2010 Candidates Speak At Dual Collin And Denton County Event

Arguably, the two most Republican Counties in Texas may be more in play for Democratic statewide candidates in 2010 than at any time in the last quarter century. Realizing that opportunity, several Democratic candidates preparing to run for the Governor's office, the U.S. Senate and a U.S. Congressional seat in 2010 attended a dual Collin and Denton County event for Democrats in Collin Co. Friday evening. While each of the candidates had a turn at the podium to make a few remarks, none dived deeply into any "big" political issue. Each speaker commented that they were pleased to see so many Democrats turn out for the event.

Two Democratic candidates running for Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat - when, and if, she ever decides to resign her senate seat to run for governor - Houston Mayor Bill White (picture left) and former State Comptroller John Sharp (picture right) were among the candidates attending the dual county event.

In remarks to the audience Mayor White made the point that, "TX needs leadership that is more interested in seeing the state succeed, rather than scoring partisan points and constantly looking for wedge issues - leadership who is more interested in the educating Texas children than in seceding from the union."

John Sharp made the point that Democrats strive to guarantee equal opportunity for all. That America's historic success has come by providing all citizens, not just the privileged few, with an education that empowers every citizen to secure a better life for their families. Sharp said, "Republicans believe that the best way to help auto companies is to give the auto companies tax breaks; but that Democrats believe the best way to help auto companies is to make sure Americans have the education they need to obtain good jobs with the earning power to afford to buy autos from those companies."

KVRX 91.7FM Austin: Interview with John Sharp from 02/02/09

Sharp also explained why it is important for the candidates competing for Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat to have their campaigns ready to throw into high gear at a moments notice.

Sen. Hutchison has given every indication that she will, at some point, officially announce her candidacy for the governor's office. Unfortunately, the candidates lining up to run for her senate seat are in limbo because no one knows when she will vacate her senate seat, with a letter of resignation to Gov. Perry. In fact, Hutichison could decide to hold her resignation until after the November 2010 general election and resign only if she is elected to be the next governor of Texas.

If Senator Hutchison resigns her U.S. Senate seat before the term office expires for her seat in 2012, the scheduling of a special election to fill the senate seat will be governed by the Texas Election Code. Under different timing scenarios, depending on the exact date Senator Hutchison resigns, a special election to fill the vacant senate seat may be held within 90 days of Sen. Hutchison's resignation. The special election could be held on one of the 2009 or 2010 uniform election dates set by the Texas Election Code, or, alternatively, Governor Perry has the authority to call a special "emergency election" for any date he chooses.

Texas' special election procedure has no party primaries, but lists all candidates, regardless of party, on the same ballot. As of this date two Democrats and four Republicans have announced plans to run for Hutchison's vacated senate seat. If no candidate gets fifty percent of the vote in the special election, the top two finishers, regardless of party, participate a runoff election, generally within 20 to 45 days after the final canvass from the special election. Sharp explained that candidates who do not have their campaigns ready to throw into high gear the moment Hutchison announces her senate resignation has no chance to win the special election. (more details on special elections at the bottom of the this posting)

Former Ambassador to Australia and Japan under Pres. G. W. Bush's Administration, Tom Schieffer, was also among the candidates attending the dual county event. While chatting with folks at the event Ambassador Schieffer was heard to say he plans to officially declare his gubernatorial candidacy, for the March 2, 2010 Democratic primary election ballot, on Wednesday June 24th.

Tom Schieffer, brother of CBS newscaster Bob Schieffer and Fort Worth native, told the audience, "Texas is at a critical point right now and I worry that Texas is falling behind the rest of the world in an increasingly globalized economy and we have to be a part of it."

One of Schieffer's main "global competition" talking points was on the topic of education. Schieffer said, "will a kid in first grade in Texas be able to compete in 20 years with a kid who is now in first grade in South Korea? I'm afraid the answer to that question is no."

Schieffer also commented that some people in Texas say Texas public schools will never perform to higher standards because too many of "those" kids drag down the standard of education. "Yet, I visited an aircraft carrier while serving as ambassador to Japan, and saw "those" kids, aged just 19 or 20, operating the complex and technologically advanced aircraft carriers. If the military can figure out a way to educate 'those' kids, then TX can too," Schieffer said.

Schieffer also told the Denton and Collin county Democrats that, "Democrats have a rare opportunity next year to win the governor's office because the Texas Republican Party has moved too far right and a Perry-Hutchison Republican primary fight for governor will leave the winner bloodied and vulnerable." Schieffer added that a Democratic victory is only possible if the party nominates a centrist, as its gubernatorial candidate, not someone to the left of center. “I believe the Democratic Party can be successful in Texas, if it is a big tent party that can appeal to a broad coalition of people in Texas,” Schieffer said.

Schieffer's comments to the Collin and Denton County Democrats are reflected in the following podcasts from the Houston Chronicle:

Houston Chronicle interview podcast where Schieffer explains his support for President Bush's war in Iraq and his indefinite detention of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Houston Chronicle - Schieffer interview Part One Houston Chronicle - Schieffer interview Part Two

Read more about Tom Schieffer in the Houston Chronicle (June 20, 2009)

The fourth candidate to speak at the event was Neil L. Durrance, an attorney in Denton, former Chairman of the Denton County Democratic Party and now candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 26th Congressional District.

Durrance commented that Democratic candidates in Texas can win elections by attracting the so-call swing voters or independents voters. Durrance asked event attendees to go talk to a friend or neighbor and explain to them the real values held by Democrats. That Democrats believe government exists to promote and protect the common good for all citizens. (See Values)

In summation, the candidates focused, for the most part, on moral boosting comments to the dual county Democrats. Collectively, the candidates contrasted the "everyone for them self" value of Conservative Republicans verses the Democratic Party's believe that government should protect and promote the "common good" of all its citizens.

In 2000 presidential candidate George W. Bush understood that Republicans were seen as heartless, selfish, and unconcerned with the plight of the less fortunate. To overcome that negative view of Republicans and attract moderate swing voters candidate Bush gave the American people a vision of "compassionate conservatism." That vision of "compassionate governance" helped candidate Bush woo moderate swing voters and win the 2000 election, unfortunately, President Bush never actually governed by the principles of "compassionate conservatism."

The candidates speaking to Collin and Denton county Democrats Friday night suggested that Republican candidates have moved so far right, have so utterly abandoned the concept of "compassionate governance" articulated by candidate Bush in 2000 and so deride any mention of compassionate, empathetic, or common good governance as socialism, that moderate swing voters in Texas are increasingly turning away from Republican candidates. The candidates each said that moderate swing voters in Texas, including in Collin, Denton and Tarrant counties, can be convinced to vote for Democratic candidates.

Related Posts:

• Who's Running For KBH's Senate Seat Now?
• Who's Running For Governor Now?

Texas Election Code and Special Elections:

If Sen. Hutchison does step down early, Republican Governor Rick Perry will appoint a temporary replacement to U.S. Senate until a special election can be scheduled. Unlike most other states, Texas only allows the Governor to make a temporary appointment to fill the Senate seat until he can order a special election on the next uniform election date after the office vacancy occurs, on the provision that uniform election date falls at least 36 days after the governor orders the special election. If Hutchison resigns by late September, so that Gov. Perry can order a special election on or before September 28, 2009, the special election will occur on the next uniform (odd numbered year) election date in 2009, November 3rd. If Hutchison resigns after September 28, 2009, but before April 2, 2010, Gov. Perry would order a special election for the spring 2010 uniform election date, May 8th. (While Texas election law does allow a special election day to occur on primary election day, which is March 2nd in 2010, certain odd year vs. even year resignation and election scheduling specifications in the law eliminates that possibility in 2010.) And, if Sen. Huchinson resigns after April 2, 2010 and before September 26, 2010, the special election will occur along with the general election on November 2, 2010. [Texas Election Code Sections 2.025, 3.003, 41.001, 41.007, 201.023, 201.051, 203.004, 203.011, 203.003, 204.003 and 204.005]

Alternatively, the vacancy could be filled by a special "emergency election" called by Governor Perry. Under Section 41.0011 of the Election Code, the Governor has authority to schedule an "emergency election" on a "non-uniform election date" to fill a vacated U.S. Senate seat. For example, if Sen. Huchinson resigns any time between September 28, 2009 and the last primary filing date, the Governor could call an emergency election for an earlier date, such as the March 2, 2010 primary date, rather than wait for the spring uniform election date of May 8, 2010. To call a special "emergency election" the Governor must declare that an emergency exists such that warrants the earlier voting date. The Governor has considerable discretion in deciding whether to call an emergency election, and in the last four years Gov. Perry has ordered at least two emergency elections: the emergency election of February 25, 2006 to fill a vacancy in House District 106, and the emergency election of January 17,2006 to fill a vacancy in House District 48.

Since Texas started selecting its U.S. Senators by popular election in 1916, there have been just four temporary senate appointments and special elections fill a vacancy. The temporary appointee has never won a subsequent special election - twice because the appointee didn't run. Of the two appointees that did run, Democrat William A. Blakley lost to Republican John Tower in 1961, and Democrat Robert Krueger lost to Republican K. B. Hutchison in 1993.

Hundreds Of Bills Died Because Of The Battle Over Voter ID

KUT Austin podcast - 06/17/09

An interesting podcast with Evan Smith and Paul Burka of the Texas Monthly, Jason Embry of the Austin American Statesman and Ben Philpott of KUT Austin explore who they think ultimately caused the Voter ID mess. Hundreds of bills died in the 2009 81st session of the Texas legislature because of a battle over Voter ID legislation.

Did it start in Senate where Republican Tommy Williams of the Woodlands pushed the "Two-Thirds" procedural maneuver to get the Voter ID bill to the senate floor…or with Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate?

The Texas Senate on Wednesday, 14 January 2009, voted 18-13, along party lines, to exempt voter identification legislation from the longstanding senate “Two-Thirds Rule." This rule requires that 21 senators must support a measure before it can be brought to the senate floor for a vote. Only one Republican, State Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas), broke ranks to join 12 Democrats in the near party-line vote to oppose the change to the two-thirds rule. The other 18 Republicans voted to exempt any bill brought forward in the Texas Senate that would require voters to show a government-issued photo ID at the polls before being allowed to vote.

Texas Republicans, who control the Texas legislative calendar, prioritized Picture ID "voter impersonation legislation" ahead of other critical legislation on both the Texas Senate and House legislative calendars in 2009.

Democrats opposed the legislation because of its potential to disenfranchise poor and elderly voters who do not have an unexpired government issued picture ID added to the fact that there is no indication that "voter impersonation fraud" actually occurs in Texas.

Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott failed to find a single case of voter fraud in his $1.4 million two year investigation. Plus, according to an article in the Dallas Morning News, county election officials across Texas say voter fraud is nearly impossible to carry out in Texas because of the voter validation checks already implemented by every Texas county election office.

Royal Masset, the former political director of the Republican Party of Texas, revealed the political calculation that requiring photo IDs could suppress enough legitimate Democratic voters, who lack photo ID, that it would add 3 percent to the Republican vote. [Houston Chronicle]

Republican legislators felt pressure from a small, but vocal, core of rank and file Republicans voters who demand photo ID legislation on an article of religious faith that Democratic voter fraud is causing Republicans to lose elections.

So much legislative time was spent on Voter Photo ID legislation that other critical state business did not come up for consideration before the legislature adjourned on June 1st.

Amazing!

NPR: The Challenges To Turning Off The Internet In Iran (3:44) - June 17, 2009
NPR: Iranians Still Connect To Social-Networking Sites (3:42) - June 18, 2009

The Iranian people gather by the hundreds of thousands to protest against election fraud. In the Video they are chanting - "Karroubi, Musavi get my vote back!" With just two-thirds of the votes counted last Friday, the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won the election with 66% of the vote.

Ahmadinejad defeated his two opponents, Majlis Mehdi Karroubi and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, in what the people of Iran now believe was a stolen election.

The New York Times: serious fissures have opened in the face of Islamic rule and one that may prove impossible to patch over, particularly given the fierce dispute over the election that has erupted amid the elite veterans of the 1979 revolution.

As we watch people put their lives on the line for democracy, new media and social networking sites, like Twitter, have allowed young Iranians the ability to communicate what's happening inside their country -- even as the authorities try to prevent it. Yesterday's rally was just amazing!
(Picture from HuffingtonPost.com)

From the Guardian: More than 500,000 Iranians are silently marching from from Haft-e-Tir Squre to Vali Asr Square, reports Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran.

HuffingtonPost: Iran Updates with VIDEO / Live-Blogging The Uprising

NYTmes:

• Defiance Grows as Iran's Leader Sets Vote Review (June 16, 2009)
• Social Networks Spread Defiance Online (June 16, 2009)

Remeber That DHS Report Warning Military Veterans Might Join Right-Wing Extremists?

Under President Bush, the US military effectively adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when recruiting white supremacists and neo-Nazis into the Army.

That Department of Homeland Security Report on right-wing extremism, heavily criticized by right-wing conservatives when it was released in April, warned precisely of the type of violence that occurred at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic. That same DHS report also assessed that some military veterans could be susceptible to recruitment by these extremist groups.

Even though the report exclusively identified neo-Nazis, white supremacists, gang members and radicalized abortion opponents as right-wing extremists, a wide swath of conservative Republican voices -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at the DHS Secretary over what they deemed an anti-Republican report. (Do they identify these right-wing extremists as a core part of the Republican Party?) Mainstream conservatives went into a frenzy over the report, demanding that Secretary Janet Napolitano be fired. Even after last week’s shooting by a white supremacist at the Holocaust Museum, conservatives stood by their criticism of the DHS report — despite the fact that the report specifically warned about white supremacist and anti-Semitic extremists.

Many conservatives also lashed out at the report for suggesting that military veterans might be susceptible to extremist recruiters. Republicans said the Homeland Security report "unfairly characterizes military veterans as right-wing extremists." House Republican leader John Boehner described the report as offensive and called on the agency to apologize to veterans.

Here again Republicans are playing partisan politics on an issue that is critical to the security and safety of Americans. According to Newsweek, some local intelligence “fusion centers" ceased their operations monitoring right-wing extremists because of the conservative outcry.

Numerous articles have detailed the Army’s manpower shortages under President Bush's stop loss order that returned soldiers to combat tours of duty three, four and five times in two war zones. Potential recruits were more difficult to enlist when faced with multiple duty tours, duty recalls and the increasing possible death by the fifth successive tour of combat duty.

In an effort to fill recruitment quotas under President Bush, the US military effectively adopted a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy when recruiting white supremacists and neo-Nazis into the Army. Under pressure, the Army ignored its recruiting standards to let in neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members who otherwise should have been turned away, according to a new article in Salon by Matt Kennard:

“Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right.”

“Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing ‘hajjis’ is their duty as white militants.”

“Soldiers’ associations with extremist groups, and their racist actions, contravene a host of military statutes instituted in the past three decades,” he adds. “But during the “war on terror,” U.S. armed forces have turned a blind eye on their own regulations. A 2005 Department of Defense report states, ‘Effectively, the military has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism. If individuals can perform satisfactorily, without making their extremist opinions overt … they are likely to be able to complete their contracts.’"

"Following an investigation of white supremacist groups, a 2008 FBI report declared: "Military experience — ranging from failure at basic training to success in special operations forces — is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement." In white supremacist incidents from 2001 to 2008, the FBI identified 203 veterans. Most of them were associated with the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement, which promote anti-Semitism and the overthrow of the U.S. government, and assorted skinhead groups."

"Because the FBI focused only on reported cases, its numbers don't include the many extremist soldiers who have managed to stay off the radar. But its report does pinpoint why the white supremacist movements seek to recruit veterans — they "may exploit their accesses to restricted areas and intelligence or apply specialized training in weapons, tactics, and organizational skills to benefit the extremist movement."

"In fact, since the movement's inception, its leaders have encouraged members to enlist in the U.S. military as a way to receive state-of-the-art combat training, courtesy of the U.S. taxpayer, in preparation for a domestic race war. The concept of a race war is central to extremist groups, whose adherents imagine an eruption of violence that pits races against each other and the government."

--- Click here for REST OF MATT KENNARD'S STORY IN SALON!... ---

Related Links:

• Right-Wing Populists Disavow Responsibility
• Will Conservative Republicans Continue To Defend Right-Wing Extremists
• Timothy McVeigh - right-wing extremist and military veteran - blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City
  

Collin County Commissioners Court Public Hearing On Free Clinic Funding

The Collin County Commissioner’s Court will vote on guidelines that will over-burden non-profit Healthcare providers with administrative requirements. These new administrative requirements will make County Funding technically available, but not practicably feasible to obtainable. Non-profit clinics of Collin County provide needed Healthcare to those who are struggling in the current economic downturn.

The Healthcare Committee of Collin County, a non-profit grassroots movement advocating health care accessibility for the uninsured, asks concerned citizens to attend the Commissioner’s Court public hearing on Monday June 15th to tell the commissioners to vote no on a burdensome measure to only reimburse clinics services for patients at or below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level.

The public hearing is scheduled for Monday, June 15th at the Wylie City Hall, (2000 State Hwy 78, North) starting at 6PM .

Read background information in the Dallas Morning News here and here, and McKinneyNews.net

Collin County Observer: Special Commissioners Court meeting expected to draw a crowd tonight

Democratic Party - Party!

Democratic Party of Collin County Denton County Democratic Party Fish Fry Social & Fund Raiser Friday, June 19, 2009 7:00-9:30 p.m. The Landing at Myers Park & Event Ctr 7117 County Road 166, McKinney, TX (map) Deadline To Buy Tickets June 15 Individual: $25 Guest Speakers Include: 2010 U.S. Senate Candidate John Sharp 2010 TX Governor Candidate Tom Schieffer 2010 U.S. Congress Candidate Neil Durrance (click to go to the DPCC information page) (click to go to the DCDP information page)

Hurry - The deadline to buy your ticket is tomorrow, Monday June 15th!!
The food promises to be great - catered by the famous Alligator Cafe you can select from a buffet of all you can eat catfish, hush puppies, slaw, and fixins, with ice tea to drink.

2010 candidates will speak on about the importance of Collin and Denton County voters remaining as active for upcoming 2010 elections as you werre for the 2008 presidential election.

Great indoor location, so come - rain or shine - dressed casual and bring your friends!

Approximately 3 miles North of HWY 380 (University Dr) on FM 1461 (N. Lake Forest Dr.) (Collin County Gov. Map) (Google Map)

The Big Hate

A Paul Krugman NYTimes OP-ED details the links between the extremists, the right-wing media and GOP leaders:

Back in April, there was a huge fuss over an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security warning that current conditions resemble those in the early 1990s — a time marked by an upsurge of right-wing extremism that culminated in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Conservatives were outraged. The chairman of the Republican National Committee denounced the report as an attempt to “segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration” and label them as terrorists.

But with the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion fanatic, closely followed by a shooting by a white supremacist at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the analysis looks prescient.

There is, however, one important thing that the D.H.S. report didn’t say: Today, as in the early years of the Clinton administration but to an even greater extent, right-wing extremism is being systematically fed by the conservative media and political establishment.

Now, for the most part, the likes of Fox News and the R.N.C. haven’t directly incited violence, despite Bill O’Reilly’s declarations that “some” called Dr. Tiller “Tiller the Baby Killer,” that he had “blood on his hands,” and that he was a “guy operating a death mill.” But they have gone out of their way to provide a platform for conspiracy theories and apocalyptic rhetoric, just as they did the last time a Democrat held the White House.

And at this point, whatever dividing line there was between mainstream conservatism and the black-helicopter crowd seems to have been virtually erased.

Exhibit A for the mainstreaming of right-wing extremism is Fox News’s new star, Glenn Beck... a commentator who, among other things, warned viewers that the Federal Emergency Management Agency might be building concentration camps as part of the Obama administration’s “totalitarian” agenda.

...let’s not neglect the print news media. The Washington Times saw fit to run an opinion piece declaring that President Obama “not only identifies with Muslims, but actually may still be one himself,” and that in any case he has “aligned himself” with the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

And then there’s Rush Limbaugh [who] peddles conspiracy theories — suggesting, for example, that fears over swine flu were being hyped “to get people to respond to government orders” — that’s a case of the conservative media establishment joining hands with the lunatic fringe.

The R.N.C. says that “the Democratic Party is dedicated to restructuring American society along socialist ideals.”

The worst terrorist attack in our history was perpetrated by a foreign conspiracy. But the second worst, the Oklahoma City bombing, was perpetrated by an all-American lunatic. Politicians and media organizations wind up such people at their, and our, peril.

--- Click here for REST OF PAUL KRUGMAN'S OP-ED!... ---

A Helping Hand For Your Neighbors In Need

	Saturday June 27th is our Country’s National Day of Service devoted to Health Care!
	Here is how you can help: If you are among the “insured” and have the extra resources, please reach out on this day and adopt an uninsured neighbor. For $40 you can provide needed healthcare to individuals and families in need in Collin County. This is a simple but very helpful way to participate in this National Health Care Event and support the clinics doing so much good near you. (Read Health Care Crisis In Collin County) Here are some of our free clinics that would be happy to accept your kind support:
	Plano Children’s Medical Clinic 1407 14th St. Plano, TX 75074 (972) 801-9689 Geriatric Wellness Center of Collin Co. 401 W. 16th St. Suite 600 Plano, TX 75075 (972) 941-7335 Children & Community Health Center 120 So. Central Expwy Suite 102 McKinney, TX 75070 (972) 547-0606 Adult Clinic 2520 Ave. K Suite 100 Plano, TX 75074, (972) 423-4941 Frisco Cares Children’s Clinic 6811 Oak St. Frisco, TX 75035 (469) 556-8452 Assistance Center of Collin Co. 900 E. 18th St. Plano, TX 75074 (972) 422-1850 Community Dental Care of Plano 900 E. Park Blvd., Suite 180 Plano, TX 75074 (972) 633-3383
	THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!!!!
	A message from the local chapter of Organizing For America

Right-Wing Populists Disavow Responsibility

CrooksAndLiars.com:

Glenn Beck and his fellow wingnuts -- the ones who have been whipping up hysteria among their right-wing populist followers since Obama's election and before -- essentially announced they have no intention of reflecting on their roles in today's horrifying shooting at the Holocaust Museum in D.C.

They did this by doing what they always do whenever these situations arise: First call it all an "isolated incident" committed by a "lone nutcase" who just happens to be acting out beliefs emanating from their own quadrant. Then, when that fails, blame it on the Left.

Beck offered the following rationale on his Fox News show tonight:

Beck: What they're missing is: The pot in America is boiling. And this is just yet another warning to all Americans of things to come.

Actually, Beck has this exactly right. But frankly, it's boiling because of people like Glenn Beck, ranting hysterically every night about impending apocalypses of various forms -- looming "liberal fascism," the "economic meltdown," the "New World Order," violence spilling over the Mexican border, even FEMA concentration camps.

--- Click here for REST OF THIS CROOKSANDLIARS STORY!... ---

Will Conservative Republicans Continue To Defend Right-Wing Extremists?

FOX reporter admits viewers' extremism scares him (June 10th) FOX Reporter: Maybe we were wrong to attack DHS extremism report The [Republican] right went bonkers over the DHS report. From CNN two months ago

That Department of Homeland Security Report on right-wing extremism, heavily criticized by right-wing conservatives when it was released in April, warned precisely of the type of violence that occurred at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. on Wednesday and Dr. Tiller's abortion clinic just last week.

A wide swath of conservative Republican voices -- from Rush Limbaugh to RNC Chairman Michael Steele -- lashed out at the DHS Secretary over what they deemed an anti-Republican report. [They apparently identify with the right-wing extremists described in the report.]

When the DHS report was initially released, House Minority Leader John Boehner defended the right-wing extremists described in the report. Do Collin County's U.S. House representatives Sam Johnson and Ralph Hall support Boehner's defense of right-wing extremists? When the DHS report was initially released, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell defended the right-wing extremists described in the report. Do Texas' Senators John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison support McConnell's defense of right-wing extremists? Texas Gov. Rick Perry courted right-wing extremists when he "suggested" that Texas might need to succeed from the union over President Obama's oppressive socialist leadership. Will Gov. Perry condemn right-wing extremists who promote hate talk and violence? (Media Matters quotes a number of top Republicans defending the right-wing extremists describe in the DHS report.)

If our elected Republican representatives will not repudiate and condemn not only the many acts of violence committed by right-wing extremists in the last several months, but also the extremist rhetoric from mainstream Republican media figures and congressional leaders that prompted those violent acts, how can the good every day Republicans living in Collin Co. continue to re-elect these people to office?

HuffingtonPost: When the 10-page DHS memorandum was made public its warnings [,about events such as the Holocaust Museum shootings and the the shooting of Dr. Tiller last week,] were widely criticized by main-stream conservatives.

It's been several months now since that DHS report was issues and, sadly, the study is proving increasingly prescient. In addition to the Von Brunn shootings, there has been the killing of abortion provider George Tiller, another type of ideologically-driven killing that the DHS report warned against.

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely," the DHS report read. "It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."

So Now They Want a Revolution? from BurntOrangeReport.com a couple of months ago:

Lately we have been hearing a lot of squawking and screeching emanating from the conservative right wing about a revolution.

This is rather perplexing given that we recently had an election in which the elected President won rather substantially. . .

. . .And despite all of the problems we face in these dire and stressful times the President's approval ratings remain in the 60's. Today it is at 67%. Today an ABC/Washington Post poll also reveals 65% trust President Obama to handle relations with Muslim nations. So, what is the problem? Why is a revolution necessary now?

In an editorial in the The New York Times (4/03/09) Charles Blow expressed his concern for conservative hate talk. Blow asserts conservative chatter and hate talk is far from harmless.

"Lately I've been consuming as much conservative media as possible (interspersed with shots of Pepto-Bismol) to get a better sense of the mind and mood of the right.

My read: They're apocalyptic. They feel isolated, angry, betrayed and besieged. And some of their "leaders" seem to be trying to mold them into militias." [reminiscent of the 1930's era German-American Bundist Movement fostered by Hitler's Nazi Germany]

Mr. Blow said he was initially amused by the twisted logic, garbled and veiled hate speech. After spending substantial time listening to conservative media, however, Mr. Blow changed his tune. He realized all is not harmless talk.

But, it's not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They're talking about a revolution.

Mr. Blow's article certainly gave me pause because I too had the tendency to dismiss the ravings of the right wing as just that. The events of this past week should certainly make us rethink some of our impressions of right wing hate talk.
Read the rest of the story at burntorangereport.com.

And then read Fearmongering at the DailyKos

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The Battle For Healthcare Reform

LATIMES: The public and employers are staggering under the cost of the present system -- rising at more than twice the rate of inflation and expected to surpass $2.2 trillion this year.

After months of spadework and consultation with the interested parties, lawmakers begin the most sweeping healthcare debate in a generation with broad agreement on the need to control costs, improve the care Americans receive and expand coverage to nearly everyone.

But shadowing the debate, which is expected to dominate Washington's summer and extend into the fall, are the same vexing controversies that have derailed almost all previous efforts to reshape the U.S. healthcare system.

In one of their most controversial proposals, Obama and many, but not all, congressional Democrats want to create an optional government insurance plan that individuals could choose instead of a private plan. Supporters argue that such a plan would curb costs and improve quality by creating competition for the handful of private insurance companies now dominating the market. Few proposals ignite hotter partisan passions. --- Click here for REST OF THIS LATIMES STORY!... ---

LATIMES: Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced his version of the nations health care reform legislation on Tuesday [, which would enact Pres. Obama's optional government insurance plan.]

Senator Kennedy's bill to revamp the way Americans are insured would require all Americans to get medical insurance, establish complex new insurance exchanges to facilitate near-universal coverage, and dramatically step up government oversight of the insurance industry. Kennedy's bill was received with furious criticism [from Republicans and even some so-called moderate (blue dog) Democrats.] --- Click here for REST OF THIS LATIMES STORY!... ---

The private insurance industry, supported by congressional Republicans, are complaining that competition from a low cost "single payer" public health care program would cut into their near-monopolistic lock on the health care marketplace and significantly impact industry profits. The insurance industry is lobbying congress to scuttle the so called "single payer" optional government insurance approach to health care reform, and instead pass federal mandate legislation that requires people to purchase private health insurance, enforced with fines. Read more at Insurance Industry Pushing For "Private, For Profit" Health Care Reform.

Talk Back On The Republican's Health Care "Rationing" Talking Point

Mastermind of conservative Republican talking points Frank Luntz authored a 26-page report in April advising Republicans on how best to frame the debate over health care reform TO KILL IT!

The memo is titled “The Language of Health Care 2009″ and it lays out the argument for “stopping the Washington takeover” of health care.” But if fully implemented it may very well stop health care reform:

This document is based on polling results and Instant Response dial sessions conducted in April 2009. It captures not just what Americans want in health care reform, but exactly what they need to hear to accept or reject a national health care plan. The report zeroes in on what worries Americans, like a national health care plan might engender health care rationing, and provides the words Republicans need to say to take advantage of those worries. Luntz say that from today forward, those words should be used by everyone. (Memo PDF HERE)

Listening to cable news tonight every Republican talking about Pres. Obama's universal health care insurance option used the word rationing. It you take the time to read Luntz's memo you will see rationing is a key fear word Republicans plan to use to turn public opinion against Obama's universal health care insurance option. The rationing argument has no basis in fact or reality, it is just a talking point plucked out of the air because a poll said Americans don't like the idea of health care rationing. (Ask a person what they fear most and then use that fear to scare them. )

Be ready to talk back if hear someone say Obama's plan will cause care rationing.

Gov. Perry To Order Special Session Of Legislature

KXAN Austin News in Austin is tweeting that Governor Perry will call a special session to deal with unfinished legislation! Perry is not saying what's on the agenda for special session... nor when it will begin.

My speculation on the unfinished legislation is that the Texas Department of Insurance, the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, the Department of Transportation, the Racing Commission and the Texas State Affordable Housing Corp. were due for "sunset review," during the 2009 legislative session - but the legislature didn't get around to it before adjourning on June 1st.

"Sunset review" is the process by which state agencies are reviewed every 12 years. If lawmakers do not pass bills to renew charters to keep agencies operating over the next 12 year period, they are automatically ordered to close down over the next year.

The Republican controlled legislature did not manage to get to the business of "state agency sunset review," and so, did not renew the charter on these 5 agencies. These agencies are now automatically ordered to close down by Sept. 1, 2010, under the Texas "sunset law."

Some reaction from lawmakers:

State Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth: If the special session is to address critical issues such as agency sunset measures, “The sooner the better," he said. "But if this is for his right-wing ideological agenda, then he’s using state money for his campaign purposes and that’s wrong.”

Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth: “The Sunset Commission staff is recommending that we need to do it soon,” he said. “Let’s do it now, rather than later on down the road. Having it after the primary would look like it’s being timed and held for political reasons. I don’t think that would be a good idea.” He said he hoped the session would be devoted just to the issues involving those state agencies now in limbo. “It would be absolutely horrible, bad timing, if we were to go back and do something as divisive as the voter suppression bill. Bringing that bill up would be the worst move he could make.”

Read more. . .

Republicans Say No To Pres. Obama's Universal Health Care Coverage Plan

A debate over creating a single-payer public option insurance plan as part of sweeping health care reform intensified Monday. All but one of the 10 Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee on Monday signed a letter to Obama expressing their opposition to the public option, which Obama strongly supports. In their letter to Obama, the Finance Committee Republicans said a public option would result in “a federal government takeover of our healthcare system, taking decisions out of the hands of doctors and patients and placing them in the hands of a Washington bureaucracy.” [The Hill]

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), has said that getting lasting reform signed into law will require broad bipartisan support, therefore, single-payer public option insurance plan is off the table because Republicans will not support it. Baucus has been a staunch opponent of any health care reform plan in which the government would provide universal coverage.

“The key to a bipartisan bill is to not have a government plan in the bill — no matter what it’s called,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told reporters this month. “When I say no government plan I mean no government plan. Not something described some other way, not something that gets us to the same place by indirection — no government plan.”

Baucus has kept single-payer advocates out of Senate hearings and negotiations and has yet to endorse a compromise proposal by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would give Americans the option of buying into a publicly run plan that would compete with private insurers. Baucus furthered his efforts for bipartisanship with Republicans by promoting Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign health care reform proposals to tax employee health care benefits as income.

Sen. Max Baucus got some not-so friendly feedback from his Montana constituents over his efforts to keep a single-payer public option insurance plan off the table. Five separate accounts of public meetings back home in Montana, published in four different local papers, show Montana voters were downright hostile to Baucus' efforts to block a universal health care option. "Majority wants single-payer health care," headlined an account in the Helena Independent Record. At several of the public meetings, Montanans' ire was directed at Baucus chief of staff Jon Selib, who defended Baucus' stance as an attempt for bipartisan support for health care reform. [huffingtonpost.com]

Collin County's U.S. Congressional Representatives Will Oppose Pres. Obama's Health Care Reforms

Collin County's two U.S. Congressmen, both conservative Republicans, will oppose President Obama's Health Care Reform and Public Option Health Care legislation. (However, they will likely support the "individual mandate health care" program, for which, the health insurance industry is lobbying.)

Sam Johnson (TX 3rd Congressional District) and Ralph Hall (TX 4th Congressional District) both score an anti-public health voting record rating from the American Public Health Association, the oldest and largest organization of public health professionals in the world. The ratings are based on votes from the organization's 50,000 members from over 50 health care occupations.

• Click for Sam Johnson's full record on health care issues
• Click for Ralph Hall's full record on health care issues

No Support For Pres. Obama From Either Texas' Republican Senators

Both of Texas' conservative Republican U.S. Senators, John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, will oppose President Obama's Health Care Reform and Public Option Health Care legislation. (However, they will likely support the "individual mandate health care" program, for which, the health insurance industry is lobbying.)

The four conservative Republicans now running to fill Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat - when, and if, she ever decides to resign to run for governor - would also, most likely, oppose Pres. Obama's Health Care Reform and Public Option Health Care.

Candidates now in the starting gate pictured below: (Left to right) Houston Mayor Bill White (D), former State Comptroller John Sharp (D), Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams (R), State Sen. Florence Shapiro (R), former Secretary of State Roger Williams (R) and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones (R)

Pictures from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram

AARP Urges Burgess To Act On Health Care

WhosPlayin.com Blog
By Kathy Aljoe, Lewisville resident and AARP volunteer

As the national conversation on health care reform reaches a tipping point, AARP volunteers in Lewisville are asking to have a conversation with Congressman Michael Burgess (R- 26th District of Texas) and his staff about the need for Congress to pass legislation to reform our health care system this year.

The national debate on health care reform has reached the moment of truth. Unemployment continues to rise, and skyrocketing medical costs are squeezing individuals, families, businesses, government and the nation as a whole. The nation’s broken health care system has finally reached the top of the nation’s agenda, and it’s time to tackle the problem.

In a recent TeleTown-hall meeting, Representative Burgess said that he prefers a consumer directed health plan, where employees contribute a small amount from each paycheck to be used when medical expenses arise. Consumers currently have this option; it’s called a medical savings account. The real problem is that many Americans can’t afford to set aside additional money for health care when they are already grappling with sky high premiums and deductibles.


What the TeleTown-hall failed to address is the needs of the more than 7 million Americans ages 50 to 64 who are uninsured today. Twenty percent of Texans ages 50 to 64 lack health insurance, some of whom work for employers that don’t offer insurance, others lost coverage when they lost their jobs, still others can’t afford the high premiums based on their age and medical history.

Drug costs are soaring, and 28 percent of Texans enrolled in the Part D drug benefit find themselves in the now infamous “doughnut hole,” potentially facing thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.

Statistics alone fail to adequately capture the human toll suffered by those who can’t afford health care. At AARP, we hear their stories all the time: Cancer patients who cannot afford health insurance; people suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes and heart disease who cannot fill their costly prescriptions; workers who quit their jobs to care for ailing spouses because they cannot afford to pay for in-home care; people who burn through their life savings, lose their homes and end up in bankruptcy because someone got sick.

The mounting problems in health care breed cynicism, stress and even despair. As a patient who is fast running out of money put it: “So much for the American dream.”

AARP is fighting to make the system work for everyone. We believe that Congress should take the following six steps to guarantee that all Americans have the choice of quality health care plans they can afford:

• Guarantee affordable coverage for Americans ages 50-64;
• Close the Medicare Part D coverage gap or “doughnut hole”;
• Create access to generic versions of costly biologic drugs used to treat cancer and other serious illnesses;
• Prevent costly hospital readmissions by creating a Medicare follow up care benefit to help people transition home after a hospital stay;
• Increase federal funding and eligibility for home and community based services through Medicaid so older Americans can remain in their homes as they age and avoid more costly institutional care; and
• Improve programs that help low income Americans in Medicare afford the health care and prescription drugs they need.

Our health care system costs too much, wastes too much, makes too many mistakes and gives us back too little value for our money. This sad diagnosis is shared by many on both sides of the political aisle.

Yet while members of Congress disagree on details of health reform, the goal of affordable, accessible health care for all commands widespread support. So does the recognition that we all share responsibility to be part of the solution.

With costs rising and coverage shrinking, the need for fair, bipartisan measures to repair the system has never been so urgent. We believe that the costs of doing nothing are simply too high.

We have let our Congressman know that we want him to support these six measures to guarantee affordable, quality health care for all. Congress will be able to vote on health care reform this summer. There is no better time to fix our ailing health care system than now.

(Like Congressman Burgess Collin County's two congressmen, both Republicans,oppose President Obama's push for Health Care Reform and a Public Option Health Care Option. )

Blogging Can Help Candidates Win Elections

South Texas Chisme : Congratulations to Melissa Zamora of Bloggin' All Things Brownsville!

Newcomer Melissa Zamora unseated longtime Brownsville Commissioner Carlos A. Cisneros, capturing the District 3 slot on the City Commission by a strong margin.

As in the May 9 regular city election, Zamora again came in ahead in Saturday's run-off election with 57.67 percent of the vote compared to Cisneros' 42.33 percent.

Public Option "Single-Payer" Health Care

Signup for 'Collin County Health Care Day of Service' - June 27th

Keeping Them Honest
By PAUL KRUGMAN - NYTimes Op-Ed Columnist
June 5, 2009

“I appreciate your efforts, and look forward to working with you so that the Congress can complete health care reform by October.” So declared President Obama in a letter this week to Senators Max Baucus and Edward Kennedy. The big health care push is officially on.

But the devil is in the details. Health reform will fail unless we get serious cost control — and we won’t get that kind of control unless we fundamentally change the way the insurance industry, in particular, behaves. So let me offer Congress two pieces of advice:

1) Don’t trust the insurance industry.
2) Don’t trust the insurance industry.

The Democratic strategy for health reform is based on a political judgment: the belief that the public will be more willing to accept reform, less easily Harry-and-Louised, if those who already have health coverage from private insurers are allowed to keep it.

But how can we have fundamental reform of what Mr. Obama calls a “broken system” if the current players stay in place? --- Click here for REST OF OP-ED COLUMN!... ---

Single-Payer Health Care
By Nicole Gaudiano - Free Press Washington Writer • June 4, 2009
Vermont's Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) has sponsored the Senate’s only single-payer health-care bill, a plan that would rely on a single source of funding, rather than multiple private insurers, for health care. During a Wednesday news conference, he called it “incomprehensible” that such a proposal isn’t part of the Senate’s discussion on the issue.

Sanders favors a state-administered system funded by the federal government. He said he would continue to seek a hearing in the Senate on the single-payer approach.

Sanders said there’s no question why the current health care system is “so dysfunctional.”

“We have a system dominated by private health insurance companies whose goal is not to provide health care to people,” he said. “In fact, it is to deny health care to people because every dollar they deny ... is a dollar more in profits that they make.”

Sanders arranged a meeting among several single-payer advocates and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., a leader on the issue. But the physicians and nurses said they left without assurances that their plan would be considered.

“We will therefore need to continue to press him,” said David Himmelstein, co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program. “It’s what our patients desperately need.”

Himmelstein said the group did secure a promise from Baucus to “use the power of his office” to ensure that charges are dropped against 13 health care providers who were arrested for disrupting Finance Committee hearings last month when they protested the lack of single-payer proponents as witnesses.

“There’s a conspiracy of silence within the Congress in terms of single-payer,” said Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association. “It’s been kept off of the agenda.”

A spokesman for Baucus did not return a call for comment.

President Barack Obama is seeking a Senate vote on health-care reform by August. Proposals are being drafted in the Senate Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pension committees, of which Sanders is a member.

“It’s going to be a grassroots effort,” Sanders said. “When millions and millions of people say every American is entitled to health care as a right, and it must be comprehensive and it must be cost effective ... we’re going to have a single-payer system.”

Signup for 'Collin County Health Care day of Service' - June 27th

President Barack Obama Pleads For Action On Health Care

Americans spend more on health care every year than we do educating our children, building roads, even feeding ourselves—an estimated $2.6 trillion in 2009, or around $8,300 per person. According to the National Coalition on Healthcare, nearly 266,000 companies dropped their employees' health care coverage from 2000 to 2005 and for those employees that have not yet lost coverage the average employee health insurance premium is rising nearly eight times faster than income.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that, if Congress does nothing about healthcare, our annual health costs will soar to about $13,000 per person in 2017, while the number of uninsured will climb from 48 million this year to over 54 million by 2019. Already more than half of Americans say they have cut back on health care in the past year due to cost concerns. Roughly one in four of us say we put off care we needed, and one in five of us didn't fill a prescription.

Medical problems caused 62% of all personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. in 2007, according to a study by Harvard researchers. And in a finding that surprised even the researchers, 78% of those filers had medical insurance at the start of their illness, including 60.3% who had private coverage, not Medicare or Medicaid.

Medically related bankruptcies have been rising steadily for decades. In 1981, only 8% of families filing for bankruptcy cited a serious medical problem as the reason, while a 2001 study of bankruptcies in five states by the same researchers found that illness or medical bills contributed to 50% of all filings.

This newest, nationwide study, conducted before the start of the current recession by Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler of Harvard Medical School, Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School, and Deborah Thorne, a sociology professor at Ohio University, found that the filers were for the most part solidly middle class before medical disaster hit. Two-thirds owned their home and three-fifths had gone to college.

Profits at 10 of the country’s largest publicly traded health insurance companies rose 428 percent from 2000 to 2007, while consumers paid more for less coverage. One of the major reasons, according to a new study, is the growing lack of competition in the private health insurance industry that has led to near monopoly conditions in many markets.

The report says such conditions warrant a Justice Department investigation and, says Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), provide compelling evidence of the need for a public health insurance plan option as part of the health care reform initiative President Obama and Congress are developing.

Schumer says the report from Health Care for America Now! (HCAN)

the starkest evidence yet that the private health care insurance market is in bad need of some healthy competition. A public health insurance option is critical to ensure the greatest amount of choice possible for consumers.

According to the recently released HCAN report, “Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market“:

In the past 13 years, more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets but haven’t delivered on promises of increased efficiency. According to the American Medical Association, 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated, and insurers are thriving in the anti-competitive marketplace, raking in enormous profits and paying out huge CEO salaries.

These mergers and consolidations have created a marketplace where a small number of larger companies use their power to raise premiums—an average of 87 percent over the past six years—restrict and reduce benefit packages and control and cut provider payments.

These facts are at the heart of the current debate over health care reform.

President Barack Obama pleaded for action on his health care agenda, during his weekly radio and Internet address to focus on his domestic priority even while traveling overseas.

"If we do nothing, everyone's health care will be put in jeopardy," Obama said. "Fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve, it's a necessity we cannot postpone any longer," said the president.

Read - How Pharma and the Insurances companies plan to kill the 'public option' in health care reform.

Why Healthcare Needs Reform!

Updated...

The President gives remarks after hosting a healthcare reform meeting. $2 trillion in national savings was committed by the stakeholders in attendance on May 11th.

CrooksAndLiars.com: Insurance Companies Suddenly Change Their Version of What They Told Obama - Remember Obama's announcement last Monday that insurance companies were going to cut the rate of health care spending?

It was all over the news: “These groups are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment,” Mr. Obama said. “Over the next 10 years, from 2010 to 2019, they are pledging to cut the rate of growth of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year — an amount that’s equal to over $2 trillion.”

Now they're insisting they never said such a thing! more...

Pro-Family Healthcare Reform

By Glenn Melancon 2008 Democratic candidate U.S. House of Representatives, TX 4th Congressional District

Facing falling poll numbers, the Republican political elites are downplaying their anti-gay and anti-abortion rhetoric. Political consultants had told them to use these “wedge issues” to divide America and win elections. More and more voters, however, want to know what their leaders stand for, not what they oppose. For the first time in thirty years we have an opportunity for real pro-family policies.

When Jackie and I took our traditional wedding vows nearly twenty years ago, they included the phrase “for richer, for poorer; in sickness, and in health.” Our ancestors knew the real threats to marriages. Healthcare and financial crises can easily wreck a relationship.

Politicians in Washington and Austin haven’t learned this lesson. The number of uninsured Americans grows every year. As many as 50 million adults and children lack coverage. The number would be even higher if we didn’t have Medicare—a government-run, single-payer health insurance provider.

Families without insurance are one accident away from bankruptcy. A trip to the emergency room can cost thousands of dollars. Once in financial ruin, families tend to argue more and break apart. Reforming health care insurance is essential to improving our financial well-being and making it easier for families to stay together.

Insurance reform should rest on a simple principle—every American has a right to quality, affordable health care from a doctor of their choice. Big insurance corporations have made affordable health care and patient choice relics of the past. It doesn’t have to be that way. Reforming the health insurance market can restore these basic features of quality American health care.

First, we need “Any Willing Provider Legislation.” Patients, not insurance companies, should choose the right doctor. Once an insurance company or HMO announces the terms of a contract, any qualified healthcare provider who agrees to the terms must be allowed to compete for patients.

“Any Willing Provider Legislation” would be particularly useful in rural Texas. Too often small town doctors are frozen out by big insurance companies. Patients are forced to travel into cities to see doctors who will accept their plan.

Congress should also guarantee equal access to healthcare insurance. Insurance companies must offer basic healthcare packages to all Americans. American families and small businesses should have the same choices and bargaining power as large corporations.

Third, Congress must require full coverage for pregnancy, diabetes and hypertension [high blood pressure]. Early intervention is the key to strong patient-doctor relationships. Patients need to see their doctor before their condition gets worse and the cost of treatment goes up. When doctors know their patients, they can help prevent expensive and possibly life-threatening complications.

Finally, we need public-private competition. All Americans should be allowed to purchase Medicare or something like it. For-profit insurers have to pay advertisers or shareholders. Medicare doesn’t. Medicare can offer the same healthcare coverage at lower costs to the consumer. The market will then determine which is a more cost effective and efficient way to sell insurance. We need real choices.

Health insurance reform will do more than anything else to relieve the financial stress that is destroying our families. Washington politicians who have been talking about protecting marriage are simply diverting your attention away from corporate greed. You know the classic con game. You’ve seen it countless times in movies. One person causes a distraction while another picks your pocket. Every time you hear gay marriage, look at your wallet—it’s lighter; look at your pension—it’s vanishing; look at your medical bills—they’re going through the roof. As Americans we deserve better. We deserve real pro-family health care.