Saturday Before the Storm

HELLth Care Reform = Slaughter at Demon Pass (deam and pass) Sounds like a Western.

oh and btw … I love, love that pic of Skipper! She is what we keep on fighting for!

Please forgive my ignorance but I am curious does traditional health insurance cover abortion? I have read here and elsewhere that people are infuriated by the coverage of viagra and so I asked a woman friend who teaches pharmacology law why people are turned down for so many life enhancing/saving scrips but viagra completely unessential is covered. She told me it is all done during the negotiations for coverage and she said you can thank your unions for that one as once group a gets it included group b looks and says us too.
Curious as to whether women in the work force(if I am not mistaken the largest part of the work force) flex the same muscles can they not demand the same coverage? Under this anathema, businesses and unions are still going to be in negotiotions with the different companies.

I wonder what kind of effect bombarding the state and locally elected dimocrats might have? Little things like your silence during this travesty is going to cost you. The proposed bill effect a huge part of the economy and as such those within our states should be responding.

Washington may think it can ignore our voices. Not take our phone calls, but what if we hit up a house representative to the state legislature will the push overs in Washington not take a call from a state Senator expressing concern about their constituencies? Ask your local representative to speak to your congress person. Inundate them and we will not be ignored.

kat in your hat
so Milk is worth watching?
I haven’t been able to watch it as Penn turns my gut(Funny that before 2008 I had a bizarre appreciation for the Sarandon/Penn bloc) but as they threw themselves behind teh one just because he gives good face I can’t even consider paying a dime to watch the idiots.

I do have to say thank you though– I have a grand niece that had ill equipped parents and I was there. Never chose to be there it just happened. She is now 3 and a half and everyone who meets her is blown away by how communicative she is. I have been to more museums/zoos/concerts because of this little person than I’ve ever done on my own. I always sit with her and discuss everything. I just always wanted to let her know that whatever she felt was okay. Three and a half and her vocab includes annoying(me) rediculous, trying exhausting sad and so much more.
To cut a long story short my baby girl I have often wondered if I have done her a disservice as a gay man(residual childhood/adolescent/young adult self hate) I may have impaired her.

Reading your story is a balm to my soul.
Thankyou for sharing it.

Yes, We’re Dead Serious

By Jessica Kutch
“It appears SEIU is dead serious about this business about yanking support for House Dems who vote No on the health bill,” writes Greg Sargent at the Plum Line.

Yep, it’s true. SEIU members expect Congress to pass health care reform. If the U.S. House fails to muster the courage to pass health insurance reform, there will be consequences. Today, SEIU Local 200 announced that it is seeking challengers to Rep. Michael Arcuri’s Democratic seat after he indicated he would vote against the bill.

http://www.seiu.org/2010/03/yes-were-dead-serious.php

I am sure your mayor, your city council, your state government reps has an ear that we do not have to our federally elected reps so lets give em all we got.

OT
as I was heading south on hwy 15 in order to make my way to one of the local beaches, I noticed a very long string of runners down the hill and adjacent to the highway.
Then I remembered that hundreds of runners were going to meet here in Rancho Bernardo… To complete the run that Chelsea Kelly started before that prick abducted and murdered her.

I don’t know why I took the next exit … I didn’t want to take any pictures figuring they would make my camera cry.

Anyway, here I am, sitting on the sidestep of my mock turtle…
Thinking about these wonderful runners and Kelly.

Did I mention that all the trees lining the streets of this town have blue ribbons
tied around them?

I think I’ll just sit here for a while and be with my sadness.

Thanks for telling us that, Dances. I share in your sadness. Kelly grew up in my county – DuPage.

Henry
Fear not. I’m not retiring, I’m grieving.
I will do the prowls soon enough or as soon as I can.

GOP “At The Behest of a Fringe Group That Has Taken Over Party” (Video)

hotairpundit ^ | 3/20/10 | HAP

Yeah, those people waving an American flag demanding that elected leaders adhere to the Constitution are a real fringe group…CBS released this clip of the 60 minutes interview that will air Sunday night (Video)

(Excerpt) Read more at hotairpundit.blogspot.com …

Obamacare Hits Middle Class Hard, Pricing Them Out of Insurance
Friday, 19 Mar 2010 03:03 PM

By: Dan Weil

While President Barack Obama emphasizes that it’s the wealthy who will help finance his healthcare reform, the middle class would get socked pretty hard too, says Scott Gottlieb, a physician and resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

Health reform will leave many of them newly priced out of a transformed market for health insurance, he says.

“The hardest hit won’t be those earning more than $250,000 a year — the group that he (Obama) says needs to ‘pay their fair share,’” Gottlieb says.

“Rather, it’s families whose combined annual income is around $100,000 who could be crushed under this plan,” he wrote in a recent New York Post opinion piece.

People at that income level make too much too qualify for subsidies under the Democrats’ reform plan, but probably too little to easily afford the expensive insurance that the plan requires them to buy, Gottlieb argues.

Many families who earn about $100,000 a year will have to purchase a policy costing an average of $14,700 for the mid-level, “silver” health plan, according to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimates, he writes.

“After income taxes, they’ll be spending almost a quarter of their net income for health insurance.”

And what will be the end result? “Many of these middle-class families will probably opt to pay the federal fine and go without health insurance until they get sick,” Gottlieb explains.

Families making more than $250,000 don’t escape pain either. They will face a 2.9 percent surcharge tax on unearned income and a 0.9 percentage-point increase in Medicare payroll taxes.

Who does benefit from Obama’s plan?

Drugmakers, device companies and health insurers all got some good news when Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives released changes to healthcare reform legislation on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

Hefty taxes on those three industries were delayed by at least a year, among other adjustments to the bill that seeks to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system.

http://moneynews.com/Headline/Obamacare-Middle-Class-Insurance/2010/03/19/id/353314

#25 Murphy
I’m keeping an eye on the festivities at the Capitol on FOX NEWS as I do Saturday chores. Deem and Pass is dead?
Yeah Jason Altmire PA, voting no.
Just called Patrick Murphy, too. Call, fax, email.

Dances –

I don’t know how we protect them especially from the sick monsters. My adult daughter used to jog in her “safe” neighborhood and I finally convinced her that it was not safe to do that. She now does it at her fitness place and is off the streets. I went to one of those “find where the perverts live” sites and there were some in her town and one in my town. It is amazing how many there are. They are not rare. I sent the info to both of my daughters and my adult nieces so they would be more careful and try not to go places alone.

We have bike baths in my village and I often see girls riding alone and it gives me the shivers.

My cousin was raped and murdered several years ago. She was at a party and wandered off alone for some unknown reason. Ever since then I have been warning my children, but they need a lot of reminding. Being a mother never stops. And, every time there is another rape/murder of a child, I just can’t help thinking of Teak and what she suffered at the hands of the monster. Teak was going to do a summer internship with a Hollywood director and I can’t remember his name anymore. Obama’s antics are draining my brain cells.

http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-18/local/me-6662_1_security-guard

It’s beginning already with the health care cutbacks. I am on Medicare with a supplement provided by my retirement system. The first thing they did in January was cut back on the reimbursement that they pay me to cover my Medicare monthly premium (being on Medicare cuts down on the retirement systems’s hc costs for me). Today I received a letter in the mail saying that my diabetic testing supplies that had been covered by Medicare will now be paid for by me up to my yearly deductible amount. Never before have they changed a healthcare provision in the middle of the year. The healthcare myth that they want to encourage prevention to keep down costs is yet another lie. A diabetic must test several times a day to keep their sugars until control. Testing strips are expensive.

Scarlet
so very sorry about your niece.

I would be a terrible parent… For several reasons but one in particular.
I’m sure I would handcuff my child to my wrist until she or he was 50 or there about.
Otherwise I’m sure I would die of stomach ulcers from the worry or have to take Thorazine 24-7. I worry enough about the children of my siblings and friends.

I have a 14 year old granddaughter who walks to and from school and then walks back again for after school sports. She also has a small paper route. Wven though she lives in a small community, it is surrounded by a large city. I know she feels safe in her small community, but I worry about her street smarts and whether she has developed any in her safe environment. Both parents work fulltime, so don’t get home until about 6 pm. It’s always been unsafe for girls, but now it is much worse.

Murphy – so glad you’re a mom and a blogger and … and … (sorry, not good with words).

Well it’s been over 50 years since I sat in civics class, but there are things I remember. Like 3 branches of government, separated, with checks and balances in place to keep the republic a republic. But now we have the executive branch telling the legislative branch how to vote. Said executive branch has also made an attempt to control the judicial branch.

The reason that everything Barack Obama touches becomes a mess is due to the fact that exceptions always have to be made in order for him to win. Democrats. When do the good times start?

(((Dances)))

I’m right there with you re: the handcuffs and/or Thorzine… Couldn’t ever be a Mom.

(((Skipper)))

Great pic…

Just screened a call from the DNC. President Obama’s hc wonderful blah blah blah blah blah (it was a long message) press one now to initiate a call to your representative (that would be Carney) to urge him to vote for Health Care reform. The whole gist repeated several times.

And yesterday they were complaining about too many phone calls.
I like the sound of this.

BCL
Hope you feel better soon!
While cuts are being made, BO is up there trying to bribe the American people by handing out “goodies” to take effect BEFORE November. Whereas my son would be able to by insurance cheap at age 22,now he’ll just have to be on Mom and Dad’s policy instead.
Great. Thanks, O’Blastme.

Shakowsky gets really sarcastic with the Wellpoint ceo on her millions in salary, stock and bonuses. Shakowsky says, ‘well that would explain why you need to increase preimums by 39%’. The ceo never blinks.

((((Dances – thanks for sharing and that you are there))))

((((Scarlet)))) Been there, too and it makes each and every story of it happening one more time so much worse, I think.

Here’s mine: My nephew and his step sister – 14 and 15 years old – were abducted and killed by a freaktoid monster. My nephew followed them on his bike after his step-sister went with the guy. He shot my nephew in the head and threw him off of a bridge and raped, killed and dismembered her beautiful body – as some kind of ritual. The guy’s mother had known that he was plotting something about ritualistically killing girls – he had kept some kind of diary about it. It was a horrible, horrible week as they searched for them and it only got worse when they found their bodies. The agony of my sister-in-law and the girl’s mother was incomprehensible at the time.

They executed him, without him ever reveling where he had put the “trophies” from her body. My sister-in-law and niece were in attendance – with not one of us having an ounce of pity nor regret for his demise – except that – “It was too easy for him”. It sort of felt insane, knowing that we all wanted him to suffer so much more than what he did to those two kids.

(((wontbackdown))) so awful…makes me sick

When Kelly was murdered, I sent an email to my children “announcing” that I was now for the death penalty because I want Kelly’s killer to die. Today, I still feel that way. I have always been against the death penalty so I may change my mind again.

(((Scarlet and WBD)))

Words fail me…

My heart breaks for you and your families.

(((gojoyknocks)))

I’m sorry you had such a nasty panic attack. Sending you strength.

Many thanks for sharing the words of the Seagoddess.

90 Seconds of Health care Reform, explained

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brh-hGr8mXo&feature=player_embedded#

Follow it all on twitter:

http://twitter.com/search?q=%23killthebill

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/us/19score.html?hp

New York Times admits CBO numbers were fixed!
One thing that is indisputable about the Democrats’ big health care legislation is that the cost figures are going to come out right where Obama said he wanted them.

a “crucial goal in recent weeks, was to meet the requirements of budget reconciliation rules, which mandated specific savings over five years through changes in laws under the jurisdiction of different Congressional committees.

Think about it this way: Building the health care legislation was not some wild shopping spree in Macy’s, running through the store grabbing whatever looked nice off the racks and then heading to the cash register with credit card and a bunch of coupons in hand, only to let the cash register render its verdict.

Rather, it was more like a trip to the local fruit stand with a set amount of money in hand, and every item clearly marked with a price per pound. The precise mix of apples, oranges, pears and grapes could be adjusted — a little more of this, or a little less of that — so there would be just the right amount of ingredients to make a fruit salad, without blowing the budget.”

That’s good news Boogieman… too little, too late, but good for future elections…

The latest news is that the bill will pass with 217/214. So who are the two that decided? How much human misery will be on their heads?

And Oblowit? Well, he is confident that everything will work out and everyone will love it … just like the Porkulus Bill.

Get me some of BO’s meds.

this is how I feel right now…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGIY5Vyj4YM Caveat: Everyone should write or call their Congressman/woman and let them know what you feel….. other that that….. I think this is right on….. Yes, I am Mad as Hell…….

I’m up because of a rainstorm here, so I caught up on the thread.

BigCatLover – thank you for the link at 50 on one of the murderous CEOs. We ought to make a citizen’s arrest.

gojoyknocks – I hope the Seagoddess is right – if not, maybe she can rain a major storm over Capitol Hill. are you going to be okay at work? how long were you away? A client of mine was away from work for months because of depression and panic attacks as a result of harassment. the employer has still done nothing although the governmental agency agrees with me that my client was discriminated against. I’ll be filing her lawsuit soon. I hope you are not dealing with harassment or bullying.

prplvette – sending you good juju. I can recommend you to people (can’t afford a car – Vanessa is hanging in there at 135K miles). my email is dragonflypuma at gmail dot com.

wontbackdown – your nephew and his stepsister’s story breaks my heart. He must have been trying to protect her. did the killer’s mother ever have any remorse for failing to take the diary to the police? Those poor kids.

Here’s hoping that the corporate giveaway fails tomorrow. If they pass it, every sorry one of them must lose their bids for reelection.

et tu, Bill?

Tanloids: The finger edition
http://edgeoforever.wordpress.com/2010/03/21/tabloids-the-finger-edition/

http://equalvisibilityeverywhere.org/

Everyone here can join EVE
Lynette Long and Violet Socks new site ..it is exciting!!! and well worth our time, I have a great feeling about this!
from the site : EVE is a group of people committed to creating Equal Visibility Everywhere for women. We’re a brand-new (March 2010) not-for-profit dedicated to achieving gender parity in the symbols and icons of the United States.

We’re taking on statues, stamps, street names, currency, national holidays, and more.

Our first hot project is National Statuary Hall. Ohio is in the middle of choosing a replacement statue, and we’re doing everything we can to persuade them to choose a woman. Visit our Ohio Statue Page section for updates and details on how you can help. And take our poll to tell us who you think should represent Ohio in Statuary Hall!

We’ll be ramping up our other projects in the coming days. Check out our How You Can Help page if you’d like to lend a hand, and be sure to sign up for our newsletter.

Good morning, pumas. I’ve been reading up on this health care reform. I’m trying very hard to learn all the pros and cons – from all sides. I’m reading what the fiscal conservatives are saying, what O & Pelosi, etc are saying, what pumas are saying, what obots are saying, what non-puma feminists are saying, what doctors are saying, what mixed economists are saying, what republican leaders are saying, etc etc.

I’m so confused.

I want all Americans to be healthy & happy. I wonder if many or most of the uninsured are women and children, perhaps single moms? I like that kids would be covered by parents plan until 26 years old. I like a few other things about the bill too.

But the money would all go to private insurance billionaires? Isn’t that already happening? Or will it also hurt private insurance because of new rules? How is it getting paid for? Is it not true that it will be paid for via medicare cuts & taxes only on people making $200-250K? All people can keep the doctors/ insurance they already have, but then, are they left alone or do they have to pay more in taxes??

People who are uninsured will be forced to buy health insurance, and if they can’t afford it…they will get it free? What about middle class people who seem to make enough on dotted line but struggle in reality – will they get left out in limbo or suffer?

What about Stupak? Hasn’t that changed? What’s the latest language that will be in bill as far as family planning/ abortion/ maternity coverage?

Is it going to help economy in long run–for real? or is it going to destroy economy–for real?

Will it hurt our elders somehow?

I’m asking all these questions because I’ve read a different answer from each group. I don’t expect anyone here to answer me…it’s just that I’m not truly informed enough to have an educated opinion.

I cannot seem to find truly unbiased & straight factual information on this stinking thing. I want to know facts and I want to listen to the pros and cons from all people but everyone says something different. I feel like it’s difficult for me to simply learn about this thing because I know that I do not trust Obama & basically all politicians, and I can’t trust that everyone else isn’t slanted either. So, for example, if there’s a dem politician saying something, I’m thinking: is that TRUE? Or, are you LYING? Or, have YOU even read this bill?

*sigh*

Good Morning (((Puma’s)))
Kat, you ask some very real questions, that I don’t think even the they don’t have the answers to. It is very confusing. Is it on purpose, I think it is. The wording is such that there are more holes in the language than swiss cheese. I believe that at this point in time, with so much going on with our country, now it not the time. I think the only jobs that will be created are jobs for the IRS. I think it is a short term reduction in the deficit because we are going to be paying for this right away,and the benefits don’t kick in for 3-5 years, except for ones like the no preexisting condition clause and the fraud is going to use that money to bring down the deficit. I still think it is too much government control, our healthcare will be worse, and they will have the say in what treatments we can and cannot have.
Then there is the “what ifs” in our country. What if China calls us on our debt? What if there is another war in Iran or what if we have another melt down of the banking system?, Auto industry etc? I don’t know my head feels like its going to explode. I feel like raggedy ann, being pulled apart in a million different directions. Trying to psyche myself up for this job, trying to catch up on Pumapac, healthcare, trying to clean house and find clothes to wear, trying to find a free program where I can make flyers and such, since I discover I don’t have MS Office anymore… shit…
think I will just get a cup of coffee and have a cupcake for breakfast …
and start over.

kat

you do ask some great questions – I suppose that at the root of my anger on this bill is the lack of regulation or protection concerning rate increases. If rate increase limitations are in the bill, I hope someone knows and can tell me. I am not as informed as you are. I got stuck at the anger stage and intuitively connect several dots to get to this point. For example, the WellPoint execs in their testimony complained about the rates having to go up because healthy people were no longer in the “pool” of insured people. The healthy people declining to purchase were a source of frustration and angst for these WellPoint people (to the extent they expressed emotion at all – Braley was like a stepford wife). So, here is a bill that mandates people buy insurance with penalties such as garnishing your income. That’s good for insurance companies. yet, there is no provision in the bill, according to the aol article, that subjects the health insurance companies to the antitrust provisions. We have no power against them – they can all gang up on us and force us to pay the prices they choose and we have no cause of action against them.

Also, I don’t like any cuts to Medicare, and that is one way it is funded (in addition to taxes on employers, which means my employer will likely be unable to afford to provide the benefit). Medicare and Social Security are entitlements. they must be funded appropriately. I sure as hell better get my social security – I’m only 40, so I get the “well, there won’t be any left when you reach 66″ there better be.

Don’t get me wrong, I am for health care reform – true reform for the patients and protections for the doctors and nurses so that the patient-care giver relationship can be restored. We are just not a civilized nation if we don’t take care of our people’s needs. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are empty words to most Americans right now.

We should require insurance providers to be non-profit to remove the drive by the companies to impress their stockholders. According to the aol report, health insurance companies’ stocks have increased in value since October 2009! That is just so so so wrong.

We had more millionaries last year than we did in 2008. Yet our unemployment rates increased. There is something so broken at fundamental levels here. We were promised, as Americans, certain rights and privileges, and we have a duty to help other nations achieve freedom as well. Instead, we are soon slaves to our debt to the Chinese and we are murdering Muslims and destroying their country so we can have more leverage on their resources, such as they are. Within our own country, we have a huge number of people who cannot afford insurance or who pay for insurance but it is cancelled when they get sick.

And the health insurance companies are getting a pay day if this passes while the people are getting burdened once more via taxation.

My dad told me twenty years ago to go into insurance, that’s where the money was. Boy was he right.

Kat, Dragonfly and my liberal sister pumas:

Trust your common (number) sense! Add more people, subtract the subsidies to providers, then add more/better services, then cap prices, then subsidize more people…voila! More taxes, mandates, fines, rationing, loss of choice,loss of privacy,and loss of rights. And look what happens to government programs-they grow out of control with corruption. I say, no!

http://novemberiscoming.com

LMAO

Let me get this straight……we’re trying to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president that also is exempt from it and hasn’t read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that’s broke.

What could possibly go wrong?

Maxine on Health Care (United States of America) http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/pol/1654028439.html

prplvette85, Dragonfly, normapapuma: Thanks very much for responses. Just wanted to make sure you all knew I read your words! I appreciate it…xo