I just confirmed with his office in Washington – Congressman Bart Gordon has just announced that he will vote for the health care bill.
On March 18, 2010,
in Health Care, National Politics,
by Mary Mancini
Contrary to the opinion of a certain insurance company, cancer is a catastrophic illness.
Call Congress now.
On March 17, 2010,
in Health Care, National Politics,
by Mary Mancini
Original Source Video: The Columbus Dispatch. On March 17th outside of Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy’s district office teabaggers mocked and threw things at a man who said he had Parkinson’s. They told him “he’s in the wrong end of town to ask for handouts”, called him a communist and threw money at him to “pay for his health care”.
How can these people justify this? It seems as if the behavior being modeled by Rush Limbaugh and his ilk IS having an affect on our civility. THE MAN HAS A LIFE-THREATENING CHRONIC ILLNESS AND PERFECTLY HEALTHY PEOPLE ARE TAUNTING AND THROWING MONEY AT HIM? IN AMERICA?
But what can you expect when false and misleading information on policy are being reinforced by people who make fun of a 12-year-old kid speaking for health insurance reform because his mother, who didn’t have access to affordable healthcare, is now dead?
On March 16, 2010,
in Health Care, National Politics,
by Mary Mancini
Maria Brewer of the Decoder Ring has a perceptive retrospective of the long and winding debate:
For those of us who have been watching the misinformation stream coming out of the Obstructionist’s Party on the right, it has been a head-scratching fight. Though the Republican Party had ten years in the majority to study and pass health care reform legislation to their liking, they did nothing. They continued to let an ever increasing portion of America’s GDP get sucked out of our hides and into the pockets of an industry whose profiteering callousness knows no bounds. Every day American families spend 18% and still rising of our household budgets on healthcare. Well, those of us lucky enough to get it. And now the right’s rallying cry is a weak “Code Red.” Indeed, they have waited until the patient is dying on the table to start their inadequate wails of “save us,” blaming those who are trying to sort through a difficult diagnosis as if we caused the disease….
Now, as the Congress readies itself to pass legislation, we must look past the hype, the media moment of the day, the manufactured winners and losers of the horse race. No one thinks this legislation is perfect, but the Republican Party needs to start telling the truth about this issue. There is no time to start over, they had their chance, and they lost their majorities.
Perhaps we have reached the end of one battle, but this is really just another step on the long path of liberty and justice for all. Thanks to our Founding Fathers, we are no longer yoked by fealty to King or Crown, but my how the Framers would be appalled by our bent knees before the throne of Corporatism and Profiteering.
Go read the rest. Maria’s voice is one that has been hiding too long in Sumner County. She needs to be heard.
T/F/B: Speak to Power
Much like The Fonz, Glenn Beck thinks he can say or do no wrong. But then he goes and “jumps the shark.”
From Media Matters:
Glenn Beck has repeatedly attacked the concept of social justice and churches that promote it, asserting that it is “code language for Marxism” and warning that “when you see those words, run.” In fact, numerous churches and religious faiths, as well as prominent religious scholars, espouse social justice, including the Catholic Church, the Conservative and Reform movements of Judaism, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Where is the pushback to this insult to many major religions, the Bible, and Jesus Christ, himself? So far, it’s only coming from Sojourners’ Jim Wallis. And if Beck believes what he says to be true, does that mean that the Bush administration’s Office of Faith-Based Initiatives was a waste of time? And if now neither governments nor faith-based organizations should worry about the poor and disenfranchised, then who will?
It must be nice and comfortable up there on that cushion of money, power, and privilege Mr. Beck is sitting on.
Has anyone heard of any other opposition to Beck from religious leaders?
(Because I am too much of a lady…)
“Rush Limbaugh is the fart in America’s elevator.” – Frank Schaeffer, on the Thom Hartmann Show
On February 19, 2010,
in National Politics, State Politics, We're Right They're Wrong,
by Mary Mancini
OK, so we know and have known for a while that Republicans are hypocrites. And, yes, Lamar Alexander does deserve to win the top prize in Keith’s “Hypocrisy Hall of Shame” (vote here!) for simultaneously voting “no” for the stimulus while applying to the federal government for stimulus dollars for a project that he crows would “create over 200 jobs in the first year and at least another 40 new jobs in the following years.”
So if Republicans are hypocrites, what are Democrats?
Democrats are right, of course.
We’re finding more and more evidence that Republicans – on both the state and federal level – are on the ground taking credit for all the good the stimulus dollars have done for their communities and constituents while at the same time pandering to their base with language that is strikingly opposite. (As an aside, if you don’t believe all politics is local then now would be a good time to take a second look.)
More important than the award-winning hypocrisy of the right (I mean, really, is anyone surprised?) is why Democrats aren’t on the ground talking to and engaging the constituents in their communities? Because the crazy thing is that Democrats can have one-on-one conversations or town hall meetings and take credit for the public structures that are meaningful to their constituents and that are strengthened by stimulus dollars, and then have the same conversations when they’re talking to larger groups – like the press or their brethren on the House and Senate floors – without even a trace of hypocrisy.
Why? Because their base and the people who Republicans are talking to when THEY are on the ground in their districts taking credit for creating jobs, etc. value the exact same things – good jobs, affordable health care, infrastructure development that creates good jobs. It’s a no brainer but for some reason Democrats refuse to go there. Instead, they go somewhere else to appeal to the people who would never vote for anyone with a “D” beside their name anyway.
Ironic, ain’t it?
On February 19, 2010,
in Media, National Politics,
by Mary Mancini
“Must See TV” is back on (MS)NBC with Rachel Maddow, who is doing amazing work. Her appearance on Meet the Press last Sunday was stunning when she held Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) accountable for “railing against a spending bill in public while touting its benefits in his home district:”
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
And last night she continued shining her special brand of sunshine on the Republican legislators who simultaneously praise the good results of stimulus dollars with their hands out for more while tearing down the stimulus bill because…well, because of the good results and their willingness to destroy the country to take back even just a little bit of power:
On February 18, 2010,
in Health Care, National Politics,
by Mary Mancini
Health Care for America Now! is sponsoring a lunchtime rally for health care reform tomorrow from noon to 1 p.m. at 3322 West End Avenue (corner of Murphy Rd. and West End Ave.) in Nashville.
The rally location is right in front of the office of Senators Alexander and Corker. In light of yesterday’s events, I would have chosen State Senator Mae Beavers’ office but we can save that rally for another day.
If affordable health care is one of your priorities, show up at the rally and let everyone know.
So yesterday we posted about a bill sponsored by Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) and supported by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey (R-Running for Governoe) – esp. in front of the news cameras -that will do absolutely nothing to protect Tennesseans and their families from losing everything they’ve worked for – home, savings, college funds, access to the American Dream – if they lose their health insurance or get hit with “you have a pre-existing condition so we’re won’t cover your ***insert horrible and life-threatening illness here*** treatment” response from their insurance company.
Last night Newschannel 5’s Scott Arnold reported that the bill wasn’t even Sen. Beavers’ idea but the brainchild of a Washington D.C.-based group (founded in 1973 by anti-good government conservative corporatist Paul Weyrich) who have spent a ton on political contributions and whose sole mission is to set the stage for a showdown between the states and the federal government.
Oh, the places we won’t go with the weird and self-serving priorities of the TNGOP!
In addition, according to a report in the New York Times, “five of the 24 members of its ‘free enterprise board’ are executives of drug companies and its health care ‘task force’ is overseen in part by a four-member panel composed of government-relations officials for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association of insurers, the medical company Johnson & Johnson and the drug makers Bayer and Hoffmann-La Roche.”
Beavers fiddles, while Tennesseans lose everything.
Radio Show Info
Monday, 7:00 to 9:00 am CT, on WRVU 91.1 FM, Nashville, TN & streaming online at WRVU.org
Email us: feedback@liberadio.com
Call in: 615-322-7625
GUESTS: Monday, March 15, 2010 Chris Ford of TN Conservation Voters, Bob Tuke, and Karl Frisch of of Media Matters for America.
Recent Comments