Immigration

Raw Story: Although they’re unlikely to win the legislative fight to kill the Affordable Care Act, Republicans have already succeeded in keeping millions of Americans from getting health insurance.

A New York Times analysis of census data found that two-thirds of the poor black people and single mothers and more than half the low-wage workers who don’t have insurance coverage have been left out of the vast expansion of Medicaid because they live in states controlled by Republicans.

So we would definitely recommend that if you're looking for affordable heath care you leave these states that are controlled by Republicans.

It's already the case that the states that are controlled by Republicans are the welfare states.  That is to say that due to inferior economic activity and a general lack of competitiveness they take more from the federal coffers than they contribute.  A steady flow of workers and families out of these states will no doubt exacerbate that situation.  But it can't be helped.

It's Your Heritage Jim!

TPM: As Jim DeMint sees it, Mitt Romney precluded Republicans from truly campaigning against the Affordable Care Act in last year's election.

“Because of Romney and Romneycare, we did not litigate the Obamacare issue,” the Heritage Foundation president told Bloomberg Businessweek's Joshua Green in a story published Thursday.

Presumably because it was Romney's idea...  What the TPM piece doesn't say, and Jim DeMint for sure doesn't say, is that before Romney, the idea actually came out of... wait for it... wait for it... yes, the Heritage Foundation.  Of which Jim DeMint is now president.  And if all that's not enough, DeMint himself is on record supporting the idea. So uh, yeah.. whatever.

Here's the fine point of it: if these people are against something just because the president is for it, even if it was their idea in the first place, they're by definition not motivated by what's best for the country.

Shit For Brains

Think Progress:  The Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday in favor of seceding from California to form a new state called “Jefferson.” Siskiyou also plans to invite nearby counties in California and southern Oregon to join with them in casting off the bonds that have tied them to their fellow Californians and Oregonians for generations.

Residents attending the supervisors meeting were virtually unanimous in supporting the predominantly Republican county’s secession. According to the Redding Record Searchlight, a local paper, one member of the board of supervisors raised a laundry list of complaints related to “regulation, restriction of rights, lack of representation, regionalism and restoration of limited government.” 
... 
Such an outcome is unlikely, however, as the Constitution provides that “no new States shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”

Better they just get the hell out of the country.   If they want limited government they can move to Somalia. In Somalia the government is as limited as they come.  There is no regulation. There are no taxes. Of course there is no sewage treatment either.  So they should go there and wallow in shit for a while. Let's see what that does for their worldview. 

Get The Government Out Of My Food Safety!

Daily Kos:  What could something like this...

Federal authorities are struggling to explain why 600 people in 22 states have fallen ill from a foodborne parasite rarely seen in the United States.

...possibly have to do with the sequester? Simple: It takes money to investigate and prevent the spread of diseases—and the whole point of the sequester was spend less of that money. And the flip side of spending less money is that investigations like this can take longer to solve. According to the deputy director of the CDC division responsible for investigating the outbreak, "budget priorities" are playing a role in the delay. Specifically:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has had to slash $285 million at a time when food and health experts say disease detection needs more funding as these type of food outbreak cases become more complex and widespread.

 If you eat, and you vote Republican, you're an idiot.

Working For The People Of New York

Think Progress:  Health care premiums on the individual market will tumble by at least 50 percent as a result of the Affordable Care Act, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. The state joins Oregon, Montana, California, and Louisiana in reporting lower than expected rates in the law’s new health care marketplaces. 

In states that have allowed Obamacare to be implemented premiums are falling.  In these places Obamcare is working on behalf of the citizens of this country, just as it was designed to do.  If you're unlucky enough to live in a red state however, Republicans are fighting implementation of the law and trying to sabotage it as much as possible.  So no affordable healthcare for you.

This is because Republicans legislate on behalf the ridiculously rich people who run big for-profit corporations and not you.  You can die in the gutter or go broke trying not to for all they care, as long as Steven J Helmsly is happy.

NOT - YOUR - TEAM

Think Progress:  Americans for Prosperity — a conservative group funded by the Koch brothers — is spending millions on ads that aim to turn Americans against the Affordable Care Act, just as government officials prepare to enroll the uninsured in the law’s new health care exchanges beginning on October 1. The campaign will eschew attacks on President Obama in favor of a new non-ideological tone that could appeal “young women” who watch the Food Network, “Law & Order,” and “Good Morning America.”

That's pretty strange.  The election is over.  But anyway, if you believe these billionaire industrialists are out for your best interest, and give a half a rip about your healthcare (other than getting rich off it) go ahead and believe what you will hear in this disinformation campaign.  If you believe that, vote Republican.  If you don't, then you understand why it's beyond ridiculous for anybody who's not an billionaire industrialist to vote GOP.

Consumer Protection

Thinkprogress:  Americans who bought individual health plans in 2012 saved $2.1 billion thanks to Obamacare consumer protections that limit how much insurers can profit off of Americans’ premiums, according to a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). The vast majority of those savings stem from individual health plan providers lowering the premiums they charge Americans in an effort to comply with the reform law.

Which is why Republicans hate Obamacare.  The fact of the matter is Republicans represent the transnational CEO class and the stockholders, not the American people.  They will happily stand by while you get raped by your for-profit insurance company.  Better to elect people who will not allow that to happen.

To Promote The General Welfare

Think Progress:  On Tuesday, Golden State small businesses and their employees got some great news: two of the state’s largest insurers will have to give them over $36 million in insurance rebates because of an Obamacare consumer protection.

The health law forces insurers to spend at least 80 percent of the premiums they charge on paying for actual medical services, rather than administrative overhead or profits. That means more money for ordinary consumers — and less for profitable insurance companies. 

The so-called “80/20 rule” put $1.5 billion back into Americans’ pockets in 2011 alone. The average rebate was $151 per family across all insurance markets, and in states where insurers blatantly gouged prices, average rebates topped a whopping $500 per family.

Now, the benefits for Californians with small business health plans are beginning to materialize. Blue Shield of California will be forced to pay back $24.5 million in rebates. Anthem Blue Cross will have to pay back another $12 million. 

And here you have the real reason Republicans hate Obamacare.  Republicans represent the transnational insurance giants that are gouging the people. Obamacare is helping to correct that injustice.

In a more general sense, this makes very clear who's on who's side.  Republicans legislate on behalf of transnational corporations, and Democrats legislate on behalf of the citizens of the United States of America.

Cancer

Americablog: Thousands of Medicare patients are being turned away from cancer clinics, that were previously conducting their chemotherapy, because of the sequester’s cuts to Medicare.

Well, at least the billionaires and transnational corporations can still get all their tax breaks. It's very important to the Republican party that Mitt Romney and Exxon Mobile pay little or no federal income tax.  Important enough to let people die. 

Terrorist

WASHINGTON: -- Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex) says that he is expecting a vote Wednesday on his amendment to defund Obamacare until economic growth is restored, adding that he is willing to risk a government shutdown if Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and President Barack Obama stand in the way.

This is ridiculous. You don't get to hold the government hostage like that.  That's what terrorists do.  The GOP lost the election.  The American people want affordable healthcare. That's the way they voted.  To hold them hostage at the point of the gun that is the for-profit medical industry massive profit margins, and threaten their government, should really disqualify him from public.   

Additionally, we do have economic growth.  We have restored growth with our Democratic public policy.  It had to be restored because his team put us into complete economic and fiscal meltdown with the same public policy he's advocating for right now.  He's being deceptive by implying otherwise. 

Last, he's pushing public policy that history has already proven to be a disaster for the country.

Quite a guy...

Right-Wing Blood Money

A Republican state lawmaker in Georgia on Thursday introduced a bill that would relax gun restrictions on people who have been treated for mental illness.

Here's the bottom line, the Republican party has made a decision to trade the lives of tens of thousands of Americans every year for the ill-gotten gains of their pimps in the NRA and the gun industry.  Everything they do regarding guns make this more than clear.   As a matter of fact, pretty much everything they do, be it with particulate air pollution, heathcare reform, war, whatever, starts with the same motivation and ends with the same results. 

All (Cold, Black) Heart

TPM: A few weeks ago, Tom Teves, of Phoenix, sent his senators a letter. His 24-year-old son, Alex, was killed last year in the Aurora, Colo. movie theater massacre, and he wanted to tell them Alex’s story and encourage them to take action on guns. In response, he received cold, impersonal form letters.

Both Arizona senators are of course Republicans.  Perhaps they were too busy trying to yank public assistance from poor, disabled kids to actually take a minute for constituents who just had their son murdered.  Elected Republicans, their staffers, and their base are soulless ghouls.  Seriously, what a blackhearted bunch. 

The Party Of Death

Huffingtonpost: To avoid a March 1 sequester, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) suggested on Fox News Sunday that Congress save money by cutting the Affordable Care Act instead.

Tens of thousands of Americans die every year due to the lack of affordable health insurance.  The affordable Care Act starts to address that problem.  The sequester is going to hit the military-industrial complex. Republicans don't like that one bit.  So the current mouthpiece of the GOP just went on record suggesting we kill all those Americans in order to protect a military budget that outstrips the rest of the world combined.  His people need to be paid, 45,000 unfortunate Americans a year be damned. 

Deadbeats

Sean Hannity:

The states are now fighting and battling against their own federal government. Same thing with individuals. If you live in a state like New York, New Jersey, California [or] one of these high-tax states [where] 60-plus cents of every dollar goes to taxes, you’ll say, ‘What the hell am I doing this for?’

So you don't have to live in a place like Somalia.  Asshole.  See most Republicans actually like things like paved roads, fire fighters, food safety, kick ass public education, Medicare, etc, etc, they just don't want to pay for it.  It is the NRA and their whores in the Republican party that make sure every nut-job can get their hands on high capacity assault weapons.  That's a fact.  They're all bathing in the blood of these kids. 

Killer Public Policy

Think Progress:  Mitt Romney doubled down on his suggestion that uninsured Americans can find the care they need in emergency rooms, telling The Dispatch that people will always receive the treatment they need, and do not die or suffer because they can not pay for care. 

Well, except for the 45,000 Americans that do die every year because they don't have insurance, that's true.  Of course those people are likely part of the 47% of Americans Willard has promised not to lift a finger for so it's understandable he's more than willing to sacrifice them on the alter of his billionaire country club public policy.

Hazardous To Your Health

Think Progress:  Under GOP leadership, the House has voted 302 times against the environment since 2011, according to the latest report from House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats. More than one hundred of these votes have favored profits in the oil and gas industry. Since June, the House has added 55 votes and counting to this list, amounting to more than one vote for every day it has been in session.

If there were any justice in this world only Republicans would get cancer.   The sad reality however, is elected Repubican's unwavering support of industrial polluters makes more than just Republicans sick.  We wish it were not so. 

Barbaric

Raw Story:  Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Tuesday insisted that President Barak Obama's health care reform law should be overturned and that people with preexisting conditions should be denied coverage if they have never had insurance before.

This is actually from back in March.  But it's no less disgusting today.  It's clearly not a view any president of the United States should have.

Your Life May Depend On It

(CNN) -- Leslie Elder was always a fighter. But in a message to a friend in the waning days of her life, she seemed exhausted.

The note, written at a time of spiritual darkness, suggested defeat after a decades-long struggle for medical coverage.

"I honestly don't know how much more I can endure," Elder wrote earlier this year in a Facebook message to her friend Liz Jacobs. "I am fighting for (Medicaid) and disability. I can't work I sit in bed I cry a lot. I am still fighting for healthcare and still fighting foreclosure.

"I am so upset but perhaps it was not meant to be. I don't know anything anymore," said Elder, who died in July at age 63 without insurance coverage.

 As she typed the note, Elder could scarcely breathe. Her lungs had filled with fluid over several months; her respiratory system was shutting down. After visits to the emergency room and several free clinics, Elder was finally diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

But what makes her family bristle: Elder did not have to die.

If she had had health care, "Absolutely she'd still be here," said Jacquelyn Elder, Leslie's daughter, adding that Hodgkin's lymphoma has a high survival rate. "That is something really hard to deal with."

Two things... 1) In Republican America, she did have to die.  They would rather give more tax cuts to billionaires and transnational corporations than make sure Americans have access to healthcare.  And 2) unless you're a millionaire, this can happen to you.

Vote Democrat.  Your life could very well depend on it.  

Live By The Gun, Die By The Gun

Raw Story:  A 35-year-old Colorado man avoided a jail sentence on Wednesday even after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell more than 30 machine guns with optical sights, five pounds of C4 explosives, grenades and 14 semi-automatic pistols smuggled into the country from Iraq.

You can thank the right-wing and the NRA for outrages like this.  You can thank them for "fast and furious".  You can thank them for delivering munitions of war to every psychopath that comes to desire them.  And you can blame them for the carnage that results.

Dirty

Think Progress:  Staffers for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign say the candidate wants to end the wind production tax credit.

Meanwhile the massive tax credits for big oil roll on.  Republican party public policy is dirty in more ways than one.  Not all GOP public policy will give you cancer, but as you can see, some does.