Monthly Archives: March 2010
Reaction to Fight Fear With Positive Vision 1
This is in reaction to my post Fight Fear With Positive Vision. It is from my cousin, EricK, a Massachusetts pediatrician.
I agree with all you wrote in your blog. I think we must start somewhere. This is not even close to being a good health care bill, but is has some very good parts. It is my feeling if we do nothing as the Republicans want, we will all be in deep trouble. If we start with this one and it has problems, at least we have a framework to build on. Anything can be changed if it is not working. We must not have nothing to change. Our health care system is broken and must be fixed.
I just returned from a meeting in Florida. Also, to see my folks. At the meeting one of the talks was on our health care system, and the health of all Americans. The USA is getting increasingly worse in our health status in spite of costing more than any other major country in the world. We are now 27 th !!!! This is a disgusting disgrace. People think we have the best health care system in the world. That is absolutely not true. We certainly have some of the best hospitals in the world, but on average our health system sucks. It must stop….. or we will be a 3rd world country as far as health care goes. You may post this on your blog.
Thanks,
Eric
Get Rid Of The Death Tax
Follow this link If you do not see the cartoon.
Turn Off Fox
Here is an email that I received from Buzzflash.com
Fight FOX. Forward this to a friend.
Dear Turn Off FOX Friends,
Thank you, as always, for your perseverance in the battle against FOX Fraudcasting. The network endeavors to spread vitriol and misinformation about something as integral to the country as healthcare reform. Meanwhile, newly-minted pundit Sarah Palin told an audience about how she received healthcare from Canada as child, which apparently has a better system than the U.S., no matter what Palin or her FOX cohorts say to the contrary. FOX talks about the KSM trial as if it has the best interests of the nation at heart. At the same time, one of the network’s biggest shareholders is Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, a man with alleged ties to terrorism. The hypocrisy for them seems to know no end.
Fortunately, the ideas for combating FOX seem to know no bounds, either. We at Turn Off FOX need look no further than our readers to not only take action, but also for new ideas for how to keep the campaign going strong. Here are a couple of examples from a reader in the Cleveland area:
I’d like to share two stories of getting FOX News removed from businesses serving the public, one large and one small.
In early 2009, I noticed FOX News on the monitors at my local Marc’s, a large regional discounter based in Cleveland.
I wrote them a polite letter, informing them that FOX alienates more people than it attracts, and that its continued presence on the checkout-line monitors could cost Marc’s a significant amount of consumer goodwill.
In less than 24 hours, I received an email from their corporate offices stating that FOX News was broadcast in error, and that it will no longer be shown on their monitors. Ever since, the Food Network has been shown at my location. Common sense would dictate that, regardless of politics, the Food Network would be a far wiser and less divisive choice for a store that primarily sells food.
In another case, a local restaurant/bar began showing Fox News on monitors previously reserved for CNN or sporting events. Two nights in a row, I politely asked the bartenders to change the channel, and they complied. On the third night, Fox News was not removed, so I told a senior staffer there, “Either lose Fox News, or lose a customer. I reported, you decide.”
After not setting foot in the place for ten days, I walked in, saw no FOX News, and ordered a beverage. One of the staffers walked up to me, gave me a hug, and said, “That didn’t take long, but you made your point.” To the best of my knowledge, FOX News has not been shown there since.
Establishments sometimes have a few employees that make things uncomfortable for customers and even, occasionally, fellow employees. Your actions help everyone involved. Here’s another idea from a reader that sidesteps the obvious political questions people sometimes encounter when asking to change the channel from FOX:
When I went in for my yearly exam, there were flatscreen TVs with FOX News on everywhere in the lobby and waiting rooms at the medical center. I went to the front desk and asked if I could change the channels to HGTV — about home and gardening as what they had on was raising my blood pressure abnormally high. THEY DID! On every TV! And I swung by a month later to see if they were all back to Fox, but they were all still on HGTV!
We’ve had our own successes, as well, including our efforts toward promoting Squash Glenn Beck! on Facebook. In just a few days, we garnered over 1,100 fans. Of course, we hope you will become a fan, too. As the page grows, we’ll provide important updates on the ridiculous things the real Glenn Beck says and does, like when he instructed his listeners to abandon churches that preach social justice — like, for example, the Catholic Church, or Beck’s own Mormon church. Our squash probably does have more compassion than Beck; it’s why you should become a fan.
All of you have been a great help in the campaign so far. Too many remain fooled by the half-hearted attempts at balance at FOX News, so please keep the campaign going strong, each of you helping in the way you can. As you come up with new ideas or success stories, please do relay them to us so that we can let everyone else know. We are only as effective and active as our readership allows us to be. Fortunately, you have been great and will assuredly continue to be. Keep watch for the rampant misinformation streaming from a certain media outlet into the mainstream — and help enlighten friends and family to choose to Turn Off FOX.
If you want a fun way to support Turn Off FOX, try the Turn Off FOX bumper sticker. It’s easily removable for the day FOX “News” is turned off forever.
Sincerely,
BuzzFlash’s Campaign to Turn Off FOX
Final March For Reform Day 1: Spread the Facts
Follow this link to the OFA page that has the posters for spreading the facts about health care reform.
It’s time to show the insurance lobbyists that no smear campaign can match the power of millions ready for change and committed to the truth.
Please download the fliers and posters below, and make sure everyone in your community sees the facts about reform.
Unfortunately the posters are in PDF and hard to post here. Below is the image of one of the posters you can download:

Analysis of Health Insurance Premiums
I may have found the CBO analysis that the President and the Republicans were arguing about at the Health Care Summit. The CBO analysis can be found in the letter to Senator Evan Bayh dated November 30, 2009.
Follow this link to read the analysis.
It is a 29 page letter which says a lot of complicated things. I just had a chance to skim it. You can analyze it and report back here.
I extracted the following paragraph which I DO NOT represent as being indicative of the conclusions, if any, of the letter.
‘CBO and JCT estimate that the elements of the legislation that would change the price of providing a given amount of coverage for a given population would, on net, reduce the average premium per person for nongroup coverage in 2016 by about 7 percent to 10 percent relative to the amount under current law. Those elements of the legislation would reduce the average premium per person in the small group market by about 1 percent to 4 percent and would not have a measurable impact on premiums in the large group market.’
The Robin Hood Tax Song
Follow this link if you cannot see the above video.
Toyota Hysteria
Follow this link to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
Here is a guy who had a near fatal accident in 1991 in a Toyota MR2 that was probably caused by design problems in the car. Yet he is defending Toyota against the recent hysteria.
If this isn’t the oddest story of the day, I don’t know what is. Even Sarah Palin sneaking into Canada to get health care doesn’t beat this.
Palin Hustles Over Canadian Border
We used to hustle over the border for health care we received in Canada. And I think now, isn’t that ironic?
– Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor and U.S. vice-presidential candidate.
Follow this link to the The Globe Mail story that has this quote.

