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PROTEST HR 3962, Or Be Stuck With Corporate Medical Insurance Racket For The Rest Of Our Lives

By The Pen

> From: The Pen <activist.thepen@gmail.com>
> Subject: [Corrected] PROTEST HR 3962, Or Be Stuck With Corporate Medical Insurance Racket For The Rest Of Our Lives
> To: Austin Kuder
> Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 4:50 AM
>
> Who Else Wants To Get SERIOUS About Real Health Care
> Reform??
>
> We need the help of every one of our participants who has a
> website
> (if not please read on because there is an individual
> action page as
> well). We have created a simple and small sized (182x228
> pixels) web
> page module, perfect for the side bar of your web page,
> where people
> can watch the latest of the "I'm A Democrat, And I'm A
> Republican"
> videos. To get this feature for your website just put the
> following
> code anywhere on your web page.
>
> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://tcxs.net/1.js"></script>
>
> If you are on MySpace or Facebook or another site that
> disallows
> javascript, you can copy the alternate code from this page.
>
>
> http://www.peaceteam.net/mfa.htm
>
> We have already shot six of these incredibly professional
> looking
> videos, making the point (with wit and humor) that NEITHER
> the
> Democrats, NOR the Republicans, are actually interested in
> real
> health care reform. The Democrats are forcing consideration
> of only
> plans that further empower the medical insurance
> corporations that
> are ripping us off now. The Republican are only interested
> in
> derelict non-regulation, achieving the same end result by
> default.
>
> By getting more and more people to watch these videos, we
> will
> mobilize people to submit this fax action page, which sends
> a
> strongly worded but even tempered petition (which you can
> read on the
> page), stating in essence that we the people are demanding
> real
> reform and will not be fooled again. And you can add your
> own
> personal comments as well. WATCH the video also on this
> page.
>
> Medicare For All FREE Fax Action Page:
> http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1020.php
>
> There will be a new video release in the "I'm A Democrat,
> I'm A
> Republican" series once a week, and the web page module
> will
> automatically update with the latest video. And we are
> asking you,
> our participants to submit the petition yourself ALSO once
> a week. We
> need to speak out and keep speaking out, until Congress
> finally gets
> the message, to stop fooling around and do what should have
> been done
> in the first place, pass economical and efficient Medicare
> for All.
>
> Folks, we are dedicating the next couple months of our
> lives to
> stopping the phony reform, and forcing Congress to get real
> about
> good public policy. The bill that passed the House last
> week, HR
> 3962, represents one of the most profound betrayals in
> American
> political history. Forget the fact that the Republicans
> oppose it as
> well, they would oppose anything coming out of a Congress
> where they
> did not have majority control. WE must oppose HR 3962
> because it is a
> transparent sham, a total sellout to the medical insurance
> industry.
>
> You don't have to believe us. Believe the corporate
> analysts
> themselves gloating about the additional windfall profits
> they are
> predicting from this fatally corrupt bill, that purports to
> FORCE all
> Americans to buy a plan from a lobbyist designed
> restrictive
> "market", where at least 90% of the American people would
> be excluded
> from participating in the feeble non-competitive "public"
> option
> provided, even if we wanted to. They might as well now call
> it the
> "welfare" option, because all it really represents is
> welfare FOR the
> insurance companies.
>
> The Republicans condemn the bill because they demagogue
> that it does
> too much. The truth is that it does so LITTLE, that by the
> time the
> Senate gets through with it we expect there will be nothing
> left that
> any progressive could cheer about. The ultimate Benedict
> Arnold, Joe
> Lieberman says HR 3962 is dead on arrival. So we might as
> well throw
> it in the medical waste bin where it belongs and start from
> scratch,
> then let him try to filibuster what the American people
> REALLY want.
>
> And we are especially ashamed of the Congressional
> so-called
> "Progressive" Caucus which, except for Kucinich and Massa,
> have
> demonstrated once again how utterly worthless they are as
> representatives for the people of their districts.
>
> From time to time we will get email from some of you
> arguing that
> there is no point in emailing hardcore Republicans, for
> those of you
> who live in such districts where that is your current
> representation.
> We disagree about that of course. Never should we let the
> worst
> members of Congress think that even people in their own
> districts are
> just going to roll over and take just keep taking it in
> silence.
>
> But for crying out loud, at least the liberals ought to be
> listening
> to us. And for the presumptive liberals to wave through a
> bill that
> as a bottom line makes exploitive and overpriced corporate
> insurance
> MANDATORY, under threat of the police power of the IRS, is
> so
> outrageous it defies belief. Each and every one of these
> gutless
> wonders needs to hear our protests now.
>
> Medicare For All FREE Fax Action Page:
> http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum1020.php
>
> And if that wasn't bad enough, the Stupak amendment,
> forbidding a
> woman to even use her own money to pay for an abortion,
> because no
> plan in the new market will be allowed to provide such a
> service,
> even if the plan that woman was forced to buy was paid for
> with 100%
> of her own money, is so far out into reactionist
> wowee-wowee land, it
> is incredulous that any so-called progressive could have
> voted for
> final passage with such a provision in there, especially as
> they had
> already SWORN not to support a bill with such a weak joke
> of a public
> plan.
>
> So now, and only in response to our outrage, some of them
> are
> backtracking, SAYING that draconian anti-choice provision
> needs to
> come out of the final bill. Have you ever heard such
> worthless lip
> service in your life (apart from their lip service of last
> week, last
> month, the year before that, etc.)? Where were the voices
> of these
> miserable cowards in Congress, trying to pass themselves
> off as our
> progressive representatives, when they voted for FINAL
> passage in the
> first place? Who can count on them to put up a fight even
> one time
> any time in the future, if they could and would not do so
> last week?
>
> And the ultimate answer remains what it has always been. IF
> AND WHEN
> enough of us speak out at ONCE, and declare that we will no
> longer
> support their perpetual shinola, then and only then will we
> get real
> policy change. We live for the day when we can build such a
> base to
> make it so. That day can be today! So please submit the fax
> action
> page once a week, encourage everyone you know to do the
> same, put the
> video module on all of your websites so we can get hundreds
> of
> thousands of views, and like numbers of action page
> submissions. Then
> we will have a real movement for real policy change.
>
> And here is the one click Facebook page for this same fax
> action.
>
> Single Payer Amendments Action:
> http://apps.facebook.com/fb_voices/action.php?qnum=pnum1020
>
>
> And the Twitter reply to send, to send this message to all
> your
> members of Congress that way, is
>
> @cxs #p1020
>
> Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that
> are supposed
> to be ours, and forward this alert as widely as possible.
>
> If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so
> at
> http://www.peaceteam.net/in.htm
 

GHOSTWRITERS FOR CONGRESS

By Austin Kuder

In the official record of the historic House debate on health care overhaul, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident.
Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies.
E-mail messages obtained by the New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans.
Democrats emphasized the bill's potential to create jobs in health care, health information technology and clinical research on new drugs.
Republicans opposed the bill but praised a provision that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to approve generic versions of expensive biotechnology drugs, along the lines favored by brand-name companies like Genentech.
(my conclusion) Clearly lobbyists have two much influence. That is why the right to lobby Congress needs to be limited to citizens acting without being hired to lobby.

DENNIS KUCINICH VOTED AGAINST NON-REFORM

By Austin Kuder

Dennis Kucinich was unfairly criticized in a letter Wednesday. Dennis is right to object to the health care reform. It will not reduce costs. It will increase costs because the insurance companies will now have to cover even unhealthy people so they will increase their premiums.
The only way to reduce costs and cover everyone is to replace the for-profit insurance that we now have with Medicare for all. The current system takes $300 billion every year in administration costs. The 1,000-plus insurance companies each have CEO's taking millions and we are spending more than twice as much on health care as other countries and not covering everyone.
Dennis was criticized for eliminating health care jobs. That's a strange complaint for a conservative to make. Maybe he just doesn't like Dennis.

STOPPING JOB LOSS

By Austin Kuder

The German company that makes Hugo Boss clothing in Cleveland is threatening to leave in search of the cheapest wage. Ohio has lost over 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the year 2000. Our government must discourage more job loss.
I think Congress should pass a law that makes it a felony to remove used commercial machinery and equipment from the Country. Such penalties for attempting or actually doing so should be borne by the officers and supervisors of the company not the workers ordered to do so. If a company wants to leave they must auction the equipment and the facility within one month of the cessation of operations.
It is a waste of fuel and bad for the climate to ship goods all over the world that can be made locally. Commercial vessels generate pollution equal to 300 million cars.
I worry about the future of the USA. No country in history has been prosperous without a strong manufacturing base.

MAKE 'EM CRY!

By Austin Kuder

Remember when the Republicans were in power and they voted unanimously for everything Bush and company wanted? Why can't the Democrats do the same thing? They should study what pressures were exerted on the Republican Congressmen. Did Bush threaten them with rendition? Did Cheney threaten to "take them hunting"? What was it that made George Voinovich cry like a baby when he violated his own principles to approve their deficit spending?

The Democrats have the numbers. What they need now is the muscle to make their members vote in lockstep like the Republicans did. I say "make-em cry"!

HEALTH CARE EMERGENCY

By Austin Kuder

Why is the Federal Government involved providing the vaccine for the H1N1 flu? Aren't they bad at such things? Why isn't the health care industry taking care of this problem? Something to think about with a dash of sarcasm.

REGARDING CASINOS IN OHIO

By Austin Kuder

Thomas Suddes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is not supporting the issue that will permit Ohio to have it's own casinos. His article sounded like a Rush Limbaugh rant. After stretching the truth and obscuring the issues he exposed himself as ridiculous by saying that since issue 3 will permit us to have any game that our competition has that they are making the rules for us! That is laughable. One would hope that he would be honest and give his real reasons for objecting.

It is long since time for Ohioans to be able to keep our gambling money at home.

REBUILDING AFGHANISTAN

By Austin Kuder

I saw a public TV program in Afghanistan. They have our soldiers on patrol trying to win the hearts and minds of the people. These young men are no better able to do that now than they were in Vietnam years ago. A young soldier with a gun is dangerous and unlikely to convey protection or help. We are trying to protect the Afghans from the Taliban while the Taliban are trying to administer justice in their lawless society. The people are afraid to disobey the Taliban. The Taliban tells them not to co-operate with our military. The country is dysfunctional. The Taliban are performing a function that their government should be doing.

The only solution is to deny the Taliban the money it needs to function. They get their money from sympathetic fellow Muslim fundamentalists and from the proceeds of opium dealing. The only way for the Afghan government to succeed is it must deprive the Taliban of money and it must have money to provide law and justice instead of the Taliban.
In order to help them we must cease all military operations, destroy all poppy fields and compensate the farmers and protect them from retribution. They must be convinced to grow other crops. We also need to convince Muslims to stop supporting the Taliban. If we can't do that then we must give up and leave.

ENERGY MAMBO

By Austin Kuder

Our geniuses in the Ohio State legislature passed a law requiring us to use less electricity! Won't we need to create more electricity if we are going to replace fossil fuel burning cars with electric ones? The problem is not the electricity, it is the way it is made. We need them to work on smart grid technology and wind, solar and nuclear production of electricity not to interfere with progress and the free market.
Also, we don't need First Energy of Akron, Ohio ripping us off trying to jump through their dumb hoops. We already buy those energy efficient bulbs. Apparently, we are not as dim as our legislators are.

NEWS FLASH! CRIME IS INCREASING

By Austin Kuder

The Conservatives are wringing their hands about any news about crime. Every
report of violence has them blaming the people. What they forget is that there is no such
thing as a bad boy or bad people or bad workers. There is only bad parenting, bad
management and bad government. We are failing and the people are suffering as a result.
Our government has permitted our industries to leave the country along with the jobs. Our
corporate leaders are taking too much money in income and dividends effectively robbing
their workers and overcharging for their goods and services.

I'm no longer loyal to US car makers because our CEO's are taking 500 times the
average wages of our workers. The Japanese CEO's take much less. I no longer care what I
buy or who I buy it from because I have no idea if their CEO is a pig taking millions or
not.

The only way to get back on track is to prevent companies from taking their
equipment and machinery out of the country and to increase the upper tax brackets. Right
now the maximum of 35% is reached at $330,000. A person getting a reasonable executive
wage of $330,000 is in the same bracket as a hedge fund thief taking a billion! The tax
rate should be 99% for people taking over $ 1 billion. and the rate should rise from
$330,000 on a curve. We need the money to balance the budget and continue the recovery.
 

OVERPAID CEO'S

By Austin Kuder

Don't buy from these companies. You are over-paying because they are over-paying their CEO's.

Abercrombie & Fitch-$71.8 million
BJ Services-$34.6 million
Comcast 'A'-$40.8 million
International Paper-$38.2 million
Nabors Industries-$79.3 million

US HEALTHCARE IN CANADA?

By Austin Kuder

Canadians don't think of their health care system as radical. To them, it's just right. And if you want to really frighten them, you just need to talk about somebody's "secret agenda" to bring in "American-style" health care.
Under the current health care system, losing a job could mean losing your good health.
Criticisms of the proposed health care reform are counterproductive. No one is offering a viable alternative.

THE TEA BAGGERS

By Austin Kuder

The racists are coming out of the woodwork. They just want Obama to shut up and disappear. I hope that he has the courage to ignore them and carry on. He hasn't done anything to deserve the disrespect that he is getting. Where was all the concern about the deficit spending when it was a white man doing it when it wasn't even necessary?
If they want to balance the budget they wouldn't obstruct a tax increase on the rich. The maximum tax rate of 35% is reached at $330,000 of income. Why does it not increase from that point? The revenue that we need must come from the people that have the money. That is only logical. There are people taking millions and even billions in income and paying the same rate as those who are earning a reasonable executive wage. Where is the outrage about that!

OHIO REPRESENTATIVE JOSH MANDEL

By Austin Kuder

Josh Mandel, who has aspirations of higher office (even the highest) has been a ghost as my Ohio State Rep. He never sends newsletters. I am never informed of his votes on issues or even what the issues are. He never answers e-mails, he has assistants respond by phoning and leaving messages asking me to call back long distance. My former State Rep., Dean Depiero responded personally to every letter that I sent him. It takes much less effort to respond by e-mail. What is he doing to serve us?
Also, Josh Mandel collected his full State Rep. pay when he was activated to military duty while receiving his full military pay. Why is that not a scandal? When I was activated by the Ohio National Guard years ago, the only pay I received was from the Army.
I want an explanation from Mr. Mandel and I want him to do his job better.

EQUITY IN HEALTHCARE & PRESCRIPTION COSTS

By Austin Kuder

I was just prescribed skin cream by my dermatologist to treat a pre-cancerous skin condition. The medicine costs $600! This is an emotional issue for me because of my support for universal, single payer health care and my objection to the health care for profit industry that has helped make the USA uncompetitive in the world labor market.
It is against my principles to be favored over other people. You see, I only have to pay $15 because I am lucky to have good health care coverage. You can probably tell that I am not a Republican.
The real kicker is that my health care provider will not pay the full $600. They will probably get about a 50% discount. An un-insured person would undoubtedly do without. It is unfairness like this that makes me skeptical that we live in a Christian society.

HEALTHCARE

By Austin Kuder

Some say they don't want government-run health care. But it is already used by roughly 28% of Americans on a regular basis, and what's more, they have a highly favorable opinion of it.
Health care reform advocates are allowing conservatives to fool the public with the fallacy that the private market is somehow the solution. But there is a profound conflict between market goals and public health goals.

SENATOR GEORGE VOINOVICH & HEALTH CARE REFORM

By Austin Kuder

The Senator's article in Sunday's Plain Dealer was a lot of words providing no answers. He wants a sustainable, innovative, patient centered, waste reducing, simple solution that covers everyone, removes bureaucrats (like the 1,000 insurance companies we now have to deal with) and reduces the financial burden on business. The only instrument that fills that bill is single payer, universal health care. The Republicans are totally against that! Voinovich has just joined the pathological liars club along with Rush Limbaugggh.

WING-NUT WORLD REVIVED

By Austin Kuder

A small provision in the health care bill that would allow Medicare to reimburse doctors for time spent consulting with patients about their end-of-life choices is being willfully distorted by the newly rejuvenated wing-nut industry.
There are no "death panels" mentioned in any version of the health care bill. None. Nobody familiar with the various proposals of health care reform could credibly claim the government wants to kill the oldest and most vulnerable among us, including children with disabilities.
Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin count on most Americans never reading the proposed bills. They know that, in such an environment, misinformation works.
Apparently Sarah Palin has joined Rush Limbaugh in the pathological liars club (my conclusion).

  OurFuture.org
 
Dear Austin ,
For millions of Americans, Thanksgiving is home, food, and family. And for many of us, the inevitable polite conversation with the uncle who has squandered too many hours listening to Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
How are you to survive an evening with your Uncle Mortimer?
You know, the uncle who looks vaguely like Dick Cheney. He worships Ronald Reagan, considers "French" an insult, and wants to know where Obama was really born. Neither he nor his wife, Aunt Minerva, ever tips more than ten percent.
Uncle Mort knows you're a "liberal," and he eagerly sits next to you at the Thanksgiving table, armed and ready with the usual conservative tripe. Not surprisingly, he starts with what's hot:
***
Thanksgiving Day: Gearing up for the Chat with Uncle Mort
Mort: You hear about Sarah Palin's new book?
Austin : Uhhh...
Mort: She's on the march! Giving Republicans some backbone. Given the mess Obama has made of things, Americans are going to sweep Democrats out in the fall.
Austin : We'll see. Didn't work out for Republicans very well in upstate New York.
Mort: You watch. A Palin-Beck ticket will cast out Obama and his socialist crowd. The turkey.
Austin : Please, Obama's no turkey, he...
Mort: No, no. Pass the turkey. The problem with Barack Hussein Obama is that he's spending us into bankruptcy. And it hasn't worked!
Austin : How long did it take you to get that shop of yours to turn a profit? Two, three years. So Obama inherits the worst economy since the Great Depression, two wars, a broken health care system, an economic hole that took years to dig - and you want miracles in 10 months? In fact, he staved off the crash and the economy is showing some signs of life. More needs to be done.
If it weren't for the Recovery Act, layoffs at your nieces' schools would be twice as bad. In fact, what we need is more federal help - for states, for jobs rebuilding schools and roads. We need more jobs programs, not less. The gravy...
Mort: More spending isn't gravy, America can't afford it.
Austin : No, no, pass the gravy please.
Actually, we need more federal spending now. Unemployment could remain over 10 percent through all of next year unless Congress creates jobs. We need to put young people to work, aid states and localities to prevent layoffs of police and teachers, and expand investments in new energy and infrastructure to boost our economy.
We can afford it. Interest rates aren't soaring. And our debt and deficits will get worse if we don't get the economy going.
Mort: Ha! Your party is already going to create a one-trillion dollar deficit with its plan for a government takeover of all health care.
Austin : It's funny you say that. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the health care reform legislation will lower the federal deficit by more than $100 billion over the next ten years.
And it's not just about cost. Aunt Mary is terrified about losing her job because she won't get insured with her current ailments.
Well, under the reform, insurance companies no longer can deny people insurance for pre-existing conditions, or cut them off of insurance when they get sick. We've got a stake in this right here around this table.
Mort: Baloney.
Austin : I don't think that's on tonight's menu.
Mort: You know what I mean. Like "global warming," or does Al Gore call it "climate change" now? Nothing but an excuse for a giant Pelosi energy tax.
Austin : Come on, you can't believe this stuff. You don't want America to remain dependent on foreign oil, running up foreign debts to buy oil from countries that help finance the terrorists.
You laugh about ice caps melting - but I can tell you farmers care, and now insurance companies are starting to charge higher rates because of the cataclysms to come.
We both want America to succeed. Well, the green industrial revolution will be the engine of growth over the next decades. Obama's saying let's invest in new energy, new technology, new efficiency - both to get us off of our addiction to foreign oil and to help lead this new revolution. That's the way America built its prosperity - and its middle class.
Mort: Yea, but private companies provide jobs, not government. We don't capture new markets with government spending.
Austin : Yes, private companies will profit and expand. But government investment has always been key to our industries.
Think airlines out of World War II. The Internet, which started as a Pentagon program. Computers, and now biotechnology.
If we want to compete in the new energy field, we need public and private leadership to drive this forward. If we don't, our grandchildren will inherit a frightening world. And the countries that work to capture these industries - the Chinese, the Germans - will eat our lunch in the new economy.
Mort: I'll think about lunch later. Look, what we need now is leadership to get us out of this hole. Obama is taking us into a free-fall.
Austin : Leadership? Please. Where is the leadership on the Right? Limbaugh said on Day One he wanted Obama to fail. This while the country was in the midst of an economic crisis and two wars. Conservatives decided from the beginning that they would bet on his failure, and obstruct everything he tried to do - spurning his offers to negotiate. They chose to be the Party of No.
Mort: We conservatives have a plan. Cut spending, cut taxes. Let's get back to small government, free markets. A strong military. Dithering over Afghanistan isn't what made America strong.
Austin : I understand, we'll have to agree to disagree. But remember, we tried that way for eight years, and let's face it, the result was calamity.
The longest and deepest recession and the worst financial crisis since the 1930's. One of the worst foreign policy mistakes in American history - the preemptive war in Iraq.
An unprecedented rejection of fundamental human rights, a culture of sleaze, and Watergate-style abuses of power. Gilded Age economic inequality and a blind rejection of science.
And in the aftermath of one of our nation's worst natural disasters, Hurricane Katrina, there was sheer incompetence and indifference to human suffering.
The free-fall happened, and now we give thanks that the worst is over.
Next fall, Americans will have to decide if they want to go back that way. That's a debate I'll look forward to having.
Mort: Me too. We can agree to disagree. Pass me more of that turkey. I do agree it's particularly good this year.
Austin : Thanks, I knew you'd like it. It's local and organic!
***
To all of you, whether your dinner companions shine red or blue, we at the Campaign for America's Future wish you a happy Thanksgiving.
Sincerely,

Robert L. Borosage, Co-director
Campaign for America's Future

 
 
 

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