Don't stop, Democrats!

This week, Democrats finally grew a pair and passed health care reform. The bill is far from perfect (many of us would prefer a public option, but we can takle that bridge later on in the year, and we will), but two things were proven: 1.) our government can still take on big issues and 2.) President Obama and the Democrats in the House and Senate have the spine and the will to stand by their convictions, instead of folding over like a piece of paper becasue Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh lie and distort the message that healthcare isn't a socialist plot to destroy America, but a right every citizen deserves; it shouldn't be a priveledge to prolong one's life when they get sick.

Anyway, I originally intended to make a long post about this occasion, but Bill Maher beat me to the punch.

"You Lie!" Or: The new low in this country's national discuorse - and how to recapture our naton's sanity

I've gotta give Pres. Obama credit: He's going to stick to coaxing the better angels of America's nature and trust that there are some lawmakers on the other side of the aisle. I personally don't believe that the current batch of Republican lawmakers have any interest in working with him on health care reform, but I have been wrong before, and if this is the road Obama wants to go down on, then i'll trust that he and his administration knows what they're doing.

Having said that, Let me get right to the point of this new post: By now, mostly all of you know who this idiot is on the left: Joe Wilson the representative of South Carolina's 2nd district; also known as the man who shouted out "You lie!" during the middle of the President's Address to Congress.



Two thought were going through my mind when Joe opened his big trap: 1. "This is an Address to Congress, not a fucking town hall meeting!", and 2. "This character's gonna become a martyr for the conservative movement across the nation." And they didn't disappoint.

The reason why Wilson rudely interrupted the President's speech? Obama said in his speech that illegal immigrants would not qualify for credits for the health care plan. And he was right.

The President's seemingly simple statement that "the reforms I am proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally" is not hard to check. In the Senate Finance Committee's working framework for a health plan, which Obama's speech seemed most to mimic, there is the line, "No illegal immigrants will benefit from the health care tax credits." Similarly, the major health-care-reform bill to pass out of committee in the House, H.R. 3200, contains Section 246, which is called "NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS."

So not only did Joe rudely interrupt the Commander-in-Chief, he himself, lied about calling Obama a liar!

But i'm dead certain Joe knew that going in. In the age of Obama and the changing of the nation, facts and well-reasoned debates have taken a backside to which any ignorant relic of the Jim Crow era can grab a soapbox and a bullhorn and yell for all to hear, "OBAMA IS A GOD-DAMN SOCIALIST!" Instead of letting cooler heard prevail, we have a cynical, narcissistic talk show host in Glenn Beck who rises to power by making outrageous and out-of-left-field claims about the events of the day and mis-characterizing events and news-makers to fit Rupert Murdock's - and a party's - agenda; and shameless political opportunists like Sarah Palin, exploiting her youngest child to scare Americans by saying that her down-syndrome baby, Trig, will be at the alter of a group of bureaucrats who'll decide if he lives or dies; and disagreements over policy have turned into shouting matches at town-hall meetings. To put it simply: in this age, down has become the new up.

But as I look upon this sad state of discourse in American politics, and in America itself, I come to remember which matters the most: we have been down this road before. From woman's suffrage, to civil and voting rights; from the formation of unions to the formation of Social Security, we've had spirited debates about these issues, we have fought over the issues, some had shed their own blood to have their ideals realized, and many have tried to delay to make the changes necessary to strengthen our nation and to move our country forward. But, in the end, we passed Social Security, formed the unions, gave minorities and women the right to vote, strengthened anti-discrimination laws in the workplace and in businesses, and we are a better country because we met these challenges head on, despite the opposition, the cynicism, and challenges that threatened to intimidate our citizens.

We have been down this road before. We can (finally) pass health care reform if we allow ourselves to ignore the charlatans and the naysayers, and go forth with a determination that we can, and will reform our broken system for the betterment of our country, and for the next generation not yet born.

Allow me to quote U2 frontman Bono: "We're one, but we're not the same / we've got to carry each other, carry each other."

When They're Full of Shit, Do They Know It?

And the old joke about politicians goes like this: "How do you know when a politician is lying? When his lips begin to move!" This week, two GOP politicos, one we all thought we would never see again, the other is the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee have both resorted to the tried-and-proven scare tactics the Republicans have become masters at.

Former Governor Sarah Palin began with the "death panel" talking point last week, when she claimed President Obama's health care plan would kill her special needs baby, Trig.

The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

I've gotta hand it to Sarah on this one. Her bullshit became the right-wing's talking point of the week. Too bad it isn't even remotely true.

Q: Does the health care legislation bill promote "mercy killing," or euthanasia?

A: No.

Q: Then what's all the fuss about?

A: A provision in the House bill written by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., would allow Medicare to pay doctors for voluntary counseling sessions that address end-of-life issues. The conversations between doctor and patient would include living wills, making a close relative or a trusted friend your health care proxy, learning about hospice as an option for the terminally ill, and information about pain medications for people suffering chronic discomfort.

The sessions would be covered every five years, more frequently if someone is gravely ill.

Now, I know what you're gonna say: 'What an idiot that woman is!' or, 'Doesn't that dumb bitch even read the fucking bill that was presented in the House!?' or even, 'How could the people of Alaska voted for that manipulative woman?'. Sure, all three might be the appropriate thing to say and it makes us feel better about ourselves, but it's too simple, and you fall into the trap. Mrs. Palin is part of the reason why I detest the current leadership that passes in the GOP - people like her are the true cynics; she knows better than to make this false accusation, but she also knows that her base - the ignorant, the narrow-minded, the people who hate everything that doesn't fit into their world view - don't know any better, so she'll lie and yell and whip up false outrage to defeat our country's real chance to reform a broken health care system that cares more about making a profit than taking care of the family of a little boy that has asthma and pray that he has a few flare-ups as humanly possible because they might have to take out their second mortgage to pay for another hospital visit. And hey, if that means she has trot out and exploit her baby to do it (which she did), she'll practicably turn baby Trig into a human puppet.

But as the title suggests, I've come to learn that the former Governor of Alaska is completely full of shit. Palin, as it turns out, was for these supposed "death panels" before she was against it....kind of like when she said "Thanks, but no thanks to that bridge to nowhere," when in reality, she already said yes to it during her term!

WHEREAS, Healthcare Decisions Day is designed to raise public awareness of the need to plan ahead for healthcare decisions, related to end of life care and medical decision-making whenever patients are unable to speak for themselves and to encourage the specific use of advance directives to communicate these important healthcare decisions. [...]

WHEREAS, one of the principal goals of Healthcare Decisions Day is to encourage hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, continuing care retirement communities, and hospices to participate in a statewide effort to provide clear and consistent information to the public about advance directives, as well as to encourage medical professionals and lawyers to volunteer their time and efforts to improve public knowledge and increase the number of Alaska’s citizens with advance directives.

Now onto Chuck Grassley. He also latched onto the talking point this week, after Obama praised his willingness to work with him on health care reform during a town hall meeting this week.

"There is some fear because in the House bill, there is counseling for end-of-life. And from that standpoint, you have every right to fear. You shouldn't have counseling at the end of life. You ought to have counseling 20 years before you're going to die. You ought to plan these things out. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills. But they ought to be done within the family. We should not have a government program that determines if you're going to pull the plug on grandma."

But the Chuck Grassley in 2003 would probably scold the Grassley currently riding on his high horse now, along with 42 colleagues from the Senate during that time. You guessed it, he voted for those so-called "death panels" in the '03 version of the Medicare drug bill.

So, Mrs. Palin and Mr. Grassley: when you two are full of shit, do you both know it?