A cup of coffee raised in tribute to Speaker Pelosi
In the wake of Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts, health-insurance reform was widely proclaimed as a hopeless cause. As recently as January, to cite just one example of many, Washington überhack Fred Barnes was chortling that “the health care bill, ObamaCare, is dead with not the slightest prospect of resurrection.”
Nancy Pelosi accepts the speaker's gavel from John Boehner in 2007, becoming the first woman ever to hold that post.
Reading through various accounts of its resurrection, I’ve been struck by the importance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. After the loss of Ted Kennedy’s seat, it was Pelosi who blew off White House suggestions to “go small” and seek small victories. And it was the speaker from San Francisco who instilled discipline into a notoriously undisciplined Democratic caucus and rounded up the votes needed for Sunday’s unlikely triumph.
“Just think,” she said from the House floor Sunday night, once success was assured, “we will be joining those who have established Social Security, Medicare and now, tonight, health care for all Americans.”
My favorite quote about Pelosi’s impact, culled from the New York Daily News, came from Democratic political strategist Mark Siegel:
“She’s Lyndon Johnson in a skirt. She was patient, tireless, persistent and cajoling – and she pulled off what no one else could.”
Pelosi has long been a designated “Object of Hate” for those on the right, for reasons that frankly escape me. All you had to do was flash a picture of her on the screen at a conservative political gathering and you could feel the room recoil. This historic success will no doubt cement that standing. And while the Republicans certainly will try to use health care as a lever to pry Pelosi from the speaker’s podium, they will find it almost impossible to undo the legislation itself.
So in this, National Women’s History Month, let’s raise a cup of morning coffee to Speaker Pelosi: She got it done. Let’s also take a sip in the hope that years from now, we may read about some hard-nosed male legislative leader who, fresh off a major success, is labeled “Pelosi in long pants.”
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
618 comments Add your comment
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
10:58 am
“That damn 50 foot cord gets HEAVY to drag around!”
Now Now the boy needs some muscle mass!
Trent
March 23rd, 2010
10:58 am
@ Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
10:21 am
I agree with making the “rich” pay the same rate as the rest. I have to ask though, what does ” There are very, very few people who actually pay no taxes whatsoever…” mean? How many is very, very few? Are you counting people that pay taxes and then get most or all of it back when they file?
stands for decibels
March 23rd, 2010
10:58 am
the 3,500/yr bill for 30 million Americans?
Peadawg and RB, as I’d mentioned yesterday, perhaps not explicitly enough, covering the ~30 million uninsured isn’t the beginning and end of HCR expenses. There are small business tax credits and donut holes, among many other items. Surely you’ve heard of this already.
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
10:59 am
Today at 11:15 will be a dark moment in American history.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
10:59 am
“Seems to have gone up 1000 since yesterday”
Every good story must grow. Has anyone ever told you about the fish this SMALL that they caught?
Drew
March 23rd, 2010
10:59 am
“You don’t divide the cost of the bill by the total population, you divide it by the people who will be left paying for it.”
Like I said, it’s like trying to figure out how a child came to the conclusion that 2 + 2 = 5. There’s logic in it, but it’s kid logic.
As for you question, RB, I’m quite willing to pay my fair share to ensure that every American has health care. Even if it’s a whole dollar a day.
That being said, your reasoning is detached from the facts. Even now, the insured subsidize the health care of the uninsured. If a patient can’t pay, a doctor doesn’t go hungry. They merely distribute the unpaid bill to those who can pay. Under this law, everyone who can pay, will pay, according to their ability to pay. With more people paying into the system who wouldn’t have otherwise, costs for the insured will go down. We’ll pay less for the same care.
And that doesn’t even take into account the incentives this system creates for efficiency, the limits it places on insurer profits, etc. If anyone is opposed to this bill because of its cost to them, they’re simply being penny-wise and pound-foolish.
MAL
March 23rd, 2010
11:00 am
Massachuseets is a failed program? Is that why three-quarters of the residents AND doctors support the program, and Mitt Romney champions it as one of his great accomplishments?
And, as for the budget numbers, they come from the CBO…the non-partisan CBO.
md
March 23rd, 2010
11:01 am
I see some on here don’t believe there is more than one right way to raise children – a lot of assumptions when generalizing. I guess we must all be alike – every last one of us.
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 23rd, 2010
11:01 am
LIAR!!!
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2010/03/23/flashback_obama_promises_public_5_days_to_view_bills_before_he_signs_them.html
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:01 am
“Now Now the boy needs some muscle mass!”
And he’ll get it, too!
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
11:02 am
Doggone,
“That damn 50 foot cord gets HEAVY to drag around!”
Builds character.
“Seems to have gone up 1000 since yesterday”
See? Obama is creating jobs by the thousands every day!
HDB
March 23rd, 2010
11:02 am
Wreck
March 23rd, 2010
10:56 am
Liberals are so predictable.
Sexist. Racist. HATE. Fear-mongering. No vitriol is ever displayed from those on the left towards the right. Those hateful conservatives.
Yep, that’s what this debate is all about. Angry white people. What a crock.
———————————————-
Excuse me, but who’s spitting on Congressmen and hurling epithets at them? Who’s showing what they REALLY are about??? If the debate were more civil…and in some cases, not racially motivated, then so be it….but the evidence speaks volumes; the actions speak volumes……
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:02 am
“Gas might be too much power and bad for enviroment too?”
Scissors. Really teach them who’s boss.
JDW
March 23rd, 2010
11:03 am
So Proud American:
“Reducing our deficit is based on lies and speculation”
Chicken Little thought the sky was falling, didn’t happen then won’t happen now. The CBO used quite a bit of data you can find it here http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collections/health.cfm
“Hiring 17000 new IRS workers to police us, I DO NOT WANT THE IRS POLICING MY TAXES”
Want to get rid of the IRS…time for a VAT I am all in when do we start?
“ I am currently unemployed, I must make hard decisions on how and what I spend my money on,
food or insurance. On what date do I become a criminal for not having insurance ?”
Congratulations you get free healthcare and don’t have to make a decision
“I don,t make $200.00 a year, but if I did where is my incentive to invest if you want to F—ing tax
me”
You miss the point you have to make over $200K and then only your investment income gets taxed. To make $150K in investment income you need an asset base of at least $2 million…I really think that guy can afford $5700 without much effort.
Feel Better?
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
11:03 am
“Today at 11:15 will be a dark moment in American history.”
Why’s that? Is Dick Cheney taking over?
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:03 am
“How many is very, very few? Are you counting people that pay taxes and then get most or all of it back when they file?”
No. You have to be careful whenever you see that “40% (the percent varies) of people don’t pay taxes” bit. It’s true that a lot of people don’t pay INCOME TAXES due to being low on the economic scale, but they still pay sales taxes, excise taxes etc. There really aren’t very many people who pay NO taxes at all.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:03 am
MAL
March 23rd, 2010
11:00 am
CBO can only crunch the numbers they are given though.
Doc-fix has been removed and memos describing and insuring fellow dems the measure will be put in later or voted on later. Thats 300million on that 1 example.
Just to inform you.
Matilda
March 23rd, 2010
11:04 am
“head skank?”
That kind of talk really makes me want to hear what a man has to say. NOT.
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:04 am
The CBO? They can only work with what they are given. What about the double counting and the doctors fix that wasn’t included so it would look better among other gimmicks?
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:04 am
“I guess we must all be alike – every last one of us.”
Not me…I’m unique, just like everyone else.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:05 am
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:02 am
“Gas might be too much power and bad for enviroment too?”
“‘Scissors. Really teach them who’s boss.”‘
NO WAY SCISSORS ARE DANGEROUS! Plus it would give my lawn an uneven cut, and we can’t have that.
RB from Gwinnett
March 23rd, 2010
11:06 am
HDB,
Sorry, I must have missed that post. Btw, I have 3 kids and a retired parent who can’t pay thier share and I can’t afford it, so you won’t mind making that 5 big packs a day will you? Great. Glad we can count on you.
Put shoes on your kids, safety glasses, give them the gas powered trimmer, and teach them how to use it safely and properly. They’ll do fine.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:07 am
“Plus it would give my lawn an uneven cut, and we can’t have that.”
Ummm…so will a trimmmer
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
11:07 am
“There are very, very few people who actually pay no taxes whatsoever”
Trent & Doggone, I too ma interested in this topic.
And by way of expanding it to those other types of “people”: corporations:
The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.
More than half of foreign companies and about 42 percent of U.S. companies paid no U.S. income taxes for two or more years in that period, the report said.
During that time corporate sales in the United States totaled $2.5 trillion, according to Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who requested the GAO study.
The report did not name any companies. The GAO said corporations escaped paying federal income taxes for a variety of reasons including operating losses, tax credits and an ability to use transactions within the company to shift income to low tax countries.
With the U.S. budget deficit this year running close to the record $413 billion that was set in 2004 and projected to hit a record $486 billion next year, lawmakers are looking to plug holes in the U.S. tax code and generate more revenues.
Dorgan in a statement called the report “a shocking indictment of the current tax system.” Levin said it made clear that “too many corporations are using tax trickery to send their profits overseas and avoid paying their fair share in the United States.”
The study showed about 28 percent of large foreign corporations, those with more than $250 million in assets, doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes in 2005 despite $372 billion in gross receipts, the senators said. About 25 percent of the largest U.S. companies paid no federal income taxes in 2005 despite $1.1 trillion in gross sales that year, they said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1249465620080812
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:07 am
Why’s that? Is Dick Cheney taking over?
If only!!
Disgusted
March 23rd, 2010
11:08 am
If it takes 17,000 IRS workers to make sure everybody carries health insurance once the government provides subsidies to those unable to afford it on their own, so be it. I’m sick of carrying a tax burden and paying higher insurance premiums because thousands of young people mistakenly believe that they’re invulnerable to health hazards and don’t need insurance–until it’s time to go to an emergency room to get sewn back together after they’ve wrapped the toy they bought with money that should have been purchasing insurance around a guardrail.
It’s apparent that some people need to learn something about risk pools as they are used in insurance pricing. One way to guarantee continued high health insurance costs is to exclude the currently healthy from the pool.
The Seeker
March 23rd, 2010
11:08 am
FAVORABILITY RATINGS:
Nancy Pelosi 11%
Harry Reid 23%
Barack Obama 29%
Never in the history of the United States has the Congress ever passed a law which required any citizen to enter into a contract with another citizen or a private business against their will …… Never, that is, until now. How’s that for change?
As the House passed ObamaCare into law, 59% of Americans did not support the legislation. In fact, according to a new CNN Opinion Research poll:
62 percent say the amount they pay for medical care will increase.
47 percent think they’ll be worse off when it becomes law.
70 percent believe the federal budget deficit will go up — contrary to repeated claims from Democrats.
56 percent view ObamaCare as creating too much government involvement in health care.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:08 am
Bosch
March 23rd, 2010
11:02 am
Charecter is the foundation of the building blocks of life……
Nayway those 1000 jobs don’t count cause they are government jobs gawd, think! :p
md
March 23rd, 2010
11:09 am
“Massachuseets is a failed program? Is that why three-quarters of the residents AND doctors support the program, and Mitt Romney champions it as one of his great accomplishments?”
Can you show us where anybody said it was a failed program. I for one use it to point out the missed cost projections – nothing more. Can you dispute that the program is 5x higher than it was predicted to be? Think that might matter in a country already having trouble paying the bills?
“And, as for the budget numbers, they come from the CBO…the non-partisan CBO.”
And the cbo’s numbers are “projections”, not quotes. I’m not a member of either misfit party, so can you tell me what the projections were for SS? How about medicare? medicaid? maybe MA?
I feel for you if you actually believe anything coming out of the misfit pit, they want your vote, it allows them to play with us pawns.
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
11:09 am
“She’s Lyndon Johnson in a skirt.”
No quite. Me thinks Johnson wouldve been just a touch more sexy. Pelosi and her “man-hands”.
Night Train
March 23rd, 2010
11:10 am
I wonder if Obama will regret lying about the Supreme Court ruling and diss’ing the Supreme Court after they rule that his Healthcare bill is unconstitutional?
stands for decibels
March 23rd, 2010
11:10 am
LIAR!!!
as one of the patient folks posting to that crypto-wingnut RCP site pointed out, “The bill that he is signing today as law was passed on December 24, 2009.”
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
11:11 am
“62 percent say the amount they pay for medical care will increase.
47 percent think they’ll be worse off when it becomes law.
70 percent believe the federal budget deficit will go up — contrary to repeated claims from Democrats.
56 percent view ObamaCare as creating too much government involvement in health care.”
And they are correct as the future will confirm.
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
11:11 am
Mick–It’s this simple: Forcing everyone to purchase health insurance is the most costly, least efficient way to “provide health care” for people. The overuse/misuse of insurance is what has got us into this health care mess in the first place. But rather than finding a way to reduce the role of insurance, the genius Democrats have now made it a crime to NOT purchase insurance that is approved by them.
Jay and others here keep referencing the fact that other nations, including Cuba, “provide” health care for their citizens. In those countries, it was decided that the health care of all citizens should be a shared expense rather than an individual responsibility. As such, they offer socialized medicine, which is the only sensible system once it is decided that health care should be a shared expense. Because your leaders don’t have the balls to put socialized medicine up for a vote, they came up with this quasi-socialistic system which unnecessarily doubles costs.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:11 am
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:07 am
lass sharp angle changes in the corners and around trees.
Gonna let him use the push mower to cut the majority of the yard. The trimmers circular motion will allow for unnoticable changes on the trim work!
He gets to use the mower, what did you think i was a hard @ss or something.
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
11:12 am
“What about the double counting and the doctors fix that wasn’t included so it would look better among other gimmicks?”
If not mistaken isnt the Doc fix $500 million…
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
11:13 am
Good old Dickie.
That font of knowledge and veracity.
It strikes me that some here are oddly like him – almost always wrong.
Unless of course, he was right about such matters as we’ll be greet as liberators with flowers.”
But my ALL TIME favorite DickHead quote?
“Don’t blame him (Bush). Nobody saw this (the economic meltdown of Sept. 2008) coming.”
Man, it’s gotta be dark up there…
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:14 am
I am proud of all the politicians who stood their ground and voted against Obamacare! I’m pretty sure there are lots and lots of Americans in this nation who will be voting out their liberal state and local leaders next chance they get though! Don’t you just love Representatives who work for YOU and then a…buse their power by working AGAINST you…GRRR!
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:14 am
“He gets to use the mower, what did you think i was a hard @ss or something”
You never know! I was going by personal experience, my yard isn’t suitable for a power mower…I have to use a trimmer on every inch of it.
Proud American
March 23rd, 2010
11:14 am
JDW
First just keep your dirty hands off my money, it does not belong to you.
Reducing the deficit by going after medicare waste, who is stuid enough to believe the GOVERMENT will go after waste, I mighy have been born at night but it wasn’t last night.
Outhouse GoKart
March 23rd, 2010
11:15 am
“And, as for the budget numbers, they come from the CBO…the non-partisan CBO.”
UH…EXSCOWSE ME…the CBO can only use the numbers they are given. Garbage in = garbage out.
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
11:15 am
“I’m sick of carrying a tax burden and paying higher insurance premiums because thousands of young people mistakenly believe that they’re invulnerable to health hazards and don’t need insurance”
Well guess what, Disgusted, you’re STILL going to be paying for the folks who are currently uninsured, except at a higher rate than you do now. The fact that you and the other Libs here can’t see that is what qualifies you as F-ing idiots in my book.
http://www.slate.com/id/2242065/pagenum/2
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:15 am
“I’m pretty sure there are lots and lots of Americans in this nation who will be voting out their liberal state and local leaders next chance they get though! ”
AKA: locking the barn door after the horse is gone.
NT
March 23rd, 2010
11:15 am
Medical Debt and Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
Chapter 7 bankruptcy is designed to help people with severe unsecured debt, and it takes care of this debt with swift force. When you file Chapter 7 bankruptcy, all of your unsecured debts, such as medical bills and credit card bills, could be completely eliminated almost instantly.
In addition to wiping out your medical debt, Chapter 7 may also stop and prevent wage garnishment, home foreclosure and vehicle repossession.
In order to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you must pass the bankruptcy means test. The means test weighs your debts against your assets and income to determine your ability to pay off your debts. Chapter 7 bankruptcy is typically recommended for people that have less income and fewer assets.
They get to keep their wages, their home and their vehicle. They do not get the opportunity to pursue more debt.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:16 am
“Reducing the deficit by going after medicare waste”
Sigh. Not “medicare” waste, Medicare ADVANTAGE waste. Not the same thing.
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:16 am
thomas,
“(jewcowboy, I see no personal benifit of putting me down and not others. )”
I see no benefit in putting others down (unless they start it first
). My candle doesn’t burn brighter by snuffing yours out….
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:16 am
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:14 am
Florida, you gotta love it yard as flat as olive oil.
Sandy patches in shady area can harm the eyes though.
Matilda
March 23rd, 2010
11:16 am
The Seeker at 11:08,
Reality exists independently of what people in a random poll think or believe. Having an opinion about a complex issue with many contributing factors does not equate to being informed about, or understanding the relationships between, those factors.
M Percy
March 23rd, 2010
11:17 am
Doggone “TP – we all do. There are very, very few people who actually pay no taxes whatsoever…but the “tax the rich” “movement” comes about because they are taxed at an unfairly low rate. See Warren Buffet’s statement about his tax rate compared to the tax rate for his secretary for reference.”
I suppose that all depends on what your definition of “unfairly” is. I happen to think that the tens of millions of people who are paying zero or negative rates is pretty unfair. Let’s look at the numbers. Some 32% of the population pays no federal income tax at all. A large percentage of those have negative income tax rates due to refundable credits. These refundable credits were largely enacted to offset the only taxes they would otherwise face: payroll taxes.
But they get to vote. Imagine that you shared an apartment with two roommates, they were good friends to had since grade school, and you got the apartment together when you all graduated. You decided that you would all abide by a vote when deciding how the apartment is run. At first, you all split the rent and utilities three ways. But then you got a good-paying job, and the roommates kept working at their low-paying jobs. After a 2-1 vote, they decide that you should pay more of the rent since you make more money. It’s “fair”, plus they’ll let you have the big bedroom. You get a raise, and they vote 2-1 that you should pay half the rent, and they’ll split the other half, it’s “fair” and besides you’ve already got the big bedroom. Later, they decide in a 2-1 vote that you should pay 100% of the internet bill, which is only “fair”, since you need it when you are working from home on the weekend and their use of is isn’t hurting you any. Through hard work, you’ve doubled your salary, and they vote 2-1 that you should be responsible for 90% of the rent, which is “fair” since you can afford it, and they’ve both quit their jobs so that have no income. Shortly thereafter you lose the 2-1 vote and are now responsible for buying all the groceries (and no beans and rice, man, they want brie and salmon www salon com/news/us_economy/index.html?story=/mwt/pinched/2010/03/15/hipsters_food_stamps_pinched). And then comes the 2-1 vote that you should pay for their doctor bills, but that’s another story.
Sure everyone who works a legal job is “paying” payroll taxes for their SS and Medicare “premiums”. Eliminating responsibility to pay those admits that you are simply turning those programs into welfare transfer payments.
What other taxes might these people be paying. Gasoline excise taxes are simply road user fees by proxy. Oh, maybe the E911 “fee” they pay when they pay their cell phone bill?
The tax rates are progressive and will soon to 39% for high-income earners. Warren Buffet’s tax rate is a strawman argument, because Warren Buffet is wealthy but has low income. He remarks on the system that he has carefully structured his income to avoid.
Most high-income people do not have the means to avoid paying these taxes at the marginal rates because their income is earned income (wages/salary).
The top 1% pay an average tax rate of 22.45% in 2007. The top 5% paid 20.53%. The bottom 50% paid an average rate of 2.99%.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
11:18 am
JDW
*Congratulations you get free healthcare and don’t have to make a decision**
Absolutely untrue. If he makes over 19,000, it doesn’t matter what his living costs are, if he is raising six kids on 20,000, he will be required to insure those kids and his wife and himself on 20,000. That’s what you government has given us.
Now please don’t answer with your normal “go look up facts”. These are the facts. Middle class America just got stuck with extremely expensive health insurance. ANd if they have pre existing conditions? Sure they can get insurance now, but it will cost an arm and a leg and they will be required to buy it anyway.
And all this in the middle of the worst recession in our lifetime.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:18 am
“Florida, you gotta love it yard as flat as olive oil”
Been there, hated it. I don’t like living in a place where there are bugs big enough to challenge you for the sidewalk and WIN!
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:19 am
If not mistaken isnt the Doc fix $500 million…
$500 million that’s just pocket change for a lib. Don’t you know there is a lot more money to be taken from people that accually work?
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:20 am
“I happen to think that the tens of millions of people who are paying zero or negative rates is pretty unfair”
And I couldn’t disagree more. *I* think it’s highly unfair that those least hurt by higher taxes get tax CUTS.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
11:20 am
Mr. Right
200 billion.
M Percy
March 23rd, 2010
11:21 am
Drew “If a patient can’t pay, a doctor doesn’t go hungry. They merely distribute the unpaid bill to those who can pay. Under this law, everyone who can pay, will pay, according to their ability to pay. With more people paying into the system who wouldn’t have otherwise, costs for the insured will go down.”
Not true. A doctor simply can refuse to accept patients who cannot pay. Try it: go to a doctor (other than the emergency room), and before he treats you, tell him that you have no way to pay his bill. Unless he’s feeling pretty charitable that day, you won’t get passed the receptionist.
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:21 am
thomas,
“NO WAY SCISSORS ARE DANGEROUS! Plus it would give my lawn an uneven cut, and we can’t have that.”
Goats?
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
11:23 am
From a Ralph Nader email I just received.
One of the only men I know of who has the courage to stand up on behalf of we the people and speak truth to the power…
If you listen to the Democrats, you would think that they were fighting on the side of the American people.
And against the health insurance companies.
Or as Howard Dean put it last week:
“This is a vote about one thing: Are you for the insurance companies or are you for the American people?”
President Obama said that he and the Democrats had pushed back against the “special interests.”
In fact, the bill that was passed by the House Sunday night was a result of a deal President Obama and the Democrats cut last year with the pharmaceutical industry.
And it was written with the help of former insurance industry lobbyists.
Or as the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne put it – the Democrats are fighting for a Republican health plan.
Last year, former CIGNA executive turned whistleblower Wendell Potter called the bill “a joke” and “an absolute gift to the insurance industry.”
Dr. Margaret Flowers of Physicians for a National Health Program called the bill “a step backwards.”
“This bill further enriches the industries that are the problem,” Dr. Flowers said.
Chris Hedges put it this way:
“This bill is not about fiscal responsibility or the common good.”
“The bill is about increasing corporate profit at taxpayer expense,” Hedges wrote.
“It lavishes hundreds of billions in government subsidies on insurance and drug companies.”
“The some 3,000 (corporate) lobbyists in Washington, whose dirty little hands are all over the bill, have once more betrayed the American people for money.”
“The bill is another example of why change will never come from within the Democratic Party. The party is owned and managed by corporations.”
“What is the point in supporting any of the Democrats?” Hedges asked. “How much more craven can they get?”
For the past year, all around the country, Single Payer Action has been confronting and exposing the craven corporate Democrats.
Just last week, Single Payer Action directly confronted Howard Dean on Capitol Hill about Dean’s lobbying for his biotech industry clients – lobbying that resulted in a multi-billion dollar patent windfall tucked neatly into the health care bill that Congress just passed.
And Single Payer Action will continue to expose, confront, agitate and organize for single payer Medicare for all.
Why?
Because as Dr. Marcia Angell – former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine – puts it – single payer is the only health care reform that covers everyone and controls costs.
Because most of the health insurance coverage mandated by the Democratic bill does not come into effect until 2014 – by which time 180,000 Americans will have died because they were unable to afford health insurance to cover treatment and diagnosis, according to Harvard Medical School researchers.
Because the main saving grace of the Democratic bill is that it is so inadequate and so delayed in implementation that the position supported by the majority of people, physicians and nurses – single payer full Medicare for all – will have abundant opportunities to build around the country.
And because the ever spiraling price hikes by the insurance industry are sure to spur the single payer movement to new popularity.
So, please, help us keep building this movement.
Donate now whatever you can to Single Payer Action.
Ralph Nader
Remember, this is only Round 1.
We’re building for Round 2.
Keep your heads up. Step by step.
And full Medicare for all will become a reality.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:24 am
“Goats?”
goats are not actually good lawn grazers. They’ll eat it right down to the roots – then eat the roots. Sheep would be better.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:24 am
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:18 am
I disagree, that which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!
And the bugs here are smaler than the ones of the South GA town I went to college in. Just saying.
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:16 am
Did i put you down? If i did my bad, was never my intention you have been polite, yet honest with your opinions and I can have no fault with that.
Except trying to kill my son wanting him to cut with scissors and all!
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:25 am
President Obama said that he and the Democrats had pushed back against the “special interests.”
If that is true what about tort reform?
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:25 am
“And the bugs here are smaler than the ones of the South GA town I went to college in. Just saying”
And that’s why I don’t live there either. I have a rule: I will not live south of the Fall Line. Been there, done that…never again!
JDW
March 23rd, 2010
11:27 am
Proud American, I agree going after waste needs to be done in a big way….on the subject of your money….one of the responsiblities we all have to this country is to pay our fair share of taxes. I believe the taxes in this bill are fair.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:27 am
“If that is true what about tort reform?”
You can always tell those too lazy to read the entire blog thread. Already been addressed…GA court says it’s unconstitutional.
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 23rd, 2010
11:27 am
Even though there is no proof of the spitting and really bad name calling the Liberal Press (Major Media outlets) seem obsessed with reporting from the tea party crowd, if it did happen, rest assured it was a SEIU plant.
There is no bottom to the level a Liberal will go.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:28 am
Doggone, and jewcowboy,
A goat, a sheep! Seriously I live in North eastern florida.
Would have to get spot lights to keep the locals from trying to rape my lawn crew. we got more lonely country type than the N. GA mountains and south GA plains combined. I think I saw the banjo kid from deliverance (sp) yesterday.
JDW
March 23rd, 2010
11:28 am
Swampy, read the post…the guy said he was unemployed with no income.
The Seeker
March 23rd, 2010
11:29 am
Matilda, whatever you have to tell yourself or believe to sleep at night. Sell Out!
Valium
March 23rd, 2010
11:29 am
The fact that you and the other Libs here can’t see that is what qualifies you as F-ing idiots in my book.
I’m here for you.
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:29 am
The big show in Washington has started
M Percy
March 23rd, 2010
11:29 am
Doggone/GA @11:14 am “You never know! I was going by personal experience, my yard isn’t suitable for a power mower…I have to use a trimmer on every inch of it.”
You might want to try a old-fashion reel mower. I have one I use in my yard, somehow the sound it makes is calming (and clearly I need a lot of calming these days) and I know I’m not polluting the air or making noise my neighbors might resent. I do have a power more too because sometimes the grass is too much for the reel, but like the reel.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:30 am
“A goat, a sheep! Seriously I live in North eastern florida”
Well, you could always spring for having your lawn reseeded with that grass that only grows 2 inches high.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:30 am
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:25 am
lucky man I am though. I live close enough to the coast that there is always a coastal breeze so bugs not much of a problem near my house, other side of the St. Johns river is another story though.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:30 am
“You might want to try a old-fashion reel mower”
I live on the side of a steep hill…I am NOT pushing a mower around on THAT!
extremerightwing
March 23rd, 2010
11:31 am
WOW…what an accomplishment…she has a super majority in the House and she got a piece of socialism through. Wow…really, really impressive. She squeaked it by three votes and basically shot to pieces the myth of a fiscally conservative-prolife dimocrat. This type if dim is just like bigfoot….a myth.
dw
March 23rd, 2010
11:31 am
As long as ultra liberals are happy, then Jay is happy. Basically the “hell with everyone else that doesn’t agree”.
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
11:32 am
RAMBLE ON!!!
And all that just happen to happen on the day the bill was pushed through. LOL!!!
The Mainstream media is still trying to make this abortion of a bill look good. Even they can’t make this look good.
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:32 am
They are acting like a bunch of school kids
Independent
March 23rd, 2010
11:32 am
Food for thought, now that the government controls your health care it also means they WILL exercise control over your health and body. If the government is now responsible for the output, what makes you think they won’t be regulating and controlling the input?
PA
March 23rd, 2010
11:33 am
Dr. Bruno to PR. Dr. Bruno, please report to PR.
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:33 am
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:30 am
Too expensive,
remember just like the HC reform, I have been paying for something for 4 years without any return, so in these next couple of years i hope to have this thing up and running fully functional.
Just remembered how sensative some here are.
I love my son dearly and would never do anything to harm or distress him. My post have been in good fun and were not meant to be taken seriously.
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:33 am
thomas,
“Did i put you down? If i did my bad, was never my intention you have been polite, yet honest with your opinions and I can have no fault with that.”
Sorry, it was not my intention to imply that you had done so…I was merely replying to your post about someone putting you down and not another.
“Except trying to kill my son wanting him to cut with scissors and all!”
I didn’t realize you were in Florida. I grew up there with an acre freaking St Augustine lawn. You had to cut it at least 2x a week in the summer or it would grow so thick it would kill you. Knowing that I would say let it go to sand and put some rocks out front
Drain The Swamp (NIF)
March 23rd, 2010
11:35 am
JDW
What say let’s fix that Then he can but his health care.
This bill is going to make criminals out of millions of Americans for not taking food our of their children’s mouth to pay the insurance companies. And this is what you support?
jewcowboy
March 23rd, 2010
11:35 am
thomas,
“Would have to get spot lights to keep the locals from trying to rape my lawn crew. we got more lonely country type than the N. GA mountains and south GA plains combined. I think I saw the banjo kid from deliverance (sp) yesterday.”
I just choked with laughter on my water….
Bruno
March 23rd, 2010
11:35 am
“Even now, the insured subsidize the health care of the uninsured. If a patient can’t pay, a doctor doesn’t go hungry. They merely distribute the unpaid bill to those who can pay. Under this law, everyone who can pay, will pay, according to their ability to pay.”
Drew–About 85% of people carry health insurance. Among the 15% who don’t, the vast majority are poor. This vast pool of new monies you’re counting on isn’t there. So, the bottom line is that you’re STILL going to be paying for the care of the current uninsured, only at a much higher rate thanks to this bill. Understand, pendejo?
http://www.slate.com/id/2242065/
AmVet
March 23rd, 2010
11:36 am
Tort reform?
Just one of the myriad ways to disempower individual Americans and FURTHER empower imperious and out of control corporations.
Why are you corporatists forever wanting to keep the people from organizing?
Why do blame labor unions for all of capitalism’s ills?
But the worst sin in my mind is that you advocate AGAINST subordinating the artificial corporate entity to the constitutional sovereignty of the people.
You do remember “we the people” right?
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:36 am
“other side of the St. Johns river is another story though”
Which is essentiall where I used to live. I lived in Jacksonville for almost a year…that was enough!
Gandhi
March 23rd, 2010
11:36 am
Terrible how those wimpy liberals have somehow morphed into thugs and bullies. It’s hard to keep all of this straight.
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:39 am
“My post have been in good fun and were not meant to be taken seriously”
Oh sure, I knew that! But actually, I know they used to make string trimmers that were pretty small and I see nothing wrong with teaching children that age how to do work that is within their abilities. I saw a show several years about about the Pygmies in Africa and they start teaching their children essential knife skills at age 4. And I’m not talking a paring knife, those suckers were at least 12 inches long and an inch or more wide!
Doggone/GA
March 23rd, 2010
11:41 am
“Knowing that I would say let it go to sand and put some rocks out front ”
That sounds like my strategy. Since my property is wooded, and hilly, I just don’t rake the leaves. Kills any grass nicely, except for right around my house…which is what I use the trimmer for!
Matilda
March 23rd, 2010
11:42 am
The Seeker at 11:29,
Reality and truth do indeed exist independently of your opinion or beliefs. I’m sorry if that’s a difficult concept. Will your fear and dread about HC reform come to pass? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, its relative success or failure hinges on factors well beyond your feelings.
If I’m a sellout, why haven’t the Insurance PACs deposited money into MY account like they do my Congressman (R-head brewer of tea) on a regular basis?
@@
March 23rd, 2010
11:42 am
Matilda:
If you tell me what current Democratic leaders you admire (for any reason other than betraying their party), then I’ll take heart, have hope, and gladly eat the sandwich.
Are you kidding? Pay closer attention, why don’tcha?
As a conservative I get tired of repeating myself to you guys. You conveniently ignore, not only mine, but other conservatives, here, who have repeatedly voiced our opposition to NCLB, Bush’s TARP, Medicare Part D…..I can’t even think of some of the others.
Had I been alive when “The New Deal” was implemented, I’da said fuhgeddaboutit….there ain’t no New Deal the government can offer that’s worth a damn. If ‘ya ain’t got it, don’t spend it, if ‘ya do, don’t waste it. ‘Ya just never know when the day may come….
That day has arrived.
‘Ya wanna know what current Democratic leaders I admire? Ask some of your leftist friends…some of my conservative friends. It’s possible they’ve been paying attention when you conveniently chose not to.
I can come up with seven right now, but it’s not my intention to make your life too easy.
Keep that BS sandwich handy.
USinUK
March 23rd, 2010
11:43 am
“Terrible how those wimpy liberals have somehow morphed into thugs and bullies. It’s hard to keep all of this straight.”
seriously … we go from singing Kumbayah to “Enter Sandman”, from a group hug to a towel party …
Southern Comfort (Warum Amerikaner so böse die ganze Zeit sind?)
March 23rd, 2010
11:45 am
I DO NOT WANT THE IRS POLICING MY TAXES.
Isn’t it kinda too late to express that opinion? Isn’t that what the IRS does anyway?
@@
March 23rd, 2010
11:45 am
pendejo!!?!!
I much prefer the new Bruno.
Mr. Right
March 23rd, 2010
11:48 am
Obama says Nancy is one of the speakers we ever had. What a put down for past speakers!
DITTOHEAD:AJC Truth Detector
March 23rd, 2010
11:50 am
YES….JAY………Hiiii HITLER…………Hi..HITLER………..Hi…HITLER……Nancy Pelosi…Just another Socialist like Eva PARONE
DITTOHEAD:AJC Truth Detector
March 23rd, 2010
11:50 am
YES….JAY………Hiiii HITLER…………Hi..HITLER………..Hi…HITLER……Nancy Pelosi…Just another Socialist like Eva PARONE
John Birch
March 23rd, 2010
11:51 am
jewcowboy – Those statistics are very misleading out of context. We’re top five in life expectancy if you take away homicides and motor vehicle accidents, both of which are much more social issues than fault in our health care. If you want to evaluate the health care system use this stat. We are #1 in the world for survival rates for all five of the most common cancers!
thomas
March 23rd, 2010
11:52 am
Doggone,
Don’t know how long ago you lived in Jax. but its slightly different these days. High crime area. reminds me of the murder capital Atlanta was of my youth and teen years. Same types of things going on in city as here during 80’s and early 90’s.
Crime is causing those with wealth and businesses to relocate to the surrounding areas. Orange Park is going to be just like Marietta, and St. johns county is looking scary like gwinnett south of Jimmy Carter did during its growth during the late 80’s early 90’s.
Even with the economic downturn, there is still new development.
jewcowboy,
we both know then what a joke the venus fly trap being the often used scarry plant in movies. It should be a nice Lawn of St. Augs grass that hasn’e been mowed in a month.
And you were correct in spring and summer I mow on Wed. and Sat. or my front yard gets dreadlocks.
@@
March 23rd, 2010
11:52 am
Obama says Nancy is one of the speakers we ever had.
He only said that because she let him hide behind her skirt.