Make Sure Your Voice Is Heard

As the plutocratic Republican Party (irony alert) tries to ram its almost universally unpopular repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) down the throats of the American people, we need to let our voices be heard by our representatives. This is a particularly critical stage in the legislative process, as committees dominated by sociopathic Republicans race to pass their "afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable" dystopian repeal bill without public hearings, Congressional Budget Office scoring, and with as little discussion in committee as possible.

If you care enough about what's happening in this country, continue to speak out and show up. Here are some resources:

E-mail your Representative

Visit or write to your Representative's local office (recommended)

E-mail or write your Senator

Participate in town halls

Make sure you have the facts about the Republican repeal bill;  Kaiser Family Foundation has a detailed section- by- section summary (pdf), but if you want just the low points, you can start here or here.

Let's continue to let the people who are supposed to be working for us know, "this is what democracy looks like."

Our Broken Media and Health Insurance Reform

Writing in the WaPo this morning (no link), E.J. Dionne explodes the myth, propagated by the ambulance-chasing media, that the rage at last month's town hall meetings was a reflection of America's dissatisfaction with health insurance reform:

"There is an overwhelming case that the electronic media went out of their way to cover the noise and ignored the calmer (and from television's point of view 'boring') encounters between elected representatives and their constituents. It's also clear that the anger that got so much attention largely reflects a fringe right-wing view opposed to all sorts of government programs most Americans support."

Dionne has it right. He tells of one North Carolina town hall meeting where a TV representative said if the meeting didn't "blow up" it wouldn't be covered. Nice journalism standards.

Next time when you hear a TV talking head commenting that the Administration is losing the battle for health insurance reform, remember whose side the mainstream media were on.

Barney Frank, Giving Them Hell

At a town hall meeting in Dartmouth, MA, Rep. Barney Frank was confronted by the usual tea bagger/birther/wingnut Rethug astroturfers trying to shout him down. Frank would have none of it. One nitwit was comparing health insurance reform to Nazi Germany, and that was when Frank pushed back hard on the winger:

"On what planet do you spend most of your time? . . .trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table."

In another instance, one loudmouth insisted that illegal immigrants would receive health care under the House bill, before Frank pointed out the exact wording in the bill that excluded such coverage.

The bottom line is that the wingnuts only listen to hate radio and Fux, and don't bother to educate themselves on actual legislation, etc. We wish that Sen. Specter would have stood up to the dopes at his town hall meetings as Barney Frank has, but maybe that's why Rep. Joe Sestak will be running in the PA Democratic primary against the former Rethug.

Wipe That, Um, Smile Off Your Face

One of the numbskulls at Sen. Specter's town hall meeting in Lebanon, PA was a woman by the name of Katy Abram. When called on for her question, she had a rambling speech, which sounded like a Glenn "Boo Hoo" Beck transcript. Miss Katy was later interviewed on Fux News, and, peering into the future, served up a world class howler:

"I don't want my children coming to me and asking me, 'Mom, why didn't you do anything. Why do we have to wait in line for, I don't know, toilet paper or anything."

BWAHAHAHA! That is what you get when you expose people of limited reasoning power to the lying bloviations of people like Boo Hoo Beck and Pills Limpballs, not to mention the health insurance industry-owned Rethuglican Party, who will always have plenty of toilet paper -- because of what they generate.