BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

The Obama administration stunned New York's delegation Thursday, dropping the bombshell news that it does not support funding the 9/11 health bill. The state's two senators and 14 House members met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just hours before President Obama implored in his speech to the nation for Congress to come together and deliver a government that delivers on its promises to the American people. So the legislators were floored to learn the Democratic administration does not want to deliver for the tens of thousands of people who sacrificed after 9/11, and the untold numbers now getting sick. "I was stunned — and very disappointed," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who like most of the other legislators had expected more of a discussion on how to more forward. "To say the least, I was flabbergasted," said Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon. The 9/11 bill would spend about $11 billion over 30 years to care for the growing numb...

I've had my ups and downs with Paul Krugman over at the NYTimes. But when he gets it right - he REALLY gets it right! He Wasn’t The One We’ve Been Waiting For by Paul Krugman Health care reform — which is crucial for millions of Americans — hangs in the balance. Progressives are desperately in need of leadership; more specifically, House Democrats need to be told to pass the Senate bill, which isn’t what they wanted but is vastly better than nothing. And what we get from the great progressive hope, the man who was offering hope and change, is this: I would advise that we try to move quickly to coalesce around those elements of the package that people agree on. We know that we need insurance reform, that the health insurance companies are taking advantage of people. We know that we have to have some form of cost containment because if we don’t, then our budgets are going to blow up and we know that small businesses are going to need help so that they can provide health insuranc...

Using Sex for Political Messaging by Thia Lawson For me, this video reaches new heights in the creepy use of women’s sexuality. IF YOU ARE ON AN AGGREGATOR - CLICK HERE TO VIEW THIS VIDEO Huh? Could this be any creepier? Does this remind anyone else of the recent creepy Reebok ad ? I know I keep using creepy as a descriptor, but until the hair on the back of my neck goes down, that’s the best I can do. CREEPY! This video is degrading to both women and men. The implication is that women are too stupid, lazy, or uninformed to argue issues and explain their position - better they just show their cleavage and threaten to withhold sex. In turn, Rock The Vote thinks men are so shallow and desperate for sex that they not only have no interest in what a woman has to say, but will change their most deeply held beliefs if you dazzle them with cleavage and the possibility of a little girl on girl action. Is there any place in the political debate where women aren’t either used as mindless sexua...

From a consistently great & illuminating blogger -- Rabble Rouser Rev. Amy : There has been a great deal of talk and debate about health care in the country recently as the Democrats push Heath Care Reform. A lot of animosity has been directed at the Health Insurance Industry as a whole. As it turns out, some is justified, but some is not. I was surprised by what is NOT justified, and I think you might be, too But first, another reason to be angry at insurers, especially if you are female, and living in one of thirty-nine states in the union, as this article highlights, Women Pay Up To 50% More For Health Insurance Premiums . Now, maybe I was just naive to not realize this was happening, but happening it is. This article focuses on the state of Colorado: Checking the “female” box when buying health insurance is likely to cost extra — perhaps up to 50 percent more than a man would pay for the same coverage. Gender-rating — or what some term as flat-out sexual discrimination — is li...

JUST CLICK HERE ASK THE OBAMA-MAGIC 8-BALL! O.K. So it's the Onion... still closer to the truth than MSNBC or Fox. Obama: Health Care Plan Would Give Seniors Right To Choose How They Are Killed President Barack Obama held a nationally televised address Tuesday to "clarify any misunderstandings" about his health care proposal, assuring Americans that under the new bill senior citizens—and not the federal government—will have the right to choose how they are executed. Enlarge Image Obama The president vows to systematically eliminate all American seniors in a manner of their choosing by 2011. "Let me dispel these ridiculous rumors once and for all and set the record straight: Under my plan, seniors are going to be killed the way they want to be killed, end of story," said the president, who acknowledged that "wiping out" the nation's elderly population has always been his No. 1 priority. "If your grandmother would rather be euthanized in the pri...

I could go on & on about the egregious treatment I've had over my disability from insurance companies. Despite test after test after test proving I was disabled. But I won't. Now come on, would anyone with any intelligence really want to live on the pittance that Social Security Disability pays? I used to make close to $60K a year and that was in 1995! When I landed a commercial acting job? Heck... I'd be good for $50K on top of paralegaling work. And insurance companies & big pharma! Feh! Everyone protects them until they or someone they care about gets sick... then they learn the truth and that people like me aren't just "chicken littles." So WAKE UP before someone you love's life's value is being questioned by corporations who don't even know them! This attitude, by even disability insurers - IMHO - killed my net-friend Dr. Judy Morris last year. She fought the good fight too . At least my major surgery this May? My insurer paid e...

From the great deadenders It needs to be said everyday, obama is a lying sack of crap. The man who the media paints as a new type of politician stuttered his ass smooth talked his way into the job lying the entire way. In the video below he talks about transparency and he is opaque. He talks about accountability to the people and that’s not who he’s accountable too. He talks about shame and he has none. He talks about stopping Congress from carrying water for the drug companies and he’s carrying it by the truck load, in fact he’s carrying water for Wall Street, Big Banks and everything GE. You could call him a Water Boy but in his case that would be considered racist because of the word boy. John from LiberalRapture calls him a grocery clerk sent to deliver a bill. I just call him oilsoc. ~~~~~~~~~ IF YOU ARE READING THIS ON AN AGGREGATOR, CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ABOVE VIDEO Even Bill Gates is bailing! SOURCE

By pm317 Who fell for these words and voted for him? He played you like a violin, didn’t he? Would you vote for him again in 2012? Words and promises during the campaign were thrown around willy-nilly with no intention of following through them. It was all a masterful strategy to hoodwink and bamboozle the voters. The irony is that Obama warned the voters that they would be hoodwinked and bamboozled but the voters didn’t realize the guy warning them was also the perpetrator. He has gone back pretty much on everything he promised during the campaign. He has developed a pattern of saying one thing and doing just the opposite. If Obama had done things like he said he would and he had a coherent plan that made sense, people would not be opposed to health care reform. Everybody wants reform but they are confused and nervous about what is being thrown at them right now. Obama has been one gaffefest after another through all this and has lost control of the message starting with saying his gr...

By pm317 Caring for disabled children must be stressful for parents. While they worry about their own mortality as they age, they have the additional burden of worrying about the future of their children who completely depend on them. One such parent is Mike Sola, who lost his cool in a town hall meeting with his congressman, John Dingell. Do we blame him for being disruptive or recognize that he is just frustrated with these two-timing politicians? A must-see video below. IF YOU ARE READING THIS ON AN AGGREGATOR - CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE ABOVE VIDEO Pelosi and Hoyer have written an op-ed in the USA Today branding people like Mike Sola as disruptive, un-American and so on. What I see in Sola is an angry parent, helpless and worried. Where the hell is the compassion for his plight? If Obama has answers to Mike Sola’s situation, why are we not hearing it? As indicated in the video, Congressman Dingell lied about an amendment to that effect. But I agree with Mr. Sola that if the bill is wr...

Before digesting the below, take a couple minutes to read Chaim's great post on "Obamacare" - Here. by Bronwyn's Harbor At the top of PBS’s latest Bill Moyers Journal , Moyers chose clips of the “usual suspects” opposed to Obama’s health care proposal - a Republican legislator shouting “socialism,” Glenn Beck, Michael Steele, and Bill Kristol, who worked to “drive a stake through” the heart of health care reform in 1993 and 2009. The problem with the GOP’s stock opposition language is that it inaccurately describes what’s really wrong with Obama’s plan, which enriches the profit-motivated private sector and strengthens its controls over policies, at the expense of average Americans forced to sign up. The real reason insurance companies brought back “Harry & Louise” ads: Obama’s plan rewards private health insurance companies with expanded enrollments but little reward for the Americans “mandated” (forced) to buy these plans. (See Paul Krugman’s blog post, “ Why m...

Larry Sinclair will be happy. ;) President Barack Obama, under growing criticism for not seeking to end the ban on openly gay men and women in the military, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama plans to announce his decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office, a White House official said Tuesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president hadn't yet signed the presidential memorandum. The official said Obama would release more details on Wednesday. The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that in recent weeks has grown frustrated with the White House's slow movement on their priorities. Several powerful gay fundraisers withdrew their support from a June 25 Democratic National Committee event where Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a June 12 Justice Department brief that defended the Defense of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian critic...