This is just window-dressing and a PR stunt as usual.

"Democratic leaders say they’re open to paring down a healthcare reform bill in order to sway “conservative” Democrats who’ve threatened to oppose the measure that would create a government-run public insurance option"

What a bunch of BS that is.

Dennis is right on most of this and admits it is both parties (not just Republicans); who are at fault. It is hight time for him and others like him to break away from the D party and form a new one to challenge the Duopoly.

There is no other like Dennis Kucinich. If nothing is ever passed that he proposes, I thank God that I was here to witness his courage, and tenacity to stand in the face of the overwhelming opposition during two presidential runs, in the House, and while he was mayor of Cleveland. He has had the most courageous political career that I have ever heard of, and my hat is off to him. I have never had a politician speak to my ideals like he has.

lol alive? This is just Democrats throwing crumbs to the left and using their favorite front man, Dennis Kucinich, a gatekeeper who's only goal is to keep progressives from leaving his corrupt party.

Democratic voters are very easy to scam, they can't see through the fraud that Kucinich represents. At the end he'll always support the pro-war corporatist Democrat candidate and/or policies, just like he did in 2000 or 2004 or 2008.

The only way he'd be taken seriously is if he RESIGNED his corrupt party and ran as an Independent next election.

I am a conservative Democrat.
As in very conservative for a Democrat.

But, health care reform without single payer is simply a joke.

Until hospitals, doctors and insurance companies are no longer able to cherry pick risk and charge thousands of dollars for services, worth at most a few hundreds of dollars, and hundreds for services worth at most a few tens of dollars - medical cost increases will remain out of control.

We are approaching spending 20% the value of the entire U.S. economy on health care and results are spotty at best.

President Obama ask a medical student how much she had borrowed for a medical education - she said so far $300,000.00.

That is the mind set at work here. Every doctor wants to charge enough for a 5 minute visit with a patient to be a multi-millionaire.

A single payer system will fix that part of the system. Any thing else will just open the system up to new abuse and make more people wealthy at the expense of death and morbidity.

Everything else is just talking points.

Sure we can get a one time cost savings by letting all people over a certain age die without giving them expensive health care like heart by-pass surgery or hip replacement, but that will only help for a few years.

The patient, in this case the health care system, needs major surgery. Pain killers and feel good sugar pills will not fix anything.

It appears there is agreement on this blog that the Obama health care plan is nothing but smoke and mirrors.

A placebo to make the masses believe things are going to get better while Obama's hand picked friends get wealthier.

some animals are more equal than others

Oink.

Without single-payer, the whole exercise in Congress is akin to mental masturbation.
Take the profit out of healthcare.
Take the influence peddlers out of our elections - publicly funded elections is the only way to win the country back from corporations. To believe otherwise is to be a satisfied delusionist.

Progressive leaders like Kucinich need to leave their audience inspired. He appears bitter and tired in this piece- understandable, but without delivery that can inspire people, progressive messages reach few. Progressives have to consider this and improve upon the delivery of our speeches and interviews.

Dennis is awesome!

They try to make a mockery of him but he perseveres.
He looks tired, it must feel like he's beating a dead horse!

There is alot i don't like about Obama's plan; but, I think the public option could be a foot in the door that might never be closable. The repugnantcans & reactionary deomocrats are running round like crazy to attack this possibility in service to their corporate paymasters. The soulless, heartless health insurance corpserations fear, like Hal in 2001, a slow unplugging of their money-making machine. So, i support Obama's plan (w/out of course cutting medicaid & medicare--wh/of course, a single-payer would seriously reduce the stigmatization of poverty, & to a lesser degree, aging); but, instead raising taxes on the rich & the filthy rich to AT LEAST the levels they were at under the Clinton administration.

Kucinich's amendment would definitely strengthen the bill, which has even attracted some conservatives, but unfortantley not some liberal dems like George Miller, whose feet i "held to the fire" (he's probably got thick boots) in an email.

So, even though there're some short-term goodies ( & remember they're usually short-term prophets ), they are fighting this w/all the lies(the devil is the king of lies--G.I. Gurdjieff) and $ they can muster on their mass media propaganda machine(where Dennis' so-far successful campaign doesn't exist). That alone should be reason to support it with all our might!

Wall Street spent a lot of money trying to defeat Rep D.K. during the last election and lost . In more than one way Rep D.K. is one the best things that ever happened to America . Cspan camera's views of congress showed the insurers handing out checks on the floor of congress to members of congress a half dozen years ago . Since congress made a rule that the checks could only be handed out when not in camera view . If we just think ; what a corporation wants is exactly opposite to what the public want . But the corporations know that with their media control they can get a large part of the electorate to vote against their own interests . An example is ; If you drive past any American auto manufacturing parking lot you will see many autos from the competition . If the media can get a worker to put him/her self out of work (earning a LIVING) just by using propaganda we have a very gullible electorate . If the electorate votes in a politician that is in favor of free trade we have a very gullible electorate . Bottom line ; We have a very gullible electorate and the corporations know it .

According to Obama, in today's news, he claims that we have
lost some 700,000 jobs a month in the past three months.
He still doesn't get it. Bubba Clinton and the Bushees
Out-sourced our Industrial base to China and that behaviour
has ruined our economy and our "Free-Press". Newspapers are
dying because retailers are not selling anything,and cannot
afford to advertise in the press, as some
7,000,000 good paying jobs have been lost to China and other
low paying slave wage countries. Hasn't anyone noticed that
both parties are scared to death to admit that our fearless
leaders have been bought by the Corporatations that have moved oversease for cheap labor?
Even the Unions are scared to mention the "C" word, aka China.
Hillary is now in India selling Nuclear Power Plants.
If Nuclear was to dangerous for us, why is it safe for India?
Enough of the Clinton Circus, Please...

Dennis is invited to sit at our table, where he can be nutured back to health. Then he can sit back and relax and watch the fruit of his tireless efforts ripen

for all of you that have read this before,"in some other time and forgotten space"
AFTER TONIGHT THERE WILL BE NO MORE POSTS

We were all so fried by the bush years,Obama appeared and suddenly Hope burns eternal.
Apathy disappears maybe sixty percent of the country feels the chance, for change to manifest. There's still hope because the machines that manipulates the demographics have left a little wiggle room.There are at least two states that can go either way,it's not a sickening forgone conclusion,the democrats have a chance.The republican party
with its almost total control of the media, and its psych-opts, made a mistake. The Afro- American,Hispanic,youth vote ,have come together along with the Progressive vote, and ordinary citizens who normally would be out of the loop,collectively we feel the energizing vibrations of a better world arising. Obama ,will reflect the Love , compassion,joy , justice that we feel and be the instrument of change that manifests the higher qualities of the citizens of this country.How much sweeter is the fact that it will be an Africian American.
ALAS.........

PLEASE EXCUSE THE FACT THAT I INCLUDE A POST FROM ANOTHER THREAD.
I feel that my time on this planet is coming to a close, and since what was written in the other thread applies to all the threads that have been written, please allow me my parting thoughts.today will be the last time I post, so let me think that my dream has become reality, thank you for your compassion.
I love each and everyone of you !!!!!!!!!!!
namaste

Again, sorry for accidently posting a response to the"WAS CARTER RIGHT"thread on this thread.

I also thank Thom for educating me on the tax issue.
In fact I thank all of the authors who have posted on this site, as well as those who have added to the subject matter,and kept the site honest by their posts.

Quickstepper.............Sorry that you thought I was drunk when I posted to the "WAS CARTER RIGHT" thread.
And I'm sorry that you found nothing of value posted.

So I ask you Quickstepper, can you imagine how the world would function without money.
Eight year olds have offered a system,a person with your Progressive knowledge should not have a problem.

Also I ask, ........how do you translate the knowledge and passion expressed on this web- site, as well as every other kindred-spirit site,into IMMEDIATE ACTION
Not waiting for a third party,or the continuous posting of the problems and not working on immediate solutions.
As we all know ,there may not be time to solve some of the issues, global warming et all.

I am only offering the easy part,"CITIZEN CENTRAL" THE heavy lifting has already been done , by you all.
It ain't over till the fat lady sings,we have yet to close the deal,the opposition knows this ,and is trying to destroy it all, before we collectively get our shit together.
We don't have forever!!!!
If we build "CITIZEN CENTRAL" WE CAN INSTANTLY TURN THE SHIP OF STATE AROUND, AND COLLECTIVELY EXPERIENCE THE JOY OF GOING
IN ANOTHER DIRECTION.
This is my last post on the subject my e-mail is
thetribe2009@live .com

A Single Payer Plan Is A Make Or Break Issue

"Why?"

"From the get-go in this stuggle upwards of sixty percent of the public has been for it, so if we can't get a single payer plan, what chance do the rest of our progressive issues have of getting through congress?"

"And if single payer doesn't make it, what then?"

"Progressives, including Dennis Kucinich, should reevaluate whether to continue with this charade that goes by the name of representative democracy."

"The reason being?"

"Time's running out."

"Based on?"

"Perpetual war + global warming + economic collapse."

"But if we drop the charade, what instead?"

"We rise up en masse."

"And then what sort of world?"

"It'll be up to us."

Be careful...

Unless the "corporation" is reformed away from profit, single payer will simply result in the private sector outsourcing their admin and bureaucracy costs to the public sector, keepng the prices high and laughing all the way to the bank.

George C. Brown - Great! Now bring that plutocratic club called the Senate to come along - - drag 'em along if that's what it takes, even kicking and screaming!

George C. Brown - Is this the guy we should have elected?

Again, Kucinich is a fraud. The only way he'd ever be taken seriously is if he resigned his corrupt party and ran as an Independent. Not gonna happen. He's very important and a willing participant in this charade to keep progressives thinking that there's some type of faint hope for the Democratic Party.

At the end he always ends up supporting the pro-war corporatist Democrat candidate and/or policies and/or the party, just like he did in 2000 or 2004 or 2008. He's as much a culprit in congress as any Republican.

rc_phoenix ----- you make some unwarranted assumptions --- I happen to have a daughter who is a researcher and an MDPHD and a surgeon, who strongly supports single payer. You do a serious disservice to her and to many young idealistic and dedicated doctors with your statement:
" Every doctor wants to charge enough for a 5 minute visit with a patient to be a multi-millionaire"
She and many of her generation mostly want to make a difference and see more social justice in the health care system. She is 33 years old, and has been educating herself for almost 30 of those years,----- those you describe do exist, but please be cautious of generalities.