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Here’s my latest video on health care reform…
Watch: Your Worst Nightmare |
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| By: stranahan Thursday December 24, 2009 8:47 pm | |
Here’s my latest video on health care reform…
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92 Comments
Good job! I think I would omit the jerking of the words, though, makes your eyes avoid them.
Thank you for making this.
:)
I dunno, I kind of liked the jerky graphics. I thought I was watching an old War Department training film until I figured out where Stranahan was going with it. :o)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxNrmf-VoSs
Speaking of the War Department, just after World War II it published an interesting GI Roundtable pamphlet, Is Your Health the Nation’s Business? . Its a bit depressing how little has changed, though its a fascinating read. The politician names and financial numbers are different, but we’re still fighting the same war.
http://www.historians.org/projects/GIRoundtable/Health/Health_TOC.htm
I have to agree with you about the jerkiness.
It was just annoying enough to be attention grabbing and adds to the sinister feel of the whole thing. I’d leave it, but if it becomes common in ads it will drive everyone right up the wall.
Wow. Are we getting some great new diaries or what?
Great video.
I was talking to Jon Walker the other day (we sit in a room together & watch CSPAN all day) and said “who would’ve thought we’d be here six months ago.”
And he said “you, what about me? I was writing a blog that was read by 8 people.” He’s done amazing things. Great quote.
Means quite a bit coming from you – thanks so much to you and everyone here for your brave work.
My mom was after me last night about talking to strangers on the internet, did I know who they were? Was I meeting them in person?
I tried to tell her the people I’m talking to on the internet are on TV and mentioned your name.
Keep up the totally fantastic work you are doing, Jane, you are my hero! And I know pretty soon even my mom will know who you are.
Merry Christmas! And say “hi” to your mom for me.
HA! You guys are giving progressive liberals some ass. heh.
Merry Christmas pups.
Great news to learn that I am not the only one who pays attention to c-span, (every chance I get) I voted on some other website on the no-brainer question : do you oppose the health care reform bill since some cyber malfunction would not accept my message, it seems like a good idea to post it here :
To quote Senator Paul Wellstone, it is robin Hood in Reverse , spiritually dyslexic. To paraphrase Dylan Ratigan : it mandates customers into an unreformed monopoly, To quote Jane Hamshire it is immoral to force people to pay for insurance that they do not want. from my observations, what has occured in our Government in the past few weeks is pure evil. Pray for the United States, and vote the bums OUT. Dear Lady Jane, I do not agree with everything that the far-left is ‘about’, however I am about the United States, and I respect you youngsters for having enough class and awareness to stand up and be real U.S. Citizens, and even if this website is a fubbie, list compiler, it is an honor and a responsibility to have my vote Counted. I trust that you are on the sane side of global warming, and energetics, perhaps I will be communicating on the most critical issue of our Generation.
-All of my Love-
thanks for sharing this.
recommended
Gawd!
Beauty!
Nice! Rec’d.
Kill The Bill Baby Kill The Bill!
Our new mantra???
Great video!!Rec’d.
Merry Merry to all the Good Firepups!!
Recommended.
Nothing else to say.
WOW!
How I wish this were going to be on tv- ESP during the holidays. Great video!
Awesome work, Jane!
I remember ‘way back in 04, reading Marcy on the next hurrah, finding FDL, and meeting you all at the fitz show are Prettyman. Telling all my progressive friends about Jane & crew. Now they call me to say, “Jane’s on TV now.” And I get to say, “Told you so! Back in 05, too!”
Harry Reid didn’t make a mistake ,when he first voted no.
Wouldn’t it be funny if, after all of this, the Prez vetoed the final bill? Just a thought…
I’m coming to believe that if a public option or drug re-importation somehow managed to make it into the bill he would veto it. I’d love to be able to hear the his input at the reconciliation meetings.
Yeah, some transparency there, ain’t it?
wow, just wow
two-fer – thanx
Rock ‘em, sock ‘em vid. Great work. Thank you.
Did you see Elliot’s Dogs Rocking…video? Very nice.
Yep, cute vid and some well trained puppers.
Very much like the great LBJ ads. Just without any video, which i think might make it better.
This great. The appeal to fear is a great idea!
A wonderful new movement is being born here. May I suggest calling it the Pee Potty?
Merry Christmas!
Funny
Merry Christmas FDL!
Keep fighting for accountability.
What middle class? “It’s the class warfare, stupid.” (Not directed at anyone here. Just the corporatist.)
Masaccio has a fresh cross-post up and at ‘em: “A Hopeful Season’s Greetings”
Not exactly a call to arms, but it’s very nice as a start.
Merry Christmas, FDL folks. I thought the ad was a really great one. Kudos to Stranahan and also to Jon Walker. Kudos to you too, Jane for opposing the Senate bill in any way you can.
Useful information.
“After tomorrow’s Senate vote, what next?”
http://www.congressmatters.com/storyonly/2009/12/23/14148/742
That was a great read, thanks, bookmarked!
And I’d not known about that website, so DOUBLE thanks!
“Ruin our country”? Horribly stupid line. The spot was fine until then. (I have some problems with the narrator, but he’s good enough for the spot.)
You kill it with your hyperbolic teabaggery at the end. I know you were probably struggling with whether or not to keep the last line, or go with something less dramatic. I’m pretty sure there was a third choice out there. Just as dramatic, but less full-of-shit.
Or do you honestly believe that the health care bill will “ruin” this country? If you didn’t mean it in the spirit of inflamed political rhetoric, but actual fact, please explain.
Just curious, did you fight against any and all proposals to privatize Social Security? Did you fight against Medicare Advantage and Prescription D? The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003? The giving away of our governments powers to negotiate pricing? Do you know what those are or were you still in middle school during the Bush years? Can you see, or even wiki, any similarities?
I went back and forth on ending of this piece right up until a few minutes before I uploaded it.
I wasn’t collaborating with anyone else on this so ultimately, I went with my actual feeling – this bill is the most dangerous piece of legislation I’ve ever seen in my life, including the Patriot Act.
The reason is what I indicate in the video – it’s an unholy alliance between the government and big business on a truly unprecedented scale. It turns the US government into a sales and collection agency for the insurance industry.
If Bush had done it, I’d hate it. But it’s more scary to me that it’s being delivered by a guy I helped elect. We were promised one thing during the election and we’re being delivered the OPPOSITE – and a lot of people don’t seem to care and the press isn’t really reporting it much, either.
Something very very bad is happening here. It’s really nothing less than the complete blatant subversion of our democracy.
I agree that it’s crappy legislation. But that still doesn’t warrant the your hyperbole. It undercuts your message to the point of negating your messasge. And it makes you look like a bit of a rube.
“Good point, good point, good point, stupid.”
And in your response, “unholy”? Really? You sure you want to go with that? I’m a devout atheist and I found that a little silly.
Okay, so how long do you think it will take this legislation to ruin our country? A year? Two years? Five years? (Any more than a couple of years and it will be hard to place the blame for our country’s ruin on this bill alone.)
Whatever the length, you pick and let me know what it is. Then you and me will make a bet, for real money. Since “ruin” isn’t completely subjective, I assume we will both be able to determine if this bill has thrown our country in the shitter. (Mass emigration, dissolution of the constitution, end of democracy.) If you don’t feel comfortable with this, we can find someone to be the judge.
So let me know when our country will be ruined, and I will suggest a bet. Say, $1,000. Then you will agree to the bet, and deposit your money in an escrow account.
Or, you will not agree to the bet, and perhaps choose your words more wisely in the future.
(I normally wouldn’t bother with response. But you took the time to make the video, so I thought I should take the time to give you my two-cents. Please understand that his is out of respect.)
Lol, classic cartoon latte liberal. Pat yourself on the head.
I appreciate your comments, which is why I’ve tried to lay out my position in response. Nothing but respect here, either.
I think it’s kind of ruined the country already. It speeds up the decline. Michael Moore was sounding the alarm about the auto industry decades ago but it took a while for Detroit to reach 50% unemployment. And even then, one could argue that figure will drop – and it will. It’s unsustainable.
But to explain the level of awful here, I’ll point to a piece I wrote for HuffPost a few weeks ago – the worst part is, there’s almost nobody to trust right now.
Here’s my written article Badfellas : How Rahm And My President Killed Health Care Reform
I’m done with this. I looked at your piece at HuffPo. Nice, but still no explanation behind the accusation that this healthcare bill is going to “ruin the country.” I’m quoting you here, Stranahan, not some other guy. You.
Hey, and you know what? The automobile industry fell into the toilet and that didn’t ruin the country. Kinda fucked up Detroit a tad, but not the country. Yes, Moore made a great documentary about some of the effects of the decline on Flint, but the decline didn’t ruin the country.
You can certainly argue that the decline of the American automobile industry added to the aggregate loss of industrial jobs, but that hasn’t “ruined” America.
Good luck with the movies. Hire better voice talent. (Yes, I know you did the VO yourself. And I know you were free. But get a pro. You’re a pro on the other side of the camera. It’s only fair to your film-making abilities. And please, PLEASE avoid needless, argument-killing hyperbole. It kinda ruins the whole thing.)
Peace out.
I don’t know that this health care bill alone will be the downfall of this country, either, but I do think the this Administration’s policies could very well mean the “ruin” of this country: the Patriot Act, the Middle East wars, the bank bailouts, more free trade agreements quickening the pace of the race to the bottom, no increased regulation of the financial industry, the continued use of signing statements, ALONG WITH this health care plan.
Now I KNOW I’m losing it. Just read Sirota’s new piece at Huff where it links to Jane saying:
“Do the math: 257 – 64 = 193. They need 218 to pass the bill.”
60+ House Democrats Say “Any” Health Bill With No Public Option Is “Unacceptable”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/60-house-democrats-say-an_b_403243.html
Anyway, feeling better knowing that. (now to retain it. ha)
And your response to this is?
http://www.cogitamusblog.com/2009/12/more-vitriol-toward-my-fellow-lefties.html
One difference between you and me is that you want to compare this bill with the status quo, where I want to compare it to what could be, what they have elsewhere, and what is really needed to provide a system that won’t put the lower middle class into a disastrous financial position every time a costly medical situation comes up. It looks to me–and I could be wrong–that even after passage of this bill we’ll still have the most costly system with the least real protection for people in the industrialized world. This bill will just put off addressing the reform we need, until we reach the next crisis stage. Meanwhile, leaving us still unable to compete in world markets because because necessary resources continue to be siphoned off by wealthy private interests.
When Social Security passed into law, it excluded domestic and agricultural workers (in other words, most black people) from participation. Congress later fixed this and other flaws. I’m glad there was no movement to “kill the bill” back then.
Yes, you’re right. The senate bill makes the IRS’s collection and enforcement of you and I paying insurance comany CEO’s 73 million dollar golden parachutes voluntary, currently. They’ll fix that little error late some night when no one can stop them. And Franken, Sanders, Feingold, and Weiner’s votes won’t be needed, so they’ll huff and puff some little outrage for the suckers who vote for them. Obama the punk will then sign it. Hoocudanode?
Last refresh before walking out the door….
Do you honestly think there wouldn’t be Social Security now? Besides, that was a different age, a different congress. Racism was waning. Today, corporate power seems to be growing. Do you think we’ll get any fixes while Obama is in office? That could push it past 2016 before anything could possibly be considered. If we get a Republican for a couple terms we’re beyond 2024 before anyone might looks again at the public option or drug re-importation. You can also bet that PhARMA and the insurance industry will be a hell of a lot stronger by then.
Killing this bill doesn’t mean anyone would be able to walk away from health care reform. This is something that needs to be addressed soon. I just think it needs to be dealt with with a better bill than the one industry lobbyists are offering us.
Bingo
That’s great. All their talking points we hear over and over and over. Thx
I got a post in on Krugman’s bless this mess op-ed this morning. As I read through the comments, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the writers know the Senate version is pretty much a rip off. Just a few, maybe less than five out of 75 seemed entranced by the Republican versus Democrat conflict kool aide. Almost everyone gets what a boon this bill is for health care insurers and what a bleed out this will be for the US Treasury. Fidelity to the public option is still strong, and the Obama PR campaign to deny his advocacy for the public option has failed. He is being held accountable by the readers who bothered to write comments. Carry on.
IMO our “valid complaints” are the most onerous aspects of the bill, which he chooses to ignore, eg, individual mandates and the foreseeable consequences of them.
Better legislation was possible. All it took was for members of Congress, regardless of party, to put the common good before corporate profits. I’m surprised the Dems didn’t say the bill would be good for national security.
Ignorance is a choice.
In truth, I don’t even think they had “to put the common good before corporate profits.” All they had to do was to do the will of over 60% of the voters and do a reasonable job of negotiation. Everybody knows you start from the position that is your highest and best goal (single payer?), not take stuff off the table before you even begin. That move had to be done at the behest of an industry going awry. Or else all those lawyers we elected never learned anything about bargaining strategy and wasted their money in law school. Everybody still knows that there should have been a public option or no mandates. Ceding ground without getting something in return is not strategy; it’s not even concession. It’s surrender.
Look at what we do when we negotiate with other countries, eg, Iran or the Palistinian/Israeli peace process. We set pre-conditions on any negotiations, forcing the other party to surrender to our demands before we’ll talk with them.
It’s worse than surrendering the possibility of achieving the most desirable outcome for all Americans without getting anything in return. Obama rigged the outcome to get the result he wanted for his rich and privileged corporate donors at the expense of the middle class before Congress did anything. Then he picked Baucus “to bring home the bacon.”
Eliminating the middle class to create a neofeudal two-class economy consisting of a wealthy privileged upper class that exploits the lower defenseless and impoverished working class is a recipe for disaster equivalent to destroying the goose that laid the golden egg. The middle class was the consumer that created the demand for goods and services that drove the world economy. Eliminate the middle class and you eliminate demand. Eliminate demand means producers won’t be able to sell anything, even at discounted prices below cost.
Obama isn’t a smart crook. He’s a stupid crook.
Hey Lee, is that your voice? Doesn’t seem to match your Twitter avatar. :-) Good job on the vid, and kudos for getting a slot here.
My feeling this Christmas morning is mostly great sadness, however. We could have done something great for this country, and it looks like they’re not going to. Instead of health care for the people, we have health care for the insurance industry with no control over the COST, which was what I thought this was all about in the first place.
I was at a Xmas party here in Taos last night: about 30 people, writers, artists, musicians, dancers, a couple of screenwriters, a river guide, gallery owners, and a software engineer… The subject of health care came up several times, and NOBODY wanted anything to do with what’s coming down the pike at us. Yeah right, “Taos,” not Cleveland, but still. All smart, creative people, and the ones I talked to hate what’s happening. Even the 82-year-old parents of one of my friends who were there were completely opposed to this thing.
There is deep anger in the country over the giveaways. The people I talked to last night all regard the current bill as another one. I don’t know what’s going to happen in America, but I can’t believe things will turn out the way those triangulating bastards so smugly think it will.
Yeah, that’s my voice. I work cheap and I’m available.
RJ Eskow has been saying for a while that this bill is suicide for Democrats but frankly, the insurance industry doesn’t care who’s in office. In fact, if this passes they’d probably want Republicans to come in and take out any remnants of benefits or control…but the mandate stays, of course.
And man…I gotta get to one of your parties.
Sorry FDlers, I de-lurked recently upon the invitation. I can be kinda snippy. I take populism quite seriously. I’m kinda over the latte-carrying Obama want-to-be Che Guevara’s. The Chai-green tea-with soy instead of 2%- baggers.
I’m off to dinner with my family! This is as good a place as any to wish you all a Happy Holiday and say thank you to Jane and everyone here!
BHO is now the “Decider.” He says he got 95% of what he wanted in the Senate bill.
Well, there’s something that Barry is not the decider of: What folks think about him — right and left. Even those on the left who now say “pass the bill” know it’s a POS. Even they know he let them down. Even they know he will lose his majorities in 2010. Even they know, given this fiasco of letting Nelson, Snowe, Baucus, and Lieberman decide what’s in the Senate bill, that it’s OVER for any future legislative initiatives.
So, let Ezra, MY, Drum and the rest of the BHO ass-kissers argue that it’s better than nothing. A landmark achievement. In a sad way they’re right: We’ve never gotten this far. What they fail to admit is why. Not through better, more committed leadership or skill. He simply let the industry write the freakin’ bill, for christ’s sake.
But even the ass-kissers know, it really doesn’t matter. This fiasco showed millions of BHO’s supporters — and those would oppose him at every turn — that he is a lying coward who will not stand up to his own shadow. All talk, no cattle.
His bullshit games and behind-closed-door dealings with an industry that is raping Americans has landed him in the unenviable position of losing either way — passing the bill or not passing the bill.
It cost him his presidency. And that is one game that was definitely not worth the candle.
Or he can go with his third option: veto the “POS” and start over.
I’d really appreciate a serious answer to these questions:
If your choices are (A) the Bill does not pass, (B) the Bill passes and becomes law, (C) the Bill passes and is vetoed (with a demand that they immediate try again), then:
1) Which choice does the least damage to the President and the Dems?
2) Which choice garners the most support and approval from the voters?
3) Which choice gives the public the best chance of getting true HCR?
Merry Christmas, and most especially a happy new year.
A
Compelling.
Obama and Emanuel are both making a colossal, historic mis-calculation in their dissing of progressives and liberals.
They are still operating under the previously working paradigm that the meaningful left will stay with the Democrats, regardless.
What the left had always assumed was that the Republicans and ruling elite were extremely powerful, and it took a massive grassroots effort to achieve even an occasional political parity with the right. The left called Democrats weak, lily-livered, spineless, hapless, etc. These were all in a deep sense, forgiving and accepting excuses for the horrific progressive agenda record of Carter and Clinton.
For the first 11 months of Obama’s record, progressives continued the rationalization and the making of excuses for why Obama could not deliver immediately on his promises.
With the open for all to see Senate Debacle that is the Senate HC bill, all pretenses have been stripped off. The mask has been yanked off Obama’s hypocritical face, and the Democrats have fully revealed themselves to be as much corporate servants as the Republicans. Perhaps even more so.
The Game Has Changed. With Obama’s unmasking, a long pent-up anger will now be rightfully unleashed on the Democrats. This will not be an internal rift within the Democratic Party, this will be a historic political re-alignment – with the labels melting away, and judgments only being made according to deeds.
There will be calls for the Left to be REASONABLE. That is simply the corporate and ruling elite’s word for BE COMPLIANT.
The time for reason has ended, and the time of political retribution, and economic justice has begun.
Let us not be REASONABLE, Let them be FEARFUL of what their greed and ever growing corruption has wrought.
2010, A Brave New World, … if we have the mettle of this nation’s Founding Fathers.
That is a change that would give me hope.
Excellent video. I added it to the video rotation on my site.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Wishing everyone happiness and health care!
“I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.”
-Grover Norquist
This is the person Jane Hamsher has partnered with.
But it’s more scary to me that it’s being delivered by a guy I helped elect.
The damage that this imposter can do to the democratic party in general, and progressives in particular, is far greater than anything Shrub ever did. This clown delivered victims, who voted for him, to their victimizers, who funded him, far more efficiently than the right ever did.
From now on, he must be considered, literally, the enemy within.
Our message to BHO after this fiasco has to be: Stay away from entitlements, you crook.
I’m a left wing teabagger, thanks.
GREAT VIDEO ….but take it more seriously please. The Big Government/Business/Lobbyist is using us(all citizens) againsy each other in these political divide and conquer games that we always fall for. Teabaggers are riduled by Progressives and Libertarians and we are condemned by them. Here is a succinct and clever observation I read on a post somewhere. Idea is not mine but the words are.
1.Teabaggers believe that Big Government is taking over Big Business to create a Socialist Frankenstein.
2.Progressives think that Big Business is buying Big Government to create a Corporate Oligarchy.
3. Libertarians agree with both.
The fact is that a large majority of us agree that government and business are cooperating to create a system which can no longer respond to the citizenry at all. We need to quit the knee-jerk seperation into opposing camps and focus on our mutual concern first, the lobbyists and the role they play in making our country undemocratic. We all want a Government that is honest, democratic, responsive and effective. We all probably agree that the size of government is less important. I don’t see why we need more taxes for health care, either, Teabaggers. I think we already spend too much on health care and should be able to reform it with no new taxes and universal care. Let’s try to understand each other more and not become foot-soldiers against each other for the benefit of the elite.
When Social Security passed into law, it excluded domestic and agricultural workers (in other words, most black people) from participation.
If a limited public option — that excluded some folks who could be added in later — was in the bill, very few on the left would be saying, “Kill the bill.”
Get it?
Can I propose that the progressive revolt be called the Green Tea Latte Party?
Because those are yummy except for the matcha that builds up on the bottom of the cup and tastes like algae.
Who is/was a better Judas Goat – Reagan or Obama?
Hands down, Ronald Reagan
To this day, some working class American’s, whose standard of living was put into steep decline by Ronald Reagan, still think warmly of the man Tip O’Neill called the greatest con-man he had ever seen.
Obama, on the other hand, couldn’t pull off a year in office without being found out.
Hands Down, Obama is the Lesser Judas Goat.
This video is dead on. Obama is managing to unite the liberals/progressives and the conservatives around the fundamentals we have in common. The road will be hard and bumpy but, I can see great opportunity in the populist theme. Using the very tool which helped Obama get to the point where he sold EVERYONE an unending liability. The Oligarchy must be thwarted. They will not stop on their own and the transgressions will increase in audacity until we force them to stop.
My vote for Obama was not for this result and if the tea baggers would have criticized Obama on legitimate issues instead of the fabricated tripe created by the Republican propagandist the could have been opportunities to rally the left and the right around what we have in common. It is not a left only concern to want affordable and efficient health care. It is also not a right only concern to have an efficient and affordable government. Even single and childless individuals want families to be able to survive and thrive. Coming at the issues from different angles does not exclude forming solutions together. Even on the so called landmine issues of abortion, equal rights, education, and war.
I have my fingers crossed and my heart and mind open….all without selling my soul or depositing my integrity in the witch’s brew created by the corrupt in both major parties and corporate AmneriKa.
This is our common ground where we will forge the solution to recover our precious heritage and all that has been stolen from us.
May Barack Obama’s name become synonymous with deceit and treachery and may it also live forever in infamy as a reminder to never trust a candidate for public office.
Ya know, I stopped by because I’ve read some great pieces here in the past, and seeing Jane on TV a lot lately reminded me I should check in. I’ve seen her arguing for killing the bill, but I’ve not been sure either way. I came here for more perspective from that side of the argument, and yeah I expected anger toward Obama et al.
But never did I expect to see comments like I have on this and other pages here. This is like the worst of the worst right-wing blog. Just on this page, Obama’s called a “stupid crook”, a “clown”, a “punk”, a “Judas Goat”, and of course the ever-popular (with tea-baggers & PUMAs) “Barry” and “BHO”. And anyone who disagrees with you about this bill is of course a sell-out, a corporatist, not a real progressive, a “latte-carrying Obama want-to-be Che Guevara” (huh?), a “classic cartoon latte liberal”, a “BHO ass-kisser”, or in one way or another not worthy of listening to because they somehow don’t have their bona fides in order.
I came here to hear and consider the arguments against what I think may be a very bad bill – yes, I’m inclined to agree! What I found here are the biggest bunch of whiny fucking pants-wetting babies I’ve ever seen, combined with some people who are apparently looking for an excuse to jump on the Barry-is-the-antichrist bandwagon.
I mean, come on – what web site am I looking at here, Stormfront? Look at comment #75 above: “recover our precious heritage”? Hmm…what heritage might that be? Or #62, which calls Obama “the impostor” and “the enemy within”…Orly, is that you? I could go on – just look around here and you’ll see.
I’m just saying everyone here should back the fuck up and take a look in the mirror. Righteous anger is well and good, but the kind of hatred and hyperbole going on around here do not do one ounce of credit to the movement – a movement on being BETTER than the other side, not being just like them in the other direction. If you want to do that, feel free to Palin-ize yourselves, but please come up with a new name for yourselves. Thanks.
P.S. I’ll be paying the 2% “penalty” (really a tax, but they can’t say that politically), and buying insurance if need when I need it. I really don’t have
…a problem w/ that. Ciao.
REad this: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30936.html
What we already know but still worth emphasizing.. Who wielded POWER from the start re: HRC.. and who let them wield power.
Kill the bill hey!
Well it may be a piece of shit, but it’s far better than nothing.
If the bill dies, there may not be any reform for another fifty years, maybe that will make some people happy.
Nothing is ever good enough for some.
Those that are bitching about this bill, did very little in past years to even call for reform. They voted for and supported the people who got elected and passed the bill. They are as much a part of the Countries problems as the people in Washington.
The movie denoted the countries problems by indicating the verious views of different sectors of the countries people. A country that can’t come to some kind of consensus for it’s own good is doomed. killing this bill won’t help or save us in any way, but only leave us open for maybe worse.
How so?
I’ve asked this repeatedly, and the fact that I’ve never gotten an answer makes me think no one has an answer, but one more time:
Why does it have to be this Bill or “nothing”? Is there some Congressional rule I’m unaware of that says if this one fails you can not introduce a new Bill on the same topic?
Am I the only one who thinks that if we started over again tomorrow we could do a far better job?
Was that your response when you looked in your Christmas stocking to see what Obama had brought you?
No. Just kill the bill.
Great vid.
Suggestion: make longer, much longer films.
Hear Hear
Nope.
The issues have been delineated, the interest of the public has been raised, the fake scare tactics have been quashed, the real loyalties of the Congressional players have been identified.
Yep, we certainly could get a better bill [on both sides] if we started over.
Funny stuff. Why don’t you just say “we support the status quo”? Or “we join with the just say no republicans because we are progressives” Or “to hell with those with pre-existing conditions, we hate corporations and we’re sacrificing all of you for our hatred” Or “my principals are more important than your health, so piss off” Or “I disagree with all the experts, I believe what I believe and there is not room for reality” Or “If I can’t have exactly what I want, I don’t want anything”….I could go on.
How can you be so blinded to the real world? I heard several health care experts saying after the vote that the middle class stands to gain the most from the bill in it’s current form, remember we have the conference process yet to go. I swear this is bizarro blog now, up is down, down is up. Most of you are acting exactly like republicans, I believe what I believe and no matter what you say, I’m a gonna keep on believing it. Irrational hatred and anger, attacking a senators wife to get back at the senator, cherry picking facts and excluding any facts that don’t support your thesis, exaggerating facts, personal attacks, assigning motives to people, ignoring any tough questions that expose your bias, not conceding any good aspects because we must attack, we must win.
I could rattle off a bunch of questions that would go unanswered, but what is the use? I just have to say that you are marginalizing yourselves, the overwhelming majority of the progressive world is realistic, knows that nothing gets made into law unless it passes the Senate, filled with 100 egotistical, self serving blowhards. They know that compromise is the way we have to make incremental change, not staking out a liberal position and losing on principals. By attacking your own party, you are doing two things. Hurting your chances at making any difference by weakening the very party that you have the most chance of exacting that change with. And two, you are hurting your own standing in the democratic party, thus weakening your own chances of helping make change. Us real progressives are moving on to the next battle, and chances are we won’t get everything we want, but damn it, we’ll get the most that we can in this screwed up system. Then we’ll party again when we win that battle. I’m encouraged by the courageous battles President Obama is and is going to take on. Woooo hooooo
You’re implying this Bill breaks the status quo: it does not. The status quo is powerful insurance companies and defenseless victims. This Bill gives the companies more power, not less. Sure, they have to take you regardless of pre-existing conditions (starting in 2014, I think?) but they can charge you whatever it takes to make insuring your ass profitable.
Links, please. And did you want HCR for the middle class (the ones who have money and jobs and insurance that 85% are happy with) or for the uninsured poor?
I thought having an open mind was part of being a “real progressive”?
The use is that if a question is ignored enough times it’s fair to assume no one has an answer. For example, “Why does it have to be this Bill or nothing?”
A little dose of reality for you all. I dare you to read this post from Paul Krugman.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/26/numerical-notes-on-health-care-reform/
This legislation is nothing but an insurance industry bailout – it doesn’t resemble reform in the least; it’s a deformed Frankenstein monstrosity trying to pose as reform. Ain’t working for me – anymore than the Clinton era betrayals did: repeal of the Glass-Steagell Act did or the free trade agreements without any fair labor, human rights or environmental standards as pre-conditions.
IMO, there are darn few Democrats in this country worth voting for – Feinstein, Waters, Dean, Boxer,& Kucinich, but none here in Oregon. I’m 63 yrs old and up until last year I was a lifetime Dem. This year and next I will either vote for a third party candidate,again, or I won’t vote at all.