H

Just saying.

Wasn’t Heath Shuler the candidate who couldn’t decide whether to run as a Democrat or Republican? Until Rahm convinced him he could vote however he wanted.

I think he suffered brain damage from his football career.
On edit: a ‘family’ member. Need I say more.

They and other passionate Eshoo defenders probably need to address the fact that she flat-out lied on evergreening.

And this language is now being proposed for the Senate’s version by Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), right?

In addition to asking Sen. Sherrod Brown to thwart PhRMA’s plans, why not also be try to speak loudly and publicly to Sen. Reid, Sen. Dodd, Sen. Baucus, and the Obama administration, demanding that they not include Hagan’s Eshoo-like PhRMA-driven language in the Senate version, or is it too late for that?

Heath Shuler is a DINO. Another of those Rham Emanuel recruits in the south.

As I commented over at Marcy’s thread Eshoo has studiously avoided responding to substantive questions I’ve asked as a constituent. Her senior field representative said Anna would be responding to me; so far I received 3 identical copies of a boilerplate “we passed healthcare reform” statement, and nothing addressing the “structural changes” loop hole.

I had hopes that a direct contact in her staff would lead to the quality of engagement I had with Senator Lugar some years back; alas it appears she’s cut from the same quality cloth as Baron Hill (maybe with more chintz).

I’ll keep pushing for her to fix her legislation so it does what she says wants on evergreening. And the Senate seems like the best chance to make that happen

can someone tell me where Jane Harman CD36 in CA came out on this issue?

In a way I can understand Rahm’s thinking. There are a lot of perks that come with majority status. Nothing wrong with that… so long as you are never called upon to pass legislation which impacts the lives of the American people.

I’ll keep pushing for her to fix her legislation so it does what she says wants on evergreening.

I think it’s important to write her every day, but she knows what her legislation does and obviously doesn’t want to “fix” it.

Have you considered writing to local newspapers to get a short piece published on an opinion/letters page?

With an 500-word letter placed in a local paper, you can potentially get hundreds and even thousands of people calling her office.

Does anyone know if Medicare covers these very expensive meds? Don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone mention it.

If she’s not on Energy and Commerce committee she didn’t vote on it. Eshoo’s bill was inserted into HR3200 during Energy and Commerce mark up back in July.

That’s the thought behind the old MORE DEMOCRATS and today’s BETTER DEMOCRATS. True being the majority has a whole boatload of advantages.

Shuler needs to be primaried.

Anna has a daughter and a son. Don’t know how she can justify this amendment. Takes all kinds I guess.

Jane I just love it when you write things like “…save us from this truly shitty piece of lobbyist written legislation…”

Frames it for us in the progresso-sphere very well.

For others, why shouldn’t we frame the question even outside of biologics, and attack the normal PHaRMA practice of over charging?

How about:

“Hey there boyz, did you know Heath Shuler is responsible for your Viagra enabled bonerz costing 2x as much as they should? You could have yer bonerz at half the price. Call Heath and ask him why he is over charging you for your god given right to your useless turgidity, as you’re obviously infertile, hated by God, and total chumps.”

Sorry, I go off the rails! But you know what I mean.

And the Senate seems like the best chance to make that happen

See my comment @ 4. Asking Sen Brown to help is definitely great, but is it also still possible to stop the Hagan/Eshoo language from even getting into the Senate version that goes to the floor in the first place?

Disappointing news about The Hill. Should we mass email them.. asking them to print Jane’s op-ed?

Recruiting candidates who don’t know if they are GOPs or not doesn’t just build the majority, though — it also pulls the caucus to the right, toward the corporate side of things, and puts them in Rahm’s pocket when it comes time to vote.

There were lots of articles in 2007 sbout Rahm’s wonderful recruiting methods; one candidate (maybe Shuler) got calls more than once daily for two weeks, Rahm letting him know that he was on his way to his kids soccer games or school play or spending a day in the park with his kids. This was to overcome the candidate’s understandable worry about not having enough time for family when in Congress.

There was never any fact-checking in the article, of course: Rahm’s presentation of the calls as actually true was accepted as gospel. I had my doubts.

Yeah, dismissing an attempt at a response when someone’s been name-checked by a ‘critter seems incredibly inside baseball.

Medicare Part D has an initial coverage limit (doughnut hole). Once you reach that limit you have to spend thousands out of pocket before coverage begins again. RA treatments such as Humira are also biologics and since disability insurance is my sole income are completely out of reach.

San Jose Mercury News publishes 150 word LTE. I’ve written a 300 word letter that would probably be better as a 600 word op ed… I’ll be sending a 150 and 600 work piece next week, giving Anna one more week to be responsive.

A couple of 150 word LTEs might serve to get Jane’s op-ed published in Anna’s main local daily paper.

I intended it as snark. It’s only a good strategy if you never intend to accomplish anything for the common good, which is probably a fairly accurate description of Rahm.

I’m with you, think I made the same point back around Halloween in one of the threads that had unfortunate enmity.

Thanks, Rat. Are you having snow yet?

can someone tell me where Jane Harman CD36 in CA came out on this issue?

Jane Harman was among the members of Congress wasting months by touting nonsense called H R 1321 (the so-called Healthy Americans Act), which did not include a public option and most likely included the Eshoo language regarding evergreening for biologics.

Anna Eshoo sponsored this bs and introduced it in March.

If you go to the link, click on “view co-sponsors (10)” and you’ll see a list of some true weasels, like Rep. Jim Cooper (DINO).

As Marcy says, looks like PhRMA went into a bit of a panic after my dustup with Anna Eshoo.

Heh! They retreat we pursue!

The NYTimes article says there was one script for Republicans, and another for Democrats. Just so nobody had to tempt fate and rely on original thinking.

Plus mass production is cheaper, everyone is cutting back these days:)

No, just wet and chilly at the moment. We had a colder than average October but so far a warmer than average November. Maybe the latter will make the winter seem shorter (but I doubt it). :-)

Evidently they thought the GOP script was more appropriate to so-called Democrat Heath Shuler.

This is the kind of things Primary challenges love.

Here we go.. Hill Contact info:

Send an email to the Editorial department: sbarry@thehill.com

In the end, it’s probably unfair to call them “shills.” After all, it’s entirely possible that they’re just sincere, well-intentioned people with differing opinions. Forty-two of whom just happened to come up with the exact same thing PhRMA wanted them to say at the exact same time.

Snark Tag needed:) The media GOPers are normally the ones who all say the exact same thing at the exact same time. Oh no its spreading!

That is so wrong.

We have the same thing with my mother-out-law. They’re not on Medicaid yet, but are on Medicare. Her meds totally hit the donut hole, and due to being a farm mom for most of her life, her SocSec earnings only yield her about $500 per month in SocSec.

You guessed it, her supplemental/AARP policy to cover the donut hole costs $525 per month.

My out-laws are being FORCED backwards economically, and she’s not even anywhere near biologics. I can’t imagine if you really needed biologics, saw they were available, and couldn’t have them. Beyond cruel.

Coincidentally, the same week that The Hill refused to publish my op-ed in rebuttal to what Eshoo wrote about me there on Friday

Liberal Media and we can’t even get on the media?

Screwing up my honeybees bigtime. The started to hibernate in Oct, but warn Nov weather has them raising their temp from 50 something to 90 something, while there is nothing for them to feed on at the higher metabolism rate. Poor girls.

turgidity.

Yes, we can’t call them shills. They are TOOLS. Tools. Tools. Tools.
Like shovels, only different.

Did you see my comment on the last thread, Teddy?

Yes, Marines are good people (my dad was one!) But The Marines are for warfighting. Anything else — schools, waterwells, playgrounds — if done on the clock are really a corruption of their core mission: warfighting.

When was the last time the Marines, or any other branch of the U.S. miliary, ever did anything that was in the U.S. national interest?

Bummer. Do you provide some kind of nourishment for them?

Heath is just continuing his usual practices of waiting for the plays to come in from the coach on the sidelines.

I read a couple weeks back that the House plan (provided it isn’t gutted further – HA!) closes the donut hole by 2019. Thanks so much, guys.

Grenada! Panama!

HUGE Victories!

/s

Marines are fine for disaster relief in an insecure environment too – my son did some of this work as a Marine after the Indonesian Tsunami. Getting secure basic shelter, clean water was an appropriate mission, and using Marines for security is a damn sight better than Blackwater.

well, here’s what i think.

1) Shuler voted against the stimulus. He’s an asshole.

2) Something bigger goin’ on here. Eschoo (gesundheit. thanks.) would have blown off most bloggers (cheetos, pj’s, you know) but she responded to jane. and i think that’s a testament to the ball busting work jane’s been doing to resuscitate the public option which can’t be separated from the fact that she gets platforms on msnbc pretty regularly. i read Eschew’s reply to jane and thought it was really great. then I read J’s rejoinder. Lady’s fuckin’ with the wrong chick, man.

3) I forget. I’m sure it was profound, so i’ll let you know soon as I remember. too much drinking at 9 a.m.

OT..I’m confused by the Betrayal of Democrats ads. Why is voting against this Health Care bill a betrayal? What about the Stupak amendment?
Or do we just need the money for the ad? Because this communication costs a lot?
I noticed slinkerwink’s @ dailyKos posts usually have anti-choice ads above them.
Are we vulnerable to anyone with the cash to post an advertisement/ statement? i.e. right wing money designed to discredit a poster on a liberal blog.
Having come off of the disheartening reality that I couldn’t pull off an anti-corporate tour-de-force because I couldn’t find the money…..I’m not opposed to whoring.
I just don’t understand the ads.

true.

Bee tea. Dandelion, other herb, and sugar. Took the bees about 4 days to consume a quart, which means they’re pretty sluggish. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. February in my climate is the critical month. The queen starts laying again and if there’s not enough stored honey and pollen, they starve to death.

Oh, geez, I forgot about those stellar accomplishments. /s

“Hey there boyz, did you know Heath Shuler is responsible for your Viagra enabled bonerz costing 2x as much as they should? You could have yer bonerz at half the price. Call Heath and ask him why he is over charging you for your god given right to your useless turgidity, as you’re obviously infertile, hated by God, and total chumps.”

Seconded now we just need a list of Viagra users.

Solidarity on that.

Evidently when invading countries our exit strategies are contingent upon reaching water on the other side…

Good luck, tell them I’m pulling for them. :-)

So the thing I read on those who support relief efforts is that the U.S. military is the worst delivery vehicle. The reasoning is that they are hated targets, and when they assume humanitarian roles, they place all other humanitarians in the cross hairs.

Me too. You wouldn’t imagine the anxiety of beekeeping unless u were there.

can you get them a honey filled super from another apiary? I’d think that would be the best way to feed them.

i agree, the bill pretty much sucks. i mean we wanted people to pledge to vote against a bill that doesn’t have a robust public option and this one didn’t. but i think the betrayal people didn’t voting against it for that reason. my rep is one of the betrayers and I’ve read her statemnt aboiut her vote 3 times and I have no idea why she voted against it. she says it’s “an improvement” but “we can do better.” if she thinks this bill was “an improvement”, i don’t think her displeasure and mine are coming from the same place. but she voted against stupak.

My son’s experience was that the assistance was appreciated.

True, but I think Jane and Marcy see us as a bit more discerning. They don’t need to worry about us.

Missing Christy*

i was thinking about CHS, too. has she stopped by since she left?

Honey is at a premium, owing to the fact that this season’s weather has been so adverse for them. So commercial sugar seems to be the alternative. I’m new in this game, so I’m just doing what my beekeeeper sez. Once I have a year under my belt, I might be more experimental.

OMG. You’ve been retired for too long. You’ve forgotten anxiety!!!

I think I’ve seen her here once or twice since she retired.

Back on topic: Biological medicines are going to be a big part of Lupus treatments.

No doubt primary contacts are appreciated. Secondary effects, or unintended outcomes are the killer, often.

Thousands of people need to descend on the offices of these miscreants. Writing, calling, e-mailing just ‘ain’t going to get it. THEY DON”T CARE! Civil disobedience–it’s way past time for people to get into the streets! Only when we cease to fear authority will we be able to affect change. They know Americans are wimps and would rather watch “Dancing With The Stars” then rage against the machine.

Too true.

I haven’t seen her except for Suzanne’s good-bye to our katymine.

Once you have hives in multiple locations you’ll be experimenting. Deciding how much honey to take for yourself is always a gamble on future conditions.

I haven’t worked with bees for 30 years, have fond memories of working a large operation in the Sierra Madre west of Guadalajara from 1979…

I’m sure it was. Were that only to be the case in New Orleans, as I’m sure your son and the NOLA folks all would have appreciated such efforts.

We nation-build abroad, and call it “counter insurgency” but doing it at home is “socialist.”

Maddening.

Yeah, we saved an entire foreign medical school in Greneda that had many USA students.

We’re #1!

Wishin your bees the best possible outcome . . . .

If health care reform (and I don’t mean insurance reform) doesn’t pass this time, there may be unhappy people.

Am I correct in thinking that none of the bills [House or Senate] proposes to reverse the “Medicare can’t bargain with drug mfgs for better prices” travesty?

If my hive survives the winter, my beekeeper predicts that it will swarm in the spring, meaning if we catch the swarm, I’ll have 2 hives. I’m eagerly awaiting.

Doing my bee best to help.

Hey, I’m all for taking their money. But not at the cost of undermining the message.
How that’s achieved is similar to World Peace. /s/
Actually, is there a need for “the Family” to sow their seeds one FDL? It’s them, right? RIGHT?????????!!!!!!
Kind of like every other conundrum.

“As Marcy says, looks like PhRMA went into a bit of a panic after my dustup with Anna Eshoo. They decided to hand 42 members of Congress scripts to insert into the Congressional Record.”

I’m not seeing the cause and effect there myself.

teddy has late nite up at the mothership

Really, no clue.

You have a second brood box? Get additional supers, think about keeping some honey for the girls in case of adverse conditions.

Are your girls Italian or Caucasian?

Off of paranoid and onto bees. I’ve had incredible luck drawing bees to my garden with a combination of borage/cosmos/calendula plantings. They swarm around these plants.

Thanks for your efforts Jane!
Signed the petition

This is the first time I’ve ever followed a bill through the entire legislative process. I know this is a contentious issue and that I should be amazed by the dirty tricks . But I’m not , the more I follow this the more jaded I get, I sometimes wonder why bother. The special interests will get their way, they always do , and we the people will get the shaft , we always do

I’m thinking at this point we can’t win much within the system.

But LARGE and HUGE displays of people in the streets in the MILLIONS, like in the 60′s and 70′s, might pressure the system enough to get SOME reforms, maybe eliminate Eshoo’s and Stupak’s.

But, who will sound the call and do the organizing?

I’m greatly afraid that we’ve NOT hit the streets in sufficient numbers by now, means we never will.

And I really believe that mass demonstrations coupled with threats of votes against those who support the corporate oligarchy rather than supporting the people who ELECTED them, is our only hope.

So is your take on these ads that they’re harmless?
I’m really a babe-in-the-woods here. Like back in old-talk, when a babe meant an innocent. Again, only different.

On this very subject, I wrote After Seeing the PCCC ‘Betrayal of Democrats’ List, Reps. Stupak, Cooper & Others Will Laugh All the Way Back to Their Districts posted at the FDL Seminal.

We’d definitely get attention. Hopefully there are other ways.

On the surface that sounds good and for this one recent election could have made sense. But I really disagree with it as a reasonable long term strategy. The DLC has been pretty systematically disempowering a once vibrant liberal party.

Accepting the success of the GOP southern strategy I think a better road to recovery is to get our message out through good candidates, even if they may appear to have little chance of winning. Had we that base for this election I believe my state at least would have elected a number of them. An example, we had a wonderful young progressive environmental engineer that had he not been opposed by party leadership and made it through the primary stood a very good chance of defeating a weak GOP senatorial candidate. The weasling anti_stimulus Dem candidate lost by a ton.

The Democrats are paying the price now on the health insurance debates.

Liberals simply ceased to have any place to go. The DLC has ceded our states to the conservatives and of course why vote for a Republicrat when you can get the real thing in the GOP.

I just think income is needed for Jane and the Crew to do their good work, and that is part of life.

Not optimal, obviously, but true.

Dear Knoxville,
I read your post but I STILL don’t understand the ads about Democrats Betraying on FDL. There’s no answer there that I can find.
I want to know. Does FDL support these ads. Or not.
Because I give a stipend to FDL every month as a cost of living.
Do they support these ads? Period.
I’m willing to whore. But I’m careful that the message isn’t too confused.

Our next big fight needs to be campaign finance reform. We need to remove the influence corporate America has on our political system. If we don’t do this we can expect to live in some type of totally corporatized country.
The Corporate States Of America or USA Inc. or something like that.
Politicians are only human (I think most are anyway) and will take those dollars if offered and will vote against the public interest. If pols were beholden to only the voters who elected them we could expect much better results , until then good freaken luck , we’ll get stuck with whatever crap they ram down our throats!

These are democrats who have voted against the watered-down health INSURANCE reform.

Oregon style public campaign finance is very democratic/grassroots.

Individual tax payers get a credit for campaign contributions up to an annual limit.

Joe Oregon gives $50 to state senate candidate Suzy Progressive, $50 to transit finance initiative. He gets the entire $100 back when he files his income taxes.

No bureaucracy to determine how to allocate money. Grassroots empowerment.

Not an option.
Let’s take this to a simple exercise. Can you imagine Jane Hamsher accepting a personal date from any Repug now in play, because she finds them intriguing? Or Marcy, Bmaz,etc.
I know I’m a paranoid fuck, but this looks like undermining the message at the home court.

I’ve written dozens of emails signed hundreds of petitions and made numerous phone calls to my elected officials concerning health care reform and the public option. The polls show huge support for a public option, even Harry Reid’s personal twitter poll shows majority support for a public option. Yet , what will we get? Some kind of watered down worthless PO that does not help those that need it.
Like I said why bother

Because it is better to fight the good fight than to give in to cynical despair. Leastways that’s how I roll.

Times change, but not without engagement by those that want to affect change and can imagine and articulate better policies. Big part of why I come here.

“Liberals simply ceased to have any place to go”

You know why they don’t have a place to go? The ONLY reason is because people keep saying that. Unless you are willing to take your vote from a Democrat and place it on a third party or indie candidate, the party doesn’t care about you.

As a long time fund raiser[ volunteer,community] I think there must be a better way to raise money than accept crap-tastic ads.
Unfortunately, the best ways I’ve found to raise cash to accomplish a goal involves raffles and selling alcohol in public parks.
So I may not be a role model. But we fucking kicked ass.

I should say that the Health Dept. and the Liquor Board, as well as the State gambling commission were all on board with this.
Don’t try this in your own home.

If you’re not a non-profit, you’re going to do the time.
How weird is that?

Jane you continue to kick ass. With so much pzzzazz.

Senator Sherrod Brown (former Congressman Brown) has been standing up for the working class and working poor for a very long time.

Today, branded (patented, expensive) pharma manufacturers try to prevent generics from coming to market. In the late 1970s, natural insulins (over-the-counter, proven, inexpensive) WERE the generics and dominated the market. Genentech/Lilly had the first-ever genetically-engineered product in the wings . . . and its entry into the market was essentially a flop. What to do? Get rid of the competition (Lilly WAS the competition), so they eliminated their own time-proven natural products so that their expensive, synthetic product(s) would be blockbuster successes. No one–not Congress, or advocates–could force Lilly to continue providing natural insulin–”it’s purely a business decision.” Today insulin-dependent diabetics in the U.S. do not have access to natural insulins. We call this progress? But it opened the door for biotechnology and the questionable ethics they continue to demonstrate.

You know why they don’t have a place to go? The ONLY reason is because people keep saying that. Unless you are willing to take your vote from a Democrat and place it on a third party or indie candidate, the party doesn’t care about you.!

Yes! Yes! I don’t want to get too specific but I am one of the few in my area who has taken that dfficult step of leaving leadership in my local party.and am providing no financial support. I do support the national party so far.

I think it will take young folks who are not as afflicted with yellow dog fever to mount a strong insurgent faction.

”it’s purely a business decision.”

So much for self interest of business being in the best interest of the people.

Hate to rain on everyone’s 2-minute hate, but drugs only represent ~12% of total healthcare spending. Even if you cut drug costs in half, it would still only be a small reduction in total expenditures. The lion’s share of US healthcare spending (~40%) is doctor visits and other outpatient services.

Data from this Dec 2008 McKinsey report: http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/reports/pdfs/healthcare/US_healthcare_report.pdf (requires free reg). Fascinating reading.