By Norman Solomon
The story goes that some mice became very upset about the cat in the house and convened an emergency meeting. They finally came up with the idea of tying a bell around the cat’s neck, so the dangerous feline could no longer catch victims unawares. The plan gained a lot of enthusiastic praise, until one mouse piped up with a question that preceded a long silence: “Who’s going to bell the cat?” Continue reading »
Bipartisan Rampage to Steal From Elderly & Disabled
[An alert disseminated by our colleagues at The Political Film Blog]
You could very well BE that 85 year old getting screwed in this BIPARTISAN dealmaking. Continue reading »
The Overlooked Revolving Door: Media and Government
Tweetios #3
By Clint Hulsey
Mike Bloomberg: Media tycoon, mayor of New York. The control of mainstream media by such people keeps the political consciousness of the American people confused and in thrall to the values of capitalism.
We often hear about the revolving door between big business and the agencies that are supposed to regulate them. This is extremely prevalent of course, but there is a sort of revolving door that I don’t think is focused on enough. This is the revolving door between government officials and media. Every time there is a war being discussed, whether it’s Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, or whatever other country, the major corporate networks always trot out whatever Generals they happen to be paying to drum up support for the war. Continue reading »
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Alan Grayson’s Four-Page Medicare Buy-In Bill Introduced WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW |
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By: David Dayen Wednesday March 10, 2010 8:54 am [print_link] EDITOR’S NOTE: If Barack Obama had been serious about getting a real healthcare reform program approved, all he needed to do was to introduce a “Medicare for All” bill, which would have been almost immune to attacks by the Republicans, and easily understood and defended by the majority. As Alan Grayson’s proposal demonstrates, this approach would have insured victory and opened the gates to more real progressive legislation. But Obama and the Democratic leadership chose to squander this historical opportunity and saddle the nation with a grotesquely complicated and inadequate piece of legislation.— P. Greanville |
As quixotic efforts go, I’ll take Alan Grayson’s HR 4789, a four page bill which “allows any American to buy into Medicare at cost.” You cannot possibly get more simple than that, it would not add one cent to the federal deficit, and it would offer people the option of purchasing Medicare (and its provider network) or purchasing an insurance product from a private company. Howie Klein writes:
The profoundly misguided rightwingers oppose the bill for the wrong reasons. Although they don't realize it, they lend credence to the fake reform passed by the Democrats.
This evening Alan Grayson, Orlando’s spectacular and effective fighter for ordinary working families in a Congress that overwhelmingly caters to wealthy and powerful special interests, introduced the most real and straight forward healthcare reform bill that’s come up so far. Unless Obama makes the House leadership kill H.R. 4789– a distinct possibility– this should pass the House more easily than anything that’s been proposed for healthcare reform so far. And I bet it could even win cloture in the Senate! His bill offers the opportunity for everyone in the country to buy into Medicare. “Obviously,” said Grayson, “America wants and needs more competition in health coverage, and a public option offers that. But it’s just as important that we offer people not just another choice, but another kind of choice. A lot of people don’t want to be at the mercy of greedy insurance companies that will make money by denying them the care that they need to stay healthy, or to stay alive. We deserve to have a real alternative… The government spent billions of dollars creating a Medicare network of providers that is only open to one-eighth of the population. That’s like saying, ‘Only people 65 and over can use federal highways.’ It is a waste of a very valuable resource and it is not fair. This idea is simple, it makes sense, and it deserves an up-or-down vote.”
[flv width="300" height="240"]http://www.greanvillepost.com/videos/GraysonOnMedicare4all.flv[/flv]
I’m not as sanguine about its prospects, but I don’t expect HR 4789 to go away. This bill, like other public option or single payer bills, ought to be introduced year after year, with a movement built around them, and stands taken in primaries, and discharge petitions attempted. Grayson seems like a better candidate to actually accomplish this – under his leadership, an audit the Fed bill that Ron Paul had sitting on a shelf somewhere for two decades got well over 300 co-sponsors in the House.
I’m also thoroughly unsurprised that Grayson pitched the most readable, simplest, most intuitive health care proposal of this entire two-year debate.
UPDATE: And there’s already a companion website at WeWantMedicare.com.