HEALTH CARE: RETURN OF THE BUNGLED TEA PARTY PROTESTS -

• Congressional Republicans have been holding a series of protests on the hill regarding health care reform legislation…of course they’re not calling them “protests,” but are rather using the term “press conferences.“  It’s what we have come to expect:  buses sponsored by “astroturf” groups dumping groups of disgruntled citizens at the Capitol steps…check.  Wildly inaccurate, misspelled, racist, and occasionally simply bizarre hand-held signs (including one featuring pictures of holocaust victims, comparing health reform to Nazi genocide)…check.  A Republican legislator (Rep. Todd Akin, R-MO) botching the Pledge of Allegiance right after extolling the importance of the pledge…check.  Another Republican representative (John Boehner, R-OH) holding up a copy of the Constitution, claiming that it is the most important guide to his actions and that he’d like to read a little excerpt from it…then proceeding to read from the Declaration of Independence…check.  Fox News, using an outdated photograph to misrepresent the attendance at the gathering (not the first time they’ve done this), only to get busted by Jon Stewart of The Daily Show…check.  For your viewing pleasure, here’s the Daily Show clip:

• The protests weren’t the only “health-care related” spectacle.  Here again is Jon Stewart…to address the OTHER antics of our elected officials:

THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: Pro-Sex Offender?

• If you’ve heard about the conservative Heritage Foundation, it is probably due to the health care debate…where they have been quick to provide reform opponents with a variety of unfathomably unscientific and skewed “studies” with which to do battle.  They also have some rather interesting legal opinions, which they present on their sister website, Overcriminalized.com.  The Heritage Foundation claims that the site “...describes the trend in America -- and particularly in Congress -- to use the criminal law to “solve” every problem, punish every mistake (instead of making proper use of civil penalties), and coerce Americans into conforming their behavior to satisfy social engineering objectives.”  What examples do they give of unnecessary laws, to address minor “mistakes” that they’d rather see handled in civil proceedings?  How about HR5652, the Child Slavery Prevention Act of 2008…which provides strict sentences to people who engage in human trafficking and sex slavery.  And they’re not too fond of HR1632, the International Megan’s Law of 2009, which requires that sex offenders report any intention of travelling abroad, and prevents foreign sex offenders who committed their crimes against children from coming into our country.  And there’s HR3513, Prevention and Deterrence Of Crimes Against Children Act of 2009 (strongly penalizes those involved in child pornography), HR288, Save Our Children: Stop The Violent Predators Against Children DNA Act of 2009 (created the DNA database for use in identifying and prosecuting sex predators), and S431, Keeping the Internet Devoid of Sex Predators (KIDS) Act of 2007 (sex offenders have to register all online identifiers, IP address, email accounts, usernames, chat names).   Besides being an absolutely inane position to take, claiming that these bills are anything except a GOOD thing…it certainly seems an odd stance for a group that likes to portray themselves as the “law and order” crowd.

CONSERVATIVES: NO MUSLIMS IN THE MILITARY -

• You didn’t need to have a crystal ball to know that the right-wing response to the recent, tragic shooting at Fort Hood in Texas would focus on the fact that the shooter was a Muslim.  First there were calls for “screening Muslims” who want to serve in the military.  Besides the obviously xenophobic and discriminatory aspects of this suggestion,  it is clear that effecting such a policy would be difficult, given our military has been repeatedly and desperately lowering its recruiting standards, and currently fails to “screen out” members of biker gangs, street gangs, assorted violent felons, and individuals with terrifying mental histories.  Now, the American Family Association (you guessed it…with a name like that, it has to be a conservative activism group) wants to take things a step further: they call for a ban on Muslims in the military.  Quick little bit of history: In WWII…some of our greatest heroes were German-American soldiers who were very much in touch with their ancestry, but they put America first.  Also during WWII, Japanese-American soldiers, despite the internment of so many Japanese-Americans in camps…they put America first, served this country, and were recognized for their bravery and sacrifice.  If we were fighting in a Christian nation…would Christians not be allowed to serve, for fear of divided loyalty?  No…and Muslim-Americans who choose to bravely serve and protect our nation should continue to be afforded not only the opportunity…but also our full gratitude and respect.

CARRIE PREJEAN: FALL OF A POORLY CONCEIVED CONSERVATIVE ROLE MODEL -

• Quick Version: Carrie Prejean, Miss California, loses the Miss America pageant after saying that she opposes gay marriage.  Conservatives immediately hail Prejean as a hero, a wholesome Christian girl, and a victim of “political correctness.“  Prejean makes the rounds, speaking at conservative symposiums, tearfully recalling how she believes her First Amendment rights were violated (for the hundredth time…no, Carrie: the government never prevented you from exercising your free speech).  The Miss California Pageant fires Prejean, and wants the money for her boob job back (they paid for it) because despite being a “wholesome Christian girl” Prejean apparently never learned the whole “Christian-work-ethic-thing,” and has been ditching on her contractual commitments.  Prejean cries “religious discrimination” and sues the pageant for millions.  A sex tape appears…when the pageant’s lawyers bring it to a hearing (ouch).  Prejean drops her lawsuit…conservative groups drop her as a guest speaker.  Prejean tries to get her ex-boyfriend (the source of the tape) to say it was from a LONG time ago…he refuses and tells TMZ it was from 2007.  Now…here’s my favorite part: despite all this, Prejean is STILL plugging her new book on the talk show rounds, and I guess she just didn’t figure anybody would ask her about the lawsuit, and the reason she had to drop it.  Enjoy this bit from Larry King Live, where Prejean regresses to the level of an eight-year-old:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwwZ1ZJrkE

LOU DOBBS: DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU…

• Lou Dobbs…has quit CNN.   When one examines even just his most awful, most racist, most insane moments (much less his consistent stream of unresearched, patently false, and journalistically irresponsible claims), you are left asking: Why was he allowed to continue for so long? Here’s a compilation of some of Lou’s worst moments…CNN is planning to replace him with John King, which can only be an improvement.

Tomorrow…it’s time for our weekly “Chaos Theory” edition, where we’ll try to wrap up all remaining items from the week.  Until then…

Let’s take a quick look at the recent activities within each camp:

Democrats: Working under the assumption that the bill will survive the committee, Democrats are already heavily engaged in internal negotiations.  It is important to remember that the so-called “Baucus Bill” will have to be merged/reconciled with the Health Care Reform bills coming out of the other Senate and House committees.  While most of these bills carry a large number of common elements, Democrats are working to resolve within their own ranks the support for things such as the “public option,” and whether the bill will be “paid for” with income-based taxes (preferred in the House) or taxes on the so-called “cadillac policies” (favored in the Senate).

Republicans: The GOP is having internal disputes as well…but of a very different nature.  The current leadership has drawn a hard line in pushing a “kill the bill, and defeat Obama” policy.  This policy was dealt its first blow, as Republican strategists pointed out that “Yay, We Killed Health Care Reform” is not a slogan they’ll want to use in the 2010 and 2012 elections…defeating Obama might look good on paper, but if it means publicly destroying the reform of a dismal health care system, then it will likely cost them more votes than it gains.  Then, another shock to the system: respected, GOP, elder statesmen started coming forward in support of Health Care Reform…some of them experts on Health Care.  These figures included former Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, former Senate Majority Leader and presidential candidate Bob Dole, former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (a surgeon),  former administrator of Medicare and Medicaid Mark McClellan.  These men would soon be joined by some very high profile members of the current leadership, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, the latter of which is considered a health care policy expert.

While these announcements of support of Health Care Reform may have swayed some critical, moderate members of the GOP…their party leadership was unfazed, and they promptly let it be known that there would be consequences for GOP members who supported reform.  Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who holds a key vote on the Senate Finance Committee, would likely not be given the chairmanship of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, a post for which she is next in line. Snowe’s answer?  She’s voting for the bill: “Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it.  Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls, and I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.”

Health Insurance Industry: Up until yesterday, the industry was thought to be “on board” with the Baucus Bill.  Why WOULDN’T they be?  It has everything they could hope for:  No public option….check.  Everyone forced to buy their policies…check.  Fines for people who refuse to buy their policies…check.  Huge government subsidies so they’ll cover poorer people…check.  Few reforms forcing them to offer better policies and service…check.  No significant price controls…check.  So why, on the eve of the vote, would the industry’s top lobbying group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), suddenly declare war on the bill?  Two reasons…

1 - While it requires people to buy their lousy and overpriced policies, and fines people if they don’t…the industry doesn’t THINK THE FINES ARE HIGH ENOUGH.  So…they worry that they’ll only get 20 million new customers, not all 40 million uninsured.

2 - The new requirement that they have to cover sick people and people with pre-existing conditions…will just plain eat into their profits too much.

So, AHIP and it’s president Karen Ignagni, have released a study, a day before the vote, that constitutes a simple THREAT:  “If you pass this bill…we’ll just have to raise everybody’s premiums by 111%.“  Then, just for good measure…they started running ads trying to scare seniors that their Medicare Benefits would be cut.

The reaction of the White House and Congress…NOT WHAT AHIP EXPECTED.  The White House pointed out that the timing of the report is clearly political in nature (thank you, Captain Obvious)…members of Congress, including members of the Senate Finance Committee, condemned the report as “untrue, disingenuous“…health care experts and critics point out that the assumptions of the study are quite extreme, and that the company responsible for the study, PricewaterhouseCoopers, is the same company that produced a study on behalf of “Big Tobacco” years ago, and that study showed that taxes on cigarettes would lead to economic armageddon.

But the best reaction came from some rather astute legislators like Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY):  This outlandish study…shows EXACTLY WHY we need the public option.  This study, ironically produced by the Health Insurance lobby, serves to illustrate clearly:

- The only thing to keep the insurance companies from passing on increased taxes on their business straight onto the premiums of their policyholders…is the public option.

-  The only thing to keep the insurance companies from passing on the cost of covering sick people and people with pre-existing conditions onto their other customers…is the public option.

-  The only thing to keep the insurance companies from punitively punishing the American citizenry for supporting health reform…is the public option.

In short, we know that these companies will not allow ANYTHING to cut into their enormous profit margins…not taxes, not sick people, not expectations of quality…not unless they are PRESSURED through competition in the marketplace to do so.  As Representative Weiner points out, the only way to subject these companies to the pressures of competition, would be through the implementation of a low cost, government-run alternative.

Otherwise…for the industry it will just be business as usual.  And we are all very familiar with what that looks like.

Parting note: Interesting article on “Five Things You Don’t Know About The Senate Health Care Bill.“  Check it out.

1 -- Tell us the truth.

2 -- Listen to what we do/don’t want.

3 -- Realize what we do/don’t need.

4 -- Fight for us.

When presented with exactly that kind of legislator, on the silver screen, we cheer…our eyes tear up…and part of us says, “That’s what we want.”

Then…we give up on it.

We have grown all too accustomed to our elected officials taking money, playing politics, lying to us, and otherwise distorting the truth for either partisan interests or special interests.  We abandon our idealistic hopes for honest, principled leaders…and try our best to judge simply “the lesser of evils.“  We barely flinch at a new headline about a senator (who preached “character” and “morality”) propositioning men in an airport bathroom…we calmly listen as we are told that the senator holding the fate of health care reform in his hands, has received millions from the health care industry.  Do we clamor for their removal?  Do we vote them out of office? No…in fact, we are more likely to re-elect them again, and again, and again.

That’s why, it should be refreshing to all to see a freshman congressman stand on the floor of the House, and say this:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxNpyGg_Sgo

If you’re like me, you watched this whole clip, including the interview…and then you went back and watched the speech again.

His name is Alan Grayson, freshman representative from the state of Florida.  And yes, he’s wearing a bad suit…and yes, he’s obviously got a quirky sense of humor…and yes, he’s a Democrat.  And none of that should matter…because he’s reminding us what truly DOES matter.  If we’ve forgotten…and have been lulled into thinking it’s about who looks prettier…or who gives folksier sounding soundbytes for the camera…or who can instill the most fear in us…then THIS shall serve as our wake up call.  This is the kind of representative we should expect in BOTH parties, Republican AND Democrat.  This is the kind of representative we should be electing in ALL fifty states.  This…is the kind of voice that appears to be completely absent from the top leadership of both parties in Congress.  Most of us would trade away Reid, Pelosi, Boehner, and McConnell…for just ONE Alan Grayson.

Apparently…many agree.  Grayson’s first speech to catch national attention, can be seen here…and afterwards his website was flooded with visits, AND donations.  People who don’t even live in Florida are now closely following, and supporting, Grayson’s bid for re-election.  People who don’t even know the names of their OWN senators and representatives, know HIS name.

Why? Because what he said in the speech…is true: when appealing to the better angels of our nature, we really don’t care about policies, or procedures, or personalities, or even our representatives’ itty bitty feelings.  And as jaded as we have become, all it takes is one elected official behaving as we would hope they all would…and we start cheering for the underdog again.

Thank you, Alan Grayson. Thank you, for being honest, and cutting through all the semantics, and procedural nonsense, and political hackery…to remind us that health care is, in fact, a simple issue.  Thank you for reminding us that people are dying, and the health insurance is failing us, and that some politicians…don’t care.

Because, while it certainly stings to realize how little some of our representatives care…it is always inspiring to find one who REALLY does.

If you, like so many others, wish to support Grayson…perhaps to send the message to other politicians that this kind of honesty, real representation, and passion IS what we want…here’s Grayson’s website.