2008 Platform: Guaranteed Health Care for All Americans
Submitted by JC on August 10, 2008 - 11:29pm.
I went to Pittsburgh this weekend to encourage the drafters of the 2008 Democratic Party Platform to include guaranteed health care for all as a uniform Democratic principle.
I am pleased to inform you that we succeeded in this fight. The platform now includes the language:
"every American man, woman and child [should] be guaranteed to have affordable, comprehensive health care."
John Nichols wrote about our success in a piece for the Nation magazine. The full text of his article is here.
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OT; Reposts from the previous thread.
Now that big business has been warned about the escalating war with Iran...
...we should track the sales of investor insurance in the world markets.
Immediately prior to the false flag attack of 9/11, many investor class American citizens seemed to be blessed with clairvoyance as they took out insurance that guaranteed they wouldn't lose the value of their stock if a catastrophic event caused panic on Wall Street.
I believe that these elitist investor class individuals will protect their legacies(cash) in a similar fashion before Bush commits to war with Iran.
It makes perfect sense that the warning would be hidden in obscure foreign business news outlets.
These generational conflicts are designed to redistribute the worlds wealth in such a way that the power(cash) is stockpiled and used to disenfranchise world citizens. If they aren't pre-warned, they can't purchase the insurance. Without insurance they lose their ability to profit from the next round of invasions.
Can someone track the sales of investor insurance so we have a better idea as to when Bush will be attacking Iran? When the rate of investor insurance rises, liberals should protect their own investments by following suit.
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Mary-Kate wins, America loses.
Little Mary-Kate Olsen told America's Just-Us Department to go Cheney themselves last week, just like Rove, Miers, Josh Bolton, and John Bolton....and the Just-Us Department backed down rather than damage the "Go fuck yourself" precedent established by the Urinary Executive.
I suppose if you're a billionaire entitled to everything the world has to offer, this is great news. But if you are a rank and file American it simply reaffirms the belief that wealthy and political families can do whatever the hell they want with no repercussions.
Mr. Conyers has unfailingly sided with those who have shown nothing but disdain for the constitution. Any "negotiations"(plea bargaining) involving Rove, Miers, Bolton and Bolton, will result in his total capitulation.
It isn't like he hasn't established a pattern. When Mr. Conyers was first elected, McCain was a pimply faced frat-boy.
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With hospital CEO's in LA getting arrested for welfare fraud, the healthcare industry is too proft driven to be entrusted with America's health.
The term "affordable healthcare for all", when presented by someone who has never had to pay a dime for healthcare, doesn't fill me with confidence.
Since Mr. Conyers no longer has the reference points to understand Average Joe, how can he determine what we can afford?
With no law enforcement or judicial oversight possibilities, who's going to stop these people from telling victim class America to go Cheney themselves?
Scribbling sentences on pieces of paper, isn't the problem. Enforcement is. Without the later, there is no sense wasting time on the former.
One thing that MUST be done
is to insure that Americans have the freedom to choose their own health care! I am unalterably opposed to making the American Public captive to Allopathic Medicine and Big Pharma. I spent, during my working lifetime, over 75,000 dollars on "Health Insurance." If I had self-insured and invested, I'd have a nest egg right now of over a quarter million. And, right now, I am one of the nearly fifty million Americans who have NO Health Insurance - because I flatass cannot afford it. I take care of my own health, thank you; I have become a pretty competent herbalist, keep well supplied with vitamins and minerals, and if some ailment that I cannot otherwise handle shows up, I have recourse to Homeopathic remedies that are more effective and a lot cheaper than the bugaboo of prescription drugs. Since correctly prescribed and properly taken drugs are the largest killer in the World, I think my approach is quite sensible. SO - either authorize Health Freedom, and allow payment for all the Alternative and Complementary modalities, OR - let those of us who do not WANT our lives to be ruled (or taken) by the AMA-Pharma Cartel to opt out of the Federal Coverage. Unless you let me choose my own form of medicine, I will be against 100% coverage, and work to see that it is not passed.
An additional point
Restore "Pay for Service." If Physicians can charge reasonable fees without fear of malpractice suits (By reasonable law, a doctor who is paid at the point of service could not be sued,) the expense of health care would drop like a rock. Unnecessary malpractice insurance accounts for more than half of most Physicians' overhead costs. And malpractice insurance is the cash cow for many insurance companies. Even now, Naturopaths and Homeopaths charge a lot less than Allopaths, simply because their patients don't sue! If you have taken charge of your own health care, and not delivered yourself bound into the hands of an HMO, you figure you're responsible for any mistakes! The fact simply is that Medicine as currently practiced is backwards. Prevention is the sensible way to go, and MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE.
Conyers Announces Review of Allegations
Conyers Announces Review of Allegations of Bush Administration’s Forged Iraq Intelligence
For Immediate Release
August 11, 2008
Contact: Jonathan Godfrey (Conyers)
Lillian German (Conyers)
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today announced plans to review allegations that senior Bush Administration officials ordered the forgery and dissemination of false intelligence documents as reported by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Ron Suskind, in his new book, "The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism."
"Mr. Suskind reports that the Bush Administration, in its pursuit of war, created and promoted forged documents about Iraq," said Conyers. "I am particularly troubled that the decision to disseminate this fabricated intelligence is alleged to have come from the highest reaches of the administration. The administration’s attempt to challenge Mr. Suskind’s reporting appears to have been effectively dismissed by the publication of the author’s interview recordings and transcripts. I have instructed my staff to conduct a careful review of Mr. Suskind’s allegations and the role played by senior administration officials in this matter."
A number of issues raised in Mr. Suskind’s book to be reviewed include:
* The origin of the allegedly forged document that formed the basis for Bush’s 2003 State of the Union assertion that Iraq sought yellowcake uranium from Niger;
* The role of this document in creating the false impression that 9/11 hijacker Mohammed Atta had a working relationship with Iraq;
* The relationship between this document and other reported examples of the Bush Administration considering other deceptive schemes to justify or provoke war with Iraq, such as the reported consideration of painting a U.S. aircraft with UN colors in order to provoke Iraq into military confrontation;
* Allegations that the Bush Administration deliberately ignored information from Iraq’s chief intelligence officer that Iraq possessed no WMDs;
* The payment of $5 million to Iraq’s chief intelligence officer and his secret settlement in Jordan, beyond the reach of investigators;
* The September 2007 detainment and interrogation of Mr. Suskind’s research assistant, Greg Jackson, by federal agents in Manhattan. Jackson’s notes were also confiscated.
here
Health care for all would be great
My uninsured, unemployed son just found out he has thyroid cancer. He already owes $4,000 to the hospital for an emergency room visit in March (thats when they found out he had some sort of thyroid problem). Since then, we've had to pay for each test before they would even set up the appointment. I can't wait to find out how much the bill will be for him to get his thyroid removed and his hospital stay overnight. But first we have to go to the ears, nose and throat guy to make sure his vocal chords, and lymph nodes are alright (Another $120.00 at least).
Sure hope it works this time. I seem to remember health care as being the platform for others too.
Alma, so sorry to hear that
Does your county offer any help? Our county does have some sort of healthcare Plan, which isn't an insurance, but may offer some help. Here's the website you can check to see if your county offers any sort of care that can help reduce your son's costs.
It is just so appalling that in addition to having such a worrying medical diagnosis, that he, and you have to worry about paying doctor bills too. You know how to contact me if I can be of any help.
Also, some more info here.
Best wishes for his complete recovery.
I can completely relate to your circumstances, Alma!
In beween jobs -- no health insurance -- Cobra too expensive -- looking for a job, then a major illness -- to complete the picture of 100% stress.
I have a couple of ideas, as well. Each state has its own form of provisions in the event of "extraodinary medical expenses." Here are some links for Michigan: Michigan Be sure to check into it, Alma.
Also, some hospitals do offer some relief, but you need to apply for it. Right now, is none too soon to inquire about it and take action.
This is such a dreadful experience -- I am here, I know you know that! -- in whatever way I can be of any solace or help!
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Not every...violation of the law, is a crime..."
Justice Staffers Won't be Prosecuted for Illegal Hiring Practices Mukasey (remember him--he's the guy who promised the Senate that he'd be "independent" of bush--(snicker) won't be prosecuting crimes:
Oh, my!! "Sharpest words"!!! Wow--he must have been watching the 110th Congress deal with criminal behavior--to actually resort to..... Sharp Words !!
Do you agree, Mr. Chairman? AG Mukasey, George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Karl Rove, et al--they can just violate laws and/or refuse to prosecute violation of the law, whenever they choose? If so, well, it certainly makes Congress rather, er, Irrelevant doesn't it? Why make laws if anyone from civil servants to Presidents can just violate them? Seems like a waste of time, and tax dollars doesn't it?
The Horse Speaks...
Not a Joke...
Since when is a crime NOT a crime? How can one use it's generalized defined use "CRIME" to define what it is... or NOT?
It's like arguing that rocks aren't water... a given understanding... NO?
Yet Mukasey resorts to arguing that sometimes, water isn't water. Then why call it water in the first place? It's disingenuous to reason, at best!
Why imply the use of the word "CRIME" if what you are addressing isn't a CRIME?
... But to throw in an argument rooted in deconstructing logic?
Remember Clinton? "Well, that depends on what the definition of "IS" is."
HOGWASH!
Then why call it a crime, if it is NOT?
Then not all RAPES are rapes?
Then not all FRAUDS are frauds?
Then not all MURDERS are murders?
Then not all wars of aggression are wars of aggression?
Then not all unethical hiring practices are unethical?
Isn't the use of the word, CRIME to describe what it is supposed to be NOT, an admission that it is truly a CRIME? ... just for convenience this time... NOT?
Re:Mukasey Re: Goodling.
AG is able to clearly articulate the problem.
It is not a matter of pointing anything out to him, he gets it. This he has made very plain.
The thing is, The AG calls the problem ... the solution.
1/ Those in professional positions for political reasons will stay in those professional positions and will continue to act politically.
2/ Those denied professional jobs because of their politics are to be encouraged to ask again...but even if the administration decides to give 'em a job (Ha!) they will be Junior to the ideologues hired by Goodling.
The AG proposes to correct nothing. This equates to approval of Goodlings' deeds and is cause for impeachment.
And, for that matter, so is starting a war for fun.
Frosted Flake
Unspun and Frosty, I read that today, myself,
and thought I was having a bad dream!
Unbelievable! The whole sick, pathetic lot of them always seeks "justification" for their "illegal" stances! How perverted our whole system has become!!!! And, as I'm sure many now know, it has all trickled down to the State and City levels!
I don't know that we can ever, ever completly recover and restore what's left of our democracy. And my worst thought is that our government simply doesn't give a damn -- any of them -- as long as their bread is buttered.*
*Excluding a very few in Congress and a couple in the Senate.
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Olbermann and Turley on Mukasey...
Q U E S T I O N:
What good is the Rule of Law when it can be so cavalierly ignored for political purposes?
I thought in America, no man was above the Law. Implicitly contained within that statement is the inherit understanding that even stature or title is not a legal defense.
Welcome to the post 9/11 Fascist America!
Welcome to the victim class.
I use the term "victim class", to describe individuals in society who don't have the societal capital to be worthy of rights.
It isn't a "woe is me" thing, it's an observational thing based on decades of membership.
The systematic denial of the rights of the individual didn't begin at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1999 in Washington, it began decades ago and slowly but surely imbeded itself in the American psyche, through the emotionalization of law rather than it's previously accepted logic based interpretations.
If the people were drunks, addicts, welfare rats, homeless, or "known" to be criminals, concrete evidence wasn't needed when convicting or evicting these people, and nobody gave a rats ass. As a matter of convenience, the Constitution slowly began to erode with the blessings of the only people in position to know any better, educated America. Hence my disdain for the relentlessly self edifying educated/ruling class.
Without the blind eye of well respected Americans at the local level, the institutionalized blind eye in Washington would never be accepted. They know the Constitution front to back, I know this because they usually quote chapter and verse when rationalizing their denial of the rights of victim class Americans.
Being victim class, isn't necessarily about a lack of education, or a criminal background, or an addictive personality, it's about vulnerability and pliability. If you can't hurt the local organized crime ring, or help them, you become vulnerable to victim class designation. If you resist them or make the public think less of them, you become a threat and your inclusion is assured.
As far as the criteria for inclusion is concerned, I hit the trifecta, so they've thrown everything but the kitchen sink at the victim class individuals I've tried to help. The people being harassed are usually the people they've illegally denied the rights of, the most. It's a form of gentrification, blessed and accepted by the enviro's who want to create the wonderfully exclusive Bob Marshall Wilderness Park.
By removing families that they've generationally railroaded or systematically denied habeus corpus rights as a means to convict, the organized crime rings controlling Just-Us at the local level become less vulnerable. Vulnerability is one of the criteria in victim class membership, so their biggest fear is having done to them, what they allow done to others.
Eventually, even the thievery in local school boards, disguised as bad bookkeeping, will be excused as ignorance rather than prosecuted as embezzlement, by the same people who insist that possessing a plant should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
But I suppose, since I live in one of the many crooked Franklin Counties in America, I may be a little ahead of the curve. From Missouri, to Mississippi, to the recent article regarding the tortured dead immigrant in Franklin County Vermont, to my own state of New York, it appears that most Franklin Counties are being used as test subjects for unconstitutional acts.
And it's been happening for decades, with the blessing of highly educated members of the American Bar Association all over America. Without the blind eye of legal America, imbeded by the teachings of people like Ken Starr, John Yoo, Condi Rice and others in Lawyer/Liar Schools everywhere, the individuals I call the victim class wouldn't exist.
It didn't trickle down from Washington, it's a desensitization process that has been ongoing for years.
As long as it was drunks, drug addicts, criminals, and homeless people, the rights guaranteed to all Americans weren't applicable. But like all cancers, it begins at a weak spot and spreads.
The cure must begin with an acceptance of the Constitution at a local level, if we are to have a hope of expecting it at a national level.
If we expect justice in DC, we must be prepared to charge local school board members, and elected officials with theivery when they are caught stealing tax dollars, as quickly as they would any other petty thief in America. Otherwise, where's the deterrent?
But that would force one "professional", to call another "professional", exactly what they are, a thief.
In the end, that's all they are anyways. Highly educated thieves. No wonder there have been so many cultural revolutions in the history of humanity. By the looks of things, we might see another.
Soon the educated public will be forced to accept it's victim class status. Why not? When they came for the homeless, nobody cared, because they weren't homeless.
Humans have learned nothing, yet we still insist we're the smartestest generation ever.
With career politicians like Mr. Conyers in charge of Just-Us, we have to start small and work our way up, just like they did.
Healthcare; Franklin County style.
I picked the following story up from my Yahoo local headlines, today.
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New York Prison Staffer Suspended Over Inmate’s 2004 Death
In December 2004, as fellow inmates listened helplessly, a 19-year-old prison inmate at the Upstate Correctional Facility in Malone, N.Y., suffered repeated seizures on the floor of his cell for two days and two nights without receiving medical attention.
A state medical board later concluded that the inmate, a Mexican national named Christopher Campos, died because one of the prison’s infirmary staff didn’t understand his diagnosis and then denied him his prescribed medication.
Now, nearly four years later, the physician’s assistant responsible for Campos’ care, Louise Tichnor, has pleaded no contest to two charges of medical misconduct, including “gross negligence” and “gross incompetence.” Tichnor has been suspended from the profession for three years and is also permanently barred from working in a correctional facility for the remainder of her career.
In a January 25, 2006 cover story, “Cruel and Unusual: Dying in Solitary in a New York Prison,” Seven Days profiled the case of Campos, who was serving a 1-to-3-year sentence on felony assault charges. According to state records, he had a well-documented history of seizures dating back to the age of 6. In fact, during his brief incarceration, Campos had been a frequent patient at the Albany Medical Center.
According to a consent order filed several weeks ago with the New York State Board for Professional Medical Conduct, Tichnor wrongly assumed that Campos’ diagnosis, known as “pseudoseizures,” meant “fake seizures” and thus denied him his anti-seizure medication.
At the time, a representative for the New York State Department of Correctional Services described the case as “tragic and unfortunate,” but also as an isolated incident.
Plattsburgh-based Prisoners’ Legal Services of New York, which first learned of the incident, says the Campos tragedy highlights similar shortcomings in the level of medical services provided in the New York correctional system, including the severe shortage of Spanish-speaking medical staff.
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One of the head honchos in Frankin County NY's healthcare system during this time, was Dr. Champagne, father of our fascist DA, Derek Champagne.
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Another Franklin County, this one in Vermont, is involved in a story about the death of a detained immigrant, who was held in detention and denied medical treatment because his jailers also claimed he was faking it. He had a fractured spine, cancer, and died a short time after being transferred. I read about this one in the NYTimes online, today.
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Like I said before, welcome to the victim class.
Justice Dept. Issues a Callback
Illegally Rejected Applicants Urged to Try for Open Jobs
Job applicants who were rejected by the Justice Department because of improper political considerations will be urged to apply for open positions, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey told an audience yesterday.
Mukasey said that the hiring system at Justice had broken down and that department leaders had failed to supervise the behavior "of those who did wrong." But the attorney general stopped short of agreeing to weed out lawyers and immigration judges who won their jobs based on faulty criteria.
"Two wrongs do not make a right," Mukasey told the American Bar Association yesterday in New York. "The people hired in an improper way did not, themselves, do anything wrong. It therefore would be unfair -- and quite possibly illegal given their civil service protections -- to fire or reassign them without individual cause."
(snip)
Separately, an official in the Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility said the unit has notified bar associations of its findings against five lawyers singled out in reports thus far. The bar groups could initiate their own disciplinary proceedings against the lawyers, who include former Justice Department White House liaison Monica M. Goodling; former attorney general chief of staff D. Kyle Sampson; and former deputy attorney general chief of staff Michael D. Elston. Two lower-ranking officials, Esther Slater McDonald and John Nowacki, also were cited in the previous reports and their bar associations were notified, the official said.
Justice Dept Issues Callback
New! OPR and the Department’s Office of Inspector General completed a joint investigation into allegations of politicized hiring by Monica Goodling and other staff in the Office of the Attorney General. The complete text of the joint OPR/OIG report can be accessed here
OPR and the Department’s Office of Inspector General completed a joint investigation into allegations of politicized hiring in the Department of Justice Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program. The complete text of the joint OPR/OIG report can be accessed here.
Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility
Appeals Court Chief Judge
Appeals Court Chief Judge David Sentelle wrote when ruling on the Valarie Plame Appeals case:
Q U E S T I O N:
Then where is that threshold which limits the conduct of the defendant’s scope of employment that renders it an illegal act? If the scope of employment allows the defendant to commit acts unlawful, then what is the need of ANY laws defining what is and is not legal, at all? What then, is the definition of ANARCHY? What then is it called when one acts in contrary to the National security of the U.S.A. if not TREASON?
Since when did TREASON become a legal defense?
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I M P E A C H
SO I CAN ACT AGAINST THE NATIONAL SECURITY OF THE U.S.A. AND BE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A.? SO I CAN COMMIT UNLAWFUL ACTS AND BE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A.?
logical, in view of SCOTUS attitude
after all, wasn't it Scalia who said, "Innocence is not a valid defense" ??????
It isn't who votes but who counts the votes... and worse!
GOP cyber sleuth Stephen Spoonamore has stated publicly that the leadership of the GOP has been "lying and stealing elections" and doing so through computers. Watch the stunning and revealing video here (play time 30 mins - and worth every minute!).
Vote counting...
Torture policies...
Warrantless surveillance of the people...
... and I thought the president went to China to support and promote American principles but in hindsight, we've become the new soft Communistic state with the president as the celebrity figure head.
Naomi Klein covers it more clearly...
In my neighborhood, they've installed cameras in the public park to "monitor" for "problem" activities. 'RED LIGHT' cameras no longer film the brothels but instead "monitor" traffic looking for violations.
"Stick a feather in my hat and you can call it macaroni, Yankee Doodle!"
Max1, thank you for this!
Note that the video link you have is not working!
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Oops... Lets try again. This
Oops...
Lets try again.
This should work.
If not, it can be found at VelvetRevolution.us HERE
Still, Pelosi continues to say: "I See Nothing"...
and Mukasey arrogantly says: "Not every violation of the law is a crime". (Apparently only those violations committed by Democrats?..) And the most infuriating thing is that WE are paying these arrogant dictatorial (alleged) "public servants'" salary.
One more point
Arguably, one of the most corrupt bureaus in the gummint is the FDA. It has recently proved that it is not only corrupt, it is ineffective in doing its duty. The Salmonella outbreak was particularly disgraceful. The FDA, as it exists, is simply the enforcement arm of Big PHARMA, and MUST be restructured to meet the Public's need. My suggestion: First of all, take oversight on FOOD (including Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs, and other DIETARY supplements) away from FDA, and give it, and the associated budget, to USDA where it really belongs. Change the name of FDA to "Federal Drug Administration" and leave it in oversight of Prescription Drugs. Make it a sternly punishable crime for any functionary of the Agency to have ANY financial involvement with anyone who makes prescription drugs; stop the current totally reprehensible practice of letting drug companies fund the Agency!
And make it a permanent point of law that NO FOOD CAN EVER BE CLASSIFIED AS A DRUG, BY ANY SUCH CHICANERY AS SO DEFINING IT!!!
......