"The Senate health care bill is not worthy of the historic vote that the House took a month ago,"

"Supporters of the weak Senate bill say "just pass it -- any bill is better than no bill. I strongly disagree," she wrote. "It's time that we draw the line on this weak bill and ask the Senate to go back to the drawing board. The American people deserve at least that." - Representative Louise Slaughter.

Now theres a woman who will not back down in a fight.  

Why is it that its always women who fight hardest for us when it comes to protecting America's families and Health Care reform?

Well, two more House leaders - who just happen to be female  - have stood up to join Congresswoman Slaughter in her fight for a better health care bill and all REAL progressive should stand up for and with them as they battle the vested interests that the White House didnt dare to.

Reps. Lynn Woolsey of the Progressive Caucus and Barbara Lee of the Congressional Black Caucus have announced their support for the House product, demanding a public option in the merged bill.

   On the eve of a historic health care vote in the Senate, liberal Democrats in the House have launched a full-throated defense of the public option -- a sign of battles to come when party leaders try to meld the two bills.

   

"Now that the Senate is poised to pass its version of a health care reform bill, it is time to turn to reconciling it with the House legislation," California Reps. Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey said in a joint statement Wednesday. "For Congress to achieve true health care reform we must have a meaningful conference process that integrates both bills into the best possible piece of legislation for the American people."

   But it's clear that they're not going to roll over, as some senators have suggested they should.

"We look forward to working with the House and Senate leadership to ensure that the final legislation provides affordable and comprehensive health care to people who need it."

Woolsey and Lee's top priorities are familiar: the public option ("If the bill requires people to buy health insurance, there must be a public option to bring down costs"), better affordability in the form of more generous subsidies, stronger insurance regulations (including repeal of the industry's anti-trust exemption), the employer mandate ("If individuals are required to buy insurance, employers should be required to provide it."), and financing through wealth taxes and not the excise tax on high-end (often Union negotiated)insurance plans.

And people, where is the outrage over the elimination of the funding mechanism that Obama talked about non stop as the way to pay for this bill?  Remember Obama said he was going to fund HCR subsidies with a special tax on the super rich?  But somehow - instead of that - we're left with a tax on Union negotiated health plans?  SAY WHAT?!  And some of you - so called "progressives" dont think this bill needs any changes?!

Ho Boy!

The sad truth is, this is a wealth care bill -- not a health care bill.

It truly amazes me that there are ANY professed "progressives" at this site who actually think that helping the House progressive caucus get the best bill possible is a bad and or dangerous thing.

These "enablers" of the recent White House sell outs to big Pharm and big Insurance tell real progressives that we must shut up and back this bill, because if we don't - we must have
"no conscience " and be willing to "let hundreds of thousands of Americans die" because we dare to stand up for those brave Members of Congress, who unlike this White House, are willing to stand up and fight the vested interests who want to kill REAL health care reform.

They pretend that if we help Louis Slaughter and other Progressive House Members fight for what is right - we will be doing some great wrong....  wha?

I am very disappointed to see that these people put their ultimate allegiance to supporting the White House over progressive ideals. During Xmas week (conveniently when few Americans were watching) - the White House sold us out on both the senate HC bill and another bill to allow drug imports that would have saved consumers $100 billion bucks. (That progressive dream they gave away in trade for a gift from the Pharm lobby of a $150 million given to fund Obama's media war chest) The paid for cynicism behind these actions is the opposite of the grass roots idealism for health care reform that the left has been fighting for - for decades.  

The pressure in the final round, just like we have seen to date will be on progressives to continue to capitulate.

Remember - to actual progressives, the biggest compromise was to give up our goal of single payer system and for this, we got nothing back for giving up and sacrificing our well loved child to these corporate Molochs.

The hand wringing enablers will do or say anything so this health care fiasco can be promoted as a "victory". They say this sell out of a Bill is a "take it or leave it" situation, an  either/or proposition.  Thats NOT how congressional bill writing works folks!

There are two separate bills heading over to the conference committe - where this fight is just starting. Some on this blog demand that we just shut up and do what the big boys want and be thankful that theyre letting us get anything at all.

Real progressives say HELL NO!

By the way, Progressives should be demanding that the conference be on CSPAN, open to view - just like Obama promised over and over again - how Health care would be negotiated and then never, ever did.

Obama on the campaign trail:

But here's the thing. We're going to do all these negotiations on C-SPAN.

The American people will be able to watch these negotiations so if they start seeing a member of Congress who is carrying the water for the drug companies instead of for their constituents.....

Open this. Transparency. You will hold me accountable, you will hold Congress accountable. That's how we'll get welfare... uh health care reform passed

There's more...

Crossposted from Hillbilly Report.

The compromise in the House is not real Healthcare reform. Although our country desperately needs Healthcare reform just supporting any bill offered is not progress. After Corporate Democrats and Republicans have gotten a hold of the bills in the House and Senate they are so watered down that they will not be anything that will do much good.

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Some

    disturbing words today

in the Washington Post about Obama's new "friends" in the quest to "settle" the healthcare issue, clearly by splitting the healthy's interests away from those of the chronically ill, in a game of "divide and conquer".

   
        "Ex-Foes of Health Reform Now Supporters Surprising Allies Emerge at Summit Hosted by Obama
   
    By Ceci Connolly Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, March 6, 2009
   
        Surrounded by men and women who made their careers killing health-care reform, President Obama yesterday reiterated his pledge to enact comprehensive legislation this year, an ambitious undertaking many say is further complicated by the nation's dismal economy. "When times were good, we didn't get it done. When we had mild recessions, we didn't get it done," Obama said at a White House summit launching his effort to treat the nation's ailing health system. "There's always a reason not to do it. Now is exactly the time for us to deal with this problem."


    WHY? Because the lack of government resources to address the problem NOW will offer political cover for those who WANT US TO DO A VERY BAD JOB OF IT. In the room was Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.),


    who proudly reminded the crowd of 150 that he was instrumental in killing "Hillarycare" in the 1990s.

And of course, Obama has had Jim Cooper, who was also instrumental in killing real universal healthcare in the 90s, by creating and pushing an alternative plan that was in retrospect, clearly designed to fail because it failed to deal with adverse selection caused by the healthy choosing to opt out. The healthcare plan in MA also has no answer to the cost of healthcare except that it lets the chronically ill, who are priced out of the market, get away with fines if they are caught not affording insurance.

    "Yesterday, he announced that he supported the principles that have been outlined by Obama. Also at the summit was Chip Kahn, who 15 years ago,
   
        as an insurance lobbyist, helped mastermind the iconic "Harry and Louise" ads that attacked the health-care overhaul proposed by President Bill and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Kahn, who now represents hospitals, said Obama has "successfully launched the process we need to achieve health reform, which we all want,
   
        and brought together congressional Democrats and Republicans with stakeholders to begin to forge a consensus."

And that consensus appears to be, deal with the least daunting part of the problem and not the core of it. THE SICK. This is exactly what I have been predicting here for over a year, that this would happen.

    "Karen Ignagni,
   
        who runs the nation's leading insurance association, told Obama, "You have our commitment to play, to contribute and to help pass health-care reform this year.""That's good news," Obama said, sounding a bit surprised. "That's America's Health Insurance Plans," he said, referring to Ignagni's group.

How stupid do they think we are? Obviously, VERY.

    "Similar words of support came from lobbyists for physicians, drugmakers and the corporate sector.
   
    "We know where everyone stood. But they don't stand there anymore," said Thomas J. Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We're going to get some kind of an agreement here,
   
        whether it's two-thirds of what everybody wants or three-quarters of what everybody wants or who knows. If you don't get in this game . . . you're on the menu."
   

The percentage is one fifth of us are uninsurable. Approximately one fifth of Americans have chronic medical conditions like athsma or diabetes that make them virtually "uninsurable" outside of an employer group plan now. They are the ones who can't afford insurance unless they are in an employer group plan or subsidized high risk pool. (They are the ones that will cost a lot to insure, anywhere, through private insurance)

    Obviously, they cannot afford lobbyists, or paid bloggers to argue their case. They cannot afford the high priced PR consultants. They cannot afford to "get in this game" because they are sick. So, yes, their lives, their future, are on the menu. THAT IS THE PROBLEM. THEY WILL NOT BE HELPED BY THESE PEOPLE. BE VERY AFRAID... THIS IS NOT A GOOD SITUATION. THIS IS THE TEST OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, WILL IT BETRAY THE INTERESTS OF ACTUAL AMERICANS? THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.


    "Obama used the summit, set in the gold-toned East Room and featuring a cameo appearance by the ailing Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), to make the case that it is possible to expand health coverage in America while bringing soaring medical bills under control. "If we don't tackle health care, then we're going to break the bank," Obama said."

Its no secret that the banks are breaking us, NOT the other way around. The timing seems intentional.

    "The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation, yet by numerous measures, Americans are in poorer health. Medical costs can cause personal bankruptcy and threaten the global competitiveness of many companies, Obama said."


    Well, President Obama is keeping the wrong kind of company if he actually wants that to change. It seems to me that these folk are the very ones with the largest vested interest in keeping things as they are.

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Now I'm NOT laying this on the feet of Obama. It's not all his doing, although I have my beef w/ him on few issues. We have had over 50-70% democratic politicans given in ( time and time again) to republican agendas. But to you on the net--A year ago, you would have been called a Republican, if you agreed w/ them on the top issues such as :

War on Iraq w/ no timetables

FISA

Anti Gay marriage agenda

Bush's tax cuts across the board for all during war times( thats all not some)

The Opinion--OMG we need to agree w/ him and be a centrist! ( all though that's not a centrist)

No Gun control

Allowing bleeding of bill of rights

NO on public financing changes

Let's see a year later_ what do you agree w/ them on.... So tell me again, who amongst us are the republican pushing agenda trolls? You are no democrat, you dont stand for democratic bedrock principles, you want to push /support republican agendas into our democratic party. You are a REPUBOCRAT! Ah-ha!

How are democrats in congress going to vote on this bill? (Below). Are they going to stick to their guns or capitulate in the election year again?

Update [2008-6-27 17:5:20 by aliveandkickin]: BY mass HR/TR'ing all my comments , you do know you're not stoping me from posting or that your avoiding your brethen from viewing my comment(s), since you guys all have TU with all that bumchum mojo slapping you give eachother. :P

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The new meme being pushed by a lot of political commentators and anti-Obama posters is that he is showing his true centrist colors. Obama has 'lurched' to the center. The only trouble with it is that it's not really true. He's never been the flaming, far left liberal that many have tried to paint him.

In the last few days, there have been a bunch of diaries on this site and others either ranting about his 'lurch to the center' or serving as 'I told you fools he was no progressive' rants.

There are four issues that are supposedly acts of betrayal by Obama - FISA (the big one), gun control, the death penalty, and public financing for his campaign. While there is some small nugget of truth in a couple of these, they are mostly twisted to show him in the worst light possible. No big surprise there given who's doing most of the complaining about these issues.

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