Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has thrown Minnesota's sick and in need of health care reform under the bus, again. The Minnesota Independent reported that this afternoon Minnesota's lousy Governor signed an Executive Order to "Keep ObamaCare Out of Minnesota."
Gov. Tim Pawleny signed an executive order Tuesday afternoon directing state agencies to refuse "all discretionary participation" in the federal healthcare reform law. The order calls the legislation, passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Obama, "a dramatic attempt to assert federal command and control over this country's health care system." According to a Pawlenty press release, the move orders all executive branch departments and agencies "not to submit applications to the federal government in connection with requests for grant funding for programs and demonstration projects deriving from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act unless otherwise required by law or approved by the Governor's office."
Interrupting Governor Pawlenty's live radio broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair on Friday morning, a crowd stood in front of the WCCO-AM booth on Carnes Avenue demanding to know why the governor had failed to apply for one million in federal funds that would strengthen public oversight of premium and other rate increases by health insurers.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama in March made significant changes to the purchase and regulation of health insurance, including the allocation of funds for states to improve accountability and oversight over insurance industry premium increases -- a rate review process open to the public.
On August 16, the Department of Health and Human Services announced grant awards of $1 million apiece to forty-five states and the District of Columbia. Although staff at the Minnesota Commerce Department had completed the HHS grant application in full, Governor Pawlenty refused to sign and submit the application. Minnesota was one of only five states that did not apply for the rate review funds (the other four being Alaska, Wyoming, Iowa, and Georgia).
Denny Schneider, a resident of Woodbury, said that he was angry Pawlenty turned down the money. "Individuals and small business employers have been at the mercy of health insurers for far too long. Insurance companies send you a notice that your premium has gone up twenty percent and they never have to explain why. You just have to pay up. It's not right and it's undermining access to health care for too many people."
I never thought I'd find myself deputizing Margaret Thatcher into a progressive (let alone religious) argument-and don't stand next to me in a lightning storm anytime soon-but here goes:
No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he'd only had good intentions - he had money too. --Maggie T. (1968)
Maggie, I take thy words and accept them to further underscore the illogical nature of opposition to nationalized healthcare made by the Religious Right. Honey, you are right on. Good intentions-Christian or otherwise-are not enough. We need the cash(read: the revenue of this great and wealthy nation)to help the least among Americans (ie: national healthcare, baby!), and we need to face the fact that we must couple those good intentions with some sizeable amounts of shekels.
So, troll me and call me apostate if you will, but first take a look at the staggering failure and, yes, fraud, that has, since the 1980s, emerged out of the idea that churches can and will do for the brethren what we (Christian progressives) have been arguing healthcare reform must.
I just received a letter from the great folks at Health Care for All PA and, to the say the least, I was shocked and excited. First, for some background on Health Care for All PA. HealthCare4ALLPA is a group of dedicated citizens in, obviously, Pennsylvania who are working tirelessly to achieving single payer health care. Next, the content of the letter and the shocking news after the break.
Real political leadership is an ongoing conversation within our community about our core values. Who we are as Minnesotans and what we need to do together to move forward. For far too long regular folks like you and I have not had our voices heard in Washington D.C. You deserve a congressional representative that will always ensure your voice is heard, both here at home and in Washington.
Over the last decade the middle class has been under assault. For-profit student loan companies have been taking our hard-earned tax dollars and selling loans right back to our kids in order to profit off the interest. Our country's biggest banks borrow money from the government at almost zero percent interest rates, while for-profit student loan companies have been charging a 6.8% interest rate on federally guaranteed loans to our kids. A vicious cycle that hands over our taxes to private for-profit financial institutions which then make money off of interest rates and put our kids into debt at the beginning of their working lives. Our kids leave college with student loan debt averaging $23,186 for a four year degree and enter an economy with the worst employment prospects since 1945. If today's students decide to postpone the inevitable and go on to grad school, law school or medical school, their debt burden grows by another $30,000 to $120,000 leaving our kids on the hook for anywhere from $53,186 to $153,186 dollars in debt just as they are starting out.
Presidential candidate and occasional Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is doing everything he can to boost his chances for 2012. In the wake of what Stephen Colbert termed "healthcarepocalypse," Pawlenty is returning to a debunked constitutional claim that the teabaggers really like: mandated health insurance is unconstitutional. Pawlenty is going tenther, again. He's trying to get DFL Attorney General Lori Swanson to do his bidding.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty sent a letter to Attorney General Lori Swanson on Monday urging her to file suit against the federal government to block health care reform from coming to Minnesota. Swanson's office says the bill hasn't even become law yet and the individual mandate doesn't take effect for four more years.
So now that the bill is law, Swanson is in no hurry, according to the MN Independent. Pawlenty will be long gone from the Governor's mansion by the time most parts of the bill are implemented in 2014 anyway.
The funny thing about the Tenthers, is they are quite hypocritical about applying the Tenth Amendment. For example, Pawlenty sure likes all of the federal transportation dollars that flow into MN and I'm sure he wouldn't want to ruin his chances with senior citizens by advocating for the repeal of Medicare.
I've been forwarded a number of quality links in the wake of the HCR passage, and have run across more myself. Some include a heavy dose of "drinking deep of their bitter and impotent rage," as one diarist put it, but we deserve some fun, even if it's not entirely the good clean type.
- This one's almost cruel. Remember back when the GOP elevated Michael Steele, hoping for some of that 'Obama magic?'
Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:
Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents' policy until their 27th birthday
Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
Free preventative care for all
Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they're still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees' health insurance.
The "donut hole" closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders' amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.
What happens next? Now it goes to the Senate and this is where our hopes rest for:
A public option
Insurance companies lose their immunity to anti-trust laws
Allow re-importation of prescription drugs
Eliminate Medicare Part D so that Medicare can begin negotiating drug prices
Just goes to show: never give up. Ever since Harry Truman...and tonight was the night. The GOP and the Congress fought it with all their lies, crazy conspiracy theories, the scare tactics, the threats, the billions in lobbying money, the haters coming out of the woodwork, the corporate media writing epitaphs every week...But tonight: the GOP and conservative Waterloo...
Even if the Republicans pick up seats this year: there will be hell to pay if they try to roll back the stuff that goes into effect immediately:
*People with pre-existing health conditions will be able to enroll in a new, but temporary, national high-risk insurance plan.
*Small businesses that offer health coverage to employees will be eligible for tax credits of up to 50 percent of premium costs.
*Seniors who fall into the coverage gap, or "doughnut hole", in the middle of the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage plan will get $250 to help them pay their bills.
*Children won't be excluded from coverage due to pre-existing health conditions. Plus, children will be able to stay on their parents' policy until age 26.
(And there's more. All of the above from the Christian Science Monitor's profile of the proposed bill, which you can read here:)
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/P...
Pretty tough for the GOP to roll back, once it's in. Big victory for American families who work for a living, tonight. Let's keep the momentum going.
By the way: the Republicans and conservatives are still talking about the end of the world as we know it, if this thing goes through. The end of freedom, totalitarian government, our private parts will drop off, etc. A guy on the Kos has collected a series of Republican predictions predicting the end of the world as we know it, going all the way back to the thirties. See below:
(CONTINUED)
The vote on health care reform is supposed to take place on Sunday. Here's your last chance to make an impact on the process. OFA (Organizing For America) has organized a phone bank Saturday and Sunday. I learned of this guest-hosting the final MN Matters on AM950 with TwoPuttTommy and Dusty Trice.
President Obama needs our help to push the Healthcare Reform bill over the line. Our Senators and Representatives need to know we are counting on them to end the abuses of the insurance companies and make affordable health insurance available to all Americans.
We will be calling supporters in districts with representatives who are wavering on whether or not to support health reform. They need to hear a strong message from their constituents: Stand with the President and the American People by supporting final passage of health reform!
We need everyone on the phones, we have 22 phone lines. Please attend.
Times:
Friday, March 19 at 11:00 AM, 1:00 PM, 3:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:00 PM
Saturday, March 20 at 10:00 AM, 12:00 PM, 2:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 6:00 PM
Sunday, March 21 from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
Host: Ned Horsted
Location:
DFL Headquarters (Saint Paul, MN)
255 Plato Blvd E.
Saint Paul, MN 55107
When I opened my Minneapolis Star Tribune to the editorial page yesterday morning, I saw their editorial demanding Congress pass health care reform. I thought it was high time these chowderheads came to their senses. Then I realized that they were up to their usual shenanigans. The gave Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) the space below their editorial to counter their well-reasoned argument with lies, fear-mongering and shameless innuendo.
The blatant disregard for public opinion and the arrogance of this Congress and White House are threatening the integrity of our country with parliamentary tricks and backroom deals under misleading claims of bipartisanship.
This is her opening sentence. In this single sentence I find four lies and two instances of hypocrisy.
Lie #1: ...blatant disregard for public opinion... - public opinion polling by respected polling firms has indicated that a large majority of Americans want health care reform. Polls even showed that a majority of Americans wanted the public option which is not (as of this time) in the bill. There is an outside (very outside) chance that the PO might make it in via reconciliation.
Lie #2: ...the arrogance of this Congress and White House... - Barack Obama, Harry Reid and, to a lesser extent, Nancy Pelosi have tried bipartisanship and Republicans have met it with lies and slander. Death panels and birthers are not honest debate. Furthermore, Republicans have used every trick they know to obstruct health care reform. Only after nearly 9 months of attempting to craft a bipartisan solution are they abandoning it.
Lie #3: ...threatening the integrity of our country with parliamentary tricks and backroom deals... - these parliamentary ploys did not threaten America when the Republicans used them. This is simply fearmongering with no basis in fact.
Lie #4: misleading claims of bipartisanship. - I don't know why Obama and Reid tried to work with y'all on this. You Republicans were never going to negotiate in good faith on this. I'm glad we're scrapping the shabby veneer of bipartisanship and pushing this through on a party line vote.
Hypocrisy #1: ...the arrogance of this Congress and White House... - If any Administration was arrogant, the George W. Bush Administration was. Bachmann calling the Obama Administration arrogant is definitely the pot calling the kettle black.
Hypocrisy #2: ...threatening the integrity of our country... - the Bush Administration truly threatened our country. They got rid of the writ of habeaus corpus, passed the Patriot Act, committed war crimes by torturing prisoners, ran up such a massive debt that our national solvency is still in danger, ran the economy off the cliff ... need I go on?
And this was just the first sentence.
The Star Tribune have always let Bachmann get away with lying. On the one hand they've always printed whatever she submits without the slightest care that the vast majority of what she's said on their pages are lies. On the other hand, they've never asked her anything but softball questions without any follow-up questions regardless of how insane or blatantly false those statements are.
Bachmann is on a mission from God. I mean that literally as he has said that God told her to run for office. Since she is fighting such a righteous cause, there are no gray areas. There are the righteous, the sheep and there are the minions of evil. And Democrats are not the sheep.
Consequently, she doesn't simply disagree with Democrats, liberals and progressives -- we must be evil. It's simpler this way. If we are intent on destroying America, the righteous are justified in whatever they do. This also meshs nicely with the evangelical concept that the "saved" cannot commit sin. This justifies her lying.
As month by month her rhetoric intensifies, she has gone beyond claiming on the Chris Matthews Shows that members of Congress hold "anti-American views." To exhort their followers to action, they seem to need to claim that each perceived transgression is worse than the last and that things have never been this bad (regardless of the truth of their claim).
Right wingers like Bachmann and Palin have always talked about the "real America" and the "real people." The Righteous are the only ones who love their country. There is a dangerous pattern here. If we're not children of God just like they are, if we don't love our country, if we are lesser humans than they are, it justifies whatever means they use to achieve their ends.
I got bunch of pictures to show you guys. I didn't take them, a fellow blogger directed me to the Flicker site where these photos were posted by "Fibonacci Blue." (A link to the original site appears at the end of this post--it's really worth looking at because there's video there, too.)
This was a "tea party" event in St. Paul last Saturday featuring crowd favorite Michele Bachmann as a highlight. (She also rounded up folks to attend via email invites.) Eric Kleefeld of Talking Points Memo wrote a spectacular analysis of Bachmann's speech--pointing out that she was telling the crowd that the health care reforms would not be law even if they were passed. (Link to that Kleefeld piece below, too.)
By their signs ye shall know them. Obama's going to kill our grandmas:
Lots going on in the wake of Bachmann's "Kill the Bill" rally in St. Paul last Saturday. Much to report in upcoming stories--but for now, let it be known that Minnesota blogger/activist Eric Zaetsch never sleeps. He's cleared up a mystery regarding the disappearance of a "death threat against Obama" in the media coverage of Bachmann's Tea Party event.
The other day I posted an item here about the Star Tribune's coverage of Michele Bachmann's "Kill the Health Care Bill" rally. I noted that the Strib seemed to have erased a reference to an alleged death threat against Obama that had appeared in the original online version of their reporting.
I knew that the Strib had originally reported the threat because different commenters on different blogs had referred to it in threads reacting to the Strib story. But I was unable to find the orignal "cache" version of the article.
Blogger Zaetsch to the rescue. Here is the missing line, as it appeared in the original Strib report of the Bachmann rally:
The rally flashed with anger at times. As Bachmann was saying, "American people are not going to take this lying down," one man shouted, "Kill the bastard!" a reference to President Obama.
If you look for that in the current online version of the story, you won't find it. Apparently the Strib either decided that it did not happen or that they could not substantiate the report.
How did Zaetsch find it after the Strib scrubbed it? He use a cache search called "Bing," which I guess is better than a Google cache search. This is knowledge we may all profit from. Here is the link Zaetsch sent me yesterday, the link to the entire cache version of the "Bachmann's Kill The Bill rally" story:
