Limbaugh: Armageddon Redux

From Think Progress, we learn that FatBoy Limbaugh has re-purposed his patented fire and brimstone rant. The Hatriot ...

talked about the volcanic eruption that’s affecting air travel over much of Europe, saying it was “God speaking” in response to the passage of health care [...] God may have replied. This volcano in Iceland has grounded more airplanes — airspace has more affected — than even after 9/11 because of this plume, because of this ash cloud over Northern and Western Europe. At the Paris airport they’re telling people to head to the train station to catch trains out of France, and when people get to the train station they’re telling people, “There aren’t any seats until at least April 22nd,” basically a week from now. It’s got everybody in a shutdown. Earth has opened up. I don’t know whether it’s a rebirth or Armageddon.

This reminds me of a childhood story - The Tale of Chicken Little.

Babies or Fetus?

Which ones to throw under the bus?

A number of Republican senators attacked an agreement reached between Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Senate Democratic leaders Saturday, saying it would lead to the eventual reversal of more than 30 years of federal law banning abortion funding. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oka.) said it is “absolutely fictitious” that there is an anti-abortion provision in the Senate Democrats’ reworked healthcare reform bill. “The negotiations, whoever did them, threw unborn babies under the bus,” Coburn said.

From here.

It appears that the clusterfuck mêlée unfolding in the US Senate (or is it Congress?) around legislation to reform the parameters of US healthcare has been distilled to this.

On one side, The Fetus©™ fetishists - Repubs and Dems alike - who are taking their marching orders from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops lobby.

On the other, those who appear to be more concerned about the survival of babies born, the availability of medical care to pregnant women, and their families. The recent World Economic Forum analyzed a number of gender indicators in order to measure for example, differences access to healthcare differences between the sexes. Antonia Zerbesias demonstrates why this is important.

For the record, Canada ranks No. 25 on all these measures, while the US is No. 31. Tops in the world is Iceland, followed by the usual line-up of northern European countries, Finland, Norway, Sweden. As for the bottom of the list, let's just say you don't want to be a woman in Yemen.

But let's cut straight to the maternal mortality chase, which those ''pro-lifers'' focus on. Not only do "weak healthcare systems not prioritize women's health,'' there is evidence that the number of skilled healthcare workers available to support women through pregnancy, delivery and post-natal care had everything to do with women's survival. The women who die, die of "severe bleeding, infection, hypertension'' and then ''complications from unsafe abortion.'' About 20 per cent of maternal deaths are related to diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS -- and then there's women's inability to get decent nourishment.

From here.

So let's be clear on who exactly who gets thrown under the bus if healthcare is not reformed in the US. Yup, yup, you betcha! Women and children - considered by those rabidly opposed to abortions as mere "Gestational Support Units" and "Not-Fetuses".

More teabaggers', assorted rightwing religious zealots' and stupid attention-mongers' indecent repurposing and/or spoliage of respected aphorisms, check out Boris' post at The Galloping Beaver.

Why are The Fetus©™ fetishists oddly silent?

You might think, given her politics, the woman in the news photograph above would be a natural ally of The Fetus©™ fetishists everywhere, and in particular a sister in the struggle (as it were) with zygote zealots like our own Blob Blogging Wingnut but you would be MASSIVELY wrong.

The woman shrieking into the microphone is Catherina Wojtowicz, an organizer for a Tea Party splinter group at a town hall meeting in Oak Lawn, Illinois. It was there that

Dan and Midge Hough, of Chicago, spoke in favor of health care reform and in support of U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-3rd) at a Nov. 14 town hall meeting in Oak Lawn.

Their daughter-in-law, Jenny, and an unborn grandchild died recently due in part, they believe, to a lack of health insurance. They said Jenny was not receiving regular prenatal care and ended up in an emergency room with double pneumonia that developed into septic shock. Her baby died in the womb, and Jenny died a few weeks later, leaving behind a husband and a 2-year-old daughter.

[Wojtowicz] falsely claimed that the Houghs fabricated their story. In an e-mail, she called them operatives of President Barack Obama who "go from event to event and (cry) the same story."

When the Houghs spoke at the Lipinski event, some Tea Partiers ridiculed them. They moaned and rolled their eyes and interrupted. Midge Hough began to cry.

The audience, Wojtowicz later explained, was exasperated by stories of isolated tragedies that cloud debate over the health care bill itself.

In spite of a ressemblance to HERSELF and similar reactionary rightwing neocon interests, Wojtowicz has no use for The Fetus©™ that doesn't support her political tactics. As well, she didn't apologize to the Hough family for defaming them or for the rude and uncivil behaviour of her mob followers.

Why I Am a Feminist: Part 4,503,071

Dr Pale informs us:

Here in Canada, The PM says Women are a left wing fringe group.

According to Texas Republican Pete Sessions, Women should pay more for health insurance, because also according to him, being a woman is a bad decision. Like smoking.

Not only is being a woman a bad decision, it is a toxic pre-existing condition.

I called it here.

So, they'll shriieeeek and stamp their tiny feet and squeal about 'our tax dollars funding the murder of baybeez' and all you medically bankrupt Americans and all you future ones can thank your local zygote zealot for crapping all over any chance for a sane healthcare system in your country.

Or, maybe in the time-honoured manner of all pols, the women and children will get thrown under the bus when the going gets politically tough and reproductive health services will be left out of any expanded coverage.

What actually happened is even worse.

To appease 39 fetus-fetishizing so-called Blue Dog Democrats, a truly evil amendment was included. Here's pro-choice Illinois Democrat Jan Schakowsky, the co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus, describing its effects (caps in the original):

This amendment goes far beyond current law which already bans the use of federal funding for abortions. It goes far beyond the language already in this bill that guarantees no federal dollars are used for abortion. This amendment says that a woman CANNOT purchase coverage that includes abortion services using her own dollars; middle class women, using exclusively their own money will be prohibited from purchasing a plan including abortion coverage in every single public OR PRIVATE INSURANCE PLAN in the new health care exchange. Her only option is to buy a separate insurance policy that covers only abortion – a ridiculous and unworkable approach since no woman anticipates needing an abortion. This amendment is a radical departure from current law and will result in millions of women losing coverage they already have.

This health reform bill is about improving access to care, not further restricting a woman's right to choose. Our bill is about lowering health care costs for millions of women and their families, not further marginalizing women by forcing them to pay more for their care. This amendment is a back door way of overturning Roe v. Wade; it is a disservice and insult to millions of women throughout our country. I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment.

Unfuckingbelievable. And it is exactly what the Catlick wing of USian Christofascists wanted.

I actually agree with Rethuglican Sessions -- being female is the worst decision I ever made.

One more thing -- FUCK YOU, first female Speaker of the US House.

Vociferous energy, ill spent.

A sane response to Sarah Palin's prevarications about the US health care reform initiative has been rabidly attacked by her zealot fans and supporters.

A lot of folks use Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family. For Sarah Palin, it's a great way to spread lies about health insurance reform. A few months back, Palin took to Facebook to declare that health reform would create "death panels," and drive private insurers out of business -- and nonpartisan factcheck sites and the independent Congressional Budget Office debunked those lies.

But that didn't stop Sarah Palin. She's back with a new Facebook note claiming that reform will raise costs on families and drive up deficits. Unfortunately for her, even the conservative "Tax Foundation" says those claims are false. So, this week, we're calling out Sarah Palin and taking to Facebook to debunk her lies on the very same pages she's using to spread them.

Watch the video and check out the comments in support of Palin - as well as those raising intelligent points.

Move over Death Panels. There's a MASSIVE new delusion in town.

According to the Republican rightwing wannabe Wonder Woman Michele Bachmann ...

schools might start offering abortions if healthcare reform passes. ... There's no passage in the bill to support this claim, and Bachmann's office didn't immediately respond to a request for clarification.

More about the development of this particular extrapolation, here. In

Bachmann's own words

:

"...the bill orders that these clinics protect patient privacy and student records. What does that mean? It means that parents will never know what kind of counsel and treatment that their children are receiving. And as a matter of fact, the bill goes on to say what's going to go on -- comprehensive primary health services, physicals, treatment of minor acute medical conditions, referrals to follow-up for specialty care -- is that abortion? Does that mean that someone's 13 year-old daughter could walk into a sex clinic, have a pregnancy test done, be taken away to the local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, have their abortion, be back and go home on the school bus that night? Mom and dad are never the wiser."

Sarah Palin has some serious competition there in the raving, shrieeeking lunatic category. But then, Jill Stanek may be the ultimate champion zygote zealot and extreme fabulator, with this over-the-top

hallucination from last November:

"Barack Obama was elected president despite the fact he supports abortion into the fourth trimester."

Batshitcrazies? You betcha.

Rightwing Investment Info Broker Claims Doctors Are in the Health Biz for the Money.

US physicians work in the health care business for the money? That would seem to be the premise of a *MASSIVE* poll done by Investors' Business Daily.

45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found. The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul.

So this purported 'scientific' sampling of doctors who read IBD and share its views are *MASSIVELY* out of step with their colleagues in the AMA. What a shock.

And the response to this *MASSIVE* poll is predictably rightwingbatshit teabagger frothing-at-the mouth lunatic:

Doctors Threaten to Go Galt if ObamaCare Passes

It would be a miracle of biblical proportions if Big Government's minions could decrease costs while increasing coverage, as Democrats have been promising to do when they seize control of the healthcare industry.

Miracle of "biblical proportions" is the US religious rightwing zealot term for *MASSIVE* I'd guess.

Who are these so-called investors business experts anyway? Oh wait. Gotcha!

Read about the original *MASSIVE* poll here.

Obama Kicked Butt Tonight

I really liked this bit.



Sawah is a big fat liar. Also.

ADDED: The text of Edward Kennedy's letter.

To our American cousins: This is healthcare in Canada (open thread)

This great vid is getting a lot of play in the Canadian blogosphere.

Invitation to Canadians: tell your healthcare stories -- minor, major, funny, frustrating -- here, and/or at one of the other Canadian sites hoping to inform our southern friends:

Unrepentant Old Hippie

Canadian Cynic

We Move to Vancouver.

This is my boring story that I posted at UOH:

In the hopes that Americans are visiting here, here’s an account of my encounter with the Canadian healthcare system this week.

I got an infected toe (don’t ask). I was treating it — soaking, antibiotic cream. But by Monday, I had to admit it wasn’t getting better. Called doc, asked if I could come in the next day. Yup. Zero wait in waiting room. Doc said I needed systemic antibiotics. Doc pulled out scrip pad. Moi: You got any samples kicking around? Doc: I’ll look. Yup, he did and handed them over.

Upshot — total cost: two transit fares. No waiting. No problemo. Not a bureaucrat in sight.

I wrote about that just because it was so minor and mundane. If I were uninsured in the US, as I surely would be, I'd think twice, thrice, and so on, before spending I-have-no-idea-how-much-dough on a doctor's visit. A minor ailment would become worse, more painful, perhaps dangerous, certainly more expensive to treat, more wasteful of my time and that of a bunch of trained professionals.

When heathcare is accessible and cheap/free, people take better care of themselves. They seek and get timely, cost-effective care.

Canadians live longer than Americans.

QED.

ADDED: The Huffington Post has this video. Lots of comments!

US Conservatives for Patients' Rights are Cons and Liars?

Quelle surprise - not.

Two British women have claimed they were duped into becoming the stars of a campaign to sabotage Barack Obama's healthcare reforms. Furious Kate Spall and Katie Brickell claim that their views on the NHS have been misrepresented by a free market campaign group opposed to Mr Obama's reforms in a bid to discredit the UK system.

Their anger came amid a growing backlash in the UK over the portrayal of the NHS by conservatives in America ...

JJ at unrepentant old hippie, wrote about how "Investors Business Daily" lied and then lied some more about Stephen Hawking and services available to UK patients also suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease from the NHS.

Mr Hawking himself defended the health system as he accepted America's highest honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this week, saying: 'I wouldn't be here if not for the NHS'. ...

Ms Spall and Ms Brickell both agreed to appear in a documentary on healthcare reform. But neither knew that the footage would be used as part of a TV advertising campaign carried on US networks. Although standing by her views, Ms Spall said she was horrified by how the CPR had used her words.

'What I said is what I believe, and I stand by it, but the context it has been used in is something I was not aware would happen,' she said. 'The irony is that I campaign for exactly the people that socialised healthcare supports. I would not align myself with this group at all.'

Ms Brickell ... said her words had been 'skewed out of proportion' by the CPR. 'My point was not that the NHS shouldn't exist or that it was a bad thing. I think that our health service is not perfect but to get better it needs more public money, not less. I didn't realise it was having such a political impact.'

Dr Karol Sikora, a British cancer specialist who has often spoken out against the NHS, said he had also fallen victim to the same technique. He told the Guardian: 'They came and saw me in my office about a month ago and I gather I am appearing in some advert. They didn't tell me that would happen.' ...

CPR was set up by Richard Scott, a multimillionaire who founded the Columbia Hospital Corporation.

From here. Imagine that. "Conservatives for Patients' Rights" is funded by an organization actually working to conserve corporate rights in the provision of health care in the US.

Will Canadian Shona Holmes recant what she said and claim that she was also duped? Unlikely, as she would have to pay back the money that "Americans for Prosperity" probably gave her to sell out our public health care system.