Kermit Gosnell, and the opportunists that followed. For Shame, Pennsylvania. You’ll come to regret this day.

I learned back in 1992 that Bill Clinton was a lying piece of shit, not a progressive, and barely a Democrat.

From the description:

Leaked cell phone footage of Bill Clinton cozying up to Paul Ryan

The day after the stunning upset in the special congressional election in upstate New York, Rep. Paul Ryan is a man under fire.

ABC News was behind the scenes with the Wisconsin Congressman and GOP Budget Committee Chairman when he got some words of encouragement none other than former President Bill Clinton.

“So anyway, I told them before you got here, I said I’m glad we won this race in New York,” Clinton told Ryan, when the two met backstage at a forum on the national debt held by the Pete Peterson Foundation. But he added, “I hope Democrats don’t use this as an excuse to do nothing.”

Ryan told Clinton he fears that now nothing will get done in Washington.

“My guess is it’s going to sink into paralysis is what’s going to happen. And you know the math. It’s just, I mean, we knew we were putting ourselves out there. You gotta start this. You gotta get out there. You gotta get this thing moving,” Ryan said.

Clinton told Ryan that if he ever wanted to talk about it, he should “give me a call.” Ryan said he would.

Not our friends by any definition. We’re fucking doomed.

Research shows that employers who offer paid sick days have higher productivity and employee loyalty. These employers also avoid costly searches and training to replace workers who leave or are fired for using sick time. According to Vicky Lovell (in Everyone Gets Sick, Not Everyone Has Time to Get Better, published by the National Partnership for Women and Families), by implementing a paid sick-days policy, employers save $3.50 more per employee-hour than what they spend. There is also a decrease in health-care costs as workers receive preventive care instead of relying on the emergency room.

Access to earned sick days is also critical to public health. When an ill employee is forced to choose between staying home and paying the bills, we are all at risk. Public-health expert Dr. James Plumb told Council that 40 percent of workers contract the flu from a co-worker and that of the 18 million stomach-flu infections nationally, half come from ill food-service workers.

I mean, is this the biggest “DUUUUHHH” of all time or what? You would think that even the greediest employer would be willing to provide some measure of paid sick days to prevent the spread of disease in the workplace: no one likes to work next to someone who’s sneezing and coughing, spraying snot and sputum teeming with bacteria everywhere. It’s a public health hazard, prima facie, to deny people sick time.

But it’s also morally wrong. Someone like me, who works in an office as a professional, or someone who’s a union member and has a contract with benefits, doesn’t have to worry about putting food on the table if we have to stay home sick because we don’t lose wages and hours thanks to our paid sick time. That’s not true for a lot of people, especially those working minimum wage, low-skill, non-professional, non-union jobs. Minimum wage in PA brings you about $290.00 per week, before taxes: take out 3% in state taxes, another 10%-15% in federal taxes, and another 3.9% in non-refundable wage taxes and you’re not looking at a whole hell of a lot of money. Missing a day of work when you’re poor and have no sick time means you don’t have as much to spend on groceries, or for that matter medicine to make you or your kids get better.

I spent nearly 15 years in the restaurant business, and I remember the impact when I had to stay home sick from work. It showed up as a big ol’ hole in my paycheck, which is why I’d try my best to get to work regardless of health: if that meant I was sneezing and hacking while prepping or plating food, so be it. Sure sometimes I had to wipe my nose with my hand and didn’t have a chance to go wash (if you’ve ever worked as a line cook, you know what the pressure can be like: I would often go 5 hours putting off taking a piss during the evening rush), and so did everyone else because we couldn’t afford to stay home.

Passing legislation that will guarantee a minimum number of sick days to Philadelphia workers is a no-brainer. Sign the petition here.

Now, why might a police officer need plastic surgery?

That was the end of my radio listening that day, except for traffic reports. I can’t be chugging bourbon at 8:00 AM.

Over the weekend, we Tarts learned the shocking news that one of our most loyal backbloggers and friends, Melissa Mia Hall, aka MMH, had died suddenly and somewhat mysteriously.
[...]
And then we learned the truth which turned out to be far worse, far more humbling, than our conjecture. Melissa died because she couldn’t afford to see a doctor.

In light of a federal court judge’s decision yesterday to overrule the Obama healthcare law, it’s hard not to turn our thoughts to Melissa who, like most self-employed Americans, was responsible for acquiring and paying for her own health insurance – a luxury she simply couldn’t afford. She knew she needed medical care, but feared a visit would result in a lengthy hospital stay that would “ruin her credit rating.”

I know exactly how Melissa felt. You see, I have recently changed jobs and I’m in the standard three-month probationary period. This means I don’t have benefits, including insurance. Because I’m already paying child support, a student loan, a mortgage, and various living expenses, I can’t afford to participate in COBRA.

This is a real problem, because I have asthma, which is a chronic condition. I take two medications: an emergency albuterol inhaler and a twice-daily steroid inhaler, that prevents the attacks from happening to begin with. Both are more expensive without insurance: my albuterol is about $50.00, and my steroid inhaler went up to nearly $200.00 for a month’s supply. Needless to say, I can’t afford that, and so I have done without since my last purchase went dry.

The impact has been subtle, but has grown over time. You see, the way these medications work is by doing the lungs’ work for them, and in the absence of the medication, the lungs… well, they kinda forget how to do their job properly. So, slowly but surely, my breathing has become more labored. Slowly but surely, I have grown more sensitive to allergens that set off my asthma. Every night, I wake up reaching for the albuterol, sometimes two or three times. It’s not healthy.

I woke up this Saturday morning at 3:00 AM with a terrible attack, feeling like someone was sitting on my chest: the bronchial spasms were intense, and I literally had to gasp for air like a fish out of water. I felt like I was asphyxiating. I squeezed out the last drops of the albuterol (a months’ supply, in the absence of my maintenance medication, lasted all of two weeks) and prayed it would be enough. The last time I ran out, when I had insurance, a visit to the ER cost my over $100.00. Like poor, dead Melissa Mia Hall, there is no way on earth I can afford an ER visit uninsured. And thank God that final dose of albuterol got me through the night, because CVS doesn’t open til around 10:00 AM on the weekends.

The fact is that, for the uninsured, the cost of medication and seeing a doctor is no different than extortion. It is no different than holding a diabetic’s insulin out of reach and demanding “your money or your life.” It is no different, and it is wholly immoral and criminal that this situation exists in a country that can afford to give trillions in tax cuts to the wealthiest among us. As I see it, necessary medications for chronic conditions like asthma, cancer, AIDS, depression and bipolar disorder, should be provided FREE to those who need them, insurance or no.

Universal health care is something this country desperately needs, and I was very disappointed that the President lied to Americans on the issue, forcing us into a cramped, contorted hybrid: the jury’s still out on whether this scheme will work. Pricing necessary medication out of the reach of people who need it is immoral and should be illegal: I want Senator Casey to continue to work to pass a universal health care law that would finally allow the US to catch up with the rest of the civilized world. This should include free medication for those with chronic conditions like asthma, glaucoma, AIDS, cancer, and emphysema (among others), whether they have insurance or not. It doesn’t cost a lot of money to make steroid inhalers: they have been around for a LONG time, and the reason they are so expensive is because the companies that make them own patents and can charge whatever they want. And thanks to the thoroughly corrupt deal-making that went into the bill “pay for delay” remains in effect:

The government currently allows drug makers to directly pay other companies not to compete with them. Legislative efforts to put an end to this monopolistic practice appear dead according to the Hill.”

.

In other words, it takes longer for generics to come to market

Senator Casey worked very hard to deliver a bill with a public option, and I am grateful for this. I would have been MORE grateful if he succeeded, and the Liar-in-Chief hadn’t already promised the hospital and insurance industries that he would make sure there wasn’t a public option in the final bill. Senator Casey must not give up this fight: every day in Pennsylvania, and in the United States, someone goes to bed without the medicine he or she needs to lead a healthy life. In the case of Melissa Mia Hall, it was fatal. That’s wrong, and it’s gotta stop.

Seriously, that’s what he means when he criticizes S-CHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. not only does he want your kid to die, he wants YOU to go bankrupt paying for treatments you can’t afford out of pocket.

he’s a fucking piece of shit, and if i saw him immolated in flames, i wouldn’t so much as urinate on his giant light-bulb shaped head.

joe Sestak needs your support, or we’re gonna be represented by Santorum Part 2.

In his book, Daschle reveals that after the Senate Finance Committee and the White House convinced hospitals to to accept $155 billion in payment reductions over ten years on July 8, the hospitals and Democrats operated under two “working assumptions.” “One was that the Senate would aim for health coverage of at least 94 percent of Americans,” Daschle writes. “The other was that it would contain no public health plan,” which would have reimbursed hospitals at a lower rate than private insurers.

I asked Daschle if the White House had taken the option off the table in July 2009 and if all future efforts to resuscitate the provision were destined to fail:

DASCHLE: I don’t think it was taken off the table completely. It was taken off the table as a result of the understanding that people had with the hospital association, with the insurance (AHIP), and others. I mean I think that part of the whole effort was based on a premise. That premise was, you had to have the stakeholders in the room and at the table. Lessons learned in past efforts is that without the stakeholders’ active support rather than active opposition, it’s almost impossible to get this job done. They wanted to keep those stakeholders in the room and this was the price some thought they had to pay. Now, it’s debatable about whether all of these assertions and promises are accurate, but that was the calculation. I think there is probably a good deal of truth to it. You look at past efforts and the doctors and the hospitals, and the insurance companies all opposed health care reform. This time, in various degrees of enthusiasm, they supported it. And if I had to point out some of the key differences between then and now, it would be the most important examples of the difference.

A number of us have said this for a long time now, and many of our fellow bloggers (like this guy and this guy) probably need to eat some words for buying the administration’s fables (the moral of this one is “the way you can tell a politician’s lying is when his mouth is moving). Not that I’ll be holding my breath.

I wonder how the many people who advocated strongly for a public option, like Philadelphia’s tireless advocate Marc Stier must feel about Daschle’s revelations: Marc wrote TONS of articles about the importance of a public option, made calls, organized, knocked on doors, held conferences and action events, and swallowed his disappointment to support the bill that eventually emerged. Now it looks like he, and everyone else who believed the president, was played for a fool.

And it is in this context, ladies and gentlemen, that the administration and its shrinking cadre of true believers wonder why people who normally support Democrats are unenthusiastic.

I remember this commercial, which appeared about a week before the AIDS crisis exploded.

Action AIDS is one of the many non-profit human services organizations in Philadelphia, and their name is pretty self-explanatory. Like most non-profits, Action AIDS is under the gun due to the economic calamity we’re living in. (And may i add, the economic collapse as disproved the entire notion that the corporate sector, rather than the government, should be responsible for funding human services: when profits dry up, so do the donations).

Anyway, Action AIDS has a fun little fundraiser all over the city tonight: Bar AIDS. Here’s the description, via facebook:

On Thursday, Aug. 26, from 5:30 on to at least midnight, a dozen local coffeehouses and bars will donate a portion of their proceeds to the local fight against HIV/AIDS. Here’s a list of the places where every dollar you spend will make a difference — whether it’s on a cappuccino or a Coors lite. (We also added details of any other specials they have going that night.)

COFFEHOUSES

* Cafe Cret
* Small Oven Bakery at Tutti Frutti

BARS

* Bike Stop
* City Tap House — $2 local beers, 5-7pm
* Fergie’s Pub
* Knock Restaurant & Bar — 1/2-price apps, including gourmet wings, sliders + flatbreads
* Tabu — $5 open bar, 9-10pm
* Tavern on Camac
* Westbury
* Woody’s — $5 Effen vodka, all nite long
* Uncle’s
* XIX at Hyatt Bellevue

You can easily find the addresses via Google, and you can find me at Fergie’s Pub after 6:00 PM, where I’ll be hoisting a pint or two in the fight against AIDS. I hope you’ll be there too! AIDS is a shitty disease to have, and you can help raise money to fight it by drinking beers.

I think this is an appropriate enough video to introduce the latest in hope and change, received in a fundraising email from the otherwise odious sellout on reproductive rights, NARAL:

I have an urgent update about the new health-care law.

To our dismay, the Obama administration just announced it will exclude abortion coverage in the temporary health-insurance pools that will transition us into the new health-care system.

I am outraged that such a decision would come from a pro-choice president that we helped elect.

I have contacted the White House, but I need your voice, too. Tell President Obama that this new policy is unacceptable and ask him to change course immediately.

According to the Associated Press, the Obama administration is set to ban abortion services in a new, temporary program for individuals who fall into high-risk pools.1 This policy means that women who are part of these pools because they have significant health problems, such as diabetes or cancer, will not be able to access abortion care, even if their health is at further risk.

Believe it or not, the administration’s policy is similar to the ban proposed by anti-choice Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). That’s right. For about three years, a Stupak-style ban will now apply to women in these new high-risk insurance pools.

Abortion is the most common surgical procedure women receive. At a time when the country is on the cusp of implementing nationwide health-insurance coverage, it is unacceptable to treat abortion care differently in the new high-risk pools.

Please urge President Obama to remove the abortion-coverage ban immediately.

Unless President Obama steps in, women with pre-existing conditions or other high-risk medical needs like diabetes will lose out on coverage for abortion care.

Help us fight back. Tell President Obama that the abortion-coverage ban was not part of the agreement on health reform.

I’ll keep you posted as this story unfolds. We will keep the pressure on the White House until the administration changes course.

Nancy Keenan

Nancy Keenan
President, NARAL Pro-Choice America

As usual, Susie says it best:

Picture this: You’ve recently been through exhausting rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, you’ve been puking your guts up and your doctor warns you this is a particularly malignant cancer.

Then you find out through some miracle (or bizarre irony) that you’re pregnant.

Your doctor warns you the chemo and radiation has put the fetus at risk. She also says the pregnancy could make it harder to effectively treat the cancer. You have a difficult decision ahead of you.

Hah hah, only kidding! That decision’s already been made for you!

What’s really infuriating is the attitude the administration seems to be taking. Obama’s apologists will remind you over and over again that the most important political goal is to prevent the Republicans from getting back in power, and that is certainly true so far as it goes. but it puts the administration in a position in which it can carry out those same policies (as we are seeing here, with abortion), because they know voters have nowhere else to turn.

It is like paying off the mobster who only smashes your house to pieces and breaks your thumbs, because the other option is the guy who’s also going to rape and murder your children. That’s how I see this announcement on abortion: “What’re you gonna do about it lady, vote Republican? Cus not only will they prohibit you from getting an abortion too, they’ll make you keep the baby even if you’re raped.”

Via NYCEve:

On August 4th in Washington D.C. the National Association of Free Clinics holds a Free Clinic at the Walter E Washington Convention Center in Washington DC.

An invitation from Nicole Lamoureux the executive director of the Free Clinic Association went to every member of Congress and the United States Senate. 535 in total. 435 Members of the House and 100 members of the U.S. Senate.

To date, Nicole has had one response, from Donna Edwards. Donna is coming on August 4th.

If you refuse to understand what this says about our government and our country, then with due respect, you’re being willfully blind.

Imagine that: in the millionaires club we call “the Senate”, not one single elected representative will come see the dire plight of their constituents. And of the House, only one person is coming.

I think that’s shameful (although perhaps that’s just a reflection of my “permanent outrage and relentless negativity fostered and fueled by the blogosphere.”). When millions of Americans don’t have healthcare or even access to it, when millions are out of work and have lost their insurance, with the cost of health care increasing for the next couple of years, and when the exchanges seem to me to be unaffordable,the refusal to attend seemd to me like sticking one’s head in the sand. Or, to channel Douglas Adams, it seemed like my senators and representativeswere emulating the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal”…

Known for its never-ending hunger and its mind boggling stupidity, the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal is such a stupid animal that it thinks if you can’t see it, it can’t see you.

…so I called both of my senators and asked why they weren’t attending.

Specter’s office was absolutely useless: the woman who spoke to me told me she’s “not allowed” to give out the email for the soon-to-be-retired senator’s scheduler. Bob Casey’s office was fairly helpful, although the woman I spoke to couldn’t explain why he hadn’t signed up. She gave me the email address of his scheduler and urged me to send the information, which I did. I also edited the letter for outreach to Representatives Sestak, Fattah, Schwartz, and Brady

Dear Senator Casey:

It has come to my attention that you received, but did not respond to, an invitation to the August 4 2010 Free Clinic, to be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention center in washington DC. I am writing to inquire as to why you are not attending, and to exhort you to go. Here is the link for more information, with some choice quotes

Links don’t show up well in my blockquotes, so here it is for you, dearest reader. Continuing…

“An invitation from Nicole Lamoureux the executive director of the Free Clinic Association went to every member of Congress and the United States Senate. 535 in total. 435 Members of the House and 100 members of the U.S. Senate.

To date, Nicole has had one response, from Donna Edwards. Donna is coming on August 4th.”

Senator Casey, it’s truly shameful that you and the rest of the Senate have essentially refused to go to this clinic: with millions of people unemployed and millions more either without health care or access to health care, closing our eyes to the plight of the poor and the middle class is not an option. You need to see with your own eyes the condition of our families, especially given that health care costs are expected to RISE over the next couple of years.

Senator Casey, I appreciated your stand for a public option, and was gravely disappointed when the Senate passed the Finance Committee’s bill instead of your own. Go to this clinic: then you will be able to tell your colleagues that adding a public option is of utmost importance.

Yours,

Brendan Skwire

I sent similar letters to my Congresscritters as well. I hope that you’ll cus and paste and send similar harangues to whoever purports to represent you in DC too.

UPDATE: Schwartz ain’t going:

Brendan,

Thank you for your email. I do appreciate you following up with our office concerning the invitation for the Free Clinic on August 4, 2010 at the Walter Washington Convention Center here in Washington, DC. The Congresswoman will unfortunately not be able to attend the event because she will be back in her district as that will be the first full week of the Congressional Summer District Work Period. We regret that she will not be able to make an appearance, but please rest assured that she will continue to work and advocate on behalf of the millions of unemployed citizens in the 13th Congressional District, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and throughout the nation.

Best,

Carlton
Executive Assistant/Scheduler
U.S. Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz (PA-13)