loginnametaken

8/26/09 WASHINGTON (AP) New U.S. home sales in July surge 9.6 percent in fourth straight monthly increase.

8/26/09 WASHINGTON (AP) Orders for durable goods expected to last at least 3 years jump more than expected in July.

8/25/09 NEW YORK (AP) S&P index: home prices post their first quarterly increase in three years.

8/21/09 WASHINGTON (AP) Home resales soar 7.2 percent in July; largest monthly increase in 10 years.

8/21/09 JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) Bernanke: US economy on verge of recovery and worst of crisis is over, but challenges remain.

Why does it always appear to be the same people disrupting different "town hall" meetings? Should we check ID's at these types of event to ensure that they're only being attended by constituents of those districts?

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009083524/who...

http://www.projectmechatronics.com/2009/08/16/1663...

The great depression and the current great recession were caused in part by wage disparity. Should there be more controls on wages?

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009083423/mos...

http://www.amatecon.com/gd/gdcandc.html

Here are the facts. The bill would:

• End the practice of denying insurance because of pre-existing conditions.

• Not allow termination of insurance if you become seriously ill.

• Preclude exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays.

• End annual or lifetime caps on coverage.

• Provide guaranteed oral, hearing and vision care for kids.

• Allow people to keep their doctor and their plan if they wish, while also creating more choices of insurance plans.

• Eliminate lifetime limits on health insurance coverage.

Unfortunately, the fiction about this bill is getting more attention that the facts. This bill will not do the following:

• Will not lead to employers discontinuing health care coverage in favor of government coverage. Based on an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, H.R. 3200 will actually increase the number of people who get health insurance coverage through an employer compared with current law.

• Will not create an undue burden for small businesses. According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, 96 percent of small businesses will pay no additional fees under the bill. In fact, small businesses will benefit from tax credits to empower them to provide health insurance for their employees. Small businesses are now paying 18 percent more than big businesses for the same policy; we will stop this unfair practice.

• Will not exempt members of Congress. Our health care plan will be subject to the same rules as all other employer-sponsored plans.

• Will not cover illegal immigrants, leaving American citizens to pay for it. Section 246 of H.R. 3200 specifically prohibits federal funds from being spent to cover illegal immigrants.

• Will not lead to government-sponsored euthanasia. This bill provides an option for individuals to discuss life-extending measures under various scenarios and for Medicare to cover the cost. It is entirely the individual's choice; it does not require anyone to use the benefit and it does not penalize those who don't. Patients and their families would consult with health professionals, not government officials, if they choose to use the benefit.

• Will not lead to government-sponsored abortions. An amendment was added in the Energy and Commerce Committee that explicitly states no public money can be used to fund abortions.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090811/OPINION01/...

I hear a lot of people with insurance complaining about their coverage or the limits of their coverage. What do you like or dislike about your current plan?

According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, around 20,000 Americans die each year because they can't get the healthcare they need.

Nataline Sarkisyan, a 17-year-old from Glendale, Calif., died Thursday just a few hours after her insurer, Cigna HealthCare, approved a procedure it had previously described as "too experimental." "They have insurance, and there's no reason that the doctors' judgment should be overrided by a bean counter sitting there in an insurance office," Jenkins said.

Sun Hudson, a six-month old Texas baby died last week when health care providers at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, Texas removed his life support system over the objections of his mother. The action was authorized under the 1999 Futile Care Law which was signed into law by then-Gov. George W. Bush.

Under the Texas Futile Care Law, health care workers are allowed to remove expensive life support for terminally ill patients if the patient or family is unable to pay the medical bills

Please read the linked Op Ed before answering.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/opinion/16thu1.h...

http://pr.thinkprogress.org/2009/07/pr20090710/ind...

I got a letter from the VA saying that as a disabled veteran I was eligible for a $250 payment as part of the stimulus bill. I thought that the letter said that I would get the payment in June. Where my money at?

The national debt is growing at a right of about a million dollars a minute. Your portion is about $30,000. Are you prepared to pay your bill?

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Nation-in-De...

Source: http://votevets.org/news?id=0095

"We all now know that BushCo ignored warnings from the Clinton Administration about the danger that al-Qaeda posed and we also know that they ignored intelligence that Bin Laden was determined to strike. But after we were attacked on 9-11, we also know that Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby, in particular, visited the CIA on numerous times to cherry pick the intelligence that let to the misguided and disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq. Bin Laden is still at large and two countries have been destroyed for nothing.

Now we have the NIE that says that Iran has no nuclear weapon program and has not had one since 2003. Investigative journalist Seymour Hersch claims that BushCo has known at the highest levels about this intelligence for over a year, but they have all been beating their evil drums of war against Iran, nevertheless."

Why?

Source: http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/11416

From: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story...

"Two retired Pakistani nuclear scientists traveled to Afghanistan in August 2001 at the request of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He pressed the scientists for details on how to make nuclear weapons, and the scientists replied with advice and crude diagrams, according to U.S. officials at the time."

Previous "new Pearl Harbor": http://www.ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/nc-pilger.h...

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressrepo...

From: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1019-24.htm

I have some questions for the Christian Right. Why have you not held our current elected majority officials accountable for their failure to address the full spectrum of Christian issues? Why would you vote for them again?

It is time for Christians of conscience to stand up to religious and political hypocrisy. Christians should proudly proclaim progressive values today and should advocate for the Christian Liberalism that is our heritage and our legacy.

From: http://www.workingassetsblog.com/2007/10/bush_thre...

"President George W. Bush may veto legislation to expand benefits for workers harmed by international trade because it would cover more workers than necessary, a White House statement said...Specifically, the Bush administration objected to a provision that would provide added unemployment insurance and training to service workers, such as x-ray technicians or call center workers, and expand a tax break to help unemployed workers pay for health insurance...'If this bill were presented to the president in its current form, the president's senior advisers would recommend he veto the bill,' the statement said."

The Bush administration's fiscal policy has sent the national debt soaring.

http://www.ctj.org/pdf/debt0907.pdf

How much longer can these reckless policies continue before we have to pony up?

From The Consortium: http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/xfile9.html

October Surprise: Finally, Time for the Truth