FAQ
1. What is the symbolism of your logo?
It was a purposeful decisions to create a defiant image, raised fists against the statist policies of Congress and the president. I think it’s an edgy symbol that communicates the anger and the defiance of the protests happening around the country since early February.
We have to make sure this is a protest against what’s going on in DC, and we have to convey that image to the country and the world. I fear that if we start to lose that edge, the politicians won’t take us as seriously, and will write us off. We’ve been studying and applying the tactics of the left for a long time, and although we despise their bad ideas, they have us beat when it comes to symbolism, activism and dominating the public debate. We can learn from them and co-opt their symbols, some of their messages and even their tactics.
We have to remember that this is a March on Washington, which should conjure up images of the street protests in other countries. If we want the politicians to pay attention, we believe it is imperative that we keep our edge, tailor our message narrowly and maintain the populist imagery.
2. When will you add more details to the site?
As soon as we make big decisions about things like speakers, the march route, vendors and the like. We plan to hammer out a lot of the details in the next couple of weeks.
3. Who can attend the March on Washington?
Anyone that believes in limited government, and wants to see lower taxes, less government and more freedom.
4. Who will be speaking?
We will have speakers from all walks of life, including local community leaders, regular citizens, radio hosts and elected officials. But this movement is less about who is speaking on stage, and more about the folks protesting in the streets.
5. What is the march route?
We are still putting that together, but we will all end up at the west front of the U.S. Capitol Saturday afternoon. There will likely be more than one starting point for the march, which will start in the morning and end up at the capitol. Make sure you are registered for the event and you will receive email updates periodically with this kind of information.
6. How are people getting to DC?
Thousands of people have already made their transportation plans via air, chartered buses, carpools and trains. Ultimately it’s up to you how/when you get to DC for the three day event. If you need some guidance, please visit our “getting here” page.
7. What is the message of the March on Washington?
Our message is that governments at all levels have been spending way too much money. The federal government is especially guilty of this, as they pile up the debt, deficits and unfunded liabilities. They are taxing, borrowing or printing money with no end in sight. This madness has to stop, and that is why we are demanding that they stop the wasteful spending and stop burdening taxpayers with more debt.
This protest is about defending our liberty, and about restoring our Constitution by reducing the size and scope of the federal government.
8. What can I do to help spread the word about the March on Washington?
Join our Ning site and connect with others in your state. Tell your friends, family and colleagues to register to attend. Promote the website on facebook, twitter, blogs and other websites. Download and print out flyers to distribute at July 4th protests, and all other events where you might be able to recruit people to attend the March on Washington. Also, take the lead in your community and charter a bus. Gather your own big group and get them to DC any way you can!
Entries(RSS)
Might I suggest to my fellow patriots on this site that we ignore the pinhead progressives who post here. They have closed minds and cannot be swayed in this forum. They are only posting to get a response. Lets focus our energies on the real purpose of this website, to take back this country from the Progressives.
Well said JeffR…………..stay focused people. There are going to be trolls comming in here trying to bait you into an argument. Each of us has flaws. I will admit I am very passionate about my beliefs for the United States of America. I love my country and have exercised self control when speaking to others who do not share my beliefs. If your admitted flaw is being a hot head then it is a weakness on your part. Learn how to control it, ignore others hostility, reign in your passion in the heat of a nasty uneducated orator. And for the sake of all of us who have a stake at taking back our citizen rights for liberty, get your S**t together!!! Stop being a hot head. Your big test is to attend events and remain calm in the face of the biggest fight for your life and rights. Get your darned house in order before you open your mouth.
I love my country. But I have visited for long periods and even lived in other countries and they have the U.S. beat on a lot of initiatives.
If we are going to continue to be the “best” we have some work to do. If you think otherwise, you just may have a very narrow-minded view of both the U.S. and other countries.
As the technology expands, we are able to see a bigger picture and when you’re “on-top” it becomes increasingly harder to stay there.
Your lack of specificity makes your comment worthless. Thanks anyway.
Soon we will be behind so many other countries simply because we have no money left. That’s common sense not right wing narrow mindedness. I have also lived in other countries and have become more appreciative of the US because of it. Let’s not destroy all of those amazing things we have because of partisan politics, media brainwashing and liberals who think that republican common sense is narrowminded.
Health care is not a right…it has become a basic human need.
If the water companies started raising prices and stopping service wouldn’t you want something to be done?
I realize many of you have good health insurance and thereby get good health care. Good for you, You’re fortunate.
However for an increasing number of “real” Americans do not and if things continue of this course (without reform) neither will you.
Food is a basic human need, will that be free next? How about water? Since I need a car to get to work, car insurance must also be a basic human need, will that be free? Will my gas be free too? Clothes are a basic human need, will those be free? Shoes? Shelter? I’ll take something beachfront in Newport Beach, please. Where will it end? How did our ancestors survive without all this free stuff?
The public option won’t be free, nor is this debate about “free” health care.
And, if you read my post it says nothing of getting anything for free.
All of the arguments on here have been(and continue to be) either missing
information or have the wrong info all together.
It’s real easy people…it’s called GOOGLE!!!!
Why is it that Republicans can not present any facts without showing their STUPIDITY?
Your ‘reply’ here shows that you can not respond to this question, and Republicans can’t respond to any question or statement today without twisting, distorting or completely dancing around the question, AS YOU HAVE DONE HERE.
Get real.
This is the ONLY country in the free world that doesn’t have affordable health care for everyone. WHY IS THAT? Because the health care industry pays off many of our politicians and they don’t want to lose that money.
This is the country in the free world that PAYS TO MOST FOR THE LEAST health care. Why is that? Because the health care industry pays off many of our politicians and they don’t want to lose that money.
If Americans would wake up and get out of the 5th grade and find out just which representatives are taking this money and preventing us from have the health care that everyone deserves, we would have a much more productive Washington D.C.
Until people take more of an interest in their government, WE WILL CONTINUE TO GET WHAT WE DESERVE.
Bruce,
It is so ironic that you commented about Republicans showing their STUPIDITY when they talk, yet were too STUPID to proof read your next post before publishing it.
With multiple grammar mistakes, syntax errors, and distorted information, you made quite an idiot of yourself.
Furthermore, your comments are so ridiculous and left-winged that they hardly deserve a response. Thus, please quit posting on this site. This site is for EDUCATED people who want to make a difference and stop the erosion of our country’s democracy into socialism.
There are plenty of liberal websites where you can voice your ridiculous propaganda. Thank you.
Bruce,
Typical liberal point of view…if you disagree with the liberal agenda you are branded as STUPID.
I have a couple of questions for you Einstein:
1. Why is it that the current health “reform” does not include the following:
A) Tort Reform
B) Pharmaceutical reform so Americans can buy drugs at a fraction of the cost like they can in Mexico and Canada
C) Immigration reform so that illegals that don’t pay any taxes can stop leeching from the health care system
D) Mandate reform so that health plans don’t have to cover Viagra, wigs, etc.
E) Market reform where your can shop across state lines for health
insurance
F) Fraud reform to stop the estimated 5-10% fraud in GOVERNMENT plans (only .5% in private sector plans because the private sector has someone watching the cash register, the government just prints more of our money).
The above are all common sense incremental approaches to health care reform that will reduce costs, guaranteed. Yet there’s no mention of that in the current health care agenda being pushed by the liberals who are hell bent on bankrupting this country.
What you DO have being peddled is :
1.Billions of dollars in jungle gyms and street lights so that people will get “healthy”.
2. Dumping 50 million new people in the system, cutting an aging doctor’s population’s wages so that their are less doctors , and increasing utilization by at least 50% (see Canada) and having us believe that everything will be okay.
3. Giving the government 17% of the economy when everything they touch involves run away spending, fraud and poor execution of services
You can look at the agenda driven WHO surveys that say the American health care system sucks, but the American people are smarter than that. I don’t see conjoined twins going to Canada to be treated . We have the best care right here in the country we love.
Most people like their health care in this country. There is a relatively small percentage of legal Americans that want, need and can’t afford health care and they need help. Let’s help them by expanding existing programs.
Help the rest of us with making health care more affordable by implementing common sense measures.
This is a power grab not health care reform and the American people have caught on. I’m actually very proud of the American people for standing up to this nonsense.
It’s very telling that you are accusing the liberals of being the sole group who would use such tactics as calling the opposition stupid while ignoring the majority of health reform opponents who do it regularly and THEN you go on to do it yourself.
Do you believe that two wrongs make a right or are you saying that you are no better than those who you belittle?
Do the liberals who use name-calling strengthen their argument by doing so?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tort Reform has been considered but not enough. I think they need to focus more on it even though most experts agree that it will make little difference in the cost of health care overall. A little differenc eis better than none, though right?
What kind of pharmacutical reform are you speaking of? What kind of changes do you propose?
Immigration reform – do you mean to turn anyone away at the emergency room if they don’t provide an ID? These illegal immigrants, while breaking US law, are still human beings and should not be treated like animals, no matter how much you hate them for risking their freedom by escaping economic hardship to work in the US.
Viagra, wigs. Agreed. how would you do that? Govt. regulation?
health insurance across state lines. That has been considered and debated for years and rejected by most experts as unviable. I can’t spell that one out for you in a short post.
Fraud reform. Sounds good. how do you propose this get accomplished?
You’re a stupid poo poo pants!
“… only country in the free world that doesn’t have affordable health care for everyone”…
Presented as a “fact” but I doubt you could even find one person who could reliably, and truthfully, define “free world”.
Words have power… try using them properly, avoiding such absolute terms as “only” and “everyone”… you’ll be more persuasive.
As it is, you sound like any other talking head droning on and running on emotion rather than fact.
Uh … remember slaves? That’s how your ancestors thrived. The slaves “survived”.
You can physically survive without clothes in a lot of places. Only humans are perverted enough to say we need them in public no matter what.
Our ancestors didn’t leave people to die when they had the means to help them. That’s what happens in America now, unique among wealthy nations. Making sure every child, parent, grandparent, who we call a fellow American can get the medical care they need, even if that means the rest of us with insurance and jobs have to pay a alot more each, is the ONLY moral option.
This NEW american individualism is more like Ayn Rand then Thomas Jefferson.
Rational self interest. I have insurance. If we pay for others medical care I’ll have to pay more. So no.
Legitimate political point. Morally bankrupt.
Jim
do you even see the contradictions in your own argument? I have to read your comment three times because I can’t figure out if you are being sarcastic or serious until the end.
when my uncle was old and had no place to go, he lived with my family. we didn’t send him to a nursing home covered by public insurance, he stayed with us. how many people are living in nursing homes / old age homes, because it would be INCONVENIENT for them to live and die with family. FOR GENERATIONS, PEOPLE HAVE DIED WITH THEIR OWN, NOT IN SOME INSTITUTION.
Get over the “Ancestors” thing. It is true, we leave them to die alone, and it is a shame. But the answer is not some gov funded scheme to keep them in a chicken coop, just so you can live unhindered by the responsibility of caring for your own.
That’s morality. Not making me pay for you and yours. How about you pay for you and yours. I’ll pay for me and mine.
Reality, when did it become that all tax paying citizens are to insure you and others are to receive healthcare? I believe in charity, but I do not believe in being forced to pay thru my taxes, to pay for your healthcare! It is not your right or anyone elses, that we the taxpayers have to make sure you are protected in healthcare insurance.
Remember what President Thomas Jeffrerson said: “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have”. And here is another quote by Pres. Abraham Lincoln: You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.
I believe in our U.S. Constitution and the Freedoms that we are protected under it!
I agree with you , but the quote about big government is not from Thomas Jefferson as many seem to think. That is a quote from Gerald Ford , I believe. It’s still a great quote.
Gail,
I agree with all that you said! Do we need healthcare reform? Absolutely. Do we need the government
to handle it? Absolutely not!!
Insurance has been and should be an option. Whether you take it is your choice, not the
government’s. I drive a car, my state requires me to be insured, its the law, do people still drive without
it? Yes they do! Does the state supply car insurance yes they do but you still have to pay for it. They
don’t! The state charges insurance companies so that everyone pitches in a sum but the person
actually owning the car still pays something.
With the proposed healthcare, we are all going to have to pay for it except those who can’t afford it in
the first place. Let’s fix what is broken. The whole system is not busted. Can we really believe the
government can take care of this? Just look at Social Security. Speaking of which, the Democrats were
asked by President Bush to fix it. They didn’t and when Bush pointed this out to them in his State of the
Union Address in 2006, who led the standing applause in defiance?? You guessed it , OBAMA!
Kevin
it is a public OPTION, so no one is going to make you get health insurance, and you act like getting health insurance would be the worst thing in the world
Why not quote Bruce Bartlett’s article “The GOP’s Misplaced Rage” where he calmly , rationally, and without any name calling explains how a surplus in 2000 ended up in a deficit in 2008. Face it, taxes should have gone up long ago and would have if anyone had the true interests of this country at heart instead of their own. I have more respect for your “movement” if you actully looked at how we got here instead of blaming our current fiscal problems on a health care proposal that hasn’t spent a dime yet. The last party to expand the government’s role and cost in the Medicare program were Republicans, recklessy spending more money while cutting the source of revenue? Where were the demands for fiscal responsibilty then? Remember a truly brave man, when Ronald Reagan raised taxes not because he wanted to, but because it was necessary? I would like to see the opposition party find such a man. Check out Thomas Jefferson’s cause of death in the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopeadia, I think he would have approved of modern health care and would have extended that right to everyone. I agree that freedom isn’t free, not in terms of the cost of life, veteran’s benefits, or their healthcare, Every April15th when I pay my taxes, I think of the tired, the poor, the brave and the heroic and gladly share with them all. That is true charity. Let’s be honest of how our government really works. If you know anyone who works in the heathcare profession, the nursing home profession, the medical supply profession, the laundry service profession, they are the one’s who benefit when someone who doesn’t have medical turns to the government., and then they pay a portion of that salary that they received from the government back in taxes. What comes around goes around. You don’t like the plan, fine, but put up a viable alternative, don’t just say no.
The public option is an insurance plan that one would PAY into for coverage.
The advantage of such a plan is to pool the risk like large companies are able to do with their group rates.
Don’t be obtuse.
What if the burden of providing healthcare was off small business? Don’t you think that would help small businesses and hard working Americans?
Again, where are your SPECIFICS! What EXACTLY do you think needs to be fixed. Your generalities are worthless.
Are you only upset with Washington for the past 8 months? Did you not have concerns prior to Obama’s election? Are you not simply stomping your feet because you did not get you way?
No. Yes. No.
Or: “No. No. No.” To be more grammatically correct.
Were you have concerns before? Does this current administration somehow comfort those concerns? Have you been seduced by “hope and change?”
YOU have been seduced by spins & lies.
Remember, IT WAS UNDER THE REPUBLICAN’S WATCH THAT WE:
1. WERE ATTACKED
2. GOT IN TO THE FINANCIAL MESS WE ARE IN TODAY, WHILE THE WEALTHY JUST GOT WEALTHIER
3. THE HYPROCRISY OF THREE TIMES AS MANY REPUBLICANS AS DEMOCRATS PROVE THAT YOU ARE NOT THE PEOPLE YOU PRETEND TO BE.
Nice try Kim, but I have been stomping my feet non stop since Bill Clinton. I have been mad as hell about certain things in healthcare since Hilary messed with the system. You can take your race card and play it somewhere else because that dog won’t hunt.
Conservation? All for it
Compassion? Indeed
Charitable? Absolutely
Government Extortion through my paycheck? Not anymore. ATM out of service.
Government Control of my life? Over my dead body.
Progressives have been running the following for 40 years or more:
Detroit=Bankrupt
California=Bankrupt
New York=Bankrupt twice
New Orleans=Bankrupt
Chicago=Bankrupt & Corrupt
Want more? How about…
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 –
234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it can’t compete with private sector FedEx and UPS services.
Social Security was established in 1935 – 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 – 71 years to get it right; it is broke.
Freddie Mac was established in 1970 – 39 years to get it right; it is broke.
Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years. The people who share most of the blame for that? Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 –
45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor”; it hasn’t worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 –
44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 – they’ve had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss! Joe Biden’s big mess.
But, I bet I have wasted a lot of energy here, caused even more global warming, another progressive lie, because you are probably a kool-aid drinker that still thinks Bill Clinton “Did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky”
Race card? I do not have a race card. Who said anything about race except you? Your words read like someone who has not come out of his house for a very long time. Open your shutters, I am not your enemy nor am I a progressive.I am a working mother, wife, daughter, volunteer and friend. I am an American and a taxpayer. I do not think our system is without fault but I do not think that fault lies with our current President.
As for the issues you mentioned above I choose not to address each one because I do not believe you will listen to reason. But I do find it amusing that you mentioned the War on Poverty and not the money sucking War in Iraq.
As for Monica Lewinsky? Who cares? is that really still an issue?
God Bless you
The government is a non-profit not a for-profit company. They simply regulate and feed our taxes through to certain initiatives. But every non-profit needs donors. The government has done a great job at keeping overhead costs down for Medicare unlike private insurance companies.
As far as Fannie and Freddie Mac, in my mind it was a bad initiative or at least should have had stricter lending guidelines.
The Self Employment Assistance Program subsidized by the government is a great program and help my husband and I get our business off the ground in a recession.
The DOD schools on military bases are some of the best quality schools out there. They are government run and I use to be in them.
I speak from my personal experiences and the research that I have done on many political and economic topics and I try to be educated on topics.
There are a lot of great programs and initiatives the government has part in and runs.
We have seen our fair share of the wrongs and greed that happen in the free-market. Predatory lending practices from banks which contributed to the current recession, huge corporations like Wal-mart with 1.3 million workers and only insure 46% of their workers and have openly encouraged their workers to use government health and assistance programs, credit card companies and their predatory practices and the list could go on.
Whether it’s big business or government, it is we the people that have to keep them all in check.
Big business has had their chance with the health care industry and failed, now it’s the government’s time.
there are some significant definitional problems in calling the gov a non-profit. it certainly not a for profit business, but it is decidedly not a non-profit.
NO KIM! Obama has ALREADY spent more money than any administration in HISTORY combined!! Try to understand WHERE our outrage comes from. He USED the economic crisis to ram through an outrageous spending bill he called a “stimulus bill” in the dark of night. That was OUTRAGEOUS! For that he lost the TRUST of millions of Americans. Until you understand THAT, you won’t understand the rest. Thank you.
Please come up with those numbers Vincent.
I first came on here to learn about the TEA Party…I was curious.
Then, I saw points of view based on incorrect information and I felt obligated to enlighten you all in truth. (I will give you all an A+ for passion, there’s no denying that)
However, you are now doing what 4 year olds do: putting your hands over your ears and yelling nananana I can’t hear you. Just because the facts show your Profits to be false.
I’m not sure if I’d label myself a Progressive, but it seems like a good idea to progress as the world changes all around us. Otherwise you will find yourself ill equipped for survival in the world beyond your front yard and television set
You believe you are enlightened but are instead confused. Ideas may progress, but not principles.
That makes absolutely zero sense.
I believe Cliff is still stuck in the 5th grade.
I believe the onl way to get him out of the 5th grade is to blow up the school…….LOL, Except it is really not funny.
Most, I say MOST, progressives & Republicans today are brainwashed by people like Rush Limbaugh & bully Bill O’Reilly and STUPID Sarah Palin and ‘Where are my teeth’ John McCain.
Republicans have no morals and no brains and Democrats have no guts.
NO WONDER WE ARE IN THE SHAPE WE ARE IN: LAST ON THE LIST OF COUNTRIES IN THIS WORLD OF EXPORTING GOODS. We used to be first….
This is to Bruce Goodbody,
Agreed, because of our wonderful two party system, there are brainwashed people left and right. About the exports tidbit, America currently has a consumption, not production, economy. As we can see, a consumption economy has proven to be unsustainable. However, today on the DC metro system, I was told by a woman in town for the march that “green is the new red.” So I guess you guys don’t really want production that comes in the form of green jobs and manufacturing.
Again, ZERO specifics! HOW are we putting our hands over our ears and yelling “nah na na na na”???? Maybe YOU are. Exactly WHAT is factually incorrect about our concerns? Your comment was WORTHLESS. But thanks anyway.
I don’t need enlightenment from someone who can’t spell correctly…. and I can’t stand people who come on here and call everyone names, thats a great way to show your ignorance. I’m not insured and not willing to let the crooks in Washington try to run anymore things in this country than they already do. My money is better off with me than them. That’s all I have to say on this matter.
Pinhead? Nice. Can’t say something intelligent w/o denegrating others who feel differently. No wonder we cannot communicate. Why can’t people see the manipulation being perpetrated by those organizations listed on this websites homepage? Progressive, meaning an “advocate of progress” and liberal, also meaning “an advocate of reform and openminded” are the people you are talking about defeating. So, my question is: “What would that make you?” Most liberals/progressives/democrats/independants can be swayed by an intelligent argument. The ultra conservatives, I’ve found, are to the contrary.
I am registered independent and would never put myself in he same category as liberal/democrat. I registered independent to get away from the labels and frankly think both parties suck right now.
I can agree with that.
Green Party!!!!
Screw the labels, let’s just come together compromise and make some positive change. God forbid if we put an electronic medical records system to make health care service faster and more cost effective. Too many people in this country are afraid of change and terrorists.
More like scared of a government who unintelligently spends trillions of our dollars and goes to the Chinese to beg for help. I’m sure everyone in this country would like all to be insured, but there’s a lot more factors to consider. People in this country have taken our stability for granted, it is possible to lose that. Spending trillions of dollars on on bullshit (ie “stimulus” package) and looking for ways to spend more and more is just not smart…. common sense I would think. It’s possible to reform healthcare without going crazy and making the government control more of our lives.
You clearly don’t understand basic economics. So here’s a quick lesson: Every single developed country in the world borrows money. When you want to buy a house (unless you’re a millionaire; in that case, shame on you for even complaining about taxes), you have to take out a loan or a mortgage because you don’t have the full sum to purchase the house.
Also, your comment “I’m sure everyone in this country would like all to be insured, but there’s a lot more factors to consider,” belies your selfishness and lack of concern for other citizens’ welfare.
On another note, you seem to be one of those anti-stimulus people. Get over it, folks, Obama’s only been in office for about 200 days and the deficit has been astronomical for much longer than that. Your self-righteous anger is not only misdirected but is also counterproductive. By spreading lies and scare tactics you are only delaying the process of health care reform.
Lastly, just come out and say it, you TEA party folks are anti-government. And that’s just fine; in fact there’s a group that agrees with you called anarchists. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that if John McCain were in office right now there would be less of a fuss…
Right on, Jeff! Let us all put our energies into forward thinking. Diatribes with progressives will only keep us in the past.
My husband lost his corporate position in the recession and we went on COBRA, $900 per month for our top level care that we never used. The government provided a subsidy for 60% and it was the only way we would be able to afford it. NOW we are searching out a new insurance plan. It has been a daunting task.
From my experience, the insurance companies are dishonest in their quoting practices. They do extensive health background checks on you, quote you a general price, refuse to cover pre-existing conditions and / or increase premiums astronomically. After you agree to a price / plan they make you pay, which often times is more than they originally quoted, and you don’t receive the plan terms until after you pay in.
.
If you get health insurance from your job you will never see any of this. You will see how bad the system is when you’re in a bad accident or become very ill, they will limit your care. I have seen it first hand when my step-father died of cancer, he was just about to his cost limit when they put him in hospice care where they pumped him full of morphine until he died. Our insurance companies are the death panels.
Having a family even costs more, adding on maternity increases your costs by almost 40%. Other countries have higher levels of maternity care and service to patients. Doctors actually value their patients and get pay increases based on their patient’s health improving. In America, doctors fear their patients because of mal-practice suits and order “defensive medicine” tests and procedures to protect themselves. This ends up taxing the system and costing us more.
I want a public option because it is the only way to keep them honest.
Just regulating the industry may work to make improvements in some areas but it is unlikely it will make the kind of impact that we need on our system.
Keep in mind, a public option will be regulated by the government but run by government contractors through a competitive bidding process; it’s in the bill.
If you like what you currently have, then you keep it. The public option is a basic level of care, also in the bill.
My husband, myself, and two other laid-off professionals started a business in this recession. We took advantage of the state and federally subsidized SEAP, Self-Employment Assistance Program which allowed my husband and partners to keep their unemployment compensation while we built our business.
We are now all getting paid good salaries and our company is seeing profit. We are paying taxes but we need health care so we do not go bankrupt if something horrible happens to one of us or if I become pregnant. We cannot afford quality health care with our growing business right now. We want to pay but refuse to buy into a system that is broken and only benefiting the insurance and drug companies and not the people.
Let’s stop all this name calling and polarizing talk and come up with a solution, we are all going to have to compromise. I have no problem paying more taxes to help both myself and others in need. What would Jesus do?
A tragic journey
Heart condition takes life of Las Vegan after long search for insurance coverage
Las Vegas Sun, 09-08-09 — Several years ago a Las Vegas man, then a student working part-time jobs with no health benefits, learned he had a severe heart disorder — dilated cardiomyopathy.
This is a condition whose symptoms, including weakness and feeling faint, do not appear right away. It is defined by an enlarged heart that does not efficiently pump blood.
The student, Eric De La Cruz, was in his early 20s when he got the diagnosis. Last week The New York Times recounted his efforts to gain the kind of medical care that could have saved his life.
With private insurance companies known for rejecting people with preexisting conditions, De La Cruz applied for disability benefits through Social Security. As the Times reported, the coverage would have entitled him to receive help through Medicare. He twice applied and was denied.
He turned to Nevada Medicaid and received some coverage. But the program does not cover heart transplants for people older than 20. And that is what he needed.
Earlier this year, when his efforts to find coverage for such a major operation were coming up empty, his sister, former CNN anchor and correspondent Veronica De La Cruz, got involved.
She used her Twitter account to raise money. She succeeded in getting him covered under Medicare. But when she called UCLA’s heart transplant program with the news, she was told that her brother would have to get a secondary insurance policy. All of this was taking time.
She eventually arranged an appointment for her brother at the University of Southern California, where he spent a week on a high-priority transplant list. But he became too sick for the procedure. He died July 4 at age 31.
That is truly sad!
These are the kinds of things we must have the government intervene on.
We should not have to wait for our doctor to ask permission from Obama to see if big government will cover my dialysis. Medicare has been working VERY well for me so far and the VA has taken such great care of my hubby who lost two limbs in Iraq. Keep put of my healthcare!
Healthcare is expensive in this country and it will be more expensive once the government gets involved. GUARANTEED.
I think you are looking for something for nothing.. You want to cover yourself in case you get sick or pregnant but you don’t want to pay for it.
I see where you took advantage of the COBRA subsidy, the SEAP program and whatever else you could get, I’m sure.
Get yourself a health plan, pay for it with your good salary and stop whining and nursing yourself on the government teat.
I am a business owner too and pay for health insurance for 20 families. Many have had to use it with serious medical conditions and got the BEST care hands down.
I want costs to come down too. If the government would stop underpaying providers under Medicare and Medicaid, they wouldn’t have to shift the cost onto the people with private insurance. Thats a major cause for the high rates we pay.
I’m also an independant small business owner that had to look into health care once my cobra ran out. Have you considered a “Health Savings Plan”. I don’t know about your State, but most large insurance companys offer this option at a very small monthly fee (less than $200 a month for me, alone, and the rates lock in so no annual increase year after year). I can put up to $5000 a year, pretax money, into this plan and it continues to roll over year after year if I don’t use it. It covers preventative health care like annual physicals and “sick” Dr. visits, annual test for breast cancer, etc. It also kicks in for catostrophic care with a high annual deductable (you choose, mine is $5000) and then the normal 80/20 coverage. It’s a great alterative and saves me money in the long run for what I’m not having to pay in monthly premiums. It’s not perfect, but it is a choice and removes the worry of going under if you get really sick. Check it out.
Health savings plans are a wonderful supplement. Good call.
Because to regress is better than to progress
Because who would want to progress? After all, the kind of taxes you would want to pay would have us looking to other countries for scientific advances. still riding in a horse and buggy on dirt roads, and having no commerce without government built roads, bridges. 1789, here we come? can i pay for my doctor bill with a chicken?
The only person I know of who is attending this is hoping to encite violence against Acorn anti-protestors. That says it all.
Then please, by all means, stay home. And consider getting out a little more in the future to open your circle of acquaintances.
Oh, Cliff, it’s such a pleasure to read your comments.
They seem to add a little humor to this discussion.
But, really, they are NOT funny and show the mentality that the Republicans & far right have completely spent that last 12 years.
You are all out of fuel. You really need to regroup, reorganize and get back to the party you were in the 50’s. You made sense then.
The Democrats need to regroup and reorganize and grow some guts and use the clout they just got to do SOMETHING. They do not need Republican help.
JUST DO IT.
We’ll all see if Obama can DO IT, or not, because if he can’t……his Presidency is all but finished in less than 8 months…….what a shame
You should surround yourself with a better class of people.
Remember to not let the opposing comments bother us, sway our opinions or change our minds!!! Stay strong & united, because together we can take back our country. We need to stay focused & achievement of our goals will come. If we let them sidetrack us we might lose all our civil liberties & freedom! The time to act is now, so tell everyone you know to come & march with us!!!!
Take back your country? Where was it taken too? Did you lose it? R U a redneck?
Are the drugs you take prescribed?
Now there you go again, Cliff, talking about something you have absolutely NO IDEA OF WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.
I wonder too, just what/who has taken our country. As far as I know, I’m still here where I’ve been for years. Nothing’s chaned, except millions of people thought the same as I did, and decided on a drastic change last November.
REMEMBER, THE WINNER GETS THE TROPHY.
THE WINNER GETS CONTROL OF THE BALL.
NOT UNTIL THE NEXT GAME DO THE OPPONENTS HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO CHANGE THINGS.
At the rate you Republicans & progressives are going today, without a real captain of the team, and without illegal moves, and with HATE AND LIES & DISTORTIONS
and OLD ‘tried it’ ideas, you are not going to progress in te future.
I suppose you think the ‘tea parties’ were a success. And the distruptions at the Democratic Town Hall Meetings were a success.
If so, you’re the one on medication!
Why are you grouping Republicans and progressives together?
The winner does not control the ball…. the people do. The country is being lost… to politicians who believer (and have apparently convinced you) that they are smarter than us and can do whatever they want. Consider both sides rather than blindly sticking to one if you all actually want to be intelligent citizens.
Ginger,
Err, last time I checked this was a republic and not a democracy. So yes, we do vote for who we want to represent us but after that it’s pretty much out of our hands. So maybe we should vote for better politicians.
Remember. don’t listen to all sides of the argument and make up your mind. Remember, close it and keep it closed.
We must not let anybody change our minds. We have to follow our programming lest we become slaves to free thought.
Changing minds is NOT PERMITTED in the Replublican progrsssive party.
DON’T EVER MENTION THOSE WORDS TOGETHER AGAIN.
As long as you all keep marching in the streets, and watching “Dancing With the Stars”, this country will stay the same.
That goes for Republicans AND Democrats.
WAKE UP AMERICA…………TIMES ARE CHANGING……….
True American,
First, you sound eerily robotic. Second, you can fool no one with your drone-like attitude because we all are passionate and informed. Acorn, aka Obama’s puppets, is the most corrupt organization in our country and I’m sure we will be seeing their thugs in DC (only because they are paid, of course). So in the words of the great one, Mark Levin, “Get Outta here you idiot”.
You should be ashamed to post such garbage under that name
Acorn is more corrupt than the Bush/Cheney Administration.
As of today none of the people from Acorn are being investigated by a Special Prosecutor.
And none are headed to JAIL.
Bruce you haven’t been watching the news. 11 Acorn members were recently arrested for falsifying voter registration cards. In todays news there was the video of Acorn representatives helping a pimp and a prostitute bilk the IRS and set up a brothel with minor children.
I heard about this march last weekend, and am very eager to go. My question is, do I have to register through the website to attend, or is this simply so organisers can get an idea of how many individuals will be attending?
Reason I’m asking is because my group may change in size between now and next Saturday and I was wondering if it was alright to just pile in with who we’ve got and drive up in time to attend the march.
Thanks in advance to anyone who’s able to help answer this question.
You do not have to register it is just as you said a tool to help calculate how many may be coming. By all means come, and with as many as you like. We just want our Country back.
What difference does it make how many ACTUALLY ATTEND?
Bill O’Reilly & Fox News with triple the amount anyway.
And MSNBC will show actual film of the event and you can count for yourselves.
“And MSNBC will show actual film of the event and you can count for yourselves.”
Actual doctored film, maybe….just like this junk..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21iBGKNZMGM&NR=1
Lying sacks of crap!!!
Ooops wrong link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MHcCNWVeW4
Would it be nice to have most of these groups work together. Our as one instead of each leader being more interested in their group ( and them as leader), can you see what could be done.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We can’t make it to DC but we would like to attend any rally that the Tea Party Express bus is stopping at in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Is there a map and schedule of where and when they will be stopping?
Can’t make it?
Gas too expensive?
Can’t get the time off work? THOSE DARN BOSSES
Are’nt really interested enough to disrupt missing “Dancing with the Stars”?
BRUCE
What type of loser stalks a website forum to make ridiculous comments to anything and anybody?
Hurry better finish up before your mom comes down to your man cave again.
Just about everyone on this page, INCLUDING YOU.
You JUST HAVE TO HAVE THE LAST WORD.
But then Republicans are that way.
And, if they can’t get it, they TAKE IT, interrupting everyone on television with a different opinion.
Mommy’s calling again, she made your favorite dinner. don’t let he catch you on the computer.
Out of every person on this site you have the most moronic and ignorant comments. You keep telling everyone how stupid they are yet you are the only person writing like a five year old. Come back in a couple years when you know whats going on in the world and can write something constuctive.
RaRightWinger
Go to http://www.teapartyexpress.org The remainder of their schedule is posted there. We attended the one in Louisville this past Saturday night. There were between 2,500-3,000 patriots there. It was awesome to be with like minded people!! Hope this helps.
I’d love to see more about regaining civil liberties: 1st Amendment – stopping Napilitano, et. al.’s “War on Photography,” repealing the Patriot Act, and reinstating habeas corpus.
Totally agree with wasteful spending, but “Patriot Day” would be the perfect forum for the liberties we’ve lost in the wake of it, and the current government has not only kept the status quo from the past 8 years, but actually made it much worse.
You mean like the ‘civil liberties’ the Bush/Cheney Administration took away by spying on all Americans?
Oh, yeah, those civil liberties.
Get over it, YOU LOST THE ELECTION BY A LANDSLIDE.
The ones that Obama won’t give back cause he’s just like Bush. Fuck your white guilt we need a real president not just a talking head for corporations
Uh, racist much?
Are Gadsden and Second American Revolution flags permitted (with metal poles)??
No metal poles, only guns are allowed.
To FREEDOM WORKS: We are trying to buy Metro tickets ahead of time and need clarification. Your Travel Logistics page says the “site of the March is on the West front of the Capitol”. (By the way, the “Leave a message” link on that page does not connect you to a Response screen) Isn’t that the site of the rally? Doesn’t the March start at Freedom Plaza? Is that where the Ronald Reagan Building is? We need to know some basics for our senior citizens in particular. How far is the March route from Freedom Plaza to the Capitol? Are there easily accessible bathroom facilities along the way? at the rally?? Are there First Aid stations? How can the handicapped who can not handle the March get as close as possible to the Capitol rally site? Since many people will need to take the Metro, it would be helpful to list their website/email address on your Travel Logistics page. Also contact info for taxi companies.
Jaime
There is quite a bit of info on the Travel Logistic page. If you click on any of the blue highlighted metro stops it will take you to the site. There is also a tentative interactive map that I just looked at. Hopefully this will get you started until someone gets back w/you.
Hello everyone! I just saw a video that is very alarming. If the film is telling the truth, things are much more dangerous and serious than I thought. I urge everyone to watch it. Go to:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7886780711843120756#
The film was made by radio talk host Alex Jones. Do any of you know this guy? Is he a reliable source of information?
The bus leaves September 11, 2009 @9:15 AM BE UNDER IT!
Poor Bruce.
How can I continue to disrupt any meetings my DEMOCRAT congressmen have?
poor, poor Bruce.
Exactly how many of your sponsors are lobbyists?
And, how many represent the health care industry?
And WHY are you so against the middle class citizens of this country?
What is it about the sound defeat you Republicans got last September that has competely thrown your party in to a shambles, with Rush Limbaugh & Michelle Bachman & Glenn Beck now your top spokespersons?
What is it about a black man as our President that you just can’t take?
What is it about “Just say ‘NO’” that makes you want to ruin the United States completely?
And finally, why do you spin and distort and out right lie about everything the Democrats say and do?
Poor, poor, poor Bruce.
This “movement” consists exclusively of slack-jawed yokels who are butthurt over the fact that a black man is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Jethro,
How can someone with a name like yours be so accurate?
Unless you’re named after Jethro Burns, part of the 1950’s Homer & Jethro, who was one of the best mandolin players in history, if not the best.
But seriously, drum roll, YOU ARE 100% RIGHT. The Right just can’t accept the fact that one of their ‘good ole boys’ or a DEMOCRAT isn’t in the White House.
This guy’s a jackass!! Just ignore his moronic rhetoric, everyone. He’ll eventually curl up and rock himself to sleep.
OH LORD…here we go again with the race card….give it up..
YUP…. UH HUH
Just us dumb ‘ol white folk hatin’…GOLLLLLLY!
WATCH>>>>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MHcCNWVeW4
Personally he could be purple or a woman or white or brown and I would still hate his ideas.
He has no authority to take from one man and give to another.
No right to steal the ownership of an american company from its stock holders and give them to other people, namely the UAW.
No right to cease the entire healthcare industry and make it a government industry. No right to destroy the only sector in our economy have added over 500,000 jobs this year alone.
Just for the record I opposed President Bush on:
TARP (Toxic Asset Recovery Program)
Comprehensive Immigration Reform (Amnesty)
Selling our ports to Dubai
Tax rebates to people who in fact did not pay taxes. NO ONE should get more back on their tax return than they paid in.
And if President Bush had proposed ANY of the things President Obama has I would have opposed him too. I would still be in DC for the march on Saturday. Although Ronald Reagan would never even suggest any of this current nonsense, I would have opposed him too.
It’s wrong
It’s unconstitutional
It’s unamerican
Take Glenn Becks advice. Don’t waste your time responding to progressive socialist here. As Glenn Beck says if you can’t get through to them move on to the next person. The numbers are growing day by day and Barrys numbers in polls continue to drop.
BTW, Nice upper cut by Palin today regarding Barry’s health plan. That must cause them fits the night before Barry’s cram it down your throat speech. Also twelve Democrats have changed their stance against Obamacare that were before it before the town halls and are now against it. (They want to get re-elected)
They are so scared right now. If Barry doesn’t go totally hard core socialistic in his health care speech then Reid says it will be DOA and he will see to it that it is. If he goes socialistic with government control then blue dogs dems (the dems before the party was hijack by progressives) says they will go all out to kill it. Gonna be fun watching one party fight.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574400581157986024.html
Palin’s less government response to healthcare and lack of focus on costs on eve of Obamas speech linked here.
Glenn Beck’s advice. As Glenn Beck says…
Words of advice to you, think for yourself.
And yes we are losing sleep over Palin. Don’t ever give up on Palin she will lead your party exactly where is should be in the future.
Are you honestly using Glenn Beck as a reference of any kind? You are dumber than I could have imagined. Glenn Beck is on the same level as Michael Moore, and following his word is about as low as you can go. You’re scum, get out of my country.
Remember the good ‘ol days when most AMERICANS thought communism was a bad thing? Oh yeah… that was before the Liberal Party was founded. Coincedentally, that’s right around the time LAZINESS really started to take root, too!!!
“The Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not” – Thomas Jefferson
“Proud to be everything Liberals hate” – Me
Here’s a quick quiz, and try to guess who wrote or said the following quotations, answers provided below.
1. “The money power preys on the nation in times of peace, and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.”
2. “All accumulation, therefore, of personal property, beyond what a man’s own hands produce, is derived to him by living in society; and he owes on every principle of justice, of gratitude, and of civilization, a part of that accumulation back again to society from whence the whole came.”
3. “It is to be regretted that the rich and powerful too often bend the acts of government to their own selfish purposes.”
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1. Abe Lincoln 2. Tom Paine 3. Andrew Jackson
Can we bring our folding chairs to the march on Washington on Saturday? Since they aren’t permitting flags on poles and signs on wooden sticks, perhaps they won’t allow those folding chairs with metal components.
ACORN: Alias: A Bunch of Nuts
Breaking News
A watchdog group named Bloggers For Truth has uncovered that Glenn Beck has been posting on many of the 912 protest blogs and message boards as liberals to “enrage and engage” conservatives and then posing as conservatives under several names “to make it look like the 912 movement is bigger than it is”. Whatever!
I for one am glad that Glenn Beck is participating at the grass roots level. I’m honored to share the same blog site with such a hero.
Whoever you are on here Mr. Beck, thank you for your service to our country.
Bruce
I would like to respond to your question why can’t Republicans present any facts without acting stupidly. Ive thought about this and i’m confused as to what your referring too. I have yet to hear anything from the democrats about any of the things that Glenn Beck PROVES on his show, except for Van Jones resignation. Have you ever watched his show with an open mind and really listened to what he has to say? One reply I heard was that the White House would not respond to his allegations because they were lies and would be a waste of time. Now that says to me that they know what he says is true and can’t reply. By the way, did you get the word STUPID from Obama because I recall him calling one of our police departments that just recently on live tv before he knew the facts. Now thats a President I can respect and trust,NOT.
Brian,
I don’t know if you are stupid, but you are surely ignorant. A few facts:
To blame the Republicans for the economic mess is ridiculous. The Democrat controlled Congress (Rep Barney Frank, Sen Chris Dodd, et al) ran us into the situation we face today. The Republicans can be blamed for not kicking them in the head and waking America up to the antics that were going on. Now we have an even bigger mess to clean up with the present administration and a Democrat controlled Congress in charge. Are you seeing a trend here? Look for the words “Democrat Controlled Congress!”
As for be attacked on GWB’s watch – true, it happened on his watch but only because of the eight years of gutting the military and especially the Intelligence community during the Clinton watch. At least GWB did something about the threat we face today. What is BHO doing? The same as WJC – NOTHING!
Wake up and stop drinking the Kool Aide being peddled on the far left.
Bruce bartlett Left? I think not. Check out the facts in “THE GOP’S Misplace Rage” I can’t wait to heare you guys crowing tomorrow that you chased those so -and-so out of town when the are never there on the weekends anyway. At least you are helping the economy with yout trip and prop purchases.
Check out their after the March plan to “reclaim our culture.” Don’t miss The Declaration of Redependence. Sounds like a Christian only club.
http://www.teapartynextstep.com/page1.php
Please make sure that all of the rants and screeds by participants at this march are as close to the original German as possible. Ignore everything the last administration did to put us into our current situations and blame liberals for everything. Forget the record deficits of the Bush administration, the record borrowing for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan but cry about the spending of the Obama administration that is in response to the negligence of the past administration.
In true patriotic form, forget the transgressions of the last administration such as incarcerating our citizens without due process, spying on us without warrants and the humiliating and ironic “Free Speech Zones.” I bet that the group protesting at this event will not be caged into one of those embarrassments to the First Amendment..
Take pride in knowing that the world and the rest of our country can witness that their is a segment of our society that is just plain batshit crazy, that they laud stupidity over reason and ignorance over reason.
Make Beck proud.
OK, I’m a liberal, but I don’t pretend to know everything. Here’s the big issue for me, and where I don’t see an alternative plan being offered by the Republicans.
Insurance companies cherry pick the people whom they cover. A few of my friends have money — some money, not a ton — and are very willing and even eager to pay for health insurance, even if it means giving up other forms of financial stability. They have had health insurance in the past and lost it after losing a job, or whatever. Here’s the crux: They had a pre-existing condition. Sometimes it’s something small, like taking a single medication the insurers didn’t like. Some of my friends had bigger pre-existing conditions; one is a cancer survivor.
Neither of them can find a single insurer, anywhere, on the planet, who will insure them. For any amount of money. Period. These friends of mine have their checkbooks out and are ready to pay. They are not leeches, illegal immigrants, or lazy. But if either of them gets hit by a truck tomorrow, they will be in debt, forever.
And if either of them has a heart attack — and this is not an exaggeration, honest — they may die. I know this because one uninsured friend recently did have a heart attack. He needed a stint and possibly a pacemaker. He was told at the hospital to show proof of insurance or a $30,000 deposit or he would be sent home with a packet of nitro and best wishes from the doctors and nurses. Again, no hyperbole here. The person was uninsured because literally no one would insure him. (He was the cancer survivor who had lost his job.) Again, his checkbook has been out for months ready to sign, if only some insurer would take his cash.
So here’s where my mind is open. In the Obama plan, I can clearly see where this issue would be addressed, maybe successfully, maybe not. But it’s addressed. I’ve been looking around on the Republican side for an alternative that particularly addresses this concern, because, quite frankly, it scares the ever-loving crap out of me, but I don’t see anything. I’m not saying these friends of mine should receive free health care, or anything like that. But I do want something done about this particular issue. I am willing to consider Republican options if there are some.
L.
i don’t mean to be crass. but they could spend the $30k, if that’s what it costs.
seriously, 50 years ago, what would it have cost to have a stint and a pacemaker put in?
how about 25 years ago?
do you think that just because it is medically, technically possible, that everyone needs to be able to get it?
in 50 more years, if things progress the way the previous 50 years have gone, if we let the healthcare industry follow its own path, i bet that procedure will cost $1,000 (inflation adjusted). if the gov gets involved, it’ll cost $1,000,000 (inflation adjusted).
i know it is painful and i won’t be happy when i need that same procedure, or my parents need that same procedure, but why should we sacrifice the future for the present? everyone will eventually die. when did we stop making decisions based on the long term best solution? this is what happens when pragmatism becomes the moral law.
On the subject of healthcare reform, your march has opened my eyes in a way I never expected. YOU are a major contributor to the health crisis in this country and YOU are costing all of us more in healthcare costs and insurance premiums. After viewing your group on TV today, I’d say ninety eight percent of you tea baggers are FAT and out of shape. Obesity Costs the U.S. about $147 billion annually. That’s more than the cost of healthcare reform. Your abdominal girth needs to be addressed NOW for the good of the country!
TRIM the FAT or Shut Your Yap!
http://www.obesityinamerica.org/
I’m just curious how many of you actually do independent research on the tenets you are so passionate about? How many of you can actually formulate an accurate and informative depection (without emotive response) of the state of the nation and a realistic chronology for how and why things got to the state they are in now? Do you take the time to inform yourselves or just rely on the information/beliefs that others tell you to prescribe to, be it the media, your neighbor, or grassroots organizations? It seems like most people want to treat the symptom and not the disease because they have no idea what the root of the problem really is. I guess its a lot easier to lash out at politicians, no matter their party affiliation, than be accountable for our own lack of humanity and critical thinking skills.
After reading most of the posts, I finally had to scroll down and yours was the most coherent. Thank you. As humans I do believe that we rely on our emotions (which are good) for some of our mental shortcuts (which can serve us well, but which can twist us around) and that can be our downfall. Emotions, while what makes us human, will not fix the state we are in presently. Logic and education will. Will there be complete consesus on what needs to be done? No, but we have, as humans, more in common than what divides us. If we “the people” want to create change we must look at our history, in an unbiased arena. As C. Wright Mills says in his book “The Sociological Imagination” (40th edition) (still relevant today) “the sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.”
This country is founded by the people for the people. We are the people. As such we must be willing to take responsbility for our part in what is happening now, we must remember our history and the part in which we will play in it. Our problems did not start recently, they have been building up over decades and it is our job to make sure those we elect serve us. It is our duty and responsbility. We do have more in common that what divides us.
I honestly think that the people supporting this march are SEVERELY misguided. In the last 8 years, President Bush drove this country into war, and added many zero’s to our national debt. What I fail to see with this protest is why you have waited until a BLACK president enters office to start marching on this so-called waste spending you speak of. And, may I ask, if John Mccain had been elected president and had decided to do the same things Obama is doing now, would this march even exist? Would one of your own republicans (You know who he is) have shouted, “You lie!” at Mr. Mccain if he had similar views to Mr. Obama’s? If you can answer this question honestly, then you will see the error of your ways.
A Happy Anniversary.
One year ago, Thursday Sept 18, 2008, in a private session, the Leadership of Congress and the presidential candidates, were informed of the emminent collapse of the American economy. By Monday afternoon, they were told, there would be virtually no bank left standing. Employers would have to use cash on hand to pay employees or cease business. Depending only on the amount of cash in your wallet and food in the pantry, how long would your family have lasted? Three weeks, maybe less. Could the government percure and deliver food and water to every neighborhood in time, or would it be another Katrina relief effort?
Due to the extraordinary efforts of the federal reserve, I’m happy to report that a year later, I haven’t missed many meals, even though being furloughed for most of 2009. My utilities are still on, the grocery store and gas station are still open, and the school bus still picks up the neighborhood kids. The bank bailout, like it or not, was the cost of what may have been the survival ot the American civilization. What would you be willing to endure for your American lifestyle?
Washington is now truely divided, like never before. Those who were at the brink and glimpsed the end of America and those who failed to see or believe it. I will alway be indebted to those in Washington who work tirelessly each day if only to move America a bit further from the edge, because they can envision what the “end” might have been for my family. The congressmen and lobbyist who have gone back to partisan politics and their “special interest” business as usual, are the cancers that have invaded our nation, and deserve only contempt. They probably don’t believe there was a holocast either.
I hope those of you that made it to Washington to voice your complaints this past weekend, also remembered the people that made it possible for you to be alive and well.
I stand behind your core issues of limited government, but the outright negative & political nature of this movement is really turning me off. A lot of what we see going on here appears to be geared toward a political effort on the part of Republicans. Folks, if you want truly limited government, don’t trust the Republicans either! Both parties have been horrible in the way of massive spending and unconstitutional measures… I do not believe for one moment that the Republican party is any less corrupt than the Democratic party… first we had the Iraq War… then the Wallstreet Bailout under Bush… (not to mention corporate giveaways that have been happening for years under both parties)… it could certainly be argued that Obama is no better in regards to these issues… but these actions are certainly no different from most others in the 2-party system in regards to this sort of thing. It should be politics in general that we all need to protest. This is where the problem is.
Although I realize that there are some good idealistic people working through the Republican party, it should be noted that true “Facism” exists just as strongly in the Republican party as it does in the Democratic party. For example, many of the freedoms that you hold dear (speaking freely at public meetings – heckling — creating signs that express your views — organizing & recruiting for the meetings in creative ways — even protesting with arms for some people) may not have been possible under some of the truly unconstitutional, police-state-style measures enacted in the name of national security under our most recent Republican administration. I am sure that there are many, many independent-minded people involved in the Tea Party movement who were also just as concerned about the massive bank bailouts and other constitutional issues as they were happening prior to our current administration… to these people: please know that there will be people at these events trying to recruit you into thinking that the Republican party is going to save you. Dont fall for it.
People who truly care about limited government that would like to raise some issues may actually have a real opportunity right now to be heard, as it could be argued that this has been one of the more tolerant administrations that we have had in quite a while in regards to freedom of expression, and an appreciation of differing ideas. This is one thing that I would hope that we could all appreciate. Now is the best time to communicate well-written ideas directly to the government (www.whitehouse.gov is one method)… Despite all that is being said about Obama and all of his problems, at least we have a president right now who has studied and embraced a variety of political philosophies from the far left to the far right. This is a good thing for independents as far as better hopes of being heard with an open mind. Why wait for 4 more years for nothing more than the sheer political gain of the other side of the 2-party beast?
I’ve been watching the chat on this site for several weeks. Their knowledge of the world is limited to what they hear on talk radio and Fox news. As you can imagine their view is quite distorted.
Many visitors have attempted to present them with the facts and they discount them as “liberal lies, socialism, communism, and fascism.” All visitors ask, “where have you been for the last 8 years?” No one can answer. The reason being, they have no clue what’s been happening in the country because their only source of information is Fox news and talk radio.
If you’d like to see their hope for the future, take a look at this.
http://www.teapartynextstep.com/page1.php
Here\’s the funny thing…nomatter how much bitching REpublicans do, health care WILL be reformed. so take your complaining elsewhere, we won! OBAMA 2012. the real movement has begun!
and ur march on dc? 15,000 people showed up roughly? more than that showed up in minnesota to hear the leader of this great nationspeak. your movemeent is nothing special.
remember in the 60’s when they blasted hippy’s protesting with water cannons and fire hoses? i think we need some fire engines at these town hall bitch-fests…..
Sarah Palin is off working on her memoirs somewhere, so she wasn’t in the audience Wednesday to hear President Barack Obama call her a liar.
Palin is the most prominent politician to have promoted the idea that Obama wants to create some sort of Third Reich-style medical bureaucracy that would decide whether the disabled and the elderly deserve to live, or just have their health care terminated.
“Death panels,” Palin called them, in one of the most calculated, incendiary falsehoods of the entire health-care debate. It embarrassed even some of her fellow right wingers.
But it served its purpose, scaring the living daylights out of older voters and churning up so much anxiety over the summer that Obama was forced to address it in his speech to Congress this week.
The death panels rumour, said Obama, “would be laughable if it weren’t so cynical and irresponsible. It is a lie, plain and simple.”
In the same speech, though, Obama cited a few uniquely American anecdotes not too far from just the sort of thing Palin and her cohort are predicting:
* An Illinois man whose health insurance was cut off in the middle of chemotherapy because an enterprising researcher at the insurance company discovered he hadn’t reported gallstones he didn’t even know he had. With his treatment cut off, he proceeded to die.
* A Texas woman who was about to undergo a double mastectomy when her health insurer cut her off, citing an unreported case of acne earlier in her life. By the time she got the decision reversed, said Obama, her breast cancer had more than doubled in size.
These are common stories here, reported in the media just about every day.
* The Los Angeles woman with lupus, fluid in the heart and pancreatic cancer who was cut off health coverage because of unreported earlier back pain (which she says isn’t even true).
And of course, it doesn’t have to be true. Or even remotely related to your illness. It just has to be in your doctor’s notes, or hinted at in your doctor’s notes, even if your doctor didn’t tell you about it.
The moment the insurance company finds it, bang! Your treatment is cut off. And the insurers really start looking for excuses once you get sick and start submitting costly claims (one insurer, Health Net, has actually admitted paying bonuses to employees who dig up reasons to maroon sick clients).
If your treatment is life-preserving, like chemotherapy, and you can’t find some other way to pay, you die.
The industry term for cancelling a policy on some sort of technical grounds is “rescission,” and it is probably the most odious practice of an industry known for some pretty predatory behaviour.
Now, imagine for a moment what the reaction would be if federal or state governments started directing public servants to comb medical histories for the slightest excuse to cut off life-saving care. (It’s not well understood abroad, and sometimes not very well understood here, but the American government is already in the health-insurance business, big time. Medicare pays health-care bills for senior citizens, and Medicaid, the state-run programs, pay to treat the indigent).
The answer is obvious. It would be called what it is: Brutal, near-criminal, disgusting, inhuman behaviour. Maybe even death panels. And it wouldn’t last long once the public found out.
The curious thing is, when private companies do it, companies whose profit motive is diametrically opposed to the well-being of their clients, the American public remains relatively supine.
This sort of thing has been going on here for years, and while the horror stories are denounced regularly by liberal activists and routinely retailed by Democrats in stump speeches, it seems to be regarded by the public at large as just business. As in: “Well, they do have shareholders to answer to.”
In the minds of many here, business is good for America, and whatever business has to do to make money is good for America, too.
Certainly you don’t hear much about health insurance rescission from Sarah Palin, or Senator Jim DeMint, or the Christian conservative leaders who are now mobilizing against Obama’s plan. They have various motives. Palin wants to be president. The evangelicals believe Obama’s plan will lead to publicly financed abortion. Others, like DeMint, have stated flatly they simply want Obama to fail.
But where great swathes of the public are concerned, the antipathy to publicly funded medicine is something else. Clearly, a lot of people here fear any plan run by their own government more than that of the most venal insurance company.
It’s partly the innate distrust of government itself among conservative Americans, and it’s partly the widespread American self-image as a nation of rugged individualists who scorn public handouts, as delusional as that may be (see earlier reference to Medicare and Medicaid, not to mention the ocean of public subsidies that flow from Washington).
Obama himself has been talking about a woman who sent him a letter containing a stern admonition: “‘I don’t want government-run health care. I don’t want you meddling in the private marketplace. And keep your hands off my Medicare.’”
“True story,” says Obama, when he tells it.
And sort of pathetic, given the stakes of what’s going on here.
The fact is, there is so little understanding of what really exists here now and what is actually being proposed that for Palin and her cohort, working against Obama’s plan amounts to picking low-hanging fruit.
After Obama’s speech, the Washington Post quoted a middle-aged woman sitting in the waiting room of a local hospital.
The speech, she said, sent her blood pressure up: “For every story he tells about somebody that doesn’t have insurance, there’s one you can tell about somebody who wouldn’t get treatment because the government wouldn’t allow it.”
Well, as somebody who lived for 40 years in a country that has one of the most strictly public health systems in the world, I know all about the shortcomings of government-funded medicine. But in all those years, I never saw anything like what the insurance companies here are capable of.
To borrow one of Palin’s attack phrases: “Downright evil.”
Great points CB.
I know a woman who has a 30+ year history of depression. Several months ago, in the depths of dispare, she took an overdose of pills. She was found unconcious and taken to the hospital where she remained in a coma for several days. She survived and is doing better now, but, her private insurance, through her husbands job is refusing to pay the hospital bill because her overdose was “self inflicted.”
Downright evil!
I would like to know how many Democrats are in such an event….. Republican propoganda to me…
I am fed up with everyone looking into the past (912). The future is upon us and we musn’t dwell on a forgotten era. We need to be modern and flexible. The greater good should be put before the “I”. Such selfishness is a basis for this group”912″. I. I. I. I. Me ME ME ME!
Poor, poor f*cked up America.
Thank you Eric! Great job!
These tea baggers and the people who are exploiting them, Dick Armey, Glenn Beck, Fox News, The insurance companies, corporate lobbyists, the Drugster aka Rush, etc, are a disgrace to our great country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUPMjC9mq5Y
Dear Beat Off:
How about the pharmaceutical companies being in Obama’s pocket? They are promoting his agenda and not anywhere in this “reform” is mention of controlling out of control Rx costs?
Why can you buy the same pill in Mexico for a fraction of what it costs in the USA and why is there a glaring ommission of this most obvious cost-cutting initiative?
If the President says they have $500 billion dollars available in savings in Medicare inefficiencies, etc. to pay for this “new” plan, why aren’t they tapping into this TODAY?
Why do you need legislation to stop fraud and improve efficiencies in an existing program?
You like the koolaid. I like the truth.
There lies the issue.
The Lie Machine
GOP operatives are running a secret campaign to kill health care reform, and it’s based on Karl Rove’s old playbook
TIM DICKINSON
Posted Sep 23, 2009 9:01 AM
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Read Tim Dickinson’s full story in the new issue of Rolling Stone, on stands now.
On the first day of August, a mob of 200 right-wing Texans stormed the parking lot of a Randalls grocery store in southwest Austin. They were united in a single goal: Disrupt the “office hours” that Rep. Lloyd Doggett, the district’s congressman, had scheduled for his constituents. The protesters targeted Doggett for his role in crafting the House’s bill to reform health care, brandishing signs that read “No Government Health Care” and “No Government Counselor in My Home!!!” But their anger seemed to encompass a universe of conservative fears: higher taxes, illegal immigration, socialism. The threat of violence was thinly veiled: One agitator held aloft a tombstone with the name Doggett. Screaming, “Just say no!” the mob chased Doggett through the parking lot to an aide’s car — roaring with approval as he fled the scene.
Conservatives were quick to insist that the near-riot — the first of many town-hall mobs that would dominate the headlines in August — was completely spontaneous. The protesters didn’t show up “because of some organized group,” Rick Scott, the head of Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, told reporters. “They’re mad about the stimulus bill, the bailout, the economy. Now they see that their health care is about to be taken over by the government.”
In fact, Scott’s own group had played an integral role in mobilizing the protesters. According to internal documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights had been working closely for weeks as a “coalition partner” with three other right-wing groups in a plot to unleash irate mobs at town-hall meetings just like Doggett’s. Far from representing a spontaneous upwelling of populist rage, the protests were tightly orchestrated from the top down by corporate-funded front groups as well as top lobbyists for the health care industry. Call it the return of the Karl Rove playbook: The effort to mobilize the angriest fringe of the Republican base was guided by a conservative dream team that included the same GOP henchmen who Swift-boated John Kerry in 2004, smeared John McCain in 2000, wrote the script for Republican obstructionism on global warming, and harpooned the health care reform effort led by Hillary Clinton in 1993.
“The insurance industry is up to the same dirty tricks, using the same devious PR practices it has used for many years, to kill reform,” says Wendell Potter, who stepped down last year as chief of corporate communications for health insurance giant CIGNA. “I’m certain that people showing up at these town halls feel that they’re there on their own — but they don’t realize they’re being incited, ultimately, by the insurance industry and the other special interests.”
Behind the scenes, top Republicans — including House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, Minority Leader John Boehner and the chairman of the GOP’s Senate steering committee, Jim DeMint — worked hand-in-glove with the organizers of the town brawls. Their goal was not only to block health care reform but to bankrupt President Obama’s political capital before he could move on to other key items on his agenda, including curbing climate change and expanding labor rights. As DeMint told an August teleconference of nearly 20,000 town-hall activists, “If we can stop him on this, the administration won’t be able to go on to cap and trade, card check and the other things they want to do.”
WRITING THE SCRIPT
The campaign to mobilize the town-hall mobs began with a script written by the right’s foremost fearmonger, Frank Luntz. Luntz rose to fame in 1994 as pollster for Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America, and crafted the Republican playbook on global warming. In a May memo, Luntz outlined a battle plan for conservatives to block what he branded the “Washington takeover” of health care — the most terrifying buzz words conjured up in his polls and focus groups.
The logic of the language is simple, Luntz writes: “Takeovers are like coups — they both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom.” For a third of all Americans, he adds, the top worry about health care reform is “being denied a procedure or medication because a Washington bureaucrat says no.” Luntz concludes by telling Republicans how best to play the fear card. “It is essential that ‘deny’ and ‘denial’ enter the conservative lexicon immediately,” he writes, “because it is at the core of what scares Americans most about a government takeover of health care.”
Distributed widely to Republicans on Capitol Hill, the memo framed the right-wing attack on health care reform. What Luntz describes as “the best anti-Democrat message” is by now familiar to everyone in America: “No Washington bureaucrat should stand between your family and your doctor… The Democrats want to put Washington politicians in charge of your health care.”
For the archenemies of Obamacare, however, Luntz’s anti-Washington script didn’t go nearly far enough. To amp up the panic, they decided to spin the “takeover” fear to its most extreme conclusion: Washington bureaucrats plan to institute “death panels” that would deny life-sustaining care to the elderly. That portion of the script was drafted by Betsy McCaughey, the former lieutenant governor of New York, who insists that her expertise as a constitutional historian enables her to decipher the 1,017 pages of legalese that comprise the House health care bill.
McCaughey first unveiled her “findings” on July 16th, during an appearance on the radio show of former GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson. “I have just finished reading the House bill,” McCaughey declared. “I hope that people listening will protect their parents from what’s intended under this bill.” Citing page 425 of HR 3200 — a section that outlines the same kind of optional, end-of-life counseling that Republicans have voted for in the past — McCaughey uncorked a terrifying lie. “Congress,” she said, “would make it mandatory — absolutely require that every five years, people in Medicare have a required counseling session that will tell them how to end their life sooner.” The Obama plan, she added, is financed by “shortening your mother or father’s life.”
McCaughey has run this con before. During the debate over Clinton’s health care overhaul in the early 1990s, McCaughey — then an academic at the right-wing Manhattan Institute — wrote an article for The New Republic called “No Exit,” in which she claimed that Hillarycare would prevent even wealthy Americans from “going outside the system to purchase basic health coverage you think is better.” Even though the bill plainly stated that “nothing in this Act” would prohibit consumers from purchasing additional care, McCaughey’s claim was echoed endlessly in the press, with each repetition pounding a stake further into the heart of the reform effort.
McCaughey’s lies were later debunked in a 1995 post-mortem in The Atlantic, and The New Republic recanted the piece in 2006. But what has not been reported until now is that McCaughey’s writing was influenced by Philip Morris, the world’s largest tobacco company, as part of a secret campaign to scuttle Clinton’s health care reform. (The measure would have been funded by a huge increase in tobacco taxes.) In an internal company memo from March 1994, the tobacco giant detailed its strategy to derail Hillarycare through an alliance with conservative think tanks, front groups and media outlets. Integral to the company’s strategy, the memo observed, was an effort to “work on the development of favorable pieces” with “friendly contacts in the media.” The memo, prepared by a Philip Morris executive, mentions only one author by name:
“Worked off-the-record with Manhattan and writer Betsy McCaughey as part of the input to the three-part exposé in The New Republic on what the Clinton plan means to you. The first part detailed specifics of the plan.”
McCaughey did not respond to Rolling Stone’s request for an interview.
ASSEMBLING THE TEAM
Armed with the script prepared by McCaughey and Luntz, a tight coalition of deep-pocketed groups took the lead in mobilizing the town-hall protests. The two primary groups — Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks — actually grew out of the 2003 breakup of an outfit called Citizens for a Sound Economy that had been integral in the fight against Hillarycare. Indeed, the same “Tobacco Strategy” memo in which Philip Morris boasts of shaping McCaughey’s writings also reveals that the tobacco giant paid Citizens for a Sound Economy to engineer a “grassroots” revolt against health care reform by staging demonstrations in the home districts of key congressmen. “The goal,” states the memo, “is to show the Clinton plan as a government-run health care system replete with higher taxes… rationing of care and extensive bureaucracies.”
Americans for Prosperity, which has taken the lead in the current fight against reform, is a front group for oil billionaires David and Charles Koch, co-owners of the world’s largest private oil and gas conglomerate. The Kochs, who provide much of AFP’s budget, have a strange affinity for mock uprisings: Matt Schlapp, one of the original “Brooks Brothers rioters” — the GOP activists who disrupted the Bush-Gore recount in Miami-Dade County — now serves as director of federal affairs for Koch Industries, orchestrating the firm’s political efforts in Washington.
To head Americans for Prosperity, the brothers tapped Tim Phillips, one of the Republican Party’s most notorious dirty tricksters. Phillips served as a strategic consultant to George W. Bush in 2000 and reputedly took part in the smear campaign in South Carolina that portrayed John McCain’s adopted daughter as his mulatto love child. That same year, Phillips was linked to a nearly identical smear campaign in Virginia that portrayed the primary opponent of Rep. Eric Cantor — a Jew — as the “only Christian in the contest.” Under Phillips, AFP became a driving force behind the Tea Party protests against Obama’s economic stimulus plan, and the group organized the Austin mob that attacked Rep. Doggett. Boosted by the mobilizing effort, AFP now boasts 700,000 members and chapters in 24 states.
The second group behind the town-hall mobs is FreedomWorks, headed by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey. An ideological crusader against the safety net, Armey denounces Medicare as a form of “tyranny” and backed George Bush’s attempt to privatize Social Security. At a 2004 event promoting the benefits of private accounts for “regular folks,” Bush appeared onstage with a “single mom” from Iowa — who, upon closer examination, turned out to be the Iowa director of FreedomWorks.The stated goal of the group, which has received funding from the archconservative Scaife family and corporations like MetLife, is to become “a grassroots juggernaut capable of going toe-to-toe with the unions, extreme enviros and the MoveOn.org’s of the world.” Armey, however, unabashedly compares FreedomWorks to a lynch mob. “We used to use the old saying in the West, that you got outta town just one step ahead of the hangman,” he says, explaining why George Bush’s budget-busting policies didn’t inspire the same outrage among his 400,000 followers. “That’s pretty much what happened with Bush. And poor old President Obama walked into town, y’know, just at high noon.”
After FreedomWorks orchestrated the original Tea Party protests last April, it ostensibly handed over the reins of the movement to a third group, called the Tea Party Patriots. But internal correspondence from the group’s private listserv obtained by Rolling Stone makes clear that FreedomWorks is still calling the shots. In June, after activists on the list began advocating to change a Tea Party logo, a top official from FreedomWorks stepped in and shut down the discussion. “I talked to everyone here,” wrote Brendan Steinhauser, director of federal and state campaigns for FreedomWorks, “and there was consensus that we will keep the logo.”
The Tea Party Patriots listserv also disseminated the playbook used to instruct the town-hall mobs in the tactics of disruption. Titled “Rocking the Town Halls — Best Practices,” the guide was written by a Connecticut tea partier named Bob MacGuffie, who outlined how fewer than three dozen activists could effectively silence a U.S. congressman. “The goal is to rattle him,” the memo states. “Yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements… have someone else follow-up with a shout-out. Set the tone for the hall as clearly informal and free-wheeling. It will also embolden others who agree with us to call out.” In a listserv posting on June 13th, an organizer with the Tea Party chapter in New Haven brought the memo to the attention of Jenny Beth Martin, the national coordinator of Tea Party Patriots. “Hey folks!” the organizer wrote, attaching a copy of MacGuffie’s memo. “We here in CT have developed a strategy for holding our elected officials accountable. We show up en mass at the ‘town hall’ meetings they have!”
Martin immediately knew she’d struck gold. “Showing up en mass at town hall meetings is very good strategy,” she replied. “We want to make sure they feel the heat about these government-run health care bills that will be coming out of committees soon.” Within three weeks, a July 7th e-mail from Martin reveals, the group had appointed a “Nationwide Town Hall Coordinator” to oversee the protests. The goal was straight from the Luntz script: to use the town halls “to inform American Taxpayers of what the implications are if government bureaucrats take over our health care.”
The fourth group behind the town-hall protests, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, has direct connections to the health care industry. Its founder, Rick Scott, is the former CEO of Columbia/HCA, the world’s largest hospital conglomerate. Scott was ousted from the company after it was caught overbilling taxpayers for Medicare treatment; it eventually pleaded guilty to criminal fraud and paid a record $1.7 billion in penalties. Scott now runs a chain of urgent-care clinics that serve uninsured Americans fearful of being bankrupted by hospital emergency-room visits. “He is one of those people who’s gotten very, very, very rich off of sick people,” says Potter, the former CIGNA executive. “He doesn’t want that cash cow to go away — so that’s why you’re seeing all his money there.”
Indeed, Scott has bankrolled Conservatives for Patients’ Rights with more than $5 million of his own fortune. “We have invested a lot of time, energy and resources into educating Americans over the past several months about the dangers of government-run health care,” he boasted in August. “And I think we’re seeing some of the fruits of that campaign.” To block reform, Scott has also hired CRC Public Relations, the firm that orchestrated the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against John Kerry in 2004. CRC enjoys high-ranking connections to the right-wing establishment, with a client list including the RNC, the National Republican Senatorial and Congressional Committees, the Federalist Society, the Parents Television Council and the Christian Coalition.
It doesn’t count as grassroots if Corporate Lobbyists, Fox News, and The Rebublican Party organize your protest and tell you how to respond. That’s why no one pays attention to you.
You represent the very people who put this country into this recession!
Here’s a Fox News producer directing your actions at the rally!
From Gawker:
“Fox News has been accused of riling up winguts for the wacky, psychotic 9/12 protests. And while Glenn Beck and company deny such antics, there’s now proof. We’re nearly speechless..
http://gawker.com/5363771/relatively-inexperienced-fox-news-producer-in-912-video-scandal
The above video shows a Fox News producer egging on the crowd, a crowd the improbably named newsman Griff Jenkins described on air as “absolutely grassroots.” It was, he declared, an “uprising.” It sure is. Indeed.
Fox executives, of course, have an excuse for the apparent breach of ethical, balanced conduct: the girl’s simply young and “inexperienced.”
The employee is a young, relatively inexperienced associate producer who realizes she made a mistake and has been disciplined.
Hmmm. This looks pretty experienced to us, but perhaps it’s just youthful exuberance — something of which we know nothing.”
I love when morons from both sides get together and sound like complete dumb asses,
Why do conservatives target Acorn?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#33064799
Why don’t you or your handlers ever go after any of these organizations?
http://www.contractormisconduct.org/
New York Times
October 10, 2009
Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
By WALTER GIBBS and ALAN COWELL
OSLO — In a stunning surprise, the Nobel Committee announced Friday that it had awarded its annual peace prize to President Obama “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
“He has created a new international climate,” the committee said in its announcement.
Beck calls his audience “zombies,” O’Reilly dismisses Beck’s flu vaccine conspiracies: “That’s nuts”
October 09, 2009 5:44 pm ET
From the October 8 edition of Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200910090052?lid=1069566&rid=35870712
The O’Garbage Factor
Fox News isn’t just bad. It’s un-American.
By Jacob Weisberg | NEWSWEEK
Published Oct 17, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Oct 26, 2009
Last week, when White House Communications Director Anita Dunn charged the Fox News Channel with right-wing bias, Fox responded the way it always does. It denied the accusation with a straight face while proceeding to confirm it with its coverage.
Consider Fox’s Web story on the episode. It quotes five people. Two of them work for Fox. All of them assert that administration officials are either wrong in substance or politically foolish to criticize the network. No one is cited supporting Dunn’s criticisms or saying that it could make sense for Obama to challenge the network’s power. It’s a textbook example of a biased journalism. (Click here to follow Jacob Weisberg.)
If you were watching Fox News Channel, you saw the familiar roster of platinum pundettes and anchor androids reciting the same soundbites: this was Obama’s version of Nixon’s enemies list, the rest of the news media is in Obama’s corner, Obama should get back to governing, and so on. On The O’Reilly Factor, Alan Colmes, the network’s weak, battered house liberal, mumbled semi-agreement while “Doctor” Monica Crowley and Bill O’Reilly lit up the scoreboard with these talking points.
Any news organization that took its responsibilities seriously would take pains to cover presidential criticism fairly. It would regard doing so as itself a test of integrity. At Fox, by contrast, complaints of unfairness prompt only hoots of derision and demands for “evidence” that, when presented, is brushed off and ignored.
There is no need to get bogged down in this phony debate, which itself constitutes an abuse of the fair-mindedness of the rest of the media. One glance at Fox’s Web site or five minutes’ random viewing of the channel at any hour of the day demonstrates its all-pervasive slant. The lefty documentary Outfoxed spent a lot of time mustering evidence that Fox managers order reporters to take the Republican side. But after 13 years under Roger Ailes, Fox employees skew news right as instinctively as fish swim.
Rather than in any way maturing, Fox has in recent months become more boisterous and demagogic. Fox sponsored as much as it covered the anti-Obama “tea parties” this summer. Its “fact checking” about the president’s health-care proposal is provided by Karl Rove. And weepy Glenn Beck has begun to exhibit a Strangelovean concern about government invading our bloodstream by vaccinating people for swine flu. With this misinformation campaign, Fox stands to become the first network to actively try to kill its viewers.
That Rupert Murdoch may tilt the news rightward more for commercial than ideological reasons is beside the point. What matters is the way that Fox’s model has invaded the bloodstream of the American media. By showing that ideologically distorted news can drive ratings, Ailes has provoked his rivals at CNN and MSNBC to develop a variety of populist and ideological takes on the news. In this way, Fox hasn’t just corrupted its own coverage. Its example has made all of cable news unpleasant and unreliable.
What’s most distinctive about the American press is not its freedom but its century-old tradition of independence—that it serves the public interest rather than those of parties, persuasions, or pressure groups. Media independence is a 20th-century innovation that has never fully taken root in many other countries that do have a free press. The Australian-British-continental model of politicized media that Murdoch has applied at Fox is un-American, so much so that he has little choice but go on denying what he’s doing as he does it. For Murdoch, Ailes, and company, “fair and balanced” is a necessary lie. To admit that their coverage is slanted by design would violate the American understanding of the media’s role in democracy and our idea of what constitutes fair play. But it’s a demonstrable deceit that no longer deserves equal time.
Whether the White House engages with Fox is a tactical political question. Whether we journalists continue to do so is an ethical one. By appearing on Fox, reporters validate its propaganda values and help to undermine the role of legitimate news organizations. Respectable journalists—I’m talking to you, Mara Liasson—should stop appearing on its programs. A boycott would make Ailes too happy, so let’s try just ignoring Fox, shall we? And no, I don’t want to come on The O’Reilly Factor to discuss it.
yuh i dun heer bout dat soshulest ajendah by obamuh
yuh dud deh ned tu srrsly get a barin, deyre morans, aso if sumon culd halp y r mi wurds keept geting unnderlined???/
i tink obamuh is tryin to queyet us dohn becuz he is skarud we wil fite
Yuh dud, hy mann, hwo r u gettin tu de marchsss? me is getting dir by buot, i’ll taek the gret laeks to da oceann
i jus git out my gud ol carbun emiteng truk nd dreyeve to da nurth. gud luk on ur buot, wutch out fur sharks in da greet lackes