s skippy the bush kangaroo: or, to put it another way: in your face, teabaggers!

skippy the bush kangaroo



Sunday, November 08, 2009

or, to put it another way: in your face, teabaggers!

we are now halfway there, as the house passed the historic hcr (short for "hillary rodham clinton health care reform") during a rare saturday late-nite session yesterday. nytimes:

after a daylong clash with republicans over what has been a democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years. democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance.

“this is our moment to revolutionize health care in this country,” said representative george miller, democrat of california and one of the chief architects of the bill.

democrats were forced to make major concessions on insurance coverage for abortions to attract the final votes to secure passage, a wrenching compromise for the numerous abortion-rights advocates in their ranks.

many of them hope to make changes to the amendment during negotiations with the senate, which will now become the main battleground in the health care fight as democrats there ready their own bill for what is likely to be extensive floor debate.

democrats say the house measure — paid for through new fees and taxes, along with cuts in medicare — would extend coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating a government health insurance program. it would end insurance company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or dropping people when they become ill.
progressives and most women are upset that the congressmen w/penises inserted (make your own joke here) an strict-anti-abortion funding clause into the bill. fdl:

it’s a fundamental part of our belief system in the democratic party, that women have a right to privacy in their reproductive health care decisions. we’ve fought long and hard to protect this right.

and now we’ve seen decades of work to protect this fundamental human right dashed by our own democratic representatives.

many of you are going to say you’re walking away. and many more are going to rant and rave and carry on for a while.

this is when it’s time to gather resources and plan more carefully for the next phase in what is a lifelong effort. democracy isn’t easy, after all. and she’s not cheap. we’re going to have to continue to fight, but we’re going to have to become even more effective.
fdl then lists the dem lawmakers who voted for the stupid stupak amendment, with an eye towards primary contests next year.

irrespective of those libs who are upset w/the dems, this is an historic moment, which could be one of a chain of events that define this presidency. this reform is the most sweeping of health care since lbj wrangled medicare thru the hill 40-odd years ago.

but most of all...this is excellent news for john mccain!!

addendum: susie madrak, over @ c&l, makes an excellent point about the stupid stupak amendment that is not only metaphorical but practical in implied advice:

the way i feel about this is probably akin to how thomas jefferson felt when the anti-slavery clause was stricken from the declaration of independence in order to get enough votes to pass.
posted by skippy at 8:56 AM |

3 Comments:

lets see what holy joe traitor does now
commented by Blogger Distributorcap, 2:26 PM PST  
To repeat what I said upstream.

HR 3962 was an excellent bill much maligned by over zealous people pushing Single-Payer HR676. It was not in fact the POS the Single Payer Now people insisted. The Stupak Amendment has down graded it to a really good bill, though admittedly with a gaping hole where equity for women's reproductive freedom should be. But mandated maternity coverage is big, and co-payment free well-baby and well-child care is huge. Plus there are other "minor" items, under current law in 22 states domestic violence can be considered a pre-existing condition, that insanity is specifically outlawed by this bill. The Nineteenth Amendment gave women the right to vote. It did not deliver full equality and last night's vote shows that women are not considered autonomous individuals even now. That doesn't mean the often violent opposition faced by suffragettes was a waste of time.

Social and Economic Justice is a process, instant transformationis a fantasy. Being pissed is good, blowing up the building because women lost a battle not so much.

Medicare+5 good. Full parity for women's control over their bodies good. Providing health careto kids of American workers who don't have the right piece of paper in their wallets good. Using failures to achieve those goods reason to oppose legislation that extends coverage to 36 millionAmericans? Not so much.
commented by Blogger Bruce Webb, 9:31 PM PST  
Stupak has always been a Pro-Life Catholic, but hasn't pushed it much before. After his son commited suicide some years back while on acne meds, he has gone after Big Pharma and the insurance companies and gotten a little weirder on abortion. Also there are some in his district that make the Tea Party look tame. They are real men, they don't shave their balls before they Tea-Bag.
commented by Blogger Kulkuri, 5:58 AM PST  

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