The house has finally come out with a bill for health care reform. In this house version, they state coverage for about 96% of Americans and serious and much needed oversite and limitations on the health insurance companies. While it is not everything I'd hoped for, it certainly is a start. The bill in the senate, however, is looking much less friendly to the people. Now these bills go up for vote and we still hear that there may not be enough votes to enact a real change. We also must wonder what will happen when the final bill is written. What will it actually contain? Which factions will come out on top? The insurance industry lobbyists seem to have a firm hold on many in both senate and congress.
While Nancy Pelosi has said that this is an historic moment in this country regarding the Health Care Reform Bill that the house has made public, and I must admit a lot of what they have in that bill is real change, I'm not finding it a great historical moment for us - yet. I am still highly disappointed in our lawmakers regardless of which party they claim. I am angry at the rhetoric and lies that are being passed off as fact. When we could solve this problem with $1 a day. How's that? Well, let me explain.
You see, if everyone in the country paid $1 per person per day for health care then everyone would have health care they could afford and everyone would be covered and there would be no cries of "how do we afford it" and "it will create a huge deficit". So here's the plan.
$1 per day per person comes to $365 per year per person. Now hang on 'cause I'm gonna throw out some big numbers here. We have approximately 300 million people in this country. So let's multiply $365 x 300,000,000 = $109,500,000,000 per year. That is 109.5 billion dollars people. Staggering isn't it. Even if you factor in those who cannot afford their $1 per day, we come out well over a 100 billion dollars per year for health care. Over a 10 year period that is over 100 trillion dollars. That is more than sufficient to cover the medical needs of everyone in the country and assure that the health care providers are still paid well enough to compensate for their expenses and salaries.
Let me break that down a little more. For a family of 4 that would be $1,460 per year for health coverage. No worrying about pre-existing conditions, denial of coverage or claims, co-pays and all the other disclaimers that the insurance companies throw out to keep you from getting the health care you need. This is affordable for everyone! It is simple! It does not put our country in debt.
There will be the naysayers out there that tell me that I am making it too simple and that it's just more complicated than that. Is it really? Or do they just make it appear that way hoping to baffle us with BS and toss out numbers so large that our brains rebel at the sound of them so that we will not pay attention or we will give up the fight in our BS induced stupor. No, it really can be that simple. Yes, it would be a single payer system and yes, there would be work in setting it up and implementing and maintaining; but what the hell are these lawmakers up there for if not to work. It is time they started working for the people of this country and not the special interest groups that line their pockets.
I'm gonna take it one step further and suggest that these same lawmakers who can't seem to put together a workable, equitable bill that actually benefits everyone without putting this country further into debt should not have their cushy government sponsored health care coverage but have to be out here with the rest of us at the mercy of the insurance industry. Perhaps if they had to live with what they want to subject us to they would be more inclined to put together real, meaningful health care reform.
Now, I've heard a lot of garbage about single payer from just about every group of people and largely I hear 2 things. Yes, we as a country want single payer and we don't want it because that would make us like Canada or Europe. For those of you enlightened enough to realize that single payer would be the great equalizer of health care - kudos. For those of you who don't want us to be like Canada or Europe in terms of health care - why not? It seems to be working really well for them and the people. Are we such a great and evolved country that we can't learn anything from our neighboring countries? Would a single payer system somehow denigrate our status as a nation? Are we so arrogant that we are willing to sacrifice 40,000 lives every year just so we can say "we're America - we don't have to have socialized medicine". By the way, those 40,000 lives are the number of people who die in this country every year because they don't have health care insurance.
Yes, it may be hard to believe but we could make a truly historic change in this country on just $1 a day.
Lastly, it is time that we had some backbone in this country. It is time to take a stand against dirty politicians taking money from corporations and leaving the rest of us in financial ruin. It is time that we say NO to making laws that make those same corporations billions of dollars every year out of our blood, sweat and tears. It is time for a change. It is time for each and every one of us to speak out and speak up any way we can and let our "elected" officials know that they work for us and they not doing a very good job. In the real world, when you screw up that bad, you no longer have a job - maybe they shouldn't either.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A Few Bad Acorns Don't Spoil the Whole Oak Tree
The last I heard, this was still America where you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. If the Acorn employees that were seen on that video (edited by a conservative activist) are guilty of something, then, of course, they need to be fired and; if laws were broken, charged accordingly. But, as of yet, I've not heard of any charges being brought or filed.
Acorn is an organization that concentrates on organizing mainly poor people to better their lives through economic opportunity, community formation, and voting rights. The voting rights seems to be the real problem with the squawking heads on Faux News. Voter fraud is what we keep hearing over and over again - like there is a huge army of illegal voters overrunning our elections. What they are purposefully confusing is the difference between voter registration fraud and actual voter fraud.
If any organization, (for example: Acorn) hired hundreds of people to register voters and they were paid for each name registered, then we can figure that there will probably be a number of false names registered (i.e. Mickey Mouse). However, if Mickey Mouse actually showed up to vote, the chances are slim to none that he would actually be allowed to cast a ballot. Allowing Mickey Mouse to register is voter registration fraud. Allowing him to actually vote is voter fraud.
The Bush administration devoted large sums of money and resources to identify and prosecute cases of voter fraud. Now, looking back on the years 2000-2007 we see that the average number of indictments for those years was about 8 per year. That's not convictions just indictments. And not all those cases of alleged fraud are attributed to Acorn. This is hardly the "stuff the ballot box" story that the Republicans would have us believe.
While Acorn may have a few bad employees, the press have charged, tried, and convicted them in the media based solely on the dissertations and smear campaign of the Right Wingers in our country. What this says to me is that Acorn is empowering and informing the people least likely to be included in the information process by other sources. When those people are empowered and registered to vote and actually do so, they pose a threat to the powers that be because this usually lower income class of people are far less likely to vote for their oppressors. The Right Wingers can't openly attack and keep them at bay (not yet anyway) so they attempt to do it by taking down the agency that has been hugely responsible for activating this realm of Americans. As far as the Right Wingers are concerned, ignorance is bliss. So, this smear campaign is not so much aimed at the very few involved in Acorn that made mistakes but at the agency as a whole. Knowledge is power and they want as few people as possible to have that power.
Don't be misled. Acorn as an organization is not the problem. The problem is that certain political factions in this country would take all funding away from this organization so that those who need them most would have no power to fight their greed and oppression. Now that's something I find unAmerican.
Acorn is an organization that concentrates on organizing mainly poor people to better their lives through economic opportunity, community formation, and voting rights. The voting rights seems to be the real problem with the squawking heads on Faux News. Voter fraud is what we keep hearing over and over again - like there is a huge army of illegal voters overrunning our elections. What they are purposefully confusing is the difference between voter registration fraud and actual voter fraud.
If any organization, (for example: Acorn) hired hundreds of people to register voters and they were paid for each name registered, then we can figure that there will probably be a number of false names registered (i.e. Mickey Mouse). However, if Mickey Mouse actually showed up to vote, the chances are slim to none that he would actually be allowed to cast a ballot. Allowing Mickey Mouse to register is voter registration fraud. Allowing him to actually vote is voter fraud.
The Bush administration devoted large sums of money and resources to identify and prosecute cases of voter fraud. Now, looking back on the years 2000-2007 we see that the average number of indictments for those years was about 8 per year. That's not convictions just indictments. And not all those cases of alleged fraud are attributed to Acorn. This is hardly the "stuff the ballot box" story that the Republicans would have us believe.
While Acorn may have a few bad employees, the press have charged, tried, and convicted them in the media based solely on the dissertations and smear campaign of the Right Wingers in our country. What this says to me is that Acorn is empowering and informing the people least likely to be included in the information process by other sources. When those people are empowered and registered to vote and actually do so, they pose a threat to the powers that be because this usually lower income class of people are far less likely to vote for their oppressors. The Right Wingers can't openly attack and keep them at bay (not yet anyway) so they attempt to do it by taking down the agency that has been hugely responsible for activating this realm of Americans. As far as the Right Wingers are concerned, ignorance is bliss. So, this smear campaign is not so much aimed at the very few involved in Acorn that made mistakes but at the agency as a whole. Knowledge is power and they want as few people as possible to have that power.
Don't be misled. Acorn as an organization is not the problem. The problem is that certain political factions in this country would take all funding away from this organization so that those who need them most would have no power to fight their greed and oppression. Now that's something I find unAmerican.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Food for Thought
This is America. We are supposed to be a leader in this world and yet there is an article in the USA Today that school kids can't get lunch because their parents can't afford it.
According to this article, many student's families cannot afford to purchase their lunch while in school and because they allowed them to go ahead and get a meal for a few days without paying, there is now a debt owed to the schools. So, now, a child can only charge a meal for a couple of days and then if the family can't pay - no lunch. In some schools, an alternative lunch was offered (cheese sandwich and milk) but then that was discontinued because the children were stigmatized by the difference in lunches. In Des Moines, schools are even resorting to collection agencies to pressure parents to pay the past due balances for charged meals.
We know that we have a huge hunger and homeless problem in this country; and, that alone should make us ashamed. We also know, that when it comes to education, we are far behind many other countries. Now, we are going to add to this problem by not feeding our children while at school. In spite of the fact that there are numerous studies out there that show that a well fed child learns better and is better able to retain and use that knowledge, we see that when it comes down to money, money wins. Everybody's equal as long as you can pay.
In this same edition of the newspaper, there is an article about earmarks (special funding)that our lawmakers have put into the national budget. There is $600,000 earmarked for the National Wild Turkey Federation (a hunting organization) and $350,000 earmarked to promote specialty meat in Wisconsin. These are not the only earmarks in the budget but just an example of the frivolities that our lawmakers have the audacity to even consider spending our tax money on.
Just those two examples represent almost 1 million dollars that could be used to fund school lunches. Now, how about those turkey hunters donate their kills to the schools and maybe the Wisconsin specialty meat producers could donate some of their product. (Think of it as real time marketing specialty meat people). We could feed a lot of children with this plan. Or, how about you let me at that budget. I've raised a family and put kids through college on far, far less than even one of those lawmakers earns in a year. Bet I could show you a lot of other junk we should take out of that budget and put it where it really needs to go.
So, we have school kids going hungry at school and schools hiring collection agencies to harass already overworked and underpaid parents and ruining what may be left of their fragile credit and I find this such a sorry and disturbing state of affairs. When the hell are we gonna get our priorities straight in this country.
Alas, it isn't enough to rant and point out the ugly truth. We must be willing to put the outrage to use. We must be willing to step up and do something. So let this be a call to action. Ask your self what you can do to change even a small part of this backward process. Band together and let our voices be heard but let our actions speak louder.
According to this article, many student's families cannot afford to purchase their lunch while in school and because they allowed them to go ahead and get a meal for a few days without paying, there is now a debt owed to the schools. So, now, a child can only charge a meal for a couple of days and then if the family can't pay - no lunch. In some schools, an alternative lunch was offered (cheese sandwich and milk) but then that was discontinued because the children were stigmatized by the difference in lunches. In Des Moines, schools are even resorting to collection agencies to pressure parents to pay the past due balances for charged meals.
We know that we have a huge hunger and homeless problem in this country; and, that alone should make us ashamed. We also know, that when it comes to education, we are far behind many other countries. Now, we are going to add to this problem by not feeding our children while at school. In spite of the fact that there are numerous studies out there that show that a well fed child learns better and is better able to retain and use that knowledge, we see that when it comes down to money, money wins. Everybody's equal as long as you can pay.
In this same edition of the newspaper, there is an article about earmarks (special funding)that our lawmakers have put into the national budget. There is $600,000 earmarked for the National Wild Turkey Federation (a hunting organization) and $350,000 earmarked to promote specialty meat in Wisconsin. These are not the only earmarks in the budget but just an example of the frivolities that our lawmakers have the audacity to even consider spending our tax money on.
Just those two examples represent almost 1 million dollars that could be used to fund school lunches. Now, how about those turkey hunters donate their kills to the schools and maybe the Wisconsin specialty meat producers could donate some of their product. (Think of it as real time marketing specialty meat people). We could feed a lot of children with this plan. Or, how about you let me at that budget. I've raised a family and put kids through college on far, far less than even one of those lawmakers earns in a year. Bet I could show you a lot of other junk we should take out of that budget and put it where it really needs to go.
So, we have school kids going hungry at school and schools hiring collection agencies to harass already overworked and underpaid parents and ruining what may be left of their fragile credit and I find this such a sorry and disturbing state of affairs. When the hell are we gonna get our priorities straight in this country.
Alas, it isn't enough to rant and point out the ugly truth. We must be willing to put the outrage to use. We must be willing to step up and do something. So let this be a call to action. Ask your self what you can do to change even a small part of this backward process. Band together and let our voices be heard but let our actions speak louder.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Right Wing Jesus
I'm a satellite radio subscriber and I'm used to listening to my particular programs as I roll away the miles. Then one day the radio in my truck quits and I can only get one channel - 89.3. So I only get satellite radio when I'm in an area that will pick up on that channel. Well, I got into a stretch in Wyoming where for about 100 miles 89.3 was all Right Wing Jesus all the time. I kept checking every so many miles thinking that surely that station would fade out. But no, Right Wing Jesus was still hanging in there and he was a mad Jesus. Right Wing Jesus wanted people to fight and judge and be angry. And apparently, Right Wing Jesus doesn't want us to have a public option in health care.
Now, wait a minute. The Jesus I learned about in Sunday School healed the people and never once asked for a cent or whether they had a pre-existing condition. Something was very wrong here. This wasn't my Jesus. No, it seems Right Wing Jesus wants me to listen to Rush Limbaugh, denounce my president, and support corrupt corporate control.
So, Right Wing Jesus opposes abortion but is in favor of killing people in Iraq and Afghanistan. Right Wing Jesus wants me to support giving a corporation the right to decide whether or not I deserve to be healed or get to live or die. Right Wing Jesus apparently doesn't like poor people, public programs, education or believe in global warming.
Wow! This Right Wing Jesus is one angry, judgemental dude. Somehow this all seems incredibly absurd to me but apparently Right Wing Jesus is influencing many in this nation to practice this blasphemous form of Religious Right politics.
From this truck seat, my religious right friends, I will pray for you that your ignorance may be lifted and your humanity restored.
Til then, me and Dashboard Jesus, will keep bobbing down the road catching fish, breaking loaves, being kind and tolerant to our fellow man, speaking the truth even to those who may not want to hear it and working on getting the public option in our health care reform so that the God you profess to worship can do his job of deciding when and where we die and not the insurance companies.
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