When are congresscritters like this understanding that passing a bill like this isn’t going to solve the problem. We need to make mental health care more available.

Is there a drug available to help people tune out propaganda?

Obama better come out swinging at his news conference today. After 4 weeks of Republican and insurance company dominance and demagogary in an all too willing corporate media his approval ratings on health care are dropping in the polls. The Republicans may well be victorious in killing healthcare and putting the American public in greater peril.

Here’s the birther bill that crazy loon Campbell is cosponsoring.

The Republicans may well be victorious in killing healthcare

Might that spell Pyrrhic victory?

JoScar covering tweety’s birther smack now.

Obama’s fetish of “bipartisanship” has not served him or the nation well in the healthcare “debate.” Republicans only care about power and protecting the vested interests of their corporate sponsors. To think his administration could work with Republicans was more than naive, it was delusional.

I read this on The Daily Beast:
“Moderate House Democrats and a key committee chairman emerged from a three-hour meeting at the White House on Tuesday with a tentative agreement to give an outside panel—rather than Congress—the power to make cuts to government-financed health-care programs,” according to Politico.”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/c…..atrow_7727

Does this mean what I think it means? In order to get Blue Dogs on board, the President will allow an outside panel to make cuts to Medicare? They want to gut Medicare, too? The President in “on board” with this?

Cyanide

To a Republican a victory is a victory regardless of the consequences to the American public.

Can we give them a double shot?

Tweety is the man for telling the nutjobs in Campbell’s district to vote against him right to his face!

Actually, as Bonkers said on last night’s thread about this, Tweety missed an opportunity to really put some of this birther bullcrap to rest.

Now, Tweety could’ve REALLY shut this dude up and convinced a large segment of his audience, including any reasonable Repub, that this is ridiculous if he would’ve brought up the birth announcements from the two Hawaiian dailies when Obama was born, and the fact that the Hawaiian Records officials have personally viewed the original birth cert and stated on record that is all accurate. Don’t know about y’all, but I don’t have my orginal birth cert. All I have are copies, since they can’t hand out originals since they know so many people will lose them, or they’ll get destroyed in a fire, and so on. Why didn’t Tweety bring up any of these points that totally end this “debate?”

Tweety simply poured gas on the fire, and for the rest of the show fluffed Repub talking points.

Are you surprised?

Right. But the American public cannot be amenable to constant mugging.

Barack Hoover Obama.

Well, let’s not get carried away. Call ‘em as Obama exhibits them, rather than have fear cause exaggeration.

No, I’m not surprised. Just disgusted, I guess.

They’ve been amendable to mugging since Reagan. Stockkholm syndrome? The American public aside from being stressed is bombarded daily with propaganda and misinformation via the corporate media and a large segment of the population has become either passive, indifferent or outright antogonistic.

I was trying to remember which thread that was on; thanks; the rest of his/her comment was equally as good….could you quote the whole thing for those who missed it?

I forgot to add that the corporate media is only interested in “victories” and the horse race and not the consequences for the American public, unless they demagogue the issue of “taxes.”

That’s not what the Time link under bullett #3 says. It says a panel would set reimbursement rates, not reduce coverage. That is more in line with the Blue Dog gripe that Medicare payments are insufficient for rural hospitals/doctors to operate.

Here’s Bonkers’ whole comment (not sure how to just provide link to it):

You’ve highlighted how this clip is a textbook example of how the BigMedia game works.

Notice all the comments saying, “Hey, Tweety gets it right sometimes…he ain’t so bad…” or what have you, when in fact the clip itself advances Reich Wing talking points and is a mere blip in radar of all the other airtime that’s dominated by Repub frames. It’s how someone like Tweety gets to say he’s legit. David Brooks is good at this dance as well, among others.

Just talking about this focus group tested fabrication so much gives it incredible amounts of life, and Tweety is completely missing the real debunking on this made-up issue anyway. The Birther nutjobs have a whole slew of talking points memorized about the document Tweety was holding up. Not only does Tweety holding that up and repeating it over and over mean nothing to them since they’re very aware of it already, Tweety doing that actually plays right into their hands.

They simply say they want to see the “actual” birth cert. They say that document Tweety had is part of the conspiracy and was made-up recently, among other things. So, they can claim the Librul Media and the Librul Chris Matthews are doing their usual cover-ups. It’s a virtual two-fer for a wingnut!

Now, Tweety could’ve REALLY shut this dude up and convinced a large segment of his audience, including any reasonable Repub, that this is ridiculous if he would’ve brought up the birth announcements from the two Hawaiian dailies when Obama was born, and the fact that the Hawaiian Records officials have personally viewed the original birth cert and stated on record that is all accurate. Don’t know about y’all, but I don’t have my orginal birth cert. All I have are copies, since they can’t hand out originals since they know so many people will lose them, or they’ll get destroyed in a fire, and so on. Why didn’t Tweety bring up any of these points that totally end this “debate?”

Tweety simply poured gas on the fire, and for the rest of the show fluffed Repub talking points.

The health care “debate” is about reigning in corporate america’s control of our lives, taking our money and partying with it like it’s 1999.

Whether it’s the health services industry, the media, energy,pensions, finance and banking, “public” transport, or defense corporations have been ripping off and controlling the agenda of america for way way way too long.

If the congress can make a dent in this stranglehold (ripoff) perhaps this will be the beginning of a new era where the government acts in the interest of the people not the corporations and their shareholders and top management.

Health is very up close and personal to all Americans and so there is overwhelming support to get corporations and the greedy profiteering out of it.

But since the congress critters are so corrupt and such hypocrits as well as mostly of the well heeled class or expecting to be there in short order, they are voting the interests of the well heeled and not the people.

We need to get profit out of industries which are part of the commons and limit for profit industries access to congress.

Thankee! *smooch*

For future reference, to provide a link to a specific comment, click on the comment number on upper right, which will provide the url, then copy & paste it, comme ca.

“Barack Hoover Obama” was the title of the lead story in the July issue of Harrper’s by Kevin Baker. Baker demonstrated how Obama is making the identical mistakes that Hoover made. Without saying so much, his implication was that we can probably expect the same consequences.

Mornin’, BT, pups.

These congressmorons, both parties, from the Deep South are a real piece of work. That an African-American was elected President of the United States has to have put them on the verge of having a massive stroke. They’re going to go all out to see that the Obama administration goes nowhere. Keep fuckin’ around, congressmorons, 2010 is right around the corner.

we can probably expect the same consequences.

Right, the world is exactly the same as it was then.

Precisely. That’s why the issue of the use of propaganda needs to be addressed head on.

I’ll look for the article, but I’m dubious going in.

I mostly agree with what bonkers has to say, but not so much on this. These idiots would have their say on Fox and other networks, regardless. Although Matthews is erratic as hell, I’m glad he made the moron shuffle his feet, stare at the pavement, and mumble.

I could find no fault with any of Baker’s claims.

The administration could provide the attending physician, nursing staff, the original paperwork from the hospital, everything and it wouldn’t change a thing with these fenderheads. Facts and truth don’t matter to these people.

Speaking of knuckle draggin, moon pie eatin, p-nuts in the RC Cola folks, here’s a piece from our local indy paper about OUR congressman

Congressman Cloun? He can’t carry water for anybody in Washington, because he’d rather dump the bucket on their head, for the amusement of his own audience back home in the 10th District, which of course includes Athens. Congressman Cloun knows what he’s doing, and it’s paying off big for him. He has already raised a lot of money for his re-election campaign, and his political future is as rosy as a fake nose. He doesn’t care what they think of him in Washington, because they don’t elect him. They only vote on issues like water, and he just laughs at stuff like that.

Don’t want to go too far without having read the article, but the typical mistake such articles make is cherry picking evidence rather than putting the whole thing in context. But I’ll see.

it’s just to beat the president, and what kind of victory is that?

Yes. I liked Buzz Aldrin’s response to the denier, but I guess it doesn’t work on a large scale. Maybe we could rescind their plastic covered, made-in-China-flagged certificates.

Didn’t the pukes say the same thing about W’s military records?
It’s the same old song,
with a different beat. . .

That was my kind of debate!

That’s quite the article. How does he keep getting elected?

They conceeded defeat in November, but the rethugs could be setting Obama up to be the fall guy for Depression II.

Yeah. Every once in a while you see something really satisfying.

Good right jab. Dude was bigger than Aldren and got knocked back a couple steps. I liked what the judge who dismissed the denier’s case said: “You deserved it.”

And he’s seems to have played into their hands. Obama would seem to be a transitional president rather than a transformational one.

Anybody seen selise lately?

Obama, with his policies is part of the problem with the economy as he as deferred to the wall street criminals who got us into the mess to “fix” it. He subscribes to the BS that our banking system needs to be saved/fixed rather than scraped and that institutions are too big too fail and when they receive our help we don’t get to modify their behavior.

Assets have plunged and the chickens will come home to roost when those assets and all the junk instruments are included in their balance sheets. Banks are insolvent.

Given the near complete lack of leadership in Washington, it’s frightening to think what it is we might be transitioning into.

Good question. I’ve been thinking about her and missing her.

The prognosis for the patient is not good.

I started thinking something wasn’t quite right when she didn’t show up for Greider’s Book Salon yesterday. Hope she’s ok.

Prognosis Negative.

There is a lot of waste in medicare. My mother has more tests, scans and biopsies than you can imagine.

I think i saw her over at Campaign Silo yesterday. Don’t remember which thread though.

Could be a perfectly other-life explanation. For example, I’ve been spending all the time I can outdoors in this gorgeous weather (selise lives in the same climate zone). Showed up yesterday because it was raining, though missed the Greider salon, coming in at the tail end. Hopefully selise’s absence has some such harmless explanation.

Defensive medicine. Direct result of malpractice suits, legit or not.

Obama’s doc (pre-White House), who was on democracynow this morning, sez that tests done under insurance company regimes are much more extensive than those under Medicare, fwiw.

Yeah, but my antennae start wiggling when someone you see every day suddenly no longer appears.

On edit: trolls excepted

That sounds a little better. It still has a stink about it, though. I don’t like the thought of an “independent” panel.

I suppose there is a lot of waste, but my ninety-four-year-old mother has been very well-served by Medicare.

I agree.

As in nature, there is a death/rebirth cycle in politics. After the winter, we can hope for a propitious spring.

As has my 86 year old sister-in-law.

I’m off. Be good and be well.

Haven’t seen selise and I miss her. LS too.

I wondered about statements regarding lowering Medicare costs, but think I finally heard Obama explain it in relation to the article (in the New Yorker?) which showed McAllen, TX to have the greatest medical expenses, with the least effective results in the country. The reason was a culture which evolved which has the whole medical system maximizing profit; Doctors owning labs and test facilities, etc.. The cuts in medicare would result from increased screening of those situations.

I suppose you’re right, but when she got dental implants at age 76, having been a life-long smoker, I was blown away. Not sure if this was Medicare or some other program.

Probably by docs who have a stake in the clinics/hospitals?

Ah, thanks eCHAN! I knew there was SOMETHING to click on in the comment to get the link, but it wasn’t readily apparent and I was off to a meeting and it was quicker just to blockquote it.

Waccamaw: *smooch back* (ummm….too early for that! LOL)

I’ve been on medicare for a litte over a year. I’m going to get a dental implant. I’m paying for it myself.

The problem I’ve witnessed is more like 85 year olds getting hip replacement surgery. I don’t know the answer, but in the cases I witnessed the patients never really recovered and passed away a year or so after the surgeries approved by Medicare and the physicians.

That’s good to know. I’m sure some doctors are not abusing the system. We do, as a country, need to discuss end of life decisions.

Obama said his grandmother had a hip replacement while she had terminal cancer.

There are a few folks I’ve been missing. Selise is one. Anyone seen DMAC? I think I saw LoudounLib fleetingly a couple of days ago, but only once.

When I worked at VA I noticed they did more testing on older patients than on younger.

The son of the founder of the company I work for, a mom-and-pop realty firm, was at his dr’s for a routine appt. When he stood up he was suddenly very unstable. Dr admitted him to hospital. Lab tests said he didn’t have a stroke, was suffering from an inner ear infection. Two days later, in hospital, was found on the floor in a pool of blood and vomit. Massive stroke. Died the next morning. He was 88.

So medicare doesn’t pay for implants. Wonder how she got them. You’re happy with medicare?

Oh dear! At least he didn’t spend a lot of time suffering, it sounds like.

I can understand screening situations like that. It makes sense. I always worry, though, when something the Blue Dogs advocate makes sense. I wonder if the McAllem, TX, story is an exception or if that’s going on all over the country.
Who appoints the members of an independent panel? Will the members be ex-insurance execs? Current CEO’s? The kind of people who want to destroy Medicare and find a way to steal that money?
EcCHANomics, glad your sister-in-law is doing well.

Never knew what hit him, but talk about defensive medicine the reason the hospital gave for transferring him to BayFront was that they wanted to drill into his skull to relieve the pressure from the bleeding. Just as the family was leaving after the helo with Mr C took off there was a shooting in the hospital parking lot. Road rage incident. Family had to wait over an hour before the cops would let anybody leave the hospital.

Aren’t these the same NUT jobs that wanted to amend the Constitution when Arney won the Governorship in California. The additional reason the NUT jobs want this amendment (can’t see it passing), is to detract from the 2012 Elections remember the (RNC) Racist Nazi Committee is about confusion and misdirection they are NOT about the PEOPLE or this COUNTRY.

He gets elected by the morons living all around Athens. They gerrymandered the district to negate the “blue” Athens. Hell, it is so bad even Barrow left!

So far so good. I have add’l insurance, but so far have stopped having to pay co-payment. All Dr’s and specialists have accepted without sour looks or raised eyebrows. Yes, the implant was my choice and so won’t even be submitted to Medicare and dental surgeon office never suggested that possibility. I also had a few moles frozen off by a demratologist, which was at my expense, because they were not malignant. I don’t know if there might be a case where someone would have to live off of an IV without an implant, or some other case when it might be considered non-elective.

Ho, shit, I’d forgotten about wanting to make Ahnahld eligible to be prez. Throw that in these fools faces.

What was I reading that congress people actually dole out Meidcare payments in their districts?

Matthews is a a-hole. Doesn’t really matter though with the ratings his channel gets, no one saw it anyway.

According to Dachele, he lived past his prime anyway and it was hist duty to die.

Does that mean you side with the birther?

No, it’s federal.

That is a good question. selise are you ok?