MOMocrats™

Mad Monday: Health Care Reform and the State of Disunion

Image by elycefeliz via Flickr

Depending on who you ask, health care reform is either dead or on life support. While it's true that the best-laid plans of Congress and the President were a bit...er...derailed by the Massachusetts election, Nancy Pelosi is a bit smarter than the average bear. Moreover, it would be terrible politics to let health care reform die after it's passed the Senate and the House once.

Two scenarios have the greatest chances of advancing the bill to President Obama's desk. The House can pass the Senate bill as is, or they can negotiate a deal to pass the Senate bill after certain provisions are cleaned up, like the so-called Cadillac tax that has unions upset, and perhaps even converting the health exchanges to the House flavor, which is national rather than state-based.

We should all heave a collective sigh of relief when it's done. Truly. It is a remarkable accomplishment, imperfect in many ways, and yet an incredibly significant achievement for this President to have wrought in just over a year.

The 100-year timeline of health care reform illustrates just how significant it really is (and how the strategy to defeat it hasn't changed much over the years).

Sen. DeMint: Waterloo? I didn't say Waterloo. Did I?

Senator Jim DeMint on July 20, 2009:

"If we're able to stop Obama on [health care reform], it will be his Waterloo. It will break him and we will show that we can, along with the American people, begin to push those freedom solutions that work in every area of our society."

Senator Jim DeMint on January 24, 2009, ABC News:

Oops, Senator DeMint! Did you just lie? Why yes, I think you did. Not that it surprises me much to hear a Republican lie. It happens routinely. I just think the public should be aware that this is standard operating procedure for Republicans.

Help for Haiti

I'm afraid we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg at this point. Like the China earthquake, early reports and pictures are giving us a sense of the devastation, but as people and aid organizations actually get to Haiti, I'm afraid we will see much, much worse. My prayers go out to all people suffering through this first night without shelter or light, and those trapped in collapsed structures. These pictures offer a small sense of the damage done to people, structures and lives in an already-beleaguered nation.

Here are links to aid agencies and a couple of easy ways to help:

• Meds and Food for Kids MOMocrat Jaelithe interviewed Dr. Patricia Wolff in December, 2008 about their work to get food to children in Haiti after the 2008 hurricanes.
• Text "YELE" to 501501 to donate $5 to Yele Haiti. More information at http://yele.org
• Text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross for earthquake emergency response.
• OxFam America is on the ground in Haiti and needs donations.
• UNICEF Haitian Earthquake Relief Effort
• Global Giving is accepting donations here.
• A more complete list of resources over at BlogHer.

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• Haiti Earthquake: Hundreds Feared Dead (news.sky.com)
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Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be critics...

Image by Barack Obama via Flickr

...or at least, teach them to offer criticism constructively with an eye to building up, not tearing down. Wasn't that one of the lessons of the Obama campaign? Bring a new tone, be respectful of others' efforts, allow for differences of opinion?

Well, not so much, at least when it comes to being a grassroots organizer. I've been locked in a debate over the past few days with Micah Sifry at techPresident over his claim that the grassroots movement which formed to elect the President was a "convenient myth" that has been emasculated and put out to pasture since the election.

Here's video of our debate on Laura Flanders' show today.

I admit: there was a part of me that wanted to be in that studio, face-to-face, mano a mano when I asked him what his goal is. I was raised to be sparing with criticism, especially when criticizing volunteer efforts and those who lead volunteer efforts. So when I was told it 'wasn't [his] job to make [volunteers] feel good, I felt myself having to suppress the urge to put on my 'mom voice'.

My expulsion from Kindergarten carries lessons today

When I was 5 years old, I was expelled from Kindergarten. Twice. I don't remember what the first expulsion was for, but the second one remains a family legend to this day. Because truly, not everyone gets kicked out of Kindergarten. Twice.

There's a child's rhyme that has hand gestures. The rhyme goes like this:

Here's the church (hands locked together)
Here's the steeple (index fingers up, the rest of the fingers still locked)
Open the door (thumbs out)
And out come the people! (flip locked hands so fingers and palms up)

Cute, huh? Only, I'd been taught the rhyme with a bit of a twist. My version went like this, and I shared it with my entire class. From the front of the room.

Here's the church
Here's the steeple
Open the door
And out come the HYPOCRITES!

Did I mention that my mom was paying an enormous amount of money to send me to a private church school? They might have forgiven me. They might have patted me on the head and told me to nevernevernever say that rhyme that way ever again.

But instead, they asked me if I knew what a hypocrite was. The thing is, I did.

My mother's hippie-radical brother had come down from UC Berkeley and taught me the full meaning of the rhyme and the word. So I dutifully and truthfully answered the teacher's question.

"A hypocrite is someone who says one thing and does another," I replied.

And just like that, I was expelled. I think I was probably expelled for life, but my mother managed to wring just enough sympathy out of the teachers and the headmaster to allow me to finish out the year, with the agreement that at the end of said year, I should find another school to attend. Really, that outcome was just fine with me...it was probably the most miserable introduction to education any kid could have. I was glad to let the door to that school hit my butt on the way out. So why am I spilling my dirtiest secrets here on MOMocrats?

I'm still waiting for those defenders of children to defend them.

Image by andyofne via Flickr

Really, this just goes beyond the pale. Picketing the school where our President's children attend with racist, threatening, hateful signs?

Fred Phelps’ Westboro Baptist Church is a hate group that goes around the country staging anti-gay rallies at some of the most inappropriate places (e.g. the funerals of former White House press secretary Tony Snow, victims of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, and U.S. troops) with messages like “Thank God For AIDS” and “God Hates Fags.”

I believe in the first amendment. I believe that speech, no matter how hateful and ugly, should not be suppressed. I also believe that allowing speech like this and last weeks' teaparty rally in DC to go unchallenged by those who claim to be 'defenders of liberty' is abhorrent.

A cry for help

Here's the letter I faxed to my representatives. I understand they pay more attention to handwritten letters than emailed or typed letters. Click for the large version. It's my last shot at trying to get them (especially Rep. Gallegly and Senator Feinstein) to get a clue about how desperate we are. $4,700 - colonoscopy. $500/mo, ongoing supplies/meds. Health care reform I can actually afford? Priceless. All we have now is a train wreck.

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Right wingnuttery: Impeach Obama because Republicans don't like him?

I  just got off the phone with far-right wingnut Floyd Brown and FOX Radio host Alan Colmes about Brown's newest campaign: impeachment of President Obama. Ordinarily I wouldn't give this guy any attention at all, but since he was on Alan Colmes' Fox Radio show, I figured it was my duty to put a bit of counterspin on the insanity this man spews all over the networks and Internet.

Who is Floyd Brown?  Simply put, Floyd Brown rests in the heart and bowels of the Republican party as the engine formulating the poison that is farted all over Fox News, astroturf sites, and so-called right-wing news sites. Wherever he goes, noxious fumes follow.

Sen. Kyl, Family Research Council: Flip-Floppers on Families

We all know that Republicans are pro-family, right? After all, whenever there are cameras on they're more than willing to beat their breasts and wail loudly to anyone who will listen over the modern decline of 'the family', especially when they can blame progressives.

As Senator Kyl proved in today's markup session on the Baucus health care reform proposal, all their support for families evaporates rapidly when it bumps into influence, lobbying, and a little help from the extremists over at the Family Research Council.

From today's session, this tasty tidbit:

KYL: I don’t need maternity care, and so requiring that to be in my insurance policy is something that I don’t need and will make the policy more expensive.

STABENOW: If I could just interject once with my colleague — I think your mom probably did. (LAUGHTER)

KYL: Over 60 years ago my mom did. (LAUGHTER) You notice I wasn’t too specific with regard to that.

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.