Good.
Every time this happens, the Republicans are brought that much closer to whiny baby Mr. 24% popularity as the guys who want children not to get medical care.
Let them choke on it.
Category: Healthcare
S-Chip is Back
It has has been tweaked a bit, and made more restrictive.
Under the revisions, the program would exclude families earning more than three times the federal poverty rate. Low-income childless adults, which some states cover, would be phased out in one year. And states would have to be more rigorous in checking the validity of applicants’ Social Security numbers, an effort to exclude illegal immigrants.
I don’t know if it will pick up the requisite 13 votes, but if it the two “Democrats” who voted to support Bush’s veto, Gene Taylor (MS) and Jim Marshall (GA) they should be voted off the island. Any money spent on their races by the DCCC is a waste.
What’s more, there should be no more accommodations. If there is no veto override, change a comma, and come back in a month. This program has something like a 2:1 support ratio among Republithugs, so there is no need to move toward them.
Not one step back. Be the Energizer bunny, and keep going…and going… and goineg..
No Health Insurance? Ten Years in Jail For You!
This woman is going to jail for 10 Years.
Her name is Tiffany Sutton, and she is just 24 years old, basically a kid, and a troubled one at that, and she is going to jail because she ran out of mental health coverage.
The newspaper misses the point and goes with the sensational headline, Woman sentenced in blood-drinking sex case. (Yes, I know that it is a great hed, but still)
Here are the details you really need to know:
Houck [Suttons’s attorney] submitted a memo to the court stating that Sutton suffered physical and sexual abuse from ages 3 to 13, and she has had mental health problems since she was 14.
Sutton improved with mental health counseling and medication up until her insurance ended six months before her February arrests, Houck wrote.
According to prison health records, Sutton thought she was a vampire for the first several weeks she was in jail, Houck wrote.
No health insurance coverage for her meds, so she self medicates, and she and while drunk and stoned, convinces her 46-year old consort to let her tie him up, and then cuts him and tries to drink his blood.
Does it sound like she was in her right mind????
The judge, one David Udall*, decides that the solution is to sentence her to TEN YEARS IN PRISON.
This woman needs help, and she will not get it under the tender confinement of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
*Anyone know if he is related to the late Congressman Morris or his son Congressman Mark Udall?
Fred Thompson, Not a Clown Show This Time
Fred Thompson had to pull the plug on his daughter after she overdosed on prescription drugs, and he takes a VERY dim view of how the Republicans acted on the Terri Sciavo matter (here and here):
“I had to make those decisions with the rest of my family,” said Thompson. “And I will assure you one thing: No matter which decision you make, you will never know whether or not you made exactly the right decision.”
Talking to a reporter in Florida, Thompson was harshly critical of the political decisions made in the case, saying that there should not be a role for any level of government beyond the judiciary’s authority to adjudicate disputes.
I have on a number of occasions made light of his campaign, my recurring “clown show” heds come to mind, but what we have here is a candidate with experience on a matter saying what he thinks.
It is interesting that it appears that he had been dodging this question for some time, though I get the sense that this is because it is painful, and not out of political expediency.
Watch Out for Porcine Poop, Because Pigs are Flying
When a Fox News anchor criticizes Bush on S-CHIP, pigs are flying. In this case, the person launching the pigs is Mort Kondracke.
You have George Bush, who promised in 2004 at the Republican National Convention that he was going to cover millions of children who were not covered by SCHIP if he was reelected? And what does he do? He proposes a bill that would result in almost a million kids losing their coverage from the level it’s at. It’s no wonder Bush’s approval ratings is in the 30’s.
Truth be told, they are in the twenties. 25% when I last checked.
The only things less popular than him are hemorrhoids and Dick Cheney.
Nancy Pelosi Can Bite My Shiny Metal Ass
So, Nancy Pelosi is rebukes Stark for his comments about Bush and the Republican chicken-hawks while debating S-CHIP..
The proper response to the Republican faux outrage is what Bender said. Tell them to kiss your shiny metal ass. Seriously.
Nancy, don’t be a Nancy-boy. Cowardice is unbecoming a house speaker.
What Ezra Said McCain Healthcare Edition
Ezra Klein, once more showing that he writes better than I ever will. comments on McCain’s healthcare proposal
It’s another of these plans to sprinkle magical tax credits all across the land that will incentivize folks to buy less health insurance, but do absolutely nothing for the cost of care. Families get a $5,000 tax credit to help them buy insurance, and they can keep what they don’t use, and so the hope is, they’ll buy plans with higher deductibles, be unable to afford the deductibles, and will thus buy less care. It’s like if I tried to make food cheaper by encouraging you to diet.
I love that line on dieting, and it cuts every Republican healthcare plan to the quick.
House Fails to Override SCHIP Veto
By a vote of 273 to 156, the measure fell 13 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for an override. Forty-four Republicans voted for the override.
So pass a 1 month extention, and come back again, and again, and again…
For what it’s worth, two “Democrats”, Representatives Gene Taylor (MS) and Jim Marshall (GA) voted with the Republicans.
Time to vote these jerks off the island. Do they have primary challengers?
Conservative in Maryland Finds That His S-Chip Vote is Not Playing Well
Out in Western and Northern Maryland (Maryland has seriously Gerrymandered districts), the Congressman is Rosco G. (the Neanderthal) Bartlett, who is generally (he’s a realist on global warming) to the right of Atilla the Hun.
This is a rather conservative region in Maryland, and so when he voted against S-Chip, I rather imagine that he thought that it would play well there. It appears that he was wrong
“The war does not divide Roscoe from this district,” said Ms. Dougherty, a Democrat who was the mayor of Frederick from 2002 to 2006. “But S-chip is a Main Street issue. It affects family after family — our family health, our family’s pocketbook, and our grandchildren. All politics is local, and this is a local issue.”
If you live in Bartlett’s district, call his office, and tell him to vote for the override.
I might that you look at Andrew Duck for Congress. He ran against Bartlett in the last cycle, and he did reasonably well with absolutely no support from the DCCC or other national Democratic orgs.
McConnell aide Smeared 12 Year Old Child In S-Chip Debate
BTW, go to the end, and see the two year old saved by S-Chip. The Republicans are going after her too.
The “pro family crowd” are claiming that here parents were “irresponsible” for having her when they were poor.
Even most Republicans think that S-Chip is a good idea, so they can’t argue the merits, so they are trying to slime children.
Of course, none of this would have an issue except for the fact that the reporters have have the email accusing the Forsts of fraud.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesman acknowledged yesterday that he alerted reporters last week to questions bloggers raised about the financial circumstances of a 12-year-old boy Democrats had used to urge passage of an expanded children’s health insurance program.
But Don Stewart, the Kentucky Republican’s communications director, said he also wrote a follow-up e-mail later the same day that said a blogger he respected had determined that there was no story and that “the family is legit.”
Huh…That day? More like the next day, and late the next day at that.
Stewart said there was no effort by McConnell to discredit 12-year-old Graeme Frost, of Baltimore, or cast aspersions on the family.
“It would be kind of hard to ‘slime’ somebody when I was telling reporters there’s no story here and the family is legitimate,” Stewart said yesterday.
You sent an email around saying that they were welfare cheats. How on earth is that NOT an attempt to “slime”.
McConnell’s alleged role in depicting the Frosts as something other than what they claimed to be has been fodder for The New York Times op-ed page, bloggers and Democratic officeholders, among others.
Stewart’s comments were the first detailed explanation of the role McConnell’s office played in the controversy.
Matthew Miller, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said in an e-mail yesterday that “spreading false rumors about a 12-year-old boy is despicable for any reason.”
“No matter how McConnell’s office spins it now, the e-mail makes clear that they were part of the campaign to smear a child who had the nerve to stand up and say children’s health insurance shouldn’t be cut,” Miller said.
…
All this kid did was to tell the truth about what happened to him.
BTW, those kids that Michelle Malkin is going after? Some pictures:
‘Phants Realize that Bush is Millstone About Their Necks
The Republican leaders, from left, Senator Mitch McConnell, Senator Trent Lott and Representative Roy Blunt, after a meeting with President Bush on the children’s health insurance program.
Note picture: Trent Lott, who was knifed by Bush, is front and center, he is front and center to show that Congressional Republicans are not happy with Bush.
The fact that Republicans in Congress are unhappy with Bush on S-CHIP is to a large degree an artifact of the fact that Bush is delusional:
At the White House, administration officials urged Congressional Republicans to try to remain positive and ride out the current turmoil. Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to Mr. Bush, told the visitors, according to multiple accounts, that had Republicans sided with Democrats on the health program, they would have opened themselves to withering criticism from conservatives and been in a worse position than they are now.
This is crap. They are in a bad position because they are denying health care to children of hard working parents.
They have been owned on this issue because the facts are clear, and the press is covering the facts.
Go Read Krugman
Read what he is saying about the Sliming of Graeme Frost.
I could excerpt it, but why bother, you’ve already read what I’ve had to say, so go read him. He is eloquent and convincing in his outrage, more so than I could be.
So Now the Right Wing is Going After a Twelve Year old Boy and His Family
This is outrageous, and people should be outraged, about what these people are doing to 12 year old Graeme Frost and his family. They are being stalked and threatened with violence simply because he went on the air and told how his life was saved by S-Chip in response to Bush’s radio address..
That being said, there are people out there who do outrage better than I do. Heck, they just plain write better than I do, people like Ezra Klein, Lower Manhattanite of the Group News Blog, Jim Henley, Tbogg, John Amato of C&L, and pretty much anyone else on the internet.
Instead, I want to look at causes, and precedents, and I founc a very old one, Maenadic rites, the charismatic worship of Dionysus, where “The mysteries of Dionysus inspired the women to ecstatic frenzy; they indulged in copious amounts of violence, bloodletting, sexual activity, self-intoxication, and mutilation.”
There were no drugs. A large group of women woud get together in the woods, and begin to pray, and chant, and laugh, and sing, and slowly, as a group, they would work themselves into a frenzy, and then they would then typically find some animal or animals, and rip them to pieces and eat them raw.
There were no drugs, nothing but music, dancing, group hysteria, and catharsis.
Once they were finished, they would look at themselves, and see their bodies covered in blood, and they would be relieved, but they would also be ashamed. It provided release, as ancient Greek women lived very secluded and regimented lives, and needed release, and it created shame, which kept them in line.
It was central to how the Greeks controlled their women, and the Romans, with a far more emancipated role for women, eventually prohibited the worship of Dionysus by more than about a dozen women at a time, because they neither needed nor wanted this form of bondage for their women.
The right wing has created its own Maenads, and it is not a pretty site.
In fact, it is their model for the United States, and its citizens for the future.
Microsoft Will Safeguard My What????
Yes, Microsoft wants you to keep all your personal private medical information on your web site.
They say that they will keep it secure, while providing the information to vendors so that they can sell crap to you.
One word: Vista.
George W. Bush Wants to Kill Poor Children
H/T Oliver Willis for the catch.
Bush Doesn’t Care About Children or Black People
Bush vetoes S-CHIP, and I’m paraphrasing Kanye West.
Bush opposes S-Chip because it works. Because it delivers affordable healthcare, and Bush cannot countenance this. It might adversely affect the revenues of insurance companies, a parasitic industry that did not even exist 70 years ago.
Blue Cross Calls a Miscarriage an “Elective Abortion” and Denies Claim
We need socialized medicine now, but first, lets kill all insurance executives.
Here are the last few paras of the story from the Consumerist:
On, Sep, 21 2007 I received a statement for BCBS that they were denying all of the claim. I called them and asked why they were denying the entire claim, and was told by Jane, “We do not cover ELECTIVE abortions. If you chose to terminate your pregnancy for non-health threatening reasons, BCBS will not cover it.” WTF!!!??? I asked her, “Are you saying that my records state that I had an ELECTIVE abortion, in an ER at 12 o’clock in the morning?” It was then, I think it clicked in Jane’s mind what she was dealing with and told me how sorry she was. I lost my cool and even started crying. I had a miscarriage not an abortion, and being treated in such a condescending way by BCBS really ticked me off. Thinking what an incredibly huge screw up, BCBS will be right on it trying to fix this, well you would be wrong. I was told to call the hospital and have them fax over my records stating I didn’t have an elective abortion. Who the heck can get an elective abortion in a busy ER at 12am, anyway?
Mind you we have had Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City for less than three months, they have denied every claim we have submitted to them. EVERYONE! Even though all claims are clearly covered under our policy, is this the going to be the norm dealing with BCBS? Any help would be very much appreciated!
-Tonya Gullino
Major Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo
Via BBC News.
Oh Damn
Kevin Everett, tight end for the Bills, a break between the third and fourth vertebrae,.
The surgeon says he’s likely to have at least some paralysis.
The NFL needs to police players using their heads for tackles.
A Great Post on the Healthcare Crisis
Read the full article. It’s about the colmnist listening to Sandra Day O’Connor’s concerns about her son and grandson, who is uninsurable.
As I listened, a light dawned: O’Connor and the rest of us with health coverage are also uninsured. We too face terrible, albeit more remote, healthcare risks — the risk that our employer will drop our plan, that Medicare will go bust, that our plan won’t cover our needs, that premiums will eat us alive, that our doctor will stop taking our insurance, that long-term care will wipe us out, and that our uninsured friends and family members will need major financial help.
Hat tip to the Mahablog