cal04
cal04's JournalPaul Krugman:Obamacare Not A Total Disaster, Continued
Perceptions about health reform are in an interesting place. Just about everyone on the right is still living in October, the annus horribilis of Obamacare (yes, I know it was just a month, and I don’t care), and is waiting to move in for the kill after the whole thing collapses. Meanwhile, a funny thing has been happening: enrollments surged this month, to such an extent that the original expectation of 7 million people signed up via the exchanges by the end of March no longer looks crazy.
OK, the usual caveats: we don’t know how many of the people signing up via the exchanges are replacing existing policies, and we don’t know how much trouble there will be when people start trying to use their new insurance. On the other hand, we know that there are a substantial number of people buying ACA-compliant policies directly from insurers, who don’t show up in the numbers yet.
And while 7 million has become the number to match or beat, the truth is that it doesn’t matter too much if “only” 6 million sign up via the exchanges, plus millions more who are signed up under expanded Medicaid. Even a slightly disappointing first year will still offer enough people benefits to make reform politically irreversible.
At this point, we have more than 2 million signed up via the exchanges and more than 4 million added to Medicaid. Both numbers will grow a lot over the next three months. This is pretty close to the end game.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/30/obamacare-not-a-total-disaster-continued/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto&_r=0
An end-of-year message from Robert Reich
The GOP theme song in 2013
I had fun putting together this video—which also calls out some uplifting wins MoveOn members and other progressives were able to achieve this year despite the "Do-Nothing Congress." I hope you'll take just a minute to watch and, if you enjoy it, pass it on.
Thanks for all you do—and all the best in 2014.
–Robert Reich
Sen. Bernie Sanders: Health Care For All
&Sen. Sanders talks with Ed about the need to provide health care to all
Yes, I’m gay, Michaud says. Now let’s get our state back on track
My personal life has nothing to do with my ability to lead Maine.http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/Mike_Michaud__Yes__I_m_gay__Now_let_s_get_our_state_back_on_track_.html?pagenum=full
When I entered the race for governor, I did so because I love the state of Maine and am tired of seeing it dragged in the wrong direction. There was never any question that it would be a tough race, but I know I have the vision, the experience and the commitment to lead Maine forward.
Once I jumped to an early lead in the polls, I knew it was only a matter of time before individuals and organizations intent on re-creating the uncertainty that led to our current governor’s election three years ago would start their attacks. Already my opponents have tried to blatantly distort my support for a woman’s right to choose and my tireless commitment to our nation’s veterans.
So I wasn’t surprised to learn about the whisper campaigns, insinuations and push-polls some of the people opposed to my candidacy have been using to raise questions about my personal life. They want people to question whether I am gay.
Allow me to save them the trouble with a simple, honest answer: “Yes I am. But why should it matter?”
Tammy Duckworth Reunited With Army Medic Who Saved Her Life (pic)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/09/tammy-duckworth-iraq-medic_n_4054074.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003Scott Gillis sat in the House balcony, watching a speech by Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). The last time Gillis had seen her, she was unconscious, bleeding profusely and in need of life-saving surgery.
Gillis was one of the medics who helped save Duckworth's life in 2004. Back then, he was an Army sergeant stationed in Iraq, and Duckworth was rushed into Gillis' hospital tent after her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. Before passing out, Duckworth, an Army pilot, somehow managed to help land the helicopter, despite injuries that led to both of her legs being amputated and one of her arms being damaged. Gillis was there to receive her, helping to stabilize her before she was flown to Germany for emergency surgery. He never saw her after that.
Despite having treated more than 2,000 soldiers during the war, Gillis said he always remembered Duckworth. There were a couple of things about her that stood out.
"The grotesqueness of her injuries and that she was a woman," said Gillis, now 40 and living in Northern Virginia. "We also got briefed as to what happened to our patients when we got them."
Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Army pilot, was reuinted at the Capitol with the medic who saved her life in Iraq in 2004. | Jennifer Bendery
Braves Fan Mocks GOP For Shutdown
Just Because The Dodgers Scored More Runs...Doesn't Make Them Right'http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/braves-fan-mocks-gop-for-shutdown-just-because-the-dodgers-scored-more-runs-doesn-t-make-them-right
(snip)
The letter from Paul Kaplan to Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), reported by NBC Sports, drips with sarcasm.
In a thinly veiled reference to the House GOP's relentless attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kaplan noted that his beloved team "sent batters to the plate at least 40 times" in Monday's 4-3 Dodgers win, which eliminated the Braves from the playoffs.
"But just because we couldn't score enough runs, the Dodgers refuse to relinquish the title — and worse, they won't even discuss it," Kaplan wrote. "LA's stubborn refusal to even talk to us about reversing the results of this series is un-sportsmanlike and un-American. But there is an answer: If the Dodgers won't listen to the cries of average Americans like you and me, then Congress should outlaw Major League Baseball until the Dodgers cave."
(snip)
"Just because the Dodgers had more hits, scored more runs, and won more games doesn't make them right," Kaplan wrote in closing. "You can help them see that."
Letter
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/08/applying-government-shutdown-logic-to-the-baseball-playoffs/
Must See: Senator Sanders once again calls out Congress and the Koch Brothers
on the SENATE floor
Quoted this NY Times Article from Yesterday
A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning
(snip)
The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort. A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the fight. Included was $5 million to Generation Opportunity, which created a buzz last month with an Internet advertisement showing a menacing Uncle Sam figure popping up between a woman’s legs during a gynecological exam.
The groups have also sought to pressure vulnerable Republican members of Congress with scorecards keeping track of their health care votes; have burned faux “Obamacare cards” on college campuses; and have distributed scripts for phone calls to Congressional offices, sample letters to editors and Twitter and Facebook offerings for followers to present as their own.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/us/a-federal-budget-crisis-months-in-the-planning.html
Bernie asked that the
Article from NY TIMES be submited
Right wing movement funded by the Koch brothers,their agenda, end medicare, massive cuts in medicaid
VERY Clear in ENDING SS
They have the best housing, health care, in the world but OBSESSED that the americans have no insurance at all! Billionaires going to war against working people is just Obscene
More from Sen. Sanders:
Who's behind the government shutdown?
http://sanders.enews.senate.gov/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=2100108838.308664.157&gen=1
The press release is out, the campaign website is live. It's official. WendyDavisTexas is running
https://twitter.com/TexasMonthly/status/385885307872100352/photo/1
5:11: And it's officially official: "I'm proud to announce my candidacy to be the 48th Governor of the State of Texas!" Crowd erupts at that, and at every subsequent line for the next couple minutes. "Good is never good enough"? Huge cheers. "Texans do not want to sit back and watch Austin turned into Washington DC"? Another one. This is an enthusiastic crowd.
http://www.texasmonthly.com/daily-post/liveblogging-wendy-davis-announcement
TX Democratic Party
http://www.wendydavistexas.com/
https://secure.wendydavistexas.com/donate/e131003/?source_codes=ngpattre13100
Wendy Davis Store
http://store.wendydavistexas.com/
Harry Reid just now on Senate floor: "We will not go to conference with a gun to our head."
https://twitter.com/TheLastWordHarry Reid just now on Senate floor: "We will not go to conference with a gun to our head."
Reid: "We will not go to a conference with a gun to our head. The first thing that the House has to do is to pass a clean, 6-week CR"
https://twitter.com/mpoindc
Reid says no conference committee
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics-live/liveblog/live-updates-the-shutdown-showdown/?id=a3158b0f-2b55-423d-914e-3ccfda3c7646
“We like to resolve issues, but we will not go to conference with a gun to our heads,” Reid said.
“I propose that the House passes our clean CR, and we’ll sit down and discuss funding for the balance of the year. That’s it,” he said.
House Republicans “want to close government,” he added. “This is all a subterfuge to satisfy the tea party-driven Republicans. And it’s very, very strange, this agenda is so hurtful to the American people.”
He insisted that the House must first pass a “clean” six-week continuing resolution without any language to curtail or defund the new health-care law.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) in no uncertain terms said Senate Democrats would not go to a conference committee with House Republicans unless they send a clean continuing resolution to the Senate.
"We will not go to conference until we get a clean CR," Reid said, reiterating the Democrats' line to demand a bill that would continue to fund the government at current levels.
After Reid, Sens. Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Dick Durbin (D-IL), Reid's lieutenants in the chamber, came to the floor to echo Reid's message.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/reid-refuses-to-entertain-conference-committee-plan
GOP Staff: Congress 'Threw Staff Under The Bus' (eliminating their health insurance subsidies)
Some congressional Republican staff members aren't happy about the vote their bosses will take this evening to eliminate their health insurance subsidies.
"I understand it politically, and as a talking point," one Republican staffer told Mother Jones. "But Congress literally threw staff under the bus on this…You're hurting staff assistants who are sorting your mail."
The House's latest spending bill would delay Obamacare's individual mandate for one year and eliminate subsidies for Congress members and their staff. A vote is expected sometime around 8 p.m. ET.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gop-staff-congress-literally-threw-staff-under-the-bus
GOP Staffer on Vitter Amendment: "Congress Literally Threw Staff Under The Bus
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/09/obamacare-employer-contribution-exemption-vitter-amendment%20?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+motherjones%2Fmain+%28MotherJones.com+Main+Article+Feed%29
(snip)
A recent survey found that 63 percent of Hill staffers want to leave their jobs because of the low pay and long hours. And that's before losing health insurance benefits.
The GOP, in its all-out-effort to undermine Obamacare, could end up harming its own people. "I'm a perfectly healthy guy," the staffer says, "but there are people (in my office) who use (insurance) and need it and depend on it."
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