Do Lobbyists Hold Cornyn and GOP "Peckers in their Pockets?"

John Cornyn (3.00 / 1)

is doing a great job for his bosses! LBJ would surely recommend getting him off the porch.

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by: Elsbeth @ Sun Sep 27, 2009 at 04:47:30 AM UTC

The videos are perfect examples (0.00 / 0)

of how the process in the finance committee is screwed up.  Republican Senators are accused of delaying when offering amendments.  One of those is an amendment asking the bill be posted for 72 hours before they vote on it.  By the way they will be voting on a plain language bill and not the final version and before a cost analysis by the CBO.

Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., himself admitted that "This probably sounds a little crazy to some people that we are voting on something before we have seen legislative language."

Not unless your trying to ram, cram, sneak or slip something through.

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by: sdhook @ Mon Sep 28, 2009 at 11:57:37 AM UTC

The 72 hour delay (0.00 / 0)

was intended for lobbyists, those paid by the insurance companies who are vehemently opposed to health care reform.  The Senator asking for it obviously wanted to give his donors a chance to participate in and make their objections to the bill.   This is precisely what we don't need.  If Senators want input they should be asking the people they are supposed to represent, i.e. their constituents.  

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by: Libby Shaw @ Mon Sep 28, 2009 at 15:33:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

As a citizen I would appreciate (0.00 / 0)

the chance to read the bill and call my Congressman and comment.  Don't know if you were aware but during the last recess, Senators and Congressmen alike held town halls, "asking the people they are supposed to represent. i.e. their constituents" about health care reform.  The anecdotal evidence was a resounding no thank you.  However the more scientific Rasmussen poll is showing only a 41% support for reform.

Would also appreciate having the Senators seeing the actual language before they vote, as well as having the bill scored by the CBO.  

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by: sdhook @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 02:50:37 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Scientific? (0.00 / 0)

Rasmussen has issues. Republicans usually love him, though.

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by: Elsbeth @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 04:51:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Never though of trying to (0.00 / 0)

discredit the most accurate pollster with a blog posting.

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by: sdhook @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 15:23:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Accurate (0.00 / 0)

according to Republicans. You never thought a blog posting could discredit Rasmussen? Think again.

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by: Elsbeth @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 03:39:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Town hall "discussions" (0.00 / 0)

You mean those gun toting shout downs orchestrated and paid for by Dick Armey and Rick Scott, the dude who bilked billions from Medicare, of Conservatives for Patients Rights?  Sure, let's have more town hall shoot outs where real democracy is practiced.

   

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by: Libby Shaw @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 02:00:12 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

And the remedy is? (0.00 / 0)

With all the effort involved in documenting corruption and the influence of special interests, it would be a valuable service to bring your audience to the logic of supporting the reform groups that focus on remedies.  Common Cause, Public Citizen and others are dedicated to advancing publicly funded campaigns and similar policies to neutralize special interests.   eg the Common Cause of Texas Facebook Group and Fan pages.
Fuming about it is useless.

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by: pjsilver @ Mon Sep 28, 2009 at 19:39:10 PM UTC

Fuming? (0.00 / 0)

I look forward to reading a diary from you about the excellent work of Common Cause. Why don't you put a link in your signature so that whenever you comment, the link to Common Cause will be right there. Just a suggestion. And I don't think that this diary is "useless." Your comment could have been stronger with some links.  

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by: Elsbeth @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 04:47:30 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Excuse me but this diary is not about fuming (5.00 / 1)

It is about revealing the hard fact that one of our U.S. Senators is a pawn for the insurance industry.  John Cornyn's fight against health care reform is a fight against a whole lot of Texans.  As we all know Texas has the highest number of uninsured residents.  One of three adults in Harris County (Houston area) has no insurance.  

John Cornyn's behavior on the Senate Finance Committee shows us exactly who he represents.  Voters have a right to know the facts.

   

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by: Libby Shaw @ Tue Sep 29, 2009 at 22:02:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Couldn't find the exact study you refernced . . . but (0.00 / 0)

I did find one that said Harris County was at 26.9% uninsured but the article referenced 1 in 3.  I went to school a long time ago but rounding would make that 1 in 4.  Still not good. By the way the same article shows Dallas County at 30.8% uninsured, that would be 1 in 3 (rounded).  The article also mentions that it does not take into account those that are non citizens that are not insured. As we know health care reform WILL NOT COVER NON CITIZENS!! (B.O.)
"We know from national data that non-citizens have much higher rates of uninsurance than other groups, and contribute a greatly disproportionate share to the state totals," he said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/stor...

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by: sdhook @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 03:00:40 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Those evil doing non citizens (5.00 / 1)

have been hired and employed by the vast majority of Texas. Most include cheap labor:  Maids. Nannies.  Yardmen.  Construction laborers. Janitors.

The non-citizens are here and they have been hired by respectable businesses and families. They work hard for very little compensation and you know as well as I that the "nons" have been woven into the fabric of Texas for generations.  The so-called evil doing non citizens therefore deserve a mere modicum of health care and other social benefits.  As do the legal citizens who have been screwed by the companies that do business on the cheap by hiring non citizens.

It is the respectable firms that should be required to step up and bear the burden and costs for social services for both the documented and undocumented workers.

The evil doing feds do food stamps and the evil doing feds will also likely at some point do health care to take care of those in need. Texas and its business partners are apparently incapable of stepping up to the task.

 

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by: Libby Shaw @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 04:10:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Blame it on the Illegal Immigrants (0.00 / 0)

That's what Kay did a couple of months ago, too.

Texas leads the nation in the number of uninsured. When asked how she would solve that problem, Senator Hutchison blamed illegal immigrants.

Hutchison: We have the highest number of uninsured mostly because of the illegal immigrant population.

State hospital officials say that's wrong. Ann Ward is a Vice President with the Texas Hospital Association, in Austin.

Ann Ward: People say illegal immigrants are a large part of the uninsured population but the studies I've seen by the Texas Department of Insurance, it's less than 20 percent of uninsured are illegal immigrants. And one thing we know, many of the people who come to hospitals for care. They pay, they pay cash.

Ward blames the state's high uninsured count on many low wage workers who cannot afford private insurance. She also says Texas has a lot of small businesses which don't offer employees health insurance. [emphasis added.]

Dismissing the fact that our state has the highest number of uninsured on "illegal immigrants" probably makes some people feel so much better. Easier than looking at all the small businesses that don't offer health insurance. Much easier.

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by: Elsbeth @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 04:20:43 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Clarification (0.00 / 0)

Dismissing the fact that our state has the highest number of uninsured and blaming it on "illegal immigrants"...  

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by: Elsbeth @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 04:27:07 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I don't think shes dissmissing the fact. (0.00 / 0)

She is pointing out a reason and probably wondering what to do about it since President Obama has  said many times health care reform will not cover illegals.

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by: sdhook @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 12:58:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

A "wrong" reason (0.00 / 0)

to be perfectly clear. She's being dismissive of our state having the highest number of uninsured by citing the "illegal immigrants," as the cause. And that would be the "wrong" reason since they don't make up the largest percentage "and" when they do seek care they pay "cash."

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by: Elsbeth @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 14:03:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I can't find the study she has referenced (0.00 / 0)

I did find a few others that state. "These findings show that if you want to do something that will have a meaningful impact on the problem of the uninsured, then you must talk about undocumented immigrants," said James P. Smith, a RAND senior economist and co-author of the study. "There are pros and cons of providing insurance to the undocumented that should be debated openly. Undocumented immigrants make up too much of the issue to be ignored or hidden by polite silence." from  http://www.rand.org/news/press...  I did find a study that referenced a 20% rate however it was conducted by phone.  I believe that study has problems in that undocumented immigrants are reluctant to admit they are here illegally.

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by: sdhook @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 14:54:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Is it possible (0.00 / 0)

when you do take the time to link to something that it actually is a link? You've linked to the search for this Web site and that's not very helpful. And then you've "referenced" a study but provided no link whatsoever.

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by: Elsbeth @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 03:34:31 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

http://www.rand.org/news/press.05/11.10.html (0.00 / 0)

Sorry for my mistake.  You can save the post linking RAND to all things bad which I believe is chapter 7, "Discredit the Messenger" of "How to Avoid Reality" by Pelosi, Obama, Reid, etal.

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by: sdhook @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 12:25:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

PS (0.00 / 0)

Am still unable to find the study Ann Ward referenced claiming the 20% figure.

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by: sdhook @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 12:44:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Cornyn is doing the same (0.00 / 0)

We have the highest number of uninsured mostly because of the illegal immigrant population.

I guess this is on their Republican talking point list.  Blame everything on illegals. As if they don't exist in other states, i.e. California.  California's population is nearly 37 million while ours is 24 million.  California does not have nearly as many uninsured people while it likely has even more undocumented workers than Texas.

There goes another Republican myth.  

 

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by: Libby Shaw @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 18:00:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes (0.00 / 0)

They certainly have all their talking points synchronized on this issue. Too bad they're wrong as usual.

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by: Elsbeth @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 03:41:32 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Indeed , and those evil doing studies (0.00 / 0)

that we've referenced that we never referenced.

Hell, I'm beginning to think the GOP left the planet called earth.

 

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by: Libby Shaw @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 04:01:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

The GOP (0.00 / 0)

It's really sad. They try so hard but they only know how to make it up. It's their training from years of watching FOX and believing it to be news and listening to the rants of Rush believing him to be so cool. No links and no clue. "Earth to GOP, you really do need to scrap it and start over." And watching your recent Majority Leader "Dancing with the Stars," is the sure sign that you have sunk into that sinkhole and it's all over.

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by: Elsbeth @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 04:36:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Check out the health care Cornyn (0.00 / 0)

and other members of Congress gets.  If it's good enough for them it's good enough for us.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCa...

Maybe Senator Cornyn can explain why his constituents don't deserve what he has.  After all, we're paying for it.

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by: Libby Shaw @ Wed Sep 30, 2009 at 20:51:46 PM UTC