Health Care Noise is WAAAYYYYYYYY Down. Time to finally get serious.

The insurance companies, drug makers, doctors, and hospitals just love the plan.

This is not a good sign.

It's a head fake. At any rate, they love the Baucus version as it stood when it came out. A couple of votes and the bill will be altered in many ways. Let's see how much they love it mid-October.

The items that get enough votes will be in the bill.

Alan, I think you and I are doing the same thinking. NOW THAT THE FURY IS PAST...the tea party people have started extending their pinkies instead of their fists and all the falderal is done the Congress is making real and serious progress on legislation that they have ACTUALLY HAD TIME TO READ, MARK UP AND CONSIDER.

I think we should offer recognition to the brilliant way this legislation is being husbanded through the process by former Senator and Vice President Joe Biden, and Former Representative and Chief of Staff Rham Emmanuelle.

Every step a clear page from the intelligent and democratic process book of how to make good legislation that benefits people in the USA.

Karl Leuba writes some AWFUL RUN ON SENTENCES SOMETIMES.

NOW THAT THE FURY IS PAST. The tea party people have gone home to their tea sets and tee vee sets. They are extending their pinkies instead of their fists. The falderal is done. Congress is making real and serious progress on legislation. They have ACTUALLY HAD TIME TO READ, MARK UP AND CONSIDER what they are going to do.

From www.readthebill.org

Shouldn't we know what's in the bill? Only makes sense, right?


There's been some big developments today, friends.

In June, we let you know that Representatives John Culberson (R-TX) and Brian Baird (D-WA) introduced a resolution, H.Res 554, that would change House rules to require all major bills to be posted online publicly for at least 72 hours before they are debated.
Essentially: a "Read the Bill" resolution.
Well, today, members of Congress filed a "discharge petition" in the House regarding that resolution, and if the petition gets 218 signatures in the House, leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer will be required to schedule H.Res 554 for a vote on the House floor.

Our Read the Bill resolution has been languishing in the House for many months--years, if you include versions that have been introduced in prior Congresses--and a discharge petition is a way to force a bill to the floor for a vote. This is the time to make it happen.

Take a moment and make a phone call to ask your Rep. to sign onto H.Res 554 using our simple website. Ask your friends to do the same.

http://readthebill.org
At the end of the day it comes down to this: an informed citizenry is critical to a functioning democracy. The point isn't only whether legislators read every word, but whether all citizens - people like us - have an opportunity to review and comment on pending legislation before it has an impact on our lives.

We are going to make sure we have that chance.

There's no ifs, ands, or buts. Legislation should be online for everyone to read.

read it in ENGLISH. That legislative talk might as well be written in cantonese. The people we send in congress can't read it, it's a fact. Try to read it yourself and you tell me what it says.

Winston,
Today's the day of the vote on this I think (maybe even right now? have to check).

It should pass; why not? Whether all of us understand everything in it or not it should be posted; there are lots of people who do understand that language who will read and report---- and then if there are major disagreements with what is in it, there should be more discussion and possibly a postponement of the vote.

Winston Smith Sep 28, 2009, 9:40am EDT
From www.readthebill.org

Shouldn't we know what's in the bill? Only makes sense, right?


There's been some big developments today, friends.

In June, we let you know that Representatives John Culberson (R-TX) and Brian Baird (D-WA) introduced a resolution, H.Res 554, that would change House rules to require all major bills to be posted online publicly for at least 72 hours before they are debated.
Essentially: a "Read the Bill" resolution.
Well, today, members of Congress filed a "discharge petition" in the House regarding that resolution, and if the petition gets 218 signatures in the House, leaders Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer will be required to schedule H.Res 554 for a vote on the House floor.
Our Read the Bill resolution has been languishing in the House for many months--years, if you include versions that have been introduced in prior Congresses--and a discharge petition is a way to force a bill to the floor for a vote. This is the time to make it happen.
Take a moment and make a phone call to ask your Rep. to sign onto H.Res 554 using our simple website. Ask your friends to do the same.
http://readthebill.org
At the end of the day it comes down to this: an informed citizenry is critical to a functioning democracy. The point isn't only whether legislators read every word, but whether all citizens - people like us - have an opportunity to review and comment on pending legislation before it has an impact on our lives.
We are going to make sure we have that chance.
There's no ifs, ands, or buts. Legislation should be online for everyone to read

No media, no noise, no rudeness

Except for those protesting in favor of it, or whatever it was they protested at the G20 (maybe they were protesting garbage containers since they attacked some of em).

Lee Y
There is going to be a health care bill passed.
Are you going to let them pass an industry sell out or are you going to demand a bill that will provide insurance / care for all of us?

Lee Y
The G 20 kids are not Democrats.

They are anarchists

I am certainly not going to demand a bill that will provide insurance/ care for all of us; not in the way President Obama envisions it in any case.

Cena .. I see the healthcare 'crisis' like a disease for which there really is no viable one-pill cure - anyway that's my opinion. I know your opinion is different. But my opinion is there has not yet been a viable cure offered.

Soooo.... the best alternative to a straight out cure is to treat the symptoms separately to bring about an incremental cure. (you've heard em .. torte reform, portability, etc)

No need for one huge debacle of a bill. If ya want to find and eliminate the fraud in Medicare, do it .... show us it can be done before we allow our whole system to be changed. If ya want to find a way to cover pre existing conditions ... do that.

Fix the problems instead of creating other bigger problems ---- and a humongous national healthcare bill will cause problems, take a look at Cash for clunkers. It was small program but rife with problems despite the limited surface success it had; the exact same kinds of problems, delays, incompetence etc that will plague a national healthcare program but on a much much larger scale.

If you are interested in more info on my opinion irt that, check it out here just a little more than half way through -- starting with "Take for example the most current fiasco come down the pike - Cash for Clunkers..."(in red text)

However, my point as it relates to the article was there certainly has been noise and rudeness; but maybe the G20 near riots aren't considered noisy or rude whatever it was they were protesting. +shrug+

Cena W. Sep 28, 2009, 11:54am EDT
Lee Y
There is going to be a health care bill passed.
Are you going to let them pass an industry sell out or are you going to demand a bill that will provide insurance / care for all of us?

First the Republicans told their voter base to oppose /stop all health care.
Then began the campaign of lies against the Democrat plan.
Now all the insurance companies and drug companies and all the other medical industry people have their bribes, oh I guess I mean donations in place.

Here is a chart of 2009 health care industry money to lawmakers, from USA Today
The data base is sortable.
It was very interesting to note: Grassley & Baucus have received big bucks.

Money to our Lawmakers

So we have to email all the lawmakers we vote for and The President.

Tell them, We saw the health industry donations, DON'T SELL US OUT!

Pass a health care plan that allows negotiated drug prices, re-importation of drugs from canada, regulates the private insurance companies. Give us a public option OR
give us a 100% single payer plan.

Use these links
To the President: http://www.whitehouse.gov


To your Congresspreson/U. S. Rep. : http:www.house.gov

Write both of your state's Senators: http:www.senate.gov

Once everyone knows who got what from which group, the motives and intentions will be more clear. They are more clear, we know who got paid how much. Still, the noise makers are on the sidelines. We can have honest and civil debates about which way to go. Do we want Uncle Sam running a plan side by side with the private insurers and give consumers some leverage? Or is that too much government control that will eventually kill an entire private sector? That's a debate to be had. Socialist, Nazi, kill grandma has no place there and the idiots sputtering it should continue their time out.

Cena they want the rest of us to have no health care but they cry fowl and want their medical care when the come running in. That how it is they feel they are intitled but that the rest of us should just do with out. That is how they look upon the rest of us.

An unusually large number of gather conversatives opposed to health care for all are on social security + medicare and social security disability + medicare.

Revolting!

Cena,
Excellent and very helpful post. Too many people have no clue who their elected representives even are, let alone how to contact them. For probably most people in America, they might as well be living in China, the old Soviet Union, or Iraq under Saddam Hussein. If national healthcare is going to become a reality in America, while the medical industry relentlessly lobbies Congress, Americans are going to have to get their heads out of their you-know-whats, and GET INVOLVED.
BTW, I liked Fred R's article about this too.
As for cold in October though, I might tell you that in this tropical rainforest here, known as Tampa, Florida, daytime temperatures routinely top 90 degrees in October.
In November and December, the weather could best be described as really nice.

And it has never been easier to let them know what we want!

I am in CA central valley, we had temps around 100 all last week, but at least it has been cooling of to 60s at night.
This week we get a temporary drop to 80s

The real debate is within the democratic party. When it's going to get close, the republicans will activate the noise makers and open the gates.

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?

As for weather, yeah it would not work in CA, FL, and a few other places. But at least you would paralyze them in a good number of places. Plus, it's the holidays. Nobody pays attention.