A Century of Charlie Chaplin
"Soldiers!!! Don't give yourselves to
these brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your
lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill
you - diet you - treat you like cattle and use you as cannon fodder!
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine
minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You
are men! With the love of humanity in your hearts! Don't hate! Only the
unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!"
Charles Spencer Chaplin
Concluding speech of The Great Dictator
Charlie Chaplin was one of the the bravest men who ever lived. That speech, more than anything else I can think of, was my political awakening. Think about it: The greatest speech in all recorded human history was not made by a
politician. It was not made by a king. It was not made by a queen. It
was not made by a prince or a princess. It was not made by a preacher.
It was not made by a businessman or woman. It was not made by an old
soldier or a young one. It was not made by a billionaire. It was not
made by a potentate. It was not made by a senator or a congressman. It
was not made by a president....
The greatest speech in all recorded human history was made by a little tramp. Go figure.
In January of 1914 - one-hundred years ago this month - an obscure, twenty-four-year-old English music hall comedian named Charles Chaplin walked through the entrance of the Keystone Film Company in Eden, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. He had been offered one-hundred-and-fifty dollars a week by producer Mack Sennett to have a go at the infant movie industry. By year's end he would be one of the most famous men on the planet.
My discovery of Charlie Chaplin can be traced to Christmas Day 1968. At a get-together at the home of a Notre Dame classmate of my father's, a bunch of us kids were getting ice-skating lessons on a small pond that adjoined the house. When it became apparent that I utterly lacked any aptitude for the ice, I wondered inside and spied a small television set on a bookshelf. When I turned it on, by accident or destiny, the channel was set to public television - Channel Thirteen. On the screen a little man was wrecking havoc on a pair of skates - this time of the roller variety. What I was watching was a short from 1916 called "The Rink". That was all I needed to see, I've been hooked ever since.
There wasn't much substance to film comedy prior to the moment Charlie Chaplin entered the international consciousness one-hundred years ago. He proved that it could be viewed as great art - something to be taken seriously by audiences and critics alike. By 1917 he (and his Little Tramp) had evolved from the fast-paced, knockabout mayhem of his early Keystone films, to a more subtle and sympathetic character. The tramp by this time was funnier than he had ever been, but there was a passion and soul that had not revealed itself in his earliest films. Each of the twelve films he made for the Mutual Film Corporation in the years 1916-1917 are the cinematic equivalent of precious gems; twelve mini-masterpieces.
Toward the end of the silent era, while the quantity declined, the quality of his films was nearly universally agreed upon. All these decades later serious film critics are still in agreement. Chaplin was an artist. One of the greatest of the twentieth century.
The political persecution of Charles Chaplin began in 1940 when he released the bravest film ever made. "The Great Dictator" depicted the story of two very different people
(both played by Chaplin) who could be (but are not) identical twins: A
timid little Jewish barber and Adenoid Hinkle, the dictator of a
fictional country called Ptomainia. The film was a satirical attack on
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi regime. Toward the movie's end, the two men
are mistaken for one another and the little barber is taken to speak at a
massive rally that the dictator had called for on the eve of the
invasion of an entire continent. The speech he gives, which is really
Chaplin's plea to the world for peace and understanding, still resonates
across the decades:
"Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people."
This was Communistic stuff - at least according to the jackasses on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The official forces of darkness went after Charlie in a way that reminds one of the persecution of another comedian, Lenny Bruce, a generation later. Chaplin's FBI file is encyclopedic. Although Al Capone was never a priority for J. Edgar Hoover, Charlie Chaplin was somehow seen as a threat to the peace and security of the free world. Although he was not a Communist, his views on matters social, economic and racial were decidedly left-of-center. In other words, this was a man decades ahead of his time.
No part of his private life was off-limits. When a blood test ordered for a paternity suit proved that he could not be the father of the child he was accused of siring, he was ordered to pay for her maintenance until she reached adulthood nonetheless. On another occasion he was prosecuted for a violation of the "Mann Act". His crime was the fact that he took a grown woman across state lines for the purpose of sex. As Walter Matthau said of the incident many years later, "It was that kind of time in America."
His 1947 film, Monsieur Verdoux, only added to his problems. Henri Verdoux is a former employee of a bank whose job has been eliminated by a faceless bureaucracy. In order to care for his crippled wife and son, he goes into the "business". of marrying rich widows and murdering them for their money. At the film's conclusion, Verdoux is to be executed for murder. As he offers his final words, Chaplin the humanist emerges from behind the mask of Henri Verdoux:
"However remiss the prosecutor has been in complimenting me, he at least admits that I have brains. Thank you, Monsieur, I have; and for thirty-five years I used them honestly. After that, nobody wanted them. So I was forced to go into business for myself. As for being a mass-killer? Does not the world encourage it? Is it not building weapons of destruction for the sole purpose of mass killing? Has it not blown unsuspecting women and little children to pieces? And done it very scientifically! Ha! As a mass-killer, I'm an amateur by comparison."
I'll say it again: Charlie Chaplin was one of the bravest men who ever lived.
In September of 1952 he sailed with his family to England for the premiere of his film, "Limelight". While on board the ship he was informed by wire that he would not be allowed back into the United States. Said one nitwit on HUAC, he had yet to prove his "moral worth". Charlie Chaplin became an exile.
Twenty years later, in April of 1972, Chaplin was invited back to the states to receive a Lifetime Achievement Oscar. Before traveling to Hollywood for the reward ceremonies, there was a gala celebration for him at Lincoln Center in New York City. My brother Pete and I were there for it. We saw Charles Spencer Chaplin in the flesh - and up close - making eye contact with him and even getting a kiss blown at us for good measure. Forty-two years later and that night is as clear as yesterday. It was one of those mountaintop moments that doesn't go away very easily, you know? "Moral worth" indeed.
I always associate Charlie Chaplin with Christmas Day. It was on Christmas Day 1968 that I discovered him. Nine years later, on Christmas Day 1977, it was a bittersweet thing to hear that he had passed away - peacefully and with his family by his side.
In addition to being the centennial of his screen debut, April 16 of this year will also mark the one-hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of his birth. The legacy he leaves us should be treasured and celebrated. We're indeed lucky that he came our way. He's not coming back.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
SUGGESTED READING:
My Autobiography
by Charles Chaplin
The best show business memoir ever written. Future scholarship on the man's life would reveal that this book was very accurate and not as self-serving as most autobiographies. A great read - in fact I just might read it again now.
SUGGESTED VIEWING:
The final scene from The Great Dictator (1940)
https://youtu.be/ibVpDhW6kDQ
In my opinion, the greatest speech of all time. Charles Spencer Chaplin on the mountaintop - at the conclusion of The Great Dictator.
Charlie Chaplin was one of the the bravest men who ever lived. That speech, more than anything else I can think of, was my political awakening. Think about it: The greatest speech in all recorded human history was not made by a
politician. It was not made by a king. It was not made by a queen. It
was not made by a prince or a princess. It was not made by a preacher.
It was not made by a businessman or woman. It was not made by an old
soldier or a young one. It was not made by a billionaire. It was not
made by a potentate. It was not made by a senator or a congressman. It
was not made by a president....The greatest speech in all recorded human history was made by a little tramp. Go figure.
In January of 1914 - one-hundred years ago this month - an obscure, twenty-four-year-old English music hall comedian named Charles Chaplin walked through the entrance of the Keystone Film Company in Eden, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. He had been offered one-hundred-and-fifty dollars a week by producer Mack Sennett to have a go at the infant movie industry. By year's end he would be one of the most famous men on the planet.
 |
| With Eric Campbell in "The Rink" |
There wasn't much substance to film comedy prior to the moment Charlie Chaplin entered the international consciousness one-hundred years ago. He proved that it could be viewed as great art - something to be taken seriously by audiences and critics alike. By 1917 he (and his Little Tramp) had evolved from the fast-paced, knockabout mayhem of his early Keystone films, to a more subtle and sympathetic character. The tramp by this time was funnier than he had ever been, but there was a passion and soul that had not revealed itself in his earliest films. Each of the twelve films he made for the Mutual Film Corporation in the years 1916-1917 are the cinematic equivalent of precious gems; twelve mini-masterpieces.
Toward the end of the silent era, while the quantity declined, the quality of his films was nearly universally agreed upon. All these decades later serious film critics are still in agreement. Chaplin was an artist. One of the greatest of the twentieth century.
 |
| The Great Dictator (1940) |
"Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people."
 |
| On trial, 1942 |
No part of his private life was off-limits. When a blood test ordered for a paternity suit proved that he could not be the father of the child he was accused of siring, he was ordered to pay for her maintenance until she reached adulthood nonetheless. On another occasion he was prosecuted for a violation of the "Mann Act". His crime was the fact that he took a grown woman across state lines for the purpose of sex. As Walter Matthau said of the incident many years later, "It was that kind of time in America."
His 1947 film, Monsieur Verdoux, only added to his problems. Henri Verdoux is a former employee of a bank whose job has been eliminated by a faceless bureaucracy. In order to care for his crippled wife and son, he goes into the "business". of marrying rich widows and murdering them for their money. At the film's conclusion, Verdoux is to be executed for murder. As he offers his final words, Chaplin the humanist emerges from behind the mask of Henri Verdoux:
.jpg) |
| Monsieur Verdoux |
I'll say it again: Charlie Chaplin was one of the bravest men who ever lived.
In September of 1952 he sailed with his family to England for the premiere of his film, "Limelight". While on board the ship he was informed by wire that he would not be allowed back into the United States. Said one nitwit on HUAC, he had yet to prove his "moral worth". Charlie Chaplin became an exile.
 |
| Charlie and wife Oona, 1972 |
I always associate Charlie Chaplin with Christmas Day. It was on Christmas Day 1968 that I discovered him. Nine years later, on Christmas Day 1977, it was a bittersweet thing to hear that he had passed away - peacefully and with his family by his side.
In addition to being the centennial of his screen debut, April 16 of this year will also mark the one-hundred and twenty-fifth anniversary of his birth. The legacy he leaves us should be treasured and celebrated. We're indeed lucky that he came our way. He's not coming back.
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
SUGGESTED READING:
My Autobiography
by Charles Chaplin
The best show business memoir ever written. Future scholarship on the man's life would reveal that this book was very accurate and not as self-serving as most autobiographies. A great read - in fact I just might read it again now.
SUGGESTED VIEWING:
The final scene from The Great Dictator (1940)
https://youtu.be/ibVpDhW6kDQ
In my opinion, the greatest speech of all time. Charles Spencer Chaplin on the mountaintop - at the conclusion of The Great Dictator.
posted by Tom Degan @ 2:40 AM
85 comments
85 Comments:
"You are men! With the love of humanity in your hearts! Don't hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural!"
Tell that to Anonymous hateful trolls.
Tom, I believe this blog is a rerun - I am sure I heard this word for word 40 years ago... Now as then, I conclude that you are some kind of nut (don't get him started on the Beatles) but for the fact that Chaplin's message is fantastic.
By the way, the entire "Great Dictator' is on youtube in terrific clarity.
Wow. A whinefest on the first comment. Is that a record?
See the monie "Chaplin" starring Robert Downey Jr. He's AMAZING and Dan Akroyd as Mack Sennet is great as well.
Agreed with you, Mozart. Downey, Jr. was brilliant as Chaplin - and earned my everlasting respect. I'm happy he finally has his personal life in order. I do hope and pray he's around for a very long time.
DD,
Didn't you forget to say
"blame the Black guy"?
Thanks, Tom,
For a lovely commemorative.
He is one of my heroes.
You're getting up there too.
Blah, Blah, Blah
Lets talk about the anti-Semitic Charlie Chaplin rather than the collapse of Progressivism which is imploding thanks to the ACA (Affordable Care Act), owned 100% by the DemocRATS.
The middle class knows BaCrock Obama is a big liar and big bullshit artist.
The middle class knows they will pay higher premiums with higher deductibles with less choice and lower quality service.
Yeah, lets pass more bills to find out what is in them. Thats what leaning forward, super intellectual people who know what best for everybody else do! And they are so smart that they make sure they are exempt from that big pile of dogshit known as ObamaCare!
Chaplin was an anti-Semite? Really??? Given all we know, including the existence of a film called "The Great Dictator", Have you any idea what an idiotic statement that is?
Honestly.
Tom,
it didn't take long for Smokey Anonymous Chuckie to blame the black guy. He's a fuming mass of hate and ignorance, that one.
From the Jewish Quarterly:
Chaplin said, "I made this film(The Great Dictator) to show my unity with all the Jews of the world".
Maybe Chuckie thinks everyone is as racist as he is.
In an interview with Vulture.com, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels concedes that mocking Republicans is easier than going after Democrats.
“Republicans are easier for us than Democrats,” says Michaels. “Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it’s funny.”
No better proof of this truth that the posts of Dave Dubya.
President Barack Obama sent a weary email to supporters Saturday that referred to Washington, D.C. as a “state.” Can we blame the black guy Dave?
Holding everything else constant, our findings suggest that when a state becomes more liberal politically, its population consumes more beer and spirits per capita,”
Study Finds Liberals Drink More Alcohol Than Conservatives | TIME.com http://swampland.time.com/2014/01/29/study-liberals-booze-more-than-conservatives/#ixzz2sH5tIibw Holding everything else constant, our findings suggest that when a state becomes more liberal politically, its population consumes more beer and spirits per capita,”
Read more: Study Finds Liberals Drink More Alcohol Than Conservatives | TIME.com http://swampland.time.com
New insight to the posts by Mr. Dubya (hic*!)
One of the posters from that article stated that studies were done and there are more DWIs and drunken traffic accidents in Red states than in Blue states. I guess Liberals hold their liquor better than Conservatives!
And in the spirit of my Johnson is bigger than your Johnson:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/divorce-study_n_4639430.html
It seems you can not hold on to your women as well as us Liberals either!
I’m not sure what drinking has to do with Chuckie being wrong about Chaplain. Maybe he’s added a hangover to his usual anger and hate.
Anyway, thanks to Chuckie for informing us that the “Journal of Wine Economics shows that states that lean left tend to consume more spirits and beer than states with a more conservative bent”.
In light of this meaningless generalization I’ll add: “Why Racist People Tend to Be Conservative “
Fair (and balanced) enough?
Going back to the alcohol issue, let’s say if one is drinking, we would agree that requires a lot of personal responsibility, especially regarding driving under the influence.
Let’s compare some red/blue state stats on this matter of personal responsibility, as well as life and death.
2011 Alcohol-Impaired Driving Fatalities per 100K population
Alabama – 5.8
Idaho – 3.2
Texas – 4.7
Massachusetts – 1.7
New York – 1.6
California - 2.1
Wow. Conservatives contribute a significantly higher toll of human sacrifice to the bottle, it seems.
Thank you, Chuckie, for giving us the opportunity to show who the most responsible drinkers are.
Cheers!
Damn it Tom!!
I came here to read a light article and wondering why the hell Tom Degan was droning on about some old dead silent movie star.
Now I'm interested.
Gotta go, a few films I need to look into.
In an interview with Vulture.com, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels concedes that mocking Republicans is easier than going after Democrats.
“Republicans are easier for us than Democrats,” says Michaels. “Democrats tend to take it personally; Republicans think it’s funny.”
No better proof of this truth that the posts of Dave Dubya.
President Barack Obama sent a weary email to supporters Saturday that referred to Washington, D.C. as a “state.” Can we blame the black guy Dave?
Your statistics are meaningless. They do not prove that liberals drink less. It does prove that Lorne Michaels is correct and that our president thinks there are now 51 states.
No reason to cover up, nothing happened, why waste our time on this?
The attorney leading the investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) targeting of tea party groups will not be allowed to testify at an oversight hearing Thursday after being requested by a congressman, according to reports.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asked Justice attorney Barbara Bosserman to appear on Feb. 6, 2014. Rep. Jordan received a response from Deputy Attorney General James Cole saying she would not be appearing.
“The department’s longstanding policy, applied across administrations, is to decline to provide Congress with non-public information about ongoing criminal investigations,” Cole said. “This policy is intended to protect the effectiveness and integrity of the criminal justice process, as well as the privacy interests of third parties. It also is founded upon our commitment to avoiding any perception that our law enforcement efforts are subject to undue influence from elected officials.”
Rep. Jordan wrote back to Deputy Attorney General Cole asking him to reconsider.
“The committee recognizes that there may be particular law-enforcement aspects of the investigation that the department is unwilling to discuss publicly. However, there is no legitimate basis for a blanket refusal to answer questions about an apparent conflict of interest and the overall integrity of the investigation,” Jordan wrote.
Bosserman was picked to lead the investigation into the targeting of the tea party groups despite previous donations to President Obama’s campaigns.
But Governor Christy, now that's a different story!
Chuckie,
Your statistics are meaningless. They do not prove that liberals drink less.
Gee, meaningless in the sense the stats don't prove the theory of relativity either. LOL!
The stats have everything to do with the fact that red state drinkers are more irresponsible, less able to handle alcohol, and kill a higher percentage of their population on the roads.
As with your ignorant lie about Chaplin, you are thick as a brick, and full of hate as usual.
Smokey Chuckie forgot to "talk about the anti-Semitic Charlie Chaplin rather than the collapse of Progressivism", after I proved he was just spewing more lies.
Luckily progressive policies are still succeeding in feeding and aiding the victims of the Great Bush Recession, aka the utter failure and collapse of de-regulated crony capitalism. But note the catastrophic failure is only inflicted upon the middle class and poor.
Guess who's doing better than ever? Chuckie's beloved servants of mammon, of course. But Chuckie's been brainwashed by his Bubble Cult to believe the elites are the victims, and they NEED more tax breaks. LOL!
So far the ACA has yet to impoverish one person, or erode the middle class, or vaporize pensions, unlike the Crash of '08 and the Great Bush Recession.
So let's thank those tea party puppets for voting for Bush. We all know they're Republicans.
With the corpo-dems of the senate and White House, and a GOP Congress, it's bad enough now. Better give the Party of the Rich more control over our country so they can prove again how government fails when in the hands of the greedy elites. We know what happens when they run the show. Financial collapse and the destruction of democracy are the only things they're good at.
How about we relive the glory days of September 2008? Let the rich white guys take "their" country back, (as if they ever lost it) and vote Republican for more good times, right, Smokey Chuckie?
DD,
Nothing in your statistics discloses the drivers political position. Just the state they died in. Not if they were driving, a passenger, or hit by a drunk driver from a Blue state.
You really dont get it do you.
Blame Bush!
Democrats in Congress sponsored 618 bills in 2013 that would have spent at least $1.35 trillion, and Republicans sponsored 147 bills worth $635 billion, according to a Washington Examiner analysis.
The figures provide an unusual insight into what members of Congress would do if they ran the show and had a free hand to spend tax dollars.
Of the 70 members who sponsored the largest number of spending bills, 65 were Democrats, four were Republicans and one an independent.
Most of the bills introduced by an individual senator or House member never make it to a floor vote, so they aren't reflected in a member’s voting record and largely go unnoticed.
Also counting cases where a member co-sponsors a colleague's spending measure, and tallying the dollar amounts that those bills would spend, forms a broad measure of his or her predilection for spending. In this respect, 22 of the top 70 were Republicans.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus occupied 10 of the top 20 positions on that “attempted spenders” list, largely due to the group's tight discipline and frequent support for proposals to create huge numbers of tax-funded jobs for the unemployed.
Topping the list of congressional advocates for more spending was CBC member Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., who sponsored or co-sponsored 49 measures that, if enacted, would have spent well over half a trillion dollars.
Hey Chuckie,
Spew all you want. Obama's deficits are LOWER than Bush's.
Just a Fact.
$1.35 trillion, not to mention thousands of needless deaths, happens to be LESS than the bill for Bush's wars. This isn't even factoring in the catastrophic loss of pensions and the losses from the severe economic downturn we have from the Great Bush Recession. At least the Dems spending would benefit Americans.
Yes, blame Bush, and the fools who voted for him.
Nothing in your statistics discloses the drivers political position. Just the state they died in. Not if they were driving, a passenger, or hit by a drunk driver from a Blue state.
Laughably idiotic.
So by your "flexible" take on percentages, most of the alcoholics and heavy drinkers in blue states could be cons.
OK.
Better to drink whiskey than the poison hate-filled koolade of the radical far Right. I bet you were/are one mean angry drunk.
Better go hide from those "death panels", sport.
Boo!
LOL!!
Blame the black guy.
CNSNews.com) - The debt of the U.S. government has increased $6.666 trillion since President Barack Obama took office on Jan. 20, 2009, according to the latest numbers released by the Treasury Department.
When President Obama was first inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, the debt of the U.S. government was $10,626,877,048,913.08, according to the Treasury Department’s Bureau of the Public Debt. As of Jan. 31, 2014, the latest day reported, the debt was $17,293,019,654,983.61—an increase of $6,666,142,606,070.53 since Obama’s first inauguration.
The total debt of the United States did not exceed $6.666 trillion until July 2003. In the little more than five years of the Obama presidency, the U.S. has accumulated as much new debt as it did in it’s first 227 years.
FLASHBACK: Pelosi Says Obamacare Will “Create 4 Million Jobs, 400,000 Almost Immediately”…
LOL
Famous Presidential Lies
LBJ:
We were attacked (in the Gulf of Tonkin)
Nixon:
I am not a crook
GHW Bush:
Read my lips – No new taxes
Clinton:
I did not have sex with that woman… Miss Lewinski
GW Bush:
Iraq has weapons of mass destruction
Obama:
I will have the most transparent administration in history.
The stimulus will fund shovel-ready jobs.
I am focused like a laser on creating jobs.
The IRS is not targeting anyone.
It was a spontaneous riot about a movie.
If I had a son.
I will put an end to the type of politics that “breeds division, conflict and cynicism”.
You didn’t build that!
I will restore trust in Government.
The Cambridge cops acted stupidly.
The public will have 5 days to look at every bill that lands on my desk
It’s not my red line – it is the world’s red line.
Whistle blowers will be protected in my administration.
We got back every dime we used to rescue the banks and auto companies, with interest.
I am not spying on American citizens.
ObamaCare will be good for America
You can keep your family doctor.
Premiums will be lowered by $2500.
If you like it, you can keep your current health care plan
It’s just like shopping at Amazon
I knew nothing about “Fast and Furious” gunrunning to Mexican drug cartels
I knew nothing about IRS targeting conservative groups
I knew nothing about what happened in Benghazi
I have never seen my Uncle from Kenya who is in the country illegally and that was arrested and told to leave the country over 20 years ago
And, I have never lived with that uncle. (He finally admitted on 12-05-2013 that he DID know his uncle and that he DID live with him.)
CBO Chief estimates the ACA will cost up to 2.3 million American jobs.
IRS announces they are auditing the CBO Chief's past 7 years of tax returns.
CBO Chief says the loss of 2.3 million jobs is a good thing.
IRS announces the audit of tax returns of Chief of CBO finds nothing irregular and audit has ended.
Bottom line:
Obama lied, nobody died.
Bush lied, thousands died. Then came the Great Bush Recession. Period.
Bottom line, nothing the smartest President in our history has done, none of his policy's, none of his promises, have made our economy better than it was when GWB was in office.
Period.
This comment has been removed by the author.
That Period should be a question mark. There's no question the economy has improved exponentially for the rich. Don't they tell you that in your Bubble Cult?
Although it was gutted by the GOP, economists say Obama's stimulus actually helped. Several Republican governors thanked him for it. But they don't want you to know that in your bubble.
And we know the Bush Recession was taking us into a depression, if nothing was done to stop it.
And oh, yes, Obama lied and nobody died. But the stock market is up from the basement where Bush left it.
Bush lied and thousands died...and the GOP and corpo-dems crashed the economy.
Bottom lines again. True period.
So, vote Republican.
Let's go back to the proven failures of tax cuts for the rich an de-regulation of Big Money.
That'll fix everything, right, Chuckie?
Now go drink your Bubble Cult koolade; and forget the lessons of the catastrophic failed policies of your Right Wing servants of mammon.
But you still blame the black guy for not fixing the failures of your heroes.
Now that's a hateful position where every ignorant racist agrees with you, Chuckie.
I bet you're also full of white pride, aren't you, Chuckie?
Of course you are.
"At the beginning of this year, we noted that as part of this new day in health care, Americans would no longer be trapped in a job just to provide coverage for their families, and would have the opportunity to pursue their dreams,"
- Carney responding to the Budget Office report on impact of ACA on jobs
Did he REALLY say that? I didn't actually see the footage. Someone please clear up for me the context or provide some other explanation for why this isn't a silly and outlandish statement. Carney is a good name for him - it is a carnival atmosphere for sure...
Harley,
I cans see how it may be seen as double talk, but it's not really nonsense.
Maybe this clears it up a bit.
Picture a 55 year old person with arthritis and diabetes working a landscaping job.
A physically demanding, or dangerous job, as the only way to get health coverage for many older workers who are not eligible for Medicare, is not following their dreams.
Economist Dean Baker points out, this is, in fact, a beneficial effect of the law, and a sign that it will achieve an important goal. It helps "older workers with serious health conditions who are working now because this is the only way to get health insurance. And (one for the family-values crowd) many young mothers who return to work earlier than they would like because they need health insurance. This is a huge plus."
he Obama administration’s Treasury Department and former IRS official Lois Lerner conspired to draft new 501(c)(4) regulations to restrict the activity of conservative groups in a way that would not be disclosed publicly, according to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
The Treasury Department and Lerner started devising the new rules “off-plan,” meaning that their plans would not be published on the public schedule. They planned the new rules in 2012, while the IRS targeting of conservative groups was in full swing, and not after the scandal broke in order to clarify regulations as the administration has suggested.
The rules place would place much more stringent controls on what would be considered political activity by the IRS, effectively limiting the standard practices of a wide array of non-profit groups.
“Don’t know who in your organizations is keeping tabs on c4s, but since we mentioned potentially addressing them (off -plan) in 2013, I’ve got my radar up and this seemed interesting…,” Treasury official Ruth Madrigal wrote in a June 14, 2012 email to Lerner and others obtained by Ways and Means and provided to The Daily Caller.
Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dave Camp blasted the off-the-record plan during a hearing Wednesday with IRS commissioner John Koskinen, and called for the administration’s newly proposed 501(c)(4) rules to be halted until criminal investigations into the IRS targeting scandal are complete.
“If Treasury and the IRS fabricated the rationale for a rule change it would tend to raise questions about the integrity of the rule-making process,” Camp said.
“I want to be perfectly clear – this committee will fight any and all efforts to restrict the rights of groups to organize, speak out and educate the public, just as unions are allowed to do so. We will get to the bottom of this, and I expect the IRS to produce – quickly – the outstanding documents the committee has requested,” Camp said.
“I believe the IRS has a long way to go in restoring its credibility. But, you can take a first step by complying with this committee’s request and stopping all action against 501(c)(4) groups until the appropriate investigations are completed.”
The new rules define more previously acceptable activities by nonprofit groups as prohibited “candidate-related political activity.” Communications and activities including voter registration drives and publishing voter guides, among others, are now classified as political activity. Grants and donations that 501(c)(4)’s give to other nonprofits are now subject to new record-keeping and increased scrutiny to prevent the money’s use for broadly-defined political activity.
The rules were “drafted in a manner, in my view, to shut down tea party groups” Rep. Camp said earlier this week.
New IRS commissioner Koskinen said that the rules should “put to rest all of the issues surrounding applications for tax-exempt status.”
But Madrigal’s email to Lerner proves that the regulations were being developed long before the IRS needed to publicly put anything “to rest.”
At least 292 conservative groups were subjected to unfair targeting between 2010 and 2012, against six liberal groups that were allegedly given similar treatment.
“They are both over-broad and under-inclusive,” said Foley & Lardner LLP partner Cleta Mitchell on the new rules.
“They’ve taken everything that 501(c)(4) organizations do in the normal course of business and proposed to convert that all to candidate-related activity, even if a candidate is never mentioned.”
Mitchell said that the rules are being “rushed through” for political purposes.
“The objective is to get the rules in place before the 2014 election,” Mitchell said.
"So, vote Republican."
Don't plan to. Plan on voting for the most conservative candidate on the ballot.
This thing with you have about the rich, are you saying DD, that for every dollar a rich person gains, a poor person looses a dollar?
So good paying jobs are no longer the goal of the Obama administration and their fabulous ACA? Instead we can take lower paying jobs and still get health care, even though it will be subsidized by hard working Americans?
What an absolutely stinking crock of liberal B.S.! You as a defender of the "black guy" and a believer of economic equality have become know as the useful idiot you already are.
What amount is Obama's increase of the national debt vs all Presidents before him?
Your last original thought was when?
Nov 2014 can't come soon enough.
But, but the President said no such scandal existed!!
The new head of the IRS has apologized to those who suffered because of the agency’s targeting of conservative groups, after he testified before a House subcommittee for the first time.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told reporters after the hearing before the House Ways and Means Committee that the singling out of such organizations for special scrutiny would be “intolerable,” and vowed the IRS is not doing so now.
“It won’t happen going forward,” Koskinen said. “And to the extent that people suffered accordingly, I apologize for that.”
I know, blame Bush.
are you saying DD, that for every dollar a rich person gains, a poor person looses a dollar?
No. The poor don't have that much money. This is an example of the typical, and seemingly deliberate, misunderstanding of the radical Right. You don't know what liberals think because you won't even pay attention to what they say.
How "Right", far Right, of you to presume we fit your prejudice.
One thing for sure is when a radical Rightie starts off by saying, "Are you saying...", he's off track from reality.
Instead of quoting our point and asking for clarity, he wants to frame us in his Cult Bubble beliefs.
You idiot, that's why I asked you, moron.
There's no point in debating an asshole who argues with what he thinks you say, instead of what you actually say.
This is an example of the typical, and seemingly deliberate, misunderstanding of the radical Right. They really don't know what liberals think because they won't even pay attention to what we say.
How "Right", far Right, of the hostile authoritarian jerk to presume we fit his prejudice.
Confirmed.
Thanks.
Since an idiot has only a IQ of 20 or so and a moron has an IQ of 50 to 60, it is impossible for a person to be both. This is definitive proof that anon is lying.
Great news if you're a supporter of Obama Care. It's working!!
A wave of retail job cuts in January — above and beyond the normal post Christmas seasonal departures — put retail at the top of the list of companies reporting layoffs.
After falling to a 13-year low in December, monthly job cuts increased 50 percent from December in January to 45,107 jobs, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
Retailer job cuts of 11,394 in January represented a 71 percent increase from the same month last year. Plano-based J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Sam’s Club, Sears, Best Buy and Target are among the companies so far saying they will cut jobs either at corporate or because of store closings. Penney said last month that it will close 33 stores, none in Texas.
Recently shopping at a local grocery store, I asked a cashier, “Why aren’t there more cashiers working on such a busy Friday afternoon?”
The place was mobbed and everyone was waiting in long lines.
I was told that after 30 years of receiving health benefits, the company stopped offering all part-time workers health care and is now making full-time workers part-time workers, so they don’t have to offer them insurance because of Obamacare.
So many lives are negatively impacted by this horrible legislation. The progressives (including the 3 stooges pretending to be leaders: Barry Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy "lets pass the bill to find out whats in it" Pelosi) have their heads stuffed so far up their butts its not funny.
The problem is not only the rollout, but the legislation itself.
“Why is our government doing this to us?” Should be the question we all should be asking!
I am now free to pursue my dream of becoming a ballerina dancer and not have to worry about health care thanks to ObamaCare! I love you Nancy Pelosi, fake boobs and all!
There goes Smokey Chuckie, gleefully showing more "blame the black guy" instead of the corporate greed behind the policy.
Watch every corporate action to screw workers be blamed on Obamacare from now on.
More of that "compassionate conservative" let-em-die health care plan.
Say, Smokey, you never did tell us the sane and compassionate alternative health care plan from Republicans.
Crickets chirping, "let em die".
It must feel swell to not have a conscience, right, sport?
Unemployment drops , Obamacare not working.
“Opportunity created by affordable, quality health insurance allows families in America to make a decision about how they will work, or if they will work.” _ Jay Carmey
Gotta love the dedication it must take to turn even a blog about Charlie Chaplin into a whinefest about Obama.
Why is it that Senator Tim Scott, Justice Clarence Thomas, Dr. Ben Carson, Herman Cain, Condoleeza Rice, and others are hunted and disparaged just because of their beliefs and principles?
WHY IS IT?
Obamacare is failing aids victims.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hundreds of people with HIV/AIDS in Louisiana trying to obtain coverage under President Barack Obama's healthcare reform are in danger of being thrown out of the insurance plan they selected in a dispute over federal subsidies and the interpretation of federal rules about preventing Obamacare fraud.
Some healthcare advocates see discrimination in the move, but Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana says it is not trying to keep people with HIV/AIDS from enrolling in one of its policies under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
The state's largest carrier is rejecting checks from a federal program designed to help these patients pay for AIDS drugs and insurance premiums, and has begun notifying customers that their enrollment in its Obamacare plans will be discontinued.
The carrier says it no longer will accept third-party payments, such as those under the 1990 Ryan White Act, which many people with HIV/AIDS use to pay their premiums
I wonder if there is ANY subject that could be written about and discussed, without Anonymous turning it into a whinefest about Obama?
Probably not. One wonders how much time he spends obsessing on right wing propaganda.
"There are no rules here."
Tom Degan
Quit your whining Mozart. Your whining about the truth about this administrations lies and failures being brought to the light of day.
Yeah, Mozart,
Here are the kind of "real Americans" Anonymous wants to run the show:
"Hillary Clinton is the Antichrist." Republican State Senator Ryan Zinke now running for Congress in Montana.
"I felt my freedom starting to go away in 2008 when a communist got elected." Victoria Jackson, Huntsville Tea Party rally.
Constituent: I want to ask you about Obama, he's not President as far as I'm concerned, he should be executed...
Congressman Jim Bridenstine (R-OK): Don't hold back now.
Constituent: The Muslims that he is shipping into our country through pilots in commercial jets. What's this, I can't tell you since we are in a public place, this guy is a criminal, nobody's stopping him, the other thing is the congress is doing nothing that legally allows this moron to make decisions. He has no authority none, and he's just we are just saying he shouldn't do this he shouldn't do that, but nobody's doing anything that accomplishing anything.
Bridenstine: Look everybody knows the lawlessness of this President.
Anaonymous, as soon as you start telling the truth, let us know. All you do is regurgitate Limbaugh and Fox news. All your crap was debunked a long time ago.
Now can you please just stop spamming this blog? Just give it a rest man.
Mozart,
What lies about your Lord and Master have I told?
Did I post, If you like your insurance plan you can keep it?
If you like your Dr, you can keep them?
Hey Anonymous, Chuckie Fuckie or whoever the hell you are, I hate to tell you, but YES thanks to Obamcare, my insurance premiums have dropped, I have better coverage AND I can still keep my doctor.
On May 12, 1992, Stan Greenberg and Celinda Lake, top pollsters for Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, issued a confidential memo. The memo’s subject was “Research on Hillary Clinton.”
Voters admired the strength of the Arkansas first couple, the pollsters wrote. However, “they also fear that only someone too politically ambitious, too strong, and too ruthless could survive such controversy so well.”
Their conclusion: “What voters find slick in Bill Clinton, they find ruthless in Hillary.”
I hope everything is well for you Tom, it is kind of unusual for a post to be up for 11 days. What would we do with out you?
During the February 9 airing of This Week With George Stephanopoulos, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN) said the loss of work hours due to Obamacare could actually be a good thing because Americans work too much anyway, compared to people in other industrialized countries.
Tom Degan agrees 100%!!
Susie Q, you are just plain lucky to not be sick under the ACA.
"This Wednesday, my little sister, Julie, will be buried. She died because she delayed seeking health care for what turned out to be a catastrophic condition after her private health insurance policy was cancelled because of Obamacare.
As she waited for a new Obamacare-approved policy to kick in, her condition deteriorated to the point that it was too late.
Julie, her husband, and four children were covered by a medical plan they liked, and had been promised they could keep by President Obama. But like so many others in this country, her family’s private health care policy was cancelled because of the Affordable Care Act.
So my sister and her family struggled through the expensive and incompetently designed Obamacare website to find a new policy. Unfortunately, while they waited for their new Obama-approved healthcare plan to finally kick in, my little sister fell ill. She couldn’t keep down solid food. She should have gone to a doctor.
But she toughed it out, as many people do, until her new coverage would kick in on February 2. She and her husband didn’t have a lot of money, so she didn’t want to incur what she thought were avoidable medical expenses."
Anon, I am truly sorry to learn about your sister, but remember that according to Romney, and the GOP she could have, should have gone to the ER for her health care.
She couldn’t keep down solid food. She should have gone to a doctor.
Exactly.
Something tells me this is just another copy and paste "story", since the "author" sent this in a letter to Ann Coulter. The writer spent just as much space regurgitating Republican talking points as he did on his sister.
We'll eventually find out the truth...
One lesson is clear. If we had a sane and compassionate universal health care system like other modern nations, this, and all the other similar cases of uninsured people would never happen.
Right?
Better blame the black guy.
Well for one thong Anonymous, I have no "lord and master" so that's one lie. The others are clearly obvious ad have already been pointed out to you many times. NO ONE has lost insurance BECAUSE of the ACA. Those that have lost coverage have done so because of the vindictiveness of the insurance carriers or becuae, like louisiana, a state refuses to participate.
Ahh Mozart, what did Obama apologize for on 11/7/13 as reported by CNN?
CNN) -- President Barack Obama apologized Thursday to those Americans whose insurance plans are being canceled due to the federal health law he championed even though he said repeatedly they could keep their coverage if they liked.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he told NBC News in an exclusive interview.
"We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this," he added.
Obama's comments come days after he attempted to clarify what he meant when he assured Americans in previous years that they would be able to keep their plans under the Affordable Care Act, a controversy that is prompting legislation in Congress to address it.
He's doing something no Republican would ever do. HE'S TAKING RESPONSIBILITY. I can see how that would be forign and confusing to you. He's not BLAMING anyone, even though it would be justified. He's not whining,crying or complaining. he's saying "the buck stops here". The policies that were lost was because they were so BAD from a cost/service stanpoint that they were just not much more than robbery. I'm sure Obama had no idea just how many of these there would be. He's not PERFECT. Neither are you. Bush certainly wasn't.
Now, for the love of all that is rational can you please stop spamming every one of Toms blogs with the same petty, childish whining? What have the Republicans done to help the healthcare problems in this country? Oh yeah, THEY WROTE THIS LAW!!!
Thought Police.
Obama officials made clear in a press briefing that firms would not be allowed to lay off workers to get into the preferred class of those businesses with 50 to 99 employees. How will the feds know what employers were thinking when hiring and firing? Simple. Firms will be required to certify to the IRS – under penalty of perjury – that ObamaCare was not a motivating factor in their staffing decisions. To avoid ObamaCare costs you must swear that you are not trying to avoid ObamaCare costs.
"NO ONE has lost insurance BECAUSE of the ACA." Mozart 3:28 PM 2/11/14
"HE'S TAKING RESPONSIBILITY." Mozart 6:24 2/11/14
Is it time to blame Bush? But he's taking responsibility?
LOL
"THEY (GOP) WROTE THIS LAW (ACA)!!!" Mozart
"Republicans would never agree to anything about health-care reform. Republicans gave no support at all, by design, essentially from the beginning." Daily Beast
"I wish to single out one person, and that one person is sitting next to me. Her name is Liz Fowler. Liz Fowler is my chief health counsel. Liz Fowler has put my health care team together. Liz Fowler worked for me many years ago, left for the private sector, and then came back when she realized she could be there at the creation of health care reform because she wanted that to be, in a certain sense, her profession lifetime goal. She put together the White Paper last November–2008–the 87-page document which became the basis, the foundation, the blueprint from which almost all health care measures in all bills on both sides of the aisle came." Max Baucus Senator (d) Montana
This comment has been removed by the author.
"Republicans would never agree to anything about health-care reform."
Exactly. "Let 'em die" works fine for them.
Liz Fowler? You mean the liberal socialist?
Not at all.
Liz Fowler, the former Wellpoint VP and now lobbyist for Johnson and Johnson. Friend of Max (Mr. Insurance Co.) Baucus. Yes, sounds like corporatocracy to me.
I agree with anonymous. Obamacare is flawed. Let's establish the only sane and compassionate system known, universal socialized healthcare. A plan everybody can keep.
Republican beats Obama-endorsed San Diego Mayor candidate in a LANDSLIDE.
Hurry up November!
So Republicans didn't write Obamacare like Mozart claims?
So Republicans didn't write Obamacare like Mozart claims?
You already answered your question.
Republicans would never agree to anything about health-care reform.
"Let 'em die" seems to be it.
Vote Republican, let 'em die. (Except for the rich who can afford the best healthcare.)
And who signed the ACA? Why it was our current President.
Truths that have been uncovered in these most recent posts.
1. GOP did not write the ACA.
2. Americans have lost their health care insurance due to Obamacare.
3. Americans have not been able to keep their Drs as promised under Obamacare.
4. Let them die? That sounds like Obamacare.
5. GOP has offered alternatives to Obamacare. Just Google
republican healthcare plan for a list of plans offered since 2009 by GOP.
Never trust a radical Right wing anonymous list.
Corporatists wrote the ACA. Period.
Only Americans who didn't renew or buy a plan lost theirs.
The vast majority keep both their doctor and plan.
"Let him die" was cheered at the GOP presidential debate. That's the only plan so far. Oh, and pay MORE money to insurance companies.
NO GOP plan has been "uncovered" here.
"Only Americans who didn't renew or buy a plan lost theirs"
So you admit Americans lost their plan because of Obamacare. Great, now we are dealing with reality.
Next, Liz Fowler who wrote the ACA for Senator Max Baucaus (d) is a
Corporatist? But Obama did sign the bill, and it was not a bill written by the GOP. Correct? Why if the bill was so awful did the President sign it? Maybe he didn't read it(LOL).
Interesting that when you are given the sources to pop your bubble world, you instead chose to live in a world of lies and half truths. Google is not exactly a right wing conservative search machine by all accounts. Looks like you cant handle the truth. Or at least don't want to know it.
Never trust a radical hateful liberal named Dave Dubya.
North's Liberal Elites More Racist Than Southerners
"The worst I have been treated was by northern liberal elites. The absolute worst I have ever been treated."
Anaonymous, the ACA was written for the most part by Bob Dole during the Reagan administration.
No one has lost coverage or healthcare BECAUSE of the ACA, but rather because the insurance carriers are vindictive.
And just because Clarence Thomas is Black, that does not mean he's a good justice or a Liberal.
Obama signed the ACA because it was the closest thing he could get to what he REALLY wanted, which was a single payer system. HE COMPROMISED WITH THE GOP.
I doubt vindictiveness explains what happened. The insurance companies have always had a practice known as 'churning', where less profitable individual insurance policies are canceled every term as a way to get the policy holder to re-sign with a more expensive plan.
Also, the insurance companies knew there was a limited time left for them to sell sub standard plans before the new standards went into effect.
That adds up to a lot of cancelled plans.
I doubt vindictiveness explains what happened. The insurance companies have always had a practice known as 'churning', where less profitable individual insurance policies are canceled every term as a way to get the policy holder to re-sign with a more expensive plan.
Also, the insurance companies knew there was a limited time left for them to sell sub standard plans before the new standards went into effect.
That adds up to a lot of cancelled plans.
Vindictiveness is at the heart of it, because they HATE the ACA, and they want to punish people for not only signing up, but for voting for Obama in the first place. So they find ways to kick people off (like the company that conveniently "lost" ACA required paperwork that would allow a young boy to get cancer treatment) and then they BLAME it on the ACA. Simple minded conservatives eat that stuff up.
So you admit Americans lost their plan because of Obamacare.
No they lost their plan because the insurance company canceled them. You know, like they canceled plans for people with previous conditions. THAT's reality.
At least I've offered the only sane and compassionate solution. Healthcare dollars to healthcare, not Insurance CEO pockets. Truly a waste of "trickle up" wealth to those who provide ZERO HEALTHCARE.
Great, now we are dealing with reality.
Looks like you cant handle the truth.
Make up your mind, Chuckie. What truth?
Where's the sane and compassionate GOP healthcare plan? Show us one if you can. I think I already summed them up.
"Let him die" was cheered at the GOP presidential debate. That's the only plan so far. Oh, and pay MORE money to insurance companies.
NO GOP plan has been "uncovered" here.
None offered whatsoever.
Feel free to elaborate if the truth is what you seek to share. HA!
And then please explain how the GOP plan is more sane and compassionate than healthcare exemplified by other civilized countries.
Where's the courage of your convictions? Still chicken, Chuckie? Bwaack.
Vindictiveness, maybe.
More likely, actuarial science.
You see, there is a reason you cannot affordably insure people who have pre-existing conditions or other high-risk situations - you will go bankrupt. And, being that the insurance industry is not in it for fun, they're not interested in running 501(c)(3) organizations. Now, if the Fed wants to backstop and underwrite the insurance industry, then by all means they can quit dropping policies, increasing premiums, etc. to cover costs. Anyone paying attention will understand this is the end goal of ACA - it is a political move towards a further end.
The Fed will "have to" step in and rescue us from the mean insurance companies who are being vindictive now that the rules were summarily changed. And, oh, while we're at it we might as well just take the whole system on. And since folks are accustomed now to the concept of purchasing insurance from a gov't exchange on the web, well then, there you go. Nationalized healthcare coverage is around the corner and we can all stop arguing - it will be here and we can move on... Which is good news because the federal government is so well funded and fiscally sound at the moment - no worries there. Not to mention the fact that they are highly competent and efficient - probably twice as much so as private enterprise. You don't get to be a compassionate central planner without being very, very smart.
Mozart, so Senator Max Baucas (d) MT a liar?
"HE COMPROMISED WITH THE GOP." FALSE! No Republican in the Senate or House voted for the ACA. So who was Obama really compromising with? The members of the President's own party, who would not agree to single payer and didn't agree to the ACA until they were given "special consideration" from the WH, that's who he compromised with. As much as you may want to, don't forget the when the ACA was drawn up and passed the House and Senate was controlled by the democrats. BTW Dole was not a member of the Senate in 2008.
Blaming a former elected official for this Administration's failures no longer stops with GWB? The ACA was somebody's else idea, but one that no one read. Then how can you make the claim it is someone else's idea? The Democrats are not running in 2014 on the ACA or the Presidents track record, they are running from them. This alone should be a wake up call, a reality check for liberals.
If they stay to their pattern of the past, they will blame this situation on Limbaugh, Koch's Fox News and the Tea Party and the stupidity of Americans.
You need to face the truth that the majority of America's reject your radical leftist, liberal belief in a all controlling all providing government. So radical in fact that some liberals are against Hillary running because she is not liberal enough. So far left, so radical, that they still believe that the GOP has not offered an alternative to the ACA, regardless of the sources provided them to fact check their position. SO liberal that they are starting to believe their own talking points.
Harley A. nails it when he explains how insurance company's operate. Using actuarial science and making a profit is how a company stays in business, providing jobs and until the ACA, health insurance for it's employees. The problem with his explanation it is liken to throwing pearls to swine. The concept of free enterprise of foreign, totally foreign. So much so that the ACA is now touted as a good thing because it gives Americans the freedom to not work! This being said within weeks of this Administration's statement that their focus was going to be on jobs in 2014. Go figure!
But to bring these points up is to be called a racist, un-Christian, and heard hearted because of the 30 million American's who did not have health care insurance. Ironically the CBO has released a report showing that after full implantation of the ACA, there will be 31 million Americans with out health insurance. Who is the hard hearted, un-Christian?
Go figure!
"HE COMPROMISED WITH THE GOP." FALSE! No Republican in the Senate or House voted for the ACA.
Chuckie’s being dishonest again.
The ACA first had to clear a committee to be put to the floor.
From the Washington Post:
This is who is in the room helping Baucus put together his bill. Olympia Snowe, Mike Enzi, Chuck Grassley, Jeff Bingaman and Kent Conrad. In a Senate of 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans, the health-care reform bill is being written by three centrist Democrats, one centrist Republican, and two conservative Republicans. And until last week, Orrin Hatch was in the room, too.
This is not the Finance Committee's bill. This is the Max Baucus Committee's Bill. And there's not a liberal -- or even a Democrat traditionally associated with health-care policy -- working on it.
Thick skulled narrow-minded right wing fanatics cannot get this fact through their bubble. The ACA is NOT a liberal plan. Never was, never will be. One could be honest and blame the corporatists, but instead Chuckie chooses to spout what every racist wants to hear. “Blame the black guy”.
And Chuckie just has to add their favorite LIE about liberals.
You need to face the truth that the majority of America's reject your radical leftist, liberal belief in a all controlling all providing government.
This from one who wants the government monitoring every womb... Now THAT is an all-controlling government. Period.
In fact, the majority of Americans reject the Republican Party and their stooges in the Tea cult. Too bad the nation is held hostage by the radical minority,. MOST Americans even voted for Democratic representation, but that’s not how it is. The Right is winning their war on democracy.
Chuckie prefers to spew like a racist and blame the black guy, yet runs from real discussion of health care alternatives.
Chuckie’s a liar and a coward. Bwaack, buck, buck, buckaaawww!
For those NOT brainwashed by the Bubble Cult, and really wanting the truth, here’s a glimpse of the corporatist nature of how the ACA was developed from Frontline :
The administration's hopes for reform rested with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the powerful head of the Senate Finance Committee, who also happened to be one of the Senate's top recipients of special interest money from the health care industry.
The White House encouraged Baucus to quietly negotiate deals with the insurance lobby, drug companies and other special interest groups, despite promises to run a different kind of White House. "The president said that having people at the table is better than having them throw stuff at the table," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer tells FRONTLINE.
But the deals were often controversial.
FRONTLINE investigates how, near the start of the health care reform process, Baucus and the White House negotiated a secret $80 billion deal with Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana congressman who had become the pharmaceutical industry's top lobbyist.
So the great compromise with the GOP produced how many votes from the GOP for the ACA?
At least one Republican vote was needed to move the bill from committee.
The compromises were made to accommodate GOP political demands. But they really didn't support any policy, regardless of the compromises made for them. Since that party is known to be against democracy and compromise, it was all for naught. Corpo-dems went ahead with their corporate friendly legislation.
And that's the kind of dysfunction we're stuck with.
One. More. Time.
The ACA is NOT a liberal plan.
Never was, never will be.
This won't sink in. We all know it. Right wing wackos will never understand what liberals say. They've already made up their prejudiced narrow minds and refuse to care, or even pay attention.
It's the radical "Right" thing to do.
All this notwithstanding, THIS is what folks need to be worried about (ACA issue has become tiresome). It is called "bail in" and it is coming to a government near you... you wonder how central banks will continue to finance the largesse? Look no further...
(SOURCE: Reuters)
The savings of the European Union's 500 million citizens could be used to fund long-term investments to boost the economy and help plug the gap left by banks since the financial crisis, an EU document says.
The EU is looking for ways to wean the 28-country bloc from its heavy reliance on bank financing and find other means of funding small companies, infrastructure projects and other investment.
"The economic and financial crisis has impaired the ability of the financial sector to channel funds to the real economy, in particular long-term investment," said the document, seen by Reuters.
The Commission will ask the bloc's insurance watchdog in the second half of this year for advice on a possible draft law "to mobilize more personal pension savings for long-term financing", the document said.
Banks have complained they are hindered from lending to the economy by post-crisis rules forcing them to hold much larger safety cushions of capital and liquidity.
The document said the "appropriateness" of the EU capital and liquidity rules for long-term financing will be reviewed over the next two years, a process likely to be scrutinized in the United States and elsewhere to head off any risk of EU banks gaining an unfair advantage.
(Article goes on, but I truncated here)
Harley,
Here we go again. There's nothing the banks like more than their "privatized profit, socialized loss" scams.
Let's try this again, how many Republicans voted to pass the ACA?
How many Republicans supported the selection of the Company who developed the Govt website for the AC.
Who signed the ACA into law?
Tom,
Great piece. Please block the anonymous and inane troll. Too much scrolling required. Free speech is associated with the liberty of discrete identity (when its credible). The unimaginative and inane sarcasm doesn't belong in the same space as your writing; especially with a fine piece like this.
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