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HCR 
Tue Jan 18, 2011 at 14:01:27 PM MST
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( - promoted by Fong)
Let's not forget this shining example of Republican Hypocrisy uttered by our very own Representative Mike Coffman when we watch all the reports tonight about Republicans who want to repeal recently passed health care reforms:Rep. Mike Coffman (R) of Colorado was jogging on Christmas morning when he stepped on something hidden by snow, fell, and ended up on crutches. "I successfully tested our health care system," Coffman said.
"It works."
Of course it does -- for him. Coffman, who has great taxpayer-subsidized insurance as a member of Congress, went for X-rays, found that he'd broken a bone, and received a cast and some painkillers. It cost him a $30 co-pay. A friend of a friend is a specialist, who saw Coffman on short notice and concluded that the conservative lawmaker would not need surgery. The visit to the specialist -- at an exclusive clinic in Vail -- wasn't covered by his insurance, but Coffman, who makes $174,000 a year as a House member, had no trouble paying the $350 out-of-pocket expense. No one, and I mean No One, should let Coffman pretend he's standing on some kind of principle in this debate. And if he ever does stand on principle, it will be on a Taxpayer-Funded, Well-Healed ankle that tested the system........but only for those who make $174 Big Ones and think everyone else has that very same plan.
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Mon Dec 06, 2010 at 07:15:15 AM MST
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There is a line in "A Fish Called Wanda" that comes to mind when I think about Tea Party Conservatives and many of what passes for main-line Republicans these days. Wanda if talking to Otto and he says "Apes don't read philosophy" Wanda replies "Yes, they do, Otto, they just don't understand it". That is where I am with Tea Partiers and the Constitution.
Sure they claim to have fealty to it, in that invariant way that some believers claim about the bible, but what good does it do you to be faithful to something you clearly don't understand? Take the soon to be Governor of Maine, Paul LePage. He was quoted recently as saying:
"I am going to be sitting with our attorney general and ask him to join the (health care reform) lawsuit against the federal government," he said, adding he just learned that if 35 states join the suit, the law "dies, automatically." Twenty states so far have joined the suit, filed in federal court in Florida, to repeal the provision in health care reform law that requires individuals to purchase health insurance.
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Sun Oct 17, 2010 at 18:46:23 PM MST
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( - promoted by Fong)
I was driving to the Littleton Barnes & Noble today when I heard a radio ad in support of Amendment 63, the dreadful attempt by fringe "Coloradans" to kill HCR in our great state. I was surprised to hear that the ad was funded by the Independence Institute (no linky), an unpleasant, local organization hell bent on stripping away our freedoms while claiming they fight for them.
It was also odd because their fearless leader, Jon Caldera, recommended socialized healthcare to me just a few months ago.
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Wed Apr 21, 2010 at 14:38:18 PM MST
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( - promoted by Fong)
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities States will have matching funds from the Feds to expand Medicaid coverage with no cap on enrollment, as long as States provide an amended plan by 6/30/2010.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index....
While states do not have to expand Medicaid until 2014, a new coverage option included in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) allows states to cover low-income adults now. Adopting this option could provide needed federal funds to states - that currently fund their own coverage programs for low-income adults who are not eligible for Medicaid. It also provides a new pathway for states that want to expand coverage to adults without children before 2014.
Where is Colorado in this process? The following link provides a list of States' legislative initiatives to facilitate Health Care options. It's no surprise which States are absent on this list - hardline Red States, hoping to prove 'what a failure PPACA is' at the polls in November.
http://www.ncsl.org/?TabId=19467
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Wed Apr 07, 2010 at 06:32:21 AM MST
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I have few absolutes in my life. This is by design, the fewer things that you have no bending on the greater the chance that you can find common ground and get progress on issues or even have a happy life. The two I'll talk about today are torture and political violence.
We have seen a disturbing trend in the last few months of violence based on political views. The man who flew his plane into the IRS, the assassination of Dr. Tiller for performing legal reproductive services, the killing of police officers for the supposed plan by the Obama administration to seize the guns of private citizens, the brick throwing at Democratic political offices and the cutting of gas lines at the family home of the brother of a U.S Representative whose address was posted on the internet by mistake.
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Fri Mar 26, 2010 at 07:01:07 AM MST
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Let's be clear, if a member of Congress or one of their staff is seriously assaulted, the blame will squarely lie with the Republican Party and its leadership in particular. I say seriously assaulted because Rep. Cleaver was spat upon on Sunday and that constitutes assault. But it will not be a legal culpability that the Republicans will have to bear it is the moral responsibility that they as people elected to represent and lead this nation.
We have seen some back peddling from a few Republicans, softly decrying the actions of their supporters as "nuts" or a " few isolated incidents". This, of course, completely ignores the years of ever growing rhetoric which paints their political opponents as traitors or baby killers or Socialists or Nazi's.
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Thu Mar 25, 2010 at 10:42:45 AM MST
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I've generally not done much on the HCR bill up til this point because I've been hoping that the United States Senate would follow through with their promises to provide affordable insurance to all. I am all for adding some more folk to insurance, its batting about .500 right now. The problem of course is the affordable part.
Cenk Uygur's Article on Huffpost
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Wed Mar 24, 2010 at 06:56:36 AM MST
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When I was a six or seven, I asked my Dad to explain what political conservative was (yes, I was just as big a politics nerd as a child as I am now, it must be genetic). It was harder than he thought but he came down on the definition that a conservative was someone that wanted to keep things as much the same as they were or are today as possible. Dad was great in that he did not attach any negative connotations to this desire, in fact he made a point to say that it was important to have folks like this, lest the nation make big mistakes. It is sad to say, but the definition Dad provided 30 plus years ago does not seem to apply anymore.
The actions of the current conservatives and the Republican Party where they make their home seems to be far more about turning back the clock then slowing the pace of change. The best example of this is their legal thinking. Any time there is a new law that they do not like, they run all the way back to the Constitution and say that it is not in that venerable 223 year old document.
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Mon Mar 22, 2010 at 06:14:41 AM MST
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Last night the House passed the Senates version of the HCR bill and the reconciliation fixes that they had bargained for. With that we crossed a line, but it was not the finish line, not by a long shot. While the bill has a lot of things in it that will measurably improve the amount and availability of health care for millions of Americans (more than zero, but way less that all) that is not really the important and historic aspect of the bill.
What changed last night is the framing of the debate about health care in this nation. Up until now it was an undecided question if the goal should be covering all Americans in one form or another. That question has been decided, the answer is yes.
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