Archive for the ‘ Health Care ’ Category

I will chalk this up as a simple misstatement by Kathleen Sebelius over the weekend. During an interview on ABC, the Secretary said:

The bill has passed the House. The bill has passed the Senate with a super-majority.

To be correct, she should have said:

A bill has passed the house. A bill has passed the Senate with a super-majority.

This is what much of the debate between Congressional Democrats have been about, and why the Health Care Summitt was called the other week. It wasn’t simply because the Republicans have refused to support the legislation, but because the House Democrats and the Senate Democrats passed two different bills. Since the Democrats have lost their super-majority control in the Senate, they are forced to rely on the House to vote for the Senate-version of the bill, which some Democrats refuse to do.  If “the bill” had been passed as Sebelius stated, there wouldn’t be any debate right now, since the President would have already signed the bill into law.

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Economy

Scott Amundson presents DOLLARIZATION IN LATIN AMERICA: A POLICY GUIDE FOR CENTRAL BANKERS AND MONETARY OFFICIALS posted at ECONOMY POLITICA.

Exploring the influence the US dollar has in Latin American countries, and how it impacts the domestic fiscal policies of these countries.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Ode To GOP Stimulus Hypocrisy posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

A poem about the Republican’s opposition to the stimulus bill while accepting the cash with little opposition.

Bruce presents Georgia is 3rd inside the US for Delinquent Mortgages posted at Government Mortgage Help.

REMARKS: Mortgage Help from the Government to assist you in keeping your home from mortgage foreclosure during this recession.

Related articles:
Vulcan’s Hammer – "Let the bad investment die already"
Divided We Stand – United We Fall – "Know When To Fold ‘Em"
Cato @ Liberty – "A Campaign Finance Lesson"

Health Care

Alexander Bisignano presents Insurance and Genetic Testing in the United States posted at The Chromosome Chronicles.

Questioning the ethics behind genetic testing for Life Insurance coverage.

Scott Spiegel presents Gambling on Amnesia posted at Scott Spiegel.

Reviewing Obama’s push on health care reform, and the gamble he was making by holding the health care summit with Republicans and Democrats.

Related articles:
Liberal Values – "First Impression On The Health Care Summit"
Sensen No Sen – "Marriage Laws and Risk to Children"

Contributing members:

If you wish to be a contributing member, please visit the Political Blog Listing for more information.


Miscellaneous

Carole Gold presents Glenn Beck’s Bigger Message posted at Carole Gold.

REMARKS: Regardless of your political preference, Glenn Beck has a vital message for us all.

Anne Simone presents 100 Great Twitter Streams for Serious Politicos posted at Online Degree Programs.org: Top Online Degrees.

A handy list of 100 Twitter streams from various news and opinion sources that cover politics.

Steve Mustanski presents Democrats Now Love Bush Patriot Act posted at Conservative Patriot HQ.

Looking at the overwhelming passage of the Patriot Act extension by the House without significant protest.

Related articles:
TalkLeft – "Senate Votes to Extend Patriot Act"

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For seven hours, the President and representatives from the two major parties sat around a square table to debate the merits of the omnibus Health Care Reform package put together by the Democrats in the House and the Senate, as well as the framework released by the President earlier in the week. For seven hours, talking points were passed back and forth, and the President challenged the Republicans on their criticisms and proposals. For seven hours, the only thing that was accomplished was localized global warming and an increase in noise pollution.

I’m still going through all of the accounts of the day as well as watching some of the video clips of the exchanges, and the only thing that I learned was that Republican Representative Paul Ryan should become the party’s face for their position in the debate. He came across well studies, articulate, and knowledgeable on not only the Democratic legislation but on the CBO scoring as well. He, by far, was much better than Senator John McCain. McCain sounded like he was stuck in 2008 campaign mode, but with more rambling and less on-topic discussion.

Reading through the members on the Political Blog Listing, I have found two bloggers who have posted their initial views on the summit.

Our friend over at the First Door on the Left said:

President Obama hosted what was billed as a bipartisan health care summit in D.C. today. There was, in reality, nothing bipartisan about it. The Republicans (as expected) spent the entire day whining and insisting that unless things are done their way they won’t be done at all.

This was balanced by QandO:

I’ve been watching and/or listening to the health care summit today and it became fairly obvious from the opening bell that there wasn’t going to be much of anything worthwhile or substantive accomplished – not that I’m surprised. 5 hours into it, it has been mostly the exchange of talking points. Right now I’m forced to listen to Henry Waxman give his. He’s claiming his version of the bill is the best and the Republican’s version sucks. Pretty much the way it has gone all day (Republicans have mostly said they want to start over with a clean sheet). Every one of the Democrats are appealing to emotion via tragic anecdotes.

Open Congress had this to say:

On the surface, today’s health care summit didn’t change much of anything. No bipartisan agreement on how to move forward was struck. Members of Congress didn’t put away their talking points in exchange for an honest discussion. And, despite the summit being broadcast live on television, it’s clear that behind-the-scenes, un-televised negotiations will to continue to take place.

UPDATE:

From Connecting.the.Dots:

The bottom line is that the President tried but must realize that he succeeded only in revealing his own total grasp of the subject against the emptiness behind most of the Republican rhetoric for a minority of Americans willing to watch for hours. That ultimately may be the best Obama could hope for, as he ended with a clear warning that, if there is no sign of GOP engagement in the next month, Democrats in both Houses will move ahead without them.

A Disgruntled Republican said:

Watching the health care summit, I thought “Barack” came across as arrogant and condescending. I was struck by how Barack referred to everyone by their first name, calling Senator John McCain, who is certainly old enough to be his father, as “John” yet all of the senators referred to Barack as “Mr. President.” … This is an outrage. If senators must call the President “Mr. President” then he should return the courtesy by referring to the senators as “Senator.”

Taxes, Stupidity, and Death continued with:

And when Paul Ryan took 6 or so minutes to talk about the numbers from the CBO, the group actually charged with figuring out what these little love letters from Congress cost we, the unhappy recipients, Barack Hussein Obama looked like someone peed in his ice cream. It was like Congressman Ryan didn’t realize that he was actually addressing Barack Hussein Obama, who didn’t appreciate anyone making light of the fact that a gargantuan increase in a government entitlements don’t save us money, especially when the entitlements they already gave to us are choking the states, and ballooning uncontrollably.

As stated over on Cato @ Liberty:

There seemed to be a division between representatives who knew the technical subject matter and those who—for lack of a better phrase—knew the emotional subject matter. Surprisingly astute commentaries on fiscal realities were met with appeals to the story of one constituent or another—or of members’ own families’ health predicaments.

TalkLeft stated:

It is not even remotely possible that this was the last act imo. As I said before, nothing that happened yesterday will change any GOP votes. And the Dem votes in the room were already secure. The actual debate left to be had involves Democrats only. And indeed, it always only involved Democrats.

From the Right Wing Nut House:

Did one side “win” the day yesterday?” I’d say from what I saw of the summit (the first 4 hrs – then I watched woman’s hockey which was far more interesting), the Republicans had a clear advantage. It’s always better to be on offense and the GOP speakers scored several hard blows to the Democrats while offering some modest reforms of their own. For their part, the Democrats weirdly tried to get everyone watching to break down weeping as they related story after story of Americans losing insurance, having inadequate insurance, or some insurance executive beating them up, eating their children, or sucking their blood vampire like from their necks. I’m sure the wonks who were watching the fiasco had to excuse themselves to dry their eyes and blow their noses. Or not. Such emotionalism plays well on campaign commercials but only made Democrats look unserious and mostly silly for their going for the heart tactics.

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Politicians

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Sarah Palin’s Runny, Run-On Sentences Finally Explained posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

A poem about Sarah Palin’s crib notes on her hand during the Tea Party convention.

Luke Geraghty presents Why Hillary Would Make An Excellent President posted at Luke Geraghty.com.

REMARKS:  Hello, I wrote an article entitled, "Why Hillary Would Make An Excellent President," detailing her rising approval ratings and her polarizing status in America. Hopefully you’ll find it an interesting piece for your blog carnival

Related articles:
TalkLeft – "Why Sarah Palin’s Hand Became Political Fodder"
Chicagoray’s Views and News – "White House Mocks Sarah Palin From Podium (video)"

Health Care

Jared Rhoads presents Health insurance reform posted at The Lucidicus Project.

REMARKS: Vote for real health insurance reform: market-based reform. Currently in 13th place!

Katie Freeman presents 10 Excellent Infographics to Learn About the U.S. Healthcare System posted at Master Of Health Administration.

REMARKS:  It is rather easy to conclude that in order to have any useful contribution to the raging health care debate, you must have a firm understanding of the U.S. Healthcare System. With this in mind, we’ve found 10 excellent infographics that can help illuminate some of the problems with the current system, as well as how the current system is set up, and what some proposed changes might mean.

Related articles:
Cato @ Liberty – "ObamaCare = Litigation Bonanza"
QandO – "’Bi-Partisan Health Care Summit’ or Political Theater? (Update)"
Connecting.the.Dots – "A Simpler Health-Care Summit"

Contributing members:

If you wish to be a contributing member, please visit the Political Blog Listing for more information.


Miscellaneous

Tod presents Who Does Your Thinking? posted at A Blog by Tod.

REMARKS: Calls into question the status quo.

Scott Spiegel presents Don’t Ax, Don’t Dwell posted at Scott Spiegel.

Examining the stances by Conservatives on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

oz3sdb presents Blame the Bankers! And Other Hilariously Simple Yarns for the Age of Ostriches posted at steven d. bennett.

Looking at the variables leading to the economic crisis, and why politicians use Wall Street as the whipping boy.

Wenchypoo presents Ending Bureaucracy posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Explaining what bureaucracy is, and how much is involved with the process.

Related articles:
Sensen No Sen – "Persecuting Heroes"
The Agitator – "How About ‘People Who Enjoy Brunch?’"
The Smarter Wallet – "Do Large Banks Need Government Bailouts?"

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It seemed that when people were not debating who had the better team in the Super Bowl, they were discussing the Focus on the Family ad starring Tim Tebow and his mother. Questioning why CBS allowed an advocacy ad to be aired during the biggest sporting event of the year was second only to the questioning of the content the ad might contain. At no point has a single ad caused such a stir, except for maybe when Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video aired in 1989 as part of a Pepsi-Cola advertising campaign.

Much of the debate about the Tebow ad was on how CBS could allow a pro-life ad to be aired during the game. In the past, advocacy ads could not be aired during the Super Bowl, but CBS changed that policy prior to the purchase of ad time by Focus on the Family. The ad was never leaked before being aired, causing pundits, talking heads, and otherwise ignorant individuals on both sides of the debate to speculate on the message. Those against the ad automatically labeled it as a 30-second anti-choice sermon. Those for the ad praised it for highlighting the decision of women to choose life. However, both camps were cleverly played.

The approximate $2.6 Million paid for a relatively inexpensive ad to film was a bargain for Focus on the Family. The issue of abortion dominated the talk shows and news media outlets for over a week. In fact, the debate continues, as this article and others around the net can attest to. Here is an example of the point/counterpoint debate raging online.

The Pondering Penguin states:

CBS allowed the showing of a message ad, not allowed before in Super Bowl time. The message? A pro-life testamony given by the mother of widely known college quarterback, Tim Tebow. The silliness of the brouhaha was evident, once the audience actually saw the commercials. Not only were they so benign that if you were not paying attention you may not have realized what the message was, now they are complaining that one of the ads promotes violence against women. Why? Because in one of the ads – they were run in a bit of a story line – Tebow appears to tackle his mother and then she bounces right back up. Obviously done in a campy kind of humor, the loud in the feminist movement have been reduced to whining over a non-act. There was nothing to their concern over a pro-life message ad, so they had to do something to attempt to save face.

Kitsch-Slapped responded with:

I hate to interrupt Townsend, but as this is writing, not speaking, and it’s easier to read if I respond to points as they occur, I will interject. Spelling errors aside (it’s “testimony,” not “testamony”), it’s not wise to label something as a “brouhaha” or “benign” when your evidence is that the message isn’t discernible to those who are not paying attention; “not realized” is the definition of not paying attention, and inattentiveness is quite often a danger to one’s health. The only “silliness” here is that her last statement completely refutes the former statement.

The Pondering Penguin is right on one point – those who were arguing about something they knew nothing about have a lot of saving face to do. For those of you who want to read the anti-choice (or was it pro-life) message of the commercial, here it is:

Pam Tebow: I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn’t make it into this world. I remember so many times when I almost lost him. It was so hard. Well he’s all grown up now, and I still worry about his health. Everybody treats him like he’s different, but to me, he’s just my baby. He’s my Timmy, and I love him.

Tim Tebow: Thanks mom. Love you too.

You tell me … is this pro-choice or pro-life? I’m confused. Was it actually “advocating” anything.

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