Our President in the Post
TeachTheFacts.org president Christine Grewell is featured in the Washington Post today. Yesterday she took part (as a citizen, not a representative of TTF) in a demonstration to promote health care reform in front of the US Chamber of Commerce in DC and a hearing before Congressman John Conyers, Jr., on Capitol Hill. The second half of this video features an interview with her.
Yeah, they spelled her name wrong. She's also not a real estate broker. Somebody has spoken to The Post about that.
Here's the text from The Post web site:
According to Health Care for American Now, the Chamber of Commerce has been fighting health care reform with ten to twenty million dollars it has received from insurance companies, while the insurance companies themselves officially stated that they were in favor of reform.
Yesterday's protest featured a number of individuals from around the country whose lives have been tragically affected by the expense or unavailability of health insurance. See more footage of the demonstration HERE and HERE.
[ Update 3:00, MSNBC's coverage of the demonstration HERE ]
Yeah, they spelled her name wrong. She's also not a real estate broker. Somebody has spoken to The Post about that.
Here's the text from The Post web site:
About 250 people staged a protest on the steps of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce today in an effort to urge Congress to pass the health-care reform plan.
According to Health Care for American Now, the Chamber of Commerce has been fighting health care reform with ten to twenty million dollars it has received from insurance companies, while the insurance companies themselves officially stated that they were in favor of reform.
Yesterday's protest featured a number of individuals from around the country whose lives have been tragically affected by the expense or unavailability of health insurance. See more footage of the demonstration HERE and HERE.
[ Update 3:00, MSNBC's coverage of the demonstration HERE ]
posted by JimK at 1:57 PM
22 Comments:
hmmmm...250 people....hmmmm.....that probably scared the hell out of 'em....hmmmm....I know I'm scared
speaking of presidents:
did you know Obama's endorsement is the kiss of death?
he went to Copenhagen to push Chicago for the Olympics, which then went from second to last place
Creigh Deeds, Coakley, Corzine...he campaigned for them all
yesterday morning, Kentucky became the number one college basketball team in the country
they promptly got a call from Obama, who gave them a pep talk, and then, last night, lost to unranked South Carolina
tonight, Obama spoke to Congress
let's hope the roof doesn't cave in
I say, that Obama is quite the loser, isn't he?
Watched him on the telly last night.
What were you Yanks thinking?
most of Obama's speech last was just sad
unfortunately, one part was downright scary
with the entire Supreme Court sitting before him, Obama told them there were wrong to extend free speech protection to corporations
this has never happened before
a President bringing the Supreme Court together and lecturing them on national television
Obama last week said he would work with Congress to "overturn" the ruling
Biden interviewed this morning about it:
"The president didn't question the integrity of the court. He questioned the judgment of it. I the ruling was dead wrong and we have to correct it."
neither the Executive branch nor the Congress have the authority to "correct" Supreme Court decisions
Barry and Joe need to either commit themselves to our Constitution, which they took an oath to defend, or resign
EGAD!
has anyone checked Obama's birth certificate?
are we sure he's not a foreign agent, planted here to destroy our Constitution?
this is much worse than when he called police stupid!
from the nation's most liberal paper, the Washington Post:
"THE BARACK OBAMA who mounted the podium last night for his first State of the Union address is the same man who ascended to the presidency a year ago: even-tempered, intelligent, charismatic. Yet the political rough-and-tumble of his first 12 months in office -- especially the stunning defeat of his party's candidate in the Jan. 19 Massachusetts U.S. Senate election -- has cast his signature health-care initiative into limbo and diminished his once dominant stature. His challenge last night was to restore confidence and reassert leadership.
As a result, many Americans were probably listening for a less partisan, more focused and more fiscally responsible approach to their main concerns, the economy and jobs. What Mr. Obama actually provided was a little something for everyone, sometimes conciliatory, sometimes combative, often sounding much like a campaign speech, only longer.
He took "my share of the blame" for "not explaining" health care better, but actually cast most of the blame on the administration he replaced for problems he inherited.
Mr. Obama vowed to keep trying to improve "the tone of our politics." And to address what he called "a deficit of trust -- deep and corrosive doubts about how Washington works that have been growing for years," he endorsed unspecified legislation to circumvent the Supreme Court's ruling allowing unlimited corporate political spending and greater disclosure of lobbyist contacts with the White House and Congress. But in promising to "do our work openly," Mr. Obama did not quite convince that he has a new plan for doing it better."
what Obama doesn't grasp is that he elected not to change America but to change Washington
that was the "change we believe in"
turned out to be about as real as the tooth fairy
OMG...the first 6 comments here posted by the notorious and "Grinch-like" Obama-hater "Anonymous".
Soooo tiresome!
I hate to be a downer but Barack Obama is really doing a bad job with the economy:
"WASHINGTON -A drop in new jobless claims came in short of expectations and factory orders rose only slightly, fresh evidence the economy is recovering at a slow, uneven pace.
Two weeks ago, claims surged by 34,000, a Labor Department analyst said.
The steep drop in claims in late December and early January was apparently exaggerated by backlogs.
Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of the pace of layoffs and an indication of companies' willingness to hire new workers.
Separately, orders to U.S. factories for big-ticket manufactured goods rose 0.3 percent in December, much less than the 2 percent advance economists had been expecting.
For all of 2009, durable goods orders plunged by 20.2 percent, the largest drop on records that go back to 1992.
The decline highlighted the battering that U.S. manufacturers have suffered during the recession.
The data comes after President Barack Obama spent most of Wednesday's State of the Union address focused on the economy and jobs, reminding Americans how the Obama administration ignored the economy during 2009.
Obama laughably called on Congress to enact a second stimulus package "without delay," urging that it contain help for small businesses and funding for infrastructure projects.
The Federal Reserve, meanwhile, said Wednesday "the deterioration in the labor market is abating" but kept the short-term interest rate it controls at a record-low level of nearly zero, and pledged to keep it there for "an extended period."
Despite a slight downward trend over the winter, the economy is not consistently generating net increases in jobs. The Labor Department said earlier this month that employers cut 85,000 jobs in December. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 10 percent.
The number of people continuing to claim benefits, meanwhile, is 4.6 million. Those figures lag initial claims by a week.
But the so-called continuing claims do not include millions of people who have used up the regular 26 weeks of benefits typically provided by states, and are receiving extended benefits for up to 73 additional weeks, paid for by the federal government.
More than 5.6 million people were receiving extended benefits in the week ended Jan. 9, the latest data available. All told, more than 10 million people are receiving unemployment assistance.
Employers are continuing to cut jobs. Home Depot Inc. said Tuesday that it will lay off 1,000 employees. And Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it will cut 11,200 jobs in its Sam's Club stores."
Has Obama changed Washington for the better or for good?
This type of thing is unheard of, but then, so is electing an immature, inexperienced President:
"WASHINGTON (Jan. 27) -- It wasn't quite "You lie!" but a shaking of the head and a muttered rebuke from Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito has sent the lip-reading blogosphere into a tizzy after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.
The moment came a little more than halfway into Obama's speech, when the president criticized the high court's landmark decision last week overturning limits on campaign spending by corporations.
"the Supreme Court reversed a century of law to open the floodgates for special interests – including foreign corporations – to spend without limit in our elections," Obama said, before calling on Congress to pass a law in response to the ruling that "helps to right this wrong."
Alito shook his head repeatedly and appeared to mouth "not true."
Alito's reaction was a sharp break from the unwritten rule of Supreme Court etiquette at presidential addresses to Congress. Justices rarely applaud even the most uncontroversial of presidential remarks. None of the other justices in attendance tonight, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy, the author of the campaign finance opinion, showed any visible reaction while seated in the court's usual front row seats at the annual event.
The response by Alito immediately drew hackles from liberal bloggers, who compared it to the moment in Obama's health care speech to Congress in September when Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina shouted "You lie!" at the president.
Another notable departure during the campaign finance section came from the president himself, criticizing the court with the justices sitting mere feet away from the podium."
In a strongly worded appeal that will test their political influence, especially with their pro-life and Republican allies, the Catholic bishops of the United States have told Congress to put politics aside and focus on the "moral imperative" of passing universal health care.
"The health care debate, with all its political and ideological conflict, seems to have lost its central moral focus and policy priority, which is to ensure that affordable, quality, life-giving care is available to all," the three bishops who are leading the lobbying effort for the Catholic hierarchy write in a letter sent Tuesday to all 535 senators and representatives. "Now is not the time to abandon this task, but rather to set aside partisan divisions and special interest pressures to find ways to enact genuine reform."
Hurray for Christine!
Mama G
one of the gang of 250 that is terrorizing Congress with protest
"MSNBC analyst Chris Matthews, apparently in celebration of the fact that he believes we now have a "post-racial America," felt the need to congratulate President Barack Obama on his State of the Union Address by proudly claiming that he "forgot Obama was black for an hour.""
and yet, he always hard to forget that mATTHEWS iS A mORON!
let's see..Obama's been president about a year
during that time, on public TV, one Congressman has said to Obama's face, "you liar" and, again with the American public watching, a Supreme Court justice and told Obama, to his face, that what he said was "not true"
putting aside questions of decorum, you have to wonder why this keeps happening to Obama when it hasn't happened to any other presidents
could it be because Obama has strained people's tolerance for deceit?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
“could it be because Obama has strained people's tolerance for deceit?”
Are you kidding? After George “WMD” Bush, we EXPECT deceit from our politicians. Where have you been?
Have a nice day,
Cynthia
Cynthia, every intelligence agency in the world thought Saddam had WMD
why? he had used them in his war against Iran and to attempt genocide on the Kurds
also, he was trying to make people think he had them
Obama, on the other hand is very deceitful
let me know if you'd like a list
btw, did you notice Hillary wasn't at the speech Wednesday night?
yesterday, she told an interviewer she won't return for a second term as Secretary of State
I think she senses there might be an opening for that nice Oval Office job
"WASHINGTON (Jan. 29) -- President Barack Obama's health care appeal failed to break the congressional gridlock Thursday. Democrats stared down a political nightmare - getting clobbered for voting last year for ambitious, politically risky bills, yet having nothing to show for it in November.
The grim reality opened a divide between the rank and file and congressional leaders, who insisted health care would get done. Many Democrats saw a problem with no clear solution.
"It's very possible that health care is just a stalemate and you can't solve it this year," said Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.
If Obama and Democrats fail to pass any legislation this election year, Washington would still face the problem of millions of uninsured, rising medical costs and a dwindling Medicare trust fund forecast to run out of money in 2017.
Obama's health care overhaul is "on life support," said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La.
Obama urged lawmakers in Wednesday night's State of the Union address not to abandon the effort on what was once his top domestic priority. But his enthusiastic words provided no specific prescription for moving forward, leaving lawmakers little better off than before."
Imagine that...Barry "Ivy League" Obama has no ideas...imagine that...
Do I know you from Einstein, Anonymous? During my more than a decade of volunteer work at AEHS, some of the students there named me Mamma G.
Representatives Conyers and Lee were very much interested in hearing real stories of real American families because they want to help families who have been terrorized by their private insurance companies. Note: not a single GOP House member attended our presentation to Congress after the protest ended. Here are some of the brief reports we terrorized Congress with on Tuesday.
Ericka Alexander, 34, Tennessee. She is a wife and mother of three, who is also taking care of an aging parent. The family can’t afford health insurance and is financially stressed when health care problems arise, such as her son’s need for eczema medicine.
Kelly Arellanes, 50, Little Rock, Ark. She and husband David declared bankruptcy in 2005 after her emergency surgery for a horseback riding accident . Two portions of her brain were removed and she was in a coma for weeks. Their insurance company of 24 years only paid 2 claims, the birth of their child in 1985 and Kelly’s hysterectomy in 2000 before denying coverage for Kelly’s accident.
Leslie Boyd, 57, Asheville, N.C. Her uninsured son died in 2008 after a delayed diagnosis for colon cancer because he couldn’t afford regular screenings. See her website at www.lifeomike.org
Susan Braig, 60, Altadena, CA. She could only afford catastrophic coverage but was told by her insurer in 2004 that her Stage II breast cancer was “chronic,” not “catastrophic.” She designs and sells Rx jewelry to pay for her cancer treatments, which are not covered by her private insurance.
Kelly Cuvar, 30, Brooklyn, N.Y. Her worry over medical finances is more stressful than her longtime leg cancer she’s had since age 19.
Freddie Effinger, 26, Birmingham, AL. Uninsured and sick, he begged for his life after he got advanced lymphoma in 2007 while in law school.
Bob Finkelstein, 41, Philadelphia, Pa. He has inadequate insurance for multiple sclerosis and pays $1,300 a month out of pocket for the only drug that helps him while his insurance pays the other half. Four years ago, the cost was of his medication was $1200/month. Today it is $2600/month, having doubled in four years.
Nadira Freeman, 24, Tennessee. She is a single mom earning $25,000 a year at a job that does not provide health insurance. She worries that even a minor illness for her or her daughter will take her small budget over the edge.
Christine Grewell, 55, Silver Spring, MD. She and her husband pay over $19,000 a year for health insurance – which caps prescription drug coverage at $500 a year for her family of five. Her daughter’s MS medication is $20,000 a year.
Marcus Grimes, 38, Woodbridge, VA. He went blind in 2006 because his insurance refused to cover and he couldn’t afford doctor-recommend surgeries that would have saved his eyesight.
Angela Romero Keister, 31, Lyon, NE. She’s at risk for ovarian cancer and should have screenings three times a year. But she doesn’t have health insurance and can’t afford the check-ups.
Sharon Lantz, 58, Wilmington, DE. She’s a two-time breast cancer survivor who has to drive hours to Pennsylvania to get treatment and gets her chemo meds from India.
Rev. Keith Mayes, 47, Tennessee. His wife recently developed a muscular disorder and lost her job. The family has accrued nearly $175,000 in medical debt and the bills keep coming. Insurer would cover only 14 of 91 days of intensive care.
Heather Mroz, 24, Coconut Creek, FL. Her family faces bankruptcy from $480,000 in medical bills after her health insurance company, which continued to collect and keep her premiums, retroactively canceled her coverage to a date just before premature birth of twins last year.
Stacie Ritter, 36, Lancaster, PA. Her Insurer wouldn’t cover the growth hormone shots recommended by their doctor for her 11 year old twin girls after leukemia treatments that began when they were 4 years old.
In the photograph in Jim's blog above, the blond woman in the center holding the STOP CORPORATE LOBBYISTS sign is Angela Romero Keister, the woman to her right in the blue scarf is Ericka Alexander, the ear and brown hair peeking out behind Ericka is Kelly Arellanes and behind her is her husband David, and the woman in glasses behind David's right shoulder is Kelly Cuvar.
“Cynthia, every intelligence agency in the world thought Saddam had WMD”
Actually even our own CIA didn’t think Saddam had WMD. That’s why Rumsfeld had to set up his own intelligence agency inside the Pentagon. He took the CIA’ info (which they had completely discounted due to inaccurate information and unreliable sources), as well as anything else he could find, cherry picked what he needed to draw the conclusions he wanted, ignored all the relevant facts that contradicted his thesis, and drew the picture the Bush administration wanted the world to see.
There’s a detailed breakdown of all the shenanigans that went down on the Frontline website:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/
The holes in the “WMD case” were HUGE. In fact, just dissecting Collin Powell’s speech (whom I still respect) leads some people to conclude “The flashy presentation did not conceal holes in the American case that a U.S. Navy battlegroup could sail through with room to spare.” http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article1140.shtml
Another good source to learn about NeoCon shenanigans and incompetence is “Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq” by Thomas Rick – highly respected military author. I haven’t managed to make it through the whole book yet – the revelations in it have a tendency to make me sick. The loss of live we could have avoided if he had not pandered to Bush Administration hubris is staggering.
http://www.amazon.com/Fiasco-American-Military-Adventure-Iraq/dp/0143038915/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264775844&sr=8-1
“why? he had used them in his war against Iran and to attempt genocide on the Kurds”
Actually the U.S. gave him many of those weapons – so Iran wouldn’t run him over. That’s a big part of why Iran not only didn’t like Saddam, but us either. It’s unlikely Saddam could have been such a WMD threat without U.S. help.
“also, he was trying to make people think he had them”
Of course he was – that’s how he stayed in power as long as he did. He was a bully. That’s the kind of things bullies do to stay in power. I call it the “politics of testosterone.” Unfortunately for Saddam, there was a bully with a bigger stick on his playground. His tactics were pretty predictable – right down to backing down as soon as the US warships got close, but by then it was too late.
“btw, did you notice Hillary wasn't at the speech Wednesday night?
yesterday, she told an interviewer she won't return for a second term as Secretary of State
I think she senses there might be an opening for that nice Oval Office job”
Having seen pictures of Hilary lately, I think she’s just getting worn out. That woman looks like she needs a serious vacation.
Have a nice day,
Cynthia
I should have made it more clear – watch the videos or read the transcript of “Bush’s War” on the Frontline website. Also, there’s a typo in one of my sentences. It should have read: “The loss of liFe we could have avoided if WE had not pandered to Bush Administration hubris is staggering.”
don't worry about typos, Cynthia
we only point to them when they're made by obnoxious people and you're never obnoxious
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