Don't Drink the Water in DC

[Dave]

blogs, links, quotes, and forwarded emails for whatever they may be worth to you:

Don’t Drink the Water in DC

Campaign Prescriptions Get Infected by Rubber-spine-itis

=)

It’s too bad that once they start walking those halls and get comfy as incumbents, their immune systems get weakened, and their rhetoric gets tainted and morals amputated.  An informed, active citizenry will be the only way to try to put a dent in cleaning up the viruses in that DC water.

 

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Though “insurers” are denying babies and small biz owners (two emails forwarded below), the right wing that’s blinded by their manipulators (especially Beck and Limbaugh) will find some way of justifying that in their reality, America stands for truth/justice/apple pie (and that it must somehow be the baby or the biz owner’s fault to have their coverage rescinded).  They don’t realize that America’s reality has become “don’t dare get sick,” and if you do, that it’s somehow your fault (even with the irony of sick repubs going off to die in cranky denial or the quiet shame or realizing the folly of their prior inaction/neglect/misguided positions).

We just got back from a week of wonderful adventures in Colorado and Rocky Mountain snows.  In my lifetime, I’ve never seen so many accidents (50 wrecks in Colorado Springs alone).  I-70 became an ice slide (just narrowly avoided a 4-car pile-up with an Escalade and its headlights now blinding and blocking my lane; had to drive at a crawl to a truck stop and instead camp the night watching the emergency responders go by throughout the evening and morning). 

 

Hope that they’re safe, insured (especially if they only have liability and no health insurance), and that their healthcare insurers don’t later drop their coverage (saying that lifelong matters that may result from those accidents are now pre-existing conditions  >> tell your friends that multi-car pile-ups, or any accidents, don’t care which party or socioeconomic group you belong to). 

 

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On the way to Denver, we for a short while listened to talk-radio for as long as I could handle the hate-speak/blinded host/angry callers on some of those Western Kansas stations.  Wow, some of those people need a hug or something, and many need some sort of “we’re in it together” reality check (or not be “socialism” hypocrites and return their or their parents’ social security and medicare benefits and honorably not support their repub “socialist” leaders that continue to sustain socialism for banks/Wall Street and for corporate welfare).

Passionate hatred can give meaning and purpose to an empty life.  -- Eric Hoffer

 

The hypocrisy in our nation’s politics is stunning:

10-14-09 segment of http://www.thedailyshow.com/ entitled “Rape-nuts” had interesting video showing repubs do party line vote against Franken’s bill stripping Halliburton from their immoral contract fine print.  Those repub Senators were commenting on how gov should stay out of private enterprise for Halliburton, but they consciously/unconsciously don’t see their “We got to take corruption out of any organization getting tax payer dollars.” hypocrisy for ACORN.  Out of one side of their mouth they say “not one more penny… ACORN is not above the law.”   Out of the other side of their mouth they vote and deny justice as stay out of “these kind of disputes” for actual gang-rape of a 19 yr old employee by KBR subcontractors (that locked her in a crate to further psychologically harass/traumatize her from trying to report them; and Halliburton’s fine-print prevented her from getting justice because it happened in Iraq). 

 

Though punishment for all of them is appropriate, they threw the baby out with the bathwater because of some super-stupid employees at ACORN conspiring for hypothetical paper crimes, but condoned shockingly severe double-standard for Halliburton violent crimes (Cheney’s reach and military-industrial complex fundraising apparatus for both parties is still present). 

 

What convenient God do they worship when they look the other way from a girl praying that her prison-crate not become her desert grave?  How can repubs and their lock-step (edited “goose-step” to this parenthesis) party followers tolerate their reflection in the mirror?  Will average repub voters realize that their blind support/votes have societal and karmic consequence?

 

 

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Just recently, an insurer tried taking pre-existing condition to a new immoral low (but TV anchor, PR savvy father smartly didn’t go silently into the night and got media coverage for the ridiculousness their insurer hoped nobody would notice and that they could get away with).  Unfortunately, if that boy has obesity gene, subsequent insurers will find some way of denying him in the future (either when he’s older and trying to get his own insurance or when his parents may change/lose jobs or insurance plans and their child’s possible obesity related matters may get firmly resisted as definitely pre-existing). 
Colo. company had turned tot down saying he had ‘a pre-existing condition’  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33283839

 

Note: guaranteed reality in America is that NOBODY keeps their same health/job/career/insurance plan for their lifetime.  Eventually everyone is affected and at risk by insurance changes along the way (which is why it’s especially sad that Dems shamefully played ball with lobbyists and stripped so much from healthcare reform legislation, to be able to earn ONLY ONE repub vote).

 

>>  Please write your officials to encourage them to realize that they won’t get a bipartisan bill, that they should just stiffen their backs, and do the right thing for America now.  Though it’s sad that this can’t be easier, it will take a ruckus from you for them to realize that they’ll have greater/prouder consequence when they’re at their death-bed looking back at their lives than what they’ve been doing by succumbing to the id/ego/temptations of lobbyists/re-election addiction.

During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. -- George Orwell

 

 

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“The health care industry alone has six lobbyists for every member of Congress and more than 500 of them are former Congressional staff members…  In just the last few months, the health care industry has spent $380 million on lobbying, advertising and campaign contributions.”  http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2009/10/bill_moyers_michael_winship_in.html

 

As many have noted, lobbyists have already won substantial and profitable concessions from politicians that are pretending away what reform really means.  That’s the painful irony that a gianormous percentage of your health care dollars have for decades gone to lavish bonuses, junkets, execs, lobbyists and politicians instead of for the dignity of human care.  Your dollars, their pockets, you and nation denied care.

 

Never underestimate the risks that your fellow citizens (e.g., consider reduced property values from your foreclosed neighbors with medical bills being the #1 cause of bankruptcy  –not one neighborhood or county has been immune from this plight), your loved ones, and you face if you allow yourselves to go silent about how sadly your elected officials (both parties) are letting America down when they instead become servants of the dollar/lobbyists/re-election drug.  You didn’t send them to DC to have them ignore their campaign prescriptions, only to instead allow themselves (and us, and nation as a whole) to be infected by rubber-spine-itis. 

Prescription: you stand straight, shake off their contagion, and make yourselves heard.

The best defense of democracy is an informed electorate. -- Thomas Jefferson

 

 

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Three things you can do:

Speak with friends and family (especially those who disagree with you),

send anyone you can personal or forwarded emails (especially http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml),

and click on the link in the forwarded email below to help an organization like True Majority that’s working very hard each and every day to try to represent the majority in favor of real reform. 

 

 

Since many politicians have forgotten that you exist and think you’ve stopped paying attention, the lobbyists win when you get too tired to send your official and officials across the country your continued communications. 

 

Consider two metaphors:

-The insurers and lobbyists knew that this is a marathon, and suspected that most would drop away.  Though the race is long, your supporters/your team are still with you, and water will never have tasted so good as when you cross that finish line.  Keep mustering the energy to put another foot forward.  We’re in it together.  Don’t stop now. 

Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must undergo the fatigue of supporting it.  -- Thomas Paine

 

-Though this is not the bloody Revolutionary War or Civil War, it’s also blood-crucial to the point that it’ll have centuries of impact (for nation, for individuals, for each and every social justice group/non-profit).  Healthcare’s decades of escalating fiasco brings us to a time of needed revolution and of coming to terms (with those that are dividing/distracting) that healthcare should be a civil right.  Your communications to your elected officials are little different than soldiers who held the line and didn’t lay down their arms to walk off the field.  Throughout history, it’s been shown that the pen can be mightier than the sword. 

Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

If it hasn’t already happened, your life or the life of someone you love will depend on it.  Be vocal, continue to stand (no matter how tired you may feel now), and ensure that you’re not someone who ends up coulda-shoulda crying quietly later.  Peacefully stand (not with anger/disgust but with firmness, calm smile, and positive attitude) and be counted. 

 

Best always,

Dave

=)

 

PS  If you doubt how crucial it is for you to speak up now and just think that “they” will properly honor the citizenry with real health care reform, consider last Friday’s episode.  It’s a sad example of how your elected officials have already let you down (repeatedly over the decades –both parties) and dramatically missed the mark on their promised financial reforms.  http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/blog/2009/10/wall_street_vs_reform.html 

 

 

 

Some more quotes to ponder:

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. -Thomas Jefferson

What separates winners from losers is the courage to persist long enough to win.  -- David Cottrell

 

Justice will only be achieved when those who have not been injured by crime are as indignant as those who have. -King Solomon

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.  -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

 

 

Please support a group that’s working on your behalf and doing the hard work of going right to the insurers, lobbyists, and politicians that have forgotten moral duty to the citizenry.

 

FW: Stand with Melanie, not insurance CEOs

From: Matt Holland, TrueMajority.org [mailto:ale...@truemajority.org]
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 11:34 AM
To: dave...@kc.rr.com
Subject: Stand with Melanie, not insurance CEOs

 

Dear Dave, WellPoint denied Melanie  when she needed help. Now people like Melanie are headed to D.C. to confront the CEOs who denied them. Can you back them up with a signature? Meet Melanie Shouse. A few years ago, Melanie was living the American dream when she transformed an old Dominos storefront into an expansion of her home business. But just as the store was opening, Melanie was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer and given months to live.1 Melanie had insurance, and she went straight to the experts at Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis. Working with the world-renowned doctors there, she's beaten the odds and stayed healthy for years. But now her insurance company, a subsidiary of WellPoint, is refusing to pay for the medication her doctors recommend.2 So Melanie got mad. And last week Melanie went to WellPoint's local office in St. Louis to confront CEO Angela Braly - who makes almost $10 million a year in salary and stock benefits, but defends dropping people like Melanie's insurance when they get sick.3 Braly refused to meet with Melanie, just like she had refused Melanie's medication. So we're following Braly to Washington, D.C. next week, where she's attending a convention of the biggest insurance company executives in America.4 This conference is our best chance to give people like Melanie the opportunity to confront the insurance company CEOs who denied them care when they needed it. Melanie and people like her will risk everything to demand that insurance CEOs stop dropping our coverage, stop denying us care and stop opposing real reform in Congress. Can you back her up by signing our petition? http://www.truemajority.org/standwithmelanie/tm We've been keeping the pressure on Braly and other insurance company CEOs for almost two weeks now. We've banged on the doors of their mansions, run ads on TV, and held rallies in front of the offices of three of the biggest insurance companies in America.5 These companies - Cigna, WellPoint and UnitedHealth - insure millions of people, but they make their money by denying us care when we need it.3,6 Next week, all three companies' CEOs will be in D.C. to congratulate themselves on making record-breaking salaries and tell our members of Congress to oppose health care reform.6 We can't let their visit go unchallenged, and you can help us send a message. Our signatures make a simple demand: that the CEOs who make billions of dollars and deny us care meet the people they've hurt and consider doing business another way. Sign now and we'll make sure your signature is delivered to the CEOs and to Congress next week when victims like Melanie are in D.C. -Matt Matt Holland Online Director TrueMajority / USAction 1 - suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2009/09/03/north/news/0902flo-health3000.txt 2 - fox2now.com/news/ktvi-jaco-report-jobs-health-care-1000409,0,2545689.story 3 - aishealth.com/ManagedCare/CompanyIntel/ExecComp.html 4 - ahip.org/links/stateissues2009/ 5 - commondreams.org/newswire/2009/10/13 6 - prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/democrats-fire-back-at-insurance-industry-analysis-of-health-legislation/?hp If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for TrueMajority. TrueMajority.org is a grassroots group of citizens who believe in America's true values of openness, fairness and compassion. We believe participating in an effective government is the best way to be mutually responsible for our community. TrueMajority is a project of USAction, a 501(c)(4) organization under the IRS tax code.

 

Note: they’ve already proven that they can effortlessly deny you coverage when you are most vulnerable and life-death need them to deliver on the insurance you thought you were paying for.  If you doubt your vulnerability with insurers, peacefully ponder their lack of shame of trying to rescind coverage for an infant.  Cradle to grave, they have no moral limits to worshipping their bottom line, which is why it’s so important for you to get your elected officials to do the right thing in this very rare and limited moment when they have the majority.

 

 

FW: GKCDFA Big baby initially denied health insurance

From: gkc...@googlegroups.com [mailto:gkc...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 3:07 PM
To: GKCDFA
Subject: GKCDFA Big baby initially denied health insurance

 

Yet another example of a private insurance company finding a way to get out of their obligations to protect their profits:

"I could understand if we could control what he's eating," Alex's father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anc...hor, told FoxNews.
"But he's 4 months old. He's breast-feeding. We can't put him on the
Atkins diet or on a treadmill. There is just something absurd about
denying an infant [coverage]."

Full Story here:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=49447&tsp=1