Health care reform is close at hand. If you believe you have healthcare insurance that will keep you out of debt if you get really sick, then I have a Caribbean Island for sale. It is time for all honest, moral, and informed citizens to perform their civic duty and call all of their Congress people and Senators to support The Healthcare Reform Bill with a Strong Public Option.

One cannot be rational and not understand that private insurance companies by definition will not reduce their profits unless they have some baseline provided by a public option that does not have a profit incentive. It is not that insurance companies are bad, though many are outright evil, but that any profit driven corporation is tasked to maximize profits. The problem is that health insurance companies do not provide a value to justify any profits and they skim 30% of all healthcare dollars off the top. They are just a middle man. Ideally, a single payer system is preferable, however because of great insurance company and GOP PR it is politically unattainable. As such we must ensure that at least the public option as stated in the bill be realized.

It is your civic duty to be a part of this debate to ensure passage of this bill. Find your Congress Person or Senator below and call then in support Healthcare Reform and specifically a robust public option.

We have a very small window to effect this drastic change. If it is not done now, it will not be done. It is imperative that everyone call their Senator and Congress person and let them know that we will accept no less than a not for profit government insurance to compete with the for profit insurance companies.

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Political & Healthcare Reform Websites
http://www.SinglePayerHealthcareNow.com
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Dear Friends, Colleagues and Supporters,

FOX News is on a witch hunt, aimed at destroying the Obama administration and the progressive movement. They’ve already succeeded in pushing Van Jones out of the White House and badgered Congress into passing an unconstitutional bill to defund ACORN. Glenn Beck actually keeps an enemies list on a blackboard that’s a regular part of his show.

ACORN is just the beginning. FOX has an enemies list, and they’re going to keep destroying progressive champions until we stop them.

Tell your Congressperson: If you vote to extend the "Defund ACORN Act," you’re just assisting FOX in their anti-American witch hunt.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Films team

Help air our powerful new TV ad telling Sen. Harry Reid that voters need him to be strong on the public option.

INITIAL GOAL: 200 ads run in Nevada. Every four donations of $50 helps buy another ad. UPDATE: Within minutes, we’ve already funded 18 ads, can you help us reach 200 by chipping in $50? (Donate by mail. Join the PCCC. )

 CNN: What do you think of President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win?

Fareed Zakaria: It is great news. But I think it’s more an award to America for rejoining the world than recognition of President Obama per se. People here underestimate how relieved the world is to have a more engaged, less bullying America.

CNN: What has President Obama done specifically to deserve the award?

Zakaria: Quite a bit, in fact. He ended many "war on terror" practices that made people (both inside and outside the country) see America as betraying its ideals; he reached out to the Muslim world in a way that hasn’t been done before; he made proposals to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenals; he re-engaged on the Israeli-Palestinian issue; he started winding down the Iraq war.

All this collectively adds up to a changed American profile in the world — as is evident in President Obama being awarded the prize today.

[Full Article]

Zakaria: Nobel rewards Obama’s ‘big, bold gambit’ – CNN.com

Joe Scarborough showed he has some testicles here in hi evisceration of the “Conservative Republicans” on spending here.

NEW YORK — President Barack Obama’s approval ratings are starting to rise after declining ever since his inauguration, new poll figures show as the country’s mood begins to brighten. But concerns about the economy, health care and war persist, and support for the war in Afghanistan is falling.

An Associated Press-GfK poll says 56 percent of those surveyed in the past week approve of Obama’s job performance, up from 50 percent in September. It’s the first time since he took office in January that his rating has gone up.

People also feel better about his handling of the economy and his proposed health care overhaul.

But not about the war.

Support for the war in Afghanistan has declined, the poll said Tuesday. And approval of Obama’s handling of it is holding steady – in contrast to his gains in other areas – as he considers a big troop increase there. Poll respondents narrowly oppose the increase.

Overall, 39 percent said they disapproved of Obama’s performance in office, down from 49 percent last month.

While a majority of those surveyed remain pessimistic about the direction of the country, that number has begun to improve, too. The poll found 41 percent now believe the U.S. is headed in the right direction, compared with 37 percent in September.

But a large majority of respondents said they remain very concerned about most of the major issues facing the country. The economy was the biggest concern, with 88 percent saying they consider it extremely or very important, followed by unemployment, health care, terrorism, the budget deficit, taxes and the war in Afghanistan.

Poll: Obama’s Approval Rating Jumps 6 Percent

 

Every single Republican in the House voted against the $819 billion Recovery Act in January. Among the Republican senators who voted against the stimulus were Texas’ Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn. Both of them complained that they wanted to see more tax cuts rather than government spending. But now, both Hutchison and Cornyn are pressuring the Obama administration to give Texas $3 billion in stimulus funds. The co-signers on the letter are a bipartisan group of the Texas delegation in the House, including 19 Republicans, all of whom also voted against the funds for which they’re now begging. The letter was drafted and circulated by GOP Rep. Pete Olson. From the letter: Therefore, to ensure the U.S. maintains its leadership in human space exploration, we respectfully ask that you include in your promised amended budget request for NASA’s Exploration Systems a request to Congress to reallocate the necessary funds for NASA from the funds that we anticipate will remain available from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). As of last month, less than 15 percent of ARRA funds had been expended. Since the stated purpose of the stimulus package was to secure good jobs and stabilize our economy, there is no better investment that could be made than the addition of up to $3 billion to NASA in FY2010, and the projection of at least that level of increase, as recommended by your Committee, at a 2.4% rate of inflation in the out-year projections included in the initial FY2010 Request <CONTINUED>

 

Think Progress » Texas Lawmakers Who Voted Against The Recovery Act Now Beg For Stimulus Funds For NASA

If we had more journalist that did not buy into the Right Wing Spin we would have already have healthcare reform.

The Republican Party should be embarrassed for two reasons. First electing an incompetent black man as their chairman in an attempt to make the party look more inclusive and to neutralize any attempt to make attacks on our first black President seem racial. Secondly, castrating the powers normally attributed to the chairman by treating him like someone to be seen but mostly not heard. This article is insightful.

GOP leaders to Michael Steele: Back off – Manu Raju and Jonathan Martin – POLITICO.com Congressional leaders are miffed that Michael Steele is trying to take such an active role in policymaking. Photo: AP GOP leaders, in a private meeting last month, delivered a blunt and at times heated message to RNC Chairman Michael Steele: quit meddling in policy. The plea was made during what was supposed to be a routine discussion about polling matters and other priorities in House Minority Leader John Boehner’s office. But the session devolved into a heated discussion about the roles of congressional leadership and Steele, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting.  <<CONTINUED>>

 

GOP leaders to Michael Steele: Back off – Manu Raju and Jonathan Martin – POLITICO.com

SNL was very tough on the President this week. For the most part he earned it for his over incessant effort to be bi-partisan when the other party is determined to block him at every turn. The country elected a vast Democratic majority. If he does not use it in these two years to dramatically push what the voters elected them for, he will be working with a Republican congress in 2011. Being nice quickly degrades into naiveté.