Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Health and Wellness
Boehner's Lame Excuse About Why the GOP Health Care Bill Sucks So Badly
Posted by mcjoan, Daily Kos on November 4, 2009 at 3:55 PM.
Yesterday, hours after the House Republicans healthcare "reform" plan was released and universally mocked, Rep. Boehner cried foul, insisting that this unauthorized leak was of a draft bill that wasn't finalized and hadn't been seen by members.
Just a quick reminder of the reaction in the media to Boehner's bill. Here's what the original WSJ article reported:
A House Republican health-care bill wouldn't seek to prevent health-insurance companies from denying sick people insurance, Minority Leader John Boehner said Monday.
And here's Roll Call:
Under the GOP plan, insurance companies would still be allowed to exclude anyone with a pre-existing medical condition from coverage, there would be no national insurance exchange and businesses would not face any mandate to provide insurance nor individuals to buy it. Boehner also left out tax credits to help the poor and middle class buy insurance — a central pillar of most GOP reform proposals and a key feature of a four-page outline Republican leaders released in June.
But that bill, says Boehner and Pence, wasn't the real bill, as reported by The Hill:
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Iowa Wingnut Steve King Lauds Lobbyists as American Heros for Bussing in Health Reform Protesters
Posted by Lee Fang, Think Progress on November 4, 2009 at 2:46 PM.
On Thursday, the lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks — which were instrumental in orchestrating dozens of anti-Obama tea parties and town hall disruptions — are planning an anti-health reform rally at the steps of the Capitol. Republican leadership, like Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), have endorsed the rally. But two of the most rabidly right-wing members of Congress, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) are amongst the most aggressive promoters of the rally, with the help of talk radio and Fox News.
FreedomWorks has launched a website called “DontKillGrandma.com” listing recommended tactics for activists to engage in while protesting health reform. For the Thursday rally, FreedomWorks says activists should engage in a “simultaneous chant of ‘Kill the Bill.’” FreedomWorks is funded by corporate money and is led by Dick Armey, the former Republican Majority Leader and until recently lobbyist from DLA Piper.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is busing people to the rally. AFP is led by astroturf lobbyist Tim Phillips and is bankrolled by gas and oil baron David Koch, the world’s 9th richest person and the financier of dozens of conservative think-tanks, publications, and politicians. Like they did for the April tea parties, AFP has commissioned at least 10 buses from Maryland, New Jersey, and North Carolina to bring protesters — free of charge — to DC for the rally.
During a speech last night, King thanked the lobbyists for bringing in buses from “state after state after state.”
[Ed: Watch it in the window to your right.]
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Joe Lieberman In a Thong? New "Strip Joe" Game Allows You to See the Awful Truth
Posted by Adele Stan, AlterNet on November 4, 2009 at 12:45 PM.
Have you had enough of Sen. Joe Lieberman, and his on-again, off again threat to stop health-care reform legislation from coming to a vote? The folks at Agit-Prop have teamed up with CREDO to give you a way to let off some steam, even as you send a message to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to get tough with the Joester.
Called "Strip Joe," an animated online game allows you to wield a gavel with your cursor at various anatomical parts of the senator from the state of Aetna; wherever you land your gavel on the senator, he loses that piece of clothing. If you like what you see when you win, you can purchase your very own "GOP string" to add to your lingerie chest. (Made in USA!)
These are hijinks with a purpose, though. The game site allows viewers to sign on to a petition to Harry Reid that demands, "If Lieberman joins a GOP filibuster of the health care bill, strip him of his chairmanship." Lieberman chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Now, where did I leave my gavel?
EMAIL
PRINT
6 COMMENTS
PERMALINK
