Single-payer HC: Conyers wants to hear from you NOW. Updated, with poll

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Wednesday March 04, 2009 · 3:01 PM PST

2009/03/04 · 15:01

Nyceve has just reported the good news that Representative John Conyers will be among the 120 invited guests at the White House summit on the reform of the health care system. This is indeed good news, but there have been concerns raised about whether Conyers will live up to expectations in advocating for the position of single payer healthcare. A proactive action plan is advocated for this critical need.

Poll

18 votes Show Results

What action have you taken in response to this diary?

18 votes Vote Now!

What action have you taken in response to this diary?

I didn't bother to read it, I only look at the polls

1 vote

I read it, but I wasn't convinced my action was needed

1 vote

I read it, but I am against single payer so I'm not doing anything

0 votes

I read it, and I called Conyers office

0 votes

I read it and I wrote Conyers an email

3 votes

I read it and I wrote in Conyers blog

9 votes

I called and blogged

0 votes

I called and emailed

0 votes

I blogged and emailed

2 votes

I called, blogged and emailed

2 votes

State sponsored single payer healthcare - why it won't work

Imavehmontah

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Wednesday February 25, 2009 · 5:07 PM PST

2009/02/25 · 17:07

I wrote a comment in DrSteveB's diary Is Massachusetts "Health Reform" a model for U.S.? stating that single payer cannot work at the state level. I was asked to explain my reasoning for this conclusion, and to support it with facts where possible. Unfortunately, the facts are going to be hard to come by, since no one has managed to mount even a vague attempt to try a single payer healthcare scheme at the state level. I can however site the facts of current regulations and situations that would completely subvert the goals and rationale of a single payer system at the state level. And I think it is not too far a stretch to assume that a failure would be highly undesirable.

Imavehmontah

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Friday February 20, 2009 · 3:54 PM PST

2009/02/20 · 15:54

Misleading and misinforming the public for political purposes and political gain is nothing new. In recent years, the Repugs have created a mastery of this practice, and used it to lead hapless, uniformed masses of people to act in ways that are clearly contrary to to their own best interests.

With the firing of the opening shots in the battle for health care reform, the practice of misinformation seems to have hit a new all-time low. People are being incited to rally behind causes that are not only against their political and economic interests, but also against their personal health. And the politicians and pundits are seeking both increased influence and money as they advance their lies. How can we continue to tolerate these lies and the utter absence of a moral compass in our elected leader? The recommended actions are below the fold.

Poll

15 votes Show Results

What would it take to motivate an elected official to lie?

15 votes Vote Now!

What would it take to motivate an elected official to lie?

It's the money, stupid!

3 votes

It's the power stupid!

2 votes

It's the combination of money and power.

7 votes

It's admiration from their peer group.

0 votes

It's not lying, it's a deep moral conviction that this is the right choice.

1 vote

It's just operant conditioning.

2 votes

It's judicious use of hot metal under the fingernails.

0 votes

Elected officials never lie intentionally

0 votes

You can't get there from here. Or can you?

Imavehmontah

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday February 11, 2009 · 5:28 PM PST

2009/02/11 · 17:28

If you are waiting for someone else to do the work of pushing for health care reform, you're gonna be sorry. The time for sitting back and letting someone else do the heavy lifting is gone. If you aren't willing to spend some time understanding what is needed and then go out on demand that it happen, you're gonna be sorry. And you might just take the rest of us along with you.

There are no authorized leaders waiting in the wings to make this happen. The authority will rise as our collective voices rise as one.

Poll

14 votes Show Results

How will you support single payer healthcare reform?

14 votes Vote Now!

How will you support single payer healthcare reform?

I plan to write emails to my Congresspeople/Senators

8 votes

I plan to call my Congresspeople/Senators

3 votes

I plan to contact the White House directly

1 vote

I am not supporting single payer healthcare reform

2 votes

Health Series: Rebuilding the airplane in flight: Fixing broken healthcare

Imavehmontah

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Thursday February 05, 2009 · 4:56 PM PST

2009/02/05 · 16:56

THURSDAY NIGHT IS HEALTH CARE CHANGE NIGHT, a weekly Daily Kos Health Care Series.

In a previous diary titled Single payer healthcare will never pass I described some of the historical and political background that led to the current impasse in health reform. I also tried to raise awareness of the emotional buttons that powerful and wealthy vested interests are using to marshal opposition to any change that threatens their position. In the comment dialog that followed, folks challenged me to describe my vision for a single payer system. With equal parts humility and fear, I am going to attempt to describe my personal vision.

The details I present below are of necessity abbreviated, and require a certain amount of imagination to fill in the obvious gaps. It is perhaps a 5,000 foot view, as opposed to a 50,000 foot view or a ground level of detail. I am hoping to enlist some support, provoke some constructive criticism, and expose some holes in my thinking. This effort is way above my pay grade (to borrow a phrase), as I suspect it is for any individual person who tries to imagine a solution to such a sweeping problem. So, take it as it is intended and take a deep breath.

Imavehmontah

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Monday January 12, 2009 · 7:24 AM PST

2009/01/12 · 07:24

I am listening to George W. Bush's last press conference. He is asked, "What do you see as some of the mistakes you made?" He replies in part by saying words to the effect that the situation at Abu Graib prison was a mistake, one of the mistakes he was most disappointed in.

Allowing him to spin this as a mistake is, in my mind, the stongest argument possible for pushing ahead with indictment of Bush and his buddies for war crimes.

Imavehmontah

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Wednesday January 07, 2009 · 4:18 PM PST

2009/01/07 · 16:18

As an enthusiastic advocate for single payer health care, I am too often guilty of underestimating the opposition, fear, and raw emotion that it generates. I see the overwhelming evidence that a well conceived single payer plan can bring huge benefits to everyone, and assume that it's just a matter of time before everyone else will see it as well. Especially if we just keep emphasizing the advantages and virtues, it's just a matter of time before it happens, right?

Underestimating the strength of opposition to implementing a single payer plan will only lead to further delays, disappointment, and avoidable illness and death for many of us. So, my purpose in writing this diary is to explore and expose some of the incentives and methods for opposing a single payer system, and invite discussion of ways to avoid being sidetracked by those who employ such methods.

Imavehmontah

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Monday December 15, 2008 · 9:40 AM PST

2008/12/15 · 09:40

December 11 and 12 marked the annual meeting of trustees of hospitals throughout New England in Boston at the New England Healthcare Assembly. Usually the attendees at these meetings are there to get updated on new ideas in hospital governance and the functions of trustees within hospital organizations. As you might imagine, this is not a group of people who see themselves as rabble rousers, and typically there is little incentive to circumvent the party line of the American Hospital Association. The AHA in turn has been closely tied to insurance companies in the United States, opposing any health care reform which poses a threat to the survival or autonomy of traditional insurance. So you might expect that the trustees attending this meeting would favor an approach to health care reform that followed the direction of the AHA. My sense of the will of the trustees that I spoke with was that many are willing to take action that is far more radical.

This diary is written to give you the flavor of the information that was imparted at this meeting, and to suggest some ways to amplify the volume of the grassroots push towards meaningful healthcare reform.

Imavehmontah

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Friday November 21, 2008 · 8:53 AM PST

2008/11/21 · 08:53

Yesterday, a diary was posted by M16eib .http://m16eib.dailykos.com/about Single Payer Healthcare:

http://www.dailykos.com/...

This being a topic that (to me anyway) has risen to the top of the heap in importance, I eagerly awaited a hot discussion. I saw the topic posted on the Recent Diaries list, scrolled down through the comments, and looked for a place to join the discussion. I clicked on "Recommend", added a comment and waited for others to join the discussion. I felt certain that the importance and impact of the discussion would push this to the Recommended Diary list.

What happened next?

Imavehmontah

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Tuesday November 18, 2008 · 7:28 AM PST

2008/11/18 · 07:28

I was hoping that I would not have to write this diary, or for that matter anything else about Joe Lieberman. As I try to control my dismay about the possibility that Lieberman will go unpunished for his deeds, I realize that this needs to be discussed at least one more time. Maybe, just maybe, Obama and others will listen. Reconciliation has its place, so does anger, and so does accountablity. Acceptance and "moving on" does not happen by decree

Imavehmontah

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Saturday November 01, 2008 · 4:38 PM PDT

2008/11/01 · 16:38

A few weeks ago I heard an interview with Timothy Ryback about his new book Hitler's Private Library: The Books That Shaped his Life . I can't find a link to the interview, but the piece of it that caught my ear was Ryback expressing concern that his book might be construed as lending a compassionate, "human" persepective to a man whose acts and attitudes have an undeniably inhuman character. Ryback was justifiably concerned that lending an air of humanity to the perpertrator of inhumane deeds is not appropriate. Some kinds of behavior should not be allowed to cloaked in a disguise, even if unintended.

Imavehmontah

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday September 15, 2008 · 7:23 PM PDT

2008/09/15 · 19:23

George Lakoff has written a number of important and informative works on language that are relevant and illuminating with regards to the recent flap over Barack Obama's "lipstick on a pig" comment. As Lakoff has pointed out in his seminal work, "Metaphors We Live By", the use of metaphor is a linguistic technique by which we attempt to share and generalize a well recognized and familiar experience and extend its properties to a new event or experience. Using metaphor in this way creates a "frame", or a set of properties areound what is being described that are often subconsciously inpreted by the recipient of the metaphor. Most of the time, the properties of the frame are intended, and the creator of the metaphor expects the framing that accompanies the use of the metaphor to have a certain impact. But the creativity and unpredictabilty of the human brain sometimes results in some novel and creative meanings for metaphor that go quite beyond what was expected or intended.

Poll

25 votes Show Results

How does the "lipstick on a pig" metaphor apply to the McCain campaign?

25 votes Vote Now!

How does the "lipstick on a pig" metaphor apply to the McCain campaign?

Sarah Pailin is the lipstick on the John McCain pig

14 votes

Sarh Pailin is an unworthy candidate for Vice President

3 votes

The pigs wish they had never heard of John McCain or Sarah Pailin

5 votes

The cosmetic industry lobbyists refuse to work for John McCain or provide him with lipstick

3 votes

RSS

Single-payer HC: Conyers wants to hear from you NOW. Updated, with poll

State sponsored single payer healthcare - why it won't work

Would our elected reps lie to us for money? Oh No!

You can't get there from here. Or can you?

Health Series: Rebuilding the airplane in flight: Fixing broken healthcare

Spinning Abu Graib as a "mistake"

Single Payer Health Care will never pass

Our broken healthcare system: Conversations with hospital trustees

Single Payer Health Care: Overcoming Sex Appeal

Putting Lieberman to rest

John McCain: Will a SNL appearance give him a human face?

Is Sarah Palin the pig or the lipstick?