They came, they sat, they chanted:

8 Protesters backing a universal health care system briefly occupied Sen. Joe Lieberman's office this morning.

Protesters were arrested, one by one, and dragged out of his office amid chants of "Everyone in and noone out, universal healthcare now!" and "Represent Connecticut, not AETNA!"

Activists hopefully moving the Overton Window - in our case leftward - because too many Democratic party politicians were too stupid to do that on their own at the start of the healthcare debate.

Susie Madrak at C&L suggests you do the math:

Via ThinkProgress, both the Baucus Bill and the plan put forward by Pelosi will enroll some more people but most will not be in the Public Option and it will not cover everyone:

CBO: Public Option To Attract Only 6 Million Enrollees & Doesn’t Offer Lower Premiums

The public option would attract about 6 million enrollees by 2019 and charge premiums that are “somewhat higher than the average premiums for the private plans in the exchanges.” This is because the public option would “engage in less management of utilization” by its enrollees and “attract a less healthy pool of enrollees,” the office concludes. Moreover, since the House bill expands Medicaid up to 150% of the federal poverty line, it’s possible that the enrollees that would have enrolled in the public option went into Medicaid instead.

Below is a comparison of the relevant provisions in the House and Senate Finance Committee legislation:

	CBO Score Of House Bill	CBO Score Of Baucus Bill
Costs	Reduce deficits: $104B/10yrs Cost: $894B/10yrs Spends on subsidies: $605B/10yrs On Medicaid/CHIP: $425B/10yrs On Small Employer Credit: $25B/10yrs	Reduce deficits: $81B/10yrs Cost: $829B/10yrs Spends on subsidies: $461B/10yrs On Medicaid/CHIP: $345B/10yrs On Small Employer Credit: $23B/10yrs
Insured	Uninsured reduced by: 36M Uninsured in 2019: 18M In Exchanges: 30M | Public Plan: 6M In Medicaid: 15M	Uninsured reduced by: 29M Uninsured in 2019: 25M In Exchanges: 23M In Medicaid: 14M
Revenue	Mandate penalty: $33B/10yrs Pay-Play penalty: $135B/10yrs New taxes: $572B/10yrs	Mandate penalty: $4B/10yrs Free rider penalty: $23B/10yrs New taxes: $196B/10yrs
Medicare and Medicaid	Total savings: 426B/10yrs Medicare Advantage: $170B/10yrs	Total savings: 404B/10yrs Medicare Advantage: $117B/10yrs

With a Single Payer solution it would be everybody in and nobody out - AND it would save a heck of a lot more money for everyone.

The difference is not just everyone being covered but HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of DOLLARS saved every year:   Read more…

I think you'll find the following links are the bomb!

Weiner Amendment || Kucinich Amendment || Public Option || Healthcare Reform || Republican Healthcare Plan || Democratic Healthcare Plan || Doctors on Healthcare Reform || Nurses on Healthcare Reform

Don't be shy to click on them and feel free to copy and paste them everywhere. Nudge, nudge, wink wink... And, ain't it funny what news of the CBO scoring Single Payer can do?

I had thought I lost this video but I found it in the darned camera:

At the end of the blogger outreach on Saturday, September 26th, '09, I talked to Senator Dodd on the Kucinich Amendment Protecting States' Rights to move forward on Single Payer. Essentially, Dodd refers to Senator Bernie Sanders' efforts and Sanders legislation to deal with Erisa laws and allow Single Payer in States that want to start an SP system. Dodd makes no commitment to support it, but he will look at it. Sanders had previously introduced a partial fix to the system and it was rejected in the Senate HELP committee BUT if we can get him to reintroduce it, or even a stronger fix? One possibly more sympathetic and newly minted Chairperson may have the will to twist a few arms:

I have a tonne of video to sift through. This is the very first one that I am done editing, most of them are pretty long and there will be more from Dodd as well as some from Ned Lamont and Rosa Delauro.

Stay tuned...

I got nothing to add... But HuffPo does:

Might not be safe for work... But FUCK IT!

DFH by joeyess

For those of you that just don't get what single payer healthcare is all about, via Karoli at US Health Crisis, real Canadians talk about healthcare:

Why this video? Why now?

In the spirit of truth, my friend Matte Black (@Shoq on Twitter) and his brother took their video camera to Canada on vacation to interview Canadians about their health care system. When we talked about it, I asked him to try to get negative views with specifics for balance. Here is the result. It has been edited for brevity, but the negative views were not removed, because there were none. He could not find one Canadian who thought they should kill the system. These are everyday people. They have no agenda at all other than being patriotic Canadians.

Please watch it and share it with as many people as you can.

I get a kick out of the responses to the co-pay question: "Co-pay? What does co-pay mean?" This is exactly what happens when the people demand a healthcare system that works for the people instead of for the bottom line of a corporation.

Cleanin' out my ears.

"CONGRESSMAN NORM DICKS ANNOUNCES HE IS FOR A SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM FOR OUR HEALTH CARE AND I AM WITH HIM

But the greatest part of this meeting was Norm Dicks, who is in full support of a single payer government run program to which the emergency room physician clapped and was in full support. More people there were for a single payer system than were not, more people in a Kitsap County Washington, were for a SINGLE PAYER GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH PLAN. The others were outnumbered. We have to stand up like we did during the election and ram this thing through."

I guess he did say it. Video is supposed to be on the way...

"Socialism stifles creativity! Profit and the free market are why we are number one in drug research."

You've heard it OR some variation of it from faux patriots waving faded flags, right?

Turns out it never was true and never will be unless we get our sciences back on track...

It is widely believed that the United States has eclipsed Europe in pharmaceutical research productivity. Some leading analysts claim that although fewer drugs have been discovered worldwide over the past decade, most are therapeutically important. Yet a comprehensive data set of all new chemical entities approved between 1982 and 2003 shows that the United States never overtook Europe in research productivity, and that Europe in fact is pulling ahead of U.S. productivity. Other large studies show that most new drugs add few if any clinical benefits over previously discovered drugs. I discuss ways in which Congress, employers, and insurers can increase the value of drugs and revitalize the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.

Fact is we never caught up to those socialists in Europe and - probably because they base decisions on science a little more than the average American - they are pulling out further ahead now. I am truly shocked to find out that what the right wing teabaggers/birthers/deathers have been screeching about is the exact opposite of reality... Not really surprised, either, are you?

Jane Hamsher kicks stupid's butt here:

As Emptywheel notes:

Look at what was happening here. Mitchell was trying to talk down to Jane, to suggest that she was being naive for suggesting that Bayh, and not progressives, should back down and accept the public option. In doing so, Mitchell was committing journalistic fraud--anyone presenting these issues and pretending this is about Bayh's "conservative Democrats in his state" and not his wife and donors is simply committing journalistic fraud. So Jane turned it on Mitchell, suggesting Mitchell was the stupid one.

I am still waiting for Blue Cross Dems to come out doing their insurance corporation choreographed Kabuki dance to explain how flipping a few Senators is impossible but flipping a hundred House Reps. is easy...

I am looking at the latest numbers from dailyKos's Research 2000 polling and what they reveal is a pretty clear picture that I, as an unaffiliated (I don't like using the word Independent since there is an "Independent party"), pretty much share the same sentiments as the majority of indies. We are all sitting "there" on the fence. I am not too high on the Democratic party, though they still have some members that are worth fighting for, but I absolutely loath the Republican party pretty much from top to bottom on a  state and national level. Turns out that polling of indies pretty much reflects my views:

You can see them here, where they even tell you how much the leaders of the Death Panels get paid to deny you, the under and uninsured, the care you need to live.

All 9 parts of the video from the meeting in Hartford on Monday between Kathleen Sebelius, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, Sen. Chris Dodd and small business leaders in Connecticut:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 8 contains a Doctor (Please let him out of there when you're done watching!) advocating for Single Payer...

I have started uploading material to YouTube from the healthcare event in Hartford the other day. You can find it at ePluribus Media on the front page and the sidebar. Editing video is a a pain in the butt! (Or you can dig it out at my YouTube account?) Feel free to steal any of my posts or material for the cause!

An exclusive interview with Senator Dodd on healthcare, single payer, the public option and a bit about Senator Jeff Merkley's recent statements. Sorry if it is just a wee bit shaky... I am just an amateur. Thanks to the Connecticut State Democratic Party for sneaking me into this event. Also, Lambert may recognize the modified framing of one of the questions I stumbled through.

I still have a bit over an hour of video from the meeting in Hartford that I wrote about earlier to edit and process.

I will have an interview with Senator Dodd coming up soon, as well as a little over an hour of footage from a meeting in Hartford between Dodd, Sebelius, DeLauro and some small business advocates that I was at today. Thank you kindly to the Connecticut State Democratic party workers that snuck me in there - it was closed to the public - and to Senator Dodd for giving me the time to take some shaky and slightly comical footage. :) (Note to my amateur self... Next time, open the lens protector for the camera BEFORE starting an interview)

Sadly, and though she had said she would give me few moments, I missed out on putting some questions to Rep. Rosa DeLauro because she had to go while I was interviewing Dodd.

I think you'll find the questions I put to him pretty good. The kind of of questions he probably does not typically get from others out there.(More Below)

Via the Hartford Courant:

U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. Dodd is scheduled to undergo surgery during the Senate's August recess and said he expects to be back at work after a "brief recuperation" at home. "It's something that's very common among men my age,'' said Dodd, who is 65 and the father of two young daughters. "In fact, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their life.'' Dodd, a Democrat who is up for re-election in November 2010, said he feels fine. "As you have probably noticed, I'm working some long and hard hours lately,'' he said. "And that will continue."

I am certain that everyone wishes him the best in his treatment and hopes for a speedy recovery. I only wish that every American could have a chance to receive the kind of treatment he will receive. Via tparty, An email from Sen. Dodd to supporters below the fold:

That you want single payer healthcare...

NOW, NOW, NOW! It is over for now, but she commented that she would return to some of the questions later.

Les Enragés.org has an interesting challenge up for both the left and right:

Million Can March: Yes We Can!

Welcome to the Unruly Mob and the launching of our Million Can March! This all started with a vague notion that we should do something more than just have a good laugh at the next round of tea parties scheduled for July 4th. I thought that if teabaggers are so afraid of socialism, maybe we could show 'em socialism on a national scale. And what is more socialistic than sharing our food with others. Food banks across the nation are struggling with shortages as increasing demands meet head on with decreasing donations. But bloggers also reach across the nation - and the world - and we could make a real difference for our neighbors and make this a memorable 4th of July.

Witnesses, including Marcia Angell, M.D Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine Harvard Medical School, Geri Jenkins, R.N. Co-President California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Walter Tsou, M.D., M.P.H. National Board Advisor Physicians for a National Health Program, testify about proposals for a single-payer health care option before House HELP Subcommittee.

I have the video of it up at ePluribus Media.

More specifically, he wants to know your likes and dislikes in the admittedly dysfunctional American Healthcare system:

I am thinking that this is another opportunity to drive home the message of support for Single Payer!

Have at it right over here:

Senator Dodd asks: Is your health care working? What changes would you like to see? Add your ideas at YouTube's Senate Hub at http://youtube.com/senatehub

Democratic Senators are writing a major health reform bill. Rising costs are hitting families and businesses and now 46 million Americans live without health coverage. We need reform. Respond now with your ideas as the Senate writes health care legislation. You can help.

What are you still doing here?