Censored Whig Letters

AMA defends support of healthcare bill
By Jeffrey Young

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/ama-defends-endorsement-of-healthcare-bill-2009-08-15.html

The American Medical Association is telling members that even though it backs the House’s healthcare reform bill, it will seek improvements to the legislation.

Physicians, including AMA members, are split over healthcare reform and the AMA’s move to endorse the House bill last month sparked complaints. In a document distributed recently to its members and published on its website, the AMA asserts it “will continue to work with members of the House of Representatives to improve the bill.”

Though the measure includes $240 billion worth of increased Medicare payments for doctors, it also would create a government-run “public option” insurance program that would compete with private insurers, a prospect that unnerves healthcare providers worried the government will not pay them enough for their services.

The document also seeks to reassure members that the AMA does not support nationalized health insurance, outlawing private insurance or mandatory end-of-life counseling, giving bureaucrats the authority to dictate what treatments a doctor prescribes or rationing care.

The AMA is the only major healthcare industry lobbying organization to endorse the House bill.

Although groups such as the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the American Hospital Association (AHA) have generally supported the healthcare reform efforts of President Barack Obama and Congress, the AMA went further by offering explicit support for a piece of legislation.

By getting out in front of other healthcare groups last month, the AMA says it is well situated to influence changes to the reform bill as it moves through the legislative process. “We believe our support helps put us in a very favorable position to craft a single bill for final passage,” the document says.

Medicare funding is vital to physicians. The complex formula that calculates how much Medicare pays doctors is flawed and would have required the government to cut payments in recent years by as much as 21.5 percent. The House bill includes a new payment policy and more than $240 billion in spending to implement it.

Even though congressional Democrats oppose one of the AMA’s other big priorities – caps on malpractice lawsuit damages – getting a new Medicare payment formula enacted would be a major victory for the group.

But the move to endorse the House bill carries risk for the AMA, which must bring skeptical members on board with a strategy that has caused consternation among those physicians worried about broadening the scope of the federal government’s involvement in the healthcare system.

The AMA is not alone in dealing with a membership split over the direction Obama and his allies in Congress are taking healthcare reform.

When the AHA joined the AMA, PhRMA, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Service Employees International Union to promise Obama they would find $2 trillion in savings in the healthcare system, members of the AHA and other groups pushed back.

Likewise, physicians and their lobbying representatives are divided over the House bill. The American College of Surgeons and the American Academy of Family Physicians have endorsed the measure, for example, while the American Association of Neurological Surgeons and a handful of state medical societies oppose the bill.

The anxiety that underlies this divide is evident in the “frequently asked questions” for which the AMA provides its answers in its document.

“Why is the AMA supporting H.R. 3200?” the first question says. “H.R. 3200 contains many elements that reflect AMA priorities for health system reform,” is the reply.

But via subsequent questions and answers, the AMA makes clear that there are elements of the House bill it does not expect to survive the legislative process. Indeed, the group appears to be counting on it.

On the public option in particular, the AMA writes, “We believe that, as the legislative process continues, alternatives and modifications to the public option will be considered and the final product will be considerably different than the provisions contained in the original version of H.R. 3200.”

The AMA’s gamble could well pay off. The Senate Finance Committee – the only of Congress’s five healthcare committees yet to introduce a bill – is trying to hash out a bipartisan measure that would not include a public option.

Even with a public option, the AMA pushes back against charges it has endorsed “socialized medicine” by endorsing the House’s measure. “The AMA continues to oppose nationalized health insurance, and we continue to express opposition to elements of public plan proposals that we believe could lead us down the road to a single-payer system or ‘socialized medicine,’” the document says.

The AMA also tackles some of the more extreme accusations against the healthcare reform bill.

“H.R. 3200 would not provide the government with the authority to decide what medical treatments patients will receive,” the document says. “The bill would not ration care; it would expand access to health care coverage and increase the information needed to support strong clinical decision-making.”

The AMA also notes that the end-of-life counseling benefit the bill would create is voluntary, contrary to assertions by conservative critics that these consultations are intended to encourage elderly and sick people to submit to euthanasia.

Addressing email campaigns by critics of the Democratic healthcare reform proposals on rationing and other issues, the AMA described such messages as “extreme claims based on cursory readings of the legislation supplemented by conjecture and misinterpretations that do not reflect an accurate understanding of current law, medical practice or insurance regulation.”

“As is true with all email spam, messages that are repeatedly forwarded from an unknown original source should not be trusted. Physicians are encouraged to consult with the AMA, their state societies and specialty societies about the accuracy of any legislative interpretations that cause them concern,” the document says.

The Wealthy Elites Play the Racists for Pawns at a Town Hall Meeting in Maryland

BuzzFlash Guest Commentary

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/9188

By Maria Allwine

On Monday night, Maryland Senator Ben Cardin held a town hall meeting at Towson University, just north of Baltimore. A long-time BuzzFlash reader and Baltimore activist, Maria Allwine, provided this account.

I was at the protest before Monday night’s town hall meeting on healthcare hosted by Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin. Here are my impressions of last night:

I went to the rally and got there about 5:35 – already there were signs posted saying the event (a huge line already waiting to get in) had reached capacity. I hoped members of Healthcare-Now of MD were there early.

The organized right-wingers were there in droves – I estimate (and I am not the best guesser) at least 1,000, maybe more. They were bused in from all over MD from what I was hearing. There were maybe 500 of us, perhaps more – again a guesstimate. Osler Drive was lined up on both sides for a very long way but the majority of them were the right-wingers. They were all along the west side of Osler and a good deal of the east side where we were. I’ll be interested to read the estimates from a more reliable source than myself.

I have never seen such hatred, vitriol and racism in all my life – and I do not say that lightly. It made me physically ill – I could stand the heat, but I couldn’t stand the hatred and racism. We all read about it, we know it – but having it in your face in such large and angry numbers is hard to deal with. There were posters of Obama as Hitler, the Democratic Nazi Party, Keep Your Laws Off My Body (except for abortion – I asked) and various and sundry examples of ugliness. Some Lyndon LaRouche supporters along with anti-immigration and tort reform. Also a lot of “killing the elderly, euthanasia” type signs. And of course, our favorite – “No Socialism.” As I looked across Osler at these people, they were screaming and angry – and they often came over to where we were to provoke us and to out-shout us. The comments to me as I walked up and down with my signs were appalling. Just ugly, ugly, ugly.

I am telling you this for a reason.

Folks, this is NOT about healthcare or anything remotely resembling policy or any particular issue. This is about the naked anger of the right wing being out of power and not accepting a black man as President combined with their own racism – it’s thinly veiled at best, but it’s racism. I venture to say that this is the least thinly veiled racism I’ve seen for a long time – they have taken those gloves off.

When people say “I work, I’m not paying for anyone else” – that’s about African-Americans and Latinos - period. I stated so to a couple of young women and of course they countered me with extreme anger and then one took my picture to show her children what’s wrong with America (I worry about that – these people love to post pictures of people they want to make targets). Later I asked one older woman very calmly – she was calm herself – if she cared about other people besides her own family and loved ones. She looked me in the eyes and said “NO, I don’t”. I was lost for words. I heard over and over people saying “I work, I don’t want to pay for anyone else.”

And a lot of “healthcare is a privilege, not a right” – “ you people just keep wanting more” - a lot in that vein. And of course excoriating “socialism” was a favorite. I asked one man, who was screaming at us how he could live with so much hatred every day. He whipped around and yelled at me “I keep it coming every day” – he was so angry I thought he was going to have some kind of attack. These are people we see on the street every day, I’ve worked with them – and when I say they are filled with hate, I do not exaggerate. I finally had to leave around 7 pm – I couldn’t take any more of the ugliness. I was literally sick to my gut.

Make no mistake – these people are lying and have been told to lie. They have no facts and are not dissuaded by those who do and want to discuss them. There is NO engaging these people – they are way beyond that. That’s not what they’re there for. That’s why I say we must stop discussing policy and start discussing strategy and tactics.

In my opinion, we (the left, the progressives and the Congresspeople who are with us) are making a mistake by ignoring these people. This is not about the people at these events; it’s about who is controlling them. And that is the wealthy elites who will do anything, including destroying what is left of the democracy we remember, to protect what they have, the corporations who control Congress and who actually rule this country and the extremists who are driven by hatred and racism. They are working together and if we do not develop an effective strategy and new tactics to counter them, this country – and us – are doomed.

There is an excellent article on AlterNet regarding fascism. If you haven’t read it yet, I urge you to do so. We have all talked about this over these past years and we all worry about it but I think this article is absolutely right. And I think we better pay attention to what is happening right underneath our noses. It might be reassuring to say that these people are fringe, the minority, etc. But it’s not just them – it’s the most powerful moneyed interests in this country who are bankrolling and controlling them. The angry mobs are the storm troopers and they are the angriest people I’ve ever seen. They are happy to be controlled and happy to do the bidding of their masters. In my opinion they would be happy to do away with the likes of us.

Think we aren’t about to lose what’s left of this democracy? I urge you to think again. And then I urge all of us to rethink our strategy and tactics. The first thing we need to do is call what is happening by its right name – fascism – over and over again. And we need to call out the corporations and bad actors who are bankrolling these people.

Here is another good article which mentions a Baltimore law firm’s involvement with Dick Armey and its lobbying efforts to kill healthcare reform – not to mention the enormous sums of money they rake in doing it. Scroll down to the “FreedomWorks and the K Street Lobbyist” paragraph for info on a once-venerable Baltimore law firm. This is the kind of thing that needs to be exposed in the media and talked about. The only way the media will discuss it is if we discuss it constantly.

I hope the report from inside Sen. Cardin’s meeting is more positive than mine! I’m posting this because what I witnessed tonight must be a wake-up call to us – not something to ignore. This will not go away – and indeed will only get worse.

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY

For Immediate Release

Date: August 4, 2009

Contact: DNC Press Office

Phone: 202-863-8148

Statement from DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse on the Republican Party and Allied Groups’ Mob Rule

The Republicans and their allied groups - desperate after losing two consecutive elections and every major policy fight on Capitol Hill - are inciting angry mobs of a small number of rabid right wing extremists funded by K Street Lobbyists to disrupt thoughtful discussions about the future of health care in America taking place in Congressional Districts across the country.

However, much like we saw at the McCain-Palin rallies last year where crowds were baited with cries of ’socialist,’ ‘communist,’ and where the birthers movement was born – these mobs of extremists are not interested in having a thoughtful discussion about the issues – but like some Republican leaders have said - they are interested in ‘breaking’ the President and destroying his Presidency.

These mobs are bussed in by well funded, highly organized groups run by Republican operatives and funded by the special interests who are desperately trying to stop the agenda for change the President was elected to bring to Washington. Despite the headline grabbing nature of these angry mobs and their disruptions of events, they are not reflective of where the American people are on the issues – or the hundreds of thousands of thoughtful discussions taking place around kitchen tables, water coolers and in homes.

The right wing extremists’ use of things like devil horns on pictures of our elected officials, hanging members of Congress in effigy, breathlessly questioning the President’s citizenship and the use of Nazi SS symbols and the like just shows how outside of the mainstream the Republican Party and their allies are. This type of anger and discord did not serve Republicans well in 2008 – and it is bound to backfire again.

-30-

Brad Woodhouse

Communications Director

Democratic National Committee

woodhouseb@dnc.org

Anyone that’s watched the news in the past few days knows that health insurance reform is a hot topic and that rumors and scare tactics have only increased as more people engage with the issue. Given a lot of the outrageous claims floating around, it s time to make sure everyone knows the facts about the security and stability you get with health insurance reform.

That s why we ve launched a new online resource http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck to help you separate fact from fiction and share the truth about health insurance reform. Here’s a few of the reality check videos you can find on the site:
CEA Chair Christina Romer details how health insurance reform will impact small businesses.
Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes tackles a nasty rumor about euthanasia and clearly describes how reform helps families.
Matt Flavin, the White House’s Director of Veterans and Wounded Warrior Policy, clears the air about Veteran’s benefits.
Kavita Patel, M.D., a doctor serving in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement, explains that health care rationing is happening right now and how reform gives control back to patients and doctors.
Bob Kocher, M.D., a doctor serving on the National Economic Council, debunks the myth that health insurance reform will be financed by cutting Medicare benefits.
There’s more information and a number of online tools you can use to spread the truth among your family, friends and other social networks. Take a look:

We knew going into this effort that accomplishing comprehensive health insurance reform wasn’t going to be easy. Achieving real change never is. The entrenched interests that benefit from the status quo always use their influence in Washington to try and keep things just as they are.

But don’t be misled. We know the status quo is unsustainable. If we do nothing, millions more Americans will be denied insurance because of pre-existing conditions, or see their coverage suddenly dropped if they become seriously ill. Out-of-pocket expenses will continue to soar, and more and more families and businesses will be forced to deal with health insurance costs they can t afford.

That’s the reality.

Americans deserve better. You deserve a health care system that works as well for you as it does for the status quo; one you can depend on that won’t deny you coverage when you need it most or charge you crippling out-of-pocket co-pays. Health insurance reform means guaranteeing the health care security and stability you deserve.

President Barack Obama promised he’d bring change to Washington and fix our broken, unsustainable health insurance system. You can help deliver that change. Visit http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck, get the facts and spread the truth. The stakes are just too high to do nothing.

Thank you,
David

David Axelrod
Senior Advisor to the President

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001870042_iraqdig03.html

Wednesday, March 03, 2004 - Page updated at 12:00 A.M.

Universal care is right for Iraq, Thompson says

WASHINGTON — Fresh from a two-day weekend visit to Iraq, the Bush administration’s top health-care official defended the $950 million that will be spent to help Iraq establish universal health care.

Congressional Democrats have criticized the administration for helping Iraq to establish universal health care without doing the same for U.S. citizens.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said yesterday there are major differences between the two countries that defy simple comparisons.

“Even if you don’t have health insurance,” said Thompson, who toured medical facilities in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Tikrit on Saturday and Sunday, “you are still taken care of in America. That certainly could be defined as universal coverage. Every American’s health care is far superior to what the health care is in Iraq.”

Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, ranking Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, responded yesterday, saying the U.S. system doesn’t sufficiently meet the needs of 44 million uninsured Americans.

Obama-Allied Unions Threatened With Gun Violence For Town Hall Participation

by Sam Stein

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/07/obama-allied-unions-threa_n_254204.html

One of the country’s largest unions has been hit by a wave of hostile calls and even death threats from people upset with its involvement in town-hall health care debates.

The Service Employers International Union was, as one aide put it, “deluged” with calls on Friday after several conservative media outlets accused the organization of trying to assault demonstrators who had showed up to protest Obama’s health care agenda. Making it even scarier for union employees, the address of the union’s St. Louis headquarters was mentioned on air by conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh.

Callers who reached both the front desk and the communications department compared the union officials to Nazis, union aides say. On Twitter, organizers of the town hall protest urged people to take pictures and write down the license plate numbers of attending SEIU officials. More alarming than anything else, angry callers and protesters pledged to take up arms against the union.

“If ACORN/SEIU attends these meetings for disruptive purposes, and you have a license to carry….carry,” read one tweet.

“I suggest you tell your people to calm down, act like American citizens, and stop trying to repress people’s First Amendment rights,” one caller warned. “That, or you all are gonna come up against the Second Amendment.”

The union had actually put up a petition on Thursday for its organizers and members to attend these town hall events and “honor the long-standing American tradition of town hall meetings and public forums to allow citizens to participate in our democracy.” Things got a bit hairy during the evening, however, when the SEIU helped turn away people at a forum in Tampa Bay, Florida, and a near riot ensued. Similarly, in St. Louis, an SEIU staffer was arrested after a scuffle ensued with protesters at a town hall event with Rep. Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.).

The SEIU wasn’t the only Obama ally receiving threats on Friday. An official of the AFL-CIO, which has pledged to counter conservative protests at these town hall events across the country, said that union received angry emails throughout the day as well — mostly accusations that it was promoting communism and socialism.

——————————————-

A Right-Wing site in Maryland posted photos of my car covered with union stickers after I attended a Kratovil Town Hall event which I believe is a not very subtle suggestion to target me personally for harassment and/or political violence. Otherwise, they could have shot the sides…. only the sides do not show my license plates! They did not have my permission but frankly I am not afraid of the crazy Right!

http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2009/08/report-from-rock-hall.html

Congressman Kratovil wins how ?

Frank Kratovil of Maryland’s 1st Congressional District faces a very difficult re-election race because the district historically leans Republican. However Kratovil has a very effective secret weapon, it is an active and well-financed coalition from an element of the Republican Party mostly from the extreme Far Right wing of the Republican coalition. They are the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall disrupters” you have been seeing on television and reading about in your local newspapers!

This group is not really representative of the typical Republican voters from sprawling Maryland 1st. Most Republicans I know from the dozen or so counties comprising the 1st Congressional District are relatively moderate and always reasonable.

They dislike taxes like everyone else. However, they believe government does on most occasions some things very well (like Social Security, the American military, Medicare, national parks, etc.)

The Republicans I know simply dismiss the nonsense about Obama not being born in America. Obama’s Hawaiian original birth certificates in all forms (long and short) have been made public. The birth announcement was published in the Hawaiian newspapers when he was born.

These local Republican voters would never deny other citizens their right to interact with their member of Congress just to score political points. This kind of rude behavior has never been tolerated by either major political party in recent memory. I have lived in the District for over 35 years.

Today, I had the opportunity to attend two Kratovil citizen contact events in my home county. Both were mobbed by “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters.” I honestly do not know what to call them. The majority of those at the events trying to disrupt them seem to fall into all 3 categories. Basically, the same people are involved in all 3 media stunts.

They make good copy for reporters because they are real wing-nuts!!! It appears that crazy as a bedbug sells.

Financing fake grassroots movements is a booming business since the Democrats won control of Congress and the White House. The usual Right Wing billionaires have been typically generous and now the health insurance industry has exploded the cash available. It does not take big bucks to rally the extreme Right so the organizing can be a very lucrative business. All you need is a near total lack of ethics or concern for your fellow American citizens. The sentiment being sold is a dressed-up version of “let them die” combined with “I got mine.”

For some strange reason, the wing-nuts seem to thing radical behavior strengthens their cause. They actually think they are a mass movement instead of a fringe political element. They are living in a fictional alternative reality where the vast majority of Americans oppose healthcare reform. All major polls state otherwise. The current system is clearly broken and most Americans know it is broken. There is little healthcare security outside Medicare for most Americans.

Kratovil handled both crowds with ease. He understands his District very well and is clearly in the political mainstream on almost every issue. Obama lost the 1st District by large margin while Kratovil won the same year!
Kratovil is both moderate and extremely personable. Charisma is a frequently over-used term in politics but Kratovil has it. The guy is reasonable, patriotic and caring. Although I wish he was a little more reliably Democratic in his voting record, I know his views are closer to the District’s majority than are mine. The man is smart, young and wise. He is also very patient man.

The tone and attitude of the vocal leadership of the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters” made it clear they were there to disrupt. A couple of the signs at the second event were especially insulting. One sign read “I was once afraid of terrorists but now am afraid of our government.” The other read “Save America, Impeach Obama.” After reading them, I realized this people were far, far, far outside mainstream political thought.

The leadership was intentionally insulting, aggressive and angry. They disrupted answers over and over again. For some reason, about 50% of the crowd was holding identical copies of the same talking points and style directions- same font, some colors and same text! The guy clearing in charge at the first event told a staffer that he was from Howard County which is not part of the 1st Congressional District.

I only recognized a single person from Cecil County. He is a local Republican officeholder. It seems the vast majority of people in the crowd from Cecil County were supporters of Frank Kratovil which is not surprising. Kratovil did receive the endorsement of the previous moderate-conservative Republican Congressman in 2008! There is a huge and growing Republicans for Kratovil movement.

The trick for keeping this Congressional District is the nature of the extremist opponent State Senator Andy Harris. Harris is the most Far Right state legislator in Maryland. To be any worse, Harris would have to become the Maryland version of David Duke. Harris is not quite there. Even the majority of the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters” are not quite there. A few seem to have made it there.

Kratovil certainly is catching a clear break from the nature and high visibility of wing-nut opponents! Having “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters” running around this very traditional district is keeping the Republicans for Kratovil from returning to the Republican column. Mainstream Republicans remain highly wary of “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters.”

Kratovil is clearly a fiscal conservative. Whatever internal Democratic opposition that might have normally arisen from the left over policy or votes has been muted because of the visibility of the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters.” Even if Kratovil is not always a reliable Democratic vote, he certainly has the right enemies in the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters.”

That crowd is closely identified with State Senator Harris. They are a scary bunch of wing-nuts. They do not help Harris but Harris still needs them. Without them Harris has almost no base.

After today, I am still not afraid of my government! Why? Because the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters” are not running the government, I am not afraid. Because the “tea-baggers, Obama birthers and Healthcare Town Hall Disrupters” are who they are, I believe they will never be running our government. I trust the voters!

Written by Stephen Crockett (Cecil County resident, host of Democratic Talk Radio http://www.DemocraticTalkRadio.com and Editor of Mid-Atlantic Labor.com http://www.midatlanticlabor.com ). Mail: P.O. Box 283, Earleville, Maryland 21919. Email: demlabor@aol.com. Phone: 443-907-2367.

Unions To Take On Conservative Groups Health Care Town Halls

by Sam Stein

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/unions-to-take-on-conserv_n_252720.html

The nation’s largest federation of labor organizations has promised to directly engage with boisterous conservative protesters at Democratic town halls during the August recess.

In a memo sent out on Thursday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney outlined the blueprint for how the union conglomerate would step up recess activities on health care reform and other topics pertinent to the labor community. The document makes clear that Obama allies view the town hall forums as ground zero of the health care debate. It also uses the specter of the infamous 2000 recount “Brooks Brothers” protest to rally its members to the administration’s side.

“The principal battleground in the campaign will be town hall meetings and other gatherings with members of Congress in their home districts,” reads the memo. “We want your help to organize major union participation to counter the right-wing “Tea-Party Patriots” who will try to disrupt those meetings, as they’ve been trying to do to meetings for the last month. …

(Remember the hooligans - many of them Republican Congressional staff - who harassed Florida vote counters in 2000? We can’t let that happen again!).”

A showdown between unions and grassroots conservative organizations could make for an August full of fireworks, with even more dysfunctional town hall meetings. The AFL-CIO is planning to target 50 “high priority districts,” in addition to organizing telephone town hall gatherings.

But while the union conglomerate seems poised to flex its political muscle on Obama’s behalf, it may find some friction on the policy front. Detailed in Sweeney’s memo are certain legislative priorities that are clearly at odds with what seems likely to be produced in the Senate Finance Committee’s compromise bill.

Sweeney describes it as a “requirement that ALL employers ‘pay or play,’” that the final bill have “a robust public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers and drive down health costs,” and that the legislation contain “relief for company/union funds providing pre-Medicare retiree coverage, and no taxation of health benefits!”

The AFL-CIO also promises to “Redouble our efforts on Capitol Hill against taxation of benefits OF ANY KIND, for including ALL businesses in the requirement to provide coverage, and for a robust public health insurance plan option.”

According to reports on Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee is considering compromise legislation that will contain no public option for insurance and would tax health-care benefits of the most generous plans.

UPDATE: AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Richard Trumka sends out a scathing statement about the town halls, hitting on Sweeney’s themes and calling the events corporate funded.

Every American has the inalienable right to participate in our democratic process. Our politics is passionate, heartfelt and often loud — as was the founding of our nation. But that is not what the corporate-funded mobs are engaging in when they show up to disrupt town halls held by members of Congress.

Major health care reform is closer than ever to passage and it is no secret that special interests want to weaken or block it. These mobs are not there to participate. As their own strategy memo states, they have been sent by their corporate and lobbyist bankrollers to disrupt, heckle and block meaningful debate. This is a desperation move, meant to slow the momentum for change.

Mob rule is not democracy. People have a democratic right to express themselves and our elected leaders have a right to hear from their constituents — not organized thugs whose sole purpose is to shut down the conversation and attempt to scare our leaders into inaction

We call on the insurance companies, the lobbyists and the Republican leaders who are cheering them on to halt these ‘Brooks Brothers Riot’ tactics. Health care is a crucial issue and everyone - on all sides of the issue - deserves to be heard.

Wingnuts Receive Marching Orders On How to Disrupt Upcoming Town Halls With Phony Outrage

Corporate media stand ready to help as usual…

Are there simply no democratic (small “d”) processes left that the Right isn’t willing to corrupt to their own corporatized, nefarious purposes? It would seem not…

The rightwing, corporate-sponsored (read: astroturf) “grassroots” FreedomWatch coalition, and their conveniently leaked talking points instruction memo [PDF] on how to create an appearance of dissension — “Yell…Stand up and shout out…Rattle Him…Be Disruptive Early and Often” — at upcoming town hall meetings back in Congressional districts over the August recess…

FULL STORY: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7336

[Updated: Right on cue, the Teabaggers turn out to disrupt town hall meetings over the weekend. Video and details at end of article.]

Blue Dog Compromises: A War On the Middle Class?

by RJ Eskow- Consultant, Writer, Health Analyst

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/blue-dog-compromises-a-wa_b_248311.html

It’s hard to analyze the compromises coming from Blue Dog Democrats without concluding that, intentionally or not, they add up to a financial assault on working families. Every concession rings with the sound of middle-class Americans being dinged financially.

Ding! That’s the sound of lower-income working Americans losing what remained of their subsidy for purchasing health insurance. They’ve raised the bar1 so that people making $31,200 will no longer get any help with their premiums. Neither will parents trying to raise a family of four on $63,000. That means families without employer-based coverage will have to come up with the money for health insurance (currently $12,000 per year) or face a government penalty.

But how many Americans will have employer-sponsored coverage? Ding! That’s the sound of more people losing that chance, as Blue Dogs raise the minimum payroll requirement for employers from $500,000 to $750,000. 86% of small businesses will now be exempt from any mandate. Small businesses have been the engine of economic growth and recovery.

But wait. At least some of these uninsured folks will be able to buy into a public option, right? (That is, if the Blue Dogs’ soul mates in the Senate don’t kill it altogether.) Won’t the public option be more affordable than those high-cost private insurance plans?

Ding! That’s the sound of the Blue Dogs eviscerating the cost-cutting potential of the public plan by refusing to allow it to use Medicare rates with providers, even for the conservative three-year period contemplated by earlier drafts of the bill. What does that mean for uninsured working Americans? Their lowest-cost option is going to cost a lot more if the Blue Dogs get their way.

This particular initiative has a historical parallel. It’s similar to the Republicans’ refusal to let Medicare use its buying power to bargain on pharmaceutical costs.

What about the luckier middle class types, the ones that do get health insurance through their employers? Well, there’s a lot of talk that they’ll be facing a new financial burden when Congress starts taxing health benefits (although the income levels at which that will happen are still being debated). Why? Because supposedly some people are getting “Cadillac plans.” Look a little closer, however, and you usually find that they’re just priced like Cadillacs. It’s not that they’re generous (certainly not by Medicare or European standards). More often than not, those $40,000 plans you hear about are costly because they’re covering sicker people.

Ding! Congress may begin taxing these benefits, if the Blue Dogs have their way. That’s a regressive tax, one that’s based on behavioral logic that seems questionable at best to me. Taxing the wealthiest Americans on truly luxurious plans (say, ones with concierge medicine features) would be reasonable … if we could trust Congress to stop there. Sadly, we can’t.

Where didn’t the Blue Dogs and Rep. Waxman (my representative) compromise? Here’s where: They didn’t ease up on the mandate for individuals to obtain health insurance coverage. They made it easier for employers not to offer it, and they found several ways to make it more expensive, but they didn’t give a break to the working people - mostly blue-collar working people - who will be hit the hardest by their much-vaunted compromises.

That would be the same blue-collar voters that proved so vital to the Democrats’ electoral victories in 2008. You don’t have to believe in the supernatural to believe that sometime soon Democrats could face some bad karma - the electoral kind - for their indifference to the needs of their constituents. In this debate, the progressives aren’t just being idealistic. They’re being pragmatic. Their plans have a greater likelihood of helping people who need it - and as a result, of helping their party in the years to come.

Ding! Ding! Ding! Hear that? It’s the sound of the disaffected middle class in 2012 if the Blue Dogs have their way. Already alienated by big payouts to wealthy Wall Street bankers, they’re counting up their new financial burdens … and taking a second look at the Republican Party.
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1 From 300% to 400% of the Federal poverty level.

RJ Eskow blogs when he can at:

A Night Light
The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog

Website: Eskow and Associates

Follow RJ Eskow on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rjeskow