21 responses so far ↓

• 1 Novena // Aug 6, 2009 at 9:05 am

  “Mob Rule in Modern, Mad America”

  From Gore’s defeat in Florida to Obama on health care, the GOP has stood shamelessly for mobocracy and oligarchy. Sure, Mitch “did his part.” He uses the mob of dunces to enrich his rich pals who pay his freight to dump on average Americans.

• 2 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Aug 6, 2009 at 9:47 am

  It’s a shame that the right is using its racial hatred of President Obama to effectively push for the denial of appropriate health care to millions. They think they’re getting back at him.

  No, they’re actually getting back at the proverbial lady who was denied a life-saving doctor-recommended surgery because a private health insurance bureaucrat made an arbitrary decision against it so as to puff up their company’s profits at the expense of someone’s life. And, they’re actually getting back at the tens of millions without health insurance, not because they don’t want it, but because they cannot afford it.

  These tea baggers may act like they love their country, but they sure do hate the American people and their needs for survival.

• 3 Mark H (Not Hebert) // Aug 6, 2009 at 10:14 am

  Drink the Obama change cool aid gentlemen. You are no different than those idiot birthers.

  I guess since I think the government option is a bad idea that will absolutely lead to a single-payer, I was bought and paid for by Mitch McConnell as well.

  Democrats have never protested, but I guess those were all grass roots protests….Come on and give me a break. Don’t let your political beliefs cloud your common sense.

  Do you think that old veteran guy calling out the congressman on the level of VA care was a plant? I think honest people can disagree and work on a compromise that gets us lower costs and more accessibility without throwing out the current system.

  I have always been respectful to you Steve in my comments and I think using derogatory phases like teabaggers to describe people who disagree with your position a little childish. I know you are passionate but lump all of us who may disagree with the direction that we are taking with the idiots who are questioning his birth would be like me associating you with 9-11 truthers.

• 4 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Aug 6, 2009 at 10:35 am

  Mark H, I don’t believe all questioners of the health care reform bills are tea bagger plants, but nobody can deny at this point that there is an organized astroturfing of town hall events going on.

  I’m not questioning people who ask questions in a civilized manner. I am questioning those who are screeching and trying to disrupt these meetings. They are the tea baggers I refer to.

  Beyond that, however, I think it is wrong to oppose expanding health coverage to everyone, especially when all the problems with the current system are well-documented. We have extreme rationing today. We have private health insurers denying appropriate claims for the sake of profit today. We have a lot of self-employed and unemployed going without insurance today.

  These problems MUST be solved. Not after we get the costs perfectly in line. BUT NOW. The public’s health should far outweigh concerns about the costs. But I will agree that whatever bills come out should take costs into account, and I believe they are.

• 5 Ray Re // Aug 6, 2009 at 12:03 pm

  Can’t we all just get along? Fuck no, let’s RUMBLE. Magruder, I’d prescribe a plain English 50 page reform bill over a 5 pound thousand pager..just sayin. PS Obama’s poor ol widdle me picked upon crap is getting old. It’s the BIGS and he says he’s from Chicago, so he needs to quit acting like he’s still at that fancy Honolulu finishing school.

• 6 JasonL // Aug 6, 2009 at 12:34 pm

  All I know is that if someone loses their job, it’s a big big hassle to get heath insurance (been there, done that). COBRA is so expensive that you’re not going to afford it if you have to get unemployment. And if your daughter has a condition that requires insurance to at least cover 50% of the cost of a 1900 dollar monthly shot, you’re never going to have enough money to live and have insurance. You have to make a decision: insurance or food. It’s a reality that i’ve lived through.
  And don’t give me crap about “but you should be making the decisions, not the bureacrats in Washington.” That won’t fly.
  The right is trying to personalize this as an Obama issue. It’s not.
  If the Bush administration and the GOP had a plan, where was it in the last 8 years? or the 12 years of Reagan and Bush I?
  In any event, what it comes down to is there are a lot of people saying: “Hey man, I love you and hope you stay well, but I don’t want to pay any of my money to keeping you healthy.” Strange how the christians who are supposed to follow “Love thy neighbor” and any of Jesus’ teachings are trying to squash any kind of reform.
  These health insurance companies spend more on advertising than they ever will on implementing any kind of reform. You know it, I know it and the world knows it.
  But as long as they dangle money in front of McConnell/Baccus/Kyle/McCain, they’ll keep doing what they’re doing.

• 7 Ray Re // Aug 6, 2009 at 12:40 pm

  David Tandy must have agreed with my rumble entreaty. He’s sponsoring a fucking riot downtown as we speak. Peace, bitches.

• 8 jake // Aug 6, 2009 at 12:46 pm

  When I got this press release on Tuesday:

  Louisville — Metro Council President David Tandy (D-4) will once again host the nationally known “Russ Parr Bus Tour” when it rolls into Louisville on Thursday, August 6th at the Kentucky International Convention Center.

  “We are happy to welcome Russ Parr and his radio audience back to Louisville,” says Tandy. “Last year’s event drew over 5,000 and this is one of many events that puts Metro Louisville in a national spotlight as a way to stress the importance of education.”

  The Russ Bus Tour is a two-week journey across America stopping to broadcast from eleven major cities including Louisville. This free event is a back-to-school promotion where Russ and other sponsors pass out school supplies to youth in the community.

  On Thursday, the Russ Bus will stop in Louisville to broadcast the morning show ‘live’, which will be heard in fifty-two markets on thirty-five affiliates.

  During the live broadcast, Russ will feature National recording artists, which will perform live for the crowd. The broadcast also provides opportunities for local community leaders to address youth related issues in our community through on-air interviews and stage announcements.

  “Russ Parr and his team is to be commended for bringing attention to the needs of young people and how cities like Louisville are addressing those needs,” says Tandy. “The bus tour will also be a fun way of getting our students in Louisville ready to learn and ready to lead in the 2009 school year.”

  For more information about the Russ Parr Bus Tour, contact Councilman Tandy’ Office at 574-1104.

  I thought, “Great, this is going to result in ANOTHER mess the police will have to clean up. Russ Parr always causes a riot when he comes to town.

  I thought David Tandy had great judgment? FAT CHANCE!

  (Let’s count down til Tony or Rob queen out over this…)

• 9 jake // Aug 6, 2009 at 1:01 pm

  Oh, wait! Tandy just released another statement in reaction to the near-riot situation:

  Louisville – President David Tandy (D-4) has release the following statement concerning the situation at the conclusion of the concert of the Russ Parr Bus Tour:

  “It is unfortunate that this situation has happened but anytime you have such a large crowd leaving a downtown event, there will always be a potential issue regarding crowd control. I understand pushing and shoving lead to some fights breaking out. Louisville Metro Police moved in quickly and got control of the situation. I am glad no one was injured as a result.

  As a sponsor of this year’s event, it is time to review all aspects of the program and I look forward to working with Chief White and other organizers to make this a safe and enjoyable experience for everyone. It is a shame that a positive event for this community in getting kids ready for school is affected by the actions of a few.”

  One would think Tandy would have remembered the same damn thing happened just a couple years ago?

  And, really, there are always crowd control issues when people leave events downtown?

  I don’t remember any crazy fights after Barack Obama was in town and 35,000 people crowded several city blocks.

  I don’t remember any crazy fights after Bill Clinton came to town, ever.

  I don’t remember any crazy fights after Thunder Over Louisville.

  Thoughts?

• 10 Conservative // Aug 6, 2009 at 1:21 pm

  I’ve read the Constitution and can’t find any reference to, requirement for or allowance for the federal government to provide health care to private citizens.

  Does that make me an angry mobster named Monsanto? I think not.

• 11 jake // Aug 6, 2009 at 1:23 pm

  That has got to be one of the dumbest arguments I have encountered yet.

  “Health care isn’t in the Constitution!!! We can’t do anything about it!”

  Nice try.

• 12 Mark H (Not Hebert) // Aug 6, 2009 at 1:29 pm

  We can get rid of Cobra and pre-ex conditions by requiring everyone to maintain insurance. The only reason you have Cobra is to keep from having a lapse in credible coverage. I think we can find a way to separate the policy from employers and have portability.

  Once again, there is no way to sustainably provide insurance coverage without excluding pre-ex if nobody pays into the system until they get older and sick. The health care companies have been on the record as eliminating exclusions as along as everyone is mandated to be insured.

  It would be like not having car insurance and then signing up after you total it and expect them to cover the crash. It’s just not realistic or financially sustainable to do it any other way.

• 13 Curt Morrison (D, not R or I) // Aug 6, 2009 at 4:30 pm

  What Jason L said.
  And on the Russ Parr thing, wtf?… 12 arrested.
  I just watched the Fox41 video and it’s chaos. Someone needs to take responsibility for this screw up.

• 14 jake // Aug 6, 2009 at 4:32 pm

  Curt: That’d be the event sponsors and the host, Mr. David Tandy, who already said it’s no big deal cause this sorta violence happens every day.

• 15 Terri // Aug 6, 2009 at 4:49 pm

  We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

  It’s RIGHT THERE in the preamble, dude.

• 16 Conservative // Aug 6, 2009 at 9:54 pm

  To say that the federal government has the right or the responsibility to provide health care from one interpretation of the preamble is a stretch.

  The feds are supposed to provide national defense, the postal service, roads on which to deliver the mail, and not a whole lot else.

• 17 Terri // Aug 6, 2009 at 10:03 pm

  Conservatives full of it as usual. Don’t most “real” conservatives want to privatize the USPS anyway? Funny how conservatives are very, very concerned about the general welfare of blastocysts, but when it comes to actual born humans, they wash their hands of it.

• 18 Clark // Aug 6, 2009 at 10:49 pm

  I was working as a security guard at the Russ Parr event this morning, and they introduced Tandy as “the man who could be the next mayor of Louisville”

• 19 Shelly // Aug 7, 2009 at 7:29 am

  I am a member of the “angry mob” who is, for the first time in my life, attneding tea parties and other protests against what I see as the rapid errosion of the America I want to live in. I am college educated, was married to a “minority”, am in my mid 30′s, and have NOT been approached by anyone who has invited me to attend. I have merely shown up, on my own dime and stood up for what I believe in. Isn’t that what people are supposed to do in this country? I have attended 3 tea parties (2 in Ky and 1 in DC) and not once have I seen a sign or a shirt with anything racial printed on it. Nor have I heard anything racial said by any of the speakers or attendees. Just because you disagree with President Obama’s policies, doesn’t make you a racist. I would like to invite you to come to one as an observer and judge for yourself, rather than listening to the “state run media” or Reid/Pelosi and their ilk. We are all different colors, income, background, and party affilliations. Enough about me, I wish to address your healthcare position.

  Have any of you Pro-healthcare proponents actually talked with anyone from Canada or the UK who already have it? I have talked with several friends of mine in both, they hate the subpar quality of their national healthcare and would love to have ours. I’m a former nurse and have talked with many doctors who have formerly worked in countries with single payer systems and they all agree there is no comparison. We have no year-long waiting lists or rationing. I also have friends here, who never had healthcare coverage, that were diagnosed with cancer within the last 3 years. They have never had to pay a dime for any aspect of their treatment and in fact, even got extra money to pay for the transportation to recieve their medical care. They were given a medicaid card that has paid for every single treatment, prescription, and surgery. There is no such program for those diagnosed with the same cancer in the UK. Because their cancer was advanced, the nationalized healthcare in the UK would have denied them treatment and only given them pain meds to ease their pain until death. This is because they have to ration in order to keep down costs. If your chances are less than 50/50, you get nothing. I know this because a dear friend, who lives in Cumbria, UK, lost her mother to the very same cancer. When she started showing symptoms, she had to wait 6 months for a cat scan to diagnose. When it was confirmed, she was told that it was too far gone for her to be treated. She died 3 months later, without ever having had a surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Did she have healthcare?

  The same rationing is in effect for less serious cases as well. My daughter has severe scoliosis. We belong to an internet support group that has members across the globe. I can’t tell you how many times, parents from the UK, Canada and Austrailia have told me horror stories with regards to the treatment of their children. And, because of national healthcare, they have no charity or non-profit hospitals like Shriner’s. They’re all government hospitals.

  Please take the time and actually research this issue before you jump on the bandwagon. I appreciate your compassion, but feel it is misplaced.

  As for those unable to afford health insurance, you can recieve full health benefits working only 4 hours a day at UPS starting your first day there. This is not impossible for people who have just been laid off and are still looking for a job. There are other opportunities as well. You can work, doing just about anyting at the University of Kentucky Hospital and recieve full health benefits and recieve 18 paid college credit hours every year to better your situation. You can also go to college, taking student loans, be covered by student insurance, get a nursing degree, sign a 4 year contract with U of K Hospital, and have your student loan paid for by the hospital. Not to mention receive a starting salary of $27-$32/hr right out of college.

  Most everyone I know, who doesn’t have health insurance, does so by choice. A friend of ours makes $250,000/yr and doesn’t carry it on himself or his family. My nephew is 20 and turned down the coverage offered at work because he didn’t want to pay $80/month.

  I agree that the current system could use some tweaking, but in no way is it broken. No one in the US is without health-CARE. Hospitals cannot turn you away if you need help, regardless of your ability to pay. The issue you seek to fix is that everyone should have health-INSURANCE. National health-insurance does not accomplish this any more than our current system, as I demonstrated above. Please do more research other than the talking points from either side. Don’t just take my word for it. Try to talk to ordinary people who already have it and see what they say.

  Sorry this post was so long, but I really felt you needed another perspective. Thank you.

• 20 Tim // Aug 7, 2009 at 4:21 pm

  Shelly.. You can hear those same stories here in America. I have insurance and good insurance, so I thought. My wife had her normal mamogram where they found “something”. That visit as usual we paid the co-pay. However they wanted to do another test, but because the insurance only covers this preventative treatment once for every 12 months we had to pay for the second one in full. Again, my wife had a miscarrige and we went to the emergency room where less than 10% of the cost was covered.

  I know dozens of people from around the world and from time to time you hear stories but we in America have our own horror stories to tell too. So painting some picture of rationing when rationing takes place under the current system is unfair. You can use the UK model as an example but you can’t know that same model is what we will have, that’s an assumption.

  The plans I’ve seen don’t call for rationing, they don’t call for denying service. Speaking of, insurers deny service on a daily basis. And by the way, insurers just exactly what do they provide anyway? Nothing, beaurocracy is all and at a huge cost to the American people.

  Insurers force you to choose from their list of doctors, hospitals, etc. The plans don’t do that even if they did what is different.

  Insurance companies are simply out for profit, they don’t provide care. They don’t want an alternate plan for the American people, not because of less care but because of less profits for them. The overhall is to get rid of that vampire sucking money from us all and not providing coverage.

• 21 Shelly // Aug 7, 2009 at 7:37 pm

  I am sorry for your loss, I had a miscarriage in May myself. I am also sorry for the hassle that you have had to go through. Can you imagine how much worse it would be if it were run by the government? Have you filed a complaint with the Kentucky Department of Insurance? If you get your coverage through your employer, you can also file a complaint through the US Dept. of Labor. I have found that if you show your insurance company that you know your option and are prepared to fight, they submit and pay. But, you do have work for it.

  This is how I feel the government’s place in healthcare should be, as a watchdog and arbitrator, not as a provider. With whom would you complain to if the government were your insurance carrier? …………..

  I have a severe and very rare hearth condition and have had several health insurance plans, and have had no trouble ever in getting coverage for tests and procedures. That includes 10 years of test after test, never finding a cause until a trip to the Mayo Clinic in MN 5 years ago. I’m sorry you have had trouble, but I haven’t and I don’t want to lose the excellent coverage I have.

  As to your point of not hearing anything about rationing, have you read any of the writings of the President’s healthcare advisors? They definately feel that non-productive citizens (disabled) and senior citizens should receive serious rationing. I have read them myself and it is scary. Did the stimulus package tout expensive spa getaways for the employees at AIG? No, but it did happen. Do you think the UK plan was initially written to include rationing? Certainly not. The rationing comes when budgets get tight, and they will. The national healthcare system is the largest expense for the UK. It’s national healthcare is the 3rd largest employer in the world! And, that is for a country of only 46 million, imagine the beaurocracy bohemoth for a country our size? You speak of the beaurocracy of private insurance companies, but have you ever had to deal with a government entity? Ever had to deal with the IRS? How fun is it to file your income taxes every year?

  I would also like to point out also a big positive on our current system. If you want or need a procedure in the US and your insurance company doesn’t cover it, you still have the option to pay for it out of your own pocket. They don’t have that luxury in the UK. You simply cannot pay for a procedure out of pocket, it denies “equity” to those covered under national healthcare who can’t afford to. Therefore, if you are out of work because you injured your back, and are told you have to wait a year before you can have surgery, you, by law, can’t enter into an agreement with a hospital to set up a payment schedule and have it done on your own dime. So you are just going to have to miss work for a year and suffer with the pain until your number comes up at the head of the line. Surely, anyone can live without their regular paycheck for a year, can’t they. That is rediculous. It WILL happen here. There is not a single country who has national healthcare who does NOT have some form of rationing.

  I never said that our system is perfect. It does need a lot of work, but to nationalize it is absolutely the wrong thing to do. We could enact tort reform to lower the cost of malpractice insurance, we could allow people to cross state lines to buy insurance at lower costs, we could mandate that everyone carry insurance (similar to car insurance today) increasing the amount of participants and lowering costs, we could individualize all policies to make them portable and not dependent on employment, we can offer incentive programs to subsidize private carriers to base premiums on income or to ensur coverage to those with high-cost conditions. There’s more, I’m sure, that can be done without bringing everyone else’s coverage to the lowest common denomenator.

  I will continue to attend tea parties, town halls, and any other venue that allows me to have my say and express to my elected officials what I feel is best for my country and my fellow countrymen. I will work to save you from yourselves. I will do this regardless of how I am portrayed by those who seek the socialization of America and minimize my contribution. If my ancestors could risk their homes and their lives, to free us from a tyrranical government that refused to give us regress for our complaints, surely I can risk a little name-calling. And, I am not alone…..

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