Now there is a real voice of reason from the Republicans.
Even though Palin walked back her statements from last Friday it was too late to remove the gasoline of her statements from the pile of kindling that represents the ignorance of supporters.
Alaskans, and other Americans, should listen to the calm intelligent words coming from Murkowski and other level headed Republicans and turn away from the fear mongering and outright lies being spewed by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Sarah Palin.
I mean just look at these people who stood outside of the Egan Center on Monday in Anchorage.
Alaska Teabagger Rally in Anchorage 8/10/09 from Dennis Zaki on Vimeo.
THAT is the direct result of the misinformation that has been purposefully disseminated by the Republican party and those who want to protect the profits of insurance companies at the expense of the sick and elderly in this country.As attorney Joseph Welch said to the hate mongering Senator Joe McCarthy "At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
Mr. "Shut up when I'm talkin'! You got a problem?" at 1:03 managed to get a couple of digs in about building codes. Since when (I know, I know...) have building codes been part of health care reform? And of course these types so eager to "describe" their signs haven't read the bill before Congress. They gave noted thinkers and intellectuals like Beck and Limbaugh to do that for them. Ai yi yi.
ReplyDeleteWOW. Just WOW!! Those peeps are dead serious in their convictions. Dennis was probably smart to NOT ask which website they chose to get *edumacated* on the subject.
ReplyDeleteShe really seems to have stepped in it with her "death panel" nonsense. It's so blatantly a lie that she's has given the Democrats something to rally around and she's embarrassed the Republicans (hard to do). On top of her I'm Not a Quitter quitting speech, she has effectively labeled herself a crazy joke to everyone but her rapid base. And you can pat yourself on the back for what you've done to help expose her. Midnight
ReplyDeleteI should probably clarify that the crowd outside was a mixture of those who opposed acceptance of the stimulus money that was being voted on by the legislators, those who came to protest the health care bill, and those who just like to hold signs and yell.
ReplyDeleteThat last group actually made the most sense.
Did Meg write the death panel press release?
ReplyDeleteMeg, please ask for a big raise for your excellent work. You are helping to flush Sarah's career down the toilet.
Gryphen, I don't remember if I have shared this with you or not, but the CEO of UnitedHealth, Stephen J. Hemsley, makes approximately $102,000 per hour, PER HOUR.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to the list of CEOs and their monies and the other link has a film that came out this week, I think.
http://sickforprofit.com/ceos
http://sickforprofit.com/
Dennis Zaki should produce a follow up film to the one done by Alexandra Pelosi for HBO.
ReplyDeleteHe could call it, "Right America feeling wronged Part 2" or just to get the point and call it, "Idiots gone wild"
Once again, great job Dennis! I hope this clip is archived and referenced ten years from now.
ReplyDeleteMost of these people do not want to be reasoned with. They have strong emotions and "healthcare" or "building codes" is just their way of venting in a justified, explainable way.
They are very afraid of change, and want "their" country back.
They do not want to hear that the old way of doing business is unsustainable, because that would mean their way of life was "wrong" or "bad" and they are very sure that they are not bad people with bad plans.
You know, it really is refreshing to see the neocons making great strides away from the Obama is a muslim, a baby killer, a Kenyan, angry mob rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteEunice Kennedy Shriver should rest in peace knowing that her work to help the mentally challenged has not been in vain.
People are all upset over Wall Street bonuses, why are they not horrified by health company profits and CEO windfalls??
ReplyDeleteBuilding codes--there's a reason for those--safety! what's wrong with that!
ReplyDeleteAnd I've not found anything about killing seniors or anyone else in the HCR bill. That's all coming from the land of wingnuttia!
Sad, really sad, to see these poor fools so mis-informed!
I was amused to note that the one dyed-hair older woman had a distinctly Southern accent. I wonder if she was on a day tour of Anchorage while in the midst of one of those Alaska cruise tours like my sister is going to take in a couple of weeks...?
ReplyDeleteOr she moved up to Alaska from Alabama (or ?) because she heard from somebody that Alaska is where the Rapture is going to happen?
---------------
Anonymous @ 6:01 AM, I'm disgusted with United Health myself. I'm nearing the point in time when I sign up for Medicare, and I've practically been buried in a blizzard of solicitations from AARP (which I've NEVER joined) to sign up with their recommended/suggested Medicare supplement, United Health.
Trouble is, I know that if I applied, I'd get a letter saying their insurance doesn't serve the area I live in. Too many seniors have retired here to live, and it doesn't PAY them to offer service here!
sad.
ReplyDeleteand that last woman obviously isn't aware that alaska receives more federal money (she would decry welfare!) per capita than any other state.
we have a serious ignrance problem in this country.
Oh, my! These poor seniors actually think they are going to be killed. Really? It is soooo sad that they are being lied to in this manner. It is so sad that Sarah and others are scaring them, terrorizing them into believing this BS.
ReplyDeleteSarah is flat out lying to our grandmas and grandpas saying that the health care bill will allow government people to kill them -- so if they value their life, they must do something to stop this bill. How is this okay?
How is that not domestic terrorism? It's not bombs, but it sure is a threatening grandpa and grandma's lives for their own political gain.
Let's do a Republican twist on it:
Don't pal around with Sarah, then. She threatens grandma and grandpa's life for her own personal satisfaction. She must really hate old people.
At least some Republicans are decent enough to say these are lies. Good for them! I'm proud of them to rise above this stuff and set it straight.
Deb in WI
KaJo:
ReplyDeleteDon't be disgusted with UHC. THEIR AARP supplement is THE best available. My hubs the doctor spent literally DAYS and WEEKS sifting through every single aspect of Medicare when he turned 65. He read EVERY WORD of EVERY plan available and he chose UHC/AARP for his supplement (which we have NEVER used because he refuses to give up his practice - he loves it and his patients and we have full coverage).
It's an important decision in your personal life. I am NOT and never have been a UHC advocate - but they do offer one of the BEST available Medicare supplements and that's what your post was regarding.
This is about YOU and not their obscene salaries. You must make the best choice for YOU. Cutting yourself short because of a view that you don't like how the company operates is not a good thing to do - for YOU. You as a single individual cannot fix everything that is wrong with all of these companies ... but you CAN try and choose what is best for you with bias or prejudice.
Hey, Gryphen, why don't you link to the lead story in today's L.A. Times - 1,500 hundred people, many unemployed, lining up for a free healthcare clinic in Los Angeles. The charity group that sponsored the clinic (where people are treated en masse in one big room) used to ply it charity in Mexico and South America, but now sees the critical need in this county. It is really heart-wrenching and a lot of people were turned away because of over capacity and not enough volunteer doctors.
ReplyDeleteWe used to be the greatest country on earth. And it is still a pretty great place if you are employed and have a cushy health insurance policy paid for by your employer. Anyone else can just bleed.
Check out the L.A. Times article. Great front page photo as well.
The L.A. Times also has good column this morning by Steve Lopez about the free clinic in L.A.
ReplyDeleteHere is the money quote: "Lord knows we can do better that having people wait all day in a parking lot hoping their numbers will be called."
Another good quote from one of the volunteer doctors, who talks about seeing breast cancer survivors who couldn't afford follow-up care:
"In his regular practice, Collins said, 'I see people who've lost their jobs, lost their coverage, or do two amd three jobs and can't afford healthcare in America.
'It's a dammable shame.'
And there, Gryphen, is your headline: "It's a damable shame."
Me, I'm an upper middle-class self-employed professional with an individual health insurance policy. I'll be just fine unless I get some deadly disease, in which case I'll max out on the lifetime limits of coverage under my individual policy, and I too will be waiting in a parking lot of a former sports stadium trying to get care just like my fellow Americans.
A damn shame.
Retiring to Alaska does sound good when you can double your SS with the oil tax checks you get! Must be why a lot of seniors retire there.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't seen Bill Moyers' interview with Wendell Potter, former PR executive for CIGNA, I STRONGLY recommend it and would suggest passing it everywhere you can for people to see. This speaks more truth about insurance companies than I've ever seen published. It's what many have always known but no one would say.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html
"July 10, 2009
With almost 20 years inside the health insurance industry, Wendell Potter saw for-profit insurers hi jack our health care system and put profits before patients. Now, he speaks with Bill Moyers about how those companies are standing in the way of health care reform"
@KaJo: My father is recently deceased (this last May), and he had Medicare as well as a Blue Cross retirement health care policy from his former employer. Additionally he had United Health which he never used a DIME of ... not that it would be easy to get a dime out of them.
ReplyDeleteI am also extremely wary of those senior supplement plans. Years ago my father took out a policy for long-term care in case he ended up in an assisted living facility. He paid the premiums with the monthly benefits he received after my mother, his wife, died. After my father was gone, my husband and I figured out my dad had paid $97,000.00 into this long-term care plan using the benefit money he should have kept for himself from my mother's estate. And we couldn't get ONE RED CENT back from that $97,000.00 he paid to this insurance company even though my father never used the long-term plan AT ALL!
BTW, his 10-day stay in the hospital before he died cost more than what we paid for our house when we moved up to the Pacific Northwest a few short years ago.
Something decidedly stinks.
VR
WOW - The Vice-Chair of Anchorage Young Republicans. She looks familiar. Let me think??
ReplyDeleteI got it -- Looks like a relative of the Ex-Miss California Carrie Prejean.
Looks, walks & talks like her -- Stunned!!
Displays in full view how the Old Boys Club have more interest in the 'Young Chicks & Their Pants' than actually doing any work on behalf of the citizens of the State/Country. Think about it -- 'C' Street in Washington. Seems the republican 'brain' is in a different location on the human body!!! LOL
The news about people dying on Palin's watch is starting to spread!
ReplyDeletecrooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/sarah-palin-leaving-behind-mismanaged
I second the question: why can't you copy/paste on here?
Knittingbull
Yes I tried to cut and paste too...GRYPHEN? Is it something you don't want to have us do???? Since you moderate comments (altho don't censor) seems like you could get rid of all the nude stuff....
ReplyDeleteRequesting permission to cut and paste SIR!!!
I have no idea why it is so hard for some people to cut and paste and not for others. It seems that the people using Internet Explorer have the most problems and those using Firefox and Google Chrome substantially less.
ReplyDeleteI am planning on having somebody come over soon and look at my website and tell me if I have something in there causing the fuss.
I am using Safari on a Mac & do not have a problem.
ReplyDelete"At long last, have you left no sense of decency?"
ReplyDeleteI believe the answer to this question is "no." Good lord.
This makes me wonder if the Dems should be having town halls in the first place. The only good that's coming from this is that the crazies are being exposed...but its also allowing them to MULTIPLY.
Those people are the most powerful argument against liberal complacency that I can imagine.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dennis.