"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent." ------- Isaac Asimov
A jolly, laughing Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) amuses a crowd of GOP faithful, announcing Democrats returning to their home districts, hosting health care reform town halls, "...almost got lynched!" An apt analogy for the rabid anti-Obama folks. They loved it.
According to reports this week, Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) has opted not to hold town halls there. Why? Right-wing goons and death threats.
Mob violence, under the guise of a "citizen grass roots movement" against health care reform, is unleashed. Legislators attempting to explain reform, debunk "socialism" myths--and answer the honest questions of American taxpayers there to learn exactly what "reform with a public option" means--are being deliberately, systematically threatened and shouted down. This is no accident; these are not spontaneous reactions by citizens concerned about reform and attending town halls to find the truth. In the process of staging their "freedom of speech" shout-fests, orchestrated to drown out the message of reform, these folks are violating the rights of others to speak and to ask questions of their legislators.
Who are these screamers and who’s behind the intentional attempt to stop any kind of civil dialogue about health care reform in America?
That angry mob is made up of ordinary citizens, some of them just like you and me. They’re frightened of change in the current health care system because they’ve been told the Democratic plan means "bureaucrats in Washington" will deny them health care; that they will lose their doctors; that the Democratic plan is a Nazi-style scheme to kill off the elderly. Because they do not read much, they believe the lies they’re fed. They’re scared shitless. Fear feeds mindless rage. These folks are recruited to attend town halls and given instructions on what to do: "...pack the hall...spread out to make your numbers seem more significant...rock-the-boat early...yell out...rattle [the congressman], get him off his prepared script...shout..." They are instructed to "disrupt" the meetings.
Who’s behind this movement? AHIP, America’s Health Insurance Plans, an insurance industry group, has stationed paid employees in 30 states to track local town hall events.
A group, Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, has publicly claimed credit for helping organize town hall outbursts. This group is no benevolent public interest entity. It’s headed by Rick Scott, a wealthy health care exec. He’s the former head of HCA ( for-profit Hospital Corporation of America) who was forced to resign after fraud charges were made against the massive health care company in 1997. HCA paid well over $800 million in a settlement with the Justice Department. Scott remains a corporate health care magnate. He owns an urgent care company with over 20 facilities nationwide. He’s in this for the money, folks. Reform, especially reform with regulations or a public option, will be a competitor in the free market. That will drive down costs--and there goes ole Rick’s cushy profit margin. He and his GOP/HealthCare Industrial Complex can’t have that. It’s National Raise-a-Ruckus time! It's War! And the first casualty of war is always the truth.
A "strategy guide" on how to disrupt town halls came from a website sponsored by a group called Americans for Prosperity. This group is headed by a former associate of sleazy, jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Health insurance, pharmaceutical and corporate medicine industry funded groups--all of whom will lose mega-profits if reform passes--play a significant role in organizing shout-downs, and many of those doing the shouting are recruited by paid organizers. Transportation provided.
From the Salisbury Post (NC): "Beware of staged disruptions. With funding and staff support from...groups opposed to health care reform and to the Obama administration...these protests are not intended to be any kind of dialogue but purely disruptive...the idea is to make opposition to health care reform seem more widespread than it really is...The campaign smacks of what political operatives call ‘Astroturf’--fake grass roots."
Most Americans know we need reform and support it. The GOP/HealthScare Industry desperately want us to believe otherwise. The spread of Astroturf is bad for the environment and other living things. Don’t buy it.
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