Health Care Summit: long, pointless

Welllll…it came from the best intentions, but 7.5 hours later, it was just the same old thing:  republicans continued to cite cherry-picked, misleading statistics, robotically repeat that we start over from scratch, senselessly fixate on the brevity or lengthiness of whatever proposal (because neither really matters, its just another republican talking point)…

Okay, Mr. President, okay.  You tried.  Can we end the charade?

Pass something!  For God’s sake, pass something…

You know, I was pretty pissed over the whole “compromise” that finally led to the passage of the Senate Health Care Bill, which somehow has meant moving the whole thing drastically to the right – no public option, removal of end-of-life counseling provisions, hectic anti-abortion language – but NOTHING just can’t be an option…it just can’t be…

We need SOMETHING here.  We have to hang on.  We can’t be bullied by the republican minority, by the lunatics at the tea party protests, with their stupidity and their hate…and their weapons.

We have to move forward.

Joe Lieberman sucks

Oh, Joe, Joe, Joe.

Remember the good old days?  Those  magical moments when Rock Star Al Gore was nearly swept into the presidency by force of majority alone?

Imagine that George W. just hadn’t happened at all….ahhhhhhh….excuse me, I have to go into the next room…

Anyways, so this guy who nearly carried the Democratic Party into the new millenium, losing in the end only by supreme court decision, is basically just another Republican asshole.

Lets review for a moment, shall we?

• Iraq War?  “BEST IDEA EVER” says Joe Lieberman (“D” – VT)
• Lieberman converts to Independent candidate, just in time for 2006 election, when Democrats would have voted him out.
• Lieberman joins Lindsey Graham (r – SC) in accusing war critics of being dummies.
• Lieberman joins McCain campaign AGAINST Barack Obama (Best Smear:  Obama does not put country first)
• Lieberman gives GOP Convention Speech (what is this, Bizarro-world?  My God, is that Zell Miller jumping for joy in his grave?  awww shoot…guess he’s still alive)

You get the idea.  Joe Lieberman sucks.

And now, on the verge of one of the most important reforms to our nation’s health care system, an “opt-out” (hey, its better than nothing, right) public option (or, in republicanese, “Socialism“), Joe Lieberman is threatening to join a republican filibuster unless the public option is removed..in other words, Joe Lieberman might be THE vote, lucky senator #41 (out of 100) that prevents any kind of meaningful reform from even getting to debate, let alone an up or down vote.

The fact that he represents a state with HUGE support for the public option apparently means nothing to this prick.

Kills me that this guy is holding all the cards.  Here’s an idea:  maybe, just maybe, we can go old school:  lets make him stand up on the floor and ACTUALLY FILIBUSTER health care reform.  Maybe he can explain in excrutiating detail how health care reform, unlike two simultaneous middle east wars, will wreck our nation, while 5 people die every hour from not having health care insurance.

Joe Lieberman sucks.

Health Care Plan Amendment Orgy (Minus the fun)

Despite sucking, the health care plan released by Senator Max Baucus (“D” – MT), is getting much more attention, for some reason, than any of the other plans floating around Congress right now.

And now, “we dance” (and, in a disturbing mix of the ridiculous, ironic and profane, so does former Republican House Majority Leader/scumbag Tom Delay).

So get ready…its Amendment time, everybody!!!

The Republican Strategy: Ahhh, the hypocrisy, the shamelessness…Republicans, who will never really support any health care reform, will attempt to water down the bill as much as possible before it leaves the Finance Committee.  That way, they can make it suck even more than it already does, and then boast to their moronic “base” about how they never voted for it for such a terrible plan.

Here are my two favorites of the 564 amendments:

• Senator John “Mommy, will you pay off my mistress?” Ensign (Republican hypocrite #471) proposes to replace the word “fee” with “tax” throughout the bill…you see, its all in the language.
• Senator Orrin “My underpants are magic!” Hatch (Mormon Republican) proposes that (AND I FRIKN KID YOU NOT!) any state that starts with the letter “U” get tax relief on particularly expensive health care plans…because we’re all 4 years old.

And then, there’s the odd hero here and there, Senator John D. Rockefeller (solid “D” – West Virginia), who is actually trying to put the public option into Baucus’ mad plan to save the insurance company executives, and get us back on track, taking advantage, finally, of our Democratic supermajorities.   Yes, thats right, sometimes the uber-wealthy DO fight for the public good…its called compassion, empathy…traits too many of the people we elected to act in our name simply don’t have.   R.I.P. Ted Kennedy.

Of course, for every hero, there’s a group of corporate-financed assholes who will stop at nothing to acheive victory.

Don’t let the assholes win.

“Bipartisan” Health Care Plan has no Republican Support…and sucks

Oh yay, great, yeah, awesome, way to go there, Max.

Today, with what can only be described as a big F___ you to progressives, Senator Max Baucus (“D” – MT), big Pharma/insurance company whore (…yeah, that’s right),  released the long-awaited Senate Finance Committee version of the Health Plan.  Yes, the work of the infinitely Bipartisan “Gang of Six” is finally done, although the 3 Republicans in the gang contributed only the water for the watering down.  It is somewhat unclear whether all committee Democrats will end up supporting the bill.  Of course, 2 of the Republicans, Mssrs. Enzi and Grassley were never really serious about negotiating, and since the “compromise” to a public option is NO public option for the 3rd Republican “gang member”, Snowe wasn’t much of a factor either.

So, what’s in this prescription for what ails our country?  Despite my inherent suspicion about a reform plan that has the enthusiastic support of the pharmaceutical industry, I guess its worth a look:

Here’s some highlights of this “reform” legislation, the solution to our nation’s struggle against the rising cost of health care:

• No public option (whew!  what a relief, eh?  Finally, someone has the back of the insurance companies?)
• illegal immigrants barred from buying coverage (there you go, Joe Wilson.  You win.)
• no federal funds for abortions, “except in case of incest, rape or danger to mother’s life” (now there’s a bow to the Right)
• no coverage for end-of-life counseling (I’m sorry, I mean DEATH PANELS, DEATH PANELS, OBAMA WANTS TO KILL YOUR GRANDMA!!!)
• All Americans are required to BUY health insurance or they will be fined (now that’s a great way to reduce costs)

Did a Republican write this?  Why did it take so long to get a plan that more or less capitulates to/humors every Republican talking point about Health Care during the “debate” at town halls this summer?  Is this the bipartisan dream that Obama’s been talking about?  Why is this guy, with Democrats absolutely DOMINATING both houses of congress AND the White House, in charge of reforming health care?  Public option out, sensible provisions removed, insurance company stocks rise...oyyyyyyyy…

Soooo, excited?  Neither is anyone else.