurance folks the least he could do is spend some of it to fix his teeth, dye his hair and get his face fixed. I think at least, we shouldn't have to look at his ugly mug.
And, as soon as Brain implants are available, I recommend Ben get one, including a chuck of morals and ethics.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
The last thing i'm worried about is his appearance. Like dyed hair, a plastic smile and face surgery would make him less of a corrupted bastard!
Send that bastard to the event horizon and beyond! Have a nice trip!
Bite my shiny metal ass.
http://www.startalkradio.net/
I don't give a toss.
Just emailed the good Sentor my sentiments:
"Your stand on healthcare is unconscionable. Polls show that 73% of Americans want and are willing to pay for single payer universal healthcare and are dead set against a corporate welfare program for the gangsters who operate the health insurance rackets. You have taken $600,000 from the insurance racketeers and now are selling Americans down the river in order to do the bidding of those who bought and paid for you. This smacks of quid pro quo/pay to play corruption. You should be ashamed of yourself. But, judging from the shabby, half-assed excuses you offer for your betrayal and insipient corruption, it is obvious that the requisite shame escapes you. Your stated intention, professed loyalties and shabby excuses only demonstrate your unworthiness to be the recipient of any person's trust and your unworthiness for the office you corruptly occupy.
I will be supporting any moves to censure you, expell you from office or replace you, and I will vigorously support any efforts by law enforcement to investigate you for purposes of holding you accountable for your corrupt entanglements.
You need to dust off whatever plans you have for what you plan to do after you leave public office.
Hoping to see news clips of you doing the perp walk before a federal magistrate,
Paul XXXXXXXX"
God, but I hate crooks!
Follow the logic:
Ben Nelson is Nebraska Senator => Insurance => Mutual Of Omaha => Omaha is in Nebraska => Survival of the Fittest => Mutual of Omaha sponsors "Wild Kingdom"
To quote Marlin Perkins of Wild Kingdom, "Like the mother bear guards its young, so too does the grizzled senator protect its sponsor"
"One of Mr. Obama’s fund-raisers, Kirk Dornbush, president of Iconic Therapeutics, a biotech company in Atlanta, said, “The contributions reflect the simple calculus of the health care industry, making a bet that Democrats will control the White House and both houses of Congress after the next election.”
Drug and device makers have donated about $275,000 to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, making her the top recipient of money from that sector, followed by Mr. Obama, with $261,400, and Mr. Romney, with nearly $259,000.
The health care industry has not been monolithic in its support of candidates, and is spreading its money around the field." (from the NYTimes - Oct. 2007)
for all the "free market advocates" out there, including Senator Nelson...
if public or "socialized" healthcare competes with private healthcare, and obtains so many customers/clients, that many private firms are run out of business ...
isn't that just indicative of the "free market" working correctly, as designed?
here's a bright idea! implement public / socialized healthcare, and if the private guys can't compete, well, guess they'll have to upgrade their products and services until they can!
On why things need to change.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
You almost have to admire this guy's chutzpah.
Surely he can't be serious...can he?
Why Yes,yes he can be.
These people honestly believe that anything that interferes with them lining their own pockets via the much vaunted "free market" must be suspect and probably Communist.
The fact that he seems to honestly believe he has presented a valid argument against a Public health plan is utterly gob smacking.
"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
china will attempt to have everyone of their citizens covered by 2020 will universal healthCare. at this point we will not/can't compete. i'm not so sure the elites/lawmakers/corporations really care if we compete. corporations by design HATE labor but love lower wages/less regulation. we "the people' have to make healthCare reform a priority this summer/fall.
I am not a lawyer, but why doesn't the ACLU or some other group start filing lawsuits aginst these politicians for taking lobbyist (bribery) cash. Make them explain in a televised courtroom how they are fulfilling their public trust by taking corporate bribes.
Maybe if a few dozen of these bastards did the perp walk on the nightly news for corruption charges, maybe this shit would stop!
I personally see no other way to put an end to this corrupt government we have. Either that or go guilotine city on them ala France circa 1792. These arrogant prick bastards are NOT going to stop on their own.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
People who rail against the ACLU oppose constitutional rights. ACLU upholds constitutional rights. You gotta remember, if the people vote in politicians who then vote that white collar crime, bribery, and corruption isn't punishable, then people who commit these crimes aren't punished. There's no constitutional issue there.
Eliminating the statues would be too obvious. So, they cut funding for enforcement. The corporate media isn't going to help.
This newfangled internet thing, which helps shine a light on the issues is relatively new. Naturally, the information control people want to end net neutrality to curtail the sources of information, such as this blog, that people can receive, and copy the broadcast method, which is restraint of competition, and a pricing structure that creates a bar that only corporations can meet so that publicly available opinions only come from corporations.
What we need to do is increase accountability of our politicians so that people know who to vote for in the elections. The internet, so far, is the best tool for doing that. The broadcast media is next to useless.
Its only not punishable until someone wins a lawsuit and creates a precedent.
If I vote for Senator Dickhead, who then goes and supports legislation that harms me or my family because he is taking cash on the side, well, I'd like to see someone give her a shot in court.
Lets say you put together a list of 1,000 kids and other folks who are sick and may die because they can't get health insurance because their elected official (who is sworn to uphold the public trust and well being) is taking bribe (lobbying) money to deny them the healthcare access they need. Especially if said elected scumbag enjoys the same insurance he is denying them himself.
I gotta tell ya, if I had a law degree, I would try to make a name for myself with this one.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
I thought clear quid quo pro and pay-to-play acts were criminally actionable. Wasn't that what Abrahmoff and Blagojevich were all about? Criminal prosecution can sidestep the obstruction of a corrupt Congress. More, I believe any citizen, who holds evidence, can file a warrant of charges in any Federal Court. All that is needed is the evidence and a specific federal statute that has been violated. Any prosecutors reading?
Criminal prosecutions for bribery may be a way to end this rat's nest of corrupt lobbyist/politician relationships.
There is probably some technicality that separates "contributions" from bribes.
Both parties are infested with corrupted rats , the Republican's just have far more of them . They will continue to take care of themselves first and foremost , priority one , their loyalty is to themselves .
claims the Progressives. It sure ain't the republicans.
The republicans are regressive, which is usually not a good thing, unless you are talking about a disease, which in the case of republicans - seems very fitting.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
I can't come up with anything better that would fit him perfectly, so I guess ..What an asshole.
I guess he'll be giving up the free government healthcare for himself, his family and his staff to show how serious he is. Every time this douche speaks in public, people should be asking him which private plan he is switching to.
Where the hell is the rest of the entire business community? Why aren't they fighting tooth and nail for a public healthcare solution that gets the costs off their books? Are they afraid of admitting Mike Moore was right? Do they all love writing those huge insurance checks every month? I just don't understand how this isn't priority #1 when every company in our country is cutting every nickel of cost they can find. How much revenue and how many cut workers are represented by that private insurance check each month? A huge number that covers less each year yet costs about 40% more.
Why did a 1hr procedure to have my kidney stones blasted with ultrasonic waves carry a total cost of over $20,000? Our healthcare system is fucked from every direction and it looks like the only thing Obama is certain of is that we won't have a system like Europe or Canada. Why? Why? Why? Because they work too well? Because their people are too satisfied? Seriously, WTF? Why aren't we picking the best methods with proven long term success and making them ours?
Ben Nelson is a scoundrel; we all know that.
My question is: where the hell are the leaders of the Democratic Party, like the President and Harry Reid, when it comes to super-critical voting positions on legislation (the bank bill-mortgages-being a prime example)?
Never expect any of these guys to do the right thing without a force.
If we end up with anything even close to the McCain private insurance for everyone plan with Democrats in control of everything I will freak the fuck out.
to hate this man...deeply!
There can be no excuse for that kind of obstructionism.
None whatsoever!
..is rotten to the core. He's only offering empty, not even remotely credible excuses and rationalizations for his own corruption. He needs to be prosecuted for accepting bribes and he needs to be kicked out of office. The man is a crook.
How much money did Obama accept from the health care industry?
When asked why we can't have a health plan as European countries do - simple and universal - Obama answered, in essence, "because we can't".
Follow the money.
...is showing that he is a corporatist, not to mention no friend or champion of the Constitution, to his very core. He wants to be a one term president.
I hope Kucinich runs in 2012.
Does anyone know who the "like-minded" Democrats who may join this nincompoop in blocking a one-payer universal health care system? His cronies may need some moral outrage directed at them, as well.
Bayh will probably be one Landrieux(sp?). Have to wait and see who crawls out of the woodwork to join him.
I do hope everyone is aware that a universal health system has to be paid for and it will be out taxes that will do that. I for one, do not mind paying taxes if I'm getting something for my money.
"From the time I was 1 year old until I was 10 years old, I grew up in the great state of Nebraska, and during that time my father had a good job working with computers that provided the health care my mother and I needed.
Times have changed. I'm 27 now, living in central Ohio and working for a company that provides health care services to people with mental retardation and developmental disabilities; and yet I myself have no medical insurance because I simply cannot afford it. One of the main reasons I can't, is because the entire medical insurance industry has become bloated and profit heavy, giving as little value as possible while leveraging their position to take as much as they can from the people they are supposed to serve. Make absolutely no mistake Senator, this only truly changes with the presence of viable competition; a public insurance option.
I understand that you oppose this because you feel it would be unfair to the insurance companies that would be left unable to compete; and if we were talking about almost any other industry I might be open to your position; but the fact is that while you make arguments on behalf of the insurance giants, there are real people who are really getting sick and dying all over this nation.
You see Senator, in my mind, the right to affordable health care for all Americans, rich or poor, is unfathomably more important to the prosperity of this nation, than the sense of entitlement the insurance giants have to the wasteful inefficiencies they've been profiting on for years at the expense of the poor.
I truly hope you adjust your priorities toward the people you represent, and away from the healthcare industry, regardless of the donations they make to your campaign.
Thank you for your time Senator, please serve Nebraska proud."
I'm glad to see some of you are finally getting it. The Centrist Democrats, i.e. the Obama's, Nelson's, Clinton's, Baucus's, et al of the world are just as much the problem as republicans. Even if Obama did believe in single payer health ins., he doesn't have the political courage to push the issue. I heard Obama say all the time during the campaign we have to make the hard choices and to stop following a failed economic model that has failed the American people. Now what is he saying, NAFTA is OK with him, we can't do single payer health ins, and we need to change the heads of the Auto industry and force them into bankruptcy, but the banks, well their leadership is crucial to fixing the industry, nevermind the fact it is their criminal behavior, along with the centrists dems and conservatives in congress, who worked with these criminals by shaping legislation to favor them, that got us into this economic mess in the first place.
I voted for Obama for one reason, and posted so at the time, and that reason is the retirement of Justice Souter and others, the Supreme Court. For liberals and progressives who thought Obama was better than Clinton on trade, healthcare, education, and economic policies, well you're wrong. Obama has shown great courage in taking on the left, but anyone else, including republicans, he just can't seem to find the courage for a real fight. I think when Obama was talking about doing things differently, he was talking to liberals and progressives. He favors privatizing education with charter schools, although no studies to date show better results than traditional public education. He won't add single payer to the healthcare bill in congress, he is adding to our military involvement in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he has closed the book on any modifications to NAFTA, and he is now talking about a "pragmatist" for the supreme court, meaning a centrist jurist who favors social justice to some degree, but will always side with the corporations, much like Justice Ginsburg and Justice Souter.
I told my friends and family many times during the campaign, liberals and progressives are going to wake up in 4 years and find nothing has significantly changed for the better, and we are going to be asking the same questions we have asked for the past 30 years. Obama is miles better than any republican, but he is to his core a centrist. Which means, minimalist changes, not bold, dramatic changes in the mold of FDR and LBJ. What this essentially means is the powers that be will continue to rule, the corporations will continue to own our government, as Dick Durbin in a moment of honesty stated, and the struggle will continue on. The world will be marginally better after 4 or 8 years of Obama's presidency due to his governing philosophy.
Welcome to "Change"!
Agree with everything you say. I saw this coming when it started becoming obvious that the MSM was determining who the "viable" democratic candidates would be. They so thoroughly manipulated the primaries, debates and nominations process that it became clear the only candidates they would allow to succeed were the corporatists/right-wing candidates. Hillary was who they wanted, and Obama was their fallback position. Qualitatively, there was zero difference between Hillary and the average far right Republican. Obama, who is a corporatist and CFR true believer to his dying breath, was supposed to come in second and dutifully accept the Vice presidency. Or so it appeared to my eyes. Anybody who was a true progressive, a friend of the Constitution or was in any way truly people-oriented was portrayed by the MSM as being a nut case. And, the majority of voters bought into the manipulation. Successfully purveying the myth of the rightwing corporatist as "centrist" must be counted as a significant propaganda victory for the MSM, especially when one considers that the only true center of our Nation is the Constitution and the Declaration of independence, and that the only true centrist is the one who single-mindely arises to protect and defend the principles and ideas these document embody and codify. Thus, none of the self-labeled "centrists" I see have earned the right to name themselves centrists. By that definition, Kucinich is a centrist, while Obama is not.
I am instantly suspicious of politicians who call themselves "pragmatists", because their pragmatic rationale invariably ends up being little more than convoluted and self-justifying rationalizations for accepting essentially corrupt expedients as a substitute for consistently principled actions. Obama hasn't disappointed in that regard. In a way, it is profoundly more disonest than the typical Republican who makes no bones about his corrupt loyalties. Obama's entire cabinet more resembles a corporatist/Republican cabinet than a Democratic cabinet. I believe that he only makes liberal/progressive choices when left no other choice, and only for purposes of performing maintenance on his dishonest public personna, for purposes of maintaining the illusion that he is a progressive.
Obama's low regard for the constitution, his corporate allegiances, his attempts to reserve the imagined prerogatives of an imaginary unitary executive should give serious pause. Words are easy, but meanngless in the face of deeds. The choices that Obama is making as regards policies or acts, for example healthcare reform, demonstrate that he is qualitatively little different than that which preceded him. He just deploys better and more polished rhetoric. Change with him is only token or symbolic. His administration is only going to allow that minimum amount of change needed to prevent pitchforks and torches at the castle gates, and no more.
I'm hoping that Kucinich runs in 2012. He was a genuine agent for positive change.
...agent for positive change."
I don't disagree about Kucinich's politics, but the reality is he has ZERO chance of ever getting nominated or elected. If there is one thing progressives must do, it is to stop pretending -- stop pretending Obama is a progressive; stop pretending Democrats have any chance of getting 60 votes on crucial progressive issues or that Specter offers anything positive to the Left, and stop pretending Dennis could ever get elected president in this country.
We can spend endless amounts of time complaining about how unfair it is, that the reasons why Kucinich will never win are all superficial, and that if only the American people can see and hear Kucinich one more time they'll realize that he's the best person for the job. It's never going to happen.
Kucinich has nothing to build a candidacy on -- he has a loyal, but tiny core following. His policies are out of step with the vast majority of American voters (as are mine), and he lacks the kind of physical/emotional presence (charisma) that will attract voters who don't already embrace his positions on the issues. There simply is no rational reason to believe that another Kucinich candidacy will be any more successful than his past efforts.
I doubt if there is any true progressive candidate who has any chance of winning the nomination, but Dennis is not even the one most likely to influence an election or other candidates in a positive direction. At this point, Dennis is in danger of becoming the perennial joke candidate -- the one who always runs, who always polls in low single digits, and who is simply laughed at by the few who acknowledge his existence and is ignored by almost everyone else.
I'm very fond of Kucinich and I admire his politics and his determination, but it is delusional to think he will fare any better in 2012 than he has in the past. It is time for progressives to find another candidate, one Kucinich will support, and one who has the potential to at least influence an election.
Yeah it's pretty clear that Kucinich,as has been stated,would be very hard pressed indeed to get anywhere near the Oval Office,which is a shame.
It seems obvious to me that true progressives in the US are verboten from any serious pursuit of said appointment.One only has to look at the ridiculous name calling directed at Obama,an obvious corporatist centrist to imagine the vitriol and hate that would rain down on Dennis's unfortunate, albeit talented skull.
"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
...but I continue to think that the only reason Kucinich is not viable is because the MSM says he isn't. No other reason. The smear job they did on him, they will do to any candidate who actually understands why they are serving in elective office, be that person conservative or liberal or anything in between. The crime, apparently, is integrity.
Arlen Specter. The Democrats need to say "Thanks, but no thanks" to Specter. He's a Republican with a Republican voting record.
Oh Look! Another member of the Corporatist/Careerist Party, masquerading as a Democrat.
All industries need to do is buy off one guy. Nelson has been bought. I'd like to see what's in his Swiss account. Then I'd like him to get cancer.
....is the the government law enforcement and intelligence agencies have the ability to trace every penny that has ever passed through his greasy palms. If the warrants could be obtained, every dirty politician in the nation could be called to accounts. Won't happen, though.
Sen Nelson is one of my Senators. He is in a Kansas Red state. But, It was the 2nd district that gave Obama one electoral vote.
Nelson came pretend to be Democratic party all he wants. He is always pushed in the GOP's direction as required.
He'll oppose Obama's supreme Court nominee as well. Even after he was one of those middle guys with the Bush Alito/ Roberts appointing. He was one of the gang that would not allow a filibuster which supposedly held back republicans from going to the nuclear Senate.
Odd thing is, Nelson appeared and introduced Obama during the campaign when Obama actually came and spoke in Omaha.
Nelson was able to hide his voting before because it wasn't needed. Now that they are needed and everyone is looking. He feels he has to vote with his bankers and conservatives in the state.
Nelson is simply a conservative in the democratic party that give moderates in Nebraska the false impression they are represented.
He is a stealth conservative masqurading as a Democratic party Senator.
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