gruzchiki spb…

I saw Biden on MTP and there was no “walking back” on the public option that the AP article and the DK Diarist claim. I didn't see the Sebelius interview on This Week, but one of the commentators on that DK diary did and said this:

I've just read a transcript of the interview with Sebeilius on This Week, and there is no indication that I can see that the administration is “walking back the public option.”

SEBELIUS: What the president’s said all along is, we want a level playing field. But having some competition and having some choice for consumers is a good thing. I don’t think it’s any surprise that insurance companies would rather have a system where everybody must buy coverage and there are no competitors.

So, you know…

(CROSSTALK) SEBELIUS: … new customers.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Doesn’t the public plan only make sense if it actually does pay lower rates than the private plans so that it’s lower in cost?

SEBELIUS: I don’t think you have to pay lower rates. I think what you have to do is, maybe, cut some of those overhead costs and have innovative strategies.

What consumers will have is choice. And in lots of places in the country, absent a public option, absent some kind of competitive option, people would have no choice.

There’s one dominant company and that really doesn’t drive innovation; it doesn’t drive much in terms of quality care. And that’s really the goal at the end of the day.

We know that higher cost doesn’t translate into higher quality. And what we want to do is have highest-quality, lower-cost care for all Americans.

SEBELIUS: Well, I think — I think the discussions, right now, are serious ideas around the table from all sides. He has laid out pretty clearly and, I think, reinforced his support for a public option, to a letter to Finance Committee members. He talked about it in a radio address. He’s, you know, continuing to do that.

I don’t think it’s a surprise that the president supports a public option. He thinks choice is good, thinks competition is good.

And, frankly, George it exists all over the country. State employee health plans in 30 states have private options side by side with public options. It works well. It provides some choice. It exists in children’s health insurance programs.

So the notion that somehow this public plan can’t work and it will drive the private insurance market out of business is just not very accurate.

However, I do agree that we need to flood them with calls and emails.

I saw Biden on MTP and there was no “walking back” on the public option that the AP article and the DK Diarist claim. I didn't see the Sebelius interview on This Week, but one of the commentators on that DK diary did and said this:

I've just read a transcript of the interview with Sebeilius on This Week, and there is no indication that I can see that the administration is “walking back the public option.”

SEBELIUS: What the president’s said all along is, we want a level playing field. But having some competition and having some choice for consumers is a good thing. I don’t think it’s any surprise that insurance companies would rather have a system where everybody must buy coverage and there are no competitors.

So, you know…

(CROSSTALK) SEBELIUS: … new customers.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Doesn’t the public plan only make sense if it actually does pay lower rates than the private plans so that it’s lower in cost?

SEBELIUS: I don’t think you have to pay lower rates. I think what you have to do is, maybe, cut some of those overhead costs and have innovative strategies.

What consumers will have is choice. And in lots of places in the country, absent a public option, absent some kind of competitive option, people would have no choice.

There’s one dominant company and that really doesn’t drive innovation; it doesn’t drive much in terms of quality care. And that’s really the goal at the end of the day.

We know that higher cost doesn’t translate into higher quality. And what we want to do is have highest-quality, lower-cost care for all Americans.

SEBELIUS: Well, I think — I think the discussions, right now, are serious ideas around the table from all sides. He has laid out pretty clearly and, I think, reinforced his support for a public option, to a letter to Finance Committee members. He talked about it in a radio address. He’s, you know, continuing to do that.

I don’t think it’s a surprise that the president supports a public option. He thinks choice is good, thinks competition is good.

And, frankly, George it exists all over the country. State employee health plans in 30 states have private options side by side with public options. It works well. It provides some choice. It exists in children’s health insurance programs.

So the notion that somehow this public plan can’t work and it will drive the private insurance market out of business is just not very accurate.

However, I do agree that we need to flood them with calls and emails.

I concur!

http://natturnersrevenge.blogspot.com/2009/06/h…

(ACTION) AP: White House Walking Back Public Option
by Willa Rogers (Daily Kos)

Extremely disappointing wire story on the public dialog about a public option:

Co-op compromise gives White House a health option

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

Sunday, June 14, 2009

(06-14) 12:10 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) –

Cabinet officials and Obama allies on Sunday sought to rein in lawmakers, who were expected this week to introduce specific plans that run counter to Obama's political promises. Many urged lawmakers to consider a cooperative program that would expand coverage to the 50 million uninsured Americans with taxpayer support without direct governmental control.

Some of those ways, though, run counter to the White House's earlier positions and Obama's own political base. While supporters from Obama's left have advocated a government-run option — championed by an ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and his surrogate, Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. — presidential aides and congressional leaders in both parties have sought a speedy compromise.

Obama's political team at the White House has seen such a compromise as an option, although publicly the administration remains in support of a government competitor to private insurance. But during appearances on Sunday news programs, the support seemed to waver.

Sebelius said “having these ideas on the table is exactly where we need to be right now.” And Vice President Joe Biden indicated the White House was ready to accept that “a public plan is on a continuum.”

Full story here.

It's not surprising for those of us who've been tracking healthcare reform to see that the public option–any public option–has been framed as a proposal coming from the “left,” particularly since single-payer was shut out from the start from the legislative debate about healthcare reform.

It is, however, deeply disappointing to see that the White House is so willing to bargain away the one facet that would provide Americans with a meaningful choice in the form of a robust public option that would serve our needs rather that serving the needs of shareholders in for-profit insurance companies.

A mandate to purchase private health insurance–even (rather, especially) when our tax dollars will be used to further entrench and enable private insurers to deny care to those who need it–is worse than no legislation at all. Passing such a plan would not only institutionalize the problems we face obtaining approval for healthcare under private insurance, but would jeopardize the Dem majority come the midterm elections, once voters recognize that “reform” was a sham and a taxpayer giveaway to private insurance.

This week the Senate Dems are due to debut their final plans for a public option–or weaksauce alternatives, such as Conrad's co-ops, which means it's our last chance to try to sway them toward offering a robust public option as part of any healthcare-reform legislation, and to shift the public debate toward ensuring that a public option serves as real competition to the health-insurance industry parasites.

I'm reprinting the following action alert from Slinkerwink's last diary:

PLEASE CALL the White House and let President Obama know that you don't want him to consider the “7-year trigger” for the public option. Let him know that you're ANGRY that he's doing this. Tell him it won't be REAL health care reform without an immediately available, strong, robust Medicare-like public option.

CALL the White House at: 202-456-1111 and E-MAIL them as well!

PLEASE CALL these Senators on the Senate Finance Committee today to demand a strong, robust affordable Medicare-like public option. Here's a list of talking points below:

Tell Senator [Name] that you DO NOT want the 7-year trigger for the public option and take it off the table, and that you want him to support an affordable strong, robust Medicare-like public option. We NEED a strong, robust Medicare-like public option NOW OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS AND AFFORDABLE, not more of the SAME broken system that's given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays. Also, DON'T TAX OUR EMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFITS. Instead, follow the proposal by President Obama to tax the wealthy above $250,000, eliminate the overpayments in Medicare Advantage, and put tax capital gains to help fund health care reform.

Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651

Please CALL Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542

Please CALL Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543

Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472

Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244

Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043

Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521

Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742

Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843

Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822

Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441

Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274

Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744

Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441

This coming week may be one of the most important for healthcare-reform activists this year, and your phonecalls may never have more impact than they do now. Please take the time to let the White House, your senators and your representative know that including a public option is non-negotiable when it comes to your supporting Democratic legislation for healthcare reform.

MVP! MVP! MVP! MVP!

How sweet it is!

The longest campaign of terrorism was the KKK’s for close to a hundred years. Although the rape, torture and murder of black Americans was their primary goal. Leo Frank, a Jewish immigrant was murdered after his biased conviction of a young Irish American girl. Like blacks, his Judaism was said to drive his so-called deviant sexuality. For decades the NAACP tried to get congress to pass an anti-lynching laws and was turned away year after year. A bill was never passed. On June 13, 2005, the Senate formally apologized for its failure to enact an anti-lynching bill. Twenty southern senators mostly republican (only one democratic non-signatory) declined to originally cosponsor the resolution. If republicans can still refuse to vote for an anti lynching bill can right wing extremism be far behind?

Last week, Republican die-hards paid to hear Newt Gingrich stated that Barack Obama’s five month presidency has made America “weak.” The MC of the event John Voight, (yes, Angelina Jolie’s dad) stated that Obama was a “false prophet.” This week Rev of Reverend Wiley Drake exclaimed on Fox Radio that he is actively praying for the death of Obama. Since Glen Beck’s arrived to the FOX he has been propagating an apocalyptic brand of semi-evangelism. He screams that Obama’s policy will bring about the end of America by 2012. The tea parties on tax day was riddled with placards that advocated violence against Obama. Need we forget the crowds at McCain rallys who yelled “kill him”

Domestic terrorism from homegrown radical Islamic extremism have been foiled in the last few weeks, but we cannot say the same for right wing extremism. The idea that these are all lone wolves is ridiculous. The may not have a membership card from The Order or the Christian Identity movement, but they follow their ideals just the same. Gone are the days of the night riders who strung mutilated black bodies from trees, but the idea of more of these despicable attacks continuing is a consideration that should be taken more seriously. It is time that the federal government take these individuals as seriously as those who threaten our country from without.
http://eshowoman.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/repub…

Congratulations, Lakers.

(that's all you'll get from me).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sogKUx_q7ig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoLE8FmooIM

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!