Regarding the Proposed Resolution of May 4

MoonHowler

 

 

 

 

 

This Tuesday the PWC BOCS plans to vote on a much watered down ‘Resolution’ (See 10H on the Agenda)

Mr. George Harris gets it. We hope the rest of the BOCS gets it.

 

George S. Harris’s open letter to the BOCS in News & Messenger May 1 says it all.

LETTER: To the Prince William Board of County Supervisors
Your View
Published: May 1, 2010

I am writing to you to ask you to help this unlearned citizen understand why a resolution is needed by the Chairman Corey Stewart to determine the number of people affected by the expansion of the Medicaid criteria under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I simply wrote to the Prince William County Department of Social Services and within a few days received a reply from Mr. Dennis E. McFeeley, Divi-sion Chief of Benefits, Employment and Child Care Programs. His telephone number and email address are: Phone: (703) 792-4315 Email: [email protected].

By the way, the estimated number is 15,200 of the poorest of the poor.

It would seem to me that Mr. Stewart could simply pick up the telephone and call Mr. McFeeley or Mr. Ric Perez, the acting director of the Department of Social Services, and pose the question he has included in his draft resolution. While I don’t have Mr. Perez’s direct telephone number, the main number is 703-792-7500. I suspect whoever answers the telephone would be more than glad to connect Mr. Stewart with Mr. Perez.

Yes, I agree it would prudent to determine how much the Medicaid expansion will cost Prince William County, but considering that it will be some 14 years before the county must begin cost sharing, any estimation would at best be an onageristic estimate. Again, a telephone call might work.

On the other hand, if Mr. Stewart is using a resolution to stick the board’s collective finger in the federal government’s eye, I strongly recommend against this. We’ve already been made to look the fool too many times.

Therefore, I am left to draw the conclusion that this tempest in a teapot is nothing more than political posturing on Mr. Stewart’s behalf to satisfy his political base and the members of the Tea Party whose meetings he frequents as a speaker. If my conclusion is wrong, would someone be so kind as to let me know?

GEORGE S. HARRIS

Manassas

One has to ask why a resolution is needed when picking up the telephone and asking a few questions solves the same purpose? Could it be that Mr. Stewart is once again grand-standing? Is this his way of attempting to save face after standing on the steps down in Stafford like George Wallace demanding civil disobedience from county employees? (Click to see background material)

Hopefully all the supervisors will see the absurdity of this ‘Resolution’ and will vote NO. Why help Corey Stewart make a fool of himself?

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED…..

MoonHowler

‘NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED’ is the crux of any resolution.  In this case, there are 4 key directives.   They  tell us what is going to be done.  All the ‘whereases’ are justifications.

The day before yesterday the  Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released its report which claries the fiscal impact , if any, of the expansion of Medicaid.  Click here to see the entire report.

Poverty Guidelines

10 Components of the Healthcare Bill

In talking this out, why do we need a resolution to do any of this?  Just do it over time and report back.  Can’t the BOCS just direct Ms. Peacor to make a statement after the dust has settled and the ink has dried on the Legislation?   isn’t that what is supposed to happen anyway?

Why all the fanfare?  Why the proclamations from the court house steps and from the Tea Party Rally?  Creating an Opt Out Resolution which doesn’t even opt out  seems like bad business as usual.  What is the price tag for all this investigation?  What is the price tag for pulling people off of their regular jobs to do all this busy work?

The red print is from Moonhowlings.

The Directives from the ‘Resolution:’

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Prince William Board of County Supervisors requests that the Department of Social Services, assisted by County staff:

1.     Estimate the additional population eligible for Medicaid in Prince William County as of January 1, 2014 according to the provisions of the PPAC and the regulations which will probably be promulgated by the federal government to implement the PPAC; and

It will be difficult to estimate the county demographics for Jan. 1, 2014.  The best we will be able to do is estimation. Estimations may be extrapolated from other existing data.  However, the estimations  are not exact.  Furthermore there are benefits that cannot easily be quantified:

According to News and Messenger:

The 2008 American Community Survey reported that [the county’s] poverty rate was 5.2 percent in 2008, less than half the statewide rate of 10.2 percent and about one third the national rate of 13.2 percent,” according to the quarterly report.

The county’s median household income in 2008, according to ACS figures, was $88,724, leading to its rank of 16th in terms of wealth among the largest counties in the United States. Per capita income in the county for 2008, meanwhile, came in at $36,049, according to the quarterly report.

2.      Estimate the additional financial burden to the County taxpayers for additional administration of benefits for the newly expanded, less-sensitive population; and

What is a less-sensitive population?  A family of 4 making $29,000 is hardly rolling in the lap of luxury.  What is involved in administering Medicaid?  Processing an application, verifying eligibility, enrolling the person/family into the Medicaid program according to the guidelines is pretty much it.  Is there a hidden process we don’t know about?

  • The additional cost to the states represents only a 1.25 percent increase in what states would have spent on Medicaid from 2014 to 2019 in the absence of health reform.
  • The federal government will assume 96 percent of the costs of the Medicaid expansion over the next ten years, according to an analysis of CBO estimates.
  • And having more people covered as a result of the Medicaid expansion and other provisions in the health reform law will reduce state and local governments’ current spending on other services for the uninsured, such as mental health services.

3.  . Work with private health care providers to estimate the magnitude of the reduction of

Working with private health care providers?  Which party will these providers belong to?  How will they be selected?  This information will be anecdotal at best.  Didn’t Linda Chavez warn us about using anecdotal  documentation rather than scientific data?

Why should we expect there to be a reduction of available health care options for the Medicaid population?

Why isn’t the BOCS attempting to bring more medical services to the county?  Aren’t these businesses we are trying to attract?

4. Advise the Commonwealth and the federal government that unless additional resources are found at the federal and state levels of government to fund the administration of the expansion of Medicaid, that Prince William County will be forced to raise taxes on County residents or slash strategic services in order to fund eligibility workers to administer the massive expansion in the eligible population which will become effective on January 1, 2014 enrollment of newly covered beneficiaries.

Gobbledeegoop?  What did that paragraph just direct?  Talk about obsfucation.  Geez.

When will we advise the Commonwealth and the federal government?  According to the  CBPP study:

Contrary to claims made by health reform critics, the Medicaid expansion does not pose substantial financial burdens on states. The additional state spending that will result from the expansion is only 1.25 percent of what states would have spent in the absence of health reform, but it will cover 16 million more people, which will help reduce states’ costs for other programs and bring numerous other benefits to the states. The federal government will pick up most of the costs of the Medicaid expansion, overall making it a good deal for the states.

And…..(and let’s put that Peacor woman to work)

AND, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Prince William BOCS directs the County Executive to:

  1. Estimate the increased cost burden the PPAC will have on the County’s provision of health insurance to its employees; and
  1. Provide comment to the Federal government as regulations and procedures are written which implement the Health Reform legislation in order to ensure that the impacts on local governments both from the significant expansion of Medicaid and from the implementation of other sections of the legislation are fully articulated.

Corey’s “Opt Out” Resolution

MoonHowler

corey flier resize

Corey has issued a call to arms to his Tea Party base, or who he perceives to be his Tea Party base. Others have called it a call for anarchy.

Unfortunately, the Whereas remarks are mostly speculation.  The law does not take effect until Jan 1, 2014.  The rush to urgency is simply not there, regardless of how much Corey tries to make this a case of imminent impending doom.

We will post the actual meat of the resolution, items 1-4, individually in the next post.  Even the most casual observer will note that Corey’s ‘Opt Out Resolution ‘ opts out of nothing and will only cost the county money it doesn’t have.

The other supervisors are wise to his tricks now.  They realize that he is salivating to be  elected Lt. governor  in 2013 or elected to  some other higher office at either state or national level.  They also realize that he wants to climb up this ladder of success on their backs, not on what is good for the county.  They know that pulling  the Department of Social Services to do investigative work is bad business.   This agency  has recently regrouped and reorganized after the tragic death of Lexie Glover.  They have a new director.  To pull people  off of their routine work load to go do investigative work is wrong and disruptive.   When county people are pulled to work on other things, then the regular work load just doesn’t get done.

The power of 4 is going to be the power of a little bit more than 4, this time.

Below is a copy of the proposed “Opt Out” Resolution to be presented on May 4, 2010.

MOTION:                                                                        May 4, 2010

Regular Meeting

SECOND:                                                                        Res. No. 10-

RE:                 REALLOCATION OF COUNTY RESOURCES TO COMPLY WITH PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT  

ACTION: APPROVED

WHEREAS, Medicaid is an entitlement program authorized under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, financed by the state and federal governments and administered by the States. The Virginia Medicaid program is administered by the Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS); and

WHEREAS, the provision of eligibility workers to enroll beneficiaries and administer benefits has been imposed on Prince William County government with insufficient overhead funding from the Commonwealth of Virginia to cover all costs of administration; Prince William County citizens fund 53% of the administrative costs of administration through their local taxes; and

WHEREAS, the Commonwealth of Virginia currently covers eligible children, parents or caretakers of children, pregnant women, elderly persons, and persons who are blind or disabled, and the Virginia Medicaid population for Fiscal Year 2008 was  487,929 children, 142,180 parents or caretakers of children and pregnant women, 81,541 elderly persons, 182,636 persons who are blind or who have disabilities; and

WHEREAS, due to the provisions of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Obama on March 22, 2010, Virginia will add an estimated 400,000 residents to its Medicaid rolls, and by 2022, will spend an additional $1.1 billion, according to a projection from Virginia’s DMAS cited publically by Governor Robert F. McDonnell.

WHEREAS, private practice providers, general hospitals, children’s hospitals, and other health care providers have expressed grave concern that an open ended surge in Medicaid beneficiaries, and an anticipated decrease in reimbursement rates by States, will force providers out of business or force them to turn away currently served Medicaid populations; and

WHEREAS, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors strongly believes that there should be affordable access to high quality health care in Prince William County, and is gravely concerned that the changes to Medicaid will reduce the amount of affordable care available and reduce the Medicaid population’s access to health care as well; and

 

WHEREAS, Prince William County funds the administration of Medicaid benefits through their general fund, and the general fund is the primary source of funding for education, police protection, transportation, and all other critical county functions as identified in the strategic plan; and

 

WHEREAS, Prince William County currently provides local taxpayer funding totaling $6,526,214  within the Department of Social Services in FY 2010 administering benefits including Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps, Medicaid, Refugee Resettlement, Auxiliary Grants for the elderly and disabled, general relief, and financial assistance to eligible families for the purchase of child care services; and

WHEREAS, according to testimony provided to the Board of County Supervisors on March 23, 2010 there is already a shortage of benefits administration staff and therefore insufficient capacity to handle the increase in the Medicaid eligible population created  by the federal PPAC; and

WHEREAS, the PPAC constitutes an indirect unfunded mandate which completely ignores the cost of administration to local jurisdictions, forcing them to reallocate their scarce human services resources to less critical populations;

WHEREAS, Prince William County will honor state and federal law but is concerned that the PPAC will place a significant new financial burden on localities in the near future;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Prince William Board of County Supervisors requests that the Department of Social Services, assisted by County staff:

1.      Estimate the additional population eligible for Medicaid in Prince William County as of January 1, 2014 according to the provisions of the PPAC and the regulations which will probably be promulgated by the federal government to implement the PPAC; and

2.      Estimate the additional financial burden to the County taxpayers for additional administration of benefits for the newly expanded, less-sensitive population; and

3. Work with private health care providers to estimate the magnitude of the reduction of available health care options for the Medicaid population in Prince William County;  and

4. Advise the Commonwealth and the federal government that unless additional resources are found at the federal and state levels of government to fund the administration of the expansion of Medicaid, that Prince William County will be forced to raise taxes on County residents or slash strategic services in order to fund eligibility workers to administer the massive expansion in the eligible population which will become effective on January 1, 2014 enrollment of newly covered beneficiaries.

AND, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Prince William BOCS directs the County Executive to:

  1. Estimate the increased cost burden the PPAC will have on the County’s provision of health insurance to its employees; and
  1. Provide comment to the Federal government as regulations and procedures are written which implement the Health Reform legislation in order to ensure that the impacts on local governments both from the significant expansion of Medicaid and from the implementation of other sections of the legislation are fully articulated.

Votes:

Ayes:

Nays:

Absent from Vote:

Absent from Meeting:

For Information:

None

CERTIFIED COPY___________________________________________________________

Clerk to the Board

Original Proclamation made by Corey over the weekend of April 10, 2010

Corey Stewart, All Facade, No Substance

MoonHowler

corey 

 Once again, Chairman Stewart is using his fellow colleagues to promote his need for media coverage. I imagine they are getting pretty fed up with his antics. On April 13, Corey travels to Stafford to unveil his plan of anarchy, the plan where he is going to pass a resolution directing PWC staff NOT to implement the new Medicaid guidelines that will include accessibility to health care for a family of four making less than 29,000 dollars a year. You know, those pesky working poor that would otherwise not be eligible for coverage. Then on April 15, TEA party rally day in PWC, Corey hands out his flyers, hocking for support of his “resolution to opt out of Medicaid” on the May 4th BOCS meeting.

I am hopeful his fellow Board members are finally going to tell Corey that his mis-use of his office has simply gone far enough. Moonhowlings.net  has a copy of the actual resolution Corey will be proposing, and let me tell you, the supposed “lion” is simply a declawed domestic cat. Corey is lying to his base if they believe he has actually gone through with his threat to disobey the “rule of law”. All the resolution does is misdirect money to determine the impacts of the new recipients of Medicaid. We will be posting the resolution in pieces with our own refutations from plenty of credible sources.

Apparently, the folks at the News & Messenger agree, based on their editorial today: 

(posted in its entirety) 

 

EDITORIAL:  Keep your eye on the county, Stewart

Our View
Published: April 21, 2010
 
When will Corey Stewart stop giving the impression that he is running for the next office and focus on the business of the county?
 
Recently Stewart, the head of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, announced that he will put forward a resolution to prevent county employees from implementing new Medicaid regulations when they take effect in 2014.
 
While this may score him political points with the Republicans whose support he might need next time he tries to step to higher office, it doesn’t do much for county residents—the people Stewart is actually supposed to be serving.
 
Stewart said the new regulations—which are part of the national health care reform legislation—will be costly and won’t survive any real legal challenge.

Stewart also said, “I don’t think the county should be responsible for administering a federal program.”It is one thing for Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to challenge health care reform—he is, after all, the state’s lawyer—but Stewart’s realm of power is Prince William County and his duty is governing. That’s where his attention should stay.

Perhaps the new Medicaid regulations aren’t legal, but that is not something for the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to decide.

And they could be costly. Of course, the legal battles that could result from the county’s refusal to follow federal law would probably also drain the taxpayer’s wallet.

As for whether the county should be responsible for administering a federal program, it is interesting Stewart did not hold to this line of thought when he decided the county should take charge of enforcing federal law on illegal immigration. Sounds less like a principled stance and more like political opportunism to us.

We are all for Stewart being a strong county leader. We just wish that his strength could be focused more narrowly on local matters and less on attention-grabbing issues.

It does the county no good to constantly be in the headlines for the radical actions of some of its supervisors. The only people that benefit are people like Stewart, who garner press while the county’s reputation suffers.

The county can address the local impact of things like illegal immigration and the new Medicaid regulations, but it can do so in ways that do not damage our home or end up in court. The problem with Stewart has never been that he doesn’t fight for the county, it’s been that he serves the county second and his ego first.

 

 

Posted by Elena

Déjà Vu Anyone? A Call for Anarchy?

MoonHowler
A call for anarchy?
A call for anarchy?

From the News & Messenger regarding the local Tea Party Rally yesterday:

Stewart, a Republican, said he will ask his colleagues to approve a resolution that would prevent county employees from implementing new Medicaid regulations when they take effect in 2014.

“That is a public option that increases Medicaid to beneficiaries by more than 40 percent,” Stewart said at a Prince William County TEA Party Patriots rally at the McCoart Administration Center on Thursday.

Stewart, who seemed confident that his resolution will pass, said the county would not provide the benefits until it is compelled to.

“We will not implement those regulations until we are required to do so through injunction, which can only be initiated by the attorney general of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” he told the crowd of about 100.

Additionally, Stewart said he believes the regulations will not bear legal scrutiny.

“I do not believe they are legal,” he said about 2 p.m., when the crowd had dwindled from a high of about 200 at noon when the rally started. “I do not believe they will serve anyone.”

He continued, “I do believe that they will hurt the current beneficiaries of Medicaid—the disabled, the poor children and others—who already have difficulty finding physicians who will treat them on the low reimbursement rate.”

Stewart said the regulations amount to “unfunded mandates” that will cost taxpayers money and divert resources from other areas.

“I don’t think the county should be responsible for administering a federal program,” he said.

Still, Stewart said he didn’t know how thing would shake out legally.

STOP!  Stewart doesn’t know how things will ‘shake out legally?  That might be a real good question to ask before everyone jumps on the bandwagon trying to get re-elected.  Injunctions are orders by a court of law to do or not do something.  When the feds are involved, ‘an injunction’ can also come along with some enforcement  like the National Guard or US Marshalls.   Is that what we want?  Another University of Alamaba situation?

 

Read More

David Frum speaks from Waterloo: What Happened?

MoonHowler

A big thanks to Elena for this gem. She says that David Frum was subsequently fired from his job at American Enterprise Institute for expressing this opinion. How many of us could have easily have said this:

From the FrumForum
David Forum March 21, 2010
 

 

 

 

 

David Frum
David Frum

Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

 

 

 

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.

So far, I think a lot of conservatives will agree with me. Now comes the hard lesson:

A huge part of the blame for today’s disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves.

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Tom Perriello’s Brother had Gas Line Cut

MoonHowler

Rep. Perriello from the Charlottesville  area voted for the Health Care Reform bill.  Today officials and the FBI are looking in to how the propane gas line at his brother’s house got cut.  Political opponents had posted his brother’s address on a website, thinking the address was the congressman’s.   According to msnbc.com:

From NBC’s Pete Williams
Virginia officials, aided by the FBI, are looking into how a residential propane feeder line was cut at the home of the brother of a Virginia congressman.

Investigators have reached no conclusions about how or why it happened. But the line was cut after the home’s address was posted on a blog and a Facebook page, both maintained by members of a local Tea Party group who thought it was the home of Rep. Tom Perriello, a Virginia Democrat who voted in favor of the health-care bill.

One said, “This is Rep. Thomas Stuart Price Perriello’s home address,” and added, “I ain’t holding back anymore!!” The other urged readers to “drop by” the home and “express their thanks” for the vote. 

The cut in the gas line, which runs from a propane tank to a gas grill on a screened-in porch, was discovered Tuesday, the day after the address was posted. When they realized that it was incorrect, the operators of the blog and Faceboook page took the address off.

The chairman of the Lynchburg, VA, Tea Party, Mark Lloyd, told NBC News, “I learned what happened after the fact. We made an official statement on our Web site,” saying that that his group “did not request, sanction, or endorse” posting the address, which appeared on a different Web site.

Tea Party member Nigel Coleman, who wrote one of the Internet posts, told the Charlottesville Daily Progress that he was shocked when he heard about the incident.

Rep. Steny Hoyer reports that threats have been made to around ten Congressmen and women who voted yes to HCR legislation.  Shepherd Smith reports that he is waiting for an update from Capitol Police. 

Please note that the material for this post comes from both MSNBC and from Fox News.   Unfortunately incendiary rhetoric meant to gather the troops sometimes sends some of them off the deep end.  All of us, regardless of party affiliation or ideology must be mindful of our audience and what we say.  Civil debate becomes increasingly more important.  Shepherd Smith gave one of his fierce admonitions about settling political unhappiness and discontent at the ballot box.  I feel certain there will be footage of his remarks.  I will post them.  One bad apple can give many black eyes. 

It goes without saying that any  remarks like that would be removed from this blog.  However, no one here would post like that either.  The blogosphere does have the responsibility to maintain civil discussion.

Daily  Progress Story

Courtland Milloy: Congressmen show grace, restraint in the face of disrespect

MoonHowler

Courtland Milloy is a Metro Section Washington Post columnist. The other day someone on this blog intimated that I would have no idea how a black person would feel and that I was insulting. Let’s look at it through someone’s eyes who meets all the qualifications. I have no opinion. Milloy has been with the Washington Post since 1983. I found the opinion piece to be rather humbling. I would like to highlight someone else’s opinion. We don’t have to agree with Milloy, but we need to view this incident through someone’s eyes other than our own. These are not MY sentiments but I feel it is imperative that we acknowledge how someone else might feel.
 

 Washington Post 3/24/10

Courtland Milloy: Congressmen show grace, restraint in the face of disrespect

I know how the “tea party” people feel, the anger, venom and bile that many of them showed during the recent House vote on health-care reform. I know because I want to spit on them, take one of their “Obama Plan White Slavery” signsand knock every racist and homophobic tooth out of their Cro-Magnon heads.

I am sick of these people — and those who make excuses for them and their victim-whiner mentality.

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No Viagra for Sex Offenders

MoonHowler


Rep. (Dr.) Tom Coburn (R-OK) has introduced an amendment he feels most Democrats will support also:

No Erectile Dysfunction Drugs To Sex Offenders – This amendment would enact recommendations from the Government Accountability Office to stop fraudulent payments for prescription drugs prescribed by dead providers or, to dead patients. This amendment also prohibits coverage of Viagra and other ED medications to convicted child molesters, rapists, and sex offenders, and prohibits coverage of abortion drugs. (Note: the creation of exchanges could allow sex offenders to receive taxpayer-funded Viagra and other ED drugs unless Congress expressly prohibits this action

I guess I want to know why sex offenders are in a place where they would need ED products. What about when they have served their time. In addition to being on the sex offender list would they be banned from ED materials? (not that I care) Where do abortion drugs fit into this profile? Granted I am posting  an excerpt, but I don’t know how many sex offenders are standing in line for abortion drugs. I think I would need to see a list of what these abortion drugs are before I pull down the red flags that have shot up.

Meanwhile, I am all in favor of not giving sex offenders Viagra with taxpayer money.  Of course, this begs the question:  Can they buy it with their own money?   I suppose it depends on how badly they want it.

Politico

Can We Expect More Violence?

Elena

Democratic offices vandalized
By JUDY L. THOMAS

The Star

Authorities in Wichita and some other cities across the country are investigating vandalism against Democratic offices, apparently in response to health care reform.

And on Monday, a former Alabama militia leader took credit for instigating the actions.

Mike Vanderboegh of Pinson, Ala., former leader of the Alabama Constitutional Militia, put out a call on Friday for modern “Sons of Liberty” to break the windows of Democratic Party offices nationwide in opposition to health care reform. Since then, vandals have struck several offices, including the Sedgwick County Democratic Party headquarters in Wichita.

“There’s glass everywhere,” said Lyndsay Stauble, executive director of the Sedgwick County Democratic Party. “A brick took out the whole floor-to-ceiling window and put a gouge in my desk.”

Stauble said the brick, hurled through the window between Friday night and Saturday morning, had “some anti-Obama rhetoric” written on it.

Read More

Incivility and When Perception Becomes Reality

MoonHowler

in·ci·vil·i·ty (ns-vl-t)

n. pl. in·ci·vil·i·ties 1. The quality or condition of being uncivil.

2. An uncivil or discourteous act.

 

Just for a moment, remove any accusation of racial slur, the N-word, or spitting.  How many of us would like to be an older black man having to walk through an angry mob of white people screaming, taunting, booing, hissing and whatever else they were doing.  Those congressman practically had to part the white sea to even move through the crowd. 

In the first place, the crowd should not have been that close.  The congressmen should have had  police escort.  I found myself having bad flashbacks to things I have seen on TV throughout my life, things that were going on during my lifetime.    No one should dismiss it.  Those men were brave to make that walk.  If one of them said he was spat on, then he was.  Perhaps it was just the spray from the vehenom of hatred spewing from a protestors mouth, but spit is spit–stream, lunger or spray, all gross.

Note: The video is the one Cargo Squid referenced.

“Baby Killer” Utterer Randy Neugebauer Turns Himself In

MoonHowler

As anti-abortion Democrat Bart Stupak attempted to speak on the House floor, a lone voice called out what sounded like ‘Baby Killer.‘  The entire House errupted in muffled whispers over the affrontery.  Gavels were banged and people whispered back and forth over what they thought they heard.  Rep. Stupak had held out his vote for Health Care Reform until President Obama promised to write an executive order stating no public funds were to be used for abortion.   The ‘baby killer’ remark must have smarted.  Again, rudeness. 

Now the shouter has stepped forward and confessed, along with a little equivocation.  It seems that he meant the Health Care Reform legislation was a baby killer, not Stupak.  Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Tx)  had the following to say:

Last night was the climax of weeks and months of debate on a health care bill that my constituents fear and do not support. In the heat and emotion of the debate, I exclaimed the phrase ‘it’s a baby killer’ in reference to the agreement reached by the Democratic leadership. While I remain heartbroken over the passage of this bill and the tragic consequences it will have for the unborn, I deeply regret that my actions were mistakenly interpreted as a direct reference to Congressman Stupak himself.
“I have apologized to Mr. Stupak and also apologize to my colleagues for the manner in which I expressed my disappointment about the bill. The House Chamber is a place of decorum and respect. The timing and tone of my comment last night was inappropriate.”

Yea right, Mr. Neugebauer. Let’s have a listen. It’s brief:

We must live in an ‘anything goes’ culture where the rules of civilized society have been abandoned. On the national level, Members of Congress call the the President a liar, call each other names like ‘ Baby Killer.’ Outside, protestors spit, make racial slurs, and threaten with gun signs. At the local level a supervisor thinks its ok to call his constituents names and refer to them as ‘crap.’ There must be some rules of decorum. It’s one thing to speak informally with friends. It’s quite another to make public statements and direct racial slurs at people. The threatening and bullying must stop. And our leaders and entertainers who reach into millions and millions of homes per day must stop aiding, abetting and inciting this kind of behavior.

Vicki Kennedy Praises Health Care Passage

MoonHowler

The huge unseen presence hung over the Capitol yesterday as the democrats voted for the hotly debated Health Care Reform Legislation.  That presence was the spirit of the Lion of the Senate:  Senator Teddy Kennedy.  Health Care Legislation was Kennedy’s life-long goal during his long tenure in public service.  His widow, Vicki Kennedy, visited the grave of her deceased husband to reflect.

 

 

Huffington Post:

Appearing on CNN’s ‘John King, USA’ the widow of former Sen. Ted Kennedy pointed to the commitment made by President Barack Obama and Speaker Nancy Pelosi as particularly critical for reform’s passage.

“I think that President Obama showed incredible determination and courage and focus when he continued this battle; and Speaker Pelosi to continue to rally the troops and the leaders in the House of Representatives showed incredible determination and focus and courage,” Kennedy said. “And I think it is a real tribute to all the members of the House of Representatives as well. I think it is a real tribute to all of them and I am deeply, deeply, grateful, as I think are the American people.”
Kennedy echoed a common refrain from her late husband — a longtime health care reform champion — in arguing that the public will fully embrace the legislation’s passage.

“You know Teddy always said that when we finally pass health care reform and when people understand what’s in the bill and what benefits there are for them, they are going to say ‘What took you so long?’ And I think that’s going to happen here,” Kennedy said

Protestors Hurl Racial Epithets at Members of Congress Saturday

MoonHowler

 

 

Signs Promoting Violence
Signs Promoting Violence

Abusive, derogatory and racist behavior  directed at House Democrats by protesters on Saturday shocked lawmakers.  Before the President’s speech to  House Democrats, thousands of protestors gathered to protest the passage of health care reform.  Members of the crowd were shown heckling.   Some became abusive and resorted to  hurling racial epithets. 

The Huffington Post reports:

A staffer for Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) told reporters that Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) had been spat on by a protestor. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a hero of the civil rights movement, was called a ‘ni–er.’ And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was called a “faggot,” as protestors shouted at him with deliberately lisp-y screams. Frank, approached in the halls after the president’s speech, shrugged off the incident.

But Clyburn was downright incredulous, saying he had not witnessed such treatment since he was leading civil rights protests in South Carolina in the 1960s.

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Michael Moore: My Congressman, Bart Stupak, Has Neither a Uterus Nor a Brain

MoonHowler

Michael Moore is a strange person. I have never seen one of his films. I have always assumed that he was far too liberal for my taste. Yet he is an interesting, thought-provoking man at times, in the interviews with him that I have seen. He has a middle class background with middle class values. He also seems to think capitalism is evil. Perhaps I misunderstood him though. He is not what people sometimes call ‘the Hollywood elite.’ I found his letter in the Huffington Post and almost didn’t read it.

I am going to ask you to read his letter. Please do not comment on Michael Moore. Our like or dislike of him is not the issue. Please respond to what he says. Any part of it. There are many layers in what he has to say.

 

Friends,

I live in Michigan, in one of the 31 counties represented in the U.S. House of Representatives by none other than Mr. Bart Stupak, a Democrat. You’ve probably never heard of him. He’s a pretty quiet guy, a former Michigan State Police trooper who boldly decided to run some 18 years ago as a Democrat in a rural part of Michigan that votes almost exclusively for Republicans (yes, I know — what am I doing here? I’ll save that story for a future letter).

His voting record is pretty conservative for a Democrat, but he’s had a few shining moments. In the wake of the Columbine shootings, he voted for some gun control, a not-too-popular position to take here in northern Michigan. The NRA came after him with all they had in 2000.

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