(which is to say: a.) the current system of private insurers IS a DEATH PANEL, b.) It IS broken, and c.) but you (meaning people like Sarah and Newt) want us to keep shoving pennies in it so it keeps on killing people and slowly bankrupting many along the way as it continues to "function"...)
How oh how to up the "credibility" level of a "press release" in the form of a facebook post from the former governor of a state who aborted her duties to the state 2/3 of the way through her term? Why slather it in more crazysauce, au naturellment!
Bring on the assclowns! Newt is driving the tiny car (neocon) while fully wearing the big rubber nose (of lies) and big floppy shoes (of astroturfing private insurers paying for naysaying obstructionist mobs) to bring us his reliable old "sad clown" act again (gumming up a representational democratic system with asshattery) and it's a classic. Problem is, Newter, the health care system as it exists now is BROKEN. You have to face CORPORATE BUREAUCRATS standing between you and your doctor, deciding who does and does get treatment, whose decisions I (and MANY Americans) believe are largely motivated NOT by concern for human health and well-being but rather by a greed-headed corporate profit motive.
People should not have to go through the personal bullshit of having to fight and argue with these evil, profit motivated bureaucrats over what IS or ISN'T covered and whether or not it IS or ISN'T a pre-existing condition. "Buddy, LIFE IS A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION." Having to argue with the present bureaucrats we already HAVE is bad for our health. I speak from direct personal experience. America needs a public option that not only offers reasonable and affordable medical care to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans but to offers the same to all Americans who wish to choose this option instead of private insurance. We need one that puts ALL OF US back in the driver's seat of the relationship between a patient and his or her doctor. We don't just need it -- this is what the majority of American NOW DEMAND. Bonus points for making it a hassle free SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM. I hope all of you elected representatives are paying close attention right now because your very jobs depend on you doing the right thing. This is not a partisan issue. It is a quality of life in America issue.
So here's your plate of crow, Newtie. Served up to you by a doctor. Try not to choke on it, but do be assured he is duty bound to give you the Heimlich maneuver if need be.
To say that this is socialism is to deny the very "socialist" benefits our government provides all of us already. We all pay taxes for police, fire protection, road maintenance and a host of other services. People use 100% more roads than what my taxes help to pay for because of personal life choices... you'll find me driving the ol' shoebarus on the sidewalk during rush hour traffic. Do you hear me bitching about having to pay for those roads or even the sidewalks I use or the myriad other benefits we ALL share because of our mutual self interest? It's called a society. For those that may have forgotten, the culture is American. Taxes are NOT ala carte. I can't pick and choose to not help pay the $1 TRILLION spent for an unnecessary, unneeded and wrongheaded war in Iraq. I cannot "just say no" to Bush and Paulson declaring a "national banking emergency", driving forward a law on their own watch before the end of the Bush term of office and then handing over $700 BILLION worth of our taxpayer money to bankers who bet the farm on bad investments (also using our money) AND LOST. For anyone to even bitch about $100 BILLION a year over the course of ten years to help improve the health of the citizens of this entire nation is epitome of ludicrousness. So if you're going to bitch about "oh my damn taxes are too high..." you had better look to the real money furnaces burning up all our hard earned tax dollars and not something that would actually and demonstrably improve things for ALL AMERICANS.
For people like Newt and Sarah to deny a basic tenet of one of our founding documents -- "the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness..." by opposing health care reform IS TRULY "downright evil". They would have you accept the status quo. They would have you believe that CORPORATE DEATH PANELS are less objectionable than a system run openly, transparently, by public servants that can be held accountable for any deviations from offering the best available care at the lowest affordable price. They would have you choose to give up, accept things as the presently are and just lay down and die. Thanks, Sarah and Newtie! That'll save America tons of corporate expenses and overhead! Just think of all the extra private insurer money taken directly from client paid premiums that they'll be able to shovel towards CEO BONUSES and corporate CAMPAIGN DONATIONS and ASTROTURFING ASSHOLES (financed by PRIVATE INSURERS) that use organized partisan lobby groups that stir up ANGRY MOBS (of supposedly "private citizens acting alone") to obstruct and impede a reasonable dialog with our elected officials concerning health care reform. Yep, Newt and Sarah, that's a win-win! For you and your corporate overlords. You betcha.
The reality is, what Newt and Sarah suggest is "downright evil". It is anti-American. It is, as mentioned previously, in direct opposition of probably one of our most sacred rights as Americans, that of "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness..." -- something I would argue is the very foundation of America itself. Their choice of CORPORATE DEATH PANELS is killing me, which oppresses my liberty and it makes me VERY unhappy. If only either one of these shiftless hucksters, these paid astroturfing charlatans were in office! Then we could drive them out once again! We could NOT vote for them again! Oh and by the way, who died and made these assclowns the spokesmodels for actual elected representatives?
America needs real leadership to "drive the snakes out" of the system. I suggest President Obama act the role of St. Patrick in that mission, the sooner the better. But it's going to take not only passionate words and a call to action on all our parts. We Americans who know what we're doing is right for America need to get out there and support the process of health care reform and ultimately a single payer system -- not just with words, but also with compassionate action. Which is why I will be peacefully attending the town halls offered in my city during the August recess. To peacefully join the dialog and to add my opinion. NOT to obstruct and act as naysayer.
-Laz
(with thanks and a polite golf clap to my friend Allie...)
*** UPDATE ***
This video raises the exact same questions as the original post. When public servants speak we ALL should listen, regardless of their political affiliation. Chairman Stupak gives examples of how private insurance denies patients based upon procedures performed upon them that were not even threatening enough for a doctor to inform the patient himself! Minor health issues that are commonplace and yet a doctor did not feel they were threatening enough to even inform the patient other than to perhaps suggest some lifestyle changes. As doctors are prone to do.
HOWEVER, private, for-profit based and motivated insurers will use those very same miniscule details to deny YOU or Trigg treatment for an illness, laughing all the way to the bank as they collect your premiums and deny you coverage. Now who has DEATH PANELS, Meg, errr -- I meant 'Sarah'? And you like this situation, Sarah? Are you prepared to accept the judgement of a faceless actuairial telling you that the life expectancy of your Down Syndrome baby isn't likely to exceed 30 years of age because of other major health complications as they deny you coverage for him? If so, then you are indeed an idiot. Profit margins and meeting the bottom line of expectant shareholders isn't a compassionate motivator. Removing asshats from out of the equation between oneself and one's doctor is. The status quo (which is latin for "same ol' same ol'", Sarah) should NOT be an option. That is the entire reason why we ARE where we ARE right NOW! Wake up, Sarah!
*** UPDATE ***
-Laz
08/10/09 7PM
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"This morning I was awakened by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy.
ReplyDelete"I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility.
"After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC-regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration determined the weather was going to be like, using satellites designed, built, and launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. I watched this while eating my breakfast of U.S. Department of Agriculture-inspected food and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the Food and Drug Administration.
"At the appropriate time, as regulated by the U.S. Congress and kept accurate by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the U.S. Naval Observatory, I got into my National Highway Traffic Safety Administration-approved automobile and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, using legal tender issed by the Federal Reserve Bank. On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the U.S. Postal Service and drop the kids off at the public school.
"After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the Department of Labor and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, enjoying another two meals, which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA-approved car back home on the DOT roads to my house, which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal's inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department.
"I then log on to the Internet, which was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Administration and post on freerepublic.com and Fox News forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can't do anything right!" -- "randomnoise" at The Something Awful Forums
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Have you heard that the United States is headed toward socialism? Jonah Goldberg says it is. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby says it is. Phyllis Schlafly says it is. Sarah Palin says it is. The Republican National Committee says it is. We must be getting pretty close.
How close? This is what socialism looks like: http://tinyurl.com/p47dfc
Thank you for the well written piece - especially the accurate description of our current, broken health system, with it's corporate death panels.
ReplyDeleteStanding and applauding like crazy!
ReplyDeleteThanks. And thanks for the link to the pie chart, alewis14151! Everyone how THAT to someone who thinks America is on the brink of going socialist...
ReplyDelete-Laz