Marcy Kaptur is on C-Span right now talking glowingly about the anti-women's rights addition to the Insurance Industry Protection Act.
Sigh.
Now somebody else [Christopher Smith] is up, talking about the huge number of babies who would have been killed and all the mothers who would have been wounded without the intervention of the brave right-to-life souls who got this amendment into the bill.
Eric Massa and Dennis Kucinich voted against the bill. Thank you.
Alan Grayson, John Conyers, and Anthony Weiner voted for the bill. Hard to blame them, as there are good things tucked into this bill among all the other stuff we could really have done without. Thanks, guys [not].
One Republican voted for it. Bipartisanshit! Yay!
Some Blue Dogs appear to have voted against it.
So everybody's going to get health care, except for people who can't prove they're here legally, except for people who will be able to afford the premiums but have nothing left over for actual care, and except for people who have a uterus but not enough money to free themselves from forced pregnancy.
Gawd, they're still talking.
Oh, wait. They did finally shut up. I swear, it looked like the House forced-birthers' press conference was going to last as long as the whole rest of the debate on the bill today [something like 14 hours]. But never fear, C-Span is now replaying the 30-minute debate on this amendment.
I think I'll go clean out the cat boxes now.
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You know, since Weiner went back on his word,
why not target him with our National Healthcare Party?
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
my preferred targets
would be blue dogs and anti-abortionists and warmongers.
the real enemies are people like joe lieberman and bart stupak. we'd be in decent shape if congress had more anthony weiner [and eric massa and alan grayson] clones and fewer dinos [and way fewer republicans].
i'm not in favor of throwing out good but imperfect people when we could be throwing out truly awful people instead.
I have been thinking about this all day
and I'm starting to convince myself that this isn't quite right.
There was a post over at FDL earlier today that I can't find now which argued that progressive congresspeople will never win their side of any negotiation because everyone knows that they'll cave in the end, no matter how many letters they sign threatening to walk away. Because they'll never walk away, they'll never win, and they won't influence anyone else to stick with them (or even lean in their direction).
Only half the problem with last night was the Blue Dogs/anti-choice Democrats who voted for the Stupak amendment. The other half was all the Democrats (including the progressive caucus) who voted for the bill with the Stupak amendment in it. They weren't willing to walk away.
But why would they be, when caving to blatantly anti-liberal policies costs them nothing? And when "progressives" and Pelosi and other "known" liberals are willing to provide them cover?
Unless and until voters are willing to walk away from progressive politicians when they don't prevent a train wreck like this health reform bill, and still yet something as stupefyingly horrific as the amendment, when will they ever draw a line in the sand and say "further than this, we will not go"?
Avedon , via Down with Tyranny!, has some interesting tidbits up:
Early yesterday, just as the debate was beginning, the PCCC released a poll of Virginia Democrats and Independents who voted for Obama in 2008 but didn't turn out for Creigh Deeds in 2009. Here's what they found:
I'm not sure primarying Blue Dogs is the answer anymore, I think primarying some progressives might be more effective.
You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.
-Malcolm Reynolds, “Serenity”
hard to argue with your logic
but a congress in which we replaced all the bart stupak clones with anthony weiner clones would not even have had this debate, let alone this vote.
i've long argued with the democratic party that they need to be running REAL liberals in every race, not 'conservative' democrats in conservative districts. i don't know about other conservative districts but the one i live in has plenty of lefty voters. they just stay home or vote 3rd party or write in their cats' names on the ballot if they can't bring themselves to vote for the occasional dino they're offered. sounds like the lefties in virginia feel much the same way.
Get the party started
I will not be voting for either piece of sh*t party that treats women like second class citizens. I don't care if people call me a Naderite or not.
both major
Parties are irredeemable. dsusa get my vote from now on.
par4
have i got a party for you!
have i got a party for you!
Remind me
why we had to get a Democrat in the Oval Office?
You don’t know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake, you’ll be facing me, and you’ll be armed.
-Malcolm Reynolds, “Serenity”
to save roe!
so silly of you to forget that!
/snark
something i didn't put in the post, can't remember why i didn't, perhaps because i was a bit dumbfounded at the time, but either in the press conference afterwards when they were all busy patting themselves on the back, or possibly earlier [i also listened to replays of some the stuff i missed when it was live] --
james clyburn said something about how this bill protects privacy. no, i didn't catch all of it, nor can i remember the context now [and i'm too lazy to look for it].
I've been watching this train wreck
happening but it's weird watching the front of the train start to smash, the first pieces arc slowly into the air . . . the people at the back still cheering at how we're moving forward.
ouch
not a bad description.
also, you caused me a couple of flashbacks to a couple of decades or so ago, when there were a number of [freight] train derailments in this part of the state. it took quite a number of people dying fairly gruesome deaths from the toxic chemicals released, from several incidents over the years, to get real action.
also, it took a major personal injury / wrongful death lawsuit with a mongo payout to get the attention of the railroad company [cheaper to let people die than to keep up maintenance on the tracks and cars apparently]. i've been a fan of trial lawyers ever since. if this makes it into law, here's hoping it becomes the trial lawyer full employment act.
Natasha Chart
What she said.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Oh Please
So after months of ignoring and denigrating SP activists, fluffing for a brain dead PO, which was, as should have been obvious even months a go, a transparent bailout of the insurance industry, N. Chart now finds herself (or her demographic) a victim of the Democratic Party establishment which she has bought (and married) into.
There is a Martin Niemolleresque logic to all this: it all started with going after the single payer advocates. And she/they said nothing.
Now they come for her, and there is no one left to speak up.
A vile character-as is Darcy Burner who weighs in approvingly on the comment thread.
what natasha said indeed
i've spent some rl energy the past couple of years trying to get womens organizations to back single payer instead of backing 'insurance reform' and hcan. i have to admit, after watching the performance of their elected representatives last night, i can see why so many of them prefer keeping insurance companies in the mix.
one good thing about blood-sucking leeches, they're perfectly happy to profit any human behavior, without regard for anybody's high-flown 'moral' sensibilities.
Strange email exchange with J. Hamsher
Hamsher claims she is now starting a Single Payer project.
I emailed her to sign up, noting that I was grateful she had "come to her senses" and got this reply.
That will be news to PNHP, Single Payer Action, Mobilization for Health Care etc. and to most here I would imagine.
And will lambert and the rest get any credit for being right the
entire time? No, of course not.
But you know what? Fuck
it. Who cares, if she's finally realizing what we've known from the start? If the A-Listers want to start fighting for single-payer, I say we hand them a rifle and shove them out onto the front lines. Let's see how they do.
Nothing is true; everything is permitted.
Isn't there a saying,
you can accomplish a lot if you don't insist on getting the credit for it?
One signal Hamsher could send
Hamsher's by no means the worst, but last I checked, there were plenty of single payer organizations actually in operation. If Hamsher replaces the odious Jason Rosenbaum with a single payer advocate (and no, it doesn't have to be me, since selise and letsgetitdone are already in the FDL community) and/or starts giving the mobilization folks some front page coverage, by all means look at her. And it's good news that she sees opportunity. OTOH, the [a|the] [strong|robust] [Federalist]? [public|consumer] [option|plan] folks have a lot to answer for, both on strategery and tactics, so it would be nice to see some self-criticism on their part (which doesn't need to include credit to any of the blogs that everybody hates and nobody reads -- I'm not unreasonable -- after they've gotten the triumphalism out of their system.
Natasha did her post when the Dems threw poor women under the bus; Hamsher when they threw breast cancer under the bus... And the rest of us when they threw health care under the bus.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
i've been hoping that the 'health' 'care' 'reform'
that finally passed would piss off the public option supporters enough to make them into single payer supporters. we'll see if that happens.
is jane talking about her public option please project, or is she also working on something that has to do with pure single payer? i can't get fdl to load right now, or i'd go look for myself.
Now that we've sorted out the assholes
Single payer.
A second party.
I may have to support a "democrat/republican" in a choice between an incumbent and a challenger. However, as the US slowly inches up from #38 in health care in the world to #37 at a cost of billions for the insurance thugs, I will support a right wing crazy transvestite for a run against Nancy Pelosi with a couple of bucks and a letter of support.
One issue. One right choice. Evil won.
"Screw the oligarchy's party, let's try democracy for a change."
Self exile
ot
what are the twitter links about?
I posted on it last night.
And on to the Senate... Yay? The compromised compromise had some shiny things in it, but getting that weak tea with the price tag of handing women's bodies over to Cstreet? All I can say is that I am not sure this is worth it. Not at the price the Christianist
crazies extracted from women.
christianist crazies is so right
the local christianist college has an accredited nursing degree program which is scary, given that you can probably expect each and every one of the nurses they graduate to invoke the conscience clause.
these people are attacking women from all sides, not just in congress.
Does anyone have the numbers handy
for the maximum amount that a family will be forced to pay in insurance premiums? I'm think brained this morning and cannot find it. I keep winding up on Orcinus, who has never written about it.
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
I have some numbers
HERE. If that is what you're looking for?
That's exactly what I'm looking for.
Thank you.
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
Jane Hamsher's scam
If we did get single payer this round, Hamsher wouldn't be able to fundraise for single payer next year. Same with other a-listers. Same with the Dems in general. Their business model rests on preventing good policy from happening. The progressive movement works in concert with the right-wing. By letting each other win tiny battles, they can come across as "fighters" while they both fill the corporate trough.
Hamsher's turnaround isn't surprising when you see what both sides are doing. Despite Dems controlling government, the forced pregnancy people won. Now Dems need to raise even more money to beat them while the GOP needs to raise more money to keep their victory. Its a great scam.
Their business model rests on
Their business model rests on preventing good policy from happening.
you would think that with all the things about our present system that are so badly in need of fixing that they'd never run out of causes to fundraise with.