Bipartisanship Runs Aground At Health Care Summit

Did you watch? Did you enjoy this latest fucking kabuki theater? Were you impressed with McCain's clownish behavior? Did you honestly expect any other God damn outcome?

Somewhere I read the key to such negotiations is both sides have to know what they need and then to discuss these needs with the other side to see what commonality is there.

I disagree. The absolute prime condition required is for both sides to believe, before the negotiations begin, agreement is possible. The GOP didn't believe that at all or they decided they would not allow agreement under any circumstances. I lean toward the latter.

The 'summit' [stupid fucking word fed us by the media] was ridiculous. You were smothered by the politics in the room. The whole point was to posture for November 2010. Hell, Obama even specifically mentioned November.

President Obama’s face-to-face effort to forge a bipartisan agreement on health care overhaul appeared to fall short Thursday, as differences that have plagued the process for months re-emerged during a meeting at Washington's historic Blair House.

Although Democrats maintained that the two sides were actually close to a solution, Republicans insisted that neither they nor the American people can stomach the bill as it now exists.

“Mr. President, what we've been saying for a long time is, let's scrap the bill,” House Republican Leader John Boehner said. “Let's start with a clean sheet of paper on those things that we can agree on.”

Obama wrapped up the nearly seven-hour session by asking Republicans to do some "soul searching." He held out some hope that compromise could be reached and that a bill could be finalized within a month to six weeks.

"And if we can't, then I think we ought to go ahead and make some decisions and then that's what elections are for,” the president said. “We have honest disagreements about the direction of the country and we'll go ahead and test those out for the next several months till November."

And they forgot the damn decent intermission. Not good theater at all. A complete waist of time. Better to have grabbed a DVD and some popcorn.

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Note: Headline links to source. Clicking on image will enlarge it (usually).

Get Well Soon, Senator Kennedy..............

Subject: Tell Senator Kennedy to get well soon

Hello,

Sadly, progressive champion, Senator Ted Kennedy, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.

I just signed a card from the entire MoveOn community wishing him well and I thought you might want to add your name, too.

Senator Kerry will hand deliver the card with all the signatures and well wishes to Senator Kennedy.

All you have to do to add your name to the card is click

Thanks!

Big Shot Bob (In Texas)

What pisses me off is this. The US which thinks it's preeminent in health care and can wipe the fucking floor with all other countries can't, with Kennedy's money, save this man. Your HMO is looking good now?

Note: Headline links to source.

Something special just for you

Still can't upload fucking images so just go to Jonco.

The bad news is Blogger is screwing me. The good news is they usually correct their problems within a couple days.

We get what we pay for.

World Health Organization's rankiing of the world's health systems

The US has the best health care in the world. Woot!!!1!!

NOT!

Of course the US has the most fucking expensive health care in the world. Hey, we gotta claim our successes, right?

We beat Alabania.

We also beat Malaysia and the Philippines and I don't believe it for a minute. I've been treated in both countries and their medical expertise rivals or exceeds that of the US. Even a US doctor admitted that to me.

1 France
2 Italy
3 San Marino
4 Andorra
5 Malta
6 Singapore
7 Spain
8 Oman
9 Austria
10 Japan
11 Norway
12 Portugal
13 Monaco
14 Greece
15 Iceland
16 Luxembourg
17 Netherlands
18 United Kingdom
19 Ireland
20 Switzerland
21 Belgium
22 Colombia
23 Sweden
24 Cyprus
25 Germany
26 Saudi Arabia
27 United Arab Emirates
28 Israel
29 Morocco
30 Canada
31 Finland
32 Australia
33 Chile
34 Denmark
35 Dominica
36 Costa Rica
37 United States of America
38 Slovenia
39 Cuba
40 Brunei
41 New Zealand
42 Bahrain
43 Croatia
44 Qatar
45 Kuwait
46 Barbados
47 Thailand
48 Czech Republic
49 Malaysia
50 Poland
51 Dominican Republic
52 Tunisia
53 Jamaica
54 Venezuela
55 Albania
56 Seychelles
57 Paraguay
58 South Korea
59 Senegal
60 Philippines
61 Mexico
62 Slovakia
63 Egypt
64 Kazakhstan
65 Uruguay
66 Hungary
67 Trinidad and Tobago
68 Saint Lucia
69 Belize
70 Turkey
71 Nicaragua
72 Belarus
73 Lithuania
74 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
75 Argentina
76 Sri Lanka
77 Estonia
78 Guatemala
79 Ukraine
80 Solomon Islands
81 Algeria
82 Palau
83 Jordan
84 Mauritius
85 Grenada
86 Antigua and Barbuda
87 Libya
88 Bangladesh
89 Macedonia
90 Bosnia-Herzegovina
91 Lebanon
92 Indonesia
93 Iran
94 Bahamas
95 Panama
96 Fiji
97 Benin
98 Nauru
99 Romania
100 Saint Kitts and Nevis
101 Moldova
102 Bulgaria
103 Iraq
104 Armenia
105 Latvia
106 Yugoslavia
107 Cook Islands
108 Syria
109 Azerbaijan
110 Suriname
111 Ecuador
112 India
113 Cape Verde
114 Georgia
115 El Salvador
116 Tonga
117 Uzbekistan
118 Comoros
119 Samoa
120 Yemen
121 Niue
122 Pakistan
123 Micronesia
124 Bhutan
125 Brazil
126 Bolivia
127 Vanuatu
128 Guyana
129 Peru
130 Russia
131 Honduras
132 Burkina Faso
133 Sao Tome and Principe
134 Sudan
135 Ghana
136 Tuvalu
137 Ivory Coast
138 Haiti
139 Gabon
140 Kenya
141 Marshall Islands
142 Kiribati
143 Burundi
144 China
145 Mongolia
146 Gambia
147 Maldives
148 Papua New Guinea
149 Uganda
150 Nepal
151 Kyrgystan
152 Togo
153 Turkmenistan
154 Tajikistan
155 Zimbabwe
156 Tanzania
157 Djibouti
158 Eritrea
159 Madagascar
160 Vietnam
161 Guinea
162 Mauritania
163 Mali
164 Cameroon
165 Laos
166 Congo
167 North Korea
168 Namibia
169 Botswana
170 Niger
171 Equatorial Guinea
172 Rwanda
173 Afghanistan
174 Cambodia
175 South Africa
176 Guinea-Bissau
177 Swaziland
178 Chad
179 Somalia
180 Ethiopia
181 Angola
182 Zambia
183 Lesotho
184 Mozambique
185 Malawi
186 Liberia
187 Nigeria
188 Democratic Republic of the Congo
189 Central African Republic
190 Myanmar

I thought Benin should have been rated higher, but what the hell.

Sometimes I get so fucking tired of "the US is always the best". The US isn't. It has its good points and a shitload of bad points. Live with it.

Via WWW.geographic.com.

This could fucking be you. Ready?

Jesus H Christ with herpes.

Must read IMHO

Hey, more to make you feel good about the US. NOT!

Throwing hospital patients onto the street to die

This is an item I've run into several times, but failed to blog about. I apologize.

Even on Skid Row, where life and dignity are cheap, it was a shocking scene: a paraplegic man "sliding along his bottom using his hands," carrying his meager belongings in a plastic hospital bag he clutched in his teeth.

Police said the man, who was dragging a colostomy bag behind him, had been dumped out on the sidewalk by the driver of a hospital van.

The witnesses to the dumping, all homeless people, began shouting, "Where is his wheelchair, where is his walker," police detective Russ Long told the Associated Press on Friday. They told officers the driver responded that the man defecated in the van and had to be removed.

"It looks like a shocking case of neglect at this point," Long said. "If there is an explanation it just eludes me at this point. "He was sliding along on his bottom using his hands, "Long said. "He had a hospital property bag in his mouth, in his teeth, and he was trailing a colostomy bag, which was malfunctioning."

The witnesses told police a van from Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center pulled up to a tiny park in the grimy area near downtown at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, a side door opened, and a man, dressed in a green hospital gown and pants, began struggling to get out. The driver looked on.
"His pants fell around his ankles. He fell onto the curb with his legs dangling onto the street," Long said. "He reached down and grabbed his pants, pulled his legs onto the sidewalk. Witnesses said the van would have run over his legs if he hadn't have done that."

Other homeless people in the area helped the disoriented man into the park. A police bicycle patrol arrived by chance within a minute and called an ambulance.

The man, whose name was not released, was described as a 41-year-old Hispanic. He was wearing a bracelet from the hospital, Long said.

Jesus H Christ running a marathon, this is appalling. Let's break it down. Someone authorized this, maybe also destroyed medical records to hide the fact the man had been at the hospital. Undoubtedly a nurse was aware of what was happening, A hospital van driver was involved. Perhaps a second hospital van employee participated.

So, at the very least 3 people and probably more were involved. Three bastards with no souls who would toss a human being out on the street to die.

Other articles I've read mention the police have investigations ongoing involving as many as 12 different hospitals. Which means the bastards-with-no-soul count is up to at least 36.

(read more)

Must Read IMHO

Over at Balloon juice there's an excellent post by Tim F about health care with many sharp comments attached.

Oh yeah, did I mention lots of links too?