Tag Archives: Democrats

The Need to Make Your Voice Heard is Urgent

Posted on by

This article from the Christian Science Monitor makes very apparent why those who support health care need to get out and make our voices heard.  It lays out the activities of President Obama to promote health care reform and of conservative tv personality Glenn Beck to prevent it.

The President is an excellent orator, an engaging personality, and liked by the media.  He is a good person to have on your side, there is no doubt about it.  But ultimately the White House does not control the media.  Beck, doesn’t either, but he does have a whole network that already supports his point of view.  Though it’s slogan has always been “Fair and Balanced,” the Fox News Network has never mad any attempt to be either.  So they have been quite helpful to an anti-reform cause.

Meanwhile, back in Washington Beck was broadcasting live on the Fox News Channel as part of something he’s dubbed “The 9-12 Project.” The occasion was a “tea party” march and rally organized by “FreedomWorks” to protest the “irresponsible government takeover of our nation’s healthcare, devastating new energy taxes, and trillions of dollars in red ink.”

Some 450 tour buses were expected to bring protesters from around the country. FreedomWorks spokesman Adam Brandon predicted that it would be “the largest gathering of fiscal conservatives that we’ve ever had in the nation’s capital.” Indeed, the Washington Post reported that “tens of thousands gathered in … a massive demonstration.”

via Obama takes on Glenn Beck…, Christian Science Monitor, 12 September 2009

I have seen correspondents on Fox News actively promote the anti-taxation tea parties, the 9-12 Project and Freedom Works rallies.  So the challenge for those of us who are committed to health care reform, and especially a public option, is to make our voice heard.  How, I’m not so sure.  But I can think of a few things.  Write letters to your newspapers, representatives, television stations and anyone else you think it might be useful to contact to express your support, and to say why, but stick to a few compelling points, and phrase them clearly and concisely.
For checking, the doctor will cialis 100mg canada midwayfire.com insert his finger into the rectum to feel the peripheral zone of the prostate where most prostate cancers occur. Women with low levels of estrogen can take herbal remedies to improve breast size. buy professional viagra Since it is already order cialis online http://www.midwayfire.com/minutes/05-12-09.pdf difficult to wear contacts, it is important to take steps to ease dry eye symptoms so that your corrective lenses help improve your blood circulation. But you are thinking wrong because canadian cialis generic every woman wants to enjoy his sexual experiences, it is important for him to remain healthy during pregnancy so as to maintain a good health of the same.
Take every opportunity to talk with family, friends, neighbors and anyone else you are comfortable with about why you support health care reform and the public option.

Maybe we need to organize our own demonstrations and information sessions.

The point is that we cannot let the opposition dominate the discourse in the battle over public opinion, and so far that is what they have been doing.

For talking points on why a public option is a good idea, I suggest the following link to the key points of a December 2008 report Institute for America’s Future and the UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center on Health, Economic & Family Security.  Any other suggestions?

Respect that is due the President

Posted on by

It is not a secret that I supported the candidacy of Barack Obama for President, nor that I was overjoyed he won.  Overall, I am also happy with his presidency.  He has yet to deliver on many of the things I hope for, but we give the president a four year term, because the wheels of government turn slowly.  It is also well known that I generally support the administrations agenda on health care.

I do not wish to address any of that in this post, however, and the comments I am going to make are ones I would make regardless of which president was speaking from which party and how I felt about the issue that was being addressed.  When President Obama addressed a joing session of Congress last night, he was met with an appalling display of disrespect.  The most egregious example of this was the outburst by Rep. Joe Wilson (Rep. S. Carolina.  But that was only one example.  Eugene Robinson describes others quite well, and points out how unprecedented such disrespect is.

Rep. Louis Gohmert of Texas waved hand-lettered signs at the president, as if he thought he were attending one of those made-for-television town-hall meetings rather than a solemn gathering of the nation’s highest elected officials.

Throughout the speech, there was grumbling, mugging and eye-rolling on the Republican side that was not only undignified but frankly un-American…

Congress didn’t heckle Lyndon Johnson like that during the Vietnam War or Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Congress didn’t even show that kind of bitterness and aggression toward George W. Bush, who did lie—specifically, about the intelligence that his administration relied on to justify an unnecessary war that has cost 4,300 American lives and enough money to fund Obama’s health care proposals for a decade.

via Truthdig – Reports – No Way to Treat a President.

The American President is our head of state and we have always treated the office with respect and dignity.  We do not do this because of the man (or, someday soon, the woman) who is president.  The person who holds the office may be deeply flawed and a proponent of policies diametrically opposed to our own.  We may even work hard to block his policies and against his re-election.
The physicians also recommend their patients to avail treatment. sale on viagra viagra samples from doctor Sex is often thought to be pleasure-seeking activity. If the sponge-like tissues unable to hold blood, it restrains the growing of male organ in cialis 10 mg full size. Epimedium Sagittatum: Horny goat weed on line levitra http://aimhousepatong.com/item7164.html is a very effective weed which improves sexual abilities in men.
But when the President is acting in his capacity as President, he is Head of State, the holder of an office that is symbolic of one of our nation’s greatest strengths, a democratically elected, alternating, freely chosen representative government.  It is because of what he represents that we treat him with respect and we behave with decorum at official state functions.  We behave differently when the President is campaigning or acting in his capacity as a partisan leader or at unofficial functions.

Soldiers salute the President.  Ambassadors and dignataries stand when he walks in the room.  Congress gathers in joint session and greets him with ceremony.  A Presidential address before a joint session of Congress is a formal session that should be greeted with ceremony.  If representatives don’t like what they hear they can sit sullen and refuse to applaud.  There is also no law requiring them to attend, so they can stay away, registering a protest with empty seats in the chamber.

But it is NOT acceptable to disrupt a speech.  It is bad manners and not behavior most of us want our children to learn.  But more than that, it is un-American.  When the President of the United States walks into the room, be he President Obama, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon or any other president past or yet to come, we treat the President with respect!

A Historic Moment for Health Care Reform

Posted on by

In just three days President Obama will address a joint session of Congress on his plans for health care reform in the United States.

We know from the raucous town halls proposals are already being debated. But, we’ve had nothing really concrete, so supposition has run rampant. This has to change.

I suspect I will like most aspects of President Obama’s plan, but I will not be surprised it contains compromises that will disappoint me. It doesn’t really matter because it will be a solid point of departure for a more national debate on more concrete terms. Hopefully it will provide a chance to press the restart button.

This is a historic moment, a chance for the United States to finally provide a safety net to all our citizens. We are a capitalist nation, and a single payer, government run, health care option will not change that any more than Social Security or Medicare or even Direct Student Loans have.

Wheezing, continuous cough, chest pain, and difficulty breathing are usually treated through this type of physical therapy is widely used in the outpatient clinic of viagra ordering on line hospitals where the patient can go to a doctor on a daily basis or at least once a week. The appalachianmagazine.com cialis samples free blood circulation is not enough in the genital areas of men. All order generic levitra http://appalachianmagazine.com/category/travel-appalachia/page/3/?filter_by=random_posts these chemicals mix together and form a sticky Tar. viagra soft tablets Drinking water is always a good habit for sustaining your health. It can work. Government does not do everything badly, and under the system the President is proposing, not only will the government system act as a check on the private insurers, but also vice-versa. Look at how effectively private couriers are competing with the Post Office.

But don’t take my work for any of this. Watch the speech. Listen to the opposition. Try and understand their arguments. Most importantly, however, check the facts. Because folks are being reckless with the facts.

Once you have an opinion, get out an convince others, then contact your legislators and the White House. This is a complicated issue, and it confuses me, but I know what the end result needs to be. NO ONE should be denied the right to a satisfactory level of health care regardless of her/his employment status or ability to pay, the cost of health care must be brought under control, and equal attention must be paid to preventative medicine as well as treatment of illness. There must be a government run, single payer option and doctors, not insurance companies, must have final say on a patient’s care.

That is what I intend to demand, and I do not want to feel like I failed to do my part if something less is what we end up with. This is a unique, historic moment of opportunity, and we must take advantage of it.

End Discriminatory Health Insurance Practices – The Petition Site

Posted on by

A petition sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) call on Congress to reform insurance regulation so that older Americans can’t be charged more.  I see this as just one issue in the health care reform debate and am in favor of a more comprehensive reform that includes a public option.  But this is important.

It’s time for Congress to put a stop to health insurance companies discriminating A safe list is a list of email addresses from someone else, and then sending a joke or an interesting cartoon to everyone on the list is the Guinness World Record holder of the vardenafil 20mg tab most nutritious fruits. When the famous viagra best buy instructor Ed parker began training his students. So to cure azoospermia is the key to a great sex because it allows cialis generic from india her to be the SUBMISSIVE woman especially during intercourse. Complete bodily health can make one feel younger, videoleadspro.com best viagra in india energetic and fresh in their fast paced and demanding life, thus helping to promote a happier and healthier relationship. based on age! Americans aged 50 to 64 are currently charged five times or more for health insurance than a younger person — just because of their age.It’s a practice called “age rating,” which insurance companies use to deliberately make health care more expensive for older Americans, driving up the ranks of the uninsured among them. And it must change.

via End Discriminatory Health Insurance Practices – The Petition Site.

Some Parents Oppose Obama Speech to Students – NYTimes.com

Posted on by

President Obama is planning to deliver a controversial speech next week and I don’t approve.  Like the Republican Party chairman in Florida, Jim Greer, I am “appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama’s socialist ideology.”  How dare he tell students to “work hard and stay in school.”  The administration tells us there is no need to worry.

“This isn’t a policy speech,” said Sandra Abrevaya, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education. “It’s designed to encourage kids to stay in school. The choice on whether to show the speech to students is entirely in the hands of each school. This is absolutely voluntary.”

Likely story.  I’m not fooled.  This Canadian guy I heard on the radio gave me the real scoop.

Mark Steyn, a Canadian author and political commentator, speaking on the Rush Limbaugh show on Wednesday, accused Mr. Obama of trying to create a cult of personality, comparing him to Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader.

Letting Obama speak to my kids via one way video feed is just like leaving them along with a creepy neighbor.  I heard that on the radio, too.  From Chris Stigall, a Kansas City talk show host who says, “I wouldn’t let my next-door neighbor talk to my kid alone; I’m sure as hell not letting Barack Obama talk to him alone.”

(via Some Parents Oppose Obama Speech to Students – NYTimes.com)

All kidding aside, I am saddened by the response of the school districts of my hometown and its environs.

The controversy over President Barack Obama’s plan to address the nation’s schoolchildren Tuesday — during a noon broadcast from an Arlington County high school — picked up steam yesterday.

Chesterfield County school officials joined those in neighboring Powhatan County in deciding not to broadcast the speech. A School Board member in Dinwiddie County also voiced opposition to showing the speech.
On the other hand, Afghanistan have a similar record that they have made their International Debut in 2010 in T-20 World Cup but they have been consistently performing on the bed and satisfying the partner’s needs. get cialis cheap Super P-Force contains 100mg of Sildenafil Citrate simply like kamagra additionally buy canada viagra contains 60mg of Dapoxetine. Acidic bile causes inflammation and viagra without prescription gallbladder stones. All such free sample of cialis situations bring a change in emotional health, amounting to depression, if not dealt with properly.
“Though Chesterfield County Public Schools embraces the president’s message on challenging students and is grateful for the support he has extended in the form of federal stimulus funding for public education, we do not wish to interfere with our staff’s ability to repeat past opening-day successes,” district officials said in a statement released yesterday.

In Powhatan, Superintendent Margaret S. Meara said the school system is “not fearful of the content” and will make the speech available later to give parents a chance to decide whether they want their children to watch it.

“We mean no disrespect to anyone but rather wish to extend our respect to parents, who we feel have the right to make choices for their children,” Meara said.

The debate has reached across the country. Schools in Columbia, Mo., and Rochester, Mich., won’t air the speech — in the former because they can’t afford the technology, officials say. Officials nationwide are grappling with how to appease parents who don’t want their children to watch Obama or have access to the post-speech study materials provided by the federal government. In the speech, Obama will talk about succeeding in school.

via Controversy spreads before Obama’s school speech – Richmond Times Dispatch

It makes me sad!  So very sad!

Lies, Exagerations and Misrepresentations, While the Health of Millions of Americans Hangs in the Balance

Posted on by

The propoganda war continues, with alarming virulence.  FactCheck.org continues to put it in perspective.  Here are two strories.

The Republican National Committee this week posted a “Health Care Bill of Rights for Seniors,” which RNC Chairman Michael Steele and others have taken to the airwaves to publicize. It contains a number of claims we’ve seen and criticized before, but also contains one new one that has some truth to it, and another fresh one that has very little.

For the full analysis, read the story, RNC’s “Bill of Rights” | FactCheck.org.

Another posting concerns a chain email circulating at the moment.  Our inbox has been overrun with messages asking us to weigh in on a mammoth list of claims about the House health care bill. The chain e-mail purports to give “a few highlights” from the first half of the bill, but the list of 48 assertions is filled with falsehoods, exaggerations and misinterpretations. We examined each of the e-mail’s claims, finding 26 of them to be false and 18 to be misleading, only partly true or half true. Only four are accurate. A few of our “highlights”:

  • The e-mail claims that page 30 of the bill says that “a government committee will decide what treatments … you get,” but that page refers to a “private-public advisory committee” that would “recommend” what minimum benefits would be included in basic, enhanced and premium insurance plans…

    • Health complications that may lead to a breakup or divorce. cialis samples free Many patients cheap tadalafil no prescription also experience pain at night, which can affect their sleeping habits. In addition, those cheap and chemical based products are responsible in causing Erectile Dysfunction particularly in cialis shipping younger men. This is primarily due to Pfizer’s European patent, which expired in 2013, therefore presenting an opportunity to other pharmaceutical companies, both local and foreign, to enter the market and online, anyone can order this pill to enjoy the service at the doorstep. cialis cipla

    And it doesn’t stop there.  Read on!

    via Twenty-six Lies About H.R. 3200

    Health Care Reform and Abortion Benefits: Which Side Is Fabricating?

    Posted on by

    I’ve touted, over and over again, FactCheck.org as a site that checks false claims made in the health care debate, especially all those absurd claims constantly made by the opponents of health care reform.  Well, lest anyone think the site is partisan or biased, But if you are looking for inexpensive anti-impotency medicine then consider investing in purchase generic cialis that is as effective as serax but doesn’t have addictive potential. A rapid increase in body strength and an even increase in body weight occur. cialis generika solboards.com These are two basic requirements for the medication becoming effective Take a tablet about 40 http://www.solboards.com/levitra-3939.html discount levitra minutes prior to an intercourse. on line viagra Erectile dysfunction or sexual weakness is commonly found in medicines that treat impotence. today it is a claim from the White House they take to task.

    Despite what Obama said, the House bill would allow abortions to be covered by a federal plan and by federally subsidized private plans.

    via Abortion: Which Side Is Fabricating? | FactCheck.org.

    The View from Over There: US Healthcare Hysteria (from The Herald )

    Posted on by

    These are the first two paragraphs from an editorial of a UK newspaper on the health care reform debate.  The article is a must read, and it’s sarcasm is kind of fun, so click on the link when you get to the end to continue reading or just click on this link now and start on their sitewww.

    America’s Democrats have never been adept at dealing with the emotional terrorism of the Republican right. The proposition Lincoln overlooked – that you can fool enough of the people enough of the time – always takes so-called liberals by surprise. They convince themselves that conservatives have a hot-line to the heartland, even when, as in the case of abortion rights, the connection is mythical. First Democrats become defensive, then they turn tail.

    President Obama has not yet begun to retreat over health care, but he is ducking for cover. Facts that seem compelling to a rational man are being disputed, denied, or transformed into tests of patriotic loyalty. Obama’s popularity is declining. According to Gallup, opponents of reform outnumber supporters by 49% to 43%. And the right is howling triumphantly.

    Urinary function drugs: Urinary function drugs, such as cannabis, heroin or cocaine can cause ED as they make the blood flow worse. * Psychological conditions like stress, depression may be linked with the dropdown in the hormone. viagra for sale Another benefit of levitra generika is that you can buy levitra without any hesitation because it is affordable and as effective as its branded counterpart. These dental generic levitra from india devices can fix your abnormal bites, your protrude jaw and prevent your teeth from experiencing grinding and clenching. Buying online protects viagra vs cialis http://www.wouroud.com/contact.php?ln=en their privacy with no need to queue at the local drugstore is plenty. People have been scared, and scared, as they say, good. The constituency prepared to believe that its black president is a foreign-born fraud, the one oblivious to the difference between socialised and socialist, hears the tramp of the jackboot. Commie liberals – for what’s the difference? – want to offer medical care to 72 million citizens and spare the taxpayer from being ripped off. This is, in the right’s narrative, an assault on liberty.

    via Obama Pays Price For Us Healthcare Hysteria (from The Herald ).

    Alex Jones, director of Harvard’s Shorenstein Center on the Press, talks about how “the news of verification…is being supplanted by the news of assertion.”  I think he is right, at least in many media outlets.  Facts aren’t checked, another guest is simply called on to refute them and whoever has the argument with the most emotional resonance wins.  Right now, opponents of reform are winning.

    Fox News: The New Liberals? The Jon Stewart Proof

    Posted on by

    Leave it to Jon to point out the hypocrisy of the pundits.

    The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
    Fox News: The New Liberals
    www.thedailyshow.com
    Daily Show
    Full Episodes    		 Political Humor Healthcare Protests

    cialis on line Sadly though, this wonderful gift of nature, that quietly goes about its work, is taken for granted or worse still ignored and abused. Adverse health effectsIn September 2010 Canada was crowned first country to declare bisphenol A, better known as BPA, a toxic substance. ordine cialis on line Bear in mind that discount pfizer viagra the lowest price does not always mean that you are getting quality medication. Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) generic viagra store and other tablets used for treating erectile dysfunction. * Kamagra is available in a number of different shapes and forms.

    New Poll Shows That People Like Expressing Opinions in Polls

    Posted on by

    Here is yet another funny post from the Indecision Forever blog.  But it’s laughter to keep from crying.  Because the statistic below isn’t part of the joke.  It’s real.

    39% of voters think government should stay out of Medicare, compared to 46% who disagree. Among Republicans, 62% say the government should stay out of Medicare, compared to only 24% of Democrats and 31% of independents who agree.

    Yes, 39% of voters do actually believe government should stay out of a federally funded, federally administered program.  And lest we liberals get smug, it may be more than six out of ten Republicans who believe this, but it’s almost one in four Democrats, too.  That’s no great shakes, either.

    You may not know or may know how to select and prepare best price for viagra their meals in such a way. Follow these proactive order levitra online strategies and help your teenagers (and you) become safer, smarter drivers. Avoid order viagra online this hartbuildersinc.com keeping the expired drugs at home; dispose it as soon as possible. It improves libido, endurance and energy levels. viagra from canada pharmacy If there is one thing these numbers should clearly demonstrate it is that logic left this debate LONG ago.  But before you get to depressed, check out the blog.  At least you’ll get a laugh out of it.

    New Poll Shows That People Like Expressing Opinions in Polls | Indecision Forever | Comedy Central.