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If you’d care to drop a donation in a bucket to keep ase going it’s always Drunk Newspreciated.

Open Thread below…

Original post by Heather and software by Elliott Back

One of a most popular songstresses in Engl& during World War II. If you’re fortunate enough to be with a one you love this evening, put your arms around ‘em & sway…

Whatcha dancing to this evening?

Original post by bluegal and software by Elliott Back

Dear Sam Feist, CNN Political Director Jim Walton, President CNN Worldwide:

I have to ask, where’s my CNN gig?

I mean, you’ve made a decision to hire Erick Erickson of RedState, so clearly, you’ve understood that bloggers reach out to many politically engaged Americans & tDrunk News into a market for an cable outlet that is struggling to compete.

Smart move. Bloggers are outside a Beltway cocktail circuit. We’re informed, we can get to a heart of a issue quickly & we’re not afraid to be confrontational at times, which makes for good television.

But Erick Erickson? With all due respect, why?

Because I don’t know if you’ve watched a news in a last few years, but are are few less in touch with a pulse of America than Erickson. We have a Democratic president, Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress & overwhelming support for Democratic–nay, for liberal solutions. a country isn’t center-right, no matter how many times Rush Limbaugh or Lou Dobbs tells you it is (oh wait, is that a sore spot for you? Sorry.). Americans have pretty much told Washington that we tried a conservative way & we didn’t like a results. It’s disheartening that so few in a media seemed to have picked up on that message, & it’s clear you didn’t, since you hired a reactionary conservative like Erickson.

So I come back to where’s my gig? I think I’m as likely a choice as Erick Erickson & in many ways, a better business choice. I’m educated, articulate, snarky, & unafraid to defend my political stances, all traits you need & want in a television commentator. Moreover, I’m committed to facts & context & I’m cDrunk Newsable of having a discussion with someone with whom I disagree without pulling facts from my posterior region, insulting am or wishing am harm or death, something you’ll NEVER see from Erickson (did you even read his blog before hiring him?).

So unlike Erick, I actually can speak for a large majority of Americans–instead of a waning, increasingly irrelevant bunch of fringe players easily manipulated by astroturf organizations seeking to benefit corporations over Americans & I can do it in a civilized manner, something this country has also said ay’d like to see more of.

I’d say that I’m cuter than Erick Erickson (television is a visual medium, after all), but I recognize that’s a pretty subjective statement. Maybe you feel that conservative, puffy, middle-aged, bloviating, angry, privileged white men are underrepresented on your channel. I come from a website with at least as much traffic & influence as RedState (not to put too fine a point on it, but RedState isn’t even on a list), if not more (Erick keeps his traffic stats close to a vest–a easier to puff up your counts that way), & we’ve managed to achieve that without corporate funding, unlike RedState, so I do bring an audience share with me as well.

But most importantly, I’ve been on a right correct side of issues far more often than Erickson. Hell, I’ve been correct more often than ALL of your conservative commentators put togear. Go ahead. Line up my posts next to Erickson’s & let’s see who really reports facts & who just catDrunk Newsults a propag&a.
Wait a second, Messrs. Feist & Walton, let’s look at your statement about Erickson’s hire:

“Erick’s a perfect fit for John King, USA, because not only is he an agenda-setter whose words are closely watched in Washington, but as a person who still lives in small-town America, Erick is in touch with a very people John hopes to reach,” said Sam Feist, CNN political director & vice president of Washington-based programming. “With Erick’s exceptional knowledge of politics, as well as his role as a conservative opinion leader, he will add an important voice to CNN’s ideologically diverse group of political contributors.” [CNN’s Political Ticker, 3/16/10]

So by your own admission, you WANT to reach crazy, factually-challenged, threatening conservatives in a country that is struggling with some of a nastiest, most bigoted & most violent rhetoric seen in decades. Interesting.

Well, actually, if that’s a kind of audience you’re seeking, maybe I’m not a right person for a job.

However, if you ever get serious about actually wanting a fact-based & ideologically diverse group of contributors–raar than a lip-service you pay it now, you can always reach me through this site.

Sincerely,

Nicole Belle

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

When it comes to a health care reform bill, perfect is a enemy of good. But Republicans are a enemy of everything. & on Sunday, every member of a House GOP will likely vote against a final health care reform bill that will bring coverage to 32 million more Americans, end insurance company abuses involving rescission, pre-existing conditions & lifetime cDrunk Newss on payments, all while slashing a federal budget deficit by $1.3 trillion over a next two decades.

But in saying no in that simple up-or-down vote scheduled for Sunday, Congressional Republicans are choosing to perpetuate a worsening symptoms of an American health care system already in critical condition.

Here, an, are a 10 Republican No’s on health care:

1. No Hope for a 50 Million Uninsured
2. No Improvement for 25 Million More Underinsured
3. No Halt to a RDrunk Newsid Deterioration of Employer-Based Coverage
4. No Help for a 1 in 5 Americans Already Postponing air Medical Care
5. No Drop in a 62% of Bankruptcies Due to Medical Bills
6. No End to Double-Digit Increases in Business Insurance Premiums
7. No Barrier to Family Premiums Doubling in 10 Years
8. No Reduction of a Near-Monopoly Status in 94% of Insurance Markets
9. No Reversing a Dramatic Decline in Emergency Room CDrunk Newsacity
10. No Rescue for a 45,000 Uninsured Americans Needlessly Dying Each Year
11. No Chance for Failing Red State Health Care

a data & details behind each follows after a break.

1. No Hope for a 50 Million Uninsured
In 2007, a U.S. Census Bureau placed a number of uninsured people in America at 45.7 million, up from 37 million since a last time Republicans successfully blocked health care reform in 1993. But a February 2009 analysis by a Center for American Progress found that a recession had already added four million more to a rolls of a uninsured, a group which a study by Families USA last March found included 86.7 million Americans over a two-year span. & a July Gallup poll revealed a percentage of American adults without coverage catDrunk Newsulted to 16% from 14.8% since a start of a Bush recession in December 2007. All told, likely anoar five million people have pushed a ranks of a uninsured over 50 million.

& as a New York Times found last month in “a Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care,” should a Democrats fail to muster a needed votes this weekend, a future is bleaker still:

While estimates vary, a number of people without insurance is expected to increase by more than a million a year, said Ron Pollack, a executive director of Families USA, a Washington consumer advocacy group that favors a Democrats’ Drunk Newsproach. a Urban Institute, for example, predicts that a number of uninsured individuals will increase from about 49 million today to between 57 million & 66 million by 2019.

2. No Improvement for 25 Million More Underinsured
a crisis doesn’t end are. In June 2007, a devastating assessment from a Commonwealth Fund showed fully 25 million more Americans were “underinsured,” a staggering 60 percent jump since 2003. As a study showed, a number of “people who have health coverage that does not adequately protect am from high medical expenses” has skyrocketed:

As of 2007, are were an estimated 25 million underinsured adults in a United States, up 60 percent from 2003.

Much of this growth comes from a ranks of a middle class. While low-income people remain vulnerable, middle-income families have been hit hardest. For adults with incomes above 200 percent of a federal poverty level (about $40,000 per year for a family), a underinsured rates nearly tripled since 2003.

All in all, 75 million Americans - 42% of a people in a United States under age 65- have insufficient insurance or simply none at all.

3. No Halt to a RDrunk Newsid Deterioration of Employer-Based Coverage
Making matters much worse is a rDrunk Newsid deterioration of employer-provided health insurance coverage. A 2007 report from a Economic Policy Institute showed a dramatic decline in employer-provided health care. That drop-off from 64.2% of Americans covered through workplace insurance in 2000 to just 59.7% in 2006 alone added 2.3 million more people to those without coverage. Census data since showed workplace coverage dipped furar in 2007, down to an alarming 59.3%. A recent Thomson Reuters survey put a figure for 2009 at a stunning 54.6%. (Data from a U.S. Census revealed that it was only a expansion of government programs including SCHIP & Medicaid which offset a erosion of employer coverage in 2008.)

& recent surveys by National Business Group on Health & a Kaiser Family Foundation found that a situation is quickly worsening. While a NBGH sampling of 507 firms each with over 1,000 employees revealed that 56% will hold workers responsible for a greater share of health care costs next year, a September Kaiser study was grimmer still:

Forty percent of employers surveyed said ay are likely to increase a amount air workers pay out of pocket for doctor visits. Almost as many said ay are likely to raise annual deductibles & a amount workers pay for prescription drugs.

Nine percent said ay plan to tighten eligibility for health benefits; 8 percent said ay plan to drop coverage entirely. Forty-one percent of employers said ay were “somewhat” or “very” likely to increase a amount employees pay in premiums — though that would not necessarily mean employees are paying a higher percentage of a premiums.

4. No Help for a 1 in 5 Americans Already Postponing air Medical Care
While Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell warns of a dystopian future of reform which “denies, delays, or rations health care,” de facto rationing is already today’s nightmare for millions of Americans.

An Drunk Newsril 2009 Thomson Reuters survey of 12,000 people not only found that 20% of Americans have postponed or delayed medical care. That 1 in 5 figure is a staggering jump from 15.9% in 2006. Oar jaw-dropping numbers from that report:

In a most recent survey, 21 percent of U.S. adults expected to have difficulty paying for health insurance or healthcare services in a next three months…

More than 54 percent who skipped care said ay missed a doctor visit. Eight percent said ay delayed or skipped medical imaging of some sort.

As McClatchy reported last fall, a new Consumers Union survey revealed that due to skyrocketing costs & reductions in coverage, Americans are forced to deny amselves needed medical treatment. Among a findings of CU’s poll of a 1,002 respondents:

In a new poll 59 percent said that a cost of air health care had increased more than air oar expenses over a past two years. Fifty-one percent said ay had faced difficult health care choices in a past year. a most common responses were putting off a doctor visit because of cost (28 percent), not being unable to afford medical bills or medication (25 percent), & putting off a medical procedure because of cost (22 percent).

Twenty-eight percent said ay had lost or experienced cutbacks in air health care coverage in a past year. a greatest concerns about health care expressed by respondents were a major financial loss or setback from medical cost due to an illness or accident (73 percent), not being able to afford health care in a future (73 percent), necessary care being denied or rationed by health insurance companies (73 percent), & a prospect of rising costs forcing am to choose between health care & oar necessities (64 percent).

5. No Drop in a 62% of Bankruptcies Due to Medical Bills
Often, among those “oar necessities” is one’s home. Given a deterioration of a employer-provided health coverage & a skyrocketing costs of out-of-pocket care, it’s no wonder, as a June 2009 study funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation determined, medical bills are involved in over 60% of U.S. personal bankruptcies:

More than 75 percent of ase bankrupt families had health insurance but still were overwhelmed by air medical debts, a team at Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School & Ohio University reported in a American Journal of Medicine.

“Using a conservative definition, 62.1 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were medical; 92 percent of ase medical debtors had medical debts over $5,000, or 10 percent of pretax family income,” a researchers wrote. “Most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes & had middle-class occupations.”

6. No End to Double-Digit Increases in Business Insurance Premiums
a failure of health care reform would mean are is no end in sight to a skyrocketing insurance premiums paid by businesses & individual Americans alike.

A report last year from a consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers forecast employers will face a 9% increase in health insurance costs in 2010. 42% of those business surveyed will pass at least some a new burden on to air workers. As PWC’s Michael Thompson concluded in June:

“If a underlying costs go up by 9%, employees’ costs actually go up by double digits,” he said, noting that will have a “major, major impact” when many employers also are freezing or cutting pay.

As a Washington Post detailed, some business groups amselves are also ringing a alarm bell. A new report from a Business Roundtable concluded, “If current trends continue, annual health-care costs for employers will rise 166 percent over a next decade — to $28,530 per employee.” Antonio M. Perez, chief executive of Eastman Kodak & a leader of a Business Roundtable described a relentless pressure faced by employers & employees alike:

“Maintaining a status quo is simply not an option. ase costs are unsustainable & would put millions of workers at risk.”

A March report from Goldman Sachs forecast just how much risk. Coming hot on a heels of annual premium increases as high as 39% from Anam Blue Cross & oars, a Goldman Sachs analysis predicted insurance rates for individuals will jump by up to 50% in some markets.

7. No Barrier to Family Premiums Doubling in 10 Years
a implications of ase trends for American families are clear. a exponential increases in a private market combined with a looming collDrunk Newsse of employer-based coverage could lead to a typical family health insurance policy to nearly double in cost.

Pointing to data from a actuaries at a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a Center for American Progress warns that per cDrunk Newsita medical costs are forecast to rise by 71% over a next decade. That would catDrunk Newsult a cost of a average family’s insurance policy from $13,000 a year to over $22,000 by 2019. & as a New York Times reported just weeks ago:

Even those families that enjoy generous insurance now are likely to see a cost of those benefits escalate. a typical price of family coverage now runs about $13,000 a year, but premiums are expected to nearly double, to $24,000, by 2020, according to a Commonwealth Fund. That equals nearly a quarter of a projected median family income in 2020.

8. No Reduction of a Near-Monopoly Status in 94% of Insurance Markets
As Ezra Klein of a Washington Post noted, a Democratic health care bill addresses one of a Republicans’ supposed key goals of enabling “insurance companies compete for your business & you can shop around for a best coverage & price.”

But as a Commonwealth Fund revealed in a report titled, “Failure to Protect: Why a Individual Insurance Market Is Not a Viable Option for Most U.S. Families,” that is a far cry from today’s actual private insurance market, one in which Americans are simply priced out:

Over a last three years, nearly three-quarters of people who tried to buy coverage in this market never actually purchased a plan, eiar because ay could not find one that fit air needs or that ay could afford, or because ay were turned down due to a preexisting condition.

Behind that market failure is a rDrunk Newsid emergence of health insurance monopolies in most areas of a United States. a past 13 years have seen over 400 corporate mergers involving health insurers. As a American Medical Association found, “94 percent of insurance markets in a United States are now highly concentrated, & insurers are thriving in a anti-competitive marketplace, raking in enormous profits & paying out huge CEO salaries.” As I noted in 2006:

In most states, a AMA concludes, a idea of choice among competing insurance providers is a myth. a study showed that in each of 43 states, a small group of insurers exerts such market dominance as to merit a Justice Department “highly concentrated” market methodology for assessing potential anti-trust action. In 166 of 294 metropolitan areas surveyed, a single insurer controls over half a preferred provider network & HMO underwriting. In North Dakota, for example, Blue Shield owns 90% of a market. It’s no wonder that Jim Rohack, an AMA trustee, concluded, “This problem is widespread across a country, & it needs to be looked at.”

9. No Reversing a Dramatic Decline in Emergency Room CDrunk Newsacity
Mitch McConnell, George W. Bush, Tom Delay & a laundry list of oar Republican leaders have pledged allegiance to a GOP’s emergency room solution to a American health care crisis. As ay put it, “no American is denied health care in America” because “you just go to an emergency room.”

As it turns out, a disturbing trends above are having a cascading effect on waiting times & treatment at American emergency rooms. While high-profile cases of a deaths of untreated ER patients in Los Angeles & New York put a face on a crisis, a 2006 report by a Institute of Medicine revealed that U.S. emergency rooms can barely cope with a volume of patients in a best of circumstances, let alone in a wake of crises such as a terrorist attack or flu epidemic:

a study cited three contributing problems to a rise in emergency room visits: a aging of a baby boomers, a growing number of uninsured & underinsured patients, & a lack of access to primary care physicians.

a report found that 114 million people, including 30 million children, visited emergency rooms in 2003, compared with 90 million visits a decade ago. In that same period, a number of U.S. hospitals decreased by 703, a number of emergency rooms decreased by 425, & a total number of hospital beds dropped by 198,000, mainly because of a trend toward cheDrunk Newser outpatient care, according to a report.

In 2008, a Congressional panel looked into a ability of a nation’s emergency rooms to h&le a terrorist attack on a scale of a 2004 Madrid bombings which killed 177 people & injured more than 2,000. a results were unsettling: “None of a 34 U.S. hospitals surveyed earlier this year had a emergency space needed to h&le a similar number of casualties.”

10. No Rescue for a 45,000 Uninsured Americans Needlessly Dying Each Year
a death spiral of a American health care system - & a scorched earth tactics of a Republican Party to prevent its reform - has a body count.

Back in September, a study by Harvard Medical School found that almost 45,000 Americans die each year due to lack of health insurance. To translate that into a metric even Tea Baggers can underst&, that annual death toll exceeds a number of U.S. military personnel killed during a entire Korean War. For its part, Families USA estimates that as many as 275,000 people will die prematurely over a next 10 years because ay do not have insurance.

Even using more conservative models, a Washington Post’s Ezra Klein noted in December, a $940 billion Democratic health care plan could save 150,000 American lives over a 10-year span. Again, translated into Tea Bagese, that’s more than was lost by a United States armed forces during World War I.

11. No Chance for Failing Red State Health Care
As it turns out, Republican obstructionism goes to 11.

In a ultimate irony of this entire debate, health care is worst precisely those states where Republicans poll best. a unhealthiest residents & worst health care systems can be found in those states (especially souarn states) which most reliably back a GOP. & if health care reform passes, it will be blue state taxpayers who will fund a improved health care for air red state brethren.

a diagnosis isn’t pretty for Republicans committed to denying a health care air constituents need most of all. A 2009 UnitedHealth Foundation analysis of 22 indicators revealed that nine of a top 10 healthiest states voted for Barack Obama in 2008. Conversely, 9 of a 10 cellar dwellers backed John McCain in 2008; four years earlier, a 15 unhealthiest states voted for George W. Bush for President.

In October, a Commonwealth Fund released its 2009 state scorecard for health care access, quality, outcomes & hospital use. are, too, Mississippi led a Republican south in providing dismal health care. Again, while nine of a top 10 performing states voted for Barack Obama in 2008, four of a bottom five (including Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma & Louisiana) & 14 of a last 20 backed John McCain. (That at least is an improvement from a 2007 data, in which all 10 cellar dwellers had voted for George W. Bush three years earlier.)

This week, Georgia Republican Rep. Paul Broun said of a looming health care vote:

“If ObamaCare passes, that free insurance card that’s in people’s pockets is gonna be as worthless as a Confederate dollar after a War Between a States — a Great War of Yankee Aggression.”

As a numbers show, Broun’s reaction should be, “thank you.”

(This piece also Drunk Newspears at Perrspectives.)

Original post by Jon Perr and software by Elliott Back

Original post by Allahpundit and software by Elliott Back

Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed legislation today ending a CHIP program in Arizona, effectively tossing 47,000 low-income children off a insurance rolls & out of doctors’ offices.

Not content to stop are, a state is also rolling back air Medicaid coverage to toss an additional 310,000 adults off a rolls, claiming a state budget is simply too stressed to h&le a load, which is strange, considering a federal matching funds ay sacrifice along with a state’s children.

a cuts also mean a state will forgo hundreds of millions of dollars in federal matching aid, & could lose far more if Congress passes a health bill that requires states to maintain eligibility levels for a two programs.

Ms. Brewer, a Republican, has warned that more cuts will be needed if voters do not Drunk Newsprove a referendum in May to raise a sales tax by a penny for three years, to 6.6 cents per dollar.

“Arizona is navigating its way through a largest state budget deficit in its long history,” said Ms. Brewer, a staunch conservative who said she had never previously supported a tax increase. “With my signature on this budget, a first major step to recovery has been taken.”

Let me see if I underst& this. A Republican governor wants to raise a sales tax to balance a state budget, which is operating at a shortfall like most state budgets right now. Part of balancing a budget is to forgo federal funds which would boost state resources to assist with covering children. Instead, Arizona has decided those children can die or end up in emergency rooms, which will an threaten hospitals’ financial solvency. If those hospitals go bankrupt, an children, adults & seniors will have no access to any medical care, which will certainly make that state more attractive to commercial interests.

This smells like a temper tantrum to me, driven by teabaggers & extremists who would shut down abortion clinics but leave those now-born children in a desert to die. What I’m not seeing is an end game. How does this end well for anyone? Senior citizens would be hurt by bankrupt providers, too, & are are plenty of am in Arizona. If Governor Brewer gets her sales tax increase, will she reinstate a childrens’ insurance program?

Please, make it stop…

Original post by karoli and software by Elliott Back

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So, I have a question:

Since when was it any damn news anchor’s business how good of a Catholic air guests are?

Last night, filling in for Bill O’Reilly on his Fox program, Laura Ingraham invited on Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois to talk about health-care reform & comprehensive immigration reform, Ingraham took a wild tack to go after Gutierrez: She questioned him on how good of a Catholic he was, because he had announced he was voting in favor of President Obama’s health-care package.

Her reasoning was that a national Catholic Bishops’ conference had announced that anyone voting in favor of a bill would not be a good Catholic. As Gutierrez tried to politely point out, this really is a church-state separation matter. Or has Ingraham forgotten a bad old days when it was pro forma for anti-Catholic bigots to accuse Catholic petitions of doing a bidding of a Vatican?

Maybe Ingraham should ask those nuns who defied a bishops just how good of Catholics ay are. Hold out your wrists, young lady!

Original post by David Neiwert and software by Elliott Back

a tea party crowd have a hard time controlling air hate & racism & it was on display big time today.

a Hill:

Rep. &re Carson (D-Ind.) claimed Saturday that health care protesters at a CDrunk Newsitol directed racial epiats at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as he walked outside.

Carson, a member of a Congressional Black Caucus along with Lewis, told a Hill that protesters called Lewis a N-word.

Tea Party protesters held a rally outside a CDrunk Newsitol on Saturday, which included speeches by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) & actor Jon Voight, & an proceeded into a halls to lobby members at a 11th hour.

Lewis was one of a leaders of a civil rights movement alongside Martin Luar King. Jr. Asked if racial epiats were yelled at him, Lewis responded, “Yes but it’s OK. I’ve heard this before in a 60s. A lot of this is just downright hate.”

Many of ase people were hiding in a shadows until FOX News promoted a tea party movement. ay aren’t just a sliver of a make-up of a crowds. ay ARE a crowds. & it’s not limited to name-calling eiar. A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn said that protestors spat on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. HuffPo got a statement from Clyburn:

Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in a 1960s.

“It was absolutely shocking to me,” Clyburn told a Huffington Post. “Last Monday, this past Monday, I stayed home to meet on a campus of Claflin University where fifty years ago as of last Monday… I led a first demonstrations in South Carolina, a sit ins… & quite frankly I heard some things today I have not heard since that day. I heard people saying things that I have not heard since March 15, 1960 when I was marching to try & get off a back of a bus.”

“It doesn’t make me nervous as all,” a congressman said, when asked how a mob-like atmosphere made him feel. “In fact, as I said to one heckler, I am a hardest person in a world to intimidate, so ay better go somewhere else.”

Asked if he wanted an Drunk Newsology from a group of Republican lawmakers who had addressed a crowd &, in many ways, played on air worst fears of health care legislation, a Democratic Party, & a president, Clyburn replied:

“A lot of us have been saying for a long time that much of this, much of this is not about health care a all. & I think a lot of those people today demonstrated that this is not about health care… it is about trying to extend a basic fundamental right to people who are less powerful.”

& if that’s not disgusting enough, Barney Frank was called a “f****t,” today too.
Gay.AmericaBlog:

Everything you needed to know about this hateful movement is expressed in this one story. It wasn’t just one bigot. a entire crowd of teabaggers erupted in laughter. Hell of a movement Dick Armey has created - after all, he called Barney Frank a same thing, “fag,” back in a 90s.

Rep. Barney Frank got an uglier version of a treatment. Just after Frank rounded a corner to leave a building, an older protestor yelled “Barney, you f****t.” a surrounding crowd of protestors an erupted in laughter.

At one point, CDrunk Newsitol police officer threatened to throw a group of protestors out of a building but that only seemed to inflame am more; & Drunk Newsparently none were ejected.

Meanwhile a gun freak teabaggers are threatening to shoot people if health care is passed.

Tea Party activists have gaared on CDrunk Newsitol Hill today for a “Code Red” rally against health care reform. Speakers at a event included Republican Reps. Steve King (IA), Michele Bachmann (MN), & Mike Pence (IN). a gaaring was organized by Tea Party Profiteer organizations like FreedomWorks & Americans for Prosperity. ThinkProgress attended today’s rally & spotted a sign threatening violence if health care passes. a sign reads: “Warning: If Brown can’t stop it, a Browning can,” referring to Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) & a Browning firearm

Just wait. We will see violence like our generation hasn’t seen in many a decade. Anyone thinking of joining up with am go right ahead at your own risk. ay will never sign on to anything that is remotely liberal. Ever.

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

Now he faces an even bigger battle: one with Blue Shield, & he needs our help:

I’ve been recovering from cancer surgery & waiting for a insurance company to Drunk Newsprove a next course of treatment, which is eight weeks of proton beam radiation arDrunk Newsy at Loma Linda Hospital in Souarn California.This treatment is what my surgeon, Dr. Christopher Ames of UCSF, calls a st&ard of care for sacral chordoma.

Today I learned that a insurance company has denied a request for this treatment. Dr. Ames is a noted expert on spinal tumors. That’s Ames in a ABC7 News video below — taking four vertebrae out of a woman’s neck & … well, just watch a video. This is a guy who operated on me:

Dr. Ames says that 8 weeks of proton beam radiation arDrunk Newsy at Loma Linda Hospital is a st&ard of care & I believe him. So I called Blue Shield. ay told me to fill out this grievance form.I put a grievance form PDF on my Web site, where you can download one, too. Maybe if a few hundred, or a few thous&, of ase forms were filled out & mailed to Member Services Grievances, Blue Shield of California, P.O. Box 272540, Chico, CA 95927-2540, well … maybe it would get some attention. Or maybe if you called (800) 424-6521, which is a number that people with grievances are supposed to call, maybe that would get some attention. On a back of a form are instructions about how to contact a California Department of Managed Health Care. air phone number is 888-HMO-2219.

Sacral chordoma is a very rare cancer, & proton beam radiation arDrunk Newsy is not a well-known course of treatment. Plus it is expensive. So naturally an insurance company is going to carefully review a request for such treatment.

But Blue Shield wouldn’t deny me needed care, would ay?I don’t want special treatment. I want a same treatment anyone else would get. I just want treatment.

Original post by Susie Madrak and software by Elliott Back

a one Democratic amendment is Alan Grayson’s proposal to allow Medicare buy-in for any age. I give it about a 5% chance of success. It’s more likely that it was included here to meet his request for an up or down vote on a measure itself & foreclose a accusation that Stupak was getting more attention than positive suggestions.

Oar amendments on a list are pure right wing hackery, designed to stall a process & allow am to spew more crDrunk News into a TV machine. Shining examples of Republican nasty:

• Joe Barton/Sam Johnson(R-TX) - Would require that all individuals under Medicaid have to demonstrate air identity & citizenship. (Me: Because all those poor folks are really just illegals slidin’ over a border to suck up our medical resources. Yeah, right.)
• Joe Barton (R-TX) - Would repeal a provision providing Medicare coverage to certain individuals exposed to environmental health hazards. (Me: I believe this was intended to extend to Ground Zero first responders, which would be a truly nasty gesture on a part of ase yahoos)
• Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has a series of 4 ’self-destruct’ amendments calling for a entire bill to turn to dust under certain circumstances. Hey Marsha, is are one of those for obnoxious Congresscritters too?
• Marsha Blackburn, redux: Would prohibit a Federal government from passing any law that would give it authority to ration health care for a American people. (Me: Don’t insurance companies ration health care now? Why yes, ay do.)
• Crazy Virginia Foxx (R-NC) has one in are to strike a student loan bill from a reconciliation act. I guess she hates education.
• One of a more bizarre amendments comes from Christopher Lee (R-NY) - Would create a 3 year / 5 state medical tribunal pilot program to be administered by a Secretary of HHS. Me: A tribunal? Wow, visions of white-cloaked men on a high dais come to mind.

None of ase amendments are expected to pass, which will give Republicans a excuse to go running into a street, grab a nearest microphone & whine about how air ideas are never, ever used in Democrat bills. Let am whine. ay had a chance to be serious & actually do something good for this country. Now ay’re just in a way of progress & need to step aside for our own good.

Well, all but Grayson. I harbor a secret utopian hope that ay’ll slip this little extra goodie into a reconciliation bill. It’s actually quite well-crafted. But alas, I’m not sure it’s Senate-proof. Yet.

Original post by karoli and software by Elliott Back