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Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Michelle Malkin :: Townhall.com Columnist
Who's Funding the Obamacare Campaign?
by Michelle Malkin
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If you believe the White House, there are 30 million Americans who support a government health care takeover. But if you look at the funding behind the Obamacare campaign, it's the same few leftist billionaires, union bosses and partisan community organizers pushing the socialized medicine agenda. Let's connect the dots.

On Thursday, a national "grassroots" coalition called Health Care for America Now (HCAN) will march on Capitol Hill to demand universal health care. The ground troops won't have to march very far. HCAN, you see, is no heartland network. It is headquartered at 1825 K Street in Washington, D.C. -- smack dab in the middle of Beltway lobby land.

In fact, 1825 K Street is Ground Zero for a plethora of "progressive" groups subsidized by anti-war, anti-Republican, Big Nanny special interests. Around Washington, the office complex is known as "The Other K Street." The Washington Post noted in 2007 that "its most prominent tenants form an abbreviated who's who of well-funded allies of the Democratic Party. … Big money from unions such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, as well as the Internet-fueled MoveOn, has provided groups like those at 1825 K Street the wherewithal to mount huge campaigns."

MoveOn, of course, is the recreational political vehicle of radical liberal sugar daddy George Soros. The magnate's financial fingerprints are all over the HCAN coalition, which includes MoveOn, the action fund of the Center for American Progress (a Soros think tank) and the Campaign for America's Future (a pro-welfare state lobbying outfit).

HCAN has a $40 million budget, with $10 million pitched in by The Atlantic Philanthropies -- a Bermuda-based organization fronted by Soros acolyte Gara LaMarche. Also in the money mix: notorious Democratic donors Herb and Marion Sandler, the left-wing moguls who made billions selling subprime mortgages and helped Soros fund his vast network of left-wing activist satellites. By their side is billionaire Peter Lewis of Progressive Insurance, whose "Progressive Future" youth group has dispatched clueless volunteers armed with clipboards and literature bashing Rush Limbaugh and Fox News to scare up support for Obamacare.

And two more left-wing heavyweights joining the HCAN parade: the corruption-plagued SEIU (which has battled numerous embezzlement scandals among its chapters across the country while crusading for consumer and patients' rights) and Obama's old chums at fraud-riddled ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

ACORN and HCAN are linked by left-wing philanthropist Drummond Pike, who heads the nonprofit Tides Foundation/Tides Center. As the tax disclaimer for HCAN discloses, "HCAN is related to Health Care for America Education Fund, a project of The Tides Center, a section 501(c)(3) public charity." For decades, the Tides Center and its parent organization, the Tides Foundation, have seeded some of the country's most radical activist groups of the left, including the communist-friendly United for Peace and Justice, the jihadist-friendly National Lawyers Guild and the grievance-mongering Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Pike is the same philanthropist who assisted ACORN founder Wade Rathke after his brother, Dale, was caught embezzling nearly $1 million from the group. Wade Rathke sits on the Tides Foundation board of directors. In a conspiracy to cover up Dale Rathke's massive theft of funds, Pike volunteered to buy a promissory note worth $800,000 to cover the debt. These are the populist do-gooders supposedly looking out for you and your health.

Why do they want Obamacare? An internal ACORN memo I obtained from August 2008 makes the motives clear: "Over our 38 years, health care organizing has never been a major focus either nationally or locally for ACORN," wrote ACORN Philadelphia regional director Craig Robbins. "But increasingly, ACORN offices around the country are doing work on health care." The goal: "Building ACORN Power."

The memo outlines the ACORN/HCAN partnership and their strategy of opposing any programs that rely on "unregulated private insurance" -- and then parlaying political victory on government-run health care "to move our ACORN agenda (or at least part of it) with key electeds that we might otherwise not be able to pull off."

The objective, in other words, is to piggyback and exploit Obamacare to improve and protect their political health. The "grassroots" movement is not about representing Main Street. It's about peddling influence and power at 1825 K Street.

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About The Author

Michelle Malkin makes news and waves with a unique combination of investigative journalism and incisive commentary. She is the author of Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild .

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©Creators Syndicate
A pox on all their houses
Thank you, Michelle. Without reporting like this, America is lost, lost, lost.

You have listed a Who's Who of the organizations that are destroying America by sucking billions, maybe trillions out of the middle class.

No, the culprits are not the Republicans, most of whom are struggling to make mortgage payments and send their kids to college. The try enemies of America are the large and sophisticated service companies that make nothing, but send hundreds of millions to Washington in exchange for hundreds of billions in "favors".

It is sad indeed. A pox on all their houses.

If i had trillions to give away
I believe i could arrange to have billions come back to me. I've heard Soros spent something like 300 million to get Barry elected. He made a billion last year. Not bad. Tripled his investment in a year. I guess that's why Soros is a billionaire and i am not.
As long as things were good for the average Joe, he didn't think much about the usual corruption at the top, the collusion between influence peddling legislators and favor seeking business fat cats. When his pockets are empty though, he starts to look around to see where it went, and why. Could be some interesting times ahead.

Malkin
I don't think it will get him very far, he has
got my money.

Go Obama.

Andrew Wilkow
Andrew Wilkow sums it up best when he says all those in favor of socialized healthcare are absolute losers. 30 million members of HRN and HCAN and the richest lefties in America (Oprah, Soros, Buffet, etc) and still they cannot come up with a way other that government intervention to get around our healthcare woes. Losers. No intellectual thought at all.

Good News
At least the money for this intrusion into our freedom isn't being funded by our tax dollars. Small consolation but at this point I am grateful for any relief from the pocket ravishing, greedy grasp of Government.

Michelle
Thank you for the great reporting. Unfortunately, this weave of corruption is much too complicated for your average dim-o-crat (see: Tammy) - so this will not be reported in the MSM or understood by any of the obamatons.

A handful of socialists will get rich, our country will slouch further towards oblivion and the liberal sheeple will just ‘roll up another one’ while waiting for their next welfare check or government ‘freebee’.

@ Maglalang:
Here you go again. Maglalang, by now you deserve a vacation with Abu Sayyaf, straight up. l0lz

Great job, Malkin
Everyone with more than 2 brain cells (Sorry, tammy that leaves you out)knows that this uhc farce has absolutely nothing to do with "helping poor Americans get the healthcare they need."

No, its a power grab by the same old wrenching, grasping, covetous, socialist scum responsible for most of the misery in the world. Their interests have NOTHING to do with helping humanity, but something far more base.

They want more POWER and CONTROL over those they wish to destroy...Free men and women.

Tammy Along With Other Liberals

Are complete idiots when it comes to economics.

So, Tammy will give her money! HA!

Yes, that will pay for the ~800,000 doctors to treat ~305mn people and the untold amount of money that doctors have to pay for med-mal insurance.

No country will loan us money, gold is at a premium, and ink for the Federal Reserve is running low.

Personally, I know of several doctors, who will set up practice in other countries or medical ships. Heck! I know of a private clinic in a posh area of Southern Mexico where US doctors have clinics because the treatments, which have been prove successful, have been denied by the FDA.

And, now we are supposed to believe that ObamaCare will pay when the CBO, "Pay-Go", and nonparisan think tanks say that it will not.

Read about the "Slow Burn Theory" by Catherine Austin Fitts, who predicts that on a 1 to 10 scale as to whether we will experience another Great Depression is a low 3.

Try reading Gerald Celente.

And, peruse http://www.williamhenry.net/

Both Parties are corrupt and have acted unconstitutionally.

Let the Mob run the government because it will do so effectively and let the government run the Mob because it will f*ck everything up.

When New Hampshire wants to cut taxes across the board and Vermont wants to seceed, you have to wonder whatever happened to the Southern Strategy.

The Republic of Texas, anyone?

Yawns!
more cheap whine from one of the rwcons water carriers. What do you expect when you mash sour grapes all day. This is nothing compared to the real K street and that Abramoff guy!
And she knows it.

Socialized medicine
(Universal Healthcare) and amnesty (Immigration Reform) once enacted will permanently change the foundation of government. From that point on, like Europe, all politics will operate within the confines of democratic socialism. Barring of course, states secession or all out revolution. Obama and his supporters, as adherent students and believers in socialism know this better than most.

The constitution, which was created in part to limit central government will finally be dead. And Obama’s vision fulfilled.

Michelle LOL
"...The "grassroots" movement is not about representing Main Street. It's about peddling influence and power at 1825 K Street."

OH WOW!!! OK now please tell me who it is funding opposition to allowing US Healthcare to crash in as spectacular a fashion as you folks allowed the economy to crash and burn. The fact is Main Street and your local doctor realize our healthcare system is in need of a redo. As usual you spew no,no, no and offer nothing but denial and half a story.

St. Denis In Obama's Red America
"Date: Jun 24, 2009 - 4:38 AM EST... Personally, I know of several doctors, who will set up practice in other countries or medical ships. Heck! I know of a private clinic in a posh area of Southern Mexico where US doctors have clinics because the treatments, which have been prove successful, have been denied by the FDA..."

Yup and good riddance to them. Of course our people are seeking healthcare overseas it costs far less and the care is at least as good; except of course for when they practice quackery.

"...The Republic of Texas, anyone?"

I don't know why you keep saying that Obama is a red state conservative but hey have at it. It is as realistic as the rest of the stuff you spew. Maybe it is time for you to go home to France?

INTHENOW
"Date: Jun 24, 2009 - 5:43 AM EST
Socialized medicine
(Universal Healthcare)..."

See right away you display your ignorance by confusing to separate terms as identical.

"...The constitution, which was created in part to limit central government will finally be dead. "

Exactly the opposite, the Constitution was created to form a STRONGER central government after the Articles of Confederation proved unworkable. Then there is the "little matter" of the Civil War where the crushing of rebellion pretty much defined the limits of "state rights". The Constitution is very much alive and well but you conservatives literally hate it.

The Diff:
A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him,

"Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, "You're in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.

"She rolled her eyes and said, "You must be a Republican."


"I am," replied the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is technically correct. But I have no idea what to do with your information, and I'm still lost. Frankly, you've not been much help to me."

The man smiled and responded, "You must be an Obama Democrat."

"I am," replied the balloonist. "How did you know?"

"Well," said the man, "you don't know where you are or where you are going. You've risen to where you are, due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. You're in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but somehow, now it's my fault."


@ Robert:
OH MY GOD, YOU ARE SO FUNNY!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHHHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!

Health care FINANCING problem
One of the main reasons health care is so expensive, besides cost-shifting, is frivolous lawsuits. The astronomical malpractice insurance premiums that doctors are required to pay (and pass on to patients) is obscene! Obstetricians are particularly hard hit. An Ob/Gyn malpractice premium can easily be well over $100,000 per year!

Another part of the same problem is that doctors have to practice defensive medicine (order unnecessary tests) to cover all the bases a rapacious, unprincipled lawyer might exploit. Tort reform that takes out the ambulance chasers would go a long way to reducing the cost of health care. Perhaps a 'loser pays' system that includes the lawyers' personal wealth might work.

We don't have a health care problem in this country. We have a health care FINANCING problem, primarily due to fifty years of government involvement and rapacious lawyers! A pox on both their houses!

PLUS or MINUS
THANK YOU LIBERALS !

Next to Garfield and the rest of the loony tunes cartoons characters, the postings by liberals on any subject are the most entertaining, because it reminds me of a police tape about the most dangerous drivers. It showed a car stuck in reverse going around in circles and the officers were unable to stop it. The funny part was that, their was no driver. The police officers could not shot the tires out because it would have gone wild and possible hurt or killed someone, so they carefully controlled the situation until the car ran out of gas.
This is a perfect example of a liberal, they will continue to go around in circles until they run out of our money.
We can't stop obama and soros from funding these parasites of society .... BUT ....
in 2010 and 2012 we can cut this CANCER OUT by using the most powerful weapon in the FREE WORLD " THE VOTE " our children's future depends on it.
THANK YOU Michelle for your articles of truth and fact, it really drives liberals crazy, we see it in their posts here.
We all know who they are and most of us just by pass their posts and move on to intelligent conversations.

If we believe the White House?
I'd easily more be able to believe The Whie House" than this crooked,, illegitimate administration. Administration being severely poor at describing what they are doing. Den of thiefs, liars, and criminals, is more like it. We do not have a health care crisis. There has been too long a pervasive attitude that "I do not want to spend my money on health insurance,rather on a house or car(s) or whatever. Then when the gamble doesn't pay off and they have to go to the doctor, the cry goes up "I couldn't afford insurance" someone should make others pay for my needs. There are a number of options to explore for those truly in need. For years I helped, voluntarily, single moms and their infants, etc. Their are social programs that cover a lot of different things,including medical care.One problem is a lot of the women do not know what they can apply for, or are too proud to do it. The second which is really horrible is that the social workers often deliberately do not tell people what they are entitled to get through already existing programs. Yeah, yell and scream you government employees, but you know it is true. I know it is true. Now, I am willing to give of my mythical "wealth" to help others and have done so ever since I became a "Born Again Christian" I love to do what Jesus would do. But, Obama ain't Jesus. Even if he were the legitimate president, the government has not right to decide to take my money to basically fund their socialist agenda. They do not want to spread the wealth, they want to fomigate tyrany and socialism. If this liberal scums that bought the election for Obama believe in this stuff, let them anti up. Keep your hands off of my money and my values.

Mandate for Socialized medicine?
"If you believe the White House, there are 30 million Americans who support a government health care takeover."

Hmmm that leaves 275 million who don't support a government health care takeover. They think that 30 million people is a mandate for change?
This Obama guy really isn't very bright is he?

IT should be be called
Healthcare Immigration Bill. All of us who pay taxes will be funding the border jumpers and others who have already made a choice not to be insured, but that's the way they want it, the COWboy and Co. Single payer to kill us.

The Malkinator!
This is yet another informative essay from Michelle. One of the bottom lines is that George Soros is one of the blights on this country JUST as he is on Britan. He is a pestilance that needs to be eradicated.

We also need to keep pounding on the media to run pieces on these anti-Amercian organizations like ACORN/HCAN.

I read somewhere just the other day
that 9 out of 10 Americans do NOT want the gov't anywhere near their healthcare. But, IlDuce insists that this be done NOW yet he has no plan.
Actually this clown has no clue about anything and is a joke, he is being played for the fool that he is by tinhorns all over the world.

Notice in all his speeches the lack of any mention of trial lawyers and their impact on healthcare costs.....WHY?
Could it be that they OWN the democrat party?
How about all the illegals who suck off the emergency rooms thanks to dems like kennedy.
They won't buy health insurance because they already have it, at our expense.

How about the people from India and other places who come here knowing they need kidney dialysis, have an attack and wind up staying forever along with their relatives at our expense?

Get rid of this crap first and then let's discuss if there is a problem, we don't want anything that will bankrupt the country, this will and that's why this communist wants it.

We need to keep repeating the word NO, until these morons on the hill get the message, they work for US, we are not sheep and damnsure not their subjects to be pushed around or children that need their coddling....get out of our lives NOW!


Fantasy Control
The fault for this IS the Republicans.

The facts in your column are readily available. It is the Republicans' job to pound them, to repeat them, over & over.

But they won't. They are complicit with the left. Like the Whigs, they are ignoring the big issue of the day (runaway gov't) That's why I call them Republiwhigs. There will either be a new party, or America as a free country is done for.

BTW, Hal, you ought to try READING the Constitution. Hint: "Abortion" ain't in there. "Law impairing the Obligation of Contract" is. Look it up. Then explain to a GM or Chrysler bondholder how the Constitution isn't a dead letter. Oh, we should just stick it to the bondholders? OK, but don't whine at your new 12% mortgage.

HalD
You claim to have been in the military or para military.

You saw socialized medicine at work. Weeks to see a specialist, passed around to whoever wasn't busy, limited to one dental visit per year and a committee to decide treatment. In other words, crap.

How do you think we can pay for something collectively that we won't pay for individually? Oh, right! Make the other guy pay for mine.

Health care and the rest of the social services are not rights. Neither do you have a right to my money.

Hal you might try reading the 10th Amendment to the Constitution to determine the size of government. I know it is inconvenient.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. "


Very Good Michelle,
and thru Tides you could track it down to the radical muslims worldwide, the very same ones who put the AA muslim where he is today and the very same ones who he agrees wholeheartedly with and cannot speak out against them as he is one of them. Keep bamslamming the bamster its time he got gone.

Michelle
I love this line...
"By their side is billionaire Peter Lewis of Progressive Insurance, whose "Progressive Future" youth group has dispatched clueless volunteers armed with clipboards and literature bashing Rush Limbaugh and Fox News to scare up support for Obamacare.

The key word in that whole paragraph is "clueless". I'm sure Tammy is one of those with clipboard in hand and talking trash.
The bad thing about this is there are so many gullible people in this country that will sign up for this and not realize what there getting into. My guess is it will probably be the same people who took on a mortgage in which they couldn't afford to pay.


Ms. Malkin
Great column. The coruption of thee left is well documented. What I don't understand is, why the everyday folks don't see it. There are books, radio, mags, and tv. Yet they still vote for the demss most lib leftists. Must want someone to run thier lives for them, because they can't do it for themselves. Keep up the good work.
Kirk

So frustrating
If George Soros and MoveOn spent their money actually helping people rather than spending it lobbying Congress to help people, the country would be much better off and it wouldn't have to come from taxpayer money. It makes NO sense to me at all. They spend all this money doing studies and gladhanding/bribing/extorting Congressmen when they could give that money directly to the people they claim to want to help. They just want control and power. Oh and George makes Billions by getting the government to devalue the dollar by giving away more than they take in. It is win win for him. Wield power and get richer. Someone needs to take him down.

Hal;

Well here you are. Another quick hit to stir the pot. You say what ever comes to mind without any regard for the truth. Get a life Hal, and leave us alone. You are just making a fool of yourself.

You forgot to include Ins. Co.
Michelle; You forgot to include the large medical insurance companies in this mix. I believe that these insurance companies are all for this because it will drive out the lesser competition, which will put these large medical insurance companies in the "cat bird" seat. Just as the auto industries. Since the two auto companies that is owned by the government, the other auto companies will begin to fade away, just because of the humongeous fanancial backing that the two companies that is now owned by the government. Who do you think will get most if not all of the government contracts? Certainly, the government owned entities. Whether these companies realize it or not, they are making a deal with the devil. Somewhere along the line, these companies, whether auto, insurance, banking, or any other company that choose to join this cabal, will come to a very bad end.

I find the liberal posters annoying
They have no facts or arguments to offer, simply personal put-downs. This is the approach of a grade school child. They apparently don't realize that this approach nullifys anything they have to say, and further alienates people who actually know how to think. I scroll past the personal attacks on a routine basis. You libs are wasting your time posting on TH. You have nothing to offer but you keep saying it anyway.

Airborne82nd 8:43am
"You are just making a fool of yourself."

Normally I don't disagree with anyone who would jump out of a perfectly good aircraft that is not on fire and has at least one engine running. However....

Hal Doofus is not making a fool out of himself; HE IS A FOOL. That has been proven over the last 2 years here at TH. Either that or he has been "bought and paid for" by the Looney Left. Quite frankly it is immaterial whether he is a fool or a "bought and paid for" prostitute.

Hal
Could you find one local doctor who believes in Obamacare? I have 3 doctor friends and 20 resident friends. None think Obamacare is good. So when you say local doctors are for it I kind of don't believe. Finding a local doctor that thinks Nationalized Healthcare is good is like finding a European or Canadian who thinks Nationalize Healthcare is good. There isn't one. There are like a mythical Unicorn. But somehow, someway Democrats are stupid enough to believe this is a great idea and think the people are going to love. Again please find the person who thinks this is good idea, excluding college professors and the truly ignorant. Do you have one European that will stand up and say this is a great idea and it works. Just one out of 499,000,000 people in Europe.

Catastrophize
Now that Obama has refired the engines on the Doom & Gloom Machine, we're going to be hearing sob stories galore just like we did about the economy to get the Pork-u-lus Package passed.

10% unemployeement by Christmas...awesome.

Thank God the people of America are finally coming to after their hangover.

Take note: All of the lofy words speak of bring healthcare to 'millions'....not 'millions of Americans'....are you catching on now.

Your tax dollars are now being earmarked to provide for the needs of the illegal aliens overunning the country.

Simple-minded Kool-Aid drinkers like Hal and Tammy (amongst others) will never change until the storm-troopers come and drag them away, but the rest of the population doesn't need to stay stuck on stupid.

Time to deliver Obama and his Liberal Thugocracy there first major defeat.


The jig is up on Obamacare
Its not surprising that a Marxist, Anarchist Jew like George Soros is behind the movement.
Its not surprising that Teresa Hinz, and Senator John Kerry are behind the movement being major contributors to the Tides Foundation. Thats why I refuse to buy Heinz products
Its not surprising that Obama's former employer ACORN is behind the movement
Its not surprising that Progrssive Insurance owner is behind the movement. Look at the name. I would not have them as my insurance carrier.

We go to great lengths to talk about the Mafia using legitimate Business as a front; but do nothing when Marxist Anarchists whose goal is for you to fund with your own Tax dollars and that of your Children and Grandchildren the purchase of a gun to kill yourself.

All noted here, the unions and organizations are Marxist Islamofacist.

Unions Encroachment In Charter Schools

As the Obama administration pushes for more charter schools, a teachers' union is pushing for a bigger role in them.

It's a new development for the charter school movement, a small but growing _ and controversial _ effort to create new, more autonomous public schools, usually in cities where traditional schools have failed.

On Tuesday in New York, the United Federation of Teachers expects to formalize a contract with teachers at Green Dot New York Charter School in the Bronx, a high school run by Green Dot, a nonprofit group that operates charter schools. Ten other New York charter schools are unionized.

And last week in Chicago, teachers voted to unionize three Chicago International Charter School campuses run by Civitas, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization.



obamacare
How can we get this informtion out to the main stream press? Only those of us looking for information are getting all the information needed.

Geez Hal
At least, unlike the other lefties, you at least addressed the points of the column, rather than just writing empty words of insult.

Do you mean a stronger government or larger gov't. Last time I check the governemnt's financial condition, I wouldn't call it strong, and it's about to get much worse.

You praise the gov't run healthcare as our overseas consulates continue to get inquiries from doctors who process in on H1B and I-140 petitions to practice medicine here. Now they are worried that our system will become one like they have which the shortage of need for doctors are causing them to try to get admitted topractice here.

Now Democratic senators are fleeing the Obamacare ship, Fenstein being the latest, as they see the writing on the wall.

But I hope you and your ilk keep crwoing about how the Dems won and Obama is in charge, as his numbers continually slide. I hope the lefties stay in their wonderland and do not address what Obama's problems are just like they did for Jimmy C who started out his presidency with such high numbers.

Seawolf
"that 9 out of 10 Americans do NOT want the gov't anywhere near their healthcare."

Strange, those Americans most satisfied with their healthcare are the elderly, who get Medicare.

Has no one told you that the government already pays for 55% of health care costs in the USA?

Ever hear of Medicaid, Medicare or the Veterans Administration?

zapdoodat
Which person on welfare did you talk to. I am on welfare and believe me I wish desperately not to be. Unfortunately with disability you are stuck. I have faced rationing at its best. I am paralyzed because the wonderful government dragged their feet for two years before they approved the surgery that doctors at 4 different hospitals were trying to get approved. Which left wing site do you get your information from. Was this from a New York Times editorial.

Is it just me?
Or does it seem bogus on its face that an organization called "American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees," has any business lobbying for tax money in D.C.?

Money doesn't talk. Money Screams.

Well, start screaming now folks. We must DEFEAT UHC. It is our Rubicon. If they push this Ponzi scheme through, we are finished.

We are teetering on the edge as it is with the massive debt Obama is growing.

I'm going to march on our local politician to advocate he vote NO on UHC. We're going on 2 July. What are YOU doing??

Is it just me
Or does it seem bogus on its face that an organization called "American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees," has any business lobbying for tax money in D.C.?

Money doesn't talk. Money Screams.

Well, start screaming now folks. We must DEFEAT UHC. It is our Rubicon. If they push this Ponzi scheme through, we are finished.

We are teetering on the edge as it is with the massive debt Obama is growing.

I'm going to march on our local politician to advocate he vote NO on UHC. We're going on 2 July. What are YOU doing??

Here's a song to Sing! You've my permit!
Here is a remix of the Beatles' "When I'm 64"

A Paddy Whack ©

When we're all stuck with Obamacare
Not too long from now
Will you still be handling your family's health
Choose your doctor, keeping your wealth?
If you will find you need surgery
Will the wait be more?
Will it be better, for all us debtors
When we're Sixty-four?

OOOOO

You'll be hurting too...
And if we let them win
I'd prefer the flu!

Will we be healthy, what will we eat?
When they hold your plan?
Makes you wonder who is gonna pay those bills
Won't Big Pharma ration your pills?
If we could take a practical stand
And reduce our risk
No more illegals, Nor Hillary Sequels!
Let's just call it quits!

I can still remember when our health care was a private choice, and we paid the bills
Then those law suits grew
Red tape and Lawyers too
Now it's sue, sue, sue!

Why should we pool our money and share?
What's your freedom worth?
Bankruptcy is not the way to spread the wealth
Poverty is worse for your health
When we're tied up in tangled red tape
Filling out more forms
Will you have choices? Will you have voices?
With health care reform?

Questions About "Health Care"
We've been hearing for years, the Leftists' heart bleedings about (fill in the number) million people without health care. If we just go back to 'Hillary-Care' over sixteen years ago, we've heard the constant clamoring for Universal Health Care ever since. So my question is, why have the Leftists not done anything about it? Why have they not:

1. Solicited left-wing billionaires, Hollywood millionaires and other wealthy sources on their side, to invest in clinics and other facilities to provide affordable medical treatment for those without medical coverage?

2. Drafted legislation at the Federal and State levels, which would grant sizeable tax breaks for anyone investing in medical establishments that provide medical treatment for those who can't afford coverage?

3. Re-visited laws, rules and regulations and doing away with many that are directly related to the continual rise in health coverage -- effectively lowering the costs so more can afford it?

Those are just a few examples. The point being however, is that there are many different ways to achieve something. But for years, the Left has whined and moaned about how many millions of folks are in despair because they do not have medical coverage, yet they've done absolutely nothing about it. Instead of actually doing something about it, they've picked only one option: Government-run Universal Health Care. And so it is apparent to me, that they really don't give a rat's @ss about who's struggling without health care - otherwise they would have done something - but all they are interested in, is taking over the health care industry and using the sympathetic ploy of suffering people as their means of achieving it.

Just keep lying, girl!!
Keep it up Michelle - the more you tell the same tired tin-foil hat stories, the more you reveal what a liar you are.
Repeat after me: "If you already have company-paid health care you don't have to change your plan." "Government is not going to interfere in private plans."

Since gov't already manages Medicare, Medicaid, VA and other programs -- is it such a leap to insure the uninsured? We who have insurance, pay for them anyway. You insist on this tired old refrain about ACORN -- you cling to it as if it were a lifeboat -- because you have nothing else to criticze about the Obama admin. You have gotten a hold of one name: George Soros, and you invoke that name whenever you try to make your pathetic, imbecilic points about how evil anyone who is not a conservative is. No one else. In your seething rage, you accuse Soros of funding everything from Move On, ACORN to the Nat'l Endowment for the Arts. Haven't you ever got anything new to say? Your conservative followers are almost in the single digits and yet you continue your tantrums. Try taking another path -- this one is getting mighty worn. And, let's see if you even know anymore WHAT the truth is.

Well, Zap
The existence of Medicaid, Medicare and the VA are precisely why we don't need and cannot afford additional government-run health care mandates. As always, this is about the cost of medical care not about the availability of medical care. Hospitals are required, by Federal law, to treat the indigent and uninsured and case managers routinely work with those patients to help them get the government benefits available to them. After all, the hospitals want to get paid something. As it is, those who are insured subsidize the cost of care to the uninsured by being charged more to make up the difference between Medicare pay schedules and the actual costs of services provided. Nevertheless, the government benefits are there already.

Rather than force hospitals to routinely accept indigent patients in ER a more sane approach is to permit those hospitals to operate acute and critical care clinics under the auspices of both Medicare and Medicaid to better treat the routine maladies for which the uninsured seek emergency treatment. The costs wouldn't change and might even be lower since emergency room treatment is so expensive. Only if the malady cannot be treated at the clinic level should the patient be transferred back to the hospital for treatment.

No additional/expanded/new government programs would then be needed.

Terry in GA
Good points all.

FOCUS ON HEALTH
While on Friday government votes on Cap and Trade---when We the People aren't PAYING ATTENTION.

Unaffordable Health Care will become Unaffordable taxation under government control.
And on Friday Unaffordable energy (utilities) will be mandated.

The struggle for American taxpayers to simply survive will be 'UNAFFORDABLE'. We will all become dependent Minors under the thumb of government parental power.

Life Support
Another insightful and frightening report on just who is running the store. The United States is dying and the MSM doesn't want anyone to know. Obama is a fraud and everything he stands for is Anti-American. How can anyone believe Obamacare is even desirable? Much less fundable?
Where is all of this money coming from and why aren't Americans running the streets in DC demanding to stop Obama and his cronies?

Lotsa zeros
Not that I'm advocating this, but if Congress/Obama had decided to take the $800,000,000,000 stimulus and just give equal portions of it to the 10 million people who truly need health coverage, you could give each of them $700 per month for 9 years.

As much as I would be against that, it still would be better than gov. health care.


Malkin Mess
This article would be a lot shorter if she stuck to the facts and didn't somehow didn't suggest that the tactics used by the left to push national health care forward were not those same tactics used by the right. For example, the national Tea Party—which was supposed to be a 'grass roots' movement—also had its headquarters at a K Street address, and was sponsored by millionaires and billionaires. .

She uses a lot of terms with plain emotive value, i.e., sugar daddy, Big Nanny, jihadist-friendly, pro-welfare, Bermuda-based, communist friendly, do-gooders, etc., which are meant to cloud rational thought, rather than provoke it. Terms like these are meant to stir up conservative ire, rather than convey logical information. In fact, if I may steal a suggestion from the Republican play book, it's the same kind of language you might expect of a Marxist diatribe.

I would suggest that the readers of this kind of writing might do well to become aware of the facts, instead of being swayed by the language. In reality, politics are conducted similarly on both sides of the aisle—just different players. The sides we pick are dependent on our values. If you don't want everyone to have health care, then you're against national health insurance. Or maybe you agree more with the economics of the issue. But let's not demonize the other side through our own ignorance and empty words. Get informed. Don't just be a pawn. That's what democracy is about. Informed choice.

I'M JOE LEGAL
You have 2 families..."Joe Legal" and "Jose Illegal". Both families have 2 parents, 2 children and live in California.

"Joe Legal" works in construction, has a Social Security Number, and makes $25.00 per hour with payroll taxes deducted...."Jose Illegal" also works in construction, has "NO" Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".

Joe Legal...$25.00 per hour x 40 hours $1000.00 per week, $52,000 per year
Now take 30% away for state federal tax
Joe Legal now has $31,231.00

Jose Illegal...$15.00 per hour x 40 hours $600.00 per week, $31,200.00 per year
Jose Illegal pays no taxes...
Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00

Joe Legal pays Medical and Dental Insurance with limited coverage
$1000.00 per month
$12,000.00 per year
Joe Legal now has $19,231.00

Jose Illegal has full Medical and Dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year
Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00

Joe Legal makes too much money is not eligible for Food Stamps or welfare
Joe Legal pays for food
$1,000.00 per month
$12,000.00 per year
Joe Legal now has $ 7,231.00

Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for Food Stamps and Welfare
Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00

Joe Legal pays rent of
$1,000.00 per month
$12,000.00 per year
Joe Legal is now in the hole
minus (-) $4,769.00

Jose Illegal receives a $500 per month Federal rent subsidy
Jose Illegal pays rent
$500.00 per month
$6,000.00 per year
Jose Illegal still has $25,200.00


Your taxes and Joe Legal's taxes are paying for Jose Illegal's lifestyle and enables him to send half of his income back to Mexico. What's fair about this system?






Jerry
You owe Michelle an apology. Do your homework before accusing someone of lying. You obviously don't understand what is going on so please refrain from voting in the future and seek suitable therapy.

Start Screaming
Folks. Anglers Reward is right.

They are hitting us on all fronts and doing an end-run to boot!

NO CAP & TRADE. They all said they'd wait til after the 4th of July and they are pushing it through this week. Wake up and smellt he coffee folks.

Healthcare cost reduction 101
Obama and the Dems keep saying we need to reduce the cost of healthcare. Gee, what a brilliant idea. So, in order to accomplish this people like Max Bacus propose taxing employer provided healthcare except if it's covered by a union contract. Wow, that will certainly plummet healthcare costs. Or, maybe it's about a payback to the unions and lawyers which own the Dems. Still think they're about reducing the cost of healthcare?

If you want to reduce healthcare costs you:
1. Enact tort reform so 40% of a healthcare providers earnings doesn't have to go for insurance.
2. Provide everyone with a healthcare expense fund for doctor visits, prescriptions, tests, etc. through something like a tax credit/refund. That way they will spend this resource carefully and eliminate unnecessary procedures.
3. Supplement this with catastrophic health insurance for things like cancer treatment, heart bypass surgery etc.

But then this would take healthcare out of the hands of government which to the left is unthinkable.

the worm always turns...
"and cannot afford additional government-run health care mandates."

We can't afford the War in Afghanistan or Iraq either, but we seem to manage those costs by having put those costs off budget. As we all know, tax cuts increase revenues, then to afford more health care, the government could just have a few more tax cuts.

Isn't President Hussein's health care plan about the same cost as the War in Iraq and Afghanistan combined on a per year basis?


Tad
"For example, the national Tea Party—which was supposed to be a 'grass roots' movement—also had its headquarters at a K Street address, and was sponsored by millionaires and billionaires. ."

Really? Care to name a few, with cites to back up your assertions?

obama=liberal idiocy
First off,If this man is so smart,that he doesn't understand why private businesses can't compete with the govt.when it comes to health insurance.Second the idiot in chief says that healthcare is a ticking time bomb.Hey idiot your party has been saying the same thing about S.S. and medicare.Why if you are so damn smart don't you solve those two problems .Third,I want to know why the capitol police don't arrest him,as he admits to breaking a federal law every day.

r729
Sorry to hear about your plight. My Mom is with Kaiser-Permanente in California. She is 82 and complains about getting too much care because K-P just sends the bill to Medicare.

K Street Blues
I wonder, did Michele Malkin do an expose on K Street influence when the Republicans were in power?

Just curious.

If not then I guess that means that all the Republican initiatives during the Bush years, like say Medicare part D, were all free of industry influence and of sound conservative principle.

hee hee.

Hal

Obama's Red America is NOT about Red States. Commie, anyone?

ObamaCare will be the equivalent of the Ukranian disaster. Some say that the ~20mn people died due to famine while others claim centralized government wanted to punish the peasants.

Go read the Constitution and the Amendment process.

I studied ALL of them. Evidently, you have not because the Amendment process requires ratification by 75% of the States. Weird number when consider we only have 50 States.

Did you know that George Soros is even buying up American farmland?

30 million, huh?
If there are really 30 million people who support government health care, then that means there are about 270 million who don't. I wonder why no one is considering that number?

Publius4254
"Really? Care to name a few, with cites to back up your assertions?"

uhh....the Republican party.

Obam Requests Pity Stories
This guy is unbelievable. I hope America sees his sickness (pardon the pun) and doesn't let him get socialize medicine in place. http://theblacksphere.net/site/obamacare-america-gets-new- proctologist/

Lucky we can laugh to keep from crying with this blog!