“Porkulus Maximus” Bill Passes House 246-183 (No GOP Support); Healthcare Proposal Unearthed; Now Only 60 Votes?
The fact that the so-called stimulus bill has been pushed through the national Bicarmeral Legislature at breaknik speed without due legislative processes in both chambers may not be known by the American people, but even Democrats are concerned about how this apparent lack of oversight on bills will continue playing out.
One such instance of even Congress not knowing exactly what’s in this bill until the 11th hour is the call for a National Coordinator of Health Information Technology. On the face of it, many people might think it makes sense to make their medical records electronic so that it’s easier to transfer data from, say, one doctor to another or to a hospital, and the potential reduction in paperwork filing would be a tremendous asset to the industry.
Unfortunately, this proposal — despite any and all good intentions — has the potential of going much further. According to commentary in Bloomberg.com by former New York Lt. Governor and adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute Betsy McCaughey, it’s the uniformity enforcement aspects that are troublesome:
These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department. …
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479; page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”
Keeping doctors informed of the newest medical findings is important, but enforcing uniformity goes too far.
Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties. “Meaningful user” isn’t defined in the bill. That will be left to theHHS secretary, who will be empowered to impose “more stringent measures of meaningful use over time” (511, 518, 540-541)
What penalties will deter your doctor from going beyond the electronically delivered protocols when your condition is atypical or you need an experimental treatment? The vagueness is intentional. In his book, Daschle proposed an appointed body with vast powers to make the “tough” decisions elected politicians won’t make.
The stimulus bill does that, and calls it the Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research (190-192). The goal, Daschle’s book explained, is to slow the development and use of new medications and technologies because they are driving up costs. He praises Europeans for being more willing to accept “hopeless diagnoses” and “forgo experimental treatments,” and he chastises Americans for expecting too much from the health-care system.
Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them. That means the elderly will bear the brunt.
Medicare now pays for treatments deemed safe and effective. The stimulus bill would change that and apply a cost- effectiveness standard set by the Federal Council (464).
The Federal Council is modeled after a U.K. board discussed in Daschle’s book. This board approves or rejects treatments using a formula that divides the cost of the treatment by the number of years the patient is likely to benefit. Treatments for younger patients are more often approved than treatments for diseases that affect the elderly, such as osteoporosis.
In 2006, a U.K. health board decreed that elderly patients with macular degeneration had to wait until they went blind in one eye before they could get a costly new drug to save the other eye. It took almost three years of public protests before the board reversed its decision. …
The stimulus bill will affect every part of health care, from medical and nursing education, to how patients are treated and how much hospitals get paid. The bill allocates more funding for this bureaucracy than for the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force combined (90-92, 174-177, 181).
Hiding health legislation in a stimulus bill is intentional. Daschle supported the Clinton administration’s health-care overhaul in 1994, and attributed its failure to debate and delay. A year ago, Daschle wrote that the next president should act quickly before critics mount an opposition. “If that means attaching a health-care plan to the federal budget, so be it,” he said. “The issue is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.”
On Friday, President Obama called it “inexcusable and irresponsible” for senators to delay passing the stimulus bill. In truth, this bill needs more scrutiny.
The health-care industry is the largest employer in the U.S. It produces almost 17 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Yet the bill treats health care the way European governments do: as a cost problem instead of a growth industry. Imagine limiting growth and innovation in the electronics or auto industry during this downturn. This stimulus is dangerous to your health and the economy.
The bill certainly needs more scrutiny; at the very least, it needs to be properly vetted in Committee and subsequently thoroughly debated on the floor of each Chamber. After all, if the above is in the bill, what else could similarly be lurking in 700+ pages of proposals that ought to be considered in separate measures?
As Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) points out at RedState.com:
Americans are up in arms, decrying wasteful spending in the so-called stimulus bill. They should be. But one of the bill’s worst provisions has gone almost unnoticed, dangerously lurking below the radar of those exposing the bill’s flaws.
“Comparative Effectiveness Research,” sounds innocuous, but big-government programs always do. The $1.1 billion of the stimulus package earmarked for this project is a significant step toward government-run healthcare. Comparative effectiveness research is a tool for bureaucrats to decide which medical treatments Americans should or should not have access to.
In countries with government-run healthcare systems, comparative effectiveness is often used as an excuse to deny patients life-saving medical care on the grounds of cost-effectiveness. The healthcare board of the United Kingdom has repeatedly denied breakthrough drugs to citizens suffering with breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, and even multiple sclerosis on the grounds of comparative effectiveness. The British government has stripped citizens of the freedom to choose their own healthcare. Congressman David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, has already admitted as much. Just read his own words from the committee report on the stimulus, talking about this provision: “Those items, procedures, and interventions… that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed.” We must not allow it.
Comparative effectiveness “research” presents a danger to freedom of healthcare choice in America. And if the potential consequences of the study alone don’t scare you, recall President Obama’s failed nominee to oversee the Department of Health and Social Services. In his own book, Critical, Daschle talks about his desire to create a federal planning board to make Americans’ healthcare decisions. While Americans may have dodged a bullet with Daschle, the fight against government-run healthcare is only beginning.
Update: RedState.com is reporting the following:
The Wall Street Journal says that Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Arlen Specter may have been snookered. Now that the Senate has passed a slimmed-down porked up version of the Obama-Reid-Pelosi debt spending plan, the White House is pushing to add back many of the items that it cut out to get their support:
The White House is seeking to restore funding cut by the Senate for schools, health insurance and computerizing health records as the economic-stimulus plan headed into a final round of negotiations in Congress, with top lawmakers struggling to bring the price of the two-year package down to $800 billion.
That would be well below the $838.2 billion plan approved Tuesday by the Senate on a 61-37 vote, but would reflect pressure from influential moderates in the Senate to hold down costs. As lawmakers meet to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the legislation, the White House’s effort to reshape it is leading to skirmishes among House and Senate Democrats, as well as with the moderate Republicans and Democrats who pushed to cut the size of the original Senate package.
There’s even some whispering that House Democrats may be so addicted to spendingthat they’ll insist on adding the money back at the risk of scuttling the package. We’ll know soon enough, since Democrats are going back on their word to bring openness and transparency to government.
And there’s one other thing to keep in mind: Congress has still not passed the omnibus appropriations bill needed to fund the government for 2009. Drafting was complete weeks ago, and as of February 2, the total pricetag was reported to be around $410 billion. Expect a near dollar-to-dollar correlation between what was ‘cut out’ of this debt spending plan and what is added to that omnibus.
Maybe the Turncoat Three(tm) will be able to redeem themselves after all? Something tells me these Dem statists can’t help but to leave “No Pork Left Behind(tm)”.
Update: The Turncoat Three(tm) are really hearing it. From Politico.com (via HotAir.com):
When you call Collins’ office, an automated voice quickly picks up and says, “The voice mailbox is full. Goodbye.” Click.
If you call Specter’s line, you automatically get a busy signal. (Nice.) Same for Snowe. …
“I haven’t gotten through. Calls are like 10-to-1 against,” sniffed one Senate aide. He’s annoyed as a result of having to actually “learn the phone numbers” of those offices he wants to call, instead of just dialing 0. Hardships.
A rep for Collins told us their offices are swamped, both in Maine and in D.C. Collins’ spokesman Kevin Kelley said most are calling to thank Collins for her support.
“I can’t tell you exactly how many calls we have received, though, if this is any indication, … we have three incoming lines which have been continuously busy for several days now, … and shortly after the voice mailbox is emptied, it fills again.”
A rep for Snowe said: “Our office has been inundated with phone calls … from Maine to California. The comments have run the gamut.”
Update: According to Politico, votes in the House and Senate are expected by tomorrow, Friday the 13th. Also, the Turncoat Three(tm) are reported to continue supporting the Conferenced bill.
Also, here’s an interesting video via BuzzBrockway.com, another Georgia blogger, showing Rep. Tim Price (R-GA — gotta love those Gaw-giah folks!) in front of the Speaker’s office:
Update: HotAir.com revelas interesting tidbits from Porkulus Maximus:
Michelle has the link to the notes from the Porkulus conference, and well … it’s about as bad as you’d imagine. I’m picking through the tables derived from the 1500-page bill that no one in Congress will read before casting their votes for the largest project bill in American history. To no one’s great surprise, the spending items expose Porkulus for exactly what it is — an omnibus spending bill that could have easily gone through the normal budgeting process. …
Hot Air readers will note that the last item refers to the health-care mandates for approval on treatment by all American physicians. Arlen Specter and Jon Tester insisted that these provisions would be removed from Porkulus before voting for final passage. The money is still there to build the database necessary to impose federal control on all medical treatment in the US, using Tom Daschle’s top-down mechanism, complete with “penalties” for doctors who insist on providing life-saving treatments without Uncle Sam’s say-so.
I notice that $7 billion in DoD construction got cut. The conference managed to keep twice as much money to interfere in the housing market, which is what caused the economic meltdown in the first place, but took a pass on using money that would create jobs instead of more debt.
Update: RedState.com’s reporting this morning that dear Sen. Kennedy may not make it to the Senate to vote — and that the Turncoat Three could have their votes contingent on there being 61 “ayes”:
CNN’s Political Ticker reports that with Ted Kennedy apparently unavailable for a Senate vote tomorrow, Harry Reid is trying to line up one more Republican to vote for the Democrat spending bill. The concern is that without Kennedy, the bill has only the minimum number of votes required to pass: 60. And the three GOP supporters had made clear that their support was conditional on there being 61 votes — so none could be described as the decisive vote that passed the package.
According to Roll Call (subscription required), Reid has a backup plan in case he can’t get another Republican:
One senior Senate Democratic source said Reid was exploring the idea of having Kennedy’s absent vote in favor of the bill paired with a Republican who would otherwise vote against the bill. Though paired votes are not counted in the total, they do remain a part of the Congressional record, which could give the GOP centrists a way to prove they were not the decisive vote on the bill.
Specter is regarded as the most vulnerable to political attacks for his support of the stimulus measure because he is planning to run for re-election in 2010 and could face a primary challenge from the right.
Read more for further information on “vote pairing.”
Update: According to FreeRepublic.com, the Conference Report was posted on the web at 7:30am ET this morning.
Update: House Clerk report:
Democrats: 246 yeas, 7 nays, 1 present, 1 not voting
Republicans: 176 nays, 2 not voting
Democrats voting no: Bright, DeFazio, Griffith, Minnick, Peterson, Shuler, Taylor
-Phil
And if you would spend less time in politics and more on patient care, we would have a better health care system. This bill violates the patient’s privacy of their medical records and allows the federal government to influence doctors’ decisions in health care treatment – you know the benefits of the treatment one would receive versus the cost of the treatment. Patient suffers especially the elderly.
The benefits of health IT will allow you nurses and doctors to sit behind a computer and input your notes instead of writing them. I can’t see that it saves $80 billion to fund health care. Too bad, I would hope that they would save time so that the doctors and nurses could “wash their hands” more and therefore cut down on widespread infections and mortality rates. This obviously is too much to ask of our healthcare professionals.
Who or what is A.E.? I’m not Jewish, if that’s what you’re asking; I just have a lot of Jewish friends.
You see, people think that socialism is ONLY when government owns everything. No. Something can be “socialistic” and have nothing to do with the government. This is what the medical industry has turned into. It’s socialistic in nature. It’s ripe for government take over. The government couldn’t take over such a free market over night. It takes time. Insurance is the big stepping stone to government intervention. We think it’s a great thing. No. For a moral people, maybe. For America today, wicked.
Okay, I’m going to be a jerk.
“Health insurance” does NOT pay for “Health care” Health insurance pays doctors, nurses, administrators,etc.. Health care is when someone actually CARES for your health. You don’t make people “healthy” by pushing pills and butchering them up. Most health problems begin at the mouth. You are what you eat.
And this is a universal truth. Spiritually, you are what you believe. Mentally, you are what you think. Physically, you are what you eat. If you watch trashy stuff, you’ll have a trashy mind. If you eat trashy food, you’ll have a trashy (unhealthy) body. The doctors spend at least what? twelve years in college and still haven’t figured that out. Getting people truely healthy in this society does not pay. Pushing pills and cutting you up does. It really is that simple.
Car dealership will replace your whole front end when only one bolt is loose. Why? Because they can. What do you care? It’s under warranty or extended warranty. What’s that? It’s Car Health Insurance. Manufacture pays, so chalk it up! No, you pay, not the manufacturer. You think they provide a warranty at their expense? Ha! This is done typically in many professions. What makes you think doctors don’t do that? You better believe they do. It’s the same concept. The doctor or the car man doesn’t FEEL like he’s charging you because he’s submitting a claim, but in the short run, you ARE the one who pays; the consumer.
Is politics the only thing that people are getting dooped? Absolutely not.
Yes, the 8 yr old is “medically controlled” and the government will probably pay the bill the rest of his life. These are not MY experiences. I try not to have any. And the record to which I refer is not a a FEW isolated experiences. For years, time and time again, I see people running to the doctor only to get their pockets picked by doctors and insurers. Just because physicians and insurers don’t like each other doesn’t mean they’re not in the same boat. They both got their hands in the same pocket. They don’t like each other because one wants more than the other.
Regulation of hospitals? I thought you were on the right side of life? Capitalism and free enterprise is great and so is democracy. However, the basic tenants of these philosophies is the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, which is biblically derived. I believe it was Adams (?) that said that the constitution is for a moral people, and it was useless without a moral people. When a democratic people drift from morality, then the government has no choice but to step in. And then we have socialism. Righteousness exhalteth a nation.
Not an exact science? Yet people run to them like they’ve got the answer for anything and take whatever pill they give them. I’ve know people taking more pills than food. Kidding. Too much trust in a failing system. For example, how do you know that it’s 1%? Where did you get that? The label? The little folded up paper in the box that the sorcerist gave you? Think about this: Obama’s BC. This man, in the face of thousands and thousands of people questioning him, just wave his hand and say, “You don’t need to see it.” In other words, he can lie and bamboozle with every camera in the world looking at him and every reporter worshipping at his feet. The guy is so filthy, yet he gets away with it. You cannot trust what comes over the air and out of Katie Curic’s mouth, right? Yet you trust some little paper you found in a box? You probably made that number up because you didn’t know the ACTUAL study’s numbers. The people who wrote it are probably the people selling the junk. You don’t know, and they don’t know, the long term affects of that drug.
If they’re doing such a good job, why is cancer on the rise? Why is heart disease on the rise? Why is diabetes on the rise? Why are children getting tumors now? All they do is treat symptoms. It hurts? Here take this pill, call me in the morning. Hey doctor, it still hurts. No problem, we can cut it out. Nevermind what IT is. Nevermind what is causing IT.
The Physician is not helpless. Oh, poor little physician. I don’t think so. Even though it’s a hassle, insurance companies pay physicians. They don’t SLAP you with the bill, they SLIP the bill to the insurance company. Sure they only get a percentage, but that’s why they jack up the price 2 to 3 times more than it’s worth. I think very few people pay out of their pocket. I gaurantee you, if the doctor had to look face to face with the patient and say, “Here, there’s the bill”, they would not get away with outrageous prices. Consumer would say, “WHAT! THAT MUCH!” They don’t have to put up with that most of the time. They just send it on to the insurance company.
I, for one, am not going to pay for Joe Shmoe’s smoking problem, Lisa’s drinking problem, Albert’s habit of eating 3 servings at New China Cafe with 3 glasses of Sweet Tea, Billy’s refusal to get on a diet and take a walk once in awhile. No. If you want to do that, go ahead. Sounds like socialism to me. It is, once the government takes control. And they will.
Reality Check,
Those things are about as likely to happen as the Speaker actually inviting the GOP in to negotiate on anything, going forward. Of course, all in the name of “bipartisanship” and “civility.”
-Phil
I didn’t get into health care for the paperwork. I did it to help people – and I know you did, too.
So, when legislation comes along that helps us spend more time treating patients than we do filling out forms, I get excited. And when special interests try to stop that legislation, I get mad.
The Economic Recovery Act that passed the Senate today includes practical steps to improve health IT nationwide and cut down on paperwork. This one bill would do more to modernize the health care industry in one month than we’ve done in the past decade.
Now, opponents of this legislation – led by Rush Limbaugh – are launching an all-out smear campaign in the media. Will you help us push back? Write a letter to your editor right now: action.seiu.org/recovery
As nurses, our voices are critical in this debate. By explaining the benefits of health IT, we’ll have a seat at the table in deciding how this technology is implemented. Adopting better technology in our hospitals could save about $80 billion nationwide. That’s $80 billion that can be used to fund better staffing and safety.
It also has the potential to cut down on charting & paperwork and reduce errors. Studies show that nurses in hospitals that adopt health IT spend less time documenting patient care and more time delivering it.
People may not understand all the ins and outs of the Economic Recovery Act, but they’ll understand a nurse telling them the benefits it will have for patient care. Take a few minutes to write a letter to your newspaper right now: action.seiu.org/recovery
Thanks,
Cathy Glasson, RN
Value Care, Value Nurses
You know, it just occurred to me that if any of the Republicans who voted no had any decency they would procedurally switch their vote to aye so Sherrod Brown would not have to leave his mother’s wake to rush back to Washington to vote on the stimulus bill. The outcome is not in doubt. Judd Gregg, for example is retiring, and is from a liberal state. He would not have to face any repercussions for voting for the bill. That would be an act of true bipartisanship. I will not hold my breath, however.
The bill will pass as soon as Senator Sherrod Brown returns to Washington this evening. Sen. Snowe, Specter, and Collins have already voted aye. Now can we get back to talking about Phil Berg and Orly Taitz? Speaking of Berg, did the DC District Court issue a dismissal toady?
Why is Pelosi going to Europe for 8 days at tax-payer expense? She says she is meeting with the Pope and PM of Italy, but SHOULDN’T THAT BE THE SOS’S JOB? Just like when she put on the Islamic headdress and went to Syria? Who made HER ambassador? And her district is getting $50 million pork for “wildlife habitat studies” in her home district to keep this little mouse alive? What chutzpah. It never ends.
Now I am hearing that this over 1,000 page document didn’t get printed and into the hands of our 535 until around midnight last night. Items were crossed out, things were written in the margins. Not even a college senior can cram for an exam such as this in so little time. NOT ONE was able to read this whole document before the vote in the House today. What is the big rush, other than they want to break for the long, 3 day weekend.
I say take away their cars, their planes, take away all their tax-payer subsidized expenses and perks, take away their 6-week break at holiday time; then the REAL players who care about We The People and what we have to say will be left. Even kids have more days in school than these 535 are “committed to” in DC.
AmericaMustKnow:
I can see that I am not going to change your mind. I will say that health INSURERS are companies just like any other, they have shareholders, sell stock, invest their money, and feel they are responsible to their shareholders FIRST; patients come in second. They’re out to make a profit just like Walmart, Microsoft, GM.
HOWEVER; health INSURERS are a separate entity from physicians. Let me give you an example. My mother had terrible back pain. She was on high-dose narcotics. The neurosurgeon wanted to do an MRI. HOWEVER; she had to wait TWO WEEKS to get the approval of her health INSURER FIRST. The INSURER looked over the medical records, and then “made a decision” whether or not the test was “warranted.” It was very frustrating to me and her, she being in pain all this time. And the physician is helpless. The only other alternative to waiting is to pay for the test or treatment yourself. This is what the Feds eventually want to do, take the place of the health insurer and dictate to the physician what treatment is warranted, if any at all.
Yes, physicians are human and make errors in judgment and mistakes. But as I said earlier, it is not an exact science and results are not guaranteed. I tried a drug for a condition I have. It worked for the condition, but unfortunately for me it had the opposite effect and kept me awake when it was supposed to help me sleep. So I am the 1% of ALL people who took this drug that had this problem; so I can’t take it. Not a guaranteed science. Everyone is different. I am a widow and have been getting my health insurance subsidized for 15 years. Now all of a sudden the subsidy is gone and I am paying 100% of the premium. Another big issue is there is no regulation of hospitals. They build willy-nilly and duplicate expensive treatment centers and equipment; which drives up the cost of health care AND health insurance.
I hope the 8 yr old you were speaking of remains healthy and medically controlled. Please try not to discredit the whole medical profession because of your experiences. My mother’s life was saved several months ago when a physician recognized her chest pain was not heart attack but a gall bladder ready to burst. So there are plenty of good doctors out there.
Bottom line, it’s cheap not to care.
Rationing health care is a political means to decide who lives and who dies, and who pays the bills. Socialized medicine is cheaper because it’s cheaper not to care.
Frankly, I don’t understand the democrats. Why are mice in San Francisco more important than people? Why do non-US citizens have constitutional rights, but US citizens don’t? Why do you say your for the middle and low class yet fill the extreme elite pockets with money with your spending bills on the back of the average taxpayer? Why do you want my children’s records to play soccer, but won’t allow me to the POTUS records? How do you promote the government backing fannie mae/freddy mac poor loan policies and then blame the republicans who tried to stop it?
The above policies aren’t democratic, fascist, socialist, or communist. They are just ‘pet’ projects that have supplemented the good of many for a few influencial peoples whims. This is most similar to a bad monarchy. Phil didn’t the French find an answer to those people?
AmericaMustKnow,
There is a decided difference between “health insurance” and “health care;” the former typically pays [for most of] the latter.
-Phil
Yes, nobody wants to touch the prestigious profession of a doctor. Why I don’t know. Medicine has come a long way, but it’s also gone along way.
I don’t understand health insurance. It’s looks too much like taxes. Think about the futility of the system: Everybody puts money in and it’s redistributed accordingly. Here’s the problem: They take your money and first and foremost, they pay themselves and all their sales people. Secondly, I would assume that they’re investing alot of it (in a failing economy and in God know what). With whatever is left, they’ll pay your bills. Third, people are still eating beef, steak, grease, and carbs and getting sicker and sicker, getting very little exercise. It’s like buying full coverage for a clunker. You’ll be throwing your money away. Where I work, 12 years ago, we were able to cover worker, wife, and family 100 percent. Now, 50 percent of worker is all we cover. It’s sky-rocketed. For what? People are not getting healthier. The price is not getting better. And now the government wants to put their stink’n hands in it. Forget it. There’s better ways to handle health than running to nearest quack that practices medicine. He’ll practice on you.
Please don’t misunderstand. There are some good doctors out there doing some good things. But it’s like public school. There’s some good teachers doing some good work, but for the most part, the system is a collosal waste of tax payer money, ineffective, and I believe an abomination in the sight of God. Medical industry is running about that same track. Wherever there is fear and ignorance, crooks will be along the way.
This is just something off the top of my head: I know of someone with an 8 year old with a hyperthyroid. The doctors zapped it with a kryptonite pill and now it doesn’t work. Now the kid is overweight and the thyroid is underactive. Now the kid will deal with a HOST of problems for the rest of his life and the doctors have a life time patient. Great. Reasoning: It’s easier to treat an underactive thyroid rather than an overactive one. That’s stupid. The doctors did not try to fix the overall health of the child first, they rammed kryptonite down the child’s throat because that’s all they know. They’re just a stupid as the people running our country. Yes, stupid people can graduate from college. They’re all over the place.
Hey RC:
I’m taking baby blue. Orange doesn’t go well with my skin tone. Size 2, short.
I suppose violating our U.S. Constitution by taking the Census from the Commerce Department and giving it to Rahm Emmanuel is a lie too. This really makes me angry among other things that this administration has done.
D’oh! Caterpillar CEO Contradicts President on Whether Stimulus Will Allow Him to Re-Hire Laid Off Workers
Asked if the stimulus package would be able to stop the 22,000 layoffs or not, Owens said, “I think realistically no. The truth is we’re going to have more layoffs before we start hiring again”
“It is going to take some time before that stimulus bill” means re-hiring, he said.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/
Phil and Reality Check are gonna get tired of seeing my name here tonight.
????
Thanks. Took a look at these sites. In my opinion, they are not overly dramatic. This is what political parties do: they hold coffee klaches, neighborhood potlucks, front-yard talks. McCain did this, he asked ME to do this; but he did it badly. Obama had and still has the ability to command the eyes and ears of the young people, and get them motivated; much like Jane Fonda did during the Vietnam War. I don’t really see this as anything sinister, it’s just damn good politics, something the Republicans are missing these days. Now ACORN; I see that as another story. They are under my skin and I can’t exorcise them. I don’t care what 1Lishell or Reality Check or Geoff says; I believe without any regulation or oversight they are bad news.
ACORN lawful???? LOL More like Obama’s Civil Security Volunteers who want nothing more than foodstamps, welfare and universal healthcare – all taken from the working middle class and their generations to come.
Wow. I’ve heard many professions castigated in my time, but not the medicos. Medicine is an inexact science. It is not accounting or mathematics, where a certain outcome is guaranteed. I will say, however, that certainly part of the problem is the insurance companies. Physicians spend a good part of their day arguing with them, trying to get a treatment, drug or test “approved.” Meanwhile, the patient is in pain or disease could be progressing. I guess I’ve been lucky. I have not had the experiences you seem to have had. There are good and bad in all professions. Unfortunately, it seems like it’s going to get even worse for medicine. We’re going to have the Feds eventually dictating our care. And we all know how good they are at running Medicare, SS, Post Office; and cramming crap down our throats like the “Obama-Pelosi Theft Act of 2009.”
Carol:
If you haven’t seen these websites, they are must reads. Obama Continues his Community Organizing. These websites reveal exactly what they are doing.
Intensive Course Turns Volunteers into Activists for Obama:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/540781,CST-NWS-camp04.article
Obama’s Organizing for America:
http://www.barackobama.com
Sign Up Sheet Used for Deputy Field Organizers for Camp Obama:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/macampobama
United Farmers Worker Model (UFW) Organizing Used By Obama Volunteers:
http://tikkun.org/archive/backissues/tik0811/politics/shaw
Organizing For America:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/organizing-for-america
Obama’s What Next for Organizing for America/Virginia Governor Kaine
Advocating Stimulus Plan and Campaign Volunteers:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/organizing-for-america
Obama Dispatches 3600 Volunteers in 17 states June 13, 2008:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/12/AR2008061203658.html
New Organizers for Obama Oxford, Ohio Spreading to All 50 States:
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/546
The Obama File – The Movement:
http://www.theobamafile.com/TheMovement.html