More Stern discussion over at Seminal
Know Your Enemy — and It Ain’t SEIU
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/7417
t was dismaying to read this. But it’s important to understand the problem is external to the coalition, and not within it.

Misunderstanding among friends is to be expected when external forces are working very hard to undermine the solidarity of groups that otherwise have a common goal and should remain united against far more important concerns.

Despite President Obama’s unhelpful comments — see here, here, and here — about his and our support for the public option, his gratuitous and condescending comments today about the “left” — and when did we start defining “the left” as between 57 percent and 77 percent of the public? — make it clear that the White House’ strategy is to paint anyone who insists on a public option as a threat to the goal of passing a health care reform bill.

She is the perfect spokeswoman for progressives on Health Care. But I for one would sure like to see you on there more addressing torture, false pre-war intelligence etc and accountability. Through the fall we are sure to witness the warmongers turn up the heat on Iran. And we are sure to witness the talking heads (including Rachel and Keith) allow the endless unsubstantiated claims about Iran to be repeated and continue to go
unchallenged. We need you on there for a counter balance

Surprised by Stern…generally support his stances on issues. Wonder if Rahm is whispering in his ear?

http://www.healthcare-now.org/…..gle-payer/

“… I want to belong to a Democratic coalition that recognizes the public option is the compromise!!”…

me too.

didn’t we hear very early on that the obama admin was going to invite all the “stakeholders” to the “table”?

yes, we did.

my question is:

when was i invited? i didn’t hear.

when were any other citizens invited? i didn’t hear about that either.

were ANY representatives of “the american public” invited to that “table”?

not that i know about.

so what’s with obama’s bureaucratic jargon about “inviting all stakeholders to the table” – and that is precisely what it is, “bureaucratic jargon”, jargon used throughout govt and in many private organizations?

apparently it means the interests of all parties who have a monied-income interest in the outcome of the obama admin’s health care legislation will be carefully considered by the whitehouse.

the public does not have such an interest and so was not invited and so gains little benefit from this proposed legislation.

well, there IS “cost cutting” –

trickle-down health care reform!!

As Hamlet might have said,

“To cope, or not to cope, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.”

As Che Guevarra said, “In revolution, one wins or one dies.”

People do the best they can to survive. Sometimes it’s enough and sometimes it isn’t. There’s a tipping point, however, when the struggles of the many mirror your own and your focus turns outward toward the group ultimately producing revolution.

We are much closer to that point than most people realize.

After the campaign, hearing such a message from Axelrod was a real letdown.

Thanks for adding some dots that might be connected.

team blowjob!

I’m so shocked by what I read here from friends in the U.S. who should be getting the best of care for minimal tax contributions, which is more or less how we do it. How can it be that a vital young woman (EW) has to worry about “pre-existing conditions” being covered? Everyone over twenty-five has some pre-existing condition or other, for heaven’s sake. You should see some of my pre-existing conditions.

I’m really cheering for you guys, and I understand very well your anger at the jerks who are selling you out. Even with a moderately decent public system, being medicalized is a damned hard thing to cope with. It has been hard for me, but when I read your stories, I feel like such a wimp.

My dad used to tell me to smile because things could get worse. So, I smiled and sure enough, they got worse.

I went bankrupt paying for uninsured long term nursing home care for my mother (8 years following a debilitating stroke) and my father (7 years Alzheimer’s). She had the stroke right after she put him in the nursing home. The total cost was a little over $1 million. Managed to pay that, but no longer could afford to pay for health insurance for my wife and me. Two years later she fell 30 feet and broke her back and both of her legs.

Fortunately, she recovered, but we had to file for bankruptcy after we lost everything we had and now both of us are unemployed and uninsured.

And believe me when I say that both of us realize that there are many many people who are far worse off than we are. We have our health, a car that runs, and a roof over our heads. My unemployment and early social security retirement covers the basics, but Medicare for me is still three years away, so the future is uncertain.

There is absolutely no good reason for any of this and I’ll never understand how someone can live with himself or herself self righteously denying affordable health care to people like us.

I often fantasize about the wonderful time I would have, if I could have just three minutes alone in a locked room with someone like a CEO of one of the health insurance companies, Dick Armey, Senator Baucus, or Senator Grassley. In my fantasy, I would joyously kill them with my bare hands and never ever regret it.

When I wake up, though, I always remember not to smile.