Displaying 4,531 To 4,560 Of 5,146 Comments Vox Populi – AfterChat – 3-19-2010 Sorry to drop off the radar – had a computer malfunction on Vox. Anyway, the part that is UNscored by CBO is the enormous savings that would come from a public option that did not require the government to pony up subsidies to reach private profit goals. The exiting fiscal problems with Medicare come from its having been raided (Social Security as well) and left short of what we’d contributed. Yes costs demanded of us by hospitals and doctors are huge, but that can be rationally dealt with. Whatever we do, we need the funds for health care locked and immune from future raids. When Canada had its problems in the 80s, it was from the same difficulties – funds taken for other purposes. But without a PO, our economic stewardship will not be well done. We need to add this low-cost public plan and soon. » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 11:11 pm I’m convinced these are the same folks who voted for George Wallace. The inherent racism is now made manifest. It’s scary that they feel so empowered to be so violent as they were today. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 9:52 pm Last I saw, she was still a hold out, but she just cannot vote against this bill and earn anything but contempt from her constituents who desperately need health care. How can you moo over TAX money for abortion to the point where you’d kill PEOPLE for a lack of health care? The idiocy is that if a woman did pick an abortion option and paid with her own money and then lost her health insurance support and had to be someone without, what if she then decided to HAVE a baby – then she’d have no coverage for her pregnancy!!! How absurd! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 9:49 pm That the staffers are on the floor and handling all they can handle. It’s massive overload time, and I’m not surprised. But emails work so keep ’em coming! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 6:59 pm Now bito – now be fair to Sarah. She has TWO years of experience where he so far has only one… » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 6:55 pm Historical inaccuracy alert! No – anyone who headed a household could vote (women, yes) and in the North that included any free person of color. “Property” included the tools of your trade, not only real estate. The health care system obviously was not a system – but it might amuse Stupak and company to know that abortion was perfectly legal until “quickening” or viability. Even Puritans actually had no qualms about that at all. So I’d think they’d be happiest in the 1860s when slavery was still the law, women had been stripped of rights and not yet really reclaimed them, and indeed the white man ruled the land. Or even 1869. That’s when the KKK got going. Musta made a white guy proud! Those were the days. Free, white, and 21. What more could you ask? » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 6:52 pm My, (she said in her best Church Lady voice) isn’t this special. NETWORK, the Catholic social justice lobby in Washington DC led the signing of the letter from 60 orders representing 59,000 nuns saying the Senate language is fine on abortion, and health care is absolutely about LIFE. Their ED used to be in Sacramento and a powerful woman. The nuns talk about how policy is always from The Boys who know nothing about anything. I imagine Sr. Campbell is gritting her teeth as only Sr. Campbell can! I’d not want to engender her wrath, if I were they. They VASTLY underestimate her and the whole group. I think they have met their match. I’d be lookin’ over my shoulder if I were they. Sr. Campbell is nobody’s pushover. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 6:47 pm nellie – I agree with the shunning and have tried to get my allies to do it, but the avid progressive advocates cannot shut up! We all have to have the last word! So we need some work on non-violent interactions with those we dislike. I think we’d benefit well from using quiet disengagement rather than yelling and confrontation. The Other Side has too much experience with that – they’re Pod People gaining strength from our anger. They HATE being ignored! Sue – I think this is well worth putting out with the Center for Corporate Responsibility. Many corporate by-laws now have passed “investor-approved” (because the managers hold all the proxy votes) rules forbidding suits against management. It might be a great test. I have a friend who works for them – I will try to remember to write to him about this idea which, IMHO, is brilliant. Thank you for thinking of this! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 6:41 pm I actually agree with the anti-mandate woman. But when it’s geared to a variable rate for your income level, it’s harder to call it unconstitutional. Forcing people to buy something at a flat market rate would indeed be unconstitutional I’d think. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 4:50 pm I have NO idea where the happy face came from! I can’t do that when I WANT to! In Gilda Radner’s famous words: never mind! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 4:48 pm Update from CA – according to the NYT, all Dems in CA appear to be on board. Costa, Cardoza, and Sanchez, the three Blue Dogs, are not in play. McNerney, a liberal, was holding out because the bill was not ‘good enough’ (well, duh) but seems solid again. We appear to have fewer hold outs, though reports are still sketchy. Two did the McNerney thing – not good enough – as if that made ANY sense. Disgusting! I am hopeful but scared. The one bright note from the HuffPo – Reid has MORE than enough in the Senate. The House is the weak spot, so let’s keep pushing. Here is the NYT list. Ohio – boomer – lean on Marcy Kaptur because she is a strong union supporter and smart cookie – we need her to accept the existing limits on abortion and not kill real. live people to do nothing at all about abortion that is not already done in the existing Senate language in accordance with Hyde. Pelosi is NOT cutting a deal with Stupak. The Parliamentarian can keep Stupak’s alternative health care bill at bay as I understand it. It would be out of order. Brian Baird (Wash. 3) Tossup Those living in the states with these waffle irons, please put pressure on them. They all can be found by googling their names. If you’re not right in their district, well, that’s what Cher gave us the ZIP code link for… Do not bother phoning – voice mailboxes are full, and no one is answering. Email is GREAT and works. FAXes are better, if you have access. Damn – why is this such a cliff hanger? This is a slam dunk – people need health care coverage. This is affordable, reduces the national debt, and will be made better over time. Let’s DO IT. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 4:47 pm Oh Pisces, of course – always going in two directions! Thank you ALL for such lovely greetings. It has greatly brightened my day to hear from all of you! SueinCA – I adore the Bear – know his wife (the guy inside the Bear) who is a friend’s daughter. But don’t tell your grandson! This is sort of a Santa Claus thing…especially if there is a blue house nearby! I am in agony about this bill passing, and even when the news is awful, having you all here makes it easier to sustain. I just keep wanting to holler at every hold out Dem -“Don’t you know KQ and e’cat NEED this???? Don’t you know this is what is required of you as a representative? As a human BEING? Screw the teabaggers (well, not literally) because they are 11% of the population AND the same fringe group that voted for George Wallace. Is THAT whom you wish to serve? Serve KQ and e’cat and the rest of America who need and want affordable health care!” So – in a sense – I actually DID that with the hold outs in CA. Using our time honored method of employing the correct ZIP codes… Let’s hope and pray good sense prevails tomorrow. This is disgusting. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 4:13 pm Zip. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 3:55 pm Cher – thanks for making me laugh – these are a hoot! REALLY cute and cheerful! Thank you so much! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 2:37 pm Thank you both Cher and Khirad! LOVE the chimp – looks sweet and sings like a bird! Made my day! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 2:34 pm Sorry to say the Amendment to the Reconciliation Act swept the Public Option out entirely. No PO. The posts above on Reid’s promise is something we need to pursue vigorously starting on Monday. For one thing, it is hugely more cost effective for the nation as well as individuals and families. WHY it got swept out in the Amendment is just not clear. I think the abandonment of deem and pass will help – no more idiots from GA can call it “demon pass”. (Worst of it is, I think he believed that was what it was called.) Tomorrow I am on an interfaith panel and being called to account for the bill exactly as the vote will probably be occurring – and I won’t know what’s in and what’s out. I’ll be like a kid caught out on a pop quiz, so I might as well admit it straight up? » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 2:29 pm That’s HP’s style now – headlines that beat Obama with a big stick for his “failures” followed by stories that are often the dead opposite. Have you noticed that calling her out on this doesn’t seem to get posted? Wonder why… » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 2:22 pm BTW Nellie – thank you for the running update. It is helpful to me even though in theory I’m on top of this stuff, I’m too bogged down in the bill details, and your posts and updates are HUGE for me. I am so grateful. Today is my birthday. I’m not big on birthday celebrations and stuff, but wow – would I like to be doing almost ANYTHING but this! I did find a cute little place with wheat free cookies, so I bought some in lieu of a cake that I could not eat anyway. They were sooooo good. That almost makes up for this *&^% health care fiasco! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 2:18 pm Just got word that we have only two votes to go – both from NY. Staten Island Rep. Michael McMahon and Central NY Rep. Arcuri (who seems to be beyond hope) are two possibles. I don’t think this means they are the ONLY holdouts but that they appear moveable. The RW spin on this is the same old same old just louder. I tuned in CSPAN coverage to hear one rep berating another for “leaving out our brave veterans” in some aspect of coverage that was NOT doing harm. Oy – the hystrionics! I think all Reeps are vying for Oscars, not for votes. Of course we won’t be handing Boehner awards for make up, so he should just stand down on that category. One woman caller to CSPAN had the most garbled “message” on health care I ever heard, boiling it all down to ‘Obama is flying around on planes, so let’s take all that money and cover everyone.’ Uh-huh. I agree with everyone’s comments about firebaggers and pseudo progressives. I smell a rat. But I also know armchair progressives (I happen to have a hard on against Katha Pollit at The Nation for one) are just kvetching because they love the sound of their own voices and think THEY have answers they do NOT have. At any level at all, ideology over human well being is just plain wrong. I’m sick of it. » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 2:15 pm I so agree with you, KQ! I am still trying to wrap my mind around the idiocy of killing living people to make an artificial “protection” for embryos. The fanatics of the so-called “pro life” movement don’t relish life at all but the control over women. Stupak, the only (I think) Dem living at C Street, obviously has his marching orders from The Family. Over on 2nd Street, behind the Supreme Court building, is the HQ of another Family ally, Faith and Action run by Rob Schenck and his twin brother, Paul. They led Project Rescue in Buffalo, NY, were allies of assassin James Kopp, and are in that ‘third tier’ of The Family that Jeff Sharlet writes about. I know them full well – tried to put Rob in jail but was foiled by an anti-abortion judge, DID help put Paul in federal prison for perjury in federal court. They are also putting pressure on Stupak, of that I am sure. It has nothing to do with ‘saving babies’ about which they could NOT care less but about controlling law and policy so that they give the greatest harm to the most people in accord with their vision of a theocracy with them in charge of our every movement. They really do NOT care about this issue as a moral good – they care only about exercising their own power. Cynically I will say that if abortion were eliminated legally, these guys would be in a world of hurt. What WOULD you do to attract money from saps who follow you if you actually succeeded? If all gay people were back in the closet and celibate, the religious right would wither away and be like my church folks – poor. Have you noticed that they do NOT challenge the legal right to abortion in SCOTUS? They’ve had many opportunities – but success legally might be their death policitally and financially. I will never be wrong devaluing their morality. For anyone so inclined (intersection of faith and the right to choose) there is a powerful group, the Relgious Coalition for Reproductive Choice in DC that is growing in strength. Take a look at their web site: http://www.rcrc.org. They need more and more voices to offset the Stupaks of the world. Those spiritually inclined might like to work with them. Those not spiritually inclined still might like to know they exist! » Posted By choicelady On March 20, 2010 @ 11:14 am Holy freaking s*it – Reid just announced he will DEFINITELY have a vote on a public option in the next few months!!!!!!! We may not get it Sunday = but we can still work it, baby! To the absolutely BEST of my knowledge, I and my organization plus the Planet are the ONLY ones rabidly still pursuing this today. I hope the lateness of our work helps keep this open, and we will NOT back off this issue! Hope – there is HOPE! » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 6:57 pm I really understand, Cher! I’ve been working this stuff for 15 months – actually since 2004 – and am also in knots. I go back and forth with different input from Congressional staff, allies, the world – and all I can see is that they either have to pass the damned reconciliation bill (FANTASTIC) or the amendment TO that bill (boring but OK) by Sunday or we’re back on the 72-hour agreement clock. Neither the Recon. Bill NOR the amendment have been voted on, so what the hell are they marking up? If you mark something up, then it changes, then does it go BACK on the clock to keep the Reeps happy and the CBO in the loop? Believe it or not, NO one in congress can tell me. NO one. So I’m down to fatalism. I’d do prayer, but mine tend to fall flat, so anyone who has success with the efficacy of prayer – have at it. I’m spending tomorrow reading a good book (murder mystery, nothing significant), eating good food, and pretending I don’t do this for a living and way of life. Anyone – what are your stress survival methods? I don’t drink or do drugs, am fairly moderate in my worldly vices, and can’t sit still, so advice to the restless and driven on how to relax would be soooooo appreciated! » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 6:51 pm You have a candidate named DEAN MARTIN? OMG! Problem is, most of the people who’d recognized the name are probably retired in Florida. I think your younger population would not have a clue! » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 6:42 pm Good becaue five who voted yes last time are switching to NO. Probably the abortion stuff? I’m about to give up. However – it occurred to me that neither the Reconciliation bill with the PO nor the amendment that supposedly replaces it and says not much of anything has been voted upon. Therefore, I’m glad I pused everyone I knew to call to retain the PO. I will be on Vox tonight, if I don’t drop dead from fatigue, but for now: that’s all I can conjure on health care. And much as I want reform, I will be good and pleased just to have the damned thing DONE. » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 6:40 pm The PO is in the reconciliation bill,HR 4872, but it will probably get cut out tomorrow. It is VERY confusing since the amendment to 4872 may in fact have eradicated everything but a few technical clean up issues in 3590. I just can’t get a straight story. So, because I am who I am, I set my members nationwide calling the House Rules people asking to KEEP that part of 4872. Feedback is that the lines are overwhelmed in those offices, so maybe… » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 3:48 pm bit-o is correct (below) – states can refuse to pay their part, and it’s not a mandated program. Yet. » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 3:45 pm Hi-Medicaid (Medi-Cal here in CA) is different from SCHIP since the latter is help to buy private health insurance and is means tested. Medi-Cal is for the VERY poor; SCHIP is for the working poor through middle class. We got a good ruling on Medi-Cal, yes, but SCHIP is still up in the air. It’s NOT a mandate. Medi-Cal however – at least until Sunday – can have eligibility lowered. Arnold was going to reduce it from 200% of the Federal Poverty Level to 60% meaning no family of 4 could make more than about $13,000 a year. Who can live in CA and make that LITTLE? He’s out at the end of the year. I would hope we get someone decent as governor – but there is no one decent actually running… » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 3:44 pm You want to pop your cork – read the wretched Katha Pollit in The Nation on how Obama “owes” women for passing health care as if women – ALL women – don’t benefit from it. I wrote to her, and the message got sent back. Bet she read it first. I HATE her. She’s so REAGAN in her narcissism! » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 3:37 pm Not bettin’ agin ya, bit’o. » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 3:35 pm Amen, javaz, amen! » Posted By choicelady On March 19, 2010 @ 3:35 pmComments Posted By choicelady
Marion Berry (Ark. 1) Tossup
Rick Boucher (Va. 9) Leaning Dem.
Jerry F. Costello (Ill. 12) Solid Dem.
Henry Cuellar (Tex. 28) Solid Dem.
Kathy Dahlkemper (Pa. 3) Likely Dem.
Lincoln Davis (Tenn. 4) Leaning Dem.
Joe Donnelly (Ind. 2) Likely Dem.
Steve Driehaus (Ohio 1) Tossup
Paul E. Kanjorski (Pa. 11) Likely Dem.
Marcy Kaptur (Ohio 9) Solid Dem.
Daniel Lipinski (Ill. 3) Solid Dem.
Alan B. Mollohan (W.Va. 1) Leaning Dem.
Glenn Nye (Va. 2) Tossup
Earl Pomeroy (N.D.) Leaning Dem.
Nick J. Rahall II (W.Va. 3) Solid Dem.
Bart Stupak (Mich. 1) Solid Dem.
John Tanner (Tenn. 8) Tossup
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