Originally Posted by cabo35

Kahuna, you are uncharacteristically harsh on those that responded directly to your words in your post. Any subsequent "morphing" appears to be in response to your statements and not a desire to review the 2008 Presidential campaign. You stated:




Personally, I acknowledged respect for your position and offered the basis for my opposing opinions for contrast. No where did I interject a judgemental tone because my core belief system, (established by my often repeated reference about being raised by a mother, a Boston Democrat who worked on JFK's campaign and a father who was a solid Goldwater Republican), is respect for political persuasions other than my own.

Further, my prolific accumulation of posts offer no shortage of discussion viewpoints about the direction the country should be taking from my perspective. Until there is a quantum change in the White House, Justice Department and Congress, as indicated in my post, I believe "national security trumps progressive social justice and share the wealth and health economics". I understand that our economy is in dire need of attention. My point is that exposure of the American people and our financial and economic institutions to the threats of enemies of this country is real. I believe the totality of our present circumstance has made us less safe. I submit that rebuilding the economy requires at least a concurrent commitment to national security that will provide increased safety for our people and institutions.

I hope you continue to post because you offer informative and interesting perspectives. Of course, occasionally disagreeing with them is aways an option....and the basis of what makes this forum challenging and a venue for cerebral exercise.

Have a good evening.

CABO..I sure wish I had the gift that you have....all I can say is AMEN...great post ! And thank you !

In our system, about all any one voter can do is communicate with their elected representatives. I've used all the means available. E-mail is easiest, but I often fax letter to Ginny Brown-Waite's office as well as the Senators. Short of that, there's not much we can do before November of this year.

Unfortunately...in my opinion...the influence of individual voters isn't very great when the 5-6 lobbyists for every member of Congress are patrolling the halls of the Capitol with handfulls of money. (Don't get me started on something else we desperately need--campaign finance reform!)

Having said all that, I think I'll be surprised is the healthcare reform bill being promoted by the President gets thru the House of Representatives. It sure doesn't appear to me that the rifts between the various segments of the Democratic caucus will be sufficiently repaired to get the required 216 votes to pass the bill.

If the bill somehow passes the House and gets to the Senate, the Democrats certainly have enough votes to pass it. The GOP will pull all the "rules tricks" they can think of out of the book to try to delay or stop the bill. One thing to look for is the introduction of many, many amendments to the bill, which as I understand it, could actually delay or even stop the passage of the bill by the Senate.

So, other than writing, calling and faxing, all we can do now is wait and see.

Originally Posted by Bucco

VK...I tried to tell you during the campaign and I am even going back as far as the primary..........IT IS TOO LATE !

You kept saying we could vote him and them out,but the dye is cast...the health bill will be passed and will never be repealed...it will become what it is today...a political football to be kicked around. Cap and trade, and all the other things I warned you about are going to become a reality !

Before you go on your Bush rant...I agree...he over spent and mismanaged, but this guy and this congress are making him look like a major leaguer.

Would McCain be better..I dont know.....I DID KNOW AND DO KNOW about what we have now !

"governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles

Deceleration of Independence

Yoda

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

In our system, about all any one voter can do is communicate with their elected representatives. I've used all the means available. E-mail is easiest, but I often fax letter to Ginny Brown-Waite's office as well as the Senators. Short of that, there's not much we can do before November of this year.

Unfortunately...in my opinion...the influence of individual voters isn't very great when the 5-6 lobbyists for every member of Congress are patrolling the halls of the Capitol with handfulls of money. (Don't get me started on something else we desperately need--campaign finance reform!)

Having said all that, I think I'll be surprised is the healthcare reform bill being promoted by the President gets thru the House of Representatives. It sure doesn't appear to me that the rifts between the various segments of the Democratic caucus will be sufficiently repaired to get the required 216 votes to pass the bill.

If the bill somehow passes the House and gets to the Senate, the Democrats certainly have enough votes to pass it. The GOP will pull all the "rules tricks" they can think of out of the book to try to delay or stop the bill. One thing to look for is the introduction of many, many amendments to the bill, which as I understand it, could actually delay or even stop the passage of the bill by the Senate.

So, other than writing, calling and faxing, all we can do now is wait and see.

This from my other thread on this subject....this President WILL make sure this passes under any circumstances.

"WASHINGTON – In private pitches to Democrats, President Barack Obama says he will persuade Congress to pass his health care overhaul even if it kills him and even if he has to ask deeply distrustful lawmakers to trust him on a promise the White House doesn't have the power to keep."

Some answers, however, rely more on faith than fact. Confronting party unrest on his left and right, Obama is calling for political courage, citing historic opportunities and essentially saying "trust me" in areas inherently murky, uncertain and out of his control. The process for getting health care legislation through Congress is tough enough already, and Republicans are determined to derail it.

Obama told House liberals last week that he understands their frustration in seeing priorities — such as allowing the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies — dropped from the revised legislation. He promised to work with them in the future to improve health care laws, said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who leads the Congressional Black Caucus."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100307/..._leap_of_faith

Originally Posted by Villages Kahuna

In our system, about all any one voter can do is communicate with their elected representatives. I've used all the means available. E-mail is easiest, but I often fax letter to Ginny Brown-Waite's office as well as the Senators. Short of that, there's not much we can do before November of this year.

Unfortunately...in my opinion...the influence of individual voters isn't very great when the 5-6 lobbyists for every member of Congress are patrolling the halls of the Capitol with handfulls of money. (Don't get me started on something else we desperately need--campaign finance reform!)

Having said all that, I think I'll be surprised is the healthcare reform bill being promoted by the President gets thru the House of Representatives. It sure doesn't appear to me that the rifts between the various segments of the Democratic caucus will be sufficiently repaired to get the required 216 votes to pass the bill.

If the bill somehow passes the House and gets to the Senate, the Democrats certainly have enough votes to pass it. The GOP will pull all the "rules tricks" they can think of out of the book to try to delay or stop the bill. One thing to look for is the introduction of many, many amendments to the bill, which as I understand it, could actually delay or even stop the passage of the bill by the Senate.

So, other than writing, calling and faxing, all we can do now is wait and see.

What do you suggest we ask the senators and congress to do?

Originally Posted by cashman

What do you suggest we ask the senators and congress to do?

That's kind of up to individual voters.

For me, I won't be too unhappy if the currently proposed bill fails to get passage. Don't get me wrong--the need for healthcare reform in this country has reached a critical stage. We don't have too many more years before the costs of healthcare will either break or bankrupt many, many more individual families, or force them to join the tens of millions with no health insurance at all. I'm not wild about the current bill because it appears to be designed to satisfy every single special interest lobbyist who has paid members of Congress to draft a bill the way this one is drafted.

The things that I could embrace, were they in the proposed bill would include...

• Either a public option to provide competition to the private health insurance companies, or a law that would permit buyers to buy insurance across state lines. Either one, or a combination of the two, would introduce true competition to a business that now is almost a pure oligolpoly--great for the insurance companies, but simply awful for those insured by those companies.
• No change in Medicare funding
• Some sort of ideas that would reduce the costs of end-of-life healthcare
• National tort reform
• Some ideas which would drive private, individual doctors towards a business model like the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic or even Shands here in Florida. Those organizations are at the forefront of treating the illness, not just prescribing endless tests, treatments, surgeries and prescriptions, and are known to truly "bend the curve" of healthcare costs.
• Some sort of believable program to reduce Medicare and insurance fraud. Something with teeth in it that would likely work.
• A law that would result in true competition in the pricing of prescription drugs. Something like what results in drug prices for VA beneficiaries being 50-60% lower than what is paid by the general public with private insurance.

That's not necessarily a complete list of what I'd like to see in legislation, but it would be good for starters.