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TechnoratiHealth Care Activists Disrupt Senate Finance Committee Hearing
Health care activists disrupted a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday, standing up one after the other as Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) tried to restore order.
As soon as police escorted one protester out of the room, another would stand up, criticizing the committee for convening a panel of 15 experts and excluding witnesses who support creating a Medicare system for all Americans. About eight were led out of the hearing.
"We need more police," Baucus said.
The mini-protest was organized by Healthcare Now, Physicians for a National Health Program and Single Payer Action, all of whom support a single-payer, government-run health care system.
"Single-payer needs to be on the table," one of the protesters yelled. "This is political theater."
Baucus eventually restored order to the hearing, asking those who remained in the audience not to cause further disruptions.
"I want you to know I care deeply about your views," Baucus said.
76 Comments so far
Show AllThere should be representation of the medical group who believes in a single-pay, Medicare type system for all. Dilly-Dallying with other systems only serves the interests of insurance companies. Let them find other things to insure, and in doing so, screw the people who are their clients. We have had enough of the insurance company dominated healthcare in this country. Kick them out of healthcare just as many others are being kicked out of their homes. THE SINGLE-PAY SYSTEM IS THE ONLY SYSTEM WHICH WILL WORK WELL AND WORK FAIRLY.
Another camera's POV of the Senate protests:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zOShsL4UJo
A room full of laughing lobbyists who should be ashamed . . .
Want to DO something about it? Click this:
http://www.singlepayeraction.org/
This is exactly like Enron deciding energy policy with Dick Cheney.
Aloha, salud, lechiem,
- Tobias
http://www.youtube.com/user/tobiasaurusrex
It is telling that posters here, in their support of single payer, often urge others to support "third party".
The poor souls haven't even settled on a name for it yet!
Just generic, no-name, third party.
What are you waiting for, Armageddon? Get behind a party and turn your country around for crying out loud.
The most interesting thing in these comments is that only three people have blamed Obama for keeping single payer off the table. A few others mentioned his name in passing, and one poor deluded soul suggested the Obama family join the single payer activists by publicly going without health insurance!
The real reason that single payer has "no chance" of passing is because Obama doesn't want it to pass! Plain and simple.
You think Baucus and the other Senate Finance Committee members are mouthpieces for big insurance and big pharma? They and other Dems (even including Russ Feingold) are now mouthpieces for Obama and his profits-over-people point of view. Obama is the REAL mouthpiece for corporate profits . . . big insurance, big pharma, Wall Street, weapons manufacturers and nuclear power.
Even during the presidential campaign, Obama repeatedly said single payer was not on his agenda. I wonder how many on this thread (who are now so outraged) voted for Obama? You now reap what you sewed.
How many voted for Ralph Nader? He has advocated for single payer from the beginning. A majority of Americans want single payer, just as a majority agree with pretty much all of Nader's agenda. Yet we were told he had "no chance" of winning . . . perhaps the biggest counter-intuitive conclusion and self-fulfilling prophecy ever. Now we're told single-payer has no chance. Same deal.
Obama's "Yes we can" slogan can now be completed: Yes we can keep the corporate profits gravy-train going because American voters are too timid and dumb to do anything but vote for the least-worst corporate candidate.
Here's the latest from Ralph Nader on the issue of single-payer (and he is far more polite than I have been here):
________________________________________________
Yesterday morning, eight doctors, lawyers and other activists stood up to Senator Max Baucus.
And the private health insurance industry.
And the corporate liberals in Congress.
The eight activists demanded that single payer - everybody in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital - be put on the table.
And as a result they were arrested.
And charged with a so-called "disruption of Congress."
The Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Politico, Democracy Now and National Public Radio all carried stories about the protest.
C-Span carried it live.
And it was widely disseminated on the Internet.
Baucus crafted a hearing to kick off the health care debate in the Senate yesterday where 15 witnesses would be at the table to discuss health care reform.10 Excellent Reasons for National Health Care
The insurance industry was at the table.
The Business Roundtable was at the table.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was at the table.
Blue Cross Blue Shield was at the table.
The Heritage Foundation was at the table.
And corporate liberals like Andy Stern, Ron Pollack, and AARP were at the table.
But not one person who stood for what the majority of Americans, doctors, nurses, and health economists want - single payer - was at the table.
Not one.
When I heard about this corporate line-up last week, I called the office of Senator Baucus.
And politely asked that, as a matter of fairness, a single payer doctor be allowed to testify.
I was told - no way, Ralph.
The deal is done.
So, yesterday, at 10 a.m., the Baucus Eight, led by Single Payer Action and other single payer groups, took to the Senate Finance Committee.
And directly and respectfully confronted a room full of corporate lobbyists.
And corporate controlled Senators.
And again asked that a group of doctors who were in the room to support Medicare for all be allowed to testify.
The answer again - no, no, and no.
Remember what Senator Richard Durbin said last week?
Durbin said that the banks "own" the Congress.
To which we might add - the health insurance industry and the drug industry own the Senate.
Faxing, writing, and e-mailing is not getting it done.
Enough is enough.
Time for action.
This is a winnable issue.
But the American people need to focus on 535 members of Congress.
And get mobilized.
Single Payer Action is at your service to get the job done.
So, donate now -- $8, $18, $80, or $800.
To honor the Baucus Eight - who all wore black yesterday in memory of the more than 20,000 Americans who - according to the Institute of Medicine - die every year from lack of health insurance.
And to fuel a citizen action movement that will deliver single payer to the American people - sooner not later.
Together, we can break the corporate stranglehold on Congress.
And deliver health care for all.
Single payer.
More comprehensive. More efficient. More humane. More peace of mind.
Let's get it done.
Onward to single payer,
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
PS: Remember, if you donate $100 or more by May 14, 2009, we will send you two galvanizing books that concisely detail the case for single payer in America.
* Health Care Meltdown by Robert LeBow, MD, revised and updated by Dr. C. Rocky White - a Republican doctor so fed up with the needless suffering caused by the insurance industry that he become a leading advocate for single payer.
and
* Ten Excellent Reasons for National Health Care, Edited by Mary O'Brien and Martha Livingston.
This two-book offer ends 11:59 p.m. May 14, 2009.
So don't miss out. Donate now.
We're building one million Americans strong for single payer.
Please share this e-mail with friends and family.
Urge them to sign up and donate at singlepayeraction.org.
Thank god a few brave Americans are willing to stand up and engage in good old fashioned civil disobedience! Imagine millions of us, refusing to go to work,or school,or pay our hospital bills, or taxes. Instead, most of us cower in fear in our living rooms, waiting for the new Messiah Obama to fix everything up. Well, it has become quite clear, Barack, too is in the pocket of the insurance thieves. See you in the streets!
As to the 'we need more police' statement...if things get much worse for people in this country, capital hill won't be able to buy enough of them. are you going to have one guard for every slave? Viva la revolucion!
Here is some reporting on our elected officials enjoying their socialized medicine, some of the finest our nation has to offer. The only problem with the article is that it discloses information only about Republicans, not the Democrats, too. Not Max Baucus, not Nancy Pelosi, not Russ Feingold, not every single naysayer to single payer. Where are their health records? What is their coverage? How much do we pay for them and their families? And for how many years after they leave their temporary jobs in Washington?
------------------------
It may surprise you to know that in the U.S. members of Congress and Presidents have a long history of also enjoying the socialized medicine taxpayers provide for them. In fact, members of Congress have the choice many of them want to deny you. They can choose a private health insurance plan through the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) program or they can get top-notch medical care at government facilities, like the Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland.
Many regularly choose the public option. For example:
When John McCain (R-AZ) found a discolored blotch on his left temple he headed to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda to have the spot checked out.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had his heart bypass surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
Former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) went to Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland complaining of fatigue and subsequently got a new heart valve there.
U.S. Presidents also have a long history of using the socialized medicine provided to them by taxpayers, including George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan.
(in full at link)
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009031218/who-prefers-public-health-insurance-option
--------------------
I say every single person participating in that travesty of a hearing, give up their taxpayer insurance benefits up, until they figure out the best plan for all of us, and a plan that they will have to participate in, as well.
I also say that each one disclose their health history and how any issues were redressed through the fine care they received through the tax payer.
Sorry folks we've been had, run amok, and bamboozled!!! They want people to believe that there is still a debate on whether people should have FREE Healthcare in the US??? They can make this shit happen in one day if they wanted. THANK GOD, I LIVE AND WORK IN NEW ZEALAND!!!
THIS IS WHY I LEFT!!! The whole system is corrupt....completely. Nothing will change until we stop legalized bribery to our elected officials. The US is at least 15 years behind Australia & New Zealand.....It would be less insulting if the SOB's in DC actually got up and tap danced. At least you know...Ok there is a show before dinner. This has nothing to do with giving people healthcare and everything to do with keeping you from rioting and arresting these paid for criminals.
They give banks money to buy they're toxic assests instead of buying the foreclosed houses. Why not buy the real assets, the home, and give the homeless families Sect 8 housing and sell the real asset later? The answer, you pay taxes or go to jail (ask Wesley Snipes), while the billion dollar corps avoid paying taxes, then we give your tax moneys to the rich and billion dollar corps. God Bless America.
I do agree with a third party or more but....I think it's too late for that.
Rwanda has national health care!
Well, I don't wonder at that, compared to the United States of Crooked Corporations, Rwanda is truly progressive and realizes the benefit of its people having access to health and medical care when they need it. The U.S.C.C.'s can't stand the heartbeats of its citizens.
Representative governments end in dictatorship.
This is really great. I just talked to a diehard Democratic friend of mine, expressing my disappointment and disgust, asking why they're not representing their constituents. The reply was that the insurance companies are their constituents, too!
If this attitude is not stopped and shown the door for its inadmissibility, because a goddamn corporation or company is NOT a constituent, they don't vote, then as I have said before, because they have gotten away with their illegal manipulations for so long without prosecution and punishment, the more is becomes a legal way of doing things. And this is certainly something our brand new president can put his 'messianic' persona into the issue. A constituent is an individual who votes; NOT a corporation which is a business and cannot vote except by bribery. And that corporatation does NOT have the coverage of the Bill of Rights, that, also, is for the individual and NOT a corporation.
Your democrat friend, in my opinion, is a traitor to this country and deserves hard time in jail. My brother is a die hard republican and he feels the same way and I think of him in the same way, a traitor to this country.
This is exactly why I can never trust either party. I often find myself asking "When will these diehard Republicans/Democrats open their hearts and minds to the actual issues?" By their pathetic communications, I'll take it that the answer is almost always a resounding NEVER, until they've finally had enough. Maybe our protests for single payer need to be DECENTRALIZED just like the NRA did in their efforts to dissolve gun control.
Jennifer, I agree with you. I think we need to get the people as mad about insurance executives as they are at the bankers. I sent the following to MoveOn.Org which is siding with Democrats. There is a lot more to the story unfortunately getting the mainstream press to report anything important is impossible.
To whom it may concern: I am very disappointed that MoveOn.Org. has abandoned it's early progressive roots and joined the Obama plan for keeping the health Insurance Industry rich at the expense of average Americans. If you can give me a good justification for the pay practices of one of the largest private insurers, I might change my mind. I give you the case of Dr. William McGuire who was forced out of United Health Care in a stock backdating scandal in 2006. I hope you will google Dr. McGuire to get the whole story but the gist of it is that he was given stock options in 2006 that were valued at one time at approximately $1.7 billion. This was of course after backdating. During the six years prior to 2006 the average compensation to Dr. McGuire was almost $58 Million dollars per year. Were talking about a lot of money here for just one employee. Other top executives received astronomical salaries and (backdated) stock options of over $2 billion at about the same time. Dr. McGuire did wonderful things for the stock holders during his term as CEO. I wonder at whose expense. Notice none of this money is going to lower the cost of premiums? You are on the wrong side of this issue. You might remember people are a tad upset with the bonus programs for bankers. They might be even more upset when they hear about the Insurance Executives. I have a feeling this isn't an isolated case. Your organization is going to look like you joined the other team if you stick with this decision. Time to do some research kids
Jennifer
Until OUR government gets back to the constitution, rule of law and justice being served, then NO, they have no intention of opening their hearts and minds. That is the result of our loss of 'eternal vigilance'. Contrived and intentionally done just for the benefit of them who, under some code or agenda or really f**ked up mind set, think they are the ones with the right to be free and the majority don't. It should be a law requiring that anyone wanting to run for office(local, state, federal)is immediately made transparent until they lose the election or they finish their terms and retire. If they try to get elected again, total transparency again.
In other words, the public is represented by the audience whereas the corporate version of a 'healthcare' plan is represented by the lobbyist who have no fear of being put out by the police. Cash wins out over the people's voice and needs. It is hard to say when the people will finally have had enough, but it should be soon because just like the grand larceny of our money which has gone on so long that now the thugs just treat it as a 'legal way of doing business'.
Now, I will say again, it is about 18 months until the 2010 election, if people want a better government that represents them, there better be a lot of microscopic scrutiny of those senator up for election and the representative of their district. This is one of those areas that will have a definite affect on the 'status quo'. And that really means knowing that voting against and incumbent by voting the other party, democrat or republican, is not the answer, but the 3rd parties or independents, libertarians or anyone KNOWN not to maintain corporate ties.
As of now I believe Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders is the only independent in the senate that tries to make a difference. Joe lieberman is a corporate sponsored Jackoff.
I would think, also, that displays such as this may get media coverage enough to get to the msm addicts and give them an idea of how our electorate's behavior really looks.
"We need more police" is getting to be the motto of the ruling class and their paid for lackeys in congress
Sick people want health care? More police
Prisons full? More police
People don't like wars, drug laws, private health insurance? More police
There are those whose virtue it is to say 'Virtue is necessary' but they really believe that only police are necessary.----Nietzsche
To hell with what the people want. Give 'em more police. By God that'll show 'em.
They think we have no recourse except accepting our lot of quiet desperation. There are great numbers of people like Madame Defarge who are quiet----for the moment.
That was my first thought upon reading this piece. MORE POLICE--how sadistic and utterly, contemptuously arrogant.
Good comment. Real good.
Bring Federal business to a halt until they start doing the peoples business.
These protesters are the heros that can save this godforsaken nation.
Please also protest the slaughter being done everyday in Afghanistan in your name.
To Jennifer,
As a Montanan, I'm embarrassed, to say the least. We've had some progressives running against him in the primaries but they don't get very far. Baucus has incredible name recognition and appeals to the conservative base here. The irony is that here, he gets hammered by many people here for being "too liberal". Baucus too liberal? What a joke.
Coming here from Madison was quite a culture shock. But, from the one comment above, Feingold didn't too well on Amy Goodman's show either. Now that's disappointing.
Hi Paul,
I can see how tough it is to get a progressive populist elected in such a state. MO and WI are tough enough but I can see how MT is even tougher though Brian Schweitzer was thought to be a progressive populist. How is he doing in your state as governor and has he passed anything that could be considered single payer in your state? And what's going on with the other senator Jon Tester? I haven't heard much about him since he entered office in 2007. Didn't he run as a populist progressive? By the way, pleased to meet you. :)
I just saw Russ Feingold on "Democracy Now" almost squirming at Amy Goodman's pointed questions about single-payer.
Feingold tersely said that it had no chance to get passed in this Congress.
Why not, if We the People clearly support the idea? Amy persisted.
Feingold offered an uncharacteristically lame response, to the effect that many politicians didn't want to risk supporting a major program that might backfire and anger their constituents.
He all but admitted that the only, or real, reason single-payer wasn't happening is because Congress is so self-serving and pusillanimous that they'd rather stamp their feet and just say "no", regardless of popular sentiment AND especially the obvious MERITS of that approach.
In short: WE can't have it because THEY don't want it!
And, as Baucus demonstrated, the politicians do not scruple to stick their fingers in their ears and yell, "La, la, la, la! I can't HEAR you!" when confronted with righteous citizen protesters-- until the bouncers come to roust the hecklers.
Some representative republican democracy we got here, huh?
· Yr Obd't Servant
Senator Baucus is owned and operated by the insurance and pharmaceutical profiteers. He proved this with his enthusiastic support of the Medicare Modernization Act, Bush's attempt to destroy Medicare bit by bit. Baucus was one of the fine senators who foisted the infamous donut hole on unsuspecting seniors.
I'm so glad he respects our (single-payer) views. Perhaps he fears them?
I disagree with the persons who say single-payer is not going to happen. I think it MUST happen, or we will be in the same situation as before the famous pseudo-negotiations, or be even worse off, having bailed out the insurance companies.
We can keep at them - hit the phones, faxes, e-mails, streets....If we give in now, corporate greed will have won.
"I want you to know I care deeply about your views," Baucus said.
I just read this sentence and hurled. Now I need a mop.
But wait, there's more!
Senator Baucus also said, "I want you to know that I care so deeply about the problem that I have agreed to forego my own taxpayer-paid platinum, premium deluxe coverage until everyone is in and nobody is out."
Er, or maybe not.
Your tax dollars at work crushing American democracy. A majority of Americans want single payer, the people of most democratic countries can have it but in the Dem. controlled US Congress it's not discussed. Not one of the 15 experts called discussed it.
What about the fifth estate, the bulwark of our Democracy, we sure will have a robust debate there, even if Congress won't discuss the single payer option, correct? You get a short piece about the disruptions caused on Politico. It's really a spectacle.
Josh
"Power coceded nothing without demand. It never has and never will." Frederick Douglass
DON'T be lulled by "public option", "affordable", etc. which are code words to keep private insurers alive and well. SP/Improved Medicare-For-All is not possible or sustainable without its cost efficiencies and with the bankrupting profits and administrative bloat of the present nonsense-system. Folks, it's SP or nothing and if not now-then never! Let the disruptions continue and increase EVERY DAY! Today's were magnificent!
These protesters are my heroes today.
Ah, our democracy at work!
What a jerk Baucus is. I'm ashamed to admit that before this, I actually thought he was okay.
You can call Senator Baucus's office--number is 202-224-2651. If the office is closed, they will let you leave a voice mail, and will also give you an emergency phone number. Leave a message, and then call the emergency number. This IS an emergency!
Also, go here: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm to find the Senators on the committee, and you can contact them, especially if they're from your state. Ask why they sat there like stooges, instead of defending our right to have some single-payer advocates at the table.
And then call C-SPAN (Main Number: (202) 737-3220) and ask why their camera person couldn't show us the single payer advocates who were speaking. Is C-SPAN a news, or a propaganda, organization? (rhetorical question)
DO IT. DO IT NOW.
The US medical system already has a single payer....YOU!
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
I would love to hear what the Montanans have to say for Baucus's shameless act of forcing more policing of the single payer advocates. I know that although Montana elected this creep, this is not what they had in mind.
Here is something I wrote in a post on Saturday:
"As a Montanan, I've followed the career of Max Baucus since his first election to the Senate in 1978. He has straddled the fence the whole time, and now the fence is broken. He is a corporate democrat all the way, and his allegiance is to the powers inside the beltway. The Republicans here can't find anyone to beat him, and the democrats don't have anyone to run against him in the primary. He had millions in his campaign war chest for highly polished TV commercials for the 2008 campaign, and no one can even remember his opponent's name from last fall's election. The margin was something like 80-20. Max is a democrat in name only and he's not gonna jump ship and become a republican, because he's in too good a position as it is. So it will be up to you, fellow citizens in this country, to shine a big light on him and expose him for what he is. Maybe then, he might be disgraced and voted out of office (in 2014). That's way too long to wait though, so you'll have to expose his corporate-sponsored health care plan for what it is, just another big corporate welfare handout, just like the Medicare drug program and the bank bailout (which he strongly supported). Please help."
I watched the You Tube video, and Baucus's response to the protesters seemed lame. He got the hearing back under control after the protesters were escorted out, but I think they did make some kind of impression on him. It will take continued protests on a repeated basis as the hearings continue to make a difference. As he resists single-payer rhetoric, he must be pressured to keep the debate open. This is the first big issue for him as Finance Committee Chairman, and his thick skin may not be enough to withstand public pressure. He's never really seen that kind of pressure before.
I must applaud the protesters. They are the only way that single-payer will have a chance anytime soon. I'd love to join in, but I've still got a day job.
1978 must have sounded like a perfect year for a corporatist pol to start his or her career up on Capitol Hill although it wasn't until Raygun got in that the corporatist policies took off like a jet. What's going on with Jon Tester, the other D from MT? I haven't heard much from him since he entered office in 2007. On the issues, I must admit that I almost threw up when I saw Baucus's voting record and compared it to Burns's. Even on NAFTA and CAFTA, Baucus shamelessly voted yes while Burns, despite being the typical social conservative Republican, had at least an iota of a heart to vote no to those scams. Nice Saturday post. :)
Of course we should have a National Health Service, or at least National Health Insurance. Everyone knows that, including Baucus and Obama and Pelosi. We should keep fighting for it, but I do think we should support the "public option" in the new health insurance bill as a fall-back position. If we get the mandatory insurance without the public option, we will actually be worse off than we are now. We'll be forced to buy from the insurance companies.
Rep. Jackie Speier told a community meeting on saturday that the new bill will extend Medicare down to 55 year olds, which would be some improvement at least. We'll see if that gets stripped out too.
Yes, Jackie said there is a chance people over 55 may be able to get medicare--but the important thing she said is that she will not vote for Single Payer because Nancy Pelosi said it will not pass. She didn't say why Nancy would not urge the Deomocrats to vote for Single Payer and then---if it doesn't pass---come up with something else.
I having a great deal of trouble seeing the change since the Democrats have both houses of Congress. They did come up with a little health care extention for poor children paid for by the people who can't get over their addiction to tobacco. (Talk about kicking someone who is down.)
Why can't the Democrats take some of the money being used in our illegal wars and spend those funds instead on Single Payer Health Care? The wars go on and now the promise to shut down Guantanamo is broken. And torture? That is so past. We need to look forward! to the end of what democracy we have?
No one should have healthcare unless we all have healthcare, particularly those who will be making the decisions. Perhaps the concept of National Healthcare should be put to a national referendum.
Healthcare should be taken from all members of Congress, all policy advisors and key officials in the executive branch (including Obama) and members of the supreme court.
And of course ...deny their family members as well.
And when Sasha falls off her new swingset ....
This is a terrific suggestion. Someone should organize getting them to do this as a show of good faith. What better service could the Obama family do for Americans right now than go without healthcare until everyone has achieved it!
I agree! Why are my tax dollars going to provide health coverage for military, veterans, Congresspeople, and government workers if I can't get coverage myself?
But there are so few of these politicians and so few richfilth animals. Couldn't we just round them up, put them into a single sports stadium (they would all fit) or even decentralize and have several stadiums, and do a "Pinochet" on them? You know, bury the headless, handless corpses right there under the astro turf as a warning to all future creatures of their kind? The heads and hands could be used as fish food on the dying coral reefs. It would achieve the desired effect and the message would be unequivocal. Think outside the 'box'.
Agreed, although, you'll probably be banned for saying it. As for the gutless poster who criticized you for saying it, they'll probably be planning another useless, fashionable lefty protest or signing another lousy petition to some stinking richfilth politician.
Tbis comment is filth. Please refrain from posting your violent fantasies here.
I applaud the comment actually. You have to use filth to describe filth adequately and that is what the man is doing...
No, we can describe filth, describe it graphically and in detail, but without making it. On the other hand, there's no need to censor such comments to censure them.
Yes, and let's just describe protest in nice easy to live with terms as well. Rather than ACTUAL protest, which might offend or for-gosh-sakes, endanger, somebody. I mean the way things are no one is endangered now, no one is being killed or tortured. So why put anyone at risk?
Or if there are still those who feel they MUST protest, let's make sure they do it in the designated protest zones only. Safety (and politeness) first.
In the mean time - for those of us without health insurance the battle needs to be waged on all fronts. for those interested - a link to Avazz.org
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) must investigate and develop regulations for these farms to protect global health.
Petition link:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/swine_flu_pandemic/?cl=225212523&v=3271
"...WHO has been saying for years that 'a new pandemic is inevitable'(2) and experts from the European Commission and the FAO have cautioned that the rapid move from small holdings to industrial pig production is in fact increasing the risk of development and transmission of disease epidemics. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn that scientists still do not know the extent that infectious compounds produced in factory farms affect human health.(3)
Studies abound of the horrific conditions endured by pigs in concentrated large-scale operations, and the devastating economic impact on small farmer communities of bloated large-scale operations.(4) Smithfield itself has already been fined $12.6m and is currently under another federal investigation in the US for toxic environmental damage from pig excrement lakes.(5)
(1) Biosurveillance report tracing the disease to the Smithfields farm: http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/swine-flu-in-mexico-timeline-of-events.html
Reports on the link between the Mexican factory farm and the flu:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/for-la-gloria-the-stench-of-b...
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-fg-mexico-flu28-2009apr28,0,1701782.story
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=can-swine-flu-be-blamed-on-industri-09-05-01
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227063.800-swine-flu-the-predictable-pandemic.html?full=true
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kirby/swine-flu-outbreak----nat_b_191408.html
(2) WHO pandemic information
http://www.euro.who.int/influenza/20080618_19
(3) FAO, EC and CDC reports on the risks of industrial farming on public health
FAO and CIWF and http://www.cdc.gov/cafos/about.htm
(4) CIWF and PETA video reports of the disgusting conditions for animals in factory farms and the disease ridden manure swamps:
CIWF and PETA
(5) Reports on Smithfield's animal welfare and environmental damage
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/for-la-gloria-the-stench-of-b...
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/new-report-highlights-the-trouble-with-smithfield-arti...
http://avaazimages.s3.amazonaws.com/SmithfieldJan08.pdf
(6) Reports on UK tax payers subsidising factory farms http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/agriculture/farming/5225298/Taxpayers-forking-out-700-million-for-fac...
Senator Max Baucus is corrupt.
Yes, agreed, but the entire Senate is corrupt. Can you name a single decent Senator, except perhaps Bernie Sanders? (please don't say Feingold or Boxer, ugh, enough of that - fool me once...)
The Senator does not stand alone. They are all corrupt!! Bought and paid for by the corporations who, as Milton Friedman said, "Can not be ethical. Their only purpose is to turn a profit".
My Congressional Represntative, Jackie Speier, while at a public meeting where the majority of her constituents were wearing blue ribbons to signify their support for single payer, quoted Nancy Pelosi saying Single Payer would not pass and so Jackie will not vote for it.
Nancy Pelosi is admired by this Congresswoman because she thinks that Nancy works very hard for the intersts of the people of this nation. I mentioned that Nancy is famous for saying "Impeachment is off the table" when we all wanted Bush and Cheney to be impeached. Nancy was also fully briefed on the new aggressive interrogation methods used by the CIA and found no hint of torture in them.
My Congressional Representative is following Nancy Pelosi in opposition to the wishes of her constituents. How's that for representative democracy?
Our whole political system is badly flawed. And we are taking democracy to Iraq? Where did we get it -- and why can't we have it here at home?
"Single Payer, Single Payer, all I hear is Single Payer , well you're not going to get Single Payer," Nancy 'Dances with a Tiara' Pelosi.
"We need more police," Baucus said.
Plfft, and they say we don't have a friend in Washington.
Single payer is dead. Killed by Obama and the Democrats.
Saying that single payer is dead only echoes the propaganda of the centrist corporate Democrats. They want us to believe that it's dead so that we don't raise a ruckus. All the more reason to raise a ruckus to prove to the bastards that it is not dead. Go to www.singlepayer.org and join the movement. Don't mourn, organize.
And so is the employees free choice act, but hey Obama let the two zionist spys Rosen and Weissman get off scott free. Change you can believe in?
odoco
You're correct Thomas; Russ Feingold was on Democracy Now this morning and flatly stated single payer healthcare was not going to happen in this Congress, and uncharacteristically for him, when pushed by Amy Goodman to explain why - he hesitated and never gave a definitive answer.
Yes, he didn't give a definitive answer, but he did state that there was sizeable objection to a new large Government bureaucracy. When he said that, I'm almost positive that's the new "framing" that universal proponents are going to take.
"You're correct Thomas; Russ Feingold was on Democracy Now this morning and flatly stated single payer healthcare was not going to happen..."
I agree. This is not just about Max--as odious as he is.
It's also about the Democratic Party. They are going to do for the insurance companies what they're doing for the banks. Period.
But even more importantly, this is about us.
When all is said and done, I think the single-payer issue will go a long way in not only exposing this kind of bullshit with the Democrats but teach people they simply can't just depend on political saviors.
The only way to get justice now is to organize and fight.
He could have just said, "Now how is AIPAC going to afford all those guns if you people want all that butter?"
No, killed by big Pharma, Obama and the Baucus, rats are just their puppets.
Was that 'pig' Pharma?
OK!
"I want you to know I care deeply about your views," Baucus said. Oh really? Is that his final word on the unmentionable subject?
A very few outlets of the propaganda machine made brief mention of the arrests, but only Politico named the organizing groups. The less said, the better.
When the people fear their government there is tyranny,
when the government fears the people there is liberty.
~ Thomas Jefferson
"I want you to know I care deeply about your views" he should have followed up that one-liner with "But take your views somewhere else"
Baucus can stick it up you know where, with an oversized dildo, freakin jerk!
And the whole lot of em need to be kicked to the curb this next election, unfortunately with campaigns funded by multinational corporations, that doesn't seem likely.
VOTE THIRD PARTY!!!!!!and more importantly, Vote everyday with your MONEY!!!
Most important, go to www.singlepayeraction.org for ideas and initiatives for taking on the bastards right now and fighting for Medicare for all.
"If all you people who want single-payer, like most of my constituents, and most of all other Americans, would kindly shut your mouths, we can get on with this committee meeting to show you how much we deeply care about your views by discussing every options except single-payer. The HMOs have spent a lot of money to make this committee meeting happen and we owe to them to get it back on track in the direction they want it to go. Thank you for demonstrating better decorum."
Thank you homeward-angel and pleased to meet you. :)
If we can get enough people in this country to vote on the issues and completely ignore their party affiliation, third parties will be scoring big time. Good luck to all of us.
Unless you can align a "third party" coalition, each and every one of those third parties will stay marginalized in their narrow focus or single issue ghettos.
Start with IRV. The whole "I voted my conscience" line is a dodge. It's like pissing in the ocean. Use your fire to affect real change, not vote the least of the evils.
My God! they haven't even settled on a name for a progressive party yet, "third party" my eye!
Get behind whomever is the strongest.
"Get behind whomever is the strongest" . . . and continue destroying the nation our fathers' fathers' fathers' built.
The nation can't survive without a middle class. We can't survive while breathing, drinking and eating more and more toxic chemicals and pollutants. We can't survive without health. We can't survive with a pay-or-die, obscene profits for the few and denial of health care for the many system. We can't survive as one of only two industrialized nations on earth without a single-payer, everyone in, public health system. (The other is South Africa.)
It's not just individual people who are so effected, it's also U.S. business and industry that can't compete with their counterparts in other countries which provide universal health care. It's not just individual health, it's public health and our economy that's at stake here.
"Get behind whomever is the strongest" -- meaning single-payer obstacle-in-chief Obama -- is a recipe that will turn us into a banana republic.
We must do the opposite. Push, push, push Obama and his corporate Democrat allies into doing the only thing that will work for health care: single payer.
My God, again! How could you misunderstand me?
I meant to say the strongest leftist party. I mean, is ANY work being done on this or are Americans still sleepwalking to the next elections? You think the corporations are simply going to GIVE you what you need? It takes commitment, sacrifice, courage...not just pulling a lever for "brand Obama".
NOW you're saying what I'm saying. Before you were dissing third parties. I can tell you that we would have single-payer on the table RIGHT NOW if Ralph Nader had won 10-15% of votes in the last election, rather than 1%. (And, btw, Nader WAS the strongest leftist presidential candidate on the ballot.)
Voting third-party is where our strength lies. If you believe that, as I do, please be more precise in the way you talk about third parties, because it sounds a lot like you are saying third parties are futile.
Is there work being done now? You bet. Want to help? Go to http://www.singlepayeraction.org//index.php
and click on "Sign Up" and "Donate."
A call to action.
If you don't like a particular TV program, you call their sponsors and tell them you will boycott them until the program either goes off the air or changes to your liking. This works similar with
political parties, politicians and their sponsors (campaign contributors).
If you have a blog please post this on your blog. I want to get at least 100,000 people to sign these petitions, the first one which you can demand single payer health care and a fix to the Medicare prescription drug benefit.
Read and sign these legislative petitions please and get hundreds of people to sign them and they will automatically go to Republican minority leaders Sen. McConnell and Rep. Boehner right away once you sign the petition.
http://tinyurl.change.org/EzKoE
http://tinyurl.change.org/upFFg
http://tinyurl.change.org/SmldU
http://tinyurl.change.org/zcCYl
http://tinyurl.change.org/DppEP
Oh and I created this parody t shirt about medicare part D that uses a familiar symbol.
See it here.
http://bit.ly/1CMnA