Cleo's Mom

While black people certainly voted for Pres. Obama in record numbers, he could not have won with their numbers alone. It was white people who elected him. He had an enormous grass roots effort, of which I was part. There were only a few (less than 5) black people that I saw involved in his campaign in my area. The rest were white people of all ages. And many who voted for McCain voted for him just because he was white. No other reason. But since there are more white people than black people in this country, why didn't McCain win? Because it was the white people who elected Obama with the help of the black voters.

I never said that I don't believe people have the right to protest. These tea baggers are radical, conservative and right wing. Those who had those signs with Pres. Obama as Hitler, the Joker and those that said " A zoo has an African lion and the White House has a lyin African" were Obama haters who were possibly racists, too. I do have a problem with them presenting themselves as grass roots when in fact they were organized by Glenn Beck and Dick Armey and Michelle Bachman, who acted surprised that sooooo many showed up at the November rally in DC. She said it was all so last minute that she didn't expect that many. Then the media interviewed a woman who said "Yeah, I came down on one of the 40 buses Michelle Bachman had for us."

If what you say is true, then how did Obama win so big last November? Fox was ahead then, too. No blue state turned red and 4 red states turned blue. The people who listen to Fox might outnumber those who listen to CNN and MSNBC but they do not represent mainstream America. Their ratings are irrelevant to political policy.

It sounds like you were given the choice and you made the choice to pay for health insurance rather than make less per hour. I don't have a problem with people having choice which is what this healthcare reform is all about - allowing those without insurance to have a choice - one of which is a public option.

Please provide the link where Pres. Obama says that his goal is to have the government take over complete control of all healthcare and that it will take 12 years to get to that point. If the private companies cannot or will not reduce their premiums and obscene profits to compete with a public option then THEY DESERVE TO GO OUT OF BUSINESS. And if the public option expands, then they will need to hire more people - maybe those who jump ship from the greedy insurance companies. Again, 14 people voting on a LBT poll is hardly a public referendum.

I think you really need to do more research and study this issue better before making comments that don't reconcile with the facts.

The government would never ban cigarettes or alcohol (they tried the latter) but I would be supportive of a very high ($10/pack) cigarette tax to make it economically prohibitive. That money could be used to help fund many things. And people who quit would be healthier. That's a win/win. But the big tobacco lobbyists would never stand for it. People should be required to buy healthcare insurance because those who choose not to buy it (but can afford it) are costing those of us who have insurance higher premiums to pay for their healthcare. For those who can't afford insurance, there will be help to pay for it.

Unfortunately Dr. Urbandt is no longer in Monroeville. He is just in his West Penn Hospital office in the Bloomfield section of Pittsburgh. I went to him for a second opinion and then switched to him from my former doctor.

Your reply is full of contradictions. You ask "does the government step in and take control and outlaw cigarettes and chewing tobacco?". And then you criticize the government and say the government wants to be in control of what we can and can't do. So - what is it? You want them to outlaw tobacco and alcohol and control what we can and can't do? Or do you want them to stay out of our lives, or do you want them to do what they are doing - educating people and helping states to pass anti-smoking laws and tough drunk driving laws. Here's what the government does about tobacco: Do Anti-Smoking Programs Work to Reduce Smoking? | Michael Marlow | Cato Institute: Commentary And I've always known that tobacco is responsible for about 500,000 deaths a year. It's on websites, in the newspapers, etc.. But the issue has been somewhat eclipsed by the obsession with covering the obesity epidemic. Additionally, tobacco smoking and alcohol drinking are choices that people make. One does not need to do either. These people choose to pollute their bodies with poison. Those who are dying from lack of proper care due to lack of health insurance would love to be able to afford affordable and proper healthcare. It is not their choice to die from this.

Your pay almost $6200 a year for health care and don't mind. That's fine. You must be well paid and your employer must not be one of those who offers paid or affordable healthcare as an incentive because I don't know too many 27 year olds who would jump at a chance to pay that much for health insurance unless the pay check was equally high. Especially those employees who are married and have children. I'm not sure what you mean by "if it passes some people would not need healthcare and the ones who can't have it will have to pay more". Other than the dead, who doesn't need healthcare? And if you "can't have healthcare" why would you be paying more?:thumbup: It will be funded by a tax on the super rich ($500,000+ per year) or the cadillac health care plans. Plus eliminating the fraud and waste in Medicare. It will not add to the deficit.

Plain - I don't know who you are but I doubt you are a Democrat who voted for Obama and also lacks health insurance. And I'm fairly certain you're not on Medicare. If I'm wrong, I'm sure you'll correct me. I don't recall anything in the 2nd amendment advocating being dangerous. Michelle Bachman's words and those of the tea baggers (repeating Thomas Jefferson's words) are meant to be inflammatory and warn of a possible violent, bloody or dangerous direction to their position or actions. My point was that those 9 protestors at Liberman's office were hardly threatening yet a poster here was offended by them. Because they were protesting something she opposes. How many abortion protestors have been carried away by police? Is there outrage at their behavior too by those who agree with their position?

Doctors, not just the AMA, support the public option in healthcare: Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option : NPR

Healthcare System The trend is that more people lean toward supporting healthcare, especially with a public option and would urge their legislator to vote for it. And since August healthcare reform is gaining support.

Yeah, Kartman, but Fox news isn't even apolgetic for their lies and distortions. They have no shame. I don't know why so many people allow themselves to be duped by them: Daily Kos: Fox News is Going Down - MAJOR Bust by Daily Show UPDATEDx2

Michelle Bachman speaks for your side and views and you call ME dangerous? You seriously need to become more informed about issues and the people behind them.

:biggrin: This just doesn't make any sense. Just pure emotional clap trap.

Michelle Bachman says she wants her constituents armed and dangerous and the tea baggers say the tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants and this protest outside of Lieberman's office offends you? Well, here it is and I am proud of these people. Good for them. If they were protesting abortions outside of a clinic you would want them considered for sainthood. What a hypocrite you are. YouTube - Nine People Arrested - Protest Outside Lieberman's Senate Office

I know the deaths revealed in the Harvard study don't matter to you because they are not "in utero" but they matter to ME. Because unlike those who are anti-abortion I don't believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth. http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/study-45000-americans-die-each-year-for-lack-of-insurance/ I believe in the lives AFTER birth and helping them to get the health care that is their right - and I don't mean ER care. That is not health care, that is emergency care. I care about the 45,000 who die each year from lack of access to proper healthcare. And no one who doesn't care about these deaths has the right to call themselves pro-life. And millions of abortions performed in the U.S. daily? C'mon!!! Another lie. It's about 3700. Talk about exaggerating!!! Zero credibility, as usual. And as promised, I will call you out on every lie, distortion, etc...

Other than the health insurance industry, I have not seen others opposed to this bill than those I have listed. I was pointing out the continued hyposcrisy of those who attend these tea bag rallies and town hall meetings who were silent when the same things they are complaining about with Pres. Obama were happening under bush. If you can't see the hyocrisy, take the blinders off. This healthcare is going to be paid for with either a tax on the very wealthy (who have enjoyed undeserved tax cuts under bush) or the cadillac health care plans. It will not add to, but reduce the deficit. This is not true of bush's Iraqi war or Medicare part D drug plan or the tax cut to the rich. All added to the deficit and I am paying for it. The public option would affect 2% of people but I guess that's enough to scare the insurance industry who enjoy a monopoly and obscene profits. I DO NOT advocate for them. WASHINGTON - What's all the fuss about? After all the noise over Democrats' push for a government insurance plan to compete with private carriers, coverage numbers are finally in: Two percent. That's the estimated share of Americans younger than 65 who'd sign up for the public option plan under the health care bill that Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is steering toward House approval.

The AMA and the majority of doctors support the public option and healthcare reform: Poll Finds Most Doctors Support Public Option : NPR

The majority of Americans do support healthcare with the public option. Furthermore, the 220 members of Congress who voted for the bill represent the majority of Americans. Those who voted against it represent fewer Americans. Those blue dog democrats in the Senate represent far fewer Americans than the pro-public option/pro- healthcare reform democrats do or the 40 republican senators do. However, regardless of how many or few they represent, they still get one vote: Most support public option for health insurance, poll finds - washingtonpost.com

Potato chips for me are like street drugs to an addict. You can keep your chocolate, ice cream and sweets. Just give me my chips. I cannot have them in the house, but if I am around them I can eat them with no problem. When I was growing up I used to have a bag of chips in one hand and a cat in the other. Still have a cat - got rid of the chips!!

As usual, BJean, you are right on. I have been reading a book called "Idiot America" and the author presents three "Great Premises" of promoting idiocy (otherwise known as things that aren't true.) 1) Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings or otherwise moves units. 2) Anything can be true if someone says it loud enough. 3) Something has to be true if enough people believe it is and because they believe it fervently enough to act on this belief. THESE 3 PREMISES ARE WELL-REPRESENTED IN THE RIGHT WING TALK RADIO AND TV. And this reaches a huge audience because of the 257 stations owned by the five largest owners of commercial stations, 91 percent of weekday talk programming is conservative. And they cannot talk about the agenda of this president without using the following words (among others): -socialism -death panels -illegitimate president -czars (as if bush didn't have a ton of them) -holocaust -nazis -communist -government take over -dithering -terrorist/terrorism These words are meant to inflame and play on people's emotions and fears. They are not based on facts. When the facts dispute their claims, well - they just ignore the facts. For example: Intelligent design (creationism) is disguised as science and it defends itself as science by relying largely on the "respect" that we must give to all religious doctrine. Another example: Any science (which has been proven) is a mere opinion to the non-believers. Did you see the SNL skit about Fox news presenting the Tuesday election results? It was spot on. They were extrapolating the results into all kinds of anti-Obama rhetoric and wouldn't give the liberal any time to talk. I'm sure Fox didn't even reveal that the only two national elections - 2 congressional races - were won by democrats - one in a district that hasn't been democratic since like 1872.

I support healthcare reform with the public option. I am tired of all the tired old arguments against it that are based on lies, misconceptions, fear mongering and emotions. I saw a great summary of the mind-set of people who instead of using facts, choose to use something else: "A sign from the GOP anti-health care rally showed a pile of naked bodies. The sign read: National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany - 1945. This analysis about the above from 2Political Junkies: "Because trying to expand health care coverage for millions of uninsured Americans is exactly like mass murder of Jews by Nazis? I mean anyone can see that, right?" "One might be predisposed to assume that this banner was the work of someone with a long history of mental problems except that we know that many attending this rally had been fed a steady diet of outrageous propaganda warning them of death panels, government as the enemy and a president who is supposedly an illegitimate foreign-born usurper and undercover Muslim terrorist bent on destroying the country." Just look at the people and organizations who support health care with a public option: 1) First of all - THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS 2) 3 out of 4 doctors 3) American College of Physicians 4) American Academy of Family Practice 5) American Academy of Pediatrics 6) American Psychiatric Association 7) American College of Surgeons 8) American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology 9) AARP Who opposes it: 1) Obama haters 2) Republicans 3) Religious Right 4) Some selfish people who have health care but don't want others to have it. 5) Some selfish seniors who have government run health care (medicare) but who don't want anyone else to have it. There are those who say health care reform is too costly despite the fact that it will not only NOT increase the deficit but REDUCE it. Now, isn't it interesting that these same people never demanded the same deficit neutral process when it came to: 1) the tax cut for the rich (one of the reasons our deficit rose under bush) 2) the uneccesary war in Iraq (blank check after blank check raising our deficit) 3) the trillion dollar (with a T) cost (over 10 years) of the bush giveaway to the pharma industry when he pushed Medicare Plan D drug plan through Congress. DO YOU RECALL ANY HEATED TOWN HALL MEETINGS OR MICROSCOPIC SCRUTINY BY THE MEDIA ABOUT THIS BIG SPENDING DRUG PLAN? NO, ME NEITHER!!!! Then there are the proponents of the bush health care plan. It's a very simple plan, really,only seven (7) words: LET THEM GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. Emergency rooms are for emergencies not to treat chronic illnesses like diabetes, COPD, Parkinson's, Alzheimers, heart disease, etc...You need regular care by a family doctor or specialist. There are many hard working people who don't have health care because their employers can't afford to provide it to them. Or people lose their jobs and the health care, too. Or they work part time, like my son-in-law did for years at two part time police officer jobs - neither one providing health care - but he was putting his life on the line each day and the heartless people want him to go to the emergency room for routine healthcare? Here's a news flash people: EMERGENCY ROOM CARE IS NOT FREE. AND IF THESE PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD HEALTHCARE, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THEY CAN AFFORD EMERGENCY CARE? The public option in the health care would only apply to about 2% of the people. But the insurance companies don't want any competition. They want - and have- a monopoly. Healthcare reform will help to reduce the cost of healthcare and in doing so help our economy. It will give employers more choice. It will give individuals more choice. It will regulate the insurance industry so they can't deny you for pre-existing conditions or drop you if you get sick. A man with Parkinson's in NY was to be denied coverage for care by his insurance company but they knew they couldn't single out one person and deny him so they dropped the entire class of coverage for this disease for everyone on their policy. THIS IS WHAT HEALTHCARE REFORM WILL STOP. And stories like these are everywhere, everyday. I support healthcare reform with the public option because I advocate for the american people. And the majority agree with me. For those who are opposed, who are you advocating for?

You are probably too tight and need a slight unfill. Reflux is dangerous. It can cause cellular changes in the esophagus which leads to Barrett's esophagus which in turn can lead to esophageal cancer. I know about this. My husband died 4 years ago from this at the age of 56. It is nothing to mess around with and accept as part of being banded.