Go Watch It: Rachel Maddow Takes on Americans for Prosperity

In August, I wrote about how astroturfing groups funded by big business and staffed by GOP political operatives and corporate lobbyists — like the Koch Industries-funded group Americans for Prosperity — are influencing the national debate on health care by helping to organize and promote Tea Party gatherings and town hall protests at the local level.

Last night on MSNBC, Rachel Maddow took on Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips in a scathingly direct interview. If you're concerned about the involvement of corporate lobbyists in the health care debate, don't miss this interview! Watch parts one and two below (part two is after the jump).

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

30 Senate Democrats Stand Firm for a Public Option in Letter

Thank you, Democratic Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Russ Feingold (D-WI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Roland Burris (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Jack Reed (D-RI), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Al Franken (D-MN), Bob Casey (D-PA), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ),  John Kerry (D-MA), Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Paul Kirk (D-MA), and thank you Bernie Sanders, the Independent Senator from Vermont.

Today, by signing a letter written by Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown supporting the inclusion of a strong public option in the Senate health insurance reform bill — a measure of health care reform that the majority of Americans support — you stood up on behalf of the American people and put the interests of ordinary working American families ahead of the interests of multimillion dollar insurance companies. You put people ahead of profits, put principles ahead of politics, and brought the United States of America one step closer to joining the other developed nations of the world in recognizing access to basic health care as a human right that should be granted to all of a nation's people.

You promoted the general welfare, just like the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution says our government should. Your mothers should be proud.

The MOMocrats extend our gratitude, and encourage more Senators to join you.

Readers, if you support the public option like nearly two-thirds of your fellow Americans, and your Senator has not yet signed this letter, please encourage him or her to do so.

Full text of the letter after the jump:

Go Listen: BlogHer Call with Senator Amy Klobuchar on Health Care Reform

BlogHer recently hosted a conference call on health insurance reform with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. MOMocrats writers Karoli, Jaelithe and Joanne participated in the call, which included several BlogHer members with various backgrounds and political opinions, and was moderated by Nancy Watzman from the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan organization dedicated to improving government transparency

Senator Klobuchar, a Democrat, a mother, and one of only 17 women Senators currently serving in Congress, supports health care reform and has expressed a preference for a plan that would end exclusions for pre-existing condition, include a health insurance exchange that would allow small businesses and independent contractors to use collective bargaining power to access lower health insurance prices, and include a public option that would give Americans the choice of buying into a non-profit government-run insurance plan.

During the call, the Senator discussed her views on the best ways to reduce health care costs for both consumers and the government, spoke about the need to provide better support to families caring for elderly relatives, and expressed her outrage at learning that some private insurance companies have been denying coverage to victims of domestic violence.

Senator Klobuchar also talked about ways that ordinary citizens who support health care reform can help make a difference by promoting reform in their own communities.

Visit the BlogHer website to listen to the BlogHer conference call with Senator Amy Klobuchar or read a partial transcript. And don't forget to check back next week for a BlogHer conference call with Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers.

A 9/11 Message from Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden

The First Lady and Second Lady of the United States encourage all Americans to honor the service of the women and men of the United States Armed Forces by volunteering to offer support to veterans and military families.

You can learn more about volunteering to help veterans and military families, and find volunteer opportunities near you, at iParticipate.org and Welcome Back Veterans. Read more about the public service announcement in Jill Biden's entry on the White House blog.

9/11 National Day of Service Tomorrow

For eight years, the non-profit organization My Good Deed — a group co-founded by Jay Winuk, who lost his brother Glenn Winuk, a volunteer firefighter, during the September 11th attacks — has petitioned the federal government to declare September 11th a national community service day to honor the lives of those who died in a positive and constructive way.

Jay Winuk has said of the initiative, "As a 9/11 family member, I cannot think of a more inspiring, appropriate and constructive tribute to my late brother and all those who perished, were injured or rose in service — to rekindle at least for one day each year the remarkable spirit of compassion and service that unified our country."

In April, Winuk finally got his wish, when President Obama signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which officially declared September 11th a National Day of Remembrance and Service.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, who helped draft the provision of the act that proclaimed the national service day, explained, "September 11 should not only be a day for mourning — it should be a day to think about our neighbors, our community and our country. We can take a tragic day in our nation's history and turn it into a force for good."

President Obama issued a proclamation today urging Americans to participate:

Our democracy is strengthened when we uphold the freedoms upon which our Nation was built: equality, justice, liberty, and democracy. These values exemplify the patriotism and sacrifice we commemorate today.

In that same spirit of patriotism, I call upon all Americans to join in service and honor the lives we lost, the heroes who responded in our hour of need, and the brave men and women in uniform who continue to protect our country at home and abroad.

If you would like participate in a volunteer activity tomorrow to honor the lives of those lost on September 11th, 2001, and the service of the brave firefighters, police officers and EMTs who ran toward danger that day, you can find a National Day of Remembrance and Service event near you at Serve.gov or 911dayofservice.org. And if you have a great volunteer project planned for tomorrow, please tell us about it in the comments!

Re-Fired Up: A Health Reform Vigil in St. Louis

A couple of weeks ago, I went to a town hall meeting held by my Senator, Claire McCaskill, in a rural Missouri town on the outskirts of St. Louis.

It depressed me.

Health care reform opponents screamed and heckled and interrupted the Senator, again and again. Some health care reform supporters got frustrated and started yelling back. At one point, a white man in the audience snatched a poster of Rosa Parks from a black woman in attendance and crumpled it and ripped it and stomped on it and shoved the woman when she tried to take it back from him. The man cited the "no sign or banners" rule imposed by the university hosting the event as his defense as security escorted both him and the woman he had taken the sign from out of the building; meanwhile, several anti-health reform protesters blatantly displaying "Don't Tread on Me" Gadsen flag banners were allowed to stay without incident. That depressed me.

A fellow blogger was called a "babykiller" for wearing a pink Planned Parenthood t-shirt and had a racial slur tossed at her to boot for being black while wearing said t-shirt. That depressed me.

A man standing outside with the St. Louis Tea Party protesters held a sign equating President Obama to Hitler:

(Photo courtesy of Michael Bersin from Show Me Progress.)

That made me want to weep for education, America, manufacturers of cheap men's hair dye, and all humanity.

Vote for Your Favorite MOMocrats!

CREDO Mobile is awarding a BlackBerry® Curve™ 8330 smartphone, plus one year's unlimited service on CREDO, to three deserving recipients. CREDO has setup a contest that you can participate in from any mobile phone regardless of whether you'll be in Pittsburgh at Netroots Nation this sweek. So take a few minutes to review the rules and then cast your votes for individual progressive bloggers you enjoy.

There will be one winner, determined by the highest number of votes submitted via text message, in each of three categories:

    * Best National Blogger
    * Best State or Local Blogger
    * Blog Activist of the Year

Please cast your votes today! Just text the keyword ("national," "state" or "activist") plus your favorite blogger's name or "handle" to short code 27336. We're encouraging people to vote for the following MOMocrats contributors, based on their work on our site and elsewhere, but feel free to vote for your favorite progressive blogger in each category:

    * National  PunditMom/Joanne Bamberger
    * State Julie Pippert
    * Activist Jaelithe

Just text your votes in using this format for your favorites! One vote per category per voter; you may vote in all three categories if you wish. Please note:

   1. Vote for your favorite blogger (a person)—not your favorite blog.
   2. If your favorite blogger usually posts under a handle or alias, please use that in your text message, not his or her real name.

Voting closes: Saturday, August 15th 10:00 a.m. ET

For more information and the full contest rules, please visit CREDO's Mobile Apptitude blog. Winners will be announced Saturday evening, August 15, at the Netroots Nation conference in Pittsburgh.  The MOMocrats will be there in force, so look for us if you're attending!

A Response to Sarah Palin's "Death Panel" Comment from a Parent of a Child with Special Needs

Sarah Palin, you are not my advocate. You do not speak for me. You do not speak for my child.

You do not speak for the many good friends of mine who have children with chronic medical issues far more severe than my own son's neurological disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder. You do not speak for all parents of children with Down Syndrome. You do not speak for the member of my extended family who has Down Syndrome.

What you said on your Facebook page, about mythical Obama "death panels"?

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.  -Sarah Palin

If enough people believe it — if enough people are scared by it into opposing any kind of health insurance reform — that politically motivated statement deliberately promoting a dangerous rumor that has been proven to be patently false could cause tens of thousands of children with special needs in the United States to continue to suffer without adequate health care for years to come.

In the United States, children with chronic health issues are often denied coverage by private health insurance companies that consider their health concerns to be a pre-existing condition. Some of those children denied coverage under private health insurance are, thankfully, able to qualify for public health insurance through Medicaid or SCHIP — two of our country's existing socialized medical insurance programs — but some are not. And those children who do have private insurance coverage are often forced to pay high co-pays for routine procedures, and are frequently denied authorization for recommended medical care.

Every day in the United States, children with autism or cerebral palsy are denied occupational therapy. Children with juvenile diabetes are denied insulin pumps. Children with asthma are denied inhalers. American parents of children with chronic health conditions must fight a tangled bureaucratic health insurance system constantly to make sure that their kids can get access to the care recommended by their doctors.

And that's why the National Down Syndrome Congress supports health insurance reform. That's why the Autism Society of America supports health insurance reform. That's why Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, the American Diabetes Association, and the March of Dimes all support health care insurance reform. Because all of these organizations are advocates for children with special needs.

Go Watch It: White House Pushes Back Against Health Reform Myths

In this new YouTube video released by the White House, White House Health Reform Office Communications Director Linda Douglass succintly addresses the false internet rumor that President Obama plans to eliminate private health insurance coverage and force everyone to join a public health insurance plan.



I hope this video is only the beginning of a Major Health Insurance Reform Rumor Beatdown, MythBusters style. There are plenty of myths circulating about the Democrats' health insurance reform plan that could use a good solid debunking straight from Pennsylvania Avenue.

The insurance industry spin machine is working overtime to confuse the public about what the government is actually planning in an attempt to scare American citizens into opposing health insurance reform — the health industry lobby is spending over a million dollars a day trying to prevent the government from passing a meaningful reform bill.
 
And Republicans, so determined to see the President's centerpiece initiative fail that they've openly declared they hope health reform will be his Waterloo, are actually going so far with their lies about health reform legislation that they have outrageously, falsely claimed the President and Democrats in Congress want to encourage the elderly to commit suicide. (This is not true. Repeat, not true. Read the link already.)

The White House, unfortunately, will have to work overtime too just to stay on top of manufactured rumors like these if they want health reform to succeed. This video is a good start.

Conservative Astroturf and the Health Reform Debate: Let's Follow Some Plastic Roots

ThinkProgress.org and MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann have recently reported that powerful, well-funded conservative political organizations with ties to the Republican party and corporate interests are coordinating conservative volunteers to harass public officials and disrupt public town hall meetings across the country.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Organizations like FreedomWorks, a 501c4 activist group chaired by former House Majority leader, Republican Dick Armey, and Americans for Prosperity, a group (chaired by David H. Koch, founder and current Executive Vice President of the notorious environmental law breaking megacorporation, Koch Industries) that has previously advocated on behalf of the tobacco industry and campaigned against legislation to slow climate change, are organizing and promoting anti-health reform protests that are designed to look like spontaneous grassroots uprisings.

As ThinkProgress notes, "A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress."