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What conclusion can one come to after Obama won Massachusetts by 26% and now Brown wins. Their values and policies are diametrically opposed. So then what do independents want? What motivates their vote? What does it say when voting changes so quickly and is no longer about issues and values?

Obama ran on a retreat from hubris of imperialism, healthcare for all, improvements for the middle and working class, and change. Brown is opposed to healthcare for all, and for that matter opposed to all of the above. Brown is pro all the policies that since Reagan have diminished the middle class in America. And yet these negative attitudes and values seem to always win when money enters the picture. The Bible was right.

Does the reactionary propaganda coming from certain conservative supported media have so strong an effect that people, independents in this case, actually believe America is moving too far left? And what does ‘left’ mean. Given our healthcare is ranked 37th in the world, you’d think Americans would want improvement. We used to consider our nation exceptional, today we are happy with mediocre.

Americans will vote for war, vote to remove the rights of gays, vote to reduce taxes as our infrastructure collapses, so really maybe independents represent a strain of thought that simply reverses the golden rule. A ‘I got mine’ you get yours attitude. The irony of all this is the last presidency and the republican ascendancy failed America. The 2008 election demonstrated that so well and yet….

So what is it independents want? We know there are some who will always vote republican and some democratic, but now we have a group that clearly has no idea what it wants. Mention the old fashioned American value of making all of America great but it will cost you - whether true or not - and you’ll lose. And so it goes….

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Winston Churchill

The world cannot argue for itself
The seas and lakes cannot say stop
The air cannot use a ventilator
A dying tree cannot see a doctor
Buffaloes wolves and bears disappear

“We challenged two leading British scientists to try to prove the science of global warming to a group of people whose views very loosely reflect national opinions.

And, as if that wasn’t tough enough we asked them to do it in my kitchen.

Can they do it? Well, you can see for yourself.”

400,000 year view global warming.

GW Information.

I am watching Hugh Hewitt on Cspan’s In-Depth, I am trying to understand what values Hewitt brings to the party. Hewitt is one of the gang of maybe ten key spokesmen for conservatism and the republican party. It is impossible in his case and others to separate them from simple party power politics. He pretends to be a conservative Christian, but the one question concerning Christianity and healthcare received the usual reactionary reply that bad things will happen when government tries to help people. That refrain is repeated too often by conservatives to even be taken seriously.

Hewitt is an ideologue, and that brings me to the Troll label. A troll disrupts intelligent dialogue. Hewitt is a troll plain and simple, everyone is wrong who has a position different than him. And they are completely wrong as if some all-knowing god is in his head steering him. He repeats the same tired stereotypes, and on any issue he mentions, the opposite could just as easily be said as his every word comes from no valid or relevant source. He demonstrates his troll status when he denied that a majority of doctors supported the public option. (See link below) He lies with the straightest face and a weird sort of twisted smile that only the holier than thou possess.

He talks over the caller when they disagree and then asked for specific information when he himself has given none. His reply to a woman who called Rush a racist was a disgrace. He asked that she provide quotes (see link below) and then went on a troll rant. He provides no sources, and hides behind being a lawyer as if that alone supports his debate. It is an odd position, but consistent with his holier than thou attitude.

So why mention him at all. I do so because he engages in the worst sort of repetitive nonsense and it is this constant BS that needs to be countered by thinking people. Life is full of things to do, people are busy, but those like Hewitt stand in the way of simple progress and hope. Republican policy since Reagan has been a complete failure and the statistics prove it. Conservatives politics has only accomplished: debt, war, and increased poverty, but Hewitt like other trolls lends nothing to the debate except a demonization of the other.

Oh, and Hugh we bought an American car as some of us support American workers. You would too if you weren’t simply a troll.

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/8141
http://newsone.com/obama/top-10-racist-limbaugh-quotes/

PS The show can be viewed on the cspan’s web, search indepth. And for an excellent review of reationary politics see, “The Rhetoric of Reaction: Perversity, Futility, Jeopardy” by Albert O. Hirschman.

An Open Letter On Health Care to Conservative Christians in the U.S.

by Brian McLaren

Dear Friends,

“…Now, in the debate about health care, I am similarly disheartened to see the relative silence of thoughtful Christian voices as counterpoint to the predictable rhetoric of the more reactive voices. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been getting mass e-mails and Web links from evangelical and charismatic organizations that present frightening and outlandish claims about what President Obama is planning to do regarding health care. I’ve checked into these claims, and in case after case, they are simply false. They’re based on rumors spread by certain dramatic radio and cable-tv personalities, but they are not based in truth.”

Rest here.

Have a say in the discussion.

Answers only.

Almost every president since Teddy Roosevelt recognized the need for healthcare in America.

Exceptions were Reagan and the Bushs.

After defeating President Clinton’s attempt to improve healthcare for all Americans, the republicans did nothing. They will do nothing again. Nothing.

In a real sense our government already manages healthcare through regulatory structure. Would you go to any quack or unlicensed doctor?

Do we as concerned citizens want corporations, the AMA, the insurance companies, and the hospitals having total control over healthcare choices? Citizens, average working people sure don’t. So yes, we need more competition even if it is government pulling some strings to help all Americans.

What loss of personal liberty is there if everyone can easily obtain healthcare. Not having it is a real loss of freedom and liberty.

If freedom means anything, it means freedom from fear that an illness will destroy your savings and your life. If freedom means anything it means options that you make, not insurers whose motive is profit. To some your death is cheaper than your care.

In the corporate world competition is actually agreement among the plutocracy or economic oligarchy. Choice is limited to all except the wealthy already. To them your death is cheaper than your care.

The Constitution thankfully misses a lot of things and we then can fill in the blanks based on what works best. It is a excellent guide not a rule. The time has come for universal healthcare.

The majority of Americans want UHC, oddly worded survey questions created by interest groups are hardly the place for a decision on something so critical to our small businesses and to all of us.

Yes, government can do things well. Consider the following: The military is excellent, although I have to say they could save money too having been there, done that. And veterans health services are darn good and well run. Medicare helps so many.

Social security is excellent for lots of Americans. For a few cents the postal service gets my packages to me and from me. The internet works well. Weather forecasting is excellent as are the communications satellites. And I don’t know about you but I love those backroads that make travel in America educational and fun. Police help too, our money is insured, food is safe, and planes are safe, the museums, national parks, and all that history. All good stuff.

Many Republicans naysayers are corporate tools. Consider only their billion dollar bailouts to the banks and then consider their opposition to minimum wage. Make sense to you?

And consider these statistics.

“Nearly 46 million Americans, or 18 percent of the population under the age of 65, were without health insurance in 2007, the latest government data available.

“The number of uninsured rose 2.2 million between 2005 and 2006 and has increased by almost 8 million people since 2000.

“The large majority of the uninsured (80 percent) are native or naturalized citizens.

“The increase in the number of uninsured in 2006 was focused among working age adults. The percentage of working adults (18 to 64) who had no health coverage climbed from 19.7 percent in 2005 to 20.2 percent in 2006.1 Nearly 1.3 million full-time workers lost their health insurance in 2006.”

Do corporations always do the right thing or even care for the people? If they did would this debate still be going on after nearly eighty years? Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and others realized we needed it long ago.

Government is all the people expressing themselves. Corporations are elitist boards whose sole goal is profit and your care matters not at all. It used to be that healthcare insurers were non profit. Add profit to any picture and soon a cheap employee on a video conference call will manage your operation. OK, joke there.

Do the executives making millions really care that the working person has no healthcare? To some your death is cheaper than your care. Your are only a number, a liability to some.

There are no saints in this picture, but concern and empathy, and that great America spirit are all missing in the picture of ‘this is hard’, ‘this is too costly,’ ‘we can’t do this!’ Bah humbug, we can do it if we care about America.

UHC is required now for a free and prosperous America.

Reform will stop “rationing” - not increase it
The “euthanasia” distortion on help for families
Vets’ health care is safe and sound
Reform will benefit small business - not burden it
Your medicare is safe, and stronger with reform
You can keep your own insurance
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