Republican-driven lawsuits against health care reform will particularly hurt blacks

Here’s just a sampling of the sorry state of black health in America from Kaiser’s Key Facts: Race, Ethnicity & Medical Care. People living in poverty are more likely to report being in only Fair or Poor health. Regardless of education, African Americans lead the nation in infant mortality. African American men and women have highest death rate due to heart disease. African Americans even lead in death rates by breast cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. Twenty-three percent of working African Americans are uninsured.

Read the rest at The Loop.

Both Sides of The Loop: April 4, 2010

Check out the Both Sides of the Loop podcast. In this edition of Both Sides of The Loop Marvin King and Lenny McAllister discuss the March employment figures, black unemployment and why Artur Davis of Alabama didn't support health care reform.

Why Artur Davis Voted Against Health Care Reform

Now that the dust is starting to settle from the historic passage of health care reform, it is time to take an in-depth look at the health care reform vote and the intriguing vote of one Congressional Black Caucus member, Artur Davis of Alabama who did not support the legislation.

I ran some simple analysis and discovered regional support for health care reform in the U.S. House looked something like this:

New England- 95 percent support
Mid-Atlantic- 68 percent support
West- 65 percent support
Midwest- 51 percent support
Mountain West- 50 percent support
South- 31 percent support
Plains- 26 percent support

Read the rest at The Loop.

Georgia AG Faces Impeachment Threat for Doing His Job

Republicans threaten Georgia AG with impeachment after he refuses to file politically motivated lawsuit to kill Federal health care legislation.

The Fight For Health Care Reform Is Not Over Yet - U.S. Supreme Court Likely To Have Last Word

The U.S. Supreme Court will likely have the last word on the Health Care Reform legislation that was signed by President Obama today. John Roberts, along with Scalia and Alito are salivating right now.... especially Roberts. He loves being in this position at this moment. At the very least for Roberts, it's a chance to make Obama sweat. He has made it no secret that he is not fond of the Obama Administration, particularly after the spat about comments made by Obama at the last State of the Union address, criticizing the court for its ruling on campaign finance regulations in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Uncle Clarence probably can't wait either.

The lawsuits by State Attorneys General from across the Country (most of them Republican) will drag on for months. Writing in the Washington Post, Georgetown University constitutional law professor Randy E. Barnett breaks down the potential areas for legal challenges and the potential for their success. He concludes the U.S. Supreme Court isn’t likely to overturn the legislation - however, he admits that it is not out of the realm of possibility.

The courts won't be the only avenue that Republicans will use to try to kill the legislation. They will also try to interfere with the passage of reconciliation "fixes". If they can't find any traction there, they plan to continue to scare and misinform voters about the legislation. Yesterday, on one of St. Louis' local Right wing radio stations, callers were suggesting a move towards violence (with the host playing right along). On NPR last night... angry callers, brainwashed completely by the propaganda, talked about going to prison and the death camps they may have to endure because of the legislation (Ohhh yes, the Right has brainwashed the Hell out of Americans. You can do anything when you control media). Listen to the March, 22nd discussion on Healthcare from NPR's On Point. The GOP and Right wing media have been extremely effective at ginning up fear and using propaganda to turn public opinion clearly against Health Care Reform.

This will be a serious problem for Obama and the Democrats. They act as if this is a real victory... and it may be. But it may be an even bigger victory for Republicans who still control the debate... in fact, they control public opinion. Progressives have failed monumentally in the information war.... and it is showing. They have time to debunk the lies and recover somewhat.... but I don't think they have a clue regarding how to do it, and I don't think there is even a willingness on their part to do it, and because of that they will pay dearly in November.

The Democrats still have the problem of the economy, which was destroyed by Bush & Co. The public....real folks down on the ground... are concerned more about the economy and jobs than anything else. This is why Obama and the Democrats should have been more focused on jobs over the past year. Their interest in jobs and the economy have been luke warm...and people have noticed. This is why voters, misguided and vulnerable to Republican propaganda, will choose Republicans this Fall.... the same Party that is largely responsible for getting the Country into its current economic mess.

The Republicans will now run their campaigns using Health Care as their rallying cry. They will run on repealing it....and stupid voters (the targets of Right wing propaganda/lies) will respond by punishing Democrats. Of course Republicans won't be able to repeal it as long as the Democrats are in the White House. But a President Mitt Romney (or some other Republican President) is likely to sign legislation repealing it in 2013, before the bill has a chance to kick in completely. Stupid American voters are likely to give us a Republican House and Republican Senate (possibly this year) and a Republican in the White House in the 2012 elections.

Could they do this realistically? I don't think so.... but it all depends on how well they maintain their brainwashing. If they can continue to effectively misinform the public and continue to win the argument.... then a repeal is a possibility. Republicans have undisputed control over information and public opinion in this Country.... despite the fact that most evidence shows that their core principles and values are losing propositions. Their theories on politics, social policy, economics, and foreign policy have been proven failures. Yet, because they control the battlefield in terms of PR and information.... they can continue to be successful. It pisses me off that Progressives seem to be unable to understand the importance of winning the information war. They don't seem to get it.... even after all of these years... after 2000, and after John Kerry in 2003-04... they still don't understand what the Hell is going on. You can have the best policies in the World...and you could have better programs for improving the lives of voters...but none of that matters if you can't win the information war.

So all of this celebrating might be premature.

Exact Changes You Can Expect From Health Care Reform

Devona Walker at The Loop has an excellent bullet point list of exactly what changes are in store for you due to the health care reform just passed by the House

Democrats Did The Right Thing On Health Care

Yesterday, House Democrats took their boldest, most responsible action in years by passing health care reform. The Democratic bill will expand coverage to an estimated 32 million Americans. Yes, there will be a mandate that people acquire health care coverage, but this does not constitute a government takeover. The private insurance market will actually get larger. With an enlarged customer base, premiums for pre-existing customer should not rise at nearly their current rate of increases.

Read the rest at The Loop.

Also check out my podcast discussion of health care reform with Lenny McAllister.

The Right Attacks 11 Year Old Boy and His Family, Slamming His Effort To Support Health Care Reform In Mothers Memory

But the Right found a reason to attack Marcelas Owens and his family....
Lawrence O'Donnell talks to The Nation's Chris Hayes.

From Media Matters:

Right-wing media set sights on family of 11-year-old who spoke about his mother's death at health care event:
Right-wing media have recently targeted 11-year-old Marcelas Owens and his family for attacks after he appeared at a health care reform event to speak about his mother, who reportedly died after losing her health insurance. These attacks follow a history of media conservatives attacking or mocking the uninsured, and previous attacks by right-wing media on the family of a 12-year-old who spoke in support of SCHIP.
Read on...

Health Insurance Company Targeted HIV Patients

An example of the kinds of abuses that Health Care Reform (Reorganization) is supposed to stop.

The story of Natoma Canfield was also pretty troubling. Of course I knew of these kinds of abuses.... but the scale of the corporate insanity in the Canfield story was pretty bad....even for the insurance industry. You would think that the CEO's would be embarrassed.

Health Care Re-organization Bill Headed For Vote

I think it's probably better than nothing. But it could turn out to be a flop as well. It will be a few years before we will know the verdict on the legislation.
With few federal workers to monitor and enforce the provisions in this Bill...and with insurance companies left in charge...and with them knowing that no one is guarding the hen house... I suspect the results will be a mixed bag.

But Dems have to pass it first. Pelosi is a little on the inept side...so I won't believe it until I see it. Sometimes i'm not sure if she can even count to 216. Luckily she has James Clyburn. But even if it passes this weekend... the Republicans aren't giving up. They are revealing their mafia tendencies.

Michael Moore, in his appearance on Countdown, spelled out pretty well why Progressives are not exactly jumping for joy.