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State Attorneys General Sue Obama Administration Over Birth Control Rule (Updated)

Evans Liberal Politics
February 25, 2012


The Best in Liberal Christian News
and US Politics

State Attorneys General Sue Obama Administration
Over Birth Control Rule (Updated)

State Attorneys General Sue Obama Administration Over Birth Control Rule, The Raw Story, February 23, 2012, by Eric W. Dolan, quoted verbatim, used with permission: Evans Liberal Politics is happy to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news, UPDATED, with poll results, below:

Seven state attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration that seeks to block the implementation of new federal government rules regarding contraception coverage.

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The attorneys general of Florida, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas, along with some Catholic organizations, said in their lawsuit that the new rule violates the First Amendment.

In recent weeks, a controversy has erupted over the policy, which requires virtually all private insurance policies to cover family planning, including female contraceptives, essentially guaranteeing near universal access to birth control once all the provisions of the Affordable Care Act are implemented.

“Obamacare’s latest mandate tramples the First Amendment’s Freedom of Religion and compels people of faith to act contrary to their convictions,” said Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. “The President’s so called ‘accommodation’ was nothing but a shell game: the mandate still requires religious organizations to subsidize and authorize conduct that conflicts with their religious principles.”

The White House offered to change the rules by exempting religion-related organizations with moral objections. Instead, the insurance companies would be required provide those services free of charge. Republicans have derided the compromise as an “accounting gimmick.”

The lawsuit alleges that the proposed compromise is too narrow because it does not exempt businesses and organizations that primarily serve or employ persons who do not share their religious tenets.

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of Nebraska.

According to a Quinnipiac University national poll released Thursday, 54 percent of Americans approve of Obama’s compromise concerning insurance coverage for birth control. Thirty-eight percent disapprove. Women are slightly more likely than men to approve of the compromise, while white Catholics are split 46 percent to 48 percent. Not surprisingly, Democrats are much more likely to approve of the compromise than Republicans.

Eric W. Dolan has served as an editor for Raw Story since August 2010, and is based out of San Diego, California. He grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and received a Bachelor of Science from Bradley University. Eric is also the publisher and editor of PsyPost. You can follow him on Twitter @ewdolan.

Also Watch Jon Stewart – The Daily Show: The Vagina Ideologues, February 14, 2012.

You Are Especially Encouraged to Read Rethinking the Abortion Debate from a Liberal Christian Perspective (Updated), Evans Liberal Politics, May 13, 2011, by Paul Evans.

UPDATE: See Contraception debate divides swing voters, according to new Gallup poll, The Ticket on Yahoo News, February 24, 2012, by Olivier Knox:

The fight over whether religious-based employers should provide birth control coverage as part of their health plans sharply divides Americans, six in ten of whom say they have been following the volatile debate on the issue, according to a new a href=”http://www.gallup.com/poll/152963/Contraception-Debate-Divides-Americans-Including-Women.aspx” target=”_blank”>Gallup poll.

Overall, 48 percent of Americans say they back religious leaders who object to extending such coverage against 45 percent who say they back President Barack Obama’s administration.

Believe what you will about Gallup’s numbers, but you owe it to yourselves to also see: Poll: Most back White House birth control rule, Politico, February 23, 2012, by MJ Lee:

A slim majority of Americans approve of President Barack Obama’s recent change to the administration’s rule that mandated religiously affiliated institutions offer free contraception coverage to their employees, according to a new poll Thursday.

More than half of American voters, 54 percent, said they approve of Obama’s plan to allow faith-affiliated employers to refrain from offering free birth control to employees while mandating that it be covered by insurers. Thirty-eight percent said they disapprove of the plan, a Quinnipiac survey found.

Paul Evans: Looking at these two poll results, given that both pollsters are usually reliable and unbiased, I would say there has to be a problem with the methodology in one or the other. Here are still two more polls you may want to take a look at on contraception:

See Support Is Found for Birth Control Coverage and Gay Unions, The New York Times, February 14, 2012, by Marjorie Connelly.

Recommended: In Polls, Obama Wins on Contraception Compromise, Catholics Hold Steady, The Daily Beast, February 19, 2012, by Douglas Schoen.

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Posted on February 25, 2012 by , Reply

Paying For Cancer Treatment for Children in America With a Car Wash, Bake Sale and Fish Fry

Logos57: a Caring Community

 

Paying For Cancer Treatment for Children
in America With a Car Wash, Bake Sale and Fish Fry

Paying For Cancer Treatment for Children in America With a Car Wash, Bake Sale and Fish Fry, Common Dreams.org, February 3, 2012, by Wendell Potter, quoted verbatim:

“It shouldn’t be this way,” read the subject line of an email I received Friday morning from a conservative friend and fellow Southerner. “People shouldn’t have to beg for money to pay for medical care.”

At first, I thought he was referring to my column last week in which I wrote about the fundraising effort to cover the bills, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, that the husband of Canadian skier Sarah Burke is now facing. Burke died on January 19, nine days after sustaining severe head injuries in a skiing accident in Park City, Utah. I noted that had the accident occurred in Burke’s native Canada, which has a system of universal coverage, the fundraiser would not have been necessary.

beautiful inspiring image of an empty wheelchair at the bottom of a toplit flight of stairs

But my friend was not writing about Sarah Burke. He wanted to alert me to another fundraiser, this one on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, to help pay for the mounting medical expenses for a beautiful 13-year-old girl fighting for her life at USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital in Mobile, Ala.

In late November, Caroline Richmond was rushed to the hospital after collapsing on the way home from school. Doctors quickly determined she’d had a stroke and required immediate surgery. The bad news just kept coming. The stroke had been caused by leukemia.

In the weeks following brain surgery, Caroline had to undergo chemotherapy. She later became so ill that she was put on a ventilator and had to be fed through tubes. Although she is still listed in critical condition and faces a bone marrow transplant, Caroline has made progress. She was taken off the ventilator and tubes last week, and is now eating solid food for the first time since the stroke.

As it turns out, Caroline is one of more than 50 million men, women and children who do not have health insurance in the United States, which is why her family is in the same predicament as Sarah Burke’s. Caroline’s father, Dallas, is self-employed and, like millions of other Americans who do not work for a company that offers health benefits, has not been able to find affordable coverage for his family.

A friend of the Richmonds, Robin Smith, told me Dallas is one of the hardest working people she’s ever met. She said he owns a coin-operated laundry and has “two or three” other jobs to make ends meet. “He works round the clock,” she said. “You never see him when he’s not working.”

Knowing that Dallas and his wife, Christy, are worried not only about their daughter but also about the real possibility they might be forced into bankruptcy and lose their home because of the medical bills, Smith has joined other friends of the family to raise money. Caroline’s classmates and teachers have put “Cups for Caroline” in all the homerooms at Fairhope Middle School, where Caroline is an eighth-grader. They’ve also held car washes.

Last night they were scheduled to host a bake sale and fish fry at the American Legion Post in Fairhope. It was that event, also posted on a Facebook support page, that my friend brought to my attention. Until then, I had never heard of Caroline Richmond. I suspect you hadn’t heard of her either. I am writing not only to spread the word, but also to ask that you think for a moment about walking in the Richmond family’s shoes.

It is important to understand that almost all of us who do have health coverage through the workplace are just a layoff or plant closing away from joining the Richmonds among the uninsured. Those of us who are self-employed like Dallas Richmond or who work for small businesses that can no longer pay for coverage are increasingly unlikely to find decent coverage that we can afford.

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with Friends and Contacts

Hundreds of thousands of families file for bankruptcy and lose their homes every year nationwide because of medical debt. Many of those people actually have what they thought was adequate insurance, but find that they still have to pay far more out of their own pockets to cover thousands of dollars in bills than their budgets will allow.

My column on Sarah Burke provoked many comments, some from people who essentially wrote, “too bad, so sad.” In their opinion, Burke shouldn’t have been taking risks on the ski slopes in Utah in the first place. She should have bought coverage that would have protected her in the U.S.

Maybe so. But I wonder what those people, all of whom condemned “Obamacare,” will say about Caroline Richmond. When the reform law is fully implemented in a couple of years — assuming it goes forward — the Richmonds should be able to find coverage at an affordable price. That’s what reform was all about. To make sure that American families don’t have to lose their homes when someone gets sick and to make sure that insurance firms can no longer engage in practices that have swelled the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured.

Caroline’s story is not unique. Tragedies like her’s occur so often, in fact, that they rarely make the news anymore. But it is precisely because they are an everyday occurrence that health care reform was so urgently needed. We have been led to believe by opponents of reform that our health care system is the best in the world. The reality, of course, is that, while we do indeed have some of the world’s best doctors and hospitals, the system in which they operate has become increasingly dysfunctional and unnecessarily expensive. This is why the reform law, despite its flaws, must go forward.

To learn more about Caroline Richmond and how to make a donation, visit the Facebook page established by her family’s friends.

Wendell Potter is former Vice President of corporate communications at CIGNA, one of the United States’ largest health insurance companies. In June 2009, he testified against the HMO industry in the U.S. Senate as a whistleblower. He is now the Senior Fellow on Health Care for the Center for Media and Democracy in Madison, Wisconsin.

Also See When Medicare Isn’t Medicare, The Huffington Post, December 26, 2011, by Wendell Potter.

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Posted on February 4, 2012 by , Reply

Buzz Around the Internet has Republicans on the Run over Ryan Plan to privatize, phase out Medicare

Evans Liberal Politics
May 30, 2011

 

Buzz Around the Internet has Republicans
on the Run over Ryan Plan to privatize, phase out Medicare

News and Analysis on the Ryan Plan to Dismantle Medicare

Evans Liberal Politics, May 30, 2011, compiled with commentary by Paul Evans:

Senate Rejects House GOP Medicare Plan by 57-40 Vote, NY Times on Truthout, May 25, 2011, by Jennifer Steinhauer:

Washington – Less than 24 hours after their upset victory in the race for a vacant House seat, Democrats sought to press their advantage on Wednesday, forcing Republicans in the Senate to vote yes or no on what is emerging as the defining issue in the early stages of the 2012 campaign, the plan advanced by House Republicans to reshape Medicare.

The Republican plan was defeated by a vote of 57-40, with five Republicans abandoning their party to vote against the plan. The five Republicans voting against were Senators Scott Brown of Massachusetts; Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rand Paul of Kentucky.

In fact, the reason Rand Paul voted against the Republican plan was that, in his opinioon, it didn’t go far enough. Presumably there would still be too many grandmas getting medical care to suite Mr. Paul’s taste.

Medicare overhaul proposal causing GOP stress, AP on MSNBC, May 25, 2011, by David Espo:

WASHINGTON — Little more than a month after they backed sweeping changes to Medicare, Republicans are on the political defensive, exhibiting significant internal strains for the first time since last fall’s election gains.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., says he is open to changes in his plan.

Considering the recent history of Republican willingness to compromise, a statememt to the effect that Ryan is open to changing the G.O.P. proposal represents an unusual concession, signaling that the Republicans are on the run on this issue.

an image of an empty wheelchair at the base of a flight of stairs with white light beaming down highlights this article on the Republican Party's attempt to privatize and phase out Medicare

View a vote breakdown on the vote to halt the Republican plan, at NY Times Inside Congress.

See Democrats Put G.O.P. on Spot as Medicare Plan Fails, May 25, 2011, by Jennifer Steinhauer.

With polls and angry town hall meetings suggesting that many voters were wary of a Medicare overhaul if not opposed, party unity and optimism have given way to a bit of a Republican-on-Republican rumpus.

House leaders have made clear they will not try to pass Medicare legislation this year. Some Republican candidates and elected officials have moved to distance themselves from the plan, even as others remain in chin-out defense of it and others still are declining to commit themselves one way or another.

See Senate Rejects Ryan Budget, The Huffington Post, May 25, 2011, by HuffPostHill:

"The Republican plan to kill Medicare is a plan to make the rich richer and the sick sicker," Harry Reid said before the vote, channelling his inner Alan Grayson, repeating the phrase "Republican plan to kill Medicare" over and over. GOP moderates Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Scott Brown and Lisa Murkowski broke ranks and voted against the Ryan proposal, along with Rand Paul….

Sharing Costs Is No Way to Fix Medicare, Bloomberg, May 24, 2011, by Peter Orszag:

While more consumer cost-sharing would help reduce unnecessary care, the plan would not live up to its billing in cutting health costs for America. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, it would do the opposite. That’s right: The CBO found that the Ryan Medicare proposal would substantially increase total health-care spending.

Also in the News on Medicare and Health Care

Medicare: “Biggest Deficit Driver” or “Solution” to Economic Recovery?, Daily Kos on Truthout, May 29, 2011, by Michele Swenson.

Republican governors move ahead on health exchanges, Politico, May 29, 2011, by Sarah Kliff.

What You Should Know About What Republicans Want To Do To Medicaid, Campaign for America’s Future, May 27, 2011, by Terrance Heath.

Also See Paul Ryan: The Republican budget isn’t unpopular, just misunderstood, Daily Kos, May 11, 2011, by Joan McCarter:

Earlier this week a “senior Republican strategist” declared that the problem wasn’t that Republicans wanted to end Medicare, but that “Republicans haven’t messaged it well.” See, just fix the message on abolishing Medicare and it’ll be fine.

Apparently that’s the narrative that Republican’s have settled on to explain away their Medicare debacle.

No. Sorry Repugs. You don’t have a communications problem. As the folks over at AMERICABlog correctly conclude, you have a political problem. A big political problem wherein your stance on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security is going to come back and bite you in the ass. That kind of problem. ~ Paul Evans

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Posted on May 30, 2011 by , Reply

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul: ‘Right to health care’ is slavery

Evans Liberal Politics
May 12, 2011

 

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul:
‘Right to health care’ is slavery

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul: ‘Right to health care’ is slavery, The Raw Story, May 11, 2011, by Eric W. Dolan, used with permission, quoted verbatim, photo of Rand Paul courtesy of The Raw Story and Gage Skidmore: Evans Liberal Politics is pleased to partner with The Raw Story to bring you cutting edge news.

Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul said during a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing Wednesday that those who believe in a right to healthcare actually believe in slavery.

scary photo of Kentucky Senator Rand Paul

“With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to health care, you have realize what that implies,” the senator said. “It’s not an abstraction. I’m a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me.”

“It means you believe in slavery,” Paul added. “It means that you’re going to enslave not only me, but the janitor at my hospital, the person who cleans my office, the assistants who work in my office, the nurses.”

His father, Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul, announced his third presidential bid in April. Both congressmen have strong libertarian views and are popular among the tea party movement.

“Basically, once you imply a belief in a right to someone’s services — do you have a right to plumbing? Do you have a right to water? Do you have right to food? — you’re basically saying you believe in slavery.”

“I’m a physician in your community and you say you have a right to health care,” Paul continued. “You have a right to beat down my door with the police, escort me away and force me to take care of you? That’s ultimately what the right to free health care would be.”

Self-described democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), chairman of the Subcommittee on Retirement and Aging, responded to Paul’s rant by asking witness Dana Kraus, a family physician at a federally qualified health center, if she considered herself “a slave.”

I love my job,” she answered. “I chose to work there. I do not consider myself a slave. Thank you.”

Sanders and Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced federal single payer legislation Tuesday184.168.204.1 that would ensure that states implement Medicare-like systems for all residents.

Read the 188 page "American Health Security Act of 2011," that Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced: Medicare like single payer for all Americans! Of course it has no chance of passing, even in the Senate, but at least it will put them all on record. ~ Paul

InformIT (Pearson Education)

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Posted on May 12, 2011 by , Reply

House votes to defund Planned Parenthood, Title X

Evans Liberal Politics
February 19, 2011

 

House votes to defund Planned Parenthood, Title X, Daily Kos, February 18, 2011, by Joan McCarter, large excerpt used with permission:

The war on women is full on. The House voted today, 240-185, to block all federal funding to Planned Parenthood, and to go one further, by defunding Title X entirely. A handful of “Dems” voted with Republicans to endanger the lives of women all over the nation.

The roll call vote hasn’t been posted, but House staff provides the names of those Dems who voted with the Rs to defund: Dan Boren (OK), Jerry Costello (IL), Joe Donnelly (IN), Dan Lipinski (IL), Mike McIntyre (NC), Collin Peterson (MN), Nick Rahall (WV), Silvestre Reyes (TX), Mike Ross (AR), Heath Shuler (NC).

These Republicans voted no: Charlie Bass (NH), Judy Biggert (IL), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Charlie Dent (PA), Robert Dold (IL), Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ), Richard Hanna (NY). Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) voted present.

All of the funding blocked, ironically, is Title X funding–contraceptive and family planning assistance to low and moderate income individuals. You know, the education and means by which to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and thus, reducing abortion. Apparently so as not to single out Planned Parenthood, the resolution actually eliminates the entire Title X program.

It will also eliminate the entire Title X program, which was founded in 1970 and is the only federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and preventive health services, particularly to low-income families, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Office of Population Affairs. Preventative health services include breast and cervical cancer screenings, HIV prevention education, pregnancy diagnosis and counseling.

In fiscal year 2010, Congress appropriated approximately $317 million for family planning activities supported under Title X, 90 percent of which was used for clinical family planning services, according to the OPA. In 2008, 4,500 community-based clinics (including health departments, university health centers, faith-based organizations, public and private nonprofit agencies, and tribal organizations) received grants from Title X that went to approximately 5 million people, the OPA said. In roughly 75 percent of U.S. counties, at least one clinic receives Title X funds….

There are 85 local Planned Parenthood affiliates nationwide, which operate more than 820 health centers, according to its website, which also indicates that more than 1.2 million youths and adults participate in Planned Parenthood educational programs every year.

Yep, culture of life. Cut off the means for millions of to have access to affordable birth control, thereby creating more unplanned pregnancies. Deny them affordable breast and cervical cancer screenings. Make sure they don’t know how to use contraceptives, and even if they do, they don’t have access to them.

Read the full article here.

Posted on February 19, 2011 by , 2 comments

News Video: Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Health Care Reform

Evans Liberal Politics
February 18, 2011

 

Keith Olbermann Special Comment
On Health Care Reform & The Public Option

With an Essay on Congress, Corruption and the Truth

Evans Liberal Politics commentary by Paul Evans: We posted a link to this video below, and the new Yahoo media player we have on site now allows video playback here on site, just from YouTube links that we post. Nevertheless, we found this video and its message so powerful and so compelling that we want to call your attention to it specially. Watch as Keith Olbermann digs into the United States of Korporate America and corrupt politicians, in this highly charged video posted on January 22 but probably somewhat older. Think what a voice we lost when MSNBC failed to renew his contract! I hope to God that some major media outlet picks up Keith, and soon.

At the end of the video, Keith issues a warning to the conservative (Blue Dog) Democrats who ended up making the passage of a health care reform bill with a public option impossible. Keith warned these “dog” Democrats that the wrath of the public would end up throwing them out of office. In the event, it turned out to be even more dangerous than that, as liberals got pinned with the blame by the corporate-informed public, who blamed the wrong people because they were inundated with the wrong message – because of a corrupt Congress and a corporate owned media.

Ordinary Americans are mostly politically uneducated and can’t see what is going on in Congress beyond what their (mostly conservative) preachers and their buddies and bosses are telling them. Those few who get a look at my site must think I am some kind of wild-eyed, dangerous liberal, and they won’t stay long enough to find out the truth. The fact that the site is simply titled “Evans Liberal Politics” is all they need to see to condemn me and discredit what I have to say.

Still, I must say, I am a patriotic American and a God-fearing servant of truth, so far as I can discern it. I am even against most first term abortions, and some of my friends dislike that about me intensely. Wake up America! This isn’t about labels, and it isn’t about ideologies. It’s about corrupt politicians and a media and Congress that are servants of the big corporations. This isn’t about democracy — power and influence are about money and corruption. I am not about liberalism, I am about the truth and what is best for all Americans, so far as I am possibly able to tell. Evans Liberal Politics is a servant of the people – all the people. And I do apologize for saying so, that’s just what you’ll hear from your elected representatives, isn’t it? Please, open up your heart and get beyond your ideology and Party affiliation and try your hardest to find out the truth. That’s everything that I am about.

Read Crew’s The Most Corrupt Members of Congress: “Unfinished Business”.

Visit Open Secrets.org and see who’s donating what to your Congressperson.

Congressmen, you can serve corporate America, or you can serve your constituents. Eventually, not even the corporate media will serve to delude Americans forever. Now the Republican Party prostitutes are having their day. The more success Republicans have, the worse it will get for ordinary Americans. You can’t delude the public forever. The wrath of God and the anger of America will turn on the corrupt politicians, and something closer to justice will dawn, a brighter day for America and Americans. Mark my words. I hope you enjoy your power, influence and wealth now, while you can, because certainly God will NOT have mercy on your soul. Everyone needs to watch this video:

Posted on February 18, 2011 by , Reply

FreedomWorks health reform agenda: Don’t let it work and become popular

Evans Liberal Politics
February 18, 2011

 

FreedomWorks health reform agenda:
Don’t let it work and become popular

Read the awful leaked Freedomworks memo on repealing healthcare reform, meant for the Republican leadership.

FreedomWorks health reform agenda: Don’t let it work and become popular, Daily Kos, February 17, 2010, by Joan McCarter, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

Ah, those compassionate conservatives and their culture of life. A memo marked “confidential” from Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks, obtained by Politico and ThinkProgress tells GOP lawmakers to “improve” the law “so long as the improvements don’t significantly increase its support.” ThinkProgress:

humorous commentary on Republican healthcare of a sign saying 'Handicapped accesible restrooms located upstairs'

Similarly, the group warns the GOP against collaborating with health care groups to eliminate that IPAB board or other provisions “unless the affected industries endorse full repeal.” A more effective strategy is to “Highlight the special interest deals and corrupt bargains. Scrutinize the hundreds of waivers and thousands of pages of regulations issuing from HHS. Publicize the premium cost increases and coverage losses. Keep Dr. Berwick talking,” the memo says.Republicans should reject some of the most popular elements of reform and offer legislation that embraces the existing individual market, Armey writes. He dismisses reforms like “the unnecessary small-business tax credits” and describes caps on annual limits, the ban on lifetime limits, the adult children coverage provision, and the caps on insurance company profits as “cost insurance mandates.” The memo argues that “[b]anning preex condition clauses is counterproductive, because it raises premiums and causes coverage to be dropped.” “It’s also unnecessary because federal and state laws already offer significant protections,” it says, ignoring the fact that more than 40 states and the District of Columbia don’t have laws protecting individuals with pre-existing conditions from being denied coverage.

Instead, Republicans must focus on expanding the unregulated individual health insurance market, without paying too much attention to “how many people are covered,” the memo states. [emphasis mine]

Nancy Pelosi: Republicans
and Preexisting Conditions

In other words, try to make the popular parts of the Affordable Care Act unpopular by calling them mandates. It all depends on perspective, I suppose. From FreedomWorks corporate overlords’ perspective, actually providing insurance coverage to paying customers would be a mandate. Armey also pushes Rep. Paul Ryan’s Roadmap to turn Medicare into a voucher program, gut Medicaid by turning it into block grants, and recommends defunding.

Defund implementation and eliminate egregious provisions. Unfortunately, much of the money required to implement Obamacare has already been appropriated as open-ended mandatory spending and is therefore not easily brought under congressional control. This seriously complicates the defunding effort, because it shifts much of the advantage to the Executive Branch. Nevertheless, Republicans should try to put Congress back in the driver’s seat by defunding Obamacare as much as it can, in every passing bill it can — and especially on must-pass bills like a continuing resolution or a debt ceiling increase. Among our top priorities should be defunding aid to states for Obamacare exchanges and defunding the obscure Office of Multi-State Qualified Health Plans, which provides the infrastructure for a future “public option,” meaning single-payer.

Because, by all means, helping cash-strapped states provide more coverage to citizens is an abomination. Despite increasing polling evidence that the American public wants the Affordable Care Act to succeed and is opposed to efforts to defund it, the die-hard teahadists won’t relent from their (extremely well-funded) crusade against a healthier American populace.

Recommended: Republican memo: “Banning preex condition clauses counterproductive. . .unnecessary, Daily Kos, February 18, 2011, by nyceve: “Here’s the unconscionable Republican plan to repeal in toto the Affordable care Act. This is a horrifying document. There’s little or no replace in this, it’s all about repeal.”

Watch Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Health Care Reform and the Public Option, one of Keith’s last programs, YouTube video, January 22, 2011 — 10:52.

See Wall Street Wins Big in Deficit Battle, The Huffington Post, February 18, 2011, by Les Leopold, excerpt quoted verbatim:

Maybe it’s something in the water. Some potent little parasite has wormed its way into Washington, and now everyone’s coming down with the disease: certifiable deficit hysteria. Politicians and pundits are all marching in lockstep chanting “Cut, Cut, Cut,” fearing that if they don’t they’ll be assaulted by the right-wing budget police.

They rationalize the madness with the slogan “equality of sacrifice,” a platitude that is supposed to make us feel better about destroying our public sector. For all the pompous pontifications, the real argument politicians are having is over which group of working Americans they should screw first. No one’s asking Wall Street to sacrifice. The bankers and hedge fund gamblers are getting a free ride — again.

You’d think this would be a good moment to mention that we wouldn’t even be having these budget deficit hysterics right now if Wall Street hadn’t just destroyed over $13 trillion dollars in wealth as well as wiping out several hundred billion dollars in yearly government tax revenues. Do we even remember that the reason 30 million Americans can’t find full-time jobs is that Wall Street’s reckless gambling crashed the economy? (If you still have any doubt about this, please see The Looting of America for the sad tale of how we got here.)

See Government Shutdown Looms As Boehner Rejects Funding Stopgap, The Huffington Post, February 17, 2911, by Elise Foley, excerpt quoted verbatim:

WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) upped the chances of a government shutdown Thursday, saying he would not support a short-term funding bill if his near-certain budget battle between the House and the Democratic-run Senate takes longer than two weeks.

As the clock ticks down to March 4, when the current stopgap funding measure expires, Boehner shot down what many considered to be the surest way to keep government agencies running while the two chambers hammer out the differences between their respective spending bills.

“We are hopeful that the Senate will take up the House‑passed bill that comes out of here today, tonight, tomorrow morning, whenever it is, and we hope that they will move it,” he said at a press conference. “But I am not going to move any kind of short‑term CR at current levels. When we say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips: We are going to cut spending.”

See Deficit derangement, Daily Kos, February 17, 2011, by Wolverninethad.

See Will GOP Push Ryan’s Plan to Ration Medicare?, Daily Kos, February 17, 2011, by Avenging Angel.

Tea Party and Repugs Working
to Roll Back 200 Years of History & Progress:
Commentary

Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Tea Party people and most traditional Republicans want federal health care and Social Security gutted, and health insurance protections removed. Similarly, special civil rights and civil liberties that may of us take for granted would be stripped. I guess they just want us all to work till we die and trust Big Brother. Root, hog or die.

Most of these people, or at least the leaders, have money, and so it’s no problem for them to purchase decent health insurance or save for retirement. The little people who follow the Tea Party are deluded to think that their interests lie with these organizations. The organizations spout religion and all the guns people want, and, apparently, that’s all it takes to win these simple fools’ loyalty and votes. Almost all Tea Party groups are funded by Wall Street and corporate PACs, and their only true loyalty is to Korporate America and the rich.

It’s all part of the new ultracapitalist religion for the new American Empire.

Ron Paul, though reasonable in some regards, such as in defunding American Empire and hegemony in the world, is equally horrible on matters of economic justice. He, too, would defund health care and roll back social security. He wants to bring American law back to some kind of pristine state or what it was when the original Constitution was written, ignoring 223 years of history and progress. I suppose he does want African-Americans to still be free, just with no protections, right? How does this lead to any kind of better life for Americans?

These are dangerous times for poor people, with Obama all too likely to make concessions to the right and go along with cuts that hurt ordinary people far too much. An example is the recent proposal to defund Community Action in his new budget. Workers, the remaining unions, progressives and true liberals across the nation need to mobilize and speak out, before it’s too late. ~ Paul

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Acknowledging my Fans: My top eight cities for Thursday, February 17 in terms of the numbers of visitors were: Beijing, China (338 visitors – thank you, ‘peng yo’!); Redmond, Washington (157 visitors – Microsoft, we love you guys!); Alexandria, Ohio (105 – thanks guys – Go Bucks!); Santa Barbara, California (46 visitors, thank you to the beautiful people of California!); New York, New York (42 – let’s hear it for the Big Apple!); Seattle, Washington (36, thanks a lot!); Mountain View, California (31 – hello Google and AOL people!); and Tokyo, Japan (28 visitors, thank you!). Get YOUR city into the game: Share Evans Liberal Politics with friends and contacts, using the icons at bottom of each post!

POVERTY ACTION ALERT
Folks We Are in Real Need

EMERGENCY APPEAL: From Paul Evans: It’s a miracle that I am still able to bring you Evans Liberal Politics. I am in severe poverty and although the Salvation Army was good enough to grant me 100 gallons of fuel oil (God Bless you guys), this won’t last even a month. Please help us! CenturyLink, my phone company and DSL provider, was kind enough to give me a short extension on bill payment, but in fact, I don’t have the money to pay the electric bill. Folks, this won’t go on forever. We need your donations, ASAP. Please send checks OR money orders to Paul Evans, 5396 Overton Road, Wooster, OH 44691. Help keep free journalism alive and help my family have gas for my car and something to eat. If you can help though a direct donation, call me at 330-262-0571.

Can you find it in your heart to help us out? Thank you and Bless you all.

Posted on February 18, 2011 by , Reply
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