Well, Catherine Morrison has a very important post at RH Reality Check today about where Kentucky stands in the midst of this, and it’s not a pretty picture:
The teen birth rate is nearly 20 percent higher than the national average (49.2 per 1,000 young women ages 15-19 compared to 41.1 in the same age group). Most states have experienced declines in teen birth rates, but in a single year the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports Kentucky’s rate rose nearly 7 percent. The nationwide teen birth rate increased by less than half that in the same year.
The trend follows in HIV statistics. The overall prevalence is low, but the disease impacts one community disproportionately: African Americans make up only seven percent of the total population of Kentucky but nearly 34 percent of new HIV cases in the state, according to the CDC.
These numbers are alarming, as is the curriculum being taught:
In looking at the curricula used by these health departments, CPCs, and other community-based organizations, five central, and disturbing, themes emerged: advancing religious messages; relying on messages of fear and shame; fostering gender myths and stereotypes; promoting the questionable practice of virginity pledges; and providing misinformation.
I urge you to read Morrison’s full article and to contactGov. Beshear about joining the number of states that have rejected abstinence-only funding.
Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act
"After nearly unanimous passage in the U.S. House, this critical and urgently needed legislation fell just one vote shy of moving forward when Obstructionist-in-Chief Senator Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Bush-Republicans decided they were more interested in their loyalty to the President and insurance companies than standing up for seniors, people with disabilities, pharmacists and doctors," said Jeremy Funk, of Americans United for Change which has been working to eliminate wasteful insurance company subsidies under the Medicare Advantage program. Cuts to such subsidies, in part, would have been used to prevent cuts to physicians’ reimbursements under Medicare that will still take place this month thanks to Republican obstructionism. "Their obstructionism was a microcosm of the McConnell-Bush-Republican Legacy: put the corporate interests first and everyone else be damned. Of course, after eight years where Bush-McConnell-Republicans have tried every maneuver to dismantle the safety net for seniors – from the failed effort to privatize Social Security, to the giveaways to big Pharmaceuticals in the Medicare prescription drug program – should anyone really be surprised. But, Senator McConnell will get one more shot to do the right thing. The question is – this time, will Mitch McConnell change course and stand with Kentucky seniors or with Bush and the insurance companies which have put us in this healthcare mess in the first place."
The video below is best watched in the high quality mode, click here to watch it in high quality.
(Cross posted at Hillbilly Report)
Americans across the nation demonstrated in favor of guaranteed healthcare and in protest of AHIP — America’s Health Insurance Plans — the insurance industry lobbyists who profit from our pain and folks in Louisville joined in the protest. I put together the video below to give you a flavor of the protest.
It’s sad that John McCain and Senator Mitch McConnell are so out of touch with the needs of the people they are supposed to be representing. It seems that John McCain and Senator Mitch McConnell find it easer to represent the over paid healthcare CEO’s than the folks who were out on the streets protesting today. Click here to view photos of the event.
Roger Hickey has a great post at ourfuture.org on the “dangerous fraud” that is John McCain’s healthcare plan. As I point out ad nauseam in The Real McCain, McCain’s positions are not simply fraudulent. The “straight-talker” rarely limits himself to simple dishonesty.
First, read the email The McCain Campaign sent out today on this issue:
My Friends,
Today, there are 47 million uninsured individuals in the U.S., and nearly a quarter of them are children. High costs and limited access are the underlying, fundamental problems in our healthcare system.
As you know, both Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are touting outrageously expensive and unrealistic universal health care plans - a government monopoly over health care.
Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation’s problems can be solved by turning control over to our government, with all the tax increases, new mandates and government regulation that come with that idea.
Today, our campaign began running a television ad focused on health care - that you can view by following this link - to ensure all Americans hear the truth about how I plan to tackle the challenges facing our nation’s health care system. To ensure this important ad is aired in as many markets as possible, I’m asking for your immediate financial assistance.
I believe the key to real reform is to restore control over our health care system to the patients themselves. Americans need new choices beyond those offered in employment-based coverage.
That’s why, as president, I will seek to encourage and expand the benefits of Health Savings Accounts, tax-preferred accounts that are used to pay insurance premiums and other health costs. These accounts put the family in charge of what they pay for.
In addition, I will reform the tax code to provide every family the option of receiving a direct, refundable tax deposit - effectively $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 cash for families to offset the cost of insurance.
The reality is that both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama, in their haste to garner support for their so-called “solutions,” are promising more than they can deliver. And, once again, they are simply out-of-touch with the real problems facing our health care system and how to solve them.
Here are the facts: Under the Democrats’ plan, we will have all the problems, and more, of the current health care system - rigid rules, long waits and lack of choices - and we risk degrading the system’s great strengths and advantages, including the innovation and life-saving technology that make American medicine the most advanced in the world.
My friends, this is not my definition of real reform. I hope you will join me in my fight to tackle the real problems facing our nation’s health care system by making a contribution of $50, $100, $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,300 to help fund this important ad.
I hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
John McCain
A good rule of thumb: When John McCain says “my friends,” start looking for a bomb shelter. Another good rule of thumb when McCain utters this trite phrase: Dishonesty is about to morph into full scale hypocrisy.
Here is a man who has been on government healthcare his entire life (daddy was an Admiral)–all seven decades–who dares deride it by saying, “Unlike my opponents, I do not believe that all of our nation’s problems can be solved by turning control over to our government… .”
No, only his own healthcare is worthy of that.
In case you missed McCain’s position: Government healthcare is good enough to pay his hospital bills–with your “taxes” to quote him–but it is not good enough for the rest of us–oh and by the way, can you spare $1000 “my friends?” That means a lot coming from a guy who enjoys lounging at 8 different houses on his wife’s inherited dime, and laughably calls other candidates “elitist.”
With straight talk like that, who needs mendacity?
The Bush administration violated federal law last year when it restricted states’ ability to provide health insurance to children of middle-income families, and its new policy is therefore unenforceable, lawyers from the Government Accountability Office said Friday.
And I think it’s pretty clear what is at the heart of the matter:
The letter told states what steps they needed to take to be sure the children’s health program would not displace or “crowd out” private coverage under group health plans. The White House cited the policy as a justification for rejecting a proposal by New York State to cover 70,000 additional youngsters.
(Cross posted at Hillbilly Report)
Last week I had the time and opportunity to watch ” Sick Around The World” a FRONTLINE production. Senator Mitch McConnell, I hope you had time to watch it, but just in case you were too busy kissing George W. Bush’s ass and found it difficult to focus on what’s going on in the real world, a problem commonly know as a “Skills Gap“, I have put all the information below for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy Senator!!!!!
I doubt that couples with children who make $63,000 a year think that they’re rich.
Why, it seems like only yesterday that Sen. Mitch McConnell and his BFF, Pres. George W. Bush were arguing that such families were rich!
Of course, we all know that when it comes to giving a flying you-know-what about the middle class, Sen. Mitch McConnell gets a big fat F. For all the huffing and puffing he does, for all the scraps he tosses our way every once in a while, ultimately, Sen. Mitch McConnell has failed this state.
Does anyone really believe we are better off with this man as our senator? I don’t know about ya’ll, but this gal has had just about enough. DITCH MITCH!
(Cross posted at Hillbilly Report) I received the following email from a friend:
Jim what do you think of this video
Please watch this video - it is only five minutes long. It voices my concerns about the healthcare plans that are being discussed by some of our Presidential candidates. I don’t care which party you are - EVERYBODY needs to see this. -Brock Subject:
A Short Course On Brain Surgery
Turn your speakers on and check out the website below.
VERY MUCH Worth Watching…
Everyone who plans to vote for our new President in 2008 NEEDS to see this, regardless of the person for whom they would vote. Please forward this if you might find this helpful to others. Click Here: Check out “Free Market Cure - A Short Course in Brain Surgery”
I checked out the video and my video response is below.
There is an excellent piece up at RH Reality Check discussing the Religious Right’s love for non-medical use of ultrasound imaging:
Anti-abortion advocates for the non-medical use of ultrasound imaging (also called sonography or sonograms) on pregnant women have two basic strategies. One is to equip the estimated 2,500-3,500 crisis pregnancy centers across the country with ultrasound machines, in some cases garnering government aid to pay for them. The other is to pass laws under the guise of “informed consent,” which would require abortion clinics and doctors to conduct ultrasounds on pregnant women before providing abortion services. Some of these proposed laws go so far as to require that women view the images.
You can read more about Kentucky’s own proposed ultrasound law here.
Via the C-J comes news that (right wing old guy who has never been and never will be pregnant) Jack Westwood’s ultrasound bill will move forward.
Allow me to collect myself for a second.
What the article says:
State Rep. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Spring, said ultrasound technology produces images that women should be allowed to see before they terminate pregnancies.
Westwood showed fellow lawmakers images of an unborn baby at 10 weeks gestation, one showing a baby’s tiny foot and toes.
“The idea is that what is inside this woman is not a mass of tissue, but, in fact, is a live baby,” said Westwood, sponsor of the legislation that has drawn vocal opposition from abortion rights supporters.
Amend KRS 311.720 to redefine “abortion” and to add definitions of “reasonable judgment,” “unborn child,” and “woman”; create a new section of KRS 311.710 to 311.820 to require physician to perform an obstetric ultrasound and show images to the woman seeking an abortion; create a new section of KRS 311.710 to 311.820 to provide for an exemption to the ultrasound in case of an emergency and require placing the reason for the emergency in medical records; amend KRS 311.990 relating to penalties to provide a fine of not more than $100,000 for a first offense and not more than $250,000 for each subsequent offense and provide for referring incident to Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure for action and discipline.
So, you see? The bill doesn’t allow for squat. Because women are already allowed to view their ultrasounds if they wish to do so. This bill is not about allowing. It’s about forcing and punishing and slut-shaming. And it is dangerously-worded.
I have a few things to say to all the anti-choicers out there. If you have any desire whatsoever to actually reduce abortions, try doing it in a practical and ethical way like, oh, I don’t know, educating people about how to protect themselves rather than just saying “keep your legs closed,” or the less-frequently uttered, “keep it in your pants.” When Kentucky women rank 50th in health and well-being and nearly half of Kentucky children are poor or near-poor, and when concern for existing children is cited as the primary reason for most abortions, maybe you could work on tackling the reasons behind the choice rather than restricting access to reproductive health services.
Of course, I realize you may have your plates full, what with very important matters like regulating titty-shaking and such. Glad to know where your priorities are. It’s good to know that some legislators can approach reproductive health with a little bit of common sense, at any rate. Time to return to my cold medicine-induced blissful ignorance.
Today’s Morning Edition radio program had a segment about the increasing wait times in emergency rooms and quality of ambulatory care in the U.S. as compared to other developed countries.
A recent poll conducted by Voter/Consumer Research is being trotted out as proof that Sen. Mitch McConnell is invincible in 2008’s general election. I think some people are believing that “defeatocrat” nonsense way too much, that somehow a supposed 61% approval will doom any bids to defeat McConnell this fall. Well, as a few commenters at Bluegrass Report point out, this poll was commissioned by McConnell himself, and one has to wonder about the methodology.
While I’m sure that the general public is a bit gun-shy about pollsters, particularly after being so far off base in New Hampshire, the new SUSA poll shows McConnell’s approval at under 50%, which is more in-line with recent trends in his approval rating. We don’t doubt that beating a career incumbent politician with a lot of name recognition and a history of pork barrel spending will be a difficult task. But as the death toll in Iraq continues to rise with no end in sight, and as Kentuckians tighten their purse strings in preparation for a recession, Sen. McConnell has made it clear over and over again that he is completely out-of-touch with the majority of Kentuckians. We’re up to the fight. Is he?
The U.S. is ranked dead (haw haw) last amongst industrialized nations for its number preventable deaths:
France, Japan and Australia rated best and the United States worst in new rankings focusing on preventable deaths due to treatable conditions in 19 leading industrialized nations, researchers said on Tuesday.
If the U.S. health care system performed as well as those of those top three countries, there would be 101,000 fewer deaths in the United States per year, according to researchers writing in the journal Health Affairs.
Clearly, two things need to be done. First, we need to privatize everything and let the free market do its job. Second, we need to lower our standards.
Speaking of preventable deaths, January is Cervical Cancer Screening Month. In the U.S., over 10,000 women are diagnosed with the cancer each year, and over 3,000 die as a result. Ladies, please get your yearlies!
No one in Kentucky ought to see McConnell’s fundraising as anything but his mastery of a corrupt political system that places the interests of donors ahead of all Kentuckians.
Finally, Rep. John Yarmuthputs his money where his mouth is, donating his whole first-year congressional salary to the Louisville community as he promised. MediaCzech provides the Republican response.
What other interesting things have you read in the last few days?
Mitch McConnell's Louisville office got a little visit this afternoon by a diverse group of citizens hoping that Mitch takes up a New Year's resolution: end his rampant obstruction of popular legislation so we can move our country forward on health care and out of Iraq.
KY Kids, Veterans, Military Families, Teachers, and Seniors Call On Senator McConnell to Make a Special New Year's Resolution: Stop Obstructing a New Direction in America
In less than a year, Obstructionist-in-Chief Mitch McConnell Broke All Time Record for Filibusters in a Two-Year Congressional Session
Will McConnell Resolve This Year to Abandon His Backwards Priorities: Enabling Billions for Endless War in Iraq, But Filibustering Better Healthcare, Wages, and Education Here at Home?
Louisville, KY – Local Kids, Veterans, Military Families, Teachers, and Seniors gathered today to call on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to make a special 'New Year's Resolution:' to abandon his backwards priorities of enabling billions of dollars for endless war in Iraq while at the same time obstructing meaningful legislation to provide better healthcare, wages, and education here at home. The action came in response to a dubious milestone the Obstructionist-in-Chief achieved on December 18th, 2007: shattering the all time record of Senate obstruction in a two-year Congressional session after leading the 62nd filibuster in less than a year of a major year end appropriations bill that excluded tens of billions of dollars for continued, endless war in Iraq. The previous record of 61 filibusters in a two-year term was set in 2001-2002, the last time Republicans were in the minority in the Senate. For more information, see below for detailed list of all 62 votes and see new report "BLOCK AND BLAME" from the Institute for America's Future: http://home.ourfuture.org/assets/block-and-blame.pdf
"It's a question of priorities, and Bush's top 'yes' man had his all mixed up this year. At every turn — from ending the war in Iraq to raising the minimum wage to allowing Medicare to negotiate cheaper prescription drug prices for Kentucky's seniors to providing healthcare for 49,000 more Kentucky kids in need — Mitch McConnell stood with President Bush and the special interests over Kentucky's troops, veterans, seniors and kids. This New Year's, for the sake of Kentucky, Senator McConnell's old acquaintances should definitely be forgot," said US Army Reservist & Louisville resident Bill Zubaty.
"So many priorities here at home were shortchanged this year while Senator McConnell was giving this President a blank check to police an endless civil war in Iraq. For example, for the amount spent in just one week in Iraq, 800,000 American children could get health insurance for an entire year. What goes through Senator McConnell's mind as he's rubberstamping billions each week in Iraq the same time he's bemoaning a fraction that amount on children's healthcare, and education, and better care for our veterans and seniors?" asked Zubaty.
"A new year is upon us, Senator McConnell. It's a golden opportunity to clean the slate and change course. This year, will you resolve to stop obstructing a new direction in America? Will you resolve to bring our troops home safe from Iraq? Will you resolve to expand the children's healthcare program for millions more kids who need it? Will you resolve to give struggling middle class Kentucky workers a fair shake by fixing the broken system for forming unions and bargaining for better pay, benefits and retirement security? Will you resolve to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors by finally allowing Medicare to negotiate with the big drug companies? Will you resolve to give our veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan the care they deserve? Most importantly – will you resolve to always put Kentucky — not your loyalty to President Bush — first?" added Zubaty.
Here we are on Christmas eve, so let me tell you a story about the Kentucky Grinch. The man who seeks to strip children of their health care. The man who seeks to block new student loans that would allow more kids to go to college. The man who would seek to smear the family of a child simply because he advocated the expansion of SCHIP, from which he benefited. And then lie about it on camera. The man with…. no lips.
And only so he could fill his coffers with insurance company dollars.
First, let's go back to early Septmeber as Mitch joined the small fringe minority who don't care if you poor kids can afford college.
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell today voted against the bi-partisan College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, a bill which will benefit tens of thousands of Kentucky students and families and make the single largest investment in student aid since the GI Bill.
"As the cost of college continues to rise and more and more Kentuckians feel the pinch, Mitch McConnell has turned a deaf ear to the need to make college more affordable," DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. "Kentuckians want a leader who will work for their children's education, not one who stands in the way of it."
The bi-partisan legislation passed 79-12.
Today, McConnell Rejected Largest Single Student Aid Investment Since GI Bill. The bill McConnell voted against this morning - which passed 79-12 with overwhelmingly bipartisan support - will cut roughly $20 billion from lender subsidies and use the funds to beef up aid to college students and cut interest rates on subsidized loans in half. It also includes a $1,090 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award and debt forgiveness after ten years for certain public-sector employees. "This bill will do more to help students and families in this country pay for college than any effort since the GI Bill," said House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller. [Vote 326, 9/7/07; CQ Today, 9/6/07; Wall Street Journal, 9/6/07; HELP Press Release, 9/5/07]
New Student Aid Bill Will Benefit Tens of Thousands of Kentucky Students and Families. In the 2005-06 school year, nearly 80,000 Kentucky students received federal Pell grants. Still, though, more than half of Kentucky's college seniors graduate with debt. [HELP Committee, September 2007; US Department of Education, 2005-2006 Federal Pell Grant Program End-of-Year Report]
Debt Forgiveness Program Will Be a Huge Benefit for KY Nurses, Teachers and Law Enforcement Officials. Under the bill McConnell opposed today, a starting teacher in Kentucky earning $30,619 with the state average loan debt of $15,861 could have loan payments capped at 15% - reducing his or her monthly payments by 29%. After 10 years of teaching, all remaining debt would be forgiven - in this case, a benefit worth $9,049. [HELP Committee, September 2007]
But Mitch's plot to stick it to poor kids did not end there. Later that month, Mitch once more joined the fringe minority in the Senate to vote against the expansion of SCHIP for the children of low-income families.
Great news from the Senate yesterday, as the expansion of SCHIP, (providing health insurance to children of poor families) passed by a veto proof majority of of 67 to 29.
And who was part of that radical fringe minority who delight in sticking it to poor kids? Our own Mitch McConnell, of course. Thanks for writing our own campaign commercial scripts for us next year, Mitch.
This truly sickening stance taken by McConnell and the Bush Administration is laid out in full detail here:
“The Bush administration has argued that some parents drop their children's private health insurance to enroll them in cheaper, taxpayer-funded coverage through the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that for every 100 kids who enroll in the program now, 25 to 50 were previously covered in the private market.”
I see. So families that are struggling to get by on a low income, paying through the nose for crappy insurance, having to deal with predatory lenders, and trying to care for their children on the scarce money that is left….. it's those families that we shouldn't lend a hand too. They should continue to be in a situation where they have to choose between paying health care for their child or being able to pay all of their bills and living expenses.
And the reason why Mitch doesn't want to expand this coverage? Because it doesn't let the insurance industry squeeze every sinlge penny it possibly can out of the working class.
This vote is the perfect encapsulation of who Mitch McConnell is. If you are not a big money contributor, you do not exist.
After Bush vetoed the popular, bi-partisan legislation that 80% of Americans supported, what did Mitch do? Vote against it again.
For the sixth time in recent months, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell led a small segment of his Republican colleagues in voting against the bipartisan Children's Health Insurance Program today – despite changes made to the bill to address Republicans' stated concerns and a recent poll showing that over 80% of Americans favor expanding the program. McConnell's vote to deny 51,500 Kentucky children health care comes just weeks after he was caught on tape misleading Kentuckians about his office's role in a smear campaign against 12-year old Graeme Frost.
"It seems like every day Mitch McConnell makes another bad choice on children's health care," DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. "Between getting caught in a smear campaign against a 12-year old boy and voting against children's health care yet again, Mitch McConnell probably wishes the SCHIP debate would just go away. But the thousands of uninsured Kentucky children can't be swept under the rug, and neither will McConnell's decision to turn his back on them."
McConnell Votes Against Children's Health Care… Again. For the sixth time in recent months, Mitch McConnell voted today to block a bipartisan bill to expand health care to an additional 51,000 children in Kentucky.[ Families USA Report;
Your great big “duh” of the day comes from the AP via Yahoo:
Uninsured cancer patients are nearly twice as likely to die within five years as those with private coverage, according to the first national study of its kind and one that sheds light on troubling health care obstacles.
Now, you see that? That right there is the free market at work. Just a little Social Darwinism weeding out those unworthy unisureds who are tainting the population pool.
They found teenage boys who had sex education in school were 71 percent less likely to have intercourse before age 15, and teen girls who had sex education were 59 percent less likely to have sex before age 15.
Sex education also increased the likelihood that teen boys would use contraceptives the first time they had sex, according to the study by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.
Well, Mitch has done it again. His first ad was a monumental failure. It starred a creepy sexual harrasser, and gave the finger to the Club for Growth with his ode to big porky earmarks. Kentuckians were not impressed, as he plummeted to an all-time low approval in the next SUSA poll.
Mitch's new ad is another lemon, fortunately. McConnell actually thought he could win brownie points with Kentuckians by mentioning health care. Really, Mitch? Aren't you the same guy that continues to vote against the expansion of SCHIP, giving health care to millions more children from low-income families? The one with very broad bipartisan support that Bush continues to veto, with your approval? Aren't you the same guy whose office spread lies smearing Graeme Frost's family to national reporters, and then lied to the face of Mark Hebert when asked about it?
If Mitch McConnell wants to keep on mentioning what he's done to and for the health care industry, by all means, you have my blessing.
The DSCC already pounced on him:
One Month Before Touting Support for Medical Research, McConnell Voted Against It
Mitch McConnell began airing ads yesterday touting his success in securing funds for medical research centers at Kentucky universities. What the ad fails to mention, however, is that time and time again McConnell has voted against funding for medical research, including a vote against the Labor-HHS bill to provide $1.4 billion in increased research funding only one month ago. The ad also covers up McConnell’s disastrous overall record on healthcare, which includes leading the fight against children’s health care.
“Only Mitch McConnell would have the gall to run ads touting medical research just a month after voting against it,” DSCC spokesman Matthew Miller said. “Kentuckians are looking for progress on healthcare, not commercials on healthcare, and Mitch McConnell has consistently failed to deliver it.”
McConnell Led Effort to Reject New Medical Research Funding. McConnell introduced a motion that rejected $1.4 billion in new medical research funding, supporting instead President Bush’s proposed 1.7% cut — the fourth consecutive year of flat or declining funding for medical cures. [Vote 390, 10/23/07; Research!America, 2008 Federal Research Budget Update; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 11/16/07]
Even Newt Gingrich Disagrees with McConnell’s Cuts to the National Institutes of Health. “NIH funding has been flat since 2004, undermining the gains earned through the doubling of the budget and slowing the pace of progress in biomedical research. The Bush administration's proposed fiscal year 2008 budget would cut $329 million from last year's allocation of $28.6 billion. Biomedical inflation significantly compounds the impact of this reduction. This is exactly the wrong course for the country.” [Newt Gingrich and G. Steven Burrill, SF Chronicle, 6/27/07 ]
McConnell Has Voted Against Children’s Health Care Six Times. Mitch McConnell voted six times this year to block a bipartisan bill to expand health care to an additional 51,000 children in Kentucky.[Families USA Report; Vote 307, 8/2/07; Vote 352, 9/27/07; Vote 353, 9/27/07; Vote 401, 10/31/07; Vote 402, 11/1/07; Vote 403, 11/1/07]
McConnell Received $1,664,483 From the Health Industry Since 1989. Since 1989, McConnell has received at least $1,664,483 in campaign contributions from health industry interests. McConnell received $490,878 from industry PAC’s and $1,173,605 from individual donors. [Center for Responsive Politics, 10/9/07]
The AP reports that President George W. Bush is ready to veto yet another version of SCHIP. And it’s not sitting well with Republican legislators, as it well shouldn’t:
But the votes are uncomfortable for GOP lawmakers. It is a popular program with the public, making some Republicans wary of sticking with Bush on such an issue with the 2008 elections looming. Of the 43 million people nationwide who lack health insurance, more than 6 million are under 18 years old. That’s more than 9 percent of all children.
Keep sending it through, and let the same handful of shameful line-toers keep opposing it. Sure will make it easier in 2008, after which we can get some real work done!
A group of scientists sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid encouraging them to discontinue federal funding of abstinence-only sex education. Some highlights:
Withholding lifesaving information from young people is contrary to the standards of medical ethics and to many international human rights conventions...Governments have an obligation to provide accurate information to adolescents and adolescents have a right to expect health education provided in public schools to be scientifically accurate and complete.
The large-scale Mathematica evaluation of the Section 510 program, released in April 2007, found no measurable impact on increasing abstinence or delaying sexual initiation among participating youth or on other behaviors such as condom use…One of the few measurable impacts of the programs was a decrease in adolescent confidence regarding the ability of condoms to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
A spring 2005 longitudinal study by Bruckner and Bearman found that abstinence pledgers, when compared to non-pledgers, experienced similar rates of sexually transmitted infection. Pledgers did delay sexual intercourse for a limited period, but when they did start having sex, they were less likely to use condoms. They were also less likely to seek reproductive health care compared to non-pledgers.
Importantly, the emphasis on abstinence-only programs and policies appears to be undermining critical public health programs in the U.S. and abroad, including comprehensive sexuality education and HIV prevention programs.
We also note that a December 2004 Congressional report on federal abstinence programs from the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform - Minority Staff found that 11 of the 13 most frequently used curricula contained false, misleading or distorted information about reproductive health - including inaccurate information about contraceptive effectiveness, purported health risks of abortion, and other scientific errors.
We would note that all of the mainstream organizations of health professionals that focus on the health of young people have strongly criticized federal support for current abstinence programs. These include the American Public Health Association, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, and the Society for Adolescent Medicine. We have also attached the weblinks to the policy statements from each of these groups.
The full letter, along with valuable links to sources, can be found at RH Reality Check.
I was just finished watching SiCKO at home last night, when I opened my email to find this story on Mitch’s speech to the Federalist Society. Here’s a line from the speech:
“The Senate is the place where legislation goes to die, and some would say you’re looking at the grim reaper,” he said to strong applause.
Yes, you read that correctly.
We live in a country where 18,000 people die every year simply because they do not have health insurance. Mitch McConnell and George W. Bush take great pride in the fact that they shot down the expansion of SCHIP to 10 million uninsured kids in America. Because that would be socialized medicine.
We have lost almost 4000 American soldiers in Iraq. A war that Bush and McConnell started by choice. A war that Mitch McConnell has blindly rubber stamped for over 4 years. Who knows how many more we’ll lose. But Mitch continues to block legislation to change course in Iraq. Because the terrorists will follow us home.
At least 430 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan have committed suicide. In 2006 alone, over 900 tried to kill themselves. Mitch McConnell takes great pleasure in leading the 2 filibusters of Sen. Jim Webb’s amendments to restore proper troops rotations, giving the terribly strained troops an equal amount of time home with their families as they do in Iraq. But Mitch continues to block such legislation. Because that would be admitting defeat and surrendering to the Islamofascits.
Over 75,000 Iraq civilians have lost their life. 75,000. Because Sadam was making chemical and nuclear weapons, and we couldn’t let the smoking gun be in the shape of a mushroom cloud.
***********************
I made a vow after I read that quote last night. I will devote every last second, every last amount of energy I have, every last drop of my blood, my very last breath, to making sure that Mitch McConnell does not serve another term in the US Senate.
This article from the AP that’s highlighted at ThinkProgress on the condescending reception given former House Majority Leader Tom Delay in a speech in the UK yesterday is encouraging and will give any progressive a healthy dose of schadenfreude to get through the weekend.
It’s so nice to see what happens when U.S. conservatives leave their increasingly smaller and smaller bubble at home — where people like Ann Coulter, Pat Robertson, and Kentucky’s very own Stan Lee and Frank Simon receive a strange measure of gravitas only by virtue of there being some critical mass of similar kooks here to support them — for the wider world where their ideas are laughed at and derided, and would be derided even more if it weren’t for the fact that these people’s actions adversely affect the whole world, and not just the people at home who support and elect them.
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) deserves a large, large dose of derision himself, and I have the feeling he’s going to get it in 2008.
DeLay: ‘No American Is Denied Health Care In America’
Speaking in the UK yesterday, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) predicted that if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, he or she would seek to install a universal health care, similar to the system in Britain. This possibility “received thunderous applause.” DeLay claimed that, under the U.S. system, “no American is denied health care”:
By the way, there’s no one denied health care in America. There are 47 million people who don’t have health insurance, but no American is denied health care in America.
The audience, understandably, greeted DeLay’s preposterous claims with “derisive laughter,” according to the AP. A recent report showed that for the sixth straight year, jobholders continued to see a decline in employer-provided health insurance, with 38 states seeing “significant” drops in benefits offered by employers.
Observers estimate that anywhere from one to 18 percent of Americans are denied health insurance because of pre-existing health conditions. These conditions can range from heart disease to high cholesterol to yeast infections to being too skinny. A few examples of Americans who were denied health care:
Texas resident Shirley Lowe was denied health care because her breast cancer was diagnosed at a medical center rather than a clinic receiving federal cancer-research funds.
New Orleans bus driver Emanuel Wilson was denied health care when the government refused to pay for his chemotherapy because he had had a job that had provided insurance — a job he lost after Hurricane Katrina.
Thousands of 9/11 workers who worked at Ground Zero were denied health care when the federal government approved woefully inadequate funds to address the permanent health problems, such as sinusitis and asthma, associated with work at the site.
As Michael Moore’s film “Sicko” showed so clearly, millions more Americans who have health insurance are denied the care they need due to insurers’ “cost-cutting strategies.”
Americans United for Change announces a new ad holding Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) accountable for his campaign to undermine children’s health care.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: November 8th, 2007
Americans United for Change Launches New TV Ad Campaign Slamming Mitch McConnell for Continuing to Stand in the Way of Healthcare for 10 Million Kids of Working Families
Ad asks the Obstructionist-in-Chief “How do You Sleep at Night?” After Voting to Deny Healthcare to 49,100 Kentucky Kids?
Washington D.C. –Americans United for Change, a leading coalition partner in the $2.5 million Campaign to Save Children’s Healthcare, unveiled a new television ad today taking Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to task for continuing to stand in the way of healthcare for 10 million children in need. Sen. McConnell has repeatedly attempted to derail efforts to pass the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act – critical and hugely popular legislation to reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) for 6.6 million kids and expand coverage to nearly 4 million more low income children, including 49,100 more kids in Kentucky. In response, AUFC is airing a new television ad statewide in Kentucky entitled “What If?” that asks Sen. McConnell if he would still vote against children’s healthcare if his own child’s healthcare was at stake, pointedly concluding: “How do you sleep at night, Senator McConnell?” View the Ad Here.
Last week, during a critical impasse in the children’s healthcare debate, Minority Leader McConnell refused to delay a vote on passage of the latest version of the SCHIP bill; delaying the vote would have allowed more time for U.S. House and Senate negotiators to work out a deal to attract the 12 or so more votes needed in the House to achieve veto-proof margin and provide 10 million kids in need with healthcare. Without more time to negotiate, the Senate went on to pass the latest version of the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act on November 1st by a 64-30 veto-proof margin – a version that the President has already promised to veto and lacks the handful of votes needed in the House to override it. McConnell and fellow Bush ‘yes men’ in both chambers of Congress still voted against the latest version of the children’s healthcare bill even after revised and strengthened language was added to address any and all their concerns about illegal immigrants, adults and children from high-income families benefiting from the program.
“Obstructionist-in-Chief Mitch McConnell wants to keep playing games, constantly moving the goals posts, coming up with more excuses, one weaker than the last of why he opposes providing healthcare for 10 million kids in need,” said Americans United for Change spokesman Jeremy Funk. “McConnell stood with Bush and voted against the latest bipartisan children’s healthcare bill even after all his concerns about illegal immigrants, adults and children from high-income families benefiting from the program were effectively taken off the table. That sends a clear message that Sen. McConnell intends to back this President to the bitter end and has zero interest in compromising to provide healthcare for the Kentucky families who go to bed every night praying their children don’t get sick or hurt.”
“Sen. McConnell is all out of excuses, yet he continues to play petty partisan games with legislation that would mean healthcare for almost 50,000 more kids from working families in Kentucky,” said Americans United for Change spokesman Jeremy Funk. “Sen. McConnell owes these families an explanation how he can support spending half a trillion dollars fighting an endless war in Iraq, but oppose spending a fraction of that on healthcare for his most vulnerable constituents here at home. It’s a question of priorities, and Senator McConnell has his all mixed up. The fact is, for what we spend in just one week in Iraq, 800,000 children could get health insurance for an entire year.”
“It’s time for Sen. McConnell to stop parroting half-truths and distortions from the White House and start representing Kentucky families,” added Funk. “These are not illegal immigrants he’s voting to deny healthcare – these are not adults and children from high-income families. These are kids whose parents work hard but can’t afford private insurance and are not disadvantaged enough to qualify for Medicaid.”
“If Senator McConnell continues to obstruct healthcare for kids while supporting a blank check for President Bush’s failed war in Iraq, this campaign is prepared to not let a single family in Kentucky forget it. If Sen. McConnell again puts blind loyalty to this President ahead of healthcare for sick kids, we have to ask: “How do you sleep at night, Senator?”
